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hexiva · 4 months

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Roleplay Is Not Dead Nor Doth It Sleep

There's a post going around about how text-based, freeform roleplay is dead, and I was typing up a huge response to this, with an accompanying guide on how to find roleplayer in 2024, when I realized it might have a bigger reach if I made it its own post. So here's that guide.

I hesitate to say that there isn't a problem with the new format of social media making roleplay more difficult to find, but in the desire to make that point, the OP of the original post has left people with the idea that there's no way for them to get into freeform text roleplay in 2024. Which just isn't true! Here, look at all the ways.

Forums

The link to RPG-Directory to find roleplaying forums is a good start. Once you've found a forum RPG, even if you don't join, there's usually an 'advertising' section on that forum where other forum RPGs post their ads - this may help you to find forums that don't advertise on RPG-D.

Another really good forum to find roleplay on is Barbermonger. Barbermonger is focused on connecting people for one-on-one roleplays.

This last one's going to be weird, but it turns out that there are still people seeking roleplay on the Gaia Online forums after all these years. I think this is delightfully retro and then crowd there seems a little older than average. No pre-existing knowledge of Gaia required.

Tumblr

You can also find forum roleplay groups (as well as tumblr and Discord groups) right here on Tumblr. Usually, the thing to do is to use the search function - search for "[genre] rp" or "[fandom] rp" and sort by "latest." (If you sort by Top, you are likely to find dead RPs.) For example, here's fantasy rp, historical rp, and marvel rp. You can also try jcink rp, as most roleplay forums are hosted on Jcink these days, or discord rp, depending on your favored platform.

There are also tumblr blogs specifically dedicated to advertising roleplays. I'm not super familiar with these nowadays, but just in the process of searching those tags above, I found these:

Jcink Tinder

RPG Adverts

RPings

There are more, I just don't know them off the top of my head.

Listen, don't run away, I swear it's good now - I swear Reddit is good now -

Reddit is a good place to find Discord roleplays. It's a little heavier on smut-only roleplays than other platforms mentioned here, but it's not impossible to find sexless, plot-based roleplay here either. Most ads are for one on one RP, but you can find groups mixed in here too. The big subreddits for text-based freeform RP seem to be:

r/DiscordRP

r/RoleplayPartnerSearch

r/roleplaying

r/Roleplay

Some of these have weird rules about what you can put in your ad, and I don't remember which ones, so read carefully and don't get discouraged if your ad is initially removed.

Discord

In 2024, Discord is by far the biggest and most popular platform for roleplay, and it has its own native roleplay advertising hubs. Here are a bunch:

roleplay partner hub

Rockin Roleplay

The Roleplay Garden

roleplay help

the roleplay connection

RP Central

Roleplay Central

Roleplay Hub

Barbermonger also has a Discord server

Roleplay Meets: Reborn

RP Hub

The Scribes Guild

DM Rp Village

cherry blossom! roleplay hub

DM-RP

Roleplay Round Table (21+)

The Historical Syndicate (specifically for historical roleplay)

The Roleplayer's Directory

If you can't find the Discord roleplay you want on here, you can also try Discord hub websites, like Disboard. These work similar to tumblr tags - search for [genre] rp or [fandom] rp.

Other

The original post specifically mentions that 'all the old "omegle but for role play" type websites died out ages ago'. This is mostly true, but not quite! There's still Rolechat. It's a little janky, but what it needs more than anything is a bigger user base. Their Discord server is also a good place to find one on one discord roleplay. It is, of course, free, but if you want to support its development, they have a patreon.

Please reblog this post, and add your own tips on how to find roleplay!

#roleplay #rp #fandom rp #discord rp #jcink rp

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schrodingerscougar · 2 months

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Part two for this one. I'm sorry for the cliffhanger in the first part. The illustration is from the amazing @ave661 .

Four months. That’s how much time it took Simon to get out of that hazy fugue state. He didn’t really remember what he had gone through during that time, his brain switched to autopilot after the breakup. He often wondered why it affected him this much when he didn’t even love you. You were just someone he spent time with, someone he tried to play house with for a short while to feel normal.

Still, now as he lay on his bed, watching the ceiling fan rotate to stir up the hot air in the room, he couldn’t stop thinking about you. He even found himself opening a social media app to search for your name from a fake account he had set up a long time ago, and he was shocked to see the most recent photo of you. It was impossible to miss the unmistakable shape of a baby bump under your shirt, and based on its size, you got pregnant long months ago.

When he was finally allowed to go home for a short while, Simon went to see you. He knew he had hurt you, he knew you were probably still mad at him, but he had to know if it was his child. It only happened one time. One night when he tried to fix things by giving you what you wanted, hoping sex could make him see you in another light. Maybe he would finally want you the way you always wanted him to want you. But it didn’t work, and it was after that night he made the final decision to end things with you.

“What do you want?” you asked him when you opened the door.

Simon nodded as he bit the inside of his cheek. This cold welcome was fair enough, he deserved this kind of treatment. Normally, he would have left you alone. But normally, you would have told him you were pregnant.

So he silently pointed at your belly and waited for you to realize what he wanted. He knew you weren't dumb, the pieces would fall into place in a second. And sure enough, you let out a sigh then opened the door wider to let him in.

“Why didn't you tell me?” he asked you as he stood in the kitchen next to you with his arms crossed.

You were busy making him a cup of tea, but you took the time to silently shrug. When he let out a heavy sigh, you looked over at him and said, “I didn't think you'd care, Si. Simple as that.”

You were right. He didn't care. Even now that he was looking at you, his eyes occasionally moving to the bump that hid his own blood, his mind was somewhere else. He was a soldier, he knew how to take responsibility for his actions. You getting pregnant was his fault too. He couldn't just ignore the problem.

“I’ll pay child support,” he assured you.

“No need.”

Simon reached out to put a hand on the base of your neck, but you quickly pushed his hand away before he could touch your skin. “You don’t have to do this alone.”

You inhaled through your nose and held your breath in for a few seconds before finally exhaling. “So what? You’re gonna be around and help us? Take her to a doctor’s appointment or for a stroll around the block?” When you saw him looking down at his shoes, you couldn’t help but snort. “Thought so,” you said.

“I’ll better get going. If you change your mind, you know where to find me.”

Months flew by, but Simon barely noticed. He was on a mission again far from home, risking his life as usual. You never called and he didn’t force it. He accepted that he would have to live with the guilt of making this happen. Since you didn’t want to accept child support, he opened a bank account where he stored that money, hoping that one day he could give it to you or his daughter when she became old enough.

One day he checked your social media accounts like he had done a few times before, just to see how you were. This is when he saw the post in which you announced the arrival of your baby girl. He didn’t make a big deal out of it at first. She was born and she would probably ask about her father one day. If he was still alive then, he would gladly give her a toned down explanation. If not… Well, he left everything to her in his will.

Eventually he began to save the photos of his daughter and he often found himself looking at them. She was adorable, some of her features resembling his own. Her big brown eyes were definitely his; the color and the shape were both so familiar to him.

No one from the team knew about this part of his life. He had never told anyone, because why would he? They were close, they were his brothers, but you and your daughter were carefully guarded secrets in his life. Simon knew the real reason why he never talked about you; he was afraid of the judgmental looks and words.

Two months later, when he entered his apartment again after another round of deployment, Simon didn't really know what to do with himself. He ended up looking at his daughter's photos more and more often and eventually he made up his mind to give her a visit. It had absolutely nothing to do with you. He was doing this for the little girl.

You weren't welcoming but, once again, he couldn't blame you. “I just want to see my daughter,” he said softly, hoping the two of you could avoid fighting.

For long moments you were cautiously watching him, as if you were trying to decide if he could be trusted or not. But then your eyes fell on the big teddy bear he was holding with one hand and you let out a sigh of defeat.

On the way to the nursery, you didn't talk at all. The silence didn't bother him, but still he would have appreciated some words about the little girl he was about to meet. Was he allowed to pick her up? Did she like to be held? How was she? Did she have stomach ache often? Were she teething?

“Be quick,” you warned him when you stopped by her crib.

Simon let out a sigh. “Come on, don't be like that.”

You just rolled your eyes at him before taking a step back to lean your shoulder against the doorframe, arms folded over your chest, eyes watching his every move like a hawk. He found it a little too much, he hated that you didn't trust him. Sure, he hadn't given you many reasons to trust him, but for the sake of your daughter you should have tried.

With a sigh, he rested an elbow on the side of the crib and reached out to touch the baby as gently as he could with his other hand. His own flesh and blood. It was amazing, really. Without asking for permission, he picked her up and couldn't help but smile when the baby smiled at him.

Now that he was holding her close to his body, placing soft kisses on her head every so often, Simon couldn't deny that he already loved his daughter. There was an invisible string between them, something that brought her closer to him that anyone has ever been.

The baby giggled suddenly and it brought an even wider smile to Simon’s face. He could only hope you would let him see her as often as he could visit, but something told him it wouldn't be easy to convince you.

“She likes you,” you suddenly noted.

He put down the little girl then turned to you. “The feeling's mutual.” A faint smile appeared on your lips. “Can I see her some other time?” You nodded. “Thank you. If I can help with anything, just give me a call or send a message. I'll get back to you as soon as I can,” he offered.

You been to walk out of the room and he quietly followed you, waiting for you to say something. He didn't really know what he was expecting to hear, but he had a feeling you were holding back something. And sure enough, after a few minutes of silence you began to talk, scolding him for not even bothering to send at least a text to ask about her before suddenly showing up.

“I'm sorry. I didn't think you'd read them.”

“I'm mad at you, that's true,” you agreed.

Simon leaned against the doorframe as he watched you pace in the living room like a caged animal. He remembered those nights he had spent thinking about on deployment, the moment he saw that photo of you, and he realized that maybe he was missing you.

But how could he miss someone he didn't even love? Or had he developed feelings for you, feelings he tried to hide even from himself? It was way too confusing for him, and he didn't like to be confused. It was a weakness on the field and in his civilian life.

“I should go. If you need anything–”

You came to a halt, turned to him and nodded. “I know where to find you. But can I ask you something?” Simon motioned you to go on. “Why now? Why did you become interested in her all of a sudden?”

He let out a thoughtful hum as he put his hand on the back of his neck. “I saw the photos, how much she looks like me, and… I don't know.” You took a few steps closer to him, but you still kept a comfortable distance. “I've been saving money for her. I want to give you access to that bank account.”

“I don't need your money,” you were quick to say.

“It's for her. Please, accept it.”

You became mad at him, accusing him of assuming you couldn't take care of your daughter you'd been raising on your own from day one. He knew there was no point in defending himself, you were too lost in the hate you felt for him. So he just waited there in silence, letting you finish your speech.

Then, the moment you seemingly finished, he closed the gap between the two of you. He didn't know what he was doing, he just followed his instinct when he leaned down and kissed you. This was probably the first time he truly enjoyed kissing you, and it helped a lot that you were quick to return it.

Maybe this was why he wanted to come here today. To fix things. To try to get a family he'd been craving ever since he lost his own.

(part three)

#ghost #ghost x reader #simon ghost riley #simon ghost riley x reader #call of duty #simon riley #mw2 #mw3 #modern warfare #simon riley x reader

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londonfoginacup · 2 years

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A New Larrie’s Guide to Tumblr

A probably incomprehensible, certainly incomplete list of what you need to know; whether you’re coming from a different platform or discovering Larry for the first time.

My credentials

Hello! I’m Emmu. I’ve had tumblr since… 2008? Maybe 2009. I moved over from deviantArt and used Tumblr as a personal art blog for many years. I joined the One Direction fandom in 2014, so my 1D blog has 8+ years at this point. That being said, I will get on my soapbox a bit during this. Please excuse me, I’m quite passionate about cultivating a happy and healthy fandom.

What makes Tumblr different

The biggest thing that makes Tumblr, as a site, different from Twitter or Instagram is the rejection of algorithms. The “following” tab on your dashboard is in chronological order (and if it isn’t, you can – and should – change that), and the “for you” tab is both a recent feature and rarely used. Tumblr has very little algorithm, and the algorithm they have isn’t very good. It means that you’ll get the most god awful ads you’ve ever seen on this site, because they don’t utilize your data well. And that’s to your advantage.

Tumblr is a great place because you can curate what you see more than other social media. The people that you choose to follow are the only people that you see on your dash (unless you choose to follow tags, which I guess is an option? @lululawrence says “it is and it used to not do anything unless you went to the search page and then it would like autofill your followed tags options, but NOW they take those followed tags and plop them on your dash... SOMETIMES. usually only on mobile. but if there's only one new post in the tag, it shows you that post OVER. AND OVER. AND OVER AGAIN. IT'S SUPER ANNOYING ACTUALLY. SO I STOPPED FOLLOWING TAGS. lol anyway”).

So, the site is in chronological order. This is its biggest selling point.

There is also the opportunity for long posts. Masterposts. Things that are searchable without having to read through pages of screenshots or condensed twitter threads. You can write a whole lot more without worrying about character limit. People publish whole fics on here (I suggest ao3 for that, but tumblr is technically an option!).

Another important thing to know about tumblr is that the archives on tumblr run deep. There are newer larries here, and a lot of them, but you can also find older larries. People whose 1D blogs go back to 2010 or 2011. You can dive into the archives and read firsthand accounts of what was happening with One Direction or larry at that very time. Doing a bit of research means you find cute fetus pictures of the boys, but also you’re able to figure out for yourself whether something actually happened. Rumors always seem to spread quite easily and fandom memory always seems impossibly short, but here on tumblr you’re able to find out for yourself. That means the next time you hear about how xyz thing happened a long time ago, check out some of those archives and see what you can find.

Also, my personal favorite part of tumblr is that old posts are just as valid as new posts. Find a masterpost about RBB and SBB from 2015? Go ahead and reblog that; bring it back to the circulating dash. People will love that. Find a fanartist that you really like? Search through their tags, reblog anything you want. It’s not considered stalking or weird in any way. We love bringing back old posts here. Tumblr is a website where you’re not meant to just talk about the present.

The cultural difference between Tumblr and Twitter

Speaking of the ways that tumblr and twitter are different, let’s talk for a moment about the 1D fandom in particular.

I’ve held this theory for a while that the twitter (and instagram) algorithm is fracturing the fandom. Because twitter is so dependent on the algorithm, people are more likely to split apart and join smaller and smaller communities based on smaller, more specific opinions. Tumblr, being a place where you don’t just get a post on your dash because someone else liked it, doesn’t have those smaller cliques. There are larries, and there are antis.

(if you get really in the weeds, there are also larry shippers [who don’t believe they’re together but like to read it in fic], and houis [who think they were together but broke up], but I just don’t hear about them as much).

While I do occasionally hear about blouies on my dash, for the most part this is a culture that exists primarily on other sites.

On another note, because tumblr doesn’t have that handy algorithm, we have to work to make it a more active space. Likes don’t do anything here for anyone other than you, and it doesn’t really change anything about what you’ll see on your dash. Think of them more like the bookmark setting on twitter or instagram. Reblogs are necessary to get anything spread. Anything that you enjoy, or that looks interesting for any reason? Reblog it! That’s the only way other people will see it! And leave a happy comment in the tags if you’ve got one (more on that later).

And, while lurkers do exist in this fandom (and we love them), it’s important to get an icon and blog header that make you look like a real person. People on tumblr have long been in the habit of blocking shady blogs, mostly because of a bot problem, so if you want to lurk, you have to look like a lurker. Maybe reblog a post or two to establish yourself, and make sure you don’t accidentally look like an icon-less bot posing as a sugar daddy.

How to set up your account

Okay, so you’ve got a tumblr. Let’s take a minute to fix up the settings so that you’re not getting, well, the worst version of the site.

My advice is to start by going into your dashboard preferences and:

Turn off the best stuff first (it’ll just show you things you’ve already seen)

Turn off “include stuff in your orbit” (you’ll see terrible posts that are mostly NOT in your orbit)

Turn off “Included based on your likes” (again, you’ll see posts you hate)

Turn off “shorten long posts”. It’s a ridiculous setting that, like many things on tumblr, had potential but was rolled out in an incredibly unhelpful and user unfriendly way.

Once you’ve got that squared away, go into filtering and block any tags and content you don’t like, as that is always proper fandom etiquette. Not seeing things you don’t like is your responsibility, not the responsibility of the person posting them. I personally suggest adding the topics you don’t want to see to both the content list and the filtered tags list, as that gives a much better likelihood of posts that are particularly unsavory for you getting caught by the filters. Please also note this might need to be done on both desktop and the app separately as, depending on where tumblr is at the moment, these filters do not always carry over from one application to the other.

Now scroll down to tumblr labs. These are their experimental things. Some are good! Some are very bad. They do change, though, so this might get out of date pretty fast.

Personally, I enabled fast queue

And disabled everything else

ALSO, an important note, if you are using the apple app, you need to go in and turn off the adult content filter. No idea offhand where that is, but it means posts that include tags like “mine” and “girl” are blocked. It’s ridiculous.

Who to follow and how to find them

So, you’ve got a new tumblr and need people to follow. This makes sense! To really fill up your dash, I’d suggest the following

Find one person you like. There’s a good chance you know at least someone from twitter who also has a tumblr, so you can start there. If you’re not from twitter, or are looking to start fresh, you can dive into the search function (I’ve never tried finding someone this way myself, but searching larry stylinson or something similar would probably get you started)

Find the people they reblog from and check out each of their blogs! Follow people that make you happy

Follow some update accounts! Thinking of some off the top of my head, there’s @HLUpdate, @Stylesnews, @dailytomlinson, @HLDailyUpdate, or @neilswaterbottles (there’s definitely more though).

Follow some fanart or fic rec accounts!

I’d always suggest @1d-fanart or @hlcreators for art.

For fic, you could check out @hlficlibrary, @ficsyoumayhavemissed, or @thelarriefics.

Or, recurring fic fests! @onedirectionbigbang or @wordplayfics, which happen every year.

And if you end up not enjoying someone you’ve followed? Unfollow them! It’ll make you happier.

How to interact with posts

Tumblr is all about tags. Do you have a comment or thought? Reblog a post and say your thought in the tags. That way anyone you follow will see it, and the person who made the post will see it. This way a post doesn’t end up with a lot of cluttery additions that don’t mean a lot to the average person reblogging it, but if you browse the tags of posts you’ll find lots of interesting things. Tags can be used to keep track of things, too, of course — some people tag all pictures with who’s in them, or tag art or fic with tags that mean they can find them again. Tags are versatile! But reblog, don’t just like, and tag! The more you interact, the happier content creators are!

What not to do

Don’t repost. If you see something you like on tumblr, reblog it. Even if it’s a really old piece of fanart (like circa 2011). Reblog that old post! Reposting means people don’t get credit, and it doesn’t link back to them. That’s not cool, and in the long term makes fandom less happy.

How to cultivate a happy and healthy fandom

Send happy anons! Ask how people are doing, do question memes, say how much you loved fic/art/edits, etc.

Reblog art. Reblog fic. Reblog what makes you laugh. The more you reblog, the more other people see, the more the fandom moves! Content creators just want their things seen; every time you reblog, their phone gets that little notification and you’ve given someone a bit of happiness.

Unfollow people who annoy you. Follow people who make you happy!

If someone has a take about 1D that you don’t agree with, don’t tell them or send them argumentative anons. Find people who will agree with you, and complain to them privately. Or make your own post, not shading anyone, just presenting your own opinion and theories!

Remember that everyone is a real person. Cut them some slack when you find them being annoying. But also, unfollow. Curate your dash.

#I made this like #in the spring? or summer #and then felt like it was too pretentious to post lmao #anyway maybe this will help someone!#foggy essays #that's a tag that WILL have more in it eventually #once i write my essay about Carolina #...which i was supposed to do back when it first came out lmao

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static-fucking-mess · 3 months

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Eddie couldn't help himself. He stared at Billy Hargrove sometimes; the gorgeous curls and wild grin lit something inside of him the first time Eddie had ever laid eyes on him.

Billy's plush lips sucking in the smoke from his Marlboro reds, broad shoulders, tight jeans. Eddie couldn't help himself from focusing on the way Billy's tongue flashed out to wet his lips as the smoke billowed off into the sky from his nose.

Billy washed into Hawkins and Eddie's life like a hurricane from California. His loud car, crashing music, and Eddie knew just from catching sight of him once that he wanted to know everything about him. He imagined if he got close enough he'd still be able to smell the ocean air on his sun kissed skin. He wanted to know his favorite bands, his thoughts on media, God he'd even sit through talking about cars if it meant Billy would look his way. (It wasn't like he wasn't interested, just that his own knowledge was limited to keeping his dinosaur of a van alive, and he didn't want to sound like an idiot. Not in front of Billy.)

Everything about Billy attracted Eddie to him. Eddie Munson had never considered himself shy. Fuck, he was a bit awkward about social boundaries, but he'd never felt shy before. Then, there were rarely ever new people that came to Hawkins to stay. And Billy made it clear that he had no intention of staying. Hawkins was small, and desperately choking on its shallow gene pool, in Eddie's opinion. Fresh faces were hard to find, especially ones that were willing to look his way, after all.

Billy hadn't been willing. To look his way, that was. He took to the social hierarchy like a wrecking ball, and sent it all asunder. King Steve seemed no more, Tommy and Carol seemed to fight more amongst themselves these days instead of making biting remarks at others. But Billy? He still wouldn't spare a breath on Eddie the Freak Munson.

Eddie had tried once.

He'd been utterly tongue tied in approaching Billy, picking at his sleeve. The two stood awkwardly behind the school dumpsters as they had their smoke break. Eddie's hand shook as he rolled his wrist, searching for the right words that refused to come.

"I really— I mean... fuck— sorry. Hold on. Uh—"

Billy's cool gaze slid up from where his zippo burned the cherry of his cigarette. He flicked his wrist to close his lighter before he tucked it away, utterly unimpressed. Eddie would probably be unimpressed with himself too. But damn; Billy Hargrove was a God carved of marble and gold, blessed by California sun. Eddie was a home grown weed from an Indiana backyard. His brown hair frizzy, unkempt, and his skin a touch oily from his aversion to water. It wasn't like he skipped showers because he wanted to. But in that moment Eddie felt painfully aware that Billy Hargrove was miles out of his league.

"Beat it," Billy grumbled at him. "I'm not in the business of making friends with people like you," he hissed. Those beautiful blues steeling into something dangerous that made Eddie's insides go cold. He swallowed back his words and the shaking in his hand seemed to intensify.

"No um... no that's. Fair. People like me?" Eddie inquired, head tipping a bit. He wanted to know just what part of his stigma had reached Billy first. He'd seen the saints necklace dangling in the open neck of his shirt. "The Satan worshipper? The freak?"

"Queers," Billy snapped. He looked at Eddie like a hostile and wild animal. Like his smiles were more reflective of the animal kingdom than the humanity he bore to charm others. Eddie swallowed dry air and dropped his gaze? Putting his cigarette out under his shoe.

"Right," Eddie affirmed. Billy had seen the way the guy looked at him. It was impossible to miss those dark, chocolate doe eyes when they lingered on him. It tickled the inside of Billy's ribs something real funny when he noticed Eddie in class. Distracted, but gazing his way like he was looking at art in a museum.

Billy was used to people lusting after him. He was hot, and god he knew it. He utilized it more often than he probably should have, but his good genetics in the physical appearance department had gotten him into, and out of a lot of trouble.

But Eddie wasn't lusting.

Eddie looked like he was trying to figure him out. Wondering at him. And that was dangerous. Because Billy had caught himself wondering too. What calloused hands would feel like holding down his wrists, or what those pouty lips would feel like stealing the breath off his. Thoughts like that were what had led to them having to leave California. Thoughts that turned to action, action that had made Neil so angry that he gave Billy two options:

Leave California, and the boy behind...

Or go to Summer Camp.

The two seemed like impossible evils to wrestle with. And in the end, with defeat, Billy had chosen to leave his home behind. It had hurt more that the boy had moved on before Billy could even explain himself. He swore, man or woman, he wouldn't date. Dating just brought trouble. Laying roots was dangerous. Ripping them free just hurt more.

So, he broke Eddie's heart before it had the chance to bloom. So he thought.

Nearing the beginning of November, Billy struggled one morning to light his cigarette. Shivering from the cold, and possibly the pain in his ribs. The pain that curled up through him and reminded him that defiance tasted like iron and copper on every breath in.

"Here—" the voice was steeped in sweet honey. Eddie lit his cigarette for him, and Billy flicked his eyes up to meet with Eddie's.

Eddie cupped his hands around Billy's while the cigarette dangled from his lips. Eddie rubbed his rough hands over Billy's to warm them, breathing softly over them to fight away the frost and chill in the air. Billy stood stiff and still like the early frost had taken root in him.

Eddie gazed up at Billy and offered him a smile, almost sheepish as he stepped away. He mourned the loss of that warmth as soon as it was gone, the fleeting action stirring something inside that Billy didn't want to fan the flames of.

"Shit, sorry," Eddie snorted. "I'm kind of a touchy guy, and uh. Social boundaries? Not my strong suit."

Billy chuffed, shaking his head before he took his cigarette loosely between two fingers and spat onto the pavement.

"Don't fucking touch me, freak," he hissed to Eddie. His frustration sizzling as his voice lacked the ire he wanted it to have. He wanted Eddie to flinch and run. But he didn't. Instead he just... shrugged his shoulders, unbothered, and turned away to smoke his own cigarette.

The next time Billy had contact with Eddie, it happened so quickly that Eddie wasn't even sure what had happened. It was just something small. Something... simple. But as they passed in the hall, Tommy had shoulder checked Eddie hard enough to knock him on his ass, laughing like he was looking for Billy's approval. That was not what happened.

The loud crash against the lockers had startled Eddie back to himself from the position he was in on the floor.

Billy had Tommy pinned to the lockers, speaking to him in a low and deeply venomous tone.

"Hands off, Hagan. The only person who gets to mess with the freak is me," he snarled.

Eddie wondered what that meant, but it felt like stepping closer to a warm fire in a way. He knew Damm well it might be dangerous to get too close. But Eddie didn't mind the way Billy burned. He wanted to be caught in the rush of Billy's storm.

Eddie had held that warm feeling in his chest for a while. It felt like a glow, and it was something that made him look Billy's way, even when he was shoved against lockers, shoulder checked in the hall, or had his books knocked out of his hands. Eddie always caught it.

The smile that wasn't mocking, even when Billy would insult him. It was like he couldn't put the same vitriol in it that he used to.

"Freak" felt more like a term of endearment. "Loser" felt like an invitation to squabble. And God did Eddie take every chance to bicker with Billy Hargrove.

Mid December, their words had turned into a tussle.

"You wouldn't dare—" Eddie had invited, grinning at Billy who had every intention of dumping Eddie into a snowbank.

"I think you need to cool it," Billy had snarked back, looking less than threatening with his red beanie on his head, puff ball and all. It had been Eddie's. The beanie. But Eddie hadn't said a word about the gloves, scarf, and hat he'd left in Billy's locker after he had noticed that the boy from California didn't have clothes suited for Indiana winter.

"Don't do it, Billy," Eddie laughed.

"Do what? I don't have any idea what you're talking about," Billy said back, casual as he took a step closer.

It happened, in a crash of flailing limbs and shrieking laughter. Billy saw Eddie for the first time. He saw the bright smile that was punctuated by dimples on either side. He saw the way Eddie's fuzzy hair fanned out in the snow as he was dumped into the snow bank, and god he couldn't help but notice the way flakes stuck in his eyelashes. His cheeks and ears red from the cold; Eddie wasn't wearing gloves, a hat, or a scarf. He'd given up his warm clothes to keep Billy warm.

And that sure made something inside Billy warmer than the sun in California ever could.

It was mid January when a knock resonated number 12 at the forest hills trailer park. It brought Eddie out of dozing. The alarm clock read an ugly 2am back at him that made him groan.

He pulled himself up and out of bed as the knock grew more irritated and insistent, swiping his hands down over his tired face.

"Jesus christ, I'm coming! Fucking relax!" He bellowed. Eddie shoved his feet into his slippers and shuffled to the front door, ripping it open.

"My hours end at 11 pm on week... nights..." the irritation in Eddie's voice gave way to a shocked whisper as he was met with a ghastly sight before him.

Billy Hargrove standing on his porch, braced against the side of the trailer to stop any swaying. It looked like he had bruises littering half of his face, and Eddie imagined it was worse, with the way the bruises on his neck seemed to bloom down under his jacket.

"Hey," Eddie whispered, unsure if he could say more. When he reached to push a curl out of Billy's face, the man flinched like Eddie was about to put a knife to his throat.

Instead, Eddie put his hand on Billy's shoulder and guided him to come inside.

That was the night that Eddie learned about Neil Hargrove. It was the same night that Eddie slept, curled around Billy. Like he could protect him.

Billy slept with his nose pressed against Eddie's collarbone, sinking into the scents of cinnamon and cigarette smoke. Eddie was warm, and even though he was more elbows and knees than plush and soft... Billy felt like he fit perfectly with his head tucked under Eddie's chin. Eddie gave good hugs. Great hugs even. Enough of them that Billy felt drunk on the scent of cinnamon and the comfort of his best friend's arms.

They continued as best friends for a long time. Until the Tragedy of Starcourt. Nobody called Eddie. Nobody had thought to at first, really. With the chaos and the news of Russians under the mall— not to mention how the last week or two, Billy had been avoiding Eddie like he was a Germ.

"Get the fuck away from me—"

"Stay away from me Munson."

"Get the fuck out of my face."

"I won't warn you again, if you come near me, I'll break your fucking neck."

Eddie had been sulking about it. Well. More than sulking if he was honest. Had he cried on Wayne's shoulder? Absolutely. Did he get a speeding ticket on his way to the hospital once Max had called him? Absolutely.

Eddie stood in the doorway of Billy's hospital room, looking in on his best friend like the universe had put a knife through his heart. Billy looked barely alive. Fragile.

Eddie was one of the very few visitors that Billy got. Neil Hargrove hadn't shown his face once. Max had told him in a hushed voice that he had packed his things to leave town. Billy was a hero for saving so many people in the mall fire, and Neil still hated him. Didn't want a disabled son.

Billy woke up alone. He wasn't surprised to wake up alone, in a hospital room without a single card on his bedside. Sure, he wasn't surprised... but that didn't mean it didn't hurt. It hurt like being cracked open from the inside out. A glaring statement that told Billy Hargrove:

'You don't matter.'

Even alone, Billy stifled his sobs so he wouldn't be noticed.

"Easy tough guy," the gentle voice came from the doorway, making Billy's heart jump up into his throat. Eddie came in with the nurses, who checked his vitals and pain levels. But Billy barely noticed them. He was focused on the boy whose smile cleansed the tar clinging to his heart.

"Thought I told you to piss off," Billy snorted through his tears, managing a shaky smile.

"I've never been good at listening," Eddie replied, rubbing his hand through Billy's bed messy curls. "Can't shake me that easy, sweetheart. I thought you'd have learned that by now. That grouchy bullshit isn't gonna shake me," he assured. Eddie was determined enough to stick out the hurricane.

"You're annoying," Billy spat at him, pushing his hand away.

"And I'm determined to continue to be," Eddie replied as he snatched Billy's wrist. He slid his hand up to lace their fingers and squeeze.

"Give it time," Billy said, seemingly unimpressed. He refused to look at Eddie, only because the idiot was gazing at him like he was someone precious.

"I've got time," Eddie replied, unshaken.

"Jesus, Munson, why don't you just— just leave me the hell alone?! Why are you always," Billy's breath hitched as his voice broke. Eddie was always there. Like a balm to his wounds. He didn't flinch when Neil beat him. He opened the door or answered the call no matter how late. Eddie Munson was a rock in the hurricane, ready to weather his storm.

Billy thought back to the memories El had shown him in that pit of darkness. His mother, the beach, the waves... and the snowy December day that Billy had fallen in love with Eddie Munson.

Billy didn't resist when Eddie placed his hand on his neck, thumbing his jaw like he was brittle. Fragile. And Billy supposed he was.

"God damn," Eddie whispered, smiling at Billy with tender eyes.

"What? Quit fucking looking at me like that. Like— like... pity. Jesus or like I'm gonna break. I don't need your bullshit sympathies, or your God damn coddling, Munson."

Billy felt like a wild animal, backed into the corner of a cage. Snapping and growling at the tender hands that wanted to hold him. Especially if that monster still lurked inside him somewhere. Ready to hurt.

That fear washed away when Eddie kissed Billy's knuckles, something soft. Endearing. Billy could only hitch a sob as his forehead thudded in to rest on Eddie's collarbone. He squeezed Eddie's hand, and to his relief... Eddie squeezed back. It felt a whole lot like someone saying:

'You matter. I love you.'

And for once, Billy wasn't afraid of it being a lie.

#mungrove #billy hargrove #eddie munson #mentions of abuse #abuse tw #neil hargrove is his own trigger warning #hurt/comfort #Billy Lives

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silverstonesainz-archive · 1 year

Note

it’s still the 15 in la so forgive me for the late submission i’m adoring these least-to-most-likely scenarios and would love to hear your thoughts on the 2023 grid + danny, mick, and seb in terms of who’d successfully one day randomly pop up with a secret wife of ten years and three kids as if it were a casual thing

from least-to-most-likely... im sorry this is so long and a lil late

lando -> idk i think its a generational thing where soft launches & validation through social media is all the rave. so i think lando wouldnt or even couldn't hide it even if we wanted to. and i think lando likes showing off his girl, hes very comfortable in his relationships (ie talking about luisa in dts).

pierre -> absolutely not. he loves showing off what– rather who, he loves. i mean yall.... his photos with katerina are still up on his instagram he loves that shit. SO NO he will not being keeping a wife and family a secret. if he had it his way he would livestream his wife giving birth. tell me i'm wrong, i dare you.

logan -> he is a young, white man. and i mean white. american white. and if there is anything i know about caucasian men in all my years of dealing with them, there is no hiding a girl even if their life depended on it. same deal as lando too, where soft launches and the need for validation through posting is very much ingrained in the current dating culture sooooo yea.

fernando -> this man is so unserious, and also a boomer-wanna-be-gen-z when it comes to social media so its all about sharing his love and his corazon. though i will say he will be pretty selective with what he shares. and i think he'd pull a rosberg, in that he will post family photos but with emojis over his baby's faces.

nico -> something about this man just tells me that he enjoys the validation and the sharing a lot. we'd hear about the engagement, the pregnancy, all through instagram. but i think he'd do it in cringey cute way. my man is on pinterest with "cute pregnancy announcement inspo" in the search bar.

checo -> he is a proud papa & husband (minus that time in monaco). he loves having his family around him so there isn't a reason why he would ever keep it a secret. though i will say, much like he already does, he would try to keep his family/personal life very much seperate from his work. i think all we'd see of his family is when they show up to races or milestones/birthdays via social media.

charles -> i think he just loves sharing pieces of his life with us that keeping his family a secret would be impossible. charles would 100% walk onto the paddock with his daughter on his hip. they would be wearing matching sunglasses (raybans bc forza ferrari. and not her own pair, one of daddy's). but not outfits bc mama dressed her baby, not charles.

valterri -> he tries to keep what goes on in his personal life as on the down low as possible. i think that he would definitely try to keep his kids out of pap photos & try to hide their faces but other than that i think we would all be aware of his ever-growing family. i think he'd do smth cheesy like post a photo from the back of him and his son with matchin mullets. or maybe a photo of lewis carrying his daughter bc 'uncle lew had to get a matching outfit with his god daughter.'

oscar -> i could've lumped him higher on the list with lando/logan but smth about oscar tells me otherwise. like idk what it is about him but i think he'd try to keep it on the hush hush for as long as he can before eventually sharing with the world. we'd be surviving off soft launches for a WHILE methinks. (but i could be so wrong bc idk oscar this is just based off his face).

kevin -> we'd know (i mean we know now). but similar to fernando in a sense where he chooses what pieces of his time with his wife and kids he wants to share with the world. i think he is very protective of his family and the peace he's worked on building around them.

esteban -> you know... with the way his & elena's relationship is going i can definitely see this man randomly dropping that he's married one day. but the thing is, is that we would all already have an idea of who his wife is, if that makes sense. we'd get little bouts of content from him. a very 'private, not secret' type beat.

nyck -> just like esteban in a sense where we'd know who the wife would be. i think the marriage would come as a shock, but as their family grows i think he'd drop hints and stuff. nyck will definitely bring his kid(s) to at least one race a year and i just have an inkling that his child would be a menace.

alex -> he's happy to share the small moments with the world, but oh it would be very sparse. just little crumbs here and there. he protects what he loves so much, but he's much too proud and excited not to share. think of all the baby photos with all the animals. the matching hair-dos. the baby hating photos as much as dad hates media so when the paps come around baby has the same frown.

daniel -> we would know, but i think he would take his time introducing that part of his life to us. we'd always know he's married & has kids, but we would also have to live off of soft launches for a bit. daniel is a proud man, proud of the life he builds and who he chose to build it with. and daniel would 100% walk onto the paddock with his kids hanging off of him. his daughter on his back, son upside down in his arms.... do you see the vision???

lewis -> this man could go either way. on the one hand i can see lewis showing off the love of his life and his family bc thats what lewis does. he shows off the people he loves. but then i can also see him keeping it quiet, keeping just a piece of his life a secret because in the position he's in, he doesn't have too many secrets to himself left. so yeah... but tell me what yall think.

carlos -> carlos would've been lower on the list with all that 'i protect love' crap but me personally, i just don't see it. i think that we'd all somehow find out about his engagement + growing family somehow. like carlos is always being followed by the paps for literally WHAT. so yeah, i don't think it would be best kept secret. also he's such a family man, i think he'd jump at the opportunity to share his family with the world.

lance -> i know lance has posted his s.o. before, but there is something about this man that tells me when it's a love that he really really values and wants to protect, he will keep it a secret. he will keep them away from the limelight, from the unnecessary attention for as long as possible. idk about 10yrs and then pop out with a whole wife & kids, but i definitely think he'd be the type randomly drop on wednesday that he's engaged.

george -> i think this man could pull it off if he wanted to. i think he'd go ghost on social media in terms of what he does in his personal time. like itll be all race content until one day he just drops a photo of him & his wife welcoming their new baby. i can see it. but i think it all depends on him.

yuki -> idk i think in a relationship he'd be very reserved about it. i think that he'd hate the attention he would end up receiving about dating, so much so he'd prefer if no one knew right away. i think that we'd always know he's with someone bc of like soft launch-esque photos of hands/back of their head. but yeah we'd never truly know who until much much later.

guanyu -> guanyu truly gives me vibes of wanting to protect his family and try to keep them separate from his work. and not even in a malicious way, but in a sense where he doesn't want the people he loves most to be put under undeserving scrutiny. he'd find ways to bring them to races & events but truly, the public would never know.

max -> if were being completely honest here, we know so much about max's love life because of who he's involved with. but if he had it his way, i think we he would pull it off. like i think he would randomly drop the "my wife & kids" line out of no where and it would take the world by storm. and max would say it so nonchalantly too.

mick -> i think that he could pull it off. even in his last relationship, i dont recall ever seeing him post about/with her so... he is definitely a very very private guy. and he has a very tight group of friends at that, so i doubt any information would ever get out to the public unless mick makes a move first.

seb -> he's a very private guy, who didn't even have instagram until last year... and it was to announce his RETIREMENT. and though we know about hannah, we don't know much about his kids. i think i remember kym telling a story about how sebastian asked him & other photographers not to photograph his kids when they came on the paddock so.... seb will go through hoops and the extra mile to be sure a secret is kept.

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thepastisalreadywritten · 2 months

Text

By Kate Andrews

Has Kate Middleton united America? For the past few days, we have been one nation under her spell.

The Princess of Wales has dominated Google searches in the United States ever since Kensington Palace released that now-notorious doctored photo of her with her children for Mother’s Day.

Her name search beat that of both ‘Donald Trump’ and ‘Joe Biden’ over the past week.

To say she has broken the internet would be only the start of it: rumours of her well-being are making their way into every newsroom, dive bar, and church fellowship hour across America.

My friends from all over the country text and call me to ask the same question: What’s happened to Kate?

They know I’m as removed from the royal family as anyone could be, but I��m in London and I work in Westminster, so they hope I’ve heard a theory that hasn’t made its way across the pond just yet.

Left-liberal pals who usually text me when Trump says something obscene now want to know when I last walked by Buckingham Palace.

Did anything seem strange? More right-leaning friends, who tend to send videos of Biden jumbling his words, want to know if it’s unusual in Britain to not wear your wedding ring.

Or did someone photoshop her ring out of the Mother’s Day photo, too? Is that even her hand in the picture?

I wonder if Kate knows she has achieved the impossible in bringing America together in this way.

I suppose that depends on where she’s been, how she’s been faring, and how much she’s checking the news – all questions that largely remain unanswered.

Either way, it’s an impressive feat and a wonderful service she has performed.

Sure, it would be nice if existential threats to the United States and its citizens were cause enough for us to find common ground. But I’m not going to be picky.

I will forever be grateful for this smidgen of evidence that, if the cause is compelling enough, America can pull itself back from the brink.

How did ‘Kate-gate’ go viral in a nation that isn’t even her own? The princess’s prolonged absence from public life has the right components to capture America’s imagination.

We are a country obsessed with The Crown and true crime. Since we rejected the British monarchy almost 250 years ago, we have rarely had the opportunity to combine the two.

The mystery of Kate’s movements and the online sleuthing required to discredit that photograph proved to be a golden moment.

But it’s the cover-up elements, which made the story stratospheric.

Like everything else in the States, conspiracy theories tend to be big – the more far-fetched, the more viral they go.

Trumpist QAnon talk has never appealed to non-partisan Instagram girlies, but speculation around a princess’s whereabouts make for perfect 20-part video series to add to your highlights reel.

That’s because Kate-gate is not your traditional conspiracy fare.

The big questions – what’s happened to Kate, where has she been – have not been whipped up from nothing.

Suspicion has been fed by a number of public-relations mishandlings from the Palace.

Stories have changed, a photo has been botched and is still being censored on social media.

This is particularly strange given the normal PR slickness of the Firm: a protective, ruthless operation that presidents and popstars envy.

Some of the rumours have taken absurd and dangerous turns. But it’s not only fantasists who have questions. Something seems to be happening; we just don’t know what.

We may never find out what Kate has been up to these past months. And perhaps we shouldn’t. Her medical issues aren’t our business, after all.

But we know what’s happened to her in the eyes of the public: Brand Kate has skyrocketed.

She and her family have become even more intriguing – the Prince and Princess of Wales’s Instagram and X accounts gained more than 200,000 followers combined in the days after the doctored photo was posted.

That intrigue has made the princess all the more sensational.

Kate is now a mega-celebrity. She has the kind of fame her sister-in-law craves so badly.

Markle’s tactic was to shout from the rooftops: to make herself and her point of view heard through every media platform and streaming service that showed any interest. It worked for a while.

Had a pandemic not scuppered her big moment, ‘Megxit’ would have been the story of 2020.

She and Harry still got to sit down with Oprah. Netflix charted their journey from the Palace to the Hollywood Hills. But attention quickly waned.

This week, the duchess finds herself doing what every fame-hustler must do in the fight for survival: launching a lifestyle brand.

Her Californian-inspired venture, called American Riviera Orchard, will be offering us fashion advice and gardening tips, along with another outlet selling artisan jams and yoga gear.

Yet as she pushes the cutlery and cookbooks, it’s absent Kate whose face is projected all over the world: a testament, if there ever was one, to the power of silence.

Given the long line of mess-ups from the Palace, this boost for Kate is a fairly good outcome.

The princess disappeared for a few months, and the world made its message clear: we simply can’t bear to be without her.

When she returns to public life, she will be more adored and loved than ever.

The rumours and theories will die down. The outpouring of support for the Princess of Wales will continue.

It seems likely that she will, as promised, resume public duty in the spring.

The future queen of England will return, radiant as ever, to stand next to her future king and her family, as if nothing ever happened.

We’ll watch on, always with the niggling feeling that there was something we weren’t told and that not knowing is the key to the charm.

As Walter Bagehot said:

‘We must not let in daylight upon magic’ – or photoshop, for that matter.

NOTE: Additional photos have been included in this article.

#Princess of Wales #Catherine Princess of Wales #Catherine Middleton #Kate Middleton #British Royal Family #Brand Kate #trending #viral #fake news #misinformation #disinformation #cancer #chemotherapy #break the internet #Kate-Gate

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brightlight-dazzlingeyes · 4 months

Text

CELEBRITY | chapter 01

rúben dias x original female character [+18]

SYNOPSIS: The protagonist knows for a fact she'll be famous someday. The way it happens is not as she planned, though. WARNINGS: dark romance; revenge p*rn; minor injury; mentions of blood; mentions of cheating; minors dni.

|[previous chapter]| — |[masterlist]|

CHAPTER I — THE VIDEO

The worst day of her life starts in a cramped apartment, a tiny box in a decaying building, a place where dreams wither and die.

The peeling wallpaper has witnessed too many damp nights, and the floorboards groans in complaints with every reluctant step. The window panes are coated with city filth, and they can barely let in the slivers of a gray day; the light looks worn out before it even hits the furniture.

And then, there’s the protagonist. Radiant, untouched by the dumpster fire that is this place. She glides through the chaos like a ghost of grace. Her presence is a sunbeam slashing through the fog, a reminder that even in the darkest corners, there can be a glimmer of something extraordinary.

Beyond the protagonist’s bedroom it's chaos incarnate. Dirty dishes pile up in the sink, and the hum of low-budget appliances mixes with the muffled arguments and laughter from her roommates and neighboring apartments. In the bathroom, the mirror is cracked and stained, reflecting fractured images of each occupant's struggle for normalcy.

Our girl sneaks into the kitchen and with ease, she starts brewing coffee, a sort of morning ritual of calm amid the storm.

As the bitter aroma begins to fill the air, she mechanically grabs her phone and dives into the vortex of her social media, seeking a quick escape from the madness around her.

She hears it before she realizes what it is.

A scream, raw and unrestrained. It's her own scream – a guttural reaction to something horrific she's just seen on the screen. The coffee, momentarily forgotten, sends ripples in its mug. She clutches the phone, her eyes wide with shock.

Fury courses through her veins, and she can't recall stepping into a car; all that matters is where she’s headed.

How dare he?

She doesn't know what’s worse – the damning video or the venomous audio that followed:

“You said you wanted to be famous! Bitch, I can make you famous.”

It's the video. The video is worse.

She searches her memory, but there's no recollection of consenting to being recorded. No agreement, just an invasion of privacy. Yet, it’s there – the video he felt entitled enough to send.

A voice in her head insists he won't share it, that he's married, and the consequences would be dire for him. But logic loses its battle against the graphic images on the screen – his face absent, only a hand and an even more inappropriate part of his anatomy.

It shouldn't matter. If he's unhinged enough to do this, she can't risk it. Panic sets in; she needs assurance that he deletes every trace he has of her. She's not Kim Kardashian; her feeble singing career would crumble at the exposure of a video with a married Premier League player. Recovery would be impossible.

When she arrives at his home, she feels like an intruder. It's a familiar place, one she's sneaked into countless times in the nighttime, when he had the house for himself. But being there for the first time in the light of day, she discovers the opulence of the house feels utterly alien.

The grandeur of the entrance foyer greets her like an unwelcome guest. An imposing staircase sweeps upwards, adorned with an ostentatious chandelier. The air carries the unmistakable scent of his expensive cologne and the lingering residue of privilege.

In the living room, she finds him surrounded by friends.

“What the fuck?” He's incredulous at her audacious decision, silently grateful that his wife is away with the kids. “You can’t just show up here. Are you crazy?”

“Oh, now I’m the crazy one? Delete that video. I won't let you ruin my life.”

At the corner of the room, the male lead sits down, observing the brewing storm. He quietly calculates his next move.

The protagonist holds her ground. "Delete the damn video."

And her demand hangs in the air.

“Fuck, no!” REDACTED answers.

The tension escalates and the confrontation reaches its boiling point. The protagonist feels a surge of frustration and helplessness, she clenches her fists, her nails digging into her palms. The pain is immediate, a sharp sting that momentarily dulls her emotional turmoil. Ignoring the throbbing ache in her hands, she turns away from REDACTED.

She finds a small decorative object on a nearby table – a delicate crystal vase. In an impulsive act of frustration, she grabs the vase without a second thought. The cold surface presses into her hand, and with a swift, unthinking motion, she throws the vase against the wall.

The sound of shattering glass echoes through the room. A shard of glass grazes her hand in the process and a small trickle of blood emerges, running down her fingers.

The room falls into a stunned silence.

With a timing reserved only for the most special characters in a story, the male lead speaks up.

“Come on, man. Do what she’s asking.” He directs his friend, breaking the tension with a straightforward command. It's the first time the protagonist takes a good look at him.

Rúben Dias. She knows him, of course, she knows everybody in the team, but she has never seen him up close before. He's beautiful, and in this moment, he exudes an imposing aura. Even though he's not speaking directly to her, she still recoils under the weight of his presence.

“Jesus, alright. I’ll delete it. Come on, I was just joking!” REDACTED raises his hand in a mock surrender, laughter dripping from his words. “I’ll delete it.” He repeats.

And he does, though not without silently cursing Rúben for being in the room and witnessing the scene. REDACTED knows if things went south, Rúben would open his big mouth and get him in trouble, leaving him no other choice. He shows his phone to the protagonist, revealing the file with her name on it, protected with a password. The contents are too much for her to bear, and she has to hold back a wave of nausea. Nevertheless, he deletes everything, and she leaves the house immediately afterwards.

The door closes behind her with a muffled thud. To her surprise, Rúben is right there, having followed her.

“Fuck off!” She says, her voice is a mixture of frustration and defiance.

“I’m not ‘fucking off’. Come on, let me take you to a hospital. You’re bleeding!” He insists with genuine concern on his face.

“I’ll just wash it, it’ll be fine.” The protagonist dismisses, attempting to downplay the situation.

“Seriously, my mother would kill me if I just left you here.”

She stops, hesitating for a moment, before finally saying, "Can you just drive me to a hospital and leave me there?" There's a brief pause, and then she adds, "I don’t want to be seen with you, no offense."

To her surprise, he doesn't look offended, and so she continues, "Also, help me text a friend so she can meet me there?”

He laughs, breaking the tension, and says, “That’s a good compromise. Now let’s go!”

|[masterlist]| — |[next chapter]|

#football fanfic #ruben dias #ruben dias x reader #rúben dias #football fic

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writeformesinpie · 2 years

Text

Restless Devotion

Lee Seokmin (DK) x Fem!Reader

Summary - You’re home alone… at least you think you are. You can’t shake the feeling that someone’s watching you.

Genre - Yandere

Warnings - Stalker, sexual content, implied violence, obsession, swearing, yandere themes.

Word Count - 1.6k

A/N - This is part of the Don’t Be Scared Seventeen Halloween Collab. It is so late! 😭 I’m sorry @jeonronwoo ! (Pretty sure that this collab was cancelled or abandoned which is fine - I actually wrote this last September but never edited it - stupid ADHD brain haha)

There’s a faint tap against the window.

It’s not the first time you’ve heard the gentle scraping sound while you sit on your bed, scrolling on your laptop. The last few nights have all been the same but when you look outside all you see is the display garden a few steps from your window.

Someone could be hiding out there, past the delicate garden, out in the maple trees. It’s true, but no matter how long you stare into the dark spaces between the flora, you’ve yet to see anyone or anything moving around. A soft breeze flickers against the open curtain and the material dances for a few moments before falling back into an unsettling stillness.

It’s not just a branch like your roommate suggested earlier in the week, how could it be? The branches are too far away. It’s physically impossible.

They also suggested it was a rock from a passing car hitting the wall, which you admit is the more likely of the two, but still unlikely. The rock would have to fly past all the trees and just happen to make its way between them to land close to your window. And to do so more than once? Perhaps it had been just a bug or some kind of animal.

Goosebumps crawl across your skin as you look outside once more. No, you’re not alone.

You are being watched.

There’s no logic behind it. It’s only a feeling, but you know it’s true.

The ping of your phone sounds off as you peek through the middle of the lace separating the solid purple drapes on either side of it. Maybe it’s time to invest in some blackout curtains, or some thick horizontal blinds.

There’s no one outside – no one you can see, anyway.

Letting out a deep sigh, you walk back to the bed and dive headfirst against the bedspread, your body rigid and unmoving until another ping of your phone demands your attention.

It’s your roommate. They’re out of town visiting their family and have something new to complain about no doubt. Tossing your phone onto your pillow, you continue to scroll through social media, responding to some of your friends before your phone pings once more.

“Alright, alright. What do you want?” Looking at her message, you pull the phone closer to your face. “What the fuck?”

This can’t be real.

Needing to see it on a larger screen, you search up the username your roommate sent you. The account pops right up. It’s real. But who would do this?

“What is this?”

Typing furiously, you ask questions that she doesn’t know the answers to. A friend of hers you had met a few times happened across the account and thought it was suspicious and forwarded it. They don’t know who the owner of the account is. They don’t know if it’s just a joke. They don’t know anything useful at all.

This can’t be real.

It’s an instagram account claiming to be your official fansite with a bunch of your pictures. Nothing but your pictures. One hundred and twenty nine of them.

Pictures you haven’t seen before. Pictures of you in your bedroom sitting on your bed, looking at your laptop or laying down while staring at your phone. Pictures of you outside talking to friends or buying groceries. And, perhaps the most disturbing of all, pictures of you wearing a towel while you brush your teeth in the bathroom. The angles make it obvious these were taken from your window but the bathroom is on the second floor.

”The love of my life.”

”You went to the aquarium today.”

”Should I help with your flat tire?”

Pushing the laptop away, you jump off the bed. Pulling the suitcase out from under your bed, you unzip it before flinging open your dresser. Scraping together as many items as you can, you toss them on your bed. A soft rap at the window throws you off guard, your head snapping up as you look back in the direction of the sound.

Ignoring what you hope is indeed just a bug, your heartbeat throbs in your ears as you look back at the laptop. The account boasts about being your biggest fan, that you’re the love of their life and this is their way to worship you, that you deserve to be treated like a queen.

It’s too much. Tears well in your eyes as a wave of shivers take control of your shoulders.

There’s more.

Although there aren’t many likes, the comments somehow outweigh them. Each comment is worse than the last. Creepy messages fill the space under your photos, wishing they could touch you and asking for more content. They want to see you closer. They want to see you with less clothing. They want to see you cry. They want to see you moan.

Scrolling through each photo, you look with utter disbelief at the captions and comments, tears streaming down your face.

Returning your focus back to packing, you shove the clothes into the case, mindless of what you grabbed and what you even need. You click your tongue as a wave of cold sweat covers your arms and face. The pictures. The older ones were of you in your backyard, in your car and out and about. The more photos this freak posted, the closer they were until–

You turn the laptop towards you and shudder.

The last photo.

The last picture of you is from inside the house, the mesh of the window no longer visible.

It’s of you sleeping.

As if someone was hovering above you while you slept.

Taking a deep breath, you stumble to the door, your fingers shaking as you try several times to lock it. Sweat lubricates your palms, making it difficult to turn the knob. Once you hear the familiar click, you turn your back and slide down, landing roughly on your arse. Slumped up against the door, your shoulders hunched, you take a few deep breaths before your breathing finally starts to slow and you’re able to sooth your raging heart closer to that of a normal rhythm.

“It’s okay. You’re okay,” you hum as you begin to rub your forearms back and forth, the continuous movement lulling you into a sense of security. There’s nothing to fear. You’re fine. You are safe here. There’s no one here.

As if on queue the soft tap at your window causes you to jump.

There’s someone outside.

Pushing yourself up, you turn towards the glass and whimper. This can’t be happening. With a rapid glance around the room, your eyes lock on the five pound dumbbell lying on the ground by your closet. Edging across the wall, you slink to the floor and raise the weight in front of you in a protective stance as you inch closer to the window.

Halfway there a creaking sound comes from the floor above, stopping you dead in your tracks. Head heavy, you look at the ceiling before turning back to the window with a gasp.

There’s no one outside.

No one’s outside but, through the reflection of the window, you see the closet door opening behind you.

He’s already inside the house.

Steadying yourself, you take a deep breath before turning on your heel and swinging the dumbbell at the stranger in your room. He just smiles and sidesteps your attack. His reactions are faster than yours and before you can lift the weight again, his arms have circled your body and forced it out of your hand. It crashes to the ground with a mighty thud.

“You fucking creep,” you screech, slaming the heel of your foot into his shin before you run towards the door. Turning the knob a few times, you curse under your breath. You had locked it just a few minutes ago, the action backfiring. As you push against the lock to open the door, he pulls you back by your hair, lifting you up in the air and hurling you onto the bed. Pain radiates from your scalp as you scramble up to the headboard, holding out your hands. “What do you want? Please don’t hurt me.”

“Oh baby, I don’t want to hurt you. I want to love you.” The light catches his features, shadows enunciating every curve and dip. His face is all angles, and his kinked and fluffy hair dusting his eyes keeps them from full view. He looks as deranged as his words.

“How can you love me? We don’t even know each other,” you say, a gurgled bubble clogging your throat on the last word, turning your voice into something unrecognisable. “Please just let me go.”

“I’m never gonna let you go.”

He slinks down onto the bed and slides towards you, his face covered with a grin that stretches across his slender face. He catches one of your feet as you kick out against him. Lifting your leg up, he presses his lips against your ankle. Flinching, you pull back but his fingers bite into your skin, making you cry out.

“No one will ever love you as much as I do. This world doesn’t deserve you.” He’s looking at you from the same level now and you can see his eyes. They’re dark, like the rest of his features, with a glimmer of hope and lust on full display. He’s looking at you like a cat who found a saucer of milk.

“Please, don’t.” Your voice is a whisper. His eyes are intent on yours as his tongue caresses your calf, leaving a trail of kisses up to your thigh. “Just stop.”

“I’m going to love you with every inch of my being,” he whispers, slithering up your body, a smile still adorning his face. “And I’ll never stop. Not until your dying breath.”

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this content! If you did, please consider liking, commenting, reblogging and/or following, and check out my masterlist for similar content. Have a great day!

#yandere seventeen #yandere dk #lee seokmin x reader #dk x reader #kpop x reader #kpop yandere #lee seokmin #dk #seventeen #kpop #seventeen x reader #seventeen smut #lee seokmin smut #kpop smut #kpop collab #seventeen collab #writeformesinpie

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meefy · 1 year

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Some Thoughts on Mitsuhide + Aromanticism in Media and Reality

Major spoilers for Chapters 92 and onwards of the Akagami no Shirayukihime manga ahead!

When I first got into the AnS fandom, I kept hearing about some big manga!plot decision that had made some fans completely abandon the manga, so disappointed were they. I did my best to avoid spoilers so I didn't know what this event was for the longest time. Now, being caught up to that storyline and thensome, I know what that event was - and can say that I was a bit surprised when I remembered that it had upset people so badly.

Yes, Mitsuhide rejected Kiki's proposition of marriage, and she opted to marry Hisame instead. It was, apparently, clearly hinted at that Kiki and Mitsuhide were in love all this time, and it was cruel of him to reject her when she cared about him so deeply - right?

Well...maybe not.

I write this as an aro/ace person, and I'm going to be examining Mitsuhide's character through an aro/ace lens, too. I have talked plenty about how AnS has some great, positive representation in its characters, and Mitsuhide is no different. In fact, I relate to his experience quite a bit.

Mitsuhide is often teased, from the very beginning, for being "in love" with Zen. He shows no interest in anyone else other than Zen, outside of what seem like only platonic friendships, but his loyalty is solely to the Prince.

Except, it appears, for Kiki Seiran.

Their first interaction is yet another source of jokes; Mitsuhide mistakes her for a boy. And when the current story begins, the two are already always together as the Prince’s trusted aides. It's the perfect set up for a love story, even moreso when Hisame is introduced: the man initially so desperate to improve his social status and have Kiki's hand that he offers to fight her for it - and Mitsuhide steps in and saves the day. It's romantic, it's satisfying, it's...not all that it seems.

First, let me preface all this by saying that I will never go out of my way to tell others what they can and cannot "ship" or "headcanon". It is absolutely possible for this sort of plot to eventually devolve into a friends to lovers scenario. And, had it not been for Mitsuhide's blatant "coming out" to Zen and his rejection of Kiki's proposal in Ch. 92, it might have turned into this. But to me, it would be incredibly disrespectful to Mitsuhide as a character to berate him for "not marrying Kiki" when he explictly tells Zen in Ch. 98, after chapters of soul-searching, that he is not interested in marriage - with Kiki or anyone else for that matter.

Mitsuhide turns Kiki down the first time by saying that he wants to wait till Zen himself is married and living his own path, and that as Kiki is so close to the Prince and is so trusted a friend, it would be impossible and downright strange for him to consider wedding her. It doesn't help that since Kiki is on a deadline to marry, Mitsuhide is put in a position where he must immediately choose the path he wishes to take. I definitely feel here for Kiki, who has by her own admission harboured feelings for Mitsuhide for years now (feelings he never caught onto - #justacethings!), only to be told in no uncertain terms that he cannot reciprocate them.

I empathized a great deal, as an aspec person, with Mitsuhide's first confession here. Growing up aroace in a world dominated by amatonormativity, I was told indirectly or otherwise that there was something "wrong" with me, and that my priorities - work, friendships, family, hobbies - would one day come second to an important intimate relationship. Since that never happened for me, I just assumed, as Mitsuhide did, that I was waiting for something in my life to settle down before I dated: till I was done school, for instance. Or, when my teenage relationships inevitably failed, they just "weren't the one" or it was a situation of me being "not ready". Never did it enter my mind that I could tell someone (or even myself) that I would never date or marry at all, and I wonder if this concern ever crossed Mitsuhide's mind, too, when he withheld some details from Kiki in his first conversation with her about the matter.

When Hisame and Mitsuhide speak about what transpired with Kiki in that discussion, Hisame senses that Mitsuhide was not completely honest with her about his true feelings. Although Mitsuhide is understandably angry by this accusation, he nevertheless does not deny it - and eventually speaks to Kiki again to clarify that it is not just her he is rejecting, but everyone and anyone else who may propose to him in the future. This he says in no uncertain terms; his oath is to protect and serve Prince Zen, and this he holds above all else, marriage included. At last, he is able to put his feelings on the table and be honest with others and himself: he does not want to marry, he wants to remain at Zen's side.

Those on the aromantic and/or asexual spectrum are often told, through popular media or directly by family and friends, that an intimate romantic relationship should be prioritized above all else. Relationships are all about compromise, about changing your immediate desires when it means letting your partner be happy, so that everyone "wins". This is a very amatormative way of viewing things. What happens when your priorities and values do not work when a relationship is involved?

For me, my priorities are my hobbies, my dog, volunteering, my close friends, and maintaining my health. I can think of nothing worse than having to change any of those values or even alter them to allow for another person in my life - one with whom I'd be expected to intimately share my space and time with, at that. It seems this is what Mitsuhide feels, too: marriage would interfere with his sworn duty to protect Prince Zen, and this for him is his highest priority. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that! He seems perfectly content with doing so...until, of course, he confides all this in Zen.

There is quite a humourous post on Mitsuhide's "coming out as aroace" to Zen here on Tumblr already, but on a more solemn note, this is a similar reaction (at least, the core themes) as I got when I first came out to close family. I was just "not ready to be with someone" and "hadn’t met the right person". I needed to "grow up and try harder", and "one day I would want to find someone to marry".

Although Zen’s motive for scolding Mitsuhide is rooted moreso in not wanting him to give up his life and wellbeing for Zen's own sake, there is a genuine confusion and shock in the Prince’s words to his aide: what will Mitsuhide do if he gets other proposals? Is he just waiting to see if he'll change his mind? It is very difficult at first for Zen to understand the gravity and finality of what Mitsuhide is saying, and this is often the case with many aroace people: the "you will change your mind one day" line.

But so what if I don't?

I found Zen's emotional response, and Mitsuhide's equally emotional reaction, quite moving as the two grew to understand each other's thoughts and feelings on the issue. It certainly did not help that Mitsuhide was still reeling from the trauma of the Bergatt affair, and I sense that Zen suspected Mitsuhide's reasoning and fierce desire to protect him was based on that experience. And, to some degree, it might be! But again, the idea that trauma is at the heart of someone's "choice" to be aro/ace is not an uncommon one, but it is a hurtful one, and one that undermines the feelings and values of the person who is coming out. I am not aroace because I was traumatized, I am aroace because that is who I am. Mitsuhide might be more inclined to protect Prince Zen because of his fear of being unable to do so, but that is a separate matter from his desire to never marry.

And for Kiki, who so openly admitted her true feelings and desire to be with Mitsuhide only to be turned down? As I wrote earlier, I truly feel for her; it was by no means easy for her to be rejected not once but twice, regardless of the reasons. But as hard as it may be to accept, she is not owed Mitsuhide's romantic attraction or his hand in marriage; she is owed his honesty and respect, yes, but he cannot simply "change" and fall in love with her. It cannot and does not work that way in reality.

Mitsuhide's rejection of her romantic proposal also presents a rarely-explored (and rarely well portrayed) concept: a purely platonic friendship between a man and a woman, built on love and mutual respect. Friendship of any gender is usually pushed aside in favour of romance; to see a strong, solid friendship prioritized over a forced relationship is both pleasantly surprising and deeply admirable. Everything Mitsuhide tells Kiki sounds as what one might tell a platonic friend of the same gender in any other amatormative media piece - I love you, I respect you, I enjoy working with you, but I am not in love with you.

I have always had deep respect for the way love has been portrayed in AnS, and I was so excited to see aromanticism and asexuality depicted, too. Having a character reject a relationship in favour of remaining single for its own sake and to say true to his values is almost unheard of in popular media; asexuality is typically portrayed as a condition in need of treating, or one that the "right person" can "fix". Mitsuhide, mercifully, is not portrayed in this way. Zen's initial reaction is, of course, quite heated - his shock is understandable if it is not justifiable, and even if it hurt to read, it is a fairly accurate depiction of some common misconceptions about aromanticism/asexuality.

And in the end, after all, Zen (and Kiki, and Shirayuki, and Obi) come to understand and respect Mitshuide the way he is - as it should be.

Amatonormativity: the assumption that everyone desires and strives for a romantic relationship.

#akagami no shirayukihime #ans #snow white with the red hair #swwtrh #mitsuhide rouen #kiki seiran #meefywrites #ans spoilers #swwtrh spoilers

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dreaminginthedeepsouth · 2 months

Text

Jack Ohman, Sacramento Bee

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

March 26, 2024

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

MAR 27, 2024

At about 1:30 this morning, local time, the Dali, a 985-foot (300 m) container ship operating under a Singapore flag, struck the steel Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, that spans the lower Patapsco River and outer Baltimore Harbor. The bridge immediately collapsed.

Eight maintenance workers were on the bridge repairing potholes when the ship hit. Two were rescued from the water, but the other six remain missing. Search and rescue operations were complicated by twisted metal and debris from the collapsed bridge. This evening, the Coast Guard called off its search. Tomorrow morning, divers will begin recovery efforts.

It is possible there were motorists on the bridge, too, but fewer than there might otherwise have been. Crew members issued a “Mayday” call—an internationally recognized word meaning distress—that Maryland police heard. At 1:27, police radio recorded an officer saying a ship had lost control of its steering as it approached the bridge, and to stop traffic and evacuate the area. There were cars submerged in the water, but they may have belonged to the construction workers.

The loss of the bridge will tangle traffic and disrupt supply chains. Named for the Maryland lawyer who in 1814 wrote the poem that became the national anthem, the Francis Scott Key bridge carries I-695, the Baltimore Beltway, and is used by about 30,000 people a day.

The Port of Baltimore is one of the nation’s largest shipping hubs, especially for both imports and exports of cars and light trucks. About 850,000 vehicles go through that port every year. So does more than 20% of the nation’s coal exports. In 2023 the port moved a record-breaking $80 billion worth of foreign cargo. Now the shipping lane is closed and must be cleared of debris.

“There is no question this will be a major and protracted impact on supply chains,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said from Baltimore today.

Perhaps learning from the 2023 East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment, when the government response was fast but quiet and thus opened a window for right-wing complaints they weren’t doing enough, the administration was out front today. Buttigieg rushed to the scene from a trip out West, and Maryland governor Wes Moore told reporters Buttigieg had called him at 3:30 am, just two hours after the crash.

By around 6:00 am, the National Transportation Safety Board already had a team of 24 people on the scene to launch an investigation into the cause of the collision.

Speaking today, President Joe Biden said: “I’ve directed my team to move heaven and earth to reopen the port and rebuild the bridge as soon as…humanly possible. And we’re going to work hand in hand…to support Maryland, whatever they ask for. And we’re going to work with our partners in Congress to make sure the state gets the support it needs. It’s my intention that federal government will pay for the entire cost of reconstructing that bridge, and I expect…the Congress to support my effort.”

Former member of President Obama’s 2012 campaign Jason Karsh noted Biden’s speech and said on social media: “[B]ecause Biden got infrastructure spending done for the first time in over a generation, and because [Pennsylvania] was able to rebuild that bridge that collapsed in record time, Dem[ocrat]s have the credibility to say things like this. Competence in government matters.”

It remains far too soon for any solid understanding of what caused the deadly crash.

Despite the impossibility of solid information in the hours immediately after the collision—or perhaps because of it—verified accounts on X (formerly Twitter) began spreading conspiracy theories. They posted that the accident was linked to terrorism, Jewish people, or diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs. “Did anti-white business practices cause this disaster?” one posted. Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones wrote that the collision was “deliberate” and that “WW3 has already started.”

Technology reporter Taylor Lorenz, who studies social media patterns, explained in the Washington Post that many of these accounts are “engagement farming.” This is the practice of posting extremist comments to generate attention, which can then be monetized by, for example, getting a cut of advertising that appears near those comments. Comments with heavy engagement can receive thousands of dollars.

For a long time now, America’s political right has riled people up with wild political rhetoric to get them to buy stuff. Just today, Trump began to hawk Bibles for $59.99, plus shipping and handling, with a video message saying “Religion and Christianity are the biggest things missing from this country, and I truly believe we need to bring them back…. That’s why our country’s going haywire—we’ve lost religion in our country.”

That system appeared to be in play as Trump supporters apparently flocked to today’s public offering of the Trump Media & Technology Group, the company behind the Truth Social app, sending the stock upward 16%. That surge would value the company at more than $7 billion, although in the first nine months of last year it had only about $3 million in sales and lost nearly $50 million. Julian Klymochko, founder and CEO of Accelerate Financial Technologies, told NPR’s Rafael Nam that the $7 billion valuation “is completely detached from any sort of fundamentals.”

Buying stock in the company is “more of a political movement or just a speculative meme stock [a stock driven by social media] that’s completely detached or unrelated to the underlying business fundamentals of Truth Social,” Klymochko said.

As well as convincing supporters to buy products, extremist rhetoric can push them toward violence. Yesterday, John Keller, the head of a Department of Justice task force set up to protect election workers, told reporters Trump’s lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen has put the U.S. in a “new era” in which election workers are “scapegoated, targeted, and attacked.”

Today, on his social media network, Trump attacked individuals related to his upcoming election interference case. He lashed out at one of the prosecutors on Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg’s staff who previously worked for the Justice Department; Judge Juan Merchan, the judge in his upcoming criminal case for election interference; and the judge’s daughter. Of the judge and his daughter, Trump told his angry followers: “These COUNTRY DESTROYING SCOUNDRELS & THUGS HAVE NO CASE AGAINST ME. WITCH HUNT!”

Legal analyst Joyce White Vance of Civil Discourse called out Trump’s “rank effort at intimidating the judge by threatening his family,” which she said “merits a gag order but also serious pushback from [Republican] leadership—which we know won't come.”

Republican leadership indeed stayed quiet, but the judge noted Trump’s pattern of using “threatening, inflammatory, [and] denigrating” statements against individuals in his legal cases and placed a gag order on him. Merchan noted that in the past, Trump’s statements had intimidated the individual targeted and required them to hire protection.

Trump can still talk about Merchan or Bragg, but he cannot comment on any attorney, court staff member, or family member of prosecutors or lawyers. He can’t make statements about any potential or actual juror.

Other news today suggests that Americans outside the MAGA bubble are turning against the poisonous politics that appeals to fear and hatred so its perpetrators can gain money or power.

The outrage over NBC’s hiring of former Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel was so strong that today the chair of NBC News, Cesar Conde, emailed staff to tell them he had “decided that Ronna McDaniel will not be an NBC News contributor.” McDaniel had trafficked in lies to support Trump and had worked with him to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

When the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine today, observers thought the justices seemed inclined to back away from the decision of extremist antiabortion judge Matthew Kacsmaryk taking the abortion drug mifepristone off the market. Antiabortion activists have long sought to ban abortion nationwide, but a strong majority of Americans support reproductive rights and have made their wishes known at the ballot box.

Voters’ frustration with the extremists who have captured the Republican Party appeared to be behind the results in today’s special election for a seat in the Alabama legislature. There, voters in a swing district elected a Democrat, who ran on protecting abortion access, to replace a Republican. In 2022 that Democrat, Marilyn Lands, won about 45% of the vote. Today she won almost 65% of it.

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

#letters from an american #Heather Cox Richardson #infrastructure #the courts #corrupt SCOTUS #Ronna McDaniel #GOP extremism #Baltimore Bridge

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ohnoitstbskyen · 1 year

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Hihi Skyen :) I was wondering if you had any thoughts on the movement of bringing back old personal websites and webrings and rejecting the social media capitalistic hellscape

Last year I got into old websites and Neocities stuff, even getting into coding to make my own website there, and you come across as the type of person who could have some interesting thoughts on a subject like this :O

Such as being a content creator and being inebitably shackled to popular social media, for the lack of a better word.

I don't know, sorry if this is silly, I hope you're having a nice day :) Love your content, been following for years!

Oh I have a lot of thoughts about that actually, and not just because some of my videos are sponsored by Squarespace™

Squarespace™, build your online presence today!

In seriousness, though... I am first of all strongly in favor of the personal website (I should really get around to properly rebuilding my own). Platforms fundamentally cannot be trusted, and their amoral business interest is to homogenize their users as much as possible, the better to package them as product for advertisers, which is their business.

Personal sites are personal, they allow you to take back control of your online profile and online life, and of the things you publish. They are absolutely fantastic for any creative worker as a means of building a strong portfolio and brand, albeit at the cost of requiring upkeep and maintenance.

The thing they lack, and it is a critical thing, is discoverability. They lack the means to connect with an audience, to be found among the hundred billion websites on the global web.

It used to be Google took care of that, but its search results are increasingly bought and paid for and the scope and scale of the internet makes it functionally impossible to make it to the front page of any search result unless you have money to drop on serious SEO and, of course, advertising with Google. So now the platforms hold a functional monopoly on that feature. Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Tumblr... at this point even TikTok serves that role.

I could make the videos I want, no significant number of people would ever have seen them if not for YouTube's recommendation algorithm. And because my audience is hooked to their platform, trying to get them to pick up sticks and come with me to a new one is... functionally impossible. Worse is that a vast majority of web traffic in the modern day exists on mobile, and the vast majority of THAT is locked in the ecosystems of apps, which introduce their own host of walled garden conditioning and barriers to drawing users to personal websites.

These issues can be addressed in some ways by old school means:

Mailing lists

RSS feeds

Webrings and other linkswaps

Old-fashioned networking

But it will almost certainly never reach the scope and scale of discoverability platforms can do by sheer dint of their size and resources.

Which is why I wouldn't necessarily recommend personal websites as a Content Creator's™ main form of publishing, for example, but as a supplemental way of building a presence online.

But as a thing to build for yourself, a means to stake your claim to a space on the internet that belongs to you, as a means to be creative, a personal website is a fantastic project.

#tb answers #tb essay

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angeltreasure · 6 months

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Could you give me some advice or i don’t even know but anything that you have learned on your journey with God or in general as a Catholic for not doing or experiencing stuff in the world that most people see as amazing or fulfilling and I guess for more context like when people say that some things that are the best and brag about doing things or going places like I know a lot of it can come down to Instagram but I guess in real life too.

I still think I’m early in my faith journey so there’s still a lot I’m learning, but before I knew God I would be one of those people who tried to keep up with the world and would stress but try to show off what I’d done or so called cool things but actually I was really sad so I know it can be lies. It’s so hard sometimes because I think this is something that is used against me to try and stress me out and no matter how many times I say I’m done, it sfill gets me sometimes

Good Morning!,

I know exactly what you are going through, because I experienced this myself growing up in picking schools. We had all kinds of trends growing up and everyone wanted to keep up with the latest trend, the newest popular fashion of high quality brands, who could get the most piercing, who could download Snapchat to get that dog face filter, who could do the best duck face, who could get the best senior year photo, who had the most animal bracelets made of rubber bands, who bought the latest bracelet being sold by the after school group, etc etc etc.

Before we know it, we find ourselves a clone of the rest of the boys or girl and now we have anxiety trying to meet impossible expectations and try to fit in so the crowd doesn’t make us outcasts. You’ll find yourself sad and empty, with a void in your heart that can never be filled. The void in your heart is a God shaped hole that only God Himself can fill.

When we examine ourselves as Catholics, we need to stop and take a step back. All the friend circles all the social media all the shows and fashions are of “the world”. They live in the blue sphere but not you, no. Before you can call yourself a student of this school, a student of this college, a baseball player, a cheerleader, a goth, a girly girl, a cosplayer, a Trekkie, a political party, any label, your identity in God comes first. You are a child of God. Look at this verse that I think of often, it’s one I read at my grandma’s funeral:

For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written: “’As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.’” So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God. Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister.

- Romans 14:7-13

You don’t need to keep up with the world. Let the world have its rat race. You are very special. You have the ability to pray for all these people that you feel you need to keep up with. Think of how many do not even know how to pray and thank our Lord. You can be like the only leper that gave thanks to Jesus for healing. Stop searching for your true self in trends. This is who you really are, check this out!:

You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, a God! How vast is the sum of them!Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand— when I awake, I am still with you.

- Psalm 139:1-18

If you ever forget who you are and what you must do, I highly recommend getting a cup of tea or coffee and a little snack, find a comfy place to sit, and open your canon Bible’s New Testament to read the Sermon on the Mount. You can find most answers you probably have about how one must act as a child of God. I never get bored of it.

We have new challenges in our age with the fast information bombarding us everyday, especially with the use of social media. Using social media isn’t in the Sermon on the Mount specifically, but we can learn from Tradition on how to we can use social media with a greater purpose for good. The Vatican released this document that I highly recommend every Catholic to read as soon as possible.

#asks

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blamemma · 5 months

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Can you share your tips and tricks for hunting for Daniel updates? I’ve tried but it feels like it’s impossible since he’s got his tags off, how do you find the fan selfies etc?

honestly sometimes its just luck. but main thing that helps is that i have a separate private instagram account which i use to just follow f1/daniel adjacent people and i get a steady stream of content from that. location tags are always good friends to you, especially during race weekends, that's how i get my "Side" content (like not my official photos on getty etc etc) and the rest is just checking social media semi-regularly. off-season i'll search daniel's name like every 2-3 days and just have a quick scroll and see what comes up. my main rule though is to not post from private accounts. if someone is posting from a public account then go for it, but i follow a couple of daniel adjacent people on instagram who eventually then went private and they sometimes post daniel stuff (like veryyyyy rarely please don't think i'm sitting on a hoard of secret daniel photos and videos) which i just refuse to post cause i think it's rude to. those people went private for a reason.

#not tryna be rude #but its not that hard #the internets easy to use and like just trying out what works for you for finding stuff etc etc is the best way to do it.#anon #asks

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earlgreytea68 · 10 months

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Ruminations on Social Media Platforms

Since Tumblr has decided that it Needs to Make Money and the Only Way to Make Money is to turn all users into Mindless Servants of the Algorithm, I've been thinking a lot about social media platforms.

Tbh, I'm always thinking a lot about social media platforms, it's kind of part of my field of scholarly endeavor, if you will. But I think a lot about them not in the abstract but as an active user of many of them. And Tumblr is my faaaavorite. And of course so much of what makes Tumblr my favorite is what makes it "unprofitable" or whatever. I put these words in quotes because the definition of "unprofitable" is an extremely narrow one in our capitalist society. Could a website that has allowed many people to form communities / relationships / friendships / connections with people they would otherwise never have met in ways that have vastly improved their lives really be considered unprofitable, ever? Could a website that gives people any moments of pleasure or joy or delight be considered unprofitable? Could a website that sometimes makes you think or at least give you pause be considered unprofitable?

Yeah, it's also a website that's, you know, a hellsite, but, like, it's on the internet and it's made up of people, c'est la vie.

I left Twitter when the Elon Musk thing went down, partly because in those days he was actively taunting Twitter's userbase and it felt a little like I was just on this social media platform being bullied by its owner? Idk, I didn't like it, so I decided to take a break until things calmed down. I really thought he'd get bored and sell it, so kudos to Elon Musk for not doing that. But, anyway, sometimes I think about going back to Twitter. I miss my friends there, I miss knowing what they're up to. Twitter was actually, let's face it, terrible for keeping up with people but Tweetdeck, where you could put people in chronological order and better organize things, was great for it! (As usual, the only way to make the social media platform usable was to use it in a way it wished you wouldn't.)

But I've been going back to Twitter recently to find Tourdust content and I was reminded that Twitter is just...awful. Like, it is almost impossible to have an encounter with Twitter that doesn't drag you down a rabbit hole of terrible discourse of people being awful. I fully admit this is my own fault, for clicking on things I know are going to upset me, but this is why it's better for me just to be off Twitter entirely. Twitter's functionality makes it way too easy to trace and follow outrage, and then you end up just hate-clicking deeper and deeper into these spirals. My mental health is much happier for having given up Twitter, because I'm not a strong enough person not to get sucked into all the unhealthy snippiness of the place.

The reason I've been on Twitter looking for Tourdust updates is precisely because it's better-organized than Tumblr, easier to find the stuff you want to find (in among all the other stuff you wish you wouldn't find, of course). So Tumblr's poor searchability is why I was driven to Twitter, BUT I've come to the conclusion that in a lot of ways that is a feature and not a bug. I can see the ripples of a bunch of kerfuffles that have happened in bandom recently, they lap delicately up against my dash, but by the time they get to me they're the tiniest of waves instead of a tsunami, and if I wanted to figure out what went down, it would take me actual effort. I'm sure I could do it, of course -- it's not like it's utterly impossible -- but it's not as frictionless as figuring out on Twitter. I have to make more of an active effort to go in search of the drama, it's not just RIGHT THERE blinking at me to click on it, and that makes me better able to resist it. I am at heart a lazy person, after all.

So, like, in a way Tumblr doesn't function right, and in a way Tumblr functions beautifully. It all depends on what you're using Tumblr for. And Tumblr was always my escape platform, even when I was still active on Twitter. When I was feeling anxious or sad or upset, I would scroll my Tumblr dash and it would be mindless and soothing and endless (I follow a lot of people. This is for me the key to Tumblr, but see, it all depends on how you're using Tumblr! They don't all share my interests anymore, but I don't care. I just want to sometimes not be in the shouting match that Twitter seems to devolve into so often). And so this is why I feel like it does make sense that there should always be multiple social media platforms in the world. This idea that social media platforms seem to have that they should be the ULTIMATE ONLY ONE is so harmful. Different platforms are for different things. Chill out. (Of course, this is the conquer-the-world mentality formed by capitalism. I am really worried what's going to happen when Netflix realizes it can't keep growing subscribers indefinitely because the population of the planet is finite. Does it know this? I don't think it knows this...)

I was thinking of all this not just because of Tumblr's algorithm thing but because everyone's fussing about Threads, and like, in a way I get it. Clearly I still have a need for Twitter in my life even if I'm simultaneously aware how dysfunctional it is for me. I get that everyone's still trying to find a way to replace Twitter. But first of all, I dislike Facebook as a company so intensely, like, a lot. (I refuse to call it Meta. That's how much I dislike it lol). Second of all, the fact that people seem to think it's a good thing that Threads integrates with your Instagram, I'm just like, ......imagine behaving on Twitter exactly the same way you behave on Instagram? What??? This doesn't even computer to me lol. The same platform that wants you to post photos of your kids should be integrated with the one where people are constantly just yelling at each other over nothing???? Those seem like two completely different places to me?????

Facebook is obsessed with the idea that everyone needs to be Exactly The Same on every corner of the internet, and I just do not agree with that at all. Imagine me being the same on LinkedIn as I am on Tumblr. Like, God, what a boring world that would be!! What a boring life I would be leading!! I guess some people ARE that way, and either that is awesome that they are so fully themselves at work as to just post porn they've written, or it's that they never have any interests that aren't totally aligned with work, which just...is astonishing to me.

What I REALLY think Threads is doing -- and honestly what I think Facebook essentially wants -- is to turn all of us into some curated facsimile of ourselves. I mean, all social media does that, but if you only have one facsimile of yourself, then you never have any other aspects to explore. And if you only have one facsimile of yourself, it's probably going to be the one most designed to make yourself money. Like, isn't that what everyone wants to be doing these days? Using social media to make money? I saw people talking about Threads, and every single one of them was talking about building their brand.

So in a way I am totally sympathetic to Tumblr's problem. They're right. Social media is just a way to sell us stuff now, and if they're not selling us stuff, it's a "problem." Capitalism has finally succeeded in commodifying literally every relationship we have. Literally every single one. And we kind of just let it happen, like there was no other possible way the internet could ever have been designed but to create a handful of billionaires making money off of the fact that people want to feel connected to each other. And then taking that fact and making it all about "but what's the point of connection without making me some more billions?"

Anyway. I wish things weren't like that. Tumblr still is my favorite. Who knows what happens next. Sigh.

#long post #tumblr #social media

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danortizdigital · 1 year

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Creative Review 06

Here's a quick look back at the Creative happenings and hot topics of the week.

#CreativeReview is a one-stop cheat sheet of everything that happened this week in the digital media world - it's a weekly summary for creatives, written by creatives and it’s a free/quick read with no registration and we won't add you to some annoying list that's impossible to unsubscribe to promise.

Trailer Beat

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Apple TV+; June 28

Idris Elba, Archie Punjabi

Told in real-time, Hijack is a tense thriller that follows the journey of a hijacked plane as it makes its way to London over a seven-hour flight, and as authorities on the ground scramble for answers.

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Sony Pictures, In theaters June 23

Jennifer Lawrence, Andrew Feldman, Matthew Broderick

Maddie (Lawrence) thinks she’s found the answer to her financial troubles when she discovers an intriguing job listing: wealthy helicopter parents looking for someone to "date" their introverted 19-year-old son, Percy, and bring him out of his shell before he leaves for college. But awkward Percy proves to be more of a challenge than she expected, and time is running out. She has one summer to make him a man or lose it all.

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Warner Bros. Pictures, In theaters December 25

Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, Colman Domingo, Corey Hawkins, Halle Bailey, H.E.R., Fantasia Barrino

A remake of the classic film showcasing the extraordinary sisterhood of three women who share one unbreakable bond in “The Color Purple.” This new take on the beloved classic is directed by Blitz Bazawule (“Black Is King,” “The Burial of Kojo”) and produced by Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, Scott Sanders, and Quincy Jones.

Social Media Tips & Resources

Brandy Johnson breaks down some helpful social media tips this week:

How to Find your target audience and enhance your social media strategy on Instagram

Understanding Instagram's Algorithm for Beginners

Instagram's algorithm is pivotal in determining what content users see on their feeds. It constantly evolves to provide a personalized and engaging experience for individuals.

👉Here's an analysis of Instagram's algorithm and its key components:

✅Engagement: The algorithm prioritizes content that generates high levels of engagement, such as likes, comments, saves, and shares.

✅Relevance: It analyzes post engagement, search history, and user interactions to understand preferences and deliver personalized content.

✅Relationships: The algorithm prioritizes content from accounts that a user frequently engages with, including posts from friends, family, and accounts they interact with regularly.

✅Recency: Instagram aims to provide users with the most recent posts to keep them up to date with the latest content.

✅Usage: The algorithm considers how often a user opens the app, the duration of their sessions, and the types of content they engage with.

✅Following: The algorithm considers the accounts users follow and their content. If a user follows accounts with similar content themes, Instagram is more likely to show them related posts.

✅Explore Page: The Explore page, powered by the algorithm, offers personalized recommendations to users based on their interests and interactions. It showcases content from accounts that users may not follow but align with their preferences.

Here are a few key takeaways:

🔥Focus on creating engaging content that sparks conversations and encourages interactions from your audience.

🔥Nurture relationships with your followers by engaging with their content and responding to comments.

🔥Post consistently to maintain a presence and increase the chances of your content being seen.

🔥Use relevant hashtags to expand your reach and connect with users interested in your niche.

🔥Experiment with different content formats, such as videos, Stories, and carousels, to keep your audience engaged.

🔥Monitor your analytics to gain insights into what types of content perform best and adjust your strategy accordingly.

Creative Showcase

Abu Dhabi: One Summer Isn't Enough

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As the Emirate states recover from a COVID-influenced downturn in tourism, it’s intriguing to see how Abu Dhabi’s Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) is positioning the UAE’s capital city.

DCT is achieving this positioning through its “One Summer Isn’t Enough” campaign. The seasonal campaign has launched across 12 markets under the Experience Abu Dhabi destination brand, with a series of vibrant and light-hearted spots that showcase Abu Dhabi as the best place to experience summer highlighting a diverse range of indoor experiences, unmissable events, and unbeatable summer offers, and the emirate’s wide range of indoor attractions will ensure that visitors stay cool and comfortable.

Liquid Death: Recycled Plastic Surgery Center

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Ozempic Queen or Buccal Fat Removal? Regardless of how you identify, Liquid Death is clearly playing into the beauty trends of the moment by focusing their latest campaign on plastic recycling, or rather, Plastic Surgery Recycling in a new spot starring Whitney Cummings.

Most recycling facilities send our plastic to landfills or oceans because it’s not actually profitable to recycle. So what should we do with all of this plastic trash? Introducing the Liquid Death Recycled Plastic Surgery Center. A revolutionary new approach to useless plastic garbage.

Learn more at: http://liquiddeath.com/plasticsurgery

McDonald’s “Sí Pica o No Pica”

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McDonald’s is asking Gen Z fans “Sí Pica o No Pica” with its newest Spicy Menu campaign helmed by Colombian American director Victoria Rivera and produced by SLMBR PRTY in collaboration with Alma.

Rivera’s approach captured the candid opinions and reactions of a diverse cast of Gen Z friends as they try out the McSpicy sandwiches and Chicken McNuggets® in various environments.

The free-flowing conversations among the friends provide honest and unscripted reactions to the level of spiciness, with ad-libs in Spanglish polling their friends for their opinions on the spice level.

Goody: A different sauce for every artist صلصة غير لكل فنان

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In food brand Goody’s latest campaign, pasta is their canvas, in which consumers can express themselves to come out with a masterpiece/painting.

Goody will accompany passionate foodies with a rich range of pasta sauces to help them shine, and add a sprinkle to their Artistic masterpieces, each carrying an artistic story of their own.

Don’t Eat the Homies: Nature is a runway

Birkman Agency took the concept of an ordinary runway and flipped it on its head to promote the athletic brand, Don’t Eat the Homies, by embracing the wild and untamed beauty of the great outdoors. Birkman & team hit the trails armed with a treadmill, models ready to strut their stuff, and a whole lot of 80s spirit.

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Heineken Champions Cup Final Arrivals Billboard

Heineken helped a Leinster superfan send a message to Stade Rochelais ahead of the Heineken Champions Cup Final in Dublin.

Heineken believes the bigger the rivalry, the better the rugby. That’s never been truer than this weekend as Leinster Rugby took on reigning champions Stade Rochelais in the final of the Heineken® Champions Cup in the Aviva Stadium, Dublin.

After losing to La Rochelle in the final last year, Leinster will be doing everything in their power to get the win and secure their fifth Heineken Cup. And so will their fans, it seems.

Heineken Ireland made superfan Colin Fennessy’s dream come true by helping him paint his cheeky message to La Rochelle Head Coach Ronan O’Gara (or ROG as he’s known locally) at scale in Ballyboughal Airfield, located right next to Dublin airport.

“Never too late to turn the plane around, ROG!” is big enough to be read from 30,000 ft and will be visible to all planes flying into Dublin on the La Rochelle flight path this weekend.

The message from Colin was picked up as part of Heineken’s Love Rivalry campaign where fans were invited to send cheeky voice messages to the opposing team on match day.

The mammoth message measures 15M X 10M and was created with *eco-friendly paint. The message is designed to be the first thing rugby fans see on their approach to Dublin City.

LeBron James x Taco Bell: Taco Tuesday

The trademark on the phrase “Taco Tuesday” is really burning Taco Bell and LeBron James’ burritos. Now, the two have joined forces to combat the interdict on the use of the moniker in marketing material.

In a new ad, LeBron James laments being bleeped in a candid vertical video where he shouts, “It’s Taco Tuesday!” as he continues to be bleeped throughout the ad—but he’s grateful Taco Bell is doing something about it.

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#creative review #social media #creative inspiration #creative agency #Youtube

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