#just thought that we were still in mid september or something

[nickfowlerrr]

can you feel it?

pairing: bucky barnes x curvy!reader (soulmate au)

warnings: really nothing but fluff. mentions of light baking burns. lmk if something needs to be tagged.

words: 2.3k

notes: this is my entry for @lunarbuck’s soulmate challenge. i used the prompt: you cannot feel pain until you meet your soulmate.🩵 and thank you to @dreamlandcreations for beta reading/editing my first draft!

Mmm, you hummed mindlessly. 

The sweet, warm aroma of your latest batch of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies swirled through your small bakery, filling your nose and eliciting a smile from you as you walked to the back counter, setting down the hot tray you were holding.

You slid off the oven mit you wore and tossed it carelessly before you spun around to get the last tray of dough in the oven.

Your fingers brushed the hot grate of the oven as you slipped the tray in, and though you couldn’t feel the pain or burn of it, you still mentally chided yourself for not being more careful. 

It was mid-September, that time of year when summer was still the season, but fall was all around. 

You had been messing with some seasonal recipes for the past few days and had most of your impending fall lineup set. You were going to start slow with the roll out, and today was the first day you’d have these cookies out in the display. 

You were a bit overly excited, but you hadn’t been able to shake the feeling that today would be a great day since you’d gotten up. Even Nickie calling to let you know she’d be late for her shift hadn’t dampened your mood. 

You sipped from the straw of your cold brew, floating aimlessly around the quaint space while you were waiting for the cookies to cool, the oven to go off, or a customer to walk in. You’d swept the floor and cleaned the counters and tables a good three times now despite their already pristine state. It was a slow day, but you knew not to expect many people until after noon.

You eventually found yourself staring out the large glass window at the front of the shop, looking out onto the picturesque town street, watching the few passersby and the leaves that were blowing around; the branches of the trees that lined the streets swaying gently in the late summer breeze. 

You weren’t sure why, but as you stood there gazing out the window, you suddenly found yourself growing eager, a sense of excitement coming over you. You felt like you were waiting for something…someone.

Just as the feelings were put into words in your mind, the ringing of the entrance bell sounded and pulled you from your thoughts. You tutted quietly at yourself before you turned and went to greet whoever it was.

You stopped short on your hello when you saw Nickie pulling off her cardigan.

“Well, look who finally decided to show up,” you said with a teasing smirk and a raised brow.

Nicki smiled guiltily, “Sorry,” she offered through a nervous titter, “Eli’s alarm didn’t go off, so we were both scrambling this morning.”

“Don’t worry about it,” you brushed off her apology, “it’s been pretty quiet so far.”

“It smells amazing in here, did you make the pumpkin cookies?”

“Last batch is in the oven right now,” you nodded with a grin. “There’s some in the display case already, grab one, tell me what you think,” you said, walking over to meet her behind the counter.

You grasped your hands together while you leaned against the side of the register, anxious to get her thoughts.

Nickie grabbed a cookie and just as she was about to take a bite, the bell on the door rang again. You turned, smiling to offer your usual, “Hello, welcome in!”, but your voice caught in your throat when you did, only managing out a half hello.

Your eyes met steel blue as the man who had just entered stalled in his path for a brief second. He blinked then and seemed to correct his posture, clearing his throat, eyes never leaving yours, “Hi,” he offered.

“Welcome in,” you breathed, voice much quieter than you intended it to be.

You couldn't seem to take your eyes off of him as he approached the counter. He was tall, well built with dark hair, and god, those eyes. You could swim in them, they were so blue. He looked effortlessly cool, wearing a dark canvas jacket with the collar popped ever so slightly over a plain charcoal henley, his black jeans and boots completing the outfit as a chain of silver showed a bit from above his shirt collar. The dark color scheme worked well for the weather and for his features. The blue of his eyes even more emphasized by the color of his clothing. His jaw was square and sharp, and the structure of his cheekbones brought attention to the bags under his eyes. But they, along with his five o’clock shadow, only added to his aesthetic. You wondered if he knew that, if he was aware. You’d seen many a man who wore the same style, but it was so clearly put on. This seemed to be very him. Not that you knew him, of course, but still it was evident. 

It occurred to you though, as cool as he seemed, there was the tiniest bit of pink coloring his cheeks as he slyly rubbed his neck, before he finally stood before you, that betrayed his air of cool.

Nickie looked between the two of you with a quirked brow as you began taking the man’s order.

Your fingers twiddled over the screen in your nervousness while he looked over the menu, musing aloud before he moved to walk the display case. 

“What’s your favorite?” he asked, a wave of self assurance growing over him as he casually shoved his hands in his pockets, turning to watch you as you forced your own hands to still before standing up a bit straighter at the question. It was innocent enough, despite the smoothness of his words and the smile that played on the corner of his lips as he recognized your fidgeting for what it is - your own nerves bounding around you. 

“Oh, um,” you took a breath, thinking for a second, “I’m pretty partial to the classics, actually,” you said with a small smile, moving down a bit to be closer to where he stood, a bit of your own self assurance coming over you in turn. “The pink sugar cookie and the chocolate chip are probably the biggest sellers, too. But, in my humble opinion, you really can’t go wrong with whatever you choose.”

He smiled at you as you let your own gaze drift down to the case of treats before you.

“If you want to try anything, we do samples, so-” you were about to start rambling when the oven went off, both of you looking over at the sound.

“I’ll get it,” Nickie called from the small kitchen, just past the back counter, where she had gone to eat her cookie.

You turned back to the man and were met with his eyes already on you, both of your brows raising in quiet surprise. He was closer to you now than he was a moment again, and you tittered. You couldn’t fight the small smile that cracked on your face, and he returned a soft one of his own.

“Did you wanna-” you were cut off by Nickie as she looked around, growing a little frantic.

“Do you know where the oven mit is?”

“Oh, I had it..” you tried to think where it could have landed when you’d tossed it earlier, making a face as you came up empty, moving to search the area with her. “Ahhh. I don’t.. Damn,” you breathed.

You took another quick glance around before you moved to the oven. You really didn’t want them to burn.

“I’ll just grab it really fast,” you told Nickie as you pulled the oven door open.

She cringed at the thought, “I know you can’t feel it, but still, you shouldn’t do that,” she warned.

“I’ll be fine,” you assured her, “I’ll put them down super quick, can you just clear the counter and then we’ll move them to the rack in a minute.”

You could feel the man’s eyes on you still, and as you reached to grab the tray, you turned to speak to him, “Sorry. If you want to try anything, just let me know.”

As you were turning and talking, you blindly grabbed the tray. 

It took a second for it to hit you but then all at once you felt the burn. 

You quickly let go, pulling your hand back with a harsh gasp before you could get the cookies out. You grasped onto your wrist out of instinct as the pain burned through you.

“Fuck,” you cursed as you gripped your hand. 

“Are you okay?” both the man and Nickie asked in unison, watching you with concern. 

You flicked your eyes up to the man before looking over at Nickie. 

“It.. it hurts,” you said, confused by the fact that you felt it at all, and yet knowing full well what that had to mean.

“Oh,” she breathed in response, her gaze flicking over to the man still standing at the counter, but getting closer, all the while keeping his eyes on you. She blinked, eyes rounding slightly as she looked at you once more, “I’ll get a towel or something.”

She rushed away while you groaned softly. Both at the stinging burn and the fact that your cookies were definitely getting too baked.

“Just grab whatever will work,” you called to her, “they’re gonna burn if we leave them any longer.”

“I can grab them for you,” the man offered as he approached you, coming around the counter to where you were. “I uh, I haven’t met my soulmate, so…” he seemed a little embarrassed by the confession as you stared at him dumbly. 

Your mind was racing with all the things you wanted to say to him, but your tongue was refusing to move as you stood there holding your hand.

He stepped closer, and it seemed he was waiting for your permission as he nodded to the oven. You looked at him and then to the tray of cookies waiting to be taken out. You took a step back and gave him room to get to the tray. A part of you wanted to warn him that you’d thought the same thing when you’d grabbed it, only to be proven wrong, but another wanted to confirm that... that it was him.

You watched intently as he reached into the oven. It felt like he was moving in slow motion while you waited for his hand to make contact with the metal tray.

He grasped it and his forehead creased, brows furrowing as he quickly moved from the oven to drop it onto the back counter. You were holding your breath and almost deflated until you realized he was cursing under his when he was holding the tray.

“Shit,” he cursed once more, shaking out his hand, his brows still drawn together. You were staring at him with rounded eyes as you continued clutching your own burn.

You offered him your name and you stepped closer, your voice making him lift his gaze from examining the burn on his hand, up to you.

His brilliant eyes seemed to twinkle in understanding as he met your own. He breathed a smile, mirroring your movements and taking a step to you in turn.

“James. You can call me Bucky,” he simpered.

“Bucky,” you nodded as your lips curled into a soft smile of your own. “Thank you, for saving the cookies,” you offered.

“You’re welcome. Should maybe invest in some more oven mitts, though,” he joked with a mirthful smirk playing on his lips.

“I should,” you agreed with a nod and a light laugh. “Sorry about your hand.. I uhm, I have a first aid kit in the back,” you gestured with your head, “burn cream included.”

“That’d be good,” he said, “and you have nothing to be sorry about, I offered,” he continued, trailing you to the back. Nickie passed you sheepishly, though she gave you a small, knowing smile as she went to watch the front.

You swallowed hard and cleared your throat of your nerves as you worked to collect yourself, gathering your bearings with this turn of events.

“So... Bucky, huh?” you said as you grabbed the stuff you needed from the kit and watched him lean against the empty counter. You walked back over to him as he waited for you.

“Yeah. It’s uh,” he stifled a small hiss as you smeared some ointment onto his burn, gently holding his hand as you did. There was something about the soft touch that you couldn’t quite explain. The way it makes you feel, something you’ve never felt before. It wasn’t like the pain, it was more like a comfort, but still it was new. “It’s usually reserved for friends...family, but I think soulmate fits in there, too,” he smiled charmingly at you before taking the tube of cream from your hand. “Unless you like James more,” he offered, “honestly, I’d probably answer to whatever you wanted to call me,” he flirted easily.

You held your breath at the touch, and let out a soft titter at his words, a spark stemming from his hold as you let him put some ointment on your small burn. 

“I think I’ll go with Bucky for now,” you smiled, meeting his brilliant blue gaze.

“So I- I’m not too sure how this goes…” he started, a self-deprecating smile sitting crooked on his lips while he let go of your hand, somewhat reluctantly, once he was done with the cream, setting the tube on the counter before looking back at you, “but I was thinking we could start with dinner.”

There was a twinkle in his eye again, hope shining through, and you were sure your gaze held much the same as you waited for him to ask. “Are you free tonight?”

#bucky barnes x curvy!reader #bucky barnes x reader #bucky x curvy!reader #bucky x reader #bucky barnes fluff #bucky barnes oneshot #bucky barnes fic #soulmate!au #bucky barnes x soulmate!reader

[kakushino]

I know

Iguro Obanai x AFAB! Reader

Happy Birthday, Obanai!

Tags: fluff, self-worth issues, oral (f receiving), switchy vibe reader (?) Word count: 2,1k

Masterlist

The 15th of September.

A date your love did not celebrate. 

You were determined to make it special for him though. Clad in your usual sleeping yukata, cut short just to the mid-thigh, you waited for him in his bedroom, walking back and forth with nerves. You hoped he would not throw you out.

The door opened, interrupting your thoughts.

Obanai stood frozen at the doorstep, already out of his haori and uniform jacket, Kaburamaru nowhere to be seen.

You were set on this, and you hoped he would want this too.

“Hey,” he rasped out, stepping inside and closing the door behind him. “What are you doing here?”

It was now or never. 

You stepped closer to him slowly, he met you halfway. Though he was short compared to others, he was still slightly taller than you, give or take a few centimeters. 

“I wanted to make today special for you.”

He blinked slowly. “I… see.”

It was not a response you thought you would get, but you were going to work with it nonetheless. “So… I’m all yours, Obanai,” you whispered, laying your forehead onto his sternum, hiding your flushed face.

He hummed. “I know.”

“Whatever you want to do, whenever you want, it’s yours.”

“I know.”

Yet he did nothing to initiate; you had to start this on your own. His muscles jumped underneath his skin as you undid his shirt button by button. “If you want to stop, that is also fine.”

“...I know.”

Do you? you wanted to ask. But you didn’t. “Tell me to stop when you want to stop. We don’t have to do anything at all.”

But I want to, he wanted to say. I want to feel your skin on mine, to learn your body in ways only a lover can. I want to make you feel as loved as you make me feel.

Your fingers trailed over his ribs and opened the shirt fully. You kissed his neck softly, a feather-light brush of your lips on his pulse point. His heartbeat remained steady, yet fast. You knew this was only thanks to his Breathing.

Obanai nuzzled his cheek against yours, bandages on skin, breathing you in. Finally, finally, his hands rose up from his sides, gently trailing from your hips to your waist, the obi of your sleeping yukata but a flimsy barrier to your body. His motions were hesitant, yet he didn’t stop - to think or overthink this - and undid the knot keeping your short yukata together.

The thin fabric fell down as the yukata unwound itself a little. It was already a big step for Obanai - initiating something like this - and it made you a bit bolder. Fingers going over his skin up, up, up to his shoulders, and then his shirt slowly slid off his lean yet muscular frame. You didn’t look down, you leaned back a little to look directly at him. “I love your eyes,” you murmured, your palms gently caressing up his neck - 

He tensed; you stopped, not looking away.

“We can stop if you want to,” you reiterated.

His response was the same. “I know.” His hands fisted the flimsy fabric of your yukata, making it uncover more of your skin. You wore nothing underneath, his eyes fixated on that.

Obanai was not ready to undress fully, but he could undress you, and pleasure you otherwise than with… 

Mind made up, he pulled at the fabric. It fell off, leaving you naked. 

You fought to not hide from him, knowing this was much more for him than for you. You wanted to, no, needed to reassure him that you trusted him, and that he could trust you too.

“Close your eyes.” 

The gentle command made your heart leap in your chest, and you did as he asked. You knew this took a lot of trust from him and you wished nothing more than to fulfill this need of his.

Today was about him.

Silken bandage, worn soft with age, covered your eyes as he wound them around your head. He trusted you, but not that much, it seemed. Your heart felt heavy, but you swallowed the disappointment. 

Today is about him, you reminded yourself.

Now blind, you waited to see what he would do; his hands stayed cupping your cheeks, skin rough but touch so soft you felt like crying. Only Obanai could show you how he felt for you with that simple touch.

“Can I kiss you?” he asked.

“Yesss,” you sighed out softly, wanting to lean forward and meet him halfway, but you stayed put, letting him go at his own pace.

You felt his breath upon your skin, he smelled faintly of matcha - he must have come from Shinazugawa’s then. All thoughts flew out of the shoji doors when his lips - rough, chapped - made contact with yours. It was barely there, but it warmed you to the core.

You kissed him back, your hands resting upon his hips.

He pulled back. “Lay down.” Obanai guided you to the futon.

As you laid there, you listened to his Breathing; he seemed to be hesitating again.

"We can-"

"Stop." His palm made contact with your breast, gently running his thumb over the stiff peak. You gasped at the sensation. "Don't talk."

Obeying, you surrendered yourself to him and his touch. Another warm hand joined the first, mirroring his movements, sending shivers down your spine. He didn't delay long on your chest, caressing your waist and belly as he went down. He stopped at your hips.

"Can I?"

"Yes."

You loosened the muscles of your legs, awaiting his guidance of where he wanted them. His hands trailed down to your knees before he gently spread them open. You bent your knees to allow for a comfortable position and trembled a little in anticipation, your breathing quickening.

Obanai stared. 

Of course he’d heard enough of Uzui’s boasting to know a thing or two, all Hashira did at this point, but nothing prepared him for the real thing - the real thing belonging to you on top of that. 

Your… pussy was so wet already. He’d barely touched you, yet you were so… excited, so aroused by this, by him.

It was a heady feeling.

He lowered himself onto his belly to stare directly at you; uncertain fingers touched your entrance, making you startle a little. Angling them up, he delved between the lips, gathering a little of your slick; your thighs trembled and you drew a sharp breath.

The scent of you was going to drive him crazy. He wondered how you tasted.

Before he could stop himself, he was licking at his fingers. Oh, he needed to taste it from the source.

Before you could stop him, he was licking at you, drawing a long moan from you, and him in turn. Obanai had never been religious in his life, given his background, but in that moment, he wondered if you were the source of godhood, the ambrosia flowing from your core into his greedy mortal mouth.

He wound his arms around your thighs like a snake, fingers digging into your skin, restraining you against jerking back from his attentions. He ground his hips into the bedding, seeking the same relief he was bestowing upon you like prayer to a deity, more of your moans a blessing to him.

You didn’t know what to hold to tether you to Earth, the only thing you could grip was the futon underneath you. You bit your lip, keening lowly when his teeth grazed your clit lightly. Shockwaves of pleasure raced up and down your spine with each touch of his tongue against your sensitive heat as you gushed more for him.

He’d never felt so thirsty in his life - he was positively parched to hear more of your pretty sounds and to taste more of you. Obanai pulled back slightly to flick his tongue against your clit in quick strokes, making your muscles jump and try to pull back from the intense delight; he did not let you.

It was an ever-climbing upward spiral of ecstasy.

Then, you fell apart.

Obanai had never seen a prettier sight in his life. And it was brought on by him, made by him, his hideousness on full display - it was his mouth, his mouth that brought you pleasure. 

He felt drunk. His head was spinning. He had never thought he could be the source of your pleasure like this. 

The tremors of your thighs around his head reminded him where he was - reminded him that he should not be getting lost in his thoughts when there was more to be dealt out.

He dove back in with hunger and desperation he didn’t show before.

You felt like a mess, you were making a mess of the both of you - on your thighs, on his face.

“‘Nai, puh-lease-” you groaned, trying to escape from his tight grip. He didn’t budge, only sucking on your clit lightly, and delving back to your entrance for more, more, more.

Where the first build up felt like you were rising to the Heavens, now you were sinking into the Depths. The lewd sounds Obanai made between your legs were muffled, your own voice gaining a wobbly tone, like ripples upon a pond. Your muscles clenched and unclenched around his head, you didn’t know whether to draw him closer or push him away. 

You didn’t know up from down, left from right. 

Only Obanai and your pleasure registered in your mind.

Your lover was having the time of his life, intoxicated on your sweet sweet slick. He ate you out like you would disappear at any moment, he could not bear to pull back even for a single second. His hands might leave bruises from how tightly he gripped onto you, but he couldn’t care less when your sighs and whines spurred him on.

He took and took and took, until you were drowning, the edge of your release so close-

Your back arched, body going taut when he flicked his tongue just right, when his nose brushed your clit just right. Your mouth fell open in a silent scream as he lapped up at your juices, still lost in your pussy.

You tried to catch your breath, whining when he tried to extract more from you. You blindly pushed his head away from your soaked cunt, mumbling, “N’more, ‘m tired, ‘Nai.”

Obanai accepted your words, leaning his cheek against your thigh as he watched your sweaty body heave breaths. He nuzzled against your leg; this was the first time in his life since he’d gained his scars that he felt less than hideous. How could he? He’d given you two orgasms in quick succession using the parts of him that he hated the most; only, he didn’t hate them as much now.

Before he could chicken out, he was slithering up your body and taking off the bandage covering your eyes. He closed his own; despite the bravery he had felt, he didn’t want to see the disgust on your face when you finally saw all of him.

He was straddling your hips, awaiting his judgment.

There was a sound of shifting fabric. “Can I?” you asked him hesitantly.

He swallowed thickly, but nodded nevertheless.

Warm hands cupped his cheeks, making him jerk back a little despite him knowing what you wanted to do. Thumbs stroked over the scars; Obanai suddenly felt oversensitive, nerves firing off faulty signals as pain stung him with each soft caress of your thumbs. Tears pricked at his eyes.

He truly did not deserve this. He did not deserve you.

Your hands pulled him down gently; he followed your lead, eyes still closed, breathing picking up from nerves -

A kiss. You bestowed a kiss upon the ugliest part of him - his scars - so tenderly that the dew gathering at his lashes started spilling. The next kiss mirroring the first on the other side was wet with tears - his or yours, he did not know, nor did he care.

“You thought I was going to abandon you?” you asked softly, as if he were a skittish animal ready to bolt had you raised your voice only a little more.

He remained silent, not meeting your eyes.

“We belong together, Obanai. I love you,” you said, leaning your forehead against his. 

His hands covered yours, the touch reassuring as he guided one of them to rest over his heart. You could feel the steady thrum of it with each strong, steady beat. 

You closed your eyes. “I love you,” you whispered. The heartbeat quickened momentarily, though he still said nothing, and you knew, in that moment, that he loved you as much as you loved him. You knew, though he did not say it, that you affected him as much as he affected you.

You shared the same air, your breathing harmonized, your hearts beating in sync.

“I love you, forever and always.”

dividers by the awesome @benkeibear

#demon slayer #kimetsu no yaiba #iguro obanai #obanai x reader #obanai x you #obanai x y/n #obanai iguro #kny fanfic #kny x reader #smut #obanai smut #kakushino

[in-death-we-fall]

Knot On Your Life

Record Collector #266 — October 2001

Slipknot’s recent Iowa album entered the UK album charts at No. 1 — unprecedented for a nu-metal band. Drummer Joey Jordison waxes highly lyrical

(google drive link)

Slipknot’s second proper album, Iowa, was the most eagerly-awaited rock record of 2001, and both critics and fans of the masked nine-man band from Des Moines weren’t surprised when it crashed straight into the charts at the top spot in early September. But to anyone not familiar with the crushing music of this most uncompromising of groups, the sudden glut of media appearances that followed this triumph might seem strange, to say the least. After all, these are people who urinate on stage, offer fans the chance to inhale from rectally-inserted tubes and regularly vomit onto their audiences.

Despite the band’s fearsome reputation, drummer Joey Jordison was on relaxed form as he chatted to RC from his Mid-Western home. In fact, he was willing to provide an opinion on most subjects — so RC fed him a topic, and off he went. If only all interviews were this easy, eh?

A Night In With The Knot

All round to Joey’s…

Imagine you’ve invited us to a party round at your house. What tunes would you play for us? If I’m having a party I don’t really play much metal — because the chicks get more naked if you play something light. Old Bee Gees, or Michael Jackson’s Off The Wall, they’re all good party albums

I read once that you’re into the Cars and Fleetwood Mac. Oh, yeah. The Cars — I really like their Candy-O record, man, it was one of those records that really broke New Wave in America. They were one of the first bands to use the fuckin’ New Wave keyboards in their music, man.

The one-finger thing? Yeah, yeah, yeah, totally! Like ‘Let’s Go’ with that cheesy line that they use, but it’s so infectious. We played it before a show one time — we cranked that entire song through the PA right before we hit the stage. The kids were so fuckin’ loud and pissed off! They thought we were gonna cut the cong but we played the whole damn thing (laughing), just to irritate them.

What about a bit of dance or hip-hop? I like the new Ludicrous record. And chicks often get naked when we play that new Nelly CD for some reason (laughs). I also like the Wu-Tang Clan and Ol’ Dirth Bastard’s solo stuff, and of course old Public Enemy, and the old NWA stuff. I’m much more into the old school — I don’t listen to any of that current shit.

Did you ever get into any grunge at all? For a little bit, although I was pretty strictly devoted to metal. I really can’t stand Pearl Jam though — I’ve never been a fan of them. Alice In Chains was always a metal band in hiding, with a grunge umbrella. Soundgarden’s Badmotorfinger was phenomenal, too.

What about Faith No More? A band I still devote a lot of respect to. Faith No More really turned things around for me — The Real Thing really shaped my awareness of musical styles and using them tastefully. Mike Patton is probably the most talented musician and visionary I’ve ever heard in my life.

Most people might also be surprised to hear that I’m really into glam shit too, in my other band, the Rejects (chuckles).

What — Bolan and Bowie? More like the New York Dolls and Hanoi Rocks, but it’s all good music.

Do you dress up in the appropriate manner on stage? Make-up, lipstick? Yeah, we do. It depends on the mood. But like the famous song said, though, just because I wear make-up doesn’t mean that I can’t kick your ass!

The morning after the party, what mellow tunes would you play for us? Let me check my current crop of albums. I’d probably actually wake you up with some Amen. ‘We came here to fuck you!’ That rules, dude. I love that band.

An unlikely pairing: (above) the Cars, whose ‘cheesy’ synth lines do it for Joey, and (below) the Bee Gees, for whom ‘the chicks get naked’, dude.

Gloom And Doom

The murky depths of extreme metal explored…

The introduction of Iowa’s first song, ‘People = Shit’, is pure Morbid Angel. Fuck yeah! If you’re gonna pay tribute to something, pay it to a band that kicks ass. My favourite Morbid work is Blessed Are The Sick — I think it’s untouchable.

Altars Of Madness was really cool, too. Fuck, that’s old school, man, that’s going back. I think they really came into their own around the time of Domination, when they started using the seven-string guitars.

What other metal bands are you into? I also really like Raging Speedhorn, and I gotta say Immortal’s Damned In Black is one of the finest black metal releases ever.

I thought In The Heart Of Winter was better. Yes, that fucker too — all Immortal is great. They’re one of the prime black metal bands of all time.

Have you got Slayer’s new album, God Hates Us All? Yes — it’s phenomenal.

‘Payback’ is a great song. (sings line from song) Payback, you bitch motherfucker! (sniggers)

Do you like Nile? I love Nile. Black Seeds Of Vengeance — I love fuckin’ Nile! They rule, man.

Poppin’ Out

Joey talks Britney

It’s a good time to be into metal, isn’t it? Look at it this way. Metal always stays here, it’ll never go away, because of the legions of devoted fans, man, they never go anywhere. They are always fucking gonna be there. The music will never go away. It’s been tested time and time again.

On the other hand, cheesy pop like Britney Spears and N’Sync has got a lot stronger at the same time, don’t you think? That’s very true, it’s a good point. Those bands are really big sellers for their labels. They’re all geared towards MTV; then MTV is geared to the kids; the kids bitch at their parents constantly, and then they go out and buy the record.

Sometimes these kids don’t know any better, they don’t know you can go out and get into the underground tape-trading scene, because they’re fed that shit over fuckin’ television. Which is a drug in its fuckin’ self.

We wanna turn these kids on. A lot of them have heard Korn and Limp Bizkit, but they’ve never heard a blastbeat. It’s great that we can turn them on to the underground — like a kid might never have heard of Morbid Angel, and might think that I’m the first guy to ever do a blastbeat and double bass. Which isn’t true.

Is it strange when Slipknot are included in the same nu-metal category as bands like Limp Bizkit and Korn? No. I can’t bitch about it because we are in that nu-metal group. We do have elements of the nu-metal sound, but the fact is, you can tell we come from a place that is more genuine and way more old-school than that.

Grrr!

Reasons to be angry

At the Ozzfest, Corey (Taylor, Slipknot singer) said ‘We’re going to kill everyone in the rock music industry’. Is the relationship between the band and the business really so bad? He’s always talking about that. A lot of the press — obviously not you, because you know what you’re talking about — when we were done with our first record, they said that there was no way we could top it, and were already slagging the second record. And then there’s the fuckin’ leeches that fuckin’ steal money, and the people that misquote you, and people that start fuckin’ bad rumours — and before you know it there’s a whole new list of problems that come with fame.

I’ll gladly take those problems because this is what I’ve wanted since I was five years old, but (getting annoyed) it doesn’t mean that it fucking doesn’t fucking totally fucking goad men, and totally fucking brings me to a fucking boiling point … (tails off in incoherent rage, then takes a deep breath and calms down). So a lot of those things came out, and we had a lot of personal issues when we were on the road. And we;re doing non-stop shows, so every day there’s something going on.

Havin’ It Large

Party on!

Didn’t you go drinking a lot with Casey Chaos when you were on tour together? Yeah, we do these drinking matches. I always lose. I got him one time, though. It took him a while, but he finally got fucked up and fell down the back of this bus — and Casey Chaos never pukes, ever, but he threw up this time.

I sobered up really quickly after I pissed myself in my bunk, and I came back out and I’m like, I’m ready to go again! But he had to go to bed. I may have fallen down first, but I came back for the second round. That’s been the only time.

Can you still get up and play the drums when you’ve got a sickening hangover? Oh, absolutely, dude. I’ve done it a million times. I’m not necessarily proud of it. But when the mask goes on and I fuckin’ slip into the fuckin’ boiler suit, something just happens to me, man. Everything goes away, and it’s all about us and those kids for that hour.

The Past

The bad old days…

Do you ever listen to Slipknot’s demo album, Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat? I never ever listen to it. I’m very proud of where we come from, man, and I’ll never forget where we come from, but … that was a totally different band back then, you know, and it’s not the same.

Did you know that people are paying over £150 in this country for original copies of MFKR, if they can find them? (shocked) Christ almighty. God damn, man … they must really like the band.

It’s a lot of money to pay for someone’s demo. Or do you regard the album as more than just a demo? It’s kind of a glorified demo. It’s glorified in that it sounds really good for a demo — it’s produced really well. But there’s only six people on that record, Corey’s not the lead singer, the guitar players are different — you know, the only original members are me, Shawn and Paul on that.

The first Knot guitarist, Donnie Steele, famously left the band after a religious conversion. Yes. He was like, I found God and this band is not for me.

Even though he’d been in Anal Blast and Body Pit beforehand — two extreme grindcore bands? I guess not. He really wasn’t down with the mask thing either — when it came up he was like, I can’t do that. So I thought, hmm, OK, you’re probably not gonna work out.

Then there was Cuddles … (yawns) Yes … … but maybe I won’t go into that? Don’t. We never talk about that guy (drummer Cuddles, a member of the band from 1997-8, is alleged to be suing Slipknot at the time of writing).

The Future

What lies ahead

You once said that Slipknot is just too intense a band to survive more than a couple of albums. I get asked about that in every interview I do. But it’s cool, because it’s the truth. I think if the band broke up right now — you can call this ego, call it what you want — we might even have some kind of legendary status.

You mean, if you stopped at the peak of your form, before it got stale? Yes, like the Sex Pistols did. They did it right, man, they didn’t fuckin’ let themselves become parodies. And that’s what we plan to do with this band, once I know it’s not working. Because of all the hurt in the band, and the fact that there’s nine of us, I think if it went on too long, it would become a parody, man.

Will your records keep getting heavier and heavier, as they have so far? Well, lots of bands say their next record is gonna be the heaviest one ever, but they’re full of shit. They just say this so their fans will go out and buy it. But I can’t do that to my fans, man, because they’re the ones that got me here, y’know.

Interview by Peter Smith. Many thanks to Michelle Kerr at Roadrunner.

#as always let me know if you want any other articles scanned #joey jordison #slipknot #interview #record collector 266 oct 01

[whats-9plus10]

Venture Bros Time Frame

Based on the Venture Brothers Wiki Timeline and what I could find in the show during my final rewatch before the movie. Like when I calculated Gary’s age, this is not an opinion piece. I pull straight from the source material. 

I am not starting from a specific year because we know Venture Bros references current pop culture based on the year each season was released. Various dates documented in the show fail to provide a cohesive timeline. Hence, my focus is on the time frame. I'll be keeping track by noting "Venture Bros Year _" when the series moves into the next year and by referencing years as "000(number of year)" while using dates. I suggest following along with your calendar open like I had to do while organizing this lol.

S1e11 Past Tense - Orpheus predicts that The Action Man will have a stroke in "2 years, 17 days." 

We will start pretty late into the first year, Venture Bros Year 1

S1e13 Are You There God, It's Me, Dean - Takes place in late September 0001. 

The episode features Monarch's birthday, which is around late September 0001 when, according to him, "the leaves would be orange enough..." to build his Monarch wings. 

The Monarch butterfly migration and the leaves turning can begin around late September in New Jersey. 

A Very Venture Christmas Special occurs on Christmas, December 25th, 0001, between season 1 and season 2. 

While the entire episode was a dream, it was still revealed to be Christmas time. Sally is shown to be pregnant with Rocket. This is important because it solidifies that this episode specifically took place sometime between s1e7 Ice Station Impossible and s2e5 20 Years to Midnight. 

Venture Bros Year 2 

S2e2 Hate Floats - The boys celebrate their 16th birthday.

S2e5 20 Years to Midnight - This episode takes place May 4th, 0002, "...in Rusty's 44th year." In s1e8 Mid-life Chrysalis, he states his age is 43. Rusty must have turned 44 last month on April 30th, 0002. This means a little over 7 months have passed since s1e13. Rocket was born to Sally Impossible during that time. 

This means the boys' birthday is between December 26th - May 3rd. I'm casting a wide net because, for all we know, the episodes in between could have happened just days apart from each other. They live chaotic lives. 

S2e11 ¡Viva los Muertos! - Rusty promises the boys will receive something better than their clones as Christmas gifts. 

S2e12&13 Showdown at Cremation Creek (Parts 1 and 2) - This episode spans a month between the Monarch's proposal and the wedding. 

S3e4 Home Is Where the Hate Is - The boys state that they are still 16 years old "going on 17". That phrase usually indicates a birthday is approaching, but we can't assume anything definitive. What this does tell us is that a full year has not gone by since s2e2 Hate Floats, assuming the boys didn't die again off-screen.

S3e5 The Buddy System - Billy says he is 35. Based on s2e12&13 Showdown at Cremation Creek (Parts 1 and 2), we know that he is 35 at least a month after May 4th, 0002. 

Here's where it gets tricky

S3e8 Tears of a Sea Cow - Dean's newspaper is dated May 23rd. I will explore two possibilities. 

Possibility 1

Even though I don't feel like the date on Dean's paper is strong evidence as it could be a secondhand thought made up by the animators or a reference to how each season seems to occur in the year it airs, the month of May would line up as the boys had previously told Hatred they were about to turn 17 years old four episodes prior, indicating a birthday was near. If we say we are already in Venture Bros Year 3 and believe the date in the newspaper to be May 23rd, 0003, the boys would already be 17 during this episode because we know their birthday is before May 4th. However...

S3e13 The Family That Slays Together, Stays Together Part 2 - Hank says "...open my Christmas gifts early...." referring to the clones they discovered in s2e11 ¡Viva los Muertos!. Indicating that December 25th, 0002 has not occurred yet. 

Possibility 2

What this could mean, other than an oversight, is that it was May 23rd, 0002. This would make the boys still 16 years old. And everything between s2e5 20 Years to Midnight and s3e8 Tears of a Sea Cow takes place all in one month... but that also doesn't work because s2e12&13 Showdown at Cremation Creek (Parts 1 and 2) spans about a month by itself and we see the Monarchs multiple times in various stages of their relationship throughout season 2. 

Because acknowledging the date in the newspaper would not work either way, I feel that it's safe to disregard it completely based on the current information we have. I feel more confident in trusting the writing that came directly from Doc and Jackson rather than the animation. 

S4e1 Blood of the Father, Heart of Steel - The Nazis give Rusty "8 months" to clone Hitler. During this time Hank grew out his hair, Brock got out of shape and back in shape, and Gary got dieseled. Somewhere during those 8 months, we moved on to…

Venture Bros Year 3 

S4e2 Handsome Ransom - Billy says he is 37. If Billy wasn't lying or rounding up, this means at least a year and a day have passed since s3e5 The Buddy System. The boys must be 17 at this point. 

S4e5 The Revenge Society - Documenting where this episode takes place for a later reference. 

S4e10 Pomp and Circuitry - Brock tells Hank "...you also have to be 18" to dissuade him from joining SPHINX. Confirming that two whole years have not passed since s2e2 Hate Floats.

S4e12 Everybody Comes to Hank's - Hank asks Dean "How was your summer?" hinting that they are approaching the middle to end of summer. 

S4e15 The Silent Partners -JJ is in space building Gargantua II. This is information for later reference.

S4e16 Operation: P.R.O.M. - In the commentary, Doc and Jackson use prom to symbolize the boy's unofficial 18th birthday, more specifically their ascent into adulthood. I did not take this to mean it was literally their 18th birthday. The latest their birthday can be is May 3rd and at this point, they are nearing the fall. 

S5e1 What Color Is Your Cleansuit? - Takes place the day after P.R.O.M. and spans 3 months. A Very Venture Halloween special takes place in the middle of it on October 31st, 0003. We see Gary raking leaves - Fall. Then the compound is covered in snow - Winter. The weather here is intentional to show the passage of time. It is unclear at this point if we have moved on to the next year. There is no mention of Christmas or New Year's. By the end of the episode, it could be as early as November 0003. 

At this point, we are over 2 years and at least 1 month into the series. We started in September 0001 in s1e13 Are You There God, It's Me, Dean and are now sometime past October 31st, 0003. I am keeping in mind Orpheus' prediction of "2 years and 17 days". In the commentary Doc and Jackson state that the Action Man could have considered his health since the prediction which resulted in delaying his stroke. 

S5e3 SPHINX Rising - Gary says "Hank is an adult." I took this to mean he had turned 18 at some point. While their birthday may be at the end of December because we had cast a wide net for them earlier, I will assume we’ve moved on to…

Venture Bros Year 4

Here’s where it gets tricky part 2

S5e4 Spanakopita! - This episode should take place in October. Team Venture attended the wedding of Aristotle Onassis and Jackie Kennedy which took place on October 20th, 1968. Another historical event mentioned was the Apollo 7 mission, which took place Oct 11, 1968 – Oct 22, 1968. In the flashback we see Spanakopita aligning with the Splashdown date, October 22, 1968. This is evidence that the dates are intentional. 

In this episode we see Hank in his strength suit, confirming that Spanakopita takes place after s5e1 What Color Is Your Cleansuit? and A Very Venture Halloween special. I feel it's unlikely that they intended for a full year to have passed between s5e1 What Color Is Your Cleansuit? and s5e4 Spanakopita!. I want to make this as accurate as possible so I'm going to entertain two possibilities.

Possibility 1

If we say that s5e4 Spanakopita! was not intended to take place in October specifically and it was an oversight, then I feel safe to assume the warm weather we see after s5e1 What Color Is Your Cleansuit? indicates that we've moved onto spring or summer, still in Venture Bros Year 4. 

S5e5 O.S.I. Love You - Hank’s limbs atrophied from wearing the strength suit he found in S5e3 SPHINX Rising for “weeks”. 

S5e6 Momma's Boys - Hank tells Dermott “Last year…” and references the events of s4e5 The Revenge Society which took place in Venture Bros Year 3.

S5e7 Bot Seeks Bot - This episode takes place in July 0004. We see a flashback in S7e3 Arrears in Science which took place the night before Thanksgiving, November 0004.

S5e8 The Devil's Grip - Dean says a third of his age is 6 - indicating he is probably 18. 

All This and Gargantua-2 - Monarch says Rusty “hasn’t paid his electric bill since June.” We know we are in July or August because s5e7 Bot Seeks Bot takes place in July 0004.

Season 6 starts in Venture Bros Year 4, August or September 0004 because we know Dean had applied and enrolled in the Fall Semester. The boys would be 18 years old—3 years since s1e13 Are You There God, It's Me, Dean. 

S6e1 Hostile Makeover - Hatred says he's "been waiting to do that (hit Gary) for weeks”, assuming he is referring to the last time he saw Gary in either s5e8 The Devil's Grip.

S6e4 Rapacity in Blue - Takes place on October 7th, 0004. The timestamps are in the top right corner of the security camera videos.

S6e5 Tanks for Nuthin’ - Takes place on October 8th, 0004 the morning after s6e4 Rapacity in Blue.

S7e1 The Venture Bros. & The Curse of the Haunted Problem - This episode takes place the in the days leading up to Thanksgiving, November 0004. We flashback 2 years ago to JJ discovering the Gargantua crash. This implies JJ made this discovery sometime in Venture Bros Year 2.

According to The Art and Making of the Venture Bros. - Rocket is 3 or 4 years old now.

Next, we have a clear time span thanks to s7e3 Arrears in Science. It's Thanksgiving, November 0004. 3 years and 2 months since s1e13 Are You There God, It's Me, Dean. 

Time jump to the start of the Spring Semester in s7e4 The High Cost of Loathing, which starts in Venture Bros Year 5, January 0005.

S7e4 High Cost of Loathing - There is a "two months later" time jump at the beginning of the episode.

We are still in Winter Venture Bros Year 5 as of the final episode. In total making the time span from s1e13 Are You There God, It's Me, Dean to s7e10 The Saphrax Protocol 3 years and at least 4 months.

Possibility 2 

If we do say it has been another year and s5e4 Spanakopita! takes place in Venture Bros Year 4, October 0004, which means almost everything is pushed back a year. The boys would be 18 years old. 

S5e5 O.S.I. Love You - Hank’s limbs atrophied from wearing the strength suit he found in S5e3 for “weeks”.

S5e6 Momma's Boys - Hank tells Dermott “Last year…” and references the events of s4e5 The Revenge Society which took place in Venture Bros Year 3. That would mean this episode would need to take place between October 23rd, 0004 and December 31st, 0004.

Venture Bros Year 5

S5e7 Bot Seeks Bot - This episode takes place in July 0005. We see a flashback in S7e3 Arrears in Science which took place the night before Thanksgiving, November 0005.

S5e8 The Devil's Grip - Dean says a third of his age is 6 - Dean must be 19 at this point and have rounded 6 years and 3 months down to just 6. 

All This and Gargantua-2 - Monarch says Rusty “hasn’t paid his electric bill since June.” We know we are in July or August because s5e7 Bot Seeks Bot takes place in July 0005. 

Season 6 starts in August or September 0005, because we know Dean had applied and enrolled in the Fall Semester. At this point, the boys would have to be 19 years old. - 4 years since s1e13 Are You There God, It's Me, Dean. Overshooting the 2 years and 17 days prediction by a lot.

S6e1 Hostile Makeover - Hatred says he's "been waiting to do that (hit Gary) for weeks”, assuming he is referring to the last time he saw Gary in either s5e8 The Devil's Grip.

S6e4 Rapacity in Blue - Takes place on October 7th, 0005. 

S6e5 Tanks for Nuthin’ - Takes place on October 8th, 0005 the morning after s6e4 Rapacity in Blue.

S7e1 The Venture Bros. & The Curse of the Haunted Problem - This episode takes place the in the days leading up to Thanksgiving, November 0005. We flashback 2 years ago to JJ discovering the Gargantua crash. This implies JJ made the discovery sometime in Venture Bros Year 3 before S4e15 The Silent Partners.

According to The Art and Making of the Venture Bros. - Rocket is 3 or 4 years old now.

Again, we have a clear time span thanks to s7e3 Arrears in Science. It's Thanksgiving, November 0005. 4 years and 2 months since s1e13 Are You There God, It's Me, Dean. 

Finally, we have the time jump to the start of the Spring Semester in s7e4 The High Cost of Loathing, which would start in Venture Bros Year 6, January 0006.

S7e4 High Cost of Loathing - There is a "two months later" time jump at the beginning of the episode.

We are still in Winter 0006 as of the final episode. Making the time span in this possibility, from s1e13 Are You There God, It's Me, Dean to s7e10 The Saphrax Protocol, 4 years and at least 4 months. 

NOTES AND THOUGHTS

S1e1 Dia de los Dangerous - Presumably this episode takes place on Dia los Muertos, November 1st. Monarch states that he's in Mexico to find his foster parents. Butterflies arrive in Mexico around early November. Because this happened before Orpheus' prediction, it could be plausible that there is almost a year between the first episode and s1e13 Are You There God, It's Me, Dean. It is probably just as likely that Doc and Jackson were not considering keeping to a set time frame until much later in the series.

JJ did not appear in the season 1 Christmas Special. The boys are alive. Rusty was not on his journey running away from the boys' deaths. I wonder if this means s1e13 Return to Spider-Skull Island took place after Christmas. I am also not considering the weather as a determining factor here because I remember hearing about issues with animating different backgrounds in the earlier seasons. 

If it helps, I placed the boy’s birthday on the Ides of March (March 15th) to help me keep track of things. It’s both a significant historical date and a 70’s rock band. Plus I wanted them to be Pisces :)

I also stuck the Monarch's birthday on September 30th because that's when Don became Venturion. I think it's poetic.

Doc and Jackson are phenomenal writers and I’m sure if they were to address this in the show they would find a way for it to make sense that we would all enjoy. I had a lot of fun doing this. I love digging deep into my favorite show and piecing together what I find 💛 Go Team Venture!

#I said go team venture but I meant Monarch crew 4 life #This took such a long time I hope it's somewhat accurate #vbros #venture bros #radiant is the blood of the baboon heart #the venture bros #rusty venture #hank venture #dean venture #the monarch #dr mrs the monarch #henchman 21 #gary fischer #billy quizboy #byron orpheus

[azumasoroshi]

Izaya & Shizuo Drama CD??????

so guess what i learned about today! it's truly incredible how much lesser-known content there is about shizaya once you start digging

ive known about dear girls stories for ages but i didnt realize there were actual drama cds for izaya and shizuo too 😭i thought this was just people pretending that daisuke ono and hiroshi kamiya were talking as shizaya (<-CLOWN behavior)

but nope 4 seconds in we got a Shizu-chan name drop so lmAOOO time to listen i guess

there's two of these translated by the DGS subs channel (tracks 9-15) so idk if there's more before or after these or if those tracks have different characters, which i probably wont watch unless shizuo and celty have one or something lmao

according to google translate, "kenka" = "fight" which is funny

can we talk about that official art btw because how did izaya get close enough to shizuo to steal his glasses without getting caught?? dawg???? i guess he came up from behind him or something but fuckin imagine izaya just hanging down from above and doing the spiderman thing...except he steals shizu-chan's glasses instead of kissing him. i should draw that actually

this is hilarious actually i cant stop grinning bskjgHDSH why are they talking civilly about the date. what are they doing

it took them 51 seconds to actually reference hating each other which might be a record! good job gays

wait we're skipping ahead?? to august 30th??? we're just not gonna explain why/how they were in a bathhouse together???? okay?????

bro chased izaya up a mountain??? there are songs written about that kind of stufff bro 😭 like "id climb the tallest mountains and cross the widest rivers for you". something along those lines. shizuoooo you're so dedicateddddd <33333

why does he sound surprised bsdkgshk 1. YOU called him and 2. YOU led him up the mountain. little shit

i had to delete a whole segment because my brain is dead and i thought the dates were going backwards and i was like huh. interesting amount of nonlinear storytelling going on here

yes because august and september come before july soro good job

adventurer day, cleaning day, mid-year day? is this whole drama cd just them unintentionally celebrating obscure holidays together what the fuck

shizuo was just talking about ironing where did you come from??? izaya????? and shizuo didnt even react bdsjkgsh i literally cant wrap my brain around this like how are they just casually talking

WHAT DOES "THAT KIND OF WORK" MEAN HUH

izaya stripper au real (im sorry. my head is permanently in the gutter i think)

izaya i think you're losing it a bit because how the fuck do you watch someone IRONING HIS CLOTHES and still think it's entertaining?? does literally anything shizuo does entertain you what the hell

bro is down horrendous

oh so THIS is the bath one, i thought that was the first scenario (half-year day) because of the cicadas?? for some reason. i mistook cicada noises for cricket noises im a clown

NERDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

damn izaya read his mind. #justcouplethings

shizuo joining in on the wordplay too GOD they're so annoying

and cue giant crashing wave sound effect

the tweet above mentions that this basically confirms that shizuo entered the bath with izaya and i havent been able to stop thinking about it. like izaya would enter the bath to fuck with shizuo but here shizuo joins him. hmmmmmmmm

translator asking the real questions here pFFF

#shizaya #shizuo heiwajima #izaya orihara #durarara #insane that this whole cd is just them being as chill as humanly possible for them #like what #they're just hanging out???? #it took me forever to finish this post because of my 1 hour limit auhwgushhggh i have to write my posts faster

[wherewhereare]

This is especially for the newbies. @formdetective went under the the guise of @shefaniscience. She was one of the very early Shefani blogs/fans. I have used a lot of her posts to work on my timelines. I always found that in very many cases, in the beginning, she was not very far off on her discussions of the relationship. She still follows on occasions, but I have not seen her post anything Shefani wise in a very long time. At the request of her followers, she took the lyrics of GAABMH and put forward what she thought were the thought processes that Blake and Gwen were having in relation to, in my opinion, the most important Shefani song. It is the only song written by them with their own personal thoughts deriving the lyrics. It is in keeping with every song Gwen has written to this date. Even though, NBY and HA really fit them, only GAABMH lays out their very real thoughts at the time.

There are a couple of others she did, and if your interested, I can share those also. Her discussions about the lyrics really bring out, from her opinion, what Gwen was feeling and thinking about when she wrote them. Let me know if you're interested. I have found that her most profound statement, paraphrasing a bit here, is that when she met Blake, it was the first time she could write a love song without caveats. She put that out in 2016 while writing the TIWTTFL album.

formerdetective May 13, 2016 Go Ahead and Break My Heart Lyrics Analysis Okay so a bunch of people requested this but I didn’t have any prompts that really fit with what I wanted to say, so here is a text post!!

First of all, I don’t think this song had anything to do with HOW they figured out the next step of their relationship. I know he said he was trying to impress her and “get somewhere with her,” but I think he was just trying to sound charming. I mean, I’m pretty sure he tries to “impress” her like almost every day. Remember when he bought his and hers horses? Or flew overnight to go to her son’s birthday party. Anyway, I think this song is about that process obviously, but I don’t think it’s a part of it. I’m sure it did help solidify things though. <3

So my interpretation of the song comes in the context of all the other things we know. Splash was July, then I’m pretty sure Getting Warmer was in early September, and then Make Me Like You, Misery were September 22 & 23, and Truth was October 23. Also in mid and late September, Blake and Gwen both said some pretty cool/magical things were happening in their lives during interviews.

So anyway that’s kind of where I’m coming from with this analysis. To me, the emotional vibe is the most like Getting Warmer. I recommend listening to that right before this for more of Gwen’s mental state.

Go Ahead and Break My Heart

Blake’s verse: Most people seem to be assuming that Blake’s lyrics mean Gwen was trying to ease off or actually tried to break up with him or something like that. But I disagree. I think Blake’s verse is mostly the result of his own insecurity. Like we know obviously that she was really scared, but I think that was stopping her from communicating, rather than from seeing him.

You know how I’ve gotten what feels like dozens of messages asking/complaining about how Gwen won’t say the word boyfriend/doesn’t want to talk about Blake/isn’t a good speaker? Imagine if you were the person she didn’t want to talk about, trying to talk about it. I love her so much but she is not good at expressing herself in situations that make her uncomfortable. And she was so nervous and confused herself. If you needed answers and were getting sort of circular, non-committal responses, that would be confusing as hell.

Trying to navigate all of that would be especially confusing if you were already super insecure yourself, and in particular were 100% convinced the woman you fell for was out of your league.

So this is the situation they’re left with. Gwen avoids the conversation or muddles her way through it, and Blake takes her nervousness, not as a sign that she wants more, but as a sign that she doesn’t know how to break up with him, because he literally can’t believe she wants to be with him. (poor babe.)

The sun is setting on your last good try: So we know based on her lyrics, and and interviews and how happy they were on the voice in battles/knockouts, things seem to have been pretty great between them…but then I imagine Blake would start to have the dreaded DTR (define the relationship) and she would start to stumble and second guess everything and leave them both thinking WTF:

Here I am with a half goodbye, wonder if you’re really gone this time: See to me this is where his own insecurities come in. Gwen is being wishy washy and unclear, and he assumes the worst. Gwen talks a lot about being broken but she wasn’t the only one who was damaged by their previous relationship.

The problem, too, is that this isn’t the type of partner he’s used to. He’s used to someone more assertive, and not as much of a sensitive cinnamon role. And based on comments he’d make, I don’t think he was used to being the one who needed to lead discussions. Plus, go back and watch some late 2014/early 2015 B interviews. He’s not used to someone being this sweet to him or being so intensely emotional over him.

I mean, because if Gwen’s problem was she was in love with him but didn’t know if he liked her as much, that’s not a reason to dump someone. It’s a reason to be hesitant in messing things up that are already going well. But Blake doesn’t know any of this, so he just thinks she’s too sweet to let him know she wants to break up. Like I said, he assumes the worst because he’s insecure and a bit broken himself. So when she doesn’t give him a straightforward answer he assumes the worst. But it’s actually the opposite.

And just when I’m about to lose my mind

He said in interviews that they were having trouble opening up and letting their guards down, and I think that definitely went for both of them. So he probably didn’t want to push the issue too much, so when he didn’t get the answers he wanted when he tried to talk about it, he just tried to go with the flow even though it was driving him nuts. Like he didn’t want to scare her off, so when he still didn’t know what she wanted at the end of the conversation, he’d just leave it because it was scary to push too much.

There you are again on my phone, moon is rising and you’re all alone: So basically Blake is going crazy worrying but she calls him like right away and wants to hang out some more. Because of course she does. She’s obsessed.

Maybe we can just hang a while, maybe we can make each other smile: But he’s still confused, still insecure, still doesn’t know what she wants, so he’s like we can just hang and see what happens! Like basically, I’ll take anything.

Oh no, here I go: I think ‘here I go’ is here i go falling in love, and it’s a problem because he doesn’t know what he’s gonna get from her. Like maybe she’s just gonna break his heart.

Chorus: So the lyrics of the chorus pretty much sum up Blake’s frustration.

Literally he’s like, “if you want to end this, then just do it.” I’m not gonna type out the whole thing because they are pretty much just one thought. Except for this:

Why are you waiting is it way too hard? See this line especially makes me think it was as much Blake’s insecurity as Gwen’s that was causing them “problems.” She was waiting because she didn’t have any interest in breaking his heart. She just didn’t know how to tell him that (and was also terrified to admit she wanted more.)

But the rest of the chorus just kind of sums up like, I want you completely. So if you don’t want that too, then you gotta go.

Oh but also: You can’t tell me that we’ll still be friends, and maybe someday we can try again. To me this is emphasizing that bb is in DEEP and he’s gonna be so heartbroken that if it’s not gonna continue then that has to be the end of it.

Gwen’s verse: So gwen’s verse is a combination of reassuring him that his insecurities are for nothing, she is literally in love with him, but she’s scared of how much she’s into him. And the lyrics of her verse are why I don’t think she was ever actually trying to say goodbye or whatever. I think she probably had no idea what to do and word vomitted her way through that conversation(s) and he took that to mean she wanted to breakup but felt bad about it, when it was really the opposite.

I never ever meant to get so into you, thought I was using you just to get me through: I think when they first started hanging out and then unexpectedly switched from friends to romance or more likely, some kind of facebook style it’s complicated, gray in-between situation, and she was trying hard to just keep on living in the moment, without thinking about what might happen between them down the road.

You know I’m broken I don’t trust anyone, last thing I needed was to fall in love: So she didn’t start hanging out with him with the intention of falling in love. She needed time to heal, and between that and everything else in her life it’s actually hella inconvenient, but that’s what happened. But it is scary because she has trust issues…which kind of takes me back to what I said about Getting Warmer…she’s not sure she believes she can trust him to love her the way she loves him…the problem she’s had in the past. But that doesn’t mean she’s not in love with him.

You got me dreaming, got me thinkin I’ve got some hope; there is nobody else I wanna get to know: So it’s not like she wants to break up at all. She doesn’t want to see anyone else, or even be without him, because it’s exciting and she’s starting to move beyond living in the moment towards maybe this is gonna be forever. Or maybe this can be what she’s always wanted, unlike the other two tries.

But I’m so scared I don’t know what to do, how did you get me so into you? And this is back to her struggling to let her guard down. Feelings are not the issue. It’s just fear. But still she does have that shred of hope so she doesn’t want to break up.

Then again, with her trust issues, she’s not that confident he won’t break her heart either. But oh no, here I go: it’s pretty much too late for her. She’s too in love to give in to her fear.

Chorus again: So frankly, it would probably be just as well for Gwen too if Blake isn’t gonna come through and give her the love and partnership she wants then she doesn’t have time for this.

Bridge: So literally, those are the reasons each of them are acting how they are. They’re both scared, both having trouble saying exactly what they want (until now), but they’re both in love with each other. There’s your cards: Cards on the table, everything exposed, it’s scary but maybe it’s worth it.

Because even though it ends on the chorus, I take a pretty optimistic view of the end. The bridge asks What are you waiting for? And to me, that’s really the conclusion. They aren’t waiting for anything. Even though it’s hard and it’s gonna take maybe a little time, they have no interest in breaking each other’s hearts.

-the end.

[scottsummersbingo]

For the Sexy Days of Summers Event happening right now we've invited Scott Summers (Cyclops) fans to take part in spreading more love for him out there on the internet by creating fanfiction, fanart, fan works, etc. to celebrate our favorite X-Men leader and the possibility of what if. For the duration of this challenge so far we've received some really incredible submissions with super rare pairings that are new to us. For the month of September we'd like to share some of those and also share some various fandom creations along the way in terms of content. Some might be an old favorite pairing while others might be something in terms of shipping you've never considered before.

Today's spotlight pairing is a fan favorite pairing that still sparks passion in their fans :)

Below under the cut you can take a look at this pairing and see what fun it could prove to be!

Also if you have a favorite Scott pairing and a fanfic that you've written or that you love, then feel free to drop us a note and let us know so we can showcase it in the future!

Stay tuned for more duo spotlights coming soon!

I Follow You Deep Sea, Baby by medievalkoala (Rated M) Scott can't sleep. Emma's solution? A late-night date.

What A Diamond Desires by IAmSimplyVibing (Rated E) Scott and Emma can't even remember the last time they saw each other in person, and they're determined to make the most of this date night.

Euphoria by medievalkoala (Rated G) "I don’t think I’ve even had proper pain. It was a very easy birth. You just came out. Like you were in a hurry. Your dad cut the cord and handed you to me. You didn’t even cry, it was like you didn’t have time for the ordeal and just wanted to get it over with."

Megan Summers is born after a very easy birth.

Correction: A physically easy birth.

Or, Emma thinks about motherhood in the delivery room.

Homeflight by flightinflame for onestory (Rated M) Scott is one of the blessed. He leads a team to rescue children who are blessed from danger. He doesn't think he needs rescuing himself.

The Hellfire Orgy by Ravel991 (Rated E) Emma Frost arranges a great orgy after the main Hellfire Gala ends.

but you make it look easy by tamagorou (Rated T) "In a few years, some rebellious little kid is going to turn up at your school with me on his T-shirt. 'Cyclops was right.'"

A take on the Decimation - AvX publication period where Cyclops has been depowered due to M-Day (alongside some other changes). More tags will be added with further chapters.

This Life by medievalkoala “Ruby Summers.” I couldn’t help but let out a giggle. What a name.

Megan remembers the first time she met her new siblings.

Would You Sit at My Grave if I Killed Myself by medievalkoala (Rated G) Emma can't sleep. Literally what the title says. Takes place during Utopia.

E is for Evolution by bananabrain (Rated E) Trapped with no telepathy, but armed with the power of her incredible looks, Emma Frost visits the leader of the X-Men in his room to lift up his downer spirits amid the X-Men's recent turmoils.

Who could have thought that while Scott Summers is fighting the world, Emma Frost is fighting her own mind?

Drops of Red in the Snow by IcyDeku13 (Rated T) It's Mid winter and Scott is trans and he can feel his body being crappy. Trauma has come to bite him in the back.

i'll be getting over you my whole life by moonboy_writes (Rated T) Emma Frost's life is perfect. She's married Scott Summers, and the two have six children, a beautiful house, and well-paying jobs. But everything is not as it seems as Emma begins to realize that maybe, her life isn't perfect after all. Maybe none of this is even real...

jubilee by metabaron (Rated G) "Who told you?"

Scott sat at the foot of the bed, stroking her bare ankle. "Sage."

Written for the Krakoa Discord 50-word fanfic challenge.

This was the winner for that week's challenge

luxuries we can't afford by just_another_classic (Rated T) Emma and Scott in Savage Land, a reflection by Emma Frost. [writer's month prompt: beach episode]

the benefits of dating a superhero by cherry_lips (takemesomewherenice) (Rated E) A little Emma/Scott fun from around the time of Joss Whedon's run of Astonishing X-Men.

Cyclops Gets an Eye Exam by NotQuiteHydePark (Rated G) It is what it says on the tin.

Red on White by celeste9 (Rated T) Emma watches the blood pool on the tile.

You Missed Me (Script for GWA) by Capspandex (Rated E) Emma and Scott get paired up and I think we know the rest

Her Flawed Gem by flightinflame for onestory (Rated T) Everyone thinks that Scott Summers is perfect. But Emma knows that he isn't, and that doesn't make her any less in love with him.

Prismatic by TriffidsandCuckoos (Rated G) Scott would like to discuss soulmates. Emma would really rather not.

Just Let Go - An Emma Frost, Sex Therapist Encounter by The_Uncanny_SeX_Man (Rated E) Set during the Morrison New X-Men run, Emma Frost holds a rendezvous with Scott Summers behind his wife's back in order to help him realize some deep seated psychological trauma.

Scemma Drabbles by Paxorsym (Rated G) A small handful of scemma drabbles

Be sure to check out more Scott ad Emma fics up at AO3 here.

#scott summers #cyclops #scottsummersbingo #scott summers bingo #sexy days of summers #emma frost

[nerdieforpedro]

An amorous encounter in her office

Chapter one of "Do we know how to Love?"

Frankie Morales x Nadia Thomas (plus size OFC)

Fanfiction 18+

Masterlist / Do we know how to love? Series

Warnings: cursing, toxic relationship, angst, sex, mentions of drugs, (more warnings later, other topics in subsequent chapters)

“Eddie, I need to talk to you.” Sitting on the bed, while her boyfriend sat next to her on his phone.

“Yeah babe, I’m listening.” This man is still texting on his phone, not even looking at me. This just adds to why.

“Eddie, I don’t think we should see each other anymore.”

“Babe, what do you mean? We were talking about maybe meeting each other friends next week?”

“No, I said we should think about it, you don’t listen to me at all!”

“Nadia, I do, but I thought we discussed this, don’t worry so much babe.” Eddie kissed Nadia on her cheek as she frowned, his hands finally left his phone and ran up her thighs, squeezing them. Nadia pushed his hand away from her and scooted back on the bed.

“I don’t want to date you anymore. You never listen to me. I don’t need this; I am a grown woman.” She stood up and stepped toward the door, Eddie usually would be able to sweet tell her back into things and they’d have some mediocre sex where she might get close, but she would finish herself as he slept.

“Look Nadia, we’re in our mid-thirties, we’re not getting any younger and I don’t see the issue. I pay attention to the big things and keep your bed warm right?” Eddie chuckled and cocked his head back. She wasn’t going anywhere, sometimes she mentioned stuff that he didn’t care about. Nadia was cute when dressed up, larger sure, but he didn’t mind that. She did have a good credit score and a solid job as a school nurse who did PRN work at a hospital, especially during the summer months. She never complained about sex, so he figured that was fine too.

“You don’t pay attention to what I say and I never cum when we have sex if you hadn’t figured that out! I should be entitled to an orgasm sometimes. Fuck you, Eddie! Oh, but you can’t do that right.” Nadia screamed and stormed out of Eddie’s apartment, content to never see him again. That rat bastard wouldn’t know what a clitoris is if it smacked him in the face.

However, she was sweet talked back to Eddie later that night and had slightly better sex, there was at least some foreplay, well if you count sucking a nipple before using lube as they normally did. Nadia had argued a very good game, but she felt that Eddie was right, she was no one’s spring chicken and he was what she had. Bad sex and all.

A year later, Nadia sighed as she filed students’ health records in her office. She had to make sure everything was completed and scanned properly. She came across one record that had no emergent contact listed, it’s September and classes started back in mid-August, no one had caught this yet. Shaking her head, she looked up the student’s name, ‘Camilla Morales’ and asked Shirley, the secretary with the bad blue wig about this kid.

“Eh? Oh, she’s the daughter of that pilot. I don’t judge but I think her father used to use that, what do they call it, nose candy? I call it cocaine.” Shirley muttered, she always had something to say, almost never good.

“Miss Shirley, I didn’t ask you that. Could you just let her homeroom teacher know to ask Camilla to see me instead of homeroom before the last bell?” Nadia asked, sighing again, “And Miss Shirley, you shouldn’t talk about other people’s drug use when your son is still out there shooting heroin and had another OD on his friend’s house. Whoever her father is, he seems to be taking care of his daughter. When has your son last paid child support?” The nurse patted the secretary’s back as she went back to her office.

After sitting back down at her computer, she got a call from her friend Kim. Nadia knew to put her earbuds in.

“Hey girl! You are coming with us tonight?”

“No, I’m going to catch up on Narcos. Eddie is still out of town with the sales team.”

“Ma’am, you need to get out of the house. I mean you and Eddie were going to talk about moving in together, right? Just come and hang, stop moping.”

“I’m not moping. I am enjoying my alone time because I can’t watch Narcos because he doesn’t like gritty drama. I can’t even watch 48 hours.” Nadia lamented, that man really did grind her gears, in her time alone she had more time to think about why she was still this Eddie. She should just ghost him, clearly, she couldn’t break up with him in person.

“Just meet us at this local bar, we’re gonna drink, eat bad food and play some pool.”

“You get aggressive when it gets to pool. Not sure why, you know me and Katie suck at it.”

“Come on, we haven’t seen you since last month.”

“Fine, text me the time and address. I need to go home and get changed though.”

“You better wear something cute! No leggings, no sweats, show them legs!” Kim giggled over the phone, Nadia laughed and stated that she would. The nurse ended her call and small girl with a unicorn backpack, dark twin pigtails in her hair and pink sneakers knocked on her open door.

The last bell dismissing the children to their buses rung loudly.

“Um, hi Miss Nurse. My teacher said you wanted to see me.” The little girl said slowly, her chin was dipped, as if she was expecting she was in trouble.

Nadia smiled warmly and pointed to the chair across from her desk. “You’re Camilla, right? You’re not in any trouble. Come sit, okay?” The child sat in the chair and set her backpack on the floor next to her, hands nervously fluttering on her lap. “My name is Nadia; you can call me Miss Nadia. I called you here because I wanted to know if you could take this paper home and have your daddy fill it out and you can give it to me or your teacher.” Nadia kept the explanation simple; the kid was in 1st grade after all. Camilla nodded and accepted the sheet of paper.

“Miss Nurse, um Miss Nadia, can I wait here for my daddy, he’s supposed to pick me up today. I got all the words right on my spelling test so her promised me ice cream and a movie!” The little girl said excitedly, beaming, “What’s your favorite ice cream? I like vanilla with sprinkles and hot chocolate on top but no cherries. My friend said they sit in your belly for years.” Nadia giggled at Camilla’s question and shook her head.

“No, you shouldn’t eat them often, but they are real cherries and do process the same as the rest of your food. Er…digest. Have you learned about that yet?” Nadia sighed and leaned back in her seat. “Never mind, you can wait for your dad here sure, actually, that way, I can give him the form, my favorite ice cream is chocolate.” She smiled and stood up, walking to the front desk and informed Ms. Shirley to keep an eye out for Camilla’s father.

“Dear, you don’t have to look far, he’s walking this way. He may like some nose candy but if I was thirty years younger….” Miss Shirley muttered, Nadia sighed and shook her head, though Ms. Shirley did talk a lot of mess, she was not wrong.

This man was fine. Eddie wasn’t a bad looking guy, but he didn’t inspire a flush of your cheeks or anything else for that matter.

Mr. Morales was walking assuredly toward the front desk in a grey button-down shirt, blue jeans and brown boots. He had on a black baseball cap with dark brown curls bouncing as he stepped. His face was was firms as his forearms and thighs were. He greeted Miss Shirley curtly and signed in but paused to look at Nadia.

“Good afternoon. I don’t remember you, are you new?” The man asked, with a small smile. Nadia cleared her throat and blinked finally, she felt hot, though the temperature had not changed.

“My name is Nadia Thomas, I’m the school nurse. Your daughter Camilla is in my office.” She said, putting a professional tone in her voice and turned on the balls of her feet to lead him back to her office. It had been quite a long time since she couldn’t face man because she felt sexually incited, but she was at work and about to talk to a father and his daughter. Nadia waved at Camilla, the nurse sat down as Mr. Morales peeked into he office, only his hat, eyes and mustache were visible.

“My hija bonita!” He laughed, a booming laugh that was followed by the shuffling of tiny pink sneakers toward the door. Morales, picked her up and hugged her tightly.

“Papi! I’m happy you came! I’m ready for ice cream! Are we gonna see Barbie? Miss Nadia likes chocolate!” Camilla rattled off rapidly, rubbing her cheek into her father’s stubble. Nadia sighed, feeling depressed that she was jealous a child.

“Is that right? Is that what Miss Nadia likes?” He said looking right at Nadia, grinning, not the same smile he just used with his daughter. Nadia shifted in her chair, she leaned her head forward, using her crossed hands to cover her mouth, a small moan escaped her lips as her nostrils flared. This man was dangerous. She was enjoying every minute of it.

“I do enjoy chocolate. Very much so. Ah…anyway, there’s a form in Camilla’s backpack to update her emergency contact. It would be best if it’s completed and turned back in.” The school nurse was able to get her sentence out by taking a few breaths in between.

Mr. Morales set his daughter down and asked for the form, she took it out of her backpack and give it to him. The father locked eyes with Nadia, walked over to her desk and didn’t break eye contact his deep chestnut eye and her amber ones. “I’m Francisco Morales, I go by Frankie though Miss Nadia. I’ll complete your form right now.” He briefly looked away to fill out the form, she watched his hands, broad, his muscles taut with the movements. Frankie took a stickie note off her desk and wrote his cell phone again. Nadia was about to speak but Frankie cut her off, making eye contact with her again. She couldn’t speak was more accurate.

“In case you want to tell me what else you like Miss Nadia, at a better time and place of course.” Frankie flashed that smile again and stood up, still making eye contact with her. He placed his hands on his hips as Nadia took the sticky note and stuck it in her jacket pocket.

“Daddy! When are we gonna go?!” Camilla was getting impatient, it looked like he was done filling out whatever paper, movie and ice cream time.

“At a better time and place it is Frankie.” Nadia smiled. “Camilla’s waiting for you.” She sat back in her chair, stretching out her legs and taking another deep breath.

“Good. We’ll see about that breath control of yours Miss Nadia.” Frankie teased. Nadia’s eyes widened and put a hand on her chest. She felt attacked and aroused. This damn man, flirting with me in front of his daughter and doing a helluva job at it. It’s a wonder he doesn’t have more kids running around.

He turned and scooped up his adorable daughter again. “Vamos a Barbie!” He yelled while matching his daughter’s pumped up fist and walked out.

Nadia was already in over her head and she had only met the man once. Francisco Morales, a man that would change her life in ways that she didn’t expect.

#fanfiction #fanfic #writing #pedro pascal character fanfic #frankie morales #frankie morales fanfiction #Frankie morales x reader #chapters #sweet #lust #toxic relationship #plus size reader x pedro pascal character

[houseofbrat]

I’m not a big ‘royal’ follower (I know many things but not all the details), but Kate Middleton’s situation last week was a mess and even people who aren’t too invested were joking and stuff.

So while navigating here, I found your posts, and I became very interested. My question is (assuming you are into something): didn’t K is also to blame for accepting William’s idea? I know they play with the ‘we are a team’ PR, but still, I can’t understand how nobody in that entire household saw this mess coming, it was expected with all that silence. I also think Kate is more thoughtful than her husband, why did she accept this awful plan? She was sick tho, but it’s very interesting to me that you think that Carole came to save her reputation

Also, is William really controlling and traumatized with privacy? It’s understandable at certain point, but this is not the first blog in where I see people commenting on him being over-private and over controlling

Since Kate was hospitalized in mid-January, I think it is unlikely she has any influence over how her husband has handled the situation when she was in the hospital and the immediate days after she returned home from the hospital.

Will & Kate's staff usually work out of Kensington Palace in London while Will and Kate actually live in Windsor. Because Kate probably isn't in contact with staff that do not report directly to her, such as her private secretary or deputy private secretary, she doesn't hold any influence over the communications department. The mess that is currently playing out in social media and other media outlets is the responsibility of the communications department, which has been fucking up to extraordinary levels.

The person who has been overseeing (& micromanaging) the communications department is William. In fact, even though normally W&K usually are a "team" as you say, he will always have more power with the palace officials because he is the actual royal. Kate is the plus-one in the relationship, even though they are married and she is the mother of royals.

[The rest of this will probably make sense later.]

I think Kate is to blame for accepting William's plans last summer, and then when she realized that things weren't going to workout last fall/autumn, you start seeing weird looks on her face last fall (2023), such as this moment last September:

Where she looks like she's about to start crying!

And then her dead-eyed-yet-wide-smile face in their Christmas card last year, which we're apparently not supposed to talk about.

Kate had a lot of faces last fall where she really looked as if she was over doing her expressions on public engagements. Extra over projecting because she internally wasn't that happy.

Carole had to save her daughter's reputation this week because William has already fucked up so much behind the scenes that is yet to be revealed. KP comms team is heavily pressuring UK media to not make any comments about Kate, due to William's natural control freak nature.

Kate had to live with very intrusive paparazzi and wild headlines & stories for years. I think she can mentally handle the ins & outs and the ups & downs of being in the spotlight better than William can.

William just doesn't listen to anyone. And this past fall, I bet he refused to even listen to Kate, which added to her emotional turmoil that landed her in the hospital.

#ask #my gif #british royal family #prince william #William The Prince of Wales #kate middleton #Catherine The Princess of Wales #pr games #strategery #kensington palace #palace officials

[greazyfloz]

Bend Til We Break - Chapter 8

previous chapters

A couple weeks go by and the summer is almost ending. Initially I was supposed to go back with Quinn mid September but I’m leaving a little earlier now as I have to be back for work. Today is my last day at the lakehouse and with Quinn and I awoken from Quinn tracing his hand up the side of my body as he lays behind me. I turn back and look at him and he presses his lips to mine. 

“Good morning beautiful” he says as he lets go of the kiss

“Mornin Quinny” I say smiling at him, as I turn so I am now laying down looking at him, “Last day, you going to miss me?” 

“Every second, everyday”

“How are we spending my last day?” I say tracing my finger around his chest and collarbone.

“I know how it can start out” he says with a chuckle and I bring my lips to meet his. He wraps one arm around me before turning from his side to his back bringing me on top of him. I bend my knees so my legs are wrapped on both sides of him before breaking from the steamy session. I sit up and grab the bottom of Quinn’s shirt that I was wearing and begin to lift it. 

I left go of the shirt before I could raise it over my head and it falls back on as a sudden wave of nausea takes over. I pause for a second while on top of Quinn waiting for it to pass. Quinn sees the expression on my face and concern takes over his. 

“You okay?” he says now leaning back on his elbows so he was sitting up a little. It hits me a little harder and I jump off Quinn, running to the bathroom. Luckily there was no one in the bathroom closest to Quinn’s room as I run in slamming the door behind me before kneeling over the toilet. Quinn is quick to follow, holding my hair back as I throw up into the toilet. 

When I finish I fall back so my butt is now on the floor and cross my arms resting them on my knees as I lay my head down on top of them. Quinn rubs my back, “You okay?” he says and I look up at him and nod

“I’m going back to bed” I say standing up as Quinn rushes by my side to help me. I make my way to the sink brushing my teeth before making my way back to Quinn’s room. 

I have a quick nap then wake up to the door opening and closing. Quinn smiles down at me, “Feeling better?” he asks, sitting on the edge of the bed stroking my hair out of my face. 

“Yeah” I say as I sit up. 

“Everyone is out on the boat” Quinn says

“You didn’t go?” I say, “You should, don’t worry about me!”

“Well, I was coming to see how you were feeling” he says, “They are just going up to the country clubs restaurant, you hungry? We could drive over”

“Sure” I say standing up to get ready. I throw a sundress on and quickly fix my hair before putting on light makeup. I grab some sandals then head to the car with Quinn. As we drive Quinn grabs my hand bringing up kissing it putting it back down while he drives. 

“Are you sure, you feel okay?” he asks again as we make our ways down the road

“Quinn, I’m fine. I promise” I say, “It was definitely something I ate”

He pulls into the restaurant and we sit with the rest of his family. We enjoyed our meal and chatted for a bit before heading back home. Quinn and I drove back together as I swiped through Instagram seeing a friend from back in Vancouver post their pregnancy, I smiled liking the picture. I start to scroll again when panic sets in. ‘Maybe I’m pregnant’ I thought to myself. Quinn pulls in the driveway and parks the car. I sit for a second thinking of the last period I had. Quinn and I have had sex everyday for 2 months straight I think to myself. 

After dinner, Quinn was out hanging out with some of his friends that came over so I decided to go to the pharmacy. I went to the pharmacy and grabbed what I needed and headed back to the house. I shoved the box into my purse so I could hide it until I was upstairs in the bathroom. 

Luckily when I got home everyone was still outside so I quickly went to the bathroom and peed on the stick as soon as I could. I set it on the counter and waited for it to load. The panic washes away for a second while I think about if I wanted it or not. I don’t know if Quinn feels ready or not I think and panic sets in again, my alarm pulls me away from those thoughts as I make my way over flipping the test over to reveal I was in fact pregnant. 

I don’t even know how to react. I feel happy but worried. Will Quinn leave me? He’s done it before, would he do it again?. I quickly take all of the garbage and put everything in my bigger purse before making my way down the stairs.

The next day, Quinn and I drove up to Canton with Jack who decided to come with us. We left a day earlier as the airport was closer to Canton. We got there and I left most of my bags in the car and only brought enough in the house for the night. Jack, Quinn and I were just hanging out when I text Hanna to see if she still wants to get a coffee tomorrow morning while I’m close to Ann Arbor. 

“Who are you texting?” Quinn asks as I roll my eyes putting my phone down. 

“Hanna” I say, “We made plans a couple weeks ago to get coffee tomorrow, but I haven’t heard from her in a while”

“Nah, you don’t have time in the morning for that”

“Yeah, my flight isn’t until 1”

“I just don’t trust her, I never thought she was a good friend to you” Quinn says making me look at him

“Why do you two hate each other? Am I missing something?” I say sitting up to look back at him

“No! I don’t know what’s going on either”

“Are you hiding something from me?”

“No!” Quinn says and I walk up to his room away from him and he follows behind leaving Jack downstairs, “You’re being delusional” he says as we enter his room. 

“Don’t fucking gaslight me” I say grabbing the keys and walking back down the stairs. 

“Where the fuck are you going?” 

“For a drive!” I say slamming the door behind me.

I get in the car and quickly drive around until I find an empty parking lot. I put the car in park and pull my phone out. 

“Hey! I was just about to te-” Hanna says as soon as she picks up

“What are you and Quinn hiding from me?”

#quinn hughes #quinn hughes imagine #quinn hughes fic #nhl writing #nhl fic #nhl fanfiction #nhl imagine #hockey imagines

[osscarh]

This is my first post ever and I thought maybe I could share a nice story with ya all. I've never really put it in complete order so it's time I do that.

As prelude, I own 3 cats. One of them, the oldest, is, at the time of writing this, 12 years old, with his papers noting that he was born the 6th of April 2012, 3 days after my dad's birthday. His name is Sacha, despite the vets who all name him Sasha (and also wrote that he's a girl for some reason? I mean he doesn't seem bothered but I don't think he understands English.) His name is kinda dumb but my bro named him. I prefer giving Egyptian names to my cats.

I got Sacha around 2015, I don't really remember which month. I was around 13 at the time and my first cat had just died. My mom was really feeling bad so we adopted Sacha from a center. His previous owners had placed him there cuz the lady got pregnant and apparently cats can mess with fetuses or something. Idk but I think his previous owners were lame cuz he stayed in that center for like 6 months and they took bad care of him. His claws grew in his paws, his fur got a lot of knots and he smelled really bad. He's half Persian so he needs a lot of care.

When he arrived home he was super sweet but really doing poorly. We toon him to the vet for his claws and hired a lady to remove his knots. He didn't like his new cut so the lady zooted him on I thinl weed? It was some drug, mfer has had more experiences with illicit substances than I and I'm kinda jealous tbh.

Sacha was my only cat for a while. My mom adopted Bagheera, a kitten born from one of her sister's cats when she divorced my dad around 2016 and Sacha stayed at my dad's place with me and my brother (the fucker who named him with such a lame name).

Anyway time passed, I lived my best life with my cat, took care of him, took him to vet every year for his vaccines (he goes outside), reconnected with my mom and adopted a kitten who was born in my mom's backyard and named him Settra. So that's why I have 3 cats. But back on track, in 2022 Sacha got an eye infection. We had to do a lot of ophtalmology to get it sorted and my mom helped a lot with that despite the fact that the cat wasn't even in her home. His eye's doing okay now but he needed new material be brought in his eye. Persians tend to be weak in eyes and nose.

Then when the summer vacations of 2023 ended, Sacha got sick. At first it was a minor cold so we didn't do anything, some snot in his nose, then around mid September he ate less. Come end of September and he was doing bad, still eating but always sneezing and his throat was inflamed. I brought him to the vet and he was given antibiotics that kinda helped.

By the beginning of October Sacha was doing pretty poorly and eating way less. He was always a fat cat so this concerned me a lot. The vet couldn't tell why the antibiotics weren't acting as he was supposed to have an infection so they gave him more and asked us to get a visit to a pet hospital 1h of travel away (Belgium is small, 1h of travel looks a lot for me but for American folks it's prilly shorert). So we did, got something planned for end of october. I wanted faster but they were full and he was still eating so not an emergency.

Meanwhile Sacha's health got worse. One of his eyes (not the one who had the surgery) couldn't open and he had little things in the part of forehead between his eyes that made a sort of scritchy sound when you ran your hand over it. Most concerningly, he wasn't eating. We (my mom and I) took him to another vet who did acupuncture with relative success, allowed Sacha to eat well for a day or two before going back to not eating.

I was getting really desperate so I mixed his food and fed him with a syringe for a week. I knew if my dad knew he wasn't eating, he'd suggest euthanasia as the costs of bringing a pet to the hospital are quite high. So I took his wet food, put it in my mom's mixer and mixed it for like 15 minutes when going back from school while dad was away, then cut it into even smaller bits and forcefed him with a syringe (his throat was super inflamed and small so he was probably in pain and I knew it but I couldn't stand to watch him thin like that).

On the 26th of October, we went to the hospital for him. My mom and I were reluctant to go there because it's an universitary hospital and we were kinda scared that he'd be put on life support and...I guess experimented on? We didn't want his life be prolonged if he was in constant pain but we went nonetheless. My mom took a day off work (again, she took a lot to get the cat to the vet) and I warned my Spanish teacher that I couldn't attend. She's a really sweet lady and I told her the story, she was super supportive.

The hospital was not all like we anticipated. The doctors were really charming and quite open with how much stuff cost. I speak French and the hospital staff spoke Dutch so we settled on English as a language to communicate with. Tirns out spending all that time playing dnd with strangers on discord paid off for me, I was able to talk with these docs no problem.

Of course without insurance it was expensive but it was doable to pay. They ran scans on Sacha and it was promising, they said he had an infection but had the right antibiotics for him. Since he didn't eat, they wanted to keep him there and we agreed. We gave our phone numbers and left.

When we visited Sacha the following day, they told us he had a lymphoma. It's blood cancer for those who dunno what that means (I certainly didn't till October). They asked us if we wanted to begin chemo.

I was fucking devastated. That cat had been with me through my parents' divorce, the death of family members, graduation, the lowest of my sick days and the brightest of my good days. I didn't want to leave him die of hunger without a fight.

My mom didn't have enough money to pay for it in full and my dad'd never use his money to pay for a cat's chemotherapy so I agreed to pay most of ot. I had a decent bit of money in a bank account, I basically never buy anything so pockeh money, student job money and birthday money stacked up. My dad'd never have allowed me to pay for that (neither him nor I even knew they had chemotherapy for cats) so I lied and said my mom paid for it.

He stayed at the hospital until the 31st of October, of course we visited him everyday and the hospital staff kept us informed with daily phonecalls to schedule a visit and tell us what was up. During that time (5 days since he arrived, 4 days since chemo started) they put a tube in his throat to feed him and started the chemo.

That. Shit. Worked. When we brought him home, he could open his eye again and even wanted to go for food (motherfucker do you know how much that tube costs?). He played with the other cats and we had a weekly checkup for him. I missed many Spanish classes. During his time at the center he really liked one doctor who calls him Sir and basically saved his life.

Of course he stayed at my mom's place. It was easier for feeding through his tube at first, my mom was in vacations and he needed 3 meals a day, then he stayed there. Wasn't gonna let him stay in the home of a person who'd let him die. I love my dad but fuck him for this. He admitted several times he'd have never brought my cat to that hospital (so he'd have left him die of cancer and hunger, poor cat was thinning by the day).

His tube was removed a month later and visits moved to once every 3 weeks. It's been continuing since then with me and my mom paying 50/50 for the costs. I missed a university travel to Athens because I couldn't afford it (something I'll never admit to my parents, I pretended there was drama and I didn't want to get involved) and I guess I won't leave the country this year. Honestly I'd have cut both arms to save that cat so it's a small price.

The people at the hospital love him too. He's really friendly so students can take his blood and try to take his heartbeat without worries. Problem is that he purrs too loud for a good lung listening to take place. Turns out Sacha loves getting pets and attention from groups of students and doctors who give him treats and headpats. He has done more drugs than me and has a better date game than me.

It's been quite a while now. Sacha's been doing really well and the recent reports note that he is in remission. I may have cried when I read that mail ngl. He goes outside and killed a big pigeon a few weeks ago. He plays with the other cats, he really likes Settra and for the first time in his life he does playfight. Bagheera likes him as a punching bag despite being smaller than him. My mom stays with him everyday and I visit half of the days of the week. He eats like a lion too, he went from 3 kilos to 4.7 kilos when he was last checked this Wednesday.

I guess this is a selfish post, it's kind of my way of both thanking the people who helped me like my mom, the docs and my Spanish teacher, without having to say thank you to their faces yet again, and a way of making my cat immortal in a way. Even with all the help, Sacha's gonna be gone one day, hopefully in a very long time. But this post'll remain for a while more so there'll be a trace of what humans did for that cat.

I also wanted to say that please don't be afraid to go to universitary pet hospitals if you have the means to afford it. It's a scary place, I didn't even know it existed but these people aren't out there vivisecting animals. They're really nice. And don't give up too early on stuff that matters to you, it's really worth to keep going, at least in this case.

And if you could do a few prayers for Sacha, that'd genuinely mean a lot to me.

Anyway here is the cat tax. I've included quite a few pics so this post can be even longer than it is.

Sacha as he was before he got sick:

Sacha as he was in October:

(Don't mind his lack of fur that's because he had too many knots and drastic measures had to be taken)

Sacha as he is now:

Sacha with Bagheera, on their favorite blankets.

Sacha and Settra begging to go outside (it's raining! I open the door and they don't leave!)

I love you, you dumb orange fuck.

#long post #cat #orange cat #first post #sick cat #cats

[beetleboo]

im not catching up on almost an entire week's worth of tumblr anyway hi everyone ive been running on queue since uhhh wednesday the 15th because i was super duper sick

something that i was dealing with since mid september and then it ramped the fuck up and there were two emergency room visits one on the 15th and then another yesterday on the 20th at four am and that time they actually had a dermatologist and anyway i have meds for my face and its better but my vision is still a little screwy and i didnt realize it had been until like uhhhhh a few hours ago so THATS FUN but they did book me a specialist appointment for that in a week. woo.

anyway face rash went haywire thought it was a severe drug reaction to the new one i started and i would have been so mad about it if it was bc that lyrica has been the most helpful thing ive had

but it wasnt it is almost certain some kind of allergic contact dermatitis that just fuckin went HAYWIRE because thats how things work around here (in the beets) and i have more appointments to see if we can narrow down what caused it

i have been suffering

so much

and i have been

so miserable

i cant put it into words

anyway meds are helping thank u steroids for my life and for making the face melting stop

im still pretty miserable but at least not 'cant keep my eyes open because that is both exhausting and intensely painful'

i need a break. i need thirty breaks. i need a vacation from my body my brain and my life. ouurueegh

#state of the beets #the deets on beets #idfk some kind of personal post #im tired

[rotationalsymmetry]

My thoughts on the value of flowers has changed so much over time.

(Not flowers as things that just exist out in the world, if anything I used to be more of a treehugger, but flowers as grown by humans in gardens or bought by humans to decorate indoor spaces.)

I used to think they were kind of silly or frivolous, and was vaguely concerned about pesticide use for growing flowers commercially.

Maybe I should still be concerned about pesticides, idk.

But thing is, I used to be able to roam all over. If I wanted to see beauty, I could go for a walk in a neighborhood with street trees and an abundance of nice front yards and sweeping views of the ocean. I didn't need it here, inside with me. But now I have CFS, and I often don't even get dressed before mid-afternoon, and I live in a white box where we still haven't managed to get our nice framed pictures up on the wall, and I can walk for about a mile total on an average day or two on a good one, and I want flowers so badly.

We have some cut flowers on the kitchen counter today and the marigold I planted in September that made it through the winter is blooming, and some of the strawberries I got (that I specifically picked to fruit throughout the year) are flowering, and I don't care about veggies I can buy veggies at the store but I can't order something nice to look at that's constantly changing at the grocery store. I want the miracle of life and I want the miracle of pretty life. Of visually interesting life. Of something I can look at for a while and not mind that I'm not looking at a screen for just a little bit.

[allie-campbell-bradshaw]

Chapter 9: Hurt

A/N: I am so glad to be back in the full swing of things. You have no idea how much I have loved watching this story develop…not to mention my craft too! I mention this in my notes for every chapter, but just in case you missed it– I do not give permission for my work to be re-posted without credibility. If you do want to post this story to your page, please be sure that you tag my account or at least mention its original source in your post. Again, thank you for being here and I hope you enjoy :)

Warnings: Swearing (It is the navy after all)

Chapter Nine: Hurt

BRADLEY’S POV

The reading quiz in chemistry was a breeze on Tuesday. Although I must give credit to Trace for that one. She knew exactly what parts to study and which paragraphs from the reading would be questioned. It was like she had a natural gift for intuition.

Although there were some highlights, the rest of the week was a drag. Allie and her two friends were not in the cafeteria at all for breakfast that week. I couldn’t not blame myself for that one. Despite Emmett continuously pestering me for updates, I didn’t bring Allie up at all. Well, I at least didn’t bring her up first. And thanks to the rigor of the academics, it was pretty easy to forget her while I was focused on my studies. Yes, I still thought about the two encounters we’ve had, but seeing her less and not thinking about her as much has made that slight hurt go away.

Flash forward to Thursday, and we were now sitting in our flight training course, scratching our heads as we read, and re-read, and re-re-read the same problems over and over, not seeming to make sense of them. It started off pretty easy, with basic takeoff and landing calculations. Now, in the middle of this fifty question test, they were referring to flight gargan that I had never heard before. There was a scenario about a wing that made no fucking sense. 

Natasha and I made eye contact with each other. She let out a deep breath as she played with the pencil in her hand, looking way more flustered than I did. Javy was sitting next to her, keeping his hands buried in his face, elbows on the table, as he struggled to get through the problem.

“Time!” Officer Tate called out in a military-esk yell. She was our professor for our aircraft interior units. We would work with her once every three weeks. This week we focused on the parts in the nose of the aircraft. She was a rather large woman, with skin deeper than Javy’s and thick black glasses. She looked to be in her mid-30’s, but I wasn’t ever good at guessing ages. 

All of us put our pencils down right away, half of the class learned the hard way that if you kept writing after she called ‘time’, you’d get a 0. Even if it was only a split second after she yelled out to us. However, I feel that our immediate sense of ending the assessment came from frustration and overall just being over it, rather than her conditioning. 

There were 8 of us in the class. Very small, but that’s what you expect when you go down such a specific, and dare I say not very popular, career path. The guy that has assumed the role of the class pet, Taylor or Tyler or Tyson (something like that) volunteered to pick the papers up, which Officer Tate gladly accepted.

Once Ty-whatever the fuck- was back in his seat, she gave us our next assignment, one that was due by the next time we saw her in September. We had to learn the names and purpose of every mechanical device that was in the middle of the airplane, right below the wings.

We were randomly put into pairs, everyone excited about their partner except for Natasha, who got put with the pet. She gave me an annoyed look before she made her way over to him, which made me smirk. She was the woman that would say what everyone was thinking. I loved it.

I quickly took her former spot, greeting Javy, my new partner as we looked over the work packet that he had to fill in. Over 14 pages stapled together, all of which had at least 2 or 3 different parts, or cords, or machines outlined for us to fill in.

Today was the only day we could do some hands-on work with the anatomy of the cessnas before we started to fly them next week. Amen! We all followed Tate to the oversized hangar that had 4 naked cessnas scattered about. All of the groups found their own to work with for the remainder of our class time. Javy and I opted for the one closest to the opened garage, letting the breeze hit our hot bodies as we looked at our aircraft.

I looked outside of the hangar, noticing the building on the opposite side of the runway. The words “U.S. Naval Academy General Hospital” stuck out in bold, slightly faded, navy letters. The outlines of the letters were covered in dirt and moss, confirming the older age of the building. It was a medium shade of brown brick, with a row of outdoor entrance rooms lining the tarmac. I remember hearing that those were used for general treatments for students that got minor injuries, not essential enough to take up any of the hospital rooms inside. The hospital had 2 levels. The bottom floor housed their emergency room wing and recovery wing from the surgeries that took place in the wards that were at the end of the wing. The second floor was used for the general hospital visits. Where people would go if they were in labor, or recovering from an illness, or receiving treatment. 

“Fuck!” I heard Javy yell next to me, as he grabbed his hand and took numerous steps backwards from the aircraft. “Watch out for that powerbox by the fuselage Bradshaw. That shit’s super magnetic. Almost took out my whole hand”. He winced as he walked away, shaking out the pain that I’m sure was radiating through his body.

“Do you need a medic?” Tate asked Javy, who was pacing now as he waved his hand, having a hop in his step, in a shit ton of pain for sure!

“No,” He answered, “I’m good. I just need a minute”.

“Let me know if you need to see a nurse,” she continued, “they can wrap it up for you if the swelling gets too bad”.

I walked over to where he was and looked at the magnetic powerbox. It was resting right in between two other parts, with less than an inch of room between its parameter and those of the other parts. It would for sure take out anyone’s hand if you didn’t pull it away in time when it latched. There was a button that you could press below it, which caused the magnetic strips to give so you could easily take the box out of the airplane.

It was the powerbox that was outlined in the fourth page of our packet. I quickly turned to that page and read up on its performance. I was in the middle of the page when I froze, thinking about Officer Tate’s words: Let me know if you need to see a nurse, they can wrap it up for you if the swelling gets too bad. 

Could it be this simple? As far as I could tell, this was the only way where I could ensure that I was in a room alone with Allie. She would be forced to listen to me then. And then I could explain all about the stupid bet, and how I just went along with it to entertain my moronic roommate, whom I loved very much. She needed to know that I was serious about getting to know her. That she was more than just a “bet”. I quickly made my way back over to the middle of the aircraft, ducking over and finding the space that the powerbox normally lay. 

I kept contradicting myself. Always finding reasons for why I should or should not do this. This would all be a waste if she wasn’t at the hospital, or if another nurse treated me, and by doing this, I was risking my flight time for the rest of the month. I wouldn’t be able to work out as much as I nurtured the injury. But she was so worth it. Talking to her, and clearing my conscience sounded like a bigger benefit in my eyes. I couldn’t live with myself if she thought I was just a run-of-the-mill fuckboy. I was far from.

Suddenly, I felt Emmett’s spirit enter my thoughts. I have to give him credit, for how grossly immature he was, I sure was learning a lot from him. He taught me how it was okay to let go, to not be serious all the time. He was surprised to learn that my senior superlative was “Best Personality”, but I gotta admit, I was a character before my mom died. She would call me her “mini goose”.

Carole rushed to grab the video camera, laughing as 9 year old Bradley, who had put on his one dress suit, his wig that he still had from his einstein costume that he wore from halloween, and his moms black reading glasses.

“Hi everybody!” Bradley began, speaking to an imaginary audience in front of him, “Harry Carey here! And it lookth like we got a very exthiting world theries on our handth”!

Bradley was imitating one of Will Ferrel’s SNL characters, recreating the scene he had just watched with his mom a few days ago. He kept going with the scene, looking over at his mom and laughing when he realized she was filming, before creating his own skit with the character:

“And if you look over here,” he grabbed the camera and turned it to Carole, who was sporting a red sundress in the summer heat, continuing with his speech; “You thee a very pretty Carole Bradthaw!” Carole struck a pose and did a twirl for the camera. “I love you mom!” Bradley yelled out to her, still holding the camera on her.

“I love you too, mini goose!” She said before walking forward and reaching for the expensive equipment.

Bradley beamed as he went back to his scenes, spending hours and hours creating SNL skits in his living room as his mom watched, seeing Nick in his eyes, knowing how much he would have loved to do this with his son.

‘JUST FUCKING DO IT’ I heard “Emmett” saying to me in my head. If he was really here, he would have thrown my hand in the aircraft long ago, carrying me bridal style towards the hospital before dumping me at Allie’s feet.

Before I could even change my mind, my hand was holding the powerbox in the aircraft, letting the force carry me forward as the magnets snapped together.

#naval aviator #bradley bradshaw fanfiction #bradley bradshaw imagine #bradley bradshaw #bradley bradsaw x reader #javy machado fic #rooster fanfic #top gun fanfiction #top gun #rooster imagine #maverick imagine #jake seresin #love strories #pete mitchell #natasha trace #natasha x reader #writers on tumblr

[youkaigakkou-tl]

I was wondering if you have any thoughts on Sano’s (and by extension Ebisu’s) past? Like our boy is so mysterious~ There’s so little info that, even though I can get a general timeline, his past just leaves me with more questions!

Oh boy Sano where do I start.

We actually get most of the interesting details about his past very early on. (btw most of these details are stuff other ppl noticed and brought up. i am very unobservant)

Sensei drops this in chapter 5 and has not elaborated since.

What Ebisu says in chapter 54 is helpful here, this happens in September, which means Sano and Mame met in their last/2nd last year of middle school. And this is their middle school, which you can see from the blazer uniforms. It makes sense that they would have ended up at the same middle school, because Sano is from Izumo, which is in Chugoku, which is also where Mame is from.

I actually came to the wrong conclusion about this scene in chapter 53 for a while. Ebisu sees Sano and is shocked, and then a few pages later tells Mame he knows all about the class he was assigned to.

I thought that he was shocked at the presence of Sano, which wouldn’t make sense, because even if he was lying about having “heard all about the class”, he WAS going to have himself assigned to Sano’s class no matter what.

I only really realised later that, like Ebisu himself points out at the end of ch 54, he was shocked that Sano dyed his hair.

It would make sense that Ebisu didn’t know Sano dyed his hair, because his hair was already dyed the first time we see him in yoseito, so to whoever Ebisu’s spy is, “Sano has blonde hair” simply isn’t something to report on.

Sensei also drops this in chapter 7 and hasn’t elaborated since. Well actually kind of. Maybe. This uniform has appeared exactly 2 other times.

Chapter 1 and chapter 26. Sano and Ebisu wearing it confirms its the god school’s uniform, but does that mean that’s where Haruaki taught at previously? And who’s the guy Sano accidentally hurt, is that Haruaki as well? (sure looks like it innit) Plot wise it would make sense and tie it all together, but like, wouldn’t Sano recognise Haruaki if he’s seen him that recently

Also, the timeline doesn’t make sense, since Haruaki was at that school at the start of yoseito, when Sano’s thing happened 1-2 years before yoseito. Unless that detail gets retconned (or, more likely, the original plan was that Sano’s thing happened at the start of high school year 1 before he transferred to Hyakki, which would line up with Haruaki saying he was at that previous school last year, and we are already living in a retconned timeline where Sano transferred before Hyakki) (But wait that also doesn’t make sense because in yoseito sensei is very clearly still going with the detail that “Haruaki tried that other school 1 year before main story”) (Damn idk)

Just realised something rereading these chapters. Ebisu is outright lying here.

(Ok maybe he had other “school stuff” other than a class trip. sure Ebisu whatever you say)

We also don’t know how old Ebisu is specifically, but I do think he is actually around mid-20s and not hundreds of years old, since he was in school the same time as the teacher trio, and looked like a kid when Sano was born)

(Actually wait, if that’s a god middle school uniform, doesn’t that mean Ebisu was in middle school in that flashback? I mean I guess it could line up if he was around 2 years younger than the teacher trio, or if the god middle and high school were combined)

It really is super hard to figure out Sano’s past, considering he’s purposely hiding it and Haruaki said he wouldn’t pry. Sano arc is pretty inevitable, what causes it would be the interesting part I bet

Im super sleepy so this isn’t very long and it’s probably pretty stupid but I’ll just end this with the panel right after the first image in this post:

#asks #rambles #trying to find stuff for this made me want to write a yoseito timeline

[cindylouwho-2]

RECENT NEWS, RESOURCES AND STUDIES, MID-AUGUST 2023

Welcome to my latest roundup of ecommerce and other online news for small and micro businesses, including Etsy sellers. Usually August is a slow news month, but there is still a fair amount going on.

Want to receive this report and my website blog posts by email? Sign up here: http://bit.ly/CindyLouWho2Blog

With the continuing demise of Twitter being a concern, here is a list of places you can find me, and here is where I am posting news:

LINKEDIN

BLUESKY

REDDIT

TWITTER

I hope to get the next report out before Labour Day, but of course I cannot predict what will happen between now and then. Please let me know if there is anything you would like to see more reporting on!

TOP NEWS & ARTICLES 

Repeating this from the last update since it so important: Etsy’s latest policy changes brought in the ability to opt out of the binding arbitration clause, but existing members only have until August 23rd to do so. The Indie Sellers Guild has some thoughts on this. If you are opting out, remember this must be done for each account (buyer or seller), and make sure to include the following information in your email to [email protected]:

your name

the email address for your account

your username

your shop name (if applicable)

Expect a vague email response that does not verify that you are opted out, because this is Etsy and why would they be clear? 

If you have anything with images of children in your Etsy shop (including art and figurines), please carefully read Etsy’s new policy on such imagery, as it appears many current photos and other visual depictions will not be allowed as of September 8. I started a thread in the Etsy forum for discussion. 

Amazon changed the deposit rules for UK and EU sellers who started on the site before 2016, implementing the “7 days after delivery date” deposit release that newer sellers also face. The UK’s small business commissioner and the minister for small business were not amused, and that led to some money being released early, but with a warning that the new delayed deposits would resume in January 2024.  

ETSY NEWS 

Etsy has changed the criteria for payment reserves for the time being, but we don’t know much about how, other than the fact most have been reduced to 30% from the original 75%. We still don’t know how they have made “... adjustments for issues that are beyond sellers’ control” such as a lack of cheap tracking, or if they are truly providing better communications to sellers just put on reserve, other than this Seller Handbook article from August 4. That article does admit that most current reserves are about shipping. I do know that we aren’t seeing many new reserves mentioned publicly, so it appears they have changed something. 

A few sellers from the UK have been able to opt out of Etsy’s Offsite Ads, but Etsy is now pushing back and rejecting requests. Reminder that most of the EU and also Switzerland can now opt out. 

The Make an Offer tool now lets you choose which listings you will accept offers on, as well as other improvements. (It's still only available to shops that sell in USD, and not all buyers can see it yet.)

To accompany the release of Etsy’s new baby registry, Etsy reported on recent baby and nursery trends. Farm animals are apparently in, as are flowers. 

The holiday season trends report is also out; it covers Canadian Thanksgiving to New Year’s Eve. “277% YoY increase in searches on Etsy containing “wooden christmas tree decor” - With sustainability in mind, many buyers are opting for ornaments made of solid hardwood over plastic.” And apparently maxi skirts are back? 

The second quarter 2023 report showed stagnation in sales but more new sellers, plus Etsy focussing on telling sellers to discount items. You can read my coverage here. Some analysts are starting to sour on Etsy: “They feel a little bit like Pinterest to me where they have something great but they're not finding the opportunity on it.” 

Smiley faces are one of the latest takedown targets - not by Etsy bots, but by the actual rights owner. 

SEO: GOOGLE & OTHER SEARCH ENGINES 

If you are using internal links on your website for SEO reasons, beware that the anchor text is also important. 

An analysis of the biggest winners in Google search results for the United States in the first half of 2023 shows Mercari had a huge leap in search visibility so far this year. 

Bing is not gaining much on Google’s market share, despite having a jump on AI search. 

Brave Search now includes both video and image searching. 

If you missed a lot of Google developments in July, Search Engine Roundtable has you covered. 

[Advanced content] An Ahrefs study found that ⅔ of websites using hreflang have at least one problem. 

SOCIAL MEDIA - All Aspects, By Site

General

Since most social media platforms don’t want people leaving their site, they tend to give lower ranking to posts with links in them. You can get around this issue by focussing on zero-click marketing. [text and video] There’s a followup video with transcript on the 4 ways you can promote content through social media as well. 

Another what and when to post on social media, this one covering Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, based on what brand accounts did in 2022. [I’m thinking the Twitter data may not be as relevant today.]

Several US states have passed laws requiring parental permission for anyone under 18 to join social media, or are in the process of doing so.

One of the downsides of Bluesky is that it counts any link URLs as part of your character limit, but you can get around that if you aren’t also adding a photo. 

Facebook (includes relevant general news from Meta)

Daily active users on Threads have dropped over 80% from their peak. The site is still developing, however, and desktop access plus searching is coming soon. 

Instagram

Instagram is adding more tools that use artificial intelligence. 

Photos carousels now support music. 

TikTok

TikTok will be offering fulfilment services in the UK, to be followed by the US. “The example merchants are influencers and beauty brands to start with.”

Users in the EU will be able to remove online tracking from their TikTok “For You” algorithm in the near future, possibly by August 28.There will also be advertising changes. 

Twitter

The Twitter algorithm is changing, and now prioritizes replies, plus it is pushing video. “X is also penalizing mentions of the term ‘Threads’ as well as links to the Meta competitor.” [Yes, I am still calling it Twitter, but you can call it X if you want.]

Tweetdeck is now a paid service only. The ability to organize different lists and even work with multiple different accounts made it an essential for doing a lot of work on Twitter. 

ECOMMERCE NEWS, IDEAS, TRENDS (minus social media)

Amazon

Amazon will be charging additional fees for sellers who use Prime but don’t ship through Amazon, starting October 1. 

Amazon added hundreds of new product attributes that need to be added to relevant new listings starting on August 16. 

Looks like there will be another Amazon Prime Day in several countries this year.

Amazon’s second quarter was strong, with a lot of growth in ads. 

Investors are suing Amazon over several issues, including lying to them. 

eBay

eBay is finally agreeing to negotiate with the union of its recent acquisition, TCGPlayer, after the larger company failed to reverse the vote to unionize.  

Poshmark

Poshmark’s app will soon include an image search, called “Posh Lens”, although only some have the beta test at the moment. 

All Other Marketplaces

Depop’s new seller protection policy for US and UK sellers kicks in on September 3, and requires sellers to purchase shipping labels on the site. 

Wish is laying off over ¼ of its staff, including up to 40% of its employees in the United States.  

Shipping 

The port labour disruption in British Columbia is officially over.

ONLINE ADVERTISING (NOT SOCIAL MEDIA OR ECOMMERCE SITES 

If you aren’t using the free Google Shopping ads for your website yet, here are some tips on optimizing your products. Note that “Google may also assess your landing page speed and experience to rank your products”; many think that is only for organic results. 

Google ended “similar audiences” from all ads on August 1. “Campaigns using similar audiences will automatically get opted into optimised targeting and audience expansion moving forward. Marketers who would rather avoid this can go to the audiences tab in the Google Ads settings page and manually turn off the campaigns instead.”

STATS, DATA, TRACKING 

Still not paying much attention to Google Analytics 4? Here’s more info on why and how it is different from Universal Analytics. 

And that's it for this edition! Please let me know if there are other topics I should be covering.

#EtsySellerNews #seo #ecommerce #etsy #social media #microbusiness #cindylouwho2 #marketplaces