#Ten Basic Rules for Better Living

[younes-ben-amara]

ما الذي يحتاجه المستقل (الفريلانسر) من مجال التنمية الذاتية، من مهاراتٍ وتعلُّمٍ ومناهج؟

ما الذي يحتاجه المستقل (الفريلانسر) من مجال التنمية الذاتية، من مهاراتٍ وتعلُّمٍ ومناهج؟

مساء الرحمات المتنزلة علينا وعليكم، اقترحت عليّ الأستاذة دينا الهوارى هذا الموضوع فشَكَر الله لها، دينا مشتركة في رديف فاشترك أنت أيضًا في رديف 👇 نمِّ ذاتك على أمثل وجهٍ – اشترك في رديف صباح الرقي والدعم 🌼ما الذي يحتاجه الفري لانسر من مجال التنمية الذاتية، أي من مهارات وتعلم ومنهج— دينا الهوارى| كاتبة محتوى✍️📚 (@Dina_writer) December 8, 2022 تغريدة دينا الهوارى جدول المحتويات جدول…

[eyeoftheheart]

“Happiness is a byproduct of good living. If we keep the Law, the Law will keep us. If we live well, we will reap a good harvest.”

~ Ten Basic Rules for Better Living (1953) by Manly P. Hall

[wilwheaton]

The GOP wonders why young people (and others) don't want to vote for them. Some wise scribe assembled this list.

1.) Your Reagan-era “trickle-down economics” strategy of tax breaks for billionaires that you continue to employ to this day has widened the gap between rich and poor so much that most of them will never be able to own a home, much less earn a living wage.

2.) You refuse to increase the federal minimum wage, which is still $7.25 an hour (since 2009). Even if it had just kept up with inflation, it would be $27 now. You’re forcing people of all ages but especially young people to work multiple jobs just to afford basic necessities.

3.) You fundamentally oppose and want to kill democracy; have done everything in your power to restrict access to the ballot box, particularly in areas with demographics that tend to vote Democratic (like young people and POC). You staged a fucking coup the last time you lost.

4.) You have abused your disproportionate senate control over the last three decades to pack the courts with religious extremists and idealogues, including SCOTUS—which has rolled back rights for women in ways that do nothing but kill more women and children and expand poverty.

5.) You refuse to enact common sense gun control laws to curb mass shootings like universal background checks and banning assault weapons; subjecting their entire generation to school shootings and drills that are traumatizing in and of themselves. You are owned by the NRA.

6.) You are unequivocally against combatting climate change to the extent that it’s as if you’ve made it your personal mission to ensure they inherit a planet that is beyond the point of no return in terms of remaining habitable for the human race beyond the next few generations.

7.) You oppose all programs that provide assistance to those who need it most. Your governors refused to expand Medicaid even during A PANDEMIC. You are against free school lunches, despite it being the only meal that millions of children can count on to actually receive each day

8.) You are banning books, defunding libraries, barring subject matter, and whitewashing history even more in a fascistic attempt to keep them ignorant of the systemic racism that this nation was literally founded upon and continues to this day in every action your party takes.

9.) You oppose universal healthcare and are still trying to repeal the ACA and rip healthcare from tens of millions of Americans and replace it with nothing. You are against lowering the cost of insulin and prescription drugs that millions need simply to LIVE/FUNCTION in society.

10.) You embrace white nationalists, Neo-Nazis, and other groups that are defined by their intractable racism, xenophobia, bigotry, and intolerance. You conspired with these groups on January 6th to try to overthrow the U.S. government via domestic terrorism that KILLED PEOPLE.

11.) You oppose every bill aimed at making life better for our nation’s youth; from education to extracurricular and financial/nutritional assistance programs. You say you want to “protect the children” while you elect/nominate pedophiles and attack trans youth and drag queens.

12.) You pretend to be offended by “anti-semitism” while literally supporting, electing, and speaking at events organized by Nazis. You pretend to hate “cancel culture” despite the fact that you invented it and it’s basically all you do.

13.) Every word you utter is a lie. You are the party of treason, hypocrisy, crime, and authoritarianism. You want to entrench rule by your aging minority because you know that you have nothing to offer young voters and they will never support you for all these reasons and more.

14.) You’re so hostile to even the notion of helping us overcome the mountain of debt that millions of us are forced to take on just to pay for our post K-12 education that you are suing to try to prevent a small fraction of us from getting even $10,000 in loan forgiveness.

15.) You opened the floodgates of money into politics via Citizens United; allowing our entire system of government to become a cesspool of corruption, crime, and greed. You are supposed to represent the American people whose taxes pay your salary but instead cater to rich donors.

16.) You respond to elected representatives standing in solidarity with their constituents to protest the ONGOING SLAUGHTER of children in schools via shootings by EXPELLING THEM FROM OFFICE & respond to your lack of popularity among young people by trying to raise the voting age.

17.) You impeach Democratic presidents over lying about a BJ but refuse to impeach (then vote twice to acquit) a guy whose entire “administration” was an international crime syndicate being run out of the WH who incited an insurrection to have you killed.

18.) You steal Supreme Court seats from democrats to prevent the only black POTUS we’ve ever had from appointing one and invent fake precedents that you later ignore all to take fundamental rights from Americans; and even your “legitimate” appointments consist of people like THIS (sub-thread refuting CJ Roberts criticisms of people attacking SCOTUS' legitimacy).

19.) You support mass incarceration even for innocuous offenses or execution by cop for POC while doing nothing but protect rich white criminals who engage in such things as tax fraud, money laundering, sex trafficking, rape/sexual assault, falsifying business records, etc.

20.) You are the reason we can’t pass:—Universal background checks—An assault weapons ban—The ‘For the People/Freedom to vote’ Act or John Lewis Voting Rights Act—The ERA & Equality Act—The Climate Action Now Act—The (Stopping) Violence Against Women Act—SCOTUS expansion.

21.) You do not seek office to govern, represent, or serve the American people. You seek power solely for its own sake so you can impose your narrow-minded puritanical will on others at the expense of their most fundamental rights and freedoms like voting and bodily autonomy.

22.) Ok, last one. You are trying to eliminate social security and Medicare that tens of millions of our parents rely on and paid into their entire lives. And you did everything to maximize preventable deaths from COVID leaving millions of us in mourning.

Source: https://imgur.com/gallery/e8DBZLH

[dduane]

Sorry if you’ve answered this before, but any tips on improving your technobabble?

I originally came at this problem from two different directions. The first one took considerably more time to enable.

(a) Be familiar (or get familiar) with the languages in which most scientific terms are coined: Latin and Greek.

I took Latin in high school, already knowing that I was a science person and that Latin was considered "the language of science". (And medicine, which also turned out to be handy for me later.) I also started studying Greek in college—and, sigh, I'm still studying it.

Once you're starting to get familiar with the languages, practice coining terms as you need them. While it's considered a failure of style in scientific naming to mix Latin and Greek in the same term, I've found it better to be guided by euphony than a slavish obedience to the rules.

Because sometimes a word or term just sounds right. "Temporospatial claudication", for example, was coined by running a Latin physics term head-on into a medical one. "Claudication" was (and still is in some countries) a term for a constriction in a blood vessel. Its origin in the Latin claudo- and clausum roots is responsible for the Emperor Claudius's name, which would once have implied somebody who limps secondary to such a circulatory problem. I simply bent the term's most basic meaning off into a different direction.

...So you see how that goes. Bang the roots together and see what successfully sticks.

The second approach is a little easier. But only a little.

(b) Base your coined terminology on the conventions and rhythms of real technobabble: by which I mean actual, technical scientific language.

The best way to pick this up in sufficient depth is by reading technical papers in your field of interest—lots of them—so you can see how the pros communicate to/with one another. Every field has its own jargon lying around just begging to be stolen... assuming you observe very carefully how it's correctly used. Otherwise you risk outing yourself as nothing but an interested but insufficiently-committed bystander. You must also be super careful not to screw with the interior grammar of such techspeak... as inevitably it'll have one.

For example: when I was tooling up for writing The Wounded Sky, I spent easily three months reading papers in/on hyperdimensional physics. (Not that I wouldn't have done this anyway. It's a fascinating subject, and before I went into nursing I'd been a physics major, so I had a fair amount of the necessary background to understand what I was reading.) Even in the 80s there were a lot of such papers around, and in those distant pre-Internet days I was helped a whole lot by living just across the road from the impressive science library at Cal State Northridge.

During that period I could be found in the periodicals racks once or twice every week, digging through the monthly journals on the hunt for material that would be germane to the plot I was boiling. I found ten times more goodies than I ever could reasonably have used. The toughest part was winnowing it all down to what I actually needed to scatter here and there for atmosphere's sake, or to plant in specific spots to grease the plot's wheels. (My favorite remains the [legit!] paper with the delightful title, "Taub-NUT Space as a Counterexample to Almost Anything.")

Anyway, I must have got something about that whole business right, since one Princeton physics professor whose work I'd cited at the end of the novel asked me if he could use it in teaching his classes. :)

But there's a third element involved; more an attitude that you apply to what you've produced while employing the first one or two approaches.

You have to treat your coined terms as if they're absolutely real... something that any person educated in the science you're working with would know. The voice and tone in which you write using them has to reflect this absolute confidence and commitment to their reality. Because if you don't—at least while you're writing—absolutely believe in them enough to speak confidently about them, no one else will believe in them either.

But then that's a solid general principle anyway. If you don't do something you've created the courtesy of taking it seriously enough to believe in it (or its reality inside the larger reality you're creating), it won't long survive contact with exterior realities like the inside of your reader's mind.

HTH!

ETA: here's that citation page from the end of Wounded Sky. I believe it remains the only Star Trek novel with a cites list at the end. :)

[bonny-kookoo]

Jungkook

𝐎𝐟𝐟-𝐃𝐮𝐭𝐲 | Hitskip

"Finding someone who can take care of what you love most when you're no longer able to is a final act of love- and not giving up."

Tags/Warnings: Police Officer!Jungkook, Dog Hybrid!Reader, Partners to lovers?, Alternate law-system/made up laws, crime, futuristic, sci-fi, body-modifications, Fluff, romance, Adult themes (sex, alcohol, mentions of drugs but no consumption), Comedy?, Angst, injury

Length: gonna be added later

There is no taglist for this fic.

-> Masterlist

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Despite basically living together, you and Jungkook aren't really all that close.

You've never went on vacation together or even on a day-trip, mainly due to insurance reasons considering you're owned by the police department, and not Jungkook himself. There's been too many accidents and problems in the past, forcing those rules onto handlers nowadays, and some might argue that it's for the better. The more professional you stay with your partner, the more professional you stay during work as well-

But Jungkook has worries.

Mostly because, while you'll probably be able to stay in service for another ten years maybe, he himself has to resign much sooner rather than later. He's got maybe a year left until his contract ends- and he's been told that to resign it, he will have to go through a rigorous process of evaluation again.

A process he most likely won't pass, due to his past injuries and resulting body mods to keep him mobile.

He's already looking for a potential new handler once he leaves- Taehyung being one of those he's got his eye on, though the new officer might not be the best fit for you, considering how he constantly seems caught off guard by your honestly very normal behavior as a police hybrid. You're not a pet down the line. You're not meant to be cuddly and cute and well behaved- you're meant to take down criminals, fight, and protect, most of all.

Seokjin is out of the question too, since he's got Yoongi- and he's still very much fit for work, despite his previously injured shoulder. He didn't need anything other than a regular operation- now he's back in service, more capable than ever.

Jimin doesn't want to do the handler training- he admits himself that he'd get too attached, and that would just harm his performance and put others in danger.

So who the hell is Jungkook supposed to choose? He doesn't want to just.. leave, and let you be alone until the department decides that you're unfit for anyone else, just for you to end up in a shelter where no one's gonna pick you up because who wants an aggressive former policedog hybrid?

"Jungkook?" You wonder, ripping him out of his thoughts as he looks at you, noticing your upper lip bleeding.

"What happened?" He instantly worries, hands carefully holding your face, thump inspecting your little cut that's bleeding. "Hm?" He asks after letting go to let you talk.

"I don' no'-" You fumble a little, trying not to move your lip too much. "I a'e an' use' a new s'oon" You stumble, and he gets up to grab a tissue for you to hold against it, before he walks towards the kitchen table to inspect the spoon you were talking about, running his finger over the edges-

finding a manufacturing error, tiny metal part not rounded properly, sticking out very sharply- so much so that it almost cuts him too.

"We'll wait a little, if it doesn't stop we'll see someone for it, okay?" He asks, moving the tissue a bit to inspect it- noticing that it's not that deep at all. The most challenging part will most likely rather be for you not to lick it constantly- that's gonna be a pain for him to control.

Well, maybe it was for the best that he didn't get the vacation with you.

He'll have to inspect all the cutlery now anyways, before he can let you eat again.

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Sometimes, Jungkook likes to dream.

What would a life be like if he just.. lived normally together with you? If he was just a regular part of this community, and not an officer feared for all the things people in the same uniform have done in the past?

Maybe you wouldn't be so scarred up from knifes and bullets having pierced your skin. Maybe he wouldn't have to wear his own bodymods- maybe you'd both just be normal, and unaware of the horrors human kind can make reality sometimes. But that's not your shared reality- yours is right now, as Jungkook keeps a hold on back straps of your bulletproof vest and harness you wear to hold you back, waiting for the signal to let you inside the house to search for drugs or other illegal substances. They're currently escorting multiple men out the pretty run-down place to make it safer- when he gets the command over his in-ear piece to let you in. "Alright, let's go." He tells you, letting you go so you can immediately run into the house, checking the living room first.

Your hands move the pillows on the couch, eyes frantically moving in concentration, ears moving and tail wagging. He knows it's actually not from excitement, but to 'move' scent around that might've settled somewhere so you can notice it better. Once you catch something, for example, your tail stills as to not disturb the trail, and not interrupt any traces by moving them around.

You're currently on your hands and knees looking beneath the coffee table, before you move again to walk into the next room- the connecting kitchen on the other side of the main entrance hall. It's cluttered, and Jungkook has to watch out as to not slip on any of the trash, gun still drawn in his hand as a safety precaution, just in case. You're tripping a little here and there, looking and sniffing around, tail going left to right at a rapid pace.

You leave the kitchen, make your way upstairs to the bedrooms, entering one of them on the left side. Jungkook follows, notices how your tail suddenly stops, a clear sign that you've picked up something specific. You're supposed to be searching for drugs right now- and so Jungkook watches now with his gun lowered as you look around more specifically, walking one step, evaluating, walking another step, repeat. You're reacting to something, and he wonders what it might be.

Unbeknownst to him, you found something entirely other than drugs.

You're suddenly sitting down in front of a closet, looking over your shoulder towards him, who walks closer to you now, running a hand over your head. "Good job. What's in here?" He asks, pointing before opening, and you reach out to prevent him from doing so.

"RDX." You tell him, and his eyes widen as he helps you up and instantly away from the closet.

"We found something." Jungkook tells into his ear piece, earning the response to clarify what exactly was found. "Highly possibly explosives. Hybrid indication in the upstairs guest bedroom, inside a blue wooden closet." He explains, receiving the response that a bomb squat has been notified to take care of the potential issue, and to get out of the house immediately. Jungkook does just that, taking your hand to rush out, coworkers outside already having evacuated the immediate area.

"Jungkook?" You wonder, and he instantly turns to check up on you, remembering that he did not give you appropriate positive reinforcement either due to the sudden tension of the situation. It's then that you hold out your hand, drop of blood running down from it. "…can I have a plaster maybe?" You ask meekly, and he instantly holds your hand to take a look at the injury.

"How'd that happen pup-.." He somewhat swallows the petname down, hissing a bit at the nasty wound. "Can you move your fingers?" He asks, and you nod, curling them each to show it to him.

"I didn't cut myself- I think my hand got caught on something maybe when I searched the kitchen.." You mumble, ears lowered and tail between your legs.

"Does it hurt?" He asks, well aware that it has to- skin already red and bruised around the cut skin. You shake your head, but once look at him makes your eyes tear up and bottom lip tremble.

Well, down the line, you're also just a living being with thoughts and feelings, and this is also a side that he's come to know about you. The more.. private one, the one that's usually only presented when you're not on duty.

"Alright come on, then, let's wrap something around that for now, okay?" He soothes, smiling softly as he leads you back to the car.

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Considering how fearless you are in the eye of danger, running after any criminal no matter what without any hesitation, Jungkook can't help but laugh a little as you sniffle into his chest, hiding in his sweater now while your wound is getting stitched in the emergency room. You're quietly whimpering while he runs a hand over your back, nurse smiling amused at the whole scene. "Almost done." He soothes, watching how the nurse finishes up the last few stitches before she cleans it again, and wraps it up.

"Alright, there we go!" The nurse says. "Looks like she's gonna get some time off." She smiles, unable to hide her motherly instincts as you look at her with tearful eyes now, pulling your hand towards you now as if to hide it. "It should be fine in a few days, but since it's in a spot that has a lot of movement, I'd say at least for the rest of the week she shouldn't move it too much." She tells Jungkook, who nods.

Back home, and with the knowledge that you'll truly have time off for an entire week, the actual challenges begin. You're not supposed to move your hand, and you know that- but that doesn't mean you won't try and still use it anyways. You're currently climbing on the kitchen counter, attempting to raid the upper cabinet where Jungkook keeps your favorite snacks- but he's quick in his reflexes, tugging you back and putting you down onto the floor again with your feet.

He can't even really be mad at you.

You're not used to being 'home' like this. You don't know the rules, or general manners- that's something you've not been taught, because as a police hybrid, it's not necessary. One of the main reasons why most hybrids in jobs like yours never get to live in a normal home after they get too old or injured to continue their service.

Most stay at special housings, group homes. Jungkook already dreads the day you'll surely have to live in one as well.

"You're not mute. You can ask if you want something." He chuckles, before he's caught off guard when you hug him. Wordlessly so.

You don't talk much, and if you do, mostly only with him. It's always been like that- unfamiliar people make you anxious and quiet you down.

But right now, you're quiet with him too. He can sense there's something you want to ask- but you don't. You just nod, and apologize quietly, before you leave the kitchen to go into your room- leaving the door ajar however. He slowly walks towards it, knocks on it to ask for entrance- and your ears turn towards him at that. "Can I come in?" He wonders, and you nod.

Jungkook isn't in your room very often. He wants to give you as much privacy as he can, treats you like a person and not just a pet or animal. He also wants to keep things professional and has to keep you at a distance at all times, too. It's a tough challenge.

"You seem to have something on your mind." He says, sitting down next to you on the bed, and you just shrug, pulling up your legs to hug them. "Wanna talk about it?" Jungkook asks, and you shake your head.

He respects that. Sometimes, there's just things you want to keep to yourself- just like himself.

"Jungkook?" You ask suddenly, quietly, and he instantly turns towards you to make sure you know you've got his attention. "Why.. didn't you tell me you'll leave soon?" You ask, and his heart drops.

"I don't even know that yet." He tries to justify, but it's clear that it doesn't help.

"But you're pretty sure." You scold him. "I overheard you talking to Taehyung.. you wanna get rid of me before you'll quit." You huff, and he shakes his head at that.

"That's not true." He denies. "I'm not getting rid of you. I just don't want you to end up alone." He sighs.

"..am I not alone already?" You mumble almost incoherently- but he hears it. "I wanna sleep now." You tell him before he can ask you what you mean-

And your statement is a clear way to tell him that you wouldn't even answer him if he asked anyway.

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It's just patrol. Nothing big.

And yet, the silence inside the car is suffocating him.

You're normally always pretty quiet- but you do chat around whenever there's nothing much going on, or if you're on simple patrol duty like today. However, ever since that moment a few days ago in your room, you've been distant- trying to detach yourself from him, it feels like.

He's never noticed just how close you've gotten until now that you've pulled yourselves apart from one another.

"Man, he's speeding." Jungkook mumbles from the driver's seat, while you perk up just to look up front to see what he's seeing.

The guy is in fact speeding, even if it's not too much. But what's more obvious is the swaying- he's missing a taillight already, and the car clearly has issues staying properly on the road. And when he runs over a stop-sign, Jungkook sighs, and turns on his lights to signal the driver to pull over- and the car does so, almost slamming into a street sign as it clumsily parks at the side of the road.

"I'll be right back." He says, before he steps out, leaving you in the trunk area that's cut off from the backseats by metal bars to keep you safe from people he potentially needs to transport. "Stay alert." Is the last thing he says, before he walks towards the car for a routine check.

Probably a drunk driver. Maybe drugs involved- you'll most likely be taken out for a search in a few minutes, and then you'll clock out an hour later.

But then you hear commotion- Jungkook shouting, and you instantly go into high alert, looking through the metal bars to see him arguing with a tall man who's clearly agitated about something. And then, everything happens so fast that you can't even process it quick enough.

A shot, clear as day, Jungkook running towards the car, opening the trunk where you're in, before he barks out for you to get him- the man running off into a field that you instantly follow after.

You can't really think much about what might've happened where the cars are still parked. You've got tunnel vision, legs keeping you running as fast as you can as you chase the man through the field, trying hard not to lose sight of him.

Unaware that the man is still armed.

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"Did she get him?" Jungkook asks in the hospital, as Seokjin arrives to pick him up. The shot had grazed his body mods and made him lose balance and feeling in his legs and hands- so it had to be fixed in a minor surgery, leaving him mostly unconscious for the past two days.

"Yeah- he was arrested, is awaiting trial. Was terribly wasted and on meth." He offers dryly, causing Jungkook to become suspicious.

"Did.. she sleep at the station while I was gone?" He asks, but he doesn't get an answer until he pulls his coworkers shoulder to make him face him. "Where is she?" He asks, and Seokjin sighs.

"Just focus on healing right now, kook-" He starts, but Jungkook shakes his head, face angry.

"I'm perfectly fine, now answer me." He demands. "Where is she?"

"She got hurt." Seokjin admits. "She's.. in hospital right now, but she'll be fine."

"What happened?" He urges once again. "Seokjin, what fucking happened?" He asks, but the officer refuses to answer, not until Jungkook speaks up again in the car later, on the way to his house. "How bad?" He lowly questions.

"They're not sure." Jin finally comes clean. "If you want, you can see her once she's allowed to have visitors. I can offer you to review the body cam footage too, just to.. prepare yourself." He sighs.

"I should've never let her out." Jungkook runs a hand over his face. "I should've waited for backup-"

"There's no use in that now." Jin offers. "Things happen. It was a stressful situation, you couldn't have known. Things quite literally happened in the span of minutes." He reassures him. "And she did the same. She thought about getting the job done, and she did." He says.

"..so she did catch him?" Jungkook asks.

"Absolutely. Held him down.. well, despite her situation." Jin nods almost proudly. "Jungkook." He takes a deep breath, sighs as he parks in front of the younger man's house. "She.. might not return into service. "

Jungkook doesn't move, eyes becoming distant. He's not sure how bad it must be- but he can assume it by this sentence alone. If you're not returning to service, that the damage done must've been severe.

"Keep your head up, robo-cop." Seokjin pats Jungkook's back- not too much, since he's still recovering. "She's a tough cookie. She'll make it." He tries to reassure.

And Jungkook nods-

hoping he's gonna be right about that.

[simmer-emsie]

Not So Berry Challenge 3

Couldn’t get enough of the original Not So Berry Legacy Challenge? Already played through Not So Berry Challenge 2? Wishing you could play a challenge with content from 2021 onward? If you’ve been daydreaming about an updated Not So Berry Challenge (2023), look no further!

Welcome to the Not So Berry Legacy Challenge 3, a ten generation rags-to-riches legacy challenge with colour-themed heirs. Note: This challenge requires basically every pack except My First Pet Stuff and Journey to Batuu (…y’all know why).

Thank you to @lilsimsie​ and @alwaysimming​ for the inspiration (and the rules!).

Basic rules:

Each heir must represent the colour of the generation (like hair, makeup, clothing), but brightly-coloured skin isn’t necessary.

The colours of the spouses don’t matter as they aren’t part of the challenge. Unless otherwise stated you can do whatever you please with them.

Cheats can be used, but not excessively.

You may live wherever you please unless something is specified in the rules of a generation.

Every generation is supposed to complete both the career and aspiration of the heir unless explicitly stated otherwise.

Keep the lifespan on Normal.

Generation One: Soil

Well, you’re on your own now and you haven’t got much to your name except a plot of land and a couple of chickens. That’s alright though; animals tend to understand you better than Sims, anyway. Living off the land is difficult work but you’re determined to cultivate a respectable farm with livestock, fruit trees, and even some oversized produce!

Traits: Animal Enthusiast, Socially Awkward, Music Lover

Aspiration: Country Caretaker

Career: None

Rules:

Complete the Country Caretaker aspiration.

Start on an empty lot in Henford-on-Bagley with 500 Simoleons. Hard mode: Start as a teen.

Max the cross-stitch and gardening skills.

Play using the Living Off the Land lot challenge.

Befriend Patchy the Straw Man.

Complete 5 requests for your neighbours.

Generation Two: Sprout

Your best buddy growing up was a farm animal, and now you want to give back to the creatures that meant so much to you. As a veterinarian, you meet a lot of people and make a lot of friends. You spend your free time volunteering and training the animals you bring home with you.

Traits: Cat Lover, Dog Lover, Outgoing

Aspiration: Slumber Party Animal (Child), Friend of the Animals

Career: Veterinarian

Rules:

Complete the Friend of the Animals aspiration.

Max the veterinarian and pet training skills.

Befriend one of your parent’s farm animals as a Child.

Adopt at least one cat and one dog.

Volunteer on weekends.

Generation 3: Blossom

So, your parent was really into animals. And maybe that was a little bit too internalized in you… because now you can’t stop thinking about embracing your primal side and becoming a Werewolf. You still need to pay the bills though, so you work as a Green Technician to protect your territory’s ecosystem. On the weekends, you and your pack go bowling.

Traits: Lactose Intolerant, Insider, Loyal

Aspiration: Werewolf Initiate, Emissary of the Collective OR Wildfang Renegade

Career: Civil Designer, Green Technician branch

Rules:

Complete 2 Werewolf aspirations.

Max the bowling and logic skills.

Become a Werewolf.

Find and marry your Fated Mate.

Go bowling every weekend.

Generation Four: Mist

Uhh… you okay? You were kind of raised by… literal Werewolves. The experience was kind of traumatic, and now you’re trying to live a normal life. You eat grilled cheese as a coping mechanism and as a teen, you start a side hustle so you can move out on your own ASAP. You go to university and get a completely normal job in the city. You struggle to trust someone enough to fall in love, especially after the whole… “Fated Mates” thing your parents had going on. You just really, really want something normal.

Traits: Overachiever, Paranoid, Perfectionist

Aspiration: Goal Oriented (Teen), Grilled Cheese

Career: Any side hustle or part-time job (Teen), Education

Rules:

Complete the Grilled Cheese aspiration.

Max the cooking, baking, and flower arranging skills.

If your Sim is given the option to graduate early, take it.

Get a degree.

After university, move to the city (San Myshuno, Del Sol Valley, or San Sequoia) and get a bonsai tree.

Marry someone with a secret (for example, is an Alien or a Criminal).

Generation Five: Lava

Things were kind of weird growing up, and now you’re healing from your childhood. If therapy was a thing, you’d so be there. But since it’s not, you dedicate yourself to journaling, wellness, and less socially-acceptable coping mechanisms. 

Traits: Erratic, High Maintenance, Party Animal

Aspiration: Drama Llama (Teen), Villainous Valentine (Adult), Inner Peace (Elder) 

Career: Culinary, Mixologist branch

Rules:

Complete the Villainous Valentine aspiration.

Max the mixology, wellness, and writing skills.

Have a negative relationship with your parents.

Have an affair with a celebrity.

Have a child with a married Sim.

Write a tell-all memoir book as an elder.

Generation Six: Ash

You had a fractured family life growing up, but one thing your parents told you about was your ancestor who started a magnificent farm. You want to start anew, just like they did. But, well, you’re kind of a city kid… so you only grow avocados. Also, you’re totally in-tune with the paranormal and commune with ghosts for work.

Traits: Bookworm, Childish, Unflirty

Aspiration: Playtime Captain (Child), Soulmate

Career: Freelancer, Paranormal Investigator branch

Rules:

Complete the Soulmate aspiration.

Max the medium and gardening skills.

Live in an apartment and grow avocados on the balcony.

Marry a Sim that you’ve brought back from the dead.

Generation Seven: River

If there were an award for weirdest upbringing, you’d probably get it. Seriously… one of your parents came back from the dead to have you! The fun doesn’t stop there though. You’re determined to keep having cool experiences and write about them for your whole life.

Traits: Bro, Good, Jealous

Aspiration: Mind and Body (Child), StrangerVille Mystery

Career: Drama Club (Child/Teen), Writer

Rules:

Complete the StrangerVille aspiration.

Max the writing and fitness skills.

Have a child with someone from StrangerVille.

Take your child on vacation at least once every life stage (infant, toddler, child, teen).

Chapter Eight: Ocean

As the heir to a wealthy writer, you’re used to having things handed to you, like jobs and vacations. Now that you’re old enough to make a name for yourself, you want to build your Trendi empire as a Simfluencer. You pick Sulani as the perfect place to make your mark; beautiful weather and beachfront property mean all your followers will be so jealous of you. You love the water more than anyone you know, until one day you see someone a little too far out to sea to be natural… 

Traits: Child of the Islands, Child of the Ocean, Mean

Aspiration: Admired Icon (Teen), Party Animal

Career: Trendi (Teen), Simfluencer

Rules:

Complete the Party Animal aspiration.

Max the entrepreneur and media production skills.

Live in Sulani and become a mermaid.

Sell an outfit on Trendi for 9,999 Simoleons.

Get 1,000,000 followers.

Generation 9: Sand

Your parent always encouraged you to do great things with your life… as long as what you want is to be an Interior Decorator. Your real passion is music and you practice whenever you can. You’ve always wanted to rebel against your parent, but never had it in you to actually do it.

Traits: Creative, Gloomy, Neat

Aspiration: Musical Genius

Career: Interior Decorator (Adult), Entertainment, Musician branch (Elder)

Rules:

Complete the Musical Genius aspiration.

Max the violin and guitar skills.

Have a Strict family dynamic with your parent (you may cheat for this).

Get a Fine Arts degree at university.

If your Sim experiences a midlife crisis, you must complete it.

Generation 10: Flame

As a little kid, your biggest goal in life was to one day become the best parent ever. Your own parent was sad a lot and you acted out because of it, but you want your own kid to have a happier home. You want to provide everything for your children with your own two hands. You like building on the woodworking bench and brewing herbalism concoctions.

Traits: Family-Oriented, Loves Outdoors, Maker

Aspiration: Live Fast (Teen), Outdoor Enthusiast

Career: Culinary, Chef branch

Rules:

Complete the Outdoor Enthusiast aspiration.

Max the cooking, handiness, and herbalism skills.

Have at least three children, one of whom is adopted.

Go on family vacations to Granite Falls as much as possible.

Good luck and have fun!

[luminalunii97]

The Islamic Republic: we canceled the morality police!

Iranians: so?! Does that change the fact that you have committed genocide in Kurdish cities and Zahedan? Does that restore people's eyesight that you took from them with your rubble bullets? Does that bring back to life almost 500 murdered protesters in the last 3 months, among them at least 60 children? Does that bring back to life 1500 people you massacred in 2019 and those you executed afterwards? Or the 30000 people you executed in the first decade of your rule? And everyone you've arrested, raped, tortured and executed in between simply because they didn't agree with you? Does that mean current executions are stopped? Does that mean tens of thousands of arrested protesters are free? Does that mean fired or suspended students are back to classes and can get an education? Does that mean the poverty threshold is no longer so absolutely high that even the once above average families are considered absolutely poor? Does that erase 40 years of apartheid? State racism? State misogyny? Inequality? Have you stopped bothering religious minorities and are giving them their basic human rights back? Does that mean there's no more child marriages? Legal rape? Does that mean you no longer kill and torture LGBTQ people? Does that make up for the environmental disaster you've caused in Iran? Water shortage? Bewildering fuel shortage? All the lakes and water bodies that are dry now and the jungles that has been destroyed? Currently northern jungles are on fire, are the trees restored? Does that mean you no longer execute environmental activists because they object your unscientific environment policies? Does that mean all censorships and restrictions are lifted? Does that end your meddling in other countries affairs? Does it mean you're not a bunch of thieves and murderers who know nothing about running a country? Does that make up for all the lives you've destroyed? And most importantly does that bring Mahsa Amini back to life???

It's too late for that. Iranians have been loud and clear. We won't sit down until this regime is completely and irreversibly changed. The whole government system, the constitution, and the people in powers. And those who committed crimes have to be put on trial.

(The morality police have been around under different names for almost the entirety of this regime. This is just a temporary stop. Even if the morality police is disbanded for good, compulsory hijab is still a law and it's illegal to not wear appropriate clothing. Any police force is able to arrest non hijabis since they're doing something illegal, it's not an exclusive morality police duty. Plus the morality police was just enforcing hijab in the streets. What about every governmental and private offices and institutions? They all have to enforce mandatory hijab on both their employees and costumers So this news means literally nothing. West media should research these things better before publishing misleading informations)

I strongly recommend everyone to go to #MahsaAmini in twitter and read iranians tweets. Like, I strongly recommend it. I even put the link to make it easier for you. Just click on it.

[twisted-lover-boys]

uhm so I may be an orange cat – not an single thought behind my eyes, expect the urge to spoil those pathetic boys :/

so, may I request ruggie with an rich s/o? like, not even "oh yes he's rich haha" an SPOILED ROTTEN RICH, an "oh, this is 30 million dollars? I thought you said it was expensive" kind of rich

and his s/o is so carefree with the money, that he just yk spoil ruggie rotten. if ruggie sees, ruggie has it and that's an unbreakable rule for the partner

Spoiling the Hyena

{not proof-read}

Living in my host club era—

Honestly, he deserves the king treatment mans has done enough in his life

==================================

🦁🍩🐺🦁🍩🐺🦁🍩🐺🦁🍩🐺🦁🍩🐺🦁🍩🐺🦁🍩🐺

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

His whole life, Ruggie had only known one phrase: only the strong can survive. Growing up in the backstreets of the Sunset Savanah and not having much to his name, he did whatever he could just to get by

Becoming successful with boatloads of money is what fueled him in his studies and he was lucky enough to get into NRC

His mindset was to work hard for any bit of madol he could get his hands on and storing as much food as he could. And that worked for a while, but that was all before you

You were rich. Not royalty rich, but still enough to live comfortably and practically just throw your money around which is what you did. At first, Ruggie couldn’t really see himself falling for you but we all know how that ended…

Ruggie was greedy for you. Your attention, your love, your affection, everything. It became less about the money and more about you. It just happened to be how you showed love

You always bought Ruggie lunch, new clothes, souvenirs, and he always accepted them with vigor, not truly knowing how much they cost. After all, he wasn’t gonna sell them since they came from you

It was only when you decided to go shopping with him once that he truly understood how rich you were.

“Woah! So much for something so little! Why? That’s so dumb!”

“Hm? How much is it, Ruggie?”

“It’s, like, 2 grand!”

“Oh. That’s basically chump change. Lemme get it for ya.”

“…huh?”

From then on, he didn’t really worry about the pricing of something if you were there with him. No matter how big the price, you’d always get it for him

“Y’know, you don’t have to get me all this.”

“Nonsense! You deserve all this! What better way to show my love than to spoil you rotten!”

In events, it’s only shown ten-fold

He really wanted to keep his fairy gala outfit, or at least keep the stones so that he could sell them later. When he learned he couldn’t keep it, he got upset. Yet lo and behold you managed to get an exact replica of it. He hasn’t sold it

The port event was…interesting. It was entirely fueled by the fact that the restaurant Jack was meant to being Ruggie to had almost practically shut down. You won’t lie, the event was fun but you won’t tell Ruggie about the massive advertising you did for the event just for the restaurant so that he could try it. You definitely take him down there often

Halloween was massive and, while everyone had to stay in budget, you went above and beyond with your own money just to make Savanaclaw as scary as it could be. Azul was definitely upset but for the entire wrong reason

And lastly, noble bell. Ruggie went fully expecting to grab a lot of things and sell them for cash…just for him to remember that you’re filthy rich and can practically buy him any souvenir or food he wanted with no dent to your savings. He definitely got a lot of things, both for safekeeping and for selling

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

🦁🍩🐺🦁🍩🐺🦁🍩🐺🦁🍩🐺🦁🍩🐺🦁🍩🐺🦁🍩🐺

==================================

[upsidedownwithsteve]

Camp Eddie blurb where him and reader have been living together for a while now, but when they go back to camp, they're told they still have to be in separate cabins. Cue shenanigans of them struggling to sleep separately and/or struggling not getting caught sleeping together

“It’s not going to happen.”

“But—” Eddie frowned.

“You’re literally wasting your breath, Munson,” Murray was unbothered, sitting behind his desk as he flicked through stacks of paper. “I don’t care what kind of sick love nest you’ve both built in Philadelphia. It’s not happening.”

You tugged on Eddie’s hand, already embarrassed.

“I don’t see what the big deal is,” Eddie argued back. “We’re all adults here, it’s not like—”

“Rules are rules, kid. Leave if you don’t like ‘em.” Murray set you both with a stare over the rim of his glasses. “Michigan, I’d take your boy toy outta here before the chief gets back. He’s already in a bad mood.”

You tugged again, fingers twisted between Eddie’s and you felt him relent, if only a little. He was still scowling at Murray.

“Teddy,” you murmured softly, leading him towards the door in hopes he’d follow. The boy sighed and let you lead him, back out into the sun and heat. “C’mon, it’s fine.”

Eddie let you push yourself up against him, the camp still empty, the kids yet to arrive. You laced your hands behind his neck, pulled him down to you to kiss away the pout on his lips, toes dug into the line needles and dirt so you could reach.

“I don’t wanna be apart from you,” Eddie complained mournfully. “A whole six weeks? Baby, I’ll die.”

You grinned despite his dramatics, pushing little kisses to his cheek and jaw as he grumbled. “We’re gonna see each other all the time, Eddie,” you were soft about it, ‘cause the boy still looked distraught. “It’s just at night.”

He huffed, but wound his arms around your waist anyway, holding you close. “Yeah, but, when was the last time we didn’t fall asleep in the same bed, huh?”

You blinked, thinking. “Huh.”

“See!” Eddie cried out, vindicated.

A whole year had passed since you and Eddie had first met, ten months since you’d moved to Philly, six months since the boy had basically moved in. It happened unofficially, slowly and naturally, starting with a toothbrush beside yours and now, his guitar sat in your living room, your wardrobe half his, his records stacked neatly in the same bookcase that housed your sketchbooks.

You kissed him again. “It’s fine. We’ll manage.” Eddie looked doubtful and your voice held some uncertainty. “It’s just for six weeks.”

You did not manage.

In fact, you were the one to break first and it only took nine days. You had tossed and turned most nights, the bunk either too hot or too cold, your pillow not as comfortable as Eddie’s chest and you missed the way he made your sheets smell, his cologne mixed with your perfume, the laundry detergent from home, smoke and sweetness. You’d wake up most mornings too tired and grumpy, throwing yourself at your boyfriend at breakfast in the mess hall, in dire need of his touch before you could think about handling the kids for the rest of the day.

He was better than a shot of espresso.

On the ninth night, you swore into the darkness, giving up entirely as you stuffed your bare feet into your sneakers, grateful that Chrissy slept like she’d died. The cabin door squeaked as you left and the forest floor cracked and snapped in protest as you did your best to walk quietly over it, half running over the last bit of path that led you to Eddie’s cabin.

Maybe it was fate, maybe it was sheer luck, but there was still the soft glow of a light from one of the windows, hazy and bleeding out from behind the thin curtains. So you stood and knocked on the door, hoping it was Eddie and not Steve who was still up.

No such luck.

Steve opened the door, messy haired and shirtless, smirking when he saw you. “Honestly, I’m surprised it took this long.”

He stepped aside for you, not even shutting the door fully over as he pulled a hoodie on and grabbed his own pillow. He grinned when you pounced on Eddie, the book that had been laying on his chest falling to the floor as he startled awake.

“Shit, sweetheart,” Eddie gasped, but he quickly crushed you to his chest as he came to, head pushed into the crook of your neck as you squealed. “Hi.” He sounded so happy.

“Don’t be too loud,” Steve said, shoving his feet into boots that were definitely Eddie’s and not his. “You’ll get all of us in shit. You both owe me.”

Eddie snorted, grinning as you went about arranging yourself in the small bed beside him, a leg slung over his hip as he lifted an arm for you to settle into. “Don’t act high and mighty, Steven, as if you’re complaining about going to see your girl.”

“Yeah, Steven,” you added smugly, settling against Eddie’s bare chest.

Steve turned to stare at you both from the open doorway, eyebrows raised as the warm night air flooded the cabin, cicadas buzzing from all directions. “Hey,” he pointed at Eddie, accusatory. “I love her with all my heart, okay? But she’s like a feral raccoon at night. If I wake her up, she’s gonna kill me.”

“We thank you for your bravery,” Eddie replied solemnly, already busying himself with pushing his hands up the back of your shirt, humming at the expanse of warm skin and no bra straps to fight with.

“Your sacrifice is noted,” you added, too preoccupied to even look at the other boy, ‘cause Eddie was kissing a line down your neck.

Steve stared at you both blankly. “Fucking noted,” he murmured before turning away. “I want breakfast delivered in the morning. The good muffins. None of that bran shit.”

Neither you or Eddie heard him, but you both for the best sleep you’d had since arriving at camp that night

[taeraeszn]

im BEGGINGGGG for some domestic fluff with matthew. i feel there hasn’t been enough authors on here appreciating him on here!! 💗💗

true love - seok matthew

characters: matthew x gn!reader

description: you and matthew spend a day off together in your apartment

genre: pure fluff with the smallest hint of suggestiveness lol

word count: 981 words

warnings: food and hint of suggestiveness (kissing/making out) but lmk if there's more :) maybe some word errors sorry!!

a/n: hi anon ty for requesting <3 i honestly agree bc i barely see matthew posts on there and he deserves way more!!

this is probably the most suggestive thing i've ever written (ik im breaking my own rules) so expect more woohyun than matthew

also this is written with the idea that you and matthew have been together for a long time and finally live together! so enjoy bc i'm hella delulu for him LMAO

"love?" you faintly heard matthew say. you groaned as you woke up from your sleep. just as your eyes slightly opened, they shut right away as the sun rays hit them.

"hmm?" you mumbled, trying to go back to dreamland. he softly shook you while also wrapping his arms around your body.

"it's almost ten and we haven't gotten out of bed yet." he informed you. wait ten? you rose up from your comfortable position to see your boyfriend matthew laying next to you with a bright smile on his face.

he ran his hand through your hair, "wait it's ten already?" you asked. from looking outside your wide window, you already noticed people walking down the street as well as cars zooming by. but neither of you had work today so this was simply a day to relax.

"yup and we need to get up. i let you sleep for longer today but it's already going to be ten o'clock. plus, i want to eat your pancakes."

you playfully rolled your eyes at the last part of his sentence, "fine."

matthew giggled, "and good morning to you too."

"but you make them better." he grinned then somehow got even closer to you than he was just a second ago.

with that he pressed his lips against yours. you rested your hand on his chest as he put his on your cheek. his chaste kisses melted you as you kissed back.

he continued as he ran his hands around your body along with you running yours on his abs (who else died). matthew turned his head to the left to change his position.

you moved your hands to wrap around his shoulders but as just things were about to get heated he pulled away but not without kissing you once more.

"i love you." he stated, pressing his forehead against yours. you chuckled then kissed his nose.

"i love you too."

you finally got out of bed and went to prep yourself in the morning by washing your face and brushing your teeth, as well as doing some basic skincare to get your skin glowing.

"love?" you heard behind you, turning around you saw matthew right behind you. "i'm going to shower now."

"okay i'll make the pancakes." you grinned only for matthew to pout.

"that wasn't the answer i was hoping for." but nonetheless, he hopped into the shower which left you then alone in the kitchen.

the pancake mix began to sizzle on the pan as you poured the liquid onto it. mornings like this were always the best.

matthew was the one who asked if you wanted to live together and you obviously said yes to it. a year had already passed since you two began living together and it's safe to say that you've been more happier than ever being able to wake up next to the love of your life.

but you two had been dating for what felt like a decade. you met in university and it was love at first sight. matthew was persistent on getting your number and always found a way to get you to talk with him, and luckily it worked!

since then you haven't looked back which led you to where you are now. matthew moved out of the zerobaseone dorm to live with you which had the members jokingly ridiculing him for being in love. but they were also close with you as you visited the dorms plenty of times before.

midst in your train of thoughts, you felt a pair of hands from behind wrap themselves around you.

"that smells amazing." he said.

"you always say that." you replied, matthew went to open the curtains in the living room giving more light for the apartment.

"because it's true." he popped himself down on the couch to turn on the tv and play the k-drama you two recently left on.

with the pancakes finally done, you plated them and poured syrup on them along with a few blueberries sitting at the top. though you preferred sitting at the dining table, you followed your boyfriend and went to go sit on the couch with him.

you handed him his plate to which he smiled and kissed you on the forehead, "thank you love."

your cheeks began heating up as you managed to reply, "your welcome."

each time you heard him say 'love', you felt yourself turn numb. that word definitely had an effect on you and matthew knew it since he keeps using it to get a reaction from you.

as you dug into the food, you sat there while cuddling each other, tuning into the drama playing. so far there wasn't much tension between the two actors but he insisted this was a good drama since taerae recommended it to him.

"so any plans for today?" you asked. he shrugged but moved his head to rest on your shoulder.

"hmm, i'm thinking of going on a walk, if you want."

"that sounds good." you nodded.

"but most of all i just want to spend time with you today. y'know we finally got a day off like you had been wanting."

he wasn't wrong, you were waiting for a day where matthew can just rest at home and spend time with you. it was rare that he got days like this since he was almost always stuck at the wakeone building.

"and i'm glad."

"me too love."

thereafter, you sat in the peaceful silence watching tv. even though he would return to his busy idol life tomorrow, you wanted time to stop and to sit with matthew all day.

you didn't take being with matthew for granted and were so thankful you agreed to living with him. nothing is better than this. maybe soon you could spend the rest of your life with him but the present was already perfect.

[feyhunter78]

Pink Pastels Pt 21

Description: After your almost disastrous encounter in the O'Hara household, you spend some time debriefing with Janey, and Miguel asks for a second date.

Pt 22

So, you what, jumped out a window?” Janey drawls, her expression both intrigued and unamused, her image freezing for a second as she moves to a part of her apartment with better Wi-Fi.

“No, I hid in his bathroom until he’d convinced Gabi to go play in her room, then sprinted into my own. Janey, it was so embarrassing, I looked like a fucking toaster strudel.”

Janey chokes on her drink. “Not a toaster strudel…”

You bury your face in your hands. “I seriously have a problem, like I need to stay away from him. That cannot happen again, it just can’t.”

A text pops up on your phone, making it vibrate.

Mr. O’Hara: Hey, I’ve been thinking about yesterday and I acted inappropriately, could I take you to dinner tonight, to make up for it? I know a place, it’s a bit out of the way, but there’s no chance anyone from Gabi’s school will see us.

You changed his name back from Miguel to Mr. O’Hara, wanting to remind yourself of the professional boundaries.

“Y/N?” Janey asks, waving her hand, trying to catch your attention.

“Yeah, sorry, anyways, I need to get a handle on myself, I swear I haven’t been this…ya know…in ages.”

Mr. O’Hara: My treat, obviously. I think I make three times what you make.

Mr. O’Hara: Shit, sorry that was rude.

Mr. O’Hara: Anyways let me know.

“I mean, technically there’s nothing in the rules that say you can’t date a parent, it’s just frowned upon.”

Y/N: I’d love to pick me up at six?

Mr. O’Hara: Absolutely, I’ll see you then.

“Yeah, but still.” You glance at the clock, it’s five ten, you definitely need to start getting ready. You pick up your phone and move into your bathroom, continuing to chat with Janey as you get ready.

Six o’clock on the dot, Miguel is at your door. He’s dressed casually, which is a relief because so are you.

He hands you a bouquet of flowers, roses, a bit basic, but beautiful. “Again, my apologies, and I’m glad you’re letting me take you out, I really do like you, y/n, as cheesy as that sounds.”

You take the flowers and quickly put them in a vase before following Miguel down to the parking garage.

It’s a long drive, maybe an hour from your place, but once you arrive you understand.

It’s a small restaurant out of the city, a bit run down, but the neon sign is bright, and you can already smell food.

“This is the best Mexican food in Neuva York and the surrounding area, my mother used to take my brother and I here on our birthdays.” He explains as he opens the door for you.

The restaurant is beautiful, hand painted murals, wood carved booths, warm lighting, and soft music streaming through the speakers hidden amongst the beams that hold up the ceiling.

Once you’re seated and the waitress takes your order, you sip on your water awkwardly. It’s been a while since you’ve been on an actual date.

“Do you like Mexican food?” Miguel asks, looking at the drink menu, his eyes darting to your face every other second.

“Yeah, yeah, my mom is actually from Texas, so we’d get Tex-Mex every time we went to visit her family. I know it’s not the same thing, but…”

“Gabi said your mom has lived in Nueva York her whole life?” Miguel’s eyebrows furrow and you bite your lip.

“Oh umm, so my mother, was born and raised in Nueva York, but my stepmom is from Texas. She married my dad when I was a baby, she’s basically the only mom I’ve actually had. My bio mother sued for joint custody when I was a kid, but I…I didn’t want to live with her. Scheduled visits were enough for me.” You explain, cursing yourself for even mentioning your biological mother to Gabi.

It was a rough day for her, after you learned about her mom from Melissa. You only told her to make her feel better, to let her know she wasn’t alone, but now you were kind of regretting it…

“I don’t talk about her much, she’s—she’s just a lot.” You wave your hand in the air dismissively and plaster on a smile.

“I thought my stepfather was my dad until I went to high school.” Miguel admits, setting down the drink menu.

“Oh?” You’re a little shocked, but hey, you’ve almost fucked multiple times, you’re close enough to share childhood traumas.

“My boss is my father, my mother had an affair with him, I have a half-sister, Monica who is a notorious gossip, but might be my best friend, maybe my only friend? I’ve got coworkers I occasionally get drinks with but…”

You giggle, half at the way he says it, half out of nerves. “Sorry, sorry, please go on.”

He gives you a sheepish smile. “It’s pathetic, I know, a grown man whose best friend is his sister.”

“No, no, I think it’s sweet.” You reassure him.

“And what about you? Siblings? Friends?” Miguel scoops some salsa onto a chip.

“I’ve got a younger brother, he’s a pilot, never around, always sending photos from exotic places, and then Janey, she teaches with me, and she’s my best friend.” You stir the queso in front of you with the spoon provided, watching as the jalapeños sink into the cheese.

Miguel nods. “The tiny black woman with the brightly colored outfits?”

“Everyone is tiny compared to you. But yes, she is short.” You defend Janey playfully, knowing Miguel doesn’t mean anything by it.

“It’s not my fault I was blessed with the stature of a Greek god.” Miguel shrugs, a teasing smile tugging at his lips.

You roll your eyes. “It must be so difficult for you.”

“It is, actually, do you know how many old ladies hit on me?”

You laugh at that, picturing giant, buff Miguel running from grandmothers chasing him down with their canes and walkers. “I am so sorry for your struggle.”

He laughs as well. “I appreciate it.”

“Is your mom still in Neuva York?” You ask, taking a bite of a queso covered chip.

“Yeah, I have her set up in this nice apartment, it’s quiet, she can get her groceries delivered to her if she wants, there’s a pool she and Gabi go swimming in, and she’s on the building’s HOA which is always entertaining.”

“I can’t imagine the stories apartment HOAs have to tell.”

Miguel pitches up his voice, laying on a thick Mexican accent. “Mijo you will never guess, the man upstairs, with the little dogs, a killer, the police came today, took him away. Dios nos salve a todos.”

“That means like God save us, right?” You ask, trying to remember what that Catholic dude from Law and Order: SVU used to say.

“Close, God save us all.” Miguel smiles at you, then the waitress when she sets your food down.

Your waitress’ face tints red, and you feel a wave of jealousy wash over you. You wait until she’s gone, then continue the conversation. “Wait, was he actually a murderer?”

Miguel chuckles. “No, his dogs have been killing birds, squirrels, and other small animals outside the building. He’s been cleaning them up, but apparently disposing of them in the wrong dumpster. Maintenance in the building just wanted to show him the right one to use.”

“Ah, I see.”

“My mother has a wild imagination; I think she gets bored sometimes.” Miguel says. “I should take Gabi to visit her more often but…”

“Being a secret superhero takes up a lot of time?” You joke in a hushed voice, looking around to make sure no one is paying attention.

“Exactly.” He takes a bite of his food, carnitas.

“Sure, keeps you out late, on the street, rooftops, balconies…” You trail off, taking a bite of your quesadilla.

Miguel swallows hard. “I like keeping people safe.”

You nod. “And you’re good at it, I’m glad to have a superhero living in my building.”

“Thank you.” He says softly.

For a moment, you wonder if anyone ever thanks Miguel for what he does. You’re sure people thank him when he saves them, but outside of that? When he’s just patrolling, watching over the city?

“Last time I talked to my mom, she was complaining about my dad keeps the house too cold, and that there’s nothing good on TV anymore.”

“She’s right, there’s nothing good on TV anymore.”

“There’s some good movie though, like that one that came out a bit ago, based on a comic book?” You wrack your brain, but can’t remember what it’s called.

“I only see the movies Gabi wants to see.” Miguel admits sheepishly.

“Well, good thing she’s got good taste.”

You both walk back to Miguel’s car, hands brushing against each other, pinkies almost linking then shying away at the last second.

“Thank you for this, it was nice.” You say, looking up at him, the moon a halo behind his head, dousing him in an ethereal glow.

“No, thank you, I know we’ve kind of gone about things backwards, and that you’re Gabi’s teacher, but I…I really do like you, y/n. I enjoy spending time with you, I like hearing your stories, and telling you mine…”

You take the plunge and link your hand with his. “I like spending time with you too Miguel.”

His fingers interlace with yours. “My work is having a gala in a few weeks, would you come with me? As my date?”

Janey is never going to let you live this down.

“Yeah, sure, sounds like fun.” You tell him, heart skipping a beat when he lifts your hand to his lips and presses a soft kiss to it.

“I’ll give you more details as I get them, but I promise it will be a night to remember, even if all you remember is my coworkers getting drunk off their asses.”

You thank him when he opens the car door for you, then he slides into the driver’s seat.

Miguel walks you to your door, lingering in its frame as you hold each other’s gaze, silly lovesick smiles on your faces.

“I should go to bed.” You say, making no attempt to break away from his gaze.

“Me too.” Miguel echoes, also not moving an inch.

“Thank you, again, for dinner.”

“It’s no problem, I’d like to do it again if you’d let me?” He tilts his head to the side, a soft smile on his face.

“I’d like that.” You tell him before you finally take a step back and into your apartment. “Goodnight Miguel.”

He grabs your wrist, gently, reverently, and presses his lips to your palm, the warmth of his face feels nice of your cold hand, the slight stubble tickles your skin, and his lips are soft. “Goodnight y/n.” Then he releases you and turns to go into his own apartment.

You shut your door, face burning. How was it, that out of everything Miguel’s done, that’s what makes your head spin a thousand miles in every direction imaginable?

He really is something else, huh?

Tag list: @miggyoharaswife, @badbishsblog, @wanderlustingcastaway, @lynn-9703, @sleepyamaya, @erensbbg, @sweetea85, @ilovemiguelohara, @natthernandez, @stxrrielle, @ihateuguys, @jenniferdixon05207, @blep-23, @minimari415, @emerald-09, @violet-19999, @kenchosaikuo, @groovycass, @youcantseem3, @lovefks, @nightshxdex, @dusstory, @munsonssecretblog, @kirke-is-my-name, @starbearieee, @chatoicboy, @needsleep3000, @witchy-lizard, @cxmeiloorun7, @justrandomlolidk, @chimpkinnuggies, @alicefallsintotherabbithole, @loser-alert, @wwwellacom, @ryantryan6969, @lollipopin, @blakeaha, @a-cult-leader, @verexi, @purpleskiesandroses, @they2luv1naia, @sophiaj650, @idolautism, @rheannajrs, @merakiq, @rexs-wife, @sukaretto-n, @twilight-loveer, @f1shb0nez, @callsign-blue , @marcelineormars

[younes-ben-amara]

مُلخَّص كتاب 10 قواعد أساسية لعيش حياةٍ أطيب للمؤلف مانلي بي. هول

مُلخَّص كتاب 10 قواعد أساسية لعيش حياةٍ أطيب للمؤلف مانلي بي. هول

جمعة طيبة، أتابع من فترة قناة جمعية مفتاح المفاتيح (Master Key Society) على يوتيوب واختيارتها للكتب جيدة وإنتاجها الصوتي والمرئي ممتاز. ومن الكتب التي استمعت لها كاملةً قبل أيام كتاب 10 قواعد أساسية لعيش حياةٍ أطيب للمؤلف مانلي بي. هول وإليك تلخيصه أدناه مني بشرحي أنا. في حال اقتبست مباشرة من الكتب فسأنوّه بذلك. لاحظ أني كتبت عن كتب مما نشرته قناة جمعية مفتاح المفاتيح من قبل في هذه التدوينة:…

[uslessnoahtall]

Book Genre Legacy Challenge

Hello! I've been playing the Sims for what feels like forever at this point, and the only way I ever manage to keep myself invested in the game is by playing legacy challenges. I kinda wanted to try my hand at making my own legacy challenge, so here it is!

The Sims 4 Book Genre Legacy Challenge!

Basic Rules: - Reach the end of each aspiration. - Reach level ten of career unless specified otherwise. - Cheats are allowed but try not to use them (only because they make gameplay less fun). - Reach level 10 of each set of skills given for each generation - Heir can be any gender unless specified.

I did my best to make this as Base Game compatible as possible, if you’re missing some packs and I didn’t offer an alternative just pick your own or skip it.

Gen 1: Classics

Colours: Blue and Brown Traits: Family Oriented, Dog Lover (BG: Neat), Art Lover Aspiration: Lord or Lady of the Knits (BG: Successful Lineage) Career: Start as Business but quit once you have kids Skills: Knitting and Parenting

You’ve been called an old soul all your life. Everyone always laughed at you for your simplistic dreams. You’ve always wanted a simple life. White picket fence, perfect partner, two kids, and a dog, maybe even a rocking chair to knit on. Who cares if you don’t have big career plans, at least you’ve got a family.

Rules: - Must have at least two kids - Quit your job once you have your kids. - Have a good relationship with all children. - Adopt a dog once your kids are toddlers. - Only have one romantic relationship and marry them before you’re an adult.

Gen 2: Western

Colours: Brown and White Traits: Bro, Rancher (BG: Hates Children), Loner Aspiration: Championship Rider (BG: Bodybuilder) Career: Athlete or no Job (Horse Ranch) Skills: Fitness, Horse Riding, and Guitar

You grew up in a picture perfect home. You were adored by your parents and lived the perfect life. But not everything was as great as it seemed. You learnt very quickly how mean children could be, as you were the youngest of the family and constantly picked on by your sibling(s). You moved out as soon as your were able to and bought the biggest piece of land you could find. Anything to get away from other people. 

Rules: - Have a bad relationship with your sibling(s) - Move out as soon as you’re a young adult onto a plot of land - Buy a horse (if you have HR) as soon as you can - Have an unexpected child (one only)  - Don’t move in with your partner until you know you’re having a child  - Have a high relationship with partner and parents, no one else

Gen 3: Science Fiction 

Colours: White and Green Traits: Geek, Socially Awkward (BG: Clumsy), Genius Aspiration: Computer Whiz Career: Astronaut Skills: Programming, Rocket Science, and Robotics

As an only child, you were taught to entertain yourself. Your parents had never enjoyed company, and hadn’t payed much attention to you growing up. You kept yourself busy, ignoring their silly western ideals and searching for a more captivating life in the stars. You found a passion in technology, and found numbers far easier to understand than people. Maybe there’s life out there better than the people you’ve met on earth. 

Rules: - Build a rocket ship  - Travel to Sixam and bring an alien back to earth with you (if you have GTW) - Marry the alien and have a kid  - Never make friends  - Don’t talk to your parents after you move out 

Gen 4: Comedy

Colours: Green and Yellow Traits: Goofball, Self Absorbed (BG: Noncommittal), Outgoing Aspiration: Joke Star Career: Entertainer (Comedian Branch) Skills: Comedy and  Charisma

Your parents always had their head in the stars, and being half alien you felt like an outcast as a child. You hated how hard it was to make friends and only wanted to be like everyone else. Once you reached a teenager however, you realized that if you tried hard enough and got everyone to like you, no one would even realize you were a little odd. 

Rules: - Make a bunch of friends as a teenager, but never stay close with any of them - Host house parties once a week - Have at least three kids and have a good relationship with them all - Sever all connection to your alien parent after you move out

Gen 5: Contemporary

Colours: Yellow and Pink Traits: Ambitious, Snob, Materialistic  Aspiration: Fabulously Wealthy Career: Doctor (BG: Business) Skills: Logic and Painting 

You grew up in a very loud family. Everyone was always laughing and there were parties almost every week. As a child you loved it, but as you got older you realized there were more important things in life than laughter. You decided to take a different route than the rest of your family. To you, there was nothing more important than success, other than money of course. 

Rules: - Marry someone in the same career field as you. - Have a large house and hire a maid/butler as soon as you can afford it. - While your children are young, hire a nanny for them instead of sending them to daycare. - Have an over-the-top wedding. - Decorate your house with your own art (no one else makes art that is good enough for you)

Gen 6: Romance

Colours: Pink and Red Traits: Romantic, Good, Music Lover Aspiration: Soulmate Career: Entertainer (Actor Branch) or Acting (GF) Skills: Charisma, Acting, Piano or Violin

As a kid, you always felt like the outcast of the family. Your sibling(s) were super smart and seemed likely to follow in your parents successful footsteps, while you were always a little behind, more interested in making friends than success. You feel in love with romantic stories and tv shows at a young age, as everything always seemed to work out for the main characters. Your parents were a little cold and  you barely saw them be affectionate with each other. As you got older you decided that the world needed a little more love.

Rules: - Must be a woman  - Date as many sims as you want but don’t woohoo until married - Have at least two close friends and one best friend - Adopt a dog - Have a music room in your house

Gen 7: Horror

Colours: Red and Black Occult option: Vampire Traits: Gloomy, Perfectionist. Unflirty (BG: Hot-Headed)  Aspiration: Villainous Valentine Career: Secret Agent (Villain Branch) Skills: Vampire Lore, Pipe organ or Piano, Mischief 

Your mom drove you crazy growing up. Her insanely positive outlook on life made you laugh. You believed she’d just gotten lucky in her love life, there’s no way anyone else could achieve that sort of perfect romance. All that being said, you do love her with all your heart. But as the only official black sheep of the family, you made it your goal to make your family the complete opposite of the one you grew up in, staring with the worst career you could think of. 

Rules: - Have a good relationship with your parents and invite them over for weekly dinners  - Adopt a black cat -Partner should match your values - Don’t settle down until aspiration is complete 

Gen 8: Fantasy

Colours: Black and Purple Traits: Loves Outdoors, Jealous, Creative Aspiration: Freelance Botanist  Career: Gardener (BG: No Job) Skills: Gardening, Flower Arranging, Baking

You loved the whimsicalness of your grandmother when you were a child. If you had the choice you would’ve had her raise you instead of your own parents. Growing up in such a dark environment made you want to fill your own house colours. The one thing you and your parent do have in common however, is your twisted outlook on love, as you are constantly convinced that your partner is cheating on you.

Rules:  - Have a good relationship with your grandmother  - Have at least three partners before you find the one, and be the one to break up with them all - Have a greenhouse  - Don’t have any kids until your grandmother dies - Have a rocky relationship with your spouse

Gen 9: Mystery

Colours: Purple and Grey Traits: Paranoid (BG: Loner), Loyal, Slob Aspiration: Master Mixologist  Career: Detective (BG: Secret Agent, Diamond Agent Branch) Skills: Mixology, Photography, Charisma

You had a pretty normal childhood, aside from the occasional screaming match between your parents. Unfortunately you inherited one of your parents tendency for paranoia, and constantly think somethings out to get you. Instead of taking it out on your partner however, you take it out on the criminals in town, and the occasional drink. And hey you never know, maybe some criminals can be trusted. 

Rules: - Have at least one drink a night after work (either at a bar or at home) - Marry someone in the criminal career branch (can be cheated) - Move houses at least three times (best to never stay in one place too long) - Never hire a repair service, fix everything yourself 

Gen 10: Memoir

Colours: Grey and Blue Traits: Perfectionist, Ambitious, High Maintenance (BG: Creative) Aspiration: Best-selling Author Career: Writer (Author Branch) Skills: Writing

Growing up you loved your parents, but something about how much they drank always rubbed you the wrong way. You always liked things to be set up in specific ways and you hated the fact that your parents always left a mess. You spent a lot of time reading as your parents were too preoccupied to take much care of you. One day you find a bunch of dusty old books that appear to be about the older generations of your family, but it’s hard to make out. Annoyed by the lack of information about your family lineage, you decide you should be the one to write it all down. 

Rules: - Have a complicated relationship with your parents  - Publish 10 books, each named after a different generation. - Read 9 books prior to starting your writing (as research). - Have a library in your home 

I think that's everything! I hope you guys enjoy this challenge! Please tag me in any posts about this challenge or post it with the hashtag #bookgenrelegacy

Happy Simming!

[possibilistfanfiction]

hey!! saw you reblogging some of your butch bea stuff & just wanted to tell you that it lowkey changed my life and that if you ever want to revisit that universe you’d have at least one very avid & enthusiastic reader. there’s no pressure though — im grateful it exists at all!!

[i am going to be completely honest, i have no idea what this little prompt fill is but i love butch bea sm, it's soft & basically plotless. feeling so normal about her this pride month lol. also some lilith pov for the culture.]

//

not that you like people, but if you had to pick a favorite, under deep duress, beatrice would be at the top of your list. not that you would ever, ever tell her that, but, unfortunately, you're also pretty certain she knows. and, to your utter horror, you find that you have a reluctant soft spot for ava — you try to contribute it to beatrice being your sister, and therefore ava is basically your sibling-in-law, because they're not married yet but you watched beatrice say goodbye and you watched her grieve and you watched her fall in love, disgustingly, every second of every day, when ava returned. and, sure, ava is steadfast and faithful and far too brave and saved the world, twice, but, like. his relentless optimism and terrible sense of humor is too much sometimes.

but, you remind yourself when you get his text — he's your family too. someone who should have never forgiven you, you remember, like acid leaking in your stomach, but ava has always been too generous. and so you answer with an eye-roll emoji but also I'll be there in ten.

it's not the first day that ava has asked for help, and you're sure it won't be the last, but these days don't happen all that often anymore. you understand, though: your wings ache and sit heavy some nights when you can't sleep, and even if you fly over mountain ranges or tropical fjords or the flat, gorgeous planes of the savannah, deserts and oceans, the world — this admittedly beautiful earth, better than all the heavens — isn't quite enough to hold your sorrow. or, maybe it holds it along with you, and you can't quite put it down.

so you diligently mask your scales with jillian's annoying but very useful tech, and you put on an outfit that nun-you would have deemed inappropriate and nun-beatrice would have blushed furiously at, and teleport from your favorite room, tucked away in the middle of nowhere on a tiny island off the coast of iceland to beatrice and ava's sunny, big house on the beach. it's cool today, though, the day covered in a marine layer that's lingered for months. beatrice looks surprised when you show up in their kitchen, where she's staring off into space while, apparently, very slowly unloading the dishwasher. ava says hello from the living room, where you assume they're on the couch with korra by their side.

'hello, lilith.'

you pop a fresh grape into your mouth from the bowl sitting there in lieu of greeting.

'those are for ava,' beatrice says, and her hands shake and you can tell from the set of her shoulders that ava was right, that the world stings in your palms and up your spine, and sometimes you just need someone to see you through it until it calms.

'he can share,' you say, eat another one and swipe the bowl with beatrice scowling after you as you walk into the living room. ava is, unexpectedly, watching some reality tv drivel — so what if you're caught up on all ten seasons of vanderpump rules, it reminds you of hell if anyone asks — but she smiles sincerely when you hand her the bowl, one you're pretty certain beatrice had sculpted and glazed with her own hands.

'i can share a few,' ava says, and you don't bother to stop yourself from scratching korra's head in greeting when ava nods. you can admit that korra is awesome; she has loyalty to ava but at least you can understand that one. she's wearing a hoodie you know is beatrice's favorite, so it's ava's favorite too, and a beanie; ava hadn't mentioned it, but you know on really bad days her body has trouble regulating its internal temperature too — and if the pile of blankets at the foot of the couch is anything to go by, you're guessing that's happening too.

'you've looked better.'

ava rolls her eyes and beatrice flicks you on the back of the head. 'so have you,' ava says, but you look hot and so you know by that lackluster insult she really is in a good deal of pain.

'ava's back is bad today,' beatrice says, as if that wasn't completely obvious from the way ava has a heating pad and special pillow and is propped up on the couch with korra attentively lying next to her, ready to get anything or alert if she needs to.

'lots of hand spasms,' ava says, 'which are the worst, who knew?'

the only reason you refrain from making a dirty joke is because you'd never want them to think you have ever, for one moment, thought about their sex life. 'well, i'm taking beatrice for a bit,' you say, which is just what ava asked for, 'so maybe some heavier duty pain meds and a nap? we can bring you a late lunch.'

you feel beatrice stiffen behind you. 'i need to be here today,' she says, clipped and anxious. 'what if ava —'

'what if i what, bea?' ava says, without any malice, but with a glint in her eye that even you know to be careful of. 'i just need to sleep today and watch some stupid tv. we can go through all my rehab exercises in the evening again, like we always do.'

beatrice's jaw is clenched, and she bites her bottom lip.

'bea,' ava says, and reaches for her hand, and, not for the first time at all, do you feel a little out of place. lonely, and sad, and aching: they are in love, however much it annoys you. there's a care there that you're fairly certain you will never have, and never be able to give.

'a few hours, beatrice,' you say. 'that's all.'

ava had texted that beatrice had been losing track of time and tasks all morning, which is a sign you'd all started to understand as a bad ptsd day, not infrequently leading to a panic attack or a flashback if she's left to her own devices. usually, they won't have bad days at the same time, some divine knowledge of something, but today the stars hadn't lined up.

but beatrice sighs and then nods: she knows herself, knows when her brain is misfiring or misaligned, when things aren't quite as real as they should be. ava's hands are in painful, involuntary fists and so it's up to you today, to hold beatrice's through it.

'great, now that that's settled,' you say, when she offers nothing else. you take her wrist and, just for fun, teleport her right into the middle of the ocean, until she's spluttering and yelling but then, blessedly, lets out a laugh. you teleport her right back to her shower and even ava is grinning from inside. 'get ready,' you tell her, throw a towel at her from the neat stack in their patio bin. 'see you in fifteen.'

'don't have too much fun catching up on vanderpump rules without me,' she says, color back in her cheeks and a clarity seeping into her eyes.

'i hate that show.'

'sure,' she says, dismissing you with a wave of her hand, and, fine, you do join ava on the couch, but it's only because he's high and divulges, eagerly, beatrice's latest cooking mishap. beatrice comes in from their bedroom a few minutes later, looking a little steadier still, in soft, tailored pants and an oversized t-shirt, tucked in precisely. she's put contacts in and has sunglasses slipped into the collar of her shirt, a thick, fancy watch on her wrist. ava, even in a lot of pain, looks like they might start drooling. 'great.' you fling a pair of pristine birkenstocks at beatrice, who catches them with a scowl, 'you look fine to be in public. let's go.'

'bye, baby,' ava says, frustratingly unfazed by you. beatrice smiles, gently, her eyes clear for the moment when all she has to focus on is ava, and kisses her forehead, gently cups her jaw in her hand. 'love you, have fun.'

'i love you too,' beatrice says.

'no fun,' you say, and ava's still laughing as you touch beatrice's elbow and teleport on your way.

/

'this is my sister, lilith,' beatrice introduces, and, like, whatever, your heart swells in your chest and you feel warm and kind. you sink into it — only for a moment.

'nice to meet you,' beatrice's barber says, offering her hand with a genuine, easy smile, not batting an eye that you and beatrice look absolutely nothing alike; you feel warm and kind again when you think about beatrice talking about you as her sister to people you've never met, that you matter to her enough to mention. 'i'm xavi.'

'xavi, cool.'

beatrice sits down in the chair, comfortable and present, even though her hands still shake, but it's clear that this is a space she's always been made to feel safe. somewhere she's always been made to feel seen, which you realized, over the past few years, she had never had, despite how much you had — and still do — still love her.

'same thing, bea?' xavi asks.

bea nods. 'you can take the skin fade up a little higher, i think. it just grows so fast.'

xavi nods. 'sounds good.'

and it's not like you don't spend a fair amount of your time with beatrice and ava, because they live somewhere beautiful and it brings you deep joy to annoy them, and, like, drag brunches and queer bars are admittedly very fun, but to see your sister just be is kind of moving. and maybe she realizes that too, that it's special you're here, that it's special you're allowed to be here, in this space that is very much hers, the quiet hum of the clippers in the background, while she chats with her barber about the latest ridiculous episodes of love island — which, yes, you have watched; yes, you do participate in the conversation after beatrice includes you immediately, because you're only so strong and it's always been a summer tradition of yours to watch nightly — and they laugh together. you laugh too, and then all of a sudden beatrice is crying, and xavi turns the clippers off carefully. beatrice snakes a hand out from under her cape and tries to wipe her eyes.

'i apologize,' she says, really trying to get it under control. 'i — sorry.'

'she's having a weird day,' you offer, and beatrice nods with a sniffle. you don't bother to explain further — that's beatrice's to tell, if she ever wants to — but it seems to calm beatrice a little bit.

'sorry,' she says again. 'i — i'm just happy to be here,' she says, adds a quiet, 'as i am,' and xavi just squeezes her shoulder.

'i'm happy about that too.'

beatrice lets out a big breath and steadies herself; you feel relieved too that you won't have to deal with a panic attack in the middle of a barber shop while beatrice's hair isn't nearly faded properly. 'i never cry.'

you roll your eyes. 'if by "never" you mean five to ten times a week...'

beatrice shoots you a glare through the mirror and you just grin, all teeth.

xavi laughs a little and turns the clippers back on. 'it's okay,' she says. 'you're secret's safe with me.'

/

admittedly, beatrice's hair does look great, a clean fade and a little messy pomade on top, but you've already complimented her on this haircut twice so you're certainly not doing that again. you walk with her along the street her barbershop is on, that she knows well and it hits you quietly that you know it well too. you don't have a home — you haven't had a home in a while — but this might come close.

years ago, before the war, before all of it, on a bad day the two of you would go at it for hours sparring, blood on your knuckles and along your teeth and once mother superion had been irate when you got such a good shot in beatrice's eye was swollen shut for days — but there is no war anymore. there are small battles, but beatrice hasn't fought since she got hurt; even though she's better now, with a sturdy rod down her femur and scars that don't seem to bother her much down her abdomen, you think, unofficially, that she's not ever going to fight again.

you don't have the same fate, you know, but for today you look beautiful in an easy bright blue shift dress and sunglasses, your hair dark and long, and beatrice's hands have stopped shaking.

'sushi?' you ask, a reach, maybe, but when she smiles you know you were right.

it makes you realize, too, when you sit down at a restaurant you've come to so many times with her — and ava, too — that you know the server, who greets you both by name and brings you shishito peppers and spicy edamame without you even having to order. beatrice relaxes in her chair after a second on the patio, lets out another deep breath.

'all right?'

she takes her sunglasses off and nods. 'thank you.'

you shake your head. 'you're my sister.'

you mean it: i have not forgotten who you are; i have not forgotten who i am. you mean it: i love you. even if the words get stuck in your chest, even if you can't quite say them — you mean it.

'plus,' you say, 'you're paying, and i'm ordering the best sake on the menu.'

she laughs, bright and easy, and shrugs. 'you know the catholic church and my horrible parents are footing the bill anyway. we should order whatever we want.'

you remember when you were nineteen and beatrice was brand new to the ocs, how much you felt frustrated by her, deeply: she was earnest, and so serious, and very hurt, but kind in a way you never could be. the pressure sat heavy on both of your shoulders, but she held it with grace. 'could you have imagined this life when we first met?'

she seems as surprised by your question as you are that you even asked it, but her smile is easy and she runs a hand along her buzzed hair with a laugh. 'i think i would have had a heart attack if anyone had told me even a sliver of what my life is now.'

you wait a beat but then you do laugh, because it's true. your server brings you your sake and some sashimi you'd ordered, along with some scallops that are your favorite. ava sends a text in the group chat the three of your have — which you refuse to really participate in, but fine — saying that she's doing fine, that she had to take a fever reducer but korra's been on top of anything she needed to get so ava hasn't had to try to get up, that the protein smoothie beatrice had made her had been fine and she's just going to try to sleep some more. it makes beatrice relax even more, palpably, and you understand, in some way.

'you've retired, haven't you?'

she calmly swallows her tuna and then puts down her chopsticks. 'fighting? yes.'

it's simple and it's big and it's quiet. you knew already.

'but i'll be around. you know i enjoy research, archival, collaborations with jillian. i'm not — this will always be part of my life.' it's unspoken too: you will always be part of my life. and you know she means it.

'good,' you say, and for the first time in longer than you can really remember it feels like you're able to offer a benediction.

her eyes are soft as the clouds burn off, finally, as the afternoon turns warm. 'i — i want to live a long life.'

you can't say anything, but you can nod. you want that too — for her, for all of you. 'plus,' you say, 'ava was even worse than normal when you got blown up.'

she rolls her eyes, as glad for the levity as you are. you drink more sake and order more sushi and laugh as you watch people walk by on the street and beatrice offers — delightfully and playfully kind of mean — commentary about some of them. she's been your person for a long time, you remember, her gentleness despite bullets and arrows and bombs, despite holy wars, despite knuckles — yours, or hers, or both — split open to the bone. beatrice holds her chopsticks easily, steadily, and the scars on the tops of her hands shine white in the sun, but they've faded. you can only see them if you know where to look.

[dragonwritersblog]

I started this short bowuigi little mermaid au thing a few days ago as a little something to help me feel better cause my depression was basically being like ‘hey, wanna feel ten times worse than usual?’ It was to be a short little thing to self-indulge with, YET IT SOMEHOW IS OVER 5K WORDS, FUCKING HOW?!?!?!?!? Anyways, enjoy. (Edit, to the person who pointed out that Junior said Luigi's name before Bowser finds out, you're a real one and I just fixed it thanks xx).

In the surface land, Bowser is trying to get Princess Peach to marry him because he sees her as the ‘perfect bride’ for him to be happy but she’s not having it.

“Isn’t she lovely Kamek, her golden hair, the way she glides when she moves. Plus, she would be a perfect mother for Junior!”

“Sire, she threw a shoe at your head the last time you proposed to her.”

“…and?”

“Seriously Papa?”

Yeah, Kamek and Junior are starting to get sick of it.

Meanwhile, in the ocean, Mario and Luigi’s parents rule the seven seas. While Mario is more adventurous and outgoing, Luigi is more content to stay under the sea (you’re allowed to hate me for that terrible pun).

See, unlike Ariel, Luigi is deathly afraid of the surface land as he’s heard about all about the terrifying Bowser and what he’s willing to do to get what he wants to he wants to stay as far as possible from there.

“There’s nothing to be scared of Luigi, I’d be able to keep you safe if we were ever near the surface.”

“N-no way! W-what if B-Bowser’s there a-an-d-d gets mad a-at us f-or t-t-t-trespassing! I-I’ll be fine here with Ma and Pa.”

(Luigi also has long hair cause I’m a sucker for long-haired Luigi.)

Que King Boo, a ghostly underwater sea monster who wants to take over both the land and sea but isn’t powerful enough to do so. He knows that Luigi means a lot to his family, so he decides to pull a devious trick to distract them from their duties so he can take over the throne.

“Well, well, well, despite how much of a cowardly shrimp he is, this little prince could be of use to me.”

He uses Polterpup (a ghost sea-lion pup that is able to turn into a dog if he goes to the surface land) to distract Luigi, making him think that a dog had fallen into the sea and needs help. Luigi follows the sound of the distressed barking, hoping to help the innocent animal when suddenly, he’s captured by Boo’s minions and with the limited power that he has, he uses it to turn Luigi into a human to make him unable to return home. That way, while Luigi’s family will be looking for their son, he can try and take over the underwater kingdom and use that power to take over the surface land. Just to make sure that Luigi doesn’t tell anyone, King Boo steals Luigi’s voice and sends him to the edge of the Darklands.

“Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha! Try going home and telling your mommy and daddy about this one princey! Oh wait, you can’t!”

However, since King Boo’s powers are still weak there is a way that the spell can be reserved so he purposely neglects to tell Luigi that the spell can be broken with true love’s kiss.

Luigi is distraught and terrified, already afraid of the surface land and is now forced to live there with no way of being able to ask for help.

Feeling guilty, Polterpup decides to help Luigi get used to his human legs and brings him a rag from a ship to help make into some makeshift clothes.

Meanwhile, Bowser and Junior are minding their own business at the shore of the Darklands when suddenly, Junior sees an unfamiliar human struggling to stand on his own two feet.

“Look Dad! There’s a human, like Peach!”

He gets a bit over excited and runs from his dad to go see Luigi.

Luigi, still frightened and wary of surface creatures (and the fact that this is Bowser’s son! So, if the king sees him with Junior, he could burn him to a crisp!) he gets spooked easily by the child and fumbles his way onto a rock. Polterpup stands in front of Luigi to create some distance with the overzealous child. Eventually, Bowser makes his way over to see what all the fuss is about.

“Junior, what have I told you about running off?!”

“But look Papa, it’s another human! I’ve never seen another human before apart from Peach!”

Bowser suddenly notices Luigi, who ducks behind Polterpup, trying to hide as much of himself as he can.

Bowser is taken aback, like Junior, Peach is the only human he’s seen so he’s never had the chance to formally get to know another one. He sees that the human is a bit skittish, so he tries to be as unintimidating as possible.

“Uh, hey there, sorry about Junior, he has the tendency to get overexcited sometimes.”

“Hey!”

Luigi is still unsure; he’s only ever heard tales about how the king of the koopas was able to be rid of his enemies just with one swipe of his claw. So, seeing him up close makes him want to piss himself.

Bowser can see that the human is still nervous, though he’s a little bit offended, he can’t really blame the human for being scared.

“Did you, uh, get in a shipwreck? Cause I can see that the only thing you’re dressed in is a sail.”

Luigi finally peaks his head out and nods a little bit, wondering why the koopa hasn’t done anything to him yet. Junior is suddenly asking him a lot of questions.

“Woah, you got in a shipwreck?! That’s so cool! Was there tons of thunder and lightning?! Did your ship light on fire?! Your dog is so cool! Is he a ghost?!”

Startled again, Luigi nearly falls off the rock until Bowser catches him. Luigi suddenly starts trembling both from fear and the cold. The king notices this and tries to ask him if he’s alright to try and loosen the tension, but the human is silent.

“What’s wrong? Can’t talk or something?”

He says that sarcastically and laughs a little to try and make the human do so as well, but he takes one look in the human’s eyes and realises that he actually can’t.

“Oh, I see.”

Luigi is hugging himself at this point, wanting to run and hide but he was getting colder and colder by the minute. Bowser then decides to take the human back to the castle to get him warmed up and a little bit less scared.

“Don’t worry, Kamek and Kammy will know how to help you. You’ll be feeling better soon.”

That gets Luigi to look up at the king with curiosity as Bowser carries him back to the castle with Junior and Polterpup by his side. The great ferocious king was holding him ever so gently and promising to help him, he doesn’t know how to feel at this point.

As soon as Kamek and Kammy see Luigi shivering and drenched, they are instantly ‘grandparents mode activated. They take Luigi from Bowser and lead the human into bathroom, (Bowser totally didn’t want to carry him there) Kamek makes him tea and gives Luigi a few biscuits while Kammy is drawing a warm bubble bath for him.

“Here you are now, its not much but it will help fill and warm you up a little bit.”

Luigi has never tasted land food before; he finds it to be quite nice. He even enjoys the bath, letting the water heat him up and blowing on the bubbles. Kammy finds the site adorable.

“The poor thing, washing up from a shipwreck must’ve been so terrifying for you, especially if you heard about the reputation of the Darklands. Don’t worry, we just want to help you feel better and feel comfortable here.”

Kamek comes into the room holding a few dresses and suits, asking the human which one he’d like to wear for dinner. Although Luigi didn’t need to wear clothes as a mermaid, he does know that land creatures wear them all the time. He instantly chooses one of the dresses (because gender norms don’t exist, and Luigi is allowed to wear whatever the fuck he wants!)

Later, Kammy is helping Luigi get changed while Kamek, Junior and Bowser are in the dining room talking about Peach again.

“All I’m saying sire is that it might be due time to stop pursuing the princess. She had already disagreed to your other proposals, and I don’t see her agreeing any time soon.”

“I can’t just give up on her Kamek, Peach makes me feel things that I’ve never felt for anyone. I will marry her, one day.”

As if right on time, Kammy and Luigi are there, the former ushering in the shy man.

“Don’t be so nervous darling, you look lovely!”

Luigi then steps into the room, wearing a beautiful green dress (a green version of Ariel’s pink dress) with Polterpup by his side to keep him company.

Bowser is starstruck, he’s never seen a human look this beautiful before.

“Y-you look amazing.”

Luigi blushes, still nervous but the compliment gives him butterflies.

“Come sit next to me human!”

Junior takes his hand and leads him next to his seat, which happens to also be next to Bowser’s at the head of the table. To try and take his mind off the fact that he’s sitting next to Bowser, Luigi starts focusing on the plates and cutlery, he’s never really seen that many human artefacts before so it’s all so intriguing to him (expect when Mario brings back some from his adventures, but he doesn’t really know what they are either.)

Bowser becomes amused at Luigi’s curiosity for the simple objects he had, his appreciation for things that seem to be mundane gives him a swell of pride.

“I guess my silverware is kinda nice, isn’t it?”

Luigi immediately puts the fork don’t and hides under his hair, afraid that he might have disrespected the king, but Bowser is quick to reassure him that he doesn’t mind.

“It’s just that no one else I know is fascinated by these types of things, so its nice to see someone that it.”

Luigi peers out from his hair, a small smile forming from the king’s praise. Kamek picks up on the tension and decides to do some *matchmaking*.

 “Since our guest will be staying for a while, perhaps we should help him feel more comfortable with a tour of the kingdom…Bowser?”

“Papa, are you listening?”

Bowser breaks out of his trance, not even realising he was staring at the human. He couldn’t help it; he’s not seen that many and this one was just so fascinating.

“Ah, yes, a tour sounds great! If you would like one?”

Luigi thinks for a bit and nods. If he was wrong about the king, then maybe he was wrong about the kingdom and surface land and should give it a chance.

Kamek nods at that, pleased with his work. Kammy shoots him a thumbs up for his work.

Later, while Luigi is getting ready for bed, he watches Bowser with Junior as they play in the courtyard. Bowser notices him watching and waves at him. Embarrassed that he was caught, Luigi shyly waves back and backs away from the balcony. He’s wearing a cotton nightgown that Kammy had given him, as well as a glass of water from Kamek in case he gets thirsty during the night. This is also his first time laying in a bed, he’s never felt anything so soft in his life! He falls asleep as soon as he puts his head on the pillow, feeling a bit more hopeful after today.

Back in the ocean, Mario and his family are frantically searching for his brother, terrified that something bad happened to him. He decides to go to the surface land, specifically from the Mushroom Kingdom, and ask their princess for help and if he’s washed up there. It also helps that he’s heard so much about her kindness and beauty and…wake up Mario, focus on the mission at hand.

Back on the surface lands, Bowser takes Luigi on a tour of his kingdom, Polterpup by his feet through the all thing. At first, Luigi is still a bit unsure about the koopas, but soon he becomes a bit more curious. He goes up to some of the food stand giving away free sample and decides to try a little bit of fruit, it’s a bit tangy but still pretty good. He even sees a puppet show for the first time, not knowing how the little puppets are moving, he pulls one of a koopa’s hand, fascinated with how it works. A few koopa children then come up to him and ask to do his hair, having never seen another human before with his like his. He agrees and let the children tie up his hair in a French braid along with a few faux white flowers to go with the new dress he’s wearing. Bowser is watching from afar, his jaw dropping when Luigi’s hairstyle is revealed, his heart skipping a beat when Luigi does a twirl.

“Wow, you…you look beautiful greenie.”

Luigi blushes at the compliment.

The two suddenly hear music and see a few performers starting to play on their instruments as koopas, goombas and shy guys join in. Bowser takes Luigi’s hand and asks him to dance, the man nods his head, feeling a bit more at ease with the king now.

Soon the two join the crowd, laughing and having the time of their lives as they dance away to the music, Polterpup occasionally runs through some of the koopas legs.

When it ends, Bowser guides Luigi to a hidden river, the only place with water in the Darklands (apart from the shore). They share a little boat ride together as they share some of the food they bought at the market, while Polterpup takes a nap. Bowser then remembers that despite the time they shared together, he still doesn’t even know Luigi’s name.

“I feel terrible not knowing your name, and we don’t have anything that you can write with…Oh I know, how about I go down the alphabet and you pick out the letters of your name?”

Luigi nods and though it takes a while, the king manages to spell out his name.

“Luigi huh? A beautiful name for a beautiful human.”

Its Luigi’s turn for his heart to skip a beat. All his life he’d heard about the koopa kingdom and their dreaded king, now it turns out that he’s actually a gentleman who’s been showing him nothing but respect. Ever since this man washed up at his kingdom, Bowser has been feeling things that he’s never felt for anyone. Flustered, vulnerable and a need to protect and love. He’s never even felt this for Peach. The two start to lean in when their boat suddenly tips over, the two falling out. Bowser is quick to pick up Luigi, who begins to wring out his dress while Polterpup begins to shake his non-existent coat. As Bowser carries Luigi back as Polterpup floats beside them, the two fail to see two boos that were the ones who knocked over their boat.

Back in his lair, King Boo is seething!

“That blasted little shrimp! At this rate, these two will end up snogging all over the place and my plans will be ruined!”

He decides to go to his last resort, a mind control crown that he had hoped to use on one of the rulers to conquer the sea and surface, however this crown also held many of his other spells (including Luigi’s) and he wasn’t strong enough to use it more than once to use a spell as powerful as mind control. It was always extremely fragile, though he would still have some power, if it broke then all of his previous spells from over the years would be released, so he held it off for as long as he could, and it seems that now he has no other choice.

Meanwhile, Mario has finally arrived at the Mushroom Kingdom, hoping to find help with the princess. She’s just as beautiful in the rumours he’s heard about her. The princess is shocked to find an adorable red merman in a river near her palace, but she can’t deny his plea for help when he looked just so sweet.

“My brother, he’s gone missing! Is there any chance he’s been around here lately?”

“I’m sorry, you’re the only mer-person we’ve seen here. But don’t worry, we’ll keep a look out and help you find him!”

“Really?! Thank you, princess!”

“Y-you’re welcome.”

Back at the Darklands, Bowser is thinking about his new feelings for Luigi, not knowing if he should act on them since he didn’t want to betray his love for Peach. Kamek, fed up at this point, goes up to give Bowser his thoughts on the matter.

“If I may say sire, some people spend most of their time chasing after treasure on a map that leads them in circles, that they neglect that the diamond in the rough is right in front of them. Just a thought from a silly old koopa.”

As Kamek leaves, Bowser ponders over his surrogate father’s words. For years he’s yearned for Peach so the point that he became blinded by what he thought he wanted and put her on a pedestal. Now, there’s someone that doesn’t see him as a monster and might love him back. He makes his decision and starts to go to Luigi to tell him how he feels when he suddenly feels a weight on his head, and everything goes dark.

The next morning, Luigi wakes up feeling more refreshed and happier than he has since he first turned human. He’s been thinking all night about the maybe-kiss that he and Bowser were about to share and had been contemplating his feelings on the matter. He soon found himself realising that he would mind kissing Bowser, in fact, he would really like to kiss him and spend every day with him, Junior, Kammy and Kamek. Besides, there was nothing stopping him from travelling to see his brother and family, maybe it could all work out? He fell asleep last night with a smile on his face and butterflies in his stomach.

He’s about to run down the stairs to meet Bowser when he hides behind a pillar when he sees the king speaking with Kamek, wearing a strange crown.  

“Y-your highness, are you sure this is the best idea?”

“Peach castle is currently unprotected; it would be a good opportunity to strike and take her as my bride.”

“I see that, but after the last few days and our past with the Mushroom Kingdom, shouldn’t we think this through a little bit and-”

“-It has always been my intention to make Peach mine, no matter what and I won’t let anyone get in my way. Especially some scrawny human who washed up at my sure. Once the invasion is complete, the wedding will start immediately.”

“…very well sire.”

Luigi, heartbroken and betrayed, flees to his room, not knowing that King Boo was there the whole having used his ghostly-ness to remain invisible while controlling Bowser with the crown.

As Bowser takes off with his army and airship, Luigi stays behind at the port to cry as Polterpup tries to comfort him, having to face the truth that he was right in the first place, Bowser was just a heartless monster.

Junior is on the airship per his father’s orders to be at the wedding. He searches for his dad, wondering why he had the sudden change of heart about Luigi and his invasion. He creaks open the door to his father’s room when he sees King Boo in Bowser’s mirror, cackling to himself at the fact that his plans are nearly complete.

Realising his dad is being mind controlled by the strange ghost thing, he makes his way down to the clown cars and sneaks away in his own small one to get to Luigi as quickly as possible.

The Mushroom Kingdom is taken aback when Bowser suddenly arrives, not fully prepared for battle since he would usually leave some type of indication that he was coming, but here, he was just blasting through with every intention of not leaving until he gets what he wants. Mario wants to help but Peach tells him to stay hidden. Unable to just do nothing, Mario rushed as fast as he can to get back home to get his father.

As soon as Peach sees Bowser, there’s something different about his atmosphere, something way more menacing and demanding. As usual, he wants Peach to marry him, but this time he doesn’t ask.

“One way or another, you will marry me Peach and we’ll watch your kingdom turn to ash.”

“You’re not even going to bargain.”

“It’s not like you can do anything about it.”

A pit forms in Peach’s stomach, something’s wrong, very wrong.

Junior makes it back to, running to the sobbing man as fast as he can.

“Luigi! Luigi! There’s some weird ghost thing that was in my dad’s mirror! I think that’s why he’s attacking the Mushroom Kingdom so soon! What do we do?!”

Luigi’s eyes widen in horror. King Boo! He had to be behind all this. Without any second thoughts, Luigi climbs in Junior’s clown car, along with Polterpup, and the two head to the Mushroom Kingdom as fast as they can.

While Bowser/Boo is adamant about the wedding, the koopas there are a little less comfortable about it due to how strange and intimidating the king was acting. As the service starts, Peach pulls out an ice flower from her bouquet and attacks Bowser, she lands a few hits, but Bowser uses his fire to melt the ice. Peach keeps trying to fight though, at least to distract him while she thinks of a plan. The koopas also help, agreeing that their King was not himself and didn’t want anyone in the Mushroom Kingdom getting severely injured.

Luigi finally arrives with Junior, jumps out of the vehicle and lands on Bowser’s shoulders while he’s fighting Peach. Seeing a crown that wasn’t on Bowser’s head before, Luigi grabs it and smashes it to the ground, falling off Bowser’s shoulder from the impact of the throw.

Suddenly, Bowser sees himself at the Mushroom Kingdom, not knowing how he got there since the last place he remembered being was back home. Princess Peach and the koopas stop, sensing that Bowser’s atmosphere was back to normal as he looks towards Luigi.

“Luigi, are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine…wait…I can talk!”

“You can finally speak again!”

“My voice its back!”

“I don’t understand, what’s happening?”

“It’s King Boo, he-aahhh!”

Before he can get another word out, there’s a sharp pain in his legs. He fells his bones bending and breaking in the most painful way and King Boo suddenly appears, turning him back into a merman before he can get another word out. Luigi looks to Bowser, afraid of what he’ll think of the man once he realises what he really is. But Bowser is too wrapped up in shock of what its happening and worry for the man that he loves.

King Boo grabs Luigi and drags him back into the ocean, the latter screaming for Bowser as the koopa tries to grab him as Luigi is forced back into the water, Polterpup chasing after his new owner. The king turns to Princess Peach.

“Princess, I know this may be confusing, but I really need your help, please, I love him!”

“Don’t worry, I think I might know his brother and what’s going on.”

Back in the ocean, Luigi is struggling against King Boo, trying to escape his grasp but somehow, the ghost’s grip is tighter than he though. Polterpup tries to fight his old master but a few Boos that had been hiding easily grab him.

“Oh, don’t worry little shrimp, it ain’t you that I’m after.”

“KING BOO THAT IS ENOUGH!”

The pair stop when they see Luigi’s father, the King of the ocean along with Mario stop them in their path.

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t the red prince and the ruler of the seven seas.”

“Let my brother go!”

“No can do princey, precious little Lulu is all mine until you give me what I want.”

Luigi’s father growls at that.

“My son does not belong to you!”

He goes to use his magical trident, but a few boos grab Luigi and use some type of electricity on him, making the youngest prince scream out in pain.

“You see, the thing is your majesty, one wrong move and your precious little boy won’t be, how do I put this? Part of your world anymore.” (I am so sorry for that awful pun.)

The sea king was at a loss, he knew he would be putting everyone at risk by handing the trident and the throne to this made ghost but…he couldn’t lose his youngest son, from the corner of his eye, he could see Mario agree. He hands the trident over to King Boo, begging him not to hurt his son. With a mad gleam in his eye, he grabs the trident and lets Luigi go. To the green merman’s horror, the poltergeist points the artifact to his father and brother, watching in devastation as he turns them into dust.

With a strangled scream, he goes to attack King Boo, though surprised at Luigi’s reaction, manages to throw him to the ground. He’s about to use the trident on him when he suddenly feels something hit him. He looks up to see Bowser under the water, who had thrown a spear at him and raises the trident to him. In a moment of panic, Luigi grabs King Boo, making him point the trident at his boos instead and disintegrates them. Not wanting to witness King Boo’s anger, Luigi swims up to Bowser and guides him above the water, not witnessing the Boo’s fury with his new powers below him.

The koopa and merman reach the surface of the water, Bowser trying to reach out to Luigi.

“Bowser you have to go, now! Before King Boo gets you!”

“No, I’m not leaving you behind again!”

They feel a rumbling all around them. Suddenly, King Boo rises from the sea as a giant with the two on his head, cackling like a mad man. Bowser and Luigi jump back into the water, trying to escape until King Boo starts to form a whirlpool, separating them. Luigi falls into the whirlpool, landing at the bottom as Polterpup rushes over to him as King Boo taunts him.

Bowser is still paddling in the water, trying to get to Luigi when a ship comes up beside it. Inside was Princess Peach, some toads, koopas and Kamek. They throw a rope down to Bowser and help him up. Kamek looks to the king.

“I used my magic to help steer that boat but I’m barely holding on! I need you to guide the bowsprit and drive it into that mad boo!”

“But’s a ghost, he’s already dead!”

“I’ve managed to enchant so that I can trap him in this!”

Kamek holds up a pale purple gem, sparkling with some type of magic that the magikoopa used. Princess Peach then speaks up.

“I’m managing the sails while the toads and koopas are defending us! Bowser, are you able to guide the ship!”

“You can count on me Princess, take this as the beginning of a massive apology to you!”

Peach nods and everyone gets to work. King Boo is shooting at Luigi in the whirlpool, the merman trying to dodge as much as he can but knows that he is not strong enough to do anything. Enraged by what the Boo is doing to his love, Bowser drives the bowsprit into King Boo. The poltergeist screams with both pain and fear, knowing that if he can feel that then somehow, he has been defeated.

The seas calm down as the boo disappears into the gem. Bowser tries to look for Luigi, but the whirlpool is gone, and the merman is nowhere in sight. Kamek keeps him from jumping out as the princess guides the ship back to shore.

In the ocean, Luigi grabs the trident and rushes back over to where his father and brother were with Polterpup following him and sees the two have been returned to normal. Overjoyed, he hugs them both, all three of them crying now that Luigi is safe and home.

“I missed you so much Lu. I’m so sorry I wasn’t here when you went missing.”

“It’s okay Mario, I’m safe now, It’s okay.”

He gives the trident back to his father and the three mermen return home.

A few days later, Luigi is hiding behind a rock, Polterpup beside him as he watches Bowser from the shore of the Darklands, pining to see the merman again. Mario and his father watch from afar.

“You know, a while ago, Luigi would have fainted at the thought of going to the Darklands. Now, seeing how he looks at that koopa king, he’s gotten more braver than I ever imagined.”

“Peach told me that he jumped on Bowser’s shoulder’s just to get the crown off him.”

“Oh yes, how are you and that princess getting along?”

“Ah-I-wha-Dad!”

“I’m just teasing. Though, he hasn’t been truly himself since he came home.”

“I guess he left a part of himself since leaving the Darklands. After all, when you love someone, you give a piece of yourself to them, and in return, they grant you something even more freeing.”

“Then I guess there’s only one problem left.”

“And what’s that Dad?”

“…How much I’m going to miss him.” Mario raises an eyebrow in confusion for a moment before his father points his trident at Luigi.

Luigi feels a tingling sensation on his fins, looking down to see that there are no fins at all, his legs had returned! He turns to his father and brother, his smile beaming as the two nod to him.

Bowser is staring off into the distance, thinking about Luigi when he sees brown hair peeking out of the water. His heart stops when he sees Luigi emerging from the water in a sparkling green dress and his hair flowing in the wind. Bowser runs to him, picking him up and spinning him around in his arms and holds him as the two finally share a kiss.

A year later, the two are finally married on a giant ship, Luigi wearing a poofy wedding dress while Bowser is dressed in his finest suit. Luigi’s family and kingdom are watching from the ocean while toads and koopa finally come together as one. Princess Peach hugs Luigi, glad to have another human companion and blows a kiss to Mario in the ocean, who blushes at the gesture and waves back. Junior is also glad Luigi is back and is going to be his stepdad. He and Polterpup have also become close friends, the two playing together when they can. Kamek and Kammy are finally happy that Bowser has found love after all this time.

Mario asks his father to use to powers to lift him with the water to see his brother one more time. Luigi smiles softly and gives his brother a hug.

“Don’t cry big bro, I’ll see you after the honeymoon, you’re acting as if I’ll never see you again.”

“I’m sorry, its just, I’m so happy for you.”

“I love you, Mario.”

“I love you too Lu.”

He gives Bowser a menacing glare along the lines of ‘hurt my bro and I’ll end you’ before Peach comes over and kisses him on the cheek, making the red merman faint into the ocean. Luigi laughs at his brother’s antics as he waves goodbye to all the other mer-folk as the ship sails away to its next destination.

Bowser and Luigi give one another a soft look and share one more kiss.

The end.

You're allowed to yell at me for the shitty puns.

(Edit: also I love that you guys enjoyed it and you’re free to write something for this as it was only meant to be a drabble after having a bad day. As long as you credit and tag me, y’all can use this idea and write your own Bowuigi little mermaid fic ☺️)

[feelbokkie]

One Last Dance | Chapter 7

pairing: Minho x fem reader

genre: smau, crack, angst, fluff, non!idol au, major character death (I am apologizing now), friends to lovers, soul mates, first love, roommates

pov: 1st/2nd person (depending on how you view it)

warnings: swearing, suggestive, mention of food

summary: Childhood best friends Lee Minho and L/n Y/n are in their final year of university. While both of them are in love with each other, the only thing keeping them apart is Minho’s fear of change. As both dancers prepare for their lives after college, will Minho finally let fear rule him and his emotions or will he finally gain courage before he loses Y/n forever?

word count: 2,894

screenshot count: 6

taglist: closed!

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©feelbokkie (2023) — all rights reserved. reposting/modification of any kind is not tolerated.

"Pretty sure the way you're looking at me would be an hr violation if this were a real business dinner," You sigh halfway through your dinner with Chan.

The night has been going well so far. You met Chan in front of his apartment to avoid Minho's temper making an appearance by misreading the situation. Afterward, Chan drove you to a fancy restaurant that is nearly out of your price range, but it's fine. You just have to keep in mind that you can't do any frivolous spending until next payday. After all, since you're the one who needs something from Chan, you're the one paying for dinner.

"How am I looking at you?" He smirks as he leans back into his chair, staring at you through hooded lids.

"Like a fuckboy," You say bluntly.

"You're brutally honest." He laughs, amused by you.

"It's one of my strong suits. My strongest suit being my dancing." You smirk, trying to bring his attention back to the conversation at hand.

"Okay, okay, I'll stop flirting so you can do what you came here to do."

“Thank you,” you wipe the corners of your mouth and set your napkin on the table. “As I was saying earlier, I have a decent amount of subscribers on YouTube from my years of uploading dance videos. I'm planning on using your song as the background music for my company auditions and also uploading the video to my channel. When I become a famous company dancer, that video will be viewed by my fans and those who aspire to be me, which will lead to more people searching for your music. If you're not already super famous by then, it will certainly help."

"No 'if' but 'when' you become a famous company dancer?"

"Yes," You straighten up in your seat.

"You sound sure of yourself." Chan's mouth hangs open as he continues to stare at you in awe.

"Because I am," You pick up your water and take a sip, "You have to be confident to survive in the dance world. Any world really."

"Explain," Chan leans forward, resting his elbows on the table and resting his chin on his right hand.

"Dance is fifty percent skill, fifty percent confidence. Confidence is the line between executing the perfect fouette and landing yourself in the hospital."

“…What?”

“Look, everyone can dance. Dance well? No, but dance in general? Absolutely. But with confidence, none of that matters. If you believe you can dance or you believe that you’re killing it, and your audience sees that, you’re automatically performing ten times better than you actually are. It’s basic psychology. Why do you think everyone is obsessed with TikTok dancers? They’re not even doing leg work and recycling the same five moves 10 million ways, but their confidence is what’s getting them views.”

“Fake it ’til you make it,” He nods.

“Exactly,” You raise your wine glass and wait for Chan to pick up the cue. Luckily he does and raises his glasses too.

Clink

The two of you silently toast and take a sip of your drinks before setting them down on the table. You bring your hands to your lap, fiddling your thumbs, waiting for Chan to say something else. Chan’s hand rests at the base of his wine glass as he thinks hard about something. You’re confident yes, but as Chan just said, you’re faking it until you’re making it. Inside, you’re panicking at the fact that you might not get to use his song for your auditions. Not only is it perfect for you to show off your skills, but it’s a completely fresh song, it's bound to make your audition stand out based on sound alone and make them remember that you’re the one who danced to it.

“I love your confidence, but if I’m going to let you dance to my song, I’m going to need to see you in action.” You quickly pull out your phone and go straight to your YouTube channel.

“I have this really good routine that I just did to ‘Maria’ by Hwasa that I’m planning to do for this month’s evaluation showcase—” You're cut off by Chan placing his hand over yours.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk," He slowly shakes his head at you.

Had this been any other man, they'd be on the floor gasping for their breath trying to process what just happened as you casually readjust your dress after flipping them over. But this is not any other man. Sure, you're not entirely into Chan, but who could resist those soft eyes and bright smile? And despite being a bad neighbor and overbearingly flirty, he's a good person.

"What?" You ask softly, suddenly becoming shy.

"If you're going to sell me on your dancing, I rather have a live demonstration." He smirks.

"Right now?"

"I mean, we're done eating."

"Not here," You shake your head as you put your phone away.

"Suddenly not so confident?" He teases, leaning back into his chair once again.

"No, this floor is hard as hell and these shoes are not made for dancing. I'm not rolling my ankles for this," You wave down a waiter so you can get the bill.

"So no demo?" He pouts slightly. Cute.

"I didn't say that-- Ah, yes, can we get the bill." You shift your attention to the waiter.

"The bill?" The waiter furrows his eyebrows and tilts his head.

"Y/n--"

"Yes, the bill for our meal." You ask softly as you pull your wallet out of your bag.

"I'm sorry, I was under the imp--"

"Y/n, I already paid the bill," Chan says suddenly.

"What? Why? When?" You turn your attention to Chan. The whole point of tonight was so that you could pay.

"When you went to the bathroom earlier. I figured, I technically invited you out so I should pay."

"But I'm supposed to wine and dine you."

"Yeah, but I wasn't actually going to let you pay." Chan thanks the waiter and sends him off. "Besides, pretty people shouldn't have to pay for their food." He mumbles under his breath.

"Then why did you pay for your own food?" You ask loudly.

You can't help but smirk as Chan's ears quickly turn red and a large smile occupies real estate on his face. His mouth twitches as he tries to find a response to your comment. You pull a couple of bills from your purse and tuck them under your now-empty wine glass before standing up from the table. You smooth out your dress before extending your hand out to Chan.

"C'mon tomato, let's go."

"Where are we going?" He asks as he takes your hand and stands up.

"You said you wanted a live demonstration, right? Let's go,"

***

You flip on the switch in the empty practice room before letting Chan in. You pull off your shoes, not wanting to damage the floor, before walking in after. Your hot feet absorb the cold from the cool hardwood floor. You set your shoes on the counter as Chan explores the dance studio. There isn't much to look at, it's just one of the many practice studios on campus. There are two walls completely made of mirrors so you can yourself from two angles. A dance bar lines the shorter wall. Parallel to that wall is the counter space that's connected to the speaker system, which is almost always littered with water bottles and towels when the room is in use.

"Wow, so this is what the dance studios on campus look like," Chan says in awe. You make your way over to the dance bar and start stretching.

"What, you didn't take one of your dance major groupies in one of these rooms?" You tease.

"No, but what a shame. These mirrors would have made it so much hotter." He walks over to the sound system and starts messing with it.

"God," You place one of your legs up on the bar to stretch it out properly. "You're such a whore."

"I mean, you slept with me so what does that say about you?"

"That I have low standards when I'm drunk apparently."

"Do you want to make them lower?"

"Easy, Channie. We're here for me to dance in the literal sense so I can use your song."

"Okay, okay. You can't say I didn't try though."

"No one will ever say that about you. Now put something on for me to dance to."

"What do you want?"

"Surprise me. I'm trained in every basic style. You can even play gospel music if you want." You finish stretching and join him at the counter.

"You're going to twerk to gospel music?"

"Who said anything about...Chan, just put on a song."

Chan laughs as he goes through his phone. Once he's ready to play the song, you help him hook up his phone to the sound system. Once he's ready to go, you take your place in the middle of the studio.

"Before you start panicking, I have shorts on under my dress." You lift the skirt of your dress slightly to show him.

"It wouldn't be anything I haven't seen before, baby." He grins as he sits on the counter.

"I will hurt you." You roll your eyes.

"Keep talking dirty to me and I'll have to marry you. I love my women feisty and on top every once in a while."

"Someone should hose you down, seriously."

"Care to do the honors?" He smirks. How he can say any of this straight-faced is beyond you.

"Do you have a flirty comeback for everything?"

"Who said I'm flirting? I'm just talking. Sounds like you're falling in love."

"Great, you're delusional too. Just play the song already."

"Yes, ma'am!"

A lo-fi jazzy beat you've never heard before starts flooding the room. You take a deep breath before letting the music move your body in rhythm. The song is nice, but a little weird for a solo. It feels like you're missing something. Someone.

Roughly three minutes later, the song is over and Chan's loud claps fill the room.

"Wow, that was just... wow. You're really go." Chan hops off the counter and comes to help you up.

"Thank you. If you're that impressed by a song I've never heard before and freestyled to, imagine what I could do with Scene Stealers."

"It's not just my song. I'll have to ask Changbin and Han but it's pretty much yours."

"Thank you! If they need more convincing you can show them my channel."

"They probably won't need much convincing. Especially Han."

"I'm so excited, I could probably run all the way back to the apartment." You say excitedly.

"Do you want to walk back?" You and Chan grab your stuff and leave the practice room.

"What about your car?" You ask as you pull your sweater on.

"It can stay overnight. We're only 20 minutes from the apartment anyway. I can use the walk down here as a warm-up before going to the gym. Plus, it's warm out and I'll get to spend a little more time with you."

You nod your head and take his hand as you leave the building. You're still barefoot, not wanting to put your heels back on. Chan stops dead in his tracks and starts to take off his shoes.

"Don't, it's fine. I have dancer's feet, they're calloused at the bottom so I'm fine." You say quickly when you realize what he's doing.

"Yeah, but your entire livelihood is reliant on your feet. You should still protect them. Plus, I can build up the callouses on mine." He finishes taking off his shoes and taps your ankle so you can put them on.

You hesitate for a second before putting them on. He helps you put on his shoes, even tying them before standing up beside you again. As you begin walking, you grab his arm to keep yourself from falling. His feet are so big that the shoes are practically dangling off of you.

"That song you played, did you write it too?" You ask after a few minutes of walking. The air is perfectly cool and cars whizz past the two of you in the street.

"Yeah, why do you want to borrow that one too?" He laughs.

"Yes, actually. It would be perfect for the final project Minho and I have to do for our partner dancing class."

"Minho is your roommate, right?" Chan asks, his pace slowing down a bit.

"Yeah," You reply softly.

"What's the deal with the two of you?"

"We're best friends."

"That's all? You're not like best friends?"

"That's...complicated."

"How complicated?" Chan isn't prepared to be yanked back slightly as you stop walking. You press your lips together.

"We've done everything together, literally. Even took our first breaths together. Our moms are best friends and were so excited to be pregnant at the same time. Min's mom went into labor and I apparently was jealous and came out two months early. So we're close. Always have been." You slightly hesitate, thinking about what the actual situation with Minho is.

"But?" You start walking again, dragging Chan with you.

"Before you say anything, we never slept together or anything like that. We were each other's first kisses when we were 16 and that's about as far as we've gotten. But, we both do like each other. He's just too much of a coward to go from friends to more than that."

"That is complicated."

Silence falls between the two of you again. You've been walking so long, you're already almost at the apartment. You can feel Chan thinking beside you. The Minho situation is probably causing him to hesitate to flirt with you.

"So, did you sleep with me to make him jealous?" He asks quietly.

"Oh please, Minho would get jealous just watching me stand next to you. I slept with you because I wanted to. And because I was drunk, but mostly because I wanted you. Minho was the furthest thing from my mind that night. Besides, I'm not going to just sit around and wait for him. If I'm with someone else when he wakes up, that's on him."

"Hmm..." He hums. The two of you climb up the stairs to your floor in silence yet again. It felt quicker than a 20-minute walk somehow.

You and Chan walk straight past his apartment and walk to yours. Once you're in front of your door, you quickly go to take off the shoes and hand them back to Chan.

"The situation with your roommate sounds a bit too messy so I'm going to back off. But don't worry, I'll still be your friend and let you use our music. I've had my handful of complicated relationships already, but this one sounds like it's going to be a pain." He breathes. You can't help but give him a soft smile. You aren't looking to date Chan, but that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt a little.

"Fair enough. Anyway, thank you for tonight." You put your key into the lock and turn the knob.

"I am backing off," He grabs your hand to stop you from opening the door further than you already have. "But a good night kiss wouldn't hurt. It can also be a goodbye kiss. Like a concession in a way, since I'm so graciously stepping back."

"Oh yeah, oh so graciously." You laugh.

"Just one little kiss. Or else I'll be mad at myself for the rest of my life. I'll even stop blasting music in my apartment."

"One kiss for some peace and quiet?"

"And to cure my breaking heart?" He smirks.

"Oh, well I guess I do have to kiss you then. Wouldn't want that on my conscience." You smirk back.

Chan lets go of your hand and places his hand on your cheek, using his thumb to brush your lower lip before leaning in. You close your eyes just as you feel Chan's soft, slightly chapped lips melt into yours. His free hand finds your waist and pulls you closer. You drop your shoes and throw your arms around his neck. His tongue desperately swipes at your bottom lip and you part your mouth to let him in.

Clang

The two of you quickly separate once you hear a loud noise come from your apartment. The both of you panting, staring at each other. Your lips are wet and slightly swollen.

"That was a little more than just 'one little kiss.'" You smirk.

"I took tax for wearing my shoes home." He bites his bottom lip. His lips are slightly tinted red from your lipstick.

"Again, fair enough. I'll see you later Chan. And remember, I'll come over to kick your ass if your music is too loud." You laugh as you pick up your shoes.

"Don't tempt me with a good time, sweetheart. I will buy industrial speakers if that's the case." He laughs as he starts to talk back to his apartment.

Once Chan is outside his apartment he does a little wave goodbye and gestures for you to go inside your apartment. You wave back before you take a deep breath, hand on the doorknob. You push the door open just as you hear a loud slam come somewhere inside.

—

Buy me a coffee?

—

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