#anonymous guides

[in-shows-and-shadows]

*asks while Sage is running from the boulder*

What would you do if your allies were about to be crushed by a death trap's boulder?

(The question falls on deaf ears.)

[Woah woah woah, anon! Getting into spoiler territory now, are we? Granted, it's a bit vague, but still spoilery nonetheless!]

[soracities]

Do you have any recs for beginners who want to write poetry? I love your blog so much!

there's a list of starter poetry recommendations for reading poetry here. For writing poetry I would recommend essays and nonfiction by poets: Upstream by Mary Oliver, Still Life with Lemons by Mark Doty, Now and Then: The Poet's Choice Columns by Robert Hass. If there are specific poets you like and admire, I would read their interviews to see how they themselves approach poetry and writing. I would also subscribe to Devin Kelly's Ordinary Plots substack, Padraig Ó'Tuama's Poetry Unbound (substack and podcast), and the On Being podcast's interviews with poets. There's also this section on The Poetry Society of America which features poets and writers interacting with either their own work, other's work, or simply discussing different aspects of writing and experiencing poetry.

I would also recommend really familiarising yourself with the technical aspects of poetry: poetic structures, rhyming schemes, language and all its textures etc., because those are the essential building blocks more than anything else. Practice writing poems following established formats: try your hand at an abcderian poem, or a sonnet, or a tanka, or a villanelle--the structural limitations are a good way to force yourself to really think about what you want to say and how you want to say it.

At the end of the day, the most important thing if you want to write is to read widely, and read often--and practice and practice and practice again. Learning to write anything is like training a muscle and you have to train and work it consistently. Hope this helps and best of luck with your writing endeavours anon 🤍

[hirayaea]

xavier is just casually saying things like this in the office

tara for sure is squealing somewhere in the background

meanwhile, someone nero mutters, “some of us are single, you know…”

/

xavier doesn’t deny allegations when asked if you’re together

in fact, this man is so sly he fans the flames on purpose, but when you ask him about it he just goes: “hmmm? I told them we’re partners”

/

the next day, a “no flirting” sign is posted in the office

xavier is clueless, “who was flirting?” he asks, as he brings you a cup of iced coffee and mixes the gum syrup in front of you, drinking a bit of it himself before handing it to you

“we should share one coffee cup so there’s less trash”, he says, oblivious that tara is still giggling and the other men in the office want to shake him

/

somehow a sign also ends up at jeremiah’s flower shop

xavier asks where are the signs coming from???

jeremiah shrugs, “I don’t know about the one in your office, but I‘ve had that one for years”

/

source: memoria - fluffy trap

[hawkpartys]

Hi! Do you have any posts already about differentiating between red tailed and red shouldered hawks? Tumblr’s search feature is garbage so I haven’t been able to find anything specific from searching your posts, but I can’t imagine that you haven’t posted anything about that before.

I actually don't think I have for those two in specific, I could've sworn I had a generic american buteos post but I couldn't find that either so! Just for you, RSHA and RTHA id tips! I don't really get into RTHA morphs in this because thats a Lot but HERE is a post I rambled abt morphs on for a bit that you can probably use in addition to this post to figure most of it out

In flight, Adults

RSHA on the left, RTHA on the right First and hardest to misinterpret, The tail: A RSHA will have very thick, dark tail bars, with the light tail bars being very thin. RTHA will, contrary to popular belief, not always have red tails. So if you see a red tail its definitely an RTHA, but if the tail isn't red its not necessarily not an RTHA. The real key is the tail barring: on a RTHA the dark bars will always be very thin, substantially thinner than the light tail bars, and not nearly as dark and prominent as the ones on the RSHA.

Patagial bars: The dark "shoulder" bars visible on the underwing are diagnostic of RTHA. RSHA will never have them, and while they may be very lightly marked on some morphs(and thus easier for inexperienced iders to misinterpret), RTHA always will.

Belly band: RTHA will have a clear, relatively unbarred throat with dark barring across the stomach, the belly band(this can also be subject to "lightly marked on pale morphs"). RSHA will have a fully barred breast and throat, red in adults, and no prominent belly band

MISC: RSHA will have thicker and more prominent dark barring on the flight feathers going all the way up to the underwing coverts. RTHA will have dark "commas" at the end of the carpal patches. RTHA are larger but this is basically impossible to scale from photos and is difficult in the field unless you've got two of them standing next to eachother.

Not really visible in the picture above, but RSHA will have transparent primary crescents sometimes visible in flight. You can actually see them better on the juve pictures down below, but it does apply to adults as well

In flight, juveniles

Juveniles can be a little trickier for a variety of reasons, and the exact look of juveniles can vary based on location

RSHA on top, RTHA on bottom

As you can see the RSHA still have fully barred breasts, no belly band, no patagials, substantially thicker dark tail bars(even if they are not as dark as in adults), and transparent primary crescents. I included a few morphs here to show variety, but you can see the RTHA have clear throats with belly bands, thinner tail barring, and visible patagial bars.

Perched, adults

RSHA top, RTHA bottom

All the above stuff still applies(esp re: tail and breast), but in addition RSHA have black and white barred and checkered outerwing coverts. RTHA will have a brown outerwing with no checkering and no prominent white barring, and a white scapular V of varying prominence

Perched, juvenile

RSHA, RTHA

Juve RSHA will have white barred secondaries and full breast streaking. RTHA will not have white barred secondaries.

[dunmeshistash]

Hi, do you have more info about the author behind Laios's favorite book, the dungeon gourmet guide or whatever it's called?

Not really, but it's revealed in the adventurer's bible it was more of a children's book. Poor Laios

"The dungeon gourmet guide A book Laios has read over and over. It was written seventeen years ago and is more of a children's book than a book for adventurers. Now that he's enjoyed dungeon delicacies in real life, Laios has realized that its contents are dubious in several places."

[cripplecharacters]

How should you write/draw burn survivors? I know this isn't a drawing blog but I don't know of one that I could ask this question to.

Hello!

I'm not a burn survivor myself, so I'll mostly talk about facial differences/visible disability in general and link some stuff made by burn survivors.

First thing, I think it's important to remember that being a burn survivor changes a lot of things - not only appearance. Very important part is the psychological one, but I'm not a burn survivor so I will just let the resources linked below speak.

From the physical aspect, burns can also come with: chronic pain, limited range of motion due to scarring, tightened skin, problems with regulating temperature, itching, skin irritation, and even different nutritional needs during the initial healing process.

There is also specific everyday care associated with burns - something you basically never see in fiction. That could be things like occupational therapy, physical therapy, skincare (like heavy moisturizing and scar massaging), wearing sunblock, wearing splints, or stretching to prevent contractures or tightness.

There are also different types of burns and they (unsurprisingly) differ from each other - for example, electrical burns have a much higher rate of amputation than any other type. Chemical burns can cause eye issues. A burn caused by a fire in a closed space might result in a brain injury due to the lack of oxygen. A much larger portion of people than you (probably) assume have survived burn injuries as small children, and if they were young enough they might not even remember the event at all, unlike older people who might be very affected by the trauma.

Experiences of a person with 80% body surface burns, a person with quadruple amputations from an electrical burn, a person with a facial burn, and a person burnt very recently will be different from someone who has a 5% body surface 2nd degree burn in a spot that’s usually hidden, who has lived with their burn for a decade - despite them all being burn survivors.

When it comes to more thorough research, I recommend going through Phoenix Society’s and Face Equality International’s websites to learn more about both real burn survivor’s perspectives, and face equality as a social justice topic. I think the 3rd link (see below) puts it very well when talking about burn survivors being represented in fiction:

“Most likely, these characters were not created by someone with lived experience. The result is an increasingly garbled game of telephone [...] To avoid contributing to this false narrative, embrace research as part of the process. Explore interviews, first-person accounts, and articles from reliable sources.”

I personally think that the links below should be mandatory reading for writing not only burn survivors, not only people with facial differences, but visibly disabled people in general - because the treatment we get is often so similar the advice still holds up just fine. And if you don't plan on writing any of these, you should still read them to see how prevalent of a problem ableism in media is.

Lise Deguire's Hey Hollywood - scars don't make you evil.

Face Equality International's International Media Standard on Disfigurement.

Niki Averton's Tips for Writing about Burn Survivors.

The main sentiment that you will read from basically any first-hand source is that if you're writing the burn survivor to be either:

evil (just throw the whole character away)

a guy with the "World's Saddest Most Tragic Backstory Ever and It's So Sad and Tragic" (because he revealed he has a scar)

a helpless victim who is there to be The Helpless Victim

...then you're already doing it wrong and need to make some major changes.

From our blog's reblogs and posts, you might want to look at tips for writing a visibly different/disabled character and tips on drawing people with facial differences. Neither are specific to burn survivors but cover the topic of visible disability and facial differences.

Now for tips on drawing burn survivors (that weren't included in the last link);

Reference real people. 99.9% drawings of burn survivors seem to go through the same "increasingly garbled game of telephone" that Niki Averton mentions with how burn survivors are written, in that the newer the drawing, the less in common it has with how real people with burns look like because people reference from each other and none of them ever think to actually check if their depiction is accurate. If you just google "burn survivor" you will very quickly notice that burn survivors don't have that damn red overlay layer put on top of their skin. It just doesn't look like that, and basic research (aka Google Images search) will tell you that - and still, people color a hand with bright red and think that's how it looks like (it doesn't).

In the same vein, maybe don't just draw an able-bodied person and then put some scarring on top (or maybe do exactly that. No burn scar and no burn survivor is the same, and there are people that fit what I just described... but hear me out for a second). Think about how scars interact with their features - do they have both of their ears? Do they still have all of their hair? Do they only have parts of their eyebrow? Do they have all of their fingers? Can they move the same as before their burn, or are their scars limiting their joints? How did their body react to the post-burn hypermetabolism? Lots to think about. Take into account what type and thickness of burns your character has.

Ditch the mask trope. Just ditch it. There's no need to cover your character's scar from the world unless you as the author think it requires to be hidden, is too scary to show, or other ableist trope that seems to always come up with drawings of visibly disabled people, especially burn survivors. The one exception I will mention is a transparent face orthosis/mask (TFO) that facial burn survivors might wear while awaiting a skin graft early after their injury. But as the name suggests, it's transparent and doesn't work for the "scary facial difference, better cover it up and only reveal it in some hyper dramatic scene!" trope because you can see right through it. (I will also mention that TFOs are a very modern thing. Your medieval burn survivor wouldn't be wearing one).

No "body horror", no "gore" tags or trigger warnings or whatever. That's a human being. If you feel the need to warn your followers before they see a disabled person existing, you're better off not drawing them.

Some last notes;

Throughout this ask I used the term "burn survivor" rather than "burn victim" because that is, to my knowledge, the general community preferred phrase. Individual opinions will differ (because no group is a monolith) but "burn survivor" is generally the safest term to use and probably the best if talking about a fictional character.

Similarly, I used "facial difference" rather than "disfigurement". Just as the above, opinions will differ on what is the best to use but I personally, as someone with facial asymmetry and a cranial nerve disorder, heavily prefer the term "facial difference" over "disfigurement". (I am in this case The Individual Opinion Differing because you can notice that in the links above, facial difference and disfigurement are used interchangeably. The general community uses both, some people have specific preferences. I'm some people). When talking about a fictional character, "facial difference", "visible difference" and "disfigurement" are all probably fine. Just stay away from calling a person "deformed".

mod Sasza

[silvermoon424]

Do you know where to buy authentic old sailor moon merch for a reasonable price? I did search around for a bit but I just could not find a site or seller that I felt was 100% trustworthy that was also within my price range. I’m talking about things like the eyeliner that looked like the rods, or the brooches that could be opened and had storage room inside. I was unfortunately very young when those items came out and my parents refused to buy them for me and now that I’m grown and have my own money I seem to be unable to find them anywhere 🥲 help would be very much appreciated, thank you!

Hey anon! Great question, this is something I've been wanting to write a guide on for a long time. I'll give the short(ish) version here.

Nowadays there are tons of great sites where you can buy new and upcoming anime merch. Here are some recommended sites for NEW merch:

BigBadToyStore

Nin-Nin-Game

AmiAmi

Solaris Japan

Hobby Link Japan

Amazon Japan (via the international delivery service; not everything on there is eligible so make sure to double-check)

These sites all offer direct shipping to the US and many other countries.

For older merch, your best bet is to buy directly from secondhand Japanese sites; you CAN find stuff on sites like eBay, but the price is usually inflated (I do still recommend looking on eBay from time to time because there are occasionally good deals).

Most of these secondhand Japanese sites require the use of a proxy service. I'll get into that in a minute, but for now, I'll list my favorite secondhand sites:

Surugaya

Mandarake (no proxy required, has an international shipping program)

Yahoo Auctions Japan

Mercari Japan

For these sites, my favorite proxy services are:

Japan Rabbit- for everything except Yahoo Auctions.

Buyee- for Yahoo Auctions. Buyee lets you directly bid on items and offers a clean, user-friendly interface. There are many language options available, including English, Spanish, and Mandarin.

Both these sites have detailed guides on how to use their services. It's pretty easy, albeit pricey when you factor in international shipping fees and service fees. To make the cost worth it, I recommend saving up and buying multiple items when you shop instead of just one or two; having a larger order really makes the shipping fees more worth it (so basically, instead of paying like $30 in shipping fees for a single item, you'd be paying $30-$40 in shipping fees for multiple items).

Despite all that, buying multiple items via secondhand Japanese shops is still more cost-efficient than trying to buy the same items on Western sites. Moreover, sites like Mandarake and Yahoo Auctions Japan often have items that are impossible to find elsewhere.

Oh, one last thing: remember to search in Japanese! Here are some general search terms that you can try:

セーラームーン: Sailor Moon セーラームーン コンパクト: Sailor Moon compact セーラームーン スティック: Sailor Moon wand セーラームーン ぬいぐるみ: Sailor Moon plush セーラームーン 人形: Sailor Moon doll セーラームーン フィギュア: Sailor Moon figure セーラームーン カー��: Sailor Moon card セーラームーン バンダイ: Sailor Moon Bandai セーラームーン 食玩: Sailor Moon candy/food toys セーラームーン 原画集: Sailor Moon Artbook

Btw, the yen is currently very weak against the United States dollar. So if you see something is 5,000 yen, don't freak out because it's actually like $33 lol.

[canisalbus]

Machete and Vasco are so pomegranate-and-the-hand-that-slices coded. To me.

Pomegranates are seen as messy, bloody, inconvenient fruits. You slice or tear or bite and in return for your effort you come away underwhelmed, disgusted, and stained too deep to wash. The consumption of a pomegranate is a violent act of defilement, for both the fruit and the eater.

But that is because most do not understand how to open a pomegranate. They have little patience for the precise carving. They see no point in coreing the fruit gently, no reason to be reverent as they pull the quarters apart. When done correctly, opening a pomegranate leaves little mess. Your fingers will still stain, your knife will still slick, but there will be no pool of crimson drowning both you and the fruit.

The seeds are only sweet to those who understand the merit of a light hand and intricate slicing. Why put in so much effort for a food so bitter and clearly armored against consumption? Surely it must not yearn to be eaten.

(^insane about silly catholic dogs)

.

[insociometry]

Oh oh i have a scene!!! How about between the last 2 chapters where felix updated the others on his developments with mc and her preferences? Did any of them react interestingly orrrr yk hihi

Thank you both! 🫶

Post-chapter 26 pack shenanigans; no particular tags!

[ Felix changed the chatroom name to "🚨🚨🚨 ATTENTION!! EMERGENCY NEWS!!! 🚨🚨🚨" ]

Hyunjin: Felix! Why are you awake

Chan: Are you quoting the Godzilla emergency alarm??

Han: Omg oh yeah

Han: ATTENTION, EMERGENCY NEWS! IMMEDIATELY ESCAPE, FIND SHELTER!

Hyunjin: 🚨🚨🚨🚨🦖🚨🚨

Changbin: Is that what Godzilla-nim looks like to you????

Hyunjin: 🚨🚨🖕🚨🚨🚨

Felix: Guys

Felix: Help

Felix: [ Image attached of you asleep on Felix's chest, cheek smushed and face mostly hidden by the angle. Still, your brow is visibly scrunched in discontent by the flash that illuminates it. ]

Chan: OH?

Han: Bro????????

Changbin: Our Yongbokkie is bragging???

Hyunjin: Nooooooo

Hyunjin: So cute....

Felix: I'm not bragging this is a cry for help!!!

Felix: Okay maybe I'm bragging a little

Chan: 🧍

Felix: BUT

Felix: She said things to me that were

Felix: ...Worrying?

Han: Uh oh

Hyunjin: Worrying how??

Chan: Ayennie's asleep. What about the other two?

Han: Lino-hyung's usually asleep way before now. But to be honest I'm not going to risk waking him up by checking

Changbin: The real-life Godzilla

Chan: What?? Noooo

Chan: He's more like a cat who's mad he stepped in water

Hyunjin: You're the only one who sees him that way hyung...

Felix: Seungmin is probably asleep? But I can't really get up to check either...

Han: He's DEFINITELY bragging!!!

Felix: You would understand if you were in my position 🤷

Han: I'll have you know we had MAD cuddles when she was at mine

Han: I just don't take photos of girls when they're not looking 💀

Changbin: Uh huh

Hyunjin: Pics or it didn't happen

Chan: Lixie, what was that you were saying? She said something?

Hyunjin: Omg oh yeah

Felix: Right. So

Felix: Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh. Okay. So

Changbin: Promising start....

Felix: First off, did any of you know she doesn't like her neck touched?

Hyunjin: Huh?? Why were you touching her neck???

Felix: I licked it

Changbin: Hello???

Felix: Wait that isn't why though

Chan: So that was just a flex????

Han: 🤡🤡🤡

Felix: Uhhh. I guess I was just... kissing her neck? Yeah...

Felix: But when I got closer to her mating gland she panicked

Hyunjin: ?? Did you snap your teeth at her or something???

Felix: No!

Changbin: It wouldn't be an abnormal thing to do if you did, Yongbokkie. Like, playfully.

Changbin: People do it all the time

Felix: I didn't, though!

Felix: I don't know, it was really sudden. She just locked up and needed a minute. It was like she couldn't breathe or look at me at all

Felix: It was scary

Han: Sounds like it was scarier for her

Chan: Hannie. Enough

Chan: It sounds like it rattled both of you, Lixie. How should we prevent it from happening again?

Changbin: No neck?

Hyunjin: No neck........ 🥀🥀🥀

Han: She seemed fine with neck to neck scenting before

Felix: Yeah, she liked some of it with me too...

Chan: Okay, let's go with no neck to be safe until someone can broach the topic

Felix: About that. She doesn't like questions?

Hyunjin: ???? We ask her questions all the time

Changbin: Well to be fair she doesn't always like them then either

Felix: With intimacy she said she likes when things just kind of happen. I think?

Chan: You think??

Felix: There was a lot on my mind okay!!!

Felix: Oh god she just nuzzled her face in my shoulder. I'm going to die

Hyunjin: You are

Hyunjin: Because I'm going to kill you and take your place 🔪

Felix: Noooo! Spare me!

Chan: Let's save the roleplay for later guys

Han: Cool cool cool. Cool and casual. We can work with that

Changbin: --he said, like a liar

Hyunjin: Maybe if we just go slow enough she'll just tell us what she likes and doesn't like?

Han: Honestly I'm still not clear on the details of all this. Is she definitely in for all of us orrrrr...??

Felix: Yeah Channie-hyung sorry I only kind of skimmed your text? We were busy playing Animal Crossing

Changbin: Oh, very important work

Han: Calling it a text is generous. It was an essay

Chan: Don't bully me I had a lot to say 🧍

Chan: I guess we just have to... wait and see? What she wants?? From each of us individually???

Hyunjin: Ughghh

Hyunjin: I'm so TIRED of waiting and seeing

Hyunjin: I want a kiss nowwww

Changbin: I'm right down the hall wifey 💋

Hyunjin: YAH!!!!

Felix: Okay I kind of accidentally saved the worst for last

Chan: There's more?????

Felix: Okay maybe not the worst. The neck thing was pretty bad

Felix: Uh. So

Felix: She said she liked me. And she kissed me

Han: Oh??? 👁️👄👁️

Changbin: And this is the worst????

Felix: And then she said, "This is all a casual thing, right?"

Hyunjin: ????????????

Hyunjin: HUH?

Han: What did you say?????

Felix: Nothing! What was I supposed to say!!!!

Felix: She called it PRACTICING

Hyunjin: ????? FOR WHO....

Han: For no one. Tf🧍

Han: Til death do we part and even then. Who knows 🧍🧍🧍

Chan: Practicing... practicing.......

Changbin: Okay wait wait wait wait wait

Changbin: Context???? Context will surely help????

Felix: There's no context she literally just said it

Felix: One second staring adoringly into each other's eyes and the next boom

Felix: 💥💥💥🔥🔥❤️‍🔥🔥🔥💥💥💥 ⬅️ My heart burning in agony btw

Chan: Oh....

Hyunjin: I wasn't properly prepared for this. They should come up with an emergency alert worse than the one for Godzilla

Felix: Oh she did say something else actually

Hyunjin: 🔍

Han: 🔍

Changbin: 🔍

Chan: 🔍

Felix: She said it's ideal anyway because we're too busy to date and she doesn't like commitment

Hyunjin: Too busy to date?????

Han: ???? 😭😭😭

Han: OUCH.... 💔

Hyunjin: I could never be too busy to date the most beautiful girl I've ever seen?????

Chan: Too busy to date...

Chan: But we haven't been... too busy to court her? Right??

Changbin: It sounds like she hasn't been seeing it as courting

Changbin: We've been pretty friendly right?

Han: Pretty "casual", I guess

Chan: Okay well there is literally nothing casual about how any of us are about this

Chan: But whatever I'll put the wedding invitations away I guess

Chan: Is that everything Lix? Any other catastrophic updates?

Felix: Mhm one

Hyunjin: No... My tender heart can't take any more

Felix: [ Image attached of you asleep on Felix's chest, face more visible this time. Your mouth is slightly open, a tiny wet patch appearing on the fabric of Felix's shirt. ]

Felix: She's drooling a little 🥺🥺😭🥺😭😭🥺🥺🥺😭🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍

Chan: Ahhhhh

Changbin: Aw look at that

Chan: AHHHHHHHH

Han: I just heard like a record scratch. But in my heart

Hyunjin: God I have seen what you have done for others 🛐🛐🛐

[aroaceleovaldez]

Between TSATS and WOTTG at this point it seems like Rick has forgotten that Hypnos and Morpheus are actually two separate gods

Possibly one of the most amusing things about this is we DO have canon acknowledgement of Hypnos and Morpheus explicitly being separate gods, including even official art of Morpheus specifically.

...the thing is though, that this book in particular is ghostwritten.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[in-shows-and-shadows]

Sage, who's that right behind you?

*A giant boulder rolls towards you like in Indiana Jones*

(OH STARS OH STARS OH STARS—)

(You book it. WHAT IS HAPPENING?!?!?)

[anonymousblackmale]

Masterpost Of My Biggest Fantasies

This is a running list of my fantasies that I update periodically. Guess which fantasies I've accomplished. Updated on 4/4/25 Hatefucking. Apology head. Spreader bars. Throat training. Fake safewords. Tapout sessions. Watching you beg. Sex in a fitting room. Guided masturbation. Fingering you in public. Trading favors for head. Pillow princess sessions. Hour long head sessions. Fucking off your makeup. Redeemable sex coupons. Getting head while gaming. Giving you a facial in public. You eating her cum off my dick. Fucking you in front of a mirror. Getting head while on the clock. Quickies during my lunch break. Making a blowjob tutorial video. Weekly throat therapy sessions. Watching you play with my cum. Getting head while I watch anime. Pimping me out to your girlfriends. Fucking in front of another person. Getting head as a birthday present. Wireless vibrators in public settings. Getting head while I'm on the phone. Stroking my dick while you're driving. Uploading a home movie on the internet. Fucking yourself with a mold of my dick. You gifting your friend a mold of my dick. Leaving my cum on your face until it dries. Getting caught having sex & not stopping. Eating you out until you use your safeword. Getting randomly texts of your cum selfies. Getting head under the table at a restaurant. You making me cum in a room full of people. Sending you outside with a mouthful of cum. Playing voice notes of our sessions in the car. Cumming in/on your food & watching you eat it. Calling me so I can hear you cum over the phone. Secretly making you cum in a room full of people. Getting head in the backseat of a moving vehicle. You teaching another woman how to give me head. Giving you head while you watch your favorite show. Watching our sex tapes as we make another sex tape. You talking another woman through it while I fuck her. Sending you videos of me stroking my dick in your bed. Watching someone else watch one of our home movies. Holding a full blown conversation while I'm getting head. Pulling up on you unannounced specifically to eat you out. Watching you make yourself cum after I bust on your face. Facetiming me at work while you're playing with your pussy. Seeing your conversations with other people about our sex life. Completely ignoring you while you try your hardest to please me. Fucking another woman while you play with your pussy in the corner. You waking up in the middle of the night when you feel me enter you. You sending another woman to take care of me while you're out of town. Watching you struggle to hold a conversation on Facetime while I eat you out. Watching you play with yourself while listening to an audio of us fucking. Watching you dominate another woman & then immediately subbing for me. My dick already being down your throat at the the stroke of midnight on January 1st. Secretly taking pictures of my dick in your phone for you to randomly stumble across. Posting selfies on IG of pictures you took while I was inside you/with my cum in your mouth. Focusing the camera on your face & making your describe what I'm doing to you in real time. Leaving you tied up and blindfolded in the room & making you wait until I'm ready to come back. Watching you struggle to please me with your mouth while your hands are tied behind your back. Fucking you while you’re having a conversation on the phone & the other person doesn’t know. Fucking you while you’re having a conversation on the phone & while the other person actively listens. Making you tell me every single detail of your week while I’m eating you out & stopping when you get distracted. Sending you to the ice/vending machine at the hotel after I cum on your face, so you can make a cum walk video. Making you play with yourself until you’re a cummy mess, then cleaning up the mess you made with my mouth. Sending you out to run errands with a remote control vibrator & secretly following you so I can watch your reactions when I turn it on.

Cumming in your mouth before we go out & and making you keep it there until/unless someone speaks to you, at which point you swallow it in front of them. CLICK HERE FOR A MASTERPOST OF ALL MY TAGS

[jasper-pagan-witch]

hi! sorry to bother you, but i would like to get into pop culture paganism and am intimidated by all the.. everything people are talking about that i dont understand. do you have the most basic, "explain it like im four" crash course for learning PCP? [i feel the need to specify, i dont think im interested in being a witch at this time, i just have a pop culture deity id like to venerate] [i think thats the right word? worship? work with? idk]

thank you very much!

I'll happily help, anon.

WARNING! This post is a very, very basic introduction to Pop Culture Paganism, and I'm writing from my own perspective. There's no way I can cover everything. Please let me rest.

Let's start with some abbreviations:

PCM = Pop Culture Magic, the usage of elements of pop culture in one's magical or spiritual practice

PCP = Pop Culture Paganism, the usage of elements of pop culture (including but not limited to pop culture deities or characters-as-deities) in or as one's religious practice

PCD = Pop Culture Deity, an entity who is worshiped as or is a deity in their source material

PCE = Pop Culture Entity, any entity from a pop culture source (any PCD is a PCE, but not all PCEs are PCDs)

And some of my own definitions (yours may not be the same!):

Veneration/worship = including a figure in your religious practice

Work = creating an agreement with a figure in a magical or spiritual practice, which may or may not be religious in nature

Devotion = worshiping one deity above all others, that deity becoming your patron

All of these have been greatly simplified for ease of use in this guide.

PCP can be done in addition to or in place of other religions. Due to the nature of the phrase "paganism", a polytheist approach is implied but ultimately isn't necessary - there are plenty of pop culture pagans who only worship one PCD/PCE. I practice both PCP and """mainstream""" polytheism.

PCP can be done in addition to PCM, but the two can also be mutually exclusive. I, personally, practice both PCP and PCM.

The primary appeal of PCP is that it is deeply personal. Many people who engage in PCP find that starting their religious practice from the ground up, or in using familiar religious practices from their culture that they're used to, is a lot of fun. Others love the source material(s) that they're drawing from so much that practicing PCP is just a natural way to continue expressing their love for it. There are a thousand reasons to practice PCP.

Some of the """mainstream""" polytheism issues appear in PCP, too. Gatekeeping, cliques, the insistence that deities have to "choose" you...a lot of toxic ideas tend to show up, just because of how online spaces work nowadays.

"That's great, Jasper, but how do we actually do this?" I'm getting there, dear readers, I promise.

Decide your approach. What pop culture source are you drawing from? A video game? Music? A book series, or even a standalone book?

Outreach. Do you build an altar or shrine? Make an offering? Write a poem or invitation? Pray? Wait for the PCD/PCE to reach out first? Do you create them yourself?

Set expectations. What are you going to do? What do you expect? Do you want to communicate back and forth, or just pray and not expect a direct answer? Figure out what you want.

Continue developing. Your PCP practice will likely not remain the same as time goes on. Let it grow, and let yourself grow with it.

Hopefully this is a very beginner-friendly 101 style post! For further resources, please check out my Pop Culture Magic/Paganism Resources Masterpost.

~Jasper

[startagainaprologue]

Kicks a rock..Pastell do you have a design for Bonnie's Loop...I wanna see if yes grabby hands

auuu? unsure if u mean. loop (since in irar bonnie still just gets normal loop) or if u mean guide (irar bonnie loopified) but!! here!

loop is just kind of. my regular personal loop design i use. and guide is! guide

[fratboykate]

TMA - HEY. HEY. WHAT THE FUCK. "WHEN ARE YOU MOVING OUT?" YELENA, YOU GET YOUR ASS AND FIGHT. FUCK THE LAB. WHAT THE FUCK.

It's 8:30 in the fucking morning and instead of breakfast, I have a mouthful of pain. Welcome back.

"YELENA STAND THE FUCK UP" (yelena does not, in fact, stand up lol) Here's 4.5k words of idiots fumbling the gay bag. Just...TRUST THE PROCESS...go on the journey with me here. Politely requesting you hold onto your tomatoes for now lol. We don't need another Tomato War. Yet. (probably? I make no promises lol)

---

Yelena doesn’t hesitate when she reaches their bedroom. She yanks the suitcase from the top shelf of the closet, drops it onto the bed, and unzips it with a force that feels almost violent. She’s not dragging her feet. She’s calling Kate’s bluff. If her wife is going to let her walk away, then Yelena is going to fucking walk away.

Her hands move on autopilot, tearing through drawers, pulling out clothes, and throwing them into the suitcase with no real thought. Shirts, pants, socks…whatever her fingers touch first. It’s not a careful, methodical process. She’s not planning a trip. She just needs to go.

Behind her, the door remains closed. No footsteps in the hallway. Kate’s not coming. Not that Yelena expected her to. Still, the realization burns.

She clenches her jaw, moves faster. A handful of toiletries from the bathroom. A pair of sneakers by the door. Phone charger. Laptop…not that she’ll be able to focus on a damn thing, but it’s something.

By the time she zips the suitcase shut, her heart is hammering. Her pulse roars in her ears. She grips the handle and pulls it off the bed, rolling it toward the door. As soon as she steps into the hallway, she catches movement from the corner of her eye.

Kate. Standing at the end of the hallway, arms crossed, watching her. Neither of them speaks.

Kate’s gaze flicks down to the bag, then back up. 

“Where?”

“Do you care?”

Kate’s expression doesn’t give anything away. No surprise. No anger. No sadness. Just…nothing. Yelena hates it. She wants a reaction. A tell. A flinch. Proof that this is hitting Kate the way it’s hitting her.

Instead, Kate exhales sharply, shakes her head. 

“You’re so predictable.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Yelena’s grip tightens around the suitcase handle. 

“It means this is exactly what you do. The second shit gets hard, you find an exit. A project. A conference. Something else to focus on. You leave. And you tell yourself it’s a solution, but it’s just running away with a different coat of paint.”

Yelena scoffs, laughter sharp and humorless. 

“Are you fucking with me right now, Kate? Because not ten minutes ago, you all but told me you were done with me. You asked me when I’m moving out. I guess the answer is ‘right now’. You don’t get to act shocked that my bags are packed when you’re the one who requested I do so.”

Kate’s jaw twitches, but she doesn’t deny it. Yelena waits…for something. An argument. A plea. Even a half-hearted ‘stay’. Nothing. Kate just shakes her head again, turns, and walks away.

“I’m getting your sister changed. We’re out the door in ten minutes.” Kate calls to her children over her shoulder, tone so casual Yelena wants to scream.

That’s it. Kate’s really going to let her go. FINE. Yelena squares her shoulders and keeps moving. She makes it halfway down the hall before a door creaks open behind her. Tiny footsteps. A small, groggy voice.

“Mama?”

Yelena stops dead. Shit. She turns slowly. Maks stands in his bedroom’s doorway, rubbing one sleepy eye with his fist, his shirt slightly askew. His gaze darts between her and the suitcase.

“Are you going to a trip?”

Fuck. Yelena hesitates. Lying isn’t an option. He’s too smart, too perceptive. And she’s never been good at it anyway. But she also can’t drop the enormity of this on him like some kind of bomb.

“Mommy told you. I have to stay somewhere else for a little bit,” she says, keeping her tone even.

Maks frowns, little face scrunching up. 

“Why? Are you being at work far away again?”

“It’s just something me and Mom need to figure out.” She crouches in front of him, resting a hand on his shoulder. “It’s not because of you. Not even a little.”

Maks stares at her for a long second, then looks at the suitcase again.

“Ты вернешься?" His voice is barely above a whisper. [“Are you coming back?”]

It’s a knife straight to the fucking heart.

“Конечно.” [“Of course.”]

Maks doesn’t move. Yelena presses a kiss to his temple and stands, stepping around him before she can change her mind. She makes it to the front door, pulls it open, drags the suitcase over the threshold. And still…Kate doesn’t stop her.

///

Yelena gets in the car, throws the bag in the backseat, starts the engine. She grips the steering wheel and stares at the elevator.

Every instinct is screaming at her to turn back. To go inside and force Kate into a conversation she doesn’t want to have. But that’s not how this works.

Kate asked her to leave. Kate didn’t stop her. Kate fixes this.

Yelena puts the car in drive and pulls out of her parking spot.

///

The hotel is cold and impersonal. Yelena barely remembers checking in. She drops her bag on the floor and collapses onto the bed. For a long time, she just stares at the ceiling.

Then, without thinking, she reaches for her phone. Her thumb hovers over Kate’s contact. She should call. Text. Plead. But what would she even say? She drops the phone on the nightstand and presses her palms over her face.

She said she wouldn’t be the one to chase this time. That means waiting. But as she lies there, staring at the hotel ceiling, all she can think about is Maks’s little voice, small and hesitant.

Are you coming back?

And for the first time since this whole thing started, she feels the first stirrings of doubt of what the honest answer to that question would be.

///

Yelena doesn’t go to work that day. She doesn’t leave the room at all.

The weight of it. Of this fight, of this separation, of what it means…it settles into her bones like lead.

This is the first time she’s been in New York and hasn’t seen her kids. The first time in years she’s gone more than a few hours without speaking to Kate. The silence should be a relief. It isn’t.

She orders food and barely touches it. The TV drones in the background, but she doesn’t watch it. She just waits. For what? She doesn’t know. Kate to reach out. Alexia to send one of her Kate-esque rambling voicenotes on Kate’s phone. Some kind of sign that this isn’t the beginning of the end.

But nothing comes.

///

The hotel bed is too big. Too stiff. Too fucking empty. Yelena doesn’t sleep. She lays there, counting the hours as they drag by. At home, even if they were in separate rooms, there was always noise. The faint clack of Kate typing. The shuffle of the kids turning in their beds. The occasional creak of the floorboards as someone got up for water. Here? It’s just nothing.

Her phone stays untouched on the nightstand. She told herself she wouldn’t call. Wouldn’t be the first one to break. But by the time the clock ticks past 5 AM, she’s checking it anyway. No new messages. Not from Kate. Not even a half-hearted ‘Where did you go? Are you safe?’ It shouldn’t surprise her. Kate is just as stubborn as she is. Maybe more. But still…Yelena figured she’d at least get a ‘This is fucking stupid, come home.’ by now. This is what they do. Have a massive blow up every year or two, say dumb shit, make up. But this time feels different. This time it’s gone on too long. This thing instead of makeup sex she’s getting…radio silence.

Yelena rolls over, pulls the pillow over her head, and forces herself to close her eyes.

///

By the time Yelena wakes up, it’s already past 9 AM. That in itself is fucking weird. She never sleeps this late. Normally, one (or all) of the kids is crawling into bed with them. Or Alexia is shaking her awake, mumbling about how she needs to come because Maks just tried to flush a stuffed animal down the toilet. Or Sonny needs to be breastfed. There’s always something.

For the first time in ages, she has a morning completely to herself. And it feels like absolute shit. She forces herself out of bed, takes a shower that doesn’t make her feel any better, and gets dressed. She should head to work. Or her parents’ place. That was the plan. But she can’t shake the uneasy, restless feeling clawing at her ribs.

Are you coming back?

Maks’s voice is still in her head. Echoing. Sinking into her skin.

She shouldn’t have left. She knows it. But what was she supposed to do? Sit there and let Kate tear her apart piece by piece until there was nothing left?

She shakes her head. And then, she caves. She grabs her keys. Gets in the car.

///

The drive feels wrong. Like she’s breaking some unspoken rule just by being here. But she can’t help it. Just a quick check-in. She just needs to see them.

Yelena shouldn’t be here. But she parks away.

She spots Kate’s car first. Then, a second later, she sees them…Alexia and Maks hopping out of the back, Sonny still buckled in her car seat while Kate leans in to unclip her.

Alexia notices her first. Hones in on her, actually. Somehow out of all the cars she could’ve looked at, she stared right at Yelena’s.

Alexia’s got her backpack slung over one shoulder, blonde tresses half-tamed into a ponytail Kate probably threw together in the rush of the morning. The second she spots Yelena’s car, she stops walking. Maks follows her gaze and freezes too. Yelena lifts a hand in a small wave, but neither of them moves.

Kate straightens up then, Sonny balanced on her hip. She’s mid-sentence, probably reminding Alexia about something, when she follows their gaze and spots Yelena.

The second their eyes meet, Kate’s entire demeanor shifts. There’s no surprise. No hesitation. Just…annoyance. She sets Sonny down, says something quick to the kids, then marches across the school parking lot toward Yelena’s car.

Fuck.

Yelena barely has time to roll down the window before Kate is there, one hand braced on the roof, voice clipped and low.

“What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to see them.” Yelena forces her face to stay neutral.

Kate scoffs.

“Yeah? Maybe you should’ve thought about that before you walked out.”

Yelena clenches her jaw.

“How are you rewriting history this intensely? YOU asked me to leave. And even though I did, I didn’t walk out on them.”

Kate’s laugh is sharp.

“Could’ve fooled me.”

Yelena grips the steering wheel, forcing her tone level.

“You know that’s not what happened.”

“I know that they woke up asking where you were. I know that Leo cried before breakfast. And I know that Alex spent the entire car ride here looking like she was bracing for an earthquake.” Yelena’s stomach twists, but she doesn’t let it show. And Kate isn’t done. “Don’t fucking do this. You don’t get to show up here like you’re swooping in for some touching family moment when you’re the one who left.”

“YOU ASKED ME TO! You didn’t stop me.” Yelena’s fingers tighten on the wheel.

Kate’s expression hardens.

“I should’ve begged you to stay? I told you what I needed. If you can’t put us above your job, what the fuck am I supposed to do?”

Yelena glances past her to the kids. Alexia and Maks are watching them carefully, but they’re trying to pretend they’re not. Fuck. This is precisely the kind of thing she didn’t want to happen. She turns back to Kate.

“I don’t want to do this in a school parking lot.”

“Then leave.” Yelena hesitates. Kate gestures toward the kids, voice quieter now. “They’ll be fine. But if you actually give a shit about what yesterday did to them, you’ll give them some time. Don’t show up out of nowhere like this. It’s not helping. This is confusing enough as it is.”

It takes everything in Yelena not to snap back, not to tell Kate that she doesn’t get to act like she’s the only one allowed to care. Instead, she inhales through her nose and forces herself to nod. Kate doesn’t wait for anything else. She turns, walks back to where the kids wait, scoops Sonny back up, and heads to the school entrance.

The last thing Yelena sees before she drives off is Alexia watching her with an expression she really doesn’t know how to read.

///

Yelena sits at the lab, staring at the same data set she’s been looking at for the past twenty minutes. Nothing makes sense. None of it. The numbers blur together, rearranging themselves into meaningless patterns, mocking her with their order while her own life is falling apart.

She picks up a beaker. Sets it down. Moves a stack of reports from one side of the table to the other. Stares blankly at the periodic table pinned to the wall like it’s going to offer her some kind of divine intervention. She hasn’t done a single second of actual work. She doesn’t even know why she’s here.

Her phone buzzes. She snatches it off the table, pulse spiking. Kate. It has to be Kate. She’s come to her senses. She’s realized how fucking ridiculous this all is. She’s ready to talk. But no. It’s the school. Her stomach knots immediately. She answers on the second ring. 

“Hello?”

“Mrs. Bishop. Hi. It’s Nurse Joe. Alex isn’t feeling too great today. Can you pick her up?”

Yelena blinks, brain catching up. 

“I, uh…Kate…” She exhales sharply. “Yeah. Of course. What’s wrong?”

“She’s been complaining of a headache, said she feels tired. Could be nothing, could be the little bug going around. Either way, I think she’d do better resting at home.”

Yelena nods even though he can’t see her. “Right. What time?”

“Now would be great.”

“Yeah, of course. I’m heading that way.”

“Great. Thank you. Just come to the infirmary. She’ll be here with me.”

Before he can hang up, Yelena manages to squeeze a question in.

“Did you call Kate?”

Nurse Joe hums. 

“Alex told me your wife was in meetings all day. She said I should call you. Should I call her instead?”

Yelena swallows. Kate was supposed to be the first call…As always. But Alexia told them to call her instead. That shouldn’t hit as hard as it does.

“No. No, it’s fine,” she says quickly. “I’ll be right there.”

“See you soon.”

///

It’s not like she’s trying to start a fight. It’s not. But when Yelena pulls up to the school, she knows. Deep in her gut, she knows this is going to get ugly.

She walks into the elementary school infirmary to find Alexia curled up on one of the small cots, arms wrapped around herself, back turned to everyone else. She looks small. So small.

Nurse Joe waves her over. “She’s been like that most of the morning. Said her head hurts, but no fever. Nothing else. I think she just needs some sleep.”

Yelena nods absently, crouching next to the cot.

“Baby…” Her voice softens. “What’s wrong?”

Alexia barely glances at her. “I wanna go home.”

Yelena smooths a hand over her daughter’s hair.

“You will. I’m going to check your brother out too. Might as well get both of you while I’m here.”

Yelena starts to stand, but Alexia reaches out, gripping her sleeve.

“Mom’s gonna be mad.”

Yelena’s chest tightens.

“She’ll be fine.”

Alexia looks at her then, expression cautious. 

“Nurse Steffy called her earlier. She said I had to stay. So I waited until Nurse Joe came and asked him to call you.”

Alexia chose to call her. If that’s supposed to mean something, Yelena doesn’t know what.

“If you’re not feeling well, you don’t have to be here,” she says, pressing a kiss to Alexia’s forehead. “I’ll go get Maksy, and we’ll head home.”

///

The car ride is silent. Alexia stares out the window, quiet in a way that makes Yelena uneasy. Maks, who usually chatters nonstop, doesn’t say a word.

When they pull into the garage, Kate is already waiting. Leaning against her car, arms crossed, mouth pressed into a thin line. Yelena barely has time to put the car in park before Kate yanks the back door open.

Alexia bolts before either of them can say anything, darting to the elevators like she’s trying to escape a bomb going off. Probably a smart move.

Kate turns to Yelena, voice tight.

“What the fuck is wrong with you? I call the school to check in on her, and I’m told you took her. Both of them. What did I say this morning?”

“Good to see you too, babe.”

Kate walks around the car and unstraps Maks, setting him down. He runs after Alexia. 

“Don’t. Don’t start with me.”

Yelena sighs and cuts the engine. 

“I was just picking up my kid from school. Since when is that a problem?”

“Since she asked me first. And I said no.”

“She asked me, too.”

“And you didn’t think maybe…just maybe…you should call me?”

Yelena scoffs. 

“Do I need your permission to see my kids now?”

“You know there’s nothing wrong with her.”

They stare at each other. The silence stretches too long. Yelna shakes her head, speaks.

“I don’t recognize this version of you. I don’t like her.”

“I’m whatever you turned me into.” Kate barks back.

“You’re making this uglier than it needs to be. You don’t want to be with me, Kate? Fine. I’m not going to force you. But let’s at least be civil. We owe that to them.”

“You owed it to them to be there, too. You failed.”

Kate might as well just have physically hit her. For a second, Yelena doesn’t say anything. After a beat, she steps forward, closing the distance. Lowering her voice. 

“If we’re throwing blame around, you failed them too, Kate. You think you’re the only one holding this family together? That you’re the only one they need?” Yelena shakes her head. “You shut me out and expect me to just go along with it. But I showed up today. You’re the one who keeps…”

Kate cuts her off with a bitter laugh. 

“You showed up?” She scoffs. “Fucking wow, dude. Congratulations. Gold star. You finally decided to act like a parent for one goddamn day.”

Yelena’s hands curl into fists at her sides. “That’s not fair.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry, are we talking about fair now? You wanna talk about showing up? Where the fuck were you when Alex cried for two hours after her recital because you weren’t there? Where were you when Leo had the flu last month and I was up all night alone with him? Where were you when Sonny said…”

“I was working!”

“Exactly. So…fuck that. Don’t stand here and act like you’re some martyr. You think that’s what being a good parent looks like?”

Yelena swallows the lump in her throat. Her voice is quieter when she speaks.

“I’m trying.”

“Well, it’s not fucking enough.” The words slice right through Yelena’s chest. Neither of them moves. Then Kate shakes her head, muttering to herself. “Fuck me, this is why I told Alex no in the first place.”

“What?”

Kate waves a hand, exasperated. She gestures vaguely toward the building, toward the kids, toward everything. 

“Now I have to be home with them. I had shit to do today. Important shit. That’s why I told her no. Because I knew if I said yes, I’d be stuck picking up the slack. Again.”

The words land like a slap. Yelena forces her voice steady. 

“I can stay with them.”

“No.” Kate doesn’t even hesitate.

“Kate…”

“No,” Kate repeats, firmer this time. “You don’t get to fuck up my whole day and then offer to stay like that somehow makes up for it.”

“I’m trying,” Yelena repeats, but this time, her voice wavers.

Kate just shakes her head, exhaling sharply. “Go try somewhere else.”

That hits harder than anything that's been said so far. Yelena stares at her, breath catching in her throat. Kate doesn’t waver. Doesn’t soften. Doesn’t take it back. She just turns away, marches to the elevator, and jabs the button.

Yelena stands frozen as the doors slide open. Kate steps inside, facing forward. She doesn’t look back. The doors close.

Yelena watches them shut. Then, without a word, she turns, gets in the car, and drives away.

///

Yelena caves that night. Not in a dramatic way. Not in a show up at the house demanding a fight way. She just…texts.

“We need to talk. Can we meet somewhere?”

Kate’s response is immediate: “No.”

Yelena stares at the screen, jaw clenching. Then, another message comes in.

“You want to talk, you do it here. I have no one to watch them.”

Yelena exhales, presses the screen, giving the message a quick ‘thumbs up’ reaction before either can second-guess it, and grabs her keys.

///

Kate is waiting in the kitchen when Yelena steps inside. She barely makes it through the door before Kate’s voice cuts through the space.

“This is the last time I do this.”

Yelena frowns, dropping her bag by the door.

“Do what?”

No answer. For the first time in this entire fight, something close to panic tightens in Yelena’s ribs. Kate has always thrown divorce around too easily when she’s angry. But this? This isn’t anger. Not really. This is measured. This is intentional. Kate might actually, truly, genuinely be saying: ‘I can’t do this anymore’.

“Kate Bishop…”

“I’m so fucking tired, dude. Tired of waiting for you to show up in this relationship. Of waiting for you to realize that it can’t all be on me all the time.”

“I never asked you to.”

“Right.” Kate shakes her head, laughing bitterly. “Then why does it feel like I’ve been doing everything alone since Sonny was born?”

Yelena swallows hard, throat tight, but before she can answer, there’s a quiet noise from the doorway. Both of them turn. Alexia. Standing there, watching them, her face unreadable. Yelena’s stomach twists. Kate straightens, smoothing a hand over her face before turning toward their daughter.

“Monkey…” Kate’s voice softens. “You feeling okay?”

Alexia shifts slightly, crossing her arms. “Are you getting a divorce?”

The question lands like a grenade. Kate freezes. Yelena feels like the floor just tilted beneath her.

“Lots of kids in my class have two houses.” Alexia’s voice drops lower. “I don’t want that.”

‘Divorce’ has never been a word spoken out loud in front of the kids before. Hearing it from Alexia…their daughter, their oldest, their most perceptive…sucks the air out of the room. Kate hesitates, then sighs. 

“Come here.”

Alexia doesn’t move. Kate presses her lips together, then looks at Yelena. Something fragile breaks through in her expression. Neither of them answers. And that’s answer enough. Alexia’s face shifts. Not anger, not sadness, just…coldness. Something the eight-year-old should be too young to understand. Yet, somehow, she does.

“Okay.” Alexia turns on her heel and walks away.

Yelena doesn’t breathe. Kate doesn’t look at her. And for the first time, Yelena starts to come to terms with the fact that this marriage isn’t breaking. It’s already broken.

“She’s confused,” Kate mutters. “She doesn’t know how to handle this, and instead of helping her, you’re letting her play us against each other.”

“Fuck that, Katherine.” Yelena’s voice is sharp, teeth bared. “You don’t get to pull that card when you’re the one cutting me out.”

“No, fuck you dude.” Kate turns back to her, voice rising. “Do you even hear yourself?”

“I hear just fine.” Yelena’s hands tighten into fists. “And I see what you’re doing. You’re setting the stage to make this my fault. Like always.”

Kate lets out a sharp, bitter laugh.

“I’m convinced you live in an alternate reality. YOU LEFT.”

Yelena marches forward, closing the space between them.

“YOU FUCKING ASKED ME TO. MY GOD.” Her voice cracks at the edges. “The night before, I thought we agreed we were going to try. And then the next morning, you ask me to move out out of fucking nowhere. I did what you wanted… and somehow, somehow, you twisted that into me abandoning my wife and kids. I finally called your divorce bluff and you hate that I did.”

Kate shakes her head. 

“You don’t get to test me like I’m some fucking kid. You made your choice.” Her voice is icy now. Flat. Final. “If you’re going to leave, then leave. But don’t come back and play the victim because I didn’t come running after you. I’ve been running after you since the minute I met you,” Kate mutters. “And you’ve stopped giving me reasons to…I’m done.”

Silence. Thick. Suffocating. Yelena lets out a short, humorless laugh. 

“Are we really doing this?”

Kate meets her eyes. 

“Looks like it.”

Yelena swallows. Hard. Her whole body feels like it’s folding in on itself. 

“Then say it.” Yelena’s voice is steady. “If this is what you want, if you want out, then quit dancing around and say it. Look at me and say it to my face.”

Kate’s jaw tightens. She holds Yelena’s gaze. And then, finally…she speaks. Full-throated. Clear.

“I want a divorce.”

It lands like a punch to the ribs. Knocking the breath out of Yelena’s lungs. She stares at Kate. At her wife. The woman she built a life with. The mother of her kids. And she sees it in her face. Clear as day. Kate is done. For the first time, it’s not a threat. Not a knee-jerk reaction. Not said in the heat of a fight. It’s real.

Yelena’s hands fall to her sides. Her whole body goes limp.

“Okay.” Yelena barely recognizes her own voice when she speaks. It’s not acceptance. It’s resignation. Yelena swallows down the lump in her throat. Forces herself to keep breathing.  “Have your lawyer draft whatever you want. I’ll sign it.” Her voice is barely steady. “Keep the apartment. Keep the furniture. Keep all of it. I’m only asking for one thing, Kate. One.” Kate doesn’t speak. “Don’t keep them from me. Equal custody. That’s the only thing I’ll fight you on. And I don’t want to have to…Can we at least agree on that?”

A long beat of stillness. Kate holds her gaze. Then, finally…she nods.

And just like that…It’s over.

[cyb-by-lang]

What is the extent of keisuke’s past life’s knowledge? Like, the canonical year that she died in 2013 when the fic started? Or is the year she bit the dust not specified so she can be up to date on current events.

Basically, do the bat fam have to tell her that the queen died?

Per prior fics, Kei's last memory of IRL is 2013. That isn't changing. It's half-buried under her new lifetime, but she's got some baggage still.

But also: the history of these worlds only touches on reality where convenient for writers and artists and copyright licenses.

The 2023-ish Batfam (A Ninja's Guide to Gotham) can totally drop some cultural events on her head if they particularly wanted to. She's way out of date, but also not from their version of history (alien invasions, etc.), so she gets to be double-confused.

The 2002-ish Batfam can't, but more because their world history is so different up to this point that Kei's response to most of it would be "what." I'm not really sure what you're supposed to think when local history books feature six super-duper powered individuals dismantling the Vandal Savage-led German army in WWII.