#i just wanna understand SOME of it before i start learning in a class setting which i know will be stressful and make retaining difficult

[foxxsong]

On one hand, I want to show off my ability to understand some of the Hebrew aleph-bet, given I've started from absolutely nothing and have only ever known the English alphabet.

On the other hand, I just KNOW that if I try in front of anyone I will immediately forget everything I've learned and look like a fool.

[uniquedinosaurdreamland]

Lionesses x Reader

-Spiderman and Cinderella-

Cute little start to a maybe series xx

Lionesses x Reader, Lionesses x R!Children!

🌷

Your whole life was flipped upside down at sixteen. You were on your way to become an amazing football player, playing the the U17’s Lionesses as well as in the Liverpool Academy and were deemed one of the best upcoming players. But It all went down hill when one night at a party you got drunk, slept with a guy and before you knew it, you were standing in a bathroom with a positive pregnancy test staring right back at you.

Conversation after conversation followed with family, friends and staff about what to do next. You had managed to contact the boy from that night only to get ghosted and to find out he had left town the next week with his family.

You support system was made up of the best people in your life, being there with you through everything even when learning that it wasn’t just one baby but two. Nine months later your beautiful twins were born, Theo Luka Y/L/N coming out first followed by his sister Maisie Luna Y/LN. Your heart was full from the moment your babies were placed into your arms and you knew you would give them the world and more.

Nobody expected you to return back to football but just four months later your were back in the academy, juggling school, football and your twins but in the end you made it work. Now fast forward three years with your two bundles of joy now being three years old you were on your way to your first senior call up for the England National team.

You were the last to arrive at St George's Park due to having two bubbly, energy filled toddlers who refused to wear anything beside a Spiderman costume for Theo and a Cinderella dress for Maisie. Arriving just in time for dinner, you left your bags as you were notified someone would take up to your room that only held you and the twins.

There was no time to be nervous when entering the dining hall, having two of the most extroverted toddlers ever they didn’t waste anytime in rushing through the doors and towards the food. Taking no notice of the many eyes that snapped to the two toddlers, like always in their own little worlds.

“Slow down guys, I will get your food. Be patient please.” You ran in after them, smiling apologetically at the chef who didn’t know what to do with two kids babbling at him in a toddler language he couldn’t quite understand.

“You got some energetic kids there.” You turned around to the voice of Sarina, smiling as she pulled you into a hug before bending down to the twins levels. “Hi, my name is Sarina. What are your names?”

Maisie and Theo looked up at you simultaneously, making sure to give them a small nod to tell Sarina their names. “Spiderman” Sarina let out a laugh at Theo’s answer.

“Well nice to meet you Spiderman, and I am guessing you are a princess.” Sarina turned to Maisie after shaking Theo’s hand gently.

“I am Cinderella.” Maisie said poking out her chest in pride, you couldn’t help but smile as your new coach stood a curtsied to Maisie, the toddler letting out her tiny giggles that never failed to melt your heart.

Sarina stood with you as you grabbed plates and filled them with food you knew Theo and Maisie would like, lucky for you they were absolutely angles when it came to eating, when they were younger both of them even ate dog food for you childhood dog that was set out at your parents home.

“Two hands.” Placing the tray carefully into Maisie’s hand. Unbeknownst to you Leah and Lucy had stood from their respective tables and made their way towards the group of you.

“Need a little help there mister?” Leah bent down grabbing the tray from Theo’s hands to her own as he saw the young boy struggling. “You wanna come sit with me, I’m Leah.” Theo once again looked warily at the blonde stranger reaching behind him to tug you shirt, causing you to turn around.

“Hi.” You couldn’t help but be awestruck at the two world class defenders in front of you, managing only a small greeting.

“Hi, I’m Leah I can take this little guy to come sit with me.” The blonde greeted showing off her trademark smile.

“Oh god, you really don’t have to.” You said shaking your head knowing Theo was in his most energetic mood and he was eating his dinner which meant he was very messy.

“Mummy I want to go.” You looked down surprise at Theo.

“Okay then off you go, I want all the veggies gone when I come check.” Not another word was uttered from your three year old as he happily took Leah’s hand as she led him to her table that sat Keira, Georgia, Beth, Jordan and Katie. You didn’t even notice Maisie was already sat at a table with Lucy, Rachel, Millie, Mary and Alex.

“What just happened?” You said to no one in particular, Sarina laughing and patting your back.

“You got free babysitting, just go with it.” Sarina smiled before making her way back to the staff tables.

You didn’t have to worry about where to sit cause as soon as you turned around from grabbing your plate the loud voice of Ella Toone rang out calling you over to sit down at a table that held herself, Alessia, Lotte, Esme, Lauren and Chloe. Your nerves shattered away as you fell into a comfortable conversation with the group of girls, not taking any note to the conversations your twins were having with some of Englands best.

“Is your Mummy good at football?” Rachel asked Maisie who was stuffing her face with food, sat comfortably in her chair that had four cushions stacked to keep her in level with the table.

“My Mummy is the best, she gets all the balls in the net.” Maisie smiled at Rachel who she had now named Ra-Ra, the three year old having a nick for coming up with nicknames for people with names she deemed to hard or long to say.

“She sounds pretty good.” Millie smiled at the little girl across the table.

Back at the table Theo was sitting in he was telling a long story about how he was going to be the best football player ever. “What position?” Keira asked the boy, who thought about his answer for a sec.

“Keeper like Jordan Pickford and Mary Earps.” Theo replied with a big smile on his face.

“Yo, Mary you’ve got a future keeper here, says he wants to be like you and Pickford.” Georgia yelled to the table Mary was sitting at, she caught Theo’s eye giving him a big smile and thumbs up.

“Theo what happened to becoming a striker like your mum.” You said to Theo having caught wind of the conversation that was happening across the room.

“Keepers at the unseen hero’s of the game.” You jaw dropped as the three keepers around the room cheered at your son’s words.

“Who told you that? also your veggies better be done.” Your son’s face dropped from his sly smirk into a annoyed face as he looked down at the broccoli and carrots on his plate that you knew for a fact he did like but just didn’t eat it straight away to annoy you.

Having lost track of the time as everyone sat and talked you looked down at your phone to see it was the just about time to put the twins to bed, knowing they were bound to crash soon you knew it was time to get them to bed.

What you hadn’t expected to see when you stood up to grab the two toddlers were both of them fast asleep Theo in the arms of Beth and Maisie asleep in the lap of Millie, looking tiny in comparison to the brick wall.

“It will never seize to amaze me how they always fall asleep with everyone else but me.” You smiled at Beth who gently passed Theo into your arms.

“You’ll be back down right we are all just hanging out down in the team room.” Leah asked before you could step away from the table.

“As soon as these two are settled I will be back, by the looks of things I will be back very quickly.” You smiled at the table walked over to the other table where Maisie was cured into Millie’s chest.

“I can bring her up.” Millie immediately offered, making your heart melt at the kindness from all these women just on your first night.

Soon enough with Theo in your arms, Maisie in Millies as well as Rachel tagging along for the ride you made it up to your room without any toddlers waking up. “Was it hard to come back from giving birth?” The question came out of no where from Millie as you placed Theo into bed.

“I though about not doing football and just giving up all together, I was sixteen, still in school with twins it was almost impossible to do it. But football is everything to me and I really wanted to come back and I knew if I worked hard enough I could make it my career. It was hard, but even getting this call up makes it feel all worth it.” Millie and Rachel nodded along to your words as you placed both twins on one of the beds, making sure to set up a baby monitor in case they woke up.

“They’ll be fine in there?” Rachel asked.

“They’ve had a long day i’ll be very surprised if they wake up before I come back to the room, they somehow always wake up when they feel my presence come back.”

Coming back to one of the team common room everyone was sitting around in their different groups. You decided to join a group of the younger girls who were playing a game of uno.

“I’ll deal you in.” Alessia said smiling up and giving you seven cards to play the game.

You were able to play about two rounds with Niamh taking the win for one round while you took the win for the other. Most of the girls also had a big travel day so everyone headed to bed early including you, waving goodnight to Esme and Lauren who took the room beside you. You quickly entered the room quickly checking on the twins, getting ready for bed and falling straight asleep.

[thatdeadaquarius]

Harry Potter/Genshin Impact Crossover Fun🎉

for @kiraisastay my beta reader for the big fat Eldritch AU awhile back! :)

“…a genshin/Harry Potter crossover where reader (still fem) comes from genshin (so she has a vision) and tries to fit in at Hogwarts (would love for it to be set around the Goblet Of Fire so the hp characters in that age start maturing and actually understand what happens around them and aren't little kids , plus, y'know, YULE BALL), would also like for the reader to have a more stoic/emotionless personality with tragic past (so like having scars y'knowww) cuz it makes character building a lot more juicy ahah, but you can write it however you want tho!! (this can be funnier to write if you're feeling a lot creative)”

UGH sorry i took forever! im rlly bad at estimating time...

I hope this is a fun read at least, and thanks for much for taking on that eldritch monster fic awhile back lol

☆

Orbit: Long Headcanon/fic-thing (~2k words) - Harry Potter x Genshin Impact Crossover (4th Year)

Sun: Feminine Reader (she/her), Slytherin Reader, Reader is 15-16 year old.

Stars: Harry, Ron, Hermione, McGonagall, Dumbledore, Snape, Viktor Krum, mentions of others.

Comets & Meteors: Content Warnings: Reader has rough past, & Trigger Warnings: vague mentions of scars, Reader has bad relationship with parents.

☆

You’re so fucking happy your Cryo Vision came with you.

You knew you were in a different country, one you definitely had never been to before, but you couldn’t figure out for the life of you where it was at first

Your first guess was Fontaine, but the robes and strange overuse of catalyst weapons (actually, only catalyst weapons??) began to convince you otherwise real quick,

Fontaine was just the closest country you could compare it to

yeah so obviously by the time u realized you shouldn't be waving a sword around, it was too late lmao, u scared the shit out of the potions shopkeeper and had to make a hasty exit

bc for some reason any other weapon than a catalyst is shamed here?? which makes no sense to you, as it seems like their “magic” here could just as easily be channeled into different weapons/items??

u guess not having monsters to randomly fight everytime u just wanna take a walk outside makes for a pretty peaceful world, and specifically this country ”England” or the “United Kingdom”

u had taken a week or so to re-orient yourself to this new world, how only a certain society knew about their magic, how there were no gods here, at least not any u could easily interact with, and that most people your age would be in school still???

while u could choose to pursue higher education or specialize in Sumeru’s Akademiya, basic schooling was still provided in every country in Teyvat up until about 15 years old

but at this point u were willing to do what it took to blend into this world, and u didnt want anyone to be asking how old u were/why u werent in school when you wandered around, so u went to Hogwarts

It also proved to be a good way to acquaint urself with the world/its magic and give u a place to better excuse any social or magical mistakes

But needless to say, u struggled, u had to constantly find some workaround for “magic” from the wands/catalysts in classes

and luckily they took u being a transfer student pretty smoothly, as u were just in time for the “Triwizard Tournament” to be announced and other schools were coming to participate, u easily got accepted in

and the only one who batted an eye at it was the weird old Headmaster, who u already suspected knew more abt u than he was letting on (Dumbledore seemed to have eyes everywhere the more u learned, which made u more suspicious of him too)

you'd been sorted into Slytherin, along with the Russian magical students, (Durmstrang?)

of which you had absolutely no frame of reference for how bad that was, other than being accused of literally being from the Abyss 💀

while the rest of the student body treated u with the basic contempt u learned all Slytherins just seemed to kind of get all the time, ur own house was a little more confusing when it came to you

some were curious abt all the scars, the strange glowing snowflake gem that u concealed on ur hip, what ur country was like and what the magic school over there was like (thank fuck for ur poker face and insane lying skills that made it believable)

(there was absolutely a rumor abt u pulling a sword on Filch at some point, u neither denied nor supported it)

the other half of the slytherins were all uptight about u possibly being a “Muggleborn” and sneered at u every chance they got (some weird blond kid a year or 2 below you??)

or they outright ignored u

tbh u didn't really get much genuine favor between Slytherins just being Slytherins and ur own reputation/cold disposition until Professor Snape saw how good u were at potions a month into this insanity

(it was just basic alchemy? nearly everyone, especially Vision-users, knew how to do it back home? why was it so special here?? u had this kind of question a lot in this world over most things, like the “muggles dont know abt magic” thing, it seem like more trouble than its worth.)

U both got along in the same way a cold-demeanor father bonds with his carbon copy cold-demeanor daughter lol

in which he invited u for tea sometimes out of polite extra teaching for “ur future plans of being a potion master, like myself”

which okay?? u were better than most ur age at potions bc of alchemy (which u learned is taught at higher levels of potion mastery) and its not like you've figured out how to get back to ur world anytime soon

so u just roll with that being ur “future career” for now, it makes the old emo professor happy so u figure why not

And its the first scrap of favor you’ve found here so it works

Tho u did complain at Snape for picking on Gryffindors, saying “ur rlly not helping that Slytherin reputation for tall dark and evil here”

He proceeded to make u clean and reorganize his potion stores for that lol

(Tho he did start to lighten up the more u picked on him abt it, the poor kid with huge round glasses followed you with his huge green eyes for weeks, he seems to be the only one who's really realized ur the one convincing Snape to mellow out)

U begin researching information (thanks to Snape) in the forbidden part of the library abt different worlds/time travel, anything thatd put u close to possibly getting back home

Or, to be honest, a portal would be better, bc youd like to come back here sometimes,

Its not like u have family back home (not any who you'd want to visit), mostly just a few good friends who'd be worried abt u (Childe misses his sparring partner for sure)

Which then leads u to noticing that boy with the black hair and big round glasses (was it smth like,,, harold sculptor? Atp that seems like a feasible name to you bc in this world parents rlly were cruel abt naming their kid “feathery” or smth wild)

Harold and two others, one with fluffy long hair, and the other a redhead,

Were attempting to “spy” on u from behind bookshelves or at tables seated near the forbidden section

U saw them learn the times u came there and how they made sure to match them (tho it seems the redhead got bored easily and begged to eat instead)

You'd actually managed to make friends with some Durmstrang friends in the meantime too

And by that u mean Viktor Krum mostly

Ppl were constantly obsessed with him and he'd managed to escape up the astronomy tower to get some peace and quiet,

Only to run into u reading away, and he'd heard abt ur reputation, and wanted to befriend u

U two got along rlly well, lots of peaceful silences, and chill convos, esp since u guys had some stuff in common

Mostly how ur both foreign to Hogwarts/this country and adjusting still

Anyway that is to say, Viktor teased u abt the ducklings following u around everywhere thinking they were sneaky

And this was a routine u got used to, until it was time for the tournament

You hadnt bothered to put ur name in, u didnt feel like risking ur life for no reason afterall

So needless to say u were pissed when rumors went around abt u putting Harol- Harry's name in the goblet

(u finally learned his name, apparently he's famous for not dying? As a baby?? A powerful tyrant evil wizard wanted to kill him as a baby??? Just,, why)

Not only that but then he was obligated to be in the tournament???

U knew there was smth insane abt this school, bringing back this crazy tournament in the first place, somehow getting Harry's name in the goblet,

but u didn't think they were batshit crazy.

(Dumbledore is not helping his case in your eyes, esp as u suspect he’s got Snape involved in his BS too somehow…)

So needless to say you were going to fix this mess since these seasoned “wizard adults” weren't 😒

You snuck into the Great Hall using a high level alchemy invisibility amulet, and used ur Cryo vision to extinguish the Goblet of Fire 💀

It reset the game, and luckily they were able to resubmit the champions to the Triwizard Tournament and hide away the Goblet before it got tampered with again

Lol u got Harry out of it, and it wasnt until later in the library that u get cornered by the Gryffindor fourth year himself

He admits to seeing u under his invisibilty cloak that night and thanks you for getting him out of that hell, poor kid looks so grateful 😭

But regardless of that, he insists u tell him abt the ice spell u used, how u used it wandless, with no incantation, etc.

You just gave him a small smile (his big green eyes look even more shocked behind the glasses, what, was that old professor right? do u rlly not smile that much?) and tell him he owes u one

He agrees and u go on ur way to the forbidden section

(U dont explain the ice, afterall, who would believe him? You werent even that much older, and only “master wizards” could do what u did)

After that, Harry starts to follow u around a lot more,

much to the annoyance of his redhead friend (Rodrick? Rocky? smth with a R-) and the absolute admiration of the younger girl with big hair

the champions start the first trial, and u help Viktor out with a plan to defeat the dragon and get the egg in one piece (u had lots of experience with monsters after all, and Viktor and Snape, who couldn't keep his big nose out of your business, were simultaneously disturbed and yet not surprised by this information)

it works flawlessly, and that's when you notice the new DA teacher acting suspicious

as the champions gear up for the 2nd trial, u help Viktor try to figure out the egg’s secrets,

Both Harry and Hermione have taken to interrupting ur library research time (u finally learned her name, but not the redhead, he seemed a bit rude tbh so u don't care to know)

after brainstorming (well more like talking at the brick wall that was Snape) with the old potions professor over tea gossip time again, u finally figure out how to get the egg open without screaming, and tell Viktor

Who thanks u by taking u to the Yule Ball, but u only manage the first dance before u get absorbed in the food and the cool decor, and u also convince him to gossip with u in the corner too

(u do appreciate having a reason to dress up at least, as you attempt to imitate the Tsaritsa herself with this dress)

U notice further on into the night that Hermione ran out looking upset, and ur “girl’s girl” instinct kicks in, (regardless of ur neutrality for her, u lie to urself) and follow her outside to comfort her

u talk, and tho ur cold demanour did intimidate her a little, after she realized u were genuinely trying to help her, she took u up on the offer, and asked if u two could be friends since she’s “surrounded by stupid Gryffindor boys all the time”

u agreed amused, and convinced her to join Viktor and u in ur gossip session, which Harry (after humiliating himself on the dance floor), joined in later as well

(You may or may not have iced the floor secretly under the redhead’s and the equally annoying prissy Slytherin blonde’s feet, sending them sprawling on top of each other, so neither would come bother u four)

Over the next week you hear from Hermione’s researching/studying sessions with you that Ron did apologize to her, of which u advised her to get revenge on him anyway lmao

Harry at one point came groaning and complaining to you abt Cedric bothering him abt the egg problem, and u went ahead and gave it to him

Finally the next task was here, something abt rescuing smth underwater that mattered to each of the champions

u were immediately on ur guard when Dumbledore called u and 3 other seemingly random ppl to ur office (but u began to connect the dots after realizing one of them was the little sister of the Fontai- French Champion)

only to deflect the spell that would've knocked u out, and instead pretend to be knocked out

u obv kept ur Vision on u at all times, as always, and realized what was happening as the teachers levitated u all out to the lake

Snape snapped about being the one in charge of you, (and lowkey told u he knew u were awake, did he sound a little,, proud?? no, not Snape surely of all ppl)

Viktor did end up fishing you out, which he said u “looked like a very unhappy drenched old tom cat” while swimming to shore, (u awkwardly pat him on the back for thinking ur the best part of Hogwarts, and then smacked him for getting u kidnapped to go into a freezing lake)

and u also ended up helping Viktor rescue the other girl left behind, and froze some of the mermaids’ tails in the water for their trouble

Fleur was so grateful that she came to hunt you (and Viktor too at the time) for helping her and her sister that she came to thank u two again while at the library

which then led to her sometimes hanging around ur table at the library (everyone avoids it like the plague initially bc of you, but now youve got a gaggle of wizards rotating out all the time, like the younger years Harry/Hermione/Ron, Viktor, and now Fleur)

by the time the third trial rolls around, youve taken to bullying the prissy blonde brat a year below you to keep him from not only bothering Harry and Hermione, but also ur own peace and quiet

The other Slytherins are beginning to warm up to you, or at least not actively ignore you, since you’ve been hanging around Viktor Krum, along with gaining favor from Snape more obviously (he’d plopped a singular towel in ur lap after getting out of the lake, and u might as well have “Snape’s Favorite” written across ur forehead for all that means)

(also some of them may or may not find u roasting the annoying blonde bully kid amusing too)

it isn't until u see the creepy retired Aura (or whatever they call their knights) DA professor milling about the castle more, nearer the Gryffindor tower, that you begin to warn Harry to spread the word among his little lion club to not travel alone, esp in the evenings

(u don't like how his weird rolling blue eye looks thru you, it reminds u of Dumbledore)

by the time the third trial is finally announced, you have ur sights set on that weird old man, and end up following him to his classroom at one point,

in which he cracks open a rattling trunk, tosses some food in, and seems to have definitely stolen what you assume to be the Triwizard trophy

he casts a spell on it, and you put on that same invisibiltiy amulet from alchemy to better follow him, and watch him sneak into Dumbledore’s office to return the trophy

(You break the “portkey” spell you find on it)

(you also leave a note behind on the headmaster’s desk to look into a trunk in the new DA professor’s classroom storage, and to be more careful hiring the next one.)

Harry somehow gets sucked into the maze you find out, and you end up sneaking in to save him, using your sword and Cryo Vision to battle him out

(finally, Archons, you didnt realize how much you'd miss fighting monsters)

Aurors descend upon Hogwarts, only just after the trial ends, and Viktor wins (you trained him too well for him to not, and may or may not have viciously sparred with him a little too much for him to not be a little afraid of the consequences of losing after you helped him so much lol)

Just as Harry is taken in by Dumbledore for questioning of how he got trapped in the maze, he runs back to nearly squeeze the life out of you in a hug, he tells you thanks for helping him again (and forced u to promise to teach him sword fighting or “ice magic”)

Then, surprisingly, the entirety of Durmstrang (and some Slytherins??) haul you up into the air with Viktor to celebrate his victory

(You can see Snape snickering at ur misery in the air)

Viktor and Fleur stay penpals, and the “golden trio” (more like “gryffindor triplets”) sticks around your library table

and you think you could start to get used to this, and Harry, Hermione, and Snape had gotten you a Yule/winter gift

(what’s Christmas. and why is everyone obsessed with decorating trees??)

…that is until Hermione looks over your shoulder one day at your usual reading table, and points to a book you’ve chosen for research,

saying “if you need to make a portal somewhere, that’s the book you should be looking in.”

☆

i hope you liked it!! and that it wasn't too much of a clusterfuck/chaos that was barely readable 😅

again, thanks for being patient with me, and here's finally ur payment for dealing with my ass lmao

Happy late new year!!

Safe Travels Kirarisastay,

💀♒

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[lilahisntsadanymore]

Neil helps his best friend's sister with Latin. The problem is - he has a crush on her, but knows they could never be together. After all, he couldn't date Charlie's family, it's against the rules. And secondly - Neil is sure Y/n wouldn't have ever talked to him if it wasn't for the tutoring.

Pairing: Neil Perry x dalton!fem!reader

Words count: 1.5k

Warnings: none

«────── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ──────»

Tutoring

"Thank you for helping me, Neil." Y/n said as she closed the door of her room. She stopped for a moment and then added, "I didn't ask if you wanted something to drink. Shall I bring tea? Coffee? Juice?"

"Water would be perfect," Neil sent the girl a smile.

As Y/n walked to the kitchen for two glasses of water, Neil unpacked his bag. He had some notes that could be helpful for whatever Y/n could need help with. He was a year ahead, so the things she was learning now, he knew cold.

At least tutoring let him spend some time with Y/n. Charlie wouldn't have a problem with his best friend and his sister having a thing, but that wasn't the problem. The Daltons were rich and that was the problem. If it wasn't for the tutoring, Y/n probably wouldn't even have talked to Neil. Neil's family wasn't poor, they had enough money to send him to Welton, but his father worked hard for this.

"Okay, I'm back!" Y/n announced, setting the cups with water on her nightstand, far away from the books.

"Great, so, what do you have a problem with?" Neil asked, taking a seat by Y/n's desk.

The girl sat down on a chair next to him, smiling. "Oh, you know... Latin." She giggled awkwardly, putting a strand of her hair behind her ear.

Oh, how beautiful she looked in that moment. A bit blushed, smiling awkwardly. Neil was mesmerized and almost forgot what he came here for.

"Yes, but what in particular?" He tried masking his infatuation. And he was good at it so far.

"You know what, the desk feels uncomfortable for two people, doesn't it?" Y/n grabbed the book and tossed it onto the bed. "Let's sit there, shall we?"

And so they did. In front of each other, with their legs crossed. Neil forgot about his glasses, but he quickly reached into his bag to search for them.

Now Y/n seemed to be a little mesmerized. She hadn't seen him wearing glasses before and that was a very flattering model for him. Neil looked so attractive.

"Glasses suit you," the girl complimented, "do you ever wear them, you know, outside of studying?"

"No," he chuckled, "I don't need to." Right after this he said it, he scolded himself, in his head of course, for saying it. To make it less awkward he added, "Although thank you."

"No problem." Was it Neil's brain playing tricks on him, or did Y/n sound disappointed by his reply? "Okay, so let's start."

"What shall we start with? Do you wanna start from the beginning, or...?"

"No, no, not from the beginnings. I understand the basics, but it's get pretty difficult later on..."

"Yeah, languages have that thing where they get harder the more advanced they get."

The joke made Y/n smile. She pushed Neil playfully and he theatrically pretended it hurt him.

"Maybe we should start with ACI?"

"Accusativus cum infinitivo," Neil smiled at the memory of Charlie laughing at the word 'cum' every time, but to Y/n it just seemed like a kind smile sent to her. "Alright, let's start."

«────── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ──────»

"I don't get it, Neil, I just don't!" Y/n whined pathetically. She felt truly hopeless if even Neil couldn't help her.

"No, Y/n, calm down, please, and listen to me." He ordered in a lower, but still kind voice.

Y/n looked at him with worry in her eyes. Worry and fear, but she wasn't scared of him. She was scared of not passing the class, failing her whole education.

Her eyes are so beautiful, Neil thought, she looks like a lost, little doe.

"I know what your problem is," he continued, "you don't know the declensions."

"Well, have you seen how many of those are there?"

"Yes, there are five. But why can't you remember them? From what I've seen today, you don't have a problem with conjugations."

"There's only four of those. And they just make more sense, you know? They feel natural to me. Meanwhile how am I supposed to remember it's puella, puellae, another puellae, puellam, puella with the funny line above the a and vocativus is the same as nominativus?"

"Not to brag, but I must be a really good teacher because you've just recited the first declension in singularis."

"I did?" Y/n beamed at the realization. "Neil, you're amazing!" She threw herself onto Neil, closing him in a very tight hug.

They were laying down on the bed. Neil was on his back and Y/n was on top of him. This moment lasted a bit longer than it was appropriate.

Y/n raised herself up, she went back to sit in the spot she was. She realized how inappropriate it was. She thought Neil must've felt so awkward right now. So she began apologizing and explaining.

"I'm sorry." She said. "I made it awkward, didn't I? I don't know what got into me. I guess I just- I don't- okay, there's no explanation," she knew she might take the explaining too far, but she didn't know how to stop this stream of words. "There is an explanation, actually. I like you, yes you've heard it right, I like you. More than a friend, I've had a crush from you since I met you."

Neil sat back in the cross-legged position. He was astonished by this confession. Not because he didn't feel the same. The thing was he did feel the same, but had no idea Y/n would, so he never prepared himself for this moment. He didn't know what to say, because it seemed so impossible to him. It was never supposed to happen.

"Oh no," a whine came from Y/n's mouth, "I knew I shouldn't have said that. I'm so sorry, again. The way we looked at each other today, I thought the feelings were mutual."

"Y/n, calm down." Neil tried to keep his voice relaxed. He didn't want to make himself seem too excited, that could creep the girl out. "I do feel the same."

"You do?"

"I do, I just didn't know you would. That's why I've tried to keep it to myself."

His confession gave Y/n a bit of confidence. "You weren't so good at keeping this a secret today, the way you looked at me was... giving me signals, let's say."

When this problem was solved, there arised another. What were they going to do with it?

"So... what happens now?" Y/n asked.

"I'm asking myself the same question."

"Should we tell Charlie?" Tell him what though, Y/n? Y/n asked herself, This confession didn't change anything, you're not suddenly dating.

"No," Neil laughed, "I don't think he's ready. I don't think he's mature enough."

Y/n nodded with a smile on her face, but didn't say anything. So Neil continued.

"Would you like to start going on dates?"

"Sure, I would love that. What's your first date idea?" Y/n gave Neil a cheeky smile.

Neil's hand suddenly happened to be on Y/n's, intertwined by the fingers. "I will take you to my rehearsal. Afterwards, we can go eat something or have ice cream. What do you say?"

Without an answer, the girl scooted closer to him. Eventually, she gave Neil a reply. "I say, it is a nice idea. You must look so good on the stage, doing what you love to do."

In that moment, Neil blushed, but what made him blush even more, was Y/n's next action. She put her hand on his jawline and pulled him in for a kiss.

He didn't hesitate to kiss her back, but decided to let Y/n stay in control of the pace and everything else. It was a slow, very romantic kiss. It wasn't awkward, it felt as if they kissed so many times before, their lips co-worked just perfectly.

Soon, Neil's hands found their way to Y/n's waist to pull her closer. A moment later, the lovers were laying down on the bed again. But it wasn't going to go anywhere further than this kiss. Neither of them were ready, besides they've just confessed their feelings, it would be too quick.

After a while, Y/n pulled away, letting Neil and herself catch a breath. She laid down next to the boy, taking his hand in hers. She felt him rub her hand with his thumb. It felt so reassuring. Whatever happens later, we'll get through it.

If Charlie finds out, then he finds out and there's nothing he can do about it. If he doesn't like it, it's his problem, he should be mature enough to understand it.

If the parents find out, either Y/n's or Neil's (it didn't matter, because whoever found out, they would tell one another), then that would be a problem. But Neil was sure he would do something about it, he would make up a solution. It wouldn't be the first time he went against his parents' will.

In the worst case, Y/n and Neil would have to wait until they finish high school. After that, they would be adults, free to do whatever they wanted to. Whatever was going to happen, everything would work out in their favour.

[nerves-nebula]

I fucking adore your comic panelling, any advice on how to do it? Like specific ratios or ways to divide the page?

god there's so much advice i COULD give but i really dont wanna end up writing a book here. so I guess I'll say this: however you divide the page you should be CONSISTENT with it, i literally just learned/internalized this but it's made comic paneling soo much easier. when you break that consistency it will be more impactful. hold up lemme grab some pages.

so i recently started making loose stitches a 4 tier comic. it's not the exact same for each page cuz i'm lazy but i think it's made legibility way better. before i think it was kinda uhhhhh a little all over the place. not BAD but a little difficult to tell where your eyes supposed to go sometimes. which isnt great for a commic.

the page on the left in particular has always bothered me cuz i always read the top panels incorrectly and it's like. fuck man what is the paneling here why is it in two columns ????? that's so hard to understand. but the page on the right can be more or less easily understood (by someone who knows how to read comics) even without panel borders because it's just a simple 4 panel square.

one thing my comic professor really stressed was that he didn't like weird paneling or weird borders. for the most part, a square is fine. AND HE'S RIGHT. weird paneling is fun and cool but should be used sparingly or with intention, cuz if you do it too much then like. how tf are ppl gonna read your comic.

that being said there are a lot of cool ways to cut up panels even if they're just squares hold on lemme grab some examples

so the panels here are all square but the image in the one at the bottom is almost like a mural. one thing i really like to using is a lot of heavy BLACK, what can i say silhouette's have my entire heart.

in my fable comic, I used a 3 tier system. it wasn't the same exact size across all pages but all pages had 3 tiers of paneling. that way i can be a little more flexible with the SIZE of the panels to emphasize the more important things, without it feeling like it's all over the place

meanwhile in my comic final i used a 4 tier system where each tier was nearly the same across every page, but you can collapse tiers together for establishing shots and big reveals so that they're more impactful. it's still fully within the grid system I set up so it doesn't feel like it's messing with shit either.

ok i just spent a lot of time rambling about this one particular concept and it's probably not even what you wanted to hear about :') i didnt even go into ratios or anythinggg guhhhh sowwy

other than all that i'd just say you gotta keep looking at what comic artists have written and take note of how they use space and cut things up. there's this book called How To Read Nancy and it has all these exercises for understanding the building blocks of nancy. for real the author is OBSESSIVE and goes through everything of a 3 panel nancy strip from body language to spot blacks to the minutia of the background. we used this book in my class and did some of the exercises in the back and i think it's really good at getting you to THINK about what you're drawing. and you can easily pirate it if you're broke.

also try to make sure things dont get stagnant on a page. zoom out if you're only doing close ups (i try to make sure every page of loose stitches has at least one full body shot even tho I'm lazy and wanna just do talking heads- talking heads arent interesting!!)

also, take advantage of the fact you're drawing a COMIC. you can do shit in comics that you can't do in other mediums, try to implement them when u can! ALSO PRACTICE. you're not gonna get better just by reading and watching. you gotta do it lol. ok ok that's enough and you didn't even ask for that stuff you asked about PANELING sfdasfsd byeee

[nickycodes]

hi! i wanna make my own code from scratch, for my PT, and I was wondering what would you suggest i start with

Hi!

I'm glad you asked! I also started coding because I wanted to make my own PT, and I did not know anything about coding at that time. I somehow got myself into where I am now, which I'm not complaining at all hehe.

I didn't take classes or officially learn anything about HTML and CSS at first, but I edited a lot of other coder's works, just observing how the codes work and playing around with changing some styling. Sometimes learning the basics before starting is great, but in this case, I got myself into coding by jumping right into the middle.

After kinda understanding how to make codes work, I used two apps Enki and Mimo to actually 'learn' something, which turned out were things I already knew how to do from editing and playing with other coders' works, the apps helped me understand coding more in an organized way though, even if it didn't improve my skill.

I do recommend going through some websites or learning apps so you can get familiar with the general rules, how certain tags work, what's their default setting and styling, and how to change them etc. HTML and CSS are pretty easy because most of the time it's just English.

Don't be discouraged if your first creation was bad. My first code did not work at all and I didn't even know what went wrong at the time. It takes time and practice to work out a good code. Make something easy in the beginning, and even if it doesn't work you can always delete it and start again on a fresh tab.

When you have some basic skills, you can start to learn fancier stuff. Even now there are many things I can't do with my current skill, and I am still learning as I go.

Ooh that was longer than expected hahaha. Hope that helps, and have fun!

- Nick

[homicidal-slvt]

"Strangers Are Especially Strange Here"

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Part 2

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OCs x F!Reader

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You are a young woman who also happens to be a witch- ending up with you in a college of mythical beings... {This story is gonna be silly chaos and will be aimed at my fellow bisexuals.}

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Warnings: None- just silliness.

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You unintentionally discovered you aren't entirely human a bit late in life, which resulted in where you're at now. Learning how to control your abilities should be fun though, right?

Right???

You've so far spent the whole day running around getting lectures on what you shouldn't do as a witch. Yes, it's very very important that you learn that stuff- blah blah.

But it's boringgggg... And you have every right to be complaining in your head, waddling down the hall books in hand like a depressed penguin.

At least the long corridors of the old building are beautiful, an intricate lacy gold pattern that imitates the look of vines lines the wallpaper, the floor beneath your feet a shiny black marble with gold streaks through it- feeling as though the place has a strong energy and power of it's own.

Though without warning you are harshly dragged from your thoughts to the sudden appearance of a young guy's head popping out of the wall...

"Sup!"

"WHAT THE FUCK?!?"

You let out quite the shriek but miraculously don't fall or drop your books. The dude has thick fluffy medium length creamy blonde hair that is wavy in a very unruly way, his eyes are more rounded in shape and the picture perfect example of the color baby blue, his skin tone closest to that of pale ivory and you could describe his face shape as being more heart shaped. He quickly came fully out of the wall and stood in front of you, he's probably somewhere around 5'11 in height, from what you can tell his body type falls more into the category of 'inverted triangle'. He's wearing an extremely baggy but comfy looking ice blue sweater, a pair of simple jeans and some scuffed up white tennis shoes. Despite the fact the guy just scared you shitless- he still has a bright smile on his face.

"Oops. You must be new here."

Oops??? Not an apology??? Just- oops???

You do not have time to deal with this, you're already tired and bored and annoyed- so you just make your way around him and keep walking. The guy pauses for a second before calling out to you.

"Hey- wait! Sorry! I really didn't mean to scare you!"

Too little too late- you rounded the corner and kept on going.

-

You know- you failed to realize just how big this place is. The separate building that you get to stay in is huge, you have your own bedroom in it. Granted- there's set times for breakfast, lunch, dinner... Yeah, not like a normal college at all. You have decently cooked food and you just have to show up to eat it.

However of course- you still had to pay to be here. Well, more like your aunt paid for you to be here- you didn't even know you had an aunt for a long ass time... You know what- that's not important right now.

You open your laptop and start typing away, you do have normal assignments to get done on top of the extra classes to do with your powers.

Pros and cons...

You're also surrounded by so many different kinds of people, you swore you saw a guy with cat ears earlier.... However he didn't stick around very long and seemed to want nothing to do with any of the socializing happening around him.

Totally understandable.

This place is giving a whole new meaning to the word 'strangers' but hey- that isn't necessarily a bad thing, is it?

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{Is this bad? I don't know. It's October and I had a silly idea for a series and decided- fuck it. You only live once.}

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{@sofasoap @shadofireshinobi @scar-crossedlvrs sorry if you guys don't wanna be tagged. Just let me know.}

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{More Content}

[notebeans-galaxy]

you wanna know something? I was extremely ambitious as a child. I've wanted to be an engineer and an astrophysicist since before I learned long division. I wanted to be a writer by the time I was 9, and I wanted to be a singer by the time I was 11.

That ambition decreased in middle & high school, but it never fully went away; I decided I also wanted to be a visual artist and a programmer and a polyglot and an activist. On the more casual side I want to study genetics, pharmacology, voice acting, literature, linguistics, anthropology, the occult, & religious history.

I was a straight A student in elementary school. I wasn't just a straight A student, I was a dedicated nerd; I genuinely enjoyed school despite severe social ostracization and I thought most of my homework was interesting enough that I wasn't bored while doing it.

And somehow, despite that, despite that I've always been ambitious and always sought challenge and that I was competitive to a fault, I somehow managed to convince myself I was lazy in middle and high school when my grades dropped due to severe unaddressed childhood trauma causing mental health issues, my ADHD medication losing effectiveness from being on it for a decade, and multiple undiagnosed chronic illnesses. I never actually stopped trying. I'd just convinced myself that because I couldn't complete classwork with the same attention I used to, that because I was stressed and exhausted and had to rest more often, that it was somehow my fault that my grades got worse. No, I'm fucking disabled. No one ever bothered to tell me that ADHD was a disability until I was in high school, no one but me realized I was depressed or autistic until I asked for diagnoses, no one ever took the severity of my chronic fatigue or post-exertional malaise or orthostatic intolerance seriously enough. fuck the way estrogen interacts with dysautonomia y'all it's so bad, testosterone HRT was more effective treatment for it than anything else. i still need salt tablets but my POTS is stable now entirely because of T.

I think the real kicker is that all it took was a bus to my house for me to attend school again. The barriers to success for disabled students often have such simple solutions and yet no one's willing to implement them until forced to. I was convinced for years that it was my own failures & incompetence that were the issue, and all it took was not being forced to walk.

I'm going to start college in the fall and I know it's possible for me to achieve some of the things I've had my sights set on since I was a kid. I still have chronic fatigue and chronic pain and non-24 complicates scheduling, but calculus is a hell of a lot easier when you aren't suffering 3+ types of cognitive impairment simultaneously. side note why is calculus Like That I can do physics related calculus because i learned integrals and derivatives before literally anything else because i was taking AP Physics: Mechanics concurrently with Calc AB during my first attempt at 12th grade, but i struggle to comprehend the rest of it.

A few years ago, I'd resigned myself to not being able to pursue my interests. I figured I wouldn't be able to succeed in anything I tried due to how ill I was. And while I still may not be able to study all of the things I'm interested in at a college, I sure as hell can pursue the most important ones — the original four things I wanted to do with my life. Writing and music can easily remain hobbies; I don't need those to be part of my career to feel fulfilled in them. I'm planning to study cosmology in the distant future (from what I understand, you need a Ph.D to even get started) and I'll be basing my class choices around that; underclassmen all have undeclared majors at my college, but as of now I'm planning to frame my schedule around pursuit of a physics degree (which is also easily transferrable to engineering!). Crushing college debt, here I come — but it's worth it to study astronomy, physics, & cosmology.

All it took was a bus. All it took for me to graduate high school was a bus.

[everlastiingiimmortals]

Willow I wanna hear you talk more about babby Jing Yuan because the lil' doodles you drew of him as a kid are so freakin' cute AAAA

Unprompted. Always accepting!

HI RENNI I'M SO GLAD U ASKED AAAAAA

Gosh idk where to even BEGIN. I'll say that Jing Yuan as a tiny child was. wild. Very enthusiastic! It doesn't seem like he's a Foxian or has Foxian ancestry, but his character story suggests that Foxian traditions for "determining" a child's future (setting out various toys representing career paths to see which the infant cub chooses) were adopted by his parents regardless, in which he grabbed the toy sword. Of course, this could all also be rumor! We actually have little idea about what all is truth or not from Jing Yuan's past, aside from his military records.

But I digress- wild child. He was very very brave and also incredibly smart even at a young age, learning how to master puzzles and logic problems very quickly. SUPER restless boy. He needed to be doing something physical at all times, which stressed his parents out because they were both the quiet scholarly type, preferring to spend their days reading indoors rather than going outside.

I don't want to say Jing Yuan had a bad childhood, because his parents did love him very much, but they did not, ah, appreciate his interest in adventure, weapons, and the Cloud Knights. This caused their relationship to become pretty strained by the time Jing Yuan started approaching adolescence. The things his parents were content with and even enthusiastic about bored him terribly, and they could not understand why he would want to travel beyond the Luofu. It's dangerous! He could die!!!

I think Jing Yuan learned fairly quickly how to be independent as a result, as it was from this point of contention that he learned concealment. The way of life his parents led was so unfulfilling to him that he started sneaking out at night, slipping more interesting books between his textbook pages to read in class, etc. He was the kind of gifted child that didn't need to put effort into his schoolwork in order to ace it; top of his class and everything. It was all too easy for him and he was bored. He pretended to give into his parents wishes and study to get them off his back, so they wouldn't suspect his long hours away from home watching the Cloud Knights and pestering Jingliu to train him.

I've mentioned this before vaguely, but it was about the time when he'd be transitioning to the equivalent of high school that he basically just. announced he was leaving to train under the Sword Champion. And his parents blew up. I don't really blame them. I mean, you live thinking your prepubescent teen has learned some sense and is doing wonderfully in school and is gonna follow in your footsteps and you're so proud, and then he pulls the rug over your eyes by pretty much walking out the door with his bags packed, like??? what happened???? what went wrong???????

Of course, he didn't say anything that'd have indicated to them that he'd never let go of his dreams. In that moment, to him it was either fulfilling his life or rotting away behind a desk, and of course he chose the former.

Funny how that turned out, isn't it? :)

[oveliagirlhaditright]

The Precursor to the Journey - A Kairi Day 2024 Fic

Summary: As Kairi meets two people from another world a few times while she's growing up--and also just grows up in general, and learns more about herself: maybe partly through some of these meetings, but also of course because of her friends Sora and Riku--it puts in place the puzzle pieces that are needed for the trio's eventual journey to start. Written for Kairi Day 2024. Oneshot. Written to both explore what Sora, Riku, and Kairi might have been like together as they grew, but also to somewhat give Kairi her own adventure pre-KH1, that wouldn't mess with canon.

The Precursor to the Journey

Kairi’s PoV

"Why are you here?" Kairi asked a mysterious blonde woman before her, pretty certain that she'd never seen her before, but also not entirely sure of that, either. Kairi was new to the Island, after all.

The woman smiled sweetly for Kairi’s question, it seemed to the five-year-old, but it took her a moment to answer the question. "I'm trying to decide if my decision to abdicate this role I’ve been given is a good one. Tell me, little one: If you had great power, would you give it to someone else?"

Kairi stared at the woman of medium height, definitely confused by the turn of events, as the wind blew and her shoulder-length hair brushed against her shoulders. She really had no idea what the lady was talking about. She was only five. But Kairi didn’t want to admit that she was lost, for she didn’t want to seem dumb. She was about to try and guess at the answer, when the girl seemed to understand that Kairi hadn’t gotten what she was trying to say and attempted it again with, “Would you give something special to someone else?”

“Hmm… Maybe a girl,” Kairi supposed. “I trust them more than mean boys, who have cooties.”

The curly-haired blonde laughed at that, as she stepped closer to Kairi in the sand and out of the shore of the Play Island. And Kairi knew she should have afraid for this—as one shouldn’t talk to strangers—but there was something about this woman that set her at ease.

“That sounds too much like me for comfort,” the woman said, almost seeming lost in her own memories. “And how rude of me to not introduce myself until now! I’m Delamer! But young one… while giving power to girls is fine—and I’d be okay with you ever wanting to do that, if it would somehow help you—is there not even one boy you’d think about sharing with?”

Kairi thought about it for a moment… and at first, she imagined that the answer was “no.” But then she remembered that a boy in her class, Sora—who she hadn’t liked at first, for he had knocked her into the water when their teacher had been teaching them how to fish (1)—had recently jumped into the ocean for her, to retrieve one of the fake nails she had dropped in there, when she had explained that it meant a lot to her since it was from her grandma.

Kairi explained the story to Delamer, and Delamer almost seemed to look… scared to Kairi for a moment. Or was it some other adult emotion Kairi couldn’t understand?

Finally, Delamer said, “Sora seems to remind me of someone that I know. Thank you, Kairi. You really helped me today. I think I will trust and give up this power. In the future… please stay safe and take care of yourself.”

“I’ll try t-” Kairi started, but Delamer was already gone. But what was there in her place, was a giant nailfile.

…

"I wanna make cookie dough," Kairi, at seven, told her adoptive mom, as she put up her hair that now reached just below her shoulders, so she could hopefully help with the task.

As Kairi loved cookie dough more than anything, she thought it would be a good treat for Sora.

But Kairi's mom frowned at her, as the two of them stood in their kitchen, and told Kairi, "You can't really do that, honey. I shouldn't give you the small bits of it that I do. And if you were to give it to Sora, it might give him salmonella."

Now it was Kairi's turn to frown. This had been her best idea, and now she had no clue what else to give her friend. It was hard not to cry at this turn of events, but Kairi fought against it—wanting to press on.

"What if we make cookies, with a little cookie dough on top?" Kairi begged.

And maybe there was something in her eyes or her tone of voice when Kairi had asked, because her mother suddenly relented with a sigh. "I guess there's less a chance for it to be harmful, if we just give Sora a tiny bit that way, than the tin you had been planning. Very well, Kairi."

Kairi beamed wider than she ever had in her life, and jumped up on a chair so she could help her mom with the baking.

And when she presented the cookies to Sora, she thought his own smile looked particularly radiant.

Dangus' PoV

Dangus—Delamer's love, who she had given her power to: though there was much more to the story than that—watched the girl, Kairi (nine now, he believed), as she talked to her friend Riku?

It sounded like Kairi was asking Riku for gift ideas, as she very much wanted to buy him something. But Riku was teasing her by asking if she really wanted to include him in an anniversary that was about her and Sora. Kairi countered by saying if he didn't want the keyboard she was very seriously thinking about getting him, just say so.

The whole thing was cute... And Dangus could understand why Delamer had chosen to speak to Kairi—and wanted to protect her—but part of him wished she hadn’t. He didn't want this power again. …It was too much for him.

Dangus was pulled out of his melancholy thoughts, when he noticed that Kairi was saying goodbye to Sora and Riku outside of their school now, and getting ready to head home. And that’s when it happened:

Water and lightning appeared out of nowhere, mixing together, until it formed the shape of someone Dangus knew all too well, heading straight for the girl!

Dangus began running towards Kairi, but he knew he wouldn't get there in time! So he used his magic to summon to Kairi the gift Delamer had given her years ago and threw it to her!

Just as the... the monster was closing in on Kairi, she first tied her hair that was at her waist into a bun—so the monster couldn’t use it against her—but then she woke up even further, and stabbed at the monster with the nailfile. And while said nailfile was the slightest bit wobbly—Delamer hadn't wanted to give a real weapon to a child, Dangus knew—it was enough to knock him off his feet. And then Dangus was there, and he defeated him with just a look (such was this cursed power he had)... and he hated to do it.

The moment she seemed to gather herself, Kairi looked at him like she'd seen a ghost. "You! You're like that girl... so it wasn't a dream."

"You thought it was a dream, even after Delamer magicked you this ridiculous nailfile?" Dangus laughed, taking Kairi's hand and helping her to her feet from where she’d fallen after having landing her blow on the monster.

"I ended up losing it, after my mom and I moved houses... thank you for bringing it back to me," Kairi said very sincerely. It somewhat baffled Dangus, because why would she care so much about an object that, just a second ago, she thought had been a dream. But there was definitely something about this girl. She seemed so… pure.

"You're more than welcome," Dangus said, suddenly more than charmed by Kairi, even though he should have been staying away from her for quite a few reasons.

"Are you from one of the other islands, or-"

And there was one of the reasons Dangus very much needed to leave. He didn't want to admit he was from another world, after all. But it was also part of the reason he needed to protect her. The Eye he had—that allowed him to see too much, if he allowed it (like someone else in her future with a certain eye)—spoke of an interesting future for this girl.

"...You could argue that I'm from an island. But Kairi, beware of certain people from your island and try to be safe." To try and prove his point, he walked the young girl home.

And once she was inside, Dangus put a strand of green hair behind his ear—getting it out of his brown eyes—and he quietly mourned that this girl would have such a hard fate. Why did so many girls that he knew have to suffer so much?

...

Kairi's PoV

Though Kairi appreciated what Dangus had tried to do for her (Delamer too, even though she barely remembered her now, since that encounter had happened so many years ago) she mostly put it out of her mind by twelve. After all, even if Dangus was right, she wasn't going to ruin her life by worrying about something that might not never come.

She was happy in life: she'd recently become a cheerleader at school; and she loved how it made her more active than she had been before, even if she'd still probably lose a contest with the ever-energetic Sora, Riku, Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka.

Kairi was actually on the way to some extra cheerleading practice at the school's gym now, and was getting ready to jump in her canoe in the Play Island to row there, when she saw Delamer and Dangus again!

At first, Kairi thought the sun was playing tricks on her (or maybe her hair [that was so long now, it reached her bottom] had gotten into her eyes and was obscuring her vision), and she rubbed her eyes to make the illusion go away. But no, it was really them: much like Delamer had been standing on the shore here the first time they met.

There was a part of Kairi that was a bit more cautious upon seeing them now, in knowing how badly her having met the strangers could have gone before… But she also couldn't deny they'd been good to her every time she'd seen them; and that really, she was happy to see them.

"Hey, you two! You look well! What brings you here?" Kairi asked, heading over to them with a wide smile on her face, feeling ever curious.

As she got closer to them, she noted that they were holding hands, but not overly affectionate like some older couples she'd seen here on the islands. She stored that information away for later.

"I'm surprised you're not with your friends. You were with that Sora and Riku when I met you. And when I talked to Delamer about it, she said you were just about to befriend Sora when you two met." was Dangus' rejoinder.

Kairi laughed. "The two of them are very dear to me, but we’re not literally joined at the hip. They might surprise me and support me at cheerleading practice today. But if not, we have plans to play after school tomorrow. So, what brings you two-"

"Kairi, there's a chance this will be the last time we'll see you," Delamer interrupted, seemingly giving up all pretenses. And when Sora would one day tell her how Leon had told him they "may never meet again, but they’d never forget each other," she would think of this moment that she had with these two. "Dangus and I have decided, for the good of the people, that it's best that no one reign like this. …But you must know a storm is coming."

"I guess it's a good thing I'm so good at swimming," Kairi said, getting worried now.

"No matter what happens, believe in yourself and be there for your friends," Dangus told her, with something in his eyes. And with him suddenly dropping his humor and getting pretty dire, too, he must have also decided that she needed to know whatever this was, and that they needed to wrap this up.

Kairi wasn't sure she could easily believe in herself, really (it seemed her friends were so much more talented than her), but she didn't want to let these two down down their last time here, so she said words she'd soon know well, "I will. Thanks for everything." And she took both of her friend’s hands and squeezed them, as they smiled warmly at her. Then, they were gone—soon leaving Kairi to wonder if she'd had any kind of journey at all.

But, oddly, it also left her with a thought that maybe she should cut her hair… if anything was really coming, she didn’t want her long hair used against her. Right?

And short hair was more mature, and she definitely thought she was becoming more that.

It was a thought, at least.

Mulling over a number of thoughts in her head—but deciding to file them later—Kairi reminded herself to take things one step at a time, and headed for her practice.

…

Sora’s PoV

“Kairi’s cut her hair,” Sora randomly brought up after he and Riku were done sparring for the day and were sitting on the paopu tree, looking out at the sunset. The thirteen-year-old Sora kicked his feet to and fro as he chewed on a grape popsicle and he waited almost with bated breath for Riku’s reaction to this.

Though, then again, if Sora really thought about it… he imagined that Kairi changing her hair wasn’t really that noteworthy. His and Riku’s best friend seemed to alter her tresses every year. Sometimes she even changed her look more than once a year, as she loved different hairstyles. But what really stood out to Sora, was that Kairi looked very tomboyish this time, and seemed to be acting it, too. She had even said-

“And she said that she’s down for any adventure we want to do. Which is cool, but what brought it up?” Riku asked from almost beneath Sora’s feet—from where he stood standing leaning against the tree trunk—with a raised eyebrow.

“Hey, you already knew what I was going to tell you?! Why didn’t you tell me that, before I started acting like this was some breaking news?!” Sora pouted. Crossing his arms over his chest, upon somewhat scooching away from his best friend.

Idly, and somewhat jealously, he wondered if Riku had seen Kairi before he had. It was definitely a possibility, since the two’s houses were closer to each other’s. Sora tried to tell himself it didn’t matter. But ever since he’d gotten sick and the three of them hadn’t been able to go to his and Kairi’s eighth grade dance together like they’d planned to, and Riku and Kairi had just gone instead, Sora had found himself resenting some of the looks Riku and Kairi had been giving each other and the conversations they had had.

But he knew that now was not the time for that.

“But back to your question, Riku, if Kairi’s suddenly decided she wants to be more active, who are we to stop her?” Sora queried. He actually thought it was really cool. And he loved the idea that it might allow them to spend even more time with Kairi now.

“I suppose…” Riku allowed, fishing out a popsicle for himself from the cooler nearby and taking a bite of the lime treat before he continued his conversation with Sora. “But I just think there’s a little more to it, that’s all.”

As much as Sora somewhat hated to admit it—because he didn’t want Riku insinuating that Kairi would change her whole personality on a dime or anything like that—he couldn’t help feeling that his friend was right. Kairi had been somewhat… girlier in years past. But all of a sudden, it had seemed like she had wanted to prove she could rough and tumble with the best of them. And maybe this was just another evolution of that. But even if it was, Sora really didn’t see what the big deal was. He was enjoying seeing this new side of Kairi. And didn’t everyone somewhat change as they grew up?

“Her new haircut reminds me of how she looked when she showed up here when she was five…” Sora found himself muttering, barely even realizing he was speaking as he was pulled back into the memory.

It had been a somewhat dark night, but not entirely so. The falling stars and bright, full moon had turned what otherwise might have been blackness into a vast navy blue. Sora had watched it all from his bedroom window, transfixed. And just as what had looked like a rocket falling from the sky to his young eyes had headed for the islands. Then, he hadn’t been able to remain still any longer and had snuck outside to try and find where it had landed… only to find Kairi. Kairi and Riku both, for it had seemed Riku had had the same idea.

“What?” Riku asked, seemingly confused, pulling Sora out of his reverie.

“The night of the meteor shower when we met Kairi, remember?” Sora asked, finishing up his popsicle that had begun to melt onto his hands at this point. He licked what he could off his fingertips, and then rubbed what remained on his bare legs.

“Oh, right!” Riku exclaimed. A far-away look in his own eyes now as he reminisced. “It was so dark that night, it’s hard for me to recall what Kairi’s hair looked like in it. But I guess it was kind of similar to how it is now. Huh.”

Riku got a far-away look in his eyes again after he said that. And Sora was about to ask what was so great to daydream about that he couldn’t even pay attention to him, when the subject of their conversation made an appearance.

“Oh, popsicles. Yum! Did you save any for me?” Kairi asked, giving each of them a thousand-watt smile, before taking her own trademarked seat on the paopu tree. And if Sora swooned a little bit, and tried to hide it, he couldn’t exactly be blamed. He’d never seen a girl with such cute short hair, okay?

“Kairi, hi!” Sore exclaimed.

“Oh, hi, Kairi,” Riku started. Then, realizing what she’d said, he continued with, “Of course we did. There should be a few coconut popsicles in there just for you.”

Kairi began fishing in the cooler with smiling eyes. And it seemed to Sora, something as simple as coconut popsicles was like she’d won the lottery for Kairi.

The three of them then had a moment of comfortable silence together after Kairi got her popsicle (and maybe Sora and Riku got even more), and it felt like heaven to Sora. This was what it was all about.

“So did you guys hear the scandal that’s going on at school?” Kairi eventually said, as Sora and Riku looked at her with curious eyes. “Mr. Namana and the parents are arguing about what one divided by zero is. The parents think it’s one, while he maintains it’s zero… But, guys? I swore we learned that anything divided by zero is undefined, right? What’s even happening? We’re all going to have Mr. Namana next year and I’m scared for our education.”

Sora burst out laughing, wondering how Kairi always had the best stories.

But Riku put it the best, Sora thought, when he said, “Wow. Sounds like it’s going to be quite the adventure next year.”

“Sounds about right…” Sora voiced. But deep down, it was the kind of adventure he wanted with his friends. Always.

And he knew that as long as they were together, things would work out okay.

Author's Note: (1) It’s probably obvious, but Sora pushed her into the water by accident, though Kairi doesn’t realize that at first.

Delamer and Dangus are characters from a novel of mine. I don’t know if that novel will ever see the light of day (even if I love it), but at least they’re living here somewhat, I guess. Hopefully you guys can enjoy my babies somewhat (even with your limited knowledge of them, because I don’t want to spoil too much in case I do ever do anything with said book).

I’ve had this idea for a long time… Though I’ll admit that originally for Kairi Day, I actually wanted to make an amv for her, but I couldn’t download the song for it. So then I kind of rushed back to this fic—that I’ve had bits and pieces done of for years—and finished it as best as I could for my girl. But there was just no way I could let Kairi Day pass me by without doing something for her, so here is my contribution for her. Happy Kairi Day!

Edit: And if Kairi seems slightly closer to Sora at first in this fic, it’s because he’s in her grade (and Riku’s not, as he’s a year older) so she spends a bit more time with him that way, of course. But then when she starts hanging out with Sora after they become friends, Riku’s also there, and she gets to know him, and then they also become best friends.

[letmeinpplease]

Buckle in kids, the Barnaby Brooks, Jr. Defense Squad is holding a meeting.

So I gave up on the argument with my BIL. Below is, essentially, the essay I wrote trying to explain why his particular opinion of Barnaby sucks. I decided not to send it because I realized that frankly, even if I'm right, it's not going to change his view, so it wasn't worth my time. Instead I figured I'd send it out into the void that is Tumblr to hopefully get some good faith interaction.

-My BIL's best friend watched the show specifically to understand our argument and said Barnaby "had no signs of mental illness, maybe just some trauma."

Bullshit.

Bro has at least an anxiety disorder and, given that I have one and that man is showing every single fucking trait I did before being diagnosed, I will die on that hill (I did also check the DSM for non-anecdotal evidence related to my specific disorder, and I'm pretty sure he meets the GAD criteria). Regardless, PTSD is, in fact, classed as a mental illness (specifically subclassified as a form of anxiety), and you can't watch the show and tell me he doesn't have PTSD.

-BIL's BF also said that Barnaby has a shitty, unlikeable personality with very little to redeem him through the end of Season 1.

Bullshit again.

There's literally a slow progression of him getting steadily better (both mentally and as a person) throughout all of season 1 and into season 2. I don't have time for a full watch through to rip small details, but you can literally watch Barnaby change in real fucking time. He's not the same person at the end of season 1 that he was at the beginning. Maybe its the hyperfixation talking, but I genuinely don't understand how you can watch the show and not catch the little, incremental ways he changes throughout season 1. And on that note--

-You don't have to like Barnaby's bitchy, shitty behavior in early Season 1. You literally aren't meant to. It is bitchy, shitty behavior, and it's stemming from unrecognized and/or unmanaged mental illness of some kind (even if it's only PTSD) in combination with Maverick's upbringing. It's an explanation, not an excuse, and it's realistic as shit. His support network is literally Maverick and Samantha. I'm not even gonna get into how much fuckery the Maverick component added to Barnaby's mental health, social skills, and general world view, cause I really should not have to. As for Samantha, I always got the vibe that they loved each other, but they rarely communicated, so he doesn't have much going for him there.

Why is this relevant?

Because Barnaby doesn't know how the fuck to deal with Kotetsu's shenanigans or his own issues, so he lashes out. Once he actually has and accepts a support network (Kotetsu), he starts to improve as a character. Wanna know why I clocked that? Cause I did The Exact Same Fucking Thing. I had 0 friends in high school because I was a constantly on edge due to unrecognized anxiety and PTSD (obviously at the time I had no idea why I was so angry all the time), which made me a reactive, short tempered bitch. I got better in college, and that was because I was in a different setting and around new people, which provided me the exposure I needed to realize "something might not be right here." The little support network I formed at college helped me learn how to manage, how to interact with people, and how to manage my reactiveness simply through exposure (i.e. I figured it out as we went and apologized when I fucked up, they were not expected to take any sort of responsibility). Recognition of my issues later led to going to therapy and getting a diagnosis. We are literally watching this happen with Barnaby. Season 1 is the first time in Barnaby's life that he has a significant influence outside of Maverick. We are literally watching that exact same growth over the course of the show.

-And that brings us to Barnaby's motivation, which I have another post on, so you can totes skip this paragraph if you want. Once he gets past the revenge arc Barnaby is literally just trying to do what makes him mentally okay. That's literally it. That's what everything he does from then on boils down to. Granted, it's not as obvious early on, but it's heavily implied at the end of season 1, it literally feeds the plot of The Rising, and he outright says that's what he's doing in season 2, and it's backed by his actions throughout. He's still helping people while doing it, so it's not like it's to other people's detriment, but he's prioritizing what he needs and what could make him happy. You gotta put on your oxygen mask before you can help others, and that's a hard but important lesson to learn when you're mentally ill. Prime example is that I had to end a friendship last week because her mental health issues were worsening mine, and she would not accept any form of boundaries. I wanted to be able to continue to support her, but you can't save someone if you're drowning. Additionally, I think it's hard for people to get what it's like for your only goal to be to feel okay without the context of being mentally ill for Literally as long as you've had memories (and I'm not even exaggerating there, pls don't ask about my childhood fear of toothpaste). Seeing that shit reflected on screen is Refreshing As Hell. Barnaby's not in it purely ~to help others~, or to avenge his parents, or for the sake of justice, or anything like that. Barnaby is Literally just a guy trying to find something that makes him happy, and is clinging tooth and nail to keep whatever he finds (namely, his partnership with Kotetsu).

-Basically, my view boils down to this: You don't have to like Barnaby as a character. You don't have to like his coping skills, or lack thereof. But Barnaby is a fantastic representation of what its like for some (key word SOME, I'm not gonna claim my experience to be universal) people dealing with long-term unrecognized mental illness. You can hate him, but when the show outright gives you all this context showing you Exactly why he acts the way he does, and then shows you how he makes an effort to change, you should at least consider it before just saying "he's an asshole and that's that." Also, recognize that if you can't see the representation he provides, He's Probably Not For Your Benefit (why yes, this IS another "importance of representation" post). It's so rare to get realistic portrayals of mental health in the media, and even less so with genuinely Good characters, so frankly, it enrages me when people just disregard the Mountain of context provided in favor of saying "oh, he's just an asshole" (looking at you, CA: Civil War era Tony Stark hate).

[cheeriecherrymain]

Behind the scene lore, behind the scene lore!!!

I wanna know more about Viktor's life as he grew up with his penpal friend

omg yes yes! so im thinking this up right as i write it but that's okay because i enjoy the tasty prompt!

So there was a tiny bit of his backstory in chapter 9, but not a lot, so i'll try and expand a little bit on that. He lost his mom first, and then his dad just kind of Disappeared, but i honestly can't decide what Exactly happened to him. Like if he just left and never came home because he got into some kind of trouble, or if he'd been planning on leaving Viktor purposefully.

it's a personal headcanon that Viktor looks like his mom, so maybe his dad saw too much of his deceased wife in his face, and couldn't look at him anymore.

I wanna say that Vik found the pen a couple weeks before his dad took off, though. And because the Reader hadn't gotten a hold of the rest of the set yet, it functioned as a normal pen would. He probably used it to learn what he could about machinery, sketching out his designs and concepts on scraps of paper he was able to find.

It's probably only a week or so after being abandoned that the two of them start talking. HC that the Reader is a little bit older than Viktor, either by weeks or months. But at that age, he probably only Kind Of understands how bad things are - like his situation is dire, but until they left him, I wanna say that his parents did a decently okay job at protecting him.

Like yeah, he grew up in desolate poverty, and he was probably surrounded by hardened hearts and violence, but he wasn't directly involved with it. In a sense, they allowed him to have a soft heart that cares about people and the world and animals. He's not blind to what's going on by any means, but I want to say he can still see the good in people to some degree. He's not as jaded.

Really, the pen turns out to be a blessing to him. He could have learned all the stuff that the Reader was helping him with on his own, but it would have taken him a lot longer. He's kind of on his own after his parents are gone, aside from his long distance friend, who helps him learn things quick enough to survive.

In my mind, he gets a job at a weird little repair shop. Once he shows that he has at least some skills and concepts, his employer decides to take a chance on him, and Vik enlists the Reader for help. He figures things out pretty quickly on his own, but he still likes sharing what he does with another person - he's never really had friends his own age, so he gets attached very quickly.

He's definitely worried that they'll leave him, especially in the first couple of months, but as the years pass, he grows more secure about their friendship and trusts that his penpal genuinely cares about him.

His employer probably lets Viktor sleep in the room above the shop in exchange for reduced wages, which is honestly a steal, since he'd kind of just been out on the streets after being abandoned. It's not a big place, literally just a single room with a door and a bed, but it's better than what he had before. He builds a little desk for himself, so he can write and sketch more comfortably. He makes a couple of shelves, over time, and fills them with bits and bobs he's collected.

He and the Reader probably have brainstorming sessions on a regular basis, writing down concepts and nitpicking the details of how something might or might not be possible. Viktor isn't able to get his hands on a lot of the parts necessary to build most of them, but the Reader is. Which is why he recognizes them in their workshop, when they're older and secretly paired together in class.

And the Reader is just so earnestly kind to him, encouraging his interests and hyping him up. He's never really had someone who openly sticks up for him like that, so like I said, he gets attached quickly. I even want to think that he falls in love with the Reader before they fall in love with him. Kind of a puppy love at first, willing to follow them anywhere because they're nice to him, but after getting to know them in person (after figuring out their identity) it morphs into a more serious kind of love: wanting the best for them and wanting them to feel safe and secure, loved, and listened to.

Doesn't stop him from blushing like a schoolboy the first time they kiss him. Viktor.exe has stopped working. We couldn't see it the first time they kissed, because it was dark, and they haven't kissed since - but he's gonna turn into a complete tomato once they start openly being affectionate with each other.

It will take him a little bit to get used to the physical acts of love, but not as long as you'd think. Another personal headcanon is that he's not put off by touching, provided he knows the other person well enough. He's just...awkward about initiating anything. He wants the hug, but he doesn't know how to ask for it, so he'll just stare at his partner looking sad until they somehow gain the ability to read his thoughts.

Bc really, both the Reader and Viktor are still kind of babey in this fic. They're only nineteen. which when you get to be my age, is basically a tall child XD They still have more growing up to do, and i'm honestly contemplating continuing this fic for a while. Working up to their relationship, but then also showing the next couple years of their life. I will need to come up with ideas oof

[demonicintegrity]

Since Welcome Home just had a speedrun record for viral bullshit, lemme key y'all in on what today's creatives think about.

For context, I'm in art school. Everyone around me including myself all have some sort of personal project(s) we wanna publish one day/are working on currently. And those specific projects are meant to make money so it means reaching a wider set of people.

I have several professors touch on what our online portfolio and presence needs, and it's led into class discussions on balancing putting ourselves/our work out there and keeping privacy. On top of learning how to deal with predatory editors and safe pitching practices, my peers are strongly voicing their distaste for any sort of proximity with any fandom they could accomplish because of rampant parasocial behaviors.

I got a roommate who wants to write a graphic novel and part of it is a sorta commentary on tiktok stardom in particular. They explained some of it to us and we all agreed the only way it would ever work is if it never went viral and prayed tiktok never got its hands on it.

Back in my wannabe youtuber days I took a good study at youtubers and realize the best fanbases were on the smaller side and that were encouraged into a specific way of engaging. (Like coming together specifically to do analysis or specifically to discuss smth, etc.) By nature of what people were attracted to what content.

I got book ideas I simply will not go through with if I'm in a peak/going viral because I know people will not handle them well. They will be shelved for another time. I also need to clean out and update my half-abandoned youtube before I start buckling down on my artistic endeavors because I know how the internet is. Never mind the fact that I'm willingly kneecapping myself by refusing to interact with instagram and pulling away from using twitter professionally. I value my tumblr circle so fucking much because it's so not insane and more on the wavelength with my bullshit. And I'm holding onto this more than any How To Market With Social Media advice.

Said roommate who's super passionate about their graphic novel idea exploring fame and what not (which I really can't wait to see happen one day) took inspiration from whatever the fuck tiktok did with Penelope Scott that one time. They explained she had the perfect amount of space away from her presence and an amazing social media balance that couldn't have been better and yet still got drag through the mud. My understanding is that watching that happened made my roommate go "what if" and want to explore some more concepts regarding fame and parasocial relationships.

I'm lucky. I have had minor "popularity" in certain circles on Tumblr (apparently) and yet have never got too dragged into discourse. Especially considering I've been here since I was twelve. The worst I've gotten is from the sociopolitical side of things, some of y'all probably remember how terfs were up my ass that one time.

My point being: Artists who are aware and in the industry and these spheres right now are hyperaware of what their presence can do. Hyperaware that their social media doesn't get to be the luxury of just a fun thing but an extension of their work life. That combined with how even traditionally published authors are more expected to be their own marketing these days, we are much more aware and even prepared than the averaged hobbyist.

And that's partly why all art is such a miserable hobby right now.

Never mind gaming algorithms and playing the luck game to even get seen, never mind the cultural idea that art is just something to be consumed and tossed out like it's a disposable napkin, but the average person is not prepared to handle what happens when lots of people start interacting with you specifically for your work. The masses simply cannot get their act together, especially in a post-covid world.

And the solutions aren't simple. Largely because the only way this is going to get better is if the people consuming learn how to behave. And you and I both can assume how likely that's going to be. Truly, I think meaningful change starts with media literacy. Just learning how to critically think about a piece. But I don't even think that's being taught in public schools, let alone to the focus it needs to have.

If we want the masses to stop harassing people unfortunately we gotta hope they have the reading comprehension to understand what's being put out there. That way they don't come out of left field with a wild accusation.

I remember being in 8th grade reading The Taming of The Shrew and the teacher have exactly zero acknowledgement on the blatant abuse that was taking place. The most we got from the class or her was "dang they didn't like women back then. Wild how she changed after being with this guy for only a short bit. anyways." and move on.

(I remember ranting to my mom borderline horrified how no one else was acknowledging the blatant abuse and horror. And how I just knew some boy my age was gonna sit in that class and read it and not see what was wrong cuz it wasn't explained. No one wanted to put effort understanding Ye Olde Speech. My mom was sorta proud of me in that moment. Said she would've never thought about those sorta things and thought I'd make a good teacher.)

I watched a Ted Ed last quarter in my philosophy class about an after school program teaching porn literacy and sex ed. The person speaking was pleasantly surprised at what was coming from the students once they were interested and encouraged. She (and our class) were horrified realizing porn was the only sex ed most teens were getting.

But my point here being: Teens were not engaging critically, not knowing how to properly get something out of media without being explicitly taught and walked through how to do that. Even though they were actively trying to learn something and intake information, they don't know how. I know my English classes were mostly just "we read this now write a paper about this from the text. Cite your sources and explain yourselves." But even I didn't know what explain yourselves meant and I did great in English.

And now attention spans seem to be on the fritz and the mob mentality is more rabid than ever.

I love making art so much. But trying to put anything out there is gonna suck because now I have to pull out ten different formulas of how do I get a big enough audience to sustain me but also curate and attract people who wont approach this/me in bad faith. All while knowing my social media will immediately become an extension of my work life instead of the stuff I do for funsies.

[yournightowl]

Your Nightowl#013

i learned what a bastard is today. It was one hell of a rabbit hole.

These two jerks were arguing with each other- i don’t know why, it started, but with them its always something petty and dumb. (¬_¬")  The whole class was just watching them (me included) in a pretty bored way, cause we’ve seen this before and it never goes further than namecalling. But then jerk A called jerk B a Bastard, and the whole mood shifted. Everyone else in class sat a little straighter. Eyes started darting around, looking for an adult to come and intervene. Jerk B got real red and pale at the same time, and i could see veins on his forehead from across the room. i thought he  was gonna hit the other guy. ( o_o)

But then he just walked out real fast.

Bastard’s not exactly a common insult, but it isn’t rare either- and it’s really not that bad. i couldn’t understand why everyone was so static, but i knew it wasn’t right for me to just start asking. So i did what i usually do instead of engaging in the moment- i went and did some research.  (⌐▨_▨)

First, some context- jerk B wasn’t raised by his parents; they’re dead. His family took care of him (well literally he was taken care of by a swathe of maids and butlers and Ads and whatever, but you know what i mean). He never knew his parents, but its still a dick move to bring them up during an argument over something petty and dumb (and remember, with these two, It Is Always Petty and Dumb).

Second, some historical context- Bastard originally meant someone born to parents who were not wed to each other. Obviously, not something anyone gives a shit about today, but for most of our recorded history, it was.

The term also more generally means anything of questionable origin, like a bastardized copy, or an inferior version. It was also sometimes used to describe an illegitimate heir.

All of those definitions are relevant here.

People have been freezing their eggs for a long time now. It’s less common, but people freeze their sperm, too. And when people die, their gametes aren’t always destroyed. It’s incredibly rare, and widely frowned upon, but if you have the rights it is entirely legal to make a child from two people’s DNA without their consent. 

And it’s even possible to make a child from two people who are dead.

It’s possible…but why would you, right? There’s no shortage of DNA to go around. Why would you want the DNA of some dead person?

The answer to that depends a lot on how their will was set up.

Imagine your rich as hell aunt and uncle pass away. They never had kids of their own, so they give you a little something…and give the lion’s share away to charity. The story should end there- “Maybe i should’ve sucked up to them more while they were still kicking, oh well, i better move on,” but then you get a message from a biocorp. 

“Sorry for your loss, standard copy, standard copy… hey, we’ve still got your rich fam’s gametes in the freezer. Wanna make some money?”

So that’s what Jerk A was calling Jerk B- not an asshole, but a Bastard Heir. A designer baby cooked up by his screwed-in-the-head relatives after his parents had already died. A person born just so that their “guardians” could rob their parent’s graves. An illegitimate knock-off of what a child is supposed to be.

(O∆O), right?

Jerk B’s parents died when he was two, so the accusation is total bullshit. But i can understand why he got so mad. He’s probably not still sore about his parents deaths’, not after so long, and not when he doesn’t remember them. But it's nasty to imply that his family only cares for him because they can use him to control his parents fortune.

And that implication could actually be true.

wincing as i type,

Your nightowl

[alwastakenofc]

ITS TIMEEEEE !….

i finally got my student loans figured out (aside from this stupid ass $55 late fee apparently put on my account after they already started the transfer of the remaining loans to my bank…???????? idfk, i’m stressed abt that LOL but at least it’s not Thousands in the hole like it was before, it’s just $55 i need to pay…. PLS GIMMIE MY LOAN REFUND SO I CAN PAY THAT RLY QUICK AND BE DONE WITH THIS ALL FOR THE SEMESTER, EDUCATION GODS!!!) and i’m all enrolled!! AND !!! i have a professor from a couple years ago that was SO understanding and helpful when i was failing outta his and another professor’s class (bc my mom’s cancer was rly kicking in and i was her full time caregiver and doing Everything around the house) and im taking his class again!! im rly surprised bc i was Definitely in bad financial standing in 2022 when i failed out, but for some reason i can still get my financial aid and they couldn’t find any record of me being in bad financial standing??? and im just like, OKAY COOL WHATEVER!! IM NOT QUESTIONING IT BC I NEED ALL THE FINANCIAL AID I CAN GET FOR THESE LAST 2 SEMESTERS!!

( ・∇・)

so !!! anyways, i saw some video abt some girly vaping for 7 years and getting some mf holes in her lungs and that scares me as someone with mf asthma already LOL so i rly do wanna/need to quit vaping, but idk i feel like i might stick to it for this semester LMAO then after this semester i’ll be Done and will Quit during my japanese language semester bc i wanna be FULLY FOCUSED.

i also wanna quit wax/dabs again, i went on a lil bender of smoking weed for like 2 1/2 weeks Straight and built my tolerance right back up so that’s annoying. i want to be Sober during my classes/the weekdays and save smoking for the weekends. i will say i am glad i have been keeping drinking to the weekends as well but mannnnn my roomie and i had a massive drinking and gaming sesh like a week and a half ago and im tryna not drink like that again LMAO, i drank a little a couple days ago for the weekend but def not as much as when we drank together a week and a half ago LOL.

aaaaaannnnnyways yea i’m stressed abt going back to college and ESPECIALLY for my japanese classes LOL i rly gotta like relearn EVERYTHING and hope for the best within…. 4 months? it shouldn’t be TOOOOOOO bad, it’s mainly just the semester of japanese that i fucked up in 2022 that i gotta rly practice. just the whole of the genki 2 book i rly should commit myself to learn tbh. yea that’s prolly a good goal LOL. get them *words and kanji specifically* memorized; listening and speaking is easier for me i guess, it’s lit just remembering how to write and what is what when writing that is hard!!! 😭😭😭 ugh!!!! if anyone has any reccs for apps or books to help practice 2nd year japanese for university pls lmk, i got some apps (screenshots below) and like i said, the genki books, that i use rn!!

alrighty well, next up LMAO. i can’t mf WAAAIT to graduate bc i mf WANT TO GET A NICE JOB AND MOVE OUT ON MY OWN WITH MY KITTIES SO MF BADDDDDD ‼️😥🙂‍↕️ like im so nervous thinking abt it but then i also get so excited !!! and imma try to find smth to transfer to in japan maybe after working in a govt position for a couple years; i would wanna see if i could choose to work in a specific prefecture with my experience as a TESOL teacher (esp if i keep doing my online TESOL job like MWF or smth? keep building the experience for that while also building experience in a professional setting??? oooohhhhhhhhh?!?!?!) or if i could even work with a japanese or american business that’s stationed in a big city in japan as a correspondent???? idk that could be fun LOL but i dont have Business experience…. unless its some educational business, that could be interesting!?!?!?!? idk the possibilities are endlessssssss ugh. esp if after a couple years i can maybe take my remaining 2-3 classes i needed for my japanese minor and get the certificate for that eventually …???? OR i just go back to college and get a separate bachelor’s by majoring in japanese only???? LOL idk maybe japanese business idk that would be fun!!!! ok i have a lot of things to think abt now that ive started considering LMAO.

good stuff, okay! i’m done heheh, have a good one all 😋 see ya when the semester starts bc i’ll be rly stressed out i’m sure 😅

PS don’t mind duo laying there in the background of the screenshots, i haven’t rly used duo in a hot minute so the green bird is angy at me 🤓

[goodmorgan]

The Road Back to Valentine

Pairing: Arthur Morgan x Female Reader

Summary: Arthur Morgan tries to understand what happened to you when you come back to camp with a bloody fist.

Word Count: 1.6K

Warnings: 18+. Mentions of violence, blood and bruises. Hurt/comfort. Pre-smut. Established relationship. Reader is a little mean to Arthur but apologizes.

AO3 Link

A/N:  This is set in chapter 3 at Clemens Point.

"What the hell happened to you, woman?" You'd never seen Arthur Morgan this upset, his voice high-pitched, eyes bulging, incredulous at what he was seeing.

You have just gotten off your horse, finally back from Rhodes, and are in no mood to talk, adrenaline and anger flowing through you as you head to Pearson's wagon to fetch some ice. Arthur keeps blocking your way, trying to get you to talk to him, making you zigzag your way around camp to avoid him.

"Talk to me, goddamn it! I wanna know what happened!" He grabs you by the shoulders so you can't move. He looks at your hand, your knuckles bloody and swollen, still forming a fist. You had tried to clean some of the blood on your clothes so it looks like you have just butchered a deer. Your hair is a mess and you have some bruises on your cheeks. You look completely disheveled. He scans you from head to toe in search of any other injuries.

"Will you let go of me, or am I gonna have to sock you too?" You don't mean your words but you don't have the patience to explain yourself to him right now. He lets go of you with a stunned look, staring at a very different woman from the one he has come to know.

You came into the gang as an outsider, the opposite of an outlaw, upper class daughter of a wealthy man from Saint Denis, running away from her troubled past. You felt welcomed by the gang, for the most part, and have tried your best to assimilate, learning as much as possible and contributing in any way you can. Thanks to your high society connections, you were able to find out some valuable information that led to the gang's most successful train robbery yet. It took you some time to get accustomed to being around all the violence and so far you've stayed cleared of it. But now it looks like you've become all too familiar with their vicious ways.

It seems like it was just yesterday that Arthur took you out to teach you to hunt. You were squeamish throughout the whole thing, feeling sorry as you killed your first rabbit. "I'm sorry, Mr. Morgan, I'm just not used to such things" you told him, uncomfortable with having to cause pain to an innocent creature.

"That's alright, miss. I think it's best I hunt and you keep watch, ok?" he said, putting you out of your misery. After he had caught a deer, you went over to try to help him stow it on his horse and that's when you stole your first kiss from him. You've been inseparable since and he has tried his best to shield you from the brutality of an outlaw life. That remained true until the moment he saw you that with that bloody fist in your hand.

"You got any ice, Mr. Pearson?" you ask as you slowly open and close your fist, pain flashing in your knuckles.

"I'm afraid not, Miss Y/N. Haven't had ice for a few days now."

You walk away disappointed and head to the nearest shore in camp. You feel Arthur's eyes staring at the back of your head. You kneel down and submerge your fist on the cold lake water and you start to feel some relief, the blood diluting away from your skin. You open your fist and wash the knuckles thoroughly with your other hand. You're still hot from the rage burning inside you so you wash your face until you feel Arthur's presence again.

"You should use some of this cream to help it heal" he says as he crouches down, placing a little round container next to you. You can tell he is deeply concerned, more than willing to take care of you, but only if you let him. A few seconds pass before he gets the courage to speak again. "You feel like telling me what happened now?"

"No. I got into a fight and that's it." You reply curtly, which only makes him more worried.

"A fight? Where?" This is so unlike you.

"At the saloon."

"You got into a brawl?" His voice pitched again in astonishment.

"Yes, and I don't want to talk about it anymore so can you please drop it?" you say, still reeling from the anger. You regret it as soon as you look at him because he has the saddest eyes you've ever seen, feeling hurt from your scolding. He places a small kiss on your head and dashes back to camp before you can apologize. You rub the ointment on your hand feeling like a fool.

With a lump in your throat, you go back to your tent and change clothes, thinking how hard you're going to have to scrub your skirt to wash out the blood. Some of it isn't even yours. You look at yourself in the mirror and you recoil at the sight, finally understanding Arthur's concern. You sure have come a long way from those balls and banquets in Saint Denis. You rub some of Arthur's cream on the bruises and hope for the best.

The night is upon you when you decide to bite the bullet, so you head out to the campfire to find him. The fellas were in very high spirits because a singalong had broken out. You spot Arthur enjoying himself next to Charles and Hosea but he stops when he sees you approach, that concerned look on his face again. He gets up and heads to his tent. You pick up his cue and follow him with a relaxed hand and a cool head.

He sits on his cot watching you come in. "So, are you ready to talk about it or are you gonna bite my head off some more?" You close the tent flaps behind you.

You sit next to him and he grabs your hand, inspecting the knuckles closely. He's had enough experience with fistfights to know when to worry. When he's done, he lifts your hand up to his lips and plants the softest kiss on it. You feel terrible for driving him away before. "I'm real sorry, Arthur".

He goes to kiss you on the lips next and you flinch as they land on the cut of your upper lip. "So are you gonna tell me why you've come home looking like that?" He tries his best not to aggravate you. "You tell me who did this to you and I will put him in his grave!"

"If I tell you, you'll no longer think I'm a lady" you confess, scared of what he might think of this messy and bloody new you.

"Sweetheart, I haven't thought of you as a lady for a long time now" he drawls out, a stupid smile on his face. You can't help but smile too. He places his hand high on your inner thigh and squeezes, kindly reminding you: "Not since that night in Valentine, darlin'." Your heart races at his touch and the memory.

Finally at ease, you decide to tell him what happened, come what may.

"The truth is I went in for a drink at the saloon and somebody started talking about Sheriff Gray's new deputies in town. I thought it would be interesting to hear what they had to say about you, so I stayed". You see him staring at you with the most attentive eyes and you trip on your train of thought a little.

"Well, uh, yeah. I, uh, didn't hear anything interesting until someone mentioned you by name and it's this girl from the saloon, she gets all excited and starts talking about you, saying she's had you for breakfast and you've told her you boys are really oilmen and are gonna take her out west and make her rich. So I told her to stop running her goddamn mouth, blabbing about things that ain't true, but she kept insisting, saying she was your sweetheart and well, darling, I just had to punch her in the mouth." You take a breath. "And then her friends, or uh, colleagues, or whatever, start fighting with me to defend her and, well, I had to hit them too!"

Arthur stares at you in amazement, unsure of what to say at your confession, allowing you to finish: "After that, I guess some men in the bar broke up the fight. Last thing I know some fella put me on my horse and I came straight back to camp."

He finally reacts. "Sweetheart, you can't go around punching people!" You suddenly snicker at the outlaw telling you not to be violent. "That ain't like you!"

"They were telling crazy lies about you! I wasn't going to have it! I had to defend you!"

Arthur suddenly blushes at the thought of you defending his honor. "You can't go around town starting fights, darlin! I’m a man of the law now!" You can tell from his voice that he's a little proud that his woman came out swinging for her man. "I don't want you starting trouble over me again, you hear?"

"Or what? What are you gonna do, Mr. Deputy, are you gonna arrest me?" You cackle and flick the little deputy badge on his chest in contempt. He picks up your cue and gets that familiar twinkle in his eye, a smirk in the corner of his mouth.

"Well, I can think of at least one way of punishing you, little lady." He squeezes your inner thigh again and starts lifting your skirt with his other hand. You're quick to unbuckle his belt.

That night, like so many nights before, he leads you down the road back to Valentine.

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A/N: This is my first fic in a very long time but I felt inspired. I hope you enjoyed it! Feedback is very welcomed!