#kind of floating around that is not really 'marketable' in the same way as; say; a string quartet or a reed quintet or pierrot/pierrot+

[basu-shokikita]

Possibility, a Toki from a different reality

So @dalberadiata has an AU where Toki never left the cult and, therefore, never joined Dethklok. But the call of destiny is much stronger, so he accidentally catches a glimpse of Dethklok when they're visiting Norway and pretty much instantly becomes infatuated with Skwisgaar. The interest isn't one-sided and Skwisgaar teaches Toki about the world of music...and many other things. 🎸💘

I've been wanting to do something with this AU for a while because I'm fascinated with it. So, after many talks, I decided to write the scene where Toki wears non-religious clothing for the first time. More specifically, the clothes Skwisgaar lent him. Needless to say, this is a Skwistok AU 🥰

You can also read this work here!

Hat in his hands, Toki looked at his feet. Or rather, the lack of them. Covered by the dark robe he had been wearing everyday for the past 8 years, it was like he was floating on the floor. Some kind of ghost that still managed to trip on his non-existent feet sometimes. 

His eyes kept going back to his legs, his arms, his torso, his neck even. All dutifully covered so there was nothing in sight, nothing to tell apart. Not even the top of his head was safe, protected by the hat of the same color of his robe. He was one undefined silhouette not to be confused by a mere mortal wearing vulgar clothes or showing skin. At least, that’s what his parents had taught him. 

He was always to be covered, never to expose anything. Never to embarrass or as shame the family with his indecency. Long ago were the days where he was allowed to wear a simple t-shirt and shorts for his daily duties. He was a real member of the family now and he had to behave as such.

His eyes met his own hesitant reflection, worry scattered all over his features. Should he really be doing this?

“Eh, Toki,” Skwisgaar put down the black magazine he was reading. “Don’ts..think abouts it too much.” 

Toki glanced at Skwisgaar in the reflection, and simply pursed his lips in response. He knew Skwisgaar meant well, but he had no way to understand. He had no idea what this meant for Toki, the weird guilt swelling in his gut just from his thoughts. The feeling that his parents, his dad especially, had always been right about him. That he was a failure to the family and the whole town.

He tossed the hat on his bed, as if that would make his dad’s eyes stop glaring at him from inside his mind. He wanted this. He wanted to do this.

“Okay.” He said, more to himself than Skwisgaar. “Turn around.”

“Whats?” Skwisgaar squinted like he hadn’t understood him.

“Turn around.” Toki repeated, this time gesturing with his fingers.

Skwisgaar grimaced for a good couple of seconds before throwing his palms into the air and turning around. “Talks about overkills…” He muttered under his breath but Toki still heard him.

Not that he cared, this wasn’t about Skwisgaar, it was about him and he wanted it his way. This was hard enough as it was, he didn’t need Skwisgaar’s prying eyes on top of it. Toki inhaled deeply and then closed his eyes. He counted until 10, an old trick to calm down his anxiety that he had learned from a nice old lady at the local market a couple of years ago. Then, he exhaled slowly and opened his eyes. 

His stare wasn’t all quite confident, but he had to make do. Determined, he brought his hands to his collar and started unbuttoning his robe. It had exactly 16 buttons, so he took a while to undo them. The buttons were worn out and old so they always took several pulls to get off the buttonholes. One time, as a teen, Toki suggested getting new ones but his mother gave him a glare of disappointment that made him never want to ask again.

Undone, the robe fell to the floor and Toki’s first instinct was to immediately pick it up and carefully fold it to place it on his chair. However, his fingers hesitated when he was inches away from the floor. 

He remembered the first time he refused to wear the robe, because it was uncomfortable to wear, to move in. Because he thought it was ugly, because he was tired of following this charade he had never wanted to be part of. 

His dad ordered him to take off his clothes and made him stand in the snow for hours, with nothing to cover himself with. At some point he lost consciousness, and when he recovered it, he was shivering in his bed. His dad told him, just as cold as the snow that he had been surrounded by, that it was his own doing for rejecting the Lord’s graces.

A few years later, Toki fell off the mountain while running errands. He slipped with the ice and rolled for a few meters before crashing against a rock. He managed to limp his way down, though his sides really hurt and he was pretty sure he was bleeding from his leg. When his mother saw him, the first thing she was worried about wasn’t him, but the robe. 

She made him take it off, quickly tossing the snow off it and washing it to remove Toki’s blood. Not even a glance of concern when Toki was stitching himself as she dried the robe next to the fire and carefully sewed the holes back. Toki watched his mother treat his robe with more care and gentleness than he had ever received from her. 

When, just two years ago, Toki had taken his picture with them. It was his first official family picture. During his childhood, he had only seen his parents in the framed photographs around the house, never seen himself, like he wasn’t allowed to be part of it. So, he was pretty excited, to be finally acknowledged by them. He tried really hard not to smile when the town’s photographer came to take it. 

However, when he saw the final picture, he felt nothing but cruel disappointment. Because the person in it, between his two parents, didn’t feel like him, it didn’t look like him. With the serious face and the dark robe, he looked like any other member of the sect. Nothing to tell him apart from the rest, and that’s exactly what his parents had wanted all along for him.

Toki straightened instead, not even giving a spare glance to the robe on the floor. He proceeded to unbutton his dark purple shirt, trying not to feel self-conscious when the skin of his chest began to reveal itself. He always undressed looking away from the mirror, it was a habit his parents had taught him. Dress with the mirror, undress without it. Flaunting one’s own skin, even in private, was sinful.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Skwisgaar’s head move. “I’m not ready yet!” He said, trying to inspire obedience but his voice came out squeaky instead.

Skwisgaar grumbled but he didn’t try to take a peek at least, and Toki was relieved. Undoing his pants took him way less time than the rest, and he just let it join the robe on the floor, along with the shirt. 

The clothes Skwisgaar had lent him were resting on the edge of his bed and Toki hesitated again. Was this really him? Maybe he shouldn’t mess with the order after all. Maybe he shouldn’t be tempting…he didn’t even dare to think of the word. His eyes wandered around the room, until they finally fell on Skwisgaar’s mane.

Luscious bursts of golden cascading down his shoulders, leading to that black leather jacket that had enraptured him since he first saw him and the tight black pants that followed, finishing up with the elegant black boots of the same color. He was beautiful and, just as important, he was free. And Toki desired that freedom just as much as he desired him.

He made up his mind and grabbed the shirt first before forcing it down his neck and torso. Then, he spread the pants and shoved his legs inside. It was definitely tighter than he expected, and he had expected a lot. As he struggled to make his groin somehow fit comfortably between the fabric, he realized Skwisgaar was most likely a smaller size than he was. The last touch were the black combat boots that, ironically, were a tad bit too big for his feet. 

With one last exhale, Toki took a glance at his reflection and almost didn’t recognize himself. 

His usually hidden shoulder-length brown hair was exposed and slightly disheveled from the movement. His torso was adorned by a short-sleeved black shirt with an over-designed skull and the name of a band he didn’t know in red letters. The shirt had probably been loose on Skwisgaar but on Toki it fit just right. The faux leather pants made noise whenever he moved and, just like he suspected, made his crotch stand up. Packed with combat boots, they made him look like a rockstar, even if he could still see the reluctance in his expression.

Toki tried smiling, then he tried frowning and struck a pose. He put a hand on his hip and one foot in front of the other one and feigned the smugness he often saw on Skwisgaar. It made him laugh to see this much arrogance in his face, however, and he ended up cracking up in front of the mirror. Sighing, he stood straight and contemplated himself. It was weird, and it definitely didn’t look like his usual self. But maybe it could be.

Maybe this could be him.

Also, he could finally see his feet step on the floor, how crazy was that? Toki Wartooth, finally allowed to have visible lower limbs. Absolutely insane.

“Oh, heys.” Skwisgaar said, walking up to him with a smirk. “Has I met you befores?”

“Pfft.” Toki snorted, though couldn’t erase the coy smile on his face, especially not when Skwisgaar wrapped an arm around his waist. 

“You looks good in my clothes.” He said, eyeing Toki’s body. His stare stayed for a little longer on Toki’s lower abdomen before it went up again. “Ja?”

Toki averted his gaze, chuckling lightly. “I look like you.” He said, feeling his cheeks heat up from Skwisgaar’s attention and proximity to him. 

Skwisgaar took a whiff at his collarbone. “Smells like me toos.” There was something suggestive about his eyes, and Toki could’ve sworn the room was getting hotter despite being in the middle of winter. “Heh.” Skwisgaar seemed satisfied by the reaction and pulled away. “Wants to gets out of here?”

Toki didn’t expect that, though he wasn’t against it. “Where are we going?”

“There’s ans a metals show in the towns.” Skwisgaar said, his eyes were smiling at Toki with tenderness he hadn’t seen before. “I can gets us there.” His thumb slightly brushed Toki’s chin. “Hm? What you says?”

Light blue eyes got starry from the idea alone and Toki swallowed heavily. His first metal show ever…he imagined a raging crowd and killer instrumentals. An imposing vocalist growling incomprehensible lyrics, the chaos and sweat in the atmosphere…

His heartbeat sped up from anticipation and Skwisgaar smiled at him. His first metal concert would be with Skwisgaar of all people. Toki couldn’t help thinking it was the perfect date. A nod. “Let’s do it.”

Skwisgaar’s smile turned into a grin as he laced his fingers with Toki’s and dragged them away from the room. Toki allowed himself to be led, excitement bursting through his chest. 

When he walked past the door frame he turned around and gave his old clothes one last look before leaving.

He would never look back.

[headphonegrl]

“I can’t tell if I like them or not.” When Jude was walking through the aisles of the supermarket he thought the idea of ketchup-flavored crisps was a good one, but now after trying them he’s not so sure. Something in him seems to get giddy when he’s in foreign shops, like the feeling of being on holiday as a kid comes rushing back to him all at once.

You laugh at the confused face he’s pulling, the sunset behind you is melting into the beach in a swirl of orange and pink. The kind of sky that only follows after an unbearably hot day. “You’re still eating them.”

“I need to make up my mind.” He rubs his hands together to rid them of crumbs and sand. If he wasn’t exhausted from swimming for almost two hours straight, he would get up from his towel and try to shake some of the sand off it.

“I’ve made up mine.” You lean over to point at the text on the packet. A couple of days ago you both bought matching bracelets from a market stall, and now yours is soaking wet against your skin and planting big droplets of water wherever you move your hand. “Morally wrong.”

“You haven’t tried one!” He adjusts to lean on his side, resting his cheekbone against the palm of his hand. There’s a sudden breeze of wind that smells like saltwater and it moves your hair around like you’re in a pretty dream sequence. He watches as you pull your towel tighter over your shoulders, moving so your knees are closer to your chest. “Are you cold?”

“No.” You flutter your eyelashes shut, placing your temple against the tops of your knees. “I’m okay.” 

Jude only responds by making a content humming noise. The sun is right behind the side of your face and it’s making you look so pretty that he doesn’t want to waste the moment on something so unimportant as words. He wants to take a mental picture, he wants this to be the screensaver of his brain. The way your skin is covered in a sheen of sand like that mermaid on television he had a childhood crush on. The way there’s still a little gleam of water on the tops of your cheeks. He needs every detail so he can save them in the drawers of his mind, so there’s a place to go when he’s feeling glum.

He clears his throat like he wants to say something profound, but nothing seems to sit right on his tounge. So instead he does what he did when you both kissed for the first time, on that bench in the torrential rain. The same gesture as when he saw you in that pretty sundress, on his doorstep like there should be a halo floating above your head. The exact thing he did when he told you he loved you, on a random Saturday morning while watching cartoons.

He reaches out to wrap his fingers around your wrist, moving to press the palm of your hand against the side of his chest. Right over where his heart sits, so you can feel how fast it’s beating against his ribcage. 

“What?” It’s so quiet that it probably couldn’t even be categorized as a whisper, more like you’ve taken a little inhale of breath. Jude knows you’re only saying it because you’re flustered, not because you’re confused. That there’s this understood clause in your relationship about what the gesture means. That it’s saved for when things can’t be put into words.

He holds your fingers there until he really feels like his heart might burst, like your hand might burn a print into his skin. Wondering how everyone who’s ever been in love has managed to survive it, how they came out the other end alive without melting into one big embarrassing puddle. Though he supposes that too would be hard to put into words, so instead he just says – “You look very pretty.”

[thefandomdirtymind]

I love your sanji fics so much it’s crazy, I was wondering if you could make an angsty sanji fic!!

A/N IMPORTANT:  Hi anon ! Damn this one have make me doubts myself. Angst wasn't my strong suit but I had this idea about those mistake you made when your young and the result push me to ask myself what I would do in those kind of situation and how much a person can grow from his mistake. I also enjoy write more of Zeff, even adding a little Bonus scene. Thank you for your request !

Shout out again for : @alienstardustwrites !

Oregano and others things

Soundtrack : Mine by Kelly Clarkson

OPLA - Sanji

Warning: Angst, Cheating theme, young mistake, redemption

Sanji / OPLA Masterlist and Coming Soon

* English is not my first language, I tried really hard to correct myself but, I hope you will excuse me if some mistakes are still there.

----

The water was agitated, making your little marchand boat tang a little more than to your liking. Taking a deep breath, watching the floating restaurant in front of you, you know what you have to do. You have to put your feet on that dock, wear the waiter uniform waiting for you, help Zeff with his understaffed problem and come back home. Simple, truly a walk in the park. All that and…avoid Sanji.

You came from a respectable family of fishermen and herborists selling their catch on the local market. Little girl, you were in charge of carrying the ice for the cold table and wrapping the customers' fish. You will always remember the day your parents had started making business with Zeff. The tall man, even sitting at the little table in the back of the stall, was imposing enough to at the same time scare you and make you curious. But, the little blond boy, only a few years older than you, following him like his shadow, intrigues you even more. 

As you grow up, gaining new responsibility in the shop, you soon regularly help your dad doing the delivery to the Barratie, having the chance to pass some time with Sanji. Their pretext being that you would both benefit from having somebody your own age around, even if it’s for a few hours when it was in reality, for them, a moment to share a drink and talk supplies. The young cook would usually profit from this occasion to make you taste his cooking and ask you many questions about your knowledge on fish. 

Adolescent, you had at many occasions,succeeded to sneak out of the not so watching eyes of the adult to respond to some question like only puberty could ask. Partner in crime for many first in your life, it was now hurting you like a knife in the wound to see him, an hour, a minute, a second.

Pushing the side door of the restaurant, many fabulous smells filling your nose, you quickly make your way to the changing room. Place which had welcomed many child games like Hide and Seeks and other less childish things like : what’s hiding under those clothes.    

It wasn't the first time that you were serving tables for the Baratie. Your loyalty was, of course, going to your family,putting them first. But often, in occasional need like this, you had accepted to cover some shift to help. However, it's been a few years since you came back here for more than an exchange of ingredients and money. But, like riding a bike, you could remember the important stuff and Zeff had assured your dad that nothing had changed. You wish you could have liked to say the same. 

Freshly changed, taking a nervous deep breath but confident,  you exited the room, not noticing the tall blond getting out of the kitchen, angrily putting back his suit jacket.

Sanji couldn’t believe it, it was the second time this week that Zeff was rejecting one of his creative plates, sending him to play the waiter. Didn’t the old man see that his mediocre menu was killing him, and making him serve tables was the ultimate insult. He was, after all, the best cook of all this shitty restaurant.     

A vision pushes him, half-way in a move to pick a fresh tray of rolled bread, to stop ruminating his dark cloud to instead freeze in place.  

A little writing pad in hand, you hair styled into a practical but elegant way, your old uniforme clinging to your curve, you were standing in front of a table of happy imbeciles ( ready to all order medium well prime ribs for sure he presume) who’s was devouring you with their eyes. But the worst, for Sanji, was your smile, a generic one but a rare sign he hadn’t had the joy to see for way too long. 

Seeing you like that, moving like a fish in the water around the tables, was bringing back the best and the worst moment of his life all at once,twisting his guts. And he knew exactly who to blame for that. 

Turning on his heels, returning in the busy kitchen, his footstep quick and stiff, he easily spotted his mentor. 

“ Zeff, why the hell is she here ?” Sanji asked, not feeling the need to clarify who ‘she’ could be. The old pirate already knew, of course, only him could have made her come to help as a waiter.

“ We’re under staff, little eggplant, she knows the job. Deal with it.” Zeff replied, his focus on inspection of the plates ready to go. 

“ Really, even after you know our history ? Let me bring back your ex here and tell you the same. Would you deal with it ? “ 

“ Ex and History” The old man crackle” Is that what you call your little pathetic teenage adventure ? Anyway,you’re welcome to try to bring my Ex here, but I encourage you to prepare yourself to freeze your arse off. The bottom of the sea is pretty cold, just like that fucking witch. “ 

“ We don’t need her. We can absolutely run the restaurant like we have always do “ 

“ Sure we can,little eggplant, but we run way better now that she is with us. Anyway for what you did to the poor girl you deserve to feel some guilt. Now stop whining and get out of my kitchen ! “ The chef cut the discussion crossing his arms, his expression dissuading any replies. 

His lips pressed in a thigh line, facing his second defeat of the day against the old man, Sanji makes his way to the double door, before stopping at only a few each of the exit, his breath stuck in his throat. 

Entering the overheated place, ready to ask for the order of your customers, you briefly meet his gaze, momentarily losing your smile, regaining it as you face Zeff. 

“ Four prime ribs…” You begin to say. 

“ Let me guess, medium well ?” Sanji sarcastically said from the doors.

“Medium well for table five “ You still finished trying to ignore his chuckles or the caress of his gaze on you after so long. 

“ Ignore him, little peach. Four prime rib mediums-well for table five !” Zeff advises you, before shouting the order. 

“ I do my best uncle…Chef “ You smile, remembering your kitchen manners.  

“ This table seems like a bunch of idiots, let me serve them for you “ The blond offered, his voice softened. 

“ I can handle them myself, thank you “ You coldly replied,leaving him behind, trying to regain control of your emotions. Even after all those years, your traitorous heart was responding to his presence.  

Making a stop at a few of your tables, seeing on the side Sanji do the same on his own. You gave table five their drink. It was obvious that those four weren't the best sailor sailing on the east blue. It was in fact, almost a miracle that people around them hadn’t complained since they were one of the most noisy tables around. But, you didn’t need his help, you will follow the plan even if the avoid part was now near impossible. 

“ two old fashioned, a whisky net, a beer and a long Island “ You enumerate, placing the drink in front of the right person, putting the last one in the middle. “ You’re order is place in the kitchen I will come back soon to give you your food” 

“ Wait pretty ! “The taller one exclaimed, pushing gently the long island in front of you “ This one's for you “

“ I’m sorry, I can’t accept it or drink on the job.” You declined,plastering a polite smile on your lips. 

“ Oh come on pretty, only a sip, we will not tell ! “ Another with greasy hair laughs. 

“ No thank you, Gentleman, I will come back with your order soon “ You firmly answer suddenly feeling the hand of the tall one grab you arm. 

“ It’s not polite, we had brought you something, you could at least drink a little of it with us.” 

Opening your mouth to put them back at their place, you hear Sanji behind you, his voice cold as ice. 

“ First of all, a gentleman should never force a lady or touch her without consent “ The blond tells, removing finger by finger the hand of the man on your arm. “ Second, the lady say no, drink yourself your poisonous gift and let her work in peace.”

“ Sanji, it’s okay, those gentlemen were about to lower their tone and let me go” You explain embarrassedly, looking around to see many side eyes enjoying the drama. Pirates, as well as most of people,were always fond of dramas.

“ Calm down, we are only trying to know her better “ The third protest, throwing to your Ex a dark gaze. 

“ Trying to know her,while she is stuck at serving you and already told you no.”

“ Sanji…” You tried. 

“ It isn’t a way to treat a lady forcing her to endure your deplorable attempt. Just face it, she’s too good for all of you” Sanji finished.

“ Oh, that’s it, you want her for you lover boy “ The taller laugh” Sorry to say it to you but at the gaze she give you, you seem to have less chance that’s us” 

“ Oh no, not at all. I already have the pleasure to kiss her sweet lips, even if she annoy by me, I could never be lower than you.” The blond smirked. 

“ That’s enough ! Gentlemen, I came back with your plate. Please lower your tone, you disturb the dining room and you,come with me !” You said,taking Sanji's hand, forcing his taller stature than yours to follow you in one of the storage rooms. 

The room, lit by a solitary lightbulb, was one you didn’t come to really often, only once in fact and it was that fatidical day. Surrounded by the many shelfs full of goods, you take three deep breaths before facing the only one you wanted to not face today. 

“This was ridiculous” You abruptly said“ Everything was under control and they didn’t have to know our past history.” 

“ Under control ? “ Sanji laughed,closing his eyes before tilting his head. “ Ma chérie, he gripped your arm. I know you hate that I was right about those idiot but I truly had help you there” 

“ I’m not your chérie, not anymore” You remind him, the old wound reopening slowly.

You could perfectly remember that day. You turned seventeen in two days and, as your birthday was approaching, your dad had promised you that you would be the one doing the delivery alone to the Baratie for now on. Excited about the news, you had sailed to tell Sanji the good news. But, as you had searched the kitchen, the dinner room and even climbed to his room, you couldn’t find him. It’s only when a cook told you he had seen him near the storage that you regain hope. However, as you were approaching the room, you didn’t have the force to go further.

His hands, who had so gently touched you, were locked around another girl's waist, his lips you loved so much pressed against hers. Only his gaze, enlarged in shock, was fixed on you. Tears were rolling on your cheeks without you even noticing that you were crying. The only thing you noticed was a piercing pain in your chest and your body reacting by himself, stepping away as Sanji was trying to reach you, calling your name, telling you that he was sorry. 

You hadn’t answered, running as fast as you can. This year, you didn’t make the delivery at the Baratie. It was only when your father felt sick that you finally take your place in the delivery bargain, only dealing with Zeff and no one else.  

“ You had broken my heart, Sanji, remember ? “ You painfully said, angry about yourself to hear a point of sadness in your voice.

“ Y/N I was young…” He sighs, guilt painting his trait.

But, as you were trying to calm your heart,years of anger filling your veins.

“ You were young…that's your excuse ?!” You spit, your hand turning into fist. “ After all those years, I was waiting for an explanation who’s never come, crying every night. I finally thought I was able to get over it but it was it...you were young ?…I was too ! “

“  I know I am the one at fault here but you weren't the only one to suffer” Sanji muttered, his gaze darken, refusing to meet yours “ I didn’t know why I did it, and would you have accepted to see me, talk to me ? Your father was looking at me like he wanted to gutter me like his fish and Zeff wasn’t better, kicking me everytime he heard you were crying, whether it was my fault or not ! “ 

“And for today ? If it should have one who doesn't want to see the other it should be me. So what’s your problem !?” You abruptly asked. 

“ My problems…My problems is that I hate having to fight everyday with Zeff about his shitty menu and I hate he put fucking oregano everywhere ! I hate that he has asked you to help knowing how it will make me feel, I hate how sexy you look in that uniform and the way that throws me back. I hate those guys who hit on you without knowing how a fucking brat you can be. “ 

Sanji answered, passing angrily his hand on his hair,planting his gaze in yours. 

“But I hate even more that I was scared of my feelings back then ! I was a coward okay, you were amazing I freak out ! I used to think about how to impress Zeff every day and night, new recipes or new knowledge to become the best chef but the only thing I was about to think about was you. If you would come with your dad the next day, would you enjoy my Risotto or hate it? Should I make you something sweet ? Did you enjoy our kisses as much as me? How can your skin be so soft under my hands or did my hand feel too rough? Did you think of me as much as I did of you? I was falling in love so fast with you but I knew I didn’t deserve you.”

Letting a sigh escape his lips as his voice takes a more annoyed or that is an embarrassed tone as he continues his confession. You couldn’t turn your gaze of his, mute by his raw feeling finally exposed. 

“Yet, the worst of all is that I hate the fact that I still do it after all those years. Every night I ask myself if you will be the one doing the delivery tomorrow, will I be able to have a glance of you or will you finally meet my gaze, will you stay mute like everytime or finally say hello and forgive me, that’s is my problems Y/N” 

You didn’t know at first what to say, anger having left his place to sadness. As you were standing both still. You could clearly tell by some details in his features and physics how much he had grown since the last time you had stood like that face to face. But being scared wasn’t a reason, neither erased his act or the pain you had endured. Worst, how could you trust him after all this. 

“ Well, at least after all this time, I have answers. Yes, I think about you everyday. But it also hurts me everyday,how could I trust you, I don’t know you anymore. The last time I was here we were young and you made the choice to hurt me. It’s too late for us,maybe we could try again someday, in another life. “

Leaving him behind, heading back to the restaurant level, trying to catch the tears from falling out of your eyes, you distantly heard Zeff asking you if everything was okay. Nodding of the head, putting back a smile on your lips, you take your orders and come back to the dining area. 

As the sun was pursuing its course, coloring the sky with a vibrant shade of orange, pink and purple. You gave a hug to Zeff, his smell, a mix of leather, sea salt and spice recomforting you.

“ Thank you for your help Little Peach. I know it wasn’t easy with…all this…but you truly help us today “ He tells, freeing you of his bear hug. 

“ I was glad to be able to help Uncle Zeff” 

Lifting his gaze to the restaurant, the old man seems to shortly struggle to find his words, playing nonchalantly with one of his braids.

“ Sanji isn’t a bad kid, a brat who made some terrible mistake, yes, but I think he really regretted what he had done. I made him regret it too for your sake of course, little Peach…But I saw how his mistake had made him grow. Sometimes you have to lose a treasure you thought was already yours to realize how important it was for you. “ 

“ I know Zeff “ You smiled, letting so many things go unsaid,trying not to cry again. After all, how do you explain to the old man that feeling of not knowing that man in a suit when you had only known him with a cook uniform or unable to knot a necktie.Or knowing perfectly why his loyalty to the pirate chef will forever prevent him from leaving the restaurant.“ Same hour tomorrow ? “ 

“ Like always” The old chef smiles, helping you step in your small boat, watching you leave his dock. “ Keep your feet dry “

—

A week later. 

The fresh air of the morning was filling your lungs. On the water, the fishing boat was immobile, painting a peaceful image succeeding alway to put you at ease. 

As you were preparing the stall, for your opening of the day, careful adjusting the spice jars on their little shelfs, waiting for the fisherman to bring your fresh fish, you heard a small cough. 

“ So it was you who sold all that oregano to the old man, “ Sanji's voice gently said, as if he was trying to not scare you away. 

Standing at only a few steps of you, a duffel bag on his shoulder, his suit and tie impeccable in the sleepy dock market, you take a full minute to process his presence. 

“ You had left The Baratie…” You shockingly said, more a realization of a thing you thought would never happen than a question. “ I mean, what are you doing here ?” You finally asked, still unsure if it wasn’t a trick of your brain. Young Sanji would never leave the restaurant or miss an opportunity to learn kitchen tricks, other than for necessary utility.

“ Yes, Zeff had sent me as a return of favor for the help you gave us and I didn’t protest” He replied, taking a few precautionary steps, the idea that you still could decide to attack him by throwing one of the jars at his face, not far in his brain. “His precise words were to work my ass off or be ready to have my butt kicked. Look, I know that I mess up everything and I will regret it all my life. But I’m well intended to work right today and prove to you that we can maybe have a…fresh start ? “ 

“ A fresh start “ You repeat, considering the idea. Even if nothing could change the past, you had, in the last week, known that climbing to it now that you had your answers wouldn’t help you in any aspect of your life. And, now that miracle seems to happen, it was maybe all you need. “ You will not say to the clients that oregano is for savages, is that clear ? “ 

“ Even if it’s the truth ? “ He asked, an amused smile playing on his lips. “ We will have to review the quantity you send to the restaurant it’s way too high “ 

“ You really have a problem with it are you “ You let yourself joke. 

"Hadn’t hated another herbs as much as this one, “ Sanji replied, putting aside his bag.

“ Maybe your taste is just too fancy” You laugh, feeling your heart seem to regain its pace for the first time in a long time.

“ Maybe that’s why your lips always look to me like a one of a kind delicacy “ Sanji flirted. 

“ Sanji, fresh start !” You laugh, returning to your opening preparation. “ Just for that you will refill the oregano jar ! “ 

“ Yes Madam “ The blond cook responded, a smile on his lips, a spark you thought long gone freshly back in his eyes. “ Fresh start “ 

—-

Bonus : 

His old back against one of the piles supporting the platform surrounding the restaurant, his wooden leg removed, Zeff was smiling. 

“ They aren’t bad kids, mistakes have been made, kicks have been given. But it’s the good things in life. Errors make you grow and paths who’s we thought never crossed come back. Often it doesn't work, but I hope for them it will.” 

“ I hope Zeff, you have grown too, you had more lines in your face than the last time”  The timeless woman said, his head resting on his crossed arms, the lower half of his body undulating in the dark water.  

“ It’s not everybody who’s an immortal sea witch, “ Zeff replied. 

“ I had offered you to share my ageless life, you had decline it “ She remind him. 

“ The little eggplant needed me, he was only a child. But I never thought you would forget us on that rock. “ He argued, still bitter of the memory. 

“ Time is an abstract notion for us, but you survive, don't you ? “ The sea witch smiles, having the decency to look embarrassed of his own mistake.

“ Will you forget me when I die” Zeff asked. 

“ Probably, but the water will remind me of Red boots Zeff and his sacrifice to save a little human.” She simply said, returning into the deep of the sea.

Turning his gaze to the stars, Zeff smiled.

---

@alienstardust@phantasmagoricalzenith@downforsanji@faefanatic@strongindependenttrash@hi3431@sunnanse@neko-loogi@theluckyplaces@simbaaas-stuff@ofherscarlettwitchyways @juskonutoh @buffkirby2020 @miomao-ehe 

Join my TAG LIST : HERE

[munsonsduchess]

Teenage Kicks

summary: it's 1993, you and eddie both work at the mall and have a friendly not so friendly rivalry going on, really you're just messing with each other until someone calls chicken w/c: 2,777 warnings: kissing, swearing, public make outs, mentions of shitty parents a/n: so i've had two weeks from hell but i should be back on track, i actually really loved writing this because 90s nostalgia is my jam (even if i was only a wee thing in the 90s). as always if you enjoyed this please leave a comment, a reblog, come into my inbox and say hey, whatever floats your boat

(moodboard by me)

Hawkins Indiana in 1993 was not that much different than the same town in 1983 Eddie thought to himself as he packed out tapes and CDs. All that's really changed in the last ten years or so is how the youth buy their music, when he'd been little it was all vinyl records and tapes had only just started to appear on the market. 

He remembers his uncle calling them a fad and saying that nothing would ever come close to experiencing music on a 12 inch disc. Now it seemed as though vinyl was on its way out once and for all as more and more people wanted tapes they could play in their cars or on their portable radios. Granted the battery life in those kinds of radios was nothing to write home about but still it meant not having to drag a whole record player with you whenever you wanted to go someplace and listen to music with your friends. 

The mall too had gotten busier in the last ten years, sure there'd been an outcry from residents and small business owners when the place first opened, but now the place was full of customers from every facet of life in hawkins. 

Hawkins Indiana was split into two sides, ask anyone who lived there and they'll tell you  the same. There was the affluent side of the  town, huge houses with more rooms than inhabitants, monuments to capitalism, kids who shopped exclusively in the Gap and wouldn't be caught dead wearing anything from the sale or clearance ailes. 

Then there was the other side of Hawkins, modest working class family homes, folks struggling to pay the rent or their bills and of course Forest Hills Trailer Park where the so-called dregs of society wound up. Eddie himself being one of those 'dregs' but he'd been called worse and most of the insults that got thrown at him tended to bounce right off the almost impenetrable armour he'd built around himself. You do what you can to survive in a small town when you're markedly different from your peers. 

The only person who ever managed to get under Eddie's skin and stay there was Hot Topic Girl. She had a name of course and Eddie knew her first and foremost by that name, especially since he was accustomed to hearing it screamed from a trailer window at ungodly hours of the day and night. What got under his skin about her was that she seemed to find it so easy to push his buttons and rejoiced in doing so. 

➽───────────────❥

It was shaping up to be another day of selling N'Sync and Backstreet Boys CDs to Yuppies for Eddie when a woman about the same age as his uncle walked into the store and made a beeline for him,

"Is your name Eddie?" she asked seemingly breathless, "I was told to ask for Eddie" 

"That's me, how can I help ma'am?" Eddie was approaching this conversation with trepidation, people usually didn't ask for him by name unless they already knew him. Either from buying music before or from his band,

"The girl in Hot Topic said you could help me find a record" the woman said, "I've been looking for it for months for my sister in Idaho and I was told you'd have it" 

"By the girl in Hot Topic?" Eddie asked, just to be clear on who he was going to hold responsible for this when the transaction was over. He gave some descriptors to the woman to make sure they were talking about the same person,

"Yes that's her! She told me to come straight here and ask for Eddie and that you could help me" 

Eddie grit his teeth and balled his fists by his side. No doubt this woman was going to be a nightmare customer and it was yet another way for Hot Topic to screw with him,

"What record are you after ma'am and I can see if we have it" 

"It's Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn live in Nashville in 75" 

Of course it was. Fucking country music. 

➽───────────────❥

Sometime that afternoon while you were folding shirts left in disarray by the horde of teens who'd passed through earlier that morning you were alerted to someone clearing their throat, and older man probably slightly older than your mother was standing at the counter with a sour expression on his face,

"Do you work here?" he asked sharply, "because I have been standing here for twenty minutes and no one has come to help me" 

"My apologies sir, I didn't realise you needed my assistance" you smiled sweetly, falsely, at the man and made your way back over to the counter, "how can I help you?" 

"The boy in the music store said you would have something I require" 

"The boy in the music store huh? Let me guess about yay high, curly hair, looks like a degenerate?" Eddie was getting his revenge it seemed for the woman you'd sent his way earlier, "what is it you require sir and I can certainly check?" 

The man went on to explain in great detail exactly what he was looking for and you did your best to school your features so he wouldn't see how irritated you were by his presence alone. You had to give it to Eddie,  he had picked the most annoying person on the planet to send your way.

When you eventually did get the man the items he required and sent him on his way it was time for your shift to end. Good riddance to the mall and shitty customers for another day, as you passed the music store on your way out you made sure to flip Eddie off knowing full well he could see you through the windows.

➽───────────────❥

It usually went on like that, you and Eddie making each other miserable with customers or ragging on each other when you passed in person. Some people just didn't seem to understand the relationship you had with the metalhead, sure you were both in the 'alternative' category, you listened to similar music although you tended to skew more punk or grunge as opposed to Eddie's metal although there was no denying that stuff like Metallica, Korn, Guns N Roses and especially Rage Against the Machine went hard. 

You just enjoyed getting under Eddie's skin to tell the truth, there was something adorable about him scowling at you over the food court or plotting as he stocked out CDs. Sure you had a massive crush on the guy, probably since middle school when he'd played in the school talent show but that didn't mean you couldn't mess with him a little. Or well a lot. 

➽───────────────❥

You didn't usually work the evening shifts, needing to be home before dark most days for reasons you'd only disclosed to the manager who'd hired you. You didn't want anyone pitying you or worse if they knew that the reason you wanted to be home before your mother was so you could ferret away as much cash as you could without her or her boyfriend of the hour noticing. You were saving to get out of Hawkins once and for all, to live a better life somewhere. 

However it would seem that the gods laugh at the plans mortals make because not only was your mother and her boyfriend aware of your stash they'd taken it all and simply left you nothing but a few dollar bills and some loose change. They'd run off to get married somewhere and taken both your money and your car with them. 

So you'd agreed to do as many double shifts as you could to try and rebuild your nest egg up to something close to what it used to be. Which was where you currently were, the closing announcements were playing over the Mall's PA system and any last minute stragglers were making their way out, parents headed home to their families, teenagers heading to a party, carefree with no responsibilities to hold them down. So you went about your closing duties, counting the register, putting stuff back in its proper places where someone had picked something up and discarded it somewhere else, you really hadn't expected the phone to ring and so when it did you almost jumped out of your skin,

"Thank you for calling Hot Topic Hawkins, we're currently closed - " you didn't even get to finish before a familiar voice came down the line,

"I thought that was you, what's up? You never close" 

"We all have our reasons for the things we do, Munson, what's it to you?" 

"Bite my head off why don't you? Can't a guy ask a question?"

You sighed into the phone, you hadn't meant to be so snappy with him, you were just exhausted from everything that was going on recently. Eddie was probably the one person who'd actually understand what you were going through right now,

"My mom and her stupid boyfriend took all my savings and went to get married somewhere, and they took my car so I had to get the bus this morning" 

"Shit that fucking sucks. Did they get everything?" 

"Apart from like five bucks and some change, yeah they cleaned me out. Everything I've been working for gone" 

There was silence on the other end of the line and then Eddie spoke again, 

"You need a ride?" 

You could have jumped for joy. The buses didn't run this late at night after the mall closed and you really really didn't want to walk the ten or so miles in the dark,

"Yeah, Eddie, that would be great. Just let me finish up here" 

"Oh I see how it is. It's Munson until you need something then it's Eddie" there was no malice to his tone and you couldn't help but laugh,

"I mean if it's too much trouble I could probably ask that Hargrove guy in the sports store. He lives in the trailer park too" 

"Absolutely fucking not. That dude is just as likely to try and date rape you or some shit. I'll finish up here and wait on you" 

You both hung up, which gave you time to fly through your closing duties and at least attempt to fix your appearance in the little mirror hanging in the back room for employees before you saw Eddie. He was giving you a ride because he was heading the same way that was it you were sure of it. Still you didn't want to look entirely awful sitting next to him.

Pulling the shutter down as you left the store you saw Eddie leaning up against the wall next to you with his keys in his hands, 

"You ready?" 

"Yup, if the place burns down now it's not on me" 

"Cool, you hungry? I was gonna swing through McDonalds on the way home" 

"Eddie I - " 

"On me, since you're broke and all" 

The way he spoke left no room for arguments so you simply followed him out to the parking lot where his van was sitting. Eddie made a show of opening the door for you and clearing out some of the trash. His over the top spiel kept you laughing the entire ride, he was charismatic and funny and so easy to talk to. 

When you'd both collected your food Eddie drove for a while before coming to a stop at a cliff top overlooking the town, it was a pretty popular make out spot and lovers lane for teens so it wasn't like you were the only ones there. As you both ate you laughed at the squeaking backseat of cars and the steamed up windows around you, the windows of the van themselves steaming up from the food. 

It was so easy to talk to Eddie, even though this was your first full conversation that didn't include name calling or worse, it felt so natural like you'd known each other all your lives. You talked about music, about culture, about everything, admittedly with some arguing thrown in for good measure,

"Kurt Cobain is a hack!" 

"You take that back!" 

"As if! The guy can't play for shit and his lyrics make no fucking sense" 

"Oh ok because exit light, enter night makes so much fucking sense" 

"The song is called Enter Sandman! It makes total sense" 

"You're so wrong Munson like on a fundamental level" 

"Oh so it's back to Munson now? What happened to Eddie?" There was a shift in the atmosphere of the van when he said that and suddenly the conversation wasn't about differences in musical taste anymore, if it had ever been. 

Eddie grinned at you as you rolled your eyes at him, if that's the game he wanted to play then you had no problem following his lead,

"I dunno, maybe if you're super nice to me it'll come back" you said leaning over the centre console to steal one of his fries

"What if I'm not nice?" Eddie watched your mouth as you spoke his eyes not leaving your lips for a second,

"What if I don't want you to be?" 

That was all it took before Eddie grabbed you by the front of your shirt and pulled you against him. Lips crashing against each other in a frantic kiss. Your hands buried in his dark curls, tugging on them every so often eliciting a groan from Eddie and allowing you to lick into his mouth. 

It was all tongues and teeth, hands grabbing onto anything they could reach, time seemed to move slowly, almost as if it had stopped completely and all that mattered was the feeling of Eddie's lips on yours and his broad calloused hands sneaking under your shirt, caressing the expanse of your stomach.

You broke apart at the sound of a loud bang on the drivers side window, as Eddie rolled it down you were both met with the face of Hawkins Chief of Police Jim Hopper shining his flashlight into the van,

"Evening Chief" Eddie grinned, "how can we help?" 

"You can pack it up and move along. I don't care what you're up to but it can't be here" 

"We were just having something to eat, just got off work" you explained batting your eyelashes at the older man, "closing shift in the mall really takes it out of you" 

The Chief just sighed. He knew you both worked in the mall, you'd seen him with his daughter and her friends enough times to know he knew exactly what you both did for employment,

"Well I'm sure you're both ready to get going then, looks like you're all done to me" he gestured with his flashlight to the empty wrappers and drinks, "y'all get home safe now" 

"Of course chief" Eddie smiled before throwing the van into drive and making sure to give the chief a wave before leaving the spot altogether. 

The closer you got to the trailer park the more your mood fell. You'd had an amazing time with Eddie but now you had to leave, your mom and stepdad as you had to call him now were probably at home already which meant they'd be drunk and you'd end up pushing everything you could think of in front of your door to keep them out while you looked for a new hiding place for your money.

As Eddie pulled up outside his own trailer he leant over again and grabbed your hand in his own,

"It's gonna be ok" 

"Thanks but you don't know that" 

"Yeah I do, you're my girl now. I'm gonna make sure you're ok" 

"Your girl? That's awfully presumptuous of you Munson" you laughed, you really hadn't expected him to say that. One time making out in his van and now you guys were dating? Is that really all it took,

"Don't act like you haven't been flirting with me this whole time" he grinned, "I know you weren't just messing with me" 

"Hmm maybe" you returned his grin with one of your own, "but I'm not telling" you hopped out of the van and made your way back to where your own trailer was sitting, "you'll have to stick around and find out" 

"Oh you are never getting rid of me now sweetheart" 

"I'm counting on it" 

That night as you lay in bed and listened to the sounds from outside your window you thought to yourself for the first time in a very long time that, yeah actually, things might actually be ok from now on. Now you had Eddie. 

Taglist: @eddiesmutson @eddiemvnsonss @pillow-titties @prettyboyeddiemunson @hellfireeddiemunson @that-lame-ghoul9000 @xbreezymeadowsmunsonx @boomhauer @flashyourgreeneyesatme @ches-86 @jobean12-blog @shenanigans-and-imagines @anxiousstark @ruinedbythehobbit @winnifredburkleismyhero @slytherinintj13 @inluvweddiemunson @wheaty-melon @lucciaa9 (if you've been striken out it means tumblr won't let me tag you properly)

If you want to be added/removed from the taglist or I've forgotten to tag you please let me know 💖

[genericpuff]

Hey, I've worked a bit in animation and just wanted to point out that shows very often get pitched and bought out, and can sit in the back burner for a really long time depending on the market! Seems like with all the strikes and post covid lag, and a market thats already saturated with greek mythology atm (think percy jackson live action coming soon, youtube series, other webcomics, etc.), lore olympus is probably floating in the air atm until the time is right. These kinds of things can take years to happen, even 10+ years! Some of the most popular animated shows were pitched years before they were picked up and sent into production. Hoping in the time its on hold, they get some really good writers to clean up the story. I don't mean to disregard your post, but just a lil bit of info on how that nature works in animation. I love lore rekindled too, keep it up!

Oh hey thanks for your input! So I do actually have a diploma in animation (though I never ended up working in the larger industry) so I know a bit about how things like that can happen. Nimona's a great recent example, it was bought in 2015 by 20th Century Fox but never made it through development because of Disney purchasing them and bringing the project to a crawl due to it being LGBTQ+, then they shut down Blue Sky and that kept the project in limbo until it got picked up by a new studio and brought to Netflix. So it took well over 10 years for that one to finally hit the screen.

That said, most of that post is addressing the fact that if LO is going to get a TV show (I'm really strongly believing it isn't at this point, esp not with JHC but that's me) then stalling it out for 10 years or however long probably won't be the best move. Especially not with how things are going with animation at large.

While LO is the biggest on the WT platform, the platform itself still isn't as prestigious here in the west as say, DC or Marvel. Its platform and its comics just don't have that sort of longevity out here. LO is also undoubtedly nearing the end of its run and it's struggling to stay relevant as it is - so to make a show years down the road when it's long gone out of everyone's minds (which it will be as soon as it ends and WT starts shilling the next big thing) just sounds like a missed opportunity. It could rejuvenate interest, sure, but it could just as easily flop due to its fanbase having moved on/lost interest/etc. LO is pretty much reliant on WT's advertising at this point, it's not a good sign that WT has to keep putting notifications to read LO everywhere on the app. WT loooves the "strike while the iron is hot" methodology and now with the show they just drag it out? It feels less like striking the iron while it's hot and more like trying to get a fire going, period.

Like, when Nimona got its movie, it was like "omg Nimona's finally getting a movie!!!" but I can't help get the sense that if LO goes through that same treatment, the response is gonna be, "that gross comic with the underage girl and old man billionaire is still getting a TV show??" Maybe that's a mean assumption to make but if LO is struggling to stay relevant and in a positive light now, god knows what that's going to be like years from now if and when they do release a show.

Especially when it comes to comics like LO which generate so much criticism, I feel like it's going to go through the same thing Twilight did, where people adored it during the peak of its run but as soon as the series was over and the hype left everyone's brains it gave people room to actually reflect on it and realize how icky it was LOL (and if it goes the full way of Twilight, people will read it as a joke over how bad it is).

There are also theories in the community that a lot of what WT is doing with LO rn (paying for Rachel to be in the top billing spot at NYCC, getting her a second Eisner, etc.) could very well be them trying to "shop it around" for investors or a new network, by putting Rachel in the spotlight and going "see! look at how successful this comic is! buy it!" That's just a theory of course, but it really isn't a good look when LO wins awards and people ask why. It feels like WT's is trying to throw money at a problem without realizing what's causing the problem in the first place. It winning an Eisner or being hinted at a TV show or getting a top billing spot at NYCC won't give it legitimacy because the comic they're advertising is still garbage, they're trying to convince people it has merit when it doesn't. If anything, it'll make LO and WT lose even more credibility because it makes people wonder why the fuck a comic like LO is winning those awards and why it's being given more attention and opportunities over other comics on the platform that are far more deserving.

Anyways, this post is kinda all over the place, but that's my two cents, my point really is that if there is a show happening, it's definitely not happening soon (in spite of Rachel saying "yeah it's happening!") because there's no clear timeline or progress that's been made or even team in charge of it at this point - and if it happens down the road, its only chance of doing well will be if it gets a major overhaul in its writing IMO because the comic is way too much of a mess rn for television LOL

That said, I'd love to genuinely believe that the show will happen someday, but I feel like the best time for it to happen has passed, especially with the comic losing the quality and prestige it was sold to JHC for since then. That's just me though.

[rohirric-hunter]

My screenshot folder is a nightmare right now, because one thing about the glitch is that I kept bobbing up and down extremely fast, so I kind of had to spam the screenshot hotkey and hope something clear came out. This is a compilation of Interesting Screenshots. I will make a different post for Cool and Pretty Screenshots. Anyway, here's Statdor and Waldorf from behind.

The other, empty VIP box.

No clue what the deal is with the other two VIP boxes in the back; they're constructed the same way and have chairs in them but you can't actually see the stage from them.

Very lovely close-up of the detailing on my bow, which is sort of hard to get screenshots of so there's that.

I've already posted this one but the Court of Lothlorien from above. This grey area is actually the skybox which I assume was used for lighting purposes; entering the void in LotRO, I have discovered, makes the camera stop working.

There's been some discussion in the SARC with regards to various Dwarf statues so of course I couldn't pass up the opportunity to get a good ariel shot of the only ones I was actually able to fly around, in the Hall of Vernozal.

Waaaaay up above the Hall of Vernozal there's this slanty roof thing that covers the balconies and there's some interesting detailing on it. Surprised and impressed, considering you actually can't even see this from any actually legitimate play area.

More Hall of Vernozal roof stuff. Now I'm gonna have to have someone climb up here in a fanfic or something.

I had to get incredibly high above Glinghant before I was able to start seeing the edges of the map and the illusion started to come apart. I'm impressed at how incredibly well-put together the area is. The devs did not need to go that hard.

I'M COMING FOR YOU MR. ARCHIVIST

The Last Homely House also does not have a ceiling and I floated straight up out of the map, but it gave me an opportunity to grab a really cool overhead:

A closer shot of Waggon the Horse and his wagon, right before they despawned.

Waggon emerging from his wall to shame mankind

There's a door buried in the wall above the entrance to Barad Curonn. I do have a theory for why this is: Barad Curonn doesn't have a door; just a portal in an open doorframe. My guess is that at some point in development it did, but when they decided to change that, instead of deleting the door they just moved it upwards until it could no longer be seen. It can't be selected with the cursor; I got it with the delete key, but it's too far away from the floor to be selected that way. So no player would ever find it. In theory. Unfortunately by the time I noticed it I was too high up to try and open it to see what it looked like, and this place was a pain to get to so I opted not to reset just for that.

The upstairs of Lalia's Market:

Forbidden pavilion behind the Prince's Throne in Dol Amroth (many thanks to hallothere for getting me here):

Statue in Barad-dur holding its sword like a weirdo (many thanks to hallothere for getting me here too):

Close-up of a watcher statue in Chamber of Shadows:

Halls of Night looks a little bit like a uterus from above and I'm never going to be able to unsee that now. Also you can see that the little room where you can see your sleeping bodies is an actual physical location built into the map, and not just a reflection of the entry area where the instance starts.

This is what I imagine when people say, "Seven-league boots." Also something, something, "leaping from hilltop to hilltop as carefree as Tom."

Fast-travelling to Mordor via stable-master made the horse fly too. #fledgecore

[cursedpinterest]

ed tw

i'd argue that the waifspo/coquette stuff is more of a branch off of thinspo/edblr than a reincarnation, if only because it's almost the exact same posts, photos, memes, etc, just with different tags. argubly, its even an evolution of it

unfortunately, I was on edblr for a long time (2014--2020), so i sorta witnessed the gradual evolution from triggering posts in self-contained tags to triggering but #aesthetic posts that were cross tagged. at first it was relatively mild--like cross tagging 'grungy thinspo' in the main grunge tag, etc.

but weirdly with the kpop boom of the late 2010s (esp 2018 and 2019) there was a big explosion of cross tagging into kpop fandom tags, and then into anime tags, and other """delicate pastel stuff""" as well as other aesthetic tags, esp dark academia and instagram it girls

there was always an uh 'market overlap' so to speak. like a lot of people would use anime characters or k/jpop stars as thinspo, but they never crossed tagged them before. they'd tag it like #anime thinspo or whatever, but not the name of over character along with it, yknow? i know right before the pandemic there was a migration from edblr to edtwt, plus since the beginning of tumblr edblr got a lot of their thinspo from pinterest. since cross tagging is more common on those sites maybe some users assumed it'd work that way on tumblr too?

so maybe the coquette nonsense is just a congealing of all that that leaked elsewhere online. that's just a guess though

sorry if this is too long. im not even sure why im telling you all this but ig since you have to deal with it a lot of the time you deserved some context. anyway, i love your blog

first i just wanna say im sorry you went through all of this, and i genuinely hope you are doing well 🫂

& yes i think you are correct with it being an evolution more than a reincarnation, i just couldn’t really think of a way to promptly describe it in the tags at the time. i luckily escaped from proana/ed spaces before i got onto tumblr, so i didn’t know much of edblr apart from the weird shit that escaped containment, for a lack of a better word, but once i started using pinterest more often after polyvore died, as many young people (esp girls) did, i saw a kind of rise in the “aesthetic” side that was probably, looking back, just thinly-veiled thinspo.

now i feel that the shit im seeing on tumblr with the coquette girls and the whisper pinterest girls is much more blatant, like im getting flashbacks to when i trolled proana forums, back before tumblr or pinterest were popular. although, im sure that kind of brazenness always existed, i just wasn’t as aware of it as i am now, probably bc i avoided that shit as much as possible, and now i kind am more perceptive to this shit i guess.

i know that waifspo is used instead of thinspo since it isn’t censored like thinspo is, so i feel like “waif” and “coquette” are recent labels that are attached to stealth ed content. pinterest has been trying to crack down on thinspo lately, but it’s just relabeled now to post about it sneakily. it’s sad that there are so many little thinspo dog whistles floating around since most social medias have cracked down on the obvious terms. i fear for the young people just now getting on the internet and potentially being brainwashed into this shit.

and re: the kpop thinspo, i made a post about that like a month or so ago but it’s truly darksided… like i got into kpop during the pandemic like a lot of people and every so often when i would look up content about groups i liked, i would see pictures of idols with captions like “omg weight goals” with proana hashtags. the saddest thing is that a couple of these idols have opened up about being forced into extreme diets by their companies, or how they developed eds bc of the industry, and ppl are still tagging pics of them looking unhealthily thin with “body goals” like it’s just such a blatant disrespect, they aren’t fans they’re fetishizing these idols suffering.

sorry for getting into it lol… i just have a lot to say, as im sure a lot of ppl who have also lived thru this do as well. but don’t apologize for this ask i really really appreciated it!!! i honestly think there needs to be more discussion about eds, specifically re: the online communities garnered around them and how they promote people to basically self harm, so yea, thank you for the ask💞

[morrak]

Untitled Wednesday Library Series, Part 93

Last week, I promised a sister book to Bayton and Maughan’s Plant Families. This is that. Lorraine Harrison’s 2012 Latin for Gardeners: Over 3,000 Plant Names Explained and Explored.

Also published by the University of Chicago Press and also presented by Quarto, though a different imprint thereof time and credited specifically to one Lindsey Johns.

The How

As last week, bought it somewhere. Would’ve been around the same time as Plant Families, but I have no memory of how the connection between the two got made for me. They’re obviously meant as companions, but there’s no named series or advertisement of matched books in either. Seems like a flopped landing on the marketing end, but then again I still paid for both.

The Text

I stand by my judgment of Plant Families as an unusually audienceless production. The same is mostly true here. You know the dream sequence in A Serious Man where Fred Melamed is Fred Melamed? With that in mind, I withhold strong feelings. You can see that is book is well informed; it’s nicely composed; but at the end of the day, is it convincingly for anyone? Eh.

What is it, though, like, descriptively? I’ll explain.

Definitions, mostly. In terms of formula, its defining goes “[English of the (usually specific epithetical) Latin (or Latinized Greek)], as in [specific epithet]”. In terms of pictures, it has them.

It is definitely a kind of dictionary, though which kind of dictionary it thinks it is isn’t all that legible. Pictorial, ish. It’s got detailed insets sometimes, and most of them in clear families scattered throughout the less inspired lexicographical stuff. Sometimes it wants to do full-page profiles on species or genera or guys like previous feature Joseph Banks.

It has a very token glossary and a billboard of a bibliography, but I’ll credit it for its (unpictured) list of image citations, of which precisely 3 out of 221 aren’t to RHS’s Lindley Library.

The Object

Everything I said last week applies here, though I’m less charmed by the layout work this time. It is extremely sellable, [though|by virtue of being] pretty on the nose.

The Why, Though?

Y’know, I actually really like having a not-quite-actually Latin dictionary this (ha) specific. I don’t like the way it works so hard to be ‘for gardeners’; it fails at that in a way that occasionally makes it look silly. What saves it is unfortunately unusual niche it chooses to occupy.

Taxonomy is complicated and obtuse, even in fields that’ve taken pains to be as descriptive as possible in recent decades. A curious novice — or, more likely, a bumbling journeyman — can look up words on, say, the internet, but that’s hardly a recipe for concision. This does a less than stellar job of covering all the bases it might, and the illustrations are definitely repurposed — custom ones for anatomical structures are notably absent, and often the pictures present are thoughtlessly cropped from thoughtfully composed arrangements — but it’s an attempt. Better than no book at all, and probably more generally useful as a reference than last week’s. Odd ducks still float.

[aspl1tl1fe]

Setting Up Audre 2.5

This post contains the remaining shots of my Nectar Shop and Formagore, a renovated lot located in the brick building of the Franklin Market on 3 Main Street in @one-plumbob’s custom world Pleasant Isle.

Last week, I shared the images of the main sales area and the sitting room. Today I’ve got shots of the cellar, the entrance to which is stashed behind the register counter:

I’m going to be completely honest here, I don’t remember if I realized the world was lagging quite a bit around the time I was working on this, or if my lack of experience with the kind of venue is the reason the cellar is so bare compared to say, Sunflower Fresh Market. As I began removing bushes and trees around the same time, I’m thinking this was motivated more by an attempt to prevent more lag.

Anywho, the spiral stairs lead to an open area where I’ve stashed the nectar making machine. I

I’m thinking, I might end up placing some wine barrels across from the stairs, immediately beside the arch to the right of the room. It’s just a touch barer than I remember. Some additional wall decor might also find it’s way down here as well as one or two more surface areas that way I can hopefully avoid sims coming down to taste and leaving trays of glasses on the floor.

Through the arch I already mentioned is a small hall which is the home of a small safe. I have no idea where I got that from (@aroundthesims​ maybe?), but I don’t think I’ve every really used it, so there it is, lol.

Again to the right, the cellar opens to a room for more nectar storage. The color pattern of the racks happened as I was dragging and dropping the style. Originally, they were all going to be one color, but I liked the contrast, and so I went with that in the end.

Back in the room with the stairs and in the other direction, is a second arch leading to the cheese making area.

Here are some shots of the cheese making area from different angles. 

I’ll admit to having an addiction to those shelves with the meat, cheese, barrels and bread on them. I think they’re from Granny Zaza, and that I also had them for other versions of the sims. As much as I like to decorate, I tend to burn out sometimes, so already decorated shelves are a god send.

This last shot is just a look back into the first room from behind @anitmb​’s food processor from the hunting mod.

Looking at this reminds me I need to add another sink, closer to the nectar maker, and also, go back and add the floor pattern to the ceiling. I’ve noticed that coloring the ceilings before all of the wall, door, arch, and window placements have been completed lead to those floating phantom tiles outside, or the invisible ones inside, and even though I’ve found several helpful tips on how to fix this online (and know that they work) I try to prevent these things instead of having to go back. That’s to say, I’ve been waiting to color the ceilings until I’m sure future edits would just be moving buy objects around, and not doing anything aside cosmetic changes in build.

Well, that’s all for this shop. Next week we’ll started looking at the last building on this lot.

[lundetodd22]

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[revolttoevolve]

Thall shall not eat that snickers 

Did you know that Snickers is named Snickers after the Mars family horse? No idea why they decided to market it as a Marathon bar for the first 60 years. Kind of weird really.

I looked this fact up on the Eve of Day 1, when I was supposed to be compiling my divine list of foodie commandments. It was when I started wondering how many hands Snickers the horse had been that I realised I needed a break, and some food. So, I typed in ‘sugar detox list’ and five popped up, I clicked on the middle one. Saw that carrots, leeks and butternut squash was on the green (yes) list, and promptly left the house and shuffled to the shops.

It wasn’t until I had left the shop and was shuffling home, that I realised I hadn’t once thought about wine. Prior to my sugar evolution 90% of all my trips to the shops was anchored around wine. I’d pick other stuff up, but I was there for wine. The other 10% of the time, I would still pick up wine it just wasn't the main reason for the shopping trip. So the fact that I had only thought about wine and in the context of realising that I hadn't thought about it in the shop, was amazing to me and I floated the rest of the way home on the high of my small victory.

I started making soup, and then returned to my search, clicked on a different list and butternut squash was not on the Yes list, but on the limit list. And I thought bugger. Well I thought of the word rhyming with duck, but this is a civilised post so bugger it is.

The five published lists were not the same. They don’t agree with each other. This was going to be more complicated than I thought.

I have a small, very large obsession with stationery, any excuse for me to whip out my pencil case and note pad and I’m all over it and list making is my second go to. If in doubt stare at my books and then write a list. I’d already created two to-do lists to prep myself for the imminent detox, not to mention the list of symptoms and of long-term effects for both the white stuff and the bottle and the more colourful the better. Basically, I’m not satisfied until my list looks like a unicorn has puked on it. So, to say that I was disappointed that I would have to create a pre-list to the actual list would be a giant fib.

First, I created a column for no and for limited – since this seemed to be where the bone of contention was and off, I went. It seemed that the five lists agreed that all refined sugar and all refined carbohydrates we’re a no go, other than that none of them could agree. So, I decided that the best way to deal with this was go with the majority.

Of course, it would have been easier to just pick one of the existing lists and follow that, but I didn’t agree with everything on any of the specific lists. Especially not the one that had alcohol on the limit list. I mean not only would that completely defeat the object of my exercise, but booze is literally empty sugar calories. I knew myself well enough to know that if I wasn’t completely on-board with everything on the list, sticking to it would be impossible.

Figure out what makes you tick.

For those of you that are thinking of going ahead and starting a sugar detox, one thing I strongly suggest you do before you start is take the time to explore your motivation. If you don’t have this locked in, you will struggle to anchor yourself during moments of weakness or when the withdrawal symptoms start getting really tricky that voice in your head might say ‘why am I doing this?’ and the second voice might reply ‘dunno’ you will be screwed, because there will be nothing stopping you from stuffing a muffin in your gob. If you have the goals glowing like fireflies inside your mind, they will be your beacon. Without it, you’re in darkness.

I of course made a list, well a mind map. Three key factors seemed to jump out. 1) Booze – back then it was about reducing my intake and developing a healthier relationship with alcohol in general, 2) become healthier mentally, 3) Become healthier physically. Most of the things I listed fell into one of these categories. I liked having multiple goals -in the world of health and safety, 3 points of contact is the law. The more goals you have the stronger your grounding and therefore the stronger your foundation is and you are less likely to topple over or sink. That was my reckoning anyway.

Be prepared to be prepared.

If you’re a ping chef at home, the first challenge is working out what to do to replace all your microwave dinners, but even if you’re not and you opt for a jar of sauce, that is off limits as well .....sugar sugar sugar. Grabbing a quick sarnie at lunch is also out the window and of course takeaways is a definite no go, because you have no idea what it is in most of it and could easily be consuming loads of stuff

What you can eat is lots and lots of fresh vegetables, and dependent on which list you follow you can have legumes, lentils and chickpeas too.

To be clear the sugar detox is NOT like the keto or the Atkins. Excluding an important element like Carbohydrate’s completely is bonkers and dangerous. On the sugar detox you do have a daily dose of the naturally occurring carbohydrate’s in your vegetables and fruit, it’s just you can’t have the refined ones from things like pasta or bread. So, your diet remains balanced between fats, proteins, carbs and fibre. In this way it's more sustainable because you’re not cutting down how much you eat, just what you eat. Plus, sweet potatoes and brown rice can often replace the heavy carb elements of a lot of your favourite dishes. There are also quite a few alternatives to flour like lentil and chickpea flour, and that goes for pasta too. So, if you do a little research into it, you can pretty much source an alternative for most things.

The word Diet, it has such negative connotations these days. It only seems to mean restricting what you eat to the point of being both irritable and miserable. Many people forget that the word diet also means habitual nourishment/food and drink we regularly consumed. The sugar detox is like hitting system reset. Clears away all the bad habits to replace them with better ones.

And finally, before you start, it’s a good idea to have a visual of your goals, maybe keep them all in a journal or on a pin board wherever suits. If your goal is better looking skin, then take a selfie on day 1, then again on day 7 and so on. If it’s weight loss, take a belly selfie on day 1. If your goal is to improve your general well-being, keep a diary/journal. I draw up a chart on my fridge door, with a whiteboard marker to tally up each day on the detox, I wrote the CBT triangle; Thoughts - Behaviour - Feelings on my kitchen cupboard. I took a belly selfie and I re-purposed and old journal to keep a log of my thoughts. I knew I would need to plan a schedule for my training, but I decided that this could wait for another day as I had done enough.

Keeping a record of any kind is helpful because seeing how far you have come, is also a good motivator to keep on going, if on day 24 your feeling a bit pants, looking back on your day one stuff can help loads, it can also help you manage your symptoms.

https://www.mysugarevolution.com

[sevenxvirtuesx]

💤 ( luke )

SEND 💤 FOR MY MUSE TO FALL ASLEEP ON YOURS! - accepting

yuki & luke

she was exhausted, but completely happy and content. it had been a long day, but that wasn't to say it had been a bad one - not at all. yuki had so enjoyed her time with luke.

she'd been spending a lot of time with the brothers later. it was partly out of convenience, after all, she did live with them. they also got up to a lot of crazy things that were hard to get out of, not that she usually put up much of a fight. she kind of enjoyed trying new things.

but yuki also truly enjoyed spending time with the angels floating around the devildom as well. they contrasted nicely with the demon brothers. their energy was as high as the demons, but in a totally different way and yuki enjoyed a day just hanging out with the purgatory hall lodgers. they were all special to her, though perhaps luke in a different way. he truly did feel like family (and she kinda wondered if this is what her big brother felt towards her).

it wasn't like luke was incapable, she knew well enough he was an angel. he could still take care of himself. but she still felt a great pull to protect him, to try new things with him. it felt nice and familiar to hang out with him. despite their differences it sometimes felt easier to relate to luke as well, his excitement and enthusiasm (not to mention curiosity) matching her own energy levels!

today had been no exception. she'd really enjoyed seeing some of the devildom sights with luke. the botanical gardens had been having an exhibition of exotic plants - which turned out to mostly be plants from the human realm. she knew relatively little about plants, but did point out a few things that were wrong. it was nice to just wander though. and there was a little market place as well, mostly food stalls.

afterwards there had been more food and movies, and she'd then got out some of her art stuff. she'd showed off a few off her paintings and sketches - a rare things, and not something she did often. but luke often cooked and baked for her, she wanted to share her passions as well.

and now... now she was exhausted. and as the film played, she was slowly drifting off.

she could sense luke doing the same. her head was drooping, then snapping back up.

curled up on the couch, bowl of popcorn between them, she was sinking further into both the couch and dreamland.

this day had been NEEDED. a day of some normality, a day mixed with nostalgia and fun. it had felt like a true family day, and that had been amazing.

it only took a few minutes later, and she felt lukes head on her shoulder as he fell asleep - and but seconds later her head was on top of his.

she had fallen asleep with a smile on her face, exhausted but quite happy and content.

and though they'd regret their sleeping position in the morning, this seemed like a good way to end the day~ (and not even simeon wanted to disturb their nap, instead placing a blanket over them and snapping a picture)

[intercity80x]

WAS writing it out in the tags of that last post i RBd but I’m going to put it here. im working on getting or atleast sourcing a copy of 2001 on every video format it’s been released on. i physically have three at the moment, and they were fairly obvious to source: a dvd, a blu ray, and a vhs tape. all were sealed! ive watched the dvd and bluray ofc but im keeping the tape sealed, just because i think that’s really cool. 

but anyway sourcing a Beta tape for 2001 has been… difficult to say the least. i can’t buy from the US only the UK due to import taxes even if I had the money to buy this stuff. ive seen one or two of them around but generally quite expensive for what it is - oddly enough I’ve found beta tapes of 2010 for much cheaper, even though presumably even less would’ve been made.

ive found SEVERAL CEDs for 2001. same with laserdiscs (ive seen CAV iirc, not sure about CLV) which makes a lot of sense given that laserdisc and CED were always marketed to film weirdos - home video wasn’t really a thing when those were envisioned, and people don’t have players for them

beta has been difficult to find. im guessing this is probably because beta didn’t have much of a market infiltration in the uk so they’re not floating around here? friend with huge VHS collection has 0 beta tapes, i don’t think ive ever seen them around when i go charity shopping hunting either. it’s been far easier to find them in other countries

the only VCD/CD video ive found was from mid Europe, cost way too much to justify buying (+postage) for a frankly Just Bad format but i also totally want it. so hey.

i do not own a 4K UHD version. i know one exists, but it’s probably the least of my problems given that the rest of these are going to be much harder to get ahold of. really I could just walk into HMV and get one any time i wanted, hence the others are of more interest to me

i have seen HD-DVD releases around. this is again probably one of my lesser worries in sourcing this collection, seeing as hddvd was a ‘fairly recent’ format. they’re on eBay, you can get them, it’s cool. not really a worry

now onto the weird bits; things it hasn’t been released on:

NO UMD release!!!!! you can get 28 days later, american psycho, A FUCKING CLOCKWORK ORANGE, on UMD, but not 2001. it really feels like they dropped a ball with this, and it pisses me off. if I HAD to guess why this happened, it would be because of the sheer runtime (2h22min off the top of my head, I don’t have my dvd with me to check rn) 

obviously no videonow, GBAvideo, minidvd etc due to size and probably also demographic. also, very likely no flexplay, but who cares anyway. I don’t really count that as it’s own format, it was kinda just a new kind of DRM. same for DIVX, which is just a DVD with fancy DRM. i want to be able to reasonably play all of this media if I had the players.

no VMD release from what I can tell either, but hell, only like 10 movies were released on that anyway. given VMDs purported 50+gb of storage (by NME anyway) you’d think they’d want to put it on there to impress people, but apparently not.

there’s a lot that im not able to find info on. there was a lot of weird video stuff in the 80s and 90s that never saw the light of day outside of some limited releases, and a lot of that hasn’t been catalogued on the internet because nobody but some random guy wants to know whether a specific film was released on them. a lot of these experimental or weird kinds were from japan, who obviously had issues w tapes because of the humid climate (hence their big focus on discs - minidisc, laserdisc, you name it), and it’s hard to say and probably unlikely whether they could’ve gotten the licensing rights to put 2001 on them for a limited run and not a recent Japanese film.

we (me and a friend) think burning to videonow would be possible if we can track down the software used. it would be very close to VCD in terms of quality, BUT it would be very funny to do so and would likely involve compressing the DVD edition to fit on a CD, which would then be placed in a Slightly modded videonow. we’d need another videonow to do this, OR we would have to experiment by cutting up CDs seeing as data is recorded on these linearly. this may also be possible with UMD, but I don’t know enough about UMD to know whether it could be jury-rigged burnt to with a DVD burner. either way, it would be incredibly compressed and awful to watch, but just fucking delightful for the memes. 

side note: ive always thought it would be genuinely fucking hilarious to have 2001 on bluray and 2010, the worse movie, on hddvd, the losing format, BUT i haven’t been able to find rewritable hddvds to do this with. unfortunately, I think they’ve all just been swallowed up, which is sad for my dreams, but it’s possible I may find some… some day <3

side note two: would love vinyl and CD (though probably couldn’t find cassette) of the soundtrack. this probably wouldn’t be hard to find though. bonus points if I could find Alex north’s original 2001 score on CD and Vinyl; I BELIEVE there was a CD release but im unsure about vinyl tbh

so those are my musings on 2001 on as many different video formats as i could find.  i will do it one day. when i have a job. 

[kaihoku]

VOL 11   PHOTO-TAKING - June, 1996

Maybe, just maybe, instead of an actual camera, it’s better to sometimes press the shutter within ourselves instead.

~*~

Whenever I see something I think is pretty or cool, I’d want to take a picture of it. It could be anything, a bike, a car, a girl.  If I see someone and think they’ve got a great shape, the next thing I’d want to do would inevitably be to take a picture. It doesn’t matter whether I’m slap bang in the middle of Tokyo or somewhere I’m completely unfamiliar with. When I have a camera in hand, my walking speed would most likely be a lot slower than usual as I’d be hunting for subjects to take pictures of.

When we went to London recently, I took with me the Polaroid camera I bought some time back. Seeing me with it, Tsuyoshi took a keen interest and asked to take pictures with it as well. It was then I realized I haven’t had a single shot of myself taken the whole time I’ve been there so I asked him to take one of me as well. Because I was dressed all in black that day, we decided to take a slightly underexposed picture of me standing in front of this warehouse that was painted entirely in black. We thought it’d be interesting to make it seem like just my head down to the V-line of my chest that was exposed by my shirt was floating in the air. So after deciding on a position and focus, I handed the camera over to Tsuyoshi. Flipping over the developed picture that slid out, Tsuyoshi exclaimed as he laughed, “Whoa, that turned out pretty good, innit?”

From there, Tsuyoshi only became more and more enamored with the camera so I figured I’d get him the same one, seeing as his birthday was right around the corner. Upon getting back to Japan, I went around and all over places like Shibuya and Shinjuku looking for it but turns out, that particular model is no longer being produced nor is it available in the market. Hearing that it can still be found in New York, I asked someone I know who is there for help. The hunt is still ongoing as we speak.

If asked when I first took up the hobby, I’d have to say...probably some time back during when I was in high school. I became interested after I joined the industry and having pictures of myself taken became a regular occurrence. It’s also after I took up acting that I developed a more keen interest in watching stage performances and movies.

I still have the pictures I took back then and whenever I look at them, I cringe at how bad they are. Little by little, I’ve learned more proper techniques since but it wasn‘t through being taught by someone or anything like that. From taking polaroids, you’ll learn that if proper steps weren’t taken, the pictures you flip over would simply either turn out black or white. Whether or not you did it right, the answer becomes apparent after a minute or so. I can only really learn by feeling my way around like this.

Since I started taking photos myself, I may have become better able to understand what it’s like for a professional photographer.  It’s more or less like with acting, where in order to create a good scene, it’s not just my own lines I need to know but also what the people you are sharing the scene with may be feeling as well. And when I’m able to grasp exactly what the cameraman is going for, it really gets me going and I get really into it.

The pictures that parents take of their children are the ones that are taken at the closest proximity and also the ones that take the longest time. I think this is one of the most precious things parents can do for their kids. After all, these pictures are all the children have to go on as memories of the time before they were able to develop their own.

My own folks took a lot of pictures of me as a kid. I really do think the pictures of children as newborns are some of the most precious things they can have. I won’t say it’s exactly like those relationship charts you see for characters in dramas but it can get kind of close as you get a better feel of the personal relationships that existed when the picture was taken. You can see them very clearly from who’s in the picture with you and the expression you had on your own face as an infant. For example, if the baby version of you happened to be beaming in the picture, it feels almost like the memories of what you felt back then are somehow also being brought back.

Right now, pictures taken by children from their own perspective are also very interesting to me. Like, imagine giving a camera to a kid who’s around 4 or 5. That’s usually when they’re old enough to speak and tell right from wrong. After handing over the camera, we then tell them to take whatever pictures they want for the entire day. It will pretty much become a picture diary of their day. And when, as parents, we ask them to show us the pictures they’ve taken, we’d be able to see exactly what they saw and perhaps even tell where they saw it. And if you happen to see yourself in some of them, imagine how awesome it’d feel.

-kinuta-

[caroloftheshells]

some guy william robin is out there just eviscerating american comp culture in all the big musicology journals and now that i’ve started reading his stuff for one of my classes i’m like. hm. so that DID happen and it WASN’T just me

[fortuositywritings]

Collide

Part 1 Wanda x Reader

Summary: You bump into Wanda Maximoff at a grocery store. Wouldn’t be a problem if either of you were anyone else but you two were no ordinary people.

You would think having the ability to take anyone’s power would be awesome. It’s not.

With a simple touch, you could take any person with special abilities’ special powers from them. You figured this out in grade school when you high-fived one of your friends for the first time. Suddenly you could see through walls. That same year, you figured out they could take those powers back. 

A few years later you found out they could only take those powers back if they wanted them. You tried giving someone their invisibility back but they would not have it. Now you are stuck with it. You are stuck with a few others too, like walking through walls and mimicking voices. Those you got from random strangers on the street. 

Obviously, you tried to give them back. You wouldn’t take what isn’t yours, but it was an impossible task. Finding a stranger you bumped into in New York is kind of hard. 

You’ve tried passing off powers to other people but it never worked. You could only return them to the person who gave them to you. To give them back, all you had to do was touch them again and they had to want the powers back. It was that simple. 

So when you bump into Wanda Maximoff at the grocery store, things get a little complicated. 

You’ve made a friend recently who turns out to be Sokovian. Seeing as his birthday is coming up, you thought it would be cool to cook him a traditional Sokovian meal. A few searches on Google and you print out a list of what you need. 

You leave to the nearest store that would have all you need. You check off your list, heading toward the aisle of spices. You finally find the one the recipe calls for and lucky for you, it’s the last one. You reach for it but you feel someone else’s hand touching yours, reaching for the same thing. 

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she says. You look at the woman who is standing really close to you for a stranger. She has intense green eyes, you notice. She pulls her hand away. 

“It’s alright,” you say. 

“Was that the last one?” she asks, awkwardly.

“It seems so,” you confirm. “But we can ask an employee if they have more somewhere?”

You flag down an employee two aisles down and ask. They shake their head and then tell you they won’t be getting more until next week. The woman with the green eyes sighs. 

“We can split it,” you suggest. “I don’t need the whole thing. At least I don’t think so? I just need it to make a Sokovian dish that calls for it. I probably won’t be using it for anything else.”

“I don’t know. Sokovian food is delicious if I may say so. You’ll get a taste and might regret sharing this with a stranger,” she teases. 

You smile and ask, “Oh, are you Sokovian?”

She nods and you add, “Well, then I insist on sharing it with you. Maybe you can actually give me a few tips on this recipe?”

“What are you making?” she asks you. You show her the recipe on your phone and she kindly shares some of her expertise which you’re grateful for. She follows you around the store making conversation as you grab the rest of what you need. Technically, you follow her around as she suggests you other stuff to add to the recipe. 

You add a mini mason jar to your cart. You both head to pay and outside pour some of the spice into your mason jar and give her the rest of the bottle. You thank her for all the help and wish her a great day. 

Wanda gets back to the tower in a positive mood. Everyone notices and asks her what happened. She replies that she just had a nice interaction with a stranger and it made her day. 

Though her day was made, the rest of her week was hell. She doesn’t know what is wrong with her. Her powers have been failing her. She doesn’t understand. At first she thinks it’s just the more difficult things she can’t do but then she notices how no one’s thoughts appear in her head. It’s quiet. She only hears her own. 

Something was definitely wrong.

You thought you were imagining things but after guessing what your friends’ were thinking for the umpteenth time, you knew you had taken someone else’s power. 

You don’t think it’s too bad at first. Only your friends’ heavy thoughts made their way into your head. Unfortunately, some of those thoughts you can never unhear again. 

The problem comes when you go to the library for the first time with this new power. The library is hell. It’s full of people who are just thinking loudly. See in public, there are people who are thinking loudly of course, but there are more people distracted and speaking without thinking, which you never thought you would be so grateful for. 

You don’t last in the library for very long. So libraries are on your list of places to avoid. Soon, movie theaters are also on that list and then so are museums. Any place where people are meant to be quiet is where it’s loudest in your head. 

You wish you knew who you touched to get these powers. You begin to think back at everyone the past few weeks that you might have had direct contact with. A hand you shook or an arm you bumped into. You’ve always been cautious about your surroundings so these things wouldn’t happen.

Everyone you greeted at your Sokovian friend’s party you’ve greeted before. No one was new there. The Sokovian at the store!

Damn it. You never got her name or anything. Maybe you’ll encounter her at the store again. The next few days, you spend hours at the same store. People begin to think you’re an employee and you almost feel like one, knowing exactly where everything is from spending so much time there. 

You’ve even made plans with one employee to go hangout. But no green eyed Sokovian makes an appearance. 

Three weeks you have this power when you find that not only can you read people’s thoughts, but you hold things without actually touching them. It happens when you drop something in the kitchen. You reach for it to catch it before it hits the floor but it’s nowhere near your grasp. However, it never hits the floor. 

You then notice a red mist-like substance coming from your hands floating in the direction of the object. You see that it’s holding it up. After that, you start practicing with random things around your apartment. You begin with lighter things, thinking you would only be able to hold weight that you could in your actual arms, but it is not so. 

You work your way up to lifting your car in the air and in that same moment you learn you could do multiple things like lifting your car and replacing the flat tire. 

Two months with these abilities and you feel you start getting the hang of it. You still can’t go to the library. You’ve tried again but the voices are too loud. You still go to the store where you met the woman that unintentionally gifted you these powers to try and return them. She seemed like a decent person and you don’t know what she used these powers for. Maybe she needs them.

You still have yet to find her. 

Wanda hasn’t been on a mission in three months. Instead, Bruce has been poking and prodding her with needles and running countless tests trying to figure out what happened with her powers. Three weeks ago she began to go to a therapist because Steve thought it might be a mental block of some sort that she had to work through.

Though therapy was doing wonders for her, they weren’t getting her anywhere near having her powers back. Bruce’s tests weren’t helpful either. She’s been stuck in the tower for three months and her days have never felt so repetitive until now- train, go to therapy, undergo tests. Rinse and repeat. 

The media had begun to notice as well. She turns to another TV channel where the news anchor asks “Where is Wanda Maximoff?” as if she’s disappeared from the face of the earth. In a way she has.

Fortunately for her, you are watching that same channel. You are cooking dinner and have the television channel on for background noise. You hear them talking about the Avengers. They’ve never been of much interest to you, although they should be seeing as though you live in the same city and something is always going down here because of that reason.

“For those who have been living under a rock,” the new anchor starts, “Wanda Maximoff is one of the newer additions to the Avengers.”

“She’s the one with the red magic, isn’t she?” the co-anchor asks. That grabs your attention. You turn to look at the screen. “That’s right. She joined about a year ago after the fall of Sokovia.”

That had to be a coincidence, right? 

“She hasn’t been reported to be on any missions the last three months,” the reporter continues. That definitely couldn’t be a coincidence, you think, counting back the time you’ve attained these powers. 

“Here is a clip of Maximoff using her magic to save diplomats at the embassy five months ago when…” You don’t hear the rest as you watch the clip play. 

It’s the green eyed Sokovian who helped you out at the market. Your suspicions about it being her who had these powers were correct. You just didn’t think you took powers from an Avenger. Someone who definitely needs these powers to do her job and save people like the clip shows. Shit.

You smell the food you’re cooking burning. 

“Shit!”

Wanda pounds her hand on the mat. Sweat clings onto her shirt. She’s tired and out of breath. 

“Again,” Nat commands. Wanda huffs and stands up, getting back into her fighting pose. She takes a swing that the Black Widow easily dodges. Not two moves later, she hits the mat again.

“Again,” Nat repeats.

“Natasha, give the kid a break,” Steve says, watching from the side. 

“It’s okay,” Wanda assures him.

Natasha explains, “If therapy and tests aren’t working, maybe self defense will.”

Steve seems doubtful but allows it. They really need Wanda to work through whatever is blocking her from using her powers. He winces seeing Wanda hit the mat.

“Again.”

“I’ve told you for the millionth time. My name is Y/N L/N and I need to speak to Wanda Maximoff. Or any of the Avengers, really. Or even one of their assistants or something. It’s vital,” you try helplessly. 

“Unless you have clearance, I can’t let you up,” the guy at the desk says to you for what feels like the hundredth time. You’ve been coming in the past few days trying to get someone to let you see Wanda. 

“Look, it’s really important. Can’t you, like, give her a message or something?” You’re desperate at this point. He laughs. 

“Ah, yes, let me just text her real quick. ‘hey Wanda. It’s that one guy you said hello to once downstairs. There’s some girl here that needs to talk to you’,” he acts out sarcastically, which you do not find amusing. 

“Listen, buddy. If you do me this favor and get your boss or whoever can give me clearance to see her, I promise she’ll be so grateful for you helping me get to her that she’ll come and thank you herself,” you vow. 

“I can’t help you, Miss. Now please go or I’ll have to call security,” he warns.

You rub your temple in frustration. “Fine. There’s no need for that...Michael,” you read his name. “I’m going.”

You turn around as if to head for the door but then do a 180 and sprint past a security guard who shouts at you to stop. You make your way for the elevators as the security guard runs after you. You press the button for the elevators but you notice they’re nowhere near the ground floor. 

The security catches up to you and in panic, you push him away with Wanda’s powers. He goes sliding across the floor and you bolt for the stairs.

You don’t even know which floor you would find Wanda in but you assume it would be somewhere up top. You begin your ascend. You reach the fourth floor and realize you should start using the StairMaster at the gym. You hear multiple security guards quickly making their way to you. You panic and walk through the wall, not knowing what was on the other side. 

You’re in some kind of engineering lab. You don’t think anyone saw you walk through the wall, so you try to act casual and stroll through the lab trying to find an exit. Then you hear someone call you. “Hey, you.”

You ignore them and act like you didn’t hear. They tell you to stop walking, loud enough that you can’t ignore it. You turn around to see a woman in a lab coat. She asks, “You’re not allowed on this floor. Who let you up here?”

“Oh, uh. Michael sent me,” you lie. “Sorry, I’m new. I must have gotten off on the wrong floor. Maybe you could help me find my way?”

“Where are you meant to be working?” she inquires and you’re stuck not knowing anything about the Stark Tower or Avengers Tower, whatever it’s called. 

“The lab,” you say. Your vague answer obviously creates another question. “What lab?”

“They haven’t told me yet? I’m not actually working in the labs. I’m doing more secretarial duties, taking notes and scheduling stuff.”

“For whom?” she asks, narrowing her eyes at you. You can feel her catching onto you and it’s the only reason why you try this.

“For the big guy, obviously,” you say and then focus really hard trying to read her mind, hoping that a name will pop up in her head. Did Bruce get an assistant? You smile. “Bruce.”

“Well then you are way off. He’s usually working on the 87th floor,” she tells you. 

“Well, thank god there’s an elevator,” you chuckle nervously, pointing behind you. “Well, I should get going before I’m any later. You turn around confidently but as you walk away she stops you once more. You think you got caught but she says, “Elevators are that way.”

She points to the opposite way you came from. You laugh to play off your mistake, “Duh. Sorry, the lab is so big. Thanks.”

You head the right way. You speed walk to the elevators and then jog when you hear a rougher voice telling you to stop. “She’s on the fourth floor.”

You assume they spoke into their walkie, and you know you don't have much time before they catch you. You think quickly. You can’t make your way to the elevator because then obviously they’ll just stop the elevators. You don’t want to walk through a wall; the dangers of that are extreme given this is Stark Tower. You could accidentally walk into an ongoing experiment. 

You had to hide. And suddenly, you had the perfect plan. 

The security guard runs to you. He thinks you’re running for the elevator but then you turn before you get there. He sees you dive behind some clunky machine, presumably to hide behind. You clearly never have won a game of hide and seek in your life, he thinks as he goes around the machine to catch you. 

He’s left utterly confused when you aren’t there. The only trace of you are your clothes down to underwear on the floor. Four other guards make it to the floor. One asks him, “Where is she?”

He doesn’t know how to answer. “She was right here. Search the floor. She’s hiding and I think she’s naked.”

They disperse taking your clothes with them. You let out a breath of relief at not getting caught but then mentally curse that they took your clothes. You still haven’t learned how to make other things invisible yet. You never really used this power. Maybe you should start practicing.

You hustle your naked ass to the elevators, feeling incredibly exposed even though you know no one can actually see you. You press the elevator button and wait impatiently. It dings and opens. 

“The elevators!” You hear one of the guards yell. Two run your way as you step into the car. You put all your energy into staying invisible. It would be really awkward if you were suddenly exposed. You hold your breath when one of them looks in the elevator. You keep yourself in the corner furthest away from them. In their eyes, there is no one in the elevator. 

“She’s not here.” They leave and the doors close. You click the button for the 87th floor.

____________________________________________________

This will probably have 3 parts.