#(don't answer that. it's a rhetorical question)

[its-tuff-out-here]

Rafayel × fem!Reader/MC/whoever you want

It's finally my day off, and I had nothing better to do. Not used to being without work, I decided to bother my boyfriend.

Which, normally, he wouldn't mind. But Thomas has been on his ass, so he's not able to pay much attention to me. And hes been grumbling about it since i arrived.

"What if I just don't finish this?" He asks rhetorically.

Despite it being a rhetorical question, I answer regardless. "No, Thomas is gonna be mad and end up lecturing me about distracting you."

He groans loudly in response and continues to paint. His hand moving harshly as if using the paintbrush to slice the canvas. Paint splattering, which makes me take a step back.

I lay on his couch and watch him. "Please don't break or rip the canvas. Then you'd have to restart."

Rafayel scoffs. "Nah, it would be part of the art. Very creative and artistic to change the canvas, you know."

"Right, right. Of course." I merely hum as I watch him.

Suddenly, I hear a notification from my phone and look down to read it. A random account texted you, and the profile picture shows a pretty girl.

Sylvia: Hi! Im sorry, i know you don't know me. But I just wanted to tell you that you're literally so gorgeous! 🥰

And of course, there's nothing else for me to do but squeel quietly and kick my feet in the air.

Rafayel looks back at me in confusion. Easily distracted from his painting. "What's up with you?"

"A pretty girl called me gorgeous!" I answer with a huge grin.

Rafayel's brows furrow subtly. "Oh yeah?" He huffs and turns back to his painting. "I call you gorgeous all the time. I've never seen you squeel like that." He grumbles.

I roll my eyes. "One, you're my boyfriend, your opinion is biased-"

Rafayel whips his head back at you indignantly. "It is not-"

"Two, she's a pretty girl. Being complimented by beautiful women is much different." I finish, matter of factly.

Rafayel's brows furrow deeper. "... Who would you rather get complimented by?"

I look back at him in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Pretty women, or me?" He asks.

"You're ridiculous." I sigh.

"You're not answering the question." He retorts.

"Obviously, you."

"Is it obvious?" He pouts and stands up to walk towards you. "Lemme see who it is."

I roll my eyes once more before giving him my phone as I sit up on the couch.

"No pictures on her account other than a cat. Automatically suspicious." He grumbles. "I think she's a scammer. Shouldn't text her back."

I huff and stand to try to grab the phone back, but Rafayel dodges my hands easily. "Raf!!"

"And she's not even pretty! First of all, I'm much prettier!" He continues to speak as he looks at her profile picture.

I scoff. "Comparing anyone to you is unfair. That's like comparing a professional's greek statue to a beginner's pottery cup."

He immediately perks up at that and grins. "Yeah? You think I'm as handsome as a greek statue, cutie?" He all but purrs as he teases.

"I never said that." I grumble in embarrassment.

"You said im the most attractive man in the world." He says as his grin widens.

"I never said that, either!" I exclaim.

"You basically did." He says with a cheeky grin.

He sets my phone down on the coffee table before wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling us both down to fall onto the couch.

"You think I'm handsome." He whispers happily.

"Obviously." I huff. "Im not blind."

He chuckles and pulls me tighter into his embrace.

"The most handsome in the world?" He asks.

I merely hide my face into the crook of his neck. Annoyed and embarrassed by his teasing.

"I'll take your silence as a yes." He concludes before kissing the top of my head.

"I also think you're gorgeous." He whispers, as if it's a secret for just the two of you. "So much so that the art i make always seems dull beside you. The day I make something nearly as magnificent as you is the day that I can retire. Because nothing else i make would be able to match it."

I can't help but snort. My cheeks burning against his neck. "You're so cheesy."

I can hear his grin before he shifts me in his embrace, forcing me out of my hiding spot to look at him. "I might be. But it's your fault." He accuses.

I look at him incredulously. "How is that my fault? I never say stuff like that, so you couldn't have gotten it from me."

"True." I feel his lips on my forehead. "But you're so breathtaking." His lips move to my cheek. "There's no oxygen left to go into my brain." Another kiss to the opposite cheek. "How am I supposed to think of anything smart to say when I cant even think?"

He continues to litter kisses all over my face. I feel my cheeks burn brighter, both from his words and actions.

"You're too attractive. It's dangerous at this point." He sighs as he finally relents with the kisses and plops his head back onto the armrest of the couch dramatically with his eyes closed.

"You're so lame. I wanna bite your head off and chew." You blurt out.

He smiles and cracks his eyes open enough to look down at me. "I love you too."

I nod my head. "Mhm, we just said the same thing."

He chuckles and finally pecks my lips.

My phone goes off one more time. We both glance over and the same girl from before texted me. Seeming uncaring that I haven't responded to her first text.

Sylvia: I'm sorry if this is rude, but are you into girls, by any chance?💕

Rafayel immediately tries getting the phone first, but he's held down by my body on top of his. "Tell her you're not. You're only into Rafayels. Specifically Rafayel Qi. Actually, only Rafayel Q-"

"I got it, I got it." I laugh softly as I text her back. Merely apologizing and saying I'm taken, while also thanking her for the compliments.

"Whyd you say you're sorry?" Rafayel grumbles as he reads your texts.

"Because I might've saddened her or hurt her for rejecting her?" I answer.

Rafayel grabs your phone and gently tosses it to the side. "Don't be sorry. Reject people with confidence and without shame. You're dating me after all."

I sigh once more and lay my head on his chest. "Youre so annoying."

"You love me."

"I do."

[femmehaljordan]

Saw someone ask why people are Batman haters then get mad when people answered. This is the internet, even if you mean it rhetorically from your perspective that doesn't mean everyone else will see, "Why hate Batman?" and think it isn't a question that they want asked.

If you want an echo chamber of people who only agree with you and are apologists for character don't ask people why they dislike them because they'll answer. And if you don't want them to answer, specify in the post. Like "Batman Haters DNI" or something.

Making a post saying why hate character, getting mad when people answer, telling them you don't want Batman hate on your posts (the responses weren't even harsh, just stuff like his treatment of Steph), blocking them, then vagueing about them like you didn't fucking ask is just so . . . idk the word, echo chamber loving behavior?

I'm a Jason fan if I went, "Why do so many people hate Jason Todd?" I wouldn't then get mad if people said why they hate Jason Todd on my post asking why people hate Jason Todd (unless it was one of the popular but straight up untrue arguments used in fandom). And if I did, the Jason Todd haters would no doubt get annoyed at me for it.

People actually make these kinds of posts genuinely in this fandom and I'm honestly really impressed by the people who are genuinely interested in hearing opposing opinions and listening to other people's stances and why they happen. I think that is really mature. But asking people to assume that everyone wants to live in a echo chamber with zero critique of their special guys and doesn't want any reasons that anyone could possibly dislike their guy presented to them even when they ask why is wild.

Sorry about this, it's just it feels like some Batman fans are behaving worse than usual and after years of "hold Jason accountable" I'm a little angry at the "no Batman critique ever" mentality seemingly entering the Batman fandom despite his numerous actions worth critiquing. (But hypocrisy does seem to be key trait of Batman so I guess it makes sense.)

No exactly!!!! I’m so tired of stuff like that. Like. If you ask you’re gonna get answers

[xarrixii]

you know what no fuck it i'm answering this question in the most ideal form possible. what changes?

1.) Alph looks different.

"What a strange thing to say," you claim. Well I think it's better than Alph not existing at all. Let me explain. Alph gets their looks from their mother Amaterasu and their father Garry, but looks the most like their mom.

Chapter 24, Jackstalk: "Cinder is a byproduct of a series of inhumane kinetic experiments started by a kinetics scientist that had to continue his research under the radar. All of us A-1s are born from the same dead woman he hired to give him human subjects to work with." Amaterasu's mother would not have ended up with Amaterasu's biological father if the experimentation didn't happen. Would the "Wolfords" still exist is another question, but I'll say yes for simplicity.

Alph's grandfather is different, therefore Alph looks different. Moving on.

2.) Amaterasu is around.

This one's probably not a surprise. Cinder doesn't exist as a result of dropping the kinetics experimentation project, and Nacht has no motivation to be Nacht, so we end up with no Cinder, no Storm, and Amaterasu able to be there for her kid.

I'm not saying her romantic orientation is any different, though. Her and Garry still don't live together, but Alph is likely traded between their parents whenever they want. Amaterasu is a great mom, I've decided.

3.) Harlow is a completely different person.

The terrified, anxious creature that is currently a main character is a confident and strong-willed person who was never subjected to the sins of his family line. A.K.A: Loriann breaks the cycle of abuse instead of perpetuating it.

Harlow probably doesn't directly follow the footsteps of the rest of his family and instead goes some Government-Justice route (either some equivalent to CIA, FBI, or Special Forces. doesn't matter). Pierre, on the other hand, is alive and might. Because Trevor is a convincing man.

4.) Alph and Harlow still meet.

They still meet at the game convention, but it's under entirely different circumstances. Harlow never walks away from the Flash Fire Spar arcade game and Alph is so intensely charismatic that they still end up becoming friends.

5.) Alph (still) decides to become a cop.

Scandalous. Terrible. Without Harlow's original backstory, how does Alph learn about the negative pyrokinetic practices of the squad? Well, uh, probably because Alph was briefly in one of the Pyrokinetic Rehabilitation Clinics themself. See, without Amaterasu's negative background, she's not nearly as rich or skilled as the plot I've settled on for the story, and Alph struggles through pyrokinesis on their own.

Why still decide to be a cop? Alph still deeply cares for people and wants to change the system. Alph gets to change it by being a part of it and at least forcing their region to change. They're still an eternal producer of ACAB rhetoric.

6.) Liam finds a (much) safer way to provide for his two siblings early on.

Liam lore drop??? Yeah, anyway. Liam doesn't immediately join Storm. Because Storm doesn't exist. He probably still joins some form of organization that ends up being terrible before leaving and swearing on its destruction but that's... a little deep to consider for a theoretical "what if things weren't sucky."

7.) Alph has another aunt.

No explanation for this one. That'd be a little too much spoiling.

8.) Jackstalk is still a good criminal along with maybe Morgen.

Chapter 24, Jackstalk: "What’s important is that Morgen’s off in the aether now, HY/AY-A." Morgen is one of Alph's uncles, and his pronouns are different than the current story because of the reasoning Morgen edits his pronouns. It's complicated.

Anyway. Mariah Wolford is poor and that's because of her nationality being a part of a nation that hates its people and I'm not really changing societal structure here. "Who is Mariah?" No.

So Jackstalk, as her eldest, goes off and finds work wherever he can find work. Which, did you guess it? Good crime. Yay! Jackstalk is just the one cool uncle that you KNOW is in the mafia but can't prove it. joy. Morgen joins too because Morgen genuinely wants to rather than out of need.

9.) um yeah out of steam

And they all live happily ever after.

question for authors: what if the plot just. didn’t. didn’t happen. what if their world just stayed normal. what if they didn’t need to suffer the way a plot demands, grow the way their current arcs dictate. yk. what if nothing happened.

[holy--milk]

people be like "stop calling mxtx a genius, she's not even the best author in her particular niche",

and i'm like "but have you considered that i don't care if she's not objectively the best author as long as she's able to write characters and stories that make me go Insane for literal years?"

[musette22]

How do you keep the hyperfixation alive on this ship when there is so little new content?? Not hate just genuinely curious

Easy!

We make new content ourselves!

We thoroughly (re)enjoy and (re)share the heaps and heaps of incredible older content that is still available (like.... there is so much. I have been in this fandom for so long and there are still lots and lots of posts I haven't reblogged, fics I haven't read)

I don't keep the hyperfixation alive, the hyperfixation keeps me alive

To be honest though, I don't know that for me personally it is a hyperfixation? Can something still be called that when it's been consuming you with the same kind of intensity for eight years straight? Not to sound melodramatic, but I feel like Stucky is woven into my being now; they're literally inked into my skin in several places. It's not something I see myself moving on from just because the fandom has quietened down over the past few years. Sure, new content helps, and a lively fandom community helps, but that's not what keeps my love for them alive. That's just something that is just part of me now, I think.

But yes, dramatics aside: making new content ourselves, and reblogging older posts, sharing and supporting new creations by others (of which there are still quite a lot, actually!), leaving comments, yelling in the tags, making new friends and screaming with them about how much we love this ship.... Those are very much all still things we can easily do to make sure the fandom continues to thrive, albeit in a somewhat condensed form. We have to make it happen ourselves! ❤️

[teapetal44]

The state of the league of villains during act 3 is so sad man. Compress literally gave his ass for the league, got arrested and nobody gaf. Twice’s demise amounted to nothing, nobody cared. The whole discrimination arc Spinner was involved in was a mess. Suddenly Hori decided he cared about realism in his story so Toga dropped like a fly from a simple blood transfusion. Dabi is forced to sit and listen to Endeavor whine and yap about how sad he is about being an abusive pos, all the while nobody actually cares and he never got any real repercussions besides his family being (justifyingly) mean to him. Shigaraki was sidelined for a boring villain and was stripped off all his autonomy and agency.

[thistledropkick]

So uh... Immediately after Wrestle Kingdom, the big show that brings in both new and lapsed NJPW fans, and Wrestle Dynasty, the AEW crossover show that was intended to bring new overseas fans to NJPW... New Japan management decided to take the only commentary staff member who speaks any Japanese at all off commentary for two months? So the only remaining English language commentator will just not have any clue what anybody is saying during the entire show? Right when a large influx of new English speaking fans is expected? And they're doing all this just as Kidani, who owns NJPW's parent company, was complaining to Tokyo Sports about how NJPW isn't getting enough overseas fans? Have I got that right?

[fromtheseventhhell]

Why is it always people who don't even like Arya trying to police how we speak about her? They clearly don't read her chapters and couldn't come up with five things they like about her to save their lives, yet they're always worrying about what we have to say. They really can't stand that we don't view her as a one-dimensional prop for another character 🥴

[elderflowerprince]

a friend convinced me to start playing warframe and i was like wow a robot(?) assistant character guy who makes terrible puns and adores you... my favourite character type... then i put him in the rotomdex casing as a shitpost because i DEEPLY desire to carry ordis around in my pocket. why is he "ship cephalon" where even is he. is he in a part of the ship i don't have access to yet. why can't i pat him gently or prod him with my stylus how is this even fair. also what is wrong with him

[deanpinterester]

they should invent a period that just discards the blood and has no other effects on you physically or mentally

[thebleedingalien]

I don't get into yumeshipping too often but I selfship with these two bozos waaayyyy too much I'm legit in love with em

What do these f/os say about me I wonder?

[itsactuallyicedcoffee]

year's almost over, and i haven't lezzed out with another girl even once! what have i been fucking doing this whole time?

[babyangelsky]

It's Oh's mother causing all these problems, isn't it? Two in one day is unlikely. This is how mother dearest has chosen to "deal" with Fah.

[sunnyautumns]

Why are people who dislike Life is Strange: Double Exposure like that? You can literally talk about anything else with your time. You don't need to obsessively post and comment about a game you don't like and haven't played. There are thousands of games out there, I am sure you can find something you like.

[thesimselfsworld]

I know some people probably wank it to WickedWhims but idk how they take it seriously with the Simlish sounds. It just sounds so unhinged that its funny to me LOL do they play with the sound off

[girlonthelasttrain]

why are so many DSM-V diagnostic criteria just "odd and unconventional thinking". unconventional for whom?? odd compared to what exactly?? how is that different from saying 'bad vibes'. how is that not also a consequence of ostracism and isolation rather than a cause