#we live less than 1 hours away...

[tenrose]

Send a text yesterday to my mom to see if she wants to go to a book fair yesterday and she did not answer, but she received the text. Tried to call them on the landline and no answer. I mean maybe she's busy, since she's always busy.

Also haven't seen my parents since like may I think? Since I'm always the one having to go there... Which mean I haven't seen them for my birthday, you know my 30th birthday... No celebration between us, being nothing special but like just a dinner or something.

Bought her a gift for her birthday knowing full well I probably won't have anything for mine. And I know I'm a selfish prick but like nothing being a small cheap thing I don't even care for my 30th kinda hurts...

I really don't know why I keep holding on like this...

[hedgehog-moss]

Here are 7 little facts about my donkey and how his summer is going :)

1. I received an anon the other day asking if Pirou was still a working donkey who carries my firewood for me, and the answer is yes. I've been cutting some branches from the big cherry tree that fell down the other day, and Pirlouit has been valiantly carrying them to the woodshed—fun fact, for this activity he likes to wear his ears like this:

Probably because this T position is reminiscent of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, which is how Pirlouit perceives himself as he carries heavy logs for me. He's willing, but his martyrdom should be acknowledged.

Here's Poldine acknowledging it with a nose kiss, because Poldine.

I stopped so they could have their little chat.

2. Pirou has been chatting with a lot of new friends lately—we met these horses on a walk and he was so happy to stop and touch noses with them while making equid noises. Llamas are good with the nose-touching but their llama noises are just less interesting to Pirlouit. He had such interested ears here! "Finally a serious grown-up conversation"

We also met this goose during the same walk and Pirlouit was a lot less eager to go say hi to her. The goose was yelling threats at us and we prudently stayed away, and Pirou was clearly thinking "this bird is doing a better job at protecting her home from intruders than Pandolf ever could" (it's true, Pan assumes intruders are friends until proven otherwise)

3. You'll notice that there are houses in this pic! Our walks got longer and longer until one day we went all the way to the village (it took 1 hour 20min at Pirlouit's leisurely pace). I was so proud of him. I've been trying to convince my friends to go to the village on donkeyback (this requires two people, because you can ride Pirlouit but you can't tell him where to go unless there's someone holding his rope and leading the way)—my friends were reluctant because they still sort of perceive Pirou as the feral animal terrified of everything that he was when I got him. They know he's made a lot of progress but going to town on donkeyback still seemed foolhardy.

So we've been riding Pirlouit in the woods, in familiar environments, and we also went to town with him but without riding him. He was amazingly calm and brave! There's a river that cuts the village in two and the first time we went, we stopped before the bridge, since it's pretty narrow and cars would have to drive very close to Pirlouit, we didn't want to risk it. We just went to say hi to the librarian who lives on the right side of the river, but since Pirlouit was very serene, we did cross the bridge the second time.

He did not care at all about cars driving very close to him (he had one familiar human on either side of him and the drivers were very considerate and went slowly), which emboldened us to stop for a drink on the terrace of the coffeeshop on main street (< also a narrow street with cars driving by quite close to Pirlouit). There was just no problem at all, Pirou let total strangers rub his forehead and was more interested in iced tea than main street traffic.

It was a hot day and we gave him all the ice cubes from our drinks and he chewed them enthusiastically.

4. We made a stop at the pharmacy on our way home because we had another 1 hour 20min walk ahead and I had a blister, and the pharmacist noticed my donkey parked outside his shop and in a determined tone he said, "I want to try something." He took one of the donkey milk soaps from the overpriced-Provence-soaps-for-tourists display and opened the door and offered it for Pirlouit to sniff.

... I'm not sure what he was expecting—for my donkey to go "ohhh this smells like Mother's milk and aloe vera 🥺"—but unfortunately nothing happened.

(4. bis—Sorry, this 4th fact was anticlimactic.)

5. Pirlouit is now the proud owner of a surcingle. Not for equestrian vaulting and not for his log-carrying job because I don't know if it would be solid enough for the weight of a bag full of logs, but I'd like to tie bags or baskets to it to take Pirlouit grocery shopping, now that I know he's okay with going to town :) He even seems to enjoy the adventure, and the attention he gets from children.

And actually I shouldn't write off equestrian vaulting because Pirou is also remarkably chill with weird things happening on his back. I used to be very careful to climb on his back in a quick & fluid way so he wouldn't spook (because he used to! a butterfly flapping its wings in Brazil used to spook him!) but now that my friends are riding him I can confirm we've reached a point where you can climb on Pirlouit's back in any way you want and he'll just be like "...... sure"

6. I almost forgot to mention that Pirou turned 15 last month, according to his ID papers :) Donkeys have a longer life expectancy than horses, they can live 30-40 years on average so he's still a young lad really. Happy 15th birthday Pirlouit :)

7. I wanted to conclude with a nice aesthetic pic of Pirou's shadow on the road during all those walks, like I did with Poldine, but unfortunately donkey shadows do not have the chic je-ne-sais-quoi of llama shadows. Pirlouit looks like a hammerhead shark wearing a tiny fez and that's not his fault.

[bolognamayhem117]

Hot Take: Astarion does NOT hate flowers. You just missed a few subtle hints through Act 1 and early Act 3.

Astarion's negativity is directed toward just about anything remotely pleasant as you move through early act three, starting the moment you leave Wyrm's Rock. First thing after Gortash's coronation he marvels near tears at the colors of the city in daylight. If you ask if he's alright, it pisses him off.

There's other instances I can't quite remember but he's a straight crank throughout early Act 3 and it took me several hours of gameplay to have a lightbulb moment about his newly crappier attitude.

He just spent the last two hundred years seeing everything in the overwhelmingly warm dim tones of indoor lighting via sconces, rushlights, and braziers, or the dingy blue gray of moonlight outside. Daylight colors are something he had more than a lifetime to forget and now that he has a chance to remember that vibrancy in his own home town, he knows he's going to have to forget it all over again either by death or by remaining a vampire spawn forever. The worm isn't going to live rent free in his head forever, and killing Cazador to ascend in his place likely feels like an insurmountable and impossible fight against a literal titan who could stomp him flat without a corm of effort.

He doesn't hate flowers, he hates EVERYTHING right now because it's all going away very soon and if he convinces himself he hates everything then he won't miss it when it's all gone again. He was denied this for two hundred years and he's PISSED at what was stolen from him and PISSED it's all going away again.

He behaved similarly in Act 1 about anyone besides him enjoying physical intimacy. Some of this content was cut, to my best knowledge, but the overwhelming majority of his dialog addressing the PC romancing anyone but him are negative or backhanded. This is for two reasons, I think. A: his Simple Plan just dissolved right before his eyes when you chose someone else which in his mind means he has zero safety net, and EVERYONE gets to enjoy sex (key wording being ENJOY, not simply having) except him... And it pisses him off.

He also gleefully interrupts the bug bear and the ogress, I think for the same reason as the above paragraph, being: If he doesn't get to enjoy intimacy neither do they.

He reacts with anger and disgust at anything he's being unfairly denied. Which... That's fair. His feelings are valid, but his reaction to it is pretty shitty and meanspirited.

The other companions I tend to keep in my party, (that is Lae'zel, Halsin, Karlach, and Wyll) however, are actually appearing to behave pretty patiently with him in Act 3 which I find interesting.

In the instance with the flowers Karlach doesn't bother trying to convince him otherwise of his opinion, she just tells him how they make her feel instead and rather than getting snippy or doubling down he more or less agrees to disagree. I also don't recall anyone disagreeing with Astarion during Gale's last quest tasks when he mentioned that he quit praying to gods who wouldn't hear him a long time ago but to be fair, I think the gods did everybody in this crew dirty and they all know it. It seems like they're consciously giving him the space to be mad about things, is what I'm saying.

Everyone I know including myself who crawled out of a long-term hot garbage situation kinda went wild for a bit with freedom, spoke poorly, behaved strangely, had extreme emotional reactions to things, and made some particularly terrible choices. I think that's just a part of recalibrating yourself, healing and learning how to be okay again.

Point is, I wouldn't conflate too many of the turbo-negative things he says with how he actually feels about anything. We certainly know what he says and what he feels are two very different things.

[villainessbian]

Concept: most aliens can get anxious, can get scared, can get fight-or-flight. What most aliens do not get, however, is stress. Stress is a weird thing even by human standards. It can build up over time or be something tied to a very limited situation. It can be caused by a lot of things, and it comes in a lot of different ways. But it's a core human reaction, when a situation is wrong, it causes stress until it is righted. And it even affects different people differently!

Cue Human Cassandra, on a ship with her friend and co-worker Human Pauline. The ship is crewed with a mix of species. It's a cargo ship - load up in a space port, unload in another, get news and supplies during their stops, and live as an ever-shifting family as some of the two dozen crew members, give or take, get replaced. Some leave come payday, and new ones come looking for the thrill of low-level adventure, experiencing warp drives across the safer roads of the known universe.

But getting the supplies you need, or want, in stops is never so easy. Humans are new to the galactic community, and their needs misunderstood. Most broad-edibility food is bland for them, but that's okay. A big enough bag of their condiments can last them years. But ADHD meds... now that's less easy to get, the further from Earth you are. And a contract too big for their captain to pass on came up, much farther than the two humans expected.

Cassandra's mood deteriorated, her work priorities out of order, her sleep schedule in disarray. Little by little, she grew restless, shifting moods and gears unpredictably. A few weeks in and she was a mess, barely able to keep up with the minimum her job doing maintenance and running safety diagnostics for the route charting team required of her. While Pauline could help with the mechanical aspects of keeping the ship running, picking up the "slack", the safety had to be double-checked by the charting and pilot teams. When the curves of asteroid probability reached beyond a certain level, several hundred simulations had to be run, time-consuming processes had to be used, to avoid any collision at speeds beyond speed c. Some truly exotic things happened to ships that experienced those, but none of them contained the words "surviving crew." A safe route avoided any probability of collision over .1% and when going faster than light, any choice of course required thinking in 3 dimensions plus relative time to navigate dangerous probability fields in one piece, finding time-specific corridors and accounting for a dozen variables at once.

After she had a breakdown over a path she would normally have been able to find in under a minute, Pauline spoke to a concerned pilot team member:

"You have to understand her, this is a stressful situation and she's doing her best..."

"What do you mean by 'stressful'?" Gabalt asked. The furry little creature stood on two arched legs, and barely reached up to Pauline's shoulder, opening three wide eyes with curiosity and concern in equal parts.

"Things are... getting difficult for her, and keep getting more difficult because she does not have medication to help her brain be efficient. It makes her tired, and inefficient, and as it goes on, she's less and less able to cope with the situation. The longer this goes on, the worse it gets, and that is stress. Getting more tired because it takes more energy to deal with the situation, and less efficient because she's more tired, and things get harder because she's less efficient, on and on until something can solve the problem and the stress goes away."

"That sounds... hard. Do all humans have to deal with this?"

"Well, everyone has sources of stress, but she's got a disability. Without her meds, she gets stressed all the time. Not a lot all at once, but it always adds up."

"Oh no! So she'll be stuck like that until we get closer to Earth?"

"Most likely, yes."

But the most momentous thing to happen this day was not her breakdown. Not an hour later, alarms blared up. The simulation holograms all displayed blinking red masses - the less-travelled "safe route" was not as well protected! An asteroid range had been detected cutting through the border field, and it was in their way!

Pauline froze up, not knowing what to do. Gabalt was too surprised to act fast. All the courses from the ship's library of regular manoeuvres suggested a crash chance of over 60%, and mere seconds to act before entering the field!

Before anyone could react, Cassandra came in running from her corner to the front of the bridge, slamming the warp drive shutdown button. Most holograms stuttered and collapsed, the exit from FTL essentially dividing one or several of their dimensions by zero.

Looking quickly at the few remaining ones and gazing at the screens showing the current outside situation like a large window would have - plus a few critical extra points of data - she adjusted the angles manually while everyone still shuddered from the gravitational and temporal whiplash of suddenly coming back into normal time. Unblinkingly, she spotted the asteroids on the route while the ship was still going, if not at relativistic speeds, still fast enough for a single pebble they met to vaporise the Whipple shields, the outer hull, the inner hull, the crew members, and the hull again coming out if they but grazed it. Confirming the angles visually, she played with the reaction wheels, the thrusters, the gravity drives, to divert the ship's course just enough to miss a collision while not risking any grave injury on board. There was no time to react - if anything showed up straight ahead on the "unaugmented" outside view screens, it was too late to not get splatted. After half the crew had had the time to get thrown to the side or on the ground due to the rough handling, she'd managed to avoid any crash.

Gabalt was reeling. While it was surely not impossible, these was the kind of moves experienced veterans would never wish to attempt, and the margins for error were ridiculously low! She'd saved the ship and everyone on it, whereas she'd been unable to do a simple safety run so soon before?

Pauline was white as a sheet, but this was nothing compared to Cassandra, shaking violently and breathing unevenly.

"Pauline? What is she doing?"

"That's... probably the adrenaline."

"What's it for?"

"It's from stress. When it comes it overcharges the body. It's like the traditional, 'fight or flight' instinct from survival in prey-predator paradigms, it lets you move fast but paralyses thought... it feels pretty bad after a lot of it is released though. Now she's crashing down, must be harrowing."

"How did she do that? And you said her thoughts were paralysed for precision manoeuvres?"

Cassandra's voice came, nearly a mutter: "I just... had to. do it."

Gabalt needed to understand what happened.

"What do you mean you had to? Someone had to do it, but why you?"

"It- it was very stressful, I saw you freeze, and so."

"But... but HOW did you do all that? That was extremely complicated, few pilots -whose main craft is directly piloting- would want to even try doing that when given a choice!?"

"I had to. do it, so I did. I couldn't. couldn't make a mistake."

"This makes absolutely no sense."

Pauline interrupted. "She just works like that. Lots of stress and when people freeze up, humans with her condition... sometimes, surprisingly, function better in the moment than others can."

"Ah. So it's a human thing. of course, it's a human thing. NOTHING MAKES ANY SENSE WITH YOUR ACCURSED SPECIES" the diminutive pilot pouted.

And so one more story of the humans doing the impossible spread around. Humans of a subtype, more easily harmed, sometimes unstable and needing help for the simplest things... accomplishing odd, unthinkable, borderline heroic feats under duress none could be expected to withstand - but only then. Cursed, blessed? No story-teller seemed too certain. But the "magical" species never stopped surprising all others. And a new proverb developed: "it's not over until the human says it is".

[cosmicschmidt]

UNTIL I FOUND YOU (3)

PART 1, PART 2

Coriolanus Snow x fem!Reader

Synopsis: When the 18 year old Coriolanus Snow recieves the news that he has to mentor a tribute in order to claim the Plinth Prize, he expected everything but not a shy girl from district 12 to claim his heart.

Word count: 2,7K

Warnings: Reader pretty much just replaces Lucy Gray, Lucy Gray does not exsist in this (I´m sorry), some things might not fully add up to the movie plot ´cause I only saw it once and that was two weeks ago, use of Y/N, it´s implied that the reader is shorter than Coryo, small swearing, simple inhumane Hunger Games topics, mention of a wound, brutality!!

Reblogs and requests are always welcomed <3 (just like pointing out grammatical mistakes :))

Previously…

"Wait-" Y/N grabs a hold of his free wrist.

"Can you get us some food? Please? We´re practically starving."

Coriolanus just nodded at her quietly, the space between the both of them growing as he pulled away from her. The girl suddenly feels empty without him standing next to her like a shield that´s been protecting her has been taken away.

The reporter - whose name seems to be Lucky Flickermann - now turned back to the cage ends his live report,

"The 10th annual Hunger Games are soon approaching, so come down to the Zoo and see the Tributes before it´s too late." he does a dramatic pause.

"And I mean, too late," he adds with a small smirk.

"Capitol news."

"I´m Lucretius.", he looks up to the sky before stretching out his hand and catching a coin.

"Lucky Flickermann." with that the live report ends.

Y/N´s words ring in Coriolanus´ ears for the next few hours, during the lecture and confrontation with Dr. Gaul, the second he reached the cafeteria, he put as much food as possible on his plate, filling it with various goods.

Multiple students chatter around him, but he´s not up for a debate about whose tribute will win, never the less just a simple conversation, the thought of it alone brings Coriolanus discomfort. So his eyes scatter across the filled room, and when he spots a small empty two-seat table he walks over to it and sits down.

As he takes a seat he waits for a second, the feeling of someone watching him never leaving since he collected a plate and filled it with a bunch of food, the view of it alone causing his stomach to erupt into quiet rumbling.

With a quick look around, checking if someone is watching him, he takes hold of the blue napkin and places it on his lap, his hands spring into action and he places a few cookies into the blue fabric.

"Trying to fatten that poor girl up, so you can finally start taking bets?" a voice right across from the small table pulls him out of his thoughts. Before him stands Sejanus, a look of anger displayed on his face, while his hands hold him up on the table.

Coriolanus stops in his tracks, Sejanus´ tone something he does not need right now.

"You think, they´ll give these kids a schap if we don´t give them a reason to do it." although it was meant as a question, the way Coriolanus´ tone changed throughout speaking made it seem like a simple statement.

"How do you think your Tribute will have a chance if he can´t eat." the mention of Marcus causes the look in Sejanus' eyes to soften, Coriolanus knew what to say in order to convince his… friend.

A short moment of silence washes over their conversation, Sejanus lets out a sigh before sitting down on the still-empty chair, his eyes not finding the blue eyes that bore into the side of his face.

"He was my classmate. Back in 2…" Sejanus says in a low voice.

In return, Coriolanus takes a look across the room.

"It's not your fault he's there-" Coriolanus speaks up, shaking his head a little.

"I know. I'm so blameless I'm choking on it. My father bought him for me you know, at the reaping… just so he can show me, that I could never go back to 2." Coriolanus stays quiet, as he watches the Brown haired boy tear up, guilt eating away at him.

"But being Capitol is gonna kill me," he adds, his head shaking slightly, his gaze empty.

"So do something about it." Coriolanus cuts in, his expression stern.

He just continues filling the napkin with a few slices of a sandwich, the look on his face challenging Sejanus to do the same.

"You're quite the Rebell." the brown-haired boy laughs out, before he whipes his nose, blinking once then twice in the hope of no tears falling.

"Oh, I am. I'm bad news." the blonde replies, a teasing tone to his words. All Sejanus can do is chuckle softly, before his own hands grab a soft napkin.

-

Both of them find themselves getting closer and closer to the 'zoo' where the Tributes are held against their will, displayed for everyone to inspect. From far away, the mentor of the girl from District 12 was able to make out the crowd that formed around the metal bars.

Coriolanus can't help but let his eyes wander, his blue orbs desperately trying to catch a glimpse of Y/N, as he takes big strides away from Sejanus as both of them part for the purpose of finding their tribute.

"Marcus!" he heard in the distance, but the voice was blurred.

Coriolanus can't focus on the rest of the words that leave Sejanus' mouth, as his eyes linger on the metal bars that separate him from her. He finally spots her, his tense shoulders relaxing a tad bit. The left side of her body is pressed against Jessup's, while Y/N's hand lays on the side of his neck. Both of them sitting on a rock with their backs to the crowd.

Coriolanus can tell that her mouth is moving, yet he can't seem to grasp onto what she's whispering in the ear of the boy who sits next to her. The blonde can't help but clench his jaw at the scene unfolding before his eyes, as his hands wrap a notch tighter around the food-filled fabric.

"Y/N" he speaks up, finally trusting his voice enough to do so.

The H/C-haired girl's eyes catch her mentor's quiet whisper, her head snapping to the side facing him. The small simile that spreads across her face does not go unnoticed by Coriolanus, as she brushes off her clothes. With small, yet quick steps she finally closes the distance between them.

His hands twitch beside his body, the urge to feel her skin against his resurfacing, as their eye contact never fades.

"You remembered?"

"Hmm?" Coriolanus hums, his eyes not leaving her face, she throws him a questioning look at his speechless expression.

"Oh right, right. I got this for you." he quickly says, the weight of the food in his hands leaving the second he places the napkin in her hands, their fingers touching for a split second, sending a shiver down his back.

Y/N herself can't help but feel her face warm at the contact, but she hides her face a little as she looks down at the meal in her hands. Within seconds she unwraps the cookies and the sandwich slices.

"Thank you, this will help us a lot."

"Us?" the boy from the Capitol mutters under his breath, wondering why you would even think about sharing the food he just gave you.

"Common, Jessup, eat," Y/N says with a nod of her head, her hand offering him a piece of some expensive-looking dish.

"'m not hungry," he mutters under his breath, his eyes staring daggers in Coriolanus' direction.

"No I insist, you have to eat." she pushes the food into his hands, and he throws her a thankful smile alongside a nod, yet before he walks back to the rock they sat on, he throws Coriolanus another look.

The mentioned boy holds the stare, and as Jessup turns away, his eyes land on a small wound that rests right underneath his ear. His brows furrow in confusion.

"What happened to his neck?"

Y/N gulps, her eyes not finding his.

"Bat bite. First night on the train." she nods sadly, her mind going back to when it happened.

"He didn't sleep a wink on the journey, making sure to keep the bats off so I can get some rest…" The girl's words grow quieter, her eyes trailing to the left as they find a Capitol girl making fun of the girl from District 10.

Y/N frowns when she observes the 'mentor' taunt her own tribute, holding a water bottle in her direction only to withdraw it when she reaches out to grab it. Y/N clenches her jaw at the sight.

"I learned in twelve that hunger is a weapon."

"Your friend over there sure knows it…"

"She's not my friend she is.." he thinks for a second, "..Poison with perfect teeth."

The girl from District 12 lets out a laugh, yet it's not fully genuine, her eyes fall back onto the food in her palms, a sickening feeling forming in the pit of her stomach. Meanwhile, Coriolanus grabs a hold of the metal bar, as he leans forward looking down at her.

"Are you going to share everything that I give to you with Jessup?" he asks, his breath fanning along a strand of loose hair, their close proximity making it possible for him to whisper.

"Why?" the girl's eyes widened in confusion at his question.

"Think I can collect my strengths so I can strangle them in the arena? Coriolanus, I can not kill these people.." she hisses out, her words make her look almost helpless, and again the blonde feels the urge to reach out and grab her hand.

"But I might have a chance to help you," he replies quickly, his eyes somehow holding ambition.

"There is a possibility that I can make some suggestions to the game makers, I might even be able to let the audience send gifts into the arena. Food and water…" he mumbles assuringly, his head nodding along his words.

"Listen, the people can donate to you, so you have to convince them to like you, which they already do. You're the first to volunteer, ever, and for your sister too, that kind of stuff catches attention," he says enthusiastically.

"I don't want to talk about that, what I did there was no choice, I had to do that. Don't you understand?" she asks slightly taken back, her brows furring in bewilderment.

"Besides, I've seen the arena, there's nowhere to hide, what's the point in winning the audience over? The guards say you get money if you get more people to watch, and you say you want to help me… which is it?" she asks unsure, her eyes boring into his, as she rests her own hand on one of the cold metal bars, awaiting his response.

Coriolanus' mouth parts, yet no words escape, before his gaze lands on her hand, so close to his, and before he can stop himself his palm engulfs her smaller hand.

"Both," he states with confidence, as he gives her a firm nod, letting her know that he truly means it. Y/N breathes out in relief, as she nods back at him, the warmth of his calloused hands bringing her comfort. Yet, she wiggles her hand out from under his slightly tightening grasp, taking a sandwich and taking a bite, her stomach screaming at her to finish the whole meal.

As she continues to chew, she catches Coriolanus looking at the food in her grasp, when she catches his stare, he expeditiously averts his gaze, looking around as if she didn't just catch him ogling. Without a word, she takes one of the cookies and hands it to him through the bars.

"Oh, no thank you." he refuses to take the baked good from her.

"Saw you staring, just take it," she says with a shrug of her shoulders.

He hesitantly takes it from her, as the both of them lower to the ground in order to eat while sitting.

"Thought there was plenty of food in the Capitol," she asks, although it did not sound like a question, more like a fact that she simply stated. Her eyes are still on the sandwich in her grasp, while Coriolanus himself breaks the cookie in two, eating the first half of it in one bite.

He lets out a laugh at her statement, her words throwing him years back to the war.

"You know one time during the war, I ate a whole jar of paste. Just to stop the pain in my stomach." Y/N scrunches her nose in disgust.

"Well, how was it?"

He thinks for a moment, a smile forming on his lips, "Pasty." he laughs out, and Y/N can't help but let a giggle slip out as well before she muffles it with another bite of the food. Coriolanus' eyes stay on her, his eyes glimmering in amusement.

But the small moment dies when the girl looks away, her head turning slightly as she looks over her shoulder, the blonde's eyes follow hers.

"Little Wovey… she's so sweet… wouldn't hurt a fly… she reminds me of my sister…" she says, her head turning away from the little girl that currently rests against her district partner who looks deep in thought. Y/N swallows thickly at the thought of her little sister, now all on her own at home, having to watch her only relative die in the games. The thought alone causes the corners of her eyes to burn, yet she won't allow herself to shed one tear, not one, she promised her.

"I'm sorry…" the blonde whispers, as his face holds concern and guilt, he sends her a small assuring smile in order to lighten her mood.

"You seem like a good man, Coriolanus," Y/N claims.

Coriolanus slightly shakes his head, his eyes everywhere but never meeting her own. It seems like he's about to say something, but Y/N interrupts him.

"It would have been nice to meet you under different circumstances," she quickly adds, her eyes on the almost completely eaten sandwich, while she fidgets with her fingers.

"How about… we make a deal," he replies.

"A deal?" she asks, her eyes snapping back up to meet his blue ones.

"Yes. After all of this… I'll take you out on a date," he says with a serious tone. His hand reaches through the bars as it wraps around one of her wrists.

She laughs out at his 'deal', "Yeah, exactly, have a drink or two, very funny." she laughs again in disbelief while rolling her eyes at his attempt to lighten the mood, although that's pretty impossible.

"I'm serious."

"Have you seen these people? I don't stand a chance, I'll be dead within minutes in the arena, I never learned how to fight or hunt, my chances are practically zero." she huffs out, her free hand wrapping around his hand that is holding her other hand, attempting at pulling him off.

Yet his grip tightens, "I'm being serious like I said before, maybe I can change some rules, bend some even, I don't care, we'll go on that date," he says again.

Just as Y/N opens her mouth, a response at the tip of her tongue ready to be released, a scream erupts through the air.

Brandy, the tribute that had been taunted by her mentor, grabbed the bottle out of the glass, as she took hold of the mentor's collar pulling her closer with an angry yell. With a quick smash, she shatters the bottle into pieces and uses the remains as a weapon, forcefully stabbing it into the side of her neck. The already red-dressed girl is now covered in more red.

The screams alerted every individual around them, as other people screamed in horror at the brutality.

Y/N can't help but gasp in shock, just like Coriolanus she's back on her feet, her eyes trained on the girl on the ground gasping for air.

Coriolanus runs up right to the other mentor's side, using his hands to put pressure on the wound as a horrified expression spreads all over his features.

"It's okay. it's okay, I'll get help," he mutters out of breath, frantically looking out for someone who would provide what she needs.

"Somebody help us please!" after his plea, the sound of guns firing runs through the air, and with a thump, Brandy holds onto her stomach before hitting the ground, dead.

At the sound of shooting, Coriolanus hides his face underneath his arms, shielding himself from bullets that could hit him at any given moment. As he slowly raises back up, the horrified expression returns to his face, he watches the life drain from Arachne's face, her skin growing paler.

"Oh…no, no.." he rasps out, the events leave him speechless, and before he can register it, Peacekeepers roughly grab him by the arm and pull him up from the ground away from the lifeless body.

Taglist: (Crossed-out can’t be tagged)

@prettybliss | @unclecrunkle | @yourlocalwofreader | @ennycutie | @unamused-boss | @spatt777 | @xyzstar | @especiallythewomenandthechildren | @mysteris-things | @crackheadhours | @guacam011y | @clintssupremacy | @importantgalaxyrunaway | @zucchinimalfoy |

[imliterallyellie]

hiiii, love! how about a lil kitchen-domestic moment between ellie and reader where they’re trying out a new recipe. the catch is that they’re failing miserably at actually making the dish because they keep getting distracted by each other (dancing, laughing, making jokes, teasing each other, anything). mkay bye thank you sm MWAH 😙♥️

is this thing on? 🎤

ellie is a pest in the kitchen

a/n changed this up a little bc i feel like ellie being annoying in the kitchen while u cook or bake is canon

“no els, it was 1 cup of sugar!” you quickly swatted your girlfriend’s hand away, making sure she didn’t ruin all the hard work from the afternoon.

when maria told you about her plans to throw tommy a little surprise party for his birthday, you immediately took it upon yourself to take care of some baked goods. thursdays meant free afternoons for you, free of any chores, which gave you some time to get to work on one of your favorite desserts of all time; red velvet cake.

either there was a catch; thursdays didn’t only mean free afternoons for you, but also for your girlfriend, and the two of you rarely spent any of that precious, free time not together. so when you told ellie that you were gonna spend your afternoon in the kitchen, baking a cheesecake for tommy’s birthday, there was no way she wasn’t going to be right on your tail.

you thought it could be fun, baking with her. although you had tried many times to get her to help you in the kitchen with anything, it wasn’t really her cup of tea. but the idea of you working away on a delicious, sweet red velvet cake, and her missing the chance to steal some every now and then, must’ve convinced her to be your right hand that day.

“hmm- ‘m sorry, baby. i thought it was 2 cups.” she gave you a sheepish smile, before putting down the cup and cleaning up the sugar that spilled on the counter when you swatted her hand away earlier. you got back to work on the cake, looking back at the recipe every now and then to make sure you got the right ingredients and measurements, you really didn’t want to mess this one up.

you thought, after her little moment with the sugar, she would retreat herself back in the living room, but none of that. a couple moments went by before you felt a pair of slender arms circling your waist, swaying the both of you to the background music that was playing in the kitchen. “can’t you take a break, baby? you’ve been working so hard this afternoon. need’ya to get some rest too, hmm?” you leaned your head back against her chest, rethinking her words. it had been a couple hours, and ellie was probably right, but you couldn’t really take a break right now. not when tommy’s birthday party was in less than 24 hours, and you wouldn’t have much time to finish it tomorrow.

“i can’t, baby. just give me another hour or so, okay? i promise i’ll be all yours then.” ellie didn’t reply, but she nuzzled her face in the crook of your neck, definitely not planning on leaving anytime soon. her current position meant that whenever you tried to move around the kitchen, you’d have her body to carry around with you. it was normal for ellie to get this clingy on your day off. throughout the other days of the week you both got quite busy, whether it was patrol or any other tasks in jackson, you were both very often first in line, always eager to help out the community. that meant you often went a whole day without seeing each other, ellie out the door before you got up and your girlfriend already sleeping after a long day from patrol, before you come back from cleaning the stables.

before you could swat her hand away, she dipped her index finger in the sugary batter that was slowly but surely coming together, and swiped it off on the tip of your nose. “ellieee, c’mon baby. gosh you’re so annoying.” you wiped the batter of your nose, before she repeated her action, over and over again all over your face.

“williams, you better stop, before there’s not any batter left for the cake.”

“oh, are we on last name level now?”

“if you keep being such a pain in the ass we will be, yes!”

she tried her luck one more time, flicking some of the sugary delicacy onto your neck. before you could scold her for wasting more of it, she shut you up by lowering her head to your neck and licking it off. you whimpered lowly, slightly taken aback by your girlfriend’s actions.

“not so annoyed anymore now, are we?” ellie pulled her head out of your neck and looked at you with a smug smile, clearly proud of what she just did. you tried to turn around in her embrace but failed, her strong arms picking you up and putting you on the counter, hungrily kissing you.

“it’s only 4pm, we’ve got some time to finish this cake tonight. i bet you taste more sweet anyway.”

[wynnyfryd]

Trailer park Steve AU part 23

part 1 | part 22 | ao3

cw: alcohol, recreational drinking

Steve fusses with his hair in the side mirror again, tugging awkwardly at his borrowed clothes. He feels stupid, standing here fidgeting in the parking lot like some kind of nervous freshman, but half of Hawkins seems to be here tonight and Robin’s got him dressed like a loser — worn green flannel and a ripped black tee with a faded picture of The Smiths. Jesus. “Did you really have to dress me like this?” 

“What? You look cute!” 

“I look like I raided Jonathan Byers’ closet.”

“No, you look like someone a certain neighbor is going to be drooling over all night.” Steve’s grateful for the dark then; for the blush it hides on his cheeks. “It’s not my fault you don't know how to make a deal; if you wanted to borrow a specific shirt, you should have said so before we shook on it.”

“Besides,” she ignores him when he rolls his eyes at her, “you wouldn’t even let me smudge eyeliner on your lower lash line like I wanted to, so I really don't feel like you’ve earned complaining privileges.” 

“I’ll complain if I fucking want to,” he grumbles under his breath. He runs a hand through his hair one more time, then forces himself to look away from the mirror. Rolls his shoulders back and down. “He’s not even here, anyway.”

“Ah-ha! So you did check.” She links their arms together, starts dragging Steve across the uneven gravel, her ankles wobbling in her low-heeled boots. “‘Just looking for a good parking spot,’ my ass. God, I’m always so right about everything. I'm, like, cosmically correct. I should really play the lottery next time I visit my grandparents..."

“Uh huh.” He’s not sure what luck and correctness have to do with each other, but sure.

She stumbles over a rock; pushes into his side, grinning, “I’m serious! I’ll play the lottery, and I’ll win big, and then you’ll see. Might even split my winnings with you if you’re nice to me.” 

“I’m literally so nice to you all the time, but okay. Can’t wait to take half your earnings when you get ten bucks off a scratcher.” 

“Hey, five bucks is five bucks! That’s like an hour and a half of our lives.”

Jesus Christ. “That’s just depressing.”

They walk arm and arm down the narrow footpath to the party — ferns brushing their calves, dry dirt beneath their shoes kicking up tiny clouds of dust — and as the path opens up Steve sees the place is packed. More packed than the overstuffed parking lot let on. There are people scattered over the picnic grounds in groups of fours and fives, a full dance floor under the main pavilion; a DJ set up at the front with food and drink stands to the side; a giant bowl of spiked punch; a tower of solo cups; a couple of coolers filled with beer.

In the surrounding grass he sees more tables, more people. A couple of guys he remembers from swim team rally around an arm wrestling match; another group plays beer pong on a brown fold-up table that they definitely stole from someone’s church. There's a circle of burnouts playing hacky sack behind a tree.

The bonfire burns brightly on the hillside in the distance, and beyond that he spots the faint glow of trail lights leading up to a bridge under the falls. 

Part of him wants to follow the trail. Shake Robin off, pretend like he’s going to take a leak. Find a nice rocky overhang to camp under for a while.

Listen to river sounds. Gentle slosh; cricket buzz.

Maybe he gets drunk up there alone. Maybe he just enjoys the solitude; lies on a rock on his belly by the icy river’s edge, swirls his hand in frigid water and doesn't dream of dark brown curls.

“Steve?” Robin nudges him. “You good?”

Another, much less annoying part of him reminds him that he’s Steve Goddamn Harrington. He knows how to have a good time at a party.

Who cares if he feels too old to be here, or if it’s weird to see so many faces that used to call him Captain or King? Who cares that he's one smudge of eyeliner away from looking like a full-blown new wave art freak?

He’s not about to slink off to do depressed weirdo wallflower shit when the DJ’s playing Wham!

“Yeah.” He squeezes her shoulder. “You want a drink?” 

“Yes, please.” 

—

The drinks are strong.

Steve’s pretty sure the punch bowl is a lot more hunch than punch, but there’s still no sign of Vickie, and Robin’s getting that sad little stress wrinkle between her brows about it, so Steve says bottoms up and starts chugging. 

They wince their way through two cups each. Robin plugs her nose on the second one like she’s about to do a high dive, and Steve laughs and takes her hand, leading her into the crowd just as Take on Me comes on. The lights all blur together as they shimmy and shake and twirl, moving like a couple of dorks, but Steve’s having a great time. Bobbing his head to the beat; a big, dumb grin on his face as he moves his hips. Robin shouts “Watch this!” over the music, and the next thing he knows they’re competing to see who can bust the worst dance move. 

He brings out all the big guns, the full-groan dad maneuvers.

The sprinkler, the lawn mower, the fucking disco finger. 

Robin answers with a sloppy attempt at the robot, so he makes up a new move he calls be kind, rewind, and she laughs like a horse and pretends to walk down a flight of stairs.

She’s crouched into a goofy lunge, two steps into the ascent back up, when the song fades out and a ballad takes over. The crowd presses in to slow dance; Robin steps on someone's toes.

“Hey, watch it!” the person hisses.

Robin startles hard; knocks herself off-balance when she tries to stand up straight, babbling, "Oh, my god, I'm so sorry! Are you- are you okay? I'm such a klutz, oh, my god, I'm—"

Steve snatches her up under the armpits; puts her back on her feet. Then he looks up and realizes who exactly she just stepped on. 

Well, shit.

—

part 24

tag list part 1 below the cut, let me know if you want me to add you tomorrow (21+ only, please confirm your age if you're asking to be tagged)

@a-little-unsteddie @ahsokatanoss @aliea82 @alyelf @anne-bennett-cosplayer @aol19 @awolfstudio @bambibiest @bananahoneycomb @bookbinderbitch @bronwenmarie @cheonsazu @cinnamon-mushroomabomination @courtjestermunson @cuips-not-cute @dauntlessdiva @dawners @dontwasteyourchances @eddie-munsons-missing-nipple @eriquin @estrellami-1 @fandomfix8 @gregre369 @griefabyss69 @grtwdsmwhr @hallucinatedjosten @hellion-child @hiimlevi @honoragreyskull @hotluncheddie @jackiemonroe5512 @kas-eddie-munson @kingelyx @lifeisacrisis @littlebluejane @marvel-ous-m @melonmochi @messrs-weasley @milklechee @mrsjellymunson @mugloversonly @munsonslure @nburkhardt @nerdyglassescheeseychick @notsopersonalcharlie @novelnovella @nuggies4life @phoenixtheone @questionablequeeries @runninriot

[cameronluvr]

JAILED PART 2 — toxic!rafe x fem reader

summary: part one here — rafe gets out of jail the next morning after his dad bailed him out, and he is forced to apologize to you.

warnings: none in this one! rafe is much less toxic than in part 1.

after spending a few hours in jail, rafe’s dad bails him out after signing tons of paper work and hours of talking to the officers.

: ̗̀➛ 𝓶𝔂 𝓶𝓪𝓼𝓽𝓮𝓻𝓵𝓲𝓼𝓽 ⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

“come on, cameron. you’re free to go” an officer begins opening the cell, watching as rafe grabbed his stuff and walked out. he greeted his dad at the end of the hallway, who looked less than amused.

“hey dad” rafe says, but ward didn’t have a response. the disappointment look on his face said it all. “really? nothing?” rafe asks as the pair begin heading out of the building and into ward’s car.

“rafe, it’s 6am. do you really think i wanna be here right now?” ward replies, swinging open his car door and angrily shutting it after he got in. rafe got in the passenger side. “i’m sorry” rafe says in a non-meaningful way, but at least he said it. “don’t say sorry to me, say it to y/n.” ward tells him, turning the engine on and driving away.

“y/n? is she at the house?” rafe asks, looking at his dad who isn’t looking back at him. “yeah, she’s at the house. she came in last night crying her eyes out because of you” ward says, taking a quick glance at his son. rafe doesn’t respond, he just looks down in his lap to rethink about what he did, and how he made you feel.

“huh, you gonna say sorry to her?” ward asks, almost in a demanding way in which rafe doesn’t have a choice. “yes, dad” he nods. “good. she’s staying in your room, so don’t go in there until she’s awake.” ward tells him, making him frown.

“but it’s my room..?”

“don’t go in there until she’s awake. you hear me?” ward repeats, not owing his son an explanation. “fine” rafe rolls his eyes, finally agreeing.

“she’s a good girl, rafe, what the fuck are you doing?” ward asks, needing to know the reason as to why his son is abusive towards the girl he loves, the girl who cherishes him.

“i don’t know, dad, alright? we just had too much to drink.” rafe blames it on the alcohol, but he���s just as much the same when he’s sober. “so you got in your car and proceeded to drive with her shit scared in your passenger seat? begging you to stop?” ward argues.

rafe sighs loudly and rolls his eyes, not knowing what to say now. “you could’ve killed her, and yourself!” ward continues to argue, wanting to know why his son is the way he is. “yeah, i know!” rafe argues back. it’s done now, it’s in the past you could’ve died, but you didn’t.

the rest of the drive home was silent. neither of them wanted to speak to each other, nor about the situation to avoid more arguments. when they finally got back to tannyhill, it was around 6:30 am, rafe got out and slammed the car door moodily.

“hey, watch it.” ward scolds him, pointing a finger at him as they both walk into the house. rafe avoids his bedroom with you in it, walking past it to get to the guest room. he didn’t get any sleep all night, so he decided to have a nap.

when he woke up, it was almost 10 am. he got out of bed and left the guest room, checking if his bedroom door was open yet. and to his surprise, it was. he peeked into the room, only seeing you nowhere. moments later, he hears the sound of your voice coming from downstairs.

he makes his way down the stairs, where your voice gets closer and closer. finally, he spots you in the living room, sitting on the couch with his sister, sarah. you were really close to sarah, so obviously you’d already told her what happened last night. when you both saw rafe come into the room, your mouths fell silent. sarah’s eyes darted at rafe, giving him a look of disgust.

“hey y/n” he says, “can i talk to you?” he asks, eyeing his sister to get her to leave. “whatever you have to say to her, i wanna listen” sarah says, not moving from her seat. “no, get out” rafe bickers with her.

“no, i wanna listen too.” ward’s voice suddenly says as he walks in from the kitchen. rafe rolls his eyes at the fact his dad and sister wanted to hear his apology for themselves. he accepts that they aren’t going to leave, and he sits down next to you.

“y/n, i’m sorry” he says, more sympathetic than he was with his dad in the car. you didn’t know what to say, because it certainly wasn’t ok, but you still loved him regardless. “i didn’t mean to scare you like that, or hurt you…” he went on. after a little, sarah and ward could see he meant his words, and they didn’t need to be there anymore. they both got up and walked out, leaving you to be alone with rafe so you could talk it out.

“i know…” you respond quietly, looking down at your lap and fidgeting with your hands. “no, hey, i really mean it. i love you, i didn’t mean to act like that…” rafe grabs your hands, holding them which made you look up into his eyes. “i love you.” he says again.

“i love you too, rafe. i just wish you would’ve said sorry before you got arrested and spent the night in jail. i stayed up for most of the night feeling guilty.” you huff, knowing you shouldn’t feel guilty but you were unsure if you made the situation worse or not.

“don’t feel guilty, baby. none of it was your fault” he tells you, which calms your mind a little. “i didn’t mean to make you mad at the beach, it’s just, i—” you begin to explain, but he cuts you off. “no, no, shh. i shouldn’t have gotten angry at you, it was my fault.” he says, his hands still holding yours and rubbing them softly.

“i’m sorry baby, do you forgive me?” he asks, watching as you struggle to find the right words to say. “…yes, i forgive you. just, don’t do that shit again. you really scared me” you sigh, tearing up just thinking about the whole situation.

“hey, i know. shh, come here” he comforts you, pulling you into a hug. you rest your head on his shoulder, side hugging him back. after a few moments of silence and just hugging each other, ward walks back into the room to see how it went.

“everything ok in here?” he asks, seeing rafe nod in response. though he isn’t looking for rafe’s answer, he wanted yours. you look up at him, sniffling and wiping your tears away. “yeah” you tell him, he watches as rafe rubs your back to comfort you.

ward nods, seeing as you put your head down to look into your lap, he looks at his son with daggers to remind him to behave. you dread to think what he would do if rafe did something mean to you again.

THIS WAS SHORT. but as requested, here’s part 2! rafe is much less toxic in this one, obviously:) hope you guys enjoy! <3

@cameronluvr

[pluto247]

The Four Mistakes - pt 1

Katie McCabe x Reader

Warnings: Physical violence

I was by far the youngest player on the Arsenal squad at 17. I signed with Arsenal about a year ago when my foster parents decided that they did not want to have me in the house anymore. So when Jonas called and said that he wanted permission to have me sign a professional contract with Arsenal they immediately said yes. I was fine with that, they only gave me the bare minimum to take care of me besides signing me up for soccer. That is the only thing they did for me that I appreciated, even if it was to have me out of the house more often. 

I obviously could not live on my own, so I moved in with Katie McCabe. Jonas thought it would be nice for me to live with another Irish person. Probably thought it would make the transition a little easier for me, and it did. I feet comfortable living with her and cooper (I absolutely love cooper, he is the bestest boy). Living with Katie felt like home, I know that seems cliché but it was, she was like the older sister I never had. She cared for me, loved me and made me feel special. So after a year of living with Katie, I asked her to become my legal guardian and when she said yes I was ecstatic. I don’t think anything could top that feeling.

My foster parents were more than happy to transfer all legality to Katie, they never truly cared other than the fact that it made them feel better about themselves to adopt me. So when the day came that everything had finally gone though, and she was officially my legal guardian, I felt complete. 

******

Training had just finished up, and Katie was finishing getting ready to leave the locker room.

“Kid, are you coming home with me?” She looked over while grabbing her bag.

“No, I think I am going to study in the media room for a little bit. You know if I go home I will get distracted by the boy and not finish my homework. I need to finish my physics homework tonight so I can be on track to finish this module.” 

“Alright, let me know when you finish up and I can meet you halfway. I have to feed cooper and do our laundry.”

“Ok, I will.”

“See ya in a bit kid.” Katie finished, coming up to me and messing with my hair

“God Katie, I just brushed my hair!” I say while pushing her away, while she left the locker room.

“She only does it because she loves you.” Viv stated

“I know she at least likes me, but could she do it in a less annoying way?”

“Uh, no. Annoying is her love language.” Viv fired back. “Alright, good luck on your studies.” She said standing up.

I waved her and Beth goodbye and made my way to the media room. School was honestly quite easy for me, so when Jonas said that I needed to complete high school I was fine with it. I actually quite enjoyed it, especially since I was in an online school. I could do my coursework whenever and I didn’t have to interact with teenagers my age. So, I dove right into my homework. I was brought out of my head by hearing my phone ring, I blinked for what felt like the first time in two hours. I picked up the phone.

“Kid, are you coming home soon? It is dark outside.” 

“Shit, right. Sorry, I will pack up right now.”

“Oi, thats a pound in the swear jar.”

“That is so unfair, you curse all the time!”

“Just because I do it, doesn’t mean that you can do it.”

“What do you mean? That is totally how it works.”

“No swearing! What would Kim think? Anyways, do ya still want to walk or do ya want me to come get ya in the car?”

“Kim is Scottish, she doesn’t care and if we can still walk that would be nice, I need to stretch my legs a little bit, they are stiff.”

“Yea thats good, I will meet ya halfway. See ya soon kid.”

“See ya soon Katie.”

With that I hung up, finished packing up my bag and put it in my locker. I didn’t really like to do any school work at home because I always get distracted by other things I could be doing, like petting cooper or talking with Caitlin. Caitlin had made plans to hang out with Steph and Kyra earlier so she would not be at Katie’s, which was quite upsetting because Caitlin lets me pick the evening show whereas Katie puts on football every single night. 

Katie's house was only a twenty minute walk from the Arsenal facility and I was thankful that Katie allowed me to have some independence and walk around by myself. It made me feel like I was an adult without actually being an adult and have to worry about adult type things, if you know what I mean. The only thing that she required was that you not walk home by myself in the dark, so she always meets me halfway after the afternoon study session I so often did. 

I was in my own little world thinking about what I needed to finish tomorrow to still be on track to finish the module. That was my first mistake. 

All of a sudden I feel pressure on the back of my neck, and the next thing I know, I am being dragged into an alley and slammed face first into a brick wall. I grunted in pain as I tried to gather my bearings and understand what was happening. The right side of my face was being pushed into the brick wall, and there was still the pressure on the back of my neck.

“Oi, listen closely ya wee lass. Give me all your money and I won’t hurt ya.” A scruffy deep voice said

“I think it is a little late to not hurt me ya bastard.” I retorted. This was my second mistake

I hear a deep growl and that's when I feel myself being spun around, my back now roughly being forced into the brick wall. The pressure on the back of my neck moving to the front of my neck, redistricting my airflow just enough to be bothersome. I could see the man now, he looked homeless, he had a scraggly beard and wild eyes. The thing that really caught my attention was the knife he had in his right hand. This was bad, so bad. Silently, I was hoping Katie was just around the corner so that this interaction stops sometime soon.

“Don’t be a cunt now, give me all your money” He said, waving the knife in front of my face

“If ya would have asked nicely, then maybe, but ya threatened me ya dickhead. So no!”  I responded coarsely. That is when I made my third mistake, I raised my right hand and decked him as hard as I could. Honestly, this wasn’t the smartest move on my part given the current situation, but there was no way I was backing down now and showing weakness.

He stumbled back away from me, dazed. He had let go of me and I took a much needed gulp of air. He turned back slowly toward me looking a lot more unhinged than I could have thought. It made me afraid, so deathly afraid of what he might do to me now.

“Ya little shite, ya gonna regret that!” He yelled as he raised his knife. I tried to back up, but my back met the brick wall. 

I was cornered, shit. He lunged, trying to stab me in the leg. I tried to grab his wrist and prevent any stabbing but I missed, and the knife went straight through my right hand. Everything from that point on went in slow motion. I was so shocked that I  had a knife in my hand that I made the mistake of looking down at my hand. That was my fourth mistake.

 The man took that moment to punch me in the face with enough force to cause me to stumble and land on the ground. With my body against the wall, the man started to repeatedly kick me in the ribs. This was it, this is how I die. Attacked by a homeless man, I wasn’t even a legal adult. How could this be happening to me? The attack seemed to last a lifetime, but in actuality it was probably only a few seconds. Then all of a sudden, it all stopped.  

It took me a couple of seconds to look up, afraid he was waiting for me to look up. However, when I did you look I saw Katie absolutely demolishing this man with no clear intentions of stopping. She was repeatedly wailing on this man like her life depended on it. 

“Katie…” I managed to quietly voice. I am not even sure how she heard as I barely heard myself. But she was next to me in a second, cradling my face gently in both her hands. Her right hand, bloodied and bruised.

“Kid, oh my god. Are ya ok? Shit, um let's hurry up and get ya to a hospital.” She rushed to say, her voice strained holding her emotions at bay.

She helped me to your feet, it hurt like a bitch. My ribs were at least bruised, if not broken. I was incredibly unsteady so she wrapped an arm around my waist to support me. I leaned heavily on her as we hobbled down the alley in the direction of home.

[mookymilksims]

ULTIMATE Realistic Populated World Roleplay Mods | The Sims 3 | Guide and Tutorial

What's up everyone! Welcome back to my channel, I am super excited to give you guys this tutorial, I've been wanting to make it for awhile! I'm going to offer some alternative and lighter weight techniques on how you can populate your sims 3 world with a small combination of mods and households. I'm also going to show you how to tweak your ini files and how to actually create the lots in your world to simulate the best experience. Let's jump straight into the video because I am so excited to show you!

Ini Tweaks:

So the first thing you want to do is open your graphics rules ini file in your bin folder. You won't have to scroll or search , the cpu settings will be there as soon as you open the notepad file, change all of those numbers to 4. What this does is massively improves how the sims 3 engine allocates resources in your game. This alone will start sending more sims to more community lots naturally, without any mods. However, we are going to add some extra mods on top of this to help sims make more logical decisions on which lots they will visit, as well as insure that every lot a sim in your active household visits will autonomously send available sims there.

Before we get into the mods I need to explain two very important things to you first.

Community Lots and Households:

These are very important factors when you want to go about creating a more lively world. Contrary to old beliefs, you don't need over 50+ households to populate your worlds. And the smaller the world is, the less sims you'll actually need to fill it.

You also do not need every single community lot available to you in every world, either. In fact, the more optimized your community lots are in the world, the more likely sims will visit them on their own. I will explain this further in depth.

Let's start with community lots:

For example, if you have 3 gym lots in your world, sims will get very confused on which gym to visit. They won't just pick the gym closest to them, and the decision might be so taxing on their little minds they will more than likely choose to not go to any of the gyms altogether.

So if you want to see a more active Gym lot, only regulate this to one gym lot in your world. This may not have been the perfect example as most of you will already have one gym lot in your world, but then you should also notice that it's the easiest lot for the sims 3 engine to fill up. Because it's only one decision the townie sims have to make on where and how to visit this lot.

So for the bars and clubs in your world, you want to regulate this to one of each, and you could probably fit in a second one if you have the NPC's to fill it. Remember that the engine can't send sims to fill the lots if there aren't enough sims to fill it. You also have to factor in if those sims have children and their work hours as well.

So, I typically will make 2 dive bars, one will be a low end hole in the wall, and another will be on the whole other side of town in a completeley different theme or style, I try to incorporate new activites that you can't find on the other lot, so a pool table, karaoke machines, the bull rider, etc. I can get away with 2 dive bars because I use this fixed MSC mod, this mod fixes the EA LN oversight that didn't send townies to these lots very well, it adds a script that will automatically invite sims to these lots when your sim goes to them. So I don't have to worry too much about how many sims are available, as the mod does this for me and invites sims who are free without me having to do anything. The fixed MSC mod also applies to all of the LN lots, btw. And the reason why I keep emphasizing "Fixed" is because someone fixed the travel crash and error code 12 issue that was on the older builds.

As far as an exclusive lounge and dance club, I only make 1 of each. This gives me 3-4 options respectively to have an authentic bar hopping experience in my world. As I love doing this on my sims fun and wild night outs.

So when it comes to all of the other community lots, you already know to have one of each. The only other tip I can offer is that you don't want to put too many functional objects on these lots. As again, this could result in overloading a sims decision making process. The lot and sims become way more optimized when you give them less to do actually. This means you can create themed lots for very specific occasions. For example, when I downloaded a casino lot for my simler90 series, the lot had a ton of the gambling store objects, including a bunch of random objects that wouldn't neccassarily fit into this lot, which resulted in sims standing around a lot more and choosing to sit down instead. When I lowered the amount of functional objects, you begin to see sims gambling more as they now had a clearer reasoning path to decide on what objects to use. This resulted in the lot overall feeling and acting much more realistic, as I would enter the lot and see sims already gambling on it; acting like a real casino.

This is how I was able to understand the sims 3 engine and AI a lot better. We used to make 64 by 64 lots with a bunch of stuff and wonder why it was so laggy, empty, and when sims did get there they weren't really doing anything. You have to optimize lots to get a better aesthetic and gameplay experience.

A coffee shop should only have the ability to buy coffee and free space to sit and chat or use a laptop. This will force sims on this lot to just buy coffee and talk with sims while sitting down. So this lot will look and feel like an actual coffee shop.

So as a basic overview for the lots:

You now know to limit the amount of community lots actually available to all the sims in your world. This makes for a much more immersive experience overall, as sims will naturally populate these lots a lot more when given a reasonable amount of options to visit them.

You now know to limit the amount of functional objects on these lots so that when sims do decide to come to these lots, they will act in a much more realistic way on these lots resulting in a more immersive and roleplay experience.

So now if you are a builder, or just some who likes to remap your world to have a better gameplay experience, consider these steps above. Since you now know that you don't have to add every kind of community lot to get a more active experience, and in fact, this actually hurts the goal you're trying to achieve, remapping the world becomes less stressful and more strategic.

For example, if I have a fish village kind of world, this allows me to add new unique lots specifically for this world that would make more sense. I can send sims to a savvier seller fish market, this is functional, sims can come here and buy all kinds of fish. I can make a cozy cottage core type of wedding venue and winery, this could fit into this world. I could make a small camping lot that can only be reached through a hiking trail on foot, this could fit into this theme. When I think of a fish village I think about family play, so I could add a unique arcade, daycare, and adorable festival lot, where you could see some younger sims running around more frequently. I could make an old town themed pub as a dive bar. I would really only need one of these in this world, so it would be very active, especially at night. I could add an underground rave scene and give it the dance club community lot type, this could signal a small rebellion of these traditional fishery values in the village, and still be quite active, since there would be only 2 "party" lots for sims in this world to visit.

And etc, make the lots fit for your world, and limit the access to how many types of community lots there will be. This ensures more time spent on detail without having to worry about how full these lots would get, as you know they will be very full using this method.

As a final note, you also want to consider opening up your rabbit holes. While, you won't have to make them functional with zerbu's uc mod, you can make these lots functional using other techniques without having to sacrifice less activity. So for example, opening up the diner and bistro RH, allows me two external dining options for my sims. The diner could be a mcdonalds, and the bistro could be a benihana's. I typically roleplay this, like the diner rh being a nice chill hangout and eatery, and the bistro being a much more wealthier upscale place, I use the consort dress code mod, so you can only be in formal attire here, or you could combine this lot with an exclusive lounge and get play out of both types of lots on one optimized lot. Adding Ani's business as unusual set, a piano which will auto assign a pianist, some pretty ball room floors and deco, and you've got a perfect date night or mobster family dinner. Depends on your play style. Because there are 2 of these, the engine will send sims to these lots because it has the RH on them, and when sims get there they will use the menu's to sit down on there own and begin ordering.

So now let's talk about Households.

I made a pretty extensive guide about this on tumblr, which I will link. But as a basic overview, I figured out a couple years ago that you don't actually need a lot of sims in a world to make the world feel populated. However, if you do add a lot of sims, there are ways you can go about it, which isn't as taxing on the sims 3 engine. As you may have noticed, having a lot of sims in your world increases lag and freezing, this is because when you hit the world's limit of townies, you'll get a lot of routing errors (which cause the freezing), with too many community lot options they get confused on where to go change their mind half way, go somewhere else, too many objects on that lot, so an ai freeze when trying to decide what to do. This overall results in a chaotic and laggy experience.

In general, I like adding townies I will actually care about, but this number of households needs to be manageable. So I make around 10-12 official townie households in my world, with a lot of detail on their cas and homes. I decorated their homes in the same way I would mine, because I'm more than likely to actually visit these sims in their homes. This means I can remove all the other houses in my world, because I don't want SP to fill these homes with more sims I don't care for, and will add more strain on the engine anyway. This also leaves more room to configure where I'll be placing my optimized community lots. Don't worry, when I want to world to look like it's more populated than it really is, I add deco buildings, homes, and sims.

Then I add, NPC households. This is an interesting and amazing method because of how it works. I make a very basic home, usually in a basement, with 8 beds, 1 bathroom and 1 kitchen. Just the basics, no cc or detail or decor. Then I add 8 sims. This could be single men/women, teens, children, cashiers, robots, elves, etc.

This is how I can begin to actually populate my world with very little strain on the resources in the sims 3 engine. You see, when sims don't have any way to entertain themselves, or advance their skills, or fulfill their wishes, they are pushed more than ever to LEAVE the home to achieve this. This means you'll see 8 sims from each NPC household more than likely OUTSIDE than sitting in their homes. The engine seems to spend a lot more resources on maintaining the townies when they are in their homes more than when they are visiting a community lot. I noticed this when I had a lot of townies in their homes, without any of these mods or ini tweaks, I had a significant lag because the engine was micro managing all of those sims in their individual homes. This removes so much strain on the engine, when all it has to do is force the sims to leave their homes, as also mentioned before, the engine spends less time on extending resources to them on community lots vs when they are in their homes.

So esentially, what I've done here, is given my engine a huge break, allowing it to allocate ram and resources much more effectively and much quicker, while at the same time introducing more sims into the world without the engine thinking this = more strain.

The third and even less engine intensive technique I use is, Arsil's custom role generator mod. This allows me to add any kind of sims I want, that the engine doesn't actually have to control or allocate, as this mod is a script and sims from this script are seen as bin sims/service sims. They simply disappear back into an invisible bin until their shift starts. So if I want to add regular customers to my Benihannah's without worrying about the strain on my engine I can achieve this effortlessly. However, I use this method on lots that aren't seeing a lot of activity. Keep in mind, everyone builds their worlds differently, and there are many factors to consider why a sim may not be as interested in one community lot as others, while this is mostly self explanatory sometimes, this isn't as cut and dry. So, for example, I notice that unless my sims actually visit the beach lots in my worlds, there won't be a lot of sims on it. Sometimes, there will be one or 2 sims, but in general, it doesn't see a lot of action. So I set a seasonal lot marker on the lot, and then proceed to add 4-6 new custom role markers (I transmogrify them into beach deco items, to blend in), I set this up for the summer time, as this would make the most sense for more sims to visit. And then I add a bunch of deco beach sims to the lot on top of that. That way when my sims visit the beach, it will already have 4-6 sims on it, but it will look like 20 sims are there, and the engine will probably send 5-8 more sims which will result in a very active lot everytime I visit.

This is how you can utilize the arsil technique to gain more popularity on lots.

Which leads to my next point, consider what is actually about the population that you care about so much? For me, I want the world to look full without the lag. I was able to achieve this with deco sims. The engine doesn't have to do anything at all for this, as deco sims are objects. I want to play on lots where I could take a screen shot without having to even set up a scene, like for instance making the lot look and feel full. Deco sims are already posed, so all I have to do is move them into place. I have learned how to severely decimate these objects to make them completely playable in the sims 3, so I am going to have a lot of fun converting ts4 deco sims to ts3. This is going to be perfect for my building and roleplaying style.

For me, a townie that I don't care for might as well be a deco sim, the only use I have for them is to decorate the background of my screen shots. That may sound harsh but it's the reality. I make every sim in my world with intention. If I can't see you being an enemy, lover, friend, at some point in my story, then the sim isn't useful to me. And if the sim isn't manning a savvier seller station, or cooking and serving at my benihanna's then what are you even doing here other than taking up resources? I wouldn't even care for the sim to populate my UC lots, because I can just use deco sims for that, too.

Understanding these new household techniques, combined with your new understanding of community lots creates a POWERFUL new experience that's results in smoother/faster gameplay on active and filled community lots.

So in general, you actually want to have more townies than community lots. You can achieve both without lag using my NPC households method, and more strategically themed community lots together. This means all of your community lots will more than likely always be active no matter what your sim is doing in the world.

And now we are going to add mods on top of that.

We already discussed the fixed MSC Mod. So let's move on to the others.

I know most of you were expecting to see the Lot Population mod on this list, but I'm going to tell you exactly why it isn't. The mod teleports sims randomly around my world, the mod promised to send sims to lots they would actually visit, and even according to the season, but I didn't see this result. Instead, sims, no matter what their personality was, were randomly appearing at every lot I paused an looked at. I wouldn't even be sending my sims to this lot, I'd just be looking at the lot, this often resulted in freezing, hiccups, and slight lag. If I had more than one sim in my household out and about and I switched over to other sim, I would see the same sims I just saw across town pop out over there. This broke my immersion by a lot. Not only that, but a lot of these sims would be using objects, with props, and when being teleported it temporarily broke the interaction, which resulted in props and objects floating in mid air, or being unusable, or showing up on other lots where it wouldn't even be possible for those objects and props to show up. This caused routing and script lag in my game by a noticeable amount. I was on a reduced version, and still noticed these issues. I really wanted to like this mod, and if it didn't break my immersion and cause more performance issues, I would otherwise love it. But unfortunately, I had to find some lighter alternatives that handled both of the issues I noticed with this mod.

This leads me to the Get out project, or you could of course just download arsil's script yourself and tweak the settings to your liking. BoringBone's tweaks the settings of Arsil's script and includes his own mods in a few modules to balance out the tweaks he made as well as enhance the overall experience.

These are the modules I downloaded for my mod list: Pedestrians Smart Vehicles

With all of these mods combined, sims are being pushed out and about in the world immediately, consistently, reasonably, while still allowing some sims to stay home. Which is another issue I had with the lot population mod. There were never any sims at home. This caused issues when townies threw parties, and invited me, I would go and no one would be home; so no party. This caused issues when I wanted to visit a friend I made in their homes for story telling and gameplay purposes, because they weren't home to open the door. This caused issues when inviting sims out, going on dates, inviting sims over. They would be randomly selected to teleport to another lot my other sim was on so it would completely break these interactions. The get out script isn't that invasive. It doesn't break these features and interactions, sims aren't being teleported, they are choosing to visit more lots more frequently. If they throw a party, or invite me out, or I invite them out, the EA script function takes back over and allows me to actually see the end of these interactions. On top of that, there wasn't any lag with this mod installed, as sims would be doing what the engine is already coded for them to do, just more of it; visiting community lots. The mod also adds walk abouts like how you'll see in the TS4, which I also combine with Shimrod's townies out on the town, where you'll see double the amount of walkabouts, while also extending a reasonable and light weight function to populate the lots in between.

Combing this with the Supreme AI mod, unlocks the sims AI in very innovative ways, for this particular guide, the supreme ai mod allows sims to make more logical decisions on which community lots to visit based off of their traits. While it's not completely set in stone, and still has a randomized feature which adds more interesting outcomes, now you'll see a lot more athletic sims at the gym, sims with hampers in their home at the laundromat, rebels and part animals at bars, clubs, and arcades, teens and kids at parks, arcades, libraries, the pool, etc. Let alone all of the other changes included in this mod, it has to be recommended for the logical fixes it applies to EA's system of how sims decide to go where.

The last mod I want to recommend here is the nana no shop in RH's. This mod makes it so sims no longer autonomously visit and enter RH lots. If you ever wondered where all your sims were, and you knew they weren't working at the time, they were probably inside of a RH. The game pushes them to sit inside of them for an extended period of time, this is to simulate to the player that the townies are alive and doing their own things. This isn't a problem in an unmodded game, however, when you're like me and open up your RH anyway, this mod would be a perfect enhancer, it still sends sims to my opened RH lots, and RH's in general like to eat outside of a bistro or diner, but it no longer allows them to enter RH's and sit inside of them. This means more sims who are available to visit community lots actually visiting those lots. Townies don't need to go grocery shopping in the RH because they can automatically get their ingredients from the fridge, with whatever recipes they choose to cook. The only reason a townie would need to visit the hospital is if they are giving birth. Unless a sim works at the police department or is going to jail, they don't need to be there, either. And well, you get the point. Any need for a RH for townies will be assigned to their tasks and they will be unable to take it off, this is for what they NEED. When you want to actually see those townies around town instead of sitting in RH's, this mod fixes that issue altogether.

So now I'm going to go in game and show you the kind of results that you can expect by following this guide.

First I will show you the normal populated world, this is what you're used to seeing in game. Then I will show you what it looks like when you optimize your community lots and add my NPC Household method. Let's begin!

Conclusion: As you all saw the massive difference in gameplay, either one still works out much better than the normal EA lot population method. So you can play this in either style. With my NPC household method and more optimized community lots this just promises better performance with populated lots, significantly. You don't have to follow this method, you can just use the guide and mod collection outlined here!

I want to thank you all for joining me , I am so happy I finally got to show you guys how to populate your worlds lag free, I love all of the support I've been getting, you guys are just so awesome! I have more videos coming for you so I'll see you in the next video!

Mod links:

MSC Fixed mod get out supreme ai shimrods townies out on the town

nana no shop in RH's

Arsil Custom Role Generator

[joeys-babe]

Joey B Blurbs: Hickey

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Summary: You prank Joe by using makeup to create a fake hickey on your neck.

Warnings: Fluff, slight sexual tension, unserious/funny, pranks!

Pairing: Joe Burrow x reader

Imagine Universe: Into The Mystic

A/N: Part 1 of Blurb Night! (Sneak Peak)

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No particular date for this blurb!

Joe and I were currently cuddled up in bed. The twins were already asleep, and they had been for hours. I lay restless due to the baby doing somersaults in my stomach.

“Gah-lee!” - Joe

“Did you feel that?” - you

“Yes! She's not letting up at all, baby.” - Joe

“It’s your fault! You make me sit in the living room and watch UFC with you, she’s probably reenacting everything you commentate to my stomach!” - you

“Aye, let's not point fingers!” - Joe

I rolled my eyes, which Joe didn't like a bit.

“Don’t roll your eyes at me.” - Joe

“You’re not the boss of me.” - you

Joe leaned forward, his lips just barely hovering over mine but not quite touching them.

“I think you’re forgetting who’s in control here, mama. Need a reminder, maybe?” - Joe

His blue eyes flashed darkly as Joe trailed his hand down my arm, over to my belly, and down.

Just as his lips were about to meet mine, the baby kicked as hard as she had all night.

Joe groaned as he pulled away and flopped onto his back.

“You just got cockblocked.” - you laughed

“Probably for the better. Baby girl knew I needed to get ahold of myself since we aren't doing anything like that while you're pregnant.” - Joe

I rolled onto my side and placed my hand on his bare lower stomach, some of my hand covering the waistband of his boxers.

“I don't care to get you off, Joe. All you gotta do is ask.” - you

“You know I can’t do that. I can't just let you pleasure me, and you get nothing in return.” - Joe

My eyes were glued to Joe’s hand as he reached down and rearranged his forming hard-on. God, I wanted him so bad.

“I- I'm gonna splash some cold water on my face…” - you

Joe mumbled a ‘k’ as I quite literally rolled out of bed. I went into the bathroom and shut the door behind me.

After splashing some water on my face, I took a few deep breaths in an attempt to calm my raging hormones.

Why does Joe have to be so sexy without trying? I asked myself in a whisper.

I pulled my phone out to check my notifications because there's nothing less sexy than business emails.

That's when I got the idea to prank Joe. It'll be a way to calm us both down and kill some time since there's no way baby girl is settling down anytime soon.

After scrolling through my saved videos, I found the perfect one.

——

“You okay? You were in there for a while.” - Joe

“I’m fine. Just needed to cool down.” - you

“Sorry, guess that's my fault for getting worked up.” - Joe

I got into bed and rolled over into Joe’s chest, scratching my nails over his back.

“Don’t be sorry.” - you

Joe sighed out of contentment and began running his fingers through my hair. He knew I hated it when my hair touched my neck, so Joe began moving my hair away from my neck.

“I love you.” - you

The sentiment made him smile, his eyes still focused on his fingers running through my hair.

His mouth opened, about to say the statement back, but the only thing that squeaked out was a gasp.

“Joe?” - you

“Did you burn yourself curling your hair yesterday?“- Joe

“No… why?” - you

“There's a huge mark on your neck.” - Joe

“Oh.” - you

I reached up and pulled my hair to cover the mark back up. My heart fluttered at the realization that Joe didn't have the same reaction to the prank as most other partners have.

“What is that then? Did you hit your neck on something?” - Joe

Letting him stew over the options for a little bit, I couldn't help but bust out laughing after a few minutes of silence.

“Why are you laughing? That looks like that hurts, baby. Why didn't you tell me? Do you need ice… or ointment?” - Joe

“Joe…” - you laughed

“What?!” - Joe

“It's a prank! It’s supposed to be a hickey.” - you

He stared at me dumbfounded, confused more than anything.

“How is that a prank? I'm the only person giving you a hickey, so if you had one, I would know about it.” - Joe

“You were supposed to think another guy gave it to me, but I think it's sweet your mind didn't go there.” - you smiled

“Oh! No, I never would’ve guessed that. I know I'm the only guy you have eyes on.” - Joe

I rested my hand on Joe’s bare chest, and we lay face to face, just looking into each other’s eyes. It was a sweet moment, and just as Joe began leaning in to kiss me…

The baby kicked again. Joe jumped back and groaned out of annoyance, but I was laughing my head off.

“Damn it!” - Joe

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Authors note: Can y’all tell that I'm ovulating 💀

This idea came from some TikToks I've seen!

Hope you enjoyed! 💕

[robertreich]

Think Tipping Is Out of Control? Watch This.

TWO DOLLARS AND THIRTEEN CENTS AN HOUR.

That’s how much millions of American workers are paid under the federal subminimum wage — which was set all the way back in 1991.

While many think tipping for services has gotten out of control, arguing over who deserves a tip and how much they should get distracts from what we should really be angry about: business models that depend on not paying workers a living wage.

It’s bad enough that the federal minimum wage is a measly $7.25 an hour. But employers are allowed to pay tipped workers just $2.13 an hour because supposedly the workers will be able to make up for it in tips.

Saru Jayaraman of One Fair Wage has been advocating to change this absurd and exploitative law. I asked her to share with us FOUR big reasons why we need to get rid of the subminimum wage and pay service workers a full living wage with tips on top.

Number 1: Workers who earn a subminimum wage often end up making less than the minimum wage

43 states currently allow certain workers to be paid a subminimum wage. Employers in these states are legally required to make up the difference if a worker’s combined wage and tips don’t reach the full minimum wage. But over a third of tipped workers report that their bosses regularly fail to do this.

That’s because enforcement of wage laws is lax, and it makes it easier for employers to get away with shortchanging staff.

Number 2: The subminimum wage perpetuates gender discrimination and harassment on the job

More than two-thirds of tipped workers — 70% — in the U.S. are women. And one in six women that work a tipped job are living in poverty — that’s nearly 2.5 times the rate for workers overall.

Since workers earning the subminimum wage are so dependent on tips to make a living, they are put in situations where they have to tolerate inappropriate customer behavior. A staggering 76 percent — that’s more than three-quarters of tipped workers — have reported experiencing sexual harassment on the job. And that only got worse during the pandemic.

Number 3: Tipping is actually a relic of slavery

Tipped workers are disproportionately people of color. And Black service workers in particular consistently earn less, including tips, than their white counterparts for doing the same job.

Look, this inequity of the subminimum wage is tied to America’s history of structural racism.

Following the Civil War, tipping was used as a racist solution by employers who didn’t want to pay formerly enslaved Black workers. So by allowing them to pay their workers just in tips rather than a wage, employers were able to avoid directly paying these workers.

Number 4: Paying workers a living wage plus tips is actually better for business — and our economy.

Corporate lobbyists, particularly for the restaurant industry, warn that paying workers a full minimum wage with tips on top will be devastating to businesses. But research shows these fears are completely overblown.

So far, seven states have replaced their subminimum wage for tipped workers with a higher minimum wage that still allows for tips on top. These seven states are actually faring better than the 43 states with subminimum wages for tipped workers — both in the number of restaurants and number of people employed by restaurants. And take home pay for restaurant servers and bartenders in these states was 24% higher than in states with a wage of just $2.13 an hour.

Workers at restaurants that have scrapped their subminimum wages in favor of higher minimum wages with tips on top are more productive, happier, and less likely to quit their jobs. This alone helps business owners cut employee turnover nearly in half. This is especially important following the pandemic, when restaurants are facing historic staffing shortages because over 1 million workers have left the industry due to low pay.

So not only have higher wage states been able to maintain their industries, but workers are more productive, getting paid more, and less likely to live in poverty.  

And when workers have more money, they spend more money — stimulating their local economies in the process.

And for the first time in 30 years, workers are winning on this issue, like in DC and Chicago and a dozen other states.

The bottom line is that ending the subminimum wage for tipped workers is better for workers, it’s better for business, it’s better for our economy — and it’s the right thing to do.

[mikeysw1fey]

my friends sister

pairing: jenna ortega x female reader

warnings: none just fluff

a/n im so gay guys. holy fuck. and jenna is just soooo hot.

I’m not sure when I figured out Jenna wasn’t just my best friends sister. When she became more.

Aliyah didn’t know. I couldn’t do that to her. What kind of friend would I be if I told her I was inexplicably and irrevocably in love with her older sister?

So it has to end, I have to turn her back into just my best friend sisters. Yet, Jenna’s face continues to plague my mind like a bad dream. One that had zero sign of ending.

Running my hands down my face, skin stretching at the pressure I groan and launch myself face first atop my bed.

Why had I promised Aliyah I would stay at hers tonight? Jenna was of course going to be there. I mean she lives there. Fuck.

My phone buzzes under my stomach forcing me to turn over and squint at the messages on my lock screen.

Aliyah of course. Her texts continue to come in as she begs me to come over now with the simple excuse of ‘I’m bored’.

Rolling my eyes doesn’t stop the messages which leaves me with no choice as I respond with an all capitals FINE.

I arrive at Aliyahs house in a little less than ten minutes, texting her a quick ‘I’m here’ before walking towards the front door and knocking.

The door swings open before I can place my hand at my side revealing the one person I did not want to see today.

“Hey,” Jenna smiles as me, her pearl white teeth causing my cheeks to turn red. “Hi.” I remain outside, frozen, as she chuckles. “You can come inside you know .” She shakes her head and opens the door wider allowing me to walk in.

“Right, thanks.” I nod heading into the house I had been in a million times before. “I like your shoes.” Jenna’s voice is soft, glancing at the converse I had on my feet. I frown for a split second, I had worn these shoes to this house for the past four months. “Thanks, I like your… face.” I blurt out, internally slapping myself in the face. But before Jenna can reply Aliyah comes bounding down the stairs and tackles me in a hug basically saving me from extreme embarrassment.

“Dude, I have to show you this crazy ass movie, it’s gonna scare the shit out of you.” Aliyah tugs on my arm pulling me away from Jenna and up the stairs. I glance over my shoulder for a second, instantly blushing as Jenna’s eyes catch my own and her lips turn up in a small smile.

“Ok what movie?” I ask planting myself on Aliyahs bed as she moves her laptop from her desk to beside me. “Well it’s kinda basic but I wanted to watch it. Scream.” She laughs as I raise an eyebrow. “Isn’t Jenna in it?”

“Well yeah but only the fifth and sixth one so we don’t have to see her. Thank god!” She shrugs leaning back against the bed. “Oh yeah…Right, thank god.” I reply following her movements.

Hours pass, the light slowly dimming as we watch Scream 1 to 3 before I hear slight snoring from beside me. “Aliyah.” I whisper turning to see her passed out silhouette. I laugh silently before turning off the laptop and moving it to safety.

“I’ll be back, I’m going to the toilet.” I whisper to no one in particular seeing as Aliyah is sleeping. Creeping out into the dark hallway, I move towards the bathroom before letting out a shriek as a hand grips my shoulder.

Turning on the spot I shove the person into a wall, holding their shoulders tightly. “Hello to you too?” Jenna’s voice makes me cringe as I recognise her, a subtle frown on her face. “You shouldn’t scare people after they have just watched a horror movie.” I breathe placing a hand on my heart after I remove my hands from her shoulders.

Jenna chuckles moving closer to me. “My apologies.” She whispers ghosting her hand over my own. My breathing begins to speed up at the close proximity of our faces in the darkness.

Silence fills the air, the tension so thick I could almost see it. “So, you like my face?” Jenna smirks, her teeth almost glowing in the moonlight. “Oh, uh. That didn’t mean to sound as stalkerish as it did.” I sigh glancing at the floor only for Jenna’s finger to tilt my chin back up to look at her.

“Well for your information I like your face too.” She whispers glancing down at my lips as she does. Her breath tickles my mouth as she leans in closer, our lips basically touching. “Tell me if you don’t want this.” She whispers seriously. “I want this. I want this.” I reply before surging forward and connecting our lips.

Jenna moans against my mouth, her hand rushing to the back of my neck to pull me deeper into the kiss as my hand presses her waist flush against mine. “My room?” Jenna pants pulling away slightly. I bite my lip unsurely as I glance back to Aliyahs room.

“Your sister…” I trail off, Jenna’s hand moves to my cheek, thumb stroking my cheekbone gently. “My sister won’t know, it’s just for a few hours and she’s asleep right?” Jenna smiles.

“Oh, just a few hours?” I frown and Jenna stammers slightly, confidence faltering. “No I just meant like you would only be in my room for a few hours, this,” She gestures to the two of us. “Isn’t just a few hours.” I nod slowly before pressing my lips against hers softly. “Ok.”

Her hand intertwines with mine as she takes me towards her room. Jenna’s quick to close the door as we enter before pressing me down against the bed and crawling on top of me. “Kiss me.” She whispers and I nod not needing any further instructions as I pull her head down to my own connecting our lips.

Waking up the next morning, I groan as the light floods into Jenna’s bedroom. I mumble to myself before turning to the body wrapped around my own. Jenna. Shit. Realisation rushes through me. I never went back to Aliyahs room last night. “Jenna, Jenna wake up.” I gently shake the girl who groans and buries her face into my chest even further. I pause admiring her for a second before a cough from the door way attracts my attention.

“I fucking knew it.” Aliyah stands at the door with her hands on her hips, one eyebrow raised, staring at the two of us. My eyes widen as I scramble out of bed effectively waking Jenna up who curses as she catches her sister at the door.

“I knew you two had a thing. Ooh this is so cute.” Aliyah squeals. I pause in my haste to come up with an excuse. “You what- so you aren’t like fuming?” I scoff wrapping my arms around my knees as I bring them to my chest. “Im a little pissed that you didn’t tell me that MY SISTER is the one you are in love with. And Im pissed that Jenna didn’t tell me that my best friend is the person she’s crushing on. But whatever. I think you guys are cute. But if you break her heart Jenna I’ll slaughter you.” Aliyah grins before clapping her hands together and leaving.

“That went better than expected.” I breathe, the anxiety crushing my chest finally disappearing. Jenna simply nods with a smile before moving over to me and wrapping her arms around my shoulders.

“So your in love with me hmm?”

[vashtijoy]

why everybody is wrong about the unlock date for akechi's rank 6 (and why it matters)

So It Is Known that Akechi's rank 6 unlocks on 9/3, right? That's the first day he'll show up in Leblanc to go to the bathhouse and tell you about his sad backstory (again). That is his unlock date. R...ight?

Game says no.

This is the function that (usually) tests Akechi's rank 6 time lock, SUB_COOP_TIME_[L]OCK6(). What does it do? It sets a bit, 0x1 831, if we fail the check. Which we will unfailingly do on every single day within a specified date range. And what is that range?

That range is between 4/1 and 8/28.

Read that again. Not 9/2, the day before 9/3. 8/28.

The same 8/28 we all know and love for, uh, some reasons:

That's right. The reason Akechi's confidant is locked until 9/3, the reason he has not one but two "let me tell you about my backstory" events inside of a week, is that one triggers the other.

Akechi shows up at Leblanc on 8/28. He finds a listening ear, and a shoulder to cry on—because, remember, we're smack in the middle of Akechi Hate Month:

This kid, who is so desperate for attention and approval that he's become a mass-murderer over it, is now in the middle of a public hate storm. And on 8/28, you listen to him. You make him welcome. You accept him for who he is—at least, for a little part of who he is.

And so he comes back less than a week later. On 9/3.

if he unlocks on 8/29, why 9/3?

Akechi's availability is often quite limited. Between 8/28 and 9/3, he's only available on one day, 8/30—though if you're already at rank 5, you can't do anything with him then.

Why doesn't he come to Leblanc on 8/30?

The Leblanc field (areas in P5 are technically known as fields) calls a very long, very unedifying function called NPC_FLAG_SELECTOR(), to see which NPCs it should load when. In short? It does this by testing the day of the week.

GET_DAYOFWEEK() returns a number between 0 (Sunday) and 6 (Saturday). So, because Akechi will only come to Leblanc if GET_DAYOFWEEK() returns 6, Akechi will only ever come to Leblanc on Saturdays.

And the first Saturday after 8/29? It is, of course, 9/3.

why does this matter?

Does this change anything? In practical terms, no. Akechi is still always going to be inaccessible for rank 6 until 9/3. But does it confirm anything about him? Well, yeah.

Akechi's rank 7 unlock really is on 11/2, the morning he tells you "I was working last night, so I'm tired today"—that time lock terminates on 11/1. His skill checks (Knowledge and Charm) are all exactly what you think. He even has a hidden lock for rank 8 (still called a time lock by the code) which verifies that he's currently a team member and won't let you proceed otherwise; that, too, acts exactly as you'd expect.

It's rank 6 which turns out to have this secret, to truly be as closely connected to 8/28 as it always appeared. Akechi comes to Leblanc in his hour of need, and he finds something—and then, the next day, he wants more.

And so he comes back—the very next evening he can get away to spend time in Yongen-jaya.

(Incidentally, I'm pretty sure Akechi lives in Kichijoji, and this kind of backs that up. It's the sort of super-trendy place he'd make a show of liking, and in fairness, he clearly does like it. He can only come to Yongen on Saturday nights because it's a lot of travel, close to an hour each way in the early evenings. But Kichijoji? He can hang out there far more often—because it's right on his doorstep.)

revision history

Click here for the latest version.

v1.0 (2023/12/26)—first posted.

[hookhausenschips]

You Will Never Be Lovelier Than Now {OP81}

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Summary: In the whirlwind world of Formula 1, a digital artist finds an unexpected love in the form of Oscar, a philosophical racer whose life is lived at breakneck speed. Their unconventional relationship leads them to elope in Iceland, forging a sanctuary away from the public eye and redefining the meaning of love amidst the chaos of their fast-paced lives.

Taglist

—————————————————————

It all started in the rush of engines and the thrill of the chase, under the bright lights of the Formula 1 circuits. I met Oscar at a post-race event, one where the sparkle of champagne wasn’t nearly as dazzling as the conversation we fell into beside the polished silver trophies.

He was all smiles, bashful yet confident in a way that only those who have mastered the art of racing at over two hundred miles per hour could be. His Australian accent, coupled with genuine enthusiasm about my far less glamorous career in digital art, was endearing.

We talked long into the night, the initial spark ignited by shared interests in technology, speed, and a peculiar fondness for quiet moments amid chaos. Oscar was different. Beneath the racer’s helmet and the public persona, I discovered a philosophical soul who questioned everything around him, including the very nature of our fast-paced lives.

Our relationship progressed with the speed reminiscent of his races. We spent months together, jet-setting from one country to another, our lives a blur of new cities, exotic foods, and the ever-present roar of the crowd. But in those rare moments of stillness—the soft, early mornings when the world was just ours—we shared fears and dreams. It was during one such morning, while watching the sunrise over the marina in Monaco, that I realized how deeply I had fallen.

Oscar’s career was skyrocketing, and with each race, his life became more public. Mine, however, remained shrouded behind screens, crafting visuals that perhaps thousands would see but never attribute to a face. The disparity in our worlds brought an acute awareness of the fleeting nature of our time together.

“Any moment might be our last,” I murmured one evening while we lay on a secluded beach in Spain, watching the stars, a rare escape from the public eye. “Everything is more beautiful because we’re doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now. We will never be here again.”

Oscar turned to me, his expression thoughtful, the sea breeze ruffling his hair. “Then let’s not waste any of our moments,” he replied, his hand squeezing mine. “Let’s make them all count.”

The idea of eloping came naturally. We didn’t want the pomp and spectacle that would undoubtedly accompany a traditional wedding, especially with his rising fame. We craved simplicity, the authenticity of a moment shared without the world watching.

We chose Iceland, a land as wild and beautiful as the life we lived. No reporters, no cameras—just the raw landscapes and the promise of starting our life together enveloped by the drama of volcanoes and ice.

The ceremony was nothing more than us, a local official, and two witnesses from the quaint inn where we stayed. We spoke our vows amidst the windswept plains near the Eldhraun lava field, the green moss underfoot vibrant against the gray skies, a stark contrast to the colorful, ever-moving paddocks of Formula 1.

On that windswept plain in Iceland, with only the stark, raw beauty of nature as our witness, Oscar and I stood hand in hand, ready to commit our lives to each other in a ceremony as unconventional as our journey together. The chilly breeze tugged at our clothes, a stark reminder of the solitary path we were about to take. Here’s what I remember of our vows, spoken from the heart, each word a promise carved into the time we chose to create together.

Before saying his vows, Oscar stood silently beside me, taking in the stark, raw beauty of Iceland's landscape. The windswept plains seemed to echo the tumultuous excitement he felt inside. He looked out over the horizon, where the cold, majestic beauty of the volcanic earth met the soft grey of the sky, a perfect backdrop for such a momentous step in our lives.

In those few quiet moments before he began to speak, Oscar seemed to gather not just his thoughts but also the enormity of the commitment we were about to make. His eyes, usually so clear and focused whether on the track or off, were deep pools of emotion, reflecting a mix of anticipation, joy, and a profound sense of responsibility.

He took a deep breath, the kind that steadies nerves and centers the heart, and when he turned to look at me, his gaze was intense and full of love. There was a slight quiver in his smile, betraying the nerves even a seasoned racer couldn’t completely hide at such a personal and pivotal moment.

Yet, there was also a steadfast certainty in his expression, a confident assurance that stepping into this new chapter with me was exactly where he wanted to be.

As he took my hands in his, giving them a reassuring squeeze, Oscar's reaction was one of deep commitment mixed with exhilarating excitement. He was about to declare his devotion in a setting far removed from the exhilarating roar of engines and cheering crowds, yet he was every bit as poised as he was at the starting line of a race. This was a different kind of adrenaline, one fueled by emotional depth rather than speed.

Then, with a voice clear and steady, touched by the softness that true vulnerability brings, Oscar began to speak his vows. Each word was imbued with the sincerity and earnestness of a man ready to navigate not just the highs of life but its unpredictable turns and challenges, all the while holding my hand.

“Y/N, before you entered my life, I lived in a world measured in milliseconds, a world of constant motion and noise. Yet, from the moment we met, you brought a serenity that slowed down those rushing seconds, making each one of them infinitely richer.”

As Oscar spoke his vows, the words seemed to reverberate through the vast, open landscape of Iceland, the weight and warmth of each sentence settling around us like a soft cloak. I listened, the wind carrying his voice, sometimes a whisper against the gusts, but each word struck a chord deep within me.

“I vow to be your sanctuary, just as you have been mine. In the high-speed chaos of my life—on tracks, under spotlights—I promise to be the peace we both seek when we come together. I will honor your dreams, for they are as beautiful and vast as the landscapes we now stand upon.”

His promise to be my sanctuary, just as I had been his, filled me with a profound sense of peace and belonging. The idea of being the calm in his tempestuous world, and him being mine, was something incredibly special.

As he spoke of honoring my dreams, standing by my side through every victory and challenge, a wave of gratitude washed over me. Here was a man who not only cherished me but respected and supported the paths I chose to wander, both with him and on my own.

“I promise to laugh with you, to lift you up on difficult days, and to share in your joy during the good days. Just as we share this quiet corner of the world today, I will share with you all my days, all my victories, and all my challenges.

With you, I am home. No matter where we are in the world, so long as I have your hand in mine, I am truly, deeply home. As we travel this life, I pledge to make our journey one of continual discovery, filled with love and understanding. I vow not just to grow old with you, but to grow with you, as we navigate the winding roads of our existence together.”

As he finished, with the declaration of being truly, deeply home whenever I was with him, tears welled up in my eyes. In the stark, raw beauty of our surroundings, Oscar’s vows felt like a beacon, guiding the way forward for us both. It wasn’t just about facing the world together; it was about creating a world of our own amidst whatever chaos lay beyond our control.

When it was my turn to speak, my voice carried my emotional response, quivering slightly but underscored by the strength of my feelings. I responded not just with words, but with every fiber of my being, ready to embark on this lifelong adventure with him.

Oscar’s vows had not just reached my ears; they had resonated with my soul, reinforcing that no matter where life’s races took us, we had already won by finding each other.

As I spoke my vows, I watched Oscar's reaction closely, acutely aware of the gravity of the moment. His face was a canvas of emotions, each word I spoke painting strokes of joy and profound love across his features.

As I finished, his hands tightened around mine, his voice catching slightly as he whispered, "Thank you," too overwhelmed for more words. We both laughed softly, a light, shared moment amidst the emotional intensity, acknowledging the tears that mirrored each other’s.

Yes, we both cried, not out of sadness, but from a profound sense of love and unity. These weren't just tears of joy; they were manifestations of the promise and passion that defined our relationship, a testament to the depth of our bond and the shared journey ahead. In that remote, windswept landscape, our vows became not just words but the very pillars upon which we would build our future.

“Oscar, you have shown me worlds I never imagined, and you’ve taught me the true meaning of passion—not just the passion one has for their craft, but for life, for love, for the quiet moments that exist between the noise. Today, as we stand surrounded by this eternal landscape, I vow to be your partner in every adventure, your confidante in every silence.”

Oscar's eyes, so often alight with a competitive fire on the racetrack, softened considerably, shimmering with moisture as my promises unfolded. There was a certain vulnerability in his gaze, a raw openness that perhaps only such solemn, sincere moments can draw out. As I pledged to stand by him through victories and challenges, to share in the vibrant tapestry of our lives together, his lips parted slightly, an unspoken acknowledgment of the depth of our commitment.

“I promise to support your dreams, to stand by your side as you continue to chase the horizon, knowing that when the sunset comes, it is you and I against the backdrop of the world. I vow to create with you a life that transcends the ordinary, a life that, like your races, is lived in vivid color, full speed, and with unbridled joy.”

When I vowed to create a life that transcends the ordinary, to weave our shared experiences into a narrative of mutual growth and exploration, a single tear escaped down his cheek. It was a silent testament to the emotions stirred by the promises we were making. Oscar is not one to cry easily, but the sincerity and the sacredness of the occasion—the stark, untouched beauty around us, the profound connection between us—moved him deeply.

In the noise of the crowds and the silence of our solitude, I will be there. I promise to listen, to hear not just your words, but the silent wishes of your heart. Together, we will write our story, not with ink, but with the moments we seize and cherish.

Oscar, in you, I have found my partner, my muse, my challenger, and my greatest comfort. I pledge to cherish this gift of love we have been given, to nurture it amidst our wanderings and wonderings. I vow to love you not just for who you are now but for who you will become as our lives unfold side by side.”

As I finished, his hands tightened around mine, his voice catching slightly as he whispered, "Thank you," too overwhelmed for more words. We both laughed softly, a light, shared moment amidst the emotional intensity, acknowledging the tears that mirrored each other’s.

Yes, we both cried, not out of sadness, but from a profound sense of love and unity. These weren't just tears of joy; they were manifestations of the promise and passion that defined our relationship, a testament to the depth of our bond and the shared journey ahead. In that remote, windswept landscape, our vows became not just words but the very pillars upon which we would build our future.

With these vows, spoken in the heart of Iceland's wilderness, we tied our lives together, not just in the presence of nature, but in the essence of our shared spirit—adventurous, unyielding, and deeply connected.

“Our lives have been a series of races, each more demanding than the last,” Oscar said, his voice steady against the wind. “But this… this is our circuit, the one we choose, the one we shape together.”

With rings exchanged and kisses shared, our commitment was sealed away from the world’s eyes, our hearts intertwined like the intricate paths of the courses he raced. We spent days exploring the rugged terrain, our nights filled with conversations about everything and nothing, our laughs echoing against the stark, expansive beauty of Icelandic nights.

When we finally returned to the public eye, it was as a united front. Oscar’s career continued to flourish, and I found joy in creating art that now sometimes featured hidden glimpses of our shared life, subtle textures in a digital landscape inspired by real emotions and adventures.

Eloping with Oscar didn’t just defy conventions—it redefined what our relationship meant in the grand spectacle of our lives. In the world of Formula 1, where every second on the clock counts, we found a way to make our own time, our own rules. We weren’t just bound by love, but by the shared understanding that in the whirlwind of our existence, we had carved out a sanctuary just for us, proof that even in the fast lanes, you can find a place to simply be.

After our quiet, intensely personal ceremony in Iceland, returning to the vibrant, bustling world of Formula 1 felt almost surreal. We knew the news of our elopement would soon ripple through the paddocks and beyond, sparking curiosity and surprise. Oscar and I decided to share our news with the McLaren team first, wanting them to hear it directly from us rather than through the whirlwind of media speculation.

It was during a pre-race team meeting at the McLaren Technology Centre that we chose to announce our marriage. The room was typically charged with the focused energy of upcoming races, engineers and strategists pouring over data and discussing logistics. Oscar squeezed my hand briefly before we both stood up, signaling a pause in the discussions.

"I have something personal to share with all of you," Oscar began, his voice steady but revealing a hint of his excitement. The room quieted down, all eyes on us. "Y/N and I decided to take a significant step in our relationship. We got married last week in Iceland, just the two of us, away from the racing world and everything else."

The reaction was immediate and overwhelmingly positive. Cheers and applause filled the room, the team expressing their happiness for us. The McLaren team had always been like a family, and their genuine enthusiasm and support were palpable.

Lando Norris, Oscar's teammate and one of his closest friends within the circuit, was among the first to leap up and congratulate us. His reaction was a mix of surprise and sheer joy.

"Man, you really pulled a fast one there!" Lando exclaimed, clapping Oscar on the back with a wide grin. "Couldn't be happier for you both. When’s the party, though? You know we have to celebrate this properly, right?"

Lando’s response was typical of his character—light-hearted and jovial, always ready to inject humor into any situation. It was clear from his reaction and the reactions of the others that the team not only supported us but was also eager to celebrate our union.

Later, the team’s principal offered his congratulations and spoke briefly about the importance of family and personal happiness, reinforcing the team's support for us both on and off the track. This gesture from the management meant a lot to us, affirming that we were part of an organization that valued its members deeply.

The news eventually did make its way into the media, and while the racing world buzzed with the unexpected announcement, the overwhelming sentiment mirrored that of our McLaren family—supportive, enthusiastic, and full of congratulations. The McLaren social media channels even posted a playful nod to our elopement, featuring racing-themed well wishes, which fans around the world echoed.

In the high-speed, high-pressure world of Formula 1, where personal lives often take a backseat to professional demands, the acceptance and celebration of our marriage by the McLaren team were not only a relief but a profound joy. It solidified our sense of belonging and underscored the deeply human side of the motorsport community.

Thus, as we move forward, every race, every city, and every fleeting moment carries the weight of our shared secret, a testament to the quiet understanding that what we have is ours alone—a circuit of our own, unmarred by the relentless ticking of the world’s clock.

—————————————

OP81 Taglist: @tallrock35, @yourbane, @evie-119, @asparklysoul, @dhanihamidi, @leclercdior, @ilivbullyingjeongin

F1 Taglist: @hiireadstuff, @really-fucking-tired, @donteventry-itdude, @spookystitchery

[euphoricfilter]

𝐒𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐀𝐧𝐱𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐲 | 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝟏𝟔

attempt #1

tags/ warnings: games designer! jungkook || non-idol au || established relationship || fluff || small brain jk is making a reappearance he's just a little silly

word count: 1.1k

notes: no taglist!!!!!

☆ collaboration with @bonny-kookoo 💕 ☆

☆ series masterlist

.　 . • ☆ . ° .• °:. *₊ ° . ☆.

“Y/n—baby” Jungkook almost slips over as he speeds into the living room, corner of the rug curled up just enough for him to trip over.

His eyes catch onto you, sprawled across the couch, movie running on the TV. Because as much as he planned to spend every moment with you on this trip, there was only so many times he could ignore the calls from his boss before he was toeing the line of losing his job.

You find it in yourself to pull your eyes away from the television, “Hmm?” you blink over at him, neck craned uncomfortably.

“I packed you a fancy dress, right?” he rushes, foot tapping against the floor.

You simply look at him for a moment, mind slowly whirring back to life as you recount what had been put in your suitcase before the both of you left. Vague memory of a nice outfit being folded beneath a pile of clothes.

“I think so…” you start, watching as Jungkook stalks across the living room.

His hands wrap around your arms, lifting you off the couch with ease, “We need to get dressed then” his hands linger over your warn skin a little longer, fingertips acting like magnet as he has to drag himself away from you.

“What?” you breathe, stumbling behind him as he slithers back into the bedroom.

He’s quick to unzip his suitcase, neatly folded clothes thrown onto the chair as he looks for something.

“What’s happening” you stand beside your own suitcase, entirely confused as to what was happening. It wasn’t exactly out of the ordinary for Jungkook to panic, mind always frazzled, and so you’ve taught yourself to figure out what exactly was going on inside his head before you chose to panic too.

“I booked a dinner at this restaurant—” he starts, throwing a suit onto the bed, “And I forgot It’s in less than an hour… and we’re not exactly dressed yet, and we need to drive there—”

“Jungkook” you call out his name.

He looks up at you with wide eyes, stray piece of underwear held in a tight fist as he swallows.

“Calm down” a gentle smile pulls onto your lips, “We have time. When’s the reservation?”

“6:30” he murmurs, shoulders losing that little bit of pent up tension.

“That’s enough time, okay?” you nod, “You can get ready before then, and so can I. You don’t need to panic”

“I know, it’s just—” he sighs, fingers tugging at his earrings, “I want this to be perfect. No, it needs to be perfect”

You step over your suitcase, crouching down beside him, “You’ve done a good job so far, so please stop stressing. It’s not good for you”

He presses his forehead against your shoulder, “I love you” he murmurs.

“Love you too” your fingers tangle into his hair, “Now get changed, or we really will be late”

.　 . • ☆ . ° .• °:. *₊ ° . ☆.

“One picture, please baby” Jungkook whines as he pulls his bag from the back seat of the car.

“And what if we’re late?” you peer through the passenger side widow at the time of the dashboard, keys still running the car.

“It’ll only take a minute” the car door slamming shut echoes through the empty car park, “You look too pretty, I need to document this moment forever” he tells you, entirely serious as he looks at you from over the hood of the car.

You glance over at the restaurant on the other side of the street, then back over at Jungkook.

“One photo… maybe two but the second one has to be the both of us” you mumble, arms crossed over your chest.

He slips around the front of the car, fingers gentle as they skim down the length of your arms. He leans down, lips soft against your cheek as he whispers out his thanks, kiss lingering over your warm cheeks.

He thinks the dinner is perfect, entirely enamoured by everything you say as you talk over dinner. Warm unfiltered, raw, perfect love bubbling within his heart, so fully of you, loving you, wanting to worship the ground you walked on.

There’s something entirely magical about the moment in Jungkook’s mind, candle on the table reflected like starlight in your eyes, restaurant mellow enough that it felt like it was only the both of you there. The world yours just for this moment, even if only a couple of hours. He’s happy as he watches you eat, cheeks aching from smiling at you so much though it’s the good kind of ache that reminds him of why he wants to spend the rest of his life with you.

“Let’s share dessert” you say as you look at the menu, “Or should we get one each and share both of them?” you run a finger over your bottom lip.

Jungkook’s eyes linger over your face, words barely registering in his mind before he’s telling you to order whatever you want.

“You’re not helping, Jungkook” you lay the menu flat on the table, “What do you want?”

“Whatever you want, baby” he pulls his chair a little closer to the table, wanting to be that little bit closer to you.

You narrow your eyes at him, “I want whatever you want”

“Liar” he chirps, “because I know for a fact there’s shit on that menu you wouldn’t even dream of eating, even if it is dessert”

“Touché” you pull the menu closer to you, “I want something you’ll like too”

“I like everything you like” he tells you.

“That’s not true”

He hums, “Name one thing you like that I don’t”

You pause for a moment, head tilting to look up at him, “What about…” you start, leaning back in your chair.

He opens his mouth, smug little smile on his face.

You stop him, “There definitely is something. Just give me time to think of it”

He laughs, head tipping back a little.

“While you think of that… and order dessert, I’m going to the bathroom” he pushes his chair back, leaning over the table to give you a gentle kiss before he’s slipping around tables towards the toilets, bag tucked under his arm.

And only once in the bathroom does he realise a flaw in his plan. He rummages through his bag, frantic as he sits on the toilet seat, feet tapping against the floor as he pulls everything out of his bag.

“Shit” he whispers.

He’d planned it out perfectly, ready to have the little velvety box tucked away in the pocket of his suit, ready to be yours as you walked along the beach. Secluded from the rest of the world because he knows not to ask you to be his in front of a crowd.  

He feels the panic settle beneath his skin, contents of his bag emptied over his lap, velvet box nowhere to be seen. Likely still tucked away between his clothes where you wouldn’t be able to stumble across it.

He holds his head in his hands, a long drawn curse falling past his lips.