#like I keep up with local politics as best I can but I’m also just like

[queenqunari]

Sometimes I have to stop watching videos from creators I actually agree with because they’re critiquing people who have the most absolutely cringe-to-abhorrent opinions and I can feel myself becoming one step closer to violently snapping when encountering someone expressing something remotely similar irl

But other than that I’m a chill dude

[marvelwitchergilmore]

Simple Gestures

Summary: Logan x Fe!Reader -> You and Logan, despite getting off on the wrong foot, find yourselves falling in love through simple gestures.

Disclaimer: Mostly cute fluff, an almost kiss in the snow, stargazing, stealing clothes, a little violence in the beginning, a meet ugly, simple gestures of love. Light swearing, happy ending. Not Proof Read.

Yourself and Logan had fallen in love through simple gestures. Although, that wasn’t how it always was. 

In the beginning, neither of you had exactly been in the other’s good books. Though, you supposed that had something to do with what Rogue would call your “meet cute” rather than your individual personalities. 

Your “meet cute” (as Rogue put it) had been when Xavier had first tried to recruit you to join X-Men. 

At the time, you had been living in Colorado and was spending most days either working at the library or working at the local bar. And one evening when you got home, you found three strangers on your veranda meaning they had misread your “Keep Out” sign at the pathway entrance, or had completely elected to ignore it. 

“I don’t know what you’re selling but I’m not buying.” 

You walked through the three of them and their huddle, opened up your screen door, unlocked your front door and slammed both in their faces. 

“Logan,” you heard a British voice sigh before an American one replied with; “I’m on it.”

Maybe he was Canadian?

Either way, he didn’t sound thrilled to be having to do whatever he knew was being asked of him. 

But you soon found out what that was because a few moments later, he was opening up your back door. 

So, as any woman would do when a stranger is ignoring her polite “fuck off, please” and trying to get through the back door of her home. 

You threw a book at him. 

And it wasn’t just any book. 

It was a hardback copy of Kings and Queens of Britain. 

“Wha- Jesus!”

Stumbling back, Logan caught hold of the door frame as his head mended his new found concussion. 

“Get out!” you screamed. 

Finding yourself walking towards him, you were about to shove him out when he noticed what had hit him and before you could throw a punch to his face, he caught your wrist. 

“Whoa, hey, wait. We’re not here to hurt you.”

“Said every intruder ever.”

“Please, Ms Y/l/n.” The British guy was back. “We only wish to talk.”

“Yeah?” You looked around at the three of them before you looked back at the book. Logan’s grip squeezed on your wrist to get your attention. 

He had it. 

“I wouldn’t think about it.”

Glaring from Logan, you turned back to the Brit. “Please. Just five minutes of your time.”

Once more you looked around them and yanked your wrist from Logan’s grip. Turning, you picked up your book and placed it back where you had found it. 

“You have a funny way of showing it,” you grumbled to yourself as you walked further inside. 

The three of them entered and stood around your living room as you walked from your kitchen and back in again. It was more of an open floor plan so they could still see you. Not that you were trying to hide from them. 

“So why are you here? Other than trying to break into my home?”

“We wish to offer you a job,” the woman said. 

“And you are?”

She smiled at you. So far, she was the only one you liked. “Ororo. But you can also call me Storm. And this here is Logan.”

You looked at him. “We’ve met.”

Logan mirrored your look to him. 

“And this is-”

“Professor Charles Xavier.” He introduced himself. 

You nodded. “What sort of job?”

“It’s to be a part of our team. The X-Men.”

You took a gulp of your drink. “And I want to be a part of this…why?”

The Professor rolled forward. “Ms Y/l/n-”

“Y/n.”

The Brit smiled. “Y/n. Our team is made up of some of the best people we know who are like us. Mutants.”

You paused. “Mutants?”

“Ororo here can control the weather. Hence her nickname, Storm. And Logan-”

“Is what? Catwoman? I mean, with the breaking and entering and the little kitty ears for hair, it sure does fit him.” 

Storm chuckled and Logan looked less than amused. The Professor held back his laugh, too. “Actually, Logan is, well…”

Turning his head to look at him, Logan rolled his eyes a little and gave a short sigh before bringing his fist up and clenching it just as metal claws came out. 

You grimaced. “That’s super gross.”

Logan rolled his eyes once more and put his claws away. 

“Like I was saying, our team is made up of mutants, who can help people. And with your reputation preceding you, I figured we might as well come down here and ask you ourselves.”

Looking around them all, you debated the idea. 

“Why me?”

“Your mutant abilities might prove a successful part in building our team.” Ororo explained. “With talents like yours and by joining our team, you’ll be able to help more people than just the locals here. Those in serious danger could use your help, just like they could use ours.”

“And you just expect me to join you? Like that?”

“There are other parts to your job, such as becoming a teacher. I run a school for the gifted. For mutants. To help them earn a well rounded education as well as helping them learn how to control their powers.”

Logan was baffled. “I thought we were here to put her on the team, not give her a teaching position. She can’t be a teacher.”

“Why not?” Storm asked. 

“For one,” Logan gestured to you. “She works in a bar.”

Your arms crossed your chest. “Someone’s been reading my CV.”

“You really think making a bartender a teacher is a good thing?”

Your brows knotted for a moment. “I’ll have you know I do have a teaching degree and working in a bar is only part time. I also work at a library.”

“She has a teaching degree and she’s not even a teacher.”

The Professor shrugged. “This gives her a chance to put it to good use.”

“What will I be teaching?”

“Well, considering your degree is in English and History, you’ll primarily be teaching English to our students.” The Professor smiled. “And you can take some of Logan’s classes as we move closer to final exams for our older students.”

You looked at Logan, a little shocked. From the jeans and leather jacket, you figured he’d teach something like gym or shop. That’s if he was even a teacher and not just hired muscle. 

“You,” you pointed at Logan. “Teach History?”

A little offended by your shock, Logan nodded. “I’ve lived through most of it.”

“How old are you?”

By your tone, Logan was nowhere near being less offended by you.

After more than just a five minute conversation, you agreed to take the job. And six weeks later, you had your things packed, had moved into your new room and was already teaching some new classes. 

However, considering you were already taking one of Logan’s classes a week as he helped the older students prepare for their mock exams, and neither your or Logan had gotten off on the best foot, things were a little…icy. 

“You need to get neater handwriting.” Logan blurted out one afternoon as you were both sitting in the teachers break room. 

“Excuse me?”

Logan practically slammed another paper beside his thigh. “You write like a five year old.”

“Fast handwriting is a sign of intelligence,” you pointed out. 

“Fast, maybe. But illegible isn’t.”

Another paper went down by his side. 

“You know, maybe if you took your time to actually read, you’d be able to see what it said and it wouldn’t look so much like a blur across a page.”

Logan sighed, marking another paper. “I’ve been doing this a lot longer than you have.”

“Logan, I practically read for a living. I’m living every introvert's dream.”

Logan sighed, shuffling his finished papers. “And I mark for a living. Fixed your handwriting.”

Placing half of the papers back with you, Logan walked out carrying the rest with him. And as he did so, you took the top paper from the pile and read where you had written your feedback for the student. 

“It’s not illegible.”

Six months in, not much had changed. 

You and Logan still held small hostilities to one another. Though, on the handwriting front, Logan stopped mentioning it after three months so either he gave up on ever trying to change your handwriting, or he got used to it enough that he could finally understand it. 

And as time went on, the students started to gather their own opinions on you and Logan, both as individuals but also…

As a couple. 

And it was simply by luck that neither you or Logan had found out about it. 

The first teacher to find out was Storm during one of her classes, to which she mentioned it to Jean who later heard the same from her students before she shared it with Scott in the privacy of their bedroom as they were getting ready for bed one night. 

Soon enough, all the teachers save for you and Logan knew of the group of students “shipping” yourself and Logan. 

But things between you and Logan began to change almost a year into you starting your position at the school. 

“But she’s annoying.”

You already knew Logan was talking about you. Over the course of a year you’d somehow become accustomed to the tone and tune of Logan's voice when he was talking about you. 

“Oh, please,” you grumbled as you entered the Professor’s office, still dressed in your pjs. 

Though, considering you had fallen asleep in lounge wear that consisted of joggers, an old t-shirt and a black hoodie which you were 40% sure had been Logan’s at some point, you figured you could get away with being dressed the way you were at eleven in the morning. 

“I annoy everyone,” you told Logan.

“Ain’t that the truth.” Logan mumbled. 

“You’re nothing special.”

The Professor smiled to himself. Storm and the others would get a kick out of this later. 

“Thank you for joining us.”

“Why aren’t you dressed?”

You drank your coffee. “Not all of us sleep in jeans, Logan.”

“I don’t sleep in jeans.”

“Please, you’re never out of them.”

The Professor cleared his throat. “As I was just telling Logan, since final exams are coming up, I would like you and Logan to work through a plan together for next semester's classes. It seems we have a few more students than we had planned, taking History as an option next year. I’ll leave it to you both to work it out, but when you’ve finished, please give me a copy of your schedule.”

“Oh,” the Professor continued. “And please let it be an actual plan this time, Logan. Not a scribble on the back of a napkin from the kitchens. I’ll make sure the library is free tonight so you can both work without any interruptions.”

So there it was. 

After almost a year, you and Logan were being told to spend time alone together after half of the team had worked their hardest to try and make sure someone else was in the room when it came to you two in fear of you both finally snapping and doing more damage than what an encyclopaedia could do to an adamantium skeleton. 

And when Logan found you that night, he felt something shift. 

Both universally and inside of him. 

Walking into the library, he was expecting to find you absent from your chair. But instead he found you sitting at one of the desks, your ankles crossed beneath your chair, multiple notebooks around the place, two pencils in your hair, one between your teeth, pens across the desk (some without caps) and you frantically searching for something. 

On one of the smaller tables behind the sofa, Logan found a familiar notebook which he knew belonged to you, flipped open onto a page. 

Somehow in the past couple of months he’d become fluent in you. From comparing your handwriting to that of a five year old, it wasn’t long until he began to pick out words and eventually became a master in your handwriting. 

Even the others came to him, most of the time shoving your note in front of him and asking him to read it. 

“Looking for this?”

You looked up at Logan and gave a look of relief. “I thought I’d left it upstairs.”

You took it from him. “Thank you. Now where did I put my pen?”

In a similar fit of desperation, you started looking around for your pen, but something made Logan smile. Leaning across the desk, his palm on top of a couple of sheets of loose paperwork, he raised his other hand and you stopped. 

“What? What is it?”

Reaching up and behind you, you felt Logan pull something from your hair before he presented it to you with a soft smirk. 

“Is this what you are looking for?”

You looked from the pen to Logan and back to the pen before plucking it from his fingers. “Thanks.”

Logan watched as your gaze flicked from his back to your work. He stood up. “What’s all this?”

“Just things for lessons. Oh, uh, here.”

You pulled a different notepad from beneath the chaotic pile. “This is my plan for the lessons next semester. Tell me what you think.”

Logan watched as you went back to scribbling before he opened up the notepad and read through it. 

“This is good. I can take a couple more classes closer to Christmas, though. Kids’ are gonna need you for the English exams.”

You nodded. “Okay.”

“How long have you been sitting here?”

You shrugged before holding down the paper you were writing on, almost like it was about to fly away. “Couple hours. I’m almost done.”

Logan looked from you and back to the pad. “I can take more lessons before Spring Break, too.”

Picking up one of the uncapped pens, Logan made his adjustments to your plan before pulling out a chair and sitting across from you. 

And for the first time, there was peace between yourself and Logan. He used your notepad to draw up a copy for the Professor on his laptop whilst you finished up your rougher lesson plans for the next couple of weeks. 

It was in the moments Logan looked at you, sitting across from him, that he felt something shift. He couldn’t tell what it was exactly, but somehow, rather than arguing with you over the fact you were wearing his hoodie that had gone missing a few months ago, he found himself admiring you in it. How cosy you looked. How warm and comforted you looked. 

And something sparked in him when he realised something of his brought you that. 

Time pressed on and those civil moments that seemed to be saved for one day out of the year, became less and less rare. 

In fact, you now found yourself looking forward to spending time with Logan. 

A sentence you never thought possible. 

You’d spent so long bickering and fighting and glaring at each other over the smallest things, that you’d both failed to realise that you could actually be quite good friends.

At the beginning of the new academic year, the students and even some of the teachers thought someone had lost complete control of their power and had set something on you and Logan. 

But no. 

You had both simply…made friends. 

Now rather than frosty mornings spent poking fun at each other, mornings were calm and a little warmer. Of course, you and Logan still bickered occasionally. Mainly when you had pointed out the change in your dynamic. 

“No, this is too weird.”

“What’s too weird?”

“Us,” you gestured between yourself and Logan. “We’re friends.”

“Thank you, Captain Obvious.”

You almost whimpered. “Don’t you find it weird?”

“That we’ve gone from not being allowed alone in a room together to being friends?” 

You nodded. 

“No.”

Logan continued hanging up the posters around your classroom. 

You sighed. “You know, sometimes you can agree with me?”

He nodded. “I know. But it is fun watching you squirm.”

“I don’t squirm.”

“You’re squirming right now because rather than bickering, which we are still doing, we’re friends.”

 You sighed and handed Logan another poster. 

Soon the days began to feel like they were bleeding into one until finally Christmas break came around and you found yourself sitting in the kitchen on a snowy day, eating some soup. 

“What is it?”

Logan had walked in to find you looking at your soup with a confused look. 

“Something’s missing.”

Less than twenty seconds later, Logan dumped some crackers beside your bowl. That’s what was missing. 

“You’re missing snow day, by the way.”

You dipped one into your soup and ate it. “I’ll be out later. If I can just find my hoodie.”

“You mean my hoodie?”

“It became my hoodie a long time ago,” you told Logan. 

Then you watched as he smirked a little before walking out of the kitchen and towards the laundry room. When he returned, he was carrying the black hoodie and handed it to you. It was still warm. 

“You left it in the library the other night after you spilled some milk down it. So I washed it.”

You smiled, almost vibrating in your seat with excitement to have a freshly washed and warm hoodie. It warmed you instantly, for more than just being fresh out of the dryer. 

A few hours later, it was keeping you warmer still as you were being pelted with snowballs by a couple of the students and eventually found yourself being chased by Logan down the field after you had sent one flying to the back of his head causing it to run down the back of his clothes. 

He caught you, spinning you both before you both found yourself rolling in the snow. Except, as you both came to a stop, Logan was flat on his back, his arms still around you and you were lying against his chest, your faces mere inches away from each other. 

And as the laughter died down and the smiles remained, you felt something shift. 

Looking from Logan’s eyes, you own dropped to his mouth for a moment before coming back up again. And you couldn’t help but notice he did the same with you. Suddenly, his hands that had kept you steady were now creeping across your back and his touch was practically seeping into your skin. 

Only, before anything could happen, you were both hit with a snowball. 

“Come on you two, we’re dying out here!” Rogue yelled before narrowly missing a snowball being thrown at her. 

You and Logan laughed before scrambling to your feet and heading back into the game. 

Later that evening as you and Logan were doing the last rounds of the school, you’d found a couple of kids fast asleep in their pjs, clearly having snuck out of bed at the last minute to watch the late night snowfall. 

Yourself and Logan carried them back to bed, you shutting the light off as Logan closed the door quietly. And as he bid you goodnight, a part of you couldn’t help but wish that you weren’t going off to a different room, two hallways down from him. 

However, it was only a few mornings later when Logan came and woke you earlier in the morning than usual to bring you down to breakfast where everyone was up and ready for the day. It was a surprise field trip and by the time you had gone back to your room to get dressed, you gave a small yelp as you opened the door back up to find Logan already standing there. His fist was held up, just getting ready to knock on. 

“Jesus, Logan. Give a girl a word of warning before you go to knock her out.”

Logan chuckled a little. “You ready?”

You grabbed your bag. “Yeah, let's go.”

The day was fun but it was long and after spending half of the night convincing yourself of “one more chapter, then sleep” – it was safe to say you were knackered. 

So when Logan pressed his hand to your head and brought it down to rest on his shoulder as he leaned back, you didn’t protest. 

Only, since your eyes were closed, you had missed the small smile on his face when he noticed you were nodding off and the comfortable sigh that left him when he realised you were fast asleep against him. 

Halfway back to the school, he’d felt you shiver a little. 

“Rogue?”

She pulled out her headphones and looked back at him. “Yeah?”

“There’s a blanket in the cabin above your head. Pass it to me.”

Unbuckling her seatbelt, she did so, but took time to take in the picture before her as Logan covered both himself and you up as you slept. 

“What?”

Rogue just smiled, “Nothing.”

And she sat back down. And for as much as Logan wondered what Rogue meant by her smile, the thought left his head when he looked back down at you and you snuggled in closer to him. 

Once you all finally got back, Logan led you to your bedroom and slipped the shoes off your feet as you climbed under your covers. But as he went to walk away, you reached out and grabbed hold of his hand. 

And for a moment, he soaked it all in. 

The feeling of you holding his hand. The feeling of you falling asleep against him. The feeling of you. 

Until you let go.

It was only a few months later that you held onto his hand again, except this time you were fully conscious and didn’t let go until after the plane had landed. 

You had known Logan was afraid of flying since you first met him. You’d gotten onto that plane to take a short tour around the school before you officially accepted the job. Only, as you stepped onto the plane, you noticed Logan became tenser. And when it finally took off, he seemed like he was either wishing to pass out or he was gonna puke. 

“You’re afraid of flying.” You said almost with a smile, delighted to find out that the gruff man you’d thrown a book at merely an hour before, was afraid of something. 

Logan's stomach churned. “If man was meant to fly, he’d grow wings.”

You leaned back watching him with a smile. “Some already have.”

Logan just looked at you and tried to put his focus elsewhere. 

Knowing this, and finally being his friend, you found a seat next to him. The flight was going to be a long one. 

“How can you be afraid of flying? Weren’t you in the army for like…a gazillion years?” You asked as you boarded on with him. 

“You try nearly dying each time you get in one of these things, see how bad you’re itching to get back in one again.”

Logan put his bag in the compartment at the back before taking yours and placing it with his. As he buckled his seatbelt, you found difficulty with yours and just as you were about to give up or, at the very least, swear at the inanimate object, Logan’s body turned and helped you do it up. 

“These can be tricky.”

He clipped it together. “Thanks.”

He looked at you before sitting back in his seat, trying to find something to concentrate on as the jet started to lift. 

Only, his search to find something else became distracted when your hand reached across and held onto his. And for a moment, he was shocked. And then he smiled. And relaxed a little. With a little bit of turbulence, he squeezed your hand but never enough to truly hurt. 

But you never let go. 

And when the jet finally landed and you both found tarmac under your feet, you felt the climate hit you a lot more than you had been expecting. Except, less than a minute later, the familiar scent of Logan surrounded you and you found his jacket spreading over your shoulders. 

You smiled, letting your senses drown in his scent and warmth before you slipped your arms through the holes and found your way to your intended location. 

A week later, you were all sitting around in the living room, reading different things or watching TV. However, Logan lay on the sofa with his head in your lap, slowly dozing off to the sound of the TV, you turning your book pages every now and again and your heartbeat which only seemed to be amplified when he pressed his ear to your leg, hearing the blood rush around your body. 

By the time he woke up, everyone had disappeared, the lamps were on, the TV was on low and you were sitting on the floor, not too far from his head, going through a small pile of essays. 

“Hey.”

His voice sounded a little rougher than usual. You turned your head and smiled. It wasn’t often you got to see sleepy Logan, let alone comfortable Logan. 

“What are you doing?”

“Just some marking. Ooh, now you're awake, can you read what this says?”

Logan took the paper from you and looked at it. “This is your handwriting.”

“I know but I can’t tell what it says.”

But Logan could. 

You thanked him before taking the paper back. “Sometimes I think you know my handwriting better than I know my handwriting. Case in point.”

“You’re your own language.”

You smiled. “And after a year, you’re an expert. Maybe you missed your calling. Logan, the Language teacher. Read and speak in English, grunts, kitty cat and my handwriting.”

Logan groaned, trying to hide his smile. He was still waking up. His muscles couldn’t fight it off just yet. “I’m not a cat.”

“You have quite literal claws.”

“I’m Wolverine.”

You jokingly scoffed. “You’re a cat. But it’s okay, I won’t tell anyone.”

Logan just rolled his eyes with his smile and brought his hand over to cover your mouth. “You done?”

You eventually nodded and went back to marking the essays whilst Logan simply watched you. 

He’d found himself doing more of that recently; watching you. Not in a stalker kinda way- at least, he hoped not. But just small things you did in the day. Grading papers, scribbling on paper, walking down the hallway and somehow avoiding every pillar and post on the way despite your nose being buried deep inside whatever book you were reading. 

And he’d noticed more things about you, too. 

How you walked, how you moved. And when you were in the zone, it was almost like watching you dance. You knew what you were doing, ten steps ahead of time. You’d caught more students talking and passing notes more than even he had. 

Some days, when he was on his lunch break, he’d sneak into the back of your classroom. The class would be fully engrossed in whatever it was you were talking about, so he mostly went unnoticed. So, he’d pull up a chair at the back and sit in the sea of students. 

And when he forced himself to pay attention to what you were saying, rather than just checking you out and watching you, he managed to learn a thing or two. 

It was also on some of those days, you’d find a protein bar and a coffee at your desk by the time you returned back to class. 

For another year, these small gestures continued. You, holding his hand during a plane ride, him bringing you coffee and a snack, both of you falling asleep on each other, him routinely finding lost pens and pencils that most of the time were stuck in your hair or behind you ear. Even going so far as to bring each other meals when you knew the other had missed one. 

That was how the “dates” started. Sometimes in the library, other times in the kitchen or out in the garden. If one of you was missing for a meal, the other would wrap leftovers on a plate. 

Across a couple of these nights, some of the students had gone unnoticed when passing the rooms. Because, when you and Logan looked at each other, everything else faded away. 

And then one night everything changed. 

Everything went from the small moments and small gestures and a friendship that made you question if that’s all you wanted when it came to Logan, to both of you confronting your questions with the answers you’d both known, deep down, for a long time. 

Or maybe it was just one answer. 

“Yes.”

Logan turned and found Rogue leaning in the hallway. He placed down the photo frame he’d been holding. 

“I was just looking at some pictures. Found one of you.”

Logan picked up a second and held it out for her to see. “Cute. But, I don’t think that’s why you were looking here.”

Rogue put the photo down and picked up the familiar frame. The picture Logan had just been holding. 

“You know, if you asked her, she’d probably say yes.”

Logan put the photo back down. “Say yes to what?”

“You know what.”

“No, I don’t.”

Rogue gave a smirk as she watched Logan walk away. And she followed after him. 

“You can’t just run away from feelings, you know. They’re inside of you. Unless you can outrun your own skin, you can’t leave them behind.”

Logan looked at her. “Don’t you have a class to be in?”

“My final exam is tomorrow.”

Logan pushed open the door. “Then shouldn’t you be studying?”

“Giving my eyes a break.” Rogue hopped down the steps behind him. “It’s just a date, Logan. Everyone already knows you’ve completed steps 4 through 20. Just need to complete the first three.”

“Three?”

Rogue followed Logan into the garage. “Ask her out on a date, first kiss and first…time.”

Rogue smiled up at Logan a little, watching him blush a little before awkwardly walking away. “I forget you’re old enough to know about stuff like that.”

She rolled her eyes. “It’s just sex, Logan. But the more important part here is step one. Asking her out on a date.”

“And why would I do that?”

“Step twenty.” Rogue told him. “You’re in love with her.”

Logan paused what he was doing and turned to look at Rogue. “Logan, you can’t just keep running away each time you feel something for someone.”

“I’m not running away.”

“Then where are you going?”

“To the store. We need some things.”

Rogue sighed, getting back to her point. “Look, I get your whole “lone wolf” act, but you keep forgetting something.”

“Really? And what’s that?”

“A lone wolf can still find a pack. Better yet, build one of their own.” 

Logan took in Rogue’s expression as she held onto the door on the other side of the truck. He sighed. 

“Do you need anything from the store?”

“Period pads.”

By the time Logan got back from the store, it was almost nightfall. He left the bag of products inside Rogue’s door before he headed into the kitchen and found it…quiet.

“Where is everyone?” Logan asked as he put the milk away. 

You looked over your shoulder from the stove. “Jean and Scott are out on a date, Ororo took the kids out with the Professor. Last minute deal – they get to spend a night inside a museum.”

“Anyone else home?”

You shook your head. “Just us.”

“So,” Logan eventually found his seat across the kitchen island from you. “What do you want to do?”

You shrugged. “I don’t know. I didn’t really have a plan outside making dinner and eating outside.”

So that’s what you both ended up doing. Sitting outside, under the stars, backlit by the lights from the kitchen, eating dinner. 

Logan washed up inside, looking over his shoulder every now and again to see you stood outside, looking up at the sky. 

“You know, back home you could see all the stars. I think I was about ten when I finished mapping out all the constellations I could see.”

Logan leaned against the backdoor, listening to you explain. Then with a smile and a kick of his feet, he made his way over to you. 

“Here.”

“What?”

Logan opened up his jacket for you and you thanked him quietly as he helped you slip it on. It was big, the sleeves managing to cover your hands more than your own jackets did. 

Twirling you around, Logan pulled the jacket close by the collar and you found yourself inches from him. 

“Figured you’d get cold.”

You smiled. “Thank you.”

And for a while, you both just looked at each other. You’d noticed Logan always had this look on his face when he looked at you. You just couldn’t pin it. But then it shifted. Like you could see the cogs turning in his head, but he had come to a conclusion before you could ask. 

“What?”

“Do you want to go on a date?”

You felt yourself reel back a little, trying to decide if he was bullshitting you or not. And it took a moment or two, but once you realised he was being serious you said…

“Yes.”

“With me?”

You nodded with a smile. “I’d love to.”

“Are you sure?” Logan asked, his hands still holding onto the jacket. 

You raised your brow slightly. “Are you sure?”

“I wouldn’t have asked if I wasn’t.”

“Good.” You gave a short nod before looking back at him. “I like a man who knows what he wants.”

Brushing the hair from your face to behind your ear, Logan smiled. And so did you. Feeling his warmth through his palm as he caressed your face, he drew you in. 

And when his lips finally met yours, something seemed to click into place. 

That feeling that had been growing inside of you, ever since you saw him for the first time when he’d pulled the pen from your hair all those nights ago, was finalised. 

This had been the shift. This was the change. You’d both taken a step forward without realising it and had found not only comfort but love in each other's presence. 

“Are you busy now?”

You shrugged, your arms looping around the back of Logan’s neck. “Depends. What for?”

“For our date.”

“Now?” You asked, a little shocked. 

Logan nodded. “Come with me.”

Holding onto his hand, he hurried you down the stone steps and towards the garden. You laughed. 

“Logan, slow down. Where are we going?”

He smiled. “You’ll see.”

And you did. 

He’d taken you to the greenhouse, climbing up the spiralling staircase and out onto the small rooftop. 

Looking up to the sky, you took in a breath. 

“It’s gorgeous.”

You were in amazement. The greenhouse was far enough away from the school that none of the lights from it polluted your vision. The sky was as clear as it had ever been and you felt like you could see for miles on end. Most of it was woodland, covered with a blanket of stars. 

It was one of the most extraordinary things you had seen in a long time. 

However, when you looked to find Logan to gauge his reaction, you just found him looking at you. 

[enchantedlov3r]

Coffee crush An Ellie Williams fic College Barista au CHAPTER TWO!

Summary: Young love, always the cutest thing, especially when it's on your very hot barista at your local coffee shop on campus.

Pairings: Barista!Ellie Williams x puppy!reader

Word Count: 4.5k (WOAH! never done that before<33)

Warnings: fluff, first time meeting, flustered reader, bold ellie, lots of sexual tension, shameless flirting, ellie being really hot, brief mentions of alcohol, slight debating/arguing but playful, eventual smut in later chapters, a brief kiss, lmk if I missed anything loves💓

A/N: funny story, there was this fic I read about streamer ellie by @r3starttt and she linked her pinterest below so I just wanted to give creds to her for allowing me to use these pics from her saved pinterest. Also some of it will be via text message style so ellie will be bold and reader will not. lowercase intended..

You were honestly just a girl, who happened to like other girls, no big deal. but when your parents denied it, denied you, you moved out.

you weren’t going to deal with unsupportive family members judging you at every family function.

and you sure as hell weren’t going to stand with your parents treating you completely different from everyone else.

so you moved away from that toxic life but not just because of your parents but for college as well.

you wanted to move to this small town and get to know people new and study at your dream college.

once you finally found out you got in, you made your motives known to the family that you were leaving and never coming back.

you made it to your dorm and met this awesome girl named Kansas. You guys really hit it off your first semester and ever since, you guys have been the best of friends.

constantly hanging out and going to bookstores and party’s and going on vacations and so much more.

So, now to the present day, you’re currently in your dorm studying for finals.

Kansas walks in and greets you, you greet her back and she plops on the bed with a sigh.

“what’s wrong Kansas? I know that sigh. What’s up?” you ask her while keeping your focus on your notes

“I wanna go somewhere, to meet some hot people. get screwed and fucked up” Kansas replies. You bark out a laugh while shaking your head

“I’m getting kinda tired kans, we can go to a coffee shop? Keep me awake cause I need to study for these finals. Wanna go with me?” You ask her

she shakes her head letting out a hum of disapproval, “mm-mm I’m good, I’ll probably just sleep it out. Night.” She says lying down.

“night kans.” you say closing your notebook and grabbing your red converse. They were a little beat up but they were your favorites.

you walked off campus, greeting people as they passed, some people you know, some you’ve met once, and even the strangers that were polite.

you saw the bistro and smiled walking in. There was someone in front of you, a tall blonde-haired boy.

you patiently waited while he ordered his beverage, mindlessly scrolling on your phone.

you heard someone yell next and you lifted your head walking forward. The lady was turned around so you waited until her focus was on you

once she turned around your eyes widened and you stared in awe.

she was the hottest girl you’ve ever seen. Pretty auburn hair framing her face in a cute half up half down style.

freckles littered her perfect face, beautiful green eyes staring back at you.

her lips pretty and pink, bottomed lip tucked between her teeth as she smiles at you checking you out.

“What can I get for you pretty girl?” The lady in front of you asks.

it feels as if everything has stopped and you are the only ones able to move, talk and it was amazing.

“uh-uhm sorry, hi my names y/n and w-what’s yours? I’m pretty sure it’s a sexy- I mean spectacular name.” You stutter before face planting at how embarrassing you’re being.

“Ha, uh Ellie, my names Ellie. You’re funny but, what would you like to drink? Anything that makes you tick?” She says with a smile on her face as she tilts her head scratching her neck.

'you' the only word coming to your mind.

it’s only then you notice how long and slender her fingers are and the wonderful tattoo that litters her forearm.

“I would like a cappuccino please and nice tattoo, it’s beautiful, just like you. Uhm sorry I mean it’s uhm- a-a beautiful…" you sigh. "I’m gonna stop talking now.” You stutter out nervously.

“it’s fine sweetheart, thanks for the compliments.” Ellie responds with a wink. “ your cappuccino will be ready shortly. Your total is $5.95.” Ellie says smiling.

you pull out your card and pay. You look around noticing the beauty on the inside of the bistro and smile.

Ellie watches you with intent because she would be lying if she didn’t think you were extremely hot.

she wanted so badly to talk to you for longer but she had customers and a job to do. So she came up with the idea when you weren’t looking to write her number on your receipt.

“here you go. Maybe we’ll meet again sometime.” She said with a smile handing you your receipt.

“yea, maybe we will.” You say knowing damn well your coming back to this bistro everyday until you graduate college.

You walk off to go to the waiting area to wait for your name to be called for your drink. Your playing with the receipt when you catch something in the corner of your eye.

you look over and see Ellie mouthing something and making hand gestures.

you see her pointing to your hand so you look down and see numbers written down on the back of the receipt.

you look at her and smile and she smiles back before tending to the next customer that walked in.

you notice it’s a phone number, her phone number. You smile and heat rushes to your face. She also left a little note.

“text me, your cute btw, anyone ever tell you that? It was nice meeting you;)”

you smile at the note and fold the receipt and put it in your back pocket to keep for later.

you hear your name get called and grab your drink. You smile and wink at Ellie as you leave and walk out the door.

The moment you get out you jump up and down and giggle before running back to your dorm to study.

you pull out the receipt and smile at the note again. you type the number into your phone and you hesitate to text her. contemplating for an hour before finally texting her.

you: heyy:) it's me! you off work yet? (10:47pm)

ellie🤭: heyy pretty, yea I get off in 5 minutes so I'm clocking out. (10:50pm)

you: ohh ok, so how was it, your shift that is? (10:50pm)

ellie🤭: it was stressful but it got better about an hour ago when this really hot girl walked in and I gave her my number on a receipt. (10:51pm)

you: stoppp your making me nervous, thanks for the compliment btw:) (10:53pm)

ellie: ofc sweetheart, now wanna play a game? (10:53pm)

you: sure what do you have in mind els, can I call u els? (10:54pm)

ellie🤭: you can call me whatever you want love. (10:54pm)

ellie🤭: maybe 21 questions? only if your up for it? (10:55pm)

you: yea sure so do i go first or you? (10:56pm)

ellie🤭: you go ahead. (10:57pm)

you: ok, how old are you? (10:59pm)

ellie🤭: 19. same question for you. (11:00pm)

you: im 18. (11:00pm)

ellie🤭: ok, nice. (11:01pm)

you: my turn again right? ok uhm, what's your fav color? (11:03pm)

ellie🤭: I would have to say green, like my eyes.

ellie🤭: what about you? (11:04pm)

you: so far this is what 4 questions, lol ok! (11:04pm)

you: I would say my fav color is {your fav color inserted} (11:05pm)

ellie🤭: dope! that's a nice one. (11:06pm)

you: thanks! ok, i'm going to ask, what's your fav movie or show? (11:08pm)

ellie🤭: i mean i don't think I have one, there's so many to choose from yk? (11:08pm)

you: yea no I totally understand! (11:09pm)

ellie🤭: ok, my turn. how about we quit this game huh? kinda wanna hear your voice. wanna call? (11:09pm)

your eyes widened at that. ellie, wanted to call y-you. this was insane you were so lost in thought that the buzz of you phone broke you out of your trance.

ellie🤭: ? you wanna or nah, it's totally fine if not. (11:10pm)

you: no no, I wanna. you call me, go ahead!

(11:10pm)

ellie🤭: alright!

ellie🤭: btw it 11:11 make a wish! (11:11pm)

you: oh stop it ellie! (i'm so making a wish right now!) (11:11pm)

you hear the ringing and immediately pick up after the first ring. at first it's quiet and then ellie finally speaks up.

"hey." she says in a raspy voice that makes your skin tingle. you smile at the sound of her voice.

"hey ellie." you say, her name rolling of your tongue like honey. fuck she loved the way you sounded. so sweet and sexy. she just wanted you all to herself already.

"say my name again, sounds hot when you say it." ellie demands with a chuckle at your little squeak of surprise.

"w-what ellie?" you ask totally confused on what ellie was asking. you lied, you weren't entirely confused but ellie did make you very flustered and very nervous.

sure you could dominate women and be bold at times but something about ellies demeanor and the way she carried herself it made you want to be submissive.

you were a very bold and playful person, you could tease and be funny too but around ellie, nuh uh, you were silenced by her words that made down there tingle.

was it also way to late to mention that you've never "done it" with a girl before. yea sure you've had a kiss here and there but you've never done it.

you were close but then the girls parents walked in and you were utterly embarrassed. the girl ghosted you the next day.

so now you hope that same fate won't happen with ellie.

"god you were so gorgeous in the shop today, couldn't keep my fucking eyes off you." ellie admits breathlessly.

"your so kind, thank you and trust me, I was a mess talking to you." you say with a chuckle.

"I know other ways I can turn you into a mess." she says with a giggle. you giggle nervously and bite your lip.

"mmm yeah? that's something i'm looking forward to in the future." you say, ellie not even knowing how hard your gushing right now.

you guys have been on the phone for over and hour or two now and you were loving it.

she chuckled on the other end of the line. "so, are you more of a coffee girl or an alcohol girl?" you ask ellie.

theres a sigh on the line before you hear a snort, "I mean I prefer alcohol rather than coffee." ellie says.

"ellie. cmon, you literally work in a coffee shop, where you have to deal with coffee grounds and the smell, everyday." you say playfully rolling your eyes.

"woah! just cuz I work at a coffee shop doesn't mean I like coffee babe, I just needed the job, plus it was close by campus." ellie argues back playfully.

"oh yea sure because ellie loves working in a place where she doesn't even love the products in the store. If you adore alcohol, why not be a bartender?" you rebuttal.

this playful banter made ellie laugh and you laughed too. "because I don't wanna sit here and toss vodka in a cup, I wanna drink it, not serve it to others." ellie says as she turns off her room light.

"I'm working in a coffee shop cuz I wanted the money and because I don't get tempted with alcohol all around me, just caffeine." ellie says causing you to burst out laughing.

"ok, 1, that was hilarious and 2. nice point els." you say biting your lip as you kick your feet around on your bed and giggle.

you were sure as hell lucky that this campus was big enough to have two separate rooms. you didn't wanna wake up kansas.

its silent for a little before you just randomly blurt out, "you wanna meet again sometime? maybe like a date? just to hang out and talk more?" you ask.

it's silent on ellies side of the phone for a bit before you hear shuffling. "hey my roomates back but yea totally! Meet me at the water fountain in front of the campus at 7:30pm tomorrow, we can talk in the bistro if you want?" ellie asks.

"yea yea, that's perfect." you say smiling as you bite your fingernails out of excitement.

"alright great it's a date, see you tomorrow pup." she says before the line disconects.

you put your phone down, grab you pillow and scream into it. your going on a date with the ellie williams, the hottest girl you know and you couldn't wait.

it's the next day. your walking to your class with kansas. you were telling her about ellie, every single detail.

the details from last night and the bistro. "she was just like so unreal kans, she called me babe, and pretty girl and so much more but eeee! I'm meeting her tonight!" you say with excitement.

"good for you girl! glad one of us is getting excitement." kansas says rolling her eyes playfull with a dramatic sigh to which you shove her and laugh.

"what do you even mean by that kans?" you say chuckling. she stops, looks at you and lifts her hand.

she lays her palm flat right side up and sticks up her middle and ring finger and makes a fingering motion with her fingers.

you gasp and push her quickly walking away while kansas laughs and runs to catch up to you.

"your sick kansas!" you exclaim.

"it's the truth, I can tell ellie knows how to please too. especially since you described her fingers as-what was it?- long and slender?" she says before snorting and laughing.

you laugh with her but roll your eyes at her mocking. "yea yea, keep it up and i'll find a new roommate." you say before walking into class with kansas.

*tap tap tap* is the sound your feet make as you stare at the clock, counting the seconds waiting until the clock strikes 5pm.

you were in your last class for the day and you just had two hours to get ready for your date with ellie.

you were super excited and also kinda surprised you didn't like see her at all in the halls.

she did say she goes here but maybe she was in a different section. You watched as the clock stuck exactly 5:00 and you began packing your notebooks and textbooks in your bag.

"Make sure to read through pages 25 to 37, there will be some paragraphs to study for your exams." your teacher exclaims.

you nod and walk out the door meeting with kansas. "hey girl." you say as you rub your face.

"what's wrong?" she asks as she shoves the last bit of books in her bag.

"I just feel so drained right now, Professor Popovich's class was so draining. I just don't wanna be a buzzkill for my date with ellie tonight." you express with a frown on your face.

"well I mean he is like 60 years old, what'd you expect his class to be like? Energizing? Just get to the dorm, shower and clear your mind and I'll pick an outfit for you and then you'll be good to go, ok?" kansas offers with a smile.

"ha, your right there, thanks kans I really would like that I appreciate you so much!" you say smiling wrapping your arm around her shoulder as you walk to your shared dorm room.

As you guys finally make it towards the dorm, you immediate hit the shower, clicking your phones vibe playlist as you sing and dance in the shower.

you hear a ding from your phone indicating a message notification has come in. you finish rinsing off your body and making sure your nice and fresh and then turn off the water to get out.

You wrap your towel around your self and grab your phone. you look at the time it's 7:15.

You look at your notifications and see that it's ellie that texted you, you open messages and read her message.

ellie🤭: I probably will get there a little early so, see you soon! (7:13pm)

you: ok, i'm getting ready now so i'll be leaving soon! (7:16pm)

ellie🤭: 👍🏻

you smile and do your routine, you don't put any makeup on just some mascara and lipgloss.

you step out and put on the clothes that kansas picked out for you.

it was very cold outside so kansas wanted you to prepared for when your meeting her outside but still wanted you to look a little skimpy and sexy.

"hmm sexy but cute, thanks kans." you say smiling and hugging her. "but I think i'm gonna wear sneakers instead babes, heels are. a bit much." you express grabbing your red high top converse and putting them on.

"Bye Kansas! thank you again for the help babes!" you say hugging her one last time before walking towards the door.

"anytime. I'll do anything for you. also i'll be out at a party so if you and ellie need the dorm to you know..." she smirks and makes two peace signs and rub them together.

"Oh piss off kans!" you say shutting the door as you hear her laugh. you quickly make your way to the front of the campus and see the water fountain.

you see someone sitting there, a girl in a greenish flannel with a black shirt on and jeans.

you notice that the sleeves of the flannel are rolled up and you see those familiar slender fingers and that sexy tattoo.

"ellie?" you say with a smirk on your face.

the girl looks up and smiles at you. "Hey beautiful, missed me?" she exclaims opening her arms for a hug.

"I may have missed you." you say with a smirk as you hug her. you wrap your arms around her neck and she wraps her arms around your waist.

"let's go to the bistro shall we?" she says with a smile. you nod and let go of her. you both make the short walk to the bistro and ellie unlocks the door with the key.

"so what do you wanna do?" ellie asks as she hops on the counter staring at you as you walk around.

"you know, yesterday was my first time in here. I've always passed this place but kansas tired her hardest to avoid it. you wanna know why?" you say with a smile on your face as you glance at her.

she nods, "Yea sure, why?" ellie asks.

"cuz some dude named Michael that apparently works here, he cheated on her and then made her look like a total fool, so she never steps foot in here again. she said that if she does, she might just toss boiling hot coffee in his face and down his pants too." you say with a chuckle.

"I never judged her for it because she was right. she had every right too but I didn't want her getting in trouble so I just avoided this place out of love for her." you finish as you make your way next to ellie on the counter.

"kansas sounds badass and I hate to break it to you but Michael actually quit 4 weeks ago." ellie announces as she crosses her arms over her chest drawing your eyes attention.

you look back at her and bite your bottom lip, "are you serious?" you ask. she nods with a slight smirk and scrunch of her nose.

"your telling me I could have met you a long time ago?" you ask with your eyes slightly widened.

"yep, I'm always here." she says rubbing her neck. your eyes drift to the movement, to her tattooed arm.

her forearm muscle flexing at her movement's. "What's a crazy story you have els? anything that makes you tick with embarrassment?" you say with a smile.

"hey, that's my saying!" she exclaims with a laugh but answers your question.

"I do actually. I have a few but those are for another date, if you earn it." she teases leaning closer to your face.

"Test me, I bet i'll win your heart over." you say with a smirk challenging her as you lean closer.

"Ok. well..." she says as she leans away from you to fix her position. " I have this one memory in the back of my mind but uhm. you see this tattoo. so this is not an embarrassing story more of a backstory into my life ok?"

you nod with understanding and she smiles.

"Ok so when I was 14, I uhm was playing around in this abandoned like lab. I didn't know what I was doing cause I was being foolish and having fun. I was with my girlfr- my uhm friend and she dared me to climb this ladder that led to all the tall chemical tubes or containers. So uhm me being the daredevil that I am." she says pointing at herself and smiling.

you laugh at her silliness and bite your lip as you look at her lovingly and intently listening to the story.

"yea total daredevil ladies and gentlemen. don't get your panties and boxers in a bunch because don't you fear, ellie the daredevil is here!" you say welcoming her with jazz hands.

you hear her laugh and you want to record it so badly so you can have on repeat for the rest of your life.

"yea yea, I'm so cool I know. back to my story though. I climbed the ladder. now what I didn't know was that there were pipes above me filled with this chemical liquid. So one of the pipes had a hole in them and the liquid gushed on my arm, luckily I stepped back in time but half my arm got like burned or something. so, when I got outta there, my friend, she wrapped it up so I could hide it from my dad. and then when I turned 17 I got the tattoo to hide it. and that's the backstory behind my tattoo." she says with a tightlipped smile.

"wow, well a beautiful tattoo for a beautiful girl." you say scooting a bit closer to her.

she inches her hand closer to yours as she stares at your side profile. she thought you couldn't get any more beautiful, well right now, in this lighting you just did.

you inch your hand closer to her until you place your pinky on her hand. she looks down at your hands and fully grabs your hand to lift it to intertwine it with hers.

you both make eye contact with each other and smile at each other. "I really wanna kiss you right now." you admit to her.

"Then kiss me princess." she says leaning closer to your lips before looking down at your lips, smile fading as she grabs your face and kisses you.

it's sweet and light at first but slowly turns into a needy and passionate kiss. you both pawing at each other. whimpers and whines coming from your lips.

a sweet breathy whisper of her name rings in her ears that makes her skin tingle with goosebumps.

no one has ever made her feel the way you make her feel, so euphoric and so happy.

she wanted all of you and more, she never wanted to let you go from the moment she made eye contact with you yesterday.

you both break the kiss of your lives, a glistening string of saliva connecting the kiss of love that you two just shared.

"wow that was-" you start. before she kisses you again. "Please stop talking for a second and enjoy it." she says before her lips are right back on yours.

you lean back as ellie leans more into you until your laying on the counter and ellie is kind of on top of you never braking the kiss.

"els wait. wait." you say lightly pushing her off you and getting up. "As badly as I wanna do this, I feel like we should take it just a little bit slowly. maybe 3 dates in? I wanna do this just as badly as you it's just i've never done it before with a girl or in general. I want it to be special, not at your job no offense." you say shyly as you bite your lip.

she's silent for a bit before she speaks up. "I'm sorry, just eager to be your first. I completely understand though. I guess this means until next time?" she says as she hops down and stands between your thighs rubbing them.

"yea sure, I guess i'll go then, let you get back to your dorm." you say with a smile.

"hmm or I could walk you to your dorm so I know where I can find you next time." she says with an eyebrow raised with her bottom lip between her teeth.

"no... it's ok seriously I don't want you to go through all that trouble els." you say waving your hand at her.

"mama, lemme walk you to your dorm. as a mater of fact, I am walking you to your dorm. c'mon let's go." she says as she pecks a kiss at your lips before walking towards the door.

"c'mere, let's go." she says motioning her head towards the exit of the shop so she can close up.

you roll your eyes playfully and walk out the door thanking her for opening it for you.

you grab her hand and you look at her with a smile as you see a slight pink tint on her cheeks.

you finally make it to your dorm and check the time. It's currently almost 10pm.

"thank you for this ellie, I loved tonight and I want to do this again." you say with a genuine smile on your face.

"anytime, I definitely will have something better planned then just sitting in a coffee shop and talking.

"ha! ok els, get back to your dorm safe yea?" you say with a concerned look on your face.

"I will princess. goodnight." she says smiling at you. you smile back and bite your lip.

"goodnight ellie." you respond. both of you just stand there none of you moving.

you both are startled by a door opening and a voice. "oh sorry, I just heard voices and didn't know what was going on." a girl from the dorm across you said.

"no no tess your totally fine. sorry to wake you, goodnight." you say with a smile.

"night!" she smiles back at the both of you guys and then shuts her door.

"ok seriously, bye ellie, goodnight," you say before leaning over to kiss her one last time.

she kisses you back with the same passion and smiles into it. "I'll text you when I get back." ellie says before breaking the kiss and walking away with a wave.

"Goodnight beautiful, until next time." she says as she walks backwards leaving you.

you walk into your dorm room and sigh with joy as you lean against the door.

until next time ellie...

Taglist: @ribbonprincess @r3starttt @dollyfl1rt @raynesbandaids @quiet-villian + anyone else who wants to join!

[sebbyisland]

This is a weird question but you have good vibes so do you know any good shoujos for beginners? If you dont then just delete this lol

OH this is the best question i have ever received! Thank you! I hope this can be a helpful resource for you or anyone else interested in getting into shojo!!!

I’m gonna define “Good Beginner Shojo” as stories with an interesting premise, strong narrative(? this is VERY subjective sorry?), and also lacks some of the more squicky/uncomfortable tropes: predatory romantic relationships, borderline sexual assault as flirting, or incest**. This list is split between short and long series. I’ll also try to keep the genres diverse! These are all stories I’ve personally read/watched and are popular enough that they’ve been officially translated in different languages.

Good Shojo for Beginners, Short Term Investment

Princess Tutu: A dark fairy-tale-esque anime about a young girl who studies ballet in the day and fights demons at night using ballet + emotional intelligence. The deeper plot is that the entire cast are treated like puppets by a grand and elusive storymaster, and they all must struggle to escape being doomed by the narrative. There’s a lot of references to Swan Lake, the girl keeps getting turned into a duck, many emotions are felt. Complete, one anime season.

From Me to You: shy young girl is a social outcast due to misunderstandings that blew out of proportion. She receives an olive branch from a boy in her class and this gives her the confidence to start making friends and support herself!! The aforementioned boy is also her love interest and is endearingly too flustered to make a move. high school drama ensues. Two anime seasons, manga complete ~120 chapters.

Magic Knight Rayearth: three girls get transported to a fantasy world and have to learn to work together in giant magic mecha suits order to rescue a trapped princess + save the world. They make friends along the way as they try to fight monsters. One anime season, manga complete ~30 chapters.

Kase-san: sapphic high school romance with a jock girl and gardener girl who plants flowers near her practice field… they are both kinda shy and build up confidence as their bond gets deeper. it’s just 100% fluff. anime OVA and complete manga, ~15 chapters, there's also a sequel-series though

Library Wars: what it says on the tin. militant librarians fight the government to stop book censorship. the story follows a soldier in training: a reckless young woman who dreams of meeting the "prince" who inspired her to take up arms to protect books. this is more of an action-comedy than a political drama, so don't expect too much from the plot, but it's fun to watch our failgirl get put into situations. one anime season, 73 chapter manga, live action movie. you'll be okay just watching the anime but obvi the manga expands more on the characters + world building.

Orange: high school girl receives letters from her future self that tell her that a boy from her friend group is planning on committing suicide. She works with her friends to prevent this from happening, but things are definitely more complicated than they seem. An emotional drama, discussion of mental health including depression and suicidal thoughts. It’s a really heartfelt series. One anime season, ~38 chapter manga. (originally published in a shoujo magazine, then switched to seinen probably for marketing reasons.*)

In the Clear Moonlit Dusk: Masculine studious girl feels distant from her classmates who idolize her as a “prince,” but then she catches the attention of the local sparkly bad boy “prince.” An innocent, fluffy high school romance about a prince and her prince. SO many sparkly anime eyes, if that's you're thing. It’s a simple plot, but I enjoy the execution a lot. Ongoing, currently ~27 chapters

Tokyo Mew Mew: Captain Planet but magical girl. group of teen girls get accidentally infused with the DNA of endangered animal species + magic and transform into a hero squad to fight aliens trying to destroy earth's resources! Their cover for their secret headquarters is a maid café, where they all work part time. Manga complete ~30 chapters, anime adaption complete + one season of anime reboot.

Good Shojo for Beginners, Long Term Investment

Yona of the Dawn: historic fantasy setting, coming of age for a naive young princess who grows into a capable leader by abandoning her sheltered life within palace walls for…plot reasons (major spoiler in 1st chapter LOL). there’s a slow but thorough exploration of the political issues in her kingdom, i would say the world-building is an unexpected strength of the story. She’s supported by her hot magical anime boy harem, but the story emphasizes found family dynamics over the romcom. there’s still a primary love interest established early on, it’s just VERY slow burn. one anime season, manga ongoing 300+ chapters

Kageki Shojo!!: Follow the adventures of an all-girls vocational school to train to become members of the historic Kouka all-girls musical theater troupe, where women play roles for all genders. The protagonist is a girl who grew up watching Kouka performances and never lost her sense of childlike wonder. Theater doesn’t come naturally for her, but she’s also very talented. Fun cast, lightly discusses social issues as they come up with sincerity and care. Very reminiscent of 80s shojo. One anime season, Ongoing manga 90+ chapters

My Love Mix-Up! what if there was an ACTUAL high school love triangle. boy likes girl who likes a different boy, but that boy is interested in the aforementioned boy. what if this was all a misunderstanding and actually boy and girl like the same boy. what if that was also a misunderstanding. have you ever been a dumbass high school student trying your best. protagonist is bi king. 120~ chapters, no anime, but a live action show.

Ouran High School Host Club: ah yes a classic romcom. girl gets a scholarship to an elite high school and accidentally falls into debt on her first day to the school host club (boys who professionally flirt with girls during lunch). To pay off her debt, she pretends to be a guy at school so she can work as a host. The comedy is a blend of making fun of shojo tropes and the disaster personalities that make up the supporting cast. it's funnier the more shojo you have read/watched before this one. one anime season, 200+ chapters, complete

BL Metamorphosis: elderly widow accidentally reads a BL manga and gets invested, she bonds with a high school girl who works at the bookstore about it. Very cute parallels between her late husband and the fictional love story. Depicts fandom culture without normalizing the creepy and invasive BL fan behavior. Reminds me a lot of spending time with my grandma, which makes me want to cry.~90 chapters.

Sailor Moon: I know i know everyone is going to tell you this but it's actually a classic for a reason. (Sapphic!!!) magical girls traveling across space and time? Fighting evil with the power of friendship and love? Cute character designs? It's a good time. Protagonist is a total brat (normal 14yr old!!!!) AND a good hero. I'm putting this last because I wanted the other stories to have a chance, but it's honestly so good like please. There technically an inappropriate age gap relationship but it's like the disney movie Tangled where you don't realize it until you literally look up their ages. 150+ chapters, complete.

**When I first read shojo, I was a very young child, basically the target audience, but there are things I read as a child that would make me feel a bit disgusted to read now. Knowing this, I want people who are new to shojo to make informed decisions. There are problematic tropes present in MANY well loved stories--and they are well-loved for a reason!!! These complexities are part of reading and enjoying fiction. I've excluded some of my all-time favorite stories from my childhood thanks to the criteria I set as good "beginner" shojo--but I also don't want to contribute to a world that divides stories as "problematic" and "unproblematic" as if such a binary exists. Ultimately, this list is just based on my PERSONAL taste, what I deem more comfortable to read than other stories, so I can't guarantee that you'll have the same experience. I can't even promise I would have the same experience re-reading some of these, since the stuff that made me comfortable/uncomfortable in the past has changed in the present. It's all very subjective. That's why I'm intentionally specific about the tropes I've excluded. Note that this doesn't mean the stories listed are not littered with their own flaws. I hope this disclaimer didn't seem too excessive, haha.

[genderqueerdykes]

Hello, young queer person here! I was hoping you could give me some advice.

I’m nearing the legal adult age, which is the age I feel ready to physically enter queer spaces. I have one big problem, however. I am afraid of alcohol and drunk people. It’s a purely irrational fear, not really stemming from anything traumatizing. I just get early nervous being around drunk people. I think I could put up with it in a club, but there’ no way I could ever enter a bar/pub. Problem, most queer spaces are bars!!!

Are there any other, non-alcoholic types of establishments that are commonly queer spaces? Things I could fill into a ‘queer [_] near me’ search? I just wanna meet more queer people, but I won’t be able to do so comfortably if I’m surrounded by alcohol.

hello there, this is an extremely important issue that i feel not a lot of people talk about, so i'd like to give some advice for sure

the thing to keep in mind is its usually best to stay away from alcohol at a young age anyway, due to how its likely to be far more damaging to your body anyway, it's not good to be around. plus alcohol just adds an element of unpredictability which can turn sour very quickly, so that's understandable!

i would say a good first stop is checking to see if your local university has an LGBTQ group or something to that effect where you can ask about resources in the local area. if not you may be able to google lgbt/queer (or specific identity) events in my area, you can check to see if you have a trans resource center, sometimes gender affirming care clinics can try to put you in touch with queer organizations and spaces for people who are either minors or need other places to go that aren't oriented around alcohol. it's going to depend on the political climate of your local area, so your mileage will vary

your local library/ies may have information on this as well- many libraries have tons of resources for queer organizations and meet-ups, some even advertise specifically through the library since they have 'all ages' friendly events! i've found a few queer things in my city that i wasn't aware of before thanks to my local library, so it's worth a shot to give them a look if possible!

some people have a local committee who are great at posting about this kind of stuff on social media, so you may want to check facebook and instagram. it may be possible to find smaller, grassroots get-togethers, more low-key events, events safe for children and people under the legal drinking age, or other people who do not want to be around alcohol on these types of platforms, i find that instagram is used a lot for these kinds of things. you may just have to search for certain queer keywords in your area before you find something appropriate for your needs. you may also be able to search for your local area on reddit but that'll depend as well.

i hope any of that is of use to you! take care, i know it's not easy whenever you have certain trigger or thing you need to avoid for one reason or another. let us know if you need any more information!

[puckpocketed]

about

deepest and sincerest apologies if you came here because I was posting about one or more of your guys. this is a Sharks blog first and foremost! I do, however, follow a lot of teams. navigation + tierlist below

This is a part-time Australian Ice Hockey League blog that follows the CBR Brave! I take photos of home games when I can, find them under -> #puck!cam Otherwise, feel free to filter #auspuck.

When not LARPing as my local team’s socmed manager:

I write essays about hockey -> #my writing

all gifs i've made filed under -> #puck!gif specific team tags will look like this: #p!gif:[team abbreviation] eg. #p!gif:sharks, #p!gif:wings

transcripts -> #puck!script

gif requests -> #p!gif:req

I also gif my guys and their goals, passing sequences, poke checks, plays that go nowhere, little things I think are super cool -> #puckpocketed details series

I poke around at prospects and produce very unserious vibe checks, filed under -> #puckscouting

I also paint once in a blue moon. watch out!!!!

TIERLIST & politics

Sharks Hockey first always forever ! <3

keeping things light. no enemies only babygirls i havent met!

The most narratively satisfying things are tragedies and tragicomedies!!! All Things Through Her (The Bit)

players aren’t their orgs. If I say I like a team, this doesn’t mean I like every player, and vice versa!!

The narratives are lying to you!!! LOOK PAST THEM. THE HOCKEY TELLS THE TRUTH!!!!!

I love hockey SO much !! Love of the game comes before ANYTHING, including teams!!! Talk to me about strategy. Show me spinoramas and ankle breaking dekes and head fakes and set plays. Talk to me about face-offs and your favourite underrated blorbo.

no seriously please send me propaganda i love propaganda i am a hair trigger away from adopting new guys. i've done it mid-game and id do it again!!!!!!!!!!!

Team rivalries don’t matter to me. My girls are beating the hell out of each other? The beautiful gaeme ...

i’m here for a laff and it truly aint that serious <3

Do Not expect me to have any couth about the CBR Brave!! I keep things light with the NHL but all that doesn’t apply here — I WILL be spiteful and unhinged!! im sorry the sports nationalism got to me!!!

that being said: CALIFORNIA SWEEEP!

housekeeping

hey please dont be weird in the tags of my posts about teams/players i clearly like. yeah even That Team. i don't want to hear about how you hope someone "escapes" or how much you hate xyz player. make your own post.

this is a non-rpf blog. I might lean into the narratives but tbh I’m not into men and don’t get much out of romantic shipping. Nothing against it though! I think everyone should engage with hockey however they like as long as it does no harm to themselves or others. Ride that ship into the sunset my loves we are holding fins 👍

gifs, videos, memes, photos by me will come described with alt text. I try my best as someone who has used a screenreader in the past, but please let me know if I miss anything.

30/07/2024 sources for any media i post will be linked to a live site + using the wayback machine when I can, or just live websites when I can't (in the case of youtube videos). yeah ok i finally gave in @ that one anon calling this wikipedia editor behaviour you are correct and WHAT OF IT!!!!!!!

5/08/2024 - NOTE live website links always precede archive links whether I label them or not. if there is no link 'pair' it means the wayback machine can't snapshot the link i put up. In the case of twitter/instagram and other such sites that require a logged in device to view certain pages i will do my best to grab the direct img link and archive that.

[ link 1, archive link // link 2, archive link ] <- self explanatory, long form.

[ x, x ] <- single source of media, will use for aesthetic purposes on gifsets and formal web weaving. same with: [ x || y // x || y ] <- "//" double slash denotes a new source, x is the live link, y is the archive link.

if a link or source is not immediately obvious I may have: 1) done an in-line link, click any underlined or bold-underlined text; 2) I might have missed it by mistake, please be patient and maybe shoot me a flag about it in my inbox/dms if you want !!! we are all human and I'm doing my best <3

I'm aware this is not the most fastidious archival practice! my goal isn't to be the arbiter of archival standards for sourcing. I don't know how long I'll love hockey or these teams, how long tumblr will be around, but going from here I'd just like this blog to be a place where fans years from now can come back to and not have to do as much digging as I did to source media.

[kimbappykidding]

You co-owned a coffee shop with your best friend just a few streets away from Seventeen's building, However, you weren't into mainstream media so you weren't really aware of that. Being in the city centre you knew there were idols and actresses and models galore but never really paid them any attention. You preferred the ordinary people, after all it was them who came into your cafe most often...or so you thought.

You had many regulars but your favourite was the boy with glasses who you'd nicknamed cute gamer guy. He was always polite, quiet and friendly. He'd usually stay for a few hours and he'd either read or play games on his laptop hence the nickname. You liked to read too and often discussed your latest and favourite books. When he played games you'd get stuck just watching him because he was really good. You'd stare amazed and forget you had work to be doing. You figured he must be a student of something as he often came in at odd hours and seemed like he had some time to kill. You didn't know much about him but saw him most weeks and got to know one another that way. He'd always ask about your day which you thought was nice and compliment your baking. He was cute too and your friend had long since suggested you should ask him out. You didn't want to just because you felt it might be weird. "I don't even know him! I only know he’s called Wonwoo because I put it on his coffee cup otherwise I wouldn't even know that! I don't know his age or what he does for a living! He's basically a stranger" you argued when your friend Mari brought it up again but she just rolled her eyes. "You see him pretty much every week of the year, that's more than you see your family! He is not a stranger". "True but I don't know him enough to ask him out! He could be a terrible person, or a sexist jerk or a..." you trailed off to see him standing at the counter. He was looking down at his phone and you prayed you hadn't been speaking loud enough for him to hear. You hurried forwards and smiled nervously "sorry to keep you waiting, what can I get for you?". He smiled "it's no problem, can I please get a chai tea and a brownie please Y/n?". "coming right up" you nodded and got to work. He asked you how your week had been and you asked him about his day then he took a seat with his tea and snack. "Did he hear us?" Mari asked and you shook your head "I think we got away with it". You were wrong.

As you were getting ready to close up Wonwoo came up to you "thanks for the snack, it was great as usual". You smiled "I'm glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for telling me". He nodded "I also just wanted to say...I'm 26 years old and I'm from Changwon originally. I'm a performer for a local company and I promise I'm not shady or dangerous...". You blushed "does this mean you heard our conversation?". Wonwoo nodded "I didn't mean to but I just wanted to let you know, I've been wanting to ask you out for a while and if the only thing stopping us was you not knowing my age or what I do...well I wanted to correct that". You smiled "consider it corrected". "In that case would you like to go on a date with me?" Wonwoo asked "I'm free this weekend and you can pick whatever we do". You smiled "sounds good". So the two of you exchanged numbers and agreed to meet up Saturday night. Mari was ecstatic and kept jumping up and down on your way home. "So he's 26" she said and you nodded "only 2 years older than me". "Which is an acceptable age gap" she nodded "and what did he say he does for a living again?". "He said he's a performer at a local company". "wait what does that mean?" she asked and you paused "I have no idea...I assumed he's a local singer or dancer or something. I probably should've asked. "Well that's what the date is for" she grinned. You suggested dinner and a movie and Wonwoo agreed to pick you up at your house. Mari helped you put together the perfect outfit and then you waited for Wonwoo. You were early (as always) and were sitting in your living room when a car arrived. An extremely expensive car so neither of you expected it to be here for you. Your friend sighed "I hate when cars just pull up outside our house like that! It's such a fancy car too". You nodded looking at the expensive car and wondered what it must be like to have a car like that. When the car didn't move you paused "why isn't it going? Wonwoo is going to be here soon and it might block him". Mari frowned "let's give it a second and then tell them to move". You nodded when the car door opened and who stepped out of the car but Wonwoo. "Holy shit!" your friend cried and you stared. "That can't be his car" you said but Mari laughed "well it sure looks like it seeing as he's driving it. Y/n if he has a car like that then he must be rich! I thought you said he was a performer not some sort of prince!". "That is what he said" you replied watching him come closer to the door "maybe he just inherited the car or won it as a prize". Mari smiled "well however he got it, it's glorious and you're going to ride in it!". As she said that the doorbell dinged and your friend squealed. You opened the door to find Wonwoo dressed smart-casual in a shirt and some very nice jeans. "Hi Y/n" he smiled "I've got you something" and held out some flowers. You immediately felt touched because nobody had ever bought you flowers before. "That's so kind of you thank you...let me put them inside" you said and opened the door to find your friend standing there where she'd clearly been spying on the two of you. "Wonwoo you remember my friend and business partner Mari" you said and he nodded "it's nice to see you again". "You too" she smiled "nice car by the way". Wonwoo blushed slightly "thank you...I try and take good care of it". "I bet!" Mari nodded and you elbowed her. You placed the flowers in the hall and told Mari you were leaving. "Have fun!" she called waving and Wonwoo led you to his car. You opened the door and were shocked at how nice the inside of the car was. You wouldn't trade your beaten-up old car for anything but this car was amazing! It was so spacious and comfy. You felt like you were in some sort of massage chair and the dashboard was so big and colourful. "If you're cold I can turn on the seat warmers" Wonwoo said and your eyes widened "seat warmers?". He smiled "yeah, want me to show you?". You nodded and he pressed a button "it might take a few seconds to warm up". You nodded admiring the architecture when you felt the warmth and gasped slightly "I can feel it! That's so nice". Wonwoo smiled "the temperature control is just there" pointing to a dial "so feel free to make it warmer or cooler". You nodded "cool" and tried not to act too awestruck with this space-age car. Wonwoo must've sensed your unease because he started asking you some casual questions and as you chatted you felt less nervous. You arrived at the cinema and Wonwoo parked up. As you were getting out a guy gawked at the car and you thought Wonwoo would say something but instead he put a hat on and pointedly pulled it over his face which you thought was odd considering you were going inside. "This way" he said and he led you inside keeping his head down. You bought tickets and snacks but Wonwoo didn't take his hat off until he was in the dark cinema. You chatted until the film started and then watched the film. It was a good film and was good as any cinema date could be. Wonwoo gave you free rein of the snacks and you had a cute hand-brush moment halfway through. Wonwoo laughed at all the same parts as you and you were sat quite close together without actually touching. So the night was going pretty well as you left your screen and headed to dinner. On your way out there was a big group of girls and you saw Wonwoo pull his hat down tighter. "Hey mind if we go out this way?" he asked pointing to a side door away from the crowd and you nodded, exiting around the back of the building. Wonwoo drove you to the restaurant and opened the door for you. "Table for 2" he said giving the waiter his name and the waiter nodded "of course". You'd picked a restaurant you were familiar with and smiled at the familiar sights and smells. "Have you ever been here before?" you asked Wonwoo. He nodded "yes I like it". "Me too" you smiled as the waiter told you to follow him. "My friend and I must've been here 20 times we never get the fancy table" you said pointing to the table behind their water feature which was very private and highly coveted. Every time you came it was taken and you couldn't even book it. But tonight it was empty. "Well maybe tonight will be different" Wonwoo said and sure enough the waiter took you to the table. "Here are your menus and some complimentary waters. I'll be back soon to take your drinks order" the waiter said and you turned to Wonwoo. "How did you get this table? They wouldn't even let me book it for my friend's 21st!". Wonwoo shrugged "I guess we just got lucky". You thought he wasn't telling you something but didn't say anything. The meal continued and everything was still going well. Wonwoo was very interesting and talking to him was so chill but also fun. He had an effortless quality about him, he seemed to look effortlessly good, was effortlessly funny and effortlessly nice but it wasn't annoying or forced. It was just how he was and you felt like you'd known him for ages. When Wonwoo went to the bathroom you checked your phone and saw 20 messages from Mari. You opened your phone and decided to call her instead of texting. "What happened are you okay?" You asked. "Y/n it's Wonwoo" she said and you froze "what is he a serial killer?". "What? No, he's a kpop idol! That's why he's so rich and always turns up at the cafe at odd hours! He's a successful idol and has been for years. I knew I'd seen him before". You pause "no he can't be". "He is, Google Wonwoo Seventeen and you'll see". You did and your phone was flooded with results. "Oh my god..." you said and your friend laughed "see! Y/n you're dating an idol!". You had no idea what to say but spotted Wonwoo on his way back so quickly hung up. Wonwoo smiled sitting down "would you like another drink?". You tried not to let on you knew who he was and it was surprisingly easy. The second Wonwoo sat back down things just felt normal and it made you question if this was the right Wonwoo. Maybe they were brothers or just really looked alike...until you went to leave and Wonwoo's suspicious hiding behaviour kicked in again. There were some men in black coats outside the restaurant with cameras and Wonwoo spotted them putting his hat back on. "You ready?" he asked and you nodded. "It looks a little busy so grab me if I'm moving too quickly" he said and you nodded. The second you stepped outside Wonwoo shot off, head down trying to avoid the cameramen's attention. You thought you'd made it when one of them shouted Wonwoo and they started following you. Luckily Wonwoo was in the car park and the gate closed behind you stopping them. You shot Wonwoo a look and he shrugged "some people know me from my performing". You almost laughed as that was his explanation of him being a world-famous idol. You just nodded not wanting to force him to tell you before he was ready and got in the car. Wonwoo drove you home and pulled up outside. "So I had a really good time tonight" he said and you nodded "me too I really enjoyed myself". Wonwoo smiled "great, so would you maybe like to do this again sometime?". You nodded "I would" and Wonwoo smiled "great so I'll text you..." and then he trailed off. "What?" you asked and he smiled "nothing you just look really nice in this light". You blushed slightly but smiled "you should see my view" and Wonwoo smiled. "Do I get a goodnight kiss?" you asked and were pleasantly surprised to see the boy blushing. "Of course" he nodded and leaned across to kiss you. Wonwoo was clearly a good kisser and given he was a famous idol that made sense. He probably had lots of experience in this area but you ignored that and just focused on your moment with him. When you separated you took in a breath and Wonwoo smiled "that was a pretty excellent first kiss". You smiled "I'm glad you agree, see you later Wonwoo" and got out of the car. You managed not to look back and only when you safely inside did you squeal. Wonwoo returned home to find a few calls from his publicist saying he'd been spotted downtown but they hadn't managed to get any photos. Wonwoo was relieved and his members smiled when they saw him "so how was the date with the mysterious cafe girl?" Mingyu asked. "Ahh yes the place you have banned us from" Scoups said, "it better not have been for nothing!". Wonwoo smiled "it was good...she's so funny and interesting. Not to mention pretty". "Did you kiss her?" Dk asked bluntly and Jeonghan hit him "come on this is Wonwoo we're talking about" before everyone noticed Wonwoo's reaction. He'd frozen and was purposefully staring at his feet to hide his blush. "You kissed her?" Hoshi asked and Wonwoo nodded "she asked for a goodnight kiss so I gave her one". The guys all roared with excitement and began cheering. Once they'd settled down a little bit Jun asked an important question "how did she react when you told her you were an idol". Wonwoo paused "I'm not sure...". "Why? Could you not tell how she took it?" Joshua asked and Wonwoo shook his head "no I just didn't really tell her". "Wonwoo!" Seungkwan cried and Woozi laughed "even after the cameramen chased you down the street?". "I just said people knew me from my performing". "So you didn't tell her what you did at all?" Scoups asked and Wonwoo shook his head "she asked me about work but I managed to be vague". "Well that's not going to work all the time" The8 said "if you want to see her again you have to tell her". Wonwoo sighed "I know but it was nice to date someone who had no idea what I did! A person who I knew wasn't swayed by it". The guys all knew what that felt like so agreed. When you got back from your date you were buzzing but when you woke up the next morning you felt a little different. Last night you'd gone through all the positives but this morning you began to think of the negatives. The cameras last night were just a taste of the harassment you'd receive for dating a kpop idol. There were also stalkers, hate comments on all your Instagram photos and death threats to look forward to. Not to mention you couldn't have a normal relationship. Wonwoo would work a lot and even when he wasn't you couldn't hurt go out in public. Wonwoo had to be careful where he went and you realised last night he probably loosened the rules for you. You weren't sure if that was the life you wanted. Relationships in the public eye were very challenging and that was if Wonwoo ever wanted a relationship. The internet told you the names of many girls who had uprooted their lives only to be used and thrown away by idols. What if Wonwoo did the same? He seemed nice but he was an idol, he wasn't an innocent kid. You didn't know him and he could do that to you. When you came downstairs Mari smiled "so...how does it feel the morning after? You're like freaking Cinderella or something". You chuckled awkwardly "not that great" and explained your worries. Your friend nodded "see I understand where you're coming from but I think you're worrying for nothing. For one thing, we work together so there's no way you're losing your job even if this did get out. For two, if Wonwoo was the type to throw girls away like tissues wouldn't he have asked you out the second he saw you instead of getting to know you for months?". You paused "maybe...". "Plus I've been watching videos of them and he's definitely not like that" Mari said. You frowned "but that's his stage character he could be completely different". "Based on what we've seen in the cafe I don't think so". You weren't sure but agreed to watch one Seventeen video with Mari which turned into several. You saw what she meant. In the episodes, Wonwoo seemed just like the guy you knew. Thoughtful, smart, considerate and...well hot. But you were still more cautious and all day you hovered near your phone, scared anytime it lit up. Part of you thought it would be easier if Wonwoo just bever texted you about your next date but another part of you really wanted him to text you. Your phone buzzed around dinner time and sure enough, it was from Wonwoo. "Hey Y/n I had a really great time last night and can't wait to see you again. How does next Saturday around 7 sound?". You debated over a reply for way too long but eventually just went with your gut. "Sounds perfect! See you then".

For better or worse you wanted to keep getting to know the cute gamer guy who also happened to be a world famous idol. Only time would tell if it was the best decision of your life...or the worst.

____________

This is a three part series and you can read the other parts here: Part Two and Part Three.

[girldragongizzard]

Chapter 11: Conversation stopper

Day seven, and another serenade from the roof of my building, once again led by me, self proclaimed queen of the local dragons. My challenge cry is the best, after all.

I end up watching the construction workers setting up their scaffolding, while I’m perched on the edge of the roof, head hanging over and looking down at them. Claws gripping molding on either side of my neck. I’ve got my wings spread out to help soak up as much sun as possible, to assist in digestion.

Fridge food was easier to digest, apparently. Already mostly processed, or so fibrous, in the case of the vegetables, that it went right through. But I didn’t tear the seagulls up much in order to murder them, and they went down with a lot of structural integrity still intact.

It feels like the rocks are helping. My body, at least, has calmed down a lot since I’ve swallowed them.

Still, I’m starting to seriously consider Nathan’s ground chuck suggestion.

I’m not going to be spending all of my monthly money on meat. I still have a few other things I need to pay for, such as my phone bill. Or a data plan that’s compatible with this new tablet. I’ll have to work that out.

But basing my diet on ground chuck sounds like a good plan right now.

Some of the construction workers look up and wave at me. And I stick a claw out and wave back, awkwardly.

Maybe us dragons were just imagined up by humanity, to be something they feel the world needed. A timely disruption. That finally manifested now, on the precipice of a critical moment in history.

It sure does seem like the people who are objecting the loudest to us are those with some kind of power to lose, and their followers. And everyone else just kind of seems to love us.

I don’t know.

I just know what I’ve always been, and I like it.

And I like it better, especially, on mornings like this, when union workers smile up at me while they go about their jobs.

I do hope they do a good job to help keep my building from falling apart. As nice as it felt to have my own cave in the side of it, it was still a violation of my own home. 

If I had my way, I’d build this thing a big differently. Keep my apartment in the same place, but with a big, supported doorway in the wall leading to a balcony big enough for me. A landing pad. With no railing. And the rest of the building would be reinforced concrete. With iron spikes. And it might be really cool to have a PA on the roof with stacks of speakers to make any stadium jealous.

I huff.

What if I’d been someone who had a job? What would this be like?

I see Cerce walking up my favorite runway, and she’s already looking up at me and waving.

I lift and wave my tail back and forth in return. It’s a bit more like lashing, the way it moves, thumping the roof on either side of me. But, oh, that feels good, and I wonder why I haven’t tried it sooner.

It keeps going, but at a lower and more comfortable angle.

I’m sure my downstairs neighbors don’t care for it, but they’re about to experience a whole day of construction noises. And also, maybe they can be reassured that there’s a dragon on their roof that won’t put up with the kind of shit Loreena and Poink got into last night.

I have to admit, I’m not really sure I’m thinking like humans anymore. Part of me does still recognize that this line of reasoning isn’t, well, reasonable. At least not to a lot of the local humanity.

But everyone does have to adapt now. There’s just no other way about it.

I raise my head with a thought.

What is considered politeness by dragons? What are our cultural norms? Are they what we inherited from our local humans? Or do we get to have our own ways?

I remember reading something from an Autistic blogger about how what’s considered polite by most of society isn’t necessarily what’s good or even friendly for everyone. That new mores and norms should be constructed about meeting individual sensory and social needs, that accommodations for Autistic people could lead to a more considerate society all around.

But I wonder how that can be applied to a sudden population of unique and bizarre monsters that have the instinctual need to scream at each other every morning or get into bloody fights about it later.

“Meg!” Cerce calls from the street corner closest to where I’m lying.

There’s a T-intersection below and to the right of me, and that’s the street I like to fly down or take off from when there’s no traffic. That puts her just over the heads of the construction workers below me, from my line of sight.

Sure.

I get up and push myself off the lip of the roof, angling to the left so that I can spiral, flapping repeated, over the parking lot.

My controlled descent brings me to a gentle landing behind her from where I started, but she’s turned to watch me the whole time.

I do something that I think of as a dragon courtsey, and then puff out my chest and hold my head up as high as I can on all fours, which puts my nose at about her collarbone level. Leaning back onto my haunches is what gets my head above six feet, and I don’t do that to her.

“Want to have coffee with me?” she asks.

Heck, yes! I look in the direction of the front outside table and bob my head.

“OK, I’ll meet you right there,” she says. “Do you want your usual, or something different?”

I don’t really know how to answer that without pulling out my tablet, so I bow my head and then bob it again.

“I’ll get your usual.”

I give her a quick cat smile, then bound over to the crosswalk to wait there for her, and for the light to turn green. I think it’d probably help people to see a dragon following the laws when it’s not strictly necessary. And, besides, it’d be what I would do if I wasn’t a dragon. I’ve just always been that way, kind of like Chapman.

Oh, I do hope things aren’t super weird between me and Chapman now. I’m worried about what they’ll have to say to me.

On the other hand, I’m worried about what I might say to hir if I give myself the chance. What happened last night was weird. Maybe there’d been a time where sie learned the names of my dragon neighbors, but that moment just before sie’d said their names something happened. I felt it with a part of my body, like a string from my stomach to the center of my head was plucked.

I try to think about whether I’ve ever had moments like that before, especially before metamorphosis. 

But soon Cerce and I are crossing the street like a couple of weird school girls heading to class together, and I’m distracted by that moment. Not making anything of it, just feeling something I wish I could have had when I was younger, even if the actual visual of the two of us belongs more in some anime I would never have watched. Casual female companionship.

As we’re crossing the street, even though we’re not saying anything to each other, I really feel Cerce’s presence and mood, and I get the impression that she has something she wants to share with me.

On the other side, I break off with an easy head jerk, and head to my table, wondering if Cerce had been updated by the others about my decision to stay outside. I wouldn’t be surprised if the shop staff had their own chat channel somewhere, or a group SMS text session. It’d be smart, and there’ve been times when I’ve had that thought before.

Maybe, I should have my own, and I should invite all of my humans to it.

Oh, yes, definitely.

By the time Cerce comes back out, I’m already setting it up on my tablet, and considering just who to invite. I’m stuck on Chapman.

I’ll figure that out later, after we’ve talked again.

Actually, it turns out she doesn’t have anything for me and that she’s got her day off from both school and work and just wants to talk to her favorite local dragon.

Sitting down, she says, “I really want to ask you a bunch of stuff. My degree is in communication, and getting to talk to a living being that is not human is just way too cool to me. Is that OK?”

I give her my gesture of affirmative, and then make a show of pulling out my tablet and relaxing.

“I’ll try to keep it to yes or no questions, if you want, so you don’t have to use your tablet if you don’t want to?”

I don’t really care, but I hit, “Yes.” It seems like the best way to keep the conversation flowing.

But the word echos in my head when I hear it, and I feel an urge.

I look at the tablet sideways, and then hit, “Yes,” again.

Cerce smirks and watches me.

It’s such a simple sound.

“Yes,” I make the tablet say yet again. And then I hit it several times in succession, not really counting.

Then I look up at Cerce and open my mouth and my chest says, “Yes,” in a near perfect imitation of the tablet’s voice.

“Ha! Oh, that’s delightful,” Cerce exclaims.

Experimentally, I hit, “No.”

I’m pretty sure I can get that one, too. So I do a repeat of my performance for, “Yes.”

“NoNoNoNoNoNoNo,” says the tablet.

I open my mouth and say, “No.”

Then I give the biggest, longest cat smile I’ve ever given and huff. Then I tell Cerce, “Yes.”

She claps.

And then she asks, “So what’s that like?” And then, after a second, she slaps her forehead with both hands and nearly shouts, “No! I’m sorry! Did that feel cool?”

“Yes,” I say. And then I hold up a claw and look at my tablet for a moment, then type out, “It came to me. Urge. Like breathing fire. Body knew what do.”

“That’s so fascinating,” she says. “I think I know what that might feel like. Like, sometimes I just get the urge to blurt out a word, and sometimes I can’t stop myself. Usually a word I’ve just heard. It’s called echolalia. Did you ever experience that before?”

I’m finding that it’s getting harder for me to remember my life before my metamorphosis. I still have all the knowledge I had, but I never related to my body or outward identity back than, so the memories are hard to trigger.

But, I think I remember experiencing echolalia once or twice, it’s familiar. And what I just experienced felt familiar. So I say, “Yes.”

“Is it like that? LIke echolalia?”

“Yes,” I say. Then I do my typing routine, “All instinct same for me.”

“I wonder how long your subconscious has been working on the word, ‘yes’,” she muses.

“Saturday,” I say with the tablet. Until I learn more words, I’m going to keep saying “yes” and “no” with my syrinx and everything else with the tablet. It’s the same voice either way, hilariously enough.

“I think it’s kind of funny that you’ve chosen to sound like Angelina Joli when she’s playing a posh roll,” Cerce says.

I think about that for a moment, then say, “Tablet misogyny. My euphoria.”

“You know, that makes a lot of sense to me,” she replies. “Different question. Are you endothermic? Like a lizard? Or more like a bird?”

“Yes,” I say, and then duck my head and look at her with just my right eye. I really don’t know the full answer to that. I know I feel sluggish when it gets cold enough, and my stomach is happier digesting things in the heat. And that I don’t sweat, at all. But I don’t know what my limits and needs are, nor what they would mean. But now I want to tell her something unprompted. The longer sentence takes a moment. “Want know what seagull taste like?” I ask.

She grimaces, shakes her head, and then looks around before saying tentatively, “Yes?”

“Ocean. Oil. Shit. Blood,” I say. “The worst sushi.”

She closes her eyes, makes a sick expression, and laughs silently, her shoulders going up and down. “I don’t why I agreed to that,” she exclaims.

Then conversation pauses for a while as we both enjoy the moment and gather our thoughts.

Then she asks, “Do you ever miss being human?”

That’s easy, “No.”

“Why not?”

“Never human,” I reply. “Not know what like.”

“Huh.”

“Yes.”

“I remember what you were like before,” she says. “You were always so quiet and kept to your favorite corner of the shop, and just stayed there all day with your refills. And I gotta admit, it did seem like you were watching over your domain, content. But, still, also unsettled.”

“Yes.”

“How do you feel about the other dragons in town?”

Oh, that’s a doozy.

We all keep coming back to this in some way, because it’s the Situation.

“Too many emotions,” I admit. “Need more space.” And then, after a couple beats I add, “Not mating season yet.”

Her eyes go wide, and I feel like I’m seeing that expression on the faces of my friends too much.

I want to do something to bring more stability to my city, but I’m at a complete loss as to how, other than to stick to my guns, be as loud as possible, and keep winning fights.

But the thing is, I’ve only fought Whitman.

And my fifty years of learning things from humans make me feel like there should be a better solution than that. I wish I could talk to and reason with the other dragons, and negotiate a peace. And convince more of the others that some of us need to move out up into the mountains and other wilderness. Spread out.

From what I figure, we all manifested from human bodies, and that means there’s more of us where there are more humans. And that’s not a natural distribution for dragons. However, those of us who’ve been around for a while have also gotten attached to our familiar haunts. Our instincts are kicking in full swing, telling us these places are our territories.

And, maybe I should be the big girl and leave and provide an example by doing so. But I know that all that would do is create a vacuum that the others would fight viciously over.

I know I’ve thought this a few different ways over the past few days. It feels like it’s long past time to act.

But it’s also only been six and a quarter days.

As we’re thinking about things again, Rhoda approaches from down the block and stands next to me to report, “They’re boxing up your stuff and piling it in the hallway now, Meg. I stood there for a while to let them know they’re being judged. I think they’re being good about it.”

Cerce looks up at her and points at me and says, “That’s a dragon!”

“She certainly is,” Rhoda says.

“Yes,” I say.

Rhoda turns and assesses me for a moment, eyes going up and down, then says, “Stop.”

I tilt my head, then turn to my tablet and program it to repeat that word several times, like I did before.

I have to make it do that two more times before the words starts to take hold of me and bubble up.

I turn back to Rhoda and say, “Stop.”

“Perfect,” she says.

The thing is, the way I’m learning to talk, to imitate my tablet, there’s no emotional inflection. I say these words the exact same way every time. No sense of urgency, if I say, “Stop.” Just a statement.

I say it again, “Stop.”

“You’re gonna need that,” Rhoda says.

“Yes,” I reply. But I’m worried it won’t be taken seriously in an actual crisis.

She studies me for a while longer and then says, “You know what to do if you want to learn how to say that forcefully, right?”

Oh, of course. I just need to find a clip of Angelina Joli shouting, “Stop!” And then play it over and over again until I can do it.

Or I could do Chris Hemsworth. Or David Tennant. Or Sigourney Weaver. Or someone with a super deep and loud voice.

I wonder if I could somehow improvise and mix my rumble in with it.

Cerce is smiling and glancing back and forth between the two of us. And then she says, “I really want you to talk to my prof, Meg!”

I decide to say, “Maybe,” using my tablet, of course.

Cerce looks confused at the tablet like she wasn’t expecting me to say that, but then she starts squinting at it harder and leans forward. “I’ve got another question for you, Meg.”

“Yes.”

“How are you keeping that thing charged?”

I look closely at it myself, because I’ve totally forgotten about doing that somehow.

The battery is at 100%.

[copperbadge]

Current Events Reading Reccs

I had a couple of people asking me about my “current events” reading in general (news aggregators, podcasts, etc) so I figured I’d just list them off here. 

I don’t read any tumblrs that are specifically focused on current events, I just kinda get news from various people I’ve followed, but I’ve found in general it helps to find people for whom the news is a hobby, not a consuming habit. I have communists and anarchists and prison abolitionists on my dash, but they aren’t people who have made that their identity, which removes the “You are insufferable” factor. So I guess find fandom weirdos with strong political views and follow ‘em. 

Also I want to state at the top that part of why I’m on top of shit that I get through Tumblr is that I have a policy of never reblogging or reacting to anything until I have 1. read the article being linked and 2. done my own research. This has saved me a vast deal of embarrassment, because sometimes I’ll save something outrageous to research and before I can even research it, it’s been rebutted. I cannot stress how important the process of reading and research is -- you can’t get your news from headlines and particularly not clickbait you see on Tumblr. 

As far as I know there’s no single tumblr clearinghouse for good high-level current events reporting and analysis (the analysis I think is a vital part) but if folks have resources they use, drop ‘em in the comments or reblogs.  

Anyway, some mailing lists I belong to are:

Quartz Daily Brief: finance and tech, mainly. Back when they were for-pay I paid for them, this newsletter was that entertaining. I believe they’ve now gone fee-free but they sometimes link to paywalls. I get it as an email newsletter, that’s just a link to the web version. 

Breakfast with ARTNews: Obviously a bit niche but I really like keeping up with the art world and they cover art crime too. The link is to the all-newsletters signup page, I only belong to Breakfast. 

The Futurist: This is the most insufferable nonsense masquerading as news ever. The ads are indistinguishable from the content. But it does help me keep a finger hard on the pulse of what irritating tech bros are into. Watch scams unfold in real time! 

I also follow a number of local interests -- community centers and neighborhood organizations primarily -- in Chicago, so those are always good to hunt up. Most major cities have a “citycast” podcast (just search “citycast [your city]” in your podcatcher) that is also good for local news.  

Some websites:

Longreads: Since longform.org went under, the best place to find the current longform pieces that everyone’s talking about.  

Brand Eating: Extremely niche, but I really love reading about “brand” food trends. It covers new food releases and sales and such in the areas of packaged food (potato chips, candy, etc), fast food, and casual dining. It’s also great as a resource for cheap eats. 

I stopped reading Bon Appetit recently (they ran this appallingly sympathetic story about a dickhead hiring manager) but like, honestly, if you want to track food trends, the BA email newsletter is kinda the way to go. If you’d like good food news in podcast form, I recommend The Sporkful (it’s in the podcast list). 

I used to read the Chicago Tribune, New York Times, and Fortune Magazine (which mostly scraped the not-awful stuff from Forbes) but I’ve cut it down to just the Trib; I don’t really need Fortune to keep me current and the NYT has morphed into a creepy proto-fash nightmare. The Trib has pretty good national/international coverage so if you don’t have a decent local paper it’s not bad, but I don’t know how much access you get as a nonpaying reader (I subscribe). 

Podcasts:

Quartz has a podcast, Quartz Obsession, which is off-and-on in terms of when episodes come out but very interesting when they do. 

Planet Money is a once-weekly podcast about economics, and has a daily show called “The Indicator” which is daily “small bites” current events coverage. 

The Late Show and the Daily Show both have an “ears edition” podcast that’s just the show audio; I’ve stopped listening for the most part but if you want good cultural commentary, that’s the place to go. 

The Journal by the Wall Street Journal is a weekly podcast focusing on one or two news stories, generally pretty relevant. 

Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me is a panel show but it’s a fun way to get bite-sized news you can look up later in more detail if you want. And it’s taped in Chicago! If you listen you can hear me in the audience laughing. :D (I’m going to another taping in a few weeks!) 

Behind The Bastards is actually a history podcast but if you’re listening current he does a bit of current-events commentary, and also I just really like it as a podcast.

Stuff You Should Know is a trivia podcast but they occasionally do current-events stuff.

The Sporkful is pretty good about current food news, although I run hot and cold on it.

I used to listen to a really good “professional” medical podcast, but it went full paywall when it started to offer certain forms of professional credit, so I found The House Of Pod as a very good free replacement. It’s not really for non-doctors, but as a non-doctor I still find it accessible and informative. (For medical history and curiosity, I do highly recommend Bedside Rounds, but I wouldn’t call it a current events cast.) 

So that’s how I get my news -- it’s not what I would call fully comprehensive but it’s reasonably informative! 

[nsfwitchy2]

Some friendly reminders in these dark times

Everything kinda looks like it’s going to hell in a hand basket rn so I wanna take a moment to tell you:

It’s ok if you can’t keep up

It’s ok if you’re out here filtering tags left and right for your sanity

It’s ok if you don’t have the money to donate to people’s gofundme’s or to charity’s or to fundraisers or to political campaigns

It’s ok if you’re logging off for a while because you just can’t deal with this anymore

You don’t have to keep up with it all. You don’t have to know about every disaster and discourse and major awful thing that’s happening at all times. Frankly - you shouldn’t. Humans are not hardwired to have a constant and steady stream of bad news spoon fed to us. Our brains aren’t made to cope with that.

If you’re feeling hopeless and useless and miserable - take a break. Please, take a break. Do some MAJOR tag filtration, log off for a while. Go for a walk. Pet a dog. Smell some flowers. Take a moment to appreciate the good and the beauty around you, before you suffocate yourself with negativity and bad news.

And before some of you go, “Ok but I still wanna help? How can I help?”

Good question!!! The answer to that is to just… do what you can. Try out some volunteer work - local shelters and soup kitchens would probably love a helping hand! Give some money to the homeless person on the street corner, maybe stop and have a chat with them. I’m sure it gets lonely out there. Go pick up trash in your neighborhood or your local park.

Can’t do any of that? That’s fine!! Start at home! Help out around the house, check in and see if there’s anything you can help your neighbors with. Check out Wren - it’s a website that lets you go through and figure out ways to cut your carbon footprint!

And fuck man, if at the end of the day all you can do is just… do something nice for somebody, than do something nice for somebody. Hold the door for someone. Pick up something somebody dropped. Offer to help someone carry their things. In a world that encourages cruelty, that wants us to be mean and hateful - sometimes just being kind is the best activism out there.

But you don’t have to save the world. You - person reading this, whoever you are - the burden of saving the world does not fall squarely and solely on your shoulders. Do not let the internet convince you it does. At the end of the day - making the world a better place is a group effort. Every battle needs soldiers, yes - but please don’t forget it also needs nurses. It needs people who stay home and keep things running. Not everybody has to be a soldier. Sometimes all you can do is just stay at home and keep things running - and that’s ok too.

But you can’t help anyone or do anything if you’re making yourself miserable and convincing yourself that’s activism. The best way to make the world a better place is to start with yourself. Make sure before you take care of others, you take care of yourself first.

[dare-to-dm]

I actually try not to post too much about politics here, but since I made that post about Missouri libraries getting defunded by the state and it really blew up, I get to see all sorts of horrible comments in my feed every day now!

Most of them are from people who are appalled and scared and frustrated, which I can understand.  But I do wish people would try harder not to project an air of hopelessness.  Despair is the enemy, and I intend to fight to it.

More frustrating are all the comments about how horrible the US is in general and specifically how bad a place like Missouri is and the desire to just leave.  I gotta tell you, I don’t really like that sentiment.  This is my home, and I love it and I’m not leaving.  Bad things happen here and there are some bad people in power.  But all the people I love most in the world are also here, and I have seen many wonderful things happen as well.  I will do my best to make it a better place.  Which will not happen if everyone who shares my values decides to leave.  And also isn’t really a solution for most people.  Like, there are a lot of good people who live here and can’t leave.  And they deserve to have allies in the fight to make it a better place.

Finally, I could do with less cynicism regarding attempts to make things better.  We just had our local elections the other day, and I can proudly say that my district got together to keep a couple of right wing nutters off our school board.  These were candidates in a red state with major financial backing, but they lost.  Had they won, there would be even more book bannings and action taken against diversity, equity and inclusion in our schools.  If you must insist that change and improvement is impossible, maybe keep that shit to yourself and stop trying to discourage those working to make a difference.

[cassipedia]

Review of Dune: Part Two

Hey, Cassipedia, what're you watching?

Recently, I watched the premiere of Dune: Part Two, which is the sequel of the latest Dune film series. It was delayed from its original release date, and this film is meant to show what happened after Paul Atreides and his mother escaped the Harkonnens and fled to join forces with the Fremen in the deserts of Arrakis. We are also shown more of the twisted and cruel daily life of the Harkonnen empire and just how involved the Emperor and his family are in the twisted machinations of everything, all the while the Bene Gesserit are only focused on creating their perfect human mind through any means necessary.

Do you recommend watching it?

To my great surprise, I didn't enjoy the movie as much as I hoped I would. For general audiences that aren’t familiar with Dune, this film is perfectly serviceable and is a fine sci-fi experience, though I think it could have done more to differentiate itself and make its story clearer. For those who liked the film Dune: Part One, this movie technically follows up on threads introduced in the first film, but it is very much the opposite of the first movie in terms of its themes and tone, which I found jarring and a bit unpleasant. On the other hand, I hesitate to recommend the film for those who enjoy the original Dune novel as Dune: Part Two makes many deviations and omissions to the story that go completely against the original novel. This was disorienting for me, as I immensely enjoyed and admired the first film, and I’ve tried to reconcile with my disappointment with the sequel for the past few days. I’ll do my best to lay out my thoughts, but the best way I can sum this up in a few sentences is: It is technically well-written but, to me, it lacked the magnitude and intentionality of the first film, so it felt somewhat rushed and like it wanted to focus more on violence than its story.

I’m going to break from my usual format in my reviews and instead go into detail of the three angles I tried to view this film through; a standalone film, a sequel and an adaptation. So, I’ll be discussing the story, music and visuals separately, I’ll bring them up as they relate to each of these angles.

How is this movie as a standalone film?

On its own, Dune: Part Two is a film about space politics, divided into three sides of the story. There is Paul Atreides, the exiled son of a duke, whom he seeks to avenge while his mother works to turn the local Fremen they are hiding amongst into Paul’s fanatic followers. There is a plot thread here of Paul growing closer to the Fremen and being torn about leading them into bloody battle, especially as he develops a bond with Chani, one of the Fremen who mistrusts him at first but whom he gains enough respect of for her to teach him their ways. However, this plot competes with the second plot thread of the Harkonnens trying to regain their control over Arrakis and failing due to Paul’s efforts, along with the introduction of the Baron’s nephew Feyd-Rautha, whom the film starts to set up as a foil and obstacle to Paul. And in-between all of this is the third plot thread that shows the introduction of the Emperor and his daughters, though it largely focuses on how cold and calculating the Bene Gesserit are in trying to manipulate bloodlines through the Emperor’s family and treating everyone around them like animals to breed. The film has a lot it is trying to juggle at once, and I think it could have benefited from focusing more on the central thread of Paul and perhaps reducing the time spent in the Bene Gesserit plot thread to also introduce Feyd-Rautha sooner. He is introduced midway through the film and he then dies by the end of it in a fight to the death with Paul. It’s all a lot to keep up with and with no time skips.

The music and the visuals add to this cluttered feeling throughout the film. Without many quiet moments, there was hardly time to soak in the atmosphere. The music almost felt intrusive at points, and it added to this feeling that the movie was in a sprint, trying to get through everything as fast as it could. In terms of the visuals, I remember many instances of sun-bleached sand on Arrakis, with near-indistinguishable dunes broken up by dim caverns of the Fremen’s home. In between were flashes of darkly-colored marble and uniform green gardens that were surprisingly un-extravagant in the Emperor’s palace, and all the black-and-white neon of the monochrome world of the Harkonnen planet, which seemed reminiscent of a post-modern, art film. They are impressive visuals, but I found myself being awfully reminded of Star Wars from the visuals, as they weren’t bad but were less distinct than I expected, with the exception of a few scenes. Overall, as a standalone film, I think it is fine and may be enjoyable, but it could’ve been more.

How is this movie as a sequel?

To me, this movie felt like a formality rather than a follow up. The heart of the first movie was the war of ideals between the Atreides' honorable nature and the Harkonnen’s army of bloodthirsty greed, while the Fremen observed and tested the Atreides to see if they were truly any different than their former oppressors. The sequel technically follows up on plot threads introduced in the first film. Paul does gain leadership over the Fremen, acquiring the desert-power his father hoped to, and he leads the Fremen to battle that ends in the death of their old ruler, the Harkonnen Baron. But he does so by taking advantage of the cultish fanaticism that his mother and her order planted, despite Paul disagreeing with it earlier in the film, and, when Paul and his mother discovers they are actually related to the Baron, he declares they will fight like Harkonnens, despite not wanting that earlier. I felt like I missed a scene, as if the sequel changed Paul's character midway through the film. At the risk of grossly simplifying the scene in the film, the reason Paul made this change of heart seemed to be from dying and being revived after being somewhat socially pressured into drinking sand worm poison according to a prophecy that the Bene Gesserit may or may not have planted. It has more nuance than that in the actual context but it felt more like how I described with how the movie paced and framed it. The sequel bounced between characters and could have been more condensed and focused. It also ended on a kind of cliffhanger in which the other ruling houses threaten war against Paul after he forced the Emperor to give him the princess's hand in marriage and he may have lost the trust of his Fremen lover Chani, which felt more like the ending to a TV show episode than a movie. There was also not the same kind of dignity as with the first film, feeling frantic and trying to keep the viewers' attention with almost gratuitous violence, instead of using the fights as means to tell a story. At the risk of sounding overly critical, I felt the visuals and costumes were not to the same level of the first film. The sequel I think gave us less time to take in the atmosphere and to the feel the weight of the universe. I did appreciate and admire the otherworldly visuals in the strange black fireworks of the Harkonnen planet and of how the princess's diary entry was laser-carved onto a metal cylinder, yet the outfits of the Emperor’s daughter and those of the dark figures in the Harkonnen arena with Feyd-Rautha felt too much to me like something that felt like costumes or people dressing up. The sequel technically delivers on what the first movie promised, but there was an inconsistent feeling and something that felt unfinished in its production. It may be worth at least one viewing but more out of obligation to the story.

How is this movie as an adaption?

There are moments that feel straight out of the novel, like with Paul riding his first sandworm. But for the most part, the film makes significant changes and deviations from the novel, many of which, I believe go against the original intent of the Dune story. There are three large changes that movie makes that I feel detract from the film. The smallest of these three changes is that there is far less emphasis on exploring the Fremen culture in-depth. An example of this is how much the film reduced the scene of the funeral of Jarvis. In the film, we see the Paul being yelled at and begrudgingly accepted by the Fremen as the body of Jarvis is brought and we see a well-shot scene of the water being extracted from the body, then Stilgar shows Jessica a ceremonial pool that the water of Jarvis is placed in, among the water of other dead Fremen. In the novel, Paul had to accept the water taken from Jarvis’s body as was his right and declare himself as a friend of Jarvis according to Fremen culture because Paul defeated Jarvis in battle out in desert heat. Paul was wrought with guilt and openly wept, shocking the Fremen that he would shed his own body’s water for the dead, which stirred the Fremen’s hearts. The scenes from the movie are technically not bad, but they completely change the context and miss the opportunity the book presented. The film version of Paul wasn’t nearly as involved in the funeral process as the book version, and this detracts from the sense that Paul is entering into the Fremen culture and ways, taking away his growing connection to the Fremen people and thus lessened the viewer’s human connection to Paul. The book's scene also frames the Fremen as being a practical people, whom seem cold-hearted yet are fair-minded, setting aside personal grudges to give Paul the water they believed he earned, but the film chooses to portray the Fremen as more hateful. It is fine in the context of the movie, but makes the film’s version of the Fremen feel less like the Fremen from Dune as if the movie wasn’t fully interested in the Fremen.

The second, more massive change that the film makes to the original story is condense what was supposed to be years of Paul and Jessica living with the Fremen to what may have been a few months or more. I’m not certain why they chose to make this change rather than have a time skip, especially since condensing the timeline makes significant alterations. For one, Paul’s sister Alia isn’t born and remains in Jessica, speaking telepathically from the womb due to Jessica drinking sandworm poison, called the Water of Life, as part of the process of becoming the Fremen’s Reverend Mother. This means that Paul has one less human connection in the film. In addition, I had personally been looking forward to the scene of Reverend Mother Gaius being defeated by Alia, but it is Paul that does that instead, and Paul is also the one who kills the Baron rather than Alia. Technically speaking, the change works as a dramatic irony since Mother Gaius and the Baron both underestimated Paul, so it is not bad writing, but it makes Paul feel more like his mother’s tool of vengeance and detracts from her motivation shown in the first film to strengthen Paul to protect himself because she loves him. Shortening the years to months also I think takes away from the sensation that Paul has learned the ways of the Fremen and lived among them, fighting alongside them, straining the suspension of disbelief and making Paul leading the Fremen into battle feel more like a spit-second decision rather than a long-coming fight for their freedom and more like Paul is just using them.

The third massive change, which I think is partly affected by the condensing of the timeline, is the depth of the relationship between Paul and Chani. I enjoyed the moments in the film as we see Chani learning to trust Paul and her in turn showing him how to live like a Fremen, but I wished we got to see more of it. The film cuts out Paul and Chani getting married and having a son, whom is then lost in a Harkonnen attack, and, in turn, the film cuts out years of trust and love built between Paul and Chani. This has a significant impact on how the final scene plays out in the film, compared to how it was in the book. At this point, the Baron is dead, the Reverend Mother Gaius is overpowered and Paul has the Emperor on the ropes. Paul offers the Emperor an ultimatum, to offer his daughter to Paul in political marriage. In the film, just before this moment, Paul tells Chani that she will always be first in his heart, and when he gives his ultimatum, Chani storms off and the film ends with her preparing to ride off on a sandworm, with betrayal and anger in her eyes. This is the complete opposite of how this played out in the book.

Allow me to pull an excerpt from Dune, pg. 604:

                Chani moved up on Paul’s other side, said: “Do you wish me to leave, Maud’Dib?”

                He glanced at her. “Leave? You’ll never again leave my side.”

                “There’s nothing binding between us,” Chani said.

                Paul looked down at her for a silent moment, then: “Speak only truth with me, my Sihaya.” As she started to reply, he silenced her with a finger to her lips. “That which binds us cannot be loosened,” he said. “Now, watch these matters closely for I wish to see this room later through your wisdom.”

Paul silences her doubts with his love. She is first in his heart. He trusts her beyond anyone. This was how he saw his father love his mother, and he too found someone to love and trust completely. If this had been in the film, it would have been an excellent way to show the kind of leader and man that Paul was set to become, that his father believed he would be, and it would have given a satisfying conclusion to the plot thread of Chani not trusting Paul while still allowing everything else to remain open with future installments, as Paul would still have the obstacles of all the political enemies he’s made.

With all of these changes, on top of odd, little additions like giving Feyd-Rautha cannibalistic servant girls and the increased emphasis on gore and murder than was already in the book, it gives the impression that the movie is trying to make the story of Dune: Part Two darker, more ‘adult' and more violent. This may be guessing on my part, for I have only read the original Dune novel and none of its sequels, but I have heard that, as time goes on, the story does turn darker, so perhaps these changes in the film are meant to be a way of fast-forwarding to that end result. Whether that be the case or not, the changes still leave the film feeling rushed and desperate for violence when comparing it to the original story.

Was there anything that you liked about the film?

Yes, as mentioned, this film is not poorly written and there are scenes that remain in my mind and heart. My favorite scene was when Paul rode his first worm. It had an excellent build up, of Stilgar the Fremen leader advising Paul and discreetly trying to hide his pride and worry for Paul as he tells him not to do anything fancy. The Fremen watch as Paul prepares to call the worm, waiting to see the moment if Paul is truly like one of them and many of them almost seeming hopeful for his success, followed by the sense of one’s gut-dropping as Paul calls a worm much larger than even the Fremen have ever seen, causing the usually stoic Fremen look afraid. I felt again the awe from the first movie. Of feeling humbled. Of Paul being challenged to throw all that he has and more into riding this worm, casting aside his fear and his old life and understanding how to ride with the desert. Funnily enough, the scene is almost exactly how it was in the novel, but it was extremely gratifying to see it on film. I also loved when Gurney was reintroduced. How effective he was at fighting off the attack of the Fremen at first on the scavenger ship, showing just how incredible of a fighter that he is and, by extension, how incredible of an army that House Atreides and Paul's father had cultivated. I especially loved how much joy and love was in Paul’s words “I recognized your footsteps” after seeing Gurney, who he believed was dead. How Gurney responded in a joyous, breathless voice on the verge of tears, “Young pup! Young pup!” It is a short scene but it communicates so much so well. As I mentioned earlier in my review, scenes of Paul and Chani’s growing trust between each other were also well-done. Like her showing Paul how to properly sand walk, and it is quiet moment where they move in sync, like in a dance. The one-on-one fights were also very good, just as they were in the first film, especially any fight involving Freyd. At the beginning of the film, there was a beautiful and surreal visual of Arrakis with an eclipse and it was a moment of silence. There was another striking visual of Freyd walking down a dark hall on his home planet while colorless fireworks flash like lightning. I wanted to see more of these. I list all these things separately because I want to highlight the amazing things I think this movie's team is capable of and what I would have liked to have seen more of from them.

Where can I watch it?

As of writing this, it is currently in theaters. Though it is likely to be released digitally on platforms like Netflix just like with the first film.

Who would enjoy this film?

This is perfectly fine movie for those whom enjoy sci-fi, though I would recommend Dune: Part One over Dune: Part Two. If you are into the Dune franchise, then you may consider watching this film once, but it isn’t one I would personally re-watch. As far as films that explore the conflict between cultures and people trying to oppress others whom they think are lesser, I would instead recommend the movie Cabrini. Though it is not a sci-fi, it demonstrates the deadly and horrifying struggles of Italian immigrants in 1890’s America in a way that I had wished the Fremen's struggles against the Harkonnens had been explored.

Final thoughts?

If you loved the first movie and the first Dune book in the same way that I did, then I hesitate to recommend watching Dune: Part Two more than once because of my mixed feelings on the story, visuals and odd additions and changes to the plot. I still give great praise to the first film and I hope the best for those working on this series. I don’t know if what I felt in Dune: Part One can be recreated so perhaps it was unfair to Part Two, but I still hold out hope for a future movie to fill me with awe, whether it be in the Dune franchise or elsewhere.

[princess-of-anons]

Okay finally following up with my FF Dog post with a dedicated sapient dog headcanon list/ideas for playable dog protagonist in a theoretical Fossil Fighters 4

So for starters, Sapient Dogs just…exist. Their appearance in Earth’s timeline can be best described as “roughly sometime after the split between wolves and dogs became notably obvious.” I’m leaving it purposely vague.

Early humans kinda saw some of their dogs pick up on the whole “tool usage” thing and decided to encourage it because what’s better than a big fluffy friend that can help you hunt and keep you company? A big fluffy friend with a KNIFE that can help you hunt and keep you company AND competently use said knife.

Sapient Dogs (I really need a better name for them than just Sapient Dogs) have their own established cities and countries.

Nomadistan is not weird because it’s run by dogs. Nomadistan is weird because it is run by a MONARCHY of dogs. Almost every other place with canine leaders is a democracy, which is why the Patrol Team in champions was caught off-guard by this fact.

Wyoming is real, and there are many dog-run cities there. It’s very nice.

Sapient Dogs are similar to normal dogs in almost every way aside from the fact that they (1) have their own language called Doglish and (2) have very slightly different neurologies and cranial anatomies from normal dogs that assisted in their sapience.

Sapient dogs stand out from normal dogs in normal society by having their own style of clothing made with being able to cling onto scents in mind. They otherwise will typically wear clothes like bandannas, scarfs, bracelets, pretty much anything that isn’t a stereotypical dog collar.

In more human-dense areas, dog fashion may consist of shirts or Long Shirts/gowns. Rex wears a full body suit because it’s to the only way to contain his true power.

Attempts to wear clothing made by humans tends to be uncomfortable since “dog clothes” made to dress up domesticated dogs don’t allow for an easy cling for their natural scents. Some Sapient Dogs, especially those with short hair, are able to tolerate it, like Rex and Princess Pooch.

Dogs that are also Fossil Fighters will often use their paws to dig up their fossils. They also will dress more casually since an entire dog carrying a Fossil Sonar and a bag of fossils is a pretty good indicator that your local canine is a fighter and not somebody’s pet. Obviously Princess Pooch was an exception since she was pretending to be a normal dog for a bit.

Dinaurians don’t know what to think of Sapient Dogs. They can understand how the human ancestors got where they are, but the evolution that had to occur for the appearance of Sapient Dogs baffles them.

Rex is just Like That. He saw the Westminster Dog Show exactly one (1) time and somehow decided he was going to try out walking on two legs. He treats it like it’s a neat trick, but his fellow dogs consider it body horror (but they’re all being very polite about it and nobody has the heart to say anything to him).

[spookillies]

* ( JENNA ORTEGA. TWENTY FOUR. DEMIWOMAN. SHE/THEY. ) since you aren’t aware of them yet… that’s ( ESMERALDA HEROUX ) wandering around in hollow creek! from what i know they’ve lived in hollow creek for ( FIVE YEARS )  i’m also aware of the fact that they work as a ( BARTENDER. ) in town! but if you were to ask me, what i see when i think about them are: ( CHUNKY JEWELRY, A SWEET TREAT, BITTEN LIPS, STARGAZING, AND OVER THE EAR HEADPHONES ) if anything, i feel like they could be ( RESERVED + METICULOUS & CYNICAL + BLUNT ) it’s really weird, though… because they seem to be hiding something that no one else knows. but i sure do! and that is ( CLOSED FILE… REDACTED. ). wild, huh? i know. they’re hoping no one will ever find out. and the very last thing that i’d say about them is that they’re mainly known to be ( THE OBSERVER ) just keep a lookout! who knows if they’re putting on a facade! / pinterest.

mention of child abandonment.+ disability

BASICS:

full name: esmeralda genesis heroux nickname(s): esme, es age: twenty-four gender: demiwoman pronouns: she/they sexuality: bisexual biromantic date & place of birth: december 31 in el monte, california occupation: bartender & paleontology grad student faceclaim: jenna ortega piercings: so many. six on each ear, a belly button piercing, and a nose stud traits: reserved, polite, observant, cynical, meticulous, blunt, curious, stoic similar to:  kat stratford (10 things i hate about you), prue halliwell (charmed), gayle weathers (scream), camilla saroyan (bones), monica geller (friends), nancy wheeler (stranger things), beca mitchell (pitch perfect) aesthetics: coffee with an ungodly amount of creamer, humming songs while cooking dinner, going outside at 3 am to look at the stars, accidental 5 hour long naps, an earbud always in one ear, an array of rings on each hand, bitten lips, over the ear headphones

BULLET POINTS:

— born as one of two twins. her parents, who didn't know they were having twins, gave her up because they didn't prepare for two children. --- esme, who had been born legally blind, was chosen to be the one given up — was fostered and later adopted by parents aksel and sarah heroux in manhattan, new york. — found her forever home with the two, later coming to have younger siblings of her own (their younger brother aleksei is very close to their heart and practically her best friend) — growing up she was always known as an “old soul” (read: autistic), and on account of both their disability and a personality that favored blunt (but observational) remarks, esme was teased a bit relentlessly — grew to be quite reserved and tightly wound as a defense mechanism, building strong armor in the form of poisonous words and evasiveness (no she will not process any of this please dni) — leant into books, music, film, and poetry to help her escape throughout the years and cherished the time she had with her family (homeschool kid ass energy…) — moved to hollow creek their senior year of high school (wasn't happy about it) (bad times in the heroux household) and didn't have much of a warm reception there either. she preferred to stay to herself and this continued into college — has a bachelor's degree in geology and is currently pursuing a graduate/doctorate degree in paleontology. special interest in dinosaurs and yes it is ridiculously serious — works as a bartender at the local dive and takes their job/her customers very seriously (queen of having a moral code) — currently maybe getting a bit too curious about finding out what the fuck is happening in town/its history … maybe she should watch where she steps :O 

HEADCANONS:

— wears special glasses that correct the little vision she had – can now see pretty much 20/20 with them on, hates them and sometimes doesn't wear them — when not wearing their glasses usually uses a form of echolocation through little tongue clicks or snaps and wears sunglasses to cover her eyes (has very fun shapes i must say)

— autistic special interest is dinosaurs. sleeps to dinosaur jungle asmr. please do not engage unless you want to have your ear talked off.

---  baby loves to cook. always trying new recipes & loves to host dinner parties. she did many a cooking classes as a kid. she also danced for a while, but uses it now more as stress relief than anything else. — always tired. 9/10 if she isn’t replying it’s because she’s sleeping. insane concealer budget — loves film and movies and thinking way too deep into them. her letterboxd goes crazy. that being said, their standards are questionable — actually enjoys her job a lot and takes it oddly seriously, won’t judge anyone for what they say while drunk and ranting to her because she thinks it’s mean to do so when they’re most vulnerable. — plays up the dry personality when she’s bartending because it makes old men tip her well. — big fan of animal crossing. terraforming beast. her sims house goes crazy — she has a black leopard gecko named honey, a black cat named milagro, and an array of fish, including a small leopard catshark named buddy. — collects bugs in amber as well as other small fossils — maximalist and has a bajillion stuffed animals — favorite season is winter — always wearing chunky boots — always cold — wicked sweet tooth — rides a motorcycle (her dad hates it she keeps giving him a heart attack) — never found without their cherry cola flavored vape <3

WANTED CONNECTIONS:

— idk man. someone teach her how to have fun. she’s 24 she should be at da club — a best friend a childhood best friend perhaps … — unlikely friends!! people esme has absolutely no business being friends with and while it has no rhyme or reason it somehow works well -- very likely friends (read: hater ass bitches together) — college friends/a core friend group — friend she bonded with the second she moved in high school — lit anything else idk. fwb. exs. enemies. frenemies. who is she serving at the bar!! who is selling her her cherry cola flavored vape and/or weed!!! who's trying to go to the movies with her??!?!? let's find out! let’s go crazy stupid wild guys

[herrlindemann]

Rock Hard - September 1996

Mannheim, Capitol

Like almost all gigs of this tour, today's is sold out. No wonder, because Rammstein not only lures with a spectacular show, but also with extremely fair admission prices of around 25 marks at the box office. A number of bands, who put in much less effort but claim that it wouldn't go under 35 mice, can take an example from this!

When I enter the hall, the Farmer Boys, who are the only support act this evening, since Mink Stole also act as an opener on the partly overlapping Fu Manchu tour, have just started their gig. Despite being fairly obscure, they can excite around 50 head-bangers; the rest of the visitors give courtesy applause.

Rammstein start their gig with 'Rammstein' and the singer Till is on fire to match the lyrics. Irrespective of this almost traditional start, the guys, like on their last tour with DJ Komm, are very keen to experiment and test new songs and show gimmicks.

In addition to 'Spiel mit mir', which has been part of the set list for some time, and the rough 'Bück dich' (”...your face doesn't interest me”), there is also an audio sample of a 'man who cannot distinguish between humans and animals', which, despite the good text, still seems a bit immature. The usual fires and explosions are joined by the blowing up of a styrofoam head and Richard's hat on fire. After two blocks of encores - including the always funny Sado/Maso riding routine by keyboarder Flake and Till - the raging pack is finally satisfied. When the lights go on in the hall, not only countless "mullet superstars" ("short in front, long in back") can be seen in the audience, but also a few drunk rednecks in older Onkelz shirts.

We want to celebrate the after-show party in the outdoor pool where Break Out colleague Marco Magin works full-time as a lifeguard, but because he's so attached to his job, he doesn't want to give out the key at all. As a replacement, I'm going to Heidelberg with the two guitarists Paul and Richard and drummer Christoph to the "Swimming Pool", which isn't exactly the same, but a multi-storey club. In a good mood, various alcohols flow, so that some small technical problems of the previous show are quickly forgotten. Paul gets the new nickname Tim Thaler (Does anyone else know him?) because he no longer laughs on stage, and no longer twists his face.

On the way back to the club, I have a lengthy discussion with him about the Onkelz fans in the audience and the alleged legal bias from some quarters.

“I think it's too flat to just put a 'No Fascism' sticker on our next album, in keeping with the trend,” he sums up. “In my opinion there is no reason for that, because Till's texts are not political at all. If we caused trouble because of sexism, I would understand it, but I can't understand all this Nazi theater for the best will in the world.”

As already sufficiently explained in the interview, there are some ambivalent points on the surface, but when they are discussed in detail, they are not good enough to push the band into the right-wing camp. The experiences of this tour have emphatically proven that it doesn't belong there either. So for all notorious skeptics to write down again: Rammstein are non-political!

When we arrive at the Modernes, tour guide Tommy falls in love — with a 1950s Cadillac Fleetwood. After it turns out it belongs to a guy from local security, he won't give up until he gets the keys. He sits proudly behind the wheel and would like to buy the good piece right away. Unfortunately, he doesn't have the requested 22,000 eggs at hand right now.

Meanwhile, newly pierced F.B. guitarist Alex buys 20 red roses to send to his girlfriend; in addition to two calls a day, another token of love. Unbelievable, but true: musicians can also be on tour like this...

Mink Stole have to start their set under thankless conditions, because at 20.00 the place is still almost empty. Little by little the people pour in, but they don't seem particularly interested in the Swabians' noise rock. The introverted performance of the trio also makes it difficult for people to deal with it more intensively.

The F.B.-Lichtmann uses the possibilities of the system much better than in Mannheim and puts the farm boys in the limelight in an excellent way. They don't need to be asked twice and even animate a handful of metalheads to a small moshpit with their good performance.

Rammstein clean up completely again, but - as in the next two days - do without both the 'Mensch-Tier-Man' song and the riding performance.

Afterwards, almost the entire tour entourage ends up in a neighboring pub, where, in addition to the highly amusing courtship of two groupies, Matze's questionable alcohol level is particularly noticeable. In the end, the F.B. singer got so upset that when he got back on the bus, he missed the toilet bowl while peeing and put the whole toilet under "water". After this masterpiece, he stands helpless in front of his bunk because he has massive problems getting his duvet covered. He strenuously denies the mocking remark that his mother would otherwise have done it – but he has no proof to the contrary.

In view of the wonderful weather, Rammstein and I are drawn to the nearby outdoor pool, where singer Till, a former 1500-meter freestyle rider, shows what he's still capable of. He constantly pulls his lengths at a hellish pace, long after I ran out of breath. After this fitness training, we'll still be hanging around on the water slide before things get serious again: Till has come up with some new gimmicks for the upcoming open air events and buys big on the way back. Along with all sorts of odds and ends, he also brings two steel tubes that are supposed to make mobile rocket launchers out of his forearms.

The car park in front of the hall has meanwhile been transformed into a trend sports mecca: almost every member of the band and crew races over the generously laid-out "course" with inline skates or on a skateboard. Alex dares the most spectacular jumps, using Matze more or less voluntarily as a living obstacle. The daring, however, is the undoing of another: FB drummer Till breaks his board in the middle after a long sentence; Luckily he can clench (How nice that each of us can translate that immediately... - Red.) and avoid a serious fall.

Suddenly incredulous amazement: Rammstein guitarist Richard stands in the middle of a garbage container set up in front of the entrance and excitedly shovels around in it. What happened? The bus driver had cleaned up his vehicle and, in his overzealousness, accidentally thrown away Richard's credit card, which he had unsuspectingly left lying around among some odds and ends. To make matters worse, the rubbish was buried shortly afterwards by a few cubic meters of rubble, which made it even more difficult for you to "salvage" the valuable piece.

Luckily, after about half an hour of searching, he finds what he is looking for. Otherwise, demolition expert Till would certainly have taken action and simply blown up the contents of the container.

We spend the rest of the time until the show with Robert Rodriguez's cult flick “Desperado”; the clever tour manager Tommy got ten films from the neighboring video store for a backstage pass.

All three bands are well received in the once again very well-stocked shop, with the Depeche Mode cover version 'Never Let Me Down Again' by the Farmer Boys and all the 'Herzeleid' songs in particular being a real hit; in addition, some goths playing air guitar make for a somewhat irritating sight.

After the show, thumb scratcher Lupe stops by the FB bus and is completely enthusiastic about Rammstein, although he had considerable reservations just a short time before. In high spirits we down a few beers and witness an almost unbelievable incident: a female fan (is that the correct female form of fan, Hanno? - the author) asks the bus driver for an autograph. The latter replies that he is only the driver and not a member of the band, whereupon she throws an "it doesn't matter" at him. Needless to say, he stays with her and she never sees the band...

Because we're running out of beer, we switch to the "Kick" pub, where Rammstein also has a drink or two and visit the Dark Wave/EBM party that's taking place in the small club. Some fans have a lengthy image discussion with keyboardist Flake, whose private clothes neither match the stage outfit nor the usual fashion ideas. However, he remains defiant: "With my current appearance, I'm sure to spoil a lot in people's heads, but then maybe they'll understand that we only embody characters on stage who aren't necessarily identical to us as private people.”

In fact, this insight can't do any harm, because contrary to popular belief, the boys are anything but serious or dogged, but rather relaxed and fun-loving.

To wake up, it's back to the outdoor pool, where Paul immediately gets into a fight with the stuffy lifeguard because he's ignoring a barrier. Because the others want to eat in a restaurant, I drive back to Kufa alone with Till. We chat about the Rammstein concept, and he reveals that he intends to phase out the number with the burning arms, at least temporarily, so that it doesn't wear out too much. Too bad actually. Also, he definitely doesn't want a metal producer for the second album, so as not to be pushed too far into a corner stylistically. Let's wait and see what's in store for us...

Then the European Football Championship lures - but only Matze and me. The others are not deterred by the penetrating stench of the slaughterhouse opposite and sunbathe in the beer garden.

Tommy reports: sold out! However, the expectant good mood is suddenly clouded when the PA gives up shortly before the start of the Mink Stole show and the quickly brought in replacement system doesn't really want to harmonize with the remaining components. Despite the very modest sounds, the guys get the best reactions of the tour so far. The same applies to the Farmer Boys, who are able to inspire more and more people with increasing playing time and are even accompanied by massive calls for an encore when they leave the stage - a complete success!

Rammstein, on the other hand, have had a pitch-black day: In addition to the bad sound, they have to deal with a number of other problems such as a broken keyboard and guitars that sometimes stop playing. However, the party-loving crowd didn't let it spoil their mood and, in terms of atmosphere, gave the guys a worthy conclusion to the tour.

Accordingly, they accept the "bankruptcies, bad luck and breakdowns" performance and sit in front of the Kufa until late at night.

However, an unexpected problem arises: Till recognizes a friend of mine, who is supposed to take me to Düsseldorf with her, as an old acquaintance from Eastern times, and after more than ten years the two of course have a lot to tell each other — especially since she can hardly remember him and is completely confused... Luckily I find another ride, so that after these beautiful and eventful but exhausting days I can finally go to bed.

[cowboyjen68]

Hi Jen,

As a queer person in my 20’s I had been feeling like LGBT+ acceptance was growing through my lifetime, and that things would continue to get better, but the way hateful/violent homophobic and transphobic rhetoric have become so politically mainstream again in such a short time is extremely frightening. I’m sure it concerns you too so if you need to ignore this ask for peace of mind, I understand. But if you can talk about it, do you think there’s hope? How does it look from your perspective as someone who lived through harder times? I feel like LGBT+ support is so much more broad now, and we’re more visible in popular culture and even some public offices that it can all only be rolled back so far, but I’m truly scared. Thanks, and be well.

I again apologize for the delay and this answer comes at a weird time since the Club Q shooting is less than a week ago.

I honestly am not sure my generation experienced harder times in some ways. Just different ways. We didn't have much legal protection such as the right to same sex marriage or civil rights to housing or employment. Many states had laws making homosexuality illegal although the laws punished "acts" more than the actual same sex attraction which was just a sneaky way to keep us in line.

The laws are not in as much danger as the right and left want us to think. But when we are panicked they make more money. Not that there aren't reasons to be concerned and we certainly don't want to sit back on our laurels and think there is no threat. From experience the far edges of the political extremes are working very hard to convince us all that no one can possibly come together on anything and the divide is so great there is nothing in the middle. MOST of us fall in the middle because we are just trying to keep our family safe and fed and pay our bills without the governement in our bedroom.

Now it is not so much about fighting laws on the books but about keeping shitty laws from being added. Similar shit, different times.

This next part is from my experience and STRICTLY my opinion since I am not a political analyst nor a professional activist A little of my background:  I was very active in the AIDs ACT Up movement, in producing Prides and other events locally AND In organizing trips of local LGBT people to attend larger events like Stonewall 25 and the early 1990's March on Washington. I also have consistently created small lesbian gatherings and enouraged lesbians to form intergenerational friend and mentor groups either privately or at existing festvials and venues. I was in Stonewall Democrats (a delegate for Obama) and the Affirmitive Action Chair for my County Dems for many years. I have been around the activism and political block a few times.

 I can’t see the future but I can assure you we have see rough times as a community and will continue to see them but we always seem to get our shit together enough to focus energy and effort on making change. Life and politics are a cycle and history shows that. Nothing is ever a guarantee for all times. All of us live in a world where rights are always subject to threat. That is just reality. My best advice is do what you can with where you are and what you are able. We can’t all lead big protests and we can’t even all vote (age, previous felonies, mobility etc) but we all can do something. 

What brings me the most joy, fulfillment and happiness is strengthening connections with lesbians and gathering to share stores, experience and knowledge, whether that means life skills or how we over came obstacles. It feels right to have those conversations and to understand younger generations and their concerns AND to be able to share what worked. I have been exposed to a very particular legacy of lesbian communicaiton and organizing. And what I was taught has helped me in so many ways.

 Find what you are most passionate about and put your focus and energy into that. We can’t all change the world but we can ceate small pockets in our lives and those of others where we feel happy and welcomed and understood. And sometimes those groups end up working on change together which can be a very powerful force.