milo-notfound

[milo-notfound]

Strawberry shortcake (oc kai)

I used to think strawberry shortcake could fix anything.

When I was nine, I scraped my knee falling of my bike and came home sobbing. My mom sat me at kitchen table, wiped the blood off, and pulled out a little store-bought cake with two-sweet, wiped cream and fake red strawberries. I don't remember if it helped the pain go away, but I do remember it made me stop crying.

That was the deal. sad days got strawberry shortcake.

It became a tradition. A rough math test? Strawberry shortcake. Someone at school said something mean? Strawberry shortcake. Dad yelled too loud, or the silence at dinner got too heavy? Strawberry shortcake.

Until it just... stoped.

No more cakes in the fridge. no more comfort dressed up in wiped cream. I don't know when they stopped, I think it was around the time I started getting quieter. Not sulky or rebellious like movies say teens are supposed to be. Just... quiet. Less "hey mom, look at this drawing," more "I'm tired, I'll eat later."

I think they thought I outgrew it. The cake, the need for softness. Or maybe they just stopped noticing.

Now I'm seventeen, and some days, I feel like I'm made of glass held together with type and extra credit assignments. I walk the halls of my high school like I'm auditioning for a role: The normal kid. I smile when I'm supposed to, nod, laugh even. I sit in the back of AP Lit, write my essays, do everything I should.

But then there are days-- bad ones--where everything feels too much. When I stand in the bathroom and stare long at the inside of my wrist. When I wonder if I deserve small things like strawberry shortcake anymore.

No one notices. That's kind of the point, right? You learn how to fold the sadness into smaller shapes. Something pocket-sized. Easy to hide.

Last week, I was walking home from school. It had been one of the worst days in a while- nothing dramatic, just the slow, aching kind of day that wraps around your chest and doesn't let go. I took the long way home. Passed the grocery store. Something made me stop.

I walked in.

I didn't even mean to go to the bakery section, but there it was. Sitting in the case like it was waiting for me. A single-serving strawberry shortcake, wrapped in plastic.

I bought it with my own money.

Ate it on the curb of the store.

It didn't fix anything. I didn't suddenly fell whole. But for the first time in a long time, I felt... something. Like maybe I still had the right to softness. To sweetness. Even if I had to give it to myself.

I think that's what survival looks like sometimes. Not grand, not loud. Just small moments. Tiny cakes. A breath you didn't think you'd take.

I still have bad days. Still wrestle I still don't always know what to do with. But now when they get too loud, I try to remember the sweet taste of strawberries and cream on a creaked plastic fork.

And whisper to myself; you still deserve this, you're still here.

-Kai Lee

[milo-notfound]

This art is so pretty! I think Anya is a really cool character, she's one of my favorite characters! People make really pretty art of her- I first came across the fandom by the fanart, then I started watching a bunch of playthroughs of the game, and so on. But I love This art is so pretty! I think Anya is a really cool character, she's one of my favorite characters! People make really pretty art of her- I first came across the fandom by the fanart, then I started watching a bunch of playthroughs of the game, and so on. But I love @krisandthebluesurgeons art so much!

Perfect Blue

[milo-notfound]

To my dear sibling

Hey, it has been a while since we last talk, no? I'm only writing to you just to tell you that just got into this "fandom" that's a thing that humans do, right? But it's called "Mouthwashing", and I found the best character ever, and he's my "new comfort character", well, he's also my first. His name is Daisuke, right? So, I was looking up "Sibling reader" about him, and as I was reading and scrolling, I found one, and in red text It said "incest." It was really short- but I don't read, nope- I went to the comments to see if people are actually into this... And yeah, they were. I saw like, one, maybe four comments not into that type of thing. But one of the comments said, "He was definitely awake." So, I was like; what do they mean by that? So, I read it- and basically It was just the reader raping Daisuke while he was sleeping. So that's really messed up, I left a comment saying, "That's sexual assault, I don't think I like this." Or something along the lines of that. I don't really remember, I my memory is getting worst, but writing things down helps me remember them more.

-Mimi