#blame it on the power of communication

[sukunasweetheart]

Thinking of breakup angst with sukuna...

Thinking of the build up towards it, the way you have been fighting over the littlest things for months now

It leads you to think about how self centered he can be, how you always feel like you loved him more than he loved you and how crushing it felt to have that realisation fall upon you every time

He can be so career focused sometimes, with the long business trips, work parties, etc. always working vehemently to get higher, threatening to leave you behind

And one particular night, the argument gets so heated that you dont get a wink of sleep afterwards, only staring blankly at nothing as you try to calm the chaos in your head. Sukuna heads out without a word the next morning, and you make the final decision in your head, alone, by yourself.

By the time sukuna comes back home with the intent of reconciliation, he finds that youre packing the remainder of your belongings into a suitcase in the bedroom, ready to move out of his home.

"what the fuck is all this?" he asks, his tone coming out harsher than he means it to be.

"what do you think? i'm breaking up with you. i'm moving out," you can barely stop your voice from wavering. you've cried too much this week.

"oh, come on. you know you don't mean that," he reaches out to grab your arm, but you withdraw away from his hand so fiercely that it even surprises him.

"don't you talk to me like that," you speak firmly, "like i'm being dramatic. why won't you ever treat me seriously? i am leaving, sukuna."

you continue your work, neatly folding up some of your shirts. you're already almost finished. he looks around, and the house looks half empty.

oh. you really mean it. you're really trying to leave.

"no, you're not. you're not leaving. not after everything we've been through together," he tells you defensively, grabbing your wrist, stopping you from folding your last shirt, trying to get you to look at him again.

"like what? constantly yelling at each other until our throats are sore? i'm really sick of it. and i'm sure you are, too."

"don't put words in my mouth. i may have gotten sick of our fighting, but i've never gotten sick of you," sukuna hisses, refusing to let you continue packing your things. you feel yourself getting swayed by his words.

"well, i am. i've gotten sick of you," you say quietly through gritted teeth.

"oh yeah? say it to me properly then. look at me dead in the eyes," he demands, voice getting lower.

"you heard me. i don't need to say it again." you pull away from his grip and try to get this last shirt folded. he grabs you again, by the hand this time, and the piece of clothing unravels once more.

"no, i didn't hear shit. convince me that you really want to leave me - and i'll let you go."

in a fit of anger, you turn to face him completely, but your resolve crumbles away when you see his expression. not the one you'd assigned to him in your own mind, but his true features, under the bright bedroom lights.

he looks serious. he looks concerned. he's asking you to tell him it's not true. tell him that you want to stay.

"...let me go. i'm leaving..." you say, voice finally breaking. like a broken faucet, your eyes begin leaking tears relentlessly and your throat closes up in that painful way that you hate, but nothing compares to the pain in your heart at the thought of really breaking up with this man here and now.

he lets you go...

and calmly takes your things out of the suitcase to put them back. you didn't miss the relief in his eyes that showed up for that split second.

"bring it back! i hate you," you attempt to raise your voice, but really, it's only just your ego speaking.

"you can't even say that you hate me in the correct tone. we're not breaking up," he mutters, hanging up your coats and putting them into the closet.

having been defeated, your legs give way and you sit down on the side of the bed, sobbing.

through the blur of your tears, you watch as he meticulously goes through your suitcase, putting everything where they belong. and you sob harder. he knows too much. he arranges your creams, perfumes and accessories in the perfect order on the dresser. he spends a good fifteen minutes, putting all of your belongings back where they should be.

and by the time he gets back to you, he's like a different man. the mattress dips from his weight as he sits next to you, bringing a box of tissues with him to wipe your tears away.

"we can talk tomorrow since we're both tired today," sukuna tells you as he dabs your eyes with the tissue, "i'll take the day off." you just sit still without responding. now that he mentioned it, the fatigue seems to fall upon you suddenly, like a brick. he coaxes you under the sheets.

soon, you find yourself in bed, in his arms. it's been a while since the two of you had cuddled so intimately. you feel oddly shy, the same way you did all those years ago when you first started dating him. there's a special kind of warmth that sukuna's body emits - and you're surrounded by it under these blankets.

"i'll try to do better... so don't go anywhere," he speaks with a softer tone.

because, it's true, he can't imagine living a life without you.

those are the last words you hear before you drift off to sleep.

the next morning, he's still in bed with you, and you're pleased to see he kept his word about taking the day off. checking the mirror, you're horrified and embarrassed about your swollen eyes from all the crying last night.

sukuna takes a look at you and chuckles without ill intent. but in your flustered state, you slap his arm until he's saying "my bad, my bad" in between laughs.

there's still some awkward tension between you and him, but going through breakfast together seems to melt some of that away, until you're ready to bring up yesterday's event.

it goes better than you'd expected, and after the discussion, the only thing that's left is to wait and see whether things will change for the better or not. whether his promises are empty or not.

"i didn't realise that you were so lonely. 'm sorry," he apologises as he plays with your hand, "i may work a lot, but you're always on my mind, doll."

it's like a huge weight off your shoulders.

and he begins to be more like his playful self again, after the talk.

"i'll need you to tell me that you love me today. since you told me you hated me yesterday," sukuna says with a smirk, hugging you from behind.

"well, you need to earn it," you shoot back, rolling your eyes.

"alright. will you say it back if i say it first?"

"sure."

"i love you."

"..."

"now that's not fair, is it?" he tickles you without mercy.

you burst out in laughter, thrashing around uncontrollably, trying to push him away.

"okay, okay! i love you!" you tell him in between breaths.

seemingly satisfied, he lets you go and pushes his face into the crook of your neck. he'll never let you go.

the following day after work, sukuna comes home earlier than usual, and he doesn't wear a grumpy expression in front of you. he greets you with a hug and kiss. it's a small gesture, but it makes you happy.

and slowly, the relationship begins to rekindle itself.

[vampuppyy]

Seeing this one autistic girl on Instagram going on about how autists online are ruining the community by bringing positivity and making it look like a good thing and blaming us for ruining the community and getting our rights away. Girl.

[funkle420]

Don't fucking blame Palestinians and the people who support them for this. Don't blame people who couldn't bring themselves to vote for a genocide-loving centrist for this. Even if all of them voted for Harris it wouldn't have changed the outcome.

The blame you put on the people belongs on HARRIS for refusing to explicitly promise an end to weapons and money to Israel, and end to America's enthusiastic support of the genocide. She refused to listen to the bipartisan majority of Americans who want an end to the genocide! This is not democracy, there is no choice and the people don't have enough leverage over our president if every single election is a choice between the rapid end of the world and a slightly slower end of the world.

[cienie-isengardu]

MK1 Story Mode:

Shang Tsung: Here on behalf of a dissatisfied customer? If it's revenge you want, have at it. If it's restitution... there's nothing left.

Shang Tsung: A living? It is barely survival.

Liu Kang: I gave the sorcerers meaningless lives... They should have never gained power, let alone joined forces.

Shang Tsung vs Liu Kang intro dialogue:

Shang Tsung: Your plan to punish me has failed. Liu Kang: I wished to reform you, not punish you.

[bacchanalianhamlet]

because i teach discourse analysis i get a little obsessive about speech acts and speech act theory.

just a couple of days ago my sister was ironing her shirts and she asked me if i want her to iron mine.

I'm middle eastern so I said no, but fully expecting her to iron them.

refusing the invitation at first is a politeness strategy in this culture, expecting the other person to make the invitation a second time, then you would accept.

if i was ironing, i wouldn't even ask her if she wants her shirts ironed, I'd iron them anyway. second, if she refused, I'd iron them anyways too.

[quietjustice]

I don’t believe the amount of time someone’s been practicing is the sole or even primary indicator of knowledge, experience or power.

one person can research more and learn more and have the time, space, resources and dedication to practice more in a handful of years than some people get in a decade.

“I’ve been practicing witchcraft for x amount of years” could mean you stayed in one tradition’s bubble for a decade practicing by rote and just recently took up another tradition. it doesn’t mean you know more about witchcraft as a whole than someone whose been practicing for half the time.

the number of initiations you’ve had, illustrious covens you’ve had official membership of, or notable figures you’ve trained under, while certainly valuable, doesn’t directly translate to power or experience either. access to an irl occult community and close proximity to notable figures in the craft (or the time, money and flexibility to uproot your life to move near them) is another resource and a privilege to have access to.

I can guarantee you, there’s probably a little old lady out there in the world somewhere whose never even heard of a coven with more power in her little finger than the Great Magi of the world have in their whole body.

[lemonduckisnowawake]

Genuinely believe that Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint has something to say about reading a story alone and reading it with a community. Because you see this man who read stories just to survive, who found some form of happiness in his very lonely life reading a story alone. By being the only reader, he gained this strange perspective of exclusivity, where he could feel like these characters and this story really was made FOR him alone. A way he could be seen without being seen....which plays into ORV's subversion but still inclusion of the reader self insert trope.

And THEN, he gets isekaid and - while still being the only reader - gets to experience the story with both the characters made real and real people made characters. There's a bond that we all know that comes from experiencing a story together. He could finally have actual tangible people understand him and want to reach the story's end together...until the point that if it was the story keeping him with them, they never wanted the story to end.

[queernarchy]

so unfortunately i might be ambitious.

[rawliverandgoronspice]

the incredibly delicate tension between: we need art to feed us and connect us and make us feel like things have a purpose, and: art is slowly but surely making us more complacent and cowardly

[funkle420]

Stop seeing your fellow humans as either categorically bad or categorically good based only on how they vote. Shit's complicated, people are heavily influenced by propaganda and lack of quality education. No matter who you voted for, everyone deserves better than this bullshit system.

Of course the world is scarier if you're in the dark. Of course you're gonna see monsters in every vague shape your eyes can make out. Education turns on the lights, the more the people know the easier it is to see our opponent clearly. And our opponent is the rich. Our opponent is white supremacy. The enemy of the people is the systems that artificially divide us and convince us that the real monsters are our neighbors.

[mimikyufriend]

the thing about "booktok is the fast fashion of publishing" is that you're assuming the publishing industry wasn't already shit

[unusualsims]

I'm having technical difficulties but I cannot direct my energy toward being mad at that, so instead I'm directing my energy toward my thoughts about Max & Lucas and regret.

Max and Lucas experience regret so differently. for Max, it's almost always immediate. He says or does something, usually out of anger, and immediately he's consumed by regret and guilt. He tends to think of himself like a bad dog, one that's been trained enough to know he shouldn't bite, but not trained enough to stop himself.

Whereas with Lucas, it takes him a minute to process that what he said or did is worthy of regret. It's not that he doesn't regret it, he does eventually, it just takes longer for it to click. It has to marinate in his mind for a little while. And by the time it does, he doesn't really know what to do with it, so he just pushes it aside and moves forward.

And it has everything to do with how they were raised and how they act around family.

Lucas has a pretty average relationship with his brothers, if not above average. Like most siblings, they don't really apologize after a fight. They just go pout in their rooms and about an hour or so later they're fine again. But he also grew up seeing his family hold strong grudges, Mila & Wolfgang's grudge against his father, Gunther's grudge against Mila, etc. So in his experience, you're either fine after a little bit, or you're just mad forever.

Max doesn't really have that. He doesn't have a normal relationship with his siblings because he doesn't have a normal family. Most of the petty family squabbles were between Hugo and Luna anyway. If there was a fight, it was almost always Max's fault. (Or at least, that's what he was told.)

So Lucas tends to forget that most people aren't fine an hour or two after a big fight, and usually expect an apology of some kind. He also forgets that people might try to apologize to him. Mix that in with the fact that Max tends to speak in actions, not words, and well, you see how well they're doing right now.

[littlebellesmama]

The Quiet Game of Office Politics

In every workplace, beyond tasks, deadlines, and job descriptions, there’s something quieter but just as powerful shaping daily life: office politics. Whether subtle or overt, internal politics influence how people behave, who advances, and who feels stuck. It can be hard to spot at first, but its effects are lasting. What Is Office Politics? Office politics refers to the informal,…

[ken-katayanagi]

Non-PA ppl should actually not be allowed to talk about Three Mile Island. I am actually taking this toy and putting it up on the shelf.

[rearranging-deck-chairs]

#but also it turned out#agatha and rio DID have a cottage together#something must have driven agatha from the cottage#to have her running#and not having a home with nicky#which could have helped his health more

yeah because i think because the tragedy is also that she loves death. nicky isnt doomed in some magical way, made of death so unable to live. or maybe also that, who knows, but i think nicky is doomed first and foremost bc agatha loves death.

i think she must have been on the run because she made it that way. bc she antagonised people into coming after her. bc she killed a coven or a dozen. bc she killed magically or mundanely. agatha isnt trying to build a healthy life, for her or him. agatha isnt trying to be Better in any way you want to define that. she wont let herself grow beyond the trauma that has defined her up to that point. and after nickys death she wont let herself grow beyond that trauma either. shes knowingly destructive and she isnt trying to change that.

if agatha is desolate and without community it's because she has made it that way. directly or indirectly, on purpose or bc she was forced, those things kinda blur together. at the end of the day she let it be that way. nicky lived and died because agatha loves death.

She is my scar.