i don’t know how many people on tumblr know about “verticals” - they’re cheaply made soap operas that are filmed vertically so you can watch them on your phone. they’re infamous in the acting world because of the poor writing and nonsensical plots - almost always has something to do with a mafia boss or a vampire or a werewolf - and they always have insane titles like “pregnant with the ceo’s baby” or “forced to marry the alpha king.” i come across tons of them on casting websites and they all have wild titles and descriptions but none of them, None of Them, have truly grabbed me like the title i saw today:
i dont consider myself a 'fashion guru' by any means but one thing i will say is guys you dont need to know the specific brand an item you like is - you need to know what the item is called. very rarely does a brand matter, but knowing that pair of pants is called 'cargo' vs 'boot cut' or the names of dress styles is going to help you find clothes you like WAAAYYYY faster than brand shopping
this also goes for aesthetic or -core titles. 'y2k tank top' is going to get you resellers and fast fashion brands advertising to people looking to meet a current trend. 'thin strap crop tank top' is going to get you a diverse group of results and not upcharge you to hell and back
additionally, shop second hand when you can, second hand and thrift sites typically organize clothes by the cut and color. theyll be more affordable than a depop seller curating you a style to sell you
here are more terms! these are all from enérie. it is a really good blog that has lots of fashion terminology and it's a good mix of menswear and womenswear! they also have a book as well compiling all their diagrams. you could also look into getting a visual fashion dictionary for terms as well!
Summary: You and Dean never crossed path until tonight
Pairing: Dean Di Laurentis x Female Reader
Warnings: one cursed word
One Shot
You’ve always struggled to find your place in social circles growing up. No matter where you went, you never truly felt like you fit in. Your social battery was unpredictable—sometimes you could handle people just fine, other times it drained you completely—even though you managed to make a few friends over the years.
“Finally, we’re playing a game,” Hannah says, sounding more like herself again.
You still can’t believe she convinced you to come to this frat party tonight. You weren’t in the mood for a party at all.
You sigh and roll your eyes. “I don’t play games.” You’d never really been into them unless it was UNO or Twister, and that was about it.
“Well, tonight’s the night,” Grace said, practically buzzing with excitement. “We’re playing spin the bottle and kiss, but there’s a twist—we have to answer questions. And if you refuse, you have to kiss someone you’ve secretly had a crush on.”
You gave her a confused look. “A what?” you asked, wanting her to repeat it just to make sure you’d heard her right.
Grace clapped her hands together. “Everyone, sit in a circle.”
Boys and girls sat around the circle for the game. A part of you forgot how many people were here at this frat party until you looked around.
One by one each person went playing the game. You didn’t know what to expect from this game even though you was not going to back out now.
“Oh, it looks like it’s your turn, Dean,” Hannah says excitedly.
You quietly scoff but don’t say a word. You couldn’t stand Dean, even though he was one of the most popular guys on campus alongside Graham and Logan. You never understood why girls liked him so much, especially when he never settled down with any of them.
He clears his throat, glancing around the living room at every girl for a moment. “Alright, let’s see who it’ll be.” He reaches down and spins the bottle across the floor.
The bottle keeps spinning and spinning until it finally slows to a stop, landing directly on you.
“Oh shit,” Grace whispers in your ear.
You didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, hoping this had to be some kind of joke.
Dean’s gaze stayed fixed on you. “Guess today’s finally my lucky day.” He stepped closer, his fingers brushing softly against your cheek. “I’ve been waiting for this moment.”
For a second, you froze, completely caught off guard. You thought about pulling away, but before you could, his lips were already on yours. Instinctively, you kissed him back, teasing his bottom lip between your teeth before pulling away too quickly.
His eyes dropped to your lips, then slowly lifted back to your face. “Fuck… way better than I imagined.”
You rolled your eyes and pushed yourself up from the floor. “Well, I should probably head back to my dorm.” Grabbing your jacket off the couch, you hurried toward the door.
You weren’t really in the mood to say goodbye to anyone.
“Hey, wait!” a voice called just as you reached the last stair.
You turned to see Dean jogging down after you before stopping right in front of you. “Hm?”
“That’s it?” he asked.
You sighed. “It was just a kiss,” you reminded him.
He let out a nervous laugh. “Yeah, but I’ve been wanting to get to know you for a while now.”
“A while?” You lifted a brow. “You don’t even know me.”
He cleared his throat. “No, but I notice you between classes… and at that café you go to sometimes.”
You nodded slowly. “Uh-huh.” Truthfully, you’d barely noticed Dean existed until tonight.
“I just think we should get to know each other,” he said, his tone serious.
“Uh, don’t you have some puck bunny to keep you company tonight?” There was no way you were about to look foolish hanging around him.
He shook his head. “Yeah, but I can—”
“No thanks,” you cut in before he could finish. “I don’t date, and you’re not really my type.” It was only half a lie.
“Not your—” He stopped himself, then tried again. “Can we at least be friends?”
You slipped your jacket over your shoulders. “Goodnight, Dean.”
Without another glance back, you turned and headed straight for the bus stop.
Strange racists and homophobes on the internet seem to have access to an alternate way cooler version of TV than me. "every white character on TV is in an interracial relationship" "every show has a gay couple in it" "main characters keep having to secretly be bisexual and nonbinary" "every show has gratuitous full frontal nudity" like damn promise?? What channel???
random PSA, I know a lot of people use duckduckgo as a Google alternative search engine, but it always kind of annoyed me when I was using it because it felt like No Name Brand Google
I have switched to using Startpage.com and vastly prefer it. for one thing, instead of displaying an "AI summary" at the top of the search results (unless you turn it off, yes I know), it displays the first paragraph of the Wikipedia article, with link, whenever it finds one that's relevant.
also a waaayyyyy better sense of design than duckduckgo
also private, European based, least annoying search I've used lately (RIP old "don't be evil" Google)
i have one of those, scraped from multiple different rec posts:
Search Engines
Infinity Search is an alternative search engine with a special focus on privacy
DuckDuckGo is a popular search engine for those who value their privacy and are put off by the thought of their every query being tracked and logged. Uses bangs, ![site] for in-page search (sells your data to microsoft and draws from fucking bing)
WolframAlpha is a privately owned search engine that allows you to “compute expert-level answers using Wolfram’s breakthrough algorithms, knowledgebase, and AI technology.” A data search engine.
Boardreader is a search engine for forums and message boards. It allows you to search forums and then filter down results by date and language.
Based in France, Qwant is a privacy-based search engine that won’t record your searches or use your personal details for advertising. Uses “&” as a bang search.
Another privacy-based search engine is Search Encrypt, which uses local encryption to ensure that users’ identifiable information cannot be tracked. Metasearch across multiple engines.
Offering unbiased results from several sources, SearX is a metasearch engine that aims to present a free, decentralized view of the internet. Can be self-hosted.
Gibiru’s tagline is “Unfiltered private search” and that’s exactly what it offers. Requires AnonymoX Firefox add-on for privacy.
Disconnect allows you to conduct anonymous searches through a search engine of your choice.
Swisscows provides fully encrypted searches to protect your privacy and security. Built-in violence/porn filter cannot be overridden.
MetaGer offers “Privacy Protected Search & Find” through its anonymised search. A plugin will allow it to be made a default.
Gigablast is a private search engine that indexes millions of websites and servers real-time information without tracking your data, keeping you hidden from marketers and spammers. Variety of filtration and refinement options for searching.
Oscobo is a search engine that protects your privacy while you search the web. By not using any third-party tools or scripts, your data is protected from hacking and misuse. Has a Chrome extension to allow use in toolbar.
https://search.marginalia.nu/ an independent DIY search engine that focuses on non-commercial content, and attempts to show you sites you perhaps weren't aware of in favor of the sort of sites you probably already knew existed. Use old-school searching rather than query-based for the best results.
https://www.mojeek.com/
https://wiby.me/ - It’s goal is to index as many personalized websites as possible, and NOT commercial sites.
https://4get.ca/ it works a lot like SearX, but honestly better. It doesn’t have its own index, but pulls from many others. I think it’s the best for research, since it allows you to search for answers from different indexes, is easy to configure, add free, and avoids censorship as much as it can.
https://www.searchenginemap.com/ for more on how search engines relate to each other.
https://yep.com/ is a crawler
https://www.etools.ch/ retrieves from Google, Mojeek, Bing, and Yandex, like Searx
https://www.dogpile.com/
https://searxng.org/ (next gen Searx)
https://luxxle.com/ - possibly conservative?
https://presearch.com/ - good for academic?
https://kagi.com/smallweb - free/randomised Kagi.
Other Searchers
www.refseek.com - Academic Resource Search. More than a billion sources: encyclopedia, monographies, magazines.
www.worldcat.org - a search for the contents of 20 thousand worldwide libraries. Find out where lies the nearest rare book you need.
https://link.springer.com - access to more than 10 million scientific documents: books, articles, research protocols.
www.bioline.org.br is a library of scientific bioscience journals published in developing countries.
http://repec.org - volunteers from 102 countries have collected almost 4 million publications on economics and related science.
www.science.gov is an American state search engine on 2200+ scientific sites. More than 200 million articles are indexed.
www.base-search.net is one of the most powerful researches on academic studies texts. More than 100 million scientific documents, 70% of them are free.https://cosine.club/ is an electronic music similarity search engine
My favorite lawsplainer has switched to Kagi.com - the paid version is $108/year, and he just uses it for everything now, instead of Google or any of the other search engines.
It's free to try; you get something like 50 free searches/month, and maybe another 50 if you create a free account. That's enough to sort out if it's worth paying for.
The line crackles in your ear before his voice comes through, rough and familiar.
“Baby.”
You smile into your pillow. “You sound out of breath.”
“I’m running across rooftops in six layers of body armor. What gave it away?”
Somewhere in the background, you hear wind rushing past the receiver and the distant wail of sirens. “You could just say you missed me.”
“I do miss you,” Jason says immediately, easy and honest in the way he only is with you. Then, after a beat: “Hold on.”
A muffled thud. Someone yells. Jason curses sharply. “Jase?”
“I’m good,” he says, breathing harder now. “Some idiot thought he could pull a knife on me.”
“You know, most boyfriends send goodnight texts or calls when they’re in bed.”
“Most boyfriends aren’t actively fighting crime in Crime Alley.”
You laugh quietly, rolling onto your back. “True.”
He hums and you can practically picture the grin under the helmet. “You still awake because you were waiting for me to call?”
“Maybe.”
“That’s cute.”
“Don’t start.”
“No, no,” he says. “I’m being serious. It’s adorable. Makes me feel loved.”
“You are loved.”
Silence. Not empty silence. The kind that settles warm between two people who know each other by heart. Then softer, almost lost beneath the sound of his footsteps:
“Yeah. I know.”
“Jason.”
“What?”
“Why does it sound like you’re in a tunnel?”
“I am in a tunnel.”
You sit upright immediately. “Why are you in a tunnel?”
“Tracking a weapons shipment.”
“Alone?”
He pauses.
“…Maybe.”
“Jason Peter Todd.”
“Oh, wow. Full government name. I’m terrified.”
“You should be.”
You hear him laugh under his breath, and then the metallic clatter of something being climbed. “You know,” he says, “normal couples talk about their days.”
“We are talking about your day.”
“My day usually includes armed robbery.”
“Your life choices are exhausting.”
“And yet,” he says warmly, “you stay.”
Before you can answer, voices echo faintly through the phone. Jason’s tone changes instantly. Sharper. Colder.
“Hang on.”
You hear movement. Fast footsteps. A crash. Some muffled arguing. Another crash. The line goes fuzzy for three seconds and your stomach drops.
“Jason?”
Nothing.
“Jason!”
A hiss of static. Then, breathless laughter.
“You should hear the way you say my name.”
You nearly choke. “Are you insane?”
“Clinically? Probably.”
“You disappeared!”
“I dropped the phone.”
“You dropped me into cardiac arrest.”
“Aw,” he says. “You worried about me?”
“You literally got murdered once.”
“Fair point.”
It’s almost three in the morning when your phone buzzes with a phone call from Jason.
You answer sleepily. “Hi.”
“Did I wake you?”
“You called me. Guess.”
“Yeah, but you sound all soft.” He pauses. “Cute soft.”
“You’re obsessed with calling me cute.”
“You’re obsessed with being cute tonight.”
You hear his motorcycle engine rumbling low beneath his voice.
“Headed back to the manor?” you ask.
“Eventually.”
“That means no.”
“That means I’m thinking.”
“Dangerous.”
The engine revs louder for a moment before easing again.
Then you hear a quiet “You ever think about leaving?”
Your chest tightens. “Leaving Gotham?”
“Leaving me.” He exhales slowly.
There it is. The fear he buries under sarcasm and bullets and bruised knuckles. You sit up fully now, voice gentler.
“No.”
“You answered that way too fast.”
“Because I didn’t need to think about it.”
Silence again. You imagine him stopped at a red light somewhere in the city, helmet tipped down, eyes closed.
“I’m serious,” he says eventually. “You deserve normal.”
“Jason, I fell in love with you, not normal.”
a/n: its my birthday!! so we're all gonna enjoy some jason
Jason’s just gotten off patrol. As soon as he enters the apartment, he sees his moping girlfriend—snuggled in a fluffy pink robe, paired with a warm mug of tea. Her favourite soap opera is playing on the TV and she’s wearing her signature pout that has him biting back his amusement.
“What’s wrong, baby?” Jason pretends to ask, entertaining her daily drama. He pretends as if nothing is ever wrong, as if she doesn’t complain at every chance. And he pretends he doesn’t love to listen when it’s secretly his favourite thing to do.
“Everything, Jay! Everything’s wrong.”
“Tell me about it.”
Picking her up to straddle his lap, he tucks a loose strand of hair behind her ear. Jason hums contently like he’s paying attention when he’s really just enjoying gawking at his pretty doll huff and puff, a ‘serious’ knit on her face.
Tilting his head, Jason then continues to hide his grin as she begins to rant, telling him about her terrible day and all the people who did her wrong.
“First, the barista messed up my drink,” she frowns. “He gave me two pumps of caramel instead of one.”
“When I got to work, Lisa was being such a bitch. She told me my hair actually looks so good today, but they look great every day!”
“Then, then Jay, that’s not even the worst part!” Looking even more upset, she whines, “my parcel said its delivered, but when I came home, it wasn’t by the door!”
And of course, like the caring, dutiful boyfriend that he is, Jason plays the part of comforting her. He brushes a brisk kiss on her temple, thumb caressing at pink cheeks. “Oh no, my poor baby.”
It’s not like he means to sound condescending, but luckily, all ditzy and moody, she doesn’t notice.
Jason can’t help but find it a teensy bit ridiculous that whilst he’s busy beating drug lords and delinquents to a pulp, his girl has the privilege of sulking over a wrong coffee order.
In a way, it’s almost refreshing. Though mostly comical.
Yet, like always, Jason’s hands wander beneath her smooth robe and silken nightdress to find even softer skin. He flashes her a criminal smirk with a suggestive glint in his eyes.
“Let me help you feel better, yeah?”
“Have had such a bad day, lemme show you how you deserve to be spoiled.”
Despite her irrational moans and bad case of princess fever, Jason is sure to indulge his girl like no one else does.
He loves her just the way she is.
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