#and like. failing miserably because he refuses to take orders from anyone

[kooki914]

*Slides in* Hi, it’s I, the mighty incorrect quoter

~~~~

Asgore: What are you in the mood for?

Spade: World domination.

Asgore: That's a bit ambitious.

Spade: You are my world.

Asgore: Aww...

Spade:

Asgore:

Spade:

Asgore: OH.

—

Asgore: I want to wake up with you every day for the rest of our lives.

Spade: I wake up at 4:30 AM every day to train.

Asgore: I want to see you at some point every day for the rest of our lives.

—

Spade: Valentine’s day is just a consumerist holiday that holds no real value other than drive people insane buying heart shaped chocolates for their significant others and pos-

Asgore: I wrote you a poem.

Spade, already crying: You did?

—

Spade: There are 20 letters in the alphabet, right?

Asgore: Nope, there's 26.

Spade: Ah, I must have forgotten U, R, A, Q, T.

Asgore: Aww, that's cute, but you're still missing one.

Spade: You'll get the D later ;).

Asgore: 😳

—

Spade: Asgore, you love me, right?

Asgore: Normally I’d say yes without hesitation, but I feel like this is going somewhere I won’t like.

—

Spade: I hate you.

Asgore: Well, according to this picture I drew of us holding hands, that is untrue.

—

Spade: As top in this relationship, I think we should-

Asgore: I can't believe you're pulling rank on me.

—

Spade: Listen, in the wild wild west there is always a woman in the saloon and nobody messes with her even though they all have guns.

Asgore: That's because she's a prostitute.

—

Asgore: *banging a pen on the table out of frustration*

Spade: Stop that. How would YOU feel if I banged you on the table?

Asgore: I—

Asgore: I don’t know the correct answer to that question.

—

These gave me a lot of inspiration, get ready for the saga of "They're both switches but Spade is in denial about it"

[mrsdarkandyandere7]

❤ Yandere Lawyer ❤

▶ This is a yandere/dark work and it may contain triggering content so please READ THE WARNINGS before. Do not read if minor.

More at Masterlist

Female reader

WARNINGS: Obsession; Misogyny; slight Power Abuse.

This idea credit goes to @d-lioncourt cause she's the one that motivated me for this idea. Hope you like this :)

--

◾ Yandere! Lawyer who works in the top law firm of the country. He’s cold, determinate and calculative. Always thinking 10 steps ahead of everyone, carefully considering all possibilities and creating extensive back-up plans. 

His job relies on his capacities and he always aims for the top. If he’s not recognized as the best lawyer available, then he doesn’t even know what he’s been doing so far. 

◾ Yandere! Lawyer who doesn't care about how things are done as long as he wins the case in the end. Who said lawyers are saints?

He may be an advocate of the law but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t bend it to his will, finding sneaky gaps to reach his goal: win. 

Isn’t that what makes him such a requested lawyer? Isn’t that what causes every big corporate company to try to sign him up, to offer several millions for him to represent them in court? Because everyone knows that he wins.

No matter what happens during the trials or how badly the opposite side tries, he wins. It’s an irrefutable truth and anyone that tries to contradict it is a complete and utter fool. 

◾ Yandere! Lawyer who is upset enough when he’s informed that he’s gonna have to take a Pro Bono case for a random civilian. It’s frustrating to spend his precious time and expensive resources on a worthless someone.

It’s stupid and he'd immediately refuse it if it wasn’t for the strict order he receives from the higher ups.  

◾ Yandere! Lawyer who rattles you up, insisting on long sessions so he can know your side of the story.

His questions feel like accusations and you hate spending long hours answering him. Makes you feel like you’ve actually committed a crime of sorts when the reality is none of that. 

He knows you’re bothered by the way he pays attention to each of your words, taking mental notes of every minuscule detail so he can bring it up later.

He’s highly aware of how unnerving he can get and it’s fun to see you get so quiet and shy over it. 

He loves it when people get intimidated by him and it’s particularly pleasant when a pretty thing like yourself gets too timid to spare him a few words. 

◾ Yandere! Lawyer who drags the case much longer than it needs to. He could definitely end it in a blink of eyes, it would be so easy for him. A piece of cake. 

But he doesn’t. 

It’s exciting to see you on court, a helpless expression covering your whole face and your eyes at the verge of tears as your future lays on his hands.  

So pathetically weak. You can’t even defend yourself, you need him to do that for you. To defend your honor, to protect you. 

◾ Yandere! Lawyer who makes sure you know that despite it being a Pro Bono case, you owe him. He wants you to know that he’s winning this case for you, wasting his valuable time just to save your pathetic ass from those embezzlement charges. 

That he’s the one saving you from going to prison - despite the very evident fact that you have such a weak personality that it’s practically impossible that you’d steal money from your boss. 

◾ Yandere! Lawyer who takes every chance to hurt your feelings with snide remarks.

You look prettier when you cry, something so enticing about those shiny diamond-like tears that glow in your eyes and the miserable way you furiously blink to keep them at bay - to which you fail. 

You’re crying because of him. That’s enough to make him buzz with a twisted sense of possession and control. He holds that much power over you. 

◾ Yandere! Lawyer whose mind wanders over the tempting fantasies of returning home to you. You’d do a submissive girlfriend, he’s so sure of that. If he gave you a nasty slap and a few harsh words, you’d bend to his will so fast - like a obedient girlfriend should. 

It would be so easy to control your life.

Order you to move in with him. Command you to become his stay-at-home girlfriend. Push you to cut off friends and family until only he remains. 

Those misogynistic ideas keep him thinking about you longer than he should. 

◾ Yandere! Lawyer who isn’t afraid to act upon his wishes and so he does. After a triumphing win on court, he leaves.

Storms off without even looking at you and you don’t even have the chance to thank him, but you forget about that quickly. 

You have more pressing issues to focus on, such as rebuilding your life all again. Celebrate your win. Find a new job. Move on with your life the best as you can. 

Your peace lasts exactly one week. And then everything comes down in rubbles.

Because then he comes to retrieve his payment. 

[casteliacityramen]

Arceus on a fucking pogo stick I think I broke one of my ribs.

Every tiny movement threatens to elicit a hiss or a groan. Every breath threatens to turn into a string of pained coughs. He grasps the counter and flexes his hands in an attempt to wrench his attention away from the bruises all over his shoulders and torso. All it does is make him realize how much effort it takes to ball his hands into a fist.

He doesn't have any right to complain. He purposely went out of his way to be here because he didn't want any of his friends or family to see him like this. The thought of anyone coddling or worrying over him made his stomach churn; better to go somewhere where he doesn't matter. That sort of discomfort is the last thing he wants after a day like today.

The ramen stand seemed like the closest thing to nobodies to him, he thought coldly to himself when he sat down a couple seconds ago.

Although, judging from the concern he can feel emanating from the two stand employees, it seems like he's the only one who feels that way...

|| Previous Post || Jack's Fight || The Story So Far ||

He feels like his skin is going to crawl off his body in a desperate attempt to be anywhere but here. This kind of attention is the very thing he was trying so desperately to avoid. It's the kind of concerned look they were giving him, like he's something to be pitied--like they have something figured out and feel bad that he doesn't get it. The kind of look his mom and dad have given him every night for the past four years.

Stop looking at me.

Rio turns to the street and Ray towards the inner workings of the stand. For a split second, he thinks that maybe he grew some psychic powers. But he knows that it was most likely the nasty look he gave them. He probably looks miserable, he thinks to himself. He is.

“This was a dumb idea,” Jack mutters under his pained breath. When he was aimlessly walking around, at least the world had the decency to let him wallow in his misery alone. His hands stiffen on the counter to push himself up. Instead, the rest of his body refuses to budge. 

A look of confusion washes over his face before he deadpans. His exhaustion is keeping him from getting up, but it's hunger that's keeping him anchored to the stool. 

‘Right. I need to eat,’ Jack thinks dumbly to himself.

As he’s making that underwhelming realization, he watches Ray turn and walk towards him--the same kind of walk an adult makes towards a child who knows that he’s in trouble. Those deliberate steps towards him activates Jack’s fight-or-flight response and he shrinks, suddenly feeling self conscious. 

Jack's usual order of miso soup is set in front of him. It’s the same one he gets almost every night.

He’s wearing that same expression he always does. 

Jack realizes he's staring. He breaks eye contact, letting his hood act as a barrier between the two of them. Oddly enough, he feels more vulnerable here than he did in the fight earlier.

His eyes shift slightly side to side, a million thoughts racing through his head as he watches the soup's broth clouding over the tofu. 

Why are you giving this to me, you knew I stole from you, right? Did Rio tell you anything? What did my mom tell her? Aren’t you going to tell me off or something?

He involuntarily cups the bowl close to his chest as if it's the only thing that's keeping his heart beating. Then, he raises his eyes upwards in realization that this is the first time he's seen him today. He never apologized to the one person he actually wanted to say "sorry" to.

“I’m sorry I stole your tips. That was shhhuh-sshtupid,” Jack croaks involuntarily, grimacing how he ungracefully failed to decide between "shitty" or "stupid.” Both words felt inappropriate for different reasons, but his mouth was always faster than his thoughts and the words unceremoniously flop out like a half-eaten fish.

When Jack looks up to see if Ray is still staring at him, he lets out a held breath in relief when he sees Ray’s back instead of those weird, unflinching frog eyes that seemed to look through him rather than at him.

But, as if he’s being punished for his thoughts today, Ray turns, his head looking over his shoulder and stops working for a moment to look at him with those same eyes he just complained about. I mean, come on…

… But Ray nods, gives him the slightest indication of a smile, and goes back to work.

Everything he doesn’t need to chew goes down the hatch, even if it threatens to scald the back of his throat. When he’s back upright, he chews all of the bowl's tofu and seaweed with the grace of a drunken miltank. He lets out a sigh of content through his nose, but it's still a bit clogged from his fight so it comes out sounding like a half-hearted whistle.

Jack's notices Rio from the corner of his eye. She's peering at him with a side glance and the corner of her mouth tugs upwards. She lets out a quiet “heh” before she curls back into a ball, facing away to avoid the sour face he's definitely making at her. His face heats up in embarrassment, but he places the bowl down, satisfied, still holding onto the cup for its lingering warmth.

Now that his body is no longer screaming the words "I'm hungry," and "Arceus on a fucking pogo stick I think I broke one of my ribs," Jack groans as a new wave of thoughts bulldoze him. He's eaten, but now what?

He can check into the pokecenter so he can hide every fractured bone, every cut, and every bruise. But the pokecenter never takes away the soreness. His mom has been around long enough to know the lingering smell of a pokecenter's healing kiosks. When she finds out (with the luck he's had tonight, she will), his dad's going to find out.

It's not fair. How come she gets the right to get on his case when she never shares anything to begin with? He sees the way she drags herself around the apartment, obviously weighed by problems that plague every moment she's awake.

She keeps all her problems to herself, but the worst part of it all is that she thinks she's getting away with it. How come he's not allowed to let her worry when every other day she's whispering to his dad about how many people got hurt at work that day? About how money is getting tight? About how dad's not feeling well and it's worrying her? It's infantilizing.

He pauses, stopping mid breath as he shakes his head. It's not like he's any better. He hasn't told her any of the heavy things weighing on his mind for the past four years.

In fact, he's the one adding more to her plate as if she wasn't busting her ass to give him and dad a decent life and he's off doing petty shit like picking fights and pockets to feel something that wasn't-loathing and disappointment for himself for letting his best friend get hurt beyond repair and-

Jack shuts his eyes and inhales sharply, using the pain in his sides to get his brain to shut up. His mind never does him any favors when the city falls asleep before he does. He can spiral after he limps to the pokecenter and heads home. It's time to get out of here. The least he can do is pay for the miso soup-

Jack's mind goes blank for a second. Another second later, his body wrenches control again over his thoughts, letting him know that a bowl of miso soup wasn't enough. He needs to eat this thing right now. But... it can't be his. This has to be a mistake, right?

He slowly looks up at Ray, who is taking his time, but adjusting his body so that he can say:

Jack processes three things as he involuntarily takes the bowl and brings it towards him.

First: the last time he remembers hearing Ray talk was when Tai was running the stand, back before life got tougher. 

Second: Ray's voice was so soft and scratchy that he could just barely understand him.

Third: ...

Jack's hands weakly fall to the counter, blinking as he puts two and two together. It’s his favorite order. He knows who that "someone" is.

Goddammit.

After some short changes to the menu, the stand will open for a short time. Give them a moment. It's been a long day, after all.

|| Ayumi's Payment || Pinned Post ||

[mapofthemazeinthemirror]

𝐁𝐚𝐝 𝐀𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐬 - 𝐊𝐚𝐧𝐠 𝐓𝐚𝐞𝐡𝐲𝐮𝐧 ☁️

This is the outline for a fic that's been decaying in my docs since November. Hopefully I will write it eventually because the idea is still so vivid in my head! Let me know what you think? 😚 (I wanted to post something productive because I feel like I haven't posted anything substantial of writing for so long)

Taehyun is an agent of Cupid. He does not particularly enjoy his job, but since it is a role that one is chosen for, it's not a job he can leave. It's not that he's cynical, he just... okay, okay, he's a cynic. Taehyun definitely shares some differences with his co-workers; he doesn't feel any of the excitement the rest of them show when the chimes sound, signalling that two soulmates have found each other; he's far from bubbly, forgoing any small talk to get his job done so he can get out of there as fast as he can; and he wouldn't be caught dead with his wings on display, keeping them tucked under his shoulder blades, even if it means having to show his ID at the door every morning. Many a time has he marched himself into the office of the higher-ups and asked them to check that there wasn't some mix-up, that they had gotten his name right, but the answer was always the same. Fate is as fate does.

One day, a file passes over his desk that makes him laugh. This is a case where every relationship has failed, and Cupid himself has marked it as urgent for matching, as this person clearly can not find anyone right for them in the slightest. He tracks you down, finding you on a busy street, which is a time saver for Taehyun, because he can take his pick of any person in the vicinity, shoot, and his job is done. Except, it's not that easy, because as soon as you see him knocking his arrow and declaring your name, you start to refuse, stirring up quite a scene. Taehyun is more annoyed, because this task is taking longer than it should, so he turns and lets his arrow fly towards the first sucker his eyes land on. And though the target—Choi Beomgyu, who was planning on being an eternal bachelor, you learn later—tries to run, Cupid's arrow never misses.

Now he has two unhappy clients, and you both take up complaints with the Order, leading to an investigation into his work performance and uncovering his less than ethical matchmaking methods. See, he hasn't really been going to the lengths of research that he's supposed to—looking into both individual's backgrounds, interests and preferences, life aspirations—he's more of a point and shoot kind of guy. Turns out most of the couples he sticks together are miserable.

The only way out of this mess for Taehyun? For his latest match to be a true one. In short, you and Beomgyu have to fall in love.

[kaleidoscopiccc]

more headcannons to add to the pile:

ocean is the only member of the choir that doesnt have her ears pierced because shes scared to death of needles

mischa is banned from the only wafflehouse in uranium for reasons he refuses to explain

noel and ocean made a pact in like middle school to get married if neither of them were married by the age of 30

neither mischa nor ricky are allowed on aux under any circumstances because theyll play nothing but badegg and undertale fan songs respectively

mischa walks around in a t-shirt and shorts in the middle of canadian winter, hes just immune to the cold for some reason

ocean sorts all her stationary in rainbow order, she will explode if they get messed up

noel and ocean get into arguments about the best taylor swift albums constantly during choir

ocean is a lover and fearless stan for life an noels favorite is reputation

constance doesnt even try to make her case for speak now

one time she did and both of them turned to her in sync, yelled "no!", and went back to fighting

penny casually brings up her trauma in the middle of conversions and proceeds to leave the rest of the choir speechless (“oh yeah like that one time i got my entire family and friends arrested in a police raid on our drug commune” “the WHAT”)

ocean has a bunch of sapphic romance books hidden under her bed even though literally no one but her goes in her room

noel was a theatre kid but was banned from all school performances after the nativity incident so he started taking art instead

constance is the same height as (if not a little shorter than) ocean but always wears platforms so ocean ends up being the shortest either way

“100% of people who have sex as teens die, you don't want to die do you?” -ocean oconnell rosenberg, 2009

everyone in the choir needs glasses just to varying degrees most of them just dont wear them for reasons ranging from "yeah thats understandable" to "WHAT THE FUCK RICKY

penny hates pants with all her heart and will only wear shorts or skirts no matter how cold it is outside

constance hates pants almost as much and will wear shorts all the way up to like december

mischa refuses to close any of the apps or tabs on his phone and it literally dies quicker than he did

ocean loves cats but cats hate her, if they dont kill her from allergies, theyll start scratching the shit out of her (she cant be within 500 ft of the potts household without dying on the spot)

noel literally had to lock penny and ocean in the choir room together for them to confess to each other

it took them 2 hours

the others were just outside playing cards the whole time

mischa taught ricky poker during those 2 hours and ricky absolutely wrecked him every single round

mischa rage quit after the 5th time he lost in a row

the piano in the st cassian music room (/choir practice room) has been horrendously out of tune for longer than anyone can remember and no one bothers to fix it (ocean tried once but failed miserably and probably just made it worse)

[ludoka]

On Sunday I watched the movie "The Dragon Pearl" with my mom and it has this scene where they open a secret passage with light reflected on a gem:

Which reminded me that in The Avatar: the Last Airbender the firebenders and sun warriors use a similar mechanism:

So I was thinking... What if Pandora was a key?

Let's imagine that the original legend spoke of a powerful Wizard who amazed people with his magic. He also helped people with it. There were thousands of rumors about said Wizard, but the one that resonated the most was that of his eternal youth. The man always looked young for his age, which led people to believe that he was immortal. Many, guided by these theories, turned to him in search of eternal youth. The Wizard always refused to tell his secret, until the people's insistence made him give in. He told them that it was thanks to magical waters. Thus, the magician allowed only a select group of people to have access to those waters. This caused quite a stir. Many people begged and demanded that the Wizard allow them free access to the waters. Some even went so far as to commit violent acts in order to scare and extort the Wizard. These damning acts provoked his anger. It is said that using his magic, he enclosed the power of the waters in a gem and hid it from the world. This did nothing to stop people. But rather the opposite. They called him selfish and persecuted him to reveal the location of the gem. He never told them. And to teach them a lesson, he cursed all the citizens and then disappeared. He never told anyone about the gem that was named Pandora. So it was lost, forever.

This is a fantastic story created from rumors, misunderstandings, superstitions and ignorance.

The real story is that the "Great Wizard" was actually an inventor who scammed people by pretending to do real magic.

The "magic waters" are actually hot springs. The guy found a couple of ponds hidden in a cave and kept the secret to himself. Just because he liked to enjoy them in his privacy.

When rumors started and people started asking, he decided to take advantage of this situation. He invented the story of magic water and allowed only people who paid him a lot to enter the cave. Some of these people were not trustworthy and began to lead others into the waters. They also scammed people to get them there. When the inventor realized this, he decided to hide the place.

He sealed the cave with an intricate lock that could only be found with a gem.

When people found out about all this they began to harass the Inventor. Out of spite, the man hid the gem and left.

Pandora has two functions:

First: It works as a map. Inside it has an old map that indicates the place where the hot springs are. This map is only seen when you put the gem in the light.

The second: It works as a key. The gem has to be placed in a specific place and must be illuminated with the light of the Moon. The reflection of light touches the lock and opens it.

Magic may exist in the world of MK. But the greatest attraction, in my opinion, that manga has is the ingenuity and the artifacts they use to create the illusions. So I like that Pandora follows this resource. It's fun and interesting.

It is also interesting to imagine how they find the gem. Maybe Kaito asks Akako (in a way that tries to be subtle but fails miserably) if she has ever heard of said gem. She would tell him no, she knows of the existence of many other magical gadgets that can work in a similar way but she has never heard of Pandora. Which would make sense, since Pandora is not a magical item. It's a scientific invention (or something like that). So the Witches never heard of her.

I am in favor of Hakuba being the one who finds out about the real existence of the gem or knows its location. Only he doesn't know his real function. How, his family owns this really ancient gem that has a very fanciful legend. But he notices the details about the moon and the light in the gem and questions if that's not what KID is looking for. Which begs the question "Why would Kuroba want that specific gem?" "Did he really believe in the magic he supposedly possesses?" "Or is there something else you're not seeing?" All of these questions end up with him keeping an eye on Kaito and trying to discern why that gem. Which bothers Kaito because he feels their gazes even more insistent and annoying.

I don't know, it's fun.

[windor-truffle]

soooo I'm in the final dungeon of the main arc now 😅😅😅 sorry for not posting for so much of the story, hopefully I can come back and explain my many thoughts about it later, albeit very out-of-order. But I've always loved the endgame, so here's my very biased thoughts on a few of the skits at least:

ajskdsjf great question. I'm just gonna let Asbel pitch my long fic for me from now on 😅

On that point though, this is just further proof of that recurring character trait in which Asbel doubts his own virtues (probably because he "doesn't know [his] own feelings very well"). The backstory skit prior to this really drives this home:

Even I, an angst-loving fanfic author writing this exact premise, didn't have him go that far, though like Asbel I can't say with complete certainty that no possible universe could exist where this happens— extreme degrees of isolation, manipulation, and insanity could maybe get him to that point. But from my own fanfic take on his character, which I try to draw from canon evidence as much as possible, Asbel doesn't reach the "i wanna destroy the world" level simply because he's NOT like Richard, or Lambda for that matter— he's actually quite opposite from them as their foil.

Asbel's never been shown to harbor resentment or want revenge— not at Hubert for usurping him, not at the unknown Fendelian soldier who struck down his father. There's no skits in which he joins Richard in despising Cedric, even though the man murdered the king and tried to kill Asbel's dear friend too. Even Asbel's KO quote in battle isn't resentful, lamenting that "[he]failed everyone" instead of cursing his enemies for striking him down. I genuinely cannot think of a moment in canon in which Asbel seems to hate someone, but maybe my confirmation bias is blinding me to a good example (funnily enough, the closest moment I can think of rn is a skit in L&L in which Hubert tells him that Raymond's been stalking Cheria, and Asbel responds with a forced compliment laced w barely suppressed rage bc he doesn't want to insult Hubert's family 😅 but that's still more indicative of protective jealousy than resentment).

Asbel does get angry and defensive sometimes, but any hate he has is nearly always directed inward— for example, he doesn't swear vengeance against all monsters after one kills Sophie, he instead vows to make himself stronger so he'll never fail to protect someone again. He's driven by a sense of justice and protecting others rather than getting even or inflicting pain, he empathizes readily with his enemies even when they've hurt him or his loved ones, and he refuses to accept a reality in which others must suffer (and if anyone should have to suffer, he'd always rather it be himself; that's what it means to protect someone).

In short, I think that if Lambda had been with Asbel and forced Asbel to choose between saving himself or saving the world, Asbel would always choose the world. Even if he had lived through additional horrors bc some bastard author wrote him into a miserable role-swap AU 😅

[iviarellereads]

The Shadow Rising, Chapter 16 - Leavetakings

(THIS PROJECT IS SPOILER FREE! No spoilers past the chapter you click on. Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For the link index and a primer on The Wheel of Time, read this one! Like what you see? Send me a Ko-Fi.)

(Great tree icon) In which someone made an unfortunate promise.

PERSPECTIVE: Perrin has been awake an hour or more when he realizes the darkness is turning to pre-dawn grey. He scoffs at the idea that dawn is a time for new hopes. His sleep has been broken and fitful, plagued with dreams of being on the gallows while the Whitecloaks killed Faile before him. He can't help but regret pushing Faile away, hurting her. He gets up and moves out, still smelling blood in the halls despite that the servants have been cleaning all night.

Perrin knocks on Loial's door, and after some typically Loial-ish hemming and hawing, Perrin gets into Loial's room, and Faile comes up behind him. She says Loial is a hero, he brought women and children into a big room and defended the door against all who tried to enter. Loial says he's not a hero, just, the children couldn't very well defend themselves. 

Faile says any woman in the Stone would marry him, if he were human, and some might anyway. Any woman would love his loyalty, he's well named. Perrin smirks at how Faile's been buttering Loial up but just fed him a stone without knowing. He asks if Loial has heard from his mother yet, and he says no, but he saw an acquaintance from his stedding in town, and he expects his mother will hear about the encounter sooner than later, and come take him back home to marry off and settle down.

Perrin says he has to go back to the 2Rs, Loial's mother won't find him there. Loial protests that he still has to write his book. Perrin says he'll write no book if his mother finds him, and Perrin needs Loial. He explains about the Whitecloaks, leaving off why they're looking for him, and says he needs to take the Ways to get there asap. Loial says of course, one more trip can't hurt, right?

Faile clears her throat delicately and says that Loial promised to take her through the Ways, wherever and whenever she wanted, before anyone else. Loial protests that she half tricked him into it, saying she wouldn't believe him that he'd give her a look. Faile says he swore, though, that's the important thing, and does he mean to break an oath? Loial looks absolutely miserable.

Perrin's teeth grind as he says Faile tricked Loial on purpose. Faile says she only did it because a fool man thinks he can order her life. Well, Loial is going to take her to the Waygate at Manetheren, she has a wish to see the 2Rs. Loial gets a little angry that she drew it out this far, he can still help Perrin, if that's where she wants to go. Faile says that part of the oath was only if someone else asked her to go with them. Perrin outright refuses. Not least because she's played mean tricks on Loial. He'll ride there first, he'll WALK there first. Faile says angrily that by the time he arrives on foot, the Whitecloaks will already be dealt with. Does he want to take that long? Perrin says fine, he'll stay far enough back that he won't break Loial's oath, but he'll travel alone.

Loial begs Perrin to just ask Faile, he doesn't want to think about Machin Shin getting his friend. Perrin says he can't, so Loial begs Faile to relent, but she won't either. Perrin can follow as close as he likes, as long as it's clear he's following like a puppy, until he asks.(1) Perrin and Loial start arranging the trip after that while ignoring Faile, and she says the "when" is her choosing, and if Perrin isn't at the Dragonwall Gate in two hours he'll be left behind. Perrin leaves the room, something thumping against the door as it closes behind him, and leans against the door in despair. All that trouble to save her the bigger pain, and she's going to be there to see him die anyway. Well, maybe she'll enjoy it now.

As Perrin turns to go elsewhere, Gaul approaches, one of the Aiel who Perrin's come to like, maybe because he's never given a second glance to Perrin's eyes.(2) Gaul greets him saying he's been looking for Perrin, he hears Perrin is journeying to the 2Rs? Rand told him, it's not commonly known. He thinks Rand's told a few others as well, though he's not sure how many more will want to come with them. They've been gone from the Three-fold Land a long time, many wish to return home.

Perrin is shocked. Come with him? Aiel on his side, a possibility he hadn't dared consider before. Perrin says if Gaul really wants to come with, he'll be going into the Ways in a few hours. Gaul only blinks, and when Perrin asks if that makes a difference, Gaul says "Death comes for all men". Perrin doesn't find this comforting.(3)

PERSPECTIVE: Elayne is going over her belongings before she leaves. El has told them about her final encounter with Rand before their separate journeys: she told him she was leaving, and gave him a letter to read later. He seemed almost relieved, which has Egg calling him cruel. Nyn says men are difficult at the best of times, and Egg is launching into another rant about Rand when the door crashes open, and Lan enters, glaring thunderbolts at Nyn.

Lan is angry at Nyn for letting him think she was going to Tar Valon. She says she never said as much. He tells her not to bandy words with him. El and Egg exchange worried looks, Lan is clearly near a breaking point. Nyn's usually the one raging, but she's facing him down coolly.

Lan takes control of himself with an obvious effort, and says he wouldn't have known at all if he hadn't heard that she'd ordered a carriage. She's Accepted, not Aes Sedai, she shouldn't be out of the Tower in the first place, and Tanchico isn't a fit place for a full Aes Sedai with a Warder to watch her back. He won't let her walk into that! Nyn says lightly that he's questioning Moiraine's decisions AND the Amyrlin Seat's, now. She thought that Warders swore to accept and obey, among other things. They all have tasks to perform, she's grateful for his concern, but she is going. Lan trembles and clamps his jaw shut angrily, though his speech is hesitant as he says she'll need someone to help her in Tanchico, and he could... maybe he could protect her. El is shocked at what he's suggesting.

Nynaeve says he WILL remain with Moiraine until she releases his bond. She pulls one of the Amyrlin's papers from her belt pouch and opens it so he can read it. He protests and asks why she would ever give this to an Accepted, but Nyn says he should count himself lucky she doesn't ask him to dance for her. El and Egg stifle giggles at the reminder of what Nyn first said to the Amyrlin about the letters.

Lan is not so amused at how easily Nyn is disposing of him. She says he's full of himself, they all do as they must. Full of himself? Him?! Faster than can be believed, Lan is sweeping Nyn up in his arms, and smooching her thoroughly. She kicks his shins, but her protests stop pretty quickly. El wonders if that's what she and Rand looked like, then cuts the thought off. She does let herself wonder if she has time to write a second letter, taking back everything she said in the first one, letting him know she wasn't to be trifled with, but does she even want to?

Eventually, Lan puts Nyn down, and she says he has no right and she will not be manhandled like that for the world to see. He says not the whole world, but she has made a place in his heart where he thought there was no room for anything else. She's made flowers grow where he cultivated stones. He tells her to remember that if she dies, he will not survive her long, and smiles. And, he adds, remember that he isn't so easily commanded, not even by letters from the Amyrlin. He gives a flourishing bow, and leaves.(4) Nyn sinks onto the bed like her knees gave out under her. Egg asks why Nyn did that, when he was offering to come with her. Nyn says she'll have him legit, not remembering a broken oath, for himself as well as her own conscience. Somehow, she'll make it happen.

Nyn pivots the conversation away from herself and asks if Egg has everything she needs. Egg says Aviendha is readying it all. They all tell each other to be careful, and all promise they will be.

El decides there's time between here and the carriage to find paper and pen. Nyn is right, men need a firm hand. Rand won't be able to get away from her so easily, and he won't find it easy to worm back into her good graces, either.(5)

=====

(1) Even knowing that Faile is just 18 and in love (and raised with some kinda fucked up relationship norms) tricking Loial into making an oath he couldn't break is mean and petty. That Perrin won't have to trail after her alone is small comfort. She really thought Perrin wouldn't be that stubborn, even though she's being just as much so. (2) You literally saved his life back in that little village where you met Faile, Perrin, he might not give a damn about your eyes because he knows you're a good man. (3) I'm not sure I would, either. (4) Well. A lot of their romance happens offpage, thank the stars, so the few moments where someone else witnesses their progression are surprisingly sweet and effective. This one's no exception for me. Well, okay, the kiss is a bit much, but Nynaeve does have that sort of tsundere vibe going on, and RJ, well, he was a very privileged boomer with some real opinions on hetero relationships. But also, look at how this is placed in contrast to Perrin and Faile. And Rand and Elayne, for that matter! All back to back in this one chapter, begging us to see how these arcs are all about love but also how differently the characters deal with their feelings. Now, if only any of these couples could sit down and have a real honest conversation… (5) Why, RJ? Why would you do this? Did you think women are really that two-faced? What exactly is Rand supposed to make of it? We'll have to wait and see.

[angels-whump]

I started this blog and then immediately died but hey here's that vampire drabble finally. Also @sleepyiswhumping wanted me to tag them so tadaa!

Silas had been coughing all night. All he wanted was to close his eyes and lay down, but the poor human couldn't go ten minutes without his throat constricting or having to sniffle uncomfortably; blowing his nose hardly seemed to help. Only getting a few hours of sleep each night was making his head hurt and his body feels sluggish, it was miserable.

The house staff were taking care of him well enough. The thralls had been ordered to watch and help him get better, regularly offering him cough medicine and water. It should be all SIlas needed. Combined with the master refusing to drink from him during his recovery, theoretically he should be all better by now.

Except that he wasn't. If anything, his illness had gotten worse, fever never allowing him to get comfortable in or out of blankets, arms and legs weak as if he had just been released from the vampire's fangs. It had been over a week, his master had to be starving by now. Silas had seen the human they had brought in from the village one evening when he had been wandering around restlessly. Rage flooded him--or master shouldn't have to be drinking from some random common filth! How could he forgo Silas like that, his ever-faithful consort?!

Because Silas wasn't any good anymore. The rage washed away to guilt, a stabbing ache settling in his heart. What he could he do? If this kept up, his master was going to have to get rid of him! Silas was useless, a leech, living in the mansion and eating food the master had bought for him, only to not be able to serve in return. He was a terrible consort, he'd be glad to die if he couldn't make Severin happy.

That didn't mean he wanted to. He loved his life here, even if the bite of powerful jaws always made him gasp and tense up, even if Severin never spared much of a glance for him outside of feeding times, he had been given more than enough to make him comfortable. He loved serving the master, it meant he was using his life for something, and he had been kinder than anyone Silas had met. If the master got rid of him, then another consort would come take his place, and the mere thought of that happening was enough to light up that violent flame again. Severin was his master.

Silas knew it wouldn't make a difference to the vampire either way. Eventually he would have to move on when Silas died, but he was content with old age. All he wanted was to not be a disappointment.

The look in the master's eyes was cold. Irritated. It was over now, Silas had failed him. He was hungry and needed to find other resources and now that he was asking how Silas' recovery was going the human would have to tell the truth. He'd never let his master drink from a contaminated blood bag.

Lip trembling, Silas could feel the tears welling up and that guilt crushing his heart in its iron grip. He sniffled, then flinched; that was disgusting. "I-I'm sorry." His face was hot as he stood before the master's chair, fiddling with his fingers. "I-I'm-" with a whimper, the tears started to spill. Silas' breath was short, he could hardly speak. "I'm no good sir, I'm- I'm still sick and gross-" as if on cue, he erupts into a coughing fit that only makes the pounding in his head worse. Silas sinks to his knees, trying his best to cover his face. Vampires didn't get sick, but he still shouldn't be in Severin--master's presence like this. It was rude, at the very least. If he wasn't such a kind man, the vampire should have him beaten.

Between sobbing gasps and coughs, Silas could hardly breathe. Everything hurt. Everything shook. Eventually, after a couple wheezes, he managed to continue. The vampire must be utterly disgusted with him, Silas ought to just leave and save him the trouble. "You- You should dispose of me Se- sir, I haven't been useful, I'm so sorry!" Humans weren't allowed to say their vampire's names, names had power. Even now, he thought miserably, I'm breaking the rules. I'm completely worthless.

Silas decided to shut up then. The vampire didn't need to be told what to do, they were smarter than Silas would ever be. So he knelt on the floor, arms curled into his chest trying not to sob too hard, awaiting the master's verdict.

Severin sighed. One hand came up to rub the bridge of his nose wearily. There is something wrong with you, he thought. The devotion didn't escape his notice. As disturbing as it was, it was almost touching. Nonsense. A human? Get a hold of yourself.

In one fluid motion, he was crouched down by Silas, putting firm hands on the human's back and bicep. "Don't strain yourself, you need to go rest." For the vampire, it hardly took any strength to coax him up and let him lean on Severin as he guided the man back to his room. "There's no need to stress yourself over it, that certainly isn't helping."

"S-Sir..."

"Not another word about it," he commanded, and the human obediently shut his mouth. "It was negligence on my part, I know the thralls can be empty headed. From now on I'll take care of you myself."

Silas' eyes widened. Severing pretended not to notice, opening the door to his chamber and ushering him into bed. He looked as though he wanted to speak, but seemed to remember his orders and stayed quiet. "Wait right here. I'll send a servant to town for better medicine and get you some soup."

"W-wait! Sir!"

The vampire turned with a dangerous stare. Perhaps it wasn't as harsh as usual or maybe Silas was just delirious. Yes, that had to be it. In his delirium, the human didn't shy away. "Why? You shouldn't be wasting resources on me..." The way the man's eyes dropped to where his fists clenched the quilt and bit his own lip almost made Severin feel bad for him. Almost.

"You're not getting away from me that easily little blood bag."

A human is content with being a blood bag for their vampire. Maybe they are nothing but an object, maybe they get possessive of their vampire knowing they don’t feel the same, but the point is they’re useful! So the human is content. And every now and then the vampire praises them and the human’s heart soars. They are utterly devoted (if they don’t have this, they’re better off dead).

And then one day the human gets sick. It won’t go away soon enough to be fed on again and the vampire comes to them for food and the human break into tears between coughs because they’re so sorry, their vampire will probably have to dispose of them now. Even if they don’t, the human isn’t being useful so they’re a leech.

The vampire sighs. There is something wrong with you, they think, if they haven’t noticed already. They drop down to their knees where the human is sniffling before them, demand they get up (helping them without thinking about it) and send the human to bed. Human gets doted on and cared for even if the vampire has to feed them themself.

[galfyfunnymoments]

On the concept of agency in 7yfn

I didn't like the ending of 7yfn when I played it the first time. I didn't like it the second time around, either. I thought it was an anticlimactic ending that solves very little problems set up and a sour end to an otherwise great story. On my third playthrough, I got to thinking.

I'd say that aside from memories and community and the general passage of time, I'd put the vague concept of "agency" up there on the themes that this story explores. Which even from the beginning is present: Haruto gets himself into (gestures around) this whole thing to find out for himself the entire story of when he was a child. He could've simply chosen to ignore his dreams and move on and roll credits. It's a bit of a shoddy example, but at least in retrospect sets up Haruto being opinionated and making decisions for himself. But I think it's in the medical context where the ability to speak for yourself really shines in the game. In the first (I believe it's been a while) proper flashback we get of Aoi and Haruto shows these two fragile kids with chronic conditions disobeying orders to stay in their rooms to watch the stars. Aoi ends up suffering because of the overexertion, but she doesn't regret it because she got to make a choice by her own accord, which is a rarity for a girl like her. This keeps repeating itself over and over for all of the game - Ichiki unknowingly giving Haruto timeloop powers is a betrayal not because he doesn't want them, but because he didn't get the right to choose. Riku is such an admirable guy because he's willing to sacrifice everything he has to expose corruption and hopefully save his brother. Saki and Honoka... well, their whole thing is this. Saki's dad is explicitly hoping Honoka dies of LMD so he can give Saki her heart, which Honoka would've done anyways if she were to die. Riku explicitly states that Saku would refuse the transplant (again, the patient's ability to make choices) if she knew the true situation behind it. I'll cut it before I get too deep into talking about Sakihono (they make me miserable) but a significant part of 7yfn is just these children, most of them terminally ill, making the best choices they can with the information that's been hidden from them. Then in the flashbacks with Ichiki & Ayato, Ichiki Sr. straight up forces his son to do something he doesn't want to do at all, stripping him of his agency. They're both expected to follow in their father's footsteps, which is probably at least part of the reason why Ayato was so insane over Kanna: she was the only thing he could make his own choices about. And he failed her, this bedridden girl who's so feisty and opinionated but not listened to by anyone but him, when she needed him the most. And then ayato proceeds to take it out on a bunch of sick kids but shh. I mentioned this briefly but like even the act of being in a time loop serves to take away Haruto's voice and the ability to make his own choices like he's Stuck it's. You see where I'm getting at right. I think the most brutal display of this insane lack of agency comes from Aoi and Haruto's time leap murder blue button red button puzzle (name in progress). Because there's the illusion of choice, that there is a "right" button to press to save your partner, that Aoi can make it just in time to save him or vice versa. But it was never the case, engineered specifically so one of them dies. It's what (presumably) keeps Aoi so motivated for her 17000 loops, the faint hope that she can still change something, that she still means something, that for the first time she's gotten the chance to do something she thinks is meaningful and she chooses wrong. It's... killer, and Aoi's an extremely depressing character (in an already extremely depressive game) when you sit down to think about her. And yet...

When Kanna says "Cling on to happiness", I think the most important part of it is "cling". As in, no matter how bad life gets, you alone have the control over your own happiness. It's why Ayato is able to reject the offer of a heart transplant to live happily with Kanna. He's grown a spine and a moral compass-ish and understands that just having Kanna back won't solve anything and he has to make the choice to move on. He has the ability to say No, I don't want this and put his foot down and mean it. Now let me take a step back and talk about Haruto again, because this is fundamentally about him. He's our protagonist, after all, and a pretty passive one at that. Aided by the game's very linear route and lack of any dialogue options, even flavor text, the player gets a feel for Haruto as this guy who the plot kinda happens to. Nothing wrong with that in a protagonist, obviously. So when I'm yelling at my screen tearing my hair out telling Haruto to not be a fucking dumbass and leave his friends behind again to save his Schrodinger's girlfriend for the third time I realize he finally did it. Through the game he's grown, impulsed by the love he has for his friends and his own sense of justice. He finally takes time leaping into his own hands and does what he wants to do, not what he thinks would be best for anyone else. It's an incredible display of agency from an otherwise very go with the flow guy that I find narratively amazing. Not the best choice he could've made? Yeah, probably. But damn, agency is the ability to make your own choices period, doesn't matter if they're good or bad or how many people disagree with them. And I think in the broader society™ context of how often chronically or terminally ill people are silenced and have their words replaced or dubbed over by someone else, and are at the whim of the healthcare system, it's a nice message to end off on. Maybe not for me and you, but for Haruto, entering this loop again willingly is him clinging on to happiness.

[randomnameless]

I'm not starting to start shit or something, but seeing you write up about seiros don't you think rhea still kept her extremist tendencies ? Especially with the Lonato incident and the Western Church like she was ready to delete civilians?

We know Seiros still had a threshold she wasn’t willing to cross, iirc per Aelfie, she refused to bleed the apostles to death to fill the Chalice and apparently that’s why the first attempt to rez Sothis failed.

As for what her “whatever it takes” means, FEH and FE16 didn’t give us any clues, is it like Edel siding with Uncle and pals to topple the Church “whatever it takes” or Claude pretending to be uncaring and willing to do everything to achieve victory who PTSD hard when Hilda and Judith die in CF “whatever it takes”?

About turning her blade against civilians, this is long, but under the quote I pasted what’s basically Elincia’s arc in RD’s Part 10.

Short story, Elincia becomes queen, some douche starts a rebellion because he thinks she’s weak and wants to become King instead. Douche uses civilians to mount a rebellion, and Elincia is torn because she wants to protect civilians and doesn’t want to kill them.

Elincia: “…Why does this happen?! My people fight, brother against brother… And no matter what I do, I can’t stop it! I’m a miserable failure. I just want to crawl into a cave somewhere. How can anyone believe in me now?”

“I never asked for any of this… I never wanted to be queen!”

:’(

“Inform all the royal guards to arm themselves… and prepare to meet the rebel forces in battle.”

“I will not. It is my indecision that has allowed the rebellion to come this far. As the one responsible for protecting this country… I refuse to run from this problem any longer.”

Elincia is the one “responsabile for protecting this country” and cannot allow the rebellion to continue. At this point, Ludveck and pals are marching against Melior, her castle and the capital of Crimea. Elincia’s trusted aide Lucia was caught and used as a bargainning chip : she surrenders or Lucia dies.

Ludveck: “The outcome of this battle matters nothing… We will not lose. Even at this stage, that weak Queen still wants to avoid combat. That hopeless naivete?.. is certain be the cause of her downfall.”

The Douche, Ludveck, mocks Elincia because she doesn’t want to fight and prefers to avoid combat - Elincia doesn’t want to trounce through her beloved citizens and hope the fight can be avoided, but Ludveck is a douche through and through.

Elincia: “Thank you, everyone. I am indeed the queen of Crimea, and a queen does not hide. Our enemies are fellow citizens of Crimea. But we can no longer sit idle as they destroy the harmony of our nation.”

Nation’s harmony > angry citizens. Funny how this is totally unrelated to some events that happened recently where angry people rioted and basically pillaged some country’s parliament or something

Earlier Geoffrey, another trusted aide, pointed out that the Queen wants to avoid bloodshed and so it’d be nice if they could just disarm or knock the rebels out, instead of killing them, if it is possible. If not, the nation takes precedence.

Elincia: “…Lord Ludveck, all your dissatisfaction and misgivings about me are well founded. However, your method of dealing with me is unforgivable. Using civilians and provoking them to fight a civil war, that act will cause this country to be left with a long-lasting scar.”

Elincia understands Ludveck has a beef with her, but aknowledges her own failures. Still, she cannot abide by his use of using randoms to start a civil war, it will only be detrimential to the country.

Elincia: “Didn’t you say before that you caused a rebellion in order to protect the country? Then let me ask you, what is country? Isn’t it civilians who make a country? Think about it. Throughtout this conflict, do you realise how many lives you’ve simply thrown away?!”

Ludveck’s MO is basically “i’m going to start a rebellion using civilians because Elincia will not want to kill her people she’s too weak so people will come to me and see how strong am I and how I totes fit the bill to become King”. Elincia goes ballistic because his plan sucks and, uh, you don’t start a civil war and throw lives away to protect a country or to become king - usual Mandate of Heaven rule : randoms make a country, and the country makes the king. A random who thinks the king makes the country dgaf about its randoms isn’t a good king.

Elincia: “As the queen and ruler of Crimea, I refuse to negotiate with those bent on destroying it. I hereby order all the rebels to immediately drop their weapons and surrender. Otherwise the Royal Knights will march out and defeat you.”

“I refuse to negotiate with the guy who’s attacking my castle and threatening my people, so if you people don’t surrender i’ll be forced to “defeat” you using my knights”.

Elincia best lord

Back to FE16... the game doesn’t give us 6h of exposition about the logistics and goals and consequences of Lonato’s rebellion, so we don’t have RD’s Part 2 during the Monastery Exploration scene (which is a shame RD’s Part 2 is my favourite).

Apparently Lonato has shown “hostility” to the Church for a certain time now. Now, he is mounting a rebellion against the Church. He raised an army against the Church. His army is full of randoms.

Ashe tries to negotiate. He is met with “ Rhea is an infidel who has deceived the people and desecrated the goddess! We have virtue and the goddess herself on our side!”. Ashe calls doubts, but say dragging randoms isn’t right. Lonato gives some “ Enough. If that is how you feel, prepare yourself! I'm putting an end to this!”.

Edit :

This draft is an unfinished one but I felt like posting it anyways because 

1/Elincia best Lord ever 

2/ it didn’t blow out of proportions like the FE16 discourse but I’ve seen some people kind of meme joke/diss about a certain character in FE17 who also deals with people targeting civilians (and I don’t think bandits ask those civilians if they want to play bowling with them) as someone ruthless

3/ “if this is war so be it”

4/ I’m still baffled 2 years later how some people join the FE franchise and still find it odd that you have to kill red units who target green NPCS or off-screen “civilians”.

[misticloyal]

If JTTW Wu Kong kept some ✨spice✨ with him

Over the course of JTTW Monkey King obviously shows a lot of character development but what if he ALSO shows signs of trauma

So essentially hc where bc of the circlet and other deceptions like Zhu Ba Jie selling him out, being able to be harmed by the Samadhi Fire, etc. Sun Wu Kong has psychological trauma responses and everyone’s responses to that.

.

Clearly if these reactions become clear towards the end of JTTW , the main gang is probably gonna be concerned (yes even Zhu Ba Jie lmao).

Tripitaka realizes the circlet bit is actually his fault and feels terrible, Sha Wu Jing is like “well shit we’ve fucked up bois”, and the first thing Zhu Ba Jie does is try to take off the circlet which fails miserably but Sun Wu Kong appreciates the effort anyway lol.

.

Guan Yin first sees Sun Wu Kong have an absolute meltdown over Ne Zha’s power constricting jewelry at some point and is like “wait ur telling me this guy had a panic attack over someone ELSES problem??? 🤔🤔” 

I n t e r e s t i n g

She also feels conflicted about it because every time she sees Wu Kong having a panic attack, or a flashback he’s not being physically harmed so what’s the problem? 

In her eyes Monkey King’s own mind is the one at fault, creating problems for himself that already passed. On the other hand, these mental gymnastics that he’s doing not only cause more unnecessary problems for himself but it occasionally (read almost never, Sun Wu Kong is super closed off about having traumatic responses to triggers) causes problems for the group as a whole. 

Things like him not participating in interactions with anyone for a couple days in a row just because he feels he’s not stable enough to speak or even get close to Tripitaka (flight or fight instinct because of the circlet). Or refusing basic care from any of the members (because ✨trust issues✨).

They’re not hugely impactful but they do slow down the group from making progress sometimes.

.

In fact, a lot of the gods in the celestial realm and the Jade Emperor himself are oddly intrigued by this. They  see Sun Wu Kong as a social experiment of sorts since, yes he’s this super powerful Great Sage that literally terrorized them, however he shows symptoms of mental exhaust that only humans experience???

Seeing how Sun Wu Kong reacts to any resemblance of a circlet makes deities like Ne Zha and Red Boy/Son specifically a little uncomfortable because both of them went through a vaguely similar childhood as Monkey King where they were too rambunctious  as children and the Celestial Realm had to do something to sedate them.

So the fact that Sun Wu Kong has such mortal reactions towards these things is  super unusual because he already achieved immortality so what gives? Could it happen to them to? 

Basically the mere fact that Sun Wu Kong as an immortal being can experience mental problems freaks out Ne Zha and Red Son/Boy because they worry if it could happen to them too (especially since their childhoods weren’t something where they were immediately born into the Celestial Realm and they had to work in order to get up there- like Wu Kong).

[all-things-are-nothing-to-me]

Blessed be the Lord Who Gifts Us With His Bountiful Employment

In a world revolving around work, The Economy is venerated — treated as a hallowed, divine being. Every moment spent engaged in play, in idleness or in unprofitable creative pursuits is a penny we steal from the almighty economy. Anyone who lacks the will or capability to keep up their productivity is thus seen as sinning against the true deity of our age: The Economy is our one true god and has been for decades. And he’s a vengeful god. Anyone who sins against him will be pushed into the gutters of society by his clergymen and left to rot and die.

There’s nothing The Economy savors more than his clergy taking sinful unproductive workers and sacrificing them to him, that’s the entire reason homelessness and prisons are such integral features of capitalist civilization.

The booming mantra of our God can be heard chanted all across the globe — Work or die — Work or die — and when you eventually reach breaking point and actually die —be sure to do it very publicly so that the other worshipers are forced to look upon your misery to witness what happens to workers who fail to keep up with the grind. They’ll try not to notice, but they’ll see the destitution from the corner of their eye and it’ll further instill the fear of God in them.

Work or die — Work or die — Work or die. It’s the chorus that rings in our ears almost every moment of our lives, even our “free time” being wholly consumed by the specter of work. We’re no longer capable of relishing the simplicity of existence, instead we measure our productivity during every waking moment and punish ourselves if we don’t measure up to our peers. A good worker is always finding ways to develop their skills and increase their usefulness to the machine. A good worker is forever climbing the hierarchy so they can one day join the ranks of the saintly clergy and strike down the no good lazy bums beneath them for their disgusting under-performing.

The modern anti-work movement was spawned in the late 20th century by anarchist Bob Black. Black spent years of his life pushing back against the conservative 19th century notions of productivity, industrialism and human-commodification that came from both capitalist and communist (including anarcho-communist) scholars and practitioners. He was especially frustrated to see fellow anarchists refuse to part ways with the miserable work-culture they inherited from the miserable workers that gave life to them.

Bob Black:

Work is the source of nearly all the misery in the world. Almost any evil you’d care to name comes from working or from living in a world designed for work. In order to stop suffering, we have to stop working. [...]

Liberals say we should end employment discrimination. I say we should end employment. Conservatives support right-to-work laws. Following Karl Marx’s wayward son-in-law Paul Lafargue I support the right to be lazy. Leftists favor full employment. Like the surrealists — except that I’m not kidding — I favor full unemployment. Trotskyists agitate for permanent revolution. I agitate for permanent revelry. But if all the ideologues (as they do) advocate work — and not only because they plan to make other people do theirs — they are strangely reluctant to say so. They will carry on endlessly about wages, hours, working conditions, exploitation, productivity, profitability. They’ll gladly talk about anything but work itself.

These experts who offer to do our thinking for us rarely share their conclusions about work, for all its saliency in the lives of all of us. Among themselves they quibble over the details. Unions and management agree that we ought to sell the time of our lives in exchange for survival, although they haggle over the price. Marxists think we should be bossed by bureaucrats. Libertarians think we should be bossed by businessmen. Feminists don’t care which form bossing takes so long as the bosses are women. Clearly these ideology-mongers have serious differences over how to divvy up the spoils of power. Just as clearly, none of them have any objection to power as such and all of them want to keep us working.

A workerist is any person who advocates for ideologies, systems and lifestyles that revolve around work. This includes every liberal, rightist, democratic socialist, social democrat, centrist, communist and fascist in the world. These are all staunchly workerist, industrial ideologies that strive to sell us the idea that humans and other animals exist to work on the assembly line, to extract resources and manufacture goods for the market, to be loyal servants to the revered productive forces. They all see the world through the same productivity-oriented, industrial lens, only with the tint slightly adjusted.

When Bob Black wrote The Abolition of Work in 1985 and called for “a collective adventure in generalized joy and freely interdependent exuberance”, he wasn’t proposing we give work a glossier tint to make it more democratic, merit-based or financially rewarding. He wasn’t proposing we hustle and invest in The Economy (praise be) to become wealthy enough to one day make passive income as landlords and shareholders. He was proposing we part with work in totality. Tear down all structures of work and kick all those who uphold those soul-crushing structures in the shins repeatedly until they let go.

This point is completely missed by the stale leftists who have appropriated this very anarchist concept and tried beating it into submission. They’ll forever be ready to seize hold of and immediately neuter anarchist ideas when they see them picking up any kind of steam. But the left will never be anti-work. It would go against everything the left exists to serve.

The entire labor movement — the unions, the socialist parties, the academics and Twitter theorists, are all wholly dedicated to building the load-bearing walls of their power-base: the ideology of work. Without workers and workplaces, there is no endlessly rotating left versus right race and everything both sides of the aisle depend on to satisfy their power and wealth machinations crumbles into rubble. Leftist organizers who try to redefine anti-work to mean “work-but-with-bigger-unions” are opportunistic weasels.

Likewise, anti-work is not a program to build stronger welfare states with universal basic incomes that subsidize the work-industrial complex and thus calm the growing urge to revolt; prolonging The Economy’s pillaging of our ecosystems and making us depend on the managers of productivity even more than we do now.

Being anti-work is desiring to bulldoze the offices, warehouses, farms, construction sites, restaurants and supermarkets that hold us all captive, push it all into a giant pile of glittering rubble, light a brilliant bonfire and sing and dance and fuck all night as the sweet fumes of a million copiers and filing cabinets fill the air.

Anti-work is the wholesale rejection of an obscenely traumatic and perverse way of life that we’ve been collectively conditioned into accepting as normal almost from birth, when we were pulled from our mother’s tit and thrown into a preschool so she could get back to the office.

So what happens after the bonfire dies down and we depart a work-based existence for a play-based one?

Bob Black:

Play isn’t passive. Doubtless we all need a lot more time for sheer sloth and slack than we ever enjoy now, regardless of income or occupation, but once recovered from employment-induced exhaustion nearly all of us want to act.

The point of anti-work, stripped of all the garbage leftist and Marxist ideology that’s been rapidly consuming it (I blame Graeber for kickstarting this process), is to treasure your fleeting existence and spend it doing things you want to do. Not things your bosses force you to do by threatening to sacrifice you to the great Economy in the sky if you don’t follow their script.

Anti-work is the burning desire to free yourself from that cacophonous workerist mantra forever ringing in your ears, to stop playing the subservient role assigned to you by The Great Economy and instead forge your own path and find real purpose through joyful play.

Henry Miller:

The world only began to get something of value from me the moment I stopped being a serious member of society and became—myself. The State, the nation, the united nations of the world, were nothing but one great aggregation of individuals who repeated the mistakes of their forefathers. They were caught in the wheel from birth and they kept at it until death—and this treadmill they tried to dignify by calling it “life.” If you asked anyone to explain or define life, what was the be-all and end-all, you got a blank look for an answer. Life was something which philosophers dealt with in books that no one read. Those in the thick of life, “the plugs in harness,” had no time for such idle questions. “You’ve got to eat, haven’t you?”

Anti-work is the pursuit of happiness in your own terms. A life you actually desire, choices you make as an individual, unhindered by the suffocating demands of mass society.

Anti-work is the refusal to accept the authority of bosses and economists, even if you have to make do with simpler meals and uglier furniture than the working stiff next door. It’s seeing the macabre construct of a work-based existence for what it really is and reaching out to reclaim your uniqueness before your brief existence on this planet ends. It’s unleashing your long-buried feral fighting spirit and finding out who you really are under the decades of rigid indoctrination by tie-wearing yesmen.

Anti-work is the urge to smash every temple of The Great and Mighty Economy (hallowed be his name) and kill all his clergy before our bodies and minds start to fail and it’s our turn to be sacrificed to him.

Anti-work, friends, is anarchy.

[mindofasupernova]

Someone you loved

Kaz Brekker x reader

Mr. Sandman Part 2

Inspired by the song "Someone you loved" by Lewis Capaldi

I'm going under and this time I fear there's no one to save me

This all or nothing really got a way of driving me crazy

Kaz's mind was a raging storm, an ever-shifting landscape. His heart was madly racing and he feared that if it didn't stop soon, it'll burst out of his chest.

Two days had gone by and yet there was no information about Y/N's whereabouts. No one had made an effort to contact him asking for money in exchange for her safety, no blackmail, nothing. Kaz knew the probability of Y/N being alive was shrinking as the days passed.

Kaz felt terrible, guilt crushed his heart in a vicious grip. If he hadn't kicked her out, if he had taken back his words, if he had just... No, thinking about what ifs wouldn't bring Y/N back home. If she's still alive a cruel voice whispered in the back of his mind.

His mind drifted to his darkest memories, horrible images plagued his mind. Rotting flesh beneath his fingers, icy hands grabbing at him, threatening to pull him under the waves. Water filled his lungs, consuming his oxygen and living him in the dark. His head broke the water, gasping for air, Kaz looked around, trying to find something, anything to grab to avoid drowning. Only that now instead of his brother's corpse, he saw Y/N's limp body floating above the water.

Kaz fell to his knees, the pain brought him back to reality. He was trembling, sharp gasps left his body, black dots covered his vision. Y/N would have told him to focus on reality, take in the details, count every little object he could find in the room. But Y/N wasn't here, and it was all his fault.

___________

I need somebody to heal, somebody to know

Somebody to have, somebody to hold

Y/N talked passionately about her latest read, making wild gestures with her hands as if to prove a point. Jesper's arm was slung across her shoulder, head thrown back in a laughing fit. When his cackles died down, Jesper leaned his head on Y/N's shoulder and started mocking her for being able to remember the exact place where phrases were in the book.

Kaz watched silently from his seat in the Crow Club, he knew those touches were purely friendly gestures, and still he couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy.

On many sleepless nights, Kaz thoughts had wandered down a treacherous path, always finding their way to Y/N. His mind had been invaded by images of her: the smile she always wore when she was about to make a witty comment, the way she pursed her lips whenever he asked her to memorize an important document, the furrow of her brows when paying close attention to Kaz's plans.

He snapped out of it, angry at himself for thinking about her, he couldn't afford those thoughts. Kaz's life was dangerous and he had many enemies who wouldn't hesitate to use anything or anyone against him. If he left himself feel, if he let her in, he knew there was nothing he wouldn't do for her.

He had tried. He had tried to distance himself, push her away until his feelings dissipated to nothing. However, every time Y/N appeared in his office late at night just to talk about her day, every time she called his name, every time she sent a glorious smile his way, Kaz couldn't bring himself to say no.

And now, looking at Y/N from across the room, a sense of longing clouded his vision. Thoughts of sitting next to her, no space between their bodies, with no fear of touching reminded him of how miserably he had failed.

____________

It's easy to say, but it's never the same

I guess I kinda liked the way you numbed all the pain

Since Y/N's kidnapping, Kaz had gone completely feral. He had looked for anyone who could provide information. He had kidnapped, tortured, and even killed members of any other gangs he had his suspicions on. He was unstoppable, he wouldn't rest until his Y/N was safe. She isn't even yours because you kicked her out a scornful voice reminded him.

Kaz's whole body hurt, his limp was more prominent than usual, his knuckles were bloodied and a purplish bruise contrasted against his pale skin from a blow he had taken when he was beating the life out of one of the Dime Lion's informants.

How he wished Y/N was there. No matter how many times he came back to the Slat, covered in blood and clutching at his wounds, Y/N's gaze always turned into one of horrified worry.

Y/N had always healed his wounds after a mission, wiping the blood away very carefully in order not to touch his skin. Even when he wasn't bleeding and it was just his leg giving him a bad day or a headache that refused to leave him, Y/N always brought him medicine or tea depending on the situation.

But Y/N was gone and he might not ever see her again. His thoughts lurched him back to the ocean, dead things suffocated him. He clutched his cane tighter, he couldn't have a panic attack now, he needed to find Y/N.

_______

Now the day bleeds into nightfall

And you're not here to get me through it all

The night wrapped the dirty streets of Ketterdam in its wicked hold, the moon loomed ahead casting a palish glow through Kaz's window. Another day had passed and he was no closer to finding Y/N.

He was alone in his office, clutching his cane tighter by the second, its sharp edges bruising his skin, and yet, the pain wasn't enough to keep the waters from rising, Y/N's form surrounded by corpses.

No, he couldn't think of her this way. He had to remain positive, he needed to hope Y/N was still alive somewhere, but for someone like Kaz, remaining positive wasn't something he strived on. Instead, Kaz looked inside his brain, searching for a memory of Y/N to avoid passing out and when he found it, he seized it and hung to it for dear life.

Kaz had heard people say love arrived at the most unexpected times, bloomed in the most unlikely places. People said love wasn't something you chose, something you could control, not a concept you could welcome or shut out of your life at your convenience.

Kaz deemed those people foolish, weak for not being able to control themselves, and as the cold mastermind he was, Kaz brushed off all of their comments. And he would have kept thinking that way if it hadn't been for Y/N during a warm summer evening.

The Crow Club was surprisingly empty, everyone was in a relaxed state, currently resting after a successful heist. Kaz had been working in his office, signing contracts when a soft knock sounded against his door, Y/N peered inside and after receiving Kaz's consent, stepped through the threshold.

Y/N sat in front of his desk, a small smile playing on her face, ensued by a moment of silence, Y/N started talking. Kaz's head perked up at the sound of her voice, eyes leaving the papers to direct his whole attention to her but he had been completely caught off guard by the sight before him.

Y/N's mouth was moving but Kaz's couldn't hear a thing, it was as if someone had stolen the sound so he could only focus on Y/N's heavenly form.

Y/N's hair was slightly disheveled, gusts of wind occasionally brushing lonely strands into different directions, soft locks swishing in compass with a nonexistent melody. Sunset rays filtered through the window, lighting up Y/N's features. Sunlight beams fell gently down the slope of her nose, gently caressed her long lashes, and kissed her tender lips giving them a reddish hue.

At that moment, Kaz realized how dreadfully unjust the world was. How come was the wind able to run his breezy fingers across her beautiful hair? How could the rain brush her skin lovingly without repelling at the idea of skin contact? Why could the Sun kiss her graceful lips and he couldn't?

Kaz wanted to hold her, reach for her whenever he wanted without fear of drowning. He wanted to hug her and nuzzle his nose in her hair affectionately. He wanted to know what her skin felt like under his fingertips. Kaz wanted to know the taste of her lips.

Because he was in love with her.

________

I let my guard down and then you pulled the rug

I was getting kinda used to being someone you loved

Y/N laid immobile in his bed, her skin almost as pale as his sheets, soft breaths escaped her lungs. Kaz sat in a chair near her fragile body, his frown deepened every time his eyes landed on a different wound.

Kaz felt like in a déjà vu, a vision that had happened exactly three weeks ago. This was the reason why Kaz had pushed her, why he had evicted her from the Slat, the one home she had ever known. But did it matter? All his efforts to keep her safe had been in vain.

That fateful night, when she had been the distraction in a supposed easy heist, everything had come tumbling down. The nightmares had started back then, where he first saw her all bloodied and beaten and unconscious. They didn't know if she would ever wake up. Kaz had refused to visit her, images of his nine-year-old self seeing her amongst the corpses in the Reaper's Barge haunted his days.

When she had woken up he'd wanted to see her, but he couldn't bring himself to because he knew what he had to do. Kaz couldn't bear the thought of her dying, he couldn't imagine her gone, but if he gave her hope, if she saw how much he cared, she would refuse to leave. He needed her to stay away for her safety

So he had done that, he had ruthlessly yanked his heart out of his chest when he had kicked her out. The words he had said to her tortured him since that day: "Do not think that just because I have kept you around for this long you're irreplaceable." And when he thought he couldn't feel more pain, Y/N had started crying. Silent droplets fell down her cheeks and Kaz felt as if the most savage assassin had ripped his heart into shreds.

I let my guard down and then you pulled the rug

I was getting kinda used to being someone you loved

Seating there, silently watching Y/N's closed eyes, he was experiencing it all again. When they had found her she had been tied to a chair, unmoving, in one of the Dime Lion's warehouses. He swore his heart had stopped beating, she couldn't be dead, when Nina had checked for her heartbeat and announced it was still there, Kaz's heart reanimated.

Nina had done her best to heal her and now the only thing there was to do was wait until she woke up. This time Kaz had refused to leave her bedside. This time he would do things differently.

He had been a coward, he now realized. He should have never let her go. He should have been braver, stronger, he should have protected her. Now he realized he wanted, no, needed her with him. He had been too scared worrying for the future that he had forgotten to enjoy the present. He wouldn't make that mistake again.

"Kaz?"

His head shot back to Y/N. She was awake, she was alive and he would never let her go.

And with such a fervent emotion, he couldn't have thought himself capable of expressing, he said "Please, don't ever leave me again. "

Thanks for the song recommendation @itsemy01

Taglist:

@getawayfrommewerewolf, @lady1505, @rika90, @thedelusionreaderbitch, @coffeewithoutcaffeine, @aleksanderwh0r3, @princessleah129, @subjecta13-thefangirl

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

If Bella was somehow bitten somehow and woke up alone during New Moon, but the Cullens didn't find her (I don't know if this is still 'Edward mercy kills Bella' territory but if it is then maybe her gift knows this and starts blocking Alice) and she became a nomad, would she still do the diet and if so for how long?

This is shockingly in the realm of possibility and not necessarily in the land of Edward mercy killing Bella.

Though there are some dangers Bella would have to avoid somehow for survival.

Bella is Bitten Alone in New Moon

We have one vampire who meets Bella during New Moon and another who with very little difference in the timeline would have run across her: Laurent and Victoria.

In the case of Laurent, he and Bella have a chat, he decides Bella smells delicious and he'll spare her the pain of being slowly murdered by Victoria, and just as he decides to go for it he gets run down and eaten by giant wolves.

Bella survives her vampire encounter.

In the case of Victoria, she never really gets close enough to do damage until the fight between Edward and Victoria and Riley and Seth in Eclipse.

So we have a few ways this could go:

Laurent's a few seconds ahead of Sam and company. He manages to get a good bite in and doesn't crush Bella on impact. He's run off by the wolves and Bella survives.

The problem here is that Bella has now been bitten and there's no coming back for her. It's a tragedy, and the wolves will feel a shared sense of failure and burden that they failed to save her, but she's dead anyway. They have to kill her before she fully turns.

Bella's gift, while powerful, doesn't appear to help in this kind of situation. Though, that said, in her dire need it could suddenly give her the ability to project illusions like we see in Renesmee. Doesn't seem to be how Bella's gift typically rolls, but hey, this is her darkest hour.

Otherwise, Jake could pull his alpha move much earlier in order to save Bella's life. He ignores Sam's order, flees with the turning Bella, and dumps her in the wilderness somewhere with a note from Jake that she must never return to Forks. She wakes up alone, only guessing though not knowing what Jake has done for her, and stares blankly at the wilderness.

If Victoria catches up to Bella, well, it's not looking good. All too likely, Bella dies painfully, and Victoria leaves a video tape of the entire ordeal in the Cullen house for when they eventually return (as they surely will).

Though, that said, the ease with which Victoria accomplishes this and the complete lack of Cullen intervention could catch her off guard. Perhaps... Edward doesn't actually give a rat's ass. That says terrible things about James' needless death, but Victoria's holding this girl hostage. She will die, in the most painful manner imaginable, and the Cullens aren't there.

Victoria might turn Bella out of pity or else turn her as she figures out, in part from Bella, that Bella becoming a vampire is Edward's worst case scenario. However, in that case, it's unlikely Victoria would abandon Bella, so Bella wouldn't be on her own.

Which, I think for this post, makes Jake's alpha sacrifice the most likely path. He dumps Bella's half-vampire body somewhere in nowhere Canada.

Bella After the Bite

Being dumped in the wilderness helps a lot. For one, Bella already has unbelievable control, for another this is Edward's penguin scenario. There is no one else out here for her to eat even if she wanted to.

So, following the diet is easy.

And it's something she'd very much wish to do. Bella sees the world of vampires divided into two types of vampire: the good Cullen vampires who don't eat people and the bad vampires who, well, eat people.

This left such a mark on Bella that she has very little idea of what a vampire even is.

Bella would be horrified at herself if she became a bad vampire. In wanting vampirism she wanted the vampirsim she sees in the Cullens. Bella might be miserable and alone, without a friend in the world, but she would be horrified to choose anything other than the Cullen way of life.

At least, at first.

The Return of the Cullens

There's a few paths for Bella after she's dumped in the middle of nowhere.

Alice sees that Bella's become a vampire, an abandoned newborn, and is wandering aimlessly around the wilderness somewhere. Even though Edward has forbidden contact, this is probably enough to motivate Alice who was genuinely worried.

She likely goes behind Edward's back and tries to find Bella with Jasper and possibly the rest of the Cullens.

Edward, of course, is still in Rio being a miserable saint for leaving precious human Bella.

Eventually, they manage to find her, and there's a lot of miscommunication, very hurt feelings, and heartfelt apologies even from Rosalie because look what happened to this poor girl. Though they each, either reluctantly or more enthusiastically, agreed to leave this was not what they had in mind.

Bella forgives them quite readily, as she did in canon, because she has the self-esteem of a thimble. The Cullens are awed and very grateful, Rosalie would never have forgiven them for this.

It probably takes them both a) a while to decide how best to tell Edward and break the news to him b) a while to get a hold of Edward because he's ignoring all their phone calls.

Eventually they do, it's a shit show, for the purpose of this post we'll say he does not mercy kill Bella. He might actually be feeling too guilty for that. Instead he grovels on the ground constantly, begging Bella's forgiveness, and refuses to enter a relationship with her because he's unworthy.

This undoubtedly upsets Bella, because she's also unworthy and Edward knows it and doesn't love her, but that's not the point of this meta.

In this world, the Cullens keep Cullening after picking Bella up, Bella's adopted into the fold and made Edward's twin sister due to looking the most like him (which, of course, makes them look actually incestuous in high school to add to the Cullen mystique).

With the support of the Cullens, living the Cullen lifestyle, and having the control that Bella has there's no question of ever leaving the diet.

Bella stays on the wagon.

Bella Seeks Out the Denali

Alice is successful and doesn't see Bella's future for whatever reason. Edward will be so proud. Bella is left alone in Canada to eat moose.

Eventually, Bella decides that however great being a vampire is, she's lonely and miserable. She wants companionship.

Well, obviously the Cullens hate her, so even if she could find them they probably never want to see her again. But what about the Denali?

Bella's already in Canada, she could head over to the Denali National Park in Alaska, and surely the least she could do is actually introduce herself.

Of course, the coven sounds blonde, hot, aggressively female, and very intimidating. Tanya's history of wanting to bang Edward has Bella feeling very small and worthless. More, the Cullens may have told the Denali all about how stupid and ugly Bella, Edward's current human girlfriend, is and they've all laughed at her.

However, Bella's so desperate for companionship, for some connection back to her old life, that she goes for it.

She makes it to Alaska, wanders around until she eventually finds the Denali coven, and introduces herself. The Denali are weird assholes, but Bella's so oblivious she actually doesn't notice.

That said, they've had their brush with the law, and Tanya doesn't want a newborn running around by herself. Eleazar also gives a truly pompous, awful, speech about compassion to their fellow man. It's unbearable, Bella finds it charming.

They take Bella in, she can be the dark-haired sister. Her control is so good the three single ladies quickly take her clubbing and encourage her to sleep away her troubles with human men.

Bella quickly finds that, when you're on the vampire end of the equation, the relationship with human thing is kind of gross. These people smell like food, are squishy and overly warm, and have the substance of tofu.

Bella feels even worse about her relationship with Edward.

She sleeps with human men anyway so that the Denali sisters won't judge her/will think she's cool.

They're so proud of her.

Regardless, Bella stays on the diet as the Denali follow the diet. She will likely have a few accidents with her human lovers, and will be inconsolable, but the coven will be there to offer comfort and help her get back on the wagon.

Bella stays on the wagon

Bella's Low Self-Esteem Wins and She Becomes a Hermit

Bella can't return to Forks and she's so ugly, stupid and boring that even though she's a vampire if she met anyone new they'd realize how ugly, stupid, and boring she is.

Better to just forsake society altogether and live with moose.

Bella's able to do this for quite a long time. Years even. And it's... fine. But her life has no purpose nor any direction to it.

She becomes tempted by society. How many years has it been? Has the world changed since she left? Has Forks changed? Is Charlie still alive? Is Renee? What about her classmates?

Bella starts travelling and visiting human cities and, thanks to her control, she does very well.

However, it's very likely that one day she'll slip, she takes her control far too much for granted and all it takes is one mistake.

And that's where Bella starts getting into trouble.

She's horrified at first, of course, and that likely doesn't break her. She gets back on the wagon, but the second time it happens...

There are no consequences to her breaking the diet. She has no companions, no one cares. Why is she living in constant agony, every single day, for people who will one day die anyway? Why is Bella choosing to suffer?

As time goes on, as humans start to mean less and less to her and all the humans that she knew when human herself are dead, Bella starts forgetting the reason that the diet seemed so vital to her existence.

At one point, it stops meaning anything at all, it's just Bella pointlessly choosing to live in agony.

Bella falls off the wagon.

TL;DR I think it'd take a while, at least ten years, but if she becomes a solitary nomad, it would inevitably happen.

[frozenbound]

Shimadacest headcanon #13:

Hanzo and Sojiro always conceal when they're feeling unwell. Genji, predictably, is prone to staying in bed all day after sniffling once or twice, sending text after text demanding tissues, cold medicine, snacks, entertainment, etc.

So it's highly unusual when both Hanzo and Sojiro fail to appear at the breakfast table.

Genji, going to Hanzo's room to "borrow" some of his clothes, finds his brother wrapped up in his blanket with a red nose and looking absolutely miserable. A quick check on their father reveals he's in the same predicament, and Genji's first point of order, after masking up, is taking his brother to their father's bed, bodily carrying him. Hanzo is sick, and he refuses to let him walk in his condition.

Then comes a full week of sickness. The first day is pretty miserable, because while Hanzo and Sojiro are glad to have each other's warmth and company, they're at a huge disadvantage because it's usually one of them (or both) who play the caretaker. Genji, after depositing Hanzo in Sojiro's bed, asks if they need anything, and he takes them at their word when they politely decline, of course, and promptly disappears.

The staff check in on them throughout the day and keep them stocked with medicine, tissues, herbal tea, and soup, but that's all they need, so that's all they ask for.

Genji wanders back in the next morning and is shocked, first, that they're still in bed, and second, that they're doing nothing but lie there, Hanzo spooning his father. "C'mon, Dad, brother," he says, grabbing the remote and turning on the TV for them. "You gotta at least catch up with or rewatch your favorites. What's the point of being sick otherwise?"

Then something dawns on him, and he looks a little ashamed when he asks, "Hasn't anyone...hasn't anyone been taking care of you two?"

The staff, they reply, but Genji shakes his head. "No, I mean...well, no, obviously. The answer's no because...you always take care of me."

The rest of the week goes by much easier.

He starts by bringing in a heater and about ten blankets so that his father and brother can properly nest (together, of course) with makeshift hoodies over their heads, then he brings in bags of snacks, with Sojiro's favorite chips and Hanzo's favorite chocolates among other things, and then he hardly ever leaves the room except to make more snack runs when supplies run low.

He introduces them to "flu showers", which are just regular showers but three times as long, father and son sitting under the hot jet of water together and breathing in the steam while Genji changes the bedsheets so that they can go directly from the warm bathroom into warm blankets, clean skin rubbing against clean fabric, while Genji sits over them with a hair dryer in each hand, keeping their damp hair from chilling them.

He even sits through Sojiro's favorite documentaries and Hanzo's "old as fuck" Mifune films with only minimal complaints, though with lots of commentary.

"Wait, so, there's no such thing as an alpha wolf? What?!"

"Holy shit, he looks just like Hanzo! Could you imagine them together? Hot!"

For the first few days, Sojiro and Hanzo brace themselves for Genji to catch the flu from them and immediately burrow into the blankets between them, bemoaning his fate and demanding to be taken care of, but as the infection window closes with Genji as cheerful and energetic as ever, they relax and concentrate on making the best of their situation, which, with Genji there, turns out much better than the first day would have indicated.

Genji is pleased that neither of them notice that he's discreetly hiding his sniffles and popping softgel tablets every four hours like clockwork. He doesn't feel anywhere near as bad as they do, and they need him.