#10 marla

[linkcrafter]

Lahore Motorway City

03338200500

[wa-associate-and-builder]

[pigeonpalacade]

Fright curbs in pen

[crewofthegoldrush]

this town's our canvas, baby

Rating: T / PG-13

Campaign Setting: Modern AU of an Eberron setting

Summary:

"Why not shoot me a text?"

"I only have five minutes and barely a finger free, let alone a whole hand. It's quicker to say 'call Montgomery'."

"Montgomery? You don't have a nickname for me in your phone?"

"No," she says like it was obvious, and Monty can hear the sound of Aubrey's heels stopping abruptly. "Why? What's my name in your phone?"

[this town's our canvas, baby - let's paint it red tonight]

-

back at it again with another AU no one asked for 

most PCs and core NPCs have cameos in this and honestly I think their use here is pretty funny, I hope their antics get a laugh now and then. It is my biggest regret that I didn't give Ellie, our resident Angus McDonald character, more spotlight in fool's gold so I hope I've made up for it here

minor content warning for womanizer & fantasy racist boss behavior

[livinginshambles]

I thought you'd be different | James Potter

Pairing: James Potter x Slytherin!Fem!Reader

Word Count: 4.6k

Summary: A cinderella story (maybe a little romeo and juliet while we're at it) but Hogwarts - Enemies-ish to lovers. You find an enchanted parchment through wich you anonymously talk to a stranger (James). When you meet him at the Yule ball, he is not who you expected, but you give him a chance. When you realise that was clearly a mistake, you flee cinderella style.

Probably part one of two again.

Notes: Not proofread, grammar mistakes. Discrimination issues, themes of bullying. Regulus is our friend. James is an idiot, but we knew that already. Sirius sucks.

Masterlist. Part two. Part three

--------------------------------

You could still remember the moment vividly, as if it was engraved in your memory. That moment when the sorting hat placed you in Slytherin instead of Gryffindor like your two older sisters had been sorted. You could still see the look of surprise, concern, horror and then eventually disgust, every time you close your eyes.

“Now we finally know your true colors,” is what your sister Alyssa had hissed coldly at you. You had pleadingly looked at your other sister, but Marla had supported her twin sister, disregarding the confused and scared look in your eleven-year-old eyes.

“Don’t talk to us, don’t look at us and don’t mention us at all,” she sneered down at you and for a moment you wondered how she hadn’t been the one to be sorted into Slytherin instead. But you had cast your eyes down and agreed.

But years passed and you had become the very stereotype of a Slytherin student, completely leaning into the cold, distant, quiet but calculating persona that your sisters had created for you. Might as well, you figured after your parent’s dismay at the revelation of your house.

You were making your way down the corridor, long strides as you passed your sisters while looking them straight in the eye. They grimaced at the sight of you, but without their entire group of classmates, they didn’t dare make any comments. A feeling of victory erupted inside of you, and you couldn’t help the small smirk that crept up your face.

“What poor soul suffered for you to look so satisfied?” You turned your head to look at the person who called out to you. James Potter and Sirius Black were both leaning against a statue in the open yard. “Did you get rid of Regulus or something?” Sirius taunted. “Finally had enough of him following you around, did you L/N?”

“Go die in a ditch, Sirius,” you retorted with an eye roll, but seemed unphased.

“Why so much hostility,” James unpleasantly remarked, and you halted in your step. “10 points from Gryffindor for loitering,” you pettily decided.

“If you have nothing to do, other than insulting students, I would love to recommend you to Professor McGonagall for detention. Heard she was still looking for the person who made all the pumpkins explode last week during Halloween, and you guys are terrible at getting rid of the evidence.” With a last glance up and down, you continued your way towards the room of requirement.

When you entered the sober room with a sigh, you noticed the small scrolled up piece of parchment in the middle of the room. You frowned. This was your space. The room didn’t open this space for anyone else, you made it specifically as a safe haven.

You cautiously approached the parchment and rolled it open to reveal nothing. It was completely blank. You shrugged. If the room left this here, it was meant for you, and so you took a seat and started drawing on it.

James sat in an empty room, his invisibility cloak hiding him from plain sight as he pulled the now folded paper from his back pocket. He inspected it closely, almost pressing the paper to his glasses in a curious manner. He had gone to the Room of Requirements earlier that day and found a piece of paper floating in the air.

James unfolded the paper, and his eyebrows flew up. Lines were appearing on the paper by itself, and a beautiful portrait of a weeping willow with a girl, crying on a bench under the tree appeared.

James fumbled to find his quill and ink. Then he started to write something on it, in a handwriting that he only ever used for written exams. Credits to Professor McGonagall, who had announced that she would not be grading anything she couldn’t read. And she had looked over her glasses at him while she said it.

It’s beautiful.

You dropped the parchment at the words that formed right under your drawing. You traced it with your fingers. Then you decided to write back.

Thank you, I’ve been dreaming about this for the past two days.

You frowned at yourself, unsure why you would disclose such information, but figured no one would be able to trace this back to you anyway.

James blinked at the response he got, mouth open in surprise. He wasn’t sure why he was so surprised. It must simply be a spell of some sort after all. He stared at the sad drawing and the sentence, and then he made up his mind, writing back.

It must be lonely for that girl to cry by herself under the weeping willow.

Your eyes followed the words that formed in a trance.

If she ever feels lonely again, she can always pour her heart out on this parchment. I’ll be the mighty guardian wizard that will make all her worries magically disappear.

A grateful smile made its way up your face and when you scribbled back a response, James couldn’t help but smile as well.

Maybe she will.

You doodled a wizard sitting on the bench next to the crying girl, a consoling hand stretched out.

That's how you became James’ best kept secret. He learned that you were indeed a student at Hogwarts, but that you felt lonely. That you enjoyed butterbeer, but never got to enjoy it on a Hogsmeade outing with friends, because you rarely had any. He learned that you felt inferior to your siblings and a disappointment to your parents. He noticed how you would draw a circle as the dot on your ‘i’ and learned, when he asked, that you did that because you had once seen Professor McGonagall do that when you were in your first year, and had practiced mimicking her handwriting, should it ever come in handy.

In return, he had told you that he felt pressured by the reputation that he had to maintain. He loved Quidditch and absolutely despised Ancient Runes, to which you had replied, “who doesn’t?”. He told you that he had illegally learned to become an Animagus, a stag, and that he wasn’t sure yet what the future would hold for him. He even revealed to you that he desperately wants to protect his friends and sometimes had nightmares, which usually resulted in a sneak around the castle at midnight. When you had asked him if he’d ever been caught, he responded with, “never”, and had explained to you that he had an invisibility cloak.

Two months passed and before you knew it, you were explaining Transfiguration through the enchanted parchment. You did conclude from this that your pen pal was most likely in a year or two higher than yourself but decided not to comment on it. James on the other hand, was under the assumption that you must be from his year, as you managed to help him study for his exams.

But now, it was almost 12 o’clock midnight, and James chewed his lip while he looked at the parchment. He hesitated for a moment. Then he decided to ask you the one question he had been yearning to know the answer to.

Who are you?

You looked at the paper sadly, and sighed.

You’d be disappointed.

I understand if you don’t want to reveal yourself. But know that I could never be disappointed by you, Willow.

James sighed when you didn’t answer anymore. He waved away the light that emitted from the tip of his wand and took his glasses off. He went to put the parchment under his pillow as usual, when he saw the scribbling movement that he’d gotten so accustomed to.

He scrambled to grab his wand to shed light on the paper but accidentally nudged them off the nightstand and onto the floor, where it rolled under his bed. James’ eyes flickered back to the paper in his hand, and he managed to catch the first letter of your name as it was written in capital letters.

But your cursive handwriting, the dark and lack of glasses made it impossible to read the rest of your name. When he finally reached his wand and put on his glasses, he heard the clock strike twelve and he cursed as he grasped the parchment tightly, hurried ‘lumos’ and saw that the parchment had reset itself to a blank page again, just as every night at 12 o’clock at midnight.

Wait, please! I didn’t catch it before it erased itself. Please write it again?

You let out a sigh in relief after you had internally bashed your head against a wall.

No, it was stupid of me. I’m glad you didn’t see it.

You leaned back into your armchair with a racing heart. You couldn’t believe you had done that.

“Regulus,” you acknowledged as you pulled the chair back to sit next to him in the library. “Y/N,” Regulus quietly responded without looking up from his book, and if you didn’t know any better, his straight face would indicate annoyance. Luckily, you did know better.

“You smile any brighter, the sorting hat will transfer you to Hufflepuff, you know,” you teased him.

His face distorted in a grimace and without missing a beat, he replied, “do kill me before such a thing occurs.” You shook your head and finally sat down. Then you pursed your lips in thought.

“You know how I’ve been working all summer to earn galleons?”

“No.”

“Well I did.”

“So it seems.”

“Anyway, I rented a small flat,” you blurted out. Regulus finally looked up at you, surprise almost evident on his face. Then again, you didn’t have the most amazing home situation either. You often opted to stay behind at Hogwarts for the holidays. It is how you two had befriended each other, especially ever since Sirius left him to his own devices at home. Parents, it was a trauma bonding thing.

“Congratulations,” he nodded, his voice trailed off as he tried to see how this would concern him.

“So I thought you might want to stay with me over the Christmas holidays? Your mother doesn’t hate me, so I thought it might be possible. Gives you a chance to get out once in a while.” You tentatively brought up the sensitive subject.

“And what makes you think living with you will be any more bearable than living in my own mansion?” Regulus snarkily remarked.

You squinted your eyes at him in a scowl. “A simple ‘no’ would suffice don’t you think?”

“Do I have to pay rent?”

“Depends on whether or not the answer impacts your decision.”

“So not then.”

You huffed.

“Fine, I suppose I could join you in your small flat.”

“Merlin, don’t go doing me any favors Reg, I wouldn’t want to owe you.”

Regulus shook his head in amusement.

Satisfied with your rather successful attempt to invite him over, you got up. The chair you sat on screeched loudly as it was being pushed back. You could feel the librarian’s furious eyes on your back and rolled your eyes at her as you made your way to the door. “Alright, alright, I’m leaving,” you waved your hand in the air and exited the room.

You made it approximately two steps when you spotted your sisters again. “Of course you would cause a disturbance in the library,” Marla spat at you. You raised your eyebrows but remained unimpressed.

“I see you’ve got your buddies to back you up now?” you commented and tilted your chin slightly upwards. Your eyes flickered to your other sister, their closest friends, and the marauders.

For a moment, you considered walking away, but there was just something about that twitching lip of your sister that had you irked.

You stepped forward, narrowing the gap between you and your sister. You leaned in slightly and then, “Boo.”

It took your other sister, Alyssa about one second to have her wand pulled out and pointed at your throat.

James watched the interaction with a small frown on his face. He didn’t really speak with the fellow Gryffindor twins, but their friends and Lily were friends, so the marauders had joined them on their way towards the courtyard.

His mind flickered to a conversation he had had with ‘Willow’ about her sisters, and he wondered if you felt the same sadness and inferiority as his pen pal. And with that in mind, he pulled Alyssa back by her robe with one harm, the other lowering her raised wand.

“Let’s not,” he shrugged, when she raised her brows in question at him.

“She clearly threatened my sister,” Alyssa defended.

You scoffed at that. “I said ‘boo’. That’s hardly a threat,” you rolled your eyes and glanced at James who tried to offer you something that resembled a smile.

Was he mocking you? “Fancy yourself a hero, don’t you, Potter.”

“Hey, I was just trying to help,” he raised his hands in defense.

“Cause you’re such a good soul,” you sarcastically remarked.

“Yeah, actually. At least better than you. That hostility is so uncalled for,” Sirius mumbled under his breath, and you shot him a glare. “Right, better than me. Let me ask the two-dozen tormented Slytherin students you’ve bullied this past year. Bet Snape will buy your self-proclaimed ‘kindness’.”

You were already walking away when Sirius opened his mouth to call something out to you, but James kicked his shins in attempt to shut him up. Your words resonated in his mind.

Maybe he was a twat.

Am I a twat?

What the bloody hell are you on about?

Someone called me a twat today. Now that wasn’t necessarily true, but the implications were there.

Did you deserve it?

Sort of.

Sort of?

I mean, I am only an asshole to people who are assholes themselves and deserve it. But I guess that makes me an asshole too.

You hesitated for a moment and decided to write your opinion on the matter.

Maybe you being an asshole to people makes them assholes. And then it becomes a vicious circle. Self-fulfilling prophecy and all that bogger.

You reckon?

Wouldn’t have written it down if I didn’t.

On a brighter note, do you have a date for the Yule ball after the exams?

If you’re asking me out, I already promised my friend that we’d go together.

Oh right. But would you save me a dance? Maybe at midnight under the main crystal chandelier?

James bit his lip again in suspense. The Yule ball is a masked ball anyways, if you don’t want to reveal yourself.

Midnight, main crystal chandelier. You decided to leave it at that. Besides. You could enchant the mask a little extra, so you’d be even more unrecognizable. You wondered who would be behind the kind words of the parchment.

It felt strange to you. Really looking forward to something to the point you could feel jitters in your stomach in anticipation. But it was having a certain effect on you that even the younger Black couldn’t help but miss.

Regulus squinted his eyes and moved his jaw in thought. When he had had enough, he pulled you aside.

“Out with it.”

You deflated. You knew that he knew what he was talking about, so you shrugged. “Someone asked me to save a dance next week,” you mumbled.

“And you want to?” Regulus’ tone shifted to an incredulous one.

“I found an enchanted parchment in the room of requirements and it’s connected. I’ve been using it to have conversations with a mystery person.”

It felt great to be able to share this with your friend and you leaned against the wall behind you. “So yeah.” You finished the confession with an awkward hand gesture.

Regulus took a moment to register what you said. And then, as if it was the most normal thing ever, he responded with, “I see. And you have no idea who?”

You let yourself slide down the wall and tiredly put your head on your propped up knees. “Probably a Gryffindor.”

Regulus started laughing. You snapped your head up and scowled at him, not that he was used to anything else from you.

“As long as it’s not a mudbl-“

You kicked his legs and made him lose his balance. You shot him a warning glance. “You know my opinion on that.”

Regulus sighed. You had once confided in him about your home situation, including that time when you had overheard your parents argue when you came home for the first time after having been sorted into Slytherin. Your father had addressed the matter as soon as you walked through the door.

“You’re no daughter of mine.” He had said with disapproval in his voice. It wasn’t meant as a figurative insult. It was a statement. Your father believed that you could simply not biologically be his daughter. The words had you avert your eyes to the floor in shame.

“My entire bloodline has been sorted into Gryffindor.” He had looked at your mother. “Your family does have Slytherins. She’s most likely the result of your affair with that muggle a decade ago. It is possible.” And just like that, he had practically disowned you.

“Okay,” Regulus relented. “We’ll see who it is next week.”

James was nervously looking around, standing partnerless in the middle of the dancefloor. He had long forgone the mask that he had chosen because it prevented him from using his glasses. He looked at the great clock just above the table with drinks and pulled a hand through his hair.

It was time, so where were you? Hopefully you hadn’t chickened out yet because he was absolutely dying to meet you.

There was just something about you. It sparked something in him that he hadn’t felt since Lily. He’d look forward to your messages all the time. Every morning, he practically jumped up in anticipation and excitement as he reached under his pillow to read your ‘good morning’ message for the day. A smile would pass his lips each time.

James was ripped from his thoughts when a hand was placed on his shoulder blade. It tapped twice. He stopped breathing for a moment before turning around. And then the breath was knocked out of both of you completely.

For two different reasons.

James stared in awe at you. You wore a white and silver dress, covered in diamonds. A delicate white mask covered the upper part of your face, and he stared intently at your eyes, but somehow, he still couldn’t pinpoint who you were.

He could see all of your features clearly, but as if he was in a dream, he somehow couldn’t piece everything together to identify you. A charm, he realized. He was disappointed but shook it off. If you felt insecure, then he wouldn’t push it.

James’ face broke out in a grin, and he stepped forward. He couldn’t help but reach out to your face. But you took a step back. His hand fell and he frowned at your reaction, suddenly scared. He wasn’t wearing a mask after all. Compared to you, he was completely vulnerable.

Before he could say anything, you cut him to it. “No,” you hoarsely managed. “This was a mistake.” You turned around and escaped from the center of the dancefloor. James chased you.

“Wait, please. I’m sorry!” He called out after you.

You slowed your pace when you reached the corner next to the staircase. Then you shook your head with a sight, and you pinched your nose. James could see your furrowed brows.

“You have nothing to be sorry about. But my intention wasn’t to dance with James Potter. It was a mistake. Sorry for wasting your time.”

James shook his head in his turn. “Don’t say that,” his eyes pleaded. “So you know who I am. Am I..” He hesitated. “Am I that bad? I don’t know if you’ve heard any rumors about me, or what made you have a bad impression of me, but I’m the one you’ve been talking to for the past months.” He looked at you desperately. “Give me a chance, please. I only ask for a dance.”

Your eyes flickered over his sad face. You knew James from all the pranks that he did, mostly committed towards your house. You knew him from the banters you had with him, and from crying students that you undid hexes for. You knew him from pushing him out of the way as he purposely blocked your path to throw insults at you.

But you also knew the boy from the enchanted paper. The one who listened to all your worries. Who offered advice and indulged into your hopes and dreams for the future. You knew the boy who confided in you all his deepest secrets and own insecurities. Who made your day and cheered you up with his jokes and positivity.

“I can give you a dance,” you caved, and you offered him your hand, which he scrambled to hold.

James was a fairly decent dance partner, you soon discovered as he guided you with grace. “So I suppose you dance often?”

“I just practiced a lot,” he sheepishly admitted. “I had to impress you somehow, you know. Someone like you had to be crazy out of my league after all.”

Your lips twitched. “I think you’ve got it all backwards, Potter.”

“You know you can call me James, right?”

“Well, James,” you enunciated his name. It felt weird on your tongue. You had only ever spoken his last name in contempt. “I’m not very liked by more than half the students of this castle.” You motioned towards your mask. “Hence the enchantment,” you added halfheartedly.

“You don’t have to tell me who you are,” James immediately assured you, and you did relax at his words. “I’m just really happy that you’re real.”

You let out a laugh. “Why would I not be real?”

“I don’t know,” James whined. “Maybe I was just talking to really sentient paper or something?”

His answer only made you laugh more. James’ grin only spread wider.

“Whoever you are, I wouldn’t judge you,” James added quietly. You watched him silently as you swayed around the room.

“That’d be a first,” you joked sadly, remembering your own family.

“What can I say, I’m just different,” James cheekily winked and then twirled you around.

“We’ll see about that, James. You have the rest of the night to convince me.”

The dance ended and you curtsied to each other, out of breath. “But you’ll have to excuse me while I go find a bench because my feet are killing me. These heels are no joke,” you groaned in pain and sort of started to limp your way back.

James quickly came to support you and held your waist as he escorted you back to the side of the room. When you discovered that there were not in fact any benches, you sat down on the first few steps of the staircase. He raised his eyebrows when you kicked off your heels and saw that the entire slipper was made of glass.

“I transfigured those shoes myself, you know,” you proudly stated. James looked at it in disbelief. “This can carry a human weight?”

“Yeah, it took a lot of different enchantments and attempts,” you admitted.

James’ disbelief changed to awe. He took a seat next to you and you two started chatting about random things. You looked at James’ profile as he talked about Quidditch and felt soft towards him. Maybe he really wasn’t so bad after all.

The two of you were deep into a conversation when you were interrupted .

“Who is this, Prongs?” Sirius curiously stepped forward and shook your hand. You couldn’t help but grimace at him.

You politely nodded and explained the situation, but even though you engaged into a civil, nonchalant conversation, you couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable at the presence of James’ friends.

“Anyways,” Sirius leans in towards James. “Did you see Snape over there?” He nodded his head towards Snape, and you squinted your eyes at the boy in front of you.

“You’re not thinking of doing anything to him, are you,” you sharply asked. Both James and Sirius were taken aback by your new tone.

“Nothing harmful,” Sirius laughed, but it faded when you simply raised your eyebrows at him. Sirius looked towards James for help. James hesitated. He had been reluctant to indulge Sirius’ ideas ever since his conversation with you about being a twat. But Sirius was his friend.

“We’re just having a bit of fun,” James tried to explain. “We’re just joking around, besides, he’s in Slytherin, so definitely a blood supremacist.” Your face fell at his words.

You watched his features contort in disgust and suddenly you were eleven again, and all you could see was your sisters disgusted face.

By the time you had snapped out of it, Sirius was already making his way towards Snape. James had gotten up and his head flickered between you and his friend.

You got up as well.

“I really thought you’d be different, James.” You scoffed to yourself. “You really had me convinced there for a moment. But I understand that you’re really just a bully after all, blinded by prejudice. You really are a twat.”

James’ heart dropped at hearing you say those words. He felt ashamed and shook his head pleadingly as he searched for words. But the thing is, you couldn’t care less, because you were hurt too. So you turned around and fled up the stairs as fast as you could, just in case he would come after you.

“Hey Prongs, you coming or not?” Sirius called out. James looked back at Sirius as he contemplated his next move. He mouthed ‘no’, and then tried to run after you. But by the time he reached the hallway that you had disappeared to, you were nowhere in sight.

In denial, James ran towards the moving staircases and looked up, in hopes to find you there.

Had he looked down, maybe he would have caught the last shimmer of reflection of the diamonds on your dress.

James refused to give up, however and he started to knock on the paintings, hoping that they could tell him where you went. He just had to apologize.

A symphony of protests and yelling echoed within the hall. “Quiet you!” “Have you no respect for the sleeping?” “I will complain to Filch about this, young man!” “Leave us alone!”

When the voices resided, most portraits were empty, their contents having escaped elsewhere.

Defeated, James groaned and hit his head with his fists. “You stupid git!” he yelled out in frustration at himself. James slouched down to sit on the stairs. Then he reached for the parchment and a pen in the inner pocket of his jacket and started scrambling something down.

“Please answer,” he whispered. He almost had to laugh at how pathetic he must look.

You sat on your bed after having made your way to the Slytherin dorms.

I’m sorry. You’re right, I shouldn’t have said that. I don’t know why I said that. I’m stupid and I ruined everything. Please let me make it up to you. I enjoy being with you, I don’t want you to think of me like this.

 Like I said before, this was clearly a mistake.

James read your words over and over again and he buried his face in his hands in shame. He stayed there for a long while and by the time he returned to the room, the party was over, and people had started returning to bed. On the left side of the staircase were your enchanted glass slippers precisely where you’d kicked the off and left them.

Preview of part two

Part two

Taglist:

@bath1lda @lilianelena39 @quackitysdrugdealer @princessprongs @clumsyassbitch @thecraziestcrayon @themoonofeternity @ttkttt @rentaldarling @handybrownpurse @elsie-bells

@charlie-weasley-is-underrated @dreamingofmarauders @moonyslibrary98 @wildernessflora @hollandweather @queerqueenlynn @locklyebrainrot @thisrandombitch @grac3aph3lion @earfquak3 @venomsvl @middle-of-the-earth @shrekscrustybudassy @bettytaylorversion @littlepoisonmushroom @faumpje @iloveutwice @katelebate @moonysupremacy01 @marina468 @fangirl-kimora @bellesowl @badasswlthafatass @sjprongs @armydrcamers @its-a-ittle-bit-cold @ireallywannasleep127 @sayukoi @jsjcue @cashtons-wife @idllyastuff @severegiantjudgefriend @ivy-34 @moonyunebi @caspianobsessed @kquil @moonys-luvr @mindflay3r @nokkoongie

[landmaster0]

Plots For Sale and Rent in Bahria Town, Property Real Estate | Land Masters

Landmaster.com.pk is the original business-for-sale website, connecting brokers and sellers with potential buyers since 2012!

10-B Bahria Town Main Blvd, Sector C Commercial Area Sector C Bahria Town, Lahore, Punjab 53720 Pakistan

+923224390728

[june-of-dialtown]

CALLING ALL ARTISTS AND PHONE LOVERS! BOY, DO I HAVE A BEAUTIFUL CHALLENGE FOR YOU!

A June of Dialtown 2024

A prompt for every day of June for artists to draw or even write!

When posting art for the challenge, use the tag #AJuneOfDialtown2024 ! All art will be reblogged to here!

This challenge is run by me, Rose, @nebu-lime , and I’ll also be participating!

The full prompt list (in text) and any rules can be found under the cut!

A June of Dialtown!

1. Pride

2. Fav Ship

3. Lové

4. WLW

5. MLM

6. Bigfoot

7. Karen

8. Oliver

9. Randy

10. Phonegingi

11. Typegingi

12. Fav HCs

13. Summer

14. Swap

15. Free Space

16. AU

17. Mingus

18. The Mingling

19. Fav Scene

20. The Mob

21. Swimwear

22. Fav BG Character

23. God

24. Dietown

25. Norm

26. Postcard

27. Marla

28. Milton

29. OC

30. Change

Feel free to join anytime! Feel free to join halfway through! Feel free to stop halfway if you want, too! There’s no pressure to finish or keep up with the days. The point of this challenge is to have fun and be excited to share your art! If you miss a day, don’t sweat it!

Prompts can be taken as literally or abstractly as you’d like!

Again, and most importantly, HAVE FUN!

[lotties-ashwagandha]

KINKTOBER 2023

lotties-ashwagandha — 15 days of Kinktober

DAY 1: Knife Kink with Lottie Matthews

DAY 2: Mommy Kink with Taissa Turner

DAY 3: Vampire Lottie Matthews

DAY 4: Bondage with Natalie Scatorccio

DAY 5: Gun Kink with Valeria Garza

DAY 6: Overstimulation with Tess Servopoulos

DAY 7: Praise & Degradation with Tess Servopoulos

DAY 8: Blindfolds with Siuan Sanche

DAY 9: Semi-Public Sex with Debbie Ocean & Lou Miller

DAY 10: Thigh Riding & Wet Dream with Lottie Matthews

DAY 11: Edging with Moiraine Sedai

DAY 12: Waxplay with Moiraine Sedai & Siuan Sanche

DAY 13: Somno with Marla Grayson

DAY 14: Body Worship with Lottie Matthews

DAY 15: Voyeurism with Taissa Turner & Van Palmer

[strawbby-shortcake]

Fight Club Headcanons ✧.*

✩ The Narrator

ʚɞ Chews on his fingernails and picks at his skin constantly. They're nervous habits of his. He sometimes picks at Tyler's arm if he gets the urge.

ʚɞ Is a picky eater and that's why he's a little twig<3 He won't eat anything that smells or looks weird (unless forced).

ʚɞ Doesn't have the best hygiene. Like he tries, he really does, but I think he fails at it most of the time because he's so fatigued.

ʚɞ Likes stale potato chips.

ʚɞ He barely had a father figure in his life, so he's dependent on Tyler to satisfy the need of a "strong male figure."

ʚɞ Despises physical touch from people he doesn't know.

ʚɞ If there's a chance, he'll attempt to sleep anywhere. Like he'd curl up in a ball on a park bench if he wanted to.

✩ Tyler Durden

ʚɞ Has an oral fixation and that's why he can't stop smoking. He might eat candy if he runs out of cigarettes just to have something in his mouth at all times.

ʚɞ Has 10 packs of gum with him. Never shares.

ʚɞ Gaslights people on a daily basis and doesn't feel bad about it.

ʚɞ Overly judgmental but hates accepting criticism.

ʚɞ Secretly loves gentle physical touch like massages, playing with his hair, and fidgeting with someone's hands.

✩ Marla Singer

ʚɞ Gossips wherever and whenever she can.

ʚɞ I'd like to think she was a momma's girl who went off the beaten path.

ʚɞ Cannot actually be in love with someone. She likes the idea of having a companion, but love and marriage and starting a family is a huge no for her.

ʚɞ The type to buy scratch-offs and lotto tickets even though she loses every time.

ʚɞ Her childhood dream was to become a fashion designer or makeup stylist.

✩ Robert "Bob" Paulson

ʚɞ Is a huge sweetheart before and after joining Fight Club.

ʚɞ A great listener, but cries when you cry. He's very empathetic.

ʚɞ Discreetly purchases a binder for his chest because he's insecure :(

ʚɞ Keeps a notepad of dad jokes in his pocket to spread a little joy and positivity.

✩ Angel Face

ʚɞ Loves competing for attention. If he doesn't get it, he'll whine and whine until he does.

ʚɞ Annoying like 90% of the time, but for that other 10% he goes void because he's wondering about what he's doing with his life.

ʚɞ Serious anxious attachment issues. This baby will NOT leave a toxic, manipulative, and/or abusive person because even a drop of affection is all he craves.

ʚɞ Has some level of body dysmorphia.

[pluckyredhead]

Character Profile: Eddie Bloomberg (Kid Devil/Red Devil)

Some of you could probably see this one coming. I have an Eddie fic ready to share with you very soon, but for those of you who have no idea who I’m talking about, I figured I should fill you in. So here he is! The sweetest little devil in the DCU!

Eddie Bloomberg debuted in the 1984 Blue Devil series. Blue Devil is Dan Cassidy, a Hollywood stuntman/special effects artist who was cursed by a demon and trapped in a devil costume forever. If he had been a Marvel character, he would be hated and feared etc, but since he lives in the DCU, it literally has no effect on his movie career. I love the DCU.

The producer of the movie Dan is making when he’s cursed is Marla Bloom (real name: Marlene Bloomberg), a somewhat manic but fiercely loyal visionary. Her nephew, Eddie, is a gofer on set and in fact is only known as “Gopher” for quite a few issues of Blue Devil before anyone uses his actual name. Eddie is teeny tiny in this series - logically he’s probably no younger than 12, since he’s allowed to actually have a job on set, but the writing and art, especially his little OshKosh B’gosh green overalls, make him seem younger, more in the 8-10 range.

(Note: It is never explicitly stated that Eddie and Marla are Jewish, but their last name, and Marla changing her name upon arriving in Hollywood, are such obvious clues that I wouldn’t even consider it coding or subtext. It might be missed by people who aren’t familiar with Jewish names or the long history of Jewish people changing said names to make it in Hollywood - which, trust me, is as antisemitic as anywhere else - but they are Jewish. This will have some HIGHLY PROBLEMATIC IMPLICATIONS further down the line, but we’ll get there.)

Eddie’s hero worship of Dan leads him to make his own costume, plus a “trident” (Dan has one too and that’s what they both call it, but you guys, you are devils, not mermen. They’re pitchforks.) that he uses to fly, which, UM??? Eddie is apparently a genius and no one ever comments on it?

Eddie is probably best known these days in fandom for his extremely brief (it’s a four page story) friendship with Jason Todd in his Robin days. They are PEN PALS and they team up to catch a jewel thief and it’s so damn cute:

But not too long after this, Blue Devil was canceled, and Eddie faded into obscurity. That is, until he showed up on the Teen Titans 20 years later, looking like this:

Eddie is now 17, and the intervening years have been extraordinarily shitty for him.

First, his Aunt Marla was like “Hey, I talked your parents into letting you stay with me indefinitely, because I love you!” and it took him years to realize that actually, his parents had suggested he stay in Hollywood because they didn’t want him.

Then Marla died in a freak helicopter crash, because some safety lights that should have been on were out. Eddie struggled to keep a job after that, since he’s not actually very good at being a gopher/PA. (Why he was allowed to live on his own/work/not go to school as a minor is not explained.)

He decided to focus on being a superhero, but no one wants a kid in a devil suit with no powers, so that didn’t go so hot either. Eventually he got his chance when a mysterious hooded stranger gave him a black candle, which...Eddie, no. Lighting the candle took him to Neron, who is one of the DCU’s several versions of the devil, specifically the one who makes Faustian bargains with characters.

Neron asked Eddie who he trusted the most in the world, and Eddie said Blue Devil. Neron offered Eddie a deal: he would give Eddie powers, and in exchange, if Eddie ever lost his trust in Blue Devil, his soul would belong to Neron on his 20th birthday. Eddie, thinking nothing could shake his faith in his hero, agreed.

And then Neron told him that Blue Devil killed Marla.

This was in fact completely true. Years ago, Dan had made a deal with Neron: fame in exchange for destroying a power station in the middle of nowhere. Dan, assuming no one would be hurt, agreed. The power station being down was the reason the warning lights were out during Marla’s helicopter crash. Dan never told anyone the truth about her death.

Eddie refuses to believe him, because after all, Neron is a demon and demons lie. He goes on to finally join the Teen Titans as the happy go lucky comic relief/loser. But it weighs on him, and finally he confronts Dan:

Eddie realizes to his horror that his soul is now forfeit to Neron on his 20th birthday, which is less than three years away. But he doesn’t want anyone to pity him, and he doesn’t want to spend the next three years being miserable, so he doesn’t tell anyone (except his friend Zachary Zatara, who was there when he met Neron), and continues to be the sweet, seemingly happy-go-lucky comic relief of the 2000s-era Titans. EDDIE MY DARLING. 😭

I do want to pause here to talk about the implications of Eddie’s transformation. Like I said earlier, Eddie is Jewish. Even if that’s never confirmed in the comics, even if he isn’t religious (we have no evidence one way or the other), Eddie is at the very least ethnically Jewish on his father’s side. This is the extremely clear intent of his (also Jewish) creators.

Jewish people having horns, and just generally being associated with devils, is a very, very old stereotype dating back to the Middle Ages. It was used in Nazi propaganda. I’m a millennial, and I know Jewish people my age who have been asked where their horns are. It is a living stereotype, and an incredibly dangerous one.

I am...let’s say 90% sure that giving a Jewish character horns was a genuine mistake? Maybe Geoff Johns, who wrote that storyline, didn’t realize that “Bloomberg” was a Jewish last name. Maybe he wasn’t familiar with the stereotype. But I can rattle off a whole list of shockingly racist things that man has written by (maybe) accident, and he was one of the people Ray Fisher called out for racism during the filming of Justice League, so...who knows. I love Eddie, I love the devil version of him, but I also don’t trust Geoff Johns an inch, and am generally very uncomfortable with the implications of this particular transformation. (Also, like...cramming a Jewish character into Christian mythology like this is still pretty gross. Jews don’t believe in Hell.)

Eddie has a lengthy tenure on the Titans, from the mid-2000s almost all the way to the New 52. Like I said before, he’s largely comic relief/the “loser” team member who thinks no one likes him (and some characters are pretty relentlessly contemptuous of him, particularly Cassie and Tim during their era of being written horribly OOC at all times). He’s also incredibly self-sacrificing - at one point a villain tries to kill him but accidentally absorbs his curse instead, and Eddie insists on taking it back, because he can’t let anyone suffer in his place, even a rando who tried to murder him for no reason. EDDIE MY LOVE.

And he does have friends! Aside from his friendship with Zachary Zatara (who isn’t really on the team), he’s particularly close with Miss Martian and Blue Beetle.

And then there’s Rose Wilson, Ravager. She joins the team right around the same time Eddie does, and he very obviously has a massive crush on her. Rose equally obviously does not really know how to relate to people in an honest and healthy way, so she veers wildly between flirting with Eddie, being scathingly cruel to him, opening up to him in a way she doesn’t with anyone else, and going feral to protect him.

Also, this happens:

I have never recovered.

Eddie eventually loses his powers when he’s bitten by Brother Blood, because sure, why not? A trip to Hell confirms that not only is he free of his obligation to Neron, but he never actually signed a contract in the first place - Neron simply activated Eddie’s latent metagene, which...turned him into a demon for reasons but can be mystically deactivated, apparently? Look, there’s no time to make sense, Eddie has a noble sacrifice to get to!

Eddie is happy to be free of Hell, obviously, but he’s now stuck being support staff for the Titans, since he doesn’t have any powers. Rose, who had left the team a while back, returns and tries to get Eddie to leave with her, since it’s dangerous to be powerless around superheroes. He turns her down. EDDIE, NO.

Literally the next issue, a riot breaks out on Alcatraz, which is a supervillain prison in the DCU. While the Titans are fighting the supervillains, Eddie is tricked by the Calculator into flying out to the island in the T-Jet to try to find a nuke. When he discovers that the nuke is just a man with radioactive powers who is melting down and minutes from exploding, he gets the man into the T-Jet and flies it as high as possible before the explosion, saving the Titans, Alcatraz, and San Francisco.

😭😭😭

Eddie stayed dead for the next year or so, and then the New 52 happened. He appeared in one issue as Blue Devil’s godson in the New 52; then returned for one more issue with his powers intact in Rebirth.

And then he died at Sanctuary in Heroes in Crisis, because apparently if you’re a redheaded friend of Jason Todd with a penchant for backwards baseball caps, you’re gonna die in HiC.

We haven’t seen Eddie since, so it’s anyone’s guess whether he was brought back to life by Infinite Frontier or not. I choose to believe he was, because I love him and I say so.

If you want to read about Eddie, your best bet is the 2003 Teen Titans series. It’s, like...pretty bad, but it’s also the lion’s share of Eddie’s appearances, and he’s extremely lovable. If you’re looking for fic, I'm mostly familiar with stories where he appears as Jason’s bestie. Eddie Fucking Bloomberg by chucklesbuckles makes me laugh every time I read it. Eddie also has small but delightful roles in the longer JayRoy fics i wish i was by @shhhenanigans​ and gentle on my mind (the actual world) by @hamjay​. And Burning my defenses by the shaking of her hips is some excellent Rose/Eddie by @macabrekawaii​.

(Also, I have a fic about him coming next week! Stay tuned!)

In conclusion: don’t cry. Baby Eddie in Tiny Titans, okay?

[sunnyhoneyshimmermagic]

here it is, everyone! the official (and not without mistakes but fuck it this is the best anyone will ever get) appearance tracker of EVERY BIG NATE CHARACTER (that matters at least a little bit, also I forgot Rusty sienna r.i.p)

THE TOP 10:

Nate: 11,106

2. Francis: 4,166

3. Teddy: 2,936

4. Marty: 1,541

5. Mrs. Godfrey: 890

6. Chad: 691

7. Ellen: 583

8. Mr. Rosa: 537

9. Gina: 506

10. Jenny: 427

Rounding out the top 20:

11. Dee Dee: 358

12. Artur: 343

13. Coach Calhoon: 339

14. Spitsy: 304

15. Principal Nichols: 255

16. School Picture Guy: 219

17. Sheila: 202

18. Coach John: 164

19. Gramps/Vern: 163

20. Mr. Glavin: 152

MORE THAN A 100 APPEARANCES:

21. Dr. Cesspool: 150

22. Gordie: 147

23. Ms. Clarke: 145

24. Czerwicki: 139

25. Kim: 119

26. Biff: 116

27. Gram/Marge: 107

STILL PRETTY MAJOR:

28. Chip: 99

29. Chester: 97

30. Mrs. Shipulski: 95

31. Peter: 92

32. Pickles: 91

33. Randy: 81

GETTING THERE:

34. Nate drawing of Mrs. Godfrey where she doesn’t appear: 74

35. Nurse Maureen Biology: 72

36. Angie: 71

37. Trudy: 67

38. Dan Cupid: 65

39. Uncle Ted: 64

40. Mr. Staples: 62

40. Daphne: 62

42. Nate drawing of Ellen where she doesn’t appear: 61

43. Mr. Eustis: 60

44. Bob Snuggles: 51

44. Kelly: 51 

46. Sherman: 50

47. Moe Mentum: 46

48. Marcus: 42

49. Miranda: 41

YEAH THESE ARE GETTING OBSCURE NOW:

50. Kenny Smithson: 39

50. Timmy Snuggles: 39

52. Nate drawing of Marty where he doesn’t appear: 38

53. Honey Snuggles: 35

54. Punkin Snuggles: 34

55. J.B.: 33

56. Nate drawing of Francis where he doesn’t appear: 27

57. Superdad: 24

58. Derek Nack: 20

59. Daisy: 19

59. Warren Fuzzy: 19

61. Mrs. Bigbee: 18

61. Nate drawing of Teddy where he doesn’t appear: 18

63. Slim Stubby: 15

63. Nate drawing of Jenny where she doesn’t appear: 15

65. Nate drawing of Kenny Smithson where he doesn’t appear: 14

65. Wayne: 14

65. Whitey: 14

68. The Brain (Chess Camp): 13

68. Lila: 13

68. Nate drawing of Mr. Rosa where he doesn’t appear: 13

71. Action Cat: 12

72. Audrey the Lifeguard: 11

72. Nate drawing of Mr. Galvin where he doesn’t appear: 11

72. Hickson: 11

72. Craig (incel): 11

76. Paige: 10

76. Nate drawing of Mr. Staples where he doesn’t appear: 10

76. Nigel (doppleganger): 10

THE BOTTOM OF THE BARREL:

79. Ronnie (Jenny’s Boyfriend): 9

80. Nate drawing of Gordie where he doesn’t appear: 8

80. Wink Summers: 8

80. Nate drawing of Nate where he doesn’t appear: 8

83. Kit: 7

83. Kaboodle: 7

83. Stan Cupid: 7

83. Emmit the Custodian: 7

87. Marla the Mailwoman: 6

88. Claire Voyant: 5

88. Fluffy Snuggles: 5

88. Nate drawing of Coach Calhoon where she doesn’t appear: 5

88. Nate Drawing of Ms. Clarke where he doesn’t appear: 5

92. Moe Mentum’s Agent: 4

92. Greg Proxmire: 4

92. Leo Tard: 4

92. She-Pulski: 4

92. Nate drawing of Principal Nichols where he doesn’t appear: 4

97. Jenny’s Dad: 3

97. Celine Paycheck: 3

97. Math Man: 3

97. Half-Pint: 3

97. Mrs. Holloway: 3

97. Stan Pokecheck: 3

97. Deke Boarding: 3

104. Nate drawing of Sheila where she doesn’t appear: 2

104. April Showers: 2

104. Mega Teen: 2

104. Ms. Brindle: 2

104. Nate drawing of La Chance where she doesn’t appear: 2

104. Nate drawing of Gina where she doesn’t appear: 2

104. Nate drawing of Pickles where she doesn’t appear: 2

104. Daphne’s mom: 2

112. Jenny’s Mom: 1

112. Nate drawing of ronnie where he doesn’t appear: 1

112. Nate drawing of Ms. Brindle where she doesn’t appear: 1

112. Nate drawing of Aldrige where she doesn’t appear: 1

112. Nate drawing of Wink Summers where he doesn’t appear: 1

112. Mrs. Williger: 1

112. Nate drawing of Uncle Ted where he doesn’t appear: 1

112. Nate drawing of Spitsy where he doesn’t appear: 1

112. Ultra Nate: 1

112. Algebro: 1

112. Nate drawing of Artur where he doesn’t appear: 1

112. Nate drawing of Chester where he doesn’t appear: 1

112. Mr. Holloway: 1

112. Nate drawing of Randy where he doesn’t appear: 1

112. Nate drawing of Kim where she doesn’t appear: 1

112. Nate drawing of Dee Dee where she doesn’t appear: 1

112. Nate drawing of Daphne where she doesn’t appear: 1

112. Nate drawing of Chad where he doesn’t appear: 1

Questions and replies are more than welcome! This list will update every Sunday when an arc is "over"!

[rascalcurious]

today i have some recolours of @kumikya​ ‘s aria set, converted to sims 2 by @platinumaspiration​ . the textures i used are from spoonflower. these are for adult females only and there are 10 swatches. the set includes a top (modelled by delilah) and a skirt (modelled by marla)

download: SFS / MF

i hope you enjoy these recolours <3

swatch

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Happy Memorial Day

Veterans and Active Service Members who support Conservatives and/or Trump, let's have a chat. I'm going to run a few things by you and see if they sit right with you....

If we're being honest here, when it comes to trusting Donald Trump on anything related to the military (or in general for that matter), maybe just don't. You've heard all this talk about how those on the left are "communists" or "fascists," meanwhile, for all you 2nd Amendment folk, here's Trump back in 2018 saying, "take the guns first, due process second."

Question: Did you know that Trump made his 2nd wife, Marla Maples, sign a prenup that would have cut off all child support if their daughter, Tiffany, joined the military? In fact, not a single member of Trump's family tree has ever served in the military; this spans 5 generations, and every branch of the family tree. Apparently, the whole reason his grandfather immigrated to America was to avoid military service.

In his 2015 biography, Trump says: “I felt that I was in the military in the true sense because I dealt with those people,” because he went to a military-style academy and that he has “more training militarily than a lot of the guys that go into the military." Matter of fact, according to Trump, he knows more about ISIS than American generals.

This self-proclaimed "military genius intellect" in action?

In 2017, he sent commandos into an ambush due to lack of intel and then sent contractors in to pick them up, resulting in a commando being left behind, tortured, and executed. Trump reportedly approved the mission because "Bannon told him that Obama didn’t have the guts to do it."

When retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal criticized Trump on his withdrawal of troops from Syria, Trump attacked him saying that he "got fired like a dog by Obama" and is "known for [a] big, dumb mouth." Let's not even get into the botched Afghanistan withdrawal...Oh, and it was definitely strategic and totally not an accident when he revealed the faces, names, and location of SEAL Team 5 on Twitter.

SIDE NOTE: If conservatives only remember 13 of the 2,420 service members that died fighting in Afghanistan over the past 20 years, then aren't they really just scapegoating your demographic?

If we're being frank, it's not just Donald that you shouldn't trust, either. It never has been, he's just a useful mouthpiece for the GOP and corporate America's impulses. Conservatives don't really care about the troops, if we're being honest with each other. You've been fed this lie that it's the liberals that hate you, when most of us don't (can't speak for everyone). You're just being used as a cudgel against people who are looking out for your own best interests. It's quite obvious and sad, actually, how much they love using the military as canon fodder for their propaganda.

When COVID reared its head in 2020, Capt. Crozier of the USS Theodore Roosevelt wrote a letter pleading with 10 navy officers (3 were Admirals within his chain of command, 7 were to other captains on the Roosevelt), asking to offload most of the sailors on the Roosevelt in order to allow for social distancing and the sanitizing of the ship due to how crowded it was. On March 30, 2020, the day Capt. Crozier sent his letter, cases peaked as 736 of 4,085 sailors on the ship had tested positive for COVID-19, a 25% infection rate. The following day, his letter was leaked to the press. Trump attacks Crozier's letter calling it “terrible” and "not appropriate” leading the Secretary of the Navy to remove Capt. Crozier from his post. Later in the pandemic, on June 24, 2020, the White House ended the National Guard's deployments to assist the American people during the COVID-19 pandemic, which just so happened to be the day before thousands of National Guard members would qualify for early retirement and education benefits under the Post-9/11 GI bill. Convenient.

Then, in the midst of all that, he visits the troops deployed in Iraq and claims that he's giving them all a 10% raise and that it's their first raise in over a decade. False on both accounts. What actually happened was that he tried to give the military a raise that was lower than the standard living adjustment. Congress told him that idea wasn't going to work. Then, after Congress had to force him to give the military an actual raise, Trump of course lied about it, claiming that it was larger than Obama’s. (Not the first time, probably...)

This is just a guy who wants to claim he made the call, just to see his name pop up on the chyron. He admitted he believed that his administration's assassination of al-Baghdadi was more significant than the Obama administration's assassination of Osama Bin Laden.

Still think he's a patriot?

On ⁠October 8th, 2019, Trump planned to withdraw from the Open Skies treaty, giving Russia the ability to target our military aircraft. Then in 2020, the New York Times published an Op-ed on CIA intelligence claiming that Putin was paying the Taliban for the bounties he reportedly placed on US Soldiers heads, Trump said he never mentioned the rumors when meeting with Putin later that year. The validity of the intel has since been ruled inconclusive. Trump, however, also directed the CIA to share counterintelligence with their Russian counterparts despite the Russians also arming the Taliban.

Friendly reminder that in May 2019, Trump also got the bright idea to pardon war criminals Eddie Gallagher, Mathew Golsteyn, and Matthew Behenna. A few weeks later, on July 31, 2019, Trump ordered the US Navy to rescind the medals given to prosecutors who failed to convict Gallagher.

This is the same guy who demanded that US military chiefs stand next to him and made the U.S. Navy Blue Angels violate ethics rules by having them do a fly-over at his 4th of July campaign rally, really patriotic right? I mean, who else would be more preoccupied with an intelligence briefing when the leader of the free world could be ordering a milkshake? Does this sound like a "leader of men"? Because blocking a veteran group on Twitter because they criticized you and hurt your feelings, doesn't fit my mental image of "leader." Actually, kinda sounds more akin to a dictator than the Commander in Chief. Not to mention how often he likes to cozy up to dictators and autocrats.

For example: when the alt right protesters stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, Trump demanded that the National Guard protect his supporters. Meanwhile, the US Army recently concluded that the DC National Guard misused their helicopters in 2020 when they flew them too low over BLM protestors, one reportedly "hovered under 100 ft."

Remember when Trump refused to sign his party’s funding bill, which caused the government to shut down from December 22, 2018 to January 25, 2019? This temporary shut down would force the members of the US Coast Guard to go without pay, otherwise they would be listed AWOL. This led to service members relying on food pantries to eat. Somehow, though, Trump's appointees ended up with a $10,000 raise.

But don't worry, it only took him 2 years of being in office and 154 vacation days at his various properties before he finally visited the troops in December of 2018. Later, the following June, Trump sent additional troops to the border to paint the fence for a better “aesthetic appearance.” Don't let this distract you from the fact that under his administration, we saw more illegal border crossings than before. (You know, just in case that was another reason you were planning on voting for him.)

Halfway through his presidency, he used troops as a political prop for optics during the midterms by sending them on a "phantom mission'' to the border and made them miss out on Thanksgiving with their families in 2018. Of course, in typical Trump fashion, he then called troops on Thanksgiving and told them he’s most thankful for himself. Even though he stopped using troops as a political prop immediately after the midterms, the troops remained in their muddy camps at the border.

Then, in early 2019, Trump tried diverting military housing funds to pay for the border wall, but a federal judge subsequently denied this. Later that July, SCOTUS ruled that Trump could in fact divert military housing funds to pay for his wall, as well as funding from military pensions and Afghan Security Forces.

That same July, Trump denied a US Marine with 6 years of service entry into the United States for his scheduled citizenship interview. The next month, his administration looked to change the policy which granted citizenship for children of deployed US troops. This change would no longer grant automatic American citizenship to children born overseas during US military deployments, including US troops posted abroad for years at a time.

Imagine coming to America to fight for a country that isn't yours on the promise of citizenship, only to be deported. But don't worry, your family isn't safe either! Trump once deported a spouse of a fallen US Army soldier killed in Afghanistan, leaving their daughter parentless. The US has thankfully overturned this as of April 16, 2019. His administration actually doubled the rejection rate for veterans requesting family deportation protections.

Not surprising, considering this is the same administration that deported veterans, too. Hell, ICE even tried to deport a US-born Marine. He later ordered the discharge of active-duty immigrant troops with good records who were already promised citizenship, just so he could say he was tough on immigration.

Or how about just before the 2018 holidays, when they discharged 2 Air Force members living with HIV? Or how his administration denied female troops access to birth control to reportedly "limit sexual activity"? In 2019, he even banned service members from serving based on gender identity, but this has since been reversed by the Biden administration.

Trump even urged the officials in Florida to not count mail-in votes, specifically those of the actively deployed.

You know, I kinda get the sense that Trump and his MAGA lackeys seem to simultaneously dislike and fetishize being in the military, because that seems to be all you are to them: drones, existing to shoot, be shot at, and die for America, a manifestation of their own gun fetish. The moment you remind them that you aren't just professional killers but human beings who need social services or housing benefits, they lash out.

Here's another FACT for you: over a decade, Trump sought to kick veterans of Fifth Avenue because he found them unsightly nuisances outside of Trump Tower. In 1991, he was even quoted saying, “While disabled veterans should be given every opportunity to earn a living, is it fair to do so to the detriment of the city as a whole or its tax paying citizens and businesses?”

During the Trump administration, the VA in Atlanta purged 200,000 veterans’ healthcare applications due to known administrative errors within VA’s enrollment process and enrollment system. When making changes to the VA at a meeting in Mar-a-Lago, Trump recruited Bruce Moskowitz, a Palm Beach doctor; Ike Perlmutter, the chairman of Marvel Entertainment; and Marc Sherman, an attorney; to run it. None of them have experience with the military or veterans. These shitheads ended up trying to sell veteran's medical records.

Trump increasingly privatized the VA, leading to longer waits and higher taxpayer costs. For example, in January 2016, Trump sent funds raised from a veterans’ benefit to the Donald J. Trump Foundation instead of the promised veteran’s charities. The foundation has since been ordered shut down because of fraud and Trump had to pay $2 million in damages as of November 2019.

When a man was caught swindling veterans’ pensions for high-interest “cash advances,” Trump’s Consumer Financial Protection Bureau fined him $1. As a reminder, the Trump administration’s goal was to dismantle the CFPB, installing Mick Mulvaney as the director, who publicly stated the bureau should be disbanded.

Eventually, his administration tried to slash disability and unemployment benefits for Veterans to $0, and eliminate the Extraschedular Individual Unemployability (TDIU) from the VA. Trump even changed the GI Bill through his Forever GI Act back in 2018. This change caused the VA to miss veteran benefits, including housing allowances and forced many veterans to run out of food and rent.

Ironically, at one of his rallies in 2016, Trump accepted a Purple Heart from a veteran supporter in the crowd. He said to the crowd: “I always wanted to get the Purple Heart. This was much easier.” Earlier in 1998, Mr. Bone Spurs himself was quoted saying having unprotected sex was his "own personal Vietnam." I guess naturally, when it comes to stolen valor, no one knows it better than Trump.

Don't think his contempt stops when you've died for our country, either. He apparently could care less, unless he can make it about him. Once while at a cemetery to pay respects to the fallen soldiers on the anniversary of D-Day, Trump started his commemoration speech by attacking a private citizen, Bette Midler, following later with an attack on Robert Muller, former FBI special counsel and a Vietnam War veteran. (Speaking of Vietnam, did I mention that Trump had dodged the draft 5 times, 4 for college and 1 by having a doctor diagnose him with bone spurs?) Then later, while in Europe in 2018, he didn’t even attend a ceremony at a US cemetery commemorating the end of WWI due to the rain – every other world leader went anyway.

He's insulted Gold Star families. Both, Myeshia Johnson — a gold star widow and the Khan family—gold star parents, have negative stories about being contacted by Trump. To add salt to the wound, he even forgot a fallen soldier’s name during a call to his pregnant widow. In fact, under the Trump Tax Plan, some Gold Star families had to pay increased taxes on the death benefits they received. The surviving family of US Navy Lt. Cmdr. Landon Jones in particular, went from paying $1,100 in 2017 to $5,400 in 2019.

In an apparent attack directed at the late-Sen. John McCain, Trump said he doesn’t consider POWs heroes because they were caught. Specifically, he said he "prefers people who were not caught." I mean, Trump even turned away Navy Sailors from his 2019 Memorial Day speech in Japan because they were from the destroyer USS John S. McCain. Trump initially ordered the USS John S. McCain out of sight during his visit, which led to the ship’s name subsequently being covered. Then, on March 20, 2019, after Sen. McCain's passing, Trump complained that he was never thanked for the funeral. But really, how spiteful can you actually be?

Maybe it's because I'm such a lib, but the most damning for me, is the deafening silence if you're a POC veteran. Remember Army Spc. Vanessa Guillén? Remember 2nd Lt. Caron Nazario?

10 Benghazi investigations, 0 into the Fort Hood murders. Can you guess who blocked that? I wonder what conservatives would be saying about Lt. Nazario if he had happened to have kneeled next to Colin Kaepernick?

Conservatives seem to support and/or believe in an abstract, fetishized version of the troops, all fueled by handshakes, prayers and yellow ribbons. Y'all hear about how libs strip money away from the military, because "we don't care" or whatever Fox News is saying, right? Meanwhile, here's Rep. Pat Fallon (R-TX) sitting on the House Armed Service Committee and using his position on the committee to make over 90 trades of stock, some in a major defense contractor, earning millions of dollars in the process.

Do you honestly believe that any conservative, let alone Trump, thinks you should even have the benefits of healthcare?

$725 billion annual military budget, but instead everything goes to the NSA, the CIA, the DHS, ICE...How many times were we lied to about help coming with regards to the VA? This is the best help we can give our veterans? Is this a joke? “You can count on us to serve, but we can’t count on the VA to make a deadline,” as one veteran said. No one steals from service members while lying through their teeth like these MAGA conservatives or Trump!

Let's not pretend he's an advocate for mental health, either; look no further than Ashli Babbitt. Talk about being used as a political prop! (Sadly, nearly 1 in 5 of those arrested for storming the US Capitol have served.) They only seem to like you when you're a martyr, it seems. But he's just pulling on your heart strings, making you feel like this is the next Pat Tillman.

Do you ever ask yourself why it always seems to always suddenly shift from "lives spent" to "lives wasted" whenever the other guy's in office?

Speaking of lives being used for political gain, how many of you enlisted after 9/11? Never forget how the GOP fought tooth and nail to not have to pay for 9/11 first responders medical treatments.

Bennington College published documents showing the US military ordered the clandestine burning of over 20m pounds of AFFF (Aqueous Film Forming Foam) and AFFF waste between 2016-2020, emitting these toxins into the air and onto nearby communities, farms, and waterways.

Is this the America that you signed up to fight for? Cuz if not, then vote like it.

Here's to hoping y'all read this and choose to make a difference again.

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Faintest known star system orbiting the Milky Way discovered

A team of astronomers led by the University of Victoria and Yale University has detected an ancient star system traveling around our galaxy named Ursa Major III / UNIONS 1 (UMa3/U1)—the faintest and lowest-mass Milky Way satellite ever discovered, and possibly one of the most dark matter-dominated systems known. The team conducted the study from Hawaiʻi using two Maunakea Observatories on Hawaiʻi Island—W. M. Keck Observatory and Canada-France-Hawaiʻi Telescope (CFHT)—as well as the University of Hawaiʻi Institute for Astronomy Pan-STARRS (Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System) on Haleakalā, Maui; the findings are published in a recent edition of The Astrophysical Journal.

"UMa3/U1 is located in the Ursa Major (Great Bear) constellation, home of the Big Dipper. It is in our cosmic backyard, relatively speaking, at about 30,000 light-years from the sun," says Simon Smith, an astronomy graduate student at the University of Victoria and lead author of the study. "UMa3/U1 had escaped detection until now due to its extremely low luminosity."

Observations reveal the stellar system is tiny, with only about 60 stars that are over 10 billion years old, spanning just 10 light-years across. UMa3/U1 has an extremely low mass—at 16 times the mass of the sun, it is 15 times less massive than the faintest suspected dwarf galaxy.

UMa3/U1 was first detected using data obtained from the Ultraviolet Near Infrared Optical Northern Survey (UNIONS) at CFHT and Pan-STARRS.

The team then studied the star system in finer detail using Keck Observatory's Deep Imaging Multi-Object Spectrograph (DEIMOS) and confirmed UMa3/U1 is a gravitationally-bound system, either a dwarf galaxy or a star cluster.

"There are so few stars in UMa3/U1 that one might reasonably question whether it's just a chance grouping of similar stars. Keck was critical in showing this is not the case," says co-author Marla Geha, professor of astronomy and physics at Yale University. "Our DEIMOS measurements clearly show all the stars are moving through space at very similar velocities and appear to share similar chemistries."

"Excitingly, a tentative spread in velocities among the stars in the system may support the conclusion that UMa3/U1 is a dark matter-dominated galaxy—a tantalizing possibility we hope to scrutinize with more Keck observations," says Yale University graduate student Will Cerny, the second author of the study.

How these stars have managed to stay a tight-knit group is remarkable. One possible explanation is that dark matter may be keeping them together.

"The object is so puny that its long-term survival is very surprising. One might have expected the harsh tidal forces from the Milky Way's disk to have ripped the system apart by now, leaving no observable remnant," says Cerny. "The fact that the system appears intact leads to two equally interesting possibilities. Either UMa3/U1 is a tiny galaxy stabilized by large amounts of dark matter, or it's a star cluster we've observed at a very special time before its imminent demise."

With the former scenario, achieving direct confirmation of UMa3/U1 as a faint, ancient, dark matter-dominated satellite star system would be an exciting feat because it would support a prediction in the leading theory for the universe's origin.

Under the Lambda Cold Dark Matter (LCDM) model, scientists hypothesize that when galaxies like the Milky Way first formed, they created a gravitational pull during their assembly process that attracted hundreds of satellite star systems that continue to orbit galaxies today.

A companion study on UMa3/U1's implications on the LCDM theory has been accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal and is available in preprint format on the arXiv server.

"Whether future observations confirm or reject that this system contains a large amount of dark matter, we're very excited by the possibility that this object could be the tip of the iceberg—that it could be the first example of a new class of extremely faint stellar systems that have eluded detection until now," says Cerny.

Conclusive evidence of the presence or lack of dark matter in UMa3/U1 is key to determining whether the star system is a dwarf galaxy or a star cluster. Until its classification becomes clear, Ursa Major III / UNIONS 1 has two names. Ultra-faint Milky Way satellites are typically named after the constellation they are discovered in (in this case, Ursa Major), whereas ultra-faint star clusters are generally named after the survey project they were discovered in (UNIONS).

While this star system's identity is still ambiguous, UMa3/U1 paves the way for new perspectives in cosmology.

"This discovery may challenge our understanding of galaxy formation and perhaps even the definition of a 'galaxy'," says Smith.

IMAGE....Hidden in this deep sky image (left) is Uma3/U1, a minuscule group of stars (right) bound together by their own gravity (and possibly even dark matter!) in orbit around the Milky Way. Credit: CFHT/S. Gwyn (right) / S. Smith (left). The Astrophysical Journal (2024). DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ad0d9f

[livinginshambles]

Preview: I thought you'd be different | James Potter

Pairing: James Potter x Fem!Slytherin!Reader

Summary: A Cinderella Story, but Hogwarts. (Enemies? to lovers)

Notes: Sorry I've been mia; i wrote this today, it's all I have so the full fic will probably take a while, not proofread, mistakes blah blah, enjoy!

PS. I am currently no longer making a taglist because I can't keep up with it, I'm really sorry!

Masterlist. Taglist

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You could still remember the moment vividly, as if it was engraved in your memory.

That moment when the sorting hat placed you in Slytherin instead of Gryffindor like your two older sisters had been sorted. You could still see the look of surprise, concern, horror and then eventually disgust, every time you closed your eyes.

“Now we finally know your true colors,” is what you sister Alyssa had hissed coldly at you. You had pleadingly looked at your other sister, but Marla had supported her twin sister, disregarding the confused and scared look in your eleven-year-old eyes.

“Don’t talk to us, don’t look at us and don’t mention us at all,” she sneered down at you and for a moment you wondered how she hadn’t been the one to be sorted into Slytherin instead. But you had cast your eyes down and agreed.

But years passed and you had become the very stereotype of a Slytherin student, completely leaning into the cold, distant, quiet but calculating persona that your sisters had created for you. Might as well, you figured after your parent’s dismay at the revelation of your house.

You were making your way down the corridor, long strides as you passed your sisters while looking them straight in the eye. They grimaced at the sight of you, but without their entire group of classmates, they didn’t dare make any comments.

A feeling of victory erupted inside of you, and you couldn’t help the small smirk that crept up your face.

“What poor soul suffered for you to look so satisfied?” You turned your head to look at the person who called out to you. James Potter and Sirius Black were both leaning against a statue in the open yard.

“Did you get rid of Regulus or something?” Sirius taunted. “Finally had enough of him following you around, did you L/N?”

“Go die in a ditch, Sirius,” you retorted with an eyeroll, but seemed unphased.

“Why so much hostility,” James unpleasantly remarked, and you halted in your step.

To be petty or not to be petty, you sighed and rolled your eyes.

“10 points from Gryffindor for loitering,” you decided.

The two marauders started to protest.

“If you have nothing to do, other than insulting students, I would love to recommend you to Professor McGonagall for detention. Heard she was still looking for the person who made all the pumpkins explode last week during Halloween, and you guys are terrible at getting rid of the evidence.” It effectively shut them up, and with a last glance up and down, you continued your way towards the room of requirement.

When you entered the sober room with a sigh, you noticed the small scrolled up piece of parchment in the middle of the room. You frowned. This was your space. The room didn’t open this space for anyone else, you made it specifically as a safe haven.

You cautiously approached the parchment and rolled it open to reveal nothing. It was completely blank. You shrugged. If the room left this here, it was meant for you, and so you took a seat and started drawing on it.

James sat in an empty room, his invisibility cloak hiding him from plain sight as he pulled the now folded paper from his back pocket. He inspected it closely, almost pressing the paper to his glasses in a curious manner.

He had gone to the Room of Requirements earlier that day and found a piece of paper floating in the air. Of course, levitating stuff wasn't that strange, but it had intrigued him nonetheless.

James unfolded the paper, and his eyebrows flew up. Lines were appearing on the paper by itself, and a beautiful portrait of a weeping willow with a girl who was crying on a bench under the tree, appeared.

James fumbled to find his quill and ink. Then he started to write something on it, in a handwriting that he only ever used for written exams.

(Credits to Professor McGonagall who had announced that she would not be grading anything she couldn’t read. And she had looked over her glasses at him while she said it.)

It’s beautiful.

You dropped the parchment at the words that formed right under your drawing. You traced it with your fingers. Then you decided to write back.

Full fic