#incredible 11/10 posters

[formerly-evil]

Because people are sharing their favorite posters they saw at pride yesterday, I thought I might share mine

(Not pictured: the other side of the Gabriel and Belzebub one says, then why can’t we? which might or might not be hinting at the marriage inequality in here)

[sreegs]

I reblogged it earlier but I'm glad the Something Awful Forums 9/11 thread was archived because it's an incredibly important slice of internet history. For the record I think 9/11 was thousands of personal tragedies for the direct victims of the attacks but one big national farce that led to America's ongoing slide into fascism, and the nationalism and remembrance around it is a joke especially in the wake of the same amount of deaths every fucking day in the US during the height of coronavirus.

Nevertheless I think it's important that if you do not remember because you were too young or just didn't exist on Sept 11, 2001 to read the Something Awful 9/11 forums to get an idea of what the internet was like at the moment when America changed to 24 hour news cycles and renewed hyper-nationalism not seen since WWII.

This all happened before Twitter, Facebook, before Discord. Before smart phones. Before most people had cell phones. When a lot of people still had dial-up internet, even. Some people in the thread were relying on radio because internet and TV weren't keeping up.

It was a live event of internet denizens reacting to the biggest national event (and among the biggest international events) of the past 25 years. It was also a slice of what the internet was like at the turn of the millennium. Not only that, but people accurately calling out who was responsible, and what would result before the attacks even finished.

Keep in mind that the links that follow contain images of the event, lots of Islamophobia, people calling for the Middle East to be nuked, people blaming Palestine, casual racist and homophobic language (this was Something Awful after all), etc etc. They preserved the first 17 pages which spanned about 24 hours during the events. It's the origin of the "WATCH BUSH START A FUCKING WAR" screenshot.

Links under the fold. I've also annotated the pages with notes regarding the timeline and any posts of interest. Note the thread was preserved in Pacific Time even though the page says times are Eastern. That's incorrect. Post timestamps are 3 hours behind Eastern Time, which is the time zone where the attacks occurred:

Page 1 - Note the first post was edited to include images of the second attack. The thread started after the first plane hit. Second plane hitting the WTC happens here too.

Page 2 - Poster accurately calling out Bin Laden was responsible at 9:14 AM EST

Page 3 - "WATCH BUSH START A FUCKING WAR"

Page 4

Page 5 - First official acknowledgement it was a terrorist attack.

Page 6 - Pentagon hit

Page 7

Page 8

Page 9 - Commercial flights grounded by FAA (Federal Aviation Administration)

Page 10 - First mention of towers collapsing at end of page

Page 11 - More reactions to collapse of first tower. People thinking it was a bomb or yet another plane. Rumors about a fourth plane just missing the White House (these are false and predate the actual 4th plane crash by minutes)

Page 12

Page 13 - By this point there's just rampant speculation about more bombs at the WTC, the US Capitol building being hit, etc (all false). Remember this is all just people reacting to TV news and radio and the rumor mill via phone, AIM, IRC, and maybe text messages.

Page 14 - By this point internet news sites are overwhelmed

Page 15 - Second tower collapses. First acknowledgement of the fourth plane that crashed in PA.

Page 16 - There's an abrupt time jump in the threads, I think it was the result of admins pruning the activity or the SA forums going down. This page starts on 9/12 even though it is page 16. American flag signatures and ribbons start appearing.

Page 17

[sonofarathorns]

i saw lotr: a musical tale last night and i’m never EVER going to shut up about it.

i’m having a hard time putting my feelings into words, but i will try.

when i tell you i have wanted to see this musical since i was 11…i mean it. i’m 27 now. i listen to it so often, my 5 year old knows all the words. (she wanted to go really bad, but i said no, because she’s 5.)

i got to play a ring toss game with frodo baggins and will never ever EVER shut up about it 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

we had the best seats in the house because the actors use the walkways RIGHT in front of my row!

i got a poster, and i got pictures with almost everyone and got my playbill signed by nearly everyone. tons of people complimented my costume.

there were lotr themed drinks and i tried all of them!

and then…the icing on the cake: afterwards we went to a tavern beside my hotel (it was giving green dragon vibes), and some of the cast were there, and we talked to them and drank with them for hours 😩🥰😭🙈

the musical itself was incredible, excellent, 100/10. i could go on and on forever about the talent. i laughed, i almost cried, but i didn’t because i was too excited, but i was very moved. i was smiling like an idiot the whole time. this is a new core memory for me. ❤️

if anyone has any questions about the musical or my experience please come talk to me because it’s all i’ll be thinking about for…a while 😅

[mostlysignssomeportents]

A year in illustration, 2023 edition (part two)

(This is part two; part one is here.)

The West Midlands Police were kind enough to upload a high-rez of their surveillance camera control room to Flickr under a CC license (they've since deleted it), and it was the perfect frame for dozens of repeating clown images with HAL9000 red noses. This worked out great. The clown face is from a 1940s ad for novelty masks.

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/23/automation-blindness/#humans-in-the-loop

I spent an absurd amount of time transforming a photo I took of three pinball machines into union-busting themed tables, pulling in a bunch of images from old Soviet propaganda art. An editorial cartoon of Teddy Roosevelt with his big stick takes center stage, while a NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo's official portrait presides over the scene. I hand-made the eight-segment TILT displays.

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/06/goons-ginks-and-company-finks/#if-blood-be-the-price-of-your-cursed-wealth

Working with the highest-possible rez sources makes all the difference in the world. Syvwlch's extremely high-rez paint-scraper is a gift to people writing about web-scraping, and the Matrix code waterfall mapped onto it like butter.

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/17/how-to-think-about-scraping/

This old TWA ad depicting a young man eagerly pitching an older man has incredible body-language – so much so that when I replaced their heads with raw meat, the intent and character remained intact. I often struggle for background to put behind images like this, but high-rez currency imagery, with the blown up intaglio, crushes it.

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/04/dont-let-your-meat-loaf/#meaty-beaty-big-and-bouncy

I transposed Photoshop instructions for turning a face into a zombie into Gimp instructions to make Zombie Uncle Sam. The guy looking at his watch kills me. He's from an old magazine illustration about radio broadcasting. What a face!

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/18/the-people-no/#tell-ya-what-i-want-what-i-really-really-want

The mansplaining guy from the TWA ad is back, but this time he's telling a whopper. It took so much work to give him that Pinnocchio nose. Clearly, he's lying about capitalism, hence the Atlas Shrugged cover. Bosch's "Garden of Earthly Delights" makes for an excellent, public domain hellscape fit for a nonconensual pitch about the miracle of capitalism.

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/27/six-sells/#youre-holding-it-wrong

There's no better image for stories about techbros scamming rubes than Bosch's 'The Conjurer.' Throw in Jeff Bezos's head and an Amazon logo and you're off to the races. I boobytrapped this image by adding as many fingers as I could fit onto each of these figures in the hopes that someone could falsely accuse me of AI-generating this. No one did.

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/06/attention-rents/#consumer-welfare-queens

Once again, it's Bosch to the rescue. Slap a different smiley-face emoji on each of the tormented figures in 'Garden of Earthly Delights' and you've got a perfect metaphor for the 'brand safety' problem of hard news dying online because brands don't want to be associated with unpleasant things, and the news is very unpleasant indeed.

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/11/ad-jacency/#brand-safety

I really struggle to come up with images for my linkdump posts. I'm running out of ways to illustrate assortments and varieties. I got to noodling with a Kellogg's mini-cereal variety pack and I realized it was the perfect place for a vicious gorilla image I'd just found online in a WWI propaganda poster headed 'Destroy This Mad Brute.' I put so many fake AI tells in this one – extra pupils, extra fingers, a super-AI-esque Kellogg's logo.

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/05/variegated/#nein

Bloodletting is the perfect metaphor for using rate-hikes to fight inflation. A vintage image of the Treasury, spattered with blood, makes a great backdrop. For the foreground, a medieval woodcut of bloodletting quacks – give one the head of Larry Summers, the other, Jerome Powell. For the patient, use Uncle Sam's head.

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/20/bloodletting/#inflated-ego

I killed a long videoconference call slicing up an old pulp cover showing a killer robot zapping a couple of shrunken people in bell-jars. It was the ideal image to illustrate Big Tech's enshittification, especially when it was decorated with some classic tech slogans.

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/22/who-wins-the-argument/#corporations-are-people-my-friend

There's something meditative about manually cutting out Tenniel engravings from Alice – the Jabberwock was insane. But it was worth it for this Tron-inflected illustration using a distorted Cartesian grid to display the enormous difference between e/acc and AI doomers, and everyone else in the world.

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/27/10-types-of-people/#taking-up-a-lot-of-space

Multilayer source images for your remixing pleasure:

Scientist in chemlabhttps://craphound.com/images/scientist-in-chem-lab.psd

Humpty Dumpty and the millionaires https://craphound.com/images/humpty-dumpty-and-the-millionaires.psd

Demon summoning https://craphound.com/images/demon-summoning.psd

Killer Robot and People in Bell Jars https://craphound.com/images/killer-robot-and-bell-jars.psd

TWA mansplainer https://craphound.com/images/twa-mansplainer.psd

Impatient boss https://craphound.com/images/impatient-boss.psd

Destroy This Mad Brute https://craphound.com/images/destroy-this-mad-brute.psd

(Images: Heinz Bunse, West Midlands Police, Christopher Sessums, CC BY-SA 2.0; Mike Mozart, Jesse Wagstaff, Stephen Drake, Steve Jurvetson, syvwlch, Doc Searls, https://www.flickr.com/photos/mosaic36/14231376315, Chatham House, CC BY 2.0; Cryteria, CC BY 3.0; Mr. Kjetil Ree, Trevor Parscal, Rama, “Soldiers of Russia” Cultural Center, Russian Airborne Troops Press Service, CC BY-SA 3.0; Raimond Spekking, CC BY 4.0; Drahtlos, CC BY-SA 4.0; Eugen Rochko, Affero; modified)

[kmackatie]

scene index:

1. act one, scene one 2. act one, scene two 3. act two, scene one 4. act two, scene two 5. act three, scene one 6. act three, scene two 7. act three, scene three 8. act four, scene one 9. act four, scene two 10. act five, scene one 11. act five, scene two 12. epilogue

Rating: Explicit Fandom: Critical Role Relationship: Essek Thelyss/Caleb Widgoast Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, POV Caleb Widogast, Friends With Benefits, Platonically Sleeping Together, Romantically Sleeping Together, Sexually Sleeping Together, Literal Sleeping Together, Explicit Sexual Content, and there was only one bed, Developing Relationship, accidentally sleeping with your colleague then pretending it didn’t happen, this is a 2000s romcom filled with miscommunication and pining Words: 62,272 Chapters: 12/12

About halfway through writing this fic, I had the hair-brained idea that since I had been joking that this fic is three 2000s romcom movies dressed up in a trenchcoat, it deserved the movie poster / DVD cover / book cover of my cinema dreams.

Enter @lunairka, who made this dream come to life with some incredible art that perfectly captures how much of an idiot these two had been the entire way through. Please give them all the love for creating this, and a version without my graphic design is available below the cut.

With that, I hope you enjoy the final chapter (or is it 👀) available on the 'epilogue' link above!

[dnptheinfinity]

okay! i finally had a good night’s sleep for the first time in a week so it’s time for some tit thoughts

overall, i had such an incredible time literally starting from the train ride to warsaw and ending on the train back where i met another random phannie last minute

but it was amazing to see the whole gang again, and it wouldn’t be the same without them so obligatory shout out to @polar-bears-making-pancakes @cardsagainstdnpg @baking-phan-in-my-mind @dipandpiptit @goldenpinof and @nickbipanicnelson <3

the m&g also couldn’t go better, i was honestly less stressed then during the wad m&g and i managed to tell them everything i wanted, almost word for word like i wrote it down, so i said that i’ve been watching them for almost exactly 10 years and dan’s reply to that was “wow, what a journey” and it really has been!! i also got to look deep into phil’s big blue eyes and i loved how much attention both of them pay to everyone who’s talking to them 🥺 i also showed them my sims render and dan’s reaction was his squeaky laugh and phil said “that’s so good!” and then they signed it while crossing arms (dan had to do it twice technically because his sharpie just refused to do it’s one job) and then we got a pic that i’ll put under the cut but i like it a lot!

i honestly don’t remember much from the preshow q&a but i know i had fun!!

i also got the hoodie and the poster and a pack of cards and between the vip pack and the one i bought i got 2 holo ones and only one repeat (and it was of dan’s ass so i can’t even be mad about that) and then i got a few more from Katie from her doubles so i ended up with 13 in total and i love every single one of them. the ass is now under my phone case for everyone to see

and then the show itself. i’m not gonna write anything spoilery but i loved it, im so proud of myself for successfully avoiding spoilers. the only bad thing i have to say is the fact that there were some things that i literally Could Not see from my seat because it was so far to the side and in the first row so rip for that (and rip to my back because the foldable chairs in the warsaw venue did not get an upgrade since wad)

ah also! big thanks to Mandragora and that one random person during the interlude for the phracelets they gave me <3

so all in all, i had the best time, really hope they film it so i can see everything from a better angle but still 11/10, im so glad i recovered from my cold in time for the show 🥰

[cheritzteam]

[The Ssum] Ssumone “Harry” Ending Update Complete! Don’t Miss the Celebration Event♡ v2.0.6 App Update

Hello, dear lab participant!

Harry’s Ending for <The Ssum> v2.0.6 update has been completed. 

Don't forget to claim the server maintenance reward of 10 Aurora Batteries, available for 3 days! *Claim your reward by: ~ December 23rd, 2023 (KST)

[Download <The Ssum> and meet Harry] ♥ iOS: https://bit.ly/3oMM81e ♥Android: https://bit.ly/3poKHTJ

♥Harry Ending Update♥

Harry’s Full Story of 271 days has been completely updated!

What awaits our lab participant and Harry in the final chapter?

Access <The Ssum> right now to continue the story between the two of you.

From Season 1 to 11, every call now has a video call feature🎦added in. Enjoy the past stories again in a new way!

TIP 1) When you’re uploading important content, use the hashtag #TheSsum_Spoilers or #더썸_스포 to protect fellow lab participants from spoilers! If you are a lab participant who has reached the end of the story, this is also a way to find others who have finished it as well! TIP 2) This update has made Season 9-11 emoticons available for purchase at the Aurora LAB once you have finished each Season. If you’re interested, please check it out!

♥Celebration Event Guide♥

< ① X(Twitter) Repost Event >

Remember the X(Twitter) Repost Event that was held from D-7 to D-Day of the update?

As an appreciation for our lab participants’ incredible support, we will be holding an Encore Event!

This time, the limited-time prize is your Ssumone’s New Year Photo Memento Towel😍 (Try using it as a fabric poster!)

💌 How to Participate

Login to X(Twitter)🔑

Retweet @ Cheritz_DL’s Event Post(link)🔁

📆 Event Period

~ December 28th, 2023 (Wed) 9 AM KST

🎁Event Reward

Limited Time The Ssum New Year Photo Memento Towel (1 Random) + 100 Aurora Batteries (3 winners for each Ssumone, total 9 winners)

50 Aurora Batteries (10 winners)

📢 Winner Announcement

January 4th, 2024 (Thu) KST

※Please Note※ - You cannot participate with a private account. - If we do not get a DM reply within 10 days of the winner announcement, your prize will be canceled.

Disappointed because the event is only on X?

Keep an eye out for the Surprise News that’s coming out in a week (๑>؂•̀๑) 

< ② New Subscription Promotion >

For your comfortable ride to Harry’s Ending, the Aurora LAB is doing a new subscription promotion for lab participants that have never purchased a subscription!

The 1-month package, even the 3-month package — if it’s your first time subscribing, the Aurora Evolution Package is 20% off💥

Seize the perfect chance to get the benefits of the Aurora Evolution Package at the price of a Rainbow Evolution Package!

Visit the Aurora LAB right now♡

*This event promotion is for users who meet the requirements for the promotion. You can only participate once per account.

📆 Promotion Period

~ January 3rd, 2024 (Wed)

🎉 Promotion Details

Aurora Evolution Package (1 month/3 months) 20% discount

Q. What are the special benefits that only the Aurora Evolution Package has? A. That’s a great question! If you get a subscription for the Aurora Evolution Package, you can get the following exclusive benefits.

More Secondary Batteries! 104 secondary batteries are provided every day! you can also get max. 18 more after each chat thanks to eco-friendly charging!

More Anticipation Chatting and Calling Your Ssumone! During the subscription period, you can use 5 types of ringtones and text tones in your Ssumone’s voice!

A More Pleasant Experience with the Infinite Universe! Not only do you get The Premium AidBot rental, but you can also experience the Emotion Incubator at its greatest potential! PIU-PIU’s Belly storage gets increased and can hold 120 items for extra comfort♪

The Bigger and Better Sunshine Shelter! The Shelter gets an Aurora Renovation which lets you take in more Creatures. Bet you can get more presents from this upgrade!

< ③ Special Lab Support >

We are providing every lab participant with Special Lab Support in celebration of the update!

Make sure to collect the items while they’re available - especially the Aurora Creature Box which can only be acquired through purchase💨

📆 Reward Period

~December 28th, 2023 (Wed) 9 AM KST

🎁 Lab Support Details

5 Aurora Batteries + 1 Aurora Creature Box

Got any questions or concerns while using <The Ssum>? 📨The Ssum Customer Support: https://bit.ly/3cPacLg

We hope you hop onto the hype for our newly released Harry Ending Update of <The Ssum>.

We will do our best to provide you with more heart-racing content in the future.

Thank you.

-Cheritz-

[barren-heart]

Okay this is amazing. I’m so excited I’m buzzing.

I’m placing the spoiler tag with my thought below

I have so many theories and comments.

1. I’m so glad to have the Guide on this poster. I love her and it’s incredible to see her character journey.

2. I don’t really see a huge change in Colin, but it pretty obvious that everyone here is hypnotized in some way.

3. I know some spoilers, so idk if I can say that. But I have a pretty good guess who is hypnotizing them.

4. The bats. Three bats in the moon and two bats outside of the moon.

I believe the three always stood for “Nandor, Nadja, and Laszlo.” But I think here it represents “Nadja, The Guide, and Laszlo” as I believe they will be more connected to the house this season.

5. While the other bats represent Nandor and Guillermo (yeah, I do believe they mean him here). Since Guillermo will be away from the house and I suspect Nandor will be following him.

6. The house is central in the photo. Will they be abandoning it in the finale? Will they finally discover vampires are real and be chased out of Staten Island?

7. Nandor and Guillermo being framed as a set here, even though supposedly they are not master/familiar anymore….?

8. October 21! That means we get WWDITS for Halloween! Yay!!

If we get a double premiere and a double finale, that takes us to December 16th.

My theory that the finale would be around Election Day is over. 😞 But we will get an episode on election week (possibly episode 4?)

9. The lighting alludes to a spoiler I’m not sure I can speak about.

10. I really want to see bts of this photoshoot.

11. I’ll need to see the trailer before I can say much else.

Who’s going to San Diego comic con WWDITS panel?

[astoundingbeyondbelief]

Kaiju Weeks in Review (September 10-30, 2023)

I adore Godzilla Final Wars, but it's a movie with an identity crisis, unsure whether it wants to be headlining a Toho Champion Festival or mesmerizing American teenagers at a mid-aughts multiplex. @spacehunter-m's Final Wars 2004: The Year We Make Corn-Tack gives it a strong tug in the first direction, whittling the runtime down to 77 minutes and replacing most of the music and sound effects. She was inspired by Space Warriors 2000, of all things; as she put it, both films are "largely comprised of nonstop, monotonous action." As in that bizarro Ultraman compilation film, the kaiju trash-talk each other. It makes you wonder why Ryuhei Kitamura didn't at least bring back the speech bubbles from Godzilla vs. Gigan. Kaiju fan edits are rare, and this is in a class all by itself. Download it here.

Shigeru Kayama's novelizations of Godzilla (1954) and Godzilla Raids Again are out—hopefully the first of many to come. My copy only arrived on Saturday, so I haven't had the chance to read the whole thing yet, but I've made it through Godzilla. It's interesting to see Kayama, who wrote the initial treatment, take another swing at the story after the film was finished. He puts back moments like Godzilla eating a cow and attacking a lighthouse, and is also more overt with the wartime allusions. There's an incredible moment where Dr. Yamane muses that studying Godzilla and learning his secrets could be Japan's way of redeeming itself after "caus[ing] a great deal of trouble to people throughout the world." Note that these are novella-length, so much less in-depth than the novelizations of American Godzilla films you might be used to (Godzilla Raids Again is less than 80 pages). The book ends with an afterword by translator Jeffrey Angles contextualizing the tales.

Godzilla: War for Humanity continues to be a standout IDW miniseries. There's a new and very weird monster in the second issue, plus a no-nonsense Mothra (she tries to recruit Godzilla to fight Zoospora by shooting him in the back of the head and dragging him into the ocean in front of Minilla).

I've also got to mention the solicitation for another Godzilla Rivals installment, due December 20. Nola Pfau is writing, Megan Huang is illustrating.

Jen Onça is not excited to start her new, fast-paced fast-food career at Minilla Burger, but she'd much prefer a mundane day to the sudden return of Megalon! The monster brings destruction, trapping Jen in a forgotten lab deep beneath the restaurant with only the half-built form of Jet Jaguar to help her get out! She must repair the robotic defender to save herself and the city, but first she needs to escape the rubble trapping her in this tense adventure!

Yuzo the Biggest Battle in Tokyo, Yoshikazu Ishii's follow-up to Attack of the Giant Teacher, has also been picked up by SRS Cinema. No release details yet. I can't really speak to the film either, since it screened at the same time as Yumiko Shaku's panel at G-Fest, but as you can see from the poster, it's set during the pandemic.

The GAMERA -Rebirth- Gyaos has joined Godzilla Battle Line as an unusual sort of swarm unit. Your first summon of the match calls forth two sub-adults, and by the fifth summon you're sending out two sub-adults and three adults, still for four energy. They're probably the best swarm in the game, though still highly vulnerable to AOE units like Godzilla '01. I'm having fun with them in the Challenge Battles.

Notzilla, one of the sharpest kaiju comedies out there, is unexpectedly getting the graphic novel treatment. Mitch Teemley is adapting his own screenplay, with art by Zumart Putra. The comic is already finished, although I'm not clear on how folks who didn't back the Kickstarter (which wrapped on September 11) will get it. Useless trivia: the terrific cover above (one of four) is by Ben Dunn, who wrote the How to Draw Manga book I poured over in middle school.

After Troll shattered Netflix streaming records (according to Netflix), it's not super surprising that the company wants a sequel. Priority one: coming up with a title that's not Troll 2. Screenwriter Espen Aukan and director Roar Uthaug will both return.

Toy highlights of the past few weeks:

After confusing everyone by teasing its silhouette the day before April Fools', Tamashii has fully unveiled an S.H.Monsterarts Godzilla '72, a rare Showa figure from the line. It comes with two heads, one of them bloodied (see above). Due at the end of February.

After finally running out of ways to repaint their mold of Hedorah's Perfect Stage, Bandai is making a Movie Monster Series figure of the kaiju's Landing Stage. A Godzilla Store exclusive, it'll be released October 25.

After over two years, Funko is releasing a trio of Godzilla Singular Point Pops. Hopefully they go all-out with this show—it's not like there's any other plausible way for a Satomi Kanahara figure to exist.

[meowzfordayz]

when they're athletes — shinobu, kyojuro, sanemi, giyuu

Author’s Note: disclaimer that ~my sport (growing up) was gymnastics 😅, but heyyy my ex played basketball?! 🤪

when they’re athletes — shinobu, kyojuro, sanemi, giyuu

Kocho Shinobu x Reader, Rengoku Kyojuro x Reader, Shinazugawa Sanemi x Reader, Tomioka Giyuu x Reader

Word Count: ~1,300

CW: explicit language, mild sexual content

Suggestion Fulfilled: Imagine Sanemi, Giyuu, Kyojuro, Shinobu (but really you can imagine whoever) being really good at sports while in school/university, so good they're probably popular af and team captain. I imagine Shinobu and Kyojuro playing baseball, Giyuu playing basket and Sanemi playing soccer hehe I love the idea of a s/o being there to support them, maybe someone that's not as talented/popular (cheesy but I'm a sucker for clichés) who gets embarrassed when they win a match and just run to them to kiss them in front of everyone! 

~faqs, image~

I ended up choosing diff sports than the prompt suggested, mostly bc Idk a lot about a lot of sports 💀

Anywho-

Onward! 😆

(college au btw)

Diver ?? 💧

Lokwey struggling to think of a sport where you can be both short + weak 🫠

No hate to Shinobu, but it’s literally canon that she isn’t ~especially strong 😅

That being said, she’s so elegant and precise and fast

+ brave, so she would totally be awesome w/ 10m (33ft) diving 😍

You go to all of her meets, and only feel a lil envious when she waves @ you from the bubbling warmth of the hot tub

Like, do you feel like flinging yourself off a 10am platform?

No 💀

But do you wanna join her in the hot tub?

YES 😌

You’d also be 100% willing to pat her down w/ a fluffy towel in between each incredible dive 🙃

You’re her #1 photographer/videographer

She uses your vids to study her form + improve her technique

Her coach has actually patted you on the back before 👍

“Thank you [y/n], Shinobu’s lucky to have you!”

11/10 Shinobu (lovingly) embarrasses you whenever she makes it on the podium

Heart hands in your direction, and your direction only 🫶

Will shout your name if it’s a smaller meet 🗣

There’s no escaping the swivel of amused, endeared glances ��

“THAT’S MY WONDERFUL PARTNER!” 🗣🗣🗣

Bonus? She def has a towel w/ your face on it

Will occasionally make a (subtle) show of patting her breasts + butt (w/ aforementioned towel, ofc) 😇

#fuuuck 😏

—I’ll actually do baseball hcs for Kyojuro, bc Ik ~stuff about baseball (I think) ⚾️

You have a poster that consists only of photos of his ass in his scrumptious baseball uniform 😌

Do you bring it to every game?

Maybe

Do you receive glares from parents w/ young children?

Yes 😬

Do you care?

Not particularly 😃

Kyojuro pretends to be embarrassed, but he’s also totally pouted post-game about, “While I appreciate my favorite person attending my game, where was my favorite poster?” 😭

If he’s invited somewhere post-game, then he always invites you to join

Do his teammates tease him?

Of course 😆

Does he mind?

Not at all❣️

Do you mind?

A little, but it’s hard to feel too self-conscious when he’s squished happily and hot into your side, one hand feeding you fries off his plate, the other intertwined sweaty and content w/ yours 🍟😋

Kyojuro 11/10 has a fanclub (not started by him, but by the swarm of—mostly—women who religiously attend his games)

Surprisingly (bc let’s be positive for these hcs lol), they’re relatively accepting and supportive of you

Sure, you might be known as Kyojuro’s Partner™ (nobody’s bothered to learn your name)

After all, they’re there to see him, not you 🤪

But w/ the constant grins, waves, hearts, and winks directed toward you (by him) throughout his games, it’s impossible to deny the position you hold in his life ❤️‍🔥

And his fans would rather be on his good side aka respect you than upset him

When you’re absent from a game, he’ll more often than not be asked, “Kyojuro !!!!! Where’s your partner ????? Are they okay?! Tell them to feel better soon!” 🥺

Bonus? He likes when you smack his butt and leave your handprints in the dirt and dust on his pants 😂🥰

GYMNAST

—I am biased (as an ex gymnast heh), albeit men’s gymnastics is pretty diff from women’s

—But come on 😤

—The man already goes practically shirtless in canon, so why not have him do a sport where he can still be mostly shirtless ????? 🤠

Sanemi’s tough, fearless to the point of recklessness (thank fuck for his strict, supportive coaches), and muscular af

Absolutely an all-arounder

He’s got the power for vault and floor, the strength for rings, the precision and agility for parallel bars and high bar, and the balance for pommel horse — plus #endurance for days

Prob excels a tad more on vault, floor, p bars, and high bar (more dynamic/high energy), but he’s still ART to watch on any event 😍

Could care less about his scores — he just wants to have fun doing dangerous stuff 😎

Ofc, he’d be pissed if he lost by a slim margin 😑

But if he obvi won or obvi lost, then he’s more chill

Like: “Cool, what’s next?”

Makes him enjoyable to watch bc he focuses primarily on performing entertaining/thrilling routines

Not a stress ball about results or perfection

When he does win a medal/trophy, he gives it to you for safe keeping 🏆🥇🥈🥉

If you don’t want it, then he offers it to someone else from the meet that he admired

“Awesome double double on floor bro”

“Sick landing on vault dude”

“Your flexibility is insane”

—How realistic is his offering-his-medal/trophy-to-another-competitor? Not super realistic (at all 😆), but it’s the thought that counts, and this is fanfiction teehee

LOVES bringing you to the gym

If you’re also a gymnast, then he totally tries to teach you men’s skills, and ~demands to be taught women’s skills

Is salty af when they’re much harder than he anticipated 😒

If you’re not a gymnast, then he’s surprisingly patient w/ you

Is happy to teach you basic skills, or just set up a cozy, safe spot for you to watch him practice 🤍

Will occasionally pretend to fall/mess up bc he lowkey adores you fussing over him

If it will get him kisses, then he does not care about maintaining his angry, buff facade 😌

On that note, his teammates know better than to even fake flirt w/ you

Sanemi will legit growl

And if his shirt was on before, well, now it’s off 😶

And his abdominals, pectorals, everything are no joke 😵‍💫

On the flip side, you don’t have to worry too much about ppl fawning over him (despite his looks + constantly breaking university records w/ his scores), bc 99% of the time he’s so damn glower-y/unapproachable 💀

Bonus? When they get too thick, he lets you pick off his callouses #oddly satisfying 😂

Dancer

—I was originally going to do Rock Climber!Giyuu hcs, but decided I shouldn’t indulge myself too much 😅 (I rock climb 🧗🏻‍♀️)

From tap to jazz to hip-hop, salsa, and a lil bit of ballet, Giyuu’s fluent in most genres of dance 🕺🩰

Even w/ niche genres, he’s able to learn combinations fairly quickly

Doesn’t consider himself particularly ~swaggy, but you swear he slips into a diff persona when he’s on stage

Aka, he’s 110% swaggy 😎

Joined the university dance team as a freshman, and was co captain by sophomore yr 👌

Ironically shy about dancing in ~general public, but encourages you to let loose when you go clubbing

He swears you’re better (at dancing) than him, but you suspect that has something to do w/ how most of your dancing together involves grinding 🫢 (as well as adorable dancing-in-the-kitchen-@-2am 💙)

That being said, if a dance circle forms, and you ~gently push him into the center (while ignoring his look of betrayal ☹️), then he will be devastatingly smooth and beautiful w/ whatever move he pulls off 😍

Has been scouted by professional dance companies, but is committed to finishing his degree first

Your future matters to Giyuu as much as his own, and signing professionally would be a huge change + opportunity that he isn’t willing to make/take unless you’re on board 🥺

And dw, he would never resent you if you weren’t ready

As much as he loves dancing, he cherishes you equally — prob more 🥰

Doesn’t mind ~intimate dances, but communicates openly and immediately w/ you about them

He doesn’t want you to get the wrong idea about the months long project he’s working on that involves him shirtless ~most of the time 🙃

And he highly values your opinion, so including you in choreography sessions, rehearsals, etc is special to him 😁

Doesn’t like using social media himself, but is totally comfortable w/ you running his Instagram 📱

You always choose the best photos from photoshoots, treat his followers to the occasional thirst post 🤤 (that only you, his dear partner, could ever come up w/), and reading NSFW DMs from random ppl in his inbox somehow makes him adore you more 😆💘

Bonus? He’ll frequently drape his dance team jacket across your shoulders — he appreciates knowing you’re warm AND wearing his name 😇

[violetsaffron5]

Beautiful Disaster (10)

← Chapter 9 • series masterlist • Chapter 11 →

↳ 10 | Insights

Pairing: Gojo Satoru x f!Reader

Meeting Satoru's family

words: 4.6k

cw: mention of infidelity and open relationships

Taglist • Ao3 • Discord 18+ • Social Media • Series Masterlists

When Satoru described his house to you, it sounded pretty modest, all things considered.

Based on the conversations you’ve had with Satoru and the things he likes to buy, you knew his family was rich, or at least had more money than most due to owning a law firm.

What you weren’t expecting was to be standing in front of an entire fucking estate as Satoru types in the code at the gate to get in.

They’re rich, rich and that thought kind of makes you want to vomit in the neatly trimmed bushes you’re currently walking past.

The estate is grand and luxurious. Soft snow is falling onto the acres of lawn that span the entirety of their property. Fern and Maple tree branches hang with the soft, freshly fallen snow making it look like an enchanted wonderland.

There’s a fountain in the center of the large, circular driveway surrounded by several bushes. And in the driveway there are several expensive cars, Satoru’s being among them.

He laces his fingers with yours guiding you to the front steps of the house to the large wooden double doors, passing by a wooden bridge that leads to another smaller building that sits on the lot, a little ways away from the main house.

The house is modern with multiple stories, a patio that wraps around the entire house with large glass windows to let in plenty of natural light. 

The inside of the house is, to no surprise, even more grand. Everything is clean, shiny, and new. 

The foyer has a table with fresh flowers on it between double staircases with marble flooring.

It’s almost impersonal in a way that screams the house was decorated by an interior designer.

Satoru leads you up one side of the staircase, down several halls, past a few closed doors to his bedroom.

The room is large and clean. He has several posters hanging on the wall over his bed, a giant TV with a game console set up under it on opposite his enormous bed. The room is clean with everything put in its place.

It would be hard to keep a house of this size clean so there’s no doubt there’s probably a few maids that help maintain organization and cleanliness. It would be impossible to keep clean on your own.

“Where are your parents?” It’s not that you thought they’d be waiting for you with open arms as soon as you walked through the front door, but you did expect to see them greeting their son after he had left for the night.

He shrugs, putting your bag down on the bed, “Around here somewhere, probably.”

Satoru presses his lips to yours, leaning you back onto his plush bed. Your legs spread automatically for him to lay between as he moves to kiss your jaw and neck, teeth grazing gently on the tender spot below your ear.

“Mm, Satoru,” you breathe, “Can we wait?”

He sighs, pouting, “Why?”

“Because we just got here. I want to look around and meet your family.”

Satoru pecks your lips a few times before muttering, “Fine,” standing and offering his hand to help you up off his bed.

There are several doors that are closed and Satoru explains those are just extra bedrooms, and when Suguru comes over or they have any parties, Suguru sleeps in one of them. The room at the end of the hall is a game room, or more of an arcade, really.

A massive sectional couch lines one wall, with a giant TV filling the entire wall space across from it. There’s a pool table, air hockey, and plenty of old-school arcade games spaced around the room.

It’s every kid's dream to have a room like this.

“This is incredible,” you laugh while looking through a bookshelf filled with board games, “I would have lived in here as a kid.”

“Yeah, I spent a lot of time in here playing while my parents were working.”

“Oh. Wasn’t that lonely?”

“Not so bad, especially once Suguru and I became friends. He stayed over a lot.”

You realize it must have been lonely being an only child with his parents always working or gone. Before you have a chance to say anything someone comes and knocks on the door of the room you’re in.

It takes you by surprise, not having expected someone to knock when the door is already open. There’s a pretty woman in the doorway with a simple uniform and a soft smile on her face, “Dinner is ready.”

Satoru rolls his eyes and groans while you giggle, “How fancy.”

Since you agreed to come to Satoru’s house with him, the two of you decided to spend most of the day with your Aunt Nagi, keeping her company for the day. She was getting ready to head out for her own dinner with a few friends when the two of you decided to leave.

As Satoru leads you through the halls upstairs, he points to the other wing of the house, up the opposite set of stairs that you initially came up stating that his parent's bedrooms are that way, along with a few studies and offices for his dad's work.

“You okay?” Satoru asks as you grab and gently squeeze his hand at the top of the stairs.

“Yeah, just nervous. This is… more than I could have imagined. What if your parents don’t like me?”

“I really don’t care what they think.”

“But I do. I’ve never done this before.”

“My dad will love you,” he kisses your temple sweetly, “Mom will come around eventually.”

“Because she’ll prefer Mei?” You ask quietly, insecure.

He nods slightly, “Dad doesn’t really care for her. Says he knows what she’s all about and what she’s after. Mom will be the harder one to win over. She really only cares about how our family acts and appears in public, and Mei is very good at that.”

At the bottom of the stairs, Satoru points out a library stating they have all kinds of books, really anything imaginable in there and to help yourself at any time. Just off the library is a staircase to the basement. He says they don’t use it very much and it’s mainly for storage, but when he had parties in high school, that’s where they would hang out.

Satoru’s parents are already seated at a large mahogany table with a chandelier over it when you walk into the dining room. The room itself is just between the double staircase and has a massive carpet under the table with simple wooden chairs surrounding it.

His dad looks up from his tablet with shining eyes and a nod of his head when you give him a shy smile, “Welcome.”

Gojo Sr. looks as you remember from seeing him in Tokyo, shopping. Tall and lanky with salt and pepper hair. Satoru is a spitting image of him, only with his mother's snow-white hair.

Turning to his mother you give her the same sweet smile. She doesn’t return it. Instead, she looks you up and down a few times, and you’re unable to read her expression.

Knowing she only cares about image, you dressed the best you could with what you had packed. It’s a simple dress that cinches in all the right places.

She doesn’t look impressed.

“Who’s this?” His mom asks and you purse your lips as you take a seat across from her with Satoru next to you; it has you wondering if he’s even bothered to mention your name.

The thought doesn’t have time to fester since you hear Gojo Sr. say your name with confidence, “He told us she’d be joining us this week, and that they started dating a few months ago. Remember, honey?”

She hums, choosing not to respond. There’s an awkward silence for a few moments that’s making you want to crawl under the table and die, but before you get the chance to do that the food is brought out by a few of the house workers.

The hustle and bustle of plates, silverware, and doors opening and closing quickly fill the space drawing out the awkwardness of the introductions that just happened.

This is probably the fanciest dinner you’ve ever been to in your entire life and you can’t imagine people eating like this every single day without a care in the world.

“Why’d you have them make dinner like this?” Satoru asks, clearly annoyed that he had to come down to eat a four-course fucking meal with his parents.

“Your mom said that it would be a good idea to impress your guest.” His dad answers.

Satoru sighs, “Right. Even though mom just acted like she had no idea who she was.”

“It’s okay,” you interject, not really wanting to be the center of attention any more than you already are, “This is wonderful, regardless.”

You smile at Satoru’s mom, but she ignores you, taking a bite of her food instead so you turn and smile at Gojo Sr.

“So, what is your degree in?” He asks.

You’re thankful to have something else to focus your attention on, rather than sitting in an odd, uncomfortable silence until everyone is done with their meals. You tell him your major and that you’re helping tutor Yuji along with picking up a few extra-curricular courses in order to get enough credits to graduate early.

“Smart. It seems like you have a good head on your shoulders.”

“And what about a family?” His mom cuts in before you’re able to respond.

“Um,” You laugh awkwardly, “I’d like to have one, one day. I think I’d like to be settled in my career first, and be in a good place financially before really considering that.”

“Degrees are useless if you plan on staying home with the children. Better to have them while you’re young.”

“Mom,” Satoru warns, glaring at her.

He knew she was going to pull some shit like this, trying to find a reason to berate you, make you feel like what you’re doing isn’t good enough, no matter what you said. It’s how she operates when she’s not happy with his decisions.

“It’s fine.” You give him a tender smile, trying to hide the fact that your hands are shaking from the bombardment of questions regarding such a personal matter, “I don’t know if I plan to stay home with them or not. That’s a decision that’ll be made when the time comes.”

She scoffs, “Letting someone else raise your child-”

“What’s the difference between dropping the child off at daycare while working versus staying home and letting a nanny raise them?” You cut in.

Her eyes narrow at you as you smile sweetly in her direction before losing some of your nerves, opting to take a drink of water from the glass in front of you. 

Gojo’s dad laughs quietly, breaking some of the tension, “Honey, let them worry about that when the time comes. They have plenty of years left before that would even be an option.”

Your cheeks flush at the thought of you and Satoru getting married one day, and starting a family, but there is a long way before that’s even a real consideration in your mind. You were honest with his dad, wanting to wait until you’re out of college, well into your career before you start thinking about starting a family.

You’d also want to be away from your mother so there’s no possible way she’d be involved.

“What does your mom do for a living?” His mom's voice is tense, but she’s trying. You're not sure why, but your best guess would be so Satoru doesn’t get pissed at her.

“She’s in hospitality.”

She perks up a little, hopeful, “Management?”

You shake your head, “Um, no, she works at a travel agency.”

There’s no hiding the disappointment that crosses her features. She opens her mouth to say something, but you see the way her eyes flicker to Satoru for a moment before closing her mouth.

You’re internally thankful when Gojo Sr. cuts in discussing the law firm and upcoming projects with Satoru, taking the heat and conversation off of yourself for the rest of dinner.

Once you’re done eating, Satoru excuses the two of you, bringing you back upstairs to the game room.

The two of you decide on a simple board game to play and as Satoru gets it up, your phone pings with a text.

Choso: do you have all the supplies you need for class? You: No, not yet Choso: We could go together, I still have a few things I need to pick up as well.

“Who are you talking to?” Satoru asks when you smile and tap away at your phone.

“Oh. Choso texted asking if I have everything I need for our art class this semester.”

His jaw twitches, “You have a class with him?”

Your eyes flicker between his for a moment, “Yeah. I didn’t realize it until we talked the other day. It’s the art class I’m taking as my extracurricular this semester.”

“Oh, great.”

There’s a shift in his mood at the mention of Choso. You can tell he’s not a fan, doesn’t like it when Choso hangs out with you or even speaks to you, but he hasn’t said anything about it.

You’d understand if there was anything going on with Choso, or if anything had ever happened in the past with him, but Satoru is the only person you’ve been with, physically and romantically since transferring.

It’s also a little hypocritical of him to be so jealous of someone else just because you get along with them when he’s still hanging out with Mei despite your protests.

You drop the subject though, quickly texting Choso back telling him you won’t be able to make it out before the semester starts. You’ll just ask Satoru to go with you to buy the things you need later this week.

Turning your attention back to the game, you ask Satoru to explain the rules and play a few practice rounds until his mood lightens. The rest of the night goes quickly, filled with laughs, giggles, and silly little arguments about him cheating so he doesn’t lose.

Your brows furrow when Satoru’s alarm goes off bright and early the next morning, feeling a kiss on your cheek with the bed dipping before he rolls out of it.

It takes you several minutes for your eyes to adjust to the darkened room. He has blackout curtains hanging over the windows, helping keep the morning sunlight out of his room.

When you sit up rubbing the sleep from your eyes, Satoru emerges from his attached bathroom in a white button-down and black slacks. He looks great, professional, but you’re also confused.

“Where are you going?” You ask between yawns.

Satoru chuckles, “I have to go into the office.”

“I thought you said your dad would let you take the week off since I’m here?”

“He will. But I have to at least get-up and get ready. Showing initiative and all that. He’ll tell me to come home and spend time with you instead.”

You pout, “Are you sure?”

“Yeah. Trust me, he’ll tell me to come back and hang out with my pretty girlfriend.”

You smile and flush as he kisses your lips before walking out of his room. And true to his word, he’s back shortly after leaving, pulling your sleeping body into his before he falls back asleep holding you close.

When the two of you decide to finally get up for the day, it’s almost noon and the house is empty. There was a part of you that expected to see some people working and cleaning throughout the house, but it is totally barren.

Both of your stomachs growl as you make your way out of his room to the kitchen, looking through the massive pantry to find something quick and easy to make.

He’s able to find soba noodles tucked away in a corner, grabbing those and getting out the necessary utensils to cook it on their stove.

While the water is heating up Satoru lifts you so you’re sitting on the kitchen island before pressing his lips to yours. He swipes his tongue over your lips silently asking to deepen the kiss. You let him, you always do.

As an opportunist, Satoru takes full advantage of the empty house, slowly leaning you down on the marble counter so he can kiss and lick down your neck until your legs are spread wide and his face is buried in the apex of your thighs.

Your moans of his name echo through the quiet house as the boiling water bubbles over the rim of the pot extinguishing the flame of the burner below. Neither of you pays much attention to it, not having the desire or will to stop, especially when he buries his cock in you, telling you how much he loves you.

Eventually, the two of you clean up the stove and turn your attention back to lunch. The rest of the day is filled with more of the same; Satoru taking you on any and every surface imaginable.

In the evening, his parents come home and his mother forces everyone to have another awkward dinner. His mom doesn’t speak to you much while his father asks about how your day was before discussing business with Satoru.

It’s incredible to hear Satoru talk about the field he’s studying, and how he already knows so much. Though it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise considering it’s his family business and he’s expected to work there after graduation.

After dinner, you and Satoru lay around for a bit before deciding to watch a movie. While Satoru works on getting the movie set up in the game room you decide to run downstairs to get some drinks. He explains where you can find sodas and wine, letting you decide on what to bring back for him.

The house is quiet when you come down the steps and head into the kitchen, grabbing several sodas and snacks to bring back with you. When you pass by the library on your way back upstairs, you can hear a few giggles coming from the room.

After dinner, his mom left again and you were under the impression his dad did as well since you hadn’t seen him since excusing yourselves. Furrowing your brows, you open the library door and poke your head inside to see what the commotion is about.

And your stomach hits the fucking floor.

His dad is in the room with a woman leaning back on the desk, who is very much not Satoru’s mother. She has a robe barely draped over her body, cupping his father's face as he chuckles, kissing her neck.

Your palms are heavy, heart is racing, and knees weak as you close the door as quietly as you can. You’re not sure if either of them saw you but as you slowly head up the stairs debating how to tell Satoru what you saw, nobody comes out to stop you.

There’s a massive lump in your throat when you walk into the game room, brows furrowed in concentration. Satoru looks up and smiles at you but it quickly drops when he sees your expression, “Hey, what’s wrong?”

“Um, Satoru, baby. You might want to sit down.”

“Uh, okay…” His brows are knitted together in confusion, but does as you’ve asked, “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know how to tell you this,” You take a deep breath, voice laced with concern, “I heard some noise from the library, so I decided to poke my head in there and… your dad is in there with another woman.”

“Oh. What does she look like?”

You shake your head and blink a few times, confused about why he’s wanting to know, “Um. Tall, light eyes I think, long dark hair, thick eyebrows.”

“That’s Yorozu. They’ve been seeing each other for like, I don’t know, a few years now, I guess.”

“I- What?”

Satoru repeats himself, watching your confused expression stay as you take in the information he’s providing on his family.

“So you just… know he’s having an affair? Does your mom know?”

Satoru shrugs, “Yeah, she does.”

“Ok, pause. Start from the beginning.” Satoru raises an eyebrow, quietly chuckling to himself as he watches your confusion. “I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around this.”

Typically when someone is cheating or having an affair, it’s a private matter. Not something they want out in the open, and certainly not something they want their child to find out about.

“My parents don’t really care for each other, romantically speaking. Never have. They had me to cement their marriage and so I could take over the family business one day. They were friends, met in college and their families decided they should get married to merge the businesses.”

“Wouldn’t it be easier for them to just get a divorce?”

Satoru shrugs again, “Don’t know. Dad’s seeing a few people, it works for them.”

You stare at Satoru for a few moments, eyes flickering between his. He’s totally uncensored with the conversation you just had. Which makes sense.

His views on relationships make more sense now, keeping things casual, with no real commitment. Even though his parents are married and had him, it’s essentially the same thing. It’s what he watched and saw his entire life growing up, emulating that in his own relationships as he got older.

“I don’t want that.” Satoru states unprompted before sighing, “I mean I thought I did, before. But not anymore.

“What do you mean?” You ask quietly, stepping between his legs, moving his bangs away from his eyes.

He wraps his arms around your waist, looking up at you with gorgeous ocean-blue eyes, “I want someone I can be happy with. I want to be with you.”

“Really?”

“Mhm.” He rests his cheek on your stomach as you card your fingers through his hair, contemplating his words before putting the back of your hand on his forehead. He looks up at you confused narrowed eyes.

“Just had to check to see if you have a fever.”

He’s unamused with your antics, “Haha. I’m being serious.”

“I know,” You answer softly, “Just hard to believe this is the same Gojo Satoru who was only interested in causal relationships a few months ago. Now he’s talking about forever?”

“It’s different with you.”

You smile, cheeks flushed because you can see the sincerity in his eyes. You know he’s uncomfortable, talking about his feelings, having explained this family dynamic to you, so you tease him, trying to lighten the mood.

“Babe. You sound so crazy right now.” He laughs, pulling you into his lap and kissing your lips before the two of you lay on the couch, getting ready to start the movie.

The last few days have been filled with hard conversations, getting to know each other on a deeper level than you ever have before. It’s a big step forward, sharing these details and secrets of your home life.

As you watch him, focused on the movie, you know you wouldn’t want to have had these conversations with anyone else.

January 2012

The rest of the week goes by quickly, celebrating new years, venturing into all of the rooms in the estate and exploring every nook and cranny of the yard. It really shouldn’t have been a surprise to you but on the back patio, they have a hot tub that the two of you used a few times, along with a little hot spring in the back, far off from the house.

Everything is gorgeous and maintained even in Winter, and there’s no doubt it would look even better in the Spring and Summer when all of the hedges and flowers are in bloom.

Your mom did call once she realized you weren’t at home, and you begrudgingly answered at Satoru’s insistence. He wanted to speak to her, especially after hearing the shit she had to say to you about leaving unannounced but you didn’t let him.

Satoru took you shopping to get the items needed for both of your upcoming classes and to do some shopping in general. He took you to all of his favorite pastry shops along the way and went back to the little ramen shop the two of you discovered during your first date.

After a few nights of forced dinners with his parents, his mom relented, letting the two of you have your time together uninterrupted. You’re not sure if Satoru or if his father said something to her, or if she decided to leave the two of you to your peace on her own, either way, you’re not complaining about it.

It’s the night before you and Satoru are heading back to his house just off campus, to spend the weekend with your friends before the semester starts. He’s already asleep, having fallen asleep in his bed, holding you close while some cheesy Christmas romance movie you wanted to watch played on his TV.

You’re in one of his oversized t-shirts, fingers running through his soft tresses, listening to his light snores until the credits roll. It’s the middle of the night, and the two of you have planned to wake up early and get breakfast before heading back to college life.

Satoru has his face against your chest, and you’re amazed you’re able to slip out from under him without waking him, deciding to go downstairs to the kitchen and get something to drink before heading back to bed.

The house is quiet with no signs of life as you make your way down the steps and into the kitchen, the only sounds to be heard coming from the wind blowing and wildlife outside.

You’re startled when you walk into the kitchen and find his mom quietly sitting on one of the stools at the kitchen island in her nightgown, legs crossed one over the other. She’s tapping away on her phone, looking up with sharp eyes when she notices you come into the room.

“Oh, uh, sorry. I came down for some water. I didn’t realize anyone was still awake.”

She watches for a moment as you smile awkwardly, pulling down the hem of Satoru’s shirt as you make your way to the cabinet to grab a glass.

“What do you think you’re doing with my son?” Her voice isn’t harsh per se, more curious than anything.

You watch her for a moment, chewing the inside of your cheek before replying honestly, “We’re just getting to know one another. I’m not after anything if that’s what you think.”

“You won’t fit in with our family.”

You sigh, setting the glass on the kitchen island, “I love Satoru, hard edges and all. If he’s happy with me, then honestly, that’s all that matters.”

She scoffs, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms over her chest, “Love doesn’t matter when you’re making a name for yourself and have a family legacy to uphold.”

“It’s really unfortunate that that’s what you believe.”

His mom watches as you grab the glass, filling it with ice and water before drinking it, setting the used cup in the sink. You’re about to make your way out of the kitchen and back upstairs before she says, “I wouldn’t get my hopes up if I were you. Satoru’s interests have always been… fleeting. Much like his father's. He’ll find a reason to end things, one way or another.”

You purse your lips, turning back to meet her gaze, “I’ll worry about that when and if the time comes.”

@petalsrdead @sofiaconlaz @lovelylashawnalee @s-witch-bitch @watyousayin @desthevirgo @coffee-on-a-rainyautumn @musababy @sagejin @ritsatoru @faewithsnakes @erenputurchildreninsideme @lex-dear @hvziers @babybae-shisui @sugurunicorn @niki-sun @lilith412426 @sofiaconlaz @lxvephxbic @iam-mia9 @laylasbunbunny @creolequeen11210 @xiaosie @lem-hhn @yogurttea @slut-jr @crystxlline @ritsatoru @abba-simp @myabae @etherealkakashi @hyperfixationsporfavor @yihona-san06 @ambersea7 @knightoflove

[bks-blogs]

After long several months, we are back at it ONCE AGAIN, my dedicated pups! 😁

We're hosting our next 101 Dalmatian Street Trending Party on August 10th-11th, 48-hours of incredible 101DS fan-content waiting to be posted, and it'll be held not just on Twitter, but on other social/art websites as well!!!🥳🎉🎊

We're gonna work to the bone to promote this event in order for this show to not only trend on Twitter and DisneyPlus, we're reaching out to the companies behind the show to let them know that this show is a potential phenomenon that deserve to have their spotlight again!

Let's get together to let them know we stand by them, as we support not only 101DS, but animation as well!!🔥🔥🔥

As you may know, this event lasts 48 hours through August 10 and 11, giving users from overseas enough time to join the event!🌎

Our mission is to get #101DalmatianStreet & #Save101DalmatianStreet trending on social media websites, especially Twitter. (Use #101TrendingParty to promote the event).

We're also working to get the show trending on DisneyPlus. We encourage you to promote the event on many Social media/art websites, including ones you use at your disposal. Make promotional material like banners, posters, GIFs, promotional videos and decorate your channels/accounts with them!🎨🖌️✏️

Make quantities of 101DS fan-art such as fanart, comics, music, fanfics, GIFs, Memes and more. Tweet, Re-tweet and quote tweet fan-content you see during the 48-hour trending event.

I recommend using the Postybirb posting software if you want to post your 101DS fan-content on multiple websites simultaneously.

I also encourage you to make crossover 101DS artwork to reach out to audiences from other fanbases! (#MLP, #Onepiece, #Pokemon, #Zootopia, #Adventuretime, etc…)

But PLEASE, do not post any kinds of content that includes NSFW, nudity, violence, graphical content, hard/disturbing fetish, etc… This is a puppy friendly fan-event, and we intend to keep it that way.

Use these recommended hashtags when posting 101DS fan-content on sites Twitter: #101DalmatianStreet #Save101DalmatianStreet #Disney #DisneyPlus #101Dalmatians #101TrendingParty

Other hashtags are optional if you want to be creative with it.

During the 48-hour event, tell your followers to support and binge watch the show on the Disney+ streaming service, and tell them to encourage their friends and family to support 101DS as well.

One of our primary goals is to get the show trending on the Disney streaming app in order to push its popularity. You can also do a live-tweet of the show to build up on the content.

Tag the companies @atomiccartoons, Gigglebug and Passion Animation and their staff who had worked on it to let them know how much you care about 101DS and the hard work and energy they've put into it.

And with the thread version out of the way, let's put our heads together, and use our creative organization and teamwork to make this latest 101DS Trending Party a big success, as well as reaching out to Disney, Atomic Cartoons, Gigglebug and Passion Animation about our support for the show! So, let's get to it and start promoting!!🥳🎉🎊🎈

@spotty-bee @mandareeboo @alioks-blog @aapaperbag @aquarellewolf-blog @carlycmarathecat @cachicabra @cadpig101 @chelledoggo @doglover502 @dennisdrawsanddesigns @derektahki @egonoidea @fenrisarts @fizzlefroth @ghostindeedee @gooey2 @higburger @horrorcomixwithme @hyperaura @incorrect101dalmatians @julie-ghouls @jayofthetrees @kit-c0re @msitubeatz @mandareeboo @mnmarsart @marieecarlat @miniminxie @polarpace @plasmafang70 @pawreadingpup @rahitoshi @rainbowchromatic @ratrrriot @redundantmodule @straysketches @stoatfloat @spotty-bee @thomas-dalmatian @t00nified @tophthedaydreamer @wanderer-w00lf @xfangheartx @yatesmal91 @yakiradoggy @zuvi-draws @atomiccartoons @kiwimochas @drcrescentspade

[envysnest]

Snakeskin (Sephiroth/Reader) (ch. 12/?)

AO3 / Pillowfort

Rating: Explicit

Chapters: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12 / 13 / 14

Tags: First Time, Reader-Insert, Hurt/Comfort, Bittersweet Ending, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Frank Discussions of Past Rape/Abuse, Everyone is Queer, Canon-Compliant (if you squint), Pre-Crisis-Core Seph, Slow Burn, i continue to disappoint my friends and family, sephiroth is a virgin and in this essay i will, Reader is a Cis Woman, fluffy sex, Praise Kink, Gratuitous Biochemistry

Summary:

You are a young biologist, fresh out of graduate school, working in Shinra's R&D Division under Professor Hojo. You had long since given up on finding a partner and starting a family, preferring instead the company of your cell samples and your scientific instruments.

As the conflict in Wutai worsens, you strike up an unexpected friendship with a First Class SOLDIER.

(Sephiroth/Reader Slow Burn)

No trigger warnings apply for this chapter.

—

The tights fit perfectly. The black fabric was opaque; it even covered the bottom of your Lifestream tattoo. You cursed yourself for buying something so incredibly decadent. There was no going back to the drugstore tights after this. These would be perfect, except…

Were you supposed to wear underwear under these? Over them? You felt strangely bare. You stood on your bed and squinted across the room at your bathroom mirror. 

The Shinra-co. Sunrise ™  clock read 6:45 PM. You were going to be late if you kept fussing. No choice: you would have to brave Midgar with nothing under your skirt. Guilt and shame twisted your gut, and you pulled your coat on with a grimace. 

It’s for me, you thought. It’s not for him. 

You stared at your craft bench, at the iron wing you made earlier that week. Deep down, you wanted to seduce him into bed again. You wanted the lightning to strike twice; you wanted to burn. If you dressed yourself in the same way— if you had these stupid, expensive tights underneath your skirt this time— then maybe…

Genesis’s angry face flashed in your mind. You felt that same sick, sinking feeling from the training videos. It was rare to see SOLDIERs with injuries; whatever had hit him had hit hard. Whatever hit him would've surely killed you.

It was windy outside, and below freezing. A breeze teased at the hem of your skirt. You shoved it back down and glanced around. Everyone else waited for taxis or seemed preoccupied with their friends. You turned towards Shinra’s familiar silhouette against the cloudy sky. If you walked fast enough, you’d be right on time. 

A couple, hand-in-hand. meandered down the sidewalk in front of you. You hesitantly inched past them. You pulled your coat tightly around yourself, but this turned you into a wobbling, upright caterpillar. You loosened your grip; the wind threatened your skirt again. Back to the caterpillar. This, of course, made your overnight bag slide dangerously down your arm. The air smelled like frost and mako.

Plink. That was probably Sephiroth, wondering where you were. You swore and picked up your pace. You shouldn’t have fussed so much about the tights.

Maybe you shouldn’t have bought them at all.

You automatically looked up at the next intersection, expecting to see the defaced poster, but it was already gone. A few Shinra workers, bundled and masked against the cold, straightened a pale-blue Potion poster over it instead. A foreman shouted instructions from the sidewalk.

The crosswalk light flashed red. The crowd in front of you lurched to a stop. You dug around in your pocket and woke up your phone, hiding its screen from the people waiting next to you:

>> Double booked. Work again

“Oh,” you said to yourself. The crowd around you began walking forward; you stayed behind. 

Your phone chimed. Sephiroth again:

>>So so sorry……

And again:

>>Will return asap but may be tmw

You darted towards an expensive building and ducked under its awning. Here, at least, the wind was broken, and you were out of the way of evening traffic.  Thank goodness your gloves were smartphone-compatible, even if they did nothing against this biting cold. You tucked yourself against an enormous decorative hedge. The doorman eyed you with suspicion as you typed:

>>Don’t be sorry!|

You hesitated, staring at the blinking cursor. You continued:

>>Don’t be sorry! I’m on my way any|

You backspaced and tried again:

>>Don’t be sorry! Need a house sitter?

It sounded kinder than Can I please go into your apartment it is SO cold and I’m exposed to the elements here. Before you could second-guess yourself, you hit Send. 

An ellipsis bubble appeared immediately.

“Ma’am?” said the doorman.

“I’m sorry,” you said to him, holding up a finger. “Just one second.”

He grunted and resumed his glum forward stare.

Plink. A new message:

>> No sitting needed. It’s yours

Your reply:

>>Thanks, but I don’t want to mooch

You tapped your foot while you waited for his response. Sure enough, you didn’t have to wait long:

>>Don’t burn it down and we’ll call it even.

>>Ha ha

You sighed in relief and resumed your brisk walk down the street. You typed:

>>I’ll wait there for you!

Sephiroth’s reply to this was blindingly fast:

>>Tease.

You shivered and hid your smile in your scarf. You were close to Sector 0 now, and the Saturday night crowd buzzed around you. A line snaked around the Loveless theater, ending at where black-clad theater employees clipped everyone's tickets and looked through their bags.

Your phone chimed again. Balancing your overnight bag on one thigh, you woke your phone and peered down at the screen.

Sephiroth had sent a winking emoticon.

—

You touched the key FOB to 4301. The lock sang a small tune before it clicked open. As you shuffled through the door, Sephiroth’s familiar smell hit you all at once: comforting, warm, a soft touch to your cheek.

“Hello?” you called. 

Sterile hallway light spilled into the dark apartment; you could just make out the marble coffee table, the couch, part of the bookshelves. The curtains were drawn. You passed your gloved hand over the wall until you felt a smooth, plastic switch. At your touch, it chimed happily, and all of the apartment’s lights came up at once.

Nothing seemed particularly different, save the eerie silence. You closed the front door behind you and kicked off your shoes. There were still piles of books everywhere; if any had been moved since last weekend, it was impossible to tell. The fireplace and television were off. Automatically, you looked to the top of the bookshelves: Masamune was gone. There were no flowers on the coffee table. No one had been here for a while.

You put your phone in your skirt pocket. “Seph?” you said. No reply. The wooden floor was cool under your stockings; had it always been that way? You couldn’t remember. 

Gloves went into your jacket pockets; the jacket went onto the hangers (empty, save for a black golf umbrella). You pulled out your phone and sent Sephiroth a message:

>>Here! All looks very unburnt to me

You hesitated, then sent a smiling emoticon, too.

You tossed your overnight bag forward, onto the grey carpet, where it landed with a whumph. Everything was still, and you could hear your own breathing. You leaned over the bar counter and looked into the kitchen. The washing machine and dryer sat empty; the dishwasher simply said READY. 

The refrigerator was half-empty, save for the mako samples. A few pre-made meals sat at eye-level: Shinra MREs, cold little bento boxes with rice and sticky tofu in sterile, tidy compartments. A few lonely oranges rolled around at the bottom of a produce basket. Nearly all of the lush, fresh produce from the weekend before was gone. The mako bottles clinked as you closed the refrigerator. 

You poured yourself a glass of that eerily-tasteless water, drank it in a few gulps, and set the empty glass down on the marble countertop. Being in this kitchen felt like entering a haunted house: there were warm memories here once, but they were long gone. 

Your  therapist had smiled as you recounted— with names and details removed— the story of last weekend. Rather than meet her eyes, you spent the session staring at your shoes. That’s amazing! she had said, warm and effusive, and even now, you feel embarrassed.

What would it feel like to enjoy yourself? she had asked. To trust him?

You pulled absently at your blouse. You had spent all this time getting ready for him; he hadn’t specified when he was coming back. Shouldn’t you wait and see when he’d be here, and be ready for him when he did?

After moving the glass to the sink, you turned and walked to the bedroom. There had been a way to turn the lights off from Sephiroth’s phone, but the light switch next to the front door seemed to control the entire apartment. The bedroom, tidy and well-lit, waited for its sole occupant with bated breath. The bed was neatly made, its duvet smoothed over. There were a few books missing from next to the bed; the biology textbook had migrated to the armchair in the corner. 

Your hands hesitated at the closet doors. You had only briefly seen into Sephiroth’s closet while watching him change. Instinctively, your eyes flicked up to the spackled wall, where the awards had once hung. There wasn’t much storage space elsewhere, besides a few drawers on each nightstand. Anything you hadn’t seen before was likely in here.

The closet doors groaned as you pushed one door aside, then the other. The entire closet was only several feet deep, yet it spanned nearly the length of the wall. To your right were hanging uniforms: pants and sweaters, folded neatly on their hangers, next to some button-up shirts. You recognized the pants Sephiroth had worn to the holiday party; then again, they all looked like the same pants, variations on SOLDIER standard khaki and navy. Maroon luggage trunks and cardboard boxes were piled haphazardly on a shelf above the hangers; one turquoise trunk sat below. You tried the lid, found it loose, and opened it, but the velvet-lined interior was empty. In the far corner, you could make out an ironing board propped against the wall. 

In front of you, stretching to your left, were several wooden dressers. Their sparse, generic design reminded you of the GU dorms; there weren’t even drawer pulls. You opened one drawer and looked inside: jeans and sweatpants. The one below: thermals, mostly in dark colors. The one above that: T-shirts. Every item was folded neatly.

You carded through the T-shirt options, which were many and grim.  Born To Ride, said a cartoon dog on a motorcycle. A pair of skeletons lounging on beach chairs, clinking margarita glasses. A cartoon, muscled torso, wearing flowery board-shorts. You raised your eyebrows in disbelief. After an exhaustive search, you settled for a blue-and-green tie-dye shirt, with seagulls flying into a bright sunset. The looping font read COSTA DEL SOL 1998. 

You pressed the shirt to your nose and inhaled deeply. It smelled of his laundry detergent, the very same he had used on your clothes. Last Sunday, when you had returned home, you had tucked your date-night outfit into the back of a drawer. Over the week, you pulled the blouse out and pressed it to your nose, let the memory wash over you. A wild part of you thought that smell was all you’d have to remember him by. 

You turned and tossed the shirt onto the bed behind you. The other dresser held fresh linens: crisp white sheets, a few blankets. You pulled out the black weighted blanket again and set it on the ground.

Sitting atop one dresser was a small, worn wooden picture frame. The photo inside, in faded color, showed a single woman looking at the camera. Her dark brown eyes looked straight down the lens, the barest hint of a smile teasing at the corners of her mouth. Her head was held high. Creases marred the photo: clearly it had been folded, then re-folded, many times, perhaps to fit into a pocket. 

Who was this?

You carefully picked up the frame and brought the faded photo into the light. A past lover, maybe? No: Sephiroth had said his past paramours were all men. Its grimy pastels suggested age: twenty, maybe thirty years. Perhaps it was someone who raised him?

Oh, but no— you recognized those gentle, inquisitive eyes, that soft mouth, the fall of straight hair over her shoulders. You sat cross-legged on the carpet next to the blanket, studying the photo. This was someone related to Sephiroth. You stared at the tidy creases, how they surrounded and protected her face from damage. This photo had been hidden somewhere special, right where he would see it every day.

But hadn’t his mother died? 

You ran your fingertips over the glass, gently tracing her face over and over again. It was strange, you thought, that he would have this photo. Why would she have carried a photo of herself? His father had left, and quickly, too; why would he relinquish her photo with Shinra? His story didn’t suggest more than a nameless mother and father: no relatives, nowhere to go, at Shinra’s mercy for the perpetual favor he now owed them. The moment he was born, his family disintegrated. No one could have given him this photo, but there was no one else this could possibly be.

Then where did this come from?

CLUNK.

You gasped and turned towards the door. You half-expected Sephiroth to be there, staring at you angrily as you pawed through his personal belongings. 

The doorway was empty.

Your blood roared in your ears; you could taste metal on your tongue. You leaned forward, trying to see into the kitchen beyond, but it was empty, too, just as you left it. You pressed your back to the dresser and curled into a small ball, staring hard at the open doorway.

Plink. Your phone, still in your back pocket. 

You reached for it, but you were still holding the photo. Bracing yourself against the dresser, you rose to your feet. It took you several tries to set the photo upright where it had come from. Surely there was someone-- or something-- in the apartment you were now responsible for.

Phone. Phone first. Still staring at the doorway, you reached for your phone. The Shinra messaging app, with Sephiroth’s name at the top of your notifications list:

>>Confirmed out until tmw. Sent dinner. Sorry again

You read the message over again. Your heart raced behind your ribs; you gently rubbed your chest with your free hand. It was only when the scent of hot peppers hit you that you remembered the dumbwaiter in the kitchen, the awful noise it made when it reached Sephiroth’s cabinets. 

You left everything behind as you tread warily into the hall beyond. The hot pepper smell became more intense. “Seph?” you asked, just to make sure you were alone. Silence. Your skin crawled as you craned your neck, looking towards the living room beyond—

Nothing. Empty.

A billow of warm steam hit your face when you opened the dumbwaiter. Inside were several plastic bags, tied neatly at their tops, straining against takeout containers. You took each out, one at a time, setting them on the counter below. 

You opened the first container and understood, instantly, what Sephiroth had sent you: Wutaian cuisine, far too much, and all of it steaming-hot. There were several types of rice, both fried and plain; noodles with shrimp, noodles with fish sauce, noodles with chicken and beef and pork; an assortment of steamed vegetables, buns, and grilled dishes, more than you could count; more food still that you didn’t even register. Fried bananas with ice cream; red bean buns. Every container filled to bursting; all of it smelling heavenly. You stood there, blinking at the assortment of food before you. There had to be enough for you to eat for a week. 

Something tightened in your chest. You took a picture with your phone and sent it to him.

>>Youre so generous!! I can’t eat all this hahaha

Sephiroth replied immediately:

>>Then save some for me. It’s my favorite.

A small price to pay, you thought. 

>>what do i owe u??

An ellipses bubble blinked into existence. Then: Plink.

>>A detailed review... Ha ha

A small price, indeed. Perhaps too small.

—

You weren’t sure what to do with yourself on Saturday. The apartment was still empty and quiet. Dark, gloomy sheets of rain came down over Midgar. The floors were warm again; heated, you thought.

Sephiroth’s dresser yielded another, marginally-less garish T shirt to wear (several seagulls wearing sunglasses and flower necklaces). It practically reached to mid-thigh on you. After dressing and making yourself coffee, you wandered over to the fireplace, but there wasn’t a clear way to switch it on. You felt around the edges until, at its base, you found a small black button. There was a long hiss from behind the glass. Just as you began to worry about burning the building down, blue flames leapt up and settled into place.

You browsed the bookshelves for something to read. Restitution to Nature: The Growth of the Wutaian Resistance Movement. The War for Grain. Several biographies on people you had never heard of. You skipped over a few shelves, trying to figure out Sephiroth’s organizing system. Yes, there, on the bottom shelves: novels, in every genre imaginable. There was the Cosmo Canyon Mystery series, each of its volumes bound in beautiful red cloth. First editions, too, with pages so yellowed and fragile, you didn’t dare flip through them.

In the end, you looked through the coffee table books on the Ancients. Plenty of jewelry ideas in here: small wire figures, cave carvings, symbols of forgotten deities. The apartment’s silence became unnerving, so you turned on the television. You washed your clothes from the night before in the Shinra-co washing machine. The rain stopped, started, stopped again. You heated up some leftover takeout rice and picked at it. The dumbwaiter brought groceries, and you put them away on Sephiroth’s behalf. The bottles of wine, all looking precariously expensive, didn’t seem to have a home, so you left the reds on the kitchen counter and laid the white in the fridge, next to the MREs. As the sun sank lower in the sky, you put on a documentary about a radio telescope. The dryer chimed impatiently; you opened and closed the door to silence it. Back on the couch, you curled up under the weighted blanket and re-started the movie you had fallen asleep during last weekend. This time, you stayed awake through it all, straight through to the dramatic kiss at the end. You peeled a clementine and licked the juice from your fingers. 

When the streetlights came on below, you began to realize Sephiroth might not return. You checked your phone, but there were no messages. Nothing left for it but to shower and eventually fall asleep in front of the television. At least Sephiroth’s apartment was quiet.

You couldn’t place the odd, homesick yearning that tugged at you when you realized you’d go back to yours tomorrow, and work the day after that. If only you could stay at this apartment every night; the sleep you got here was so total and all-encompassing without traffic or loud neighbors to disturb you. The apartment was kept at a perfect 25-degrees Celsius at all times. You felt…

Safe. That was the word.

You took a shower with the water set to scalding temperatures. The bathroom filled with steam. You brought your own soap with you, too shy to think of taking from him, but curiosity won out: The half-empty bottle of body wash smelled just like his bed. There it was again, that safe feeling, so at odds with the videos and the poster. So at odds with everything. 

But not at odds with the photograph inside his closet. Not at odds with the books under his bed. You felt, more and more often, that you were looking at two different people.

You dried off and secured your hair out of your face. Back in the living room, with a white towel wrapped around your body, you hunted through the bookshelves. A novel called Again and Again looked interesting enough: a forbidden romance between a troubled artist and a planetology ingenue at a Cosmo Canyon university. You brought this into the bathroom and set it aside on a small wooden side table next to the bath. As the hot water ran, you thought about digging into one of the red wine bottles from the groceries. Would he mind?

A horrible thought occurred to you: to anger him, to see where those two different people— the Sephiroth you knew, the Sephiroth everyone else saw— merged into terrifying oneness. It was an impulse to not just open the wine bottle, but to shatter it against the same counter you sat on a week ago. You wanted to shatter all of them.

You wanted—

You walked to the kitchen, opened one of the red wine bottles, and poured yourself a glass. Back in the bathroom, you pulled the side table to within arm’s reach of the bathtub. 

You sank into the warm water gratefully, sighing. Under the bright lights of the bathroom, you could see your body under the gently-undulating water. The Lifestream tattoo appeared to swim and wobble. Fragile came to mind, then you smelled his soap on your skin again and thought, breakable.

Don’t think about that, you chided yourself. Just relax. The irony of just relax: the longer you thought of relaxing things (beautiful, perfect data; the sun shining over Midgar; finding scrap in your old neighborhood in the slums), the more tense you became. You snatched up the wine glass and took a too-deep gulp. It was a cabernet blend, and a dry one. The alcohol scorched your throat on the way down, but you drank more, anyway. You were going to relax and enjoy this, even if it took substances to get you there.

You would relax. You would.

You picked up the novel and began to read.

Go to next chapter >>>

[uhbasicallyjustmilex]

ARCTIC MONKEYS 25/06/23

okay now that i've had some time to (slightly) emotionally and physically recover from yesterday, i need to flail about the highlights:

1) meeting one of my absolute favourite humans who i would never have got to know if it hadn't been for this little corner of tumblr - and then getting to share the excitement/nerves/elation/exhaustion rollercoaster of seeing am with them was just - there aren't even words for it. so special 💖

2) learning how to navigate rain ponchos

3) impulse buying too much merch (but also not regretting it. the glasgow tour poster is going to be the first thing going on my wall in my new flat)

4) the mirrorball starting to twirl just before they all came onstage and sending the colours of the afternoon sun everywhere

5) the sheer rush of the moment they all walked onstage together (also that was pretty much the only time i got to glimpse nick and matt at all 💔 from where i was standing i could mostly only see alex and jamie)

6) seeing alex a few metres away in real life after months of looking at his beautiful, dorky little expressions in photos/videos was surreal in the best possible way- there's just something so different about the way you get a sense of someone's energy when you're in the same space with them?? and as someone who's endlessly interested in people, i'm fascinated by how alex simultaneously gives off really reserved, self-contained vibes at the same time as being such a dynamic and captivating performer - like he’s so good at tapping into emotions without letting them be a door into how he’s actually feeling (if that makes any sense, my post-gig brain is not very articulate) i guess that all very much makes sense with all the stuff he's said about personas/performing, but it was still so interesting to get to really feel that sense of his presence in live time. he's definitely very much in control but in a very understated kind of way

7) a bunch of birds circling overhead on one side of the crowd, alex seeing them and dramatically declaring 'release the rest of the birds' 

8) me and the lovely human i went with turning to each other with expressions of sheer joy when the opening bars of crying lightning were played (and don't sit down. and four stars. and arabella. and - you get the picture. getting to share the sheer delight of your favourite songs being played is just the loveliest feeling 💗)

9) alex doing a quirky little 'ha ha' laugh in the middle of body paint 

10) mirrorball coinciding with the most beautiful pink dusk and half moon just above the stage, and getting to witness alex’s piano playing at the start of it

11) body paint. just. body paint. i think my soul left my body.

12) how much energy and enthusiasm alex seemed to have throughout the set - especially after the last week or so it was just the loveliest thing to see him messing about and having fun. and his voice sounded SO good. how anyone manages to sing like that (let alone sound like that less than a week after cancelling shows due to laryngitis) is an absolute mystery to me

13) alex's theatrical hand gestures for crying lightning (the one for gobstopper was a particular favourite)

14) hearing 505 when dusk has just fallen and you can see the smudged moon behind the deep indigo clouds is the only way anyone should ever hear 505 

15) alex and matt having a giggle about something mid set

16) obviously i was aware of how stupidly talented they all are - but there's something about seeing it unfold in front of you in real time that makes it really hit you. the sound wasn't great where i was for some of the time so i don't feel like i got the best audio sense of everything, but i was just so struck in particular by matt on the drums and also alex with his guitar playing. i feel like when i'm just listening to their records i'm so busy listening to alex's voice that i forget how incredible a guitar player he is and - wow. just. yeah. it honestly took my breath away.

17) getting the distinct impression that it provides alex with a sense of amusement to deliberately do that thing where he sings the lyrics at slightly different speeds to trip the crowd up

18) even though i ended up being in significant pain for the second half of the set and had to go find somewhere a little further back where i could lean against the railings (chronic pain conditions and standing for 6+ hours apparently isn't the best mix), nothing could dull how magical it was hearing all the tracks from the car that they played closer to the end. standing there in the dusk and feeling so much about everything is something i'll never forget. it truly brought home to me so poignantly everything about why am's music means so much to me and how much love i have for them 💜

19) being in the exact line of direction alex blew kisses to at the end

20) the hazy post-gig walking in the dark under lit up green trees with the lovely human i went with and our conversations about am and creativity and the courage of sharing music 💖

[howtobeaconartist]

Can someone pleeeeease let artists know that it's so incredibly frustrating when I buy prints and they're in weird sizes?

It hard to find frames for them.

I've got prints that are 15cm x 21cm (6"x8.2"). Juuuust oversized where I need to get a frame up with a matte.

But then I've got another poster that's 19.6cm x 28cm (7.8"x11"). Like, I can get a frame that fits, of course because it's undersized A4. But damnit it's got an ugly gap which doesn't feel right.

Please please please! I bought these things to be on display but my walls are bare because I need to spend several hours to find a solution and fit them right.

Please just stick to the international A4 A3 A2 format, or the photo size formats 6"x8", 8"x10" etc.

I want to support people, but I'm left with buyers regret when I need to problem solve purchases and don't want to "just tack it to the wall, it'll be fine".

Kiriska: This is an understandable frustration!

I've had plenty of customers ask me what sizes prints are prior to purchasing -- a totally fair thing to do if you know you want to frame it. Size has been a deal-breaker for some people.

That said, for perspective, it's often more affordable for artists to print at other sizes. For example, in the US, letter (8.5"x11") and tabloid (11"x17") are both extremely common print sizes in Artist Alley, but while frames of these sizes exist, they aren't common.

Artists still prefer these sizes though because these are sizes that are easy to print at at office supply stores or personal printers, which is what many have access to when starting out. If anything, the infuriating thing is that standard printer paper sizes are not the same as standard photo sizes.

8"x10" is close to 8.5"x11" but requires trimming, which is either extra work or extra cost.

Depending on the convention, the demographics may skew younger. If that's the case, a majority of attendees won't intend to frame their print purchases. They are being pinned or taped to dorm room walls, etc. The art is meant to be affordable -- for both the artist and the buyer. ($10 prints are pretty rare at most pop-up art fairs and farmer's market-type settings, because standard size giclee prints probably cost double that to print.)

Still, I agree -- artists should strive for more standard sizes when possible, especially if they're going to shows with an older demographic of people who are more likely to want to frame things.

That said, I've been wanting to transition my 8.5"x11" prints to 8"x10" for years and still haven't gotten around to it because all of my packaging supplies are for the former, and putting prints of the latter size in oversized packaging looks Bad, but stock levels of packaging and prints never line up that I'm not gonna be stuck with some mismatch... at some point I'm sure I'm just gonna have some prints in one size and some in the other, but that sounds like a nightmare...

[turtleations]

HIDE Inspiration Talk 50 (# 10 - 11) - Translation

Masculinity and Femininity

I think femininity, too, is very valuable. But when I said so to my parents, they only got angry. They lost their temper. Several times, I had the posters of JAPAN and such, where guys were wearing make-up, torn to shreds, was told things like, “Act more manly!” or “Do club activities and become more like a man!”, and I really hated that, but when I see a girl, I just tend to use words like “feminine”. When I enjoy a tasty meal made for me by a girl, I feel her femininity (laughs). But it’s mainly just that, I think, isn’t it? My sense of masculinity comes from enjoying a meal made by a girl. And that’s probably it already.

Crime and Punishment

I’ve been made to stand in the hallways during my time in school, but there was never anything more dramatic than that. Because during my school days, I was thoroughly obedient. I don’t think I did a lot of bad things. Even though there are countless stories of doing stuff like sinking a vending machine into the sea while drunk, I don’t think such things are all that terrible. During my time with Saver [Tiger], we often hung out until morning in Yamashita Park [in Yokohama] and did all sorts of stuff. Later, long ago, when I was already with X, I was crazy about throwing fire extinguishers. I’ve had negotiations with all the fire extinguishers in town. Well, it’s sour if you get it in your mouth, and it hurts your skin if you get it in your face. Clothes are taken out at once, and if they are hung up, it's already over. One time, a guy from some band was doing something censored, and he got incredibly angry because the stuff got on his thing and it was very painful (laughs). When I watched Tsuyoki Nagabuchi’s TV show yesterday, they flipped a vending machine over in it, and I thought that was unintentionally nostalgic (laughs). But it’s only ever stuff like that that’s not very bad. I’m all cute.