#i can do 40 minutes easy and then start writing it up that’s not bad at all

[exopelagic]

help I just wanna play splatoon but I have to revise :(

[wwilsonbarness]

sweetie

pairings: dbf!bucky x y/n reader

summary: after yet another failed date your dad’s best friend Bucky cheers you up.. 

warnings: smut 18+ only (unprotected sex, oraL (M & F receiving), fingering, creampie, cockwarming, praise kink, safe word(mentioned not used), innocence kink), age gap (reader is early twenties, bucky is mid 40’s), use of pet names, swearing, body shaming (not from reader or bucky), insecure thoughts (reader) - let me know if I missed any :)

word count: 4092

a/n: I’m a slut for dbf!bucky so I had to use him for my first time writing smut🤭 go easy on me please i tried😭

Feedback, likes and reblogs are much appreciated :) 

I do not give permission for my work to be copied, reposted or translated on any other platform.

masterlist 

“Y/n?” 

“Yeah! Hey, Ryan right?” He just nodded and sat opposite you, clearly not caring he had shown up 20 minutes late. .

“You’re not what I expected” he tried to play it off with a chuckle but you just looked at him in shock, completely confused.

“What were you expecting?” 

“Someone a little.. you know” he pauses for a moment and looks you up and down before continuing, “it doesn’t matter” Before you could question what he meant you hear a familiar voice come from behind you. 

“Y/n, how are you sweetheart?” As you go to turn your head you feel a cold hand on your shoulder, instantly telling you who was there. 

“Buck! What are you doing here?” 

“I’m picking up some dinner on the way home from work, just spotted you two over here and thought I’d say hi” He looks over at your date with a slight smile. Bucky had always been protective over you, ever since he started working with your dad, he’d always be over at your house for some reason or another, but you’d never complain. You’ve secretly been crushing on him for a while now, there was just something about him that you loved, not to mention he was the hottest guy you’ve ever seen. 

“Oh right, sorry! This is Ryan, my date” You point your hand towards him, “Ryan, this is Bucky, one of my dad’s friends” Ryan stands up and holds his hand out waiting for Bucky to shake it. 

“Nice to meet you Bucky” So he doesn’t lack all respect it seems.

“Call me James” He tightly squeezes Ryan’s hand, maybe too hard as Ryan tries to pull away slightly. You couldn’t help the blush creeping up onto your face. Bucky only introduced himself as James to people he didn’t like, come to think of it you had only heard him introduce himself as James a few times. Once when you brought a boy home in your first year of college, to the creepy neighbours who moved into your street whilst Bucky was over for dinner and one of his colleague’s. He must have a good judge of character because all of those people turned out to be total dicks. 

“Well, I won’t take up any more of your time, have a good night you two” He leans down to give you a hug, and whispers into your ear, just loud enough so Ryan can hear. “See you later sweetheart” He turns to Ryan and nods before leaving. You feel your mood drop as he walks away, you were sad that he was leaving, especially with it meaning you were stuck with your sad excuse for a date. You pick up the menu and go to ask what he’s thinking of getting before the waitress interrupts.

“Ready to order?” Before you can respond asking for an extra few minutes Ryan answers for you. 

“I’ll have the pasta special  and she’ll have the chicken salad.'' You shoot him a confused look, similar to the look the waitress is giving you both. You couldn’t believe he was ordering for you, and ordering you a salad at that. God, you could not wait for this night to be over already. 

Surprisingly the conversation from there wasn’t that bad, he asked you about your job to which you explained the recent job you’d gotten as an elementary school teacher. Things were looking up until your food arrived. “I hope you didn’t mind me ordering for you, salad is always a safe choice, you know?”

“Do you have a problem with how I look or something?” He didn’t even seem shocked or embarrassed when you asked. 

“I’ve just never dated someone as big as you”

“what?” Was he serious right now? You’d gained a little weight recently due to stress eating but you didn’t think other people would notice, or point it out.

“Do you not think you could lose a few pounds? You’d look so much better, especially with a dress like that on.” You could feel the tears forming in your eyes as he spoke, little droplets gathering on your eyelashes. You tried to stop your voice from shaking before answering him. 

“I don’t think this is gonna work out” 

He rolls his eyes and scoffs. “God. Women are so sensitive these days” You didn’t want to show him how he was affecting you so you grab your jacket and walk out without looking back. You’re only outside for a couple minutes before you hear that voice again, along with a car horn. You lift your head up and see Bucky parked just ahead of you.

“You okay sweets?” 

“Buck, you’re still here?” you begin to walk towards him.

“Mhm, food took a while to come out. What’s wrong, are you okay?” 

You quickly wiped away the tears that were rolling down your cheeks “I’m fine, just wanna get home” 

“Hop in, I’ll give you a ride home” 

“Are you sure? I don’t wanna-“

“Don’t be silly, you know I don’t mind” you force a small smile out before making your way to the passenger side. 

“How was your date?” You turn to him with a look that makes it clear it was not a good time. 

“He was an ass” His gaze softens on you and he puts his hand onto your thigh and rubs circles over it with his thumb. 

“I knew it” He notices you trying to smile and softens his tone, “I’m sorry sweetie, come on I’ll take you home” 

“Thank you” He softly squeezes your thigh before moving his hand to focus on driving you home. You missed his touch already, it made you feel safe like you had someone who cared but it also excited you, making your body heat up. You quickly threw that idea out, he was your dads best friend, he would never think of you that way. 

Your apartment isn’t far away, the car journey only lasts around 10 minutes. It was a mostly quiet car ride, Bucky didn’t try and make you open up about your date but he was worried, you seemed really upset with whatever had happened. “Are you sure you're okay?” 

You tried to answer without letting your shaky voice show but you failed, “I just wanna get in and get changed out of this dress” You rub your hands over your dress to try and make yourself look better, you couldn’t help but think you looked bad after Ryan spoke about you like that. When Bucky parks outside your apartment you sit  in silence for a moment, you didn’t want to get out because it meant Bucky would be leaving you. “Do you want to bring your food in? It’ll be cold by the time you get back to yours” 

“That would be great, if you don’t mind” 

“Course not Buck” You both get out and walk up to your door. Bucky noticed you playing with your dress on the way, “you look real pretty in that dress” You turned to him as he spoke to you, surprised with what he said.

“Really? I thought I liked it too but, I, I don’t know” you trailed off slowly. 

“Whatever that asshole said to you, don’t listen to him. You look great” 

“Thank you Buck but you really don’t have to say that” 

“I mean it sweetheart, you look gorgeous” You smile up at him, a little less forced this time. It takes you a minute to compose yourself and find your keys but you finally manage to unlock the door.

“Sit down, I’ll get you a plate” 

“Bring two” he shouts through from the couch to your kitchen. 

“Okayy” you're slightly confused but take two plates out the cupboard along with two beers from the fridge, “but why do you need two?” 

“So you can have some” you weren’t in the restaurant too long, did you eat anything?” 

You were tempted to pretend you weren’t hungry but you really were starving. “Is there enough to share? I left before I could eat my salad” 

“Salad? you went to an italian restaurant and ordered salad?" Bucky laughed. 

“He ordered for me” Bucky stopped laughing as soon as the words left your mouth, and he started shaking his head. 

“What a dick, here” he unpacks his bag of food and lays them on the table in front of you both. “help yourself to as much as you like, lucky for you my eyes are too big for my belly” 

“So where'd you find this guy anyway?” 

You sat on the sofa for an hour or so and explained the whole story, including everything that happened on the date. By the end of it Bucky was angry, angrier than you’d ever seen him. He pulls his hand up to your face and cups your cheek, “Don’t let some boy make you feel insecure, you don’t need to change for anyone, and anyone would be lucky to have you” 

No one had ever spoken to you with such kind words and you could feel the tears forming again, you tried to play it off. You were embarrassed for being so emotional. “I’m sorry, just no one ever speaks about me like that” 

“You deserve to hear it everyday, and I really mean that” 

“Thank you buck, and thank you for sharing your food.” 

“Anytime sweetie” 

“I’m gonna go get changed and then I’ll clean this up okay?” 

“Sure, take your time” 

Only a couple minutes pass before Bucky hears you calling his name from your bedroom. 

“Y/n? are you alright” worry had set in fast, faster than it probably should’ve but he cared about you alot. he practically ran through, only stopping when he walked into you. 

“Where's the fire jesus” he puts his hands on your shoulders to try and steady you both. 

“I heard you calling my name, are you alright?” you couldn’t help but smile at his concern for you, it was nice to have someone who cared for you. 

“I’m okay, my hair’s just stuck in my zip, can you help me with it?” you reply as you walk back into your room, Bucky following you close behind. 

“Yeah, come here” you turn your back to him and lift your hair that isn’t stuck out of the way” 

“We might just have to cut it off” you playfully slapped his arm. 

“You wouldn’t dare” he places his hands to your hair and begins to work its way out, the touch of his fingers sends shivers all over you, you try to stifle the moan you make but you can tell you failed. 

“I'm just kidding don’t worry, there you go that should be it out” he says but he doesn’t move his hands. instead he turns you around and looks into your eyes. “You really are beautiful, especially in this dress” he loves to lean into your neck and whispers quietly, “even if I would prefer to see it on the floor” Yet again you couldn’t stop the blush appearing onto your cheeks, did he really say that?

You pull your head back a bit, Bucky starts to think he made you uncomfortable but it was quite the opposite, you pull his face towards you and push your lips together, it was a deep kiss, slow with an intensity you hadn’t felt before. You begin to pull away slowly, scared of overstepping but he pulls you back up against him, his hand cupping your hair, not too tight so you could pull away if you wanted to. His lips were soft, different to what you expected but it felt good. He pulls away slightly, but you can feel his grin against you. 

“You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that”  he says whilst catching his breath. 

“Really?” he hums in agreement. “What else did you want to do?” you feel his grin grow even more. He pushes you back a bit towards your bed and you follow him. 

“You sure you want to do this?” 

“I’m sure Bucky, please” 

“Just say red if you want to stop, okay?” you nod your answer. “I need words sweetie” 

“Yes buck” 

“Good girl” you can feel your panties getting wetter the more he talks to you, you desperately need him to touch you. 

“Bucky please” he could hear the desperation in your voice and it made him laugh, he loved having this effect on you. 

“What do you want, sweetheart? tell me what you want me to do to you” You got shy all of a sudden and it took a minute to find your words. 

“I want you to touch me” Bucky trails his hand down your body and stops between your legs. 

“Here?” he rubs circles over your clit through your dress making you moan and grab into his shoulder. 

“Fuck.. please Bucky” he takes his hand away, you pout up at him. 

“Take off your dress. and lie down” you do as he says, as he watches you with a grin on his face. It doesn’t take you long before you're laying down and Bucky crawls on top of you. He starts to kiss your neck, slowly making his way down to your breasts. “Can I leave this on?” he asks pointing to your bra, you just nod. Thank god you chose this lingerie set today. “You look so sexy in it, making me so hard baby” You let out a little laugh at him,”You’ve gone all shy on me sweets” 

“I'm sorry” Bucky shakes his head.

“Don’t apologise, it’s cute” He continues kissing you slowly, stopping when gets to the band of your panties. He begins to slowly take them off, “still okay?” 

“Yes, please buck. I need you” you whisper to him. 

He throws your panties onto the floor and opens your legs, biting his lips as he sees your pussy glistening in front of him. “Such a pretty pussy”

He lowers his head down and licks his lips before rubbing his fingers over your pussy, collecting the slick already gathered there. He brings his fingers up to his mouth and slowly licks them. “You taste so sweet baby” you feel your cheeks flush at his compliments, “Sweetest thing I ever tasted” he speaks before lowering his head back down. 

He presses his finger to your clit and pushes down a little, making you whimper. “Bucky please” you try to roll your hips up to get him closer to you. “Please buck i need you”

He doesn’t say anything but in the next second you feel his tongue against you. “Fuck Bucky” it was so much better than you were expecting. 

“Aw sweets, you're so wet. Is this all for me?” you nod again, biting your lip. He had hardly touched you and you already felt better than you ever have with anyone else. 

You tried to close your legs to escape the overwhelming feeling but Bucky pushed them open again and looked up to you. this was something you’d dreamt of seeing, having him looking up to you from between your legs. you couldn’t believe this was really happening.

“Gotta keep them open baby, so I can make you feel good” you nod down at him, as you nod he teases his finger around your pussy making you throw your head back. 

He lowers his head again and brings his tongue to your clit and begins to roll his tongue over it. You start to move around, the feeling is too much, he lifts his arm up to your stomach and presses down slightly to stop you from squirming. He uses his other hand to tease your pussy, “Fuck, your so tight sweetie”, he lifts himself up a little and brings his hand to your mouth and holds out two fingers. “Spit on them” you hesitate at first before dropping your spit onto them. 

When he gets back done to your legs he lightly blows on your clit, making you moan out. He begins to tease your hole and starts putting one finger in, slowly, “Fuck, i can’t wait to get my cock in you baby, your so tight” he pushes his finger in and out slowly a few times before adding in another. You can’t help the moan that leaves your lips. you don’t care how loud you’re being, it feels too good.You could feel the ache in your pussy getting stronger, your orgasm fast approaching, you’d never come this fast before. 

“Bucky, please don’t stop” he doesn’t stop, he speeds his fingers up feeling you tightening around them. “Oh.. Fuck. Bucky please I'm gonna- I’m gonna come. Don’t stop” you throw your hands around you, grabbing onto the covers and squeezing them as hard as you can.

“Come for me baby” a few more thrusts of his fingers and you come, your eyes roll back, your orgasm leaving you whimpering, Bucky drops his head down and licks your come. “How do you feel sweetie?”

“Good” is all you can manage, still trying to catch your breath. 

“You did so good baby” he crawls back up to you and plants a kiss on your lips, you can taste yourself on him. You feel his cock through his jeans touching your stomach and reach down for it. 

“Bucky?” you ask shyly. 

“Yeah baby?” he pushes your hair out of your face and cups your cheek.

“Can I touch you?” you slightly squeeze his bulge as you ask, batting your eyelashes up at him. 

He chuckles a little at how shy you are. “Of course you can sweets” he lays down beside you and guides you to sit up beside him. you start to unzip his jeans pull them down before he lifts his hips up making it easier for you to remove his clothes. When his jeans are off you see his cock jump up, it was a lot bigger than you had ever seen before. nerves started to slowly set in, what if you couldn’t make him feel as good as he made you? 

It was as if Bucky could read your mind, he saw the concern in your eyes and started to reassure you. “Sweetie, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to” 

“I want to” you reply quickly before quieting down and slowly continuing “I just don’t know if it will be as good as you made me feel, I don’t wanna disappoint you” 

“You could never disappoint me baby, I'll help you if you need it okay?” you nod your head, and trail your fingers up his thighs before reaching for him. You grab the base of his cock, your hand doesn’t reach around it fully so you bring your other hand beside it. “Fuck baby, that already feels so good” his praise gave you a bit more confidence. Quickly gathering some spit in your mouth, you drop it down onto the tip of his cock, and use your thumb to rub circles over it. He was feeling so sensitive he couldn’t stop his groans leaving him, “fuck Y/N, keep doing that” you did just that, whilst your other hand slowly rubs up and down his cock. 

“Can I put it in my mouth?” Bucky's a bit taken aback by your sudden confidence but he doesn’t hesitate to answer. 

“Please do” you move closer to him and settle between his legs, you lower your head down and lick his tip gently before bringing your tongue down to the base and working your way back up slowly. “Fuck, baby you keep doing that and your gonna make me come.” His praise was making your cheeks flush and he noticed, so he kept going. “Baby you're doing so good, it feels so. fuck. so good” You begin to put his cock in your mouth, going as far down as you could before bobbing your head up and down. Bucky places his hand on your head and slightly pushes your head down further, “fuck sweetheart, your gonna make me come.” 

You speed up, wrapping your hands around his shaft where your mouth can’t reach, Bucky was moaning and whining loudly beside you, his breathing was speeding up. You could tell he was about to come, you wanted him to come in your mouth, you needed to taste him.

“Baby, I’m gonna come, oh god I’m gonna come” he expected you to pull away from him but you keep going until his come shoots down your throat. “Fuck baby, fuck that was good” you look up to him, come dripping out your mouth and smile. “You look so pretty covered in my come sweetheart” He smirks at you, making you blush yet again. You use your finger to collect the come dripping out your mouth and suck on it, which makes Bucky’s cock twitch. 

You look down and see that he’s still hard, so you crawl up to him and whisper into his ear “could you fuck me?” so quietly he hardly hears you. 

“Sweetie you gotta speak up” you pout at him, but repeat yourself. You could feel your pussy throbbing, you needed him inside you. 

“I want you to fuck me Bucky, please” He turns to you

“Lie down” you immediately do as he says. “I’m gonna fuck you like the good, dirty girl you are” he grabs his cock and stroked himself a couple times to get it ready for you. “Remember to use the safe word if you need me to stop okay?” 

“I remember, but please just fuck me. I need you” he brings his cock to your pussy, pushing just the tip in. “Go slow please, you're bigger than I’ve ever had” Bucky felt a hint of jealousy over the thought of anyone else being inside you but he pushed it aside and focused on you. 

“I’ll be gentle don’t worry sweetheart” He brings his tip out and pushes slowly back in a couple times, letting you adjust to him. When it becomes easier he goes in deeper, nearly halfway in. You moan in the mix of pain and pleasure, he was stretching

you but it felt good. 

“Fuck Bucky, you feel so good, keep going please” He pushes in further, rubbing circles over your clit as he does, making it easier for him to fit inside you. 

“Shit baby, you're so tight. squeezing my cock so good” He hadn’t even fucked you properly yet and you could already feel your orgasm coming close. 

“Bucky fuck me please, just fuck me” he bottoms out inside of you, hitting a spot you didn’t even realise existed within you. “OH my god Bucky, keep going. please. It feels so good” 

“Such a good girl for me, taking my whole cock” your moans make him fuck you harder, chasing the release he so desperately needed “So good sweets, you feel so good” 

“Fuck, Bucky. duck me harder please Bucky” 

“You want more?” he thrusts into you harder as he says each word. “Fuck, you’re gonna milk my cock” you can feel your orgasm coming at you with full force.

“Buck I’m gonna -fuck I’m gonna come, don’t stop please” 

“Aw baby you gonna come all over my cock?”  you nod your head, unable to form words at this point “oh fuck. you're squeezing me so tight I’m gonna come. You want me to come inside you? Want me to fill you up?” 

You nod quickly, trying to bring yourself to speak. “Please, please Bucky come inside me please” 

“Always using your manners, sweets, even when you're so drunk on my cock hmm?” You wrap your legs around his waist and pull him towards you.

“Bucky please” you were desperate for your release at this point. He lifts your hands and puts them either side of you, each of his hands pinning yours down and towering himself over you. 

“Oh fuck. Come with me baby. Come with me” He’s thrusting into you so hard, hitting that spot again and again. Your legs begin to shake as your orgasm crashes through you. “Fuckk.. Oh my god Bucky” 

“So. Fucking. Good.” he replies, just as his cock crashes into your pussy. “You milked me so good, such a good girl baby” 

Bucky goes to pull out of you but you stop him, “stay like this please? Just for a little bit”

He cuddles into you as close as he can without moving out of you, and places a kiss on your forehead.

“Anything for you sweetheart”

[glowupwithamy]

Finish what you started and transform your productivity

Recently i picked up a book i hadn't read in a long time for the past week i hadn't been able to work properly my tasks were going unfinished so i opened my cupboard and saw that book right in front of me. Then i read the whole book in just a one night and it sparked inspiration in me ..So i thought why not share everything i learned with all of you?

So I'm giving you guys a structured summary of Finish The Art of Following Through - Taking Action, Executing & Self Discipline by Peter Hollins -

1. The Importance of Execution

The ability to follow through allows you to create the life you desire rather than settling for the one you currently have. The process consists of focus, self-discipline, action, and persistence

2. Barriers to Follow Through

- Inhibiting Tactics: These include setting bad goals, procrastination, succumbing to distractions, and poor time management.

- Psychological Roadblocks: These encompass laziness, fear of judgment or failure, perfectionism driven by insecurity, and lack of self-awareness.

3. Staying Motivated

To remain motivated holds both external and internal motivators -

- External Motivators: These involve utilizing other people or resources to encourage action, such as accountability partners upfront investments and self bribery

- Internal Motivators: These focus on understanding personal benefits and improvements. Ask yourself questions such as How will this benefit me? and How will my life improve?

4. Developing a Manifesto

A manifesto is a set of daily rules that guide your actions so her are the some key rules -

- Rule 1: Identify if you’re acting out of laziness and avoid it.

- Rule 2: Limit yourself to three major tasks per day.

- Rule 3: Establish daily limitations and requirements

- Rule 4: Reaffirm your intentions through statements like I want I , will and I won't

- Rule 5: Reflect on the future consequences of not following through

- Rule 6: Utilize the concept of "just 10 minutes" to push through discomfort.

5. Follow Through Mindsets

- Mindset 1: Recognize the worthiness of your efforts.

⭐ Mindset 2: Become comfortable with discomfort.

- Mindset 3: Understand that learning comes from completing tasks.

- Mindset 4: Manage stress and anxiety effectively

6. Overcoming Procrastination

Procrastination can be managed through strategies such as:

- Temptation Bundling: Combine unpleasant tasks with enjoyable activities.

- Creating Momentum: Make starting tasks as easy as possible to gain momentum.

- Leveraging Fear: Use productive paranoia to spur action but cautiously

7. Minimizing Distractions

Create a work environment free from distractions and focus on

⭐ Single Tasking: Avoid multitasking to eliminate attention residue ( I will also create a separate blog on this topic i used to face this problem earlier and i have used many methods to reduce my habit of multitasking so i will write a blog about it. Don't worry )

- Batching Tasks: Group similar tasks to improve efficiency.

- Creating a Don't-Do List : Identify tasks to ignore and avoid ( This method is literally too much helpful )

8. The 40–70 Rule

This rule suggests acting when you have 70% of the necessary information as waiting for 100% is unrealistic

9. The Importance of Rest

Recognize the value of rest and relaxation as essential for mental recovery

10. Common Pitfalls

- False Hope Syndrome: Avoid unrealistic expectations and set achievable goals.

- Overthinking: Avoid excessive rumination and focus on taking action.

- Worrying: Concentrate on the present and control what you can.

11. Developing Daily Systems

Establish daily behaviors that promote consistency and long term success

⭐ Keep a Scoreboard: Track progress for motivation ( Ive been using this method for the past four days it literally shows me where I am making mistakes and what I need to do to complete my unfinished tasks )

By following these structured advice you can improve your ability to finish what you start and achieve your goals

If you have any questions or tips to share feel free to drop them in the comments in here to chat , Stay connected for more tips and insights thanks :)

[doudouneverte]

Worried Moms

a/n: hey it's my first request, i hope you'll like it. I loved to write it.

*not my GIFs*

WandaNat x adoptive!daughter!reader; Natasha Romanoff x Wanda Maximoff; Avengers x teen!f!reader

Request: And I do have something to request if you feel comfy doing it. Mom!Wanda and Mama!Nat with the reader as their daughter. Reader gets sick and tries to hide it and push through it but they end up fainting or something like that, cue to mama bears mothering her to health. (Idk if fainting can be considered a trigger but if it's for you, I'd gladly read the fic with whatever you have in mind.). [Request by @darkstar225]

Summary: You're sick but you have to hid it from your moms because you want to go in mission, unfortunatly for you and Sam everything don't go well.

Type: Fluff

Warning: maybe 'fucked up' use three time

word count: 1319

--------

You awoke with a headache; it was unusual for you to become ill since gaining your powers. You didn't know if it was a bad thing, but you had to hide it; the next week, you'll go on a mission, but first you have to get your moms' approval. They said they would think about it if you managed to survive your training session. Easy, no? The rest of the day, your state was getting worse, but because you successfully hid it from an ex-assassin and a witch who could read your mind (even if she didn't do it without your consent), you could handle it a little longer.

The next day, otherwise, at the time you woke up, you thought you could die; if it was a cold, it was the worst you ever had. But you didn't really have the time to think about it; you checked your clock: 9 a.m., which meant you had one hour before the start of your training session. You decided to take a hot shower; it was helpful for the next 40 minutes. Today you were paired with Sam to upgrade your hand-to-hand combat skill. At first it was like usual, but suddenly your breath hurt your lungs. You stopped and tried to process what was happening, but Sam punched you in the face. It wasn't a strong punch; he restrained himself, but due to your poor condition, you fell on the training ground with your eyes closed; you were knocked out. When your body hit the ground, everyone in the room froze. There was silence until Sam kneeled next to you and asked, "Y/n? Y/n, are you all right?"

Obviously not, but you didn't mind that he couldn't think clearly. To be honest, no one could; the Falcon picked you up from the floor and ran to the med bay, followed by all the rest of the team.

"You're fucked up, Sam." Bucky said,

"I didn't do anything; we were training, and I just tried to punch her. "Usually, she'd dodge and hit me back," he defended himself.

"But now she's knocked out, and the only person with her was you. FRIDAY, could you please call doctor Cho?" Steve asked the A.I.

"It's done, Mr. Roger," the IA confirmed, but the hero couldn't respond before FRIDAY spoke again. "Mrs. Romanoff and Mrs. Maximoff are back."

There; he was fucked up. On their way to the kitchen, the two redheads found Helene, who was in a hurry and bumped into the shorter woman. "Sorry Natasha, I didn’t look where I was walking,” she apologized, and the Russian nodded.

“It’s okay, don’t worry, but you seem in a hurry, so we will not restrain you more.” She said and stepped aside to let the doctor resume her course. Wanda just had the time to put the bags on the counter when FRIDAY spoke.

“Mrs. Maximoff, Mrs. Romanoff, the doctor needs you in the infirmary right now.” The two women exchange a confused look before heading to where they were called. In front of the room, the witch felt a wave of fear and sadness, and she started to worry. Of course, Nat noticed and grabbed her hand before they walked into the room.

Their eyes widened when they saw you in the bed; they rushed to you before any of them could say anything Sam explained what’s happened. “How couldn’t you notice she was not like usual?” the Russian yelled at him, and nobody found the courage to defend him.

Wanda approached you and cupped your cheek. "Don't worry, dragă (darling), she's fine," the Sokovian assured her, and Helen spoke up.

"Don’t worry, Natasha I just got the results from the test, and it seems she just has a cold.” The doctor reassured her, and the ex-assassin seemed to be more calm. “She just needs to rest for a week. I’ll give you some medicine in case she needs it after she wakes up.” Everyone except your mothers left you after your mothers nodded.

After two hours, you awoke. You were surrounded by two worried redheads. “Hey, you.” you said softly.

“Hey, you.” Wanda said, and Natasha gave you a soft smile. “How are you feeling?” the witch asked you.

“Like I collided with a bus, but he was moving. But I think I'm okay," you said, looking around and raising your brows. "Where am I?" you inquired.

“In the infirmary,” the Black Widow said this time, “we were really worried about you when Sam told us what’s happened.”

You sighed “I’m sorry,” you said quietly.

“Since when?” Wanda asked, and her wife looked at her confused. “Since when have you been like this?” she added.

“Yesterday.” You admitted it shyly.

“Yesterday!?” the older woman loudly repeated, and you nodded. “Why did you hide it from us?” She inquired, a little concerned about her failure to notice it earlier.

You played with your fingers to try to erase your anxiety, “because you said you’d let me go with you if I finished the training session. And I wanted to make you proud of me, and show you I was ready. So, I forced myself to not let you know and not think about it when I was near Mama.” You paused a moment, saying, "I'm sorry if it makes you worry," and some tears found their way into the corner of your eyes.

“Hey, it’s okay.” Nat cupped your cheek and brushed your tears with her thumb. “It’s okay; we’re a little worried, but it’s okay; we’re not mad or anything. You don’t have to cry, malyshka (baby girl)” their eyes were wet too.

You were about to speak again when a red whip lifted you. The scarlet magic tickled you “We can’t stay here, and you have to rest.” The witch said, and you laughed, “What is so funny?” She gave you a falsely curious look.

“It-haha…it’s tickling me.” You barely said and before you could notice she lend you on your bed. ‘Thank you,” you said, and they gave you a kiss on both cheeks before heading to the door. “Where are you going?’ you asked.

“We must cook you something. We’ll not let you like that.” Wanda said before they left the room. In the kitchen, everybody was waiting for the two women to give an update.

“How is our little fireball?” Tony asked.

“Much better,” Wanda replied, “she just needs rest. We put her in her bed, and we’ll cook something, so she’ll eat before sleeping again.” She explained, and after that, Natasha hit Sam’s head.

“What was that for?” he asked, a little scared.

“You hit our baby girl.” the Russian replied; “you’re lucky Wanda didn’t throw you away earlier,” she added, and the atmosphere changed. “And for the mission, I think we will let you go. We will stay with Y/n. I’ll text Fury.” She explained, nobody found any reason to argue; they know how much they love you, so it's obvious they’ll never let you alone in this condition.

You spent the next week in your bedroom, surrounded by your moms’ love; you couldn’t leave your bed without one of them following and making sure you were okay. Sam was not allowed to approach you for a month. It was pretty funny, and after that, he spent two months making sure you forgave him, even if you assured him it was not his fault.

This little incident proved how much they loved you, and of course you were glad even if you already knew that. You adored them just as much as they do.The world knew how scary the Black Widow and the Scarlet Witch were, and Sam could approve. But the world didn’t know how lovely and careful they could be, between them, of course, but twice as much with you.

[neptunes-curse]

Competitive || FW

even though Fred loves you, that doesn’t stop him from trying his hardest to beat you in quidditch.

pairings: fem!hufflepuff!chaser!reader

warnings: cussing, meantions of eating/food, mentions of anxiety, mention of death, friendly competition, very bad injury, blood, concussions, and passing out

authors note: Cedric’s not dead, because i said so. I know it’s been forever since i posted but y’know, life gets in the way. Also, I know nothing about palm reading so if i’m wrong/something is inaccurate, i’m really sorry. I edited this, so hopefully it’s better 👍

(gif not mine)

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・

You were sitting in the great hall for breakfast, next to all of the Hufflepuff quidditch team. Cedric was making sure everyone knew the strategies, which he had already done 3 times this morning alone. But all you could think about was the semi-finals game tonight against Gryffindor. It felt like your team had been preparing for this since the beginning of time. You were ready, but it didn’t stop your stomach from being tied in a knot. Especially since you were going to play against your very competitive boyfriend, Fred Weasley. By no means would he go easy on you, gosh, probably harder on you since you were dating. He’d been teasing you about it for weeks.

“Y/n, are you even listening?” a very annoyed Cedric complained from across the table, snapping his fingers.

“What- yes, of course I am. It’s not like I’ve heard it a million bloody times already.” You replied with an eye roll, wanting this to be over so you could go back to enjoying your meal.

“So, as I was saying, I’m at right, Y/n is at left…” He trailed off about our starting positions, and you went back to daydreaming before your friend told you it was time for class.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・

“Nervous, darling?” Fred teased from the other side of the table during divination.

“Me, Nervous? No, never-“ You said with sarcasm in your voice as you started writing down your results from the palm reading you did on him earlier. “And,” you continued, “Your palm reading says you’ll have great misfortune later, so who knows, maybe Hufflepuff will win.”

“Aw, this is all bull shit anyway.” Fred said rolling his eyes and looking up at you.

You say, laughing, “Now you’re just scared, Freddie-“ Which is true, because you could tell he was nervous too. He always picked at his nails when he was nervous. It was a bad habit, but still was something you picked up on.

“Whatever you say, Hufflepuff” He winked at you then seemingly went in for a kiss, before pulling his head back and ruffling you hair.

“Heyyyyyy~” you whined sarcastically

Fred chuckles in response “No kissing until the game tonight, when I win.”

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・

40 minuetes until the game. You were shaking, the butterflies in your stomach wilder then ever. Walking down the hallways was a task in itself, the heavy broom in your hand and your quidditch robes waying you down. Not to mention your knees trembling with every step. You were naturally a anxious person, but the semi-finals of the quidditch season was stressful. Cedric had requested you get there 30 minutes early, preferably earlier than that, but nobody was listening at that point after he’d gone over our strategy for scoring on Oliver Wood for the millionth time.

When you finally made it to the pitch, you were fifteen minuetes late. Cedric automatically flew down to you, shaking his head.

“Y/N, where we’re you? You’re the last one here.”

“I can tell, Cedric. Someone had to do it though.” You laughed and hopped up on your broom, quickly flying past to him and up to your starting position.

“C’mon Cedric, we’re waiting!” Everyone around you laughed, but the captain didn’t look too amused.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・

You couldn’t belive it. The game was about to start. Oliver and Cedric were doing the coin toss, and if you thought your nerves were something before, everything was 10 times worse now. Your heart was pounding, limbs shaking, and frankly, you thought it was a heart attack. Fred was sitting on his broom across from you, and right when the whistle blew, He winked and flew off. You had barely any time to recover from the wink or the chills, and swiftly flew off to your teammate who had acquired the quaffle.

Flying behind your teammate, Heidi Macavoy, was not easy. The Gryffindor team was being very aggressive, and bludgers were flying right past your head with very little warning. You and Heidi were nearing the goal, and Oliver looked at you two as if he had fire in his eyes. You started trying out Cedric’s strategy, flying all over the right end of the pitch to distract the beater. It didn’t seem to be working though. He was very focused, and when Heidi threw the quaffle, it barely got anywhere before Oliver deflected it with his broom. It was going to be a long match.

45 minutes later, neither team had scored and many injuries had been sustained. Cedric had nearly fallen to his death 3 times, Angelina Johnson took a quaffle to her now-very-crooked nose, and you have had over 20 bludgers come into contact with your head. All sent at you by the one and only, Fred Weasley. He wasn’t trying to hurt you, just teasing really. After the 21st time he’d done it, you looked over at him and gave him a very mean stare. A warning, that he better stop or you know, something bad would happen. And just when you were done with your stare, a fast flying bludger hit your boyfriend smack in the head. Next thing you know, Fred was off his broom, and falling down towards the ground. It seemed like nobody noticed but you. You sat there, watching your boyfriend fall down bascially at the speed of light. You were frozen. And just like that, Madam Hooch blew the whistle.

Fred’s body stopped right above the ground, the wound on his head very prominent.

“Everyone get down. The game will finish when each team has fully conscious players.” Madam Hooch yelled out loud enough for everyone to hear. There were groans from all around, the stands full of people looking very disappointed. Oliver Wood looked near tears, and ran off to the locker rooms.

“Someone is butt hurt.” Anthony Rickett muttered.

“With our luck this means 50 more hours of practice.” Katie Bell chuckled.

You weren’t worried about their sly comments though, only yor boyfriend. He was being taken to the hospital wing with Madam Pomfrey.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・

When Fred woke up, He found a half-asleep Y/N by his side. He had a wrap around his head, and his legs felt rather weak.

“W-what happened?” Fred blinked hard and stretched his arms out.

“Fred! Finally, you’ve been out forever. You took a bludger to the head.” You turned to him and placed a hand on his forehead.

“Did we win? Is Gryffindor going to the championship?” He quickly said sitting up and looked at you eagerly.

“They called the game off. We’re continuing next week when everyone recovers.” Shrugging, you continued to check on him and handed Fred his glass of water

“Oi, what rubbish.” He looked over at you and smirked. “We’ll still win.”

“Oh, we’ll see…” you looked back down at him. “I know neither team has won yet, but could I still get that kiss?”

He smirked and moved closer to you. “Gonna make out with an injured man, eh? Sounds dangerous.”

“Fred Gideon Weasley, when have you ever done anything safe?” You say, giggling and moving a hair out of his face.

“Hm, good point love.” Fred shrugs, leaning into you and placing a soft kiss on your lips.

It was heavenly, as all of your kisses with Fred were. But, you two were soon interrupted.

“Ooooo, what do we have here?” Fred’s twin brother, George, teased in a sing-song tone

“Piss off you-“ Fred said, pulling away.

“Afraid i can’t, Oliver’s right behind me. Wants to have a stern word with you for passing out. Going on and on about how ‘they can’t cancel quidditch’ whatever that means.” George said walking over. “Hate to ruin your love fest though, really.”

“Oh shut up, George!” You laughs and wack his shoulder

“Voilence will not be tolerated, Y/N.” The younger twin said jokingly.

“Rubbish, you big git- call me when you survive Oliver, Freddie.” You smiles at your boyfriend and gave him one last kiss on the cheek, and one more wack for his brother.

Fred laughs and smiles, “This isn’t over though, i’m still gonna make fun of you!”

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・

reblogs and likes really help. If you liked it, consider a re blog or follow!! <3

[rainydawgradioblog]

Interview with Samba Jean-Baptiste

The other day I came across an article about AI bots mass-releasing auto-generated music on Spotify under different names. A concept as democratic as “unfettered access to music by way of streaming services” was bound to be corrupted by bad actors. Artists are consigned to grueling tour schedules in order to make a living because streaming pays them in Monopoly money. Pitchfork is gone and the writing is on the wall for Bandcamp, because curation is now being handled by algorithms. It’s important to keep in mind that any artist releasing music today has to navigate a culture in which there’s more out there than ever before, it's all at the tip of one’s  fingers, and everything except for the music itself is worse than it used to be. 

The topic of how the internet has shaped music came up frequently in my discussion with Samba Jean-Baptiste, an independent artist out of Brooklyn. I discovered his work after seeing Dean Blunt’s music video to “Felony” (his best song? I’m ready to make the argument), and the Algorithm decided I might like a video titled “talk / pleasure.” Behind a camera that might be a flip phone, somone offers Jean-Baptiste directions: “Wait, look off that way, and start the song. Then just start doing your shit.” The music plays and we hear Samba’s subdued voice over acoustic guitar strumming. He crosses a wide urban boulevard. All of it is easy and unforced. 

“Talk / Pleasure” was released on Cardinal, a project that’s difficult to categorize and beautiful and disarming. Jean-Baptiste chiefly uses acoustic guitar and his voice to create stripped-back art pop, as if the Young Marble Giants grew up listening to Stereolab instead of Lou Reed. The relationship between skilled yet raw guitar playing and more attuned peripheral production toes a line between an open mic performance and sound leaking from someone else’s headphones. There’s some really incredible interplay between organic and auto tuned vocals on “Windows.” The string and warped piano accompaniments on “A Wish Slanted” perfectly compliment Jean-Baptiste’s rhythmic strumming. It seems like he’s drawing from so much, because he’s had access to (and has seeked out) so much. The internet has given us windows into every corner of musical expression imaginable. If you’re an artist, how do you reckon with that, how does it find its way into your art? I didn’t want to put words in Jean-Baptiste’s mouth, so I reached out to see if he’d be interested in an interview for the Blawg. 

He was kind enough to agree back in early December; we spoke over the phone for about 40 minutes. I think he was playing Dave Bixby in the background. In addition to the internet’s impact on the music landscape, he touched on song-writing, looping, and Veeze. Hope you all enjoy it. Please, check out Cardinal on Spotify, Apple Music, Youtube, and Bandcamp (before it’s subscription based).

Can you tell me a little about yourself? 

Yeah, I’m 22, about to be 23, I live in Bedstuy, Brooklyn, I cook at a Japanese Breakfast restaurant that’s also in Brooklyn. That’s kinda what I do four days a week. I grew up in Massachusetts playing classical music, me and my sister, I played Cello, my sister played violin and we grew up playing in the Boston Symphony Orchestra. That’s where I gained a lot of interest in music, because when I wasn’t playing cello, everyone would be showing off like, what pop song [they] could play on the piano, and from there everything trailed into, you know, writing a little song about a crush or something when I was a kid. 

My family is from Haiti. That’s important to me. In middle school I used to just make beats so I was really into dubstep and a bunch of stuff on youtube. I was always big on youtube, listening to people make beats at home, and then soundcloud blew up, which gave so much access to random nooks and crannies to the country and world for that matter. Got into songwriting a little bit. Used to make a lot of different sounding stuff to now. Picked up guitar, somehow, and I guess that landed me to where I’m at now. 

Songs like “Better Now” from Cardinal feature a lot of looping. Do you find that to be a big part of your process? 

It’s funny because looping, from making beats in middle school, looping is such a big part of it. You make something, you loop it, you progress from there. But by the time I realized I could be playing actual instruments in my recordings, I still had that mentality. I’ll record something and think: “this part is great, I’m just gonna loop it.” And it doesn’t feel unethical. Cause for me, for a long time, looping other people’s music was like, “you’re going to hell, you’re not making music” but somehow my eyes have opened up and my ears have opened up to so many new ways of sound creation, rather than seeing it like “you have to create from the sound up like you’re fucking Beethoven.” You can hear something and make something out of that and that’s ok. It’s not yours, it's everyone’s. 

Looping is really interesting too because everytime you hear something or see something you can see something new about it. There’s albums I’ve listened to kajillions of times and it’s like I’m learning something new about it every listen. The same thing can happen with a simple loop, it’ll just be new information, newly perceived information each time. So yeah loops are super important to me. 

When you’re writing a song, do you have an idea of what you want the finished product to be, or does it evolve naturally over the course of the entire process?

Definitely the latter. That’s funny I was talking to my dad *today* that when I make songs, or work on an idea, I have to like make the whole song, just so that when I go back to these drafts, I can see the full blueprint. [...] It’s definitely a process. If I write a song in one sitting, I’ll kinda just… show a friend. That’s not the stuff I like releasing. 

How did Cardinal become more acoustic than your previous album, Pandora? 

It wasn’t so much a conscious decision to be like, I have to be different from the last record, but it was a conscious decision in my process. Because Pandora was made while I was still primarily recording through my laptop, and like, there’s guitar on there, but it’s all pitched up, and my voice isn’t in my natural cadence. But in the same way I realized I could use my instruments and play them in my recordings, I was like damn. That feels natural. I can also just sing in my natural low voice, I don’t have to be reaching for something that I’m not. So it sort of just trailed in that direction naturally. 

I was wondering if playing the cello made picking up guitar easier, or otherwise informs your guitar playing? You said you “stumbled on guitar,” which sounds like a bigger undertaking than you make it out to be. 

Yeah, picking up guitar was pretty simple for me because of that knowledge, but like, there’s six strings on a guitar [compared to cello’s four], so I’ve found new ways to approach an instrument, because there’s a learning curve there. A lot of my songs, if you listen to them, it’s all the same chords, because I only know so much, and sometimes I’m fucking lazy and I know certain chords and they make me feel good enough. 

Also it's funny because some songs are written on different guitars. “I Could Have Cried” was written on a guitar with five strings (the high E is gone) because my roommate didn’t finish stringing it. The other one I got in London, that one plays “Talk/Pleasure” and “A Wish Slanted” and it has four strings because two of them snapped. Each weird situation lends itself to a new creation, which is like a huge part of my process anyway. Error is so acceptable, if not sought out. 

The stream of consciousness of it? Less premeditated? 

Right. There’s a mix too though. I love when records have noise added after cause that’s real. You can only listen to so much perfect, cookie cutter stuff.

When you were making Cardinal, were there any major songs or artists that you took inspiration from? 

Nah I had no influences, I came up with this shit. I’m playing, of course, of course, there’s so many. I feel like a lot of people are finding my music through like Dean Blunt youtube wormhole, and he’s for sure one of my big influences, like all my influences are like 30+ year old black people doing their thing. But the main influence is music that sounds like wind, water, grass, and that all relates to guitar.

I wish I had a list of my influences, cause on this record there’s a lot you know? I had a lot of people in my life showing me new things, because I’m so closed minded often. And I like to try to surround myself with people that will show me something new. A lot of inspiration is what’s new to me. 

I think wind, water, grass sums it up great. Wrapping up, would you have any recommendations for me and the good people of Rainy Dawg Radio as a whole? Movies, music, books, etc?

Hell yeah. I just finished this book called Your Love is Not Good, by Johanna Hedver… Movies? I’m still learning about movies. Two or three things I know about her. I’m into Jean Luc Godard, that slice of life stuff where nothing happens, cause it’s just like looping music to me. Music? I’ll just give you what I’ve been into recently, cause I have huge influences but they’re probably everybody’s. I’ve been listening to this song called “Tea in Bed” by Blessed and Blushing. That shit’s incredible. I’ve been listening to this song called “Everybody Knows” by Glucose. I’ve been listening to a Serge Gainsbourg record, The History of Melody Nelson. I’ve been listening to Veeze, you know, Ganger. There’s so much shit. There’s so much out there. Michael White is this great jazz violinist, I’d definitely recommend him.  Forma Norte, that guy’s incredible.

Who’s that, Forma Norte? 

Yeah, you know what’s funny is I found him on my “related artists,” online, and sometimes I find stuff I really hate through that. But sometimes I think “damn this guy’s awesome, how’s he related to me?” 

It’s so interesting to hear an artist’s perspective of their “fans also like” on Spotify. 

That first one I said, Tea in Bed by Blessed and Blushing, is just blowing my mind recently. I’m like, “who is sitting down and making this shit?,” it’s so good. And that’s what’s crazy is there’s so much music now, it’s like, is there even a point in trying to make a career out of this? No. I don’t think so. Which I think is lending itself to the best music ever, cause people are like “there’s no fucking way I’m gonna make a career out of this, I might as well just make what I want, whatever I want.” 

You used to have to deal with the label, but now everything is just, “yeah go for it.”

It’s such a blessed time in that regard, but at the same time… let me chill on that. Let’s say, Marvin Gaye, “I Want You”? We’re not getting that right now. And that’s no hate to right now.  But it’s just like that was a whole different way of living, thinking, moving, breathing you know. It’s just a whole different way of recording. 

But we’re so blessed to be able to do exactly what we want without the idea of needing to make money off it. Obviously it would be nice. But it’s unlikely so people are just making cool shit. And I’m really thankful for that. 

You can find Samba Jean-Baptiste on Instagram here and YouTube here. Once again, listen to Cardinal any way you get your music. 

[worldunbent]

well my volunteer shift for tonight got cancelled so i'm starting my natsuyuu reread with volume 1... it's been years since i read the early volumes (and it's my first time reading the official translations) so this is basically a brand new experience.

getting used to the rather plot-heavy past 40 or so chapters and then just jumping back to the beginning is a bit of a trip. the pacing of the series has evolved so smoothly and slowly that you don't notice it in process, but the difference becomes way more obvious once you travel back 120+ chapters. that's not a knock on the early chapters at all, because i think they're all fantastic standalone stories. they're just so different from the current series!

but despite all that, the themes are extremely consistent and i kept getting surprised at how many moments in these first four chapters can be connected with a straight line all the way to the present.

chapter 1

i'm going to restrain myself and not laugh at every early nyanko. his design had charm! it's just so different from his current look!

Sensei: I've spent such a long time in that ceramic cat that my body's gotten used to it. My true form is very graceful and elegant, you know. Natsume: Oh yeah?

it’s soooo cute that it takes approximately 2 minutes for natsume to start treating nyanko like an actual cat.

Sensei: Reiko couldn't get along with humans. So she started to pick on yokai. She bullied them into duels and crushed them. She was born with substantial mystical powers. She made them promise that the winner would get power over the loser, and then had them write their names down to ensure their obedience. This book is the collection of those names. Natsume: So... why do you want it, Nyanko sensei?

reiko’s methods of defeating youkai are very… prosaic lol. this could be because this is essentially a pilot chapter and midorikawa hadn’t fully developed the worldbuilding rules, but i also wonder if we can justify this with her “substantial mystical powers.” she can accomplish with a baseball bat or her foot what exorcists need elaborate rituals to do. or it could just be the terms of her duels! also, the “kick me” panel cracks me up.

HMM... i started to write something up on this but i think i need to return to it later.

Sensei: It's easy to do, but many yokai are vicious. You won't last long. I'd advise against it. Natsume: I'll be fine. I have you, sensei. Sensei: Say what?! Natsume: I didn't want to get involved... but I kind of owe it to [text is cut off]. If I end up dying partway through, the Book of Friends will be yours. Please, sensei. Will you help me out?

natsume is super quick to propose a partnership with nyanko and begin relying on him. again, this about economical pilot writing, but it’s still interesting when you compare it to the pacing of other relationships.

Sensei: ....Are you sure? I can have the Book when your life ends? Natsume: Yeah, I'm sure...

the shoujo bubbles showing up here are. so

“I bet she was waiting… for the yokai to come find her, to get their names back. As many as she could find. And the yokai felt lonely being no more than one of many…” this reminds me of hinoe in the most recent reiko-centric chapter, but more generally, complicated bonds of loyalty and servitude, reciprocal and nonreciprocal, seem to be some of midorikawa's favorite dynamics to draw on. putting a pin in this.

chapter 2

this touko is so cute. shigeru is a nonentity in the first volume.

you may not like it, but this is what peak performance looks like

Sensei: Bad dream? Natsume: Because you were on me! Sensei: You must've left yourself vulnerable. Weakness lures demons. They take advantage of it. Be strong if you don't want to get eaten.

madara brings up survival of the fittest mentality for the first time, which is another consistent theme - the value of individual strength vs sharing your struggles with others. but the latter hasn’t really been addressed as an option yet! natsume kind of speedran thru part of this by enlisting nyanko as his bodyguard, but it will take him a lot longer to start learning to share burdens with other humans, or to allow the emotional vulnerability aspect to enter into it.

Natsume: I'll come to worship you. I can't promise to come every day, but I'll bring you offerings. Shrine god: You can't, Natsume. You're my friend.

this chapter hits very hard for me in general, but especially this exchange. the first volume of full of relationships with marked power dynamics, but now we finally get some friends. weh.

no specific screenshot for this, but i get a bit emotional reading midorikawa’s sidebar notes. i don’t know how old she was when she started writing natsuyuu, but it’s 20 years younger than she is now. i wonder if she still has the same editor she’s talking about in these notes!

WELL MAYBE. weh!!

chapter 3 natsume’s flashbacks to the various youkai he encountered as a child are way creepier than i remembered. screenshots not included due to image limit, but midorikawa has been good at conveying unease very quickly from the very beginning.

Natsume: Oh boy...

speaking of unease, panels like these are why i felt the need to use screenshots economically. tanuma bb you have come so far. i love the lighting in the center top panel.

another thing i love is midorikawa's assistants getting feature sidebar panels, which again i didn't screenshot because i was worried about running out of images for this post. but they're great.

Natsume: I'm sorry, can we do this later? Misuzu: Are you busy? Sensei: Exorcising humans. Natsume: Sensei! Misuzu: Oh? Then allow me, Misuzu, to help. It would be dull to never serve my master. And you saved one of my own servants earlier. Natsume: The frog... Sensei: No good deed goes unpunished. Natsume: You be quiet, Sensei.

misuzu’s introduction brings back the theme of servitude and mutual loyalty. i also completely forgot that misuzu’s introduction was tied to tanuma’s, something that will come back up like... 95 chapters from now. i am frequently surprised by basic narrative consistency.

natsume and tanuma are able to connect so quickly and again i wonder if midorikawa would have paced things differently if she’d known how long this series would last. but i’m not saying that as a criticism - the way they’re immediately drawn to each other is an important contrast to other dynamics that come up later.

chapter 4

Natsume (in narration): This might take a while... Natsume (speaking): Kitamoto, have you heard of Futaba village? Kitamoto: Hmm? My dad's from there. Natsume (in narration): What?! Kitamoto: Most of the people relocated around here. I've heard the name Taniozaki, so I'll ask my dad tonight.

another thing i forgot is that kitamoto and nishimura have always been here! for some reason i remembered them joining the cast later on, but they’ve been there from the start, even before they're named. kitamoto’s name does come up for what i think is the first time in this chapter, and i love how willing he is to help natsume, no questions asked.

i like this chapter a lot, but don't have much to say about it because it's such a standalone.

Youkai: We dance, drink, and gamble. There's a race where the prize is a yukata that allows the winner to take human form for one night. Natsume: What? Youkai: It's a whole night of carousing and frolicking. Natsume: What did you say?

the one thing i do want to point out is that's it's interesting that we have youkai getting agency over when they are seen! it's usually left up to the humans, regardless of whether the youkai would like to be seen or not.

[fitfdeluxe]

my essays today were OH MY GOD got to school got the exam it was all set up i open it up. the topic is assigned from the government of alberta and no one is allowed to know what it is until we open the book at 9 am when the exam starts. and i’m thinking oh it can’t be THAT bad yknow they release a few past topics that i’ve seen and they usually follow the same formula yknow something about perseverance the effect other people have the effect loneliness has something along those lines. can connect it to human connection wham bam thank you ma’am. NOT THIS TIME!!! THIS topic was SO DUMB it was like. discuss the ideas in you selected text about the effect generosity has on an individual’s process of recovery. like WHATTTT does that even MEAN. literally when we opened our books you could sense when everyone finished reading the topic bc the air literally shifted and you could see people start to panic. like. we had to write something about something we covered in english so like a selection of short stories, 1984, or tim burtons big fish and NONE OF THEMMMM NONE have ANYTHINGGG to do with the topic literally in any way. one of the short stories we read KIND OF applied to the topic but we read it wayyy back in november literally like november 15 we read it so i don’t remember ANYTHKNG from it. so i ended up writing on 1984 bc it’s the one i know best and i wrote like. ohhh ingsoc in 1984 twists language and the definition of generosity to fit their own narrative and tortures people to ‘recover’ them from the wrong side and bring them into the warm embrace of big brother and it’s all very generous. basically writing from the perspective of the party bc WHAT ELSE AM I SUPPOSED TO DO i literally sat there for 40 minutes staring at the topic trying to think of what to write and that’s the best i could come up with. i’m really pushing my luck turning that heap of GARBAGE into the government i just hope my use of big words and ability to reword the same sentence 400 times in a row carries me to a big fat w

ok HELLO this was a journey . omg this is interesting though i’m not familiar with these kind of tests I WOULD LITERWLLY DIEEEEEEEEEEE like right there. this message made me realize how easy i have it

[taco-night-frenzy]

Graveyard Keeper Review

I couldn't post this on Steam since I technically don't own it there (even though I paid for the DLC) but I wrote this all out for a Steam Review and I am not wasting it.

ANYWAYS. Here's my review of the game Graveyard Keeper under the cut.

Warning, it is negative, and I did not like it very much. I don't hate it though. I gave this game a solid 40 hours with all the DLCs.

Really thought I'd like this game, but it gets old and it gets old FAST. I wouldn't say it's a terrible game by any means, I legit got some entertainment out of it at the start, but it quickly falls apart when you realize you just never…. do anything. I played this game with all the DLCs installed and I think that give it a feeling of lots of 'content' and made it addicting for a while when I wasn't quite sure what awaited me.

This is like baby's first Factorio/Stardew Valley game but you get the worst of both worlds.

You're tasked to be a Graveyard Keeper, but honestly, that's like 10 percent of the game. You very rarely do any graveyard keeping. And when you do, like everything else in this game, it is extremely poorly explained. The thing you'll be spending more time than anything doing is just… walking back and forth. You're given a clunky teleport pretty early on and maybe later you'll find out you can keep buying speed potions if you can't live like this anymore, but that seems to be it. There's no mounts, there's no better system of travel, no upgrading that.

The gameplay revolves around your standard Factorio / Stardew Valley type things… gather resources, find a way to min/max gathering those resources etc. It's a bit addicted at first because min/maxing them is incredibly easy when you understand the game. Sadly, when you understand the game, you also realize there is nothing awaiting you for doing any of these tasks. The 'rewards' you get are mediocre at best.

The soundtrack is also just… not good. You get maybe 2 songs on a 2 minute loop for this intensely long grindy game. Bring your own music.

I'd say by far the worst part of this game though is the writing. I don't think this matters to some people and that's fair, but the writing here is just bland, boring, dry, and riddled with typos and spelling mistakes. There's some sort of spelling error in almost every scene.

The plot and the characters are way worse than I expected. The plot turns out to be an ISEKAI. Yes, that's right. This is a cut and dry ISEKAI somehow. You play as John Milk Toast Normal Guy and get hit by a car and end up in this boring world that makes you a Graveyard Keeper. That was a red flag off the bat, but I tried to be open minded.

Throughout the game though, you'll learn that not a single one of these characters is likeable in any sense. They're all vaguely buttheads and kind of rude. They have a lot to say, but it's never fun, it's just bad stale jokes and quips without any kind of style or flair added to them.

(Note: I LIKE rude characters. But they're ALL weirdly low level rude and dull as dishwater.)

The OTHER red flag should have been noticing all the DLCs just titled after popular TV shows. Stranger Sins, Better Save Soul, etc…. none of these references have literally anything to do with DLCs. It is just, "Hey this one is sin related, let's make the title look like Stranger Things."

And tying in with the rewards sucking, your rewards 90% of the time are just waiting through these incredibly dull scenes that feel like they were written by a 15 year old boy going through an edgy phase (but also doesn't want to upset Mom)

Final Bit: This game is just sadly mediocre. It's not a terrible game, but it is certainly not good. It has no strong points. Play Factorio, Oxygen Not Included, something like that if you need the grind. Play Stardew Valley or Sun Haven if you want that Harvest Moon farm feel. This game does not scratch the itch of either. If you can get the full game and the three DLCs all at once for extremely cheap? I guess it's not the worst, but it is still not fun enough.

[takeasadsongandanalyzeit]

12 Bar Blues in F

This recording is the second instrumental from the April/May 1960 home recording made at Forthlin Road (also known as the Kirchherr Tape). It's a little long, so be warned. Though, @peaceloveandstarrs did such a fantastic analysis, you'll want to listen to every second so you can follow along.

This seems to be an improvised blues instrumental. We can hear a steady bass, keeping a good rhythm (more evidence that Stu is unfairly maligned as a bass player). Our working theory is that Stu played the bass kind of how Ringo plays the drums, there to serve the song. We both think, had Stu actually tried, he could have become an incredible bassist. Stu was just talented, at everything, so even though he wasn't trying very hard, it's still more than just passable.

There are at least two other guitars, possibly three.

We had some discussion about who was playing lead guitar. We originally thought Paul, but this was 2 years after Paul flubbed the solo in Guitar Boogie, so the likelihood he'd take lead was low. It's therefore likely George. It's interesting hearing him mess with some chords higher up the neck. It shows the beginning of Geo's talent pretty well, we'd say.

But neither of us our instrumentalists, so we're gonna leave the rest of this analysis to someone who is.

@peaceloveandstarrs has been kind enough to write another guest post about this song:

This is definitely improvised going by how rambling the intro is and how it takes them about a minute or so to finally settle into a key signature. As with the last one I listened to, I wish the balance had been better, but again, I get that the technology at the time made sound quality less than great. There’s a lot of really neat lead guitar stuff, like the picking around 1:23 and then the bit around 1:32. I’m not a guitarist, but I know that any technical playing on any instrument takes a lot of skill and practice. So whoever was on lead on this, my kudos! (Not that that means anything 62 years later, ha!)

The bass is definitely keeping a steady tempo, which is what’s expected of a bass player when there’s no percussionist. Stu isn’t the best bass player, but he’s not as bad as people make him out to be. I love all of the chromatic runs from whoever’s playing them, like the one at 3:37. They’re such a good transition between different melodic ideas or the start of a new chord progression. The random bits of dissonance, like the one at around 5:02, are jarring now that the key’s been settled. But hey, it keeps the listener on their toes and attentive.

I love the moments where the whole thing really comes together and the individual lines fit together perfectly, such as around 5:40. And just when that settles in, you get another cool, technical line at around 5:56. Whoever is playing this (Paul? I can’t tell individual playing styles apart yet) made it sound easy. As an instrumentalist myself, technical runs always give me the most difficulty, so I can say pretty confidently that it wasn’t that easy. At least not right off the bat.

There’s a neat little groove at around 7:33 in one of the guitar lines. It’s simple, but the way it’s played (first note accented, slurred into the second part of the line) makes it have a kind of jazzy feel. I listened to that one a couple of times just because I liked it. And we get to more technical bits in the guitar line around 8:24 or so. It’s a repetitive line, but it’s so clean-sounding. Again, not easy to do. I have a hard time articulating quickly and making it sound that clean! (Granted I play clarinet, so I’m not sure if I can really compare it to a guitar…)

It sounds like Stu is trying to bring the chart to an end around 9:20 and the rest of the group didn’t get the memo! That’s a classic ending bass line, descending the scale to the tonic tone (so in this case, he landed on an F since the piece is in F… music theory classes coming in handy finally!) The last 40 seconds or so sounds like they’re trying to figure out how to end the chart. I sort of wish they’d all ended with Stu’s little descending line, but hey, the way they end it works too. Overall, it’s a nice little improvisation with lots of signs of developing talent, especially in whoever played lead guitar.

[deathspeaker]

A more forgiving (and useful) way to use To-Do Lists

So I have both ADHD and autism. BAD. I struggle with time management as well as even perceiving time. So sometimes five minutes feels like an hour and an hour feels like five minutes and I can blink and suddenly the sun is fucking rising and I feel not even a hint of tiredness to indicate I stayed up all night.

The usual advice is ‘Keep a to-do list!’ but this created a different issue where I would make a to-do list and then not accomplish all of it then feel like a worthless sack of shit for only managing to do like... one thing on the list.

Then I started doing it a little differently. I made a list per day and would do as much as I could, then the next day make a new list but I would still keep track of the previous days so I could tackle each line without feeling guilty for missing something. I wouldn’t have to keep writing ‘Clean the fish tank’ every day until I got it done, I just had to consult the list and it oddly made it easier to do? I don’t know the psychology behind this but it felt less stressful. It became... forgiving.

I also try to divide up the ‘to-do’s’ in a way that they aren’t too big. I don’t just put ‘clean the kitchen’ because that could actually cover like 10 different tasks and many can’t be done out of order (I can’t load dirty dishes into the dish washer until the clean dishes are unloaded). So instead I start with what steps need to be done first, like the ‘unload clean dishes’. This step probably helps my autism a touch more than my ADHD. If you give me a single task that is actually made up of a dozen tasks it easily overwhelms me, makes it hard to manage and I tend not to accomplish half of it.

Due to my current issue (getting tested for an immune disorder, might have fibromyalgia but doctor wants to rule out Lupus first) I get exhausted quickly, lots of pain and muscle weakness. So I’ve added a timer to it. I set the timer, play video games/watch tv/read then when it goes off I pick something off the list, do that (and because they’re divided up into easy bites I don’t wear myself out) then go back to the ADHD rewarding thing my stupid brain craves while my body gets a chance to relax.

I’m using this timer trick not just for boring things that need to get done but to help me manage learning new skills, doing something fun but educational (Duolingo with Spanish!). Playing with my pets, doing some stretches, etc.

If this helps anyone I’ll be happy! I’m 40, getting more disabled it seems so I’ve picked up a few things. It also keeps me busy so I don’t fall into a worse depression spiral.

[supersapphical]

oooh I would love to read your spin on JoCassie! so if you wanna write a drabble abou them, that would be so amazing <3

JOCASSIE!!! Okay, I wasn't sure exactly where to go with this prompt at first until I realized what Jo and Cassie would both care about so deeply: work and love. So this is a small moment between Jo and Cassie, many many years in the future, after they've made a life together built around their shared passion.

Read on AO3 or under the cut.

"Cassie, you almost done?" Jo pokes her head into Cassie's office.

"Yeah, almost, almost," Cassie says. She's sitting at her desk, crouching over several stacks of paper with hundreds of streams of numbers across them. "Five more minutes."

"Your five minutes will turn into an hour," Jo laughs.

"Fine," Cassie sighs and pushes the piles away from her. Her back pops as she straightens up. "Oof, I'm getting too old for this."

"Pouring through some scumbag politician's financial records is a young man's game," Jo smiles at her and moves to rub Cassie's back. Cassie groans and leans into it, her shoulders relaxing as Jo's strong hands quickly work some of the tension out of her back.

"We need to hit the farmers market quick, I need to leave for Tupelo by 3."

"Tupelo, what's in Tupelo?"

"A rugaru," Jo says.

"A rugaru in tupelo?"

"No, but that would be really funny, wouldn't it?"

Cassie sighs, pretending to be too tired to laugh at Jo's silly joke.

"Just a newbie hunter out there," Jo continues, bringing her elbow up to put more pressure on the center of Cassie's back. "Garth wanted me to check in with them. It should be an easy salt and burn but he says it's taking them a bit too long to figure out what's keeping the spirit here."

"Do you think he'll ever retire and get his nose out of everybody else's business?" Cassie says, unable to keep the fondness out of her voice.

"Garth? Never," Jo says. "You know he's probably saying the same thing about us."

"Hey, I'm a reporter," Cassie says. "All self respecting reporters work until they drop dead at their desks."

"Yeah, and all hunters drink themselves to death by 40 but I don't drink so I guess I need a new plan," Jo says.

"But that plan won't be retirement."

"Absolutely not."

Cassie sighs again and rolls her shoulders.

"You're going to have to promise me you won't get so wrapped up in your work while I'm gone that you let all the produce we're about to buy go bad in the fridge," Jo says as she moves her fingers to deftly work the tight points in Cassie's neck.

"Oh so you can abandon all the food here while you go running of on a hunt but if I forget it then I'm the irresponsible one?"

"Yup," Jo says happily.

"Why don't we just skip the farmers market this week?"

"Because if we buy the food, you have to make the food," Jo says, a smile in her voice. "If we don't buy the food then you'll just order takeout the whole time and I'll come home to a wife who won't let either of us sleep because of her terrible indigestion."

"I won't get—" Cassie starts to say but she cuts herself off. Jo knows her too well.

Eventually, Jo's hands drop from her neck, giving her one final comforting squeeze before falling away. Cassie stands up and turns to look at the other woman. She stares at Jo, her partner of two and a half decades now, her sight tracing the laugh lines around Jo's eyes and the shining locks of gray hair framing face.

"Ready to get to work?" Jo asks her.

"Always," Cassie says.

[mybrainproblems]

oh thanks for the reply! yeah it was the poll - i KNEW the monologue was long. too long (and shouldn't happen at all because dean shouldn't die but i am letting it slip here). BUT it never ever, for over 2 years, since november 19th 2020, it never occured to me it was 8 minutes long. it's 1/5 of the episode. literally WHAT. this information has been haunting me since i sent that ask days ago.

anyway like i said i would definitely like to read some more thoughts about dabbnatural because there used to be a lot of people posting about him as a writer in a good way and after the finale it was a hatefest, (generally speaking). his episodes ARE enjoyable in general so WHY did he write the finale which is you know. bad. very.

i tend to be tinhatty when talking about the finale but it boils down to the one big question of: "what happened?! what happened that the finale is so bad, so not fitting into the rest of the season?!" and it makes me mad and insane. i guess we'll never know the truth.

definitely gonna check that tag of yours though. i need more brainworms.

every time i've tried to answer this in the past almost-four-months i end up with a multiple pages word draft that is basically just a timeline of US politics and spn production schedules from 2016-2020 with source citations and it looks completely bonkers.

i think the extremely blunt thing is that i see a lot of destiel fans assume there was some rainbow capitalist gravy train the CW could have ridden to the bank if only they weren't wildly homophobic and hadn't stopped destiel. but the thing is that the cash money and ratings desired by the networks are with the GA folks.

probably the best proof against a shutdown rewrite to remove destiel is the existence of walker. the CW was betting on it as a "safe" show but greenlit without a pilot in 2019 to air in 2020. and a metric fuck ton happened in 2020 that made it a less marketable show than initially expected when it aired in 2021. if they were looking to pick up viewers from the spn finale and wanted the "destiel demo" then walker would not be their follow-on choice.

but in terms of the actual writing of the finale itself? well. i'm gonna tinhat that the 40yr driving gap was intentional. you can do a lot with a 40 yr amorphous gap in time and space traveling along the axis mundi and seeing the heavenly way in your chevrolet. there is actually quite a bit of flexibility in the story for offshoots or continuations when you have a gap like that. also like. another ep dabb wrote for s15 was 15x10 "the heroes' journey" which is pretty much a big ol blueprint for a "dean retires" ending.

but circling back, i think 15x20 is really in service of a very final ending with which they can shuffle the parts of the audience demo that they want over to walker when it starts airing.

as to just thoughts on dabbnatural... at this point it's become this sprawling madness where i'm a genuine fan who has sought out his non-spn work (RIP resi, you were taken from us too soon). i think he really wrote one of the thesis quotes of the show... "it's just people trying to do their best in a world where it's all to easy to do their worst."

i have no idea if this answered anything

[ranger-kellyn]

it's not exactly easy to sit here and type this up after two bad mental health days, but i'm doing my yearly tradition of sitting in lilsimsie's stream until it's midnight on the east coast, and have about ~40 minutes before this edible kicks in and well. better get writing lmao

looking back in my 2022 journal, i think it's fairly safe to say that the start of the year is always rough on me, mentally. we're officially in winter, and the seasonal affective disorder is in full swing, so like. i KNOW what's wrong. it happens every year. doesn't stop the low from kicking me in the gut, though

2022 has been a rough year. my job responsibilities have been picking up, we've been traveling more, and it's only looking to increase even further as i continue. and sure, that's the typical progression of a job regardless, it still stinks at times. the only thing that makes it manageable is the fact that i genuinely do like all my coworkers. it's always a good time when we go out for dinner and drinks when we're on travel, and the holiday party i went to the other week was a blast.

but 2022 has also been a bit of a...i can't think of the word. reckoning? the realization that like. (and DONT fucking come for me i KNOW i'm still very young but hang with me here) i'm aging.

and with aging comes different health concerns and whatnot. as much as i have the bad tendency to overshare on the internet, there's plenty i haven't really talked about, and i'm at a point where i really need to like. take control. before things get worse. two (or more honestly) health problems i've had this year are directly related to me having such a sedentary lifestyle. if i don't take control and start holding myself accountable to getting up and being more active, things are going to start getting bad.

i've already been trying to get up and do more stretches throughout my day when i can. it was also part of the "deal" i made with myself for allowing me to have my tv up in my bedroom. if i wanted to keep it up here, i have to do at least a few minutes of stretches each day, and so far it's never felt like a punishment, so hopefully i'll be able to hold myself accountable.

i'm also working on eating better. my aunt got me this super fancy rice maker for christmas, and it makes really good steel cut oats as well. there's not much i can eat in the morning without getting horribly nauseous, but oats seem to be the exception so. that's been nice to have! my first baby step goal with eating is to just. eat. 3 meals a day. they don't have to be huge elaborate meals, but at least something. from there, i can start worrying a little more about content. my other first goal is to try to ease off on the soda bc i KNOW i drink way too much. the last time i was able to cut it out was when i started by just. drinking a glass of water before i allowed myself to have the soda, so that's my plan for now.

also. cut back on the weed bc like...being high practically every weekend just so i can disassociate it away. is uh. Not Healthy, but clearly i'm not starting that one tonight dskflhk

BUT. enough about the negatives--

there were positives in the year, too. i moved to a bigger apartment. i got to travel to new places. i took my bestie to my cousins wedding and had a great time. i got to spend time with my friends. i went to a pride event at the science museum, and went to the My Brother My Brother and Me live show. i was fortunate enough to get tickets to see taylor this next year, nashville and two nights in seattle!

i also got a TON of writing done. i didn't finish my goal of finishing any of the three ongoing fics, but i DID get a lot of good writing done. after a multi-year hiatus, i was able to update Getaway Car with a new chapter before Midnights was released, and with only three chapters left to go, the end is within sight.

i've also done a ton of writing on countless other stories. i'm hoping i can carry this energy into the new year, and actually finish one of my fics in 2023 lmao

i'm also really hoping i can get back into drawing.

but anyways.

here's to hoping 2023 is a good one

[vault-heck]

For the uncommon asks: 1, 4, 28, 29, 40, C, & J for Noah & Poe?

Oh fun, thanks for asking!!

What’s the maximum amount of time your character can sit still with nothing to do?

Noah: depends upon how tired he is. Anywhere from 10-20 minutes without feeling too bad.

Poe: .05 seconds.

How easy is it to earn their trust?

Noah: probably easier than it should be; he's pretty good at asking innocuous questions that get him the answers he really wants, though.

Poe: In Delano and the wasteland, difficult difficult lemon difficult. In Riverside, they're a little guarded, but much less so. Once you've won them over you have a friend for life.

Would they prefer a lie over an unpleasant truth? 

Neither of them would prefer this, but Poe is slightly more likely to ignore an unpleasant truth for as long as they can.

Do they usually live up to their own ideals? 

Noah: on a good day. He's got some work to do, though.

Poe: actually, yeah! Life as an artist/gig employee/scavenger isn't easy, and their family makes it even harder, but they make it work.

How sensitive are they to their own flaws?

Noah: extremely, but less so as his story progresses. Someone get this man an adhd diagnosis. Right out of the vault he could literally only see his flaws and weaknesses-- generally, his focus on what he could do better tends to keep him from acting in areas of strength, when he really should.

Poe: not terribly. They have a tendency to make self-deprecating jokes, but are generally aware of their flaws and only spend time thinking about them if there's something actionable they can do to fix it. They used to be pretty self conscious about their artistic shortcomings, but sheer time and experience has helped them become more confident in this area especially.

Did you have trouble figuring out where they fit in their own story?

Noah took forever to develop. I had a vague concept before I started writing the first draft of Wildfire, and his personality/trauma/etc really took shape as I was writing. It took some time to hammer out exactly what I wanted to change about canon, and why. I feel pretty good about where he's at in the later chapters of that draft, and the rewrite especially!

Poe, I'm still working on a few nuances to their internal conflict and family dynamic. But overall, no, this was easy. Without him, there would be no Sunflower Protocol story; in a way, it's really about them even though it's written from Laramie's POV. When I conceptualized him it was almost like meeting a real person all at once, very vivid and niche, as opposed to having to pry for months to figure Noah out for example.

[lesser-mook]

God of War Ragnarok is Not a Masterpiece 

Disclaimer: Despite the essay, this is a good video, just one thing he said sounded very off to me.

OP: Get a wife and have children is having responsibilities- "right?" 1:01:40

Also OP: The game he's criticizing is written by a guy who he says got married and divorced & his Wii console got confiscated and he did other shady shit. 1:02:36

Conflicting message there, obviously despite his opinion, being a nihilist doesn’t equate to maturity and neither does marriage equate to “growing up”.

So roping yourself into a counterproductive legal deal that benefits you as a man in zero way, is growing up, then the flipside is your shit gets taken when/ or if she gets bored with you.

  I hear what he’s saying about not being a pessimist prick 24/7 (and that’s coming from me)

Relevant message, cause it's a serious problem with our culture today that we see the negative more than positive.

*But respectfully, he should choose his wording better:*

EXAMPLE:

*"-Like getting married and having children, or whatever you feel gives you purpose."*

BOOM, easy script fix, add a statement that’s inclusive to many walks in life that would count as a person handling responsibilities and growing up.

Also, to debunk this myth.

“Manhood” isn’t something a woman’s “womanhood” bestows to you like an MMO RPG powerup. And vice versa.

Handling your responsibilities, and TAKING responsibility is what makes you a man, actually.

You can get married, have 7 kids or sleep with 100-500women a week and still be an immature piece of crap that neglects their kids, and responsibilities.

So marriage nor clapping cheeks boosts your Manhood XP, handling business does. 

And for women, especially American women, it’s taking accountability. You’d be surprised how badly girls need to be taught this lesson, you’ll have a lot less karens and less girls starting fights with boys their female privilege can’t finish.

So don’t kick your own ass if you haven’t bed the sheets yet or you’re a woman that hasn’t gotten married by 30-35

Your life isn’t over just because you didn’t follow the script.

Because tbh, for women and men there’s more to life than getting married and happily contributing to our encroaching overpopulation crisis.  Getting married and having kid's isn't the blueprint to happiness nor a sign of maturity, it's a quest to pad your ego and validate yourself.

  *In some cases it's a shortcut to keeping yourself busy when you have little ambition, expectation or goals in life.*

Notice how i said, SOME cases, not all. Some people actually get it right, and marry for the right reasons beyond a nice piece of ass or bullshit like "compatibility".  

 Some couples choose not to breed and just adopt, some people do that, and it's great.

Some people take their time, and actually invest in each other and not one person jumping through hoops because that’s what they’re supposed to do and society has no expectations of the other party to get off their ass and do anything proactive because they’re not “the man”.

And i ONLY call it the “right way”, because when you get married, the point, i presume is to STAY married and not contribute to another divorce statistic.

And to do that, the incentive has to be deeper than surface level appeal, etc. etc., i’ve said this all before.

Because what marriage actually does is limit your options as well as your freedom, because you'll be too busy to actually do anything at your own pace. It'll always be about the wife and kids; As a man specifically, you're the lowest factor, always.

Labeling that as "growing up", ball & chain, when immature people get married and pop out babies just to suit their ego's everyday. Every minute- Is very very reckless and stupid thing to say, this isn't the 50's.

Otherwise, i get it. In context, he’s right, bad writing does pander to intellectually lazy people for the wrong reasons. But we got to be conscious of how we use language to get the point across.