#i just actually have a title now and a more consistent schedule for doing that work

[uldahstreetrat]

I actually have, like, work tomorrow. and probably more consistently work coming up?? which is nice but weird for me lmao

[yannaryartside]

THE NEW 'MENU" IS GONNA BE HELL FOR SYD

I have been reading Sous Chef: 24 Hours on the Line –by Michael Gibney because I wanted to understand more about Sydney's future responsibilities. I know next to nothing about the cooking industry, and this show particularly doesn't want to waste time explaining the context to the untrained eye (which is fair, we are here for the drama).

Man, this book was so awesome. It is literally like experiencing a The Bear episode in book format. It takes you through the whole routine, explaining who does what, the expectations, skillsets, and the emotional burden of each position. The protagonist is, of course, the sous chef, and what I have read made me feel scared for Sydney next season. So, every fact I display here is because the book presented it as the expected.

THE BEAR'S CASE

Now, a clarification: As I understand, the CDC supervises the whole kitchen, which is Syd's official title. But Carmy will technically still act as CDC since most executives don't move a finger; they are supposed to be there only to ensure rules and quality standards are followed.

The CDC is the person in the kitchen that everyone answers "yes chef/Oui chef too. The one that calls the orders and keeps everyone in line. The one who has the final say about what goes out of the kitchen. Under them, there is the sous, making sure all the operations are in order.

So you will technically have two CDCs; just one of them will have the final say, and you will have Tina as the sous. But that puts Sydney in a position to act both as CDC and a Sous, so I am using the book to guide what we may expect her to endure. This as a report made last minute with only two sources (pretty good, but still only two). Now, lets begin.

A very inexperienced staff: The author created a fictional restaurant based on his experiences, merging people he has met over the years to give you an idea of the most common in the industry. But it made something very clear to me: the staff of the bear, especially the line cooks, do not possess the training to operate at the level that Carmy is requesting. They better send them to culinary school before officially opening. I don't know why (I actually blame Carmy for this), but they haven't prioritized hiring certified staff since the beginning. They should have never had an opening day without knowing their staff and, if they were as green as Syd described them, sent their asses to culinary school right away. The fact they only bothered to send Tina and Ebra is baffling. And even when training is essential, experience is what can make the difference in unprecedented scenarios, and everything that Carmy is asking is pretty unprecedented by definition.

With the menu changing every day, Sydney's job as a cook herself and as the captain of many cooks is going to be darm near impossible.

Actually, in the book, there were two sous chefs, one for opening and one for closing. Even if you delegate the administrative task normally reserved for the morning sous chef to someone like Natalie (managing schedules and callouts, checking deliveries, and inspecting the state of the food before opening), it would still leave a lot of things on Sydney's plate. I am gonna be quoting this article:

"Few are the kitchens I’ve worked or sta’aged in where the Sous Chef wasn’t doing all the work that the general public thinks the Chef is doing.  And don’t get me wrong, such is the natural progression of things and not without good reason.  But more often than not, while the Chef is the General, with his/her name on the line, the Sous Chef is the lieutenant, seeing to it that the work gets done in the trenches".

During service, the chef (CDC) plates the dishes in the pass, but before that, the sous has to check the food the line cook brings; they need to be aware of how the executive chef likes a particular dish, the consistency, temperature, and other culinary details. Again, Carmy will act as CDC here and Syd as sous. Even though I didn't see them do this in f&f, it will likely be necessary for the future. Carmy changing the recipes constantly is gonna make it virtually impossible for Sydney to keep up, with their particular preparation, and since they are gonna be the final portal after the food gets to be presented to the client, it could cause a lot of friction between them.

Not only that, the sous chef normally leads the preparation of the specials (since in most restaurants, the ordinary menu has been established, only the specials can change every day) For both sous chefs in the book, leading prep consumed most of their time before opening, since, again, the executive has already trained them in how he prefers certain parts of the recipe. Again, in the Bear's circumstances, this will probably also be Sydney's job.

Replacing staff. The book even includes a scenario when a line cook fails, and the sous has to cover that station. Sydney is kind of destined to experience this, too, considering how unreliable their staff could be. If that happens, Carmy will be alone at the pass, checking every element before plating, which will obviously cause a delay.

Tina is the sous, and it will be interesting to see how she manages that; she definitely doesn't have the experience, and these expectations are definitely no industry standard. It hurts me that Sydney may suggest hiring another sous to work next to her or another cook who actually has experience operating in the industry to level up her workload. That is where I think Luca's role will be next season, if he goes to work for them. He probably has the skill set to do it. There is no point in having two people manage desserts.

Evidently, with a menu changing every day, it also means that Carmy has to make Syd come early every day to explain this recipe to her and make sure she can lead the rest of the kitchen in making them. Most of their dynamic is gonna rely on how much Syd can actually fulfill Carmy's expectations; she came here to work for him, running away from psycho chefs, and yet Carmy's expectations are going to be the most reckless the industry has ever seen.

The closing sous has to prepare everything for the next day long after the executive and the other sous are gone, revising the mistakes that were made, and preventing the ones they could make tomorrow.

Regardless of the title and responsibilities that may go on Sydney for being the only other experienced chef in the kitchen, we are talking about a 15-hour day. And I know it can be expected in this industry, but the layout for having two sous made plenty of sense. I don't know if Carmy will take part of the workload. I hope that is the case.

But yeah, the line "so you can push me, and I can push you" is taking a new connotation in my mind. What Carmy is creating doesn't make any logistical sense, with an untrained/inexperienced staff and with a sous chef that he trusts and cares about, but he is basically asking to perform to a level that defeats reason.

It is not even the level that made him "the bear" in his years as the best CDC in the world. Because even if Carmy's past executive was abusive and cruel, their expectations had to obey certain logistic logic that Carmy was completely abandoning. Carmy is not gonna be abusive, but all of this is a whole orchestra he is creating for self-punishment because even he won't be able to keep up with it, he may push everyone away because there is nobody who can. All of this is his version of self-harming. And Sydney and everyone he loves will witness, it until he asks for help.

Edit: I had to make a correction, explaining Carmy's and Syd's will technically both do the job of CDCs. Again, please do let me know more about that or feel free to correct me.

[steelbluehome]

Warning!

Extremely negative take on The Thunderbolts* footage below.

Dead Dove. Do not eat!

Hi sweeties! Just in case you thought you would just peek down here and maybe bring some optimism to the gremlins in cellar, thank you, sweet summer child, but you really should go back up to the rest of the internet where you have lots of beautiful people to play with. Thanks anyway! Bye!

Okay.

First things first, this had to happen on Sebastian's fucking birthday?!?!?!?

I have seen the Thunderbolts* footage. 5 times. Pausing at specific moments.

And, Bucky is not the in the scene where they "all" get trapped in the room, nor in the scene where they are "all" in a vehicle and Red Guardian is driving.

I don't blame the people who described the footage previously. They cannot be expected to look for Bucky like a dying person searches for a drop of water in the vast desert. That is my job.

Nevertheless, this is our first glimpse of Thunderbolts (sick of the fucking asterisk) and there is barely any Bucky in it. So what the fuck am I even waiting for?

I'm sorry if I inferred incorrectly that Thunderbolts would be Bucky's movie, since he is the character that has been in the MCU the longest and most consistently of all the characters in the movie, but what the fuck was I supposed to think?

I'm sorry if I incorrectly assumed from reports that Bucky would be the "leader" of the Thunderbolts, that this would be his time to shine.

And ex-fucking-cuse me if I extrapolated incorrectly that the reason Marvel split up the amazing team of Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes was to give them each their own movie, therefore since Sam is absolutely the lead character in Cap4, Bucky would be the lead character in Thunderbolts!

But fuck me, Marvel, what the fuck are you doing?

Yes, looking back, I see that most MCU movies have the superhero name of the lead in the title. Again, I thought they did not do that because Bucky is no longer the Winter Soldier, as emphasized in TFATWS, and has no other code name, and that Bucky Barnes and the Thunderbolts would sounds like a bad name for a band. I thought it would at least be like the Avengers where he would have an equal part.

As far as Sebastian Stan, I think this is fucking disrespectful! He had to clear his schedule for this movie anyway, they could at least give him something to do!

Now, yes, maybe there is more of Bucky in the movie. Maybe these scenes are mostly from the beginning, and Bucky comes into it more in the middle and the end. Well he'd fucking better!

I will watch the next teasers and trailers, and if I see more of Bucky, I will be thrilled and very pleased.

But what is obvious to me is that they have actually made a movie about Yelena Belova, and for some reason stuck Bucky in there as a supporting character. (Or less?)

If I turn out to be wrong I will happily stand corrected.

But whenever this footage is officially released I intend to flood the internet with #Where'sBucky? And I hope anyone who feels the same, will do the same.

Thanks for listening to me rant. If you have a rant that agrees with mine, please add it. If you have read this far and disagree with me as far as how large a part Bucky will have in the movie, please put that in the tags.

Thunderbolts footage more centered

Bit bigger, maybe?

[catboybiologist]

Random actual vent that is probably more venty than my usual random little things, but occasionally I have to step back and think how asinine the salary system for PhD students can sound to people outside of academia. I really just want to like... lay it on the table, because it really is fucking dumb and I occasionally want validation that its fucking dumb.

Note that this is all coming from a traditional lab sciences, in the US perspective. Also, I'm really fucking ADHD and have a really, really shitty brain for bureacracy, so this is a rant and isn't really intended to be informative and might be wrong in places, its just me word vomiting.

Let's start with something straight off the bat- grad school isn't really school. It's work that creates value for the university, and you happen to take one or two courses on the side that the university has determined will make you better at that work (your mileage may vary). It's an entry level job, essentially. You create value for the university in one of two ways- you either contribute to research that gets them grant money, or you teach undergrads that pay tuition. We'll get back to how that affects you later, but first lets talk about something else: what the university claims they pay you vs what you actually get paid.

On paper, my income is approximately 3 times as much as my actual, take home income. There's two reasons for this. The first is that I am technically charged tuition by the central university, which is then immediately paid off by the source of my income. In official job titles, that's technically included in what you're getting paid, although most universities don't even bother advertising that. The other confounding factor is that you're literally always considered part time. The exact % time varies depending on your exact schedule, and of course your university, but its actually weirdly consistent even between universities. Technically, the work you do on your thesis isn't "work", and the university doesn't technically pay you to do it. Even though the work you do on your thesis literally generates revenue for the university in the form of grant overhead. But we'll get to that. If you're a researcher for a given appointment term, you're expected to also do research activities that are unconnected to your thesis- which is ridiculous, because there's no lab in existence where the work isn't all interconnected in some way.

Half time appointments are common, but lots of different percentages exist.

So, if you ever see a figure that says that a grad student position is paid at about $80k a year, that's whats going on. The highest take-home income I have EVER heard of in the US for PhD students is $54k, at Stanford neuroscience. I think its a bit higher now, but that at least gets you a ballpark. Most STEM PhD students on the high cost of living coasts are paid 30-40k ish, and in cheaper areas you can expect to take 5k off of that. These are for degrees that usually make six figures on the job market.

And then there's the other convoluted problem- the source of the funding. This is where the academia salary model really has a unique brand.

Basically, when you're a PhD student, you're not working one job for the full 5-7 years. You're constantly flipping between job titles within the university, and who exactly is paying you changes as a result.

The most basic distinction is researcher vs teaching assistant. TA is easy- you work "part time" (but oh my god those workloads are not part time sometimes [although the class I'm TAing now is very chill so its w/e][fuck you molecular genetics at my master's uni tho]), and the department you're teaching for pays for your tuition and your salary as a result.

Researcher is a bit weirder. Basically, each lab is conducted as its own independent financial unit, managed by a Principle Investigator (PI, or to any grad student, the professor/boss/research advisor/liege/monarch/authority of the lab). The PI is constantly writing lab wide grants to supply the core funding of the lab, including the salary of the grad students. Grants can be pretty general, but there are also very specific ones that check in how the money is being spent. These include training grants/fellowships/tbh the name is arbitrary for a lot of these. Those are grants that are written to supply the salary of a specific grad student.

Couple things to note- the university charges the PI in a lot of ways on this. Notably:

They charge tuition on every grad student, as mentioned previously, which under a researcher appointment is paid from the PI to the university.

They charge overhead on grants- basically, they take money out of every grant the PI gets.

If the previous two sources aren't enough, oftentimes universities will pay rent on the amount of building space a lab takes up (although this is very inconsistent between universities)

Researcher appointments are considered favorable to teaching appointments, because they mean you can spend more of your time on your thesis. But, its dependent on whether your PI has the funding to pay you all that, which is a big if. So, every quarter or semester or year or however much your university decides to renegotiate it, you essentially switch jobs, in a way. Obviously its a lot more simple and streamlined than actually switching jobs, but your title, responsibility, source of income, and sometimes your actual pay changes constantly.

And to anyone who has been through a PhD, you're nodding along like this is all the basic stuff, because all this is so NORMAL. Like this is all the normal system, and this is the bare basics of it as well. And it's weird that it's normal, right? Like, most of my career has been tied to academia, so I don't have a fantastic benchmark for this, but this isn't how it works outside of academia like... at all.

Over the course of late last year and bleeding into this year, multiple graduate student unions have had strikes or negotiations regarding pay scale, but its been a very difficult situation for the average grad student to untangle because of how weird the source of pay is. Because technically, even though you functionally work a single, salaried job with slightly changing obligations, what's happening behind the scenes is that you're essentially hopping between jobs every couple of months. In an ideal system, those jobs always have the same pay, but that's increasingly becoming not the case. Sometimes that means getting paid more overall, sometimes slightly less. Union negotiations have made this pay slightly higher overall, but its still a mess of a system.

And obviously, there's paperwork associated with so many of these steps.

So in my last post, when I said "getting a grant", that was what I was referring to- applying for training grants that will guarantee that I don't have to teach extra or get extra money from my PI for the time I'm here. I'd love to get more teaching experience, but ofc I want to do it when I want to, not when I have to. I'm applying for multiple training grants over the next couple of months that will hopefully fund my salary specifically, and hopefully I'll get at least one of them. And tbh, I don't even care that much about teaching, I more want them because it'll dramatically simplify all this for me.

I love what I do to death, but untangling this shit is what gives me imposter syndrome more than anything. I think my arrogant streak shows when I can genuinely say that I've never felt imposter syndrome based on my scientific knowledge. I have felt it over two things- my motivation/productivity (which is a different rant entirely), and the fact that I am really, really bad at untangling the level of bureaucracy required to just... exist here. Just give me my fucking paycheck and let me do my science, and tell me when you want me to teach.

[daegutowns]

svt as brooklyn 99 characters

tags: b99 au, i am obsessed, i’ve been rewatching this series for the 600th time now, only 80% accurate, i stretched it a little bit

thank you to alice (koogyv on twt) for the amazing thread that i highly interacted with as inspiration. there are many similarities. i expanded upon it more.

this is my take: 

det. jake peralta 

hoshi 

“i wasn’t hurt that badly. the doctor said all my bleeding was internal. that’s where the blood’s supposed to be!” 

arguably, this is the best pairing made. he’s silly, hard-working, creative, and most of all -- he’s gunsta think about the turtles. even as a jokes-first seriousness-second type of person, jake is a thoughtful and caring person who would put himself down to save others. he’s sharp, perceptive, and great at deduction, but often discredits himself with his great delusion, playfulness, and childish nature. he’s a trendsetter and loves to joke around, and when he has a great thought, he’s going to put it into action. (“yeah, that’s right. i’m about to monologue, son.”) his favorite movie is die hard (hoshi as a shawol), is canonically broke (hoshi’s constant money loss due to him spoiling everything), and tries to annoy suspects into confessing their crimes. 

men can have duality. they can be serious and also put orange soda in their cereal. hoshi, as a Super Gemini™ knows all about it. he’s playful but knows when to be serious and takes his line of work very seriously. sure, he has some growing up to do and can immerse himself in a different role (horanghae <3) very easily, but he plays to his strengths and that of others with his determination and persistence. 

capt. raymond holt 

seungcheol  

“wait a minute. this isn’t the championship cummerbund. this is some common cummerbund. and, you’re not cheddar. you’re just some common bitch!” 

“this bitch? please. watch.” (to the dog, ‘some common bitch’) “shake… shake! psshh. idiot.” 

this is probably the most obvious and predictable choice after jake=hoshi. a born leader, full of wisdom, and no-nonsense… well, some nonsense is okay. captain holt is ambitious and looks after his squad with both care for their goals and their personalities. even though he may seem a little unapproachable or stoic, he’s actually a really funny and goofy guy. he laughs when he eats marshmallows (“a marshed mallow? don’t mind if i do.”) he’s very adamant about his passions (like john phillip sousa being the skrillrex of his day) and his a very consistent guy (ref. rock painting no. 367). he is sassy to the max and will tell you things exactly as he finds them. and he does NOT mess around when it comes to his dog. 

cheol, most of all, is the ultimate dog dad -- just like holt. cheddar is to holt like kkuma is to cheol. he spoils his dog, and he is proud of it. he’s someone who caters to the learning style that each person needs: stricter but with jokes for jake (hoshi), encouraging for rosa (woozi), detailed with a binder and written formalities for amy (seungkwan), and with actions (ref. the croque monsieur) for charles (dk). he’s attentive, thoughful, and silly at heart. 

det. amy santiago 

seungkwan  

“gross, rosa! those are our dads! i mean, that’s not what i think. captain dad is just my boss. never mind, i’m teaching father the math. whatever, rosa!” 

super badass, but also a teacher’s pet, know it all, and scrapbooking expert. may come off as super uptight or a buzzkill, but genuinely cares about the other detectives on the squad. when you have hella big aspirations, it’s not that unreasonable to see why competitiveness, sharpness, and intellect are his best traits. under all of the work-oriented personality, there’s someone who is ambitious, thoughtful, clever, and protective of the people he loves. it’s hard to not be so uptight and to let loose (as opposed to some totally scheduled fun!), and don’t make fun of him if he sucks and is horrible at it. (title of his sex tape.) 

seungkwan was my top choice, mainly because of his competitiveness with hoshi (jake) as svt’s most famous frenemy pair. there’s a lot of responsibility and workload that seungkwan carries and continues to put on his shoulders, which his members love and appreciate (just how the squad appreciates and acknowledges amy’s dedication to being a detective). things can get wild and crazy sometimes, which is why seungkwan just needs to recharge sometimes. 

det. charles boyle 

dokyeom 

“i got this low tag performance polo with moisture wicking technology. kept me dry all morning. and a dry boy is a smart boy.” 

if you’re looking for a supportive best friend who will always cheer you on, this is him. he’s a major foodie, he loves jake (hoshi), and his arch nemesis is sergeant peanut butter, who is a horse. he’s possessive and jealous almost as much as he is a superb friend, which is obvious by the way he instantly is suspicious of every other best friend jake (hoshi) can make in his life. (“don’t make any new best friends! haha… maybe you shouldn’t go…”) he gets jealous of many, like old beat cop partner stevie schillens, brian (?) from camp, and even cannibal jail cellmate caleb. also definitely dresses up as people from halloween that no one but him can understand. he is just someone that is the embodiment of living life according to his passions. very caring, thoughtful, and funny. 

dk was a good choice for boyle for me since he is super clingy and also is a supportive friend. even if he knows it’s silly or mischievous, he will play along. dk is relatively less prone to disgusting and gross sexual innuendos than charles, but is still super excited to share his jokes and hobbies. has a lot of holiday cheer and his down to be friends even after being turned down. 

det. rosa diaz 

woozi 

“plans are plans. i’m a badass, not an anarchist.” 

mysterious, a little scary, but reasonable and thoughtful. rosa is a character that’s easy to stereotype, though also arguably one of the more complex characters in this show. hard working is an understatement, and even though he may not be the most outwardly affectionate at first glance, rosa is super thoughtful. work comes first, but through the many trials and tribulations that life throws, business remains separate from personal… except the friendships. rosa went through the academy with jake (hoshi), so they’re really close. as much as jake jokes around and everything, they still trust each other and work with each other really well. (“diaz has been chuckin’ d-holes into my mouth since the academy.”) on top of that, is a bicon (bi icon). 

woozi was my go-to choice on this one. his demeaner seems a little intimidating (especially because of all his muscles now too!), but he means good. he gives off mysterious vibes, but he’s just figuring it out. now he is truly no-nonsense, and he makes sure others know this. he’s still down for the different personas and everything, but he lives his life by a strict set of rules. his neighbors think he’s emily goldfinch (woozi)… his coworkers think his name is rosa diaz (wooahae)… wait. what? 

sgt. terry jeffords 

mingyu  

“terry loves yogurt.” 

literally just a big softie that looks scary/big/muscular but is actually so babygirl. he’s so caring and loves the squad to death, always making sure that they have all the resources they need to survive. even when other captains come and go, terry is always there. terry loves yogurt, terry loves love, and terry loves foreign films.  kind of has a rivalry with boyle (dk) for strange reasons instigated by boyle himself, but is supportive nonetheless. (“hey, people like the way i look.” “sure they do, big guy.) he’s actually very well-educated (studied abroad in japan), is a great dad, and is always down to help others work out the right way.

this was such an obvious choice for me (with the only other option being cheol). mingyu is an inherently kindhearted person like terry, but also knows how to draw boundaries. he is someone who is worried about the safety of the people around him because he’s a family man, but also someone who loves to get down as vacation terry. also talks in the third person, but it’s okay since he’s hot. 

gina linetti 

myungho  

“aren’t you forgetting something?” [...] “no! pay your bill! damn, who raised you?” 

the human form of the 100 emoji. would be the perfect human president, based upon his skillset, dance ability, and bloodlust. he is the paris of people. has been jake (hoshi)’s childhood friend and went through high school with him. cares enough to steer jake (hoshi) on the right track (ref. brandon bliss) but to also enable him in their own goofy shenanigans (the DDC + the lacroix siblings). super smart and well-versed in the people around him because only gina would suggest savant (vernon), the hacker, to become their new IT guy. iconic entrepreneur. 

i know that hao is super humble, and gina says that being humble is her best trait. despite this, there is no one else who would love to not be involved with all this police nonsense (bc gina “does not listen to a lot of things you all [the detectives] say”) but also be relevant. she’s actually very street-smart, great at comebacks, and the ceo of her own company that she literally just made up. 

dr. kevin cozner 

wonwoo  

“that’s the oompiest oomph you’ll get.” 

prim, proper, and unhinged. he loves raymond (cheol) but most of all, allows love to prevail. works as a classics professor at a university, spends a sabbatical in france to enrich his teaching experience, and loves a good croque monsieur. would absolutely go off on jake (hoshi) if he gatekept a nicolas cage movie that's a period piece set in greece based on some dumb book. despite his no-nonsense attitude sometimes, he is still down to dress like a pervert to go to the library with jake (hoshi). also, super badass because he runs over seamus murphy with a car. 

i was kind of going for wonwoo’s quieter but more serious and studious vibes. i think super knowledgeable, especially about gaming and editing, while kevin is knowledgeable about classics like boetheus and the odyssey. both are super smart, sassy, and protective people. 

doug judy 

jeonghan 

“i sold a guy a fake pekinese. twas a cat.” 

he’s in and he’s out! he is there for the vibes and the elaborate schemes. he will outsmart everyone in the NYPD and get away with it. (many, many times.) one of jake (hoshi)’s best criminal friends but would still betray him every time. he would definitely lie and tell his family that he owns an architecture firm instead of being the pontiac bandit, and jake (hoshi) is his assistant mangy carl, whom he saved from a life of living on the streets selling his body. goofy and silly, but don’t underestimate him. you’ll always be one step behind him. 

i think jeonghan is definitely slick and goofy enough to be doug judy. above all else, jeonghan’s mind works harder than anyone else in mafia. just like how he immerses himself in different roles (and often makes them up) in don’t lie and bad clue, doug judy has transformed into many different roles in his life (cruise ship singer, architect, etc.) 

capt. jason stentley (CJ) 

jun 

“okay muchachos, let’s roll up on these muchachos!” 

great start, and love the double use of muchachos, jun. became a captain due to his extreme luck. he is just always in the right place at the right time. showed up to his first day in grey sweatpants because he “totally biffed it” and spilled hot cocoa on himself. introduced himself as ‘captain stentley’ but didn’t like how formal that sounded. ‘captain jason’ wasn’t it either, so CJ was the move. numbers are so crazy, and overall so, very supportive. he just wants to help. 

i was just thinking of someone a little silly and laidback. will be strict if you ask him to, but he’s honestly more there for the vibes. he can be a little clumsy, but i was mainly just going for the slightly airheadedness vibes and the lovable nature. 

det. adrian pimento

joshua 

“whoo… haha… hey chuck! it’s pimento.” 

just a little bit insane. it’s a side effect of being undercover for 12 years for jimmy “the butcher” figgis, but i digress. he sometimes still calls himself paul sneed due to being extremely traumatized. overall just a funny and great character. used to be boyle (dk)’s roommate and just found himself in his son’s closet at some point in time… got mistaken as a closet monster… just normal human things. (but he was also screaming with dk and his son.) has a very riveting, intense, and sexy relationship with rosa (woozi). 

this one was a little more of a stretch, but only because pimento is actually insane. all the years of ptsd has made him into a very strange person. josh is a little strange, and maybe he could be pimento if pimento was watered down into a lacroix. (like, the flavor is barely there.) there’s a distinct slight insanity that josh has (ref. gose episode the8 and the 12 shadows) that is hard to replicate. 

fire marshal boone  

dino  

“your only move is passing the ball to jeffords and running across the field.” “i’d like to see you try!” 

so done with the entire police department. will always be down for a rivalry or argument but genuinely a softie. just generally suspicious of jake (hoshi) and charles (dk) due to their antics and strong adherence to the rivalry. demands an apology because this is the fire department’s jurisdiction! all of that comes crumbling down though, when jake (hoshi) reveals his sad past with sal’s pizza…. but he still competes with jake (hoshi) on arresting the criminal in the end. some things never change.

i was honestly looking for someone who would love nothing more than to call out hoshi and dk on their BS and tomfoolery without enabling it and thought of dino. boone is a pretty lovable character for someone who is supposed to be a villain of some sorts, and it fits in pretty well with dino. plus, he’s the head of the fire department, kind of like how dino had to choose being the maknae of svt versus being the leader of a younger group. (kind of.) 

! vernon

okay i was genuinely very torn about who should be vernon, because i genuinely had a lot of different options. 

corey park (savant) 

hacked into a police precinct’s computer system just because he could. (he only exposed everyone’s search history.)  “it was like taking candy from a baby.” he was turned in by his mom, but fortunately now has a job -- courtesy of gina (hao). very intelligent and laid back

i saw vernon here because he definitely has a mischievous side. while his pranks and jokes are on the mild side, he’s definitely still a troublemaker. he’s down to work for the greater good. 

cheddar the dog  

“this isn’t cheddar, this is just some common bitch.” a very special someone. definitely is seungcheol and wonwoo’s child. loves wedding cake and is very well-behaved. extremely intelligent and loves participating in halloween heists. does not like being jake (hoshi)’s dog bra :// 

this was based on alice’s thread and was so funny. if cheddar were a human, vernon would be cheddar. the sass and intellect can only be matched by Thee hansol vernon chwe. 

other fun character pairings that i thought of: 

kkuma as cheddar the dog: two words -- so spoiled. also would be cheol (captain holt)’s baby. i digress. 

jun & dino as young hitchcock and scully: just two people motivated by helping the city. kind-hearted and brave people, who may or may not have gotten addicted to wing sluts while checking in on a witness that their captain screwed over by not putting in the witness protection program. outstanding people who became a lot more interesting, to say the least…. 

josh as madeline wuntsch: strangely tense relations with holt (cheol) due to their rivalry, but overall an outstanding cop. ½ of svt’s evil twins so you know he’s down for some evilness. oh raymond, i notice you haven’t done your time as a beat cop…. (if josh is here, who’s guarding hades???) may be a cheuksin, a korean toilet ghost who--

jun as mlepclaynos (the clay is silent): opens the door, is questioned by detectives, takes the picture of the suspect. he’s from neokrakagovia and celebrates dogs losing their virginity. jun definitely would! less because he’s weird and more so because he’s so kind and willing to go with the flow that it just happens. later says he’s not mlepnos. did you sell him horse blood? would you like to buy horse blood? he plays the violin beautifully. “guitar.” (ref. some day morning)

[gallifreyinstituteforlearning]

Hello! I have several questions: 1) if you have a Gallifreyan dictionary, could I please see it? 2) what does "TOTW" mean in your language tags? 3) what's the Gallifreyan word for healer/to heal/doctor? 4) there are a group of chronicles about one of Gallifrey's most infamous children, including audios, books, comics, games, movies, and a TV series. Do your words come from these, or are they from another source?

- @theangelshavethephonebox

Quickfire round!? 😃

1️⃣ If you have a Gallifreyan dictionary, could I please see it?

GIL's dictionary is right now being developed along with a full grammar guide. It's available as a living document for anyone particularly interested in the conlang, as long as they don't mind a bit of a crushing mess while things slowly get organised. A better release is planned when it's a bit neater. Message me for links (and excuses).

2️⃣ What does "TOTW" mean in your language tags?

TOTW means 'Theme of the Week' and goes on all scheduled content on weekdays. I try to be consistent. You can see all this year's old and upcoming themes in the Masterpost.

3️⃣ What's the Gallifreyan word for healer/to heal/doctor?

Conlang answer.

Rikijai - someone who heals (a healer)

Jakri - to heal

Doctor - see below:

This has a few variations for hyper-specificity.

Rikijai = surgeon etc. (one who repairs the body)

Zykijai = psychiatrist etc. (one who repairs the machine (brain))

Rizykijai = doctor/all around healer (one who repairs the body and the machine (brain))

These are more general terms (like for jobs) - you can suffix these with gender particles (po, mo, zo) to specify a particular individual.

Rikijaipo = The Surgeon [male]

Zykijaimo = The Psychiatrist [female]

Rizykijaizo = The Doctor [gender neutral]

Or just add an Honorific to make it their title.

Poja-Rikijai = Honorable Surgeon man

Moja-Zykijai = Honorable Psychiatrist woman

Zoja-Rizykijai = Honorable Doctor [gender neutral]

Ja-Rizykijai = Honorable Doctor [no gender]

4️⃣ [...] Do your words come from these, or are they from another source?

They come from everywhere. This might help:

Hope that helped! 😃

Any purple text is educated guesswork or theoretical. More content ... →📫Got a question? | 📚Complete list of Q+A and factoids →😆Jokes |🩻Biology |🗨️Language |🕰️Throwbacks |🤓Facts →🫀Gallifreyan Anatomy and Physiology Guide (pending) →⚕️Gallifreyan Emergency Medicine Guides →📝Source list (WIP) →📜Masterpost If you're finding your happy place in this part of the internet, feel free to buy a coffee to help keep our exhausted human conscious. She works full-time in medicine and is so very tired 😴

[alpaca-clouds]

The possibilities of Sandalpunk

It's punk-o-clock again and today I wanna speak about that punkpunk genre, that might well be one of the most loosely defined: Sandalpunk. Really, trying to find something about this genre, I found that people do not agree about...

... if the genre at all is scifi, retrofuturist and/or fantasy and in how far

... what consistent themes of it should be

... what even the aesthetic is past "Ancient Rome/Greece"

... what kind of stories should be told in this genre

To put it differently: Sandalpunk right now is very much a title, but not a genre. Because there is absolutely no consistent anything within this "genre". But... I am gonna argue now, that it is kinda a waste, because there is a lot of potential there.

For those dipping into this blog for the fist time, let me quick go into the definition from Wikipedia on punk ideology, that I am going to use to assume that at least some of this should be present within a genre for it to be worthy of the punk-moniker:

[Punk Ideology] is primarily concerned with concepts such as mutual aid, against selling out, hierarchy, white supremacy, authoritarianism, anti-consumerism, anti-corporatism, anti-war, imperialism, conservatism, anti-globalization, gentrification, anti-racism, anti-sexism, class and classism, gender equality, racial equality, eugenics, animal rights, free-thought and non-conformity.

So, if I was trying to define Sandalpunk somehow, I would want to somehow bring that into it.

The other aspect the -punk genre have is, that they are somehow going into the scifi or fantasy genre, often doing a somewhat retrofuturist spin on things.

So, based on that we now have the three following ideas:

Based on the cultures of Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece

Anti-Hierarchical and Anti-Imperialist ideas

Retrofuturism, possibly with some fantasy elements

And I think we can actually get a working concept from this.

Because of course especially ancient Rome and to a lesser degree Ancient Greece were expansionist empires. Both cultures (though this is your scheduled reminder that due to the length of time these empires lasted the culture shifted) were very hierarchical, very classist and were very much about conformaty.

We still very much live in a Roman world, even though we usually do not think about it that way. But because of how Rome had colonized most of Europe before the Empire fell - and because of how it was Rome who went out and propagized Christianity, with the religion now inextricably linked with Roman culture to this day, being used to propagate Roman ideals to this day.

So, imagining a retrofuturist setting with Roman influence could actually mirror some real developments we see these days - just with less Christianity. And an added bonus is: The Romans already knew about steam power - they only in the real world had never figured out how to productively use it. (Mostly because slave labour was cheaper.)

And this could actually make for a super interesting set up for a genre.

Let me paint that picture for you:

It is 1300 AD, the Roman Empire has never fallen and has by now colonized all of Europe, with the exceptions of some parts in the far north, as well as most of North Africa and West Asia. The Roman Empire has since advanced their technology considerably, outmatching most of the rest of the world in technology. They have stern rules about the way people can and cannot live, their world being divided between the classes. However... There are some that do not want to accept the Roman rule, being willing to fight against it. Groups of people trying to keep alive their indigenous cultures, offering each other mutual aid, trying to survive under the thumb of the Empire.

I think there is a lot of potential there. Playing around with how the Roman Empire had influenced our world, making it more visible than it usually is. With a world that is familiar and yet isn't. The possibilities are endless. And of course we can have people rebelling against it.

And hey, maybe the Roman gods play a role in this world as well?

Right now Sandalpunk is not much more than a word. But that could be done with it. So... Maybe someone just gotta start writing this genre? For real, I mean. Rather than people just looking random things featuring mildly anarchronistic Roman things and go: "Oh! Sandalpunk!"

[team-heavenly]

Drumroll‚ please! 🥁

It’s been some time, and I managed to slip on my promised deadline once again (thank you for your patience)... But finally‚ we return to the story of Teresa and Andrea in our Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky Randomizer!

A few items of note before we get started (and yeah sorry this is overly detailed and lengthy because idk what it means to be concise, just scroll down if you're not interested):

Please be aware: updates to Team Heavenly’s story will not be as frequent as they were during main. I now work a full-time job in a field where my schedule is somewhat contingent on unanticipated emergencies. And in general‚ I’m just a very busy adult! So I unfortunately can’t give you an exact (or even rough) timeline of when posts will be released— It basically comes down to whenever I have the time to do it. But rest assured‚ the entirety of this tale will be told… eventually!

I’ve gotten my hands on a newer tablet since last year, so my camera quality is much better now! …However. While snapping pics for this post‚ a seemingly unavoidable digital blue glare persisted‚ no matter how I adjusted my screen brightness. When I subsequently ran these photos through the auto function‚ they didn’t really… improve? So I had to do a lot of manual tweaking… Anyway‚ all of that to say if one shot doesn’t look visually consistent with another, it’s because each image got edited a little bit differently.

I will link multiple posts for a single "chapter" (see last bullet) in the same manner as before, with preceding and succeeding parts linked at the beginning and end, respectively. I’ll also update the table of contents in the pinned post for continued ease of navigation.

Also, please note... last year, my older iPad somehow managed to circumvent any sort of (consistent) image limit. But that is not the case this time! There is a strict hard limit of 30 images per post. It's therefore likely that post-game chapters will have more parts than the main-story chapters ever did. (Though whether that actually equates to a "lengthier" chapter is up for debate.)

As the post-game content does not get separated into official chapters‚ I will be partitioning the story based on subject matter! For example, this first act will focus on the guild’s graduation exam, the next will include Sky Peak, and so on. I also intend to use a random number generator to select chapter names from this list. (I mean, c’mon, that's part of the fun of a randomizer!) But for the sake of clarity, I will be including the actual subject matter after the chosen title in (parentheses). Thus‚ this first unofficial post-game chapter is known as…

Chapter 21: Would you like to eat moss?

(AKA: The Guild’s Graduation Exam)

As a result of Teresa and Andrea’s heroic actions… The destruction of time was stopped and peace returned to the world of Pokémon. They went back to Totodile’s Guild and fell back into their daily routine of vigorous training.

One morning‚ several months later…

Pineco: “:/ Hey hey, why can Teresa and Andrea take the graduation exam before we do? We’ve been around a lot longer…”

Tropius: “…They literally saved the world and have proven themselves to be worthy many times over. Also skill issue lol.”

Don’t feel bad for Pineco though; he’s not the only one getting roasted.

Lol rip.

Anyway‚ Andrea asks the very sensible question of what exactly this exam entails…

Dark Chasm? Evil MANSION?!

Are you— are you sending us back to the future‚ Totodile?! WTF??

Oh! That’s easy enough though. I mean‚ compared to scaling a collapsing tower while Time itself crumbled at our feet? Pshaw! This will be a cakewalk!

...You know, this is really the first thing that should have tipped me off as a kid 🤦‍♀️

🤨 How convenient.

Okay, so he's not gonna be any help, unfortunately. Looks like we're going in blind. (Haha unintentional pun...unless?)

But for real, anything that makes Mewtwo cry out in fear and run away is a force to be reckoned with indeed.

As we enter Nautical Cottage to begin our preparations, we run into our stand-ins for Teddiursa and Ursaring! After a quick chat, Horsea reveals they are also headed to the Dark Chasm...

*seen (sorry).

Also, at the risk of beating a dead Horsea (aHA! TWO FOR TWO ON THE PUNS!), y'all go play WHERE? *gets hit immediately by a Snipe Shot*

Andrea immediately suspects something is sus. Unfortunately, this is the smartest she's ever gonna get about it.

Anyway, it's been a hot minute, so I go to check my storage and evaluate what I have to work with...

BRUH?? I do NOT remember picking this up omg 😳

So my plan is to equip this for the exam, right? But then I totally forgot to do that 😅

Also I don't have a picture for this but I was able to buy 3 Poké from the Finnkecleon shop for free lol

✅Mission: set ✅Destination: arrived ✅Chance of success: 💯😎🎆

Oh my god, this really is the future of darkness!! I guess our efforts to save the world weren't enough, damn 😓

🎶I'm starting with the man in the mirror I'm asking him to change his ways🎶

A couple of Gummis later, Teresa learns the Lava Evader IQ Skill! Neat!

Me when Ivysaur used Fly:

Believe it or not, this actually almost killed Andrea at 96 damage. But the stairs were nearby and I wasn't too worried about it until...

Go figure, amirite?

Then Andrea reminded me of the awesome power of Blizzard and we knocked out everyone except Combusken and the Kabuto on the first turn <3 And she got right back up again in no time with the Fast Healer skill!

Does anyone remember that one time when I had the foolish idea to forget Quick Attack in favor of Helping Hand? Yeah, not one of my smartest moves. But I managed to find a TM in this dungeon that does the same thing as Quick Attack but better!

Here's the info for Quick Attack:

And here's the info for Mach Punch:

Higher power and hit ratio? Yes please! (Yes, I'm aware both are only one star stronger. But hey, every bit counts.)

I teeechnically have enough room for three more images, but this feels like a natural transition point so click here to advance to Part 2!

[joshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh]

Prescription: Murder

Yeah so here's something different. Very directly as a consequence of me mostly watching anime I don't enjoy recently, but then neither wanting to rewatch anything and being apprehensive about starting something new for a variety of reasons, I felt I needed a change of pace. Just launch myself into something completely different, that I could hopefully be invested in. And Columbo is what I ended up with. It's been implanted into my mind with its somewhat recent resurgance on tumblr, randomly getting recommended the blog Columbophile, seeing the very nice looking DVD boxset for sale in hmv, and the final nail in the coffin being some even more recent twitter memes regarding the series. "Let's watch Columbo" I decided. And here we are.

So, this is my first introduction to Columbo, with its pilot episode. And I liked it! Quite a bit! This is a very different type of media in general for me, so I don't know how much I'll have to say about any given episodes just because they're completely not what I'm used to, but certainly I like where we're at right now.

There's a lot of time well spent on merely setting up the murder - I believe this is what's famous about the series anyway but it's entirely not a whodunnit - we see exactly how the murder happens, exactly who does it, pretty much every part of why they did it, and even a lot of time spent on clean-up. Honestly at the beginning of the episode, Flemming is so meticulous that you begin to wonder how he's even gonna be caught. And throughout the episode they answer that very well, and very very gradually.

It turns into this clash of personalities really, two bright minds up against one another, one intentionally demeaning himself and the other so prideful that he basically admits to everything. But the pair have a read on one another as well - Columbo knows Flemming did it and Flemming basically explains Columbo's entire shtick to us anyway. Undermine himself, present as small, unkempt, distracting, downright annoying most of the time. Flemming gets the read on him but even then Columbo is so persistent and annoying that the man cracks.

Although per the episode's own calling attention to it, Joan was the real weak link in the entire ordeal - frankly she was just less invested than Flemming was, tripped him up because of it. I do think the final scene that plays out to get the confession was maybe a little contrived - wasn't really a conclusion to the bouncing pride and intelligence of Columbo and Flemming, rather just a scenario that came up to end the story, but like, eh. I appreciate that Joan... doesn't quite get off scot-free or anything but she could've had it worse, I think Flemming would rather she had it worse. This ending ends up working the best narratively for pretty much everyone involved. Like if she died it'd be unfair that she had the worst fate even though she was hesitant, you know? This was good.

That's pretty much the main things I've got to say about the episode. Fascinating as a more general statement to go back to a live action show from this long ago - honestly there are devices I don't even recognise, an aesthetic so far removed from my life but recent enough to feel real, or something. It's neat. I don't usually watch anything this old or anything live action to begin with, so like, yeah.

As two other quick little notes - I don't actually know if every episode has a neat title card like this one does, but I would like the format for these posts to be the episode title as the tumblr post title, followed by the episode title card. I hope the show lets me keep to that. Also, I've not got a schedule for this or anything. I've got 68 episodes still to watch which would be a lot even if they were 24 minutes long a la the anime I spend all my time watching. Instead, they're all 70-90 minutes long. I cannot even pretend to promise a consistent "yeah I'll watch it this week" or something. Next post on Columbo will be when I watch the next episode. I will watch the next episode whenever I watch it. You know how it is. But yeah, swag.

[literaticat]

Romantasy is a trend, I know. And writers shouldn't just chase trends. But with romance consistently being the most popular genre--is it illogical of me to believe this trend might have some staying power?

I think if that's where your writerly passions lie, by all means write it. Romance and Fantasy generally are not "trends" they are just categories -- combining the two might be considered evergreen in a way, rather than "trendy" -- so if you are just passionate about making fantasy a little racy (or romance a little fantastical) -- I think you're fine.

But here you are talking about Romantasy the Trend -- I guess books like Iron Whatever and Throne of Whatever, big ol grownup things that are currently dominating the bestseller list and that I don't want to read and certainly don't rep? Yeah. Well, that's a trend, and I promise you that all trends end -- but also, pretty much all trends do come back eventually, so, whatever I guess. :-)

At the moment, it does feel like every editor is asking for that kind of book. Of course! But the thing is, actually, the publishers have been buying romantasy for years (which is why there's SO MUCH OF IT showing up now -- it takes years!) -- and there is plenty more already scheduled to come out in 2024-25, etc. Those books are already bought. In other words, hopping on a trend NOW would probably not be a great, because let's say it takes you six months or whatever to write the book, polish the book, etc -- well, if you are going out to shop it in late 2024 or early 2025, the earliest it could be published is like, late 2026-2027.

Putting on my Psychic Hat, I predict the following: Romantasy will continue selling well at the bookstore for a while. Probably what seems like a fairly long while. And publishers will continue to buy it. At some point, maybe in six months, maybe in a year, or who knows -- AT SOME POINT -- the pipelines will be absolutely chock full of it (if they aren't already) -- and there will be new Romantasy scheduled out through 2026-2027 and beyond -- and it is at that point, when it seems like every new book is a Romantasy book and there are still more coming, that the bubble will burst. Why?

Because the bookstore will have been FULL of Romantasy and people talking about Romantasy and whatever whatever for YEARS at that point. There will be so many titles that the power of any one has been diluted -- it will be much harder for those new books to break out and find an audience because there will be so many of them. Consequently, they will stop selling as well -- again, dilution, right? Not to mention, people like new things! People get sick of the same stories! People want a break, even when they love something!

So anyway, those big giant hits we have seen in the past year won't hit so big anymore. Publishers, realizing that suddenly their cash cow isn't cashing and the pipeline still has too many cows in it, will pull back dramatically and be like ANYTHING BUT ROMANTASY PLS. And something new will start to trend. Twas ever thus.

...

(Mind you, big giant authors will continue to have an audience and have new books I'm sure, so THEY are fine -- and publishers might be into TWISTS on the trend -- so if you really want to write a romantasy, by all means go for it, just maybe give it a little something "extra" to it so isn't a carbon copy of what already exists!)

[avocado-frog]

Happy STS! (Shh, I'm a day behind.) And because of that, today's a free space! Use it to ramble as you please! ♥️

As I say on the sts asks that I sometimes answer a day late, the S in sts stands for Sunday :)

The other day I deleted like five chapters (i had only WRITTEN one, but there were five outlined) because the arc was Too hard to write so I changed my mind. Now my outline + schedule are off so I've been adjusting that. The good news is that I don't have a chapter count of 55 anymore.

This is going to accidentally be the Here's How I Outline ask but that's okay I got a free space + I can do whatever I want

SO my step one is that i have a document for my basic outlines which include the character POV(s), chapter title, word count, and a few sentences, with a few more details. I do this part all in one go. Once I have an idea of how many chapters I'm going to have, I try and make it a number divisible by three (30 in forget me not, 21 in dahlia) (rosemary has five parts because I rolled a negative in Planning Ahead skills and had 11 characters instead of 12) so now that I have the parts divided I attach a character to it. I usually already have a flower in mind to attach to the character as well. I write my fun little flower paragraphs here :)

Step two is when I add all the chapters for part 1 (or 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 etc) with the Basic Outline. This is where I make my Real Outline for each chapter. I usually do this part in one go as well, or at least until I get bored. The Real Outline includes specific details, bits of dialogue that I want to remember, and stuff like that. I like to have this at a ratio depending on the word count I already assigned the chapter. If I want the word count to be 5,000, then the Real Outline is 500 words long. I'd explain my Ratio if I was good at explaining math concepts. but I'm not.

Step three is Draft 1. I do this part as if I am making a Guy. Draft one is Skeleton. Part 1 is the aforementioned Make the Outline a Certain Length. Part 2 is when I start writing the chapter, deleting parts of the outline as I write them until I have no outline left

Step four is when I put the recently outlined chapters on my Big Timeline that has everything on it- including character birth dates, dates of chapters, things included in dated flashback scenes, etc. Basically everything that I need to keep consistent/so that I don't have to go through 50 chapters to see how long ago something was. It's very helpful I strongly recommend having a Big TImeline actually. If anyone ever asks what my writing advice is it'd be to have a Big Timeline

Step five is Draft 2!!! This is where things have a tendency to get a little bit messy for me because I'm not bound by the laws of writing chapters in order anymore and the chapters that I like will probably be finished faster. Draft 2 is what I consider the Meat of my guy that I am creating. Draft 2 part 3 is where I add to each chapter to complete the Word Goal (unless I really just do not want to, or if it's close enough/don't have anything to add) (this step is optional) and Draft 2 part 4 is when I consider the chapter mostly done. This is where I just reread it and make sure everything is in order. I tend to skip this one too because I reread chapters when I'm editing anyway

Step six is my editing step. I don't know why I keep my editing checklist on a whole different thing but I Do. I'm actually going to move it right now really quick. Editing: 1st read through: italicize/mark with "/" (i post on ao3 sometimes and it doesn't automatically italicize) 2nd read through: check for spelling errors/maybe add or delete sentences 3rd read through: look for trigger warnings and write them down somewhere 4th read through: inconsistencies (write down the things that need to be consistent) check timeline if needed (3rd and 4th usually end up getting combined) 5th read through: read again

After I've waited a week, I repeat the 2nd and 5th part of the editing, and THEN the chapter is done and I have created a Guy.

Here's how they're differentiated:

I might've made that more complicated than it needed to be but it makes sense to me lol. Obviously this doesn't work for everyone and etc

[beautifulpersonpeach]

Jimin's Got that Busan Juju + A Comment on His Photo Folio (Repost)

Anonymous: Hi BPP, I hope the concert was wonderful and everything you asked for. I would really like to know your opinion/analysis about my query below because I started with BTS last year and I am still struggling to figure this out.

So before I started with BTS, the one person whose name I constantly heard was Jimin. Some of my friends who are into BTS loved him and it felt like he was everywhere so when I started with BTS I tried to avoid him. I tend to veer towards the less well known member. However, no matter how hard I tried, I always saw myself watching Jimin. It started with performances and then everything else. Now I don't think he is my bias. I often try to stay loyal to the hyung line but I somehow end up looking at Jimin. I just don't get it. What sort of magic is this? Am I noticing him because everyone else is? I am so confused about this whole situation. Like I know he is good to look at but any idea what the deal is. Lol, I sounds like a teenager with a crush. Do other people feel this as well or am I actually a teenager with a crush?

Lol even if you don't respond to this, I hope this makes you laugh.

***

It’s that Busan juju.

It’s his God-breathed visuals.

Gaia herself crafted that man to be every man, woman, and other’s dream. Athena’s rival, Aphrodite’s muse, Beyonce’s godson.

Jimin’s visuals have always been my favorite. His vocals have always been my favorite. And I’ve slowly come to accept he’s the best dancer in BTS. There was a time (mid-2018 or so) that he seemed so perfect I briefly considered the possibility he might be a sociopath.

Sometimes he falls off my radar (the rapline consistently stay on my radar) but then he pranks Hobi, says something savagely sassy, or his vocals pierce my brain like a lightning rod and he gets on my radar again.

The new ARMY recruit (non-ARMY friend who watched the Grammys) asked me recently why I don’t think of Jimin as my bias or even bias wrecker (that title belongs wholly to Jungkook), and all I could say is that he doesn’t annoy me enough to be my bias, and with how much I like Jimin, I like Yoongi a touch more, Hobi a teeny bit more, and Joon about as much as I like Jimin, maybe. Why that is exactly, I don’t know. People choose their biases for all sorts of reasons, or rather, their biases choose them.

Jimin is a bit of a special case because everybody notices him. It’s quite literally impossible not to. It’s why so many people feel threatened by this guy breathing anywhere near their biases, cause they know their biases would sooner get on one knee, or better yet, turn around and kneel with their asses in the air, for Jimin to do whatever he wants. I just need y'all to watch any of their MV reaction videos, I mean BTS reacting to themselves. Pick anyone at all. And look at their faces when Jimin comes on the screen. I almost feel embarrassed for them because it’s so obvious. Jungkook showed up in Chelsea boots during soundcheck the other day, and his energy? Hyung’s copycat indeed. They all see Jimin for what he is. Jimin himself knows what he is. I have a pet theory that one reason he’s so heavily leaned into his ‘cute, harmless, almost helpless good boy’ persona lately, is to try to seem less threatening. Most maknae line solo stans hate him to a hilariously absurd degree, because they view him as real competition. It’s why they’re so proactive with their hate, always on schedule, never missing a deadline. Some hyung-line akgaes too feel that way tbh. I’ve seen more than one person say Jimin is this generation’s Prince (the artist). And let me add something I’m working on in response to another ask about my favorite sub-unit in BTS (it’s 3J after the rapline): the 3J unit is the only unit filled with aces. You read that right. J-Hope, Jimin, and Jungkook are the true aces in BTS, it might just take some work to see it cause one of those three people goes around saying he wants to be waited on like Cleopatra taking milk baths.

Anyway, I digress.

I hate to be that person, but in your case, you sound a bit like Anthony Bridgerton talking about Kate Sharma. You can’t take your eyes off him? You end up looking only at him? Anon, you might be under the Jimin Effect. I suspect you’ve Jim-ined and cannot Jim-out, as they say.

Maybe accept it? Loving Jimin is a very enjoyable activity and I can speak from experience.

Originally posted: April 12th, 2022 8:00am

**

Repost EDIT: Reading this post now, after Jimin's photofolio teasers have dropped, made me Laugh. Out. Loud.

Y'all, I hollered. Jimin really is something else, and whatever he is, only Jimin himself knows it. The other members have a very good idea, but the full expression of Jimin is something only Jimin knows. And that makes me giggle. It makes me love him a little harder. It makes me feel things - to know that there will always be something new to learn about him, to explore with him.. it's an intoxicating feeling. It's one I feel sometimes when I think about Namjoon, Yoongi, and Hoseok. The only criticism I have of Jimin's photo folio, is that it comes with no sound, and that's a criticism I'm making only because it's Jimin. I wish this photofolio was a film series instead. Only because I want to hear more of Jimin's vocal evolution. Imagine what he would sound like inspired by the moon's relationship with Artemis, or "freedom"...

Anyway, I hope whoever wanted a copy was able to get one. I hope the worry-toned asks I was frequently getting about Jimin, subside now. I hope his antis finally get a clue. And I hope more of us sit back and just enjoy the ride that is Park Jimin. I've said before that I think he is the most threatening person in k-pop. Lol. It's just what it is.

(He's problematic)

*

(I mean look at him)

*

*

(It's the casual arrogance for me)

*

(Qu'y a-t-il d'autre à dire ?)

Y'all, I laughed. 💜

[gralunaisland]

Life Update! And I'm back... Again...

It's not as serious as the title may make it seem haha.

I'm just letting y'all know the reason I dipped off the face of the earth yet again is because I have a job now as well as classes! I have been trying to get my schedule and time management under firm control before I get back to posting and answering asks, but I feel like I've put it off for too long, so I'll really honestly begin answering as many asks as I can!

I think I spend too much time talking about how I'm going to be better about posting and not enough time actually doing it, but every time I take breaks, I feel like I need to apologize to the askers who sent asks months ago TvT. So, I am sorry again, and to rectify, I'll respond to a few of the oldest asks I have as well as some brand-new ones today! And I'll try to be more consistent, even if it's one post a week.

Last note is that the pretty continuous stream of Anti asks I've been getting bolsters and encourages my weary but very Anti-gr///via and juvia spirit! So even though I might not have responded to them yet, just know, dear askers, that I've been reading them, and you guys delight me. Really helps knowing that there are plenty of Antis who are still active out there! Thank you all for your support as well as your patience! Y'all are SO patient with this frazzled college student x_x!

[zarvasace]

It All Began (4/5)

The last chapter might take a bit to come out thanks to me being busy and then committing to febuwhump XD AO3 link to this chapter here!

---

If Zelda had to name the one thing she disliked the most about being kidnapped, besides the whole, you know, being kidnapped part, she'd probably say that it was the boredom. Vaati didn't exactly provide her with reading material. 

Close contenders included the small space, the hard bed, the bland food, and the black device on the other side of the bars that looked like it could hold a single person, like a coffin. She'd been wary of that for a long time, thinking they'd use it to shut her up, but now she just glared at it whenever it pulsed and interrupted her sleep. 

Shadow gave it weird looks whenever he came in, too. 

He'd first visited a few days after capturing her. He'd gloated, she'd demanded. They carried on like that for a week or two, until Zelda decided that she was very tired of it and switched up the script a little. 

The day started as usual, with boring but filling rice, and then her self-mandated schedule of light exercise and magic practice. As the princess of Historic Hyrule—an inherited title that just meant she was the strongest living descendant of the Hero of the Sky—she had quite the natural capacity for magic. Everyone expected her to be a prodigy, so she'd been practicing since the day she'd turned nine. 

She still wasn't very good. But that didn't stop her from using what useful tricks she had. 

Shadow's entrance startled Zelda out of her trance, which had been going very well. She'd almost been able to hear the conversation of the guards in the break room above her. 

"Princess," Shadow smiled, smug as a cat as he leaned up against the doorway. 

Zelda grunted and rubbed at her head to dispel the sparks. "Dust bunny." 

"Nice to see you, too. You know where I just came from?" 

"The garbage disposal?" 

His smile turned a little brittle. He never liked it when she insulted him, for all that he played up the charming trickster persona. "The R&D ship. You know that Link has relatively recent Yonaill ancestry?" 

Zelda had to wrack her brain for the term. "I didn't. What do you have him doing for you now?" 

"He's never done anything for me, personally," Shadow said. "For Sorcerer Enterprises, though… well, he's our new test subject." 

"You kidnapped him, too?" 

Shadow laughed and started to pace. "It wasn't hard. He's sitting over there right now, waiting for the drugs to wake him up. After that, well, either he'll be dead, or he'll be different." 

It was about this time in the conversation that Zelda would probably start telling Shadow that Link was heroic and smart, and that she had better be on the next shuttle home. 

Instead, she looked Shadow dead in the eyes and said, "He won't die, and no matter what you do to him, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he'll make your life hell." 

Shadow blinked. He stared for a long moment. "Did you just…" 

"In fact," Zelda continued, "this whole operation is a bit shady."

After several more seconds, Shadow dissolved into laughter. For once, he left her cell visibly happier than when he'd entered. 

He hadn't been lying about Link changing, though. Link's mind remained the only one Zelda could consistently sense, if not communicate with or hear, but after that day, it felt… fragmented. Different. It was like messaging a best friend only to find out that their whole family was on a group chat. 

Shadow explained what had happened, and the names each of the Links had given themselves. Zelda found it just as funny as Shadow did, perhaps even more, since she was familiar with Link's habit of finding awful names. She mourned Link, but each of the new four seemed good, healthy and relatively happy as they were. She could reach their minds easier than ever, as if their split had left them open to her. 

She managed to actually contact Green once, but only because he was on the verge of passing out. She didn't want to rely on that. 

Though Zelda and Shadow weren't friends, they began to get along. He even brought her a deck of round Gerudo playing cards, extra-shimmery, and she taught him how to play six-seal slap. They didn't get much of an opportunity to play, though, since he started visiting less often. 

"Vio's on my side, now," Shadow told her one day, settling down to lean against the bars and pick up the hand she'd dealt him. "We're best friends. You were wrong."

"Maybe," Zelda allowed. She dealt three cards face-up to start the round. "But I doubt it."

Shadow put down his first card. "Green is dead."

On principle, Zelda never believed anything Shadow said right off. Instead of panicking, she laid down her own first card and looked at him. "Is he?" 

"Vio killed him," Shadow said with relish. He started laying down cards, and Zelda was caught off-guard. She began to lose. 

Zelda frowned down at her cards and tried to play catch-up, though she didn't know if she could hope to win this round. 

Shadow kept talking. "Vio is mine. Green is dead. Red and Blue are idiots with too much enthusiasm and too little brain. They'll be easy to keep in line now."

"Don't count them out so quickly," Zelda warned him, eyes on the cards. "Even at his weakest, Link was…" Stronger than you. "...formidable."

"Hmph. No, no. You're right. I need to make sure. Vio's always saying that I should try to be more responsible and follow through with stuff." He slapped a pile and pulled it over to his side.

Zelda frowned and concentrated harder. "Those are good habits to get into."

They finished their game, and Shadow won, but by a slimmer margin than Zelda had expected. They argued about noodles versus rice (noodles were superior), magic versus force energy (Zelda liked technology, Shadow didn't want to trust it as much), and education versus schooling (Zelda considered herself to have both, while Shadow was mildly fascinated by the idea of schooling. He didn't have much to contribute on the matter.)

When he left, Zelda sighed and sat back. Green was dead, was he? Despite how tired she felt, she closed her eyes and ran through her meditations. 

There was Vio, feeling happy but anxious. Blue, mostly just anxious with a nice sprinkling of excitement. Red, pretty happy. And Green, driven to move forward as always. 

He wasn't dead. Yet Shadow thought that Vio had killed him… Zelda didn't know the specifics, but she could guess well enough. She worried for Shadow. She also worried for Vio, and the rest, but their danger would be more physical. Shadow's was emotional.  

Zelda didn't see him for a few days. 

She played solitaire several dozen more times and made up another few janky games to play alone. She wore herself out trying to figure out how to do a handstand. She kept trying to reach out to one of the boys, or the dreams of one of the Maidens. She discovered that she could sense Shadow's presence, which just made it all the more disconcerting when she felt that presence suddenly dim, like a light going out.

Worried but still carefully not panicking, Zelda went still and checked up on the others. Green: sad, worried, and relieved. Blue: confused, impatient, and determined. Red: very upset, keeping it together, and also very relieved. Vio: more upset than Red, but hiding it better. Shadow didn't have any emotions. Shadow… was dead?

Hold on. That wasn't fair. Not to anyone. 

Zelda sighed. She clawed her way out of the meditation and pulled her knees up to her chest. It seemed like Shadow would have few mourners. She decided to be one of them. 

The digital clock on the door's control panel ticked forward. Zelda sat in silence for about fifteen minutes. 

And then the coffin beeped. The three gauges on the sides lit up with bright colors, each fluctuating for several seconds before settling. The level in the blue gauge fell slowly, at the same rate the level in the green one climbed. The yellow stayed still, and a few red lights blinked on and off. 

Zelda uncurled her legs and stood. She couldn't help being curious. That thing had haunted her this whole time. 

She heard a violent hiss, and the horizontal seam split, opening just like the coffin she'd imagined it to be. Steam billowed out, oddly jagged and sharp in the corners. It took thirty long seconds to clear. 

Inside… Zelda's mouth fell open. 

Shadow flinched at nothing, then opened his eyes, wincing at the light shining into them. He raised a hand against it. Cyan sparks skittered over his exposed skin. 

"Shadow?" Zelda said in disbelief. She didn't fall into a trance, but she did reach out with her senses, and yes. It was Shadow. She'd just spent fifteen minutes mourning him! She felt a little cheated. 

"Mm." Shadow grunted, still clearly out of it. He sat up slowly and with shivers. He looked a little thinner than Zelda had last seen him, and he'd gotten a messy haircut. He was also a lot less clothed. She glanced away. 

"How are you alive? I felt you die! What happened? Where are the others?" 

Shadow glared up at her. "Shut up, Princess, and let me think!" 

She shut her mouth. 

Shadow struggled a little to move. He seemed stiff as he reached into the lid of the coffin and picked out a glowing crystal. Zelda recognized the shape—another of those necklaces. He'd never given her a straight answer about what that did. He held onto the crystal tightly, then finally turned to her. 

"They killed me. What do you think happened?" 

"What do you mean?" 

"I mean"—Shadow put his feet on the floor and rifled around inside drawers under the coffin for some clothing—"your precious Link hates me, and set off an explosion right under me."

"Okay, then how are you alive? You died, then you woke up in here? How—" 

Oh. 

She was an idiot. This might be Shadow, but it wasn't his original body, was it. "I thought clone editing technology was highly regimented and rarely successful."

Shadow tugged on a plain shirt and pants. "You underestimate the power and reach of Sorcerer Enterprises. Or, more accurately, Ganon." He spat the word. 

Zelda grabbed one of the bars in front of her loosely. "Shadow. Are you okay?" 

"Hell no. Would you be?" 

She hesitated, then shook her head. She really only had one thing to offer him. "Do you… Would you like to… play a game of six-seal slap?" 

Shadow paused and looked up at her, red eyes shining with an unidentifiable emotion. He was surprised, as wanted so badly to agree, she could tell. He'd been wrung out until all he had was his veneer of spite. 

He answered far too late. "I can't." He stood up straight and flexed his arms out in front of him. "Those idiots are going to be taking on Vaati next, probably, and I… I…" Now he scowled, confused. 

"You what?" Zelda prompted. 

Shadow bared his fangs at her. "I'll help Vaati take them down for good."

"Is that what you really want?" She asked the question softly, trying not to aggravate him, but she needed him to really think. 

"Yes! It is." Shadow turned around and scrubbed his hands through his hair. "I want those idiots to die, and - and suffer while they do. I don't belong with them, okay?" 

Zelda took a breath. "If I try hard enough, I can sense the boys' feelings. Magic stuff. You know I use it."

"So what?" 

"So, Vio was really happy up until tonight. And now, he's not just sad, he's devastated. Shadow… he cares about you."

Shadow whipped around. A few drops of blood fell from his fists where his claws dug into his palms. "He was trying to kill me! And then he did! Don't try to tell me that!"

She hadn't lied. She lifted her chin and stared him down. It may have been her inside the cell, but it was Shadow who looked trapped. She let him read her face and see the truth. 

More cyan light pulsed under his skin. He blinked. "...Vaati is stupid. Maybe I can let them take him down."

"Do you think they can?" 

Shadow pressed his lips together and looked at his hands. "No. Maybe. If…" He stared for a long time.

"I'm falling apart. Did you know that? Clone editing tech really isn't that refined yet, and the only reason I'm actually alive is because of all the force. This body's been incubating for a while, but… it doesn't work as well. They might decide I'm useless and just deny me force again."

Zelda frowned. She wouldn't say that it would be better if Shadow had never existed, but where was Sorcerer Enterprise's Din-damned board of ethics? Just one more thing to add to the list of reasons she had to make sure they were shut down for good. 

"You know what?" Shadow looked up at her. He grabbed his necklace and stood a little taller. "Let's burn it all down. Vaati won't let me live, but if he's dead, maybe…" He shook his head, then reached out for the door of her cell. 

"Wait, you're letting me out?" Zelda blinked, watching the door open. That was one thing she could honestly say she hadn't expected. 

"Sure." Shadow grinned at her, though it looked a little fragile. He held the door open for her. "Let's go get your Maidens on a ship back to the Plains, too, just to rub salt in the wound when we inevitably fail." 

She smiled back at him. "Cool. Let's cause some chaos, then, shall we?"

[quinn-jfc]

Coming Home—Faberry (1/1)

WHO: Quinn Fabray and Rachel Berry

WHEN: Saturday, January 23, 2021

WHERE: Rachel’s Apartment, New York, NY

WHAT: Quinn and Rachel celebrate a life-changing decision.

QUINN: Quinn hurriedly walks the streets of Yorkville, pulling her coat tighter around herself in an attempt to stave off the cold, late January morning. She’s on her way to Rachel’s, eager to spend the weekend wrapped up in her girlfriend.

She’s only a little disappointed they weren’t able to start their weekend last night, but Rachel’s workshop schedule didn’t allow for it. Quinn is so proud of Rachel and all the work she’s putting into her newest role, but she wished Rachel had been able to join her last night to celebrate Kaitlyn’s birthday. Quite a few surprises were had—one of which has Quinn feeling a little uncertain about things.

Letting herself into Rachel’s apartment building with the key her girlfriend had given her all those months ago, Quinn makes her way up the stairs, feeling her excitement at seeing Rachel grow. Even after nearly a year together, Rachel never fails to elicit butterflies.

Soon, she’s at the entryway to the apartment, and she quickly fixes her hair before opening the door to her home away from home.

RACHEL: Rachel is puttering around her kitchen, preparing a light brunch for her girlfriend. Really, she’s only cutting up some fresh fruit at the moment, uncertain of what Quinn would prefer, if anything, but the coffee is brewed—well, the second pot; Rachel may have a small addiction—and she has ingredients for whatever Quinn might like to eat.

She finds herself quietly singing one of the songs from her workshop. It’s still very early in the process, and the score currently only consists of three songs and some rough melodies, but Idgie’s solo happens to be one of them, and she, of course, is Idgie. They’d originally wanted to cast her as Ruth, and Rachel supposes she could have been happy with that, but then she maybe took it upon herself to borrow the sheet music and sing “The Beecharmer’s Blues,” tentative title, for Kevin, the composer, and they’d changed their mind. She’s not mad about it.

It’s not like they’d actually decided on an actress for Idgie at that point anyway.

She’s half humming, half singing her way through the chorus when she hears her door open, and she smiles.

QUINN: The lovely lilt of Rachel’s voice reaches Quinn’s ears, and her lips curve up in pleasure as she follows the sound toward the kitchen, where she finds her beautiful girlfriend gazing at her with unabashed affection.

“Hi, baby,” Quinn greets her a little breathlessly before closing the short distance between them and capturing Rachel’s lips in a sweet kiss.

RACHEL: Rachel falls into Quinn’s kiss with a happy sigh, looping her arms around her girlfriend’s shoulders. She takes the opportunity to deepen the contact, even if just for a moment. That she can do this, that Quinn Fabray is back in her life as her romantic partner, still feels like a dream sometimes, but they’ve been together for nearly a year now, and Rachel hasn’t managed to screw it up yet.

It isn’t always easy, but being with Quinn this way is so worth the occasional bumps in the road.

When Quinn finally pulls back, Rachel chases her lips to steal one more peck before allowing her to fully retreat. “Hey, baby,” she breathes, grinning. “I missed you last night.”

QUINN: She matches Rachel’s grin with one of her own. “I missed you too. It was a fun time, but Kaitlyn’s party would have been so much better with you there,” she confesses, not for the first time.

Quinn always wishes Rachel was at her side. She treasured the extra days during the fall months, despite her own Jets Flight Crew duties, classes, and work, due to Rachel’s vacation after finishing her contract with The Devil Wears Prada. Coming home to Rachel in the evenings after a long day was the best feeling. Granted, “home” might not be home for long, and that’s got Quinn feeling somewhat unsettled.

RACHEL: “Well, obviously,” Rachel boasts with a cheeky grin. “Who doesn’t want a Broadway star singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to them?” She may not currently be starring in the hottest new musical on the Great White Way—a sad fact that she hopes will change very soon—but she still has enough buzz around her name to suit her ego. Her investment in this workshop is the only reason she’d missed Kaitlyn’s party. She’d really wanted to go.

“Did Kaitlyn get everything else she wanted for her birthday?”

QUINN: She smiles wistfully at Rachel’s question. “Yeah, I would say so,” Quinn confirms, thinking back to her roommate’s happy tears and joyful smile at one particular surprise. “Michael finally proposed, and Kaitlyn is absolutely over the moon.”

Quinn presses her lips together for a moment as uncertainty clouds her features, thinking back to the conversation they had after the party—about how things are about to change in a major way.

RACHEL: “Oh, that’s wonderful!” is her first reaction. It’s only after the words spill excitedly out of her mouth that she fully registers the apprehensive expression that settles on Quinn’s face, and her own smile slips away. “But you don’t look particularly happy about it.”

She reaches out a hand to touch Quinn’s shoulder, suddenly concerned. “Is something wrong?”

QUINN: She sighs then, wishing she was happier for her friend. Really, it’s not like Kaitlyn or Michael did anything wrong.

“Kind of,” Quinn admits after a beat, gazing into concerned brown eyes. “After the party, Kaitlyn and Michael told me they want to move in together—ideally, they’d like to buy a small house in Verona.” Her brow furrows slightly then. “They said I can come with them, but I don’t know. I like Michael, but I’m not sure I want to live with him, you know?” she finishes, hoping Rachel understands.

RACHEL: Something in Rachel viscerally recoils at the idea of Quinn living with Kaitlyn and her boyfrie– fiancé. She has nothing against Michael, though she doesn’t really know him all that well yet, and she considers Kaitlyn a friend, but Quinn is—well, Quinn is her girlfriend, damn it. She shouldn’t be living out some odd three’s company scenario with a soon to be married couple.

But she knows that her girlfriend shouldn’t live alone. If she could, it would simply be a matter of keeping the apartment and helping Kaitlyn move out.

“Oh, baby,” Rachel coos, reaching for Quinn with the intent of wrapping her up in a hug. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t even thinking about what her engagement would mean for you.” The tickle of a notion begins to flutter around her brain, but she’s nervous to give it voice. “How much time do you have to make a decision?”

QUINN: Quinn melts into Rachel’s embrace, momentarily letting herself forget all about her worries.

But Rachel’s question lingers, and Quinn reluctantly pulls back, letting her hands settle on her girlfriend’s hips as she looks at Rachel once more.

“Our lease is up at the end of March. So a little over two months,” Quinn replies.

RACHEL: Two months. Quinn has two months to decide what her new living situation will be, because regardless of whether or not she follows Kaitlyn and Michael into their new life together, things are about to change drastically.

Rachel knows how important Kaitlyn has been to Quinn. No one has understood her illness and her needs better than Kaitlyn in these past several years, with the exception of Judy perhaps. At least until Rachel had come back into Quinn’s life and forced her to open up and spill all of her secrets. Still, knowing that Kaitlyn is there to watch her back, as it were, has provided Quinn with a certain level of familiarity and comfort that she’s about to lose.

The tickle gets a little stronger, but Rachel still hesitates.

“What…what do you think you’d want to do if you don’t live with them?”

QUINN: She worries her lower lip for a moment, contemplating Rachel’s question. It’s something she’s been thinking about since last night, but she’s kind of afraid to give voice to it. It’s not really doable.

“Honestly,” Quinn says softly, knowing being honest with Rachel is always best, “I’d love to live with you, but I can’t afford to live here and I’d hate to ask you to move to Bloomfield with me. I know your life is here in New York.”

RACHEL: Just like that, the tickle explodes into a fully realized itch. The thing she hadn’t wanted to voice for fear of Quinn rebuffing her is out there now because it’s been on her girlfriend’s mind as well.

“I’d like to think my life is with you, too.” And preferably also in New York, but Rachel is willing to make some minor compromises on the exact location if absolutely necessary. “And the money hardly matters,” she says, dismissing that concern with a wave of her hand. Rachel has a very nice savings account from her time as Andy and the wise investments that her dad had steered her toward. “I have more than enough.”

She urges Quinn’s hands away from her hips only to hold them both with her own. “I want you to live with me, Quinn.” In fact, she’s feeling increasingly excited by the idea.

QUINN: Warmth blooms in Quinn’s chest at Rachel’s words. She wants that too, but, “I can’t afford it here, Rachel, and I’m not going to mooch off of you.”

She’s suddenly feeling a bit inadequate, wanting to be able to pull her own financial weight in this relationship.

RACHEL: Rachel purses her lips, feeling annoyingly rebuffed anyway, and her grip on Quinn’s hands tightens. “It wouldn’t be mooching,” she argues. “If you want to pay part of the rent, you certainly can, but just your presence in my life is worth so much more than that. I want you with me, baby. I miss you every time you have to go back to Bloomfield.”

There’s nothing that Rachel loves more than the nights that Quinn spends here with her—nights that bleed into lazy mornings—but their schedules don’t often cooperate. Rachel’s extended vacation had been wonderful for all the extra time they’d been able to spend together, but it hadn’t changed the fact that Quinn has two separate and often demanding careers to attend to.

She can tell by the expression on Quinn’s face that she’s still not convinced.

“And…well, I suppose we could look for something a bit more affordable if it’s really going to be an issue for you.”

Rachel would miss this one, obviously, but it’s not like she’s unfamiliar with needing a budget friendly rent. The apartment she’d shared with Riley in Sunnyside had been that, and it was nice enough, if notably smaller.

QUINN: She lets out a long breath, feeling relief at Rachel’s declaration. “I miss you every day we’re not together,” she affirms, giving Rachel’s hands a gentle squeeze. “And I would love nothing more than to come home to you every night.”

Quinn wants to make this work, and Rachel is obviously willing to compromise. “I appreciate you offering to look into someplace that’s more in my budget,” she says then, her relief transforming into excitement at the thought of finally being able to share a home with her girlfriend.

RACHEL: Her heart trips over itself at Quinn’s agreement—it had been an agreement, hadn’t it?—and she smiles widely, bouncing on her toes a little before she tramps down her excitement into something resembling calm , maturity.

“That was a yes, correct?” she feels the need to verify. “Because I’ve been told I can be difficult to live with and…well, we’ve never really broached the subject before,” she rambles, the attempt at calm, maturity rapidly slipping away. She’s unable to help herself, really, because, “You’ve seemed perfectly content to live with Kaitlyn, and maybe you’re just trying to let me down gently because you don’t think you can handle my admittedly driven nature without a mode of escape, and you haven’t actually said yes, Quinn.” The fact that Quinn had been the one to bring up living together hardly matters when she’d immediately followed it with all the reasons she couldn’t.

Rachel’s old insecurities may still be a little bit of a thing.

“I really need you to say yes,” she all but begs, squeezing her girlfriend’s hands.

QUINN: Her head spins a little at Rachel’s ramble, but she hears every word loud and clear, and Quinn doesn’t miss the insecurity mixed with hope shining in brown eyes. She wants nothing more than to wipe away her girlfriend’s fears.

“Absolutely, yes,” Quinn confirms with a wide smile and another gentle squeeze of Rachel’s hands, watching as unrestrained joy lights up her girlfriend’s face. “I want to make this work, Rachel. I want to live with you, and the only reason I didn’t bring the idea up sooner was because I didn’t want to disrupt your life even more. I mean, you’re just starting your workshop. And, well, you know big changes can be challenging for me,” she adds, biting her lower lip.

RACHEL: Relief floods through Rachel, immediately followed by joy. Her mind is already spinning with all the possibilities, but she does hear the mild warning in Quinn’s final words.

“I know, baby,” she vows, nodding her head. “But we can work through the changes together. Open lines of communication,” she recites, recalling the advice that both of their therapists persist in reiterating.

She bounces on her toes again, smiling excitedly. “We’re moving in together. Yay!”

QUINN: Rachel’s excitement is absolutely infectious, and Quinn can’t help but find her completely adorable in this moment—breaking into a wide grin at the sight.

And knowing they have some time to work out the logistics of a move and all that it entails, as well as the promise of open communication with Rachel, has Quinn feeling way more settled than she did last night and earlier today.

“We’re moving in together,” Quinn repeats happily, finally releasing her hold on Rachel’s hands, wrapping her arms around a slender waist and pressing her forehead to Rachel’s, wanting to be closer. “I’m so happy you want to do this with me.”

RACHEL: Rachel’s hands slip around Quinn’s back, and she gazes into sparkling hazel eyes. This close, she can see every tiny fleck of gold and green reflected in the light. “I want to do everything with you,” she breathes out tenderly. “I can’t wait to live with you.”

She tips her head up, pressing a soft kiss to Quinn’s smiling lips. She hadn’t imagined this morning that she’d be taking such a momentous step with her girlfriend today, but she’s so happy they’re going to do this together.

QUINN: Quinn’s eyes momentarily flutter closed at the feeling of soft lips pressed against her own, feeling warm all over from Rachel’s declaration. She wants that too.

‘I’m so incredibly lucky,’ Quinn thinks, excited about all the possibilities, but also so grateful that she has Rachel as a partner in this—their future feeling even more solid in Quinn’s mind. Sure there’ve been bumps in the road, but they’ve weathered things without Rachel being scared away.

RACHEL: Rachel pulls back from the kiss slowly, her body still pressed close to Quinn and held in the circle of her arms. A grin pulls at her lips.

“You know, we’ve just made a very significant, life changing decision, and of course I realize that we have a lot we’ll need to do in the next two months.” They’ll need to find an apartment, apparently, and then pack up all of their things from their current apartments. “But I think this very important step in our relationship deserves to be celebrated, don’t you?”

QUINN: “It most definitely does,” Quinn agrees with another smile of her own, but she feels the stirring of desire low in her belly, as various ideas of just how they can celebrate flood her mind. “Should we move things to the bedroom?” she asks huskily, “Or would you rather we celebrate right here?”

RACHEL: Quinn’s husky voice stirs the embers of Rachel’s arousal into a steady fire. “Mmm, I’d be happy to do it right here,” she replies, sliding her hands around to Quinn’s shoulders and beneath the open lapels of her coat, which she’d previously neglected to remove in the surprise of her news. She rectifies that oversight now, slipping the material down her arms. “But I think we’ll have much more fun in my bed.”

She already has so many ideas for how to thoroughly commemorate this day.

Brunch can wait.

QUINN: She helps Rachel remove her coat as desire sings through her veins, eager to move things to her girlfriend’s bed. ‘And soon, it will be *our* bed,’ Quinn thinks, feeling a thrill of excitement.

Leaning down to capture her girlfriend’s lips in an enthusiastic kiss, Quinn let’s out a pleasured sigh, before slowly drawing back once more. “Lead the way.”

RACHEL: Rachel runs the tip of her tongue over her own lips, savoring the taste of her girlfriend’s kiss. Then she gives into the urge to press her mouth to Quinn’s once, twice more, lightly catching Quinn’s lower lip between her teeth before finally letting her break away completely.

Quinn moans in approval of the action, and Rachel grins seductively, gazing at Quinn from beneath her lashes as she catches her girlfriend’s hand and entwines their fingers.

“It’ll be my pleasure.” She winks at Quinn, dropping her voice. “And yours.”

QUINN: A pleasant chill runs through Quinn at Rachel’s promise, and her eyes darken with desire. “Show me.”

She lets Rachel lead her by the hand through the apartment, tossing her coat over the back of the couch as they go, eager to get out of the rest of her clothes and surrender to her girlfriend’s talented hands and mouth.

RACHEL: The moment they clear the threshold of her bedroom, Rachel pulls Quinn back into her arms, playfully nipping a line of kisses along her jaw as she tangles her fingers into silky strands of chestnut hair. She loves the color on Quinn. Of course, she’d loved her as a blonde too. She’d probably love her as a redhead. She really just loves her.

Her hands don’t stay in Quinn’s hair for very long though. She’s far too eager to slip them beneath the material of her shirt and feel the heat of her skin, so that’s exactly what she does.

QUINN: Quinn lets out a hum of pleasure at the feeling of Rachel’s soft hands caressing the bare skin of her lower back before trailing up her rib cage. She’s so glad she decided to forego a bra today.

Her own hands wander lower until they cup Rachel’s ass, squeezing supple flesh through the thin material of her girlfriend’s leggings, and the moan Rachel lets out against her jaw—so close to her ear—sends a ripple of pleasure right down to her core.

RACHEL: Quinn’s hands on her ass bring their bodies even closer, and arousal surges through her, especially when her fingers brush the underside of Quinn’s unencumbered breasts. Suddenly desperate to get her girlfriend completely naked, Rachel jerks her hands to the front of Quinn’s shirt and hastily attempts to fumble with the buttons while she peppers kisses down her long graceful neck.

But her fingers prove too clumsy for her liking, only managing to undo the bottom two buttons before her impatience gets the better of her. With a frustrated growl, she grips the stubborn material between desperate fists and tugs, sending the next two buttons flying across the room and pinging onto the floor.

QUINN: Hazel eyes widen in surprise, and a pleasured gasp escapes from Quinn’s lips at Rachel literally ripping the buttons off her shirt. The look in Rachel’s eyes is practically feral, and it has her own arousal skyrocketing as the final two buttons of her blouse tear away, leaving her exposed. Her girlfriend’s hands slide up over Quinn’s breasts then, teasing her nipples.

Quinn lets out a soft moan at the contact, but then it’s gone, and Rachel’s hands continue upward before tugging forcefully at the material of Quinn’s shirt. It’s such a turn on when she gets aggressive like this.

RACHEL: Rachel only feels a little bit guilty for ruining Quinn’s shirt. She hadn’t even known she could do that, really, but she always has been extremely determined to get the things she wants—and she wants Quinn.

“I’ll buy you a new one,” she promises distractedly as she strips the offending material away from Quinn’s body and tosses it onto the floor.

Then her hands find their way back to Quinn’s breasts and so does her mouth.

QUINN: Quinn’s mouth falls open and her fingers thread themselves in brown locks, holding Rachel close. She couldn’t care less about the state of her shirt right now.

The feeling of Rachel’s mouth—the way her lips and teeth and tongue tease Quinn’s nipples—has Quinn hot and her knees quivering.

“God, yes, Rachel,” she moans. “You feel so good.”

RACHEL: “Not as good as you feel,” Rachel murmurs against her skin before dragging her tongue across a pebbled nipple again. She loves doing this; the texture, the taste, the moans she pulls from her girlfriend. She’d say she’s a total boob girl except that she loves Quinn’s ass and legs just as much.

She moans appreciatively against the soft skin beneath her lips, and her hands slide around to Quinn’s back before dipping down, fingertips sneaking under the waist of her pants.

She reluctantly tears her lips away from Quinn’s breasts, licking a path back up to the pulse point at her neck. “You still have too many clothes on.”

And it should go without saying that Rachel does too.

QUINN: “Mmm, so do you,” Quinn husks, moving her own lips to capture Rachel’s earlobe before licking a path upward, smiling at the shivering moan she elicits. All the while, Quinn’s hands roam down Rachel’s back before hooking into the waistline of her leggings, teasing Rachel’s hips with her fingers.

“You know, I haven’t had my breakfast yet,” Quinn whispers in a sultry voice, her mouth still close to Rachel’s ear, “and I’m in the mood for you.”

RACHEL: Rachel’s knees go weak at the husky timbre of Quinn’s voice, and she moans again, biting into her own lip. “We…we should do something about that,” she rasps, tugging at Quinn’s pants.

She doubts her determination is enough to successfully rip them off, so she has to settle for using them as a means to pull Quinn along with her as she walks backward toward her bed, stumbling slightly as she goes.

“I pride myself in being a good hostess,” she teases between kisses.

QUINN: Quinn chases Rachel’s lips with her own as she’s pulled the short distance to the bed, hungry for more than Rachel’s mouth. Soon the backs of Rachel’s knees hit the edge of the mattress, and Quinn takes the opportunity to grip on to the bottom of Rachel’s shirt, lifting it up and trailing fingers along her sides, eager to get her girlfriend undressed.

Rachel reluctantly stops kissing and holding on to Quinn long enough for her to lift her arms up so Quinn can completely remove the offending garment, tossing it at her feet. Quinn quickly recaptures Rachel’s lips in a heated kiss as her hands dip into the waistband of Rachel’s leggings again, this time tugging them down and over her girlfriend’s hips.

RACHEL: Before she can fully comprehend what’s happening, Rachel finds herself very close to being naked, her backside bared to the cool air of her bedroom and the hot press of Quinn’s hands as they work her leggings down, down, down, right along with her panties.

She can’t be fully blamed. Quinn’s kisses are very distracting.

Quinn’s pants become an even more annoying obstruction in light of Rachel’s current state of undress, and she fumbles with the fastenings in a race to get her girlfriend naked too.

Quinn breaks their kiss with a sexy chuckle, clearly catching on to her intentions. She makes no attempt to remove Rachel’s hands from her zipper, but she does use her body and the leverage of the bed behind Rachel’s knees to gently push her down on the mattress. Rachel has no choice but to temporarily abandon her task when Quinn dips down and pulls her leggings completely away, tossing them behind her to join her shirt.

QUINN: Quinn lifts her gaze up along Rachel’s nearly naked body, eyes darkening with desire as she trails a path with her fingers up the outside of deliciously long legs, intent on landing at Rachel’s bra to remove the final barrier blocking Quinn’s gaze and touch.

But she gets distracted on the way there as she takes in the sight of her girlfriend’s glistening sex, and Quinn instinctively spreads Rachel’s legs wider. The scent of Rachel’s arousal hits her instantly, causing Quinn’s nostrils to flare and her mouth to water.

Without conscious thought, she drops to her knees. Quinn wants Rachel, and she wants her now.

RACHEL: Rachel moans in pleasure at the feel of Quinn’s hands as they travel a greedy path over her thighs. She expects the rest of her girlfriend to follow their path, and her own fingertips tingle in heated anticipation, wanting nothing more than to explore the expanse of smooth pale skin of her very toned body.

They may also want to divest Quinn of her remaining clothes before sinking into her hair and guiding her back for more toe-curling kisses.

None of that happens.

Quinn stays right where she is, sinking down onto the floor between Rachel’s spread thighs and diving in for an entirely different kind of toe-curling kiss. Back arching from the unexpected stimulation, Rachel’s own hands twist into the sheets beneath her as she cries out.

“Fuck, Quinn.” The words come out breathless and needy. “That’s…that’s cheating,” she gasps, reaching one hand down to tangle in Quinn’s hair.

QUINN: Another spike of pleasure courses through Quinn at the curse falling from Rachel’s lips as fingers grip Quinn’s hair; she loves reducing her girlfriend to swearing in the bedroom. But she lets out another soft chuckle at the rest of Rachel’s words, momentarily pulling her mouth away from its warm haven.

“But you taste so good, baby,” Quinn husks, lifting her smoldering gaze. “And I’m hungry.”

Eager to have another taste, Quinn dives back in, and she moans as she takes in more of the heady flavor of Rachel’s arousal.

RACHEL: Rachel has no coherent response to that, just another guttural moan at the heady sensation of Quinn’s all-too talented mouth on her. Her fingers tighten in Quinn’s hair, torn between pulling her away to slow this back down or urging her closer.

She doesn’t pull her away.

Her hips begin to move in time with the rhythm set by Quinn’s tongue and teeth and lips, seeking to increase the beautiful friction, and her free hand trails up over her belly en route to her own breasts. She bites into her lip as it curves in a blissed-out smile because her impatient girlfriend hadn’t even bothered to get her bra off. She can’t be bothered with it either, pushing it up out of the way rather than fumbling with the clasp.

She’s far too busy losing herself to pleasure.

QUINN: Eating Rachel out is absolute heaven, and Quinn could happily spend hours doing so, especially when Rachel’s this responsive—every moan and roll of Rachel’s hips urging her on.

Quinn delves her tongue into wet heat, thrusting it in an out for a few moment before bringing her attention back to Rachel’s clit, kissing and suckling at it and feeling slender fingers tighten in her hair.

RACHEL: She can feel her orgasm building with every skilled stroke of Quinn’s tongue against her sex. Her fingers play at her own nipples—well, the ones not otherwise tugging at her girlfriend’s hair.

She bites into her lip in a vain effort to stifle her escalating moans and whimpers, caught between the desire to prolong this glorious onslaught of pleasure and the need to tumble over the edge as quickly as possible.

When her gaze next drifts down to watch Quinn between her legs, darkened hazel eyes met hers with such single-minded intensity that the very next flick of that wicked tongue coaxes her body to the very brink of ecstasy, and she throws her head back against the mattress as her back bows and she teeters on the razor’s edge for one maddening moment before she willingly falls.

QUINN: Nimble fingers twist themselves into Quinn’s hair and strong thighs tighten around her head, and Quinn sucks harder on Rachel’s clit. The moan that rips from Rachel’s throat as her back bows in pleasure has Quinn’s body thrumming. Her gaze remains fixed on Rachel’s breasts, wanting to not just feel Rachel come but also desperate to see it.

She keeps her mouth on Rachel, gently riding out her orgasm before reluctantly pulling away, pressing soft kisses to the inside of Rachel’s thighs as her girlfriend slowly starts to come back down.

RACHEL: The world around her goes white hot for a moment, then hazy around the edges as her heart pounds in her ears and her lungs burn with the need for more oxygen. Her entire body throbs with the aftershocks of pleasure, and her arms fall limp against the mattress as she struggles to catch her breath.

“That was… I can’t…” She inhales deeply, finally feeling her heartbeat begin to even out. A blissed-out laugh bubbles out, and she grins stupidly up at her ceiling. “Wow.”

QUINN: Quinn’s lips curve up into a smug grin before pressing another kiss to the inside of Rachel’s thigh as she gazes up at Rachel’s spent body.

Slowly trailing her hands down Rachel’s legs, Quinn then pushes herself off the floor, eyes never leaving Rachel as she settles her upper body against Rachel’s, letting out a soft sigh of pleasure at the feeling their naked breasts pressed together. Hooded, brown eyes meet Quinn’s gaze, and her heart swells at the sight.

“You’re so beautiful,” she murmurs softly before lowering her mouth to capture Rachel’s in a passionate kiss.

RACHEL: She’s barely caught her breath before Quinn is kissing her breathless again. The taste of herself on her girlfriend’s lips starts her body buzzing with arousal all over again, despite the mind-blowing orgasm she’d just had.

She threads her fingers back into Quinn’s hair and parts her lips, meeting every ounce of her passion with fervor. Her other hand finds the sweat slickened skin of Quinn’s back, sliding down until it meets the waistband of her jeans—unfastened but still annoyingly covering her glorious ass.

Rachel breaks the kiss with a playful nip of Quinn’s lips. “You’re very much overdressed.”

QUINN: “Mmm, so I am,” she agrees, wanting to feel Rachel completely. “I should do something about that.”

She drops another kiss to Rachel’s lips before reluctantly pulling away and pushing herself up to stand. Part of her wants to put on a little show of removing her jeans, but she’s way too turned on for that right now—just wanting to be completely naked in bed with her girlfriend.

Quinn hurriedly pulls down her jeans along with her panties while Rachel sits up and removes her own bra. Hazel eyes briefly catch on the black ink tattooed on Rachel’s ribs, but it doesn’t even phase her anymore—especially since it’s also kind of about Quinn and Rachel now.

Needing to be close to Rachel, Quinn steps forward between Rachel’s legs. Strong hands are instantly on her backside, drawing Quinn closer as Rachel presses an open-mouthed kiss to the bare skin of Quinn’s belly.

RACHEL: Rachel’s palms curl around the perfect globes of Quinn’s ass, and she leans in to trace the lines of her abs with her tongue. In moments like this, she truly appreciates the Flight Crew’s training regime.

The scent of her girlfriend’s arousal tickles her senses, and all she wants is to make Quinn feel as good as Quinn had made her feel.

It’s a very short trip from those abs of hers to pert breasts, and Rachel closes her lips around one peaked nipple, happy to resume her exploration of Quinn Fabray’s perfect body. And soon, she’ll have the pleasure of having Quinn next to her every night and waking up with her every morning.

Quinn hums in pleasure, curling her fingers into Rachel’s hair, and Rachel lightly scrapes her nails over Quinn’s backside, pulling another moan from her, before bringing them around to slip between her legs. Her girlfriend is slick and swollen and so ready for Rachel, her hips rolling into Rachel’s purposeful touch.

QUINN: “Rachel,” Quinn pants, desperate to feel more of her girlfriend as she unconsciously spreads her legs. “I need you inside me.”

A soft moan against her nipple is Rachel’s only audible reply, but she takes mercy on Quinn and slides two fingers into her wet heat. A cry of pleasure rips from her throat at the feeling of finally having Rachel inside her.

And then those talented fingers begin to thrust in and out in a steady motion, and all Quinn can do is hold on to Rachel’s head as her mouth continues to pleasure Quinn’s breasts. It’s like an all-consuming fire, burning hotter and hotter with every pump of her fingers and lick of her tongue.

RACHEL: Never let it be said that Rachel Berry doesn’t take direction well. She’s more than happy to fulfill her girlfriend’s request, sliding her fingers deeper and curling them against her hot, slick walls in just the way she knows Quinn loves. The gasps and moans above her, not to mention the fingers tightening in her hair, tell her she’s found the right spot.

Being the very skilled multi-tasker that she is, Rachel finds Quinn’s clit with the pad of her thumb and draws clumsy circles over it while she continues to pump her fingers in and out. The hand that had been happily playing over her ass slips down to urge her thighs further apart so Rachel can have more room to work with.

Quinn releases the sexiest moan, shifting her weight and spreading her legs until she can brace one knee on the mattress next to Rachel’s hip, and her entire body presses against Rachel, her hips rolling urgently. She slips a third finger into Quinn’s tight passage and feasts on the breast under her lips, feeling her girlfriend spiral closer and closer to her peak.

QUINN: Rachel’s fingers are magic, and the addition of a third finger inside her has Quinn teetering on the edge. “Fuck, Rachel,” she begs with a wanton moan. “Don’t stop. Just like that, baby.”

Rachel’s fingers continue thrusting while her thumb rubs deliciously at Quinn’s clit, her own hips rolling in a primal rhythm.

She’s close. God, she’s so close to coming.

White hot heat surges up from Quinn’s core as waves of pleasure course through her body—fingers gripping tighter in Rachel’s hair as her hips spasm, releasing a cry of pleasure.

RACHEL: A smile of satisfaction curls Rachel’s lips, which are still wrapped around a nipple, as she feels Quinn come all over her fingers. She gentles her ministrations but doesn’t stop, encouraging her girlfriend all the way through her climax and drawing out every last tremor of pleasure from her body.

“That’s it, baby,” she murmurs against her skin. “Give me everything.”

Eventually, Quinn’s body goes slack against her, her weight pressing down into Rachel, and Rachel finally eases her fingers out and wraps both arms around her girlfriend. She presses a soft kiss to her clavicle.

“You are so beautiful when you fall apart for me.”

QUINN: Quinn shudders when Rachel pulls out of her, and Rachel’s words bring tears to her eyes. Ducking her head, Quinn leans down to press her lips against Rachel’s.

“I love you,” she whispers against Rachel’s mouth before parting her lips and deepening their kiss—pouring all her emotion into it.

RACHEL: Those words never fail to make her heart sing, and she kisses Quinn back with utter happiness. “I love you too,” she vows when Quinn finally releases her mouth. “So very much.”

She reaches up to tenderly stroke her girlfriend’s cheek. “And I’m really going to love living with you.”

QUINN: Quinn’s lips curve into a soft smile as she’s reminded just what they’re celebrating this morning. “I can’t wait to make a home with you,” she murmurs happily.

Rachel smiles sweetly in return and presses another loving kiss to Quinn’s lips.

Finally feeling some strength come back to her spent body, Quinn shifts her weight then and moves to straddle Rachel, just wanting to hold her for awhile before actually getting into Rachel’s bed and continuing their celebration.

RACHEL: Her arms instinctively slide around her girlfriend’s waist as Quinn straddles her. It’s such a lovely position, and Rachel’s brain may, in fact, short-circuit slightly. But Quinn doesn’t seem in any rush to resume their more passionate activities. Instead, her hands glide tenderly over Rachel’s back and her lips place little kisses across her brow.

Rachel sighs in contentment, tipping her face up to collect a few of those kisses with her lips instead. One, two, three, maybe five, and she giggles joyfully, grinning up at Quinn.

“So will this homemaking include more of this particular position? Because I find I’m quite enjoying it.”

QUINN: “Oh, most definitely,” Quinn promises with a sly smile, quite enjoying this position herself. She’s not in any rush to move from it, but she is in the mood for more of Rachel’s kisses.

Dipping her head, Quinn does just that—pressing her lips to Rachel’s and closing her eyes, so that all she’s aware of is her girlfriend’s soft body and warm mouth.

RACHEL: Rachel’s body is not unaffected by the lazy affection that Quinn is giving her. She’d gotten a bit worked up again while getting her girlfriend off, so it really doesn’t take much to have her body buzzing with renewed arousal.

It would be incredibly easy to lie back on the bed and take Quinn with her, but she allows Quinn to set the pace, deepening and gentling the kiss in alternating turns. She’ll follow wherever Quinn leads her.

Today, tomorrow, and in the coming months until they can find a home to make their own.

[lavendershowcase]

Lavender Book Club Update

Hello friends,

Running polls for this book club can be a little bit much. The past couple of months, I haven't chosen themes. It's difficult to figure out genres/tropes/identities for every single book on the list, and even when I do get them, there can be a dozen of books for one theme or one book that fits a dozen themes.

It's time-consuming and some months when I'm super busy with my personal life, I forget to put them up all together! And everyone who participates in these discussions deserves to have a more consistent schedule so you can place library holds have time to read the books.

Also, I thought that with the addition of Tumblr polls, it would get some attention to the club itself. The poll featuring Gideon the Ninth got over 100 results. But no new people--or at least very few--actually "joined" the club or expressed interest a month later. When 100 people outside the club vote without joining the discussion, it just feels like it's skewing the results and the pick for the month isn't in the best interest for the club members.

I think July will be the last month for polls--at least for now. I'm going to use a random number generator to start selecting the books. I'll intervene only if the books is very new (and therefore has a long holds list at libraries), if it's out-of-print, or some other circumstances that make it difficult to access.

I'm really sorry if this is disappointing, but it will make the maintenance of the club much easier right now!

The titles will still be coming from the recommendations that have been submitted! So everyone still definitely has a say in what we're reading every month!

Thank you for being part of this club < 3 I really love seeing all of the discussions and passion for LGBT books.