#and thinking about where the other humans are in general...

[rincent-van-uggh]

Ahh this is so much what I have been thinking. Even if I agreed with intellectual property in principle, IP law benefits corporations far, far more than small artists (because the law only protects those who can afford to enforce it).

All the notions that AI is cheating because it makes the process of art making too easy are not at all distinct, so far as I can see, from people saying the same things about any new art making technology (digital art, electronic music, people say these things are not real art for the same reasons). I mean, people trying to pass off AI art as if they themselves hand painted it are just idiots telling lies, nothing new. If someone uses AI to generate the background for an drawing they did, and they're honest about it, thats just art. People do the same thing with backgrounds not generated by AI too.

I find a lot of AI criticism comes down to "this tool is being operated and peddaled by idiots" rather than that the tool itself is bad. "People who use AI to study for them get lower grades" well duh, having anything study for you is incoherent, you necessarily have to use your own brain for that. If what they mean by this is that people are using AI to write notes and summaries for them to read, this is also misguided as AI cannot reliably create accurate summaries, if it adds in nonsense, you may not realise and study stuff it entirely made up.

There are also adjacent issues. Like I dont take issue particularly with public data being fed to the machine apart from how empowering AI in our current system means empowering shitty corporations. But sometimes private data may be fed to the machine, corporations are getting increasingly sneaky and invasive, changing ToS to say that they can use any of your stuff, even non-public things to train AI. While AI tends to mix together loads of stuff into its outputs, it is feasible that an AI could be fed private data and spit it out wholesale, and we have no way to prevent this currently. I am glad that i have managed to move entirely off of things like google drive because I don't trust them to uphold privacy at the best of times, but especially not in this context.

My main issue with AI, honestly, is that I find it annoying. It keeps being put in places I dont want it, to solve problems I don't have. I think this is a popular position to hold here on tumblr, where we have several times pushed the website management to allow us to opt out of new trendy features we dont like, such as "best stuff first" and other algorithmic generated features, and "tumblr live". I object to having new technology replace the old stuff, not only because the old stuff is what I am familiar with, but because often times it works, in at least some important ways, better than the new stuff. I don't need AI generated art, I enjoy making art myself. I do not want AI customer service chat bot, it is less effective at addressing my needs than the humans are.

The tool is fine, but almost every time I encouter it, it is being used by idiots to uninteresting ends, and I would like to not have to encounter it if I don't want or need to.

Worst part of popular left wing AI discourse online is that there's absolutely a need for a robust leftist opposition to use of cognitive automation without social dispensation to displaced human workers. The lack of any prior measures to facilitate a transition to having fewer humans in the workplace (UBI, more public control over industrial infrastructure, etc) is a disaster we are sleepwalking into - one that could lock the majority of our society's wealth further into the hands of authoritarian oligarchs who retain control of industry through last century private ownership models, while no longer needing to rely on us to operate their property.

But now we're seemingly not going to have the opposition we so desperately need, because everyone involved in the anti-AI conversation has pretty thoroughly discredited themselves and their movement by harbouring unconstrained reactionary nonsense, blatant falsehoods and woo. Instead of talking about who owns and benefits from cognitive automation, people are:

Demanding impossibilities like uninventing a now readily accessible technology

Trying to ascribe implicit moral value to said technology instead of the who is using it and how

Siding with corporations on copyright law in the name of "defending small artists"

Repeating obvious and embarrassing technical misconceptions and erroneous pop-sci about machine learning in order to justify their preferred philosophy

Invoking neo-spiritual conservative woo about the specialness of the human soul to try to incoherently discredit a machine that can quite obviously perform certain tasks just as well if not better than they can

Misrepresent numbers about energy use and environmental cost in an absurd double standard (all modern infrastructure is reliant on data centers to a similar level of impact, including your favourite fandom social media and online video games!) to build a narrative AI is some sort of malevolent spirit that damages our reality when it is called upon

It's a level of reactionary ignorance that has completely discredited any popular opposition to industrial AI rollout because it falls apart as soon as you dig deeper than a snappy social media post, or a misguided pro-copyright screed from an insecure web artist (who decries a machine laying eyes on their freely posted work while simultaneously charging commission for fan-art of corporate IPs... I'm sure that will absolutely resolve in their favour).

It would be funny how much people are fucking themselves over with all this, except I'm being fucked over to, and as a result am really quite mad about the situation. We need UBI, we need to liberate abundance from corporate greed, what we don't need is viral posts about putting distortion filters on anime fan-art to ward off the evil mechanical eye, pointless boycotts of platforms because they are perceived to have let the evil machines taint them, or petitions to further criminalize the creation of derivative works.

[mona-risms]

hear me out.. polytrix x reader where fem!reader doesn't know about the whole demon hunter thing and is still under the hypnosis from the saja boys and the girls try their hardest to snap her out of it. 🫦

◆ MAIN COURSE: poly!HUNTR/X x fem!Reader

◆ TYPE: SFW, romantic

◆ ALLERGEN WARNINGS: None

◆ NOTES: This might've SLIGHTLY teeny tinily missed the point but I hope you still like it!! I can't make a full-blown fic without getting paid bc I'm broke as hell and I'm lazy so the most you're getting is the usual hcs and snippets I fear 💔. But anyway I LOVELOVELOVE POLYTRIX 😩😩😩😩😩 I think they should all kiss together and kiss me too

This is the funniest shit ever and no one can tell me otherwise bc you've got three ninja popstars and one perfectly normal human being who just really really loves K-Pop. And you all LOVE each other????? #holyfcknairball no one would believe you until you show full proof that yes you do in fact kiss those celebrities on the mouth! Every day actually! Unless they're on tour but still! Yes you are a girls only poly couple! You couldn't be happier!

Unfortunately bc of the fact that you're normal, you won't even know that the hot new boy band, Saja Boys, are all drawing people in via brainwashing to sacrifice your souls to a Demon King named Gwi-Ma that looks like an oversized wildfire. Said people includes you I fear 💔💔. Imagine you were out coincidentally and you got to witness their debut performance and you were so drawn to them!! Why wouldn't you be??

They hear your voice before they see you—right there, right near the front row, right in front of them.

"What's she doing here?" Mira hissed, though despite her tone, the concern was glaringly obvious.

"I think she wanted to buy something? She said about baking," Zoey answered, her own concern matching up with Mira as she bounced on the balls of her feet in an attempt to both alleviate her sudden restlessness and to see you from the crowd. "But-- But what if they try to grab her? [Y/N]'s at a very grabbable distance! And the worst thing is I won't even blame them—she's really grabbable in general!"

Zoey doesn't even finish before Rumi's weaving through the crowd in an attempt to reach you, "Either way, no one is getting grabbed, least of all our girlfriend."

When Rumi does reach you, she taps your shoulder to gain your attention. Without fail, you turn around and smile widely in recognition, "Ru-- Ahem, babe! Did you see how good this new band was? They're called the Saja Boys!"

"Yeah. I heard."

Usually, you would've noticed her sudden deadpan, but you were buzzing too much under your skin from the sudden excitement of this new debut so you barrelled on, "Maybe you and them'll even collab one day! Wouldn't that be awesome?!"

"Yeah, awesome, now c'mon, we need to get out of the crowd," she effortlessly twines her fingers in yours, which you reciprocate happily as you follow her while still going on about the Saja Boys. But when she dares to look back at the boy band, she noticed the black-haired demon in disguise's eyes on you.. and then on her, as if he knew very well what was going on.

When you finally get out of the crowd, you rejoin your other two loves of your life with a cheek kiss for Mira and then a squealing hug with Zoey.

Mira doesn't hesitate to ask as you and the shortest HUNTR/X member basically wrapped yourselves on each other, "Are you okay? They didn't do anything to you, did they?"

"Yeah, like, did they ever, I dunno.. suck your soul out or something?" Zoey asked, and then quietly winced as Mira and Rumi both signalled not to say anything with exaggerated expressions and hand gestures behind you.

You giggled at the line of questioning, "What? No? My soul definitely felt like it ascended while watching them, though! You guys are funny."

While you and Zoey were busy clinging onto each other, Rumi pulled Mira in to whisper to her, "They know."

"Know what?"

"That we're linked together in some way? That she's a normal human? I don't know, but they know and I don't want to risk her to find out. Do you?"

And their gazes drift to you as you spoke animatedly with Zoey, equally rambling to you and matching your energy in turn—probably both invested in the situation and also well-aware of the much-needed secret debriefing.

And Mira shook her head with furrowed brows, "Absolutely not."

"Good."

Whenever the girls are all "DON'T FALL FOR THEM" you're so confused bc like. Why?? What's up with them recently???? Ever since the Saja Boys popped up, they've been so weirdly pressed about them every time you brought them up. Like, sure, rivalry's one thing, but you've seen them with rivalries before!!!!! It's not like the Saja Boys have like killed people or smth lmfao it's okay the world's not gonna end if you stan them too (cue the scene with them and Bobby looking at the same city and seeing Two Completely Different Views)

Every time you're ever with them one way or another and the Saja Boys are around/involved they are LOCKING THE FUCK IN. Constantly trying to redirect your attention and theirs like "Do Not Look At Her" and if you ever get too close they'll be all "back the FUCK up actually". And whenever thry try to pull all that hypnotising shit on you they are DRAGGING YOU AWAY and kissing you until you run out of air and forget what you were even thinking about like a min ago 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

They're so much more attentive towards you, and during the two weeks of the Saja Boys being there, you are NOT allowed to be without at LEAST one of them. Why?? Ohhhh yk cuz they just really really miss you, that's all!!!!! They did just come out of a world tour so like they wanna be with you for as much as possible ahahahaha definitely bc the boy band you're fawning over rn are actually demons that want to consume your soul!!! Especially yours!!!!!! Bc they know you're special to them all ahahahahaahahahahahahaahahhaa

Oh but it'd be devastating if Mira and Zoey saw you with the crowd after Rumi's breakdown. Not only Bobby was brainwashed, but so are you, mindlessly following the masses. And as much as they want you to fight it, to remember, they can't even blame you or find the strength; they failed, Rumi hid she was part-demon the entire time, it's over

You'd be one of the people closest to Gwi-Ma's flames on purpose I think—a twisted way for Jinu to make your sacrifice quick and painless. But when Rumi and then Zoey and Mira both clock it? Absolutely the fuck not dude Gwi-Ma just made them even fucking MADDER

At the end of it they know they'll definitely have to explain everything to you, considering. From the Saja boys to Rumi explaining herself properly ALLLLL the way to how they're Hunters and what they do. But at the very least you're not dead thank GOD

"You guys know I don't actually know how to feel right now, right? Finding out that my girlfriends have been constantly getting into near-death experiences as, like, idol ninjas with magic weapons isn't really for the faint of heart—let alone finding out demons and supernatural whatevers are real."

The four of you migrated to Rumi's bed after that whole ordeal at the Tower, tired and exhausted and in need of a good cuddle pile. Right now, you and Rumi were cuddled up against each other, her patterns casting a soft glow on your skin, while Mira was spooning you with her tall frame and Zoey clung onto Rumi like a koala.

The trio had the decency to wince a little, and Mira spoke first in defence, "To be fair, we did get trained for, like, years not to give anything away, including our Hunter profession."

"And I'm your girlfriend," you sighed as your hand traced the jagged glowing lines across Rumi's skin, "I thought we weren't going to hide anything. No wonder sometimes you lot disappear without any explanation—this whole time, you've been.. slaying demons?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

You hummed.. before putting your attention on Rumi, "And you. You really think we were going to love you any less because of what you're mixed with?"

"Um. Kinda?" Rumi looked to the side, averting your gazes, "It's-- I was raised to think that I should be ashamed of it, that I need to hide. It's--"

"Why you always have a separate green room?"

"Why you don't go into the batthouse with us?"

Rumi nodded, though not without a flush on her cheeks, "..yeah."

Your gaze softened as you lightly bit your lip before cupping her face for a short but tender kiss, "You think that's gonna really scare me—us—away? Mira and Zoey came back to you after the shock, and I sure as hell don't care if you were part-turtle or whatever--"

"Being part-turtle would be cool! ..Or super slow, depends--"

"My point being," you interrupted Zoey with an affectionate chuckle, "we love you because you're our Rumi. Not an idol, not a demon, just our Rumi—the one that overthinks, overworks and gets so into her head that we'd have to shut it for her. ..No more hiding, yeah?"

Rumi doesn't respond, not for a long while, and thre three of you are content in just laying there in silence, with her patterns casting a brighter yet softer glow on all of you. But eventually she buries her head in your chest, muffling her eventual answer, "..Mhm. Thank you."

Zoey's hold on Rumi tightened as she practically nuzzled into the latter's back, all while Mira reached over to hold Rumi's hand, now back to its human shape compared to the claws she had briefly before. No one else says anything, and that's perfectly fine for the four of you.

"..So I guess I'm retiring from stanning anyone but you guys."

"Obviously!" "Duh." "You are."

[bumblingbabooshka]

I need every non-Human Star Trek character to start talking about their countries and hometowns NOW!! Tuvok definitely roots for his local sports team internally even though they suck and are horrible. He's gonna watch the game and he's gonna be frustrated with their performance every time.

Vulcans posting shit like this ☝️is commonplace in my mind

[juliettrulyyours]

Human Fangirl Turned Demon Manager

Human Fangirl Turned Demon Manager (Part 2)

Teaser Part 1 Part 2

synopsis: you’re a low-level paperwork clerk demon who somehow ended up hired (threatened) by a smug, too-pretty demon named Jinu to become the manager of the demon realm’s first-ever demon boy band. all because he accidentally found your boy band concept sketches.

warning: cursing and boys being boys (ugh)

i’m really bad at making accurate timelines so… just know i tried my best. also, same as before! if you’re not yet part of the taglist, you can just comment and i got you :)

For the next few days—ever since the King of Demons actually approved this fantasy plan of yours—you found yourself knee-deep in demon idol group logistics.

Which was a sentence you never expected to say in either your life… or afterlife.

You’d barely slept or eaten. You’d gone full-on manager mode and locked yourself in a dusty, abandoned hell-office armed with a whiteboard, sticky notes, five sketchpads, and a glowing coffee mug someone (probably Baby) cursed to refill itself with demon espresso. At least… you hoped it was espresso.

The name you decided on for the boys? Saja Boys.

It was catchy, slightly edgy, and translated to “Lion Boys,” which was what you thought Jinu resembled the first time you met him. You’d also assigned each member a carefully crafted idol persona, based on classic K-pop archetypes you knew by heart.

Now, with the group name finalized and their personas set, you were all gathered around a broken table in what was generously being called the Saja Boys’ training room (it was really just a rebranded storage dungeon), brainstorming something even more important—

“What if…” Romance leaned back dramatically, fingers laced behind his head, “…we call our first song ‘Demon Lord Explosion Dynamite.’”

“No,” you said immediately.

Abby jumped in next. “Okay, okay, hear me out… Demon Boys.”

“That’s literally just who you are,” you deadpanned.

Baby slaps his hands on the table. “Wait—what if—‘Demons.’ It’s simple and easy to remember.”

You inhaled slowly. “Do you guys not know any other words besides ‘Demon’?”

They all exchanged looks.

“…No?” Mystery offered.

You pinched the bridge of your nose and took a breath. Then another. This was fine. You were fine. You had trained for this. This was where your inner K-pop stan, human-era strategist, and demon-realm survivor came together.

“Okay,” you finally said, “how about trying one of the looks I sketched out before deciding on a title?”

You flipped open your sketchpad to a page filled with pastel-themed outfits, perfectly coordinated and soft on the eyes. You may or may not have added bunny ear options at the bottom. You glanced up. The boys were staring at the page… then at you… with identical “are you serious?” expressions.

“It’s called a cute concept,” you explained. “Just think finger hearts and aegyo. You reel the fans in with sweetness, then trap them forever. It’s basic K-pop science. I had spreadsheets on this when I was still alive. This will go viral overnight.”

Romance looked offended. “You want me to wear bright yellow?!”

“It brings out your hair,” you shot back.

Jinu raised a brow. “And you think this’ll work?”

You nodded—maybe a little too confidently, considering you were still scared he might bite your head off if you said otherwise.

He studied the sketches one last time, then snapped his fingers. There was a puff of pinkish smoke, and was that glitter? And when it cleared—

Your jaw dropped. Gone were the terrifying, edge-lord demon boys you’d been dealing with for the past few weeks. Standing before you now were five glowing, pastel-wrapped soft boy idols who looked like they belonged in a spring comeback teaser video.

Romance had hearts on the knees of his jeans. Baby wore a yellow beret that somehow made him look both adorable and dangerous. And is it just the demon magic or did he kinda look like Min Yoongi?

Well, now you know who’s your bias if they actually pull this off.

You stared—mouth parted, eyes wide—completely and utterly starstruck. Maybe Jinu wasn’t lying when he said the other guys were hot, too. 

For a moment, you forgot you were in the demon realm. You clutched your clipboard to your chest and whispered, “Oh my god. They’re so cute.”

Then, out of nowhere.

Baby turned and smacked Abby across the face with his beret. Mystery levitated mid-air while cradling a mic stand he summoned out of literal nowhere. Romance pulled out a mirror and started whispering compliments to himself that you were absolutely sure should be kept between him and his ego. Jinu adjusted his cuffs while you stared. And then, as if he could sense your gaze, he turned and winked at you.

You flipped him off without thinking.

Just like that, reality snapped back into place. You shook your head, cleared your throat, and tried to collect what was left of your dignity.

“R-Right. So, anyway—”

You flipped your notebook open and started talking again.

“What about a title like…” you scribbled quickly, “…Soda Pop?”

All their heads turned to you. Each with a different expression, clearly reacting confused to what you’d just said.

“Sowda Fap?” Mystery repeated, his brows furrowed.

“No, I think she said ‘So The Fuck,’” Baby chimed in, completely deadpan.

You side-eyed Baby. You couldn’t believe this was the same demon who, just earlier, reminded you of your bias wrecker. Suddenly, your train of thought was cut off by Jinu’s voice.

“Explain,” he said simply.

You cleared your throat. “First of all. It’s SODA POP. Like, you know...” You gestured like you’re holding a can and drinking from it.

They all just stared at you. At first, it was blank confusion—then came the smirks and they all started snickering.

You blinked, puzzled, until it hit you. Your eyes widened in horror as you blurted out, “No! It’s a drink! In a can! Take your minds out of the gutter!” You tried your best not to stutter, even though your cheeks were heating up fast.

These perverts. Ugh. No wonder they were sent to the demon realm.

“Anyway! We’ll talk about soda next time.” You quickly waved it off, trying to reel their attention back to what’s important. “Let’s focus on the song.”

You tapped your pen on the notebook, regaining your focus. “It’s catchy. It’s got this bubbly, effervescent vibe to it. Something that sounds sweet on the surface but has a deeper, unexpected edge underneath. Perfect for grabbing fans’ attention and holding it.”

As you said that, they started bumping shoulders and wiggling their eyebrows. You nearly rolled your eyes out of your skull.

Still, you pushed on. “We’ll build choreography that’s clean, simple—something with shoulder movements and little signature gestures that fans can mimic. We’ll talk about that part later. For now, I want to focus on maximizing your visuals and crafting lyrics that get stuck in fans’ heads like a curse.”

You paused, tapping the pen once more. You looked at them, waiting for their thoughts. They were all silent now, actually thinking it through.

Then Abby whispered, “It sounds fine…”

Romance nodded and added, “Soda Pop... kinda hot.”

You looked at them with a small smile tugging at your lips. This was progress, they weren’t the easiest demons to work with but still! This was progress.

Jinu finally chimed in, smirking as usual. “So The Fuck it is.”

“It’s Soda Pop! You know it’s Soda Pop—quit messing with me!”

—

As more days passed, maybe you judged them a little too harshly.

Yeah, you were still terrified they might one day turn you into demon soup if this whole plan—all of you had been training for over a month—didn’t work, and they decided it was your fault. Especially since Jinu based this entire soul-devouring strategy on the sketches you made—the ones he confessed to finding after being asked to deliver your reports to the Third Circle.

But hey! Maybe you were just overthinking again.

Speaking of Jinu, you actually hadn’t seen him all day.

The last time you spoke to him was when you asked if he could search the realm for someone with a working printer. Since then, only the other boys had been bothering you—and always for the most unnecessary reasons.

Though, to be fair… some of those moments almost made you wish Gwi Ma would just eat you and get it over with.

For instance, the time Abby decided it was a great idea to dye his hair while Jinu left you in charge with very specific instructions: “Don’t let them do anything funny.”

“What did you do?!”

You screamed from the bathroom door as Abby turned to face you, his hair now split down the middle. Its color is half lime green, half bubblegum pink.

“The fans are gonna love it.”

You stared at him like he just slapped you with a stick. What fans?! You hadn’t even debuted yet.

“You’re not allowed to improvise! We had a concept!”

He spun to admire himself in the mirror, then winked at you.

“You said cute, right? Green and pink are cute, no?”

You tried not to roll your eyes before marching over to him. “Come with me.”

He raised a brow and leaned against the sink dramatically.

“Woah, just like that? I mean, you always stare at me, so it was about time—”

“Shut up and just follow me before Jinu gets back.”

An hour later, he was sitting cross-legged on the floor while you dried his now-normal hair with an old towel.

He exhaled,  then mumbled, “Hey… thanks for not ratting me out to Jinu.”

You just hummed in response and kept drying his hair. He just lets you.

After that day, he didn’t try to sit on you as much as he used to.

Guess that was progress.

There was also the time you saw Mystery just sitting on the ground outside the building.

He was just… watching. Watching what? His hair? You didn’t actually know. You could see him staring upward, but his bangs covered his eyes so completely it was hard to tell.

You hesitated a little before quietly sitting beside him and offering him a soda pop.

He stared at the can, then looked up at you.

“None of you knew what a soda pop was, so… figured I could give you one of mine,” you mumbled. “The delivery guy sent me an extra dozen! It’s not because I—whatever.”

You placed it beside him and ran off before he could say anything.

The next day, when you came back to that same spot, there was another can of soda pop beside the empty one you’d given him.

You looked at it, then picked it up with a small smile. Ever since then, you’d always find a new one waiting for you.

You never saw him leave it.

Yet it was always chilled.

Another one was Romance bothering you for the eighth time that same day.

"Manager~" Romance croons as he drapes himself dramatically across your table. "Do you think the fans will cry if I announce I have a girlfriend?"

You don’t even look up from your clipboard. "I don’t care."

"You’re no fun."

"I’m your manager, not your life coach."

He pauses, then acts like he’s deep in thought. “Yeah, but still…”

You glare at him. "Romance, go to rehearsal and quit bothering me."

He pouts at your words and sulks all the way to the door. Though not even fifteen minutes later, you see an iced espresso floating over to you. You lean forward and spot a heart drawn on the lid with sharpie.

So that’s where your sharpie went.

Inside the heart is your name. Wow, his handwriting is really awful.

You take the cup and sip. 

Hmm, so he does pay attention.

The most recent incident was with Baby. You were handing out the concept sheets, each detailing their assigned K-pop boy archetype. As you were about to explain it, you caught him chewing on the corner of the paper.

"WHY—why are you like this—"

"I'm hungry."

"You don’t even need food!"

Baby shrugs. "Still hungry."

He then finishes the entire paper in one go. He smirks at you while you glare at him.

The two of you just stare at each other until you’re the first to break and start your speech.

Later, while Baby was heading to his room, he opened the door and spotted a bag filled with spicy chips and soda pop. He just stared at it for a moment, then opened the chips and started eating without a word.

The next day, while you were sitting in the training room, Baby suddenly plopped down on your left shoulder, startling you.

“I’m sleepy. Braid my hair.”

You stare at him, confused. “Huh?”

He didn’t respond—his eyes were already closed.

You just started braiding, even though you didn’t have a rubber band.

—

Jinu is walking down the dim hallway of the building, a neat stack of freshly printed Saja Boys posters tucked under his right arm. He had just come back from the human realm—because apparently, all the printers in the demon realm were broken. Like, why even have printers at all?

He’s kind of annoyed. The trip took longer than expected, and when he finally got to the human realm, he got swarmed by a group of girls asking for his “number.” What does that even mean? He’ll have to ask you about it later.

As he walks, he takes one of the glossy posters and smirks. His plan is finally coming together. After this, after the debut—and if it becomes a success—he and the boys won’t need you anymore. He can take it from there. Oh, and your concept book too, of course. You could return to your simple, boring, underpaid demon office life.

He stops mid-way down the hall, pausing at a faded door with a paper heart taped to it. “Manager”—written in pink glitter pen (courtesy of Romance and your pen collection).

Adjusting the stack of posters in front of him, he pushes the door open without knocking.

“Manager, I got the post—”

(Cue dramatic slow-mo as "Everytime" by CHEN & Punch begins playing out of literally nowhere.)

His words get caught in his throat as he sees what’s inside.

There you were—standing in the side of your office, softly lit by string lights and bathed in wind from the broken window. The dusty mirror in front of you caught your reflection as you held a pair of yellow circular glasses in one hand, debating whether they looked better on your head or off.

And for the first time… Jinu saw you in your human form.

Your eyes are clearer, no oversized robe swallowing your figure, your cracked fang is gone, and you’re standing upright, hands fussing with your hair.

You looked…

Adorable.

You're wearing a fitted pastel-pink shirt and a pair of jeans. Perched on top of your head are round, yellow glasses. You’re focused on your reflection, debating whether to wear the glasses or not—putting them on, taking them off, again and again—until the sound of the door interrupts you.

Jinu is staring directly at you.

Your eyes met his, confusion flickering in your gaze. “…What did you say?”

He doesn’t reply—he just keeps on looking at you, which makes you furrow your brows.

“The posters?” you repeat softly, tilting your head.

Jinu finally snaps back to reality, stammering slightly as he tries to reply. “Y-Yeah. The posters. I… got them.”

You smile faintly. “Oh! Good job. Just divide them later between everyone. I’ll tell you where we’ll be handing them out in the human realm.”

He nods at what you said, yet he’s still standing in the doorway.

You tilt your head again. “...Is there anything else?”

You look at him, waiting for a reply. He opens his mouth, closes it, then opens it again. Your face scrunches in confusion. What is he? A fish?

“…Nope.”

He drags the “P” with a pop, then bumps his shoulder against the doorframe while trying to walk away—almost dropping the posters before catching himself with the wall to stay steady.

Without even closing the door, he just leaves.

You shrug it off and look back at yourself in the mirror.

Yeah… it’s definitely cuter with the glasses.

—

taglist: @yirengbam7089 | @simpingovermenwhoarentreal | @mysteris-things | @daylightfur | @lillycore | @e-dollly | @maximumtrashchild | @enerofairy | @azzberry | @kyouzki | @miffysoo

[concrete-the-cat]

Wrong. This is Ohio you can think of it as the infinite ikea but it's strip malls instead of Ikea, the people emerge from god knows where because the neighborhoods are nowhere to be found, and there's one amusement park over there and that is the sole source of "fun".

... and a few more states, the way I'd describe them if I was writing a book in the united states but described as a fantasy novel:

Likewise, this is Indiana. Most people here have perfect supermodel hair but have not heard of skincare so generally appear to have the face of a weathered miner from the 1850s. There is more than corn in it, but it is up to you to figure out what that "more" is because it sure doesn't *look* like there's more than that. People from Indiana are called Hoosiers, not Indianans, and will be very very mad if you use that last term. The term Hoosier, for the record, has a completely unknown background and nobody knows where it came from. Probably, the magical ice cream wizards that live in Fort Wayne came up with it. They are called Zestos. Indianapolis, the capital with the very uninteresting name, has a giant monument to sailors in the middle off it. People walk around it and nearly worship it like it's the Hoosier Kaaba.

This is New York. You know it for the city, but this is the state. But that's fine, because Americand also know it for the city, not the state. The rest of the state that is not the city is pretty much split between Pennsylvania and Vermont culture, except for Buffalo which is mildly Canadian, and that's due to the giant waterfall people like to jump over in barrels thinking they won't die, but they do anyway.

This is Nevada. Like New York, you know it for the one city, Las Vegas. But that's fine because apart from New Vegas and Reno, it is literally just desert and nobody will comvince anybody of anything else. Las Vegas is the modern day Sodom, but because God abandoned us long ago nobody turns to salt unless they want to. Reno is the capital, but that's all anybody knows about it, and all you should know. Some people think aliens live in Nevada, and if there was a state that aliens lived in, it sure would be Nevada so that's not entirely a wrong assumption.

This is Wisconsin. Think Canada, but if Canadians were very very large mice, because they like cheese, a lot, and generally live in rural communities that appear large on a map that aren't, like some sort of magical woodland fae cities that appear out of nowhere from the forest - except for Madison, the capital, and Green Bay, a port city. Madison has a giant fucking capital building that seems like they copied a certain dictator's design for Germania, but it does look pretty cool to be honest. Green Bay is Green Bay, and just like most other things on this list, you don't need to know more about it than that.

This is South Carolina. Upon my travels there - to a highly publicized city called Myrtle Beach which very constantly is hit by hurricanes - I learned that South Carolinians are likely doppelgangers or mimics. It may be due to the ocean they live on but everything there seems to be an imitation of human culture. The food seems to be "seafood", but in Myrtle Beach it is often scorched and unseasoned, and the design of fun seems to be strange attempts to mimic other states' versions; with strange men drawing caricatures on the road and a glowing Ferris wheel that transfixes those who pass it by but yet never has anyone upon it. Those who rule it seem to be permanently stuck in the past, possibly due to a curse laid upon their ancestors who became traitorous to their country. As such it's decidedly not a safe state for foreign travelers of various colors. However, perhaps due to the magic placed upon it, the ocean nearby it shines differently and is quite beautiful.

I can do more if you guys are interested but I don't have time at the moment

Tbh as a non-American, reading media set in USA sometimes feels like you stumbled into a fanfic fandom-blind and there's naturally no exposition about the setting because you're supposed to be aware of it. But you're not so you just nod along and hope it's not relevant to the story. Like the characters being from different states probably has some significance to their backstory but it's never explained. The story being set in this state also probably has some significance but it's also not explained. Being in this diner/shop/Americanism-store thing whatever probably has some context clues (is it supposed to be posh? Common? Cheap? Accessible? Old-fashioned?) but it is also not explained. It's like when you're reading a new scifi/fantasy story and there's a hundred new terms but you can't extrapolate their meanings from context clues/flavour text because they just give you a name and you're like "cool, dunno what that means at all".

[3liza]

i went to an in-person dr appt yesterday and although my liver and kidneys are not doing their jobs correctly (bad, although not yet urgent), apparently i have grown yet another half inch since i was measured last yearish, and am now fully 5'6.5". which means i have grown a full inch and a half (3.81cm) in vertical height since i stopped growing in a normal way when i was a teenager. i shot up to 5'5" when i was 12, which is normal for afabs with the tall genes + middle school menarche combo, and stayed there according to occasional doctor measurements until a few years ago, when i apparently started growing again.

i've fully aged out of the "long tail' some people have with height, like it's pretty normal to put on another inch or more after the main puberty until your growth plates fully fuse in your early 20s and your body kind of settles. but putting on an extra inch and a half at my age is, i think we can all agree, pretty weird. and when i haven't been to space or been in traction or been pregnant. my feet have also gone up 2 sizes in the last YEAR, which is again normal for pregnancy or weight gain but neither of those things has happened to me.

i keep asking doctors what could possibly be making me get ever taller and more beautiful but they 1. dont seem concerned and 2. say something vague about "it can be lots of things" and then change the subject back to my failing organs which i think is very boring

it's currently biologically impossible for normal human growth plates to unfuse, although the bad kind of short man (not the kingly variety) and medical science generally has been desperately trying to find a way around this for centuries. astronauts tend to be an inch+ taller when they return from space missions because zero gee lets your ligaments decompress and you just sort of expand a bit, but they shrink back down when they get home. pregnancy hormones will also loosen joints, especially the pelvic girdle for obvious reasons, and cause permanent skeletal effects, although in earth gravity i dont think this would cause height INCREASE normally, although i could be wrong. it does cause your feet to widen and lengthen, usually.

so something is making me taller and my feet bigger despite not having any known osteogenesis abnormalities or pregnancy or zero gee time. my best guess is hypermobility disorder/collagen dysfunction combined with ongoing inflammation may be forcing my joints apart strongly enough to make me taller despite the downward gravity pressure. it could also be an effect of corseting if the corset is pressing my ribs and pelvis away from each other and decompressing my vertebrae, essentially a form of traction, but again that would be a LOT of decompression on one short section of my spine to occur without causing noticeable pathology. and im fairly positive my posture is not better now than it was when i was 20.

however i already have all the joint problems of a much taller person so i think it should just continue until im an even 6'. lets just fully commit. see where it goes

[owe-143]

Hi, if ur not too busy I was hoping I could request something for the saja boys?? Basically reader(fem maybe) is a human manager for the boys(kinda cliche, ik) but they the boys are demons and doesn't rlly care, because they have do manager stuff, but with how mystery was acting durring the meet and greets carries a spray bottle of water around, and gets abs a shirt the actually fits(kinda, don't wanna disappoint the fans) and at one point jinu is like "🤨 where/when did you get all that" and reader is like "🥲You boys stress me tf out, shud up. "

Any who sorry if this is too long, love your work!

✦Stressed tf out✦

A/N:Ty for requesting! I love this idea!! Thank you for reading my stuff hahaha

Warnings: swearing, kinda not proofread

Oneshot fic💗✨

Saja Boys x Manager!Fem!Reader

→Kpdh masterlist←

You scribbled final notes in your journal for the days events. The silence of your office was comforting and you could think. It wouldn't last long as a loud scream echoed the building. You couldn't help but sigh. You lift your fingers, slowly counting down

3

2

1

"Y/N! " Jinu burst through the door. His eyes were panicked. "Mystery, he is-"

"Biting Abby! I know! " You cut him off, shooting out of you seat. You slide the desk drawer open. A few necessities for the boys slept in the drawer. For any occasion. Hair brushes, fidget toys, spare devices and a ton more. You grab the spray bottle and signal Jinu to follow

Jinu's eyebrows raise. "Why do you have all this anyway" He asks. You scoff. You walk faster, approaching the lounge where the other boys were. Another scream erupted from the room. "Because no doesn't seem to work for you boys! " You snap, kicking the door open

The scene in front of you is nothing from the usual. Baby's sitting on the table even when you've told him multiple times not to. His eyes focused on his Nintendo ignoring the scene unfolding on the other side of the room

Mystery stands opposite Romance who has Abby right behind him. You stomp over, spraying Mystery with a reasonable amount of water. He stumbles back and growls. Romance rolls his eyes. He steps away from Abby to sit back down on the sofa.

"Thanks" Abby sighs. You glance over at him. You suddenly spray his face. Abby jumps back "Hey! What did I do?! "

"Nothing. Just felt like it" You say with a grin. You strut over to Baby. You raise the water bottle then spray the side of his face. "Get of my damn table" You hiss. Baby squints his eyes at you. Although, he doesn't dare to protest. Last time he did it was the bottle that hit is face. He slid of the table and sat beside Romance

Jinu dragged his hand down his face. "Sorry" He spoke "Didn't mean to bother you. Again" You shrug. "It's fine" You smile. You watch Baby and Romance have a back and forth with the Nintendo. Mystery sitting in a corner with his arms crossed. Abby was focused on a mirror trying to fix his hair.

The boys are more difficult to handle than you anticipated. Of course, being a manager is never easy for anyone. The Saja Boys were quite normal at first. Relaxed when you started managing them. That only lasted about a week.

You glance around the room. "You all have a meet and greet in the next hour. " The statement causes Romance to groan "Seriously? Can't we do it tomorrow?" Romance has been snappy as of recent. He has an attitude issue in general but it's gotten ridiculous. Abby snickered "What's your problem? " He asks looking over at Romance.

"You're his problem! " Mystery responds. You could sense an argument breaking out. Which would lead to more physical attacks. "That's enough. Meet and greet is today and that's fucking final" You grab the Nintendo from Baby's grasp

"Hey-"

"You've played this thing the whole week. Take a break" You walk over to the door. "If I come back here and you guys are still fighting, I'll start banning stuff"

None of the boys says a word. One thing they won't do is test your threats. When you sat you'll do something. It's most likely to happen. Like the one time you took away anything sweet. Baby lost it that week but it did teach him to stop throwing wet toilet paper at his members

You look over at Jinu, pulling the door open "Help them calm down, please? Not mad, just stressed. And extra help would be amazing" You say. Jinu opens his mouth to speak but closes it again. He smiles and nods. "Yeah. I can do that"

Hopefully Jinu, would be able to calm them down. For about 10 minutes top. But hey, gives you time to rethink your life choices

[gatheringbones]

guess i'll add my 2 cents/ovipositor but this discussion on like people taking authoritative "i know best" positions in relationships like. Kinda opened my eyes to my own behaviour and like. Idk i fell asleep reading the posts and asks and woke up and like immediately like whoa. Like yeah that's another instance of me being a condescending asshole & that's something I'm aware I go to when I'm angry. So it's interesting to like. Kinda connect it to anger I suppose. I don't really know where I'm going with this but like I do notice a trend of like... frustration? That drives my behaviour when I get like that. Like. I guess part of it is my own self-talk constantly going "okay you already know the steps to get better so why aren't you just taking them" and like. I guess externalizing that as well? Which is very uncharitable and like I'm kinda recoiling at thinking that I've been thinking about others this way this whole time bht like. That's really the flipside isn't it. Like the idea that I have Techniques that can Help and I gotta Share Them and figure out circumstances under which they don't work so I can figure out how to Make Them Work or something. Really miserable shit. Thanks so much for publishing your insights becaude like. This has been a really big breakthrough for me it's wild how despite me assuming like okay I generally don't think of myself as like Thinking I Know Best I guess I'm kinda. Thinking exactly that or if not that then something just as bad in a similar way. Hope you have a great day

quit moralizing it: human beings have rescue fantasies and get frustrated with idiots who need saving. if you’re lucky and brave you recognize the fantasies as they arrive and quit holding them against the people in need of rescue. after a couple of ego deaths and a handful of humiliating miserable failures that destroy every shred of self-worth you ever had you get better at spotting and transforming them into something useful.

[toaarcan]

Thinking about Transformers: Decepticons (2007) again.

It's a more obscure bit of TF fiction, but basically it was a game released for the DS as a tie-in for the 07 movie. That sounds like a recipe for disaster, but the game is actually really fucking good.

The game and its Autobot counterpart, released concurrently, both play well and have some excellent voice acting (Cullen and Welker are there, of course, but so are Steve Blum, Keith David, Daniel Ross, etc), but I don't want to talk about that, I want to talk about the Decepticon version's story.

The game puts you in control of a rookie Decepticon soldier, armed with the unique ability to store multiple vehicle forms and switch between them almost on the fly. Initially, he serves as Starscream's protege, deployed to Earth to assist in the hunt for the Allspark, and also to ensure Megatron never awakens from his icy imprisonment.

Over the course of the game, the protagonist is gradually recruited into Megatron's cult of personality, primarily by Barricade, and slowly turns on Starscream until he finally decides to help revive Megatron instead. Megatron makes his triumphant return, swears vengeance on the Autobots, humanity, and Starscream... and then everyone dies.

Yeah, in the console version of the game, the Decepticon campaign is a pretty generic villain campaign ending. The Autobots all die, Megatron wins and claims the Allspark, and the Decepticons take over Earth.

The Decepticon story on DS is a grim deconstruction of the faction that shows their ideology to be a farce, frames their loyalty to their leader as the source of their downfall, and ends with only Megatron still alive.

At the start of the game, the board is set up so that Starscream is the leader of the Decepticons, Megatron disappeared into space in search of the Allspark thousands of years ago, and ended up frozen beneath the Hoover Dam, and Barricade, Brawl, and Blackout are desperately trying to find him. Also, this is early, early Bayverse lore, so Megatron is literally a spark-eating cannibal. That will be important later.

Midway through the second act, the protagonist asks Barricade why the other Decepticons view Megatron as so much better than Starscream. Barricade replies that it's because they know where they stand with Megatron. Starscream is, well, Starscream. A cowardly weasel who would kill you in your sleep. Megatron would still kill you, but he'd have the spine to do it to your face. Which is... better, somehow?

The thing is, while this explanation works on the protagonist, Barricade will later be proven almost entirely wrong.

Later, when the Decepticons head to the dam to free Megatron, Starscream finally arrives in person and orders the protagonist to kill Megatron before he can thaw out, to prevent him from ever being revived. This all but confirms Barricade's assessment of Starscream in the protagonist's eyes, and he chooses to side with his new comrades over his former mentor, helping them to release Megatron.

And it's then that we get our first look at this version of Megatron. Upon his revival, he discovers that his weapon chip has been removed, and he is unable to fire his guns this way, and so he sits back and waits for Blackout to bring it to him.

Now, that might seem normal, but not if you play both versions of the game.

A bunch of missions are either shared between both games, or really similar to each other. And this mission has a counterpart in the Autobot version where, upon escaping from Sector 7's captivity, Bumblebee finds that he has also lost his weapon chip.

Bumblebee promptly goes to reclaim it himself, and fights through the military vehicles trying to stop him with his bare hands.

Now, Bumblebee is the weakest character in both games. Megatron is the strongest. And yet it's Bumblebee who is willing to throw down unarmed while Megatron waits for his giant, fully-armed attack dog to get his guns back for him.

Megatron then hangs back after sending his troops out to hunt down the Allspark and Starscream, and he's almost immediately punished for it. As he finally decides to leave, he's shot down by Jazz, who has set up a battery of anti-aircraft turrets that will shoot Megatron out of the sky if he tries to leave.

Megatron proceeds to kill Jazz pretty swiftly, and eats him, marking the second death of the game (Ratchet presumably dies fighting the protagonist in the Qatar section), but this is just the first step.

Back in the city, Brawl and Ironhide kill each other. Brawl isn't shown dying on-screen, but given later dialogue, it's implied that he didn't make it. And it's then that Starscream makes his move and it all comes crashing down.

Starscream chases Bumblebee, who has the Allspark, across the city, eventually cornering him in a car park. He then proceeds to beat Bumblebee to death with ease. It's not a remotely hard fight. You're the second-best character in the game, he's the weakest.

With Bumblebee dead, Starscream claims the Allspark for himself. Blackout arrives to try and take it from him in the name of Megatron, and Starscream immediately kills him with a single shot, just as Barricade catches up.

Barricade suggests that Screamer come quietly, but Starscream points out that he has been leading the Decepticon Empire for countless millennia, and, unlike Megatron, successfully claimed the Allspark. But Barricade is blinded by his own fanaticism, and decides to try and bring Starscream in for treason. This goes poorly for him.

Starscream could have killed Barricade just as quickly as he already did to Blackout... but he doesn't. Instead, he takes the time to demonstrate why he was the second-in-command before Megatron's absence, and why he's held onto the leadership for all these years despite his low approval among other Decepticons, and he takes Barricade apart, leaving him dying on the floor as the protagonist arrives.

And to me, this is the first real hint that Barricade is wrong. Because while Starscream did in fact command his lieutenant to kill Megatron in his sleep... Starscream isn't actually wrong about anything he's said. He has been running the empire, and arguably built it himself, considering that the Cybertronians hadn't left their homeworld when Megatron vanished. He did achieve the long-term goal of the Decepticon faction, and contrary to the way he's characterised by Barricade, he did it by slaughtering an Autobot and two Decepticons face-to-face.

Barricade, with his dying words, tells the protagonist "Now you see what it is to be a Decepticon." He'll turn out to be wrong about that too.

The protagonist chases after Starscream, and accuses him of stealing power from the mighty, but at this point he's fully drinking the Megatron Kool-Aid.

And where is Megatron while his most loyal soldiers are dying for him, and trying to reclaim the Allspark for him? He's ignoring the whole thing to go and fight Optimus Prime.

Prime has a pretty minimal role in the game, ironically, with the lion's share of the focus being on the Decepticons destroying themselves, but he gets Megatron dead-to-rights with one of his lines during the fight: "All you know is destruction, you will never build an empire."

Megatron kills Prime, only to be blasted off his feet by Starscream, who challenges him to meet him in battle. Megatron recovers, and with the help of the protagonist, goes to meet that challenge.

Sure is strange, then, that the protagonist arrives first.

I pointed out before that Megatron hangs back a lot in this game. He sits around when his weapon chip is taken, despite a much weaker bot getting his own chip back himself. He hangs back when the other Decepticons depart from Hoover Dam, enabling Jazz to get the drop on him. He gets distracted by Optimus while the rest of his troops are actually fighting to reclaim the cube. And now, despite leaving at the same time and almost certainly having the faster vehicle mode (the protagonist is usually a helicopter at this point), Megatron is nowhere to be seen when the protagonist reaches Starscream.

This Megatron consistent leads from the rear. He hangs back, sends his soldiers in first, and then arrives to finish off the enemy after the fact. He's a long way from the bold, straightforward 'bot that Barricade describes.

The protagonist manages to wrest the Allspark away from Starscream, and slams it into his chest, but unlike in the movie, it actually only injures the protagonist, while Starscream only seems to get more powerful. Megatron finally shows up, and eventually manages to deal a fatal blow to Starscream. But Starscream remains defiant to the end, there's no grovelling or pleading for mercy, he just spits that there will always be someone to challenge his rule. Megatron dismisses that threat, and consumes Starscream's spark too, killing him, but destroying the Allspark in the process.

Megatron returns to the injured protagonist, who expresses relief at their victory, but mourns over the loss of Barricade, Blackout, and Brawl (his line "Barricade and the others..." is what leads me to assume that Brawl is also dead), only for Megatron to dismiss them, saying that if they were truly Decepticons, they would've survived, equating them to "a rust that must be stripped away," before including the protagonist in that number. The protagonist says he could be repaired, but Megatron refuses, calling it a waste of resources, and proceeds to tear apart and devour his last living soldier.

Barricade never knew where he truly stood with Megatron. None of them did. He believed that, in dying for Megatron, in valuing his loyalty to his leader over his own life, that he was a true Decepticon, only for Megatron himself to equate him and his fellow loyalists to basically a robot skin rash, and say they were never really Decepticons because they died. The protagonist is instrumental in Megatron's revival and his victory, he could very easily have followed Starscream's instruction and killed Megatron in his sleep, but that show of loyalty isn't enough. Surviving the backlash of the Allspark's destruction isn't enough. He's "weak," so he's disposable.

Barricade, Blackout, and Brawl are fanatically loyal to a violent monster that sees them as expendable tools at best, and have convinced themselves in their heads that he's this great, honourable warrior who speaks to them honestly, but he's just as much of a dirty fighter as Starscream, if not more so, and he doesn't care about any of them. And they pull the protagonist into their way of thinking, tell him that their way is the true way, and it's all wrong. If the protagonist had stuck by Starscream, they would've won and reclaimed the Allspark. Megatron, Barricade, Blackout and Brawl would die, but the faction as a whole would win.

The overall goal of reclaiming the Allspark is rendered impossible, basically because Megatron and co. didn't like the guy that achieved it, and so they die like bugs hitting a windscreen until Megatron kills him and destroys the Allspark forever. The Decepticon empire that Starscream has held together for thousands of years is doomed to crumble as its leader is killed and replaced by a rabid animal with cannibalistic tendencies.

Megatron wins the final battle, and claims victory. But his plans are ruined, his soldiers are dead, at least one of them by his own hand, and the Allspark is forever gone from his reach. He is a king of nothing, and it's blind devotion to him, and inability to accept a better alternative on the part of his followers that results in the ending being what it is.

[yeiwo7]

I wanna be myself to you

Fluff Student!Gojo Satoru x Reader -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

He loves you like the flowers need the rain. He needs you like the kids love the spring rain.

The four of you had agreed to meet up after one of your solo missions, since they found some cute shop and arcade in the area.

The wheather forecast did say it was to rain, but the gloomy clouds were nowhere this morning when you set off for your mission, besides it said that it will rain in the late evening.

Well, that was not on your cards for today, because it was already raining pretty badly. Watching the droplets descend onto the bus's dirty window. The skies were so dark, even though it was only the afternoon. Early afternoon, infact, which means the sun should be out, alas getting a little drenched, a little sick should be rewarding after all this training, no?

Your phoke buzzed, annoyingly, you swipe open the screen and check your one and only alive group chat.

Sigma_Chainsmoker Girl, the clouds are hella pissy

I can tell😭

Bangs be bangin' Do you have an umbrella?

ehe😅

Diabetes in human form HAH Loseerr

Bangs be bangin' Sstoru Satoru* Be nice

Sigma_Chainsmoker lmao u cant see it but hes getting s beating dw girl we got u

Thank youuu😭😭😭 im arriving in liek 5 mins

Bangs be bangin' *lik alr saotru

Diabetes in human form ITS SATORU

Bangs be bangin' WAS GONNA CORRECT MYSELF. anyways☺️

Diabetes in human form dw ill be nice🙄

thats new

Diabetes in human form HEY be nice to meee im bringing u a gift

should i be worried?

Bangs be bangin' Yes.

Sigma_Chainsmoker yeah he left

Bangs be bangin' He runs like a lanky cockroach.

Sigma_Chainsmoker FR LMAOO😭😭

Placing your phone back onto your lap. Staring out the window, you watch the people pass by, with umbrellas in hand, shoulders drenched. You dozed off, wondering what Satoru wants to give you.

Meanwhile the white haired boy ran, umbrella in hand to avoid drenching his pretty white locks, rain dripping down his face to meet with his friend.

Friend? Now that he's alone, Satoru has more than enough time to think about this situationship you guys have got going on.

It had started a few months, when he caught you in a sad mood, staring at none other than Suguru Geto. His bestfriend. Feeling generous, and heartbroken he offered himself up for you to use to get over his best friend. Gojo never had any self respect to begin with. He knew the expectations that hung over his head like a guillotine.

He's cried over the fact that you're in love with his best friend, you've vented so many times to Shoko, which he's over heard.

Which is why Shoko is in quite the pickle. On one hand, she has you spilling your heart out about one of her bestfriends, while Satoru is sobbing to her with sweets in his hands about how you like Suguru all the while Suguru has no fucking clue.

It was true, in the beginning you absolutely hated Gojo's annoying ass. Instead, Geto was the one who just charmed you, yet now that infatuation has worn off. You see Suguru as a good friend who listens to all your rants about his best friend Satoru.

The two of you have been in this situationship where the pretense was Satoru would help you forget about your feelings for Suguru. It's been half a year?

Are you in love? Yes With Suguru? No

Is the inner conversation you have everytime Satoru pouts, bringing up Suguru which killed you. Having to lie straight to his face. He's such a helpful, selfless soul. Here you were shamelessly kissing him, making him believe he's the replacement.

The rain only poured louder, dark overcast draping over the cityscape, as you arrived to your buststop, already half soaked as you got off and stood underneath the bus stand. The love you felt for Satoru was different from Suguru's. Suguru felt like deep understanding and warm hug, but you couldn't see yourself with him in the long run. Where as Satoru? Y'all either growing old together or dying together. Wanna fall asleep to his voice and waking up to those sky blue flashlight eyes.

The rain felt warm on your skin, minutes have passed yet the bus stop sat empty, feeling a little dejected you decide to walk in some random direction. Contemplating on whether to go home or not.

Meanwhile, Satoru ran through the rain in desperation, wishing he'd be faster with his long feet, watching your saddened silhouette walk away from him. He doesn't want you walking away, leaving him in the rain.

Sure, he could teleport, but that would scare the few passerby near, his white hair is already a sight to see. He thought he could give you the umbrella, and a kiss perhaps...though he knew the latter would never happen.

You didn't love him.

Only using him to forget someone. Worst of all? He can't blame you, couldn't bring himself to. He needs you. You're one of the only people who truly support his stupidity, match his vibe and is pretty. Sure he has Shoko, Suguru, perhaps the first years, but they're not you. He wants you. He finally wants something, something he has to win.

Yelling your name, he ran.

You halt, hearing footsteps approach at a fast pace you turn around, face lighting up at the sight of a half-drenched Satoru, who wasn't looking up as he ran.

He bumped right into you, dropping the umbrella, grabbing onto your hands instead and swirling you around. The two of your twirl around in the rain, drenching your clothes. Yet, the radient smile on both your faces blur the worries away. Spinning and dancing like fools on a blue spring.

Then, once your legs tired out, you fall into his arms as he squeezes you tight. Both of you heaving and giggling like little children playing tag.

He breathed, eyes focused onto your ethereal face. He wanted to kiss you so bad. "I can't do this anymore."

Tilting your head to the side, you ask. "Hm? Can't do...what?"

"Y'know, our, uhm, situationship."

"Ah, no...no, that...that's understandable. " Slowly processing his words you felt your heart shatter, hugging him harder. "I...I-"

The both of your voices mix and swirl in the rain.

"I need to tell you something!"

"I have to tell you something."

You couldn't read his eyes, yet he held you close, so tight you though he'd die if he let go.

Averting his gaze you ramble. "Say it, 'Toru, what's wrong? I understand if you don't want to do this anymore. It'stotally okay, if anything jt was very mean of me to ask this of you, but I don't want to give up whatever we have-" He cupped your cheek, signaling for you to look up at him. Rendering you shocked and quiet he whispered with a new found softness in his voice.

"I want to be your boyfriend. Not my bestfriend's replacement. I wanna be yours, I want to be Satoru to you. Please?"

You hugged him. Snuggling your head into his chest, feeling the water on your skin, you look up to feel his soft lips kissing your forehead. "You always have been Satoru to me. Not Gojo, the strongest, not Suguru's replacement. You are the one I've fallen for, the love I felt for Suguru was different, it was more brotherly. I can'tsee myself with him, but you?"

Standing on your tippy toes, you kissed the bottom of his jaw. Leaving a lip stain there.

"I wanna be yours, will you accept me?"

"Yes, Toru, I always will. In any lifetime, I would fall in love with you."

[nyhti]

Just thinking about how much more social Jervis is than Hugo.

Jervis just always seemed far more extroverted than Hugo to me. Like Jervis readily joins other people's capers and all sorts of rogue get-togethers and what not and then there's his never ending quest to have every seat at his tea parties occupied. He clearly wants to be around other people even if other people don't always want to be around him. Hugo on the other hand is no where to be seen in team-up issues. He doesn't really work with others unless he's the one in charge and doesn't hang out with the other rogues casually either.

Hugo does have social needs as well, but to me it seemed like they are met with, like, having two close people (close by his standards, anyway). One of those two slots is always occupied by Bruce and the other is filled in by whoever he has around who's above an average henchman (Magda in Steve Englehart's run with whom he had an actual relationship with and then Dora in Transference, with whom... uuuhhhh... well that was a situation).

But just because he doesn't need much to have his social needs met, doesn't mean he doesn't desperately need them met. When he had no one in Gerry Conway's run what did he do? He build life-like robots that talked to him and laughed at his jokes. Conway's Hugo continues to be one of the saddest Hugos of all time to me. And then when they let Doug Moench write him he uuuuhhhhhhh... when he had no one in Prey, he uuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... in his loneliness he uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... Listen, I have many issues with how Doug Moench wrote Hugo, but his desperation for another human's touch was not ooc.

He's also just far more reserved and quiet than Jervis is in general. I recently read Salvation Run again and it was quite fun to compare the two in it. Like first of all they play no part in the story and are barely there at all, but Jervis still pops up here and there to say a few lines, like he's clearly part of this whole thing and feels the need to give his opinion on everything, but Hugo? Hugo says one half a sentence and then we never see him again lmao. Of course that's just the writer not feeling like putting him in scenes, but the way I read it was that he didn't want to take part in anything, just like the way he's always MIA whenever there's some sort of big event with all the rogues.

Idk, Hugo has that delicious dichotomy of how differently he presents himself in a social situation when he's in charge of everything versus when he's not. How dominant and talkative he is when he's the one who holds all the strings, when the people he's interacting with are his henchmen, his monster men, or people he's close with. But then when forced into a social situations where he has no control, he gets quiet and he isolates. He's unironically a little bit shy.

One of the characters of all time, but anyway, what I'm trying to say is that somehow, someway, out of the two of them Jervis is the one to go:

[dark-lord-of-awesomeness]

Okay kinda joke ask, but Shapeshifter! Stan suddenly needing a women form and fucks around and makes a female version of himself… literally. Same looks, but more fem, same personality, literally calls Ford his twin, the whole shimbam. Also I imagine Stan is like 100% comfortable in a female body, but not with female pronouns. So you will just have Ford be like, “this is Stanley! He’s my twin brother! :)” with the most feminine person ever (this is nothing against any trans guy, or guy in general, who enjoy looking super fem while still being a guy. It was just a hilarious image to think of this scenario happening specifically in the 1980’s (also I feel like gravity falls would give zero fucks, they are somehow the most progressive society, accepting polyamory, homosexual marriages, interracial marriages etc. all from the very beginning of the town and also the least progressive society, where people with red hair literally can’t marry anyone with a different hair color, tho tbh I don’t think they enforce it, they just have not changed the laws lol))

Also nothing in this is meant to be a dig at anyone or be offensive, but please do let me know if it is. Thanks!

I don't think its offensive, but I am also human and don't tend to experiment with gender or gender expression, so if I'm wrong feel free to correct me.

While this does sound like something Stan would do when bored, its not an idea i'd personally explore. In this case its less to do with anything more than lack of interest than anything else.

Similar to romance, I don't really... understand? Gender. I'm a triple A, asexual, aromantic, agender. There's nothing there for me, its just me all the way down. Its not something I really get? Like. Pronoun-wise nothing really feels correct but also it doesn't really matter? To me? So works that explore gender stuff, while interesting, don't overly appeal to me as a writer.

Ford also calls Stan his twin brother no matter what Stan looks like. He gets a lot of side eyes whenever Stan's wearing anything other than his base lol. They go for a walk and Stan's a dog? Still his twin brother. Stan shifts to get the senior discount? People mutter about how strange to see someone so young with dementia. Stan's a woman? Good for him? Is he... planing on making changes? or did they get this backwards and now they need to beat Ford to a pulp?

[fleetinglyshelved]

21 Days

One thing that really fascinates me about the relatively short time Murderbot and ART spend together in Artificial Condition is that when you consider what they are and what they're doing during that trip, it's not actually that short after all.

To get the obvious out of the way: They're a bot and a construct, they don't have human sleep cycles. I'm not sure if we can assume they were "awake" the entire time (minus of course the surgery), but let's just generously assume that it extends the time they spend together by roughly a third (we don't know how long the days they're going by actually are, probably not the 28-hour Preservation Standard Days) compared to what it would be like for humans spending 3 weeks together. There's also the consideration that their much faster processing power draws time out even further, but I think that gets a bit too technical and ambiguous to properly consider, but it's something to generally keep in mind.

Which brings me to my next point, which is how they spend those 3 weeks together, which is where Rogue Protocol provides some interesting context:

I had spent three other transport trips, including the one with ART, mostly without moving.

We're aware of course of the time that was interrupted, but it's safe to say that it really did spend most of the time just sitting in its favorite chair, watching media with ART.

And then there's this part:

I had been in Miki’s feed, the connection so intimate even though I’d had my walls up.

Watching media together goes hand in hand with ART sitting in its feed, a connection that Murderbot specifically describes as intimate, that Murderbot metaphorically compares to being squished in a chair. And they spend almost 21 (literally!) entire days like this.

[corner-collects-rocks]

im curious if renee actually thought jean was the right person, wrong time or if she said it to try and give jean a chance to move on.

(this is probably gonna get rambly and stop making sense but im tired and thinking so enjoy what my head organ has chosen to provide)

i head canon renee as aroace so that plays a factor into this but; i think renee was trying to help jean move forward whilst still leaving herself open to talk to. the reason renee and jean start talking is because neil asks her to reach out. i do think they had a genuine friendship and maybe they both had feelings for each other but i dont think renee did.

personally i think renee seeks companionship over partnership. i think thats also why her dynamic with andrew works so well. i dont think either of them were interested in each other romantically but they could find value in seeking out each others company. i think she was striving for a similar dynamic with jean, and jean (bless his poor bisexual soul) was attracted to renee in part because she was beautiful but also because they don’t really have rainbows in the nest. renee was one bright thing when dealing with the torture he endured in the nest. (think of it like a one sided trauma bond, or like a “the waiter was nice to me i think they might be in love with me” type of deal)

i havent read all the EC but im pretty sure we dont get to know much of what jean and renee discuss. in general (iirc) it seems a lot of what we see from renee is her offering jean kindness and some safety in a place where all of his had been striped away.

also after jean moves out to california renee isnt something he really dwells on (fair enough moving is rough on its own, let alone leaving a cult) i understand that renee is also something jean chooses to keep private even from us the readers(shout out the literal end of the golden raven filling us in that they text REGULARLY) but from what i’ve seen people tend to think about their situationships a lot even after they move on since they tend to leave more of an impression since the human brain loves to dwell on “what could’ve been”

anyway i’ve lost my train of thought with this, if i find it i may reblog w/ more thoughts. in conclusion, jeanee (whatever their shipname is idk) works better as a platonic dynamic and renee walker is aroace and i love her!!! also petition for renee to be jeans best man at the wedding, or have cat and renee co-best man.

Sincerely, Corner

P. S. nora please please please let renee and jean hang out in the broken cage. as a treat!! like even if its only for a little bit after a game or something (trojans play at foxes stadium and they go out after or whatever) i think they deserve a debrief! and renee i think would like to hear how jeans list has grown (because oh boy has it) and my girl deserves to see some good come to her after all the shits shes seen!! renee walker ily and ur awesome and holy shit u deserve so much. i want to know so much more abt u diva. so much. please nora i am begging you.

[lesb0]

And I know I'm saying this on the no reading comprehension illiteracy website but. True theologies are not patriarchal, religious institutions are. The xenofeminists use specific academic phrases and terms very, very deliberately. They reject theology when they shouldve targeted religion.

In original ancient texts, almost none of them assert males as superior to women, especially not in piety. Misogynist principles are contingent upon the misogynistic heteropatriarchal leaders who control religions. For example, in the Quran, it is written that women should hide our jewels. That means a sheer fabric draped over piercings, ears, neck, and wrists when she's around unfamiliar men who could rob her. It also says women AND MEN should dress modestly. That's it.

That was distorted by extremist men who hate women to mean they need to cover their entire body and each strand of hair in all black and never go outdoors or be attacked with acid and murdered.

Likewise, when Saint Jerome/Hieronymus translated the first Hebrew bible to Latin, he emphasized in his exegesis the importance of female heroines like Judith and Bathsheba and Mary. He ignored other men who told him not to give sermons to women, and instructed them on how to be early church leaders (as a gay man, women felt more comfortable trusting him as their intercessor). Mary was initially regarded as the most important and physically powerful figure in all of Christiandom, the queen of heaven and chosen by god to be completely perfect, spiritually and physically. In renaissance hiearchies of scale, Mary could be 10-20 feet tall standing, if she isn't just physically higher up than all donor portraits. Even compositions like these were controversial:

Jesus was of course an imperfect human guy, flesh mortified, tested, and sacrificed to apologize for and redeem the ugliness of humanity. He could be a tiny baby, a dead, rotting corpse, a miserable crying heap, or show his penis. People were extremely interested in his raw humanity. St Mary (and to a lesser extent, St Anne) was only represented in early and renaissance art as an immaculate, gigantic, glowing being, the second version of Eve, the intercessor between humans and angels, and the queen of heaven and earth, the only one capable of creating a demigod from her body, and she never dies. She goes to heaven directly, crowned as the Madonna Assunta.

But misogynist men in control of the church have long corrupted the actual principles of theology, which in themselves can be interpreted into a feminist agenda just as well as I've done through my original research.

This is why I as an observant atheist love to study all theologies, which are just narrative myths and legends used to explain intellectual morality theories. I think they are a very crucial branch of general philosophical inquiry and it is completely anti-intellectual to claim it has no place in feminist politics when it could be leveraged as such an important tool in countering legislation. But religion-faith is where all the actual theological principles go to complete shit, these fanatics usually have no idea what they're talking about when posturing themselves as an authority.

[bloggingboutburgers]

Hi ! I don't know if you've heard of it, but I recommend you In Stars And Time ! I've seen your comics about aro/ace rep and this game is super good at it, in addition to the fact that it's an amazing game in general. (slight spoilers below)

There's a (human) character who's aroace and struggles to accept herself, and it's heartwarming to see her understand over time that it's okay to feel like this and she doesn't need to change <3

There's also the main character, who is ace and some flavor of aromantic, and their relashionship with Mirabelle (the aroace girl) is veeery qpr looking, so it's basically a given for the fandom now (fandom that's actually very respectful of aro and ace identities)

The dev (@/insertdisc5 ) is French too !

And there's amazing enby représentation !

So uh thank you for reading all this, I am sorry to bother you but I've been thinking about your blog and I wanted you to know that this game existe, plus it's really not known enough which is sad..

If you decide to check it out, that's awesome but make sure to check the trigger warnings ! It's basically the hurt/comfort trope but on a much bigger scale

Have a good day ! (Or whatever time or the day it is in the US...) I love your comics <3

Thank you for the recommendation! We actually started the game with my partner a while ago (we didn't expect any French at the time so going into that blind was hilarious), but then I guess life came up and we got out of time and never continued it yet... We still aim to get to the end of it at some point!

(On that note I believe the creator is Canadian actually? Maybe French-speaking Canadian? ...But idk I might be wrong)

Yeah either way we haven't gotten to the point where any character is confirmed to be aroace. There's definitely hints and relatable moments which have been very satisfying (hints of other things in other characters too tbh), but nothing I could call a confirmation of anything, so I guess we have much to see still! (...Well, now I guess who the aroace character is supposed to be, if anything, didn't know that yet 🙈 I'll add a spoilers tag in the tags if that's OK!)

Definitely liked what I've seen thus far though, it's been a vibe, and from what I've seen I'd recommend it to anyone for any reason, it's a very intriguing came in a good way and the character designs are pristine^^ So yeah, it deserves to be known!