#now i'm rethinking my reality

[fritoley]

Me: I need to make up a name for the Star Wars planet i made up. Oh, I know! I'll slap some sounds together and make a nice and completely original planet name! The fucking dictionary:

[jewishvitya]

A pro-Palestine Jew on tiktok asked those of us who were raised pro-Israel, what got us to change our minds on Palestine. I made a video to answer (with my voice, not my face), and a few people watched it and found some value in it. I'm putting this here too. I communicate through text better than voice.

So I feel repetitive for saying this at this point, but I grew up in the West Bank settlements. I wrote this post to give an example of the extent to which Palestinians are dehumanized there.

Where I live now, I meet Palestinians in day to day life. Israeli Arab citizens living their lives. In the West Bank, it was nothing like that. Over there, I only saw them through the electric fence, and the hostility between us and Palestinians was tangible.

When you're a child being brought into the situation, you don't experience the context, you don't experience the history, you don't know why they're hostile to you. You just feel "these people hate me, they don't want me to exist." And that bubble was my reality. So when I was taught in school that everything we did was in self defense, that our military is special and uniquely ethical because it's the only defensive military in the world - that made sense to me. It slotted neatly into the reality I knew.

One of the first things to burst the bubble for me was when I spoke to an old Israeli man and he was talking about his trauma from battle. I don't remember what he said, but it hit me wrong. It conflicted with the history as I understood it. So I was a bit desperate to make it make sense again, and I said, "But everything we did was in self defense, right?"

He kinda looked at me, couldn't understand at all why I was upset, and he went, "We destroyed whole villages. Of course we did. It was war, that's what you do."

And that casual "of course" stuck with me. I had to look into it more.

I couldn't look at more accurate history, and not at accounts by Palestinians, I was too primed against these sources to trust them. The community I grew up in had an anti-intellectual element to it where scholars weren't trusted about things like this.

So what really solidified this for me, was seeing Palestinian culture.

Because part of the story that Israel tells us to justify everything, is that Palestinians are not a distinct group of people, they're just Arabs. They belong to the nations around us. They insist on being here because they want to deny us a homeland. The Palestinian identity exists to hurt us. This, because the idea of displacing them and taking over their lands doesn't sound like stealing, if this was never theirs and they're only pretending because they want to deprive us.

But then foods, dances, clothing, embroidery, the Palestinian dialect. These things are history. They don't pop into existence just because you hate Jews and they're trying to move here. How gorgeous is the Palestinian thobe? How stunning is tatreez in general? And when I saw specific patterns belonging to different regions of Palestine?

All of these painted for me a rich shared life of a group of people, and countered the narrative that the Palestininian identity was fabricated to hurt us. It taught me that, whatever we call them, whatever they call themselves, they have a history in this land, they have a right to it, they have a connection to it that we can't override with our own.

I started having conversations with leftist friends. Confronting the fact that the borders of the occupied territories are arbitrary and every Israeli city was taken from them. In one of those conversations, I was encouraged to rethink how I imagine peace.

This also goes back to schooling. Because they drilled into us, we're the ones who want peace, they're the ones who keep fighting, they're just so dedicated to death and killing and they won't leave us alone.

In high school, we had a stadium event with a speaker who was telling us about a person who defected from Hamas, converted to Christianity and became a Shin Bet agent. Pretty sure you can read this in the book "Son of Hamas." A lot of my friends read the book, I didn't read it, I only know what I was told in that lecture. I guess they couldn't risk us missing out on the indoctrination if we chose not to read it.

One of the things they told us was how he thought, we've been fighting with them for so long, Israelis must have a culture around the glorification of violence. And he looked for that in music. He looked for songs about war. And for a while he just couldn't find any, but when he did, he translated it more fully, and he found out the song was about an end to wars. And this, according to the story as I was told it, was one of the things that convinced him. If you know know the current trending Israeli "war anthem," you know this flimsy reasoning doesn't work.

Back then, my friend encouraged me to think more critically about how we as Israelis envision peace, as the absence of resistance. And how self-centered it is. They can be suffering under our occupation, but as long as it doesn't reach us, that's called peace. So of course we want it and they don't.

Unless we're willing to work to change the situation entirely, our calls for peace are just "please stop fighting back against the harm we cause you."

In this video, Shlomo Yitzchak shares how he changed his mind. His story is much more interesting than mine, and he's much more eloquent telling it. He mentions how he was taught to fear Palestinians. An automatic thought, "If I go with you, you'll kill me." I was taught this too. I was taught that, if I'm in a taxi, I should be looking at the driver's name. And if that name is Arab, I should watch the road and the route he's taking, to be prepared in case he wants to take me somewhere to kill me. Just a random person trying to work. For years it stayed a habit, I'd automatically look at the driver's name. Even after knowing that I want to align myself with liberation, justice, and equality. It was a process of unlearning.

On October, not long after the current escalation of violence, I had to take a taxi again. A Jewish driver stopped and told me he'll take me, "so an Arab doesn't get you." Israeli Jews are so comfortable saying things like this to each other. My neighbors discussed a Palestinian employee, with one saying "We should tell him not to come anymore, that we want to hire a Jew." The second answered, "No, he'll say it's discrimination," like it would be so ridiculous of him. And the first just shrugged, "So we don't have to tell him why." They didn't go through with it, but they were so casual about this conversation.

In the Torah, we're told to treat those who are foreign to us well, because we know what it's like to be the foreigner. Fighting back against oppression is the natural human thing to do. We know it because we lived it. And as soon as I looked at things from this angle, it wasn't really a choice of what to support.

[daisys-reality]

─── 🍏ꜞ˖ ꒰ short messages from your DR s/o's higher self ꒱

⌇reality shifting themed tarot reading | general disclaimer | masterlist

pile one

Oh temptation, sweet temptation. Darling, you're gorgeous, inside out. How can someone be so perfect? I really wanna be gentle with you and treat you with the utmost care that you deserve. Not because you’re weak. chuckle No, because you’re so so precious to me. But damnit, my feelings and the attraction I feel are so intense. I feel like I'm going insane. I need you in my life. I would do anything for you. For hell’s sake, I would travel the universe for you too. Please don’t ever doubt me. I am trustworthy, I promise. You’re the only one who has my attention. I will protect and provide for you. And whoever dares to hurt you, will get to experience hell.

Don’t worry about your past or your circumstances, they don’t matter. Just believe, in yourself, in me or us or the universe. Focus on yourself for now, take time to recover from whatever you’re going through and release any resistance. I know it’s hard but it’s not too late. We will reunite soon! You don’t need to worry, okay? Everything will be fine.

pile two

My love, if you feel like you have too much that is depending on you, you might have to rethink following this path. It seems like your heart is willing to relax at this time, but this is not what your mind wants. You’re restless and exhausted… You know that your health is what is most important, right? I don’t wanna see you burnt out, okay? Learn to back out, when it’s needed. Continuing to fight for something that is not worthy of your life might end up being just a waste of time. You’re like a gift to me, okay? Obviously I am restless too and eager to finally be in your presence but your wellbeing is more important than any of my immature desires. I can wait for you. My love for you won’t waver. I will always love you, more than you know. Please give yourself the time you need. I will always be there for you. If you’re in the mood please tell me anything, you can even address letters to me. I would be glad if I could lessen your burdens at least for a little bit. You can talk about all your worries, your dreams etc. I will listen. So, let’s go through this together, okay? 

I want you to know that I’m truly proud of you, and I am confident that you will succeed.

pile three

I know you are my equal, my counterpart. There is no one like you. My heart and mind are committed to you. I know we’d make a strong pair. With you around I finally feel at peace, you make me whole again, you give strength to keep going. I want to be your strength too. I want to deepen our bond. I don’t wanna lose you. Ever. I am selfish and immature. I know that but what can I do? You're my other half, my world… I need you. Everyone else is not worthy enough for you. How could I sit still? I’m jealous just imagining you with someone else. Is it wrong to imagine our future together, a happily-ever-after? I promise I will work hard to make you as happy as you make me. Please give me/us a chance.

[msallurea]

Your desires were never bigger than you, you created them..so why fear?

This post is actually inspired by a small thought I had while getting ready to take a bath 😭

So anyways back to my point, I will based this entirely on my experience just now, so boom, I was randomly thinking OF my desires wondering "hmm I already know every drop of loa info I need to know so why am I not applying?" That's when another thought of mine appeared and asked "is it because I wanna manifest a lot of things at once that I'm not applying or maybe I'm doing something wrong?" Then it was followed by "I've already affirmed before that I had all my desires/my dream life what was the issue? I know that the 3d doesn't matter, wavering doesn't slow down my manifestation, I've been WANTING my desires since forever, I've manifested things before what was so different about this?" And then that is when a very distinct voice said in my head

"Why would I be worried about not being able to have a desire that I created? How can my desire be bigger than me when I AM the one who created the desire in the first place?"

This has me sitting for a few moments rethinking EVERYTHING. That's when I began to change my perspective on this whole desiring thing entirely, if I am the creator of my reality and I created the desire in the first place and I also created the confusion AND ocercomplications around even having my desire, why am I questioning about something that I can just decide to have..BECAUSE I AM THE CREATOR OF MY REALITY. This honestly made Mr chuckle a bit. Especially because if had me thinking about people with epiphanies of loa, they aren't epiphanies at all, i already knew exactly what everything meant BUT I created all these overcomplications and rules and such that i literally forgot that I create all the time so therefore why would me creating fulfillment in having my desires be any different.

Then my mind started wandering to different methods because my mind already got the gist NOW that I literally do create the lack, the desire AND the fulfillment. But then it had me wondering how can I lack or desire something that I've already created? This is when one of Edward art's vids kicked in and I hear his voice in my head telling me:

"lack is an illusion and desire is an illusion, there is only just fulfillment and acceptance of that fulfillment"

So that's when my mind sat for a few seconds then went back to the whole methods thing and I thought about well hm..since I'm the creator of my reality what method should I do? That's when my mind began to go back again and it then says:

"Imagine someone anyone (for me this was higher self, my mom, and my lover at the moment) and they gave you a gift it had everything you could've ever desired and they told you yes it is all yours, you can have it its yours"

So though it wasn't vivid I didn't concern myself with that I just kept hearing the voice say yes it is yours yes you can have it yes you have it. Now it wasn't very long but it definitely made me wonder, a lot of times many of us don't "want to manifest" simply because they feel they don't deserve the things they want. In my case I knew I voild have the things I wanted and even in a way deserved it but my issue was that it was so much I wanted I didn't want to be judged for making my life the way I wanted it to be. This is when another thought comes up and says

"How could I be scared of something I created?"

This really had me thinking especially with times I've doubted and second guessed etc not only was I choosing the opposite of what I created but I was saying no to something I created that I constantly searched to get a yes to, it didnt matter what anyone else answer was the only yes I ever really needed was my own because it was my own creation.

This is all I have right now but I just thought this thought was really funny to me

[venusloverblue]

Now I understand

Billy Hargrove x Reader

words count: 766

summary: You and Billy are dating, but you have doubts as to why he was interested in you.

warnings: fluff, fluff and fluff

a/n: Hii everyone, I bring you another one shot of Billy. I must say I'm not a fan, in fact I don't think I like what I wrote, but I upload it anyway because I like to be embarrassed. If you see any grammatical errors, don't be afraid to tell me, it helps me with my English. With that I say byeee.

The wind blowing in through the open window of the Camaro hits you in the face, and in the background you hear a rock song from a band that your boyfriend listens to. You don’t talk to each other, but that doesn’t make the atmosphere uncomfortable, in fact, the silences between you usually feel comfortable.

“Babe, there’s a party tonight at Tina’s house, I’m going with the guys, do you want me to pick you up and we can go together?”

Dating Billy, one of the most popular boys, brings that on. There’s always a party at night at one of the popular guys’ house. Ever since he came to Hawkins he became a high school sensation, all the boys wanted his friendship and all the girls wanted to have him in their beds, that part you always tried to ignore for their sake.

You still didn’t know how you had gotten someone like Billy interested in someone like you, a girl who tried to go as unnoticed as possible. You were not interested in being popular, the only thing you wanted was to have good grades so you could go to a good college with a full scholarship, that way you would not generate more expenses to your parents than they already had.

That’s why you never expected the bad boy to look for you all over school looking for a date because he was curious about you, at first you thought it was some kind of joke that was going to leave you in a bad light, with that in mind you decided to deny him that date causing Billy to look for every possible way to get your attention so he could get a date with you. To the surprise of many, he succeeded and took you on a date where he impressed you with how gentlemanly he was and made you rethink your opinion of him.

After several dates, he proposed if you wanted to be his girlfriend in his blue Camaro under a starry night getting you to say yes to his question.

“Love, are you there?” Billy’s voice pulls you out of your thoughts and brings you back to reality, where he asked you if you wanted to go to a party.

“Sorry, I was lost in my mind” You say to then answer the question he asked you at first. “I really don’t know Billy, next week I have a math test and you know I’m not very good at it.”

“I know, but this time you have to go to see me dethrone Harrigton from his throne.”

“Billy, you know how I feel about those things, they’re bullshit. Besides, I’ve already seen you dethrone Steve and the truth is that dragging you back to your car is not in my plans” With that the conversation ended because he had already parked at your house. You give him a kiss on the cheek and get out of the car, from his side there is no answer to your statement.

It is night time and you are in your room studying for your exam, you are listening to the music of David Bowie, one of your favorite artists. While you are about to turn pages in your study book you hear something knocking on your window, at first you think it’s some bird that crashed into your window, but after listening to it three more times you decide to see what it really was.

When you open the window you can’t believe what greets you, it’s Billy with his big smile, in his hand you could see some stones, with them he was trying to get your attention. You instantly went downstairs to open the back door of the kitchen, he comes in with a flirtatious smile that always left your legs shaking.

“What are you doing here? I thought you were going to Tina’s party to dethrone Steve” In your voice can be heard the surprise of finding him there at that moment.

“I planned to go, but with you. So here I am to have a fun night of study with my girl” He grabs your waist and brings his mouth to yours planting a kiss that causes the butterflies in your stomach to awaken.

At that moment you understood why Billy was interested in you, maybe others don’t understand it and it’s because they don’t feel it. When you kiss him the world around you disappears and you feel that Billy completes what you are missing. You assume he feels the same, so you keep kissing him.

[lowkeyrobin]

Can I get some Morgie x reader where he's trying to get them to join the VK'S? Like trying his absolute best, but gets a little bit nervous.

yesyesyesyes thank you!!! ; thanks for requesting, hope u enjoy!! ; also sorry this is so short, writers block has been killing me recently :(

MORGIE LE FAY ; join us

summary ; morgie desperately tries to get you to join his (ulianas) vk group

warnings ; language

disclaimers ; reader is allergic to peanuts for the bit

word count ; 637

masterlist

"Hi!"

"...Hi"

Morgie smiles, a little bad with social cues. Uliana shoots him a look from across the room. "Uhm, you're Y/n, right?"

"Yep"

"Uh, would you like to join my- our group? I, we, think you're really cool!"

"I work better solo" you reply. "Thanks though."

You quickly look back down at your paper, scribbling some nonsense onto the page to make him go away. He cracks his knuckle, out of nervous impulse, and quickly scurries back across the room to Uliana.

"So?"

"No"

"Jesus, Morgie."

"I tried!" Morgie defends

"Try harder next time. We need them with us if we're gonna pull this plan off."

"I thought you thought they were cool?"

"They're known to be a backstabber." Uliana rolls her eyes. "One and done job."

"Oh, okay..."

Morgie was not backing down to ask you about joining his group. It wasn't because of Uliana's pressure or Hook's inability for patience, or Maleficent's insistence, or Hades' obnoxious droning. It was because he honestly thought you were the coolest person alive.

He was set on getting you to join them.

He'd made peanut butter cookies for you, trying to now bribe you with food.

He approaches you at lunch, a plastic Tupperware in his hands.

"Hi, I made you cookies. Maybe you could rethink joining me?" He awkwardly chuckles.

You look up at him, slightly confused and annoyed. "What kind?"

"Oh, uh, peanut butter"

You chuckle. "I have one weakness. Peanuts"

His eyes quickly widen. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry, I didn't realize, I didn't know-"

"It's fine." You giggle.

"Uhm, why are you sitting alone?"

"Told you. I work better alone"

"Oh, yeah"

Morgie, even after nearly poisoning you, was still not giving up. He didn't care about the weird, swirly feeling in his stomach or the ache in his heart when he thought of you. He wanted you. He needed you.

Over the course of the next week and a half, he'd been leaving little love letters in your locker. You liked them, feeling loved and appreciated, not having to be let down by reality. Anonymity was the great part about it. What wasn't so great was that you almost caught Morgie in the act after he'd left you another note.

Inside the safely sealed envelope rests a piece of paper, on it reading 'meet me outside by merlin's office at 3. hope to see you then ♡ -your secret admirer'

"Christ on a cracker..."

You couldn't make your mind up if you wanted to meet this person later or not. You didn't want to be let down by any internal, high expectations, but at the same time, curiosity nabbed at you desperately.

Once again, at your lunch table, you sit alone. Well, until that weird kid Morgie showed up again. He quickly sits down with you, ignoring your confused look.

"Hi" He awkwardly smiles.

"Hey," you reply nonchalantly, trying to hide the million thoughts wrapping around your brain.

"You busy this afternoon?" He asks.

"Uh, maybe" You shrug. "Why?"

"Just asking"

As the afternoon rolled around, you decided to just man up and go meet your secret admirer. Maybe you just had to think positive, maybe-

"Oh my God."

Morgie smiles and waves, standing under a large oak tree.

"Jesus Christ, are you the person who's been leaving notes in my locker?" You ask, standing a few feet away from him.

He shrugs and nods. "Yeah."

You blink twice, silent as you try to think.

"Look, I just really want you to join my group" He speaks, stepping forward. "You're really cool, and super smart and funny. Just please, please, please, think it over"

You sigh, knowing this boy won't take no for an answer. "Fine. I'll think about it"

"Yes! Thank you!"

"That's not a yes. Don't get your hopes up"

[haydieks]

I don't want to get my hopes up too much just to be crushed by reality, but... Theory #2: Venom dancing with Mrs. Chen is actually from the end of the movie at Annie & Dan's (+Eddie & Venom's) wedding. Because Mrs. Chen lives is San Francisco and most likely won't go anywhere else. And Eddie & Venom just ran away from their city. They can't be there in the beginning or even in the middle of the movie (probably). So if they're back and having a good time, it means that things changed somehow. And there's a party (?), and they dance freely, no one's screaming around them or anything. It's chill. And Mrs Chen seems happy to see them.

There's a continuation to this post now where I'm rethinking this.

[khywae]

No more fanfiction

Hey loves,

I just wanted to chat with you about a new direction I'm taking in my career.

My recent trip made me rethink a lot of things. It made me realize how short life is and how much time I've “lost” due to mental health struggles. My mind was my number #1 enemy, but not anymore. Now I'm determined to pursue my dreams unapologetically.

My biggest dream is to create a lasting legacy. I want to leave behind tons of content with the female gaze, portraying men as objects of desire rather than just women. It might seem like a silly dream compared to other, more grandiose ones, but I never had access to a lot of content like that. I always felt starved, scavenging the internet for scraps, especially when it came to submissive men. While I've found solace in the writing world, which flourishes with the female gaze, it’s still not enough. Men are just too gorgeous not to be appreciated in other forms of art. I want to live in a world where women have access to quality female gaze content and don’t have to resort to the male gaze if they don’t wish to. That means no faceless dudes, no showing only the woman’s body, and no men so ugly that could make a freight train take a dirt road. Enough.

To turn this dream into reality, I started to think. I could continue with writing, but as you guys can see from the number of words in The Muse and the time it took me to write it (6 fucking years), it would take too long. As the old saying goes, ars longa, vita brevis. Art takes a long time, and life is short. And I, my darlings, have a mission.

Because I love writing too much, I need something that limits the amount I can write. I thought about making videos, but it took out a large portion of the writing part, and it left me unsatisfied. After a lot of thought, I realized that video games can be the solution. They have visual elements, so I don’t need/can’t rely so heavily on my writing; I love games, I play them every day; and I can count on my fingers the number of adult games for women, meaning we need more. A lot more.

Like our himbo icon Kronk says, oh yeah, it’s all coming together.

So I'm excited to announce that I'll be creating games – fangames at first – that mix the interactive side of games and the smut from fanfiction. The SFW version of the games will be free, and the NSFW version and other perks can be accessed through my (freshly launched!) Patreon. There you'll have the power to vote for the next character featured in the games, access work-in-progress pictures and animations, see my writing process, and more. I’m still figuring things out, but I’m super hyped for this!

Currently, I’m working on the very first game of this legacy, called My Assassin Bodyguard. Yes, I transformed the Toji video/fanfic idea that I posted before into a game. You can play the demo now on itch.io!! You don't even have to download woooo!! The game may seem really basic as I get a hang of things and learn new software, but with time we’ll make improvements, such as adding different player characters, a smut gallery, and voice acting (!!!). Anything to make the experience the best it can be.

For those of you who are mostly here for my writing, don’t despair. My writing will still be alive, just in a different medium that needs me right now. I hope you understand. Thank you for your support all these years, for being here through it all. I'd be thrilled for you to join me on this new journey and help me bring this dream to life, together.

So here's the link to Patreon! (⸝⸝ᵕᴗᵕ⸝⸝) I hope to see you there! But if you can’t, I’ll still post updates here and you can always play the games on itch for free. After this dream is accomplished, my next mission will be to write books. Maybe I’ll do it along the way. We’ll see. Life’s full of surprises after all, and that’s the beauty of it. Let's enjoy it the best we can ♡

With love,

Khywae

TL;DR: Life's too short, I write too much and too slow, and I've got a ton of content to create to make my dream happen. So I'm switching to game development for now. I'd love for you to join me on this journey to make this dream a reality. Thank you for everything, love you.

P.S.:

About the Lore

I was so excited about this that I created a little world. Based on the two iconic fanfiction terms —ship and canon—, and my love for Pirate AUs, I came up with a world where we sail across the ocean, collecting ingredients to craft Tapes that connect us with different Alternate Universes. It’s basically a Witch-Pirates-‘90s nostalgia mix. I've got plans to flesh it out even more over time, like adding some decorations, some hot pirates... Important stuff, you know?

Here's the boat in its simplest form, to symbolize that our journey is just starting:

[eighthday]

Review first season "Vigil"

I can't get rid of some thoughts when watching season one. Ep 1. Let's continue that what is shown to us on the screen has a second bottom. I know how the story ends, so I can rethink its beginning a little. When Amy runs away, is it not only a system of physical and mental support, but also a way to get away from problems? She has all the time in the world for reconciliation, but she is busy with the usual. Her work brings her back to reality. She needs an event that will stop her usual course of action.

It seems that the boss knows something about the two of them. Just look at his upset look)

And then Amy shows hope, fear, and uncertainty for a few seconds. And it's so layered. I hope none of the pens were damaged during the filming of these seconds)

I'd like to see Kirsten's reaction when the boss hands over Amy's request. Pain? Anger? Hope? Definitely love. For her, it's not only a duty, but also a desire to help and protect, so when Kirsten asks to give up the assignment, he still cares about Amy. She saw different sides of Amy. And she didn't refuse, harboring feelings for Amy months after the breakup.

I won't say that Amy is a bad hostess for Cat, but what would have happened if Kirsten hadn't agreed to stay in Amy's apartment? I'm worried about cat) And we find out that this is not the first time Kirsten has stayed like this with a cat. It's happened before.

They went somewhere together, they were somewhere, maybe someone knows about them, or it's just a reference to colleagues. They just didn't show us.

How good is this scene. Looking around, they look at each other. They look at each other as equals. After a stressful trip, Kirsten says something that can be interpreted ambiguously. This is a phrase not only for Amy's assignment, but also to describe their relationship. And maybe that's all for Amy to try.

Kirsten says "not now", but not later. Kirsten knows how to wait. Let's skip the moment when Amy is wearing a red suit, when she begins her journey deep into not only the depths of the sea, but also herself, and Kirsten has a green color that goes so well with red hair. It doesn't remind me of anything, I swear)

(Added)

Diving into the past begins not only for Amy, but also for Kirsten. Even the color palette of the scene is painted blue. Blue is the color of loss, loss, grief and loneliness. For Kirsten, this is a chance to reevaluate what happened, go through this path again and maybe come to another exit. Because blue is also wisdom, trust and loyalty. For me, their memories that will be shown to us work for the two of them. One lives this past when he writes, the other remembers when he reads, and vice versa. The life and investigation of one and the other depend on each other, on their common past, trust and attention to each other. And it's also interesting that Kirsten came home to Amy without a bag. Either she gets it out of the car after she looks around the house, or she left some things with Amy after they broke up.

We see the past coming back. And this past affects not only mental health, but also the course of the investigation. I like the idea that Amy's return to life is about creating a common language with Kirsten. Jokes, music, books, tea on the roof, cat, morse code and much more. And this is what will help her cope, only in the first episode she doesn't know about it yet)

Amy's knees are on Kristen's legs, and Kirsten is holding Amy's ankle.❤️ _____________________

English is not my first language, so any mistakes are mine) I love Amy and Kirsten and I'm looking forward to the season 2.

[onlycosmere]

Questioner: Now that Skyward and Reckoners are over, and it seems like Apocalypse Guard is never gonna get written, is there anything you can tell us about the connection between their multiverses?

Brandon Sanderson: I've kinda been playing loose and freaky. Multiverses are annoying, right?

When I wrote Steelheart, I realized, "Ah, multiverses are annoying." And the more I worked on Apocalypse Guard, the more I realized I didn't want to lean into this. And I'm glad I didn't, because as certain media properties have shown us, multiverses are just real hard to juggle and keep any sense of weight or value to the actions of the characters. And so, one of the reasons I didn't want to release Apocalypse Guard is I want to rethink all of that.

I do prefer things like I did in Frugal Wizard, where I'm like, "There are certain stable realities. It's not an infinite number of realities; there's an infinite number of possible realities, but some of them are solid. Some of them are real." So you can find alternate versions of yourself, just not an infinite number of them.

So that's one of the places I was going with that. And Apocalypse Guard did lean into this and start to progress that idea. I think one way you could do a multiverse (kind of have your cake and eat it, too) is just be like, "There's not four billion versions of you. There might be seven." And things like that, that are what we call stable, and "real." Which allows you to kind of play with that idea of multiple versions of yourself without everything going out the window in terms of... You know, you guys have seen Rick and Morty. It doesn't matter if we die or if we mess up the plan. There's another one over there. We can only do this an infinite number of times. So, that was one of the things I was playing with, there.

And then, multiverses are just, like, so overdone. Everything Everywhere All At Once did the best one, and we don't need to even try. But that movie is proof you can still have emotional connection and power in a story that is about alternate versions of yourself. And so it is possible.

So what's the connection? I do kind of have in my head that each of these non-Cosmere properties kind of are on the continuum with this multiverse and are shades of one another, and Apocalypse Guard was gonna kind of be jumping between them. But whether or not we'll get to that, I don't know, because I certainly don't want to have Skyward be ruined by the existence of multiverses.

I like how Skyward turned out; the whole series, I'm really proud of. So that's the question mark in the back of my head.

[seleniangnosis]

𝓦𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝔀𝓲𝓵𝓵 𝓬𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓰𝓮 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓼𝓾𝓶𝓶𝓮𝓻?

Pile 1 Pile 2 Pile 3

Hi everyone! It's been a while since I've been around with a PAC reading, so I decided to do something , to let everyone know that 1. I'm still alive, and 2. I haven't given up tarot 🌸🤍

Tarot readings do not replace therapy and/or have to be taken as the absolute truth, so consume responsibly and take what resonates !

Reblogs are appreciated 💌🌟

Pile 1 🤍🌸

Card to represent your energy: The star

Additional cards: 9 of swords rx, ace of swords,  the world, the hermit, 7 of wands

The star and the 2 sword cards makes me go into the direction of mental health and new way of seeing the world. Worries, stress and anxious feelings are diminished and replaced by a clear thinking rooted in reality, rather than overthinking.

If mental health imorovement does not resonates with you, this could be as well talking about a positive change in terms of growth and overcoming a difficult life challenge. You've ended a chapter and gained all the information you needed to become self reliant and confident. You're no longer drowning in fears, doubts and unrealistic thinking patterns.

Whether it was your mental health or a life situation, this has shaped your personality, so now , instead of the passive attitude you might have had, you gained a newfound sense of self which serves you the right way 🤍

Pile 2 🤍🌸

Card to represent your energy: 4 of swords

Additional cards: 10 of swords, 8 of swords rx , 5 of pentacles, the star, 3 of wands, knight of swords

I can see so many different scenarios in this pile ... I'll start with facing a closed door whenever you wanted to take an opportunity and get into a more favourable environment. Some of you might have felt like you hit rock-bottom really hard because... life , and life sucks sometimes. These situations might have left you discouraged to try again or rethink your strategy of approach.

For others could have been the fact that you couldn't actually change the element that was bringing you down. You had to endure it until you got a " right time " to act .

Now, you might find a plan, or you already have one, on how to change this and turn your fate around. Instead of feeling doom all over you, you gained some hope and a vision.

This will be something you initiate, you've prepared or are planning it still, but it's not going to be some changes that happen randomly. You will initiate the change.

Pile 3 🤍🌸

Card representing your energy: 9 of cups

Additional cards: 7 of swords, 10 of cups rx, king of pentacles, the devil, 8 of wands, 9 of swords.

When I saw the cards, my mind immediately went " toxic family " , " cutting family ties " . Now ... don't leave your family because some tarot girl on tumblr told you so, it just that I'm seeing some sort of toxic bond here, and self fulfilment after the situation is being dealt with. It could as well be related to you being able to support yourself without help from your family who might have been shaming you for relaying on them . It could be an emotional distance from your family that you take because they don't get you.

For others it could be a member of the family who decided to leave , or just someone who lived in the same house as you. If its a divorce... I'm sorry for everyone and I hope that things will get better soon for you ❤.

This reading has a lot of toxic, unwanted, delusional, shameful actions, mental escapism type of energy all around it.

I'm sorry I couldn't help more, buy yeah... your pile has a lot of fluctuating, uncertain energies around it.

[fitzs-trained-monkey]

Like a Box of Chocolates

Word Count: 2,000 (I need to rethink my definition of short.)

Summary: Your best friend invites you over for Valentine's Day. Better to be lonely together, right? || Kol x reader|| Here lies my Masterlist ||

Warnings: Absolutely none, unless you count the sort of fluff that will melt your insides.

A/N: While I work on Rational Thinking part 4, have this drabble that I wrote last year and never posted. Won't Say I'm in Love from Hercules should be playing through your head on a loop by the time this is done.

💝 STORY BEGINS BELOW 💝

“Why, good afternoon, my dearest!” 

You would have been startled by the sudden appearance of your best friend, had you not been so used to him by now. Kol Mikaelson was a cheeky bastard and his fondness for seeing you jump had rendered his element of surprise non-existent. You rolled your eyes. 

“Hey, Kol.” Just managing to stow your books away before Kol pushed your locker shut, you re-adjusted your backpack and sent him a look. He leaned against the lockers, grinning at you as though he were simply happy to be there. The expression was bright and unusually sincere, it made you do a double take. “Oh, geez - he’s happy. That’s just frightening. Who’d you kill? Actually, nevermind that. What do you want from me?” You deadpanned, smirking. 

You didn’t think your best friend was capable of hurting a fly, however. True, the kid had a mischievous streak a mile long but you just couldn’t understand why other students seemed so afraid of him. Kol had never been anything but nice to you since the day you’d shown him around the school. Sure, you’d watched him beat the ever-loving crap out of one of the football players when the guy had catcalled you a while back, but that had been entirely deserved. Kol was a sweet, clever kid who, though he was certainly capable of being a social butterfly, preferred the company of just one or two really good friends. You were fortunate enough to have made it onto that list - along with Jeremy Gilbert. 

Kol huffed a laugh and slipped your bookbag off your shoulders in one smooth motion you weren’t entirely sure how he’d learned to do. You would have protested, but you’d long since quit trying. The guy was a gentleman that way.

“Valentines Day!” He announced as if it were obvious. He held your bag in one hand and wrapped his other arm around your shoulders.

“I think you mean -” You spread your arms wide as if presenting something to him - “Singles Awareness Day!”

Kol blinked. “Have you ever realized that the acronym for that just spells S.A.D?”

“I have indeed.”

He stared at you for a moment, then shook his head. “Whatever you call it, that’s today,” He said, smiling to himself.

You raised a brow. What was he so happy about? “Yes, I am aware it is the fourteenth day of February.”

He rolled and nudged you playfully. “Jeremy’s got himself a date - I want to know what you’re doing.”

Jeremy had a date? Huh. Go Gilbert. 

“I don’t know, Kol. You’re a smart cookie, why don’t you tell me?” You said, shrugging. 

“Alright.” He skipped ahead of you, walking backward. The boy stared at you with a mockingly contemplative look for a moment before snapping his fingers, having made his decision. “I deduce that you intend to come to my place for some friendly virtual combat, perhaps a few action movies, and the inordinate consumption of egregiously unhealthy foods.”

You tipped your head back and laughed. That kid knew you so well. “Spooky how you can read my mind like that.”

He grinned. “I am a man of many mysteries,” He declared.

“Right.”

In reality, you knew why he was inviting you over. You were his distraction and he was yours. Neither of you really liked Valentine's Day. That was one of the many things you could agree on. February fourteenth was just a painful reminder of what the both of you would never have - a meaningful and lasting relationship. Not even just a romantic one - the two of you had bonded over your bad luck with relationships in general. Between neglectful parents and - in his case - siblings, it would seem that to be loved in return was just too much for either of you to ask of the universe. 

Friends, however - friends you could do. Friends come and go, they have no obligation to provide you with lifelong love and support. It’s not a betrayal or a slight on their part when they fail to keep in contact after the two of you say goodbye that last time. That was how you liked it. No obligations - no contracts.

It was quite the pair the two of you made: the school F-Boy and Trust Issues Incarnate. (Yes, you were fully aware of the rom-com style cliché.) Yet, however unusual it was, Kol made you happy. He was one of the very few people you’d met who didn’t judge you for your bitter attitudes surrounding romance. The two of you were determined not to be sad today - there was no reason to be because you didn’t care anymore, or at least, that’s what you’d tried to convince yourselves. So even though Kol was cute - drop-dead gorgeous even - nothing was ever going to happen between you. In your experience - and you’d had quite a bit of it - there was no use in hoping otherwise. It just never led to anything good. Love wasn’t in the cards for either of you. The universe had just designed things that way. 

Valentine's Day is hard for the inherently unlovable. But you’d make do.

Kol gave you a ride from school, just like he did every day, though this time he brought you back to his apartment. Your parents wouldn’t notice - they never did.

Popcorn and video games came first. You agreed on Star Wars Battlefront, challenging him to a one-on-one fight. Kol got upset that you kept beating him. 

“I’m telling you, darling - playing as the bloody sniper is completely unfair!”

“Says the guy with the freaking gatling gun.”

“I can’t even get the thing spinning up before you’ve blown my head of!”

You just hummed, catching a piece of popcorn in your mouth. “That sounds like a skill issue.”

“You would say that… Cheat.”

So, you switched to Mario Kart. The two of you were pretty evenly matched until you got to Rainbow Road. Kol had been in second place the whole time then suddenly he hits the brakes and you have just enough time to wonder why the hell he would do that before your sorry ass is wiped off the map by a blue shell. You’re not a sore loser by any means but that boy had to be the sorest winner of all time. He only shut up when you threatened to leave. 

So you hunted down some ice cream and Kol dug through his rather impressive collection of movies for something that didn’t have a romance in it.

“Why does every decent film seem to require it’s main character’s to make love on screen!?” Kol griped, accepting the bowl of ice cream you passed him. 

You snorted. “Did you really just ask that question?”

“Yes!” He huffed.

You flipped yourself over on the couch and propped your head up on your elbows, leaning on the armrest whilst you batted your eyelashes at him. “It’s love, Kol! Don’t you understand? Does it not just pull at your heartstrings?” You sighed dreamily, kicking your legs back and forth in the air. 

Kol frowned. “No.”

You gasped, holding a hand to your chest as if offended. “What?! You don’t believe in love at first sight?! You don’t think that true love’s kiss can break any curse and that love conquers all and that people live happily ever after?! Oh, Kol! That’s so cold hearted of you!” If sarcasm were visible you’d be drenched in it.

Your best friend bit back a smile. “I wouldn’t keep this up if I were you.”

“Oh, what are you gonna do?” You smirked, gesturing to the DVD case he was currently holding. “Ya gonna throw DiCaprio at me?”

He grinned. “I might… or I could tickle you to death - you’ll never see it coming.”

“Well in that case-” You gave another overly dramatic sigh. “You should just kiss me and then all your problems will be magically fixed and you’ll be a model citizen because of my unconditional love and teenage angst!”

He tossed the Titanic case at your head. You dodged it with a laugh that ebbed away as he stood up and cracked his knuckles. You hadn’t thought he was serious about the tickling part. 

“Aw, crap.”

Kol pounced. His arms wrapped around you and he attacked your sides, lifting you off the ground so you couldn’t escape. You laughed and squealed but he was wholeheartedly intent on making you beg for mercy.

“Fine! FINE! You win!” You conceded, out of breath. You had a stitch in your side from laughing so hard. 

He set you on your feet and you huffed, pushing the hair out of your face. Kol just grinned.

“You know, you’re pretty cute all flushed like that,” He said gesturing to your face which you were sure had to be as red as a tomato. You rolled your eyes, vehemently ignoring the way his words made your face grow hotter. 

After all, it wasn’t going to happen.

“You’re such a dork.”

He held up a finger. “Ah! Don’t go around telling people that, love. I have a reputation to consider.”

You had to smile at him. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

So, after ice cream, the two of you spent the evening split between playing various card games and watching Supernatural re-runs. It was all fine and good until you somehow found yourselves on the couch. You were just sitting there, and you had gotten a little tired so you’d taken to resting your head on his shoulder. It was fine. It didn’t mean anything. Then he had to go and ruin it.

Kol picked you up by the hips - just as softly as he’d always touched you - and pulled you into his lap. His arms circled your waist and tugged you in close. It was your worst nightmare. You knew that boy would never ever do anything to hurt you - he just wasn’t that type of person - but that wasn’t the problem. The problem was that this - no matter what it seemed or what anyone else would think - would never be anything but platonic. It couldn’t be. 

Life is like a box of chocolates - that’s what everyone says. But the truth is, with a box of chocolates, you always know that despite how many nasty fillings there are, each box is guaranteed at least a few sweet truffles. Relationships aren’t like a box of chocolates - not for you. They never carried anything good and it wasn’t just disappointment you took from them. No, it was always a hundred different ways to shred your heart and you knew it wasn’t worth it by now. You weren’t dying for another heartbreak. You didn’t need that - not now. 

Life had proven to you before, time and time again, that you were the box of chocolates and nobody would ever stick around long enough to find the part that made you worth it. You were simply incapable of being loved. 

Yet, your stupid, traitorous heart yearned to be proven otherwise.

So even though you knew - you knew - this would never end well, you didn’t protest. You let him nuzzle your shoulder only as much as he dared. You let him hold you. After a while, you even stopped fighting the weight of your eyelids and began drifting off to sleep. 

Kol turned off the tv and you didn’t make a sound. He shifted to lay back, holding you against him as he shrouded your bodies in a blanket; yet, you didn’t stir.

Then he pressed a kiss to the crown of your head and whispered words so quietly you could scarcely catch them. 

“Goodnight, my dearest Y/N. I love you, even if you never love yourself enough to see it.” 

No. Those words couldn’t be for you. The tenderness in his voice couldn’t be for you. There had to be some mistake because your heart with all its cracks and gouges was not a thing of beauty, nor was it remarkable. It was just there, so why was this the first time in far, far too long that you could feel it beating.

You were inherently unlovable. You’d taken that as a fact for so long. 

How dare he tell you otherwise.

“You’re not supposed to love me, Kol. That’s not how this story ends,” You whispered into the dark.

That sweet boy froze because he’d been caught. Then he reached up and found your hand, tangling his fingers with yours. 

“I don’t care how this story ends,” He said, voice firm. “I’m changing it. You know me, love. I never do as I’m told.”

“I don’t know if I can believe you.”

“That’s alright. I love you anyway.”

You chuckled and squeezed his hand. “Happy Valentine’s Day then?”

“Happy bloody Valentine’s Day, darling.” 

Tagging: @yn-ymn-yln @r13mar @rootbeerfaygo @iiskittles16ii @fandomrulesall-blog @dark-night-sky-99 @railingsofsorrow @apolloroid @thatweirdoleigh @misswe03 @eat-cake @felinegrate @trikigirl271 @cute-freak27 @fayeatheart @archangelslollipop @aonungs-tsahik @sleepneverheardofher @space-princess-charming @heartbreakgrill @whatsupb18

[majorbaby]

i was going to make a video compilation but actually i think that would give MASH too much credit or make it seem like I really think this show did generally well by race and racism, plus I can't go back and edit a video if I change my mind at any point. so here's my text-based list of race moments that actually land for me, whether intentional or based on my personal interpretation.

s01e05 The Moose - which is mostly a white saviour episode but actually does do a few things right:

this moment of solidarity between Oliver and Young-Hi

in response to the Swamp Rats' indignation that anyone would sell their child into servitude, Ho-Jon explains very frankly "Well some of the locals sell their kids for money Hawkeye, they have no other means." - not to say that it's right that Young-Hi's parents did that to her, but like, they didn't sell her to get rich, they did it because they're likely living in poverty and they have other younger children to support

Young-Hi cheekily explaining in her letter to Hawkeye "heehee the nuns have no idea I'm Buddhist" she's taking them for a ride, it's great

and Young-Hi's "I am also very beautiful!"

s02e15 Officers Only

Hawkeye introducing a black enlisted man as his brother-in-law - soooo very recently, like I argued this at the mic at my last convention, we've started to rethink the use of"brother" and "sister" to refer to your union comrades has start. if your boss caught you organizing with a friend after work, you would say "oh that's just my brother/sister". arguments against this are gaining traction now because of growing awareness of non-binary people but tbh it should have never been a thing it only protects white people who can reasonably pass as siblings, if you're black or brown you're SOL (as you usually were anyway). so anyway. this is a long ass paragraph just to say that Hawkeye saying " brother-in-law" in the union episode of MASH makes me feel ways. someone was thinking about intersectionality way back then.

s02e19 The Chosen People

Sam Pak in OR at the beginning of the episode, thanking America for saving Korea "from the bottom of our bomb craters." and also just generally making jokes that actually land about the Korean language because he's the one making them, "Pish-posh? That's my mother's family name"

tbh Sam walking around like he owns the base is pretty great in general

s05e08 Dear Sigmund

Klinger: Smaha! Smaha! Potter: [to Private Habib] What'd he say? Habib: He said "Smaha! Smaha!"

If it is Arabic it's funny because Potter assumes Habib will translate and he just repeats the words in Arabic because that is what Klinger literally said. If it is gibberish it's funny because Potter assumes its Arabic and Habib gives him the gibberish. This is one of my favourite gags in the whole show and fun fact also the moment I realized Jamie Farr must be a native speaker because his accent is so natural. It's pretty cool he got to flex that.

s05e11 Hawk's Nightmare

this is just me, but I love that Hawkeye describes the people of Crabapple Cove as never changing colour, always the same "off-white" - this was a time you almost never heard white people acknowledge their whiteness, except when speaking about racism. really struck me the first time i heard it. probably my favourite thing from Hawkeye re: race and it's not intentional. I definitely prefer it to his white saviourism

s06e08 In Love and War

the exchange between Kyungsoon and Hawkeye where the extent of his naiveté is put on display, "You're being awfully practical about this" "I thought you liked that about me [list of things she had to do for survival that Hawkeye initially admired in her but is now throwing in her face]"

episode ends in Hawkeye having to accept that sometimes love is irrelevant, the circumstances are what they are (the love was there and it didn't matter, but it was there) - this imo is the only episode of MASH that even begins to touch on the realities of being a Korean civilian in the war

s08e03 Guerilla My Dreams

the gang fails to save a woman from being taken away and she will likely die, as would've probably happened irl. sometimes being on a sitcom isn't enough to save you from your fate as a prisoner of war and it was good to be reminded of that for once. it's the white saviour trope averted.

s08e08 Private Finance

I can at least appreciate that this time when someone is explaining how all sides of the war are to blame for the scourge of war, it's a young Korean girl in her own words. rest of the episode is questionable but normally such a line would go to Hawkeye.

s08e15 Yessir that's Our Baby

the Korean official biting back when Hawkeye tries to accuse him (on behalf of the country) for not recognizing mixed-race babies as Korean, stating that neither does America recognize mixed-race babies with American fathers as Americans, unlike France and the UK

s11e01 Hey Look Me Over

this episode is textually about the very specific and not uncommon experience of being desexualized as a fat, Asian-American woman - it deserves a proper episode recap/analysis with that lens and I'm planning on take a stab at it if/when I ever get around to that ep in my rewatch. these stories were not being told in mainstream media until like, five years ago. there are some the hypersexualized or fetishized Asian woman in media and usually the movie/show/comic is doing that as a selling point rather than commentary. it's unfortunate we haven't progressed much since that moment 40 years ago.

[citation needed, cannot remember the name of the episode]

while admitted a Korean doctor tells Hawkeye he wishes things were different and that he could work alongside Hawkeye and BJ and Hawkeye asks with perfect American ignorance (paraphrase), "You'd want to do that?" and he responds, "You treat the enemy, why can't I?"

And finally, Soon-Lee and Klinger in GFA, a little bit in As Time Goes By. I started writing an essay on Klinger as the romantic lead of GFA but I think I'm going to try to make it a video essay so I can include clips from the show without having to make a bunch of gifs.

But in a nutshell, Klinger gets to do stuff in GFA that the often emasculated brown man still doesn't get to do much on television. As MASH progressed we did occasionally get to see Klinger take on a more serious role, Alan Alda has spoken on trying to do that for the character rather than rehash dramatic plotlines for Hawkeye or BJ who got plenty of their own.

Having Klinger represented that way gives audiences a chance to see him more three-dimensionally. As someone who is capable of romantic love, attraction, courage and someone who might be sexually desirable to others - in a less direct way than Kellye demands of Hawkeye in Hey Look Me Over. I think the lack of subtlety in Hey Look Me Over is great because there can be no question about what that episode is supposed to do and also because it drives home that Hawkeye is so blinded by his preconceived notions of what a "desirable woman" looks and sounds like that Kellye has to scream it in his face before he realizes what he's been doing. But it's also nice to have an example that's woven into the writing and cinematography.

Normally I don't like to add these kinds of disclaimers because I value open conversation but if you're rb'ing, please be mindful of your tags. I intentionally excluded a lot of the moments where I know I'm supposed to give this show an A+ for its progressivism when it has a white person demonstrating basic human decency. That bar is just too low for me.

[cs-blank-au-official]

i saw you were asking for critique on your au i've done a critique analysis on someone else's au before (CSV Amaryllis to be exact) and now i wanna do another critique but this time, here

i think so far your au is pretty close to the reality of CS, not too overpowered and not too underdeveloped to be considered "just another goon of the main antagonist" based on observation, Blank and Carmen seem to have a connection in the past beyond "enemies" to make any of their interactions just a simple one. i'm still wondering how the fuck Blank would be able to enter Vile at the age of 13?? that's the odd part that really makes me rethink if this is really as close to the reality of CS. i'm guessing Roundabout or any faculty member had something to do with it but then again, why would they let a child in a criminal organization meant for young and older adults? even weirder, Blank joins Carmen eventually??? after the things you've implied? like how he hates Shadowsan? in one of your artworks, Shadowsan and Blank even seems to be chill. that's my take on your au so far. i don't like part of it but i don't really hate it either. mainly because your oc isn't overpowered like the au i've critiqued before. but i don't like how Blank entered vile as a kid because that's so random. from one author to a great artist, your plot writing either needs abit more explaination or just abit of revisions

i love reading this over and over because it makes perfect sense why the viewer would feel this way. as much as i'd love to explain how Blank got into Vile in the first place, i can't exactly spoil the lore. i'm not sure if you read deeper into my posts or if you only checked the artwork but if you saw my VERY old version of how Blank got to join vile, it would make sense (though i've revised a few parts of what i've written before!) GAHH this makes me look at my work and feel proud because this is EXACTLY what i want the viewers of my AU to feel i understand why you don't like part of my AU but do remember that this isn't even finished yet :> i'm not even halfway through my au. for your advice of giving "more explaination" i'd rather not. because i want the viewers to piece things together themselves rather than have it laid out for them. thank you really for sharing your thoughts, anon! i'll take your advice to heart!

[agirlwholovesrockstars]

𝖄𝖔𝖚 𝖒𝖆𝖐𝖊 𝖒𝖊 𝖋𝖊𝖊𝖑 𝖇𝖗𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖓𝖊𝖜

𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓣𝓱𝓻𝓮𝓮

"𝘛𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯"

彡 𝓼𝓮𝓻𝓲𝓮𝓼 𝓶𝓪𝓼𝓽𝓮𝓻𝓵𝓲𝓼𝓽 彡

✦ 𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚜 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 | 𝚗𝚎𝚡𝚝 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 ✦

𝕾𝖚𝖒𝖒𝖆𝖗𝖞 : locked away from freedom yet again, you've come too far, you wouldn't let your guard down, won't lose hope because of one good reason

𝖂𝖔𝖗𝖉 𝕮𝖔𝖚𝖓𝖙 : light and straight to the point, I promise

𝖂𝖆𝖗𝖓𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖘 : 18+ Knight!Eddie Munson x Princess!FEM!reader, language, reader and Eddie are both (21), Henry is (30+), Jason (my apologies), use of y/n, age gap, manipulation, arrange marriage, Jason is so eager to make reader give up- so, beware of how I made him so toxic in this, harassment, rumors, town gossip, denial, reader having trust issues

𝖂𝖍𝖆𝖙 𝖙𝖔 𝕰𝖝𝖕𝖊𝖈𝖙 : the awaiting fluff will come over soon, the first chapters will be a lot of ANGST! , the story is set in 17th century, upside down exists in this series, dark fantasy, romance, drama, action, slight Wayne reoccurring, if you squint 🤫

𝕹𝖔𝖙𝖊 𝕿𝖔 𝕽𝖊𝖆𝖉𝖊𝖗 : the frequent likes and the reblogs, keep em' coming because I'm literally so stoked to see y'all loving it! even though I'm still shy and couldn't believe that this little series of mine will be seen! 🥺🫶🏻

𝕬𝖚𝖙𝖍𝖔𝖗 𝕹𝖔𝖙𝖊 : I'm honestly itching to literally jump to the big revelation of Eddie's character in this, just wait til' see you guys- good things comes to those who wait ;))

☆ EDDIE MUNSON'S MASTERLIST ☆

❣ AGATHA'S MAIN PAGE ❣

You woke up in your bedroom

Haunted

Haunted, by the fact that you came back here again, the place you once you called home

Now, the place, upside down, the one that many people say it's a horrific world

It is given that it's indeed scary to live there, you wanted to go back because you felt much more safer there

The duality of being in here, in your palace, where it's normal, you know it in yourself that you will always choose, the unusual place

The upside down

You're are now dreading to go outside with Henry and Jason

"You only lived there for a month, Y/N"

Jason's voice echoes into your mind, he told that to you while removing the bind from your wrist

You don't care

You really don't give a shit that he's talking about

You never felt more secured since your father disappearance when you're with Eddie

In all of your 20 years of life, funny, you've almost forgotten your birthday today

It's just not the same anymore

You loved your home, you really do

But ever since that night, it changed everything

Every corner, every room, every inch of your place is now tarnished and tainted by the creeps that is now roaming all over your home

"Miss?"

A knock from your door, taken you back into the reality

You begrudgingly sighed as you sit up

"You may enter"

"Morning, your grace" your maid arrives with a tray of breakfast

You eat up as you already planning to escape again

You've noticed that your maid hasn't left your chambers yet

You knit your brows together as you watch her hesitant to speak out loud

"Can I say something?"

"Go on"

She looks over at your door before she spoke up, she leans closer as she whispers

"I know- the king, your father has already warned you about people like them but he is right, your excellency"

You chew slowly as you listen

"I don't know, if you'll believe me but I saw Henry, he has the ability to lift things with his hands"

You blinked "I'm sorry? What?"

she struggles to explain as she stutters "I-I think, Henry has powers"

The last words that she told you, it's like only for you to hear as she speaks it so low

You stare at her as you try to rethink all of the interactions that you had with him before

"Don't worry, I believe you, thank you for telling me"

"Your most welcome-"

"Y/N, morning"

as if on cue, speak of the devil, Henry came inside your room unannounced, you covered yourself with blanket, conscious about his actions

"Is she troubling you?"

You and the maid looked at each other as you think for a better valid reason that'll work

"The eggs are a bit runny, I'm just explaining her how to cook it the way that I like"

You gave her the tray as she took it and leaves the room

"Don't you have any manners, Henry?" You cleared your throat

The way he looks at you, you can't really tell if he's being genuine or not

You don't see that when you look at Eddie

"Oh, pardon, my intrusion, princess- I just wanted to see you how you're doing"

You wrap your arms around yourself hoping that he'll take the hint that you're shielding yourself

Your white nightgown is so thin and see-through, you glanced at your vanity, there's your robe draping in the rim of your chair, god- you wished you've worn it, the only decent that's covering you it's your blanket but you can't help but feel naked in front of him

"I'm fine, thank you for asking" you briefly look at him straight in the eyes

"Accept my apologies on the behalf of Jason, I know he's taken you too far from any inconveniences, he can be so arse about his duties but he's a strong soldier and I trust him"

You tried your best not to roll your eyes at his utterance

He's a fucking asshole, alright- that's all he is

You lick your lips as you try to muster up "You have my forgiveness, but Henry, next time, you'll knock before you enter my room" your face expression has that strict look

He nods as he humbled down towards your tone

Your maid came back with your breakfast tray, Henry has still have something more to say but decides against it

"I'll leave you to it" Henry tug up a small smile to you as you nod at him

Why don't you bring the smile back at him?

Once he shuts the door behind him

You fall back onto your bed as you say while you look at the ceiling

"I am conflicted whether he is being honest or not, his aura is so questionable to me"

"Your highness, your food might get cold-"

"To you what can you say about him?" You raise yourself back up to your position before as you ask your maid

"Uh- he's plucky"

You snorted "Right on, I can agree with that"

"How can we passed the guards?" Gareth says as he carries his things

"People can recognize us!" Jeff puts on a scarf over his neck

"So, let's disguise then" Eddie covers himself a cloak with a hood and he gave the others the same thing

"Oh, isn't that just so easy to hide! I know you care for the girl but are you sure this is going to work?" Gareth sarcastically smiles as he reasons with Eddie

"Not that only he cares for her but also he loves her" Jeff shoots a wink at Eddie as he puts on the cloak

"I am going to skin you both alive" Eddie who is annoyed while the two starts snickering and an amused Enzo approaching them

"What's this that I hear? Now, I get it why she pulled that act for you"

"That was nothing- it's just these two are getting on my nerves" Eddie scoffs as he clutches his sword and went out first in the portal

"Oh my fucking great" Gareth frustratedly throw his hand up

"What is it?" Jeff questions him as he watches his friend stressed out

Gareth points to your castle that is literally miles away ahead from them

"Do you think we can still get there alive?" He looks over at Eddie who is squeezing his eyes, restraining every part inside of him not to annihilate- he is still annoyed at the thought that he might have feelings for you

"You gotta have a lot of faith, Gareth" Eddie told him as his friend rolls his eyes at him

"Good thing, there aren't people around to see us" Enzo looks around the woods that leads to town

"Let's get going" Eddie nods as all of them start walking

It's weird to wear your gowns

It's weird to walk around the halls of your home with your heels clicking

It's weird to have someone help you to get ready, you don't want this and you don't need this

You want to get out of here

You want to be with someone who can fix this whole madness

You're headed towards at the library that way you could avoid talking to them

But, the moment you turn on the other side, Henry is there

Shit

Before you could turn your heel around, he spoke your name as you shut your eyes as you sighed, you look back at him

He straightens himself up as he looks at you

From your face and your whole get up

"You look ravishing, Y/N"

You really don't wanna talk to him

"Uh- thank you, I should be going-"

"Please- don't" he took your hand in his as you look down at it and back at him

He saw your untrusting expression that is targeted at him, he quickly rips his hands from you

"I know we get off in the wrong foot, but, can we please- let's just start over?"

You want to believe him

You really do

But, something else is holding you back to get close to him

You cannot read to what he meant behind those eyes

Why do you get the feeling that he is hiding something?

Is he really being truthful to you?

"I-I don't know, Henry"

"But we could start slow- that's fine by me"

You shift in your stance as you finally look at him

His eyes are longing for you?

"How could I know that you're not tricking me?"

"I am not, Y/N, I just wanted you to know that I'm here for you"

"Can you give me some time to think about it?"

"Of course" his smile is hopeful and somehow you're still taking precautions to his actions

But, your words are promising to him

That's progress

"Oh- what a fucking picturesque that you're both going on, hmm?" A slurring Jason appeared before you

You rolled your eyes at his drunken state

"Let's not, Jason" Henry narrows his eyes at him as he shielded you away from him

"Did you asked her about the marriage?"

Your soft eyes went aflame as you glare at Henry

"No- it's not what you think, Y/N!" Henry grumbles as he looks at Jason

"Don't you see it? Y/N? He likes you!" Jason chuckles as he tries to balance himself

"Go to fucking hell, Jason" You spat as you leave them both together but before you could do that he blocks your path

"Now- don't you dare walk out of me!" He grabs your wrists as he hold you tightly

"Let me go! Jason!" You grimaced at his alcoholic breath as you tried to take off the grip that he has on you

"Jason- get your hands off with her!" Henry had enough of him as he hold him back off with you

Jason wouldn't let go as Henry fumed at him

He had no choice but to....

A sudden force that made he him move away from you as your eyes widened, knocking off Jason at the wall as he drops to the floor

Your maid earlier told you about this

But, seeing this in action made you feel shocked even you already knew

You're petrified as you blink rapidly as you watch Henry wiped off the blood from his nose with the back of his hand

You take a step backwards but Henry felt you moving away from him

"No- no- no" He moves closer to hold both of your forearms

As you start shaking in fear, you flinched at his cold touch

"Please, don't be afraid"

You tried to speak but you couldn't as you start to sob quietly

"I wouldn't let anyone hurt you, Y/N- I would never hurt you" he starts to cradle your cheek as you watch his movements

"This is what I fear of you, you being scared of me"

You let the ghostly tears fall as he uses his thumb to remove it, you try to gain back your composure

"Henry, please, I need a moment to breathe"

He blinks as he nods at you as he gives you some space

You look at Henry and then back at Jason who is unconscious

This is a lot to take in as you breathe out

"Can I be excused?"

"Yes, you can, Y/N"

You muttered a quiet thank you as you directed yourself towards your chambers

You cupped your mouth as you try to replay of what just happened, Henry watches you go with a look of worry on his eyes

As much as you wanted to handle this on your own

You can't help but to need someone beside you

You want him and you need him

You need Eddie

The four men, rest and build a camp as Eddie always

Always looking at your castle from afar

The journey that they're taking, they're in the middle of it, he's almost there

"You know she won't appear if you look at it more often, right?" Gareth swirls the ladle on the pot that he's cooking soup for dinner

He scoffs as he sits on the rock with arms crossed

"I'm just worried for her, man" Eddie deeply sighs

"Jason is such a dick, I swear" Gareth brings up the interaction that happened before

"But we haven't met Henry yet, we have no idea who he is, maybe he is not awful like him" Jeff suggests

"That young man has taken over her financial services" Enzo recalls as he cleans his weapons

"I take back what I said, they're both assholes" Jeff shakes his head to Enzo's remark

"Here, you have to eat- I know she'll be fine" he hands him a bowl of soup

"I know that she can but I just wished that I was there with her through all of it"

Gareth smiles at him

Eddie is confused at it as he starts to slurp the broth at the edges of the rim of his bowl

He swallows "What?"

"Nothing, I just- you always seem so serious and now it looks like because of her you had the another reason to live"

He tug up a smile as he says "As much you're a pain in the ass, but, yeah she is"

"You both know we could hear to what you're both talking about, right?" Jeff speaks as he pours himself another bowl

Enzo chuckles as he drinks from his cup

"Stop ruining the moment, man!" Gareth yells out to him as all of them shared a laugh

The firepit smoked off as the sunrise shines through out the area

"She's getting married!"

"To whom?"

"Henry!"

"Isn't he like too old for the poor girl?"

Eddie registered the sounds of the townspeople that is too close for him to hear

Good thing, there's a bunch of bushes around their camp

He sits up as he listens at them

"When did you hear it?"

"Just today, I think they're preparing the wedding soon enough"

Eddie buried his face with the palm of his hands as he runs his fingers through his hair

He looked at his companions, who are still asleep as he breathes deeply

Why would he feel disappointed?

He mustn't feel this way since

You're not even his

Maybe, your kindness and sweet demeanor towards him, he misinterpreted it

That's where it dawned on him, it hit him like a ton of bricks, his heart dropped when he finally comes to the realization

He loves you

He feels that he is running out of time, it's like he is trying to reach you but now he can't help but to feel that you're slowly slipping out of his touch

He remembers what you told to Jeff that you're about to married to him, but you didn't want to, you clearly told all of them that you don't want to be a part of it

But, you still don't want it until now? right?

No, he will not let the other people get into him, it mustn't be true

He let them get into his head and his thoughts

He will come and get you

He stood up and wakes Gareth

Gareth groaned as he uses his arms to propped himself up "Wha- What is it?"

"We're losing her, let's go"

Henry is startled by your presence, his face falls when he saw you so upset, watching you very closely with concern as he follows you behind your back

Enraged by the news, you entered the main room as you pushed the doors wide open with anger rushing through your veins

"Jason, I have the bone to pick with you, what was that about?!?"

If doesn't that make you feel mad even more, he is sitting in your father's chair

"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about, princess" he acts like he didn't do anything

God- you want to scratch his smug face off

"Oh, I know you're the main reason why everybody talks about it"

"About what?"

"You're the one who fucking spread it!"

Henry who is unaware of it all, he looks at you and to Jason who just shrugs at him

When Jason didn't gave you answers and that adds more to the fuel that you're having right now

You feel so freaking on fire that you could explode, you turn to Henry still having that frown on your face

"Are you on this? Did you have something to do with it?"

"Wha- What?! No- I don't even know what you're implying to"

"Your most trusted fucking dipshit soldier, he told everyone that we agreed on the arrangement which we're clearly not!"

The last lines you shout it out to Jason who is so smugly couldn't careless to what you're dealing with

Henry facepalmed as he says "Jason, what the hell?!?"

You lift your gown as you exit the room, you want to scream

"Is the only way to get her controlled!"

"Controlled?!? Do you have any idea to what you just started?!?

He scoffs "This isn't supposed to be big deal anymore, they already knew all about it and I just confirmed it"

"She is not ready! Let's give her some time"

"There is no time!"

Henry put his fingers on the bridge of his nose, he looked back seeing you aren't being there anymore

That's what he thought

You're hiding behind closed doors, listening to their argument

He exasperatingly sighs as he begins "I cared for her and because of you she can't even trust me completely because I'm with you!" He points at himself

"You thought me being drunk last night- I wouldn't know to what you just did to me? Okay, fine let's see she'll grow on you like you told me before" Jason pushes his chair back and stood up as he walks towards to Henry

"How did she handle it when she finds out that you had powers?"

You tensed as the memory flashes back at you

Henry sighs in defeat as he couldn't fire back at him

He chuckles "See? That's what I thought"

"It- It wouldn't change anything" Henry still believes that you can

He knows that someday you'll believe him

You couldn't bear to hear more of it so you walk away

"It wouldn't be the same once the truth is out"

Henry leaves him as he shuts the doors angrily

"We have to get inside here" Enzo opens the door that leads the way towards the dungeon

"Seriously, man? The dungeon?" Gareth roams his eyes over the prisoner's cells

"It's the only easy way to get inside" Enzo whispers as he ducks his down at the passing royal guards

"He knows what he was doing, let's just get on with it" Eddie told them as they went all in

It's nail-biting to get caught, but they managed to get further more

When the four of them passed the other prisoners

There's someone in particular that caught his attention

He looks more closely as he looked at the elder man who is asleep

Why do he felt that his heart is telling that he knew this man

He heard the clicks of heels that says someone is coming

He hides himself quickly, he looks over that his friends already far left ahead of him

He's about to leave until....

He heard your voice

You mentioned a name

The voice that he missed so much

He wants to hear it all the time

The tendency is very strong to make him self appear right then and there, if you could only see his eyes twinkle

He took a step but someone else is with you

"Y/N, what are you doing here?"

You came for him because you had no one else to lean on

"I was- just checking if anyone is doing their job"

He hummed "That's my job, princess, leave that to me"

Wayne stirred from his sleep as his eyes adjusts at the figure before him

His eyes sparked that he saw you in there, but you can't do anything to talk to him

Because of him, Henry

You glanced at Wayne who is directly looking at you

"Sire, there's a witness that someone came out of the portal"

You placed your hand over your mouth trying to be subtle not to react at the report that the guard just told Henry

Eddie went out? To look for you?

"What?"

Henry take a one last look at you "Duty calls, you sure you'll be fine by yourself here?"

"I will be so glad if you're not snooping around me so much" you think to yourself

"Yes, I'll be good"

Henry nods as he leaves by the door

You sigh as you kneeled down in front of the bars that Wayne's caged in

"Wayne, I'm sorry, I didn't knew that you're here- I wasn't aware that you've been here all along"

You can tell from his eyes, he is like candle that's melting- he's tired

"it's alright, Y/N, you don't have to feel sorry for me"

You turn your back and you saw the key that laying on the table "I have you to get out of here"

You inserted the key but he stopped you to unlock it

"Y/N, I'll survive but you have to leave"

"I can't just leave you here again, no- please there's so many things that I have to tell you!"

"What is it that you're trying to tell me?"

"It's Ed-"

Wayne placed a finger in the middle of his lips as he shushes you

You overheard Jason and one of his guards coming closer

"Where is she?"

"I think she's in the dungeon, sire"

"You let her in there?!? She must've been talking to-" Jason grunts as he quickly picks up his feet to get on to the other room

You hide yourself on the other side, you almost shrieked at the hooded figure next to you, so, you ran away from it- too freaked out at the person that you bumped

You almost saw him

You almost reunited

You almost met the eyes of the person that you're trying to get back to

Eddie could've stopped you but before he can do it, you already scurrying away from him

He followed you to where you went but he couldn't find you

"Eddie! Where have you been?" Gareth pulled him back in the corner to where no one can see them

"it's Y/N- she scurried away because it was dark inside she didn't even realized it was me"

"You saw her?" Jeff gasps as he looked over at the halls for you

Enzo sighs as he rests his back at the wall

"I-I heard him"

"Who?"

"Henry"

"Did you saw his face?"

"Not clearly, but you we're right he wasn't like Jason but Y/N is so wary of him"

"What else?"

"She was talking to someone, someone she called Wayne-"

"Wayne? Wayne is still alive?" Enzo held him by the shoulders, the three young men are astounded to his sudden action

"Yes, he is locked up in there" Eddie uses his thumb directing at the dungeon

"You'll look for Y/N, I'll handle Wayne" Enzo implies as he headed at the dungeon

"Let's go, boys" Eddie nods

You closed the door behind locked it as you catching up with your breath as you pant from running

You eyes land on the documents that are scattered all over your father's desk

You walked forward picked up the papers, you feel sick to your stomach

Jason, he forged a marriage document of you and Henry

Much to your dismay and out of anger, you crumpled the paper that you're holding, you throw the rest of the papers and push everything out of the desk, you screamed harder as you fell down on to knees

You breakdown and cry for the first time, you really don't want to be like this

But, you can't help but to release everything that is killing inside of you

You're too enervated by all of this

You went out of the room, you have to confront him once and for all

"Look!" Jeff points at you as they hide

"It's Y/N!" Gareth whisper-shouts

"She looks-" Jeff frowns at the look of your face

"Distraught" Eddie is disturbed by your state

Wrath and Despair are nestled in your enchanting face as you stomping around as you look for someone

If things aren't like this, he would've worshipped you of how beautiful you look

"Let's follow her" Eddie says as they tailed behind you

"Jason!"

"Hmm?"

"You better explain yourself!" you held up the now crumpled contract in front of him

"What- what the hell did you do to it?" He snatched the paper away from your hands as you scoffed

"What did I do? You should be punished for your crimes, Jason!"

"Why are you so stubborn? I am saving you from your debt!"

"You clearly missing the point here- don't change the fucking subject, I don't want any marriage!"

"You don't have anybody anymore, princess, you have no choice just face it"

"Whatever it is that you're trying to do, I will deny it!"

"Is it because of that boy isn't it?"

Jeff and Gareth looked at Eddie who is fiery watching you ranting with Jason

Don't crack

Don't let him see through you

"He has nothing to do with this-"

"You're so foolish, Y/N"

"No, I am not-" you're seething and you start seeing red as you move closer to him

He wanted to say something to make you even more furious as you didn't let him cut you off this time

"He held my life within his hands, Jason, you don't know anything what you just done to me- he created everything I am"

Eddie's eyes softens at your words, he tilted his head at you

You care for him as much as he cares for you?

You tear the fake marriage contract in front him into pieces as he watches in horror

You leave him at that as he throw words at you and you didn't even care to what he was saying

As you continue to walk, the same hooded man earlier hold you by the arms and pinned your back on the wall as you protest

"Quiet down, it's me"

You calmed as you heard the familiar voice

The man before you, he takes off his hood as his eyes yearns for you

The words caught up in your throat, you feel lighter as a feather as you take him in

Your eyes are rimmed with flooding tears

"Eddie?"

[oops-prow-did-it-again]

Why You Should Rethink DoorDash, and Other Courier Apps: From a Driver Based in the USA

So this is part rant and part psa. I have been doing delivery work as a gig driver for DoorDash for years bc of various personal circumstances. I'm hoping to get a CDL in the near future so I can move on to a better job, but that's besides the point for right now. Further disclaimer: I only know the intricacies of DD. I do not know how precisely GrubHub, Uber Eats, etc, work, but I presume they work much the same, since I see the same complaints come from those services too.

This is in no particular order but please, if you have the time, please read it through. I'll preface this by saying I am not going to be rude or bitchy about customers or merchants here, this isn't just me whining, I'm just trying to give a level recount of my experiences with DD, and often, they are just... Not great experiences, unfortunately.

I don't know how many people realize this, but drivers get offered a base pay of $2.00-$2.50 per delivery, depending on the area. This is all DoorDash HAS to pay a driver. Every time you submit an order via DD, it gets spit out onto drivers' apps with that base pay + tip displayed. Meaning if you do not tip, every driver sees only $2-$2.50 to deliver your order. Sometimes, if enough drivers decline an order enough times, the DD algorithm will start to slowly raise the base offered pay... by about $0.25-$1 per round depending on the mileage it takes to deliver that order. This means if you do not tip, your order will most likely be extremely delayed, or bundled with another order, which will make it late, and your food cold.

**Emphasizing this: although I find low tips frustrating, I am NOT personally faulting anyone for not tipping.** DD should just pay their drivers, and it shouldn't be up to you, especially bc ordering delivery is so damn expensive. But I'm telling you this bc they certainly don't advertise it, and many people in my experience are shocked by now little it pays. Many drivers will not accept an offer that's less than $1-$1.50/mi. This means if your restaurant is 8mi away from you, and DD pays the minimum $2, you need to be tipping at least $6-$10 for most drivers to even consider it, or else it will be sitting for a long time or get bundled with a double delivery (more chances for mistakes + takes longer for the food to get to you).

Furthermore, in certain localities, DD offers an hourly rate for its drivers. This sounds good on paper, but keep in mind that this does not include gas money, and only accounts for the time from a delivery being accepted to the time it is dropped off. If you are delivering in suburbs or, god forbid, rural areas, you will spend a lot of time not making money but still burning gas returning from a home to where restaurants are so you can get your next delivery. While the app may say something impressive like $14-$17.25/hr, in reality, it's usually half that or less when you factor in downtime.

DD orders are also exorbitantly more expensive than if you buy directly from the merchant because DD charges the merchant 15-30% of the menu price to use their platform, and the merchants pass this on, usually plus a little extra, to you. This is before you even consider "delivery fees," which are not paid to drivers and are pretty much exclusively pocketed by DD. Also, DD will often choose a store farther away from you (so, say, a McDonald's that's 5mi away from you as opposed to the one that's 1mi away) specifically so they can charge more on fees. *Sometimes* this is just bc the closer store isn't enrolled in DD, but oftentimes, it isn't.

ADDENDUM ON THIS, HOWEVER: If you are ordering directly from a merchant that you know does not have actual in-house drivers, but is offering delivery anyway, like Wendy's or McDonald's, understand that these merchants are going to send these deliveries through to DD or Uber Eats. These orders have cryptic names for items on the Dasher's end and often we cannot contact you if there's an issue with your order, because the phone numbers provided to the Dasher's app never work. If you know for certain the merchant has its own delivery team (most pizza places, Chick-fil-A, Panera, etc), please order delivery directly through them, but if you know they do not (Wendy's, McDonald's), DO NOT ORDER delivery through their apps. It displays poorly on the drivers end and is often more expensive and a less ideal experience for you.

DD does offer DashPass, a subscription service that, for $9.99/mo, says it slashes delivery fees and other costs. Not really; the amount you pay in DashPass, especially the longer you have it, often exceeds the fees you would pay if you simply bought orders without DashPass. Also, it will advertise at you constantly via notifications and emails which will make you more likely to spend more on delivery that you wouldn't have in the first place, further eroding whatever savings you'd gain from DashPass.

DoorDash also can do a thing where they enroll stores in their platform without that store's permission. These orders require Dashers to use a red card, a notoriously buggy debit card that is supposed to get loaded with the amount of money it takes to cover the order by DD. The restaurants do not get any extra profits from these, and many store managers would love to prevent this from happening, but it requires legal action that is infeasible for most stores to do on their own. This causes friction and conflicts between store managers and drivers, delays for the customers, and solely profits DD.

DD ***does not*** reimburse for any amount of gas or car repair costs. Instead, they offer a company debit card which has tons of hidden fees for their drivers, and gives a small % cashback on gas. It is an overwhelmingly bad deal, but they use it as a shield against accusations that they don't support drivers against the cost of gas. They do...but only if you let them be your bank. Otherwise, you get your pay the Tuesday after the week you worked, or you can cash out immediately via the FastPay feature - for a $1.99 fee out of the money you earned.

DD support teams (and I know this is not unique by any measure to DD but it feels worth mentioning) are based in Taiwan, I believe, as well. I have absolutely nothing against the support teams, for they are doing the best with what they have, but DD absolutely weaponizes language barriers and the difficulty in communication to try to silence customers and dashers alike when there is a problem. DD seems to hope that if you get frustrated enough trying to talk to support (once again, not the workers' faults, the call center is absolutely being exploited too, I just don't have firsthand enough experience with that work to talk about the specifics of how), you will simply give up and not bother trying to seek a refund or half pay.

On that note, if a delivery has to be canceled for whatever reason, your driver will not get paid regardless of the time they spent on it. Very very rarely they will give "half pay," which is half of the promised payout, but only if you were on the delivery for an excessive length of time (i.e., 1+ hours).

Furthermore, if a delivery is marked as undelivered, DD will issue a contract violation against the driver. It is then up to the driver to submit proof that they completed the delivery, via pictures or video evidence, even though DD tracks our phones the entire time we are delivering and should be able to see if we were there or not. **New drivers are not properly warned about this,** so oftentimes when you have a "hand it to the customer" delivery, drivers don't think to take pictures or videos, and dashcams are expensive, not everyone has one. It is extremely hard to argue your way out of a contract violation if you do not have proof.

If you get 3 or more contract violations, you will be immediately suspended from the platform, and 2 puts you at risk of it. If you complete 100 deliveries without incident since the one that gave you the violation, it *will* just go away... But this is a subtle tactic used to scare drivers into taking more (usually very badly paying) orders, because they fear deactivation.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't try to get a refund, if you legitimately did not receive your order. But please, try contacting your driver directly before you contact support, and if you must contact support, really consider whether someone losing a job, even if it a side gig, is worth the amount of money you spent. You can often just lie and tell DD the order is completely wrong and they'll refund it without punishing the driver, as that's seen as a merchant error.

Also, I don't think many customers realize this: we CANNOT see delivery instructions before we accept a delivery, and they are difficult to see until after the delivery is picked up (as they are only available on a floating widget badge). If you ask for extra sauces or other things in the delivery instructions, 9 times out of 10 we will not see it until we are already on the road and headed to you. Please don't hate drivers for this; most of the drivers I've seen are more than happy to do whatever you want! But msg us via the app, DO NOT use the delivery instructions. Delivery instructions is for instructions on how to find your house or apartment if the numbers aren't very visible, or telling us to call you instead of come to your door when we arrive, that sort of thing. In fact, please be as descriptive as possible for the delivery instructions on this front- if you're ordering from a business, tell us the business name. If you're ordering from an apt, tell us the apartment complex name. If you're ordering from a house, tell us the color of your house or the cars in the driveway. It's all very helpful!

One last thing before I wrap this up: safety. Delivering is an extremely dangerous job. Pizza delivery, for example, is one of the most dangerous professions, and DD's safety features are even worse than those places. DD has implemented a feature for you to contact 911 via the Dasher app in emergencies, but often, this would still be too late. DD does NOT vet the areas for safety that they release the platform into, and there is no real recourse for violent customers aside from talking to support, which takes time and often won't communicate the issue effectively. Sometimes this works, and customers will rarely get banned from Doordash if they threaten, harass, or injure a driver. But the vast majority of these cases go unreported.

Loose dogs and carjacking are also major problems. Customers failing to notify other people in their households that they ordered delivery has led to me being threatened before. I've had people answer the door in their underwear. I had someone try to invite me into his house while wearing nothing but briefs. I had someone step out of their pickup truck carrying two rifles directly in front of me right before I delivered to their house once. I've had dogs nearly bite me - thankfully none have, I'm luckier than many others, but it's still a significant risk. A lot of people seem to trust their dogs when they really should not.

All of this, for $2.25 in base pay + a few dollars in tips.

I really do love delivering, and I do appreciate the freedom DD gives me in choosing my work schedule right now. However, the compensation is woefully bad, the company scams merchants, customers, and drivers alike, and the working conditions are very unsafe.

Idk how many people here really use DD, or what in particular can even be done about most of these issues, but I hope this enlightened some folks.