#this has been a public service announcement thank you for reading

[steakout-05]

hey g uys yesterday i got this weirdo radfem-y person following my blog yesterday (for some reason???? i think they misread my dni as an int list), so i'm making this post to reiterate that TERFs, radfems and gender crits are NOT welcome on my blog and they will immediately be blasted to the shadow realm as soon as i see them interacting with me or my posts. this blog is meant to be my silly little safe place to shitpost and i will not tolerate bigotry towards anyone anywhere on this blog.

#terfs fuck off #seriously your bigotry and hatred are not welcome here. shoo. begone. #terfs and radfems permanently deactivate your blogs right now get out of my house #also i'm a trans man so why did they even follow me???? they'd probably hate me just for being a guy already i'm so confused #and this is also a barry steakfries blog why are radfems following me help #technically a vent #i dunno man i'm just sorta pissed and bewildered that this even happened #apparently SOME people don't bother to read things before they follow........ #so here's to say that if you hate ANYONE based off their sex or gender or skin or neurotype you are NOT welcome on my blog #also transmeds can fuck off too #this has been a public service announcement thank you for reading #sorry if this post is kinda angry sounding or negative #i just hate terfs so so so much i wish they would explode

[world-of-wales]

BREAKING NEWS -

WILLCAT'S NEW HONOURS!

The Prince and Princess of Wales have received appointments from King on St George’s Day. These are effective from today, 23 April.

The Princess of Wales

The Princess of Wales has been appointed a Royal Companion of The Order of the Companions of Honour.

It was founded by King George V in 1917 to recognise outstanding achievements in the arts, sciences, medicine, and public service. This is the first time a member of the royal family has been appointed in the order’s history.

As well as being a personal thank you for her loyal service to the Crown, it is also an acknowledgment of her contribution to the arts. She is the patron of The Royal Photographic Society and The National Portrait Gallery, as well as inspiring lockdown photography project, Hold Still.

The Prince of Wales

The Prince of Wales has appointed Great Master of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath.

The ancient order was established by King George I in 1725 but is believed to have originally dated back as far as the 8th century and was awarded to members of the military or civil service for exemplary service.

Read more about the appointments at -

#news #british royals #british royal family #royalty #royals #brf #royal #kate middleton #british royalty #catherine middleton #duchess of cambridge #prince of wales #princess of wales #the prince of wales #the princess of wales #princess kate #princess catherine #prince william #23042024

[winterchimez]

🔎 — the 007 files

James Bond—or rather, the public was more aware that his code name, agent 007, has been working behind the scenes for decades now. imagine this: what if the agent 007 that you have come to know of was actually more than just one person? what if the famous group The Boyz were all agent 007 working under M16. buckle up as you access M16's top secret operative files, aka the most famous missions these individual agents have succeeded in.

A/N: why hello my fellow readers! i present to you a tbz x 007 cross-over collab series!! i've had this idea for a while now and thanks to @sungbeam who gave me the genius idea of hosting an open collab (and co-planning with me) for this!! i'm so so excited and i really hope this doesn't flop lmao 😭 so yes, please feel free to join the fun! 😉

🔎 STARRING: the boyz x f!reader/oc // g.n!reader/oc

🔎 GENRE: crime, angst, fluff, crack, suggestive, smut (only for 18+ writers!!), assorted pairings (more to be added)

🔎 WARNINGS: will be stated in each respective files!

RULES & REGULATIONS:

↬ choose a tbz member & a bond film to start off! you may write the story loosely based on the storyline of the film/a certain scene(s) inspired by the film itself! or alternatively, write it based on the themed song for the specific film you have chosen! (eg: sangyeon - the spy who loved me)

↬ slots will be first come first served! in total there will be 11 slots for 11 members

↬ only tbz member x reader / tbz member x oc!! no tbz member x member for this

↬ as mentioned above, writers will have the option to choose to either write a female/gender neutral reader/oc!

↬ minimum wc would be 1k, and there's no maximum so feel free to write as much as you'd like! pls include a "read more" feature after your summaries/genre/warnings/word count/a.n.

↬ you are allowed to write any genre you like! pls make sure you're over 18+ if you wish to include smut in your work.

↬ no sensitive topics will be allowed (eg: su*c*de, r*pe, r*cism, etc.)

↬ i will be making a discord gc for easier access, updates, and even brainstorming with one another! it will also help me loads with any announcements i will be making. joining in would be highly encouraged (though if you choose not to that's totally fine by me, just keep me regularly updated in my dms!)

↬ the project will officially kick start off on December 1st 2023, and you will have till March 31st 2024 to complete your work! if ever you wish to drop out / need a bit more time to publish your work pls do let me know!!

↬ fill out this google form to secure your place in this collab :) (key: shaken not stirred)

↬ lastly, reblog this post, @ me in your fics & use the hashtag 🔎 — the 007 files in your works!!

FILES:

Lee Sangyeon — The Spy Who Loved Me @winterchimez

Jacob Bae — The World Is Not Enough @snowflakewhispers

Kim Younghoon — Goldfinger @daisyvisions

Lee Hyunjae — Skyfall @kkinou

Lee Juyeon — For Your Eyes Only @juyeonszn

Kevin Moon

Choi Chanhee — No Time To Die @maessseongs

Ji Changmin — Casino Royale @sungbeam

Ju Haknyeon

Kim Sunwoo — On Her Majesty's Secret Service @kimsohn

Eric Sohn — From Russia With Love @cloverdaisies

#🔎 — the 007 files #kpop collab #the boyz #tbz #the boyz x reader #tbz x reader #the boyz collab #tbz collab #the boyz crime #the boyz angst #the boyz fluff #the boyz suggestive #the boyz smut #the boyz x 007 au #tbz x 007 au #james bond 007 #james bond au #007 au

[strawberrystepmom]

to forgive is divine & to err is human

pairing: Natsuo Todoroki x F!Reader (romantic), Touya Todoroki x F!Reader (familial)

word count: 7.5k

about: when Touya is released to Natsuo’s care following his 8 year prison stay, the fragility of the dynamic between the three of you threatens to derail everyone involved.

contents: cw: contains descriptions of depression, trauma, smoking, bad coping mechanisms, alcoholism, Touya dyes his hair black in a white sink (ugh). angst with a happy ending, set in canon universe but not canon compliant, established relationship between Natsuo and reader (married), Touya and reader are both assholes at certain points.

notes: tbh I've been meaning to repost this and since I'm currently in my "yes girl give us nothing" era, the time has come. Thank you to everyone (then and now) that has read this baby bc I did indeed put my ol' Kendussy into it so I didn't really change anything about it other than fixing grammar and I'm sure there are still mistakes. This is is how I wrote a year ago and that's okay and I'm proud of how far I've come.

Posting this as a double feature bc it feels too idk self promo-y to split them up again so enjoy my creature feature with my beloved Natsuo and his stinky brother. chain divider thanks to @/cafekitsune ♡

The large, red letters across the paperwork make your eyes hurt by simply gazing at them. 

“RELEASED” stamped with what you can tell was a mostly dried out ink pad, the red darker at the beginning of the word than at the end. You wish you could close the growing pit in your stomach knowing Natsuo will soon arrive back to your home, rehabilitated brother in tow, but the uncertainty makes it hard to settle as you re-stack the documents given to you by the Hero Public Safety Commission when they formally announced they would permit Touya’s release so long as someone would be responsible for him.

When the conversation came up, Natsuo volunteered without a second thought. It hurt at first that he did not ask you before making the decision but after having spent nearly a decade at his side, you trusted his judgment. Six months after the initial inquiry, you still do. Touya is a practical stranger, someone you have only met through grainy video chats, but you have been briefed by many HPSC coordinators. They have conducted home visits, interviewed both of you as if you were the criminals, combed through every bank account and piece of mail to ensure that they are putting their inmate into good hands. A good word from Endeavor, something your husband reluctantly accepted, sealed the decision. Your eyes scan over the handwritten letter from Enji, tucked in the stack of documents. 

“No one is more qualified to care for his brother Touya than my son Natsuo. He is a licensed medical professional, specializing in psychology and mental health services and has experience in dealing with traumatized children. I ask that the Commission consider no other placement for Touya.”

A tired sigh escapes as you flip through a few more pages, squinting through descriptions of you and Natsuo. Your personalities, your hobbies, where you work, who you associate with - all vital information, the panel assured you. The final page of the documents has the official ruling, the top left corner of the page curled in from how many times the pair of you have read over it.

“Todoroki Touya, thirty two years of age, is to be released to the custody of his brother Todoroki Natsuo, twenty eight years of age. Todoroki will be required to wear a location monitoring device at all times per the agreed upon terms of release. He is not permitted to be in contact with any of his prior associates. If contact is initiated, he will be required to return to the custody of the HPSC immediately and will no longer be eligible for release.”

Your eyes scan the document again and again, searching for some kind of strange loophole that could prevent all of this from happening. Guilt crawls up your spine and makes you shudder at the thought. How could you not want this for your husband? He has spent years dreaming of having a second chance to love his brother differently, to help him heal. It makes you feel vile to even entertain negative thoughts about Touya. 

Touya. You know little about the man aside from his name, or names, rather. His time as Dabi concluded, he was sentenced to 8 years of rehabilitation instead of prison. A victim of child abuse needed recovery, the commission reasoned, and they were willing to give him the space to do so within reason. The entire Todoroki family agreed with and supported the commission and their decision, his siblings and parents being granted permission to visit him if they chose to do so. 

Natsuo went as frequently as possible, excitedly telling you how much his brother has improved after every visit, eagerness infectious. You listened to his every word, rapt, as he talked about how different Touya looked now that he was eating well, how far he had come, how he seemed emotionally stable for the first time in his life. Genuine excitement danced in his eyes at the thought of having his brother back, not a shell of a boy or a man. Not Dabi but Touya, someone who was cruelly taken from him when he was too young to fully understand why. 

The true agony was seeing the metaphorical stitches ripped open, cruelly and callously. The entire country was witness to the explosive truth - Touya Todoroki was alive. Even Fuyumi with her limitless poise gnawed her lower lip hoping it would ground her enough that she could stay strong for everyone else. “I can handle this,” she assured you as you wrapped your arms around her shoulders the day after the video aired. She knew the person who would need you the most was her brother. Looks were deceiving - Natsuo was big and strong, a grown man, but his feelings were delicate. She trusted no one but you to look after him.

Natsuo had only asked you to be his girlfriend weeks before his brother revealed his true identity publicly. You will never forget the way grief was etched into all of his features, his strong brow downturned for weeks; retraumatized. It took every ounce of strength in his body to muster a smile, much less anything else, but he did it. For Fuyumi and Shouto, for his mother. 

You can remember every moment of the years following Touya revealing himself. The nights when Natsuo woke up sobbing, burying his face into your chest and balling the fabric of your shirt up between his fists as if it would keep him from losing touch with reality completely. He stopped eating for days at a time, depression sinking him into depths he didn’t know existed. You were always there with a soothing touch and okayu, a rice porridge Fuyumi taught you to make for him. 

“When Touya died, it’s all he would eat,” she explained. Your heart crumbled at the thought of a 13 year old version of your beloved future sister in law having to keep her 9 year old brother moving through the pain of loss. How did they keep themselves together?, you wondered more than once as she breezed through the difficult times with a tight smile. 

The more you watched the man you love sink, the more conflicted you felt about Touya. Those feelings lingered even into today. Natsuo is healing, therapy and love and compassion all coming together to create a whole man instead of pieces of a hurt child in a big body, but you can’t help the simmering anger you feel when you think about watching him experience the hurt in real time. Some memories stay etched forever. 

Natsuo continued to live despite the difficult times. You helped him study and make his way through medical school - a feat that he often credited you wholly for. It wasn’t true but the praise always feels good. Three years after Touya was sentenced, Natsuo opened his clinic that offers a variety of therapeutic services for children with difficult quirks or those who have suffered because of them. A year after that the two of you were married. 

“I knew you were the one when you gave me a reason to keep trying,” he tearfully admitted as you exchanged vows during your small wedding ceremony. The details weren’t for everyone else to know, but the pair of you knew exactly what he was talking about and the admission still makes you feel weepy if you start to think about it for too long.

Love feels like too shallow of a word to explain how you feel about him which is why you agreed to this in the first place - your love for Natsuo is stronger than your distaste toward Touya. You remind yourself of the mantra as you hear voices outside of your front doorstep, one immediately recognizable as belonging to Natsuo. You stand and take a deep breath, composing yourself and closing the file folder on the table as the door opens and the two white haired men crowd into the small genkan, talking amongst each other. 

“We’re here!”

A practiced, measured smile is what you can manage as you watch the situation carefully. Touya scratches the back of his head and offers a small and impersonal wave and you’re surprised by how different he looks. Thin but healthy, his skin grafts have been properly secured, his lashes are the same white as the ones that frame your husband's kind, gray eyes. The similarities between the two are striking but so are the differences - Natsuo greets you with a smile and a peck on your forehead and Touya glowers from the doorway. 

“Welcome home, Touya,”

He looks around, eyes narrowed as he takes in the sights of your well lived in home. It reminded you eerily of the way the representatives from the commission sullied your safe place away slowly, searching every corner to make sure you would not enable any more bad behavior from the man standing in the doorway. Your home had only just begun to feel like yours again.

“Nice place. Guess that’s what being married to a doctor gets you.”

His crass comment made you feel stricken, flinching slightly as your practiced smile wavers. You aren’t Fuyumi, full of endless grace and forgiveness - you can’t fake it. You aren’t Natsuo who believes in the potential of people more than anyone you’ve ever met. You are you and right now you are angry. Clenching your fists in a way you hope is imperceptible, you fake a laugh and your husband looks at you with wide eyes, noticing your change in demeanor.

“Well, it’s your place too now. Guess that’s what being a doctor's brother gets you.”

Touya purses his lips and nods, arms folded across his chest. You look over his scars, his healed skin, his cold eyes. “Do you want to show him to his room, babe?” Natsuo asks, voice shaky, as if he’s anxious for your response. “I can find it myself,” Touya answers for you, heavy boots in his hands as he pads through your home toward where his room lies. You spent weeks helping Natsuo prepare it for him, filling it with photos and books to help him gain back the time he lost while he was away. The taste in your mouth is nothing short of bitter and sour as you think about it.

“I don’t know what that was about, I asked him no-,” you raise your hand, cutting your husband off mid sentence as your fake smile finally falls and gives way to a slight frown, corners of your mouth downturned. “Don’t worry about it.” 

Touya has always felt suspicious of you. Your intentions, your affections for his brother, your involvement with his family - it’s hard not to be uncertain about someone who fits so flawlessly in the dysfunctional outline created by being a Todoroki. What are you hiding? What do you want? 

He tosses his boots down on the floor of the room at the end of the hallway. Instinctually, he knows this is his space. Covered with childhood photos of the Todoroki family, a quilt he received as a child covering the bed, he wants to be impressed with the effort put in but instead he feels hollow. This life never fit him in the first place, happy smiles for photos and dinners and whatever the fuck was expected of him, and now he had no choice but to live it. 

It is a hell of a lot nicer than the four white walls that housed him for eight long years. The bed looks a lot more comfortable, he thinks as he settles down on the edge of it, lying back with his arms behind his head. Fixing his gaze on the ceiling, he takes a moment to think in the silence of the space. The entire car ride his brother talked about you and your life together. Touya eventually began to tune him out, watching the trees pass by the window with the occasional red light flashing on his monitoring anklet catching his attention.

Rehabilitated. The connotations of the word weighed heavily on Touya - one fuck up and it would be so easy for you to convice Natsuo to send him back. You could never understand him the way that his family does. You couldn’t forgive him the way they had either, something both of you would never communicate to each other. 

“Hey,” Natsuo’s voice rasps from the doorway and Touya sits up slightly, grunting his response. “You like it alright?”

“It’s fine.” 

Natsuo sighs, carefully entering the room and shutting the door behind him as he slumps down on the bed next to his brother, shoulders sagging beneath the weight of the huge change that has come over his otherwise peaceful life. “You don’t have to lie, Touya.”

Touya sits up, using his elbows to support his weight, and offers a half smile toward his brother. “I’m not lyin’, it’s fine. Just feels like too much.”

Natsuo nods, trying to tamp down his urge to play therapist instead of brother. It was something he did all too often growing up and probably why he has made fixing people his mission in life. Touya was no exception.

“It’s the least we can do. You’ve been through a lot.”

We, Touya thinks to himself. Always we. He wonders how much Natsuo has surrendered of himself for your sake. Does he have any hobbies besides being a doting husband? Is his world filled with anything besides this little bubble the two of you live in?

“Don’t act like she had anything to do with all of this, Natsu. I was released to you.”

Touya slips a hand in his jacket pocket and fishes around for his pack of cigarettes, popping one out of the packaging with expert precision and sticking it between his lips as his brother sits next to him silently. “Lemme guess, need to do this outside?” 

Natsuo nods and Touya sighs, sliding off of the bed and leaving a rumpled quilt behind him. Heavy footsteps trail down the hallway as he peers into the kitchen and notices the backdoor, quietly slipping through it only to be met with a glowing red cherry on the other side, smoke streaming from your mouth as you stand with a cigarette between your fingers.

“Didn’t take you for the type,” he starts, pulling his lighter from his pocket and clicking it until a bright flame catches the cigarette dangling from between his lips. Once upon a time he would’ve just used his quirk but the prescription blockers he was given by court order prevented that. “All he ever talks about is how perfect you are.”

“Looks can be deceiving,” you shoot back, flicking your cigarette ashes onto the ground below before taking another drag. 

The mutual distrust permeated the air between the two of you. Touya reminded you so much of your father in law it was like looking at another version of him. You reminded Touya of everything he hated about this world - false pretense and unattainable perfection. He doubts you have ever walked around without a hair out of place, a Todoroki would never.

“Any other deep dark secrets I should know before being trapped inside of this house with you 24 hours a day?”

You chuckle, dropping your cigarette on the ground and stomping it out, bending to pick up the butt once you’re done. 

“Your brother won't let me drink anymore,” you start, hoping the vulnerability warms your brother in law. His steely gaze convinces you otherwise and you begin to walk away, arms folded over your chest with a cigarette butt in your fist. “Just another fun part of the aftermath of your little warpath.”

Touya knows he fired the first shots but he’s taken aback at your accusatory tone. 

“Anything else you want to question me about? Figured the commission briefed you on all of my dirty laundry.”

He shakes his head and exhales smoke through the corner of his mouth, the plumes drifting in your direction. “Good chat, Touya.”

The back door slams as you enter your home through it, windows rattling slightly. Your first instinct is to pour a drink but the reminder of your rock bottom lingers on your mind as you instead toss your cigarette in the trash and turn down the hall and head to your bedroom, Natsuo sitting on the bed.

“Why does he hate me so much?”

You hate how hysterical your voice sounds, anxiety rising like bile. Rising to his feet, your husband gathers you against his chest and presses a kiss to the top of your head. 

“Give him time, he’ll warm up.”

You don’t share your husband’s boundless optimism as you hear the back door slam and hear footsteps heading to the bedroom opposite yours. Natsuo plants another soft kiss atop your hair and squeezes your hand gently as he walks back over to Touya’s room. 

“You alright?” Natsuo asks and Touya rolls his eyes, shrugging off his jacket and draping it across a hook on the back of the door. “Fine. Thanks for the concern.”

Natsuo slips through the door completely and closes it softly behind him, leaning against the solid wood.

“What happened out there?” 

Touya chuckles and shrugs, sitting on the bed in the same place he had left. “Nothing worth mentioning. I’ll make sure I keep my bottles hidden from her though.”

His eyes widened, Touya’s antagonistic tone nothing new, his shock coming from the fact you told him about your struggles with substance abuse in the first place. It wasn’t a secret but it certainly wasn’t a fun fact you gave out at trivia night. 

“Uh, yeah, thank you.” Natsuo fumbles through his words, unsure of the right thing to say. “That would be great. She has come a long way but there are still times that are difficult, especially when big changes occur.”

Your substance abuse issues began about a year after your marriage. Blissful happiness wasn’t enough to numb the intense pain of the years prior but copious amounts of whiskey while Natsuo was busy with work were good enough. Blind confidence convinced you he didn’t notice a thing, not your sunken eyes or decreased appetite, but he did and he confronted you as gently as he could.

The next day you started therapy of your own and have continued to go to meetings for others struggling with addiction since then. Nothing drastic has happened in your life since you quit drinking, calm falling over the Todoroki household, making it easier for you to maintain your wits.

He would never say it but Natsuo truly worried about your sobriety. Every time he left for a trip or wine was passed around at family dinner, he wondered if it would be the day you changed your mind. Sticking with you was easy, though. You did the same for him at his low point and he would never stop doing it for you.

“She smokes, you know that?”

Natsuo nods, Touya’s raspy voice breaking the silence caused by his brother’s overthinking. “Have to let her have one vice, you know?” 

“I think you forget that you weren’t the only person who had to live through that fucking horrifying life! It didn’t just go away when you did.”

Your voice cracks as you raise it at your brother in law, his turquoise eyes wide as he watches you yell with an intensity that leaves your hands shaking. He has never looked more like your husband than he does now, the same white hair sticking up on top of his head, his fingers carding through it and yanking the strands as he paces your living room floor. 

“There are times I don’t think you realize that your actions have always had consequences because you’ve truly faced so few of them,” you feel your face flame as Touya’s expression turns from surprised to angry. “You didn’t have to clean up the messes. I did.”

Seeing the similarities makes something inside of you crack, a piece of your heart perhaps, your chest heaving. Regret consumes your mind; you’ve gone too far. You struggle to catch your breath, rubbing your fingers over your cheeks to hide evidence of your tears. Silence blankets the room like a dense fog.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”

Your voice sounds meek and thin even to your own ears, the screaming match you have been engaged in rendering your throat raw. Painfully, you swallow what little spit you can and shut your eyes tightly as you listen to Touya’s rhythmic footfalls. Taking a deep breath, you sink into an armchair and dab at your eyes with the back of your hands, opening them long enough to see Touya staring intently at you. You drop your hands and sigh. 

“I can’t imagine what you have been through,” you hiccup, warm tears sliding down your cheek and dripping onto your wrists where they sit in your lap. “But you weren’t the only one going through it and I hope your brother can forgive me for saying all of this to you.”

The white haired man remains silent as you rise from your chair, hands balled into fists at your sides. Your gaze turns directly to him and you sniffle, tears subsiding. 

“He has always loved you despite everything you’ve done, exactly as you are. Please remember that.”

The words feel cathartic to say aloud, astute eyes narrowing to watch you as you turn on your heel and begin to walk away. Your tense posture tells him exactly how you feel about the entire situation and you reason that giving Touya space seems like the best option to end the strange battle of wills the two of you have found yourselves in. 

The gravelly sound of Touya’s voice from over your shoulder stops you in your tracks. 

“Then I owe it to him to try.”

There is no apology to be found in the words but you swear you can feel it as he says them, looking over your shoulder. For the first time you don’t see Dabi or Touya, you see someone completely new - your brother in law. A blank canvas, someone you could perhaps get to know under better circumstances. 

“We both owe it to him,” you respond as you turn around and make your way back to the chair you were sitting in moments ago, sitting stiffly against the back of the chair, shoulders still held tensely by your ears. “But how do we begin?”

Touya sighs and sits opposite you, rubbing his hands over his face as he rests his elbows on his knees.

“Hi, I’m Touya.” You laugh for the first time in a week and he can’t hide the half smile that comes across his face. “I did some fucked up things and spent eight years paying for them but I fucking love my family.” He stomps his foot, emphasizing his point. “That includes you now so we better get our shit together, yeah?”

Another tear falls as you nod, a watery smile settling over your features.

“Yeah, we should.”

A year later, when you think of your brother in law Touya, a memory from your childhood comes to your mind.

You are six, maybe seven and at the zoo. Your parents hold both of your hands dutifully to make sure you don’t run off, squeezing your tiny palms between theirs as you excitedly gasp and croon at birds, snakes, and butterflies. A flamingo makes you shout, a duck makes you quack.

Steps slow down as the three of you approach a large glass enclosure. “Black panther - panthera pardus” says the sign extending from the ground in front of the glass. You don’t know that, of course, until your dad reads it aloud to you, asking you to repeat the name.

“Panthera,” you repeat, a tiny voice bouncing back at you off of the glass.

As if you summoned the cat itself, it appears and you flinch. Black, lithe, wild eyed with muscles wound so tightly you can see the shape and size of each of them. You wonder if the panther knows how to relax, the same way your mom tells you to when you cry too hard. Maybe he needs to take a deep breath. 

“Why does he look so nervous?” 

In your young mind, the question surfaced before you had time to think about it. Of course he’s nervous, you reason, all of these people are staring at him like the attraction that he is. A dazzling thing to see locked between four glass walls. 

“He isn’t nervous honey, he’s probably just thinking about what he would do if he were outside with us.”

Pondering your mom's polite whisper, you nod and accept the answer. Grown ups always know best anyway. 

As a keeper enters the enclosure and carefully stalks toward the cat, your eyes widen in surprise. How can he let someone so close? You wonder if you could ever get that close to him. To see the sunlight in his fur just enough to reveal the spots under the dark of his coat or to watch his ears twitch as he listens for sounds of danger. Would he ever trust you? Could you trust him?

The crowd around the glass increases in size, delighted whoops as the keeper dangles the cleaned carcass of a large bird above the panther. You drink in the way he crouches and springs, tight muscles unwinding for a moment as large paws capture the food between them. 

A sight you’ll never forget.

A sight you see as Touya stalks through the living room of your home, tightly running his fingers through his hair. Muscles taut, standing and walking but trying to simultaneously fold in on himself.

“What the fuck would they even want to talk about?”

You sigh, shrugging at his words. The “they'' in question is the Commission and one year after his monitored release, he has been asked to return before the panel and answer some questions. Natsuo sits next to you on the floor in front of the chabudai, sorting through the papers sent to him to review ahead of Touya’s scheduled meeting. The three of you only found out about the date today.

“I dunno, Touya,” your husband shoots a bit impatiently toward his brother. “Let me read this and then I’ll tell you.”

Silently, you watch as he scans the documents, flipping them between his fingers. You hear the heavy pounding of Touya’s footsteps across the floor, reverberating through the otherwise silent room. Your house is too quiet. There is no crowd to filter out the silence.

“Potential restoration of privileges,” you hear Natsuo mutter from beside you. He continues to read to himself and you wonder what that truly entails. Would Touya be released from his supervised period completely? Would he be allowed to wander more than 50 feet away from his guardians? 

“God Natsu, read faster.”

Natsuo’s eyes shoot a frosty glance toward Touya from over the top of the papers in his hands. Placing them on the table, your husband sighs.

“They want to see your progress and maybe give you a little more freedom.”

Touya freezes in place for a mere second before turning on his heel and rushing to the edge of the table to snatch the documents and look over them, brows furrowed in concern that this is some evil trick the two of you have decided to pull on him. Revenge for the last twelve months of him and his fits, his angry words, his snarling. 

You’ve realized during the months he’s more meow than he is hiss.

“But,” Natsuo starts, clearing his throat, Touya tossing the papers back on the table and interrupting his brother with a clear as day “fuck!”, beginning to pace once again. “We have to give testimony.”

The royal we is something Touya has hated since the day he moved into your home. It always makes him feel as if it’s two against one, no separation between yourself and Natsuo and how you feel about the situation. He assumes if you’re mad at him, his brother is too. If you’re frustrated with Touya drinking the last of your nice matcha, Natsuo must be too. If you’re angry at Touya for dying his hair black in your bathtub and staining the shiny white tiles, Natsuo must be too.

He’s wrong about that, of course, his brother never holding any of his minor blunders against him. You don’t either but it would be tougher to convince Touya to believe that than it would be to build a house by hand, despite the tentative peace that exists between the two of you. You’ve allowed him into your home, your world, your once peaceful little family and have found that you are better for it. Natsuo is better for it. But there will always be a level of distrust. 

Like that panther you think of so often, Touya must wonder what it would be like to be free and trusted. 

“Touya, I don’t know how to say this,” Natsuo says, trying to keep his tone even and calm despite how anxious you know he must be feeling. You feel your stomach drop as well, balling the fabric of your linen pants between your palms to keep your hands from shaking. You looked at the date on the documents and noticed that it was a day you knew he’d be unavailable, working on a particularly tough case with multiple children from one family. “I can’t do it.”

Touya chuckles, a bitter and hollow sound that makes you flinch. “Of course not.”

“She can, though.”

Unexpectedly, Touya’s bitter chuckle turns into a belly laugh. You wonder if he’ll double over from the strength of it, scarred hands clutching his middle. Natsuo stands, approaching his brother carefully.

“Her?” He points at you and you feel like the one being questioned. Despite the grasp on the thighs of your pants, your hands do shake and your fingers slip. “She probably wishes I would have died every single day despite the little “play nice” bullshit she does for your sake.”

Gasping at the accusation, you hope he can’t see the way your eyes glance downward. You had assumed the two of you were past this, arguments coming to a halt around six months ago when you told him you simply didn’t have the energy for them anymore. 

You then began taking him to pick up cigarettes every other day, riding in your car together silently but comfortably. His fingers always drum against his thighs impatiently and you clear your throat, mouth dry until you arrive. You have to be close to him the entire time but you linger on the edges of the small shop in your neighborhood, giving the elderly shopkeeper time to fuss over Touya the way he needs. 

The two of you then silently ride back to your home.

“How could you say that, Touya?”

Much like the smaller version of you felt compelled to speak outside of the gleaming panther exhibit, you do the same now. Your voice sounds weak, thin, defeated. Natsuo rushes to your side, kneeling back down and placing one of his large arms around your shoulder.

“Oh here we go, gotta rush to defen -” 

Touya’s words are cut off by a sharp glance from his brother, a look he has never seen before. Smothering all of the fire inside of him, hurting the one person who has endlessly forgiven him, he is doused by humility.

“I don’t hate you,” you look up and see Touya’s turquoise eyes that are narrowed and hard staring directly at you. “I don’t wish you were dead,” you continue as you shrug your husband’s arm off of you and begin to stand. “In fact, I was stupid and thought we were finally fucking past all of this!”

Punctuating your shout with a frustrated grunt, you stomp off down the hallway and leave the brothers to figure it out amongst themselves. Natsuo would simply have to find a way to make the date work for him because you couldn’t bring yourself to beg the Commission to be merciful toward someone who detests you so much. You aren’t a big enough person for that, lacking the careful compassion of your husband.

“Are you fucking serious, Touya?”

Natsuo cursing at his brother makes his steely gaze falter, eyes glancing downward toward the floor. Touya remembers a time you went too far, not long after he first moved into your home, and he feels guilty knowing he has done the same.

“Whatever,” Touya responds dismissively as he stomps off. 

Natsuo hears the back door slam and rubs his hand over his face, eyes fluttering closed for a moment. He’s transported back to 12 long months ago when he didn’t even want to be in the same room as the two of you, the tension making him incapable of dealing with his own uncertainty about the ability to rehabilitate his brother. 

As Touya steps outside into the cool air, far less suffocating than the inside of the house, he fishes around in his pockets for his lighter and mutters obscenities as he realizes it is inside. Of course, he still can’t use his quirk thanks to the very strong suppressants he has to take daily as part of his release, so he flings the door back open and stomps inside. 

Hearing hushed muttering from the living room, he closes the door quietly and creeps to the doorway of the kitchen. He shoves himself against the wall, trying to hide from view as he hears your voice.

“I don’t understand why he won’t give me a chance, Natsu.”

His brother sighs and Touya sinks further against the wall. He knows the sound - fed up, frustrated, struggling. Natsuo is the last person he ever wanted to create those feelings in and shame, a bit of an unfamiliar feeling for him, creeps up his spine and makes his stomach turn. 

“You didn’t exactly make the best first impression, of course he doesn’t completely trust you.”

Natsuo’s words make you blow out air in frustration. Touya can’t see you, but he imagines you look as downtrodden as you always have after these little battles. His brother’s defense of his behavior is surprising, though, and he idly rubs his thumb across one of the graft scars on his hands.

“I know,” you relent with a sniff. “I know.”

Your words shift Touya’s perspective, precious humility trickling over him and making his left eye twitch - a stress reflex he tried to hide for years. 

You were the first person who noticed it and on your usual trip to the small store to pick up his cigarettes after, you passed him a box of anti-inflammatory medication and a bottle of eyedrops wordlessly as you buckled into your seat. He hasn’t twitched since.

Acknowledging the hurt you’ve caused is the first step of atonement, he remembers reading in a book Natsuo brought him while he was still locked up.

He peeks from around the wall, stretching his arms over his head and locking his fingers on the back of his skull, buried in poorly dyed black hair. Natsuo looks up through his light eyelashes at his brother who approaches carefully, settling on the opposite side of the table from where the pair of you sit.

“You can do it.”

The words are simple and cause both you and Natsuo to look up. Touya refuses to meet your puffy eyes and rises back to standing as quickly as he sat, slapping the tabletop once before skulking down the hallway to grab his lighter.

You and Natsuo resolve not to ask questions, with only two weeks until the panel meets time is of the essence and your testimony will be key to helping Touya if you choose to help him. 

Sitting in front of the panel is more nerve-wracking than you expected. A group of five familiar faces all staring at you with discerning eyes as you shuffle the hand-written pages of your testimony between your fingers.

These people have rummaged through your home on more than one occasion, interviewed all of your close friends and family, sifted through every piece of your dirty laundry and you’re at their mercy once again but this time you’re more willing.

“You may begin as you wish, Todoroki-san.”

Nodding respectfully toward the head of the panel, you clear your throat and exhale as you look down at the papers in your hands. You can feel Touya looking at you from across the room, Fuyumi and Shouto seated beside him and Rei on the other side of his sister, but refuse to look up at them for fear it’ll make the little courage you’ve summoned disappear.

“When Touya first moved into our home, I was uncertain of his ability to be rehabilitated.”

You spent the last two weeks reading this exact same speech to Natsuo, rehearsing it in your bedroom while pacing across the floor. The ink on the page is smeared in places from wet tears that dripped down onto the paper, black bleeding into blue and drying into rippled and raised spots. Those spots remind you of Touya, the way he has woven his way into part of your everyday existence. 

“The process of allowing him into our lives felt very invasive. Respectfully, our lives were torn apart in preparation for him. Our home was combed through, our mail was intercepted, my husband was followed by a member of this committee on his way home from the clinic he tirelessly uses as a means to help others on more than one occasion.”

You keep your tone even to avoid sounding accusatory. These are all facts the Commission themselves have confirmed via their own documentation but standing in the face of the very force that can decide your future as well as Touya’s is more intimidating than you expected.

“The day Touya moved in, our lives shifted in a way that no amount of preparation could have made us anticipate. Difficult interpersonal dynamics forced us to take a good hard look at the future of our family and the future of what we desired for Touya. How did we want his rehabilitation to look?”

Taking a breath, you look up from the sheet of paper for a moment to meet Touya’s gaze and it strikes you as odd to see something almost tender. You sniff, nose twitching, vowing to hold yourself together until you’re alone or with Fuyumi or anywhere but sitting in front of people who have made their living off of judging, doling out punishment, changing lives for better or worse.

“While we’ve had many difficult times, I am not here to talk about the difficulty I caused Touya with my inability to coexist for the first several months. Rehabilitation takes a team and I was not a team player,” you pause and hear shuffling from the seats across the room. “Despite this, Touya has dedicated himself to improvement and has continually adhered to every request the commission put forth in the original terms of his release.”

While you don’t want to continue to air out your dirty laundry, there is a therapeutic feeling in knowing you’re publicly admitting to handling things wrong. In front of Natsuo’s family, nonetheless. Touya’s family. Your family. 

At the end of this lies the fact that you are all a family and forgiveness is inherently woven through the relationships and bonds you share.

“It is the recommendation of both my husband and I that Touya’s privileges of release be expanded upon, including reduction of supervision and permission to travel to the homes of his mother and siblings independently if he chooses.”

Rising to your feet, you bow before the panel once more before walking toward the back of the room and quietly exiting as they take time to deliberate and make their decision. 

Touya rises and comes to the front of the room, standing before them. He hates the way he feels, like a caged animal with his muscles tensed, in a suit that doesn’t even belong to him because why the fuck would he ever own a suit? The sleeves are too long, it is Shouto’s after all, and he pulls the cuffs over his hands with his thumbs.

The panel head speaks and the room is so quiet you’re even unnerved from the other side of the door. Pressing your ear to the wood, you listen.

“Our decision will not be immediate. You can expect further communication from the panel in the coming weeks. As of right now, your terms of release remain the same until you are otherwise notified. Thank you for your time today, Todoroki-san.”

Touya bows and joins his family, missing the member he wishes to see the most.

You back away from the door as you hear the knob turn and rest against the wall, arms over your chest as you greet your in-law’s with a subdued smile. 

“Natsu will be so proud of you!” Fuyumi beams, rubbing your bicep in a comforting gesture. You just shrug, unable to speak. You exchange a few additional pleasantries with Shouto and Rei, wishing them goodbye as they leave you and Touya standing on opposite sides of the hallway.

“It’s okay, you know.”

Touya’s voice is a rasp, as always, and you look up through your eyelashes at him. Fiddling uncomfortably with the cuff of your shirt in the same way he’s been fiddling with his own cuffs all day, it just further emphasizes the similarities you share. It isn’t just love for Natsuo you have in common anymore.

“None of this shit has been easy and you’ve done your best. I’m not exactly a fuckin’ easy person to get along with.”

You chuckle, tension diffusing.

“I think you’re going soft, Touya.”

He chuckles back and your eyes meet, the two of you walking toward the center of the hallway to leave the building together and walk back to your car. Your footsteps are quiet and so are his, both of you slumping as you saunter out of the door and into the bright midday sun.

“Nah, just tired of being an asshole all the time.”

The news comes as you stand at your kitchen sink, Touya bent over as you help him rinse black hair dye down the drain. Your hands are wet, his shirt is soaked, but you agreed to help him after noticing a huge white patch still at the back of his head from his attempts to do it himself. 

“I dunno why you want it to be black so bad, don’t you want to look like Natsu?”

Touya snorts and the sound echoes through the steel basin. “I have to keep a little edge. Let me live.” You shut off the clean running water, allowing the dark droplets to work their way out of your sink. There was more rinsing to do but you wanted to be sure of how much more.

“It’s here!” Natsuo shouts from the doorway and you hear his hurried, large footsteps trek into the room, ripping of paper ringing in your ears.

You want to leave Touya’s side and go to Natsuo, to read over his arm, to see for yourself but you resolve to be patient and continue to lightly massage Touya’s scalp. He needs comfort right now, you can tell.

“Expansion of privileges,” Natsuo mutters to himself, scanning the page as quickly as he can. “Unsupervised access to other family homes! Holy shit!” 

Tossing the papers onto the counter, your husband bolts toward you and wraps his arms around your waist. “No, no, no,” you chant as he picks you up and you accidentally pull Touya’s wet strands of hair. He yelps and you let go, hissing apologetically.

“God Natsuo, down boy.”

Your snarky brother-in-law draws a giggle from you as your husband presses a kiss against your cheek and reaches down to slap him on the back. “Do you wanna tell mom or should I?” Touya looks up, head still dripping, and rolls his eyes at his brother. “I could just show up at her house, that’d have more impact.”

Wiggling away from Natsuo, you reach for the towel on the counter and wrap it around Touya’s neck so he can sit up and not drip black water all over your floor. He gives silent thanks in the form of a tight half smile and you smile back, stepping away to let the brothers converse about how they’re going to break the news to their siblings.

As you watch the two of them, the panther and his handler once again come back to your mind. 

The reason that the handler was able to come so close to the cat is because he trusted him. The cat could learn to trust others, to let people in, to let them be on his side. You won’t have to wonder if you could have gained the panther’s trust any longer and he won’t have to wonder what it’s like to be on the outside with the rest of us. 

#natsuo todoroki x reader #touya todoroki x reader #kendall writes #the double feature lmfao

[turtle-paced]

Did Varys encourage Barristan getting fired so he could recruit him for Dany? Similar to how he recruits Tyrion later.

Indeed he did.

"Was it Joffrey's wish to dismiss Ser Barristan Selmy from his Kingsguard too?" Cersei sighed. "Joff wanted someone to blame for Robert's death. Varys suggested Ser Barristan. Why not? It gave Jaime command of the Kingsguard and a seat on the small council, and allowed Joff to throw a bone to his dog. He is very fond of Sandor Clegane. We were prepared to offer Selmy some land and a towerhouse, more than the useless old fool deserved." Tyrion I, ACoK

And it came with some nicely timed public intervention that guaranteed Barristan would walk out on the spot.

Lord Varys spoke, gentler than the others. "We are not unmindful of your service, good ser. Lord Tywin Lannister has generously agreed to grant you a handsome tract of land north of Lannisport, beside the sea, with gold and men sufficient to build you a stout keep, and servants to see to your every need." Ser Barristan looked up sharply. "A hall to die in, and men to bury me. I thank you, my lords … but I spit upon your pity." Sansa V, AGoT

Read: Tywin will put you in a nice nursing home, old man. In a context where Barristan knows that he's still better at his job than the vast majority of people would be, and it's just been announced that fucking Jaime Lannister would be replacing him.

An offer Barristan couldn't accept, in something of an inversion.

#asoiaf #valyrianscrolls #varys #barristan selmy #a game of thrones #a clash of kings

[pyrrhiccomedy]

i usually love your blog but i have strong and conflicted feelings about your recent opinion about reading comprehension et al. this has been a public service announcement, thank you for your time.

Is the public service "informing me that people I don't know and whose opinions I'm not invested in don't like a post I made on tumblr.com?" Because that's not actually interesting information to me.

This one has been surprisingly controversial! OP made a post saying it was ableist and discriminatory to talk about reading comprehension and media literacy being good things, and thinking it was a bad thing to only consume media for children into your adult years. As somebody with all of those opinions - who talks about that stuff pretty regularly on my blog! - I felt like putting out there that I thought that was a rotten take, that reading comprehension was not beyond the reach of people with intellectual disabilities or people who struggled in school, that implying they were actually WAS kind of ableist, and that not developing those skills leads to all kinds of bad outcomes, from thinking your ignorance contributes as much to a conversation as someone else's expertise to just run of the mill racism and other kinds of bias.

I don't think you need to be constantly engaged with the world in your best, most curious way. I don't watch Next In Fashion over dinner because I'm trying to be challenged. It's fine to just want to chill with a simple, feel-good pleasure that doesn't ask too much of you. But if that's ALL that you're doing - to the extent that you're making posts about how calls for media literacy are tantamount to saying you're better than people who had a hard time in school (!!!) and a desire for a more educated and curious world is biased against people with intellectual disabilities (!!!) - hey, maybe you need to take a second to think about that one! Maybe you're saying something real fucking stupid, wrapped in the kind of language that makes Tumblr cream its shorts.

If you disagree with me, uh, that's fine I guess, but it's weird that you "usually really like my blog." If you think I was mean about it, like, I could have been a LOT meaner, but whatever, I'm comfortable moving forward into the rest of my life with your disapproval. I promise I won't lose any sleep over it.

[writergirl2011]

Public Service Announcement

To all of the following:

1) Reddit Dudebros

2) Idiots who think that Jaime and Brienne should stay “just friends, because a romance would ruin the perfectly refreshing story of a man and a woman who don’t have those kind of feelings for each other.”

3) Idiots who think that Jaime and Brienne “will share a Arthurian, courtly love but won’t even think of consummating their relationship”

4) Idiots who think that Brienne deserves better than Jaime, but somehow think that “better” is being a glorified bodyguard for one of the Stark siblings

5) Idiots who think that Jaime will always be obsessed by Cersei and couldn’t possibly love another woman

6) f: all of the above--

George R.R. Martin has based Jaime and Brienne on “Beauty and the Beast.”    Please pay attention to this next part:

Beauty and the Beast is not a tale of courtly, platonic love between two “bros” who respect each other.  It is a story of two people who start out as enemies, grow to like and respect each other, and then fall in love.  There has never been a published or filmed version of the story that has had an ending where they don’t fall in love, even if the story doesn’t end happily.  It doesn’t end with Beauty returning to his former girlfriend saying, “thanks, Beast, it was fun and all, but better luck next time.”  Nor does it end with Beast saying, “Beauty is dead and gone, so I think I’ll spend the rest of my life in the celibate organization that he derided for the joke it was even though I’m my father’s sole remaining heir.”

Reading comprehension is a thing, people.  Look into it.

Thank you for reading this public service announcement.

#ASOIAF meta #jaime lannister #brienne of tarth #I swear to God #some people really need to learn how to understand what they're reading #and not just twist it to suit their own narrative

[beardedmrbean]

A UCLA professor was suspended for not providing special treatment to black students in the light of George Floyd's death. The professor is suing the University of California Los Angeles for more than $19 million over the well-publicized incident that garnered national notoriety.

Gordon Klein – a lecturer of accounting at the Anderson School of Management – made headlines in June 2020 when he refused to give preferential treatment to black students.

As Blaze News previously reported, Klein was asked by a student if black students would be given special accommodations because of George Floyd's death and the subsequent Black Lives Matter protests.

"The student requested a no-harm and shortened final exam, and extended deadlines for final assignments and projects in consideration of black students' well-being in light of nationwide protests against police brutality," the Daily Bruin reported.

Klein responded by writing:

Thanks for your suggestion in your email below that I give black students special treatment, given the tragedy in Minnesota. Do you know the names of the classmates that are black? How can I identify them since we've been having online classes only? Are there any students that may be of mixed parentage, such as half black-half Asian? What do you suggest I do with respect to them? A full concession or just half?

Klein asked the student if "a white student" from Minneapolis "might be possibly even more devastated" by the death of George Floyd.

Klein then quoted Martin Luther King Jr., and asked, "Remember that MLK famously said that people should not be evaluated based on the 'color of their skin.' Do you think that your request would run afoul of MLK's admonition?"

A student took a screenshot of the email conversation, and it quickly circulated online.

UCLA students claimed Klein's email was "backhandedly racist" and that it undermined the Black Lives Matter movement.

The same day as Klein wrote the email, a Change.org petition was launched, and it demanded Klein be "terminated for his extremely insensitive, dismissive, and woefully racist response to his students’ request for empathy and compassion during a time of civil unrest."

The petition — with more than 21,000 signatures — read, "His behavior is not reflective of the equity, respect, and justice that UCLA stands for as an institution."

Two days later, Anderson School Dean Antonio Bernardo announced that Klein was suspended and an investigation was initiated into the "troubling conduct."

"Providing a safe, respectful and equitable environment in which students can effectively learn is fundamental to UCLA’s mission," Bernardo declared. "We share common principles across the university of integrity, excellence, accountability, respect, and service. Conduct that demonstrates a disregard for our core principles, including an abuse of power, is not acceptable."

"I deeply regret the increased pain and anger that our community has experienced at this very difficult time," Bernardo added. "We must and will hold each other to higher standards."

Klein was reinstated less than a month after the incident.

However, Klein alleges that the public backlash had caused irreparable damage.

Klein derives significant income from his expert witness practice.

The College Fix reported, "He has testified, for example, in several high-profile court cases, including Michael Jackson’s wrongful death, Apple’s acquisition of Dr. Dre’s Beats headphones, and the valuation of General Motors’ assets in bankruptcy."

Klein’s attorney – Steve Goldberg – told the College Fix this week, "He was one of the top damages experts in the country who was historically bringing in well over $1 million dollars a year and trending upwards when it happened."

"That practice went to ashes right after he was suspended," said Goldberg, a member of the Markun, Zusman & Compton law firm.

Klein, who continues to teach as a full-time lecturer at UCLA, is suing the university for "well over $19 million in damages."

Klein's lawsuit is scheduled to go to trial on March 4 at the Santa Monica Courthouse.

Klein, who joined the UCLA Anderson School of Management in 1981, first filed a lawsuit against the school in September 2021.

UCLA did not respond to repeated requests for comment by The College Fix.

#nunyas news #notice how the word equality has been dropped #in favour of equity #many such cases

[apple-salad]

Mary Magdalene Faltetto (Farutetto) Dress Unboxing + Details

2023 edition, navy (sample) and mist (2017) colorways.

Please keep reading under the cut for more detail pictures, descriptions, waxing poetic etc.

Note: This dress is commonly translated as "Farutetto", but I will be calling it Faltetto from here on as Mary Magdalene has previously translated it as such.

Other note: If the video isn't loading on my blog, you can view it on my instagram, but the quality is a lot worse and it's split into parts.

Words cannot describe how elated I am to own these two pieces, which I have had quite the history with! And, I feel incredibly lucky to have obtained not one but two pieces from Mary Magdalene's sudden update.

The mist colourway especially had been an item that I had been pining over for a long time and had always regretted backing out of paying a SS to preorder it when advance reservations for this new colourway (which later became "exclusive reservations" when MM failed to open any general reserve to the public after, and to this day) opened to attendees of a Chinese event in Guangdong, in 2017.

And the navy...I had preordered it via a Chinese SS for the Le Panier event in Shanghai in 2018 (announced to be an exclusive colourway, along with a lilac), only for it to be cancelled a year later! So I am very happy to own this sample version which is likely the same one used for the Le Panier event.

I have written a long, rambly post that goes into more detail of the history of where the Faltetto samples might have come from, + Mary Magdalene's activities that I am aware of from around 2017, so please check it out if you like.

Actual worn/coord photos will be in a separate post (or a few separate posts), but following will be some detail photos with a little bit of overlap from the video.

The bedspread I used is super wrinkly in the video and my photos, so I apologize in advance for that.

This was my first time purchasing directly from Mary Magdalene! I'm super thankful to rabbitreverie, who let me know that MM had suddenly updated their website with a message that they were planning to upload a few items the next day (or that night? I can no longer remember), with only a vague time frame given (in the evening). We both stayed up all night refreshing, and everything MM uploaded sold out in about 5 minutes (a lot of the stock was sample pieces, so only one was available, I reckon).

So as it follows, this was my first time receiving a Mary Magdalene branded box. I had the package sent to a forwarding service and asked them to keep the shipping box for this reason!

Unfortunately, the box did get super banged up not only in shipping, but also when it was consolidated, and it's quite misshapen now. Plus, the warehouse clearly opened up the box so I don't get that "freshly cracked open" experience, oh well. At least the pieces inside seemed to be untouched.

Both dresses came in a plastic garment bag with a very ordinary, flimsy plastic hanger, which was then folded into a thin non-woven dust bag, and further packaged in a "Mary Magdalene" logo branded plastic bag (without handles).

Since I'm a terrible hoarder of branded items, it was nice to get some more Mary Magdalene bags. I have just a couple that came with some coats I bought many years ago. I believe there was a point where Mary Magdalene shipped branded wooden hangers with their pieces, but no longer (I am not sure if such a thing was a special novelty for larger items like coats, or if it was commonplace back then).

Here are the hangers--at the point of photographing I had removed the dresses, so just imagine the dresses in there like the video. For whatever reason, the hangers are different, but they are both cheap plastic so it's whatever.

Only the Mist colourway came with a fabric swatch--I assume this is because it was a non-sample and was considered to be the 2017 standard release (so, this is how the dress would have shipped in 2017). One interesting thing is that both tags have the pink tag design, even though I swear I saw a red tag design on the maroon faltetto dresses from last year.

It's somewhat impressive that Mary Magdalene printed a tag for the sample pieces at all, as they really didn't need to bother (I feel like most brands don't)!

On to the dresses! I didn't take any extra photos of the two pieces side by side, so you can reference the very first photo in this post for that.

The colours are just gorgeous. I had wanted the mist for a very long time, but I'd be hard pressed to choose only one out of the two if I needed to. The mist is a lovely blue-toned gray which seems to change depending on the lighting, but the mature dark tone of the navy is also lovely!

Mary Magdalene had noted two differences between the navy sample piece and regular releases of faltetto: first, the chemical lace at the bodice is different; and second, the buttons that secure the neck ties to the bodice are different (regular release have sort of matte textured buttons that match the dress in colour, the samples have plain clear buttons). Both are minor and the construction of the piece seems to be the same as a typical release of faltetto.

I have to personally wonder if the sample pieces are handsewn by the designer (Rieko Tanaka) herself, though!

A closeup of the skirt section. One difference I've noticed between newer faltetto dresses released in 2017 and after is that the rose lace on the tier here is gathered along with the skirt. I don't think I've seen it gathered on the older faltettos (or at least, not on the other ones I own, of which their release year is technically unknown).

Hopefully this photo portrays the difference in lining. Usually faltetto uses a kind of satin textured lining, but the navy lining is a very ordinary polyester lining with a slightly cheaper feeling. It doesn't change the dress very much, but I can see the choice of material adding to the "sample" factor of the dress.

This is the back of the bodice. Part of faltetto's design appeal is the partial shirring panel at the back, which makes its sizing a lot more forgiving than a lot of other Mary Magdalene.

The image might be a bit small, but perhaps you can also see the difference in neck tie buttons.

The bustle ties are tied in bows at the back of the navy! I wonder if tying them is something leftover from when it was worn for the Le Panier fashion show...?

A closer look at the bustle ties and the little loops that you thread the ties through to bustle it.

The fabric of both is a textured chiffon--I think it's sometimes called georgette or pearskin by brands? I was concerned that the fabric would be thin because the chiffon used on my 2017 maroon faltetto is quite thin, but the fabric on both mist and navy seem to match my other faltetto releases.

That was all the mist/navy faltetto photos I took, so while we are on the topic of 2017's maroon, here are more comparison photos between those two. I figured it might be interesting putting them side by side because allegedly both of these pieces were produced in 2017 for Chinese lolitas who had pre-reserved (I bought the maroon secondhand in 2018, so I can say relatively confidently that it is the 2017 release and not 2022).

As far as I could tell, aside from the main fabric used, the construction seems to be pretty identical. The lining on the maroon might be a bit wrinkly from storage, but it has that satin sheen like the mist.

Maybe not the best photos, but hopefully these close-ups express the difference in fabric texture and thickness between the two. The chiffon used for maroon definitely feels somewhat cheaper and common, somehow.

Lastly, here's the washing tag. They also seem identical, except unfortunately it looks like the previous owner of maroon cut the tag and removed the extra button for some reason (the other side of mist's tag has an extra necktie button attached). The navy has no washing tag at all, which I suppose makes sense with it being a sample (however, it does have a "Mary Magdalene" brand tag sewn into the inner facing of the bodice).

By the way, while I was loading petticoats under the mist JSK for photos, I discovered that it had a minor factory defect!

It seems that one of the threads tacking the main skirt fabric to the lining was sewn down to the wrong seam of the lining. There is both a side seam and a side back seam to the lining, with the side back being where the lining's snap is attached (for the bustle). With the skirt fabric attached like this, when you try to raise/bustle the lining with the snap, there is a puckering effect.

Thankfully, it's an easy fix (I undid the thread tack and re-knotted it to the right seam), but not what I expected from the mist colour technically being first-run quality!

Fixed, and now the skirt can be bustled nicely!

That's all for this post, I think! At this point I have all of 5 faltetto dresses, which is...ouch. I never thought I'd end up with so many. I may need to find some way to utilize all 5 at once...

#lolita fashion #farutetto jsk #mary magdalene #classic lolita #unboxing #faltetto jsk #farutettojsknv #farutettojskmist

[lakesbian]

in light of the fact that i somehow keep getting new followers despite this being the 50 Mediocre Posts About Worm's Cringefailest Boy Per Day blog and also that people have started saying real dumb shit on my posts i would like to inform any and all new guys especially the redditors that if you get personally offended on wildbow's behalf over things like "people being any amount of mad about racism in the book" or "people making fun of him for doubling down on homophobic writing" then i think you're a fucking dolt and you should go back to r/parahumans or one of the discord servers with him in it so you can safely enjoy your book while being freed from the terrible burden of witnessing anyone having a single critical opinion on it ever, as people are wont to do when reading books. thank you this has been a public service announcement by the lakesbian broadcasting service

[lgbtawarenessproject]

[Image ID: A black man sitting comfortably on a greenish-white couch with his arms sprawled across the top. He is wearing a black durag with white stripes and a BLM shirt. He has an afro-textured beard. Above him is the Black American Heritage flag, which is three diagonal stripes of red, black, and red, where the center lies a yellow reaf surrounding a sword. The texted captions read throughout the video, "Juneteenth: Educational Purposes," "The Slaves Freed on Juneteenth were NOT African, they were black", "In Reality: African Slaves went extinct after generations of interacial breeding & indoctrination of Christianity", "The Slaves released & Modern Day Black Ppl today are the successful product of said brainwashing & deterioration of thr African in America!" and "Black American Heritage Flag created 1967." End ID]

[Caption: The man says, "Public service announcement in regards to Juneteenth: As we know, the holiday is less than a week away, and we also know, greedy ass corporations are going to try and capitalize and get a dollar in anyway, shape, or form. Which leads me to this announcement, or should be better clarified as advisory. If you step foot, in any store, and you see Juneteenth related products with nothing but the African flag or African flag colors, do not by that shit. This is in no way disrespectful to our melanated neighbors from the mother land. Because, if it's one thing, that the black community has been able to piece together with the context clues of history shared museums and novels. To map out what all happened during that time period, that history books would not tell us in school. It's the simple fact that the slaves that were finally being freed after the Civil War were not African. They were black. Please allow me to explain Juneteenth in that statement I just made. Slavery was officially abolished on January 1st of 1863, when Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Unfortunately, a portion of traitor sore losers- excuse me, I mean slave owners, decided not to relay that information to their slaves for another 2 and half years. Leading to another, smaller batch of slaves to finally found out they were on June 19th of the year 1865. And, honestly, Juneteenth is just the tip of the fucked up iceberg, as to what slave owners were capable of, when they did not want to give up their slaves. Because there were still slave plantations being discovered and shut down past the year of 1865. Killona Slave Plantation in Louisiana was the last recorded discovered in America, and shut down. And that was in the 1970s. The only reason those plantations lasted so long, was because of how isolated they were, in deep forests, and the constructions of roads, and highways, was what lead to their exposure. But in that century of slaves finally being free, there were several factors that they all had in common. They spoke fluid English with no African Language, they were all Christians with no practice of African religion, nor did they know what African tribe they were a part of. Within the first 100 out of 400 years of slavery, Africans were seperated from their tribes, their bloodlines, told to forget their names, and then forced to forget their African religions and learn Christianity, and forced to mix with other races. I have a friend who just discovered he was part Latino, and he does not look Latino at all. Hell, thanks to the best of my family's ability, I know I have African, Native, French, White, and Asian blood running through my veins, and I still don't know what tribes I am connected to. But, that is why I choose to have this flag on my wall, because this flag right here, represents all people of color, who either lost, or do not know their history prior to being naked and chained up on a boat. End ID]

Video ID by discord member

#juneteenth

[lizardrosen]

To Expostulate What Majesty Should Be

@paysomeonetopaysomeone, @moonlarked, @gabriel-shutterson, @cleverclove, have some pre-slash claudius/polonius!

The younger prince faces much less daily pressure than the elder but you never know when an unexpected death may launch you to the top of the existing power structures, so he can never quite relax either. Claudius goes to law school, where he devours every book he can get his hands on. Like other statists he teaches himself to write fair — not only excellent handwriting but all the ‘verily’s and ‘thereunto’s and symbolic greenery and livestock.

He makes an effort to read up on national policies and how they have evolved over the decades so if perchance a reporter asks about it he won’t be caught wrongfooted and just panic and make something up. It brings him into contact with Polonius almost as often as his brother, just to understand the reasoning behind some article or decree or other.

He quickly understands where the councillor gets his reputation as tedious because he uses a lot of words to express some very simple ideas. But Claudius can’t be that irritated when he does take the time to keep explaining until he’s sure he’s got it, and doesn’t mock or scold him for not already knowing.

Whatever his personality, no one could deny that Polonius is excellent at his job. Claudius appreciates his insights and his intuitive understanding of how people all across the social spectrum work. It means that when he occasionally gets frustrated with his inability to corral his words Polonius can usually translate his meaning in a way that allows him to maintain his regal composure.

Their father certainly recognized his potential even when he was just starting out and made Hamlet promise to retain his services when it came time for him to assume the rule of the land. They make a good team: Hamlet’s military expertise, Claudius’s diplomatic flair, and Polonius’s sensitivity to the ebb and flow of public opinion.

It’s hard, though, being parentless. He must have known for a long time that when a position is hereditary the only way to get it is for the previous person to die, but it comes as a surprise to have it actually happen to him. Even weeks and months later he still weeps for what is gone and for the things he never even thought to say, but only sometimes. For the most part life just carries on.

“I’m tired,” he announces as he enters the lounge, and Polonius just points to a freshly-brewed pot of coffee on the counter. He adds a creamer to his mug and after a moment’s thought stirs in another. “God, you’re an absolute saint.”

It’s always worth it to show one’s appreciation, especially for someone so essential, and Polonius has a smile that spreads across his whole face when he’s really pleased. “Thanks, dear my lord!”

“But I’ll tell you what,” he groans as he collapses against the back of the couch. “If I never have to attend another budget proposal meeting it’ll be too soon.”

“Bad news, sir, we do this quarterly,” says Polonius and Claudius cracks up. It’s not like he doesn’t already know this, but there’s something about the deadpan delivery that makes it all seem much more manageable.

“I can’t imagine what all this would be like if I also had to worry about student loans like so many of my peers,” he admits. “Or medical bills, my god! Me, I could stop working tomorrow and I’d still have everything provided for me, but most people don’t get that security. It makes me feel like a fraud.”

“For what it’s worth, Claudius, I think you’re doing an admirable job. Most royals in history — that is, in European history, and the history of the nations that have been colonized, for that’s what I’ve studied and I wouldn’t want to speak definitively on those subjects with which I have only passing familiarity—”

Claudius clears his throat to get him back on track, but he’s fond of this rambling.

“Ah, yes, most of those royals I’ve mentioned have not put nearly as much thought into this as you have. Citizens have typically been considered in terms of soldiers and profit, while you consider the heart of the matter. You’ll be just fine.”

“Oh.” He’s genuinely touched by the confidence, and perhaps he blushes just a little. “Thank you. How’s Caroline been, by the way? Her due date must be coming up soon.”

Polonius nods happily. “End of May. Laertes is very excited to become a big brother, of course.”

“Oh, I’m sure he’ll be great at it!” He’s never seen a kid so full of heart, and if they’re all very lucky he might even keep that enthusiasm into adulthood. Anyway, it’s good at least someone is good with small children because Claudius certainly isn’t, and he’s got a nephew coming by November. Even young Laertes is only barely getting to the age where Claudius doesn’t feel like he’s fumbling every interaction, and soon he’ll have to learn to be an uncle. He hopes he’s a good one.

#hamlet #claudius #polonius #king hamlet #shakespeare #my writing #ship: thanks dear my lord #they liiiike each other #not more native to the heart

[imprxctaljokers]

( park seo joon, cis man, he/him ) — 🎬 just announced, Youngsoo “Sunny” Lee has been cast as stefan salvatore in the upcoming the vampire diaries reboot. the thirty year old is trending as people are debating if the confetti stuck in the hair, permanent marker stains of various colors, a hoarse voice from endless nights of screaming, that inevitable goofy grin when they smile they are known for is enough to make them as good as original. a quick google search shows that their fans call them honest, but internet trolls think they’re more tactless. i guess their newest interview for variety where they talk about the fact he told the studio approved story on how he auditioned to be the narrator for stefan for a few episodes but wound up getting the main role but is very excited to play the role. however the viral part of the video was reading one of the promo lines in meowth from team rockets voice will let people to know them better.

Sunny grew up in rural texas. (divorce tw)His parents were divorced shortly after he was born

Despite the driving between dallas and austin. Sunny tried to keep a happy disposition hence his nickname Sunny (divorce tw ending)

He often spent time imitating the voices from his favorite shows growing up. His first oppurtunity was the texas location in pbs sprout for pingu

Sunny was able to do the pingu friends sound effects and learned quickly.

Sunny essentially stayed on pbs sprout for the majority of his teens and late twenties, even letgave him the public service grant which let him get his bachelors in early teacher education

When Pbs sprout dissolved, he tried to go other children's network but they easily dissolved

He decided to move to california in hopes of finding a new voice acting gig. He only achieved some netflix shows with a bigger pay cut with some voice cameos

It wasn't until his major voice acting role led him to his big role

If you ask his agent he purposely auditioned for the role of stefan, being the ruggedly handsome newbie actor wanted to spread his wings

If you asked Sunny, he was just given a narrator script by his voice actor friend and told him it would good practice to get into narration/audiobook work (which at the time was more viable then children show acting). The director did a double take and asked him to do other lines and he nailed it....very well. Probably because the years of playing gruff voices helped

So now Sunny is a star....but not in the way he imagined

Personality

Sunny might be able to play suave but hes actually a dork

He seems very out there because he has more media training for children's shows

Probably spends his time going to daycares and doing his voices for kids

Is very overwhelmed by the glitz of glamour of los angeles

Know as very odd by paparizzi because he decides to do the smokey the bear voice telling them only you can prevent slander

Not sure how to react about being thirsted over.....hes like thank you but uhhh I'm really not stefan you know *sweat emoji*

Wanted: Friends, castmates, maybe complicated romantic stuff because you cant tell if hes friendly or flirty. anything really

#2000s.intro #divorce mention #divorce tw #(just the first two bullet points)

[courseyoulovemeyoudontknowme]

The Kissing Booth (2018, Vince Marcello)

19/11/2023

The Kissing Booth is a 2018 film directed by Vince Marcello, based on the novel of the same name by Beth Reekles. The film stars actors Joey King, Jacob Elordi, Joel Courtney and Molly Ringwald.

The Kissing Booth was released on Netflix on May 11, 2018. Despite receiving largely negative reviews from critics, who considered the plot and themes to be stereotypical and misogynistic, the film was called a commercial success by Netflix thanks to the great spectator consumption.

In June 2014, Vince Marcello was hired to write the film adaptation of Beth Reekles' young adult novel, The Kissing Booth, originally published on Wattpad. In November 2016, Netflix's purchase of the rights to the film was announced, with Marcello directing the script. In January 2017, Joey King and Molly Ringwald signed to star in the film.

Filming took place in Los Angeles, California and Cape Town, South Africa between January and April 2017.

The film was released on May 11, 2018 on Netflix. Calling the film a huge success for the service, CCO Ted Sarandos called the film "one of the most watched films in the country and perhaps the world."

On the website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 18% based on 11 reviews, an average rating of 4.12/10, and a critic consensus that reads "The Kissing Booth uses every rom-com cliché in its book with little care to achieve real feeling."

IndieWire's Kate Erland gave the film a grade of "D", adding that "Unfortunately, the high school rom-com is a sexist, regressive look at relationships that highlights the genre's worst impulses." Ani Bundel of NBCNews criticized the film's "problematic stereotyping of masculinity and relationships" and lack of original ideas.

Ted Sarandos, CCO of Netflix affirmed the film's success as a "very popular original film" for the streaming service. Factors that have been cited as reasons for The Kissing Booth's success among audiences include the popularity of the original novel on Wattpad, the relative lack of original romantic comedies on the platform, and the publicity of actors King and Elordi's off-screen relationship during the production of the film.

There is a quote from the film The Sound of Music (1965) and from Braveheart (1995).

The protagonist gets drunk at a party for teenagers and starts dancing suggestively on a table like in the film 10 Things I Hate About You (1999).

The declaration of love speech at the ball is an homage to the film Notting Hill (1999).

The film Black Swan (2010) is also mentioned.

In the prom scene, during "Memory Lane", the song Don't You (Forget About Me) by Simple Minds is heard in the background. The song was written for the film Breakfast Club (1985) and appears in both the beginning and the end. Furthermore, among the protagonists of Breakfast Club appears Molly Ringwald who in the 1985 film plays Claire Standish, while in the 2018 film she plays Sara Flynn, Noah and Lee's mother.

The sequel, titled The Kissing Booth 2, was released on July 24, 2020 on Netflix.

#the kissing booth #Vince Marcello #beth reekles #joey king #jacob elordi #joel courtney #molly ringwald #netflix #Misogyny #wattpad #los angeles #california #cape town #south africa #Chief content officer #ted sarandos #rotten tomatoes #indiewire #NBCNews #the sound of music #braveheart #10 things i hate about you #notting hill #black swan #don't you forget about me #simple minds #the breakfast club #The Kissing Booth 2 #Teen film #Film genre

[imogenleewriter]

hiiii. just wanna say i LOVE your writing!! im currently reading ychiits (on ch 17 rn) and im here to ask permission to marry this fic. it had been a while since i found a fic that made me /feel/ so much. and i can't thank u enough for that. the slow burn, angst, dual pov, the fluff!!!, everything is amazing. ch 15 was my fav so far. would u believe me if i told you your fic has me literally giggling and kicking my feet because of their cuteness? the texting part and the last scene (niall's Public Service Announcement) had me laughing out loud. gosh. i love this fic. im a lil scared of commenting on ao3 so i hope this is okay :') ALSO omg icb i almost forgot to tell this but your author's notes of the chapters are so😭 you'd apologise for uploading too fast?? you're an angel. so yeah, I'll go back to reading now :D thank you for sharing your work <3 ily :) (sry if this long)

-sky

Hi Sky! I'm so glad you're enjoying it! Thank you so much for messaging me; I'm sorry don't feel comfortable commenting on ao3 though- for your sake.

Hahaha, it's been a while since I've had to apologise for uploading too fast lol.

<3 <3 <3

[twilightfansofcolor]

Princess (Jacob Black x biracial princess!reader)

After your parents Prince Daniel and Duchess Vanessa announce to step back as senior members of the Royal Family, you move to your mother’s hometown of Forks, Washington only to discover that the small Pacific Northwest town that you now call home, harbors its own dark secrets

Early January 2005

“Good evening, and thank you for being here for Sentebale, a charity me and Prince Seeiso founded in 1985 to honor my mother’s legacy in supporting those affected by HIV and AIDS. Before I begin, I must say that I can only imagine what you may have heard or perhaps read over the last few weeks… So I want you to hear the truth from me, as much as I can share— not as a Prince or a Duke, but as Daniel, the same person that many of you have watched grow up over the last 42 years— but with a clearer perspective. The UK is my home and a place that I love. That will never change. I have grown up feeling support from so many of you, and I watched as you welcomed Vanessa with open arms as you saw me find the love and happiness that I had hoped for all my life. 

“Fianlly, the second son of Vivian got hitched, hurray! I also know you’ve come to know me well enough over all these years to trust that the woman I chose as my wife also upholds the same values as I do. And she does, and she’s still the same woman I fell in love with. We both do everything we can to fly the flag and carry out our roles for this country with pride. Once Vanessa and I were married, we were excited, we were hopeful, and we were here to serve.

“For those reasons, it gives me great sadness that it has come to this. The decision that I have made for my wife and I to step back is not one I made lightly. It was so many talks after so many years of challenges, fifteen years to be exact. And I know I haven’t always gotten it right, but as far as this goes, there really was no other option. What I want to make clear is we’re not walking away, and we certainly aren’t walking away from you. 

“Our hope was to continue serving the Queen, the Commonwealth, and my military associations but without public funding. Unfortunately, that wasn’t possible. I’ve accepted this, knowing that it doesn’t change who I am or how committed I am. But I hope that it helps you understand what it had come to, that I would step my family back from all I have ever known, to take a step forward into what I hope can be a more peaceful life. I was born into this life, and it is a great honor to serve my country and the Queen. 

“When I lost my mum all those years ago, you took me under your wing. You’ve looked out for me for so long, but the media is a powerful force, and my hope is one day our collective support for each other can be more powerful because this is so much bigger than just us. It has been our privilege to serve you, and we will continue to lead a life of service. It has also been a privilege to meet so many of you, and to feel your excitement for our daughter Y/N when she saw snow for the first time as a baby and thought it was bloody brilliant! I will always have the utmost respect for my grandmother, my commander-in-chief, and I am incredibly grateful to her and the rest of my family for the support they have shown Vanessa and I over the last few months. 

“I will continue to be the same man who holds his country dear and dedicates his life to supporting the causes, charities, and military communities that are so important to me. Together, you have given me an education about living. And this role has taught me more about what is right and just than I could have ever imagined. We are taking a leap of faith— thank you for giving me the courage to take this next step…”

#jacob black x reader #jacob black x princess!reader #twilight saga