#i mean huge price but y’know

[jdmara]

bill hader get behind me

[jujumin-translates]

Event | the Rad Red | Epilogue: Longing Red

Tenma: …

Taichi: Ten-chan, c’mere~…

Taichi: Saved a spot for you over on the edge here…

Tenma: Sorry about that. Hey, what’s with your voice?

Taichi: I gave it my all singing at yesterday’s finale and kinda wrecked my voice~...

Tenma: Yeah, that’s inevitable if you do that…

Tenma: Here, try this, it's good on the throat. I carry it all the time.

Taichi: Huh~, honey? I’ll give it a try.

Taichi: …

Taichi: Hm? Huh?

Taichi: This really is good!

Tenma: Still doesn’t mean you should be pushing yourself too hard.

Taichi: Thanks for the pro tip, Ten-chan!

Tenma: The live music at the end of the Autumn Troupe play was really good. It really raised the quality of the show overall.

Tenma: It’s amazing that you were able to perfect the band to that level, and I think that you were only able to get the best out of it because you were the lead, Taichi.

Taichi: Ehehe, thanks!

Tenma: I went with the rest of Summer Troupe to see it and Yuki praised it too. Kazunari and Kumon were making a huge fuss while being all emotional over the whole thing.

Tenma: Muku said some of the band stuff reminded him of a guy from a shoujo manga and Misumi was completely fixated on the guitar picks being triangles.

Taichi: Ahaha! I’m glad you all liked it!

Tenma: It was different to see you with black hair instead of red hair, Taichi. But I don’t think it had anything to do with the difference in flashiness.

Tenma: It had more to do with seeing how amazing your presence was when you were leading the band with your passion for music.

Taichi: Ten-chan…

Taichi: (I’m glad that Ten-chan, of all people, recognized that.)

Taichi: (I used to just dye it from black to red to compete with Ten-chan when he was starring in all those drama shoots…)

Taichi: (I don’t need to do that anymore. Now it’s purely just my identity.)

Taichi: Have you ever wanted to change your hair color from what it is now, Ten-chan?

Tenma: My hair color?

Tenma: I’ve never really thought about it because I’m happy with the way it is now…

Tenma: But I’d change it to whatever color I’d need it to be for a role. That’s just an actor’s nature, y’know?

Taichi: …Yeah!

Taichi: (That’s right… I’ll keep dyeing my hair to be the “Taichi Nanao” I wanna be.)

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Azami: Wrapping up the play run at this place again, huh.

Omi: We came here for the 8th performance too, didn’t we?

Director: We’ve been coming here so often…

Banri: We’re like regulars, aren’t we?

Juza: Coulda gone to Zen-san’s restaurant…

Taichi: We get to eat a whole Manchu-Han Imperial Feast when we come here, so why wouldn’t we!

Rento: Well, s’not like we get Chinese food often so, I’m all for it.

Manager: That’s right~. Plus, we can eat here without worrying about the price and Furuichi-san’s gaze~.

Azami: Knew it was just because of the budget.

Sakyo: Just shut up and eat.

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Taichi: Are you gonna drink, Juza-san? I heard that the fruit wine here is really good~.

Juza: Nah, I shouldn’t, if I drink too much I’ll get drunk…

Taichi: It’ll be fine~!

Azami: Why are you trying to get him drunk?

Taichi: I wanna see the Juza-san who praises me for the performance!

Azami: You’re just greedy.

Rento: Uuuue… Truly a god of all gods! I’m in the presence of a god of arrangements!

Director: So this is what Rento-san is like when he’s drunk.

Omi: His baseline adoration had gone up to a whole other level.

Rento: How are you able to make arrangements like a god!?

Manager: Ahaha, they’re really not that good~.

Rento: You are THE god…!

Banri: Whatcha drinking, Sakyo-san?

Sakyo: Since we’re here, might as well try some Chinese alcohol.

Banri: Never heard of it before.

Sakyo: The alcohol content is high, so drink it in moderation.

Manager: Furuichi-saaan! Pleeeease listen to Kinozaki-kun about all my accomplishments! And please give me a raise!

Sakyo: Haah? Tch, I’m coming over by you now, don’t yell.

Banri: …Whoa, damn this is strong.

Taichi: Is it good, Ban-chan?

Banri: Hm? Ain’t bad.

Taichi: Whoa…

Banri: Don’t start askin’ me questions like you’re one of my relative’s kids or somethin’.

Taichi: Ahaha!

Taichi: I’m really glad we were able to make the best song ever for this. And it’s all thanks to you, Ban-chan.

Taichi: It was fun to hang out in the studio like that. It was like we were real teenagers in a band.

Banri: I really thought the lyrics you wrote were legit good, Taichi.

Banri: As for the play, I really liked the surprisingly subtle emotions you had.

Banri: When you played Daichi, I thought you had really detailed facial expressions when we faced each other on stage.

Banri: Even from a production standpoint, I loved seeing you take on the challenge of playing a role that was super different from your usual self.

Banri: I guess there’s just some roles that only you can play because of what you’ve been through.

Taichi: Hehe, I’m happy to hear that from you, Ban-chan~.

Rento: Y’all put on a great live and performance!

Rento: Not to mention that the godly arrangement, the melody, and the lyrics were all great! It’s a sound that y’all could’ve only created ‘cause of who you are now.

Taichi: Thanks!

Banri: I learned a little bit about composing from this, so maybe I’ll be able to look into it more with Rento-san for the next performance.

Rento: Lookin’ forward to it!

Rento: Ooh, you’re drinkin’ some good alcohol there. This one’s good too~.

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Juza: Fuu…

Omi: Did you drink too much?

Juza: Nah, but I ate too much.

Banri: Every time we come here, you always eat too many sesame dumplings.

Juza: Shut it. This time I had more annin tofu.

Banri: Pft… Hahahaha! So you had even more than usual. Fuckin’ dumbass. Hahaha!

Taichi: Ban-chan seems to be more giggly than usual.

Omi: He must be drunk.

Sakyo: As I figured, the Chinese alcohol was too strong for Settsu.

Taichi: This kind of Ban-chan is interesting too.

Director: Banri-kun has a high tolerance, so it’s rare to see him drunk.

Director: When you turn 20, you’ll be able to make a toast with Sakyo-san and the others who can drink, Taichi-kun.

Taichi: That’s true~... Man, I feel a little older just think~ing about it!

Director: Ahaha, is that so?

Taichi: When I first joined the troupe, Sakyo-nii seemed way more mature than me and also seemed more distant from me, but…

Taichi: My impression of him has changed since we’ve been on stage together a lot and gotten to know each other more.

Taichi: But there is one think that I’ve always admired about Sakyo-nii and the other Autumn Troupe members ever since the first performance.

Taichi: Everyone has their own passionate feelings inside that are burning like a bright red flame.

Taichi: The bright red color that I love so much is also the color that each and every Autumn Troupe member has.

Director: Red is the color of Autumn Troupe, huh? I guess it really is.

Director: (I’ve had this thought before, but Taichi-kun really is becoming a more and more wonderful young man by the day.)

Director: (I’m looking forward to seeing him grow up to be just as wonderful of an adult as he is now, with that same bright red hair.)

Taichi: I wonder if I’d be more popular if I became a man who looks hella fine drinking.

Director: I’m glad to see that same Taichi-kun-like way of thinking hasn’t changed at all.

Taichi: Popularity is one of my most important motivators after all!

[ ⇠ Previous Part ]

[24-05txt]

Please tell me more about "Wolf at the Door" and "Flock"?

I GOT YOU !!! (Wip ask game!!)

The first chapter of Wolf at the Door is posted here, although it's missing some content because of the word limit on that exchange (gaz content. The world mourns). I'll be adding it back when I FINALLY FUCKING FINISH THE SECOND CHAPTER—anyway. WatD is the "Ghost as a dog-shifter" AU where Soap discovers him on base, assumes he's a K-9 unit, THEN thinks he's a stray, then befriends the stray because he runs his big fat mouth, and ONLY THINKS the dog is incredibly weird when it follows them to the next base too. He does eventually find out that it's Ghost. First work has 3 chapters planned and as a series I'm thinking at least 2 works because I can't fit in everything i WANT to and have it be plot-relavant.

I am having a lot of fun with it so far though because I'm thinking of Soap (at least the way I'm writing him here) as 'Apprehensive' of canines so he's like "this huge fucking beast. Glowing eyes and sharp glinting teeth. It could kill me I could die it would shred me apart" and Gaz who's hearing most of this second hand is like "pubby :)"

Anyway here's a snippet from my document-of-upcoming-scenes-that-are-unattached-at-the-moment. Also he names ghost-as-a-dog Spoon. :)

(I also talk about "Flock" under the cut)

Probably chapter three: post 'reveal'

---

“How long have you known?”

Someone must be feeling especially merciful for Ghost to have broken the silence first. (Actually, Soap figures it’s the fact he’s accidentally gone and let himself into Ghost’s personal life, via the whole ‘I occasionally turn into a giant fuck-off dog’ thing, but he’ll take what he can get.)

“Och, I dinnae ken,” he sighs a little and leans against the door, looking out the window. “Not when you scared the daylights out of me at ass-o’clock, sometime after I started callin’ ya ‘Spoon’,” Johnny has it in himself to be a little embarrassed, and he scratches at his slowly warming cheek. “...s’pose sayin’ I knew was a bit of a stretch, but I’m not exactly surprised, y’know?” He hears creaking leather and risks a look at Ghost, who’s looking at the road. 

“...Price didn’t tell you?” It comes out slow; low, and dangerous in the way that Johnny has learned means they’re in the territory of emotional landmines. He treads carefully, hides the vindication at his suspicions of Price confirmed, and focuses on his honesty.

“No. Went to go ask him about K-9 units too, the first time I saw you. Didn’t tell me shit, just seemed to think it was some kinda joke.” He watches Ghost’s hands relax on the wheel and feels a little tension leave his own shoulders. “...Sorry about all the nonsense, sir,” he mutters, referring to…well, to the whole bit; the patting, the baby-talk, the names, the collar. Steaming Jesus. It was one thing to not be surprised, but having it confirmed still leaves Soap confronting some of his own actions with Ghost-as-a-dog, it leaves him with an emotion somewhere between giddy delight and chagrin. Feeling like a bit of a kicked puppy himself.

Ghost shakes his head silently in response, but that doesn’t really mean anything to Soap. That gesture could be anywhere from ‘I don’t mind’ to ‘just drop it’ or even ‘you confound me with your whole fucking existance, MacTavish’, which—none of those options are life-endingly horrible, but he still needs to know which it is.

So he pushes, of course he does.

“I mean it. Not being sure it was you doesn’t excuse it if you didn’t like it, ‘n I can stop if it bothers you.” Silence from the driver’s side. Ghost doesn’t so much as twitch. “I can get the others to stop too, get ‘em to leave you alone so you can go back to whatever you were doin’ before—”

“No.” The interruption is abrupt, but not with any particular emotion that Soap can recognize. “It’s alright. I…” Ghost trails off, adjusts his grip on the steering wheel, clears his throat. “It’s nice.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“Well. That’s good then.”

Ghost puffs out a heavy sigh, “...Yeah.”

Johnny is trying to find something to say, but has kind of been blindsided by the fact that Ghost thinks it’s nice. He likes how he’s been treated as Spoon. In the same way that he wasn’t surprised to find out that Ghost was the dog in the first place, he’s also not surprised to find out that Ghost likes being scratched behind the ears—it’s just that now he knows. He can be fully aware that Ghost had every opportunity and reason to maul one of them for treating him like a common household animal and didn’t, but it’s another thing entirely for Ghost to tell him outright.

It’s a lot to think about, a lot to reconcile. He notices that Ghost is hunched defensively over the wheel at around the same time Soap notices he’s been staring at his poor lieutenant for an unknown number of seconds. 

“Would you…” Soap actually takes a moment to think about what he’s about to say. “Would you like a scratch behind the ears, sir?”

---

Cliffhanger because I'm a kind and benevolent writer. How does Ghost react? Tune in for when I chew up and shred the second chapter, then post the third one like I'm tossing it out the car window <3

ANYWAY FLOCK!!! Flock is a wings au one-shot that's just. It's just fluff, a la Figure Study yk? There are probably specific amenities for Ppl w wings (who I am literally calling 'birds' in the fic. Probably not the PC term but I doubt two army dudes are gonna care much if they're just talking about eachother) in shower rooms/maybe separate rooms entirely (bc could you imagine showering and minding ur own business and then get swatted by a wing bc the guy next to you is tryna clean his wing. No bueno). That base concept down its post-mission, they're getting cleaned up, Soap fucked his shoulder so Ghost helps him preen, Soap isn't a chump and returns the favor but it's been 50 million years since Ghost was gently caressed by the human hand and after having at least One emotion about it this fucker passes out like an old man in front of the TV. Then Soap gets to go "OK grandpa lets get you to bed" and tuck him in. (I am the CEO of naptime. It is me.)

The fic is like—like I basically wrote it, it's practically written... had I not changed my mind twice back and forth about the setting. It's in desperate need of editing because right now they're just in some amorphous hotel room that MIGHT be vaguely pool-like or might not be pool-like at all or MAYBE they're not even in a hotel. Is it in Chicago post-hassan? Is it just Some Mission? What needs to happen is I need to make up my mind.

Anyway here's a snippet!

---

Ghost climbs onto the seat and crosses his arms, almost folding in half when he leans down to rest his elbows against the counter. After a beat, his wings loosen some from their typical tight fold, and Soap's mouth actually waters a little bit at the thought of how they'll look spread to full span.

He can't be blamed, Ghost has gorgeous wings and hasn't stretched them once since removing the matte-black. Soap already knows they're massive; even folded up they promise an intimidating size, just like the rest of him, and—wow. Soap should stop this train of thought. He steps up, directly behind Ghost, who turns to glance over his shoulders. His eyes are sharp, calculating. Soap feels seen. So he says the first thing that comes to mind.

"I broke my left wing once. Have I ever told you that story?"

"...Only once?"

"Piss off," Soap mutters, no real heat behind it since he's a little busy trying to find a safe place to put his hands first. Right on the wing seems a little too bold. "It was during basic, actually, we were climbing—I'm gonna touch the back of your neck—we were climbing one of those giant rock-walls—" he places his palm on the warm skin of Ghost's neck, blathering all the while about this stupid story from years ago that he only tells when he needs to defuse a tense situation. When Ghost doesn't tense any further, Soap slowly slides his hand into the downy feathers between his scapulars.

That gets a reaction; Ghost's wings draw inward, tense like a bowstring ready to fire. Soap can feel follicles rising under his hand as feathers puff up—for a moment, he actually expects Ghost to try and physically shake him off. Soap waits, rubs small arcs with his thumb, keeps his mouth running for background noise. When Ghost doesn't pull away, he slowly, carefully, pets through the soft plumage, soothing the irritation with his fingers.

He's off on another tangent by the time it feels safe enough to bring his other hand into play. His fingers are quickly coated in oil from compulsively sliding over the hidden line of Ghost's spine—tense in a way that Soap desperately wants to smooth with a firmer touch, but that would be far, far too much. Smartly, he sticks with picking out grains of sand, dirt, or powder and tiny, loose feathers.

(Occasionally, he thinks he hears Ghost make a noise, something quiet and vulnerable, but he drowns it with the sound of his own voice to save the both of them from having to address it.)

When Soap deems that section complete, it's bright and glossy and only serves to highlight how much trouble Simon must have been having, trying to keep up with his wings on his own for however long. From a polite distance, with his wings folded in and without being familiar enough with him to know what they're supposed to look like, they seem fine; perhaps a little ragged, but rarely are army wings anything less. Soap doesn't know what Simon's wings are supposed to look like, but now he's starting to get an idea.

He says, "I never knew why he had it out for me so bad. I'd think it was the wings—that's what usually gets people—" as he slides both hands over Ghost's wing, one stopping on his elbow, the other coming to rest just above his wrist. He presses up on the elbow, down on the wrist, and has a split second to realize that may have not been the move.

Then Ghost full-body twitches in an aborted flap that sends his wing to John's face, which makes John grip harder, pressing into Ghost's shoulder, instinctually trying to hold him down to keep from getting his nose bruised. Ghost's other wing flares out, scattering water as he twists around to face Soap.

They both freeze. Ghost is breathing hard. His wide, brown eyes bore straight into Soap's skull. At the look on his face, John quickly drops one of his hands and moves the other to Ghost's back again, fingers sinking down into his feathers, trying to comfort.

"Sorry! Sorry," Soap says as soon as he's taken a breath again. "Was tryin' ta stretch yer wing out, just habit to do it myself—"

"It's fine." The rawness of Ghost's voice surprises them both. He clears his throat, and it sounds a little more convincing when he speaks again. "It's fine. Just—"

The wing John wasn't trying to get to ended up stretched out over the damp concrete of the bathing room, so there's a moment of awkward shifting while Ghost gets it back into the water and turns his back to John again. John is almost too mesmerized by the feeling of muscles shifting under his hand to notice the gesture. (Keyword: almost. Something in him still eases when Simon is willing to have him out of immediate line of sight.)

"Keep going. You don't know why he had it out for you...?" A clear prompt, and Ghost sounds almost normal, so John carefully lifts his other hand, trails them both through the down of Ghost's mantle.

"Uh... Yeah, no clue why he had it out for me, I thought it was the wings but he was sweet on the other bird we had—"

Trying to move someone's wing for them is a little bold, he'll admit. But it was a habit—most of his other partners are perfectly content to sit back and relax while he takes care of their feathers, and he was much the same. Ghost wasn't going to be the same; he'd known that, but clearly hadn't been paying enough attention if he made such a stupid mistake. Both of his wings are drawn tight again, and Soap's own twitch closer to mirror the posture.

Trying to be more conscious of what his hands are doing, he starts moving from the mantle and into the edge of Ghost's scapulars, taking his sweet time working his way out toward the rest of the wing.

Ghost takes easier to this approach; slowly, Soap feels muscles loosen, and while he's straightening Ghost's tertials, his wing unfurls a little further.

Soap gets down the rest of his wing that way, with it slowly stretching outward until Soap is combing through his primaries. He stopped talking some time ago, he's not sure when. He's not sure when Ghost dropped his face into his crossed arms either, but sure enough, he's half-laying on the concrete, hunched over the lip of the pool, and his mask is shoved into the crook of his elbow.

He's also not sure when Ghost started trembling, but he is. Soap can hardly tell except for when he's got his fingers pressed against the convulsing muscles and the tips of Ghost's primaries are shaking even when Soap isn't touching them. He stays where he is for a moment, drawing his fingers down over the same spot, carefully watching Ghost's head as if he might catch a peek of an expression.

It's a hopeless endeavor, and he doesn't stop shaking.

---

Get that man a fucking hug. Stat.

ANYWAY those are the things ✨️ I hope you enjoyed:>

[mydollsaregay]

Sooooo…. I ordered some stuff from a chinese gray market seller on eBay. The items arrived today.

I know this is sort of a moral grey area, considering we don’t know exactly why these items are being sold new for such steep discounts, but I decided to give it a try. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It was completely uneventful. Shipping took a little bit, but was shorter than I expected (only a couple of weeks). All the items are in relatively good shape - Melody’s hat is a bit dented and some items have slight flaws in their painting (like. barely noticeable), but, considering the price (and how far the items traveled in shipping), there’s nothing to really complain about. Everything is exactly as described and pictured. I spent just under 30 dollars for everything pictured, and shipping was free. 😄

I got some of Melody’s accessories and also her stuffed elephant. I’m not a huge fan of her meet accessories overall (they’re cute, but the pin is the only piece that I really love), but I felt bad that she didn’t have any of her accessories, especially since I really enjoy her meet outfit which matches them. 😆Buying from a seller like this is pretty much the only way I would be able to buy these items for what they are worth to me. (I just don’t really tend to give my dolls hats, sunglasses, OR handheld purses on the regular lol) I also got her little stuffed elephant because. I mean come on. It’s just so stinking cute. 🤩

I also got (most of) nanea’s accessories. I actually really like all her accessories, even the pieces I couldn’t get, but I think the prices AG charges for accessories these days are just, like, unnecessarily high, so I avoid paying retail when I can. 😅 I got all the items in the picture for about five bucks, and the items left out are simply not worth the difference in price to me.

Along with the accessory sets, which were mainly what I was ordering for, I also got a few more fun items. First, I got addy’s necklace - I just put it on her and it’s so cute! I also got an off brand outfit that I thought was cute, along with some crocs that are branded Our Generation. I’m excited about these as well as the accessories, but they also played the important role of getting me over the free shipping line lol

Overall, experience was a 10/10. I wouldn’t necessarily… recommend it? because it does seem fishy. but I also wouldn’t NOT recommend it, y’know.

[zhongster]

Loudest burpers for genshin impact? 👀

I did my top five :)

THIS IS KINK CONTENT, DON’T READ IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT

5.

Ayato Kamisato

Despite being the aristocratic head of the Kamisato clan I firmly believe that Ayato can let out some absolute monsters. He’s got that cheeky side to his personality that’s always feeding Thoma weird shit. I think that this aspect of his personality also allows for significant belching talent. He definitely doesn’t burp around regular citizens and especially not important VIP’s but Thoma and Ayaka are fair game. They’ve heard him burp so many times they’re definitely used to it by now. I think his burps tend to be more on the wet side and slightly gurgly because of all the boba he drinks. They tend to come up in short but super loud bursts so they always make whoever he’s with jump. (Thoma or Ayaka) Ayato most definitely gets a kick out of accidentally (or sometimes intentionally) scaring people with his burps.

4.

Beidou

Beidou’s a pirate captain who chugs in her idle animation every few seconds. I mean come on she has to have massively disproportionate belches. I feel like she can definitely out belch the entire rest of the crux fleet. She also definitely delights in grossing Ningguang out with her burps. Her burps are super long and really loud the whole time. I’d say they’re very very steady from start to finish, well formed y’know. She’s also most definitely not the type to be embarrassed or apologetic after she burps at all. She’d either laugh heartily or pound her chest with her fist to force out another one. Kazuha was absolutely shocked the first time he heard famous Captain Beidou burp. Ningguang on the other hand wasn’t surprised at all.

3.

Diluc Ragnvindr

I might be a little bit biased putting him this high on the list but oh well, he’s here anyway. I think Diluc has himself a hidden talent. He’d absolutely never tell anyone of his own free will but Diluc can buuuuuuuurp. I feel like he and Kaeya used to get into burping contests as a kid so he’s had years to hone his talent. He used to beat Kaeya every time when they were young, he honestly just has a natural aptitude for it. I hc that he actually didn’t burp very much when he was young but at some point he decided he wanted to teach himself how to burp on command and once he finally got that down the proverbial floodgates opened and he started burping naturally all the time. Crepus used to scold him for it lol. “Diluc, we say excuse me when we belch… I’ve told you this.” Nowadays he refuses to burp in front of anyone and he actually has pretty good control over his gas so it’s rare to actually hear him burp. The only people that have heard him burp as an adult are Kaeya, Adelinde, and Elzer to which he immediately excused himself with pink cheeks.

2.

Arataki Itto

This one’s relatively obvious. Itto’s big, he’s loud, he’s obnoxious, he’s gotta have massive burps. And out of all the characters on this list he’s the MOST shameless. Itto derives so much joy from his own belches it’s absolutely hilarious. He instigates way too many burping contests between the other members of the Arataki gang and of course he wins every time. But his wins usually come at the price of getting smacked upside the head by Shinobu for being gross. His burps are actually so huge. They’re long, clear, loud, and very well formed. He’s managed to goad Shinobu into one (1) burping contest ever and she very soundly beat all of the other members of the Arataki gang. Despite being able to easily beat her, Itto temporarily relinquished his crown to her, he was just that impressed. Ask her about it now though and she’ll firmly deny it ever happened. Itto brings it up way too often for her comfort. Itto’s also really good at burping on command. He can pretty much force a belch at any given moment. Bro’s talented.

1.

Zhongli/Morax/Rex Lapis

I’m sure absolutely nobody’s surprised by this one. I’m a rockslide-belch Zhongli truther. Honestly i feel like it just works so well if his belches actually resemble rockslides and/or earthquakes y’know the whole “Geo God” thing. He absolutely hates it of course. I’ve touched on him a few times (bc i love him <3) but i think he has a really hard time controlling his gas because he isn’t used to having a human body. So he hasn’t had the years of practice most people have in regulating their digestive systems. Childe and Hu Tao absolutely never let him live it down. A huge belch will often slip out of him with zero warning and he’ll put a hand to his chest and go “Goodness where did that come from, do pardon me.”

[ness-plays-wizards]

Caesar Route Chapter 12 (6-10)

Last time on the Caesar Route, everybody got very close to finally finding the Star Sapphire, and then Caesar died.

Nevermind, he just turned into a pig, I guess. Wait, who the hell did he kiss? Apparently nobody, according to the narration.

I guess this is supposed to clue us into Caesar becoming only an animal, not a human inside an animal, but I guess the route forgor that Liz’s special ability is literally talking to animals.

Nevermind, it looks like the route did not forgor, although it doesn’t really make sense for her to not understand Caesar just because she’s only at half magic power. From my understanding, she could just... do that. Idk, guess it’s weird for me to expect magic to act like anything less than what is convenient for the plot, y’know?

Slight tangent here, okay, but why the fuck is Lucious in all these CGs? Like, is it the fucking Lucious route? Wait your turn, budders. I swear, all these new routes just include fucking whoever in their CGs. Remember that one where Hiro was straddling Caesar and Liz was in the corner like she was the live slug reaction?

Ah, simpler times.

Anyway Lucious drops some previously unmentioned Baroque lore in that the curse slowly turns Baroques into pigs permanently and their spirit gets trapped in the Labyrinth, so I guess we just found out who all the shadows are. 

Idk man this still just makes you look like a huge asshole since you didn’t help a guy who was going to turn into a literal pig just because he didn’t tell anybody about that stipulation of the curse. 

It honestly seems like the least harmless of Caesar’s lies. Sure, it’ll hurt people emotionally and it was kind of a dick move to keep it from Liz, since he claimed he was in love with her, but considering his whole thing with Zett, it’s hardly the most dangerous lie in the mix.

So that’s the big twist of the route, I guess. Woo.

(we still have three more segments of this chapter to go)

Liz starts crying and realizes she’s in love with Caesar because reasons. She kisses the pig’s snout, but surprise! Nothing happens.

WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE? And what the hell is everyone else doing? Are they just sitting there, watching this, without saying a single thing??

Then Zett of all people fucking shows up, claiming he can do something to help Caesar and Liz just,,,,, believes him. Without even asking questions. I mean I get it’s a dire situation, but geez..

Zett uses the Potion of Plot Convenience to somehow undo everything that just happened to Caesar and return him to human form. Liz is at first relieved to see him back to human form, then is pissed over everything he kept from her, and rightfully so tbh!

Zett gets butthurt over not getting any gratitude or attention, at which point Caesar thanks him and Zeus finally remembers how to open his mouth again (oh well, it was fun while it lasted), and everyone remembers that Zett is supposed to be imprisoned right now, which means he broke out.

Zett casually mentions that he let himself be caught (mmHM) and that it was all part of the plan. Mischa suggests that Caesar stop fucking lying, and he agrees.

Before I end today’s segment, I just want to take a moment to talk about some stuff. I know that I’m harping on Caesar a lot this route for some of his less than stellar choices, and I’ve been getting on Lucious’s case a lot, and Hugo’s bullshit is really ambiguous, and also Shithead (no other words are needed for that one). But I want to briefly talk about the main villain of these past few routes: the Day King. 

Like okay, your daughter falls in love with some dude you don’t really like. Whatevs. It’s a fictional dad rite of passage. It’s gonna happen to all of you. And I’m sure your response to it is totally normal and healthy. Oh wait, no it wasn’t. It was to throw him into a magical labyrinth and curse him to be trapped there for all eternity. And do you pay the price for that? No, of course not, the entire price had to be paid by all the descendants of the noble house that either helped you or you stole their magic, or whatever the arrangement was, because it feels like the wording keeping changing.

Anyway, fuck the Day King, all my homies hate the Day King.

Queued for June 22

[thessalian]

Thess vs Things That Aren’t Helping

The heat wave is back. Not quite as bad as it was last month, but bad enough. We’re looking at highs in the region of 32 celcius (or about 90 farenheit) for about four days, and we’ve already been edging into that territory for the last couple.

WE ARE INTO THE SECOND WEEK OF AUGUST. IT’S SUPPOSED TO BE COOLING DOWN.

Oh, and of course we’re looking at drought. Apparently nobody really wants to do a proper hosepipe ban because the government have put that in the hands of the water companies and the water companies don’t want to lose the lovely rising numbers on the water meters of the country. But we are getting some hints and tips about how to conserve water in this trying time.

I should flag up right now that absolutely none of them are appropriate for England as it currently stands.

“Use the water you boil in cooking to water your plants!” Great, except an awful lot of people are actually avoiding boiling anything right now except for maybe the kettle because of the rapidly increasing energy prices.

“Use dry shampoo!” Not everyone can, and that shit is expensive. Please recall inflation. You can buy cheap 2-in-1 shampoo/conditioner for like a quid; you cannot do that with dry shampoo.

“Do less laundry! Surely if you just air out and spritz your clothes with Febreeze, it’ll be fine for another few days’ wear!” HEAT. WAVE. People are sweating like crazy. No, ‘airing it out and spritzing it a bit‘ will not be fine unless you want to cause some seriously olfactory offense.

“If it’s yellow, let it mellow!” Yes, they did actually say this as regards not flushing the toilet every time.

I’ve seen some places suggest hand-washing some of your clothes (the kind of thing you really can’t just spritz, like underwear) in the shower while you’re washing yourself and I’m just like ... how are you not actually blowing more water, unless you decide to wash the underpants you wore the night before in the shower each and every morning? Who the fuck has time for that if they’re on their way to work? Shorter showers? Again, heat wave. People are sweaty and gross and washing is required.

The worst part about all of this is that most of this water shortage is not the fault of the heat wave. It’s not helping, I agree, but things started going to shit with the water companies when ... well, when they became water companies instead of a nationalised body. But when Thatcher privatised everything, the water companies broke up the assets and ran things for profit - which meant raising prices and cutting corners. This means that we haven’t had any new reservoirs built since the fucking 80s. If we had more reservoirs, we’d have more water collected to get through times like this. Also, frankly, the pipes are shit and it takes them days if not weeks to even looking at a leak, let alone fixing it. I remember Thames Water was digging up the road where I generally pick up my bus to replace some pipes, and then it leaked again just a few months later, and then again a few months after that. There’s one spot at the end of my road - well-trafficked spot, which is used by multiple buses and which causes huge disrpution whenever it’s shut down - where there’s a broken pipe at least once a year. But the CEOs are getting huge bonuses and I guess at least the shareholders are happy.

So that’s basically the backdrop to things in this entire fucking country. We’ve got two jackasses vying for the Conservative leadership trying to outdo each other for which one’s going to screw us hardest if they come to power, and that’s a winning strategy for them because we’re not voting in this. Maybe 160k old wealthy white men, most of whom don’t even live in this country any more, are going to vote in the one who will best protect both their wealth and their delicate sensibilities about stuff like ... y’know, racism, sexism, transphobia, homophobia, stuff like that. Apparently people who won’t support their right to indulge in those mindsets without consequences need not apply as leaders of the country (which is a goodly part of why Sunak isn’t going to win, even if no one will ever admit it).

So nothing at all’s going to happen beyond inflation going through the roof for the next four weeks ... and then all hell’s going to break loose. And I figure the Conservatives are just smart enough to hold off on calling a general election until the Voting Bill comes into effect properly and they oblige everyone to have photo ID to vote. They’re not very forthcoming about how to apply for the Voter Card that they’re obliged to offer everyone, either. And oddly, senior rail cards and such are considered valid ID whereas student ones are not, ruling out one bit of free photo ID for the young and not for the old. And even if people can afford passports at this point, the passport office is such a mess that it can take months to get one, and that’s just renewal.

Voter suppression that no one talks about. Restriction of right to protest that no one talks about. At least one of those in the running for the Tory leadership talking about adding “people who vilify to the UK” to what is effectively the terrorist watch list. All of these make sense, I suppose, when the cost of living is going insane and all the government talks about doing is “corporate tax cuts to encourage growth” and never mind how many people are going to fucking starve.

I’m thinking of starting a pool - is this place going to kill me, arrest me, or deport me?

[dumbfinntales]

I got myself couple a games on the steam summer sale, both pretty cheap so I only spent 11 euros. Not a bad price, eh? The first game I got was Slay the Spire. A rogue-lite card game where you climb a tower and duel enemies and get more cards. You unlock new cards and characters as you go and it’s a fun time all around.

I’m not a huge fan of card games in general, but Slay the Spire seemed like a fun romp that you don’t really need to dedicate a lot of time to. By that I mean you can play it like one run a day, or one run once in a while. While these card games are pretty fun they don’t really hold my interest for more than a couple failed attempts, or one won run. It doesn’t have that “one more try” feel to it, y’know?

The other game I got is called Halls of Torment. Very similar to a breakout hit game “Vampire Survivors”, and it seems a lot of indies mimicking that style are cropping up. Halls of Torment is no different, except it has the aesthetic of an old PC game like Diablo 2 and has more RPG-like elements which I dig. I’ve only tried one run and I can already see that it can get really addicting.

[larathia]

Chapter 84: Analysis

Behind a cut because SO MUCH TO SAY HERE. And also you should have the option of opting out, right? Right.

* Let’s start with the well. I think the presence of the well confirms beyond doubt that the Red House was first owned by the Yugi family, since Tsukasa first encountered the Entity under the house and the construction of the well is very old. 

I posit that the Red House was built probably in the early 1950s and the Yugi family may well have been the first owners, since the troubles started with them and continued to all subsequent owners of the house until it burned down. But I will concede it could be at least somewhat older than that (I doubt the house predates 1945, though, the war damage was kind of A Lot).

* The order of the jump! I think it pretty solidly shows that Yashiro isn’t the only one Teru doesn’t trust right now. He made sure Akane went down first (as the half supernatural, if his guess was wrong, Akane is from Teru’s perspective the most sacrificable) and then Kou and Nene, which basically kept them in front of him and in sight at all times. 

* The hand! OMG. THE HAND. We learned a few valuable things here. 

1) The ‘eat a supernatural to become one’ is probably the method that Natsuhiko told Kou about, judging by the surprised/kinda guilty look on Kou’s face when Teru brings up that yeah he totally knows about this.

2) This means that Tsukasa’s advice/command to Mitsuba way back in the Hell of Mirrors arc actually applies universally - you eat a supernatural to become one, and then eat stronger supernaturals to become stronger yourself. I absolutely think this will be handy to know later.

* The Boundaries are unstable and falling apart as a result of the Severance. We now have a pretty good idea why One was saying that Six’s methods are ‘extreme’. If Hanako is going to take the fall for this (and let’s be fair, he probably should since he is the reason that Two, Four, and Five were unseated) it’s not going to be a small slap on the wrist affair. Hanako’s choices have severely shaken the supernatural world. I fully expect that to come up repeatedly as time passes.

* Aoi and Hanako. Look, I know everyone really wants to say these two are now totally friends, but let’s be real here. They’re not. She isn’t aware of either of his names, referring to him as ‘Lord No. 7′ throughout the chapter - which is how Six described him. And Hanako, for his part, really does not want to get too close to Aoi. He doesn’t WANT to answer her question about Nene, and when the train jerks to a halt this normally pretty clingy ghost only holds Aoi enough to steady her. He also wears what I tend to think of as his ‘doll face’ when he talks to her.

Eh, I should explain. The face/posture like this: 

Where he’s smiling, but there’s a kind of angle to his head and posture, like you’d get if you sat a doll on a shelf. He smiles a lot in this chapter, but for the most part that smile is the General Hanako Attitude and not the kind he shows when it’s genuine feeling. I’d be willing to wager that throughout this chapter, Hanako’s looking at all the chaos and carnage and thinking “oh, shit. I did this? Oh, shit. This is gonna suck.”

But he’s an opportunist. He’s always an opportunist. And Aoi....what he knows of Aoi is that Nene cares about Aoi, and confided in Aoi as much as she could given the weirdness level of her life, and that Nene absolutely does not want her life extended at the price of Aoi’s. That’s probably enough right there to convince him to at least take a closer look at Aoi. And see that she gets to the far shore and doesn’t disappear, which at present seem to be Hanako’s only options.

He also knows that Aoi is Akane’s huge weak spot and that Akane is both half supernatural and probably REALLY NOT HAPPY WITH HIM. So, y’know. It’s kindness, but kindness with an eye to possible future problems, too.

And what about Aoi?

Aoi knows nothing about this world. And very little about what she herself wants; when she asks herself if she’s going to disappear, it’s worth noting that she’s very fatalistic at first. She doesn’t act like disappearing would be a bad thing. It’s entirely possible that Hanako saved her not because she wanted to live, but because here before her is at least one possible source of answers to a LOT OF QUESTIONS that she has. Remember that Aoi is at the very least the second-smartest person in this entire setting, and may well be the smartest. She only recently learned the supernatural world existed. And then quickly, from Nene’s descriptions, realized Hanako was the guy her friend had been talking about all this time. And from Six, she knows Hanako at least had considerable power/authority.  He’s someone she WANTS to follow, and get answers from. 

And she is so, so smart. Just as Hanako spends this chapter sizing her up and considering her usefulness to him (as an ally, or possibly a hostage) she is in turn sizing him up - and she’s good at people in a way he really isn’t. She worked out that the way to get him to open up was to talk about herself first - and use their mutual friend Nene as her lever. And it worked! 

* Stopping the train. It stands to reason that Teru, at least, has no intention of never returning to the mortal world - ergo, the train damn well better stop. One assumes Teru has some idea for getting everyone back to the mortal world, but it’s looking really likely that he and Akane will find Hanako with Aoi and shit will hit fans.

* Things I wonder. Where’s Tsukasa? Is he on this train too? Would he really have left on an earlier one? (I kinda doubt it myself.) Will Aoi stop Akane from hurting Hanako? Would she even if Akane accuses Hanako of being the cause of her death? Will Nene and Aoi get a chance to talk or will it go straight to the fight?

[kokichixreaderthings]

Kokichi and his s/o during Christmas??

Kokichi and his s/o during Christmas! <3

yes!! posting this when christmas day is a few hours away for me!!💚❤️i hope everyone who celebrates has a wonderful christmas!!!✨✨✨

christmas is kinda fun for kokichi!

his favorite part is how over the top he can be with it!!

like for example, he really likes the whole extravagant part of decorating

he’s the supreme leader after all!!

there’s no way he could just hang up just a few decorations at D.I.C.E. headquarters

no, the whole place is fully decorated

like fully, fully decorated

mistletoe at every single doorway, lights on every wall, christmas trees in every room, a life sized rudolph the reindeer-

and he did it all himself too! as the supreme leader of D.I.C.E. he appoints it as his responsibility

when he shows you, its pretty surprising that there was so much effort put in

“sooooo, my beloved, what do you think?” 

he has such a huge grin on his face, he’s so proud of his own excessive decorating-

it’s so cute, make sure to compliment him!!

he’d never genuinely tell you that he actually wants compliments though

and if you want him to decorate your room too, he’ll totally do it!

“of course y/n! buuuut you’ll have to pay me a preeettty big price...lots and lots of cuddles, okay? nishishi!”

and he’s also definitely the type to play christmas music wayyyyyy too early

just to annoy people!

like it turns september 1 and he starts playing music because...

“heyyyy i’m just getting ready for the christmas season!! i need tons of time to prepare for the preparation of the season!”

that’s your boyfriend, the one that starts celebrating christmas in september :)

also as mentioned, he likes putting mistletoes in a lot of places....

he really hopes you’ll end up under one of them with him

like yeaaa he can kiss you at any time he wants because you two are dating but...

it’s wayy more fun under a mistletoe!!

he loves having an excuse to kiss you and he loves teasing you too!

“nishishi! i guess we have to kiss now! it’s the law to kiss under a mistletoe y’know?”

it’s usually just quick kisses but sometimes if you two are alone, the kisses are longer and more passionate

“i..really do love kissing you, beloved. and that’s not a lie.”

and on Christmas day, he hangs a mistletoe over you two as soon as he sees you!

“ooh, looks like you gotta kiss me again!”

and he wants you to be with D.I.C.E. during Christmas!

D.I.C.E. means a lot to him and you mean a lot to him so of course he wants you to come!

“pweety pwease spend Christmas with me? it’ll be sooooo fun!!”

but if you have to visit your family and stuff, he’s okay with that, he just wants to see you eventually!

…it doesn’t mean he won’t be texting you constantly over exaggerating how much he misses you

“*y/n christmas isn’t fun without youuu!!! :( :(*”

and of course, if you have any issues with your family he’ll be texting you the whole time and telling you how wonderful you you are!!

“*y/n you’re wayyyyy better than your loser family!!! you’re the supreme leader’s significant other !! and you’re sooooo beautiful tooo!!!!! 💜💜💜💜*”

and when you finally show up to D.I.C.E.’s celebration he’s so excited to see you!!

he can’t lie about the way his eyes light up when you walk in

“y/n!!!! i missed you so much!!! i almost died without you y’know?”

and as soon you show up, you’re basically treated as his king/queen (whichever you prefer) !

D.I.C.E.’s celebrations are pretty big, with loud music and games and stuff like that!

but if you have an issue with so much intensity, he’d definitely tone it down for when you came

he wants you to be comfortable and have this be a good christmas for you!!

and other than him getting into the whole holiday spirit and being a little annoying with it he really likes being soft with you as well

holiday seasons are times to be meaningful and stuff...

when D.I.C.E. isn’t looking, he kisses your cheek and holds your hand and just does sappy stuff like that

he wants to be soft and sappy with you without anyone watching <3

like with presents! 

he doesn’t want to give you a heartfelt gift in front of people!

not even D.I.C.E.!

so he waits until you two are alone and cuddling

which btw his cuddles with you when the whole day is over are the best

he’s tired from all the festivities and being so loud and extra all the time, so he just softly lays with you and plays with your hair

he trusts you at this point so he’s okay with being soft and vulnerable a bit

lots of soft kisses and stuff

as for what present he gets you…

it depends on what you like!

he really will spend a lot of time on it and look for what you might want

and he doesn’t just get you one present, he gets you a lot!

he also probably gets you some sort of sappy couple thing where you two can match shirts or something

you just mean a lot to him and you make him really happy, he wants you to know that!!

“*mwah* merry christmas, my beloved!”

he just really loves you a lot and he’s happy to spend the Christmas season with you💜

thank you so so much for reading!! always remember kokichi ouma loves you!!!!!!💜💜💜💜💜

[explosionshark]

how to live here!

here's a special deleted scene that was supposed to go in one of the chapters after rachel and chloe start fighting, but i never really found a place where it made sense. but i always liked it too much to delete it.

The first time Chloe had talked about hanging out in a junkyard, Max had kind of assumed she’d been joking.

She’s been here a few times already since her return to Arcadia Bay, but the novelty of it still hasn’t worn off. Chloe doesn’t seem to mind, letting her wander off, camera in hand, to explore and take photos by herself until she’s halfway through a roll of film and finally satisfied.

Max lets the sound of breaking glass lead her back to Chloe and snaps one more picture. Chloe, broken off hockey stick poised at the highest arc of a big swing, aimed at the sun-bleached head of a mannequin perched atop a splintered milk crate like a fucked up golf ball on a tee.

The arc of the swing is completed. The head goes flying with a sharp crack, landing in a pile of scrap a few feet away. Chloe holds the stick up over her head and cheers.

“You get that, Max?” she calls over her shoulder. “One for the highlight reel.”

“Got it,” Max confirms, reaching up to withdraw the Polaroid as it’s ejected from the camera. She closes the distance between them to show Chloe the shot.

“Sick,” Chloe says, and then twirls the stick in her fingers. “Y’know, I never used to allow press in here before, but maybe that was a mistake. A few more like that and maybe I can finally catch some attention from the big leagues.”

“I can’t imagine they can ignore skills like yours for very long,” Max grins, leaning up on her tiptoes and craning her neck to try to spot the mannequin head in the garbage.

Chloe grins again and mimes another swing. “Wanna take a shot? Ride out my hot streak?”

“I’m good,” Max says.

Chloe nods and shrugs and swings again abruptly, for real, putting the end of the hockey stick through the screen of a boxy old TV on the ground suddenly and loudly enough to make Max jump.

“You sure?” She props a boot on the corner of the TV to hold it in place as she yanks the stick loose. “It’s hella cathartic. You’ve always struck me as having more rage than you’re willing to own up to.”

“Do I really?” Max asks, a little alarmed.

“Maybe I’m projecting,” Chloe concedes.

They wander further, Max trailing behind as Chloe beats the ever-loving shit out of anything even vaguely breakable in her path.

“Remember when you actually played?” Max asks, after the fifteenth minute of uninterrupted smashing.

Chloe pauses, turning on her heel and drawing the bandage on her arm across her forehead to wipe away a bead of sweat. “Oh hell yeah. They called me The Destroyer.”

“No they didn’t,” Max rolls her eyes. “Only you called yourself that.”

“Me and both our dads,” Chloe points out. “Yours even made a sign.”

“Oh yeah,” Max laughs. “Y’know, I think you were the hockey hooligan kid he always wanted. I couldn’t tell if he was disappointed or relieved when I quit the team.”

Her dad was a huge hockey fan and had been elated when she and Chloe had agreed when he showed them the newspaper ad he’d found seeking players for the local youth hockey team. William and their mothers had been a little more hesitant, Max remembered, but no one enough to really object to their joining.

Chloe took to it immediately, aggressive, competitive, and already more naturally athletic than Max had ever been. Max’s tenure was only a week long, but she’d remained a devoted fan of the team long after, going along with her parents to every game, home and away.

“Relieved, I think,” Chloe speculates. “You were a really small twelve year old.”

“I was appropriately sized for twelve,” Max protests. “You were tall.”

“Pint-sized,” Chloe teases. “Microscopic. Besides, you never had the heart for it. The bloodlust.”

“I liked the skating part. But yeah, you always had more fun with it than me. Did you ever get back to sports?”

Chloe shakes her head, quick and jerky, almost offended. “I never liked sports. I liked hockey ‘cause you guys would always come to my games and stuff. But then…after…”

Chloe missed the first couple weeks of practice, after William had died. It was Max’s dad that got her to go back, at Joyce’s insistence, hoping that the sport could be an outlet, that trying to preserve as much normalcy as possible would help Chloe deal with her grief.

Max and her dad had stayed in the bleachers through that first practice without William. Chloe’s play had been sloppier, and she’d left the ice early, face splotchy and red, thick hot tears running down her face into her jersey. It hadn’t gotten easier from there. It made sense that Chloe had stopped going entirely once Max’s family had moved.

“Anyway, can you even imagine me playing for Blackwell?” Chloe scoffs, brings the hockey stick down on the windshield of an old beat up car. The first blow sends a spiderweb of cracks all through the glass. The second penetrates, a small, fist-sized hole. The third, fourth, and fifth obliterate it completely.

Max closes her eyes, chases the images of a young, grief-stricken Chloe from her mind with this new fantasy. Chloe, hair undyed, strutting through the halls in a red and white letterman jacket. Chloe doing keg stands with Logan and Zach. Chloe with girls like Victoria and Juliet hanging off her arms. Chloe completely and totally ignoring a nerd like her.

“Okay, it’s a little weird,” Max admits, feeling a little embarrassed for the irrational churning in her gut. “You’ve never really been a joiner, huh?”

“Organized sports are so not punk rock,” Chloe says obnoxiously.

“It’s kind of hard to imagine you at Blackwell at all,” Max admits. “I wish I’d come back sooner. Y’know, before you left.”

Chloe’s quiet and Max knew it was a risk to go there at all, but it feels too true to keep to herself so she keeps speaking.

“I didn’t choose to be gone, but,” is it brave or stupid to do this now, actually? Has Chloe been waiting for an apology or will this just make things needlessly awkward and uncomfortable and painful? “I mean I wish I’d handled it differently. That we’d talked more while I’d been away.”

“Yeah,” Chloe shrugs. It feels like Max is on the verge of losing her, so she hurries on before the silence between them stretches too far.

“Can I be honest with you?” Max asks, stomach twisting in knots.

Chloe raises an eyebrow and nods for her to continue.

“I kind of thought,” she pauses and winces. “I mean, I was a little afraid that after I left you just. Wouldn’t want anything to do with me. That you’d replace me.”

“Max, what the fuck?” Chloe lets the words out in a harsh exhale and Max knows that tone of voice. Knows she’s pissed off for real, now.

“I know,” Max cringes, scrubbing a hand down her face. “But, I mean, you were always the cool one, right? And you were going into high school and I was still sleeping with a teddy bear and—”

“This is such bullshit,” Chloe’s voice cracks and Max was not expecting that. “You’re not just— You can’t just replace a best friend! I fucking needed you. I was so… I needed you so much and you hung me out to dry because you were scared I’d stop thinking you were cool?”

“No,” Max hurries to clarify, feeling appropriately breathless for the desperate, drowning sensation overwhelming her. “No, not like that. I just… I didn’t know how to handle it. So, I just kept putting it off, y’know? Like with homework. Remember how many times my mom had to bail me out because I’d wait too long on finishing a project and it wouldn’t be ready by the due date? Only no one could bail me out this time. And the longer I waited, the worse I felt, the more sure I was that you hated me, that you’d scream at me and tell me to stay out of your life. And I was too scared to face that so I…”

“I never hated you,” Chloe says, face caught somewhere between fury and despair. “Fuck, for the longest time all I wanted was to leave here, to be where you were instead.”

“The night you called me,” Max cuts in gently, proud at least when her voice doesn’t shake, “when you tried to run away, I was so scared for you. And I felt guilty because I realized I was wrong, that you still wanted to be my friend, and I knew I didn’t deserve it. I cried myself sick on the ride down with my mom to pick you up. It really freaked her out. But when we got there you just hugged me and you let me hold your hand the entire way back to Arcadia Bay.”

Chloe stays silent, chewing her lip hard enough to make Max wince.

“And even after, even though we were talking again the entire time I was away I’d think about being back here instead. I think about all the years I missed with you and I get mad because it feels kind of like my fault. Like if I’d tried harder it wouldn’t have taken this long. But I can’t fix that now, I know, I’m just glad we’re here now.”

Chloe shakes her head, rough, and throws the beat up hockey stick into a pile behind her. “Max, you fucking—”

She cuts herself and stomps over and Max isn’t sure what she was expecting, but she’s definitely surprised when Chloe wraps her arms around her, drags her close until there’s almost no space between them.

As tight as the hug is, Chloe’s hands hovering over her back are gentle. She’s quiet but her breathing’s rough. It takes a long time for her to speak again; when she does her voice is shaky, quiet. “I never, ever hated you, but I was pissed at you for a really long time.”

“I’m sorry,” Max tries to say but Chloe squeezes her tighter until she falls quiet.

“I got tired of it,” Chloe says. “And it wasn’t fair, either. Not really. We were just kids. God, I fucked so many things up so much worse than that. You don’t know how bad. If you did, you’d think I’m so pathetic. You’d hate it.”

“Chloe Price, you’re so many things, but pathetic has never been one of them,” Max insists, a little startled by the steel in her voice. Chloe tenses in her arms, but doesn’t move away so Max continues, gentler, “I wish I’d been here more. I know you weren’t alone the whole time but still, if I could go back and change anything it’d be trying harder to be a bigger part of your life. It’d be not letting it take so long to get here.”

It’s stupid, she knows, it’s ridiculous to think she could have prevented any of the hard knocks Chloe had taken in her absence but the thing is she’ll never know and Max thinks that she’ll probably always feel responsible somehow.

“God, imagine if we’d had a few years together at Black-Hell,” Chloe says and releases her, finally. She stays close, pushes some hair out of Max’s face. “We would have gotten into so much trouble. Me, you and…” She trails off with a wince but doesn’t linger. “You could have cheated off my science papers. I’d trade you rides around the Bay for homework.”

“Hey,” Max laughs. “Presumptuous. How do you know I would have compromised my morals like that?”

“Oh, you would have,” Chloe says, laugh all low and breathy. “When have you ever been able to say no to these baby blues?”

She bats her lashes facetiously, but the blush staining Max’s face is very real. “Okay, whatever. What else would we have done?”

“Oh, pranks,” Chloe says. “No doubt. We would have pranked it up so hard on those nerds. I always had this idea about semi-permanent hair dye and Victoria’s shampoo bottles, but I never lived in the dorms. And for some reason, Rachel refuses to be my inside man on this one.”

“I’d be down,” Max blurts out, not sure what the sudden pained look on Chloe’s face could have been leading to, but desperate to head it off.

“Wait, for real?” Chloe asks, appropriately distracted and Max realizes suddenly that her hypothetical assent to collusion had just been offered in practice.

“Uh, I mean—”

“No take-backs,” Chloe crows, gleefully. “Holy shit, dude, yes. Okay, I’ve got it worked out pretty well, this is something I’ve been sitting on for a few years at least. First, we’ll need a distraction…”

Chloe’s plan is elaborate, but thorough, and by the time she’s done laying out the details Max isn’t sure she’ll be able to follow through, but she does know that whatever lingering doubts about their friendship she’d had this morning were founded in one-sided insecurity.

“Let me sleep on it,” she says, finally.

“Max,” Chloe whines. “You promised.”

“I did not.”

“I mean, practically.”

“No, I didn’t.”

It’s almost like being a kid again, arguing about something pointless under the midday sun, a little dehydrated but having too much fun together to do something sensible like go back inside. Max has missed this for so long.

She’s deliriously happy she won’t ever have to miss it again.

[willowistic22]

New jomike hc au!post college

I came up with this au in my head for awhile now some hc’s regarding this new au on a whim bcs i wanted to tell my friends abt it on a discord server. I thought it’s time it sees the light of day bcs i simply cannot keep it in me anymore. Also this is kind of inspired by the song Dorothea - Taylor Swift. 

Everyone is graduating so que the sappy goodbyes as they’re all gonna be scattered not just all around the us but also all around the world

The couples made a truce whether to do long distance or they share the same dreams so they do it together

But mike and jojo didn’t make things work in the end so they broke up before graduation but still went to prom together

y’know those kinds of high school hearthache

Bcs Mike stayed in new york but jojo flew away (like england or sumn idk) 

To some fancy elite school bcs he’s smart yknow

He wanted to from the start but he’s always been a bit torned bcs he knew from the start of the relationship mike was the one (call it stupid young love or whatever you want, i call it destiny:))

And mike never wanted to hold him down so he was the one that proposed the idea to him

For the most part it worked out

Jojo flew away to chase his dreams

Mike stayed and did the same thing

Both of them only kinda sorta moved on. Met new people but never fully stopped thinking abt the other. Wishing the other was by their side right now

And so they’ve gotten their degrees and gotten their dream jobs

Mike is a coder working in a video game company while jojo is in social media marketing after finishing business school (or whatever major required for that job field idk)

And they kinda hv their life together. Jojo living on his own in a studio apartment with a cat called Dorothea (see what i did there:)) money doesn’t concern him all that much bcs the job pays nicely and he’s good at handling his finances 

Mike lives alongside with his brother ike in a nice apartment too. He manages to get a position that allows him to work flexibly at home yknow. He also has a new kitten he saved from the streets named Honey (bcs his fur is orange like honey) and since his older cat had died of old age

But mike lives with ike who also lives with hotshot. So he’s like always the third wheel. Even worse when ike and hotshot are hving the occasional double date with race and spot. Mike feels even more worse at those time

Decides to hide away in his room or go out with the excuse being work

And its even worse remembering he used to go on double dates with ike and hotshot when him and jojo were still a thing

So ike is like ‘yknow what? I hv enough of this shit’ and hv one good brother to brother talk

‘Dude. It’s been years already. How are you not over him?’

‘Bcs he’s jojo...’

‘Ok? So why don’t you call him?’

It’s not like mike has never thought of calling him. Very much possible. They still follow each other’s social media’s so if his old number had changed he cld always just ask from a simple dm since mike knows jojo is still active in his social media accs

But mike is like ‘i can’t. He cld be taken for all i know. Even if he weren’t, he seems to be doing fine on his own’

‘You can’t really get to know a person through instagram posts. Remember how you tried that the first time you wanted to ask him out? You thought he didn’t like guys and yet still went on a date with you anyways’

That was a real slap in the face type of sentence yknow so mike is working up a lot of courage and planned a lot on what he’s gonna do

He first wanted to message jojo. Seeing if it’s still okay to call and all. But he cldn’t figure out what to say so he procrastinated on that part

Ike got sick of it so he took the phone from mike and messaged ‘can we call? I miss you’

Mike was hovering in between i will murder you or thank you @ ike

Either way jojo texts back with his new number. It’s gonna add up on his usual phone bill but he thinks it’s worth it.

Ok so they talked for like soooo long

7?8?hours?

Basically the whole night for mike

It felt like high school all over again

They were just catching up with each other and talking abt absolute bullshit at the same time

Till they got to the point where they mentioned how they’re both single and the air kinda shifts

Deep down mike and jojo knows what this means

As far as jojo is concerned, mike was the one that messaged him that he misses him

It’s easy now for mike to word out come home without indirectly saying it out loud in case that’s not what jojo wants

Bcs after that catching up, he knows that as much as it’s a dream for jojo to work at a big well known fashion brand (he’s pretty fashionable lmao) and get free products that are usually hella expensive from the brand, he hates everyone he works with. Real snobs and ruthless when it comes to getting a higher position

The other things abt his new life is pretty interesting and he loves it. But he admits there’s always been something missing and mike so badly wants to be that something missing in jojo’s new life

So it comes out straight forward. Not like how mike had planned, but it works in the end. ‘Come home’

And jojo does exactly that. He agrees to come home for the weekend. He books a ticket to new york then back with only a carry on duffle bag filled with a few assortments of clothing and booked it out after telling dorothea he won’t be long.

He rushes to the airport bcs he kinda booked the flight that leaves for new york as soon as possible. Perhaps deep down jojo really does know what he’s been missing in his life?

He lands in new york on a friday night new york time

Mike tells him not to worry abt what he’s wearing bcs he just wants to meet jojo at a central park bench that has long became an important spot for them

Jojo insisted on meeting as soon as he lands which is tonight. So the whole time he’s in the cab, he’s like soooo shaky and nervous it kinda drove the cab driver anxious as well. Bcs like jojo’s not talking and didn’t like say anything abt why he’s going to central park this late at night and not to some fancy hotel as most travelers wld do when they first arrive at new york

The moment the cab stops, jojo basically threw him a wad of cash. Probably too much than the actual price of the ride but he just called out from the back of his shoulder saying it’s a huge tip. Secretly, he’s thanking the cab driver for not asking him why he’s in new york and why central park at this time. It’d most likely make him even more nervous

He’s running on the path. He doesn’t reach full speed bcs his duffle bag is weighing him down. He doesn’t even know why he’s going so fast. It’s not like mike has anything else planned

Picture jojo frantically looking around the area like he’s a lost little boy in the dark. Barely seeing anyone else in ten vicinity, so any figure out at this ungodly time rn cld only mean is mike.

But he’s growing worried bcs it doesn’t seem like he’s around

Until ofc ‘jojo!’

Jojo whips his head around and sees Mike walking up to the bench from a different direction

They didn’t really do anythign at the start. They just stared at each other while standing in the dark approximately 10 feet apart. Jojo waits for a sign from mike to do anything else, though mike was doing the same thing for jojo

Until mike decides to break the 1 minute long silence ‘jojo-‘

But he didn’t continue bcs jojo was already running up to him the moment his mouth moves and tackles him into the tightest hug ever

His duffle bag was dropped halfway from the run so there was no holding back. The hug very much pushed mike’s soul out of his figure as much as it did to his body

Thankfully, mike hugged back just as tight. If not, it was a sign for jojo that it wasn’t okay to go in for a hug just yet and he wld pull back really quick

In time, jojo did end up pulling back to look at mike’s face up close and whisper ‘i still love you’

Which is really out of nature for jojo bcs he’s never really known to be the risk taker between the two

And mike was so happy at that moment that he just pulls jojo in for a kiss.

And that folks, is how they got back together:)

So everyone has agreed that airplane food sucks ass (for the most part at least. 

Jojo was forced to eat it on his plane back to new york but he didn’t like finish it

Probably bcs he was so nervous and it also didn’t look so appetizing

So after they’ve said their heartfelt ‘i still love you’s and etc mike took him back to his apartment after finding out he doesn’t hv a place to stay. He’d stay at his parents place but the de la guerra’s hv long moved out of new york. You can say the similarities between jojo and his parents are that they like to travel. They sold their house and ended up backpacking across the world to look for a place to retire inevitably. Last time he checked up on his mom, the old couple is driving to Netherlands.

So mike took him home and cooked him dinner. They hv the apartment all to themselves since hotshot and ike are out

Unknowingly, jojo had sat on honey’s favorite spot on the couch and earned a disapproving meow from the little cat

Not until mike had properly introduced them that honey started to be nicer to jojo. And so they eat dinne ron the couch and talked.

Mike admitted calling him has been on his mind for quite some time but was too scared to act up on it. And jojo said what he did just now was the most compulsive and adrenaline rush thing he’s ever done. The roles had reversed for the moment

But now they’re back where they’ve always belong. In each other’s grasp while looking out the balcony in the tiny living room to watch the sunrise and then getting surprised seeing ike and hotshot pile in the apartment

And so now they’re back. They make the most of the weekend to talk abt what they really want

Jojo wants to quit his old job. The firm is full of snobby and arrogant ppl

And it has him working almost 24/7. He doesn’t want that

Mike on the other hand wants to hv a period of his life where he’s traveling full time

So they took inspiration from ike and hotshot’s current plan : get a mini bus to convert it into a home

In conclusion jojo quits his job, moves back to new york along with his cat dorothea so he can live with mike to make that converted bus plan. After securing a proper job that let’s him work at home flexibly like mike’s, they get on with their plan and sets off to travel in their house on wheels with their two cats. They end up getting married ofc and lived happily ever after:)

Thank you and goodnight folks hsnsgsbssjshmshssmhs

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

who did u romance in DAI?? i usually do the iron bull 😳

Okay, let’s talk DAI romance~

So I finally got into Dragon Age this year. Pi kept trying to talk me into playing it, I kept saying “pssshhhh DA’s for nerds.” 

Funny enough, all it took was gifs of The Iron Bull for me to go “.......and I am a nerd, tell me more of this age of dragons.”

I mean, how could I resist? He's big and he has horns and he's voiced by fucking Freddie Prinze Jr?? He's an entire package and then some, and I was excited to meet him along with the other potential love interests I might find.... oh, and do the whole story thing, hole in the sky, my hand trying to kill me, yada yada, it's fine.

Now I didn’t end up actually romancing Bull- he’s a bit too intense for me, a bit too kinky, there are levels of dom/sub goin’ on there and personally, that’s not really my thing. Still love him, though. One of my favorite companions. He actually ended up in a relationship with Dorian in my game which I 110% support and adore. 

Anyway, for some context, the first time around, I played as a lady qunari rogue named Herah [yes the default name because I'm oh so creative sksks] and got pretty far into it.....then I did a bad and most of my saves got corrupted. I was not happy. 

But before that, I found myself in a romance with Sera.... I know right? Surprising? Totally not my usual type at all. When we were chattin’ as I played, Pi said Sera gave off Chloe Price vibes and that’s true, but Sera isn’t nearly as ugh as Chloe imo...   It’s actually funny to think about now but at the time, of the options I had as a qunari, I found her to be sweet and such a weirdo that I couldn’t help but kinda like her? and she was super into me because she reeeeeeally likes qunari women. 

I dunno how to explain it, but I took a chance on her and it went okay? I think? I mean, everyone but Bull and Varric told me I was dumb for romancing her or they straight up disapproved which.... thanks friends, I feel supported hahaha.  

But then like I said, corrupted saves.... and I decided to start over with a completely different character- a lady elf mage named Ashalle and uhhhh turns out Sera isn’t nearly as warm and sweet with you if you’re an elf.... so I didn’t romance her again after seeing another side to her. I still like her enough, just not romantically. 

As Ashalle I found myself stuck between Solas and Cullen..... because of course I did. That’s apparently a thing with a lot of players and I’m no different! these two dinguses charmed me in their own ways and I couldn’t decide who I wanted to smooch more!

Honestly, poor Pi had to listen to my “I really like Solas.... but I also really like Cullen..... but Solas is a mage like me and Cullen is an ex-templar..... but the mage/templar thing is super interesting and tempting.... but Solas.... but Cullen.... but Solas....... but Cullen-” for hours while trying to help me decide sksksks. 

And looking back now, I couldn’t have picked two characters with such vastly different outcomes to get stuck between. It’s almost hilarious... almost. 

I ended up playing through the first kiss with Solas which got a huge “DAMN” outta me and I thought that was it, y’know? I was like “that was a really good kiss, holy shit.... I dunno how Cullen’s gonna top that”

but then I played chess with Cullen and he didn’t even kiss me but SOMEHOW the bastard got me! I can’t even explain what it was! We’re playing chess, we’re chatting, having a grand ol’ time when I get the option to tell him that we should spend more time together, and this dude looks up surprised, and in such a sincere tone, says, “I would like that.” AND THEN HE LOOKS AWAY AND QUIETLY REAFFIRMS MORE TO HIMSELF THAN ME “....you said that” AND THE LOOK ON HIS FACE??? I WAS DONE

So yeah, I romanced Cullen. Jokes on him, though. He fell in love with a mage who constantly falls off ladders, drowns when the water goes above her knees, and throws jars of bees at dragons, what a nerd. 

No but his stumbling awkwardness and sweet romance out did Solas’ smooth talk and now I can’t romance anyone else. I’m ruined. I’m currently on another run of the game with a new-ish character and I can’t NOT romance Cullen now..... that’s my husband, he’s my canon choice, everyone else I love platonically, they’re my big dumb family of criminals and misfits, I love them all.... mostly, hahaha. 

[mysterioh]

hello neighbor [ 1 / 10 ]

Pairing: Writer!Bucky Barnes x Single Mom!Reader

Summary: Brooklyn Heights’ residential playboy has got his eye set out on the new girl across the hall. She’s got it all. The looks. A killer smile. A pretty laugh. Two cute kids……………..wait a second.

Taglist Open! 

Masterlist

Bucky wakes slowly, blinkingly. 

He slept a sleep that boasts of the bottled ruby red Burgundy sun, the whispered tune of slow jazz wafting in a dimly lit room, and her eager fingers running across his tailored suit. 

There’s a smear of red hot lipstick on his pillow with traces of it marking his cheek. Sunshine pours into the room through the window. The curtains add an orange glow to the morning sun. Warm in its color; cool in its embrace. The songbird beckons with a lively song but the air in the dull-colored room is thick with sleep, emptiness, and her. 

The slow rise and fall of her chest, naked against the white sheets. Bucky can hear her breaths, heavy and slow. He doesn’t need to turn over to picture her golden waves against sand-colored skin. The bed is enveloping, tempting, and teasing, but he slips out anyway. 

He rubs the side of his cheek, smearing the red onto his fingers as he exits his room and goes straight to the Keurig. After making a cup for himself, he slides open the door to the tiny balcony of his apartment and steps out. 

In an instant, the gentle summer sun warms his skin — like kisses from the divine. 

Kisses from the divine. 

That’s a good line, he thinks to himself and files it away for when he sits to write. 

A chorus of birds dancing in the breeze drone out the dull sound of ongoing traffic while the strong aroma of breakfast reaches his nostrils all the way from the cafe across the street. Leaving his mouth watering at the smell of warm bread, scrambled eggs, and sizzling bacon. 

Bucky leans against the railing, coffee mug in hand as he observes the start of the day for his neighbors. The owner of the corner store lifts the steel rolling door with ease while another shop owner pulls out a rack of clothes and tables of trinkets with eye-popping signs that denote some sort of sale when the prices weren’t really worth it. Children run by, hollering and teasing, heading towards the park and it’s like torture to his ears. Shrill and coarse. It ruins the delicate mood. He huffs while taking another sip of his coffee, hoping it’d help alleviate the pain. 

Sadly enough, it’s run cold and to make it even worse Charlotte from the night before finds him in the solace of his balcony. 

“Hey there,” she murmurs sleepily as she rests her chin on his shoulder. She’s wearing his shirt and he's trying to figure out who gave her the right to. “You left me all alone there,” she pouted. 

Oh God, she’s a clingy one. 

Bucky groans quietly, but she doesn’t notice. 

“I had fun last night,” she whispered into his ear, seductively like she’s begging him for more

Bucky chuckled at her. Maybe five years ago it would’ve been a huge boost in his ego but now it’s just another lackluster compliment. 

She slides her hand against his bare chest. “Come back to bed,” she cooed. 

Bucky turns towards her with a sardonic smile. 

“Listen, Amy,” he starts and her hopeful smile falls. 

“It’s Nora,” she replied as if he cared.

“Whatever,” he lifted his shoulder in a half shrug, shaking his coffee cup. She stands straight, sleepiness gone in an instant. “I had fun last night, but that’s it. We’re done here,” he said flatly.

She’s left in shock, mouth ajar and eyes wide. He was blunt and straight to the point, and it threw her off. 

“So, enjoy this cup of coffee,” he hands it to her, “while I go take a shower. And by the time I’m done, I better not see that pretty face of yours around here,” he ordered with a sweet smile. “You got that?” 

She nodded dumbfounded and slightly ashamed. 

“Good,” he walked inside, the sound of a moving truck rumbling down the street. “It was fun while it lasted. See ya.” 

Bucky locks the door to his apartment before walking down the hall. He scrolls through his phone, searching for Sam’s number. 

The elevator bell rings signaling the doors to open. He hears footsteps exiting the elevator and quickens his speed to make it in before it closes. Eyes glued to his phone, Bucky doesn’t notice a small pair of brown eyes watching him from the corner of the hall. 

His little fingers were wrapped around the handles of the nerf gun. He aims his gun at Bucky walking down the hall, following his every step through the sight of the toy. Like a sniper ready to fire, he waits for the perfect moment to strike. Bucky pauses in the middle of the hallway to read something on his phone, giving the boy a perfect moment to take his shot. 

He pumps his rocket blaster back and aims straight for the head. He shoots at Bucky and it hits him smack dab in the middle of his face.

“Haha!” the boy jumps out from the bend at the end of the hallway with the gun in his hand. 

Bucky mutters a curse underneath his breath while rubbing his nose.

Oh, how he hated kids. 

“What’s the matter with you?” he questions the boy. “Watch where you’re shooting that thing!” 

The boy laughs with a smug grin. “Maybe you should watch where you’re going, grandpa!” 

Grandpa? Who the hell is he calling grandpa? 

“Don’t call me that,” Bucky snaps at the boy. 

“Oh yeah and what are you gonna do about it?” he boldly asked. 

“Ezra!” you shouted, stomping down the hall. 

The color fades from the child’s face and his confidence begins to diminish quickly. 

Bucky turns around to see who was calling and freezes the minute his eyes fell on you.

His world seems to slow down just a little as you walk towards them. Your sun-kissed skin shines under the dull lights of the hallway, rather distractingly. He’s caught in the wonder of your gentle features, the loose strands of hair that swept past your face, the crease in your lovely brows, and the down curve of your full lips.

Bucky remains still as you scold the boy. 

“What do you think you’re doing?” you ask him with your hands on your hips. 

“Nothing,” Ezra shrugs innocently. You press your lips together and just stare at him. He doesn’t falter but instead flashes the sweetest face he could muster up. 

You sigh, letting your hands drop, heart softening every time he blinks. You try your best to remain firm, but he knows he’s won. 

You point down the hallway. “Inside now,” you order. “I’ll talk to you later.” 

He nods and dashes down the hall. 

You turn to look at Bucky and there’s a shine in your eyes that has him falling closer. One full of mystery and the expanse of the galaxy hidden within.

“I’m really sorry,” you apologize, taking a step closer. “I’ll make sure he doesn’t do it again.” 

“Oh no, it’s okay,” Bucky smiles. “Kids will be kids, y’know? Just moved in?”

A smile stretches across your face. “Yeah,” you chuckled and it’s like a pretty melody to his ears. “Just down the hall. Apartment 216.” 

“No way,” he exclaims. “That’s right across from mine.” 

“Really?” you asked with twinkling eyes. Damn, she’s pretty. “Nice to meet you, neighbor,” you extended your hand. 

His hand slips into yours immediately and shakes it. “Nice to meet you, too,” he replied calmly, despite his insides twisting by the touch of your hand. “My name’s Bucky.” 

“Bucky?” you say with a bit of a chuckle. Your hand falls back to your side. 

His cheeks blush a soft pink as his hand goes to scratch the back of his neck. He lets out an embarrassed, breathy laugh. “It’s just a nickname from when I was a kid. My name is James, but everyone calls me Bucky,” he explains. 

“Oh, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to offend—” 

“No, it’s totally fine, um?” 

“Y/N,” you replied, “I have no nickname, so just Y/N.” 

Bucky nods with a laugh. 

“Sorry about Ezra again” you repeated, still feeling guilty, “he’s a bit of a troublemaker.”

Bucky shakes his head with a wave of the hand. “He’s a kid. What would you expect?” he says, although inwardly he wanted to repay the action. “I’m guessing he’s your brother?” 

Your cheeks burn a bright red and bite the side of your lip. “Ah no,” you reply, “he’s my son.” 

“What? He’s your son?” Bucky blurted. It only made the red hue of your cheeks darken. 

“Is it really that hard to believe?” you questioned, with a slightly defensive tone and a scowl forming on your face. 

“No, no!” he puts his hands up in front of his chest. “I was just—I mean you’re so young.” 

The scowl on your face fades and an embarrassed smile appears in its place. Your blush is still a bright red. You shake your head with a chuckle. 

“I’m not as young as I look,” you state. 

“But you look great,” he exclaims.

Bucky screams inwardly. “Why did I just say that? Now she thinks I’m a creep!” 

Bucky didn’t like to brag, but he was a bit of a Casanova of modern times. A “gentleman in the streets and a freak in the sheets” sort of man. Although the past ten minutes could have proven otherwise.

“Um, thank you,” you reply sheepishly.

“Hey Y/N!” a voice calls from behind Bucky. 

Bucky turns his head to see a woman with brilliant red hair sticking her head out the door of your apartment. She has a box of books in her hand. 

“Where do I put these?” she asks.

“Oh, just put them anywhere for now,” you chuckled with a shrug. 

“I should let you unpack,” Bucky says, wanting to escape. “I think I’ve taken up enough of your time.” 

“Oh no,” you assured. “It’s fine!” You take a step past him as if you were running from him. 

Not like he wasn’t expecting that. 

“It was nice meeting you again,” you wave, “hope you have a nice day!” 

Bucky nods with a sheepish smile. “Yeah, you too.” 

He turns on his heel and walks towards the elevator. He pressed the button and waited silently for the doors to open. The metal doors slid open and he entered the elevator.

“If she has a son, that means she’s probably married.” he thought. He presses the main floor button and sighs. 

“What a tragedy.” 

The doors close as he leans against the wall. He can’t seem to get that pretty smile out of his mind. 

“But I don’t see why that should stop me.” He ruminates on that thought for a while and wonders where that will take him. He shakes his head in refusal.

“What the hell, dude, you’re disgusting,” he mutters.

Permanent Taglist: @chuckennuggets1213 @murdermornings @marshyrebelcloud @miraclesoflove​  @fckdeusername​ @undiadeestos​ @hailmary-yramliah​ @andiebell2023​ @anjali750​

 Hello Neighbor Taglist: @disaffectedbarnes​ @rootcrop​ @nerdgirljen​ @simmisblog​ @supernatural-bangtanboys​ @marvelismysafezone​ @littlemissporter​ @dark-night-sky-99​ @justlovelifeblog​ 

Only Bucky Barnes: @infinity-saga​ @sebastian-stan-is-my-love  

[thessalian]

Thess vs Sticker Shock

One of the things about being an adult is getting your paycheque and then spending a huge chunk of it in one fell swoop. Mostly on necessities, mind, but not sure if that makes it better or worse.

First there were the bills, obviously.

Then transport. A lot on transport. I’m just grateful I don’t often take anything but the bus or it’d really get ridiculous. Especially since rail travel is yet another of the many things that’s getting a price hike.

Then I had to replace my cellphone, which is ... not dead, but problematic, as in it struggles to hold a charge for longer than a day even when I’m barely using it and occasionally just reboots for no apparent reason. But it’s an old cheap piece of crap so I had a solid reminder of “you get what you pay for”. I didn’t get a top-of-the-line one but at least one that was made within the last couple of years, and a moderately respected brand.

Also had to get some sodium bicarbonate, and some new moulds for soap and bath bombs. I wanted to do some crafting this weekend and some of my work colleagues are really keen for stuff wot I make. I didn’t ask them specifically for money, but at least one of them’s paying me anyway, so that’s something.

Then, the groceries. So many groceries. All the groceries. Though it was depressing to see the changes that supply disruptions have wrought, even on online ordering. A fair bit was just plain not available, and all of the perishable stuff ... well, they now apparently make it a policy to list exactly how long they expect it to last on the website. Which on one level is nice but on the other hand, some of those use-by dates seem a lot less generous than they usually are. Eh, well, at least insofar as the meat goes, most of it’s going straight to the freezer anyway. But, yeah, groceries for at least most of the month if not all and essentials like light bulbs and toilet paper and vitamins.

Also booked a haircut. However, at least that I have a loyalty reward card that gives me £10 off the whole thing. That’s a bonus.

Then I got my friend a video game because they needed cheering up.

And now I have Laura Bailey’s Dice Bag of Hoarding on the way. Because I need shinies too.

No, seriously, I needed shinies. I had a pain flare towards the end of the workday and getting home was a nightmare of agony, and this one jackass barged ahead of me just so they could sit in the “Give Those Less Able To Stand Priority” seat that obliged me to walk the least and then looked at me with a challenging glare as I limped, on my damn cane, to a seat further towards the back of the bus where I would have no leg room. Matters have slightly improved in that I can now sit upright. Anything else would be asking too much at the moment. So I deserve something shiny to look forward to.

...Besides, I’m tired of keeping all my dice in a disorganised heap at the bottom of an old Quality Street tin. Plus, having them all organised means not necessarily having to turn to an online dice roller to generate, say, 10d6 or similar. I have that many d6s. I have that many and more of all of them. They’re just ... jumbled. But NOT FOR LONG.

Anyway, good thing about all this is that it means I won’t have to spend very much more money at all for the rest of the month. The phone’s a one-off purchase (at least in terms of the next few years, one hopes) and the haircut I won’t need to repeat for awhile. It’s just sticker shock - yeah, it looks like a huge amount all at one go, but only because it’s hitting all at once instead of trickling away slowly. I’m honestly doing well, considering - it’s just that overwhelming 21st Century Panic about spending money, y’know? This is what late-stage capitalism has done to us ... or rather, what ‘the Boomers’ have done to us. The number of times we get told that we’d be perfectly fine if we didn’t spend all our money on Starbucks lattes and avocado toast or whatever tiny joy they’re demonising this month, hands up who doesn’t have a complex about spending money at all, no matter how objectively necessary it is?

Now, fingers crossed that this pain flare dies down by tomorrow. I have a hair appointment at 11:15 tomorrow morning, Dishonoured in the evening (just after my groceries are delivered), and D&D on Sunday, as well as all that crafting I wanted to do. I’ve got quite good at shea butter bath bombs, I must say; and it’s really nice to get some use out of my double-boiler.