#i got 50% more of the references than i did as a kid

[velkavelkavelka]

Just a gal tired of humanity.

[sunrizef1]

Girl back home

Pairing: Logan Sargeant x wife!reader

Warnings: cursing (I think)

Authors note: this took forever, but now I can actually work on whiv now that I’ve finished this

Summary: Everyone keeps trying to set Logan up, but no one bothers to ask if he's already got a girl (surprise! he does!)

Word Count: 4.2k (jesus)

“What about her? she’s pretty,” Alex asks as he points at the five hundredth model to walk past the Williams garage that day.

If it hadn’t been his home race, Logan might have walked away an hour ago when Alex’s pointing started but instead, he stayed, choosing to endure Alex’s unrelenting matchmaking.

“No, Alex. I’ve already said no to about 50 other girls you’ve pointed out, what makes you think she’d be different,” Logan groans, his head leaning back to rest against the wall behind them.

Alex purses his lips, a frown on his face, “Why won’t you let me get you a girlfriend?”

Logan pauses to stare at the ceiling of the garage for a second before he turns his head to face the man next to him, “I don’t need a girlfriend.”

“Yeah sure man, I’ve seen you stare quietly at a wall by yourself more times than you’d probably admit. If that doesn’t scream “I need a girlfriend” then I don’t know what does,” Alex shrugs before turning back to face away from his friend, his hand coming back up to point at a pretty-faced blonde girl making her way past the garage, even smiling when she locks eyes with Logan, “Ooh what about her? She seems to like you!”

Logan just hums in response, his eyes closing as he leaves Alex to talk to himself.

In reality, Logan truly didn’t need a girlfriend. He had something even better, a wife. Who also happened to be you. You had met when you were kids and had been in love ever since. You liked to joke that it was love at first sight but every time you said it, Logan would wonder how much of a joke it really was.

You had been there for every step in his career, through the wins and the losses, through karting to Formula racing. So when he proposed after the end of the f3 season in 2020, no one close to you was really surprised.

You got married shortly after, neither one of you wanting a big, flashy wedding. Instead, the wedding was small but still nice, just some close friends and family in attendance. Even Oscar had been there and he made sure to reference the event to everyone who wouldn’t understand when around Logan. He loved to talk about the “party” Logan had in 2020 to the other drivers who, frankly, had no idea what he meant.

When he got his move to Formula One, you were over the moon for him. You didn’t worry about long-distance. You had made it work in the past and you both had total confidence in each other to make it work. You continued your degree in engineering and he continued his career in racing. You tried to make it to races when school would let you, which wasn’t often, and he was more than happy to fly you out when he could.

Logan genuinely loved you more than anything. With that being said, this meant that he did not have the time of day for anyone trying to set him up with the Instagram model of the week who had decided to visit a garage.

But at the same time, he also didn’t feel the pressure to share your marriage with anyone. He didn’t really know any of the other drivers very well and if they wanted to know more about him, they could ask. It’s just that no one ever did.

Except, it seems, when they wanted to set him up.

“Hey, Logan!” A British voice calls out to the American, whose head shoots up at the uncommon voice.

“What’s up, mate?” The blonde asks Lando, pocketing the phone where he had just been texting you to ask about your engineering final.

Lando grins and places a hand on the American's shoulder, raising his voice to be heard above the sounds of the paddock, “I was talking to Oscar and he mentioned something about your love life and something about you being lonely, I don’t really remember what he said but anyway, I’m talking to this girl and she has this friend who I think would be perfect for you.”

Logan’s face drops at the brunette's words, a frown replacing his smile, “I’m cool Lando, thanks though.”

Lando furrows his eyebrows, disbelief written on his features, “You sure, mate? She’s sooooo fine.”

Logan just nods his head in response, backing away from the McLaren driver slowly, “Yeah I’m sure Lando, you have fun thinking about your girlfriend’s friend though.”

Lando doesn’t seem to catch the diss as he just glances up and down at Logan before shaking his head and turning on his heel to head back to his garage. Logan sighs before taking his phone back out of his pocket to see another text from you. A grin breaks out on his face as he sees your name.

Logan hadn’t talked to very many of the drivers on the grid, often feeling on the outs of a lot of conversations. So he’s even more surprised to see Charles Leclerc making his way toward him at a club. A club he had only agreed to come to so he coule be Oscar's designated driver, by the way.

“Eyyy, it’s the American!” Charles says, the alcohol clearly present in his voice. The lights are too dimmed but if they were brighter, Logan would be able to see the lipstick smudges around his white collar.

“Hey, Charles,” Logan replies, scepticism laced in his voice. The Monegasque leans closer to him, the drink in his hand sloshing around in the cup.

“I have something to tell you,” Charles slurs a bit, leaning dangerously before a pretty brunette comes up and grabs him, based on her lipstick shade compared to Charles’ shirt, she had already been more than acquaintances with him before this conversation.

Logan glances at the pair before responding dryly, “Oh no.”

Charles grins before pointing back to where he had come from, a dark-haired girl sitting at the table, “That’s Natalie.”

“Navaeh,” the brunette pipes up to correct Charles as he nods in response.

“Yeah, Nivia. Anyway, she’s a friend of mine and she’s been eyeing you all night, thought you’d want her number.”

Logan rolls his eyes at the very clearly drunk couple in front of him, increasing his headache from the pounding EDM, “What an assumption there Charles. I’m actually good though.”

“What?” Charles asks, squinting to see the blonde under the club lights.

“No thanks,” Logan smiles tightly before moving to step around the couple and probably tell Oscar that either they were both leaving or Oscar was getting an Uber, “You guys have a good night though.”

The couple is already too busy sucking face to realize he’s left.

“I just don’t understand why they keep trying to set me up, I’m perfectly happy with you,” Logan complains to you over the phone a few nights later.

You were sat in your dorm, engineering work strewn across your desk and your roommate at a party somewhere. You were trying to get as much work done as possible before Logan came to Austin for the GP so you could spend the weekend with him.

“I mean, have you told them you’re married?” You ask, trying to stifle a yawn as your hand moves to write down the equation for the problem in front of you.

Logan shakes his head, the movement almost imperceptible through the small phone screen, “Nah, but it’s just that no one’s asked you know? I’m just waiting for someone to say “Hey Logan, you got a girl back home?” Before they try and set me up with some Instagram model they know.”

You smile softly as he talks, his hands moving to mess with his blond hair periodically. He eventually looks back to the screen once he’s done ranting and is met with your smiling face filling his phone screen, “What?”

“I love you,” you say warmly, your grin practically splitting your face.

Logan blushes before laughing and shaking his head to hide the redness on his face, “I love you too. I’ll see you next week yeah?”

You look down at the now-completed homework in front of you. Homework that could’ve taken about 2 fewer hours if you weren’t on call.

“Yeah I’m done with this. I’ll turn it into my professor tomorrow and after that I am free. When do you get in?” You ask, shuffling the papers together and sliding them into your bag before moving out of your chair and flopping onto your bunk, sleep clouding your eyes.

“Uhh,” Logan pauses, glancing at his suitcase. In reality, he was supposed to get in twenty two hours and six minutes from when he hung up the call, his flight leaving in three hours and arriving in Austin after a 16 hour flight and a 2 hour layover in DFW followed by an hour long flight to Austin. He would effectively be arriving about a week before any of the other drivers. Besides maybe Daniel. But he couldn’t say any of that. He wanted to surprise you, especially now that you had no work to do. So instead he just hums, “Next week I think.”

“That’s great, babe,” you yawn, a small smile on your lips at the idea of him being back with you again, “I can’t wait to see you.”

“Yeah?” Logan grins.

You hum, your eyes drifting closed slightly, “Yeah.”

Logan notices your less-than-awake state and finally decides to end the call, “Goodnight, I love you.”

You yawn again, your eyes fluttering shut, “Good morning Logan, I love you too.”

The call ends quickly after and Logan glances at the time, grinning when he sees the 8:24 am displayed on his phone screen. You’d both had to deal with the difference in time zones for so long, you probably had all the time zones memorized. Or at least you remembered enough to call out good morning instead of goodnight while he was in Qatar.

His flight touches down twenty-two hours later and the first thing he does is call you.

“Hey what's up?” It's about 10:30 in Austin and the only thing you were doing was picking up barbeque from this place on the edge of campus that your roommate had been raving about.

“Not much, just bored,” Logan replies, his eyes scanning the background of the face time call for where you could possibly be this late.

You glance down at your phone for a second to do the same, eyebrows furrowing, “Where are you? It looks dark.”

Logan glances around slightly before replying, “In a car,” he wasn't lying, he really was in a car. Just one that was ubering to your campus instead of one with his team in Qatar, “Where are you? It's like 10 pm over there.”

“Just picking up some food,” you reply, eyes looking over the moonlit sidewalk that threads through the well-kept grass that surrounds you.

“This late?”

You laugh, “I slept through dinner.”

Logan smiles before sliding forward slightly when the car stops, “Are you just going back to your dorm?”

You look around quickly, “Yeah it's like a quarter mile back though.” You tighten your grip on the bag in your hand, the plastic having started to slip. Maybe your Ugg slides hadn't been the best choice for this walk but you'd manage.

“Oh yeah I know where you are, I remember eating at that place last time I was there,” Logan pulls his suitcase out of the trunk and tips the driver, checking periodically to make sure you hadn't clocked him.

“Yeah yeah, really good stuff and the owner remembered me today, guess I've been there enough times,” You laugh, starting to move back in the direction of your dorm once again.

By the time you had stopped to readjust the bag of food and your shoes, Logan had already started to speedwalk in the direction of your dorm. As he walks he passes enough drunk college kids to fill the football stadium they had all visited so many times.

You're walking pretty slowly, enjoying the moonlight shining brightly on the campus. Your shoes definitely weren't making you any faster to be fair.

“You turn your assignment in?” Logan asks, hoping you don't notice his eyes darting around the campus in search of you.

You nod, reaching a hand up to rub at your sleepy eyes, “Yeah, he even gave me extra credit for turning it in so early.”

Logan nods absentmindedly and you raise an eyebrow as you watch him do it before his eyes lock on something and he abruptly ends the call, “I've got to go, love you!”

You stand staring at your phone with a confused look on your face for a moment, words dying on the tip of your tongue. Weird.

You shake your head before moving to walk again, Logan's weird actions at the forefront of your mind.

Before you can even take a step, someone calls out your name and you turn quickly to see Logan standing there with the biggest grin on his face.

You gasp and wrap him in a bone-crushing hug warmth spreading through you from his arms. You move to spread kisses all across his face and for a few minutes, you both just stand there, not having seen each other in a few months and taking the time to readjust.

“I missed you,” you mumble into his shoulder, unexpected tears starting to spring from your eyes.

He just sets you down before wrapping a hand around the side of your face, “I missed you too.”

You bring a sweater-clad hand up to wipe away a tear before grabbing the food in one hand and grabbing his hand in the other, starting to lead him back to your dorm.

He grabs his suitcase as you start moving, “Is your roommate here?”

“No, you know how she is. She'll be with her new boyfriend for a few weeks so we're fine,” you wave away his question as you walk toward the building a few hundred feet away.

He smiles in response, “Hope you got enough food for two.”

You just laugh joyously.

A week and a half later, you’re stood in the hotel room Logan’s team had provided him, the room much nicer than your cramped dorm room. You had spent the last 12 days exploring Austin with your husband, making up for the time spent away from each other.

You had accidentally slept through Logan’s departure for the morning, waking up to a text explaining that, with your busy class schedule, he wanted you to get as many days of sleeping in as possible but he had gotten you breakfast and it was currently sitting in the kitchen.

You smiled at the text, appreciating Logan’s thoughtfulness. In the kitchen was a coffee from your favourite coffee shop as well as a McGriddle from McDonalds, which, no doubt, hurt Logan to order considering he wasn’t allowed to eat them.

You quickly ate the food, texting Logan to thank him. He texts back surprisingly quickly, considering he was supposed to be in a meeting.

He filled you in on how his morning had gone before asking when you’d get to the paddock for the race. You replied that you’d be there soon, quickly sliding on a light jacket over your tank top and jean shorts, preparing for the Austin heat.

Considering you had never been in the COTA paddock before, you would rather be in any situation other than your current one. There were about three hours until the race and you had no idea where the Williams garage was. You had gotten in just fine but, for some reason, you couldn’t find the blue of the Williams employees anywhere.

Logan wasn’t answering his phone, which you expected considering he had already been reprimanded for being on his phone during a meeting once this morning. Now you were left by yourself, trying to navigate the busy paddock.

You were somehow in a sea of orange, eyebrows furrowed. You turn in a quick circle, eyes setting on a curly-haired man in an orange polo who you take a few quick steps towards, hoping he can help you with directions.

“Excuse me,” you call out to the man who turns around swiftly, eyes pulling across your figure before landing on your face.

“How can I help you, love?” The man replies, a British accent laced through his voice and a sharp grin on his rosy lips.

You glance around slightly, leaning away from the man’s hungry gaze, “Do you know where the Williams garage is?”

He nods his head but keeps his eyes locked on your face, his smirk unfaltering, “Yeah, yeah, it’s just down that way.”

He points to nowhere in particular, moving to lean against the wall you’re standing near, “What’s your name, darling?”

You have to hide the smirk that tries to escape you at the fact that this man clearly has no idea you were married and also clearly thought you’d be an easy girl to flirt with considering his unwavering confidence.

You tell him your name and a grin breaks out on his face, “Pretty name, I’m Lando.”

Ah, so this was Lando. You had only ever seen him with his helmet on and from what you heard from Logan, his current behaviour made perfect sense. Logan hadn’t talked a lot about the Brit but he had mentioned him a few times considering he was Oscars teammate.

You hum, glancing around amusedly around the garage. You and Lando talk for a few more moments before a shorter figure clasps a hand on his shoulder. You lock eyes with the newcomer, grinning when you see a familiar boy standing behind Lando.

"Hey Osc," You smile at the Aussie. Oscar glances sideways at Lando, eyes shifting across his face before they turn to you. You just smile sweetly at the man who reciprocates the grin back at you.

"Hey," Lando glances confusedly between the two of you at Oscar's response. When Lando's confusion goes on a bit too long, Oscar turns and swings an arm around your shoulder, effectively moving the both of you away from the still-confused McLaren driver.

"I assume you're looking for Williams, then?" Oscar asks, running his free hand through his hair which had already begun to stick to his forehead from the Austin heat.

You hum in affirmation, sliding your sunglasses down your nose as the two of you step into the sun to make your way to your husband's garage.

Oscar makes conversation as he pulls you along, talking to you about how his season had gone and also asking a lot of questions about your engineering classes.

“I’d do a video for you, shock all your classmates,” Oscar says when you tell him you had to do a presentation explaining the engineering behind a piece of machinery and you had chosen a Formula 1 car.

You laugh, shaking your head as you do, “Yeah? I'd take you up on that, but I have a driver who'd be much easier to get a video from.”

Oscar snorts, smiling as you reach the Williams garage, “Lando?”

You roll your eyes as the name leaves his lips, hitting the back of his head with the small bag in your hands, “Don't get me started on Lando. You know he tried to set Logan up with one of his friends?”

Oscar furrows his eyebrows, “What?”

“Yeah, Lando said you told him Logan’s love life was lonely or something like that,” You reply, glancing around passively in search of your husband.

Oscar somehow manages to furrow his eyebrows even deeper, mouth opening and closing in disbelief, “That’s not what I said at all.”

“Tell him that.”

You both walk into the garage after that, you move to make conversation with Benny who’s sat to the side, surprise crossing his face as he sees you.

Oscar, though, spots Logan and makes his way to him quickly. He clasps a hand on the blonde's back who turns to face him with a grin, “What’s up Osc?”

“Lando was flirting with your wife,” Oscar states flatly, trying to push down the grin on his face.

Logan blinks a few times in an attempt to understand what the Aussie just said, “What- why?”

“Don’t think he knew she was your wife, mate.”

Logan rolls his eyes before turning around slightly to resume his conversation with his engineer. He stops mid-turn and swings back around to Oscar quickly, eyes wide, “My wife’s here?”

Oscar laughs at the American's face, stepping out of his line of sight so he can see you conversing with Benny.

Logan grins, sliding past the other boy to step toward you as quick as he can, wrapping his arms around you from behind. Oscar can’t hear what you two say to each other but he can see the love painting your faces as Logan plants a kiss on the top of your head. Benny smiles at the two of you, walking away to let you two talk.

As Oscar leaves the Williams garage, he briefly debates telling Lando you were married, especially to Logan, but he eventually decides not to. He’d figure it out eventually. Also might help to have him learn the hard way.

You sat in the garage for the entire race. But when Logan ends the race in eight, you’re jumping up happily to follow the Williams employee guiding you to where he’ll be.

The moment he’s done being weighed, he runs over to you, pulling his helmet off and unzipping his suit to his hips.

He grasps the side of your face, pulling you to him as he kisses you softly. He pulls away slightly and rests his forehead against yours, lifting a hand to grab the one you have against the side of his face, fingers brushing over your wedding ring.

“Thank you for being here. I love you.”

You can’t help the lovely laugh that escapes you, throwing your head back a bit to escape the heat rising on your cheeks, “I love you too, dork. I’m so proud of you.”

He smiles before leaning to catch you in another kiss.

Lando had finished the race in 4th. Not bad considering who had finished in front of him. He’d already talked to his team so he was now just roaming around, looking for someone to talk to.

He locks eyes on you and takes a few steps toward you before someone comes running past him. He looks over to see Logan grasping your face in his hands before pulling you down into a kiss.

He can’t help but stand in shock for a few moments although he can sense a couple people walking up next to him. He glances beside him to see Charles and Alex, both also staring at Logan in disbelief.

“What the hell?” Lando asks, to no one in particular. Luckily, or unfortunately, for him, someone has an answer.

“Are you lot staring at Logan and his wife?” Lando doesn’t look over to catch the amused look on Oscar’s face as he asks the question. But Alex does, and he furrows his eyebrows at the younger man.

“Sorry?” Alex asks the Aussie who just smiles and turns back to the couple, still smiling in each other's embrace.

Charles is the first one to notice anything and he smacks the other two on the head when he does, “They’re both wearing wedding rings.”

Alex blinks for a second, caught in the strange reality that he hadn’t noticed his teammate wearing a wedding ring the whole season. He pulls out his phone to go through old photos and low-and-behold, Logan’s wearing a ring in every single one.

“Jesus Christ,” Lando mumbles, running a hand through his damp curls, “I flirted with her.”

“Yeah,” Oscar nods, hands on his hips, “I probably wouldn’t talk to Logan for a while if I were you. Unless you want to find out how they do it in Florida.”

Lando gulps at the boy's words, of course, having no idea how they “do it” in Florida but only assuming he’d end up with a black eye. Oscar has to stifle a laugh, knowing Logan would most likely just laugh it off if Lando genuinely apologized. Not that Lando would.

Oscar's eyes drift across the trio of confused drivers, most likely all going through their memories of the times they had tried to set Logan up.

“You told me he was lonely,” Lando finally whines out, turning back to Oscar who shakes his head.

“I told you he was lonely because his girlfriend couldn’t make it to any of the races. If you would listen, you would’ve heard that part.”

Lando has no defence to that and turns his head back again to watch as Logan laughs at something you said, fingers intertwined together.

When the news spread across the paddock the next day, Logan received a lot of incredulous texts from drivers and employees alike, all shocked that he was in a relationship, let alone married.

Logan didn’t read any of them, he was too busy hanging out with you.

Except, of course, the message from Oscar that included three specific drivers all with their eyes wide as they stared at him and you.

——————————————————

Tags: @casperlikej @evie-119

[astro-enthusiast]

Astro Observations 2.0

Thank you all for 222 followers! <3

Take these observations for what they are: personal observations.

Super duper long because I love you all. :)

Aries moons tend to always be on the move. Often times, these natives have something energetically "off" at home which results in them not even wanting to be there. They're the type to always be at work or at their friend's place. May have parents they want to get away from. At least one of their parents leans toward a more masculine energy.

You cannot be in your feelings when you talk to a Virgo moon. Their love language is literally telling you all the ways you can improve yourself. It's not necessarily that they're trying to make you feel some type of way, they genuinely don't think there's anything offensive about it. They're naturally attracted to "fixer-uppers" and they love a good project. Only problem is, people are not your projects and your loved ones are allowed to be flawed.

On the note of Virgo moons, they also have a tendency to be permanently unimpressed. My mom has this placement and my sister and I always wanted grand reactions to the stuff we did as kids, but we never got them. Even to this day, my mom is the queen of giving absolutely nothing extra energetically lol. They literally look like this emoji --->😐. Unless they have fire placements, they tend to be the definition of stoicism.

I've been studying the relationship between Scorpio moons and their mothers for a while now because it is such an interesting dynamic. I noticed in the past, that Scorpio moon natives may experience a rather controlling mother figure, but I've recently noticed that this controlling nature goes both ways. Yes, their mother has control over them and their actions, but they have just as much control over her too. They're almost like puppets to each other. It's an incredibly intriguing dynamic that honestly leaves me speechless. Makes you wonder, in these specific situations, "Is anyone here truly the victim?"

We've talked about how moon signs can manifest and what your mother may have taught you, but what I have yet to touch on is how your moon sign reflects your mother's pregnancy experience. I've studied this a bit and I think my mom is the perfect example! My sister and I have opposing moon signs: Cancer and Capricorn. I've spoken to my mom in-depth about both her pregnancies and here is how she describes them:

-Pregnancy with Cancer moon: she was overweight, gained 50+ lbs during her pregnancy, used food to cope with her abusive relationship, was on bedrest, too depressed to do or go anywhere, spent most of her days in the house crying.

-Pregnancy with Capricorn moon: she was in amazing physical condition, gained less than 20 lbs during pregnancy (10 lbs of that was baby), had endless energy, worked out every day, worked overtime at her job, was broken up from my dad, lived alone, was in her bag.

Opposite moon signs and two completely different pregnancies!! Crazy, right?!

I've heard the theory that Capricorn moons are the eldest child, which is true in many cases. However, in my experience as a Capricorn moon, I'm the youngest and my eldest sister is a Cancer moon. But that doesn't debunk my "big sister" energy lol. My sister has always referred to me as her "big little sister" and when we were younger and my mom left us home alone, she always left me in charge. My Cancer moon sister was known for her big emotions and ability to quickly lose control. This dynamic has always been funny to me. Ex. We had a tornado watch (super rare where I live) and my sister was running around the house screaming and crying. While I was calmly in my bedroom playing dolls keeping it kosher. 🤣

God really did give his toughest battles to Virgo, Scorpio and Capricorn moons. No one else is doing it like us! We came equipped with everything we needed to handle ALL the bs in our families.

Don't scorch me fire moons, but where is the personal accountability? I've seen water signs talk their way out of some situations, but the way a fire moon will dance around the truth really needs to be studied. I made this observation before and a Sag moon came for me which is how you know it's true. 😭

Moon sign compatibility is so real y'all. As an earth moon, I mainly form deep connections and bonds with other earth moons and *some* water moons. The other elements just don't do it for me. Even with my fire placements & degrees, I still struggle to understand fire moons.

I've read before that Leo moons have a tendency to be selfish, which I concur depending on the situation. But I think the reason why some of them act like this is because often times, they are either the only child or the favorite child. So they literally don't know what it means to compromise or not get their way. I've only met 2 Leo moons (that I know of) years apart and they both had the same tendencies and personality. Let me know if you've had a more positive experience with this moon sign!

Fixed moons may have mothers who are very controlling over their lives. Their mothers have a “fixed” idea of what their child’s life should look like. They have a tendency to have a puppet & puppeteer relationship. I’ve noticed that because of this, these natives tend to have one area of their lives that their mother can’t control and they spiral out of control in that area. Kinda like a “look mom, you can’t control me in EVERY way” type thing. The most common areas I’ve noticed this in is their sex lives and drugs/alcohol use.

Of course the above note is based on personal experience. I’ve heard quite a few mothers of fixed moons say to other people: “I made them do this” “there was no way I was gonna let them not do this…” like the kid has no choice in the matter.

Okay, enough about moon signs. For now...

This may not be too popular with the astro girlies buttt I believe we have a tendency to attract the versions of signs we speak into existence. For example, when I first started studying astrology, I was sick to my stomach to see that I was a Sagittarius rising because I had back-to-back experiences with Sagittarius suns stabbing me in the back, so I told myself they were the worst. In time, I wanted to accept all of my chart which included my own Sag placements. I had to heal my understanding and perception of them to see them differently. Now, I attract the funniest and kindest Sag suns! It all started with me. This is your sign to heal your trauma with that placement. 🤍 (yes, this is also a message to myself). What you see won't change until you change what you see!

If there's anything a mutable rising is gonna do it's change their physical appearance.

Earth risings, rising at earth degree, or chart ruler in earth house: these people are less likely to take bold chances and risks with their appearances. Not really the type to dye their hair crazy colors, although they are quick to get visible tattoos.

Virgo in big 6 appears naturally put together. They don't really have to get ready because they stay ready. And they expect the same from you, especially if you're their romantic partner. This is amplified if they have Libra or Leo placements.

I’ve noticed Virgo suns and risings are much less likely to wear makeup. I see them with it maybe once a year and even then it’s like one coat of mascara and some highlighter. One thing I have heard a lot of Virgo women say is that they literally don’t know how to do their makeup which may factor into why they don’t wear it. Virgo moons however do tend to wear makeup.

Aries and Scorpio placements are very protective of their loved ones. One wrong look in their direction and they're ready to pounce.

Gemini-Sagittarius axis: if there's one thing these placements are gonna do it's laugh at absolutely nothing for an extended period of time.

Taurus and Libra placements, do you really need that new blouse? Or that new stationary knowing dang well you have more than enough? No, put it back. Aht! PUT IT BACK. And keep your receipts, so when you get home from that impulsive purchase, you can bring it right back where you got it from.

Something about Virgo, Scorpio, Sagittarius and Capricorn placements in dark academia that really does something to me chile...dark academia was made for us!

Saturn rules teeth. Saturn placements and aspects can describe your teeth’s appearance and health. Saturn aspecting Jupiter may have larger teeth. Aspecting Mercury may result in the native having smaller teeth or possibly getting veneers. Saturn aspecting Venus can manifest as the native receiving many compliments on their teeth/smiles. In the case of harsher aspects, the native can feel their teeth directly hinder their perceived beauty.

I’ve noticed people with prominent Gemini/Virgo/Mercury placements are much more likely to have gaps in between their front teeth. Often times, this is a result of their teeth being on the smaller side.

Virgo placements (esp. moons) can have naturally “perfect” teeth that don’t require braces. But upon closer inspection, you can see their teeth are not perfect, but rather, the imperfections are so minuscule you have to truly look to find them.

Libra Suns typically go for either the relaxed look (very natural appearance, not much makeup) or all the frills (makeup, couture, luxury). I have yet to see an in between. Libras with Scorpio/8th house influence enjoy darker colors and go for a much more relaxed look. More likely to portray a dark feminine embodiment of Venus or a more natural feminine. Especially if they have Virgo placements.

Aries suns (males and females) are the BIGGEST sweethearts and I don’t see enough people praise them for their pure hearts. 🥹

DO NOT under any circumstances copy, paste, reword, rewrite, translate, or repost my work.

All Rights Reserved to astro-enthusiast.

[trappedinafantasy37]

I just went back over my footage of the confrontation between DJ Shadowheart and Viconia as I edit my next chapter and noticed a pretty interesting pattern.

As I've mentioned plenty of times before, Minthara and Shadowheart do have shared mommy issues and I think Minthara would connect with Shadowheart over that. Minthara also has a habit of using the word "child" when speaking to children or those that she perceives as being in need of guidance, such as Lae'zel or Shadowheart herself. One of my mutuals proposed the theory that Minthara uses "child" as that is more than likely how her own mother spoke to her.

In the confrontation between Shadowheart and Viconia, Viconia repeatedly uses the word "girl" when speaking to Shadowheart. If my mutuals theory is correct, this would draw an immediately parallel between Shadowheart and Minthara in regards to how they were treated by their mothers, and could provide some insight into Minthara's relationship with her own mother. Personally, in regards to the gods and their mother figures, Minthara can easily project herself into Shadowheart's situation, similarly to how she projects herself into Durge's situation (since Shadowheart and Durge have very similar storylines).

This is something that I do plan on addressing in To Be Free From the Gods and my eventual Shadowheart fic. But, just imagine how Minthara feels watching one of her closest allies be treated by their mother in the same way that she was when she was a child. Now, Minthara is definitely one of those people that goes, "I was beaten as a kid and I turned out fine" (when it is very obvious to everyone around her that she is not fine). However, Minthara also does label her mother as her tormentor so it makes me feel that Minthara deep down does acknowledge she was abused as a child, even if she feels that abuse did make her stronger. But Minthara is also extremely protective of those that are in her circle and would not abide witnessing one of her allies being abused in a similar manner.

I'm gonna get a little personal here, which isn't something that I do often. But, I had a parent who often spoke to me with that kind of language. They would often refer to me as "half a person", or "not quite yet a person", or "still cooking", and things similar to Minthara being called "child" or Shadowheart being called "girl". Even as I got older, the language never changed and they often did not even call me by my name and instead opted to use these "nicknames" for me. Because to them, I was always going to be a child. And that type of language made me feel so small and weak. They always wanted to remind me that I was less than them, that I could never accomplish what they could, that I would never be able to understand what they could, and that I would always be dependent on them because otherwise I would fail without them. It's dehumanizing.

Shadowheart is nearly 50 years old (cause remember, she's a half-elf). And Viconia is still calling her "girl" because that's what Viconia wants Shadowheart to feel like. She wants Shadowheart to feel small, and weak, and like a child. Even when she has Shar's (or Selune's) favor, there is just a brief moment, and it is really easy to miss, but for just a brief moment, that is exactly what Shadowheart feels when she encounters Viconia again. And Minthara is just standing there, watching this interaction take place. Throwing her back to herself growing into her own 50's, and then making her first century, and then getting to 200 years old, going through clerical school, becoming a paladin of Lolth, and yet still being called "child" by her mother. Not to mention, the prefix "Min" in her name translates to "lesser" in drowic. For as long as Minthara would live, she would always be less than her mother and her mother would never let her forget it or feel otherwise.

It must be so cathartic for Minthara to watch Shadowheart kill Viconia as that is all Minthara wants to do to her own mother for tormenting her and always making her feel weak.

[raychleadele]

Kirsten was my very first American Girl doll, I bought her when I was about 9 (approximately 1998), and I love her very much, but I never acquired Kirsten’s rag doll, Sari. Now that I’m collecting again, I want to give all my dolls their own toys as well, because they’re kids and they deserve to have toys! And naturally Kirsten must have Sari, but buying a Sari now could easily cost me around $50. Which I feel is a little silly for something I could make a reasonable replica of.

So I finally did!

My Sari is not meant to be an accurate duplicate of the original - obviously I don’t have the same fabrics used in her clothes, and I chose to give her face more detail because I have the skill to do it and I wanted to - also I made her hair too thick to actually turn into the classic braid loops - but because I made her I love her even more than I think I would if I’d bought her secondhand. Also she’s so teeny and soft and cute I just want to carry her around in my pocket forever.

For reference, this is an example of a Sari doll from Pleasant Company. Mine certainly is different but I feel like they are similar enough for my liking.

Also all her clothes are removable, so I could theoretically make her different outfits! How fun is that!

Kirsten has been mine for 25 years and she finally has a doll of her own. I’m so glad I finally got a chance to make Sari!

[zvmz]

A few Daring Charming HCs <3

Growing up, anytime he expressed interest in anything considered girly, his father would lecture him on how he needs to be more manly or whatever

For example, He did like rom-coms, and he would sometimes watch them with darling, but got a lecture and told to ‘spend his time on something more befitting of a man’ when he was caught

Since his father considered the guitar a manly instrument, He started learning to play when he was young to impress him

his dad was impressed. And that made daring happier than anything. That’s when he realized he would do anything to earn his fathers approval. So, he worked hard at it, changing things about himself to live up to his fathers standards.

he did, of course, succeed in this goal, but in the process took on many of his fathers flaws, such as his arrogance and sexist ideals

Now at eah, he’s slowly realizing that his father is capable of being in the wrong. He can embrace all the things he likes and still be a man. He can express his emotions and still be a man. He’s realizing his life should not revolve around earning his dads approval, that he needs to become his own person.

character development!!

anyway, he really showed his growth when he finally stood up to his dad for how he treats dexter, and defended darling for everything going on with her and apple.

why am I trying to write a whole character arc rn um anyways

With cerise and darling, he learned that women can be more than just “damsels in distress”.

with Lizzie and Dexter, he learned to put others ahead of himself.

now he can admit he hates the guitar. He loves romance movies, Katy perry, shopping, theatre and acting. he even likes to wear pink sometimes. hes still finding out what he likes and doesnt like without his fathers influence

he LOVES sweet drinks. if hes at a bar hes getting a daiquiri. if hes at a cafe its a frappuccino.

when hes getting drinks with lizzie, the waiter always assumes the fruity/sweet drink goes to lizzie

sparrow makes so much fun of him for it

he doesnt like cerise like that anymore, but they are great friends now. they mostly bond over sports and movies

he excels at history and literature, but has trouble in science and math. apple tutors him.

their tutoring sessions can be really awkward, though. they dont really know how to talk to each other normally.

he never really had a crush on her at any time, but he has always very much admired her for her hard work and intellect.

hes extremely chivalrous and polite. he always holds the door open for people, always offers his seat to someone if theyre all full, never looks at his phone during a date. things like that

hes always over-dressed, no matter the occasion

probably spends at least a third of his time in the gym flexing and taking pictures in the mirror

lets bfr teens in the eah world definitely make tiktok edits of him

daring is obsessed with them. theyre all over his fyp.

understands every one of briars daily mean girls references

he only auditioned for a play for the first time in order to spend more time with lizzie, who got dragged into playing a part. they both ended up loving it.

i am retconning the whole thing with duchess in the books. never happened.

the actual reason daring and lizzie broke up was because daring felt guilty about the bet with sparrow, so he confessed to her. which ended in lizzie yelling at him for half an hour and dumping him

they missed each other SO much. daring basically tried to apologize to her almost every day, and after some months lizzie decided to give him another chance. he absolutely did not waste that chance.

he plays fortnite with dexter and darling once a week

as a kid he used to climb trees with darling all the time. they got caught and lectured on it pretty often

has been to jail for going 50 over the speed limit before. dexter and darling had to bail him out

once dexter and darling tried to prank daring by filling his entire room with merch of himself

it completely backfired bc daring loved it and kept most of it where it was

hes definitely one of those boys who says "im him" about any ryan gosling character and says ryan reynolds is hot

[dduane]

OK so listen: I am the same age-ish as both the illustrious Mr. Gaiman and, I believe, you. So when you wrote the first Wizard book I was closer to having a kid, not reading like one. Still, I will read nearly anything, my mother used to tease me b/c if all there was to read at breakfast was the cereal box, I'd be reading it. I've read a LOT of books.

Just read SYWTBAW. Not to state the ridiculously obvious but it was well worth the 6-week wait (at the NYPL no less, who has plenty of copies). The rest of the series, of course, are now on my waitlist.

2 questions for you:

1: Should I read them in order? Will it make a difference to story arc/character development?

2: Did you pick Schenectady off a map/resource or have you actually been there and were speaking from personal knowledge? Double funny b/c aforementioned kid has lived there.

I'm so glad I found you and your work. Thanks for being such a nice person and fantastic writer (and cook, huh?)

...Yeah, I'm not a bad cook. (Though my most effective education in the art came from the gents on whom Tom Swale and Carl Romeo are based.) :) ...And I've got a shade less than a decade on @neil-gaiman. But once you're past 50, these differences don't matter so much, as you'll no doubt have been noticing. Especially among fellow cereal-box readers.

Meanwhile, I'm glad you liked So You Want To Be A Wizard! (And NYPL kept you waiting six weeks for a copy?? WTF. ...But I guess that means their available copies are in demand, so I shouldn't complain.)

Re: reading in order: In this series's case, I do recommend sticking with the publishing order, as there's a definite events arc... and as part of that, both plots and character development become more complex as time goes on. (Possibly a symptom of the author coming to a better understanding of the world she was building. Who knows.)

And re: Schenectady: I've been in and out a few times during trips upstate, but the main reference is to an old joke of Harlan Ellison's. He used to get a lot of questions from people at conventions who wanted to know where he got his ideas. Harlan eventually took to answering "Schenectady," claiming there was some kind of useful-idea warehouse up there... so that when he felt he was running low, he'd get on the phone to them and do a bulk order. (snicker) It was a favored riff. He kept adding unlikely stuff to it as time went by. Eventually I asked to borrow the locale-bit of the shtick, and he said "okay".

Anyway: glad you're planning to follow up on the series. When you run out of the in-traditional-print material, you may want to have a look at Ebooks Direct. There's more YW material over there, including at least one non-main-sequence novel, the offshoot Feline Wizards series, and a batch of novella-length works. (Not to mention the revised, updated-timeline New Millennium Edition ebook versions of the main sequence.)

Meanwhile: hope you enjoy what lies before you! :) And thanks for letting me know you liked the first one.

[quinloki]

What's your writing process like? Do you draft everything at once and then release chapter by chapter as you edit or something similar?

How to you keep your notes organized? I think you've said before in an ask you use Scrivener (me too!), how do you organize that? I love seeing peoples writing processes in general, if your comfortable explaining!!

Okay you're awesome thank you 💛

Process. Ah. Ahem. Organization... /sweats/

Okay, so organization I have something like that. Thanks almost entirely to Scrivener if I'mma be honest. My projects are organized by blorbo - so like all the Kid x Readers are in one project, and then broken down in files by book.

Except for A Light Touch - cause that's in the Grandline AU collection project, and all associated stories are in there with it.

Notes, though, and er... drafts... Ah.

So I would like to note I mean this in the stereotypical pop culture way, and not in the legitimate way, but I'm insane.

I have never known how long a story was going to be until I wrote it, and while I've had a few slapdash outlines for stories, I never manage to stick to them, so I barely even bother writing them out anymore.

Usually the process is something like:

Inspiration -> Idea -> details for Idea -> some notes -> decide certain parameters -> and time allowing either set aside or start writing chapter 1.

Quicksand, for instance, was inspired by a piece of fan art. It was going to be a one-shot. I started world-building and deciding functional parameters and uh... it's 20 chapters if you don't count the alternative story line. The inspired scene doesn't even happen until like chapter 18.

And even within that, I'd meant for Crocodile to be way more terrifyingly yandere to the point that Doflamingo was going to be the GOOD GUY.

That was the plan. That did not happen.

Inversely, I had the first 5 chapters of A Dragon's Clause outlined, and got so into it those 5 chapters were 8 chapters when I ran out of outline. There are, however, THREE different pages of notes for world building, characters and orgs, and important details, that I reference while I write, and I very much expect the story will be near to 50 chapters, if not longer.

Hey Doll has no outline. It's got a page of notes.

The Host Club AU as nothing set in stone except the Club itself and the owners. Yeah I did some headcanoning and world building via asks, but I still don't know what I'm going to keep and what I'm going to cut, and I'm going to start writing chapter one in June XD There is no outline.

Hell, the ending of a Heart of Gold was decided by a scene in A Light Touch, so one of the reasons I'm going to a little slower than usual is because I have to make sure Heart stays on track. (And yes, A Light Touch, Quicksand, Heart of Gold, and Thrice Prophesized all happen in the same AU at the same time - it's not just a backdrop AU for those stories like it is for Some Direction and Hey Doll.)

But yeah, that's uh... that's it. I don't really have much of a process beyond "This is what I want to work on" and then I turn on a appropriately themed playlist, pick some art to have on one monitor and write on the other. And honestly, thank fuck for like @swampstew, @mamaalpha, @standfucker, @lyndsyh24, @writing-yarn-goblin, @kazieai, @anon-germany, @theaceofflamesposts, @zorostittiesz, @leakyweep, @icy-spicy and @thus-spoke-lo and @mewiyev for all being awesome fucking friends.

Between writing sprints, and beta-reading and inspiring with head canons and thots and art and support and the list goes on and on - I just. (and gods that's not even including @friedbluechicken and @cyborg-franky and can you understand how long this list is gonna get?)

I just kind of stumbled into this whole fandom thing. I didn't know wtf I was doing or what, and I swear I tripped into being friends with Lyn and Raven and it's all kind of a blur and from those two to everyone else on that list to many more beyond that and these alarmingly talented people talk to me of all the random ass bastards out there, and folks are sending me asks thinking I'm cool and wanting to know my process and like -

I'm just a stoat in a trench coat man, I don't even know what I'm doing here.

/ahem/ Okay, I got a little off the topic, but I guess I can't really say I have a process, and I don't plan out my stories much at all. But I will have highlights like I want x, y, and q to happen, so how do I do that? And the real relief is being okay when the story goes a different way and I just let it. I wrote Some Direction inside of a month just doing that. The only thing I knew about that story was who the antagonist was going to be ^^;

[koterkot]

explain the entirety of pluto lore in one comprehensive tumblr post. GO!!!!!!

ok so first of all fuck you Second of all- Pluto is a gieeg oc of mine, here's a old reference sheet i made for them in ms paint because that is somehow my main art program:

(tw: comedical usage of the f slur. i'm sorry gay people.)

[* Due to the gieeg mothership that Pluto has lived in for most of his life having like, weird time dilating shit, a gieeg year is roughly 5 human years. (HIS ASS IS 80 YEARS OLD DURING MOTHER 1!!!! HI GRANDPA!!!!!) ? I just picked random numbers and that's now his birthday in the gieeg calendar that has like 50 days and 50 months lma-]

SSOOO COUGH COUGH IGNORE THE SHITTY ART I SWEAR THAT I HAVE IMPROVED ANYWHOS- Pluto's story is simple, he was born in the mothership with two disorders, being them SPD (Selfharming Psionic Disorder) and OPD (Overwhelming Psionic Disorder) together with the bonus addition of The Tism. Raised in the Mothership of their species, their mother Eris is one of Giegue's strongest troops, and is mostly absent from Pluto's life as she is too busy beating the shit out of alien scum on other planets that Giegue plans to conquer.

[credits to thealmightyven for cooking this shit up, this was her first drawing and ofc the first thing she does is ask pluto if he's a queer] COUGH COUGH WHEEZE AAND THEN THERE'S CERES!!! HIS DAD!!!

(AALSO OLD ART AND STUPID SKETCH BLEUGH) he works for marketing giegue as like this super cool warlord when in reality he's just a traumatized teenager that got weaponized because he's really fucking strong and stuff OH!! OHH!!! SPEAKING OF GIEGUE!!! wait no nevermind we need to touch on pluto's childhood first uhhh uhhh Pluto basically got bullied a LOT as a kid. Last one to get picked for everything, always made fun of due to their lack of tail and inability to use PSI without physically and mentally straining themselves. Sooo... What did Pluto do??? Shut himself away from the outside world, watch their dad's massive collection of holotapes full of movies and tv shows and cartoons and shit

[ANOTHER OLD ASS DOODLE RRAGGGH!!!!] AND LIKE!! THEY LIVED BY THEMSELVES AND THEIR DAD FOR A VERY LONG TIME!!! Until... BBOOM!!! A good while after Pluto's 16th birthday, and 2 days after their last check up on their psionitrist, (doctor specialized in psionics and shit) THE FEDS PULL UP AT CERES' DOOR!!! AND THEY CALL FOR!!! PLUTO!!!

ok so cutting a long story short pluto has like a FUCK ton of psi, and like, the same level as giegue's, soo he basically is supposed to get drafted into their army but unfortunately he has SPD in which has no distinct treatment, sooo their best solution to fix up pluto was to SEND HIM TO THE BIG BOSS!!! GIGAGAS!!!

resuming a entire fanfic's worth of gay tension they eventually come to one conclusion

AAND NOW PLUTO HAS HIS FIRST FRIEND!! EVER!!! using the insane confidence boost of being the Commander of All Gieegkind's best friend (secretly boyfriend), Pluto goes from "loser dork town mayor" to "COOLEST GUY IN TOWN!!! YEAH!!!"

this helps pluto form a few friendships, and by a few i mean like 6 people (probably more than you have anon. HAHA!!) this relationship with giegue though, lasts for only 2 years before it is permanently ruined by giegue's first invasion onto earth. and his loss. i'll touch more on that later on my SECOND POST!!! (YES!!! THERE WILL BE PLURAL POSTS!!) that'll cover what happens to pluto after the events of mother 1 and during mother 2 and stuff BUH BYE!!

[reallyromealone]

As promised

A Patreon nsfw

Because I hit 50 on twitch

Enjoy

WARNING ADULT CONTENT

BDSM, OMEGAVERSE, MALE READER, BOTTOM READER

PAH CHIN X MALE READER

SMUT

Pah loved his husband more than anything or "mate" as (name) refered to him, the succubus falling hopelessly in love with the other who managed to push through the walls of the sex demon and build a happy relationship with him.

He still remembers when (name) showed him his true form.

"Beautiful..." Pah said wide eyed to the demon who looked back at him almost awestruck "but this... this isn't what you want?"

"It's everything I want and more!" Pah said loudly as he smothered his lover in kissed, mindful of the horns.

Tonight was special, tonight was feeding night and since (name) put a claim mark on pah, he could only feed off him specifically.

And (name) was hungry.

Pah barely got through the door before his boyfriend was all over him, using magic to keep himself elevated as he wrapped his legs around pah, one resting over his shoulder as he kissed him heavily "took too long..." (Name) hissed out, eyes black and his more demonic attributes came out "I'm here now" pah said carrying his horny husband to the bedroom where (name) was plopped on the bed.

You see, (name) could just let his mate fuck him silly and get fed but god did it taste better when the other person's fantasies got played out, it just made the energy tingle through him.

Pah was always in awe at (name)s magic, black smoke swirling around him and wrapping around his limbs and manifesting into black rope that bound his body and left him "helpless" to his husband.

"Please..." (Name) said breathlessly as he felt pah touch his legs "please fuck me..."

Pah could never get used to how beautiful his husband was, the two completely devoted to one another and Pah wanted to give him everything.

Pah pulled him close by the ropes wrapped intricately across his chest and into a kiss, tongues dancing as they felt the energy pass even if it was just tiny shreds.

Pah groped at his chest and pulled at his nipples pulling from the kids to watch (name), he was always extra sensitive on feeding days and it was his favorite thing to watch (name) slowly unravel from pleasure "O-oh fuck!" (Name)s eyes were contorted as he let pah play with him, one of the man's hands moving lower to jerk his cock aggressively "p-please just fuck me!"

Or (name) would take his meal himself.

Pah could feel the hunger radiating off his lover and lifted his legs to see his pretty ass, ready to be stuffed "come on~ fuck me fuck me fuck me!" "Stop demanding, you know you're gonna get your food baby"

"Then shove that fat fucking cock in me!"

He was always an angry fucker when hungry, pah thought he looked like a feral rabbit when he was like this.

Pah shoved his cock in, giving (name) no time to adjust as he began fucking (name) senseless. (Name) let his skin be as fragile as a humans, loving the feeling of bruises from his lovers grip as pah flipped him "gonna fuck you real good" he said laying a heavy slap on (name)s ass that physically pushed (name) forward as a shiver rippled through him, a slutty moan escaping his lips.

"Yesyes! Fuck you're good!"

(Name)s words always was an ego boost because pah knew his husband was incredibly blunt in the bedroom.

The bed was shaking as they fucked, neither would be surprised if it broke.

If it wasn't for (name)s magic to repair it, they would have gone through many bed frames.

Pah kept slapping (name)s ass as he fucked him senseless, sucking Hickeys on his skin and tugging on the rope "fuck... Gonna cum!"

"Do it! Don't waist a drop!" (Name) screamed as Pah have a few hard thrusts before they came together, (name) unable to control his magic briefly through the orgasm, shape shifting through various appearances as his body flopped on the bed.

"Mmmmm" (name) moaned as pah felt a bit tired, having his energy physically taken from him "take a break baby... Then that cocks mine again"

Tonight was gonna be long.

[elvisabutler]

my heart will lead me there soon

summary: after having freshly broken up with anita wood after a fight over his nature, elvis finds himself on a beach in the wee hours of the morning. you are on that same beach. fandom: elvis ( 2022 ) | elvis presley | austin butler pairing: elvis presley x reader technically, past elvis x anita, elvis x june, among others. rating: t-ish word count: 3,411 warnings: mentions of gladys' death. mentions of seal skin. mentions of turning into a seal. references to elvis's relationships in the 50s and the early 60s ( so june, natalie, dixie and anita ). prejudice against non-human individuals. author’s note: so basically everyone can blame @prompted-wordsmith for this because they kept spamming me with baby elvis fics and just whispered "so what if you did a ships in the night sort of fic with the reader and elvis post anita break up" and well. this was born. there's one or two lines that came from her as well. it seems sadder than it is, but i promise it's a sweet fic. this is completely unedited because i'm impatient and this feels like a hot coal in my jean pocket. let's be honest this is one of those fics i just started and half ran with. told y'all i was feeling really creative lately. and y'all know the drill read it with whomever you wish to.

Elvis figures he shouldn't be surprised. Figures that it was as inevitable as June breaking things off with him because he hadn't had the decency to remain true. That oh he got a little lonely and things just kept ramping up up and up. Elvis figures he should have known that sweet Anita, his little pee pee, his Chicken Little would hear his secret and think that's the last straw. Maybe if- maybe if he hadn't been like he was with June it would have been different. Maybe if he had stayed true to her too it would have been different. But now he tells her one more secret and shifts in front of her and hears a goddamn scream of horror and disgust that has him shifting back so suddenly and crowding her space as if to apologize only to have her practically yanking herself away from him.

"After everything? After everything you kept this from me? You're not even human?" Anita's voice feels like nails on a chalkboard, screeching at levels his ears register as painful in ways he only gets with the bad feedback of a mic.

Elvis winces at the accusation, the shame of her reaction nearly making him curl in on himself. He's always known it's a hard thing to come to terms with and knows that he had gotten lucky with June reacting so well when he told her but still Anita's reaction catches him off guard. Sets him on edge and makes his pride deflate even as a part of him wants to fight Anita.

"This- I wonder why I wouldn't tell ya! Actin' like I meant t'hurt ya by not tellin' ya. Jus' was tryin' to protect myself!" Elvis can't help but try and crowd her space, wanting to get her to stop screaming and get her to listen, be reasonable about this. "'m- 'm still Elvis, 'm still me."

"You're a seal, Elvis," she accuses, moving back as he tries to move closer her hands moving in front of her body to make him stop moving in front of her. "Our- Is it- How'd- I don't even want to know. You'd have made our kids like this too, wouldn't you? I'd have seal babies not human babies."

He opens up his mouth to try and defend against it and yet he knows he can't. He knows he's a selkie because his mama was one and her daddy before her and so on and so on. It is genetic but there's no guarantee it would have happened. Maybe- maybe his kids wouldn't be selkies. Maybe their first little Elvis Presley would have just been a plain ol' run of the mill human.

When he finally does speak, his voice is tight. "Proper name's a selkie, Anita. And- it ain't all my family that's like that. Jus'- hell, ya don't wanna listen 'bout this. Already know. Don't care 'bout it 'cept for those hurt feelings of yourn."

The words are vicious, he thinks, something close to how he talked to her with that leaked phone call and yet he can't help it. Can't help the vitriol that is pouring from his mouth. She's supposed to be the love of his life, the woman he was planning on spending the rest of his life with and now she's proving she isn't that woman. He can't turn her into a seal wife any more than he could make June forgive him for straying.

"My hurt feelings. I've put up with so much from you. This is the final straw, Elvis, I- I don't think we should see each other any more," Anita's voice shakes when she speaks and Elvis despite his anger wants to comfort her just a little bit. His hand moves out to touch her before she shakes her head, giving him the handkerchief he had given her with his initials sewn in it. "Leave me alone. I'm- I'm going home."

For once Elvis doesn't have it in him to fight, doesn't have it in him to have a blowout argument with someone he loves. If she wants to leave over this maybe it's for the best. Maybe she was never meant to hold his skin in her hands. Maybe she was never meant to have his children. Maybe she wasn't a seal wife. Maybe he wasn't supposed to have one- not yet.

He misses his mama during times like this. She'd have comforted him, shushed him and told him how it's alright, he'd find another girl who could be with him. His mama was so picky about the girls he wanted to date that every time when she would like someone he'd always think she might be the one. Hell, he remembers how she had hated Natalie and loved June and Anita and even Dixie. She wasn't here now, though, and never would be again. She wouldn't ever be there to swim with him and to remind him that it takes time sometimes and that he needed to find the perfect one.

"You'll know when you find her, Boobie. She'll feel like home and like me."

Except it's been years since he's had his mama and he doesn't remember quite what home is supposed to feel like any more. Only that it's not this stupid beach in California where the water is fine and so is the sand but he can only come here unbothered in the early morning hours. His shift is easy enough, a quick slide between his forms after he set aside his clothes in a hidden area. No one should be on the beach for another hour or so and it'll give him time to think. Give him time to swim with his handkerchief tied on his flipper. He shouldn't do that, he thinks but he can't help it. Can't help how he wants to wash away the scent of Anita with the tangy smell of the salt of the sea. That'll be something close to home, more than her perfume ever was.

Time as a seal passes by strangely and Elvis only knows it's not time to shift back from the placement of the sun in the skin but he can see a human shaped person on the beach as he comes onto dry land. The longer he stares the closer they start to be until he realizes it's a woman he's never met before. It's a woman who he's never seen before and yet seems to not bat an eye at the fact that there's a seal in front of her staring at her. Then again, perhaps it just hadn't sunk in that she's staring at a seal.

You honestly should back away, you think, you should back away and run from the seal in front of you. They could probably crush you and yet the more you look at the one in front of you the more you feel surprisingly at ease. If he wanted to hurt you he would have already but instead he appears to be sizing you up, trying to figure out what you're doing in relation to him.

Truthfully what you want to do is pet him, a silly desire born of just seeing how smooth his pelt seems to be and wanting to know how it feels in between your fingers. You have to remind yourself that he's a wild animal first and foremost though so the desire is pushed down deep inside even as you walk a little closer to him and notice there's a handkerchief tied to his fin with the initials EP on them. There's only one EP you can think of who'd have something like this and before you can even stop yourself you find yourself talking to this seal.

"Are you out here stealing Elvis Presley's handkerchiefs?" You practically coo at the seal as you bend down to untie it. Elvis briefly tries to move his fin back before he realizes just what you're doing and allows it. "This isn't yours, silly little seal. How'd you even find this, hm? He leave it behind after going for a swim some time? You don't need this any more than I think he does."

You look as if you're going to toss it away before you hear the seal whimpering. Elvis- despite you not knowing it's him is whimpering at you. Letting out these little noises that are confusing but make some part of your chest tighten and twist. It almost sounds like a child wanting comfort.

Elvis can't help the noises that leave him, the almost cries that leave him at being called a seal so sweetly by someone he's never met after Anita's anger at it. He knows being a selkie isn't natural, knows it's rare but he is one. He turns into a seal and has a skin he can give to the one he loves so intensely that he wants to bind them together for all of his life. You start to hush him as one would hush a baby and he finds himself moving closer, making it so you sit down properly on the sand instead of crouch. There's something comforting about you, something that settles his mind, soul and heart at your quiet shushing. Without even questioning his own actions he manages to settle his head in your lap and looks up at you almost pleading with you to comfort him more than you already had.

Looking down at him seals your fate, seals your doom at finally falling prey to your desire to pet him. You shouldn't and yet at the brush of your fingers against his head you see him practically turn to putty. His head lolling a little to the side almost as if to nuzzle at you, booping your stomach with his snout. His pelt feels soft and warm but you don't know if that's just his body heat you're feeling or not. A giggle leaves you at the press of his snout against and you're struck by how right this feels, that petting this seal's head feels so normal and like it's what you should be doing at any given time. To have enough money to have a seal like this would be a dream, you think. A dream you're pretty sure only Elvis Presley himself or one of those big Hollywood types could manage. Perhaps if you could just get enough money you could have something like this to cure your ills and make nights like the one you had the night before seem like distant memories. If you had just enough money you could have someone to spend your time with on the beach like this in the early hours of the morning before one of your jobs. The job you might be late for if you don't head home soon to get ready. It's that knowledge that has you pressing against the seal's face with a murmur, "I'm going to have to go, seal."

Elvis feels you touching his face, feels you trying to force him off your lap and lets out a whine. He had just gotten comfortable in your lap. He had just gotten comfortable in what felt like a true seal wife's lap and had felt himself trying to drift off to sleep amongst your murmurs and soft humming and shushing. Why were you trying to make him leave? Why did you have to go anywhere? He could make excuses for whoever you had to go meet. If it was your job he could take care of you if you'd just stay here with him in this moment. Maybe if he shifts back you'll stay here, you'll know he's Elvis Presley and there's no reason to leave him. He wants to- He wants to know you, to figure out who you are and know your name so he can whisper it into the sea so you'll come back.

You swear the seal's gotten heavier and doesn't want you to leave as you look down to see what almost looks like a human pout on his face. It would be a dream to stay here with the seal in your lap and not have to worry about anything else but you can't. In a fit of stupidity because you know you shouldn't touch a wild animal let alone kiss one, you grab both sides of the seal's face and place a kiss on top of its head, watching as their eyes seem to widen, startling enough to allow you to get out from under them and stand up. Once the shock seems to wear off they move toward you, pressing their snout at your stomach again, trying to push you to the sea as another warning to not leave.

"I've got a job. I've got to get going. I would stay with you if I could, silly seal," you try to reason with the seal only to get another boop to your stomach and a small whine. "I can't just stay here. Tell you what, I walk on this beach some days. Maybe tomorrow I'll see you again? Would you like that?"

You swear you hallucinate the seal actually nodding its head in affirmation but it makes you smile nonetheless. The seal finally allows you to leave despite hunching in on himself as if he's trying to do something though you can't tell what. You start to walk away and suddenly feel his snout against your hand with fabric.

Elvis thinks he should shift right there, she's proving she doesn't mind having a strange seal she just met bothering her and yet he stops himself, worrying she'll rebuff him just as Anita did. He loved June but it wasn't enough because he was lonely and she wasn't there. He loved Anita but she didn't love all of him and he can't love anyone but the sea and his mama and his family because they haven't ever betrayed him. They haven't left him, they aren't trying to leave him like she is right in this moment. Perhaps she's a good seal wife, perhaps she can hold someone's skin but not his. Maybe that- maybe Priscilla from Germany could. She always did find the myth so fascinating when he told her about it- even if he never told her he was one.

Something in his heart tells him to give this woman something though, to give her that handkerchief to tie them together. It'll be something to make her keep her promise of coming back and remind her of what the sea smells like. What he smells like. What home should smell like. Maybe if he was lucky, you'd figure it out on your own and come find him, prove that sea wasn't leading him down a path of a broken heart and aching soul that just wants to be cared for and loved for every part of him, not just the parts that are what they want.

Your hand moves to grab the handkerchief from his mouth and you smile at him, placing one last kiss to the top of his head and petting his pelt one more time with a bit of a shaky exhale. "Thank you. I'll make sure to keep this safe. And remember, we'll come find each other soon."

He's never there when you come to the beach and you're never there when he comes to the beach for the next month. Each time you miss each other by hours or by minutes until you have to leave California and he gives up. The Colonel can hold his skin till he finds a wife, a true seal wife who won't abandon him for anything. He'll keep it safe like mama did.

"You're her," you hear Elvis whisper against your thigh after suddenly shifting back while you were in the middle of petting him by the pool. You very nearly scream from the shock before you realize just what he said.

"What do mean I'm her?" The question comes out sounding more concerned than you intend it to and your voice shakes with some fear you don't understand. You had just been asking, murmuring to Elvis wondering what makes him so sure you're it, you're the one for him, the one who deserves to have his skin grasped in between your fingers. Why he thinks you're the one who will keep it safe until both of your dying breaths.

"Ya helped me even if ya didn't know it was Elvis Presley in that lap a yourn, darlin', my seal wife. It just took me a while t'see it. But I-I-I see it now." He stutters out the last bit, the faint nervousness at potentially losing you bringing it out. "On that beach. Ya met a seal, kept callin' 'im silly."

"That was you," you whisper, your free hand going to your face as your eyes widen. "That- you had the- because you were EP. And you-"

"It was Anita's. Broke up wit' her 'cause of it. The- me bein' a selkie. She couldn't handle it and-" You could goes unsaid as you cut him off.

"You wouldn't be calling me your seal wife if you hadn't just- I'd be just another woman to you, Elvis. Even though I still have that handkerchief." You hate how your voice sounds, childish and unsure of yourself but after everything, after how he had blown up at you when he discovered your skin and how getting back together, rediscovering each other and settling into something as you try to fully detangle Elvis from his manager has been wrought with one complication or another.

It's then that Elvis moves to sit up and places his hands on either side of your face, shaking his head. "No. That ain't the truth. The second I came back after takin' my skin back from ya room and saw ya- I knew even before I 'member this that ya were my seal wife. Ya were the perfect one. Ya looked like shit, darlin'. Looked as if I aged ya half a decade. Ya feel like home, ya always have felt like it. Back then and even now. That's what a seal wife is supposed t'be."

His thumb brushes along your cheek and you realize it's wet with tears you didn't realize were falling. "Don't cry. That ain't- that aint what I meant t'do," he moves to suck his thumb. "Ya taste like the sea no matter where I taste you. Ya smell like home. Ain't- Nothing ain't my home 'less it's got you wit' it."

Your eyes search his face for some indication that this is just a line, something he tells to women to charm them but you know your Elvis by now, or you like to think you can recognize his tells but there isn't one. There isn't a single hint of a lie in his words and your heart threatens to burst in that moment.

The thing is it should have been a line, just something he whispered and murmured in your ear but between the memory and how he's felt about you even before it's not. You're everything about the sea when he forgets it, your taste and your smell remind him of the tangy sharpness of the saltwater of the ocean. Your anger is the chaos of a choppy stormy sea, the waves threatening to take down anyone near them. Everything about you is made to be a seal wife, made to be his seal wife, the woman who'll protect him and his pups and everyone he dares to care about. You're meant to be by his side, swimming and being warmed by the sun on the beach.

"Elvis," you start only to bite at your lip. "You're too charming for your own good."

His lips curl into a smile before shrugging. "Only when it comes to you, I think. You get my honest charm, not my showman one. I meant what I said, darlin'. Ain't gonna say it again but- I meant it."

There's a million words on the tip of your tongue, a million retorts that you feel he'll enjoy because it'll lead to the two of you sparring in a way you did when you first met but you swallow them all in favor of moving your hand to pet Elvis's hair, silently asking him to try and shift again. "I know. It's why you'll always have me."

taglist: @ab4eva , @blurredcolourr, @butlersxbirdy, @precious-little-scoundrel, @eliseinmemphis, @prompted-wordsmith, @missmaywemeetagain, @lookingforrainbows, @araxw, @thatbanditqueen, @ellie-24, @austinbutlersgirl67, @heartbrake-hotel, @ccab, @18lkpeters, @slutforsomegoodlettuce, @dkayfixates, @kendralavon7, @chasingwildflowers, @notstefaniepresley, @wanderingelvis, @kxnnxy, @powerofelvis, @stylespresleyhearted i am probably missing some people who might want to be tagged or people who don't and i apologize.

[rjschoicesstuff]

Wanted to make a post about Ripley's mum because Terri is honestly one of my fave characters idk I rlly like her

I like when parents and their kids are actually very similar even like expression wise and stuff, like she really rubbed off on Ripley regarding interests and stuff.

Like always I'll put more info and art under the cut

She was born 5 years before Cas and Gabe, so that's Weird but in a funny way imo lol. She had Ripley when she was 36 years old. She chose to be a single mom, there was never a father in the picture (she isn't even attracted to men), Ripley knows the donor, who's a good friend of Terri. Ripley knows she's related to him and considers him more of an uncle, she calls Terri's friends aunties and uncles in general.

She and Ripley have always been very close and Ripley's grandparents also helped look after Ripley a lot when she was little. In the present time both of Ripely's grandparents passed away a few years ago.

She's always been a bit of an outcast with small, but close friendgroups. She enjoys horror movies and novels and is also really interested in the supernatural, just like Ripley. When she was younger she used to DIY most of her clothes and always had really cool and creative looks, she taught Ripley how to sew + customize clothes too tho she's definitely better at it than Ripley. She didn't really care how Ripley would turn out, as long as she's happy but I guess in a way she is really happy that they have a lot in common. She's always been very supportive of Ripley and letting her express herself however she wanted.

I think at times she maybe tries too hard to be a friend to Ripley instead of acting like a mom, if that makes sense? Though a positive outcome of that is that Ripley normally always feels like she can confide in her with everything and doesn't keep secrets at all. Which made her very suspicious and worried after they moved to Crimson Beech and she noticed a change in Ripley's behaviour and could tell she was hiding stuff.

Due to what happened at the Autumn festival, for a while she really doesn't like Gabriela and it's So Funny because Gabriela really tries so hard to be liked by Terri and Terri just thinks she's a bit of a suck-up and the whole acting polite thing is just an act. Meanwhile she initially is wary of Cas but kinda just likes him more because at least he doesn't really try to seem better than he is or whatever 😭 I think she just has a soft spot for alt kids lol. And Cas really has to rub it in every time they interact with them and it's so much clearer that she's more cold towards Gabriela. And I feel like she'd keep making kinda passive agressive references to when Gabe told her Ripley would be home by 9:50 and that didn't happen lmao. Once she knows about vampires her opinion on Gabriela changes and she apologizes to her.

(for context, in my version her memory doesn't get wiped)

Though after Ripley almost dies and they turn her into a vampire she's angry with both of them for letting Ripley do what she did, she wishes she could've done it in her place because she also understands it was the only option in that moment. She tries not to keep resenting them for what they did, and keeps her thoughts about it to herself because she can tell that it was a complicated situation. But it's hard because she can see how Ripley has such a hard time with everything after becoming a vampire. She's very scared for Ripley because she knows that the vampires have been giving her a hard time and literally tried to kill them both. And she feels very powerless in the whole situation. So she Tries to trust in Cas and Gabe and hopes they will always keep Ripley safe and also THEMSELVES because she knows Ripley sacrificed herself for them once and would do it again. And also because she just doesn't want them to get hurt lol. She hopes their lives will be very boring and uneventful 👍

She also has a soft spot for Seth after he kept her safe after she and Ripley almost got executed. I feel like especially Cas and Gabe just half live with them after a while, and just come over even if Ripley isn't at home (and will also keep her company during the period where Ripley stays at the Nexus) but I think Seth would be too shy and has to be like explicitly invited over lol. I think Cas and Gabe both sort of see her as a mother figure after a while, Cas because he never really got to have that in the first place and Gabe because she still misses her own mom (tho Terri is nothing like her lol).

Bonus art of her with little Ripley + Ripley as a kid

[gwaaaaar]

Black Butler racism (or just overall bigotry) is the funniest shit ever (no it isn't. It's awful) because. Black Butler somehow got better. And worse. Spoilers under the cut for Baldroys backstory btw.

Please try not to take this as an entirely anti-black butler sort of argument. I was thinking about this in passing and thought it was something worth discussing. So DON'T COME AT ME!!!

I'm gonna start off with the easiest and earliest examples of racism.

Soma and Agni-! Wow... so I'd argue in the beginning Soma was based off of, I wouldn't say harmless stereotypes, but stereotypes that weren't applied with malice. He's a prince with like. 26+ siblings so he never really had a chance for the throne.

The 26+ siblings is... an unfortunate common stereotype applied to brown people, more specifically muslim. Soma is from Bengal and depending on where, there could be a high muslim population. But Soma is hindu. Either way, it's not. Good. To portray brown people like this. Like having 20+ kids that is a bad look. Indians do have big families, I should know, but not to that extreme and it has weird implications. Also when Soma tells Mey Rin to strip because painting naked women is better... yikes

Here is the harmful part: his and Agni's worship of Ma Kali is treated as a joke. Like ohhh look at this scary demonic hindu goddess!!! Even sebastian is weirded out and he's a demon!!! LIKE WHAT THE FUCK. :/

BUT. but. This. PALES IN COMPARISON TO THE SINOPHOBIA. Holy shitttt Lau... oh my god he is like a stereotype from mf Tintin. The opium den and the Chinese girl in skimpy clothing is crazy (and the implied incest??? What is ran mao to him again??? Theyre like siblings right???)... It really fucking sucks that the way hes portrayed almost implies that Chinese people wanted the opium crisis rather than you know. Having it pushed onto them by the British . I can be upset about Soma all I want but damn... maybe indian people did get the good end of the stick.

And, it's weird right? It's weird how one minority that normally isn't treated seriously can escape with relatively minor stereotyping compared to. TO THE SHIT TON OF OPIUM. Of course there's a lot of historical things going on, but wow the sinophobia is nuts.

I do think the main problem is somewhat classism. Victims are treated brutes for retaliating. Like that one miniarc where indian immigrants were tying up British nobles that visited India because they were angry that they were used and tossed aside and can't go back home. Soma, one of the few indians treated with sympathy, is a prince. I WILL NEVER FORGIVE WHAT THEY DID TO MINA... she was rightfully upset. The caste system is a terrible thing and she wanted to escape that, and she's the bitch? She isn't gentle to Soma, but she's in the right.

Black Butler has evolved as a story significantly since the beginning and when I say it's kind of gotten better I mean, the characters have evolved so much they can no longer rely on stereotypes. We have to take Soma and Agni seriously, they are no longer just some funny foreigners. LAU DOESN'T EVEN DO OPIUM ANYMORE AFAIK... that was like 50% of his personality and she got rid of it lmao.

edit: i lied he still does opium its just that isnt his personality anymore.

And that's a good thing! They shouldn't have been portrayed in such ways in the beginning. Stereotyping is just objectively shit writing. But also yeah shitty thing to do to minorities.

I think one of the most beautiful cultural references made later on is post Agni's death, when Soma has had enough and finally snaps. The panel that says "he has gone down the path of Maa Kali" is so poetic and my roman empire . It's a good reference back to the deity they worship, but instead of her being treated as something to ridicule or be scared of, it shows how Soma's personality, and background has lead him to who he is today. I think it's beautiful! I'm happy Soma is in the story because of that.

The same can be said about the slight transphobia with Grell in the beginning. NOW I know in the beginning, there wasn't a particular word for trans women or people in general so a word referring to effeminate/gay men or crossdressers was used. This isn't about that, language changes etc etc. Its moreso how she was portrayed as like, a sicko serial killer. Like yk, negative trans stereotypes. But over time she was recognized as a woman and gets to be her own character. Which is awesome! It's good that shes been viewed more postively over time.

Now... here's where things might be getting worse.

Baldroys backstory pisses me off. The idea that native americans were like ravaging his hometown and killed his innocent family. He even says something like how he knows their land got stolen so their reaction was probably justified but he doesn't care. It just. It just feels like siding with the colonizers you know? Like perpetuating these stereotypes to give people a reason to be "afraid". I know conflict was pretty rampant back then but there's just certain things people should be careful with when portraying... and I don't think Black Butler did a good job. I was really surprised to see that it was from a recent chapter bc it honestly read like something from the older ones.

AT LEAST we finally got a black grim reaper wooo mama

[cordria]

Need some help

I've found myself in a little pickle, and I need some thoughts from people who are not involved. If you'd like to read and answer the ending poll, please read more. Poll at the end.

Necessary backstory part 1: When I first met my brother in law (BIL), my husband referred to him as an 'asshole'. BIL was raised in a family with very 1950's thoughts of how women are supposed to be, drank all that kool-aide, and got a huge dose of 'I get everything I ask for' on top of it.

In the years I've known BIL, I've found my husband's initial description to be apt. Always needs the best stuff, saves no money at all, bounces between jobs, gets everything he wants but never seems to be happy. Took up drinking about ten years ago and never looked back. Haven't had a sober interaction with him in years.

Necessary backstory part 2: Every year, my in-laws do a big family reunion at the end of December. Plan it a year in advance. Put down a deposit on a large party room. This year, in early-ish December, BIL texts and says he got the greatest tickets ever to go to Mexico - super cheap flight and resort stay. Only the plane leaves the day before the big family get-together... so can we move it?? Everyone reorganize their schedules instead of him just not come?

And... yes. Apparently my mother in law bent over backwards to move this family reunion for him. Everybody lost our non-refundable deposits. Had to do the reunion at my mother in law's tiny little house. Had to listen to my husband complain for a week about the whole thing.

Necessary backstory part 3: BIL was married and had two kids (currently 18 and 21), then divorced and found this new girlfriend and had two more kids (4 and 6) with her. When he got these tickets, he had framed it as a 'family vacation' and said 'the kids were going to have a blast'. Apparently when he said 'family' he meant him, his girlfriend, and his two newer kids. Not his older kids, who had thought they'd be invited as well, only to find out they don't apparently count as family anymore.

So we're walking into this reunion with feels, right? And lots of people are walking into this reunion with FEELS. Tense would be a good word for it. Ready to punch BIL into oblivion if he says the wrong thing would be another way to describe it.

SO. Story time.

Holiday gifts are being exchanged. We get BIL and family a gift card for a dinner out, and get nothing in return (as usual). Towards the end, BIL pulls out his wallet and grabs a bunch of money. Calls his two older kids over and hands them each a hundred dollars. That's it. That's their entire holiday present. Then he calls over (most) of the rest of his nieces and nephews and hands them each fifty dollars. My son gets skipped.

Normally, I'd call him out on it, because he's drunk and probably forgot my son (who was quietly playing with his new Lego set in the corner) even existed. But the atmosphere was tense and I was definitely on the side of just let it go. It'd take more than $50 to stick my hand in that hornet's nest.

Nobody really noticed. My daughter did, even offered to split hers with him, but I shook that idea off and just gave her a hug for being awesome. Repeat the phrase I've said plenty: gifts are given, not demanded to be received. BIL is under no obligation to give everyone a gift - even if he's an asshole for skipping just one kid, it's his choice.

Party goes without too much of a hitch, but everyone is definitely happier when BIL leaves early to go to a different party. (although the amount of bitching about how we had to move the whole thing and he left early?? was just insane to listen to)

Afterward the party is over and we head home, daughter goes shopping with part of her money (donated some to the food shelf near our house, saved the rest) and gets some doll thing she's been wanting. Son picks out a dinosaur that roars when you squeeze it. (They ended up with a significant sum of money from several relatives.)

We go home, write thank you cards. (yes, I'm old fashioned. If you get money or a gift in the mail, you send a thank you card.) Daughter writes out her cards (she had five to send), son does his four (same four, then not one to BIL). Thank you cards are getting too expensive to send for not getting a gift. Mail them off, think nothing of it, move on.

About a week later, I get a text from mother in law asking when my son's thank you card to BIL would arrive. I reply back that he's not getting one. If one does not give a gift, one does not get a thank-you card.

CUE DRAMA. OMG levels of drama. BIL was too drunk to remember what happened, and thinks he gave my son some money, and refuses to be talked out of it. Thinks that if he really missed someone, he would've been told at the time. He's dug himself a deeeeeep hole and nobody's going to be able to get him out of it.

Current situation, which is now almost six weeks of this insanity: My daughter's birthday is coming up, and BIL is threatening not to come and bring a gift if we don't send him a thank you card from my son. My instinct was to respond 'you were not invited; I don't want your drunk ass in my house ever again', but thought better of that before I clicked 'send'.

MIL is on BIL's side, thinks I should just send the thank you card and keep the peace, that it's just a silly little card and it doesn't mean anything. Husband is on my side, thinking BIL is throwing a man-child sized fit my three-year-old is old enough to know not to do.

Nobody's arguing that I'm in the wrong here, btw (other than BIL). I'm not the asshole in this situation. Nobody thinks I am.

HOWEVER. Sometimes you can stand on the moral high-ground of one battlefield and watch the war fall apart around you. Makes you wonder what's the bigger goal? I'm not 'fixing' my BIL with this. I'm not making a dent in the toxic hell-hole of a FOX-riddled black hole he calls a brain.

So now I have to make a choice - a bigger choice than just the stupid $2 thank you card. And here's where I need your thoughts.

Option 1: send the stupid thank you card. I'll likely hear about this later when he tries to lord his 'win' over me, but it'll stop the family rift. My children will not have to be in the middle of an almost-50-year-old throwing a tantrum any two-year-old would watch in amazement. Even though I and my husband would be willing (and happy) to never see BIL again, it's harder to unilaterally cut that tie from my children's lives. They deserve to get to know their family, and understand their family - the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Option 2: send an essentially blank thank you card. He'll get his card, but I am not sinking down to actually thanking him for anything. 50/50 on whether this would solve anything or make it worse, though. Would simply depend on his mental state when he gets it.

Option 3: hold onto my moral high ground, disinvite him from a party he wasn't invited to anyways, and wait for the chaos or for BIL to forget about it. This could possibly be the stake that drives BIL away (not sad at that thought). My worry is that where BIL goes, my children's nana will go as well. And the ultimate worry would be that we (me, my husband, and our kids) stop getting invited to family functions, since MIL coordinates most of them and she has zero backbone when it comes to BIL. It's a not-unreal possibility that this could cut a good portion of my husband's family out of my children's lives for some time (and most of the rest are wonderful people). And even if the worst was not to happen, this'll be a constant source of stress and strain on everyone.

So I'm... not sure really what to do. My family thinks I should hold my ground because morals are more important than having a relationship with a drunk asshole - and that there are more relatives to fill the hole. (all true) My in laws think I should just send the card because I'm not 'winning' anything here and I should look at the bigger picture. (also true) One even offered to purchase, fill out, and mail the damned thing for me.

I just... I dunno. This is just stupid. So, so, very, very stupid. Stupid enough it makes me want to cut BIL out of my life just because I don't want the anxiety surrounding this any more.

I'm trapped in a stupid, bizarre situation and I'm to the point where the thoughts of random internet people I do not know apparently mean something to me.

tl/dr: My asshole of a brother in law forgot to give one of my kids a gift, and is now causing major family drama by demanding a thank you card.

[twixitativi]

do you have any tips on writing an au? normal fics i can usually handle but i’m working on a kunichuu grease au and i’m finding it quite difficult.

hiya! thanks for asking :3 also good luck with that, that seems like so much fun omg; feel free to send when you start releasing, i'd love to check it out!

ill be using splinters as my example here purely because thats closer to what you're trying to do (movie/musical as reference)

this is going to be long as fuck because i tend to ramble and go into detail, so im adding a read-more. i sincerely hope this helps because i know its a LOT (potential spoilers for splinters included)

1. The Foundation

when i first started working on splinters, it started with a lot of idea bouncing. who would suit what role? why would that role work for them? originally, i had looked at dazai as jd and chuuya as veronica, or dazai as veronica with fyodor as his jd.

then, i also started thinking about story 'beats'. to be clear about what that means, i like to think of different parts/scenes that i need/want to hit, and kind of the order if possible. this usually intertwines with the original story-- in your case, grease.

all this starts falling into the next step:

2. Research

it may not be entirely apparent, but i did (and still do) a FUCK TON of research for splinters. by choosing to have multiple source materials to base your work off (both bsd AND grease), depending on how close/accurate you want to be, you're going to want to get in touch with the material.

you've mentioned grease-- i'm assuming you're doing this based off the movie (love the movie. need to rewatch). what i personally do with heathers the movie is that i watched it the entire way through first to refresh myself with the material. it might help you to take notes about different characters, ideas, plot lines. i found a copy of both scripts online in case i wanted to see about throwing an iconic line in during an important scene without diving through the whole movie to find it.

i dont know HOW historically accurate you want to go with your fic--you may be choosing to explore the concept of grease rather than the actual setting itself-- but grease takes place in the late 50s, TECHNICALLY early 60s (movie itself came out in the late 70s) (my mom LOVED it when it came out). so, you may want to do some basic research: fashions/trends of the time (this has gotten harder to search online, you may want to even run to the library and find some books if possible)? societal norms? what did normal teens do during that time? did they have arcades, did they go to restaurants, what was the average place they hung out at?

a lot of times, i have to double-check if some of the stuff in splinters is period accurate. each decade has different lingo, slang, and general information that was normal during it. hell, looking back at the 2010s versus 2020s, if you were to write a story during, saying, 2011, and have your characters saying "slay" and "yas queen" and "road work ahead, uh yeah i sure hope it does", i regret to inform you that that will NOT be accurate, as those phrases are more late 2010s + that vine came out in 2016. now, could you quote/potentially reference these things? absolutely! but you have to be more strategic about it.

ALSO. look up fun trivia about your source material! you know where i got my title from? its the english translation of the italian name for heathers. im not even kidding. also, mix and match material! hell, even throw references in to other material! i had my mean girls reference in there! because its bsd, i like to throw in authors i like from time to time where they fit!

another silly one: what music came out around that time, playing on the radio? HOW did they listen to music? i specifically listen to a 1989 top hits playlist when im trying to figure out what songs might be playing on the radio while my characters are driving-- and even THEN i still will look up specifically when that song came out, because i made the choice to be horribly specific with my timeline.

on that note:

3. If you can, DON'T SET A SPECIFIC MONTH/DAY/ETC.

i made my choices. do i regret them? YES. is it still fun to work with? absolutely, but also the heathers timeline is lowkey a mess and you could simultaneously claim it takes place in 2 months or several.

honestly, avoid specifics. having to keep track of a timeline is an absolute bitch, and it's going to make your life a lot harder, because then, you HAVE to make sure it all matches up. if i say that kunikida went and got his glasses in march, i cant say that his glasses are brand new in may (this is a hypothetical example).

timelines suck. unless you think you can dedicate the time and energy to keeping with one, don't do it.

4. OUTLINES.

i've been writing fanfics for years, which is wild to me. i was writing fanfics in single digits (didn't even know what fanfics were). one thing that i have especially found useful with splinters is to make outlines for where you want the story to go.

let me break it down for you:

you're gonna have MULTIPLE outlines, and they are NOT set in stone. they are guidelines for you to use so that you're not sitting there going "shit i don't know what to do next". they may be scenes you want to have in the fic. they may be important plot points. they may be absolutely stupid shit that youre like "if i dont get this in here i will cry" (diarrheazai is a threat that i intend to keep)

FIRSTLY. try making a general outline for your whole fic. you don't need super specifics, but think of what events occur during grease. in it, danny and sandy meet in the summer before their senior year. sandy meets and joins the pink ladies. there's a dance competition. danny and sandy fly off in a car into the sunset. etc. TO BE CLEAR, you don't have to keep all the details! it is your story, and what you want to do with it! having that structure can be helpful when you start though.

THEN. once you have that general outline? start trying to plan out chapters. you dont have to make outlines for them all at once. more often than not, i'll sit there before i start a new chapter just trying to outline what'll happen in it. this helps a LOT on multiple levels. i'll provide an example of what that can look like below (SPOILERS IF YOU'RE NOT UP-TO-DATE WITH SPLINTERS):

(the blacked out bit is spoilers, everything else should be clear to see)

a quick explanation: i dedicate a small document to outlines for each chapter. as you can see, with chapter beats, i have diff things i want to try to hit. the stuff highlighted in green is stuff that i come back post-chapter to confirm i hit. sometimes, if it's not EXACTLY in there, i'll leave a note in bold (ex: WAS MENTIONED).

but you can kind of see what im talking about here. i have some things that im trying to knock out per chapter.

other things in my doc to outline:

yes i talk to myself in my notes.

i highlight different scenes according to their relevance to certain characters sometimes; i add scenes in where i need to, and then ofc as you see ill go into detail about specific scenes. and AGAIN these are not set in stone. for example:

as you can see, shit changes over time. that boiler room make-out scene during the homecoming pep rally appeared in ch 11. i did not make this sequence fyodor's pov.

sometimes? i just dont have the time or energy to write shit/dont think its relevant to the plot. good bye, corn maze. you'll be remembered in my thoughts and my outline

also try to have fun while outlining. it doesnt need to be something serious. literally my outlines are a mix of dialogue, scenes, my own thoughts, etc. get silly with it. this is supposed to be fun and enjoyable!

ANOTHER THING:

5. LOOP SOMEONE INTO OBSESSING OVER THIS WITH YOU.

i was inspired by ardeidae to write splinters, and i have successfully trapped them in splinters world for almost an entire year now. by both of us loving it, we can keep ourselves focused on it.

what also helps is bouncing ideas off other people. me and lu have had conversation after conversation after conversation about different plot lines, scenes, etc. sometimes, i don't know what to do and i will ask lu (or other people) for advice about the progression.

you may have also heard of the engineering rubber duck method. if you're unfamiliar, engineers will sit there with a rubber ducky by them and talk to it about what they're working on until they figure out what they need to do. sometimes, just ranting about the fic is enough to help you spawn ideas about what to do next.

OH also

6. If you do end up making a timeline? Have a calendar on hand.

this is no longer 100% accurate to the progression of splinters and the chapters, but it helped a LOT. laying it out like this can make one hell of a difference. im a visual person, so doing this helped. also, can help you keep track of holidays and shit. if you want to give your characters a day off from classes, check a school calendar for holidays. be like "uhhhherrrr yeah they're taking, uhhhh veteran's day off" yk

7. Write, but don't force it.

splinters doesn't have an actual updating schedule because i work on it at my own pace, and update once i finish a chapter. now, i usually finish chapters after a month, but i don't say it updates on x day. don't box yourself in unless you truly think you can handle it. some people are very good about schedules. i am horrible at them, bc ykw? LIFE HAPPENS.

when im in the mood, i write. i will sit for HOURS and just write. grab some snacks, maybe pop on some music, get a buddy to sit with you, but just go for it. sometimes, i'll pull a 25-10 method-- 25 minutes of writing with ten minutes of relaxing and bullshitting--and that helps me not burn out as quickly. but honestly, you cant always brute force it.

have i had to brute force it sometimes? yes. you will get stuck. it naturally happens. sometimes, a scene fucking sucks and you're like "i hate this scene but it HAS to be in there" (if it doesnt fuck that shit. throw it out. blegh) sometimes, you need to mix things up to make it more appealing to you, because i am of the belief that the readers can tell when you're not invested in a scene. if im writing a scene and its going slowly and i just want to get it done? the quality's going to go down, and i KNOW it. so, i evaluate. what do i need to do for this scene to work? can i add something to help? do i need to just rewrite the bastard and call it a day?

and sometimes? you can just go ahead and put a little "<'scene'>" in and move on. depending on how much your fic relies on that scene, that won't always work, but sometimes, you just gotta leave it and come back to it. you can also do that with certain dialogue/details. if you're trying to get your characters from point A to point B, don't shove them there if they run out of gas. make a detour, and see what happens.

eerrrrrrr yeah, i THINK that's the majority of the advice i can give? sorry that that's a lot, but uhhh hope it helps! :')

[hishighnesstheprincess]

Sonic Movie 1 Rewatch Live Reaction

Aight

Gonna do it

Gonna watch the first Sonic movie and post aaallllll my reactions below

Below a read more because I don’t hate my followers

Okay so first off I love these movies I love Sonic but the fact that Tom is a cop fucking SUCKS his plotline in the movie sucks because it is about him being a cop and it is not nuanced and I doubt they will handle it well in the third movie. I’m not going to be covering the issues with it too in depth because a) white person here and b) gotta be honest I don’t know a lot about cop depictions in media. I’m mostly just going to be repeating what everyone else has already said, there are better sources than me when it comes to covering the issuesTM. 

Okay, unpleasant bit over.

Movie beginning

Had to take a five second break to autism bounce around my room

Still love the use of rings for the Paramount logo....

OOUGH THE SEGA MUSIC

Sonic started talking and I started squealing

Of course he calls himself handsome

I love him doing the lil rewind sounds with his mouth he’s so silly he’s so goofy

Sonic refers to Green Hill Zone as an “island” hmmm interesting. I can easily see it being like Mobius in the movies is a bunch of islands that are all different zones and Mushroom Hill is just different I guess

OWL MOM

Oh so many thoughts about Longclaw she is so accidentally interesting on the movies part

Boy sure hope those echidnas won’t come back hahaha

NO I JUST REALIZED AN ARROW PIERCED THE FLOWER SONIC GOT FOR LONGCLAW

Symbolism much

So it was definitely Knuckles’ dad that shot Longclaw down

“the only way to stay safe is to stay hidden” literally how much damage did she inadvertently do to Sonic with just those words

Longclaw is such a warrior cat’s ass name and I love it

God I forgot that they imply Sonic’s mom gets brutally murdered and then cut to the movie title

Tom being a cop sucks but him using the speedomoter on the turtle/tortoise, joking loudly about it, and then apologizing is pretty funny

Sonic going 300 interests me. I very much doubt that he hasn’t broken the speed barrier at some point in these movies (especially in the second one when he runs on water) but I don’t think we’ve specifically heard a Sonic boom yet

Sonic talking avidly to the turtle is so so cute but also. Concerning. Considering the only other person he talks to is himself

Oh my god he traumatized that poor turtle

THAT IS ONE DIRTY ASS ROOM WITH A LOT OF STUFF IN IT

Hmmm something something Longclaw being Sonic’s protector something something him immediately latching onto the “protector” of Green Hill

Boy there is so much that is wrong with you (affectionate)

SANIC

Something something Sonic’s only human contact being a man trying to capture him something something the echidna trying to catch him something something GUN

Screw it AU where Sonic gets captured by GUN immediately and meets, or at least sees Shadow and ends up learning what happened on the ARK

Do you think baby Sonic ever got caught in a trap :(

This hog is traumatized. But he can always get even more traumatized

Sonic’s favorite movie being R-Rated canonically is so so funny to me

There are probably better actors. But it would be so so funny if Keanu Reeves played Shadow

Tom and Maddie’s relationship is so sweet I’m sorry

Me when I’m autistic

The thing about them getting two cakes just in case is so sweet as well

Okay so in the first movie Tom says that he’s still using the neighbor’s wifi but in the second we see that the house is pretty far away from the town. Conclusion: they moved after the first movie. Probably for Sonic

BASEBALL SCENE. THE FOCUS ON THE IDEALIZED AMERICAN DREAM (which as of the second movie ending Sonic has, two parents, middle class lifestyle, three kids, etc.) SONIC T HEDGEHOG THERE IS SO MUCH WRONG WRONG WITH YOU

FORGOT TO MENTION IT WAS ABSOLUTELY A WACHOWSKI THAT SHOT MARIA. MADDIE SAID ‘there’s been a Wachowski protecting Green Hills for over 50 years” that CANNOT be a coincidence

OHTHE BASEBALL FREAKOUT. @neurotypical-sonic knows way way more about BPD than I do but this is screaming BPD to me. He definitely needs mood stabilizers and therapy

What do his powers run on? Emotions? If that’s the case then boy howdy is the third movie gonna put him through the wringer

Everytime media mentions IQ I have to laugh so hard. I took an IQ test and got like 140 or something and I’m the dumbest motherfucker I know. It’s so stupid

While I do think the worst part of the movies is the cop thing, I don’t think the movies are pro-military overall. The military is introduced as sending in the main villain of the movie who apparently destroyed a whole country(?) in to a small town, letting him break a fuck ton of laws both legally and morality wise

Jimbotnik is so fucking insane I love him. Him and Agent Stone are so funny. “Excuse me Major what was your name? NOBODY CARES!”

“Look what came out of my Eggsack”

“half eaten cantaloope” EDNOS EDNOS EDNOS

THE FCAT THAT HE DOESNT SAY “goodbye home” HE SYS “goodbye cave”

Tom and Sonic’s first meeting is so funny

Ough I love that Sonic is depicted as having actual quills cus like in the games he is just a blue shape

“I’m not in the mood to get probed” “You think you’re worried? I’m not even wearing pants!”

EARS DROOOP

Sonic is only the second weirdest person Tom has met today

“I was spitting out formulas while you were spitting up formulas.” “I was breastfed actually.” “Nice. Rub that in my orphan face.”

“Worse than death?”

Oh he actively talks to himself

“I had kind of an embarrassing lunch” EDNOS

Robotnik just screaming when he sees Sonic is actually very funny

And so begins the tradition of Tom punching people

Agent Stone and Robotnik are SO funny

“So, as I crashed into the wet, dark water of the Pacific-” I love that line

Movie Sonic is gonna think Shadow is the coolest person on Earth lmao

Tom just hanging up on Robotnik is so funny

“You just sit there and be you.... sless.”

Who is the lady agent that’s with Robotnik I want to know her name I’m gay

He’s soooooo me coded

Watching Mike’s Mic has ruined my vocabulary

Shannon Chan Kent hiiiii helllow love you love your Amy she’s so good

NOW I WANNA REWATCH PRIME TOOO

Sonic’s horrified gasp when the biker dude called him a hipster is hilarious

Sonic

OH I FORGOT SONIC MENTIONED LONGCLAW IN FRONT OF TOM

AND HE DIDNT EVEN QUESTION IT

SO EITHER TOM JUST DIDNT WANT TO GET INTO IT RIGHT THEN OR SONIC ALREADY TOLD HIM

I’m going wit h the first option for my fic. Is more fun that way

CARRRRR SCENE CAR SCENE

“We’re not best friends.” “You tucked me in last night.”

He’s so splitting. I don’t even know a lot about splitting but he’s SO splitting

“HAVE YOU NOTICED THE H A R P O O N STUCK IN THE CAR”

OH EMOTIONS SO TRIGGER HIS POWERS

Ngl I unironically like the flossing

“HOW ARE YOU NOT DEAD?!” “I have no idea :D!”

HESO SMALL IN THIS MOVIE

“I think that tank just had a baby.” Does. Does Sonic know how kids work. He didn’t know what a payphone was earlier in the movie.

“Ever wonder where your tax dollars are going?”

“Aw, this one is cute, let’s keep him :D”

“Nailed it!” dies

That’s it movie over sequel cancelled Sonic’s dead

“Pin yourself to wall.” excuse me

SO MANY THOUGHTS ABOUT WHAT EGGMAN WOULD DO TO SONIC IF HE CAUGHT HIM

Rachel is iconic

Ngl the song that plays while Robotnik is doing tech stuff is a whole bop I love it

I FORGET THE STONE JUMPSCARE VERYTIME

“Of course I want a latte. I LOVE THE WAY YOU MAKE THEM.”

“It talks.” “Almost constantly.”

Oh my god I forgot we technically see Sonic’s feet in this movie. Imagine this scene but with ugly Sonic

WHY DID THEY LET SONIC DRIVE

“As long as I’m here, I put everyone in danger” not me thinking of my runaway Sonic AU immediately

“It’s the government nutjob who keeps trying to kill us- UNSUCCESSFULLY”

Do you think Sonic got grounded for shoving them off the roof

God I remember me and an irl friend laughing so hard when we first saw that

“THAT WAS AN ILLEGAL LEFT, BY THE WAY”

THE SMASH BROS POSE

OH MAN

WHAT IF IN THIRD MOVIE WE GET A CHASE SCENE LIKE THAT BUT ACROSS DIFFERENT ZONES AND WITH SONIC AND SHADOW

HE

HE

HE EYES GLOW

TOM PUNCHING ROBOTNIK AGAIN

Oh man the timezones in this movie make NO sense

HE PINBALLED HimSELF

HE

“Oh my god my sister”

Hoooooome

Oh this movie can be so personal if you have family issues of any kind actually. Even if I personally have mommy issues more than daddy ones

GREEN HILLS MUSIC

The government was so angling to kidnap Sonic since the end of the first movie 

“You guys are SO uncool”

How did they get everything from Sonic’s cave to the attciAAAAAa

Literally never gonna forget this ending scene

“Welcome home” I’m fucking sobbing

“my grasp on sanity remains... absolute”

This ending absolutely SLAPS people angry about it are either just lame or racist about rap being in Sonic for some reason

And here it is, the ending scene that made me lose my fucking mind

TAILS

TAILS HI TAILS MY FRIEND TAILS MY FRIEND :D