#it’s so nice when people remember that there are women in their promotion even if for just a minute 🙃

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

In response to the Mile High Job post, I hate that Parker implies that poor flight attendant slept her way to a promotion/better shift. Her day is super weird but her cat is fine and her life is saved. That rumor, however, might stick and that didn't really feel like Leverage to me.

Agreed!

The thing with Leverage is that it's a show from the late 2000s; it feels contemporary, but actually it is a bit dated. And, like all shows, it had some problematic elements, which get a bit more Obviously Problematic as time goes by (I am just waiting for someone to write a lengthy call-out post in 5 years' time and for the Discourse to start.) For example, Tumblr loves to declare that Leverage has a "canon" throuple, but if anyone read that and then watched the show they would be profoundly disappointed - while it's a fantastic ship with a great many shippy instances, Elliot has a lot of onscreen No Homo moments, and frequently is shown sleeping with random women (I personally read him as aromantic). Similarly, there are two big relationships in that show: Nate/Sophie, and Parker/Hardison. And we all wax lyrical about the brilliance of Parker/Hardison and how healthy it is, and for good reason; but we gloss over how unbearably "I hate my wife/father I cannot click the book" Boomer humour Nate/Sophie is.

(He literally calls her a shrew in one episode. She throws a tantrum and sulks if he doesn't remember the exact details of how/where they met. She's stereotypically 'romantic' and he's stereotypically 'cynical' and she has to Save Him From Himself, and he self-deprecatingly says he should just know when to stop arguing because she's always right. Like... it is a grubby and uncomfortable dynamic; but, it's also aimed at a different segment of the audience that is older than me, and that's okay, actually. It just means I don't much care for the ship myself.)

Anyway, this is one other such instance. Clearly someone in the writers' room thought that was a funny joke, and not enough people disagreed, and so in it went. What's nice is that Sandi McCree, who plays the other flight attendant that stays on the plane, actually kind of saves that joke for me with her performance. When Parker first boards and declares that her co-worker is not coming in, McCree looks disgruntled at the sudden change to her staff list when she wasn't informed; she's annoyed at management. Then Parker makes the sleeping-with-pilots comment, and McCree looks disgusted and furious -

An expression she then pulls at Parker every time she sees her for the rest of the episode, even when Parker is technically not doing anything particularly weird. It's not necessarily intentional on McCree's part (Parker IS very weird in this episode, so it very much can be a response to that), but to me it means you can read it as "This woman is absolutely furious at the lateral sexism of this white girl because We Love And Support Each Other On This Plane." So, for me, between that and the aforementioned revelations of the day (the plane was brought down by the domestic terrorists of a Fortune 500 company, but saved by... a few unexplained Official People who snuck aboard??? And the other flight attendant was made to miss the plane after all under mysterious circumstances and was not promoted??? What???), I don't think Sandi McCree's character wouldn't put those pieces together.

[carnelianly]

this post contains noncon! please don’t read if that will be upsetting! i would never promote this in real life, and people, men or women, are always unable to consent to any kind of contact while intoxicated!

art is your friend. not your boyfriend. not your dog that you can tug around on a leash like you seem to think you can. he has a girlfriend. he’s madly in love with her. he doesn’t want you. sure, he can acknowledge that you’re pretty and he can tell himself, in the comforts of his own head ‘if i were single, i’d.. definitely go for her’. in another life, maybe he was yours. not in this one.

but he was invited out to the bar by patrick who also invited you and a couple other friends and he doesn’t mind your presence at all. you’re.. you’re nice enough. you may make him a little nervous when you smile like that, but that’s not for him to say. he keeps himself polite but distant in conversation with you.

he drinks a little too much. patrick always suggests shots and what is art supposed to do? say no? look like a pussy?

he downs them anyway, one after another until it’s two hours later and he forgets he’s barely eaten much all day and there’s so much alcohol in his system that he can’t stand up straight.

not to worry, you’re them to catch him before he falls over. patrick and the others are off talking about some nonsense, but you’re being so nice and helpful, you wipe the drool from his chin and fix his hair and he smiles faintly at you in gratitude.

you smile back at him, one arm holding him up since he’s not stable enough to stand on his own, half leaning on the bar counter and half relying on you to keep him up. your other hand is… art isn’t really paying attention. feels weird, though. it’s between his thighs, rubbing the skin softly, almost teasingly. art isn’t coherent enough to understand what’s happening.

you’re smiling at him, telling him everything is gonna be fine, because it will be. everything will be okay. he doesn’t have to worry, you’ll take care of him, keep him safe. there’s so many bad people in this world that might try to hurt him, steal his wallet, take advantage of him. you’re not like that. you’re just gonna keep talking to him like this until it’s time to leave and then you’re gonna take him home. he’s too drunk to get back to his place by himself, so you’ll just let him stay at yours. so gracious of you.

he listens because he has no other choice, and he’s not as much letting you touch him but not able to stop you. your hand is on his crotch, massaging him through his jeans, and he moans and he falls forward into you, resting his head on your shoulder. he’s weak. unable to do anything but take this treatment. your hand that was keeping him upright moves to his ass, always so plump and thick, god, he obviously does it for his girlfriend but he might as well have done it for you, in this moment.

you could so easily take what you wanted from him, especially because you’re sure he’s about to black out and remember nothing. but you’re a better person than that, you tell yourself. you’re just touching, you’re not gonna break anything.

you end up taking him into the bathroom, and he’s too drunk to know what he’s doing, but hey, he kissed you first, even if he’s tripping over his own feet and practically drooling into your mouth. it’s hot, and you feel him up some more. it feels wrong to fuck him, too permanent. he’d definitely know what happened then. he’s smart when he’s sober, smart enough anyway.

in the end, he’s taken home with patrick and a couple of buddies, taking a shared uber home while art is blacked out, while you go off by yourself.

the next time you see art, he definitely does not remember what happened that night. he does feel a little weird around you, but he can’t quite put his finger on why your presence is so.. uncomfortable all of a sudden…

[sgiandubh]

Welcome to the shitshow

We have:

A ✈ sighting. No pics.

The MPC live, scarce details. No rings. Spartan decor. Suntan and out of Bonnie Scotland. No further details on destination, which might or might not be the same as the flight. Mark me, I think it is - he is in Gran Canaria and for a very precise reason: keeping his part of the deal and his Onlies on tenterhooks.

C is seen in Marseille, hullaballoo ensues. We pinpoint some coincidental details. I was expecting the shite to hit the fan in 4, 3, 2, 1...

And it did. With both sopranos hinting at the same person, but only one brave (or rather foolish enough) to push a name out there. Disingenuous, to say the least - but oh, how convenient for any given agenda. Because it's too easy, when you give out a name to a thirsty crowd to say: 'well, of course it's because of the shippers! They did this or that (sky is the limit)! They are to blame!' (excuse me?) and 'well, of course they won't say a word, now' (how convenient if the thing does not stick, eventually).

That was, IMHO, a strategic mistake and the petticoat is showing across the pond.

Around the same time, I started to get a different kind of Anon, day after day after day. Very brutal. Foul-mouthed. And...with some intel. I answered the first, but then when things started to 'happen', the coin dropped very quickly that: a) I did hit a nerve and b) someone or some people wanted me to push this particular agenda - remember when...?

For reference:

And then today, just in time for the long, boring, chilly and even snowy (depending on your location) week-end, the bomb dropped and the cargo was juicy:

A name. A woman. A gym. Not one, but three suspicious videos: the one with the leg, the one with the clear voice (unmistakably S!) and the one with the dog (and more S voiceover). How nicely connected. How fucking perfect.

An Airbnb close to the gym. What would a single woman traveler do in a three-bedroom gargantuan villa all by herself, when you are in Winterbird Central with a bajillion other accommodation options, is beyond any logic. So easily and lazily - OMG, date!

Unless...

Unless you conveniently forget some details:

Not one, but three different promos/endorsements, with a discount code to boot - 10% off, how nice!

The one that has been discussed by just about everyone:

The one that provided the discount code for new subscribers: Gymshark, a fitness attire manufacturer (https://eu.gymshark.com/).

And the most important one, hiding behind a humble hashtag: #metcon. Now I don't know you, but I'd rather digress about tea parlors and bookstores, and so had no fucking idea Metcon was, in fact...

Yup. Nike. A very recent model - expensive and sure, in need of immediate product placement/promo:

And so, for tax reasons, she just had to (mandatorily) include the #ad (as in advertisement, lest we'd not have naive Anons again!) hashtag.

Also, this, posted along the short reel with S's voice (but who cared, all 👂were there and only there):

That woman was working. She has, after all, 450k Insta followers. If she and S met at a gym in a winter destination very sought after by Scots should be none of our business. If they met again or have a regular training schedule does not mean they fuck or that we're going to look out for Remarkable Week-end 2.0. If they met in Hyrox GLA - so what? What is this, I beg your pardon, Gilead? People just can't hang out, like ever, I mean men and women?

🙄

But.. but... the gargantuan villa...?

Och. Sure enough, the place is correctly identified. You can check chez Marple. I am not posting it, because I do not want to and by now, I trust just about everyone has seen those pics. But this time, I am not going there. The name of that villa, even, made me laugh like a drain. I mean how more in your face can they be?

Who footed the bill of this rather comfy PR shitshow, reminiscing of Ha-wa-wee, 🐰 and whatever else you could think of? SRH?

Perhaps. But what if Nike did, as a freebie to a very good promoter? They sure can spare the dime and, to be honest, as we speak, there is no sign S and her share anything else than a gym schedule. What tells us with absolute certainty, at least at this moment in time, she is not there with friends, family or even a group of fellow promoters, Avon-style?

Oh, and the world is definitely a handkerchief, especially in GLA, it would seem. Wanna know who also follows her on Insta?

Paul Donnelly. Nope, not the chef. This Paul Donnelly:

The one who literally owes S a shitload of cash. A post that earned me a report (I was just explaining, if I remember correctly, that S would have been wise to legally secure that hefty loan, nothing more).

And now you know what? That post is gone, vanished, poof and I have no idea why. I surely did not take it down, I never do this.

And surely enough, just before I started writing, Filthy Anon came back and warned me there was more (pics, 👅👄) about McFitness. Surely enough, the same info (albeit toned down) was picked up by *urv in her comments' thread, about twenty minutes after Anon dropped by.

Agenda, anyone? God forbid!

You draw your own conclusions. I can only very honestly say:

Welcome to the Shitshow - the Winter Edition!

This page is not going to follow blindly your script, whoever you are. This page simply hopes to cleverly hit a nerve every time it considers necessary. Other than that, big effing deal, really. Ship on.

Sorry for the length. I was never good at summing up.

[margareth-lv]

🕸️ Weaving stories. Spinning tales 🕸️

There is something magical about weaving a story together. I'm deeply convinced that a community is built from a story that many people add their pieces to. So in the good tradition of a shared storytelling I would like to continue in the direction that that @sgiandubh set out in her post last Saturday.

*** *** *** I have always been baffled by the bizarre version of reality that is imposed in CaitOnly World, in which Caitríona, her Shy 'Husband' and their «Blonde Bambino» supposedly live. In CaitOnly World Santa Caitríona da Monaghan plays her own version of the efficient housewife à rebours. It's as if she's been brought back to life from the 50s, from the days of «The Occupation: Housewife», with Mr McShy, of course, as the housewife who treats his 'wife' like a goddess (even though he doesn't) and looks after their «Blonde Bambino».

Side Note: Maybe it's because being CaitOnly is like believing. It is a statement of faith. It has nothing to do with reality or what we might know about Caitríon's life. With all sorts of caveats and disclaimers, of course.

*** *** ***

Now there's another 'scandal' about Sam's 'numerous travels' and an absolute inability to reconcile these travels with a family life (I've only been here a short time and I've seen the same 'shock' a few times already).

Meanwhile, all these defenders of Caitríona's ‘connubial bliss’ and those who shout loudly that Sam would be the worst dad in the world (fortunately he's not a dad in the CaitOnly World), travelling around the world as he does, so all these wise women of the CaitOnly World don't even bother to listen to Caitríona herself.

I, on the other hand, fortunately have notes, screen shots and the memory of an old female elephant. *** *** *** Remember the "nomadic life"?

Once upon a time, we had a nice fandom legend about Caitríona mentioning her husband a lot, but never saying his name (because she couldn't pronounce 'husband' and 'Tony' in the same sentence). And as what is written about in fandom is usually reflected in Caitríona's PR, the Wall Street Journal published this long-awaited gem on 16 November 2021, during the infamous 'Balfast' promotion, of course:

The article itself is behind a paywall, so you'll have to take my word for it. This is an actual screenshot.

But let's skip the 'husband'-comma-'Tony' sequence. Let's concentrate on the hippie 'nomadic life'.

Because a nomadic life with the Blonde Bambino is obviously nonsense to anyone who can count. The baby was supposedly born in August 2021. Outlander season 6 wrapped in May/June 2021. If the Blonde Bambino was travelling between Glasgow (where the series was filmed) and London (where he lives), it couldn't have been the Blonde Bambino born in August 2021. But who can do the maths these days?

*** *** *** Anyway, mentioning Caitríona Balfe's hippy 'nomadic life' sent the internet buzzing in Autumn 2021. Suddenly everyone was describing her travels with husband, child and possessions (how far away from the image of Caitríona in a 1950s-style kitchen apron). One small example - the article is not behind the paywall - published by the Daily Express.

Admittedly, this article, like most articles about our two lovebirds, is a strange mixture of fact and manipulation. But let's focus on the interesting content.

Beneath a screenshot of an IG photo of Sam and the blonde bambino`s hands lying on a striped sheet, the article read:

She wrote: "Today, my husband, Tony, and I and our son are slightly nomadic. "We split our time between Glasgow and London. “When I’m working on Outlander, we're in Glasgow."

Admittedly, it's impossible to know where Caitriona 'wrote' the above (as it's certainly not on her Instagram account, I'm guessing the author apparently had trouble quoting the Wall Street Journal directly, which is a shame). But let's not get hung up on irrelevant details. Surely the hippie dimension of the "nomadic life" was important to Caitríona's PR in some way (the message: I'm not a boring wife to a boring man, I travel the world, even with a newborn, I'm an artist, I'm a hippy!).

So much important, in fact, that an article in The Guardian on January 23, 2022, after the tour's composition had been corrected (by how logically the newborn had been omitted), added Los Angeles to the "nomadic existence" between London and Glasgow.

And Villa No Ego, I think.

*** *** ***

Bottom line: everyone, everyone listen:

Caitríona travels. With her husband. With a child (well, with children). With clothes, with blankets, with baby's cutlery. With toys. With a suitcase full of shoes. With warm clothes and a child's bicycle. She leads what she calls a "nomadic life". London, Glasgow, Los Angeles. New York. Et caetera.

This seems to fit in quite well with the kind of lifestyle that Sam lets the fandom know about from time to time, doesn't it? Doesn't it seem to make their lives consistent?

Quod erat demonstrandum. Which was to be proved.

Thank you for your attention. It was a long text.

😅

[February 8, 2024]

[changingplumbob]

Romero Household: Chapter 1, Part 6

🎵🎶We're going to the chapel and we're, gonna get married 🎵🎶

Formal photos in the next part, this was all about the ceremony.

Marta’s first language is Spanish so she is teaching Keira (and me) some common Spanish words/phrases Abuelo/Abuela: Grandfather/Grandmother Buenas tardes : Good afternoon Carino: Term of endearment for a loved one Lo siento: Sorry Mi familia: My family Padre: Father Te amo: I love you

Wednesday starts off grey and rainy. Marta is determined to have her barista shift before the wedding, but Keira already has Wednesdays off work. After checking what she can harvest she decides to spend some time at the rec centre working on her handiness. She needs to level up in logic and handiness for her next promotion and some mean watcher has made skill gain harder since her last rotation. When more sims arrive she gets tense and leaves, can’t be too early to her own wedding.

Keira: It’s sunny! Oh thank the watcher

Joey: You alright

Keira: It was pouring in San Sequoia, I was certain we wouldn’t be able to get any photos after the ceremony

Joey: *laughs* different places, different weather. Or maybe the watcher just cheated it (I didn't Joey what are you implying?) Okay, you ready to sign your life away

Keira: *laughs* You would say it like that. Come on, I still need to get in my dress

The wedding gets underway with Harvey escorting Keira up the aisle.

Harvey: *sniffles*

Keira: Dad... are you crying

Harvey: You used to practice your bride walk around the house when you were a kid, now look at you

Keira: *laughs* I remember

Harvey: I'm so happy for you Keira

Keira: Look dad, everyone got here without problems. That’s got to be a good sign

Harvey: Yes, let’s hope it lasts. I want you to have the wedding of your dreams

Keira: If my bride shows up then that is what I’ll have

Harvey: I’ll leave you here then. Very good luck my darling. I’ll go collect your bride. Remember, no peeking

Keira: *laughs* she has made me promise not to look early

Harvey: See you soon

And so Harvey heads back down the aisle to where Marta has entered the church. She has no sims to give her away so the couple decided it would be nice for Harvey to escort both brides.

Harvey: Are you ready Marta

Marta: *sniffles* I’m so ready to be married to your daughter *smiles*

Harvey: Hey now, we better get you up there before you wash away

They wait until the music cue then Harvey and Marta begin the journey up the aisle.

Slowly they walk down the aisle and Keira can feel her nerves increase. She wants to turn before Marta is there but knows today is about promises. She needs to let Marta know she’ll respect her wishes. So Keira waits with baited breath as she hears people in the church murmur, clearly impressed with something.

Marta: Oh Harvey, you talk of me washing away. You might wash with me

Harvey: *sniffles* I’m fine. I’m just so... so... happy

Marta: Me to

They approach the altar and Harvey releases Marta, returning to his seat sniffling away. Marta tiptoes and taps Keira on the shoulder.

Marta: Carino, I’m here, you can turn now

Keira turns and is mesmerised. She knows Marta is a beautiful woman but the person in front of her takes her breath away. Marta looks angelic with her hair cascading over her shoulder and seems to be radiating love.

Marta: *whispers* Buenas tardes carino

Keira: Hola sweetheart. Watcher you look… gorgeous *sniffles*

Marta: *giggles* That was the effect I was going for. You are beautiful, I knew you’d look even better than I imagined

Keira: *sniffles* Want to get married

Marta: With my whole heart

The officiant steps up and the group sing a few hymns before the vows get underway. Keira is up first.

Keira: Sweetheart, I can still remember the first time I saw you. I was supposed to be studying for some test or other and into the music room below walked one of the prettiest women I have ever seen. You seemed nervous, as we now know that was because you were breaking in

At this line the crowd lets out a quiet chuckle and Marta sniffles.

Keira: When you sang it was like you became larger than life. I couldn’t hear all the way up there but I wanted to. You became my favourite show, and meeting you was better than any season premiere. I have always dreamed of finding my soulmate, my partner in life, and sweetheart *sniffles* in my wildest dreams I couldn’t have imagined someone as real... and perfect for me... as you

Marta lets out a small sob and Keira leans forwards to wipe the tear away.

Keira: Te amo. I understand now why Anakin turned the galaxy upside down for Padme and why Mal couldn’t stop himself standing up for Inara. Your love helps me be the best version of myself. One that takes risks, one that doesn’t run from challenges, and one that is absolutely completely in love with you

Marta: *sniffles* carino

Keira: Life with you has become my favourite saga, one that I hope will carry on for years to come. Your courage inspires me *sniffles* and your heart is where I feel safe. I am so excited to find out what life has in store for us. I’m not afraid of it because I know, come what may, I need only look to my side and you’ll be there

Marta: *sniffles* Lo siento, I just need a handkerchief

The crowd lets out a collective giggle and sniffle as Keira helps Marta dab away some of the pools under her eyes.

Marta: My turn. Carino *clears throat* I was returning to life when I met you. Somehow you made all the mantras I repeated to myself real. Suddenly I did feel worthy... and strong... and that *sniffles* I am enough. For so long I only saw what was wrong with me but getting to know you, seeing how hesitant you were to claim your strengths when I wanted to shout them from the rooftops... it showed me I needed to embrace all of me. You make me proud. Proud to be me and to have won your heart.

Marta: Before you, life was a song I could never figure out the tune of with the melodies and bridges throwing me off track. I know now why I was never in sync. My life was always meant to be a duet, one of me and you *sniffles* and I am so happy to be promising my forever to you

Keira: *mouthing* I love you

Marta: *sniffles* My abuela and abuelo were followed quickly to the forever save by my padre and mama but... in this church I feel they are with us, and I know in my heart they all would love you. Ma familia, if you can hear me, know I am the happiest I have ever been. Carino, I feel as though the watcher sculpted us for each other, and every day I give thanks for finding you, and you loving me. You will always be my favourite song, the one I cannot get out of my head

Keira takes the first ring from Joey and holds it over Marta’s finger.

Keira: I, Keira Foster, take you, Marta Aymee Romero, to be my watcherly wed wife. I solemnly swear I shall be your best friend, your shelter in a tempest and the wind in your wings. In front of our familia, our friends, and the watcher, I promise to love and cherish you, for as long as our souls exist. Te amo sweetheart

With her vows complete Keira slides Marta’s ring on, feeling so happy she’s sure she’ll explode.

Marta wipes some more tears and does her best to compose herself, taking Keira's ring from Alexander.

Marta: I, Marta Aymee Romero, take you, Keira Foster, to be my watcherly wed wife. I solemnly swear I shall be your best friend, your shelter in a tempest and the wind in your wings. In front of our familia, our friends, and the watcher, I promise to love and cherish you, for as long as our souls exist. Te amo carino

The brides can’t take their eyes off each other and the rest of the service is a blur.

Officiant: By the power invested in me by the watcher I now pronounce you, wife and wife

Keira sweeps Marta into her arms, dipping her low before pulling her in for a kiss. The church erupts in cheers but the two women hardly notice it, they’re full of love.

Previous ... Next

[wonik1ss]

Maknaes Day Off — Hyein

pairing : idol!hyein x reader

words : 1.2k

song rec : ttg - kiss if life & first christmas (that I loved you) - shameik moore

summary : after promoting six songs newjeans finally gets a day off, and the maknaes use it to its fullest

For most people the end of the year meant, the start of a new one. But for the kpop industry it just meant weeks spent practicing for the end of year awards. It’s been six straight weeks of practicing and some days off that we’re always spent at home.

“Minji! My ankle hurts again!”. As you laid flat on your back after practicing your dance for the AAA awards Minji walked over to you. Medical wrap in one hand and ice in the other.

“I told you to stop stomping on your left foot y/n..”. You pouted as the older girl finnished wrapping your leg. Minji ruffled your hair and then ran over to Hanni.

“HANNI PHAM DONT TOUCH THAT SPEAKER”. You laughed as you felt a head fall onto your lap. Hyein blinked twice and you already knew what to do. As you started to massage the girls hair you heard a door unlock.

“MANAGER-NIM HELP”. Hanni hid behind the tiny women as Minji ran after her. It had been months since she had been assigned to you girls but, you could tell she still wasn’t used to you all.

“HANNI PHAM WHY CANT YOU JUST BE LIKE HAERIN AND DANIELLE?”. Hanni pouted and quickly started running again noticing Minji getting closer. Haerin giggled as Danielle’s back hugged her while on her phone.

“Good news!”. You and Hyein whined as your manager laughed.

“The last time you said that you added two more songs to make choeros for!”. You slapped your hand over Hyein’s mouth as she rolled her eyes.

“This is good thought you have the day off starting tomorrow!”. As you stood up, you swore Hyein did to hugging you tighter than she ever had. After Danielle pulled Hyein off, you all went to eat and then back to your dorms for an actually ten hours of sleep recommended.

As you turned over in bed you felt shallow breathing on your neck. Opening your eyes you looked down to see a sleeping Hyein clinging onto for dear life. Her hands were wrapped around your waist face right infront of yours. So ofcourse you flicked her forehead.

“Ow!”. You giggled as the girl punched in the stomach. You pretended to be hurt and remembered you didn’t go to sleep with the girl in your arms.

“Hyein did you sneak into my room”. Hyein sat up and sighed.

“I just wanted to comfort our Maknae and her foot”. Your face wrinkled with disgust.

“Two months Hyein! Your only two months older than me”. Hyein sticked out her tongue and which started the very much physical play fighting. As you both landed on the floor you heard a scream.

“HYEIN AND Y/N IM TO TIRED TO DEAL WITH THE TWO OF YOU”. You both giggled as Hyein helped you off the floor.

“So where do you wanna go?”. Hyein beamed at you as she grabbed your ipad and sat you down on the floor. She sat on your bed behind the tiny ipad.

“So.. first we make pancakes! Then we go to different photo booths! Then we go around and find little shops and then we end up near a nice river for a picnic”. You smiled at the slide but your eyebrow rose at the end.

“Hyein when did you have time to do this?”

“You sleep really soundly you know that”. You laughed as you pushed the girl out of your room. You grabbed some clothes and ran to the bathroom. Even thought Haerin looked like a cat she still took long showers like a human.

After you changed you got your bag and walked into the kitchen. Or what you thought was the kitchen. Which was really Hyein in an apron powder on her nose and cheeks and all over the room formerly known as the kitchen.

“Hyein Lee!”

“I didn’t want you to hurt your foot any more than you have”. As you walked up to the girl you whipped the floor of her nose.

“Ooh! The pancake are done!”. As Hyein platted the pancakes you cleaned up the rest of the ‘kitchen’. When you finally sat down and took a bite you winced.

“Is it good?”

“Pass me the syrup please”. Hyein nodded and even added a dollop of whipped cream and some strawberry’s to your pancakes as well as syrup. You ate as Hyein watched and smiled then starting to eat her pancakes.

“Y/n..”

“Hmm?”

“This taste like shit..”.You burst out laughing as Hyein struggled to gulp the huge bite she just took.

“Let’s give it to Minji and Hanni..”

“Take a shower first so they don’t catch us”. Hyein got up from her stool and saluted to you as she ran to get her clothes. You got two trays and put the food outside of the oldest rooms. Just as you were about to knock you saw Hyein struggling to put on a shoe and a cap on her head. You giggled before knocking. Hyein quickly grabbed your hand and you both ran out the dorms.

You both went to three photobooths at the expense of Hyein’s wallet.

“Hyein seriously I can pay for some stuff”

“I’m trynna treat our maknae write calm down y/n!”. You rolled your eyes as Hyein dragged you into yet another sanrio store.

“Let’s make care packages!”

“For who?”. You tilted your head as Hyein gleefully smiled.

“Eachother!”. You nodded and you both were off. You ran to find the kuromi section Hyein the my melody one. You both finnished and as you walked out Hyein held her bag behind her back.

“I’m gonna try to peak”. You said as you got closer and closer to the park.

“You say that but if you knew what was in here you wouldn’t”. You shock your head until you noticed a blanket in the distance. You looked between Hyein and the picnic set up.

“I did it while you were shopping, you take like five hours dude”. You squinted your eyes at the girl as she mocked you. You wavered her off and went to the picnic.

“So you like it?”. You never noticed the sun was setting or how the pink’s and yellow’s looked so pretty.

“Mhm”. Hyein smiled as she placed two strawberry sandwhich’s infront of you and two cans of my melody soda. You giggled as she took a bunch of other sanrio treats from her bag.

“Did I really shop that long”. Hyein nodded and you both digged in. Hyein fell flat on her back and all you could do was smile at the girl. You payed down next to her and stared at the stars.

“It’s really pretty out here”

“Just like you”. You turned over to see Hyein winking at you. You burst out laughing as did Hyein.

“You’re such a mess!”. Hyein sat up as she booped your nose.

“Your little mess”. Hyein eased her eyebrows as you finally sat up. You’re both started to giggle again till you heard a ding. Hyein checked her phone and laughed again. Showing it to you, you did too.

leader nim : lee Hyein if you don’t get back here right now

phammie : IM STILL ON THE TOILET YOU LITTLE SHIT

Try not to giggle you both packs up the picnic and started to walk back to the dorms. What a good way to spend a day off as maknaes

[fingertipsfingertipsfingertiiips]

Working as a grocery store pick-up shopper during the height of the pandemic was.... I'm still not recovered, I think. I would like to rant a wee bit here. It's my tumblr and I'll do as I wish with it.

I worked for Kroger at the time, and if you know anything about it, at the time Kroger was the last grocery company to add Covid pay and the first to take it away. For (I think) two months, I had an extra dollar added to my $10.50/hr paycheck. Then they started cutting hours so they wouldn't have to pay for our insurance. All the while, I had people aggressively coughing on me because I was wearing a mask. I had a grown man throw a can of yams at my head because we were out of the name brand yams he wanted. A man raised his fist to threaten me over cans of Pepsi, we didn't have any because of an aluminum shortage. Someone's grandmother slapped me because of toilet paper. One of my coworkers got in a fight with a customer because of jalapeños.

When coworkers started dropping from Covid, the rest of us had to pick up the slack. At one point, 14 out of our 18 person department were out for weeks. I worked 16 hour shifts for some of the rudest and most ungrateful customers I've ever seen in 12+ years of retail experience.

In the summer of 2020, they shut off the water fountains. My direct manager got us a big pack of water and put it in the back of the order fridge for us. Some of us were running orders out to cars in 100F+ heat, so we put some of the bottles in the freezers, too. Upper management saw these waters as some kind personal insult and threw them away, threatening us all with writeups and even firings if we were caught with personal water bottles on the sales floor. OSHA was called and they put a stop to that bullshit, but not before one of my elderly coworkers collapsed from heat and dehydration.

At one point, my cool manager got promoted to store manager, and our department got an outside hire to replace her. This woman is easily one of the worst people I have ever worked with. She was rude, she would micromanage, she would bully the differently abled. She would fat shame, was racist and homophobic, and generally aggressive to other women. One time, I was helping a coworker prep an order to go out. We were chatting about death in the Victorian era, a special interest of mine. I got excited and maybe I started rambling when my bitch manager yelled at me to "shut the fuck up, you're being annoying." I told her to fuck off, and we were pulled into a meeting about it, but ultimately nothing happened to her. I refused to sign the writeup that came to me later.

Due to this manager's negligence, I fell and chipped a tailbone in February 2021. She was supposed to salt the walkway that leads from our department to the customer pick-up area. At 5:30 that morning, as she was yelling at her staff (myself included), she didn't notice that I was sprawled out in the parking lot, having slipped on black ice. I would have hit my head as well, had I not been wearing my hair in a low bun. The bun acted as an airbag. I landed pretty hard, and I think it scared the customer. He got out of his truck and shuffled over to me to help me up. He even tipped me $10, which was super nice. I limped back in, and before I could say anything, bitch manager yelled at me for taking to long, shoved an order cart at me and barked at me to do the next one. I told her I fell, probably too quietly because I was hurting. She ignored me so I yelled it. She stopped to look at me, registered what I said, and then it dawned on her to ask if I was OK. I filled out an IR and a worker's comp claim. I did the drug screening, later that day I had an xray. I chipped a tailbone. They gave me 2 weeks off, I think it was paid but it's hard to remember because the doctor gave me codeine. One morning I'm laying on the floor on a yoga mat and bitch manager calls me. She doesn't ask me how I'm doing, she wants to know if I can cover a shift. I tell her no, hang up and then send her a picture of my black and blue ass crack. I should have sued Kroger. Sometimes I wonder if I still could. I still have back pain. I still struggle with some yoga poses or sitting on certain chairs.

The final straw seems so small in retrospect. I had endured so much while working for kroger for 8 years. Bitch manager was causing me such anxiety that I had to change my meds to deal with her. I was getting the produce for an order. The system timed you, the goal was to take less than 20 seconds for each item scanned in to the cart. I had grabbed some tomatoes and was weighing them up, counting the seconds out loud to myself to keep time (a time blindness coping skill I've had since childhood) when she walked past me. I heard her say "retard" under her breath. This wasn't the first time I've been called that in my life, but the first time I've ever heard it from a grown woman. She had been bitching at me about something earlier that day, and my deodorant failed from the stress. She walked past me again and stopped to look at me. She nearly shouted, making sure everyone around would hear, "You stink. Did you shower today?" And then smirked. I didn't reply. I didn't hit her, or yell, or throw tomatoes at her. I thought about doing all of it. I thought about knocking her to the ground and ripping her tacky extensions out of her scalp. I thought about all the nasty mean things I could say to her. Instead, I put down my handheld and told her I would be right back. I went to the back room, hung up my apron, grabbed my purse, and walked out. I didn't clock out, I let them figure out what time I left. I made sure I was paid for my time. She called me an hour later, and I didn't answer. She called 6 more times. My previous manager, the cool one later told me that the store manager was stoked about my leaving. "Out with the old, in with the new."

There was a mass exodus, nine people left after I did. Four of them followed me to my new job. We all got forklift certified in the same week for a company that offered profit sharing and $4 extra per hour for covid pay, plus $3 extra per hour on weekends. It's not the greatest place to work. Sometimes it's terrible, it's still retail after all. But it's better. Kroger is not a great company, and my store was one of the worst places. I know I'm not the only person with horror stories about it. I still hear, "we're all in this together" in my nightmares. I can't spend more than 20 minutes in a grocery store at a time. I have many more from before the pandemic hit, the pandemic was just the worst of it.

That's my rant. If anyone read this, thank you. If you want to add your own stories, please do! "Essential worker" feels more like "disposable worker".

[benjinoff13]

A few days ago I was in the car with my mom and a friend who also loves warrior nun, my friend and I were talking about kty and how awesome it is that she’s doing all those interviews to promote the show while netflix won’t spend a single cent on promotion

We also talked about alba and how we admire her passion and commitment to the show and the fans despite her being less vocal about it than some of the other cast members considering what she’s been facing in her private life

My mom heard a lot of things she didn’t understand so we started to explain the situation to her, we explained that shows (on netflix) that have minorities in the lead role often don’t even get a chance to develop nicely despite their obvious succes and that this is primarily the case with queer female characters and sapphic couples (mind you I’m not out to my mom but I think she knows, we don’t talk about this subject a lot but I needed her to understand)

Then we started discussing whether we thought a renewal was realistic, I told my friend I was carefully optimistic, I knew netflix’s trackrecord with shows like this but I also knew how succesful season 2 was, I considered the 99% and 100% on rotten tomatoes, I considered the amount of weeks it spend in the top 10, I considered the fact that even season 1 reached the top 10 again because so many people started watching it and I thought there was no way in hell netflix could actually be so stupid and cruel to cancel this show

Then I read simon’s tweet last night and I know it sounds dramatic but I actually felt my heart break, I was watching tv with my dad and went upstairs without saying a word, I sat in the dark in my room alone for what felt like hours, I cried, I punched my wall (still hurts like a bitch), I texted my only friend who could possibly understand what I was feeling and then I stayed up for most of the night not being able to fall asleep

This morning I woke up and immediately felt nauseous because of the cancellation again, after hours I went downstairs grabbed my coffee and told my mom what happened, I said

“Remember when we were in the car a few days ago and we talked about that netflix show I love and how shows with minorities in the lead role don’t often get a fair chance”

She said yes and so I told her about the cancellation, I told her it’s the best rated netflix show ever on rotten tomatoes, higher than the crown, higher than stranger things, and that the reviews and viewing numbers were unexpectedly high and she responded by asking why netflix would cancel this show because I told her netflix only cares about money and warrior nun seems profitable, I explained to her that there’s two women who are in love with each other and one of them is the main character, last season this wasn’t the case and then we got a season 2, now their love for each other is confirmed and netflix cancelled the show even though season 2 was way more popular and successful than season 1, to which she responded the following

“It sounds like discrimination to me, it’s almost like there’s someone at the top at netflix who wants to stop all these shows because they don’t want to make stories about gay people”

This is my CATHOLIC mother, my mother who really doesn’t understand queerness, who sometimes still says things about being queer that piss me off so much I consider packing my bags but she understands this

This is obvious to her

It’s obvious to fucking everybody

If you don’t see the problem you’re either in denial or just plain stupid

I am pissed beyond belief, I will never ever forget this

[greatqueenanna]

Have you heard about the new short in front of Wish and how they're using Hans as a punching bag again? I'm just so tired of Disney doing the same thing over and over again. It feels like they're personally attacking his fans. Like, we get it. Can you stop now?

I've read rumors and spoiler posts about it, yes.

First off, I want to see the short for myself first before I pass any real judgment. I'm sure the short is fun and harmless, and one thing I'm excited about is seeing Hans again in (what I presume) updated animation since Frozen. He showed up in Frozen Fever, but it was from a distance so you couldn't really see him too well.

More thoughts on this below the cut. It's a bit long and I didn't want to crowd everyone's feeds.

Second, on the subject of Hans being treated as a joke, I agree to an extent.

I do think that Hans isn't being treated the same way as other villains. Disney Villains, even when they have done pretty gruesome things, are given fun merchandise, songs, or promotional opportunities for their films or the 'Disney Villain' brand - at the very least they get some toys or t-shirts. Hans, on the other hand, barely gets any merchandise and is usually not featured in villain-related promotions. I think the last time Hans was present in anything was his Villain/Hero doll set he had with Elsa and the A Frozen Heart novel that was retconned by Forest of Shadows.

I would really love it if they brought him back in a meaningful way, instead of just random cameos that joke about his douche-ness. We get it. He's a douche. Can we expand on this character a bit more now? Maybe give him an opportunity to prove himself as a villain?

However, even with all this being said, I think the reason for this treatment is because of the uniqueness of Hans' overall character. Not only was he a twist villain, but he was a romantic interest for Anna - making him a little too realistic for many people.

Yes, characters like Frollo and Gaston also share the qualities of men trying to take advantage of women, and Mother Gothel does indeed show signs of a realistic abusive parent. But they're shown since the beginning that they are villainous, which helps the audience know to emotionally disconnect from them. This is the same for most villains.

Hans was shown to be desirable and then changed, which is what realistically happens when people are trapped in abusive relationships. We form attachments to these types of people and it's hard to just disconnect. It's difficult to just place him as a 'deliciously fun' Disney villain with the others when he hits too close to home.

This is why we see less of a fun side to him, and why we are often just shown him being a punching bag. Hans didn't just betray Anna, he betrayed the audience as well.

"But there have been other twist villains, like Callaghan, Mayor Bellwether, and Turbo."

Yes, but did these characters really have the same emotional attachment as Hans did? Not really. Callaghan came close, but we barely saw him interact or have an emotional connection to Hiro. Bellwether and Turbo (as King Candy) were nice to their protagonists, but again, didn't have that emotional attachment to them. Hans was Anna's light of hope after we saw her suffer during her childhood, and then he turned on her when she needed him the most. Remember the plethora of reaction videos to his betrayal when Frozen first came out? Hans is a pretty big deal.

I don't agree with the conclusion that this is meant to be an attack on Hans' fans. Sorry, but the Hans fandom is, and was never, big enough to warrant such a response from Disney and we barely agree with each other on everything. If there were hundreds of fans bombarding Frozen and Disney posts, then maybe I would believe it. However, if you actually look at Twitter, it's literally the same three or four people just insulting Jennifer Lee and spreading the #FireJenLee and #RedeemHans tags. That's the only Hans Fandom presence on Twitter, unfortunately.

[martian-astro]

hi love🌷[a small feedback by the way- your atmakaraka series is right on point😭 like i have a mars atmakaraka in third house and the way i related to every single word haunts me lmao the only thing still saving my younger sibling for me is my venus in third house closely conjunct mars lmao. 100% recommended to any person who wishes to understand atmakarakas]

i hope this doesn't bother you too much but ive noticed this thing about ashlesha energies and living 'sorrowful' lives; often their lives are seen as tragedies that serve as warnings to others and stories to many.

more often though, they usually die to leave behind mysteries regarding their deaths. questions that leave many thinking about how or why they died, or if they even died at all and not murdered unceremoniously instead.

also, they often leave suddenly, or switch energies suddenly. leaving not in the sense of dying, but rather releasing content that contradicts expectations or previous trends or suddenly forsake the very thing that acted like their trademark.

also! they somehow seem to promote the whole agenda of 'gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss. '

ex:

[ashlesha stellium] sridevi. it is often commonly believed that she was killed by her own husband and had a very poor post-marital life lacking of warmth from her mother-in-law; she also had an extremely co-dependent relationship with her mother. [you're also indian so i think you know the tea lmao] she left behind a huge mystery about who exactly killed her or if it was simply an unfortunate accident after all.

[ashlesha rising] marilyn monroe. the iconic lady of the 1950s who shed light on the history's beloved blonde bombshell characters with her sparkly charm and sexual appeal. arguably adored by all, her death was shocking to all. she died by suicide, most probably, considering official statements and her own condition in the recent weeks before her death. she also left behind the question of her death, though many prefer to accept her death as a suicide made in the desperate attempt to escape.

[ashlesha moon] lana del ray. today, lana has showcased depression, sugar daddies, toxic relationships and general toxicity in life and love in such a way that it has led to the formation of an entirely new kind of coquette aesthetic which seems to romanticize dependency in relationships. while the whole question of right or wrong is an entirely different thing id rather not ponder, she certainly has been quite the pioneer when it comes to this!

i was wondering, if you could expand a bit on these topics in correlation to ashlesha energies! having an ashlesha stellium myself ive felt that their energies are quite similar to mine!

personal experience being that i have a strong inclination towards the coquette aesthetic! since im no content creator other themes won't be so apparent, but people also always compliment me along the lines of 'feminine', 'dark', 'enchanting', 'serpent eyes', 'darkness incarnate'.

i hope this isn't too much to ask! please be safe wherever you are and have a nice time! i hope such an exploration of nakshatra energies will be as thrilling for you as they are for me! XD

So first of all, thank you so much for the feedback, I'm so glad that you liked the series and found it to be relatable. I love it when people go out of their way to let me know that they like my content, it really means a lot.

Now, about the Ashlesha nakshatra, I don't think that being ashlesha dominant has anything to do with these women having lived a sorrowful life. You must have noticed that one more thing is common in the charts of these 3 women, and that is having their atmakaraka in Saturn. I remember this one time I was trying to look for women who had bharani ascendant. I looked at the charts of atleast a 100 female celebrities and I'm pretty sure that 70 of them had Saturn atmakaraka. I think all of us know how female celebrities are treated in the entertainment industry. They constantly date and sometimes even marry abusive men, they are sexualised by literally everyone around them, they are unable to speak about the abuse that they go through because they are not powerful enough. These women have different nakshatras but they ALWAYS have saturn atmakaraka. I don't think I can expand on the topics that you talked about in correlation to ashlesha energies, because I personally feel that those topics have nothing to do with ashlesha Nakshatra.

If I had to describe Ashlesha nakshatras in my own words, I would say that they are cunning and beautiful women who are capable of being extremely successful if they manage to harness the energy of the Ashlesha nakshatra. I have noticed that ashlesha women are more likely to succeed if they maintain an air of mystery and keep people guessing. This strategy does not work for all nakshatras, for ex; I have noticed that people tend to like uttara bhadrapada women more if they talk about their family and constantly post pictures and videos about them.

I hope I was able to give you the answer that you were looking for.

[literaticat]

I have some idea that sometimes publishers have swanky parties and invite their staff, best sellers and big authors. Is this real? Or did I see this in a movie lol

Oh, it's real. Though I'd say this was more of a thing back in the OLD days, pre-Pandemic, and a couple economic crises ago. :-/

The ones I have been to (and I have been to many) are usually for a reason, they aren't just random parties. Usually it's to promote new books to a specific audience, and they are often held during a conference or something like that so that a bulk of the people they are trying to reach will be there.

So like, for example, they used to do a lot of "Pre-Publication Tours" and take booksellers out to very fancy dinners with an author (and the publicist, and sometimes the editor). Or they might do something like a breakfast or dinner at ALA (for example) where they have several authors and a bunch of librarians, and each author gets to introduce themselves and talk about the book and spend some time at each table, and all the librarians get copies and they all have a chance to chit-chat over a nice meal.

When BookExpo/BEA used to be a thing (and actually even more so before that, when it was called the ABA), publishers would throw really grand parties and invite a number of famous authors with new projects coming, and invite a bunch of booksellers, and the party would be on a rooftop or some gorgeous venue. I went to one at ABC carpet where they took over a floor of the store and there were living flower walls. I went to one at Dylan's Candy Bar one year and there was an open bar where they had candy apple martinis and I got sick off em. I went to one IN the Library of Congress -- like the FANCY part -- and one in the main library in downtown LA at night, that was pretty spectacular.

I went to one on a rooftop in LA I believe and they gave us all t-shirts and we could go around to different tables and get autographs on the shirt from the authors, and Judy Blume was one of the authors, and I had a literal meltdown and cried on her and Libba Bray had to hold me up. (Judy Blume was very nice about it - she gave me a Kleenex and said, "don't worry, women your age always cry when they meet me" -- which was both reassuring and made me feel v basic lol).

I went to one on this like -- observation-area in a swank hotel in downtown NYC, and I was chit-chatting with John Green, and I had to go to the bathroom, so I went to the bathroom, and THE BATHROOM WAS ENTIRELY MADE OF GLASS INCLUDING THE FLOOR -- so to get to the toilet and pee you had to be like *hovering over empty space and anyone could see you???? I absolutely was not OK AT ALL and I think I just had to like, LEAVE to go to a real place with a real bathroom.

I still remember the ones my boss told me about -- one at PRINCE'S HOUSE where PRINCE PERFORMED, and one at the Playboy Mansion! -- I was not invited to those! *cryface*

[thebreakfastgenie]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love 🤍

Oh man. Oh jeez. Okay. I'm gonna get annoying about this. Just remember you invited this.

1. The Emergency Room - The West Wing

“You were supposed to leave—” he couldn’t remember when Donna had said her flight was. He remembered too much, but it was never the right things. “—already,” he finished lamely. “Well, I didn’t.” On Christmas Eve, Donna takes Josh to the emergency room. Post-Noël.

This is probably still my favorite thing I've ever written. I really feel like I achieved something with the prose here that I've been striving to do ever since. Since the whole point of this is self-promotion; this fic will probably make sense even if you haven't seen The West Wing. It takes place the same day Josh is diagnosed with PTSD, a few months after being shot. It focuses on Josh and Donna, but it's not romantic. If you ship them, it will feel like pre-relationship, if you don't it will feel like friendship. I alway catch myself thinking this fic came easily, because I pretty much tortured myself over this one but the result was so worth it. Here's a little excerpt from one of my favorite scenes:

A streetlight flickered above them. He watched through the windshield as a few wet flakes drifted down.

“We can deal with that.” Donna was solution-oriented; it was a valuable skill in an assistant. Even now, he knew, she was making plans—drafting memos, rearranging his schedule. She’d ban music from the building if she thought it would protect him. He felt a surge of appreciation—affection, even—but protection wasn’t what he needed now. “Next time it could be something else.” The implicit acknowledgment hung between them like frozen breath. There would be a next time. Donna turned up the heat. “We can deal with that too.”

It's really all about hope and getting better, but at this very early, awkward moment. It also explores, without discussing it head-on, the idea floated in the episode that Josh may have had suicidal thoughts. The conclusion this fic comes to is that he lived because he wanted to live.

2. hills like white elephants - M*A*S*H

“Margaret,” he says for a third time. “The result of this test… the one that goes in your file, the one we tell Colonel Potter… it doesn’t have to be positive. Not if you don’t want it to be.” Margaret laughs, because it’s just like him to think he can make a test say what he wants. “I think people would notice when I had a baby,” she says, trying hard to sound funny. “If you have a baby,” Hawkeye says quietly. Seriously. An AU of What's Up Doc? where Margaret is pregnant, but still doesn't want to be. Hawkeye offers her another choice.

The abortion fic! This one means a lot to me. I've had a couple people tell me they've read it more than once, and that means a lot to me in and of itself. I think we need more stories about abortion, especially ones where abortion is shown as it is: a procedure that rescues women from really difficult situations. I had a lot of fun writing this one, even if my post-Dobbs feelings were very much on my mind. I had a lot of fun writing Margaret and I feel good about how I wrote her in this one. It was nice to focus on her and her interiority. I originally envisioned the fic as a mix between Hawkeye and Margaret POV, and I almost cut the one short Hawkeye POV scene I ended up with because it was so close to being entirely Margaret. The reason I didn't is that it was very important to me to imply BJ knew what happened, but he and Hawkeye chose not to discuss it for safety. I really loved the Hawkeye-Margaret dynamic I hit in this one, too. This is my signature "if you ship them, you can read it a pre-romance, but that's not necessary" dynamic. Hawkeye's willingness to go out on a limb to help is important and I think the story is stronger for not suggesting it's motivated by romantic love. A little excerpt two little excerpts because I can't pick and they go together:

“Why are you doing this?” she blurts out.  He looks at her sideways.  “Just because we can’t do it in the hospital doesn’t mean we’re abandoning safety.”  “No,” she says, frustrated, “I mean… When I told you that I might be… you practically started knitting booties.”  He doesn’t say anything.  “You think I should have this baby,” she accuses.  “It doesn’t matter what I think,” he says softly.  “It matters to me.”  She’s even softer; she’s not sure he can hear her, but he does.  “Why?” he asks. 

and

“Maybe,” she says, but she knows she won’t. After a moment, she asks, “What would you want?” He raises his eyebrows.  “You mean besides a maternity girdle?”  She laughs, properly this time.  “I meant in Donald’s position,” she scolds.  He thinks for a moment.  “I’d want you to be happy,” he says. “That’s what I want in my position, too.”  She sighs.  “Not all men are like you.” 

I knew from the very beginning I had to get a couple Hawkeye pregnancy jokes in there. The booties line is my own little reference to the "baby booties" line in GFA. I also wrote an author's note where I wished death on a couple of Supreme Court justices.

3. the play's the thing - M*A*S*H

“Oh, yeah, in college I played Hamlet,” he brags. “No kidding.” Sidney stares at him, and he has a funny feeling he can see all of it. “I was pre-med. I was the only one who could get my hands on a skull,” he says, attempting to explain what he’s never been able to explain to himself. Hawkeye plays Hamlet and is very mentally ill about it.

This was not the first M*A*S*H fic I started, but it was the first one I finished and posted, so it's very special to me! I had a lot of fun writing this one. It kind on of turned Hamlet into my signature Shakespeare play. Hawkeye playing Hamlet being true is a near and dear headcanon to me. I knew that I wanted my Hawkeye acting story to be that he did it once and was very good at it and then never did it again. I was really worried about making actor Hawkeye different from Alan Alda and without knowing it, I succeeded at this by making Hawkeye memorize his lines without meaning to; Alan Alda was awful at learning lines (see: all the blooper reels). All the non-Hawkeye perspectives were added in fairly late in the process and I think it was absolutely worth it. Gloria also became much more significant; originally, she was just the cute girl he cited as his reason for auditioning. I really grew to love her. I loved her so much I had to give them a good ending; for all my reputation as an angstmonger, I'm a total sap. Gloria's last name, Mayer, is for my great-grandfather who worked in the ticket office on Broadway. A short excerpt:

He doesn’t say anything. He’s staring at the skull. It’ll spend one last night in the safe hiding spot he’s found for it backstage—protected from the world by the thin cloth of the bag—and in the morning he’ll slip in Searles 103B and return it. If Professor Grable has noticed it’s missing, he hasn’t said anything, and he sees him three times a week for anatomy lab. He finds himself a little sad at the thought that he won’t see it every day anymore. A man and his skull can grow very close, he thinks. 

This part is relatable to me in a way I can't quite explain. The image of college freshman Hawkeye showing up to the audition with the portion already memorized and his own skull charmed me and still does, but the skull just took on a life of its own, even for me. I didn't get too deep in the weeds researching this fic, but I did find a building at Bowdoin that was already built in the early 1940s and is currently a science building, and I used a plausible room number. I also did a quick, panicked rewrite when I remembered it wasn't co-ed yet. I just love this fic a lot.

4. Campfire - The West Wing

The fic I wrote in the woods. Huge chunks of it came to mind and I was so anxious about getting home in time to write it down, I ended up writing pieces of it in my notes app during lunch and in the car. Since I posted this, I've been really overwhelmed by the willingness of my fellow fans to put up with what I call "summer camp bullshit." It's a very different setting from the White House and it's about kids. That part of the story was intended to be shorter and darker, but these three kids basically invented themselves and said "what if Josh had friends?" and it really changed the whole tone of the story for the better. This was the second time I did this one-shot-two-narratives thing and I'd like to do it again. A small excerpt:

“You didn’t have older siblings growing up,” CJ continues. “It teaches you humility. And how to fight dirty.” His fist tightens around his beer. “I did,” he says softly. CJ looks surprised, then confused. “You did?” she asks. He nods. “But I thought… I mean, when we sent that card, after your dad— we checked with Leo, about who to address it to, and he said just your mom and you.” Josh looks at the floor. “Her name was Joanie,” he says, so he won’t have to say she died.

I've had bits jotted down for years that never saw the light of day but got at both parts of this fic. Josh talking about Joanie at summer camp and having it go badly, and CJ being the first person from the Bartlet campaign he told. I love Josh and CJ's brother-sister relationship, but I also think telling CJ first just makes the most sense because of her role in The Crackpots and These Women. This was also a September fic; one of the reasons I latched onto Josh was the experience of losing a close peer at a young age, and I certainly had feelings going into this fic. The only thing is I wish it had a better title! I couldn't think of anything better so I just went with this, but I love the titles for the other fics I've mentioned here.

5. safe travels - M*A*S*H

“Of course, this is all just speculation. I couldn’t tell you what happened in Seoul on that particular day.” BJ looks like he wants to say something, but Hawkeye beats him to it. “I never made it that far,” he admits, his voice dropping. Post-ep for 9.01 The Best of Enemies. With some encouragement, Hawkeye tells the truth about what happened after the left the 4077th.

I had a really hard time choosing a fifth fic, so I reread several, and I remembered how much I love this one. I posted the play's the thing first, but I started writing this one first, and it was almost finished for a very long time. I struggled to get it over the finish line, but I had so much fun with it! This was the first time I wrote BJ and I had a blast; since then, he's been difficult for me to write. I felt good about how I captured a bunch of different characters in this fic--BJ, Potter, Charles, and in a very brief appearance Mulcahy--and there are several pieces of dialogue I'm really, really happy with. I ended the first two sections on dialogue by chance and decided to keep it up throughout the fic. I don't think it was necessary, but it was fun to play with. When I reread it, I noticed some parallelism I don't remember consciously putting in, like both BJ and Hawkeye missing/ignoring their cues, so I'm very pleased with myself. A couple of small excerpts:

Sherman sits for a moment. It takes that long for the man’s words to sink in. “You’re serious.” “You thought I was kidding?” He’s not too old to feel the flush of shame. “I’m sorry.” “People always think I’m kidding,” Pierce shrugs it off. “Of course, most of the time, I am.”

This bit of dialogue came in early and I'm very fond of it.

“Hawk, he held a gun to your head!” BJ explodes. The thought of Hawkeye at gunpoint enrages him nearly as much as it frightens him. “What would you do if it was me?” Hawkeye asks. “If I had a chest full of shrapnel, bleeding into my brain—” “I—I’d try to make some burr holes. Get some pressure on the arteries—” “What if you weren’t a doctor?” Hawkeye presses. “What if you were… a farmer, or something, and one day the army said ‘sorry, Charlie, you’re ours now,’ and took you away from your plow and your family and your ox and gave you a gun? And the whole thing is just, completely unbearable, except for the guy standing next to you. He has has own family, and his own farm, and his own ox, or at least he did before the army took his pitchfork out of his hand and gave him a gun. And then suddenly he’s dying and all you have is this is stupid, lousy gun. What would you do?” “What if it was me? What if I had the 24 hour pass? What if someone held a gun to my head? Would you be so understanding then?”

This conversation--or rather, most of it; the Hawkeye speech came in later and was both fun and extremely hard to write--is where it all started. Hawkeye defending the man who abducted him was important to me. They formed a sort of bond by the end and I don't expect BJ or anyone else to understand that. I made a choice early on not to raise the question "what would Hawkeye do if it was BJ?" but instead "what would BJ do if it was Hawkeye?" I still alluded to the former, when Hawkeye himself wonders what he would do if it was any of his friends, but I gave more time to the latter. It just felt right; of course Hawkeye, who's been through it on the other side, has thought about it. BJ needs to be confronted with the question, and I found that more interesting. And of course it opens the door for BJ to ask how Hawkeye would feel if The Best of Enemies happened to BJ instead. I don't answer any of these questions, because that's the reader's job. If you have thoughts about these answers I'd love to hear them; I wrote this fic because I was absolutely consumed by this episode, and I still am.

[jennawynn]

Enterprise Season 4 18-finale

Episode 18

So this is the episode they were filming when they found out they were cancelled? It's almost strange to think about it now in the era of streaming when the show gets filmed in entirety before it gets released and then two weeks later, you learn it's done. I wonder how you have the motivation to still do your best when you know you're getting fired.

The intro is interesting, but doesn't hold a candle to the real one. The effects are obvious, but it does its job in showing us what the people of this earth value- might over exploration.

Travis's little earring :joy:

I know Jolene Blalock was a model but do they always have to be putting her in low-rise pants if not skintight catsuits?

They even replaced the pics of Enterprise ships in Archer's quarters with weapons.

Guess you can't have hyper-masculine military shit without degrading women.

Bakula's still not very good at being convincing.

Episode 19

You know... this two-episode chunk has apparently been a fan favorite... but I'm guessing it's mostly nostalgia and seeing this crew in the uniforms of TOS(?). I'm not enjoying it at all. It is kinda funny seeing how colorful these sets are though.

Nice touch that it has the blaring alarm and name 'Battle Stations".

I guess they were planning to have more of these mirror-verse episodes in future seasons, though I can't believe they continued shooting and airing these episodes after hearing they were cancelled. It was complete whiplash and I didn't find that universe interesting at all. There isn't even an explanation about how or why we're returning to normal Enterprise between episodes.

Episode 20

Sometimes I think these fascist/xenophobic plotlines are too on the nose and then I remember they're from 20 years ago and then I remember that we've always had to deal with bullshit like this. Even a hundred or two hundred years ago. The only difference is which side the heroes are on and how sympathetic the villains are in the story.

I just realized every person in engineering is apparently an officer. In fact the only time I've ever heard anyone referred to by an enlisted rank was in the mirror universe? I mean... Enterprise is (supposedly) exploratory but Starfleet has some military aspect to it. Maybe it's the former-enlisted in me but how does anything get done if it's all officers? lmao

Episode 21

ok I actually laughed when Trip did the delayed punch on the guard. "Go ahead." "Ok."

of course the xenophobic leader is a hypocrite who uses alien dna. it's kinda lazy tbh.

They sure do like taking huge risks with tons of lives, don't they? Good drama, bad tactics.

Archer's speech here feels like what the whole series has been building to. I'm surprised that it wasn't the finale.

Oh... I was expecting the show to go to 24. I thought we were still a couple eps from the finale. I didn't realize this effectively IS the finale.

Vulcans 150 years from now have French tips, huh? lmao

Episode 22 (These Are The Voyages...)

It is pretty silly that they've been supposedly doing this 10 years without any change in personnel or even a promotion. Talk about no upward mobility.

Why would they mothball Enterprise after ten years of operation? The carrier Enterprise was like 50 when it was decommissioned and it basically running on duct tape and paint.

I'm wondering if I should've watched this along with TNG instead of Enterprise.

The first time we see Chef and it's Riker. lmao Fun fact: My cousin's named Ryker after him.

....why'd he kiss T'Pol's cheek? Gross.

ok, I thought this holoprogram was actually historical- that he was inhabiting chef while it was on and just seeing himself do the things, but repeating what was actually said. but then he slipped up and said 'Picard' instead of 'Archer' and Travis was like 'who?' which means that was RIKER asking Hoshi if she was ever attracted to Trip. Why? WTF? Is Riker a skeeze?

Ah, they have a warp 7 now. Guess that's why mothball. "To the Next Generation."

Only because it's the last episode and only because Troi (sp?) said something about it being sad he doesn't know he doesn't make it do I think they might actually take Trip out. That and the weird questions Riker's been asking about him like he's trying to figure out who Trip really was.

I don't like the 'formal' uniform variant. It looks like the flight suit with a white collar.

Really? They make a big deal out of the speech and then don't even let him-- oh, I guess they're saying that the thing Picard always said was part of Archer's speech?

I don't think I understand all the vitriol about the episode, but I do think it was an inappropriate sendoff. For one, you go the whole damn series without killing anyone just to kill Tucker and then you don't even actually memorialize him. For the other, it feels more like an episode of another show (TNG) than it does about Enterprise. Not knowing the story in TNG means that this is even more apparent to me- it's not nostalgia to me, it's just someone using the show I've been watching like a voyeur.

[papirouge]

im the jpop anon. thank you for the long and thoughtful reply! :)

yeah, theres something really wrong with kpoppers. i actually remember what perfume video the "fat legs" comments were from - it was their first budokan concert back in 2008, i think they were wearing the pink outfits (or perhaps the yellow ones from drream fighter). i think what those kpoppers might meant were kashiyukas thighs, since she wore very short shorts in the pink outfits, and while her legs are thin her thighs are plumper. but like, thats literally what makes her known as "the hot one" among fans. like shes very renowed for having very nice legs, and in general its normal for women to have bigger tighs and wider hips. i guess one could just shrug it off as kpop fans being salty and petty, but many kpop girl members have crazy thin legs. like if you look up snsd aka girls generation, youll realize that many of their promotional images have them with really skinny legs. one of the very few kpop songs that i like is "gee" by this girl group, and i decided to look at the comments of the dance ver and some poeple were defending one of the girls because koreans fans were being mean to her for being "fat". i think she was called jessica or something like that, and i look her up to know which one of them was and like, if they didnt mention anything i wouldnt even have realized but her "problem" was basically that she had this "square-y" body type and that made her look like 0,5 millimeters bigger that the rest.

another thing that happened to me very recently was that i was looking for a notebook to buy and there were selling some with kpop groups in the cover, and i stumbled upon one that had this boy band named stray kids, and god dammit... these guys have such heavy plastic surgery like wtf... some of them look like literal wax figures its scary. i remember when kpop fans were saying it was racist how some people made fun of boy bands by saying they all looked the same, and sure, definitely some of them probably were, but you cant deny that some of these guys (and girls) dont end up looking the same when they get their faces botched up all to follow the same very narrow korean beauty standards.

and yeah, i can see the difference between kanon and akari, but i also think it was because kanon was much bigger than akari. like she even made fun of herselkf many times when she introduced herself. i always remember when michishige sayumi was asked which animal fit their teammates the best, and she said kanon was a hippo or an elephant 💀 i always got the impression that kanon making fun of herself like referencing she had a full meal before a performance so she was full of energy was a defense mechanism - a lot of fat people usually make fun of themseves because they want to do it before others can make fun of them first, like "look at me, im fat and i know it and dont take it seriously, please dont make fun of me because i already do it and it doesnt hurt me at all!".

speaking of sayumi, she once was also asked which helloproject group she would least like to be stuck with on an island, and she said berryz koubou because they seemed like they liked to eat alot.. im guessing she was referring to maasa and risako.

i wanted to say more but this got so fucking long lol sorry papi... perhaps ill send another message later...

Tbh Kpop visuals are so ridiculously filtered that I'm pretty sure those girls are made prettier and skinnier than they really are. People these days are soooooo freaking guillible and believe anything they see online. These girls get ps to oblivion and still need to be photoshopped like mad.... They're not perfect. Nobody is.

The thing is japanese idols aren't expected to look perfect like Korean do. Jpop idols aren't supposed to look 'flawless'. Perfume debuted when they were like 12-13 years old ; we saw them grow before our eyes, so if they did anything shady with their appareance everyone would have noticed. These women are soon 35 and still kicking.. - I wonder how these Kpop girls will look at that age 👀

I don't even think that Kpoppers know what "sexy" is anyway. What's stricking with Kpop is that despite how much polished their aesthetic are, they emanate 0% charisma. They give off an absolutely frigid energy. Every single of their move and face expression are policed. Kpop MV would make anyone epileptic so much shit is going on because that's how bad the artist themselves can't put it up themselves.

At least, old school jpop idols still have a lil bit of personality - which is why we still remember of them 10, 20 years later. The same couldn't be said for today's one tbh (I lost interest after Morning Musume 13./Michishige graduated because all the newcomers were more dull than the others... Even Riho who was hailed as The Ace of the group didn't leave the same impact as OG members (Ai Takashi, Tsuji Nozomi, Ai Kago, Maki Goto, Reina Tanaka, etc.) AKB48 fell off after the Kami 7 all graduated (the sister groups are meh).

But to be fair, the new Reiwa era (more conservative ) isn't just prone to leave raw personalities pop out in like that... Ai Kago stunts would have made her cancelled without afterthought or second chances today...😬 The idol group era is pretty much over in Japan. Right now, 'boring edgy' like Aimyon or Yonezu Kenshi are popping.

I can't bring myself to find Kpop boys attractive. Period. They are all ugly and I have no shame to say it because they were all much better before doing plastic surgery. So no it's not racist to say they all look the same because plastic surgery made them look the same - not their race...

I DARE someone to tell me the 2 dudes on the left aren't the same. The one at the top particularly looks like an otome game character 💀 like- he straight up looks like his face was DRAWN.

And you know what freaks me out the most? It's that from one picture to another THEY DON'T LOOK LIKE THEMSELVES??!?

Like wtf is this shit???

It's supposed to be the same band but the faces.... don't match others pictures 💀

You know society colllapsed now that stray kid dudes are considered attractive....when back in the day we had natural and authentic beauty like Takeshi Kaneshiro *sigh*

downgrade of the millennium. Mishima killed himself for this.

And you know what freaks me out the most about these kpoppers? It's that they seemingly don't "exist" beside these ridiculous doctored photoshoot. Are there any candids of them out and about in the street? Without perfect lightening, angle and filters? Tbh I wouldn't be surprised they are AI or shit like that.

Perfume look the same when they do bc....they arent botched

Michishige is RUTHLESS 😭 I mean, in Morning Musume she had the persona of being a narcissist so it makes sense she put down other girls for not being as pretty as her. But yeah dunking on a girl who's like a decade younger than you is shitty. Those idol group are shoving together girls from entire different generations (Michishige was in her mid 20s when she graduated and the youngest member of the group were like 13-14 years old 🥴) so awkward girldrama situations are bound to happen.... That being said, it's a very bad idea to get into an idol group if you're feeling awkward about your physically appearance... Kanon should've never been in Momusu, imo.

I always found Berryz Kōbō was much coherent than Morning Musume ; members were closer in age and experience. I was a smaller band and the lineup was consistent so you weren't lost in the amount of new faces every other years (like Momusu regular call for new members).

I think its fitting that some of its members love eating when they have a song called 1億3千万総ダイエット王国 ("A kindgom of 130 million [people] complete diet[ing]") *the population of Japan is of 125 million but I guess the evened it out for the song that was kinda critical of diet culture. Good for them tbh And that song was bop. Berryz Kōbō truly delivered the few years before disbanding.

[shimenchus]

Hello, I've been looking at your blog for a while now despite the fact it triggers my anxiety greatly because I am also in the same fandom as you and I also (privately) support both satoryuga and stacaesar. I saw your post where you said you had been softblocked by someone in the fandom, I recognize the background color of the chat and I'm sorry that they blocked you, but I'd like to offer my own perspective. I'm mutuals with some of the people who have been exposed as having done bad things (I know, I know) but for my own safety, I can't bring myself to block any of them or unfollow or anything of the sort. If you remember back a few months ago, many people in the fandom who left a supportive reply on satoryuga's post got their accounts banned because of it, I can't risk my account being banned because I also create content that I work really hard on. I follow stacaesar and my heart hurts for her but I can only like her posts and speak to her in messenger because I fear that the others could turn on me too and I'm scared to be harassed. I know it's cowardly but I've spoken to many others who are too scared to even reblog from either of them in fear that they might get targeted just for doing that. I think that person who blocked you also might have been just trying to distance from anyone who also openly shows support or defense of satoryuga or stacaesar because I know I also am doing the same, there are people I follow who I think are nice but I can't interact with them because they're pro satoryuga/stacaesar and many of the people in my circle are very much anti. I sincerely hope that both of those girls will be okay though, I've spoken to both of them in the past and they were both incredibly sweet… Also I hope it's okay that I sent this using a fake account, please understand that I'm being watched and cannot interact with you on my real account, if there was any other kind of way we could speak privately, I would be very interested in doing that. Sorry to bother you, hope you're well.

on my main i've spoken to a lotttt of people within the fandom about this from june with satoryuga to now with stacaesar, i'm completely aware that many women in the fandom are terrified of interacting with those two and also with anyone who supports them because they don't want to be harassed or considered "one of the bad ones" for simply defending women/girls from others threatening them with rape and violence. all those accounts being banned back in june was definitely odd and honestly not to put a tin hat on or anything but there's a certain user (you know the one lol) where every single girl who has come out and said they were harassed by them has been banned. i think that same user is not only involved in the harassment campaigns against people who supported satoryuga but also gets their friends to mass report anyone who does, i had many mutuals get banned back then for things that they never did, like one of them mostly just reblogs cakes but she got banned for "promoting self harm"?? i think only 4 or 5 women/girls in the fandom who had left a reply on that post made it out of the great war of june 2022 unbanned lol

stacaesar said on that ask from magines (and as someone who followed her i was so surprised by her sending that considering all the "love everyone even the people you disagree with" text posts and positivity posts she would reblog among her figuarts posts oof) that people are more willing to block the people being harassed than the harassers and i think she's 100% on it. people are very uncomfortable by women/girls voicing bad things that are happening to them especially when the people doing those bad things are their friend/mutual/whatever so instead of being freaked out that your friend writes rape fantasy threats and sends dick pics/violent porn to a 15yr old girl, you're more freaked out that she would dare accuse your bestie who has been nothing but nice to you and instead choose to block this devious girl so you can no longer see her scandalous lies because her pain makes you feel bad and you HATE feeling bad!! lol

i just think that everyone blocking stacaesar are a bunch of man-worshipping empty-headed RACIST misogynists, i'll be honest, i hate every single person in this fandom who is choosing to see a girl be harassed in such a disgusting way and decide that she's the problem and let's pop her ass on a blocklist, fuck stacaesar for being harassed for defending a south korean woman in our fandom who OUR FANDOM got doxxed and assaulted. do you get me? it's clown world.

also in regards to speaking privately, you can use the messenger with this account you've made or your real account if you want, this blog is crypto safe for obvious reasons and if it helps at all, i'm followed by many women in the tokusatsu fandom on this account, so you're definitely welcome to follow me (to anxiety read my blog lol) without having to worry about anything because i won't @ you or interact with you in any kind of way like that, no one would ever know you follow me just like you won't ever know who in the fandom follows me on here lol

however, the main advice i would give you despite it all is to block the people you're mutuals with that you know were outed as being predators like that, it might seen rude or scary to sudden cut off communication with them but honestly blocking/ghosting is probably the best route you could take, because from my OWN point of view, every time i see someone i follow reblog from one of those disgusting people, i think "ohhhh i didn't know YOU were in the company of pedophiles, rapists and racists alright trash" like my view of them goes down in the gutter, and i guarantee you if you're reblogging or having a laugh in replies/asks with any of them, those of us who have dealt with the harassment (which is like 60% of the women/girls in the fandom) are side-eyeing the hell out of you and keeping you on their mental "to block later?" list.

if you don't want people to think you're one of them or you support their actions, block them, you don't need these people in your life taking up space. keep in the mind, good people do not tell 15yr old girls they want to gut and carve up her body mid-rape and feed her flesh and organs to stray dogs, good people do not tell a 21yr old south korean woman they want to make her wear a hanbok while they anal/vaginal prolapse her and force her to eat nothing but "girlcum" until she dies of starvation. real things said to both them, if it makes you uncomfortable, it should.

also you're not bothering me, this is something that i kind of keep talking in circles about nonstop for months now (i'm sure my followers are annoyed with me always talking about this lol) both on here and also on my main (in the messenger at least) because it really bothers me so i'm glad if you want to join in and talk with me about it too, you're definitely welcome to hit me up in the messenger!

[krazykiki05]

Niki Lauda: An Event to Remember

"Niki, I have something to tell you." Emily says in German. Niki glances at his wife before returning his eyes to the road. She was a worried look on her face.

"How important is it? Can it wait until we get to the hotel?" Nikki responds in the same language. Emily thinks for a moment. She messes with her index finger's nail.

"I-uh-I guess it can." Emily mutters in English. Nikki sighs.

"I don't mean to upset you. But it seems important and I want to give you my full attention." Niki defends himself in English. Emily nods.

"I understand." Emily says in German. She gazes out the car window.

"Your German is getting better." Nikki compliments in English. "The words are getting faster."

"Danke."

Once at the hotel, Nikki starts stripping of his uniform. "What was it you wanted to tell me?" Nikki asks in German. Emily takes a breath. Nikki was now in a white shirt and underwear.

"I'm pregnant." Emily just blurts it out. Nikki takes a moment to process this. Emily at and there, frozen in nervousness.

Nikki smiles before walking over and giving her a big kiss. "That is great! I'm happy." He says. Emily sighs of relief.

"Oh Nikki. You're going to be a great dad." Emily says, wrapping her arms around her husbands neck. Nikki smiles again, placing his hands on her waist.

The couple now sat on the couch and watched TV after eating dinner. "What promoted you to take a test? You were showing no symptoms." Nikki asked. Emily lightly chuckles

"I have been throwing up a lot recently. You just don't see it because it before you wake up and while you're racing. And half of my favorite foods make me want to gag when I smell them. Also I was late." Emily answers.

That night, the couple slept cuddled together. Emilys head laying on her husbands chest. She was fast asleep. The driver on the other hand? He was wide awake. He was thinking about becoming a dad. Becoming a dad with this woman. Nikki wonders sometimes if he would have chosen her at will instead of being forced into a marriage. She was nice, caring, pretty, and supportive of his work. He was attracted to her and cares for her. But he's seen other women in the streets on in the stands at races who are equally as beautiful, and wonders if what if they were the one. Because he wanted to go up to them and flirt but couldn't. Nikki realized he liked the idea of being married. Someone to share his victories with and to be there for him when he loses. People like to call him a rat for how he looks, being married tells the public he's good enough to get a woman to love him.

Nikki stops dwelling on the hypotheticals and moves on to thinking about him being a father. Nothing in the world could prepare him for this. He doesn't even have an idea how to be a god dad. His father wasn't the best role model. He only has a couple of months to prepare.

Nikki holds his wife tighter before drifting off to sleep.

The next morning Nikki awoke as usual. Emily was already up and around. Nikki saw his uniform was already laid out on a chair along with his shoes. Emily was in the kitchen. "Good morning, darling." She greets in German. "Coffee is made and breakfast is almost ready." She says in English. Nikki nods

"I'm going to take a shower first." He mutters.

Nikki emerges from the bathroom in nothing but a towel, his hair dripping wet. Breakfast was done so Emily was cleaning up. He stops her by putting his hands on her waist. Emily turns around to face him. Nikki plants a sweet kiss on her lips. "How are you feeling?" Nikki asks in German.

"Okay. Just a little nauseous." Emily answers. Nikki let's his thumb carress her stomach. "What the plan for today?" She asks.

"Practice race with James and Andretti then a press conference with both. So I better get ready."

Nikki drove them to the track. There, they were greeted by the head mechanic. "Nikki! Emily! Good morning!" His Italian accent was thick. The couple greet him witch cheek kisses. "Ms. Lauda I hope you're feeling better from yesterday." He says. Emily chuckles while Nikki looks confused. Even his mechanic knew she was off?

"Well I won't be feeling better for the next 9 months if you know what I mean." Emily hints. The mechanic gasps.

"Oh my- that's a great news! Congratulations!"

James watched from his tent Emily rush behind Nikkis tent and cough up her breakfast. Nikki was too far behind, holding her hair. The episode didn't last very long and Nikki started asking her if she was okay in German. Emily was nodding and saying she was fine in English. Nikki then yelled at someone for water. "Nikki! Nikki. I'm fine. Don't worry about me and just have a good practice." He heard Emily say. Nikki didn't look convinced. He made her sit down and handed her a bottle of water. Then he had to go. James decides to walk over and make sure everythings okay. Just because he had beef with her ratty husband, doesn't mean he has to be a dick to her. "Emily!" James calls. Emily smiles at him.

"James! How are you?" Emily stands up.

"I'm great! I'm ready for today. I just came over to ask if you're okay." James asks. Emily grimances.

"Oh l. You saw that. Yeah uh, I'm fine it's just that.. We're expecting." James eyebrows raise.

"Wait! Really? That's amazing!" James gives her hug. Emily chuckles. "Congratulations!"

"Thank you. So dont kick his ass too hard now that he has a family to come home to."

PRESS CONFERENCE

Nikki points to a reporter in the middle. "Is it true that you are in an arranged marriage? And that your wife is pregnant? Did you force that upon her?" Gasps came from the crowd. Nikki was speechless. So was James beside him. Emily was in the back, hidden away. Her hand covered her mouth. Where the fuck did they get that information? And where did the last question come from?

Nikki starts speaking the first thing that comes to his head. "The origins of our marriage is none of your business. I cherish my wife very much and am very lucky to have her in my life. Yes we recently got pregnant but I don't know how you found out. I also don't know where that bullshit question came from of me raping my own wife. I have not and will not force her to do anything she is not comfortable with. I'm done here." Was the last thing Nikki said before standing up to leave. James leans in to his mic.

"Fuck you!" He growls before following Nikki. Emily rushes out as well. The reporters notice and start to stalk her.

"Nikki!" James calls.

"I have to find Emily! We need to get out of here." Nikki thinks out loud while rushing down the hallways, searching for his wife. James wasn't too far behind him.

"Nikki!" Emily calls, searching for her husband. It was difficult being surrounded by reporters shouting questions at her.

"How far along are you!?"

"Did he force you to marry him!?"

"Is he forcing you to have his baby!?" Emily started to panic. All she wanted to do was break down and scream at the top of her lungs. Finally, she spotted a familiar red jumper.

"Nikki!" She calls louder. Nikki hears it and pushes through the crowd of reporters and holds his wife. She buries her face in his neck.

"Stay strong." He says in German in his ear. James bulldozed through the crowd

"HEY! BACK UP. BACK UP." He bellows. Scared reporters do as he says. He turns to Nikki.

"Get her out of here, I've got your back." Nikki nods and starts speed walking to the car. All while shielding his wife from the cameras.

He opens the door and pushes her into the car before running around and getting in the drivers side. He locks the doors. Reporters bang on the car for answers. Still shouting questions. Nikki holds his wife as she breaks down. "Nikki!" She cries. He squeezes her.

"Shh. I know. I know. I'll get us out of here." He mutters in German. He starts the car and starts to drive slowly, causing reporters to move. He maneuvers the car with one hand while he other arm stay wrapped around his wife.

Once they got to the hotel, Nikki looked around to make sure there was no reporters around before getting out.

Once they they shut and locked the door, Nikki held his wife who started sobbing again. "Nikki why would they say that?" She whimpers. Nikki places a kiss to her cheek.

"They are just looking for crappy media. I will go and clear everything up tomorrow. You don't have to worry." Nikki assures.

"Tell then the truth, Nikki." Emily says, still resting her head on her husbands shoulder. "Tell them how our marriage is arranged. For money for racing. But also tell them how we did fall in love with each other." Nikki pulls away from the hug.

"You father will kill me." Emily shakes her head and sniffles.

"I'll talk to Papa. He'll understand." Emily promises. Nikki places both hands on each side of her face, using his thumbs to wipe away her tears.

"I know it's going to be hard, but I need for you to relax. For the baby. I will take care of all this. Go lay down and try to clear you head. Don't turn on news." Nikki demands. Emily nods before walking off.

"Hey. It's Nikki. I need a press conference tomorrow. Just me. All of this shit needs to be cleared up. No, no. She's not coming. Because I said so. Just make it happen."

The next day Nikki called in staying he would go to practice. Everyone understood. James also called in to attend Nikkis press conference.

"I am here today to address the rumors regarding my wife. About our marriage. About her pregnancy. So I'm going to start at the very beginning.

Yes, we had an arranged marriage. It was the only way I would get money from her father for racing. Upon meeting my future wife, I could already tell I was going to have a happy life. She was gorgeous, and made me laugh. She has supported my career and has done everything she could for me. I wouldnt trade her for anyone else.

Now, as for the pregnancy. What can I say? Married people have sex." There was a slight chuckle over the crowd. "That's how most of us came to be here. Unplanned? Sure. But not disappointing. We are both excited to welcome our first born.

I don't know what kind of man you take me for, but I don't rape my wife. All of the many, many, time we have had sex," Nikki pauses for the chuckles, "has all been Consented and wanted by both of us. Despite our arranged marriage." Nikki glances to his left by accident, and saw his wife standing beside the background. The Same wife he told to stay home and safe. But he decided to use it. He gestured to her to come up there with him. Emily started walking up the stairs. He turns back to the reporters. "I can't believe we live in such a disgusting world where I had to come up her and say this. The same world I'm planning to raise my child in."

Nikki stands up, wrapping his arms around his wife's waist while she wraps her arms around his neck. They both go in for a deep kiss, posing for the camera. They hear rapid clicking of cameras. After a few seconds they pull away.

"I thought I told you to stay home?" Nikki scolds.

"You shouldn't have to go through this alone." Emily defends. Nikki looks down at her stomach, caressing it with his thumbs. He feels his wife place a kiss to his forehead. Rapid clicking can be heard again.