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ninja-muse · 4 months

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May seems to have stretched itself. I measure time partly by books read, and several of the books I read this month took me more than a week, which is unusual but non-fiction and classics will do that. This was balanced, of course, by me proving my ability to read an entire book within 48 hours, which happened a couple times, and so May also felt kind of liminal?

I read two books off my TBR shelves this month: Evelina and The Book of Margery Kempe. Margery is technically a reread, though, since I was assigned it in university. I picked it up because I wasn't feeling historical or cozy or queer or any of my other normal reading moods and I remembered it being the right sort of bonkers. Which it was, but I'd forgotten how much Margery goes on about God and his plans for her and how much more pious she is compared to everyone else. It got a little wearing, and I don't think I'd have liked her much if I'd met her. But I'm glad I reread it!

(My current reads are also brought to you by not knowing what to read next. Thank goodness that I have a stockpile of 200+ unread books at any given time.)

You will also notice there was yet another book haul this month. In my defense, I had a gift card and company access to a discount book supplier, and then my boss got excited about the James Patterson book and wanted everyone to have a copy. Unsure whether I'll actually read it but hey.

I also did pretty well with my physical ARC haul, in that I broke even, and had a DNF. The Book That Wouldn't Burn was more grimdark than I was expecting and failed to hook me on characters, plot, or world. Alas, because it was recced by a coworker. (The other ARCs hauled were digital. I need to get to at least two of them in June so stay tuned.)

In other news, I attended not one, but two cultural events on my own this month! I used to do this more regularly but then 2020 happened. It's only in the last year or so that I've really started going out to things again, and I'm not actually sure if I'd gone to anything alone until now. In any case, the history lecture and the symphony concert failed to do me in, so I might keep going.

Click through to see everything I read this month, in the rough order of how glad I was to have read them.

Evelina - Frances Burney

Evelina travels to London and learns that the only thing more distressing than suitors is her newly discovered family. Inspired Austen.

9/10

warning: misogynist society, xenophobia (against French people)

off my TBR shelves

The Demon of Unrest - Eric Larson

The story of the six months leading up to the American Civil War, complete with weak governments, echo chambers, and political grandstanding.

9/10

warning: racism, slavery, war

reading copy

The Butcher of the Forest - Premee Mohamed

Veris is ordered into the north woods to find the Tyrant’s lost children. Inside are tricks and monsters. She has one day.

8/10

🇨🇦

library book

Baking Imperfect - Lottie Bedlow

A cookbook that encourages bakers to embrace mistakes and imperfections.

8/10

library book

The Teller of Small Fortunes - Julie Leong

Tao is a travelling fortune teller content with small fortunes, but she can’t help being drawn into bigger things when she meets a thief and a mercenary seeking a lost child. Out in November.

7/10

Chinese-coded protagonist, Chinese-coded minor characters, Chinese-American author

reading copy

The Mars House - Natasha Pulley

A ballet dancer fleeing climate disaster finds himself a second-class citizen on Mars. Fortunately—or not—a xenophobic politician needs a husband to raise their polling numbers.

7/10

🏳️‍🌈 main character (queer), 🏳️‍🌈 major character (ungendered), major character with prosthetic leg and PTSD, major Indo-Martian character, largely ungendered society, largely Chinese society

warning: xenophobia, police brutality, riots

library book

The Forest of Vanishing Stars - Kristen Harmel

A woman surviving in the Polish wilderness puts her knowledge to use aiding Jews escaping the Nazis.

7/10

largely Jewish cast, author with Jewish heritage

warning: Nazis, antisemitism, the Holocaust, kidnapping, death of child and parental figures

library ebook

The Honey Witch - Sydney J. Shields

Marigold becomes her grandmother’s apprentice as honey witch, even though it means never finding love. Unfortunately, there’s a very pretty woman in her new town who doesn’t believe in magic.

7/10

🏳️‍🌈 main character (bisexual), 🏳️‍🌈 secondary characters (lesbian, pansexual), Black secondary character

library ebook

The Monstrous Kind - Lydia Gregovic

Merrick returns to her family estate following the death of her father. She expects to take up the fight against the fog and the Phantoms (and her sister), but stranger things are afoot. Out in September.

6.5/10

dark-skinned secondary characters

warning: child abuse, fire

reading copy

Picture Book

A Crocodile Should Never Skip Breakfast - Colleen Larmour Crocodile’s late for his job as a ferry so he skips breakfast—but then he gets hungry while carrying animals… Out in June.

Reread

The Book of Margery Kempe - Margery Kempe

The memoirs of a 15th-century Englishwoman who is sometimes proud, sometimes pious, and definitely determined.

warning: marital rape, antisemitism, violence and torture, possibly mental illness stigma

off my non-TBR shelves

DNF

The Book That Wouldn’t Burn - Mark Lawrence

A girl ripped from her desert home and a young man trapped in an enormous library find themselves in the crosshairs of destiny.

library ebook

Currently reading

A Bouquet From France - Wilfred Thorley, translator

A collection of French poetry from Middle Ages to the 1920s.

off my TBR shelves

Steampunk - Ann and Jeff Vandermeer, editors

A collection of steampunk stories, old and new.

warning: misogyny, child abuse

off my TBR shelves

Music from the Earliest Notations to the Sixteenth Century - Richard Taruskin

A history of early written European music, in its social and political contexts. The Penguin Complete Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle

Victorian detective stories

disabled POV character (limb injury), occasional Indian secondary characters

warning: racism, colonialism

Monthly total: 9 + 2 Yearly total: 51 Queer books: 2 Authors of colour: 2 Books by women: 8 Authors outside the binary: 0 Canadian authors: 1 Classics: 2 Off the TBR shelves: 2 Books hauled: 4 ARCs acquired: 6 ARCs unhauled: 3 DNFs: 1

January February March April

#booklr #bookblr #reading wrap-ups #rec lists #book recommendations #read in 2024 #my photos #life updates

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posttexasstressdisorder · 2 months

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A breathtaking scam: Inside Georgia's newest voter suppression tactic

Thom Hartmann

August 2, 2024 12:07AM ET

Photo by Olesya Yemets on Unsplash

Republicans in Georgia have been champions at pioneering new ways to disenfranchise Democratic voters. Their latest scam is breathtaking.

First, the background.

When Georgia’s Republican Governor Brian Kemp was Secretary of State — the state’s top elections official — and running against Stacey Abrams for Governor in 2018, Abrams’ organization had registered 53,000 people (70% African American) to vote. Kemp put those registrations on hold so they couldn’t vote in the 2018 election, which he won by 54,723 votes.

But that was just the beginning for Kemp. By the year prior to the 2018 election he’d purged a total of 1.4 million voters from the rolls, claiming he was just removing people who’d died or moved. On a single night in July 2017 he removed half a million voters, about 8% of all registered Georgia voters, an act The Atlanta Journal-Constitution said “may represent the largest mass disenfranchisement in US history.”

ALSO READ: We asked 10 Republican senators: ‘Is Kamala Harris Black?’ Things got weird fast.

Investigative reporter Greg Palast hired the company Amazon uses to verify addresses and ran the names and addresses of those 534,000 people Kemp purged that July day through their system: 334,000 of them, most Black, had neither died nor moved. But they’d sure lost their right to vote.

Then Kemp shut down 8 percent of all the polling places in Georgia just before the election, the majority — recommended as a “cost saving move” by a white consultant Kemp had hired — in Black neighborhoods. Did I mention that he “won” that election by only 54,723 votes?

In 2020, when Stacey Abrams again challenged Kemp for the governorship, Kemp’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (pronounced “Raff-ens-purger”) purged another 309,000 voters from the rolls; Palast hired the company again and found that 198,351 of them had neither died nor moved.

It’s worth noting that if Brian Kemp wanted to take away a gun from any Georgia resident, Republicans on the Supreme Court have ruled that he’d have to go to court and prove his case; to purge voters from the rolls and take away their votes, though, Republicans on the Supreme Court have also ruled that Kemp doesn’t even need to notify those voters.

This year, Kemp signed a new law allowing any citizen to present a list of voters they believe must be purged from the rolls; one person, Marjorie Taylor Greene ally and Republican activist Pam Reardon, submitted a list of 32,000 voters, and the Chairman of the Ft. Benning area GOP, Alton Russell, challenged over 4,000 voters. A total of 149,000 voters were challenged by a handful of white Republican activists.

These tricks have helped keep Republicans in charge of Georgia politics, a state that would almost certainly be blue if every citizen were allowed to easily vote.

But there was some blowback to Kemp’s and Raffensperger’s “mass purge by vote vigilantes” strategy, so now comes Kemp’s latest trick.

This week Georgia rolled out a new website where people can let the state know they’ve moved (or their relative has died) and cancel their voter registration online. It’s super easy; you just plug in your information and, poof, your voter registration vanishes.

This would seem to be a solution in search of a problem. For example, over the past 50 years I’ve lived in Michigan, New Hampshire, Germany, Georgia, Vermont, Oregon, Washington DC, and then Oregon again: I never once let a state know I’d moved. Nobody does.

Instead, states track death records and the expiration of drivers’ licenses to determine who’s died and moved so they can then cancel registrations appropriately. My being registered to vote in both, say, Washington DC and Oregon when I only live in Oregon, is not a problem for DC if I don’t try to vote there. And nobody ever tries to vote twice just because they’ve moved; it’s a form of “voter fraud” that just doesn’t happen in any meaningful numbers.

But “keeping the voter rolls clean” — as if it were an urgent imperative making the wait for drivers’ licenses to expire just too dangerous — is the new excuse for Kemp’s Georgia website. Nobody’s believing the GOP’s “mass voter fraud” schtick anymore, so they’re reverting to this rational-sounding new way of getting Democrats removed from the voting rolls.

The problem with the new “cancel my registration” site is that bad actors, if they know a person’s name, address, DOB, and either Social Security or drivers’ license number, can simply go in and cancel other people they don’t want voting.

The “safety barrier” is that Republican activists who want to delete voter registrations in areas they know are heavily Democratic might be deterred from trying to do that with this new site, because they don’t have all that data on every Georgia voter.

Until this week.

For an hour Monday, the entire Georgia voter database — including names, addresses, dates of birth, and Social Security and drivers’ license numbers — was publicly posted on that very site. Oops, Kemp said! Anybody could download it and share it with others, including Republican activists who might want to keep on purging Democratic voters.

As the Executive Director of the Georgia Democratic Party said, “This portal is ripe for abuse by right-wing activists who are already submitting mass voter challenges meant to disenfranchise Georgians.”

When the Associated Press — which downloaded and printed out the list — showed it to the Georgia State Senate Minority Leader Gloria Butler, she was horrified, pointing out, “If someone knows my birthdate, you could get in and pull up my information and change my registration.”

This is nuts.

Vice President Kamala Harris has promised that if she’s elected president and gets a Democratic House and Senate, the first piece of legislation she’ll sign will be the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which will put an end to Kemp’s games in Georgia and similar Republican stunts across the nation.

If you think it should be harder to take away your vote than your gun, double-check your voter registration (especially if you live in a Red state) and show up this fall!

ALSO READ: We asked 10 Republican senators: ‘Is Kamala Harris Black?’ Things got weird fast.

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doitinanotherlanguage · 1 year

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July 2023 Wrap-up: 1960s

(You can read more about the challenge on my post introducing the challenge. Basically, Reading Through the Decades is a year-long reading challenge where we read books - and explore other media - from the 1900s to the 2020s, decade-by-decade.)

Super late with the July wrap-up, but here it is at last!

What I Enjoyed This Month

📖 Picnic at Hanging Rock (1967), Joan Lindsay -> In 1900, a group of female students at an Australian girls' boarding school vanish at Hanging Rock while on a Valentine's Day picnic, causing varying effects on the school and local community. -> I watched the fantastic, queer 2018 mini-series (starring Natalie Dormer!) earlier this year and absolutely fell in love! So I knew I had to read the original novel as soon as possible. Since the book is written in the 60s, I decided to read it this month. I might prefer the mini-series (because in it, the themes of queerness are much more explicit and central) but the novel definitely holds its own, too.

🎬 Flickorna (1968; The Girls), dir. Mai Zetterling -> A feminist reinvention of the ancient Greek play Lysistrata by Aristophanes: Three actresses prepare to go on the road in a theater production of the classic play about women and war. As the women re-assess and deal with the problems in their respective private lives, they recognize the parallels with the play and begin to realize that it is serious - even tragic - after all. -> Very 60s, very awesome. I love watching older movies that centre women and feminist themes. This is definitely a very inventive and experimental - even surrealist - film.

📖 SCUM Manifesto (1967), Valerie Solanas -> A radical feminist manifesto that argues that men have ruined the world, which women have to fix by forming SCUM, an organization dedicated to overthrowing society and eliminating the male sex. The manifesto was little-known until Solanas attempted to murder Andy Warhol in 1968. -> I don't really know what to say about this. Mostly, the manifesto is filled with absurd bullshit - I don't fuck with violence, I emphatically don't think killing is the solution to anything, and radical feminism is definitely not the brand of feminism for me. That said, the manifesto is also hilarious as fuck: the manifesto totally flips the age-old "women are inferior" dynamic from Western, patriarchal philosophy and theory around, so yielding the manifesto up to an interpretation as a delicious satire. (Unfortunately, it seems that Solanas did not write the manifesto for irony and satire's sake.)

🎬 Victim (1961), dir. Basil Dearden -> A British neo-noir suspense film about a closeted lawyer who risks his career to bring a blackmailer to justice. The film is credited as being the first British film to explicitly name homosexuality and deal with it sympathetically. -> I am not the biggest neo-noir fan, but I very much enjoyed this one. I love a good queer classic!

🎬 Midnight Cowboy (1969), dir. John Schlesinger -> A naive hustler travels from Texas to New York City to seek personal fortune, in the process befriending a scrounging, sleazy small-time con man with big dreams. -> Another queer(?) classic! Idk, I really like watching movies about drifters and down-on-their-luck people struggling onwards in life and maybe finding some modicum of companionship in each other.

🎬 Stonewall (1995), dir. Nigel Finch -> A historical comedy-drama film that gives a fictionalized account of the weeks leading up to the Stonewall riots, a seminal event in the modern American gay rights movement. The main story follows a cross-dressing sex worker who meets a young gay man, freshly arrived in NYC. -> There was a horribly disappointing Stonewall movie made more recently in 2015 - forget about that shit and watch this one instead! This film actually centres cross-dressers, trans women, and queer politics while also incorporating humour, a love story, and several lip-synch numbers!

#reading through the decades #booklr #litblr

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smallblueandloud · 8 months

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2023 fic roundup

2023 was the year of the comeback. in 2021, i wrote about 25k; in 2022, i didn't even keep track. meanwhile, my total wordcount last year was 119,226 words. while that doesn't come close to my 200k from 2020, i am arguably prouder of last year and what it represented. my writing isn't dead! my abilities haven't vanished! i can have fun making art again :D

as always, the summer was the most productive for me. you can see that i wrote more in the spring than the fall -- this roughly corresponds to how i was doing during those times, lol. i had a Much Better spring semester than the fall. september was very rough, i had a very bad time, and it meant my mental health suffered for the rest of the year. but hey, at least i was writing essays :')

some more scattered thoughts:

i was arguably pretty consistent this year? may/june/july all had about the same wordcount (roughly) and i think that's cool. my goal isn't to be doing NaNos, it's to be writing consistently, so i'm very happy with this

ao3 says i published 67k in 2023. minus the first chapter of something out of a dream, which was published in 2020, i believe that's 65k or so total. i wrote 72k of fanfic last year, meaning that there's about 8k from last year still sitting in my google drive (a rough eyeball at my WIPs folder confirms this). these numbers don't QUITE make sense to me, since i used a fair bit of old material in what i published last year, but i'm not going to think about it too hard

i published fic for a whopping fifteen fandoms in 2023. nine of those were fandoms i'd never published anything for before! i am so, so proud of this stat. i remain multifandom as all hell and seeing that represented in my work makes me really :D

two fics -- be amazed by the sky and i got your back (and you got mine) -- were crossovers! i'd only ever written one crossover before (stay all day in the sun, which i still love dearly) and it was fun to play in these playgrounds (mostly by sticking the librarians into other universes, xD)

i published 25 fics last year! and five of those fics were less than 1k, which i also really love. this year i really tried to let go of my idea that my fics Had to be more than 4k (and super polished) before they could see the light of day. i think my writing has been more fun and less stressful because of that.

i polished off 4 multi-year WIPs last year: but the verse is sweet, something out of a dream, don't wanna see you go (but it's not forever), and all we can do today. it felt so, so good to finally get those out there. the only one i have left from The Great Hiatus of 2021-2022 is éponine de bergerac. i will finish that someday, but i'm letting her take her time, because she deserves it. (i DID make good progress on that fic, which is something at least!)

most popular fic of the year was sit there in your heartache, which. is a spirk fic written right after a relevant episode, so not a surprise lol. the fic that surprised me most is actually the sisterhood of the travelling main character plotpoints -- i kinda expected that one to vanish quietly, but the hatchetfield fandom is WAY more active than i expected! which is very cool :D

the fic with the fewest hits was sidenote, which doesn't surprise me, since the librarians isn't a very active fandom and it's a rareship within the fandom anyway. the people who DID read it were very sweet, so i am very grateful for them. (i'm doing fic with the fewest hits because i feel like it's better to focus on that than What Didn't Get Kudos)

i started 2024 with 5 WIPs. i actually already finished one (and then immediately started its sequel, whoops) (shoutout to the ds9 modern au, i'll make a real post about that sometime). none of these fics are particularly progressed, but i'll keep working on them and try to find the Finishing A Project Dopamine from ficlets if i need it.

i didn't really have any Writing Goals for 2023 aside from doing any writing at all, lol. i think for 2024 i want to try to get more consistent with my writing -- instead of doing x number of words per month (which usually happen over 3-4 Big Writing Days), i'd rather try to write for 5 days out of every week, or something like that. we'll see what i can get done.

in the meantime: thank you guys for listening. i'm proud of what i did last year, and i'm excited to see what happens next year :D

#fic roundup #2023 #sb and l rambles #sb and l is writing #let's see what 2024 holds :eyes:

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ghost-town-story · 10 months

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Hokay, I already know this isn't gonna be a fun update :P

TL:DR: I'm taking a sorta hiatus from writeblr. Basically a hiatus except for a couple of events at the end of November/beginning of December, and FebruarOC. No clue when I'll be back.

Longer version:

If you've been around here for any NaNo season since 2020, you may have noticed something weird happening, aka I stopped posting daily snips, and stopped giving excuses for it after the first two times. It was just a lotta hitting roadblocks with Knighttime Dreams and not wanting to push myself into writing something I'd be okay with sharing, and then falling out of the habit by the time I was writing stuff I'd be okay with sharing.

Which is probably because of the mild/major problem I've been having for at least the last year where me and actually writing down the shit I've plotted in my head have not been getting along. At All. And it really fuckin sucks! I took a break after last year's NaNo and after FebruarOC, and that didn't seem to do shit, and I tried writing every day and that still didn't do much (tho the fact I stopped when I went on vacation probably didn't help, but also. they were contextless snips. I like writing those, but there's a difference between that and Actually Plotted Shit), so. yeah. I dunno.

So yeah. Gonna step back from writeblr and make it official this time rather than just vanishing. I'll still be lurking as usual, I might try and fill some of the Find the Word tags and other assorted not-last-line tags I have sitting around, but I'm gonna be pretty quiet in terms of my own stuff. I'll do my usual NaNo roundup at the end of the month, I wanna do some Spotify Wrapped drabbles again, I have a thing planned for Dec 1 that I've been looking forward to since like... July, and I'm gonna come back for FebruarOC bc if I want it to become a widespread writeblr thing then goddammit I gotta do it myself (also it's fun. I'm not just doing it outta obligation lmao it's just a longer form of the contextless snips), but yeah. Other than planned events that I'm actually hella excited about despite this burnout/whatever the fuck my brain is doing to me, I'm just gonna dip for a while. Can't say when I'll be back for good, I don't wanna make promises and then feel bad when I can't keep them.

I'll be hanging around Discord tho, with my usual level of lurking/occasionally popping in for a comment, so in order of my likelihood to engage, you can still find me in CANS, North Haven, or WTW. I have channels in all those servers and I've been using the CANS one more for stuff that hasn't made it to tumblr, so uh. If you really wanna keep up with my writing you might have better luck there lol

So yeah. Sorry for rambling. There's a reason I put this under a cut lol

#fuck i don't even know what to tag this with lol #blog maintainence #sure. let's go with that

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dragonnan · 2 years

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This is very difficult for me.

I am not someone who easily, if ever, asks for help. However I am in that position and have been since 2020. I realize it is not a unique situation - so many of us are in the same boat that to even ask for help feels galling. To clarify, I'm not asking for charity. And I'm not asking for help if you are someone also struggling. What I'm hoping, is that I can share my story, and if you feel moved, you'll help share my post.

In the spring of 2020, my father had a fall. He was 85 and had developed pain in his legs and knees after decades of hard work as a carpet installer. That day, in February, he stumbled over a bunched up rug and landed hard. The fall ended up fracturing his hip. I immediately was the one to take point - getting dad to the hospital for X-Rays as well as other procedures. I still remember the many hours sitting in that cold hospital room - acting as interpreter between Dad and the hospital staff due to his partial deafness.

At the time, we assumed Dad would slowly recover and eventually be able to get back to doing the things he enjoyed. 85 wasn't that old, after all.

But it was not to be.

Over the months, he steadily grew worse. Oh, the fracture healed - but his ability to be mobile grew less and less. I became his full time caretaker. I don't think I slept more than a few hours a night for the next 9 months. I didn't have work - due to Covid, my full time freelance job had vanished along with many of the opportunities I had cultivated. I'm honestly not sure how I managed to get by at all, financially. I made enough - and sometimes that's the absolute best outcome one can have.

In May, my maternal grandmother, and the last grandparent I had remaining, died peacefully in her sleep at the age of 101.

We mourned, and we pressed onward. I won't detail out every single moment/event of the months that followed. We did the best we could until it became impossible to do more. And then, finally, the horrible day came when I had to tell my Dad that he no longer could be in his home. We had to send him away so that he could receive a level of care beyond my abilities. To this day I feel tremendous guilt for that. That somehow I should have tried harder - done more. I suppose that's a very human thing, though.

Dad lingered at the nursing home for several more months. One blessing was that it was across the street. One hardship was that this was during the height on Covid - making visiting complex. But we did the best we could (a refrain that became an unpleasant mantra over time).

On December 8th, at around 3am, my Dad passed away. It happened quickly - I wasn't able to be there but my two brothers had been contacted and were able to be by his side. Stubbornly Norwegian to the last, Dad clung to life until finally my younger brother, held his hand, and told him it was okay to let go. He took two more breaths, and he was gone.

Going back, towards the start of this same year, one other event took place that has profoundly impacted us all. My mother was diagnosed with dementia. Even with Dad's decline, I was finding myself with two parents to care for. After Dad's passing, for a few years, Mom was mostly okay. I was able to take a job with the same printing company I'd worked for several years ago. It was very part time, but it was enough income to keep the lights on, so to speak.

And then I got Covid - and Mom got Covid too. And, while it was mild, and we recovered in about a week, something changed with Mom's dementia after that. She could no longer safely be alone. A week after I called in sick, I was forced to call my boss to officially quit. This was sometime around July or August I think? In any event, I've had no steady income since that time. My saving grace was a freelance job to illustrate a book (actually I had 2 jobs like that about the same time) so I was able to get a bit of income to carry me forward a few months. But it won't last and I'm finding myself, at last, coming to social media for help.

I feel the weight of stress so profoundly.

That is the primary reason I chose to share what I did. In the last few month's of Dad's life, I even hit such a dark and horrid place that I began contemplating the logistics of suicide. No, I wasn't to a point of making it actionable - but I was incredibly close. It was that point that actually help motivate me to talk with a mental health professional about medication. Its been helping.

So do I actually have a point after all of this massive and unsolicited sharing?

It is to ask that you do a small thing. Help share my site. And, if you feel you can afford it, maybe purchase some of my products.

Nothing I sell is expensive. My sets of clipart are $3.99 for 10 (I also have larger sets at different price points). I also offer stickers for $4.99 and a variety of other digital and physical wares.

My shop is now my only semi-steady source of income. It gets a lot of great reviews but not a lot of visitors despite it being live since 2013.

I'm not looking for wealth. I simply need enough - to lift that blanket of uncertainty and fear about what the next week - next month will bring.

I'm sorry, this is really sounding like one of those "For just a Dollar a day - help feed a starving artist down on their luck" commercials...

If you've made it this far, I appreciate you traveling through my ramblings. If you are able to visit my shop - share - even buy one of my wares, thank you tremendously!

I also can create any freelance design you'd like - everything I create is digital so when it's completed you'll get it instantly. You can send me a private message for rates.

TL:DR - I'm struggling financially and its been a really tough few years and I could really use some help.

#long post #looking for help #my etsy shop #parent death mention #dementia #dealing with grief #financial stress

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martin-presid · 1 month

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I wrote an article for the Vespa Club of Canada members magazine regarding the

First Canadian Vespa (World) Days, Kingston 2024 – a background story or a brief overview of how it came to be:

As you may know, the origin of the event was not an easy one. For me, it starts basely 2017. And in detail back in 2019 as I had a few discussions with Jeff (current VCoC President) and Ian (previous VCoC President) about the possibility to hold the first Vespa World Days at the American continent in Canada. Why (or how it came)?

Well, after my (at this time volunteer Vespa World Club officer) initiative and agreement with the responsible Piaggio top-management in 2017 to execute the Vespa World Days with a yearly rotation between our main regions (continents) Europe, Asia/Pacific and America, the VWC board and AGM agreed to do so.

With the implementation of the rotating Vespa World Days, we (the Vespa World Club) implemented the national Vespa Days with immediately effect and the Continental Vespa Days with start of the rotating VWD (2020 Indonesia).

Because of that, I started contemplating about the VWD in America for 2021. We (Uwe and I – both at this time VWC officers) had a good contact to Ian and Jeff. Jeff and Julie attended quite a few Vespa World Days in Europe (in addition to other Vespa events), therefore knew from personal experiences what Uwe and I were talking about. I was certain that Jeff and Julie could implement and "translate" this style of event into a sound local style event which meets the expectations and would excite the local as well as the international Vespisti.

With the South American Vespa Clubs we unfortunately haven’t had such a close contact that everyone in the VWC board could assume that we can handle such an event. And, from our point of view, the VC of US had to develop first Vespa Club wise his own "internal continent", as to execute Vespa World Days which at the stage are maybe to close in style to the AmeriVespa.

Needless to say, that in the beginning Jeff was not really happy to be a player in this game - at this time not an officer of the VCoC and knowing what it means regarding responsibility and work to do. But Uwe and I bothered Jeff with that topic every time we had contact, and, thanks to Julie, he really started to think about to run for it. He went in VCoC internal discussions and Ian send the application in 2020 for the Vespa Club of Canada as host for 2022, the first Vespa World Days at the American continent! The project was warmly welcomed in the VWC board and agreed by the following VWC AGM. But due the COVID pandemic, the VWD in Indonesia were postponed from 2020 to 2021 and finally to 2022. Subsequently the Vespa World Days 2021 in Europe (Swiss) and America 2022 (Canada) had to be shifted as well (Swiss 2023 and Canada 2024). Even under these COVID related difficulties, we were able to organise the VWDays in Indonesia and these VWD were by far the largest (by financial contributing[!] and personal attending participants <20.000) and most impressive Vespa World Days ever - a huge success for the Vespa Club community. That boost still till mid of 2023 our aims and efforts to head for Canada, even we know that the number of participants will be just a tenth of Indonesia – but size doesn’t matter, because the reason to hold this event is to learn about, meet in and simply “taste” another country!

However, in 2021 the VWC board changed and, much to my disappointment, the support for events outside of Europe vanished and finally stopped. Indonesia (2022) was already on track and all attempts to stop it were unsuccessful. Not as lucky was the Vespa Club of Canada.

Jeff, meanwhile VCoC President, reported during my private visit in autumn 2022 a lot of difficulties and problems in the communication with the VWC. He also voiced out his serious doubts about the possibility to execute such an event without the support of the VWC. Despite Uwes and my efforts at all levels plus all efforts of the remaining positive acting Vespa Club representatives in the VCW-board (Laurent, Bart and Rafael) to secure a minimum support through the VWC, the new VWC board de facto denied supporting VWD out of Europe. That culminated in an official statement of the VWC General Secretary during the VWC-AGM 2023 in Swiss, that - and I quote - "the VWC is not able to support VWD out of Europe" and an attempt of the members to dismiss the (responsible) VWC-President, which subsequently stepped back from his position. Under such conditions, Jeff, as VCoC President, had to public announce the cancellation of the Vespa World Days 2024 in Canada (which were given to the Vespa Club Pontedera [Italy] by the VWC board later on!).

That all was a huge disappointment for all Vespisti and a major hit for the Vespa Club community. We all were immensely frustrated and angry.

Adhering to my motto: “nothing good happens, unless you do it" - Jeff, Uwe and I started immediately began discussing possible solutions...

We all were very excited as Jeff signalised the VCoC think about to organise instead of the VWD the first national Vespa Days - my attempt to convince him to aim for the Continental Vespa Days, was rejected by him: "I have had enough of dealing with the VWC at the moment, let's make it within own borders!". A very wise and sensible decision for the time being!

The outcome was for some externals beyond imaginable (and exactly what I assumed 😉)! A wonderful event!

I am sure all attendees of the first Canadian Vespa Days will tell you that it was a fun, unforgettable and memorable event which led to new found friendships, new experiences as well as knowledge about nice places.

The whole organization was superb and the event staff outstanding supportive! A BIG THANK YOU to the team of the Vespa Club of Canada!!!!

It was the right decision to hold it, because as also intended, it personal connects the attending regional Vespa Clubs, it strengthens the Vespa Club of Canada and it encouraged all attending Vespa Clubs to also host such an or a similar event! It was a perfect presentation of Vespa Club, it perfectly demonstrated the values of the Vespa Club community in a friendly, open, positive and cosy manner!

I hope this event serves as a nucleus for the strong development of regional Vespa Clubs, fostering closer cooperation, mutual ride-outs, and possibly an annual regional main event.

Now, I’m looking forward to the Canadian Vespa Days 2025! Again, thank you for the opportunity to attend, to get a better, deeper impression of a tiny part of Canada and to meet you all!

And, from my personal perspective, I learned, beside that said above, that Canadians won't stop for coffee until they've ridden for at least 2.5 hours or covered 200 km, no matter how nice the place for stopping in between might be 😆😉...

#vespaclub #vespaworldclub #vespaclubeurope #vwc #vespisti #vespaclubofcanada #vespaclubaustria

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petnews2day · 2 years

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I've investigated big cats terrorising UK for 20 years – here's proof they ARE on the loose and which towns are at risk

New Post has been published on https://petnews2day.com/pet-news/cat-news/ive-investigated-big-cats-terrorising-uk-for-20-years-heres-proof-they-are-on-the-loose-and-which-towns-are-at-risk/

I've investigated big cats terrorising UK for 20 years – here's proof they ARE on the loose and which towns are at risk

JUST when you thought it was safe to go back in the woods… a fresh wave of big cat sightings has left Brits terrified.

Dramatic doorbell footage of a ‘black panther’ stalking a Cheshire neighbourhood last week was just the latest in a string of sightings across the UK in recent months.

Josh Williams claimed the animal looked like a big cat eating a dead sheepCredit: SWNS

Footage in Cheshire, showed a creature with a long, curled tail outside a home after numerous big cat sightings in the areaCredit: SWNS

And while over the years, debate has raged over whether grainy pictures and videos can conclusively prove that big beasts are on the prowl, experts insist they are lurking in our countryside.

Leading wildcat expert Rick Minter, who has investigated the mysterious creatures’ movements for 20 years, claims that there could be as many as 1,000 fierce felines hiding in forests around the country.

The environmental consultant features in new documentary, Britain’s Big Cat Mystery, which uses DNA analysis and photographic evidence to ‘prove’ that fearsome creatures from black leopards to pumas and lynxes live in our woods.

“It’s a crucial issue,” Rick tells The Sun. “How do we come to terms with living alongside big cats in Britain?”

“It’s hard to judge how they are distributed. Deer is their main food source, so they are everywhere in the UK in reasonable numbers.”

“Three sightings this month alone’

It is estimated that there are 2,000 reported big cat sightings each year, but this month a number of incidents have sparked fears the creatures could be growing bolder.

Rick says it’s possible that the animals could have “roamed into new areas” in the wake of lockdowns, but believes human activity could have caused a shift too.

“Green spaces on town edges became busier with people doing more local walks, which would disturb large cats and their main prey, deer.”

There have been three sightings in the last few weeks, including homeowner Luke Hickman, 30, who recorded a “black panther” outside his home in Newton, Cheshire.

Doorbell camera footage showed the creature – bigger than the average house moggy – with a long and curved tail move from behind his car before vanishing out of sight.

Two days earlier, Julie Murphy, who lives 10 minutes away, near Warrington, spotted an animal matching Luke’s description when it “charged” at her vehicle.

“Even though it was dark, I could tell it wasn’t a fox,” she told the Warrington Guardian.

Rick, who runs the Big Cat Conversations podcast, says the predators “very occasionally venture into urban areas at quiet times” in the search for food.

He added: “This is probably due to a big cat having a nearby territory and occasionally diverting to the urban edges.”

Earlier this month, Josh Williams, 17, thought he filmed a “big black cat… feeding on something like a dead animal” while camping near Mermaid’s Pool, in the Peak District.

He told the Stoke Sentinel that he heard an “occasional crunching” sound on the footage, which he believed was “most likely a sheep” being eaten.

‘Most conclusive evidence’

One of John Bilney’s stills, which is believed to show the torso of a mountain lion or pumaCredit: Big Cat Mystery – Blaze TV

Matt Smith showing the height of the ‘big cat’ he photographed (right)Credit: Big Cat Mystery – Blaze TV

Footage from 2009 (above) shows the big cat racing through a field and a marker with eyewitness Coryn Memory (below)

Britain’s Big Cat Mystery gathers together some of the nation’s most compelling photo and video evidence that wildcats are roaming free in our countryside.

They included John Bilney’s 2020 photos of a big cat’s torso, which expert Trevor McKenzie said was “the most conclusive piece of evidence” he had seen.

He said the trail cam shots showed “a juvenile mountain lion or puma” and added: “There is no doubt in my mind.”

Matt Smith’s 2016 photo, snapped in Devon, was also highlighted for depicting rose-like markings on a creature’s fur that are typically associated with a big cat.

An odd cameo comes from Tiger King star Kelci Saffery, who claims Coryn Memory’s 2009 picture from Gloucestershire depicts “a small or juvenile mountain lion or leopard”.

Defleshed foals, stalker prints & DNA proof

A defleshed sheep – believed to be the victim of a big catCredit: Britain’s Big Cat Mystery – Blaze TV

Overlapping footprints, known as ‘direct register’, were believed to come from a big cat stalking preyCredit: Big Cat Mystery – Blaze TV

A fur clump, whisker and hair strand all said to belong to a big catCredit: Britain’s Big Cat Mystery – Blaze TV / Facebook

The documentary also examines compelling physical evidence, including 240 bone samples collected by Professor Andrew Hemmings, from the Royal Agricultural University.

They come from “defleshed carcasses” and feature teeth marks that appear to originate from the powerful jaws of a big cat.

Field naturalist Jonathan McGown found a “beautiful double footprint” in Devon, from a big cat stalking its prey.

The overlapping imprints are called ‘direct register’ – when cats’ front and rear paws tread in the same footprint to reduce the noise.

Jonathan takes a mould and experts conclude the prints are from a “large non-native species” – likely a big cat due to its circular toes and the double register.

Big cat sightings in 2022 so far

Abersoch, Wales – ‘black puma’ spotted in a house garden in September. Police were called because the area was ‘chock-full of tourists’.

Anglesey, Wales – big cat spotted, and the grisly remains of a fully-grown sheep were found nearby in September.

Barnby Dun, Doncaster – animal the size of a ‘small Great Dane’ spotted in June.

Bawtry, Doncaster – a ‘still black animal’ spotted running through Sutton cum Lound, in October.

Burwell, Cambridgeshire – ‘leopard’ with ‘cat-like movements’ photographed walking through a field in August.

Cannock Chase, Staffordshire – ‘black puma’ spotted twice by a local big cat investigator who laid traps to collect DNA in September.

Cantley, Yorkshire – ‘large black animal’ chased an 11-year-old boy in the woods in May.

Cornwall – two sightings – one looked like a panther and the other a bobcat or a lynx in February.

Doncaster – ‘four-foot long’ big cat seen near McDonald’s drive-thru in January.

Gainsborough, Lincolnshire – two ‘large’ beasts seen stood over dead chickens after ‘distressed clucking’ at 3am, in July

Huntington, Cambridgeshire – ‘unusually large cat’ spotted that ‘appeared to be stalking something’ in August.

Mold, Wales – ‘very large jet black cat’ spotted during early morning walk in September.

North Berwick, Scotland – ‘large black cat’ spotted at a caravan park in September.

Peak District, Derbyshire – ‘confident big cat’ captured on thermal footage in June.

Pencaitland, Scotland – ‘huge puma-sized’ cat spotted in a field, in August.

Prestatyn, Wales – ‘black panther’ spotted hunting for rabbits and birds on the beach, in April.

Reading, Berkshire – wild big cat jumped in front of a woman, she saw it twice in one day, in August.

Rhyl, Wales – ‘panther’ spotted walking on a footpath between Ysgol Tir Morfa and Brickfield Pond in September.

Rhyl, Wales – ‘black panther’ run-in, in August.

Robins Wood Hill, Gloucestershire – animal with ‘pointed ears’ spotted drinking from a stream before disappearing ‘in a flash’, in September.

Stroud, Gloucestershire – ‘Labrador-sized’ black cat in broad daylight near a car park, in June.

Warrington, Cheshire – ‘big black’ animal with a long curved tail recorded by Luke Hickman, in October.

Warrington, Cheshire – ‘panther’ spotted by Julie Murphy while driving home in October.

The documentary team requests access to one of the samples, a Devon hare from 2009, and sends it to Dr Todd Disotell, a biological anthropologist and molecular geneticist.

Results from the DNA testing conclude it was a Panthera Pardus – more commonly known as a leopard.

“So either indeed a leopard was running around in Devon when this was collected or somebody hoaxed or planted this DNA,” Dr Disotell adds.

‘They don’t want a fight’

Rick Minter says he’s had 1,400 credible reports from people across the UKCredit: Britain’s Big Cat Mystery – Blaze TV

Teeth marks believed to have been caused by a big cat

Rick says he has personally heard of 1,400 credible accounts of big cats in the UK over the last decade, but believes they are the “tip of the iceberg” as most go unreported.

Despite the recent sightings, he insists these big cats are “shy and wary animals” and not “large predators on the loose”.

He said: “They are far more scared of us and most often they are just trying to move humans away from their territory.

“They don’t want to risk getting injured from an encounter with humans or machines, and so they live in the shadows, hidden away.”

“If they are drawn into urban areas, domestic-size cats may be taken unfortunately but this happens very rarely.

“They have an abundance of natural prey available – especially deer – so they don’t need to adapt their behaviour to scavenge regularly.”

Britain’s Big Cat Mystery premieres at 9pm on Friday, October 28, on Blaze TV as part of Monster Week – a dedicated week of programming.

Where did the big cats come from?

EXOTIC animals have been imported here since the days of the British empire, but their popularity boomed in the 1960s.

It was “extremely fashionable” to own a big cat, but by 1976, the Government clamped down with the Dangerous Wild Animals Act.

The law ensured the ‘pets’ had to be registered and provided with suitable living conditions.

Many pets were surrendered to zoos and those that couldn’t find a new home were put down.

As a result, some owners released big cats into the wild – including Lew Fowley, who moved his pride of lions from Birmingham to the Moors and Malvern Hills.

TV animal trainer Mary Chipperfield allegedly set several animals free into the Dartmoor wilderness.

Abandoning animals in the countryside wasn’t illegal due to a loophole, which was amended by 1981.

As legislation tightened further over the decades, Rick Minter claims more big cats were released into the wild.

!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function()n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments);if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n; n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0; t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)(window, document,'script','https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js'); fbq('init', '752905198150451'); fbq('track', "PageView");

#Cats News

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mainsasia · 2 years

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Yahoo messenger for mac 2011

#Yahoo messenger for mac 2011 for mac

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#Yahoo messenger for mac 2011 upgrade

#Yahoo messenger for mac 2011 full

This instant messenger for Windows supports chatting on Windows Live, Facebook, Yahoo, MySpace, AIM, Email, Google Talk, Skype etc. Its themes make it attractive with dozens of themes to suit your mood every day. Trillian is a free fully featured, stand-alone and one of the most popular standalone instant messenger. Click instant messaging to learn about the definition of instant messaging and how does instant messaging work. In the following article, we have collected 10 best instant messenger alternatives for you. The list is very big and every service provider has their own chat messenger application: Google has GTalk, Yahoo has Yahoo Messenger, Windows Live has Windows Live Messenger, etc. People have their contacts on different mail networks like Gmail, Yahoo, Windows Live, Facebook, AOL, etc. We know that Windows messengers are not as popular as mobile IM apps, but there are also some great ones. However, what if you are looking for an instant messenger for your Windows computer or Mac? As developers are getting crazy about instant messaging function for mobile devices, we can see so many IM apps provided for your Android/iPhone. The integration of instant messenger and popular online services has reduced the need for an IM client, especially when comes to a PC platform, but it hasn't vanished completely.

Offline and low connectivity mode - Anything you share will be posted once you're back online.10 Best Instant Chat Messenger Alternatives for PC/Mac.

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Enhanced photo sharing - Now you can share lots of high-resolution photos at once, and swipe to view them in a photo carousel.

#Yahoo messenger for mac 2011 upgrade

To continue using Yahoo Messenger for macOS, please upgrade to the newest version. Old versions of the tool are no longer supported. It's available for Android, iPhone, desktop, and on the web via your browser. You can share photos instantly, send animated GIFs, and even unsend messages. The new version of the Messenger is redesigned with brand-new features. Yahoo Messenger offers firewall support, a standby mode that minimizes the program until an Internet connection is made, the ability to save and print your conversations, and a tabbed interface that provides quick access to your favorite stocks, news, and sports scores. It also can alert you to new e-mail in your Yahoo Mail or Yahoo Personals accounts, or when you have upcoming events recorded in your Yahoo Calendar.

#Yahoo messenger for mac 2011 for mac

Yahoo Messenger for Mac is a free service that allows you to see when friends come online and to send them instant messages.

#Yahoo messenger for mac 2011 full

Yahoo Messenger for Mac 2020 full offline installer setup for Mac ^ OS X Mountain Lion Preview - The Verge.

#Yahoo messenger for mac 2011 mac os x

'Inside Mac OS X 10.7 Lion: iChat 6 adds Yahoo IM, account integration, web page sharing'. ^ 'Refined from installation to shutdown - More reliable, higher-resolution iChat'.'iChat Information Pages Version 4: A Brief review and What's changed'. Archived from the original on July 28, 2014. 'Rendezvous is changing to.' rendezvous-dev (Mailing list). iChat could also integrate Google Talk contacts into the XMPP pane. Using a XMPP transport, iChat could serve as a client for AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, MobileMe, ICQ and XMPP. IChat's AIM support was fully endorsed by AOL, and used their official implementation of the AIM OSCAR protocol.

#Yahoo messenger for mac 2011

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witcher-not-quitter · 3 years

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TemerianWitch!! if you still live(even though it is been several months) i miss you and love you. Our server misses you! you disappeared everywhere and we are worried. Send us a text of life

#Temerianwitch #one day you vanished in 2020 july #on all social medias and we are still so damn worried #Mel posts

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zoe-oneesama · 2 years

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I know you said you're not doing time travel-related episodes in the SLau, but I was wondering where they'd fit into the timeline? Like, which seasons/which episode numbers they'd be using your organisation? Purely out of curiosity, since you're not doing the rabbit miraculous/time travel, and there's no pressure for an answer, just wondering where you'd place them in the timeline

Alright, you asked for it. This is an alternate universe where the Pandemic didn't happen btw, for my own sanity:

September 2019:

Origins part 1: Mon, Sept 2 (First Day of School)

Origins part 2: Tues, Sept 3

Stormy Weather: Sat, Sept 14

Bubbler: Mon, Sept 16 (SL Adrien's Bday!) and Tues, Sept 17

Lady Wifi: Thurs, Sept 26-Sat, Sept 28 (all 3 days)

October 2019:

Copycat: Wed, Oct 2 and Thursday, Oct 3

Mr. Pigeon: Mon, Oct 7

The Pharaoh: Fri, Oct 16

Horrificator: Sat, Oct 26 and Sun, Oct 27 (over "Fall Break")

November 2019:

Rogercop: Fri, Nov 4 (after "Fall Break" ends)

Darkblade: Tues, Nov 11 and Wed, Nov 12 (biggest inaccuracy since this isn't when mayoral elections would take place)

Gamer: Thurs, Nov 14 and Fri, Nov 15

Reflekta: Mon, Nov 25

December 2019 (Where I start keeping a physical planner because my digital one kept deleting notes):

Timebreaker: Sat, Dec 7 (SL Alix's Bday!)

Simon Says: Sun, Dec 8 and the next Sun, Dec 15

Volpina: Wed, Dec 18

Collector: Wed, Dec 18, Thurs, Dec 19, and Fri, Dec 20

Befana: Fri, Dec 20 and Tues, Dec 24 (SL Marinette's Bday!) (During "Christmas Winter Break")

January 2020:

Kung Food: Fri, Jan 3 (End "Christmas Winter Break")

Evillustrator: Mon, Jan 6 (SL Nathaniel's Bday!), Tues, Jan 7

Vanisher: Mon, Jan 13 - Wed, Jan 15 (all 3 days)

Riposte: Fri, Jan 17 and Mon, Jan 20

Captain Hardrock: Sat, Jan 25

February 2020:

Syren: Sat, Feb 1

Dark Cupid: Fri, Feb 14

Interlude 1: Mon, Feb 17

Animan: Fri, Feb 21, and Sat, Feb 22

Puppeteer: Mon, Feb 24, and Tues, Feb 25 (during "Winter Break")

March 2020:

Pixelator: Fri, March 13

Guitar Villain: Sat, March 14-Mon, March 16 (all 3 days)

Princess Fragrance: Fri, March 27

Despair Bear: Mon, March 30

April 2020 (Things get weird here thanks to reordering some episodes):

Sapotis: Fri, April 3 and Sat, April 4

Anansi: Mon, April 20 (during "Spring Break")

Troublemaker: Sat, April 25-Mon, April 27 (technically "spring break" should still be going but we'll pretend it's done)

[Silencer Montague Sequence starts from Fri, April 17, since the contest is for the bands to make something in 2 weeks]

May 2020:

Silencer (the main episode): Fri, May 1 and Sat, May 2

Desperada: Sun, May 3

Ikari Gozen: Fri, May 15 and Sat, May 16

Crocoduel: Thrus, May 21 and Sat, May 23 (SL Luka and Juleka's Bday!)

Robostus: Mon, May 25

Prime Queen: Fri, May 29

June 2020:

Zombizou: Tues, June 2 (SL Caline's Bday!), and Wed, June 3

The Mime: Fri, June 5

Gorizilla: Sat, June 6

Sandboy: Mon, June 8

Reverser: Tues, June 9 - Fri, June 12 (all 4 days)

Party Crasher (all dates after this point are loose guesses): Sat, June 13

Frozer: Between Mon, June 15-Friday, June 19

Frightningale: Sat, June 20

Malediktator: Fri, June 26

Style Queen: Sat, June 27

Queen Wasp: Sat, June 27 and Sun, June 28

July 2020:

Catalyst/Mayura: Fri, July 3 (Last Day of School)

#sl ask #scarlet lady calender #episode order

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ahtsumu · 4 years

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again and again and again ; ushijima wakatoshi

pairing: ushijima wakatoshi x f!reader

synopsis: every august 13th, a void opens in your chest. the universe is one sick bastard.

tag(s): soulmate!au, very angsty, equally fluffy, reincarnation!au, prince!ushijima, rebel!ushijima. android!ushijima, dad!ushijima, pro-volleyball player!ushijima ; warning(s): lots of death n dying, suggestive themes, light profanity ; wc: 4.8k

a/n: happy birthday ushi!!! inspired by cloud atlas and the raven cycle but you don’t have to have seen either to understand this fic. tbh it’s just a bunch of different au’s tied together by the strings of fate lol. a thousand thank you’s to @dorkyama for beta-ing!

TOKYO, JAPAN, 2020

It’s another August 13th and Ushijima Wakatoshi might die today.

Glumly, you push away the plate of breakfast in front of you, cross your arms over the new space, and rest your forehead down as if in front of a grave.

“Please,” you beg with eyes shut. “Let Ushijima Wakatoshi live today.”

(You’ve whispered this phrase infinite times–– so often that it has a home in your mouth like a cavity.)

SOMEWHERE IN WASHINGTON, 2012

When you first meet Ushijima–– the first first time–– it’s evening and you’re lost in a meadow somewhere in Washington. Where exactly doesn’t quite matter and, even if it did, you wouldn’t be able to remember. At least, not at this moment. Because you see something most peculiar.

Under the half-lit sky, in the glade of overgrown sweet vernal grass and marigolds and daisies, a figure stands paler than the moon overhead.

The body belongs to a young man dressed in a sweater and slacks. His dark hair parts on the side, stopping right above a pair of firm dark eyes. Thin lips press in a perfunctory line, sharp nose radiates an aura of authority.

And yet, he looks lost.

“Hello?” you call out. The boy doesn’t respond, only continues to hover in the middle of the clearing with the same confounded expression on his face. So you ignore the pounding of your heart in your chest and inch closer until you’re just feet away, shivering. It’s a strangely cold day for July, you think.

“Can you tell me your name?” you ask. Seconds pass in silence as he stares past–– no, through–– you. With your thudding heartbeat and shallow breaths still the only sounds in the meadow, you realise that you may have to try something else.

Gently, you touch the pads of your fingers to his shoulder. A fresh wave of ice floods through your veins, raising goosebumps all over your skin. More curiously, though, your fingers fall through said shoulders. It feels like plunging your hand into a bucket of ice.

Eyes wide, you lunge backwards. A ghost?

No, ghosts aren’t real.

(If that’s the case, then what is he?)

At your touch, the boy’s head jerks up. Life floods his gaze. Blinking, he says, “Ushijima.” His voice is low and smooth, but quiet. Firm. He looks around the meadow as if seeing it for the first time.

“Is that all?”

Ushijima’s focus returns to you, this time with the addition of furrowed brows. His eyes are fixed on you in a way that makes you feel as if he’s reading your soul.

“That’s all there is.”

A million questions race through your mind and before you can decide which to ask first, his incorporeal figure vanishes from the meadow.

And you’re alone again.

Oddly enough, the way back to your aunt’s house comes naturally to you. Once inside the ancient wooden manor, you realise that the feeling that guided you back was the same that had led you to the meadow in the first place.

Then, you wonder, had you truly been lost?

Aunt Risa’s an eccentric woman in her thirties, always yabbering on about Mercury in retrograde and events that are yet to happen. Grandma had been the same. Clairvoyance, or what everyone claims is “clairvoyance”, supposedly runs in your family. You wouldn’t know, though, because apparently it skipped your mother. Coincidentally (or not), she’s extremely proud of her normality. And she’s also extremely proud that you, supposedly, are normal, too.

It’s safe to say that you don’t see your mother’s family often.

Still, she sent you here from New York to “connect with your roots”. And even though you know that’s a cover for “raise hell somewhere else for one summer”, you let yourself consider that it means getting acquainted with the mystic mumbo-jumbo you’ve ignored all these years. After all, nothing normal can explain what just happened in the field… right?

Good thing Aunt Risa isn’t normal.

“That’s Glendower’s Meadow you were just in,” she says with a twinkle in her eyes. “Lies atop a very powerful ley line.”

Ley lines, you learn, connect places around the world through electromagnetic forces. They are also able to transcend time, gravity, space… all forces that cannot be seen.

Aunt Risa adds that they do more than just connect places. “Soulmates countries apart can step on any point in the same line to see each other. It’s been said that the power ley lines emit is so strong that even soulmates worlds and years apart can meet in these little pockets of energy. Guess it tides you over til you’re destined to meet.”

Somehow, everything she says makes sense and doesn’t at the same time. Soulmates? Magic? None of this is real, is it?

“Now,” she continues, “it’s odd that you can use ley lines, though. Remember how you couldn’t tell a black jackal from a swan the last time you read tea leaves?”

You frown. At seven years old, you hadn’t exactly been trying.

“I guess there is something supernatural about you! You can’t deny how magical it is to have a love that transcends lifetimes…”

You don’t hear the rest of what she has to say. “Lifetimes?”

“Yup. Soulmates are the only people in this universe who go through reincarnation. The Universe is a hopeless romantic, letting her children fall in love again and again and again.”

And this explanation satisfies you because you’re sixteen, a little naive, and the Universe has never failed you before.

(She will.)

July passes in a honeyed haze: you spend every day with a content curve to your lips, thinking about a boy with eyes and hair dark as night.

Aunt Risa doesn’t have the heart to tell you that she’s seen his future in this life. And when you step out the creaky wooden door for the last time, ready to go back to the bustling jungle that is New York, she calls out to you with an expression you don’t yet recognise. “Don’t you worry, hun. You’ll see that Ushijima boy again.”

But not like this.

You’re about to get out of bed and dress for the first day of school when an out-of-control eighteen-wheeler runs his driver’s black SUV off the road. Ushijima Wakatoshi dies on August 13th in his timezone.

As it happens, you feel a strange sense of loss settle in. It’s like you’d been driving on the highway and just missed the last turn home.

(You’ll learn in the next life that you, in fact, do not have the gift of foresight. But you do have the curse of memory.)

PARIS, FRANCE, 1749

The year is 1749 and sunlight pours through the windows of Ushijima Wakatoshi’s second-floor bedroom.

In this life–– your second life–– you are a brilliant composer. The Universe, as you’ve guessed, follows no rules, no directions. Doesn’t even spare a glance at a linear timeline. Or perhaps, it’s time that isn’t linear. Either way, you try not to think about things out of your control. Life is good now.

At the sound of your fingers waltzing across ivory and ebony, Ushijima slowly sits up in the king-sized, soft linen sheets falling to reveal his chiselled torso.

“Good morning,” he rasps, a content smile tugging at his lips. “You look enchanting as always.”

The melody stops. Between the lid and music rack, your eyes meet–– his gentle, yours mirthful. “You flatter me,” you deny with a cheeky grin. Still, you rise (wearing his robes, Ushijima notes) from your seat and stroll over to your lover, pressing a gentle kiss to his mouth. “Happy birthday, darling.”

“Thank you,” he murmurs against your lips. “I live another year just for you.” Ushijima really means that–– in fact, he believes with his whole heart that he was made for you and you him. There’s no other way to explain how your bodies mould so perfectly together, how you understand each other without even speaking, how time feels like it doesn’t exist whenever you’re around. Your meeting at Duke La Trémoille’s ball could only have been the work of Fate’s nimble fingers.

(It was. A ley line runs underneath the Duke’s family château.)

You hum, thankful that this time you have the privilege to love him as he lives. Your last life was spent agonising over the only memory you had of him. “And what does this day have in store for the man of the hour?” The words that leave your lips morph into bubbling laughter as he moves aside on the bed and pulls you into his embrace. Still giggling, you kiss his bare chest, relishing in how secure his arms feel around your waist.

“Mother is hosting a ball tonight in my honour,” he says. That you are not invited to, he doesn’t add. He doesn’t have to, though, because you know that she doesn’t approve of you. Not being French is the main reason why, but there’s also the fact that you’re a musician. A talented, accomplished, royally recognised musician, sure, but that doesn’t change how at the end of the day, all you have to your name is inked paper.

And Ushijima Wakatoshi is first in line for the throne of France.

“Ah.”

It’s hardly fair for you to feel slighted–– you knew what you were getting into the second the Crown Prince, notorious for his aloof nature, invited you to Versailles to perform for him and his friends.

(In his defense, Duke Tendou had forced his hand by threatening to throw a fit in front of the Queen, but only after he’d seen the painfully restrained wonder in the prince’s eyes.)

Still, you yearn for something more.

Ushijima feels your body stiffen in his arms and knows the moment has soured. “You can never be Queen of France,” he murmurs into your neck. Shivers crawl down your spine the same time tears prick at your eyes. “And I can never give you a throne.” It’s not the throne you yearn for.

“I know.” You curse whoever the lucky girl will be. And you curse Ushijima for reminding you that she will definitely not be you.

“I can only promise you my heart.” He presses his lips to the side of your neck. “My undying devotion.” A kiss to your exposed shoulder. “And my soul in every life we meet.” His hand slides under your chin and turns your head towards his. Soft lips move against yours while the pads of his fingers wipe away the tears that had spilled over your cheeks.

“Toshi, I must say that the literature tutor your mother hired is doing a marvellous job,” you murmur once you pull apart.

A short breath of amusement leaves his nose. “He’s only polishing a gem that already exists,” Ushijima counters.

You smile slyly, another witty remark ready to launch from your mouth, when three sharp knocks at the door cause both of you to freeze.

“My friends, the Devil approaches.” Tendou’s faint voice travels through the opulent front door.

Sighing, you slide off the bed and tug your day dress on. Without being asked, Ushijima ties the laces in the back together. “Tell your mother I said hello, won’t you?” you tease, kissing him deeply on the balcony.

“I’d prefer not to think about my mother with your lips pressed to mine, darling,” he replies.

You giggle softly, and with one leg dangling off the balustrade, say, “And careful not to wear yourself out dancing, Toshi. Expect a visit from me later.”

His sonorous laughter rings through the air as you jump and land deftly on the freshly cut grass below, running the whole way back to your humble apartment in the eleventh arrondissement.

Regrets of not sneaking into the ball will burn into your brain after Tendou arrives at your door later that evening with a faraway stare on his face.

Towards the end of the ball, Ushijima Wakatoshi is led away from the dance floor and into the gardens by his scheming younger brother Goshiki.

He doesn’t return. The beloved Crown Prince of France dies on his twenty-first birthday with a dagger in his chest and poison in his veins.

With two lives under your belt, you reach the cruel understanding that in every life you live, August 13th is the day that Ushijima Wakatoshi dies again and again and again.

In a sense, memory is foresight.

NEO SEOUL, 2144

Tomorrow, the Union Revolutionary Group exposes the government for their crimes against your people.

But tonight, your head rests against his chest–– a habit you picked up sometime after Germany, 1943, even though you are presently in Neo Seoul, 2144. To be honest, you’re not sure if it’s even 2144. Neo Seoul’s calendar isn’t like the one you went through your first few lives with and you’re certain one year here is equivalent to two back on the Earth you knew… or something like that. Either way, every August 13th passes under your nose without detection. Every day passes uneasily, because although you never truly know when anyone dies in any life, you really don’t know when he will in this one.

But hearing Ushijima’s heart beat firmly manages to take the edge off yours. Every pulse is a murmured confirmation that everything is still okay.

You jerk back when he stirs from sleep. Disorientated, Ushijima blinks at your dimly lit figure before registering that it’s you. A confused expression crosses his features. What had you just been doing?

“Is everything alright?” His voice is raspy with drowsiness but he sits upright against the headboard anyway.

“Yeah.”

“No, it’s not. Tell me what’s wrong.” Nothing ever slips past him–– at least, not when it comes to you. Still, you bite your lip and contemplate if it’s worth mentioning. Three years of working alongside the renegade Commander (and hundreds more from other lifetimes) have taught you that words of comfort do not belong in Ushijima’s vocabulary. But it’s the night before you, the only known freed Fabricant working with the Union, are going to expose the Unanimity’s enslavement of Fabricants to all inhabitants of Neo Seoul. And…

“I’m scared, Wakatoshi.”

He thinks you’re talking about tomorrow. His eyes dart to the holographic digits floating throughout his room. 12:02 AM. You’re talking about today, then. He’s not wrong–– you are afraid of today. But you’re also afraid every day.

Ushijima pauses, wondering what to say. He’s never felt fear the same way others do. Others might only see a myriad of ways they can fail or die but he simply sees a chance to prove himself. A chance to emerge victorious. “If you let yourself be scared,” he says, “then you lose without fighting. Fear is a wasted emotion. Even at your last breath, you should never be afraid.”

As you mull his words over in your head, a section of your hair falls in front of your face. Ushijima’s fingers twitch. Would it be too much to––

“Then what should I feel instead?” He stills.

The question hangs in the air, thickening until the spacious room feels suffocating. Normal people–– people you knew a couple of lifetimes ago–– would probably say something like “love” or “hope” or even “don’t”. You think Ushijima might, too.

But when Ushijima speaks, he says, “Feel right now.”

A shift in the moonbeam pouring through your surrounding glass walls casts a muted glow over your features, breaking through the darkness of the room. Ushijima’s olive eyes flash and fall to your shining lips.

His Adam’s apple bobs. Anticipation bubbles in your stomach.

You think that you might die tomorrow. He might die any day. What are you waiting for?

Feeling a fiery rush of blood surge through your veins, you close the distance between your bodies until the tips of your noses touch. Gently, your hand comes up to the back of his neck, feeling his pulse speed up under your fingers. He instantly reaches out, grips your waist firmly. Hot, uneven breaths fan across your face.

“What––”

“I know it’s forbidden between Fabricants and pure-bloods,” you breathe out, “but––”

Ushijima nudges his lips against yours. They move stiffly, unsurely, but it’s sincere. It’s his first kiss and it’s your… you’ve lost count by now. It doesn’t really matter, though. Past, future, or present, every one of his touches feels new.

Both of you might die tomorrow. But tonight, you both are so very alive.

And when his heart pounds, unmuffled, bare against yours, you are reminded to live now.

Twenty-one hours later, a laser beam whizzes past your ear.

“Go faster!” you shout over the wind, tightening your arms around Ushijima’s waist. “We have to get to the broadcast station now.”

“I’m trying,” he grits out, pressing his foot harder against the hoverbike’s pedal. You speed up, but only a little. “Fuck. Remember what I taught you about the laser pistols?”

“Always aim a little higher than you want to.” From the mirrors on the side, you see the corners of his lips quirk up. You reach for the gun in his belt.

Not a single police officer remains on your tail when you step foot into the broadcast station.

“We don’t have much time, miracle girl,” Tendou, a fellow Union soldier, says once you arrive. He punches the elevator button. Instantly, the chute opens. “Cameras have picked up on at least five Unanimity squads headed our way from the city.”

The sinking feeling that today out of all days might be August 13th suddenly weighs on your stomach. A shaky breath leaves your mouth.

Ushijima stops you before you can step in. Cupping your face with his large hands, the brunet gazes deeply into your eyes. “I believe in you,” he murmurs. “I believe in you.” His fingers brush against your cheekbones. You let your eyelids close, relishing in this stolen moment between two new lovers.

Ushijima presses his lips against yours, kissing you as if he’s trying to carve a message into your bones. He whispers his conviction one last time before stepping back and allowing Tendou to push you lightly into the elevator. The thought that Ushijima’s words allude to more than just faith nudges your brain as the two men grow smaller in your sight.

Halfway through your revelations, the Unanimity cuts through the metal doors of the station. Behind the glass panels encasing the radio room, you watch the shootout begin. Every bone in your body screams for you to join your comrades, but you remember what your orders are. No matter what happens, do not stop the broadcast. If the truth doesn’t come out now, the Union will have sacrificed everything in vain.

You will your voice to steady when Unanimity soldiers take out the Union soldiers hiding behind Tendou’s barricade.

You will your hands to unclench when Ushijima deftly slides over his squad’s barricade and tosses a plasma grenade towards a cluster of enemy soldiers, then picks off the survivors with his Union rifle.

You will your breath to endure when the brunet is blown back by a grenade tossed by another squadron. Ushijima’s cranium collides with the floor. His body stills; blood red as cherry wine pools around his head like a cruel halo. Swallowing, you push forth. You’re a soldier.

But you can’t help the way your throat dries or hands shake or lungs tighten when you see his head turn ever-so-slightly in your direction.

He smiles in his last breath.

(The Archivist asks if you loved Ushijima before you are taken away. You tell him you always have, do, will.

The Unanimity guillotine doesn’t scare you like you think it should. Knowing what and who waits ahead, it feels more like a kiss to your neck.)

QAASUURI, 3003

As you step out of the metal carriage, the ground beneath you begins to vibrate. This, as you’ve learned, can only mean that you are standing atop another ley line.

Olive eyes stare at you impassively when you look up. A dazzling array of awards and medals is pinned to his chest over a white military uniform. Compared to all the other soldiers around him, you gather that the deep purple cape over his shoulders means he’s someone important. Possibly your betrothed? You briefly recall another lifetime in which he’d been the crown prince of somewhere, and you, by a spectacular stroke of misfortune, had only been a composer then. Fighting back a smug grin, you muse that this time, you are a princess.

“Ushijima Wakatoshi, Captain of the Qaasuuri Royal Guard, at your service,” he says with a low bow. “King Washijou appointed me to ensure your safety during your courtship with the prince, your highness. These are trying times, especially with the war against Ibis.” Your heart falls. So it’s one of those lives.

Mustering the warmest smile you can, you curtsy and say, “Thank you, Ushijima. I hope we can get to know each other better.”

You do.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that the Qaasuuri are a race more android than human. But nothing about him feels artificial. He is as real as he was in Berlin. Atlantis. Cairo. Camelot. Hanoi. Olympus. Tallahassee. He feels as human, too.

You get to relearn the way his cheeks flare up when you call him Toshi and not Ushijima for his first time (force of habit)... and every subsequent time (at your pleasure).

You get to relearn his wry humour, how every-so-often his stony demeanour breaks after one of your quick jabs, usually in response to his agonisingly blunt remarks. (“You should have brought a coat, princess,” he notes with disapproval when you shiver in the chilly spring air. You promise him that you look better with hypothermia than in any Qaasuuri coat. An amused breath blows out from his nose. And though he doesn’t say a word more on the subject, his white jacket over your shoulders speaks more than enough.)

You get to relearn how his hands feel on your skin. The first lesson is your mistake: missing a step down the spiralling staircase on your way to dinner. Automatically, his hand grips your arm to pull you back. He uses a little more force than necessary, though, and tugs you into his firm chest. Neither of you can look at each other for the rest of the evening. The second is his mistake: reaching out to tuck a loose strand of hair behind your ear as you read in the palace library, somehow knowing it’s one of your pet peeves. Both of you freeze when his fingers accidentally brush against your cheek. Ushijima thinks he’s never felt skin softer than yours–– you think it’s been too long since he last touched you.

The third is neither a mistake nor just one of your doings. It happens on a cool autumn evening as the two of you walk through the palace gardens with your hands dangling haphazardly at your sides, knocking against each other again and again as if begging for an opening. Finally, you acquiesce. You slip your hand into Ushijima’s cold palms. And though nothing shows on his stony face, his heart whirrs like an overheating engine for the rest of your walk. He doesn’t let go until the iron palace comes back into view.

“We should stop,” he pants between fervent kisses, “before this gets out of hand.” You nip at his neck. “You’re betrothed to the prince––” you suck on the skin between his collarbones and throat, drawing a low groan from his lips “––and I can never give you a throne.”

You pull back, knees on either side of his waist, and stare down into his eyes. “I don’t want a throne.” Ushijima watches you with rapt attention. Sometimes you wonder if maybe, just maybe, he remembers. Slowly, you repeat his words from lifetimes ago. “I only want your heart.” An unreadable expression crosses his face. “Your devotion.” It’s not recognition. “And your soul.”

It’s conviction.

By now you’ve seen many breathtaking things: entire cities built from ice, the end of the ocean, a Venusian sunrise. None compare to Ushijima Wakatoshi with his pupils blown wide, hair tousled, lips flushed. Red with love.

None compare when he promises, “You have that and more.”

A pause.

“Show me.”

With an effortless flip, Ushijima’s muscled body hovers over yours, olive eyes flashing wildly in your dim chambers.

Amid fast breaths and guttural moans, amid steely olive eyes and parted lips, amid the subatomic space between your bodies, you feel it cloak your skin like armour.

Love.

(The Ibis storm the Qaasuuri castle one month before the wedding. Ushijima fights the invaders valiantly, superhuman modifications undoubtedly being of help. But there’s just too many of them. The last thing he tells you is to run. The world burns when you look over your shoulder, only to see a Ibisian sword drive through his heart.

The Qaasuuri are a race more android than human. But they still bleed the same.)

TOKYO, JAPAN, 2018

The oldest you ever witness him live to is thirty-two years old.

It’s the morning of August 13th and you walk into the kitchen to the sight of Ushijima Wakatoshi lifting your daughter up into the sky, spinning her little body around in circles, the pancakes on the stove slowly bronzing to a mouthwatering shade of gold.

“Mommy!” she giggles when she sees you. Leaning against the doorframe with your arms crossed, you watch your husband set your daughter back down on the ground with a soft smile on his face.

“Sleep well?” you ask, ruffling her hair. She nods happily and bounces back to the stove. Her latest obsession has been cooking in the kitchen, though you’re not sure when exactly she moved on from “potion-making” in the backyard.

“Morning,” Ushijima murmurs, wrapping an arm around your waist and pressing a kiss to your lips.

“Happy birthday, handsome,” you tease, leaning into his chest. As the words leave your mouth, the sunny morning haze cools into desaturated blue. But it’s been thirty-two years, you reason with a hard swallow. Maybe the cycle has broken. Your eyes dart to your daughter’s little figure on the stepping stool, her small hands gripping the spatula flipping a bronzed pancake over to its pale side. How would she…

You steel yourself, though a small fissure can’t help but open in your heart from the force.

She isn’t your first child and she won’t be your last. Time, you’ve learned, likes to play games, likes to set you on the same storyline again and again just to see if another ending will show itself. There will be more tomorrows and more yesterdays. There always is.

But that doesn’t make todays hurt any less.

Ushijima tilts his head to the side, olive eyes peering into yours. “Is everything okay?” He never misses (or missed) anything–– not when the two of you were heisting in Switzerland or revelling in Alexandria like Dionysians, not when you were crammed in the same codebreaking room during World War I or sailed across the Atlantic to your doom in 1912. Not now.

But you’re tired of carrying each bygone lifetime into the next. Willing yourself to forget the fact that you’ve seen him die again and again on August 13th, you put everything into the lie that slips your teeth: “More than okay.”

You choose to cherish the present.

“Order up!” your daughter exclaims, proudly presenting the plate of pancakes to you and Ushijima. “I even made one shaped like a heart for Dad for his birthday!”

With a grin, you come closer to inspect the heart-shaped pancake. “Excellent work, sous chef!” you compliment, tapping her nose lightly. It’s sharp like her father’s. She, however, inherited your eyes. You turn around to face your husband. “What does Head Chef Ushijima think?”

Smiling softly, he takes the plate from her hands and, without a second look, says, “It’s perfect. Thank you, sweetheart.”

Breakfast passes in a blur of laughter and honey.

(You think you have gone through another August 13th unscathed when night falls and all of your friends exit through the cherry wood doors of one of Tokyo’s finest restaurants. On the car ride home, however, your white SUV swerves to avoid a deer in the road and flips once, twice, three times.

You wake up neither a mother nor a wife.)

TOKYO, JAPAN, 2020

A subtle sigh of relief exits your lungs when Ushijima Wakatoshi enters through the front door at 12:01 AM, red Team Japan suitcase in hand. He’s back from the airport. More importantly, he’s alive.

“Did I make it?” he asks with an upturned corner of his mouth. His olive eyes are half-closed from the exhausting transatlantic flight and his muscles are still a bit sore from how vigorously he played the game against Argentina (Oikawa’s team, for god’s sake)... but he’s here.

And he can’t be any happier.

You know that he’s talking about the time, probably hoping to joke that coming home to you is the best birthday present he can imagine. In that regard, he technically hasn’t made it.

And yet, you leap into his arms and press kisses all over his face as you repeat “yes” again

and again

and again.

#ushijima wakatoshi #ushijima x reader #ushijima scenarios #ushijima imagines #ushijima fluff #ushijima angst #haikyuu!!#haikyuu #hq!!#haikyuu imagines #haikyuu!! imagines #haikyuu scenarios #haikyuu!! scenarios #hq!! scenarios #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu!! x reader #hq!! x reader #hq!! imagines

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aftgficrec · 3 years

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Your account is godsend. Do you have any new andreil centric flower shop aus or bookshop au fics? I feel like I've read most of them and there's not much of those in the fandom either. Thank you for all that you do!!<3

There can definitely never be enough bookstore or flower shop aus! Here’s a collection of what we’ve previously recommended, and some of the more recent works we’ve found. Hope you’ll find something new to you here! - S

Previously recommended:

Bookstore AUs:

‘The Corpse Road’ (now complete) here

‘you mean you forgot cranberries too’ here

‘fame and infamy (you're a fairytale to me)’ here

‘Next To You’ here

‘Surreal But Nice’ here

‘Fox and Friends’ (since updated) here

‘Bleeding Hearts’ here

‘staff recommendation’ here

Flower shop AUs:

‘Foxglove Court’ series here

‘The Black Rose’ here

‘Only Fools’ here

‘purple violets, scarlet sage’ here

‘Blue, Green, Orange’ here

‘bloom (just for you)’ here

‘The Last Rose of Summer’ here

Flower shop AUs:

Overgrown by PastelKnights [Not Rated, 3781 words, incomplete, last updated July 2021]

Most of the time, people wanted low maintenance, hard to kill plants. A good majority of the time, the masses wanted the same plants as one another, not confident enough to branch out and choose something a little bit different or one that might require a smidge more attention than another. That made telling people how to care for the plants a chore and by god did it make Andrew feel like he was a NPC in some sort of boring slice of life simulator.

When I Fade, Keep Me in Your Memory by demesh [Rated T, 25005 words, incomplete, last updated July 2021]

Neil Josten has a secret: he can flicker out of existence.

He can vanish with the turn of a thought; click his fingers, and suddenly he’s not there anymore. Invisible and untouchable, he becomes a living ghost.

Having promised his mother never to let his ability go, Neil teeters the line between faded and real, a person and an echo. He can’t risk getting hurt.

But then, one day, someone sees him when they shouldn’t be able to.

A (flower-shop) AU about how a faded and lonely Neil finds it in him to become someone real.

tw: panic attacks, tw: violence

flowers 'round your heart by moth_writes [Rated T, 1343 words, complete, Aftg Summer Exchange 2021]

Andrew runs a flower shop and Neil is his witching expert.

A day in the life.

Love Story by Nerdgoddess [Not Rated, 1716 words, incomplete, last updated May 2021]

Andrew and Neil fall in love, Taylor Swift style

The Art Of Speaking In Flower by waywardqueen [Rated T, 5169 words, complete, Aftg Spring Exchange 2021]

Lost in thought, Andrew almost misses his next words when the stranger slams a perfectly crumpled fifty-dollar bill on the counter and seethes out a "How do I passive-aggressively say ‘fuck you’ in flower?"

Alternate universe where Andrew is a florist who expresses his feelings the only way he knows how, cue.. flower deliveries with hidden meanings. With an oblivious Neil at hand, will he succeed in his 'salient' endeavour?

The Morning AUs - A Compilation by scribbleb_red [Rated T/E, collection, last updated May 2021]

Chapter 24: Bloom and Wither

Neil is an empathic necromancer running a small florist called Bloom and Wither. Andrew is a mysterious customer who belongs to the Foxhole Sanctuary.

AKA my take on the florist / necromancer trope with a few battles and winged warriors thrown in.

tw: violence, tw: implied/referenced rape/noncon

to hide their stolen air by oxymoronbby [Not Rated, 2863 words, complete, 2020]

“Get a job”, he says as deadpan as possible, because, fuck’s sake, he wants Neil gone so bad.

All Neil does is smile at him, taking his time. “I have a job. I’m on a break.”

“How convenient.”

Hold Each Other by exactly13percent [Rated T/E, collection, complete, 2018]

Chapter 33: Bouquet

Andrew is just minding his own fucking business when a ray of sunshine decides to blind him.

He's having a hard time being bitter about giving and receiving flowers.

NB: art for this chapter by @still-waiting-for-godot

Aftg flowershop au by @sundownstreet [tumblr, 2018]

if u will please consider: andrew dobson

he works at bee’s flowershop alongside her (his adoptive mother, but the only person whos ever treated him like a real person)

Bookshop AUs:

words in the wind (Tumblr Prompts) by Willow_bird [Rated M (T for this chapter), collection, last updated July 2021]

Chapter 26: AFTG Prompts: Andreil book store w/coffee

Bookstore! Oblivious idiots in love! Inside my favorite disaster gay's closet!

Letters From Abram by Fortheloveofexy [Rated M, 10389 words, incomplete, last updated June 2021]

Struggling to find his next inspiration, Andrew Minyard is used to a quiet, boring life with nothing but his cats and his books.

Until one day, a mysterious stranger collapses outside his front door, and Andrew's curiosity blooms anew.

(previously titled as: Reading Between the Lines)

tw: blood, tw: injuries

NB: accompanying art, dark academia Andrew by @fortheloveofexy [tumblr, 2021]

Fine-Tuned Afflictions by jensen_57 [Not Rated, 4625 words, incomplete, last updated May 2021]

Neil designs tattoos but refuses to get one. Andrew gives them and exchanges Neil's designs for anything and everything he can find. They skyrocket Foxhole Inks' business and have left him in stunned silence more times than he's willing to admit. So, why is Neil so against getting one of those beautiful pieces decorating his skin?

(technically could be considered just another tattoo artist/bookstore au)

True Love Waits series by thesaroscycle [Rated T, collection, 2 complete works, 2018]

part 1: I'm Just Killing Time (T, 10666 words)

He was sat in the most comfortable armchair in the back, the book in his lap closed but well-worn and dog-eared, one of the things that annoyed Bee to no end. His glasses sat on the table next to him, along with the hot chocolate Bee had made earlier in the morning that had gone cold. He stared out the window into a cloudless blue sky, squinting at the late morning sun and blurry trees. It was getting warm enough outside for the frost to melt on the grass, and late enough for people to start coming in. He couldn’t wish more for fall, when the sky would be gray and the chill would last all day rather than just early morning. Everything seemed to be holding its breath for the coming summer, for longer days and warmer mornings. Andrew couldn’t be less excited for summer; of all their town’s 70-degree-high summers, it was still hot enough for Andrew to melt in his stubbornly consistent black wardrobe.

tw: injured animal, tw: alcohol, tw: anxiety

part 2: Just Don't Leave (T, 7032 words)

Neil tried to ignore it. He really, really did. He was just trying to get to the Foxhole alley as soon as he could, sit in their heating and order something warm before he went to sleep where ever he could find for the night. Everyone else was ignoring the sound too, though, and he couldn’t help but wonder what had people looking away from something crying like that the same way they looked from him when he walked by. What he didn’t expect to see was a cat.

tw: injured animal, tw: alcohol, tw: panic attacks, tw: anxiety

Bookshop AU by @psych0midget [tumblr, 2020]

Andrew had thousands of followers.

He wasn’t sure how it had started. He was the owner of a small independent bookstore and he regularly hit the gym. Nothing more, nothing less.

Biker/bookstore au By @jemej3m [tumblr, 2020]

Andrew watched him swing by every Sunday, like clockwork. It was a crisp morning, the sky an untouched swathe of blue ink, disturbed only by a few hesitant puffs of white.

Art

Andreil flowershop au by @verdiris [tumblr, 2020]

Witch au turned flowershop au by @cielly-art [tumblr, 2018]

Andreil with flowers by @requiemofkings [tumblr, 2019]

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