#I was taking a quiz and saw that on one of the options and now im thinking

[predestinatos]

too cold | MV1 ⋆꙳❅ ‧*❆ ₊⋆

pairing: max verstappen x female!reader

summary: stormy weather leads to stormy thoughts about a years long friendship.

tags: best friends to lovers, soo cheesy, fluff, giddy max, super whipped for reader!!, wearing his sweater, just so much softness!

author's note: i dreamt about max for some reason and he's been living in my head rent free so... i had to let this out!! hope you like it. it's a short cute thing so..!

word count: 3.5k

warnings: -

It was cold and stormy that day. You had expected it, the forecasts all telling you the same thing, your hair completely tangled in itself as soon as you stepped out of the house into the car.

You planned it all, including getting there earlier, so you could spend as much time with Max as possible – you never skipped the pleasant silence of his presence at least once a week. What you hadn’t planned was for you two to get carried away with taking buzzfeed quizzes and personality tests to the point where it was dark outside, the storm more aggressive, more threatening, and more dangerous.

“Shit,” you muttered when the wind outside made the windows tremble with extreme force, their sound almost like a warning voice in the night. “How am I going home like this?” you asked yourself out loud, desperate and scared, as Max completed yet another ‘What’s Your Mental Age Based on Your Choice of Cutlery’ quiz. He glanced outside nonchalantly, almost carelessly, as if the question was ridiculously easy to answer, close to ironic.

Before going back to the seriousness of the questions at hand, he shrugged, shoulders going up and down in explicit tranquility. “You can stay over” he stated, his finger hovering over a weirdly shaped spoon that said ‘shit stirrer’ on its surface. You let out a breath that indicated his joke was funny yet not useful in the slightest given your current dilemma, to which he looked at you and laughed back, assuming you were amused at the choice of teaspoon he had just made.  “Max, I’m serious” you voiced your urgency and fear with those words. “Me too” he continued, eyes glued on the screen, yet slightly confused at your own comment.

At your audible sigh and attempt to get up from his bed, where you comfortably laid scrolling through your phone for options, he turned around from his chair which was facing the screen. “You’re not leaving” he said, in a concerned tone of a friend who refused to let you be consumed by the rapidly increasing rain. “I don’t understand what the matter is” he continued as he saw you searching through his room for your things, messily scattered on the floor, reminiscent of childhood times spent together.

You merely looked at him in response, the answer obvious to you but seemingly not to him, only hitting him hard in the face as a joke he couldn’t help but laugh at seconds later. “You always slept here” he said, astonished at your reluctance and apparent timidness. “Yeah, Max. When we were 11” you protested, tucking some hair behind your ear as you looked for your charger. “Plus, I don’t have a pajama, or spare underwear” your arms now crossed across your chest, mimicking his own, a baffled smile on his lips.

“You can wear one of my sweaters. And like, my boxers, or something” this made your mouth drop in ridiculous surprise, a fear in your eyes which he didn’t understand. “I’m serious! It’s better than you going out with this storm!” his arm pointed towards the window, the view outside a paid actor because a lightning appeared violently before both of you. With a winning grin, he finished his argument with a “C’mon I’ll let you choose the outfit.”

Opening the drawers, you let yourself take a look at the collection of multicolored sweaters organized neatly. Your eyes landed on a grey one, which looked a bit worn out but comfortable at the same time, its marks of usage being a testament to its quality. You grabbed it and noticed that it smelled like Max, like the years of friendship you two shared. “The boxers are in the other drawer” Max interrupted your thoughts, yet his indifferent air made you less awkward about this situation, almost like it was normal that this was happening, like you were both 10 again, popcorn being prepared in the small kitchen next door.

You let yourself randomly choose some of his underwear, trying your best not to look too much at it, knowing little to nothing about how to even begin choosing such a thing for yourself. The strong wind whistled outside, and Max’s fingers hit the keyboard, creating a soothing lullaby.

“I’m- uh-… going then” you said, making your way towards the bathroom as he happily nodded, the familiarity of the house being a known fact for both of you.

The truth was, Max missed you. A lot. He missed hanging out with you all night, watching really bad films and playing silly videogames, drinking some beers and enjoying yourselves. Lately, he hadn’t had the time to do all these things, let alone doing them with you, and even though he did not plan this storm in the slightest, he was glad for it. The rain came as a reminder that you two had a year long friendship you could still enjoy, the sound blending with the one coming from the bathroom as you turned on the shower.

Sleeping over only got weird given the fact that Max was a boy and you were a girl, but it shouldn’t have been like that. In his mind, nothing changed, and nothing should have to change – he still wanted you as close as he did when you two watched scary video compilations on youtube and spent all night hiding under the covers and whispering in an attempt to not ‘awake the big monster’.

He still wanted to spend time with you when you were 16 and started talking about how cute his friends were, asking him if they were single or not as you put a lollipop in your mouth and painted your nails in colorful amusement.

He still wanted you to sleep over even when his girlfriends told him they didn’t quite like the fact that he was so close with you, that he seemed to want to be with you more than with them, that he dropped everything as soon as you texted him a slightly unusual text.

And it was normal, and alright, because you were best friends, because you knew each other better than your own selves, because you’d recognize his laugh in the middle of a crowd even with noise cancelling headphones, and he would recognize the smile you made when you were flustered even if he was blindfolded.

It was also normal for him to smile to himself and feel the happiest he has felt in a while, because he missed you, and you were staying over and nothing would have felt better than knowing he had a night full of your presence.

Meanwhile, you stood in his all-too familiar shower, accepting the fact that he had no conditioner, and a shampoo would have to do for the night. Simultaneously, this made you reflect on the clear fact that he had probably had no stable, consistent, female presence in his life in a while. As the liquid dropped in your hand and you brought your hands to your hair, thoughts about previous relationships of his flooded your mind.

They never ended well, and the guilt you felt because of it was ever present. Max was the best friend you could’ve asked for, because he always picked you, no matter what. In fact, he gave it no thought nor justification, not to you or his previous relationships. He accepted the fact that you were his priority as a given, something so natural as breathing, as blood pumping through his veins. You couldn’t deny you did the same. Previous partners of yours weren’t too fond of his constant need to assess and approve of them, of how he was your emergency contact whenever anything happened, how you made sure you spent time with him at least once a week.

Feeling the foam forming on your scalp, you remembered the times where you two bathed together, the innocence of gone times flying through your head with fondness. Of course, you two grew, and while you never broke the bond that formed between you, it was also harder to continue certain traditions you maintained.

Your teenage years were filled with angst and some bickering over how uncomfortable he made your dates, or how all he did was talk about girls when you two were together. You used each other as diaries and confidantes, keeping secrets in a closed vault made of memories. Nothing really had changed besides your ages, and none of you were dating, or at least it did not seem like it.

As you washed your body with lavender scented soap, you realized this is what you were missing – the comfortability of being the most like yourself you could possibly be, alongside him.

Max stared at the “You Are 14 Years Old!” result on his computer, reading the in depth description on how that one fork gave his age away, when he heard your shout for his name coming from the now foggy bathroom, the place now looking more like Silent Hill or a liminal space. Removing one side of his headphones off, his voice echoed throughout the apartment “Yes?”, filled with softness and worry, a completely unknown care for you which wasn’t displayed by anyone else but him. Smiling to yourself, you replied, “do you seriously only own one bath towel?”

Removing both of his headphones off now, with realization hitting him and he jumped from his seat, he ran towards the drawer that possessed all the other towels he stored in organized fashion. “Shit! No! Sorry! I’m on my way!” he said urgently, grabbing one as he ran towards the bathroom, opening its door and popping only one arm in, his eyes facing the wall but also closed with affirming need to reassure you that he wasn’t looking, refused to look, would never even consider to do such a thing.

You pulled the fabric off his hand as you thanked him with a soft giggle, his previous nonchalant attitude vanishing upon the thought of seeing you naked – which you weren’t, and he would’ve realized this had he considered the fact that the bathroom possessed ONE towel, currently wrapped around your now wet body. Shivering with cold, you got yourself dry as fast as you could, while Max sat back down in his chair, cursing to himself at his clumsiness and lack of thought.

Examining yourself in the mirror as dried your hair off (after several minutes of looking for the hairdryer, not wanting to put Max through the whole ordeal of performing the biggest demonstration of respect towards one’s privacy ever witnessed) you noticed something you hadn’t before. This simple, yet incriminating item put into question your previous thoughts about Max’s lack of companionship in his home, your eyebrows furrowed and your mouth turning downwards at the thought that he was hiding something from you.

On the tiny little cup sitting on the sink, there were two toothbrushes. They were carefully put together in a magical arrangement of colors that indicated that one had to be able to tell them apart, like each had its own owner. Suddenly, the whole idea of sleeping over – hell, of wearing Max’s clothes – seemed ridiculously selfish. You had done it before, but you were adults now, and with adulthood came a sense of responsibility and respect that hit you in the face like a slap, the simple idea of an innocent sleepover with your best friend sounding absolutely childish and ridiculous.

“Max?” you called out again, a deep breath escaping your lungs as you sat down on the toilet seat, hair still slightly damp, towel still wrapped around your body upon your refusal to put his clothes on. “Yes?” he replied once again, a feeling of déjà vu invading your thoughts, a repetition of mere seconds before yet with rose tinted glasses off.

 “I think it’s best if I just go home,” you muttered, even though you hadn’t moved. Realistically, the idea of going out there terrified you, but perhaps not as much as staying over, given the current situation. Putting your underwear back on after showering felt dirty, but perhaps wearing his clean one after noticing another one’s presence in his room, his life, his thoughts, made you feel even dirtier.

“Come on, I bet your outfit looks amazing” he said jokingly, assuming you were embarrassed about your current look, trying to lighten up the mood with teasing reassurance. Getting up once again, he stood near the bathroom door, head close to it as if trying to listen to the fabric against your skin, some hint of your own amused presence. All he heard was silence, one so unbelievably loud he felt something off, something wrong. “Can I come in?” he asked, his voice now more careful, more tender, and more concerned.

You only murmured in allowance, and noticed the doorknob turn as he stepped inside. “What’s up?” he asked, his eyes revealing deep concern with slight embarrassment over the painting you two were probably creating. Him, pajama pants and hoodie on, glasses now slightly foggy; you, with droplets falling down your hair as you looked down, hugging the towel tightly against your body. “I don’t want to cause any trouble” you said as you unconsciously looked back at the toothbrushes which now seemed to stare at you both accusingly, judgingly.

“Why would you- Oh,” he interrupted himself, his gaze following yours towards the same spot, his look going from confused to serious to utterly humored. “This?” he asked again, grabbing the small toothbrush from the cup, its cable a pretty yellow shade. “What’s your favorite color again?” he continued, waving the object in front of your face as you stared at it in confusion.

Looking up, you replied simply “yellow- oh,” it was your turn to interrupt yourself, now realizing how you had almost forgotten your childhood promise, yet surprised as well at the fact that he had kept it after all these years, the innocence of the act causing your heart to hurt slightly.

“It’s always been here. I mean, not the same one, obviously, but… a spare toothbrush” he explained, even though he did not have to, his hand playfully messing your hair before he headed bac towards the door. “Get dressed, silly. We have films to watch” his warm voice instructed you with tenderness before he closed the door behind him.

Stepping out of the bathroom, finally dry and dressed, you forced Max to close his eyes before looking at you. “Don’t make fun of me or I’ll leave” you threatened jokingly, as his eyes remained tightly shut with his hands in front of them dramatically. “I won’t I promise!” he claimed, yet he was already laughing, the sound of it reminding you of the years of togetherness you both shared.

“Okay, you can look” you finally gave your permission, as he took his hands off his face and blinked fast, the lights suddenly blinding him. At first, he just stared at you, expression absolutely unreadable. Then, he burst into laughter, apologizing as his giggles filled the bedroom. “I look ridiculous” you complained, the long sleeves covering your hands and flopping lazily as you did so. “No you look adorable!” he tried to protest, laughter insistent on making its way through his lips, his eyes shining with happy tears. “Adorably ridiculous” you continued, rolling your eyes and throwing yourself on the bed defeatedly, your head buried in his pillow, filled with the scent of him.

Knowing your mood would change soon, Max merely smiled to himself as he started putting a film on, the choice being the Twilight saga – easy to watch, entertaining, fun, and he could tease you about it constantly, pretending he didn’t enjoy it himself. Bags of jellybeans hit your head as he threw them towards you, in an attempt to wake you from your moody attitude. “C’mon grumpy I have beer” he poked you as he sat on the bed as well, pressing play and opening a bag which he waved in front of your face as you got up lazily.

“’I know what you are’ ‘Say it. Out loud. Say it!’ ‘Vampire’” you said the lines along with the film, echoing each and every intonation and expression. Popping a bear shaped jellybean in his mouth as he took another sip of his beer, Max interrupted your acting session by saying “can you imagine how awkward it would be if it was something else entirely and he would just be like… ‘uh no’” and laughing to himself. Your arm flew to his as you punched it angrily, despite the fact that you were giggling to yourself.

Something about getting you slightly on your nerves while also making you smile made Max feel almost at home, in a safe space without comparison, only available to him when you were around. He felt himself in a constant state of meditation whenever he was around you, his breathing naturally adjusting itself to match yours.

Instinctively, and not out of the ordinary for any of you, he grabbed your hand and played with it softly, his fingers feeling the soft texture of your skin and pinching it with playful tenderness. You never questioned it, and neither did he, this need you two had to display affection more than most friends did, the need to always be in some sort of contact with each other, to feel each other’s warmth and presence closely. Without taking his eyes off of the film, seemingly very intensely focused on Edward’s skin of a killer, he spoke up. “You don’t look ridiculous,” he said, as you held your gaze on the film, yet laughing at his comment, expecting a joke to be made about how what’s on the screen is way more embarrassing than you in his underwear. Yet he said something completely different. “You always look pretty. Very pretty” his voice was soft as he now looked at you, and you felt his gaze on your skin, your cheeks, your eyelashes, yet refused to look at him and face whatever was happening in that night.

The windows rattled once again, breaking the momentary spell that hovered in the room, hypnotizing both of you with the haze of uncertain feelings. You heard his breathing as well, heavy and nervous now, his heart racing and yours matching his, maybe because you were so deeply connected or maybe because your feelings and his were now the same shade of complexity.

 You wondered if this is why you had stopped sleep overs together. Perhaps it was the fear of facing the fact that things were not as simple and easy to brush off when the clock hit 3am and his hand was on his and your head on his shoulder and you had no intention of moving. And he shared these same thoughts, realizing how that letting go of you right now would probably be the worst thing that could happen, the scariest thought that could possibly cross his mind.

All this happened in fractions of second, too short for any of you to truly acknowledge what was happening, his voice interrupting both of your thoughts as he spoke once again, “obviously not as pretty as Edward Cullen but-“ to which you rolled your eyes and laughed. “I bet he’d look better in your sweatshirt” you said, another sip of beer falling on your lips.

“Impossible” he replied, a smile on his lips, his eyes finally meeting yours and then taking your whole appearance in, your cheeks blushing shyly at how attentively he looked at you, at how his gaze seemed so tender and soft. A sudden urgency to feel his lips on yours filled your thoughts with sheer intensity that terrified you. You hadn’t seen Max that way, hadn’t considered it nor question it before, not even when your dates and boyfriends accused you of things, not when your friends commented on how you looked at him. Yet in that exact moment, something shifted completely, perhaps stirred by the storm outside, perhaps because it simply felt right in that moment to feel wrong.

“Can I kiss you?” he suddenly asked. The innocence of the question made you giggle, the contrast between his soft and careful voice and his adult look with a week old stubble making you giddy and timid as you nodded.

His lips touched yours with caution, yet with undeniable fondness that made you question why this hadn’t happened before. You felt his smile in between the kiss, the satisfaction of finally breaking this unknown wall that had existed between you for so long, and which you remained so unaware about.

Pulling away, Max’s eyes stared into yours before moving to the screen, a satisfied smile on his now slightly redder than usual lips, your own face mimicking his. “Edward Cullen could never kiss as well as you” he whispered, earning himself another soft punch, followed by 3 more films worth of kissing.

[twilghtkoo]

ride: first date [part one] jjk

“you nervous?” “yeah.”

summary. you’re first date with jungkook and he’s picking you up on his motorcycle

pairings. biker!jungkook x reader (f)

genres/au. fluff, strangers to lovers, friends to lovers, college au

warnings. flirty jungkook, oc and jk touch each other (not sexual), poor attempt at motorcycle knowledge (my fault) T__T, if i missed anything pls lmk!!

word count. 1.6k

notes. first part!! and the beginning of a new series but with jungkook o.o i rly liked this one hehe, pls like and reblog if u enjoyed this !! also did y’all see jungkook’s promotion schedule photo bc W T F

[ series masterpost | masterlist | taglist ]

—

you’re the girl he’s had a crush on since he saw you for the first time in the library on campus. you were wearing grey sweatpants and a random hoodie with your hair tied up in a low ponytail, your glasses framing your face in the most prettiest way. you were frantically typing and writing stuff down on your laptop, and when he had walked over to take a seat next to you— after the pep talk he had with himself— your notes still looked neat and colorful despite your distressed scribbling.

after he had the courage to tap you on the shoulder and start a conversation, you’ve both quickly became friends. it was surprising to see how well you both bonded together. and you’re not usually someone who makes friends so easily, it having to do with your shyness and social anxiety. but jungkook had a charm and such an easy-going personality that drew you in.

you’ve mostly hung out on campus, both of your schedules not aligning in your favors due to exam season. so your hangouts were located in the library most of the time. opting to studying together and just being satisfied basking in each others presence.

around the tenth hangout, jungkook asked you out on a date. you were working on a quiz and he was writing an essay when he slid a piece of paper over to you before he went back to typing on his laptop.

will you go out on a date with me this saturday?

check ☐ yes or ☐ yes :)

you would’ve said yes even if he gave you a ‘no’ option.

-

a couple days later, before the weekend, he had walked you to the campus’s bus stop and waited with you. you had an evening class and it ended around eight, the blue sky now turning a shade darker as the minutes pass and it made you frown.

“how do you get home? you said you park in parking garage b and that’s across campus. you didn’t have to walk me here, although i really appreciate it.” you said, worried. from the eyes of others, jungkook looks tough, if his tattoos, piercings, fit figure had anything to go by. but you cared about him and it’s natural for you to be worried. anything could happen.

your concerns make him grin, he shoves his hands into the front pockets of his jeans.

“i’m okay, promise. and i ride my bike to get places.” he assures you.

you tilt your head, staring at him with curious eyes. “like a motorcycle?”

he nods, holding his small grin when he watches your eyes grow bigger.

you gasp, “really? you own a motorcycle?”

“yup, she’s my baby. got her when i turned 20. she’s precious to me.” he tells you before leaning down next to your ear. “but don’t worry you’re more precious.”

you didn’t have time to respond because your transportation pulls up and jungkook grabs your hand to walk you to the entrance of the bus.

-

jungkook arrived at your place a bit early but he couldn’t help it. he was excited. he had texted you he was here but told you not to rush.

he’s has never been this nervous in his life since having to tell his mom he wanted to major in computer science and not med school like she wanted. he’s nervous because he’s going on a date with you.

and you’re in your bedroom trying to gather your necessities into your shoulder bag, deciding to take a peek through your window that shows the front of your building and you’re able to see jungkook next to his bike.

he’s not sure how to stand when you walk out your door. should he lean against his bike with his arms crossed? he almost decided to just sit on it but why if he’s going to get off anyways to greet you. should he pretend he’s on his phone until he sees you?

“kook!”

he is shaken out of his internal turmoil when he spots you lightly jogging up to him, a radiant smile lighting up your entire face with warmth and joy.

“sorry, did i make you wait?” she brushes a few strands of hair out of her face, peering up at him with guilt and curiosity with the shiny black bike next to him.

he quickly shakes his head. “no, i wasn’t waiting long. don’t worry.” he assured you.

“you look pretty.” jungkook compliments you, scanning your features with the same grin he had when he had asked you out on a date.

you blush, “thank you, you too. i mean, you look really really handsome.”

his eyes crinkled at the edges and the corners of his lips turned upwards. his lip piercings shining and glaring from the sunlight, almost blinding you.

he notices you staring at his bike with interest.

“you nervous?”

“yeah.” you admit, sheepishly smiling.

you watch as jungkook unzips his leather jacket and sliding it off before he makes his way to you. he helps you slide off your bag before helping you slide your arms in the sleeves. his smell and the soft scent of his cologne makes you feel giddy inside and makes your heart hammer.

“i’ll ride slow, i have precious cargo today.” he responds, zipping the jacket up and grabbing all your hair from out the jacket. an action that makes your heart beat louder out of your chest.

you slide your bag back over your head to rest on your shoulder as you watch jungkook grab the helmet that rested on the back of his bike.

“did the bike come with an extra helmet?” you question, genuinely curious.

he’s careful to not mess up your hair as he slides the helmet over your head, and strapping it on.

he hums before he responds. “no, i bought it yesterday.” he tightens a strap, then asking if it was too tight, you said no.

“you bought it for me?”

“i told you, i have precious cargo. can’t have nothing happen to you.” he finishes making sure your helmet was secured, lightly patting the top of it before he slid his on.

watching jungkook do his thing and putting on his gloves was kind of hot…okay, really hot.

jungkook gets on first, kicking the kick stand off the ground and holds out his gloved hand for you to take. giving your hand a squeeze as he notices your small steps before you climb on behind him. instantly wrapping your arms around his tiny waist, when you tightened your grasp you were able to feel the sculpted muscles underneath his t-shirt. only making you intrigued on what’s hiding beneath the thin cotton fabric.

“hold on to me okay, squeeze me if anything.” he tells you softly, but you know he’s serious.

-

the sound of his motorcycle coming to life was like a breath of fresh air. in fact, his frequent gentle touches at stop lights were everything calming and you appreciated it.

the light just turned red and jungkook slows down to a stop. your knees rested against his hips as your arms circled his waist, both your hands linked together. he frees his hands from the handle bars to rest on your hands, giving them a squeeze.

and god, you’re very thankful for this helmet that’s hiding your red face and your embarrassingly huge smile.

his hands then roam to your knees then down your shins, patting a rhythm and then running over your denim covered leg soothingly.

is he doing this to make you go crazy? cause it’s working.

you’re not sure if it was the coffee you had this morning or his touches that boosted this sudden confidence but your hands loosened around his hips and gripped them. squeezing where his bare skin ends and you feel the hem of his black jeans.

jungkook places a hand over yours, not letting your hands move anywhere else. he wants yours to stay where it’s at for the moment.

he tilts his head back. “you doing okay?”

you nod, “yeah, you’re a safe driver. five stars.” you joke.

he chuckles at that and the light turns green.

-

he took you to a dog cafe. not just any dog cafe, but a corgi cafe. you didn’t even know this cafe existed. oh but through the big window in the front of the building, seeing the few corgis you could see, you wanted to burst with excitement.

“you like corgis?” he asks, pointing to the pen that’s in your hand with an acrylic artwork of a corgi at the end. you had bought it at a stationery store a few weeks ago.

your lips curve upward into a small but genuine smile. “yeah, they’re my favorite dogs.”

he smiles with you, mentally storing that information into his brain.

“you haven’t been here before have you?” he asks nervously, helping you off the bike and unstrapping your helmet. he helps you fix your hair and brushes back a few strands.

you shake your head. “no, i didn’t even know a corgi cafe existed here.”

“good, i was worried you’ve already been here.” he holds his hand out for you to take, in which you did.

you’re swaying on your feet unconsciously, switching gazes from the nervous boy and the sight of a freaking corgi cafe in front of you.

but jungkook notices you.

he hums out, “come on pretty, don’t wanna keep you out too late.”

[morlock-holmes]

Notice in the post below that the only named task that the OP struggled with is homework?

Now, people diagnosed with ADHD or similar disorders often do struggle with tasks that we might actually want to do, but almost always, the diagnosis is linked in everyone's mind to an inability to do homework.

But homework is fucking bullshit.

I really think it's absurd to ignore that fact when talking about how you complete tasks.

"Gosh, my kid seems to have a lot of trouble focusing on dull make-work which I force him to do for two hours every single day, why could this be?"

I spent literally as little time in school as I could and still graduate. As in, by my junior or senior year the principal sat me down and said, "If you skip anymore school we aren't going to be able to graduate you from High School."

And yet... When I bothered to go, I got good grades. I did generally quite well on tests and did eventually graduate. I'm quite proud of that as an act of self-mastery but it does raise the question:

Why was so much energy spent on trying to get me to go to school for all that time when I was demonstrably able to get the benefits with literal years less work than they wanted me to put in?

Why was so much time spent trying to devote those years to schoolwork when it simply wasn't necessary for me to learn?

Homework is a microcosm of that whole question. I always wanted to know,

"So, if I can skip 60% of the homework and still get an "A" on the test, why do you try to force me to do it?"

And to this day I have never gotten a good answer.

So: I saw no value in most of my homework and that hasn't changed to this day.

So, here's a pop quiz for the people wondering why their kids with diagnoses don't do their homework no matter what planning and techniques adults supply them with:

What would your kid have to do to spend less of their valuable time on homework?

"Well, if they just knuckled down and got it done..."

BZZT! WRONG! You get a "D-" on this test and I really hope you apply yourself more to the next one, you have so much potential...

If they "forget about it" then they have to do even less.

Now, of course that means that your kid is in a state of constant stress from avoidance. They are thinking, "Man, I'm going to get in so much trouble for not doing this, but I just can't seem to force myself to do it, and anyway I don't fucking want to."

You think that they'd be better off spending two stressful hours on their homework and then being able to relax the rest of the time. They feel like they'll be happier not doing it at all and feeling a vague undercurrent of stress as they go about their leisure time.

What's the third option if they want to spend less time on homework?

Oh, nothing? Is it nothing whatsoever until they graduate from school?

This is infuriatingly counter-productive. We spend literal years teaching ADHD kids that avoidance and procrastination are the only ways to exert control over their lives in the face of unpleasant situations imposed from outside.

Now, in point of fact this is absolutely not the case for adult life, which offers a plethora of ways to reduce pointless make-work imposed on you by outside authorities and, in any case, rarely bothers to impose two hours per day of unpaid, unrewarding make-work on people anyway.

How much of the difficulty ADHD people have with cleaning the toilet or whatever is because psychologically, they still think of it as homework? Cleaning the toilet is not homework; it rewards you with a clean toilet at the end and it's entirely possible to defer it, or hire someone else to do it, or find shortcuts. But if the major psychological task of your childhood is homework, maybe it might take quite a long time to think that there could even be anything aside from homework?

[twincovesgame]

Hi again! Sorry to put in another Ask so soon after the other one, but i just saw your post about how Romance in Twin Coves will work. I LOVE how you're doing it and am excited to play it even more! But now it's left me with some questions. 1st is if there will be a point in the game where we can kinda see who fancies us before deciding? 2nd, when/ if you remake the quiz, will you be making it with these likes and dislikes in mind? So maybe someone can take the quiz to see who to go for first?

For some ROs, I think it’ll be obvious lol. For others there is a point halfway where you’ll see who’s into the MC and you can choose from that who to pursue. If they’re not an option… try making different choices and see what happens! Or peek at the walkthrough 👀.

The quiz was along the lines of compatibility, but it was so long ago things for the ROs have definitely changed. I’ll try to make an updated version soon!

And never apologize for asks! 💙

[opeothalmologist]

I Figured Out Who My Fear Entity Patron Is! (with internet quizzes)

This post contains spoilers for MAG 111 (in Season 3), as well as references to characters in Season 4.

Statement of a certain 'opeothalmologist,' regarding the mystery of a possible marking by an... entity.

Statement found on a blogpost on tumblr.com by the subject, April 26, 2024. Recorded by ●●●●●, member of the Magnus Institute, London.

What if you were marked by one of the fears? How, and by which entity?

I did. Everyone who listens to TMA probably has at some point. So I took a few quizzes and saw what I got.

1: Which Magnus Archives Entity Would You Align With?

on uquiz, made by kat49

Result: The Eye

My thoughts: Interesting. A thing this and most of the other quizzes do is ask about choices such as preferences (especially hobbies and aesthetics) or worldviews. Cool. And The Eye does fit me and my own fears well.

2: Which entity would be your patron? (The Magnus Archives)

on uquiz, made by gliitch

Result: The Desolation

My thoughts: The Desolation could fit me. But would I want to serve it for a long period of time? ...No. But a fun quiz nonetheless.

3: Which Magnus Archives Entity are You?

on quotev, made by Mazebent

Result: The Web

My thoughts: The Web, alongside The Dark and The Vast (neither of which I got, spoiler alert) was one of my top entities to be an avatar for, so I'm happy I got it. A wonderful (and very long, 91 questions) quiz.

4: Which Entity Has Marked You?

on uquiz, made by kitmoone

Result: The Lonely

My thoughts: Sounds like a painful marking to go through, and serving the same path as Peter Lukas is a big no for me. Still, this quiz had a unique approach with images rather than text choices. Cool.

5: Which TMA Entity Would You Serve?

on quotev, made by Waterlily (2023)

Result: The Spiral

My thoughts: The description literally is Congratulations! Or perhaps condolences... Are you a real estate agent, by chance?. Love the writing. Maybe I'll stay away from doors, or Helens, or Michaels, for now...

6: Which TMA fear entity should you serve?

on quotev, made by Jace (2020)

Result: The Web

My thoughts: Huh. Maybe I will become an avatar of The Web sometime, I thought. Then another repeat came:

7: Which TMA fear entity should you serve?

on quotev, made by BrittishAnarchy (2023)

Result: The Eye

Note: This quiz contains a major spoiler about Elias Bouchard. Take care! (and bring that eye man my worst wishes. I was spoiled of that plot twist myself, long ago lol)

My thoughts: Two repeats. Well, if I do end up as an avatar of The Eye, I can compete with Elias and learn new information immediately. Sounds good! (With a lot of caveats—but still good!)

Thank you for reading this journey through the TMA world with me! If you like Gerry Keay posts and occasional TMA thoughts, consider following (completely optional)!

Statement ends. The statement giver was easy to follow up with, as her Tumblr blog is still active. She did not say anything about the strange images from 4 through 6, or of the green- and red-highlighted words…

Only that she was “lucky she lives in a world where the 'fear entities' do not exist.”

Then why is this a statement in the archive?

[my-castles-crumbling]

Hi Cas, congrats on the new job!

If you are still taking advice for teaching ESL to middle schoolers, as someone who has been in multiple ESL with a lot of different teachers I think I can give some advice(?)

I know you won’t, but I had multiple teachers, purposely or not really talk down to us. Especially at the start of the year. I had one really baby-talk to us and kept using 3rd person about herself when speaking and It really made all dislike her tbh.

take use of the fact that it’s ESL. Usually in an ESL class there are people from a lot of different cultures and it’s great to make use of it , without exaggerating.

let them it eat when you can. Sometimes you forget to eat, spent your lunch in a library and didn’t get a chance, or just hang out with friends and kinda missed it. I’m not saying don’t limit it, but it is really helpful and probably put you on the students’ good side.

Middle schoolers are tbh, mostly shit. More specifically to each other. If you see 2 students who specifically do not get along, don’t have anything in common and both got respective friendship circles, don’t push it too much. I was once sat next to a boy who I deliberately ignored bc prior very uncomfortable events I will obviously not get into, she was aware of and I was stuck in these situations for a month until one of my friends told the teacher bc I felt too uncomfortable. It is a rather common experience.

leave room for options when you can, even if they are illusion. It leaves some space for free expression. English is a good subject bc even once in a blue moon you can make them write about something that they are passionate about

do a ‘take no shit, do no harm ‘ vibes. Be honest and real, someone they can really respect and not take for granted. If you only do this one, you’re honestly good

honestly, I’m sure You’ll do amazing. You are a great person and you like what you do, students can feel and respect that.

and if all goes to south, I saw a post about a teacher who made all her student take a hp sorting quiz and used that lol.

you’ll do amazing, good luck!

Thank you so much for all the advice, I appreciate it so much! I feel like everyone is telling me to let the kids eat- it makes me concerned for the schools you all have been in.

Also, I am now sorely tempted to make my students take a sorting quiz. But I don't want to be cringe lol.

[wyntereyez]

Here we go, Part One of my scream into the void. Here I'm going to talk about my mother

Some of you may remember my posts about how two birthdays went by without her saying anything, and how when she did finally bother to text a month after that second birthday, there was no acknowledgement of my birthday or her silence, and how I agonized over whether I should respond (and eventually chose not to.)

I don't regret this.

My mom left our family when I was thirteen. Before then, I was a 'mama's girl,' though damned if I know why. Probably because she was the parent I saw more, I guess.

I want to say those first thirteen years weren't awful. But there are things I remember that stick with me that weren't good.

She wasn't much of a cook. So I grew up on frozen, processed food, and shockingly, my health reflected that. And, oh, did she make me feel like shit about my weight. She constantly bemoaned how hard it was to buy things for me because my waist was so big and I was so short (this was, btw, before a growth spurt). She refused to buy jeans for me because she couldn't find any that fit my proportions. It was fucking YEARS before I finally bought my first pair of jeans as an adult because I knew I was too fat for them. So all through school, I wore stretch pants, and was constantly made fun of for them.

Then there's my hair. She didn't care to do anything with my hair. She convinced me I wanted it long, then never maintained it, just put it in a ponytail, which did me no favors. My hair was seldom cut because it stopped growing past a certain length, and was always limp and stringy and oily. There was one time - ONE - where she did something with my hair - she got me a perm when I was eleven. It was an awful experience, and taking care of it was miserable and I hated those picks needed to constantly smooth out the perpetual tangles. It made me hate doing anything with my hair.

It should not have taken over twenty years for me to realize I had curly hair that was actually really nice and easy to care for when anyone bothered.

My mom taught me that I was fat and ugly and there was nothing I could do about it.

Then she left us. She got a job where she worked third shift, and slept pretty much all day and ignored us. The only time we really saw her was when she was getting ready for work. She'd spend hours doing her make-up - for a factory job - blasting Bonnie Raitt's 'Something to Talk About' on perpetual repeat. To this day I absolutely HATE that song. HATE IT.

She'd met a guy on third shift, got caught cheating, and just left us.

They had just bought a house and a second vehicle together because they had two steady incomes. Now she wanted to leave us struggling.

My Dad gave her this option: He'd leave, she could have the house, the car, and us. She'd have everything, along with child support, and he'd get a couch at his brother's house.

She didn't want us.

So she left, taking only the family car, leaving us with a tiny Chevy S-10 pickup for a family of four. She didn't want shared custody. She didn't want to pay child support. She wanted nothing to do with us.

She then proceeded to make life Hell for us. While she did, with great reluctance, occasionally let us visit, it was rare. She also did everything she could to make sure we didn't have a support network. My Dad's side of the family is terrible - I will talk about them much later - and they wouldn't help. My Mom's side of the family cared for us, but my Mom did everything in her power to make sure we couldn't go to them for help. She knew her parents liked my Dad far more than her new guy, so she was going to make sure they wouldn't have any kind of relationship with my Dad.

She also wanted us to be spies. She had this idea that my Dad would be her safety net if the new guy didn't work out, so she made damn sure my Dad couldn't meet anyone or have any kind of life. And she wanted us to be her spies; she would quiz us about what Dad was up to, and persuade us to tell her everything, then she would proceed to leave nasty phone calls or messages on his bathroom mirror, because she'd kept a key to the house.

Meanwhile, she continued to be the world's worst mother. She had my two half-siblings, and we had to watch them get all the attention we never got, because unlike us, they were her children. She'd occasionally buy clothing, usually used stuff she found at yard sales that didn't fit (she seemed to think I was her size, despite me being taller and skinnier than her). Once she bought me a maternity outfit because she knew that would be the only thing that would fit me.

She also basically destroyed my past. Remember my despair that I couldn't find any medical records? She took a lot of things, including pretty much every baby picture of me, and left them in her parents' garage, which was exposed to the elements and eventually flooded and collapsed. She casually destroyed it and just doesn't care.

So, it's been years of barely tolerating my mother, occasionally trying to have some kind of relationship with her and wondering why I bother.

Now, she did once, not long after they divorced, ask if I wanted to live with her. Just me, not my siblings. I refused. I didn't want to live with a strange man and be second fiddle to my half siblings. And it would have gone very, very badly. I would have been living with a heavy smoker with ultra-conservative views whose fire-and-brimstone mother was the kind of person to get involved in everything. I would have received no health care, never been able to go anywhere, would have had to transfer to a school with the worst reputation in the area, probably would have had to help care for my half siblings, would not have new clothes, would not have gone to college, and would probably have the worst flea infestation because she doesn't really clean, either.

And the last time I saw her? She got into this anti-vaxx rant that was somehow also horrifically racist, and all I could think was, "Yeah, I'm never going to see you again."

She's just...UGH.

[darklydeliciousdesires]

Runaway - Chapter Two.

Thank you so much to all those who offered commentary, reviews and reblogs on the first chapter, beautiful ones! Now that I have the mamoth story of BTBT out of the way, I can pretty much post each chapter of this as soon as the previous one hits 40 notes to unlock, and they’re nice, short reads too, so people aren’t likely to fall behind. If you do require a break, though, just let me know. If not, if you want it, you got it! Your author aims to make her audience happy :)

Previous chapters - Prologue  One

Taglist - In the comments

Words - 2,225 

Warnings - 18+ content throughout, minors DNI!

“So, you’re a rare breed of woman, honestly being so into football. Any other sports out there you like?” Manny asked her, his timing a little off, Hannah taking a gigantic bite out of her burger.

“UFC,” she muffled through a mouthful of cheddar laden beef, ending up with a smear of barbecue sauce at the corner of her lip. He reached forward, wiping it away with his thumb, bringing it to his lips and sucking. It was a tiny action, but god, it made her pulse quicken. “I watch all of it, but I have such an affinity for the female fighters. I might not take crap easily – well, Michael aside, I guess – but those girls? They’re next level tough. I went up to Vegas to watch a match recently, Jennifer Cora versus Lily Romero-Reyes. Shit, Jennifer got her ass handed to her!”

“Yeah, I was there, too. I know Lily, actually. She’s married to one of the guys in my club, and the daughter of another,” he spoke, Hannah swallowing her mouthful of food with widened eyes.

“Get the fuck out of here! Oh my god, that’s awesome! What’s she like? She seems scary as hell!” she cried, picking up a fry and popping it into her mouth. “Actually, now you come to mention it, I’ve seen her being walked out by MC guys, but I didn’t put two and two together!”

“She’s scary in the octagon, but outside of it, she’s the sweetest girl. She and Angel, that’s her husband, by the way, they’re two of my favourite people, and their baby is adorable. She got all of us wrapped around her teeny tiny lil’ pinky finger,” he smiled, thinking of Willow, who he had a definite soft spot for, loving kids as much as he did.  

She finished her mouthful, sipping her drink before nodding in his direction, reaching to tap the patch upon his kutte. “By all of us, I take it you mean the guys in your MC, right?” He nodded through a mouthful of burger. “So, what’s that all about, then? I hear so many differing stories about you guys. Some say you’re all criminals up to your asses in illegal activities, and some say you’re merely a group of motorcycle enthusiasts who happen to run the only scrap metal yard in Santo Padre.”  

He contemplated his options, knowing that she wasn’t stupid, but then again, neither was he. “We sit somewhere between the two.”

“The straight and narrow more of a winding road littered with potholes and razor wire?”

He cocked his head, rolling his tongue around his inner cheek to retrieve a stray piece of tomato. “You got it, darlin’.” It was nice, that she didn’t quiz him over it. She knew what he was, and was smart enough to know that despite her question, he wasn’t going to embellish further any more than she was about to sit and pick for more details, of which she didn’t. “So, what about you, Hannah banana? What do you do to keep yourself in expensive looking shoes?” His eyes cast down to where her legs her crossed, the pointed toe of her stiletto brushing his calf every so often. He knew pricey when he saw it.  

“Bookkeeper. I work freelance from home as opposed to just for one firm. I do smaller businesses, like bars, salons, boutiques, restaurants, places like that. I’m cheaper than keeping someone on staff to do it, but I charge enough that I can indulge my fetish with nice shoes such as these,” she replied, waving her foot in a way that made her legs muscles flex from where she’d hitched her dress up a little, trying to get some air from one of the jaunty old upright fans over in the corner onto them. A fully lined lace bridal gown wasn’t the coolest of items to wear within an establishment with no air conditioning, a sign upon the bar apologising for the fact it was broken. In July of all months.  

“And what do you do to keep those stems looking as mouth-watering as they do?” he then asked, sipping his beer with a wink. Oh, she could get used to this. A man who was complimentary of her. Boy, how she’d missed that.  

“Apart from the ballet, I run, do a little pilates and yoga, too. That’s about as much as I like to put myself through, since my natural happy state involves sitting on my ass.” Grabbing a handful of napkins from the bar, she began to fan herself, finding the heat a little much. “If you’ll excuse me for just a few moments, I’m going to head to the bathroom, and then go up to the small store I saw further on up in the row. I noticed clothes in the window, and I desperately need to get out of this gown!”

“N’aww, shit. And I thought it’d be me getting you out of that dress.” He winked at her, Hannah shaking her head as she slid from the stool, resting her hand to his arm. It was surprisingly firm, his muscles not big, but certainly well formed.  

“You’re bad.”

His grin widened. “But you like it.”

Her eyebrows twitched, licking her top lip in a way that made his insides pulse. “Never said I didn’t.” She left him then, heading to the restroom first before exiting, attracting looks from people parking up along the narrow street, to see her there, resplendent in her wedding gown. That was another reason for wanting to change, since a few more people entering the bar had offered their congratulations.  

In truth, it was starting to eat at her a little bit. Hannah Gray was the furthest thing from a bad-mannered person, and no matter how poorly Michael had treated her in the past, she knew he didn’t deserve to be jilted quite so unceremoniously. Her fear of being alone truly wasn’t enough to justify her actions that morning, but if she knew one thing about herself, it was how impulsive she could be.  

Entering the store, she drew stares from all around, people whispering in hushed tones as she walked to one of the racks and shuffled through the items, finding something perfect and in her size more or less right away. A simple, and very short, black wrap dress. On the next rack, something else she needed, since the slight sheer quality of the fabric would mean her oyster silk bridal lingerie would show right through; black underwear.  

Her outfit choice, she couldn’t one hundred percent say wasn’t borne of wanting to maybe get a little more attention from Manny, crazy as it was that she was even thinking about a dalliance with another man on the day of her would-be wedding. Paying for the items (plus a new crossbody bag with chain straps she decided to treat herself to, she asked to use their changing room, the woman behind the counter offering her a big, sturdy bag to stow her dress in, which she thanked her for before going to change.  

The dress fitted her well, if not a tiny bit risqué in so much that it barely covered her butt cheeks. Hell, she had nice legs. It could be worse. She could be Michael’s wife. As it was, she’d had a lucky escape, on the back of the Harley belonging to the outlaw whose eyes almost fell out onto the bar floor when she walked back in.  

“Yup,” he almost growled, “those are some fuckin’ quality stems.” Oh, what he wouldn’t give to feel those beautiful legs wrapped around him.  

“Why thank you, sir.” She inclined her head to him, jumping back up onto the stool and finishing her drink, Manny immediately ordering her another, turning to see her suddenly wince, reaching to rub at her ankle. “Cramp.”  

He jerked his head back, making a wiggling motion with his hand. “Gimmie your foot, I’m good for this shit. Healing hands, so I’ve been told.” She hesitated only for a second before gently toeing her shoe off and lifting her leg, Manny grasping her foot and resting it a mere inch from his crotch, fingers beginning to softly squeeze her upper ankle. “There?”

“Yeah,” she hissed, the pain shooting up her calf, the muscle tensing. “Thank you.”  

He winked, only pausing briefly to pay the bartender before returning both hands to her leg, squeezing warmth through the taut muscle. Just his hands on her leg, and Hannah felt her skin tingle pleasantly, the action seemingly quite innocent, but definitely charged just beneath the surface. Even more so that she could feel the heat of his crotch against the sole of her foot, knowing that one little move would end up with her brushing against his cock.  

Just the thought of that made her bite her lip, Manny catching her do it, his hands travelling a little higher as he kept eye contact with her. “How’d those hands feel, beautiful?”

“Absolutely perfect. I might have to get your number so I can call you up to do this for me again at any point in the future where cramp easing is required,” she spoke, her voice a little thick, slow like honey for just how good his fingers rubbing over her felt.

He snorted softly, purposefully letting his fingertips drag in tickle over her leg before squeezing once more, easing the cramp away. “If I’m giving you my digits, it’s for more than to come rub out a cramp.”

“I’m sure I could think of a few more places.” His eyes didn’t leave hers as she pulled her leg from his grasp, Manny sliding from his stool, fingers gently resting to her knees as he manoeuvred himself between her thighs.  

He let his lips touch against her ear, his voice steeped in gravel when he finally spoke. “Now who’s bad?” Leaning back, he winked, excusing himself, heading for the restrooms and leaving her so scorching, she was surprised she didn’t pass out from the heat that had begun to blaze between them. This man? He had game in shades, and he knew it, but he wasn’t arrogant with it, not at all. Manny was the exact opposite of Michael, who had never really come back down to earth after his glory days as the most adored high school jock.  

Speaking of jocks, there was a pile of them working their way into the bar loudly just as Manny was returning from the restroom, one not watching where he was going, bumping into a woman carrying a glass of wine back to her table, the glass knocked from her hand and shattering on the floor. The young guy didn’t even acknowledge his fault.  

“Hey yo, you in the yellow shirt!” Manny called, his cadence suddenly filling the bar like a foghorn, yet his voice was barely raised. “You gonna apologise to the lady? You just knocked her glass clean out of her hand, man.”  

He shrugged, turning back. “It was an accident; I didn’t mean it.”

“Be that as it may, it was an accident you caused. Be a fucking gentleman and apologise.”

He scoffed in disbelief. “I don’t need a moral lecture from some scummy biker! Get the fuck out of here.”  

“Seems you do, homie. I said apologise.” Manny suddenly straightened, making himself look much broader than his slight frame alluded to, the guy laughing before balling his fist, his arm shooting out. The punch aimed never made contact, though, Manny grabbing his wrist and squeezing. “Nah, son. I’m gon’ give you this time to reconsider your actions here, save you missing any teeth, because if I swing at you, trust and believe, yo’ bitch ass is going down hard, and those aforementioned teeth are gonna be all over the damned floor. All you gotta do is say you’re sorry.”

Hannah sat rigid in her seat, watching it all unfold, her nerves tingling with excitement at how coolly Manny handled himself, not even raising his voice once.  

The guy considered his options, trying to yank himself free of the iron grip around his wrist. It did not yield, Manny yanking him closer with ease, placing his other hand atop his head and physically turning it in the direction of the woman who was standing there speechless. “Apologise. Now.” His whisper was delivered in a serpent like hiss, the guy gulping.  

“I’m sorry.”  

“Finally,” Manny chirped, letting him go. “Next time, don’t let it be the threat of a better man than you to make you do the right thing, bro.” The man walked away, looking sheepish, Manny sniffing casually before turning to the woman with a megawatt smile. “Chardonnay? You look like a chardonnay girl.”

“Yes, but really, you’ve done enough! Thank you!” she gushed, Manny waving her words away and heading to the bar, where he bought her and her friend a bottle, placing it along with a fresh glass upon their table. “You ladies enjoy.” He winked, the women bowled over by his manner, Hannah smiling softly. He didn’t have to do that, he had absolutely no reason to than out of being a decent human, and it only made her feel pulled into his orbit further.  

Chivalry. Big dick energy. She’d begun to forget what they looked like.  

[torihakaraublog]

Obey Me! Nightbringer "The Great Devildom Outdoors" Pop Quiz

!SPOILER WARNING FOR THE EVENT AND THE OM! ANIME!

My thoughts on Beel-centric 2023 event! Includes mention of the Obey Me! anime.

Finally a Beel event!! The theme of camping wasen't a bad option, but the timeline if connected to the anime at all is a bit wonky (will explain more later). If you haven't seen the anime my guess is it takes place sometime durring the original game timeline. Basically the plot is MC takes a long trip to the human world and the brothers are a mess.

Okay these options make the most sense; Lucifer is stated in the anime as being a caping expert of sorts (whole episode on this), Levi probably saw a camping anime and would want to go, Bel obviously is going to support his brother and Simeon + Luke like trying new things.

Now where things get funky. It's implied in this event this is everyone's (except Beel) first time camping and they know very little about this. In the anime Lucifer is an experienced camper and takes Beel, Mammon, and Asmo camping with him one day for their first camping experience. The trio wants to enjoy their first camping experience and try new things, but Lucifer is so overbearing they all end up leaving. So I think it's safe to say this pop quiz event does not take place in the Anime! timeline. Unless this event is what gets Lucifer into camping (started doing it solo) and he just kind of ignores the fact Beel got him into camping as he is 'better at it.'

Anime Lucifer is unhinged for real tho.

Moving on the group is split into two teams; cooking and food prep. I got to help with the tent! I appreciate it was a pop up one xD

Yes, yes! Solo trip with Beel! This is what I wanted!! Tho I'm not sure I agree with their definition of glamping? It seemed more like going to a rustic resort that offers activity and meal services. Where I live glamping is often referred to using a nice trailer instead of a tent to go camping.

These moment's here officer these are the moments that made my heart squeel. I dry him off and we are SHARING A BED.

All the food sounded really yummy! It was particularly preped and we assembled + cooked? This choice above was kinda weird tho? It's in response to Beel saying the ingredients look good enough to eat raw. I picked the bottom option cause a lot of the ingredients could be eaten raw (not the srimp).

Going to the lake with fireflies was so cool! Very beautiful :3 and Beel saw a shooting star.

I always try to never shame/bring down, Beel for being hungry as he has little control over it. I picked to have a pastry in my bag instead of candy because irl I often have some kind of, bread, muffins, crackers in my bag as back up.

picked the top option cause I just have trouble sleeping in general and often the location dosen't have any impact. Though my perfered sleeping spots are cars and nice hotel beds xD

Beel you can't say such a suggestive thing while we are sleeping away together >_<.

(This isn't the whole interaction- more a note to myself that I have more photos saved)

Aaa-a kiss?! As much as I was feeling the option in the moment I was playing I still went with the top one cause that's something I would be more likely ask for even if I wanted the kiss (*cries in lonely irl person, but not lonely MC*)

Please someone cuddle with me!!

The other root was camping on the lawn which was fun! Luke put our tent up all by himself! I was not allowed to eat burnt food xD It's not specified what we are eating here.

Overall I greatly enjoyed the event. But I do think this could have also been framed as a Lucifer event to match some existing lore (to be fair I have not completed the og game so maybe it makes more sense with that context) and Beel's event could have been one of the past events, specifically the fangol one.

Foods Mentioned

Lava Cheese Fondue (Made By Levi)

Clam Risotto (Made by Simeon + Lucifer)

Black Tapir (Glamping)

Bone-in Sausage (Glamping)

Garlic Fried Shrimp (Glamping)

Seasonal Vegetable Salad (Glamping)

Paella (Glamping)

Crème Brulee (Glamping)

[lilacalily]

NaHyuck Analysis Pt. 2

A continuation of the discussion on NaHyuck realism

3. Affection

These two are touchy. And by touchy, I mean the flirty, sexy kind.

They don't just cuddle, they don't just sleep curled up on a couch that barely fits one, they don't just hold hands. No.

Jaemin has kissed Haechan's neck. He's kissed him on the lips. He holds his waist in a not bro-like way for loooong moments, and he is way too happy to grope him when given the opportunity to touch.

Let us not forget the difference between the way Jaemin felt him up and the way the others just kind of lightly patted at him during that dance quiz on weekly idol.

Jaemin was sooo gentle and he was literally plastered to Haechan's back. Also, this is kind of the normal way that they interact with each other physically.

Please watch fancams/fan focus vids of these two on stage. You can see so much when you watch how they interact and the facial expressions they make live. I literally just saw one today from tds3 where Jaemin saw him do something sassy and then turned away from the member's view and bit his lip in a 'oh shit that was so hot' kind of way. He smiles so brightly and fond to when Haechan does aegyo.

Also, they don't just slap the booty, which is pretty common even in bro culture in Korea. No, Jaemin stares at Haechan's ass. Like, often. He does a full visual pat down when he stands behind him on stage. (Again fancams. They do not have themselves in check for the entire duration of time on stage.) And he holds it.

Do you do that with your friends? I don't. I might give a little booty tap (although even then, I'm usually flirting a little), but I don't cup their asscheeks. During a hug, my hands stay above the waist. Jaemin's very much do not.

Now, Korean culture is very physically affectionate between men, but the shit they do is next level. Maybe it's just idol fanservice, but even that means something, because they don't do that with every dream or 127 member. They specifically choose to do this with each other.

Both are pretty playful and flirty with others, but idk man.

It's next level with these two.

4. Bringing it back to Earth

Ok, so let's not be delulu. Let's consider the options here, because I want so bad for the representation and I love a cute LGBT+ love story, but I can be realistic.

What are the scenarios and what are the chances I would give them?

Scenario A. -> 15%

Very very touchy friends, but everything is fanservice and totally meaningless romantically. 100% platonic.

Scenario B. -> 23%

They're the type of queer friends who have a certain solidarity and openness that leads to high levels of affection and trust. Especially in their industry, they can't be super open publicly and it's hard to be in a relationship, so they take comfort in each other. They kiss and makeout occasionally, but nothing much more than what we've seen on cam.

Neither wants to go further, although they do see each other as attractive and maybe have had a dream or jerk off fantasy involving the other at some point. But still, basically just hot friends.

Scenario C. -> 23%

Scenario B, but they went further. Maybe someone was drinking and oops, Haechan gave Jaemin a blow job oops! or one of them got rejected and they had a sorry you got dumped mutual jerkoff. Maybe one of the many times they were playing around being 'fake' flirty just kind of...kept going?

It never happened again, but they're a touchier version of friends because of it.

Scenario D. -> 14%

Scenario C, but then it became a convenient habit oops!

Scenario E. -> 10%

They weren't super close, more like friendly work colleagues, but then for whatever reason, they fell into bed with each other at some point:

Got turned on by the other's dancing or on cam flirting and then hit up their hotel room during promotions? Went out to eat or drinking to better their working relationship and bam? Maybe even something like, hey I want to hook up with someone because I'm a horny 18-25 year old dude who likes dudes and this semi-close friend of mine is available/willing/similarly inclined?

Now they're friends with a sexual history who love each other, but in a platonic way. They've only messed around once or a few times. It's not off the table when both are single, but it's not a habit.

Scenario F. -> 4%

They've been regularly sleeping with each other. A friends with benefits deal. Maybe even dating at some point, maybe even still dating?

Scenario G. -> 1%

They love love each other, full romance. 100% I would marry this person.

Scenario H. -> 10%

Secret crush. One is just playing and flirting for fun, because that's their personality. The other actually is interested and wants to move forward but can't because of reasons. What are the reasons? Crush has a partner, crush isn't interested in guys (unlikely, considering...everything), or it's unrequited.

TLDR;

So, basically I think they love each other, but probably aren't in love with each other. I think it would be reasonable to assume they've had some level of romantic/sexual contact, but unlikely a regular thing. There's a lot of understanding and care for each other, they see each other and are perceptive of the other's feelings. If one of them got seriously hurt by someone, I imagine the other would be like who do you need me to kill?

[simplythingsilikekindoffiltered]

I'm a little bit (a lot, actually) obsessed with The Count of Monte Cristo, so after I first read it just over a year ago, I may have read it many times since then.  And as such, I have many thoughts about it.  And, I was looking at the entry for the book on spark notes and saw a quiz for it, and came across a question on the quiz that really fired me up.  The question was along the lines of Why did Edmond give Caderousse the diamond?  And, I don't agree with the answer that they gave as the correct option.  Out of the answer choices that they gave, I will discuss the two options that are relevant to this discussion.  The two options were along the lines of 1. Cadderouse seemed to regret his actions, and the part that he played in Edmond's downfall and imprisonment and 2. He knows that giving Caderrouse this diamond will lead to him committing further foul deeds and wants to catch him.  Out of these two options, 1 is the one that they say is the correct option, and 2 is the one that I believe to be more correct.  I can understand how they came to that conclusion, however I don't agree with it.  

Concretely, Edmond questions Caderrouse about what happened after his imprisonment, and about the role he played in the imprisonment.  At the end of this conversation, Edmond does indeed give Caderousse a diamond.  

Before I argue my interpretation, I will lay out how I believe spark notes came to the conclusion they did.  

Over the course of Edmond and Caderrouse's discussion Caderrouse tells of his role in Edmond's imprisonment, and then does indeed express that he is regretful of the role that he played, and that only Edmond alone could pardon him from those sins.  He then goes on to tell the stories of all those whom Edmond questions him about.  He wraps up these stories saying that fortune has favored those who wronged Dantes, leaving him alone in squalor.  Edmond replies that fortune has favored him yet, and presents the diamond to him.  This makes it reasonable to assume that Edmond gives this to him for that reason.  However, I will now argue that this is not the case.  

It is well established that Edmond knows of Caderrouse's greed.  After being given the diamond, Caderrouse remarks that the Abbe is remarkable for not keeping the diamond for himself, since he was the only one who knew of it.  Edmond replies to himself, that this is what Caderrouse would've done.  We, the readers also know of Caderrouse's greed from the beginning.  When Edmond is visiting his father upon his return to Marseille, Edmond sees that his father has been living poorly during their time apart, despite the sum of money he left with him.  We learn that this is because he gave this money to Caderrouse.  Before leaving, Edmond had borrowed money from his neighbor, Caderrouse.  In Edmond's absence, Caderrouse came to Edmonds father to be repaid, lest he take this matter up with Edmond's employer.  Shortly after learning of how his father has been living, this neighbor comes by to see them, and greedily eyes the pile of money which Edmond his laid out on the table, to give his father.  From the very moment we hear of him, to the moment we first meet him, we learn that Caderrouse is a greedy and money hungry man.  Edmond even acknowledges this greed when giving Caderrouse the diamond.  Therefore, knowing this greed of Caderrouse's he couldn't have given it expecting nothing to come from it.  However, I don't think that he thought anything that came out of it would lead to murder, or a future connection to his revenge plans.  If I had to guess at Edmond's intentions, I will say that it is genuinely plausible that he simply gave it to Caderrouse because he felt regretful of the role he played in Edmond's imprisonment, however, I think that something else is more likely.  I believe that regardless of Edmond's possible good intentions, that he couldn't have given an expensive diamond to a known greedy man, and expect that to fulfill his greed, rather than push it further.  I say that in presenting this diamond to Caderousse this is his revenge upon him.  Perhaps because the role which Caderrouse played in his imprisonment was passive, so was this revenge.  By presenting this diamond, Edmond is knowingly stroking Caderrouse's greed, and in so doing, setting him up for future failure.  Greed is something that can't be fulfilled, therefore, by placing this diamond in Caderrouse's hands, he is giving him a taste of what wealth is, causing him to desire for more, which will lead to taking what he wants and his eventual downfall.

[codexbrainhasbrokenfree]

Finally a funny genderqueer experience has happened to me

I'm transmasc and has been so for a while and uses both he/him and it/its pronouns, and I've began to casually wonder if there was actually a better name for my gender existing out there, as "male" does work for me, but it isn't exactly it.

So I decided to take a random quiz online, mostly for fun, not expecting an actual answer. The one I chose was pretty bad tbh, but I went through it nonetheless.

I was utterly confused by the results saying "You scored 21% female! You're mostly a woman!" because if I know one thing about my gender is that it's DEFINITELY NOT female (I'm actually considering antifemale as a possible option for my gender, THAT'S how much I feel disconnected from femaleness). So I scrolled down to see the details of the results.

Right below those first results was written "Your score was inconclusive. You could have gotten : You scored 21% male! You're mostly a man!". At this point I was thinking wow thank you quiz that sure was useful for me

But then I scrolled down again and saw "Your score was inconclusive. You could have gotten : You scored 21% agender! You're mostly agender!".

Okay.

"Your score was inconclusive. You could have gotten : You scored 21% pangender! You're mostly pangender!"

OKAY??? BOTH AT THE SAME TIME???

"Your score was inconclusive. You could have gotten : You scored 14% bigender."

I could make a joke about how unhelpful this quiz was but now I'm obsessing over the 2% unknown percent of my gender this website just gave up analyzing.

If someone asks what my gender is, I want this someone to acknowledge all the different 21 percents-es constituting the enigma that is my gender

If you want to take this quiz, https://www.allthetests.com/personality-tests/am-i-a-boy-or-girl/quiz36/1546713451/which-gender-am-i

[invincible-selfxmade-punk]

It's been raining on and off all day which is great. However my day started off with a hateful email from apparent and that pretty much ruined everything for me.

This lady has never liked me. I had her son last year and this year I have her daughter.

Both of them had the nisfortune of being in my worst classes. The boy was very smart and as far as I remember he left and went on to middle school with an A average. He did this all on his own because in the class were three boys that were absolutely hell-bent on making me cry and be miserable every single day. If they were not rough housing, they were stealing things from other kids, or they were dropping water bottles and watching them burst open, are the main guy was doing a Magic Mike like striptease and shaking his privates and everyone's face including mine. The parents of these boys well one of them tried to keep their kid in line, the other two did not give a s***.

I don't know the daughter that well yet but I do know she is nowhere near her brother's level , nor is the rest of the class.

I keep getting complaints from parents that say their children tell them I'm going too fast. If I go any slower it's not going to be a fourth grade level anymore it's going to be more like second. And that's not going to help them at all when STAAR test comes around.

At the same time admin is telling me I'm going way too slow and if the kids can't keep up well f*** them. I wish I was kidding but I'm not.

Basically they are saying the kids are not that low, they only act stupid in social studies, because I and the other social studies teacher allow them to get away with it.

So I get to work early 2day, hoping to get some grading done because I am so behind. I open up my laptop and I see the email from the parent.

We are required to respond to every email within 24 hours so even though I was pretty sure I knew what it was saying because she has been complaining since school started I opened it up first. She tells me that I left her son behind, completely overlooked and neglected him all last year, & now I'm doing the same thing with her daughter.

About that time I mentally just shut down and really didn't try to read the rest but I know it was basically saying she didn't understand why her kids were being singled out and her daughter had only missed one day and how could she have possibly gotten so far behind only missing that one day and a bunch of other crap.

The last time I saw her son was earlier this year when we had meet the teacher night when he ran up and gave me a hug.

I told her if she really thought that I had ruined her son's edicational life in some way she was welcome to bring him to school after school or on the weekends and I would happily tutor him in whatever it was that he was missing in his history class that I had somehow caused.

I explained that because no one in that class listened to me the second week of school when I had them get on to Google classroom, when it was time for the quiz more than half of them could not take it because they had not gotten on Google classroom.

Simple instructions like open your browser, click on Google, click on Google classroom, click the plus button, and enter this code ---are way way too hard for them to follow as a class so I had to do it with every single kid individually. That caused even more time to pass. So it took two days to get tested when it should have only taken one. By the time I was able to get her daughrer in, it was the end of class. Her daughter missed the quiz that have been that day then she missed the test because she was absent the next day.

I told her from the bottom of my heart I do not know what more I could be doing and that I cannot slow down anymore without causing us to be even further behind than what we are.

I told her I was already teaching someone how to read during my lunch time but the way I saw it she had three options: she could switch her daughter to the other class which was going exactly as slow as minw was because the kids are all on the same level, I could have her daughter come in at lunch where I could tutor her at the same time that I was teaching the other girl English, or the lady herself could come visit my classroom, and tell me personally exactly how she wanted me to teach the class.

Then on top of all of that hubby finally went down to go get a new set of glasses. But because we live out in BFE we have one optometrist and one optical. And to have an updated eyeglasses prescription and a basic eye exam and the absolute cheapest pair of glasses they had cost a total of $900 with insurance

He has been wearing broken glasses for almost 2 years and absolutely refuse to go out of town to achieve her place then the classes were still in good enough condition he could wear them. Now they are so bad the lenses will not stay in and he is not able to drive with them. Plus I've got another appointment coming up out of town so he had to go and get glasses before he could drive me because I'm still not at the point where I can drive myself. All of this could have been taken care of last year for a quarter of the price. But no he only wants to do things on his terms when he wants to do it.

[frostythefrostedfox]

Pop Quiz

Surpise!

I hope you've been taking notes because today we have a pop quiz

It's only one question.

If you saw the following Requirements on Steam, which game you'd assume looks the best

Option A:

Option B:

Option C:

Tick Tock

Tick Tock

Tick Tock

TIME'S UP

Now, I hope you chose the right answer because now I will reveal what each of these requirements are for

Option A: Sonic Superstars, a game that looks like this

Option B: Forza Horizon 5, a game that looks like this

Option C: Resident Evil 7, a game that looks like this

And if you don't believe me, go to steam and check for yourself.

Now, my point here is

In what fucking world a 2d game that looks like its made of plushies and plastic demands more requirements than one of the biggest racing game of this decade, and one of the best horror experiences (although I would disagree here, it barely made me feel something) of the recent years.

And if that makes sense to you, congratulations, can you explain it to me? In a way that doesn't turns into "Unoptimized game", which is a big problem nowadays, or "Oversized textures", which is the same problem that MK has been having since 9, really, I am dying to hear an explation as to how you can justify those requirements when your game looks the way it looks and it doesn't shows me anything groundbreaking or worzers that can blow my socks off, please, I wanna hear it.

And if it doesn't, then congrats, because it makes no sense to me either, this is just ridiculous

[benjaminsblog]

Past weekend

Saturday

I spent the day with Josh in London, our first stop being Gordon Ramsay’s Street Pizza restaurant in Battersea – we both effin’ love our pizza and were both ravenous by the time we sat down, and we chose GR because of its ‘bottomless pizza’ option – so it was a perfect storm!

The format was not one I’d experienced before – instead of picking a pizza from the menu and chowing down, the servers meander between the tables with whichever pizza just came out of the oven and hand you a slice. We quickly decided we liked this method because 1) it allowed us to try all the toppings, and 2) the brief waits between slices made for some good pace-making!

There were about 5 different pizzas doing the rounds, although besides pepperoni being the clear standout, I was rather underwhelmed by the others. Nevertheless, I kept putting away everything that was brought my way, keeping up with the eating machine sat opposite me. In fact, Josh was the first to blink and turn down a slice, at which point I took the opportunity to sneak ahead and claim a minor victory! He did end up demolishing 20 slices to my 16, but I was very pleased with my effort.

The F1 exhibition followed in the afternoon, which was slick and impressive. We were advised upon entry that 1h30 would be required to get the best out of our visit, but we both expected to be done before then. However, it must have been good, because we ended up staying there for nearly 2 hours! I wasn’t all that interested in reading everything on the walls, but the installations alone kept me occupied. Every single car they had on display was mesmerising to look at, but if I had to pick my favourite it would be the McLaren sporting #12 and an orangey-red colour!

Sunday

I saw Hannah in the evening, with the main reason for my visit being the pub quiz that she frequents with her friends. I have now attended the last three (they’re monthly) and fully merited my place in the side – on my first outing in a small team of 3 we managed to come third, and last month (with a full lineup) we won the whole shebang! To be honest, I don’t know why I didn’t blog about our famous victory at the time – we each had some inspired moments and beat the resident champions (who include pro quizzers among their ranks) for the team’s first ever win!

This month’s quiz was markedly harder than the previous ones, and we felt our reign as champs slowly fading round by round. We even joked we might be taking home the booby prize for coming stone-dead last, but as the answers were being read out, we started to suspect we might have done a little better than we first thought. The quizmaster named the 7 teams in reverse order, starting with a three-way tie for last place; once our name wasn’t read out, we breathed a sigh of relief and found ourselves on the precipice of another podium. It turned out that we somehow snaffled second place, finishing a solitary point behind the winners (them pro quizzers again)!

So that’s three quizzes and a medal of each colour, plus at least one MVP performance to boot! I am told that regular podium finishes have previously been beyond the team, so I feel happy that I helped get them further up the leaderboard. We were even down a player this weekend due to illness, so it is not inconceivable to think that another head could have provided the extra couple of points to nab a second win – those pesky pro quizzers better watch out…

[anthonysstupiddailyblog]

Anthony's Stupid Daily Blog (699): Wed 14th Feb 2024

I asked the official YouTube Twitter page if it was possible to shuffle a playlist on a Smart TV app and they said no. Later on I was messing around with my playlists on YouTube when I accidentally pressed on at random which started playing a video with a long bar of my other videos underneath it and I saw that above the bar there was a shuffle option. Is it any wonder people have grown weary of trusting experts and would rather just make an uneducated guess about certain matters? I mean how the fuck is it that I now know something about how YouTube works better than someone who actually works at YouTube? Maybe I should apply for a job at YouTube and then when no-ones looking I can press the button that switches off all the adverts (I’ve seen enough movies to know that all evil corporations have a gigantic red button which, if pressed, stops all the company’s evil doings). 

Tuned into tonight’s Hollyoaks and James visited Ste’s former dealer Kane in prison and blackmailed him to take the wrap for Ella’s murder. During this exchange it dawned on me that there are now currently characters in the show called The Undertaker and Kane which gave me a bit of a chuckle. The rest of the episode featured a bunch of the characters with their own storylines going on to take part in a pub quiz at The Dog. I wish they’d set the whole episode at this quiz as so often the characters are so isolated and wrapped up in their own storyline that you could argue it’s not necessary for them to be in the same village. My favourite moment was where Hunter and Theresa were arguing about the quiz and Hunter said “Theresa, you thought Hitchcock was an STI”. Whoever wrote that line is warning their money and deserves more of it.