#getting a 'i can't bother' in the ACTUAL TEXT OF THE ARTICLE is another

[theminecraftbee]

okay now that i'm no longer trying to keep a project secret from certain people i can complain publicly about a thing i've been losing my mind about:

why the fuck is the evo wiki like that.

listen. i know. i know fandom wikis being decent entirely relies on whether there are people who both want to obsessively categorize things enough to fill out the wiki, with the free time to do that kind of obsessive categorization, and the desire to manage it all as a wiki. believe me, i know. but please i'm just trying to do research please, please at least bigb's page was just Entirely Empty so i knew i had useless information and just left. why the fuck did the mafia's page, by contrast, have this:

a sentence that is actively LESS USEFUL THAN IF IT WERE NOT THERE.

and then grian's page - GRIAN'S. GRIAN'S. THE ONE PAGE I THOUGHT MIGHT HAVE A SHOT OF BEING FILLED OUT. JOKE'S ON ME I GUESS.

BECAUSE IT HAS THIS????? I'M LOSING MY MIND. WHY ON EARTH IS THE WIKI LIKE THIS. WHY IS IT THIS BAD. PLEASE I'M JUST TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT EVERYONE'S RELATIONSHIPS WITH JIMMY AND MARTYN WERE PLEASE,

anyway thankfully i had friends who could help me with their own knowledge and who also found the evo recap but in conclusion i have been being driven mad by this for weeks, thank you for coming to my ted talk.

[brightwanderer]

Hi helen, thanks for the explanations. Sorry for bothering you but can I ask,

Does locking fic next time I publish really help? Don't they have a way to breach Ao3's data since it's an AI? I also assume this isn't just sudowrites. Other AI writing services are probably doing so too, right? Like NovelAI

I'm afraid we're at about the limit of my knowledge here - I'm neither an industry expert on AI learning nor do I have the spoons for more research than I've done.

With that caveat, my understanding of the situation is this.

There is a "natural language" algorithm called GPT-3, which can be used by anyone to power their own apps (via subscription model) and has been trained on data from Common Crawl.

Common Crawl is a non-profit dedicated to archiving data from the internet and making it freely available to anyone. GPT-3 is the work of OpenAI, which also created the DALL-E visual art generator.

Sudowrite and other "novel generator" sites like it are using the GPT-3 base to generate "natural sounding" text. The stated goal of Sudowrite is to assist writers with their own work, by generating a couple more sentences when they're stuck, or new brainstorming ideas, or names for people and places.

One thing I do want to stress: this is NOT really an AI. There is no intelligence, decision-making, or independent action going on here. To explain it as simply as possible, what it does is a) look at what it's learned from ALL OF THE INTERNET, then b) look at a sentence you have given it (e.g. "it was a dark and stormy night"), then c) spit back out some content that, statistically, fits the patterns it has observed in all the other times someone has written "it was a dark and stormy night".

Given that you have to "train" GPT-3 towards whatever you specifically want it to do (fiction, news, chat bots, etc), and given that Sudowrite produces so much fandom-specific content so easily, I would guess that the Sudowrite version of GPT-3 has been given additional training using freely-available fanfiction, from AO3 or otherwise - but I do not know enough about the nuances of this technology to be sure.

So to answer your questions as best I can:

Locking your works on AO3 should protect them from being included in Common Crawl and similar datasets, I believe. This means they will also not be archived by the Internet Archive or appear on the Wayback Machine, will not appear in searches etc going forward, although anything that has already been archived will still be in those sets of data.

This may or may not do anything to keep them out of the pool for future generative algorithms.

This may or may not do anything to stop people specifically using fanfiction as additional training for creative writing AIs, depending on how they are obtaining that training data in the first place. (E.g. if everything on AO3 was locked tomorrow, someone could still just create an account and laboriously download a ton of random fic to use. Whether they would bother is another question.)

My personal take: we are long overdue a big conversation about data, and what is and should be freely available, and how content-creating AIs are being deployed and monetised. This is something that needs regulation and oversight, and we should be making a fuss about it.

(Not least because if you search the internet for "how to" articles on pretty much anything at this point, you will get a LOT of results written by this sort of AI generator. They look like real human text to start with, but as you read on you notice that there are weird little glitches, and then the instructions for making papier mache suddenly tell you to boil an egg, and you realise you can't actually trust anything you just read because it was auto-generated and may not work or be safe. True story.)

However. I am not myself concerned about the possibility that my writing has been used in this dataset. I don't like it or approve of it on a general level, but I don't believe it does me any harm or even meaningfully translates into "someone else profiting off my work". As far as I understand the technology, it will not be plagiarising any of my actual text. My biggest concern is with how readily it puts together context based on exisiting works. It's very obvious with something like Harry Potter, but if someone is looking for "names for magical items" and end up with three unique things I put in one of my stories and uses those in their work... yeah, that feels like a mess waiting to happen.

I'm also not concerned about AI "replacing" writers (or other artists). There is a lot more to creating art than putting words together or making brush-strokes. The AI can only spit out what was put into it, and it's always going to pick the most statistically likely option. That means in terms of storytelling, you will get cliche after cliche, empty dialogue that sounds good but doesn't mean anything, repeating the same themes with occasional nonsensical diversions for "variety", a general sense of hollowness and lack of actual human input...

... wait. Did anyone check whether Marvel's already using this thing?

[drsycz]

30 DAYS OF AUTISM ACCEPTANCE 2023

Damnit, I forgot about it again. Looks like you're getting another unnecessary long post, guys XD

7 April: Do you have other diagnoses? What are they? Do you think that some could be incorrect?

Yeah, I have one, and it's exactly the reason why I think our local medical system is bullshit. First of all, it was all done in secret. They used my personal files from school and university instead of actually asking me questions, they dragged me in hiding it as "productivity test" so there were no proper diagnosis process, just some old brats whispering behind my back. I even wasn't supposed to know my diagnosis, the only reason why I know what it was - a year later one of the doctors have accidentally left me alone while my files were on his table. And of course, the image of my psychological state and personality, and the diagnosis itself had nothing to do with realty, because they haven't bothered to ask me about any of it. I don't want to even say what my diagnosis was because it's nonsesnse.

8 April: Do you struggle to read long texts or are you one of those people who can read everything with ease (Braille counts too of course)?

Honestly it heavily depends on what kind of text I'm reading. I usually have no problems with reading fiction and pop-science as long as the book is intresting for me personally. However, I can get lost in some scientific articles if they put sources and big massives of data directly into sentences, or simply use too much punctuation marks. It's much easier for me to find information I need if it's put in a numbered list or a table. I'm generally very visual person, so having tables and illustrations is very helpful.

9 April: Did an interest ever turn into an "obsession" for you? If not, do you regularly experience hyperfocus when you engage in your special interest? If nothing applies, tell us about your longest interest, no matter if it's a special interest or not!

Obsessions… Well, they're kinda a part of normal life for me. A friend of mine says that I tend to run in cycles of switching from one special interest to another, when one of them becomes a literal obsession and when it happens, around 80% of our discussions end up being related to this special interest. Each such obsession lasts for at least couple of weeks, and sometimes I have 2-3 obsession at once. However, the overall number of them is very limited.

10 April: Can you understand speech when there is background noise?

No. I can handle a basic amount of noise, but my limit is something like a street in the center of a middle-sized city, where there are cars but traffic jams are rare. Then I start to loose ability to understand what's going on, including speech, and up to being completely disoriented and loosing ability to think conciously.

11 April: If you learned to speak as a child (definition for this post: the ability to use spontaneous speech (mouth words) to communicate in at least two-word sentences), did your ability to speak improve after that, stayed the same, decrease, or did something happen that you can't speak at all anymore now?

I think it generally stayed the same, but I'm more concious now of the fact that I'm actually semi-verbal. I did have situations of loosing ability to speak in my childhood, varying from forgetting particular words to not being able to speak at all, but it never crossed my mind it wasn't common among other kids. The only thing that changed, honestly, is that I now use way more texting because it's easier for me.

12 April: Were/are you in speech therapy? If so, for what? If not, do you think speech therapy could have helped you?

I weren't since the only obvious problem I had is difficulties with the "r" sound (my first language is Russian, where "r" is a very distinct sound), but it's a common problem for children who's first language is some sort of a Slavic language. However I was a unique case because when I was a toddler, I used to growl instead of screaming/crying, and later somehow lost this ability temporarily.

13 April: How important are routines to you? Are your routines more based on time ("I always do this at 6pm!"), on habits ("I always drink from this cup!") or both?

I think it's more habits than time. My parents have never insisted on keeping a stable timetable, and from early childhood I have gained a habit to think more in weeks rather than days: I was attending a couple of various after-class activities since grade 2, and such stuff usually only takes place once or twice a week. I also had very irregular timetable at university, when one day classes start at 8 a.m, but next day they only start at 2 p.m, but it was the same each week, so it has solidifyed this week-by-week mindset.

However, habits and keeping a particular order are important for me. I might not seem the most habitual person from the outside, but in fact it's just some level of flexibility combined with readiness to form several interchangable habits for one thing, and usually I form them slowly one by one. For example, I might have three different routes to get home from work, but it will stressful for me to make a fourth one, and the other three were created one by one and it was stressful each time.

14 April: If you learned to speak as a child, were you a late talker, average age, or did you speak at a really young age?

I think it was average, maybe slightly earlier, but nothing intresting besides the fact that my first word was "grandpa", not "mom" like for majority of kids. However, I had a weird experience with reading. My parents tried to teach me reading when I was around 3-4 years old, but I agressively refused to learn letters. But when they have already given up and left me alone, I somehow managed to learn reading on my own, and it took me a couple of hours sitting alone with a book.

15 April: If you can perceive the facial expression of others and learned to recognise the meaning to a degree, did you learn that in social skills training, by your own "hard work", or was it a mix of both? Are there patterns that you understand intuitively (for example recognising fear because it's not so different from how you behave when you feel fear)? - if this question doesn't apply to you, you have a day off! :)

I can somewhat percieve facial expressions, but I can't say that I learned it conciously. Looks like I have learned to recognise the most basic and clear emotions, like laugh = happiness or screaming = angry, and my mind have just given up on the rest. When watching movies, I can recognise more complex emotions and even analyse characters from psychological point of view, but it doesn't work with real people in most cases.

[dowhatisaynotwhatido]

4. Article - Final statement

Paring: Bea / Ina

Warning: angst

Description: part 6 of The article series. The article finally gets to its conclusion and it is not the one they both expected

Word count: 783

Ina woke up to an empty bed and a full set of new muscular pains after yesterday. She went through her morning routine thinking about last night and Bea, until she sitted with her coffee across the black envelop.

•What the hell?• Ina thought after opening the Conclusion envelop and finding a single page with several Yes or no questions.

•Am I suppose to answer this? I though the tests were over"

/Text/

(I) are you trying to make me work for you?

(B)???

(I) the author is suppose to conclude their own article, haven't you learnt that yet?

(B) Well, unfortunately I can conclude this for you, can I? If I could choose for you, I wouldn't need to do the article in the first place.

(I) Beg your pardon?

(B) I need to go. The plane is leaving. You have 5 hours to answer it. I expect a text after that.

/text/

•so commanding, humm. I liked that. Little does she know that she wouldn't be commanding shit if we were envolved•

Ina sat down with her coffee and toast.

"Mark true or false to the following statements:

( ) Exhibit A seems to have a more than professional feeling towards index case

• who am I to deny it after yesterday•

( ) Exhibit A shows signs of overprotectiveness and care towards index case

• Yes. I won't let anything happen to you•

( ) Exhibit A sh...(...)"

and that went on for over 27 questions. Until the last one:

"( ) the whole society notion of need to overprotect the so believed "weaker link" in a relationship is out of date, respecting the consent logic. Therefore, the relationship between a Professor and a Student is NOT antietical if limits were to be preserved."

• you may have a point there, Bea. But the world isn't ready for it"

"Are you willing to give it a chance?

( ) Yes ( ) No"

• how could I answer this? She could be expelled, I could lose my job. Fuck, what would the academy say! Wouldn't she receive any retaliation? Wouldn't I? Could we keep it a secret for 1 more year? Then she would go to uni and we wouldn't be professor and TA anymore. Can't we wait? No. I can't ask her to wait for me.•

"But can I lose her?" Ina stared blankly through the window

*****

A few days later in Lilian's house, Ina was getting her sister uptodate in the Bea's front.

- " I don't know why are you so surprise about the conclusion. It was clear as day to me." Lilian said as taking a sip of her coffee

- how do you mean?

- "You can stop talking about her and you can't stop smilling when you talk about her. You have been under her spell for months now. You should have known that."

- "Yes, I knew I was attracted to her. She is the smartest, persistent, beautiful, hot and caring person that I know. But I did not know that I actually loved her!" Ina sighted as she paced the room running a hand through her hair

- "wait, what? You love her?" Lilian almost spilled her drink as

Ina continued her rambling in lighting speed

-"well, but it was a false study nonetheless. Because as much as she proved that I had feelings for her, she failed to convince me that we could be together!"

- "Oh, stop that self-righteous act, Ina! For crying out loud, that woman is perfect for you, and you are going to lose her over some out of date prejudice!"

- "she is my student, Lilian!" Ina shouted

- "If this bothers you so much, drop your freaking job and don't let her go, goddammit. It is like seeing Newton throwing away the freaking apple!"

- "I cannot do that, Lil. My job is my life. I worked so hard for this." Ina's eyes were full of tears and her voice was failing

- "and you will work hard to find another one, Ina. Don't lose her"

Ina sited in the couch with her head in her hands and started crying

-"I already did, Lil.".

-"What? Why? Wasn't all this like last Sunday?" Lilian asked sitting next to her in the couch

-"After I missed the 5 hours deadline, she emailed me her letter of resignation as my TA. She hasn't been in any of my classes since then"

-"So go after her!! Text her, go to her dorm, make a freaking Taylor Swift serenate for all I care. Don't throw her away..."

-"She is better off, Lil. And that is the end of this".

[dualityjohn]

~ Gender Expression Stereotypes ~

Figuring out my own gender is hard or exhaustively idea or thought that crosses in my head that i think i can't figure it out on my own. Does gender is the basis of someone's personality? In my 18 years of existence, the question "what is your gender?" that most of my peers that i always cannot answer directly, it's not that i can't actually answer it, it is because if i answer their question i am afraid that they will not believe what will i answer to them because most of the times they ask it not out of curiosity but because they assume of what truly i am and they have to confirm it, because people admit it or not we all have stereotypes of someone's actions that if we think that is wrong it will really bother us and most of the times is we have a lot stereotypes when it comes to gender.

When it comes to expressing yourself there are "gender beliefs or stereotypes" in our country, here in the philippines the most debatable if not it is crucial thing that most of us are having stereotypes in gender that actually starts when your only a kid and that never ends until you get old, for example, when you were a child your parents expect you to like monochromatic things such as toys,clothes, and even the color that you like, and the idea that will mark on you basically is that if you are a boy you are supposed to like things what are your parents what they think appropriate for boys only.

When it comes to my own gender i am always hesitant or sometimes in denial to describe it because of all stereotypes that the adults that influence my own ideas in life that most people don't believe right now because we are in modern setting and we have to accept that, like most of the adults saying that being part of lgbt community is a sin but there are articles are saying

One aspect of an individual's identity is their gender identity and/or sexual orientation, and it can be safer for them to keep that aspect of themselves private. They might not be ready to come out, be still figuring out their gender identity and/or sexual orientation, or feel like their peers won't accept them for who they are.

The few bible texts that have been used frequently to vilify same-gender lovers may be easily dismantled and contested. However, I am at a stage in my life and ministry where I don't need a bible verse to defend my holy value or a bible narrative to justify my experience of life. One can easily discover multiple signs of same-gender love and attraction occuring in scripture, and even it seems to be affirmed. I simply have faith in the goodness of God, the holiness of love, and the variety of life. First and foremost, same-gender lovers are lovers, and the Bible does not condemn love; in fact, it uses love as its yardstick for determining what is holy.

REFERRENCE:

I also do not understand that even nowadays being part of this community is really debatable topic because most of people is being ignorant and have a strong faith in god or the actual church are not okay with homosexuality and sadly, even your own family can potentially reject you as part of them.

For young guys who are homosexual, bisexual, or other males who have sex with men, homophobia, stigma, and prejudice can be especially difficult. When compared to other students in their schools, these unfavorable opinions raise their risk of encountering violence. Violence can take the form of actions like bullying, teasing, harassment, physical assault, and actions that are tied to suicide.

Youth who identify as gay, bisexual, or another sexual minority are more likely to experience family rejection. The likelihood of people going without housing rises as a result. LGBT youth make up about 40% of homeless youth. In a 2009 study, friends who had more supportive families were compared to homosexual, lesbian, and bisexual young adults who had experienced severe family rejection.

REFERRENCE :

I hope someday these crucial topic become a reason that all of people become liberated from someone's opinion, because our life doesn't only revolve around these topic we have to be more open minded and become a moral person, people should feel freedom not only in their own thoughts but feel freedom around them either physical or emotional.

--Jeyss--

[finnlongman]

Speaking from inside knowledge, you won that prize because there were extremely few submissions, exactly no one takes your work seriously except for the moronic zoomers desperate for attention and legitimisation. UCC has been steadily declining in the views of most of the academic world for some time now. Do you actually think anyone worth their salt thinks Cú Chulainn is a “trans man”? When this garbage stops being trendy I hope you’ll be gone along with it. The sooner the better.

Lol, way to give away that you haven't actually read any of my queer theory work, since that's not a claim I've ever actually made, except possibly in casual, colloquial discussion without any claim to academic argument. Nor have you read any of my subsequent work, which is on entirely different areas. I hardly think editions of fragmentary explanatory texts about naming conventions are "trendy", or that "zoomers" desperate for "legitimisation" are the ones who might find a comparative study of the Maines useful. That article was probably the least trendy thing I've ever written. It didn't even have any (gasp) theory in it. Just an edition, translation and commentary.

And, true, I suspected there weren't a lot of submissions, considering it's the first year of the prize. But they didn't have to award it to anyone, and they certainly didn't have to publish my work if they thought it was inadequate. Honestly, I've had my days of wondering why they picked me, but... Patrick Sims-Williams, Erich Poppe, an anonymous reviewer, Kevin Murray, and Emma Nic Cárthaigh all saw value in that piece of work, and who am I to disagree with a bunch of well-respected scholars with years of experience in the field?

But thank you for revealing yourself as a bigot; I suspected, but you never know whether someone is actually just really angry about how you translated the challenging word "gon-geodain" in your article, or where they're the resurrected spirit of John Rhys here to get mad at me for saying his arguments didn't stand up to scrutiny. Good to have some clarity on what exactly it is that bothers you about me.

And I doubt you actually have "inside knowledge", but if you do, then I hope the rest of the department at Aberystwyth is aware that you're an execrable coward who chooses to abuse other junior scholars on the internet because you're... what, jealous? I find it hard to imagine there's much to be jealous of over here (you, too, can become an independent scholar having opinions about the Ulster Cycle on the internet! it's very easy and there is no money in it), but I also can't fathom another motivation for your behaviour.

You can keep going like this for as long as you like, but you're not going to chase me out of academia (insofar as I'm in it in the first place), and considering I know a lot of people in this field who do like me, I don't think you're going to make many friends doing this.

[ophelianated]

have i ever talked about how much i looooove working in customer service (contact centre agent, to be exact)

to all the entitled bitches out there who treat us like servants at best and dirt on their shoe at worst on a daily basis, please for the LOVE OF GOD:

take five minutes, just five minutes out of your life to do some research by yourself before bothering us. we're not fucking google, and being treated as such gets real tiring real fast. we should be your last resort

we're not therapists either. i repeat, We. Are. Not. Therapists. we understand that you're frustrated, but our job description doesn't include emotional labour. we're here to help you, not listen to you vent. if you need a minute, hour, day to get yourself together enough to shift your focus back on problem solving, you can just contact again later. don't take your anger and desperation out on us. all telling us how you'll have to tell your children now that they can't see their favourite team play because you can't afford to pay a fee will accomplish is make us upset too because we're not allowed to make exceptions - "gesture of goodwill" is not a concept all companies support. all yelling and cursing at us will do is earn you an abusive customer badge and make us feel like shit. one would think that this would be a no brainer, yet here we are. here we FUCKING ARE

nor are we complaint forms. take your spiel where it belongs so it can arrive in the hands of someone in the correct department specialized to deal with more complex issues, like ones that require an official investigation for instance. believe it or not, we have a complaint form for a reason. describe your problem as concisely as you can and don't waste our time, especially because some of us are micromanaged down to how much time we spend with each customer, and we WILL get in trouble if we go over a certain limit

exercise some patience and understand that Rome wasn't built in a day. some processes take time, and no, in most cases we have no way of expediting them, especially if we're escalating something to another department. adding "urgent" at the end only serves to piss people off

if we say we can't do/don't know something because we physically don't have the method or authority to execute what you want us to/access the information you seek, believe us. unless you're being particularly rude, i promise we're not trying to pass you off, we genuinely have no way of helping you

on that note: if we say that our company policy forbids us from doing shit, believe us. and ask yourself if YOU would risk YOUR job for a random stranger before demanding that we do it anyway and getting mad when we say no

if we say that our supervisors can't do anything about your problem either, BELIEVE US. so many of you mfs think that supervisors are above company policy for some reason. i'm telling you, they have waaaaaaay less authority than you think, and if they actually gave us the go ahead to kiss your asses to high heaven and do whatever you ask, them and us would be fired at the exact same speed

if we tell you where you can find the information you seek and more, don't be a lazy piece of shit and actually check it out. if we spell an entire process out for you so it's clear what you have to do and how, don't ask if we can do it instead. you're adults. exercise some goddamn self-reliance. i've had customers asking me to cherry pick and send them via chat only the relevant contents of the page i literally had just sent them the link to a few seconds prior because they didn't want to click on said link and spend TWO MINUTES skimming the page to find what info they needed and within what article. why don't i chew your fucking food for you as well while i'm at it. tie your shoelaces. wipe your ass maybe. this also gets old real fucking fast

if we're communicating via email or chat, read what we send you. yes, even if it's a wall of text. so many conversations could take half the time if you people just fucking read shit*

don't waste your breath. threatening to sue the company will not intimidate us into doing what you want. we get threats like that every day and (unfortunately) they never go anywhere

understand. process it on a cognitive level. make it a part of you carnally if necessary. but i'm begging you please find a way to get it through that thiccc skull: we don't know every single one of our fellow employees personally. neither do we have access to the complete list of people working for the company. i have no fucking clue who the blond guy who was rude to your mother yesterday three countries away is, nor do i have the power to get him fired (refer back to the point about complaints on how to proceed in this situation)

if YOU are the one who fucked up royally and the situation is beyond saving, THAT'S ON YOU. entirely on YOU. don't blame us for not having a solution to any and all mistakes you bitches make. we clean up your messes more than enough as is, because some of you apparently can't even spell your honest to god child's name right. given of course that you don't just forget about them entirely (both true stories)

read the terms and conditions. i don't care if it's long and dry and tedious. it's also sneaky and elusive and contains a shitton of info companies don't shove in your face, which is why you should study that shit like it's holy scripture before you do anything

no, you can't get a refund for everything. life doesn't work that way. deal or die

understand that we don't make the policies of the company we work for. yes, we're aware that some (or even most) of them suck, but we gotta eat somehow. we're not the company, and we're not the enemy. i repeat, we are not the company, and we are not the enemy

on the same vein: make peace with the fact that most of us are not malicious. we don't sit around rubbing our hands, coming up with different ways to fuck up your day and steal your money. we're trying to make the best of what we're working with. if you don't like the answer we give you, chances are we don't either, but there's nothing we can do and we feel horrible about it. i know it's easy to feel like we don't help you because we don't want to when you're being told no over and over, but resist the temptation to make us the big bad in your head. i promise most of us would love to help you, and it feels incredibly shitty if we can't, especially since helping people out is the whole purpose of our job

our training can't prepare us for each and every scenario we face on the job. it's just not possible. be reasonable and patient if yours happens to be an extremely tricky case that even our most experienced colleagues haven't encountered. we are people, and we are doing our best

*actual conversation i had with a customer (kept vague for security purposes):

me: We can't do x because the other people with you don't have the necessary thing y. We in the contact centre will have to give them y by [insert explanation about the process].

customer: But they don't have y.

me: Yes, that's the problem. They will need it before we can proceed.

customer. Oh. How can I get them y?

[kandaceveitch9]

Learning Basic Math Facts Can Be Fun And

Be sure you update them what Algebra is actually. Make sure technique explain it to a number of people. Many Algebra texts never bother to produce an explanation and college students can't explain what Algebra is when they have passed it. Respect your difficulties. Never say "this is so easy" or "I can't do math either". You wrong on counts. A person have are reading this article you care, and that your child's best Mathematics homework help to! But just exactly when does toddler need an algebra trainer? Are there any warning signs which you can be interested in? A poor math grade in the earlier school year, avoidance of Algebra Homework, behavioral changes, any signs that he's getting frustrated, or a recommendation from his teacher can all be good indicators for a person start searching out an algebra tutor for your youngster. The time you set should function same every day: 4-6, 7-9, along with. Do not ask kid to do any chores during this time period. It's strictly for faraway pipe dream. After the work to the subject is completed, allow a ten minute shatter. As your child improves, you may change the schedule so that weekends are free of charge. It's also in order to make appointments around the schedule. I averaged 77.5 hours PER WEEK or a huge 11 HOURS PER DAY INCLUDING WEEKENDS to achieve my dream (well actually it appears my father's dream) to be a Mechanical Engineer! This does NOT range from the 1 hour per day EACH way commute to BCIT. If you will yourself falling behind algebra, you need to consider signing on for a remedial module. Although you will have to stay behind when others go home, it will assist you quickly master algebra. First of all, construct a place for your child to do homework. This place in order to be equipped with material person may need, such as writing utensils, a clean area out of the household hubbub, and equipped with Calculus homework resource materials such as a computer and dictionary. Your box may be where a father or mother can help me solve this math problem while performing another task such as preparing dinner, but it must be away on a television. A German Mathematician G was still studying in high school. Once, he dropped off in a Mathematics charm. The bell rang and woke him way up. He looked up and saw a Mathematic problem written on the blackboard and took it as homework for the day.

[heyyyharry]

Happier

(inspired by happier by Olivia Rodrigo)

Word count: 2.4k

I'm selfish, I know, I can't let you go So find someone great, but don't find no one better I hope you're happy, but don't be happier

Part 1: Drivers License

Part 2: Deja Vu

A/N: I edited the original lyrics to match the POV :)

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.

.

Harry had come up with a thousand scenarios of how this day would play out. Actually, he’d been thinking of this day since the moment he’d received the news. He didn’t dare to hope that she’d say yes to coming back for a sequel. He’d been sure that they would write her character off, give a lame excuse for how his love interest could not make a return and make his character forget about her completely to move on with a new girl in town. It would have been great if it was that easy in real life. Once someone was written off the script, they were gone for good. Real-life relationships were not that simple. Goodbye didn’t mean ‘never see you again’. You would still share the same friend circle and social bubbles, and it was worse when you two worked in the same industry. Harry didn’t know how he’d lasted a year without running into her, not since the Grammys.

“Didn’t you two date?”

“No.” Harry shook his head, but his eyes stayed glued on Y/N from across the room. She wasn’t looking his way, too busy saying hello to everyone else. “No,” he repeated, more to himself than to his co-star. “We didn’t.”

“But she wrote an entire album about you,” said the other twin. What was her name again? Lulu?

“Luna!” cried her sister, Lex. “You can’t ask him that!”

“No, it’s okay,” Harry said with a tight smile, slightly annoyed by the blonde twins, but he didn’t want to seem like an ass on the first day of filming. “And I don’t know if it was for me. You should ask Y/N.”

“Ask me what?”

Harry flinched when he looked up and saw Y/N padding towards them. She hugged the twins, who seemed way too excited. Harry guessed they were Y/N’s fans. They gave off crazy fangirl vibes, probably just pretending not to know the drama to interrogate him. He couldn’t blame them for assuming he was the villain and definitely could not blame Y/N for portraying him as one. It was more important that he knew who he was and how much he had changed since his last relationship. Maybe they could finally be friends.

“Were they bothering you?” Y/N asked him once the twins had left.

Harry nodded. “They’re your friends?”

“Oh, I met them last year on tour. I’m surprised you don’t know them. They were on Disney.”

“I don’t watch Disney,” Harry admitted with a smile. “Well, not today’s Disney.”

“Understandable.” Y/N nodded and bit her lip. She seemed guarded with her straight back and hands hidden behind her. She eyed him up and down, quite subtle yet noticeable. “How have you been?”

“Pretty good,” he said, nodding slowly. “You?”

“Yeah, but mostly tired because of tour.”

“You’re done?”

“Yup, last night was the last show.”

“Nice.”

Y/N raised an eyebrow. “Nice?”

Harry blinked. “Did I say something wrong?”

“No.” Y/N giggled. “You still sound very...you.”

“Well, shouldn’t I?”

“Yeah, you should. But it’s been a year so…I mean, you haven’t changed much.”

“Right,” he said lowly, his eyes falling to his feet. Harry supposed he should say something else, perhaps bringing up another random topic to discuss, but all he could think about was what had happened between them. Things had been messy, hadn’t they? How could they go back to before that? Before her first song about him. Before he’d chosen someone else over her.

Or he could talk about her new relationship. She’d been in a happy relationship for almost six months, right? No wait, hadn’t they broke up two weeks ago? He wasn’t sure because he hadn’t been catching up. If they’d broken up, he’d sound like an ass to even mention her ex’s name. He should just stay quiet.

“I’ll see you later?” she said, gesturing at her stylist who was waiting by the door.

Harry could ask her right now -- the reason she’d agreed to film the sequel to their first movie together. He’d heard from a very reliable source that she’d specifically asked her agent to decline any project that he was in. So did this mean they were good? That she didn’t hate him anymore? He could have gathered his courage and got the answer right then…

“Yeah, see you.”

...but he didn’t.

And so she gave him a smile and a little wave, then happily returned to her stylist.

.

.

.

“See you tomorrow, Y/N!”

“See you, Annie!” Y/N said as she put the rest of her things into her tote bag. Her new driver had got her schedule mixed up, and so she had to wait here for another half an hour. She was in no rush. It had been a light first day, and she’d had a fun time getting to know the new cast members and catching up with old friends.

She sat on the sofa in the lobby, legs crossed, texting her best friend about her day. She’d purposely left out the short off-screen conversation with Harry, and her best friend didn’t even bother to ask. In their world, he didn’t exist, and his name was censored in every conversation like a curse word that was even worse than ‘cunt’. Nevertheless, she didn’t hate him anymore. She was doing just fine on her own, being busy with her career, and she’d been in a happy relationship after her fall out with him.

She and the guy, a model, had broken up two weeks ago due to long distance and some differences that they could not change. They had ended on good terms and decided to stay friends. They said you could only stay friends with your ex when you still had feelings for each other, or you had never loved each other that much in the first place. For her, it was probably the latter. Her previous relationship had been more platonic than romantic, apparently. So she had nothing but the best to say about him.

As she was going through her camera roll, just reminiscing about the past, she heard footsteps approaching and looked up to find Harry. He offered a smile and gestured to the spot beside her on the sofa. “May I sit here? My ride is late.”

“Yeah, sure.” She hurriedly scooted over.

“Good job today,” he said. “You were great.”

“Thanks, so were you.” She smiled, and they both looked away at the same time. This was so awkward. She hated small talk. She’d never had to have small talk with Harry. Conversations with him used to be so easy and natural and silly. Whatever this was, it wasn’t them.

“Can we just be normal?”

At first, Y/N thought she’d been the one who’d said it, so when she realised it’d been Harry, she was speechless.

He swallowed and sat a bit straighter, still not looking at her. “I don’t want us to be weird and awkward.”

“Okay,” she said.

He cleared his throat. “Wanna try again?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Okay, not to sound like an ass but when Joey kept forgetting his lines, I was so pissed off, I could throw a chair at the wall.”

“Right?!” exclaimed Y/N, feeling free to have finally broken out of her shell. “Like, he doesn’t even have many lines. I know he’s new but damn...you can’t get far if you don’t learn your goddamn lines.”

Harry shook with laughter. “Oh God, we sound like dicks, don’t we?”

“Maybe.” Y/N laughed, covering her mouth. “But you know what? We can’t be nice in this industry. It’s impossible.”

“Shhh, if someone heard this, we would be into big trouble.”

“Oh please, I’ve had worse articles written about me than ‘Y/N speaks facts about her lazy co-star’.”

Harry tossed his head back and cackled. “The worst one I’ve got this week was ‘Harry Styles hates therapists.’”

“What?!” Y/N gasped. “No way! That’s so stupid!”

“Right?” Harry rolled his eyes. “I could get all my therapists to speak up for me but I’m kinda immune to bullshit now.”

“Therapists? Like plural?”

“Yeah, one in every city.”

“Damn.”

“Yeah.”

Y/N rubbed her hands onto her legs. “Rough year?”

Harry’s eyes rolled to the back of his head as he leaned back. “You have no idea.” Then he swept his hair out of his eyes, sucked in a breath, and finally looked at her. “I wish I could have talked to you, though.”

She bit her tongue, knowing what she was about to say next would disappoint her best friend so much, but she had to. “So do I.”

Harry looked taken aback before his lips curled into a smile. “It’s silly, isn’t it? I haven’t talked to you in a year, and I feel like I know everything that’s happened to you except that I don’t.”

What he’d just said might make no sense for most people, but Y/N knew exactly what he meant. She nodded and wetted her lip. “You only know as much as everyone else does.”

“Yeah, I got updates on you from the news and our friends.”

“Same.” Y/N smiled back. “I hate how they write articles about your new haircut but not mine.”

“I like your new hair colour.”

“Thanks. I like your new car.”

Then they both burst out laughing. It was fun and also a little bit strange that Y/N didn’t feel the same anxiety talking to him as she used to. It must be because they had grown and were now meeting again as better people.

“Damn, my ride's here,” Y/N said as she read the text from her driver. “I gotta go now.”

“Oh, okay.” Harry stood up and followed Y/N to the entrance. “Hey, just wondering--”

“Yeah?”

“Am I...am I still blocked?” He looked a bit flustered as she tilted her head and squinted her eyes. “On your phone. Because I remember you having my number blocked--”

“I unblocked you on your birthday.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah.” Y/N shrugged. “I should’ve sent you a happy birthday text but...I didn’t want your girlfriend to get the wrong ideas.”

“My ex.”

“Yeah, I know.”

They smiled at each other one last time before saying goodbye. Y/N knew it was silly, but she was hoping he would go after her.

Ding.

A notification popped up when she was in the car. She was almost home, and it was from Harry’s number. He’d sent her a link with a message that said, “Hope you like it :)”.

Curious, she tapped on it and was directed to an audio file titled ‘Track 5’. The upload date was last year. About two weeks after their short conversation at the Grammys.

Hurriedly, she fumbled inside her bag for her iPods and put it on before she pressed play.

“Hey, Jeff, I couldn’t sleep so I wrote this song. Listen and let me know if it should go on the album.”

Then came the piano intro. It sounded good, so Y/N wondered how it hadn’t ended up on his last album.

But when he started to sing...

We ended a while ago Your friends are mine, you know, I know You've moved on, found someone new One more guy who brings out the better in you

And I thought my heart was detached From all the sunlight of our past But he’s so nice, he’s so funny Does he mean you forgot about me?

Oh, I hope you're happy But not like how you were with me I'm selfish, I know, I can't let you go So find someone great, but don't find no one better I hope you're happy, but don't be happier

And does he tell you you’re the most beautiful girl he’s ever seen? An eternal love bullshit he might not even mean Remember when you were with me I meant it when you heard it first from me

And now I'm pickin' him apart Like cuttin' him down will make you miss my wretched heart But he’s charming, he looks kind He probably gives you butterflies

I hope you're happy But not like how you were with me I'm selfish, I know, I can't let you go So find someone great, but don't find no one better

I hope you're happy I wish you all the best, really Say you love him, baby Just not like you loved me And think of me fondly when your hands are on him I hope you're happy, but don't be happier

The song was for her. He’d written it when her new relationship had gone public. Y/N sat there, staring blankly ahead until the honking of a car tore open her inner peace, and reality came crashing back in. The driver dropped her off at her house. Instead of going inside, she stood on her front steps and replayed the song one more time. When it ended, she decided to text him: Why didn’t this make it to the album?

She didn’t know where he was now, but it showed ‘typing’ in less than a second, as if he’d been waiting in their chat since he’d sent that link.

You would’ve hated me, Y/N.

True, she replied. Still, I would’ve loved the song lowkey. And added, I love it btw.

He took so long to type that it was driving her crazy. She flopped down on the concrete stair with her phone clutched in her hands, her heart thundering against her ribcage. Anxiety popped like a balloon when his message appeared: Were you happier?

She reread it again and again.

No.

I wasn’t either, he responded. I kept getting deja vu.

Ha, nice reference.

That song is my guilty pleasure. Love listening to you roasting me on loop.

That last message made Y/N bury her face into her palm and giggle like a fool. She thought for a second and wrote: I could come roast you in person now if that’s what you prefer. I think we’ve never had a proper roasting.

Can we meet, Y/N? Or are you busy now?

No, not busy.

Great, I’ll pick you up.

Just tell me where, she responded with a smile on her face. I got my drivers license now :)

[im-in-love-with-pizza-bites]

Yours, Mine, Ours: Chapter 30

Single-Dad!Chris Evans X Single-Mom!Reader

Series MasterList

List of OCs for this series

Series Summary: Your husband Caspian Richardson Senior died while serving in the military, so you move your three sons to Boston, MA. Where you meet an actor and his sweet daughter.

Chapter Summary: You clean up your house while the kids go to the park.

Series Warnings: Death of a spouse/parent, divorce of parents,

Chapter Warnings:

Chris looks at that article shocked. How did he not notice paparazzi? And what were you gonna say? What if you've already seen it? You're gonna kill him. You guys agreed to keep your relationship private with only family and friends knowing. No fans, and no paparazzi. Anytime the media gets involved in a relationship it ends. He doesn't want media pressure. What if you realize just how pushy the paparazzi can get? So you breakup with him so they don't bother you and your kids. A part of him would understand if you did break up with him.

"Daddy! Caspian is here! He's gonna take me to the park to teach me football! Remember?" June says pulling him from his thoughts.

Now what is he worried about? Paparazzi saw you, Chris and the kids last night celebrating Caspian winning the first game of the season. It was a "great" shot that shows yours, Caspian and Connor's faces. Jace's face couldn't be seen cause he was looking up at Chris. And Juniper has already been seen by fans. Rarely but he'd sometimes bring her as his "date" to premieres and he's posted photos of her. Scott posts photos of her too. It's not a often occurrence and he tries to keep anything that could be embarrassing to himself until she can give permission to post them. But he's not sure how you feel about your kids being seen by press.

"Yeah bug, I remember." Chris smiles and looks down at her. "Have fun, listen to Capsian okay?"

"Okay! Bye daddy love you!"

"I love you too baby girl." Chris watches her run to the door and he sees Caspian standing there texting someone.

"Hey Caspian."

"Hey.." Caspian looks at him, the look on his face is indifferent. It's not his usual smiling expression he normally has. He definitely saw it.

"Be careful today okay?"

"Yeah... Mom hasn't seen the article yet but I'm guessing you have? You should tell her before she finds out on her own." Caspian tells him before June grabs his hand a drags him outside where his brothers were waiting.

He has a point. Chris though as he heard the door shut. He can't let this relationship end because of the paparazzi. He goes to the door putting his shoes on before he walks next door. He knocks on the door, it only takes a little bit before you open it.

"Hey Chris!" You grin before kissing him. "Come on in, I'm trying to clean the house before the boys get home. It's kind of a wreck." You laugh letting him walk in.

"Have any luck finding someone to watch Jace?"

"No Butler is going house hunting and Maya is job hunting I only know so many people here. I don't know what to do though. He's not old enough to stay home alone for eight hours. But I can't take five days of work off." You sigh as start fixing up the couch, moving pillows and cushions.

"I mean I start filming another movie this week but he can come to set with me if you want? I'll have a trailer for him to hang out in." Chris offers.

"You'd do that? Oh thank you so much. You really don't mind? I mean thats your job you don't have to bring him."

"Don't worry I used to bring June when she was two. Jace is way better behaved then she was." Chris assures.

"Okay. Thank you so much babe." You give him a grateful look.

"You're welcome baby." He kisses you before beginning to help you clean up. "Uh I actually came over to tell you something."

"Okay good ahead." You smile at him.

"The paparazzi got a photo of you and Connor and Caspian."

"I know. Ben sent me one of the articles right before you come over." You look at him.

"I'm sorry. My publicist is already on it."

"It's not your fault Chris, it was bound to happen eventually. We've been together 8 months I'm surprised it didn't happen soon." You chuckle putting a hand on his shoulder. "We just have to be more careful."

"You're right I guess... But are you sure?"

"Yes I'm sure stop worrying."

———

"Okay June ready throw the ball to me!" Caspian says kneeling down. They were using a small foam football from the dollar store. It was easier for June to hold then Caspian's football. She throws the ball and Connor begins running for him. Caspian dodges him and runs back towards June he passes the ball and tells her to run.

"Yay! Touchdown!" She yells throwing the ball on the ground like she saw Caspian do the night before.

"Good job Duckling!" Caspian grins highfiving the young girl. "2-0." He says the points to his brothers.

"It's not fair why does she get to have you on her team!" Connor argues.

"Cause she's younger then you guys." Caspian chuckles.

"Can we eat our snack mom packed now?"

"Sure it's in my backpack." Caspian pointed at the black bookbag that say in the grass.

Jace and Connor hurry over to it and open the bag. They both pull out a sandwich bag of goldfish. June comes over to get something to eat as well and they hand her another bag. They toss one to Caspian before they all sit down in the grass.

"Who was that girl from last night?" Jace asks Caspian.

"Just a friend, I'll introduce you to her sometime." Caspian assures.

"Is she your girlfriend?" Connor teases.

"No me and Cassidy aren't dating." Caspian rolls his eyes.

"Cassidy and Caspian sitting in a K.I.S.S.I.N.G f-" Connor stops singing as Caspian pushes him.

"Shut up!"

"I thought your song was really pretty." June tells him causing the three boys to laugh.

"Thank you." Connor smirks.

Taglist: @anacrcarvalho @traceyaudette @deputy-videogamer @stillthatbetch @queenofthepouges @dontbescaredtosingalong @hauntedmuffinpersonarascal @food8me @cedricdiggorysimpp @findthebeautyinbreakdowns @selluequestrian @killerqueenfan @lharrietg @liecastillo @denisemarieangelina @wisepeanutlady @unicornblueberry @stitchattacks @milacolibri @spooky-stoner @marvelmenwhore @saahmi @boldlypessimistic @freakyevanss @asuni921 @srhxpci @supriseeshawtyy @nova10711 @nik2write @blueeyeddemon1016 @happinessinthebeing @winterberryfox @sunwardsss @ellerosie2332 @the-photo-hoe @tanyaherondale @hollzo-03 @xuxszx @patzammit @dakotazzzzz @scarletmeii @janaev4ns @channiechanchan @hibernocaledonian

[panicinart]

A nanny to replace with someone new part 1

Brahms x transman/transmasc reader

Please take my writing privilege away when it's past midnight

There arnt any trigger warnings here and at the moment no gendered words or pronouns is used! I guess there is a bit of queer coding(???) if you squint but nothing to serious or specific

Your phone vibrated with a new message send to you. Scrambling it out of your pants with hasty and shaking fingers while the other hand tryd it's best to not let the travel suitcases fall on the floor. Giving it a quick glance your lips curled into a smile, it was your best friend asking how the flight into the UK was.

So you gave her a quick message on how you got the worst seat imaginable. The guy next to you constantly gave you weird glances, he tryd to be sneaky about it, looking at your way when he thought you were asleep or occupied with something else. The smell that receded from him wasn't pleasant either, betting your left arm that he didn't shower for at least 3 weeks straight.

A few seats away was a couple that constantly started a loud argument with each other about the most random and unimportant things imaginable. When the fly attended tryd to calm them down the whole scenario got even more chaotic, making a kid that was another few seats away cry loudly. You would feel bad for the child if it wasn't for your enormous migraine building up. The only good thing out of the situation was when a bag of salted snacks got accedntly thrown to your way, giving you a free extra snack.

As you clicked send an announcement made it's self know with loud static noises. The train had a one hour delay. At this point your nerves were on edge. With a heavy sigh you walked out of the airport to the underground, at least there was now some time to look at the airport stores. Buying a few snacks here and there and seeing the cute souvenirs lighten up your mood a bit, and you even found a pharmacy!

Munching at your last chocolate bar and swallowing the pill for your migraine as you clumsily walked down the stairs to the subway, you eyes skimmed for a clock, and there it was, old and a bit rusty but it worked just fine showing that it's currently 7:43 pm.

'20 more minutes'

you thought, as you gave it a quick glance with a groggy look,

'Might as well give her a quick text'

•hey,sophie the train has a delay probably will come in like an hour late if everything goes well.

It took a few minutes until she texted you back

▪︎Yea I already thought that, can't have shit in public transport >:/

•yea,,, so,,, how is the babysitting going? Is the kid as bad as the last one you took care of???

▪︎Nope! How should it when it's a doll :)

•....

....

....

a what???

▪︎A doll! It's one of those weird porcelain ones that look like a small child. It's even live sized! I was already weirded out that a couple this old would have small children of their own but that? A whole new level of weird

•,,,,what are you doing with it????

does it just hang around or do you actually take care of it??

As you waited for an answer another announcement was made, the train that should come in now 15 minutes should be here earlier.

You would have made a small victorious smile if the question didn't come crashing down like an avalanche.

Why do they keep it? Why do they need a babysitter when it's just a doll? Why is it live sized? And most importantly, how in the fresh fuck did they managed to let the train come earlier the thought. While being lost in your mind with questions your phone took you back into reality when it vibrated.

▪︎Nope! I just let it sit in the corner, sometimes I put a towel or blanket over it. It's stare is really fucking creepy....

•oh,,, so free money I guess, pretty cool.

hey sophie what was the name of the family??

Something with shire right??

Chestershire??

▪︎Heelshire, why do you ask?

•just out of curiosity, maeby there is an article about them and the doll.

i mean they are a well know family so I can imagine there is something out there about them. also my train is coming later then planned.

they made an announcement that it should come earlier the thought but,,, I think I won't come over today for the sleepover, I'm just too tired, sorry for the late cancelation

▪︎It's fine (Y/N)! You had a shitty flight so I can understand that! So we see us tomorrow :) ?

•ye

▪︎Awesome, can't wait to show you the creepy doll!

And with that the chat ended, your train already making a big entrance with the loud hald of it's heavy metallic wheels.

You took the suitcase back into your hands and tumbled your way into the train.

Looking around, you accepted defeat that there was no seat left for you, your mood slowly dipping from tired annoyance to about to having a small fit. But that wouldn't help your progress, so you swallowed your anger down and leaned to one of the metallic poles. Wobbling a bit from left to right and needing to catch your suitcase to not let it roll over a passengers feet as the train started moving again.

You grabbed your phone, hesitating for a bit

'Do I really want to know what the fuck is going on or???'

You just shrugged your shoulders and gave it a go, the heelshire family is a rich pompous family you're sure there is something about them on the internet.

Aaaaand you were right, it didn't even took a second when hundreds of articles pooped up with dramatic headlines.

Terrible fire at the Heelshire mansion

Mysterious fire in Heelshire property

Heelshire, how their live turned quickly into a nightmare

These were the few that caught your interest.

You gave the articles quick reads, your tired eyes switching between almost falling shut from tiredness and going wide at the gruesome details on the tragedy.

Well that gives you a few indications on why they keep it.

'It's probably some kind of coping mechanism....'

You don't really see yourself as someone who's heart gets torn apart everytime you hear a sad and tragic story, but you still can't shake the heaviness off it all, a family losing their only child in an enormous fire that up to this day nobody knows were it came from.

Too keep your mind off the whole thing you looked outside, still having a bitter expression of the new info as you admired the houses.

It looks like your heading towards a more suburban area, making it look like one of your old English telenovela that you watch every now and then.

As the sun slowly goes down and engulfing the area in beautiful colors was quite a bit breathtaking, infact so breathtaking that you almost missed your station.

In a moment of panic you pushed yourself out of the train almost dropping a few things in it, but luckily you had everything with you.

With lazy steps towards a billboard your eyes scanned the map for the area, the bus stop wasn't far away, just a few minutes walk, but your heavy arms slowly giving up and your feet starting to hurt didn't really help.

You got your headphones out in hopes that listening to your favorite music makes the whole thing a bit more bearable.

Even tho it was just a tiny bit left until you arrived at your destination, somehow everything went wrong one way or another. You almost missed the bus and then one of it's tire pooped, making you wait for the next one that came in like half an hour.

Then one of your water bottles wasn't closed properly making some of your stuff soaked in it, destroying your notes, drawings and a few comics you had with you in the process.

When you arrived in the small but cozy hotel a woman had a giant fight with the manager. One of her kids didn't stop bothering you with weird and uncomfortable questions about your appearance. While the other didn't keep their grabby hands off of you. Then when she finally finished her rant on how the room service didn't left a small piece of chocolate for her children like always, she had the audacity to give you a 'tch' when she walked passed you with a slightly disgusted expression. The manager and her assistant apologized for the inconvenience and offerd you some candy as a sorry gift for the inconvenience, you don't want to sound like a glutton, but it did make you forget about the whole thing for a bit.

Finally you managed to get your keys. On the way to your room you almost dropped all your stuff becoming a clumsy mess that just wants to sleep.

As you opend the door impatiently you more or less threw your stuff on the chairs and floor quickly unpacked your pajamas and hastily puting them on. Dropping your body on the softest bed you ever were able to sleep in like a rock. To say that you were happy to finally be here is taking things way to lighty. With a happy sigh you closed you eyes for the well deserving sleep.

[mynameispuppy]

Talking in Summer chapter 1

Hello! this is my first fanfic in years, I plan on continuing it for a while. I put information about reader’s quirk and such in my first post. 

                                                  enjoy!

As I start to fold some plain colored tees I let out a sigh, I've been on my feet all day and I can't wait to just go home and relax. An old friend of mine suggested me to the manager here at superdry© in the mall. I'm grateful to have a job but I wish I could be working closer to my goals....

Since I turned 18 and left high school my life has been just a blob heading in no particular direction.

"Hey (y/n) looks like it's 7 are you ready to take a 15?" I hear my co-worker call out to me from the front desk. "Oh- yeah sure" I politely smile back at her, she was always looking out for me with breaks and such.

After gathering my stuff I head to the nearly empty dining area in the mall. 'Only one hour left' I state in my head while I take a bite of my sandwich. I look around and spot nothing particularly of interest.

Except one person.... Next to the center fountain sits a man

I see him quite often in the evening

He's thin with strikingly white hair and dark clothing. When I first started to notice him showing up, I speculated he worked in the mall since he was there almost on a schedule, but the more I look at his appearance and the fact he has no uniform I assume he may be homeless or just doesn't have anything to do.... 'Maybe I should stop judging people so much' Old habits die hard I guess.

Looking at my phone the screen lights up '7:15... Good timing (y/n)' I shuffle around and grab my things. Looking back one last time the white haired man seems to have left. 'Oh well'

The rest of my shift flies by mostly because I just get to sit here and talking to Yume, my co-worker, while we clean up the store.

Just like clock work I head home at 8pm. Taking the evening tram about 3 blocks away and then walking the rest of the way.

I climb the steps to my apartment and stumble inside taking off my shoes and running over to my shiki futon shoved between my closet and bookshelf.

I try to check up on my social media a bit and check on things but my eyes quickly grow heavy "I guess it's been a while since I slept huh?" I chuckle to myself. Plugging in my phone I roll over and decide to sleep.

                                                ❁     ❁     ❁

The next morning is hot, around 33°C, so I decide to wear some comfortable, breathable clothes like my beige plaid skirt and a v-neck white shirt. The outfit reminds me of my old school uniform 'why not go all in then...' I figure and do pigtails aswell.

The trip to work is boring and repetitive. I wish something would spice things up...even a little. At least I get off early today.

I walk up to the big red sign of the shop and proceed in placing my bag behind the counter and sitting down.

Customers will come in check out a jacket or two and leave.

I finally get snapped out of my trance when hear my phone alarm go off "hm?" I reach down and realize I must've set an alarm for break without remembering. 'Maybe I'll go get some (favorite drink) I'm not particularly hungry this morning', grabbing my wallet I make sure my manager is all set before heading out. I take a quick little stroll under the open roof of the mall as I approach the brown fake wooden "drink shack" shop.

When I enter I see that it's still kinda slow since it's the morning hours except a couple people sitting in the back. After getting my drink I decide to head to the middle of the shop where I see a brown haired man sitting at the back bar and that same white haired man sitting at a booth.

I drink my (favorite drink) while keeping my locked gaze on the habitual man for a creepily long time. I was still tired out from my quirk so I must've been zoning out for a second too long...

He looks up at my line of sight and makes direct eye contact. 'I've never seen his eyes before... Red huh? Creepy.' I think to myself while he looks around him probably trying to see what I'm staring at. I try to fix the awkward situation by giving him a little wave but he just shoves his head back down into whatever paper he's scribbling across.

'sigh'

'you know what why not just get up and walk over there he could be a new friend'

I blush at the idea of being so bold I've never been particularly loud or extroverted before. But almost as if my embarrassment and body weren't even in tune I find myself approaching the man. I almost collapse on the booth seat across from him my legs shaking and hands in a clammy cold sweat clutching my drink. "......do..yo-you work here?" I force the conversation out trying to seem confident. His red glare slowly makes its way to my face "AT THE MALL I MEAN!" That came out louder than intended....I can feel my face get hot from all the cringe building up inside my body.

"Why are you bothering me." The words were scratchy and seem to cut out of his throat blunt and awkward. I start to wiggle uncomfortably realizing the humiliating situation I put this stranger and myself in.

"I apologize, I see you around here a lot I thought you may have noticed me." I squeeze out while looking at the table slowly scooting out of the booth.

"Right..." He trails "you work at that clothing shop next to the fountain."

I perk up a bit I guess he did take note of me. "W- yes I do," I stand up and bow "it's a pleasure to meet you officially." I scramble to be polite and smooth the situation over. "Yeah." He seems to be done with me so I nervously spit out "Well feel free to say hi anytime!" before turning back to the shop since my break was over.

I get scolded by your manager for being a bit late. But overall I'm over the moon proud of my confidence, maybe this won't turn out so bad even if he decides to decline your offer.

Quickly finishing up my last few hours of work since I only had a 4 hour shift today and decide to do some window shopping at the mall before leaving looking at other clothing shops and game stores.I had taken a study break from games, but since I have graduated, I've been trying to catch up by skipping sleep thanks to my quirk. Sadly I still find myself exhausted. Nothing catches my eye so I decide to head out.

Taking a stroll around town it's still quite sunny at 1pm, I decide to head to the park next to the local high school. A place I used to frequent a lot. Checking out my phone I see the headlines and new articles everyone seems to be in a frantic state "Destruction and mayhem..." I let slip under my breath while rolling my eyes.

This is why I want to be a veterinarian, actually be helpful. I always feel like heroes and cops are one in the same... Useless. While I start to bask in the sun I start hear squabbling between two males but their faces are blocked by the thick park trees. Leaning over I notice that one of them ran off. Spotting some oddly familiar shoes as the second person starts to walk into view.

To save myself any more staring embarrassment I quickly go back to closing my eyes at the sun only to feel the Bench's weight shift under my bottom. 'Someone is sitting next to me'. I take a peek and see the crusty pale man from the mall. "Hello?" I state looking for a response. With scrunched eyes he looks over at me and makes eye contact. 'he must not get out often' I think to myself.

"Fancy seeing you here" I chuckle to try and start a conversation. "Yeah." He rasps. 'is that all he knows how to say? What a weirdo maybe I shouldn't have approached him' I think before trying again at entertain him "Thank you accepting my of-ffer" stumbling at the end scared I might be annoying him. "Mmm" he grunts.

You're definitely annoying him.

"Do you want my number?" My words break out of my lips like water in a dam

'jeez why don't you just stalk him at this point' scolding myself.

"What makes you think I do." His words offend me in an odd way. "Well I just figured maybe we could become acquainted better that way...maybe?" Even I seem unsure of what I'm saying. Without another word he slaps his unlocked phone in my lap, hurrying to put my number in under (y/n) (l/n). "Feel free to text me anytime, I gotta head out." I say, I don't really need to leave but I'm pretty sure if I'm here any longer all my embarrassment is going to make me crumble.

bowing politely I turn to leave. "Hey." My head spins around to see the scrubby man now standing and looking at his phone, "Bye.", he nods at me before turning off and leaving as well. 'what a blunt man he must not have a lot of friends.... Oh There I go again judging I should really quit'. I seem to be filled with excitement though. Meeting new people is a rush I haven't had the pleasure of feeling in a while. I feel myself smiling all the way home.

[fly-pow-bye]

Powerpuff Girls 2016 - “A Slight Hiccup”

Written by: Haley Mancini

Written & Storyboarded by: Alicia Chan, Caitlin Vanarsdale

Directed by: Nick Jennings, Bob Boyle

This is far more than a hiccup, trust me.

An apology in advance: there is not a lot to say about this episode, so do not expect as much text as the last one. This episode is a very "high concept" episode, the kind of episode idea that would appear as a short gag in The City of Clipsville. The big difference is that this short gag is going to be 12 minutes long.

Blossom: Stop right there, evil-doer!

Ah, finally, an episode that starts with a crime being fought, just like the old days!

No, she’s just practicing her next battle lines, just in case they ever have to use them. Other rejected lines include "villains stink", "we’ll save you", and "we're heroes"! Honestly, I would just stick with "not so fast."

The girl currently talking to herself about battle lines is interrupted by Buttercup trying to teach Bubbles how to do the perfect burp. Yes, it is that kind of episode.

Surrounded by tens of soda cans littered across the house, which Blossom is apparently not bothered by, Blossom asks what Bubbles and Buttercup are doing. To subvert our expectations, Blossom tells Bubbles that she should not listen to Buttercup because she should listen to her on the subject of burping. She's the leader, so she must be the best at everything, including belching!

We get a very long sequence of the Powerpuff Girls drinking several cans of soda, filling their cheeks to the brim, and throwing them on the floor. Such great role models, drinking very unhealthy drinks and littering! Hiccup punch, girl down, womp womp.

Bubbles celebrates her first good burp, apparently because she's the blonde, but Blossom knows that this is just a mere hiccup. A mere hiccup that causes them to launch across the room a split second after the hiccup. I think the timing is a little off, guys.

The Professor makes a short visit to this episode to explain what is happening to them: since they're superheroes, their hiccups are super, too. He recommends that they drink a glass of water, but it doesn't stop the hiccups. Worse, Bubbles says that now she needs to pee. They never follow through with that, and I am glad that is the case.

They get a call from the mayor that the jar district is being attacked. The Powerpuff Girls spend quite a bit of time getting shocked by this. No, not by the very existence of the jar district, or the fact that the Mayor actually called them in this reboot, but how anyone could attack the lifeblood of the town!

We cut to the Jar District...and it seems to be fine to me. The Mayor did manage to see a blimp in the shape of some green troll-faced character.

Tour Guide: And to our right is the infamous Jar District...

Random person: The lifeblood of the town!

If it is the lifeblood of the town, how is it infamous? Words have meaning. Speaking of infamy, we finally get to see some trouble.

The real threat shows up minutes later, as this episode about super-hiccups has to have the silliest of super-villains. The Gnat is here, and I deeply regret ever saying this guy is my favorite of the reboot villains. For starters, Bianca Bikini is a lot better. His gimmick seems to be committing crimes when the Powerpuff Girls have issues. Well, that and being there when the Powerpuff Girls can get beaten up so Bliss can save the day.

He pretends to be this big threat to this Jar District, and then takes a significant amount of time coughing and being incomprehensible to the other people he's threatening. I am sure this was meant to be hilarious, and not just a desperate plea to the audience that they could not squeeze enough water out of the burp and hiccup plot stone.

The Powerpuff Girls show up desperately try to stop this hot air balloon, only to be thwarted by their super-hiccups. Even worse, their super-hiccups end up interferring with what are essentially cutaway jokes. Since they already used up all of the hiccup jokes they can muster, they decide to fit in all the jar jokes they can think of.

Like...one of the super-hiccups interrupting the Jar Czar. Because Jar sounds like Czar. Bubbles, on the other hand, manages to hiccup her away into another building.

They spend a lot of time on the aftermath of that, as if this was the most tragic moment of them all. They even made a song that is in no way a reference to What A Wonderful World. How is this worth that? Is it because it’s the all important jar district? At least it's actually animated; they could just randomly put a bunch of random stock footage, I say not knowing anything about what happens later in the episode.

One part that is caused by Bubbles' accidental act of tragic destruction is that a giant jar lid almost lands on the sobbing Mayor. The Powerpuff Girls do show off another superpower other than flight in that they catch this lid, only for the Mayor to keep crying. I know, he loves his pickles, which happen to come in jars.

They do a hiccup, causing them to spin around. It turns out, while they're holding this giant jar lid, the force of their hiccups manages to make them spin at super fast speeds. What do you know, something that heavily detrimented them is now to their advantage; this episode is just going through the cycles. All we need is for them to suddenly lose those hiccups as soon as it becomes inconvienent.

In the end, this causes a giant tornado. This was something they were able to do without super hiccups earlier in even the reboot, but that regular non-hiccup tornado didn’t even stop a giant spider monster, never mind this blimp. They really needed these super-hiccups to make a tornado that easily beats this reboot’s version of the Amoeba Boys.

Of course, now there’s a giant tornado running across Townsville. The girls’ actions lead to consequences, who would have guessed? It’s also heading towards this all-important and yet infamous Jar District.

They try to stop it by hiccuping against it, only for their hiccups to go away as soon as they need them. I told ya! It’s practically a cartoon law: whenever the bad thing that happened becomes essential to their victory, they suddenly have to lose it. What are the Reboot Puffs to do? Drink more soda, of course! Cue the obvious "trying to get soda out of the vending machine" joke!

While they get the soda, they don't seem to get the hiccups. However, Bubbles is making a weird face, and not the kind used for the usual wacky face gags. To bookend this whole thing, Bubbles finally gets to do the burp she was trying to do since the opening. A burp so big, it couldn't be animated. Oh no...

...they have to use stock footage. Unlike some of the other uses of stock footage, I could see where they are going here. This burp is so monstrous, it affects real life, destroys real buildings, and even dogs from Tex Avery cartoons! May not want to reference better cartoons in your bad one, guys.

The episode ends with the irony: the episode ends with a pan shot of the rest of the city being destroyed by the stock footage-y stock footage burp of stock footage, but at least most of the Jar District is okay! This may be one of the few highlights of this episode; I could see an episode of the original ending like this.

Does the title fit?

It is about hiccups...not very slight ones, though.

How does it stack up?

This episode was chosen to be the preview episode, and I can only wonder why. It's a very silly idea, and they couldn't get of a lot of material out of it. There are episodes that have bad ideas that end up being okay in the end, and this is not one of them.

Next, Discount Jojo interrogates some toys! It's better than it sounds, but maybe it's because of this episode.

← The Buttercup Job ☆ Toy Ploy →

[stimtoybox]

In reverence to that ask earlier about dim-glowing items, do you know if there are any companies that ship items like that to the Netherlands? The UK-based sites either ask a ridiculous amount of money or don't ship at all outside the UK, and I can't seem to figure out where to buy things like this myself. Only if you have time and spoons left, of course! Sorry to bother you, but I honestly didn't know that I needed it until someone mentioned it!

Gorgeous anon, I looked, but I don’t think I’ve been very helpful to you. I struggled with this too! I don’t need to fully understand descriptive text when most listings have pictures and the UK light-up toy ask showed me what to look for. Despite going very general with the search term “visueel”, I got very little.

By the way, thank you for telling me this. I’d been told by another stimmer that shipping from the UK to Europe generally wasn’t difficult or expensive, even though I wondered, so I’d been concentrating more on UK sites. I’ll keep this in mind for future reference - that it may be simple to shop from UK retailers for some European folk but not for others.

I do have a Netherlands tag on this blog, and I began by searching the webstores mentioned in those posts. I used the search terms “visueel” and “oplichten”, which I believe is a reasonable alternative for “light up”. (An actual Dutch speaker might be rolling their eyes at this Aussie who knows only a handful of words, most of them involving kaas and chokka vlokken…)

Toys for Hands has only the Tangle Nightballs, which light up when moved. They don’t appear to be dim at all. (They do have lots of Tangles, though!)

(Speaking of Tangles, I also found a listing for the Tangle DNA glow on Dutch webstore Leerhulpmiddelen. Just in case you want to get your hands on a super rare, awesome glow-in-the-dark Tangle.)

On Senso-Care I found light maracas and a sound and light ball.

On Nenko I found the awesome light-up pillow. (One success! Hooray!)

I couldn’t find any more Dutch stim/fidget toy stores, and my Dutch isn’t good enough to know where to begin with properly translating “stim toy stores”. Searching this and similar phrases in English only got me Yelp lists for the best general toy stores in the Netherlands.

In a general search, I found this LED galaxy-style light, but while there’s a .nl listing, I couldn’t determine where the product ships from. (As an Aussie, the many things that come up in general searches that ship here don’t come from here. I suspect, like Banggood and New Chic, this comes from an Asian supplier.) I also found this light-up ball on pet supply store De Huisdiersuper.

And that’s about where I started running into articles I couldn’t parse.

I can only suggest embarking on an extensive foot search, if possible, of toy and department stores. As was commented by @overlydramaticgollum on the UK post, those sorts of toys have been found in the kids’ furnishing sections of department stores (as is the case here in Australia, too). Anything more, I think, will require an actual Dutch speaker, which I am not.

I believe one of the mods of @sensoryseeker is Dutch and it might be worth sending an ask their way! And, of course, if any of my followers can help this sweet anon out, I’d be tremendously grateful.