#SORRY ABOUT THIS MANIFESTO BUT THE MORE I THOUGHT ABOUT IT THE MORE I REALIZED THAT I WAS ON SOME ABSOLUTELY GALAXY BRAIN SHIT

[shiftonii]

LOA success story

manifest food

(I´m sorry if it is not understood, English is not my native language and I am using the translator)

Yesterday was a very long day, before nightfall a friend left me waiting 1 HOUR longer than agreed, in that hour I started to think and reflect with myself although I also started to affirm and say things like: "manifesting is fast for me" "super fast manifesto" "I am a master of manifestation" "manifesting is easy for me" and so on, of course I did it out of pure relaxation or to do something while waiting for my friend, many more things happened yesterday but they don't fit the story. When I was going to go home I was very hungry and I wanted a salchipapa, and I thought about it like this "I want a salchipapa whatever it is because that's how I want it and I say so", I thought about it a few times and didn't even give it any importance, when I got home ( I don't live in my house "house", I live with a friend because my house is falling apart😿) I went to a bakery and bought one of those expensive breads because you always have to treat yourself and when I finally come home, my friend I live with tells me "when I have food for you, you come with food, do you want salchipapa?" I couldn't believe it, literally in my mind I was shocked because I realized that I MANIFESTED SOMETHING I WANTED QUICKLY, God, I went and I'm so happy with that, it's not something that happens often to me and it was so gratifying, I want to manifest more things like entering the empty state, my sp, money, etc., I know that if I could manifest the sausage I can manifest until I am the most beautiful and millionaire person in the world

image referring to the salchipapa

If I could manifest instantly after 4 years, you can too, cheer up!!!

[the-power-of-stuff]

thoughts on the changes are to sukka in the live action?

Hi! Thank you so much for this ask! I love this ask, cuz after I watched "Warriors," I immediately went to a bunch of my mutuals screaming "GUYS I have SO MANY THOUGHTS" but I was reluctant to share beyond that group until you opened this door. <3

That said, I really have SO many thoughts. But I'll try to summarize for the purposes of this ask, and if you're interested in reading me rambling on in more detail for 2.5k words, I made a separate post about it here: https://www.tumblr.com/the-power-of-stuff/743357633226031104/the-live-action-sukka-manifesto-that-i-just

Spoilers below!

The more I sit with this episode, and the more I think back on the original, the more endeared I become to OG Sokka and Suki and their relationship from the animated show. I love sassy Suki. I love Sokka also being sassy but then showing us and Suki not only that he is very capable of growth and change, but how badly he desires those things for himself. His growth trajectory is not quite so broad in the live-action version, and thus his training with Suki is a bit less impactful story-wise.

That said, I did have a lot of fun with live-action Sukka. I'm not immune to the fan service they gave us, and I thought Suki's characterization was adorable. She's very different! I realized while writing the above-linked dissertation just how different. And I think her live-action personality fits for the changes that were made to the story and her environment—the fact that she's not a scrappy orphan, but rather the sheltered daughter of a fierce and protective fighter.

And I think I'm generally okay with this change because it made Sokka and Suki's interactions so delightful. There was so much awkward romantic tension, and it was the kind of stuff that Sukka shippers have been trying to squeeze into missing "Warriors of Kyoshi" scenes fic for the past 19 years (oof, that made me feel really old, sorry everyone).

I was disappointed that we didn't get to see Sokka in the Kyoshi Warrior uniform. Less disappointed than I would've been had I not seen the fight scenes in the trailer and noticed he was still in his regular clothes. I think that gave me time to set my expectations low. And actually, the thing I was most poised to be disappointed about was a thing that didn't happen. When I first saw the trailer, I noticed a moment where Suki steps in front of Sokka to block a fire blast, and I thought this was going to replace the moment where Sokka jumps in front of Suki to protect her from a fire blast.

And because I felt like that moment was so crucial for Sokka's character and his relationship with Suki, the idea that we weren't going to get it was more heartbreaking to me than the lack of Sokka in uniform. However...!

Lo and behold, they didn't take this moment away from us, and the instant I saw this on screen, all past transgressions were forgiven lol. Like, honestly, the relief I felt... And we still get to see him use a fan! Even if he's not in makeup.

I go into some more critical analysis in the link above, but overall, I enjoyed what we got from live-action Sukka because I'm a sucker for all the glances and touches and near-kisses. I'm a sucker for all the tenderness they showed to each other right before they went out and kicked firebender ass together. They feel different in a lot of ways from animated Sukka, but I thought it was an interesting interpretation!

And I have a lot of questions about what the changes to their interactions might mean for the future development of their relationship (for example, the fact that they've already had a proper first kiss, and what that means in terms of how Sokka will process his fear and guilt and his feelings for Suki after losing Yue). But I'm curious more than anything about how those things will be handled. And I think it'll be neat if we get to see it.

[keepingupwiththecullensblog]

🎬✨ Welcome back to "Keeping Up with the Cullens," where this week's drama revolves around... a khaki skirt? Seriously, guys, I just found out about this whole debate, and I'm not laughing. I'm fed up! 😡

Bella's gearing up to meet Edward's family, and she chooses an outfit that somehow sparked an entire fan debate. I mean, come on, folks, it's not that deep! Even without knowing Edward's point of view from "Midnight Sun," it was pretty clear to me. In relationships, we often wear things our partners like. I know I do! 👗❤️

Edward has already commented on Bella's blue shirt before, saying he likes it. It’s mentioned right there in the "Twilight" text! In "Midnight Sun," we find out he’s captivated by how the color complements her skin tone. 😍 So, Bella decides to pair it with a skirt because, duh, meeting your boyfriend’s vampire family is a special occasion. 🧛‍♂️🎉

And yet, some fans have gone off the rails, debating whether Bella's khaki skirt was a nod to Stephenie Meyer’s religious background. 🤯 Seriously? We’re diving into fashion conspiracy theories now? 🤦‍♀️ Some thought Bella’s fashion choice was influenced by Meyer’s membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, where modesty is a value. But really, it’s a skirt, not a manifesto. ✋ Let’s not overthink this. It’s a practical choice, not a religious statement! 🙄

Let’s set the record straight. Bella mentions this is the only skirt she owns, and it’s from thrift shopping. 🛍️ Why? Because our girl Bella is tomboyish, not a fashionista. Her closet is more “comfortable tomboy” than “modest chic.” She’s not making a statement; she’s just meeting the parents! 👖 She probably didn’t care about the style as long as it ticked the “decent” box. Seriously, can we let Bella live? 🙌

Bella probably needed a skirt for a special occasion like this. As a tomboy myself, I only own a few dress-up and professional outfits. Has anyone thought of this... what if she needed it for Renée's wedding to Phil? Renée's not that fancy, but... 🤔

This has nothing to do with Stephenie Meyer’s religion or any hidden messages. Bella doesn’t even specify the skirt’s length, and Stephenie didn’t even realize the skirt caused so much controversy because, for her, it was always about the shirt! 🧥✨ Thank goodness "Midnight Sun" clears this up. 🙏 It's such a non-issue. Sorry for dumping on fans, but let's move on to more pressing debates—like why does Edward need math to learn how to cook? 🤔 Is he solving calculus problems to boil water? 🍲 Come on, people, let's focus on the real mysteries here! 😂📐🥘

[evvlevie]

Hi I'm pretty good at manifesting things that seem small and insignificant, but I can't do anything beyond that. Stable amount of money, relationships, I can succesfuly do revision of things that happend durning the day etcetc this all feel so easy and efortless on the one hand I'm working from the imagination on the second hand I feel like I'm trapped in the endless cycles of duties School is draining, even though I'm making it easier for myself, but it is not what I want I just want to shift to my dr and I'm changing the inner states, I'm imagining from the perspective of my dr self, I fulfill the inner man if it's needed but when I'm in school I'm flooded by the things I don't really care about, but even though I don't care I still feel like I need to do my home work, prepare for final exams, write and do my art diploma....

and I just don't know how to truly get away from all those meaningless things this all is distracting me from the inner world I am imagining different place for myself, and then, when I wake up I feel like I am becoming the desired reality self then it just takes one trip to school to just make me question if I can really shift realities during the summer I was able to keep really good state of mind for a longer time, but it didn't take me far I realized today that I'm just a little bit stuck in that part and I just need some help with it, or maybe general idea of what direction of thinking should I take to improve myself (also I'm sorry if this ask feels messy, this whole situation is not-yet fully organised in my mind hah, and eng is not my first language so it is not helping ig) -Anon ♠️🐍

Hi my dear Anon ❤️

I know this answer is coming really late, and I genuinely hope things have improved for you, and if not I hope my "advice" comes in handy:

I know exactly what you have been going through. I tried to manifest my SP while he had a third party involved and I was seeing him and my unpleasant 3D situation daily. I can imagine that this draining life that you are experiencing is what being confronted by your opposing 3D circumstances means in your case (or in any case where shifters wake up in their CR really)

One thing that I can tell you in order to maybe change your perspective and adapt your feelings towards the 3D is this:

You know about shifting, you want to shift, so there is an invisible 100%-guarantee label on your forehead that reads "will shift!!!!!"

The thing you are going through right now is just your bridge of incidences that takes to the place where you have shifted. I can tell you that the more I started learning about LOA the more complicated shifting got for me, because I was able to overthink every single little step I was doing, and I seriously need you to stop doing that. Shifting isn't hard. It's seriously just wanting to shift and it happening. Nothing more and nothing less. That's why people keep saying that you only need the intention to shift. There are people that shifted with their eyes open and in a matter of seconds. These people were not better or worse at this than you, or less destined for it or whatever. Every single success story that I have ever read, started with something like "I finally shifted once I just didn't give a fuck and just let it happen". I am so serious when I say that you just need to embody the confidence of a person that is shifting left and right, in order to have that energy manifest into you shifting left and right. This, this confidence is the only thing separating any "aspiring" shifter from a shifter that is shifting 30 times a day.

I have read stories of people who didn't even know what shifting is, who lived an entire life in another universe, woke up and thought they dreamed something hugely realistic. In fact this happened to my own friend once, and this girl doesn't even believe in shifting.

This is what I mean when I say that it's so easy, people are able to do it accidentally.

Sadly many shifters and loa-manifestos love to overcomplicate shifting and manifestation. Both of these concept are basically: wanting something to happen, and trusting that it will, regardless of what is physically in front of you. Sometimes we have to keep holding onto our trust harder than other times, but that doesn't change that the principle will always be the same. And to top it all off it is a really simple one.

At the end of the day I just want you to assume that you are doing everything correctly and exactly in the way that you have to, in order to get to where you want to be the fastest way possible for you (because that is actually true, this is your bridge of incidences in this case).

I love u,

Evie <3 💘

[kafkaoftherubble]

Ok so the idea for dear emperor is that in schools (elementary school, not higher education) kids are treated like crap and are taught nationalist propaganda. They're at an era where people are vaguely aware it's propaganda so everyone dislikes the royal family a little. Basically, the school system is just absolute trash because the royal family keeps trying to change it to turn kids into hardcore monarchists.

Ira never attended elementary school because he lived out on a farm. He attended a military school and later a college, but those were both in adulthood so he didn't get the horrible treatment and abuse of elementary school.

Because of this, Ira cannot understand Edith's desire to change the school system either. All he attended was college and he's best friends with Volker, so he doesn't understand how Volker's family could've created such a horrible school system when they seem to be such nice people.

Because Ira missed out on this universal experience of going to school, he's alienated from part of Edith's views and refuses to see it her way because he's too stubborn in his belief that Volker is perfect

Sorry for my tardiness!

Ah, so an elementary school that keeps having to revise the syllabi to prop up the national narratives du jour? And yet everyone knows that it's just propagandist rewrites. It's historical revisionism based entirely on which narrative helps the royal family (instead of new evidence and interpretations uncovered by continuous historical studies and findings; these are two kinds of historical revisionism)!

Very interesting! I can totally imagine that. In fact, I don't have to imagine. Such a thing is happening in (some states in) the U.S., India [1] [2] [3], Japan, and even my own country. China has its own whole thing. And the Philippines has its own thing, and... really, I kinda wonder which country isn't guilty of this, haha. (I suppose the more pressing issue is the severity of it.)

But this makes me wonder about the degree of freedom in Volker's country. How free are the people to criticize the government?

Have they been free before, but are now less free? My anecdotal impression is that losing a right you used to have often generates way more resentment and urgency to act than never possessing that right, to begin with. The latter is usually a lot more slow-burning than the first as social movements.

Are there other countries around Volker's Country by which information, knowledge, and ideas trade? And I do mean free trading of ideas/the freedom of ideas. While social movements can be homebrew for sure, seeds of ideas have to come somewhere, and across history, these ideas are often cosmopolitan in nature. They are not "grown out of one person or a few in a local and never escaping it to other areas." Instead, ideas are traded across regions, cities, and countries, and they altogether build something grander that can then also be spread to other parts of the world—before assimilating and adapting for local needs. I ask, because Brandi specifically touts democracy. Whence did it come? The best and most viable ideas are built by many instead of one, so I kinda wanna know how an idea like democracy comes to thrive in Volker's Country. (Is it via some books? Some manifestos from far-away land? Some salons within the country?)

There are probably other questions that can flesh out this particular aspect. Why I thought about it is this: the target of these nationalist ideas is children first and foremost, right?

When nationalist revisions happen in education, the ones who shout the loudest are the adults who know what's up. Because these adults can read the curricula, compare it to their own realities/experience/history, and realize it's crap. Kids, however, are statistically less predisposed to do so. They are young and less experienced about the world than an adult. They may also be sheltered from reality—not a fault, because children are supposed to be sheltered in some ways for their development anyway (ex: who the fuck thinks it's good to expose children to war or backbreaking labor?). Their own history is also just starting to grow, being young and all.

However, since you mentioned "everyone knows the education system is trying to make kids hardcore nationalists," I assume that "everyone" does indeed include the kids themselves.

And how would these kids know that their education is shit? The most plausible way I can imagine is "because most of the adults around them tell 'em about it." But for most adults to be able to talk about these things would imply a certain degree of freedom of speech. After all, if only a few kids knew that their education is crap—because their parents told them behind closed doors or because they saw some events with their own eyes—then it wouldn't be "everyone," innit?

Hence my question above!

So yea, just some asides I couldn't help but pursue for a bit hahaha. I hope it's useful for your worldbuilding or plot planning somewhat!

-----

Back to Ira and Edith!

Yes! I think the backstory you give makes a ton of causal sense!!!

Of course Edith would think of education reform! She was once its recipient, and therefore easily projects her lived experience under the system to the the kids of today. She knows the stakes of education because she's been through it. That awards her the necessary sensitivity—or at least, it gives her the potential to be sensitive.

I also like how Ira's personal relationship with Volker while studying influences much of his reluctance to "demonize" Volker.

There is a bit more stuff in your lore that can also add to why Ira doesn't want to see Volker as bad! You might have already known that while conceiving Ira's backstory (he's your baby after all! Hahahhaha), but just in case you missed it:

First, the military school. If I had to imagine a place where the most cynical anti-establishment people and the most diehard patriots will be spawned, I'd think a military school too. Patriotism directed either to the ideal of "the motherland" or to the ideal of "the ruler/royal family" is kinda required to be drilled into all soldiers because it will be important for their job.

Second, Ira's transformation from an illiterate kid to a literate soon-to-be governor. I can imagine how someone will see this transformation as a second wind worthy of gratitude. Imagine never knowing you could be good at art until someone gives you the chance, tutors you, supports you... and then finally awards you a position to do this secret talent you never knew existed in you. I imagine that is how Ira could feel, and it's only logical that he would then feel grateful and a sense of "I owe you." And why wouldn't it be directed to Volker?

Coupled that with Ira's own relationship with Volker's nephew: I assume, for now, that the young prince is a lot more noble and open-minded than his uncle despite also being a recipient of the current education system. Ira could then justify that there is no need for extreme/large-scale/sweeping education reform if the same system could produce someone like This Young Prince. "If the system is so bad, then why is This Young Prince coming out of it pretty good? Clearly, the problem is just Volker losing his touch with reality. The fault is a few individuals and not the system."

This will oppose Edith and Brandi's foundational stance, right? "The fault is in the system, beyond just a few individuals."

----

Honestly, I really wanna know how are you gonna resolve this tension between Ira and Edith now! Will either one of them have to be sacrificed for the other person's cause? Will Edith have to remove Ira for her goal? Will Ira have to remove Edith for his goal? Will they cause a civil war? Will there be a compromise?

Such exciting scenarios!!!

What an exciting story you have there,  π!!! GAH

I gleefully await more Dear Emperor lore from you, brutha!!!

KEEP 'EM COMING!

[ackermom]

an excerpt from the post-canon christie-esque jearmin buddy cop murder mystery i'm never going to finish

"The great Battle of Heaven and Earth," Mr. Jordan booms in admiration. He braces his knife and fork, raising an inquisitive eyebrow as he chuckles. "Now, there is a story that ought to be told!"

Forks scrape and still against plates, a silence falling over the room. The whole dining table seems to falter, from the Eldians at their uneasy places to the rest of the diplomats, avoiding each other's eyes in the sudden wariness that surrounds them. Even the steward blanches. He excuses himself without a word, disappearing with the water jug through a side door. Only the priest seems unperturbed, as he always is, his knife and fork still steadily working across his plate. Yet in the scraping, stifling silence, it takes every hesitant gaze glancing down the table for Armin to realize they are waiting for him to respond.

"Oh," is all he can say. The taste of the silverware seems to stick in his mouth. He swallows. "Well, it is a story we have all heard many times over, I'm sure."

"Surely you've had your fill from the newspapers," Jean says on his right. All eyes flicker to him instead, and he clears his throat, making a show of reaching for the wine and offering it to those down the table. Armin has never felt so grateful for an intervention. 

Jem Jordan, however, remains unmoved, and he huffs, or laughs, letting out a coarse breath that heaves his shoulders. "I've read the newspapers, yes, my boy. But it is quite another thing to have the heroes who saved the world sitting around my dinner table, isn't it?"

Someone scoffs. Mr. Jordan's eyes flicker down the length of the table, his smile somewhat less syrupy sweet than before. My table, Armin thinks, meeting Jean's gaze; he supposes he would be amused, if everyone wasn't so on edge, how easily it is to read Jean's annoyance with the tycoon in the palpable frown that's curling across his face. The others heard the same remark, and Armin can see it on their faces too— this table, nor this ship, does not belong to anyone other than the Azumabitos, though on Armin's other side, Mr. Oyama is smiling with everlasting politleness as if he had not heard the misstep. Further down the other end, Miss Hermann turns from the table to clear her throat, her eyes never meeting another's. It is Mato beside her who speaks, letting out a huff as his knife and fork clatter to the table. 

"I'm sorry," he interjects, his impatient tone making it clear that he is less offering an apology than embarking on a manifesto. He glances around at the rest of them, his brow working itself into keen frustration. "But that name is grating, isn't it? The Battle of Heaven and Earth. Someone says that, and we're just supposed to worship at their feet? The whole business is rotten if you ask me."

"Hear, hear," Pieck mutters, so low under her breath that only those nearby hear it. Beside her, Annie has returned to her food with diligence, and she eats steadily, carrying on as if she is unaware of the argument about to erupt. More likely, she's just bored, having heard it all and more before. Reiner, on the other hand, has hardly touched his plate, and he stares blankly at the table, as if each swell and sway of the ship back-and-forth in the water is all that he can grasp right now.

"Rest assured, the name had nothing to do with us," Armin finally manages to say.

Mato's intense gaze jumps to him. For a moment, the brooding look is so familiar it sends Armin into silence again. He swallows back the lump in his throat and loosens his white-knuckled grip on his wine glass.

"The people who were there that day spoke of what they saw," he says. "It would not be right for me to deny their experience."

Mato stares. "I see."

"I thought you, of all people, would appreciate a great show of heroism," Mr. Jordan exclaims. His knife and fork saw readily through a piece of meat. "Now come to find out, you are a cynic through and through, Mr. Rosario. Those who saved our world from certain despair have no doubt earned the right to tell their tales— and the right to boast about it, if you ask me."

"I didn't say it wasn't well-earned," Mato says curtly. He pauses a moment before his hands return hesitantly to his fork. "Believe it or not, I am glad the world is still here. But there are some of us who would prefer to hear a less sensational version of the truth."

Mr. Jordan mutters something Armin can't hear from the other end of the table— but it does not escape Mato.

"I will not be accused of being a denier!" he shoots back at once, his utensils clattering to the table. "I know all too well what the Rumbling did, and what else it could have done if it hadn't been stopped. I'm only saying—"

"Oh, come now, must we use such terms?" Even Mr. Jordan sits back from his plate, a disgruntled frown pursing beneath his mustache, though he does not once glance in Mato's direction. It is beneath him, Armin thinks, to consort with revolutionaries, even to look at them. No wonder he is on the far side of the table. "This may yet be a polite dinner."

Miss Hermann looks up for the first time, her fork tenderly clinking on her plate. It seems few of them can stomach both the conversation and the food. She glances back down to her plate when she catches Armin looking at her, but her gaze widens and raises with a start when Mato's chair peals back from the table, bumping into hers.

"You wish to speak of great battles, but you choose false names," Mato exclaims coldly. "'The Great Event', is that what you would call it? Such simple words allow you to hide beneath the ugly truth of the devastation."

He towers over where Mr. Jordan sits. Between them remains only the priest and the empty seat for the princess. Armin feels Jean tense, shifting forward in his chair as if to spring into action. These dinner knives are not sharp enough to hurt, should one fling them across the table. But held at close rang in the fist of an angry young man who has lost much of his homeland— Armin does not know what they would could do to stop him.

"That is even worse than speaking of heaven and earth," Mato spits. "What would a man like you know about how the rest of us live?"

"Now, look here, I should say that those who were there have the right to speak their minds. And as for my own experience, you cross the ling, young man—"

"To speak of the heavens and the earth is more apt than our mortal souls might know."

It is Father Emir who speaks, his pleasant and placid voice washing through the argument like a river over rocks. He does not look up at the men beside him, nor at the rest of them. His gaze remains on his plate, his fork moving purposefully in his aged trembling hands.

"For it is a constant battle to understand the wicked nature of this world," he continues, "and we must struggle with the ones from beyond to know the truth they would impart on us. Heaven and earth are only two mirrored planes on which we see our true selves."

He pops a fork of peas into his mouth and looks up with a plain smile. His gaze lands directly on Armin.

"You speak of truth," Mato says a moment later, his brow furrowed as he rounds on the priest. "Yet not one of us know your purpose on this ship. I recall that the delegation agreed not to include a religious envoy. My nation's participation in the peace accords hinged on this decision. If we are to be baited and switched throughout these proceedings—"

"Gentlemen, please!"

Mr. Oyama's nervous, lilting voice finally breaks through the rising argument. Armin had watched him from the corner of his eye, every second closer to standing from his seat. It is only now that he leaps up, his wine glass in one hand, the other outstretched as he shares his most amiable smile around the dining room.

"Each one of us has a purpose to serve on this voyage," he says. "Let us try to enjoy one another's company, and the journey around the coast. There are many days ahead of us before we reach Paradis Island."

His presence seems to remind the diplomats of their mission, and the tension in the room softens with every word he says. Soon, they have all turned back to their plates, the dinner continuing in silence. Armin takes a gulp of wine. Connie dives back into his meal, seemingly grateful for the end of the diversion, while Annie scrapes the last few peas from her plate, leaving it spotlessly empty. Jean lets out his breath. Reiner looks yet worse. On the other end of the table, Mr. Jordan has resumed sawing into his meat, while Mato stabs his potatoes in silence. The priest, between them, finishes eating, stands with his plate, and shuffles out of the dining room without so much as a word— only a faraway look in his eyes and a gentle smile on his wisened face.

Armin catches Miss Hermann's eyes again. This time, she's the one looking at him, watching as he observes the others around the table. He raises his wine glass an inch, nodding to her, and a flicker of recognition flashes in her eyes, though she does not smile before she looks away. He thinks she understands— even in these brave new times, Eldians must stick together.

Jem Jordan coughs, huffs, and clears his throat as he clears his plate and sets aside his utensils. He reaches for his wine glass, swallowing, and nods at Armin from the other end of the table. "But have you considered writing a book?"

[neongreenllama]

You said Antifa Wolfstarbucks and who am I to disagre????? Here are some random unorganised thoughts, just pure word vomit straight from my brain into your inbox!! you're welcome/I'm sorry!!

So Sirius and James probably go to protests all the time, they're such a good team (thinking of that drabble you wrote for the trick or treat ask a while ago <3). But one time they get separated at a protest and Sirius randomly bumps into this guy who's just dancing to Bella Ciao, eyes closed, like the world around him doesn't exist. As established, Sirius is gone for him, listens to Cordula Grün on repeat, we know the drill. Sirius and James eventually find each other again and Sirius can't shut up about the guy he just saw, and how perfect and hot he is. I think Sirius and James are already in a relationship at that point, but they're open and love telling each other about their crushes and other partners/dates. Maybe they're even relationship anarchists? 🖤

So anyways a week or so later they're at a soli party and Sirius is busy playing table football against Peter and James is just out there being a social butterfly, socializing with everyone at the party becoming bffs with anyone who doesn't run away quickly enough, and then he sees Remus, sitting in a corner, reading Karl Marx because he's not like other commies, he actually reads Marx and he needs everyone to know it, you know? James casually walks over to Remus and starts a conversation about Marx, and at first Remus takes one look at James and sighs, thinking he's just another rich guy who doesn't get it but the longer they talk the more he realizes James is actually kind of smart and knows what he's talking about? AND he's cute?? But then James's boyfriend comes over and gives off the WEIRDEST vibes ever, poking James in the ribs, raising his eyebrows and telepathically communicating something to James that Remus doesn't understand at all. James's boyfriend may be the hottest person Remus has ever seen but he's definitely giving off super weird and awkward vibes when he pulls James to the side and says, a bit too loudly, "James, das ist Cordula Grün!!!!" whatever the fuck that means, anarchist weirdos, speaking in code.

Anyways James is very excited by this revelation and goes to buy them all some more beers and maybe a round of Pfeffi, and then another and then another, and James and his boyfriend are now sitting next to Remus on the couch, his little communist manifesto book long forgotten, now being used as a coaster for the Sterni bottle. Anyways, the party eventually dies down but they're not done with their political discussions, reform vs revolution isn't something that can be settled over just 3 drinks, so James casually mentions that his and Sirius's flat is near by, they could stop by a Späti for some more drinks and maybe some snacks or other stuff and continue this at home?

And Remus is so oblivious, of course he goes with them to talk some more about politics, nothing else, what else would these two extremely hot guys who have been casually touching him all evening (in a purely platonic, very friendly way!!!) want from him? Sure, they were all joking about having a threesome and Sirius actually picked up condoms on their way home but they were only joking, they would never actually be into Remus? Sirius and James probably just needed condoms anyways so it just made sense that Sirius bought them when they were in the store. And if Sirius looked at Remus and asked him which brand he preferred that was purely so he didn't feel excluded when third wheeling a couple, which was so nice of him, looking out for his very platonic new friend. Remus is a bit sad they were only joking about the threesome because he really thinks Sirius and James are both extremely hot, AND they actually get Marx? They're basically his dream guys, but *sigh* they would never actually go for someone like Remus, who is he kidding?

So they get to their apartment, and Remus immediately goes to sit at the kitchen table, they're here to settle the age old reform vs revolution debate after all, but James and Sirius just give him a weird look, and James casually suggests the couch in the living room might be a bit more comfy? And Sirius puts out some candles, which he probably only does because his eyes are tired, so he needs soft lighting, that must be why. It's so funny, because he actually says "let me put on some candles for mood lighting, to make it a bit more romantic for us", and Remus just laughs, he loves Sirius's sense of humor, that guy is so funny!! He even kissed him on the mouth when he said it, just a quick little peck and then he got all flustered and red in the face, probably because James was watching them with a grin. They're such good new friends, Remus really likes them and hopes he will get over his crushes quickly so he can actually become friends with them!

Remus is so happy when he sees they have all the books of Das Kapital in their flat, and he stands in front of the bookshelves, looking fondly at his hero, Karl Marx, when James comes up behind him and gives him a back massage, which is so nice of him, Remus did mention he carried a lot of tension in his back, and James is such a nice guy and already a good friend for taking care of him like that.

Sirius puts on music [sidenote: wolfstarbucks playlist? there are SO MANY songs called Liebe zu Dritt, it took me a while to find the one I was thinking of LOL!] and Remus can't NOT dance, it's just such a deep instinct, he hears good music - he has to dance! The lyrics are really funny to him, again another classic example of Sirius's sense of humor!! And the lyrics even mention communism, so he feels very seen. James has gone from massaging his back to just holding his hips and swaying to the music with him and when remus looks back because he wants to compliment Sirius's music choices he sees them making out?? And at first he's a bit taken aback, because that's kind of rude to make him feel like such a third wheel but then Sirius grabs him and they all dance together and he honestly also thinks it's kind of hot that James and Sirius are so open with their love, and he loves watching them, so really, he doesn't mind if they occasionally kiss while they all dance. They keep giving him these looks though, and if he didn't know that they're way out of his league he would almost think they're prompting him to flirt back and kiss one of them? But surely he's mistaken, they couldn't possibly be into him, they're way too hot!!

NOT YOU SENDING ME AN ENTIRE FIC IN MY ASK BOX

Never apologize for your word vomit! (You call it unorganized thoughts but it's an entire fic) And it's Wolfstarbucks!!! WOLFSTARBUCKS EVERYONE STOP SCROLLING!!!! You have no idea how much I love this!!! I don't even know what to say this is perfect begnning to end

I love the Prongsfoot and their amazing communication and being completely open with each other and trusting and 🥺

Ad Remus "I'm not like the other girls" Lupin! And being completely oblivious the whole time!!?? Honeyyyyy, they're so obvious 😭😭😭 The candles and the dancing and the COndOmS bdjsksksjlsjdjd I can't

AND WHAT THEN??? CAT WHAT HAPPENS THEN WHAT ARE YOU DOING STOPPING RIGHT THERE?!! 😭

Will Remus get it eventually? Or will he be say "well it was nice" and go home and everyone ends up totally disappointed? Will they see each other again? Or will they fuck and Remus remains oblivious the whole time? "Just friends doing each other a favor"? "They didn't want me to feel left out"??? Will they start dating and Remus will never know? What happens when he does figure it out? How happy will he be that those two hot amazing guys want him? How will they go to protests in the future? I NEED ANSWERS! If you ever decide to write a second part to this I will love you forever

[jessaerys]

you introduced me to the concept of fatherbrothergodhero and i will now make it everybody's problem by pairing him up with his apprenticeworshipperchild. thank you for opening my eyes to deranged dynamics ily

slay! HMM i am rotating this in my brain and i think (To Me) the L/mello and L/near relationships are at their juiciest when they're unreciprocated and lopsided and frozen in time through death with no possibility of catharsis or growth or disenchantment, let alone Consummation. though to be fair i have terminal successors brain so i like the idea of L as a looming figure way more than i have cared to learn about the L the character so far fdgldglkdfklgldfkg.

the thing for me is once the fatherbrothergodhero turns his attention towards You the worshipperchild he becomes Human and Flawed and Fallible and it changes the dynamic drastically… not necessarily in a way that isn't interesting; i think i would still read a fic manifesto if it was complex and well-written in ways i enjoy but ultimately i think i’m just too soft to deal with the sleazy realities of this scenario…. they have been through Enough (<- says guy who loves when characters are tortured in evil depraved ways.) (i also realize i tend to have a Strong Sense of where i see characters Canonically, as opposed to people whom have more characterization flexibility hopping around from one possibility to the next. i can do that to some extent, but in my brain it registers as a Dark Timeline that isn't part of [my delusional] Canon)

anyway all of this is to say to me it is much sexier when it's an Unfulfillable Fantasy near and mello may one day play around with in the bedroom......... if you can’t go to therapy bdsm roleplay is fine.

ALSO i just realized i'm literally just stream of consciousness-ing at you here SORRY. great ask very thought provoking.

tl;dr:  i think it’s Ultimate Sexy when the god-daddy issues are never ever resolved and instead exist in a permanent state of unfulfilled frustrated desire <3 HOWEVER i salute my allied troops. godspeed bravest of soldiers

[dykeyote]

im sorry im talking abotu you were an easy mark its not in an haha hes lying oakworthy wins and thats all i have 2 say way i swear but its just like we talk about how hes obviously lying but why did he pick the MOST obvious lie he could have possibly told . like yes duh he was lying he clearly has feelings for normal hermie unworthy told a lie whos shocked but like he didnt have to say normal was an easy mark is the thing that gets me . there were a thousand diff reasons he could have given as to why he was faking feelings for normal i can think of several much more believable ones . why did he pick the most blatantly fucking false option . and i thought abt it and i was like oh well i guess he could have meant that normal Seemed like an easy mark at the Beginning which would explain why he almost fucking died for an "easy mark" BUT THAT DOESNT EVEN MAKE SENSE because he didnt start blatantly flirting w normal, Really, until the papa johns arc WHERE HE GOT HALF HIS FACE BURNED?????? if anything by this rationale he started flirting w him the second he realized normal WASNT an easy mark . so if that was his logic then hes STILL stupid and STILL dumb and STILL a weirdly bad liar for a likely . AND NORMAL KNOWS THESE THINGS?????? its not even like hes Hiding the fact that normal is objectively not a fucking easy mark and was very blatantly not one by the very moment that hermie started hitting on him normal was literally there . fucking obviously . and again yes weve discussed this but he literally could have been like . "because im a likely and i scam people it was in my weird scammer instincts to scam you it had nothing to do with liking you you were just who it landed on" . or "because of my previously mentioned weird scammer instincts i felt intensely committed to the stealing teeny bit and had to keep going with it and i couldnt stop until it was as devastating as possible" . or "because i hated you since you had a perfectly normal dad and a perfectly normal mom and you were still so sad about it i wanted to destroy you emotionally" . or SOMETHING ELSE literally ANYTHING ELSE his whole nonsense about his instinctual desire 2 scam is a goldmine for reasons why he could have picked normal and thats not even all why did he pick the dumbest fucking reason none of us are discussing the fact that he didnt HAVE TO LIE BADLY there are ways he could have lied that would have been moderately believable btu he just DIDNT . and he thinks hes such a good actor . that is so funny . idk why im writing a manifesto ive taken my various cocktail of meds so that might be the deal but it just entrances me . like i get he was trying to convey like oooo you want validation and so it was EASY ..... or whatever like i know what he was trying to say with his dumb little speech but its just . the longer i think about it . the more insane i grow bc its genuinely so stupid he did not have to say that shit he could have told a good lie . but did i have to write over 500 words about how stupid he is for that? no. and i did anyway. so whos the real fool

[redheadbigshoes]

hello… i can’t tell if i’m a bisex with a hyuge preference for women, or a lesb. i’ve had crushes on guys before, but i tend to crush on every male i come across (i went to an all girls school so they were few and far between), plus i only saw these males irl for at MOST 14 days, usually only about 3 days, the rest was online, and i didn’t see them. i’ve been very internalized misogyny and homophobic and always been afraid of/disdainful of lesbians because of falling down the alt right pipeline when i was 10 (out of that now thank gawd). last time i thought i was a lesbian i cried because it made me so upset… but being with a woman long term is sooo much more right than being with a male. this being said, i’ve found a journal entry from when i was 14 detailing how i loved men and how they dress… of course, this was before i got my sex drive (at which time my affection for women became unavoidable), but i do remember feeling very intense admiration writing that. im just… confused. i don’t want to appropriate lesbianism but at the same time i recently had my first kiss with a male (currently a freshman in college), and once i realized he really liked me i just… got so bored. there was nothing wrong with him beyond his pretentiousness and boringness but like. bleh. nothing compared to the girl i like now. i just hate males. sorry, but i do! i cant help it! i’ve had all positive male role models growing up, but i just don’t like to be around most of them long term. but when i am i get obsessed with quite a few them/start “crushing” immediately. what does it all mean ?!?!? im so lost, and afraid of being a lesbian, but disturbed by being a bisexual. it just doesn’t feel right!? but also i am biphobic which complicates everything. argh. ik it doesn’t matter but it does stress me out a little bit (a lot).

Hi. I think you should first question if all those crushes were actually crushes. From what you said it makes sense you (without realizing it) choosing every guy you meet to be your crush, because 1) you were probably taught that girls are supposed to like boys 2) considering you used to go to an all-girls school it also makes sense you immediately trying to find boys you like.

The second question you should ask yourself is: when you think about guys you think you like, whenever you think about them do you feel something positive? Like you feel you could date them, kiss them, perhaps have sex with them? Or maybe you feel a kind of nervousness that doesn’t make you feel uncomfortable? If the answer to all those questions is no, you’re probably mistaking finding men attractive with actual attraction.

I went through the same experience you mentioned about the guy you kissed. Whenever I tried dating men the second they showed interest I’d “lose” that interest.

You should read the bisexual manifesto and see if you relate to the experiences there. Try reading the lesbian masterdoc as well (it’s on my pinned post). I posted some videos of a girl talking about comphet and other lesbian experiences here, to watch the other videos you just have to click on the tag #source: patronsaintoflesbians

[fatal-furry-mark-of-the-tigers]

I got some uncomfortable shit to unpack, the usual dark sociopolitical take warning. Nazi mention, stupid anime analogies, etc.

When people talk about not dehumanizing the Nazis, it's a red flag in a lot of contexts, but at the end of the day, they were human.

They were stupid fucked up regular ass people at some point in their lives. It's not sympathizing to realize that at some point before a terrible mix of blurry internal and external, mental and social problems mixed in exactly the wrong ways over a lot of time for things to go that far in what looked like more of a world-changing one of a kind climax than it was through sheer well-known public knowledge after global superpowers got involved...everyone involved, no matter how terrible of a war criminal they became later, was just a stupid relatively blank slate baby like everyone else, and circumstances beyond their control at the time made things exponentially worse down the line.

I'm not a huge history buff or super well-read on geopolitics, but I'm not naive enough to think everything about the world and people and what will actually work in practice can be learned from The Communist Manifesto. I don't have a great attention span for long reads, as much as I really want to work on that if I even have enough free time to do it without being a miserable tumblr blogger who thinks they're an activist.

There's a difference between eugenicists saying

"Hitler had some good ideas, actually..."

and people who want to change things for the better saying

"Hopefully, at the very end, Hitler realized how bad he fucked up and knew he couldn't do anything to make things better himself, and smiled when he pulled the trigger at the thought that the world might learn a lesson from it and do better."

Nazi humanization and Nazi sympathy overlap with uncomfortable frequency, but they're not the same thing.

Dehumanizing anyone completely is never good. It's never going to be good. I know people do just fuck up and become so irreparably mentally broken that the best thing anyone can do for the world is just put them down.

And I'm sorry to dive into weeb garbage so often for analogies here, but for as much as the Pain fight in Naruto got people to miss the point through Tom and Jerry animation, the cycle of hatred theme had a lot of merit to it.

No matter how irredeemable and bad someone might be perceived as or actually be through self-fulfilling prophecy after being publicly seen that way, if they had a positive impact on anyone else's life who's still around to know about how they died, they're just going to get emotionally messed up by it. Even if they end up understanding why it had to happen, the pain from that never really does disappear without being passed on to someone else.

A lot of upbeat positive shonen anime is just wish fulfillment like that. Not in wanting to be super buff by screaming or throwing energy balls around, but wishing the world was that simple. Wishing that everything could be ok later by talking things out after surviving a brutal gay fistfight knowing it's not actually that easy.

As much as I try not to speculate about real people's lives in a Beatles fanfiction writer way, I can't help being interested in how much the themes of a long-running serial fiction work tie into how much shit the creator is dealing with personally.

Yoshiyuki Tomino made some Gundam series wildly varied in tone as he dealt with Bandai.

Masashi Kishimoto wrote Naruto at a time when he was finding his way as a young optimistic up and coming author.

And I had some dark speculation on thinking about the vague possibility of Boruto just being an oddly thematic climax to his depression after the Shonen Jump publishing experience.

That maybe he is just writing it as poorly as possible while sticking to barely enough of the core themes to try to be subtle enough.

I'm curious to see if it does get canceled before finishing or if it finishes with basically a downer "everyone dies and the future sucks" ending.

But I'll obviously never be 100% sure either way, because the theme of complete silent mutual understanding is still just wish fulfillment at heart.

Whether anyone confirms by asking him personally or not, they wouldn't know with 100% certainty that he was being completely honest without embellishing or lying.

So yeah, it's never that simple, and it's never going to be, and I have a lot to learn about the world and hope to make a lasting enough impact without becoming a terrible person along the way.

You can try your best, but we're still stupid humans with countless design flaws that do stupid things and fuck up like crazy. There's never any guarantees that what happened in 1940s Germany won't happen again in your lifetime close by or that you won't have a hand it, intentionally or not.

But there's just as little guarantee that it will get that bad.

Just try to educate yourself to the best of your ability without sacrificing your basic human decency if you understandably can't handle the true extent of how dark human history really gets.

Hitler was just a guy who ended up irredeemably evil through terrible chains of circumstances that led to his death.

Anyone has the potential when they're born to have that much terrible shit happen around them that things would get that far out of control.

Just try not to let that be you.

See you later.

[words-writ-in-starlight]

Please explain LXC/Wen Qing and Wen Ning/Jiang Cheng because I have never read anything about them and now I very much want to

Okay, listen, I understand that Lan Xichen/Jiang Cheng is the Popular Ship, but I’m just not particularly grabbed by it.  It’s fine, I’ve read some thoroughly charming fic for it, but I like a ship with some drama to it, and therefore: what if we got Wen Ning the most complicated boyfriend(s) possible.  This is an incredibly spoiler-heavy rant, so if Tumblr decides to work with me it SHOULD be under a cut.

Lan Xichen/Wen Ning

The short version: Lan Xichen needs clarity, Wen Ning needs compassion, they’re both very fucked up by Jin Guangyao’s actions, they could heal together.

So from Lan Xichen’s side of things, he’s lost...the whole world.  Not really.  Not literally.  But he lost Jin Guangyao, and in losing Jin Guangyao he lost his solid ground, because Jin Guangyao is not who Xichen believed him to be.  That lie destroyed Xichen’s memory of his sworn brother, sure, but it also ruined Xichen’s sense of self.  He’s been defending Jin Guangyao against his detractors for a long time, he trusted him implicitly, he left Nie Mingjue in his care, he comforted Jin Guangyao over the death of his son, he backed Jin Guangyao against Wei Wuxian--the things that Lan Xichen has unintentionally been complicit in are numerous.  But most importantly, for the issue at hand, Lan Xichen stood by and let the Wens be massacred, because he trusted Jin Guangyao and wanted to keep the peace.

Lan Wangji couldn’t have stopped the massacre of the Wens--he might be well respected and revered, but he’s one man, and in the wake of the Sunshot Campaign...well.  One person’s voice probably wouldn’t have changed much.  But Lan Xichen?  Leader of the Lan Sect?  If the Twin Jades had stood together to defend the Wens, if Lan Xichen had believed Wei Wuxian and Wen Qing about the prison camps, if he had spoken on their behalf when Wei Wuxian was denounced as a liar and a murderer...things might have been different.  Lan Xichen chose to be silent because he wanted to keep the peace, and because he chose who he was going to trust, and now he knows he made the wrong choice.

And Wen Ning suffered for it.  Wen Ning fucking died for it.  Wen Ning is every mistake Lan Xichen ever made, walking around in the sunlight.  But Wen Ning is still a deeply kind person, who dotes on Sizhui and is endlessly loyal to Wei Wuxian and protects people who hate him because he doesn’t want to see more bloodshed.  In a lot of ways, Wen Ning actually is what Lan Xichen always believed Jin Guangyao was--self-effacing, loyal, trustworthy, determined, gentle, kind.  He’s also dead because Lan Xichen trusted the Jin sect too much to check up on their prison camps.  Tell me about how THAT shit goes down, when Lan Xichen starts to come out of seclusion and runs into Wen Ning visiting Wei Wuxian.

More than that, Wen Ning was used for sixteen years to advance Jin Guangyao’s agenda after having a lot of people he loved killed indirectly by the man himself.  I don’t know, I feel like he and Lan Xichen might be good for each other, in that capacity.  

Jiang Cheng/Wen Ning

The short version: Jiang Cheng needs someone who will call him on his shit without getting shredded in the process, Wen Ning could really stand to have someone fight for him (and push him to fight for himself), it would be combative and unfriendly for a while but they have potential to grow a lot together.

I talked a little in the tags on this post about this, but now I don’t have a migraine and am far more cogent so let’s take this one again.  That post features the best explanation I’ve ever seen of Jiang Cheng, which is that he’s essentially an emotional savant: he’s incredibly emotionally intuitive, but only when it comes to bespoke cruelty.  The rest of the time, he’s floundering, out of his depth just by existing.  It’s not his fault, he is what he was made to be, but it’s a huge part of the reason that all his relationships tend to look very combative and trend toward spectacular breakdown--even when he’s being kind, it’s being filtered through this reality that he only really understands people when he’s looking for a place to hurt.  He can avoid those old wounds, like he does with Jin Ling (he’s genuinely trying his best to be a good uncle and he’s definitely a big part of the reason Jin Ling is as functional as he is), but that’s about the best he’s got in his arsenal.

Which, of course, is why Wen Ning pretty consistently throws him off his game.  What’s he going to hurt Wen Ning with?  Guilt?  Wei Wuxian, in his grief and madness, already did a better job than Jiang Cheng could ever dream.  Shame?  Wen Ning, of the Qishan Wen, the Ghost General, has been heaped with every shame the world could create for him, and he kept walking because he had no choice.  Loss?  Wen Ning’s entire family is dead.  He’s just like Jiang Cheng in that way, except worse--Jiang Cheng lost his parents and his sect and his siblings, just like Wen Ning did, except that Wen Ning also lost himself, in every imaginable way.  But Wen Ning, killed in a prison camp and only barely rescued from a mass grave, has already hurt as deeply as a person could--Jiang Cheng can’t rip open that wound any further than it has been.  Wen Ning, in a weird sort of way, is immune to Jiang Cheng’s particular brand of cruelty.  It stings him to be denied entry to Lotus Pier, but he’s neither surprised nor upset, just resigned to the reality.  He’s only angry when that cruelty is turned on someone else.

Jiang Cheng can rant and rave all he wants, and Wen Ning will sit there and look him dead in the eye and say “no amount of cruelty is going to make you anything other than what you are,” and I dunno, man, I think that would be good for Jiang Cheng, to be totally honest.  Also, once he’s been exposed to Wen Ning for long enough to wear down some of that raw edge and realize that...actually, the Ghost General he’s spent all this time hating is just a somewhat tired man who drew most of the same short straws Jiang Cheng did, I think...

I think Jiang Cheng has real potential to start turning that sharp tongue on people in Wen Ning’s defense.  He’d hate it, the first time someone hesitantly asked if the Ghost General was allowed inside now (”of course he is, I invited him, didn’t I” Jiang Cheng snarls, and then pointedly ignores Wen Ning for the rest of the evening like that’s going to make up for it), but he hates being called out on having emotions at all.  And it would be good for Wen Ning to have someone who would step up to the mat for him, teeth bared and ready to fight.  

TL;DR I wound up on both of these because I wanted to think of the most angst-ridden potential romances for Wen Ning, but the more I thought about them, the more I realized that they’re both actually a really good match.  Like, they’re not just interesting ships, the characters would actually improve each other, in ways that would probably make them happy together.  Now THAT’S a functional ship, baby.  

[fakecrfan]

Hi just want to say your story about the superhero was incredible. It broke my heart and I loved it

AN ASK ABOUT AN ORIGINAL THING I WROTE? 🥺

I wrote two superhero stories but only one has been getting likes in my activity feed recently so I think you mean my construction superhero short story. (checks the post) oh uh wow that’s getting more traction than I realized. Shit. So that’s why a bunch of people followed me recently.

Anyway, I don’t know if you are still watching my blog anon but since you liked my story have another snippet I whipped up just for you.

--

Excerpt from an interview with prisoner #4598, also known by the code names “Constructor,” “Destructor,” and “the Architect.” Transcript incomplete due to being salvaged after the attack on the prison records. Interview conducted by Mitchell Newman.

---

MN: Okay, well, since our memory experts can’t see anything in your head but muck and have established we’re not going to get any information out of you, anyway…

4598: Lethe is very good at memory stuff.

MN: Right, yes, of course she is. So since you’ve forgotten all useful information and I have to visit you at least for two hours a week just so this doesn’t count as solitary confinement--

4598: Could I talk to Sandy?

MN: Ms. White hasn’t asked to speak to you.

4598: Right.

MN: Anyway as I was saying, since I have to be here anyway why don’t you just tell me about yourself? Give me the whole manifesto.

4598: (no answer).

MN: Right. Well. Let me just continue then and you can answer if you feel like it. Sound good? Good. So, here is my question. What do you think about what people call you now? The first time you got arrested, you didn’t escape for months. Why?

4598: (no answer)

MN: Everyone thought it was because you needed to know the makeup of the material in order to shape it. When you stayed put they thought they’d gotten you with their Akonite walls. But it turns out you never needed to know that and you were just… sitting in there anyway.

4598: Right.

MN: What stopped you from escaping?

4598: (no answer)

MN: Did you think that you’d be let out if you played along, since you had good PR then?

4598: No.

MN: Okay. Was it that you still believed in the justice of the system?

4598: No.

MN: Second thoughts about trying to stop the construction of that stadium?

4598: Uh, no.

MN: Alright then. Why?

4598: (no answer)

MN: Is it related to your apparently still-developing powerset? Are you hiding some ability or--

4598: Depression.

MN: What?

4598: I was depressed.

MN: Ah.

4598: Everyone I had looked up to wanted me in jail. I thought no one would agree with me, so there was no point.

MN: Right.

4598: Uh, that’s something Sandy taught me. It doesn’t really matter what powers you have. If you want to get things done--big things, like building cities--you need lots of people. The things I’ve done, rebuilding… It's always because people have helped me. Cleared away poisons so I could go in the area. Gave me materials. Helped me learn.

MN: And without those people, you decided you couldn’t do anything?

4598: Yeah.

MN: So what changed your mind and made you decide to enact the largest villain breakout in history?

4598: It…

MN: What’s that?

4598: I had to try. It wouldn’t be right to just give up immediately. I couldn’t do it alone so I decided to find people who could help.

MN: And those villains--many of them serial killers and terrorists--these people shared your altruistic goals?

4598: (no answer).

MN: Right, sorry. That was a bit blunt on my part. I just mean it must have been a difficult group to work with.

4598: Hm.

MN: You’re pretty famous for not killing anyone yourself, even now. I really believe you don’t want people to die if they don’t have to. How do you reconcile that with working with, oh, Inferno. You know, the one that burnt innocent congressmen alive?

4598: (no answer).

MN: Some of the villains who escaped that day went on to kill innocent people, even if the ones you became friends with didn’t. Do you have any regrets?

4598: ...Skinner killed three children before we caught him. Toxica got… one, but made 48 people very sick for a while. Um, the others--I counted it all up. The amount of people who died due to the actions of villains that escaped because of me was 28.

MN: So you--

4598: The attacks your heroes do on other countries have casualties that number in the hundreds. Thousands sometimes.

MN: We were tracking down a highly dangerous villain with a power that could--

4598: That could not do half of that damage. They never can. The serial killers and terrorists--they’re hideous people. But there has never been one with the power to do what American “heroes” do every year.

MN: That’s because we kill them first.

4598: And then there is the damage afterwards. The sickness. People who die in the rubble. People who have their entire homes destroyed only to be turned away as undesirables when they try to find a home somewhere else.

MN: That’s not equi--

4598: You asked me if I have regrets. Yeah, I do.

4598: I regret every single fucking base I built for all of you.

---

The rest of the transcript is unsalvageable. Prisoner #4598 escaped shortly after, as containment measures on the subject once again failed. Future heroes are advised to use lethal force on sight, as containment has proven impossible and these transcripts indicate de-radicalization is unlikely.

[divinerulerluvr]

Am I Dreaming?

You have a wet dream while Kai lays next to you, awake.

Kai Anderson x fem!reader

Warnings - Smut, wet dreams, exhibition, riding, blow job (m receiving), slapping kink, aftercare

A/n - This is kind of mixed with a request for riding Kai Anderson so if you requested that, here it is (sorry it's an old request I forgot about it)

** Italics represent the dream **

Shifting around in the bed, you try and get comfortable enough to fall asleep.

Kai lays beside you, some sort of manifesto in his hands as he stays awake. He never slept much anymore. The pills kept him up most of the day.

You eventually fell asleep, Kai’s warmth next to you as the silence lulls you to sleep. Drifting into a dream, you fall deeper and deeper into your unconsciousness. Kai listens to your soft breathing, noting the occasional low hum you make when you reposition.

Your dream started and you noticed Kai was there with you in your dream.

He smiles at you, his blue hair hanging just slightly over his face. You walk towards him and he quickly embraces you in a kiss. You kiss back, feeling his hand jump down to your hip. You felt his hand directly on your skin and realized in this dream, you were already naked.

Kissing him passionately, you feel that odd feeling of being watched. Cracking your eyes open, you notice Kai’s cult people stand around you two, all dressed in their costumes. You grow embarrassed, your nudity sitting heavy in your mind as Kai continues to kiss you.

You push back from him, covering your body as your skin heats up. Kai smiles, pulling your hands from your nude body. “What’s going on?” you ask him curiously, not aware you were dreaming.

“They’re just here to observe, little lamb,” Kai comforts, holding your wrists together in his palm so you couldn’t cover your body. Still confused, you look at him with wide eyes. “Why?” you continue asking. “So many questions. You aren’t setting a good example,” Kai tsks.

Giving in, you go back to letting him kiss you. He lays you on bed behind you, spreading your legs wide as if he was putting you on display. Laying on the bed beside you, he gives the cult members a good view of your wet pussy.

He trails his hand down your stomach, reaching your cunt and rubbing his fingertips just barely over your clit to tease you. Your body tenses, a sharp breath leaving your lips.

“Do you like the people watching?” he whispers hotly into your ear. You nod weakly, your eyes shut as he runs his finger from your entrance to your clit to spread your wetness around. “Open your eyes, princess. Let them know you’re my good girl,”

Opening your eyes, you look at the members in costume and feel your skin flush yet again. You pull your knees together and Kai pushes them back apart, keeping you spread eagle. Tracing circles around your clit, your nerves vibrate with pleasure.

“Kai, please,” you whimper, trying not to moan too loud. “Let the pleasure take over. Don’t worry, I got you,” he comforts, his warmth infiltrating your body.

Out of the dream, the real Kai notices you shifting around more and the way you moan weakly in your sleep. He smiles to himself as he sets down the manifesto he was reading, his eyes paying attention to you now.

Your thighs clamp together, unaware what was real and what was a dream. You genuinely thought Kai was fingering in front of a bunch of people.

Real-Kai watches you as your moans get louder, your breathing getting heavier as well. You lay cuddled into his side now, your body pressed into his as your thighs stay glued together. You rubs your legs together, gaining friction to make up for the lack of it in your dream.

Back in the dream, Kai pushes his two fingers into your pussy, making you gasp out loud. Your chest heaves as you moan, his fingers curling wonderfully inside of you. The crowd had left your mind and you had grown used to the stares.

Kai sucks on your neck, creating bruises and hickies on your skin. Your hand lays on your breast, squeezing and pinching your nipple for more stimulation.

“God…” you moan out, your hips bucking and rocking with Kai’s hand movement. Your other hand rests on his chest, wanting to touch him too but he doesn’t let you. His movements speed up, his fingers hitting even deeper in your pussy.

You were so close to cumming as Kai curls his fingers to push on your g-spot. Tears gather in your eyes as Kai finally pushes you over the edge.

In real life, Kai cups your breast in his palm over the shirt of his that you wore. He listens with great enjoyment as your moans get louder and you orgasm in real life, too. Still asleep, you come down from your high.

You get pulled out of your dream when Kai presses a kiss to the top of your head, his hand still on your breast.

Waking up with a soft gasp, you spot Kai looking at you with dark eyes and a cocky smile on his lips. “Fun dream?” he asks smugly. You flush with embarrassment, feeling the wetness between your legs and Kai’s hand on your tit.

“I would imagine. You were moaning my name,” he adds on, his thumb rubbing over your peaked nipple. Still confused, you take note on how your pussy was still sensitive from your dream orgasm that was apparently a real orgasm, too.

“Did it feel good?” he asks, running his hand down your stomach tauntingly. You nod shyly, looking up at him from where you laid beside him. Kai smiles, pushing your hair back as you hide your face from him in his chest.

“Do you want me to give you the real thing?” he continues asking, his voice reduced to a seductive whisper. You nod to this as well, already soaking wet.

His hands reach for your hips, guiding you onto his lap so your legs were bent at either side of his waist. His hand snakes to your cunt, feeling your wet panties in his hand. He smiles, clicking his tongue. “Just a dirty little thing,”

You swallow thickly, rutting your hips impatiently. “You’re going to have to work for it now. While you get off, i’ll do nothing but watch,” Kai says as he pulls the shirt of his that you wore off of your body.

Taking his words, you scooch back and let your hands pull down Kai’s sweatpants before pulling down his boxers since he was already hard.

With his dick out, you settle over top of him eagerly and seat yourself on his dick -- letting him stretch you out before your thighs are touching against his. You exhales shakily, your eyes fluttering shut.

Kai’s hand rests lazily on your hip, not doing anything other than tracing circles on your skin as you get yourself adjusted. “Come on, pup. Work for your pleasure,” he coaxes. You nod meekly before you start to grind your hips back and forth, not ready to bounce up and down yet.

You moan softly, your hands placed on his bare chest for support. You ignore his eyes on you and continue your fluid movements, your slick arousal making it easy.

Slowly switching over to a bouncing motion, Kai rests his hands on the backs of your thighs, squeezing your skin in his warm palm. “Mm, Kai,” you draw out in a slurred moan. Kai smiles, watching you with his dark eyes.

Picking up your pace, Kai digs his fingers into the soft flesh of your thighs, just wanting to bruise you somehow. “Tell me about your dream, little lamb,” Kai asks as you move up off his dick and sink back down so his tip pushes deliciously into the sweet spot deep in your cunt.

“You… you were touching me,” you speak in broken words, your spit growing thick as you find it hard to put your thoughts into words. “...In front of th-the cult. Showing them that I… that I was your good girl,”

Kai smirks at your choppy description of your dream, bucking his hips up just slightly. You gasp, a brief grimace flashing on your face.

“So eager even when asleep. Does that turn you on? Me showing your cute little pussy to my cult?” Kai antagonizes, his hand creeping up to your ass and slapping the tender skin harshly. “Yes!” you cry out as his hand hits down on pre-existing bruises from a few nights ago.

“Hm…” Kai hums in sadistic satisfaction as a tear falls down your cheek and your movements grow more and more ragged. “You are a good girl,”

Your moans increase as your pussy clenches around his dick, your body vibrating with unbelievable pleasure that had your skin coated in goosebumps. His free hand travels up to your face, petting your clammy cheek in fake affection before slapping you.

Your head jokes to the side from the slap, your cheek burning angrily. You whimper, the sharp sting giving you even more pleasure, no matter how wrong it sounded to be turned on by being slapped like hell.

Kai knew how to slap hard, too.

When you look back at him, he cradles your cheek in his warm hand, only making the mark sting more. You moves your hips in a motion that was a mix of grinding and bouncing, making you feel good enough that you were seconds from cumming.

He slaps you again, this time not so hard and on your other cheek. Your head jerks and you cum quickly in suit. Your movements stagger once more as you collapse on his chest, riding out your high.

Kai holds you to his chest, his hand gripping the nape of your neck assertively. Your hip movements slow, stopping as your climax finally ends.

Noticing he hadn’t cum himself, you get off of him and lay beside him on the bed. Resting your head on his thigh, you look up at him with wide eyes as you lick your own juices off of his dick. He smiles proudly at your initiative, reaching his hand down and stroking your hair with care.

Pushing his dick down your throat, you look at him with watery eyes as you suck him off to his finish.

His cum soon fills your mouth, the warm and salty substance laying heavy on your tongue and on your lips as Kai pants softly. He pushes your hair from your face, feeling the heat coming from your cheeks as he runs his thumb over your lower lip to gather some of his cum only to push it back into your mouth.

You greedily suck it from his finger, hollowing your cheeks as you do so. Kai pulls his thumb from your mouth, letting you swallow his cum.

Laying down next to him once again, you hear Kai sigh softly. “You need something? Water or… ice?” he offers up, trying his best at completing proper aftercare -- something he was trying to improve on.

You nod, telling him you wanted a glass of cold water. He gets out of the bed, leaving the room to get it for you. Coming back, he hands you the glass and lays back next to you as you drink it. You polish off the glass and set it down on the nightstand, curling back into Kai’s side.

It was only two in the morning so you gladly fall back to sleep in Kai’s arms.

Taglist: (ask to be removed if you would like) @just-some-lesbian @evanmybeloved @sallyscigarettes @arsenicbruise @auricgold @billyhxrgrove @liandav @peanutbutter-y-jams @ellamaianderson @mossybank @kaiscumrag @spookybitch @anisabb @xmaximoffic @copy-of-a-cheeto @cursedandromedablack @marynlangdon @tatesimper @mrspetxrs @im-verysad link to be added to the taglist here https://forms.gle/CfYyEsXsvTJAFpDf9

[femmefatalevibe]

How do I stop feeling jealous and compare myself with anyone who seems to be doing well in life? Why can’t I feel happy for them? I feel so inferior when I see anyone flourishing esp people I personally know. I feel super competitive even if it is not what I truly want. How can I stop feeling jealous, please help me. It’s making me feel miserable 🙏🙏🙏

Hi love! First, I’m sorry that you’re struggling with some insecurity and jealous thoughts now! I want to validate your feelings and let you know you’re not alone. It sounds like you’re dealing with issues related to low self-esteem and need to build up your confidence/sense of self.

Here are my tips on how to build up your self-esteem and confidence, practice self-love, and manage your jealousy/deal with insecurity. Hope this is useful for your journey! xx 

HOW TO BUILD SELF-ESTEEM & DESTROY JEALOUSY/INSECURITY 

Get out of your scarcity mindset: Jealousy and envy all come from a place of lack. When you feel like you’re in competition with others, you’re essentially saying that there are limited opportunities or spots available in the world for you to claim the same achievement or title. E.g.: If you’re jealous that someone is getting better grades than you, has a lower body weight, has certain clothes, etc., you’re perpetuating the narrative that only a few people can have these accomplishments. This assumption is simply not the case! There’s always room for another high achiever, athlete, creative talent, employment within a certain career/industry, etc. Even if your success and route to success look different than the people you’re currently perceiving to be your competition, their accomplishments don’t take away from your potential in any way. Seek ways to cultivate an abundance mindset (can answer more specific questions on this, if desired, or dedicate another post to this topic, too!). Remember: There are an infinite number of unique opportunities, definitions of success, accomplishment, and fulfillment in this world and within your community/circle of influence. 

We’re all the stars of our own movies: By nature, we are all self-focused. The only person you spend your entire life with is yourself. So, by design, we all see every decision or action (whether of our own or that of others), relative to ourselves – either how it affects us or how it stacks up against our own accomplishments or lived experiences. One of the most freeing facts to realize is that we all think this way! The person you feel jealous of is also probably thinking about how they’re doing in life relative to you and others as well. We are all the stars of our own movies – aka our life paths and lived experiences – everyone else is an extra, supporting character at the end of the day. While it’s important to form connections and live with respect and consideration for others, it’s important to focus on how your decisions, actions, and words affect your life trajectory. People don’t think about you nearly as much as they think about themselves. Remind yourself to focus on doing the same. 

Stay in your lane: On a similar note, cut out the noise. Decide to focus on what you want out of life instead of thinking about what others are doing. Every second you waste thinking about what someone else is doing, you’re taking time away from working on your goals or doing something you love. The only person who can truly bring you happiness and fulfillment is YOU. Never give this special power away to anyone else! 

Cultivate your sense of self: Once you start focusing on yourself, it’s time to find yourself. I’ve linked a few of my previous posts HERE, HERE, and HERE on how to cultivate your sense of self, design your dream girl archetype (ideal self/self-concept) and write out a personal manifesto – essentially a written document affirming all of your unique qualities, strengths, goals, and affirmations. 

Design and implement daily confidence-boosting habits & self-love rituals: After you define who you are, your ideal self, and the qualities, character traits, skills, and values that define your current/future identities, you need to implement the right mindset, habits, and rituals to help you transform into the highest version of yourself. Think of habits or rituals as a form of confirmation bias to affirm any new self-perceptions (e.g.:I am worthy, confident, and self-sufficient. I succeed in my career field of choice, hold my own in conversations, and communicate with class and elegance), ways of living (I’m an early riser who knows how to prioritize and focus and get things done, go to the gym 3-4 days a week, etc.). In other words, once you start refining your speech, time blocking tasks, going to the gym, etc., you’re living as the person you want to be, so by the law of assumption, you’re attracting your ideal reality into existence through taking these consistent actions. Here’s a simple strategy to help you discover the most important habits and self-care routines you need to implement into your life: 

What are my priorities in every area of my life (school, career, physical/emotional health, self-development, relationships, personal branding, finances, etc.)?

What goals do I consider non-negotiables in my life (short or long term)? 

What areas of my life need the most improvement? What story do I tell myself about this situation? What are my current habits/thinking patterns in this area of my life? How can I reframe these thoughts to help myself? Why am I self-sabotaging? 

What activities and people make me feel my best? What gives me energy? What helps me to unwind, relax, and destress? 

Practice self-respect: While it takes some practice, the best way to unlearn jealousy is to practice self-regard, take care of yourself, and stay unbothered when it comes to the choices of others and their opinions about you. It becomes easier to remain unbothered once you create a life and personhood you love. Once you cultivate your sense of self and practice habits that build your self-love and confidence, you understand why we all need to look out for ourselves and the freedom this personal agency provides. This mindset and way of life also help you better empathize with others and value their need to do the same. 

Remember, this process takes time, but the best thing you can do when you feel jealous or insecure is to focus on yourself and the unique qualities you have to offer yourself and the world. This mindset and understanding that there are infinite pathways to success and fulfillment, open your mind to help you get creative and strategize ways to reach your potential or satisfy your desires. 

Once you cheer yourself on, you realize the competition is an illusion. The right members of this former club become your allies. Together, you can lift each other up to create an unstoppable support team. Haters only offer white noise or envy that proves you’re doing something right. Only those who take time to think about you privately will share their assumptions about you in public. 

Best of luck! You got this xx 

[rogueshipagogo]

the time has come. for my big JaneAce Manifesto. i’ve been talking about them a lot for the better part of an entire year on my dead by daylight twitter, but i havent been posting about it Here, or really Anywhere that is easy to access and doesn’t just disappear into the ether after a few weeks. but i really like them and genuinely think they are among the better m/f [not straight. There is a difference] dbd ships, and there’s probably been a Noticeable uptick in content about them since i started uhh requesting it and commissioning it and spreading the word about how epic they are over on That website, so- why not on This website??? buckle up for lots of rambling and big reaches over this games tiny scraps of lore. also sorry if you’re looking at this on mobile, for some reason it keeps getting random formatting issues that literally dont exist in the copy im posting from my laptop so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ its just gonna be kinda ugly

it is simply economical to ship the two hottest characters in any given series. when you ship janeace, you are speedrunning looking at some sexy old people having fun being in love. it’s not rocket science. thread over

no actually. anyways. OK so. this all started bc. a long time ago. i was playing a game as ace where i had a rainbow map and the lens that lets everybody on your team see what you're looking at, right. and i was going around looking for totems and chests and the exit when i realized there was a jane player following me who was pointing at the stuff that was glowing with my map and dancing around all like ‘woah i want that thanks for finding it’. i thought that was rly cute so i moved out of the way to let her open the gates and take down all the totems and have whatever was in the chests whenever she found me. and then the game was over.

But that rly cute interaction just kind of gave me brainworms. afterwards i couldn't stop thinking about how funny it would be to imagine that scenario having dialogue and jane just marching up to ace opening up a chest like ‘hey. Can i have that’ and also how fun and good they would be as a ship if you didn’t look at it like the classic ‘opposites attract’ scenario, and more as if they actually weren't very opposite at all, and were in some ways Very compatible, they just had completely opposite circumstances that made them seem, on the surface, like they were from 2 separate worlds entirely.

like, there’s a handful of janeace content that existed before i got into the dbd fandom, right, and its not Bad?? but it tended to have vibes of ‘this is a stereotypical relationship between a super laid back toxic levels of egotistical manchild and a super uptight prudish nagging woman’, like some sitcom straight people meant to entertain jaded cishet 45 year olds. And i Guess i understand why that’s the obvious trope to apply to the concept of them dating each other. and i Guess i understand why people in the dbd fandom got that impression of them, and decided they Hated shipping them, if it was just going to be nothing but ace being like ‘haha you are so sexy and i am so immature why dont you just be the more responsible one forever’ and jane being like ‘noo stupid man i am so much smarter than you i am le epic girlboss and you are perpetually mentally 25 years old so now i have to be mean to get you to do anything’

but that interpretation is entirely reliant on bad faith takes on Both of their personalities!!

its easy to see jane as a flawless queen of everything without a loosey goosey bone in her body, but that ignores things like her painter cosmetic, where her face and hands are Covered in paint and all her brushes tucked into her hair; or the lines in her biography about her early days as a radio host, where she was fired within months for making too many ad libs and being ‘too frank’; or the fact that her rockabilly cosmetic is from an episode of her show... implying she regularly wears costumes on her show. shes literally from new jersey

its easy to see ace as a lazy asshole who only knows how to manipulate people- but that ignores things like his waiter and fisherman cosmetics, where he’s making an earnest effort to earn money doing honest [enough] work, but simply suffers from low self esteem if he feels inadequate and unprepared, and routinely goes back to being a gambler out of convenience.

i’d also like to take the moment to point out how they Both struggle with mental health issues. i think there’s a tendency in the fandom to gloss over a lot of the issues they write jane as having, making her seem perfect and mature and universally appealing with very few flaws, And a tendency to act like ace’s issues are all there is to him, someone who contributes so little and takes up so much space that it’s hysterical- which does them both a disservice, especially for My intents and purposes of saying wow both of these characters only get by running on alternating manic and depressive episodes. clearly aces entire life is centered around having addictive personality disorder and being in relationships that are toxic for him- in his lore, ace is encouraged to put himself in an extremely dangerous situation by a friend who is amused by watching him embarrass himself, and we get the idea that ace socializes with people entirely on a metric of ‘is this person impressed by how cool i seem when i win’ and ‘is this person just really into watching me lose because its funny and entertaining’, which he might not even be aware of.

clearly jane.... janes entire story is about her childhood trauma. Like i dont want to just have to retype her entire biography and also her tome lore but, in summation, her entire story is about the pressure of the life she had built as a reaction to her childhood trauma and how Even if she hadn’t gotten fognapped, she was likely heading towards a meltdown spiral from taking on too much work, getting too wrapped up in peoples perceptions of her, and becoming obsessed with gaining more influence, to the point of being willing to sell out completely in order to get even a Little bit closer to her audience Really Understanding how much she’s a normal person desperate for people to relate to her pain.

So Now Think About It. they're both among the more charismatic extroverts of the survivors, their livelihoods Both rely on being able to have a good conversation with people and build a really iron clad rapport in a really short amount of time, they both aspire to be sort of fancy and rich and get a lot of attention and clout And, for Both of them, this desire for that sort of life started early in childhood, dreaming about escaping poverty and preconceived notions of who they were. they both have multiple bits of flavortext in game about being naturally optimistic and seeking to share that hopeful attitude with their friends, so i also think jane's method of interacting with people is something that would, like ace's method of interacting with people, not always land.

‘but sunday, she’s an insanely famous self help talk show host!! how could she be Bad at socializing with normal, average, not-famous peons???’ would You want an insanely famous self help talk show host grabbing you by the shoulders just to be like 'dont worry, It gets better :^)' while your leg was caught in a bear trap and you were having your fingers sliced off and your heart ripped out?? and some dudes taking pictures of it?? probably not. People who would be into that are likely in the minority. but you know who Is in that minority???? Ace.

imagine if after Weeks/Months/Years?? of terrifying trials where everyone is getting ripped apart and fangoriously devoured or w/e, jane is Still trying to be helpful in the only way she knows how to her new friends, but they’re all Less than receptive to it. bc you think people like feng min and jake and david, all these tired ass antisocial introverts, want to keep hearing ‘dont worry we can do this’ over and over and over again, every single time this happens??? probably not. at some point they would probably be like ‘wow, jane, that’s great, but im actually? Tired of dying over and over again, and what you’re saying is Not helpful right now’. even her fellow celebrities, like kate and yun-jin and felix, or even just other more sociable and positive types, like meg and claudette and adam, might get really tired of hearing stuff like that as they get shredded up for the 39480459th time.

but it’s the thing that occurs most naturally to jane to do for people when they’re upset. she’s spent Years putting all of her time and money and self worth in being able to do this and watching it make a meaningful impact on people!!! And she’s spent years being validated in her sense of self relying on being that type of parasocial icon for people!!! so how is she going to make it in the fog without getting her heart broken and sent to the void where hopeless survivors go if she cant do the one thing she’s best at??

but then maybe it finally comes down to just her and ace as the last two survivors one night, after getting progressively lonelier and lonelier for what feels like forever, realizing that her Love Language is somewhat inert here, and when she works up the nerve to pull the ‘hey, it’s gonna be fine, we can get out of here’ card on Him??

it finally Works. he smiles back at her and says ‘yeah, youre right!!’ because he is Also a tireless optimist who doesnt believe in bad luck and sees a silver lining to every situation. he’s the guy who is perpetually smiling in order to make sure there’s always at least One person who hasn’t given up hope yet, and knows the value in holding out just long enough to be absolutely sure there’s no possible way to turn things around. he will never pass up the opportunity to look at a bad situation that way- he’s a gambler, the idea of a potential payout for taking that slim of a chance is one of the only things in life he cares about. AND SHE CAN WORK WITH THAT

so the most hilarious thing in the world to me would be if one of the first few times they ever actually speak to each other by the campfire after a trial, everyone is sort of looking around like ohhh god this is gonna be weird, he’s such a little weirdo and she’s so poised and normal

but it Actually isnt weird. for better or for worse, ace is good enough at reading people- and knows well enough just how much power jane has- AND DOESNT WANT TO GET THE SHIT BEAT OUT OF HIM BY A FAMOUS GIRL AGAIN- that he manages to be not a complete loser around her, mostly. she Also has to tap into her ‘talking to normal people’ skills in order to communicate with him initially as well, but even thats just something that would sort of sweeten the deal for her. i’m not under the impression he’d know a whole ton about her before encountering her in the entitys realm, so there’s not even as much pressure in interacting with him as there is with someone who i can easily see being a jane romero show stan before the events of the game, like yun-jin or meg, who she loves and would be friends with, but also still feels a bit obligated to be really put together around, for her images sake. so for her, there’s a bit of relief in making friends with such a comparatively average person, and for him, it’s cool that she even wants to talk to him, and a bit humbling that he can no longer claim to have the most bravado and largest presence out of anyone in the fog.

this isnt to say that they dont have their differences- obviously, she’s a hard worker who wants to come off as entirely self reliant and tireless, and he’s a self professed mooch who wants to just manipulate his way into success without actually applying himself unless it’s easy and fun and makes him look very sexy and cool- but i don’t think thats something that would completely kill their chances of getting along and having a successful relationship. they are adults. they can work it out

in fact its probably for the best that jane has such a well developed sense of self worth, so that when ace fucks up and says something tactless because he’s being a little clown creature, she can swiftly, easily disarm him into taking it back and informing him that he can’t say shit like that, rather than get her feelings hurt or just assume there was nothing to be done about it, like i think a lot of other survivors would do *cough felix cough*. He needs someone who can nip his antics in the bud instead of enabling him. and where anyone else doing that might kind of bug him, in this fantasy universe i have created where i get to dictate how all fictional characters act, it makes sense to me that he would defer to her judgement.

[this is a good a time as any to say I dont fuck with 'ace is unironically sexist' headcanons or whatever, i want him to have moved Past whatever the hell was going on in his tome, as that was Meant to be a painful experience in his past that he’s still hung up over as being one of the worst times of his life, NOT an accurate snapshot of who he Currently is in the game!!! so i dont mean he’s saying and doing Genuinely Problematic things to her or anyone else on a regular basis... he can just be kind of weird and careless]

i like imagining that since she has the status and wealth and influence that he could only Dream of having, its a bit of a ‘whatever she says goes’ situation when she suggests slight changes to his behaviour, within reason. On this note, from the Other side of the fence, jane could eventually have an issue with trying to tailor his personality Too much to her liking- her bio literally says she ‘needed more; she wanted others to follow in her footsteps’, so its easy to imagine there might need to be not just boundaries around reining in his behavior, but boundaries around her tendencies to want to control his behavior in the first place. even their flaws are compatible!!!!!! its nice for me to imagine that there would be plenty of scenarios where jane is the one getting spun out mentally and ace has to be the one to ground her, since at the end of the day, she’s just a normal person caught up in the relentless perfectionism of showbusiness. that their relationship isnt just ‘selfless perfect hot girl fixes stupid washed up scrimblo mans life’, because they Both have valuable things to tell each other and perspectives the other sorely needed. and because honestly??? jane is less content in her life than ace is in his!!! again, on a surface level, it’s easy to see them and think he’s the problem and she’s the problem solver, but its way more complicated than that.

a lot of how i think about them takes place in a post-fog environment- if we’re meant to believe that the survivors in the game will get out eventually, that means we’re invited to consider how they would make it back in the real world. and maybe jane would take this time to say. ‘Well, i can’t really afford mentally to be everyone’s best friend on the tv with a million clothing lines and makeup products any more, now that everyone saw my funeral and all. maybe i should set my sights a little lower and try to just take it one day at a time’. and maybe ace would take this time to say. ‘well that whole experience just taught me a whole lot about what it’s like to care about other people for once. and the idea of being in a casino or bar right now is extremely overwhelming and bad. but What Else am i supposed to do???’ and that’s when they can move in together and she can see what its like to try Less hard and he can see what its like to Try for anything at all even a little bit. it is extremely endearing to me to imagine, like, jane at home painting or writing, and maybe ace has his 2nd or 3rd ever little part time job for underachievers, like being a bartender or waiter, and when he gets home shes there to be like ‘wow you did it im so glad you finally learned to be a relatively productive member of society, i know its your least favorite thing ever but it means a lot to me that you arent fully reliant on all my money also i dont care if you still do gamble shit every once in a while because clearly thats just What Brings You Joy so have fun doing that on your days off still’.

OR!!! flip it turnways: she Does go back to being a tv personality, or writer, maybe talking about what it is she just went through, and needs to come home after the strain of being on tv and dealing with media industry people all day [which was already extremely bad for her, her bio describes her regularly getting migraines after filming] to someone who actually understands the fog and believes her and was there, and spent his day making sure the bed is made and the floor is vacuumed and dinner is ready for her. and you know who can do that??? be a little stay at home himbo wearing expensive pajamas and embroidered slippers, loading the dishwasher while blasting jazz for slutty old men on an expensive sound system in a luxury new york penthouse??? Ace. Again. that’s always what the answer will be here

so we all agree that it’s not epic or poggers to depict utterly useless men riding on successful womens coattails. But. if she makes more money than she knows what to do with, and he actually makes himself useful, Why Not be the sugar mommy rich gf to this dude who has agreed to keep your house running and be your peppy little old man cheerleader in exchange for getting fancy clothes and also lots of hugs and kisses. and also you spent an indeterminate amount of time being tortured to death infinitely in a hell dimension.

I think that’s fine!!!!!!! theres literally no end to the situations in which they can, despite being a high strung girlboss and a manic pixie malewife, get along, and see and value each other for who they are, and how they decide to cope, and what they need, in order to not get utterly lost in the sauce of the weird fucked up mentally and spiritually draining lifestyles they both live. in my honest opinion.

AND THATS WITHOUT EVEN BRINGING UP HOW I THINK THEY’RE BOTH BISEXUAL AND TRANS