fellow travelers is like... okay I mean this in the best possible way but you know how many "this was obviously written by a fanfic writer" movies/books are coming out right now? this is what those WANT to be. it's like. what fanfic writers are imagining in their heads that is absolutely not what is translating in the writing. it's like. the same vibe as That One Fanfiction you read that changed your life forever and made you mentally ill and has lines passed around people don't know are from fanfiction. you know what I mean????

All in time

Summary: finnick is on a mission to convince the world you aren’t what they think

Request: Finnick odair with reader who is strangely unsettling with like a creepy personality but also a sweetheart and she confuses everyone so much

Fic type: fluff/angst

Pairing: Finnick odair x reader

Word count: 1.4k

Masterlist

Boarder by @cafekitsune

An: i kinda hate this. But i hope you enjoy reading it more than i did writing it.

The games had changed you. And not for the better, the cheerful person you were when you were chosen was long gone by the time you stepped foot on that train to the capitol. Your walls went up and they were made of pure steel, no one was able to break your barrier. Until you met Finnick, it was like he just walked right through them with no problem whatsoever. He was quick to break down your barriers, only to see the complete sweetheart you truly were, the way you cried when you remembered all of the lives you'd taken in the arena, the memorial wall you'd put in your home for them. The way you secretly worried for everyone in the arena during every game, hoping they'd call it off right in the middle of it so no one else had to die. But of course, nothing good ever happens in the capitol. Which is exactly how you wound back up in the games with Finnick. Everyone was fairly wary of you, much to Finnick dismay.

Today is the first day of training, and while Finnick was walking around making allies, you were practicing your trident throwing accuracy, (which was pretty spot on) until you looked over to see Finnick making his way over to you with a small smile on his face. “You know it'd be a hell of a lot easier to make allies if you didn't look like you'd kill the first person who walked up to you,” Finnick said leaning on the trident stand. You sighed “I know, but it's stupid when almost all of us are gonna die anyway.” you said as your body thrust forward, throwing the trident and successfully hitting the target. You turned to him, making eye contact with his bright blue eyes. He nodded over to his right, you looked over and saw Katniss Everdeen, your blank expression quickly changed into one of slight panic, “absolutely not” you said shaking your head. Finnick started nodding his head muttering ‘absolutely’ over and over as he nudged you over towards her. “Come back with an ally,” he said from behind you, as you sighed and begrudgingly made your way towards the struggling girl. You hadn't been one for socializing, and you weren't as intimidating as people made you seem, in fact you were more afraid of not being liked than anything, but the facade helped you protect yourself.

Katniss currently had her back towards you, trying and failing to throw the knives and land them in the place intended. “You’re a badass archer, but your throwing is horrible,” you said in a monotone voice. She turned towards you and a look of shock crossed her face when she saw that it was you that was talking to her. her posture straightened “You know who I am?” Katniss asked. Your brows raised, “Everyone knows who you are, you and your boyfriend are a literal one in a million. Most beautiful love story in all of Panem.” You said. Katniss grimaced, “sorry, I just heard-“ she said before cutting herself off. You nodded, telling her that you already knew what she was gonna say. You pointed to the knife in her hand, “may I?”. She nodded handing you the knife and moving out of the way. you took her place in front of the target and put your arm in the growing position before pausing to show her, “Your stance was wrong. You wanna hit your target you have to get the correct stance.” You finished, before unpausing your position and throwing hit knife. You smiled looking over at her “Bullseye” you said letting a smile slip. You moved to get the knife from the target and walked back to Katniss holding it out to her mentioning for her to try again. She nodded taking the knife and tried to replicate your stance, before letting the knife fly at the target. Your brows raised surprised “Pretty good Everdeen” you complimented. She didn’t show any emotion but you’re pretty sure that’s just her. “Thanks,” she said in her quiet voice. you looked back at Finnick who was still resting in the same position, leaning against the trident stand, he nodded and you sighed quietly turning back to Katniss. “Knife throwing takes time and practice, so let me do the throwing and you stick to the shooting alright?” You asked holding out your hand, hoping shed catch your drift. She looked at you warily, but ultimately shook your hand. You smiled, and she gave you the best one she could muster “See ya” you said making your way back to Finnick who looked decently surprised. “See wasn’t that bad, you just needed a little push,” he said. You rolled your eyes, “you’re lucky she’s not unbearable, you would’ve been my target had she been” you joked with a smile

~~~~~

After you came back from rescuing Peeta and Johanna from the capitol, you were sitting on your and Finnick's shared bed when you heard a knock on the door. You made your way over to the door and when you opened you were met with a crying Katniss, you were instantly hit with worry, “are you okay? What’s wrong?” you asked pulling her into the room. She shook her head “I just wanted to thank you, for everything.” She said. Your brows raised in surprise. “I second-guessed Finnick when he told me all you guys wanted was to help us, I didn’t trust you and I'm sorry, “she said solemnly. You shook your head, “you had every right not to trust me, or him. I didn’t fully trust you either” you admitted. You hugged her, you knew she wasn’t a touchy person, but you felt like she needed it. She hugged you back, before pulling away. “Finnick is lucky to have you, and I’m glad he put everyone in their place for you.” She said. You frowned in confusion, “what do you mean?” You asked. “In the arena when you’d gotten separated from everyone else he was a mess, but Johanna made a comment, saying you were probably scoping us out, seeing which ones to kill. He went ballistic and said anyone who thinks you’d kill them is just as brainwashed as the rest of Panem. Said he’d been more likely to kill us if it came down to it. Said you’re in no way whatsoever weak but you’re damn sure not a monster.” She finished. You frowned, you hadn’t known this piece of information, but when you’d reunited with the group you had wondered why everyone had such a drastic change of heart towards you. Even the stone-cold Johanna. Katniss understood the look on your face pretty well, having worn it herself. She stepped away “I’m gonna go I just wanted you to know that I'm thankful for everything.” She said and you nodded, “you’re welcome,” you said as she left

~~~

Not long after Finnick entered the room. You quickly stood and ran to hug his tall frame placing your arms around his shoulders. “Not that I'm complaining, but what’s this for?” He asked as his arms slithered around your waist. You looked up at him with the most love-filled eyes you’d ever given him. “Thank you for not giving up on me,” you said. “Finnick was still confused and he let the confusion show on his face “Of course not,” he said. You backed away “I had a visit from Katniss, she thanked me for everything but she told me something else.” You said to him, he nodded telling you to go on. “She said you stuck up for me to Johanna. Told her and everyone else that you were more likely to kill them than me.” You said as tears brimmed your eyes. “What did I do to deserve you?” You asked. Finnick leaned down and placed his lips to yours, capturing you in a love-filled kiss as his arms brought you closer to his body. He kissed you as if his love depended on it like all his love for you was in that single kiss. He pulled away but kept you close. “Y/n, you have the most amazing soul I’ve ever seen. And people deserve to see it, to feel what it’s like to be cared for by you, even if it isn’t romantically. Y/n you are a gem, with such rarity that anyone would live poor just to have you by their side.” He said with the softest eyes, a voice so full of emotion that you couldn’t pinpoint which one was which. “I love you Finn,” you said, in this situation you didn’t know what else to say. “I love you too darling,” he said pressing another kiss to your lips.

After All These Years - Chapter Four

Chapter One ✩ ‎‎‎‎‎Chapter Two ✩ Chapter Three

Chapter Summary: Y/N and Chris help Dalton while he's lost in The Further and they're left to deal with something else taking him over. Y/N finally shows Dalton the blue box.

Word Count: 1.9k+

Warnings: possessed!Dalton, language

A/N: I’m not gonna lie, as I was finishing this chapter I realised how much I strayed away from the original request so I apologise if this is absolutely nothing like that 😭 at the same time I wanna apoligise for taking so long to update this mini-series but it was tumblr's fault, I wrote like an entire chapter but then it disappeared somehow? Like I guess it didn't save properly so I had to rewrite it but it wasn't the same as the first time and I couldn't remember how it went and I hated it every time I tried to replicate the original so I stopped trying for a bit. But I hope you still like it! As always please let me know what you think 🫶🏻

MASTERLIST     ✩    SEND ME A REQUEST

Y/N froze for a moment. When she got Chris’ texts a million things went through her mind, but whatever she thought was the worst she was wrong, cause this definitely was. 

Snapping back to reality, she ran inside and tried to turn on the light, but she failed. Dalton (who she was sure was not Dalton) got dangerously close to her and closed the door with a simple hand motion. Y/N didn’t know what to do, she wanted to say something but she couldn’t find her voice, and Chris was looking at them in pure terror. 

“Dalton?” Y/N whispered, analysing his face trying to find him in his own body. 

He shook his head and let out a devilish laugh “You are the one he used to lead me to” He said in a scarily low tone as his hand travelled to her hair, brushing it out of the way “Where have you been?”

Y/N swallowed hard as she processed the words that came out of his mouth, what did he mean by that? She looked over his shoulder and noticed Chris carefully leaving the bed and reaching for the lights that were laying on the ground. Dalton followed her eyes and landed on Chris, his stare filled with evil intentions.

He returned to look at Y/N, slowly adjusting his other hand in her neck. He grabbed her by the throat and she could feel her feet leaving the ground. 

“Y/N!” Chris exclaimed and Dalton tightened his grip. Chris ran up to them, but just as she was gonna do something, Dalton collapsed to the ground, making Y/N fall on top of him. 

She breathed deeply and they both went to check on him, noticing his appearance slowly going back to normal. The room was dark and eerie sounds were coming from everywhere, but after a moment of shakingly looking around, terrifying beings started to crawl from under the beds.

“Get the lights!” Y/N exclaimed, bringing Dalton closer to her to protect him. The things were fast to approach them, and Y/N was doing her best to kick them away when they got too close. Chris was on the other side of the room, connecting the lights together and illuminating the pitch black space.

It was an intense few minutes of them trying to protect Dalton and themselves from whatever was surrounding them, too immersed in their fear to utter a sound, but suddenly the things around them disappeared and Dalton opened his eyes, quickly getting on his feet and stumbling a bit as he made his way to his desk “Dalton?” Y/N whispered, scared another entity took him over, but he didn’t respond. 

Dalton went straight to his canvas, and rushed to cover it with black paint. Y/N and Chris looked at him unsure, repeatedly scanning the room to check for other things.

“I have to save my dad” He finally said. It took him another minute to completely cover the canvas with the dark paint, leaving the red door behind it, but once he was done the light blinked a few times before completely going back to normal, the room being entirely illuminated once again.

He looked for his phone and swiftly dialled his mom, getting desperate when she didn’t pick up right away “Is dad back?” He asked immediately.

Y/N and Chris stayed with him while he talked to his parents, vaguely catching up on what actually happened to him when he was 10. He seemed troubled to learn the real reason he was in a coma and why he was so scared of the dark since then, but somewhat relieved to finally know what it all meant and that it wasn’t in his head. Once he finally hung up he proceeded to thank his friends for staying there with him even when he wasn’t himself, followed by a million apologies and trying his best to promise something like that will never happen again.

“Did I hit my head or something?” Dalton asked, running his hand on the back of his head.

“You did. You fell pretty hard on the floor” Y/N explained. Dalton nodded and looked around him, noticing the mess of lights still laying across the floor.

“I’ll go get some ice for you” Chris said leaving the room.

 “Dalton, what did you do?” Y/N looked at him knowing he went too far.

He sighed and explained how he went back to the frat house to try to speak with the kid in Nick’s bathroom and ask him about the door, talking to her unsure the whole time as she was giving him a worried look.

“You went back to talk to the dead kid?”

“I didn’t have many options”

Y/N felt for him, he looked tired and she wished she could have been there for him “I’m sorry you had to go through that alone”

“I couldn’t risk putting you in danger” He smiled softly, but it faded when he noticed slight marks on her arms and neck “But I guess I did anyway” 

Y/N shook her head quickly “It’s not your fault”

“I’m sorry” He said for the millionth time “I didn’t know that something like this could happen and I spent so many years resenting my dad for things he didn’t even do, and I would hate for you to hate me for-”

“Dalton, I don't hate you” Y/N reached for his hand and caressed it softly “You said it yourself, you didn’t know and I’m never gonna blame you for any of this, specially not after hearing how difficult it was for your family”

But before he could say something the door opened and both of them turned to look at Chris “The ice machine was broken but this should do” She said handing him a small ice package “Anyway, I should probably leave, I still have schoolwork I need to finish” 

“Me too” Y/N stood up and followed Chris to the door “We’ll talk tomorrow and call me if you need anything. Are you gonna be okay” Y/N asked looking at him again, and he just nodded. They said goodbye to Dalton and left his dorm, but not before telling him he can stop apologising. 

The next day Y/N and Dalton agreed to see each other after class, and since he didn’t have plans to chase after another ghost this time he didn’t cancel on her. 

She went to her dorm first to drop off her school bag and the blue box caught her attention again. She opened it quickly to make sure everything was still there, smiling when the memories flooded her mind as she made her way to Dalton’s dorm, who gave her a hug as soon as he opened the door for her.

“Did you sleep better last night?” Y/N asked immediately after pulling away and closing the door behind her. 

“I’m not sure but I think I’ll get there” They sat across from each other on Dalton’s bed “What’s that?” He asked when he noticed what Y/N was holding.

“Oh… uh- I found this before I came here. It’s a bunch of pictures of us, from before you moved and… I guess I wanted to show you”

Dalton’s eyes lit up and he rushed to sit next to her “Can I see?”

Y/N nodded as she opened the box slowly, feeling a little nervous for some reason but she handed it to him anyway. He was smiling the whole time, his eyes slightly filling with tears as he went through the old photos. Dalton remembered most of his friendship with Y/N, but seeing their younger selves show so much love for each other almost brought him back to those summer days where his only worry was selling enough lemonade and playing with her.

“I wonder why I didn’t have any pictures of you-  of us” He corrected himself.

“I think I kept all of them” Y/N said, letting out a little giggle.

“Can I please keep this one?” Dalton held up a photo of them showing off a new sign for his lemonade stand, a little ‘Y/N + Dalton’ decorating the bottom of it.

Y/N smiled and rolled his eyes at him playfully “Okay fine, I’ll let you keep it”

“Thanks” He replied, admiring it for another moment before placing it on his desk. He put the rest of the pictures next to him on the bed and returned his attention to the contents of the box, finding more but just of Y/N, he could tell they were from after he moved. He took all of them and turned to face her “May I?”

“Sure, go ahead” Y/N moved to sit closer to him, her head faintly resting on his shoulder as he went through her pictures.

“You did theatre?” He asked, contemplating her in one of the many school plays.

“I was forced to!” She exclaimed “I wasn’t willingly dressing up in hot costumes”

He giggled before moving on to the next picture, coming across a few more of her school plays and then a couple of yearbook portraits. His smile grew even bigger at this “What happened to your hair here?”

“And now you just lost the right to look at these, so good job” Y/N said, taking the pictures from his hands and Dalton let out a laugh, his eyes falling on the box again and noticing a small piece of paper still at the bottom. 

Dalton took it out and carefully unfolded it, a heavy nostalgic feeling invading him again “I made this for you” He said.

“Yeah, you gave it to me the day you left”

“And you kept it… after all these years”

“I promised you I would”

They locked eyes for a moment, but Dalton’s face started to get warm so he looked away and down at the drawing again “Leaving was really hard, but I always thought I would see you again, until you know…” He said, alluding to his coma “If 10 year old me could see us now”

“Yeah, it took too long but at least we’re together now, right?”

Dalton nodded and met her eyes again “If we hadn’t ended up in the same uni, and in the same building, who knows if we would have ever found each other”

“And if Chris wasn’t so nosy” Y/N joked, making both of them laugh.

“Exactly! How crazy is it that my old roommate got assigned with you”

“I know. I bet someone really wanted us to cross paths again”

Dalton smiled shyly and stood up, scanning his wall for a moment and then approaching it to hang up the drawing he made years ago.

“Sure, you can keep it” Y/N said sarcastically.

Dalton let out a laugh “Sorry, I just wanted to see how it’d look there”

Y/N stood up next to him and appreciated the drawing one more time, a warm feeling covering her heart as she compared it to the newest paintings of Dalton. His arm went around her waist and he pulled her closer to hug her tightly, kissing the top of her head before whispering “I’ve missed you”

She smiled at his words, the same happy sentiment she used to feel every summer coming back to her.

Now that the season is over and everyone is released from the constraints of the bake off tent, things need to be discussed.

The final highlighted an epidemic within bake off that has honestly been growing ever since it moved out of the BBC.

Which is that bakers are never given enough time to complete the tasks set for each challenge. 

Challenges get ridiculous and more difficult year after year as if they are trying to one-up the year before (which is not what bake off is about). 

The judges have become very subjective in their judgments. It is very biased and not at all fair and cohesive.

The hosting has felt very stagnant and the hosts (mainly Matt Lucas) fail to deliver on their entire purpose which is to uplift the spirits of the bakers. The hosts help set the entire tone of the show for the bakers themselves apart from when their bakes are being judged by Paul and Prue. Their “comedy” and their dialogue has really fallen flat and so instead of being lighthearted, they contribute to making the atmosphere even more stressed and tense. 

This is not a professional baking competition. This is not Masterchef 2.0. This should be a celebration of home bakers. And its veering further and further from that core purpose.

Everything essential to home baking which is flavor and flavor only is being overshadowed by all of these other criteria. They are being judged on creating dishes that they have never made before and will never replicate in a million years at home. 

What value is this serving?

You are not teaching them any valuable skills to take home and use with their families - simple things they can make in a short period of time that will taste delicious.

Instructions for the technical never include essential information and the judges just expect them to know all of these niche details- completely forgetting that they are all AMATEUR BAKERS who bake at HOME and who have busy lives. 

Baking is their hobby, it is a love language, it is not their career.

It is increasingly evident that Bake Off is setting up their contestants to fail and purposefully creating situations that bring out the bakers’ stress and anxiety.

I don’t watch bake off to see people fall apart over cake. I find no enjoyment in watching them struggle.

Bake Off has remained special to me because of the atmosphere between the bakers. The baker community.

I love it for the fact that the bakers are never competing against each other truly and help each other out at any given moment. The warm cozy vibes. 

That spirit is not found in any other baking show. Period. It is unique and so precious.

But that spirit is being overshadowed by the rotten framework of this new Bake Off.

There needs to be a fundamental restructuring of Bake Off before it loses everything that makes it special.

Affluenza

There are two affluenzas, the first is the ignorance of how people live that are lower than you on the totem pole. I say lower on the totem pole because even the middle class doesn't know what it's like to be in the lower class, and the lower class doesn't know what it's like to be impoverished, and the the impoverished don't know what it's like to have 0 ability to make money at all.

But then there's the second sickness. The mental health issues that comes with being higher up on the pole. (WHAT MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES COULD YOU HAVE IF EVERYTHING IS PAID FOR!? I hear ppl on both sides of the aisle screaming.)

One of my trailer trash friends from childhood gave me an important piece of information, that I definitely should have kept closer to my heart: "You don't have friends when it comes to money or business."

Some people include life-partner in there, meaning "they'll f* your partner and won't even tell you about their infidelity". Which means you're down two more friends.

Nigerian Princes exist in America too. Always finding a way to make that money through making other people sorry, or having a business idea that they only came up with in order to ask for funding.

Some people made a career from panhandling. The newest "undercover millionaire" (I dunno if that's the name of his show, or even if that's what that show is about, but I figured it'd work as an example) who set out to see if he could replicate his success, started with panhandling. Not "sidewalk artist" panhandling, you know playing some music, or drawing stick figures, just straight "homeless begging for change" panhandling.

Not that I think that's not a thing you should do if you need it.

You do what you have to.

A million dollars, if you set aside 32k a year (current median wage, minimum wage at $7.25 is like 15k) will last 30 years. That's not including inflation that will definitely shorten that time span.

Alternatively, you could try to start a business and pay 30 people 32k. For one year, and be out of capital since a small business will oftentimes take longer to get off the ground than a single year.

No matter how much money you throw at it.

I know, There's exceptions to that rule, but take a look at a franchise which costs $52k - $300k to startup, and a ten-year contract where everything is out of pocket should you fail to recoup your costs

Anybody that so much as hears about somebody that even 30k lying around will be up your alley looking for a handout. How dare you be so successful.

The real reason that lottery winners who started poor and wind up poor again, is because they have no affluent connections, and all their friends and families sob stories. Each of them either hasn't done the calculation, or doesn't care to.

Money doesn't grow on trees, and even if it did, that tree would be bare in a week.

People above you trying to get paid, people below you begging for change.

"we've been trying to contact you about your vehicle's extended warranty."

If you own that special edition harry potter book set, anybody that sees it will be drooling over it because "they heard about how much it costs". They wouldn't be able to find a buyer, but pawn stars might give them $300.

I wish I lived in the old world where nobody cared about nerd collectibles, then I could display them without people getting jealous. Or you know: play vintage MagicTG.

Commodification. Kids used to steal cards because they couldn't afford them, now adults do because they're valuable. (DON'T CORRECT ME)

Who needs memories anyway?

I just wanted to decorate my abode with my nerd hobbies. Now all I got are these scented candles from the Yankees.

You know, there used to be a fear of every room being pristine, with nothing to decorate the walls because the death of books and physical media.

Now it's because your neighbor will take it from you. Because they "need to make that bread".

What happens when there aren't enough jobs to go around? When there's not enough money to go around? You're forced to be distrustful of everybody you meet.

So much so that you can't have any nice things at all.

So much for the American Dream.

Weekends

By Jade Raven

Friday 

I never like to remember what we are made of. There’s something strange about knowing what’s inside my body. At some point, we learn from a scrape on our knee, that there is blood beneath our skin, and our parents warn us not to break our bones, which we figure must be what we feel when we crack our knuckles, and it must be what is pushing against our lungs when we breathe and breathe. We must have walked this Earth for hundreds and hundreds of thousands of years, not knowing what we are made from, except from the violent injuries that left torn limbs. At least until we got so curious we opened ourselves up ourselves, and now that we know we must think of it: meaty tendons stuck to each rubbery ligament, wrapped around our bones, blood pulsating through a million strands of tiny veins. Each so fragile and volatile, all perfectly stretching, beating, binding us into place. I feel my nails protruding from my fingertips, and the follicles of my hair buried beneath white soft skin. Layer upon layer we are built from nothing into something in a perfectly imperfect manner. My house of animated flesh, the suit for my nerves, carrying out my commands unto the world. And what to do with it? We spend our lives asking this question. 

Though now, our bodies are not our bodies alone; they are adorned with fabrics and paints, pastes, scents, and trinkets of all kinds. Countless artifacts to choose from, each morning and sometimes nights become ceremonial. This is always the way a Friday night out begins. It feels safe to stick to this ritual, whether with people or not, it is necessary to forgo transformation as I prepare in many ways for the night to become something, of course, akin to myself, but just not quite exactly the same. There is an anticipation of how in an hour, two hours, the energy of my body will be changed entirely. How my blood will rush up to my head, and quickly through the ventricles of my heart. My muscles tense and relax and then lie numb under my excited skin. And my head; Completely detached more and more as the night goes on, painted and prim, it rolls around my neck completely of its own accord. The thousand bits of energy rushing through my nerves all overwhelming my poor little brain, but still I love it. It rarely matters what music is playing tonight. Lately rounds of punk rock, house, or techno, each admittedly bearing with it an entirely different energy, but none failing to provide a veil of safety over my eyes and ears, and each of my other senses; always turned up so loud I can mostly just hear my own heartbeat. Yes, it’s going to be that kind of Friday night. 

Saturday

Saturdays often prove to me a few things; the pressure of autonomy, the fluidity of ability and life in general, and that really, you can get a lot done in just a day. 

Also, when you’ve had that certain kind of Friday night, your body still remembers on Saturday. It leaks over into the fresh morning, and for this reason, I like to take Saturday mornings easy. I’ll rise leisurely, careful to enjoy the moments going by, pick my clothes out, and stare into the mirror. There is a certain obligation of conscious self awareness to pay attention to what we look like. But on Saturday’s, I try to find the mirror a playful dimension to the best of my ability. I figure that if there are going to be not one but two worlds in which one imitates me, the kindest thing I could do is show it something happy to replicate. Even if it’s only on Saturdays. 

I suppose it has something to do with the fact that unlike Fridays, where the daytime is occupied, and Sundays where instead it’s the night that holds a limit anticipating Monday, Saturdays are the days wrapped in complete freedom. So then, I’ll get breakfast, and coffee, and I’ll probably listen to a song or two as I go about it. I’ll squint my eyes into the sun, or stare at the clouds, rain, take a minute to listen to the layers of sound flowing right into my brain. My head cools down, and I stretch my limbs until they feel like jelly. And I’m afraid I’ll have to talk about Saturdays for less than I could, for they are always the pinnacles of potential for the very best and worst thoughts I could ever have. So instead, I’ll suggest, perhaps a little bit naively, to go to the beach, go somewhere big and vast, and see something more grand than Monday or Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and even more so than Friday night. Then, maybe if you want, consume everything you can reach, and make it last the rest of the week. 

Sunday 

There is a special kind of love dedicated to Sundays, for reasons I can understand but have never known. Honestly, in fact, I might as well not exist at this point. But my body hasn’t quit its habit of a heartbeat, so I’ll gather the courage and get a cup of coffee. 

A New Way to Choose Your Next Book

Most books are sold online, where it’s impossible to replicate the experience of browsing in a brick-and-mortar store. Book-discovery apps aim to change that.

by Alexandra Alter and Elizabeth A. Harris

By some measures, the book business is doing better than ever.

Last year, readers bought nearly 827 million print books, an increase of roughly 10 percent over 2020, and a record since NPD BookScan began tracking two decades ago.

But all is not as rosy as it seems. As book buyers have migrated online, it has gotten harder to sell books by new or lesser known authors. With the exception of surprise runaway best-sellers (“Where the Crawdads Sing,” for example) and books by celebrities or brand name authors (Matthew McConaughey, James Patterson), most writers fail to find a much of an audience. Of the 3.2 million titles that BookScan tracked in 2021, fewer than one percent of them sold more than 5,000 copies.

The gap points to what is perhaps the most intractable problem in publishing: How to reproduce online the serendipity of walking into a bookstore and discovering new books and authors. Several companies have attempted to tackle the issue, with mixed results. Now, a new app, Tertulia, launched this week, is trying a different approach, by measuring and distilling the online chatter about books to point readers to the ones that are driving discussions.

When bookstores were the main purveyors of books, an interesting cover, a prominent display in Barnes & Noble or a passionate endorsement from an independent bookseller could nudge a reader to pick up something new. But online, the old methods for creating buzz and driving sales no longer work. On the internet, industry experts say, it is easy for readers to click on something they know they want, but they are less likely to encounter something unfamiliar.

“Everyone knows you can sell books online,” said John Ingram, the chairman of the Ingram Content Group, the largest book distributor and wholesaler in the United States. “The question is, how do you get content in front of people who might be interested in it?”

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'The recent box office success of Barbie and Oppenheimer is a boon for movie theaters during this surprisingly fallow summer season. Films like Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, and The Flash failed to bring in the hundreds of millions of dollars studios wanted. Excluding, for a moment, Mission: Impossible – Reckoning Part One, the summer's two biggest successes offer a lesson for superhero filmmakers.

With the WGA and SAG-AFTRA forced to strike, studios seem willing to risk burning down the entire industry to save what amounts to infinitesimal percentages of their revenues. The future of everything is in flux now, from when movies like Beyond the Spider-Verse will release to whether streaming as an industry is "over." Yet, even in ordinary times, studios are reactionary. After films like Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind succeeded, a glut of sci-fi pictures was made, including Star Trek: The Motion Picture. While no one is rushing to the Hollywood trades to announce a series of films about World War II-era historical figures, Mattel is wasting no time trying to bring movies based on toys like Polly Pocket to theaters. Naturally, the hope is to replicate Barbie's success. When Spider-Man became the highest-opening movie ever in 2002, more superheroes followed. Once the Marvel Cinematic Universe took over, Warner Bros. raced (to their detriment) to introduce their own shared universe. Will toys, or even historical epics by auteur directors, become the next "superhero" film craze? Probably not.

Barbie and Oppenheimer Are Superhero Movies, Actually

On some level, all storytelling is formulaic, as folks like Professor Joseph Campbell and others have noted throughout the years. Superhero films are archetypal, meaning they have their necessary story beats. There is the origin story, the first attempts to be a hero, the near-defeat, and the triumphant saving of the day. One could apply all those beats to Barbie and Oppenheimer, but that's not how the audience sees them. Audiences know superheroes, even if they aren't fans. Someone who's never read a comic in their life knows what happened to Krypton, Batman's parents, and, of course, Uncle Ben. In this way, the films are superhero movies, because multiple generations of people grew up when the Barbie doll and J. Robert Oppenheimer were "household names."

Again, Oppenheimer is an outlier. The Historical Cinematic Universe is just reality in cinema. People who didn't get enough atom bomb construction can bide until Oppenheimer is released for home viewing by watching the gone-too-soon series Manhattan. Similarly, the Mattel Cinematic Universe will not be a second MCU. The reactions to Barbie's announcement were skeptical, even with heavyweight talent like Greta Gerwig signed on. Still, no studio will ever underestimate name recognition. Like superheroes, a beloved character's name in a movie will bring in audiences, if only out of curiosity. The Avengers only worked because people expected a visual trash fire and instead got a delightfully fun movie.

The animated Super Mario Bros. Movie is the only movie to cross the billion-dollar mark this year, though Barbie and Ken are rollerblading up on its heels. Again, generations grew up with Mario, Luigi, and the various Mushroom Kingdom characters that Nintendo built games and cartoons around. Sonic the Hedgehog's first movie was a surprise hit because it was an "actually good" video game movie. Curiosity will get audiences in the door once or even a few times. However, that's not what keeps them, as Marvel and DC have been discovering in the past few years.

The Secret to Barbie and Oppenheimer's Success Is Why Actors and Writers Are Striking

While the "Barbenheimer" memes absolutely pushed up Oppenheimer's box office take, it has an advantage over other films. Christopher Nolan is an auteur director who can fill a convention hall or bring eyeballs to interviews on his own. Despite Greta Gerwig's equally impressive relative track record, Oppenheimer is very much a "Christopher Nolan movie." Similarly, one of the reasons for Barbie's positive word-of-mouth from audiences is that Gerwig also applied auteur sensibilities to her film. Their visual style, combined with the stories and actors' performances, is why audiences love these movies. It's the same reason the MCU worked and the DCEU didn't.

Five years ago, anything that was once a Marvel or DC comic book was guaranteed to make at least $600 million. While it's still a ridiculous number, even "risky" superhero movies can get $200 million-plus budgets. However, audience curiosity played a huge role. In the first decade of the 2000s, it was about how these superheroes could appear "realistic." X-Men eschewed the colorful outfits, and Nolan's take on Batman was as authentic as that character gets. In the 2010s, when shared continuity was introduced, audiences came to see heroes teaming up. Today, the only thing that will keep them coming back to the theaters is the stories. Otherwise, they are content to catch it on streaming or skip it altogether.

Barbie's success is just like those early superhero films. It's a fun movie like audiences expect it to be. Yet, it also uses these familiar characters to convey emotional and psychological experiences through the characters by making them feel like "real" people. What helps Barbie continue to bring in audiences after is the work of the writers and actors who took something that shouldn't work and made it something powerful. The name may be important for getting audiences' attention at first, but it's only the quality of the storytelling and performance that keep them coming back.'

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snowflake || kth

snowflake || blurb

pairing: taehyung x reader 

au(s): ex!lovers au

part of 12 days of bangtan special

taehyungie🐯 : had you seen the snow fall too?

Snowflakes are one of a kind - a masterpiece in itself that can not be replicated in any way. Taehyung was your very own snowflake. He never failed to charm you with his idiosyncratic ways, neither did he stop to let you watch him melt. He was beautiful, yet fleeting. This realization led to the premature end of your relationship as teenagers. Like snowflakes, your love melted quickly. The way that millions of them could be formed yet not two are alike spoke volumes to how they must be formed. Being a singular crystal of ice that may have cultivated from others, it originates as mere water frozen to a single particle into the sky. It originates from nothing and takes time to be cultivated, much like that of love. It takes one structure to form after work is invested in it: love is quite the same.  The origins do not matter, but the final product distilled down to a single image that would eventually melt was awe-inspiring.

Science jargon inside, snowflakes were one of a kind and could not be emulated. Unable to be manufactured or replicated, everyone aspired to have their own version of snowflake. Whether it be through personality, experiences, or lifestyle, a snowflake was desirable.

Love with Taehyung was no different. Painstakingly culminated by years of love, investment, and understanding, it could not be emulated no matter how hard you tried to move on from him. You could only fool yourself for so long that he could be replaced by anyone when no one could be a fraction of him in your eyes.

This fact  of Taehyung’s irreplicability hit the hardest at the first time. Both time and space caused the distance between us, but somehow the first snow erased every inch of distance that accumulatted between the two of you. Like you, Taehyung never shed the lingering feelings away whenever his eyes glossed over your social media pages, nor the awkward running-in to you shared with one another. 

Years of repetition have colored the relationship you have shared with Taehyung. Once lovers and now only acquaintances, the first snowfall melted whatever kept the two of you apart. 

yn: i did… you always liked the snow best..you always made sure to text for the first snowfall :)

taehyungie🐯 : i do because every first snowfall reminds me that i should with be you

And just like that, the two of you fall into the pattern of old ways. 

“I think that I’m in love this Christmas,” Taehyung whispers with a laugh as he places the stocking on the fireplace. His voice is a deep timbre and brings comfort like the melting logs that emit heat from the fireplace. “Really?” You reply as you try not to think about the stupid Christmas sweater you dug up in a hurry to see him. Taehyung turns to face you with an equally ugly Christmas sweater. Like snowflakes, despite the distance and time that separated us, we melted together at the same time as though no time had passed. “I think so… I’ve thought about a lot of things. Kissing under the tree after placing down presents.. If I had that, I do not think I would need presents… except Yeontan would hate not getting something.” He jokes as he nods to the sleeping puppy in the corner. “That’s why I made sure to get him a present.” You respond with a giggle. You move from your spot on the couch to kneel under the tree and tuck the paw-print covered wrapping paper with a smile to admire your work. “I think it’s something he might enjoy.” Only the sound of the logs crinkling within the fireplace makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up straight. I furrow my brows for a moment at the silence; it was so uncharacteristic of a conversation to suddenly halt without a party making an off-handed comment. Had I said something wrong? Turning around, the wind nearly knocked you out when I was greeted with Taehyung’s mesmerizing orbs. Like two jewels, his gaze is enrapturing and confounding in ways that could bring the strongest soldier to their knees. His gaze as it always has been - the ability to make your throat go dry and your hands grow clammy. 

“How long are we going to play like this?” Taehyung rasps softly as he closes the distance between the two of us. He draws the words together like a spinster. It is hard to take all of him at once - the mole on his nose, the other that kisses his bottom lip - the slight hint of a boxy smile.  He is the definition of transcendence. 

For a moment, your eyes flutter in every direction except for meeting his eyes. It is too much to be able to meet his eyes when he is all-encompassing. “I’ve thought about stopping.” I swallow before rubbing the back of my neck. “Only if you’d want to-” “Be my date this Christmas eve.” Taehyung’s voice is breathy after he has the confirmation he needs. The grip of his hand tightens slightly on your hip. “For me, you could be both my holiday and my dream… Every Christmas I’ve realized that you are the one who I long to spend all of my time with... sure, being able to travel the world and do what I love makes me happy.. but somehow being with you enhances it in ways that I can not explain.” “You promise?” You chirp, making him laugh in response. It is a nervous habit of his, the lack of eye contact coupled with the rose-colored pink that paints his cheeks. “I would like all of that, actually.” Taehyung’s eyes soften as his own cheeks turn red. “Ah… I do not think I thought this far ahead.” He sits up a bit straighter and the grip on your waist loosens. 

You smile gently at him and smiles. “I do believe this is my time to give my own love confession. Right?” You joke, making him nod eagerly. 

“Indulge me.” Taehyung jokes as he pulls you into his lap and smiles. 

You take a deep breath. “You have to promise not to laugh! I am going out on a limb here.” I cup his cheeks, making him wiggle his brows in amusement. His cheeks burn under my palms. “You’re the only person that I have ever wished for… I knew years ago that you were the one for men but I let my insecurities get the better of me. It was never a question of whether or not you were enough to love, but rather if I had enough love to give you what you deserved… Taehyung, for so long I longed to be the one by your side. In the spirit of Christmas, I wished for you to be the one that I could love and take care of.. but now… I don’t think I have to ask Santa for anything this year… because this year… I think I have got the best gift of all.” You struggle to speak a bit as you say this - it is hard not to when Taehyung’s face grows blank as though thinking over what you just said. 

“That’s all you got?” He jokes, sending you a boxy smile and making you huff with a laugh. “I’m kidding. I’ll be your Christmas Love. Hopefully Valentine’s Day Love… Children’s Day Love... Hangul Day Love-“ 

“Tae!” I whine before pushing his shoulder gently. Ever the actor, he dramatically plops down against the jingle ball bash red tree blanket and smiles. 

“You wound me.” Taehyung chuckles. He’s even more beautiful when he laughs. He emits more lights on the room than the tree with over three hundred fluorescent lights. His lips are plush, the very reason roses are forced to wilt is because they realize they are a mere fragment of Taehyung’s beauty.

Once more, silence engulfs us with only the crinkling sound of the wood burning in the fireplace. 

“Warm me up with your Christmas love.” Taehyung whispers as he sends a playful smile. His hand moves from my waist painfully slowly where each centimeter that he glosses over burns hotter than the wood in the fireplace. 

Your heart leaps to your throat when your lips finally press against Taehyung. His lips are soft and taste like a mixture of Christmas cookies and hot chocolate from minutes before your stocking endeavor. Soft like petals of a gardenia coupled with the sweet taste, you struggle to ignore the blossoming of a garden within your rib cage.

Taehyung smiles into the kiss, that much is felt from the slight curve of his lip before he bites down on my bottom lip gently. Your heart wrestles with itself in a meager manner. 

We pull away seconds later. 

“My very one Christmas love.” You whisper quietly while finding chase in his hair and lightly stroking his hair. 

Taehyung leans more into your touch and a soft hum emits from his chest. He looks content. You like seeing this relaxed side of him. “You have that look in your eye.” 

Flustered, you shake your head. “What? What look?” 

Taehyung chuckles as he raises a brow in amusement. “That look. You know what I mean…” he replies as his fingers entangle with your own. “This is going to be a special Christmas.”

                                                              ❦

don’t be a silent reader! please let me know what you think and/or comment what member you’d like next for the next 12 days <3 

why blippi is rotting yr children's brains

preface: i literally expect no one to read this. it is an essay length, strong opinion piece critiquing a niche youtube-based children's show that i don't expect most of y'all to even have knowledge of lol. but like, i promise that even if you know nothing about what i'm talking about, in my incredibly, super humble opinion, it's a good piece of writing and interesting nonetheless. anyway if you read this whole thing for some reason yr really hot and we should kiss.

i thoroughly vet everything my child watches before he watches it, episode by episode. and we rarely watch youtube for entertainment; we usually just look up educational videos when he has a question about something and wants more detail than i can provide him. and that's mainly because children's content on youtube is so fucking troubling and distressing. i don't judge parents who give their children a tablet at a restaurant at all bc i've been there and sometimes it's easier on everyone to just put on a video and avoid a giant scene, but i do judge parents who just leave their children alone with youtube kids on autoplay.

take stevin john, a literal millionaire who got famous from dressing up as a silly character called blippi and going on tours of places like aquariums, zoos, construction sites, etc and posting it on youtube. this has branched into a whole empire of blippi videos, hulu shows and specials, live shows and tours (that he outsources to another character actor), merchandise and so on. this 30-something year old man cites his main influence as being mr. rogers, but i question if he's ever even seen an episode of that program.

mr. rogers had no background in early childhood development or media production, but he revolutionized the world of children's media, because he respected his audience and didn't shy away from real world situations, all while creating a show with an enormous heart. mr. rogers begins his episodes by inviting the viewer in, literally changing his attire to be more comfortable, and talking about/doing things he genuinely cares about. whereas mr. rogers calmly and maturely addresses the viewer, blippi puts on a high pitched, contrived voice, interjecting every other sentence with a forced exclamation such as, "teehee! we're having so much fun!"

i don't find it a coincidence that john (blippi) is a veteran, either. his videos are completely devoid of the absurd, abstract, childlike thinking that makes children's media fun, creative, and entertaining. his thinking and process is methodical, devoid of emotion, and very superficial. this line of thinking clearly shows the kind of creative sterilization and emphasis on sameness and conformity instilled in the military. blippi simply observes things and interacts with them in a stale, matter-of-fact way. "this ball is purple! this ball is pink! anyway... what's over there? teehee! a car! vroom, vroom!" objects are colors, toy cars don't do anything but drive, curiosity is simply not encouraged.

he uses the "it's educational!" excuse to hide the fact that his show lacks everything that makes media a valuable resource for children to consume in the first place. further than identifying colors, numbers, and the occasional letter or shape, there is just this total lack of children's need for social and emotional development. when mr. rogers breaks the fourth wall to address the viewer and let them know they're special, it feels authentic and natural, because we've spent the last half hour building whole worlds with diverse characters and unique stories in a pretend neighborhood, learning about and enjoying different musical instruments, being exposed to and making friends with (even if parasocially, it is still a real bond to children when done properly) children who are similar to us in character regardless of physical or environmental differences, feeding the fish, making art together, and so on. when blippi tells the viewer, "you are very special, and i enjoy spending time with you!" it falls completely flat and feels unearned, because the last half hour was spent running around a soft play center pointing at bright, colorful objects, visiting interesting locations like farms or fruit production factories while failing to acknowledge the humanity of the humans actually working there (everything is machine or product focused; the human workers are simply an extension of the machine), learning "fun facts" about elephants that just list attributes of elephants, not taking the opportunity to inform the viewers of elephants' intelligence, or diet, or matriarchal society. it is a loud, sensory overwhelming display of a man so disconnected from the social and emotional needs and desires of children that he assumes they're stupid, easily entertained idiots who only need some silly dances and fast-moving cartoon graphics to give their attention (meaning time and desire to purchase products meaning $$$). john clearly views his audience as a means to gaming the algorithm and ultimately a paycheck by the hollow way he addresses them.

the show is so narcissistic, so focused on all the fun blippi is supposedly having, but he lacks any of the character traits that make individual children's show hosts memorable, so much so that he was able to have someone else who doesn't even vaguely resemble him dress as blippi and impersonate him and host the show or appear at live shows, and it went unnoticed by most of his toddler and child audience. the show is so formulaic and the character of blippi is so unmemorable that instead of taking the blue's clues route of developing a story of the host leaving for college and his brother now stepping in, or making some sort of believable excuse for the change in actors, they can simply swap him out with some random guy and not acknowledge it at all. although a comedy show for older children, the amanda show in no way could or would try to replicate the show with the same name but swapping out amanda bynes with a random teenage girl who is clearly not amanda bynes. it's weird and nonsensical and shows that his character is so much of a farce put on for a paycheck that not even his dedicated audience is affected or even cares when he is replaced by a random, unknown person.

this is completely garbage content made by an opportunist with no experience with children who saw his nephew watching children's youtube content, took it at complete surface level and still hasn't realized that while children's content only looks and feels so easy, entertaining, and enriching because it is so hard to do well. even with outsourcing his music, that aspect of the show still sucks. famous and successful children's musician, raffi, is known for his song describing the life of a little white whale, called "baby beluga." it opens with a calm strumming of his guitar, followed by the lyrics, "baby beluga in the deep blue sea/swim so wild and you swim so free/heaven above/sea below/and a little white whale on the go." is it silly and kind of pointless? yes, but the point is that he is captivating children and showing them the fun of listening to music, dancing, singing, and appreciating art. the "excavator song" featured in an episode of blippi about construction vehicles opens with what sounds like a default garageband loop and the flatly sung lyrics, "i'm an excavator/i'm an excavator/hey dirt, see you later/i'm an excavator." i don't feel i have to meticulously analyze the aforementioned lyrics; the stark contrast should speak for itself.

i have a million more criticisms about both blippi specifically and youtube children's content as a whole, but this is already so long and i doubt many people will get this far anyway. it's an issue i was completely apathetic towards until i had my own child and had to wean him off these kinds of junk food shows because i realized the fast-paced visuals and bright colors and repetitive songs/lyrics were putting him in this spaced-out, fugue state, and he thought he could demand this show or that show whenever he wanted. the moment he started regularly yelling things like, "watch! cars!" or "no! click it!" i knew i had to be a lot more invested in the things he watched even if just for entertainment or as a soothing message. i showed him an episode of mr. rogers yesterday and feared it would be too slow to hold his attention, but he was mesmerized, greeting and interacting with mr. rogers verbally, asking me, "what's that?" to different objects on the screen. since purging this low-brow children's entertainment, he has had a noticeable increase in attention span and concentration, can focus on a task for longer amounts of times, is more likely to "read"/look through books without me initiating it, and doesn't throw a fit when the tv/my laptop is off.

i just know that for me, growing up with so much unsupervised internet access definitely led me to real-world pain and consequences, and it seems like now children are born with an iphone as an extension of their arm. if my child is going to be consuming videos, i'm definitely supervising every second and am going to be highly critical of the videos and the credentials (or lack thereof) of the creators and team behind it. but i also know, from pure observation admittedly, that parents letting youtube kids autoplay parent their children for hours at a time is not an uncommon occurrence. and it worries me that a generation of children are being raised on videos that rely on being as loud and bright and superficially enjoyable as possible. what's the use of a child knowing their colors and alphabet if they don't know how to treat people with kindness and empathy and respect? there is something wrong for a children's show host to plug the spelling of his name at the end of his videos ("well, that's the end of this video. but if you wanna watch more of my videos, just type in my name! can you spell my name with me? b-l-i-p-p-i!") after essentially rotting his audiences' brains for a half hour. there's something so insidious about the prioritization of naming different parts of construction vehicles over honest depictions of and conversations about dealing with feelings, or why someone with autism may act differently than you, or what to do when you feel lonely, or ways to make art and express yrself creatively. also, not to mention the blatant police propaganda and outright worship is seriously jarring; as a black mother to a visibly non-white child, i cannot sit there and watch blippi show kids how to be a bootlicker for the shittiest profession on earth, but that could be a whole essay in and of itself.

anyway, thanks for reading, if yr looking for quality children's content, i recommend, in no specific order: mr. rogers, sesame street, the electric company, molly of denali, daniel tiger, bluey!, blue's clues, the odd squad, word party, trash truck, puffin rock, uhh... that's definitely not an extensive list but that's just off the dome!!! ok bye y'all <333

Ravnica for Goblins

Alignment

Figuring out where on the spectrum of beliefs, morals, and neutrality your character falls can be a challenge. One individual’s Chaotic Good is another’s Lawful Evil. To help clarify things, most campaigns include alignment for significant NPCs, and one can often draw a line between that NPC and that alignment. This doesn’t apply to every NPC, but the more important someone is, the more they come to represent a specific section of the moral grid in a campaign.

Ravnica does this as well, with most of the alignment chart represented by a Guildmaster. This isn’t completely uniform, however, so there’s wiggle room for an NPC to lean one way or the other as fits the story. There are some pretty safe bets, however, who can be counted on to check certain boxes at all times.

Isperia of the Azorius Senate: Lawful Neutral

Isperia represents the goal of the Azorius; objective devotion to upholding the laws as they are written. She was elected to her position because of her ability to look passed right & wrong, instead focusing solely on interpreting Ravnica’s 10d6 of Psychic damage legal system for all disputes.

Lazav of House Dimir: Neutral Evil

Lazav is the Dimir at their most annoying but least murderous. Blatant disregard for everyone’s privacy, but preference for stealing, secrets, and information over assassination. Lazav infiltrates every Guild, including his own, always determined to stay several steps ahead of any potential threat. This is not to say he won’t kill people if necessary, but his is a cold, “bloodstained calculus” methodology. It’s never personal.

Rakdos of the Cult of Rakdos: Chaotic Evil

On this plane, Rakdos is the living embodiment of Chaotic Evil, a title he takes very seriously. It’s just about the only thing he takes seriously, as he prefers to live without rules and have everyone else do the same. Unrestrained hedonism and mayhem are his bread & butter. You do what you want, whatever you want, whenever you want, however you want, regardless of what anyone or anything else says. No restrictions, no inhibitions, no hesitation. Encouraging this kind of destructive chaos in the streets is the only thing keeping Rakdos from embracing more orthodox Chaotic Evil behavior of slaughtering millions, enslaving thousands, and bowing to no one.

The Obzedat of the Orzhov Syndicate: Lawful Evil

Hard to believe there can be something worse than an actual Demon given permission to encourage every sin imaginable, but that is what the Ghost Council are. The Obzedat exist to stretch, bend, and twist every law designed to maintain order, neutrality, or justice so as to benefit themselves. What’s worse is how the Orzhov play innocent when they do it. Unlike the Dimir or the Rakdos who accept and even embrace society’s interpretation of their actions, the Orzhov refuse to be seen as anything but humble, spiritual, gracious public servants. The very antithesis of what they actually are; arrogant, miserly, manipulative bastards. They will point out exactly which laws they are not breaking, which laws there is insufficient evidence to prove they are breaking, and which laws prevent you from punching them in the face right now.

Trostani of the Selesnya Conclave: Neutral Good

If there’s one thing to be said for Selesnya, it’s that they are rarely the problem. The Conclave is perfectly content to keep to their fields & forests most of the time and focus solely on building up their own Guild. In a city where every Guild has a problem with every other Guild, Selesnya is the only one who at least tries to get along with everyone else. They don’t tend to get involved in matters that don’t concern them, but theirs is always a safe haven for those who seek it. Trostani is made up of three dryads representing Harmony, Life, and Order. You don’t get much more Neutral Good than that. The only problem is that Trostani basically never leave their Guildhall, so their influence only spreads so far. The reason they can live so peacefully is because so little of the chaotic city life overlaps into theirs.

Besides them, everyone has wiggle room and gray area to move around in. Both Niv-Mizzet and Borborygmos are canonically Chaotic Neutral, but with their most prominent personality traits being vanity & anger, respectively, the “Neutral” part of that can go out the window quick. Still, almost every Guild has at least a semblance of a position somewhere on the chart to start from. You can basically count on a member of each Guild to be at least:

Azorius Senate: Lawful

This is the Guild that writes the laws of Ravnica, after all. They literally draw their power from this ancient legal code, so it makes sense that, whether an Azorius leans more towards Good, Evil, or Neutrality, they do so lawfully.

Boros Legion: Good

If the Azorius follow the intellectual letter of the law, the Boros follow the passionate spirit for which said law was originally written. Justice, not legal-ese. Sometimes the law is good enough, but sometimes it fails its citizens. A Boros should be an inspiring force for Good, whether Lawful or Chaotic depends on the individual.

House Dimir: Neutral

The best a Dimir operative can hope to achieve, morally speaking, is neutrality. If you are working for this Guild, you are lying & stealing. Odds are you are infiltrating another Guild to find/steal information to report back to your superior(s). Not every Dimir agent does this willingly, however. Maybe a character only became a Dimir operative after finding out their mentor was. Maybe a character had nowhere else to turn and no one else to depend on. Maybe they just needed House Dimir’s connections to get them close enough to someone in another Guild who wronged them. Whatever the motivation, cling to that gray area of neutrality like your life depends on it. It’s all you’ve got.

Gruul Clans: Chaotic

Gruul are many things. “Lawful” is not one of them. If you’re a member of a Gruul Clan, you’ve definitely got a bit of a temper on you and a strong disregard for authority. Now, a Gruul can absolutely be a force for good, or, conversely, evil. Maybe you joined the Gruul after your ancestral home was bulldozed over for a smelly Izzet facility. Maybe you had a mental breakdown after decades of trying to uphold law in a city where the laws mean jack shit unless there’s a guy in blue sitting at his desk. Maybe you got tired of planting trees and getting stepped on. Maybe you don’t like the pretentiousness of so-called “artists”. Maybe you just like hitting things. Whatever your reason, the Gruul will welcome another anarchist.

Golgari Swarm: Chaotic/Evil/Neutral

The Golgari Swarm are the first Guild where you’re really going to find a lot of diversity in alignment. Some definitely fall into the chasm of Chaotic Evil Necromancers, others stand firmly in the fields of True Neutral Rot Farmer, and some idly wander between the two. Necromancy is pretty normal in Golgari society, and “Evil” can be considered a harsh word to describe it. It’s definitely more normalized in the Undercity than it is on the surface. A lot of typically Evil behavior is like that for the Golgari, lest we forget that this society of giant bugs, necromancers, zombies, medusa, etc also run the sewage system and food stamps program for the city. That said, there are definitely Golgari with sufficient ambition/motivation to become ready-made Big Bads. What is a Lich, after all, but a wizard who says, “No, I’m too important to die!”

Izzet League: Chaotic

If there’s one predictable aspect of the Izzet, it’s that they are unpredictable. For a Guild whose founding principle is “I wonder what would happen if....”, it’s best to accept that you’ll never be Lawful. Your job, as it is, is to look at laws (nature, physics, etc) and poke at them with electrodes to see what happens. Your focus will always be on things that haven’t been written down yet, as opposed to what already has. It’s almost literally impossible to be Lawful and Izzet for that reason alone. As far as Good, Evil, and Neutral go; that’s up to the individual. This experiment could replicate food so we never have to eat Golgari rations again! Or it could replicate essential personnel to prevent understaffing! Or, it could even replicate.... ME (cue maniacal laughter).

Orzhov Syndicate: Lawful

The Orzhov, like the Azorius, draw their power and influence from the laws of Ravnica. Evil is expected, though not mandatory, but Lawful is a requirement. An Orzhov who doesn’t know their way around Ravnica’s laws is a loose end, and the Orzhov don’t allow loose ends to jeopardize their schemes & ambitions. One can absolutely be a Lawful Neutral Orzhov, also known as an Accountant, but such individuals rarely find their way into a life of adventure. A Lawful Good Orzhov can exist, but your greatest adversary will be the large majority of your Guild who sees you as a potential threat to their illicit activities. In which case, you’ll want to know those laws even better than they do.

Cult of Rakdos: Chaotic

Chaos is mandatory, evil is encouraged. By “Evil”, we mean “things people tell you are Evil”. Anything you would do while drunk you should be able to do at all times! There’s really only three rules in the Cult of Rakdos:

Rule #1, Rakdos is #1

Rule #2, JUST DO IT

Rule #3, Don’t be boring

Being Neutral breaks Rule 3, being Good breaks Rule 2 and/or 3, and being Lawful breaks all 3 rules. Which reminds me of the fourth rule:

Rule #4, NEVER break Rule #1

Truthfully, being Chaotic Good or Chaotic Neutral is perfectly fine as long as you don’t impede on someone else’s hedonism without a reason, or lack thereof. As long as you’re being free & crazy, that’s what really matters.

Selesnya Conclave: Good

As stated with Trostani, Selesnya is a pretty consistent force of Good, if nothing else. They don’t really do hate, you know? Life in the Conclave is pretty uniformly Good, so why make trouble? Why can’t everyone just be Good? In short; ‘cause they don’t wanna, none of your business, go hug a tree, and/or because fire is FUN. Lawful fits some individuals but can just get in the way for others. Neutral is pretty solid but some things must call you to act. Chaotic is if you really want to embrace being a Nature Warrior in a planet-sized cityscape. Selesnya is the Guild for goodie two-shoes, as if that’s a bad thing.

Simic Combine: Any

The Simic Combine is the one Guild that can honestly fall anywhere on the alignment chart. The Guild started out as Doctors, Naturalists, and preservers of life. Now it also operates large-scale bioengineering. You can have a Lawful Good Simic Paladin committed to preserving life and health, a True Neutral Simic Forcemage (Druid) dedicated to living a simple life bolstering plant growth, or a Chaotic Evil Simic Wizard who has decided on everyone’s behalf that flippers and gills are now mandatory. Just like science can be used for great Good, great Evil, or mundane routine, the Simic Combine can turn its experiments to any purpose, depending on the individual. And whereas the Izzet are firmly Chaotic, the Simic have the foresight to think ahead before they try an experiment. You can be anything you want in the Simic Combine, just plan it out.

Unasked Questions

I haven’t written in a while, so please forgive me if this isn’t my best work :(

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“You’re home!”

Draco felt his heart still. While his chest still bloomed with warmth and affection for his boyfriend every time he saw him, a sense of nervousness and unease had been accompanying it as of late.

“I missed you,” Harry said in response, taking off his coat and scarf by the entrance.

Of course, Draco missed him too. He had just been setting out the table for dinner, hoping to finally bring himself together and confront Harry. However, no matter how many times he tried to ask, could never find the right words to do so.

Do you not love me anymore?

Do we need to talk?

Are we still okay?

Harry walked over to give Draco a lingering, albeit rather meek, kiss. Another wave of aching spread through Draco’s chest. Nonetheless, Harry seemed to be in a good mood as he ate his food, and Draco wanted to enjoy it while it was still there.

“Draco!” Harry admonished tiredly with a sigh. “What are we? Children?”

He had merely flicked a small, crumpled paper towards him. It was something they’ve done before. In the early months when they began dating, as a joke, which eventually led into playful fights.

“Alright,” Draco sighed dramatically, trying to play the situation off so Harry’s mood doesn’t sour. “Shall I no longer joke around you, my love?”

The only response he got was an eyeroll and a snort – one which he could no longer tell if Harry meant playfully or in annoyance. Draco immediately felt bad, unsure of himself, and began poking at his food silently.

Usually, Harry would have asked him what was wrong by now. It seems, though, that he either wasn’t in the mood or didn’t really notice. Maybe he really was finally sick of him.

Just get the words out, he willed himself.

He wasn’t a cheater, Draco knew that. Harry could still make him melt with the sweetest of words and always knew how to make Draco smile. He was still very much affectionate towards Draco, like they always had been. But as of late, Draco felt like things were falling apart.

Draco didn’t know what was wrong between them anymore. When they argued before, even the smallest issues would be solved immediately by talking to one another. Now, however, Harry would find any excuse to leave the premises during petty arguments and, upon returning, would act as though nothing really happened. Even Draco had observed that he, himself, had been getting more easily frustrated by his boyfriend, and this terrified him.

All he knew was that he loved Harry, and didn’t want to lose him, and yet he would always get hurt whenever they disagreed because these things were slowly accumulating in their relationship as they refuse to acknowledge it.

“So,” Draco prompted, trying to fill the somewhat tense silence that fell between them. He still refused to look up from his place. “How was work?”

“The usual,” Harry sighed. “That newbie, Wardwick, is still as incompetent and enthusiastic as ever.”

Draco recognized the name. How could he not when the man has been the recent source of Harry’s stress out of late. He wasn’t bad, per se, but his enthusiasm has made him somewhat careless, and he has an odd habit of always being in the same room as Harry.

“I told you,” Draco said evenly, somewhat tired of hearing Harry complain about him. Yes, he might have prompted the question, but he wanted to hear about how Harry was doing, not some random colleague of his. Besides, it was always the same complaints over and over again, a few of which were starting to sound petty. “Either be patient with him or have him reassigned.”

“I’m not about to let myself look incapable of handling this kid just because he’s getting on my nerves,” Harry said, irritated. Draco didn’t need to push the argument. He knew Harry would continue to justify himself by saying that the new DMLE head has had his eyes on him ever since he got seated because he believed that Harry was just an over-glorified war hero that might think he’s too good at his job.

Another change of topic it was, then.

“I’m planning on taking the Bolstein case,” Draco offered, changing it to his own work. His job revolved around dissecting new and potentially dangerous potions and replicating them safely.

“Right, on top of your already heavy work load?” Harry asked, raising an eyebrow at him. He had a point, Draco knew, but it hurt him to think that Harry doesn’t believe he could handle myself.

“Just because you can’t handle some kid at your job, it doesn’t mean I can’t handle a few more projects,” Draco said, annoyed. He didn’t mean to, but the argument had already slipped, and there was no hope left salvaging Harry’s mood. “Besides, you’ve seen me do more.”

“I didn’t say that you wouldn’t be able to handle it,” Harry responded evenly, but his annoyance was also clear. “I just meant that I’ve seen you lose sleep and stress an unhealthy amount because of it. And there’s no need to bring up my situation when we’re discussing yours.”

You brought it up first, Draco wanted to point out, but he withheld. He knew it wouldn’t do either of them favors and he wasn’t in the mood for sleeping alone in their bed.

“Can we drop the topic?”

“Okay,” Harry said calmly, letting out a long sigh. The rest of the night remained tense as they silently did the dishes, passing plates and cutlery to one another and working synchronously before getting ready for bed.

He knew they couldn’t sleep with this tension. Well, maybe Harry could, but Draco would be tossing around for hours unless they got on better terms again.

“I found the notebook you misplaced,” Draco said quietly, entering their bedroom.

“Did you?” Harry asked, his tone guarded.

“Yeah,” Draco nodded, trying not to look away awkwardly. “I was cleaning around a while ago and set it in the drawer,” he said, gesturing to the side table.

Harry knew an olive branch when he saw it, at least. “Thank you, Draco,” he said with a small smile.

Draco took that as his sign that it was safe to come closer before they both settled on the bed.

“I missed you today,” Draco said despite the fact that this had been brought up earlier.

“I missed you too,” Harry responded, this time pulling Draco in for a long hug.

Now’s your chance to ask the question.

“Harry?” he said slowly, bracing himself as a million possible answers flashed through his head.

“Yes, love?” It was that pet name accompanied by the softness on Harry’s features that never failed to make Draco’s insides melt.

“I love you,” Draco had said rather than continuing with his usual plan.

This time, Harry ran his hand through Draco’s hair soothingly before giving him a sweet kiss.

“I love you too.”

And once they settled into bed, Draco felt his chest swell once more. Both in happiness and in fear because he knew that what happened that night was just another cycle of what happened before and what will likely continue to happen.

But he willed himself to believe that it didn’t matter; that they were going to make it.

After all, Harry does love him.

Right?

-————————————————-

Masterlist

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Thank you for reading <3

Leadership isn't about intelligence, it's not about how quickly you can solve a puzzle or how well you can come up with logical solutions. it's not about how in tune with others you are or how you interact with your surroundings. Leadership is not about a lot of things that are very important elsewhere, it's about this. Belief and honesty. it doesn't matter what kind of person you are, what mistakes you make, or how dedicated you can be. live an open life, leave the door unlocked the odds of a random person walking up and trying YOUR door is so astronomically rare you probably have a better chance of talking philosophy with your goldfish. family and friends shouldn't have to ask. one of the perks about living in a glass house is getting to do things that confuse the neighborhood and get people talking, coming together and it doesn't matter they're opinion about you. Leaders bring people together period. long lasting leadership isn't taught overnight and can't be read in a book or taught in some classroom. True leadership is different for everyone it's the style of you no one can replicate or repurpose, recycle. It takes a long time to learn your style and even longer to begin finding followers. If your aspersions or dreams are to someday rule the... Or be head of.... Then you most likely won't ever achieve what your hero's have obtained seamingly effortlessly. Leaders don't have a choice. Not a real one anyway. That is belief, and it has nothing to do with popular opinion or evidence, scientific facts. Leaders often come to a fork in the road. One path is full of pain, suffering, strife and not just for them but potentially millions of people. The other path is a smooth straight easy road, beach party's shinny cars, super models, and good times all the way to the end. That's the road I picked. That's what I thought anyway, there is only one road and it's to the left. Wrong way down the one way street at rush hour. the other road is 100% real the thing about it is I can never ever ever accept it. My believe won't let me ignore the suffering cry's and my glass house won't let me hide from it. You don't know who I am, where I came from, or even what I believe. You don't know me yet someday you will. And if I'm wrong or if I fail, die, or am Silenced before gaining enough momentum then come find me and I'll give you your 3 minutes back you spent reading this post.

Can you do a tarlos prompt of like different moments where TK witnesses Carlos speaking Spanish but gets frustrated at himself cause he has no idea what his boyfriend is saying? He tries to learn Spanish but fails at it. Thank you!

Beware of duolingo owl slander

Read on ao3 here

Since he and Carlos had started dating TK had realized a few things about his boyfriend. First of all, Carlos was bilingual but mostly spoke English. Almost no one outside of his family spoke Spanish so it was much easier. But TK had noticed a few situations where Carlos put his fluency to use, when he was frustrated and around his family.

Carlos was not an easily frustrated person. He was normally calm and level headed, much more so than TK, and handled stressful situations with a gentle authority that Tk wished he could replicate.

However, over the course of their relationship, TK had figured out a few signs that Carlos was giving in to his frustration.

It started with him cracking his knuckles. It was an innocent enough gesture, something most people did multiple times a day, but when Carlos was frustrated it was constant. He would move his thumb up and down the knuckles of his hands until they physically could not pop anymore.

After a few months of dating, TK picked up on it as a stress tick and when it started to happen he would intervene, grabbing Carlos’ hands and making him take a pause.

The second sign was putting things down more forcefully than normal. TK constantly slammed things on to tables and bumped into walls, partially from his clumsiness and partially from the rushed way he did everything. But Carlos was slow and methodical, gently setting his cup on a coaster or opening and shutting doors quietly. Except for when he was frustrated. TK could count on one hand the number of times he’d seen Carlos well and truly mad in their few years of dating and one of those times Carlos had slammed a coffee cup down so hard that it had broken all the way up one side.

The final stages of Carlos getting frustrated included murmured words and swears, most of the time in Spanish. TK had to assume because he didn’t speak the language but the words and phrases sounded a lot like swearing to him.

Usually, when Carlos made it to the cursing stages, TK took a step back and let him cool off before trying to do anything about it. He wasn’t afraid of Carlos when he was mad or upset, he just knew it was easier for Carlos to calm down in his own space.

*****

TK loved Carlos’ family, it was impossible not to. His sisters were angels, though Carlos disagreed, his mother was the sweetest woman TK had ever met, and his father, though he was a man of few words, treated TK like another son.

There was only one issue TK had, when they went to visit Carlos’ family, he couldn’t understand half of what they were saying.

It wasn’t their fault, and TK wasn’t necessarily annoyed by it, it was just slightly inconvenient.

Carlos’ parents were both native Spanish speakers, so they had raised their five children in a bilingual household. Carlos and his sisters had grown up speaking both Spanish and English at home so of course, they were fluent.

Usually, Carlos would translate for him and when his family realized what was going on, they would speak English for his benefit. TK felt bad about it and on his last visit with them, he had decided to try to learn Spanish.

*****

Learning Spanish was much harder than TK thought. Verb tenses were not his strong suit and the little green owl from hell thought it was funny to teach him very obscure phrases instead of things he would normally use in a conversation. Not to mention the million notifications he got over the course of his day.

The asshole of an owl was the reason Carlos found out about his extracurriculars. Little bastard.

Carlos had invited him over to make dinner and have a relaxing night in. Except TK’s phone wouldn’t stop going off.

“You’re popular tonight,” Carlos chuckled after the ninth notification in five minutes.

“It’s nothing,” TK said, glancing down at his phone and putting it face down on the counter. “Just random apps.”

“I told you to stop turning on notifications for every app. No wonder your phone is always dead.”

“Speaking of which, can I borrow your charger?” TK asked sweetly.

“Sure babe,” Carlos picked up TK’s phone and moved it to the other counter, plugging it into the wall.

TK didn’t think much of it until Carlos laughed.

“Duolingo huh?”

“You uh, you weren’t supposed to see that.”

“Were you trying to learn Spanish?”

“Yeah, I was. I always feel bad when I’m around your family and they have to speak English for me. I wanted to be able to have conversations with them.”

“That’s really sweet TK.”

“Yeah, you think that. Except I’m failing miserably.”

“What do you mean?”

“Spanish is hard,” TK whined. “I don’t understand the verbs and this stupid app wants me to learn stuff that I doubt I’ll ever say.”

“Yeah, these apps like to do that. What didn’t you ask me to teach you?”

“I wanted to surprise you.”

“That’s very sweet of you,” Carlos wrapped his arms around TK’s shoulders. “But if you really want to learn, let me teach you from now on.”

“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea. Now I can delete that stupid fucking owl off of my phone.”