#Asking someone he was afraid of to make sure it won't backfire too hard

[shwoo]

Day 30 of Flooftober! The home stretch. I'll do the last one tomorrow because there's 16 characters and no such thing is the 32nd of October I think. I could've just left Floofty out of the potential characters for them to talk to, but that's no fun. Anyway, this one has Cromdo, and the the prompts are Ketchup/Ranch/Cheese/Hot/Chocolate. So sauces, basically. But I did name them all in the story.

(Prompt list)

Title: Focus on major safety concerns Summary: Cromdo asks Floofty for help with a new business venture. (Also on AO3)

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"So, how much you charging for this?" said Cromdo.

"Oh?" said Floofty, who hadn't even considered money. Their PhD stipend wasn't much, but it was at least a steady income for the foreseeable future, something Cromdo still lacked. "No charge. Consider it a gift."

Cromdo waved his arms. "Whoa whoa whoa. I ain't going down that road again."

"The road of… cost reduction?" said Floofty, confused. Didn't Cromdo like money? That was just about all they would've been able to say about him in the past

"If I start taking 'gifts'," Cromdo made quotation fingers with both paws, "then suddenly they turn into 'I did so much for you, Cromdo, when're you doing something for me? We gotta square things up!' Feh! Let's figure all that out up front, huh? I'm giving Wambus a fair deal for his sauces, and I'm gonna give you a fair deal to tell me what's in 'em."

"Why would I…?" Floofty began, then sighed. Clearly they weren't the only Grumpus who didn't understand other people. "If you are so intent upon giving me money, I suppose I can accept. I will calculate a fair rate, and communicate to you it by the end of the day." Besides, if they didn't go along with Cromdo's confusing demand, he might change his mind about wanting their help.

"Great!" said Cromdo. "Pleasure doing business. Just you watch: Sauce cocktails are gonna be the next big thing! Cheese that never curdles? Liquid peanut butter? Ranch… Eh, I'll think of something for ranch."

"Will you be requiring an analysis of all known sauces?" said Floofty, curious. They didn't drink themself. They didn't see the appeal in deliberately making themself stupider. But mixed drink design was something they'd never really thought about before. It probably involved some level of skill. A lot of things did, they'd been learning. "Chocolate, ketchup, hot sauce?" Were there spicy cocktails? If so, why? Chocolate they could sort of see the appeal of.

"You kiddin'?" said Cromdo. "They're gonna be my go-tos! A little ketchup, a little hot sauce, and you're halfway to a Snaktooth Bloody Mewry! Uh, once you give the all clear."

"I must say, I hope I do," said Floofty. Would hot sauce really work in a Bloody Mewry, or any kind of mixed drink? Not that they were going to show their ignorance and ask.

[christronomy]

"is this what real love feels like?"

he'd asked himself this question when he first realized he loved you, but he wasn't sure just yet. he wanted to wait it out a little longer, test the waters a little more for his own sanity. it wasn't the first time he'd felt this way— hopelessly in love, like he's falling, falling, hard, fast, too fast, not knowing what the outcome was going to be when he landed.

the questions constantly raced through his mind; they were repetitive and made his head spin with uncertainty and fear. would he hit the ground and never get back up, never recover? or would you be there to catch him and break his fall? what if he let himself fall freely? could he trust you enough to be there? what if it backfired on him and you ended up leaving right before it was time to save him?

it wasn't the first time he'd done this— shared his body with someone in hopes of making them stay a little longer, maybe even love him a little more. "you don't have to do that," you'd said, and he looked at you, confused. it was late at night, you were both naked under the covers, and he tensed up as you gently caressed his body, only confirming your suspicions all the more. "do what?" he questioned, briefly avoiding eye contact, and you raised your eyebrows. "you know. we all have needs, and that's okay, chris. it's never too much to ask for affection sometimes," you reassured him softly, whispering the last part as you tucked your cheek into his chest, and he instinctively held his breath, not being able to relax his body completely until he fell asleep.

it was a bad habit he'd started to develop after his first heartbreak, along with the constant second-guessing himself, and the constant doubting of his ability to love back freely without having to worry about what might happen in the future. because that's what happens when you give so much of yourself to someone and they end up leaving, without a word, without reason, taking everything with them, leaving you with only the useless remains of what once was something so priceless, so beautiful.

but with you, god, with you, things are completely different. you make him want to do everything he's ever been afraid of doing. you make him want to open up and love you freely, love you without feeling like he has to watch his back to make sure you won't attempt to hurt him when he's not looking. it's a new feeling, not very familiar, but he wants it to be. he wants to love you like this. he wouldn't do it any other way.

that's why you're currently under him, already a moaning mess, his hands are gripping your waist like you'll disappear if he doesn't hold on tight enough. it's a pretty tight squeeze, but you don't mind it at all, not when he's fucking into you so passionately, making love to you in the best way he knows how.

you can't help the tears that had been welling up in your eyes, letting them spill out, because he's finally opening up, giving himself to you without hesitation. he's not recoiling and shutting you out like he used to, because for once, this feels right. what was once such a tedious chore to him is now something he's doing willingly. it doesn't feel the same as it did before, when he would fuck you good and hard just to make you feel like you had a reason to stay. and to you, he doesn't feel so absent anymore. he's engaged, making eye contact, whispering sweet praises in your ear, moaning whenever you clenched around him, touching everywhere his hands can reach.

and god did it feel good. it feels good to let himself melt into you like this, let you touch him the way you want. it feels so good to relish in the way you moan his name as he angles his hips to hit that particular spot inside of you just right, feeling your pretty cunt pulsate around him, and you absolutely adore the way he tosses his head back, small whines escaping his lips at the feeling.

chris brings his hands up to cup your cheeks as he continues to thrust into you slowly now, wiping your tears with his thumbs and kissing you deeply, and his heart skips a few beats at the way you moan in his mouth when he does so. the kiss made something flourish inside of him, a feeling that was so unfamiliar but felt like home at the same time, and he could feel it in the way you both smiled against each other's lips. you were his girl, his love, who healed his heart in so many ways, and he would never trade you for anything else.

this is what real love feels like.

[pikemoreno]

Ooo girl can I have a ship w/ Kylo possibly? I'm Maria, I'm 5'2" with light tan skin and brown eyes. I have chest length indigo hair and its usually pulled up into a bun. I'd describe myself as both an introvert & extrovert. I have a good sense of humor but have a hard time taking a joke. I'm more of a creative person than analytical. Im not afraid of a fight/confrontation but at times I close up & won't speak my mind. I stress easily but have gotten better & enjoy making others okay 1st over me

your ships are so good i feel like i have a lot of pressure here to make this real good ahhh ok here goes. (you get a long-form one because you are exchanging ships with me, as the rules say. hoorah!)

so usually when i do ships it’s me choosing who the person is best with but like, your request is exactly what i would have chosen anyway so this is good.

ship: kylo

brotp: hux.

allegiance: first order (ish)

force user?: yep

headcanons (lol these just keep turning into crappy drabbles mb):

so you were definitely another one of the young force users being trained by luke before it all went to hell in a handbasket. you and ben were super close in your time training so when he took off, he asked you to join him. you did not at all understand what was going on and something about it definitely didn’t feel right to you, but you saw the pain in his eyes. he was being torn apart and you weren’t sure where he was going, but, stars, you couldn’t let him be alone wherever it was. you were never REALLY in on all the first order nonsense (murder of civilians for a map? uh no thanks) but you stuck with kylo. he needed you and wondered if your presence made him a little better.

hint: it did. it made him a lot better. you reminded him of his past life in all the good ways and boy did it conflict him. of course, snoke recognized both a) kylo’s care for you (”it makes him weak”) and b) how your presence made him less likely to go through with snoke’s unthinkable acts he would command. so let’s just say snoke and you weren’t exactly tight. 

kylo’s real turn began on the day when snoke sent a particularly sneaky first order operative to hurt you, he meant to kill you, have you out of the picture so he could fully control kylo and blame it all on an escaped first order prisoner to reignite his rage against them. it backfired. snoke and the operative seemed to forget that you’re a badass. you escaped the operative and got him to tell you the whole thing. and when you brought that back to kylo? he was furious. swore to kill his master. which he, of course, did. his mind continued to be manipulated by darkness so that he continued on in its ways as supreme leader, but you were still there to bring him back to the ground every time. you might’ve even acted as a double agent for the resistance on a couple of occasions to save them from some particularly major losses. you wanted them to win, you wanted kylo off this tirade and to be him again. your bargaining chip in these endeavors was that, if they won and if kylo did turn, they wouldn’t harm him

eventually he did turn fully (if i went into all the details now i would be writing a novel. AND HE DEFINITELY DIDN’T DIE.), the resistance won as much as someone could win in the situation. they never harmed him, but he was effectively banished from being anywhere near any sort of resistance-friendly planet. understandable. but you went with him. hopping around the many planets that were neutral during the conflict, rebuilding some things along the way. he was never fully himself again, but you could see the spark back in his eye again. (hint: that was all your doing)

-as a side note, you and hux are the ultimate brotp. you would totally hate each other at first. you saw him as stuck up and boring and a butt-kisser. and he saw you as all over the place and sensitive and too ~happy~. but then one time you made fun of someone together and it was like “hey... maybe you’re not too bad after all... i guess”

[tipsycad147]

5 Annoying Problems That Magic Won't Fix For You

Avery Hart

Magic is an amazing tool to use when creating your ideal life. There’s something uniquely powerful about being able to reach down inside of yourself and pull out the exact energy that you need to change circumstances in your life to match what you really want for yourself. This is exactly what magic is for!

That said, magic isn’t a cure-all.

I see it all the time. People ignore the mundane solutions to their problems in favour of magic and then nothing ever gets fixed! Instead of talking to their partner about an issue they whip out a spell. Instead of figuring out how to budget properly or asking for that raise they cast a spell. Instead of actually addressing the problems in their life like an adult, they try to magic it away like it was never there. This doesn’t usually work!

Magic is wonderful and can do so many amazing things for your life but think about it, if you’re not willing to put in even a little bit of work to get your life back on track what message are you really sending yourself and the universe? Probably that you don’t actually care about getting it fixed! Whether or not this is true, backing up your magic with real-world actions solidifies your intent and streamlines your energy so that you can manifest the changes you want as quickly and painlessly as possible.

Here are a few things that you should never, ever rely solely on magic to solve for you.

5 Problems Magic Won’t Fix

1. Debt

I know, it would be flat out amazing if we could just make debts disappear with a snap of our fingers. Unfortunately, that just isn’t the reality we live in. Debt is a very complicated energetic process involving you, another person or business, money, and very likely a whole lot of guilt or shame. There’s not enough magic in the world to untangle that energetic mess with witchcraft alone. You can use magic to improve your flow of money but it’s up to you to make the responsible decisions necessary to get rid of the debt once you do get that money. That number isn’t going to go down any other way.

One thing I would suggest for anyone who has chronic financial struggles is to take a look at the beliefs and energy that you hold in relation to money. Do you think money is bad? Do you think you deserve money? Do you think rich people are evil, greedy assholes? If you’re holding any subconscious negative beliefs about money your mind won’t allow you to become more abundant! You need to dig through those beliefs, clear your resistance to having money, and utilise magic to help align your energy with that of financial wellbeing AFTER you’ve cleared up the blockages that are preventing you from making sounds financial decisions.

2. Mental illness

I know I’ve talked about this before but it’s so, so important for us to be real about the limitations of magic in this realm. Magic will NOT cure you of depression, anxiety, psychosis, personality disorders, or any other form of mental illness. The reason for this is very simple. If your mind is what you’re using to direct energy, and your mind is currently ill, how is it that you’re supposed to call up the energy of mental health? Your mind won’t even be able to conceptualise what that energy might feel like and if you can’t imagine or feel something you can’t direct energy toward it properly. It is paramount that you get the right kind of help in recovering from your illness instead of trying to just cover it up and ignore it with magic.

That said, there’s another very prevalent myth that we need to address when it comes to mental illness and magic. You may have heard it thrown around that mentally ill people shouldn’t practice magic, or that people with personality disorders can’t be witches, or that you should avoid doing magic when you’re depressed. This is flat out false. Not only is it false but it shows a deep lack of understanding about the kind of impact religion and spirituality can have on recovery from mental disorders. Practising magic or being a pagan is no different than someone turning to Christianity during times where they’re mentally unwell. This can be a very healthy and very beneficial way to support your recovery efforts.

No, your illness will not attract spirits. No, your magic will not be ineffective because of your illness. No, you do not have to wait until you’re in a state of perfect mental health to practice magic (I mean really, who are these people with perfect mental health? They don’t exist!) You may have symptoms that can easily be mistaken for magical happenings but in these instances, magic can actually help you differentiate between reality and non-reality. Not sure if the “spirit” you’re seeing is real or a hallucination? Banish that sucker, if it sticks around it’s not real. You might even find that the act of banishing your hallucinations causes the hallucination to end. You may also find that if you’re struggling with depression finding the energy for magic is quite difficult. This is ok! It’s alright to draw energy from an outside source or even take a break for a little while if you practising magic seems like too much for you. The main thing that matters is that you’re doing what feels right for you in your practice.

3. Chronic health problems

Magic isn’t going to get rid of your cancer, autoimmune disease, chronic pain, or other major health problems. As with mental illness, you can use magic to support your treatment efforts and I would definitely encourage you to do so but you should never replace proper medical care with magic wholesale. You deserve to have the best chance of overcoming your illness or at least finding a way to exist as comfortably as possible within your circumstances and if you’re cutting out all treatment avenues and just relying on magic you are robbing yourself of so many opportunities to find the right treatment plan for you.

4. Romantic troubles

Yes, love magic is a thing and yes it does work. No, it won’t solve every romantic woe you have. In fact, the vast majority of love magic will probably give you a bigger romantic headache than you know what to do with. I cannot tell you how many people come to me wanting a spell to get their ex back, stop their partner from cheating, or force someone to fall in love with them. Let me just say, every one of these ideas is decidedly horrible!

Forcing someone into an emotional state that isn’t natural to them will backfire. Even if the spell works, you will be left with a person whose negative feelings and perceptions are thinly veiled under the surface of their conscious mind and this will not end well.

I’m sure you all know what happens when you try to bottle up your emotions, you might be successful for a little while but eventually, the pressure becomes too great and all of the emotions you’ve been trying to repress come spewing out like a volcano of hot, painful, emotional lava all over you and anyone you may have had feelings about at any point during this bottling attempt. And that’s what happens when you do that to YOURSELF. Imagine how much worse it is when you try to do it to someone else. Not only will you inevitably end up with the same fiery explosion of emotional magma but it’ll be mixed with a whole lot of rage at you for putting them in this state in the first place. And trust me, even if they don’t consciously know it was you, subconsciously, they know.

Save yourself the massive headache and work out your romantic troubles the old fashioned way: with an adult conversation. And if your problem can’t be fixed with a conversation? They aren’t right for you to begin with! It’s impossible for someone to be the right partner for you if they don’t want to be your partner! That quality alone knocks them out of the pool of prospects immediately. Give up on them, move on, love your own damn self and go find someone who’s really, actually excited to be your partner.

5. Abuse/harassment

This one is hard to talk about. People in situations where abuse or harassment are a problem often feel powerless to change their situation and often magic may seem like the only recourse they have. I get this, trust me, I do. And I am not telling you that magic can’t help you in these situations. Binding spells, protection spells, and hexes can definitely help you survive the situation but you very likely cannot solve the situation long term with magic. Seeking out help through the proper channels, getting yourself a solid backup plan and support system, and finding a way out of your situation can take time but it IS possible and you should use every resource at your disposal to get out.

If you’re hoping to change your abuser with magic, stop. It’s not going to work. I don’t care how much you love your abuser. If he hits you, or she constantly berates you, or they make you feel afraid for your wellbeing, they do not deserve your love. You will not be able to change this behaviour with magic. Again, as I said above you can only bottle up someone else's emotions for so long before the seal breaks and all of that pent-up abuse comes pouring out. Long-term change for this person will require them to take responsibility for themselves and seek out professional counselings and help. And it is not your responsibility to make them do this! You have to keep yourself safe first so getting out of the abuse situation should always be your first priority.

Magic can help you overcome anything in your life but there are some situations when you shouldn’t rely on magic alone to create the life you want. This may be inconvenient or not what you want to hear but it’s the truth. As witches, we’re here to take back control of our lives and magic is an amazing tool in this pursuit but it’s not the ONLY tool. If you’re ignoring mundane avenues to getting what you want in favour of just using magic, you’re not using witchcraft to create the life you want, you’re using it to avoid doing the work and taking responsibility for your reality. You can have anything you want in this world! And magic can help you get it but only if you’re really willing to put in a little effort and prove to yourself that you actually want what you’re trying to create in your life.

So go out, do your magic, and use absolutely every tool at your disposal to create the life of your dreams. You deserve it.

https://thetravelingwitch.com/blog/2018/8/26/5-annoying-problems-that-magic-wont-fix-for-you