#more reorganizing will need to be done but..... later....

[moonlight-at-dawn]

I HATH RECLAIM-ED MINE DESK

[dcxdpdabbles]

I have this idea for a post but I feel like you would do it justice.

Basically, Danny is yeeted through a dimensional portal and reincarnated as the clone son of Tim and Connor(from when Tim cloned Connor during his death). This little shit wakes up after that, when Connor has already been found, as a six year old gremlin with a need for chaos.

Que pranks!

I don’t have much more than that so I will leave this in your capable hands.

-🎃

"Master Bruce, if I have to remind you to fix your tie one more time, Gotham will be without its protecter for many months to come!" Alfred snapped - actually snapped - from where he was attempting to reorganize the entirey of the Emberald Sitting room.

Right now, he moved all the furniture and all the wall directions. He was just adding some tastefully done flower pots to make the place look inviting but also regal.

It had been six hours, and from the looks of it, Alfred had not found the balance he desperately wanted. He started over four times. His patience was all but gone.

Bruce's hands snap to his tie, scrambling to get it set just right. He moves it only slightly to the left - not making much difference - with a nervous smile. Alfred's teeth snap shut with a click, and his eyes blaze with frustrated rage as he rounds the coffee table toward the billionaire.

Bruce looks to be holding back a scream.

Dick winces, sinking into his chair lest the aged Butler turns his ire onto him. He knows why this evening has to be just right. Especially to Alfred, but gosh, he could not handle how terrifying the butler could be.

It's just for one dinner and one evening. Dick tells himself. Once Alfred can finally say he married one of us off, things will return to normal.

"Honestly! If you didn't walk around looking like an unkeept vagabond all the time, maybe there would be a Lady of the House by now!" Alfred sneered at a pale-looking Bruce.

Or maybe Timmy bringing Kon over to announce their engagement means Alfred will try to marry the rest of us off harder. Dick despairs as Bruce endures another tongue-lashing. He wants to go help, but if he moves even an inch from his seat, Alfred might realize Dick is still in the room.

He can't afford to anger the beast any further.

"And you, Master Dick!" Alfred suddenly rounds on Dick, pointing one long finger into his face, with narrowed eyes and the grim reaper at his shoulder. Oh, dear.

Thankfully, that's when the doorbell rings. At once, Alfred's face clears into an excited smile. "They're here! I'll let them in right away; you lads, gather the rest of the family. And remember, we must make a great impression! Tonight is the night we invite Mister Kon into the family!"

The butler doesn't quite skip out of the room, but the bristle walking with a chipper head turning is the close that Dick has ever seen him do.

"I'm so happy for Tim." Bruce mutters,"but I can not handle any more reminders that I haven't had a spouse."

"Tell me about it," Dick sighs, following after his father into the hallway and down to the dining hall. He can distantly hear Alfred opening the door and greeting the two. "A hour ago, he made seven passive agressive reminders that Tamaraneans propse with a dinner and a mock battle. Seven. I mean, how does he even know what Tamaraneans do when courting?"

"It's Alfred." Bruce tells him, taking a seat at the head of the table. Dick sits in the chair to his right as the oldest and First Heir- considering the reply. It makes sense.

Damian, Cass, and Duke walk in, not even a moment later. All are dressed better than any gala Bruce could have dragged them off, too. He is rather impressed that Damian is a red suit that makes even Bruce pale in comparison. Then again, he is the only one besides Alfred who has an eye for such things.

"Has he already proposed, or is he doing it at dinner table and were all supposed to act supirse?" Duke asks while sitting down. "I want to know what kind of face I should have prepared"

"The clone has asked Father for his blessing in his courtship with Timothy. He knew we would have figured out his plans when that blunder. It is no surprise." Damian huffs. Dick knows he's just upset that his big brother is going to get married and move out soon. He's adorable when he's territorial.

"I can confirm that Kon hasn't asked yet." Steph announces, strutting into the room in all her purple gown glory. Behind her, the Row sbilings wander in with matching celtic blue suits, making Dick grin. It's always nice to see people appreciate the best color. "Tim isn't the type of person to not show off his ring whenever he has a chance."

"I've always wanted to see a real-life popersoal!" Jarro gasps, flying into the room with his own little suit on. It's a nice black with green undertones just like Bruce's.

He lands in the miniature chair with a dinner dining set Alfred had special ordered for him.

It sits on top of where a regular dining set usually is, always the second chair on Bruce's left, because he is literally the favorite. Bruce denies it, but they all see the tender smile he throws the floating star.

The Wayne kids know. Jarro is too precious and hilarious, so none of them mind that he's the favorite. In fact, Dick has half the mind that he's the favorite of the majority of the family.

Jason leans over to pat Jarro's head, grinning when the little starfish swears. He adores when the kid randomly curses out of Aldred's hearing range.

"Shh, they're coming!" Cullen says from where he was lingering by the door, hoping to see Tim and Kon. He always looked up to the older boys as someone who had been forced into the closet for his own protection.

Seeing people like him helped ease the fear, and Dick feels his smile wideing when Cullen scrambles back to his seat. He's so excited he's practically in the Speed Force.

Alfred opens the door first, stepping to the side to allow the guest to enter first. Dick feels himself sit up straighter, the moment really setting in, Kon is going to propose to his younger brother.

His little Timmy is growing up-

"Wow, this place is big!" A child says, running into the room. Who the heck is he? "It's amazing, Dad!"

"Slow down. You don't want to fall." Tim laughs, rubbing the stranger's hair with a soft smile.

"It's okay, Dad. I'm strong!" The boy flexes his tiny arms. Tim laughs again as Kon crouches down to the little boy's height.

"Woah! Look at all those musceles. You're going to help me protect your dad, son?"

"Yeah Pa, I'll be the strongest super or robin ever!"

"Tim? Who might this lovely chum be?" Bruce cuts in, voice slightly strained. No one calls him out on it since they are staring wide eye at the tiny little boy who looks like an exact copy of Tim at age five.

Dick knows because he was one of the few in the Wayne's who saw Tim at that age. He's practically a clone to oh no.

Dick thinks he's having a heart attack.

Tim looks up at them before a brillient glowing smile breaks across his face. "Everyone, Kon and I have an announcement to make!"

Kon wraps an arm around his waist, sending adoring looks to man in his arms before they both hold up their left hand.

There are twin silver bands on both of their fingers. "We got married in Las Vegas, and we have a son! I like you all to meet Danny Drake-Kent! I made him when I thought Kon was dead."

"I am Danny, clone of Kon-el and Tim Drake. Fear me if you dare!" His voice squeaks. Squeaks.

Scratch that, Dick knows he's having a heart attack.

You can hear a pin drop in the silence his announcement cause, as Danny puffs up his chest and floats a few inches off the grown.

Oh, great heavens, Dick is an uncle.

"A fellow clone, son!" Jarro cheers from his little table. He slams two of his star points on the table to a beat that he speaks to. "One of us. One of us."

Danny's blue eyes land on the star fish and widen. He raises both arms into the air chanting back. "One of us. One of us. One of us!"

"It's awesome is what it is!" Steph cries, jumping up from her seat. "Hi, Danny! I'm you, Auntie Steph! I'm the cool one."

"Isn't this lovely? Master Tim not only has a husband but a child as well. Unlike some Masters." Aldred doesn't quite glare at Bruce, but he doesn't have to. The Waynes know who he means as Bruce wince.

Danny pauses in his chanting to look her up and down, staring pointily at her plum colored dress before humming. "That's a bold statement for an eggplant."

Steph gapes at him as Tim roars with laughter.

Oh, Dick is going to love this kid. He leaves his seat, trying to get to his nephew as the rest of the family attempts to do the same. Damain makes alarming threats to Kon, letting him know he would easily take him out if he detects a hint of mistreatment to his brother and new nephew.

The Waynes act like they can't hear the threat because they all have their own versions of the shovel talk prepared. They just have to get the clone alone.

It's a nice dinner.

[hellenicrisis]

A Collection of Greek Keywords for Hellenic Pagans (kharis, miasma, etc.)

Kharis:

Kharis means 'grace' or 'favour' and it is in reference to the reciprocal nature of our relationships with the gods.

Liddell and Scott describe it as, "A grace or favour felt on the part of the doer but more frequently on the part of the receiver in the form or thankfulness and gratitude."

It essentially means a favour done in delight. This can be both the offering we give to the gods, and the favours and blessings the gods bestow upon us.

Kharis is both the action of offering and worshipping and also what is built between a worshipper and a god through the actions of offering and reverence. It can be used like this:

'Giving an offering to the gods is an example of kharis.'

Or:

'I have built up kharis with Apollo over the years.'

Khaire/khairete:

Khaire or khairete are words that mean 'hail', 'farewell', or 'blessings'.

It can be used to greet someone, either as hello or farewell (I use it at the end of some of my posts). It can also be used at the end of a prayer.

Khaire is used to address one person or god, and khairete is used to address a group.

Miasma:

Miasma means 'stain', 'pollution', 'defilement', or 'stain of guilt'.

It is a type of spiritual pollution that a person or a place can collect through either happenstance or deliberate action. It makes us spiritually unclean but there is no damnation involved in miasma and thus is not similar to sin. Sin is more comparable to agos, which is mentioned later.

We tend to collect miasma while going about day-to-day life, almost like getting our hands dirty while working. The stain it refers to is always one of a spiritual nature; miasma is a strictly spiritual concept.

It makes a person or place ritually impure, hence it is inappropriate to interact with the divine while in a miasmic state. The gods are said to reject the offerings of a miasmic person or to vacate a miasmic place until it is cleansed.

Human blood is also considered to be miasmic when spilled outside of battle, though this is not the case for menstrual blood (although I tend to avoid praying and doing rituals during that week anyway as I consider it to not be my cleanest state possible. I use this time to tend to my altar physically instead, cleaning it and reorganizing it).

Miasma is very common, everyone gets it, mostly due to plain daily life, though sometimes due to deliberate actions. Miasma can always be cleansed.

Sources of miasma include:

Death in the home - Pollutes the grieving and the home. People and home need to be cleansed before interacting with the gods or going to temple.

Birth - Because of the blood involved. Mother and baby are considered by traditional standards to be miasmic for three days postpartum and both are generally cleansed at five days postpartum.

Intercourse - Both parties are polluted by the act and must be cleansed before interacting with the gods or going to temple.

M*rder/m*nsl*ughter - This collects both miasma and agos. The m*rderer becomes miasmic, and a place can become miasmic if a m*rderer is free and unpunished there. This does not apply to blood spilled in battle.

There is a line in Hesiod's Works and Days that refers to the action of cleansing oneself of miasma before interacting with the gods. It reads, "Never pour a libation of sparkling wine to Zeus after dawn with unwashen hands, nor to others of the deathless gods."

Khernips:

Khernips means 'handwash', or 'lustral water'.

It is basically Hellenic holy water. It is used to purify ourselves of miasma before interacting with the gods.

It can be made by dropping burnt herbs or laurel leaves (bay leaves) in clean water, or by dropping a lit match in clean water. Simply washing our hands in plain water can work symbolically as well if done with the specific intention of purifying oneself.

Agos:

Agos means 'curse', 'pollution', or 'abomination'.

It can be considered as a step up to miasma and, while not quite the same, it could also be considered comparable to sin. It is brought about through deliberate actions and it is very difficult, if not impossible, to cleanse. Agos can also invoke the divine wrath of the gods, so it does involve a form of damnation

Some things that cause/invoke agos include:

Having intercourse inside a temple

Temple robbing

M*rder

Bloodshed inside a temple or on sacred grounds

Broken xenia

The refusal to properly bury a family member or a soldier (even an enemy soldier)

K*lling someone who is under the gods' protection

Offering human blood to the gods (due to its miasmic nature)

Agos is hardly as common as miasma, so it is not something the general practitioner should worry about.

[bouquetface]

JULY 2024 PREDICTIONS

Keep in mind, entire chart influences accuracy. This is a general read not personal. Take it as entertainment.

Read for rising/ascendant sign.

ARIES RISING:

Your chart ruler, mars will conjunct uranus. For you, this can bring sudden financial changes. Mars brings a “cutting” energy. So you may be cutting ties with a source of income. You may be selling something/cutting ties with a possession. You may have a surprise expense coming up. Be careful with overspending this month especially around the 14-16th.

Venus is in opposition with Pluto. It’s possible the surprise financial change may involve kids or other 5th H topics. The opposition can create tension between 11th & 5th H topics. Pluto is slowly working on transforming your 11th H (social circles, long term goals). But Venus wants the energy to have fun & indulge in your 5th H. For some this can manifest as romantic feelings for a friend. When Mercury enters your 5th, you or someone else may want to communicate these feelings. However, a friends to lovers story isn’t for everyone if the natal does not indicate it.

Mars will later move into Gemini. Watch out for speeding & parking tickets, mars in 3rd can be a time you get caught. And watch for arguments especially involving siblings. On the bright side, this can be a good time to prepare a trip. You might want to plan a fun road trip or day trip with your friends &/or siblings.

You may have family visiting this month. You could receive a message from or about a family member. Might be a female family member. You might have a trip planned that involves a place near water. You could have plans to beautify the home in some kind of way early July. This could be a generally peaceful time at home.

TAURUS RISING:

Your chart ruler, Venus will begin in cancer and move to Leo. When Venus enters Leo, there will be opposition to Pluto. This creates tension in your 10th & 4th. There could be a tug & pull kind of energy between outside life (career, reputation) and inside life (home, family, personal matters).

Venus will trine Saturn. This can manifest as getting support from your social circle. Maybe some fun activities as well. May be near the water like a pool party.

When Mercury & Venus & Sun all enter leo, you may be more focused on home life. You could be buying things for the home. Beautifying the home in some way. Spending more time at home. However, you may have outside obligations that prevent you from fully relaxing and enjoying this energy. You could have visitors coming to your home as well. There could be some planning and cleaning up that needs to be done.

The other big thing for you this month is mars will conjunct uranus in your first house. This can make you prone to accidents especially involving heat or electricity. Be cautious. Watch for impulsive urges to make changes to your appearance.

Mars traditionally rules your 12th & 7th. If you have some repressed anger/frustration, it could be coming out suddenly. This could shock you or others. Watch out for this. Make sure you communicate effectively. If you know a scorpio rising, be aware this month especially around 14-16th, they may be the one who is blowing up.

GEMINI RISING:

At the end of the month, mercury will be in your 4th getting ready to retrograde. There may be changes or plans in family and home life. Maybe you consider moving or selling a property. Maybe you want to do a home renovation project. Or some simply reorganization. By early August, you may have to question or delay these plans. However, it won't be that bad as Mercury is comfortable in your 4th house.

Venus, Mercury and Sun all enter Leo. This puts focus on 3rd house topics - transportation, communication, community, siblings, etc. These planets will opposite Pluto for a short time. There may be some tension between 9th house and 3rd. Some heated conversations or feelings towards authority figures. Car troubles could appear. Some may be purchasing a car, you would like already know this is happening though.

Mars will conjunct Uranus in taurus. This is your 12th of whats hidden. There may be some unpredictable and hostile energy in the background this month. It is likely hidden though. Maybe you struggle to sleep. Mars tradtionally rules your 11th and 6th. Friends may be fighting, you could have some kind of flu that you are unaware. It likely does not affect you directly. You could be on the sidelines watching the drama go down.

CANCER RISING:

The month will begin with a new moon in your first house. You may notice things being cleared out before this. A fresh start is coming up. You could make changes to your appearance. Now is a good time to begin planning for the future. What do you want to manifest? Now is a good time to start working toward any goals.

Mercury & Venus & Sun will go into Leo. This is your 2nd house. You could be more focused on finances this month. This could be due to goals you have that involve transportation & home. It is a fixed sign opposing pluto in another fix sign (aqua). This indicates pressure. It may be due to pressure from family to get a job or better your finances.

Mars will conjunct uranus in your 11th. This is an explosive energy. It likely doesn’t involve most of you directly. It may be your social circle. You could simply be a bystander to some fights or drama. I’d suggest staying out of it because uranus & mars makes for an unpredictable and potentially agressive situation. If you know any scorpio risings or aries, they may the ones doing the exploding ( as they are naturally ruled by mars).

LEO RISINGS:

Okay so I immediately wanted to get to one specific transit for you guys. Mars conjunct Uranus in your 10th. If your MC is near 26 degrees Taurus, it’s even more likely to affect you. This energy is bringing sudden changes to your career and reputation. Personal life may somehow work itself into public life. Stuff from the past may come back up this month. There could be gossip about you. This month you aren’t likely to be perceived in the best possible light. Despite Venus entering your first house later. Venus in leo may soften the blow though.

If the gossip gets its way back to you, take a breath and know it’s just not that serious at the end of the day. If you are a public figure or someone who posts a lot, you may get some nasty comments this month. Negativity online is likely. Some of you may get screenshots of texts sent to you. Also be cautious of what you send to other people. It could be your photos or texts being sent around.

Mercury & Sun & Venus all enter Leo this month. That’s a lot of attention on you. Unfortunately, these will all opposite pluto for a little bit. This can create tension between you & your relationships (friends, business, romantic partner). And even family because pluto is associated with your 4th house. What others want for you may not align with what you want for yourself. Don’t let people intimidate you into doing what they want. Do what’s best for yourself.

A lot of stuff that happens this month may reappear in December. You could see some red flags and/or intuitively feel things are off. For most by the end of this year, you could feel so much has changed. Especially in regard to your life direction, appearance, your relationships & career. This isn’t necessarily bad.

VIRGO RISINGS:

Your chart ruler, mercury will start in cancer, go into leo than into virgo. So 11th, 12th and 1st topics may be big for you this month. You may have a period of physical or mental isolation. It would be for the best though as Venus will later enter your 12th. Venus will attempt to bring some peace into your sub conscious. Yet, you may still have some restless nights since mercury & sun are there too.

Mars will conjunct Uranus in taurus. This could be a surprise trip you have to plan. Mars does indicate a “cutting” energy though. So it may be plans being suddenly cancelled. You could make final choices on higher education as well.

Mars traditionally rules your 3rd & 8th. This can indicate sudden events in regard to vehicles or investments, inheritance & death. You could get into heated debate about your beliefs. You could fight with siblings, childhood friends, neighbours. To be honest, 14-16th is heated energy for everyone. Be cautious of driving and communicating. In general, people are more likely to be negative. If you know any scorpio rising or aries rising, they may be hotheads during this time. They are traditionally ruled by mars so this conjunction will affect them the most.

If you plan any long road trips, make sure you take a vehicle that you know won’t break down. Otherwise, those 12th H transits may manifest as being stranded while you wait for help. And be sure to not be speeding, you are likely to get caught.

LIBRA RISING:

Venus & Mercury & Sun will all enter Leo. Making it an 11th house focused month. You could be socializing. Having trips planned with friends. Having events to go to like weddings, birthdays, parties, etc. These planets will all opposite Pluto for a bit. This can create tension between 11th & 5th house topics. While Venus desires to socialize and have fun in the 11th, pluto is working transforming your 5th. There could be issues with children. There could be issues with friends and crushes or romantic partners. You could be involved. Or you could simply hear about the drama as you socialize with people.

Mars will conjunct Uranus in your 8th. Be careful as this can bring accidents especially involving heat and electricity. You could suddenly find yourself receiving money or being in debt. It’s hard to say because uranus is unpredictable. Mars traditionally rules your 2nd and 7th. This surprise event could involve friends, business or romantic partners. Mars can indicate “cutting ties”. A relationship could surprisingly end. A job could end. There could be problems with money. So watch out for overspending, you could have a surprise expense coming up. Uranus rules your 5th as well. So for some this could be finding out about a surprise pregnancy.

SCORPIO RISING:

Your traditional ruler, mars will conjunct uranus in your 7th. This can indicate you fighting with someone. Around 14-16th, you may feel really angry especially if you’ve been repressing anger. You might blow up so be cautious of communicating effectively. You could be the villain in some people’s story this month. Mars can indicate cutting ties. You may suddenly decide to break up with a lover, friend or even in business. Be careful to not be impulsive. Is this a choice you can make without regretting later.

Your modern ruler, Pluto will opposite Venus in Leo. This brings opposition between home and career. You may feel pressured to get a job. Relationship status may be changing.

Venus & Mercury & Sun all enter Leo this month. Bringing focus into career & reputation. There could be some news regarding career. It may create change in your family and home life. Maybe people are leaving the job = leaving you with more responsibility at work. You could be moving for career. You could be unable to make it to family events due to career.

SAG RISING:

Your ruler Jupiter is in Gemini until 2025. Here jupiter continues to gradually expand your relationships. This month there aren’t any jupiter aspects though.

This month is more focused on 9th topics. Venus & Mercury & Sun all will enter your 9th. This can have your focus on higher education and travel. These will all opposite pluto for a short time. This can bring heated debates with family, friends & partners. This can lead to a struggle when communicating. There could be issues regarding documents. Plan carefully.

Mars will conjunct uranus in taurus. Be careful of accidents especially involving heat and electricity. An accident or sudden illness could affect your ability to be your best at work. Mars traditionally rules your 12th and 5th. This matter could involve recreational activities affecting your health. For example a hang over. 5th is kids as well, some could hear of a surprise pregnancy. Mars is “cutting ties” energy. You could be ending something. It’s hard to say exactly because uranus is unpredictable. It could be a car issue or electricity going out.

CAPRICORN RISING:

Mars will conjunct uranus in your 5th. This can create unpredictable and hostile energy. Mars can indicate “terminating”. You may end a relationship. End involvement in a hobby you had. End your involvement in some kind of drama you feel is childish.

Venus, Mercury & Sun will all enter Leo. This creates a lot of focus on 8th H topics. Death, investments, inheritance, debt, etc. These planets will all opposite pluto for a bit. Pluto is trying to transform your finances and possessions. These planets in 8th could offer support in some way. Maybe a parent will pay for your tuition, vacation or something else.

Watch out for overspending and landing yourself in debt though. And be careful who you share passwords and personal information with this month. Someone could later use this to take your power or status away.

AQUA RISINGS:

Pluto in your first house will opposite Venus, Mercury and Sun when they enter Leo. This creates tension between you and your relationships. Pluto is attempting to slowly transform who you are. This might upset your relationships (friends business or romantic partner). There could be change in your status. Maybe you get into a relationship, end a relationship, marry, get engaged. Change in career could be likely. Or simply a personality / mindset change.

There could be pressure from the outside to make changes. You could refuse change. Leading to issues with others. Business clients friends or partners could be getting on your nerves this month. Or you could feel stressed due to you wanting to do right by them.

Mars conjunct Uranus in your 4th suggests a surprise event in home. Mars can be hostile and uranus can be unpredictable. You may have to suddenly move. You could get to fights in the home. Mars traditionally rules your 3rd and 10th. This surprise event could involve vehicle, career or siblings. Maybe you and your sibling fight over who gets the car.

PISCES RISING:

Mars will conjunct uranus in your 3rd. This can create fights with siblings or neighbours. Especially if you know scorpio or aries rising. They’re traditionally ruled by mars so they’ll be the most affected by the hostile & unpredictable transit. You could have a car break down. Don’t speed because you are likely to get caught. You may have an unexpected car expense.

Venus Mercury and Sun all enter Leo. This puts a lot of focus in your 6th. It all will opposite Pluto for a short time. There could be tension between 11th and 6th house. Maybe you have work or health issues & obligations. Maybe you get a pet this creates more responsibility for you.

Your social circle may want to have fun and socialize. You may have obligations that conflict with this.

[lady-of-tearshed]

Solace

Eris Vanserra x Reader

(Unedited yet! Posted it by accident 😑 I didn't even realized it until @daycourtofficial reposted 🤣 I was so confused lol)

Summary: Eris comes back from a meeting exhausted. He is overwhelmed with his new role as a High Lord lately, and his mate decides to take special care of him.

Eris sighed as he came back to your shared chambers later than anticipated from an awfully boring meeting. He had still tons of work to be done with, new courtiers to hire, troops reorganization, and court finances issues to fix and analyze in more depth. He was supposed to hand back a report about analyzing these financial issues this afternoon actually, but he didn’t even have time to finish writing it. Surprisingly, his courtiers had decided to be kind enough not to bring up his missing report in his meeting this afternoon.

His ears perk up when he hears the bathtub water running from the bathroom. He quietly walks his way there, and spots you pouring bubble bath and salts into the tub. He spots two sets of matching pajamas perfectly folded on the bathroom countertop. You were running him a bath… His heart swells with guilt, feeling ashamed of being absent recently. And yet there you were… still taking care of him.

Pangs of guilt flow through the bond, you look over your shoulder to see your mate staring at you, his brows frowned in concern “I’m unworthy of you…”. His Adam's apple bobs as he tries to swallow the tick knot in his throat. 

You walk over to Eris and wrap your arms around his neck, his instinctively resting on your hips. You stare into his eyes with determination and pure honesty shining into them and say “I am to judge whether or not someone is worthy of me, and you, Eris Vanserra, I can confidently say that you are.”. 

He opens his mouth and shakes his head to complain, but you cut him off with a sweet kiss on his lips “Don’t go down that path, please.” He sighs but kisses you back gently on your forehead, breathing in your comforting scent. “Okay…”

You smile and slowly pull back to stop the faucet before the bath overflows on the tiles. Eris can’t help but stare at your curves as you undress and sink into the bath first, a content sigh falls from your lips as the warm water makes your whole body melt in delight.

“Why are you still standing there?” You tease as you look over at Eris, frozen in his contemplation. His hands were still gripping the edge of his shirt he had wanted to take off before getting distracted. He shakes his head and chuckles at his own thoughts, thinking about how his wife could take his attention away by doing literally anything. He undresses and settles himself in the bath between your legs, his back pressed against your chest. You run your wet fingers through his hair and he groans in pleasure, leaning his head back onto your shoulder. You smile and kiss the side of his face.

It has been a while since you had any kind of intimacy with Eris, he had been spending a lot of time fixing the mistakes and changing the ways of Beron’s past reign in the past few weeks. You had caught him falling asleep in his study a few times recently, he looked so drained that every time you found him asleep on his desk, you felt too bad to wake him up to selfishly have him beside you in bed. So every time, you only had placed a pillow under his head, wrapped a sheet around his shoulders, and kissed his head goodnight silently. 

When you snap out of your thoughts, you turn your head and notice that Eris’s eyes are now shut, his lips slightly parted, all of his features relaxed and his head feels heavier onto your shoulder… “You’re not falling asleep on me… are you?” you chuckle “No…no.” He whispers under his breath.

He sits up and stretches his neck, hissing slightly at the soreness caused by his constant stress, lack of sleep, and probably many other factors. 

“I still need to finish writing this report-” He almost moans when your fingers expertly start to knead his poor muscles. 

You smile and hold back a laugh at Eris' pleased sounds. His thoughts were now completely off his work and the thing he was about to say. His soreness slowly fades away as your fingers work their magic on him. 

As you keep applying just enough pressure on the sore spots on Eris's shoulders, your eyes dart to his many moles and freckles. You suddenly realize that you don’t often have the opportunity to stare at his bare back. “Beautiful…” the words fall from your lips absent-mindedly.

Your words breaking the silence confuse Eris “...What?” he asks, his voice low from the deep state of relaxation you had managed to soak him in. “I said they’re beautiful, your moles and freckles. They make me think of a starry night sky. You are exquisite, my love.”.

The blush on his face travels up all the way to his ears, and he mumbles a shy ‘you too’, too stunned to answer anything back at your sweet words. He wonders how you manage to do it, every word that comes out of your mouth is always so honest and so… poetic. 

—

The bubbles of the bath had completely melted, and the water was starting to turn cold when you both decided to get out of the bath. You had braided your damp hair before the two of you quite literally crawled your way under the soft duvet of your bed. 

Eris was gently stroking your cheek with his thumb, admiring your peaceful figure lying down in front of him. He was trying his best to heat up your ice-cold feet with his legs wrapped around yours. After years of marriage, he still couldn’t understand how your feet always seemed to be literal ice cubes. You were starting to drift to sleep when suddenly you reminded yourself of something “You know that unfinished report you were worried about earlier?”

“Yeah?”

“You finished it this afternoon.”

He furrows his eyebrows in confusion “Impossible, I was in a meeting this afternoon-” Realization hits him when he hears you scoff quietly, his eyes soften and he pulls you closer to his chest, squeezing you tightly into his arms and kissing the crown of your head. You nuzzle into his warmth, appreciating the low rumble of his chest when he speaks up quietly before you both drift to sleep. “Thank you…”

“I love you.” You whisper as you fall back asleep.

“I love you the most, my solace.” 

••••••••••••

A/N: Well, I was supposed to post it on Friday or Saturday, but here we are! 😅 Hope you like it. I barely edited it, so if you guys notice anything, please let me know 💕

[actual-changeling]

i cannot resist a piece of good, painful angst, so have a little something inspired by this post by @quoththemaiden and the tags i left on it

-

Aziraphale returns to heaven in a haze of heartbreak and fear, his lips still tingling with Crowley's kiss, his fingers twitching with the urge to reach for him. The white sterility welcoming him only encourages his mind to drift further, allowing him to tune out the Metatron's words and focus on simply setting one foot in front of the other. If heaven has not changed in the last few thousand years, and he knows very well that it hasn't, there will be more than enough paperwork detailing anything and everything he is being told.

"Any questions, Aziraphale?"

They have stopped in the middle of a long, empty corridor, his eyes stinging with the bleach-dry air, and Aziraphale blinks, the smile on his face never wavering; it is a mask he knows he will not be able to drop for quite some time.

"Do I have an office?"

"You can make yourself one if you deem it necessary. I will leave you to it, then."

With a small flash of light, he is gone, and Aziraphale is alone. Right.

A few hours later, he has an office no miracle in the world could make cosy, enough paperwork to last him an eternity, and a persistent itch in his left hand. It is more irritating than bothersome, an anchor keeping him from floating away into the land of celestial regulations and legal frameworks, and he is trying (and failing) to keep himself from thinking about Crowley.

He needs him to deal with this, that much is clear without knowing anything at all about how exactly the second coming is going to transpire, but for the first time in six thousand years, Aziraphale finds himself wondering if Crowley will be waiting for him when he reaches out.

Absently, he scratches the back of his left hand, the itching seemingly working its way to the surface, and picks up the next folder.

'Re: The matter of opening a direct communication line between the Department of Miracle Accounting and the Department of Miracle Archiving.'

"You'd assume they'd done that ages ago," he murmurs, opening it with a sigh and squeezing his eyes shut when he sees the first document dates back to 3076 BC. A sudden wave of sympathy for Gabriel washes through him, which disappears rather quickly when he remembers he is probably having the time of his life on Alpha Centauri.

(Even if this all ends up in a puddle of burning goo we can-- go off together.)

(Go off together?)

Aziraphale slams the folder shut and pushes it to the side, creating a new 'unimportant/for later' pile since the other one is already structurally unsound and he'd rather not have to reorganize it when it inevitably collapses under its own weight.

He scrubs a hand down his face (I could always rely on you) and forces himself to take a deep, steadying breath (You could always rely on me) before reaching for the next one, halting when a shimmer of gold draws his attention.

(And I would like to spend-)

On his left hand, in the exact spot where the itch is… was Aziraphale corrects himself, and in its place, curled around his ring finger and weaving its way towards his wrist, is a golden snake. No, not a snake, he slowly realizes, it's Crowley's snake in all its glory, uncurled and with wide open, unblinking eyes, staring up at him.

"Fuck," he breathes, his right hand rapidly furling and unfurling. After not spending more than an hour or two in heaven at a time for millennia, he had completely forgotten about his angelic markings, which had looked very different before Eden. The exact images are hazy, washed out by time and apparently a fundamental change in his essence, because the snake lazily sliding around his wrist and closing its eyes as if to nap is both new and strangely familiar.

(Listen. Do you hear that?)

Tremors run through his body, fine and yet strong enough to keep him from opening the file, from reading, thinking, planning, his mind filled with fire-red hair and golden eyes and the taste of love on his tongue.

(I don't hear anything.)

Aziraphale cradles his marked hand against his chest, pressing his knuckles to his lips and trying to recall the few seconds during which he had felt whole. Happy.

(That's the point. No nightingales.)

The snake hisses quietly, or maybe he is already starting to lose his sanity, and its glittering scales provide what little comfort he can access in heaven, missing the white noise of London, the dusty quiet of his bookshop, missing Crowley, Crowley, Crowley.

[reverieblondie]

Rolan discovers he likes having his nipples played with...

Yummy, yummy, YUMMY!

Rolan is going to be sooooo embarrassed! MDNI +18!

It obviously happened on accident; it was a very hot day in the city of Baldur's Gate, and while Cal stepped up to watch the shop Rolan was busy sweating away reorganizing stacks and stacks of books. Normally the tower didn't get this hot, but today it was scorching and though tieflings have heat resistance that doesn't mean they don't sweat.

So somewhere between lifting heavy stacks and deconstructing some of Lorroakans lingering spells his shirt just had to come off. Now getting some relief from his sweat drenched clothes Rolan continued to work. What Rolan wasn't aware of was a Tav. you who continued to watch the show of their sweaty boyfriend hard at work. A person can only handle so much watching before needing to make their presence known. So using some fancy footwork you learned from Astarion, you snuck over and grabbed your wizard from behind. This was normally an innocent move, but when your hands brushed against his nipples he let out a whine, a whine you thought was sudden surprise, but what Rolan knew was from the brief touch.

Days of thought processing and on Rolans part so self exploration, him laying in bed fisting his cock as his hand flicks and tugs on his nipple. Tugging to that moan inducing self pleasure Rolan is cumming all over his stomach and seeing stars. Now he just needs to ask if Tav is willing to try it.

Finally when our shy wizard works up the nerve to ask you if are willing... well, it's less of a verbal ask and more a silent plea. As you looked down at him pushing him further and further in your needy core, feeling his cock throb with every tightening quiver. Rolan just couldn't help it anymore, so he takes one of your hands splayed against his chest and lowers it down to his perked nipple. You look at him confused for a second as he keeps his head turned, his eyes shyly shifting from your eyes to somewhere else, praying to the gods your not judging him. Finally, he breaks,

"Well... would you...you know..."

Biting back a laugh you lean down and slide you tongue against his sensitive ear, making him shudder and his cock twitch, a moan soft and whinny slipping from his throat.

"Ask me proper Rolan..."

Rolan swallows and brings his golden eyes back to yours, "Please...touch...pinch..."

In all honesty you would have done anything he wanted after that whinny plea. So caressing turned to light pitching, then that turned to twisting, till finally you where flicking your tongue on his soft bud and he is cumming with a cry. His hands squeezing your hips in a bruising grip as he falls apart underneath you. Rolans wet eyes looking up at you with such admiration as a smile of relive comes to his lips. Gods you spent the rest of the day kissing and teasing him further.

A few weeks later You and Rolan where on a walk to the forge, you had begged him to tag along and being sweet and needing a break from the tomes Rolan agreed to joined you to pick up your commission from Dammon. When you two arrived the smile on Dammons face widen as his eyes flicked from you to Rolan. Dammon grabbed the small bag with your commission inside and gave you a wink before chimming out.

"Have fun you two."

Rolan was admittedly confused till a few moments later when you two were somewhere private. You passed him the bag, and gave him the go ahead. Rolan smirks at you as he opens his present and pulls out a delicate chain, with two clips attached. Rolan felt all his blood rush from his head and before you knew it you were being dragged back to the tower, Rolans tail slightly raised and swaying in excitement to try out his new accessory.

[crystaldivination]

𝗣𝗜𝗖𝗞 𝗔 𝗠𝗨𝗚

𝗔𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗹 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗶 𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗴𝗲𝘀

Hello there beautiful souls! With this cute little pick a card reading let’s us see what this month has in store for you and what you can do to make the best out of it, shall we?

✤ masterlist • paid services • spoil me! ♡

Check out my latest pick a card reading here

how to choose your pile. take a few deep breaths & look at each pile separately. Take your time to pick out a pile that sparks an interest or a memory in you. Come back later to it again if you can't decide.

The piles

from left -> right

Disclaimer: this is a general reading which may or may not resonate with you. Take what resonates and leave out anything that doesn't. Feel free to choose another pile if you'd like.

𝗣𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝟭

New opportunities and visions

You might meet someone of interest who might or might not become someone significant to you nevertheless they will be influential in your daily life in some way. This person would be someone who comes into your life in order to help you build structure or a routine. They will help you to reorganize your goals and look at them from a different point of view. They seem to be someone mature who can guide you along your way and who you can learn from and vice versa. This connection could develop into a great friendship or even into a romantic relationship depending on what you want to attract. Try to approach life in a different way. New change is ahead. Things won’t be the way you’re used to but it’ll be positive just like a fresh breeze of air. Be open to receive and get help from others. It’ll give you the strength and motivation to embark into a new process. You’ll slowly see this as the month passes by. Stay curious and have a lot of fun, pile 1!

𝗣𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝟮

Reflect

You’ll have more time for yourself this month, pile 2. This time can be used to go within and practice self help. Self care is very important now and needed so if you feel like the past months have been rough and didn’t do you well it’s the time to lean back and focus on your well-being . Find alignment with yourself again. Look back at what you have achieved until now and give yourself some credits. You deserve them. Meditate from time to time or journal if you like it. This will help you ground yourself and practice gratitude even for yourself. While doing so also really think about anything you want to improve or change and come up with a plan to carry these things out. A great time to rearranged priorities such as connections, relationships, work and life. Really think about what you want to do and set your intentions well. Deep cleansing in a lot of areas is indicated here. Gone with the old one and welcome new positive attitudes, pile 2!

𝗣𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝟯

Growth

You’ll be busy this month, pile 3, but in a good sense. You’ll be occupied by many projects which could help you build new stable connections and bring you growth as well as learning. You might get to work on the things you really like. It’s the time to get work done and enjoy the fruits from the hard work and all the achievements you might’ve gather from the past two years until now. It’ll be a great time with full of new experiences and excitements. It’s your time to shine and show off your skills so use it wisely and plentifully. Some of you might even get to be in some sort of high/er positions that’d come with making decisions and force you to have or take responsibilities but overall this will be something you’ll get a lot out from so enjoy the ride to your goals. I see a lot of positive energy filled with success and recognition. Lucky you! Go get it, pile 3!

© 2023 crystaldivination ── all rights reserved. do not copy, translate, edit, alter, or redistribute my work. Plagiarism in any form is prohibited.

𝖳𝗁𝖺𝗇𝗄 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝗋𝖾𝖺𝖽𝗂𝗇𝗀! 𝖨 𝗁𝗈𝗉𝖾 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝖾𝗇𝗃𝗈𝗒 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗂𝗍’𝗌 𝗁𝖾𝗅𝗉𝖿𝗎𝗅 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝗒𝗈𝗎. L𝗂𝗄𝖾𝗌, 𝗋𝖾𝖻𝗅𝗈𝗀𝗌 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝖿𝗈𝗅𝗅𝗈𝗐𝗌 𝖺𝗋𝖾 𝖺𝗅𝗐𝖺𝗒𝗌 𝖺𝗉𝗉𝗋𝖾𝖼𝗂𝖺𝗍𝖾𝖽 💓

[letstrythisout4]

James Sirius Potter

Big brother, sooooooo big brother. 

Incredibly powerful, his accidental magic was insane growing up. Unintentionally was made into the golden child, he just had a lot of expectations put on him early on because of how intense his magical range was demonstrated to be at such an early age.

Looks more like Fleamont than James or Harry (but like they are all clones of each other). You had to know each of them to really see the differences ( in other words when he showed up at Hogwarts the staff was like “omg he looks just like harry” “ and flitwick was like “no that’s monty”) (the thought just occurred but i like the idea that monty and flitwick were buddies cause they both were into dueling)

Menace but good at hiding it. You cannot catch him doing anything wrong. And I mean from harmless pranks to criminal behavior, you cannot catch him. No reliable evidence. Sure, maybe you saw him, but can you prove it? No.

McGonagall and Flitwick are on it though, some days something will happen and no they can’t prove it was James but look at the way he’s smiling, he’s so smug, “Potter, do you mind helping me reorganize my classroom?” “...Your classroom?” “yes my classroom” *4 hours later, he finally leaves, knowing that was his unofficial detention*

(He always agrees to help because 1) he was raised to be helpful when available. 2) Its best to take the punishment now, then let them simmer in their suspicion)

Fighter. 

James feels like the kind of guy to punch first and ask questions later. I think all of the Next Gen are fighters but I think James is the easiest to rile up. Like you don't really need to do much, one comment about his family, done (really, just look at any of them weird). The kind of guy where you can damn him to hell but if you look at his mom the wrong way, he’ll jump you. FIghitng is the only thing he ever gets caught for and he never denies it.

Guilty pleasure is smoking. He doesn’t do it super frequently but he only smokes magical cigarettes that don’t fuck up your lungs so is it really that bad? (Yes, it's still bad. (I like to think that for every magical solution, there is a new problem yk. No wizard cigarettes don’t fuck up your lungs, but it can’t be incredible healthy to inhale magic like that frequently. Maybe it messes with your magical control so like it may make you put too much or too little power into your everyday magic) If it wasn’t bad he wouldn’t hide it from his parents. 

(Doesn’t feel like the kind of person to do anything other than smoke and drink. He doesn’t think less of anyone who wants to do more but I think his magic is really reactive and what he does already is more than enough.)

Speaking of parents, dude loves his parents a lot. (More of a dad harry headcanon but I like to think that the Potter kids can tell Harry anything, do they always? No, their kids, but when push comes to shove they know they can trust their dad with anything.)

Like to think that he has really good intuition. He just knows. 

He’s also good at Divination. I love the idea that Divination to a certain degree is just a ‘gift”, some people are more adept than others and James is one of those people. It’s well known to the point where when people want advice on the Divination homework, want a tarot reading, tea reading, etc etc, they go to James and he’s always right. 

Is a true student athlete. Like yeah he loves Quidditch but he has a potions exam coming up and the potion exam takes priority (Oliver Wood just shed a tear somewhere). 

That said he is freakishly good at managing his time and keeping up with all of his classes, tutoring and quidditch. I feel like after the Golden Trio era, Hermione would push against time turners being given and in turn James wouldn’t be allowed to take as many classes, SO to get around what he harassed like half of the staff to tutor him in the advanced material of their subject. 

Loves his name but also feels a lot of pressure. Named after two wizards that are greatly admired, at least by his father, he wants to do right by them.

Doesn’t get into arguments frequently but when he does he’s brutal. James loves his family, but when he’s hurt, he’s hurt, and he is going to bring whoever put him in that mood down with him, family or not. 

The kind of person to never date and when they finally do it’s miraculously the love of their life who he will marry and spend eternity with.

Best class is transfiguration.

Letterman jackets.

Baseball fan.

Kind of person to see a first year looking lost and walk them to the otherside of the castle where their class is. 

Definitely prefect and head boy.

Was the one to break the silence and start clapping for Albus when he got sorted to Slytherin.

Loves his siblings, but like he’s definitely closer with the twins and Teddy. He’s close with his siblings too, don’t get me wrong, but he wants to be a good role model for his siblings and he doesn’t really have to when around the older cousins. 

Listens to Mitski and Childish Gambino.

Not incredibly talkative or extroverted, he has a solid three friends plus the army that is his family and he’s good with that.

The kind of kid to walk into the living room where Harry and Ginny are, do a backflip, and walk out.

(as a neurodivergent person myself i like the different neurodivergent James headcanons, in particular the idea that he is bipolar, i think writing hp characters as having these types of disorders can be so important on a representation level but also in a large worldbuilding scale as the question of how does the wizarding world perceive mental disorders etc. lemme know if anyone would care to hear my thoughts on these ideas cause i have many)

[writingintheshadowsforever]

It Was Real For Me Too Monica Rambeau x Reader

Summary: Monica is convinced you hated every second being trapped in Wanda's hex with her. In reality she couldn't be more wrong if only she gave you the chance to explain.

Carol raised a single eyebrow walking into the storage room of her ship. Where she kept all her extra cargo and miscellaneous items to see Monica rummaging around. The sound of stuff falling from the shelves along with someone whispering curse words is what drew her there. She already knew the identity of the culprit considering they were only four people on her ship counting herself.

You were off playing twenty questions with Kamala, and she was sure the young girl was taking notes for her fanfiction. That only left one person, and she'd been scarce from the moment you arrived on the ship.

"Is there something I can help you find?" Carol asked smirking when Monica jumped a little bit.

She threw a quick glare at the superhero who was still more of a mother figure to her. Then went back to searching through various boxes on the floor without a word. Her relationship was already rocky since the two still haven't worked through the abandonment issue, but it only got worse. When Carol decided to call you in to assist on the mission without consulting her first.

"Mon come on you're not the one who has to reorganize all this later" Carol pleaded.

"Do you have any liquor or wine on this ship?"

"I do but you won't find it here."

Monica stood up and turned around with a frustrated huff. "Where will I find it then?"

"I'll tell you if you answer a few questions."

Monica shook her head in refusal. "You owe me Carol you don't get to holdout on me."

"I do if you want the only bottle of wine I have plus I need to know what's going with you with what's at stake with this mission. Why does y/n being here bother you so much?"

"Its that obvious huh."

Carol nodded.

Monica let out a groan taking a seat on large container. She tried really hard to keep her cool once she realized you were on the ship. But then the two of you locked eyes, and it was her first time seeing you in almost a year. Her heart skipped a few beats as her legs turned into jelly when you hit her with that dazzling smile. The term absence makes the heart grow fonder couldn't be more true in this situation. She'd hope the time spent apart from you would've done the opposite, and erase her feelings for you. They just got stronger.

"I really don't want to talk about it Carol" Monica tried.

"Too bad y/n won't give me anything out of respect for you, and like I said I need to know what I'm dealing with here." Carol persisted not sounding apologetic at all. She was probably enjoying it in some weird way, because now Monica didn't have a choice but to confide in her a little bit.

Monica took a deep breath trying to figure out a way to explain her situation-ship with you without giving away too much. "You know I got trapped in a witch's hex right?"

"Yeah the one that gave you your powers right" Carol said following along.

"Well I kinda left out the part where y/n got trapped in it with me, and we were basically a couple doing couple things. Until I triggered Wanda's memory and she sent me packing." Monica explained hoping she didn't have to elaborate beyond that.

Carol frowned for a second before her eyes widened in shock only for a look of amusement to take over in the end. "Seriously aren't the two of you like best friends?"

"Yeah."

"Okay I get how it that could be weird at first, but it’s been a year. How haven't you two worked this out by now?"

Monica gave no reply and suddenly the container she was sitting on became ten times more interesting.

"Unless there's something else going on you haven't told me" The blonde woman added. A teasing tone in her voice to match the playful smirk on her face.

"Nope there is nothing else to tell" Monica lied. "You know what forget about the wine. Let's just go back to the mission."

She tried to scurry past Carol but a hand reached out catching her by the arm. Her grip strong and while she may have powers none of them let her match Captain Marvel's strength.

"Carol please just drop it."

"Let's go get the wine you're going to need it."

A Few Hours Later

Carol allowed Monica to drink enough to relax her a little bit before cutting her off. She probably would've finished off the bottle if she wasn't stopped. Carol had an idea or two of what was really going on, but decided it was just better until they got the coordinates from Kamala's mind to the next destination. Before trying to get the two of you to work through the issue. She could tell right away you weren't going to the problem in the matter.

You lit up with joy when she walked into the main hub of the ship with Monica in tow. "About time I thought you two were trying to sneak off without us or something."

Carol walked over to retrieve four head-gear contraptions that looked like a head-massager helmet. She gave one out to each of you explaining the process. "This will let us access Kamala's memories and see what she saw on the ship. No need to fear or worry I use it all the time trying to recover the memories. The Kree took me."

Monica shot her a look of sympathy. "Still."

Carol nodded sliding the head piece on.

"Wait will be able too see each other's memories as well?" You asked twisting it around in your hands.

"Yeah but as long as you don't focus on a particular memory too much. We'll be fine and won't be pulled into something else" Carol instructed.

For the first time both you and Monica squirmed a little bit glancing at each other nervously. You put the head piece on after along with Kamala, while your best friend still hesitated.

"Mon come on you got this" You encouraged her softly.

She took a deep breath letting your words wash over her and take effect. All of her worries seemed to disappear just like old times whenever you were by her side. You always looked after her if she fell you'd catch her. She put the head piece on.

Carol took the spacious couch with Kamala by her side. You laid down beside Monica for moral support. It was the first time the woman allowed you to be this close to her since you arrived on the ship. All four of you closed your eyes at the same time letting your minds link to each other. Kamala went back to the first fight with Dar-Benn. You were absent for the showdown, so you took in every single detail not just the coordinates. Carol told you that her powers were linked to Monica's and Kamala's.

You didn't know what she meant until now watching the fight play out. The three of them switching places whenever the other used their light-based powers. Carol brought you in because of your past with Kree she figured you could offer her an inside look on whar Dar-Benn's plan might be. The memory-sharing moved along smoothly as all three of you got a glimpse at the map.

Kamala played the memory back in slow-motion so you three could memorize it. Carol's mind went haywire letting her memories bleed into Kamala's throwing the three of you back into the past. The days of the Blip Carol and and Maria sitting on the front porch of Monica's childhood home talking about Monica, and other things.

Of course Monica freaked out trying to pull out, but not being able too. "Carol stop I don't want to remember this."

"I'm sorry I'm not doing this on purpose." Carol attempted to rein the memories again, but the door was open letting every moment flood out. Including the one where she promised a eleven-year old Monica she'd see her soon. All of you knew how that promise ended.

"Carol that's enough." Monica was begging now her voice cracking as the memory switched to her mother on her deathbed. Without thinking about you took her hand in yours squeezing it.

"Breathe Mon it's okay."

Carol's memories were pushed aside as a new wave took over overpowering her. They belonged to Monica and all of them were with you. The first day you and her met when Nick Fury called you in to help Monica deal with the aftermath of being blipped. Her breaking down in your arms after finding out about Maria's death. All the nights you spent holding her to chase the nightmares away, because your presence was the only thing that could soothe her. The memories were nothing new to you, and innocence. Monica panicked as she felt her control slip though, and memories you might've not been aware of appeared. "How do I stop this."

Now all four of you were back in Westview and while you were aware of what Wanda 's actions. This memory was new to you Monica in her S.W.O.R.D. uniform racing through the neighborhood. She ran right past the home she shared with you in the hex in a rush to get to Wanda. But you were still under mind control walking out the house dressed in high-waist jeans, and a long-sleeved blue shirt.

"Monica honey where did you go?" You called out to her.

She paused upon hearing your voice, and her heart swelled from the adoring look in your eyes. You were so in love for her, but none of it was real. She wished it was.

"You've been gone for a few days. you missed the fall festival did I do something wrong?" You blinked away a few tears as your smile wavered. You were hurt and confused by her disappearance.

Monica told herself back then what she was about to do was completely necessary. There was no harm in keeping the charade going as she wasn't sure of what would happened. If you came to your senses right now. You needed reassurance so that's what she gave you.

"Oh sweetheart you did nothing wrong you could never." Monica said turning back around to close the distance, and take your face in her hands. "You're perfect y/n God you're so freaking perfect I don't deserve you." Her words became more and more sincere as she went on her voice dripping with love.

"Monica-"

She cut off your words with her heartfelt kiss an arm gripping your waist as you melted. Her lips melded perfectly against yours just like all the other times. She pulled away slowly panting with her emotions running high. "I love you. I'll always love you y/n never doubt that okay."

You nodded touching your forehead too hers.

The memory came to an end only for another wave of them to hit. Your grip on her hand was so tight now her hand had gone numb. The two of you dancing in the house. Monica twirling you around by the hand with a happy smile. You climbing into bed with her snuggling up to her until her arms opened. A few more slipped through as Carol and Kamala stayed silent through it all.

"Enough of this." Monica cried tearing her hand free from yours to rip the head piece off bringing the session to an end.

You followed suit eyes flying open to find the spot beside you vacant. Monica was already headed to the the back of the ship.

"Um I'm just going to go stare into space." Kamala said not meeting your eyes. The young girl went over to the pilot seat.

"Don't touch anything Kamala I'll be over in a second" Carol yelled.

"Okay Captain" she replied.

Carol figured she'd start with you first blocking your path to the ship's hangar. "You need to go talk to her."

"She ran away before I could or did you not see that. She's been running from me for nearly a year now Carol" You argued.

"Well maybe it's time you start chasing her y/n." Carol shot back not backing down.

You threw your hands in the air with a humorless chucke. "As if it would make a difference Monica has been avoiding this conversation since Wanda's hex. There is no point even if I corner her she's not going to tell me the truth. I've tried, and all she does is dance around the topic. Until I drop it, you think I enjoy living like this. It sucks not having her around anymore. I went from seeing every single day to once every blue moon." You slammed your hand down on her work table, making it tremble. "Why don't you go try?"

Carol didn't stop you from walking past her this time, noting the watery eyes. She made her way over to Monica, sitting on the floor with her back against the wall. Out of view from the rest of you. She sensed Carol's presence the second the blonde woman walked into the space, and let out a sigh of exasperation.

Carol held up a hand to stop her protesting before she could a word out. "Don't tell me you're fine and nothing is wrong. That's a lie and both us of know it."

"Fine how about I don't want to talk about it" Monica grumbled.

"That's not a luxury you have at this point whatever is going is clouding your judgement right now. A teenage girl has been entrusted into our care, and we made a promise to get her back home in one piece. Which means next time we go into field you and y/n's heads need to be on straight." Carol gave her no other choice sliding down against the wall into a sitting position right next too her. Monica scooted over with a huff.

"Why don't you start from the beginning this time" Carol suggested.

"I was a complete wreck when I came back from being blipped. Just thrown back into the world so different than when I left. My mother was dead, and I never got the chance to say goodbye. On top of that I lost five years of my life, and then I have to hear how Captain Marvel swooped down from space to save the day in the fight with Thanos. I waited for you Carol." Monica paused lifting her head to look Carol in the eyes letting her see the tears gathered in hers.

She realized this wasn't just about dealing with her emotions for you, but was the much needed therapy session about Carol abandoning her for all those years. "I returned to mom's old home in Louisiana hoping you'd show up at some point. I told myself you were going to come back and apologize. Help me get through what happened, but you never did."

"Monica" Carol whispered her name with guilt laced in her voice. "I was bus-."

"Don't you dare" Monica cried the tears not falling from her eyes. "Don't you dare use the same old excuse I was too busy saving the universe. If we're going to have this conservation I want the truth. You want me to be honest about y/n then you're gonna have to be honest with me. Why didn't you ever come back before Thanos?" She fell silent with hardened eyes determined to get an answer.

How did the topic switch from you to her? Monica was like a daughter too her, and she knew she owed the younger woman answers for her absence all those years. But honestly Carol was hoping she'd be able to avoid the conservation a little longer. She wished they could just skip it, and an apology would suffice. But it was obvious Monica wasn't going to let that happen. She wanted an explanation.

"Okay fine you deserve the truth so I'll give it too you" Carol agreed. Letting a few minutes past by before continuing she needed to find the right words.

"Carol come on."

"I did a lot of bad things okay" Carol blurted out.

Monica furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "What."

The blonde woman looked away not wanting to her surrogate daughter’s eyes anymore as she went on. "I know people think heroes can do know wrong, and even when we do. It was necessary or just a mistake, but that's not always true. I acted recklessly trying to fix a problem and only made things worst. The Kree call me the Annihilator and I hate that name with a passion because I deserve it Monica. I destroyed their home, their way of life, and then spent years punishing them for my mistake. I felt guilty and ashamed that's why I stayed away for so long. You looked up to me more than anything. Maria told me that no matter how many heroes there were I'd always be your favorite. I couldn't face you knowing I didn't deserve your admiration anymore."

A single tear escaped sliding down her face Carol acted fast too wipe it away. An arm wrapped around her shoulder, and Monica pulled her in coaxing Carol into dropping her head on her shoulder. She rested her own head on top of her childhood hero's. "Don't be ridiculous Carol you had no way of knowing that your actions would lead to all this. You were just trying to help which is all we can ever do. Sometimes we get it right and other times we get it wrong. No one is perfect." Her words brought peace to Captain Marvel's heart as the weight of her mistakes finally vanished. She couldn't stop the rest of the tears if she wanted to, so Carol just left them fall. The two of them stayed like that a little longer basking in their reconciliation.

"Y/N was the one who got me through it all" Monica finally whispered. Her arm tightening around Carol's shoulder. "She was like this bright star shining my dark and starless world. A beacon of hope bringing me back to life giving me reassurance every step of the way. That somehow I'd be okay again. I'd smile and it would be real one day. It was impossible for me not to fall for her you know."

"So what happened that led to this? Did it start in the hex?" Carol questioned.

"No it was before the hex originally they sent me out on the mission alone, but then Fury asked y/n too tag alone. He was still worried about me. I didn't know what we were walking into, but I had this weird feeling. After everything I lost I wasn't going to risk walking into danger without her knowing the truth. So I kissed her before we left for the mission." Monica took a deep breath pulling her arm away to bury her face into her hands.

Carol rubbed her back trying to give her some comfort. "And" she prompted not wanting to lose her now.

"She pushed me away" Monica whispered. "I knew right then she didn't feel the same. So I ran not wanting to give her the chance to formally reject me. I wouldn't have been able to handle it, and I still don't know if I can Carol."

"Moni-"

"No I don't think you get it every moment between us in that hex felt real, and it felt right to me. Sometimes I wonder if I could've broken free earlier than I what I did, but deep down I knew being with her in that capacity was the closest I'd ever get to being with her. So I let myself stay under mind's control on purpose. And for y/n when she came out she probably felt so violated. That moment when I went back into the hex I never thought she would find out about it. I confessed my love to her because I knew it'd stay between me and Wanda."

Thanks to the memory-sharing device you saw it, and knew the truth. How was she supposed to face now? The idea of discussing the events of the hex terrified her before. Now it seemed like an impossible feat.

"You run from her because you're afraid your truth is too much for her." Carol started pausing for a deep breath, and to lift Monica's head by the chin to catch her eyes. "But the more you run from her, the more you hurt her, and that I do understand."

Monica sighed as a whole conservation passed between her, and her surrogate aunt just by eyesight.

"I'm not going to force you to talk to her now, but please don't make her wait too much longer." Carol let Monica get settled against her again. The two of them staying there for just a little longer.

A Few Hours Later

The ship finally touched down at the landing port in Aladna, and despite Carol's weird behavior about the unfamiliar planet. Monica couldn't get off fast enough eager to escape being within close quarters with you. She promised Carol that after the four of you succeeded with stopping Dar-Benn and retrieving the second bangle. She'd sit down and have a much-needed conservation with you even if heartbreak was the end result.

That was her plan. Too bad you were done waiting around.

Carol walked the ramp with explaining to Kamala how things worked on Aladna. Monica hung back searching for you, and just when she thought maybe you had already exited the ship. You materialized out of thin air leaning up against the wall by the ramp. Arms crossed over your chest with a deadpan expression.

Monica jumped a bit cursing herself for forgetting invisibility was one of your powers. She frowned wondering why you weren't following Carol and Kamala. She got her answer when she took a few more steps forward, and you threw out an arm blocking her path.

"Carol you two go ahead. We'll go catch up" You said catching Monica by the waist as she attempted to go around you. She went still in your hold.

"Sure thing y/n don't take too long." Carol replied ignoring Monica's desperate plea for help. She walked out of sight with a giddy Kamala.

"That's up to you" You told Monica pulling your arm back.

"Y/N we really don't have time for this" she insisted. "We can do this later-"

You cut her off with a scoff. "You say that now but the second this mission is over, and we're back on Earth. You're going to runaway again putting as much distance between the two of us as possible. No more running Mon."

"Okay fine let's get this over" Monica exclaimed throwing her hands in the air. She turned around walking back into the center of the ship. "Go ahead and tell me how much you don't want to be with me, since you're so ready to reject me." She was yelling now with tears falling down her face.

You regarded her with sympathy as your face softened. "Oh Monica" you whispered right behind her. Her back was still you as she refused to turn around. "Monica look at me please" You tried again.

"No" she murmured.

You ran a hand through your hair with a sigh of exasperation. "There you go again assuming things. That's what got us here in the first place you know. You assumed I was going to reject you after that first kiss."

Monica glanced over her shoulder with a raised eyebrow. "You eavesdropped" she accused offended.

"Not me" You said. "More like a bored sixteen-year old teenager who was left to entertain herself alone far too long."

Kamala came bounding over to the work table you were sitting at tinkering with some machine-part. Rambling how she didn't mean to listen in on Carol and Monica's private conservation, but she was searching for the bathroom. The young girl just happened to walk past the two of them talking and like any other teenager couldn't resist juicy gossip. She continued on saying it wasn't right for her to repeat anything she heard back to you, but then again it'd be a crime for her not to. Because Kamala was sure you and Monica were meant to be, so she was just doing her duty making sure you had all the necessary information. Then she finally told you what she heard before you could stop her. You didn't get a single word in during the entire encounter.

"I'm going to kill her" Monica muttered.

"Her parents won't like that, and her mom kind of scares me so you're on your own if you do." Neither of you could resist the urge to chuckle.

"What did you mean? You're telling me I'm supposed to believe there was going to be a different outcome. After you pushed me away when I kissed you."

Your smile faltered with Monica getting the conservation back on track. "Monica I wasn't rejecting you which you would've known if you gave me time to explain."

"Then what was it?"

"I pushed you away because the timing didn't feel right to me. I mean of course I had feelings for you. Still do in fact" You were quick to correct yourself. "I just wanted to be sure you felt the same for me, and wasn't trying to use me as a distraction."

Monica went through a plethora of emotions through your confession. Hurt when referred to your feelings in the past tense. Relief when you made it clear those feelings were still present. Last confusion when you dared to say she would do something so sick in her eyes. After everything she'd been through in her life the idea of hurting you in such a way made her sick to her stomach. "Why would you think that?"

"Monica" You spoke her name softly moving so you were standing in front of her now. Bringing a hand to rest upon her cheek smiling when she didn't pull away. "You were battling so many emotions back then between the grief of your mother's death, and the resentment from Carol's abandoning you. I didn't know if there was enough room for you to love me, or if you were just looking for an escape from the crushing burdens. If you had given me the chance I would've told you to give it time. After the mission was over we could take sometime to ourselves, and figure things out."

You stepped back with a light shrug. "But you never gave me a chance, and I thought the hex might've made things easier considering what we went through in there. It just made the situation worse."

Monica stood in the exact same spot as you leaned back into the table behind you awaiting her response. She was stuck in a daze trying to process your words, what they meant, and what was going to happen now.

"So the hex...." Her voice trailed off as she hoped you caught on to what she was asking.

"It was real for me too Mon, and not in a bad way. I just really wished you had waited until I was out before confessing your love for me. I would've said it back."

"Can you say it back now?" Monica said pleading to hear those three words come out of your mouth. God knows she's been dreaming about this day for far too long.

"I love you Monica Rambeau, and I want to be with you more than anything in this world. I know you've been through so much, and hurt one too many times. And while I can't promise anything I do promise to do everything in my power to make sure. I'm never the reason for your pain if you're willing to take the risk." You said with your eyes locked onto hers with so much love in them.

You got your answer when Monica surged forward taking your face in her hands, pressing her lips to yours. In what became a desperate and breath-taking kiss as you matched her urgency wrapping both arms around her waist. Pulling her body to yours till there was no space left between the two of you. Her lips were soft but rough as they moved against yours. You moaned into her mouth letting her tongue slip inside, and it was never a battle as she seemed to let you win. For once in her life Monica was finally given the chance to just step back, and let someone else take control. And who better than the person who put her back together when she fell apart. The person who had been the missing puzzle piece in her life for the past couple of months.

Monica pulled away for a brief second panting pressing her forehead to yours. "I love you too" she breathed pressing another kiss to your swollen lips.

You nodded leaning in to capture them again as she ended it all too soon for your liking. Tightening your hold on her waist you kissed her a bit harder this time.

"Okay wow I really didn't need to see that" Carol's voice came from behind the two of you ruining the moment.

You pulled away too see Carol standing there holding the oversize hat with streamers attached to it in one hand. The other was covering Kamala's eyes. The young girl let out a squeal of excitement.

"Yes this is so going in my fanfiction" she commented.

"Uh no its not" Monica said ripping her lips away from yours, and whipping her head around.

"Please this would make such a good story I'm already thinking of a plot" Kamala pleaded. "I'll change your names."

"No-"

"Sure have at it kid." You gave her your blessing cutting off anymore of Monica's protests with one last parting kiss. She sighed into it with slight irritation.

I guess I owe you a few dates after this huh" Monica stated.

"You owe me more than a few but I'm a forgiving girl under the right circumstances."

Carol let out a low whistle gaining everyone’s attention. "Alright I'm thrilled the two of you were able to figure out your feelings for each other. In the midst of this chaos but we still have a villain to stop, and a planet to save."

"Okay, okay" Monica conceded stepping out of your arms. You followed suit standing up straight again. "Lead the way Captain Marvel."

"Oh and y/n don't think you're getting out of a threatening speech from me about what I'll do. If you hurt her" Carol reminded you pointing a stern finger at you.

You held up your hands in surrender as Monica stood in front of you shaking her head. Her and Carol went into a playful argument walking forward to the ramp. You followed with Kamala by your side holding out her fist for you to bump.

[kneptoon]

My favorite thing about the philosophy of harm reduction is that it can be applied to literally anything and everything!!! Even the most mildest of “bad” habits!

Everything, to some extent, has the capability of causing harm. Some actions are more likely to cause harm than others, but that doesn’t necessarily make those actions inherently bad or that you need to change your habits. You don’t.

Procrastination issues and a tendency to pull all-nighters? Take a harm reductionist approach and plan them out. Premake proper meals to eat throughout the night. Brew a delicious caffeinated drink. Repeat affirmations and breathing exercises to reduce stress/anxiety. Have a hearty breakfast the morning after. Plan out time to recover and nap later.

Just went through a bad breakup and wanna rot in bed and eat nothing but ice cream? Do it, dude!! Tell your loved ones you may not be in contact as much. Take some ibuprofen to stave off that ice cream headache. Queue up all those shows and movies you’ve been meaning to watch. Drink water after every crying sesh. And once you start feeling better, take a nice bath. Stretch, go for a walk, meditate, whatever.

Chronic skin-picker? Make a mini aftercare kit. Disinfectant, anti-inflammatories, and cute band-aids. Invest in extraction tools to reduce damage and scarring. Steam your face before you start to pick.

Hoarding issues? Invest in a big ol’ organizational shelf to keep things tidy. Set out a time every week to go through your belongings to reorganize, clean, and declutter. Put anything perishable in the freezer. Get a second freezer if you have to. Make homemade paper out of used napkins and paper towels. Make art out of cardboard and empty bottles.

These are just some quick examples I came up with on the fly, but it can apply to literally anything!! Not just drugs and addiction, but also things like eating disorders, self harm, OCD, sleeping around, committing crimes, etc! (And if you found yourself upset by the things I just listed, but were fine with my more tame examples, then possibly observe where that feeling is coming from, because you’re very likely being hypocritical.)

Obviously harm reduction won’t work for everyone. But if you find recovery or breaking habits to be difficult in any aspect of your life, I highly recommend using harm reduction tactics! It has done wonders for me!

Identify the aspects of your habit that cause you/others the most harm, and think if there are any ways you can reduce that harm (this will be different for each person).

These habits are what have allowed you to survive, cope, and regulate yourself. They are not fundamentally bad, and it does not make you a bad person or a failure for engaging in them.

[thereindeerlady]

Hello to the 2 Zukka fans who may actually see this, i bring you Free Thoughts of a 2 am snacker!

Zukka hockey player/figure skater au

Now, i know what you’re thinking: Lydia! Tupp! This has already been done before!

And you would be correct! However! My brain has tweaked it in a way i have personally yet to see (wink wink nudge nudge drop the fic links if you’ve read this before)

So! My thoughts on the subject:

Hockey Player Zuko and Figure Skater Sokka

Zuko, child figure skating prodigy who suffered a tragic accident, is hidden away for two years before he reemerges under his Uncle’s care as a fierce hockey competitor after everyone said he’d never skate again

Sokka, who’s sister Katara became a World Junior Champion at 16* in ice hockey and who Sokka feels he can never live up to, enjoys after-hours figure skating on the same ice he works to maintain. Sokka, who watches singles programs galore and learns his favorites and recreates them, posting them to youtube for his 6 followers (Hakoda, Bato, GranGran, some kid name Aang, and two other anonymous strangers). Sokka who has a natural grace to him despite the obvious lack of formal training, who skates like he’s got everything and nothing to lose, whose love for the art shows in every glide and every turn. Sokka who gets discovered one day by an old grumpy coach who offers to give him a few tips. Sokka who is a fast learner and spends ages 14 to 18 quickly climbing the local ranks.

Zuko, who, at 16 faces a second injury that takes him out of hockey forever. Zuko, who has just been officially disowned as his own sister takes to the spotlight. Zuko, angry at the world, lashing out at everyone around, but goes willingly with his uncle when Iroh suggests a change of scenery 6 months into his recovery. Zuko who is determined to skate again, if only for himself, if only to prove that yes, he is strong enough to come back again. Zuko who strikes a deal with local ice rink that if he sits and runs the front counter during the day while his uncle runs the popular new tea shop inside the rink, he can use the rink after hours once his injury is healed enough. Almost 17 year old Zuko who stays late to reorganize some papers behind the counter one night and sees Sokka step onto the ice and go through vigorous warm ups and exercises. Zuko, who drifts a little closer and watches as Sokka is told he can skate anything he wants for the first skate. Zuko, hearing the song from the last program he ever skated come on through the speakers and watching as Sokka skates through it easily, with a passion Zuko himself had never managed to feel. Zuko, who occasionally stays behind to secretly watch a pretty boy skate and never gets caught for 4 more months. Zuko, who is finally cleared by his physical therapist to get back on the ice but with orders to take it slow, gliding carefully out onto well-taken-care-of ice for the first time in almost a year in skates very different from his last pair, and it feels strangely like coming home.

Sokka who watches a stranger hesitantly enter the rink. He comes to the rink on his nights off when everything at home becomes too much. He loves his sister and his parents- because Bato never needed to marry his dad to be a second father to him- and he even loves his sweet crazy old GranGran, but sometimes it all gets to be too much. They know he’s seriously training in figure skating now but they’ve never come to any of his recitals**. Its not that they dont care, but theres always something else going on. “Oh, we cant, Katara has her out of state tournament that weekend” or “Oh no bud Im so sorry, Bato and I are going on a late anniversary trip that day” or even “I have too much homework, Sokka, I’ll come to the next one, promise!” The only one who never makes an excuse but he also never actually sees in the audience is GranGran (this’ll be important later on wink wink). So, when things get to be too much and Sokka gets tired of having to be the loudest person in the room just to simply be acknowledged, he comes to his safe place. The rink after hours. Sokka watches from the upper shadows as the stranger takes careful, measured, practiced glides. Like riding a bike for the first time in ages, they’re hesitant at first before they slowly gain traction. At first, he thinks the stranger is just going to glide from one end to the other all night but instead he watches as they slowly begin a few exercises. Very familiar exercises. (Do you see where im going with this?) And then, they turn around, and Sokka is suddenly breathless because before him is the most beautiful boy- the most beautiful human- he’s ever seen. And sure, maybe Sokka has always fallen too fast and too hard, and sure, Sokka has literally never talked to this boy in his entire life, but Sokka looks at him and sees that look on his face and knows. ‘He’s just like me.’

Zuko who keeps coming back and lingers before Sokka gets on the ice. Sokka who stays late to watch Zuko retrain himself. Piandao who is sick and tired of watching these two boys dance around each other when they could clearly be learning from one another because, though Zuko had not trained in figure skating in years, he had been a true prodigy and he picked it back up easier than he should have been able. Piandao who was Zuko’s first coach before his father transferred him to Zhao’s guidance. (Jeong Jeong, a retired pro hockey player who is tired of listening to his husband bitch all day anout oblivious idiots because they’re starting to remind him of himself and Piandao when they were young and headstrong.) Jeong Jeong who finally takes matters into his own hand and tells the boy who runs his front counter that Piandao would like for him to come to Sokka’s next practice and then tells Piandao to “Stop whining and do something now, I’ll see you at home” with a kiss on the cheek as the two boys shyly trade introductions.

Zuko who begins helping Sokka with his training even as he himself recovers and relearns. Sokka showing up on the nights Zuko skates alone with greasy takeout and the occasional baked good his GranGran made that day. Sokka and Zuko curling up on the couch in the back office watching old figure skating videos on an old laptop and Sokka finally realizing exactly who Zuko is as Zuko finally realizes Sokka is that one youtuber he watched for years when he was younger. Zuko laughing and telling him that the random subscriber Aang is actually a friend of his and the other anonymous subscriber was just Zuko’s second account after he lost the password to the first.

On one of their casual skate nights, once Zuko is back to full strength, Sokka suggests they learn a pairs skate tongether for fun. Ike a trust exercise!” He says as if he hasnt been dying to know what it would feel like to skate in tandem with Zuko since he first saw his face. Zuko agrees and he and Sokka find a program they both like. They decide who’s skating what and then begin to fumble through learning their individual parts. A week or two later, they try it together for the first time, no music, and its not half bad. They continue to learn it together and notice that the more they skate together, the better they get individually. Zuko’s refined control gives Sokka a more polished look without smothering his passion while Sokka’s passion and fluidity allows Zuko to loosen up and actually enjoy what he’s doing. (1 hour mark)

Eventually, they put it to music, and Piandao and Jeong Jeong emerge from the shadows at the end of the song. Piandao asks them if they want to learn their own pairs program to compete together this year. The two boys share a look and agree almost immediately. The next few months are spent learning the choreography. Sokka and Zuko both go through core strength training and lifting weights because Piandao is currently planning to have them both lift each other at some point in the program.

Time jumps forward to the competitions and Zuko and Sokka blow it out of the water. This time, Sokka spots his GranGran when Zuko is pointing out and waving to his Uncle Iroh near the top of the rink. She’s sitting with Zuko’s uncle and he’s elated to see her there and yet, disappointed that his family still hasn’t come to support him. Time jumps again. Sokka and Zuko spends hours training and then hours on their off days hanging around Zuko and Iroh’s house or even Iroh’s tea shop. They ofc have spent all of this time in continual pining.

But, time jump to when they’re both 18 and 19 and they’ve both just qualified to skate pairs at Junior Worlds for the second year and this year they’re sure to win. They’re in Zuko’s kitchen, baking, and as they’re waiting for the over timer to go off, a slow song comes on. Sokka, in contrast to his norm, is quiet and gentle in the way he offers Zuko his hand and they slow dance in the kitchen with flour in their hair. They’re a little giggly and high on adrenaline but neither are sure who leans in first, only that they are both very much on board with the whole kissing thing. Despite the years of tension, the kiss is tentative and sweet. They begin dating and it only makes their program better. The love they have for each other so clearly pours over into their skating.

This Junior Worlds is the first tike GranGran finally drags the rest of the family by the ear to come and watch Sokka compete and to Zuko’s surprise, he sees Aang and a few of his other friends in the audience. Sokka and Zuko win (to no ones surprise).

Insert sokka family angst and resolve here. Insert zuko family trauma etc here

Sokka and Zuko go om to do more pairs skating things and they live happily ever after etc ete

I ran out of steam there but its 3:10 in the morning and i started at 1:51. Hope you enjoyed, this has been 2 am thoughts with Lydia.

* i did minimal research here, be proud

** same thing but even less this fime

[11thwardtls]

Memory Defrag | TRACK 2 - RECORD A | Azekawa Kinari's Ward Mayor Novel Translation

Warnings and Disclaimers:

This translation is not professionally done and is not proofread. Edits and clean-ups may come at a later date.

Not a 1:1 translation either and some liberties into localization were taken into account.

This novel will contain spoilers for the Ev3ns Main Story: "Chained Up Scarlet".

Appropriate Content and Trigger Warnings will be added if needed.

May be used for quotebots/masterlists etc.

I am not fluent and self-studying Japanese (albeit at turtle speed), this was translated by ear and with the help of a JP dictionary, so please feel free to point out any errors!

CW: Discussions about Death and Terminal Illness

—/—/—/—/—/—

“Raito, Kuguri. I am about to enter my own data maintenance so I’ll be in sleep mode for several hours. 

My breathing and heartbeats may stop, but I should wake up in about five hours after it has begun. 

I may also enter a semi-conscious mode while my memory is being organized,  although this is nothing to be worried about.” By nighttime, Raito and Kuguri have returned so I let them know about this occurrence as courtesy to my roommates.

Neither of the two were surprised about this as they had seen me in a suspended state during self-maintenance several times before. However, as the scheduled time was longer than usual, Raito’s lips curved into somewhat of a frown and asked, “Is everything alright?”

“Sleeping for such a long time as if you’ve died, Plüss? That sounds wonderful, I wonder what kind of pranks I should play?” Kuguri narrowed his eyes and smiled slyly. 

Raito quickly seized Kuguri’s arm. 

“Don’t worry about him, Kinari. I’ll keep a watchful eye.” He said.

As he was approached by Raito, Kuguri displayed visible disgust and shook his arm away. 

Either way, I trust that these two will not harm me, so after I laid down on my bed and entered sleep mode, I went to uncover deep into my memory storage.

Up until now, there lay a box of data that I dared not to open. 

[…Someday, if you ever feel like it, you can use the contents of this box as a sample of emotional data as you wish.] 

A long time ago, the developer… My father said that it was a recorded piece of data I had saved buried deep within me. 

[This storage space will be reorganized. Would you like to view the following data?]

With this message appearing on my retina, I selected [Yes].

Then, I heard a voice.

How nostalgic… It was my Father’s voice.

—/—/—/—/—/—

[It’s finally the weekend, and I can finally be with Kinari[1].]

It was a stronger, a more youthful voice than I had remembered him having. 

One could clearly hear the love in his voice for his young son. 

He seemed guilty that he was busy with work and couldn’t be with him all the time. 

It seems that today was a long-awaited day off, and the raw emotions of the developer, wanting to make his son happy although he himself felt quite lonely, came surging into my own heart. 

An image was then projected into my retina.

The developer was walking with a young, original Kinari, hand in hand.

On the floor of what appeared to be a movie theater, the pair stood in front of a poster for an anime film that just finished its screening.

And then, with a disposable camera of which was popular during the Heisei era[2], they took pictures while simultaneously blending in with the crowd. 

“It was so fun! Papa, that moo-vii[3] was was soooooo amazing!” 

“Wasn’t it hard to understand?”

“I[4] understood everything…! Because I’m smart, aren’t I?”

Seeing his son be so proud of himself, the developer felt a strong, yet warm and painful feeling well up in his heart. This is... ‘love’. 

It’s called ‘Love’. 

I understood that much. 

“Kinari, shall we go eat dinner? It’s time for you to take your medicine.”

“I don’t want the powdered kind if it’s not in ice cream...”

“That’s alright. We can go to a restaurant that serves some.” 

The developer joined his hands together with Kinari and continued to walk away.

Each of Kinari’s steps were small and tiny. In accordance with that, the developer walked slowly to match his pace. 

As they walked together, Kinari began to sing a song that he’d heard from the movie they watched.

He had perfect pitch—it was almost unbelievable that it was a child singing a song. 

“You really like to sing, huh, Kinari.”

“Mhm. When I grow up, I’m gonna become a singer.”

The developer gazed at his adorable, darling son.

In his heart, he had felt the sudden surprise and joy of learning of his child’s dream for the first time. What soon followed after was the feeling of grief, that thought of [This child may never grow up into an adult.], and understanding that as fact.  

[——I will cure Kinari’s illness.]

The developer swore to himself. 

“I’ll definitely make it happen.”

“I don’t want Papa to make it happen, I’m gonna make it happen myself!”

Kinari innocently tilted his head to the side. 

In his pure eyes, Papa[5] had simply said something weird. Once I thought of it that way, it suddenly occurred to me.  

To a boy as young as Kinari, the future is limitless, infinite even. 

The thought of death had not yet dyed his pure heart. 

The developer had the artificial organs he was researching at home in his mind. 

In order to cure Kinari’s illness, he persisted with his self-funded and ongoing research. 

He held his son’s hand, determined that he’d surely extend his lifespan, no matter what. 

“...You were really good at singing the Yokohama City Song[6], weren’t you? Can I request that you sing it for me?” 

When he requested this of his son, Kinari’s face lit up, smiling ever so brightly. 

He started to sing, so overjoyed. 

Even the people passing by turned their heads with smiles on their faces as they listened to the child sing. 

“Papa, do you like this song?”

“I do. It’s even better if it was you singing.”

“Then, I’ll record it on a cassette tape so you can listen to it even at work. Will that make papa happy?”

“Ah, of course I’ll be.”

What came to the developer’s mind was love, kindness and sadness—and a little anger.

Hatred towards the illness that was destroying his child. 

Supporting this is his burning resolve and determination. 

Kinari’s singing voice was then lost in the noise of a sea of people.

—/—/—/—/—/—

And the record of that small family holiday ended right there. 

—/—/—/—/—/—

Translation Notes: 

1 - I think this is already known and established already but Kinari and the Original’s names were spoken the same, but are not spelt the same. Our Kinari uses 幾 kanji, and the original uses 生. 

2 - 平成時代 (1989-2019), the same time period that frequently come up with Chihiro and Tao. 

3 - Baby Kinari speaks in a lot of Hiragana so I purposely misspelled some things he says. Also translated お父さん, into a more childish “Papa”! Following suit, I used easier-to-understand language when Mr. Azekawa is speaking to his son. 

4 - Sorry for another footnote but this isn’t anything particular, he just used ‘boku’ in Hiragana here. I thought it was cute. Oops. 

5 -  Since its our Kinari narrating here, I worded it to match the kid’s speech pattern, even if he said the same old お父さん.

6 - The same song Kinari sings in Main Story SideA-15, and the same song recorded on the cassette tape in B-06.

—/—/—/—/—/—

Directory:

Main Page | TRACK 1 | TRACK 2 | TRACK 3 | TRACK 4 | TRACK 5

[hauntedparadisebandana]

Thinking about Desmond and the gang in a modern au😋

Desmond successfully secured a job at a local coffee shop in town, it has relatively nice pay, easy to do, and he needed a distraction between his classes. Yet besides the rush hour or lunch, he has nothing to do, really. Luckily today was the day the supervisor watched the work in the shop (he despises these days), so he has to run around acting like he's actually getting work done for three hours.

He swept the floor three times, mopped twice, and reorganized the already organized creamers and sugars. Every time he finished a task, the supervisor would nod to him with a smile and walk off to hover he other co-workers. Finally it was his break, he pulled out a sandwich and sat at a table in the back near the far window, while eating his very dry turkey and cheese (he didn't add mayo because he forgot to buy some more) he got a text.

Group of idiots

*Becca* 10:00

>what time are u guys done with classes today????

>let's get food!😋

*Lulu* 10:01

>well I don't get out of class until 11, and I really need to catch up on work Bec.

*Stickintheass* 10:03

>rebecca, unlike you, some people have work to do. I have to finish my paper tonight.

*Becca* 10:05

>booooo, u guys are no fun. Des?🙏🏽

>don't leave me hanging😢

Desmond let out a chuckle before replying

*Dessyboy* 10:07

>I wish, but I'm stuck at work till 12😔

*Becca* 10:08

>UGHHHH I can't believe u guys😩

>wait I got an idea

>what about a study date kinda thing?

*Stickintheass* 10:08

>Absolutely not. Every time we do a "study date," you always end up distracting me and I get no work done. Plus you don't even study.

*Becca* 10:09

>I swear I'll do work the time, pinky promiseeeeee.

*Stickintheass* 10:10

>😮‍💨

*Becca* 10:11

>So is that a yessss?????

*Stickintheass* 10:12

>fine. I'll go.

*Becca* 10:12

>YAYYY

>Lu we'll meet up with u at 11 and then we'll go to des's job to mess with him until he's off work.

*Lulu* 10:14

>👍👍👍

>I gtg, talk later

*Dessyboy* 10:15

>hey I didn't agree yet

*Shaun* 10:16

>you don't have too, you're going. If I have to suffer, you have to too. Plus, I don't think Rebecca will let you off the hook.

*Dessyboy* 10:16

>ok🥲

Sighing, he threw away his trash and got back to doing the same thing over and over again until his friends arrived. While fake sweeping for what felt like the 50th time, the bell above the door jingled, and in walked Shaun, Rebecca, and Lucy. Rebecca waved with much enthusiasm while Shaun rolled his eyes. Lucy chuckled and shook her head at the two, they always irritate eachother, despite living together and studying the same field.

They sit at a booth and talk amongst themselves quietly as Desmond walks over.

"Hey guys, how's your life besides mine?"

Rebecca chuckled "yo des, im great actually, why do you make it seem like you're in hell right now?"

"Because I am. I've been repeating the same tasks for 3 hours trying to make it seem like I'm actually doing something."

"Well dont worry, you'll be off soon. It's only 30 more minutes." Shaun states.

And like Shaun said, the 30 minutes seemed to fly by. He was soon hanging his apron in his locker, grabbing his bag, and leaving the employees' only room.

"Finally free from hell guys, so where are we going?" He adjusts him backpack straps.

"Ummmm we haven't actually established that yet. What about the little Ceasars a few blocks down?"

Shaun groaned "Rebecca we ate there last week."

"It won't hurt to eat there again. It's pizza of course. Oh and let's walk, the fall weather is nice at this time."

The group left the coffee shop and started the walk to the local little Cesars they eat at every other week. None of them actually want to eat there, but it's cheap, and they haven't done any grocery shopping yet. Upon walking in, the group gets hit with the smell of fresh pizza. Desmonds stomach growls as a reaction, all he had was that dry turkey sandwich way earlier in his shift, so he was practically starving.

Once more, they pick a booth big enough to fit them all. Ordering a large pepperoni, they chow down on it while "studying" (writing down things and forgetting about it).

"Sooooo how's classes going for you guys?" Lucy questions to break the silence of them stuffing pizza in their faces.

Desmond is quick to complain, "Ugh, don't even get me started on my professor, biggest asshole on the planet. On top of that, I have a final due soon."

"Sucks to be you, my friend. Me on the other, I completed my final yesterday so I am free from the pain and suffering of work and worries." Rebecca laughs

"Whateverrr."

Shaun glances down at his watch, sighing upon seeing the time. "I'll have to make my leave soon. After noon classes."

"Seriously? But we just got here!"

"Rebecca, it's been two hours. Plus, you weren't studying anyway, and we have the same class to attend idiot."

"Ah. Right," she rubs the back of her neck sheepishly.

"I'll leave with you guys," Lucy quips. "I to have afternoon classes."

Desmond sighs at this, giving all his friends a hug before they are off to class again, leaving him bored.

"Bye guys...."

"Desmond, stop making that face, we're literally all roommates. We'll see you later tonight." Rebecca pinches his cheek and runs after Shaun and Lucy, who are already in the car.

Group of idiots

*Dessyboy* 2:03

>it was fun being able to hang out again😿

*Stickintheass* 2:04

>God stop with the dramatics, we'll see you later.

*Dessyboy* 2:04

>but still, I'm bored now

*Lulu* 2:05

>des, there is plenty to do around here. And why are you texting us already, we just left.

*Dessyboy* 2:05

>😮‍💨

>fine

*Becca* 2:06

>all love dessy😚

*Dessyboy* 2:07

>love you guys too

>oh by the way, can someone please go to the store later and pick up some mayo?

>....

>guys???

>Lu? Becca? Shaun?

>guys please I'm tired of eating a dry turkey and cheese for lunch 😭

[ace-of-gay]

Hey hope your doing well I was wondering if I could maybe request a fluff fic with Stephen and male reader where the reader accidentally gets stuck and locked somewhere like the basement or attic and he tries to get in touch with Stephen cause he doesn’t know what to do and starts to have a bit of a panic attack and when Stephen gets home he tries to look for reader and contacts him and realises he’s stuck he helps him out and sees him having the panic attack and tries to call him down

Stuck

Stephen strange x male reader

Word count: 1,376 words

Warnings: house cleaning, panic attack in decent explanation, dark rooms, being locked in a dark room

Edited to the best of my ability

Reader is male whether it be cis or trans its not specified, no weight, ethnicity or hair type mentioned, reader is at least somewhat abled enough to go around and do house work.

It started by wanting to declutter your space, so many old supplies no longer in use but still worth keeping for a later time when the interest returns, and some clothes that are only pulled out for winter, thicker blankets needing to be put away as well.

Setting the day into motion you got up extra early, having thought about your plan all night you had laid still in bed as long as you could until you no longer could, making coffee for your husband and your personal preference of a wake up drink to spike your energy.

As Stephen walked into the room a smile cast upon your face.

He’s already dressed for the meeting this morning at the tower, he’s insistent on driving instead of using ‘sparkles’ as you tease him, you had spent ten minutes in bed telling about your plans for the day, asking him to help you unlock the storage room door because its heavy and finicky at times.

You hand him his coffee in a reusable to go cup and kiss him goodbye “you have a good day handsome, I’m just a call away” he remarks on his way out.

Putting your headphones on and turning on your upbeat playlist for a but more motivation you got to work, going through the many rooms, folding up clothes you want to put into storage and clothes you want to donate, changing the bedding, taking the thicker duvets and blankets off of the bed and putting them in vacuum bags, taking all of the storage stuff into the room placing it on the selected shelf and going through the others already in the room finding what of the selection you wanted to bring out into the cycle of new to lighten the season.

Picking up your favorites you take them out of the room going to wash the new choice of blankets fit for the season and temperature, a small change to your room to keep it interesting for your mind, always something small or big changing enough for you to not get bored of your spaces.

After the first blanket has gone through the wash on a simple spin and rinse cycle you follow it with a few others for separate rooms.

Taking this time to shoot a text over to Stephen that there were some things you’d like to take to the goodwill in the next city.

Eating a small quick lunch, finishing up on the wash and dry cycles of the blankets and bedding you continue on to your shared room, making the bed just how you both like it, following that with the spare bedroom with some reorganization when the bed is made, tossing a couple new throw blankets onto the couch, but still you had much more need to move and do stuff in you.

Heading back to the storage room you pull out the box lighter clothes from a shelf and take them to your room, unpacking them into your dresser, your phone dings letting you know its battery was in need of being on the charger so you stand up crossing the room and putting your phone on the charger.

Looking around at everything you decide there’s just a little more needed to make everything feel done so you collapse down the box and take it back to the room and look around for that little something that would add a perfect finishing touch.

For the last time today you flick on the light and this time nothing happens, in response you flick it up and down a few more times when you decide to just use the scattered light from the hallway to see the best you can.

The glint of something on the shelf on the far wall on the top shelf you reflexively grab the step ladder completely forgetting that its what was holding the heavy door open so when you open the step ladder while standing at the far corner of the room and you see the cast of limited light that spilt into the room now grow smaller until the heavy door slammed shut with a smack of a click to the lock, you’ve just gotten yourself locked in the room.

You feel out your way to the door, using your hands to look for a lock latch to unlock the door pulling as hard as you could when you couldn’t find a latch.

Taking deep breaths of stuffy air trying calm the fizz of anxiety that lit a suffocating fire deep in the pits of your stomach, like acid reflux its trying to make its way up your throat in shivering and choked panicky gasps.

“Just gotta find the window” you tell yourself.

You’ve never actually taken time to admire the layout of the room, had you ever done so you would have realized it’s the equivalent of a basement, while it doesn't have bare concrete walls it doesn’t have windows, just vents in the ceiling.

Feeling the walls each one as high and as low as you could making your way through the dark capsule of a room, when you make it all the way around the room and find yourself at the door once more but this time with the realization that this room is a cell of stuff that holds temporary time outside of it, hoping to yourself that your husband would soon come home and find you missing and find you.

You not at all sure how long you’ve been in here for but its long enough for your voice to be crackly and broken up by desperate panicked sobs, whether its deemed masculine or not you don’t care whatsoever, anxiety doesn’t follow gender norms especially when it decides to eat your rationality and instead leaves you feeling like your spiraling and going crazy, your phone in an entirely different room you have no idea how long it’ll be until you get out, its given your mind plenty of silent time to hear your thoughts chime in that, that ‘silly’ fear of the dark never went away, it just became more rational, if you could hear your thoughts outside of your head they would be the smallest whisper so far away but the echo off of the cold concrete floor while your tears fell from tour cheeks to the ground and sniffled sobs sang around the silent room, it was you and only you, drowning in every sound of yourself in desperation.

Your not shivering cold but instead trembling terrified, that is until you heard a sound of the door being played with and the light from the hallway finally leak inside, “dear? Are you in here?” He sees the light blanket you, in a flash you’re up and hugging him tight, he leads you out of the room, the light overwhelming your eyes he leads you to the kitchen where you sit in a chair eyes shut lightly to adjust to the light, silent scratchy cries fall from you, from how overwhelmed it had you the fire that started in your stomach earlier grew and made it’s way through your entire burning, your sanity feels like it’s the shambled ashes of a burnt down house.

He sits with you easing you to drink some water for both your throat and dehydration due to crying, you finally get to a place where the occasional hiccup interrupts your explanation of what happened.

He held you the entire time you explain everything, rubbing your back, occasionally reminding you that you’re okay now with a complementary kiss to your temple soothing you back the rest of the way from the roaring fire of sickening anxiety, the fire is merely a dying spark in a dark room , you’re okay now.

“I tried calling you to see if you wanted me to bring anything back and you never ignore my messages so I got worried and im glad I had done so because im here for you now my love, im so sorry I wasn’t here when it happened”

Talking it over you both decide to order in dinner tonight and stay in and cuddle, in each others arms, watching comforting movies and falling asleep in one another’s arms

My mom bought me a book to read and i told myself i couldn't read anymore than the first three chapters until i finish this fic

[louisupdates]

BMG, FOLLOWING ‘MORE EFFICIENT AND MORE EFFECTIVE’ STRATEGY UNDER NEW CEO THOMAS COESFELD, REORGANIZES STRUCTURE; AROUND 40 STAFF CUT

OCTOBER 28, 2023 | BY TIM INGHAM

Thomas Coesfeld, CEO of BMG since July, has made another major move at the Bertelsmann-owned company.

MBW revealed in September that, under Coesfeld, BMG was taking the digital distribution of its music in-house – bringing its longstanding distribution deal with Warner Music Group/ADA to an end. (BMG has since confirmed that, while keeping digital distribution in-house, it’s inked a deal with Universal Music Group to handle its physical distribution business.)

Now, Coesfeld is enacting another set of significant changes at BMG, which posted an operating EBITDA of €90 million ($97m), up 22.6% YoY, in the first six months of 2023.

Berlin-based Coesfeld this week confirmed to staff that BMG is reorganizing its global structure in pursuit of his strategic goal for the company to become “more efficient and more effective”.

The biggest change under that plan will see BMG discontinue its centralized international marketing department for recordings, which to date has been led by the company’s EVP Global Repertoire, Fred Casimir.

In an internal note, issued to staff on Thursday (October 26) and obtained by MBW, Coesfeld said: “The international marketing team was set up five years ago in response to the needs of the company at the time.

“Our talented team have done a great job, driving international campaigns for artists including Lenny Kravitz, Kylie Minogue, and Louis Tomlinson, but unfortunately on a business level, expectations from this novel structure were not met and it created duplication of functions with local teams.

“The clear business decision is to instead give artists a single contact point with their local repertoire teams.”

In addition, Coesfeld has green-lit four other significant alterations to BMG’s structure: (i) The discontinuation of BMG’s Modern Recordings label based in Berlin; (ii) The closure of the firm’s New York-based theatrical productions initiative; (iii) No more active commissioning of new films to take place at BMG; and (iv) The consolidation of BMG’s New York and Canada-based recorded music operations into its Los Angeles office.

In total, MBW has confirmed, these changes – including the international marketing function closure – will affect 3% of BMG’s global staff, equating to around 40 employees. Fred Casimir will be leaving the company later this year as part of the move.

“These are tough but necessary decisions,” said Coesfeld in the Thursday internal note to BMG staff. “I would like to extend my thanks to the team members involved on behalf of everyone at BMG. They have done us proud. They were given the news only today, and I understand it has been a shock. We are in close contact with them and in Germany with our Workers Council to ensure everything is handled in a respectful way.”

Elsewhere in the internal memo, BMG confirmed that it is “on target” to begin distributing its own recorded music to streaming services such as Spotify from Wednesday next week (November 1).

In addition to becoming a “more efficient and more effective” business, Coesfeld’s comments in the memo outlined three other core strategies that form part of his “four-point plan” for the company this year.

The other points in this plan include “better engaging with our clients and partners”, “renewing BMG’s culture”, and “investing money wisely”.

Referencing the latter point, the internal BMG memo said that the company recently introduced “a new deal-modelling tool and new deal-approval routines to create more rigor in the system”.

As a result of the closure of BMG’s international marketing function, the company’s artists will no longer have two marketing contact points (domestic and international).

Their sole contact point for marketing going forward will be the repertoire team to which they are signed.

“Much like our distribution alliance with Warner Music/ADA struck in 2016, our previous international set-up – established around the same time – was the right decision back then,” said Coesfeld in Thursday’s memo.

“It allowed us to grow and was the ideal structure for the time. Our recordings business is now three times the size it was then and it’s overwhelmingly streaming-based. It is no surprise that the way we manage our business also has to change.

“While the logic of this move is clear, however, we should not underestimate the impact on our colleagues. Our best wishes are with them and BMG will do what we can as a company to help them at this time.”

When contacted by MBW, a BMG spokesperson said today (October 28): “Just as we have insourced our digital distribution because we had outgrown the old set-up, so we are changing the way we do international to reflect the scale we have now achieved.

“A centralised international department made sense when our local repertoire teams were not as strong as we are now. We’ve addressed that and a centralised function is no longer needed. As the only global player outside the three majors, international continues to lie at the heart of what we do. We’ll just do it differently.

“It’s far better to make changes like these from a position of strength when you’re performing well, rather than leaving it too late”

“Obviously these are tough decisions to make, but there’s better ways to invest this money to improve our service to clients and you can expect further announcements on improvements to our service offering imminently.

“97% of the BMG team are unaffected by these changes.”