#I've gotten way too many messages like this as of late and it's getting annoying because they 100% read like scams

[impistry]

In regards to scam messages

Since I've been getting a bunch of these from random accounts (some accounts are only a few hours old), I just want to put this out there that if you come into my DM's or send me a message trying to spin a sob story to try and beg for funds when we've NEVER interacted, I WILL block your account and delete the message. This behavior reads VERY scammy, and I do not play when it comes to donating to folks since my funds are limited (I'm a disabled vet on disability & can not work, so I have to budget my funds carefully). For things I have verified are real (I do my research), and if I am able to afford it, there is a chance I might be able to donate a little bit to help. But for randos messaging me with sob stories to gain sympathy when we've never interacted even once, I will make use of the block button and delete your message, PERIOD. So to say it again, PLEASE do not send me messages like these if we have never once interacted. I do not want to have to block accounts, but I will for my own peace of mind.

[alynnl]

🔥 for whatever's been bugging you lately

Oh, boy. I'm about to touch on a topic I have ranted about extensively in private spaces. Only now I'm going to make my opinion public because I feel like I need to take a stand.

"Across media fandoms, so many fans refuse to stay in their lane and it leads to a lot of unnecessary trouble."

Allow me to explain.

Perhaps I'm only seeing the loudest of the vocal minority, but this behavior is grating to me. In general I come to my fan spaces to have fun, discuss media with others who've viewed it, and relax after taking care of my real life responsibilities.

I've seen shipping wars since my earliest days in fandom, and those have not died down in the slightest. In some ways, they've actually gotten worse, because people bring in purity culture and real life politics where I feel like they don't belong. (People who act like it's a moral duty to ship their rare pair instead of a more popular ship, as an example.)

This mentality of only having the most "morally correct" opinions on a piece of media goes beyond shipping too, when it comes to discussing individual characters or the (perceived) message of the media overall. Who and what is "problematic" is a dominating theme in many fan discussions on this website and others. There's this idea that a person's taste in media, characters, and even ships gives any indication of their real life morality. When really, most people (if not all) I've met who are into the darker, tragic and more dramatic themes in media are just interested in that part of storytelling and would never condone acts like murder, genocide or abuse in real life.

On the other side of the coin, there are other fans who try and label what is and isn't "cringe." I've seen them take aim at self-shippers, OC x Canon shippers, or even themes within the media itself that they've deemed "cliched" or "predictable." There's this smugness that comes with pointing out flaws CinemaSins style. It's very elitist in its way and to me translates to "I see what you don't, Sheeple!"

I'm sure there are other details of annoying fandom behavior that I have left out, but these are the main ideas to me.

It all comes down to one thing.

"When people dislike something, they turn around and make it everybody else's problem."

This is in spite of the widely available blacklisting tools and block button that are very easy to use to curate one's Tumblr experience. (I cannot speak for other websites and how easy or difficult it is to curate one's feed there, but I imagine there is something similar to Tumblr's system.)

Instead of accepting that a ship, piece of media, OC, or even an entire user's feed isn't their cup of tea and moving on, people have to say something rude about it.

And it just seems like a waste of time and energy. I think it would be better spent with things that actually spark joy.

All in all I feel like I’m getting too old for this sort of thing. Or maybe since I have more life experience, I’m more aware of what I want and what I’m better off without. Having to balance work and home life will do that. I’ll keep on sharing my thoughts with people who I feel I can truly be myself around. I hope everybody has at least one person, if not a few people like that. Because I think everyone should have a chance to be happy, in fan spaces and elsewhere.

[ksyongi]

hello hello so I absolutely suck at writing but I've had this concept in my head for days now and I need to get it out so pls don't judge me too much..

teasing cheol all day, from the moment he leaves the house you’re be taking pics in all your lingerie sets. And I mean, all of them. Ofc this man has bought too many pairs to keep count, but you manage.

9am : *picture*

shutting your phone off

11am: *picture*

shutting your phone off

11.30: *picture*

shutting your phone off

this keeps going until late at night, constantly ignoring his messages until the point he stops replying.

Sitting on the bed, scrolling through your phone, counting down the minutes until Cheol normally comes home, when a smack from the door drags you out of the trance.

you just continue scrolling, knowing Cheol and his dominance will soon burst through the bedroom door. And you were right.

He comes in silent, the silence being deadly.

“hi love, how are you?”, you say not looking up from your phone.

silence

a minute passes until you finally lock eyes with him.

You expect to see the lust in his eyes.

But it’s not there.

He sees your confusion but doesn’t acknowledge it, instead he just blankly stares back.

“is something wro-“, you start, but he cuts you off.

“I’m not impressed. This is far, even for you. In fact, I won't even punish you. Because that's what you want, right? No instead I'll give you nothing until you break, until you realise you fucking need me to put you in your place”

before you can speak he walks out of the room.

when you slowly start getting that sinking “oh fuck” feeling you decide to follow him

he’s sitting on the couch, laptop open, headphones on, leg bouncing, hand grabbing his pen the way he always does when something is bothering him.

You plop down next to him, putting your head on his shoulder.

This however, doesn’t catch on.

Seungcheol sighs, closing his laptop and going to the kitchen.

More hours pass, 

the both of you in bed, his back turned towards you. Far colder than the usual koala grip he has you in.

After that, days pass,

days of not talking, no acknowledgement of your existence, to the point where he comes home late and just sleeps on the couch.

The longer this goes on, 

the heavier the guilt gets.

And that’s when the next plan goes into motion.

Eventho Seungcheol thought he came home way past the point you fell asleep, you’d have been awake every single day.

Which gives you the chance to know his new routine.

you kneel infront of the front door.

Not wearing anything except the lacey see-through cover up he’d gotten you for your first valentines together.

Giving him the sight of a lifetime once he finally enters the front door.

You kneel your head down, he just scoffs.

"Please p...."

“Please what huh, come on speak up” he interrupts after you weakly stutter out your first plea

"Please... put me in my place" you choke out, feeling the emotions of guilt and need build by the millisecond

“Oh so NOW you want to act like a good little slut huh? What happened to the girl from a few days ago? Thought you liked being a little bitch”, a scoff comes out right before he pretty much growls at you.

all you can do is nod, the feeling that this will be a long night creeping up.

this... don't ever blame your writing skills because this made sense and i love it sm,,

cheol would definitely do this, this might be similar to a nnn (no nut november) concept, to be honest, cheol would also break at one point, but his control is much better than yours, so its a competition of limits at that point. opening up his phone to see the images you sent him, it made him hard, and it made it riskier that the fact that he was in dance practice, quickly excusing himself to solve his little problem, he came back and continued practice,,

he would see how you kept sending him things and he got kinda annoyed at how you could not wait for his return in the night and could not let him work in peace. his desires for you were real, and they were growing after all the pictures sent. he wanted you to break and be at his knees, and coming to no choice but to sub for him. he knew you wanted that punishment sm but he refused because of some sort of 'teaching you a lesson' or as you may call it a punishment by making you suffer, he wanted the need for him fucking you into the mattress, face down, ass up as he fucks you hard and rough some degrades and praises coming out of his mouth, he wanted that need to grow stronger. so you would do anything, to get him to make that imagination a reality,,

<3

[dredshirtroberts]

It is...finished sent

most of my main anxieties and insecurities surrounding sending my parents a very clear message to "Fuck right the fuck off" (phrased politer because I raised myself better than that) have been...put back into perspective. There was a moment of weakness to just not send it, give them another shot (what's a fiftie- sixti- hundreth shot, anyway?). After all, I must be overreacting and just deciding this out of nowhere (sarcasm).

But thankfully I have friends - my new family - who I love very much and appreciate even more, who helped me remember that even if it was just what i'd said in the group server, it was still really bad.

I mean, you'd think having my parents on a Revenge List (for legal reasons, it's a joke and no death is involved - especially not arson or murder) would be enough support for me to go "hey yeah actually maybe they're really terrible and i've been putting up with bullshit for too long" but i mean. here we are lol.

i mean i still sent the thing and i wouldn't have done that without support and knowing I was safe to do so, so like. that might be enough of a sign lol.

I do feel bad, you know. for them. I know it will feel like it's out of the blue, and they won't know where it's coming from. They'll be confused and probably upset about it. But also? also they deserve this. (I mean they don't actually, they do not deserve the nicety of me asking them to fuck off in a polite but firm way, they deserve me shouting it at them while throwing them the finger and driving off into the sunset in a cloud of smoke, but like. a text message is fine).

I do kind of wish there had been a way for me to explain what they had done wrong, so they would be less confused, but all that does is open the door for them to deny it, to tell me my lived experiences are wrong, to ignore me and walk over me again and again and again. it's no my job to explain things and make this experience more palatable to them. I do not need to make them feel better about this, because it's going to hurt them. And they're damn lucky I acknowledge that at minimum. I do more but that's because i'm inherently damaged by their treatment of me in a way i have not yet had time to fix all the way.

I am trying not to be annoying by posting about this in too many places. I'm not trying to make it about me, I don't want a lot of attention for this, I just. I'm so tired and i just...i just want my parents to leave me alone. They had their shot to get to know me and they squandered it. now it's Too Late and I do not trust them and that's...that's allowed for me to say to them. It's allowed for me to tell them I do not want them as a major part of my life. If they wanted to be more involved they should have gotten involved well before i moved from Virginia to Michigan. They should have gotten involved well before i graduated college.

but they didn't care and now I don't either. I'm done begging for scraps of affection from them, and i don't want to give them any anymore, so it's done.

it's done.

i did it.

holyfuck i did it, i told them to fuck off. i actually *did it.*

...i think i need...i need to go do something else for a while.

[aceofwhump]

Question is the legacy editor any good? I've never used it because I'm paranoid about it messing my posts up lmao but I'm curious

The short answer is yes. Legacy editor, the older way tumblr did posting, is in my opinion, the superior editor. I love the legacy editor. A lot. It is definitely superior and I'm sad staff has decided to slowly get rid of it.

However! With that said I've been pretty much exclusively using the beta post editor for the last like year when staff announced that they'd be eliminating the legacy editor eventually so I thought it'd be a good idea to get used to the beta editor. Which I suppose I did. I've gotten used to it and don't use legacy much at all anymore. I also wanted to use it because I got really tired of not being able to edit in mobile the posts I made on web using the legacy editor. With the beta editor you can edit across platforms which is soooo nice. (although it appears that in one of the apps many updates I can now edit a gifset I made today via legacy editor but not the posts I've made in the past using the legacy editor so who knows what's going with that).

But there's a lot of annoying things about the new beta editor that make it inferior to the legacy editor and I'm praying that staff will improve it. For starters, and probably my biggest complaint, is how awful it is to upload and rearrange images. It's so much easier in legacy editor to move images around. In beta the page moves when you start to move the image and it drives me CRAZY!!! I always end up putting the image in the wrong place because the page won't stop moving! Legacy is wonderful to arrange images. I do think the upload is slightly better in beta purely because it uploads multiple images in the order I select them where the legacy just puts them in whatever order it wants to and I have to remember what order I wanted my gifs in.

Legacy is also better because it actually differentiates between an image post and a text post. With the beta editor everything is technically a test post. So my gifsets are not considered an "image post". Some people have noted that the beta, since it's not an image post, it resizes the images a little and sometimes decreases the quality of the gif by doing that. I haven't really noticed that myself with my own gifs but doesn't mean it isnt happening.

The legacy editor also allows me to upload my gifs without stupid errors for no reason. Lately any time I upload more than 6 gifs at once I get an error message and have to upload them one by one. Its not because of size because they're always under 7mbs so I don't know why I can't upload them all at once. I hate it actually. And sometimes my gif will be under 10mbs (like 9.7mbs) and it'll tell me that the gif is too big. Excuse me tumblr but 9.7 is smaller than 10! I never had this problem in legacy.

The legacy editor is also better when it comes to using html, inserting links as text and not the stupid thing beta does where you paste the link and it becomes that stupid post preview thing that I hate, and oh my god is it awful for text blocks! When it first came out you couldnt select multiple texts blocks at all. You can now but it isn't the easiest. And it like expands when you do and makes it weird. Idk it's hard to describe. In legacy you can just...select all the text with no problems. Text blocks are treated like individual sections in the beta and make editing a major pain in the ass.

I also don't like thst apparently new xkit won't work in beta and you have to use xkit rewritten because fuck I don't want to learn how to use that one when I've been using new xkit for years but I guess I'm gonna have to now. I haven't been having any problems with xkit yet but who knows....

So yeah I think overall legacy is better. Beta Post Editor has some good things (I like the increased image upload limit, the editing tags is good) about it but there's so many problems. Unfortunately we're stuck with it so I've been sticking to using it exclusively to make the transition easier on myself. I do suggest becoming used to how it works and to just continue to provide feedback to staff about features we dislike or bugs we come across. Hopefully they'll listen and improve it.

[taohs]

Maybe I should reveal myself soon, so you don't get spammed with long messages like this all the time.

~

I had to clarify! Sometimes if I feel like the question is vague, I would ask just because I would overthink the question and answer the question you were not asking. If that makes sense. Like someone asks me a question, and my answer wasn't for questions the person asked. If that makes sense. Anyway.

For animanga series.. There have been lots of series I've watched in my lifetime, and even more I wanted to see too. Which doesn't narrow it down.

Maybe I should make a list of series I've gotten into for people who are curious. On my page, not yours. Just so you don't think I would spam you that often with these messages.

I should get back into watching anime again. Right now I've been watching some Asian shows, movies, anything with favorite celebrities too. So I am into a lot of shows lately, just not animated though. And it is because I keep on getting sidetracked every time.

And a lot of series I do enjoy watching, seasons and movies were released basically every month during this whole year. So I might have to rewatch seasons because watching new seasons and movies.

And in a unusual way to explain this... I have a lot of favorites, but I also don't have favorites. Like I really have a lot of favorites that I can't say what ultimate favorites are because there's too many. If that does make sense. But, above all else, I can say that some underrated series are definitely favorites. I do think everything about Black Lagoon is well written for all these people to enjoy - story, characters, music and everything else. I could never hate that series.

"i can relate to you with enjoying underrated series, some of my friends constantly has to deal with me yelling about my current obsessions that not many people knows about in hope that they’ll give the series a chance too." That's how I am about these situations. Regardless of hyperfixarions, I'm like to everyone who decides to have a conversation with me. Which is very annoying for most people too.

And Full Metal Alchemist is another series, I have watched both versions. But I might be slightly more interested in Brotherhood because of characters in that series wasn't in the original series. But I also do enjoy both versions.

Bungo Stray Dogs, Demon Slayer, Jujutsu Kaisen, Psycho Pass, and many others series too. But those are some examples. And obviously Black Clover. Actually.. Every series I listed here had nee content this year. New seasons, movies, spinoff series. So it is obvious that I will have to get back into anime for that reason. So yeah... So that should happen soon.

I might recommend other series to you. Not right now, since you already have shows you're watching. So maybe after those shows are done for you.

Regardless of which language you watch for Black Lagoon, Asta's obnoxious personality does end up less annoying as the series continues. So what arc are you up to now? I enjoy a lot of these characters. And I like a lot of the female characters too.

~

I'm a really short person. Charmy Pappitson (BL) and Saiko Yonebayashi (Tokyo Ghoul) would be the characters closest to my height. And I would've also said Runa Yomozaki (Kakeguri) too, but she is shorter than me. I'm only 4'6. So I'm really short.

~

I'll let you know if anything does bother me.

My birthday day was a lot better than I was hoping for. And I was energetic - energetic for me anyway - the whole day, which is saying a lot from me.

I'm an introvert. Since I keep never keep friends in my life (not including online friends), I do not leave my house much anymore. And any plans I had for my birthday might have been different. At least one plan with family, one plan with friends, that sort of situation. I only say that because the original plans that my family had for me were more like plans you would have with your friends, not with family. If that makes sense? But, for reason, everyone who wants to take me out for my birthday wants to have many plans with me. Like one plan with family, and then a separate plan with them. My introvert self is so very stressed about that idea though. That is just a lot of socializing for me. But I also won't complain when a lot people buy me things. I love being pampered, I'll always be a spoiled brat. Because I'm an only child. If I did have real friends, then it should only be this small group of people or even a couple people. Just so I can leave my house every so often, if and when I did want to be away from everyone else at home.

I was disappointed that I couldn't dye my hair the colors I wanted.. Originally I wanted to dye my hair orange, and also other colors that went with orange too. Like if I dyed my hair orange, red and yellow - I would have done a fiery ombre style (think of Kyojuro from Demon Slayer if that helps you think of the style). But orange dye was sold out in every store and site I went on, so I guess it was a popular color this year. So I dyed my hair three different shades of blue instead. One of the shades of blue I originally wanted was also sold out, so I had to end up choosing a different shade instead of that one. The blue dyes are vibrant. The bluest blue shade is similar to Satoru Gojo's blue eyes. Like a sky blue, aqua blue (like a pale cyan) and silvery blue. I admit that I imagined the styling for my hair differently, but I still do love the colors. And I would use these colors again, but maybe with other colors instead. Actually I almost look like Saiko Yonebayashi with my blue hair, even if the shading is really different.

My makeup seemed to be the only detail about my appearance that I was having problems with. Since my perfectionism was upset that my make was too uneven for me, at least with the eyeliner anyway.

I thought about sending you a picture. But seemed weird if did send you a picture. I thought it might be weird if I did that, so I didn't send any pictures. And I meant pictures of me, not the party. So I didn't.

And as for my family.. The people who I didn't want to show up, except for two, couldn't make it. So I've been lucky with that. The uncle (and aunt) that did come, I didn't want him there because he talks way too much for me. But he paid for dinner. So that did kind of make up for stealing the spotlight from me. Only a small group of my family came to dinner so it was fine for me. And the restaurant was just this local restaurant that I never went to before, but the food was better than I thought it would be. So that also worked out fine for me too. Everything was so much better than I thought would happen anyway. So.. yeah... That happened.

- 💋

haha whatever makes you comfortable! i don’t mind the long messages at all so you don't need to worry about that, though lately with work being so rough i'm always exhausted by the end of the day, so it’s been hard to sit down and answer messages in general. really hoping that things will pick up soon!

what asian shows are you interested in? i used to be into chinese and korean shows before i drifted to animanga instead. i do check on my favorite celebrities from time to time just to see what they're doing too. hope you have fun if you do decide to rewatch any series! there definitely has been a lot of new things being released this year. i'm usually slow at starting new things unless it's something i'm already really into, so i'll be probably be late again at starting any of them lol

don't be afraid to talk about your hyperfixation with me! i personally don't find it annoying. i actually really like seeing what other people enjoy and what they would recommend. and it makes me happy whenever someone is willing to listen to me talk about what i love, so i definitely like doing the same for other people as well

both fma and fmab were just fantastic. i prefered brotherhood also because it follows more closely with the manga and there is also the new characters as you mentioned (especially olivier). the original version is still comforting to watch though. izumi is one of my favorite character so i was elated at the amount of screentime she had. the plot deviation was also an interesting touch, although i didn't like the ending very much. still a solid watch! and the animation was still really good for an older series

right now in black clover i'm in the witch's forest arc? not completely sure what the official name is. it's the part where asta got an ancient curse placed on his arms, and vanessa went back to the witch's forest to help him. i love vanessa a lot so i'm really enjoying this!!! the arc before this was also very fun, and it helped me appreciate the black bull squad more as a whole too. still not a very big fan of gauche though, even though he's gotten more tolerable... he's just... a weirdo

aww that is a lot of smol characters that is near your height! ^^ i think you will be the first person i know that will see me as tall lol, since i'm usually shorter than everyone else too

i'm glad your birthday went well!! what did you end up doing for the day, besides dinner? yeah, i get you about being stressed out with too much socializing, though on the bright side it does mean a lot to have other people think of you. (also nothing wrong with wanting to be pampered, it's what you deserve.) it's great that your hair also turned out beautifully (from what i am imagining anyway), even though it wasn't what you had planned originally!! and i think it's so cool you're able to achieve it yourself too. maybe in the future you can try that fiery ombre style you had wanted once they have the colors you wanted again

[mcbex]

*Nature vs Nurture *

Before the sun came up this morning, I saw its warm rays streaming across the sky. It hit the clouds and it seemed as if it was fire. The hue of orange and gold were magic to my eyes and full of hope. I stopped to take a picture from the end of my driveway. Then I spoke aloud to the sunrise to feel a connection to the morning wonder. I said “I can’t see you but I know a new day is here, you always show up right on time.“ instantly I am confronted with Gods love and plans and constant security. Realizing the gift of today I began to pray for the second time today.

Lately I've been feeling the relentless tug of life. It seems as though the under current of turbulence is just satans way of keeping me busy and unfocused. Maybe it's me trying to shove too much into my human days in want of making the most of all of it. But I know that's not complete truth because I am protective of my time. I'm protective of my journey but searching for the road is long and at times misleading.

Listening to a pod cast tonight the speaker says (paraphrasing) that sometimes miracles get in the way of the message, and when we focus on miracles we miss the message God is trying to convey. This too hits a little too close to home on my quest for enlightenment. How many times have I come home boggled from the day, straining to get closure on the world where I had spent hours bracing my innocence. How many times have I gotten up in the morning and prayed that this day I would be able to handle everything thrown at me. How many times have I driven this road asking for answers, seeking Gods voice and looking for signs. It's the signs that sneak in and lead us a stray, because however beautiful they are God doesn't speak in signs or wonders. He speaks in action, whisper and occasionally He heals someone, but I think His motives are mostly for other reasons in that case. For whatever it's worth He doesn't make us wonder, He is clear. We wonder because we oppose the answers He shares with us. We question because we laughably believe that surely our take on the circumstance must be the right way.

Ashamed of it as I may be, I've dabbled with numerology, used ouija board and I'm sure I've seen a palm reader at least once in my life. These may offer some kind of peak but it negates who is speaking. You have to wonder WHO really is speaking and why am I listening to anything other than the word of God that has never led me astray.

Coming home the sun is down and the scene is different. It's dark again when I arrive, as winter still lay quietly on my town like a sleepy blanket. The headlights illuminating the road offer me focus and remind me of the laser like path each of us has carved out. With this thought I feel more centered than I have in a long time. Because once again I recognize that the devil will use anyone or anything to peel away our faith and chip away at the security we wrap around ourselves. I find his antics annoying, boring and sophomoric yet they still trip me up. Probably because the low tech design of his plight is almost undetectable until you find yourself trapped in his web of confusion.

Moving forward I will feel the emotion of the sunrise, sunset and all the beauty he allows for me to see but I will not look to them to remind me of anything other than a gift. A gift of life and of death. A gift that comes in both pretty packages as well as newspaper. I will remember to ask myself, who am I speaking to, why am I asking and where is the reply coming from? The forthright voice of God leads, and I will follow it alone for He is constant. He is love. He is my father and he knows the way.

Psalm 25:4 Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths.

Jeremiah29; 11- 14 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity.

[autumn-foxfire]

It's the implication that only sweet innocent children matter and a big fuck you to you and your trauma if you're an adult or if you fuck up as an adult you can say "I have a hurt inner child in me that's just lashing out" to justify your shitty actions instead of trying to work on improving yourself. The idea that adults aren't worth saving compared to kids. Which is incredibly toxic and detrimental.

(+) Maybe I want one of these 20-something year old villains, even in their 30s, to decide they want to live better than what they are now, and the challenge from trying to believe that it's not too late and working towards that. To accept responsibility for what they should know is wrong and start handling their issues in a more healthy manner and then why the hell not. Document their journey in a tumblr post over the years and people who've been there will support you and be inspired.

TLDR: Being an adult does not mean your life is over, you can always make the decision to improve yourself, stop spreading the idea that there's a point where you're too far gone and only through reaching the "inner child" can someone be saved because that is some bullshit if I ever heard one because PEOPLE CHANGE AND BECOME HORRIBLE they're fucking mass murderers!!! But you can always stop and be better than you were yesterday. Sorry I got "bnha" and "real life" mixed up, can't tell where I was

I am not entirely sure who you're directing this message to, to be honest. Or if you're being sarcastic at parts. It's hard to tell over text but I'm just going to answer this honestly.

I agree that it's a damaging ideology to spread that only those who happened to be "innocent" in childhood can be saved and it's why I've gotten annoyed at the constant use of child imagery in BNHA in order to make the villains seem more redeemable. He didn't need to do that for Enji, who went from one of the most hated characters in the series because of what he did to someone who is loved by many for his change, so I don't know why he keep repeating it with the villains.

I know Shigaraki was an abused child who was manipulated by AFO but I don't think reaching out to that "inner" child, if he even exists, will change the feelings of the current Shigaraki. In fact, it feels like the manga is trying to ignore addressing how the villains feel now, which would be more effective way of getting through to them.

I also hate that it was only when Deku saw this "inner child" that he even attempted to understand him. So he wouldn't have done so if he didn't see him? He would have just continued to treat Shigaraki as a villain to capture and not try and reach out too. Does Hori think the only way to get Deku to empathize with Shigaraki is to see him as a child? If so then why is he trying to get him to save him as an adult who is far removed from the child he used to be?

I think it would be more impactful for the students to learn the feelings of the villains as they are now and while they might not understand and definitely don't agree with their actions, to have them acknowledge how the villains became the way they did in order to avoid repeating the same mistakes.

It should also be the villains who want to change, the responsibility shouldn't fall on the heroes, especially their goddamn victims, the heroes can acknowledge their circumstances and offer a helping hand but the VILLAINS themselves need to make that step.

[jaeminscoffee]

Enough. (m.)

Pairing- Jung Jaehyun x reader

Genre- Smut, Fluff towards the end.

Word count - 3k

Warnings- Harddom!Jaehyun, Sub!reader,Rough sex (are we shocked), manhandling, degradation, choking, overstimulation, strong language, hair pulling, spanking, slight size kink, dirty talking, Jaehyun is pissed.

(just realised this is the longest warning list I've made so like, buckle up, you're up for a really messy long ass ride)

Summary- Jaehyun had had enough of your behavior.

(Minors kindly try not to interact with my blogs!)

Jaehyun's life has been going at a very fast pace with the ongoing promotion of an ordeal according to you. 

Don't take it the wrong way, you were extremely happy that your boyfriend's getting promoted, but he's so caught up with it that you get the minimal attention from his side. Or so you think. 

Jaehyun is an extremely kind lad, but is an extreme disciplinarian. He is also highly patient, which you take a little too much advantage of. 

Take for example this one time the past week, Jaehyun had left early for a really important meeting when you'd decided to spam him with pictures, well not so moral. He wouldn't have minded if it was when he was in his cabin, but thinking it would've been something important seeing how many messages he was getting, he opened your texts, a picture of you in his favourite pair of lingerie took up it's place on his screen, and his fucking colleague got a glimpse of it. 

Strike one. 

Then came this time when he was busy completing a very crucial project, you texted him in bold "I'm in trouble' making Jaehyun's heart jump right up his throat. When he'd called you the very second, all he heard right after you had picked up the call was you whimpering, gasping his name slowly. You were touching yourself without his permission. 

Strike two. 

He could deal with all of that, stuffing the madness deep within him to not give you what you want, wanting to show you that your petty ways of grabbing his attention won't work on him. That just riled you up more. It got you even worked up seeing him walk in and out of the house with nothing but content on his face, no matter what you'd do. Want to scream at him? Well go ahead, Hm, silent treatment? Nah. Nagging should do the work, right? Wrong.

It's when he arrived home, all happy with the news he'd received at work when you decided to act up. 

"I'm home!" Jaehyun screamed from the entrance, loosening his tie, making his way towards where you were, the bedroom. 

"Babe! I've got good news--!" he got cut off, by you slamming yourself right onto him, holding him by the wall beside your bedroom door. 

"Have you been ignoring me?" you ask, voice gruff. Jaehyun's face seemed to contort, pondering when he'd done so. 

"No?" He answered, mostly questioning himself. You huff out, turning towards the side as the neediness from being lonely and untouched for over weeks got the best of you. You look at him, dead in the eyes, "Yes you did. You picked up none of my calls.-" he cut you off with his reasoning "I was in a meeting baby-" you cut him off this time, "And you ignored each one of my texts. You saw them, but didn't bother replying." 

Jaehyun let his eyes roam around your figure, draped in his black shirt, hair left free, face red from anger, chest heaving. He smiled knowingly. 

"I was busy, now would you be an absolute sweetheart and make me something while I go freshen up?" he ended with a hum, bending down to place a peck on your lips. 

"No." you reply, backing away from his body, walking backwards as you grip at the hem of your shirt, "No?" Jaehyun replied, now standing comfortably by the wall you'd shoved him onto with his arms folded over his chest. 

"No." you confirm, "Alright suit yourself." he shrugged, still standing there to see what you've got up your sleeves as you proceed to walk backwards in the direction of your closet. 

"I'm going over to Johnny's. At least he'd pay me more attention." you mumbled the last part, wantedly a little louder for him to hear. 

Jaehyun furrowed his eyebrows, he'd just gotten home. "And why would you do that?" he asked, stepping away from the wall, taking one small step towards you. "Because he knows how to give me attention and when." you reply loud and clear. Jaehyun visibly stiffened. 

You and Johnny had a history, you met Jaehyun through him, in fact. You guys were what your friends called friends with benefits. You'd cut off those ties and resorted to being best friends after getting into a relationship, of course. But Jaehyun always seemed hesitant to let you be alone with Johnny, but still gave you the freedom to do so. 

"What did you just say?" his voice gravelly as he took another step towards you. Jaehyun's sudden shift of demeanor makes you flinch the slightest. "I said, he knows how to give me attention and when, better than you for that matter."

Now that was strike three. 

Jaehyun's eyes darkened, as his built figure took long, fast strides towards you, scaring you a little, knowing you'd crossed the line. He stopped just an inch in front of you making you crane your neck to look at him, him lowering himself to be eye level with you. 

"What are you trying to get on, Y/n." Jaehyun asked, the pent up frustration of over time finally getting to him, gripping your shoulders in a tight hold making you hiss under your breath. 

Clearing your throat, you look down, then back up to his eyes, "Literally nothing. All I said was I'm going out to Johnnys" you stare at him with the same intensity his gaze held. Jaehyun's eyes narrowed, "Give me the exact reason." he asked, voice multiple octaves low. "Exact reason?" he hummed, "Well because my boyfriend won't fucking touch me so i have to seek help from my fuck buddy. There, happy?" 

You blink and next second you feel yourself being thrown down onto the sheets, earning a short gasp from your mouth. "Starting to whore around again, huh?" he spoke through gritted teeth, stripping out of his work suit, his biceps bulging as he removed his tie, his wrist watch, discarding only the watch by the side table, tie still in hand. 

"Well, whores get treated like whores." Jaehyun looked at you the way one would look at their prey. You whimper, his words, his aura, his voice all going straight to your core, sending shocks all throughout your body. "Strip." he ordered, standing tall, tie wrapped around his palm, arms folded over his chest, shifting his weight from one leg to another, body still adorning his white formal shirt and the black office pants, shirt tucked in making him look ethereal. 

You immediately comply, having waited for this all about the week, the only real material to remove being his shirt that had lifted up your thigh from how he'd thrown you onto the bed. 

You sit on your knees waiting for his next command. Jaehyun let out a throaty chuckle at your innocent gaze. He walked over towards the edge of the bed, gesturing with his hands for you to come over. You crawl over to him, sitting on your knees once again. You see him unwrap the tie and hold it in one hand, the other reaching out, "Give me your hands." he said in a throaty voice. You hesitate to do so, not wanting to be snatched of your freedom to touch him. 

You look at him with the most appealing, seductive look you could muster, trying to change his mind, all Jaehyun did was stare at you, boredom visible in his eyes. He waited, raising his eyebrows as you looked down at your hands that were resting on the bare flesh of your thigh. Jaehyun clicked his tongue, clearly annoyed, he took hold of your hands in a tight grip, "I don't like repeating myself, baby" he fumed, placing the silk clothing around your wrist, wrapping it multiple time before tying a knot tight enough to leave a bruise, making you wince, "And you know that." with one last tug at the knot, he backed away. 

Jaehyun removed his shirt, ripping it basically and all you could do was stare at him with lust oozing out of your eyes. At the sight of your boyfriends toned torso, you let out a silent moan, reaching your hands down between your thighs with your now tied up wrist, trying to soothe the aching. "Touch yourself and you won't even be allowed to fucking come." He growled, discarding the belt and his shirt, the only clothing on his body being his pants. You flinch at the tone of his voice, subtly brushing the tip of your finger on your clit, removing it immediately at his words. 

"Good. At least you know who does what here." Jaehyun exclaimed with voice dripping dominance, walking towards the bed once again and onto the bed, sitting the same way as you, still being taller. He trailed his hands up from your stomach, through the valley of your chest, and towards your neck, wrapping the elegant digits around the muscle, applying pressure, pushing you down onto the mattress. 

You look at him eyes wide, as the pressure increases, "Tell me, princess. Why have you been acting up lately?" Jaehyun inquired, hovering over your body, his broad shoulders covering you almost fully, the feeling of being powerless making your essence drip down onto the sheets 

"Answer me, bitch." he raised his voice, grip tightening around your neck, "J-jae-" you tap his hands, trying to let him know the pressure was too much. He didn't seem bothered though, until you frantically tried your hardest to gather as much oxygen as you could, he loosened just the slightest. 

"I-i'm sorry.. " was all you could get out, his eyes roaming all over your face before leaning down and capturing your lips in a rough kiss. Finally having some sort of your skinship with your boyfriend making you feel ecstatic as you allow yourself to slip into your subspace. Jaehyun swiped his tongue across your bottom lip, then biting it hard enough to draw a small amount of blood, making you gasp out loud, him taking advantage of your open mouth, slipping his tongue in. 

The exact moment, without you noticing, his hands had trailed down your body, towards your throbbing core, cupping the heat before shoving two digits straight into your wetness. 

You scream into the kiss, Jaehyun gulping down the sound, pulling away to hear your moans that were so addicting to his ears, the only thing keeping you attached being a string of saliva. 

Jaehyun didn't like it slow, his pace inhumanly fast in thrusting in and out of you, drawing moans after moans from you. 

"Look at you squirming already, tsk." He laughed, looking down at where his fingers disappeared in you, essence splattering each time he pulsed in. 

"J-Jae!" you tug at your wrist, wanting something to hold onto as he kept going, fingers curling in you making you jerk as you feel the tip of his fingers brush against your soft spot. 

With the actions of his skilled fingers, his gaze and the constant taunts, you felt yourself being dragged towards your high, expecting Jaehyun to slow down at the feeling of your wall clenching around his fingers, but all he did was smirk at you, moving downwards and increased the speed of his arms, the other wrapping around your middle to keep you in place as you thrash around, feeling your orgasm rip out of you. 

Jaehyun gave you one last smug look, before lowering himself, capturing your bundle of nerves in his mouth, fingers still going on about wanting to force another orgasm out of you.

You try closing your legs, the action making Jaehyun graze his teeth on your clit, removing his mouth from it right after, only to give your core a slightly rough smack, "Keep it open, baby. You wanted this." he mumbled against your core, vibrations of his voice travelling up your stomach, making your nipples painfully perk up, then resumed sucking and tugging on the sensitive bud. 

"jesus, fuck!" you cry out, not being given the chance to come down from your high, making you shut your eyes tight. 

Jaehyun dragged his fingers out slow, shoving it in with full force, watching you lift your back off the sheets, making the boy chuckle. His fingers fastened, if that was possible, tongue circling the clit, as you feel yourself near your second orgasm. 

"Ah, you're close again. Good, good." he spoke against your south lip, the feeling drawing you straight towards your high, as you feel a tear slip out of your eyes. 

Jaehyun immediately removed his fingers, lapping up the juices sprawling out of you, watching you twitch from being overstimulated. Eating you up clean, he backed away from your burning body, quickly discarding his pants alongside his boxer, chucking it somewhere behind him as you turned towards your side from the slight pain in your abdomen. 

Jaehyun looked at you, all fucked out, boosting his ego up further, as you desperately tried catching your breath. Futile. 

He let himself crawl back up your body, his hands removing the stray hair falling on your face, brushing his fingers through your tangled hair as you let yourself melt at his soft action. Funny, because the next moment, he gripped your roots, pulling you back onto your back making your breath hitch. "I had you come twice in less than 10 minutes, princess. You think Johnny could've done that?" he grunted, his painfully hardened dick now aligned by your entrance, making you squirm away as much as you could, Jaehyun keeping you in place with his hands tangled in your hair.

"Why the fuck are you silent now? Huh? Finally feeling bad for your sorry ass?" he tugged at the roots once again, making you shut your eyes tight at the pain, wanting freedom to move your hands however you want, being restrained by his necktie around your wrist.

Jaehyun dragged his length over your wetness, lubricating it before shoving it in completely, "Good, b-because i rather prefer you moan than use that annoying voice t-to talk about another guy" he grunted, the wetness and your tight walls feeling pleasurable on his member. 

You let out choked moans, letting Jaehyun ram himself inside you, tears continuously flowing down your cheeks. Jaehyun removed his hand from your hair, placing it beside your head instead to balance himself over you as he set a fast pace in going in and out. 

Jaehyun groaned, letting all his anger out by torturing your core, "Ja-jae slow down, I'm sensi-t-tive" you blurt out, mouth wide open. You hear him growl, pulling out of you, instead of saying anything, he flipped you onto your stomach, lifting your hips up in the air, before shoving his length back in. You let out a loud enough scream, clenching around his member, "That h-hurts.. " you cry out, keeping yourself up the best you could with your tied hands. "It should. With how you've been acting, you fucking deserve it." Jaehyun spoke, moving his hips against yours once again. In all honesty, you didn't want him to slow down, the pain not too unbearable, just perfect enough to be extremely pleasurable. 

Busy trying to focus on the feeling of his member moving in and out of your numb walls and trying to control your breath, you fail to notice one of his hands leave your waist, rubbing the flesh of your ass in a circular motion, lifting it up and bringing it down with full force, making you yelp at the sudden contact, "That's for being a fucking slut the entire week" his hands came down again, smacking the exact same spot, "That's for distracting me during work" you moan out, feeling your climax come closer with each smack, "That's for touching yourself." he groaned. 

He rubbed the reddening skin, bringing it back down with all his power, "That's for thinking about Johnny when I'm your fucking boyfriend" he finished, feeling you clench around his member as you reach your high. 

"And now she's coming again, fucking pathetic." he swore, your wetness producing squelching noises each time he pushed in, your overly dripping cunt now simply aching, unable to feel pleasure anymore. 

"J-jae i can't.." you say out in a strained voice, arms giving out as you lean your upper body down onto the mattress completely. "You can take a little more, and you will." he replied, going faster as he felt himself nearing the edge. Thrusts sloppier, Jaehyun reached out forward, gripping your hair once again, making you arch your back in a painful angle, as he held you there. His other hand reached out around your body, rubbing your clit in fast, circular motion, wanting you to come along with him. 

You tug at your wrist again, feeling the material pierce through your skin, making you cry out loud with pain both in your core and your wrist. 

You bite down your lips, feeling Jaehyun halt his hips, seeds coating your wall, the feeling having you experience an intense orgasm. 

He pulled out after emptying himself in you, your cries getting muffled, you feel both your juices drip down your thighs as Jaehyun gently lay you down. 

He took a hold of your hands, removing the tie, wincing at the red bruises, placing soft pecks all over the bruised area, he mumbled out a sorry, to which you just nodded your head. 

Jaehyun moved his body to sleep beside you, placing a kiss on your forehead as he ran his hands up and down your back in a comforting manner, making you calm down, "You okay?" he asked softly, you murmur out a faint yes, snuggling up his chest. 

After minutes of silence, the pain finally reducing the slightest, you ask Jaehyun, "you said something about having a good news..?" you whisper out loud enough for him to hear, eyelids growing heavier. He laughed out at your question, looking down at you, placing his chin on top of your head.

"Oh yeah, i got promoted."

[bettsfic]

I've just reread "Riptide". It's so good and heartbreaking ;-; are you still planning on writing that Kylux sequel or have you changed your mind? :) have a lovely evening!

i am going to be completely honest with you. i have started this fic over and over again. i don’t know what my hangup is. it’s all in my head. like. all of it. but i just can’t write it down.

here’s the most recent iteration:

The reality of the situation is this: Ben has just undergone a massive breakup with a girl named Rey. He cries all the time now. He lazes about watching action movies back to back even though the glare from the window obscures the screen. He writes lovelorn poetry sometimes on a goddamn typewriter whose keys clack loudly enough to rattle the house, and leaves the tattered shreds of it on the floor beside the trash can. A nest of potato chip bags, Oreos, empty beer cans, and tiny hot sauce bottles make a half-circle around his permanent perch on the couch. He smells. He’s annoying. He’s undisciplined. He’s crass and oblivious and pedantic and cruel and ignorant.

And Hux has been in love with him since they were fourteen years old.

Hux finds Ben’s hulking form curled onto a barstool in the kitchen, tiny iPhone in his massive paw, shoveling Honey Nut Cheerios into his mouth. He’s wearing a rumpled t-shirt and boxer shorts and his pores emanate whatever booze he consumed last night, likely enough to kill most of the population but just enough to put him to sleep.

Hux lumbers past, three-fourths still dozing, and says, “You’re not on the couch.”

This apparently does not warrant a reply. Hux fills the kettle with water, puts it on the stove, and flips the burner on. Ben did the dishes, it looks like--the counter is spotless except for the open box of cereal hiding Hux’s view of whatever Ben is doing on his phone.

It’s been a little over a month since Ben took up residence on Hux’s couch. And it’s not as if his presence is entirely unwelcome; Ben does have some redeeming qualities. He puts Hux’s dirty laundry in with his own and then folds it and puts it away. He pays for all the rented movies they watch with his mother’s emergency credit card (“She’s not going to notice three and four dollar charges,” he says, for the twelfth night in a row). He stays up late with Hux after the movie is over and they talk about it and whatever else until he has one too many beers and starts crying about Rey again, and Hux puts his grandmother’s afghan over him and goes to bed. Some nights after dinner, they sit on the porch and watch the fireflies bumble past while the sun sets, not saying anything at all. Ben cooks decently healthy meals compared to Hux’s norm of take-out, makes playlists for Hux on Spotify to introduce him to new music, and asks questions about, or happily listens to, Hux rant about his job. Ben is the only person alive that Hux knows--with every atom in his pitiful body--loves him.

Ben picks up the bowl and slurps the dredges of his milk. Hux leans against the counter waiting for the kettle to boil, arms over his chest, eying him.

“You look different,” Hux says.

Ben finally looks up at him over the cereal box. “How?”

“I don’t know. Something’s different about you.” Hux reaches over and plucks the cereal box out of the way. Ben slips his phone under the table, still doing something on it with one thumb, swiping one direction and occasionally the other.

“What are you doing?” Hux asks.

“Nothing,” Ben mutters.

“You’re never on your phone. You let it die between the couch cushions most days and I have to plug it in for you.”

“It’s nothing.”

Hux lunges forward and tries to grab the phone. A wrestling match ensues where Ben falls off the barstool onto the ground, Hux manages to straddle his stomach, all four hands are on the phone (which does not have a case because Ben is a fucking savage), and there’s maybe a bit of biting extremities involved. Eventually Ben rolls Hux to his back, and they’ve made their way to some dusty corner of the kitchen where Hux can feel cobwebs in his hair, but Ben’s hips are crushed between Hux’s legs (“Stop it, stop it, just give me my fucking--” “Let me see it, I just want to--”), and Hux realizes:

This is a very bad idea.

Ben seems to come to his own realization and freezes. For one glistening moment, a slat of light shines through the kitchen window into a simulacrum of glass, dusty specs dancing between them, and Ben’s hair is falling out of its ponytail around his face, and their eyes are locked, limbs tangled, wide-eyed and raw.

Then Ben’s face clouds over (or reddens?) and he lets go of the phone.

Victory. Hux presses the unlock button (no password, the idiot) and finds--

“Tinder?” Hux asks. “You’re on Tinder now?”

Ben, settled on his haunches, grabs the phone away from Hux again, who lets him have it. “I just. I need--something. I don’t know. I can’t handle this, okay. This--this emptiness.”

Ben. Ben Organa. Benjamin Lucas Organa. Ben, whose mother forces the most up-to-date iPhones into his hands for Christmas every year, who made a Facebook in 2013 at the insistence of his family and never uses it, who refuses to read eBooks because “paper books are important, Hux,” who only buys and listens to vinyl records except when fiddling with Hux’s Spotify account, who pluralizes “Twitters.” This is the man Hux sees before him, probably swiping right on girls who claim to be laid-back, adventurous, love to travel! Just looking for some fun!! Last pic is my dog!!!

Hux is about to say something when the kettle goes from a whistle to a scream. He climbs to standing, pajamas in twisted disarray, something crumbly falling down the back of his neck, and goes to the stove to take the kettle off the burner.

Once the kettle falls silent, Hux says, “You’re not going to find anyone on there.”

He takes a coffee cup down from the cupboard. Halfway to the counter, he notices Ben hasn’t replied. When he closes the cabinet door, he sees Ben scratching the back of his neck.

“You already have a date, don’t you,” Hux says.

Ben nods. The phone is on the table. It lights up but doesn’t make a sound. Ben picks it up and checks the message.

“What are you expecting, Ben? You’re going to bring her back here to Netflix and chill on my couch?”

Ben types a reply and then says, “No, we’re just grabbing a beer.”

“But--but what if she’s a psychopath? What if she’s luring you to her apartment where some dude twice your size is waiting with an axe to murder you and take your wallet? If you get kidnapped, I’m not paying your ransom. I’d have to take out another mortgage on the house. I’d--”

“And you think I’m obsolete? Jesus, Hux, welcome to the future, where people use the most convenient and readily available technology to find sexual gratification.”

Hux’s lips purse as he puts the filter in the pour-over lid and measures out a tablespoon of coffee.

“Just because you haven’t gotten laid in a thousand years doesn’t mean I have to restrict myself to the same fate,” Ben says.

“I’m not interested in one-night stands,” Hux says. He lifts the kettle and pours the steaming water over the grounds. “I’m looking for a connection, a spark. I’m looking for…” someone better for me than you, he thinks. And he’s not sure that’s possible.

The reality of the situation is this: Benjamin Lucas Organa is a heterosexual who has been in a long-term relationship for nearly as long as Hux has known him. In this time, Hux has dated mostly men but also the occasional woman or non-gender-conforming individual. He’s been on more double dates with Ben on Rey than he cares to count, and eventually in the last few years, dwindled into just hanging out with the two of them as what he perceived to be the third wheel at first, but was in actuality something like being in the presence of a relationship so codependent it was as if Ben and Rey were just two halves of one whole person. Hux never consciously took sides between them, but seeing as how Rey ran off to Europe for a while and Ben ended up on his couch, his loyalties now lie with Ben.

He’s been in love with Ben since the beginning--this beautiful ethereal boy with an uncanny sense of whimsy, an innocent obliviousness, endless love for the most mundane of things, it’s the way he sees the world, Hux thinks, years later, like everything is art--since the three of them were freshmen in homeroom together, and Hux has put up a long-suffering struggle against the feeling, the falling, the this is love, this is love, this is love. Only in the last few years has he given up that struggle, after relationship upon failed relationship where Hux expected his partners to live up to his adoration of his best friend yet fell miles short, and it just never seemed worth it to continue pursuing such a lost cause.

So he’s resigned himself, not to getting over Ben, but getting over the idea of romantic partnership. Curbing his want, like eating less overall so you don’t need to consume as much to feel full. He doesn’t need Ben’s heart, he thinks. He should be grateful enough to have him in his life at all, in any form that takes.

“Looking for what?” Ben asks. His thumb is poised over his phone, paused. Hux can see the glaring white smile of a blonde girl wearing a baseball cap and holding a pomeranian. Left? Right? Outside of Rey, Hux realizes he has no idea what Ben likes.

“I wish I knew.”

[duanecbrooks]

The Return Of Girls Gone Write     Further unmistakable evidence that women, by and large, are the superior writers: the former George W. Bush press secretary and current Fox News host Dana Perino's my-life-with-my-dog-Jasper memoir Let Me Tell You About Jasper...: How My Best Friend Became America's Dog and the large-screen sprite Anna Kendrick's personal/professional memoir Scrappy Little Nobody. These two books are, frankly, flat-out joys to read, the former being a frequently warmhearted, often humorous, always heartfelt telling of her life and experiences with her pet dog Jasper, who, as she convincingly claims, has become the real and true star of the Perino family; the latter being an engaging, sprightly, consistently witty literary self-examination of one of the modern-day American cinema's most succulent and most appealing chicks. To partake of these tomes consecutively, both from beginning to end, is to spend quality time with a pair of delightfully quirky, keenly aware, firmly articulate she-babes who, each in her own way, have a marvelous sense of proportion, a marvelous refusal to see themselves as having any kind of Greatness.             Before getting into just exactly why these superb books are superb, allow me to go into how I first became aware of Kendrick (If you'll remember, Perino first came into my life via her first-rate within-the-George W. Bush-administration memoir And The Good News Is...: Lessons and Advice from the Bright Side). Kendrick caught my attention, as do many other other folks and things these days, via YouTube. Specifically, first, during a compilation of Kathie Lee/Hoda's "best" Today "celebrity moments," wherein, when Kendrick was asked whether or not she'd like to play a game, she facetiously mimicked Nader and replied mock-earnestly: "No! I hate games! I hate fun, I hate laughing!" (Later, she was shown doing some mock-dirty dancing with said girls); second, during a trailer for one of Kendrick's more recent theatrical films, namely Get A Job, the aforementioned trailer's two highlights, for me, being 1) this scene where Kendrick's filmic character, Jillian by name, is sitting on the floor lamenting the fact that she spent almost all of the money she had on a BITCHIIN' pair of shoes, while clad in a pair of equally bangin' black toreador pants that, given her sitting position, magnificently show off her magnificently long, lean legs and her magnificently-proportioned bare feet; and 2) a long shot of Kendrick adorned in a man's white shirt and tie and black high heels and again displaying those stylishly long, lean legs. Thus I was already primed, due to being previously turned on by Kendrick, to favor her tome.             It's here where I'll deal with the highlights of both books, the places where our memoirists especially grab ahold of and, simultaneously, charm and delight us.               .Perino, on the vast network of fans/friends that has developed due to her having Jasper: "It is a bit wonderful that through television and social media, Jasper and I became friends with so many people across the country. I enjoy interacting with my followers and fans, and I really feel that we have modern-day friendships--people I've never met, but that I've come to know over time through short digital interactions. It has widened my circle of people I talk to, and it's deepened my appreciation for people from all walks of life. I now get a chance to communicate with people I wouldn't have ever known; the Internet has given us a way to connect and network that didn't exist before. We're all neighbors now (with the proper amount of fencing to keep things friendly).               "Often this new group of people has cheered me up or warmed my heart just when I needed it. Working in politics and live cable television can be stressful, and switching off at the end of the day isn't always easy. Jasper's following has actually given me a way to set aside the work portion of my day and exchange some messages with my electronic friends, which helps me keep grounded and cheerful."                 .Kendrick, on her brother Mike: "My brother is my hero. I've idolized him since the day I was born and I still do. He's responsible for at least sixty percent of my personality, for better or worse. I'm told that if you're an only child, you grow up thinking you're the center of the universe, and if you have tons of siblings you grow up with a healthy perspective on how small you are in the grand scheme of things. I'd like to think that my brother told me I was a worthless brat often enough that I got the same effect...     "Mike's main interests [when we were kids] were watching Star Wars, playing Magic: The Gathering, and avoiding his annoying little sister. The only time he happily included me was when he wanted to play 'Pro Wrestling Champions,' as I was an ideal partner on which to inflict moderate injury."           .Perino, on Jasper's television debut: "Jasper made his debut on The Five [Perino's Fox News political talk show] as a sleepy puppy at just two months old, and a star was born. I brought him on set and when we were back from commercial break, I showed him off for the camera. He looked right into the lens with his deep blue eyes (a Vizsla [Jasper's breed] is born with blue eyes that eventually turn amber). He snuggled into me. Hearts melted.             "Jasper has tons of personality and is as photogenic as any dog I've known. On Jasper's birthday, my [The Five] producer lets him come on the show and he sits on a chair, for the most part, wearing a bow tie collar, and you would think he knows exactly what he's doing when he looks into the teleprompter. He's certainly better behaved than [Five co-host Greg] Gutfield."             .Kendrick, on her early period as an actor: "Starting in theater gave me a basic work ethic that I may not have gotten if I started in film and television. I worked six days a week, eight shows a week (two shows on Wednesdays and Saturdays, Mondays off). It wasn't so much the schedule--I worked in accordance with child labor laws--it was that I was held accountable for my work.             "Once, during rehearsals, our director was playing with the shape of a musical number that involved most of the cast--which jokes should stay, where they should go, etc. He decided to try reinstituting a small joke I'd had in a previous draft, and we started the number again from the top. I lost where we were in the music and I opened my mouth to say the line, a measure too late. He was already shaking his head and signaling the pianist to stop.             "'Anna just lost a line. Let's go back to how it was before and start again.'"         .Perino, on her period as W.'s press secretary: "[B]ecoming the White House press secretary was the best thing that ever happened to my career. I learned so much--about policy, world affairs, management, and politics.             "But the most important lesson I learned working for President Bush was about character and how to conduct myself under stress and attack. I found out how to be productive despite obstacles, and appreciated how a communicator can help calm a situation, advance a negotiation, or lead to a solution.               "The press secretary is the pinnacle for a public relations professional--it was the opportunity of a lifetime.                 "But having worked in politics for so many years, I'd built up a fairly tough exterior. The daily battles can wear a person out, and in some ways, I became edgier and harder than I'd ever been.         "It was also a lofty position, and the surest way you can lose your way in Washington, D.C., is to let any of that power or prestige go to your head.             "Throughout those years [first dog] Henry kept me from losing sight of what was important in life: appreciation and gratitude for my health and blessings, and the love I shared with [hubby] Peter and our dog."     .Kendrick, on her early life as a struggling actor: "The next pilot season [for television series] was starting up, which meant I was usually sent on one to four auditions a day. I discovered MapQuest and wrote down directions by hand since I didn't have a printer. Between that and my growing knowledge of the city, I was only getting lost, like, six times a day. Pilot season is grim because you're sent in for everything, no matter how wrong you are for it. I kept a mountain of clothes and accessories in my trunk so I could go from the fourteen-year-old goth daughter on a TNT drama to the spoiled twenty-two-year-old receptionist on a workplace comedy. It's obvious now that splitting my focus made it responsible for me to do well on any of them, but I was in no position to turn down auditions.               "How do I describe my personal life during this time? I met funny, interesting people. I went to art galleries downtown, I performed a one-woman show for free on the street corner. Except none of that's true. I spent most of my time trying to find ways to occupy myself without spending money or ingesting calories."                     .Perino, on what she terms Jasper's "protest pee": "When I wrote And the Good News Is... I received a lot of gifts for Jasper, including an embroidered quilt with the Great Seal of the United States. It is beautiful and functional. [Peter and I] take it with us to our friends' homes if we are invited to stay the night, because, well, you try telling Jasper he can't sleep on the bed. With the quilt, we're covered. Literally and figuratively.                   "When we're at our place in South Carolina, leaving him in the house is even more stressful. For a while, whenever we'd go out, we'd come home and find that he'd peed on the floor. As soon as we'd walk in, we'd know something happened, because Jasper would grab a toy as he always does, but instead of frantic joy and butt wagging, his tail would be down and he'd look guilty. It was hard to discipline him because you're supposed to catch them in the act. [Hubby] Peter would get pretty made at Jasper, and I'd feel terrible.                 "'He's so scared to be left alone,' I'd say.           "'No, he's being a brat,' Peter responded."                   .Kendrick, on behavior at showbiz events: "There's a campaign called #AskHerMore, which was started by some thoughtful, intelligent females (Lena Dunham, Reese Witherspoon, Shondra Rimes, etc.). It aims to ensure that when women attend events, they are asked about more than their dresses. Men don't answer questions about their clothes; why should we [women]? A simple and understandable request.                 "However, if people could ask me less, that would be great. I would love it if we could limit my red carpet topics to my favorite colors, what sound a duck makes, and my thoughts on McDonald's All-Day Breakfast--blessing or curse?"                 Also: Nearly the final half of Perino's book consists of various @FiveFanPhotoshops pictures that very humorously show Jasper in a collection of quite colorful poses--Jasper painting a portrait of Perino's former boss, W.; Jasper as a race-car driver; Jasper and Perino involved in the Kentucky Derby with the latter on top of the former, et al. And Kendrick's tome closes with a "Bonus Reading Group Guide," wherein there are "a few questions to help you get the most out of your reading experience."(As an addend, Kendrick wittily 1] apologizes for the "fact" that her "Guide" offers no red meat for those of us who "happen to run a trashy celebrity news blog that requires you to peruse the content of privileged cretins like me"; and 2] gives us permission to "use these questions [in the "Guide"] as a template for creating misleading but juicy headlines." She winds up by, also wittily, summing up what she, so she claims, is conveying: "[F]amous white girls are really fun to be mad at") Among the queries asked in the "Guide":                                        .."Though every page of Scrappy Little Nobody is perfect in every                           way, which part is your favorite? Make a list (it can be a Post-it that                           says, 'Every part is my favorite') and tape it to your chest for the rest                                 of the day."                                        .."When Anna compares Zac Efron to Charles Manson, is she making                                 a joke or trying to warn us about a potential murderous mastermind?"                                .."In the sections about Alexa Chung and Olivia Palermo, the author                           viciously maligns two innocent and very fashionable girls. Is Anna a                           shady, basic bitch, or the shadiest, basic-est bitch?"                                       .."Anna makes a lot of bad decisions. Can you think of a time when                                 you've made a bad decision? Oh wow, really? We're gonna pretend                                   you can't think of a single example? YOU THINK YOU'RE BETTER                             THAN ME?!"             And thus there are the books of Dana Perino and Anna Kendrick, the former being a greatly stylish, consistently witty, always loving paean to a dog who is not only a beloved pet but, as Perino very convincingly limns, one of the most well-known and well-regarded personalities in America (easily, happily, well above and beyond any yammering about "animal rights"); the latter being an engagingly lively, undeniably honest, unrelievedly funny self-portrait of a celebrity gal who is obviously on the sides of life and living, whose unflinchingly upbeat, never-say-die attitude comes through in literally every paragraph.                 In the much-lauded theatrical film The Magic of Belle Isle, the single Mom Charlotte O'Neill (Virginia Madsen), during an evening dinner with her daughters and that evening's guest, the renowned Western novelist Monte Wildhorn (Morgan Freeman), asserted: "I've always felt that a book does something no friend could: Stay quiet when you want to think." To partake of the Perino and Kendrick tomes as they "[s]tay quiet" is to have you "wanting to think" about them--always favorably and, very often, with unsheathed laughter.