#and maybe have them autograph a copy 4 me?

[saintlesbian]

hiiiii i just had a really good job interview this morning so i am in a GREAT mood 2day ^_^ and now im really in the mood to draw so. I’m thinking i might stream l8r

also i wanted to do a 48 hour zine challenge so. im makin a lil sprina fanzine 4 fun lol... here’s a sketch i did 4 tha cover so far

[josefavomjaaga]

Bessières's correspondence

This is for @flowwochair: the index of the documents in the "Fonds Maréchal Bessières" in the French National Archives. Not much about the content, unfortunately. I summarised some points that I imagined were not all that interesting to you. Please let me know if there is something you'd want to have more details on and I will look if there is more.

1) Letters and orders by Napoleon to Bessières, dating from 1796 to 1813. It’s organized by the different armies and contains mostly »official« stuff of some importance, like documents related to the double abdication of the two Spanish Bourbon kings in 1808. Murat’s name is mentioned once, in connection with one document:

copies of Napoleon's instructions to Murat on how to deal with the Spanish, 17 and 28 April 1808

Maybe also of interest: some of the documents concern the reorganisation of the troops after the Russian campaign and date as late as mid and end-April 1813, so only days before his death

2) Letters from princes of the imperial family to Bessières

Mostly interesting because a large chunk seems to be labeled »a.s.«, which I believe to mean »autographe signée«, i.e., handwritten and signed. Most correspondence of important people would have been in the hands of secretaries, with the sender merely signing them. Bessières being worthy of receiving letters that these imperial princes had written themselves hints at a special position of trust.

41 letters from Joseph Bonaparte, related to events in Spain (1808 – 1811)

2 letters (not written by Jerome himself) about uprisings in Kassel in 1813

And here you go: 29 letters by Murat, in his own handwriting, relating to the daily report on the Guard, the policy to be followed, and to military events in Spain (dated 5 August 1805 to 5 June 1808)

Followed by some stuff for me: 22 letters from Eugène de Beauharnais, in his own handwriting and »d’un caractère surtout personnel« (of primarily private nature), dated 27 January 1805 - 5 June 1808

Other than that, there are letters from Josephine, Lebrun, Hortense, Stéphanie de Beauharnais, Méneval and the secretary of Madame Mère.

The rest of this section are documents related to Bessières’s military career, decorations etc.

3) Some personal letters. The connection between them escapes me

from Bessières to his sister-in-law (?), 22 February 1808.

from Bessières to a marshal on the reorganisation of the Guard, 27 January 1813.

from Madame la Maréchale concerning her financial distress, 12 December 1813 and 12 December 1814.

Facsimile of a letter from the Marshal to his wife, after his departure for the 1813 campaign

4) Certificates, letters of service and appointment, decorations

Some documents as early as 1792 among them, but mostly bits and bobs that seem unrelated

5) Letters adressed to Bessières – Army of Italy and Army of Egypt. 55 pieces

6) Ministers' reports to the Emperor and various letters. Plenty of documents and letters among them that are neither written by or adressed at Bessières

7) Imperial Guard I (Organisation, financial reports etc.)

8) Imperial Guard II (contains one more letter by Eugène!)

9) Imperial Guard III (Holland in 1810)

10) Legion of Honour and pay. 73 pieces, 1804 to 1813

11) Russia. Letters adressed to Bessières, situation reports, mostly from before the campaign started

12) Letters from Napoleon, the imperial family, the royal family and several famous personalities. A lot of them obviously from after Bessières’s death, among them (condolation) letters to Madame la Maréchale from

Napoleon - 6 May 1813

Madame Mère – 7 May 1813

Marie Louise – 5 May 1813

Caroline Murat – 25 May 1813

Eugène Beauharnais – 2 June 1813

Joachim Murat – 8 June 1813

Also contains 18 letters from Hortense de Beauharnais to Madame la Maréchale, dated 1809 to 1813, letters from Madame la Maréchale Oudinot, from Laure Junot, from Wellington (handwritten!) and plenty more

And on a happier note: a letter by Joachim Murat dated 1 Germinal year VIII (22 March 1800)

13) Related to Bessières’s city house

14) Correspondence between Marshal Bessières and Madame la Maréchale I

3 letters from Bessières to his wife, 2 prairial-15 vendémiaire an XIV (22 January-7 October 1805)

75 letters of Madame la Maréchale to Bessières, found in the cassette of the marshal after his death, 5 January 1806-1 May 1807

29 letters of Bessières to his wife, 26 March-13 December 1808

15) Correspondence between Marshal Bessières and Madame la Maréchale II. Continuation from above

72 (? I’m not sure about the numbering here) letters from Bessières to his wife, 5 January 1809, 28 September and ... 1811

48 (?) letters from Madame la Maréchale to the Marshal, January-9 December 1811

16) Correspondence between Marshal Bessières and Madame la Maréchale III. Continuation from above

9 letters from the Maréchale Bessières to her husband, 19 March - 16 December 1812

40 letters from Bessières to his wife, 13 January 1812 - 24 April 1813

17) Related to the electoral college of département Haute-Garonne

18) Personal papers, financial documents, real estate etc.

19) Letters to Madame la Maréchale during Restauration and July Monarchy

20) Collection of autographed letters unrelated to Bessières

[fatherbearfreddy]

-Midday-

"Freddy? Where are you buddy?"

Freddy looked at Claire with an expression of joy she hadn't seen on his face in months.

Sitting in a quieter part of the daycare pickup area, a tiny, maybe one year old child was being gently bounced by the bear. His hands gripped by clumsy, little fingers.

"Da, da da daaa, dadada, da da da da..." Freddy was softly singing some sort of nonsense song. The little guy wiggled and tilted his head back to look up at Freddy and gave him the brightest toothless smile.

From where she stood she could see Freddy's pupils expand like a cats might. "Aawwwwww, I love you too Superstar." Something caught her eye, it looked like those big eyes were...starting to glow?

Someone tapped on her shoulder. "Oh, is that black baby yours? I asked Freddy to help because he was sitting crying all alone." The shorter man smiled sheepishly. "I wasn't sure what to do, I mean you can't even take a kid out of the daycare if you aren't a guardian so I'm not sure why he was sitting alone. I tried to calm him down myself but he wasn't having it." He was holding the hand of what was probably his five year old daughter, who was distracted by a gift shop toy.

That kid wasn't from the daycare. The daycare had a age gate of 4 and up because they didn't have enough peopld to feed babies, and toddlers would probably be too much to handle with a bunch of others kids. Why was he here as if someone had tried to make it...look like he wandered away? There was no one else in the pickup area.

Claire smiled but shook her head. "Nope, I'm Indonesian. I don't know who his parents are either. I was looking for Freddy because it's almost autograph time."

Freddy seemed to have forgotten they were there, carefully holding the kid in one arm and settling on the floor instead of a bench. He offered a toy he found next to them and played with the happy baby.

"Ah...what do we do? We need to be guardians to check kids into the daycare and if you aren't the mom, and I'm not the dad, what do we do with the kid? I need to start heading home so we aren't late for dinner tonight."

Claire nodded to him. "You can go, I'm authorized to bypass the daycare attendent's requirements if necessary. The kid is safe with Freddy Fazbear." Claire winced at her own statement, but if the casual person didn't know, she didn't need to talk about it.

The daughter tugged on his sleeve and signed something. "Right, well, good luck!" He signed back to his kid and they walked away.

Freddy was copying the little guy's movements, tapping the floor, tilting his head, only pausing to help keep the kid from falling over and hitting his head on the floor. Claire wasn't sure what he was saying anymore, it seemed to be a mix of copying the kids babbling and really quiet words she couldn't make out.

"Hey Freddy? We need to bring that boy back into the daycare. He can't stay here alone and you have an event in 10 minutes."

Freddy looked at her with puppydog eyes and his ears drooped to almost a straight line like Frankensteins bolts. "Do I have to? He's so happy to see me. It seems unfair to leave him alone when he was crying so much."

Claire looked at him. "Freddy...it's the autographs, that's one of your favorite things to do." She glanced at the kid, that bears eyes were too emotional to handle straight on. "We can't disappoint the kids, and he's going to be fine. Sunny's incredibly capable."

"Sundrop isn’t authorized to care for children below the age of four, and he has no daycare wristband." Freddy held the kid a bit closer. "He should stay with me until we can locate his family. It would be safer that way, he cannot be left alone."

Claire tapped her foot on the floor nervously and sighed. "Ok! Ok, you can bring the baby, just hurry! If we're late the higher ups are going to notice, and they'll probably ignore the baby if we're on time." She started walking towards the main stage as Freddy quickly stepped into pace. He carefully moved his arms slightly as he walked so the little guy was kept level instead of bouncing with every step he took. "I'll put a call out for a missing baby and see if anybody shows up. Don't worry big guy, we'll find them fast."

She looked over and saw that nearly invisible glow around his eyes as he beamed with joy. "Thank you, Claire. I truly appreciate this." He said it with so much sincerity that she felt like she'd need to brush her teeth after this.

"Yup, ok Papa Bear Vãnomos!"

The glow got a shade brighter at that nickname before disappearing so quickly Claire wondered if she'd been seeing things.

-later, nearly closing time-

Ralphie knocked on the door and was met with a shushing sound. "...uh, hey Freddy I didn't see you much today. Are you ok?"

Freddy was cradling an itty bitty baby in the crook of one arm, using his Bonnie plushie as a pillow for the kid to sleep on. "No one has come for this child yet, so I am looking after him until they do." Freddy looked at the child and the plushie sadly, voice laced with false positivity. "I'm sure they'll be here any minute. I've been very busy spending the day with little Starling and helping protect his sensitive ears. We got him some earmuffs which helped."

Ralphie closed the door and looked at the already closed curtains. Freddy had turned most of his lights off and used his mirror and nightlight to let the employees see. "His name is Starling?"

Freddy looked guilty. "No. That is what I started calling him because the child felt too impersonal. He is like a small star. A Starling."

"That's a type of bird."

"It is? I hope it is a pretty bird."

"Yeah, it sure is. Uh...what are you gonna do when we close?"

Freddy's ears drooped and he blinked sadly. "I do not know. I cannot leave him alone. He has cried when anyone other than junior Patty and I held him. Luckily we have baby formula and themed bottles in the shops so Patty was able to feed him. She showed me how to do it myself." Ralphie noticed the mini fridge the employees used had been moved to sit next to the couch, and a bunch of packets were sitting on his dresser.

The baby slept soundly in his arms, shifting onto his stomach and holding onto the Bonnie Plushie.

Freddy looked like he was about to cry. Ralphie sat on the couch beside him, patting his shoulder. Maybe he would cry first. "I miss him too." He whispered.

Freddy shut his eyes and covered his mouth with his free arm. He tried to muffle a sad noise, but it didn't do anything, because his voice wasn't controlled by air flow.

Starling shifted momentarily and settled back to sleep.

"If I must forgo charging to stay with him all night, I will. But If you can, please set up my remote charger so I can stay awake and still. He needs me."

"Yeah, I'll get some help setting it up with Harris. Hey Freddy?"

"...yes?"

"You're a really good dad."

Freddy successfully held back any other noises and nodded. "T-thank you Ralphie."

[knivescharade]

so i was on weibo laughing my head off today because:

(in case people are still not sure:

🦐 - AKA xfx 小飞侠, XZ’s solo fans

🏍️ - AKA mtjj 摩托姐姐, WYB’s solo fans

🐢 - AKA cpf/bxg 王八/龟龟, couple fans)

Usually, the 3 big factions are at war with one another. (well, xfx and mtjjs maybe. the 🐢 just observe from the side). but today something hilarious happened!

Wang Yibo’s new song Xiwei, which is part of the Legend of Fei soundtrack, came out today! (so what, you might ask)

On QQ music, people who purchase the song are able to join groups on the platform. you’re then able to see which group spent the most, how much they spend, how many copies they bought, etc.

but the point is

anyone can set up a group and name it something and

the group NAMES

Group name: WYB can you help me get XZ’s autograph

Group description: 🤣🤣🤣

Group name: XZ fans support XZ’s good friend WYB

Group description: thank you Mr WYB for reminding XZ to eat his meals

Group name: ok i’ve bought the song if you fight with XZ again imma hit you

Group description: pls be nice to XZ! stop posting weird douyins they scare me TT

Group name: here’s the cash now pls return XZ to me

Group description: hmph, if XZ is WYB’s gege, then i should be WYB’s sister-in-law 😋

Group name: thank you Yibo for buying two portions of horfun/rice noodles

Group description: basically this

Group caption: if XZ wants dumplings next time i’ll buy it

Group name: here’s the dumpling money back

Group description: i’m returning all the money for the dumplings for the horfun/rice noodles, next time if XZ wants to eat them i’ll buy it myself.

Group name: here’s the money for the dumplings i’m taking XZ away now

Group description: thank you for feeding XZ so well!

Group name: my dad likes your jacket where did you get it

Group description: that one in the douyin~

Group caption: can you pls stop saying that he’s old!

Group name: here’s some money to fix the brake pads now pls stop staring at him

Group description: a group of 🦐 sisters feeling bad for their son

Group name: XZ’s darlings giving some support to their rival in love

Group description: hmph still my rival

Group name: listening on behalf of XZ

Group description: the song sounds very orchestral. xiao wang, remember to pass the money you earn to that person at home

Group name: i’m giving Xiwei some support, so that XZ’s diamond ring has more diamonds

Group description: hmph

Group name: XZ’s wife. hmph 💢i’ll buy just one then

Group description: for’s XZ sake, i’ll buy one copy, if you see him pls tell him that we hope he is doing well, pls tell him that his loyal xfxs are still supporting him

Group caption: you’re very handsome

Group name: when is XZ going to divorce you and leave with me

Group description: let him go let me have him!

Group name: can that 🐢 in my dorm pls stop eating parsley

Group description: everyday, every meal, she can’t finish anything except parsley

Group caption: earn more money!!!!

Group name: 🦐 sister giving lil piggy (i.e. WYB) some pocket money

Group description: just a lil bit of support

Group caption: earn big bucks together

Group name: XZ earn big bucks

Group description: i trust XZ’s judgement

Group caption: 🦐 sisters supporting our little messenger brother, the bearer of good news

Group name: 🦐 sisters supporting our little brother

Group description: our bearer of good news. good luck!

(because WYB’s weibo and douyin posts have become alarmingly accurate in foreshadowing XZ’s new posts/selfies/performances, he’s gained an adorable nickname - 报喜鸟 - the good news messenger bird)

to top all this off, this is the group ranking:

number 1 is the bjyx group - aptly and coolly named “Stainless steel.”

number 4 is a group of XZ solo fans - 肖战的老婆, ‘XZ’s wife’. their group description is just one word - “hmph“.

i don’t really have a point, i’m just happy (and so touched 🥺) that xfxs are able to support WYB (despite their coquettish hmphs lol), who is someone XZ obviously cares about. and the same goes for the mtjjs that supported XZ’s song 光点 - Light Spot when it came out, too. it’s good to know that, fan wars or not, hateful antis are just a small minority, and there are logical, supportive fans out there.

[From: https://m.weibo.cn/5222652763/4579887422114381, https://m.weibo.cn/5778701042/4579890995660665, https://m.weibo.cn/7388241184/4579957525458906]

[wornoutmouse]

@midoriyaprofessionalslut

I can't even begin to describe the ask I received so I'm just going to leave screenshots😅😅

Also in the new mha season, I thought Tsu was being petty when she called Mineta Grape-Juice and Shoji Tentacle. But nope, those are their hero names.

Side note: I feel like when Mineta gets old and knows how to work his quirk better, he'll be able to control if they stick or not.

Slight racism, usual smut.

NOT PROOF READ SO LET ME KNOW IF U SEE SOMETHING

 If you imagine Mineta as in the picture above and with a mature voice, this is more enjoyable. Or you can imagine someone else entirely.. Cause even as someone who's tolerant to Mineta I can't imagine him getting any hoes much less smashing (at least not on top). It would be like watching a chiwawa top a mastiff. 

"This is some bullshit." You shuffle through various papers on your desk, each containing the receipts of Pro-Hero Grapejuice's celebratory purchases. Most of it was random appliances that could in no way be used on a day-to-day basis, but there were others….a shiver goes down your spine, there were others that were just downright perverted. "What even is a nub tickler?" 

Being an accountant was something you were good at, the numbers came easy and it was interesting to see the income and ways of business that different people in power displayed. Planning meetings and getting the occasional phone call made everything a breeze, but it wasn't what you wanted to do. Or in better words, this was not whom you wanted to work for. Even being number 6 causes the workload to be higher than should be physically possible in the hero world. That's one of the reasons you never gave praise to the rankings because no matter how low in the chain, a hero’s work is always taxing. 

Shifting in your seat you look at the analog clock on your desk. 3:45, you were supposed to come to work at 5:30 which means you once again have no time to sleep. Having these late nights had increased 10 fold whenever Mineta went up in rank even by a little. His way of celebrating was spending his money carelessly and leaving you to fix the balance. Though you supposed it may be your fault for never objecting when he barged in your office showing his trinkets as well as leaving his credit card.

"Yeah, it's time to go." You muttered as you read the words, "Dwarf Cow in the left lot of Wisconsin."

 The next hour, you take a detour from your office for the first time in months. Heading down the hall you watch the walls go from the pale greys to deep purple and violet splotches splattered along the wall before it inevitably melds into solid purple walls as you get closer to the front door of his office.

Hesitantly you knock on the door and wait until a muffled "Come in." Rings through the thick wood. The room itself was just as flamboyant as the walls leading to it. A beautiful fuchsia carpet on the floor made you realize that calling in your two weeks would have been better than walking into the Willy-Wonka factory that was this office. Various spherical decorations hung from the chandelier, and even something as simple as the legs of his desk was made up of crystal spheres.

The man himself sat perfectly balanced on a large purple ball most likely of his own creation, meanwhile, various children sat around him slipping and sliding on smaller balls in an attempt to copy him. "Ah, here is my beautiful assistant!" The compliment made you cringe as you fiddled with the end of the sleep-wrinkled white blouse you had worn for 2 days straight. "Can we talk sir? It is important." Mineta raised an eyebrow at your formal speech before shrugging. 

In an extravagant display of balance, Mineta does a handstand on the ball with one hand before flipping to the other side. "Well kids it's time for me to get done as a hero’s job is never over and blah blah blah the gift shop is giving out free plushies and you can keep your ball." The teacher does her best to usher out her students and the sound of childish screams resound down the hallway even though the door was shut. "How can I help you Y/n?" Mineta offers you his ball to sit on and you reluctantly take the offer as you grate in multiple directions in order to stay afloat. 

Mineta watches you with hidden interest as he interlocks his hands underneath his chin. "I didn't know you even knew my name?" Mineta Laughs exposing his annoyingly perfect teeth. It was hard to associate this face to the pictures you see when you search for his early years. "Of course I know your name, I stole your nameplate off your desk 2 months ago." Ah, so that's where it went  "What was it you wanted to talk about?"

You sighed, "I would like to put in my two weeks." Mineta goes slack-jawed before composing himself "Why?" Mineta looked at you earnestly, completely confused on why you'd want to abandon your post as his secretary- I mean assistant. "Working for you has become a hassle with your lack of financial maturity." Mineta mock shivers, "Oo big words, me no likey." Mineta hops onto his desk as if he weighed nothing more than paper and squats in front of you, "How about this, you don't quit and instead help me learn how to...how did you say it? Be financially mature." You lean back in your chair unconvinced that he was taking this seriously.

With the final nail ready to be hit, Mineta adds, "How about I give you a raise of 10 percent and a promotion?" You stand up in your chair with an eager grin, "That sounds great!" Mineta smirks to himself but you did not pay any mind to it. "Great, how about we discuss this over food, dinner date?" Your internal celebration screeches to a halt, " Dinner Date-" Mineta looks at you shocked, "Dinner date? Great idea, why didn't I think of it myself!?" A firm hand slides you towards the door as Mineta starts a complimentary speech giving you no room to object, "This is why I need you, you're so smart, I wish I was like you, tomorrow at 11?" You sputter trying to slip past his arms, "11 but I-?!" Mineta loudly gasps again, "There you go doing it again I'm so lucky to have you, tomorrow at 11 my treat!"

The door is shut in your face and the sound of the lock clicking seals your fate. What did you get into?

Cut to 4 years later and you are still not sure of that answer. Simply being bis accountant you had a glimpse of his perverted tendencies, but as his girlfriend, it was further exposed to depths you never could have found yourself imagining. You shuffle papers in the printing room as you do your best to ignore the faint tingling sensation in between your legs. Yet another whim you found yourself following on Mineta’s behalf despite the ever-present fear of being caught. The vibrator comes to life before going back down as quickly as it came. You toss a middle finger to the camera in the top corner of the room knowing he was watching.

"Miss L/n, can I ask you something?" You slap your arm down to your side in embarrassment. I hope he didn't see that.  Your coworker walks up to you holding a small stack of papers. "Yes, how can I help you?" The man shows you various forms as he talks, for once you were thankful for Mineta not embarrassing you in front of others. "Oh I see where you went wrong, this right here would be a 20% increase, not 18%." The man applauded you and graciously wrote down your explanation. "Thank you so much, my name is Kaminari by the way." 

"Ah hello, Kaminari, and no worries I'm always glad to help!" You turn back as your papers finally scan through but can't help notice Kaminari lingering. "Say Y/n?" You open your mouth to respond only to close it again as the vibratory comes back to life strongly. "Hmmm?!" Kaminari peers at you, your reaction was strange but he couldn't figure out why. "Um, never mind, have a nice day Miss. Y/n, maybe we can get together over coffee or something?” You shrug turning away from Kaminari in fear of your eyes rolling up. The man sways from foot to foot awkwardly before leaving the printing room. 

Snapping out of your personal flashback, you look over at your fiance signing autographs for his adoring and objectively feminine fan base. While it was extremely unnerving how unknowingly close they were to your home, you weren't resentful of their gushing.

Your engagement and your overall relationship had not been made public in fear of your personal life being exploited by paparazzi. That doesn't mean, however, the next thing you witness doesn't get your blood boiling.

A girl, no older than maybe 22 waltzes up to Mineta with the confidence of Muhammad Ali in a ring match. Her raven black hair fell flawlessly down her back with not a single split end. Almond eyes decorated with precise coal blink rapidly to draw attention to her seemingly natural eyelashes. With 4 inch wedges. a black halter top, and cuffed jean shorts, it was clear she was someone on a mission. She effortlessly pushes past the nearby fans as they stop to quack at her rivaling beauty. A smirk draws itself with her soft pink lips as she hears people muttering around and about her.

"Wow she's so pretty"

"They would look good together just look at them."

"Ugh, such an attention whore, not giving the rest of us a chance!"

"I bet a 20 she's his type."

"Is she famous?"

The chatter comes to a close as the girl hands Mineta a notebook, "Can you sign right here?" Mineta flips open the book and his eyes widen a fraction before he puts on his heroic voice, "Wow it looks like you got all of Japan's heroes in this book!" The girl smiles as she watches Mineta scratch his signature, "Don't be afraid to leave your number in there too Mr. Minoru." Mineta pauses at the statement for continuing his elaborate handwriting, "I don't think that would be very plus ultra of me so I'm gonna have to pass." Smug pride fills your chest as you watch the annoyance cross the girl's face.

Mineta finishes signing and hands her back her book, she, in turn, forces a small piece of paper in his hand before holding his chin and kissing him. At that moment nothing else mattered but beating that bitches ass as you yanked her black hair and dragged her to the ground. "This ain’t Wattpad bitch get your hands off of him!!" You turn to Mineta making him flinch with a sharp glare as you yank her hair again, hopefully pulling a few strands out. "You just gonna let her kiss you and not do anything!?" Mineta stretched his hands towards you cautiously, "Y/n calm down, if you would have given me a chance I would have settled it-" "No, settle it now!"

Your rage is diminished by the judgmental looks coming from the fans and you realize your brazen display was out of order.

"Who is she"

"I think she's the secretary l, so why is she so mad"

"Delusional just cause you're with him all the time doesn't mean you're together"

"I hope he fires her."

"This is why we shouldn't let them in Japan"

The girl whose hair you have in a chokehold stands up unbalanced before pushing your hands from her hair. Satisfied at the disheveled look of her previously perfect strands, you turn to walk back to Mineta, your anger having been sated, "Black Bitch." You turn around and go charging towards the girl again grinning when she flinches. Your rampage is stopped as Mineta wraps his arms around your waist and picks you up, "Sorry for the disturbance, we deeply apologize!"

It's almost comical how your mouth spews vulgarity that would make a sailor blush as Mineta drags you behind your apartment building. He ushers you through the back door leading to the washroom, "I can't believe she'd do that in front of me, and you let her!" Mineta shuts the door quietly, leaning his ear against it to listen out for any lingering fans. You sit on top of a washer still ranting as your blood cools down. "The nerve of some of these people is outrageous, even if she doesn't know about us that is still sexual harassment!"

Mineta doesn't look at you and instead peeks through the blinds lining the washroom windows. "I think they are gone, come on." The two of you sneak out the door and walk at a moderate speed all the way back to your front door. In hindsight, you knew that causing a scene like that was a bold move on your part. If anyone was recording the whole ordeal you knew Mineta’s name and possibly yours would be in the headlines by later this evening. 

As the last one entering, you lock the door behind you, forehead scrunched together with apprehension. "Mineta I'm sorry, I don't know what got into me. I just saw her touching you and saw red." You face away from the door with an earnest look on your face. Mineta has a cheeky look on his face that can only mean trouble. Despite your similar slim build and height, Mineta easily corners you against the door. "I know exactly what got into you." Mineta’s pointer finger taps your nose. "Jealousy."

You sighed, putting your head down nodding, "Yeah, it's not that I don't trust you, it's just-" "shhh." Mineta lips your head back up with a hand under your chin. "It's fine Y/n. It's not like I expected a perfect little cocksleeve like you to be okay with sharing." You stare blinkingly at Mineta. 'Oh, he's in one of those moods huh?' As expected from such a fiend like Mineta, he was quite possibly hard the whole time he was watching you beat that girl's ass, and for some reason that irked you even more. “Mineta I’m being serious.” The words leaving your mouth did not phase Mineta, he holds your hips and pulls you close to him in order for you to feel his bulge. 

“Oh come on, after seeing you be so possessive for me, how can you not expect me to be a lil turned on?” Mineta’s hands circle your ass before slapping it, “Made me feel special.” Rolling your eyes you lean into the lingering kisses he begins to leave on your shoulder. His grip tightens as he shuffles you to the nearest surface. “Makes me feel all giddy inside to know that you do this only for me and no one else.” Minoru unbuttons your dress pants and removes your belt, “But doing that in front of all those people was stupid.” A shiver travels up your arms from the feeling of lips caressing your ear. Mineta dips his hand into your cotton panties and immediately draws attention to your clit.

“Look at me, Mineta Minoru with a girl like you that would fight for me. Who would have thought?” You ball your fists on the table, hanging your head low. “You’re not going to make this easy for me are you?” Mineta slips his other hand beneath your blouse to cup your breasts. Short l  rub down your slit collecting your slick. The feeling was warm and buzzing just underneath your skin, the bastard was well trained on how to slowly but surely bring your pleasure to its peak and hold you there. Your muscles begin to feel more and more like jelly, you sigh “Oh God..” Mineta pushed his body further on yours, rutting against your body. Up until now, his other hand was simply resting on your skin but once impatience overcame him, he used it to pull down your pants. 

“You know this will be in articles tomorrow right?” Two fingers curl inside of you making you squeal, “Y-Yes!” Something hard and slick smacks against your bare ass as Mineta removes the bottom half of his hero costume. “So how are you going to compensate me for what I’ll have to deal with tomorrow?” You turn your head to the back with a small pout on your face, “She shouldn’t have touched you.” Mineta coyly smiles before pressing your head down against the table. “You should have let me handle it.” 

Mineta was an average of 5 inches in length with conservative girth. But so far he’s been the only man that really added proof that size doesn’t matter. Mineta pulls away from you and leans down to riffle through his pants. You hear a crisp pop of a cap being opened and a slick splatter is heard afterward. A shaky breath leaves Mineta’s lips as he lubes his cock up. Penetrating is a struggle at first, the longer it takes for him to push it in the more both of you become frustrated until he finally pulls your waist back against himself. “S-So good!” The pleasure causes his childhood lisp to slip through as he waits for you to acclimate to the stretch. 

You shift your feet when Mineta refrains from moving. "Tsk, you really don't understand the meaning of patience do you?" Your hands suddenly become cool to the touch as Mineta covers them with medium sized spheres temporarily gluing you to the table. "Mineta this isn't fair! Please just a little bit to the left!" Now having you helpless Mineta puts one hand on your back while stroking the base of his cock. "It's not about being fair, it is about teaching a sneaky brat like you to know their place." Mineta begins to move but it's not right, he needs to go more to the left, "Mineta what are you even talking about!?!" 

A sigh leaves Mineta's lips, "Don't think I forgot about that slick shit you tried to pull with Kaminari." Mineta watches your ad shake and bounce everytime your hips meet. Your arms twitch and pull at themselves wanting to find purchase on the flat surface. Groans leave your lips as Mineta comes closer to hitting your spot,  "Slick shit?! Y-You're the one that wanted to do that stupid little piano in the first place!" You couldn't see it but Mineta had a deep seated glare on his face. He loops his fingers underneath his yellow scarf and rolls it around long ways. 

"I'm really tierd of your mouth. What you think because I let you beat that girl out their I'll let you beat me?" The middle of the scarf is put in your mouth and your head is pulled back by it. Mineta holds both ends of the scarf to slam into your cunt. "Just a greedy little bitch aren't you?" You scream into the cloth as Minetas cock finally hits your spot just right. The constant pulling on the corner of your mouth burned everytime the fabric rubbed against the sensitive flesh. Your feet rise to your toes in a fruitless attempt at getting a break from the pleasure. Mineta holds his scarf in one hand and pushes down your waist. "Didnt you want this? Don't run from it now."

Your pussy squelched around his cock the faster he went making you go cross eyed. "Fuck you feel so damn good.  The table rattled and scraped across the floor with every thrust. "oh fuck, I'm gonna cum!" Your nails scraped the table as you closed your fist, had you had claws it would have been a whole different story. You beared down on his cock, trying, begging to feel more inside of your walls as he moved faster. Suddenly your argument fel worth it.

Mineta knew many things about himself. He knew his birthday, he knew where he was in life, and he knew he had come 6 minutes ago and was bordering hysteria as he pumped his overestimated cock into your wet heat. Each drag made years collect in his eyes.  Tiny whimpers left his lips and his hands squeezed your sides harder and hard.  "So fucking warm. Squeezing down on my dick like that." 

He bowed his head and rested on your back,  kissing the sweaty skin as he pushed through the painful pleasure.  "Fuck, fuck, fuck!" Mineta slaps your ass  before pulling out and shoving his fingers inside your pussy. "Cum for me, Y/n. That's it cum on my hands." Mineta's fingers were the only thing that never really grew on him. They were relatively short but thick so even three of them were able to stretch your hole the way you needed. 

"Y-Yes, right there shit!" Your cum drips down his arm soiling the fabric there as you squint around him, "That's it give it to me." Mineta buried his face in your pussy licking you clean like a man starved. It wasn't until you whined did he stop and pull his fingers out. 

Luckily for you, his spheres were just about coming close to their time constraint. You stand up rubbing your wrists and drinking some water Mineta brings you. A snort captures your attention and Mineta holds up his phone, "Not even an hour." Writing in thick bold words read. 

"Obsessive Secretary Snaps on Camera!"

You snort, "I'm the obsessive one huh?" It was going to be a long day tomorrow 

[im-totally-not-an-alien]

Final fantasy 7 prompts no. 66

1. Sephiroth keeps having dreams about a young blond man. The man never hurts him, only holds him and whispers odd things to him. "The second library in Nebilheim is filled with lies", "Your mothers name isn't Jenova", "Your journey begins in the sector five slums" he looked into it a bit, only to find out Nebilheim doesn't have a second library,so he wrote it off as just wierd dreams

His favorite type of dream is where they don't say anything at all. Sephiroth simply lays with his head cradled on the mans chest as the blond runs his fingers through his hair. It's...soothing

2. Sephiroth is always confused by the holiday seasons. Worse, he's never sure what to get people. Thankfully Zack is there to help!

Aka ff7 Christmas Special

Or, a winter solstice special.

3. Sephiroth having an inner monolog and being a bi mess without realizing he's a bi mess.

4. Time Traver Cloud as a shape-shifter. He found out he can perfectly copy other people and use illusions for the clothes. After he destroys Jenova he decides to mess with Shinra and tear it apart from the inside.

He has to be careful though, the head Turk, Veld, was onto him after he had transformed into Reno and was caught...by the real Reno

5. Genesis did some snooping after he accidentally found out he was adopted and discovered his birth mothers name is listed as "Jenova"

After talking about it to Angeal and Sephiroth it comes out that Sephiroths mother is also named "Jenova". They get a blood test and discovered that they were half brothers. (Since the J cells mess with thier biology and stuff. Idk logic has no power here)

Genesis immediately starts crooning about being the older brother and thus, the boss.

Somewhere along the line they sprout wings (Sephiroth donates his blood to save Gen so its all good) and catch time traveler Cloud (who also has a wing) and do more blood tests which come back saying Cloud is his full brother.

Cloud and Sephiroth are oddly ok with Genesis bossing them around. Angeal becomes team mom and Zack is...well, Zack

6. Time traveler Genesis suckerpunched Sephiroth in the face

7. Post DoC where Cloud and the rest of AVALANCHE were going on a road trip across Gaia to sorta relive thier adventures. The problem is that Cloud misidentified some mushrooms, cooking and serving them to the group.

By the time Sephiroth arrives to crash the party everyone is a giggling mess.

8. Lazard turned the corner to find Genesis standing on Sephiroth and Angeals shoulders trying to shove an assortment large angry frogs into an air vent.

He decided he didn't have nearly enough coffee to deal with this.

9. Sephiroth goes back to his old home in Midgar and has nostalgic flashbacks of his old friends

10. Cloud wakes up in mako tube in a lab as said tube is being drained. He fought his way out, making extra sure that the scientists are dead. He escapes disguised as a security guard and makes it into the city...only to be confronted with much more advanced technology and machinery.

He takes off his helmet to talk to a frightened man he saved from a monster and finds out he's nearly three hundred years in the future and the SOLDIER program had been reinstated about seventy years ago through mysterious means.

He thought back to his mako tube, realizing why the scene felt so familiar. His tank doubled as an alter. He was being used as the new Jenova. Cloud felt sick from the realization.

The blond was ripped from his thoughts when he was grabbed. Someone was calling him a different name and asking for an autograph.

This is how he learned he had a "Sephiroth" of his very own. One that apparently looked just like him. Joy.

11. Time traveler Cloud au where Cloud falls in love with Sephiroth, but instead of being happy or whatever he freaks out, gets really, really drunk, then travels to Nebilheim and wakes up Vincent specifically to ask him to shoot him in the face.

Cloud accidentally mentions it was Sephiroth he was in love with and he finds himself alone in the creepy shinra basement faster than he can process the fact that the ravenette had literally transformed into Chaos to fly to his self proclaimed godson.

Cloud decided it would be a good idea to sleep in Vincents coffin while it was still warm. At least Sephiroth couldn't find him here.

Sephiroth found his missing crush there, literally the next day.

12. The Deluge by DD McInnes made me think of tiny Zack and tiny Cloud also sailing in a teacup with a leaf as its mast and Zack raising the Buster sword in the air while shouting "ADVENTURE"

Cloud is in the background smiling fondly and steering the boat.

Now you have to live with that adorable image in your head as well.

13. Sephiroth using really bad angel themed pickup lines.

Mostly on Cloud. Maybe one on Genesis.

14. Sephiroth went back in time and saved Zack and Cloud on the Midgar cliffs. Why? He had succeeded in his plans to destroy the world but it didn't make him happy like he thought it would.

He drifted through space with the planet as his vessel, thinking about the friends he lost and...Cloud.

Sephiroth steered Zack and his little blond Trooper away from Midgar and back to Nebilheim. To Vincent. To remake the only team powerful enough to defeat Shinra and his other self. To carve out a new future where both Zack and Cloud can be safe

15. Sephiroth returns post AC by appearing inside Clouds dreams.

But Cloud was expecting something like this and had worked with tempering his mind and will. He changed the dream version of Sephiroth into a crow and laughed as Sephiroth cawed angrily at him.

After a few hours they figured something was wrong. Cloud should have woken up by now...

As it turns out,, when he was changing Sephiroth he broke the silverettes connection to the lifestream and trapped them both in Clouds subconscious. Now they have to work together to escape.

[melancholic-pigeon]

Too Short For Ao3 Fic #3? 4?

SO this is the extended edition of the bonus wip I did with Sally's birthday. The overall fic it belongs to is Extremely Smutty, so I went in and revised out the brief references and I'm posting the family-centric g-rated stuff for anyone who wants that but not the smut! Cough.

Also, I felt bad about missing WIP Wednesday again. Lolsob.

Percy rouses at around eleven PM to a sketch of himself on Jason's pillow. There's a note on the other side. 

I wanted to wake you up to say goodbye, but you looked so comfy I didn't have the heart to. your mom's presents are in the bag by my desk. say hi to everyone for me. I'll call tomorrow anyway.

love you to the moon and back.

-J. ❤

Complete with a little red heart. He doesn't even care that the doodle of him next to it, burritoed in a pile of blankets, includes a little spot of drool— he can tell by the rest of his cartoony, ballpoint features that Jason put it in because he thinks it's cute.

(And by the fact that he's said so, several times.)

Percy gathers up his junk. The cornflower blue sweatshirt he steals goes halfway down his fingers. He's come to accept that at six foot three and counting, Jason is the taller of them and always will be— barring some sort of horrible wood-chipper accident or curse from a grumpy deity. 

Fortunately, there's something about looking up to meet someone's eyes that Percy finds incredibly attractive. He has since Annabeth outgrew him for the first time in eighth grade. 

He heads out in his own jeans and the boxers he packed and the sweatshirt that smells like cinnamon. Once he boards the train, he stands with his arm around a pole and the other holding the bag against his chest, and tries to stay casual and keep the grin off his face.

It's almost midnight when he gets home. His mom, of course, is still awake, so he heads into the living room to greet her.

"My other half says hello."

There's a pile of presents on the coffee table. He puts the bag with the rest of them and sits down, kissing her cheek.

"He didn't have to get me anything." She closes her book and eyes the bag with a fond sigh. "How is he?" 

Percy's the same way she is, always happy to do favors and give gifts, but feeling pretty awkward about receiving them. Jason's even worse, the three of them in an ongoing and circular competition to never let any of it go reciprocated. 

"Working too hard, as always. Pulling As and winning games and barely sleeping to do it. His stepmother's up his ass and his father's a bully, so, you know, news at eleven." He leans his head onto her shoulder. "That's why he gives you stuff. He's trying to show you how much he appreciates you." 

She sighs, and Percy knows it's because she's just as frustrated by the whole thing as he is. 

"He knows I appreciate him too, I hope." 

"Without a doubt." Percy smiles at her, watching as she goes a little pink and smiles back. "You have a talent for making him feel appreciated." 

"He treats my baby like a prince," she says softly. "That's why I appreciate him so much in the first place. How could I do anything else?"

Percy turns his face into her shirt collar, another futile attempt to hide his goofy expression, 

"He really does, doesn't he?"

Holding doors, pulling out chairs, offering an arm on unsteady streets. Jason's never laid his coat over a puddle, but Percy's pretty sure he would, if the option presented itself. 

His mom starts playing with his hair, her fingers light and familiar.

"I'm just happy you're happy, sweetheart."

He knows that feeling too. 

Half asleep from the petting, Percy lets himself be a little babyish. It's after midnight now, which means it's her birthday, and he knows that sometimes she misses when he was Estelle's age and little enough to curl up in her lap. He's way too big for that now, obviously, but he can still slide down the couch and rest his head there. 

"You too, Mama." 

She looks at him, her eyes misty with emotion and almost green in the light.

She's smiling, too. 

She smiles a lot, these days.

—

In the morning, Paul makes coffee while Estelle helps unwrap the avalanche of presents. She's at the age where ripping paper makes her squeal with hysterical laughter, which worms its way into Percy's heart and melts it into pudding. 

Several of them are from Percy's friends, including a handbound book of original recipes from Leo, a lovely silver bracelet inset with mother-of-pearl that Beckendorf made himself, and a huge sheathed knife with a matching decorative handle from Clarisse. The last one makes his mom snort as she gets up to put it on the bookshelf, out of reach of curious toddler hands. 

"Decorative. Sure." 

"I bet she'd teach you how to use it if you asked." 

"I know how to use a bowie knife, dear. Your father and I used to catch and cook our own fish when we went camping."

"Which reminds me, he still hasn't taken me out," Paul cuts in, frowning. "I've been saving up dad jokes and embarrassing stories for four years."

"I'll bug him about it the next time we talk," Percy promises. "It's probably the ADHD." 

"Do you want me to bug you about bugging him?" 

"If you haven't set something up by blueback season, yeah." 

Percy and Paul went in on a pound of jasmine tea, which his mom reaches for next. She immediately asks for a cup— it's one of two days out of the entire year where she lets other people wait on her, for a change, and even that took a lot of cajoling. 

Paul makes the tea, since Percy usually scalds the leaves and it turns out tasting like grass. She probably wouldn't complain anyway, but it's her birthday, and she deserves to have the best tea that can be made in their kitchen. 

"Is the last bag from Jason?" Paul sets the mug on a coaster in the middle of the coffee table, and Percy scoops the baby into his lap so she doesn't try to grab it. She mashes her tiny hand against his cheek.

"And Thalia. I'm not sure if they went in on stuff or he just packed them both in one bag to make it easy." 

Either is a possibility. He watches as his mom reaches in and pulls out a large wrapped frame, Thalia's spiky handwriting answering the question. 

Whatever's inside, it makes her shut her eyes and exhale deeply through her nose. 

"Please pass on that I am absolutely furious."

She turns the frame around. An autographed vinyl EP of Sign O' the Times by Prince— one of the albums Percy grew up on, though she skipped a number of the songs when he was little. Thalia must have spent a fortune on it. 

"That woman is incredible," Paul breathes, lightly touching the glass. "How does she get this stuff?" 

"See!"

"She has friends in high places." Percy grins as Estelle reaches for the album, and holds her over the glass so she can touch it too. "She's also really good at barter chains."

His mother shakes her head, but he can tell how delighted she is— the two of them have spent hours animatedly talking about music, Thalia hanging on every word and groaning with jealousy over the concerts his mom went to in the eighties. 

"I know exactly where I'm going to put it." 

Thalia got her a turntable for her fortieth birthday last year, as well as a full set of replacements for every worn-out record in their collection— and had the originals framed too, since they had sentimental value. They're currently occupying the better part of two walls of his mom's study. 

There's a blank spot by her bookshelf, right underneath the first copy, that the autographed album will fit into perfectly. Percy grins. 

"I'll hang it up for you later."

She doesn't argue. There's only Jason's left, his careful print written out across the same paper Thalia used. The crinkling draws Estelle's attention, and she gleefully reaches over to help tear it off.

Their mom gasps at what's inside and puts a hand to her mouth, her eyes going bright.

It's a watercolor portrait of Percy and Estelle, laughing by the shoreline. She's dressed in a little bucket hat, a ruffled swimsuit patterned to look like a clownfish and the coolest shades in the world— sparkly blue frames shaped like seashells that he kind of wishes he could get in his size. He's in a wetsuit, having spent the morning surfing, and he's holding onto her hands so she can jump at the waves. In the distant background is the Montauk lighthouse.

It's beautifully done, like everything else Jason's ever put to paper, but Percy's never choked up like this over one of them.

"You remember that, Beluga? That was on my birthday, when you came and visited me and Jason at the beach."

"Beach?" she asks, expectant. Paul bursts into laughter, sounding as rough-voiced as Percy feels.

"You're your mother's daughter, sweet pea."

"Beach!" Estelle insists. Percy noses her pudgy cheek.

"It's too cold to swim, baby." His mom's eyes are sparkling, still a little teary. He can see Estelle in the smile on her face. "But we could go for a walk and visit." 

"Brunch first." Paul kisses her— Percy averts his eyes, wrinkling his nose at his sister to make her giggle again— and gets up, heading back into the kitchen. 

It's a lovely way to spend a late morning. Pale blue araucana eggs courtesy of Grover's new hens, a blueberry coffee cake from Nico by a fantastic hole in the wall in Hell's Kitchen, Paul's signature home fries made with blue potatoes and seasoned to perfection; all of it delicious.

Jason calls while Percy's doing the dishes. After his deep, resonant performance of the happy birthday song, the five of them chat on speakerphone for a little while, though he has to excuse himself pretty quickly to keep banging through his reading. 

"Maybe next year," Percy sighs. His mom puts her hand on his hip, then crouches down to help Estelle with her light-up sneakers. 

"He's always welcome for a rain check."

"He's always welcome, period," Paul adds. For the second time, Percy gets dangerously close to sniffling. 

Montauk is a little far for a day trip, so they head to Brighton Beach instead. Estelle's shrimpy legs get tuckered out more quickly than the grownups' do, so Percy ends up carrying her on his hip, snuggled into his jacket to block the chilly breeze. She points at seagulls, shouting triumphantly every time. 

"More bird!"

"That's right. A whole flock of 'em."

They watch for a while as the gulls fight over a discarded pizza crust. Then Percy feels an arm around his back and a head against his shoulder.

"I don't know how I got so lucky," his mother murmurs, barely audible over the rushing of the waves.

Percy's eyes sting. 

For most of his life, her birthdays had been spent without fanfare. He was rarely actually there for them anyway, and Gabe complained so much it was easier to just ignore the day and focus on survival instead. 

She'd been triaging like that since before she even met his dad, keeping herself afloat when nobody seemed to care if she drowned. It would have been easy to lie down and give up. Percy's pretty sure he would have, in her place. 

He turns to hug her with the obligatory proclamation of a Stella Sandwich. He catches Paul's eye over her shoulder, and gets a wide, sentimental grin in response. 

"Luck's got nothing to do with it," Percy tells her, leaning his cheek against the top of her head while his sister wriggles with delight between them. 

"Listen to our son," Paul adds. "He's very wise, as you raised him to be. This is all on you, honey." 

Within moments, she's surrounded by her whole family on all sides, and Percy has another arm around his back, and he's getting a little choked up over it all. 

When she first started dating Paul, back when Percy was still in middle school, she'd spent weeks all aflutter. It was the happiest he'd ever seen her at the time. They'd sit outside and work on her car together, and she'd slip into song like a grease-stained fairytale princess without even thinking about it. 

Seeing them interact is like cool water on a burn, Paul's devoted kindness soothing a lifetime of sitting back and watching people treat her like dirt. He worships her, just like she deserves and long overdue.

"I love you," she says, tearful and muffled in someone's shoulder. "All of you, more than anything." 

"Love Mama," Estelle replies, and that's it— Percy's blubbering.

It'll never undo the damage, but it's about time she got a chance to heal and thrive. 

-here in our bed, chapter 7, ~6200 words

[uswntfics]

Mates?

Hi everyone! I hoped you enjoyed this! I tried to combine my loves of soulmate/mate stories and the USWNT. I hope you enjoyed it! I'm considering continuing this, I'd love your thoughts. Also any feedback and requests for plots and/or mated pairs will be welcomed!

Y/N sighed as she pulled on her #4 Becky Sauerbruun USWNT jersey. She shouldn't be so anxious and upset as she was. She had great seats to see the USWNT for crying out loud!!

But as an omega that still hadn't found her mate/mates yet she wasn't excited about all of the pheromones, especially since her social anxiety was going to be through the roof with the crowd and seeing some of my heroes and celebrity crushes. She just wishes her Best Friend Jen would have been able to come with me as planned, but she had gotten a call about a family emergency last minute. Jen had given Y/N a pep talk and talked her into going by herself.

Y/N took a deep breath and walked through the stadium, finding her section. She did her best to take deep breaths and try to ignore the overpowering pheromones. Luckily it was a little windy today which helped dispel some of the smells enough not to send her into a panic attack. She walked all the way down and was shocked to see that she was in the first row, right beside Team USAs bench. She looked at the ticket and the row again and again to make sure she wasn't reading the ticket wrong.

"Holy shit how did Jen pull this off?" She mumbled to myself, walking to where my seat was on the way end. Right to the edge of the tunnel that the players would walk out of.

Y/N made sure that she left the seat that Jen was going to sit in between her and the rest of the row, easing her anxiety just a little bit. She pulled out her phone and texted Jen.

Y/N: How the hell did you pull this off? You didn't kill anyone did you?!

Jen: Lol no you dork! My friend's Dad manages the stadium and he knew that you and I are big fans of the USWNT so he offered me these seats.

Y/N: Omg that's amazing! I'm so sorry you can't come. 😭😭 How's everything going? I hope everything is okay.

Jen: Everything is okay right now. My brother was in a car accident. He's in surgery now but he's stable thankfully.

Y/N: Oh no! I'm so sorry! I'm so glad he's okay! Tell everyone I wish my best!

Jen: I will and have fun! Get lots of pics for me and maybe even meet your mate! 😜

Y/N: Oh shush you dumb alpha or I'll get Amy on your ass if you tease me again.

Jen: Oh come on! Don't threaten me with my mate! Anyway I should get going. Have fun and you'll be okay I promise. Call me if you have problems with your anxiety okay?

Y/N: I will.

By the time she looked up from her phone the stadium was starting to fill up. Y/N shuffled feeling her anxiety starting to amp up. She took a few deep breaths and was able to calm down just as the team started to pour out of the tunnel right past her. People pushed heragainst the side of the tunnel to get closer as the goalkeepers passed by and she started to panic slightly. "Hey be careful guys, we don't want anyone crushed." Ashlyn Harris called causing people to calm down a little.

Y/N sighed in relief and smiled gratefully at Ashlyn who just winked at her and waved making me blush slightly. Soon the whole team was out on the field and most of the seats in the stadium were filled.

She looked up as a group of obnoxious men who were of course all alphas. One of them wolf whistled at her with a stupid grin on his face making her roll her eyes.

Before she could worry too much about the dumb alphas causing problems the walkout video started and she cheered with the crowd as the 2 teams walked out. She felt a little weird as the first few USA players passed her, but brushed it off as excitement and anxiety.

The game seemed to fly by, Y/N had been able to push back her anxiety and enjoy the game, cheering on the women she has looked up to forever.

However the alpha male who had wolf whistled her before the game has gotten closer and closer to her as he seemed to drink more and more of the overpriced beer that the stadium was selling.

"Come on little omega I can show you a good time." the guy slurred again, moving even closer. His friends just laughed and cheered him on making Y/N even more uncomfortable.

The final whistle of the game had blown a while ago and the team was doing a cool down. The guy took this as his cue to sit next to Y/N in what would have been Jen's seat throwing his sweaty arm around her.

"Um no thanks." she stammered out, her eyes scaning around desperately trying to find someone to help her as the group had her blocked into the row. But everyone was focused on the players who were now walking around signing autographs.

"Come on omega you know you want me." He slurred with a sick smirk on his face, he moved his arm down to try to grope her chest. Y/N smacked his arm away out of instinct.

The alpha's eyes filled with rage. He smacked Y/N in the face and put his hands around her throat.

"How dare you you dumb omega bitch!" The alpha screamed.

"Stop please!" YN sobs. The alpha just snarled and goes to tighten his hands. Y/N claws at the hands around her neck and kicks out flailing her elbows to try to hit her attacker but his hold just gets tighter and Y/N feels her muscles give in as they slowly go limp. Y/N waits for the world to turn black as she starts to weaken, unable to fight back; her strength gone.

Y/N waited for her world to turn black. However she felt the hands around her neck be ripped off and feels herself lifted up. She fights to open her eyes as her breath speeds up as her panic finally reaches her.

"Shhhh it's okay, we got you."  Y/N blinked her eyes and saw that Ashlyn Harris was holding her up and  Ali Krieger putting her hand on her shoulder.

"Try to copy my breathing." Ali Krieger said, her tone soft, as if talking to a wounded animal.

Ashlyn gritted her teeth as she held the omega between her and Ali,, trying to stay calm and not go after the dumbass alpha she had ripped the poor girl away from. But it looked like Tobin, Hope and Pinoe had that covered as Hope growled at the cowering Alpha as the 3 held him down, waiting for security to arrive.

"Hey do you.." She started to ask Ali, wondering if they should look at the omega's phone to see if they could find a mate or at least some sort of emergency contact.

However Ashlyn was cut off by a ferocious growl coming closer to them. Ashlyn and Ali turned to see Becky of all people marching toward them her growl becoming louder.

"Whaaaa?" Ali started to ask before Becky gently scooped the panicking omega up in her arms. The omega looked up, scared it was her attacker again but froze when she looked into the alpha's blue eyes. Y/N felt the mate bond click into place, her breathing starting to settle slightly.

"Just copy my breathing little one, we won't let anyone hurt you."

We? Y/N was trying to calm down enough to ask her newfound mate what she meant when a tall alpha quickly walked up to the pair making Y/N freeze in terror.

Becky's growl trailed off at the sight of her alpha mate walking toward them. "What's wrong Becks?" Alyssa quietly asked her mate. Her mate was normally calm so she knew it must be something big.

"I found her. Well Ash and Ali found her after some asshole hurt her" Becky uncharacteristically babbled, absentmindedly soothingly running her fingers through Y/N's hair, making the omega settle even more.

"You found who?" Alyssa asked, not wanting to get her hopes up.

"Our omega." Becky smiled. Alyssa looked at the young omega cowering in Becky's arms. There was no way, they had looked for so long...

The keeper's thoughts were cut off when her older alpha mate softy said "Look up baby girl, she won't hurt you."

Becky gently tipped Y/N's chin up. Y/N's anxious eyes met those of the deceivingly gentle keeper's and froze as she felt the mating bond again.

She had finally found her mates?! Y/N's mind whirred even as Becky carried her and Alyssa's omega mate to the tunnel toward the locker room.

Alyssa released a warning growl at any of her teammates that tried to get close to her girls until the triad disappeared into the locker room.

The team stood, frozen, trying to understand what the hell just happened.

"Well I'll be damned." Tobin muttered, only to be smacked by the hands of her fellow new kids, the mated pair giving their friend disapproving glares.

"Well this will be interesting, that's for sure.” Christie muttered since she was done helping Hope and the other veterans deal with security.

The rest of the team nodded, hesitatingly heading toward the locker room, not wanting to be attacked by their alpha teammates for interrupting their meeting with their mate.

[i-dont-want-your-hysteria]

MYTHBUSTERS: LEPPARD EDITION (episode 2)

Attention all DL collectors: I've been meaning to make a post about this on here for a few months, but never got around to it. The question being... do any of you have the release of Pyromania that's on red vinyl- the one that was sold with an autographed sleeve? The story surrounding this is so odd, and @ballistic-lipstick-dream-machine and I have been looking for answers for two years.

More specifically, this is the version I'm alluding to: https://www.discogs.com/Def-Leppard.../release/12655177

The story goes as such: on September 20th, 2019, the Sound Of Vinyl US online store sold brand new copies of this release that were paired with an additional copy of the sleeve- and these extra sleeves were *autographed*. They were signed by everyone in the current lineup. This dual product (both the sealed record and the separate autographed sleeve) sold for $30 in total, and were only available on their website for about two hours until they sold out. Within hours after the product sold out (it sold out once there were no more autographed sleeves), the product page was deleted from their website without a trace. That, and the promo on DL's facebook was deleted too.

For six months, there was no trace of this product anywhere online, and Rachel and I only found one person besides us who was in possession of a copy.

In mid April of 2020, SOV updated their website, and the page for the autographed sleeves became visible again. This page being visible was most likely an error, as the items hadn't been visible since September 2019. On this phantom webpage, the item was listed as 'sold out', but there was still the option to 'ask for notifications for when it is back in stock'. The price was listed as $39.98 (any price ending in $0.98 is usually a clearance item or an item that is most likely unavailable- based on my experience in retail). This page was up for several months (maybe even a year), and upon checking it while I was making this post, I discovered it's since been taken down.

It is still unknown how many copies of these sleeves were signed/sold. There was also no certificate of authenticity that came with these products. Mysterious, eh?

However, the day these items were sold, Def Leppard's official Facebook page advertised these products for SOV, saying that there was a "very limited number of autographed sleeves" available. And, as many of you probably know, Sound of Vinyl isn't just some random company/website that would mass scam people. This site is very legit, but there were a lot of potential red flags surrounding this particular opportunity. For one thing- $30 for autographs!? Sign me up!!

So Rachel and I, naturally, bought them the SECOND we saw them that day in 2019. We didn't take any time to read. Buy now, ask later. Seize the day. We were at the right place at the right time that day and we didn't even know it.

When we each got our packages about a week or two later, we practically got forensic when it came to investigating the details. We touched, scanned, smelled, and searched over those sleeves. We each noticed very distinct differences between our autographs and the ones online. 4/5 of the signatures are in silver sharpie, and Rick's is the only one in plain black. All the names are in the same places on each sleeve we know of.

Despite the lack of authenticity, we went ahead and assumed with 90% certainty that they were, in fact, legitimate autographs. With how under the radar this was, we could only assume.

And because we could only assume, I went ahead and scoured the internet for anything I could possibly find on this listing. As far as Rachel and I knew, we were the ONLY people in possession of this! To my knowledge, it's still unknown just how many copies exist out there...

In my searches, I eventually came across someone on Amazon Marketplace who was selling these products together in March of 2020; both the autographed sleeve and the sealed red vinyl- for about $600. It seemed just a little too coincidental for me that they were being sold together. I contacted this seller, politely explaining this mystery, and asking if they also bought this from SOV. While they did not tell me where they got them from, they did say that they got the signatures on the sleeve authenticated by professionals at the Beckett Authentication company.

To me, that seemed like they were indirectly trying to say yes; a little wink-wink.

Unfortunately, though, that's ALL the info we have on this. I included our proof of these products down below; the screenshots of the official listings on SOV, DL's facebook advertising them, the Amazon listing, and my own personal copy + the barcode that came with it.

It's suspicious how these vanished with all footprints covered, and Rachel and I only know of 5-7 copies in existence! (two belonging to us, one sold on Amazon, two different ones used as advertising photos, and two that I just discovered through the Die Hards group).

Considering how their official merch team is authenticating everything left and right these days, this was just so strange...

TL;DR: Autographed Pyromania sleeves were officially sold for less than a day in 2019, and then they disappeared from the internet without a trace. Only 5 copies are known of in existence, and hardly anything is known about this occurrence.

If you have a copy of this, know someone who does, have any info on this, or if you just flat out know what I'm talking about, comment below!

[pl-panda]

Damienette arranged marriage part 4

Credits: Miraculous Ladybug team for the elements I take from MLB show. DC for their characters, @ozmav for the AU, @maribat-archive for giving me access to so many different stories to have take inspirations from, @thyladyanput for idea for Chat Damian and me for the plot.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

NEXT

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

"Oh god! Oh god! I got to meet MDC! Can I get your authograph?" He was suddenly next to her, holding a copy of the her first album cover she made for Jagged.

"Sure." She signed it and handed it back. It read: 'Good luck TD, MDC'

Tim Fainted.

Marinette was befuddled. She never saw anyone react like that. Sure Adrien once asked her for an autograph, but this was new.

"Forgive Drake. He first got into what he calls 'music' when he saw the new glasses Jagged Stone wore in Paris." Damian said, looking almost bored with his brother's antics.

"Really?"

"You should have seen him. He also wanted to figure out MDC identity. After three nights he had nothing. We had to cut the cord from coffee machine in the batcave and force him to go to bed." Dick was laughing at the unconscious brother. Tim was often such a nerd that it was miracle he got Steph to date him. But then again, Demon Spawn just got married.

"Tt. As much as I love to embarrass Drake, it's less fun when he is unconscious and we have other matters to discuss."

"Agreed" Bruce nodded. "Do you know what will you tell your parents miss?"

"Not really... They don't know about this." She gestured around. "If they knew I got married, they would ground me for life. Maman and Papa can get a bit overprotective. Last time I brought a boy home Papa got akumatized and placed me in giant prison of thorns."

"Brr... And I thought that having to duel Tamaranian general to be able to marry Kor'i was bad." Dick chuckled.

"Suckers!" Jason shouted before taking a large swing of the whiskey. "I never had such problems."

"Maybe because you never dated anyone, Flappy Bird" Dick grinned maliciously.

"That's enough! I am trying to have a civilized conversation with my daughter-in-law! If you two idiots don't shut up, I will ground you and give you the Watchtower duty at least until christmas!" Bruce was slowly getting done with this bickering.

"Fine/He started it!" Dick/Jason shouted.

"I don't care. Get out if you wish to continue." Bruce cut them off before they got into another argument and turned to Marinette. "No friends that would cover for you? Or a partner?"

"No..." Every member of the batfam (bar the unconscious Tim) immediately noticed the darker note behind this. "My identity is... was the best kept secret in the world. There were exactly two humans who knew. Me and Master Fu. But he lost all his memories." She hummed for a moment. "Well, now I guess you know too. And the League of Assassins. And Order of the Guardians. Oh Tikki I am an awful Ladybug..."

"You are great Ladybug Marinette. The best one out there." The Kwami reassured her. "Nobody in Paris would do a better job!"

Marinette smiled and calmed down a bit. She was still shaking. Jason gave her one look and tried to handle her a glass of whiskey, but one glare from Damian was enough to make him back away from this idea.

"I have a better question." Dick joined the discussion after he was done with Jason. "What about you and Damian."

"Nobody asked you Grayson." Damian huffed. If it was up to him, he would delay this questioning session to next year. Or decade.

"But he did make a very good point Demon Spawn." Jason supported his older brother.

"I... I don't know. That woman, Talia, said that if we broke this marriage, there would be another war. Who was she?"

"Talia Al Ghul, my mother. She is the current leader of the League of Assassins" Damian explained.

Tim, who nobody noticed woke up, was now sitting back in the computer chair. His face was still pretty much pure bliss, but he was typing like a madman. "There must be some way out of this. It would be easier if we knew the specifics of the marriage contract."

"That's not how it works with the League Drake." Damian scowled. "It's not paperwork. When the ceremony is done, the two people are bound. There is no marriage certificate, there is no marriage license, it's the act that counts." His face was in usual frown.

"So basically the marriage is as well as nonexistent. That's good." Tim grinned, but seeing Damian's face he sensed there was more to it.

"No. That's bad. There is no such thing as divorce in the league, except for killing the spouse."

This caused Marinette to let out a fearful yelp and cuddle to Tikki. But at the same time, Bats noticed that she tensed and prepared to fight. Damian internally cursed himself. He did not want to scarry this girl.

"Don't worry, Miss. Nobody would even consider this." Bruce tried to calm her down.

"We wouldn't, but if the League consider that we are not upholding the marriage, they might go after her." Damian wanted to go and butcher the League. He could do it. Well, everyone but his mother. The young Wayne was unsure if he would be able to do it. For all her faults, he still cared about her.

"Let them try!" Tikki shouted in her squeaky voice. "I will get Plagg to cataclysm this pathetic base of their! Nobody messes with my Marinette!" She protectively flew in front of Marinette, ready to fight anyone who threatened her chosen.

"Maybe let's try to refrain from genocide yet?" Dick asked, half amused, half scared about this. While he was leaning toward believing the threat, the idea that someone so small and cute could take on the whole league was just too damn funny. He then looked at Damian and noticed that the boy had same kind of murderous look. Oh this is too good. He is actually falling for her. He grinned, but decided to at least now don't tease him.

"So there is no way that the two of you just stayed on different continents and acted like this never happened?" Tim asked with resignation.

"It is expected of us to stay together." Damian answered shortly. Marinette felt air leave her lungs like someone just punched her. Her whole life was shattered in the span of a week. What will she tell her parents? And what about school? "I am sorry, Du... Marinette." Damian was tempted to walk to her and comfort her, but he stopped himself. She needed space.

The rest of the Wayne family was stunned. Damian rarely referred to anyone by their first name, much less to strangers. Yet, he was acting very protective and even some dare to say affectionate toward this girl. Tim was starting to think someone did drug him, but rest just smiled. Demon Spawn finally got a crush, and on his wife of all people.

"Wait! There might be a way to deal with it." Tim suddenly brightened. "Or at least delay this."

"Just spit it, Replacement." Damian tried to frown, but he couldn't deny the hope. At the same time, there was this small tingle where his heart should be. He was happy that maybe Marinette would have a chance at normality, but at the same time he wanted to stay with her. To get to know her. Just what in hell is going on with me?

"First of all, rude." Tim started. "And secondly, we could file for her to get a formal underage marriage."

"And how exactly does it help?" Marinette asked.

"The state of Gotham allows underage marriage from the age of fourteen with court permission, provided the certain age-gap is retained. The procedure is very lengthy though."

"So how does it help Drake. I am very curious what is going in this few brain cells of your." Damian was getting impatient.

"The League should respect that you try to validate the marriage in the eyes of law. So until the court proceeding is finished, you two could stay separate and go about your lives. And with a bit of work, it could last for up to two years before the judge agreed."

"To even file for this, we would need a solid basis." Dick spoke before anyone got hope. Tim pressed some buttons on the keyboard and displayed the copy of the underage marriage act.

"One of the listed reasons is cultural specifications. And most people know that Damian was raised by his mother outside of the States. With a bit of work, I can draft a betrothal deal signed when he and Marinette were still babies."

"So basically we put this in court and then delay this into oblivion?" Jason grinned. "I like this."

"I am impressed Drake. For once you've actually proven to be useful." Damian commented.

"So I would be able to stay here in peace?" Marinette asked shyly.

"For some time, yes. The League should not go against you then, because it's not your fault you can't legally live with Damian yet." Bruce assured her.

"But what about vultures in the media?" Dick asked.

"Simple: classified proceeding. Public won't know anything is even in motion." Drake was getting more and more confident in this plan.

"I would be able to finish my school here." Marinette smiled.

"Yes, you would. I will make sure there will be no complications." Bruce smiled. "But there are two more problems that still needs to be dealt with. Hawkmoth and your parents."

"I will deal with talking with my parents on my own." Marinette reassured them. "But I don't don't know about Hawkmoth. He went silent after the last stunt, but it won't be over until I take away his miraculous."

"Drake will stay here and help you solve this case. He is the most level-headed in this room, so the risk of him falling under Akuma is the smallest." Bruce declared and others nodded.

"Thank you! thank you! thank you!" Ladybug jumped from the chair and hugged Tikki, then Bruce, then Tim.

"It's no problem Miss. I am sorry League ignored your plea for help. It's the least I could do."

"For your daughter-in-law you mean?" Jason grinned. Oh he would not let this die so easily. Demon Spawn would get it this time.

"Nobody asked you, Todd." Damian scowled.

"Please don't fight because of me. I think it's time for me to go face my parents."

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

Marinette arrived at her parent's bakery around 10 PM. The lights were still on. She stopped before walking in, taking one more breath to calm herself. She hated lying. She knew that there was no such thing as white lie, not really. Every lie hurt in some way, just not always instantly. She gathered all the courage she could muster and pushed the door, walking in.

"Maman! Papa! I am home!" She called them and there was instantly a commotion on the first floor. "Here we go Tikki. I hope my detention ends before I graduate..." She whispered to her Kwami and prepared to face her parents.

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng!" Her mother barged into the room. "You better explain yourself this instant!" This surprised the girl. She expected her mother to be angry, but also to show some worry. An alarm bell rang in her head. Something was not right.

"How could you?!" Her father was also angry. She could only hope Hawkmoth was still licking his wounds.

"What's going on? Maman? Papa?" She asked in confusion.

"Don't play dumb with us young lady! Alya told us how you decided to run away and try to join Audrey Bourgeois in America!" Her father shouted at her.

"What!? I never did such thing. My mandarin teacher, Master Fu, had an accident. He lost his memory and I was escorting him to the train station for him to meet his friend who would take care of him. You remember master Fu?" She received a nod and continued to bombard her parents with information. It was an advice from Damian. The more she babble the less time they have to actually think this over. "So I handed him over to his friend and they walked into train station, but then I realized I was still holding his luggage and I tried to chase after them. Then, I thought I saw them enter the train, so I followed them, but it turned out this was the wrong train and then it left the station and I was still inside. I panicked and looked for the conductor to sort this out, but he said that they couldn't stop. So I tried to find Master Fu, but he was not there and I immediately got out on the next train station, but I left my purse in the train so I didn't have a phone on me and I had to somehow figure out where I was and then I entered another train, because they said it was going to Paris, but it was misunderstanding and it was coming from Paris and I got even further away, but then I finally got out in some different city, still carrying only Master Fu's luggage and I had to somehow get back to Paris and it took me so long to actually get there and I am sorry that I didn't call but I didn't have any money to pay for a stationary phone and I lost my purse and it would be wrong to go through Master's luggage to get money so I had to sort this out with the train station officials and they helped me get here and I even managed to send the luggage through mail, but only now I got here..." She took a deep breath. Her heart was beating super fast and she was sweating a little bit. Anyone proficient in lies detection could tell this was all bullshit, but luckily her parents wanted to believe her. "What I wanted to say is... I am sorry I didn't call you. I guess I panicked a little."

They hugged her tightly, all three crying a little (her father much). Once they broke apart, she smiled. "Can I go to my room and get some sleep now?"

"Yes. Our little grown up girl." Marinette smiled and was about to run, but she heard her mother continue speaking. "But you are still grounded for two weeks."

"Mom!" She shouted, but smiled and went back to her room.

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

Taglist (sorry if I missed you)@pheonixashtree @sassakitty @unabashedbookworm @vixen-uchiha @maggiecc12 @actualdisasterwoman @tired-butterfly @shizukiryuu @floralfi @imanerddealwith @northernbluetongue @krispydefendorpolice @toodaloo-kangaroo @dast218 @bluesoulblueheart @theatreandcomicfreak @disneyfoxuniverse @mindfulmagics @alwaysnumberonetruth @nyaabinch @jardimazul @lenamau @rosep16 @dramatic-squirrel @sonif50 @daminett4life @lulutheawkwardess @weird-pale-blonde-person @mooshoon @jeminiikrystal @mochegato @moonlightstar64 @dragonflyswing @silverwhiteraven @shamefullove @magic-miraculous @valeks-princess @heaven428 @mlbchaosqueen @winter-gardenflower @spicybelladonna @emo-elaine13 @vetilora @karukofox21 @my-name-is-michell

[deanwinchesterswitch]

Blog Appreciation Bounce ~ Prize Drawing

Graphic by @tumbler-tidbits

WhooHoo!!!

Here are the results of the prize drawings for the Blog Appreciation Bounce.

A big Thank You to the vendors who worked with me so that I could offer all of these amazing prizes...

POPCosmic  / @tumbler-tidbits​ / lexicolor / @coffee-obsessed-writer / @fandomcreations / KMacsJewelry

Below the cut are pictures of all the prize packages with the winners’ names listed above them. If you are one of the lucky prize winners, please direct message me your mailing address. If you won a digital prize, you will receive a special code to give the vendor.

Thank you to all of the Bounce Blogs that participated and helped me pull this bounce together. You are all such wonderful and amazing creators! I am thrilled that you were part of this fun little event.

A special thank you to all of the followers and mutuals who participated in this event. I hope you had fun and were able to find new blogs to follow and maybe make some friends along the way!

Prize #1 // WINNER ~ @wayward-and-worn

So Get This coffee mug ~ lexicolor \\ Winged Anti-possession decal ~ KMacsJewelry

Prize #2 // WINNER ~ @akshi8278

An autographed copy of Rebekah Jordan’s new book Daydreams and Darker Desires

Prize #3 // WINNER ~ @watermelonlipstick

Silver glitter tumbler ~ KMacsJewelry \\ Lost My Shoe magnet ~ lexicolor

Prize #4 // WINNER ~ @calaofnoldor

Examples

Custom designed graphic by @tumbler-tidbits

Prize #5 // WINNER ~ @impala-dreams-and-bunker-scenes

Metal embossed salt & burn bracelet with charm ~ @fandomcreations \\ Black shimmer anti-possession decal ~ KMacsJewelry

Prize #6 // WINNER ~ @compresshischest09

Salt & Burn/Anti-possession salt and pepper shakers \\ Wood design anti-possession decal ~ KMacsJewelry

Prize #7 // WINNER ~ @waywardbaby

Handmade flannel lanyard ~ POPCosmic \\ Large starry night anti-possession button ~ lexicolor

Prize #8 // WINNER ~ @mvdeanw

Zippered canvas pouch (9.5″ x 6″) ~ lexicolor \\ Heart AKF/SPN decal ~ KMacsJewelry

Prize #9 // WINNER ~ @carryonmywaywardcaptain

Gift Certificate ($15 value) for @fandomcreations

Prize #10 // WINNER ~ @ariesbabe1993

Hidden design glitter coffee mug ~ KMacsJewelry \\ Sam initial keychain ~ POPCosmic

Prize #11 // WINNER ~ @justagirlinafandomworld

Custom designed graphic by @coffee-obsessed-writer ~ Jen’s Graphics

Prize #12 // WINNER ~ @deandreamernp

Carry On My Wayward Son rainbow water bottle \\ Plaid Sam/Moose and Dean/Squirrel initial magnets ~ KMacsJewelry

Prize #13 // WINNER ~ @fangirlxwritesx67

Double-sided Bitch/Jerk keychain ~ POPCosmic \\ Red glitter anti-possession necklace ~ KMacsJewelry

Prize #14 // WINNER ~ @witchygagirl

SPN Family 15 keychain and anit-possession coin ~ POPCosmic \\ Fight The Fairies and Team Idjits large buttons ~ lexicolor \\ Mini SPN family decal ~ KMacsJewelry

**BONUS PRIZE // WINNER ~ @deanwanddamons

There are twenty (20) Bounce Blogs on the list. Anyone who reblogs and comments (you have to do both) on an original post from all 20 blogs during the Blog Appreciation Bounce will not only receive five extra entries for the regular drawings but will have their name put in for this bonus draw.

SPN Cookie Cutter set ($25 value) ~ POPCosmic

Tagging:

@nihilismworld​ // @lovealways-j​ // @wingedcatninja​ // @watermelonlipstick​ // @michellethetvaddict​ // @akshi8278​ // @mvdeanw​ // @pixie88​

@thinkinghardhardlythinking​ // @wayward-and-worn​ // @calaofnoldor​ // @deanwanddamons​ // @justagirlinafandomworld​ // @jerkbitchidjitassbutt​ // @girl-next-door-writes​ // @idreamofplaid​ // @winchest09​ // @muchamusedaboutnothing​ // @carryonmywaywardcaptain​ // @waywardbaby​ // @princessmisery666​ // @impala-dreamer​ // @katymacsupernatural​ // @tumbler-tidbits​ // @cleighwrites​ // @coffee-obsessed-writer​ // @waywardbeanie​ // @deanwinchesterswitch​

[osakaso5]

Riku Nanase Chinese Zodiac Rabbit Chat Part 5: More Proactively..? 

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Tsumugi: Riku-san, good work today! Since you used projection mapping for the dance, it looked incredible..!

Riku: Good work, manager!

Riku: How'd you like me as the monkey?

Tsumugi: You were very cool! Your energetic gestures matched Iori-san's dynamic tiger dance so well..!

Riku: Was I cooler than Yaotome-san?

Tsumugi: Yes, I liked IDOLiSH7 the best!

Riku: Great, that means a lot coming from you.

Riku: Sogo-san was the horse, so he had those cool hoof boots..!

Tsumugi: Tamaki-san was terrified of his whip, but he handled it very well...

Riku: It looked like it became one with his arm..!

Tsumugi: I know..!

Riku: Nagi was channeling his inner edgelord! He kept asking Iori to cover his eye and go "My eye..!" and he told Tamaki to say his left arm had been sealed.

Tsumugi: He's kicking off the year with some very Nagi-san-esque antics! lol

Riku: I want to do something like that again! It was fun to dance with Iori. I even did a few ad libs, and he responded to them instantly!

Tsumugi: You worked together perfectly!

Choices/outcomes:

1. I was surprised by how much use you got out of the prop, too!

Riku: You mean the long staff I had! I almost hit Iori over the head with it during our rehearsal, so I practiced secretly with a laundry  pole we had at the dorm. Ah, but just so we're clear, I asked Mitsuki for permission first!

2. I loved the facial expressions you made when you were provoking Iori-san, the tiger!

Riku: When I made those faces, I was thinking about the fact that Iori's secretly a crybaby who loves to be babied by Mitsuki! lol But don't tell him that!

3. Was it hard to move in your costume?

Riku: Not for me! Apparently Iori had some trouble with those long sleeves and the stuff around his neck, but it didn't look that way at all from his performance! He's really something!

Riku: Oh yeah, Iori gave me a New Year's card in return for the one I gave him!

Riku: Here, I'll send you a picture of it.

Riku: He drew what looks like birds and a portrait of me! Iori's a pretty good artist, lol

Tsumugi: Wow! That's wonderful. He must've really liked the card he got from you!

Riku: His autograph looks like something you'd put on official documents, so I never thought he'd make a card so cute! lol I need to keep it safe!

Riku: He agreed to play shuttlecock with me like we did last year, so maybe his prickly period is over for now.

Tsumugi: Prickly period, lol

Riku: I want to beat him again so we can go buy him a birthday present together. We know we probably can't pull off the kind of surprises we did last year, but I'm still trying to come up with ideas.

Riku: Once I have a few in mind, I'll run them by you!

Tsumugi: Iori-san's birthday isn't too far in the future, after all!

Riku: I wonder what kind of celebration he'd like. He's not really the type to laugh a lot, but I want him to be all smiles and full of happiness on his birthday, at least!

Riku: And I want him to stop being so distant and call me "Riku-san" already! lol

Tsumugi: Hearing someone call you by first name feel special when they don't usually do it!

Riku: Tsumugi!

Tsumugi: Huh!?

Riku: Ehehe, I'm just copying Yaotome-san. I think it's pretty nice when people refer to you differently from usual too, though.

Tsumugi: U-um...!

Riku: Just kidding! Did I make your heart skip a beat?

Riku: 

Tsumugi: 

Translator’s notes..? 

next up, Torao’s Twelve Hits Rabbit TVs! 

[cecilspeaks]

162 - “Alpha”

Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Fear makes the heart grow louder. And death makes the heart grow flowers. Welcome to Night Vale.

Amelia Anna Alfaro was always the best at everything. On the day she was born, she was named the healthiest baby at Night Vale General Hospital. The doctors had never seen a healthier baby. “What a healthy baby,” they said from behind a bullet proof two-way mirror, as they operated the robotic arms that carefully held the infant aloft. The doctors high-fived each other, missing slightly. The trick, by the way, is to keep your eye on the other person’s elbow. That or glue high-powered magnets to each person’s hand. And all of the nurses cheered from dozens of feet down the hallway, where they were playing with a standard Tarot deck, common in most neonatal units. This cheering was unrelated to Amelia’s birth. The nurses had drawn the ten of swords, which is everyone’s favorite card. It features a relaxed man receiving acupuncture by a river.

Amelia learned to walk at 4 months, and to talk at 6 months. She read Plato’s “Republic” for the first time at age 4. She taught herself German and began to write sonnets in that language at age 7. At age 10, she won her first engineering competition after designing a concrete canoe that could float even on the most turbulent water. There is no body of water in Night Vale, so she had to prove her work using a software she wrote that generated three-dimensional models to corroborate her advanced mechanical physics formulas. She even won the state spelling bee five years in a row, from ages 9 to 13. Her streak was only broken when the spelling bee was canceled, after the sponsors lost their dictionary.

Amelia was always the best, and her mother knew it. Her mother was proud of her daughter, or rather, her mother was proud of herself for producing such a daughter. Or rather, she was proud of both, in a way that was difficult for them to untangle. Amelia’s mother was named Yvette. Yvette could not afford much for her daughter. She worked long hours to earn the respect of her bosses, which (-) [0:04:32] her promotions and larger paychecks, but Yvette had hit the glass ceiling. She did not want this limitation for her daughter. Her daughter would need to be smarter, more talented, and more driven than she. Yvette wanted Amelia’s value to the world to be so great that no one could deny her success.

Yvette recognized Amelia’s specialness and pushed hard to make her even more special, signing Amelia up for athletics and adult learning classes and piano lessons. Amelia sometimes pushed against this. “Mother, I don’t want to” was met with, “But you will, Amelia.” “Why?” was met with, “Because I said so.” “I hate you for this” was met with, “You will love me for it later.”

Begrudgingly, Amelia fulfilled her mother’s wishes. It wasn’t because she understood her mother’s motivation to secure her child a better life, nor was it because Amelia did not have the stomach to fight back. No, Amelia did it because it all came so easy. She was a black belt, a sharp shooter, an academic decathlon champion. She wrote her first novel at age 12, it was called “A Golden Age for Parachuting”, in which an all-Jewish female parachute team wins Olympic gold in 1936 Berlin in front of Adolf Hitler. In the publisher’s rejection letter, the editor said the novel was “immaculately written, however parachuting stories are out of vogue. Do you have anything about magical baseball players?” Amelia did. It was a novel called “One Last Swing for the Tuesday Boys”, but she had written it in German and did not have time to translate the “Dienstag Jungen” manuscript, because she was currently taking a course on bird husbandry.

Yvette enrolled the teenage Amelia in night classes at the community college, where she took English 113, “Sonnets are for lovers”; structural engineering 212, “Buttress is a funny word”; and meteorology 301, “Clouds y’all, amirite?” She earned all As and scores for college credit before she even graduated high school. None of these challenges were difficult for Amelia. She was the best at everything.

But her life was not perfect. Because of the voices. It was the voices that made life hard for Amelia. From birth, she heard the constant chatter of dozens of people. None of the voices spoke directly to  Amelia, they just talked and talked about their lives, and Amelia was afraid of the voices and what the voices might imply about herself. She found solace in puzzles, crosswords, nonograms, acrostics, cryptics, Sudoku, which I think is the one where you have to catch a bunch of marbles with a lever operated hippopotamus. Her mother hated Amelia’s puzzle vice. If she caught Amelia doing puzzles, Yvette would make Amelia go practice archery or write poetry or at least listen to classical music. Amelia’s favorite was Van Cliburn’s masterful 1961 record of Rachmaninoff’s “Piano Concerto nr 13: Knuckles on the Black Keys”. When she was thinking through the solution of a puzzle, the voices did not speak to her. All was silent. It was her only time of peace. It was the only time her body could rest and curl up comfortably into her own thoughts. Anything that took her away from her logic problems including music, no matter how soothing, invited the voices back into Amelia’s thoughts.

Amelia was accepted to several top colleges across the country, including MIT, Stanford, Rice and The University of What It Is, but she wanted to stay near her home town and her family, so she went to State. Hey, that’s where my brother-in-law went! Go State! [chuckles] Ahem. She was elected the youngest president of the student body ever at age 17, and graduated valedictorian two years later. Her friends, her professors, her mother all knew the world was Amelia’s. She could become poet laureate or a senator or a supreme court justice or a quantum physicist. But she became none of those. This is not to say Amelia was not successful or that she amounted to nothing. It is to say, the semantics of success were her own and no one else’s. Amelia became an air traffic controller. The voices never told Amelia to become an air traffic controller, they were never that specific. The voices did not tell her to do anything, they simply talked about first dates, about  apartment hunting, about their grandmothers’ improved health, about a bad movie they sort of loved. None of the voices talked directly to her, it was simply as though she overheard conversations from lives lived somewhere else. Other people and their quotidian hopes and worries and interests. She tried seeing therapists and psychiatrists. She tried medication to stop the voices, but nothing worked. Eventually she decided they were not harmful voices and that she was not dealing with schizophrenia. She simply heard people talking at all hours about all things, having nothing to do with her. And they never told her to become an air traffic controller. Amelia chose her own career, her own path. Others though the reason was that it was the fist job opportunity to present itself for her. Maybe it was her admiration of aircraft, maybe a moral sense of serving humanity through public safety and comfort. In fact, it was none of these reasons. But it should not be surprising to know that Amelia was very good at air traffic control. She was calm, clear, and efficient. The Night Vale international airport, although when Amelia started it was just a commuter hub, has never had a high volume of plane traffic and almost all of those are departures. There are very few arrivals. My husband Carlos, he’s a scientist and he is also very good at his job, tells me that it’s impossible to have far more departures than arrivals, but I told him, not everything has to make sense all the time.

So, in some ways, air traffic control in Night Vale was easier for Amelia than just about any other class or job or task she’d ever attempted. It appeared from the outside to be far below her capabilities. She held that job for 20 years, even taking over as president of the Night Vale chapter of air traffic controllers’ union. In 2004, she was featured in the cover of “Afformative”, a monthly trade magazine for air traffic controllers. The headline of the article was “You’re cleared for success”. In 2006, she was asked to deliver the keynote speech at the annual Roger Con, a conventional for air traffic controllers and fans of air traffic control. It’s a huge deal, held every year in Orlando. People dress like their favorite airline pilots and wait in long lines for autographs from top flight attendants. There are even panel discussions about everything from the best textiles for seat cushions to secret first class meal offerings. Amelia was the best at what she did. She probably would have been the best poet laureate or senator, but this was the path she chose. She chose this path because of the voices, not from what they said, but what they didn’t say. When Amelia was in the control tower, when she was communicating with captains and co-pilots and navigators, her head was clear. All was silent. It was like those many nights, sneaking a copy of the crossword from the newspaper on the kitchenette and solving it by flashlight under her covers. She became an air traffic controller to be by herself, to become her own person. Her mother was disappointed, but loved her in spite of it. Her professors were let down, but still had many fabulous of their greatest student. Her friends were just happy she was happy.

Things changed on June 15, 2012, when Delta flight 18713 made radio contact. In her tall tower, at her tiny airport, in the middle of a vast desert, in the middle of the American Southwest, an airplane appeared on Amelia’s radar. It was carrying 143 passengers and 6 crew members and was flying from Detroit to Albany over the great lakes of the American Northeast. It appeared briefly, the green dot blinking in and out of existence like the sun glinting off a water ripple. It was almost unnoticeable. But everyone noticed it. Later, Amelia was the only one who admitted to noticing it. The radio transmission was equally brief, a surge of static and only one word, difficult to discern but she heard it. “Alpha” was the single word. The letter A in the Nato alphabet. It was garbled, so maybe it wasn’t that word, maybe it was some more adult variation of “Oh fudge”. Alpha. Oh fudge. It was unclear. Amelia requested identification of the aircraft. She requested further communication, but nothing came. As soon as it had squawked, it had gone silent. But while the radio communication was silent, the voices were not. On June 15, 2012, upon hearing a word that sounded like “alpha”, these myriad conversations returned. No one else in the tower could hear them, but Amelia Anna Alfaro could. And for the first time in her life, she began to speak back to them. Everyone else in the tower could hear that. The voices did not cease. The voices continued for days and days and Amelia tried to talk back with them. As one voice said: “I have an interview on Monday,” Amelia would ask “for what job” or if a voice said, “We went to Palm Springs on vacation,” Amelia would say, “Did you also travel out to the Salton Sea?” But over and over, no response. The voices did not affect the quality of Amelia’s work, but it did affect the perceived quality of her work, and her colleagues became uncomfortable with and distrusting of Amelia.

A month later, Amelia heard that word again from one of the voices. “Alpha”. The same voice that radioed in June. But upon hearing it again, she realizes that they didn’t say “alpha” at all. What they said, coming up.

But first The weather.

[“Skinchanger” by Skeptic skepticdeath.bandcamp.com]

The voices said “Alfaro”. The word had been truncated just as the airplane’s appearance in Night Vale had been truncated. The voice saying the word was the captain of the aircraft, and he had been trying to tell Amelia something. The pilot was trying to tell Amelia that he knew her, had always known her since her birth. He didn’t know how he knew her, just that he did, and he wanted to tell her he had found her. And she should find him. “Where are you,” Amelia asked the captain. “No Where,” the voice said. “Did you land?” Amelia asked. “Yes,” the voice said. “Were there injuries?” Amelia asked. “Minor,” the voice said. “Do you hear the other voices too?” Amelia asked. “Yes,” the captain said. “I’m with them right now. Find us, Amelia.” “Where are you?” Amelia asked again, louder, more scared than before. “No Where,” the voice said, not like the vague concept of in no place but No Where, two words capitalized like the name of a specific place. Amelia felt a tap on her shoulder. It was another air traffic controller. “Uh, boss wants to see you, Amelia,” they said. But Amelia did not go to see the boss. She knew. She knew her time in the tower was done. She grabbed her belongings and walked to the elevator, out across the tarmac to a shuttle to a parking lot and into her car, and no one saw her again. Her friends said she always talked about going back to school to get an advanced degree. Maybe she went to Stanford. Or Rice, or The University of What It Is. Other friends said she had lost all touch with reality, talking to people who were not there, and maybe her mother checked Amelia into the Night Vale asylum.

Yvette says Amelia knew too much, that agents from a vague yet menacing government agency had been to their house and that Amelia must have been taken to a secret location. Representatives from the National Safety and Transportation Bureau in Washington, DC, came to Night Vale two months ago to investigate the disappearance of flight 18713. They are on an undercover mission inside the Night Vale asylum right now, on a tip from Sheriff Sam, to discover more clues into this mystery. Perhaps Amelia is in there too. But I don’t think so. I think she went to find the plane. I think the voices were the passengers on Delta 18713. I think she set out looking for them. Perhaps wandering the desert, the great No Where, to find the people who had been a part of her life since birth.

Amelia. Anna. Alfaro. was always the best at everything. And if anyone will find the plane, she will.

Stay tuned next for our new investment advice show “Billionaire Roulette”.

And as always, Good night, Night Vale, Good night.

Today’s proverb: Love means never having to say “you’re a werewolf”.

[thebookbud]

Shelf History Tag

This tag is for those books that came to you in an unusual, interesting, funny, or sweet way. Pick 5 (or more if you want) books from your shelf and tell us the story of how you came to own that book. If you’re a public library user and don’t really own any books, you can still participate. Just tell us the most interesting/funny/sweet ways you came to find a particular library book.

Tag your posts #ShelfHistory so I can see them all!

When you’re finished, tag 5 (or more) readers whose Shelf-History you’d like to know about! This one can easily be done on any blogging/vlogging platform so feel free to tag cross-platform if you really want to.

Thanks for the tag @anassarhenisch this is so so sweet!

1. The Demonata Series by Darren Shan

I got these as a gift from @a-hunch-with-scaffolding. One night after book club I went back to my room and found that he had hidden them next to my book stacks so I couldn’t make him take them back before he left (I’m not good at receiving gifts). He wanted me to read them and went and got them...for me. (Minus the first, I'd already read it on Kindle) It was one of the sweetest ways I have ever received a book, let alone a whole series. 

2. The Perfect Tribute by Mary Andrews

My dad is a huge American civil war history buff and he gifted this to me when I was around ten years old. A very endearing look at Lincoln. It’s an original copy and I hold it extremely dear for sentimental reasons and the fact that it’s an antique now. 

3. Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson

So this is more of just a story that makes me laugh. I went to Barnes & Noble to find this and was ready to buy the trade paperback (because I didn’t want to spend $35 on hardback when I don’t even have the first two yet) and while browsing the bargain bin just for fun on the way to checkout, I found this hardcover copy tucked in the back for $8...that’s right 8 freaking dollars! I mean it’s beat up and worn, but a book this large is going to be worn immediately anyways from its own weight and I really don't mind a well loved book. 

4. Ghost Lake by John Peel

I’ve posted about this book quite a few times, so you may know this is one of my first memorable novels. I loved it so much I must have read it at least four times when I was a kid and I couldn’t find it whenever I went to Borders (yes Borders was still a place then) and well, I “borrowed” this copy from my elementary school classroom and still haven’t brought it back, almost two decades later...whoops. 

5. A Divided Mind by M. Billiter

I’ve bought autographed copies of books before, even been to a signing or two. But never before did I reach out to an author directly to request a signing. Well, after reading this through BookSirens I decided I’d ask M. Billiter if she’d be so kind as to sign a copy if I ordered it and sent to her. Not only did she sign it, she was thrilled with the compliment, sent goodies with it and when the second in the series came out, sent me an ARC of that also to review, which can be found here (I highly recommend these novels). Honestly, one of the sweetest interactions I’ve ever had! 

Hey, @readingismywholelife @hayleysbookshelf @redheaded-reader @the-girl-who-lived-to-read @books-are-perfection wanna share a bit about your books’ backstories, maybe? (I took pictures with mine but it’s unnecessary if you don’t want to, just fyi) Looking forward to seeing some stories! Hope you all enjoy and anyone else who wants to join in, please do so! 

[theyearoftheking]

Book Forty-Seven: On Writing

“The road to hell is paved with adverbs...”

My career path was pretty clear from a young age... I wanted to write. I wanted people to find my books at the library, I wanted people to recognize me on the street, and I practiced my loopy scrawl for those autograph opportunities. 

The people around me encouraged my writing; but no one (except for the esteemed Danielle Steel) taught me HOW to write until I got to high school. My first formal writing class was actually a journalism class, and that was the best start I could have had. I was taught crisp, concise writing, absent of flowery prose, excessive words, and unnecessary details. So, I basically un-learned everything Ms. Steele had taught me (flowing locks, cornflower blue eyes, shockingly beautiful... you get the idea). So, thanks to Rod Vick, my journalism teacher, for teaching me the WHAT and the HOW of writing. And thanks to my Grandma, for keeping all those romance novels around the house. 

If you weren’t lucky enough to have Mr. Vick teach you how to write, and if your grandma didn’t keep shelves full of bodice-rippers, the next best thing is On Writing. Steve is clear; he considers The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White the bible for writers. And he’s not re-writing the bible. Instead, he just gives some fun insight into his stories, some biographical nuggets, and some clear, concise rules for writers. Here are a few of those rules in no particular order:

1. “Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open...Once you know what the story is and get it right... it belongs to anyone who wants to read it.” This is far better than Hemingway's advice to write drunk and edit sober. Your liver will thank you for this later. 

2. The best advice ever: “...put your desk in the corner, and every time you sit down there to write, remind yourself why it isn’t in the middle of the room. Life isn’t a support system for art. It’s the other way around.” 

This is my little corner of the dining room where I write. When I need to “close the door” I pop my headphones in and focus. When I’m rewriting, I can use my husband and daughter as a sounding board. As I type this, my daughter is grilling herself some Asian-marinated tofu, and chattering about her first day of virtual middle school. It’s perfect, I much prefer it to having a big desk in the middle of a lonely room. 

3. Adverbs. Avoid them like the lovely, deadly, horribly common plague they are. 

4. “The best form of dialogue attribution is said, as in he said, she said.” I had a dear friend tell me she had learned this in a writing class, and applied it to her manuscript. Her writing professor informed her most people breeze right past the attribution, and pay more attention to the dialogue itself. When writing my own manuscript, I rejected this piece of advice and instead used lots of “grunted,” “sighed” “considered” “pondered” instead. Seeing as how I’ve now head this advice from two different people, I suppose it’s time I start listening. 

5. If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have time to write. So. Damn. True. Early in the book, Steve talked about how most writers have a moment where they read a book and decide, “Yeah, I could do better than this. So I’m going to!” Writers also have moments when we’re so blown away by the beauty of a turn of phrase or an image, and we know we’ll never be that damn good. Both are worthwhile experiences, but you need to pick up a damn book and read in order to have them. Steve also talks about how one can read in sips and swallows. Quick reading done in a waiting room or on a bus can be a sip. Reading done under the comfort of several quilts with a cup of tea on a cold night is a swallow. Both types of reading get the job done. 

6. The difference between a novel being plot driven, or character driven. Steve claims most of his novels are character driven. The only plot driven novels he has written are Insomnia and Rose Madder, which he doesn’t find particularly inspiring. I agree about Insomnia and the damn Oompa Loompas, but Rose Madder is still an og favorite. Sorry, not sorry. 

7. Maybe the most cardinal rule of all... “Never tell us a thing you can show us instead.” 

Interspersed with these nuggets of wisdom are stories about Steve’s life. He talks about his start as a writer, how a paycheck managed to appear just when his family needed it the most, and his recovery after his horrific accident. And perhaps the greatest mystery of all was solved! Steve talks about a year or two of his childhood spent living in West De Pere, Wisconsin!!! Yaaaas! The most important of ALL Wisconsin references. 

In case you can’t tell, I love this book. I have a well-thumbed copy I come back to for inspiration and direction. Many regard it as one of the most important how-to books for writers. Even non-writers will enjoy the biographic details as well. It’s a lovely book. <- intentional and ironic adverb use 

Total Wisconsin Mentions: 30

Total Dark Tower References: 45

Book Grade: A+

Rebecca’s Definitive Ranking of Stephen King Books

The Talisman: A+

Wizard and Glass: A+

Needful Things: A+

On Writing: A+

The Green Mile: A+

Hearts in Atlantis: A+

Rose Madder: A+

Misery: A+

Different Seasons: A+

It: A+

Four Past Midnight: A+

The Shining: A-

The Stand: A-

Bag of Bones: A-

The Wastelands: A-

The Drawing of the Three: A-

Dolores Claiborne: A-

Nightmares in the Sky: B+

The Dark Half: B+

Skeleton Crew: B+

The Dead Zone: B+

Nightmares & Dreamscapes: B+

‘Salem’s Lot: B+

Carrie: B+

Creepshow: B+

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon: B

Storm of the Century: B-

Cycle of the Werewolf: B-

Danse Macabre: B-

The Running Man: C+

Thinner: C+

Dark Visions: C+

The Eyes of the Dragon: C+

The Long Walk: C+

The Gunslinger: C+

Pet Sematary: C+

Firestarter: C+

Rage: C

Desperation: C-

Insomnia: C-

Cujo: C-

Nightshift: C-

Gerald’s Game: D

Roadwork: D

Christine: D

The Regulators: D

The Tommyknockers: D-

At the moment, I’m currently deep inside Dreamcatcher, which is just as miserable as I remember it being. Must...keep...reading... Dark House is waiting for me on the other side. 

Until next time, Long Days & Pleasant Nights,

Rebecca 

[idkhyuck]

Meeting Tom pt.1/? TOM HOLLAND ONE SHOT

SOOOOO.  This might be a series of one-shots about meeting Tom in different ways. FEEDBACK IS APPRECIATED also any advice from other writers to help me make these more ~professional looking~. mostly fluffy goodness. 

Please note this is my first time writing for Tom and i’m still getting a feel for him so bare with me on this journey. This first one will be a little basic but i have many more ideas for more ~creative~ ways of meeting tom. 

*Summary* You have a great day at a con interacting with tom. 

I was standing in line. I couldn’t believe this was finally happening. I’ve been here since 11 exploring all the con had to offer me. As the clock neared 4:30 my heart would do little jumps in my chest, it nearly all out stopped once the line i was in started moving and buzzing towards the front. The line moving at an agonizingly slow pace, The buzz of the con around me becoming increasingly more loud and agitating. now was not the time to freak out, i thought calming myself as best i could. the girls in front of me were excitedly chatting about how handsome tom would look and the poses they wanted to do with him. The little boy behind me playing with his spiderman action figure. i decided i needed to distract myself so i played every game i had on my phone at least twice, i looked up the line was getting shorter I was almost to the front oh shit. What pose did i want to do again? oh yes okay. got it, the girls in front of met went in as a group. i took a few deep breaths, my heart threatening to pound out of my chest. The security motioned for me to move forward, next in line. the anticipation killing me. he slowly opened the curtain, or maybe it just seemed slow because the moment i saw him the world stopped around me. all noise that had been bugging me from before was gone the moment he turned to me with a big smile

“hey! how’s it going?” he said his voice was foreign to my ears, like I’d heard it a thousand times but this was the first time i really heard it.

“Great. you?” i smiled back at him as i walked into the little room surprisingly calm. 

“Not too bad.” He said meeting my eyes. My god, his eyes. They crinkled slightly as his smile met them, The rich colour still showing through despite the florescent lights shining dull above our heads. “What are we doing?” he asks as i approach him. 

“ummm, i want to stare lovingly at each other.” i laughed nervously “you are an actor after all. and i love you soo...” i added “may i?” i asked holding my arms up asking for his embrace

“won’t have to act too hard.” he said with a wink. my pulse quickened i hoped to god he couldn’t hear it because for like a millisecond it was all i could hear. His  arms wrapped around me all too fast. or maybe it was just the fact that he was taking my breath away. All i could feel was his arms around me for a second, strong. firm. a nice hug. i wrapped my arms around him. his waist small. his body firm against mine. i looked up to meet his eyes. i was beginning to regret my choice of pose because it was so hard to look at him in this vicinity and keep a straight enough face so i don’t look like a complete lunatic. his eye contact was so intense, i looked down at his cheekbones for a second and noticed them lifting. i looked down at his smiling lips, then back up at his eyes and that was all it took for a smile to start creeping up on me. There was a flash i blinked.

“All done.” the photographer said in a droll voice. 

we lingered in this position for what felt like forever and it was all over in a matter of seconds as he pulled away from me. i looked up at him

“thank you.” i smiled at him then looked down. 

“it was my pleasure.” he said as i met his eyes one last time and turned to walk out the other side of the curtain. everything all coming back to me, my mind racing at light speed. how long was i in there. everything was still going on around me outside, i looked around lost for a second before i got stopped by an official looking person. 

“wait for you’re printed copy. the digital has been sent.” she said. she handed me a photo envelope. “have a nice day.” She said.

“thanks.” i said my voice sounded small. was i in shock. i walked out of main hall into a smaller hall with food and drinks set up. i found a table at the back of the hall. i was so incredibly thirsty. i spotted a lemonade booth right beside me. i went over and bought some. i sat at the table by myself. i opened the photo envelope. the glossy photo sliding out smoothly. i flipped it over and the first thing i saw was tom. it turned out better than i could have ever imagined. Then the words he said kept playing over in my head. Why was he so charming. Was he like that with everyone? I had my autograph session in an hour. the anticipation of meeting tom again filling me. would he remember me? i took a deep breath, i can’t build this up to be something it’s not. i looked over at me in the picture and i didn’t look absolutely horrible. tom’s arms around me made me look smaller than i am. and i couldn’t get over at how close we were ugh. it was perfect. i took one last lingering look at tom’s face and how sincere it looked and put the picture back in its envelope and back in my bag. i sat there enjoying my lemonade and went back to the main room where people were already lining up for tom’s autograph session. i stood in line and played on my phone again. i took out the spider man poster i wanted him to sign and admired it. my best friend sent me this for my birthday. The crowd started screaming Tom arrived at the table i’m assuming... this line was winding like crazy and i was short so i couldn’t see. i looked around, cosplayers in all directions taking pictures with fans, other celebrities and guests signing autographs. This was a bigger con. it was amazing seeing it all. The line was actually moving pretty fast. people would walk by gushing about Tom. it made me all excited as i neared the front of the line. i saw him sitting there, i just now noticed what he was wearing. a t-shirt and bomber jacket. he was now wearing a baseball cap. He looked so normal, taking that picture, talking with him felt so normal. This man i PAID to meet was finally more than a picture on my phone or a hashtag on twitter. He was real person with strong arms, and soft lips that i so badly wanted to kiss the more i thought about it. shit i can’t be doing this to myself. i was about 5 people away. i held onto my poster and took deep breaths as the people flew by. i only realized i was the last person in line as i was the only one standing there waiting to be seen. 

“Next. one item, no pictures.” The lady said to me as i looked up to see Tom once again. He looked over and a smile crossed his face. 

“Hello.” he said cheerfully 

“hi.” i said 

“how did our picture turn out?” he asked as i approached the table. 

“it’s wonderful thank you.” 

“the pleasure was all mine.” he said “What have you got for me to sign?” he asked 

“this poster.” i said, it was the poster of him napping on set in full costume.

“ah. this.” he said with a chuckle as he took it from me. his dramatic signature glossing the poster in a flash. 

“Hey. uh tag me on instagram.” he said with a smile and maybe a wink... maybe i blinked

“thanks i will.” i said 

“i’ll see you around.”

“i can only hope.” i thought.he laughs behind me,did i say that outloud. i turned to see him being ushered out behind the curtain.i was walking away. 

“UM.” a girl beside me said “Tom Holland winked at you!” she said 

“He did?” i asked, but that just confirmed my suspicions.

“yes!” She said “that’s a nice poster by the way.’ 

“thank you!” i said smiling at her cheerfully but inside i was more than perplexed by my interactions with Tom. I continued my walk around. i was mostly lost in thought and found myself sitting in the food court place again. i took a picture of the poster and posted it. 

“Thanks @ Tomholland2013 for signing this poster. Having so much fun at @ (con’s instagram) 

I bought some food and made my way over to the panel. They let us in and we all got seated. I wasn’t picked to ask a question but that’s fine. a few seats front row frees up so i quickly moved up.Tom came out and worked the crowd easily.it was still so amazing to see him, in person. so many little details camera’s missed. The way he looked at the person talking to him like they were the only person in the room. his little fidgeting as he sat there. He was just so much more real to me.the panel ended. i swear we locked eyes but i don’t want to be on of those people that thinks eye contact with a celebrity means anything. i walked out of the panel room and into the big hall one last time. The sadness of it all coming to and end hitting me. I’d met Tom, i’d flirted with tom. he’d be flying off somewhere probably by tonight if he wasn’t already on his way to the airport. i waited outside for my uber. my phone buzzed as it approached, and buzzed again for good measure. i hopped in and took my phone out of my pocket. 

“Tomholland2013 wants to send you a message.”