#so it shouldn't be too much of a problem?

[shannoneichorn]

Ooh! Pick me! This is the path I've started down and want to get better at.

Both my churches have been participating in our city's Pride parade the last several years. I go with my roommate from a mission trip to our denominatuon's churches in Cambodia--and her wife. And one of my LGBT family members. And some allies from work. And meet up with my LGBT friends from work, who join different parts of the parade.

The longer I live, the clearer it's become that the public school sex ed I had was wholly inadequate. The US is actively harming itself by not investing in better.

I adore my atheist husband and atheist/agnostic/pagan friends. I know my denomination doesn't ascribe to universal salvation, but it's the only thing that makes sense to me.

God fashions variety. No reason we should stamp it out of cultures. I have a problem with trying to convert people instead of gently inviting them to join the community. My ideal church would be a gathering place for all with a subset of activities dedicated to spiritual support/worshiping in community, and I think both my churches are partway there.

It blows my mind that any Christian who grew up hearing about being stewards of the Earth would support environmental harm and environmental injustice. But you know, the church is full of all kinds of people, some of whom are great at cognitive dissodence and terrible at logic. (They're allowed to be wrong.)

I'm part of the second largest Protestant denomination in the US (at least in 2013--a lot has changed since then). On the one hand, it's the denomination I grew up in, and there's a certain amount of lazy comfort in just sticking with it. On the other hand, I also stuck with it because it explicitly acknowledges science and rationalism. God gave us minds and access to tools with which to explore Creation--like science and math and social sciences and literature (since we are part of Creation, too, and lit is great for exploring ourselves).

There is a documented history around how the Bible and translations developed. Many human hands were involved, and humans are limited not only by their own biases but also by the knowledge that was available to them at the time and the culture in which they lived. The Bible can be divinely inspired, but I keep thinking that its components were, first and foremost, written for the audiences of their times. It's amazing how it can still be so meaningful today, but not all the issues of today are addressed within--and they shouldn't be. An active faith requires synthesis of learning and applications to new situations in ways that are consistent with the Spirit of love and compassion that the Bible describes.

I...haven't encountered antisemitism at church...? Like Muslims, those are people we share a distant religious heritage with. They're like second cousins. Maybe treat everyone with kindness and respect, the way Jesus would? This...should not be hard to grok. (I feel like I could do better here, but at least it's a start.)

I'm jumping on this opportunity to shout about this, because it's been bothering me. Yes, we need to be louder, but also... There are reasons why I'm not.

Christians are doing so much harm right now, and I don't want to be associated with it. Churches have done so much harm, and I don't want to remind the people around me who have finally gotten out of it. (Part of me thinks, my church would never! But churches are communities of imperfect people, and at the very least, wherever people gather, there will be drama and hurt feelings. And denial when abuses do happen. And also, many churches haven't been on the forefront of all we've learned about psychology in the last 50 years, and there are also harmful cultural habits where communities haven't rooted them out.)

And also, I want my friends, neighbors, and acquaintances to believe I'm safe to be around. Evangelizing does not accomplish that goal. Caring for people has to come first, or what's the point?

Thank you for this call to be louder. I shall now go back to hiding under my rock/bushel.

In general, I think it's currently really important for progressive Christians to be very loud about being both progressive and deeply religious Christians, and for everyone else fighting for progressive values to be supportive of them doing just that. I know that's like, idk, counter-intuitive or cringe or whatever, but seriously folks, the alternative is that progressive Christians have to be quiet about their faith to be accepted within broader secular and interfaith progressive advocacy, which means that the regressive asshole Christians (a) sound that much louder and (b) dominate the USian religious landscape all the more. That's a problem, for all of us.

We need people pushing back within the faith as well as outside of it, because that destroys any edifice that this is about Christianity and religious freedom.

You can be a devout Christian and also:

Openly, proudly, and without being forced to remain celibate or otherwise limit your full expression of self, identify as LGBTQ+ or be a supportive ally.

Advocate for full reproductive autonomy and comprehensive sex education.

Love and support people of other religious groups, non-religious people and/or atheists, by choosing to believe that a truly loving God would not pursue anything less than universal salvation.

Stand against evangelism and proselytizing as they have thus far been interpreted and used, because there are ways to interpret the Great Commission that don't promote colonialism and cultural genocide.

A steward of the earth, protecting God's beautiful creation and lovingly tending to it as the unique and incredible gift that it is.

A believer in science, rationalism, and human progress as part of God's divine plan for humanity.

A believer in history and someone who understands that the Bible can be both divinely given and open to interpretation (no really)(if you're confused, please talk to a knowledgeable traditional Jew)

An ally to Jews, who stands against supercessionism and antisemitism in the church.

And in before regressive Christians come shouting at me that (1) what do I know, I'm a Jew and (2) no lol you can't because of ___ reason:

My source is that I've personally met and talked to Christians of great faith and integrity - people who embody the closest forms of kindness I've seen to what Jesus himself advocated - who are each of these things.

It is 100% possible; you just choose to believe otherwise.

[angletelier]

Me realizing how important Tenna really is to me good God. At first it was all okay sexy man but just really thinking about it.

I too am a child of divorce since I was like 6. That shit gets so rough. I don't feel like blasting the details into the world, but I definitely turned to entertainment as escapism. Who knows how many countless hours of anime I spent watching as a kid, shows I shouldn't have watched, how much YouTube and cable I consume, unregulated content and all that..no restrictions to it all. While not the best for me definitely, all of that kinda shaped who I am today? I loved TV ..my dream was to animate for tv shows. And while I may have pivoted to games..it's still entertainment.

Tenna IS entertainment.. keeping me occupied, letting my play hours of overwatch, hooking up the old game cube to play animal crossing, watching reality TV and game shows like face off, wife swap, jeopardy, waiting every Wednesday for the newest episode of Assassination classroom to drop, or staying up late to see the reruns of Inuyasha., waking up thirty minutes early before school to catch the ONE episode of married with children before getting ready.. even to my earliest memories watching sailor moon on my box tv every night before bed..He's done so much for me, molded my tastes, likes and dislikes, how I consume content today, filled my brain with trivia and pop culture knowledge. He's kinda my savior I think.

Tenna embodies the childhood kids in the early 2000s grew up with.. he just wants to make you happy, to influence you positively, to help you have fun, forget your problems. Cuz the real world is scary..I appreciate it more than ever now, with the state of the world, living in a red state, dealing with homelessness for the past 3 years, the depression, the anxiety. Tenna is more than a Tumblr sexy man <333 I mean he is. But he means the world to me as a character. It's so wonderful to see the things I love, experienced, and feel embodied into a character

[justnamedjosie]

i'm honestly so relieved to see so many people actively defending ragatha due to the latest episode.

after watching ep 5 i immediately had the feeling people were going to hop on the ragatha hate train, she's a well written female character who has normal human flaws just like the rest of the members of the circus, she slips up and says something insensitive to jax about whatever incident that caused jax to lose his friend (which by the end of the episode she owns up too and apologizes for by the way), yet people saw this and instead of being like "wow this character made a mistake and apologized for said mistake because nobody is perfect and everyone slips up and says something mean every now then, wow she's such a real and complex character!". we got "she's the devil incarnate".

like please get me to understand why you guys HATE this girl, these fans are literally repeating the same behavior that they showed towards pomni and gangle. it's a very uncomfortable pattern i'm seeing in this fandom of female characters being ripped to shreds for simply having flaws, like any well written character would have. and then seeing the male characters (mainly jax obviously, though i have seen the same behavior with caine a bit) be excused of literally any fault of their actions because of whatever reason they can pull out their asses at any given moment.

like no, jax shouldn't be justified or in any way excused for his behavior towards the other members just because he has issues. if that's the way these fans think then i'm honestly surprised they don't give ragatha the same treatment. like i'm not saying that any of the characters shouldn't be held accountable for their mistakes just because they have problems, hell no. i'm saying after learning that ragatha grew up with an absolutely awful mother, which would definitely explain her people pleasing behavior towards everyone, that those fans would be a lot more empathetic towards her, but i guess not.

i truly don't understand. like i love jax as much as the next person, but i can acknowledge that he's not a good person and his treatment of the others is wrong, no matter what he's internally dealing with. his issues that are slowly being revealed to us EXPLAINS his behavior, but absolutely doesn't excuse it. so it truly boggles my mind that ragatha can make these mistakes (which are so much smaller than what jax has done to others) and she's immediately deemed horrible and unforgivable. make it make sense.

at best it's simple favoritism over their favorite character that can do no wrong in their eyes (which in the process they completely mischaracterize them) and at worst it's blatant misogyny. i truly don't know what else could explain the influx of hate towards ragatha. it's okay if you don't like ragatha, not everyone will like the same character. it only gets frustrating (to me at least) when these people hate a character for something that isn't true in the slightest and that they completely made up.

the silver lining to come out of this is personally i've seen more ragatha defenders than these fans. i'm glad there are people who actually understand her character and can appreciate how well written she is! ragatha has made her way into being one of my favs on the show, and i can't wait to see where her character will go from here.

(also this isn't supposed to be a jax hate post or anything, like i said i love jax. i just really dislike how the fans have been treating him and by proxy ragatha as well.)

[solaris-amethyst]

💫Meteor Shower💫

✨Pairing: pokémontrainer!Mingi x pokémontrainer!gn!reader ✨Prompt: Mingi decides to take you to see the meteor shower and ask you some very important questions. He just have to manage to ask you to go watch the meteor shower first. That shouldn't be too hard now should it? ✨Genre: pokemon au, fluff, romance (Mingi is doing his best to confess), ✨Rating: pg-13 ✨Word count: 7.4k ☀️Authors note: Mingis oneshot is here! Did I have lots of fun writing this one as well? Yes I did! Had to fight autocorrect on how to spell Bagon because it wanted to change it into Bacon all the time... And yes Yunho's and Mingis oneshot is loosely connected to each other😅 let's pretend I didn't post this one day later than I said I would. 🌟Tag list: @hongjoongspoetry @tournesol155

This was so frustrating. You, Mingi and Yunho were supposed to start your journey together through Hoenn after graduating from college. The three of you had even decided on who would pick which starter before you'd visit Professor Birch's lab in Littleroot town.

And now all of that planning had gone to waste.

Yunhos parents had decided that all of them would move to a far away region named Alola after you three had graduated and there was nothing none of you could do or say to put a stop to it. Yunho barely got any time to say goodbye to you two before he was whisked away on a plane.

Therefore the carefully crafted plan the three of you had made for how you'd travel and what you'd finally do on your journey had been ripped apart.

You and Mingi had still gone to get your very first pokémon's together. Yunho had specifically told the both of you to start your journey together and to make sure to do all you both wanted to do. He had then also whisked Mingi away from you and the two of them had whispered to each other looking very serious as they were bent trying to hide behind a plant as they spoke. Only problem was the plant may have been tall but they were significantly taller than said plant.

You had ended up laughing so much at their silliness you'd almost tripped over your own feet when making your way over to ask them what on earth they were doing. To which both had fumbled and almost knocked the plant over as they both denied even talking to each other.

And now here you and Mingi were, partners next to each other as you wandered into a new little town called Misty Village which is located in-between Slateport city and Mauville city. Mingi was holding his partner torchic in his hands, the tiny little chick pokémon could not keep up with her trainers long legs and would constantly make a fuss if she had to walk on the ground next to Mingi, resulting in your friend carrying her most of the time to please "her royal highness" as he had lovingly dubbed her. Your partner on the other hand was happily trotting next to you, finding joy in just walking with you. You glanced down at your mudkip who was easily one of the happiest pokémons you'd ever come across. There never seemed to be a dull moment with him around and was there one thing he loved doing then it was sightseeing.

Sometimes when you two sat up camp he'd find the most scenic place to just sit and take it all in, often your whismur would join him in sightseeing while your third and currently final pokémon shroomish would scoff and follow you instead like a little shadow.

It was funny really how both you and Mingi had three pokémon each, the two of you hadn't meant to have the same amount of friends but it just happened so naturally that neither of you questioned it. You're brought out of your daydreaming when you hear Mingi chuckle for himself causing you to look at your friend curiously.

"What are you giggling about?" You ask, taking in his smile and how his eyes are shining with such happiness.

I wonder if he'd ever look at me with such shining eyes. You muse to yourself before focusing back on what Mingi is about to say.

"I just realized I got two pokémon's who refuse to walk next to me because I walk too fast for their little legs and that both want to be carried all the time. Imagine if all of my friends ends up like Torchic and Bellossom?" He asks and torchic looks up at him with curious eyes letting out a little "Torchic?" as Mingi smiles and give her little head a kiss.

"Hmmmm it's either that or they turn out like Bagon who likes headbutting you from time to time." You mention and with that he giggles again.

"Then if I can choose I'll take a few more passenger princesses rather than more friends who will headbutt me or perhaps bite me." He says, thinking back to the most recent time bagon had headbutted him in the stomach.

He knows the little dragon pokémon means well and that that's how he shows affection. Mingi just wishes from time to time that he would show affection in a less brutal way. But the last time, Mingi had made a little cardigan for his friend with a pair of wings. It hadn't looked good at all and he had worked weeks upon weeks to sew the cardigan but bagon had been so happy he'd shed tears upon seeing the wings on the cardigan and then he had promptly headbutted Mingi in affection.

It was to the point where he never took it off and if Mingi tried just so he could wash it his friend would run and hide behind your leg, peeking out and scolding him from afar.

"Awww but he's just showing his affection for you Mingi! Plus you literally gave him wings, the one thing he wishes he could have so he could fly. That probably meant more to him than you know." You muse, nudging Mingis arm with your elbow.

"You're right, I know. Bellossom have now started to ask for a little bracelet... she often points at mine and then show her own little arms." He confesses and you feel your heart slowly melting at the affection he has for his friends.

"I think that would be cute, I could teach you how to bead a bracelet if you'd like? I just need to buy some material first." You tell him.

"You'd do that for me?"

"I'd do anything for you."

"I'd do anything for you as well Y/n." He says sincerely and he's reminded of the two tickets tucked away securely in one of the many pockets in his backpack.

Two tickets to the meteor shower in Mossdeep City at their Space Center. He wished to ask you if you wanted to go with him there and watch the meteor shower. It would be the perfect place to confess and ask if you wanted to be his partner. Yunho had encouraged him before he had to leave for the plane that he should take this time to actually confess to you. Claiming that it was easy to see you also had feelings for him, something Mingi had denied and said that couldn't possibly be true. Then Yunho had the audacity to say alright bet! So now if Yunho was correct he'd owe him lunch, drinks and dessert next time they see each other.

What Mingi doesn't know is that you also have feelings for him, it's just that you don't know how to bring it up and tell him about it. You had once confessed to Yunho about how you had tried once when you and Mingi worked on a project together in college only to chicken out in the last minute to which Yunho had tried to urge you to confess with a beaming smile and an attitude that said just do it you won't regret it.

"Hey Y/n, I was just wondering... Do you think you'd like t-" Mingi starts but is interrupted by your mudkip.

"Mudkip! Mud!" Your partner screeches in joy as you see him rush forward in happiness.

"Mudkip! Wait don't run too far!" You call after the little blue creature, sprinting after him in worry that you'd loose him in the crowd at this new place. Mingi sprints after you as well trying to keep his eyes on both you and your partner. He doesn't want to loose sight of either of you.

Your partner just calls back to you in happiness as he jumps into a fountain in the middle of the square you have entered where he swims around in happiness and splashes about.

"Mudkip! You can't just run away like that! What if I lost sight of you or you got lost!" You scolded your friend whose only response is to splash some water in your face and jump around laughing adorably.

"God you're impossible to stay mad at." You sigh as you bring out a towel to dry your face.

"Mudkip next time just tell us where you wanna go instead of running away and giving us both a heart attack thinking we might loose you." Mingi joins in on the scolding and the two of you can hear an older woman who's sitting at the fountain chuckle about how the two of you look like two parents scolding their child.

Does it cause Mingis face to turn beet red and yours to heat up to the point you think your face is on fire? Yes, yes it does and the two of you are quick to splutter out apologies to her for the commotion you four caused.

"Oh don't worry dearies, it's nice seeing trainers really care for their pokémons, it warms my heart. And this sweetheart just seemed to want to have some fun." She pets your mudkip who had swam up to her in curiosity as she spoke.

"I hope he didn't splash you with any water when he jumped in?" You ask worriedly, ready to offer up your towel in case she'd say yes.

"Oh no he didn't. I'm completely dry."

"That's good, Mudkip you and I will have to have a talk about running away after this." You grumble and he just nods happily as he swims up to the two of you and jumps up on the stones so you can pick him up with your towel to dry him.

"Well... At least we know people here are nice." Mingi mumbles as he looks around, he's slightly bummed he didn't manage to ask you about the tickets but the day isn't over, he will just try again soon he tells himself.

"We have a festival going on here in Misty Village if you two would be interested? There's all kinds of things to do, eat food, learning how to do pokéblocks, vendors selling things and more." The old lady kindly tells the two of you before she stands up and bids the two of you goodbye.

"Pokéblocks? I wonder what that is." You ask as you hold mudkip, still wrapped in your towel.

"Perhaps we should go and find out? It must be something for our pokémons and I wouldn't mind learning something new if It could benefit her royal highness." He says as torchic chirps out in happiness at her nickname.

"Let's go and see what they have to offer!" You grab his hand and wander into the crowd and towards all the different stalls.

Mingi has to fight the blush on his cheeks from you holding his hand and he can see how torchic laughs at his blushing face, she's clearly enjoying him being flustered over you taking action and holding his hand.

"Don't you laugh at me." He grumbles towards her quietly.

"Hey look! That stall is teaching about berries and their benefits! Let's go there! I wanna know more so we know what to pluck next time we see them!" You gasp as a young man is standing at a stall, berries lying neatly on his table with small notes next to each one.

"Hello! Care to learn a bit about berries and their benefits? You'll get some berries at the end of it if you'd like?" He asks when he spots the two of you walking closer.

"Yes please! We wanna know more!" You say happily and Mingi looks at you from behind with a fond look.

"Mudkip!" Your partner agrees with you.

"Of course I'll tell you everything you need to know!" The young man smiles happily as the four of you stand looking at what he's got displayed.

"Are all of these all of the berries you can find in the wild?" Mingi asks as he eyes the wide array of colorful berries on the table.

"Oh no these are only a handful of them! There are about 43 different kinds of berries in the wild here in Hoenn." The vendor tells him and both you and Mingi stare at him with wide eyes.

"43?!" The both of you exclaim at the same time and the vendor laughs heartily at your reaction.

"I know I reacted the same way when I first learned how many there were and they all do different things you know!" He picks some up and showcases them for you.

"I think I recognize some of these." You murmur as you point towards what you think is an oran berry and a pecha berry. "That one is an oran berry right? It helps heal your pokémon when they need energy and the pink one is a pecha berry which helps heal your pokémon if it's been poisoned right?"

"You would be correct! This one over here is commonly mistaken for a pecha berry but it's actually a magost berry and is more commonly used in either cooking or when making pokéblocks!" You and Mingi look closer at the two pink berries he's holding up, you note that the pecha berry has more of a heart shape and is a darker pink closer to the stem and down at the bottom is a lighter pink while the magost berry is just one solid pink and round instead of heart-shaped.

"Hey what kind of berry is this one?" Mingi asks as he picks up an orangy red berry that is round with what looks like spikes coming out of it.

"That is a tamato berry, it's very very very spicy. I would not recommend eating it or giving it to any of your pokémons. It will only lower their speed, if you wanna spice up your cooking it could be good to use in small quantities unless you can tolerate spice of course."

You look at Mingi as the vendor speaks and you can practically see the cogs turning in his head thinking that it cannot be that spicy and you just know he wants to try it despite being warned not to.

"Mingi... don't do it..." You try and take the berry away from him but that causes him to only turn his body away holding the berry as high as he can.

"No! I wanna try it."

"Mingi please last time you ate something super spicy you couldn't taste anything for three weeks."

"It can't be that spicy!" He argues as he looks at you with those big round eyes and you groan knowing you cannot say no or change his mind.

"Fine but don't come to me whining that you can't taste anything or that it's too hot for you!" You grumble, knowing that if he came to you whining that it's way too hot and spicy you'd try and help him in a heartbeat.

"Are you sure you wanna try it?" The vendor asks and Mingi just nod before taking the largest bite he could out of the darn berry. You stare at him as he chew slowly but surely and then he swallows it and at first you'd think there was nothing wrong at all until you notice the small beads of sweat traveling down his forehead and then you notice the red starting to creep up from his neck.

"T-torchic?" His partner looks at him concerned before wiggling out of his grip and jumping onto the table and runs over to you with worried eyes.

"Torchic?" She leans into you and you pet her little head as you watch Mingi go bright red in the face as he tries to pretend everything is fine.

"Mingi... you okay?" You ask, fearing he might pass out from how red he is.

"I'm... I'm fine." He says and he manages to uphold that facade for about three seconds before he starts gasping trying to cool his mouth down.

"It's hot! Y/n it feels like my mouth is on fire!! What do I do what do I do what do I do?!" He waves his hands around as he takes deep gulps of air and you panic looking around for something to cool him down.

"Umm water... we need water!" You start searching your bag but can't find anything. "Argh! Okay uhhh.. Oh! Mudkip!" You turn to your partner and point towards Mingi.

"Use water gun on Mingis face to help cool him down!!" You say and you can barely hear Mingis little "wait what" before mudkip blasts him with a stream of water in his face.

"Do you feel better now?" You ask hesitantly as he shakes his head trying to get rid of the water from his face.

"Yeah... Thanks to the both of you, I genuinely thought I was gonna explode from how hot it was."

Torchich runs back up to her trainer and look at him with worried eyes, is there another thing she absolutely hates then it's when one of you gets hurt. She's always very sweet and right now she's doing her best to check up on Mingi as tears forms seemingly as if she thinks he was hurt very badly.

"Hey, hey your royal highness, don't be upset. I promise I'm okay, I was just dumb trying to impress Y/n but I made a fool out of myself. I won't do it again okay?" He says with a gentle smile as he crouches down to her eye level. She looks at him with teary eyes before running up to him to nuzzle his face chirping.

Mingi picks her up and kisses her little head before turning to mudkip and crouching down to him.

"Hey buddy, thanks for blasting me with the water, it really helped." He smiles and mudkip jumps forward into his arms with happiness.

"I think we should abandon any thoughts of eating things people say are super, super, super spicy for the rest of the day." You mutter as you place your hand on your hip and he looks up at you and chuckles.

"Were you worried about me?" He teases with a smirk and you roll your eyes.

"Nooo..."

"You sure?"

"Okay maybe a little worried, you looked like you'd explode with how red you were." You confess trying to act nonchalant even though you had felt panic for a split second before remembering that mudkip was a water type and could therefore help out in the situation.

The two of you apologized to the vendor for the scene Mingi caused by going against what he had recommended and the young man only laughed and said that it was nice seeing two young adults actually interested in berries to the point where he gifted the two of you a book on berries in the wild and other herbs you can eat or use to help heal your pokémons. The two of you had tried to deny it but he insisted, saying it might be for Mingis best if you two had one so he don't go around eating other berries he shouldn't and end up in trouble again.

That had made Mingis face burn in embarrassment.

The two of you then wander down the street after bidding the man goodbye. The street is filled with people, old and young and their pokémons. It's surprisingly cozy and the atmosphere is great and it's a nice break from always being out on the road and sleeping in sleeping bags under the stars.

Which is great until it starts raining and the two of you have to try and set up a tent in panic. Leading to both of you sitting in said tent absolutely drenched.

"Hey Mingi." You start trying to muster up the courage to tell him you like him more than a friend since Yunho had encouraged you to do so a few months back.

"Yeah?"

"You know I-" You start but when you make eye contact with him it's like the words get lodged in your throat and you can't get it out. "You know what never mind, I forgot what I was gonna say." You say laughing awkwardly.

"Mudkip! Mud Mudkip!" Your partner points one of its stubby little legs at you with an accusatory tone as if scolding you for not telling him.

Mudkip did after all know about your feelings for your friend. You had told him plenty of times during restless nights when Mingi snored away in his sleeping bag. Your other friends knew as well as they sometimes refused to go to sleep if you were awake, shroomish would plop himself in your lap and just sit there, sometimes staring at you, sometimes chatting with you and one time he had even put you to sleep by using sleep powder on you. Something you had berated him for the next day and then promptly after that thanked him for the good nights sleep.

"Hey buddy I'm sure whatever Y/n wanted to tell me will come back soon. It happens to the best of us that we forget sometimes. Plus you know you can tell me anything, I'll always listen." He says in that lower voice he gets when he's being very sincere and mudkip looks at him and then huffs looking away to the side.

"Speaking of that ummm I was wondering if you want-" Some kids rush in between the two of you laughing as they chase a balloon and it stunts Mingi who once again feels like his moment to ask you about the meteor shower has been lost.

"What did you want to say Mingi?" You look at him, mentally making sure him and your partners are okay.

"Oh nothing we can take it a bit later I promise." He says before he barely have time to process the fact that he failed yet again.

You nod and look around seeing a place you wanna go to, it’s a stand where you can learn a bit more about taking care of your pokémons and they seem to be giving out bags with things inside for people visiting.

“Oohhh I wanna go over there! They seem to be helping with pokémon care and I’d like to ask them for some tips on taking care of Whismur, do you wanna come with me?” You turn to face Mingi who looks thoughtful for a moment before noticing another place.

“I think I’m gonna go over there to the flower stand, Bellossom would probably enjoy all the flowers.” He says as he thinks of his little grass friend and you smile fondly at him.

“Mudkip wanna come with me?” You ask your partner who is still in Mingis arms.

“Mud!” He wiggles out of Mingis grip and then jumps down onto the ground before trotting up to you happily.

“Shall we meet over at the gigantic flower pot in twenty minutes?” You ask thinking that that would be an appropriate time for the both of you to explore the two places you’d like to visit.

“Sure! See you soon?”

After that the two of you split up and as you walk over to the stand you’re greeted by a kind lady who asks what she can help you with and you tell her you’d want some tips on taking care of your whismur, letting her know that she often cries and doesn’t like when her fur gets wet leading to you finding it hard to clean her if she’s gotten extra dirty.

“Ah I see, it could just be that she has a very gentle nature, sometimes if they do they can feel a lot of things be very overwhelming all of the time. For cleaning her I’d suggest you try using a damp cloth instead of water, that way it might not feel as unpleasant as she thinks it is.” The lady explains and you nod thinking that what she has said might actually be true.

“Would it be okay if I brought her out so you could just perhaps do a little check?” You ask wanting to make sure her tips would actually work on her and not make it all worse.

“Of course, I’ll gladly have a look at her.” She says and you’re quick to bring whismur out of her pokeball.

“Hi Whismur.” You say happily as she looks around before spotting you and she perks up giving you the cutest little smile as she runs up to you.

“Whismur!” She greets you happily and the lady smiles at your interaction as you let her hold your hand in her little paws.

“Just from this interaction alone I can tell you care a lot for her and that she’s well taken cared of. She is probably the happiest Whismur I’ve ever seen and I’ve seen a lot of them. None have been this happy as yours.”

“Wait really?!” You look at her in surprise before looking down again, happiness spreading in your chest at the thought of getting such nice praise for how you’re raising your pokémon.

“Yes really, Whismurs can be notoriously hard to take care of since they have such sensitive hearing and a lot of people dub them as cry babies so seeing yours calm, happy and generally content is a sight to behold. Good job!” Her praise makes you grin, it’s not often you get praise and getting this good praise from someone who knows what they’re talking about is something else.

She then brings over a damp towel and hands it to you so you can see if whismur will prefer it over just water. You take your time at the stall, asking her lots of questions regarding pokémon care and getting more tips for how to continue to take care of them in the best way possible.

In the other stall Mingi is sitting on the ground with his torchic on his left side as bellossom dances around in happiness at being surrounded by flowers everywhere. The vendors had told him he could make his own bouquet if he wanted to and hand it to someone he cared about and his first thought had been to create something for you. You had once during college mentioned offhandedly how you’d love to be gifted a bouquet of flowers some day and now he had his chance to gift you a bouquet he had made all on his own.

“Okay Torchic, Bellossom you two will have to help me here.” He leans down and gathers them closely as he lowers his voice to tell them what’s going on. ”I want to make a bouquet for Y/n but I need your help in picking which flowers goes nicely together. Think you two can help with that?”

Torchic jumps up and down before nodding happily while bellossom does some little twirls around as she puts her little paws up to her face looking absolutely delighted at the request.

”Bell, bellossom!” She’s quick to point out some baby’s breath together with some sunflowers as she looks at Mingi with intensity.

”Okay yeah we can go with those two.” He nods as he plucks some and starts building the bouquet together.

”Do you two think I should add some carnations?” He adds as he holds up some darker red ones together with a few white ones as well and torchic nods seemingly approving of his choice to add the two pretty flowers.

The three of them sit for a while building the bouquet together, torchic demands he add some thistles as she spots them to which he does because who is he to deny her anything? He soon sits in silence, tongue sticking out lightly as he concentrates on making the bouquet pretty and after what felt like an eternity he thinks he’s done. He had added som greenery to give it variation and made sure to show both his little friends for approval before he went and asked for a ribbon to tie it all together.

”Think Y/n will like this?” He asks and to his surprise his third and final pokémon decides to come out of his pokéball just at that moment.

”Bagon?”

Mingi is surprised, usually this little fella stays in his pokeball unless Mingi calls for him. Bagon ignores him as he studies the bouquet intensely, his little arms crossed making it look like he’s thinking really hard of it’s okay or not.

“Torchic tor?”

“Bell bellossom!”

“Bagon Bagon!” The dragon nods after he and the little ladies seemingly discuss it back and forth before all three giving Mingi their approval.

“Thanks you three.” He chuckles finding their actions funny. All three of them looked at him encouragingly as if saying you got this go ask them about it now! Bagon was even holding out its little paw as if he were doing a fist bump upwards to show that he was supportive.

“Oh what a lovely bouquet you’ve made! So full of beautiful meanings.” One of the older ladies holding a bucket of flowers says as she passes Mingi.

“Oh thank you! And meaning? What do you mean by that?” He asks curiously to which she responds by telling him that every flower has a hidden meaning and then explains what the flowers he’s picked means. By the end of her explanation after she’s walked off his cheeks are tinted a rosy color before looking at his partners.

“Did you two know about this when you helped me pick out the flowers?” He asks suspiciously and torchic just giggles before hiding behind bagon and his little cardigan while bellossom just gives him an innocent smile pretending like she doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

He clears his throat as he tries to will away the blush that's crept up his cheeks after knowing the meaning behind his bouquet and stands up.

"I think the time is up now, let's go and see Y/n and hopefully I can ask about the tickets this time."

The four of them wander out and towards the big flower pot you two had agreed to meet at. It seems he's the first one there so they stay there and wait for a while before spotting you, mudkip and whismur making your way over there. When you spot him you wave excitedly before holding up a big bag as if to show off the presents you got from the stall you had visited in excitement.

"Look at all the things I got for us Mingi!" You say as you open the bag for him to peer inside and see the large amount of things you had been gifted.

"Woah that's a lot of things."

"It is and I learnt so much so now I will be even better at taking care of our pokémons! I can teach you as well if you'd like."

"I'd like that." He smiles before looking down at the flowers and then he holds them out quickly towards you.

"I made these for you."

"For me?" He can hear the surprise in your voice and when you take them from his hands he dares glance at you and nod. "You said you wanted a bouquet of flowers once in college remember?"

"You remember that?" You asks not believing he'd actually remember your offhanded remark about being gifted flowers.

"I remember everything you tell me." He mumbles as bagon nudges his leg trying to make him remember what they wanted him to do.

"Hey Y/n do you think you'd like to go with me to umm."

"Yes? Go with you where?" You ask looking at him, part of you feel hopeful that perhaps he'd ask you to go with him somewhere special and when Mingi makes eye contact with you the words get stuck once again in his throat and he doesn't really know what to say.

"Go with me to the stand over there? They're teaching you to make pokéblocks." He can hear bagon groan down near his leg and he opts to ignore him knowing that if he looks down the little dragon type will 100% scold him from backing down once again.

"Oh sure!" You say, trying to hide the disappointment since you had thought that Mingi would ask you something else entirely after gifting you flowers.

Your little gang ends up sitting on the ground with two pots in front of you as the instructor goes over how to make pokéblocks for your pokémons, describing them as a kind of snack a lot of them will prefer and going over the different colors which co-respond to a different flavor and how certain pokémons will prefer one flavor over the other.

You and Mingi sit and concentrate as you put in the berries you've chosen and the other ingredients, stirring around as you make sure nothing will burn. Mudkip looks at what you're doing with concerned eyes, he trusts you a lot but right now he's not so sure he trusts what you're doing with how much steam is coming out from the pot.

"Hey look! I managed to make some blocks!" Mingi shows off his blocks proudly from the little dispenser you'd pour the batter into to then plop one block out at a time. They are a bit wonky looking and you weren't sure they were supposed to look like that at all.

"You sure those are edible?" You ask and he gasp at you looking offended.

"You don't think my pokéblocks are edible?! I put in blood sweat and tears into these." He says dramatically before plopping three of them out.

"Here guys don't you wanna try some? I made them for you!" He beams and his pokémons eye the pokéblocks with suspicion. Torchic is the brave one and tries one and she makes the strangest face, looking similar to how you feel when eating a lemon, before running around in circles and crying out seemingly how bad it was.

"Don't think she approved of it." You muse forgetting to momentarily stir your pot.

"Whismur! Whis!" Whismur is quick to remind you in fear of yours turning out worse than what she had just witnessed.

"It can't be that bad Torchic!" Mingi looks at her surprised before looking at his other friends, bellossom is pretending to be asleep while bagon just stares at him with a don't you even dare type of face.

"Here I'll try one and prove they're not bad!" He says before plopping one in his mouth and he chews a bit trying to pretend it tastes good but his facial expressions betray him.

"That bad huh?"

"Yeah ummm this needs some more practice I think, eugh don't worry guys I won't feed you any more until I'm better at this." He makes sure to throw his away.

"This is why you leave the cooking to me." You boast proudly and Mingi gives you a massive side eye.

"I don't think they should be a burnt color like yours are." He hits back and you look down at your blocks.

"They're not that bad! Here Whismur! Try one!" You hold one out and she just pretends she couldn't hear you, looking around hoping someone would save her. "Mudkip? You wanna try one?" You try again and he trots up and sniffs at one of them before taking the tiniest bite with a polite smile.

"See!"

"He is not enjoying that at all!"

"It can't be that bad!"

You quickly eat one as well only to start coughing at how bad the taste was.

"Yeah no no ew that wasn't good at all... I think I need more practice at this as well." You mutter before apologizing to mudkip for having to eat that.

"I guess making pokéblocks isn't our forte at all."

The two of you start snickering and giggling after making eye contact finding this whole scenario funny. You both agree that if you are to create any for your friends that the two of you will work together and always taste before giving any to your friends to make sure they actually taste well.

"Oh yes you wanted to ask me something earlier Mingi? When those kids ran between us and right before we split up?" You ask curiously, it's been on your mind the entire day the fact that he's tried to ask you something but every time something has come up which has made him unable to properly ask what he wants to.

"Oh hehe." He laugh as the two of you stands up ready to walk out from this place and bagon stares at Mingi with so much intent ready to do something drastic in case Mingi doesn't ask you this time.

His patience is running thin.

"Oh it's nothing don't worry about iitt!" Mingi barely has any time to finish his sentence before bagon headbutts him in the back causing him to fly forward and land onto of you with an oof.

"Ah! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean for that to happen! Bagon! You can't knock into me like that." He berates the pokemon before checking up on you.

"Ar you okay? Did I hurt you?? I'm so sorry..." He sits up and makes sure you're okay.

"I'm fine my butt hurts a bit but otherwise i'm fine.. Are you okay?" You ask.

"I am. Okay here goes nothing I guess." He says taking a deep breath before continuing. "Y/n, do you want to go and watch the meteor shower in Mossdeep city with me at their space center? I got two tickets and I would like to go with you if you want to? I know we weren't suppose to head to Mossdeep next but I'd really want to do this with you." He blurts out before he lets the opportunity go again.

"Meteor shower?" You say before your eyes light up. "Of course I wanna go! Oh Mingi that would be so much fun!" You say as you also think about how it would be pretty romantic to watch the stars fall together with him.

"Yeah?" His gummy smile is making an appearance again and you giggle at bagons proud look behind the two of you before nodding.

"Yeah, I'd like that."

It takes a few days to get to Mossdeep city but the two of you manages to hitch a ride with constable Jenny to the closest port to take a boat over so you'd get there quicker than you would walking. You still have the flowers Mingi had gifted you sticking out of your bag and every time you looked at him your heart warmed at the sight. Getting these tickets to the space center wasn't an easy task meaning Mingi had gone out of his way to get them behind your back just so he could ask you to go with him.

A part of you wondered if this was a date or not. Perhaps you should take Yunhos advice and confess to him when the two of you are watching the meteors. What could go wrong? Yunho had insisted that Mingi wouldn't reject you and that you'd get the outcome you were hoping for so perhaps it would be a good idea to tell him today?

Those were the thoughts running through your head as the two of you got off the boat and steered your way towards the space center. It was almost time for the meteor shower to start since the boat had taken up most of the day when traveling.

"Hello and welcome to Mossdeeps space center, are you here for the meteor shower?" The receptionist asks kindly as you two enters, hand in hand.

"Hello! We are! I got two tickets right here." Mingi tells her before handing over the tickets. Once they were scanned the lady let you both inside and told you to go up the stairs to gain access to the top floor to be able to sit outside and enjoy the beautiful show.

"I'm so excited to see the beautiful show, especially now that I'm here with you." You confess, cheeks heating up slightly at the confession.

"I'm just glad you said yes." He admits, cheeks turning a slight rosy color as well.

Mingi guides you to a spot in the middle of the open balcony where a little bench is sitting and the two of you sit down together. Your hands still linked together as if it will help the both of you to gain courage to say what you want to say.

In Mingis head Yunhos words from right before he left for the plane echos. "You should confess Mingi, I know they'll say yes I promise they feel the same about you. Go for it." Should he go for it? He thinks he should, it's the perfect place to confess and if he doesn't do it now he might regret it for the rest of his life.

In your head unknowingly to Mingi, Yunhos words are also echoing in your head. You think back to that conversation and wonder if Yunho knows something you don't, you haven't been able to figure it out if he's telling the truth about Mingi liking you back or if he's just being a nice friend who's encouraging you to speak your truth. And in this moment you decide it's best to do so. No matter what the consequences might be.

"Hey Mingi I need to tell you something."

"Hey Y/n I need to tell you something."

The two of you look at each other in surprise before chuckling at the fact that you both said the same thing at the same time.

"Sorry you go first Mingi."

"But you spoke first." He says and you shake your head insisting he should talk first thinking he just wants to tell you something normal.

"Okay then... Here goes nothing. I really like you Y/n, not like like you only as a friend, I like you more than a friend." He starts before looking you in the eyes and holding your hands in his tightly. "I love you like a lot. More than I think I realize myself and I just had to tell you before I explode from keeping it inside for much longer." He confesses sincerely and you gape at him in surprise, never would you have thought that he'd confess to you.

"It's okay if you don't feel the same I just had to tell you."

"I love you too!" You blurt out to stop his ramblings.

"Wait really?"

"Yes! For a long time now actually, ever since college when we first met, that's when my crush started which then developed into something more. I was actually gonna confess to you as well but you beat me too it." You smile and the smile Mingi gives you could rival a thousand suns before he dives in for a hug.

"Would you want to be my partner?" He asks quietly as if he's scared you'd say no right after confessing you have feelings for him.

"I'd love nothing more than that Mingi." You tell him before lightly holding his chin after breaking the hug. "May I give you a kiss?"

"You may." He giggles and you lean in giving him a quick little kiss on his lips before settling in next to him, leaning your head on his shoulder as he leans his head on yours.

The two of you continue to cuddle as the meteor shower starts up in the sky, everything is just perfect in this moment in time and you couldn't be happier. Perhaps you need to thank bagon later on for giving Mingi the push he needed to ask you to come here with him.

Speaking of said pokémon, he and the others bursts out of their pokéballs to join you in watching the sky. Some cuddle in your laps while others sit on the ground in front of you enjoying the scenery.

"You know what I just realized?" Mingi muses and you tilt your head up to look at him. "I owe Yunho a drink, lunch and dessert now the next time we see him."

Yeah you think, perhaps neither of you would have had the courage to confess had he not urged the both of you to say something.

But for now you'd enjoy the perfect evening with your friends and boyfriend.

[mehiwilldoitlater]

((from this, just a small thing, i just enjoyed it))

Your pen stayed still on that small portion of the paper, giving the idea of pondering what to write next. Instead, you just wanted to smash the ink on it, but common sense was a leash, and you were bound to it. Another complaint, another letter of apology for your lack of experience in…whatever the issue was.

Garviel stood there, the itching on his neck keeping on growing every time his eyes landed on the poor woman, you, sitting there on that desk, far too big for her size and so much out of place.

He had seen it, everyone did, but this was his father's decision, and everyone decided to play along. Yet…

"…Would…would you like a break?"

His voice broke the silence in the office; the ticking of the clock on the wall stopped echoing in your head like a doom. His voice wasn't sure; he was walking on thin ice.

"…Sorry?"

"A…a break, my lady… For a walk, maybe? You look…you look exhausted."

Since when couldn't he speak clearly? Why did he feel like he couldn't talk clearly with the woman that was supposed to be his mother? He wanted to fidget with something, but his hands were empty, so he just decided to move his fingers, hoping to let the stress out.

You looked at him for a few seconds, then sighed deeply. Your hand covered your face, trying to get support from the forgotten document with your arm.

"I am…. I am exhausted… This is so much…"

Your breath got heavier, and Garviel noticed your eyes getting glossier, closed in two thin lines.

"It's so hard… It's easy for someone else but so hard for me… I can't get any of this right. , it's complain after complain…"

Then he heard it, that damn small sound of hiccups and sobs. Now it wasn't anxiety that ate him alive; it was guilt that he had opened a door supposed to be closed.

"I…FUCKING hate it…"

You didn't swear. Well, you did once, but you had to put on the facade of the perfect wife of the perfect son of the emperor. And you were failing miserably, and you knew, and they all knew. Horus? He must have known but decided to let it slide, making the thing more like a you problem than everything. Alone with that pofat depression in your head, with that feeling of uselessness, you remembered with whom you were talking. You tried to conceal the few tears that you couldn't hold, looking to one of the most trusted sons of Horus.

"Forgive me, I…I shouldn't have spoken!" A sense of panic rose. "Please, don't tell my husband! I-"

His hand rose, gesturing for you to calm down.

"There's nothing to apologize for. What you said now stays between these walls. "Leg—"He stopped, noticing like a slump in your shoulder."… Lady Y/n."

He wished he could have stopped your crying, yet that small word made you cry more, but this time it seemed like a relief.

"No one…has been calling me like that in weeks…"

[l4wsrule]

𖥔┆ misfortunate departure .

⤷ oneshot; shanks × reader : failed romance .

t͟a͟g͟s͟: shanks, red hair pirates reader, angst, romance, sfw.

Romance.

Or relationships, as they call it.

Are they really worth it?

Beckman used to say, or rather insist, that it was a bad, bad idea. Written in bold and possibly every existing font, and underlined twice. He said; "We're a pirate crew, not a soap opera."

And while the rest of the crew mostly agreed. Obviously, your red-haired captain stood firm against that. Arguing with Shanks felt like throwing a cup of water at a burning house.

It was pointless.

His love for you knew no bounds, his morals as a fierce pirate and a threat as an emperor to quite literally any naval base, crumbled entirely. With that stupid, corny smile of his that just came naturally. A smile that yelled "I'd have the sea swallow everyone whole and bring the One Piece itself to your hands in the blink of an eye."

It started off strong. It always does. Romantic, cheesy, always sticking to eachother like someone had forcibly handcuffed you together, except you did it willingly.

The quiet stares from the crew when you ate together. The first time you held hands, the feeling of his warm, calloused hand interlocking with yours in an ever so gentle hold. The loud whistles and cheers at the sight of your first kiss, with some in the background talking about losing a bet ;

"Called it! I gave it two more days max." Lucky roux laughed, slapping Yasopp lightheartedly on the back in a comforting gesture at his loss.

And so on.

And from there, it slowly escalates, into more problems, more disagreements. More "I'm too emotionally attached to not risk my life for you." type of stuff. Into, "We shouldn't have done this, we're pirates," and a bit of "This is getting risky."

You didn't want that. Neither of you wanted that. You loved him, he loved you. Certainely.

Not to the point of recklessly letting your emotions win and giving your lives away.

But you. Oh, you sure recalled. All those sweet moments, your mind sending you what seemed like an unlimited amount of very much unwanted flashbacks as you sat in your previously shared cabin. Hands on your temples like you were massaging the anger, the sorrow and the hurt out of your head forcibly. It wasn't working.

Wondering, how did you go from smiling to yourself and giggling into the pillow like a lovestruck teenager as your mind wandered to him, whenever you thought he wasn't looking.

How did you go from watching him, from a comfortable distance. Observing. Admiring. The way he talked about you to the crewmates like no other. When you thought he wasn't watching. But he was. He always was. And perhaps you knew, yet pretended not to, just to listen to him a bit longer. Paid attention to how he spoke of the smallest details about you that even you thought you didn't know, or never seemed to notice. Like you're more valuable than the One Piece itself. Which, to him, you are.

Or you were.

..Or so you thought?

You couldn't tell, at this point. Because what you had, was long over.

How long has it been now?

A few days? A week. Maybe two.

You lost count after a while. The only times you stopped reminiscing what you two had, was to run a few errands for the crew. Maybe a fight here and there. Taking care of some rookie who was brave enough to challenge Shanks himself. Perhaps an occasional mission.

What appeared to be a distant memory of you two now, you felt it. Deep inside, you could still feel it. Even now. Every inch of you felt it. Like a ghost's breath, his touch was still somehow there. Lingering. Soothing. Sometimes cold, sometimes burning hot from your shared intimacy.

Your head spiraled. You could barely focus on missions and whatever else. The clock on your wall ticking over your head like a countdown. A constant warning. The sound seemingly getting louder and louder, ringing in your ears.

A warning for you to get back to yourself, an independant pirate who never depended on anyone's measly feelings to function properly. Well, maybe that's pushing it a bit far. But Shanks definitely changed your perspectives and views of certain things. Some of your resolve completely shattered around him. And the worst part? You liked it. You loved it. You couldn't help but absolutely adore that goddamned red haired imbecile with the sweetest soul, the most heartwarming, calm voice and the kindest smile you'll ever see.

But that was it for you. Snapping out of those thoughts, one cold night at the Red Force. You made your way out of your cabin, carrying a bag over your shoulder as you took quiet, deliberate steps towards the railing. The moon hanging low, casting a spell on the calm tides of the sea, which was glittering like it was trying to mimick the dark, starry night sky underneath your gaze. A calming view, contrasting sharply with the wild storm spiraling inside your mind.

You thought you were quiet and slick. Though, amidst your heavy thinking, you seem to have forgotten one important detail ;

Shanks notices every thing.

Every move, every step, the subtle creaking of the wooden floorboards under your boots. The sound of the bag slouching over your shoulder.

Just as you were about to jump over and disembark. You, so unfortunately, felt a strong, oh so familiar grip on your wrist. It was strong, but not exactly there. Enough to hold you back, never sufficient to inflict any other feeling on you.

Great, just the guy you weren't trying to meet on your way here.

"Hm? Where to?"

He asked, quietly. Adding nothing else. A simple, firm question. Like he's asking you to confess your sins. And there it was. A voice you thought you haven't heard in decades. Deep, smooth, not overly gruff. It almost got on your nerves. How infuriatingly calm he always was, no matter the situation.

"..I'm off to clear my head, maybe a day or two.. maybe more." You sighed out. Brows furrowing ever so slightly as your eyes averted in the opposite direction of his.

And with that, his hand slipped away, freeing your wrist of his grip. He turned around, cape flaring behind him. Waving his hand dismissively.

His steps came to a sudden stop, taking a moment to glance at you over his shoulder, the scar on his eye diminishing under the dim lighting. A small glint in his eyes, a doubtful, regretting one as he spoke again ;

"..Come back safe, Y/N. We always need you here." In the most calm, collected, and gentle tone ever. Emphasis on the "we", like he was afraid to say he was the most worried specifically. But he couldn't hold you back, seeing the state you put yourself in after the break off.

Without another word, he left into the dark shadows of the upper deck, probably to the hammock he'd normally use.

Which was fine by you. Though a tinge of something you couldn't quite pinpoint, stirring in your chest. A familiar warmth, one you promptly ignored as you hopped off the ship, onto your dinghy.

And off it went. The slight frequency of the wind, along with the waves lapping gently against it, sailing it forward. Your mind wandered for a while longer, before drifting off to sleep.

Back where you left Shanks, he laid sleeplessly on the hammock, gazing up at the dimly moon lit sky, hand under his head, propping it like a pillow. His shirt half open, leg crossed over the other as the gentle wind swept through his shiny red hair. Thinking. Ever so deep in thought. Thinking about how you actively avoided his gaze in your earlier interaction. To how you were never like that with him. He's not the type of guy to move on from something like a break up so easily. No, never. He just never spoke of it much. But so did you, really.

His silence was soon to be interrupted, by the sound of a flick.

"You just let her leave like that?" A gruff, low voice spoke out, it was as if he appeared from nowhere, like a threat. It was Beckman.

Flicking the lighter, — click — ,and the flame on the cigarette— resting lazily on his lips as they curled around it— came to life.

"She'll come back. It's not like she's leaving forever." The red hair glanced at his wingman from the side of his eye.

"That's not my point." Benn exhaled, a puff of smoke emitting from his lips as he continued; "You know why she left, and you didn't speak a word."

"Women need time, Beckman, if I tried to talk her out of it, she'd just do it even faster to spite me." Shanks reassured, a small, involuntary smile tucking at the sides of his lips at the thought of you. How fierce and feisty you were. One of the most prominent things about you.

The silver haired individual was quiet. Convinced by the other's argument, but more like, not bothering much with Shanks. After all, he knew you much better.

"..Told you it would be no good." He sighed out, to which the captain quickly responded to, with a full on smile plastered on his complexion now ;

"It was worth the shot though, wasn't it?" Shanks grinned.

"..I guess it was. Couldn't have convinced you out of it back then anyway." Benn replied in surrender.

"I'll make it work again."

"You're not trying that again."

"Oh, I sure am."

Beckman rubbed his temples, rubbing a hand across his face like he was helplessly watching the world crumble right infront of him, like he wasn't just giving up on Shanks, but life itself. Or maybe life was giving up on him. An indistinguishable groan emitting from the back of his throat.

That idiot.

With the break of day, you emerged from sleep, eyes slowly blinking open to the sight of the bright sunlight ahead of you, straining your vision.

You stood upright, rubbing your eyes with a low, groggy groan. Or so you tried. Until you noticed your hands were restrained.

You didn't exactly wake up, it was more like something startled you out of your slumbers' dreams. A quick shake. A loud noise, too loud for such an early time in the morning. When the realization set in, your eyes fully widened in alert, looking at your surroundings in a daze.

Distant sounds could be heard, a few men speaking, waves lapping against the hull of a ship.. a hull.. of a ship?

You were no longer in your dinghy.

Keeping your composure, you analyzed your surroundings, for any sign of an exit, an escape route. It was a navy ship.

"Fuck, how did I not notice." You complained under your breath, looking back at the shackles holding you to the ground. Feeling the slightest bit lightheaded. "Did they drug me?"

"I don't have time to think about that now, I have to —"

"Have to what?" Mid breaking the shackles off, a sword at your throat held you back, one of the marine officers was standing right infront of you, ever so menacingly. "I don't know how one of the red hair pirates was slacking off for us to take so easily, but we sure weren't gonna let the opportunity slip between our fingers."

"You— Opportunity to do what ??" You growled, brows furrowing in a mix of anger, and.. admission? You admitted to yourself that you'd never get caught off guard so easily, never this easily. Things were really taking a toll on you, hm.

"Why, to use you as bait for that absolute menace of a pirate."

"Don't speak of him like that."

He tightened his grip on the sword at a few degrees.

"Aw, hit a weak spot, hm?" The marine chuckled, like he was enjoying getting on your nerves. And guess what, he was.

"You're really brave if you think you'll even stand a chance." You rolled your eyes, ignoring his previous comment.

"I'm sure he'll do what it takes to get you back in one piece." He spoke ominously, sword pressing a little harder against your throat, like a pending warning.

Within the deck of the Red Force, it has been days now. About four days. No sign of you.

"She said a day or two.." Shanks mumbled to himself, a tankard of rum in hand, staring out at the vast, peaceful horizon ahead of him.

"She said maybe more, Shanks." Beckman added reassuringly, like some kind of guardin angel. Always calm, always collected. Never panicked. Never thinking the worst.

The red hair turned around, leaning casually against the railing, his one elbow propping him to it.

"..Yeah." He sighed out, a small smile tucking at the corners of his mouth. "She'll come back anytime."

"Stop thinking about her so much, you lovestruck fool."

"It's true love, Beckman!"

"You're so far gone."

"I'm right where I want to be."

The interaction was soon to be cut off, by a familiar panicked voice;

"Captain, captain — !!" Lucky roux yelled out, running to Shanks like his life would end if he ran any slower. A meat skewer dangling off the side of his mouth, muffling his words, along with a newspaper in hand.

Now standing infront of Shanks, the rotund pirate took a moment to catch his breath, handing the newspaper to his captain with a slightly shaky hand. "It's her — !!"

Shanks raised an eyebrow curiously, head mildly tilted in intrigue, with that same laid back smirk he always wore, a hand raised in surprise.

"Calm down, Roux— who's.." He trailed off, taking the press from his hands, his previous smirk immediately faltering, as though he'd crossed a bridge between life and death itself. You were on the front cover, name written in bold like an alert. "..Captured." He finished.

Beckman, who was still standing beside him, sighed. Crushing his cigarette on the railing nearby, then taking the paper from his hands and reading through it carefully.

"Don't do anything reckless, Shanks. She's fine, we need a strategy."

"It's been days, Beckman, her life is on the line."

From the lower deck, Gab voiced ; "How did she get caught of all people, anyway ?!"

Shanks gathered the crew around, an unyielding expression plastered on his face. A look that could make anyone's knees buckle with just a glare.

"It doesn't matter how she ended up there, we'll find her." The red hair spoke firmly. His voice cold, gruff, leaving no room for argument.

Beckman sighed, though cracking a faint smirk at his captain's never changing determination. He could be an idiot, but Benn would follow him through hell and back.

Shanks raised his hand, where your vivre card was pointing. "Everyone, heading north now !"

The rest, on the other hand, roared fiercly in agreement. Yasopp turning the helm and sailing forward with all the speed the Red Force had to offer.

An adventure, a rollercoaster, certainely awaited.

It seemed like you were aboard that damned navy ship forever. They barely even fed you, purely on purpose. Your means of escaping were all blocked, haki significantly weakened.

Great, just what you needed. Piling up on everything happening, just the thought of everyone finding out you got kidnapped by some measly marine group, made you want to throw yourself overboard and land somewhere hot, and preferably die in a way no one would hear of you again.

But you knew they would hear, and you most certainely knew he'd come to your rescue anytime now. And you hated it, you hated being treated like some damsel in distress, but that smiling ginger idiot would do it anyway.

And so you waited, a sense of impending doom heavy on your chest. You slipped in and out of consciousness, almost forgetting there was this annoying marine guy pestering you all freaking day.

"Listen, if you're gonna be over my head yelling at me for some.. secret information from the crew or whatever, I might aswell start asking you to kill me soon." You sighed out, not even giving him the luxury of facing him.

"You're real cocky for an unarmed weakling in shackles." He teased, holding your chin up towards him with the dull side of his sword.

"And you're pretty full of yourself for threatning an.. unarmed weakling in shackles, as you say. Give me that attitude again once I'm out of here." You snapped back, calmly, firmly, giving him a bored look.

"You —"

He didn't have the chance to finish whatever he was saying, the words catching in his throat as the rest of the marines onboard yelled out, alerting ;

"Raid alert !!!! I repeat ; Raid alert, The red hair pirates are here !!!" One blurted out in panic, watching the others passed out one by one like bug sprayed flies.

There it goes.

The sentence you'd been anticipating. It was.. very much predictable. And that unmistakable haki of his.

Looking ahead, you saw him. Jumping from the deck of the Red Force into marines' vessel. That same grin plastered on his face like someone drew it on with permanent marker. He looked like he was walking into a birthday party, not invading a navy ship.

"What happened to coming back in a day or two?" Shanks chuckled, now kneeled beside you, breaking the shackles and freeing you.

"..I said I would be back, I didn't need you to interfere again." You avoided his gaze, again.

He lended you a supporting hand to stand up.

You didn't even look at it, standing up by yourself, but you quickly stumbled, holding onto the nearest thing beside you. Him.

"Hey, careful now, wouldn't want you hurting yourself." The red hair cooed, draping his arm over your side and pulling you against him, supporting your weight. You didn't protest, holding onto him aswell, barely conscious.

"I'm.. perfectly.. fine." You muttered out, almost to yourself than to him, before you allowed yourself to sleep it off, now that you knew you were safe. In his arms. In a way you absolutely despised. Yet loved at the same time.

And you woke up.

Again.

But this time, in a familiar place. The scent of your beloved cabin filling your nostrils, eyes squinted. A candle hung on your wall, spilling a dim, warm light onto the room. You didn't pay attention to how your previously dirty clothes were changed into a clean, fresh set.

And there he was. Because of course he was.

Sitting beside your bed, laid back on a chair ever so nonchalantly, like it was completely normal to watch your ex sleeping. Just another normal tuesday night.

You sat up abruptly, your bed-hair tousled from sleep, your calm, tired expression soon sharpening.

"What are you doing here ?!"

"..Uh, watching over you?" Shanks admitted sheepishly.

"Do I look like a dying victorian child?"

He held back a small laugh. "I wouldn't say that. Just thought you'd want company when you woke up, after what happened."

"Well, thanks, I'm perfectly fine by myself. You can go now."

"I think I'm good, I'll stay."

Silence.

..And more silence.

If you waited a bit longer, you'd hear crickets chirping in your ear.

He didn't leave, didn't even budge. Didn't even think or consider leaving.

And then a sigh came out of him. You were still actively avoiding his gaze like the plague.

"Listen.. Y/N. We can't keep running from this."

"From what?"

"From this conversation. From this.. whole thing going on."

"There's nothing going on, I thought it was clear that we're over."

"We're not —"

You suddenly interrupted him, raising your voice by just an octave.

"We are, Shanks. You know, I.. we both know it's just not gonna work, and you just proved my point."

He raised his hand in a surrendering gesture ; "I don't recall proving anything." He smirked.

You rubbed a hand over your face. You hated how aloof and casual he was, even now.

"You came to save me, that's also a risk."

"Come on, that doesn't count. They were just rookies."

"Well, what if they weren't ?! What if it was another emperor crew, or, or— an admiral, hell, I don't know, any high ranking figure." You stuttered, stumbling over your own words, still looking around everywhere but him.

You were scared, even if you wouldn't admit it, you were scared that just looking at him would break your entire resolve again; the one you spent weeks rebuilding. Because it would absolutely break again. It was still fragile as glass.

And when you didn't expect it, Shanks reached out comfortably, his warm hand resting under your chin, tilting your head ever so gently, not wanting to rattle you.

His earlier sheepish, cheeky grin, had disappeared. His expression softened into a warm smile. One you were too acquianted with.

"I'd fight them, too. Without hesitation. I'd fight the gods themselves for you, Y/N. Whether you like it or not." The red hair spoke, his hair falling over his face just right, the dim light highlighting his sharp features and sun-tanned skin. Eyes lighting up and glinting lovingly at the sight of you.

It was unmistakable.

That look of love.

You knew he still loved you.

He knew you still loved him.

But that was exactly the problem.

Your lips parted slightly, as if to say something, but for a moment, nothing came out, until you gathered your thoughts, not wanting to say something stupid.

"That's.. that's exactly it, Shanks.. I don't want that. I don't want you to risk your life for me. I don't want you to get attached. I want you to live freely, as my captain." You muttered out, voice slightly shaky with unspoken feelings. You said what you had to. Not what you wanted to.

His hand trailed from your chin, to the side of your jaw, your cheek, then to the bangs on your face, gently pushing them behind your ear, soothing your hair back.

You didn't protest, at all. You didn't want to. No matter how much you tried to convince yourself you did. You haven't felt his touch in what seemed like decades. Sending a warm, loving feeling to your chest.

And then, unexpectedly, he leaned in and whispered an ever so tender against your lips. Feather light, like he was afraid to scare you away. Yet passionate.

Silence reigned over the moment, until he reluctantly pulled away, looking at you with heavy lidded, loving eyes, his fingers never leaving your hair in the moment.

"If you think that'll get me to stop loving you, you ought to try harder, my dear." Shanks murmured in a deep, smooth voice. Barely above a whisper.

All you could do was stare at him, eyes wide in surprise, your ears warming up. A faint blush dusting your cheeks. Heart fluttering in your chest. You couldn't even think of anything to say.

"I'm not getting scared off. As a pirate, my life is always on the line. It's what we sign up for, isn't it." He trailed off, then continued;

"And as your captain, I order you to let me love you, hm?" Shanks cooed, the most soft spoken command. And possibly the best one you'd ever gotten to hear from him.

Maybe your resolve wasn't that important now. All you wanted right now, in this moment, was to pull him back in for a kiss you've been holding back for ever so long.

And that's exactly what you did.

Even he was slightly thrown off guard, but quickly melted into it. Fingers wandering to the back of your head, tangling in your hair and deepening the kiss, your arms hooked onto his neck like an anchor.

You leaned away, again. Letting your lips linger for a moment longer. You weren't avoiding his gaze anymore. You couldn't afford to. Like you were scared he'd disappear the moment you looked away.

"Guess we could've avoided all the hassle if we had this talk from the beginning, eh?" He chuckled in a low, lighthearted tone.

"..I wish you'd stop speaking sometimes."

"Ouch. Hurts my feelings." Shanks joked dramatically, putting a hand over his chest in mock pain.

"Stay that way."

From behind the door, you heard a loud crash, like someone fell. A specific someone, big enough to cause such a noise.

Then his voice blurted out ; "Move, I can't hear anything !!"

"Not my fault you're blocking the whole doorway!!" Yasopp's voice echoed right after his, before the door swung open from the weight of both of them leaning against it.

Beckman sighed, from a distance. But you could definitely hear it. If there was a bounty up for the most disappointed, and done man ever. He'd long have surpassed Roger, the king of the pirates himself.

"I told you that wouldn't end well." He sppke firmly.

Shanks only chuckled at the sight of them, while you just facepalmed, groaning into your hands like you'd wanted the earth to swallow you whole. Seeing that, Shanks shot them a singular glare, without another word. Didn't need words.

With that, they closed the door behind and left the room, running.

"..So I guess this makes us—"

"I love you too." You cut him off.

"..What am I supposed to say to that?" Shanks chuckled.

"I hate when you say it first because you keep repeating that you love me more even when I give up."

"Fair."

You stayed quiet for a moment, before reaching your hand towards his, locking your fingers together.. for the first time in weeks, aswell.

"You could.. always say it back."

The red hair gave you a cheeky smile, one that quickly warmed up as he squeezed your hand gently, bringing it to his lips and pressing a soft kiss to your palm.

"Always love you more, Y/N."

Thus, the endless conflict ended. It wasn't such a failed romance after all. All you needed was a thorough talk, and maybe a bit of reassurance. Shanks would've gotten his way either way, because of course he would. He's Shanks. Unbeatable, undebatable, always got a solution for everything. But it's one of the things you liked most about that imbecile. A very loving imbecile.

⊹ ࣪ ﹏𓊝﹏𓂁﹏⊹ ࣪ ˖

[july-19th-club]

i have no mouth and i must scream speech but for about insomnia hate hate hate let me tell you how much i have come to hate being awake

[tomato-greens]

the reason I chose to speak about Southern California and NYC/Boston/DC is not because I was ignoring a great deal of the country due to not caring about it. it's because I was speaking 1) about two comparable areas in terms of high population, 2) that have different relationships with federal land, 3) to question your point about correlation, which you implied was causation, 4) because they are areas in which I have lived. because I've read work like Billionaire Wilderness by Justin Farrell, I'm somewhat familiar with the problem of rural gentrification in the west, but I would not consider that enough of a base knowledge to make claims about the region; I think it would be wrong of me to speak about regions in which I have not lived and personally experienced the housing market without doing more research. however, I think you're ascribing a lot of feelings and intentions to me based on a caricature of who you think lives in on the coasts, rather than on what I personally have said. I actually haven't said very much - and I haven't gotten into the nuanced details of my opinions, because they are extremely local to the specific housing markets I've lived in, and I don't want to go into those markets.

the reason I said that the areas were "most commonly affected" is because, if you look in the original map, MORE of the state is impacted, and more people live in the state, so they are "most commonly affected" in the grand scheme of the population of the US. so, for example, there are 44 counties in Idaho. if I count only the most extreme cases - bright red, a full 15% shortage - there are NO COUNTIES in Idaho that are impacted by the housing shortage to that extent. there are 58 counties in California. originally, I was only talking about Southern California, but if I look at the whole state and if I count only the most extreme cases, there are, to my eye, 8 counties impacted - all statistics just taken straight from Wikipedia: Los Angeles (9,663,345 people), San Luis Obispo (282,424 people), Santa Cruz (270,861 people), San Mateo (764,442 people), San Francisco (827,526 people), Alameda (1,682,353 people), Santa Clara (1,936,259), Marin (262,231 people). (the map is much harder to see on the east coast, but there are also fewer red counties, mostly around NYC and Boston, so let's just leave it between Idaho and California.)

this means a total of 15.6 million people are very deeply impacted by a housing shortage caused by something other than federal ownership of land - you'll notice there is almost no federal ownership of land in any of these counties. I can vouch that the thin purple strip is because beaches are publicly owned, which shocked me: I am originally from NJ, where you have to pay to set foot on the beach. in California, access to beaches is by law free, in part because they are public property. anyway, in a country of about 340 million, 15.6 million is a significant number!

it DOES NOT mean that Idaho doesn't matter. it means I chose my words on purpose, was speaking about a "most common" experience, based on my knowledge base and statistical likelihood.

but if you are advocating for the sale of public land, just say that. who do you want to buy it? and what do you think they will do with it? who has the money for it, if $150k is too expensive now? is there anything of value, like the minerals you cite, on that land? do you think the private interests already in Idaho will just let that go?

the reason I suggested private and public ownership competing is good for the rest of us isn't because I'm talking about "the little guy." okay, so 50% of landlords own one unit––great; that's still a house I can't buy, now, but whatever. what about the other 50%? shouldn't we talk about them? what about the ten unit guys: don't they still prevent me, "a little guy," from buying a condo? doesn't that 6% of corporate ownership matter enough to talk about? and where do those numbers come from, anyway? don't we in many ways benefit when private and public behemoths keep each other in check? an entirely privatized state historically gives way to monopolies as entirely state-owned properties (sorry everybody, I'm not a communist at heart) also do - just different monopolies.

The American Housing Shortage

[frogeyedape]

I am so unbelievably pissed off. FUCK HOAs

Oh, my trash/recycling bin can't be visible except on pickup day? Ok whatever fine I hate you but I can deal with this

Weekly inspections?????? FU FU FU FU FU

SECOND NOTICE ALSO WE'RE CHARGING YOU MONEY TO SEND YOU CERTIFIED MAIL OF THIS TOTALLY LEGIT TOTALLY SECOND NOTICE OF WHAT IS ACTUALLY A VIOLATION cue me: checks notes. Hmm. My recycling bin was. on the curb. on recycling pickup day. You know. The day it has to be out. The day it is motherfucking ALLOWED TO BE FUCKING OUT AND VISIBLE.

so. 1) not a violation

I have sent them the trash AND recycling pickup schedules, which are DIFFERENT, btw

I have disputed the fact of the violation

I have disputed the linking of this "violation" to a previous violation MONTHS AGO--their "first notice" in this case was a "Courtesy Notice" LITERALLY 5 MONTHS AGO and they've done so many inspections since then and my bin CLEARLY WASN'T OUT IN THOSE INTERVENING MONTHS so WTMFH

So I am posting like a crazy person here instead of sending the absolutely deranged email I almost sent (I did send a slightly less deranged version with the disputes, and requesting a hearing)

OMG. It has been. Less than one hour since I learned this fun fun news. My bin was out YESTERDAY, y'all. YESTERDAY. I am going to blow a gasket

[ungraceds]

doesn't   know   how   to   keep   himself   from   touching   her   ,   from   wanting   her   .   they've   caved   into   each   other   too   many   times   now   --   her   living   here   ,   alone   with   him   ,   gave   him   to   much   access   to   blurring   the   lines   .   it   was   easier   before   ,   when   she   was   gone   and   when   she   lived   at   home   with   her   shitty   parents   :   he   had   no   choice   but   to   keep   his   hands   and   desires   to   himself   .   but   he's   never   been   a   noble   man   ,   so   why   start   now   ?   stares   down   at   her   with   smirk   still   curling   his   lips   ,   eyes   taking   in   the   sight   of   her   helpless   and   squirming   beneath   him   .   "   it   is   fair   .   not   my   fault   your   arms   are   short   .   "   knee   brushes   against   him   ,   sweatpants   doing   him   no   favors   in   hiding   how   blood   is   rushing   to   where   it   shouldn't   ,   and   he's   swallowing   .   hard   .   they're   so   close   that   every   rise   and   fall   of   her   chest   is   brushed   against   his   ,   her   body   heat   combining   with   his   and   making   the   temperature   in   the   room   twenty   degrees   hotter   .   wants   to   say   screw   the   movie   ,   they   could   make   their   own   .   "   mm   ,   is   that   what   this   is   ?   "   voice   is   low   ,   taunting   as   he   lets   the   remote   fall   to   the   floor   and   hand   that   isn't   pinning   her   wrists   above   her   head   is   drifting   down   to   gently   brush   along   her   waist   .   her   shirt   has   risen   with   the   way   he   has   her   positioned   ,   porcelain   skin   exposed   beneath   the   thin   fabric   of   his   shirt   ,   and   he   can't   resist   temptation   to   feel   her   .   "   i   don't   think   it's   a   problem   .   "   head   is   tilting   ,   their   noses   brushing   as   he   glances   from   her   eyes   to   her   lips   ,   "   but   i   do   think   it's   cute   seeing   you   act   like   you   don't   like   it   .   "   hot   breath   is   brushed   along   her   brims   ,   and   he's   meet   her   gaze   again   ,   holding   it   for   a   beat   or   two   ,   "   you're   not   going   on   another   date   with   him   .   "   it's   not   a   debate   ,   nor   an   invitation   for   another   argument   ,   because   he   isn't   giving   her   a   chance   to   respond   .   instead   ,   grasp   is   tightening   around   frail   wrists   and   he's   tilting   his   head   forward   ,   pressing   hot   curve   of   his   mouth   to   hers   .

she can tell he's not happy by the way his jaw is working overtime and he barely says two syllables . swallows , unsure if she'd just potentially pissed him off all over again and hopes not , because she's not sure she can handle another conversation without the chances of it blowing up in their faces worse than before . tucking lesser between her teeth , she leans her chin against his shoulder , "so fun ." murmurs , pushing down the sigh that makes its way up the back of her throat before he's opening his mouth again and eyes roll , scrunching her nose in dismay . "there's only one carly and you're touching her ," reminds him . wasn't the kind to get jealous -- she could get whoever she wanted , after all -- but the thought of him saying her name to another woman the same way he did with her didn't sit right . color her crazy , she felt it , but she didn't care . nine out of ten times , she felt like she was losing her mind with him . it's evident by the way goosebumps arise on her skin when his hand starts drawing circles on the flesh of her thighs , biting the inside of her cheek and trying hard to focus on the movie . hums along to the beat of the song that starts to blast through the speakers , bopping her head . lets out a breath , screeching when he's capturing her wrists and boxing her body beneath his , "that's not fair --" squirms , her knee brushing over his groin on accident before she's arching herself in attempt to get away but fears it might have just made things worse . he's so close she can feel his breath on hers , glaring up at him playfully to hide the way her heart skips a beat . "you're cheating ," she whispers , breathlessly as her warm brown eyes ping pong between his , "you just love pinning me . it's becoming a problem ."

[thislittlekumquat]

talking to my younger brother about the way my parents may or may not treat me differently from him and our other brother, in terms of like. when I say shit about politics, or am complaining about stuff at work, and they tell me to chill. I just think that my parents and my one brother to a lesser degree, just find me fucking annoying lol

[autisticlee]

words are hard. explaining is hard. remember that while reading

the amount of disabled people on thos website who make posts going against each other makes me so sad. there's too many posts of "such and such people/random person are talking over people like me and making us look/feel bad, but they're wrong and not suffering as much so need to shut up!" can we stop invalidating each other because you claim they're invalidating you by speaking about their struggles????? can we all support each other instead????? ableism within disabled community here is awful.

I get it. sometimes people say a thing and you think it takes away from you or makes you feel bad. but that doesn't mean they did it on purpose/everyone with their condition is doing it on purpose. doesn't mean they know you and your feelings. doesn't mean their feeling is invalid because it hurt yours! and if it's just a thing you saw on tiktok, don't blame entirety of people with the condition because one or two people on tiktok don't speak for everyone! (not everyone uses tiktok either so don't act like everyone is getting info from there)

it's so frustrating and disappointing! can't say anything on here without upsetting and offending another disabled person because many different or new reasons every day! like you didn't mention that they have it worse or say yourself isn't suffering as much. or you use a phrase or word thar helps you but another group gatekeeps it. or you're simply "talking over" people you don't even know that decided you don't suffer and struggle enough because they "have it worse" and want you to talk about THEM and not just yourself. on your own blog. but somehow know to mention them and advicate for them so they don't have to or something???? is confusing.

words are hard. hard to explain this!!! but is frustrating and upsetting to see many disabled people here targeting each other more than ableds. example there's many posts of physical disabled vs ND, acting like being ND can't be disability. do you want to borrow my brain and see if it disables you more????? sometimes see opposite where ND is harder than physical disability. do you want to borrow my body and see if you can live easily??? see many physical disabled vs other physical disabled, example "cane user can't complain because I need wheelchair!" type things. or ND vs ND "I have more ND than you because I cant do *thing* alone but you can so you can't complain about struggling because you're talking over my bigger struggles"

I GET IT. everyone wants to feel valid and not feel talked over and all that stuffs. but stop fighting each other!!!!! stop invalidating each other because you feel invalidated/assume they are trying to invalidate you. is nothing but invalidating loop!!!! stop assuming everyone must talk about you and your struggle before their own because you think their voice shared means yours is blocked. stop having disability "Olympics" in which you jump through metaphoric hoops to prove you're more disabled and deserve most attention and more voice and everyone below is taking that away! learn how to support each other because we know ableds don't like supporting us!!!!!! we all suffer and struggle. why act like fellow disableds don't or arent allowed!! 😭😭😭😭😭 this is for both people that use tiktok to do "quirky" stuff or are able to push through struggles and want to act like everyone can too. and people with higher support needs that think lesser needs have super easy life and talk over them if they make post about their struggles. I see both!!!! a lot!!

never see anyone talk about ableism within disabled community and how it is bad for all of us!!!! but sure see lot of.......

I know. i'm bad at words. dont try to misunderstanding and attack and be mad at me! if you experience real problem with this you are valid in your feel. you can feel! but maybe don't do generalizing and invalidate all because one person or a few or tiktok did or said things you don't like. that make sense???

[yayforocs]

👉👈 so @silverskye13 i saw this and..............

had to make an aron helsmet!!!!!! this was really hecking fun to think about actually like what she'd be like n design (which. is a poke at the rp server she was from actually) and also made me sit down and think more on my other minecraft ocs i have sittin around and why they ended up getting redesigns lkdsfh BUT YEAH i!!!!!!!! aron!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[britneyshakespeare]

she snorts cocaine at dinner parties in beverley hills

she goes to church every sunday and has a repressed sapphic crush on her best friend

nevertheless they are as close as can be

[chewyhanniebug]

big question of the day is which wip to work on to avoid the new ideas sneaking up on me

[seaofreverie]

My best haul ever possibly ‼️‼️‼️