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piichuu · 7 months

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♡ AN UNWANTED LETTER - GOJO SATORU

WARNINGS: MAJOR SPOILERS if you haven’t seen the new jjk leaks, so read on your own risk. angst, f!reader

WORD COUNT: 1.2k

yuta is quiet as he reaches a letter over to you. he’s standing in the doorway with a somber look on his face. “you should go sit down somewhere, i’ll stay here in the hallway,” he mumbles and without a word, you make your way towards the bedroom where you sit down, opening up the letter you’ve been given.

“to my dear y/n.

if you receive this letter, i will be dead. that’s a horrible sentence to start with, but it’s the truth. it’s not that i don’t believe in my own capabilities, but i can’t leave you with nothing if i die, that would make you even sadder.

i’m giving this to yuta, he’ll look after you now for a few weeks, i’ve made him promise because i know you’re gonna be crying, probably become depressed. if you do get depressed, i’m gonna be there and hold you close, even if you can’t feel it. my pretty girl, i know i always tell you that you’re pretty when you cry, but i hate when you do so. i prefer your smile, to know you’re happy. your laugh is a little funny, but i prefer it that way, because no one laughs like you and i love that you’re your own person, not faking anything for me.

i’m a little (very) sad that i won’t get to have a family with you or put a ring on your finger. will it hurt you more if i told you that i was going to propose when i got back? probably, but now you know. i wish we could have our own little children who would run around the house and annoy you. they would love me of course, they would get to do everything they wanted to. they would get to eat so much candy and play video games with me. maybe they could help you cook every once in a while since you always insist to cook when i tell you than i can do that to! you would be a great mom, the greatest of them all actually. all those years you helped me take care of megumi showed that. he loves you a lot even if he’s never told you, but i can see that he sees you as his mom, hopefully he sees me as a dad as well.

he’s always clung to you more than me. i remember when i found you two asleep on the couch after you had read him a bed time story. you looked so cute and he was holding onto your hand so tightly like he really trusted you. it hurts me to say, but you’ve probably always been his favorite. even now that he’s older he likes you more than me :( but that makes me a little happy as well, because he’s always so stone faced around everyone else but you. you make him smile and that makes me happy :)

apparently people who’ve had a partner who has died always say that they would want them to find someone else, but even if i want you to be happy, that thought makes me a little sad. but if you do ever find someone else who you love as much as you love me (which is impossible), i hope he treats you like the princess you are or else i’ll have to haunt him. i’m not joking. and if you do have kids, please tell them about me? i’m sure they will think i was super cool. my death is probably gonna be called the coolest deaths of them all, i hope!

i’m sorry if i’m joking too much, at this point i’m sure you’re bawling. but just know that i’m right behind you with my arms around you, okay? maybe you can’t feel it but i’m giving you a kiss on the cheek right at this moment.

don’t be too sad, okay? but also take the time you need to heal, i don’t want you to rush anything. it’s okay to be sad, so cry how much you want, but not for the rest of your life please because that would make me sad :( you should try to smile at least once a day so i can look at you and know that there might be at least some things that are making your days good.

you’re gonna meet me again, don’t worry. but please don’t put yourself in danger just so you can see me again. i want you to live until you’re old and then we’ll meet each other when you reach heaven with me, because that’s where i’m going! i’m gonna watch over you and wait, i have all the time in the world now so grow old and do everything you’ve ever dreamt of.

just know that i didn’t die without putting on a fight. it must be going on for a while before i die, but i’m gonna try to do my best not to die because i want to see you so bad and just hug you and kiss you and tell you how beautiful you are. but you will always be the prettiest human ever, no matter how many wrinkles you have or if your back gets all hunched in the future.

i have a whole bottle of perfume in our bedroom that i bought a while ago, but i haven’t really used it a lot since i’ve been gone for a while now, so you can use that and spray it all over the house if you miss me too much. good thing i bought that stuffy for you before i went to shibuya!

i need to end this letter now. i’m sorry for not being able to see now for a while, but we will meet in a couple of years. i’m always gonna look after you now that i’m gone, so there will never be anything to worry about. i hope you will be okay and that you aren’t crying too much now :( but i know that you’re still just as pretty as always. i can’t believe that i got the best girlfriend in the entire world to spend my life with, even if i would’ve wished my life would be longer. you’ve made me so happy over the years and i really hope i’ve made you happy too, even if you’re probably sad because of me now.

yuta and the others will look after you, i promise. maybe you’ll be annoyed with them, but that’s because i sent them and i’m made to be a little annoying, so you won’t get rid of the annoyance too easily! i’m gonna watch over you for a good while now, i’m always listening to every word you say, even if i’m not somewhere you can see me. if you ever have a bad day, tell the sky and i will hear every single word. cry your eyes out and i will wipe your tears away.

my love, my one and only. i love you more than you can ever imagine. you’re my sun, you’re what’s been keeping me alive for the past few years and don’t ever blame yourself for anything that’s happened to me. you are the greatest thing in my life and have been healing my soul. i will forever love you. from your idiot boyfriend <3”

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monzabee · 1 year

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a vettel and a schumacher walk into a bar – ms47

masterlist || part 2 ||

Summary: The one where Mick is dating Seb’s eldest daughter, but forgets to mention this to his mentor and close friend. Another problem? He can’t seem to keep his eyes (or his hands) off of you.

Pairing: mick schumacher x vettel!reader

Word Count: 3308

Warnings: sweet angel baby mick, fluff, slight angst, seb and hanna being the coolest parents ever, haas trauma, sexual innuendos (made by mick, gasp!), allusions to sex, mentions of teen pregnancy, google translate german + my dad as a german dictionary (beware!)

Request: “Could I request a smau where mick is dating Seb’s daughter but like Seb doesn’t know and he’s trying to play wingman to get the two together and when they reveal they’re together he’s like really happy for them (sorry if this is confusing I hope you get what I mean😭😂) and if you do choose to write this thank you ❤️”

Author’s Note: hi, hey, hello!! i kind of changed this request a little bit, but only because i will be doing a part 2 as a social media au to follow this in the following days, so i hope it is okay. i always enjoy reading mick fics with vettel!reader and seeing the dynamic between the couple and seb in those, so it was very fun for me to write this. thank you anon, for your request and hopefully you don’t mind that i’ve changed it a little bit. i hope you guys enjoy! good morning, noon or night wherever you are, xoxobee

Please also note that all of my works are protected under copyright, and not available for reposting on other platforms.

One of the cool things about you and your parents is the fact that you have a very honest relationship. Maybe it’s the fact that they had you when they were both, basically, teenagers, but there is no secrets kept on either part of the relationship. So the bad thing is, you don’t really know why and how you haven’t told your parents yet – you know, considering the fact that you do tell them everything. Your dad accidently washed and shrinked your favourite jumper? He apologizes and tells you he’ll take you shopping. You accidentally hit your car while parallel parking? You tell your mom and she tells you she’ll deal with it. You’re dating your father’s idol’s only son, who happens to be one of his friends, and forgot to tell your dad? Yeah, that’s not that simple.

“We need to tell him.” You say to Mick, pacing around in your room whilst he driver is sat on the couch in your parents’ living room.

“Of course we have to tell him, but how?” Mick muses, his knee bouncing up and down with anxiety. “Jesus, how did we forget to tell him? It’s Seb!”

“I know it’s ‘Seb’! He’s also my father!” You exclaim, hands nervously going to your hair to pull at the roots. “Mick… I think I’m going to be sick.”

“Hey, hey, no.” He shushes, getting up and walking towards you. “It’s going to be okay, hase.” He assures you while gently prying your hands from your hair.

You scrunch your nose, a unapproving hum leaves your lips. “Why must you call me that?”

“Because you look like a bunny when you scrunch your nose, which is always.” He explains, shrugging as he presses a kiss against your cheek and sits back down. “When you’re smiling, when you’re angry, when you’re confused, when you’re about to cu–”

“Mick!” You exclaim, eyes widening because of the way he was about to conclude his thoughts.

He has an innocent look on his face as he asks, “What? I was going to say when you’re about to cumulate.” He carries on the expression for a few seconds, letting the small smirk take over his lips afterwards as he eyes you.

“I’m not letting you touch me for a week, Schumacher.” You announce, shaking your head as you leave the living room to go to the kitchen to get yourself a drink. “How’s that for cumulating?”

“Hase, I was joking!”

The fact that your dad is officially ‘retired’ means that you can spend much more time as a family, which makes him very happy. You make a conscious effort to be home with your sisters and parents in Switzerland when you get breaks from university so the whole family can spend some quality time together. So there you are, all five of you sat in your parents’ backyard around the patio table, enjoying an early dinner. And though you absolutely adore the time you get to spend as a family nowadays, it’s hard to partake in conversation or appear interested in the slightest when your brain is focused on a certain someone with the bluest eyes you’ve ever seen.

“Honey, pass the salad, please?” Your father asks from the head of the table.

You pass him the bowl without meeting his eyes, or showing any kind of interest. “Sure, dad, there you go.”

“Thanks, honey.” You dad mumbles, sharing a look with your mother and waiting for you to make another comment – he’s confused when it doesn’t come. “No comment? No rolling eyes? No ‘get it on your own, old man’? Hanna, are you seeing this? I think we finally broke Y/N!”

Your mom rolls her eyes while lightly slapping your dad’s arm. “Are you feeling okay, kleine biene?”

“Are you sick, liebling?” Sebastian asks, and then turns to Matilda. “Do you want to check if she’s okay, Doctor?”

“Yeah, I’m just tired, I think.” You assure them, giving a small smile to Matilda who’s already taking out her (toy) statoscope to check your heartbeat.

“Shhh!” She shushes you as she focuses on listening to your heartbeat, and you share a knowing look with the other members of your family, all four of you intend to entertain Matilda’s new obsession. “She’s fine, papa, her heart is beating so fast!”

“She’s sitting down, Matilda, why would her heart beat so fast?” Emily questions from her place next to your mother, shooting an unamused look to your youngest sister who sits next to you.

“Be nice, Em.” You chastise her, shaking your head slowly. “Thank you, Doc.” You ruffle Matilda’s hair as she beams up at you. Then, you turn to your dad with a playful look on your face. “Next time, I’m not being nice and handing things to you, just so you know.”

It’s much later, and you’re in your room working on a piece you need to get done for your art class, when your mother knocks at your door. She comes in with a calm smile on her face when you answer the door. “It almost looks finished!” She beams, standing behind your chair as she studies the piece.

“I just need to work on the shadows… I think.” You mumble, tilting your head to the side to look at it from another perspective. “I don’t know, mama, I feel like my eyes are about to explode. Remind me why I chose art, again?”

“I think you were going through a rebellious phase and wanted choose something furthest away from engineering.” She explains, then she takes the paintbrush in your hand and places in the cup filled with water which you used to rinse out your brush. “I wanted to speak to you about something.”

“Oh god, this takes me back to high school.” You whine, spinning in your chair to look at her. “Am I in trouble?”

“Honey, you’re past the point where I can tell you you’re in trouble or not.” She takes a deep breath. “I wished you would stay my little girl forever, but unfortunately, you grew up to be this kind, considerate young woman I hardly recognise anymore.” She jokes as she sits down across from you on your bed.

“Good thing we still have Emmy and Tilly, then.” You smile, pointing to the door. “Are they asleep?”

She chuckles. “They went out immediately, your dad was telling them the story of the ‘Happy Tree’.”

Your hands move towards your cheeks, a laugh escaping you. “Oh no, not the story of the ‘Happy Tree’.” ‘Happy Tree’ being a childhood story your dad made up to put you to sleep when you were particularly being difficult as a kid, the entire story aiming to put you to sleep by being the most boring thing you’ve ever heard. You’re pretty sure at some part of the story your dad just counts – claiming that it is the age rings of the ‘Happy Tree’.

“Yeah, they didn’t stand a chance.” Hanna laughs. “Now, tell me what’s been bothering you.”

“Nothing, mama, really. I’m just stressed because I need to finish this before I go back.” You try your best to assure her. “Where’s dad anyway?”

She waves her hand and shrugs. “Who knows? He was going to talk to Mick before we went to bed the last time I saw him.”

“Mick?” You ask – a little too quickly for your mom to not notice the way your cheeks light up at the mention of the driver. You fake a cough to hide the any noticeable reactions. “I didn’t know he was back.”

Hanna eyes you with a suspicious look. “I think his plane landed a few hours ago, he took an earlier one.”

“Oh, okay then.” You mumble, your expression visibly falling tells your mother everything she needs to know.

“I thought you’d be happier to hear that he’s back, honey.” You mother tells, you confused.

“I am– I mean, we’re friends.” You shrug.

“Just friends?” Your mother asks, expecting for you to finally admit your feelings for the boy.

You take a deep breath and look at your mom with a guilty expression. “Mama, I have to tell you something.”

“Lieber Gott, stay right there,” She exclaims, running out of your room, “I’m going to get ice-cream!” Needless to say, your mother is very happy to hear that you’re in a relationship with your boyfriend.

After Mick’s plans of surprising you were ruined by your mom, the two of you decide to spend the weekend together to make up for the past two weeks Mick’s been away. Since you can’t tell your dad where you’re actually going, you tell him that you’re going camping with some of your friends from high school; you mom gives you a knowing look, and a shake of her head. Though it makes you feel guilty, you promise yourself that you will talk to Mick this weekend and come clean to your father afterwards about the fact that the two of you are dating.

So there the two of you are, laying in his bed on a Saturday morning after the not so innocent activities of last night. There is an unusual feeling of heaviness across your chest when you wake up, which causes you to wake up groggier than usual. Your eyes are unfocused at first, causing you to scrunch up your face in discomfort as you try and get used to the light in the room. Once your eyes are feeling better, you let them look around Mick’s bedroom, which is surprisingly tidy for a man, you realize. Eventually your eyes fall on the sleeping driver next to you, on his stomach while his arm is pinning you down on the bed next to him. You let your body twists towards Mick, seeking the warmth of his body even though the covers over your body provides the same. Even in his sleepy state, he accommodates your body, pulling you towards him and cuddling you in a way which makes you feel as if you’re in a safe cocoon consisting of Mick. Your eyes close by themselves, the warmth surrounding you combined with Mick’s steady breathing lulling you into another sleep, when his fingers start to draw mindless shapes across your naked back and there is a small smile on his face as if he’s trying to keep his laughter in.

“You’re watching me, hase.” He mumbles, keeping his eyes closed even though he lets you know he’s awake. “It’s creepy.”

“No it’s not.” You argue with a small pout on your face. “You watch me sleep all the time when you wake up early to work out.”

“How would you know if you’re sleeping?” He asks, his arm pulling you even closer to his body.

You laugh, lifting a finger to trace his facial features as you mumble. “You not denying it gives me all the approval I need.” You’re almost done with his lips when he nips at the skin and then presses a soft kiss as an apology, making you giggle as you watch him sleepily.

“Morning, liebe.” Mick croaks out, his eyes opening and slowly focusing on you as they get use to the light.

You smile at him going through the same thing you did just minutes ago, pressing a small kiss to his lower lip and leaning your forehead against his. “Morning, Mickey.”

He smiles back at you at your use of the nickname, his groan making you smile even wider and consequently scrunching up your face. “There’s my smile.” He murmurs, lifting your chin with his fingers and pressing his lips to yours. Unlike your earlier kiss, he deepens it by sliding his tongue into your mouth, and smiles into the kiss as you let out a small moan voicing your approval. When he does eventually pull back, there is an amused smile on his face as you chase his lips for more. “More? Didn’t I do a good job last night?”

You laugh mischievously as you shake your head ‘no’, which causes his eyes to darken in return as he slides his fingers down to your neck to wrap his hand around it gently. “Don’t blame yourself, I know you’ve missed me so you were excited last night.”

“I did miss you,” He affirms, eyes still locked to yours as his gaze carries a sense of seriousness. “But I’m not doing a good enough job if you’re asking for more, am I?” He tightens his hand, although not by much that it cuts of your circulation, but enough to erase your playful expression. “Can’t have my girl dissatisfied.”

“Mick,” You moan, his name coming from your mouth encouraging him to move down on your body towards where you need the most. But although you need him, you are reminded by grave reality where the two of you need to come clean to your father. “My mother knows.” The words come out from your mouth slurred together, as if you are in a hurry to get them out before they explode within you.

Mick’s eyes widen so much that you worry they are going to pop out from their sockets. He quickly takes his hand off from around your neck and scrambles to get off of you, quickly letting himself fall on the bed and turn to you in a sitting position while clutching his grey sheets around the lower half of his body. “You told your– Well, that’s good isn’t it? How did she react?”

“She was happy, Mick. So, so happy.” You tell him, deciding not to make him suffer after seeing the slight insecurity in his eyes. “You know they both adore you.” You take a deep breath, worry seeping into your expression. “I just don’t want my dad to think we’ve kept this from him on purpose.”

“He won’t, hase.” He shakes his head and he lies down on the bed, his body turned towards you. “You know how much he loves you; he won’t think we deliberately hid this from him.”

“I hope so.” You sigh, cuddling into his body as you keep on mumbling. “I’ve never kept a secret from him my entire life, Mick. I can’t keep hiding us.”

There is a determined look on his face as he speaks. “You won’t have to; we’ll tell him when I drive you back.”

“But… I drove here in my own car?” You point out.

“Then I’ll have to drive you back in your own car, darling.”

Your hands are shaky when the two of you stand in front of the front door to your parents’ house. It’s weird to think how nervous you are to enter the house, given the fact that it is the house you spend most of your life in, and that Mick has been over a thousand times as your guest and as your parents’. You take a deep breath as you enter the house and call out to your parent’s, “I’m home!”

There’s a silence before an answer comes, “We’re in the kitchen!”

You and Mick share look as the two of you walk towards the kitchen, his hand is on the small of your back the entire time as a support. You stick your head through the kitchen door to see your parents sitting on the island, looking through some architectural design magazine. Sebastian smiles at you as he sees you enter the kitchen. “Hello, honey, why are you back so early? I thought you were going to camp all weekend.”

There is a guilty expression on your face as you link your hands behind your back, just as you used to do when you got in trouble as a kid. “I didn’t go camping this weekend, dad.”

“You didn’t?” He asks, confused. He turns back at you after he shares a look with your mom. “Where were you, then?”

You stay silent as you take a couple steps back to pull a guilty-looking Mick into the kitchen. “I was with Mick.” You mumble.

The change of expressions on your dad’s face is interesting – first it turns confused, then enlightened, and worried, and then confused again. You hear him ask, “The guy you’re dating is Mick?”

“You knew I was dating someone?” You turn to your mom with a sense of betrayal. “Mama!”

“I didn’t tell him anything!” She defends herself, at the same time your dad exclaims; “You knew she was dating him?”

He then turns you with a sad look in his eyes. “You told your mother but not me?”

“I didn’t mean for this to happen–” You try to explain, but then turn to your boyfriend with an overwhelmed groan. “Help me!”

“We forgot!” Mick exclaims, there is an apprehensive look on his face. “It just happened so fast and we forgot to tell you, but it’s not that we wanted to keep it from you.”

“When– When did this happen?” Sebastian asks as he shakes his head slowly, trying to comprehend the situation.

“Last year in Abu Dhabi, after you told me I should stay for a bit.” You explain, somehow scooting yourself closer to Mick without being aware of doing do.

“I did this?” Your dad asks. Then, he turns to your mom and grabs his cheeks with his hand. “Oh no, honey, as if that was my entire plan the whole time.”

“Wait a minute– what?” You ask him, jaw slacked.

“You planned all of this?” Mick asks your father with the same amount of shock.

“Oh come on,” Your dad laughs. “The two of you already fancied each other long before I got involved – and it turned out to be fine!”

“Papa!” You exclaim, eyes widening. “This is real life; you can’t strategize with people’s relationships!”

“I’m so confused right now.” Mick mumbles to you, which earns him a glare.

“What would have happened if we didn’t end up together?” You ask Sebastian, which melts his hear to hear paired with the concerned look on your face.

“Then you would’ve stayed good friends.” He replies with a shrug. “Honey, I could see that you both clearly had feelings each other and that’s why I decided to play the matchmaker, you have nothing to worry about.”

“He’s right, hase.” Mick sighs, as he wraps his arm around your shoulders. “I mean, his plan worked.”

“I know it worked.” You grumble. “Do you know how guilty I felt because I didn’t tell you when it happened in the first place?”

“Good,” Your dad nods. “It shows that I’ve raised a good kid.”

You sigh as you watch your parents laugh over the incident, Mick joining them a few moments later which prompts you to do the same. Your mom gets up from her place as she turns towards the two of you. “Do you guys wanna stay for dinner? We were about to make burgers.”

“Oh yeah, dad owes us plenty of those after the emotional damage he put us through.” You announce, kissing Mick on the cheek and joining your mom to help her prepare dinner.

“I like retirement,” Your dad mumbles to himself.

“I give you one season, old man.” You smirk. “You won’t be able to stay behind when you’ve been behind a wheel since you were eight years old.”

“She’s got you there, Seb.” Mick laughs as he takes a place on the island.

“Oh no, is Mick taking your side going to be an ongoing thing?” Sebastian asks with a grimace.

“What can I say?” Mick shrugs. “I am a good boyfriend.”

“The best.” You agree, while you lock eyes across the room. Your parents share a knowing look between the two of them. Needless to say, it turns out that your dad is also very happy to ‘learn’ that you’re dating Mick.

#monzabee #requests open #f1 fic #f1 fanfic #f1 smut #formula 1 #fanfic #f1 x reader #f1 x you #f1 x y/n #mick schumacher #mick schumacher x reader #mick schumacher imagine #imagine #fluff #angst #smut #mick schumacher smut #mick schumacher fluff

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rubywolf0201 · 14 days

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How I would fix the Gang War Arc in BUCCHIGIRI?! (Part 2)

Click here for Part 1

So I made a lot of changes that happened in Episode 3-4 but I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned how I would change Episode 1-2. Now, I don’t think it would experience much change compared to the last one but I’ll definetely try to change some things here and there. Also it is very long too so bear with me:

[Read More for details on the rewrite]

- So first off, I’ll change Arajin’s whole motivation from the get go. Instead of making his goal of losing his virginity, he would instead wish to be a cool guy. As in he would revolve around being the cool new kid at school. This of course means donning a pair of glasses and a bass to show off. (Which of course would make everything ironic and also play more into the Aladdin parallel)

- The two guys that appear in the temple back in the first episode and frequent visitors of the Tomoshibi family restaurant would still appear but I’ll also have them be like commentators regarding the ongoing events that happens in the episode. (I’m assuming that they’re attending the same school as the rest of the cast or different ones)

- Matakara’s intro wouldn’t change and the same goes for the Teacher as well explaining to Arajin the small basics of what he is going to experience in Ichizu High.

- Instead of Arajin going after Mahoro, it is Mahoro who goes to Arajin after the latter made his first introduction. He would still have it bad for Mahoro but I’ll change his reaction to ‘Huh, wow I can’t believe she would be into me but I’ll play it cool.”

- The scene where Zabu and Komao meets Arajin wouldn’t change but I would have them be a tad forceful towards the poor boy in that they want him to join their club. (In fact, I headcanon that the gang members, be it from Minato Kai or Siguma Squad, tends to happen with any new kid on their first day of school with some exceptions)

- Chase scene and the whole reunion between Arajin and Matakara would still happen while Zabu and Komao are bewildered and Arajin being uncomfortable with Matakara claiming him to be the coolest and strongest person he knows. (Which makes his cool kid motivation all the more ironic because Arajin wasn’t honest to the one person he knew since childhood, Matakara)

- Marito’s establishment scene along with the Siguma Squad base first being seen is still the same.

- In fact, I’ll have the rest of my rewrite of the first episode play out the same way as canon for the most part tbh but there would be some notable differences.

- Arajin wouldn’t go to the stone shop to make a soapstone for Mahoro, since in my rewrite I toned down his relationship with Mahoro in that he doesn’t desperately simp for her to the point he’s ignorant of everything happening in the plot, but that he has a shift at the family restaurant again. (Emphasizing more of his helpful side and that despite being rude to his mum, he still helps her and such, especially since he’s helping her take over the family business at some point).

- Arajin’s second meeting with Zabu and Komao can still happen. But instead of them meeting Arajin just so that they can lure him to the NG Boys and humiliate him, I’ll have them meet Arajin by coincidence where they’re heading over to a minimart to help run errands for Matakara.

- Of course, Arajin is exasperated at seeing them because of their association with Matakara and that they have ulterior motives (they do), but not wanting to put up with the hassle, he decided to just put up with these two and help them with their errands all the while hoping that once they’re done, they can leave him alone.

- While they’re walking to the minimart, Arajin came across an unknown group of boys (NG Boys) beating up some scrawny guy with a red hat and yellow hoodie (Hagure). Arajin was shocked and appalled at this scene and asked his two classmates if this is a common occurrence. Both Zabu and Komao stayed silent and looked away from it.

- This would of course establish that they, or rather some of Minato Kai, hold prejudice on their rival gang, Siguma Squad, seeing them as bloodthirsty babarians and such.

- Arajin would still have gut problems but he wouldn’t leave to go to toilet instead I’ll have it represent the unconscious guilt at what transpired between him and Matakara since childhood.

- This frustrates Arajin because of their indifference to what’s happening in front of them, so he decided to help out the poor pink hair boy that was being harassed by the men in white uniform. He first threw a pebble to get their attention and once the NG Boys grunts saw him, decided to give chase to Arajin.

- Zabu in particular was pissed at the fact that this new kid they met yesterday threw himself into the fray at those guys but the moment he and Komao, saw Hagure getting up from his injuries, decided to duck out from the scene. (Because he’s a Siguma Squad member) But unfortunately for them, this would spark a bitter rivalry between them and another person who just came out from the minimart.

- Basically, I establish Hagure and Jabashiri a little earlier in the above scene. Speaking of, Jabashiri came out of the minimart with shopping bags containing snacks for the Siguma guys to enjoy but he was shocked at seeing Hagure injured. Hagure brushes it off that he is fine before wincing from pain. Jabashiri scanned the area to see who caused it and the moment he caught a glimpse of Zabu and Komao running away, he immediately assumed that it was them who hurted Hagure.

- Zabu and Komao on the other hand, instead of relaxing back at the bathhouse Matakara is staying at, they would come back panting from all the running they did but were disappointed they turned up empty-handed.

- Matakara on the other hand, was still busy working out (yes I kept the workout scene for our puppy boi) but the moment he saw his two friends panting for breath, asked his two best friends what has happened.

- Zabu and Komao looked at each other and both kinda lied that they tried to get the stuff Matakara needed but they ran into Arajin and how he treated them to his family restaurant’s cooking instead (I like to think it was Komao who said most of it and that he interrupted what Zabu was about to say lol).

- This of course backfired hilariously because now Matakara has his attention on Arajin and this fueled Zabu’s jealousy. (I still kept the scene where Matakara put Arajin on a pedestal but the scene is now played out differently)

- NNL Segment still happens of course since they’re the Greek Chorus of BUCCHIGIRI?! and I think it’s personally entertaining in some parts.

- Back with Arajin, he tried to run away from the NG Boys harassing him until he, unknowingly, reached Honki Temple. He tried to lock the door from the NG Boys but to no avail, they bust through the door and Arajin was left cornered until he saw a box containing a flintlock gun right behind him. (The scene would still be the same but Arajin has his clothes intact on him albeit dirtied)

- The scene of Arajin trying to attack the NG Boys grunt is still the same as his is meeting with Senya so I’ll leave it alone.

- Back in his room, Arajin tried to do an Internet search regarding Senya and what he is but the search results weren’t reliable (Which is the same scene after Arajin acquired Senya ofc but I’ll have Arajin be more curious towards Senya and his origins)

- While Arajin is sleeping, he started to experience nightmares of him as a child witnessing child Matakara beaten up by the thugs targeting them and how he ran away. And when Arajin yelled out, Senya in his chibi fairy form, came out and asked Arajin why he screamed.

- Sweating from fear, Arajin took a quick look at the outside view from his window and then his alarm clock before he realized that he is late for school but then he realized ‘oh it’s the weekend!’ but he had another freak out because he has to help his mum with some important client elsewhere in the early afternoon. (I expanded the Tomoshibi family restaurant a bit in that they also offer catering services to important events 👍🏻)

- Of course, while getting dressed (which is basically the outfit he wore in his and Mahoro’s ‘date’ btw), Arajin checked out the metal dot that is in his temple, curious regarding why it’s here. Mrs Tomoshibi, who is still in her pyjamas, asked Arajin if he can go to the client’s meeting place by himself, since she has yet to be dressed. This of course pissed Arajin off and he yelled at his Mum to get changed quickly.

- And so, he walked to the park to cool off and also because the event is nearby as well. Of course, there’s Senya and he asked why he couldn’t go there by himself to which Arajin answered in an exasperated manner that he doesn’t want to be there early.

- The ‘date’ scene with Mahoro would be different in that instead of a ‘date’, Mahoro was passing by to meet up with her big brother (Marito) and his friends. Arajin was surprised by this coicidential meeting and so, the two of them chatted for a bit.

- Because I changed the scene where Arajin doesn’t make the soapstone for Mahoro and doesn’t confess to her, I would have him try to be friends with her but just as they’re walking, suddenly a horde of NG Boys would then come by.

- Arajin was shocked because he thought that he scared them off until he realized that there’s are the same exact guys who chased him but the only notable differences is that he bought backup.

- The NG Boy grunt (who is basically a higher up to Akutaro) wanted payback for what Arajin has did to him and his friends and for interrupting their beat up.

- Of course, Arajin is scared and his gut is growling because of the paralyzing fear he is experiencing. And of course, the NG Boys would then jump on Arajin while the other would take Mahoro hostage.

- However, Mahoro wouldn’t let it happen and decided to fight the random touching her. (Yes I gave Mahoro some fighting skills that she picked up from Marito but in a unrefined fashion)

- Zabu and Matakara can still have a scene together where both guys are watching the scene of Arajin being brutalized and Matakara is the one who took action while Zabu is ignorant of it.

- Senya lamenting at his host being weak and trying to leave not before Arajin says his wish and merging with Senya prior to Arajin being knocked out from th last attack would still be the same.

- Arajin’s wish invocation would be different as I stated in the first point in that instead of losing his virginity, he wishes to be cool instead. (It’s still ridiculous from Senya’s POV lol)

- Arajin would then beat up the NG Boys harrassing him and Mahoro with sending some of them flying.

- Matakara managing to arrive at the scene to see Arajin’s powerup and being in awe Utsumi-style would remain the same lol.

- In fact, I have most of the earlier scenes of Episode 2 play out the same except that Siguma Squad arrived a little later, probably because Mahoro called her brother over to deal with the NG Boys but instead of helping her out, Marito turned his attention to Arajin instead who is still powered up by Senya, this of course catches Marito’s interest.

- Mahoro on the other hand is not amused by this lol and the Siguma members even wonder what does their leader even see in this plain guy.

- Arajin had no idea what just happened and why there are a lot of NG Boy goons lying on the ground before Senya chided him for the ridiculous wish invocation he made and Arajin retorted back that he had no idea why that came to his mind.

- Unfortunately, one of the NG Boys got up, albeit still injured and proceed to send both Arajin and Senya flying into the pond, like what happened in canon.

- Matakara rushed in to help Arajin out of the river but he bumped into Jabashiri like in canon and Jaba having an intense hatred for Matakara.

And that’s my basic outline of rewriting Episode 1 and the first half of Episode 2. I would tackle the later parts of Episode 2 and the expansion of Episode 3-4 in another post. I know I made Marito a tad bit bland in my rewrite but I rather have a slight buildup to his character. Though you are free to add in anything.

#rubi’s post #bucchigiri?!#arajin tomoshibi #senya #matakara asamine #komao sakigake #zabu kakeru #marito jin #mahoro jin #outa tahide #jabashiri nagare #hagure tatsuto #meta #rewrite #canon vs rewrite #it got wordy I’m sorry #but those are my main pointers for rewriting episode 1

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strawhatyami · 1 year

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Why you absolutely should bother with watching One Piece in 2022:

Alright I'm going to get straight to the point.

Usually when you ask people “what’s so great about One Piece” the most popular answers will be about the loveable characters, good world building and great foreshadowing.

Which is all very true and I’m here to delve into why, starting with the main character :

Monkey D. Luffy:

I once saw someone describe Luffy as a "pretty simple character that is done right". And I must say that’s the best way to describe him. His straightforward, curious, extroverted nature is the is the perfect window to explore such a vast interesting world.

Luffy does his own thing, he’s selfish in many ways, his main goal of becoming the king of pirates itself is rooted in selfishness and greed. But he’s still a chill and kind-hearted dude. It just so happens that the selfish things he wants in life are fairly tame things like eating lots of meat and punching those who hurt his friends or innocent people in the face.

And in truth, he’s quite the emotionally intelligent character which is such a charming quality that has landed him allies and friends all over the world.

In short: He’s just goofy and loveable and I like the fact that Oda ditched trying to force a "relatable" protagonist (him not having any internal monologues is a nice touch that fits his character well imo).

And before we move on, I’d like to give an honorable mention to Tanaka Mayumi who is such a wonderful voice actress<3

Next up : World Building and character design

This anime undoubtedly has some of the best world-building that I’ve ever seen.

Which is great because at its core, One Piece is an adventure manga not a battle manga. Sure fights and matchups are important and epic and Haki is one of the coolest power systems out there.

But also watching the heart wrenching relations and back stories of the characters and seeing everything connect and having characters from 400 episodes ago make a comeback and be relevant to the plot in ways you never expected is WHERE IT’S AT.

Oda plays a lot with foreshadowing and he’s very good with continuity and revisiting small details which makes the story a lot more cohesive as a whole.

Watching this show feels like an adventure which is what Oda was going for. It’s so immersive and really plunges you into this fictional world that is so well built and versatile that you will never find yourself bored because each island is a new story. A new adventure.

The character design is also top-notch.

Oda has opened many possibilities for himself with the art style as the cartoony style helps in creating a fantasy world, you get more design freedom when you're not limited to proper proportions and things like that.

And he uses that freedom to create memorable characters but also to integrate parts of their personalities into their designs. Some of my favorite character designs include Sir crocodile, Franky, Kuzan, Doflamingo, Boa Hancock and Baby 5 just to name a few.

Last but not least, The humor :

Okay so humor is subjective. However I can confidently say that no anime has ever made me laugh my guts out the way OP did, the humor is elite and the jokes (especially pre-time skip) hold up even 20+ years later which says a lot.

And I think what plays a big role in that isn’t so much the joke itself but the (often) deadpan and downright hilarious delivery from the talented voice actors.

SO TO RECAP:

Cool mc, watching him punch bad guys is satisfying af.

Great worldbuilding.

Lots of heartwarming moments.

Characters be silly and loveable.

Lots of tiddies. Male AND female.

It has Trafalgar Law in it.

But yeah real talk this show has been a source of comfort for me lately and I believe it has something for everyone (especially if you're a sucker for the found family trope, it does it really well.)

Plus with the manga drawing to an end now would be the perfect time to catch up~

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stardust-kiddo · 6 months

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history of panic! at the disco except I’m only a moderate fan, so it’s not 100% accurate and I had to fill in some gaps with my imagination, so you definitely shouldn’t quote me on any of this

it is currently 1 am and this is the only thing in my head, so let’s go.

have I listened to every p!atd song? yes. do I know the history? absolutely not.

so, Las Vegas, right? there’s a bunch of high school guys who are in a band and everything is going great, but uh oh, they need some back up vocals. local loser teen Brendon Urie comes to the rescue with his mediocre singing skills (he can’t sing) (at least not yet) so the band reluctantly takes him on. they play a few shows, so pretty good for a high school band, then they release an album. did they get signed to a record label first? uhhhh, I’m gonna say yes. its Vegas, they might as well have been.

so they write their first album, “a fever you can’t sweat out”, and it does well! “I write sins not tragedies” does absolutely fantastic in particular. it’s emo, it’s young, and their target audience approves.

riding off that high, they do what any other self respecting cool, hip, emo band would do and they write a psychedelic folk album. because duh. and using my knowledge that the first track states “we’re so sorry we’ve been gone”, the album took a minute to make and produce. Two years to be exact. And that’s exact exact. A whole 24 months. Released it on fever’s anniversary and everything. Also; at this point, one of the band members dropped out. probably a drummer. their name? uhh, idk, probably frank, david, or pete,,

so they write another album. it’s called “vices and virtues” and it uses a bit more tech and it’s a good sound and it goes a bit more back into their rock and roll roots. they continue with their thing of going super heavy into eccentric album themes and where all these cool steampunk outfits in the mvs and on the album cover. then ryan ross leaves. and this makes lots of people sad because he’s ryan ross. but the album’s good, so there’s some consolation. also some of the other members leave with him. the bass player dipped and their drummer flaked again. he didn’t want to go on without ryan ross’s ryan ross-ness and honestly who can blame him? also fun fact! the bass player left for completely non-ryan ross related reasons. his parrot brother passed away and it really took a toll on the family. and no I’m actually not joking because another fun fact! parrots live really long and a lot of the times in families they’re raised along with the children and they become so bonded to the family that oftentimes they’re considered an actual part of it. I found that out from a podcast when one of the hosts said her ex had a parrot for a brother which made me break down laughing, but that’s honestly really neat. anyways.

after that they, you guessed it, write another album. this one’s called “too weird to live, too rare to die”. the album cover is very cool™️ and so is the music. and they have a new bass player! his name is dallon james weekes and he is actually The coolest person ever. lots of fans are upset with the new album because it’s missing ryan ross, but dallon makes up for it. Then he leaves immediately after they finish touring for the album. boohoo.

it’s the summer of 2016. death of a bachelor has just been released. I’m at an outlet mall with my family and am standing under a giant tree trying to catch some shade from the texas heat that burns on my black hair and my brother pokes me in the arm. he’s got apple music opened up to the album Death of a Bachelor by Panic! At the Disco. he asks me if I’ve ever heard of them. I say no. he offers me an earbud and I happily take it . he presses play on a certain track; LA devotee. I’m instantly transported to another world. the sound is like nothing I’ve ever heard before. it’s not like the Spanish music my grandma always plays or christian music or 80s songs my mom sings in the car or the show tunes I sing with my friends or the classic rock my dad always blasts. it’s different. and it sounds so distinctively like me.

suddenly I’m emo. a few weeks later, I’m at a sleepover and we’re singing death of a bachelor and I mess up one (1) lyric and one of the other kids calls me a fake fan. at that exact moment in time I make the decision to religiously listen to and memorize every single lyric off the death of a bachelor album. and I did. so take that, julia. (we’re still friends)(she absolutely does not listen to panic anymore)

oh hey, would you look at that. pray for the wicked just came out. for the first time ever, I count down the days, then the minutes to an album release. it’s really fun.

and uhhh, that’s it. it’s just one guy at this point.

#I edited this a teensy bit recently bc I got a little more knowledge #but it was originally from before I was big on mcr/fob #so I think it’s really funny I chose those names at the start #also I think it was from before viva las vengeance?#or I was just willfully ignoring its existence idk #p!atd #panic! at the disco #patd #shitpost #ryan ross #dallon james weekes

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carpe-noctemseries · 9 months

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Meet the Author

Hi, it occurred to me that I really should do one of these so y’all can get to know me a little better! Feel free to skip, but this one is a ride!

My name is Sam, he/him, and I’m a 28 year old trans man from the Nevada desert. I’m mixed race being half Filipino (my Dad immigrated to the US back in....like... I wanna say like ‘82?) and half Black, though I wasn’t really raised with either of my cultures so I’m learning more about both sides as I get older.

I’ve been writing since I was smol, originally because my adopted Grandfather (on my mom’s side) was a storyteller himself and I admired the way he could just.... spin an entire story at a moment’s notice. Coolest thing in the world to baby Sam. When he passed (can’t remember how old I was, but I was lil) I promised I’d keep telling stories the way he did to help keep his memory alive for me. He was the only member of my family I was genuinely close to, and being able to have a way of connecting with him was everything at the time.

All of my skills are self taught (I honestly cannot learn from other people without frustrating both sides, neurodivergents you feel me, right?) for that reason and primarily because I’m from a very poor family and I don’t have the means to reach out to higher learning even if I thought it might work for me. That includes any artwork I produce, any acting I do, any music I create, any writing I’ve made. All of it. I’ve spent a lot of time alone and it helped me keep my sanity to allocate that time to learning skills instead of chewing on the walls of my mental health.

I started writing the series I’m currently creating when I was in 6th grade. Yeah, it’s been that long. The first iteration of Carpe Noctem was actually called Eternal Knight and it featured Frost as the main character rather than Xinghua, but as I was in 6th grade it was a bit of a mess. There are a lot of things I’ve changed since then, but also a lot of Easter Eggs left in from that time. It’s grown a lot since then and I cannot state to you how much it means to me that I’ve gotten to the publication stage with it. I’ve been incredibly unlucky though life and due to one thing or another (My mother pawning my computer, or the computer just dying, having to move and losing the physical copy in the process) I’ve had to rewrite this story in it’s entirety four separate times.

It’s a labor of love but also probably a bit of a coping technique as, like I mentioned, I am incredibly unlucky. I’ve spent quite a lot of time homeless, and was so when I was working on making my publishing company and publishing the book earlier this year. My traditional publication attempts have been abysmal at best, and given the climate of the industry these days, I thought it would be better and ultimately easier to self-produce. Which is debatable, but it does put me in the driver’s seat of this whole thing. So if you’re looking to support an independent creator, know that there’s currently just me working on this story and I could really really use any support you’re able to give, even if that’s just chatting with someone about this crazy vampire novel you heard of online.

If I’m honest this story represents hope for me, the fierce, unfuckable belief that for as bad as things ever get, at the very least I can make something I consider beautiful and worthwhile. Something that might be able to let someone else escape whatever they’re going through for a while the same way it’s done for me. Above all, I think I write with that hope in mind.

Honestly most of my personal story is sad but at this point I think we’re all on that level. So suffice it to say, despite life throwing hands with me on sight, I’m a stubborn little dude with a lot of drive to make engaging and creative stories even if they never go anywhere.

I would say I’ve been inspired by works like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Underworld, Twilight, and The Vampire Diaries, but what I really mean by that is I constantly see work that’s just on the cusp of being really good that I end up frustrated by their failings (I’m sure you all relate to that) and then go write a story that subverts all of those issues. I was inspired by the MCU in the same way, but you’ll have to stick around to see what I mean by that.

Overall, I’m just a stressed out little guy doing his best to tell silly stories that let people have some fun and maybe cry a little tiny bit. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

#about the author #get to know the author #carpe noctem #writeblr #this is probably slightly incoherent #but I was trying to tell my story without being horrifically depressing #which is HARD cause like it IS #so I pretty much left out anything not book related....

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tsuki-chibi · 2 years

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MayBee Queen 2022 Day 21: Redemption

Read on AO3 instead

—

“I just need to – noooooooooooo!” Nino’s wail of anguish made Chloé grin. She watched in triumph as their battle ended, and her character was proclaimed the winner.

“Suck it, Lahiffe,” Chloé said smugly. “You just can’t win.”

“Ugh, this sucks!” Nino said, throwing his hands up. “I can’t believe you keep winning!”

“It’s because I’m better than you. Both in real life and in a video game,” Chloé said, grinning. Alya snorted and both Adrien and Marinette laughed as Nino pouted.

“I have to admit, I’m not a big video game person but this is the coolest thing I’ve seen in a long time. I never expected them to make a video game based off of us,” said Alya, picking up the cover. It showed a cartoon version of Ladybug and Chat Noir, but the video game included all the heroes. Actually, it even included some brand-new heroes with miraculous that didn’t even exist.

Chloé had gotten her hands on an advanced copy, having purchased it the moment that Marinette had called to tell her about it. The second she picked up the package, she’d headed straight to Marinette’s house. She wasn’t a huge video game person either, but watching an adorable cartoon version of Queen Bee kicking the butt of a cartoon version of Carapace was incredibly fun.

“I wanna go again,” Adrien declared, getting up.

“Yes! Go against Chloé! I need redemption!” Nino said, jumping up.

“Pass. I need to pee. Marinette? Alya?” Chloé offered her controller up, unsurprised when Marinette grabbed it and sat down next to Adrien. The two of them were by far the most competitive of the group, and Chloé fully expected the battle to be long and hard.

So she was unsurprised that it was still going when she returned from the bathroom. Both Adrien and Marinette had chosen new heroes: Adrien’s character had a Swan miraculous, and Marinette’s character had a panther miraculous. Despite the theoretical edge that a panther would have, Adrien still won by a slim margin.

“Yeah! That’s my man!” Nino said, clapping Adrien’s shoulder. “Redeeming your best bro. You rock.”

“Uh, I don’t think it can be considered redemption if Adrien wasn’t playing as Carapace,” Alya pointed out.

Nino frowned at her. “Rude. Adrien, play again as Carapace and redeem me.”

Adrien shook his head. “Sorry, but I gotta go. I have a thing to go to tonight.” He made a face as he spoke, making it clear that this thing wasn’t his idea.

“Oh right, the party,” Chloé said, vaguely remembering her father mentioning something along those lines. The mayor had asked if Chloé could be there, which meant that there had to be some journalists attending tonight too. Her father only ever wanted her around when there were ‘family’ photos to be taken.

“What’s the party for?” Marinette asked, and Adrien and Chloé looked blankly at each other.

“Someone’s… birthday?” Adrien said at last, clearly just guessing.

Chloé shrugged. “No idea.”

“Sounds fun. Shame we weren’t invited,” Alya said dryly.

“Well, one of us doesn’t have to go,” Chloé began.

Adrien reached over and grabbed her arm, looking at her with pleading eyes. “You wouldn’t leave your oldest and dearest friend there alone, would you?”

“I suppose not,” Chloé said, rolling her eyes. “Guess that means I’m out too. Your redemption will have to wait.”

Marinette reached over and took the video game cartridge out of her system. She put it back into the case and tried to hand it to Chloé, but Chloé shook her head and waved her off.

“Keep it.”

“What?” Marinette said, shocked. “Chloé! I can’t do that.”

“Sure you can. I don’t even have a console to play it on. So you might as well keep it.” Chloé shrugged. Adrien could easily get his own copy, but she was conscious of the fact that the video game hadn’t been cheap. It seemed unlikely Marinette would be able to get her own copy anytime soon.

“But…” Marinette still looked stuck somewhere between shock and joy.

“Good. That means we can battle again, and I can earn my own redemption,” Nino said, pointing a finger at Chloé.

Chloé just rolled her eyes at him. “Bring it. Queen Bee will happily kick your butt any day.”

#miraculous ladybug #chloe bourgeois #adrien agreste #marinette dupain-cheng #alya cesaire #nino lahiffe #maybeequeen2022

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queer-and-dear-books · 2 years

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Title: One Last Stop

Author: Casey McQuiston

Content Warnings: Implied Homophobia/Racism

Overall Rating: 10/10

Personal Opinion: I love this book. I don’t read a lot of WLW stories (which needs to change) but I love all the unique personalities and the humor and the mystery surrounding Jane Su. I expected this to be a very slice of life story but it turned out to be so much more than that. August Landry had an unusual upbringing that made her feel like she couldn’t trust others. But then she ends up rooming together with the nicest, coolest people on Earth. And on the Q train, she meets the nicest, coolest girl on Earth. And as August opens up over the course of the book, you will end up falling in love like she does.

Couple Classification: August Landry X Biyu “Jane” Su = Nerd X Punk

Do I Own This Book? No but it’s definitely on my wishlist.

Spoilers Below For My Likes & Dislikes:

Likes:

- First and foremost, Jane is legit the coolest person ever. I love her. I mean, she was out there fighting for civil rights in the 70s! She was in the thick of it! She protested against the Vietnam War, she beat up anti-semites, and she gave one of her pride pins to a 15 year old boy that just came out. She is so cool and the true meaning of punk. I’m not even sexually attracted to women and I kid you not, I am in love with her. August hit the jackpot is what I’m saying. Plus, Jane is Asian! That appeals to me directly. I love her.

- Second, August is a nerd and she’s adorable. She’s relatable too. Well, not her childhood of searching for a long-lost uncle but the part about her being alone and not knowing where she wants to go with her life is. She was anxious about graduating college because it meant she would lose that structure. Before New York, she never had people that she considered friends. I felt all of that in my soul. But she’s a truly nice person despite her loneliness. She helped Jane try to get unstuck from the Q line, she encouraged Wes to go for Isaiah, and she went with Myla to meet Gabe, just in case, to protect her. She also takes notes on everything, including the things Jane likes in sex, and that is also somehow adorable? I don’t know, August just felt like the perfect blank slate protagonist while also having enough personality to separate herself from the reader. It was just really well done and I respect it.

- August called her New York friends her family! Niko is a legit psychic—which, so cool. He’s also trans and Hispanic and he’s got tattoos and he’s overall super chill and cool. He didn’t get jealous when Myla was fake-flirting with Gabe and he always seemed to know things he shouldn't, which I thought was super cool. I’ve described him as cool three times but that’s honestly the best descriptor for him. Then we got his Black girlfriend Myla who graduated as an engineer from Columbia but is actually an artist who welds a bunch of random shit together to create giant nerves. She is just so impressive and again, I think she is so cool. Finally, we have the third roommate, Wes! He’s a disaster gay but he bakes for his roommates and he has a dog. That in itself makes him cool in my book. Plus, his little romance with Isaiah is so cute. I’m sure I would’ve been really frustrated with him had he been the protagonist but since he’s not, I get to enjoy their love story for what it is. When he said, “I am in love with you,” at the party, I was screaming.

- Outside of their apartment, we have Isaiah who is also a drag queen named Annie Depressant. Firstly, that name is brilliant and I imagine she lives up to it. The way he just easily went along with August’s perceived weirdness concerning Jane was so cool of him. Okay, honestly, there’s no other way to describe him than cool. Legit, I’m being vague and all but it’s because there’s so much context that I can’t just put into these sections. He is just so cool!

- Lucie is cool too! And she’s with a pansexual drag queen, Winfield, and it is adorable! And Winfield is cool too! And Jerry is cool too! Everyone who works at Billy’s Pancakes is so cool! That includes Jane!

- Listen, there are just so many unique personalities in this book but the fact that they’re all so cool means something. It probably means McQuiston is a great writer. I just, ugh, I’m at a loss for words for how cool everyone is and how enjoyable this book is.

- The mystery of Jane is part of the allure of the book. The first hint that she wasn’t normal was their very first meeting. The lights flickered and she just vanished. As someone who lives in New York, people do not vanish on the subway. It doesn’t matter how crowded it is. And then there’s the fact that she said she “can’t” when August asked her out. It was right after the train had stalled so in my mind, it felt like she had a free schedule. To me, that meant the only reason she “can’t” go is because she literally can’t leave the train. I don’t know how my brain went there but it did. And then in the following chapter, there was a Craigslist missed connection post dated 10-12 years ago. That would’ve made Jane 13 or so which makes no sense. Which means, she was on the train for years! Oh my god, it was just so fascinating and I loved learning new things about Jane. And I love that she stayed! Oh my god, I would’ve been fine with either outcome. Whether she went back to 1977 or stayed in 2020. But the fact that she stayed and wrote about the UpStairs Lounge arson attack (something I knew about already because I researched it for a poem I wrote) so that queer youth can know about it is just inspiring. She stayed and she meshed with everyone in the apartment so well and she’s the record holder of Rolly Bangs and she works at Billy’s again and I love her.

- A lot of this is very much a stream of consciousness rambling and that is because I love these characters. I love this book. I love that they live above a Popeyes and August says she trusts chicken. I want to live above a Popeyes and have cool queer roommates and meet the hot love of my life on the subway. She is living my dream.

- They had sex on the train! That’s not the important part though. The actual important part was everything leading up to it. August brought Jane a feast and she found music that would appeal to Jane and she made it so romantic even though they’re on a subway! I felt my heartbeat quicken with every word in that chapter.

- The comedy in this book is on point. Everything from their reactions to Gabe to Jane saying she befriended a train rat. I loved it. But the best joke, to me, when August met Jane again and her brain went for “Hi” while her mouth went for “Morning” and out came “Horny.” Like, that is, exactly my kind of humor.

Dislikes:

- Nothing comes to mind. I was originally going to be upset that Jane never reconnected with her family but then August went and found her family. It’s crazy. And also really sweet. And I’m glad Jane will have a chance at some closure with them. And she also has a gay nephew and that just makes me so happy because, as we all know, at this point, I love Gaysian men.

- Actually, one thing does bother me. The POV choice. It’s third person limited omniscient. It’s not a bad choice. I just wondered half the time why it wasn’t in first person when the narratorial voice had so much personality. And it felt like August’s personality. Sometimes, I’d see August’s name and I’d be momentarily confused because I would forget this wasn’t in first person. Again, it’s not a bad thing that this is in third person. I just wonder why first person couldn’t do the job just as well if not better.

#Booklr #Booksbooksbooks #Book Blog #Book Review #Book Recs #One Last Stop #Casey McQuiston #LGBTQ #Queer Books #Queer Lit #Queer Representation

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oficmag · 2 years

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Contributor Spotlight: Henry

Issue #2 is now out in the world, and we are so excited to spotlight some of our stupendous sophomore contributors. We hope you all love them as much as we do!

Today’s spotlight is on Henry Sussman, who wrote “Rolling Over for the Cockroach Man” for Issue #2.

Tell us a bit about yourself!

At time of writing I am young and unemployed and lacking in formal education. I spend a lot of time distracting myself from this fact by writing and reading and watching semi-pretentious movies. I am a Jigglypuff main in Super Smash Bros. Melee.

How did you find fandom?

My first foray into fandom came via my obsession with K-Pop. The parasocial fantasies induced by this obsession required some kind of outlet, which for me involved writing "Real Person Fiction" and posting it online. Fanfiction became thereafter my primary way of engaging with media I liked.

What fandom are you in now and what brought you here?

Currently I'm most active in the fandom for "Worm" by Wildbow (a.k.a. J.C. McCrae), which is a web-serial about superheroes. As a teen I fell in love with its world and characters, who for the most part range from morally dubious to evil. I've stuck around so long, I think, because its community—or at least the small, insular group of likeminded people I've managed to join—contains some of the coolest, kindest people I've ever met, e.g., my wonderful girlfriend :).

What’s your favorite book of all time and what do you love about it?

There are so many answers to this question, but at the moment I might have to say Nightwood by Djuna Barnes. It would be a lie to say I understand its every facet (I've only read it once so far, which feels woefully insufficient), but what I gleaned on a first go-around made a life-changing impact on me. The prose is unlike anything anyone before or since has ever written, and it's transcendentally beautiful. The themes of gender and sexuality—queerness as metaphor—feel vital and urgent, even almost a century after it was written. And the masochistic lesbian love triangle at its center satisfies my fanfic-brain in a way few other great masterpieces of Nightwood's caliber can.

What projects are you working on right now?

At the moment I'm working on a novel, the details of which I'll spare you, other than to say it's about fanfic writers. Fandom-wise I'm focusing on my Jewish!Lice!Amy fic—if you know, you know.

What are your aspirations as a writer, big picture or small?

I would like to publish a book I'm proud of.

If you could give one piece of advice to beginning writers, what would you tell them?

The main thing that has helped me improve as a writer has been to read a lot and widely, to read outside of my comfort zone. Read challenging books and read diversely (and diversity involves not only diversity of author in terms of identity, but also in terms of genre and time period).

THANK YOU FOR BEING A PART OF THE OFIC FAMILY, HENRY! WE’RE SO THRILLED TO SHARE YOUR ART WITH THE WORLD.

#writeblr #bookblr #spotlight #issue 2

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crymeariveronceagain · 2 years

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i’ve said most of this before but you’re hearing it again

i found Don’t be Jerk when my family was going though some stuff. not only did it help me to get though that, it was the longest and still is the longest thing i had in years. it made me realize that you didn’t have to be a 14yo who was just learning how to write to write fanfics, you could be an amazing writer and write them anyways.

i came back to tumblr just to ask you about the few fic’s i read. then i realized that turn my blog that i was barely using into a fandom blog and post all the headcannons that i’d been coming up with for years and share them with people. i thought that maybe i could get headcannon requests like you do and write them for people because i thought that was so cool. you got me to write again something that i was convinced i wasn’t ever going to be able to do for more than two years, for more reasons than just perfectionism.

i genuinely thought that you where one of the coolest people on here and still do. i thought maybe i would get lucky enough for you to interact with a few of my posts. i never thought that actually we would talk constantly or that you would tag me in tag game. you are the only person i’ve talked to online that i know is a christian too and it just made me think you where even cooler. i still get exited when you do because i still think you are so much cooler than me. every time you try to convince us that you are not cool you just make yourself seem cooler.

girlie you do not understand the way in which i am screeching

i am legit---

im gonna lose my mind this is so sweet of you asdfghjkl

im so so so glad i could inspire you and bring you joy and be something fun to read <3 <3 <3

im not gonna argue on the coolness thing, it's been done before and people just compliment me excessively and honestly i dont have any good counter points that don't involve me trauma dumping about the time i talked about how a book character died and wound up in tears at youth group

but THANK YOUUUU <3 <3 <3 <3

I AM SO SO GLAD YOU ENJOY WHAT I DO

THIS KIND OF RESPONSE MAKES ME WANT TO WRITE A 1000000 MORE FICS AND HEADCANONS JUST SO YOU CAN READ THEM AND ENJOY THEM

#asdfghjklkjhgfdsasdfghjklkjhgfdsa #people so nice today #people so nice all the time #losing my MIND over this #thanks for the ask!#kotlc #keeptober #10 years of keeper #;-;#TYSMMMMMM ILY #<3 <3 <3 <3 #frizzle mcshizzle

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plushdragon-art · 1 year

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hi all !! i’m starting to post my art here because instagram’s captions were too short for this post specifically, and i imagine i may get similarly carried away in the future. i primarily make mlp nextgens right now. thanks for stopping by!

anyway, IT’S TILLYYYY !!! buckle up because she’s got a LOT going on

when i first designed this character in high school, i didn’t draw her mouth because i didn’t want to ruin the drawing with eraser marks (expressions are hard to nail on the first try, at least for me). this sparked an idea: i thought tilly should be non-verbal, at least in part.

since then, i’ve done some research, and i’ve settled on tilly being selectively mute. selective mutism is basically when someone cannot speak in certain situations due to overwhelm, anxiety, etc. it is sometimes referred to as situational mutism, which is the term i will be using going forward.

often, someone with situational mutism is only comfortable speaking with their immediate family. they may (or may not) also have trouble showing their emotions, which happens to fit with my image of tilly as well (again, based on them not originally having a mouth lol). part of me thinks that perhaps tilly has a stutter as well, which adds to their anxiety around speech. however, this stutter would disappear when singing.

tilly first started really paying attention to singing when they were given music therapy as a child in order to combat her situational mutism. she found that it was the best way for her to express herself to others. music made her feel safe and comfortable when nothing else did. her special talent is not just being a competent singer, but specifically singing with the intention of conveying and imbuing emotions. i haven’t yet decided if she occasionally uses magic to enhance the effects of her songs. probably?

i have an image in my head of tilly being flown by pegasi above a battlefield to sing to her people to boost morale and motivate them towards victory.

it’s quite unfortunate for a royal to be unable to speak to their people, but Tilly has managed well. they are seen as a steadfast symbol of strength, unaffected by even the direst of circumstances (when, in truth, they are constantly petrified). Tilly also serves as an ideal of innocence; she is, after all, the youngest in her family. her unchanged visage in the face of crisis is what everyone hopes for their own foals, to be shielded from tragedy. in a sense, the day tilly cries is the day hope dies. that may or may not be a saying among the crystal empire’s denizens lol.

tilly is present at basically every festival and royal function, which they hate, but they do get to sing for everyone, which evens things out a little. virtually no one outside the royal family knows about Tilly’s condition, primarily because she’s embarrassed about it and would rather it not be mentioned. one day, i think they’ll grow out of this mindset.

but i haven’t even gotten to the coolest part !!! did u know tilly is a Bad Bitch

what i mean by this is that Tilly studies dark magic. nOw she’s not evil (yet), she’s just very curious, and surprisingly pragmatic. she’s gotten very begrudging permission from her parents to do this, entirely because she made some really good points.

Tilly has been told their whole life that dark magic is bad, but few of their instructors could concretely answer why, or how it works, or what can be done to stop it (other than maybe wait for the princesses to figure something out on a case-by-case basis). this was unsatisfactory. Tilly knew that, if dark magic was ever to be safeguarded against, it must be understood, and that would never happen so long as it remained taboo to even THINK about.

so, Tilly wrote up and presented a proposal to their parents. it was challenging to get them to even consider it. after all, the whole Sombra incident had left Cadence and Shining Armor quite untrustful of dark magic. still, they couldn’t ignore how much work and thought Tilly had put into this idea, and although they liked to baby her, they had to admit that she was incredibly observant and intelligent. she had a point.

Tilly started off small, only allowed to study this magic with supervision from their aunt, Twilight. eventually, Tilly would be permitted to study on their own. their insights would prove invaluable over time. one day, i think Tilly will officially be the head royal advisor, a title not often taken up by anyone of the royal family.

i’m not sure how the dark magic will affect her. i think they do a lot of journaling in order to sort out their thoughts and keep sane. their extreme anxiety might make them easily corruptible, but they’re also smart enough to know better than to give in to the magic, so it might balance out. she definitely knows when to take a break.

i briefly considered that perhaps Tilly would be nonverbal because dark magic had removed their mouth, which would be very in line with her original design, but i thought that would be a poor choice. still, i think Tilly probably has a non-zero number of dark magic-induced nightmares in which she has no mouth, which are scary for her, but she can’t help but think “gee, how deep, i wonder what THAT dream was about” when she wakes.

that’s Tilly !! i love them, thank u for reading :)

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dadbodsandbots · 1 year

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yoinked from @kits-ships selfship fankid ask game because I’m a sap

👒: which physical traits does your child get from you? which do they get from your f/o?

Mason is a delightful blend of both of us. Stocky in childhood that tapers out in his early adulthood and is just a smidge shorter than Sam when he’s grown. He gets dark, wavy hair from us both - his dad’s warm, brown skin and my dimpled smile. He also gets my mom’s green eyes :’) Continuing the inherited traits, he also gets a freckle in the middle of his left foot like my dad and I have, like a Joestar symbol but mid.

🧠: which emotional traits does your child get from you? which do they get from your f/o?

oh he’s a CRYBABY as a kid, but more because he emotes strongly and not in a purely brat way. He’d cry when he had to leave his school friends behind after the first day of kindergarten, he’d cry if Grif ate his last gusher, etc. Sam and I both focus on strengthening his emotional navigation, but the weepiness never entirely leaves. That’s entirely from me :’) Mason watched Sam intently observe things, situations, and people, and learned the same by imitating him from an early age. He grows up to be very project-focused like the both of us and gets irritable if he’s interrupted from whatever he’s determined to finish doing/watching/playing. Sam recognizes the high chance of neurodivergency given our backgrounds and worries that Mason might internalize the wrong message that drive = personal achievement rather than being a product of a a process. It’s a lesson that Sam’s taken a whole lifetime to understand, so he tries his best to direct his son into healthy strategies to minimize mental and emotional burnout if things don’t go as imagined. Mason’s practical and emotional empathy is pretty balanced by the time he enters high school.

He gets an appreciation of nature that he carries into adulthood. I think Mason would probably want to work at a zoo, nature center, or state/national park, but keeps his options open between those or something unorthodox like being a food truck e-celeb. Our nuclear family is small and insular, but the extended family of Reese, Felix, the Reds & Blues provide a wide variety of personality exposure so that he can adapt to pretty much any social group.

💡: if your child is adopted, tell us a bit about how you came across them! how did you and your f/o know they were the one?

Kind of a swerve since Mason’s our bio kid, but we established contact and introduced him to his Sangheili half-brother that Sam made through his sword quest/slut phase breakdown. Mason thinks it’s the coolest thing EVER to have an alien brother and looks forward to his visits.

His brother, having been mostly raised by the Sword Quest Sangheili’s extended family since Sam gave him up because he was still getting his shit together at the time, never really came to see Sam as his “father” like Junior did for Tucker but is amicable and is impressed with how much Sangheili I’ve taught Mason from my days as an Outpost Discovery docent. Also enjoys teaching Mason traditional Sangheili rodent-catching games as a bonding method.

💬: what was your child's first word? was it a nickname for you or your f/o or something entirely different?

[picks up dropped sippy cup] “For’nat.” Me: Oh my god, he said “Fortnite.” Sam, through tears: No, he did not.

💕: which parent does your child tend to cling to? does it make the other parent jealous?

I’m the tactile parent due to my family being very affectionate which is a dream when Mason’s a kid, but wanes as he’s older and becomes more independent. I don’t take it as a slight, but it does hurt because I know I did the same thing to my parents and it will just take time for Mason to define his boundaries.

🪁: does your child enjoy learning about their parents' hobbies, or do they prefer to find their own?

Mason LOVES to explore the outdoors! He’ll help me and Sam in the garden on Iris and sometimes eat dirt, he’ll play with the small dinosaurs and have a modest collection of both fossils and bones. He loves learning how things work despite how messy and uncertain nature is! “You mean this rock is billions of years old is the same one that tore up the washing mashing and is now on the shelf in my room?? THAT’S SO COOL-” He also loves helping me and Sam prep meals in the kitchen and carries a love of food throughout his life. Food brings people together.

🐾: do you and your f/o have any pets alongside your child? how do they get along?

Sam and I found a scrungy stray cat on his ship years before Mason was born so it was his first pet in early childhood by default. He doesn’t have a lot of memories of it as it passed away by the time he was in Kindergarten, but he still loves the photos of the cat sleeping in his rocker with him as a newborn.

As he gets older, he’d probably want rats, a huge aquarium, or reptiles which I’m totally down for, but Sam still needs convincing about. Just no turtles or parrots because we’re not leaving stuff in the will to critters that will outlive us all.

🍼: what's your child's comfort item and where did it come from? is it a hand-me-down?

Mason is a cozy boi and the comfort blanket phase never really left, just evolved with him. I introduced him to my Granny’s and Mawmaw’s quilts since he was an infant, then the light and playful story time blanket that belonged my uncle, then the blue microfiber blanket that survived past college. One time Mason went scrounging in some of Sam’s old UNSC stuff and found his ancient poncho liner woobie, completely oblivious of the nylon melted on the corners near scorched needler holes. Sam found Mason snuggled up with it and it Mason’s without a second word. Maybe one day Sam would tell him about how it got him through the worst of the Great War, but right now he’s happy that his kid is kicking his legs across it during Saturday morning cartoons.

🤲: how did your child react when they met you and your f/o's friends? are they shy?

The Reds and Blues are...a lot. As a kid, Mason was more attached to some than others like Sarge who tried to raise him into a red-blooded blue-hater, or Carolina who he thought was the coolest of the cool (and still does). Felix and Reese are his favorite uncles because they’ve literally been there since the beginning. Felix was a uncomfortable for a variety of reasons that Mason would be too young to understand for a while, but that only made him want to understand Felix more, or as much as a toddler can. Also probably because Felix and Reese let him get away with breaking house rules when he stayed over and developed a bit of a wild streak that wouldn’t ever truly go away.

🌈: if applicable, who (from your f/o's source) would you make your child's godparents? who (out of your friends) would you make their godparents?

Realistically: Wash and Carolina

Comically: Felix and Reese

☀️: what's your child's favorite game to play with you and your f/o? tag? hide and seek, maybe?

Mason used to love playing hide-and-seek until he got the bright idea to use his dad’s invisibility module to be the ULTIMATE HIDER but thought he was stuck invisible forever and cried until we literally tripped over him four hours later. Once he understood how it worked as a young teen, he absolutely used it to win paintball games and definitely won a few costume contests when he dressed as a yautja for Halloween four years in a row.

🧁: what's your child's favorite thing in the world? what's their least favorite thing?

He loves the raptor claw he got from Uncle Fewix.

He loves laughing at Sarge’s batshit war stories.

He loves thumbing through my vinyl collection and sitting in the sun listening to the genres and instruments bleed together into something soulful, honest, and weird.

He loves when I brush his hair that’s growing as long as his parents’.

He loves catching fish with Sam.

He doesn’t like that he only has second-hand memories of Iris. He wants to return one day and hopes the house is still standing. He wants to see a living dinosaur again for the first time.

He hates the tickle of hair snaking down his back so he gives himself an undercut one day out of frustration and fucks it up.

#ship: in a world of lost and found #Mason is really my only fankid lmao #he's my lil baby boy

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thepropertylovers · 1 year

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The True Magic of the Last Few Days

There was no work done this weekend.

I can’t remember the last time I was able to say that. My laptop stayed shut and tucked away the entire time. Emails were read but not responded to. And as I’m sitting on the couch in the living room writing this while sipping on my extremely hot coffee and the rain pours down outside louder than I’ve ever heard it, I’m comforted by the fact that that’s exactly how this weekend should have gone.

We celebrated Riah’s 6th birthday this weekend and spent the last three days with family. Friday night we went to watch my younger sister fight in a boxing charity event in Chattanooga. My whole family (minus Amy who lives in GA) went to support her in her first ever boxing match. It was loud, country music and people yelling for their favorite champ were pretty much the only things you could hear, but it was still so different and fun nonetheless. She ended up losing, but all of us swore she should have been the winner, especially in round 3. Maybe next year.

Meanwhile, Riah turned 6 on Saturday! Our big boy is 6 years old which is so, so hard to believe. He was 2 1/2 when we first got them, a little wild child with long hair and a temper. Now, he’s so damn sweet and such a charmer who wears his heart on his sleeve but has the confidence to lift anything, no matter how heavy it is, because he “has abs” he says. What a perfect goofball.

We took the kids to the Creative Discovery Museum in Chattanooga, a staple in town that we used to go to when we were young. It just might be the coolest place for children, and I can say that confidently because I found myself having just as much fun as they were. My mom came too for the afternoon and we just all had a blast, watching the kids’ eyes grow big with excitement and wonder playing with the different exhibitions and dig for dinosaur bones in the sand. It’s a magical place, but the real magic came from spending the afternoon together, uninterrupted and completely focused on having fun. That doesn’t happen often enough. Why is that?

On Sunday, we had a party for Riah at the farm with our closest friends and family. PJ and I made chicken salad sandwiches and pimento cheese sliders, ordered our family’s favorite cake from a local bakery, cleanup up the pavilion that had seen better days since we haven’t entertained there for months, and hung some Paw Patrol decorations at Riah’s request.

Parties are always when PJ puts 110% into everything he does to get ready for them. I swear he could have been an event planner in another life. He likes everything to be tidy and perfect and goes above and beyond to achieve it. Case in point: he brought this piñata that I bought two years ago and forgot about (it’s been sitting in the corner of a closet ever since) to finally use at the party, and because it wouldn’t stay on the string, he climbed up into the rafters of the pavilion to hold the string the entire time so the kids could take turns hitting it. His mind works in such creative ways, and his body follows suit no matter what the task is. I’m so lucky I get to do life with this man.

So that brings us to today, Monday. A very rainy Monday actually, which I don’t mind one bit. Today will be spent sending approximately 10,000 emails and catching up on all the work that wasn’t done this weekend. I’m still getting used to this work from home thing, almost four years in, but I’m almost positive that in a normal job, most people do in fact do zero work on the weekends, and instead leave it for Monday through Friday. I’m going to be more diligent about following that schedule going forward. This weekend has opened my eyes in a way and I need to start putting everything away on Friday night and not opening it until Monday morning.

I hope there was some good in your weekend, too. xo

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scottxlogan · 2 years

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Deep fic writer asks:

2, 4, 10, 17

2. what's a fic that took you to an emotional/dark/hard place? A while ago I wrote a story called The Key to the Past, which was a Scott/Logan story. It was a very intense story and one that was filled with a dark adventure, angst and some really heavy themes. It was a wonderful story from that standpoint, but there was so much darkness associated with it that I think I guided some readers into wanting things that I, as an author, weren’t willing to write. I considered what the requests were, thought about if I should allow feedback to dictate the future of the story and delve into an area that I don’t usually explore. I stewed over it for a long time because I know if I’d just given in to the request, it would’ve made the story even more popular, but it felt against me as an author so much so that my struggle led me to a standstill on the issue. I thought up various possibilities and ideas to please some of my audience, but ultimately, I took a step back on the WIP because if/when it gets finished it has to be in how I want it to go and not my giving in to simply boost my stats if that makes sense.

4. what fic of your own do you read for comfort? Aside from my original fic, I would say that I’ve enjoyed things I’ve done that are fluffy and wonderful. Those fics are the ones that are my comfort reading. Anything I’ve written with WinterIron with Morgan and Alpine is it for me because I love their family dynamics.

10. how has writing positively impacted your mental health or overall mood? I’ve written since the moment I was able to hold a crayon, I think. Writing has pulled me from some places where I probably would’ve struggled through if I hadn’t been able to create. Writing has kept me from losing sleep when panic attacks had me thinking the worst. Writing was something that I did to keep my brain occupied when I was being bullied in high school (by ‘friends’ no less). It allowed me an outlet to create a world where I could explore characters and their stories and just delve into where they wanted me to take them. Writing has helped me find my center and I often think about how sad the world would be if I wasn’t able to create. Writing is like an old friend reaching out to you and allowing you to take a glimpse at their world for a little while. It’s relaxing, enjoyable and something that I truly hope I never lose sight of doing no matter what is ahead for me.

17. What’s the best engagement/interaction/feedback you’ve received from someone who’s read your work? To be honest there are so many awesome things people have said with feedback and reaching out. I appreciate each and every one of them! I’ve had people tell me that my work has inspired them, encouraged them to look at a character in a new light and really appreciate something that they hadn’t considered before. Beyond that there was one time that someone I didn’t know reached out to tell me that they loved one of my fics so much that they’d drawn a piece of art for it. That was one of the coolest experiences ever because we hadn’t spoken before and when they did that it was awesome. I was so touched by the experience that I couldn’t help but smile for days. To have someone love something I wrote and then draw a piece of art for it is like such a wonderful gesture that I was forever touched by it.

Thanks for these! These were all great to answer! Thanks again!

#mischief-and-tea-by-the-sea #deep fic writer asks #writing #ask me

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jcmarchi · 13 days

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From neurons to learning and memory

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/from-neurons-to-learning-and-memory/

From neurons to learning and memory

Mark Harnett, an associate professor at MIT, still remembers the first time he saw electrical activity spiking from a living neuron.

He was a senior at Reed College and had spent weeks building a patch clamp rig — an experimental setup with an electrode that can be used to gently probe a neuron and measure its electrical activity.

“The first time I stuck one of these electrodes onto one of these cells and could see the electrical activity happening in real time on the oscilloscope, I thought, ‘Oh my God, this is what I’m going to do for the rest of my life. This is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen!’” Harnett says.

Harnett, who recently earned tenure in MIT’s Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, now studies the electrical properties of neurons and how these properties enable neural circuits to perform the computations that give rise to brain functions such as learning, memory, and sensory perception.

“My lab’s ultimate goal is to understand how the cortex works,” Harnett says. “What are the computations? How do the cells and the circuits and the synapses support those computations? What are the molecular and structural substrates of learning and memory? How do those things interact with circuit dynamics to produce flexible, context-dependent computation?”

“We go after that by looking at molecules, like synaptic receptors and ion channels, all the way up to animal behavior, and building theoretical models of neural circuits,” he adds.

Influence on the mind

Harnett’s interest in science was sparked in middle school, when he had a teacher who made the subject come to life. “It was middle school science, which was a lot of just mixing random things together. It wasn’t anything particularly advanced, but it was really fun,” he says. “Our teacher was just super encouraging and inspirational, and she really sparked what became my lifelong interest in science.”

When Harnett was 11, his father got a new job at a technology company in Minneapolis and the family moved from New Jersey to Minnesota, which proved to be a difficult adjustment. When choosing a college, Harnett decided to go far away, and ended up choosing Reed College, a school in Portland, Oregon, that encourages a great deal of independence in both academics and personal development.

“Reed was really free,” he recalls. “It let you grow into who you wanted to be, and try things, both for what you wanted to do academically or artistically, but also the kind of person you wanted to be.”

While in college, Harnett enjoyed both biology and English, especially Shakespeare. His English professors encouraged him to go into science, believing that the field needed scientists who could write and think creatively. He was interested in neuroscience, but Reed didn’t have a neuroscience department, so he took the closest subject he could find — a course in neuropharmacology.

“That class totally blew my mind. It was just fascinating to think about all these pharmacological agents, be they from plants or synthetic or whatever, influencing how your mind worked,” Harnett says. “That class really changed my whole way of thinking about what I wanted to do, and that’s when I decided I wanted to become a neuroscientist.”

For his senior research thesis, Harnett joined an electrophysiology lab at Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU), working with Professor Larry Trussell, who studies synaptic transmission in the auditory system. That lab was where he first built and used a patch clamp rig to measure neuron activity.

After graduating from college, he spent a year as a research technician in a lab at the University of Minnesota, then returned to OHSU to work in a different research lab studying ion channels and synaptic physiology. Eventually he decided to go to graduate school, ending up at the University of Texas at Austin, where his future wife was studying public policy.

For his PhD research, he studied the neurons that release the neuromodulator dopamine and how they are affected by drugs of abuse and addiction. However, once he finished his degree, he decided to return to studying the biophysics of computation, which he pursued during a postdoc at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Janelia Research Campus with Jeff Magee.

A broad approach

When he started his lab at MIT’s McGovern Institute in 2015, Harnett set out to expand his focus. While the physiology of ion channels and synapses forms the basis of much of his lab’s work, they connect these processes to neuronal computation, cortical circuit operation, and higher-level cognitive functions.

Electrical impulses that flow between neurons, allowing them to communicate with each other, are produced by ion channels that control the flow of ions such as potassium and sodium. In a 2021 study, Harnett and his students discovered that human neurons have a much smaller number of these channels than expected, compared to the neurons of other mammals.

This reduction in density may have evolved to help the brain operate more efficiently, allowing it to divert resources to other energy-intensive processes that are required to perform complex cognitive tasks. Harnett’s lab has also found that in human neurons, electrical signals weaken as they flow along dendrites, meaning that small sections of dendrites can form units that perform individual computations within a neuron.

Harnett’s lab also recently discovered, to their surprise, that the adult brain contains millions of “silent synapses” — immature connections that remain inactive until they’re recruited to help form new memories. The existence of these synapses offers a clue to how the adult brain is able to continually form new memories and learn new things without having to modify mature synapses.

Many of these projects fall into areas that Harnett didn’t necessarily envision himself working on when he began his faculty career, but they naturally grew out of the broad approach he wanted to take to studying the cortex. To that end, he sought to bring people to the lab who wanted to work at different levels — from molecular physiology up to behavior and computational modeling.

As a postdoc studying electrophysiology, Harnett spent most of his time working alone with his patch clamp device and two-photon microscope. While that type of work still goes on his lab, the overall atmosphere is much more collaborative and convivial, and as a mentor, he likes to give his students broad leeway to come up with their own projects that fit in with the lab’s overall mission.

“I have this incredible, dynamic group that has been really great to work with. We take a broad approach to studying the cortex, and I think that’s what makes it fun,” he says. “Working with the folks that I’ve been able to recruit — grad students, techs, undergrads, and postdocs — is probably the thing that really matters the most to me.”

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lord-of-dragons-2007 · 11 months

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So I follow the nostalgia critic on YouTube, and this past week had been a video on the kids wb, which was something I grew up for and lived for on Saturday mornings. I would get up at 7am every Saturday morning just to watch cartoons, like any kid.

This isn’t a post about a YouTube video, its a post about what was the best time in my life. I want to say between 1995 and 2005 was the best time in my life, the time that was completely happy and had nothing but good times. All of the good cartoons, no stress in life, just that period of 10 years was a time when everything felt perfect in my life. I had my big family that was close and would have big parties on the major holidays, the coolest video games if you ask me came out about that time, the best events in my life happened in that time too. My parents were happy and lively and young and were amazing (not that they still aren’t amazing, but it was different).

I think back to that time and I hurt thinking that time was almost 20 years ago… I would give anything to go back and live in that time on infinite replay. I know it sounds stupid and unhealthy and whatever, but with the way things are today. Stress over my job, stress over my stupid asshole boss being a dick to me for what feels like every day, the main in my chest from panic and anxiety, worries about the mortgage, worries about the economy, worries about making the bills, worries about being able to cover all the meals I need to cover, worries about money, worries about being alone in my life, worries about if I will ever be a father if that dream will ever come true for me… worries about if my life will turn into a finely crafted family story or if it will end in a tragedy of not so good things happening to a good man…

I hate my life these days, the pain, the sorrow, the anxiety, and loneliness, all of it I feel without what feels like any joy in my life, without any love in my life. Every day I struggle to get out of bed, not because of a lack of sleep (though sometimes its because of that), its more of finding that reason to get out of bed. I just feel like the people in my life (if you can call them that) dont want to talk to me… I rarely have anyone check in on me, my dating pool has been so disappointingly small, sparse, and just nothing to even look at.. Lately I’ve been questioning what I’m doing at my job these days like just if I even want to be there anymore.

There is a picture I’ve seen before of a man made of puzzle pieces missing a lot pieces because he gave those pieces away to people who needed that piece, I feel like in so many ways that reflects me.. I am someone who cares about the people around me, my friends and people who I guess I may incorrectly perceive as more than just acquaintances. My very nature is to care and be there for those people, but then like the picture I give my pieces away and none come back to me, not that I’m looking for it, its just it sucks when I need something or need someone in my corner in the darkness that no one and nothing is there for me… or thats just really what it feels like.

I had made a ‘friend’ last year that had made a promise to me that ‘I was stuck with them as a friend’, and today I saw that they had blocked my text messages for reason… Even though I had supported them in their relationship, and getting engaged to someone, and helped them when they needed a friend… I just feel like my life has nothing really good in it, the only thing I can say are just my little dogs. Between these sweet girls and my parents its really the only reason I’m really still here, without them I might have just crawled into bed and died a long time ago…

the past couple of weeks I’ve just questioned if I’ve died on the inside long ago, if I am truly just dead on the inside and just carrying on a shell of who I used to be, a ghost that is wondering around without rest… As I’ve said before I am sure I’m going to die alone, sad and alone.

Honestly I am not sure why I am even taking the time to write this, its not like anyone really follows my random cryings in the void/darkness. I wonder if I have even made any difference in anyone’s life aside from my parents, I just feel like a plot point in a movie that if you factored it out it wouldnt change the movie at all… Just so much of my life I’m questioning from just what I do for a living, how I interact with people, if I’ve had any sort of meaningful positive impact on people, if just I’m just a waste of space and resources that the world would be better off without…

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