22, She/Her ╰(*´︶`*)╯♡ Some of my fav things are Gorillaz, Will Wood, jjba, jjk, csm, cookierun, beastars, httyd, rotg & cinderella boy (spoiler warning for all) Miss. Smiles-a-lot on webtoon if u see me lurking there ;)
I just watched a video about students getting their papers falsely flagged for using AI, even when they didn’t, and the advice was things like, “Leave in incorrect grammar,” “If you’re quoting something, don’t copy and paste it, type it out manually because it leaves a metadata trail that you used the copy/paste function and that's a flag,” “Write in the cloud so there’s a version history,” and the one that really got me, “if you find you write in a manner that can sounds too robotic or professional and it gets flagged, go to the writing center so a writing tutor can help you sound more humanly flawed,” and like what the actual fuck.
Like I get that is practical advice, but people should not have to fucking do that. They should not have to train themselves around not sounding like AI, when AI only sounds like that BECAUSE it was trained on them.
I spent so much of my life learning how to write, I shouldn't have to unlearn that because some computer algorithm learned from me.
shoutout to slow growers, late bloomers, people whose plans got derailed by circumstances beyond their control or their own choices, people who never had a plan to begin with, people who have had to start over when theyre too old to feel like theyre supposed to be where they are, people who cant pretend theyre built for the environment theyre in, and everyone who's not living the life they thought they would. im proud of you for making it this far and i hope you keep going until youre happy ♡
Fuck I made another one. Here’s a second part of Simon being a prick and working at a plant store (based on this post here)
(Also here’s the first part)
(Idk if I’ll make more)
————
Simon saw a lot of Colt for the first few weeks after meeting him initially. He came by a lot, telling him about his girlfriend (“We just made it official! I know, it’s a bit fast, but—” “I don’t care.”) and how everything was going. He would usually buy one flower now; a sunflower. Sometimes he’ll go for a smaller bouquet, but not as big as the first date one. He would call the store in the early morning when Simon wasn’t working to place an order, and then always pick it up when he arrived.
And he was a talker. Simon knew too much about this man’s relationship.
He sighs through his nose as he walks up to the shop now, having just dealt with a too long bus drive. He was lucky he always took the early bus to work. If he didn’t, he knew Elli would have his head for being late.
Colt was already there waiting for him.
He perks up from where he was leaning against the shop’s window. He smiles at him. “Hey, man! Wondering where you were.”
“You don’t need to wait for me,” Simon grunts as he walks past the man to open the door. “Elli is always working when I’m not.”
“Yeah, but she’s kinda scary.”
He scoffs. Understandable. He barely ever sees her outside of the two second window between his shift and hers, everything else is just a malicious, omnipresent email. He swears she’s always watching through the cameras to catch him slacking.
Even as soon as he enters the store, all he sees is the tail end of an arm and a leg before Elli books it out the back of the building to clock out and leave. Not even a hello, or at least a goodbye.
“Yeah, nice to see you too, El.” Simon grumbles as he heads to the back to shed off his jacket and throw on his work apron.
Colt is yammering away as he gets ready. “It’s going to be my one month soon with Jody! Can you believe that? I kept her interested for a whole month now! So I was thinking, ‘shit, I should get her something really special’! Then I thought about that movie, uh. Y’know…”
He’s waving his arm in the air with wide, circular motions when Simon walks back out, like he was scooping up something. He’s leaning heavily against the counter too. He wants to shoo him off of his space, but with what little he knew about the guy, one thing he did know was that he was always leaning against something. He said something about his knees always hurting and being too forgetful about putting on the braces.
Colt stops waving suddenly, palm open and arm stretched out to him. He’s looking at him with those tired blue eyes, brows raised expectedly.
Simon shrugs. “I don’t know movies.”
The man sags against the counter. “Ugh! You know it. If you’re alive and living in this century, you know what I’m talking about. The whole ‘lying naked in a bed of rose petals’ thing. I think she would find it funny and charming. Y’know, all the things I am.”
Simon wrinkles his nose in disgust. He knows too much about this couple.
“I don’t wanna hear about you guys having sex, man.”
Colt stands up straight now, clearing his throat. “Right, yeah. Too buddy-buddy. This is a strictly transactional relationship. I get that.”
He holds up his hands vertically and parallel with the sides of his head, chopping them forward in another odd gesture. He made a lot of odd gestures. He smiles after and crosses his arms over the counter, leaning forward on it again.
Simon sighs and goes to get his order. It’s roses, to his horror.
Colt takes the bundle of roses happily, paying for them quickly and going merrily on his way. He said a quick, “Thanks for your service, man, as always,” before he was out the door.
Simon didn’t know it at the time, but that was the last time he would see Colt for a while.
It’s weird. Even if Colt doesn’t come by every day for flowers, he comes by often enough, and stays around to talk while Simon gets his order ready. Maybe he would peruse the other options, some of the flora on the racks. He would always linger longer than needed when he came by, just to talk to Simon. He never asked questions about him, happy to just chat about his relationship and his job to a captive audience.
When a week went by without him coming in, Simon didn’t question it. He went about business as usual.
When two weeks went by, Simon started to wonder. Fleeting thoughts about if they broke up. He guessed the rose petal thing was a bit much. He didn’t really know. He’s not much of a relationship guy himself.
A month went by and Colt was still nowhere in sight.
Simon didn’t want to complain. Colt was always a bit of a bother to him. He talked too much about himself. Not really in an egocentric way, but just in a way that made it obvious he was trying to make conversation. He overshared a lot, mostly. Simon could never get him out fast enough.
Still, the shop was pretty slow. They didn’t get a lot of traffic in the evenings when he usually worked. The rare occasion he’d get someone, they wouldn’t make conversation. The most he would get is a small question or two before the customer would ultimately leave, either with or without a plant in hand. The rest of the time it was just a quick in and out from people coming in for their online pickups.
It could be a bit lonely, just him and the plants. Colt was bothersome, but at least he was captivating enough to drive away some of the boredom. He kind of missed having the noisy regular bothering him on days that just felt like they never would end.
It’s three months before he sees Colt again, and he’s…off.
Simon doesn’t look towards the door as the bells ring. He’s been busy propagating for a bit. The only thing that brings him out of it is when the customer passes by him in his peripheral.
He does a double take at what he sees.
Colt stands there, staring up at a hanging fern. He looks almost like a completely different person. The wavy bleached hair was cut just a bit shorter, fluffier and more of a natural dirty blonde. The leather jackets and baggy worn-in pants were replaced with a chunky knit sweater and cleaner skinny jeans. It looked like he had lost some weight, the large shoulders and clear muscle in his legs were slimmed down. And, most shocking of all, his nose was without a scar, left straighter—still a bit hooked—and glasses he had never seen before perked on the bridge instead.
Simon was staring. He knew he was. He just could not believe that it was Colt standing in front of him. It had to be some fucking clone, a phantom or something. Maybe he was seeing things again and needed to up his dose.
The Not-Colt notices his staring and glances over at him. He gave a smile, one that was so similar and familiar, but still not him.
“Hey,” he greets. Same voice, but not. Less of a growl to it. “Uh, sorry. I’m just looking. I won’t bug you, you can keep, uh, doing whatever you’re doing. Propagating.”
Simon keeps staring.
Not-Colt swallows and moves on from the ferns, turning away and heading to the shelves of cacti on the far wall.
Simon returns his tools to his apron, still keeping an eye on the eerie stranger. He heads over to the flower stand.
“Did you want your sunflowers?” He mumbles, more to himself than anything else, but still directed to Colt. Not-Colt.
The copy looks back at him. “What?”
Simon tries to stop staring, but he can’t. He feels his skin crawl a little at how different this was. It felt wrong.
“Sunflowers,” he repeats evenly enough for how freaked out he was inside. “For your girlfriend.”
All at once, Not-Colt stiffens and turns completely red. He laughs, strangled and awkward. “Oh, no, no. That’s not why I came in. I, um, I don’t have a girlfriend. Or anyone. I was actually just—I was just looking, y’know? Like, just…”
He makes a circular motion with his wrist and hand, just like he was scooping up something.
“Plants? I guess?” He ends off lamely.
Simon stares at him.
“Are you good, man?” He blurts out.
“What—um,” Not-Colt stutters. The blinks a couple times. “I mean…yeah? I don’t—I don’t know why you ask? Am I being weird?”
“Yes.” Simon answers bluntly. “You’re being fucking weird.”
“Oh…” Not-Colt shifts on his feet. Then, he clears his throat and throws a thumb over his shoulder—at the racks and wall behind him. “Okay, well, I think I caught you at a bad time so…I’ll just go, I guess. Sorry.”
Simon watches as the man distinctively not Colt at all practically trips over his feet getting out of the store. The door slams with a loud ringing of the bells as he leaves.
It wasn’t until later that night as he locks the doors, did Simon remember that fucking twins existed. He was a fucking moron.
Happy pride to black trans people in particular I know it can be tough out here with how often the image of what and who counts as always seems to never consider us
I was feeling agitated and artblocked yesterday so I decided to give my brain a rest by watching TV and then the next thing I knew these were in front of me
blakekathryn
andulkaphoto
ellievsbear
vaporwave
romaincrisis
gummygunk
snowghoul
