#and that person had the gall to say that what she was going through wasn't that bad and she should stop making stuff about herself

[iintervallum]

I hate the dismisal of online lgbt spaces as not as important as in real life or what goes on within the spaces as not that bad, because for me at least, I don't have anyone I know in my area that I can talk to about being lgbt, and I'm relatively scared of selectiviely outing myself to find more people, because i really wouldnt want it to get back to my parents somehow.

My point is, online spaces are very important as a point of connection for the many of us that have no one irl, and I hate how any serious method of discussion gets turned into discourse. like people saying there is a severe amount of lesbophobia, biophobia, transmisogyny and racism in the community are not picking fights. we're trying to make this space better because for some of us its all we have! so please, do better.

[zoe-oneesama]

Not to say either of them is right here, but what's wrong with the ice cream guy? I haven't kept up with the show proper in several seasons, so I'm probably very out of touch.

He is The Villain of ML in my heart.

His magic ice cream is wildly inconsistent. It's Soulmate Ice Cream! Except when it's Just Friend Ice Cream! Well, until he ONLY gives ice cream to lovers, NOT good friends who have fun together! But sometimes he gives ice cream to couples that DO break up! What are the rules? WHO CARES, CERTAINLY NOT ANDRE! I can't even put stock in his ability ACTUALLY being magic when it's constantly contradicting itself. I'm pretty sure he's just convinced himself that he has magic when he doesn't and his ego is easily bruised if anything pulls him out of his fantasy.

Plus he inexplicably always blames Marinette every time he's akumatized, no matter how far he has to stretch to do so. Once when she didn't even interact with him directly!

The first time because she went home without eating his "Soulmate Ice Cream(tm)" by herself as a 5th wheel. Because, what, her leaving meant his ice cream "failed"? Wasn't the point that two people are supposed to share the ice cream for the magic to work? But because she was like "no thanks", he swears revenge on her???

The second time because he was so invested in shipping two strangers that he got mad at Marinette for...being seen in public with one leg of the ship? After Ladybug had made it perfectly clear that she and Chat Noir were NOT a couple and so Chat Noir has the right to have fun with whoever he wants to???? Because "my ice cream is never wrong"?!?!

It didn't seem to work out for Lukanette or Adrigami so I don't know where you get the gall to even continue to make that bullshit claim, but OKAY.

And the third time, HE had the audacity to blame HER for making him "lose faith in ice cream and love" when he REFUSED TO SERVE HER! He flat out denied her and Chat Noir ice cream because he doesn't make "good friend" ice cream despite them BEING ON A DATE, and then has the GLUTEN FREE AUDACITY to be mad when tHEY are UPSET by it!

Oh but that wasn't a problem in "Wishmaker" when it was Marinette sharing with Luka, but sure, make up new things just so you can get mad about it, that makes sense.

I also have a personal vendetta against him for being the one to out Marinette's feelings for Adrien to Adrien. After 4 seasons of build up, this is how Adrien finds out? Horrible, vile, detention, exile, I hate him. I mean I've been done with him since "Heart Hunter"/"Miracle Queen", but they just loooooove to PILE IT ON.

Like, wouldn't it make more sense for Andre to have been the one person to see through the Love Square? Even if he didn't fully understand it, since Ladybug = Marinette and Chat Noir = Adrien, wouldn't it just make sense for Magic Ice Cream to be able to see past that because They're Soulmates(tm)? But he's only invested in ONE of the pairings, not even like two of the pairings that are seemingly unrelated. He is NEVER as passionate about Adrienette as he is about LadyNoir...but why???? Why is he so blase about Marinette going with Luka or Adrien being with whoever when he can't even handle Chat Noir LAUGHING with a girl who Isn't Ladybug?

They never even have fun and explore what he'd do if he caught a Ladrien date, would he be angry at Adrien like he is with Marinette, or does he just have it out for her specifically?

At this point I'm just convinced he's only so invested in the LadyNoir pairing because he's publicly endorsed them so much and if they don't end up together he'll be outed for being a Hack Fraud. His fixation on two teenagers becoming a couple as a grown adult and falling to pieces just because Marinette has other ways to have fun instead of eating Ice Cream she doesn't even get to choose the flavor of...

Yeah, throw him in jail Chloe.

[tashacee]

Hi!!! You’re one of my favorites authors and I just wanted to drop a question!

So in your Mask!Wild series, I’ve counted Time with masks, Wind with a Korok mask, and ofc Wild with a mask, are there any other masks in the chain I’m missing? Not for the masquerade ball at least?

HI LAWN YOU'RE SO NICE OMG

And HMMMMMM MASKS YOU SAY? Well look what we have here....

Building Trust

Legend glared from his seat. It was well past midnight and he knew that at least a little of his anxiety would be settled by rest. But... not all of it.

He looked up. Warriors, the only one left awake, was waiting for a response, and much as Legend wanted to bite back a cutting response he knew it wouldn't get him anywhere. But what to say? What was wrong? Nothing was wrong with Legend, it was just-

"It's Wild." he blurted all at once and then looked over at the closed door of the Champion's bedroom on instinct. Wars was looking at him in shock, so Legend hastened to explain. "I- i just. I don't know. I want to make him more comfortable and show him that I care. You know?"

He sighed and looked down at his hands again. "I... I don't know anything about wearing a mask. Hiding. I've always been... y'know. There. I used to be a pretty outgoing person and even now, i just... i don't know what to do. I don't ... know enough. About this."

For a long moment there was silence, and then-

“I… I had a mask once.” Warriors admitted quietly. He was fiddling with the edge of his scarf, staring determinately at the flagstone floor. The confident captain was gone - this was just warriors. Link. A young man who had been through more than anyone should.

“The… after the temple of souls I couldn’t take it. Didn’t want to go out. It always felt like she was watching me and it felt dirty. I started covering up. Big cloaks. Hats. Hoods. Wrapped my scarf round so it covered my face when I went out. Only my eyes were visible, the damn thing went up over my nose and everything. It was the middle of the summer too, I was sweltering and probably smelled pretty rancid but-“

He broke off with a laugh. “I just. I couldn’t take it any more. I didn’t want to be seen” He took in a shuddering breath and reached shakily for his water, sipping it slowly. He shook his head as he set it down.

“I bought the mask about a month after the temple. I wanted to wear it out but I knew the royal court would never accept it. The scarf up over my nose was one thing, but a full mask? Heh heh. They changed my name. My accent. I was already wearing the fancy ass rich boy mask they’d made me, they’d never accept that. But I wanted to. Hylia, I wanted to. I used to just. Stay in my room and stare at it. Trying to get up the courage to put it on.”

He laughed suddenly, shaking his head. “Then mask and the sailor found out. Little cretins. You ever tried explaining ‘body issues’ to a ten year old? He just looked at me and said ‘until you’ve been stuck as a tree, y’aint got issues’. And the little shit threw my mask in the fire. The gall of it!”

He paused, sighing. “I… still hid my face. In the scarf. For a long time after that. Took me going to therapy to sort it out. I- the thought of her seeing me, even after she was dead. It was a lot to handle. So yeah. I’ve… I’ve had experiences with masks.”

Legend stared. That was... a lot to take in. Like a lot. But he wasn't going to be sarcastic about it. Not with something so serious.

"What..." he cleared his throat. "What can I do to help then? Cause somehow i don't think throwing his mask in the fire is a good idea."

Wars snorted. "Fuck, no." he laughed and shook his head. "Time. Time and a safe space. And a metric shittonne of therapy, but somehow I don't think we can provide that."

Legend cracked a smile. "A safe space, huh? I think we can make that happen."

[hikariale]

kreepy krawlies!

Returning to a still room which hasn't changed since the morning you left it, everything was as it should be. Until you saw it... Hurriedly returning to the hallway and slamming the door behind you, you pulled up a familiar contact for backup.

characters: cassie cage, jacqui briggs, kung jin, takeda takahashi

content warning: bugs (cockroaches, wasps, spiders) and rats, ask to tag

You thought that Cassie may have more courage than you, but she looked just as petrified when she laid eyes on the cockroach that had besieged you. She wasn't scared, but she was definitely grossed out. It would be a close tie for which person wanted to get closer to it the least, but she didn't have her guns and you didn't have the courage to try to throw anything at it.

"So, sleepover in my room?" Cassie proposed half-jokingly.

"It's still going to be here in the morning if I do that," you protested. You both knew that you had to do something, but without any tools, the only choice was to get closer.

"Maybe it will be dead in the morning! It looks pretty old. I mean- Ohmygod ew!" Cassie's reasoning was interrupted when she saw the cockroach move again. It turned away from you both, slovenly crawling towards the furthest wall. The two of you silently looked at each other and nodded with stony expressions.

An outsider might think you guys were simulating a combat situation the way that you both took tactical stances.

Cassie tried to throw your alarm clock at it, but your last minute objection over the object she was using caused her to miss.

Both of you jump back when the cockroach briefly takes flight, eventually settling in a safe spot underneath your desk.

Your daring in starting to crouch with a handful of tissues in your hand is dashed when the cockroach crawls along the floor again.

"Just hand it over here!" Cassie demands. Even though she gets a little further, her hand recoils as soon as she she actually has it.

The moment she could feel it through the tissues, she dropped everything and backed away, face twisted with nausea.

It's not like you were going to do much, but you are a little agape at the fact that she decided to whip out her phone and take a picture instead of doing... Anything else.

By the point that you are both camped out on your bed, stuck at an impasse with the uninvited guest, Cassie is mostly there for moral support. And comedic relief as you look over her shoulder and watch her frantically text everybody else about the situation.

When you hear a knock on your door, Cassie lights up and answers without hesitation.

Standing on the other side is man of the hour, the real MVP, her father, Johnny Cage with a can of Raid.

You make sure to thank him for coming to the rescue, and he accepts the gratitude with the same humility he always has. Which is to say that he gave you both a cocky grin and said something that made Cassie roll her eyes.

"What's the big deal? It's just a- Oh." Upon seeing the tail of a large rat poking out from behind your bedpost, Kung Jin's flippant attitude righted itself. If the tail was that big, he didn't want to see the full creature. Even with that attitude correction, he still had the gall to give you a little sass when you asked why he thought you were exaggerating.

To his credit, even though he was basically wearing pajamas and clearly ready to go to bed, he pulled his hair into a loose ponytail and straightened his posture.

"Cover the bottom of your door with a blanket and let's get this over with," he ordered.

He's kind of bossy... It would irk you a lot more if you knew what to do about the current situation.

When you ask him why he seems so confident, he just gives you a funny look and says "I wanted a hamster as a kid, but my parents said no."

You're skeptical when he tells you to get food, but when you set down a plastic spoon full of peanut butter and wait, you start to see the animal move.

It was a tense waiting game, but what scared you more was Kung Jin, crouched with his hands poised.

He looks more like an assassin waiting to go for the kill rather than a person trying to catch a rat. Not wanting to break his focus, you stand by the door and try not to make any noise or sudden movements.

The way that Kung Jin scoops the rat up into his hands and traps it against his chest without any hesitation is... Kind of scary. You admire his bravery, but you don't get to say that before he starts yelling at you to open the door for him.

You follow his sprint down the corridor and to the nearest exit in case there are any other doors that he needs opened. He jogs a little further from the building before dropping the rat off.

"Did you get bit?" you ask. After huffing, Kung Jin gives you a sarcastic 'Haha.'

He takes a minute to wash his hands once you guys get back inside. When he leaves the bathroom, he looks at you blankly before saying goodnight.

"Thank you so so so much! I owe you," you say. It's reckless to say to someone like him, but you truly mean it.

Kung Jin snickers a little. "Yeah, you do. If you need anything else, I'm going to bed."

"Wait, Jacqui! What if it explodes into a swarm of baby spiders like in those videos!" before your saviour could deal a swift killing blow to the spider on the wall behind your headboard, you grabbed her arm and yanked her away in momentary panic. For a second, she didn't look like she cared, but after a moment's consideration, she grimaced and shuddered.

"That's just nasty, you know! Now you've got me psyched out. Do you want me to take care of it or not?" Jacqui turned to face you, arms crossed as she complained. Her eyes darted to the wall to keep track of her target. Though you felt a little bad for stopping her, the image wouldn't leave your mind.

"Can't we just.. Remove it? Without crushing it?" your pleas made her sigh with resignation.

"Fine. You got any ideas for how to do that?"

Jacqui's brow cocks as she watches you chug your glass of water while rummaging around your desk for something. When you produce a piece of paper, she gets the idea.

The only problem is that, in the few moments that she watched you drain your cup, the spider graduated from the wall to your ceiling.

"I think you should just let me throw something at it," Jacqui says, but you refuse again. Though she doesn't think that anything spectacular will happen, you seem pretty freaked out.

For your peace of mind, she relents again and decides to adapt the plan to the new complication.

"I'll give you a boost and you can grab it," her offer is sound, but you don't want to get anywhere near that creature. When she asks if you want her to climb up onto your shoulders, you find yourself indecisive.

Because you don't want to freak out and drop her, you ultimately decide to do the capturing. With a cup and a piece of paper to shield you, it shouldn't be too bad, right?

It's bad. It's really bad. The spider keeps moving, and Jacqui has to tell you to hurry it up in between encouragements and affirmations.

You finally capture it! Jacqui helps your awkward descent to the ground, knowing you don't have any free hands to get down normally.

Noticing your jittery state, she takes the cup and paper from you and leaves the room. When she comes back, she's carrying a noticeably different cup filled with ice water.

"You know what? I hope that spider has a big, happy, spider family," she quips.

After seeing how ready she was to turn it into a smear on your bedroom wall, you get the feeling that house spiders don't tend to survive any run-ins with her.

"I don't think I'm the guy you want," Takeda said, handle already on the doorknob seconds after he first entered, "Did I ever tell you about the wasp nest incident?"

"No?!" just the name alone gave you a good idea. Knowing that Takeda used to train with Hanzo, you thought that handling a single bug would be a cinch for him. God knows his reflexes were fast enough. Whenever mosquitoes flew too close to him, he would kill them without fail.

"Well, I was trying to hide and I hid in the wrong place at the wrong time. And it turns out that I'm allergic!" Takeda explained briefly. He ended the statement with a wry smile.

Takeda is smart enough to stay with his hand on the door, but he wouldn't just leave you to your own devices when you needed help.

"I'll be the brains and you be the brawn?" is his suggestion. Though you loathe it, your fear was a less pressing reason to not confront the wasp than his allergy.

"You're not going to like this much," was the first thing he said after you agreed. You kind of hated him for a moment.

He tells you to slowly and calmly walk to the window and open it before doing anything else. The couple of steps it takes to cross your room feels like you're trying to cross a minefield.

Once the window is open, he makes you cross back over. When the wasp's wings flutter for a few moments, you freeze like a statue and Takeda has to walk over and gently pull on your sleeve to get you to move again.

So you have to nudge the wasp into leaving through the window without pissing it off enough to attack you. Takeda makes it sound easy, but wasps always seem pissed off from your point of view.

At least Takeda is able to be a little bit more than moral support when he pulls out some folded brochure and gives it to you to use as a prodding device. It's a lot better than your foot.

He's quick to calm you down when the wasp crawls onto the brochure, putting his hands on your shoulders and halfway pushing you to the window.

He tells you to swat it off, but you drop the entire brochure and close up your window before you can even see it hit the ground.

"Sorry, I hope that wasn't important," you apologise, and you really do regret it now.

"Not really. It was just something I was going to give to Hanzo, no big deal," he teases. Your jaw drops at his nonchalant tone and you can't tell if he's joking or not.

Though you threw the brochure out to get as far away from the wasp as possible, you find yourself following Takeda outside to retrieve it soon after.

[ofallthingsnasty]

What would croco and doffy do if you wanted to leave your job?

post referenced

tw. workplace harassment, mentions of mental illness, manipulation, yandere vibes, gn reader, minors dni

That's the thing in this scenario: They know damn well that you won't up and leave until something truly grave happens. That's how it is with depression/anxiety disorders (at least for me) - you won't change a single thing even if you fantasize about beating your forehead bloody on the work bathroom's sink every morning on your commute. It's all about slowly pushing your boundaries, even a fucking flashy bird like Doflamingo gets that. You're the frog in the pot and the heat is slowly increasing, you won't even notice just how bad things are turning until you're already gagging on Doflamingo's cock or being called 'sweetheart' by Crocodile. But early on, the other option - getting a new job, maybe quitting without another place lined up (because you see... it's hard to send out applications with the way they're working you to the bone... or at least that's what your tired brain tells you) - that is way more daunting than simply spending another week in that familiar hell, maybe even another month. You tell yourself that you'll brush up your CV during your week off - and then waste that week simply counting the days until you have to go back again, constantly torn between fretting and sleeping. Others would call you lazy and stupid, but it's how your unmedicated brain works; and they both know it, could smell it on you the moment you shuffled your starched shirt into that interview way back when.

Now, if Doflamingo played his cards wrong - and he forced you under the table too early, or if Crocodile laid into you with gusto and too much anger one day - yep, you'd leave. But both know that good things come to boys who wait; and in this case it's a malleable mess of a person, perfect to mold into whatever shape they desire. For Doflamingo, it's some simple psychological torture lunchtime fun, for Crocodile it's someone he can boss around for the rest of his life, a guaranteed little doll who'll only ever aim to please him. But that wasn't your question, was it? Let's say you have friends, maybe family who help you, who encourage you to leave and support you with everything you could ask for - that get you to finally put in your resignation. Oh. Oh. There will be hell to pay. You see, you don't ditch a man like Doflamingo just like that. He'll be furious, that carefully created, perfectly maintained facade of the cruel, calculated yet sunny big shot cracking to reveal the spoiled little boy he can be deep, deep down. He decides when you're done playing, not your sorry little ass who can't even raise your voice to tell the waitress she's brought you the wrong meal at the cheap fucking diner you eat in on Sundays. You don't get to have agency, you don't get to walk before he is done wiping the floor with you and laughing all the while. He'll give you acid, the wildest tongue lashing you've ever had in your life - and he'll make sure to get your name blacklisted, to have you crawling back into whatever shithole you came from or moving away entirely. He wants you ruined, he wants you desperate, he wants your name so encrusted in shit you'd have to get new skin to rid yourself of the stench. Only if you come back to him, tail shaking in between your mangy legs, then he'd consider forgiving you for ever having the gall to think that you're somehow on the same playing field, on the same level as him. And if you don't do just that because of your pathetic little support system - well, you better hope you never cross his path ever again. Crocodile won't be any less furious, his anger just takes on another form. You see, while his ego won't be as bruised by you putting in your two weeks - the stakes were higher for him. He wanted to keep you around, after all. And now you're slipping through his fingers, take your sad, wet eyes to another one who'll get to exploit them and play you for the perfect fool that you are. Oh, that won't do. Instead, he'll stun you with a counter offer: more money, less hours, hell, he'll give you a shitty gift card for some grocery store once a month; anything to keep you around. He'll break out into an entirely new direction, chooses to play the grumbly yet lovable boss all of a sudden. It's jarring. And it probably works because it's so bizarre. (Of course, he's still himself - he just figures he'll catch more flies with honey instead of vinegar and he can play pretend for a little while, can hide that arrogance and temper because he has a plan. In true Crocodile fashion, he'll be nice and let you off the hook for a little bit, letting you weigh yourself in a false sense of security.) He knows you were ready to leave once - now he has to step it up a notch before you'll truly pull the plug. And isn't a little office party where he'll feed you some spiked drinks and has you waking up in his bed the perfect move, then? A little bit of love-bombing, then putting a little bit of that pressure that made you crack before back on - it'll have your messed up little head spinning, feeling cornered and like a fish out of the water. It won't be his preferred way of doing things, sure, but he can't let you leave. It'll be so out of character, will blind you like a flash granade until you're suddenly stuck in that same old rut, only this time with a ring around your finger and your former boss in your bed.

[fireemblems24]

Golden Wildfire Ch 10

Spoilers for GW up to Ch 10 below.

STORY

Now Claude's taking Ls in the Kingdom too.

I love how much they always try to drum up sympathy for Randolph when the man's only character trait is "I want to murder people to gain personal status." And then he also has the gall to act like he's better than the people defending themselves when he goes to kill them.

I never really put that much thought into him before, but yeah he's kinda just a piece of shit, isn't he? Low key one of the worst human beings in the game.

They should've made it Fredinand or like Linhardt's dad or someone likeable.

Funny seeing Claude play Edelgard like a fiddle though. His army is fine, and hers is crushed lamo.

Haha, Fleche is back to her vengeance act. It's gonna be funny if a tiny girl child is a final boss.

The same conversation with Jeralt and Bylethas I saw elsewhere, I think. Yeah, here comes the sword again.

I love how they make Rhea out to be such a big deal, but literally no one gives a shit that they declared war on her. Like, pick one, game. You either have Claude be an unpopular ruler or Rhea actually be a problem.

Raphael called it right. Commoners don't give a shit. So Edelgard getting everyone killed over noble squabbles.

Hilda kinda seems like the Kingdom stan here. She's always the one upset about it.

Claude is such an idiot. I cannot take him seriously. Claiming he wants to spare lives moments after sacrificing Randolph and wanting to wipe a church no one gives a shit about off the map. Am I supposed to take this seriously?

Haha, Arval said he can think for both of them when I had Shez say she's more brawn than brain lamo. And Shez believes it too, omg. Shez is great. I need a comedy show with them.

Oh, nice! Looks like another single-battle map. BC, honestly, I got Spiritfarer for Christmas and I'm DYING to play it, but need to finish this first.

BASE/SIDE BATTLES

Lamo, Arval just said trying to unify different people under one king is dumb, won't work, and looks forward to the day humanity moves beyond it.

LORENZ/IGNATZ/RAPHAEL PARALOGUE

So is this the paralogue that's going to rewrite it so Lorenz's dad did nothing wrong? Given the description, I'm betting it's that.

Ignatz is being awkward around Lorenz now that he's been promoted.

Gloucester evades all of Lorenz's questions about these bandits.

And now Lorenz is demanding Raphael do what Ignatz did and is upset he's so casual lamo.

So are they making it so his dad wasn't the one who ordered the hit that killed Raphael's parents? Lol. This game really likes whitewashing some of these guys, but Glouster's probably the worst offender.

Let me take a wild guess. TWSITD.

It's really a shame that Raphael is such a one-note character. It would've been interesting if he had more in-depth conversations with the rest of the cast who were unable to move beyond trauma.

IGNATZ & LEONIE B SUPPORT

Their one and only support.

They're hunting and the deer only has one arrow. So they try to figure out who successfully shot the deer.

They both hit the same place. Mystery solved.

LORENZ & CONSTANCE C SUPPORT

This one should be better.

Constance is challenging a cat to a staring contest. Yes, this one is already better.

Lamo, he says he would've considered her as a wife if she restored her house. But withdraws because she's a weirdo. (I mean, no loss?)

Constance gets back at him by saying she'd never consider him lol.

Now they're arguing over who's house is more noble.

Much more entertaining.

SHEZ & RAPAEL B SUPPORT

It's about food.

It's nice to see Raphael actually have passion about something instead of just repeating "meat!" over and over.

SHEZ & IGNATZ B SUPPORT

You know, going through supports has made me realize that Golden Deer probably has my overall least favorite cast.

Ignatz has an older brother. He likes his brother at least.

Ignatz is finally talking about how he doesn't love being a knight. He really didn't have much of anything going on removing that conflict.

It's nice to hear Ignatz have his own convictions to become a knight. He's getting more sides to him, which is good.

SHEZ & HOLST B SUPPORT

Holst sneaks with Shez into enemy territory. He's doing it because scouts are going missing. Shez is impressed someone of his status is doing that.

LYSITHEA & RAPHAEL B SUPPORT

Lysithea studied too long and is out after dark. Gets scared by noises. She runs into Raphael and they talk about strengths and weaknesses.

The weird noises she heard wasn't Raphael.

MARIANNE & HILDA PARALOGUE

Marianne needs help from Shez organizing because she sucks at it.

Wow, Hilda not only volunteered to help Marianne clean up the mess, but also to do the scouting mission they were supposed to go on all by herself. It's love.

Hilda doesn't show up for awhile, so they get worried and go to check on her. Given that it dumps me to prepare for the battle next, I'm thinking that was a good call.

Not my favorite paralogue. I had to fight Ingrid :(

They talk about Marianne's typical issues.

It has very "safe" shipping dialogue throughout.

MAIN BATTLE

I don't want to invade the Kingdom. Especially since it makes no sense for Claude to do so.

Hahahahaha, lamo, you deserve it Claude. Fleche raised an army to fight him. Seeing this tiny girl as the final boss is going to be hysterical.

Oh, Arval and Shez stuff. I almost forgot Arval existed. They've got bad feelings. I'm guessing it's because Byleth is fused with Sothis.

Ok guys, I restarted this chapter over and over trying to recruit Byleth, but Claude just stands there in one seized area and won't move until Byleth reaches him - even when no one else is around.

I really just want to be done with this playthrough to be honest (there are so many other games I want to play right now), so I'm not going to bother with recruiting Byleth. I'll try in SB, but the only one I'm going to put any real effort in is AG.

Seeing Fleche as a final boss is funny.

I'm guessing we don't fight Jeralt if you recruit successfully. Got a cool cut scene for not bothering though!

So Byleth doesn't join you because you kill Jeralt, I'm assuming. Though, Byleth doesn't seem to have any issue joining Edelgard when she plays a role in that lamo.

Also, gotta say, I love how there's a chapter you can't use the lords. And for Edelgard and Claude it's because they randomly just don't fight that chapter. For Dimitri, it's epic story reasons lol.

Aw, shit, did Byleth just kill Judith?? That sucks. Oh well. Not restarting. This 3 route thing is too much. I just want to play this again, but one route only.

You know, after Claude's dumbfuckery throughout this route, he kinda deserves this lamo.

So who is it in SB and AG that dies?

Byleth so callous about Jeralt's death. Far cry from the crying in Houses, a bit sad actually.

It's kinda funny that Judith died because Fleche went on another rampage. I'm going to miss seeing her around though.

Is whoever dies in AG bad enough that I should push through and recruit Byleth? I may look that up to give me the proper motivation, but that could backfire if it's someone I don't care enough, but I'm having a hard time thinking of a single character I don't care enough about. Even like Sylvain's dad would make me too sad for Sylvain and I couldn't do it.

Aww, Arval is upset for Shez.

So is Sothis and Byleth merging merging or something?

xxxx

[barry-j-blupjeans]

be honest are you crying about the commercial with the kitten in it and Magnus mayhaps???

4. be honest are you crying about the commercial with the kitten in it

--

If there was anyone you didn't want to run into on your midnight run around the moon, it was your boss. The only thing that could possibly be worse than just running into your boss on your midnight run (while you are, notably, not wearing a shirt and also incredibly sweaty) is running into your crying boss on your midnight run.

And yet, here Magnus was.

The stars were bright up here on the moon, much brighter than they ever were planetside. Even through the glass dome that covered the quad, there was just enough light to run in without having to turn any lights on. It wasn't nearly enough to know exactly what was going on, but Magnus had been around here in the day enough times to know where he generally wanted to go.

But if anyone asked, he screamed to give the Director the satisfaction of thinking she got the jump on him, not because he hadn't seen her in the dark.

"What the actual hell are you doing?" the Director asked. Magnus, who had flung a knife towards her, felt a little bit embarrassed. Not that he'd ever admit that.

"Do you, uh, do you have my knife, or-?"

"Here," the Director said. There was a soft thud against the ground and a few balls of light popped into existence, hovering a few feet off the ground. Magnus blinked a few times to adjust his eyes to it. When he finally got used to it, the Director was yanking his knife out of the nearest tree.

"I meant to do that," Magnus said as she got it loose.

"Of course you did," the Director said, sounding like she didn't believe him in the slightest. She handed the knife back over to him and pretended not to watch him drop the other two knives he had with him while trying to put it away. He didn't know if it'd be more mortifying if she did say something, but her standing there awkwardly wasn't helping in the slightest.

"So, uh," Magnus said, standing back up. He had dirt stuck to his knees from where he had knelt down but the Director didn't comment on it. Her face was drawn tight and her eyes were brimmed with red. She looked... awful.

"You look awful," Magnus said.

"Thanks."

"No, I mean-!" Magnus groaned, rubbing his face with his hands. Great, now there was probably dirt on his face too. "You look... sad. Are you good, or...??? Did I interrupt something?"

"I-"

"Be honest," Magnus said. "Were you crying about the commercial with the kitten in it?

"Was I what?" the Director asked. And then, as she realized what he meant, "the Fantasy ASPCA one? With all the kittens stuck in the cages?"

"Yeah," Magnus said. "I cry about that one all the time, there's no reason to be ashamed-"

"I wasn't crying about the Fantasy ASPCA commercial, Magnus," the Director said.

"But you were crying?"

"Fuck," the Director said. "No, I wasn't."

"I'm pretty sure you were crying," Magnus said, bouncing on the tips of his toes. "D'you wanna talk about it?"

"That would be- unprofessional of me," the Director said. "So no, but thank you."

"Directoooor," Magnus said sweetly. The Director had the gall to roll her eyes at him.

"Magnussss," she said back, in the same tone. "No. I'm sorry, but no. I'm not actually that sorry, that's a lie. Listen, hey-" Magnus struggled to keep a laugh down. "What are you doing? You have training tomorrow."

"You're training us!" Magnus said.

"Fuck," the Director said again, with much more feeling. "You're right. Magnus, as the person who's training you tomorrow, and also as your boss, I command you to go to bed. Now, preferably."

"As the person you're training," Magnus shot back. "I command you go to bed."

"That's- that's not how this works," the Director said, but she was smiling now, so Magnus felt accomplished.

"Well, then we've reached a stalemate," Magnus said. The Director huffed, looking notably less awful than before. She turned and took a seat under the tree Magnus's knife had hit. A few of her joints popped as she slid to the ground. She patted the ground next to her and Magnus took her up on the offer, sitting down too.

The night sky was bright and the real moon was waning away, almost at another new moon stage. The Director set her staff at her feet and looked up, closing her eyes. The stars above their heads twinkled.

"I feel like there used to be more stars," Magnus said.

There was a beat before the Director responded,

"Growing up can make everything else seem a little smaller."

"True," Magnus said. He let his eyes slip close as well. Behind his eyelids, a small, skinny kitten stared pleadingly back out at him. "Well, now I'm thinking of the Fantasy ASPCA commercial."

"It really pulls at your heart, doesn't it?" the Director said.

"I just wanna help all of them!" Magnus said, already feeling close to tears himself.

"It's quiet time," the Director said. "Shh."

Magnus let out a little breath of annoyance but shut up all the same. He opened his eyes to look up at the sky again.

He didn't feel any more grown up than a minute ago, but he could have sworn there were a few patches of stars missing.

[digital-corruption]

... Screw it. Yes, I'm starting a new multi-part fanfic right before episode 10. 🤪

In this version of events, Jake disappeared right before the end of whatever happens without a trace. It is now 5 years later. MC has moved on (?).

Unrecognisable Part 1

⚠️ This fanfic has strong language usage.

⚠️ This fanfic features a**hole!Jake.

------------------------------------------------

“I wish I found the Man Without a Face instead.”

I never thought I'd ever say those words, but as they say, “expect the unexpected.” They also say, “never meet your heroes.” For good reason too.

Where to begin? I'm sure you know the story about Hannah Donfort. Who doesn't by now? It was all over the news and social media. Not a story I enjoyed repeating. Thankfully only a few people knew I was even involved as my name was left out of the news. And of the people I did tell, many claimed I lied for the attention. As if I wanted to be associated with that nightmare? No, thank you.

The only thing that kept me sane was my memories of the people I met along the way, especially HIM. Not many people are aware that the #IAmJake trend and the events surrounding Hannah Donfort were actually connected. Not even the conspiracy theorists were able to make that connection. I suppose it was good in a way - good for HIM. I wouldn’t be able to tell you because before it was even over he disappeared without a trace. Yes, like the Avatar, only he wasn't encased in ice.

To make matters worse, all of our history with him was gone. Even the photo he had sent to Lily and the backup she had saved. As it turned out the photo contained a trojan, which meant he could get to it on any device. Of course the one personal item he volunteered had strings attached. If it wasn’t for the fact Lily had printed a hard copy of the photo, we wouldn't had anything to go on, but even then, it wasn't enough. It’s not like you could identify him from an old photo of his mother. It's not like I could hack into the world’s most sophisticated international facial recognition software and search for matches.

Honestly though, I was pissed, no livid with how he disappeared. At first I was optimistic he would return, but as the days and weeks passed without a word, it was clear it was never going to happen. And as bad as it sounds, there were times I wished he was either dead or captured. The sting of him leaving wouldn't hurt so much then. Something told me he wasn't though. Somehow I knew he got what he wanted and was now in the wind. After a while, I had a friend of mine so a sweep of my computer and phone. Both had so many backdoors open for the right hacker to walk right through any time he felt like it. I was so disgusted with the gall of him. I immediately got a new phone and computer, and didn't touch my old accounts ever again. An absolute fresh slate. No more prying whenever you felt like, Jake. He would have to reach out to me the old-fashioned way.

So when I received the coded email from an unknown sender five years after he disappeared, you could imagine my surprise. I suppose an average person would have deleted it or marked it as spam. I just knew there was something about it though. I looked up all sorts of ciphers and encryptions. I ran it through online parsers. Surely if it was intended for me it wouldn't require too much deciphering, right? What I understood about the highest level of encryptions was they required a key to interpret the information, but I didn't receive anything else so I was baffled for days. Then I remembered that scavenger hunt he had sent me and Lily on, and that dumb phrase he kept repeating.

“You are the key.”

I tried my first name. I tried my last name. I tried them together, I tried them in reverse. I threw in my date of birth for kicks. Nothing. I nearly gave up, but then I saw a video on my feed mention how identity theft can occur from just having your social security number.

Bingo.

The parser confirmed that the decryption worked and returned to me two decimal numbers. At least I had watched enough mystery shows and played enough games to immediately recognise them as GPS coordinates, so you can stop shouting at the page now. (Who hasn't yelled at TV shows for spending more than a second working that out?)

And that is how I ended up at that abandoned building in a faraway city of a country I had never been to before. Then thing is, no one knew I had gone overseas. It wasn't so much of an issue with my work or my family. However, lying to my boyfriend was the hardest. He sincerely thought I was visiting my sick aunt. How was I to explain this to him? That I was chasing down a clue that may or may not lead to this guy I once had feelings for. I figured I'd work out an explanation afterwards. For now, I didn't want the interference, I just wanted to be able to focus on following the clue. I had to admit, as I pryed the boards off a broken window with a disused pipe I had found, I was beginning to have doubts about my interpretation of the message, but what else could it have been?

Even though it was the middle of the day outside, the old office building was dark as little light got past the boards. I had to use my phone to illuminate the hallways as I walked through them. There was only four stories, but when you don’t know what or who you were going to be finding, it felt like a never-ending labyrinth. Still, I carried on while trying to work out the best excuse to give the police if they had found me first and arrested me for trespass. They could speak English, right?

As I entered one of the offices on the third floor, my phone was suddenly knocked out of my hand. Before I could react, I was slammed face first into the wall painfully. Someone grabbed my hand and twisted my arm painfully against my back. Then I heard the click of a gun's safety being disengaged before the muzzle was shoved against my head.

“What the fuck are you doing here!?” a male voice grunted with an European accent.

My mind raced. Had I gotten the message wrong? Was I not the intended recipient? But it was my social security number that was the key! No, it had to have been for me.

“I-I followed the GPS coordinates in the email!” I stammered.

“What email!?” he pressured.

“Can we do this without the gun?” I pleaded.

“No! Answer the fucking question!” he snapped.

“I received an encrypted email from an unknown sender. All it contained though were GPS coordinates for this building!” I explained. “Please, you’re hurting me!”

“I’m hurting you? I'm hurting you?” he stressed. “Fuck! It’s people like you that keep the Nigerian prince scam going! You blindly following that email is going to get me killed! I should just shoot you and leave your body for them to find! Teach them to fuck with me!”

“I don’t understand!” I started to tear up. “You didn’t send me the email?”

“NO!” he yelled. His voice echoed off the walls. “At what point in entering this building did it seem like I wanted guests!?”

He pulled the gun away and shot my phone lying on the floor. The gun had a silencer on it, but the sound of the phone shattering still caused me to jump.

“Now what do I do with you?” he purred. “Do I leave you in the dumpster out the back? Or should I hang your body in the foyer?”

“Please...” I sobbed. “It was just a misunderstanding, ok? I thought you were someone else!”

“Yes, I know. You thought I was... what name did I use again? Oh, that’s right. You thought I was Jake,” he laughed.

My blood ran cold, “Jake?”

He spun me around and slammed me back against the wall. I started to cry out in pain when he smashed his lips against mine. I was in so much shock that all I could do was stare into his icy cold eyes that peered out from underneath his hood. He readjusted his face mask to cover the lower half again.

“What’s wrong? Was that not how you imagined our first kiss?” he chuckled.

I immediately slapped him across the face. “You can’t be...” I mumbled.

“Oh, but I am,” he sneered. “I am Jake!”

[matrixdragon]

Rumor Chasing

(On Our Fates Alight tie in fic. Masterpost here. Set in the aftermath of this story)

"Imperials, this close to Ul'dah? Nonsense!"

"My source is reliable."

"Your source is a Brass Blade that will say anything for more ale."

"A Brass Blade that knows he'll be cut off if his information isn't good."

Sitting at a side table, Alice idly stirred the watery mix the tavern had the gall to call a stew, giving no sign she was listening to the pair of lalafells behind her. After all, why pay for information when those that had just couldn't help but spread it for free?

"Okay then, let's hear it."

"It was south of Horizon. People heard explosions, and when the Blades responded, they found an entire imperial squad, with magitek armor backing them up. And believe it or not, they were equipped for Eikon hunting."

Soaking a piece of bread in the stew, Alice considered that. The Empire did like to ambush Dominants in locations where their victims had assumed they would be safe, in an effort to catch them off guard or prevent them from fusing their full power for fear of collateral damage. By that logic, Horizon made sense. But at the same time, operating that close to Ul’dah would require considerable effort to get both the men and equipment in undetected, and risked drawing the personal attention of Raubahn, a man whose hatred of the Garleans was almost as famous as his skill on the battlefield. Who could possibly be so valuable that they were worth the cost?

Even as she asked herself that, a chill ran down her tail. Hydaelyn. Everything Alice had been able to find suggested that the Mothercrystals Dominant was based somewhere in Thanalan, possibly even the capital itself. The Garleans were fanantical enough that their campaign against Eikons in all their various forms would surely target even her. Hellfire, they’d likely consider her a more valuable target, and one that justified drawing the attention of the Bull of Ala Mhigo.

"Okay, they were Eikon hunting. I certainly haven't heard of any Eikons around Horizon," the second lalafell pointed out, her voice clearly still skeptical.

"They must have been passing through. Or they were running already and that's where the Imperials caught up with them. Not like we can ask them. Apparently they got away just before the Blades arrived. Probably used the chance to put as much distance between them and Horizon as possible. Still, they killed a few of the bastards first."

"Well, no one's going to complain about that," the second lalafell admitted.

"No one we care about, anyway."

Taking a bite out of her bread, Alice pondered the matter in regards to her plans. Thankfully, she hadn't even semi-primed since coming to this continent, which should help keep any hunters off her trail. She could likely continue on to Ul'dah without issue or fear of detection.

At the same time, Horizon wasn't a huge detour, and she might find some useful information, either on the Dominant or their hunters…

***

Finding the site of the battle was even easier than she had expected. It had taken place along the main road out of Horizon, not even a side path like she'd originally assumed upon hearing about it. And to her amusement, she wasn't the only person visiting the site.

"Good day to you sir," she called out as she brought her Chocobo to a halt. “Might I assume the Blades have taken anything valuable already?”

Laughing, the highlander man stood up from where he’d been studying a half destroyed boulder. "That is what they do best, aye," he said. "Still, they were sloppy about it, as usual. There's a few interesting items of note.”

Dismounting, Alice gave the man a smile. "You have my interest."

In response, he gave her a thoughtful look. "Dalamascan?" She nodded, her own expression curious, and he shrugged slightly. "Thought I recognised the accent. From imperial conscripts back home."

"Funny, I was about to say the same thing about you sounding a lot like the Ala Mhigan conscripts the Garleans send our way.” The pair stared at each other for a moment, before Alice chuckled bitterly. "Fucking Garleans."

"True enough," he agreed, his own smile just as bitter. "Name's Ilberd."

“Alice,” she replied. The man paused for a moment, looking thoughtful.

“Romanova?” Raising an eyebrow, she nodded, and his smile turned more respectful. “I heard your name from some old comrades of mine that you helped out in Quarrymill. Fellow by the name of Gallien?”

“I remember him,” the woman said, relaxing somewhat. “Good man, if a little too willing to consider himself a burden. He’s recovering alright?”

“Last I saw. Lad needs to take his darn medicine, but he’s the stubborn sort. Still, Meffrid’s keeping an eye on him. Thanks for helping him. Not like the Gridanians were going to do anything,” he muttered.

“Happy to help. So, what’d you find?” Ilberd gestured at a boulder alongside the edge of the road, which was blacked and cracked in ways familiar to the woman. “Well, that confirms the story I heard in Drybone. Merchant claimed there was magitek armor involved, and that is almost certainly from a Reapers main cannon.” Running a finger along the rock, she considered the ash smudge it left behind. “One of the more recent models as well, I think.”

“I wasn’t sure about how new it might have been,” Illberd conceded. “But it would fit with something else I found.” He held up a fragment of armor plating, one Alice recognised as being from the knee joint on a Reaper. Curiously though, it was pure white, with a piece of gold trim, completely unlike the standard black used by virtually all the Reapers produced by the Garlean Empire.

Looking at it, Alice felt her stomach churn. There was only one Reaper she knew of that was customized along those lines. “The White Devil.”

“Personal Reaper of Livia sas Junius,” he agreed.

“Well shit. What the hell is that bitch doing in Eorzea?” She was almost instantly shaking her head. “Hunting someone obviously. But there’s a lot of people here that would love the opportunity to take her out. Who could be so valuable that van Baelsar would risk her this deep in enemy territory? ”

“Maybe no one,” Ilberd replied, rubbing his chin. “I heard an interesting rumor a little while back. Didn’t think much of it at the time, but maybe… Supposedly, old man Gaius is angry with her over something. My source claimed she’d been stripped of some of her authority and maybe even barred from seeing Gaius personally.”

Alice couldn’t help but snort in amusement. “Oh, if that were true, she’d be screaming.”

“Oh, you’ve heard of her little infatuation with her commander?” the man grinned.

“Yes, the Dalamascan gossip ring is well aware of her daddy kink,” she replied, forcing him to fight back a sudden bark of laughter. “But if your contact was telling the truth… She’s here to try and win her way back into his good graces.” Studying a dried blood splatter in the dirt, she rubbed her nose thoughtfully. “I wonder if we can use that.”

“We’d need numbers. Men we could trust,” Illberd mused. 

“And a better idea of who she’s after. I don’t suppose you found anything that may reveal the Eikon she attacked?” He shook his head and the woman scowled, then shook her head. “Well,  you were lucky to even find that plating. We can hardly expect all the answers at once.” She very carefully did not mention the traces of light-aspected aether in the air. Her ability to see that was granted by Agrias after all, and she wasn’t going to share that with someone she just met, no matter how friendly and helpful he was being.

[hrshl-hlms]

It's interesting to see that most of the base of Miss Sherlock coming from Sherlock makes the series less interesting.

They wanted to surf on the Sherlock vibe and success, but while a modern adaptation isn't the problem (Elementary managed just fine), the way it's driven is... meh.

I don't really mind overall plots going through the season while each episodes still have their own plot. What I do mind is the way it's played, notably with the fucking show of information on the screen that the spectator can't follow either way, but also (and mostly) the rudeness of Sherlock.

As an autistic person myself, I know that we can appear rude an insensitive to others. But also in Miss Sherlock they dug too deep into Benedicta Cucumberdip's performance of Sherlock Holmes, which was just an asshole.

It's not as bad, but each time it was badly played, it was just a mimickery of what the dude did.

They want to show Sherlock Holmes as rude, but they also forget that he's logical. If he really was logical and therefore would want to get the information rapidly and factually, then what is the point in pressing someone who just lost their loved ones? That's utterly illogical.

And sorry not sorry but the only reason why BBC Sherlock is so loved BY NON SHERLOCK HOLMES FANS is because, like the writers, those people are ableist and can't read further than the raw story itself. They bathe and bask into Cucumberdipping's charisma without giving a second thought to the representation of the character, partially because they're busy trying to find which parts of which stories the writers used to make the episode, and partially because they wholeheartedly agree with the ableist view they have and display in the writing room and on screen.

And I say that because it's true. My own mother told me that she loved it and found it great and when I told her that it wasn't a good representation of the character she had the fucking galls to ask me if I've read the books.

At the end, the only reason I like Miss Sherlock despite the copy of BBC Shitlock is because they still detach themselves from it. Sherlock is played as rude and insensitive, yes, but I also saw the autism behind it with the sensitivity to sound or the dislike for unwanted touch.

(I still saw that fucking trial at emotional impact in that one episode with the lab gal and the inspector suddenly showing interest into a woman for absolutely no reason like fhaksjdfs please no stop that's not how it works)(still nice to see a character showing interest in one that would be considered as weird and unlovable by most though)

[starlsssankt]

@siderealxmelody /

Ivan looked to Aleksander. The war with the Asteri hadn't just kicked the fae into action. It had dragged everyone into their orbit.

Ivan had been young when the war 300 years had taken his family. He'd known of course that war was very different from the regular violence he'd been trained in.

But how had his parents survived this? How did anyone survive this type of nightmare? He watched dazed as Anastasiya moved around her and Aleksander's tent. Their tent serving as The Warmaster tent as well as their own personal one.

He focused on his aunt the accusation on his tongue felt wrong. But he couldn't deny there wasn't a huge hit of truth to it.

"You're enjoying this."

The people dying, the screams of the wounded. The -

Anastasiya turned her eyes to him. She rose an eyebrow at him setting her basin of water down.

"Which part Ivan? The war? Or tending to my soldiers and family?"

His eyes only narrowed and stepped toward her. The firelight flickering as their emotions both rose.

"You know what I mean Anastasiya."

She had the gall to roll her eyes and turn from him.

"I have been through more times of war than piece. I wouldn't say I enjoy it but -"

"Yes you do. You enjoy this type of control and power. You -"

𝐇𝐄'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐘 𝐏𝐀𝐘𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐌𝐔𝐂𝐇 𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒 𝐈𝐕𝐀𝐍'𝐒 𝐌𝐀𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆, until the end. Aleksander looked up at the two of them, and he frowned.

❝ Ivan. ❞ The single call of his name was firm, hard. His dark eyes pierced the other male. ❝ Why don't you go find somewhere else to be? ❞ Because he wouldn't have him insulting Anastasiya, no matter the reasons.

They both thrived on this. Peace was something Aleksander had seldom known, and Anastasiya surely was similar. When there was war, fighting, sides to be chosen and people to lead, the world made a lot more sense than it did at times when such wasn't happening.

There was that which was good, and that which wasn't. There was right, and there was wrong. There was that which was necessary and that which was frivolous.

His gaze said it all as he pierced Ivan with a stare.

Do not insult her, do not speak on that which you do not comprehend.

[beck-a-leck]

Feel like today's episodes of The Bad Batch really came at the end to punch me in the gut. Spoilers under the cut.

1. The plot line of exposing Rampart. I knew it was going to end poorly. Because I know what the future of Star Wars is like. I already knew how this story ended so it was more of a 40 minute long anticipatory fit waiting to see where and how it failed. Because I knew. Even if they got the evidence and the senate saw it, it wouldn't make a difference. It wouldn't change or fix anything because I Know How The Story Ends.

And somehow I STILL wasn't expecting FUCKING PALPATINE INWISH HE WOULD CHOKE ON A SOACE PEANUT AND DIE to come up and just rub it in everyone's faces that he is playing 5-dimensional psychic wizard and political chess whole everyone is still figuring out checkers. The goddamned long-term machinations. The GALL to act appalled when the clones did Exactly What He Had Them Programmed To Do. And the way he was able to spin it all to get exactly what he wanted. He's so fucking evil and I hate him so much.

And again. I was expecting everything to go wrong. But I didn't expect it to go So Wrong by working out Perfectly. 😭

2. Echo. Him leaving makes so much sense. As a character arc, as a person. He's been itching to join the bigger fight ever since he knew there was a bigger fight to join. And we saw him go through the whole 'do I chose the fight or the family' thing at the beginning of the season. And it's not surprising that he left when given the opportunity. I know he's going to come back. There will be a reunion.

But my poor heart of breaking for Omega. Depending on how you read the dynamic, one of her dads or brothers just left, and made literally the only family group she has known even smaller. This poor girl has been through it this episode, emotionally, having to watch her home get destroyed by the Empire, and then having her family break up even more. She deserves some hot chocolate is all I'm saying.

[whyareweallawakerightnow]

Saturday

Uhgggggggg I didnt sleep last night. At all. I just laid there all night long. Ive had 2 lattes already and it's not even noon. He asked me how myra was this morning, and I just sent 2 pictures of her. He replied but I didn't. I need the ball back in my court. Is that what that means? I think it is. I need the power back. It's killing me though. It really is.

I tried ordering Publix groceries, they really tried charging me $4 for PICKUP. When did they even start doing that. Ridiculous. So now I'm trying to convince myself to get up and go in the store, I could get more things because I have cash. I really have no desire to though, I had hot Cheeto fries for breakfast. Is that even considered breakfast? I guess it's good that I'm even eating. I can drink coffee now too, so thats good.

My friend drove all the way to the beach to meet a guy she met off tinder, got a hotel room, and then he said he was the hotel bar (where she was) and then he never replied to her. After a few minutes, he blocked her on everything. The GALL of these men!!! I personally think she looks better in person than she does in pictures (she's beautiful, just not good at taking pictures lol) and I'm thinking, he didn't find you attractive in person?? I mean I get someone not being attracted to someone but how fucking low could you be as a person? I told her she dodged a huge bullet, even tho I know it doesnt feel like it now.

I haven't talked to my bestfriend in over a month. Me and K are the modern day merideth and Christina. Dark and twisty. But we're each others person. Or atleast we use to be. She got pregnant by someone she only knew 1 month, after leaving me to move back to FL after I went all the way down there to get her after her ex kicked her out of the house. Literally, threw all her shit outside. Me and ty had to rent a uhaul and pay for everything. Her baby daddy sucks. Ive never even met the guy. That's the biggest kicker of all, she always wants me to meet the men in her life. I never met the abusive ex and I never met this guy. Can't wonder why. Im worried about her, but honestly she's never been a good friend to me. It's so hard to admit that but everyone around me has told me that so many times.

I let her move in with me, rent free, while she was taking money from one of Ty's friends for rent and spending it herself. I struggled so bad but I just wanted her safe so it was worth it to me. Even when it was putting so much pressure on me. I just loved her through it. She kept bringing different men over, letting them stay the night, leaving them at my house when she wasn't there. Even after I told her to stop because my house is the one place in my world that I feel safe, even after I told her it made me uncomfortable.

Im always there for her, always. Always putting the pieces back together. But she never does the same for me. She hates ty. I never understood why, and a few months ago she said it was because she was jealous of the attention he was getting, how shitty is that? She made my life hell for all those months she lived with me because she was jealous. Because she is jealous, about everything, when the spotlight is off of her.

I hate that. I don't consider myself a jealous person. maybe in some ways everyone is, but shes not my friend. She hasn't asked about me, she hasn't checked on me and I can guarantee you if asked about it, I'm the one who should have checked in on her because shes pregnant. It's never about me. Even with p, she literally sent me a text saying "are you going to be sad forever? you need to get over it, you can't feel like this forever." She said that. To me. After I got my heart absolutely smashed. I don't think I ever put all those dots together but I am now. Which sucks because I poured soooo much into her, as I do all things apparently.

I don't know why ii think I'm less than, or that I don't deserve anything good. Quite honestly I don't know how I keep pouring from an empty cup, because I am so empty. But I always show up. When no one shows up for me. Wha else is it going to take? How many times do I need to be told that Im not enough?

Saturday sucks and every other day sucks too.

[xamassed]

⟬ @houseofvaricty ⟭

(Hawks to Himari) She always did so much for him and he felt guilty for never really telling her just how much it meant to him. She'd literally pulled his ass out of many situations before. 

So, on her desk, his personal assistant would find, in addition to the bouquet of flowers he'd had delivered, a simple box tied up with a bow. Within the box was a mug. Upon the mug was printed "World's Best". It didn't specify what the "best'' was implying, but he figured it didn't need to, she was technically the best at everything when it came to his antics and running his agency.

To sweeten the deal even more, he'd added a collection of different teas from around the world.

His hand written note read:

For the woman that does it all: I know this is only a small token of my gratitude, but I am very thankful for you and all you've done. Merry Christmas, Song Bird.

~❤️ Keigo 

Himari didn't expect to find anything nice on her desk that morning. Important documents, persistent requests and dozens of voicemails, certainly, but not the thoughtful little arrangement she stumbled upon.

"Oh. . ."

There was the faintest cinch of guilt, having assumed that he would be too thoughtless to consider her. She felt awful thinking the worst of him.

"You always have to prove me wrong." Huffing through her nose, she gathered up the bouquet and nuzzled her face against the petals. They smelled delightful, the subtle scent a pleasant change to the one of coffee that constantly lingered.

Softly, she whispered to the flowers as they were placed into an empty vase. How fortunate that there was one gathering dust in the office kitchen. They would eventually sit on the corner of her desk, bringing color and life to her otherwise drab setup.

Then came the mug, the simplicity of it far more befitting his blasé attitude. Any other day, and she would have set it aside and rolled her eyes, but the note attached and the sincerity behind it had her feeling all manner of soft and warm inside her chest.

Except the name at the end perplexed her.

It was unfamiliar, but there was absolutely no mistaking that the tone of the note meant it was from her boss. No one else had the gall to give her a nickname like that, and no one else could get away with giving away a mug as a Christmas gift.

"Keigo. . ." She mused over the name, said it under her breath a couple more times before it sank in. It felt strange to say it, to have it tucked away in her heart after knowing him for so long as Hawks. She recalled having asked for his name when she first applied for the position as his assistant, but had quickly accepted his rebuttal when he told her that Hawks was the only name that mattered.

That wasn't true, not anymore.

"You dummy." She brought the note near, thumb nervously curling at the corner of the paper. Clearly, this would need to stay between them. He still presented himself as the #2 Hero to the public, and she wouldn't be the one to ruin that. But when it was just the two of them, she would attempt to use it.

Maybe.

If it wasn't awkward.

Oh, gosh. It was going to be so awkward.

Flustered and sputtering to herself, she quickly shoved the note into the back of one of her private drawers. For now, she'd let it stew. The time would come when it felt right, but in this state, she couldn't think about the name without her stomach knotting.

At least when he returned to the office later that day, he would spy her happily sipping from the mug — because, yes, she was the best.

But so was he.

[randomgirlintheinternet]

I couldn't help but make this post. There are so many unnecessary claims about Zutara that just don’t make sense??? Like, I have no idea where it is that they get these perceptions of their relationship because the Zutara I know is definitely not the one they're talking about.

Also, I want to warn people that it's not a wise idea to scroll through the Zutara tag on TikTok. You'll find some great videos and then some...not so happy comments about the ship.

Let me provide two examples both of which are from a popular TikTok which focuses on a video about an audience reacting to the Book 3 Trailer in an ATLA event that happened in NYCC 2008.

Unfortunately, I’ve learned the hard way that TikTok does not have many Zutara supporters. The Zutara tag has over 90.1 M views, but don't let that fool you because, in my supposed happy journey through Zutara tiktoks, the majority of the tiktoks under the tag quickly soured my mood. People on TikTok don't hesitate to hate on the ship.

“Zutara shippers don't deserve rights.”

Antis need to stop using this phrase because it's honestly gotten ridiculous. The hate for Zutara is wide and people are way too protective of their ships so that I can understand, but why do they make it seem like shipping Zutara is a crime? It's like they're thinking we’re shipping an abusive or downright immoral relationship which they're completely wrong 😭 I was expecting something like this so I wasn't surprised but what completely shocked me was the amount of likes their comment received. Almost 8k. 8k! I was going crazy.

But the second comment with almost 10k likes...

“I’m so glad katara didn't end up with zuko. Sis would have been invalidating zukos feelings with ‘well my mom died’. ”

...

I’M SORRY WHAT????

I also need to let people know about this ridiculous perception of Katara. Like, people on TikTok are actually believing that Katara mentions her mother’s death 24/7 and they're hating on her for some reason?? People have made it her gig constantly where her whole thing is reminding everyone of her mother's death and it's sickening. Outside of Tiktok as well but that platform is a good representation of what I mean.

Then, I can't believe that this person actually had the gall to say that Katara would invalidate Zuko’s feelings when they've already had the whole mom talk already? Back in Ba Sing Se in the catacombs, it was Katara who had first mentioned how the Fire Nation had taken her mother, Zuko then mentioned his mother and Katara sympathized with him. Like hello? Did you see that they've already talked about their mothers and Katara knows he's one of the few who understands? Katara knows about Zuko’s mother and he knows about hers.

Never say she would invalidate his feelings especially when she knows what it feels like to lose a mother. It's completely disrespectful to their friendship and to Katara’s character as whole.

People believe that Zutara is toxic when in reality that is based on the fact that Zuko and the Gaang were enemies for the majority of the series. They think Zutara is toxic because the series constantly had shown how Zuko and Katara were fire and water, sun and moon, antagonist and love-interest, and essentially the complete opposite of each other. All but their similarity in their hot headed tempers. This views of theirs cemented even further when Zuko joined the good side and Katara threatened him. Because how can Katara threaten him when he’s on the good side and being good? Must be toxic (note the sarcasm). They forget that the whole reason she was mad at Zuko more than anyone was because she was the one she opened up to about her mother and the first one to have accepted him before his betrayal.

They think their anger would be enough to break their relationship but forget the moments where Zuko knew he had messed up and understood that Katara was angry. Not once did he get angry at her for being mad at him for it because he understood already.

There’s another point I want to make and that point would be that Katara openly shows what she feels toward Zuko. Yes, she’s honest with the rest of the Gaang, but what I mean is that compared to Aang who ended up being her love interest, Katara let Zuko know why she was angry and how it hurt her. I can see why people might think that their tempers might intervene with the relationship but I also think that they haven’t fully considered fully just how compassionate the two can be and just how strong their bond had become within a few episodes. Heck, these two are supposed to be opposites but they’re much similar than what people may think. Katara and Zuko wouldn’t be afraid to let the other know when the other did something wrong.

Slight anti K@t@@ng ahead.

Aang and Katara’s relationship was already proven to be one where Katara mothered him and one where she’d hardly be harsh on him. I can imagine Katara bottling up some of her feelings and never telling Aang. I don’t imagine that happening with Zutara.

Some people may disagree with me and all I can say is that this is the way I see things. I’m still pretty baffled by that 2nd comment and I would honestly like to see the takes people have about it. Anyways, have a great day or night my Gs

[ssaalexblake]

narratively it was kinda mean to have Seven see the borg queen react to a sudden and unpredictable separation from the collective, that it so clearly disturbed the queen to a level that had her appearing vulnerable for the first time since she's appeared on screen (i mean, she's been killed a bunch of times, but emotionally so), because Seven was more than likely being forced here to consider the queen, the one who did all those horrific things to her, suffering something very similar to what she did all those years ago when individuality was forced onto her suddenly and unasked for.

Because Seven didn't want to be human, Seven wanted to be a borg. Seven didn't know anything But being borg. It took a long and hard journey to get where Seven is now and it Started with her as brutally disturbed as the queen is there, smack in front of her.

And after all these years of suffering because of the borg, Seven is now witnessing The Borg go through what She did on Voyager with the knowledge of exactly how traumatizing that sudden solitude is when you know literally Nothing else.

And it's cruel, it's cruel because Seven was a victim and the queen is the perpetrator and it's humanizing (... or the alien friendly version of it) her the same way Seven was and that's not Fair to put on Seven's but it's happening anyway.

Picard didn't see this, because it wouldn't matter to him. Picard has a solid 'before' to him before Locutus and to him being rescued was a hostage rescue, he could (try to) be Him again. Seven didn't Have a before to go back to, even after she regains her memories she can't be that little girl anymore in a far more dramatic way than with Picard, and that's why she was there to see this and Picard wasn't.

I'm Very interested to see where they're going to go with this, because Picard and Seven have had very different experiences with the queen and historically Seven's have been 8x more emotionally galling and Personally torturous (never forgetting the queen getting the drone formally known as dad Hansen to be there when she had hold of Seven in dark frontier. That was like. Properly evil) whereas Picard got what is basically the borg special (which is Also super traumatizing, not downplaying it) and it's Very interesting that they chose to have Seven there when the queen experienced what Seven did, basically, in Scorpion. I would even stretch to say Seven looked, for a second or so, like she pitied the Queen. So very interesting.