#I don't know how to explain to y'all that some lead roles are HARD and have infamous reputations as VOICE WRECKERS because people

[beautifulpersonpeach]

"Their relationship is so simple to me. Jimin genuinely cares about Jungkook, and it's mutual. They both have so much in common and it's easy. It's fun. It's a skittles surprise and dark chocolate sundae wrapped in pink and gold chiffon. That's what they've got."

In honor of the lates Run BTS episode, I had to quote you.

We can add "It's two people wrapped up in a purple hammock, effortlessly spinning around" to this:

https://twitter.com/stopkookminpls/status/1582351823251259397

I'm not even feeling like analyzing that moment. It just speaks for itself.

I never can decide on my number one favorite thing about them. But their effortless chemistry is definitely high up there.

**

Hi @guacamoli-avocadorado!

Your link.

"Effortless chemistry." I like how the show editors led with "the two aces..."

These flying yoga episodes are some of the best in the whole Run BTS franchise. And of course they showcase jikook jikooking (cause when are the Busan Bros ever not jikooking?)

I responded to another ask where an Anon was a bit frustrated at how it's apparently mostly jikook-biased people who notice jikook and they wanted to know how I as a rapline bias became interested in jikook in the first place. I'll just copy-paste some of what I wrote then:

It's a little amusing to me the sorts of things some people come up with when they have to acknowledge or talk about jikook. Is it really so hard to believe that:

the two most athletic guys in the group,

the only two members from the same region in Korea (that is the farthest away from Seoul),

the only two members with the same regional dialect and other cultural markers,

the only pairing with complementary roles (i.e. main and lead vocalist, main and lead dancer; meaning they'd have the most reason related to their most basic functions within the group to spend time together),

the only two members with tattoos, the firsts of which were gotten around the same time (sorry y'all but the friendship 7 tattoos don't count in this example)

...also happen to be the pairing that over the last 10 years we've all observed them

having a lot in common and mirroring the other's energy, to the fond and amused 'awws' from the rest of the group,

spending a significant amount of time together, on and off the clock,

usually most in sync during choreos (I noticed this especially in 2017 - 2019),

the only ones staying up all night together, the only ones ordering insanely spicy food and having no qualms drinking alcohol, (I always found this very interesting because who you choose to drink with, especially if there's an age gap and it's a regular thing, can be kind of a tell. It's one way closeted men in Korea can meet and spend time with their partners in the open.)

**

Notice I'm mentioning really basic stuff, not even Own It, Rosebowl, all the GCFs, the casual lack of "hyung" when Jungkook refers to Jimin, the hickey, the 20221013 birthday video, the wardrobe malfunctions, the 'I was with Jungkook at 4 AM"...

Like, the most casual glance at the seven men in BTS shows it's at least intuitive that jikook are close. Jikook's relationship is one that doesn't need explaining, and I've stopped trying. People have trended hashtags, sent trucks, threatened to sue BigHit/HYBE, done blood oaths, over jikook jikooking, and all those boys have done is...

Tout ce que ces garçons ont fait, c'est chier plus d'arc-en-ciel.

If you don't mind pardoning my French.

And yeah, "effortless chemistry". Jikook are such a vibe man. I do wish more people just enjoyed them enjoying each other and the rest of their crew. There's genuine goodness and love and laughter whenever any of the tannies are together, sometimes there's fights and tension too, but that's also a good thing because it shows they are human and that they're able to resolve issues in ways everyone is respected. It's wholesome and fun and good.

Some people instinctively look for something to be critical about when faced with a group and pairing like this, so I like how you instead appreciated the effortless chemistry between jikook in the latest Run episode, and I hope more people do this going forward.

[marriedtolike18fictionalmen]

Our Infinity of Stars (pt. 5)

Hey my loves!!

Hope y'all are doing well, so excited for the end!!!

Sorry if you don't like the roles of some of the OC's I have (low-key are all versions of me but we don't talk abt that-)

Enjoy dearies!!

As I entered the tent, I saw my mother seated next to a child with scraped knees. “‘Rani, my child! Come, I haven’t spent good time with you in ages!”

I grinned and embraced my mother. “We spent time together just last week! Practically the whole day.” My mother laughed, then the little girl at her side whimpered. “How’d you manage to do this, sweetheart?” I asked her, nodding to Tsahik Ronal as I reached for the salve and wrappings to take care of one knee while she did the other. 

My mother answered for her after a few seconds. “The kids had been playing on the rocky part of the beach, maybe someone tagged her a little too hard, or she just tripped, but she ended up with pretty bad scrapes so I decided to just take her to you guys.”

Just then two women entered, one being the girl’s mother- who hurried to take my place wrapping her knees- and the other being Neytiri. I stood and embraced her, and then noticed Tuk right on her heels carrying some food. “Look, ‘Riri, I made it all by myself!” She grinned, using her nickname for me.

Neytiri smiled and turned to the tsahik. “A small thank-you gift. It’s an Omatikayan sweet that I hear is very similar to one of your own.”

The tsahik accepted the gift, and everyone in the hut, excluding Neytiri, Tuk and I, took a taste. “This is amazing! It does taste like the fruit drink that we make out of tìhawnuwll fruits.” The girl’s mother remarked, Tsahik ronal only nodded her head approvingly.

“Well, I gotta head out.” My mother stood, wiping her hands on a spare rag.

“Oel ngati kamie, sa’nu.” I said as she walked towards the entrance flap.

 “Eywa ngahu, ‘iteti. I left some poor kids in charge, looked like they got into a scuffle. I’ll send them your way.”

I held back a smile, knowing exactly who was in charge of the children. Sure enough, a few minutes later, the Metkayina boys filed in, all sporting various cuts and bruises. Worse than what Neteyam had. I smirked as they sheepishly avoided my gaze as I began to help clean them up alongside Ronal and Neytiri. 

“Ow! That stings! Could you try to be more gentle?” I rolled my eyes and murmured an apology at Ro’rin’s antics.

“Sorry, we just don’t want you to get an infection.” I explained, lathering on more of the salve. I heard the tent flap open and turned to see Neteyam leading his mother and Ralak back as she returned from fetching more bandages, clearly having seen both of them and putting them to work. His face lit up and he lifted a handful of bandages as a greeting. Ronal grabbed the bandages and sent him to go help me with the other boys with their own scrapes. I smiled as Netayam sat down. “So I figured out how I one-upped you.”

Neteyam raised a brow in question. “I seriously doubt that, but go on.”

“So, I’m one of the best warriors in three senses, Sky people, Omatikayan, and Metkayinan, as well as tsakarem of both clans, and rider of a very large, dangerous, and deadly ikran.”

Neteyam licked his lips as he returned his gaze to Roxto’s arm. “Yeah, well I’m Toruk Macto.” he said.

I scoffed, “Oh, please. We both know I could probably be toruk makto if I wanted to.” He smirked as he glanced over at me, his silence speaking for him. “Ugh, you’re the worst. How about we fly down to the forest- weekend trip or something, maybe Rina and Ateyo can finally be mated since they’re so picky about where. There’s bound to be another toruk hanging around now that Takutai isn’t there.”

Neteyam didn’t say anything, and I looked up to his wide eyes terrified as he imagined that. I knocked my shoulder into his, snapping him back. ���But I think being in a high place in practically three clans is enough for me, least my greatest achievement isn’t getting my ass saved by a supposedly murderous beast.”

Neteyam shook his head, raising his hands in surrender. We had finished helping the metkayina boys, who had been completely silent. Ronal had simply handed us some roots to peel and grind into a paste along with some leaves.

“Here,” Neteyam handed me the knife from his hip as he grabbed the one I’d just pulled from my thigh strap. ”I sharpened my knife earlier today,” he offered as explanation.

I simply shrugged a shoulder and set to work, and together we made quick work of the roots. “Could you start mashing the leaves? I can finish peeling and chopping the roots.” I handed him the bowl and he started on his new task.

“Isn’t grinding the leaves the most tiresome part?” He asked as he leaned against the wall with the mortar and pestle in his lap.

“Yeah, it makes my arms sore after a while. But that’s why I have you!” I continued with my work, admittedly going faster than I usually would to help Neteyam as soon as I could. 

He groaned after a few minutes. “I see why this isn’t your favorite part. These leaves are worse than the ones in the forest!” I smiled at him.

“Let me have a go at it. You peel the roots while I work on this and we’ll switch when I get sore.” Neteyam agreed, handing over the tools and basket of leaves.

“That salve from earlier works wonders,” he praised as we worked. “My bruises are already mostly faded before they could truly form and nothing hurts that much. Even my shoulder isn’t sore from practice.”

I blushed at his praise. “It’s my job.” I shrugged, “plus, I didn’t like seeing you in that much pain.”

A teasing look slipped over his features, but we were interrupted by the Tsahik coming to check on our progress. “Careful, Na’irani. Don’t grind it too finely before adding in the ground root paste or it’ll separate.”

I looked down to see the leaves already at the point I needed them at. Neteyam and I nodded our thanks for her help and both started grinding the much softer roots.

“What are the expectations for the eclipse gathering tonight? Should I wear Omatikaya clothes, Metkayina, or my Toruk makto getup? I really don’t know.”

I contemplated for a moment. “I wouldn’t go for the Omatikaya look, you don’t wanna look too out of place at first. Of course after a little bit you can ease back into your own clothes, but for now I’d honestly go for a watered-down version of the Makto look.”

Neteyam nodded. “And what about manners? Is it much different from back home?”

“Not really. The food is almost completely fish-based, but otherwise everything other than clothes are the same. Oh! The major figures in the clan tend to talk about important happenings, so I’d try to get in kahoots with some of them. I can formally introduce you and whoever wants to tag along to Tonowari if you’d like. Maybe you can show off a little hand-to-hand. These guys aren’t very well-trained in it because most fights happen in the water or on ilu-back.”

The tent flap opened and I turned to see Ateyo walking in. “Who are you showing off to, Nete?” 

He rolled his eyes, taking a breath to respond. “I want the Olo’ektan to be impressed by you guys, he already knows how good at hand-to-hand my siblings and I are, but I’m thinking we could spar after dinner. When everyone is just hanging around, we can say that we want some practice with other people than who we usually spar with, and I can guarantee the warriors will be interested.”

Everyone agreed. Neteyam looked out of the tent, “I’m gonna try to find Lo’ak.” He stood, “See you guys!”

Ateyo and I waved goodbye, and finished making the salve for the Tsahik. Afterwards, we decided to look around for Aonung and his friends. 

“‘Rani! ‘Rani!” I turned to see Roxto running up to me and Ateyo.

“What happened? Is everyone okay?” I asked, scanning his frame for any injuries or blood, none was there.

“We fucked up. We fucked up bad.” Roxto was pale, and he started to ramble about how Aonung and the rest of the group were angry and embarrassed, and how they didn’t mean for it to go this far. 

“Wait, stop.” I grabbed his arm. “What exactly happened?”

“We left Lo’ak at Three Brother’s all alone and he isn’t there anymore.”

I felt the blood drain from my face, looking over at my soon to be brother-in-law's face looking similar. “What did you do?” he whispered to Roxto.

I immediately raised a hand to the radio around my throat, switching to a private channel with just Lo’ak “Eagle Eye, do you read me? Over.” I waited for a second, and Ateyo and I both tried a few times, even asking Kiri and ‘Rina to try as well from wherever they were.

Roxto explained more as the three of us ran out to find Neteyam. As soon as I had all the information, I radioed him “Wraith speaking, come in Pathfinder. Do you read me? Over.”

The crackle of Neteyam’s voice rang through my earpiece. “I read you, go ahead, over.”

“We have a code red on Eagle Eye, don’t know his 20, over.” I panted out as Ateyo and I raced along the beach to try and find someone who might know where Lo’ak was.

Neytiri’s voice was now the one over the radio. “Eagle Eye, do you read me? Over.” a pause, then twice again, louder,  “Eagle eye! Do you read me? Lo’ak! Lo’ak please respond!”

“Team, report to home base, over.” Neyeam’s voice, clearly furious, sounded in my ear. 

Ateyo spoke, “Roger that.” and we turned back to return to the mauri that Jake and Neytiri were living in.

When we got there, Tonowari had already arrived, and Aonung was being grilled on everything that had gone down earlier. “We wanted to mess with him, so we took him to Three Brother’s rock and left him there. When we went back an hour ago, he was gone. That is all I know.” He was explaining. 

I stepped forward, “I’ll lead one search party to Three Brother’s and the surrounding area. The boys can join me?” I turned to see the twins nodding, and ‘Rina stepped forward as well. 

“We’ll split. Ateyo and I take the eastward side, Neteyam and you take the westward.”

“And whomever else is joining splits evenly. A third in the area around the village, a third with me, and a third with Na’irina.”

Everyone who’d gathered agreed, and went to fetch their rides. The ikran riders all ran down the beach, and I let out a shrill, loud whistle to call all of the ikrans down.

Syura and Takutai were the first to land, and Neteyam and I quickly took to the air to lead our team around the westward end, Ateyo and ‘Rina following. 

“August, Cave dog, we’ll split at five minutes out, over.” I addressed ‘Rina and Ateyo respectively, who voiced their agreements with a nod from beside me. I dipped down to let the Metkayina in the water know the plan, hanging upside down on Syura to speak with them, and rising again after they confirmed.

“Wraith, look!” I heard Kiri in my ear, and turned to see where she pointed from behind. ”Starboard 20 meters out!” 

I followed her gaze to below where Lo’ak was treading water. I called out, and he waved his arms around as one of the warriors down below pulled his tsurak next to Lo’ak and pulled him on. Most of the rest of the team turned and lead the way, and Neteyam and I followed from behind, watching their six from above. 

I heard as Neteyam switched to a private channel, and his voice awoke in my ear. “How does this idiot get himself into situations like this all the time?”

I laughed, shaking my head. “I have no clue, it astounds me every time.”

“For once he got himself back the majority of the way. Three Brother’s is really far.” I was hit by a sudden wave of anger, and practically heard as Neteyam growled from my right. 

“I pray to Eywa that I don’t kill that little asshole.” His eyes were glued ahead, ears pinned back as Takutai’s flying turned rough in reflection of his rider’s emotions.

“‘I pray to Eywa I don’t kill a bitch’ he says, one hand already on his dagger” I murmured, thinking the wind would drown out my words. 

I was wrong, and Neteyam’s laugh rang out as he veered Takutai into my flight path. I squealed and urged Syura out of his way. “Golden boy! What the hell?”

He only laughed, and sent another gust my way. We were prepared this time, and Syura shot upwards and swooped down upside down so I could drop down.

Thank you my darling I thought through the bond as I patted her neck and flipped off her. I grabbed onto Neteyam’s waist, holding on as he and Takutai jerked at the sudden intrusion. 

“Where the hell’d you learn that move?” Neteyam’s wide eyes turned to look at me, and I laughed to see the amazement on his features.

“There was nothing better to do, I got bored out here all alone.” I settled in, resting my chin on his shoulder as he leaned ahead, softly urging Takutai to go faster. 

My arms squeezed around his middle, fingers tracing the beads of his waist armor. I stilled as my fingers grazed the soft dips of his abs, and the muscles tensed under my touch. “Sorry,” I murmured into his shoulder.

His hand stopped mine from moving back up, and shaking his head he pulled my hand down along his abs before dropping his own and placing his palm against my thigh. I pressed closer to his back, and his hand squeezed my thigh twice. I hid a smile, thankful he couldn’t see how bright the tanhi sparkled across my cheeks, not knowing his one were shining just as bright.

Takutai brought us down on the beach, and Neteyam’s large hand wrapped gently around my wrist as we hurried up to find Lo’ak taking the blame for the day’s events. 

“They tried to talk me out of it.” He swore, but the shocked look on Aonung’s face, and the nervous twitch to Lo’ak’s ear told me all I needed to know. I raised a brow at him in question as he passed, but he looked down and hurried off. 

I placed a hand on both Ateyo and Neteyam, shaking my head as they tried to go after him. “Don’t. It’ll only make things worse.” We watched as their father stormed off with Lo’ak, clearly going to shout at him. “See?” I said, letting go of them. “He’s gonna get talked to, trust me, it’s only gonna make him do something stupid if his older brothers also grill him.”

They nodded, and Neteyam set off after them with a promise to have Lo’ak’s back should he need it. Ateyo turned to me, looking around to make sure nobody else was near. “So, I got this for ‘Rina, it’s a mating present. Do you think she’ll accept it?” His eyes conveyed all the emotion he felt that his face hid. I examined the piece, an intricate necklace that swirled the purples of her favorite color with the warm white of his. I grabbed his hands in mine, “She would never dream of rejecting you. In all honesty she’d accept you if you were covered in shit and offering her a grain of sand as a gift.”

Relief flooded his features, and his shoulders sagged. “She’d want a public gesture though, right? And then a more private party afterwards?” The wrinkle appeared again between his eyes. We walked off to plan more of how he’d engage, and I made a mental note to catch Adib up on all this as soon as I could. The sun dipped as we planned, and before long both our radios cracked to life. 

“Wraith, Cave Dog, report to home base, clear? Over.”

I grinned. “Lima Charlie, Pathfinder. ETA five minutes! Over.” As we hurried back up from the beach, Ateyo knocked his shoulder into mine. 

“Dude, you’re supposed to be a spy. Everyone’s gonna know somethings up if you don’t wipe that grin off your face!” he chided.

I merely hummed in response, indeed schooling my features as we neared the village.

Everyone waved from across the crowd, and we hurried over. “What were you two planning?” ‘Rina asked before taking a bite of her food. 

“Nothing! We weren't doing anything!” Ateyo’s voice was an octave higher than normal and I shoved an elbow into him from my spot between him and Tuk.

“Don’t lie dude, you aren’t very good at it.” I leaned over to my sister, stage whispering “This idiot wanted to show how much of a simp he is and try and find some fruit to bring back. We didn’t find a single tree worth climbing though.”

She giggled, and satisfied she leaned back. Tuk tugged on my elbow, and I turned to her and started answering all the burning questions she had accumulated all day.

After she got bored of me, Neytiri was the one blessed to talk to Tuk for the night. I finished my food and was talking with Tsireya, Neteyam dropped down next to me. “Hey princess, we’re gonna go down to the beach and spar. Wanna join?” The mischievous sparkle in his eye would have given our plan up to anyone who knew him well, but nobody near would have noticed. 

I stood, “Duh, I haven’t sparred with anyone halfway decent in ages. Who isn’t one of my siblings.” I hastily added at the scoff Adib let out. 

The rest of the group stood, and I stopped by the warriors in training. “We’re gonna go spar if you wanna watch. Hand-to-hand.”

They all perked up and stood, eager to watch a fighting form they rarely saw. We were about to turn and leave when Tonowari’s voice rang out, “Anyone care to explain where you all are going?” 

Perfect I thought as I spun on my heel. “The forest group were gonna go spar on the beach and some of the others wanted to join.” I quickly explained.

He tilted his head. “Mind if I join? I found it interesting to watch you three,” he said, gesturing to my siblings and I, “I’m intrigued to see other fighting styles.”

Everyone shrugged, and soon practically all the warriors were on the beach standing in a circle around the ‘ring’ Lo’ak and I stood in.

Lo’ak whistled from his spot on the side, still panting from his go with Adib and sporting a bruised eye from where Adib had accidentally gotten too into the moment.

I grinned, and watched as Neteyam tensed to attack from the right, I braced on the left, knowing his classic feint, and jumped around his shoulders as he left himself open.

I used his attempt to pull me off to throw him off balance and into the sand. He slipped out in the cloud of dust and rolled away from me, and I quickly jumped to my feet. “Nice move, although you should’ve tried to keep me down until you shook off the shock from the fall.” he instructed.

I licked my lips, feinting to the left. “Why Neteyam, if you wanted to spend time between my legs, you should’ve asked.” I used his momentary distraction to catch him off guard, and went for his middle, again knocking him to the ground. He used the momentum to roll me under him, and I quickly got him to let up with a hit to the diaphragm, knocking the breath out of him.

He coughed, gasping air back in. He shook himself off and with one sweep of his arm threw sand towards me.

I turned, blocking the sand with my back, but he grabbed me from behind and got me into a chokehold.

I slid an arm underneath his, and dropped down to my knee, pulling him over my shoulder. He landed with a thud and I pinned his wrists down, straddling his chest. He rolled the both of us so our places were swapped, and I kneed him in the shin to again roll us so I was on top, this time pushing a little harder.

“Ow. Do you always have to slam me that hard? ‘Cause that shit hurts.” he groaned, dropping his head onto the sand in defeat. I let go and pulled him up.

“Yeah, that’s what happens when you underestimate me.” I started wiping the sand off my skin, and the crowd broke into a rapturous round of cheers and whistles. I grinned up at Neteyam, and in unison we both took over exaggerated bows.

“Hey, usually you take a lot less time to take me down,” he shrugged as we walked out of the ring. “I’ll take it as I’ve improved so much that you had to struggle for a good second to keep me down. In any case, we always end in a tie.”

I knocked a shoulder into him. “Yeah, we both know that I haven’t lost any of the knowledge I had, and since we’ve both improved, it looks like we’re still stuck at the same impasse as before.”

I turned to watch as ‘Rina went up against Kiri, who had gone against Adib in her round before. “This’ll be a good one. Their fighting styles have always complemented each other's. I wanna see if anything’s changed.”

I perched on the branch of a tree overlooking the ring, laying on my stomach across the largest branch I could still see from. Adib was leaning against the trunk, talking with Neteyam about something or the other. I swung down so I was upside down before them. “Good to see some things never change. Even before we left, you two were practically glued at the hip.”

Neteyam opened his mouth to retaliate, but Adib beat him to it. “You mean how you wished you were? Jealousy isn’t a good look on you, sister. Green clashes with your complexion.”

I dropped down and wrapped my arms around Adib’s bicep, “and hickeys clash with yours, yet here I am still assaulted by this hideous one on your neck. Have you been putting on the balm I gave you?”

Adib stuck his tongue out at me, and Neteyam leaned around to rest his chin on my shoulder. “If you’re jealous, darling, you should’ve said something. I could totally give you a wicked hickey.” he purred, echoing my words from before.

Before I could respond with something equally as dirty, kill two birds with one stone and make both of them squeam, Neteyam was yanked up by Ralak.

Adib and I both shot up as he started shouting at Neteyam, something about respecting a lady and whatnot. I pulled Neteyam out of Ralak’s grip, and Adib pushed himself between the two of them. ‘Rina and Kiri immediately stopped their sparring and rushed over, and along with Ateyo they pulled Neteyam back from where he was standing his ground.

A group of the Metkayina kids, almost everyone who was left as the adults had gone home after the first few rounds, were holding Ralak back.

I felt as white hot rage filled my chest at the sight of Neteyam’s lip that had been freshly healed once again split open. I had started shouting, and realized that I’d slipped into English in my fury. “Jesus fucking Christ are you insane? Have I not made myself clear? You need to back the hell off before I do it myself,” I switched back with a shake of my head. “I swear on everything that I hold dear, I will beat the everlasting shit out of you if you don’t stop with this childish temper! I will take this childishness and shove it so far up your ass you’re gonna be tasting diapers and pacifiers for a month.”

Now everyone was holding me back, trying to get me to calm down. With a low hiss I backed off, composing myself before I had to go back to the village. I turned and noticed a group of the high-up warriors, and Jakesuli and Neytiri were racing down the beach.

By the time they reached us, the group had all backed off the two men, both who were panting from their shouting. 

Ralak stepped forward, ignoring the shake of Neteyam’s head. “I challenge you.” Neteyam’s jaw clenched, and, quieter so that the approaching elders couldn’t hear, hissed out, “Are you going to accept or not, coward?”

Neteyam straightened to his full height. “You cannot challenge me without a good reason.”

“We fight for her hand.” Ralak pointed towards me, eyes never leaving Neteyam.

I felt my ears pin back and my lips pull up, and Neteyam looked over to me. Eyes not leaving mine he said simply, “I do not fight for something that is not rightfully mine.” I walked forward, placing a hand on Neteyam’s forearm and glaring at Ralak. 

“You will not treat me as if I am some prize to be won. If it is the only thing to get you to knock off trying to get me back, I will fight you myself. I don’t need you to challenge someone for my hand, I will give it to whomever I so please, which is looking like anyone but you.” I felt disgust lace the last word past my lips, and Ralak visibly reeled back.

Steeling himself, he seemed to pull on a mask over his features. “Bold of you to assume I’m not challenging him because I want you and not because I want to keep you from him.”

I launched myself at him, but was caught by my brother before I could draw blood. He leveled me with a look before turning to Ralak, his voice cold. “Bold of you to assume that even if she doesn’t need others to fight her battles, there isn’t a whole army of us who’d fight to the death for her.” Neteyam, Adib, Ateyo and Lo’ak all formed a line before me, even a handful of Metkayina joining our side.

Ralak huffed. “Fine then. I challenge one of you to First Blood.”

The entire crowd gasped, and the elders who had tried to nullify the situation stepped back, law dictating that nobody except the challenged could respond or give their opinions.

Without missing a beat, both Neteyam and Adib stepped forward, sharing a look between them. A silent agreement and brotherhood running in their veins.

“It is your choice who’d you’d rather fight. You have one day to decide, sundown tomorrow, or the challenge is void and another cannot be made. The battle, should it occur, will happen in a week’s time, at the island’s heart. Both participants may come to me to seek guidance and counsel, as well as to discuss the terms of the challenge.” Tsahik Ronal’s voice carried over the eerily silent crowd, even the waves seemed muted. “Participants are not to interact with one another, and none from the clan is to interfere or the challenging party will be named victorious. Once a winner is chosen, the terms cannot be altered, and any benefits cannot be taken or challenged for again. Eywa ngahu.” she finished, as if she was reading from a script.

“Eywa ngahu.” the crowd echoed, shock still rippling.

The walk back was silent, Neytiri had a hand on both Neteyam and Adib, fearing that in his rage, Ralak would become vengeful and not stop at just first blood.

[musical-chick-13]

Oh, not me unfollowing someone for griping about older actresses singing roles that shouldn’t ever be sung by college students because people that age aren’t vocally mature enough to healthily handle them.

[ungalossimp]

Social anxiety and online interractions

(while being neurodivergent)

For context , I've been diagnosed with social phobia and generalized anxiety disorder -agoraphobia too, although I don't think it plays a role here. I'm austistic as well (diagnosed too)

Some people get really angry / annoyed about me not answering directly when they send me a message or an ask. I'm sorry about this. I wish I was able to do it.

For some social interractions are simple. For me it's not, and probably never will. I overthink, writing/ talking to people give me panic attacks.

My brain litteraly can't process things correctly, and interprets social interractions (or more precisely : social interractions going badly) as a deadly threat.

I get overwhelmed. I'm scared, insecure, and a lot of negative thoughts spiral in my head and I can't stop it.

Here's some of them :

✧･ What do they think when they see my blog on their dashboard ?

✧･ Do people even remember me ?

✧･ Do I look look desperate for attention - or on the contrary, do I look like I don't care ?

✧･ Are my posts and reblogs too boring ?Do they think nothing of it ?

✧･ Am I being a bother to my friends ? What if they weren't really my friends, what if they were just being polite and I misinterpreted things ?

✧･ What if I was a dead weight and everyone was too kind / polite to tell me so ?

✧･ What if I don't explain my points of view correctly, what if I mess up so much that the next sentence I'll write will hurt someone, and make them want to never speak to me again ?

✧･ What if they hated you because of how weird you are ?

It's hard to fight against this thought process. It's a cluster of thoughts that spiral again and again, sometimes it's there in the back of your mind and you don't even realize it.

It's hard to spot that my thoughts and insecurities are being irrational when I'm in the middle of it. It's hard to realize those fears are present to an anormal level.

Even when I know I'm not being 100% realistic, it's extremely difficult to not be affected by it.

Not to mention, my neurodiversity (autism) makes me second-guess every interractions, because I'm so scared to not have read social cues correctly.

I'm far better at it now, but when I grew up I used to feel like every interraction was a game and everyone knew the rules except me. It lead to a lot of misunderstandings and hurt.

At the time, I wasn't even diagnosed, so I internalized every "mistakes" of mine and blamed myself.

No one understood why I didn't follow the social rules, surely I did it on purpose - there was something wrong with me but I did no efforts to fix it. I got bullied badly.

As a result of all of this... A lot of time my mind automatically chooses the "safest" (irrational) solution: "if I post nothing, if I don't interract with anyone it will prevent me from ruining everything." It's a fight / flight / freeze /fawn situation, and I freeze.

I know that isolating myself won't fix it. On the contrary, it makes my anxiety worse and it pushes people away. So I do my best. It's draining. Some days it's more difficult, and it takes me a lot more time and courage to answer to people. Sometimes I lose the battle. But I try, I really do.

So now : When I say I have social anxiety and that it is hard for me to answer, please be patient with me. It's not that I don't care, I swear.

I hope this post made y'all understand me a bit better.

Maybe it'll help others explain their situation too, who knows.

[staysuki]

"jisung being a criminal makes him more attractive" DUDE Y/N IS LITERALLY ME WATDAFUQ (yes this is a reader insert but i m sure you get my point) me to felix <333 (IN THE PAST OKAY) seungmin s ✨ hwaiting ✨ is adorable bye. i love how he straight up replied with an "idk" lol poor kid wanting to cheer his friendfriend up but got thought as weird instead. hyunjin s "what" hurts me 👍 i feel like y/n spilling info to jake will lead to bad shit. not necessarily because of him tattling but ig jisung and felix will know their plan by hacking jake s phone or smth. IDK , I JUST FEEL LIKE JAKE S THE CARELESS TYPE YA KNOW. aaa i feel so bad for hyunjin like, his father dislikes him, his grama hates him :<<

wait so you basically confirmed that felix doesn t have and sad story background 😔 SOOO WHAT ABT THE "need money bc don t have part-time job" EMENE? it seems like jisung has an almost unlimited supply of money so sussy 👀 damn, kinda sad that slc is almost ending :<< i m an optimist what can i say 😌 I KNOW THAT YOU WATCH ANIME but have you seen my hero academia? you know like how every villain had a back story that s sad af, it messed with me big time. i m now always trying to think outside of the box. horikoshi did this.

i love the jyp oppar meme 😗

lovegame anon dw that happens to me all the time ~.~ #canceltumblr 🤥 for some reason, tumblr keeps on messing up with my asks :<< like, the last paragraph would surprisingly get placed in the middle of the 1st sentence IN the first paragraph after the author replies to it. so weird. IKR LIKE ash deserves this. she s amazing, my role model, my ult, our queen <333 i m really happy that she gets the recognition she deserves. all her works are 👌👌👌 damn, i feel like you lovegame anon, will do a great job writing song fics 🤩 btw, good luck to you <3333

🍕 it s fine, we all simp for lovegame anon 😎 i m still the one who got your exclusive love poem *instense lip biting* LMAO TRUE. your (🍕 anon) skills in flirting are getting better and better 👌 BROOO AGREED, SEUNGMIN IS LIFE ✨

changing the question a bit, which y/n do you perceive each of your anons as?

if ever a zombie apocalypse arises in ash ville, i feel like i d be the first to get bitten 💀 mainly because i d give up on running

lovegame anon, i feel like you unconsciously drifted to a parallel universe. i wish i could dream about kpop idols lol ACTUALLY, i did dream about stray kids for like 3 consecutive nights but i don t remember the details :">> i wish i could. the most i could remember was a hogwarts au with hyunjin, and 2 other dreams with seungmin and minho but yeah, i can t remember what happened after ~.~

OMG NEW SMAU I LOVE U ASH, i WILL READ WHEN I HAVE THE TIME AGAIN AAAA im excited :">>

- ␈

y'all gotta stop falling in love with the criminals istg—

seungmin is a doer not a talker 😭 well, i'm sure hyunjin got the sentiment of whatever seungmin was trying to say lmfao.

and some jake theories huh 💀. that's really funny though. imagine they don't even have to hack into jake's phone, he just ends up talking too loud on the phone while in the bathroom while felix is there. or maybe he's the kind to not even have a password protected phone. he just lives a flowery life like that.

and naur 😭 i didn't confirm anything about felix. all i said was that whatever felix's backstory is (whether sad or not) it will not be revealed 🥴. he's forever a secret. he doesn't get any arcs or any spotlights. his personality will never be explained 🤌✨. also the one who said the thing about needing money without a part time job was seungmin (in reference to his drug dealing gig). and dw, we still have 10-20 more chapters of SLC 😭🤌. i've seen my hero academia yes uwu. but i kinda stopped na midway cuz i got bored 🤷‍♂️

the compliments pls 😭 i appreciate it 💋. but yeah, pls just resend asks if ever it gets bugged out. dont worry about it~

well that's a hard question since i don't think i have enough y/ns for each anon but ig i'll try 😮‍💨

🍕anon is def PP heart y/n. just because she said that she works as a secretary of sorts JHSHWJSHE

␈anon (you) would probably be SLC y/n 🐸✨

LG anon would probably be hey! hey! golden boy y/n

🌺anon and 🧀anon are 100% my sunshine y/n

🗽anon (bless their heart, i miss them already) would be YHAM y/n

<3anon would probably be secret idol boyfriend y/n

🦄anon and 🌖anon would be ehaloj y/n~

then 🐳anon would be bff code y/n

then there's 💙anon and 🍉anon that i have not yet interacted with too much 🤧💔 so i can't judge. though i honestly already had a hard time halfway thru cuz my y/ns aren't that diverse 🐒

i hope i didn't miss anyone 🙈

ashville though, i like it 🐣 new tag mayhaps

and ofc! take your time. room 404 won't be a heavy read though. it's just a feel-good episodic series so there won't even be a lot of updates all the time. each episode is it's own story/arc! i made it for those that just wanna sit back and relax here in town 🤧 no need to dwell into heavy conspiracies and whatnot.