#but i did take home a pretty shell. so overall a great day

[beepbeepdespair]

my dad, unable to find the piece he wants in the diy shop: when i was a kid these were everywhere...

me, shoving a ridiculous number of paint sample cards for scrapbooking into my pocket: keep looking i'm sure you'll find it

[echantedtoon]

Ocean Deep Ch3 Spectacles And Scales P2

(Warnings for mistreatment of the mers by the sideshow owner and some of the other people, Buying and selling of mers, mentions of mermen sinking ships and hurting people, the mers are in bad shape, etc.

To which Y/n makes a decision that will change her life forever.)

The sun beamed brightly on the world. Bright, big, beautiful, warm, and good enough to chase away the darkness away. Leaving behind a world filled with wonder to be explored and sights to see. The rainbow kaleidescope of colors kissing the light good morning bloomed widely. The rainbow of soft petals were only highlighted by dew drops sparkling bright like a gift from heaven. A sight drawing over many buyers. To hold their beauty. Smell their heavenly fragrance. Present them as gorgeous gifts for loved ones or use to decorate for symbolic occasions. 

Fingertips gently slid under the delicate pink of a primrose, tilting  it's gorgeous head up to a beautiful smiling face before gentle water rained down onto its delicate body but not hard enough to harm its delicate frame. 

"You grew up so pretty. You'll be even prettier once you get to your new home later today, all planted in the soft dirt and being taken cared of by nice people. Such pretty colors too. I envy your simple life."

"You always compliment those buds like real children." F/c eyes looked up and over at kind black ones crinkled up in a smile. 

Her boss was standing up and above a table with a secondary teapot in her hands, water flowed freely from the spout and ran into a number of giant pots filled with soft dirt and blooming rose bushes. Blooming with life and ready to be hauled away to their forever home. A place to belong and live out the rest of their lives in peace and quiet. The elderly woman smiled at them fondly as if they were her own children and treated them with as much care and kindness as a mother should. She admired her for that. Her wise demeanor was just a shell hiding her much kinder demeanor. An old hand reached out to nudge between the small branches to pull off a dead leaf free from the overall plant before just letting it fall into the pot to naturally become fertilizer. 

"Well they say plants like it when you talk to them. I don't know if that's true but it wouldn't hurt, and I don't think they really mind." 

Your smile turned back to the tiny bud that hasn't bloomed yet. Today was the day. After two weeks of caring for the rose bushes, they were going to be delivered to their final forever home. This evening your boss's son would be stopping by to take these potted plants back towards their home on the very far end of town. The horse and cart was already provided for being left outside all ready to go. All the owner needed was for her son to get here, load the six heavy pots into the cart, and then take them to the Henya residence which was on the very edge of town. But you did have a problem with that you hadn't asked yet-

Your boss chuckled. "I suppose so. You'd be surprised by the facts in those rumors."

"Isn't the Henya family gonna be gone for the next month? I thought they were attending a funeral."

The older woman nodded still smiling. "Yes. But Mrs. Henya is staying behind to care for their business in her husband's absence."

That was the second biggest news you've ever heard around here in the past three weeks other than that one day Akira came prancing about through town throwing around fliers advertising the 'grand opening' which now had to be put on hold due to some personal family drama. Being a small town the gossip spread quickly and, according to the rumors, Akira's great grandfather and patriarch of the Henya family passed away a few days ago. So Akira, his parents, and Uncle would all be leaving to travel a few towns over for the funeral and to take care of the family's assets. That'd take a while considering so you were unsure if anyone would be even there to accept the order, but apparently not. 

"Will she even be there when he delivers it?"

"Last I heard she's seeing them off as far as the beach but she'll be there when the delivery's made." She smiled assuringly. "So don't worry."

Well you were unsure about that, but this wasn't your business and you didn't run it. You were only paid to help care for the flowers, not give your opinion on how to run your boss's business. And right now you were just paid to water these beauties before they had to leave the shop. 

So it was your morning was just bliss. Quiet, serene, and happy as you hummed away doing your normal rounds. Uninterrupted other than the occasional humming and comment between the both of you. Another normal day in anyone's opinion. 

"Y/n." You had stopped hours later in the middle of moving one of the pots towards the door in order to make it's journey to the wagon outside easier and shorter for Mrs. Satoshi's son. However your boss had other ideas when she held up a tray of fruit and small tea set. "Come take a break and have lunch with me. You must be tired from lugging around those heavy pots so much."

You were glad for the break after setting the third to last heavy pot near the door and gladly taking the break to eat and take a breather before having to move the last two pots. Thank goodness that the bushes were still relatively small, had they been fully grown then they'd weigh a LOT more. But for now the tired mouth would enjoy her feast of apples and green tea with honey. A nice snack for her efforts. The sweet fruit tasted delicious to your tongue and the tea was just as sweet but a little bitter. Mrs. Satoshi only smiled at you as you ate. 

"It's always good to build up a healthy appetite after a hard day's work. Keeps the body strong," she spoke while pouring a second cup of tea for herself. You hummed in agreement. "Oh. Did you hear what happened to a ship in the Seabound River?"

You blinked confused before swallowing the food in your mouth. "Seabound River? Isn't that the giant river that connects to the ocean a few miles away from here?" You didn't know about that rive but you knew that the small river near your woods connected to the bigger river that lead to the bigger one that connected to the ocean.

She nodded again. "There's been a few ships that's been getting attacked and sunk by a siren."

You paused mid bite staring. "Sirens?"

"Or mermaids. I honestly can't tell the difference." She shrugged holding the warm cup to her face. "I just know there's been reports of two of them running..or I should say swimming ramped along the beach and near the entrance of the Seabound River. Attacks any ship leaving or trying to enter port."

You stared stunned at her blinking. "Really? Why would they do that?"

"I'm not entirely sure. Usually they wouldn't be near humans at all let alone sinking ships. Who knows what strange things those creatures get up to?"

Huh. That WAS strange. Granted you didn't know that much about sirens and mermaids, but it was strange two of them would suddenly start sinking ships. Maybe they were trying to claim new territory for themselves? Maybe the fishermen made them angry? Well it didn't really affect you, so you didn't worry about it too much and you weren't going to be going near any big bodies of water anytime soon so you shouldn't be worried about it. You just needed to concentrate yourself with taking care of your own needs and wants. 

A few more hours passed by leisurely. You finished moving the pots by the door, helped trim away some other plants, and had just finished selling a handful of carnations to a customer who had just walked in last minute as evening approached.

"Thanks for coming! Have a nice day!," you called out to the retreating customer waving, "Come back soon!"

Your boss quietly came out from the back with a small bag of fertilizer. The smell hit you before you saw her crinkling your nose up from the foul smell. "Was that Niko just now?" Her son? You shook your head snorting the smell away. A slightly worried look passed over her face before looking towards the open door. "It's gotten very late in the day. I wonder where he could be?"

"I'm sure he'll be here before the day's over. He's probably just running late tending to someone."

She hummed. "I suppose so. He does run his own farm..Oh I do hope nothing bad happened."

"He's probably just busy tending to his crops and lost track of time. There's nothing to worry about, Mrs. Satoshi."

"I .. suppose you're right. But it's getting late, and I need to start getting home to my husband before dark. You know how he hates the thought of me staying out after dark especially with the recent disappearance of those poor Kocho girls. I also can't just stay all day waiting for Niko."

Ah. That's right. People were still on edge about that happening. You honestly felt bad for the old woman and her husband. They were some of the kindest people in your town. "I'm sure he'll be here before it gets dark. He knows how important this is to you."

"Important is an understatement. I have a lot of money invested into this delivery. I'd hate to lose business with so much involved." She gently plopped the bag over by some empty pots so be used in them later you supposed.

You hummed. "...Why don't I close for you?" She turned to you surprised. "You shouldn't worry your husband like that. I can stay until Niko arrives and close up for you."

"Oh no, Dear. I couldn't ask you to do that."

"It's not a problem. I'd be happy to help." 

"Well if you're sure you don't mind."

"I'm positive! You go on home before you worry someone. I'll be fine."

And that's how you found yourself sweeping the dirt out of the front door a few hours later and looking up at the sky. It looked like sunset had just started making the sky change different colors and people were already starting to head home to lock their doors until morning in fear of the monsters roaming around the dark. However f/c eyes wondered from the sky to just in front of the small shop only to widen seeing a small brown and white horse tied to a post, where it had been staying almost all day hooked up to a cart and ready to be taken out. Except that the man that was supposed to be here loading up all of the pots into the cart and taking them away wasn't here. STILL.

Niko still hasn't arrived yet? But it'd be dark just in an hour or so. Where was he? You took a look back inside at all six pots still sitting there waiting to be taken away. By the time Niko got here, if he even bothered to show up,  it'd be too dark to do anything. The order would be late, and there would be money lost. You felt a pit form in your guts. This was a big order with lots of money. A lost order would mean lost money for your sweet boss but more importantly it'd also mean a lost bonus for you too! You could use the extra money for repairs to your family house. Or to save for your retirement. Or for the future family you eventually wanted. Or literally anything else. It'd be putting a lot in jeapordy if they weren't delivered as promised but yhrtr wasn't anyone else to...

You again looked between the pots and pony. 

..No. This was a bad idea. It was almost dark. Creatures lurked in the dark. You could be the next one to be snatched away never to be seen again! ...but then again this WAS a lot of money. And you'd be in town surrounded by people who could help if you were in danger. If you hurried maybe you'd even get home before the moon was fully out..Your mind heavily weighed the options as you already made for the pots and struggled to lift the first heavy one into your arms and half waddled from the weight out the door and over to the cart, struggling to lift it high enough to place it in the back. The pony briefly looked up at the jostling of the cart but quickly lost interest. One by one all six were placed in the back, and the shop closed. The only movements the pony made was walking where hands pulled it after the reigns were untied from the post. 

"Come on. We're gonna go on a little adventure. Ok? It's only going to be twenty minutes tops."

Your choice had been made. Convincing yourself that this would only be a quick visit. Ordinary and nothing would happen.

Oh how naive you were.

The wheels on the cart squeaked and rattled from the weight of the pots. The hooves of the horse clip clipped noisily echoing down the dark streets- Alright. They weren't that noisy or loud but with the quietness of the practically deserted streets devoid of human life. Every small noise felt like it was as loud as a thunder clap. Maybe it was just the paranoia and fear of the dark that got you thinking this way but you couldn't help it. The sun had completely set within a few minutes of you walking down the dirt roads, pulling the horse along slowly to avoid jostling the pots in the back in case you hit a pothole. Leaving you encased in darkness. Everyone had slowly made their way into the safety of the dark homes hidden away until the next morning. Like you should be doing, and you were starting to regret your choice but it was too late now. 

The shadows danced as moonlight shown down along the dark homes you passed. Dancing with the stars and laughing in glee with the darkness on the ground as the moon and stars above shined down watching their sinister dances as an audience would a beautiful ballet. It was very pretty in a way but your mind only focused on high alert with the possible dangers within the shadows. Every alleyway felt like a hiding place for a monster. Every shadow a trap. And the light not much of a beacon of hope. A shudder ran down your spine with your only companion being a horse that could care less about anything around it. Yeah. What a great way to spend your night. However luck seemed to be on your side. You knew exactly where you had to go. The very last house on the far right side of town. All you had to do was drop them off and then head home. Perfect. Now only if you could hurry up a bit faster. Home after home passed. All completely dark or have one last light on in the window that would soon be out. Looked more friendly in the daylight. The cart and it's cargo walked past silently like the lone figure in the town slowly but surely a small opening  at the end gave way and a house farther away from the rest of the others could be seen. 

You've never been here before but it must've been the right place. A lone house like the others in town was nestled about twenty feet away from the others. A few feet away from the home was a rather large barn and next to that was a large smokehouse. Ah right. Akira's family was made of mostly fishermen. So it made sense to have a smokehouse and a large barn for storage. The home was already very dark as you slowly approached making it look creepy and sent a shudder through your body. You Willed yourself to approach the empty home pulling the horse with you until you stopped just a few yards away from the door. Looking at the home, it was entirely pitch black on the inside and completely silent. Hesitantly you left the cart giving the horse a few pats on its neck.

Slow steps brought your form to the front door where you stared at it for a long moment before with a inhale you reached out to loudly but gently knock on the door. The knocks creepily echoed throughout the dark home but it was surely loud enough for anyone to hear. 

"Hello? Mrs. Henya!," you called out gently wincing at how much louder your voice was in the silence. "Special delivery!"

No one answered. Not surprising since Akira's family was supposed to be out of town for a funeral but wasn't his aunt still supposed to be home? You slowly found yourself drawn to a nearby window where you cupped your eyes to peek in. It might've been wrong but you wanted to see if anyone else was home. In the darkness you saw the typical living room. A giant rug, fireplace, a few paintings on the walls, and a table with a vase in the left corner but no living person. The place was empty, and dark without any lights or fire in the fireplace. Looked deserted. Either no one was home or Mrs. Henya was ignoring you or was a very deep sleeper. Well..Niko was going to just leave the plants here for her anyways right? You'd just leave them somewhere easy to find. But just in case- You went back to Knock just a little louder on the door.

"I'm just going to leave the pots outside! Ok?!"

You of course never got an answer from the most likely empty home, but you figured it was best to let it be known that the delivery was made just in case. F/c eyes scanned around the dark area squinting with the limited light. You supposed you could just leave them right here by the house but they'd be right in the walk way. ...You decided the best place to leave them was a few feet away from the door off to the side to avoid anyone tripping over them. All you had to do was to just place the pots on the ground and leave. Easy. The hard part would only be to take the pots out of said cart. With a sigh, you approached the cart again reaching inside and lifting out the first pot with some difficulty. The pot was heavy on your arms, making you curse Niko for not doing this himself and eventually somehow managing to pull it out, nearly dropping it, and half struggled to get it the few feet over to plop it down with the grass. 

One down. Five more to go.

With a sigh your hands rubbed your sore back before you repeated the process again a second time. In the struggle of removing the third from the back you first heard it. A loud sound that shook you to the core-

"AAAAHHH!!"

It made the horse jostle and move back hitting your chest hard enough with the cart to make you let go of the pot. A loud THUD sound echoed throughout the night from the heavy pot being dropped back into the wagon. The wailing sounds carried along the air dying out as quickly as it came. Leaving behind nothing but a spooked pony and a pair of f/c looking up at the sky.

....What. Was. THAT?!

SNORT!! The horse stepped a little moving the cart backwards until you grabbed it quickly. 

"D-Don't do that! I still have a job to do! B-B-Besides that's just the w-wind. O-Or a bobcat."

It was a failed attempt to assure yourself. Wind. It was just the wind and your paranoia. Third pot was taken out. Just three more. Another wail desperately clawed the wind. Just your imagination. Fourth pot out and placed out. Another wail- JUST THE WIND!! Fifth pot out . Silence. Oooook? Last pot- You struggled to get it out tired from the last five, but somehow managed to get it out and onto the ground with the others. Your body was exhausted. Her body collapsed to the ground back resting again the wheel of the cart panting and catching your breath. There. It was done. You didn't have to worry about anything except how sore you'd be tomorrow.

"S-See? N-Nothing happened," you spoke out to no one in particular.

Of course no one answered back and certainly not the horse. The animal did nothing as the woman pulled herself from the ground like a fly in a glue trap. Rubbing her sore body all over with one hand while reaching out the other to pat it's neck before taking it's reigns. Time to go home and get some rest. You coaxed the pony forward again slowly walking on sore feet back towards the town and passing by the large barn on the way-

"AAAAAAHHHHHH HAHAHAAAAAAA!!!!!"

The horse reared up nearly pulling you forward with it, but luckily your dead weight and sudden tight grip on the reigns kept it from running off. You froze solid. Body freezing up like solid ice as a loud wail echoed throughout the air and this time-

And it didn't stop.

Wailing echoed out in the air and was followed by sounds of louder more sorrowful screams. You stared silently not really processing the noise filtering through for a long while. Until slowly, slowly. Your head slowly turned up to the big barn. It's shadow falling over you. That sounded like...

Crying???

Sobs. Loud and heavy. Echoed out from inside the barn. You stood there dumbfounded and numbly processing the realization until another one hit you. That..

That sounded like a woman.

The thought stunned you. Why would there be a woman crying in the Henya's barn? Was someone hurt? Did they need help? Should you go get help? A bad feeling settled in your guts. Something WAS wrong here. And you didn't like it. You should leave it alone. It wasn't your business. This wasn't your problem. You shouldn't involve yourself..But what if someone WAS hurt? They could be in danger. They could die. What if by the time you got help it was too late? 

You should leave

Hands found themselves of the door handles leading into the barn. "H-Hello? Mrs. Henya!?" No one answered. You gently pulled the door only to be surprised when you met resistance. "... It's Locked?" You rattled the door harder and then noticed the giant lock and thick chains wrapped around the handles from their rattling noise.

Why was the barn locked with chains thick enough to hold a grown bull?

You let go of the door and briefly pressed your head to the door. The crying was still present. Was someone locked up in there? That thought startled you. Why would someone be locked up inside the barn? This was only more confusing than scary now. But if someone still needed help then you should at least make sure they were ok. Right? F/c eyes spotted a window just on the other side of the door. Wouldn't hurt to just look would it? Slowly you approached the glass bracing yourself for the worst in case you'd see something awful. You poked your head into the window seeing your reflection in the moonlight, before cupping your face against the glass and straining to look in. There was something that got your brows raising but it wasn't someone hurt or dying on the ground. The dark barn was full of typical things. Hay piked against the far right wall. A couple farming tools lining another wall. A few buckets and other random objects randomly tossed across the floor. Nothing really out of the ordinary for a barn.

Except for the giant curtain dangling from the rafters effectively blocking the back of the barn from sight.

...Why was that there? That didn't make any sense. The 'curtains' looked like a bad mesh of dirty old tarps and fish nets clumped together nailed from the rafters halfhazardly. Now that wasn't typical for a barn. What was it blocking?....F/c eyes traveled down to the edge of the window. It was one of those giant sideways sliding ones. It was big enough for you to climb through if it opened. ...This was a bad idea. You shouldn't do this. But-

Hands slowly grabbed the window and tugged, and to your surprise it slid open without resistance. It opened a little.. Before you slowly slid it all the way open wide enough for you to lift your leg up and push it quietly through the frame before grabbing the side and quietly pulling the rest of the way in. You quietly swung your other leg in to sit on the windowsill before sliding off. Your feet landed on the dirt floor with a soft thud. Not that anyone seemed to notice.

The crying continued.

It was still present. And now that you were in the barn, you could hear it much, much more clearly. Sobbing. Hard sobbing and crying coming from the back of the barn. That... wasn't the wind. Or a bobcat. It sounded like a young woman. Slowly your feet softly approached the curtain.

"I-I..*GGGAAAASSSPPP* I w-want to go h-hooooooome!!! AAAAHHH!!"

You jumped startled at the sudden voice. Now THAT really sounded like a young woman. You almost jumped again as a second voice groaned out admist the crying and ugly sobs.

"Will. You. Give it a dam rest already?!," a second voice shouted out. This one sounded like another woman but it sounded different from the other still sobbing woman. "That's all you've been doing for days on end!! You don't think the rest of us want to get out of this hellhole?!"

"H-Hey. Calm down. Ok?" Another new voice??? This one sounded different than the first two. So..three women?! You blinked confused before slowly approaching. "Fighting... isn't going to make a-any of this better."

"It's easy for you to say!! Maybe you can stand being stuck for days on end on a tiny space with her crying your ears off but I've had it!!! I can't stand it anymore than I can stand this stupid, stupid dam tub!!"

"AAAHH- S-STOP IT!! Y-Y-YOU'RE BEING MEEEAAANNN!!"

"IM BEING MEAN!? OH I'LL SHOW YOU MEAN!!"

Your hands gently grabbed the makeshift curtains and pulled back-

"Makio, stop-!!"

S P L A S H!!!

You weren't sure what happened. One moment you were pushing yourself in- And then a squeal left your throat as at least three barrels worth of water came raining down on you. The weight of the water as well as your surprise made you fall to the ground face first. A cross between a SPLAT sound, a THUD sound, and a massive pile of water being spilt sounded out through the barn as you felt to the ground...And silence resumed.

COUGH COUGH?!?!

You pushed yourself off of the floor coughing and spitting out the vile taste of dirty water from your mouth as you spit and sputtered. Soaked. In just one second your body was ninety none percent soaked through your dress as if you had jumped into a lake. Coughing and spitting out water your hands reached out to push away the long hair over your face. Narrowed eyes glaring at whoever was responsible for this..Only to once again pause. You did see someone. You.

No. A reflection of you.

A reflection of your soggy poor self was barely illuminated in the dark by the limited moonlight in the dark. It was..A block of dirty glass?? Upon further inspection you saw it wasn't dirt ON the glass but dirty water BEHIND the glass. It was a large...Box of dirty water? You blinked staring at it longer before hearing a sniffle sound and snapping your head up.

Three pairs of eyes stared back down at you.

There. Was. Three. Women. Staring at you from the inside of the...glass box full of dirty water?? You could only stare in shock. The faces also stared back at you in shock. Wha-..That.. Wasn't Mrs. Henya. The three faces staring at you were all strikingly beautiful young women around your age. The first one had dark blue eyes and long black hair that went past her shoulders, and judging by redness on her face you guessed she was the one crying. The second one was a bit stranger. She also had black hair but shorter pulled back into a ponytail. But what made her look so strange was the long orange-yellow bangs framing her face and orangish eyes. The third one like the first two also had black hair she wore tied back in a longer ponytail. Only her eyes her a pretty pink color. They stared down at you. You stared up at them. Silence other than the blue eyed ones sniffles filled the space.

....You. Blinked. "...Who are you?!"

"Us?," the orange eyed one scowled now pointing a wet hand out of the strange box accusingly at you. "Who the hell are you?!"

"I asked you first!"

"Well we're not answering until you answer first!"

"I'm a florist!"

The three women blinked at you before staring at one another. "What's a florist?"

"I sell flowers!" You slowly stood up now shaking your hands out annoyed before pushing your hair back. They looked back to you. "How do you not know what a florist is? And what's the big idea soaking me?!"

This was the thanks you get for trying to be a good person?! Last time you ever got nosey. You should've stuck to your first thought and minded your own business!

"Flowers??..Why would a flower seller be here?! Are you lying?! I know she's lying-"

"I was delivering rose bushes!", you shouted at the other scowling woman now annoyed. 

"In the middle of the night? A likely story!"

"I had to make a late delivery because the man who was supposed to deliver them never showed up! And who are you to judge!?"

"Who delivers flowers in the middle of the night?!"

"It literally JUST turned dark! And I'm not the weird one here!" You gestured to the giant..Tank?? Thing?? "I'm not the people deciding to bathe in disgusting water inside a barn! Who the hell does THAT!? That's not normal!"

It was then Ms. Orange Eyes lost her scowl and again all three looked surprised at you. "Wait..so you-" ..Her hand raised looking you up and down. "You're not- ..I mean you're-..You aren't involved in this?"

"Why would I be involved with people who decide to skinnydip in disgusting water?!" You angrily grabbed your dress and wrung it out making water droplets spray to the dirty ground as they again looked at one another.

"Then..what are you doing here?"

"I told you! I'm making a delivery! I heard someone crying and apparently me being a good person means I'm going to be soaked to the bone!" You again scowled at them. "So thanks for that! I was feeling a little dehydrated actually!" You sarcastic spat. Maybe it was a bit mean but you were the one attacked by water here!

Ms. Blue Eyes And Sniffles looked at Ms. Orange Eyes and both looked unsure of what to do. However the third one- "I apologize for that on all of our behalves." She spoke gaining your attention. "We didn't know we'd be having a visitor."

"...Hmph. Clearly. Well since I know no one's dying, I'm gonna leave now and leave you three to.. Whatever it is you're doing."

"WAIT!!" You jumped at the loud wail. Water sloshing off the side of the tank thing. You hadn't even taken half a step away before Ms. Blue Eyes yelled. "YOU CAN'T JUST LEAVE!!"

"Uh..YES. I can actually. I shouldn't even be in here." You paused. ..You didn't know these three. But they weren't from your town. You knew that. "You three shouldn't be here either. If I were you, I'd leave before the Henyas come back."

"That.. would be preferable," Ms. Pink Eyes spoke but shook her head sadly, "Unfortunately that's not an option for us."

You stared at her, then at the other two, then at the tank thing. "...Do you need clothing? I'm sure I can find some towels or something around here."

"No. Not that. We're not able to get out of this tank."

So it was a tank? Again why would they stay in something so filthy? "What do you mean you can't get out? The tanks just a few feet taller than me. It's not that big a fall, even if you sleep and fall it would hardly be fatal...What are you doing in there anyways? It looks like the water hasn't been changed in weeks! It's GROSS!" You stressed with a grimace of disgust.

Ms. Pink Eyes looked a bit hesitant- "Whelp. That settles it then." The one with orange bangs slumped against the side holding her head in a hand. "She literally has no idea about us. I don't know if that's a good or bad thing."

"A GOOD THING OBVIOUSLY!!," Ms. Blue Eyes shrieked. "THAT MEANS SHE'S NOT WITH THOSE OTHER BAD GUYS!!"

You looked at her. "Bad guys?? What are you talking about now?"

"WE-" 

A smack sound went off as the other covered the loud one's mouth. "Don't tell her you loudmouth!! We don't even know if we can even trust her! How do we know that she's not trucking us? Or even worse than they are?!"

"Do we really have a choice?" Both were stopped by Ms. Pink Eyes again and just stopped.. eventually she looked back to you. "We were brought here three.. maybe four weeks ago. Not by choice either. You can say we're being held prisoner."

"Say? We ARE being held prisoner!"

Prisoner?! They were being held hostage!? Good gods what did you even walk into?! "Hostage?!..Wait." You pointed a suspicious look at them. "If you were really being held hostage, how come you haven't tried escaping yet? The door's locked but the window isn't. You three could've just walked on out that way."

Again the three exchanged looks again. Before silent Ms. Pink Eyes grabbed hold of the edge of the tank and pushed herself up and lifting her body from the water. You saw she was wearing a pink top soaked from the water but you fell silent as something else was lifted up from the water as well. Something large, reddish pink in color, and covered in scales. If anyone saw it, they'd just assume it was part of a giant fish. 

However the top wasn't connected to any fish. IT WAS FREAKING CONNECTED TO THE WAIST OF THE WOMAN!!

You looked on in shock and awe at where pale soft skin transitioned into red scales before it disappeared sinking back into the murky water. Again silence resumed and you stared at the three of them in shock and sudden horror.

"Y-Y-You're not human.." You stepped back on instinct and in horror. "You're not human!!" You shouldn't be here! Danger! Creatures! Unsafe! Get away! "I- ..I c-cant stay here! I'm sorry but I need to leave!"

"WAIT!! COME BACK!!"

You panicked nearly slipping on the wet ground to get away. Tangled curtains and nets rushed and pushed away like arms trying to ensnare your body as you ran away from the inhuman creatures behind you. Footfalls echoing throughout the silent barn. Back towards the open window. Your escape route. Your sanctuary outside! You had just made it to the window throwing up a leg onto the windowsill and grabbing the frame-

T H U D-!!

What sounded like a giant sack of potatoes being dropped into the ground hard had echoed throughout the barn followed by the sounds of sloshing and splashing water! Making you jump and snap your head around back to the curta-

"SUMA!!" "YOU CLUMSY CRAB!! ARE YOU OK?!"

"AAAAAHH HAHAHAAAAAA!!!"

Loud sobs and crying filled the air once again as you just stood there... before proceeding to start climbing again-

"I-I-It's no- not FFFFAAAAIIIRRR!! I D-DONT WANT TO BE SO- SOLD TO A CARNIVAL!! W-WHY CAN'T WE JU-JUST G-GO HOOOOMMMEEE!?"  The ugly crying and wails started up once more. "I D-DONT WANT TO LOSE YOU G-GUUUUYYYS!!! WWAAAAHHH!!!"

You stopped... slowly looking back from your place sitting on the window.

"Suma, calm down. W-We're going to be alright-"

"WILL YOU STOP PRETENDING EVERYTHING'S OK!? For once she's right! Nothing about this is ok! We're going to be stuck here for the rest of our lives unless they decide to kill us for some mounted trophy on the wall! Face it! We're never going to get out of here! It's-.... It's hopeless. We're hopeless."

You looked outside. The pony and cart was still there waiting for you to take it home. Safe. Warm home. Where you never had to worry about trapped mermaids which was truly none of your business....F/c eyes slowly looked back to the cries...

"Dam foul fish smelling beasts!"

Old hands held up a lantern shaking with old age. One hand reached out with a rusted key to insert into the lock turning until it clicked. Noisily a lock thudded to the ground as chains rattled from their place to join it on the soft dirt. The lantern lit up the way as the old grizzled woman grabbed the doorknob before looking behind her with narrowed eyes into the darkness. No one was out this time of night. Good. Quietly. The door creaked open allowing the old woman to hobble quietly inside. 

"Alright you stupid fish smelling water bugs! I got your feeding!"

Silence answered her as she hobbled towards the back of the barn. The fish in her hands was dirty and old but she didn't care. They ate worse in the ocean.

"Silent huh? Hmph. It's about time you shut the hell up! The constant shrieking is driving me mad!"

The curtains were pulled back and the lantern shined upon the still tank. Filthy from weeks of neglect. With a toss, she threw the single fish into the top of the tank. It floated up onto the surface before sinking down into the murky water. A weak kick given to the glass.

"Wake up and eat it! Try not to cry about how hungry you are this time or else you'll go the rest of the week hungry!"

Nothing answered not that the grizzled old woman cared leaving. The old fish uselessly sinking to the bottom of the tank completely empty except for dirty water and a single old fish-

SPLASH!!

You stood still completely soaked and hand on a lever as you watched the giant pool like tub in the center of your family's bathhouse start to fill up from the opening allowing water to quickly rush into the tub until it was partially full. You stopped then and went back to slip out the back door. The night was still silent without anyone lurking around in the dark minus a horse and a cart connecting to it's back hidden in the shadows of your house. You carefully looked around, spotted no one, and then sighed. 

"Alright. Coast is clear."

... Slowly three heads popped up from the back of the cart. Thank goodness for the dark cloaking their bodies. The cart was too small to fully hide their tails. You couldn't believe this was happening! You literally kidnapped already kidnapped mermaids! They were dangerous! You were helping nonhuman creatures and....Sigh. It was only temporary. You'd be rid of them soon enough. But for now, you'd help them. Firstly by taking a bath. They were dirty and spelt of old moldy clothes. They seemed on edge looking around as you approached them.

"This isn't the beach," Orange commented annoyed.

You decided to nickname them by the colors of their eyes in your mind for now. "Because the beach is literally a months travel by foot, and two weeks travel by horse. I need time to think of what to do, and I'm certainly not going to be traveling soaking wet in the middle of the night." 

You held out your arms to Blue. She had thankfully stopped crying after Orange hissed at her that they'd be caught again if she didn't shut up. Orange's words not yours. She seemed to get the drill and reached out to wrap her arms around your shoulders as you quietly pulled her long body out of the cart and shifted her in your arms until you were able to carry her still sniffling form into the back door and gently heaved her into the giant tub. This repeated a second time with pink. And again with Orange, although Orange was a little more reluctant than her friends. It was harder dragging them through the window honestly. Your body was REALLY going to be sore in the morning and there was still evidence you had to get rid of. You would NOT allow anyone to know that you harboured these creatures. 

You eventually semi dropped Orange into the large tub with the other two. "There. It's not as deep as the tank but it is wider. That should give you three more room at least."

Blue was already happily pushing her head underwater and blowing bubbles in the completely clean water as Pink smiled at you. "Thank you. You don't know how much we appreciate it."

"Well...If I was in your situation, I'd want some help too. But I'm going to need you three to do something." Pink and Orange blinked as you walked away to a nearby shelf, and proceeded to grab a few bottles and a scrub brush. Returning to the three mermaids and just plopping them on the side of the pool. "Here. It's soap. No offense but you three reek of mold and old dirt. Wash yourselves and I'll replace the water again when you're done." They were in pretty bad shape from the dirty water, especially their hair. You paused looking at them again. "...Also give me your clothes. They're completely filthy. I can let you borrow some of my dresses until I get them clean. You..do know what soap is right?"

"We can handle it from here," Pink confirmed already grabbing a bottle of shampoo and handing it to Orange who curiously opened it up to smell the sweet flower scent. "I'll call you when we're finished but don't you want to dry off?"

"I have a small bathroom in the guestroom. I'll use that and give you three some privacy. Just..let me know when you're finished. And try not to be loud and wake up anyone. I have to go take care of a few things."

Orange looked up at you. "What things?"

"I have to dry the wagon and then go tie the horse back on its post. Otherwise people will know I used it and get suspicious, and I don't feel like having an angry mob after me on top of getting soaked and sore."

[aishu-no-melody]

Can you please talk about Roy Mustang for me? I'd love to hear your interpretation of him? What do you think of him in 03 vs brotherhood/manga?

Ok grab a snack lol.

So to preface I have to say that I don't like Brotherhood in general and my opinions on that play a part in my opinion of Roy. He's my absolute favorite character like I have a VHS tape from like 2005 where I took my sister's VCDs and literally took up half the tape of a Roy montage lol. But these are my opinions and why I think he has the superir portrayl in 03.

Keep in mind though I have seen Brotherhood once, havent read the manga in years, but ive seen 03 and COS SO SO SO many times.

So I feel like the overall theme of Brotherhood is "military and armestris good. Ishvalain immigrants bad." And the military in 03 is painted so much differently. It's more realistic and they drive home the point that the military fucked up and show us that Roy really has not been a great person. I mean in 03 we see him try to kill himself twice over the fact that he's killed so many people and especially he's haunted by the innocent children. When he kills Winrys parents he realzies hes become so absolutely immoral and rotten that he has killed his own people and gets turnt and tries to take his own life. He's shady, there's that scene where he threatens to blackmail child Edward/expose him and Al (it's early in the season but I can't quite remember what for) yet he tries to shelter them from how harsh reality is. He thinks by becoming Furher everything will be okay now, he will be forgiven, and the country will be better. Long story short he has his own agenda that sounds great on paper but in reality, at least in the first like half of the series, is impossible.

The growth of his character in 03 is huge and they kind of stealthily plant the seeds early on. He's no longer gunning for the position of Furher because of his own selfish reasons, he's actively seeking revenge for Hughes which makes him start to unravel.

Obviously the character of Pride/Bradley deviates from the source in 03. Actually all the homonculous and their personal foes are directly related to the people they're fighting. Edward/Sloth etc. The whole relationship of Bradley and Roy and also the characterization of Bradley as Pride is very deliberate - Roy fights Bradley and is severely wounded/almost dies fighting Pride. The entire series Roy has so much pride and so much of an ego that it's destroying him. He is literally forced to face his own deadly sin and to kill his own ego.

Ultimately he kills Bradley but in doing so his life unravels and he does not get to be the hero, the savior, the one that fixes everything which his pride previously convinced him he was capable of doing. In COS we find him isolated, depressed and a shell of his former self, waiting for Edward to return, crippled and alone. Even by the end when he saves the day in the fancy little air balloon, he still cannot protect Edward and looses him forever. He looses absolutely everything and the director of COS even said in some kind of interview or something that after the movie Roy still would never hold the same power he once did and have that same respect. So at the end of the day - he has thrown everything he's ever had away for good because of his pride. He has no happy ending. He redeems himself to the viewer (unless you're me and the second you first see him go 😍 zaddy I can fix him) but by then he is too far gone - he is both an awful person and a martyr. We know his heart ultimately is in the right place by the end but his war crimes and atrocities still exist and his failure is still very evident. If you've never seen it, look up the 10 of Swords tarot card - while I'm pretty sure they did not purposely do it, the meaning of the card and ESPECIALLY the imagery of the original card is so so accurate and I think the best summary of his character. Look up Labyrnthos or something like that their summary of it is the best.

So I feel like in 03 he has far more depth and his character arc is so, so, much richer.

To discuss this I also have to get into his relationship with the Elric brothers, mainly Edward. He and Edward are parallels of each other - both of them are arrogant and oblivious and in trivial pursuit of righting their wrongs, when in reality there is nothing they can do to rectify either situation or take back the damage they've done. Roy obviously does care for the Elric brothers but does not know how to show it properly and ends up hurting them more than helping them, he basically put them into a world that destroys them - Edward loves his brother but can't outwardly emote it in the same way Al can and ends up literally destroying Al's everything when he convinces him to help attempt their mom's life.

Edward hates people who use others for their own personal gain or for selfish reasons, he hates arrogance and hatred itself. He rightly identifies all these qualities in Roy who he appears to hate, when in reality Edward tried to bring back his mom knowing there's a chance he and his brother could die, he is also extremely arrogant and has no problem using all the militaries money and resources to do what he wants yet he cannot fathom why Roy, who sticks his neck out for him many times, gets angry with him or why some Ishvallans people are offended that he is in the military.

They have some distantly codependent relationship because they both realize they need each other - Roy needed to recruit Edward initially to show off, he also realizes Edward knows valuable information he uses to complete his goal, but also sees someone who needs some form of guidance and discipline. Edward needs Roy so he can access the power and resources he provides but he also at the end of the day, after leaving the military and coming back randomly and literally going AWOL, Roy (AND his team) does not abandon him.

So knowing that Edward is loyal, Roy assumes in the last episode when he runs into Edward on the street looking fine as hell, that Edward will join him in his battle with pride. Roy has to go into battle now alone which it seems he didn't apparently take into account and because of this he barely beats Bradley and almost dies. Edward finally accepts that Roy isn't 100% gutted and sees the good in him and finally becomes aware that the military he chose to join is corrupt, therefore so is he - he doesn't think what Roy is going to do will solve anything yet he goes and fights Dante to basically accomplish the same thing. You finally see that deep down they did always care about each other. When they say goodbye it is like the completion of both character arcs, at least for the series itself.

In COS they still follow the same path in that, yes, did they accomplish their goals? For sure, but now Roy -who succesfully killed Bradley - is demoted and exciled and miserable, and Edward -who got his brothers body restored - is alone and has absolutely nobody who understands him and is stuck that way for life.

This relates to my over feelings about Roy and his character arc because it adds to the depth of it. Their relationship is integral to it and would not be the same at all without it. I didnt talk much about Brotherhood because its been so long I don't want to mess up the facts on, but the one thing that plays into my opinion is that in BH Roy does get what he wants and I dont like that. Roy does not desevre that unfortunately and it is way boring because its like.....oh....ok? What a total shocker -_- VS Wow after ALL this, he fails even though we all think hes going to succeed at first. I also like how Edward is portrayed in 03 way better and all that ties into it to but that's another topic itself.

[absolutepokemontrash]

The Brothers and Side Characters Play the Sims

I don’t know what possessed me to make this but WHATEVER. I’ve been playing the Sims since I was a wee little girl, and I’ve seen my fair share of weird Sims stuff that I feel would fit these bozos perfectly.

My Sims have a Functional Family Life Because I Don’t (Lucifer)

God dammit Levi’s obsessed with another game... ugh.

Spends 5 minutes in Create-a-Sim and hops into a starter home.

Lucifer’s the type to start with all the average stuff and then build their stuff up as his sim gets promotions.

It’s just... so peaceful...

...he’s adopting a dog.

Look at his new little virtual family... his sim-kids are self sufficient and getting A’s in school, his Sim spouse MC or Diavolo take your pick loves his Sim-self, his sim-dog-

WAIT NO- THE DOG’S AN ELDER?!

AAAAAAAAAAAAA-

...

He’s fine. It was just a virtual dog. *sniffle*

He’s now spending his free time drinking Demonus and playing the Sims.

What’s a mod? Levi why does your sim have gun?

Behold, My Gorgeous Home... It’s a Box (Mammon)

Mammon, like the rest of the HOL, is mooching off of Levi’s Origin account.

“AW SHIT! This house looks awesome! I’m gonna build it for Sim-me to live in!”

Mammon proceeds to build a box with rooms. Yay...

He just picks the funnest sounding job if he picks any job at all for his Sim. That’s how he ended up making 9 dollars an hour in the criminal career.

Didn’t stop Mammon from buying that solid gold bathroom set from Get Famous... a box with solid gold bathrooms.

His Sim is broke send help-

“Leviiiiiii my sim needs money... the people my sim kidnapped and is forcing to paint aren’t making enough money...” “Ugh... press control shift C and type ‘motherlode’.”

...Levi made a mistake.

“FUCK YEAH! MOTHERLODE!”

His sim’s life is so chaotic, he has a piranha pool that his sim has almost died in twice, the sim is carrying on several torrid love affairs, his sim got struck by lightning, his sim has nearly died in a grilled cheese making accident twice... in the same day.

At least once Sim-Mammon and Sim-MC get married things calm down a little.

Mammon finds out what custom content is and proceeds to download EVERYTHING HE CAN FIND.

And now he’s asking Levi why his computer is running so slow.

Expansion Pack King (Leviathan)

He got into it back when the Sims 2 was new, he’s a veteran fan.

“Bro remember when Agnes Crumplebottom would show up and whack the shit out of your sims if they were flirting?”

“Remember when that witch would show up randomly on the lot you were on if you had Makin’ Magic?”

“Remember when Bella Goth was abducted by aliens and we just... didn’t question it?”

He whines about the Sims4 and how crappy it is but still buys every expansion pack, game pack, and stuff pack.

This boy watches like 40 hours of built tutorials and ends up sobbing over his weird roofs.

“WHY DOESN’T IT LOOK AS NICE AS THE ONE I’M LOOKING AT?! THIS ISN’T FAIR!”

The mod folder is so full istg-

Levi gets custom content for the sole purpose of making his favourite fictional characters.

This is why Henry and the Lord of Shadows are married and Ruri-chan and Sim-Levi are roommates.

Oh my god they were roommates-

Levi also added his brothers to the world and uh... Sim-Mammon died in a tragic pool accident F.

Levi then proceeded to befriend the Grim Reaper.

He’s anxiously awaiting the release of Paralives.

Wait Gameplay? In This Build Simulator? (Satan)

Satan’s here to build and leave. Gameplay who?

Our favourite bundle of rage is a master architect and the amount of followers on the Gallery he has shows it.

He takes up those build shell challenges and always ends up making them look positively perfect.

Asmo’s always using his houses, and Satan often takes requests when he gets bored.

No Mammon, he reserves the right to refuse to build a golden castle for you- YOUR SIM HAS 40 SIMOLEONS-

No mods, no CC, he’s building with what EA gave him.

...and EA gave him debug objects, and he’s not going to explain how to get them.

The one time he did actually play with a family... it was one sim and seven cats.

He tries to play without cheats... and ends up getting frustrated and turns on cheats.

All hail the Pets Expansion Pack.

Custom Content Soap Opera (Asmodeus)

Asmo spends 5 hours in Create a Sim then just... clicks out of the game.

That’s how it goes most of the time, buuuuuut when he gets super invested in a family he’s made, boy howdy is he INVESTED.

Sim A is carrying on an affair with Sim C who’s in love with Sim B who’s married to Sim A but Sim D wants to kill Sim A and C even though they’re the illegitimate child of Sim C-

When Asmo realizes that in the Sims 4 he needs to manufacture all the drama himself and he can’t just sit back with a glass of wine and watch the fireworks, he switches to the Sims 2 and 3.

“...why is this old lady beating up my Sim..?”

He immediately recoils in horror upon seeing how ugly the Sims are pre Sims4.

HE NEEDS TO FIX THIS-

Ah, there we go, perfect. Custom Content to the rescue!

He ends up remaking the entire world just so he doesn’t have to look at weird looking Sims.

Asmo is the only one to have finished a proper Legacy Challenge, but it gets crazy chaotic after gen 3.

“My sim just got abducted by aliens and now he’s pregnant- WHAT?!”

He has about 40 saves and only two he actually plays.

Just a Big Ol’ Happy Family (Beelzebub)

Beel found the game, proceeded to make everyone in create-a-sim to the best of his abilities, and made everyone get along.

That’s why Sim-Lucifer and Sim-Belphie are on a swing set together, they’re friends :D

“Hey Luke do you think you can make this?” “I-is that a cake shaped like a hamburger?” “Yes. Please make.”

He took one look at the cooking options and decided to max out his Sim’s cooking skill to unlock all the options.

Beel proceeded to drool all over his keyboard. Gross...

Boy howdy did he have some crazy dinner suggestions!

Overall, very wholesome Sim-life, except for the time Sim-Levi died because the toilet caught fire, don’t worry, Sim-Beel knows how to make ambrosia.

All is good in the Sim save...

...until Sim-Beel ate pufferfish nigiri and fuckin died-

Wait Did I Not Pause- (Belphie)

Huh, this game looks fine... I’ll play for a little- *SNORE*

Belphie makes some sims, plops them into a starter home, plays for an hour, then falls asleep.

He wakes up five hours later to absolute carnage.

Three sims have died because someone decided to make Mac and Cheese and the oven caught fire, the kids were taken away by social services, and the dog ran away.

“...heheh, holy shit everyone look.”

He doesn’t play often, but when he does, death occurs. He has found out every death method for every game from Sims 2 to 4.

And that INCLUDES the Sims Medieval! You guys remember that game?

Sometimes it’s not intentional, but Belphie got bored with the totally normal life his sims were living and decided to spice it up.

“Why are the ghosts breaking my showers..?”

Help There’s a Bug- (Diavolo)

The Crown Prince started playing when he noticed Lucifer was playing it.

He was immediately obsessed.

Dia mostly plays the Sims Medieval because he likes the feeling of achievement after completing a quest!

“Barbatos... why isn’t my Sim completing their task? The icon won’t show up.” “My lord it appears the game is bugged.” “:(“

No one thought to tell Diavolo that EA doesn’t plan on offering bug support to a game made in like... 2009

This doesn’t matter! Look at how great his kingdom is doing- oh no his hero has the plague-

He plays through the Pirates and Nobles expansion and manages to get the peaceful ending, he’s so proud of himself.

“MC! Look! My Monarch’s sword is permanently on fire and I’m fighting an evil wizard!”

When he does play the other Sims games he’s pretty basic, though, he does a great job at furnishing!

Dia gets crazy sad when his Sims die... he turns off aging.

Builder no. 2 (Barbatos)

Barbie doesn’t have time for this... but when he does, he builds.

No create a sim.

No playing the game as intended.

Just builds.

It’s relaxing, okay? A nice little suburban house he’s never going to play in, maybe a treehouse, maybe a big Hollywood Mansion...

The only time he actually plays the game outside of build mode is when someone needs his help to fix something in-game.

He does download custom content build items if he feels bored by the current selection.

Oh Crap What Am I Doing?! (Simeon)

Help him. Please.

He’s so confused.

“Luke, why is my sim upset?” “He’s hungry, Simeon.” “Oh, how do I fix that?” “...Simeon-”

There’s a toilet in the middle of the living room.

The fridge is facing the wall.

There’s no bathtub or shower.

The house is on fire- there is no god- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-

Okay, once he gets the hang of it he’s sitting pretty. His sims have good jobs, the kids are getting good grades, everything’s fine.

...

But Simeon won’t forget the nightmares.

What Even is This Save? (Solomon)

Solomon’s save is the definition of chaos.

One sim’s a vampire, the other is a spellcaster that really wants to fight the Callientes for some reason, there’s one normal sim that’s always sick for some reason,

It gets weird, confusing, and horrible.

Just how Solomon likes it.

His house makes no sense, like, what even is architecture?

Money cheats are needed because Solomon‘a goal of chaos and confusion is proving to be kind of expensive.

Square up Mortimer Goth, Solomon’s sims are here to steal your weird knight statue that’s worth a shit ton of simoleons for NO REASON.

He joined the scientist career for the sole purpose of getting to the alien planet and kidnapping adding an alien to the household via cheats.

The vampire ended up dying on their wedding day because Solomon forgot that he gave them the sun weakness.

Oh well, the ghost got added to the household! VAMPIRE GHOST!

The Child (Luke)

Before you say Luke’s too young to play the Sims, you should know that I was nine when I first started playing, and I turned out fiiiiiiiiiine.

He’s just happy to be playing.

Look, his sims are gardening :D

Look, two of them are getting married :D

Look, they had a baby :D

Look, his sims are building a rocket ship :D

Look, his sims’s rocket just crashed-

The concept of death hit the little angel right in the face that day.

“*sniffle*... my sims...”

Don’t worry, with tears in his eyes, Luke quit without saving and everything was fine!

Speaking of My Sims, Luke played MySims Sky Heroes and that was when Luke had his first bout of gamer rage.

MC came over to hang out with Solomon and Simeon, and in the distance they could just hear:

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN MY TIME WASN’T FAST ENOUGH TO CONTINUE THE STORY!? I’LL SHOW YOU FAST ENOUGH TIME!”

Okay, maybe Simeon should take the game away... just for a bit... he should take heed not to be bitten by the incredibly angry chihuahua.

Bonus:

MC: Why are our Sims married?

*Insert Boy Here*: Uh... that’s weird... I have no clue why they’re doing that...

[leejeongz]

fluffy a-z SEUNGHUN (cix)

🔅i changed some of the prompts from the ones i did before, i hope it’s okay, i just made it more fluffy and less repetitive!🔅

A = Affection (How affectionate are they? How do they show affection?)

okay so first things first has affection is so damn irritating (but u wouldn’t have it any other way of course). you could just be sitting silently and all of a sudden seunghun is nibbling at your ear with his arms wrapped around you. at the most inappropriate times, he’ll hug you from the side, or squish his face against yours without warning. he’s a little odd, but it’s okay because he’s cute.

his hand is always engulfing yours. he does it without even realising it, it just becomes natural at some point for his hand to reach for yours whenever you’re around each other. he’ll sometimes bring yours and his hands that are clasped together up to your eye line and laugh “oh we did it again” like it’s THAT subconscious, but he wouldn’t have it any other way, it’s almost like a comfort bracket for you both.

he loves having you tucked under his arm when you’re next to him, even if it’s in public. his arm just naturally rests on your shoulders while you nestle into his side, when you’re stood up you also rest your arm around his waist for some stability. while you’re like this, he brings up his other hand to ruffle your hair or to playfully give you a noogie (is that the word for it, where you clench your fist and rub your knuckles against someone's head? lmao). if it’s possible, he’d sometimes turn to face you and lower his head a little, waiting for you to turn to face him so he could make a kissy face at you until you actually kissed him.

he LOVES cuddling. any and all cuddling, he’s down. being the big spoon and watching a movie from over your shoulder > watching a movie any other way. getting to hold you and just feel you with him,,, he’s in his element he could spend the whole day just cuddling with you and being goofy.

B = Best friend (What would they be like as a best friend? How would the friendship start?)

okay so seunghun had the BIGGEST platonic crush on you, he’d be so desperate just to talk to you and find out more about you. lucky for you, seunghun made the first move and sparked a conversation with you, he got your instagram just from that chat too, you could both tell that you were gonna get along. you often went out for drinks or on little friendship dates like shopping or to the aquarium and became really really close. he introduced you to all of his friends and the rest of cix so that you could become friends with them too!

he really does know every single little thing about you and you can’t keep secrets from him cos he’ll get it out of you one way or another. he makes you playlists and sends you memes or pictures with “us” as the message. if you’re more on the introverted side, or just more introverted than him, he’ll bring you out of your shell a lot and introduce you to things that you’d never normally try and of course he’d praise you so much afterwards. honestly, he’s just the kind of best friend that everyone wants.

he’s a big fan of being an absolute pain and irritating you as much as possible but like in a jokey way ofc. he’ll bite you when you’re all calm just to see some kind of reaction from you. he won’t stop tapping you when he wants your attention, pouting and humming in annoyance.

C = Comfort (How do they comfort their partner?)

when he notices that you’re sad, the first thing he does before anything else is hug you. he lets you sit in silence or cry it out while you’re in his arms, you don’t have to look at him or explain to him just yet, because it’s okay to think about things and to cry. he slowly start pulling away from the hug and asking you calmly what the matter is, trying to make eye contact with you. his hands would stay firmly on your upper arms so that you couldn’t get away and hide from your problems. once you’d explained what’s wrong, he wouldn’t give you advice straight away, but would rather temporarily cheer you up by being goofy or suggesting an outing that you two could go on to distract you. if it was something serious, of course he’d be on your side no matter what, but he’d just listen and encourage you and support you with whatever you want to do. he would try to give you some advice, but he’d mainly just try to boost your confidence and make you happy again.

he’s not that great at picking up when you feel anxious, especially if it’s brought on by something that is completely normal to him such as large crowds or public transport or something like that. but if you make it known to him, he’ll remember and will comfort you by making you feel protected. he’ll walk in front of you to make a path for you or will do things first to show you that it’s not so bad. he’ll always be holding your hand anyway but his grip would get a lot tighter in order to keep you safe. when you get home, or at least out of the situation, he’ll tell you how proud he is of you for doing what you did, even if you didn’t do anything at all.

D = Domestic (Do they want to settle down? How about kids? Marriage? How are they at cooking and cleaning?)

he really wants to settle down. your relationship becomes pretty serious pretty quickly when that’s what he wants. he’s not there to waste time or use you just for fun. i’d say after a year he’d like to move in with you if you aren’t living together already by that point. he probably doesn’t want to get married, not because he doesn’t like the commitment or whatnot he just doesn’t think that marriage is necessary to show off what you already have, it wouldn’t change anything for him and he knows it would probably leave you in a worse situation. family wise, he’s not desperate for kids, just you and him are enough to make a family, perhaps a pet too. if you end up having kids, of course he’s gonna be over the moon when he finds out, he’d love them a whole lot, but he respects your decision and isn’t gonna pressure you into having any and he’s not that sure that he wants them himself.

around the house, he does most of the work in the category of DIY and fixing things etc. he likes to cook for you too and actually makes some delicious meals, but he doesn’t always have the time to do that. for the same reason, he doesn’t do much cleaning. when he can, he’ll do it, he’s quite a clean person anyway so there’s never really much mess left for anyone to clean up anyway.

E = Equal - Are they the dominant one in the relationship, or rather passive?

naturally, seunghun takes the more dominant role (just because he’s larger and louder lmao). he of course lets you do what you want, get your own way, i don’t mean dominant in that way, but more in a protective way. he’s quick to make decisions that affect the pair of you (and they turn out to be the best choices because he didn’t overthink them) and is very confident when he can see that you’re not. overall, he’s just there for you when you need him. he’s not trying to be oppressive or take away your independence and freedom, he’d just try to help and would never take it too far :).

F = Feelings (How did the confession go down?)

it was always obvious that seunghun had feelings for you, he wouldn’t try to hide it nor would he allow you to be oblivious… he’d make sure that you knew. this just meant that the ball was always in your court, it’s up to you now to confess back. he would flirt with you often and you'd flirt back of course, but he was just waiting for you to explicitly say that you like him so that he could ask if he could take you on an official date hehe.

in the end he just had to settle with you calling him annoying before asking you out because he realised he was never gonna catch you admitting that you like him. he did it in front of an audience of your friends too, to fluster you even more.

G = Gentle (How gentle are they, both physically and emotionally?)

he’s not fragile, but he’s sensitive. there’s a few very specific yet minor things that get to him, that can break him down in a instant, but he’s never worried that people will take advantage of that because if they do, he at least knows that it’s not his fault. which leads me on nicely to saying that he’s a very gentle guy. with himself especially. he never blames himself for things, that’s something he’s learnt as he’s got older. of course sometimes he does believe that things are his fault, but he finds a way to fix it asap. he’s learnt to love himself too. he loves the way he is and he wants everyone else to love themselves too 🥺.

despite being louder than an entire stadium of football fans alone, he brings a certain feeling of “home” whenever you’re with him. you feel safe when you’re around him, like nothing can hurt you, physically or mentally and neither of you even realise that he’s made you feel this way. he’s so gentle with you, that’s just how he is.

H = Hugs (Do they like hugs? How often do they do it? What are their hugs like?)

he quite often gives you back hugs. he prefers back hugs to normal hugs since he thinks they’re more innocent and sweet. he would wrap his arms around your waist from behind and rest his chin on your shoulder, wiggling his chin around to distract your attention away from whatever you were doing. when he talks to you, he talks in pout and real close to your neck because he knows that makes you smile.

of course, he also likes normal hugs. he traps both of your arms by your sides so that you can’t hug him back then acts all offended because “you rejected him”. he starts begging for a kiss to make up for it (and then avoids it and throws a tantrum because you “he made it so easy for you and you missed”). he finds it cute when you get flustered by a hug because he’s so used to hugging his friends that he never really thought of them as being affectionate. when you snuggle in closer to his chest he just smiles to himself and sighs because he doesn’t think he deserves someone as adorable as you.

I = Instant (Do they believe in love at first sight?)

yes. probably also believes in romantic and platonic soulmates too 🥺.

the moment he sees you, no matter what his surroundings, he gets this urge to talk to you and get to know you. he realises that he gets along with most people and always wants to make new friends, but when he sees you it’s different. it’s an instant attraction and he hopes that you feel the same way, and there’s no better way to find out than to start a conversation.

J = Jealousy (How jealous do they get? What do they do when they’re jealous?)

he doesn’t want to get jealous because he doesn’t want to be tHAT toxic boyfriend, but sometimes he just can’t help it. he won’t get jealous over tiny petty things such as liking other boys posts, talking with other boys etc. it’s usually when you decide to spend time with people over spending time with him, and even then it’s nothing argument inducing, he just likes to point out that he missed you while you weren’t with him :((. the thing that gets him the most is seeing things which are relating to your ex. say you have a present that they got for you, or you still have pictures of the pair of you together (maybe it was just a group photo and they happened to be there, but still). he just gets kinda mopey and would pester you about it until you told him what he wanted to hear, that you didn’t care about your ex anymore.

he definitely has his ways of letting out his jealousy (take that as u will besties) but for the most part, he’d just be really clingy with you until he forgot why he’s even jealous in the first place.

you spend most of your time together anyway, and he trusts you, so there isn’t much need for him to get jealous. he’s too protective over you for anyone else to make moves, he’s quick in recognising when others are taking it too far/ when others are flirting with you.

K = Kisses (What are their kisses like? Where do they like to kiss you? Where do they like to be kissed?)

first of all he loves when you kiss his neck!! but your lips actually meet regularly. he likes to kiss you when you’re both tucked up in bed, he thinks it actually helps you both sleep better. he’s forever giving you pecks on your cheek too, but he knows when to stop so that it doesn’t become annoying (taken from my cix as boyfriends post)

he likes when his kisses catch you off guard. you’re eating while sitting beside him, you suddenly feel a pair of lips against your cheek but before you can comprehend what’s going on, he’s already back to eating as if nothing happened. he doesn’t care who’s watching either, he’d even kiss you in front of your family, so what?!

this next paragraph could be considered suggestive so if you’re not into that pls just skip over it.

the longer, more passionate kisses that you share hit VERY different. his thumb and index finger lift your chin, he encourages you to make eye contact with him but you keep getting distracted by him biting his lips/tongue. his lips get closer to your lips, almost touching, and he just stays there for a while. he gets a little scent of your perfume, smiles to himself and then pecks you gently on your lips, just waiting for you to take charge because you're just so desperate to kiss him at this point. you end up going for it but he manages to regain dominance over you, his tongue forcing its way into your mouth, brushing against your own. as he pulls away, he bites your lip slightly and gives you a cheeky little wink. he knows he’s left you hungry and wanting more, but you’re not getting it hehe.

L = Love Confession (How fast do they say the L-word?)

if anything, seunghun is a little fast when it comes to telling you that he loves you. he says it almost everyday and at first it means nothing, he just says it for the sake of saying it without expecting you to say it back. he does really like you, but he’s not really convinced in himself that it’s love. as time goes on he starts to understand the meaning more. when he can’t imagine life without you, when you literally become his other half, he realises the meaning behind the words.

the first time he says it to you meaningfully was over a meal. you were eating, he waited for you to take a mouthful of food before he told you so he could see you react without talking at first, since your facial expressions would definitely tell him more than anything you said ever could. he tells you how much you mean to him, honestly, with a huge sincere smile on his face.

M = Memory (What is their favorite moment in your relationship?)

the first time you held hands is something that replays in his mind a lot. you were comparing hand sizes, you know, common flirtatious practice. you weren’t officially together yet, not even dating, but he just couldn’t help but close his hand around yours while laughing about how tiny your hand was compared to his (even tho it wasn’t that much smaller than his lol).

N = No (What's their pet peeve?)

when you imitate or copy him. sure sometimes it’s cute and funny, but is it really necessary all the time? he’s sort of a bit like “do they have no personality of their own???” and it kind of makes him feel a little bit conscious and overly aware of what he’s doing and saying. that’s not to say that he doesn’t like to be teased every once in a while, just don’t do it too regularly because it will lose its comedic value and fast.

O = Orange (What colour reminds them of their significant other?)

yellow: he literally calls you his honey <3 you're the reason that he smiles, his source of joy and optimism, even in the darkest times.

“the sun came up and i was looking at you” kinda thing.

P = Petnams (What pet names so they call their other half?)

honey! literally his favourite name for you EVER. he calls you “my honey” when he introduces you to people and when he talks about you to his parents too :(.

he also likes to throw in a simple “babe” just in case he hasn't made you feel butterflies in a while (it always works and he knows it).

since day one, he’s been teasing you about looking like a specific cartoon/character so sometimes he refers to you by that name too hehe.

Q = Quizzes (How much would they remember about you? Do they remember every little detail you mention in passing, or do they kind of forget everything?)

he remembers everything important. sometimes, while you talk, he’s just admiring you and not actually listening, so when that happens he obvs doesn’t remember a thing you just said. there are times where he forgets something and stands there clicking this fingers and staring up to the ceiling so that he remembers without you having to remind him. he really wants to remember stuff about you, okay?🥺

R = Rainy day (What do they like to do on a rainy day?)

pester you lmao. “what’s for lunch?” “can we cuddle now?” “give me a kiss” “one more pleaseeee” “games?” you can forget it if you think you’re using the day to get some work done.

he’s around you constantly anyway, so when you’re both stuck at home with nowhere to go, it just makes it 10 times worse (or better, up to you). you both sit on the sofa, legs tangled together and start reading or scrolling through your phone but it’s not long until you end up sleeping, safely in his arms. he’d wake you up just in time for lunch though, asking what you’re gonna make him even though he already threw together a meal for the pair of you the night before. he’d love to see the panic in your eyes and the quick scramble to get to the kitchen so that your boyfriend didn’t starve, even though you’re well aware that he could cook his own meal.

he wants to get out of the house at some point. even though it is raining, and as long as didn’t mind, he’d still like to go on a walk somewhere with you. maybe around a lake, get some cute pictures before heading back home and showering together.

S = Security (How protective are they? How would they protect you? How would they like to be protected?)

he’ll ask lots of questions about what you’re doing, where you’re going, who you’re going with etc. not because he wants to find a reason for you not to go, and of course he’d never say you can’t go, but he just wants to know that you’ll be safe and also, he’s just nosy.

he knows he can’t keep you safe from every little thing that could possibly happen, but he’s gonna try his best and he’s gonna defend you no matter what! he’s always ALWAYS on your side and will never be afraid to fight for you if it comes to it.

he doesn’t feel like he needs to be protected as such, but he’d definitely appreciate it if you did for him what he does for you.

T = Try (How much effort would they put into dates, anniversaries, gifts, everyday tasks?)

a whole bloody lot. he remembers dates that are important to your relationship, your birthday, your anniversary and the not so important dates such as the anniversary of your first date, the first time you slept over at his house, your first kiss, he likes to remind you of them all in his own special way hehe. it’s kind of shocking and scary how he remembers them but can’t remember his own birthday some years lmao.

he tries to take charge of your dates, booking them and planning them (planning being the bare minimum, but nevertheless still planning, sure), telling you about them and hyping them up to be even better than the last date that you went on. he’s not afraid to splash the cash either, he doesn’t mind paying for the majority of things but he’s not gonna be offended or anything if you say you wanna pay/go halves. he takes so many pictures of you (and him) when you go on dates. even if he can’t post them anywhere, he has them and can look back at them whenever he misses you.

the gifts he buys you are more like reminders of memories. he’d make an edit of a vacation that you took together, or a scrapbook of last summer alongside some cute little jokey gifts that would also be part of an inside joke that you share. omg flowers too, he gets you flowers without it needing to be a special day, he’ll just bring them to you randomly, some nice red roses or tulips that you can put on display 🥺

U = Ugly (What would be some bad habits of theirs?)

he tends to ignore others when you’re with him. when hanging out in a group, he only focuses on you. of course, he’ll get involved in the conversation and so on but he’s mainly just concentrating on you, it’s like the pair of you are in your own little bubble even though you’re sat at the same table. this is especially the case when you’re with your friends since he’s not that close to them. there’s lots of affection that he initiates between the pair of you two too, which doesn’t go down well in certain situations while others are around.

V = Vulnerability (When would they start revealing things about themselves? Do they say everything all at once or wait a while to reveal things slowly?)

if he senses that you’re a little shy, he’ll be very open from the beginning. he feels like he has nothing to hide, so why not reveal stuff about himself to get you talking and get to know you better? if you’re not that shy, the conversation usually isn’t that deep when you first meet, it’s silly, flirtatious and quite playful. he started properly opening up to you a few dates in, it’s not that he’s embarrassed or that he has a guard up, just that he never really needed to tell you this stuff unless you asked.

he’s a very open and honest person with you, he’s not hiding anything from you and is willing to talk about anything and everything. he’s not cautious of the fact that you could hurt him with what you know, he believes that the risk is worth it and would probably allow him to realise your intentions with him sooner rather than later.

W = Why (Why do they love their partner?)

you make him smile like no one has ever done before. he couldn’t be happier than when he’s with you and he always lets you know how he feels. he loves that you bring out the best parts of him. but you also allow him to feel sad and down when he needs to and help him out of his slump.

X = Xtra (A random headcanon for them.)

when you’re sick, he brings donuts, a whole box of 12 just for you, some medicine, some of his warmest clothes (including scarves and hats) and of course his radiant smile every time without fail. he lights one of your scented candles that he bought for you (even tho you can’t smell it) and asks you to come cuddle with him until dinner time, when he shall feed you the soup that he made that morning.

Y = Yuck (What are some things they wouldn’t like, but other people love in a relationship?)

honestly, there’s not much that he doesn’t like when it comes to romance, he likes all the traditional stuff and more. one thing that he isn’t really a huge fan of in a relationship is double dates, or “group dates”. as i mentioned before, when you’re out with friends, he’s only focused on you. why bring other people along on your date when it could be just the two of you having fun? as much as he loves making new friends and spending time with all of them, when you’re there, you’re all he needs.

Z = Zzz (What is a sleep habit of theirs?)

he’s a cuddler. he can’t fall asleep without holding you. he might turn over or let go at some point but he always manages to find his way back to you, wrapping his arms around you while you both sleep.

[isa-ah]

whats up with the hot unhinged guy you were friends with 👀

when i worked in an airport out in az i used to go to the wendys down from my kiosk like twice a day right i was buddies w everyone there. & then one day he started working there as this over 6ft quiet fry cook with a beard n messy hair which obviously i was like 😳 about so i managed to get him to come out of his shell & start hanging around my kiosk to talk on his breaks and after his shifts.

at first it was really nice! we'd just bullshit about all kinds of different things and he was really supportive of my being trans; he had hearing aids and talked REALLY loudly sometimes so when customers would misgender me he would comment on me w masculine terms really loudly to them which made it suuuper uncomfortable for them to keep calling me ma'am lol he started driving me home from work most nights and it was nice, we'd just hang out in his car and talk about trauma and therapy, he'd compliment how testosterone was affecting me and tbh he was the reason i started seeing a therapist in phoenix and was one of the only people i talked to about thinking i was a system like a year before i ever brought it up anywhere else? i thought he was a pretty great guy.

but like y'know the more you hang out w a shithead the more comfortable they are to start saying things that make you go UH... and he was HUGELY one of those. we would go to walmart and just mill around while he bitched really loudly about his mom & women & lesbians bc he had high incel vibes and blamed lesbians for his not getting laid? the way he talked about women overall was very. gross. like mommy objects that should worship him & id try to talk to him about it but he was very big and very loud so it was easy to shut me down. he'd also talk about porn and hentai ALLLL the time, and i told him frequently that y'know ive got my own woogy shit about discussing sex and im pretty ace and he'd be like sucks for you and keep going. (which as u can imagine included lollies and incest anime 🙄).

my stupid ass was too nice tbh. he was in his thirties and told me frequently i was the first and only friend he'd had since he was a kid & that my support made him a better person and got him out of his head and trauma and i really genuinely wanted to be that for him so id try to babygate problematic commentary but it never went very far. which sucks when you know how gentle and kind someone can be when they're not being GROSS & he really did a lot for me at a very suicidal point in my working a soul sucking job for 2+ years.

i put up with it until we were driving around one afternoon to go to the store near my apartment and he decided abruptly we should hang out at his place so he could show me some of his favorite anime. i tentatively agreed bc i knew he was living on a compound that monitored him bc his mental health issues had lead to violence against his family a couple times and that he had a roomie that was kinda creepy. what i didn't realize was that he lived WAY outside of phoenix and by the time we got there i was so unsettled i wanted to turn around and go home. but we didn't!

instead we spent hours at his apartment while i periodically was like hey can we go soon? hey can i go home? hey can you take me back to phoenix? bc we were so far out i couldn't afford to order an uber for myself and he knew that.

when he finally agreed sometime after sunset we got back in his car and he pulled right back off the highway a few minutes later "to grab some dinner to go :)" and i was like at that point burning up anxious so i was like okay as long as we can just grab it and go! but he got it to stay in and sat down so i sat down too. & when i say we sat there as he ate over half a pizza at his leisure while i checked my phone constantly to let my fiance know what was up and i kept asking outright to go... ugh. & then his ass had the audacity to go like an actual supervillain, "one of my favorite things to do is put people in really uncomfortable positions to watch them squirm. its fun because im usually the smartest person in the room, so it's easy to do." while smiling at me. & i was like. oh boy this is it this guy's gunna crazy murder me now bc i literally cannot afford to leave. 💖

i got home safe and to his retrospective credit i don't think he'd of ever actually hurt me (he did that yeah but he thought really highly of me and our friendship) but i ghosted him after that. luckily he quit his job like the next day bc they kept giving him shit so after he left i blocked his number. he knew where we lived tho so i staid anxious for weeks after... he's definitely tried to get in touch since but man that is not for me! not for me. and i have not made a single real life friend since. :)

[andwereallmadhere]

You’re Not Alone | Jean x Reader

Paring: Jean x f!reader (slight Eren x reader mentioned)

Genre: FLUFF!, song fic

Word Count: 4.5k 

Warnings/ Triggers: Alcohol, underage drinking 

A/N: I was inspired by the Big Time Rush song You’re Not Alone (Link below). This is not the first thing I have written, but it is the first I am posting. Characters might be OOC but I feel like the overall feeling is there. I hope you enjoy!

Link to song: https://youtu.be/tbS5JF32szE

I bet you didn't notice First time your heart was broken You called me up and we talked til the morning

Jean is woken from his sleep by the harsh ringing of his phone. He fumbles for a minute trying to slide the little green button to answer the call. He puts the device up to his ear before stuffing his face back into the pillow, “Why are you call me it’s the middle of the night?” Sleep heavy in his gruff voice. He is quickly answered by your voice sobbing on the other end of the receiver. This immediately broke him out of his sleep-filled mind. He should have known when he saw your picture flash on the screen that you would only be calling if it was important. 

“Hey, hey, it’s okay.” He says wiping a guilty hand over his face. You didn’t respond. Still unable to form proper words through all the tears. He continues to quietly talk to you in an attempt to calm you down. Once the sobbing ebbs he finally asks, “Y/N, can you tell me what’s wrong?”

He only hears you choke out a single word, “Eren.”

Jean and Eren never did get along, in however long you and Jaeger had been dating. But, as your best friend, Jean tried his best to accept him since that would make you happy. So hearing that HE is the reason you are crying at 2 A.M. enrages Jean. 

“What did that bastard do? Did he try something you didn’t want? Do I need to beat him up? Y/N, I swear to god if he hurt you I will-“

“No Jean. It’s not like that.” “Then what is it like?”

“He dumped me.”

“Y/N…”

“He just came by my house and told me that “I’m just over it I guess”. What am I supposed to do with that?”

“He’s a dick, I’ve told you that from the beginning.”

You only respond by sobbing more.

Eren had been your first real boyfriend. And as much as Jean didn’t want it to be true, you were head over heels. Everyone knew this would happen eventually, he just hoped there would be a little more warning. Maybe a fight or something but just cutting it off without a real reason? Jean had theories that he was probably hooking up with someone else and didn’t want the guilt of being a cheater, but you didn’t need to hear that right now. You didn’t need overprotective Jean hating on Eren. You needed best friend Jean to comfort you and assure you that you are worthy of love and everything is going to be okay.

“Hey, you can do better than him. He’s the real loser here. Any guy would be lucky to have you and the next one has to go through me first.” Jean says half meaning it, half attempting to make you laugh.

“Stop it, Jean, You know you’d lose every fight.” He can almost hear the smile in your voice, despite the tears that are certainly still running down your face. 

“Why don’t I come get you? We can go for a drive or something.”

“Okay.” Your soft voice is followed by a sniffle.

“I’m on my way.”

Jean gets out of the warmth of his bed and finds his sweatpants. He throws on a hoodie and grabs an extra in case you forget to bring your own. It's pretty chilly out tonight. He grabs his keys and begins the drive to your house. Once he arrives he sees your form sitting on your porch. Always the gentleman, he walks over to you and offers to help you up. You grab his hand and he can still see the tear stains on your cheeks. Once you are on your feet he pulls you into a hug. “Hey,” Jean says returning your tight squeeze. “Let’s go get you some food.” 

You don’t respond, but your grip around his waist losses and you begin making your way to the car. He opens the door for you and watches as you immediately grab the spare hoodie and slide it over your head. It’s obviously too big for you, but you are grateful for the extra fabric to bury your sad face in. 

The ride is mostly silent, Jean wanted to give you room to talk if you wanted. After a bit of having his hoodie pulled up to your nose, it was clear that you were too caught up in your own drowning thoughts to say anything so he turned on a very soft playlist from his phone in hopes of providing you some distraction.

Jean stops the car and you see he has brought you to a Waffle House. He knows it your favorite. Sure the food isn’t great but there is something about the mediocracy of the establishment that gets you. “Come on slowpoke, I’m buyin’,” Jean says after opening your door. You give him a thank you before following him into the restaurant. 

The two of you find a small booth, given that it was well into the night, there weren’t any people there other than the handful of employees. “You’ll have to talk to me eventually you know,” Jean says. You take a moment to look up from the menu he knows you have memorized by now. Just then a waitress comes by to take your order. 

Jean already knows exactly what you want because you always get the same thing. Just as he tells the waitress your order you finally speak, “Hey Jean.” Your voice is slightly above a whisper, “can I have chocolate milk?” You look back down at the table while Jean turns back to the waitress, “And can the lady have a chocolate milk, please and thank you.” Jean smiles at you as the waitress walks away, your silly request signaling that his best friend is slowly but surely coming out of this shell of sadness. 

Sure enough, you begin to open up. You tell him more of the details about Eren dumping you. Your food arrives and you laugh when Jean spills his glass of water on his lap. The two of you eventually move to the barstool countertops to talk to the fry cook, trying to convince him to make you a pancake instead of a waffle. Eventually Jean pays, leaving a generous tip as an apology for your late-night shenanigans. 

Walking to the car you can see the pastel colors of the impending day reaching the sky. Not ready to go home yet you lean into Jean’s body, tugging on his arm, “Let’s go watch the sunrise!” 

“You’re ridiculous.” He says shaking his head, “get in the car.” He smiles and opens your car door. Of course he was going to let you watch the sunrise. He is going to drive you to the park and find a place high up and the two of you will talk about nothing at all until you fall asleep in the passenger seat of his car. He is really just happy that the outing has worked. No, 4 A.M. waffles cannot cure your broken heart but it at least made you smile. 

And the time that you were stranded I was there before you landed He was a no show, I made sure you got home

High school seemed to pass in the blink of an eye. Graduation came and went and your family decided that you should spend the summer at your aunt’s house on the other side of the country. Of course, you loved your aunt and her kids, but spending your last real summer break away from your friends wasn’t a huge selling point. Ultimately, your mom said you had to go because the trip was already paid for and your aunt was expecting you. The only reason you eventually agreed was that the majority of your little group were all attending the same college, so at least it wasn’t goodbye.

The day before Freshman move-in everyone decided to throw a party at Eren and Mikasa’s house. Eren’s parents were out of town a lot so that is usually where the gang got together. Jean and Eren still don’t along great, but Jean was close to Sasha and Connie who happened to be okay friends with Armin and Mikasa, and thus your little group was formed for better or for worse. After the night Eren dumped you out of the blue, Jean was furious with him, only for you to accept Jaeger’s lame-ass apology and take him back a week later. Luckily there hadn’t been any more repeats of that night. Maybe Eren was telling the truth and did actually like you, so Jean played nice even if he didn’t fully forgive the brunette. 

And now he was here, with you on FaceTime while you wait for your flight at the airport and Jean is getting ready for Eren’s dumb party that you won’t even make it to. 

“So when does your flight get in?” Jean asks folding the remains of the load of laundry his mom did this morning. 

“I think about 11 if it’s not delayed again. I’m super bummed that I won’t make it in time for the party.”

“It’s at Jaeger’s house, can’t he just bring you by after he picks you up?” 

“I guess so, but he also said something about taking me home because it’ll be late and we have move in tomorrow.”

Jean hums in response. It is a valid argument logically, but none of them have seen you all summer except for the occasional FaceTime. The only real reason Jean was going to this stupid party was that you were supposed to be back in time. Jean can hear a voice come over the intercom in the airport. “Hey, Jean, that’s my flight. I gotta go.”

“Alright, Y/N, let me know when you land. See you soon.”

With that, the call ended. Your face replaced by a photo of you and Jean at prom making silly faces. Yeah, Eren was your date and Jean took Mikasa, but you all took photos together and his mom insisted on getting one of the two of you. It was obvious that the picture pissed Eren off, and that made it even more special to Jean. 

Eventually, Jean finished the laundry and headed over to Eren’s. At least everyone else will be there and he can kick Connie’s ass at beer pong. Jean purposefully arrived a little late, so he knew everyone else would already be there, and sure enough, Eren had the white folding table already set up in the garage and Armin had started a little bonfire in the backyard. “Horseface You made it!” Connie says throwing an arm around Jean. 

“I told you not to call me that.”

“What are you going to do send Y/N after me? Oh wait…She’s not here!”

“We both know Y/N could easily kick your ass so shut up.”

Jean went around greeting everyone else and made good on his promise to dominate at beer pong. A while later he takes a seat next to Armin, who was currently roasting a marshmallow. “Ever put peanut butter on a s’more? Whole new experience.”

Armin looks over at Jean, “Y/N show you that?”

“Oh no, secret’s out,” Jean says taking a drink of water. After the game of beer pong, which was a little closer in score than Jean would have enjoyed, he decided to take it easy on the booze so he could actually drive home.

“When does her flight get in anyway?” Armin asks removing his marshmallow from the flame. 

“She told me about 11 when we talked earlier. Said Eren was going to pick her up.” 

At the mention of his name the two look over to see Eren taking a shot with Sasha and Connie. “Did anyone tell him that?” Armin says with a small chuckle. 

Jean looked at his watch, it was only 9, if the bastard stop drinking now he might be sober enough to come get you. So Jean let it slide. 

But Eren didn’t stop drinking. It was now 10:30 and Eren was plastered. Jean watches as Eren and Connie arm wrestle and sighs. What would Y/N think if she saw her boyfriend like this? “Shit,” Jean says standing from his chair around the fire. This gets the attention of Armin and Mikasa who were also over Eren’s drunk bullshit, “What is it?” Armin questions. “Y/N. Eren is supposed to pick her up from the airport in 30 minutes.”

“Well, that’s not happening!” Sasha laughs, also drunk. 

Jean stood up and finished his soda before pulling his car keys from his pocket. 

“And where are you going Horseface? Afraid you’ll lose in arm wrestling?” Eren suddenly joins the conversation. Jean cannot believe this asshole, he doesn’t even realize! Jean contemplates throwing a punch, but that will inevitably start a fight and the airport is almost 40 minutes away so he’ll already be late. So instead, Jean crushes the soda can in his hand and walks away. “Ha! Horseface is a scary cat!” Eren yells at his back before Mikasa smacks Eren on the head. 

Jean’s anger melts through the drive. As upset as he is that Jaeger forgot, Jean is excited to see you. He’s not sure how he’s going to explain this one to you though. He parks his car and glances at the time, 11:15. At least you haven’t been waiting too long. 

Luckily the airport is pretty small and there are only a few incoming flights so it’s not hard to figure out which gate your flight should have landed at. He thinks it's a little odd you haven’t texted him that you landed safely but he dismissed it as he made his way to the gate. Jean is surprised to find the gate empty. No hugging families or people searching for their luggage. There are a few scattered people here and there, also apparently picking up various passengers. After talking with another guy, Jean finds out that the flight had been delayed before take off so it is running late. You were not stranded at the airport, you hadn’t even landed. 

Jean found a seat and began scrolling on his phone. He didn’t expect to have so much time so he didn’t really bring anything with him, not even headphones to listen to music. He sat waiting for what must have been a solid 30 minutes before he started to fall asleep in the chair. 

“Jean!” He hears your voice call, this rouses him from the light sleep. Once he sees your face he can’t help but smile. He stands to walk over to you but is practically knocked over when you throw yourself into his arms. “Hey, stranger.” He says wrapping his arms around you. 

“It feels like it has been forever!” You pull away from him and reach for your suitcase, but Jean beats you to it, grabbing the handle before you can. “I can carry it you know.” But you know it’s useless arguing. Mama Kirstein raised a gentleman, that’s for sure. 

“Aren’t you supposed to be at a party?” You ask, giving him a side-eye as you follow him to his car. “Yeah…about that…” Jean still hasn’t figured out exactly what to say about why Eren ditched you. 

“Eren drunk himself stupid, didn’t he?” You say, almost casually. Like you expected it all along. 

“Yeah, but lucky for you I know a guy with a soft spot for you.” Jean places your things in the trunk before opening your car door.

“My shining stallion, always coming to my rescue.”

“Yeah, yeah, get in the car Princess.” He says. Eren’s stupid horse jokes have started rubbing off on you.

You spent the whole drive telling Jean about your trip, even though you talked with him almost every day you were gone. Jean in turn told you all the ridiculous things Sasha and Connie did while you were away. They still had group game night, which surprisingly Eren and Jean only tried to kill each other a handful of times. You laugh when Jean tells you the full story about Connie smashing Sasha’s face into a cake she brought one night, claiming “There is never a bad time for cake.” Sure they all sent you the pictures but you still loved hearing the story. And before you know it Jean pulled up in front of your house. 

He carried your suitcase to the door and turned to you, “I’ll pick you up at 6 alright?” Right, Jean offered to drive you to orientation tomorrow and it was a four-hour drive to the University. With all the excitement of seeing your best friend, you forgot about college tomorrow. “Ugh so early? That’s like 4 hours from now” 

“Unfortunately. Even then we’ll be cutting it close.”

“Fine. I’ll see you at 6.” You say giving him a final hug.

“Jean," you say into his chest, “I’m kind of glad it was you and not Eren that picked me up. I missed you. Thanks for always being there for me.”

“For you. Always.” Jean returns your hug before walking back to his car.

All the days that you were stressed out Feeling like pulling your hair out They were all missing but I was here listening

Freshman year came and went and now you were currently crying over your trigonometry textbook before your final tomorrow. Your other finals had gone pretty well and other than this stupid test you were finished with your first full year of university. Surprisingly Jean and Eren didn’t kill each other despite being suite mates. Originally the two were supposed to be roommates, but Armin quickly volunteered to switch with Jean, the blond being a little more equipped to handle Eren. You on the other hand shared a dorm with Sasha and Mikasa. Since it was the three of you you managed to snag a bigger room and didn’t have to share a bathroom with anyone else. When the gang got together for movie night it was usually in your room since the boys lived just down the hall. Overall it had been a pretty good year. 

Everyone else had already finished their finals, the majority of your group moving back home on Wednesday, except Jean who had his last final today. Jean also offered to stay an extra day so you could drive home together, but he would never say that out loud. “I’m gonna use the extra time to relax since Jaeger is gone. Living with him for a year almost killed me!” He would claim, ever the dramatic. But you knew he was also staying for you since you didn’t have a car and he did a similar thing for winter break. 

Trig had been your worst class all semester. No matter how many times you worked through the problems you were always getting a different answer, usually the wrong one. Armin helped you study for your midterm, but since he was already gone you were left alone. While your overall grade wasn’t bad considering you did all of the extra credit options your professor offered, this test could make or break your final GPA. If you could get at least an 85% it would bump your grade from a high C to a low B. So you have been doing nothing but math since your other finals finished this morning. And you were about to cry. Again. After completing the study guide and taking half a dozen practice tests you aren’t anywhere close to what you needed. After grading your last practice test, you barely managed an 80% and that was being nice to yourself. 

“I’m never going to get this.” You sob, ink running from the tears now spilling onto your paper. Then there is a knock on the door.

“Who’s there?”

“The pizza guy?” Jean says from the other side of your door. At the mention of food, you realize you hadn’t eaten since breakfast that morning, which wasn’t saying much since you had a muffin and cup of coffee after Mikasa yelled at you for forgetting to eat earlier in the week. But you didn’t want Jean to see you struggling this much. Yeah, you could talk to him about anything but he was always so gifted when it came to school, even graduated top of the class in high school. So the idea of him seeing you brought to tears by something he saw as easy made your heartache. You were afraid he would accidentally make fun of you in that cocky way he does, or he would offer to help but realize you were a lost cause before ditching you altogether.

“Go away, Jean. I’m studying,” You yell back, attempting to hide the overwhelming stress from your voice.

“Well take a break, I wasn’t joking about the pizza. Mikasa told me you haven’t been eating so you better open this door, Y/N, before I resort to drastic measures.”

You give up getting him to go away, plus that pizza sounds so good. You get up and open the door, “And what would these ‘drastic measures’ be?” 

“Sasha left her keys in our dorm, so I probably would have just walked in.” Jean finally takes a look at your face, and despite your efforts to wipe away your tears, Jean knows you’ve been crying.

“Y/N what’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

“Are you sure? You-‘ You cut him off before he can finish. “What kind of pizza did you bring?” 

“Your favorite, of course.” Jean sets the pizza on your bed while you grab some drinks out of the little micro-fridge. Jean glances at your desk and quickly takes in the scattered notes and tear-stained papers. Suddenly it makes sense. Your lack of eating, how you haven’t been responding to texts, and the tears when you opened the door. “I can help you you know? I took Trig last semester.” 

“I told you not to worry about it.” You say attempting to be mad at him for snooping but it’s pointless. You take a seat on the bed and open the pizza box, “Horseface.” You add almost in a whisper. 

Jean visibly shrivels at the name, “No. Not you. Not allowed.”

This small comment was enough to change the subject, and his mild anger at such a stupid name pulls an amused smile out of you. The two of you eat and converse as usual. He tells you about his last final and how Eren left their shared bathroom a mess that he needs to take care of before you leave tomorrow. You talk about how one of your professors just showed a movie during the final period since they are required to hold class despite not actually giving a test. And you feel the stress leave your body, even if just for a moment. 

After a while, Jean looks back over at your desk before grabbing your textbook and the last practice test you took. “This isn’t bad, Y/N, looks like some simple mistakes that you keep making, fix those and you’ll be fine.”

“How can I fix something I don’t know I’m doing wrong?” You ask.

“Because I’m going to help you, idiot.”

Jean proceeds to walk you through your last practice test and showing you the mistakes he was talking about. After helping you do a few more problems, Mr. Kirstein makes you do another practice test that he’s going to grade. While you take the test Jean lays on your bed, scrolling through his phone. He’s trying not to look at you, not wanting to add more pressure to you by feeling watched. 

After you are finished you pass him the paper and watch as he marks up the pages with a red pen. Eventually, he turns to you and gives you back the test, a solid 83%. Not as good as you hoped but you don’t want to discredit Jean’s tutoring. After walking through the test you look at the clock, it's currently 1 A.M. 

“Well Y/N, your test is first thing in the morning and I don’t think stressing yourself out more is going to help you at all.”

“But what am I supposed to do? I need an 85!”

“You need sleep,” Jean says, packing up your study materials.

“One more practice test, then I sleep, I swear.’

“Sleep now. Maybe you can do another in the morning.”

There is no use in arguing with Jean, he always gets his way. Once the study materials were all put away Jean takes your laptop and opens up Netflix, knowing you won’t be able to sleep if you were still worked up. The two of you sit side by side on your bed watching some stupid movie until Jean notices your eyes have closed and your breathing has evened out. As quietly as possible Jean closes the laptop and climbs out of the bed. He puts a blanket over your sleeping form and turns off the light before closing the door to your room. 

The next morning you wake up with a text from Jean. Opening your door you find a fresh coffee and a doughnut waiting on your doorstep. “That idiot.” You mumble to no one, but gratefully pick up the small meal he left for you. After eating you get ready to go and resign to looking over some notes before the exam. Once in the classroom, all the stress from last night comes crashing back. You just have to keep reminding yourself that a C in trig isn’t bad. Your GPA will still be above a 3.0, barely but still. And before you know it your teacher has told you to begin your exam so you log on to your computer and start your test. 

The good thing about the test being on the computer is that you’ll know your results immediately. After going over the answers a second time you finally hit the submit button. You stare at the little blinking cursor as it checks through all your answers, holding your breath. Suddenly your final grade pops up on the screen and you can’t stop the tears that slip from your eyes. You gather your things and head back to your dorm. But you find Jean waiting outside the building, leaning against the car without a care in the world. “JEAN!” You practically scream upon seeing him. He can see the tears on your face, “It’s okay, Y/N. Trig is pointless anyway. You still did great even if you got a C.”

“I did it! Jean, I got a 90%!”

“That’s my girl!” Jean says giving you a high five.

“Couldn’t have done it without you, teach.” You say giving him a big grin.

“Come on, Y/N. I say we get you a celebratory milkshake before we drive home. Jean says opening the door for you. Your eyes follow him as he walks around the car to the driver’s side. You are lucky to have him in your life. Yeah, he can be kind of an ass from time to time, but his heart is always in the right place. 

'Cause I'll be right there (right there) For every minute This time, it's no different Whatever happens you should know 'Cause you're not alone, girl Look over your shoulder You don't have to wonder 'Cause you know, you know, you know You're not alone, girl

[larrythefloridaman]

Y'all like your deities with or without the shell?

Under the readmore is aaaaaaaaall color god observations and musings based on them, because I am studying to become the world's Premiere Chromatheologian and RGB Understander so under the cut is pretty much Oops! All Spoilers! up to the most recent episode of season 3.

Apparently Universal Color God Attributes:

Damage to their domain hurts them, but fixing the issue, or lashing out by using their powers destructively, can help them to repair the damage.

If they sustain enough damage, it can temporarily paralyze them and send them into a strengthened but 'exposed' state (chartreuse's spirit activation in the last fight of 19) and further damage after that will activate a failsafe, which is unique by domain but seemingly designed to give them the chance to balance things, but can get… very out of hand or backfire depending on circumstances. (see: cobalt’s failsafe sending mark's universe into a never-ending apocalyptic war because word of the cure for death became too widespread for the killing urge failsafe to affectively balance anything because every side could simply revive their fallen.)

Chartreuse's failsafe is something of a stopped time bubble quarantine where processes that require the passing of time cannot complete, allowing her the time to wear down the offending party to beat them to death or plan around finishing them.

Cobalt's is inciting war, the casualties serving to balance the scale. I'm not sure we know Crimson's yet- he's never taken enough direct damage without doing damage to compensate in order to trigger it, although i dont remember season one well enough to recall if any of the universe stuff in it tracks with the pattern bc season one is a bit fucky

Connected in a fashion that allows them to simply Sense the overall status of the others to some extent, although they don't know Why theyre in the state theyre in without asking (chartreuse [and by extension, folk, presumably on her information] confronting crimson via crimsonaut for pretending to be dead, Cobalt confronting both his siblings about how they are handling their duties improperly but not knowing about Folk. He knew about the constants deaths because hes a death god, duh, but he didnt use their names like crimson did, possibly implying they're erased upon death so thoroughly that only crimson and the constants can really recall a shattered constants' existence, not even the other guardians.)

Abilities of the guardians can be replicated by mortals through three apparent methods- through machines (dimensional bus, the time machine, presumably J0hn's part in Sephiroth's resurrection,) simply through advanced enough individual skill (Home MD curing death, potentially Dantoinette's universe portal travel, maybe Genwun's sped up time bubble that evolved them into Genfour? although that could very well have just been an illusion and theyre just like, a fuckin theater kid that was doing pretend character development for the Bit or something given GenFive turned out to be a zoroark) or through stealing some of the power of the relevant god (Dr. Order stealing Chartreuse's power, Dani maybe having stolen some of Crimson's when she beat his ass. Dani's one woman universal travel is like, wicked ambiguous)

Cobalt:

Can seemingly perceive or act through any living material. (The Tree. Cobalt instructed Larry to slap his hand on that tree, that shit glowed and he had a new deal tattoo without Cobalt ever having been physically present)

Can influence the resurrected by giving them a killing urge. Represented by an aberrant brainwave and a ringing in the undead's heads. This doesnt appear to be direct control- as the Grunk could clearly restrain himself from killing people that genuinely didn't deserve it (like nightly and cha cha, who WERE grunk event targets but not fatally so. Nagito was a crimson thing so it really doesn't count here. God poor grunk his life really is just a constant plaything in the hands of the gods huh) and Sephiroth very much had personal motivation to want to kill Folk. failsafe activates this ability on the scale of war.

Deals. The extent of what Cobalt can do with these is unclear but Iggy's god powers were taken from him as his part in the deal so what he can take isn't limited to physical things or things obviously related to his domain.

Weaknesses:

Deals. While this ability is impressive his preference for making deals for those that offend against his domain is potentially very exploitable- Larry's knowledge of the cure for death is, if word of it were to ever get out beyond Larry, wildly dangerous for this dimension, so technically the safest thing for the iron-fisted cobalt to do would be to nip the problem in the bud and get rid of him. But, fascinatingly, that wasn't even put on the table, the first thing Cobalt does is threaten J0hn, prompting Larry to make a deal. While Cobalt enforces death, he also doesn't like unnecessary death, and Larry demonstrably knows how to keep a secret for the good of the world even at great cost to himself and Cobalt is aware of this- easily clarifying to Larry the aberrant thing endangering the universe wasn't his timeloop business. So while he's clearly not letting his resurrection fuckery go unpunished, he's being pretty merciful when he doesn't have to be and from a strictly, brutally pragmatic perspective probably shouldn't be.

His control over the undead manifests as a ringing and an aberrant brainwave trackable by J0hn's equipment, and could probably therefore be accounted for and circumvented? J0hn has, wisely, largely sworn off fucking with people's brains after the sephiroth fiasco went So Wrong, So Very Wrong, Oh God Oh Fuck Someone Cool Almost Died, but if he hadn't, and if J0hn let his dislike for authority and keeping Larry safe outweigh reason like he let safety, spite and comedic value outweigh good ethical sense when reprogramming sephiroth, in theory Mr. 'hacked a time machine for breakfast?' could. y'know. probably do it. what is a god's authority to an anarchist, what better to challenge life and death than the cold and eternal machine, you get the point its a fun scenario

Olive Garden Breadsticks and Small Cute Dogs, apparently

Chartreuse's:

Time Clones: taps into parallel timelines to retrieve alternate versions of herself to utilize.

Time Travel: what it says on the tin. Travel to the past creates painful splits in the prime timeline, but through careful action and traveling back into the past, these can be weaved into a time loop. A split from the timeline is a wound, and a successful timeloop is the surgical scar it can become with attentive care, to use a medical metaphor. Carefully closed and healing. Keeping Folk here is essentially akin to chartreuse pulling out her stitches on the initial incision.

Time Stopping: creates a space wherein things that take time to complete cannot complete, where things can move, but everything within is in a perfect unchanging stasis until the bubble drops. This is the form her failsafe takes.

Timeline Creation: can create timelines from scratch.

Can fuse alternate timeline versions of the same individual to allow them to coexist. (Ryan's confirmed in the discord that Dantoinette experienced both failures in 20, because Chartreuse fused the two instances of her to save the post-raid instance from fading. Could... theoretically do this to Folk and save herself the pain, but while Folk and Therapuppy are the same person, there's seven years and untold amounts of difference deriving from the time and circumstance between them and the inherent cognitive dissonances that would result from attempting that would be wicked fucked up to inflict, and that's assuming there isn't some reason that it wouldn't be possible anyway. while the two Danis had like. A day or so's difference between them, so she could be safely fused with the only dissonant thing being that she remembers both being too slow to prevent order's time escape and beginning to dissipate post-raid, AND losing that fight to her pre-raid. RIP Dani, that perfectionism must be kicking her ass)

Weaknesses:

Unwilling to use her powers destructively in her pursuit of domain repair and thereby much easier to damage to the point of paralyzing her, making her particularly vulnerable to Power Theft

Morally Optimistic. At one point in 19, she briefly justifies Crimson's shitty evil actions to herself after experiencing for herself how Wack the kerfuffleverse is firsthand, ("and all he did was kill a couple people!" Chartreuse. Honey.) and when she fights Crimsonaut she seems to actually believe for a second that he's actually worried about her when Crimson asks if she's okay after he beats her. Additionally, as D+, she concerns herself with trying to understand doctor order's motive, and after Larry defeats Order, he makes a point of confirming she feels no remorse before making his request for what Chartreuse does with her, and appeals to the idea of letting Order fulfill her desire to be a god in a way which isn't a problem for anyone and Chartreuse is more than happy to oblige under these conditions after what Larry's done for everybody. Then immediately threatens to evaporate him for playfully teasing her about having a crush on folk. Fucked up a little bit

Crimson's:

Universe Shifting: Travel between universes.

Universe Correction: appears to replace an aberrant individual with the 'correct' version of themselves for that universe, presumably sending them back to their own. (Mario from super mario was universe corrected, but still seemingly exists in wario form as evidenced by smashup kerfuffle, and was simply temporarily replaced with his corrected universe counterpart. But like. The dimensional bus system is still active crimbo doing the Put That Thing Back Where It Came From Or So Help Me routine aint gonna work if they can come back with a shrug and bus fare. you're fighting the symptoms without treating the problem)

Universal Constants:

Three individuals per universe that serve as the pillars which stabilize said universe, created by absorbing red orbs Crimson creates. Becoming a constant grants power, but also makes the constant fragile, and death wipes them from the face of the multiverse, only crimson, those he's possessed and the other constants seemingly able to recall they ever existed, although some physical evidence is still left behind (Larry's record of Nagito's death, which is just as redacted as everything else relating to him but still is very much something Larry has. Kind of a Voidfish adventurezone type beat ironically enough? Taako really has seen all this shit before no wonder he peaced tf out)

To counterbalance the weaknesses the constants have, they have a sort of spidey-sense to alert them to danger, and an intrinsic bonded connection to their fellow constants, and additionally, Crimson apparently doesn't suffer any pain from the death of constants or the structural instability of a universe.

Possession: what it says on the tin! Seemingly can only be done with permission to living things- none of crimson's direct hosts seem to have entered that agreement unwillingly, Valentine lost a bet, Hamburger and Crimsonaut have been by all evidence intentional allies to Crimson- but electronics are fair game, as seen with The Guy's suit. Kinda curious how that rule applies to bitches that are half and half, like J0hn or the clonebot gang, as its unclear whether The Guy's suit was yoinkable without permission because it was mechanical or because its not sentient. could go either way but if it's the former that's potentially very frightening

Fusion: Two individuals from alternate universes can be fused into one shared body which can take on aspects of either depending on which is currently in control. (possibly allows someone who traveled into a given universe to become a fixed resident there without it being an issue for Crimson, whose job is to prevent interdimensional travel?) Monday Mark and possibly T.O.M. are our main examples.

Corruption:

Unpleasant As Hell and can even kill you instead of changing you if you cant handle it.

turns the corrupted individual into a twisted exaggeration of themself, allows them supernatural control over their shape, and makes them very difficult- if not impossible by traditional means- to kill, based on Garfield.

Subjects them to control by Crimson, but can be exorcised of this influence just like crimson's direct hosts can, although the supernatural changes to their physiology are seemingly permanent, judging from Shantae.

Notable Weaknesses:

Exorcism can be performed to free a possessed or corrupted individual of Crimson's influence. Its unclear how exorcism works/is learned in CPUK, but confirmed exorcists: dantoinette and yung papaya's snake dad, confirmed non-exorcists: folk

The universal constant orbs are physical objects so they are Very Stealable and they grant a power boost so theres literally an Incentive to beat his ass for anybody who wants to be strong and either doesnt know or doesn't care about the whole 'getting erased when you die' part

Crimson has lots of tools to create pawns, but all of them have drawbacks. Corruption could kill a potential pawn, possession generally seems to require permission, and he has no control over the constants' choices and actions

Manipulative bitch's highest stat is charisma and it shows. This motherfucker is selling snake oil. If he was mortal rather than a Whole Entire God he'd make an excellent ineffectual saturday morning cartoon supervillain and i think everyone, including him, would be happier for it, ngl

Something interesting ive realized that likely wasnt fully intentional, is that a lot of Dr. Order's creations, considering her motive, can kind of be sorted by a color god it appears to be a crude attempt at mimicking the abilities of. My Grunk is a poorly executed resurrection, the clonebot gang vs chartreuse's timeclones (this one deserves special mention because Chartreuse used this shitty attempted mimicry to her advantage with D+, very smart and ironic play, excellent job Treusy,) spirits are somewhat similar to universal constant orbs (orbs which can be absorbed to grant power, but which have physical repercussions- key differences being that spirits require activation and grow stronger while attuning to a user without being used, and having far less severe drawbacks, taking a heavy toll on the body, but only once they've worn off and without the risk of wiping yourself from the face of existence,) and she also augmented Perfect Spriteman and Larry, which kind of track as crude imitations of Crimson's corruption!

Garfield was an acerbic cat who loved food and hated mondays, now its an actively malicious ever-hungry amorphous entity whose only weakness is monday and whose only consistency in form is 'cat-like.'

Shantae was (to my extremely limited understanding of shantae,) a friendly heroic type who had to introduce herself often, and she became something akin to a biblically accurate angel that can *only* introduce herself.

The Grunks a tough but sweet and supportive single dad with stage presence and a tendency to fly off the handle when he or his family are slighted, and now he gets so hype in the audience when his son does well that he bursts into flames and ascends and we get random grunk events along with the associated murder charges when he gets mad and the target sucks enough that he doesn't hold himself back from killing them.

Perfect Spriteman and Larry fit the trend of exaggeration of already present traits- Spriteman fucking loves sprite and became something that only thinks about sprite, and Larry the Florida Man, characterized from minute one by unpredictability and who spent his first matches in the series pre-shapeshifter transformation staying alive keeping stocks for Shockingly Long even despite getting seventh, became literally physically random as well as developing the ability to regenerate, albeit with the ability to feel pain normally very much intact, unlike Garfield just... Soaking up damage like its nothing in his pursuit of Jon. The fact that Arbuckle legit defeated Garfield, even temporarily, is terrifyingly impressive honestly that dude is fucking built different for being so chronically bland

i dont think they're actually corrupted in any meaningful way we have to worry about, to be fully clear, Spriteman was cured with fucking antacids, i simply think they could be a fucked up attempt at making something that kind of seems like it from a functional standpoint, from the wannabe god doctor that brought us green clones whose only fundamental association with time was accelerated aging and who thought an actively rotting corpse thats just reanimated enough that it can throw hands was as good as curing death

[faulty-writes]

Hi I just want to say I love fatgum and the way you wrote him is Great. REQUEST: the reader has never seen him without his fat and when she does is she doesn't recognize him. Thanks

[ *Me looking back on how I wrote him.* haha. I love Fat Gum and this sounds adorable. I hope I did it justice. ] 

When Taishiro told you he had an important mission and he’d be gone for a few days, you didn’t think much of it. After all, he was a Pro and though there was that underline of worry. You tried to brush it off, you knew that while Taishiro was sweet and loving. His Pro Hero alias Fat Gum wasn't so forgiving and though he didn’t have the physical aspects one would expect from a hero, that is he didn't have big muscles or a skinny waist. You looked beyond that and honestly, Taishiro was more or less the greatest thing that had ever happened to you. In fact, you had always admired Fat Gum. You were lucky to have trained alongside him at Shiketsu High School and you were one of the few students that befriended him.

Of course, as your Pro Hero careers bloomed. You and Fat Gum were placed on missions together, which gave you a great opportunity to see each other's strengths and weaknesses. You had certainly grown closer to Fat Gum thanks to those missions, so much so that one day something clicked. Dating between Pro Heroes wasn’t always easy, but somehow you and Taishiro worked out. Given whenever you happened to get injured on the job, Taishiro would grow so worried. Which meant he would drown you in affection. Kisses and hugs would become an hourly thing. In addition to the fact he wouldn’t let you get up to do anything, it was like extreme Princess pampering and while you didn’t mind.

Sometimes you wished he would turn it down a notch. But overall, you appreciated the way he treated you. But you had never actually seen him get injured, sure there were a few scratches here and there. Yet, nothing truly damaging enough that had you worrying over him to the point of tears. In fact, you were a little eager to see him. He was supposed to be coming back from the mission tonight and you were growing a little impatient. Your phone was sitting on the counter, usually, Taishiro texted you when he was coming home. But your phone had been unusually silent tonight. Your fingers tapped along the kitchen counter, “Well …” you said before sliding off the stool. “Might as well get ready for bed.” you shrugged as you began to walk down the hallway.

However, the sound of the doorknob turning caught your attention. You paused and turned on your feet, eyes locked on the door as it opened. “Hm?” you blinked when you saw a man step through, he was at least seven or eight feet tall with a messy crop of yellow hair on top of his head. You must have missed the fact that he was wearing a hoodie that looked four times too big on him. “Hello! I’m-” before he could finish his sentence, your hand was around his throat. Despite the fact he was taller, your quirk allowed you to levitate. Which gave you some advantage in combat, the rest of your tactics were physical. You watched his yellow eyes widen but you didn’t care, “Who are you …” you demanded with a hiss.

The man’s face twisted with uncertainty as he looked at you and he held up his hands, “Sweet Bun, it’s me!” he said and your eyes widened at the nickname, Taishiro always liked to use nicknames. Most of them involved the word “Sweet” or some reference to food. You blinked before leaning close, taking in the features of his face. Your hand loosened, “Taishiro?” you whispered before letting your hand drop, you floated back to get a better look at him. “I-Is that really you?” your voice was soft and barely audible but Taishiro smiled, something that made your heart race. His chuckle followed, his hands on his stomach as he did so. “Yup! That’s right my beautiful hunny bun, it’s me. Glad ya finally recognized me without the well …” he paused and scratched his head.

“Well, the fat,” he said, squeezing what he could grab. You couldn’t help but chuckle, though your cheeks were red. “Uh ...r-right um, sorry about …” you lowered yourself back to the floor, almost too embarrassed to look up at the giant man. Taishiro tilted his head, watching your reaction before laughing. The sound of which made your cheeks grow darker before his hand came to rest on your shoulder. You swallowed and slowly tilted your head up to look at him and that big goofy smile he wore. “It’s alright! Ya know, come to think of it. Ya haven’t seen me in this scrawny little skinny form, so of course ya wouldn’t recognize me haha. Silly old Fat Gum here.” he said as he gently smacked his hand against his forehead.

“Well doesn’t matter much, come here.” he insisted and you squeaked when you felt his hands grab onto your waist. You latched onto his arms and watched him smile as he lifted you off the ground and into a hug. Squeezing you as tightly as possible. “I missed ya so much, my perfect little coffee cake.” he nuzzled into the crook of your neck before carrying you to the kitchen where he placed you onto the counter. Your heart was racing as he stood between your legs and dropped his arms. “Now I don’t know about you,” he began as you wrapped your arms around his neck. “But I’m pretty hungry,” he smirked and leaned close making you shiver as his hot breath hit your skin. “Y-Yeah?” you replied, your voice a little shaky.

“Mmhm.” he hummed before pressing his lips against your neck, making you gasp in response. His hands came to rest on your thighs, you squirmed impatiently and your hands reached up to pull at his hair. “Taishiro …”  you breathed out as his lips continued to assault your neck. Trailing up to your ear where you felt his moist warm tongue graze over the shell of it. He smirked before whispering, “Baby …” and you latched onto your lip, tightening your legs around him. “Y-Yes?” you replied, practically panting from his kisses. “Can ya make me something to eat?” he questioned and your eyes shot open before you smacked his shoulder. “Taishiro!” you snapped, feeling a little embarrassed for having fallen for his advances.

“Hey! Not my fault, the sight of ya always makes me hungry and I did get back from a hard mission,” he explained with dusted red cheeks. In all honesty, it was pretty weird seeing him in his skinny form. It was easier to wrap your arms and legs around him sure, but it wasn't the same as his lovable fat form. Still, he was the man you loved regardless of what form he took. “Pancakes sound okay?” you said in a defeated tone before watching him grin. He grabbed your shoulders and leaned down to press a sloppy kiss to your cheek. “Sounds delicious, cupcake.” he pulled you in for a hug, “Thank you.” he reached up to run his fingers through your hair.

“It’s always worth it to come back home to you. Though next time I’ll make sure to eat something on the way, sound good?” he said before pulling away. You chuckled, “Yeah that sounds perfect, but I think I like your fat form just a little more.” you said before sliding off the counter. “You want chocolate chips with those pancakes?” you asked as you gathered the ingredients. “Of course!” he replied as he leaned his elbows against the counter, staring at you as you prepared the food he requested. In all truth, he was a little afraid of what you’d think. Most people only wanted him for his skinny form, but you always loved him regardless. Even back in your High School days. 

[butterflymar]

DAY 2: FAVORITE BL DRAMA

I have quite a few... I can’t choose just one so bare with me lol

Life Senjou No Bokura

Synopsis According to MyDramaList: One day after school, the serious Ito and the child-like Nishi meet by chance, as each endeavors to remain walking  on the sidewalk`s white line. As time goes by, Ito recognizes he is drawn to Nishi in a way that is new to him. Nishi, for his part, is frustrated that they only get to meet on the sidewalk. Ito decides to act upon his feelings and kisses a surprised Nishi, who agrees they need to walk side by side for a change. The sparks between them are undeniable as their relationship blossoms in high school, survives the college years, and matures into adulthood. A deeply moving work that bears witness to loving partners, whose unchanging feelings must co-exist within a world of changing realities.

My Personal Thoughts: I already wrote a review for this so I am going to re-share some of those thoughts here. This is one that I have watched countless times already. They went by the manga for mostly all of the episodes and I appreciated seeing that. They gave more context for certain details that may have been lost while reading the manga and translated it to screen. I think they depicted the age gaps well too. For 4 episodes only, I feel that they did a great job including the most important aspects. Actually now that I think of it, I would have loved to see more of them in their early 20s depicted on screen because that was like one of there honeymoon phases and I’m a hopeless romantic lol but that’s just a personal preference not complaining. Also, the show stopped at age 40 and they could have gone on throughout there entire lives but I understand why they chose not too. The manga is great as well!!! I think that the main actors depicted beautiful true love very well. They had amazing chemistry. Japanese BL’s have that special spark about them that I love. I also loved that it showed there relationship from high school till there later years. I don’t see that a lot with BL’s. They usually just stick to one time period. The aspect about them being connected by a line in relation to there love was a nice touch as well. I am glad that it has a happy ending as well. This is a pretty quick one to watch and a great one at that!!! If you haven’t watched it yet, I would highly recommend it!!!

I Told Sunset About You 

Synopsis According to MyDramaList: Teh and Oh-aew were best friends until a boyhood line of reasoning turned them into rivals. Years later as they're preparing for university admissions, both pursuing interests in the field of Communication Arts, the two meet in a Chinese language class. Their reunion awakens complicated and unstable feelings.

My Personal Thoughts: Same as above, I already wrote a review for this so I am going to re-share some of those thoughts here. This is DEFINITELY one of my top BL shows of the year 2020. This is such a beautiful masterpiece of a show!!! I remember when the preview trailer first came out… I was already hooked!!! I was on the lookout for it and it did not disappoint me one bit when it finally started. I looked forward to seeing it every week. It made me feel all of the emotions. I was up here sitting in my room crying over everything. I don’t think any other BL has made me this emotional before in my life. The two lead actors really DELIVERED!!! I could feel every single stare, every single body movement, and every single touch. You could cut the TENSION with a knife!!! No one couldn’t tell me that there wasn’t a magnetic true love between these two. I know this sounds cliche but it's like they were destined to be together from when they were childhood friends. Also, I would love to see them in future projects!!! The cinematography in this show is TOP FREAKIN NOTCH!!! Every single scene is just so beautifully shot. The cinematography alone makes me want to cry lol I saw somewhere that someone said the filming of the show reminded them of an indie film and I totally agree!!! The writing and directing on this show was impeccable to me!!! No cringy dialogue and every single line served its purpose well. This is movie grade writing. I also wanted to quickly just say that I loved the attention and callback to details throughout like with the tutoring book that Teh made for Oh-aew that was left empty by the end of episode 4, the flower that was supposed to be colored the same as Tan’s garment but Teh colored it red because he was thinking of Oh-aew, the rubbing of Oh-aew’s back when he sniffles, the references to Teh’s favorite actor, and the use of Chinese phrases to get meaning across. I could go on and on but wow I just loved how they really connected all of the details throughout. I can’t wait for Season 2!!!

Theory of Love

Synopsis According to MyDramaList: Third is a filmology major and a member of the Savage Team along with his best friends Two, Bone, and Khai, but he has a secret. Third has been secretly in love with Khai for years. For three years, he has kept his secret love in his heart, silently supporting and loving Khai while knowing there is absolutely no future between them since Khai is as straight as a streetlight pole and also an absolute player. To make matters worse, Khai has a "no dating friends" policy. How long can Third love Khai silently while watching Khai bring a different girl home every night? Third has tried to see Khai as just a friend. But has failed time and time again. Because as easy as it is to fall in love, to stop is just as hard.  Maybe even harder. That is until Third learns a secret that breaks his heart completely. But when Third decides to stop, Khai decides to start.

My Personal Thoughts: As sad as this show can make me feel at times, I love rewatching it. I still to this day think that it is one of the most well written BL’s that I have seen. Everything flows nicely and everything connects. Your not left wondering how you got from point A to point B. I thought the show had great character development especially when it came to Khai’s character towards the end of series. I know a lot of people had mixed feelings about his character due to how careless and dare I say stupid he acted at times but if he can make the audience hate him that much as a character... I would say he is doing something right!!! Gun’s acting never fails to amaze me!!! He really is one of the best actors I have seen. I know he had to be drained from all of that crying that he did throughout the show though lol It just goes to show that when you truly love someone you can’t just stop what you are feeling inside that easily no matter how the other person feels about you or treats you. As the old saying goes, love is blind. I also loved the friend group as well and Two and Bones side stories with the teacher and crush from school. They added to the shows greatness and didn’t take away from it. The friendship dynamics throughout the show was I feel something that really kept me engaged. The cast acted well together. There was no awkwardness or hesitation. I feel everyone bought there best for this drama. They incorporated the movie references so cleverly and I love how the title of each episode was the title of a real romance film. Just the overall theme of film was very intriguing to me. This drama left me filled with heartache and a rollercoaster of emotions but the ending is worth it!!!

HIStory3: Make Our Days Count

Synopsis According to MyDramaList: At first glance, high schoolers Xiang Hao Ting and Yu Xi Gu appear to be polar opposites: While Xiang Hao Ting is an outgoing, hot-headed extravert and some-time bully, Yu Xi Gu prefers to keep a low profile and focus on his schoolwork. They seem bound for totally different futures – the bookish Yu Xi Gu looks destined for academic success, while life is just a long popularity contest for Xiang Hao Ting. But a quirk of fate – and a crucial intervention by a female schoolmate – results in the two young men’s paths crossing. But there is more to both young men than first meets the eye. Xiang Hao Ting was not always this way. He started out as a perfect student until he discovered the joys of going off the rails. And Yu Xi Gu has a reason for being so aloof and studious: His parents died in a traffic accident while he was younger, and he is being fostered by his aunt. As such, he works hard to get good grades in an effort to win a scholarship and ease the financial burden on his relatives. Yu Xi Gu also works part-time at a convenience store, where his manager Liu Zhi Gang has developed a crush on a man he has met at the gym. Back at school, meanwhile, Yu Xi Gu and Xiang Hao Ting find themselves drawn together, and passions ignite. The former notices that he has the unique ability to bring Yu Xi Gu out of his shell – and becomes intent on melting his cold-as-ice exterior. What will happen when their two worlds collide? And can love be the catalyst that helps bring these two unlikely students together – as their high school days draw to a close?

My Personal Thoughts: I will stand by this notion for all of my days but this show is one of the best shows I have seen PERIOD!!! Not even best BL shows I have seen but just in general. It highkey saddens me that it is rated at an 8.1 right now on MyDramaList due to how it ended when other than that... it’s a top notch show. This was one that I watched as it was airing and I would get excited to see it every week. My clown self should have known by the title “Make Our Days Count” that some mess was about to occur but I didn’t pick up on it. Now, I just disregard the last episode (WE DON’T KNOW HER!!!). You can just tell that they had a great budget for this series. The production was on point. It had great cinematography, great storylines, and it felt realistic too. The main couples acting was OFF THE CHARTS AMAZING. I loved the whole opposites attract thing going on. Although the show was set in high school... it almost didn’t feel like it nor did it have those typical clichés going on. I liked how it dealt with topic of LGBTQ+ acceptance as well. I wasn’t so sure about the side couples relationship at first but I grew to love them as time went on. One last thing I wanted to point out was that even though I am always looking for a happy ending... I learned from this show that not everyone can get a happy ending. That’s not how life works sadly. In real life, there have been a lot of people who were truly in love and lost there partners tragically. Although it may be hard to accept the outcome, it is something that happens in real life. This is a drama that you appreciate even more as time goes on. It truly is a gem of a series!!!

TharnType

Synopsis According to MyDramaList: Type Thiwat is a handsome freshman with a passion for football and spicy food. Although he’s a friendly boy, he hates gay people because, in his childhood, he was molested by a man. His life turns upside down when the new academic year of college brings along a charismatic roommate, Tharn Kirigun. Tharn is a gorgeous, compassionate music major, who is also openly gay. When Type learns this, he is determined to make Tharn leave the dorm, as he won't live with a gay person. Tharn is equally determined not to give into Type's homophobic tantrums. With a gay guy and a homophobic guy that have to share a small space together for the rest of the year — what can possibly be the outcome of their story? Hatred? Or maybe love?

My Personal Thoughts: *Goes to hide in a corner* I know this drama is problematic and controversial as hell but it’s like a train wreck that you can’t turn  away from. What truly carries the show I feel is the chemistry between MewGulf. I don’t think I would have enjoyed the series as much if other actors were cast in those roles. They just exude confidence, passion, love, and lust. In terms of the storyline, I found it to be a chaotic occurrence of situations where I just had to know what was going to go on next. Everything that occurred had me intrigued for the next episode and so on and so forth. I loved Type’s character development. One quick thing I want to touch on was I know there were a lot of problematic things that happened which I will touch on at a later date but one thing I wish people were more understanding of was Type’s outbursts, thoughts, and feelings in certain situations. He was a victim of sexual assault so I felt the way he handled certain things was in response to what he had gone through as child and I think some viewers kind of missed that and were almost too harsh on him. Everyone processes and deals with trauma differently. This show went through so many twists and turns and I honestly lived for it especially the shocker towards the end of the series. I didn’t see that one coming at all!!! Despite all of its flaws, this show still holds a special place in my heart.

Honorable Mention:

Cherry Magic: As of today, this show has 4 episodes left and I think I am just going to come out and say that THIS IS MY FAVORITE BL OF THE YEAR!!! It’s a beautiful Japanese BL and I rewatch the old episodes while I wait for new ones to come out alot. It’s such a fluffy, heartwarming, and precious Bl series!!! I love it to pieces!!!

[lozzatnt]

a few weeks ago, I went on my first overnight trip on my motorbike. it was quite a big deal for me, as I've never gone more than a few miles from home, in my usual commute. so 2 days work down in Bognor Regis was the perfect chance to get out of town!

the timing wasn't ideal, to say the least... I just had my first covid jab on the day I planned to travel down. its safe to say that my arm felt a bit achey. but I couldn't let that stop me! I was honestly just glad that it didn't make me feel ill.

secondly, I checked the weather forecast and it was set to piss it down for the whole week! but regardless, I put on my rain gear and set off.

my bag was pretty heavy. I had my chain lock and disk lock (paranoid londoner alert), as well as 3 days worth of clothes and toiletries. as it was a work thing, I bought my laptop too. it all added up to a fair weight on my back, but I figured I was pretty strong (and a bit cocky??) and went for it.

as I left, it started spitting a bit. I figured that would be the extent of it, but after about 5 miles, the heavens absolutely opened. I was drenched a few minutes into my first big trip. but I've seen plenty of bikers braving the elements so kept my head down and plowed on.

I'll be honest - I was a bit stressed about the navigation. I used my wireless earphones (just one) and the voice of apple maps to take me down south. it actually turned out great. I only made a couple of wrong turns, which did add a bit of time to the trip! but overall, it worked well. it would have been great to see the map too, but without a phone holder on my bike, that simply wasn't going to happen. regardless, apple maps delivered!

I got out of London fairly quickly and painlessly. it was a Tuesday night at about 8pm and therefore more or less dead on the roads.

what I didn't totally think about, was going through the albeit amazing country roads of Surrey, with the world's wankiest LED headlight on my poor little 125. oh. and in the pouring rain!

I can imagine all the experienced bikers out there rolling their eyes at me being a massive snowflake. but yeah it wasn't my usual well lit London commute that I'm used to! far out of my comfort zone but a good challenge, providing that I came out alive!!

the visibility was so poor but I knew that in the sunshine, this place would be incredible (which I found out on the way back!).

about half way, my legs were cramping, my back ached a bit and I was drenched. I couldn't pluck up the courage to open my bag to find my clothes damp and creased. and yep. no iron in the Travelodge!

but I hopped back on and carried on to my next stop - the shell garage, about 3/4s of the way there. it was a bit of a slog, I'll be honest. but I gained so much from the trip. I felt much more natural on the bike, which I never totally achieved from my commute alone. I normally chicken out of riding in the rain, and just get the bus instead, so it was useful experience to see what I could handle in the rain. and also importantly, what my bike could handle too.

I checked my phone to see how far it would be to the garage. I must admit, I was a bit worried if I'd make it on my pea sized fuel tank. I really should have stopped sooner. the hills were sapping at my fuel, and my gauge kept going up and down, every time I looked.

It felt a bit weird to be going 60 on some of these super bendy roads. in London, it's 30mph or even 20 in most places, so it was a bit of a test for me to keep up all the time on my little bike. the cars seemed to be going 60 most of the time, where I was happier a bit slower. I pulled over to let them pass, and carried plodding along! I wish I could keep up to be honest, but I was acutely aware of the mental weather conditions, my terrible lights and my ability not to lock the brakes. but I played it safe, and as I neared Chichester, I felt a real sense of achievement. something I've not felt in a long time, to be honest.

It was a relief to find streetlight lined A roads on the way into the city. I could see again! and although sopping wet, I had a real second wind. I reached the shell garage and filled her up. I must have looked mad when I walked into the garage with a birds nest for hair and dripping all over the floor. sexy.

I treated myself to a coke and some chocolate (yep still a kid at heart) and got on my way to the hotel. As I fannied around trying to find the hotel, in the city centre (apple maps did mess me around...) I finally saw the sign to the hotel and parked up next to the bike rack. always gets me in a good mood when there's something to lock on to!

I checked into my room and hung my gear up, in desperate hope for it all to dry out by the morning (no such luck of course), and fell asleep almost instantly with a bit of family guy on.

my laptop survived, probably due to it's snuggly case, and although my clothes were a bit fucked - creased and soaked to the max, it was so worth the trip.

I could have just got the train there, but I feel like I have so many memories from the trip, that it would be such a shame to miss out on all that. after my 2 days of work were over, I drove back in the sunshine - it was such a highlight. Surry really is amazing.

I just wish I took more photos, but I still have some great memories and the hope of another trip sometime soon. I think motocamping will be on the cards next! rude not to

[weasleypogues]

first kegger of the summer (j.m.)

request: Oof I’ve never requested anything for outerbanks but I see you want some requests so maybe one where the reader has had drinks here and there but has never actually gotten drunk and she does one day at a party and JJ loves that she felt comfortable enough to do that around him but he stops drinking to sober up and be able to take care of her when she gets home and stuff?? And could they already be dating??? If you’re not comfortable with this I totally understand, baby! Thanks either way ❤️❤️❤️

master list.

i really hope i did your initial envision justice!! 

also i feel bad bc i feel like i did more actions than actual dialogue but actions speak louder than words yanno 

it was the first kegger of the summer and needless to say you were ecstatic. after finally finishing up the school year from hell, you were excited to go back to your dumb pogue shit with your best friends. already at the boneyard was you, the rest of your group, and a couple of other pogues from the island. it was chill and you were glad to say you felt comfortable. 

“soooo....you’re gonna drink tonight right? like go off kinda drink if you know what i mean?” kiara asked you with what you thought was a little devilish smile and she jabbed her elbow into your side.

you laughed and rolled your eyes, leaning away from her elbow. “yes kie, matter of fact i am. i gotta start living a little and why not do that with the people i trust the most.” 

“people....or person?” kie questioned you with raised eyebrows and a smirk as her eyes traveled back and forth between you and your boyfriend, jj, talking to pope at the keg. 

“okay yes jj, but all of you. but definitely jj.” you responded with a wide grin and your face feeling hot. it’s like jj could feel your eyes on him and looked over at you, sending a wink your way. 

almost as if he was reading your mind he poured a cup and lifted it out in the open as if to say ‘want it?” you raised your eyebrows and nodded, leaving your spot next to kie as she talked to some pogue about astrology and walked up to jj.

“damn (y/n/n), i didn’t think you’d actually take it.” jj teased you as you took a sip. 

“just feel like it’s now or never, yanno. i trust you guys enough to know that nothing bad is going to happen....or should i rephrase, nothing too bad is going to happen.” you responded, ending your statement with a kiss on his cheek that soon turned into a kiss as he grabbed your face and pulled you in.

as you turn around to make your way back to kie, you specifically put a little sway into your hips as you walk away from jj, completely knowing he’s going to check you out as you walk away. you take a quick sneak peek back at him and see him dropping his sunglasses to the bridge of his nose with his mouth slightly parted, taking the scene in front of him in. you giggle and shake your head as you take your seat next to kie yet again.

“want this?” jj asks pope with absolutely no explanation. pope glances over the top of his cup with a skeptical look on his face.

“what’d you do to it?” pope asked defensively, his eyes narrowed on jj’s face. jj rolls his eyes and forces it into pope’s hands.

“nothing, i just don’t feel like finishing it.” jj answers, waving his hand to prompt pope to down the smidge of alcohol that was left in his cup. pope shrugs and downs the rest of it.

“was there a reason you didn’t finish it?” pope asked, throwing it into the black plastic bag they had for a makeshift trashcan. pope didn’t even need an answer as he followed jj’s eyes focused on you finishing your first drink of it night.

it didn’t take long for the giddy and buzzed feeling to kick in. it made you feel almost invincible, carefree, and wild. however, nothing in your brain told you to stop to get another cup. but no one was really stopping you so how bad could it be?

the music was blasting and you were dancing next to kiara and sarah, letting the slight vibrations from the song run through your body as the sounds coincide with the crashing waves to the right of you. here and there you take sarah and kie’s hands and twirl them playfully or belt lyrics at the top of your lungs. either way, this is the night you initially envisioned. it could’ve easily lasted for hours and you wouldn’t know any better.

however, you were quickly snapped out of it when you spotted jj a couple of yards away, just admiring you from afar. you smiled immediately with a goofy-drunk grin and made your way over to where he was sitting on the sand, near the campfire.

“i think-i think you should join us babe.” you practically slurred as you held your hand out for him to take. a devilish grin replaced his content one as he took your hand and pulled you down to the sand with him to hold you in his arms. 

it took a couple of seconds for your tipsy brain to process what happened but you just smilled and giggled as you felt his arm wrap from the left side of your shoulder and make it’s way to sit on your right one. you let your chin lean against his arm but lazily let your head sway to lean against his bicep as your hands curled around his forarm. 

it wasn’t long until sarah and kie made their way back to the fire aswell and sat next to pope and john b. 

you and jj didn’t notice, but john b nudged pope in his side slightly to get his attention until he pointed towards you and jj for pope to follow his lead.

“hey, (y/n/n), how drunk are you on a scale of 1-10?” john b inquired with a wide grin on his face and chuckled afterwards. jj threw his head back and laughed as the three of them waited for your answer.

you lazily lifted your hand and counted on your hands, “one, two, three......probably a nine.” you answered with a grin, your eyes practically closed. pope and john b started laughing hysterically.

“only took you a couple of keggers to finally get you outta your shell!” pope proclaimed. john b lifted his cup up in the air, while pope and jj were quick to follow with their cups of water and even though everyone around had no idea what they were lifting their cups to, they all followed. 

“to the outer banks!” john b called out and everyone just cheered in response and downed their drinks as well. you lifted your imaginary cup slowly with a giddy grin on your face and pretended to take it. jj couldn’t help but admire every move you made. all he knew was he was glad you were a happy and funny drunk. he liked the way you continued to playfully bite your lip or ran your fingers through your hair. your eyes were pretty glossy but you would just stare up at him and admire his baby blue ones, and just his face overall. he would subtly blush as your gaze and give you small kisses over your entire face.

“wanna go? we should get you into bed before you fall asleep anywhere but a bed.” jj whispered in your ear, sending shivers down your spine. you sluggishly nodded. even though it was kind of difficult to get up because all your sense of balance seemed to leave your body, jj wrapped his arm around your waist.

the way home would’ve been quiet if it weren’t for the drunk comments you made towards him such as “i love youuu” or “your hair is fantastic” or his personal favorite “even though i don’t approve of it, when you fight someone it’s sooo fucking hot”. he’d obviously compliment you back and made sure you knew that he loved you as well.

there were a couple of times were he would say “i know i keep saying this, but if you feel sick at anytime before we get back to your house, let me know, we can stop at the side of the road.” you would always just nod and take sips here and there from your water bottle. 

“you’re so fucking adorable and funny drunk.” he said with a smile on his face.

“ugh stop, you’re too good to me.” you’d slur back as you playfully hit his arm. 

when you got home, you notice the lights in your house were off. jj let out an internal sigh of relief, as he didn’t even think of the scenario of what he would say to your parents when you stumbled into the house in his arms. he took the key out of your backpack as you sat on your front stoop with your head in your hands. at this point, you weren’t feeling that great and were definitely getting the spins. he opened the door, shoving the key back in his pocket and helped you off of the ground. 

“we’re gonna be as quiet as we can be when we go up to stairs, i’ll help you get ready for bed and you can take two advil in advance before you knock out, yeah?” he whispered as his both of his thumbs rubbed back and forth soothingly on both of your hands. you nodded without saying a word and held one of his hands. he let you lead the way and acted as a catcher behind you in the case if you lost your balance, he’d be there behind you to catch you. 

thankfully, you made it to your room and laid face down on your bed as you somewhat heard jj rumaging through your drawers.

“these shorts and this shirt okay?” he asked before turning around. he noticed you were face down and chuckled to himself before placing them on the bed next to you. 

“can you put these on for me while i get you another water bottle and advil?” jj asked and he ran his hands over your head. you nodded into your blanket and slowly got up, lethargicaly undressing yourself as jj helped himself to your kitchen and cabinet to get everything he needed. 

“that didn’t take long.” jj said outloud and laughed, as you were in your pajamas and pretty much tucked into bed, making sure you plugged your phone in. after you took the advil with no help, jj grabbed your trash can and moved it over to the right side of your bed.

“the rest of the water is on your night stand, your phone is charging, and the trash can is on the right also. anything else babe?” he asked, whispering not to be too loud.

“i haveeee the spinss.” you whined, placing your hands over your eyes as if that was going to stop them. he gave you a pouty face that could barely hide his smile and chuckle.

“i know, (y/n/n). but they’ll go away soon. anything else?” jj asked, as he took a seat on the edge of your bed. you nodded slightly as your reached your arms out in front of you.

“can you stay the night, babe?” you asked in a tone that jj could not refuse whatsoever. he lightly smiled to himself before turning off your lamp and taking off your shoes.

“anything for you.” he responded, almost excitedly before lifting the covers and pulling your body close to his. jj gave you a kiss on the top of your head before you two fell asleep almost immediately. 

[daisukefmd]

hey guys, it’s oli here, late as ever. sorry to be so tardy to the party, but work’s been kicking my ass for the past week ;-; but fortunately i have today and tomorrow off, so i’ll be around to plot and get some threads going! below the cut, you’ll find his background info, how he came to be an idol, present day stuff and everything in between. if you’re interested in plotting, just drop a like and i’ll shoot you a dm!

BACKGROUND

he’s the youngest of five children and he was born in kobe, japan. he’s always been a little bit on the more quieter side of things. his preschool teachers used to try to tell his parents that he was antisocial and wouldn’t interact with the other kids, but the truth was just that he was quiet and shy. his whole family is quiet and shy too, something his teachers found out when his parents came in for their meeting about daisuke. he was definitely a wall flower while he was growing up, which was pretty difficult to believe given the fact that he was always the tallest person in his class ever since he was a little kid. despite his height, he always managed to fade into the background.

he continued to fade into the background until he was about thirteen years old and he was scouted by a label in japan for his height and visuals. he was thrust into training, where they discovered that he had a pretty decent singing voice and they decided to make him the main vocal of that group. it was supposed to be an idol super group (think akb48 but with a bunch of guys instead). unfortunately the company lost more money than they gained and they ended up shutting down and his group disbanded before he could gain any real recognition with the public.

he had only been out of the group for a week before bc found him and asked his parents if they could take him to south korea to be in an idol group they were debuting. it didn’t take much to convince his parents, and a month later he was being shipped off to south korea. he arrived at the end of the summer in 2014 and officially joined bc entertainment as a trainee. 

being a foreigner made forming connections and bonds with others difficult for him as well. it didn’t help that he was socially awkward and tended to stick to himself when he wasn’t training or sitting through lessons. his first year and a half as a trainee was spent more or less on his own, which took a huge toll on his mental health at the time. he was lonely, but he had never really learned how to reach out and form friendships with one another. it didn’t help that he was so far away from his family, whom he had never spent more than a few days from at a time.

the year and a half mark brought along not only stronger korean language skills, but a certain comfortability being in south korea. he had grown used to it by then, and while he would have preferred to be home with his family, he had figured out a way to cope by just burying his negative feelings deep down until he didn’t really acknowledge them anymore. not the healthiest way to cope, but it was all he could do at the time. fortunately, on the brighter side of things, he had formed a handful of friendships that made being away from his family a little easier for him.

he had began to grow a little weary that his debut would never come because he had been a trainee for over two years, but then bc told him that he’d be participating in cloud6. usually, daisuke isn’t a competitive person, but he couldn’t lie and say that he didn’t give his all on the show. he knew that his personality fell flat, so he worked hard to make sure that his talent more than made up for his more subtle and underwhelming persona.

while he was praised by many for his hard work ethic and strong voice, he was attacked by just as many for being boring, some hateful comments even taking shots at his cultural background. while that was something he had been expecting, he wasn’t stupid enough to believe that everyone would be accepting of a foreigner, it did hit him very hard. he just wanted to sing and there he was, being attacked for something that he couldn’t even change.

despite all of that, he ended up ranking in third place on cloud6 and ended up debuting in cloud. he was happy to make it to the end, but he was also a little hesitant in his happiness because he was met with such criticism when his ranking was announced. people accused the show of rigging and giving daisuke his spot, and it made him question his own ranking for quite some time.  was his spot given to him? did he really earn it? those were thoughts that ran through his mind consistently, and still do whenever he’s in a particularly bad place mentally.

cloud’s success was a source of happiness for daisuke for a while - still is, however not as much. he was glad that they were being well received, but as the years dragged along, he couldn’t help but crave more. he wanted to start dipping his toes into other aspects of the entertainment industry, mainly creating his own music. he had learned a lot from the industry, and he wanted to step out of the realm that cloud had created for him and try out something new. he was given the opportunity to do so with his debut album and solo releases so far. however his next album will be completely his sound, different from anything cloud’s released before, and he’s excited that bc’s letting him experiment a bit more. 

DAISUKE’S OFFICIAL IMAGE 

while cloud’s overall image might be bright and refreshing, daisuke’s personality and persona don’t really fit into that category. on stage, he’s more than capable of putting out that vibe during performances, however once he steps foot off stage, he’s retreating back into his real self - quiet and reserved. despite bc trying consistently to bring him out of his shell during his trainee years and the first few months of cloud’s career, they eventually found an image that could work for him. daisuke’s job in cloud is to be the buffer. he’s the calm, cool and collected one. the mediator. he’s literally and figuratively the middle child of cloud. he balances the group out really well, adding a personality that’s the opposite of his group members’.

he’s marketed as mature, intelligent and hard working. the voice of reason in the group. respectful, the kind of guy your parents would trust their daughter with. a lot of cloud’s fans have even called him “regal” because of how he carries himself and speaks. the general public sees him as a strong vocalist, one of the better ones of the current k-pop generation, but they don’t know much about him aside from that. most of the time he makes headlines is because of his singing, and bc likes to keep it that way. there’s a slight air of mystery around him that makes him interesting enough to pay attention to. bc does have a habit of using that to their advantage whenever they can, and so far it has worked for daisuke. a lot of people are, surprisingly, drawn to his quiet demeanor and hard working attitude.

OTHER INFO

some people are a little intimidated by him because he’s not really smiley and he’s super tall (he’s about 6′5″) but he’s really not a bad guy. he’s just really quiet and shy, but if you can make your way through his shell, you’ll have a great friend. he loves his group members, although it may not seem like it because he’s not really affectionate, but he’s happy with them.

most people are shocked whenever he sings because his speaking voice is so deep and then he sings and that voice comes out of him lmao not to mention his physical appearance contradicts his singing

he knows that his stage name is ‘dai’ because it’s probably to make it easier for koreans to pronounce, but he hates it lmao he hates nicknames and pet names and anything of the like.

while he’s still a quiet guy that prefers to keep to himself, he’s not as much of a pushover as he used to be. he has a voice for himself, and he speaks up for himself when he needs to. 

[comicreliefmorlock]

#WomenInHorror - Relic - Oh, the Thoughts

I bet you thought @tlbodine would get to this first, huh? HAH!

So as part of our ongoing quest to inflict doctorate-level studies of horror film on ourselves for... the sake of doing it, Wuffie and I have been watching a lot of horror movies. Having finished our #HorrorThruTheDecades quest, we moved on to #WomenInHorror, focusing on horror films directed by women.

She's written quite a bit about the movies we've been watching. However, this last week, we watched a film that inspired me into a long-winded post-mortem after we finished it.

Relic is a 2020 Australian horror film directed by Natalie Erika James, focusing on a three-generation family struggle between a grandmother, a mother and a daughter.

Edna, the grandmother, has been missing for several days when her daughter Kay and granddaughter Sam arrive to check on her. We get a little from Kay hinting that her relationship with her mother has been strained, and alternatively, defense of Edna by her granddaughter Sam who has a completely different relationship with her. (As tends to happen with grandparents and grandchildren.) Clues are laid out to hint that Edna may be succumbing to Alzheimer's and quite honestly, the movie does a very good job in showing how absolutely difficult it is to deal with that. Especially in the family situation involving the shift in power dynamic that happens when a parental figure suddenly needs a lot of careful, supportive care.

And Robyn Nevin as Edna? Fantastic. Sympathetic and terrifying all at once.

I won't spoil the film's ending here--you've got to go below the cut for that--but it's at once poignant and plays fair emotionally with the film's overall tone.

Now, for what I went off at great length at Wuffie about... [#triggerwarning for child abuse discussion]

Relic is pretty clearly intended to be a film about grief, aging, the inevitability of death and how part of dealing with health issues in older generations involves facing that you yourself one day may be in that exact situation.

What it also does really, really well--albeit unintentionally but strongly enough that it hit me across the face with a shoe--is create a solid metaphor for intergenerational child abuse.

Fairly early on in the film, the granddaughter Sam discovers a black mold staining a wall inside of a cluttered closet. This black mold becomes a consistent visual element that shows in nightmares, in the house and on Edna herself, staining her skin like a bruise. This mold, through the nightmares, is visually tied to a now-demolished smaller house that'd once stood on the family grounds and was the home of a "great-grandfather" mentioned once directly and alluded to in several nightmare sequences.

This mold grows on stained glass windows that were transplanted from the former house, spreads across the interior of the house itself and spreads across Edna's skin.

Several visual cues tie the black mold to the "great-grandfather" who, in one nightmare sequence, is shown sitting on the edge of a narrow bed before collapsing forward, out of sight. When the camera pans over, a human figure is etched in black mold on the floor.

At the end of the film, after Edna's transformation--you really ought to watch the movie to know what I mean--and the joining of three generations of women in silence together, Sam spies a black spot on her mother Kay's back, hinting at that same mold that destroyed Edna.

Incestuous child abuse is insidious and yet, from the memoirs I've read, always seems to be something the family "knows about" and simply doesn't discuss. A grandparent, a cousin, an aunt or uncle is abusing the family children--sometimes singling out one child, sometimes abusing every child--and the family is aware of this, but no actual steps are taken to bring the abuser to justice.

The cycle of abuse is fairly commonly known, but the long-term effects of child sexual abuse aren't always as easily identified by the public. Alcohol and drug abuse are extremely common amongst child sexual abuse survivors, as well as an inability to develop healthy, trusting relationships with other adults. Difficulties in parenting can also arise as the person who suffered abuse may fear the same thing happening to their child or be struggling emotionally and not able to show their child the affection they need.

Much like the insidious spread of black mold in out-of-sight places, causing illnesses that can't be immediately identified and threatening the structural integrity of a house, incestuous child abuse absolutely threatens and even destroys lives. It's hard to spot at a glance, hides in plain sight--in closets, cupboards, under stairs, behind furniture--and causes illnesses that can be attributed to more "acceptable" causes.

With the clear visual tie to the once-mentioned "great-grandfather" that isn't mentioned between the family members again, it's not hard to go a bit further and consider him the unmentioned, unnamed family abuser. His actions tainted the house he lived in, the remnants brought from it--Edna says later in the film how much she hates the stained glass windows, how cold and scared she feels when she passes them--and spread not only through the house but through the family itself.

And this mold--and the effects of intergenerational incestuous abuse--hits all three women in this family differently.

Edna, theoretically the member of the family who suffered direct abuse, is physically tainted by the black mold to the point it literally degenerates her body. Aspects of her behavior--disliking having "help" or needing to ask for it, offering a token to her granddaughter one day, demanding it back the next, trying to save photo albums from 'the house' by burying them--seemed strikingly like a woman whose coping mechanisms are now failing her.

She mentions believing someone is breaking into her house, stating it only began after the death of her husband. Alone in a massive house with visual, physical ties to the location of her abuse, feeling vulnerable and struggling to push away memories, Edna's actions feel like a cry for help that she can't verbalize because to do so would be to admit not only the vulnerability she feels now, but the fact that it's equivalent to how vulnerable she was as a child, being abused.

Fairly early on in Relic, Kay makes it clear that she and her mother are not particularly close. She makes attempts to stay in contact, but isn't invested in her mother's day to day life and has actually distanced herself to a degree. Her daughter Sam has a closer and more openly affectionate relationship with Edna. Kay mentions her mother threatening to lock her in the old house "when she was a brat" and seems to want a comfortable distance between herself and her mother.

A parent who has endured abuse as a child can have profound difficulty in bonding with their own children. Healthy sexual intercourse and adult relationships are tainted by child abuse experiences, and some memoires have mentioned being pregnant making them feel "dirty" as if they'd committed some great sin. Bonding with an infant while struggling with those emotions can lead to distant parenting and leave a child with an insecure emotional attachment.

Sam, the granddaughter, is the least damaged by the intergenerational abuse at the beginning of the film. She has an affectionate relationship with her grandmother, seems actively interested in doing what she can to help Edna and scolds her mother for not taking a more prominent role. When Sam finds a sketchbook with a sketch of the 'great-grandfather's' house, she doesn't know what it is or to whom it belonged. The cycle of abuse has been broken; Sam isn't even aware that abuse happened.

What she does is learn of it through a visual metaphor for unearthing family history. Discovering the black mold in the closet and pursuing a ghostly figure into what becomes a nightmarish labyrinth that has echoes of the home she'd always felt safe in plays very well as the realization for an unabused member of a family learning about the abuse that happened. What was loving and familiar is suddenly alien and terrifying, threatening and tainted.

By the end of the film--rather an emotionally poignant moment--all three women have been hurt by this black mold (i.e. incestuous abuse) and have come together in a moment of quiet rest. Edna, completely altered into a shell of who she once was, with Kay, accepting that what happened is fact and had effects on her as well, and Sam, who now understands a great deal about her mother and grandmother.

Every generation in the family has been affected to some degree, even if the cycle of abuse was fortunately broken. The black mold not only completely transformed Edna internally, expressed in a striking visual moment, but also tainted her daughter. Even the granddaughter, although physically unharmed by the mold, has been permanently changed by learning about what happened in her family and feeling her perceptions twist (frighteningly so) from what she once held to what she now knows.

While I don't think the film intended to be such a great visual metaphor for the horrific effects of incestuous family abuse and the intergenerational damage it causes, it did an incredibly good job of being one.

[iaintyourbro]

I’ve just read your piece on Zack & Cloud (you nailed it). What Zack & Aerith has together as a couple is much much more than what she will ever have with Cloud. Zack & Aerith has a long and meaningful romantic relationship, this same ‘romantic relationship’ never existed with soldier/true-Cloud, ever. Zack importance to Aerith and Cloud should’ve never ever been questioned, period.

Hey anon! 

I agree 100%... Aerith’s interest in Cloud did begin because of Zack. She wanted info on Zack. This was more clear in the Remake since she flat out comes out and says it was the first guy she loved AND tries to tell Cloud his name. In Crisis Core, she wrote 89 letters to the guy. One every two weeks for four years. She waited four years. Four. Years. 

I would say that’s not something small. Zack obviously meant the world to her. She also meant a lot to Zack. When he realized she’d written her last letter and it’d be four years, he was devastated. He tells Cloud while still in the Inn in Nibelheim that they needed to get to Midgar because he saw the list of 23 tiny wishes.

Zack and Aerith’s relationship was a focus in Crisis Core. There were a lot of cute moments between the two of them. Something we don’t see with even Tifa and Cloud, but this is also due to a personality differences between the four of them.

Aerith was shy at first - she was young - Zack was the charming, handsome guy that was friendly to her. 

He called her an Angel when he woke up in her church. Zack immediately seemed taken with Aerith here. Yes, he was described as a flirt, and in OG they pretty much called him a womanizer (this is where some of this hate is coming from... I don’t think it was supposed to be taken so seriously). In Crisis Core, Zack gets teased about talking to Aerith because everybody knows she’s special. In OG, Zack’s parents say that he did write home about a girlfriend. 

What did Cloud do? Gave her a dirty look and didn’t even remember who she was.  Even though he’d met her before. Cloud doesn’t like people, though, especially not people he doesn’t know. However, he will help anybody - even people he doesn’t know - and Aerith appears to need help before he leaves the church. 

The first two pictures on the top are when he first sits up. The second one in particular is him backing up from her like “Who tf are you?” This is just Cloud. This isn’t specifically against Aerith. He would have done this with anybody he didn’t know. 

The third picture is him looking up at the hole in the church roof and probably wondering how he’s even still alive. The last one is right after she says “Nice to meet you again!” This look cracks me up. It is that like of “Ooookayyy.” Go watch it. It’s hilarious to see him change his face when he turns his head. 

The pictures of Cloud kind of crack me up. I would really like to see the same scene that Crisis Core had with Zack falling through to see the level of animation on his face. The graphics were good for the time, but the new technology really helps to show a lot of what’s going through their minds. 

In Remake, they made sure to have two holes in the ceiling after Cloud falls through to show where Zack fell through and where Cloud fell through. Of course Aerith is excited - she just had a guy fall through the church just like Zack did... and he has Zack’s sword and clothes on. 

This just shows the difference between Cloud and Zack and how they are. Zack was flirty and charming. Cloud is... well, Cloud is Cloud. He’s not smooth (he tries and does succeed a few times I suppose), but he’s an awkward ham. This was a stranger to him and he just wanted to go home at this point.

Aerith’s personality in CC vs OG and Remake shows her character growth. Mostly due to her experiences with Zack... she picks up on some of his confidence and mannerisms. Zack helped Aerith feel confident, just like he helped Cloud feel more confident.

I think some of the scrutiny and looks Cloud gets around Sector 5 may be related to this above comment from the Attendant. They seem to like Zack very quickly. I think they start off when Aerith first brings Cloud to Sector 5 with thinking maybe he’s like Zack, but seem turned off by him pretty quickly, because he’s nothing like Zack in how he acts. 

I also found it comical that Aerith’s reaction to the guy’s second comment is that they just meant, but her next line is contemplating that perhaps something IS there between them...

This is how she acts when her and Cloud are called a couple in Wall Market:

Sad. She just  looks sad. She doesn’t want this. She was okay with it being about Zack 5 years prior to this, but I think it also reminds her of that moment. It’s painful for her. Cloud also doesn’t react positively. Sadly we don’t have a good view of Zack’s reaction because, well, it wasn’t a cut scene and they really didn’t animate idle characters back in the day. 

Zack teases Aerith. A lot. He makes fun of her for being picky about the flower cart, but does agree to upgrade it like she wants. He tells her to write down all of her tiny wishes after teasing her about it. Aerith teases Zack back too. Aerith tries to tease Cloud and doesn’t really get a great response... because he probably doesn’t even know what she’s doing. He’s dense. Like really dense. He does it with Tifa because he’s initiating it. With Aerith he’s just dense. Teasing generally is seen as flirting, especially the type that goes on between Zack and Aerith.

Zack didn’t need to be cool, but he does ask Aerith if he’s cool for killing some monsters. I think he’s trying to flirt with her more there.... Zack was Zack. He wore his heart on his sleeve and didn’t see selling flowers as uncool. This also shows just a basic maturity difference between Cloud and Zack, but that’s not really Cloud’s fault. Personality wise, though, I think Cloud would sell flowers if a girl he liked asked him to as his real persona... He pretty much does whatever Tifa asks him to in Chapter 3 without really complaining.

I think in Remake, too, they made it clear that the Turks were aware of her relationship with Zack. Rude says to Aerith when he sees Cloud with her “This your new boy toy.” She seems a bit offended by this and tells Rude it’s her bodyguard. 

It was pretty clear that Zack was more interested in getting to know Aerith right off the bat. He bought her a cute pink ribbon for her hair, which of course is always a source of argument on whether or not Remake “retconned” the ribbon, since she has the ribbon as a child too, but I don’t think they took that away. 

Then we’ve got the park. Zack is excited... Cloud needs a nap. I really don’t think Aerith was romantically interested in Cloud in Remake. I think in OG at the park part it was more that Aerith was interested in Cloud, but also interested to see if he knew anybody from SOLDIER. It’s much more apparent in Remake that she’s more interested in who he knows from SOLDIER. She takes him to the same place that she took Zack. 

Cloud is mostly cold towards Aerith until after she tells him about Zack. He seems to soften up a bit after that. I’m not sure if he’s more comfortable or if he gets a zap during his episode to tell him to stop being a dick to her. 

Overall, though, Zack and Aerith have a ton of cute moments in Crisis Core. She cared about the guy a lot. She’s not over him in Remake, she’s trying to convince herself that she is... but she’s not. There’s no closure for her, for one. She kept writing for four years... if she really didn’t care, didn’t want to wait, why write to him for so long and so frequently? 

With Cloud, this was a potential new prospect, but also a way to try to get closure on what happened. If you notice, they don’t have Aerith say he probably ran off with some other girl, like she does in OG. I think with the Crisis Core story showing a much better picture of how those two were, it wouldn’t have fit.

Aerith and Zack have one of the more outwardly romantic stories in FFVII’s Compilation. By. Far. Tifa and Cloud’s is a deeper one that isn’t shown through words and flirting. Most of what Tifa and Cloud do isn’t shown to the player outwardly. A lot of it is through physical contact, like in Part 1. Tifa tells Cloud under the Highwind that words aren’t the only way, so they’re really playing that up. 

Anybody who denies that Zack and Aerith had a pretty solid, heavily implied, romantic relationship either didn’t play Crisis Core or refuses to acknowledge it. It’s slammed in your face in Crisis Core. I honestly forgot how cute the two were until I was watching clips of them and was pretty surprised at how blatant they were with these two. It’s more blatant than most FF couples that early on, honestly. 

They do have a tragic romance - we know his fate in the normal timeline and we know her fate, but it’s definitely super cute and I would say she absolutely loved him. I think it turned from puppy love to true love the longer she waited for him. Zack brought out a lot of Aerith’s charm that we see in OG and Remake that people always say is what brings Cloud out of his shell. The guy who helped Cloud be more confident and come out a bit, helped the girl who further helps Cloud come out a bit. Cloud and Aerith never did have anything close to what Zack and Aerith did, whether or not they would have is up for interpretation. My guess is no.. Cloud’s true self was and is in love with Tifa. It wouldn’t be fair to Aerith, honestly. I think Aerith was interested in meeting real Cloud. I don’t think she only liked his SOLDIER persona, but it was all she knew about him. 

Discounting her relationship with Zack is shitting on her character. By comparison, Cloud is not exactly nice to Aerith at first. Yes, he does become nicer to her. In OG, player choice dictates this more, so you can be nice or you can be mean to her. In Remake, you don’t get a choice. He’s cold at first towards her and slowly warms up to her, just like he did with Avalanche and crew. The only one he doesn’t need encouragement to be nice to is Tifa, but we know why.

Thanks for the ask!

[danzinora-switch]

Typing the Turtles (ROTTMNT) Part 2 - Donatello

This started out as an investigation into the turtles’ insecurities, because one thing the show does so well is demonstrate that they are still teenagers. And being a teenager is a confusing experience - there’s angst, drama, exploring one’s identity, a lot of growth, and overall figuring out who you are. That’s a messy process, too! And we see this mess in our turtles: they mess up, they’re learning, they self-doubt, they have fears and insecurities, but they’re also discovering their strengths and how to overcome their inner obstacles.

So after thinking about all this way too long, here’s my psychological breakdown of each turtle (I’ll be referencing MBTI and the Enneagram, but will include links for more general information on those if you don’t know what I’m talking about).

Donnie: INTJ, 5w6

The Architect, the Investigator, the Problem-Solver, the Observer

Firstly, getting into this analysis means that we have to step away from the stereotype that all INTJs are cold, aloof, and unemotional. INTJs, especially Turbulent ones, do express emotion, and we’ve all seen Donnie’s dramatic ‘theatre kid’ side. I’m not going to ignore that. He manages to be both thanks to the INTJ’s tertiary function Introverted Feeling (Fi). Extroverted Feeling (Fe) really allows one to connect and empathize with others’ emotions. Fi, however, is a more internal experience of feelings, and has trouble connecting with others without having been in their shoes. I happen to think Donnie is in a strong Ni-Fi loop, as well, which would make sense because fighting bad guys every day while trying to save the world after discovering a Mystic City which upbends everything you ever knew is pretty stressful. https://www.psychologyjunkie.com/2017/06/21/intjs-loop-understanding-ni-fi-loop/

And it’s super interesting that he often expresses his emotions by literally saying them. “Evil laugh! Relishing chuckle! Gasp!” (Mind Meld) and, one of my favorites, he literally says “Sad face emoji” in Many Unhappy Returns.

So while we DO see Donnie experience and display his own emotions, we also DON’T see him all that affected by other people’s emotions. He’s still pretty stoic in Mystic Mayhem after the delivery guy gets mutated, cracking a joke about imitation crab. He’s unaffected by Todd’s puppies in Repo Mantis, and the only one immune to Warren Stone’s sob story in Warren & Hypno Sitting in a Tree. Pizza Pit shows it best when he’s unaffected when Mikey’s favorite pizza place collapses until the same thing happens to him. Fi at work vs Fe.

As for Donnie being a 5w6, keep this core motivation in mind: “[Fives] Want to possess knowledge, to understand the environment, to have everything figured out as a way of defending the self from threats from the environment.” https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/type-5

Donnie at his Worst: Donnie vs. Witch Town gave us this gem of a line: “Because I’m the science guy! If mystic powers can do everything I can do, but better, then why would you guys even need me?” And while people have pointed out his need to be needed, I argue it’s a little more accurate to say he has a need to belong. His role in the group is the Brainiac, the Science Guy, the Smart One, and so his very identity is tied into fulfilling that role. A 5’s core fear is of being useless, helpless, or incapable. Mystic powers rendering his tech redundant, and thereby him useless, would be a pretty big threat to the security of his role in the group (that 6 wing kicking in). And remember a 5’s core motivation: to understand the environment as a defense. And he still doesn’t understand mystic energy. It’s pretty infuriating, so he’s pretty insufferable about it.

[Note: seeing mystic power as a threat probably didn’t kick in until their fight with Shredder in Many Unhappy Returns. Prior to that, his brothers were still learning how to use their magic weapons, but Donnie already understood his tech well enough to use it effectively (see their first fight against Baron Draxum in the pilot). But against the Shredder… all his tech was useless. Only the hanky, the hanky, was even marginally effective. His brothers’ weapons were now way more capable than anything he had to offer… core 5 fear. And to cope? Learn all you can about your fear/threat. Except he still hasn’t figured it out; we see even in Air Turtle that he calls Draxum for the mystic expertise instead of formulating his own hypothesis].

We’ve seen this insecurity about his place in the group before. In Mind Meld, as his brothers become more like him, his role is challenged. “Hey, you’re trying to get rid of me, that’s what I do to you!” “But, I thought purple was my... my thing.” When he first meets the Purple Dragon he immediately wants to join them because he sees them as tech peers. In Man vs Sewer even though he professes that it’s his day off, he doesn’t react well whenever Leo does ‘his thing’: analyzing the situation and drawing a conclusion. His self-worth seems to be tied to what he has to offer the group, and we hear that even in his song in The Mystic Library about proving himself.

Besides his insecurity, Donnie is practically allergic to blame. (Interestingly enough, he’s more okay with being wrong and others being right sometimes… sure he’ll deflect, but it doesn’t seem to get under his skin the way being at fault does). He will repeatedly deny fault and shift the blame to someone else when something goes wrong. He denies creating AlBearto in Al Be Back, says the incident with the Purple Dragons in The Purple Jacket is entirely April’s fault (she is not amused) and puts the blame for ditching Todd off on his brothers in Todd Scouts. The one time we see him own up his mistakes is in Mind Meld when no one (except Shelldon) is around to see it. “Yup. I beefed up.” This is definitely an area he needs to work on.

Average Donnie: Donnie cares for his brothers, but that doesn’t always get across in the best of ways. Take the episode Donnie’s Gifts, for example. Donnie never actually got a chance to explain how the gifts work, but we can see protective elements in each of them. Raph: please use your head and don’t just blindly rush in! Mikey: ohmygosh that is so dangerous, please be careful and don’t get hurt! Leo: stop poking the bear, Leo, it only makes him angrier! It makes sense that a 5 who has external fears of the world and has their own protective equipment (the Battle Shells) would extend that to his brothers. And Donnie was able to recognize that even though his brothers got the wrong message, he could move past that and call for a group hug. In the Purple Game he is super anxious to make sure his brothers are okay and not mostly hurt. Insane in the Mama Train also reveals the invention of the Panic Button… and who designed that?

Donnie also seeks a lot of validation. He takes pride in his work, and when his work is appreciated he gives that appreciation back tenfold [such as when he shows off the Turtle Tank to his brothers (Fast and Furriest), or when Splinter says he’s proud of him (Turtle-dega Nights: the Ballad of Rat Man)]. The flip side is that when he’s not getting the validation he needs from others he’ll create it himself, which comes off as arrogant and egocentric. See Smart Lair, when Sheldon 1.0 plays messages of Donnie’s self-worth all night, and is programmed to favor him. Or when he takes full credit for defeating a bad guy: the silverfish in Donnie’s Gifts, and scaring Draxum away with his disco ball in Shadow of Evil. When he gets the recognition for all his hard work from the right people, though, it inspires him to do great things. There is danger in getting validation from the wrong people, however, as we saw in Big Mama’s case in Bug Busters.

Donnie at his Best: Donnie’s at his best (and most relaxed) whenever he’s learning or building something. He gets super excited and happy attending April’s school (The Purple Jacket) or going to the library (The Mystic Library) and wants to attend college someday (The Mutant Menace). The INTJ/5 seeks to absorb information and he’s constantly energized by it.

He’s also energized when he can put that information to use, such as when building something. Did Albearto need a total tear-down in War and Pizza? No. But Donnie had fun making him ‘dazzle!’ How did Donnie cope being in the woods in Todd Scouts? By building an impressive tree fort. Donnie’s projects actually relax him, because he’s exercising his strength and capabilities.

This also works for his method of attacks and plans: Know Thine Enemy. He studies Warren Stone in Newsworthy when they meet him and is the only one who remembers he regenerates by Warren & Hypno Sitting in a Tree. Donnie and Mikey are able to successfully scam Repo Mantis in One Man’s Junk because they know how he thinks. Donnie thwarts everything the Purple Dragons do and can bring Shelldon home because he knows how they operate  (The Purple Game, Breaking Purple). He can restore his brothers to their rightful minds in Mind Meld because he knows himself. 

Also: music. The fact that one of his Battle Shells has a music mode (Mascot Melee), that he remembers things in song form (The Mystic Library, Donnie vs Witch Town), and that he likes to dance (Stuck on You) is so pure and adorable.

Donnie Relationships: 

(while Donnie does see his brothers as dum-dums at times, he admits they’re fun and pretty great to have in Mind Meld)

Raph: We really need a Donnie and Raph episode, but even without one there’s some moments we can look at. I already discussed in Raph’s analysis their general similarities. Donnie doesn’t think Raph always has the brightest ideas, but still has soft moments with him such as giving him $20 at the end of Mind Meld, designing the ‘captain’s chair’ of the Turtle Tank to Raph’s lumbar settings, and appreciating Raph’s pirate accent in Snow Day. They are both protective of their brothers, Raph with his fists and Donnie with his tech. It’s interesting that (I believe) they’re the reverse of each other on the Enneagram: Raph is a 6w5, and Donnie a 5w6. So they both understand the risks involved in what they do (mostly: Donnie still ate poison and Raph still goes on ‘smashcapades’). I really want to see a team-up between them.

Leo: I’m all for the Disaster Twins trope, but to me an episode that epitomizes that isn’t one like Lair Games, where they’re at each other’s throats, but Operation Normal. They’ve apparently done the grandma-getup before. They wind up playing as good cop, bad cop in Fast and Furriest. Sure, one’s high-strung, and one’s laid-back, which can get on each others’ nerves, but there’s also a lot of making up. Brotherly betrayal passes back and forth between them, but never crosses a line. And the numerous times they unconsciously mirror each other can be found with a simple search of the Disaster Twins tag. I’m interested to see more episodes where they work together, even in the background, just because they can get up to wild shenanigans.

Mikey: Mikey’s probably the turtle Donnie most gets along with. They’ve had several episode team-ups: Repo Mantis, One Man’s Junk, Turtle-dega Nights: the Ballad of Rat Man, Breaking Purple, etc. Donnie may be the team academic, but Mikey has strong emotional intelligence. They get along pretty easily, making plans together (One Man’s Junk) and protecting each other (we see Donnie protect Mikey in Repo Mantis and Bug Busters, but we see Mikey protect Donnie by pulling him out of the way in Smart Lair). Donnie helps Mikey focus on the goal at hand, and Mikey helps Donnie communicate better with others. They’re a good team with a pretty solid foundation.

Ultimately, Donnie’s an inventive turtle who wants his brothers to be safe but is still wrestling with a lot of insecurities and unhealthy stress levels. I’m excited to see how he grows into real confidence and utilizes his strengths as an integral member of the team.

For more information on the INTJ and Enneagram 5 personality types, click here:

https://www.16personalities.com/intj-personality

https://www.crystalknows.com/enneagram/type-5-wing-6

https://thoughtcatalog.com/heidi-priebe/2016/01/mbti-and-the-enneagram-2/6/