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lains-reality · 9 months

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the 2 paths in nondualism.

this is kind of an answer to an anon, who kept id-ing as the body mind.

Hey, firstly thank you so much for all your amazing posts, I feel so good when I read them. I'm new to this concept and the thing that i wanna manifest is height. I mean i know all the information, I always try to apply. but how do get rid of the feeling that creeps up inside me every morning, when i wake up and see no difference in my height?

i already have a post on manifestation & an anon answer where they have a similar situation

i have written before that you don't need to get rid of feelings. they're rising up for you to release them, not resist them, accept that the feeling is there (& any other stories attached to it)

now see that you don't crumble or disappear when you feel bad? the feeling is not You, it's the characters

now i've felt like the emotional represenation of burning before (along the lines of "just kill me now 😭"), but! you are still aware during those times. you're still able to feel 'I AM'? then it's not you 'burning' its the character 'burning', but when you take yourself to be the character, you burn

you seek to get rid of the feeling because you think it's real, you see those stories the mind creates as real. you think they can do something to you. this can all be "fixed" with right identification

you wake up and see no difference because you see yourself as the character (body-mind). all is Self, all the bodies are yours. there's no separation

firstly, here's one reading and another i think you should read.

so in nondualism there are 2 paths to recognising you are not the body-mind. direct and indirect. i actually thought that the four yoga's were the pathways but i got them mixed up! but they are still useful and i'll talk about them in the end.

firstly, a nice disclaimer from reddit:

"I did what’s called “direct looking” or “direct pointing” which included meditation and it “took” 2 years. But be careful there, very careful. When we get in the mode of “attaining something” and being concerned with “how fast can I add this to ‘me’?” we are reinforcing the self we are hoping to directly see is not real. This will ALWAYS prolong or inhibit the seeing. Just do, don’t make it a ‘goal.’ Many people (most) fall into this trap at some point and ONLY THAT is what prolongs things. Like all of this, it is always a paradox! If it doesn’t ‘feel’ like an acceptance or surrender then something is not quite right. A ‘chase’ is not the right environment for seeing."

this is why i said in other answers to just go and live and love. do not prolong anything, you already are not the body. as a beginner you might want to decide how you're going to remember that though, hence why the paths exist.

source for the following paragraphs.

the direct path

All you need is to get rid of the tendency to define yourself. All definitions apply to your body only and its expressions. Once this obsession with the body goes, you will revert to your natural state, spontaneously and effortlessly. - nisargadatta 'i am that'

this path is based off just seeing that you are Self. abiding in awareness. sitting in it. kind of Just Do It vibe. this seems to suit a lot of us as it seems we have come from other teachings about consciouness

"... this direct path is quite a bit more effective for people who have gone through the progressive (indirect) path, so people who have tried everything or have lean into a certain sticking point that they never got past"

the direct path is described as experiential or contemplative and requires the mind to be a bit stable. able to stay on one track.

the indirect path

if you're not able to stay one track with the mind or bring yourself back to the truth, then this is what meditating, chanting, reading etc, is for. the meditations don't achieve realisation, they just prepare you.

"... but if you've come to it from never having done anything then it (direct path) can seem too abstract"

i think you'll go back and forth between both. no need try and discern between what you're doing though.

i like conviction and self inquiry, which is what nisargadatta says to his followers. but do what you want! as long as you remember who you are, it doesn't matter what you do.

the only thing that i'd really recommend is self inquiry.

tbh i've never cared about the direct or indirect path. the yoga paths seemed to be more practical? like i'd read something and i'd be able to tell 'oh they seem to be focused on self surrender'. anyway i'll talk about them now.

in summary, (reddit is a mess, but the answers always come through!)

Direct path = accepting everything is "like a dream", including the quest for enlightenment and the individual who does it. Progressive path = exhausting "the seeker" who appears "in the dream" and finally coming to the conclusion above.

you don't need some explosion "oh my god!!" experience for realisation. as long as you know that you are not the character, you're doing the right thing.

the 4 yoga paths

yoga as you can tell below, has non-dual teachings. its vedanta yoga i'm talking of here (whilst nondualism = advaita vedanta)

"the goal of yoga is to unite oneself with God; the practice of yoga is the path we take to accomplish this." [source]

i'll talk about them because they are interesting lol. please read the page i linked because its more indepth than the 3 lines i wrote here.

path of love

"Bhakti yoga is the path of devotion, the method of attaining God through love and the loving recollection of God."

i think this is similar to what lester levenson did, he "squared everything with love" as he realised that he felt love when he was being loving, and not when he was loved himself. so he decided to love everything and everyone.

this is about loving and using love as a way to drop the character.

path of knowledge

"Jnana yoga is the yoga of knowledge--not knowledge in the intellectual sense--but the knowledge of Brahman and Atman and the realization of their unity. Where the devotee of God follows the promptings of the heart, the jnani (followers) uses the powers of the mind to discriminate between the real and the unreal, the permanent and the transitory."

the path of work

"Karma yoga is the yoga of action or work; specifically, karma yoga is the path of dedicated work: renouncing the results of our actions as a spiritual offering rather than hoarding the results for ourselves."

when we work its usually for our jobs, an award, for others etc -> expectations and anticipation. this yoga is saying to let go of the expectations and let Self take care of it.

this reminds me of 'the surrender experiment' by micheal singer!

the path of meditation

"The basic premise of raja yoga is that our perception of the divine Self is obscured by the disturbances of the mind. If the mind can be made still and pure, the Self will automatically, instantaneously, shine forth."

this involves quieting thoughts and using meditation to control the mind.

personally, i like the direct path more. i've been lurking around spiritual topics for years now, so i'd just like to get to the point. however, if you haven't or you just don't get it all - this is why i advise self inquiry. i already have a post on it and an anon answer on it. disbelief and doubting will help point you towards your Self and makes it much easier to remember Self.

as you can see with the yoga paths, nothing will stop you except wrong identification.

eventually, you'll even drop this knowledge. there'll be no need for this either.

#lainsreality #nondualism #nonduality #vedanta

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patchesjam · 1 year

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hello! i'm seeing a lot of mcc criticism on tumblr today after squidcraft and i wanted to know- what made you move away from mcc? completely genuine question with no judgement btw, i want to hear people's thoughts :D

for me, although i still enjoy it, i do have some criticisms for mcc. i don't like how the community treats some duos as too op when pretty much any duo can be balanced, even the strongest ones (like drellumina (pls scott i will sell my soul for this pls)). i also don't like how toxic the reddit can be sometimes, esp. towards dreamnap. and i really don't like that tina hasn't been able to get a strong team for so long. she deserves a win!! maybe with drellumina on her team!! and niki so they can both win!! *cough cough* scott pls *cough cough*

those are just some of my thoughts, though, and i'd genuinely love to hear yours on why you're not a fan of mcc anymore (saw your post where you called yourself an ex-fan)

so for context i used to be a mcc fanatic. i'd watch like 5 teams pov's id know every stat, id count my weeks by how close/far away it was from mcc - I LOVED IT.

but yeah my criticisms are along the same lines as yours. I don't like the teaming that much. S tiers can be balanced, dream and techno barely got into dodgebolt. AND even if they couldnt, there's like 8 active S tiers, thats 4 teams of 2. Theres also lots of very good players (Antfrost, CPK, 5up) that could make up the rest. <- just have a very high average mcc? Tina got screwed over by the teams too, and never got an actual chance at winning a mcc. There's little variety in teaming, the same people are nearly always with the same people.

The reddit lost my interest due to how sexist they are towards Jojo, Niki and Tina. , Jojo has had her skill constantly undermined and pitted against Purpled, despite her having far far less op teams and still doing amazingly she was held up to unreachable comparisons. Niki and Tina fall into the 'they're good team players' trap where people dont care enough to know what theyre actually good at and just see the 40th placement. I was infuriated when i talked about tina's teams on the reddit and got 'hmmm... maybe she wants to be with her friends and not win' when SHE complained on stream about it?????? The entire reddit pisses me off in regards to dream.

my biggest gripe is with the community though. drama on teams day, drama on game announcement day, drama when practicing, drama before the event, drama during the event, drama during dodgebolt, drama after the event. Somehow it was a 'for fun event' but people having fun while being competitive were demonised. Of course hermitcraft, noxcrew and scott are personally victimised always by any dteam member - and any time scott or grian does well its ment to be a personal insult to dream. Funnelling should never have become such a shitshow and it only did because dream did it. Buildmart should be changed up now because it is stale if nothing else, and the complete unwillingness of anyone to hear out any criticism of it infuriates me. Liking (or hating) buildmart is not a fucking personality trate gtf over yourself. No dream isnt personally targeted by noxcrew, but they have made some bad decisions that i disagree with that were unfortunate to him.

it just became more and more unfun and it felt like the people who claimed to enjoy it only enjoy it in defiance of big bad dream.

#mcc talk #long again sorry

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itafushin · 10 months

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I was writing a shadowpeach fic and then saw your macaque borderline post and wanted to incorporate it into my writing but then I realised I don't know much about borderline and I don't accidentally wanna use a source that has misinformation, so I was wondering how I should go about writing a character with borderline, (sorry if this is an odd question have a good day!!)

it isnt an odd question at all !! here are some articles with info on symptoms and such: 1, 2, 3, these are just a few i used when i did research. they talk about the basics like the symptoms, possible causes, and treatment. its also good to research and look into other peoples experiences with things like fps, splitting, etc. r/bpd on reddit can be good for that as well as these articles: 1, 2,

you could also find some youtube videos as well !! id say to make sure not to make the disorder seem villainous or demonizing when writing. try to stray away from things that make it seem either too "yandere" or too "manipulative" as those are typical bpd stereotypes. bpd is all about the persons emotions and the intensity of things, as well as the reactions they cause. i think writing macaque as he is in the show is plenty enough to how a pwbpd is like but it never hurts to do a little extra research and hear other peoples experiences.

#🏮#shadow talks #i hope this answered your question !!#i wasnt sure how to describe things and stuff so hopefully the stuff i provided are good starter points #id love to read your fic if you ever post it !!#and if you have any other questions let me know :]

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punchchomp-callout · 2 years

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@/punchchomp is a cryptoterf

trigger warning for extreme transphobia

stop reblogging this persons art, theyve liked several terf posts.

[ID: Image one is a post by breakfast-at-tifgebdies. It says:

TIM's who don't even bother to change their name are a subtle but frightening symptom of just how comfortable men are getting with effortlessly taking our spaces just because they 'feel like (us)'"

it is tagged #radblr #tim #do you ever see tifs do this? no? wonder why. #feminism.

Image two is the list of likes on the post. They are witchesbeangry, aquatic-equestrian, violethueshere, satinmoodmfk, labiasplendora, spidersolitarefanatic, patronsaintoffire, punchchomp, 53010. Punchchomp is underlined. End ID]

more examples under the cut

[ID: Image one is a post from radfae. It is a screenshot of a reddit post by NorthernRealmJackal, that reads:

"Incels: I fucking hate women, we should molest and unalive them all.

3rd wave feminists: Woah there dude, that's really sexist!

Incels: I fucking hate women, we should molest and unalive them all

3rd wave feminists: 🤣🤣🙏Yass 🙌 slay 👌🙌👌 on 👌🙌👌 queen 🙏😂😂"

Below the image is a reply from misandristmoira that reads:

"Don't forget:

Incels: I fucking hate women, we should arrest and kill them all. Ps. Saying this gives me a boner.

3rd wave feminists: Omg such a hot fantasy! 😍 Never let anyone kinkshame you, king! 😤😤😤"

Image two is part of the list of likes on that post. Punchchomp's url is highlighted. End ID]

[ID: Image one is a post by terfriffic, that reads:

genderhavers will just be like "What terfs really want is to end the seperation of church and state. they post the names and addresses of transwomen with cash bounties like they're gta v missions and the number you do determines your status in the pussy church" and their friends are just like "damn that's really fucked up of them. blocking and staying safe"."

Image two is the list of likes on that post. Punchchomp's url is highlighted. End ID]

[ID: Image one is a post by sapphos-darlings that reads:

"Female homosexuality is normal, beautiful and good! Being born a lesbian is a blessing"

Image two is the list of likes on that post. Punchchomp's url is highlighted. End ID]

note: sapphos-darlings is run by transphobes, which is why that post was included.

#south park #smiling friends #blocklist #punchchomp

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papirouge · 2 months

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I bet you that ALOT of those porn blogs being operated by zionists, they ALSO have made thousands of throw away accounts reddit and twitter and instagram accounts to make us fight each other instead of of focusing on gaza. Because I only see the worst most DERANGED things being said in Christian and pro life spaces by these obvious male accounts that just feel suspicious to me. For example, I read a “pro life christian and “proud white male”” wanting to label early miscarriages as manslaughter and convict women on those charges. And take away our rights to vote and own a home so land and houses can go to men who should be given a wife from the government.” Then in another thread, this same male talked about how Palestinians are all terrorists and that the Palestinians would destroy “his culture and women” and that he had to protect “his women” from them by supporting genocide.

I believe this is ALL connected like the pipeline is all there

This is the bio of the girl who did DOZENS of account to harass me and call me all sort of names to the point I had to lock all my post reblogs.... Never believe anyone calling themselves Christian and take them at face value

90% of self ID Christians who come from the USA are either deranged nationalists, white supremacists, misogynists or incel. I'm from France and although Christians are much more scarce, they don't have this problem, so that's totally a problem with North America.

I don't know how to explain that, but I can't bring myself taking anything those men can say to me. I will occasionally clown them for fun, but I don't feel particularly distressed by whatever they say because I just don't consider them as Christians, just imposters (those the Bible warned us off about) - so it really makes me sad whenever I get comment or asks saying how bad it affects them. I really wish I could share my IDGAF energy to yall 😭

#answered

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technoblade-updates · 2 years

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Techno posted some more in his discord! (Read bottom to top.)

[Image ID:

Several cropped screenshots of Discord messages by Techno.

#dream-smp-discussion

Techno: “bruh who leaked this”, in reply to Prosecutor Wolfhandler saying “harpocrates is manatreed /j”.

Techno: “years of lore planning down the drain”.

Techno: “i actually want to stream but the door to my room was removed so my wheelchair could fit and my entire family is stuck at home and Loud”, in reply to Mastrr saying “Hey techno, while your active you should stream”.

Techno: “usually id just leave and stream somewhere else but that would require the ability to climb stairs”.

Techno: “background noise gon be like HEY TECHNO UR SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER'S STILL XXXXXXXX RIGHT”, in reply to Prosecutor Wolfhandler saying “don't worry, the background noise is just bonus content to us”.

Techno: “ok i just tried a new method and i safely ascended a set of stairs by sitting down and pushing myself up backwards one step at a time”.

Techno: “now to figure out how to go down stairs... hmm...”

Techno: “listen, when my discord messages inevitably get screenshotted and posted on some update account i cant have ppl seeing me swear. it's OFF-BRAND”, in reply to faber saying “did he really edit "wtf" to “bruh" after a while Imao”.

Techno: “i've never said that in my life. that doesn't even sound like me at all”, in reply to FinnTheHuman saying “Techno you literally said you preferred your babies boneless here before the purge why...”

Techno: “i bet i can ban you faster than you can post screenshots”, in reply to FinnTheHuman saying “Brb”.

Techno: “:technounit:”.

Techno: “was this that time i needed ppl to help me train in 1.9 pvp and you guys were like "we can help we're experts" and then you joined my realm and started getting folded”.

Techno: “:technolaugh:”.

Techno: “emote creators are exempt from taxes”, in reply to rhen saying “i have a genuine question of why techno went to my profile to give me emote creator while i was still a white name”.

Techno: “what have i done. you were king pig too NOOOO”, in reply to FinnTheHuman saying “I CAN TAX EVADE TOO LETS GOOOO”.

#video-discussion

Techno: “my bad”.

Techno: “i increased slowmode there to 6 hours. watch them come crawling back”, in reply to himself saying “my bad”.

#dream-smp-discussion

Techno: [attached is a nerd/virgin vs chad meme, with the crying nerd labeled “DSMP Fans” and the chad labeled “Greek Mythology Fans”. Under both is a screenshot of a twitter post, cropped so as to not show the name of the poster. The one under the nerd reads “GUYS YOU’VE BEEN DISCUSSING THE SAME LORE FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR IF I SEE ANOTHER DOOMSDAY TAKE I AM GOING TO BECOME THE JOKER”. The one under the chad reads “why c!odysseus was actually the one responsible for the trojan war, a thread [1/36]”.]

Techno: “c!odysseus did nothing wrong dude. you better not be some kinda clparis apologist”.

#video-discussion

Techno: “alright ill turn off slowmode there for 15 seconds but then im turning it back on so if you dont reset ur 6 hours in time dont blame me”.

Techno: “what if i just leave it off does it work then“.

Techno: “well it's working for other people so maybe you just have too many bones idk”.

#dream-smp-discussion

Techno: “streamer: has mic muted by accident character analysts: it's essay time”.

Techno: “gonna post my meme on reddit for free upvotes”.

Techno: “i dont understand how reddit works. it just made me give my post a Flair?? sounds made up”.

End ID]

#technoblade #mcyt #image id #no id in alt text #monkaW I have been called out #alas i wasn’t actually fast enough to catch that KEKW #peeposmile definitely no one saw the version where i forgot to crop one of these properly

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to-whoever-wants-to-hear · 2 years

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Dream on his sexuality

[Image ID/ Reddit post from dreamIsTaken reading: honestly I’ve never really talked in depth about my feelings on stuff like this so I thought I would here because why not I love just discussing things in general.

I’m not gay I’ve said that plenty of times I know that because I like girls, I’ve dated girls, I am attracted to girls etc etc. however outside of that I’ve never said anything about my sexuality really and it’s simply because I don’t really know. I’m comfortable with who I am and I want everyone to be comfortable with who they are regardless of their gender or sexuality or anything else. I feel like if I was to say anything about my sexuality I’d be pressuring myself into making a “decision” especially when to the general public there’s only really a few terms that can be used to “describe your sexuality”. When in reality I believe that it’s more of a spectrum. I have a really hard time putting myself into one category or even really towards one category more than another, and so I don’t want to feel any pressure. I’m comfortable in my sexuality but that doesn’t mean that I’m necessarily confident in exactly what that is. I think sometimes it takes time and life experience to actually know where you sit.

Though I think that I should be able to make the jokes and stuff that I make regardless of sexuality, whether I was gay or straight or bi or somewhere inbetween, so I don’t really care to elaborate. That being said though, I also think it’s important that people don’t force others into revealing their sexuality, even if a situation comes up where them doing so could give clarity. My sexuality is ambiguous because it’s also ambigious to me, and I think that’s okay.

As for jokes and stuff, it’s not qbaiting because we’re not fictional characters and as other people have said it’s actually really beneficial (and normal) to let people flirt/joke even sexually with their friends of the same sex. we’ve been the exact same since we met and on/off camera, years before youtube, it’s just how we are and I’m not going to change my extremely long friendships with people just because “some people think you’re dating and therefore you benefit from that”.

either way, feels good to get some of that off my chest I guess because I’ve never really spoken in depth about any of this stuff. have a happy holidays :) /End ID]

Tldr: Dream knows he’s not gay because he’s attracted to girls, but beyond that he doesn’t really know and isn’t going to be pressured into making a choice.

Dream isn’t queerbaiting, and wouldn’t be even if he was cishet. He’s not going to change the relationships he’s had since well before youtube to please people.

#dreamwastaken #mcyt #sexuality #reddit

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aemontargaryen-bloodraven · 2 years

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Confession Time

Since, I will complete a whole month in this fandom, I thought I will make a confession.

So I have always been the silent stalker type of fan. I mostly read fanfictions. And Jonsa fanfictions. Because I was one. Yes, me. I was a Jonsa. Forgive me fandom for I have sinned.

I had only watched the show and its disastrous ending and Kit and Sophie had this chemistry so I shipped them. During the show, I liked Jonerys but the emotionless Daenerys of the show irked me and I was so disappointed because I was looking forward to Jonerys meeting. I remember being so fucking hyped that I literally jumped when Daenerys and Tyrion met and I was like yes, Queen, you are going home. Then I was like yes, Jon is going to meet Arya and that was blah... By the end of the show, every character was a caricature. But I still shipped Jonsa (Kit and Sophie).

For a while I just read fanfictions and then I used to stalk Reddit where Jonsa was a joke, which was a surprise to me. Then I came to tumblr, where you know in a certain part of the fandom, it is canon.

I have believed all those fuckall theories. Like for me Jonsa was canon. I liked Jonsa but I was a Jon Stan. But my Jon was supposed to be smart and ruthless (I had read some book quotes on Reddit), but the Jonsa Jon was an idiot and a prop.

The part which actually shifted my understanding of everything was that I was a Rhaegar and Lyanna fan. They were the IT couple for me because Jon is their son. The fanfictions I read had Jon completely hating his parents, and he never had any sort of anger for Ned Stark for lying to him. Jon was naming his daughter Catelyn. He refuses to ever be a Targaryen because they are evil incarnate (Red Flags, Red Flags which I ignored). The fact that one part of that side of the fandom criticized Lyanna and made fanart in which she literally had a horse face (horrible) and the other villified Rhaegar as a rapist and a murderer never sat well with me. Because I relate to that brooding Prince on another level. He is a guy who is surrounded by so much stress and emotional pain and he still can focus on the things that bring him joy and excel at them is personally inspiring for me.

Searching and searching I came across Rhaegar and Lyanna Blog, run by none other than, Lina. Then I read so much stuff and positive discussions happening that I was like, yay, finally, my people. (Still a Jonsa though).

I read every post of Rhaegar and Lyanna by Lina @aerea-targaryen whatever ID she was using and by @intheairwewilllookmonstrous and @imaginaryvane and @lorelei-4.

I loved an amazing post by @asongofstarkandtargaryen comparing Rhaegar and Jon.

I also came across the Original Outline where Jonrya was canon, and then I read some amazing posts by @vivacissimx, @valyrianwarg, @aleksandr-morozova, @duty-that-poxy-bitch (Needleheart) and it wasn't that hard for me to go back to Jonerys as well, @rainhadaenerys (your Jon || Dany post is so amazing), @fireismine (I love your takes), @asoiafdaenerysdaily (the book and show Dany comparisons are the best) @etherealdany (your patience of writing metas and your passion for Dany is fantastic.).

It was so fun shipping both Jonrya and Jonerys and being fine either way.

I read @jackoshadows, who made me understand Canon Jon better. @the-king-andthe-lionheart, whose takes on Arya made me fall in love with her.

There was a post by @lucyskywalker comparing Show and Book Jon that made me read the books. That is why I say this from experience if you are a Jon Stan, you cannot be a Jonsa. I fell in love with Dany. I loved Arya's arc. I have always loved Tyrion and the books just made it more so. Bran's magical story was something I found so intriguing.

I actually had been waiting for Jon Month since November, because I saw all these amazing posts celebrating canon Dany and I was like there should be one for Jon as well. Then there was an announcement and I was all IN. I actually created a tumblr ID in February since then I have interacted with so many of you, @ramblingsandposts, @confusedhummingbird, @bellenora, @ambitious-witch @jonsaflowers, @bicerose, @reignof-fyre and the others that I follow. I love your takes, metas and theories.

I have loved all the edits and fancasts for Jon during Jon Month and been in awe of the amazing creations for Arianne's Week and Theon's Month as well.

Just wanted to appreciate all of you for celebrating canon qualities of the Key Five. You are the one keeping this fandom alive and preventing canon from getting twisted to fanon.

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liftcutie · 3 years

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DNA: a basic guide

there’s been a lot of new/returning activity in the community, and though i’m somewhat new to DNAing myself, i thought i’d make a very basic overview, since i’ve seen a lot of lifters asking questions about it.

feel free to reblog with additions/your own experiences!

MASSIVE DISCLAIMER:

i am not the authority on anything i’m about to write. i’m a stranger on the internet! as you should with all posts on liftblr, take what i’m about to say with a relative grain of salt, and do your own research and risk assessment.

what does “DNA” mean?

“DNA” stands for “did not arrive.” it’s used as shorthand to describe a common type of online refund fraud.

how does it work/how do i do it?

there’s no special process. it’s relatively simple:

the customer places a legitimate online order for their target item/items. however, when the package arrives, the customer then contacts customer service and claims the parcel didn’t show up in order to receive a fraudulent refund.

unlike shoplifting, with DNAs, a legitimate purchase has to occur in order for the scam to take place.

what are the consequences if i get caught?

this is very important: DNAing, no matter how small the amount, is a type of fraud. based on where you live, the legal penalties for getting caught will vary—it can be difficult to find information online, but i would encourage you to do as much research as possible.

however, even if companies don’t take legal action, refund scamming can result in your account(s) or address being blacklisted from certain online stores. i’ve heard certain companies (amazon) will even ban IPs (which basically means they ban your whole computer, rather than just an account on it). i’ve also heard UPS and other mail carriers can/do ban the addresses of repeat offenders if a suspicious amount of investigations (see below) have been filed.

i personally haven’t heard of anyone experiencing trouble from their bank’s end, but i would stay vigilant nonetheless.

other important terminology

EB: this stands for “empty box.” it’s a variant of DNAing where, instead of claiming the parcel didn’t arrive, you claim the box itself came empty.

partial DNA: partial DNA is when you claim only a portion of your order didn’t arrive. for example, you might say you received a dress you ordered, but were missing a shirt or a pair of shoes—the company then refunds you for only the “missing” items.

investigation: an investigation occurs when the company files a report with the carrier regarding the missing package. this can take days to weeks to process. from what i understand, most of these investigations are either protocol or purely meant to scare you off, and most of the time go absolutely nowhere.

how long should i wait after my order is placed/delivered to contact customer service?

it depends. many people suggest waiting longer so the company is less likely to conduct an investigation (it’s virtually useless after a certain point). however, i’ve also had some successes doing it the day of delivery; use your best judgement.

what do i say to customer service?

act natural! put yourself in the mindset of someone whose order has genuinely failed to show up. be disappointed but polite, and above all firm in what you want. many DNAs are as simple as:

YOU: hello, i placed an order on your site about a week and a half ago. i got an email saying my package was delivered, but i didn’t receive my order.

CS: i’m sorry to hear that. let me check on that for you... i can offer you a reshipment or a refund. which would you prefer?

YOU: a refund, please.

a common mistake is over-explanation. don’t offer more than what customer service asks—an innocent person likely wouldn’t.

i’m not going to go in-depth with methods or “what-ifs” on this post, but there are plenty of great tips on liftblr and reddit. however, if you end up facing suspicion, you will need the ability to stick to a believable story if you want your money back.

what stores can i DNA?

there are lots of stores you can (relatively) safely DNA, with varying degrees of difficulty. from what i’ve read and my own experiences, most people agree that:

shein/romwe*

glossier

lush

hollister

abercrombie

victoria’s secret

are easy places to start and build your confidence. if you’re curious about a certain store, ask around! lots of people are willing to share their experiences. or check out my new blog—@dna-stories!

*shein and romwe will always open an investigation to try and scare you off—however, i have literally never heard of one of these investigations going anywhere. don’t let it intimidate you!

ANOTHER HUGE DISCLAIMER:

just like shoplifting, it’s important to keep greed and recklessness in check. there’s always a risk with DNAing; be smart, and never spend what you can’t afford to lose. if you need that $600 for rent, don’t blow it on bathing suits and bank on your refund—there’s always a chance you won’t get your money back, and you don’t want to accidentally put yourself in a bad position.

where can i find more tips?

reddit has a lot of good information, particularly about amazon, though be mindful of the age of certain threads; some things are bound to outdated. this is a master list of store information i’ve referred to before (but again, take everything with a grain of salt)!

there are also a ton of lifters who post helpful tips on here. i’ve been referring to @heavenlylifter, @urfavoritelifter and @fairylift’s blogs a lot—and many others, too!

i hope this post serves as a helpful intro to DNAing!

stay safe, and happy scamming!

#mine

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asuka--langley--soryu · 3 years

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hey do you know any blogs/sites etc that „explain” nge episode by episode? not the plot but rather the symbolism and themes

oh man anon I dearly wish I could say yes but unfortunately if something like this exists then I don’t know about it :/ instead what I can offer are some links to some meta/analysis/essays and hopefully that might help or at least give you a place to start?

so there is always the evageeks wiki which can provide a basic amount of info on some thematic elements, and at the very least is reasonably good for lore explanations. I feel kind of eyeroll about evageeks and their general community perspective, but if you need a good jumping off point i think this might be useful for that.

when i first started this blog there was a user called ritsumaya who put out some realllyyy interesting and in-depth meta. they deleted a while ago unfortunately but i believe most of their stuff as been archived at @ritsumaya2. None of the posts are tagged or organized in any way so it’s a little hard to navigate but worth perusing/searching through imo.

Someone did reupload their analysis of asuka specifically in a slightly more readable format so I’ll link that here separately. I 100% rec checking it out, it has some really really good thoughts on her character and informed a lot of my own interpretations back in the day. I do think they go a little too into the pathologizing angle which (if it wasn’t clear from my last post lol) I don’t agree with and largely ignore, but, aside from that, I think it’s super interesting.

in terms of other blogs, off the top of my head qmisato and adamworu put out good meta p often and also have organized tagging systems, so you might want to look at their stuff. i’m gonna glance through my archive and tag some of the meta ive rb-ed in the past, and will try to consistently tag it from now on so as to have somewhere to reference in the future. Plus I probably should have been doing that already but im like yknow a big carnival idiot and consistently cannot keep organized no matter how potentially beneficial it would be for me :)

There are some papers on nge in my thesis sources drive, so if youre looking for something a lil more academic/theory based then you could check those out. Specifically I recommend the Ortega and Napier essays. Link for that’s here.

theres def other blogs on here im forgetting, as well as just other sources in general. pls feel free to drop recs in the replies if you have em!! this was just the stuff i could pull from the top of my head/knew where to find so its by no means comprehensive and i am by no means the like end all be all in nge meta archiving. also, as usual, i’m not sanctioning 100% of every word written in the things I rec, so dont hold me to their opinions.

i hope this helps at least a little bit!

(ps: ik reddit has analysis threads or whatever but i’ve never read anything on there id recommend so ymmv on that front )

(pps: also ive never watched any of those youtube video essays or whatever about nge and never will [im just like instinctively repelled by anime youtubers that arent miss watchmojo dot com top 10 list lady] so i have literally no idea about their quality on any level. ik they exists and maybe could be helpful to you if you prefer a non-written resource?)

#nge #evangelion #asks #meta #nge meta #the watchmojo thing is both a joke and not. i dont think theyre good and rarely agree w them #but my friends and i used to watch them obsessively #otoh i have nothing really against anime yters i just cant make myself watch that kind of thing #but im really very picky about youtube content #Anonymous #mine

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littlecafe · 2 years

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bh used to always be so excited about releasing new songs and wanting to spoil them, so this is just so disheartening. the members not saying or posting anything speaks volumes about it too. we cant even enjoy the last few days with them and say goodbye..

yes exactly the only thing pd101 did for them was give the group the exposure to show themselves. and that producer who went to jail because of the rigging who revealed that bh had an anxiety attack on the street?? and then try and say he WANTED to be rigged out after they revealed he was supposed to be in w1? and gosh dont get me started on those solo fans, the hate all the members got was absolutely ridiculous. the boys can barely have any peace.

i have no clue why, even if pledis sucks id much rather their name be under them.

ahh yea idk why they were always left out of things, nuest was the only group who didnt get a seasons greetings after the merger and they were the only one who didnt get added to the company's rhythm game as well. like why are they always getting ignored??

sorry i was gone for a few days so i'm barely getting to this now!!

in retrospect, the shift after the merger is too real like all the album promos they had after their p101 run and they clearly have the songs to release too but all that...just. gone ;_; ahhh exactly!! it has been all quiet, the only time we've gotten to hear from them were those letters everything is just so sad

since i'm replying late, everything has been released now...i'm too scared to watch the mv and listen to the song, i saw a snippet of the lyrics through the reddit comments while browsing and i already tears up ;____; will try to work up the courage to do watch it later tonight or tomorrow i just really can't believe it's the last, it's coming to an end..

also mini rant/ i was planning on getting this album, just because i've never bought a nu'est album before and this is the final one i feel like i should get it but with how everything went down, with how clearly rushed it looks, how little effort was given to them not just for this "goodbye" album but for basically their entire existence together....the album would be such a bitter buy like just having it and looking at it's white cover ugh...i might still get it anyways but i don't know!!! i'm so on the fence!! it's like buy it to support the boys like, yes we're here LOVEs are still here going strong even if it's the end we love you always, but buying it doesn't change anything....getting good numbers for this album won't magically un-disband them....pledis and **** will still not care AND they get a cut of the sales anyways

p101 really saved them but it's like should i even be thankful to that cursed show, everything else about it was terrible, the rigging, the editing, the drama, i'm grateful they got the best thing they could out of it which was positive exposure and a loving fanbase but god the journey relating to that show is a mess, the solo stans were absolute hell like please just have a normal bias like everyone else smh always doing the most with all of the hate towards the other members

omg seriously??? he really tried and claim all of that happened?? what is wrong with him god he's sick i never caught that part of news because i really just hated the mess that surrounded it, just remembered seeing that he went to jail in the end and i moved on, he's such a terrible human being jfc

exactly and it would make more sense to have it under pledis since that's where they debut like what...8-9 years ago? like why does pledis not even have the rights to their name lmao

huh??? they didn't get a season's greeting either??? omg i'm so out of it i didn't even know that....seriously why are they treated like that...it's not like they don't have fans...it doesn't make sense to just leave them out of things especially when the company gets a cut of the revenue too like you don't want money either?? and ugh that rhythm game, i saw it in my app store the other day i have no idea when they added seventeen, was it not recent? if it wasn't then they could've added nu'est around the same time too but if it's more recent then well. seems like they've been wanting to kick nu'est out for a while now we just didn't realize but they've truly received nothing ��🙄 IM SO BITTER

that cursed rhythm game, i might be more annoyed at that game's existence than the average person because as an (ex) dalcom supporter i had a big problem with how b**h** handled the remainder of their contract with dalcom and the superstar bts game 2 years ago, i think i might have deleted my own personal post of it from my blog but if anyone is curious about what i'm talking about, i've dug up the reddit post (also filled with people discussing said company's greedy tendencies and upon other things...)

i think superstar bts, superstar pledis, and superstar gfriend are the only dalcom games that have shut down so far if memory serves me right lol i have a hard time keeping track of their games now because they've made way too many (for gfriend it was because of their disbandment...the other two were for...other reasons open to interpretation)

#pls why do i have so many useless eras yes my ex-dalcom stan era #used to fight their haters bc they actually were a small company that cared but now they are just growing too fast #overworking their employees with all these game releases and not caring about the bugs plus the newer games are more money hungry #but why am i telling you guys all this LMAO #but anyways that issue pissed me off back then so i swore i would never play that new one askjdsfsdf #and i'm an avid tap tap tapper ok i love gacha rhythm games i've played almost all of them released globally except d4dj?#def a topic for some other time lol but enstars is also coming out globally but i prob won't play it either #since i'm not a fan of circle maps anymore after quitting love live #also i hear their maps don't have as high a ceiling as pjsekai and bandori...not like i can fc hard maps but...still #i capped at 26 in bandori for fc...i can get through some of the harder ones but never fc 27+#but i got WORSE after giving it up for pjsekai smh now i'm really bad #sorry for nonsense game ramblings has nothing to do with the ask at all asjkfdsdsfs #question

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farfromsugafanfic · 3 years

Text

Heartbreak Weather

Genre: Weatherman!Jin, Metropolis/loosely based off comic books, Rivalry, soft Enemies to Lovers

Pairing: Jin/Male Reader

Warnings: all the sexual tension lol, hurricanes

Synopsis: The rival weatherman at Channel 5 just so happens to be Kim Seokjin who you just so happened to have had a thing with in college. Sort of. When a hurricane brings the two of you back together again, the forecast calls for love and dredged up feelings.

﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤

"Will you please turn that off?" you asked, taking a sip of your coffee. Normally, you took it with a little vanilla-flavored creamer, but much like that morning's coffee, you were bitter.

"Aw, why? Seokjin looks so cute in his turtleneck this morning," one of the writers said, fawning over the Channel 5 weatherman. "Maybe you should start wearing turtlenecks. It might boost our ratings."

You rolled your eyes as the red light came on indicating that you would soon be on camera. You set your coffee to the side and stepped in front of the green screen.

"Good morning, Metropolis," you said. "You can expect some light rain on your commute today. It should clear up by lunchtime though and it will be partly cloudy for the rest of the day. You watched as the map viewers saw at home shifted as you shifted the topic. "As you know, a hurricane is forming a few hundred miles off the coast. We are currently predicting landfall early next week. I will be traveling to Diamond Beach as the storm approaches to give you the most recent updates. Thanks for watching Channel 4 News, now here's Andrea with traffic."

The red light switched from you and onto Andrea's camera on the other side of the studio. You let out a sigh and walked back to your desk away from the main set.

"You went to school with him, right?" the same writer asked, still watching Seokjin on the screen. His station gave him more screentime because he was so well loved in the city, often they pan to him coming back from commercial breaks and whenever there was a view question or poll.

"Yeah," you said. There was only one university near Metropolis that offered a robust meteorology program and most of the city's weather people came from it. You and Seokjin had gone through together, even graduating at the same ceremony.

"Wow, was he still so stunning in college? Like, I don't think I could've focused if he was in my classes."

"Depends on who you ask."

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤

5 Years Earlier

"Having trouble focusing?" you asked Seokjin as you noticed his dark eyes were no longer looking down at the computer screen.

"Hmm, it's a bit hard when you look at the screen like that," he said, smirking and turning around to lean against the desk. "Tell me, what's a guy gotta do to get you to look at him like that?"

"Be a warm front." You watched as a warm front moved towards the city while a cold one moved simultaneously from the other direction.

"What if I'm a hot front?" He turned to face you, his hip still leaning against the desk, but his body was close enough that it brushed yours as he moved.

"Seokjin, stop." You clicked a few more times and turned to flip through your textbook. "It's a storm for sure. A thunderstorm or tornado. Shit, it could be anything, how are we supposed to figure this out."

"Its the weather, not heart surgery. We can be wrong fifty percent of the time and still good at our job."

"But, if we're wrong fifty percent of the time, we'll fail this class."

Jin sighed and crossed his arms as his eyes lingered down your body. "Listen, Y/N. We both know that you're going to stress about this for twenty minutes and then figure it out like you always do. Now, come on, let's take a break."

"And do what?" you asked, letting out a breath between your teeth, not tearing your eyes away from the screen.

"I don't know. I have a few ideas though" His breath was against your ear and his body heat radiated against your own.

"Seokjin, this can't happen."

"Why not?"

"Cause I need to focus on school. I'm here on a scholarship. I can't risk distractions."

Jin sighed and looked down at the weather map on the screen. "It's a thunderstorm," he said. "The currents aren't strong enough for a tornado and based on the patterns, its the most logical."

You quickly wrote down the answer and his reasoning, realizing that he was right. How he surmised the answer so quickly, especially when he was barely paying attention baffled you.

"All right, now, come on," he said. "I'm taking you out for lunch and you can't deny me that. I know you're hungry."

"Fine," you said, shutting your textbooks and allowing the computer's screensaver to come on.

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤

Just hours later that same night, you found yourself looking up at the ceiling of Jin's bedroom. Soft cotton sheets wrapped around your torso and they felt softer than even the best sheets you'd ever owned. His shirtless form was turned away from you and you resisted the urge to reach up and run a hand through his dark hair. He'd let it grow long recently, the ends of his hair beginning to grow onto his neck.

"Stop staring at me," Seokjin said, you could hear the smirk in his voice. He turned around to face you. His eyes were calm and soft like the sheets, but you couldn't help but feel the sadness. The knowing.

"How'd you know?" Your voice was small.

"I could feel it. Your eyes hurt, you know?"

You did know. You knew how much it hurt Jin to see your eyes wander down the shape of his torso. That the way you always reached to push his ill-fitting glasses up the bridge of his nose hurt. That knowing he couldn't reach out and sneak his fingertips underneath the hem of your sweater.

"I'm sorry."

"I know, it's okay."

"It's not, Seokjin. We need to move on. Forget about each other. It's best for our futures."

"You know that's not true."

"Seokjin, we both want the same things in life. We'd be competing with each other for every job. We'd rush to get the story before the other. It wouldn't last."

"We don't know that unless we try."

"Seokjin, I don't want to give myself the chance to hate you."

You got up from the bed and buttoned your shirt, pulled on your trousers, and tied your shoes. Seokjin watched you, didn't try to stop you as you headed towards the door. Gripping the doorknob, you walked out and back down to the sidewalk below.

Following that day, you didn't see Seokjin again. Sure, he still sat a few rows in front of you, he still presented in class, you glanced over his name in the paper when it was announced he was taking over the weather position for Channel 5. You saw him on billboards and on Reddit posts. Yet, you never met allowed your eyes to meet his again. Unless it was through the warm, freshly printed Metropolis Daily.

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤

Nearly no one was heading east towards Diamond Beach. Westbound traffic was full of cars heading into the city to weather the storm, while eastbound only consisted of a few cars. Mostly media and others who couldn't drop everything and run from the hurricane.

You could just make out the Channel 5 van ahead of you. Focusing down on your laptop which was tracking the conditions minute by minute, you tried not to focus on the fact you would likely run into Seokjin.

This certainly wasn't the first time a hurricane or tropical storm caused you and Seokjin to collide like convergent fronts. Every year you found yourself at Diamond Beach trying not to watch his broadcast from a few meters down the beach.

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤

Two Hours Later

"Hello, this Y/N Y/L/N reporting for Channel 4 news. Hurricane Roke is expected to make landfall later tonight. Most of Diamond Beach and the surrounding areas have been evacuated as Roke is currently a category four storm. I will be monitoring the storm and providing updates through Twitter throughout the night and I'll be back on the beach at 5am. This has been Y/N Y/L/N covering Hurricane Roke. Now, back to the studio."

You felt Jin's eyes on you as you gave your report. He was about two hundred feet down the beach. He wore a similar coat to your own and even with his hood pulled up you could feel the way his eyes cut through you.

Once the red light on your camera went off, the one on Seokjin's came on and he began his report. It was nearly identical to yours, Seokjin adding his own flair and charm. Like you wished you could.

Seokjin finished his broadcast and your filmographer began to pack up. "I'll see you bright and early in the morning?" she asked, her hair catching in the wind and obscuring her face.

You nodded and helped her pack up the camera and other supplies, working quickly to prevent it from getting damaged from the wind or rain. Walking up the beach and back to the hotel felt like it took forever, especially with the heavy filming equipment.

Your filmographer had already checked in earlier and headed to her room, carrying the camera and filming equipment. You kept the portable meteorological tools, already anxious to set it up in your room. Jin and his filmographer came in just as you got to the front desk.

Giving them your name, you handed them your ID and the company credit card. The receptionist furrowed her brow and glanced up at you.

"It looks like your room was accidentally double booked," she said. "I apologize, but due to the current situation, would you mind sharing?"

"Uh, sure, that's no problem. Who am I sharing with?"

The woman squinted at her computer. "Kim Seokjin."

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤

"You're not even going to look at me?" Seokjin asked as the two of you set up your computers. He'd let you have the desk while he took the counter of the kitchenette.

"Not until I get this setup."

Seokjin sighed and pulled out his phone. Service was already finicky, but he managed to pull up Spotify and got music to play. It was soft, as not to disturb your neighbors in the packed hotel.

You smiled as you heard the familiar tune "Dancing Queen". Jin was a fan of older music and the two of you used to listen to ABBA's Greatest Hits when studying together.

"You still listen to this?"

"Of course," he said. "It makes me happy."

It made you happy too and when you finished setting up your computer you peaked out the window. The storm was still a couple of hours from landfall, but the trees were already swaying wildly.

"It's going to be a big one," Jin said, glancing at you and catching your eye. It was the first time you'd truly looked at each other since the day you'd left him on his own. It felt like a lightning bolt skewered you in half.

"Yeah," you said, sitting down on the bed. "It is."

You traced the seams of the comforter with your index finger. The song switched and this time it was "Can't Help Falling In Love With You".

Jin finished setting up his computer. Your screen and his looked nearly identical showing a map of the coastline and the storm approaching. He sat down beside you, closer than you would've thought an acquaintance would sit.

"We should go to bed. Early start tomorrow." His voice commanded you to look at him. "Let's not fight over the bed." Placing down the two extra pillows down the center of the bed, he went to the bathroom to change.

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤

The storm was in full force when you made your way outside. The four of you: you, Jin, and your two filmographers tried to get onto the beach, but the sand cut your skin. Various debris already littered the beach. Mostly seaweed and tree branches, although you noticed a few shoes and patio furniture from the nearby condos.

"The hotel said we could report from outside," you said. "It'd be safer."

Jin chewed on his cheek and glanced out at the beach. The two filmographers began to set up their cameras and you did you best to ensure your hair didn't fall into your face. You stood away from the wind, finding it hard to breath with it blowing onto your face.

"Seokjin! Stop!" His filmographer yelled, abandoning his equipment, he rushed towards the other man. You turned to see that Seokjin had taken off towards the beach, seemingly want to report from there no matter the circumstances.

You looked over at your coworker and she gave you a curt nod, ensuring that she would watch over the equipment. She dragged both cameras inside the lobby one at a time. Giving her an empathetic look, you took off running towards the beach, hoping to catch up with Seokjin before he got entirely soaked.

When you came to the edge of the beach, you saw that Seokjin was already halfway out, his filmographer not far behind. You sighed and continued out, knowing he was determined to give the report from as close to the middle of the storm as he could.

The filmographer neared the middle of the beach, fearing going any further. When you caught up to him, you stopped to catch your breath, even though it was nearly impossible with the wind. Your breath was swept away as soon as you drew it in.

"He's crazy," the other man said. "I have no idea why he's doing this."

"He always has to go the extra mile," you said, rolling your eyes. "Even if it's stupid and dangerous."

Seokjin turned back to look for his camera operator, only to see him halted halfway up the beach. Seokjin was three-quarters of the way up the beach now, reaching dangerously close to the rough tide. He noticed you still running towards him and smiled before a gust of wind knocked him off his feet.

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤

Your chest constricted when you saw Jin get thrown off his feet. He landed a few feet away in the sand. You ran as quickly as you could, falling to your knees beside him.

"Are you okay?" you asked, looking him over.

His eyes looked up at you, obviously taking in your features. Yet, his lips said nothing.

"You crazy bastard! What the hell were you thinking? Rushing out here like that? You of all people should know how dangerous that is." You could barely catch your breath between words as you placed your hands on his arms to help him sit up. He didn't budge, however, his eyes just locked on your face.

"What are you doing?" you asked, sighing and dropping your hands from his hands, looking down to meet his eyes for the first time.

He smiled when you finally met his eyes and leaned up to connect his lips to yours. It was brief due to the circumstances, but it felt like lightning coursing through your veins.

"I ran cause I knew you would chase me."

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that-crazy-five-foot-two-chick · 3 years

Text

Summary: Winry sat in the optimal place to study in the school cafe for the entire fall semester. Then spring came, and suddenly some self-entitled twit who dressed like off-brand Gerard Way decided it was his territory. He was so not going to get off easy.

Rating: T

Word Count: 1.8k words of coffee shop/college AU with a side of enemies to almost-lovers

A/N: It's finals week, I posted this on Ao3 at almost 5am, and if the rest of the sentence didn't make it obvious, I'm writing from unfortunate experience. Not beta-ed or proofread, although I happened to see one thing to fix when I woke up this morning. Feel my raw power. Rawr.

It wasn't that big a deal.

It kind of really was, though.

Every Thursday morning during the fall semester, Winry sat in the same spot at the same school coffee shop. It was the spot sent by the entire patron pantheon of cram papers. Maybe one person didn't need an entire booth, but it was in the corner, and the tops of the bench seats had opaque plastic barriers that just so happened to be perfect for minimizing excess visual chaos. For the most part, there weren't loud conversations, and the jazz music that came through the speakers helped her tune out people ordering coffee. Add to that the fact that she could use campus flex dollars and not her own bank account that was begging for mercy, and it was the perfect spot to get papers done.

But apparently not this spring.

As soon as Winry walked in, she noticed him in the corner. Some emo wannabe guy on his computer. Probably on Reddit complaining about how women didn't appreciate the amazing pics he sent them on Tinder. Or at least, it was a fair guess based on the sour look on his face. Why did this guy of all people have to steal the holy grail spot? Ugh. She was still gonna get her coffee, darn it.

"You know the deal, Sciezska. Medium roast with a shot of espresso and vanilla creamer."

"On it! You paying in flex?"

"Yeah." She scanned her student ID and lowered her voice. "Who's off-brand Gerard Way in the corner?"

"Who's Ger—"

"The punk kid."

"Ohhh. I can try to get his number for you, if you want."

"No, he looks like a total tool! And not the kind I like dealing with!"

"Which means you think he's hot. I didn't think you were into that type, but you're not wrong."

"For the last time, no, Sciezska! He took my spot! And I'm trying very, very hard to keep this to a stage whisper, but if you keep trying to set me up with some random creep, I won't be able to!"

A distinctly male voice grumbled, "I'm not a creep."

"Keep telling that to the girls on Tinder. I'm sure they'll understand eventually."

"Yeah, and I'll bet if you look at your 'Live, Laugh, Love' sign a little more, you'll understand it eventually." He mumbled something under his breath.

"What was that, Mr. Nice Guy?"

"Lay off, it's eight in the morning. I said the only reason I even have a Tinder account is because my roommate stole my phone while I was going to the bathroom."

"Well, if you didn't want it, why didn't you delete it?"

"Eh, I figured if I really got sick of being single one day, it'd already be there."

"Never would have guessed you were single," Winry said dryly.

"Come on, it's way too early to be rubbing that kind of crap in. Who says I'm not fine with being single anyway?"

Sciezska timidly spoke up. "Medium roast with espresso and vanilla creamer?"

Winry thanked her as red jacket boy continued. "'Edward Elric, Bachelor.' Almost sounds as good as 'Edward Elric, Bachelor of Science.'"

"B.S. degree. Sounds about right."

"About time you stopped acting like I'm an idiot!"

Winry snorted. "That's not what I meant."

"Hey!"

"And with that, I'm going to go find some other spot to write my paper."

Edward, as his name apparently was, scoffed and mumbled something that sounded like "good riddance". Maybe the librarians wouldn't get on her case too much for bringing in coffee.

-----

A week later, Winry walked into the cafe, assuming the circumstances of the previous week were an anomaly. They were not.

"Medium roast with a shot of espresso and vanilla creamer," she grumbled and sulked in the direction of the corner seat.

"Hey, don't start with me again, blondie. I've had a whopping four hours of sleep and I can't promise you'll like what comes out of my mouth."

"We're at a coffee shop. Get some coffee. I can't help it if you're too hung over to be polite."

"Now look, genius. I did not stay up until 4 A.M. working on a stupid chem paper for that sadistic pyromaniac excuse for a professor just for some random chick to accuse me of being hung over."

"Oh."

"Yeah. And for your information, coffee doesn't really help me wake up. It just helps me focus on homework." He lifted up his empty cup and gave it a shake.

"That's the weirdest thing I've ever heard."

"ADHD is a weird thing, and yet, here I am."

"Huh, interesting."

"Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to pick up where I left off with the same stupid ten page paper I started last night."

"Oh right. Sure," Winry stammered. "Listen, I'm really sorry I just assumed things about you. It was wrong of me, and I'd like to make it up to you, if that's okay."

Edward eyed her suspiciously. "What do you have in mind?"

"Well...I could look over your paper once you're done writing it? I've got a paper of my own to write while I'm waiting, and I can sit right across the table here so you don't have to come get me. I won't try to talk to you or anything. Neither of us need that kind of distraction."

"Alright, alright. Get your coffee and sit down. The girl at the counter's been up there waiting for a good minute or two while you've been at confessional over here."

"Wait, she has?" Winry's eyes widened, and Edward laughed at her expense. He was kind of attractive when he wasn't scowling...wait what? She pouted and got up to retrieve her coffee. When Winry returned, she plopped down on the bench opposite Edward and opened her laptop. Peeking out from behind it, she added, "By the way, I'm Winry. I figured you ought to at least know the name of the person who's proofreading your paper."

"Well, Winry, you're the one who volunteered." The corners of his mouth twitched upward. The two worked on their assignments in silence, occasionally speaking up when necessary.

-----

Edward was in the corner again the next week as well.

"Hey, Edward! Mind if I join you for homework again?"

"Normally, I'd say no, but you didn't bother me too much last week, so you might as well." He turned away slightly.

"Great! Have you gotten your coffee yet? I didn't see a cup, and you got something the last two times."

"Eh, I haven't been here long. If you're going up and getting yours, would you mind ordering a caramel macchiato for me?" He asked, sliding his ID across the table.

"Yeah, no problem. I'll be back in a sec."

She returned and slipped his ID back before pulling out her computer. "Do you have anything for me to look over this time?"

"Not this week. But if you have anything you need looked over, I can do that, too."

"Actually, I do, if you wouldn't mind."

"Winry, I just volunteered. Just send the paper to my school email. Mine's 'elricedwa'," he instructed as he proceeded to spell it.

"Medium roast and a caramel macchiato?" Sciezska called out.

"Coming!" Winry replied and turned to Edward. "I just sent it, so you should be able to start while I'm getting our stuff." Eyes glued to his laptop, Edward gave a thumbs up.

Once she returned with their drinks, Winry sat down and wordlessly set Edward's drink next to him.

"Thanks," he muttered distantly. His lips mirrored the words he was reading. Though his lips weren't plump by any stretch of the imagination, they were shapely. His steely concentration made the air leave Winry's lungs. To top it all off, the first rays of sunlight came through the window just right, hitting Edward's hair in a way that made it positively glow.

What was she thinking? Those were only the sorts of things people thought when they had a crush. She'd only had two positive interactions with him, including this one. ...well, maybe it was a crush. She could certainly do worse than someone with a questionable fashion sense. After all, he worked hard, and he got good grades, if the quality of his writing was any indication. Okay, fine. He was also drop dead gorgeous, if you could see past his clothing choices. Yeah, she had a crush.

"Did you hear anything I just said?"

"...no."

"Figures. I finished reading your paper. It's not bad, I just left a few suggestions for sentence structure. Now I am going to enjoy my caramel macchiato." He took off the lid and breathed in the steam with his eyes closed, nearly drooping into the cup in content. When he opened his eyes slowly, Winry was awestruck by the similarity between the color of his eyes and his drink.

"What?" Edward furrowed his eyebrows.

"Nothing. I didn't say anything. At all. Nope."

"Okay." He shrugged. She reopened the document and went through his suggested edits. Gnawing her lip in concentration, she leaned forward a bit to settle in and tackle the editing.

"...hey, uh, Winry?" Edward gulped. "Are you going to drink your coffee?"

"Oh! Yeah, I almost forgot. Thanks, Edward!" she smiled.

"No–no problem. And you can call me Ed, you know. Most people do. Except for that excuse for a professor that calls me pipsqueak. Can you believe he's my advisor? I mean, come on, I'm a grown man. I'm not that short."

Winry made a poor attempt at containing her laughter. "Okay then, Ed. Prove it. Stand up."

"Fine." He slid out of the booth and stood. Winry followed suit and appraised their respective heights.

"Well, I'd hardly call you tall, but you're at least taller than me by a few inches, for whatever that's worth."

Edward grinned as if he had won some sort of prize. "Time for shorties to sit down now!"

"Watch it now. You're not too far from that label yourself, mister."

They both returned to their positions in the booth and worked steadily for the next hour. At the end of that time, Winry closed her laptop. "Ed, are you okay? You seem distracted."

"ADHD. I'm always distracted," he dismissed.

"No, like, are you sick or something? You did get more than four hours of sleep this time, right?"

"No comment." Ed's mouth twitched. He mumbled barely loud enough to hear, "Wouldn't have mattered anyway."

"Are you sure? If you're not feeling well, I can drive you over to the health center."

"N-no. That's not it." He exhaled, then slid a napkin across the table. His hands trembled slightly. "Anyway, here's my number. In case you need me to look over a paper. Or whatever. I've got a class soon."

Winry blushed, but tucked the napkin in her laptop. "Thanks, Ed. See you next week?"

"Yeah. Next week."

-----

Winry: This goes with your major, right?

Edward: Blocked

#fma #fma fanfic #503 day #when i wrote it it was probably still 503 day somewhere #edwin #edward elric #winry rockbell #fma sciezska #fma sheska #my writing #my fic #coffee shop au #college au

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