#Safe Moving and Handling (Level 1)

[kra40]

[tamil1984]

[sofiatarot]

Pick a card: How do men see you vs how do women see you?

TIP JAR - FREE READINGS - PAID READINGS

1->2

3->4

Group 1

How men see you:

Men perceive you as someone who is transitioning into a better version of yourself. You exude a sense of self-assurance and fulfillment, as though you’re content with your life and know your worth. They find you approachable yet slightly mysterious, giving the impression that you have layers to uncover. You might appear as someone who’s moved on from the past and doesn’t let nostalgia hold you back. Physically, they see you as balanced and harmonious, with features that stand out for their simplicity and elegance.

How women see you:

Women see you as someone who’s been through transformative changes and come out stronger. You inspire others with your sense of adventure and openness, as though you’re always ready for a new chapter in life. They might admire how relaxed you seem, not someone who feels the need to prove themselves or compete for attention. Your energy feels uplifting, almost idealistic, and your appearance reflects that: approachable, unique, and effortless, with a style that’s welcoming and relatable.

Group 2

How men see you:

Men see you as someone grounded, steady, and practical, someone they can count on. There’s a quiet strength about you, like you don’t need external validation to feel confident. At first glance, they may underestimate you, but once they get to know you, they’re drawn to your stability and the way you handle challenges calmly. Your appearance might be understated, but there’s a natural attractiveness to you—clean lines, practical choices, and an overall polished vibe.

How women see you:

Women admire your ability to find balance in life and create meaningful connections with others. You’re seen as nurturing yet independent, someone who brings a sense of calm and trustworthiness to any situation. You have a grounded presence that makes others feel safe, but there’s also a mystical, introspective side that intrigues them. Your appearance reflects this balance, with a timeless, well-maintained style that blends warmth and sophistication.

Group 3

How men see you:

Men perceive you as someone intense and hard to read. You might come across as guarded or cautious, like you’re always weighing your options before making a decision. They find this enigmatic side of you both frustrating and captivating. Your personality seems fiery and passionate, though they might sense some inner conflict or unpredictability. In terms of appearance, you stand out for your boldness or a certain sharpness in your features that adds to your allure. You don’t blend in; you’re unforgettable.

How women see you

Women see you as someone who’s been through a lot emotionally but refuses to back down. You might have a rebellious streak or a defiance of traditional norms that sets you apart. While some might find you intimidating, others admire your independence and ability to speak your truth. Your energy is intense and dynamic, and this reflects in your appearance: striking, unconventional, and commanding attention without trying too hard.

Group 4

How men see you:

Men find you deeply transformative, like someone who has an aura of mystery and depth. You give the impression of being constantly evolving, which makes you both fascinating and a little intimidating. Your emotional intelligence stands out, and they see you as someone who feels deeply yet keeps a certain level of control over your emotions. Your appearance might lean toward the dramatic, with bold choices or striking features that leave a lasting impression.

How women see you:

Women see you as someone who walks the line between introspection and action. You have a way of observing people and situations that feels deliberate, as if you’re always analyzing and learning. You come across as confident in who you are, with a magnetic energy that draws others to you. Your appearance reflects this: bold, confident, and captivating, with a sense of style that’s both refined and powerful.

xoxo ❤️‍🔥

[thesharktanksdriver]

Devils may love?: Trust of caring, Taking an offered hand and thundering feathers

Love making Dante and Honeypie bicker like a married couple lol. Their both idiots in their own right

Links: masterlist, part 1, part 2, part 3

So uh yeah newsflash Dante was upset, justifiably upset but upset nonetheless

You see it in how his eyes harden and his grip of ebony and ivory tighten

But most importantly of all you see fear and worry

It wraps around and coats him in an intense smog

Like a chimney puffing out large thick gusts of smoke that choke the sky

Instead it chokes you as he stares wide eyed

Words lost in his gaping mouth

It’s clear that unlike last time you’d come here of your own volition evident by the briefcase and handgun

That not typically something a hostage is given or allowed to take

So you can’t exactly use that excuse

“So…uh…surprise?” God he’s rubbed off on you too much, normally you wouldn’t say such corny ass shit-

“Are you insane!” He moves forwards grabbing your by the shoulders to shake you lightly “what the hell are you doing here?!? How did you even get here in the first place”

“Evidently yes - to help you - Trish plane-“ each answer takes a moment on account of your brain slamming against your skull every few seconds. For as gentle as he tried to be he was still overpowered as hell. You still remember the time he grabbed the door handle too hard and it warped.

He looks at you with an expression you can only describe as hopeless and exasperated. Finally he knew how you felt half the time, he knew a faction of your pain. “God…no you shouldn’t be here! You’re not supposed to be here! You should be back at the shop where it’s safe“

“Dante you can trust me, you and lady trained me and I’ve survived this far already…” looking behind Dante you see the demon knight from earlier at the openly balcony doors “uh Dante behind you-“

Dante doesn’t have time to turn around since by then the knight had already grabbed him, it then chucked him out into the courtyard. Distantly you hear a loud bang and Dante groan as it turned its attention back to you and held out a hand, staring once more intently. It really seemed to have a thing for staring at you…

“Uh thanks you’re a real gentleman? You’re a guy right?” It nods and You take its hand, cold metal meets your palm as it then used your grip to pick you up. It was really leaning into the knight bit since it did a princess hold all fancy like as it descended into the courtyard from the balcony. Then placing you down just as Dante dusted himself off from a small crater in the ground…the dirt would probably be the least of your cleaning worries.

“Wow, you have more than just gutsy your downright ballsy” he sounds annoyed as all hell when he utters this, especially when the knight after placing you down still kept a hold on your hand and…for a moment laced its fingers with yours, squeezing your hand before pulling away?

That action though small seemed to push Dante since ebony and ivory were quickly unloaded into the knights armour

An action that quickly turns into a clash with the knight and a new sword Dante had surging with electricity

Lightning rippled across the blade and two swords danced in a dangerous clash

All the while you took a second to process the knights previous actions and then begin unloading your own clips into it

As expected it shrugged off your bullets as it did Dante’s

But it seemed to do enough as a distraction as it jumped from the first level of the courtyard to the second

Dante followed quick

Not wasting any time with running and jump off walls and such

Meanwhile you look up blankly to where their fighting

Dramatic ass fuckers-

Sighing you try climbing your way up the ledge

Unfortunately you didn’t take rock clinging class, you didn’t know that would be a good damn prerequisite to this

Maybe you need something to help

Looking down to the briefcase you quickly rummage through

Pushing past the shit you stuffed in there like enough bullets to pay for rent for at least an entire year and then

“Bingo!” You pull two swords from the case, one blue and the other red in an irony not lost to you, especially since Dante once used them during the tower. “Alright uh…guess I’ll stick them in the wall and climb-“

Just as you jam the swords into the stone to climb up you pause when hearing something…more like someone? “Your not Dante?…” at the hilt of the sword a gemstone with a face talks before the other sword responds “their the one he was after remember? Uh Honeypie was it?”

They talk…the swords talk….how is this the least weird thing today? “Uh hi yeah…that’s unfortunately what Dante calls me but my real name is…actually you know what we can cross that bridge later, I didn’t know you both talked?”

“We were sworn to a vow of silence” “by Dante once we became his devil arms”

“Do you guys like being qui-“

“No”

“Ah…uh well I don’t mind you guys chatting if you can help” at that you see both faces eyes widen

“Really?! You’ll let us speak again!”

“Yeah, so long as you both help me I don’t mind.” At that there’s an immediate response from the two, the red sword in your hand directing you to grab his brother. When you do so your then immediately filled with some sort of energy, it buzzes In your veins and with a swing of both swords with the twos encougment your sent upwards. Fire and wind swirling around you in a vortex propelling you upwards.

“I am Agni” “and I am Rudra”

“We are at your service”

With that you were finally able to catch up to both the knight and Dante after doing some more parkour across the old castles crumbling walls

And your met with the sight of Dante being held up by the neck against a stone wall

God damn it

Running to action you swipe Agni and Rudra at the knight’s arm holding Dante up

It doesn’t do much damage but it does make the knight drop Dante

Letting the necklace hidden from under Dante’s layers of clothes jostle free

An-

Electrify surges across the knight as it screamed in pain clutching its head

Whatever the sight of the amulet did to it was immediate

It backed away in pain

Energy surging around it once more as it screamed while Dante wheezed finally having air back in his lungs

With a final yell the knight disappeared off into a ball of energy soaring through the air

But not before staring at you and the amulet once more

“So…that was something”

“We- still- aren’t done- talking-“

“Dante save this for when your not wheezing”

With that and a roll of your eyes you helped the red hunter up

His grasp shaky as he regained his everything

Something about that fight threw him off and you can’t blame him

That knight was no joke but it was also weird

Why did he not hurt you? And more importantly what was with it and Dante’s amulet?

Hopefully questions to be answered later when the armoured demon wasn’t trying to pull chivalrous moves only used to make girls in romance novels swoon

What was with all that anyways?

Ugh, too much work and not enough pay

“You alright?”

“As I’ll ever be” Dante responds taking a moment to crack his neck “wait…how’d you get up here? You couldn’t even reach the paperwork I place on the top shelf let alone here!”

Wow

Asshole

“For your information Dante me and lady do week end trainings-“

“Wait what!”

“-And I had some help” with that you held up both Agni and Rudra, the two devil swords chiming in with “they brought us with them” and “we agreed to help”

“Oi what did I say about talking-“

“That rule is overturned now that I’m using them”

“Your gonna regret that, their chatty”

“If I can deal with you I can deal with anything at this point”

With that a shadow demon leapt out from nowhere to claw off Dante’s face

The shadow cat? Thing is dealt with rather easily by Dante and Tori combined effort

An enemy he seemingly already dealt with before by how he grumbles from under his breath

Curses fall from him when looking at something inside his coat pocket

Something he tucks away before grabbing you and basically high tailing it from out the area once the cat was done with

You hadn’t even had the time to breath before being dragged through the mirror room the knight came from

And then thrown over Dante’s shoulder with a thud and him leaping down from the top of the tower to the bottom

The laughter of black robed demons laughing as you screamed on the way down

Then being safe and let down once whatever Dante kept anxiously checking on was slotted into a blue door

A sewer

Your were both now in the sewers

“We are burning both of our clothes once this is done, I’m not washing sewer water out of your shit”

Dante looks like he wants to fight back that argument before he takes a long whiff of the air, his nose coiling back in disdain “…ok, yeah I can’t argue with you there”. Once saying this he looks down at his boots and pants that slosh in the muddied water “no amount of fabreeze can mask this”

“More like I’m not touching this shit. We have no idea if the stuff down here has marinated”

“Ugh…don’t say marinated when talking about sewage”

“Oh don’t pussy out on me now. You dragged us down here and I’m typically the one to wash out blood and gore from your shit” with saying that you then flick your finger at his forehead

“Ow what was that for?!”

“For tossing me over your shoulder like a sack of potatoes, then making us go through a sewer when I just bought this new shirt and for doing this without telling me anything”

“We were on a time limit! Plus, I didn’t know this led to the sewers”

“And you didn’t tell me that Dante. You didn’t tell me anything at all Dante…” your small bit of insecurity seeps in at that last part, becoming more and more quiet. Though you’re usually one for addressing the problem, solving it head on you can’t find the will to do so this time. So instead you begin to try and find a way out even as Dante tried to get the words out.

Agni and Rudra are surprisingly decent company for a pair of bickering demon brothers now stuck as swords

They had explained to you a lot about the demon world you hadn’t understood

Alongside how exactly demon arms like themself worked

That had always been something you were admittedly curious about

When Dante returned from the tower with various weapons made of demons you were intrigued

But it always slipped your mind to ask after he had put them away into safe keeping

Or sold to get enough remaining funds to repair the shop

So you listened to the two

Apparently there were two types of devil arms

Willing and some unwilling

They along with others in the tower willingly became Dante’s weapons once impressed by his will

So once defeated they transformed willingly into weapons thus allowing them to retain some level of consciousness

Specifically their soul survived even if their body didn’t

But a point here was that they were defeated, not properly killed

That was apparently a very important factor they had to specify

Demons rarely become devil arms willingly due to pride and not seeing others a worthy

So the ladder option was typicall

Plus lower level demons didn’t have the power of becoming devil arms, only powerful ones

But on the mention of the other type of devil arm that one was more common

These types of devil arms could only be attained by killing the demon

Thus meaning their consciousness not being transferred with the new form

Well new form was maybe a stretch since it was more like its power transferred and was condensed into something useful for its new user

Thus the reason between why they retained some level of living while others were dead conduits of its previous owners powers

It was kinda fucked up but you guess that’s just how it was in hell

“Besides” Agni adds while Rudra finishes “these form aren’t so bad. Being trapped in that tower for 1000 years was much worse. At least now we see different environments”

“Wow that’s still kinda fucked…”

“Not really, we voluntarily let Sparda seal us there…we just didn’t expect to be there that long considering Mundus and his forces”

“Wait Really? You both willing let yourself be sealed there?”

“Yes, we were both intrigued by humans and their customs. So we’d rather let them live than die, we are most gracious hosts after all. It would be rude for demons to intrude and kill all humans in their home world”

“Well uh…that’s rather nice?”

“This is why I told them to be quiet” Dante buts in, “they talk way too much.”

“Their teaching me Dante”

“Stuff I could tell you”

“And stuff again that you didn’t” that makes him go quiet again.

You hate this sewer

You hate its demons flys that you burn to a crisp with Agni after making wind draw them with one place with Rudra

Then picking off the last ones with well placed bullets

That’s not even mentioning the annoying scissor wielding burden that trapped you and Dante in a small fighting space

Making the two of you maneuver to avoid its swinging attacks and two blades snipping your head from your shoulders

And then comes the fact your very much concerned about your wounds getting infected

And all that for a key

A fucking key

You hate this place

And you make it very known

Treading beside a still quiet Dante you mutter curses under your breath

Agni and Rudra commenting here and there to fill the relative silence

Before eventually a loud bang echoes down the corridor making both you and Dante pause

His hand instinctively pushing your back behind him

As-

Oh what the fuck-

A giant spider

A fucking giant spider made of solid rock and bubbling magma crawls its way down the narrow hallway behind you and Dante

Quite literally hot on both your heels

Dante doesn’t have enough time to grab and throw you over his shoulder like he did before

So instead he grabs you by the hand and runs

You both run and run until stumbling through the doors

Down the sewage filled halls

Shooting at scythe welding assholes and out the sewers back to where you both once came

You almost want to kiss the grime covered stone floors since at least these were a tad bit better than the sewers

Hopefully nothing here could get worse than those sewers

…well maybe besides all these puzzles and keys

A god damn sociopath must’ve once lived here

Guess it explains the location

Placing the sun key into its slot the sun face’s rays shift and turn

Pulling up to reveal a new entrance

Above the entrance area you take a moment to look over the grandiose of this place

Even if you heavily began to dislike it you can’t deny the place was a marvel to look at

It’s just a shame it was marred by what was happening now

It’s beauty of old stone and carved statues ruined by the cries of demons and the maniacal plan of the one behind all this

“What’s wrong?” Dante asks holding your wrist as you stood on the platform looking over the entrance room. Eyes tracing the statue behind the grand staircase holding blue light in its palm.

“Just sad this place is ruined by all this…could’ve been some beautiful historic place people would go to visit…not this hive for evil”

“Yeah….but what’s really wrong?” That makes irks you a bit, making a small bit of irritability snap in you

“You tell me Dante. Except here’s the thing, you won’t. Seems like you won’t tell me anything!”

“Do…” he looks at you as if your insane “do you think I don’t trust you or something?”

“You act like you don’t” it’s quiet but it echoes in the silent area, you look down at that statue and it’s blue light. Crossing your arms and pulling away from his grasp “or you have a weird way of showing it…and I get it. This is a lot for you, you’re scared and I can’t blame you for that…but I still can’t help but feel hurt that after all this time it feels like you can’t trust me to help”

“I didn’t want you involved and dragged into my shit again…I don’t want you hurt like last time”

“I know…” you turn back to him and trace a healing cut just beneath his eye “but did you not think that I wouldn’t worry? That I don’t like the thought of you going into this head first when it’s obviously a trap set for you and act like it’s fine? 10 years ago you were on my ass when I pretended everything was ok with my injuries, if you could be on my ass then for being reckless then I can be on your ass now for the same thing fucker. You don’t get to come here acting like you signed a god damn death warrant and planned your funeral and not expect me to follow you here and be upset that your acting like your expecting death and you didn’t have the Gaul to think of how the people in your life would feel!”. All that comes out in a rush, angry tears cling to your face “how do you think I’d feel telling lady that you’d hadn’t returned?! How do you think I’d feel knowing I couldn’t even give you a burial since you never told me where you went?! Do you not think that would weigh on me? On her? Or how about Morrison or Enzo?! Your not alone anymore, your not a scared little boy running for your life with no ties to anyone Dante, your a man with various people who care for you, who’d die for you”

He looks gobsmacked, various emotions flipping through his mind before his stupid ass focuses in on one thing “you’d…go through the effort to give me a funeral?”

“Are you a fucking idiot?! That’s what you’re focusing on?!? Of course I’d give you a funeral! I’d drag myself to hell if I had too for you! And you seriously think I would leave your body to rot without a proper rest?! I wouldn’t care if it was the last day on earth, I’d still arrange you one because I care for you Dante!” You pinch the bridge of your nose “god your an emotional constipated idiot”

“…you care for me?” It’s whispered breathlessly as if he couldn’t believe you, god he had rocks for brains when it came to others emotions.

“Did you literally not hear what I screamed out into this fucked demon mansion? I care for you a whole fucking lot and I don’t appreciate you not telling me anything and coming here expecting to die and thinking everyone would be ok with that. Not when we’d all gather behind you in a heart beat” by now you’re jabbing your finger into his chest to accentuate your points, hopefully to get it into his thick head. “Do you get it now? You stupid meathead”

“…….I’m sorry” his apology is genuine and at that you sigh, opening your arms that he quickly pulls himself into. Like usual he smells disgusting, even moreso than usual due to both your stenches of the sewers.

“It’s ok…like I said I get your afraid and your stupid as hell when it comes to stuff like this…just think next time about how it’s not just you your affecting, but a whole lot of other people as well”

He nods into your shoulder “I just want you safe”

“I know, but you have to trust in me too that I can handle myself as well. That you can trust others in this fight instead of being alone all the time, because that’s what we’re there for in the first place…and I just want you to come back not in a casket Dante”

It takes a few more minutes to recompose but by the end your both good enough to continue

Maybe the burning sewage both made you hazy enough to emotional open up

Or maybe that plus being dead tired did the trick

Either way that was mostly talked through

Those insecurities of both you and him being calmed

Perhaps not gone completely but now like calm waves under control

Not thrashing or dragging you down

Just simply at ease

It would take a whole lot more than a talk to make them go away

Just as your fear of heights when Dante once again picks you up and jumps with you to another place from a deathly height

That was something that would take a whole lot more experience to go away

….though maybe your yelling and clawing of his laughing chest could eventually do the trick

But by his smile

A smile he’d been lacking as of now

Maybe you could bare it a few more times

If only for that alone

What you don’t tolerate though is when he calls you again by that nickname when Agni and Rudra try to ask for your proper name

The bastard making a deal that if they call you that as well he’d tolerate their talking

Sadly they agree

Traitors

Entering the room across from the platform your met with yet another statue

One that Dante takes a moment to leave some sort of tribute to

So you do the same

Now being able to offer some of the blood still remaining of Agni and Rudra that they willing give up

An action that leads to both commenting on how they feel more powerful than before

When Dante isn’t looking they make a jab about it being his fault their rusty in the first place

You chuckle under your breath

An action that makes the aforementioned hunter quirk a brow before offering a hand to you

Above on a ledge leading to a new door he offers to lift you up

Instead you use Rudra to use his wind powers

Then walking past Dante with a certain smugness in you due to the amount of times the bastard had held shit out to you before holding it over his head with his freakishly long arms

He looks like a kicked puppy before you take his shoulder and drag him along

With yet another ledge to climb you both make it to a big open area-

“I think we’re about to be ambushed”

“Why’d you think that?” Dante asks walking towards the open exit

“Well think, aren’t you always attacked when you enter some big open room with a statue before it-“

Right before your eyes the gate slams down and the same damn spider from before appears. It crawls over the castle walls and slams down into the arena “recess time is over boy! Here there’s plenty of room to get real nasty” he grows a scorpion tail “this time there’s no holding back and I get to kill that little human pet of yours!” Its tail slams down into the ground sending rubble and debris spraying down

“Wow seems you’re right Honeypie. Finally, I was getting tired of playing your childish games” the first part is muttered to you with a small tired edge before he turns confident in the face of danger.

The battle begins and off to a great start as the magma bug kept leaping at Dante

It was clear its main priority was him

So you were in the clear to get shots in on it when it was more focused on him

Round after round fired into the creature

Only going in for hits when Dante hand stunned the demon in its fiery eight legged horror

Agni was useless against the thing so Rudra would have to suffice

A fact the demon seemed to brag about to his brother as you slashed and dashed away from a spider leg nearly hitting you

Or a scorpion tail being parried by the talkative sword

Wind swirling around you and working to cool down the intense heat

Dante didn’t particularly show off his devil trigger form to you often

Moreso out of necessity if anything

But you see it full circle as within a split second he’s transformed

Sword slicing down on the arachnid scorpion in rapid succession

Until

With a final screech the demon falls onto its back toppling down onto the skylight

Glass shattered beneath your feet

A scream tumbling out your throat as well as your hand outstretches

It’s grabbed by claws and lightning that softly ripples across your arm in a soft warmth

You can’t pay much attention to that when the spider fall and is impaled on the statue of a horse riding hero

The spear the solider proudly held piercing through the stone shell letting magma pour out as glass danced mid air and shattered on the floor

It screams as both you and Dante look down at it

“You!…your not just any ordinary human. what are you?” It screeches out looking up to Dante who says nothing in his devil trigger form, he either didn’t speak in that form or he couldn’t, you didn’t know. “no…the legendary Sparda?! It can’t be”

“You’re right you eight legged creep! He’s one of his sons, Dante!” Dangling over the creature you answer for the man holding you from falling to your death.

It gives a last sigh before melting away, dissolving most of the statue beneath it.

Immediately after you jostle as Dante lifts you up with one hand tightly grasping you. Him in his devil triggered looking at you with dark purple eyes reminiscent of storming clouds as bat-like wings spread out from his position on one knee as he pulled you up. Even after pulling you to safety and untriggering he keeps a firm grasp on your hand

“So now you accept my hand huh?” He lifts an eyebrow and a cocky smile appears on his lips

You roll your eyes but can’t help but laugh “oh shut up”

(“Brother is this what humans call sexual tension?” “I think the better term here is slow burn”)

“Oi what are you two yapping about back there?”

“Nothing”

“Stop being mean Dante”

Down below watching from beneath the broken window Trish watches the scene. She sees how he still holds your hand as you roll your eyes with a grin.

Running through more rooms and sections you both end up with a trident and end up back to a place to stick said trident

Which then made a mechanism that temporarily opened a gate on a timer that you both narrowly got through via rolling under the closing gate

You got a face full of Dante’s chest in return

But you both got through in time and walked through the double doors to the drawbridge that had been thankfully drawn

Once arriving at the other side though it drew back into place

Leaving forwards the only path ahead

And ahead unfortunately lead to new lizard demons that burrowed their way out the ground

But dealing with them went as per usual so far

A struggle but something that was doable

A thing you’d never expected but like most things in life you had to learn and adapt

That’s perhaps the only thing your thankful to your parents for

After throwing you enough times in the water and telling you to swim eventually you get used to it

And you force yourself to learn whatever they threw at you

Even if you didn’t particularly enjoy it

Every instrument

Every extra curricular

Every single thing they wanted you to master in order to gain social prestige

To get your way into a good university to slave away at grades once again

Jokes on them you were now using those sink or swim skills to kill demons

Oh how the mighty have fallen

Though perhaps Dante has fallen more as you watched him attempt, keyword attempt, to do parkour up to a platform

“You’re doing a good job Dante! Little to the left this time!” You yell with cupped hands with amusement. You propped up Agni and Rudra to watch as well, both their faces curled up in smiles as they held back laughter at seeing Dante fail and fall again

“Honeypie your being real-“ he looses his footing and falls to the ground with an audible thump and oomph “sour…”

“Maybe because that nickname is stupid and almost anything would be better”

Dante mocks thinking for a moment and gets up from the ground, dusting himself off “nope, your still Honeypie through and through”

“If that’s the case I’ll keep laughing at your failure to jump slightly to the left like your on ps2 tank controls”

“Hey!-“

Eventually he gets to the platform

After around 10 more minutes of trying

Each of which you laughed at every time he fell

Though the reward was good enough since he gained a new weapon to play with

A pair of firey gauntlets that spew fire off in a showy display

They were put to quick use due to some marionette demons

They didn’t last a chance

But the tables quickly turned

The sky became dark and this is her loudly as you entered a big open area free of demons-

“Hey isn’t this what you mentioned before-“

particular large volts of lightning in red dance across the sky around the darkening clouds as a being emerged from them. A large demonic bird reminiscent of an eagle flapping its large wings that sent gusts of wind towards you and Dante before it perched atop a coliseum. “You two! Are you the human, son of Sparda and his pet that challenge the darkness Mundus?”

“What is with them calling me your pet? Seriously I’m his secretary not a some servant! Hear that?! SEC-RE-TARY! SECRETARY!-“

“Flock off, feather face! Or you can stick around and find out the hard way!”

“Apologies, puny second in command” This was spoken in a mocking tone, accentuated by the demon birds booming deep voice.

“You know what, that’s at least better than pet-“

Dante pushes you out the way in time to avoid the birds literal air strike of electricity bombs headed your way

The damn avian nearly carpet bombed you like you were land with oil- oof maybe a little too much of a dig considering the sociopolitical climate-

This time you switch the Agni as Dante started using the new fire gauntlets he had

Using Rudra probably wouldn’t do much considering the demon being an avian, wind was quite literally on its side here…plus electricity

Seemingly like Trish though that would probably be a problem for later

Unfortunately the metal outside of the briefcase probably put you in a more worse position than Dante

So you were a chicken running around with your head cut off attempting to avoid being fried

Though thankfully with this the evil bird was divid in its attention half the time

He’d periodically switch between you and then back to Dante when the hunter would hit him with a flame coated haymaker

“Dante! Use the platforms!” You thankfully dodge two beams of lightning closing in on you within a V formation by jumping up on odd disc-like platform summoned. Though you aren’t the best a parkour you climb upwards, Agni in hand and bursting with fire

“Already on it!” With his fancy new weapon he does some flips and tricks but ultimately goes up the platforms and take a running plunge to the bird. He lands and begins punching away, making the demon go down and give you the chance to run jump and plunge down in the creature.

You keep plunge your sword as Dante keeps repeatedly hitting it

Fire and flames swirling and scorching demonic feathers to an ashen tinge

But the demon doesn’t stay down forever

He gets up with a screech wings flaring up and sending you tumbling off

Being shaken off by the bird leads you to skidding across the ground if not for Dante taking the brunt of it

Immediately running to catch and shield you from the blow

The giant eagle looks pretty injured but keeps fighting even after that beat down

Only eventually admitting defeat after several more minutes of Dante shooting at it

Then disappearing in several strikes of red lightning hitting the ground all the while you and Dante were lefts alone in the courtyard

Once again all the while the coliseum loomed in the back

“….im feeling like KFC for when we get back”

“For once I can’t disagree, but don’t for a minute think I’m paying-“

Through tunnels and new areas plus fog covered bridges that sent you back if you took the wrong way you end up in yet another new area

Whoever designed this place must’ve hated themself or was the ancestor of that famed architect George Trevor

This place was all too complicated for your taste

Too big and too hollow even in its open garden areas

Not to mentioned all the god damned puzzles

For fucks sake why couldn’t people be straightforward for once-

“Were there this many puzzles in the temen-ni-Gru tower? Because I for sure don’t remember ver-rrrry many times of doings stuff like having to get a “sign of chastity” to get a special grail” nearly said Vergil there but you caught yourself, you knew it wouldn’t make Dante upset but you’d rather not remind him or yourself of…that

“there actually were a lot of them? But to be honest I kinda just rushed through them without paying much attention. Just wanted to get them done and over with”

“Why’s that? You weren’t really on a time limit”

He gives you an incurious look, raising an eyebrow as if you’d said something ridiculous “you? I was rushing to save you?”

“Oh” you take a moment to process that, I mean you guess it was a given but still.

“Really just oh? Jeez Honeypie, you think I was taking my sweet time in that tower when I didn’t know if you were dead or dying?”

“Well I don’t know? I’m not very important in the grand scheme of things” It comes out fast from your mouth as you try to defend yourself “they kidnapped me for the reason to lure you there so I guess i assumed they’d keep me around until i served my purpose and they’d slit my throat or something. So you probably could’ve taken your time”

“Oi stop talking like that”

“Like what?”

“Don’t say your unimportant and talking about dying all causal like that” he pokes a finger at you “your important, so don’t think like that”

“I just do the cleaning and paperwork, I’m not atlas losing up the sky or being a hero like you Dante”

“You are to me, you came here to help me despite my warnings. Don’t say that when you came here all the same to do this when you can’t bounce from injuries back like me. Do you not know how brave and stupid that is? How can I not see you as a hero as well?”

“Oh….”

“Keep saying that and I’ll find a way to drive it through that thick head of yours”

“Hey wait thick head?! Your the one here who was acting confused earlier when I said I came here because I cared for you-“ before you can finish what your saying you suddenly feel the cold sensation of eyes on you. Piercing you down to the core. It sends a shiver down your spine.

Dante notices quick, “hey what happened?”

“Sorry…just feels like I’m being watched again”

He doesn’t say anything but just grabs your hand, pulling you along with him though with a small distance between you two so he was in front while you were behind him.

Ending up back in the room for the chalice the sensation of eyes boring into you gets stronger

Your one hand grips Dante’s while the other clutches Agni

Even if it was that knight again you still can’t help but get a bit of the creeps

These other demons here were predictable in their aggression towards you

But he wasn’t and that was a bit more disarming

Plus it was confusing as to why he was so friendly and polite just to you?

Maybe he had some sort of honour code but still it was weird as all hell

A hell you’d experience once more as just after placing the sign of chastity to get the chalice (something Dante urged you be the one to do since in his words “your as chaste as they come”)

Then the air suddenly shifted

And the doors were blocked by stone walls

And electricity surged in the small gazebo structure holding the chalice creating chains of lighting that kept you in its structure

“He’s right behind us isn’t he-“

And behind both you and Dante atop the exit was that same knight again

He draws his sword and drops down nearly plunging it into Dante

It seems like every time something emotional happens it gets ruined by a demon

Tag list: @galaxylibella @dragon-lord-lysander @idleviewer @rosvaline @superbfuryfest @localeggdealer @mellophoned @justnotherweeb666 @her-majesty-horiko @treelogirl @angstylittleb1tch @coinduck

[iris-tarot]

-`♡´- how do they feel about you -`♡´-

pick-a-card reading

⋆.˚ take a deep breath and close your eyes. look at the above options and pick the image you feel the most drawn towards. scroll down to read your message. if you feel called to more than one image, then maybe there's a message that's meant for you ⋆.˚

⟢˚₊‧♡ about me

𓂃 𓈒𓏸‪‪ˎˊ˗

⋆˚࿔ pile I ⋆˚࿔

page of swords, 6 of cups, the lovers, king of wands, queen of cups

⭑.ᐟ this person is very curious about you. they are studying your movements and observing how you react to things. they're learning your likes and your dislikes. this connection seems very new or this person has recently started to develop an interest in you, so they're trying to study you. they're still unsure about their feelings for you and might be a little hesitant, but there's just something about you they can't seem to let go of. they're observing you from afar and i see them looking back at you when you cross paths. this person just can't get enough of you. you bring out this sense of comfort in them and it's almost like you heal their inner child. they feel safe with you and they're not afraid to be vulnerable with you. you feel like home. but again, there's a little hesitation here. they want to give you their heart, but at the same time they're afraid. they like you a lot, ESPECIALLY with the lovers coming in here. there's mutual attraction and you both acknowledge each other's presence. this person is not only emotionally connected to you, they're also physically attracted to you. you've got the qualities they're seeking for in a lover and you're just so damn irresistible. you heal this person. you help this person grow. you make them feel seen. you make them know their worth. this person feels such a strong connection towards you, it's almost unreal.

this person wants to take the lead and move this connection forward, but something is stopping them. they feel so strongly for you, but they're scared. you're breaking the walls they've built to protect themselves and this bothers your person. you make them feel so soft, this is so out of their character.

they have strong and passionate feelings towards you and they feel so pulled towards your energy. you make them feel confident and validated. they see a long-term potential with you and they want to explore the depths of your connection. this person connects with you on a deep emotional level. they want to nurture and take care of you. they want to show you how much they desire your touch and your presence. this person feels so strongly for you, i can feel their energy and it's so fiery when they think about you. they want to show their passion for you, but they're holding back. maybe because no one has made them feel this way or maybe because they're not the type to believe in love. but then BOOM you walk in, and suddenly they're feeling things they've never felt before.

at some point, they're not letting themselves love you because they're scared you'll hurt them. they're not sure what to do with the feelings they have for you because they haven't gotten so worked up over ANYBODY before. but you, pile 1 - you get them so worked up and they don't know how to handle their emotions⭑.ᐟ

ˎˊ˗ add ons - 6, taurus, uranus, 1, cancer, 3, aries, venus

𓂃 𓈒𓏸‪‪ˎˊ˗

⋆˚࿔ pile II ⋆˚࿔

3 of wands, 9 of cups, 5 of swords, the fool, 2 of cups

⭑.ᐟ this almost feels like an enemies to lovers trope because with the 5 of swords here, i'm getting a feeling that this person is very defensive and you guys might have a lot of arguments because i'm sensing some sort of tension here. maybe this person is defensive about their feelings towards you and they're letting their pride and ego get in the way of this connection. however, i do see that this person is trying to work on themselves and they're trying to release all the tension because they've realised that they actually might have romantic feelings towards you. to be honest, right now i wouldn't say that they have strong romantic feelings for you because they're still at the beginning stages of realising their feelings for you. and spoilers - they're hopeful that this relationship between you both will improve and you will be able to move on from the past. they want to leave the horrible past with you behind and take this relationship on a new path. they want to explore their compatibility with you and how much you guys can connect on a deeper level. however, i’m seeing that their actions might be a little impulsive and immature. since these feelings are new, they don't know how to react. yes they like you, but they don't know to what extent they like you. it could also be an infatuation from their side. they need to take their time and understand their feelings towards you.

i see them making the first move and they'll want to be experimental with you. they're going to see if y'all will vibe with each other or not. they kinda seem a little egoistic and self-centered, i'm gonna be honest. instead of thinking about your feelings too, they're more worried about theirs. i mean, as they should be - but in order to be with someone in a romantic or platonic connection, you'll need to think about the other parties involved too. they're failing to see your perspective. don't get me wrong, they've spent time thinking about you and wondering what they can make out of this connection, but they're mostly thinking about themselves. i hope you get what i'm saying. regardless, they're hopeful for this connection and they want to move this connection forward. they're planning ways on how to talk to you because they don't want to mess up this opportunity. they're very excited about this connection and you also bring them a sense of happiness and fulfilment.

from what i'm getting here, this person likes you and they don't know what to do with their feelings so they always tend to argue with you or at least create a distance between the both of you because they don't know how to react. it's like their defence mechanism. but here's the thing, if they don't change then this connection won't move forward. the good thing here is that they're realising their feelings and they're actually putting in an effort and working on it. they feel very nervous around you and they don't think twice when they talk to you. they want to impress you but they say the most unhinged things sometimes, it's concerning 😭. you know how some people are just very nervous when they talk to their crushes? they're like that.

this person feels drawn towards you and there's also a mutual connection here. but since their feelings are so new to them, they might not be very interested in commitment right now. maybe in the future they might be, but for now they'd like to see how things will go between you and them⭑.ᐟ

ˎˊ˗ add ons - 1, virgo, neptune, 7, taurus, descending lunar node, 5, moon in taurus

𓂃 𓈒𓏸‪‪ˎˊ˗

⋆˚࿔ pile III ⋆˚࿔

8 of pentacles, page of swords, 6 of swords, 5 of cups, 10 of wands

⭑.ᐟ you bring a sense of calm and peace into this person's life. they feel at ease when they're with you and you make all their burdens go away. you're the missing piece they have been searching for this whole time. i'm not even kidding when i tell you that this person has been manifesting you. they've been waiting for you to come into their lives and rescue them. you make this person want to become the better version of themselves and they're slowly building their self-confidence. this person feels safe with you and you are their safe haven. you've made them see the world in a different perspective and they have nothing but admiration for you. over time, they do want to build a meaningful connection with you but right now they're focused on building themselves. they're going to put in the effort to know more about you and build a deeper bond with you. they admire your hard work and they feel that your dedication is very attractive. i see their feelings slowly building for you but i don't see this connection going anywhere (at least not for a long-term). this person still needs to work on themselves and they're not ready for a relationship yet. eventually as the connection progresses, they might feel a little strained. rather than embracing the relationship, they're going to find ways to escape because they'll feel very burnt out.

they will put in a lot of effort to move this relationship forward but they're not satisfied with themselves yet. they're going through a tough time and it might take a while for the waters to calm down.

they're going to be very flirty and communicative, but they'll be guarded. they're curious and they want to explore this connection, but they're not fully open to it yet. this person can be a little inexperienced and might not know how to handle relationships and responsibilities because i see them getting overwhelmed at some point. this relationship might seem a bit too much for them and instead of trying to work things through, they might run away. they're not emotionally mature yet to handle relationships and they might be thinking about their past relationships too. they might also focus on the negatives of relationships instead of seeing it as a growth. they might feel detached and distant with you and it's because they're the ones running away from their responsibilities. they're going to focus on what went wrong instead of trying to focus on the positives.

they do care deeply for you and they'll put in the effort at first, but they're not ready for a relationship. they're not ready to take on that responsibility. rather than looking at it as a connection filled with growth, they're going to look at it as a job and they're not going to be satisfied with it. they need to work on their past wounds first and then think about building a connection⭑.ᐟ

ˎˊ˗ add ons - 12, ascending lunar node, aquarius, 5, pluto, 3, scorpio, saturn, taurus in 5th house

𓂃 𓈒𓏸‪‪ˎˊ˗

⭑.ᐟ hello, this is my very first post on tumblr and i hope you like it!! i'm still in the process of building my profile but in the meantime, i hope you enjoy my pacs and i hope to make more readings in the future.

thank you so much for making it till the end and i hope you could resonate with my reading. i would really appreciate it if you could like and reblog my post as it would mean a lot to me!! i'd love to hear which pile you picked and what resonated with you -`♡´-

ˎˊ˗ full credit for the images and dividers goes to their original creators and rightful owners.

[maximumzombiecreator]

I've seen a lot of posts recently where people say they can't find players to play non-5e TTRPGs with. As someone who moves countries every few years, I've had to rebuild my roster of local TTRPG players from scratch a number of times. Here's how I do it.

Caveats first: while I've done this in small cities, I have always done it in cities. If you're in, like, a rural environment, you might just not have enough interested people around. You can always do it online in that case. I'm not really going to cover finding players online, except to say you should probably look for communities for the specific system you want to play. Most of them are enthusiastically looking for new participants. Especially game masters.

Okay, first things first, you gotta find people. I generally find I get better results if the search is location first. That is, rather than using city-wide or regional Looking For Group type internet groups, I look for physical locations that host gaming groups. Local game stores, public libraries, gaming cafes/bars, etc.

Being location first helps avoid some common bad behaviours. Online LFG groups often have a few shitty people hanging around who can't find long term groups because they're shitty. They'll jump at the opportunity to join new groups where people don't know them, because everyone else knows better than to game with them. But location-based groups are better at filtering this. Someone who harasses people at an LGS can be banned from the store, but decentralized online groups struggle to handle these situations in my personal experience.

Being location first also solves the next problem, which is giving you a location to play. Eventually, when I have a long term group, I'll host games in my home. But there needs to be a level of trust before that feels safe, and we're looking for randoms, so for now we need a public gaming venue. If, for whatever reason, there aren't dedicated gaming spaces where you can do this, I've had the most success gaming in cafes or restaurants during off peak hours. I've run a bunch of games in restaurants from, like, 2pm-5pm on a Saturday, and as long as you're buying drinks and some snacks or something, and being polite and non-disruptive, it's typically not too hard to get permission.

Now, if that local group has enough interest in a non-5e system that I'm interested in running, I'll happily do that, and it's pretty free from there. Most people who are willing to play one other system will gladly try others if they find they like playing with you. But even in big cities, I feel it's pretty often the case that postings for local games of other systems don't wind up actually finding successful groups.

So, here is the bit where, unfortunately, finding people to play non-5e games with involves playing some 5e. Community groups are always looking for more GMs to run games, so I will set out to run a number of short 5e adventures, each with different groups. These are typically oneshots that I have the option of extending for another 1 or 2 sessions.

I always run adventures that I've written myself for these, because I want my particular GMing style to really come through. Looking for players is a two way street. I'm looking for people I like GMing for, but I'm also looking to make sure they know what they're getting. Especially if I'm going to ask them to play a system they've never tried, they should know that there's going to be something they enjoy. So, these short adventures are full of the types of silly but sincere NPCs I tend to run, the open-ended scenarios I prefer, the tropes I favour, etc. If someone isn't going to enjoy playing with me, I want them to know it from this adventure.

I structure the adventures to give me a lot of flexibility in terms of how long they run. They're nearly always mysteries, but with some active component to the mystery, so that if things drag or dawdle I can have the villain show up and force a final confrontation. They're also structured to have a natural "next thing." You find and defeat the villain, but there's an implied next villain you'll be going after. That way, if the group is working well and I want to continue, it's easy to present the option to the group. But if I'm not interested in continuing with the group, the next thing can just serve as an "and the adventures continue" implied epilogue, and the game still feels complete.

I don't like players just bringing their own character sheet to the table. Someone who brings a disruptive character can ruin a session without me getting much useful information out of it, other than that I don't want to play with that person. And if it ruins the experience for the other players, I'm often out the opportunity to game with those people, through neither of our faults. I've experimented with both asking players to submit their characters in advance or making them choose between a collection of premade characters. The former is a good check for whether people will put in a basic amount of effort and follow instructions, but it can dissuade people who are just looking to dip their toes into playing for the first time. The latter can turn off players who are into crunchy games and are excited about character building. As a result, I'll usually choose the approach based on what non-5e system I'm currently most excited about running. Do I want to get together a group for a rules-light game? Premade characters it is. Looking to run some PF2e? Please submit your character sheet in advance. Some locations also do more drop-in based games, in which case it's premades all day.

As I'm running the game, I'm observing the players. There's a simple vibe check, obviously. Do I like playing with this person? But I'm also looking at how they play. What are they here for, what's exciting them? Are they struggling with finding optimal turns in combat, or do they like mastering a system? Are they curious about the world, or do they glaze over when the spotlight isn't on them? Do they light up in dialogue scenes? Do they want to try crazy things outside of their on-sheet abilities? Remember, later, I'm going to try to persuade this person to try to play a game they've never played before. I need to know what specifically is going to excite them.

I have (always with permission) recorded sessions before to go over in making these choices, but honestly even just a few small reminder notes will help me unravel things later. If a session goes well, I'll ask at the end for people to give me their contact information if they'd be interested in playing again. Non-committal, at their comfort, and it doesn't single out people that I don't want to play with. I can always just not call them. Usually I find I'm interested in playing again with a little more than half of the players I meet this way. In my experience, it's fairly rare for a player to say they're not interested in playing again, TTRPGs rule and there's a DM shortage.

What I usually do is keep running these until I have enough people in mind to run something else, even if it isn't the system I'm most excited about. Probably it would be better to spend more time in this starter phase building up more connections, but after running like 4-5 5e adventures, I'm usually more than ready to run anything else, and if I have to shelve my Lancer ideas because I've mostly found crunch-averse players, I'm usually fine with that.

So, next comes the invites. Now, most players I meet this way will eventually be open to playing most games, but listen: you can put people well out of their comfort zone for their third TTRPG, but you gotta be real careful with their second. Most of the time, the game I'm inviting people to will be their first real exposure to a non-5e TTRPG. If they don't like it, they will run back to the safety of 5e and you will never get them out of it again. So I am very careful in picking the right system for the players I am inviting.

Whatever the new system I want to run is, I will set up a pilot session for it. I am very clear to players that I will teach them the system at the session, they do not need to know it in advance. Eventually, when I have a reliable group of TTRPG people to play with, I'll expect them to be able to pick up systems without a ton of help, but for players that are only used to the complexity of 5e, the idea of learning a new system is daunting. I rehearse the teaching of the game session. It's the only thing for TTRPGs I ever rehearse, but I want to know down pat how I'm going to quickly teach a new system and make it feel approachable and non-threatening. I'm also very clear that this will be a single session, with the possibility of turning into a campaign if we like it. All of this is structured to feel very safe. No initial learning required, no long term commitment, with a GM you already know you like.

But even as safe as that is, you still have to pitch the system. Why should the player be excited about playing this new game? Don't go all TTRPG nerd on them and explain all the details of the system, or use a bunch of jargon. Give them one or two things to be excited about with short, detailed anecdotes to back them up.

"We're going to be playing Blades in the Dark. It's a game where you play a gang of criminals in a haunted, steampunk dystopia. Every session you'll do heists, but instead of meticulously planning them, you start right in the action, and when you need to have planned for something, you can do a flashback scene to explain your preparation. One group I ran this for got busted by guards during an early heist, but used a flashback to create a scene where they had gotten a buddy of theirs a job as one of the guards, and he helped them out of the situation. And for some reason they fell in love with this bumbling goof I improvised to be the buddy, and then on a bunch of future jobs they kept using flashbacks to get him jobs wherever they were robbing. So this one idiot was just a de-facto crew member who worked a dozen different inside jobs despite being about as sharp as an eraser. And eventually they fucked up and got him killed, but they brought him back as a ghost, because you can do that in Blades in the Dark."

I find using a specific example of play really helps get peoples' imaginations going, which is what is going to help them say yes. And that example is tailored to what I know that player vibes with, what it is I think that makes them a good fit for this game.

The last detail about the invites is that I'm telling them, not asking them. It is not, "Hey, are you interested in playing this new game?" It's "I'm going to be running this new game. If you're interested in playing, please let me know what times work for you." If you're asking, you're going to get some "well but can it be 5e?" If you're telling, then they can choose to learn a new game in order to keep playing TTRPGs with a GM they know they like, or they can choose not to play at all.

Once you get enough yesses for a game, you run it, and then from there you're on your own. I think those are basically just friends you have at that point, and I'm not gonna tell you how to have friends.

Hopefully at least one person finds all that useful!

[moonberry69]

Not that anyone asked, but here’s my take on Caleb. I am deeply in love with him, your Honor. Yes, I am still married to the fish but Robo Apple will be taking his rightful seat as 2nd husband.

Number 1, can we talk about how spoiled MC was with Caleb? Brat level spoiled. He spoiled her ROTTEN. He treated her like a princess. He doted on her to the absolute max and seemed to love every minute of it. That man did anything and everything she asked him to do and beyond. He bought her everything she wanted and then some. She’s probably never heard the word “no” come out of his mouth when it comes to what she wants. Drying her hair? Cooking her meals? Doing her laundry? Buying her small gifts or snacks? Making her little gifts? Nurturing and comforting her when she’s sick? Being her rock when she’s scared or upset? Doing her homework? Defending her against bullying? Supporting her through anything and everything? There doesn’t seem to be any limit to what he would do for her. His entire life has revolved around her, her feelings, her wants, and her well being, ALWAYS. Its seems like the only thing he really went after for himself was his career as a pilot until joining the Farspace Fleet. And with that, it appears he joined for her safety.

Sure, it could be argued that Caleb did all these things because he wanted her dependent on him. That he used this to be manipulative. If she’s dependent on him, she’ll always need him around. But I don’t think that’s really the case, at least, not entirely. Possibly, but I don’t think so.

I don’t think Caleb’s need to control MC comes from a lack of confidence in her ability to take care of herself, either. He did seem to be perfectly supportive of her becoming a hunter despite how dangerous the job is. Worried yes but supportive. The powerful people he is in league with are probably more than she could handle alone and that could have a lot more to do with his more blatant controlling nature. But, I still don’t think that’s all there is to it when it comes to his “control and protect” antics. We as MC in the story assume that he doesn’t believe in our strength but that’s because he lies about everything and consistently dismisses us when we say we can handle a situation. Our strength and capability are constantly underestimated. He’s done this is the past, as well (his bond memory comes to mind). What else are we supposed to think when he is constantly trying to cage us and asks for us to let him handle everything? I believe Caleb’s dependence on MC plays a huge role in his need to control. She’s his life line. His world doesn’t rotate unless she’s in it. Caleb the man starts and ends with MC. Based on his apartment description, his lack of socializing, etc. he’s been alive but hasn’t been living since the explosion. It would also explain his desperation in her needing his protection during the bond moment (again, just an example). Her losing him is fine. But if he lost her? He wouldn’t be able to bear it. Not having her be a constant in his life is one thing. Him living in a world where she no longer exists is another. He wouldn’t be able to cope.

Caleb is possessive, yes. It’s obvious he always has been based on his Tender Moments and Bond memory but he gave the tether he wanted MC on some slack. That could also be because, as he said, he was holding back. I don’t think his entire reason for being so controlling and possessive is ONLY because he wants her safe and wants her for himself. I think there are layers to it. Caleb is such a complicated character and I love and adore him. He has a lot of moving parts. I have the most overwhelming urge to coddle him and smother him with hugs.

I don’t believe Caleb is obsessed with MC herself, either. Hear me out! I think what Caleb is obsessed with is the need to keep her alive. This goes back to his dependence on her. His need to keep her alive at any cost and out of harm’s way drives him in to being obsessed. I don’t think his obsession is with her. I think he is just a scared, trauma ridden man that is deeply, maddeningly in love with a woman that he has dedicated his entire existence to, who, right now, is in severe, life threatening danger and has been harmed in the past. In that situation, who wouldn’t be a little obsessive?

I also can’t help but wonder if part of his reason for being so adamant about wanting to hide her away is because he has doubts in his own ability to keep her safe, especially now. He seems to be well informed about many of the powers at play behind the scenes of what the plan is for MC. Maybe he doesn’t know the plan itself but he seems to know at least some of the people. Enough of them to be terrified for MC. He may know that when the forces come down on MC to take her, in the end, he’s helpless to defend her. If he was with MC while she was being experimented on, he wouldn’t have been able to do anything to help her or protect her. He was forced to be a bystander and comfort her as he could. If that is the case, then him having doubts about his ability to save and protect her now would make sense.

We just really don’t know what Caleb experienced when he was a kid. I think if we knew more, a lot of Caleb’s “whys” would make total sense. It definitely seems like he was experimented on. Again, it could be that he saw and, possibly, understood what was happening to MC, since he didn’t seem shocked that she didn’t know who he was in one of the flashbacks at Gran’s house. Gran could have told him, of course, what the issue was with MC but based on some other flashbacks we are given, it seems like Caleb was around even before Gran was Gran. Until Infold confirms for us, that’s my theory. Either way, Caleb is clearly deeply traumatized. Whether it be from his own experiences, watching MC experience what she did, a mix of both, or something else, he isn’t well mentally. Throw in what he has gotten himself mixed up with currently and the man is sinking. We do know he’s a test subject now. Currently, it’s safe to assume he is sacrificing himself to protect MC. He wants nothing more than to save her. He wants to protect her peace, even if MC isn’t pleased with his methods. He does seem to hold on to hope that MC will understand. Which, to me, is kind of tragic.

Caleb comes off as if he wants MC to blindly trust him and put her faith in him, like she used to. It seems to throw him off that she doesn’t. He’s a bit naive in this department. MC can’t trust him because she knows he’s deceiving her, among other things. Caleb lies to protect, then asks for blind faith. MC recognizes it and then lies to keep Caleb at bay. They go in circles. Caleb is in vicious cycle of his own creation. MC can’t do what he’s pleading with her to do because of his own actions. He’s trying to fall back on how things used to be. He’s constantly bringing up memories and walks down memory lane. He’s clinging to what they had. The problem is nothing is the way it used to be. He doesn’t seem to be fully ready to accept it, yet. It’s painful to watch.

But, who knows? I could be completely off base and Caleb’s motives aren’t due to any of this and he really is just batshit nuts 🤷🏻‍♀️ Either way, I’ll take him.

[fandomofone]

I've been thinking about Adrien and running.

There have been plenty of posts theorizing and breaking this down, so I'm sure I'm not covering any new ground here, but I have a couple of points to make that I specifically have not seen come across my dash that I wanted to mention. Put it under a cut because this got long. (whoops)

We first see Adrien running with Sublime in Sublimation and it seems like just an activity he's taken up, a new hobby. We get a deeper look at how he gets into this hobby at the end of Climatiqueen- where we see him walk past his house and pick up the pace, falling into a run and eventually bumping into Sublime, where voilá, a new friendship is born.

A lot of people have theorized that Adrien breaking into a run once he reaches the gates of his home symbolizes him running away from the oppression of the house that he shared with his father, symbolizes him running away from his life. Sublime even straight up asks him if he's running away. And I do believe that is true, in part. Just look at the angle that has been chosen to display the house as it comes into view- the house literally looks like Gabriel Agreste looking disapprovingly down the length of his nose at his son. It's looming over him ominously, a huge, imposing structure that suffocates the frame, taking up the majority of the space and making him seem small. This seems to perfectly encapsulate how Adrien is feeling about himself at this time in his life. Added to that he's probably got conflicting feelings and guilt over his father being gone. I wouldn't want to go home either.

But I think there's more to it than that.

Why Adrien starts running.

Adrien has just come from a very stressful and depressing day where, through no fault of his own or anyone else's, he's been made to feel marginalized and useless in contrast to all of his friends who seem to have something driving them, especially his extremely passionate, enthusiastic girlfriend. Despite her attempts to be helpful, all that's been demonstrated to him throughout the course of the day is that the only passion he has in his life- being a superhero, being Chat Noir- is something he can never do as Adrien Agreste, and it's something he can never share with anyone. This is a personal failure for him- he's letting Marinette down. Bad boyfriend move #1. Despite all her hard work and encouragement, he cannot settle on a passion that he can have as Adrien. He's made her inadvertently feel bad for having so many, so easily, and he can't even partake in the passion that he does have full time. His identity is literally and metaphorically fractured. Following all of that, having to return home to a house that no longer feels familiar or safe to him (for a variety of reasons) triggers a panic attack.

Physical exertion, specifically running, is a very common way to handle a panic attack. It is literally the flight response in 'fight or flight' manifesting during a period of high levels of stress- the feeling that you can't sit still, need to move, everything is building and you need an outlet to burn off that excess energy, until the adrenaline in your body normalizes.

Why Adrien keeps running.

Routine gives him something to focus on. Joining Sublime during her regimented training routine provides structure, the very thing that his entire life has consisted of and revolved around for 14 years, and has now been completely removed from his life, in a well-meaning attempt by the people who love him to encourage him to do what he wants to do for once.

This is terrifying.

The literal one-step-after-another aspect that running provides gives him a predetermined course to focus on. It's an automatic response; his body already knows what to do and there is no decision for him to make. It's something that he doesn't have to think about, something that's within his control. Additionally, the physical exercise itself provides endorphins, something he's sorely missing at this point in his life.

Ugh, Adrien. It's going to be a long, hard road for you, I'm afraid. 🥺💔

[astrologydray]

When Your Moon Sign Matches Their Rising Sign: part 1

♈️♈️♈️♈️♈️♈️♈️♈️♈️♈️♈️♈️♈️♈️♈️♈️♈️♈️♈️♈️

Aries Moon + Aries Rising

♈️♈️♈️♈️♈️♈️♈️♈️♈️♈️♈️♈️♈️♈️♈️♈️♈️♈️♈️♈️

This connection is high-energy, fiery, and often volatile — but magnetic nonetheless. Aries Moon people feel their emotions with urgency: when they’re angry, it shows; when they’re in love, it’s intense. Pair that with someone whose Aries Rising naturally shows up as bold, competitive, and assertive, and you’ve got fireworks.

They mirror each other’s impulsiveness — emotionally and behaviorally — and while this can lead to passionate bonding, it can also cause frequent head-butting. There’s not a lot of emotional delay or subtlety in this match. What you see is what you get.

Synastry vibe: Quick to fall, quicker to fight, and possibly even quicker to forgive (if pride doesn’t get in the way). They often challenge each other to level up — emotionally and energetically.

Potential dynamic: You might find yourselves playing out arguments where both partners feel like they’re the one being misunderstood, because you’re emotionally raw (Moon) and reactive (Rising) in very similar ways. If both people lack emotional maturity, this can spiral into a competitive, ego-driven connection. But if handled with care? You’re both each other’s ride-or-die.

♈️♈️♈️♈️♈️♈️♈️♈️♈️♈️♈️♈️♈️♈️♈️♈️♈️♈️♈️♈️

Taurus Moon + Taurus Rising

♉️♉️♉️♉️♉️♉️♉️♉️♉️♉️♉️♉️♉️♉️♉️♉️♉️♉️♉️♉️

This connection is rooted in physical presence, loyalty, and consistency. A Taurus Moon person processes their emotions through comfort — food, touch, environment — and wants their inner world to feel peaceful and secure. A Taurus Rising comes off as composed, sensual, and grounded — they project the exact vibe that puts a Taurus Moon at ease.

This pairing thrives on routine, rituals, and deep trust. Even if things move slowly, they build something that lasts. Emotions are shown through actions: cooking for each other, massages, slow mornings in bed, running errands as a love language.

Synastry vibe: These two often experience emotional recognition instantly. The Moon person feels seen, while the Rising person feels instinctively accepted. It’s very “my home is your home” energy — even if you’ve just met.

Potential dynamic: This could become a beautifully slow-burn connection where you both feel more peaceful together than apart. You speak the same love language without needing to explain it.

If either of you resists change or growth, this match can stagnate. Both can get too comfortable or possessive.

♉️♉️♉️♉️♉️♉️♉️♉️♉️♉️♉️♉️♉️♉️♉️♉️♉️♉️♉️♉️

Gemini Moon + Gemini Rising

♊️♊️♊️♊️♊️♊️♊️♊️♊️♊️♊️♊️♊️♊️♊️♊️♊️♊️♊️♊️

This is a match made in chaotic, curious heaven. Gemini Moon needs mental stimulation to feel emotionally alive — boredom is death. Meanwhile, Gemini Rising comes off as witty, chatty, and restless. These two naturally feed off each other’s banter and curiosity. You might start talking and forget to sleep. Gemini Moons can be moody but mask it with humor, and Gemini Risings often perform emotions before processing them. Together, they make excellent travel partners, meme senders, and spontaneous decision-makers.

Synastry vibe: Endless conversation, matching humor, shared mental stimulation. You feel like you’ve known each other in every alternate timeline.

Potential dynamic: You may feel emotionally safe around them because their presence is light and clever, not overwhelming. You vent through conversation, and they mirror it back with similar words or gestures — almost like they’re reading your mind.

Emotional depth can be a challenge. There’s a risk of skating over big emotional truths because it feels easier to joke, deflect, or intellectualize.

♊️♊️♊️♊️♊️♊️♊️♊️♊️♊️♊️♊️♊️♊️♊️♊️♊️♊️♊️♊️

Cancer Moon + Cancer Rising

♋️♋️♋️♋️♋️♋️♋️♋️♋️♋️♋️♋️♋️♋️♋️♋️♋️♋️♋️♋️

This is a deeply emotional, spiritual, and soul-recognizing match. The Cancer Moon is highly sensitive, intuitive, and nurturing — they often feel like they carry the emotional temperature of the room. Cancer Rising appears warm, shy, motherly or protective, and even a bit guarded. But that’s the thing — you both see through each other instantly. The Moon person’s emotional rhythms match what the Rising person naturally presents to the world. You “just know” how to care for each other without speaking. There’s an undercurrent of safety, psychic connection, and softness.

Synastry vibe: Healing. You may cry together easily, or feel like childhood wounds are being re-opened and re-loved. You feel emotionally held just by being in their presence.

Potential dynamic: The Moon person feels emotionally cradled, while the Rising person feels understood and accepted for their gentle nature. There’s a quiet devotion that builds without needing dramatic displays.

If either person is still operating from emotional reactivity or unresolved family dynamics, this match can become codependent or smothering. But if there’s growth? It’s a soulmate frequency.

♋️♋️♋️♋️♋️♋️♋️♋️♋️♋️♋️♋️♋️♋️♋️♋️♋️♋️♋️♋️

[lyjen]

Maybe

Summary: Evan and (Y/n) end up closer than ever on a call. But when (Y/n) gets hurt and Evan’s girlfriend notices the slightest sign of worry for his colleague, she confronts him.

Request by: anonymous - The request

9-1-1 masterlist

Taglist: ( @oliviah-25 @shauna-carsley

______

“Come on, we’re halfway there.” Buck tries to motivate (Y/n), to attempt to give her some more energy. A sigh falls off (Y/n)’s lips as her flat hand slides over the side of the stairwell wall and starts carefully placing her feet down onto the metal railing underneath her.

They are inside a building that was going to snap in two.

Buck and (Y/n) had the opportunity to go up the partly collapsed building, doing a sweep to see if there were any signs of life inside the building. The chances of that weren’t that high, the building they were in was an old hospital and wasn’t being used in decades.

But protocol said to always do a sweep through the buildings to make sure they wouldn’t leave anyone behind. So, that’s what they were doing. But till so far, they didn’t see anyone.

“Can you believe it? They made us go all the way up there, and find nothing.” she said as she stepped down onto the stairs and grabbed the railing with her gloved hands.

“Well, if you define old broken hospital cabinets and beds as nothing.” Evan laughed at her as he panted and flashed his light, which was secured to his harness, towards the rest of the stairwell.

But his laugh was nowhere to be found anymore when he looked at the barricaded entryway of the stairwell. “You’ve got to be kidding me” he sighed as he stepped closer.

They were in the second half of the building. They were almost back on the ground floor. Although they needed to go down another six to seven levels, it still felt like they were almost there.

(Y/n) could still hear the building trying to move with every step they took inside. The concrete was creaking and cracking on every corner.

Evan turned his head to look at his colleague “There’s no other way than..” he pointed his index finger up and looked in between the staircases until he could see the part where the building was snapped. “Back up. I get it.” She finished his sentence annoyed.

She was tired, exhausted, this was hour twenty one of the twenty four hour shift she was on and she still didn’t have any decent sleep.

“Let’s go probie” Evan said with a smirk on his face as he pulled himself up by the help of the railing. He knew damn’ well (Y/n) wasn’t a probie anymore, but he loved teasing her with that nickname. He knew she didn’t like it, she could handle other people saying it, but whenever Evan said it, it sent a shiver down her spine.

*

“Okay, there’s nothing to worry about.. you’re going to be fine.” (Y/n) motivated herself as she walked down the stairs and focussed herself on repeating the sentences she just read in the books. “You’re going to be just fine” she whispered as she tried to reassure herself as she skipped the last two steps of the stairs and landed safe and sound on the ground with her two feet.

She had a few study books piled up in her hands, with a couple of loose sheets sticking out of the books because those were her notes she just wrote down.

(Y/n) was in her probation period, trying to train, study and work all at once. It was hard, but she knew she could do it. She just had to step up and work a little harder. While she was walking towards the locker room to put her books away, she was looking through the pile of books.

“Hey probie!” Evan’s voice sounded through the firehouse, harder than he originally wanted to sound.

(Y/n) was caught off guard as she heard her new nickname fall off the lips of Evan. The books she was holding flew out of her hands and within a second they were all spread over the ground floor of the firehouse.

“Fuck” she hissed underneath her breath as she quickly squatted down and started collecting the books she just spread over the floor.

“Oh shit, sorry” Evan said as he quickly walked towards her and crouched down to collect some lost papers.

“You-..You don't have to do that..” she stumbled as she saw Evan collecting her notes. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you” Evan apologizes as he picks up the papers he collected and handed them over to (y/n).

“No, it’s okay. I wasn’t really paying attention.” she said as she accepted the papers he was holding out to her, and she placed them right on top of the pile of books she made. She secured the pile of books between her lower arm and her chest as she and Evan both straightened up again.

Their eyes connected, it felt like Evan was drowning in those beautiful eyes. “Hey, uh..” Evan sighed as an awkward silence fell between the two of them and he was still looking in her eyes like he was possessed. “We’re going out with the team after shift for a drink, do you want to join us?” he continued as he pointed over his shoulder and slid his hands in his pockets.

“That’s sweet.. but I’m kinda busy” she smiled softly at him as she shrugged her shoulders and motioned with her head towards the books in her arms. “Oh yeah” Evan said as he realized what he asked her was not his best move.

(Y/n) turned around as the conversation fell silent again. She could feel the tension in the air, it made her uncomfortable, so she decided to walk away.

“Uh, maybe next time?” Evan spoke loudly as he was now watching her back again, trying to get her attention. She didn’t dare to give him another glance. “Maybe!” she shouted back as she continued her way towards the locker room again with a smile on her face.

*

“Hey! Open these doors with your halligan” Evan commanded as they finally reached an elevator shaft with the door closed tightly. A groan fell off her lips as she tried to balance her weight and keep herself in place while the building was obliquely.

Her hand reached for the halligan, which was secured on her back, and she pushed the metal tool in between the two elevator doors and pushed as hard as she could. Evan’s gloved hands were placed on one of the doors to assist her.

Evan panted as he had put all of his strength into his action and looked around to search for a possible anchor point to hold their weight. “This is not going to hold the both of us..” Evan said as he saw the nearest point to attach them to while he held onto the elevator door.

It was a half broken piece of railing of the hospital hallways. It was old, probably rotten, but it could only hold one of them. It wasn’t surely the strongest one, but it could hold one person to the max.

(Y/n)’s hand harshly tapped against his chest. “So, we find another anchor point.” she said as she finally got Evan’s attention and pointed her hand out to the opposite direction of the elevator doors.

There was another set of doors on the opposite side, it was a double-sided elevator.

“I was about to say that you had to ripple down first, but this could work too.” Evan laughed as he looked to his left and met her gaze. They were standing close, maybe too close, but that happens when gravity is pulling you down and you’re in a building that’s in the wrong angle than it's supposed to be.

She could feel his warm breath tickling her skin as he inhaled and exhaled. “I’ll go to the.. otherside.” she stumbled as she disconnected her eyes from his. Evan cleared his throat as he agreed with her, “Yes, do that. I’m.. going to set the rope up.” Evan said as he was pulled out of his trance.

“You do that!” (Y/n) said as she grabbed the railing with both hands and let herself slide into the wall to move a little faster. It felt like they were on this call for too long.

As (Y/n) rounded the corner and finally reached the other pair of doors, she again pushed her tool between the two doors and pulled them open. (Y/n) quickly secured her rope to the railing just as Evan did on his side of the hallway. She tightened the knot and gave it a few hard pulls to see if it would hold.

She turned around and looked into the shaft, trying to get a look on how deep it is. “Are you ready for this?” (Y/n) asked Evan as she glanced at him. “Are we really ready for anything?” Evan said as he looked around in the shaft and shrugged his shoulders.

She shook her head as she laughed at the ceiling, typically Evan.

A sigh left her lips as she saw Evan already going over the edge, rippling down. “You coming?” Evan said as he looked up and saw herself starting to second guess her idea. “You’re doing great.” he tried to give her some motivation.

She swallowed as she turned around and let the rope catch her weight. Inch for inch, she let the rope slide through her gloved hands, lowering herself down.

The sound of the elevator shaft creaking was flowing through the space they were in.

Evan looked up at the ceiling, shining his headlight towards the parts above them. On first notice, there was nothing to be seen, but when Evan shone his light right above (Y/n), he could see a large, half broken beam dangling loosely above her side of the shaft. Inches above the doors she had climbed through.

It could fall any moment.

“(Y/n). I need you to stay calm for me, okay?” Evan suddenly said after a few moments of silence. Her stomach turned and filled itself with anxiety at the way he talked. Why was he suddenly talking to her like she was a victim? What was he seeing that she couldn’t see?

“What?” Her confused voice sounded through the shaft as she tried to look over her shoulder at Evan.

“I need you to push yourself with your feet, off the side and reach out for my hand.” Evan tried to stay calm but his eyes stayed right on the large beam a few feet above her head, ready to fall any second.

“Do it now!” Evan called out. There was no time to explain what the hell was going on, she had to trust Evan on his words. So she did exactly what he asked her to do.

She bent her knees as much as she could, so (Y/n) could create enough momentum to reach Evan's side. She pushed as hard as she could and swung from her side of the elevator shaft towards his side. Evan held out his hand as far as he could so he could catch hers.

A loud bang sounded through the shaft as the beam disconnected itself from the shaft.

He could feel her fingers brushing his wrist and clinging onto it as he tightly grabbed hers. Evan was holding all of her weight and gear in his right hand. He let his left hand climb further on her arm and resumed pulling her closer that way.

A groan escaped her mouth as she felt Evan’s nails pinning into her skin. But on that last pull, a yelp fell past her lips and Evan could hear her hissing in pain. Within seconds he had his chest meeting hers. His hands were secured around her waist, and the other one around her upper back, holding her as close as possible.

Evan panted as he put each and all of his energy what was left into that quick stunt they pulled. “Fuck” (Y/n) sighed as she had her arms attached around his back, looking like they were in a hug in the middle of a lift shaft. “Yeah, that was.. unexpected” Evan said as he looked down towards the hole where the beam just fell down.

“That, and.. that beam hit my damn’ left foot.” she hissed as she squeezed her eyes. “Wait what?” Evan said confused as she tried to read her face. (Y/n) let her forehead for a second rest against Evan’s shoulder as she closed her eyes and tried to stop focussing on the pain. “You okay?” his voice sounded worried.

Yes, they were friends and co-workers, nothing more and nothing less. But yet here they are closer than ever before.

“Yeah, for now.. let’s just get down to proper ground. I don’t want another beam falling down onto us.” (Y/n) said as she looked up at the sky, looking for other loose material. “Great idea” Evan said as he let the adrenaline that rushed through his veins calm down.

(Y/n) started to detach her hands off Evan’s back so she could swing her way back towards her side of the shaft. Her palms were awkwardly pushing into Evan’s collarbones, trying to create some distance between the two of them. “Evan? You can let go of me now” she said.

Evan was lost in his thoughts when she called his name. “Oh yeah.. Right. Sorry.” he apologized as he let his eyes connect with hers once again. He could hear her breathe, he could swear that he even heard her heartbeat for a second. They were close, and he didn’t want to let go.

He let go of her back and softly grabbed her wrist to get her back to her side of the shaft slowly and steady. They didn’t want her to bang into the wall with a high force of speed.

His fingers were curled around her wrist, and hers were curled around his. Evan let his other arm slowly become looser around her waist, so now she was only holding his wrist. Gravity slowly lets (Y/n)’s body move towards the middle part of the shaft.

Their hands “Ready?” Evan asked as he kept his eyes on their connected hands. “On three okay?” (Y/n) said as she nodded. “One..two..three.” And on three they both let go of each other's wrist.

(Y/n)’s hand wrapped around the rope which was still attached to her harness as she softly landed her right foot against the side of the elevator shaft. “You good?” Evan asked, wanting to know if she didn’t hurt her left foot by returning to her side of the shaft. A sigh left her mouth, as if she was holding a breath she didn’t know she was holding. “Yes. Let’s just get out of here” she said as she started rippling down towards the ground floor.

The rest of the ride down was silent, beside some creaking and cracking from the building itself. They were just focussing themselves on getting out of that shaft.

When they reached the lowest level they were able to access, Evan opened the doors of his side of the shaft as he explicitly told (Y/n) to hang tight and wait for him. Especially after she hurt her foot, he couldn’t have her risking doing more damage to it than it probably already had.

Evan detached his harness from the rope and hurried towards the other side of the hallway and opened the doors. It was a relief that he could actually walk straight again after all that climbing and sliding down. “Grab my hand” Evan commanded as she lowered herself a little more, so she could touch the ground with her right foot while she let her left foot float above the ground. Evan’s touch made her heart take a little jump.

“Hold on” he said as he placed her hand onto his shoulder, and felt her fingertips burning into his button up shirt. Evan’s hands reached out to her harness as he detached her from the line.

“Thanks” she mumbled as she limped forward, trying to not put any weight on her left foot but she couldn’t help it.

“No, no. You can’t walk on that” Evan said worried as she slightly put some weight on it to keep her balance. “Here, let me help you.” Evan said as he grabbed her left arm and slung it over his shoulders, trying to support her weight.

Groan after groan fell off her lips with every limp, every hop she took. “Are you sure you can make it outside while limping?” Evan asked as she took another hop. “I’ll have to. Unless you have some other theories” she said as she groaned again. Evan pressed his lips into a thin line as (Y/n) leaned her weight onto Evan for another hop.

“It may be faster if I just carried you.” Evan suggested. A yelp left her mouth as her ankle bent to the outside. She wasn’t sure if it was because of Evan’s suggestion or the matter of fact that she already limped almost a hundred times. “Shit” she said as she held onto Evan’s shoulder with her left arm, she felt like a monkey. “Hey, hey, you alright? Seriously you’re going to hurt yourself even more if you keep on hopping onto that leg.” Evan spoke up as he came down to the same height as her.

She didn’t want to tell him he was right, but he was and she knew it. She just didn’t want him to give him the satisfaction. “Let me carry you. Please.” He was practically begging. He didn’t want her to get hurt any more than she already was. A sigh left her mouth as she mumbled an almost inaudible “Okay”.

Evan’s hand wandered towards his radio as he held the button to speak. “We’re almost done. Coming out in a minute.” he said. And he received a small “copy that” from Bobby. Evan’s left arm was already around her waist since he was guiding her just a second ago. He let his right arm slide underneath her knees and he carried her through the hallway to the exit of the building.

Her arms were hanging around his neck, as Evan hurried towards the ambulance. “Got a possible broken foot over here!” Evan yelled as he saw the rest of his team cleaning up the halligans and other equipment they used for the sweep in the lower building. Hen’s eyes shot up as she looked towards the duo that came rushing towards the team. “How the hell-” Hen mumbled as Evan sat (Y/n) down on the back of the ambulance as carefully as possible.

“Don’t ask” (Y/n) said as Hen removed the boot and started to examine her foot. When Hen touched it, (Y/n) hissed at the pain and grabbed Evan’s wrist, she almost crushes and squeezes all of the blood out of his wrist which made Evan groan.

When the grip became looser on his wrist, he moved his hand up, so she was now holding his hand. “Jesus!” she groaned at the touches, and let her forehead fall into Evan’s chest, wishing for the pain to leave her body.

Evan placed his other free hand on the back of her head. “You’re going to be fine” he whispers and let his chin rest on the top of her head.

______

“You’re late” a familiar voice spoke through the apartment as Evan closed the door behind him. His eyes fall on his girlfriend, Taylor, who’s sitting at the kitchen island. Her hands were curled up around the cup of tea she had just made, the steam was still coming off the hot boiling water.

“Hey” Evan simply said as he slowly walked into the room. He let the keys he had in his hand, slowly slide onto the table and let the strap of the duffle bag which he was balancing on his shoulder, fall onto the ground. A sigh left his mouth as Taylor turned on the chair to face him. “I’m so sorry” he continued as he was looking for the right words.

“Hey. I’m sorry. Really Buck? That’s it? That is everything you have to say?” Taylor said as a scoff left her mouth. “You’re unbelievable” her voice continued as Evan’s eyes wandered back to his feet, which were suddenly very interesting to him.

“Didn’t your shift end like, what? Three hours ago?” She asked when Evan didn’t answer her and she blew softly at the water to try to cool it a little bit down. He nodded his head, “Yeah, I’m sorry, we were with the team at the hospital, waiting for (Y/n)’s results” Evan tries to explain to Taylor.

“And she couldn’t do that alone?” she shot back as she took a small sip of her tea and brought the mug down onto the flat surface. Evan was taken by surprise as he didn’t expect Taylor to react the way she just did. “Uhm.. We’re a team. We’re not leaving each other behind.” he spoke as he took place on the opposite side of the dining table, leaning his hands down on the back of the chair. He watched Taylor stirring her spoon in the hot water of her tea.

“Look. I’m sorry I didn’t call you or texted you back. If that’s the thing you’re mad about, then-” Evan tries to apologize, he wasn’t sure what he was apologizing for, but he did it anyways. “It’s okay. It’s fine. Really.” She holds out her hand towards Evan to stop him from talking, as she shoves the chair she was sitting on backwards and starts walking to the kitchen with her cup of tea in her hand.

“You don’t seem fine at all.” Evan says as he pushes his hands off the back of the chair. She placed the full mug of tea on the kitchen counter as she leaned with her palms on the counter. She’s silent. Trying to find the right words. “Taylor… Come on, talk to me. What’s going on?” Evan says as he slowly moves towards the kitchen island now, trying to come closer to her.

With her eyes locked onto the kitchen counter she laughs. “Do you really want to know what the problem is?” her voice sounded somewhat broken. Evan’s voice brought out an almost inaudible yes, but she heard him.

“I was on the scene too.That call of the partly collapsed building that had been split in two” she said. Evan’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. So, she was at the scene? But what had made her so upset that she was mad at him?

”It’s her. Isn’t it?” her broken voice asks him as she keeps her back turned towards Evan. “Who?” his voice immediately asked.

“Come on Buck, I'm not that stupid.” She sighs and pushes herself off the kitchen counter and turns her body around so she is now facing Evan. “I saw the way she clung onto you. The way you looked at her, and cared for her because she was hurt.” her lower back leaned against the kitchen counter now, as she folded her arms over one another.

“Taylor, whatever you saw... it’s not what it looks-“ Evan tries to defend himself as he gets cut off by his own girlfriend. “Then tell me” she shot back at him as she stared right into his soul. “Tell you what?” he could feel and hear his voice slightly rising. “That you love me!” within every word she said, her voice broke more and more.

Evan was silent, he was searching for the words. But he couldn’t say it, not if it was a lie. He had used her all this time, to get closer to (y/n), to make her jealous but it didn’t work. He stayed with Taylor to try and get her attention.

The silence was loud, Taylor had given him enough time to say those three simple words. “Guess I know my answer then.” she says as she storms towards the gaderobe.

“Taylor..” Evan’s voice sounded through the room with her footsteps in the background.

She grabbed the hanger and slid off her coat. “Please wait” he says as his eyes fall onto Taylor as she puts on her jacket and pushes with the back of her hand her red hair over the coat, so it wouldn’t be stuffed into the back of her jacket.

Taylor sighs as she turns around one more time. “I’m done waiting for you, Buck. Why should I be waiting for someone, who’s clearly head over heels in love with someone else?” her voice spoke, and with those words she walked to the door and slammed it shut with a bang.

She was right.

______

(Y/n) put down her mug with tea onto the coffee table as she hopped through the house, trying to put as little weight onto her foot as she could.

She was wearing a brace, luckily her foot was badly sprained. Which means she had to take as much rest as she could, and just let it heal by itself. Right now, she was on pain meds and she at least had to be two weeks off the job, which could be stretched out to three or four, but that was up to how good and fast it would heal.

When the doorbell sounds through the house, (Y/n) turns down the volume of the TV which was currently playing the news and hopped towards the door.

As the doorbell sounds for a second time in ten seconds, a sigh leaves her mouth. “Yeah yeah! Coming!” She calls out. Her hand pushed down the lever of the door, and her eyes met those ocean blue eyes she saw almost every shift.

Evan sounded like he had run the Los Angeles marathon and just got over the finish line. With his arm he leaned against the doorframe, as he heavily breathed.

“Evan? What are you doing here?” She clings on to the door to try and keep her balance, since she was standing like a flamingo and holding her injured foot slightly above the ground. “There’s something I have to say to you.” he said as he was breathing normally again.

“And you couldn’t do that by calling or texting me?” She laughs. Seeing her smile like that made a shiver roll down his spine and his heart almost burst out of his chest. “This is something I'd rather tell you face to face.” he says as he slid both of his hands into his pockets, something he always did when he was nervous.

“Come on in” she says and motioned her head towards the hallway of her home. Evan steps over the threshold, far enough for (Y/n) to close the door. She starts hopping towards the kitchen. “I was just about to drink some tea, do you want anything?”

Evan was in some kind of trance, his heart was beating in his chest. But quickly got pulled out of it when her voice called out his name again. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

“You’re a little dreamy tonight, I asked if you wanted some tea?” she asked again as she tried to keep her balance on her one foot and leaned her hip against the kitchen counter. “Yeah, that sounds good, thankyou” Evan answered. He didn’t want tea. He wanted to spill his guts.

(Y/n) grabbed a cup out of the upper cabinet and poured the warm water from the kettle into the mug. “Hey, have you seen that highway pile up on the news where the 133 worked on?” she asks. “I still wonder how pile ups like that keep happening.” she continues, it honestly felt like she was talking to a wall. She had never seen Evan that quiet.

“Hey, you okay?” (Y/n)’s voice asks as she glances at Evan and gets out a tea bag and disconnects the little string which was attached to it. She limped back to the area where the mug was standing on the counter.

“I love you” the words fell off his lips.

A silence that was so loud filled the room. “What?” the word rolled off her lips. Did she actually hear him right?

“I think that I’m in love with you” Evan says again as he stares into her soul.

“Did you hit your head in that collapsed building?” (Y/n) asks as she throws the tea bag she had put into the water, into the bin and makes a bee line to limp towards Evan.

When she’s in front of Evan, she holds up her index finger. “Can you follow my finger?” she asks and starts moving it from the left side of his face to the right side.

“No I didn’t hit my head, and besides we were wearing helmets” Evan says as he wrapped his hand around her index finger and pushed it down.

“Im serious (Y/n)” Evan let her name roll off his lips, which sent a shiver down her entire body. The hairs on her arms were standing up, goosebumps were spread all over her body.

“From the moment I saw you walking into the firehouse, you’ve had my heart.” he sighs. “It has been kind of exhausting to try and get your attention. And trust me I went far. I went so far that I got into a relationship with someone else, to try and make you jealous” Evan is out here spilling his guts.

He continues his rattle “But if you do not feel the same, all you have to do is say so and I’ll walk back out of that door and we can pretend this never happene-“ But before Evan could finish that sentence, he could feel the collar of his jacket getting crushed.

“Oh, shut up Buckley” She grabbed the collar and pulled him closer until her lips connected with his.

A warm feeling was spreading through her body as she felt his hand touching the back of her neck. Evan let his index finger and thumb of his other hand slip onto her chin, as he gently pushed it up to meet his height.

It almost felt like Evan was the air she needed to breathe and she couldn’t survive without it. One hand was still placed on the collar of his jacket. As the other one wandered to the back of his head, slightly pulling the short curls on his head.

She could feel his warm breath tickling her skin, it was almost like she was back in that building again when she opened the elevator and they were that close.

They both were panting, catching their breaths as they both took each other's breath away.

Evan let his forehead fall against hers as he smiles. “So you do like me.. did I make you jealous as well?” his low voice said as a small laugh left his mouth.

“Maybe.. ” she teased him.

[fatphobiabusters]

Hello. I’ve never sent a message on here before, although I’ve been following for awhile, but I was hoping I could vent a bit (anonymously, if possible. Thanks.). So I came across a disgusting YouTube video (channel name is Asmongold Clips so people can avoid it) where a guy mocked a fat airline passenger and joked about essentially locking fat people up in concentration camps to lose weight, all while using very dehumanizing language. Against my better judgment, I left a reply (my first-ever YouTube comment at that) since I didn’t come across anyone calling him out. I immediately got attacked for it, and while I’ve gained a lot more confidence in myself and my ability to handle offensive things ever since coming across blogs like this, it still bothered me. Probably doesn’t help that I’m also autistic as well as a minor and can’t process things like this very well. Not long after this, I also heard that leaving comments on any kind of YouTube video supposedly gives the channel money if it’s over a certain amount of words. I’m not positive if this is true, but it left me feeling guilty/worried. I don’t know, I guess I just wanted to see what your all’s thoughts are on this and if I handled it well, or if there are better ways of dealing with things like this. Thanks for listening, and sorry if it became a bit rambling. Also, know that I really appreciate this blog; it’s helped a lot.

____

Mod squirrel:

People in the youtube comments are uniquely out of pocket and Im not sure why. To be frank no one will listen if they want a fight. If you leave a comment you do it on the off chance someone else relates but not in hopes of changing minds. Ive actually disabled notifications for comment replies because I argue too much in YT comments. I try a one and done approach with comments and dont wait around or care if someone who can't even upload a pfp has to say.

All that said:

You aren't obligated to fight every battle. Its definitely a skill that has to be trained up. You can leave a dislike and move on. Like I said youtube doesn't work for changing minds in the comments. If you want to make comments look into disabling the notifications for replies, say your peace and not look back.

The money thing I have no idea. I thought everything was about views and retention time. Either way thats not your burden. You can try the dislike button instead (at a minimum this teachers the algorithm what you don't want to see giving you more peace, hopefully).

And because this got me thinking: I dont suggest minors going full face forward like, say Greta Thunberg. As sad as it is to say. Any minor, on any issue, leave it to the adults because these bigots and trolls can be vile. You can support and stuff but dont become the "face" of anything. Being swatted or something is a possibility and I especially don't want any minors getting caught up in that. You can help in other ways but yall gotta stay safe. Greta has had absolutely horrid things said about her and if you want to care about issues there's levels between 1 and 100.

The occasional youtube comments won't put a target on you. That level of stuff is fine. Reading books and educating yourself is a foundational level that can take years.

I dont think you, anon, specifically are going to run off to do something wild but your ask got me thinking about how in movies there's always the teen who wants to save the world. Today's digital climate is so murky and dangerous. Its a balance between safety and realizing your full activism goals.

Anyway a bit of a tangent there.

Tldr you're doing great, you didn't do anything wrong. 🫂

[tamil1984]

[commandershepardvasfuckit]

An Arranged Marriage, part 10

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9

M!troll x f!reader

1.4k words

Home and clean it's the first time you've every really been close to him and comfortable about it. You feel safe and at ease until he leaves you to rest while he bathes, and the sounds and sights of the last few hours keep bubbling up.

--------

“Why not go rest?” Zen’jan suggested as he took the washcloth from you, though you had managed to get a lot of the blood off of him.

“I’m ok” you protested, though you were struggling to keep your eyes open. It had been a long 24 hours.

“Go rest. I will go finish cleaning up in the bathroom and then go get us something to eat, ok?” he said firmly and you could tell it was not actually a question.

“Fine”.

He was right, some rest would do you well. You scuttled over to the bed and wrapped yourself up in the blankets while Zen’jan went to go bathe. He left the door cracked open, not that you could see anything at this angle, but it did feel reassuring that he was just right there.

Try as you might, you could not sleep. Panic gripped you every time you finally started to drift off, the memory of waking up under that tree to voices kept bubbling up to the surface.

More time than you realized had passed while you tried to sleep and you heard Zen’jan emerge from the bathroom. You looked over his way, he just had his bath towel wrapped loosely around his hips and did not seem to notice that you were not asleep. You did not mean to keep staring, but you did anyways. It had been nearly a month of living together and you had not so much as even seen him take his shirt off in front of you, now you could not help but peek at him while his back was to you.

Really, he was quite attractive now that you had gotten used to trolls. He moved so fluidly, even just while rummaging through the drawers looking for clothes. There were subtle variations in the blue of his skin down the backs of his arms and legs you had never noticed. Especially you stared at the muscle of his back and arms, no wonder he had no issue carrying you all the way back home.

Happily lost in thought, you let out a squeak of surprise and quickly covered your face with the blanket when he dropped his towel.

“Spirits! I thought you were asleep!” you heard him shout and could hear him scrambling about.

Moments later he was kneeling next to the bed, his voice in your ear as he spoke. “I am so sorry about that, towel is back on, I promise. Though maybe I should be concerned that the sight of me makes my wife shriek and hide” he laughed.

You peered out from the blankets, his face was level with yours, though you found your gaze drifting down lower to stare at his chest instead.

“I promise I really did think you were asleep” he said again, “I forgot to bring some clean clothes with me, and I really did not want to put the bloody ones one right after bathing”.

“I was just surprised, that’s all” you mumbled.

“As long as that was just a surprised reaction. I do not think my ego could handle it if my wife found me unbearable to look at” he leaned forward to press his forehead against yours.

“No, I um, I enjoyed the view” you managed to stammer out.

“That’s good” he nuzzled his forehead against yours before pulling back, “I am quite surprised that you are not asleep yet though”.

“I couldn’t fall asleep. The last time I tried to nap I woke up to bandits, every time I started to drift off this time I would start to panic”.

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Maybe stay with me until I fall asleep?”

“Of course, anything you need, but let me put some pants on. You can even watch if you want” he teased.

You felt your face heat up, it would be a lie to say you were not curious about what he looked like under all though clothes.

It was also nice seeing him more relaxed. Ever since the two of you returned home that morning he seemed a lot calmer, more open and relaxed than usual. He was smiling more, and joking around, and being affectionate.

You watched up until he took his towel off again, not quite ready to open that floodgate, but happy when he decided to skip putting a shirt on.

“Alright, where do you want me? I can just sit here next to you like I always have” he offered and sat on the floor next to the bed like he usual with his arms crossed on the bed and head resting on them.

“You can sit in the bed with me” you do not know why, but it was difficult to say out loud.

He sat next to you, towering over you where you laid, through for the first time his size felt comforting instead of looming.

“If you put your back to me I can rub your back” he offered.

You said nothing but did roll over. His hand was so warm as he gently rubbed circles on your back and you swore you could hear him humming something. You closed your eyes and the exhaustion began to set back in now that the panic from the towel incident had subsided.

“What are you humming?” you asked.

“An old song that my parents used to sing to me and my siblings when we could not sleep” he said.

“You never told me you had any siblings”.

“I have an older brother, a younger sister, and I had a younger brother”.

“Oh, I’m sorry” you said awkwardly, not really knowing how to respond.

“It happened a long time ago, and now is not the time to talk about loss, I just want you to relax and sleep now”.

You tried closing your eyes and only focusing on Zen’jan’s hand on your back. It was definitely easier to relax now that you did not feel alone.

“Do you mind if I lay down with you? I will keep rubbing your back though” he asked.

“Yeah, that’s fine”.

He kept his distance, laying at the edge of the bed to give you space while he kept rubbing your back. You did not know the last time you just laid with anyone. Back living at home it always involved a lot of sneaking around, even well into your adult years because the daughter of a prestigious naval admiral did not have relationships, let alone flings. No, as far as your family knew you never had spent nights sneaking about with one of the maids, or the son of the head butler.

It felt weird that now that you could just finally be openly affectionate with someone that you still hesitated. You wondered if you would be like this if you were married off to some upstart naval officer like you always were told you would be. You wondered if Zen’jan was human if would make a difference.

“Are you alright?” his voice cut through your downward spiraling thoughts, “You suddenly tensed up a lot”.

“Yeah, just thinking”.

“I know I asked this a lot the whole way home, but are you sure you are alright? You asked a lot about what happened there with me, but you dodged any of my questions. I will not force you to talk about anything, but I am here to listen”.

You did not know how to tell him everything. That your kingdom may be trying to restart the war. That your family seemed to be fine with your death if that is was it took to declare war again.

“It’s just been a lot”.

“I know, but if you ever need to talk I am here to listen, always”.

You rolled over and buried your face into his chest and you felt him nuzzle his chin against the top of your head. His heartbeat was slow and steady, a sharp contrast to your racing heart.

“I have got you. I will not let anyone hurt you, I promise” his voice was soft in your ear and sent a pleasant warm tingle down your spine.

“Thank you, Zen”.

You drifted off like that, listening to his heartbeat and him softly humming the song from before. He smelled like warm herbal soap from the bathtub, but you missed the smell of incense on his skin.

Part 11

[gyeomsweetgyeom]

[1:29 pm]

(cw: f!reader, child on a leash)

"Ok look at me," dad!Yuta guides the chubby face in front of him so their eyes are locked, "are you going to run away from daddy outside?"

"Yes," the little voice replies with a nod.

You stifle a laugh as Yuta sighs in frustration, "No, no running away outside."

Your son cocks his head to the side, "from mommy?"

"No running away from mommy or daddy," you reply, crouching down to his eye level.

"But I want to play," your son pouts. His eyes fill with sadness as he turns his gaze to the floor.

"Bub, it's not always safe to play outside. That's why you have to stay close, we want you to be safe, okay?"

The pout intensifies but he nods nonetheless. You finally make your way into the store. You needed some household essentials, your son needed more clothes, and you needed some groceries too. Yuta held your son's hand as you walked through the automatic doors and reached for a cart.

You honestly should have expected it, the colorful displays at the entrance were almost enough to get your attention fully, your son saw the bright colors and bin filled with stuffed animals and shot off. His hand slipped out of Yuta's and went straight for the stuffed bears.

"Bub, we told you not to do that. Come back," Yuta told him softly but firmly. You placed your purse into the cart and rummaged around until you found what you were looking for. The harness, the leash for your son that looked like a monkey.

His eyes caught it and widened, "No, mommy. Please, no."

You strapped it onto him, "Baby, you didn't listen to mommy or daddy. Next time, you're going in the cart and you won't be able to walk. Do you understand?"

He pouted, sad eyes fixed on the floor, "Fine."

You all walked throughout the store, your son trotting off everyone in a while only to be gently tugged back by Yuta. He did fine for the most part and you even considered letting him walk alone, until you passed the toy aisle.

You heard him begging Yuta to let him “just look, no touching. I promise.” Yuta had thankfully said no, you knew your son could spend hours just looking in these aisles if you let him. 

Your son had complied and went walking behind the both of you as you walked by, his little feet dragging, and lips pouted in the hopes that you both might change your mind. Or even just one of you. 

You had almost made it completely through this section when the store had unfortunately placed some of your son’s favorite toys toward the very end. You heard an excited squeal and turned to see your son just inches away from reaching one of the toys and your husband pulling on the handle of the harness. 

You rolled your eyes playfully, moving your purse and the few items you had placed in the seat and grabbed your son to place him in the front seat of the cart. He squirmed and wiggled as much as he could, moving his legs to prevent you from seating him. 

“Mommy! Mommy, just want to look! Please!” He pleaded, softening his gaze since he already knew the puppy dog eyes would sometimes work on you.

You successfully sat him in and connected the seat belt, “You promised me, baby. You didn’t listen, didn’t I tell you this would happen?”

He nodded sadly, giving in and resting his chin atop his hands on the handle of the shopping cart with a soft, little sigh. You could feel yourself giving in, wanting to let him down and just hold his hand as he looked at the toys. He couldn’t help it that he got his dad’s hyperactive genes. It wasn’t his fault.

“Nope! Let’s move!” Yuta interrupted your thoughts, grabbing the cart and moving you all toward the grocery section. “I know your brain works, honey, it wasn’t a good idea,” he told you with a pointed look.

You crossed your arms, “I wasn’t thinking anything.”

“Sure, honey. Here Bub, you hold the eggs and be very gentle, ok?” Yuta replied while shooting you a look from his peripheral and placing the carton of eggs on your son’s lap.

You son nodded excitedly, “gentle,” he repeated. He places a hand in front of and on top of the carton while looking down at it in wonder.

Yuta turns to you, whispering, “Why can’t he be like this all the time? I don’t like walking around with a leash kid, people judge us. I can feel their eyes on us, but he doesn’t listen!”

“I think when they see him running around they understand. Do we have everything we need?” You ask while looking over your list and double checking the cart.

Yuta huffs, pausing to think, “I want something sweet. Let’s go look at the bakery.”

He and your son start moving toward the bakery while your son excitedly chants, “cake!” over and over again. 

Maybe they both needed the monkey harnesses.

-

a/n: I have no idea what this is🧍🏻‍♀️(fratboy!Jaehyun tomorrow)

[whileyoureinschoolidothisallday]

OKAY it has been a day of being sad and panicky. Time to move.

Yesterday, I made a post detailing the cdc announcement that there will no longer be an isolation requirement for covid. If you are one of the thousands of people rightfully raging in my notes, here's some steps to focus on.

We're not gonna give up. I've seen quite a few comments with things like 'what's the point', 'why should I even try anymore' etc etc and what we're not gonna do is give them what they want! It helps the eugenics cause to be apathetic and listless. We've made it this far, we will continue to make it. I know it's hard, but I am at least right here with you. Give yourself whatever time you need to grieve, and then I need you to get up.

If you have stopped masking for any reason, or you haven't upgraded to a respirator style mask, now is the time to change or start. From now on, we will be living in a country where you could assume there are multiple covid positive people in the room with you at all times. Surgical masks will not handle that load, and cloth masks will be even less effective at that point. Obviously, this is an unprecedented situation we're putting these masks in, and I'm not gonna sit here and pretend to be an expert that can tell you with certainty that even respirators will hold up with this amount of viral load for a long period of time, but it's the best and strongest tool we have. I'm considering using my p100 more, so that's always something to consider as well (and they make you look like a cool raver when you wear them!!!). You can buy all sorts of masks here, there's more links in the comments of my original post, and most states have their own mask blocs. To find them, go to Instagram and type "[your state] mask bloc". Here is a google doc of verified advocacy groups and mask blocs all across the country here is a diy fit test kit you can buy for $30 (unfortunately they are sold out right now. shocker.) PLEASE remember to take a layered response in these times. Masks are not the only tool in our arsenal. PLEASE for the love of God keep up with your vaccinations. Make a corsi-rosenthal box or buy a high quality air purifier if you can afford it--at the very least our homes can be safe havens (you can even put a hepa filter on your furnace!!!! And in your car too!!!!!). Use CPC Mouthwash, nasal irrigation, and nasal sprays like this one. Make it a routine: you come home, you shower, you brush your teeth, you rinse your nose, you change your clothes. And, like I said in another one of my posts, DO NOT TAKE OFF THE MASK.

3. If you would like an outlet for your rage and you're into calling your reps, feel free to calmly but firmly let the cdc have it at these numbers!!!!!

[alt text: a tweet by user silly_paulie that reads:

"Disdain for the CDC unites us all. Call today and demand isolation policies be returned to 10 days, and reducing it further to 1 day would be criminally dangerous. Call both:

404-639-7000 (press 8)

800-232-4636"

end text.]

4. If you need more outlets for your rage, I STRONGLY encourage you to get involved with your local union. Moreso than calling the CDC, tbh. I've seen multiple comments telling people just to lie about your symptoms to get more sick time off, but since there's no legal precedent to allow employees sick time for covid, all that's gonna do is get people fired. I truly believe in my lefty heart that the ONLY way we're getting anything close to mitigation is through labor rights. Even the standard for the fucking flu is 3 days, and that's nowhere near as contagious or disabling as covid. I say this as a high risk person with a neuromuscular disability: covid is an intersectional issue, but where we have the most leverage to get what we need is through labor rights.

It is NOT safe for workers to be working while ill with a Level 3 Biohazard (same as TB and the FUCKING PLAGUE. Seriously we have more regulations around fucking lice)

It is NOT safe to willfully EXPOSE your employees to a Level 3 Biohazard

It is NECESSARY for all employees to be allowed up to 10 days to recover fully from Covid-19, in order to avoid possible further injury from or hospitalization

You will NOT die or be disabled for the sake of the wealthy!!!!!

(and while you're at it, ask for better air filtration too!!!! At least 5 air changes an hour, MERV-13 air filters!! Then we won't have to constantly worry about virus bs and policy changes in the first place!!!!)

5. Closing statements. Nothing has changed with covid, this is just policy. Covid still isn't magic, she still has to get in you before she can do damage--mask up, arm your home with clean air, and don't let her. It's always worse toward the end. This is not the time to give up, it's time to dig in your heels and get to work. There are so many good things happening with covid. They are finding encouraging treatments for long covid. Finally, after years of nothing, a new prophylactic for the high risk was submitted for emergency use to the FDA, and it looks like this time it's built to last against new mutations. Covid is here to stay for the rest of our lives, but the real science hasn't given up on taking the worst of its teeth out. We WILL get to the point where the extreme fear of catching covid is nothing but a bad memory for EVERYONE. All I need you to do is commit to the belief that you're gonna survive long enough to be in that moment with the rest of us.

Now stay safe, and give em hell!!!!!

[jarlsthegreat]

I've got a bone to pick with Chaggie and how specifically Vaggie's character was handled in Season 1 of Hazbin Hotel.

The more I think about it the more the way their relationship was handled frustrates me, especially where Vaggie's angel twist is concerned, because it could have been a very good and compelling story.

There is a version of this story where Vaggie's blind devotion to Charlie is her not knowing how to love someone who is equal to her because everyone she was taught to love in Heaven was a superior. Her pandering to Charlie's every whim just her repeating what Adam wanted from her. There's a real tragedy in Vaggie's character that the show as written is not interested in. Her lying to Charlie for years could have garnered sympathy if the show addressed that the last loving relationship, and perhaps only loving relationship, she ever had ended when she deviated once from what they wanted of her. Adam and Lute mutilated and left her for dead because she disobeyed once. It is not unreasonable to assume that she believes that will happen again if she is ever anything but what Charlie wants. She cannot risk telling Charlie, because what if she reacts like Adam did. She thinks that Charlie loves her and that she can trust her, but she thought the same thing about Adam and Lute. And if Charlie casts her aside, what would she be able to do? She got lucky in Hell once and that's not likely to happen again, if she loses Charlie she is as good as dead. So she hides and placates. Her position is rather horrifying if you give her feelings on the matter any depth.

Charlie not noticing how strange her girlfriend's behavior is could be explained by her sheltered upbringing and being a princess. Growing up like that she could have been used to being placed on a pedestal, it could have been her normal. Of course, she loves Vaggie and wouldn't hurt her, but she does not know how to be a good partner on an emotional level. Or she could just be hungry for any positive attention and is being willfully ignorant to the problems in her relationship.

When Vaggie's secret was revealed, there should have been a big fight and honestly, they should have decided to break up when the dust settled. Maybe they got back together in the future after a lot of personal growth or just stayed friends and moved on to other people.

But that would require the writers to see Chaggie as something more than their safe, UWU, sugary sweet designated sapphic OTP that cannot break up no matter what.