#boosting my network again

[crankycorvid-archive]

not rlly worried personally but posting this just in case:

instagram

artstation

[dorabellingham]

Baby in the stadium

warning: none

characters: jude x mom!reader

summary: when to surprise Jude you take your little daughter for the first time in a game

may contain spelling and translation errors!

It was an important game at Santiago Bernabeu, with Real Madrid facing one of its biggest rivals. Jude Bellingham was focussed, as always, but he didn't imagine that that night had a surprise he would never forget.

You had planned everything in secret. With Nala already completing seven months, you decided it was time to take her to the stadium for the first time. In addition, did you know that Jude would be thrilled to see the little one wearing the team's official shirt, personalised with the name "Bellingham" and the number 5 - the same as her father.

You arrived at the stadium with Nala in your arms, wearing a warm coat over the mini shirt. You went straight to the area reserved for the players' families, being welcomed by the WAGs, who were already looking forward to meeting the Bellingham's' daughter up close.

-You finally brought her, Y/n! -Joked one of the players' wives. -Jude will go crazy when he sees you here.

You smiled, adjusting your daughter's cute hat, which matched perfectly with the baby's look.

-He has no idea. I thought it was time to give dad a boost on the field.

Nala, unaware of the commotion around him, looked curiously at everything. The loud sounds, the lights and the energy of the stadium left her enchanted.

While the players were warming up on the lawn, you decided to go down a little to the area closest to the field, still in the reserved part, so that Jude could see it. Some teammates realised it first.

-Wait a minute... is it Nala?

Said Camavinga, pointing to the side.

Rodrygo, who was next to him, laughed.

-I can't believe it! Jude will have an attack when he realises.

And it didn't take long for your fiancé to look in the direction in which the companions were pointing. He stopped in the middle of the field, his eyes wide, and a gigantic smile took over his face. He waved excitedly, as if he wanted to make sure it was real.

You answered with a small nod, lifting Nala on your lap. The baby, as if understanding what was happening, gave an adorable giggle and babbled something indecipherable, making Jude smile even more.

-My daughter is here!

Jude exclaimed to his colleagues, visibly moved.

At halftime from the game, the boy went straight to where you were. He didn't even bother to take his eyes off his daughter, who was now more desperate and kept watching everything around her.

-You two killed me from the heart today. -He said, taking the baby in his arms. -Look at this shirt! 'Bellingham 5'... My girl is all stylish."

Nala grabbed her father's face with her little hands, making everyone around her sigh with tenderness.

-It's getting strong, huh?

Jude commented, kissing his daughter's cheek.

Some teammates approached, curious to meet the famous little girl. Vinícius was the first to joke.

-She already looks like a player, huh, Jude? It will be faster than you.

Rodrygo laughed, watching Nala grab Jude's finger tightly.

-Look at this! She's already practising the grip to hold the ball.

You laughed while watching the scene.

-Be careful, guys. Nala may end up becoming the team's official mascot.

After a few minutes, Jude had to go back to the field, but not without first kissing you and the little girl again. He was visibly more excited and inspired. Commentators and fans didn't take long to realise that something special was happening - Bellingham seemed more focussed and determined than ever.

The camera even captured a moment when he looked at the stands and smiled, discreetly waving to you. This, of course, left fans emotional on social networks, with many commenting: Baby Bellingham is already officially Real Madrid's biggest lucky amulet!

When the game ended with a spectacular victory, Jude ran straight to you again. He held his daughter in his arms and lifted him up, as if introducing the little one to the crowd, who went crazy.

Already in the car, Nala fell asleep on his lap, exhausted after so much news. You looked at Jude through the rearview mirror and smiled.

-Today was the best game of my life, you know?

He said, intertwining his fingers with yours.

-Of course it was. You had our amulet there with you.

You answered with a smile.

Jude laughed softly.

-Now that she came once, she will always have to come.

You pretended to sigh.

-It's good, Bellingham. I think we can turn Nala into Madrid's number one fan.

And so, your little daughter's first trip to the stadium went down in history as one of the most special days for Jude - and, of course, for the fans who couldn't stand so much cuteness anymore.

[selenepsyche]

Using the Vertex Persona Chart as a Relocation Chart

In a birth chart, the vertex is a point in the chart that represents fated situations and encounters. Basically, there's no way around it, whether it's a good or bad encounter. No matter what path you are on, you will end up in that situation or meeting that certain someone. I apologize if this sounds scary. This is a very sensitive point and moves fast in a birth chart, so you need your accurate birth time to calculate yours.

Persona charts offer deeper looks into the placements in our birth charts, to get a better understanding of other placements besides the sun. In persona charts, the point or planet is the star and everything else is revolving around it. A vertex persona chart can show you a deeper look of what's fated to occur in your life.

I saw an astrology post on here from a while ago about how you can use your vertex persona chart as a relocation chart and astrocartography chart to see what you are meant to experience in certain locations. Unfortunately, I lost the damn post, but the credit for this idea goes to them. I will tag them when I find it again.

But the idea makes a lot of sense. When I look at mine, I can now see why I was drawn to certain places, why I struggle a bit in my current location, why I have a lot of friends from certain locations, etc.

But first, let me teach you how to generate your vertex persona chart as a birth chart to get your relocation chart and astrocartography chart.

I didn't feel like typing it all out and taking many screenshots, so hopefully this video will help y'all!

A Few Examples

Venus in the 1st House - This location will attract beauty, love, and admiration into your environment. You will embody Venusian qualities more strongly when you move here. Relationships, personal style, and self worth will play a big role in your experience in this location. It can also indicate a boost in attractiveness, social appeal, and a desire to form new connections.

North Node in the 8th House - Your growth in this location is meant to revolve around deep emotional and financial transformations. You will be pushed towards intense experiences that may involve relationships, shared finances, occult studies, or psychological growth. You could meet people who challenge you to face your fears, embrace vulnerability, and evolve spiritually. Inheritances, joint finances, and powerful connections will change your life path.

Jupiter in the 10th House - This location will expand your reputation and career significantly. This will bring major opportunities, status growth, and leadership roles. You will become more well known, respected, and fortunate in your career. You could achieve something big in the public light.

Sun in the 3rd House - Your identity will be tied to learning, networking, speaking, and writing. You will become involved in media, education, or build strong social circles in your local community. You could be active in your immediate environment, commuting and traveling often. This could also indicate a stronger bond with siblings or neighbors in this new location.

Mars in the 11th House - A lot of your energy will be directed towards friendships, social movements, and group projects. You may become involved in activism, networking, and building a strong social presence (could do it online too). There could be conflicts or competitive dynamics within friend groups, but the potential for leadership is big. You may feel driven to pursue big goals through collaborations or technology-related ventures.

Thank you for reading! I will create more parts in the future to do more detailed explanations for placements in the vertex persona chart being used as a relocation chart. In the meantime, if you have questions, feel free to ask of course!

written by: @selenepsyche. do not steal or i'll smite you. entertainment purposes only.

[zosin-ya]

Topic 8 - [ꜱᴛᴏʀʏ ɪɴᴅᴇx]

Summary: Surviving on instant noodles, you order takeout in the middle of exam prep—what you didn’t expect was your delivery guy to be a ridiculously hot, tattooed biker. Even more surprising? He’s a fellow med student at your university. As good as it sounded, he had a complicated past with an obsessive Ex who starts to target you.

tags.: One Piece, Law x Reader, SFW & NSFW, slow burn romance, Modern AU, Penguin and Shachi as flatmates, fashion-designer uncle Corazon, Laws parents, Laws crazy Ex, Strawhats as your friends (+ Bonney), protective Law, mentioned of his dead sister, also mentions of Laws trauma

a.n.: I pulled this story out of my ass and it’s rather spontaneous how I write the story. If you have ideas, I’m open to them ����

status: [ongoing] last updated June 13th 2025

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 1 - ʟᴀᴛᴇ ᴅᴇʟɪᴠᴇʀʏ

An awkward encounter with the handsome delivery guy, who hardly speaks to you, yet somehow makes your heart skip a beat with his pretty face.

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 2 - ɪᴄᴇ ʙʀᴇᴀᴋᴇʀ

Law was at your door once again, this time out of breath and visibly stressed. You offer him something to drink, which sparks a conversation that eventually leads to an exchange of numbers.

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 3 - ꜱᴛᴜᴅʏ ᴅᴀᴛᴇ

At the café, you met up for a study date and saw a more relaxed, yet still exhausted, side of Law. Penguin showed up, clearly curious as to why Law was hanging out with someone from his university—especially since he rarely spent time with those people.

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 4 - ʙᴏʏ ᴛᴀʟᴋ

Penguin couldn't keep his mouth shut about Law meeting you, which led him and Shachi to bombard him with questions. It was just a study date, right? No big deal. His flatmates quickly realized how oblivious he was. Or was he just denying any meaning, trying to protect himself from another crazy relationship.

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 5 - ʟᴀᴛᴇ ɴɪɢʜᴛ ꜰᴜɴ

Law invites you to a party, and after a few drinks, the two of you start to loosen up around each other. So much that the bathroom becomes a short lived make out spot.

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 6 - ʟᴇᴛᴛɪɴɢ ʟᴏᴏꜱᴇ (n.sfw)

After you forgot your keys at home and had no where to stay, Law casually offers his apartment for the night without any second intentions. Though the heat from the make out session still lingering in the air.

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 7 - ᴡᴏʀᴛʜ ɪᴛ (n.sfw)

You meet Laws kind-hearted uncle, Rosinante, and learn more about his complex family history. What was supposed to be a casual, cozy game night with Law quickly takes an unexpected and more intimate turn.

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 8 - ᴅᴀɴɢᴇʀᴏᴜꜱ ᴇɴᴄᴏᴜɴᴛᴇʀᴍᴇɴᴛ

A girl you've never met before, starts a chit chat with you during an uni event, you being immediately drawn in by her friendly, outgoing nature. Before you knew it, she invited you to a small party where she hinted you could make some valuable connections. Little did you realize, networking with a biker gang wasn’t exactly what you had in mind for boosting your CV.

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 9 - ᴄʜᴀᴏᴛɪᴄ ɢᴀɴɢ

You dearly needed a girl's night with your friends after all what had happened. Law came to pick you up, yet got dragged into the chaos of a spontaneous party with your friends. Someone save this guy.

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 10 - ᴡʜᴀᴛ ᴀʀᴇ ᴡᴇ? n.sfw)

This day should have been special, with you and Law celebrating your academic milestone together with friends and family. Yet, Laws private and closed off personality shots back at him, causing you to break down.

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 11 - ʙᴜʀᴅᴇɴ

It had been weeks since you had talked to Law, feeling drained from the past events. You needed time to figure the relationship out, which caused you to run away from talking completely and be confronted with a storm, none of you were ready to face.

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 12 - ɴᴇᴡ ᴇᴍᴏᴛɪᴏɴꜱ (n.sfw)

Trying to mend the damage he had caused, Law makes an effort to open up to you this time. He shared pieces of his past, including hobbies he’d long buried. He never anticipated that attending Zoro’s Kendo tournament with you would reignite an old spark within him—or that it would stir a newfound desire to impress you.

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 13 - ᴇɴᴇᴍɪᴇꜱ ᴏʀ ᴀʟʟɪᴇꜱ

Two unexpected intruders—familiar faces no less—show up at your door, shocked to find you inside. Hired to break into what turned out to be the wrong apartment, Kid and Killer aren’t prepared for your defiance. Mustering all the courage you have, you scare them off and waste no time alerting Law, who doesn’t take kindly to their mistake and pays them a visit.

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 14 - ᴄᴏɴᴛʀᴏʟ (n.sfw)

You call an emergency meeting with your friends to figure out how to deal with Law’s unhinged ex—who crossed the line by sending two punks to break into your home. The discussion quickly turns chaotic, with no real solution in sight. But amidst the frustration and tension, something shifts. The situation brings out a side of you that no one, not even you, had fully realized before.

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 15 - ꜰʟᴇᴠᴀɴᴄᴇ

It was long overdue for you to properly meet his parents. Nerves were gnawing at you — the last time you’d seen them hadn’t ended well. Now was the time to make amends and finally get to know Law’s hometown.

[reasonsforhope]

"Abby Allen has no problem with her neighbours peering over her luxuriant hedges to see what she is up to on her farm.

For years she has been carrying out ad hoc experiments with wildlife and farming techniques; in her lush Devon fields native cattle graze alongside 400-year-old hedgerows, with birds and butterflies enjoying the species-rich pasture.

Under the environmental land management scheme (ELMS), introduced by the government in 2021, those experiments were finally being funded. “We have a neighbour who has always been more of an intensive farmer,” she says, but he is now considering leaving fields unploughed to help the soil. “It genuinely is having such a huge impact in changing people’s mindsets who traditionally would never have thought about farming in this way.”

The new nature payments scheme followed the UK’s exit from the EU, when the government decided to scrap the common agricultural payments scheme, which gave a flat subsidy dependent on the number of acres a farmer managed. In its place came ELMS, which pays farmers for things such as planting hedges, sowing wildflowers for birds to feed on and leaving corners of their land wild for nature.

But these schemes are now at threat of defunding, as the Labour government has refused to commit to the £2.4bn a year spending pot put in place by the previous Conservative government. With spending tight and the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, cutting back on infrastructure and hinting at tax rises, a cut to the ELMS scheme may be on her list.

However, government data released last week found the schemes were working to tentatively bring nature back to England’s farmland. Butterflies, bees and bats are among the wildlife being boosted by ELMS, with birds among the chief beneficiaries, particularly ones that largely feed on invertebrates. An average of 25% more breeding birds were found in areas utilising the eco-friendly schemes.

...there are also farmers who welcome the schemes. Allen says the ELMS has helped her farm provide data and funds to expand and improve the good things they were doing for nature. “Some of the money available around things like soil testing and monitoring – instead of us going ‘we think these are the right things to do and providing these benefits,’ we can now measure it. The exciting thing now is there is money available to measure and monitor and kind of prove that you’re doing the right things. And so then you can find appropriate funding to do more of that.”

Allen, who is in the Nature Friendly Farming Network, manages a network of farms in England, most of which are using the ELMS. This includes chicken farms where the poultry spend their life outside rather than in sheds and other regenerative livestock businesses...

Mark Spencer was an environment minister until 2024 when he lost his seat, but now spends more time in the fields admiring the fruits of his and his family’s labour. He says that a few years of nature-friendly agriculture has restored lapwings and owls.

“On the farm, I haven’t seen lapwings in any number for what feels like a whole generation. You know, as a kid, when I was in my early teens, you’d see lapwings. We used to call them peewits. We’d see them all the time, and they sort of disappeared.

“But then, me and my neighbours changed the way we did cropping, left space in the fields for them to nest, and suddenly they returned. You need to have a piece of land where you’re not having mechanical machinery go over it on a regular basis, because otherwise you destroy the nest. We’ve also got baby owls in our owl box now for the first time in 15 years. They look mega, to be honest, these little owls, little balls of fluff. It is rewarding.”"

-via The Guardian, August 23, 2024

[itstheghostofmypast]

16.51

University Student P.Seonghwa x (F)Reader

Summary: Sometimes, you just need a sugar boost and some Lego sets to make your day a bit brighter - oh, don't forget the main ingredient, Park Seonghwa.

Genre: Fluff

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: None

Word Count: 1.1K

Est.Read Time: 5 min

Networks: @cromernet @k-labels @illusionnet

A/N: For my hardworking girlboss- @edenesth (a late bday present of sorts).

With a heavy sigh, she placed her bag on the bench before slumping down beside it. Whoever said university was fun deserved a special place in hell. Two years in, and she still had to sit on a patch of grass surrounded by her friends, all looking up at the camera with smiles that would put toothpaste ads to shame. Not to mention the endless hours of back-to-back classes, followed by the nonsensical amount of assignments and projects given to them, all made her wonder what exactly was this all for? She was not birthed to become a slave of capitalism, a slave of the system- she was but a mere butterfly, all too willing to flutter around in an endless field of opportunities, skipping from one soft petal to another, tasting the sweet essence of a blissful and youthful life.

Or she could get a rubber-clad four walled white room, at least she'd be able to pass off being delusional as a crazy person, rather than someone claiming she was so depressed she had begun day dreaming in classes. Her fingers twitched at the thought of how a few juniors caught her crying in a bathroom stall today, though they were far from cruel, their consoling words just made her feel worse- maybe she really wasn't cut out for all of this. This hectic schedule, this hectic lifestyle, these expectations.

She was so invested in falling down her pit of misery and despair that she didn't notice someone pick up her back, replacing it with their own presence, nor did she notice the way he was now staring at her, for a good long while too. Her attention was grabbed by a sharp ice-coldness that spread across her numbing cheek causing her to jerk away as she gasped, cupping her cold, wet cheek, turning to glare at whoever was foolish enough to mess with her- oh.

“You know…one bad presentation doesn't define you…wasn't even that bad.”

The rumble of his hushed voice had her senses tingle, perhaps his ASMR hobby was actually well worth it, though he was still an idiot because even a dead man could see how bad her presentation was today. She tilted her head to glare at him, but once again, her view was obstructed by a condensed plastic cup filled with some kind neon green beverage - he was probably trying out those horribly weekly juices again.

“You weren't even paying attention today,” with a soft mumble she sat back straight, her legs spread out in front of her, head leaning against the uncomfortable back of the bench, staring up at the pastel adorned sky, could this day take any longer to end? Closing her eyes, she continued, “And also, you're lucky the lecturer didn't catch you. How many times have I told you not to show up in my class? Especially if it's not your majo-ack!” she choked at the sudden intrusion, something stabbing the back of her throat before disappearing as quickly as it had come.

“Shit- sorry! Why'd you open your mouth!?” He gasped, pulling back the drink, trying to not laugh at how comical it was- yes, he felt bad because he hurt her, but it was ironic how his romantic gesture just had him blowing around.

Swatting his hand away she glared at him, at his hideously good-looking face, at his stupid boba eyes, and his hair -at this point she wanted him to trim it because he was serving more looks that needed, especially with so many people eying him. With a huff, she crossed her arms over her chest and turned to face him, “Exactly why are you here, Park Seonghwa!?”

“Me?” He pointed to himself with the cup in hand, before bringing the plastic straw to his pouty lips, taking a sip and humming, “I came to cheer up my butterfly, got her a treat too, but instead almost killed her.” With that, he 'carefully’ pressed the straw against her lips, this time being cautious not to stab her again this time. His smile deepened at the way she took a sip, watching the way her eyes twinkle at the taste, or perhaps the rush of sugar that she oh so desperately needed after the horrid day. He let her hold the cup, busy drinking away, his hand now reaching up to her face, gently caressing her cheek with his knuckles before his finger tucked the few loose strands behind her ear, “I'm sorry today didn't work out as planned.”

Placing the empty cup between them she sighed, facing him with a small smile, thankful to have someone like him, to have someone like him take care of her, be there for her, smile at her, pull her up when she was down I the dumps, have her try new things- like this Kiwi and Pineapple juice. He may have been a bit thick skulled sometimes, sometimes his inner nerd would win as hed demand they build random lego sets in the middle of the night, or he'd force her to watch him play Animal Crossing- but one thing for was for sure, reaching forward she placed her hand on his, giving it a light squeeze.

“It's alright…I'm glad you were there, it made me feel better.”

At that, he tugged her closer, pulling her into his warm embrace, giggling when he felt her sigh into his neck, gripping his shirt as if she was afraid he'd disappear. Truthfully, even during the whole mess of her presentation, the only reason she had kept going was because he was there, smiling at her, silently rooting for her, encouraging her to go on- then instantly hiding when her lecturer turned around to look at whom she was staring at, her handsome, caring, loving clown.

“I'm glad it did because I missed a test today, so at least I know it was for nothing.” He hummed, chin atop her head, enjoying the moment -

“YOU WHAT!?” Shoving him away, she glared at him wide-eyed, a test!? He skipped a test to be there!? She wasn't sure if she were to find this romantic or just stupid-

“Oh my, would you look at the time!” Standing up, he grabbed her bag, slinging it over his shoulder, grabbing the empty cup before gripping her wrist with his free hand and pulling her up, “Let us go, fairy princess!! Time to build your castle lego set! SO WE CAN HAVE OUR HAPPILY EVER AFTER FOREVER!” He declared ragging her along ignoring her complain about him not taking his academics seriously- who cared about a stupid test, he'd make up for it with extra work, all Park Seonghwa could think of all day, was her, because if he was sure about anything about his anxious, doubtful, self-conscious existence, was that she was his reason of being.

Taglist: @edenesth @skteezcursed @mlysalt @the-kpop-simp @spooo00oky @bunnyluvr25 @s-h-y-a @ateezswonderland

[amazing-spiderling]

Hey everyone. How are we doing? If you stumbled on this post because you follow me on Tumblr, I'm guessing the answer is NOT GREAT. Me either. Hoof.

But something that makes me feel a little better is taking action, and turning bits of my skill and time to something productive, which is why I've decided to offer ongoing decorated toploader commissions to you, the fine folks of the internet. For the low (well, reasonable) price of a ten dollar or more donation to one of the listed organizations (or the vetted Palestinian fundraiser of your choice, there's too many for me to list, but you can certainly find some reblogged here and elsewhere) I will decorate a toploader holding a trading/photo card of the character/celebrity/pet/etc of your choice.

You may have seen some of my deco jobs here on my blog, but if not, here's an a few pieces of my work. (You can find more by searching my blog for "decorated toploader")

These are just a few I've done in recent months!

I currently have HUNDREDS of vintage Marvel and Sailor Moon trading cards in my possession, but if I don't have your favorite character, I am happy to make a custom card (like how I printed out Hannibal and low-poly Otacon above). I'm tagging the fandoms I know, but I'm more than willing to do whoever your favorite is. (I may just need a little context to get the vibe right.)

I will be mailing your card to you (domestic or international) in a standard envelope, this way I can use a regular stamp instead of fussing with postage/customs/etc. And you don't have to pay shipping (unless you really want to have me send it as a tracked package). I haven't had any issue with cards arriving this way thus far, especially within the US.

If you are interested (and I hope you are) send me a proof of your donation (dated 11/9/24 or after) of $10 or more to one of the following:

The Trevor Project

Trans Lifeline

National Network of Abortion Funds

ACLU

OR the personal fundraiser of any Palestinian in need!

I can usually knock these out fairly quickly (2-3 in an evening if I'm in the zone) but you can always check with me if you need them ASAP. (Say, maybe for a holiday gift for your fandom friends? Eh? EHH?)

I hope you'll consider helping out these organizations as we brace ourselves for a difficult time. Even if you can't donate at this time, a signal boost is ALWAYS welcome.

Thanks again for checking out this long long post- wishing the best for all of us. <3

[dramaticallytotal]

I've Been Around The World! TDWT Rewrite Headcanons: Part Nine

Idea Post Part One Last Part

• This will be true in a lot of my aus, but Izzy was adopted by Noah's mom after she heard of how Izzy's mom treated her. She was prepared to take it to court if she had to, but Izzy's mom willingly terminated her parental rights, and it was deemed the best option for Izzy in the court. So Abbi adopted Izzy. When it was official and she moved in after season two was wrapped up, Izzy cried genuinely for the first time in a long time.

No one on the show besides Eva, Owen, Chris, and Chef know about Izzy and Noah being siblings.

Izzy did not change her last name, though, because it's her grandparents, and she loves her grandparents. Her grandparents are still very upset with their daughter for just terminating her parental rights and not telling them. But they are also grateful to Abbi because they aren't really fit to take care of Izzy due to their age. Plus, her grandma needs around the clock care.

• Izzy is the one to help Noah win the comeback challenge. She knows he's capable of doing it himself, but she wanted to give her bro a boost just in case.

• I said it before, but once again, Owen being voted off just as Noah came back was one of the reasons why he decided, "Fuck it," and became the schemer Chris knew he could be. His sights are immediately set on Blaineley. No way was she staying when she had the biggest hand in Owen's elimination. He immediately began as soon as he and Alejandro were in First Place, so Alejandro got a front row show to Noah scheming.

He's definitely not swooning! You're swooning!

When Blaineley started going around broadcasting the "pros" of forming an alliance with her, Noah immediately went to Chef and basically threatened his father figure that if he joined the shedevil he would have hell to pay. Chef isn't intimidated easily... but the kid is scary when he wants to be.

• Before she was taken off the show, Izzy had/has a habit of biting her friends. Everyone else on the plane was baffled, though, when she did it to Noah, and he just bit her back. Like??? Hello??? (Izzy shows affection through biting, [though she just bites a lot in general], and Noah bites a lot, but he's better at masking the habit than Izzy. But if she is doing it affectionately, then Noah has no problem reciprocating. Actually, to be fair, he is always down to bite back. Affection or not.)

• When Noah was kicked off and on Aftermath, he overheard some of the interns talking about the whole Aleheather plot line and at first he was pissed and hurt and felt like he needed a good cry when he heard the said interns talk about how it was a deal with the show. That had Noah pausing and actively eavesdropping as the interns spoke over the phone (he noticed that now) to interns he knew were on the plane.

They were complaining about how hard it was trying to sell the relationship with Noah on board, and now that he was gone, they could try and focus on it more. But an intern on the plane just laughed at that and went on to gossip about how sad Alejandro was now that Noah was gone.

It gave Noah hope. But he still needed to find proof of this deal.

• Thus, a Team E-Scope heist commences. The target was the Deals folder on the networks computer systems. No hacking would be needed considering Noah knew all the passwords and logins, but he needed enough time to get into an employees only area, then find the computer/editing room and access the system. And he needed no witnesses.

Izzy is so down, and so is Eva, but mainly because she's bored.

• Noah ended up confirming the deal and had never felt happier but then depressed because he realized how he had been avoiding Heather and how he had let Alejandro get between their friendship. He really liked Alejandro, but now he was frustrated because he also really liked being friends with Heather.

This was also a reason he fought so hard to win the comeback challenge. He wanted to fix his relationship with Heather, maybe see if a relationship with Alejandro was possible, and to piss off the producers.

• When Owen was voted off, he was sad because he just got his little buddy back, but before he jumped, he revealed to Alejandro that he knows the guy doesn't like being called Al but Owen did it one purpose and got the others to call him that and that he's not sorry. He gave Noah one last hug before he jumped and laughed maniacally the whole way down as he remembered everyone's shocked faces. But especially Alejandro's.

This may or may not have earned him a teensy weensy bit of Alejandro's respect.

• After he got Blaineley out, Noah's next target was Sierra. Views be damned!!! He is done taking shit and doing what the producers wanted, and he is going to make it everyone's problem. This basically started a chain reaction of Alejandro and Heather putting a stop to their deal because at this point, it wasn't worth it and from their understanding, things were already not going the way the network/producers wanted.

Chris started hosting more like how he wanted than what was expected of him, and he did it all with the biggest smile. The smile may also be because Noah gave him blackmail to use in case his job was threatened.

• No Chinese Fake-Out...well, definitely not the way it happens in Canon. It's still a race and an eating competition, but it's more of a roulette situation where most of the food is great, but one is awful and Chris has to correctly guess who has the awful food. If he guesses correctly, the person is eliminated from the round.

Noah's got this in the bag because his sister Nila likes playing food games at home. Such as challenges from Hell's Kitchen or even the old eating challenges in Survivor, and of course, she roped her siblings into participating.

Alejandro decidedly does not have this in the bag.

Trent is traumatized from his season one eating challenge and is very hesitant to do this. (Yes. Trent makes it to the merge. :D)

• When Sierra was gone, Cody had been so overjoyed that he immediately hugged Noah and kissed his cheek. It probably would have been more than one kiss, but Noah pushed the guy away at the same time Alejandro pulled Noah away. Noah just said the most basic welcome that was a little fond because yeah, Cody was his friend, but Cody couldn't focus on that because Alejandro was glaring at him like his very existence was offending him.

• Now that Chris gets to run the show how he wants, there are way more costumes! For him and the cast!

• Alejandro keeps pulling the, "As your husband..." card with Noah, and even though secretly he is pleased, it still flustered him like no tomorrow, and he just yells, "That marriage was not legally binding!"

Heather is all for this development and responds with, "I was a witness. You're totally married."

• All the viewers are confused about the switch up of dynamics between Alejandro and Heather, but more are all for the new dynamics between Noah and Alejandro.

• Trent and Gwen made the merge instead of Duncan and Courtney! And since they see Noah not give a shit they just decide not to care also and start to flirt with each other as much as they can.

• Sierra got a major talking to once she was on Aftermath about her behavior and had to watch clips of herself. Many of the cast refused to be in the room with her there and waited until her segment was over, and she was escorted away before they came back. Is this the catalyst of change? Maybe.

Next

[dove-net]

welcome to the official launch of dove net!

as of january 1, dove net is officially up and running!

dove net is a network run by @ddeonghwa-s that is dedicated to the promotion and archival of kpop fics that may be considered morally grey, niche, or untraditional (for the sake of brevity, in all posts these fics and their kinks/tropes will be referred to as niches).

what does this mean? that means this network is dedicated to promoting and gathering kpop fics that may not be promoted in other networks or may have you getting judgemental looks for liking/writing them. dove net accomplishes this by having an extensive catalogue of fics. this means giving creators and fans a safe space to explore darker themes without criticism and with the knowledge that everything said and desired is purely within a fictional frame.

something to note is that this network does not require membership for promotion and archival. to promote your fic without being a member, you simply have to use the #dovenet. however, this does not ensure your fic will be seen and reblogged to the network. to ensure your fic will be queued, as well as be around others who have the same mindset as you when it comes to fics with more niche kinks/tropes, become a member!

what does membership do? membership ensures the promotion of your fic as well as offers you community. you will have access to the member-only discord where you can build community and create friendships!

now that dove net has officially launched, admin will be working to update each and every link within the catalogue to include the corresponding tag. this will mean that links on dove net may be empty (or not exist) until there is a fic to fill it. please be patient while we gain a proper archive! if you would like to help boost this archive, please go ahead and send a fic that contains one or more of the niches into our inbox!

if you would like to apply to become a member of dove net, please look over these posts to ensure this is a network you would like to be a part of:

εїз — list of niches εїз — membership post

you can find the official application for the network in membership post.

once again, ddeonghwa-s would like to extend a massive thanks to @junkissed and @yoonguurt for their help in the creation of dove net and server. for the first time, however, i would like to extend my thanks to all of those who have shown interest in dove net leading up to the launch, whether it is from following and reblogging, becoming a member, or becoming an affiliate. i genuinely wasn't expecting for there to be so much love for the overarching idea behind dove net from the offset, so, once again: thank you.

i can't wait to see how dove net grows in the upcoming months. thank you everyone!

xo jupiter @ddeonghwa-s

[takiki16]

White Collar rewatch has hit 1x09, the boiler room scam episode, and you know? I kind of wish they hadn’t used the “I don’t like guns…never said I couldn’t *use* them” trope for Neal.

Neal doesn’t like guns. It’s one of the first things we learn about him. In all of the past scams and cons he’s run, all the former associates we meet, this one thing is reinforced: Neal is fundamentally not a violent person. It makes him more interesting! In a world where even Mozzie acknowledges that you sometimes need violence to back your word up, Neal Caffrey steadfastly refuses to use guns even when they would MAKE SENSE to have for someone in his position! Even just as a prop! It’s one of the unexplored facets of his character that I wish the show had dug into a little more - WHY Neal is perfectly fine with all sorts of other behavior, but violence disturbs him deeply enough that he avoids it even when it would be a material and even morally viable help!

So WHY DO WE NEED THE “DOESN’T MEAN I CAN’T USE ‘EM” TROPE?!?!

The uses of that trope, at least at this network TV level, are usually for characters who are already proficient in OTHER “less lethal” or at least more cinematic types of violence. Off the top of my head, Eliot Spencer and Oliver Queen. It *makes sense* for characters who get paired with this trope to already BE essentially violent characters. Their refusal to use firearms represents a compromise between their Angsty Backstory where they were trained to be a human killing machine and their current efforts to be Better People, etc etc etc. Using a firearm represents an extreme personal compromise, usually the life of a character dear to them. The trope HAS WEIGHT that way. We get a demonstration of badassery, a character struggle moment, and a hint about backstory and this character’s personal ethos and choices.

But NONE of that makes much sense for Neal Caffrey, except as an incredibly weak retcon tie-in for the bio dad arc, which you all already know I got complaints about. Neal is not only opposed to violence, he is shown at later points to be kind of actively bad at it! His whole gentleman thief schtick gets a boost bc he is COMPETENT AND GENIUS ENOUGH to work around his personal objection to violence and be a hugely successful criminal anyway! He doesn’t NEED the badass points of Secret Gun-Fu Competency, nor does he ever actually USE this alleged secret competency EVER AGAIN ON THE SHOW. The moment doesn’t lead to any deeper exploration of why Neal KNOWS about guns yet refuses to USE them.

All the moment really proves is that the show runners were unwilling to let Pretty Matt Bomer be even slightly incompetent at any single thing, so they made him a Cool Gun Batman for a single scene and then forgot about it. Which makes me tear my hair out bc they didn’t even NEED TO DO THAT. Neal is good enough with his hands and eyes that they could justifiably have passed two bullseyes off as luck on his part, with a few secret nervous shots of his face before and after - it would create tension! They could have HAD NEAL MISS THE SHOT, bc no character is perfect at EVERYTHING or they just get boring. Missing the shot then remaining One Of The Lads anyway would let him reinforce his con man skills. There were lots of ways to play that scene off without making Neal a Secret Gun Batman, and I wish even one of them had been used.

Anyway I’m going to binge this whole thing again bc my life choices are excellent.

[dessdemise]

ANOTHER ONE!!! amarett the rando!! randos are by @lucheek and the rando base, hair & dreamer outfits are by @deepseaspriteblog! they're a star, and their entire brand promotes the idea of living a luxurious effortless lifestyle. certainly not "bold glam", but moreso "yes i am this pretty and elegant and popular by design. i do not have to wear makeup i just look like this always". their main appeals are beauty products and accessories, but they probably have something with their brand on it for every item one could feasibly ever need in life. they're quite a popular star! despite the whole "this is effortless and i am cute and soft" act, they are anything but 'cute and soft'. they have a nasty reputation amongst other stars for accusing anyone working with even remotely similar aesthetics of copying, to the point most stars probably dont even wanna touch that specific shade of pink plastered all over brand, and being a popular kid on the block means that an accusation like that does NOT end well for whatever star is on the recieving end. theyve also gone through plenty of starfriends, some of whom also ended up being accused of copying after a breakup. they spend a lot of time perfecting the glowy skin "no makeup" makeup look, and theyre actually pretty jealous and certainly not "effortless". they dont really like to network with other stars that rival their popularity, but equally they dont want to "boost" a less popular star out of fear they will surpass them. this leads to most of their (ex)starfriends having brands so far removed from theirs that it almost clashes. how those copying accusations manage to work sometimes is an absolute mystery! their hearts are also an incredibly dedicated bunch, and being an ex ama*rett heart openly could get you VERY violently harassed by their current fans. despite all this, the jealousy and paranoia can be lonely at times. the life of a heart seems so.. sooo much simpler... but what kind of star wishes to become a heart? something like that ABSOLUTELY would not fly, so they dont talk about stuff like that. still, though, maybe making an ACTUAL friend somewhere down the line wouldn't hurt? i hope this was good and fits the species well! again just like my cyclops im totally open for critique on how to make them fit better in universe :D i might also design a random heart for them, to illustrate how their average heart would look, dress and behave, but for some reason my art program had SO. MANY. CLIPPING ISSUES. working on this that if i do that itll be a project for maybe a few weeks from now (or whenever i am randomly attacked by the Pink Fever again). and please. if you so any clipping/layer issues. no you dont. Look Away. Avert Your Eyes. Pretend You Do Not See It. i tried my BEST!!

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Petard, Part IV

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/02/03/rot-fungus-r-us/#a-hackers-gotta-eat

Last week's announcement that Trump's FCC was going to once again allow ISPs to bribe landlords to force you to use their service was easy to miss, amidst all the chaos:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/01/fcc-chair-nixes-plan-to-boost-broadband-competition-in-apartment-buildings/

But it sure got my attention, since that was the plot of "Petard," a techno-Lovecraftian sf story I wrote for Bruce Sterling's "Twelve Tomorrows" anthology for MIT Tech Review in 2014:

https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262535595/twelve-tomorrows-2014/

Some years ago, I read it aloud for my podcast:

https://archive.org/details/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_278

https://archive.org/details/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_292

https://archive.org/details/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_293

https://archive.org/details/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_294_-_Petard_04

I've been serializing the story in the last three editions of my newsletter, and I'm finishing it today.

Here's part one:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/01/30/landlord-telco-industrial-complex/#part-one

Here's part two:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/01/31/the-blood-speech/#part-two

Here's part three:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/02/01/miskatonic-networks/#part-three

And now, for the thrilling conclusion!

Kadijah didn't buy the coffee this time. And I bought my own banana bread.

"I met that Sergey dude," she said.

"Creepy, huh?"

She blew on her coffee. She drank it black. "Wicked smart, I think. And it looks like he's got your number."

Kadijah heard about the mass evictions through Ftp — she'd been watching our campaign carefully. When she messaged me, I assumed that she was outraged on all our behalf. She'd made an offer of free, uncensored connectivity for six months for everyone in the Termite Mound and everyone who'd been evicted. But she'd met Sergey? "He's scary, too," she said as an afterthought. "But scary-smart."

"He's a droid," I said. "He's reinventing high-speed trading. All he cares about is the code, and not the people it effects."

"A droid? Come on, no way. Evil, sure, but brilliant. World's full of evil landlords. When was the last time you met a smart one?"

I felt my cheeks getting hot. "Who cares how smart someone is, if he's a dick?" I couldn't quite bring myself to use the word "Evil."

"Dude. Smart is at least as important as evil."

I'd been taking Miskatonic as an existence proof of a part of the world that the rot-fungus had not yet colonized. But, afterward, I found myself turning our conversation over and over in my head. Yes, maybe she had offered all that great, free, uncensored Internet goodness because she was outraged by the dirty tricks campaign. But maybe she was doing it because she knew that appearing outraged would make her — and her company — seem like the kind of nice people that we should all give more money to. Maybe they don't give a damn about Ftp or fairness or eviction. Maybe it's just an elaborate game of soundbites and kabuki gestures that are all calibrated to the precise sociopathic degree necessary to convey empathy and ethics without ever descending into either. She hadn't bought the coffee or the banana bread.

It's easy to slip into this kind of metacognitive reverie and hard to stop once you start. Now I found myself questioning my own motives, scouring my subconscious for evidence of ego, self-promotion, and impurity.

The thing was.

The thing was.

The thing was that I had not ever met someone like Sergey before. Sergey, who'd shown me something glittering and cool and vast that waited for us to realize it and bring it to perfection. Sergey, who'd both understood the collective action problem and found it to be secondary, a thing to solve on the way to solving something bigger and more important.

Sergey's words had awoken in me a feverish curiosity, an inability to see the world as it had once been. And I hated the feeling. It was the sense that my worldview had come adrift, all my certainty calving off like an iceberg and floating away to sea. If you accepted Sergey's idea, then the human race was just the symbiotic intestinal flora of a meta-organism that would use us up and crap us out as needed. The global networks that allowed us to organize ourselves more efficiently were so successful because they let businesses run their supply-chains more efficiently, and all the socializing and entertainment and chatter were just a side-effect. Ftp was a mild pathogen, a few stray harmful bacteria in the colon of the corporate over-organism, and if it ever got to the point where it was any kind of real threat, the antibodies would show up to tear it to parts so it could be flushed away.

In other words, I was the rot-fungus. Everything I did, everything I'd done, was an infection, and not even a very successful one.

#

Christmas break arrived quicker than I'd have guessed. Bryan and his girlfriend had me over to their new place for dinner during the last week of classes. She was an elf, too, of course, and their place was all mossy rocks and driftwood and piles of leaves. The food was about what you'd expect, but it was better than the slurry I'd been gulping at my desk while I wrestled with my term-assignments and crammed for exams.

The Internet access at the Termite Mound was now uncensored, but I still found myself working at the lab. There was something comforting about being around my labmates instead of huddling alone in my dorm-room.

Bryan's girlfriend, Lana, was in mechanical engineering and she made some pretty great-looking mobiles, which dangled and spun around the tiny studio, their gyrations revealing the hidden turbulence of our exhalations. Every time I moved, I whacked one or another of them, making their payloads of mossy rocks and artful twigs clatter together. The floor was littered with their shed dander, which I took to be a deliberate act of elfy-welfy feng shui.

"So, how's things at the Termite Mound?" Bryan said, as we wound down over a glass of floral mead (this is pretty terrible, even by the standards of elf cuisine).

It was the question that had hung over the whole evening. After all, I'd cost Bryan his home and his job and had walked away Scot-free.

"Yeah," I said. "Well, the city and the university are both investigating MIT Residences LLC and it looks like they're going to be paying some pretty big fines. There was a class-action lawyer hanging around out front last week, trying to track down the old tenants who'd been turfed out. So there's going to be some more bad road ahead of them."

"Good," he said, with feeling. The expression of rage and bitterness that crossed over his face was not elfin in the slightest. It was the face of someone who'd been screwed over and knew he had no chance of ever getting back at his attackers.

"Yeah," I said again. The class-action guy had really been a gut-punch for me. Class-action was so old school, the thing that Ftp was supposed to replace with something fast, nimble, networked, and collective. Class-action was all about bottom-feeding lawyers slurping up the screwed-over like krill and making a meal of their grievances. Ftp let the krill organize into a powerful mass in its own right, with the ability to harness and command the predatory legal kraken that had once been its master. The fact that Ftp had managed to get us cheap, unfiltered broadband while this sleazeoid was proposing to actually skewer the great beast, straight through the wallet? It made me feel infinitesimal.

"But you're still there," he said. The place seemed a lot smaller. Bryan seemed a lot less elfin.

"Yeah," I said. "Don't guess they figure they can afford to evict me."

"That worked out well for you, then."

"Bryan," Lana said, putting her hand on his arm. "Come on. It's not Lukasz's fault those assholes are douchehats. He didn't make them fire you. It's –" She waved her hands at the mobiles, the walls, the wide world. "It's just how it is. The system, right?"

None of us said anything for a while. We drank our mead.

"Want to go vape something?" I said. There were lots of legal highs on campus. Some of them were pretty elfy, too. I wanted to blot out the world right then, which wasn't elfy, but we could all name our poisons.

I stumbled into the cold with them, in a haze of self-pity and self-doubt. The winter had come on quick and bitter, one of those Boston deep freezes the combined gale-force wind, subzero temperature and high humidity that got right into your bones. Too cold to talk, at least.

As we settled into crowd of vapers shivering in front of a brewpub, I heard a familiar voice. I couldn't make out the words, but the tones cut through the cold and the self-pity and brought me up short. I turned around.

"Hey, Lukasz," Sergey said. He was in the center of a group of five other guys, all vaping from little lithium-powered pacifiers that fit over their index fingernails, giving them the look of Fu Manchu viziers.

"Sergey," I said, getting up from our bench and moving away from Byran and Lana, suddenly not wanting to be seen in elfin company. "How's the hivemind?"

He looked over to Bryan and Lana in their layered furs, then back at me. He gave me a courtesy smile. "You'd be amazed at how well it's doing." The rest of the group nodded. I thought I recognized some of them. He closed the distance between us. "Going home for the holidays?" he asked in conspiratorial tones.

"Don't know," I said. I had some invites from my old hackerspace buddies to go on a little couch-trip, but whenever I contemplated it, I felt like a fraud. I hadn't said yes and I hadn't said no, but in my heart I knew I wouldn't be going anywhere. How could I look those people in the eye, knowing what I knew? Knowing, in particular, what a fraud I turned out to be?

"Well," Sergey said, leaning in a little closer. I could smell the vape on his breath, various long-chain molecules like a new-car smell with an undertone of obsolete tobacco. "Well," he said again. "There's an opening at the office. In the chaos monkey department. Looking for someone who can work independently, really knocking the system around, probing for weaknesses and vulnerabilities, pushing us out of those local optima."

"Sergey," I asked, the blood draining out of my face, "are you offering me a job?"

He smiled an easy smile. "A very good job, Lukasz. A job that pays well, and lets you do what you're best at. You get resources, paychecks, smart colleagues. You get to organize your Ftp campaigns, make it the best tool you can. We'll even host it for you, totally bulletproof expansible computation and storage. Analytics — well, you know what our analytics are like."

I did. I wondered what algorithm had suggested that he go out for a smoke at just that minute in order to be fully assured of catching me on the way home. The Termite Mound was full of cameras and other sensors, and it knew an awful lot about my movements.

A job. Money. Friends. Challenges. Do Ftp all day long, walk away from AA's lab and the fish-eyed games of the grad students. Walk away from my tiny dorm room. Become a zuckerbergian comet, launched out of university without the unnecessary drag of a diploma into stratospheric heights, become a name to conjure with. Lana and Bryan were behind me on the bench, and couldn't hear us, not at the whispers in which we spoke. But I was drug-paranoid sure that they could decipher our body language, even from behind the wall of synthetic psilocybin they had scaled.

I could have a purpose, a trajectory, a goal. Certainty.

To my horror, I didn't turn him down. A small part of me watched distantly as I said, "I'll think about it, OK?"

"Of course," he said, and smiled a smile of great and genuine goodwill and serenity. I waved goodbye to Bryan and Lana and headed back to the Termite Mound.

[buffyfan145]

Very nice surprise here seeing Variety talk about who they think will get nominated for Lead Actress and Lead Actor in a Drama Series Emmys and to see that Morfydd and Charlie were submitted as the leads!!! 😀 I've put the link to the actor submissions with Charlie included in the comments. This helps so much to disprove those who said neither were leads, especially those that attack Morfydd, as she's submitted as lead actress for both seasons. This is the first Charlie did but he is the lead actor now too. I get why some think this show is an ensemble show but seeing that they're submitting Morfydd and Charlie as leads while everyone else is submitted as supporting is telling. They are the leads of the show and it's not going to change. Sadly I don't think they'll get them going by the award show fantasy/genre bias and that Variety's odds are likely right, but glad to see them included along with a lot of my other favorites like Charlie Cox for "Daredevil: Born Again" and some shows I didn't expect.

[fangirlingfromdownunder]

#SavetheWinchesters pt.2

Summary - This is the long-time-coming sequel to my fic #SavetheWinchesters. After months of campaigning, they finally find out the network’s verdict.

Pairing - Jensen Ackles x reader

Masterlist | Part 1

A/N - We now all know the unfortunate fate that The Winchesters met with. So, thanks to a little reminder from @ozwriterchick (which was now ages ago…I’m so sorry this took so long!) of the original fic I wrote I’ve decided to finally follow it up. Sorry for the lengthy hiatus, life’s been hectic, plus I am working on something big that I’m hoping will be ready to share with you soon. Thank you for your patience and continued support, and welcome to anyone new! I love you all!!

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

You, Jensen and the rest of the cast of The Winchesters have been campaigning hard for weeks and now it’s finally time to find out the verdict. You have a video call scheduled with the executives later today. The anxiety for their decision and your husband’s reaction has had you tossing and turning all night. With the sun finally pouring through the windows you roll over and kiss his cheek as you wrap an arm over his chest and snuggle close. You feel him stir and wrap his arm around you as well. You hear a toilet flush down the hall, signaling that at least one of your kids is already awake. 

“That’s my sign to get up…” you sigh. 

“Or you could stay here a little longer. They won’t starve.”

“No, but I have to get them ready for school, otherwise they’ll be late because they’ll just watch TV or play with their toys instead of getting ready.”

“So responsible…”

“Someone has to keep this house running. You may pay the bills, but this place would be chaos without me.”

He leans over and kisses your lips softly, still half asleep. “And I hope you know how grateful I am for everything you do. There’s no way I could manage all this on my own, yet you make it seem so simple.”

“We do it together. Now come on, help me wrangle this lot and don’t forget you promised them you’d drive them to school. Plus, you’ve got that meeting later.”

You try to sit up but he wraps his arm tighter around you and holds you down to kiss you again. When he pulls away he asks, “About that…Will you do it with me? We are partners on this project after all.”

“Just on this project?” you tease playfully before pecking his lips. “Of course, I’ll do the meeting with you. We’re partners in every sense.” You peck his lips again and then get up. You throw on your robe, go downstairs to check on the kids and start getting them ready. You find them just as you expected, sitting in front of the TV watching the morning cartoons. “Alright, kiddos, who’s had breakfast?” As expected you don’t get a single response, they’re too engrossed in the Great Dane on the TV. You pour out a bowl of cereal for each of them and then let them eat in front of the TV. If nothing else, it provides a good distraction while you brush and style their hair neatly. 

Jensen finally comes downstairs, after showering and getting dressed for the day, and makes you both a coffee and toast while you make sandwiches and pack snacks for the kids’ lunches. You work together in perfect harmony. After years of not having him around often for these mundane mornings, you’re surprised at how well you fall into sync when he is. 

While he drives the kids to school you tidy up, get dressed, set a load of washing, and then set Jensen’s laptop on the kitchen counter for the meeting. Then, while you wait you scroll through your social media, checking on the status of the hashtag and retweeting some of your favourite posts despite knowing that the decision is already made, one way or the other. Still, you can hope. Also, it doesn’t hurt to boost the support for the show in case you have to start searching for a new home for it. 

You smile as you hear the alarm system beep off and on in time with the front door opening and closing. “How was traffic?” you call out as you listen to your husband’s footsteps getting closer.

“Busy…But I do enjoy that time with the kids. I missed it for so long” he says as he rattles the keys in the bowl.

“I know, but you’re home with us now. And even when you go again, we know you’ll always come back.”

Jensen sits on the couch beside you, wrapping one arm over your shoulders and kissing your temple. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

He looks over at your phone. “I hope they say yes, today. I hope we convinced them…It’s such a good cast and crew and I have so many ideas.”

“I know. I hope so too…But even if they don’t, it was an amazing wild ride. They’ll all go far regardless. You know what the industry is like.”

“I know…Never get your hopes up. Everything is a blessing. Don’t put your fist through the drywall…blah blah blah…I just…”

You can feel him tensing up. You place a hand on his cheek softly, forcing him to look at you. You kiss his cheek, the tip of his nose and then his lips. You whisper against his lips, “I know. I love your passion and love for these people, but you need to calm down.” You feel him relax slightly as he kisses you back deeper.

“Thank you…”

When the alarm alerts you that it’s 10 minutes to your meeting with the network executives, you both get up and set yourselves up in front of the laptop. Your hand rests reassuringly on Jensen’s knee while his hand rests on yours. You wait in the video call lobby for them to join. Once they finally do, it’s a whirlwind; a rush of words that you can hardly process as you feel your husband tensing up and gripping your hand tightly to ground himself and likely stop his Dean from showing. Once you finally catch up, you try to save the meeting.

“Thank you for taking the time to consider us. We really appreciate this opportunity.”

Jensen gives them a polite nod before slamming the laptop shut and pacing around the kitchen. You give him a few minutes to walk off his frustration and calm down before you stand up and wrap your arms around him.

“I really thought we would’ve changed their mind. Did they not see? All the posts? All the support? How hard the actors worked?”

“I know…” You try to comfort him but he pulls away.

“I’m gonna go workout,” he says before storming down the hall towards your at-home gym. 

Your heartbreaks for him, you know how much he put into creating the story and world and how passionate he is about the up-and-coming actors. You text the main cast: Meg, Drake, Jojo and Nida to invite them to a video call in a couple of hours. You figure it’s best to give Jensen some time to work the frustration out of his system before talking to them. 

To keep yourself busy, you hang out the washing and start preparing dinner. When Jensen finally returns, he’s freshly showered and changed into a fresh outfit. He wraps his arms around you from behind and places his hands on yours to stop you from chopping the vegetables briefly. “I’m sorry…” He kisses the top of your head.

You turn around in his arms and wrap your arms around his neck, careful not to touch him with your dirty hands. “Did you apologise to the punching bag too?” you jest which causes a small smile to pull at the corner of his mouth. “It’s fine, Jens, really. I understand. I’m sorry about the show.”

“Me too. I guess I should call the others…let them know before they find out the hard way…”

“I’ve arranged a call in about…” You glance over at the clock. “Ten minutes now.”

He pulls you in for a soft kiss. “You’re so perfect.”

You do the call together, just like the disappointing one earlier, Jensen holds you tight for support. Once everyone comes online you and Jensen gently give them the bad news. You try to soften the blow by emphasising how well they did and that the cancellation is in no way their fault, but a disappointing result of budget cuts and the difficult times with the threats of industry strikes on the horizon. You both encourage them to keep auditioning and expanding their careers and skills. Then you finally finish by thanking them for their time and passion in helping bring your and Jensen’s vision to life and help with the campaign, even if it didn’t go the way you all hoped. 

After saying your goodbyes and shutting off the camera, Jensen kisses the top of your head and stands up. Then without a word, he slinks off down the hall. You shoot a sad smile at his back. Despite knowing the industry is rough, it’s been a long time since things haven’t gone his way. After 15 years of a guaranteed job and so much say in the character and direction, he’s not used to the pushback and being shut down. You know he’ll accept it and come back to his bubbly self in time, but it will take just that. So, in the meantime, you continue to do what you can; finish the laundry and dinner and pick up the kids from school to allow him some time alone to process everything.

When you get back home, the kids run outside to play. You cut up some fruits, put them on a plate with a few cookies and then wander out to the deck. You go to call the kids over to get some snacks but stop when you hear your husband’s soft voice and the perfect melody from his guitar. You smile and sit in the chair beside him enjoying the unexpected, accidental serenade. 

“She keeps on loving me

Loves me the way I am

She's not just along for the ride

She's my biggest fan

Lord, it's a little old piece of heaven

When we lay down at night

She keeps on loving me

And I keep on wondering why”

As he finishes the song he winks at you and you smile. “I stumbled on this song a while ago…it’s perfect for us…”

“Everything is gonna work out. It’ll be hard for a bit, sure. But there is an upside…” You look over at the kids playing on their swing set and then back at Jensen. “Until your next project, we can just enjoy a little time as a family without the looming thought of you having to leave for weeks or months at a time. I know they’ll be happy about that.”

“Yeah…That actually sounds really nice. Just us as a family, no looming deadlines or projects. We’ve never had that before.”

“New, unchartered territory. But I’m game if you are?”

He smiles at you and nods before calling out, “I’m gonna eat all these cookies!” He picks one up, opens his mouth wide and holds the cookie close to his lips teasingly. The kids sprint over and pout until he places it back on the plate. Once they sit down to eat, Jensen decides to share the news. “So, how would you guys feel about me being around a little more permanently for a while?”

[wingzie]

The Mirrorring of Army: Then and Now

I didn't expect my previous post to gain some hate, so here goes my third post of the day: There are good and bad side to every fandom, but if you spend so much time with the negative. All you will see or feel is that negativity. Yes, some of my experiences with Army have been frustrating, but it's like a sibling relationship. I will still be there for other Army and A LOT of my experiences have honestly been life changing in a good way. I'm sure I'm not the only one that feels this... In 2019 BTS performed at the GMA. Spoilers: Jikook were very cute. Army there at the time were told to leave quickly and they did, but then returned to pick up their trash or belongings. Last year when Jungkook's concert, also at GMA, got cancelled there was a lot of confusion and fear. Army helped each other to get shelter and reach home. Especially those who were not from the area or who had flown in from South Korea. This is simular to what happened at Busan when the mobile network went down and some I-Army got stranded. K-Army helped them reach their destinations when they got turned down by local taxis. When BTS did their recent concerts, there were A LOT of complaints about Army not singing along enough. It was obvious that the sound wasn't coming through properly on the stream, because you could hear the chants in fancams. However, there was a delay. Now that we have the PTD Behinds, the members THEMSELVES mentioned about how bad the sound reverb was. There was a delay on the sound in the stadium, depending on where you stood. That's why in some clips it sounds like the fan chants are massively out of sync.

There was also the belief that certain members would get zero cheers whilst on stage. I still do not understand where this lie came from, but it spread very far and hashtags were started. All the members got the loudest cheers I have heard. They always will. It was started to create fear and it started a chain reaction for no apparent reason, because so many like to assume the worse before getting their facts right. Army also helped each other whilst waiting in lines. Again, simular to what happened at James Corden in 2020.

Back in 2019 there were a lot more scandals or hate aimed towards the members than some of you might know of. However, they were dealt with in GC's or in private to prevent those hateful words from spreading. Now it's almost like this hatred is used to get engagement. Paddington, a know anti back then, even said that they would say things to try to get on Report Pages because it would help get them more attention. Antis follow our report pages to know which posts or accounts to boost. Boosted accounts are harder to take down because of the Twitter algorithm and it's why so many do beg to not engage with such posts. This includes using their name, responding or quoting. Is there an easy solution? I don't really know. But if you ever start to feel unsure, please step away and remember those good times: When MMA 2020 Jikook happened. When we donated money to the Beyond the Rainbow Foundation in South Korea after Yoon won his election. The happiness each Bangton or Run Episode brings. The joy we'll feel once Jin is back...

[jodiduby]

"Happy" Urban Geometries

I’ve gotten obsessed with learning about how we can design our neighborhoods for happiness and health, ever since college, where I quickly learned that the way to get myself out of a funk is to get out of the house and walk to the coffee shop. Without fail, I’d start my walk feeling low but by the time I got to the register to order my coffee I’d inevitably see someone I recognized, have a brief conversation, and feel alive again. It’s like proof of life. Someone sees you, remembers you, and confirms your existence as part of a community. Throughout the course of my professional life, it’s been an ongoing project for me, digging into the whys behind this and how we can design more places that make us happy and strengthen the social health of the places we live.

According to Arthur Brooks, a happiness researcher, the four pillars of a happy life are family, friendships, work, and faith (he uses faith as an umbrella for the wide variety of spiritual pursuits that enrich our lives). Living closer together in what Charles Montgomery calls “happy geometries” makes it easier for us to have all of these things in balance. Living more spread out means giving more time to commuting between the parts of our lives that make us happy, and less time actually nurturing and strengthening them.

For example, if you are a person with caregiving responsibilities and a job, your commitments to your family and your work leave very little extra time as it is. If you add long commutes into the mix, any time (or energy) that you might have for nurturing your own friendships or spiritual pursuits can easily evaporate completely.

Friendships aren’t the only type of relationship that is important. Lower-stakes social interactions like those we have with neighbors, from sharing a volunteer experience, or with our regular barista help contribute to the feelings of self-esteem and well-being that boost happiness. If all of your social interactions are with family and co-workers, it can drain you.

While we all have different levels of desire and tolerance levels for social interaction, as humans we all need some form of socialization. People who have strong social networks are happier than people who don’t. The truth is, you have to be much more intentional about creating this for yourself if you live in what Montgomery calls the “dispersed city,” in this modern age where everything is a click away.