#but i mean. i guess it depends on what you think of human nature and of what the show thinks of human nature

[maddy-ferguson]

early may me never would've thought that i was gonna start liking the idea of mike and will from stranger things being gay and in love enough to become a tumblrina again and that that would lead to me witnessing a debate about whether or not people can be born evil by the end of the year

[erwinsmithsmissingleftarm]

Smut alphabet for Levi Ackerman

A = Aftercare (what they’re like after sex)

Do not let yourself influence by his cold and sarcastic nature. Whatever you had a rough and intense or slow and passionate sex session, he will care about you the same way: extra gentle.

First, he will bring your tired body to the bathroom to clean you up. While Levi wraps his arms around your waist, his lips leave tons of light kisses on your shoulder. He's going to mumble something about how did you like it, hoping he didn't went too harsh on you. Quickly changing the bed sheets, he puts you to sleep shortly afterward. Cold and stern in the outside, sweet and caring in the core.

B = Body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

Your boyfriend doesn't really have a favorite part of his own body. Like... he thinks its okay and normal, just like everybody else. But he cannot help but feel proud of his muscles, always cracking a smile whenever you compliment his abs, biceps or pecs. He found them useful when it comes to dominate you.

What about your body? I am pretty sure that if you ask him what he likes about your body, the first words that will come out would be ass or thighs. Which is not surprising after his constant pleas of getting his face squish by your thighs and to sleep on your ass like if it was the most comfortable pillow in the whole world. Levi always gives your butt a loving slap when he comes back home. It's his secret way of saying hi.

C = Cum (anything to do with cum, basically)

Levi likes to eat your cum, it's one of his favorite meal. This man is so hungry for your dripping wet pussy that he can spend hours liking it while you are sitting down on his face. He just loves the taste of your cum and hwo your juices run down his lips as he tries to lick it all. He doesn't even care about getting dirty anymore. This guy knows his priorities.

He also wants to see your body covered in his cum. Thighs, face, stomach, chest, hair... nothing is forgotten. He just looks down at you and has the biggest prideful smirk on his face at the sight of the mess he has made. He knows you are gonna kill him for putting sperm in your hair because it is hell no wash it so he enjoys it the longer he can.

D = Dirty secret (pretty self-explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

Levi enjoys fucking you while your hands are tied. He never thought about enjoying slight BDSM but here he is, liking the fact that you can't touch him or squirm away. Also works if your eyes are covered, the adrenaline of not knowing what he is doing to you amplifying the pleasure you feel during sex. He will never really say it out loud, he prefers to keep it for himself even if he is almost sure that you enjoy it as much as he does. You probably already guessed that his favorite tool to tie you up with is his cravate did you?

E = Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?)

Levi might do some researches the day before you two do your first time to be sure that he will do everything right. When it time to do it, he takes out like a dozen of condoms because he didn't know which ones you prefers. Yeah, he might be a bit unsure for the first times but he does not assume, he just doesn't want to show you his insecurity.

Beside reading, he has 0 experience before he started dating you. I mean, it's canon that this man is a virgin (well, was) and is the most sexually frustrated. However, even if Levi doesn't have much experience, he manages to fuck you like a pro. This man is not only the Humanity's Strongest Solider for fighting...

F = Favorite position (this goes without saying)

Levi doesn't really have a preference for a position. I mean, it's all depend of his mood. He is in a romantic mood? The missionary. He wants to fuck you good and dominate you? Doggy style. He wishes for slow but intense sex? Lotus position. He's lazy and just want to watch you fuck yourself on his dick? Cowgirl.

So, it all depends of how he is feeling, what is his mood, ect. But he does like to try new and weird positions that take him out of his comfort zone. You can come up to him and say you want to try the golden arch (this looks sexy asf) and he will say yes without even thinking twice, just because he likes to add spiciness in sex.

G = Goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.)

Levi being Levi, he will NEVER be goofy. This man is barely expressive in the daily life so for sex, it will be pretty difficult. He will not make jokes, excluding maybe “Cumming so much, you’re like a real fountain, princess.” with a smirk on his face. If he jokes, it will be very light and more seen as dirty talk. This man is 100% in every time you fuck so joking around? He doesn’t even think about it.

H = Hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.)

Levi hates everything that isn’t clean and dirty, and this include his own body. So… expect that this area will be super clean and shaved almost daily (yes, he’s a maniac, even for this.)

Maybe it’s a bit out of the subject but we are talking about hair here so for me it’s include the “normal” hair. About them, you know Levi tries to keep them the best groomed possible, but he secretly loves when you tug on them suddenly. Please, grip his hair and push his head down when he gives you a cunnilingus or pull them harshly when you get overstimulated after he made you cum for the 5th time. He will do anything to please you.

I = Intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect)

Levi can be very romantic during love-making just like he can just fuck to fuck. His love and romanticisme are not very evident but it's the small attentions that matter for him. Taking care of you after, whispering praises into your ear, holding your hand... He won't really show that he's romantic but if you take a look at his actions... you will see it.

J = Jack off (masturbation headcanon)

Levi jack off a lot less often since he started to date and get intimate with you. He prefers skin too skin contact over his hand and imagination. Boy, he was a total virgin before he did his first time with you, so my man was the pro of jacking off (sounds so wrong writing this). I even think that Levi will prefer to wait to fuck you instead of jacking himself off.

K = Kink (one or more of their kinks)

Two words: authority kink. Listen to me, I know everybody says that Levi got this kink but you're this man's little brat and he is your superior who got control on you. Yes, you have to call him Captain Levi or else he will punish you. And yes, he will call you brat or bratty slut but don't worry, it is always affectionate. Levi likes to have control, who doesn't like it? So if you start to call him 'Captain' expect him to act like one.

Second kink would be degrading kink. Calling you a whore, slut, cum dumpster, whatever degrading nicknames you like. Tugging on your hair as he fucks you hard, making your back arching beautifully as he whispers bad bad words into your ear. But hey, once the love-making session is finished, he will immediately ask you if he wasn't too rough or anything because he truly loves and cares about you. Maybe he got the degrading kink but he will never hurt you on purpose. And I see you, anxious girls who are scared that he doesn't love you when he calls you names. You just have to tell him and he will stop. Your well-being is his number one priority and you should never feel insecure with him.

L = Location (favorite places to do the do)

Levi can do it anywhere, everywhere, any time, every time, you just have to ask. Bed? Basic but perfect. Kitchen table? He couldn’t wait anymore to devour you, you’re his meal. His office? The fear of being caught just makes it better. In the car? You’ve been too much of a brat and you need a punishment right now.

I think his favorite place to do it would be his office. He likes to see you trying to hold back your moans as he’s pounding inside you because the people outside the office could totally hear you. Or seeing your teary eyes as you are on your knees sucking his dick like a good little bitch under his desk. He even has the boldness to make phone calls, forcing you to keep it silent if you don't want everybdy knowing who's fucking you.

M = Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going)

Acting bratty is probably the biggest turn on. Levi is instantly turned on if you tries to ignore his commands. Why he likes it? Cause he can teach you how to be a good girl and listen to him. Grabbing your hair, making you look at him as he asks you to repeat what you said. A satisfied grin spreading on his lips as you apologize and beg him to fuck you.

Another thing that could make Levi turn wild would be you flirting on purpose with other people. God his expression turns mad when he sees you a bit too close for his liking with this guy. If you want a good punishment, Levi's jealousy is a very quick way to achieve it.

N = No (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

I don't see Levi doing anything that would imply other people like fucking directly in public or doing a threesome (you are his and only his). He won't also do something that could harm you too much like intense BDSM or anything about knifes or torture. He likes spiciness but this is a whole new level in which he doesn't want to be.

O = Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.)

Levi likes both of them. I mean, if he had to choose, it would be impossible. How can he decide between eating your beautiful and perfect cunt and seeing and feeling you sliding his big cock down your throat, you tongue caressing all the sensitive spots?

I would say Levi has pretty good skills in everything (cough) which include pussy eating (COUGH). He would probably win the prize of the best tongue flicking at this point. He will keep your legs spread as you try desperately to close them, feeling his warm tongue licking the most intimate place of your body. “C’mon darling, don’t be so shy. I already saw everything that could be seen down here.”

P = Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.)

Levi is most of the time fast and rough, maybe it is like this that he proves his true love for you. When he fucks you real hard, be ready to not being to walk the next day. Often when he will be slow and sensual it will be to tease you and torture you slowly, when you can feel the heat between your thighs spreading more and faster. "What did you say? I didn't hear you. Slower?"

Q = Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.)

He likes to have quickies time to times like in his office right before an important meeting. He likes the stress of running out of time where you are literally begging him to fuck you faster and harder. Levi approves quickies.

R = Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.)

Levi likes pretty much risking new things and he is very open-minded when it's come to sex stuff (surprising but it's one of the rare topics that he is very collaborative with). He doesn't really have a limit and is chill with everything. As long as it makes you happy, he's ready for everything like stated in the previous letters.

S = Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?)

Okay so... Levi is a total wild animal. Yeah, I know he's supposed to be close to his 40s but tell yourself that he is the Humanity's Strongest Soldier and can run kilometers without being tired so sex is like a little walk for him. He can easily fuck for 3 and more rounds and last 10 to 15 minutes in each before cumming. I'm telling you; this man is almost impossible to exhaust so be ready. But don't worry, I'm sure Levi will be pleased to give you a few practices ;)

T = Toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?)

Levi would buy some toys to use on you, just to test this out for a night. Well... and he used them again and again. He just loves to see your body squirming as you're fucked by a vibrator. "Cumming and I didn't even touch you, damn." he would say with a smirk. Or he could also buy handcuffs but he prefers to use his cravate.

I don't think he would ever want to use a fleshlight because he thinks that your pussy is 100 times better than some fake sex toy. He lives to feel your skin on his. Plus, he rarely masturbates so it would be useless to have sex toys for himself.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

This man loves to tease you. HE WANTS to hear your begging for him to fuck you faster, harder or whatever you want. He's gonna to slowlyyy move his hand down toward your private part, just to keep you waiting. He will take his time to kiss every little spot of your skin, leaving dark marks on your neck, shoulders and chest.

V = Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.)

He won't be really loud even if he fucks you like an animal. Maybe some grunts, gasps and groans as he's thrusting into you deeply. He will also talk a lot but like... dirty talk. Pet names literally flowing down from his lips any time he can. When he will be cumming, he will only bite his lips to hold back the sounds, biting it so hard it started to bleed sometimes.

W = Wild card (a random headcanon for the character)

When Levi is nervous about something, he will tend to be more impulsive, getting angry easier. He doesn't even realize that he repeats certain actions like passing his hand in his hair, replacing his cravate... so, if you see these movements, your darling boy is nervous. Maybe you could go and asks him what's wrong and try to calm him down? You are probably the only person he won't kill for asking him questions.

X = X-ray (let’s see what’s going on under those clothes)

Even if Levi is short as hell (sorry but man he's 5'3), his cock is all the contrary. Oh boy, this man got the whole tool. I mean… He. Is. Big. As. Fuck. Not only long but also large. In short, that man got something that will surely satisfy you. His dick + his professionalism in sex makes him a real master. You can’t be disappointed cause that cock hit all the deepest part of your body at each thrust.

Y = Yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

Levi has a very low sex drive. I mean, he's a grown man, he can pass many days without sex and not being sexually frustrated. He was a virgin for like 20 years so he's kinda used to a very low sex drive. But after many years with you, his sex drive will augment a bit, he will be in the average I guess? But he isn't a sex addict either who can't live a day without fucking.

Z = Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

It takes some time to Levi to fall asleep every day but after a long and tiring session of sex, he sleeps like a baby. It won’t take long for him to fall asleep, a few minutes after getting down from his high. But he will try to fall asleep after you, just to be sure you’re fine but… sometimes are harder than others. When he feels that he’s losing the battle, he will hug you tightly and caress your hair, trying desperately to make you sleep first (does it even work??)

[lxmelle]

Gojo was once described by Gege as a “man of resignation”.

It is a facet of enlightenment - in which the concept of “non-attachment” is a big part of (attachment is viewed as the root of suffering).

We can interpret “resignation” in so many ways, as it explains so much about his immense capacity for love / acceptance, but also his tendency to... simply resign himself to an outcome / fate I guess - a form of passivity that can be either considered positive or negative, perhaps depending on outcome.

Going with the flow, neither chasing nor halting anything in particular with his immense might and potential. He swayed things to gently influence an outcome. Followed a designated path trying to rebuild the sorcerer world through being a teacher... which he couldn’t fully commit too either, because he had a role as a special grade who had to keep working.

That’s not to say he didn’t achieve anything - because of course he did. But nothing revolutionary. He said so himself to Geto: he didn’t see a point in it. There were just some things he didn’t think would change - someone else would replace the higher-ups.

And thus. Despite his massive strength, he never did ever manage to go all out. Perhaps this is symbolic of an inherently gentle/accepting nature? But there was indeed a monster inside him too - the one that thrived on the thrill of killing and defeating. It was a beast he seldom let out. It was a beast with a thirst.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll paraphrase: like a sprinter limited to go at 8kmph, like a singer who is only allowed to whisper her song, a painter unable to use any paints for their desired masterpiece - how dreadfully, painfully unfulfilling.

So of course it was FUN to have this final brawl with Sukuna - to give it his very best, especially when he also didn’t feel lonely anymore with a bunch of monsters he can pass the gauntlet (his body and his will) onto in the worst case scenario.

But of course Gojo doesn’t have the ability to predict the future, so how can anyone expect that he make decisions and judgements perfectly or accurately? All he can do is consider based on his own judgement. Alone. As the only other person who help him plug those holes in his judgement, Geto, had left him.

It is up to interpretation whether Geto was left behind first, but this really isn’t a competition or about assigning blame… because where do we even start?

One cannot hold Gojo totally accountable for things that happen around him or how others interpret his actions. He was born different to everyone else. Probably treated as if he had this role to fill where people had an idea of what they wanted or needed him to be, but never gave much thought over what it would feel like for him.

Gojo, Shoko, and those left behind have had to suffer the same resignation. After all: What else are you supposed to do but resign yourself, in the face of a reality where even to things you don’t wish to happen, have to happen? All you can do is what you can... and if you can, you wield it with all your might.

Geto tried it to the best of his ability.

He wasn’t Gojo, who could do it if he wanted to.

Understanding that Gojo wasn’t, and accepting that he (Geto) shouldn’t change that about him (Gojo), as he was likely more suited to be at the school - essentially following nanami’s words and “leaving it to him” as Gojo was in his element / thrived on it, but Geto couldn’t be complicit in the system that would lead them to watch their own kind die one by one — Geto left to follow his ideals.

Gojo was referred to as the only one who can take that curse into his own hands. I used to see it as “the only one to kill Geto” after he failed and almost lost his humanity for the sake of power (killing Yuta would go against his principles) but now it also has a new meaning: the only one who can take charge and pursue the ideals to actually change the world.

The curse is the sh*t that is in the world of sorcery in jjk. Gojo seemed to (imho) now feel the need to catch up and hold the reins this time.

It is the end of Resignation Man Gojo Satoru. The emergence of The Monster Gojo Satoru (who Geto assisted in helping Gojo keep at bay through being the “model of humanity” that Gojo could follow) who was then fully ready to take the stand. Like Geto on that stage.

Bye higher ups.

Before, despite his immense strength, he didn’t force his way through. Perhaps this was the outcome of having been forced to be born and live with no choice but to be the six eyes + limitless. You do not actually have freedom.

Unless, you’re willing to become a pariah. To wield these cards that were dealt to you and completely become the extraordinary.

And now, Yuta embraces the same resigned acceptance of becoming a monster. After all... only a few will be able and willing to turn into a Monster.

Out of love. A Monstrous love indeed.

Geto had monstrous motherhood in him. I guess this extends to others now too. To cast away humanity because nobody else will. Nobody else can. So they have to wield it. Become it.

Yuta represents both the old and new world... in some way, he is like Gojo and Geto combined... power / strength + sincerity / kindness. Of course, like the yin and yang, each half has a bit of the other in it - so Gojo and Geto had a combination of power and compassion, but they symbolically represent each,

Arguably, had Geto someone else by his side, things may have been different.

All of this mess… ugh.

It didn’t have to come to this, right? Nor did it have to be the extermination of humans, but it could’ve been a collaboration of the special grades (Yuki, Gojo, Geto) all trying to solve the 3 different factors to the problem: humans as the origin of curses (research), the old-fashioned higher ups + clans, and the elimination of the curses. There may be others, but you get my gist.

But alas, this is the jjk world.

Just some thoughts, I’ll end it here before it’s more word vom.

[teyamsatan]

ꜰᴀʟꜱᴇ ɢᴏᴅ | ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪɪ: ɪ ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ꜰᴇᴇʟ ᴀʟɪᴠᴇ 'ᴛɪʟ ɪ'ᴍ ʙᴜʀɴɪɴ' ᴏɴ ʏᴏᴜʀ ʙᴀᴄᴋʙᴜʀɴᴇʀ

pairing: dilf!Jake Sully x (f)human/avatar!reader

synopsis: Jake struggles to adapt with the way being next to you is making him feel.

this story will contain an unhealthy, co-dependent relationship, and dark themes (smut, mental health, death, violence, infidelity), so pls read at your own discretion.

warnings: 18+ minors DNI, angst, age-gap (23 vs 43), (a little) smut at the end

wc: 6.1k words

a/n: umm, hi there?? do you remember me? i know it's been such a long time and I am so so sorry, but I am backkk besties!!! i am so happy to finally be able to complete chapter two and I hope you enjoy because it's quickly picking up pace. i really hope this isn't garbage, i'm so so out of practice and so insecure about my writing, but i still hope you are able to understand and enjoy this, because i am so excited to finally be back writing.

ps: this story will move perspectives and timelines a lott, so i hope it's not too confusing but pls do let me know if it is and i'll figure something out xx

replies and reblogs are massively appreciated, i loveee to hear from you so much!

na'vi compendium: tanhi - bioluminescent freckles, paskalin - sweet berry (term of endearment)

series masterlist (x)

Maybe I'm just not better than this, I haven't tried Maybe life's less romantic when I don't wanna die You'd think I'd be a fast learner But guess I won't ever mind crisping up on your backburner

Jake has always felt comfortable in nature. Even back on Earth, the comfort of a bed was a luxury mostly lost on him throughout his life. It was peaceful, and comforting, feeling the ground beneath his feet, beneath his skin, malleable and nurturing, like a warm embrace. It was a given here, with the connection the Na’vi had with the world around them, with the forest surrounding them, that he would become one with it, too, that he would find solace in it. He did, most days. Just not tonight, as he lay on the slightly damp surface with an arm underneath his head for support, trying to find meaning in the stars that were still so beautiful and bright they took his breath away, trying to calm his erratic heartbeat and his wandering thoughts. 

What was that? This whole day, that conversation that was still ringing in his ears like an insipid echo, making sweat bead on his forehead and trickle down his temples, until they were one with the soil. Why would you say that? What possessed him to confide in you about parts of his life he forsook, he gave up what felt like eternities ago?

He’s never truly noticed you before. The shy, timid girl who was far too attuned to others’ feelings to be able to overlook the disdain still present in some members’ of the clan when it came to anything human, always holed up in that lab he hated, that was at odds with everything he’s come to known and too much like everything he was trying his best to leave behind. It used to be different back then, when you were young, just a child craving connection and companionship, always tied to the hip to his eldest son, Neteyam, where Spider always took more to his two middle children. Par for the course, he thought. You and Neteyam were much alike, and somehow still managed to complement each other well, at the same time. He used to think you’d be good for him, back then. Not that he’d ever tell Neytiri that, the seemingly blasphemous idea, but yes - he thought that, even before you got an Avatar. But now, the thought made him uneasy - queasy, even. It wouldn’t be right. Your relationship would be frowned upon, and the Omaticaya would never look at you and see the future Tsa’hik that’s meant to lead them, to interpret their deity’s way. You were too fragile, too tuned in to your own and others’ emotions to be able to overcome it, and it would break you. Being with Neteyam would break you. 

The night was torturous and slow, so many thoughts eating away at him like a disease. By the time Eclipse passed, he was ready for this trip to be over. Being here with you alone wasn’t good, he realises now. It was a mistake, to talk to you, to look into your eyes, to notice you. Because now that he did, he couldn’t stop. The way your Avatar body twitched in sleep, the way he couldn’t help wonder what you were doing in your human body - were you sleeping, like you should be? Was this on your mind, this night, the same way it was his? Were you cramming everything you once used to do in a day in the few hours you had in your now secondary body?

“Oh, kid. You better know how to fix this better than I do.” 

“Is the Avatar safe?”

Norm trusted Jake with his life, and still, he knew he had to ask. The scientist in him, the Avatar program leader de facto, he’s always taken every responsibility, every chance to prove himself to the Na’vi and to his late mentor, Grace Augustine, very seriously. And that included taking care of you. You were not his blood, but you were his family, and he wanted to protect you, he wanted you to be alright. And so when Jake suggested getting some much needed tutelage, he was happy to wait until the night to hear all about it. 

“You know it is.”

“How did it go?”

“Well, I think. He was right, I guess. I definitely feel a bit more comfortable outside of the village, of all the prying eyes.” 

“Amazing. Do you have plans for tomorrow?”

“I’m… not sure. I think… I overstepped.” The blush in your cheeks and eyes glued to your fiddling feet made Norm’s brown eyebrow rise, a small grimace mirroring the one marring your beautiful, soft features. Still, he placed a hand on your head, gently brushing the stray hairs that were raised from the hours of being in the cryocapsule.

“I find that hard to believe.”

“He… told me about his life on earth. About his father, and I… made a comment. I have no idea how he reacted to it, but now that I’m here, I have no chance to fix it.”

“I’m sure whatever it is, it’s not as bad as you think. We always tend to overthink in our heads, and, as humans, we always tend to see the worst in ourselves. You, more than most.”

After helping you out, making sure you were settled on your wobbly, weak knees, he gave your shoulder a small squeeze and left to his quarters, but not before telling you one last thing.

“I think someone overstepping once in a while is exactly what a man who’s always obeyed needs. Go to sleep, love.” 

The next morning, you felt dizzy as you woke up in the forest, slight groan audible with every stretch that allowed your sore muscles to loosen. You weren’t surprised to see Jake already up, busying himself with gutting a fish which would most likely constitute your breakfast. You gulped at the sight of him, veiny arms expertly handling the animal, his relaxed postured at odds with the slight frown on his face. Was that because of you? Was he mad at you? What possessed you to talk to him like he was a friend and not the Toruk Makto, the mighty Olo’eyktan? What possessed you to confess about an old crush, that died with your innocence about the world, about the same time you finally started to notice how the Omatikaya, particularly Neytiri, have looked at you all your life. 

“Um, good morning.” 

His eyes flickered over to you, lingering for a second longer than they needed to on your golden eyes before turning back swiftly, and the expression he adorned, a mixed between shame, guilt and desire, would have been obvious to anyone with more life experience, but not to you. Still, you noticed the blush in his cheeks, and couldn’t help the anxiety bubbling in your chest at what… or whom, might be the cause of it. 

“‘Morning, kid. D’you sleep well?” 

“I guess. You?” 

“One of us have to stay up and keep an eye out for predators, you know. Can’t have you get eaten before I’m done teaching you how to defend yourself.” His smile was teasing, and if it was an effort to put your mind at ease, you did appreciate it. It made what you had to say next come out easier.

“Listen, Jake… what I said last night… it was none of m-“

“It’s alright, kid. It’s been a while since anyone’s contradicted me, apart from my wife, so…” his laugh was rugged and unforced, and you couldn’t help join in at the sonorous melody that rang in your ears and all of a sudden couldn’t imagine being without. 

“So you don’t hate me?” 

Jake’s eyes settled on your own, but not before flickering to your parted lips, so focused and eager, you were clinging on to his every word, waiting desperately to be put out of your misery. 

“No, kid. I don’t hate you.” 

Jake didn’t know what was wrong with him, but he did know one thing: it was just a stupid conundrum, nothing more. He didn’t feel anything for you, he was just taken aback by someone who seemed to be a lot more intuitive and incisive about someone’s inner workings than he gave you credit for. But that’s it. Just because you talked about something he cared about, that nobody asked him about, just because he confessed to you feelings he hasn’t said out loud in more than 24 years… that didn’t mean anything. He had a mate. A mate he loved, a mate he was sworn to forever. He had a family, children, a life. It was nothing. So he did his duty and helped you, keeping a safe distance and the conversation to a minimum, outside of instructions he ought to give you. Still, despite his apprehensions, being with you was easy. You were docile and listened well, you were quiet and kept to yourself, and, in the moments you did talk, there was a pureness, a light to your heart that made his own feel lighter. 

“Good form. Now focus on the target and, when you’re ready…”

He watched as the arrow flew at high speed and travelled the length of the forest until it hit the ground next to a tree marked with an X - a makeshift target, but it did the job. 

“Release.” 

“Sorry.” Your ashamed disposition was as clear as day on your face and in your body language, and the purple twinge in your cheeks brought forth the luminosity of your tanhi and he hated himself for noticing it to begin with. 

“Don’t be. You did well. Just make sure you draw all the way back before releasing. The target’s a bit narrower than you’re used to, so you’re doing well.” 

His eyes softened taking you in. A sigh reverberated from deep within his chest and he said the words before he could stop himself, fully knowing he might regret them later. 

“Let’s focus on your tracking instead for a little while. A change of scenery might do you well.”

He knew he should leave the tracking skills for back to the village, for someone else to teach you. He should just hurry back home - to his life, to his wife, to the normalcy he’s both craving and desperately afraid of. Any extra time spent with you is time where he could talk and say something, confess something else that is better left unsaid, fall prey to your uncanny ability to see through him, to will out words he hasn’t even realised he’s been dying to say out loud. 

The ground was wet and cold, accentuated by the heavy moisture surrounding you. it still took getting used to, the air, breathing it in and out, like you were born to do so, such a colossal departure from the mask that covered your face for most of 23 years of your life. Still, it was a blessing, and one you made sure to appreciate with every breath you took. You forgot a little about it, all the gratitude, as the air felt particularly dense and thick as you took it in, as the man you now called mentor crawled skilfully like a steady, stealthy apex predator, little to no evidence of his presence other than the hand that was rested carefully on the small of your back, sending bouts of electricity all throughout your body. His voice was quiet as he spoke it near your ear, a velvet shroud that enveloped you and stirred something in you, something primal and carnal, something you’ve never felt before. What was happening to you? What was he doing to you?

“Lower, kid. The lower you are to the ground, the fainter your scent, the easier to hide.” 

“I-it’s… hard.” 

You could hear his smirk as he answered your quiet protestation, and you wondered whether he found it endearing or irksome, praying and hoping with as much power as you still had left in you that it was the former. 

“I know, girl. Guess we’ll have to train those abs for more core strength, huh?” 

You were happy your back was to him so he couldn’t see the violent blush haunting your cheeks, but even so, there was little you could do about your rampant heart or your heaving breath.

“I can hear your heartbeat like it’s echoing through the whole forest. And if I can, every other animal on a half a click radius can, too. You have to learn to calm your mind. Can you do that for me?”

Although what he was asking of you seemed impossible, considering his touch set your body and soul ablaze and your mind’s already erratic rumination seemed to reach an incandescent high, you tried, and although every muscle in your body hurt and ached, much like the first few times you allowed yourself to train in this body, you did as you were told, and, by early afternoon, you managed to track a pack of Yarik without even as much of a perk of the ear to give you away. You remember still, those early days, like they were happening to you now, as you stood here, in your bedroom, as the tears blurred the familiar space, the rock you were holding so tightly in your hand that it was cutting through your palm until all that inundated your sight was a watercolour red stain. You should have known then. What would follow. When he touched you, how it made you feel, you should have known to stay away. Norm once told you life, especially in your 20s, was about the joys and miseries of growing pains, but if you knew, how the journey was full of polarising extremes that pulled at every fibre of your being, how the high was insurmountable, but the pain was unbearable, maybe you would have thought twice before jumping in. 

You wonder if he knew, then. If he felt it, too. You wonder if he realised that this was the beginning of the end, if the pull you felt was the same one that drove him to what came after, to all he ended up putting on the line. You wondered if it was all a ploy, getting you alone, or if he truly just wanted to help, innocent and undiscerning, just a dutiful Olo’eyktan. You thought you knew his heart, and how much it hid and how much it hurt, you thought you came to know it all through all this time, but as the bleeding in your heart mirrored your gashing palm, you weren’t sure anymore. 

“Come.”

The Yarik were all gone now, unfrightened by your unassuming presence, which you took as a win. Still, you almost flinched when his now much louder voice rang above the quiet murmur of the forest. 

“Where?”

“You worked hard today, so you deserve a break. And I know just the spot.” 

Jake wasn’t sure if it was a good idea, what he was about to do, but he knew you needed something to break apart the times of pain and struggle. It was something he’s learnt, being here, on Pandora, as one of the people, that there was more to life than duty, than sacrifice and pain, then the daily struggle of fitting in, of pitching in, of simply existing. You had to live life, face it, enjoy it. And he wanted you to have that, especially now. He understood, more than most, what it was like to be inhibited and trapped to a space or a time, paralysed, literally or figuratively to your immutable circumstance. For him, it was his legs, trapping him in a body he hated and couldn’t recognise, in habits he took on just like the soldier he’s always been, because there was nothing else he could do. For you, it was your human body, that confined you to the lab, to a mask, to a life that could never be experienced fully, until now. So, despite a small part, probably the logical part of his mind, telling him he should just keep the training going or go home, he decided to share with you a place he found while hunting for food last night. And when he saw your face as you took it in, all doe-eyed and bushy tailed, ears twitching enthusiastically and a beautiful, innocent smile taking over your whole face, he knew he made the right call. He found his own smile brewing without being able to contain it, your joy so contagious, it was like the whole world shone just a little brighter than it had a few minutes ago.

“Jake… I love it. Thank you.”

The roar of the waterfall crashing on the otherwise peaceful lake almost drowned your words, and he laughed at the way you were tentatively approaching the water, as if scared that the caress of it on your skin might hurt your already aching muscles. 

“Good. Let’s see how you like it up close.” 

And with that, and a gentle tap on your shoulder, a loud splash ensued where you hit the water. He laughed yet again at the way you emerged from it, wet and startled and almost as if you could not believe what just happened. 

“I-I… you… I cannot believe you did that!” 

He couldn’t help how much fun it was, doing this, being with you - it was as if for the first time in ages, in decades, being alive was fun again. It was as if this forest was completely separated from his own, from what was waiting for him back home, the unsurmountable pressure that plagued him every second of every day, especially since the humans returned. 

“Believe it, kid. You need to learn to let loose once in a while, you know?”

You rolled your eyes, but seemed intrigued by his preposition. 

“I will if you will.” 

And so he did. And for the next few hours, life was easygoing and fun, and spending time in your presence felt like coming out for a deep breath when it felt like he’d been drowning. He’s learnt you didn’t really know how to swim, and that the first song you’ve ever learnt on piano was one you deeply related to, that he’s made you promise you’d sing to him, and he found out plenty of small things, but nothing important, or of substance. It was clear to him more and more you loved being the one asking the questions and never the one answering them, and, soon enough, here you were again, curious as a cat about things nobody else was when it came to him.

“Did you ever expect it?” the sun was still shining brightly upon you both, warming your strong, supple bodies as you floated in the otherwise cold water. Eclipse wasn’t too far behind, but right now, neither of you particularly seemed to care. 

“What’s that?” You continued floating, looking intently at the sky - focused or too embarrassed to look at him, Jake couldn’t really tell. 

“Everything. What you did, what happened. Did you ever expect it, when you were offered a place on a shuttle to Pandora?” Once again, Jake was taken aback by your propensity of asking deep, profound, intimate questions like you were asking about the weather. He wondered briefly if you realised that that’s not how most people talked.

“No… I didn’t. I didn’t care, about the job or the mission. I cared about the money. And later, about the chance to get my legs back.” 

“Do you ever miss it? Being… normal.” 

“I was given a second chance - a purpose bigger than me, bigger than the measly life I left behind. I -“ this finally got your attention, and for the first time since your first question, you adjusted your position in the water so that you were fully facing him, inquiring eyes like beads of light and focus, intent on taking in every expression, every shift in mood, every slight adjustment of his face. You tried again, this time more forceful and intense, this time almost demanding of his full attention.

“That wasn’t my question. It’s a privilege, and an honour, to be who you are…”

He struggled as he always did to stifle a roll of his eyes and the speech he’s heard a million times before, from his wife, or his Tsa’hik, from every villager of the Omatikaya, from every other tribe leader he’s ever met through diplomatic missions. The answer he always kept at the ready was caught in his throat, because you kept going.

“…but I’m sure it’s also tiring, and hard. And lonely. So do you ever miss it? Do you ever wish things could go back to the way they were? Do you ever wish you didn’t have to be there for everybody all the time?”

He looked at you, pleading, not knowing whether he needed you to stop or keep going, only knowing it hurt, being torn at the seams like that between two choices that both led to heartbreak and epiphanies he wasn’t ready to face nor strong enough to deal with on his own, especially right now.

“Kid…” 

“I went too far again, didn’t I? What is wrong with me?” 

The attempt to get out of the lake was swiftly overthrown by his much stronger physique keeping you in place, caging you in between the edge of the lake and his muscular arms. Jake wasn’t an emotional man, he wasn’t one to be overcome with feelings that could cloud his judgement, that could interfere with a plan of action and yet, standing there, in that moment, your wide golden eyes looking fearfully and surprisedly up at him, the rapid pulse of your heart clearly visible in your carotid artery running up your neck, he felt his mind clouded and his own heart trembling with the overwhelming, unexpected urge to taste you, to feel those lips crashing over his, your tongues intertwined, his fingers wander in wondrous places he was sure no one else had before. He needed you, like he’s scarcely ever needed anything else, like he rarely ever allowed himself to. But you weren’t his, you never would be. And this was wrong and immoral, and it didn’t matter - that you seemed to be able to see right through him, that everything you said cut like a knife through all the bullshit and pretence, that your pupils were so wide they were swallowing the golden of your irises, that he could feel that you wanted it too. None of it mattered. 

“You didn’t go too far. You just… see things. And ask things, no one else ever does. And it scares me, kid. You scare the shit out of me.” 

“Me? I’m nothing. I’m… just a girl.”

“You’re everything.”

It was then you knew, that the crush was not a crush, it was so much more, too much more. It was then you knew you were heading for a potentially life-altering, life-ending fall that would break all your bones and leave you tethered on the ground, shattered and broken, unable to ever be put back together the same. And so you tried. You broke the moment that felt eternal, even though it pained you, to know at some point he wouldn’t be looking at you the way he had been then, and asked him to go home. You were quiet and compliant all the way back, and he made it easier on you by a performance of the same caliber. You didn’t know if it made you feel better or worse, that the moment clearly affected him too, enough that both of you looked like dogs with their tails between their tails as you arrived back in the village, without having spoken another word to the other, without as much as risking a glance in the other’s direction.

It was for the best. There was nothing, absolutely nothing that could come of entertaining this little troubled happenstance, and truth be told, you couldn’t wait for your life to get back to normal, where he barely spoke to you and you were free to withdraw within yourself the way you knew you had to in order to heal. You were able to get over your mindless crush once before, and you were certain to be able to do it again, especially given you would had the perfect opportunity in the annual clan celebration that you had come just in time for. 

“How was it?” Neteyam was quietly hopeful about your trip with his dad, eager to be able to call you one of the People as soon as he possible could. Any effort to aid that, to allow you closer to a life he knew you deserve and knew you could make your own, was beneficial and encouraged in his mind. You loved Neteyam, and appreciate him for who he was and what he meant to you - a brother, a best friend, a confidant. You told him most things and yet, some things were just too ugly to share, and so you didn’t. Some things were better off swept under the rug, praying the lump they made was not big enough to trip on. 

“Great. I think he was right, being away from all the prying eyes helped. Guess I’ll just have to show you tomorrow. Who knows? I might even be better than the mighty warrior soon, eh?” 

He threw his head back and laughed, and you joined in his joy, already feeling better just being away from him, leisurely walking trough the village and helping out with anyone who needed a hands for tonight’s celebration. 

“Dream on, paskalin. Although, you could show me what you learnt tonight, and maybe even win a prize in the knife throwing contest. Better than sulk all night in a corner the way I know you’re itching to do.” 

“Actually, I wasn’t planning on doing that. Not tonight.” 

“Oh?” You wish you hadn’t said that, because you should have realised Neteyam would be curious and it was a subject you didn’t feel ready to talk to anyone about, especially a man, a beautiful, glorious, obviously-experienced one, such as your best friend. 

“I just mean, it’s time, you know? To try to live my life. Maybe even find someone with whom to share it with.” 

“Y-you mean… like a mate?” 

Neteyam looked taken aback by your confession, so much so that he stopped in the middle of the path, making two children bump into his legs and fall down behind him. It took a lot to make Neteyam flustered, and so you couldn’t understand why your words affected him so much. Was it so unsettling to people, the thought of an Avatar finding love on the planet that wasn’t quite home, but was the only chance at home you would ever get? Were you so repulsive as a person that the one who knew you the best thought it hard to digest that you could ever be loved by a man? 

“Forget about it, Neteyam. I’ll be at the celebration, alright? I should go get ready.” 

You left before you could hear his excuses or explanations - you knew you were sensitive, probably too sensitive. You knew you were probably overreacting, and his words didn’t have any malintent, and you knew he was most likely just taking a second to adjust to a new stage of your life you’ve never shared with him before. You knew all of these and more, and yet, your heart was tired and bruised, your mind a tumultuous whirlwind of doubt and misery. You needed time, time to heal, time to think. Time you didn't have, when the celebration was upon you.

You almost wanted to laugh now, months after that night happened, at how stupid you had been that night, how desperate and pathetic. You knew about some Na'vi, certain warriors who loved the idea of humans, of experimenting with them, of using them. You've heard the stories, you've seen the scientists coming back to the lab with them, you've been around when they talked about how good it was, how necessary the release, how passionate and life-changing the experience. In your head, that was exactly what you needed then: some sex with some random Na'vi who wanted to show you a good time, help you forget about the one you really wanted. It wasn't hard enough to find one that night, especially after you won your prize in the knife throwing competition, when the warmth of liquid courage was still embedded deep within your throat and soul, much to Neteyam's dismay. Still, the performance attracted attention, of one man in particular you cared about. Strong, 10 feet tall and muscular, he was looking at you like a meal and right then, you wanted nothing more to be devoured. You wondered what your life would have been like if that night went differently than it did. You wondered...

He barely noticed it, his wife’s touches or his clan members’ words of admiration or respect, not when the only thing his mind could focus on was the way his hand was caressing your shoulder and down your arm in gentle and intimate touches that felt too familiar for two people who have seemingly barely ever interacted before. His skin crawled at the sweet, shy smile you were sending his way and at the slight tint of purple he could see in your cheeks. You were too pure for this, Jake knew. Too pure for the intentions clear on his face that he didn’t think you fully understood, how this was all a game, a conquest, how you were a prize to be won, a trophy to be paraded around to the Na’vi who loved to brag about fucking the Avatars, the humans, the aliens. It was a game to him, and you… you weren’t a game to be played, not to Jake. 

To his surprise, he realised he was angry with you. Angry that you were humouring him, that you were giving into it, that you were enjoying it. That guy was not good enough for you, and you should know that. You should know that for your first time being touched, being someone else’s, you needed someone who knew how to handle you, how to make you feel good, show you what it feels like to give in to your wildest dreams and fantasies. You needed someone to teach you. The fury bubbling just beneath the surface worried him.

You weren’t his. You were free to do as you wished, and the thoughts that plagued him as the mother of his children was sitting in his lap, perfectly unaware, were enough to pool other feelings, like guilt and shame, and form a heady concoction of emotions that he knew sooner or later would explode all around him. None of the feelings trumped the relief that washed over him as soon as he saw Lo’ak approach the two of you and break apart the scene, and right then, in that moment, Jake never felt more grateful for his troublemaker son and his propensity for meddling in other people’s business.

You looked disappointed with the interruption, slightly irked at his son and at the way the hand that was running up and down your thigh was now vacant from the spot you obviously thought it belonged on. The boy was clearly annoyed at Lo’ak, and a smirk breeched the carefully constructed expression resting on the Olo’eyktan’s face - annoyed or not, everyone knew better than to challenge one of his sons. So, with a careful goodbye, he was gone, leaving you gesticulating widely in his direction and clearly despondent with the outcome. It wasn’t long before you left for your tent, and Jake knew that if he was to survive this night, he’d have to be careful not to give in to the one thing he wished for the most in the world. 

Your shower was hotter than what you were used to, hot enough to hopefully scald away the shame and embarrassment you felt now that you were sober once more. Your life seemed to be comprised mostly of those, recently, and while it was somewhat easy to forget how badly you fared in training your Avatar body once you got back to your bedroom and the safe confines of the labs, this new, fresh development lingered like a cold sore, painful whenever you remembered it. Did anyone else apart from Lo’ak see you, shamelessly flirting and allowing a Na’vi warrior to feel you up? Did everyone know how desperately you wanted someone to take you away and make you forget about the one man you actually wanted, the man who made all the other ones pale in comparison, the one man who you couldn’t have? You knew it was so wrong, how badly you craved his touch, what effect even a fleeting image of him in the back of your mind had on you, how your slick was running down your legs, how your brain couldn’t stop conjuring all the ways he could teach you how to be, how to love, how to live. How you knew his touch would ruin you and put you back together, kill you and finally bring you to life. 

As you fastened your towel onto your body and opened the door to your bedroom, you were startled to find the one man you couldn't shake from your mind sitting on your bed, eyes wandering over your barely dry body.

“God, Jake, you scared me!”

You couldn't believe he was in your room, as if by thinking about him hard enough you manifested him here. He was so tall, so much bigger than you as you stood now, in your human body, frail and delicate and so easy to break. He barely fit on your bed and in your room, taking most of the walking space, so much so you struggled to adjust your position to face him properly.

“…What are you doing here?” 

“What were you doing with that grunt at the party?”

You couldn't believe your ears, settling on a double take as you considered his question carefully, mulling over every word in your mind, as if doing so will finally reveal a secret meaning to it that you couldn't quite understand yet.

“Pardon?” 

“You heard me, kid.”

His words were dry and humourless. There was no levity to them, or to the situation, the room filled with thick tension, and for the first time in your life, you were almost...scared of him. Why did he care?

“I… he… we…”

“That’s what I thought. Why him? If you want someone to mate, I’m sure there’s better options out there.” 

“I don’t want to talk about it, Jake.”

You started turning around, dizzy from the way his presence was making you feel and tired of giving him so much power to do so. You didn't manage to, though, as his large hand caught your forearm and held you in place, and when you were forcefully turned back to look at him, you saw it all. The hurt. The anger. The... betrayal. The jealousy.

“No, this isn’t how this works. You always ask questions and get me talking about shit I haven’t said out loud in decades, or ever. You’re not going shy on me now, not anymore. So why him?” 

Fuck it.

“Because it’s not you, ok?! Because it can’t be you! And I don’t know if you’ve realised this, but it’s not like I have a line of men willing to mate or even be seen with a human, an alien, a sky demon. So it has to be him! That’s why.” 

“Kid…”

The tears were pooling in your eyes like beaded pearls making your vision blurry, and the struggle with which you've been trying to remove yourself from his grasp finally paid off because you did it, you finally manage to break free, but it was too late. You were exhausted, and you knew it was time to lay it all on the table, once and for all, for him to know, and to disprove, for him to break your heart so you could finally move on.

“No, Jake! You’re in my head, all the time. It’s messing with my mind, the deluded reality I’ve been living in. You talk to me, and you notice me, and you give me attention. You touch me, and you look at me like…”

Soft sobs broke your words apart and let their meaning linger all around you, sounding like infinite echoes in the room. It would all be over soon.

“...Like you want me. And I know you don’t, and I know it’s not real, and it hurts me! So I need something else, I need someone else, I need someone to show me there’s other men out there, to pull me out of this nightm-“

His lips, soft and needy, not at all like you imagined them to be, ceased your pleading words before you got a chance to speak them. It took a second, just one second, for you to understand what was happening, to process the way the kiss was everything you've ever wanted and more than you've ever dreamed about, the way he was desperate and hungry for your touch, for you to reciprocate his feelings... so you did. And you melted under his touch, and before long, the whole world disappeared from view, and there were no consequences to your actions, and all you knew, all you needed... was him.

You were both panting when you finally came up for air, and all you wanted was more. More. A little more. Always more.

“Fuck, kid. You’ve got no idea how much I want you. But I’ll show you.” His hand wandered down your much smaller body, until his large fingers found the knot of your bathrobe, that he skilfully undoes, before sliding them over your soaked folds. “Shit. Look how wet you are for me. Let me show you, please.” 

With a nod, you dropped your head backwards and knew, in your heart, whatever was next would be the beginning of the end, of you, of him, of everything you’ve both worked so hard for and yet, all you felt was unadulterated, heavenly, euphoric bliss. 

Maybe I blame my mother bleeding into my stride Maybe it was my father and his wandering eyes (It's their fault that) I'll always be in your corner 'Cause I don't feel alive 'til I'm burnin' on your backburner

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[real-sun-wukong-fan01]

Me and my mom were talking about monkeys in general because i was actually very confused about the whole "if you smile, generally monkeys can see it as a sign of aggression" and she explained it to me

And other than the fact that it's a "sign of aggression" because generally showing the teeth can be used as something to show anger, my mom said this

"it all depends on the type of monkey, for example for chimpanzees your whole existence is aggressive for them, they'll snap you like a dry twig."

but also it dipends on the environment the animal grew up in, my cat could easily mistake my smile as a sign of aggression but dosen't because he grew up knowing how humans show emotions and can distinguish between them, a wild monkey for example can't know about it.

So this means that Sun Wukong won't actually find a smile aggressive, he grew up around humans and mortals and he can distinguish, but i like to think that sometimes he still does because he forgets, he did spent 500 years only around monkeys. And it's nature to him? Y'know.

and for Macaque? I like to think that he sees it as aggressive, that's it. No in-between. No "what if".

He smiles himself to show that he is not friendly, unlike wukong who does smile often to show that he is the opposite of aggressive, he makes sure not smile with his teeth with his monkeys though, his smile is way more intimidating than a human one.

Just

Silky monkey fact i guess

[devildomditzy]

“I can’t take you seriously.” For Diavolo cus i dont take him seriously (in a good way tbh) 🍨👹

You stare ahead at the demon prince in front of you as he downs his ice cream faster than you think you’ve ever seen done before. Honestly, it was kind of impressive.

It was anyone’s guess as to what he said to Barbatos to let him meet you alone at Madame Screams for what he referred to as an “ice cream social”. You’d bet money that he didn’t tell Barbatos, and the poor butler is currently running around like a hell hen with it’s head cut off looking for him.

You’d accepted his invitation, first; because you figured there would be consequences of some kind for saying no to the next lord of hell, second; because you figured the ‘social’ part of the ice cream social meant everyone would be coming. But no, you find yourself alone with the ruler of the entire realm in the center of a small cafe. A human and demon royalty, both currently being gawked at by every patron and the entire staff alike.

You don’t blame them. It’s probably not every day that they see the effective ruler of their government in person, let alone chowing down on a sundae like his life depended on it. But, you’d be lying if you said the stares weren’t starting to make you uncomfortable.

Diavolo gives a hardy laugh from his seat, startling you out of your concentration on his speedy consumption. Gosh, if he didn’t slow down, you were sure he was gonna choke.

“Isn’t this wonderful, MC? Just you and I enjoying ourselves out in the public! Now I know what it must feel like for regular citizens of the Devildom to ‘get out of the house’ so to say!”

You give a forced chuckle, trying your best to sound sincere. “Yeah, totally. This is…exactly how that feels.”

You try not to make eye contact with the people gathered around the two of you, but it’s almost impossible as they take out their D.D.D’s to film and photograph the two of you. You were starting to feel like a caged animal, and you wonder briefly if this is what the prince felt like at all times.

The notion begins to make you upset, but before you can dwell on it, you look up to find Diavolo smiling back at you, remnants of his ice cream attached to his upper lip in a pseudo mustache. You can’t stop the laugh that jumps forward from deep in your chest.

“May I know what you find so humorous?”, he questions, childlike wonder abundant behind his eyes. “I always love a good laugh!”

You wipe a small tear that formed in the corner of your eye away before speaking. “It’s just… I can’t take you seriously!”

His face drops instantly, and your blood freezes. Upsetting the leader hell was not on your to do list for the day, and you did not want to find out what it means if you do.

You begin to backpedal to the best of your ability, not wanting to get throwing into jail. Jail in hell was probably worse then regular jail. It was probably like, super jail. You don’t want to go to super jail in hell.

But before you can begin to flounder, Diavolo bursts into another good natured chuckle. “Good! I’m glad!”

You stare at him, shock and confusion perfectly married in your expression. “I’m sorry…you’re glad?”

He shakes his head fondly before continuing. “MC, can I be honest with you? When everyone around you holds you to such high standards at all times, it can become a bit…”

He seems to be searching for the right word, so you offer up the one that flashes through your mind.

“Draining?”

“Yes! Draining. That’s why I asked you to sneak out with me! I knew you wouldn’t make too much of a fuss being seen with me.” He puts his head on his hand, a warm smile gracing his features. “I feel like I can let loose with you around.”

“Oh!”, you light up in surprise. It hits you then how scary it must be to have to lead a whole dimension of demonic folk. Having everyone look to you for all the answers, having to make all the tough decisions. Then there was Lucifer and Barbatos, always expecting him to act regal, and uphold some airy sense of authority. The prince certainly did not have it easy.

“Then, I’m glad I could be of service. Let’s do this again some time, Lord Diavolo.”

“Please, call me Dia.”

“Okay”, you giggle, “Let’s do this again some time, Dia.”

[wannaeatramyeon]

uhm could you possibly do jealous lookism character headcanons? (._.)

Thanks for the ask anon! This has been a wild 2 weeks of hyperfixating for me and I'm starting to dry up so this has come as a good time (altho I've got lots of drafts sitting around lol)

This has been super interesting. Some characters obv have a jealous personality, but I've never thought about those who don't. This will def become a multi-parter!

Most jealous here!

Lookism jealous headcanons: least jealous

Let's start with these guys first (Jake, Vasco, Gun, Daniel, Eli): hc for being jealous themselves, and hc for you trying to make them jealous

Jake Kim

To be with Mr. Butt, you would have developed a pretty good relationship anyway to move into the romantic terrority. He knows you are loyal and trusts you implicitly.

Any naturally occuring feelings of jealousy are for him to deal with on his own. Will take a bit of poking and prodding before he talks to you about it.

But if you're trying to provoke him? Why are you even trying to make him jealous? Two can play at this game if you're trying to be a pain in the ass. He'll try and talk things through with you first, to see if he's pissed you off. But if you carry on? Expect him in full silly mode: kneeling down before you, shouting his apologies, announcing his feelings, literally begging you to stop flirting with this ugly nobody.

Vasco Tabasco

Rarely, if ever, gets jealous. He's just so happy to be with you. It's one thing if you're in trouble, but if he notices someone is being overly friendly but you're nonplussed? He just looks at you with heart eyes: "Ahhh look at Y/N. They're so cute and pretty! I can't believe they're with me!!"

If you're provoking Vasco then good luck. He wouldn't really understand your actions but will be upset about how he is feeling. "Do you like them more than me, Y/N? :(((" The sad face is enough to guilt you into stopping. Really, it's like kicking a puppy. Why would you do that.

Gun Park

Feeling jealous of his own accord? Guess being with you proves he is human afterall. He's arrogant, confident but aware of his own limitations. Jealousy isn't an emotion he's well acquaintained with. Will result in him brooding or being extra cold until he can put his finger on it and figure out the next steps.

Lucky for you, Gun is pretty forthright. He'll tell you what has been making him jealous so you can both work through it.

Trying to make him jealous? Also good luck. Gun will see right through your attempts. Depends what mood he is in. At times he's amused but generally he will ignore you and your childishness.

Daniel Park

Yes, he's had a glow up in his first body and yes, he gets lots of attention in his second but that doesn't erase years and years of bullying and hating himself. The feelings of inadequacy will overwhelm and cause him to shrink back into himself.

He'll need a lot of reassurance that you love him for him. It's better if you don't focus too much on his appearance. "What happens if one day I put on weight again? or when I get old? Will you still like me then? :("

Provoking him? Please don't be so mean to Daniel. Especially if you know about his insecurities. This is more of a reflection on you and your issues if you're purposely making him jealous. Shame on you.

Eli Jang

Tends to get jealous if he thinks someone else is a better provider for you: physically, romantically, mentally, financially etc. Being the Big Daddy for Eli means he should be able to do it all, and then some. He will get in his head if he thinks someone else is better suited to you.

For Eli, actions speak louder than words - show him how much you love him and he has nothing to worry about.

Cannot imagine him being with a partner that would try and make him jealous. There's enough on his hands with Hostel and Yenna. He wants a mature and stable presence in their lives, he doesn't want nor have the time to play these games.

[createserenity]

What are the rainbows all about?

There’s more than one. We all know about the rainbow that fades in over Crowley after the failed awning kiss scene, but what about the other times they appear? This is just after he talks to Nina about how she feels about sudden rain so it might just be linked to that.

Why a rainbow here though? I don’t think it’s just the connotations of the rain being similar to the rain in The Flood. Crowley covers the sky with black clouds and then doesn’t miracle them away so for these to instantly disperse and a rainbow to appear (we see the sun is instantly back and everyone has put down their umbrellas through the bookshop window) seems like it would need some outside influence. Should we interpret as being a sign sent by somebody? And if so, who? The Almighty?

If you ask someone what the meaning and purpose of the rainbow is in the story of Noah’s Ark they will generally say it’s a sign to humans that God won’t flood the earth/destroy all life again, with the implication that the rainbow is for humans to remind us of this. That is partly the intention, and it’s established truth in the GO universe because Aziraphale tells Crowley that the Almighty is going to put up a rainbow “as a promise not to drown everyone again”. 

There is another purpose to the rainbow though in the “real world” Bible, one which is repeated several times during God’s speech to Noah in Genesis.

“Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. (…) Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”

This is God speaking here, so the I is God. They’re saying that future rainbows will not be sent by them, but will appear naturally and will serve as a reminder to themself that they promised not to drown everyone again. What God is saying in this part of the Bible seems to be along the lines of, you humans are imperfect and this angers me, but also I know I am vengeful and that this is not good. Because I’m fallible and liable to forget my promise I’m making this thing that will appear of its own accord in certain conditions to remind me to check my vengeful nature.

It's interesting really because God is supposed to be infallible, that’s one of the main points, except this speech by God is suggesting quite literally that they know they are fallible. If they weren’t they wouldn’t need a reminder.

I guess how the rainbow over Crowley is interpreted depends on how much whoever decided to put it there from the GO production team really knows about the story of the rainbow. If they only know that it as a sign to humans then it could have an entirely different meaning than if the decision to put it there was made by someone who knows it was a reminder to God as well.

Why does the rainbow appear here?

Since the rainbow is to remind God not to end all life on earth again could this be something to do with season 3? A reminder of that promise and a suggestion that the Almighty herself doesn’t actually want life ended? I’m not so sure about this one because we are repeatedly shown that in GO the Almighty is fully capable of doing cruel things (like sentencing Job’s children to death – unless we see this as weird complicated test of Crowley because God is playing a game of her own devising), so to have it suddenly turned around and have her not be in control of the divine plan seems odd (but then she is odd, absolutely bonkers if her speech to Job is anything to go by – the Almighty of the GO universe doesn’t seem very sane or logical).

It’s also strange that the rainbow, a promise to humanity and reminder to the Almighty not to drown everyone again is followed by Gabriel saying, “There will come a tempest, and darkness, and great storms”. So what is that saying about the original promise? Or what is the rainbow telling us about the statement that follows?

Maybe it’s more literally related to the vavoom moment Crowley is trying to create here. We’ve just watched a deluge of water ruin his attempts to get Maggie and Nina to fall in love. Could the awning ripping be interpreted as an act of God? If so the rainbow could be some sort of comment on that act and the fact that it meant his attempt at creating that moment for Nina and Maggie didn’t go quite right. A sort of, I did say I wouldn’t drown everyone again, but I couldn’t let this vavoom moment work so I had to drown (soak) them. If so that begs the questions – why? Why did the Almighty not want this particular moment to work out? Simply thwarting a demon’s plans, or something more?

I don’t really have any answers here. These are all just random musings, maybe someone who is better at research and interpretation of scenes can take up these questions. It’s really not my forte!

Another idea, which is probably a bit out there, inspired by this meta by @vidavalor.

It’s a very long meta, but a really fun read. To summarise though it is all about her theory that Crowley and Aziraphale kissed for the first time way back after The Flood happened (there’s so much more to it, seriously do read it!) So what’s this got to do with the rainbow? Well, whilst I love the idea that they’ve been doing something all along I don’t think that’s what Neil is writing here and I don’t actually expect it to be the case. (I might be totally wrong of course and I do love playing with this theory for fun, as in this post and this one). I do kind of buy into the idea though that he might be writing a story where they have had an almost-kiss before – specifically that Crowley might have tried or wanted to kiss Aziraphale before and Aziraphale has either rejected it, not noticed or it’s been stopped by outside influences. There’s so much great meta out there about how 1941 might have been the time when Crowley tried for a kiss and Aziraphale rejected him either before or afterwards, which does seem the most likely time in their history for that to happen. What if the almost-kiss happened not in the bookshop but later whilst they were tracking down the zombies (I believe Neil has hinted they might return in season 3) and then it was prevented by a deluge of water in some way? (And afterwards Aziraphale decided it would have been a bad idea – hence, “you go to fast for me, Crowley” in 1967.)

Or what if there were previous times when Crowley wanted to kiss but Aziraphale was just oblivious? Could it have been at the flood? They did something together (maybe saved some people?), went and sheltered from the rain under a canopy of trees, looked into each other’s eyes and then Crowley had a moment of realisation, I want to kiss this angel, but before he could act on it they were stopped by a deluge of water. Not the rain (that was already falling and wouldn’t have stopped them by itself) but by the other form of flooding that happened during this story. Specifically, this from Genesis 7:11:

“on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened.”

So a deluge stopped a kiss during the flood or in 1941. Now another deluge has stopped Maggie and Nina’s potential kiss. Could the rainbow be a sign to Crowley? Next time I promise I won’t do that to you.

If it’s that and then the bookshop kiss is the one that isn’t stopped by water then the Almighty really is playing a pretty strange game with these two.

Are there anymore rainbows?

Yes, two other appearances of rainbows. The very first time we see a rainbow is when the angels come to check on Aziraphale after they spot the plume from the Jim miracle. It appears in front of him and then sweeps over the angels as the camera pans around. The only significance I can see here is that this is the start of the whole “love” thing with Maggie and Nina that later leads to the awning scene. It's also the only time I can find where they appear with Aziraphale on screen rather than Crowley.

The last time we see rainbows is in the final 15 minutes. Firstly one appears on the window of the Bentley when Crowley watches Aziraphale leave. This is not a great screenshot, it's across the window in line with his watch and a second after this the rainbow becomes clearer and actually doubles up so there’s two of them.

Finally when Crowley is driving away right at the end once again the rainbow plays over the Bentley. Another promise? Or just a sign of hope, which is the other meaning ascribed to a rainbow?

What do these rainbows mean?

I have no clue. Honestly, it could just be that the whole theme of this season seems to revolve a lot around colour and using light and rainbows might just be an extension of that with no other meaning. The world is super colourful a lot of the time, I mean it’s literally painted rainbow colours, with the shop fronts all being different colours and the extras all wearing super bright clothing – notably an awful lot of orange and orange-yellow tones.

Interestingly in this rainbow world that GO shows us the colour purple is missing a lot of the time. It appears in the tartan various characters wear (Aziraphale, Saraqael etc) but doesn’t seem to appear much elsewhere except in the rainbows (it’s difficult to see in the rainbows but it is there, indigo and violet are difficult to see in real life rainbows to due to the length of the light waves). Purple is the colour associated with royalty, authority and notably Jesus at Easter so it’s intriguing that it is missing from the rainbow of the world here.

Anyway the point is I find all this strange. Could be something, could be nothing. I’m just a bit obsessed with noticing details at this stage!

[plague-of-insomnia]

Is Sebastian “Evil”?

Recently, I saw a post by @puppyfan9000 about Sebastian, commenting on whether or not he is evil, suggesting he’s more like a lion, who preys on animals for survival and not because they’re “evil.”

I guess I had not fully appreciated how many people apparently view Sebastian through the lens of Christian demonology and dogma and thus view him as evil, some apparently going as far to say he’s the villain of the series. (Yana has said he’s the protagonist, actually, but go off, I guess.)

While I can’t ofc know what Yana had in mind with Sebastian when she created him, I do feel like the manga does a good job of pointing out that demons are not innately good or evil, and the truly “evil” ones are humans themselves.

(This is gonna be a bit long so I’ll go ahead and tuck the rest under a read more.)

Shinto Kami & Three Natures

One of the cores of Shinto belief is the kami, sometimes translated as “god,” though I think “deity” is better since the former often has an association with “good” in the western mindset.

The thing about kami is they aren’t good or evil; they exist outside those human parameters. They’re more like a force of nature than what we in the west might view as demonic or godly.

And each kami has 3 natures, or mitama:

aramitama - rough and wild

nigimitama - gentle and life supporting

sakimitama - nurturing

[SS from Handbook of Japanese Mythology by Michael Ashkenazi]

Think of these three as different colored liquids all contained within a vessel. Each kami has a diff amount of each, with one or more of these natures dominating in different situations and at different times.

Connected to this, the line between a “god” or “kami” and a “demon” (so many words you can use here, including akuma, or even yokai) is fluid in Shinto belief.

A kami can “fall” and “devolve” into a baser yokai or “demon” if they become impure (purity is a big part of Shinto belief and ritual), and/or if their aramitama nature becomes more dominant.

Even so, these beings aren’t considered “evil” in the same sense that a Christian views Satan as “evil.”

Just as the destruction caused by a hurricane can’t be called “evil,” the behavior of a kami or other spirit likewise is neither good nor evil. It simply is.

Yana has described him as “without shame or moral sense” but I think this is a bit misleading in translation (though the original Japanese is lost so I can’t say for sure what she said exactly). I think what she means isn’t “he’s evil” but that “he exists outside the framework of human morality.”

Humans Vs Demons in the Manga

I feel like to call Sebastian evil is to miss the fundamental message of the manga: that humans (and formerly human creatures like shinigami) are far more demonic than demons.

Ciel says that almost verbatim, depending on the translation (and if you’re talking about the manga vs the anime) at the end of the circus arc, and Seb replies that is something that sets humans and demons apart.

Sebastian doesn’t kill for the sake of killing. He only kills on command/when necessary to execute (ha) Ciel’s orders/goals. More than once he’s expressed either his distaste at Ciel’s desires, and while Ciel calls him a beast, he takes offense to that.

From Sebastian’s perspective, humans are interesting because they are more complex than demons, who seem to be driven largely by their hunger and not much else.

Recall that Sebastian hesitated to burn down Kelvin’s manor with all the children inside, and it confuses him enough he even questions Ciel about it later. Likewise, while he does kill everyone involved in the Green Witch arc, that was far less about his being “evil,” and more about his doing the job that Ciel ordered him to do while giving him a chance to get his own “revenge” for nearly losing his meal due to the effects of the gas.

I think the closest thing to “evil” Sebastian gets in the manga is when he first makes the contract with Ciel and tries to trick him by making him believe his brother is alive, since he can’t actually resurrect the dead. But I feel it’s telling that is “day one” Sebastian and he has certainly grown and changed since then.

The Ripper Arc: The First Evil

The first true arc is the ripper arc, and I think it’s important because it shows us early that while Sebastian is a literal hellspawn, it wasn’t a demon involved in the serial murders but rather a human—Madam Red—and someone who was once human—Grelle.

Grelle then kills Red in cold blood because she’s become “boring,” which, as far as we know, Grelle never regretted or felt remorse over.

I’m not quite sure if I would even call Grelle evil, but the point is clear: humans, and former humans, are more demonic than demons.

We see it again and again, with the cult, with Kelvin, with the German military in the GWA, with Undertaker and the Aurora society— perhaps it is telling that Sebastian is the only known demon in canon (no, season 2 of the anime is not canon), because it really forces us to see that even the worst of Sebastian’s actions pales in comparison to the depravity of human beings.

If we do wanna look at non-canon, the first season of the anime featured an Angel, a being that is normally associated with being “good,” who becomes so twisted and obsessed with “purity” that they let their aramitama nature take hold and commit great evil in their quest for purification. Even so much as to try and ally with a demon and offer Sebastian any souls he wishes in exchange for Ciel.

So once more we see a non-demon character being the evil one— and Pluto, who is technically a demon, isn’t “evil.” He only “becomes evil” when Ash/Angela break his mind and force him to attack the city.

Ignoring Ciel’s Commands

Finally, I think it’s important to point out that despite promising to always fulfill Ciel’s orders, there have been several times in the manga that he has disobeyed in order to protect Ciel.

One example happens in the circus arc. Ciel’s asthma flares from the harsh conditions at the circus, but he’s determined to go out regardless. But they’re stopped by Agni and Soma.

Agni then gives Sebastian a harsh lecture that makes him realize that simply always following Ciel’s orders isn’t enough if doing so puts his life at risk. So he goes against Ciel’s wishes and not only makes him rest, but let’s him sleep as long as he needs to.

Later, during the Weston arc, when confronted by Undertaker again, Sebastian ignores Ciel’s orders to try and catch him because he learned from his experiences on the Campania and doesn’t want to risk putting Ciel in danger again.

If Sebastian were truly such an evil being, an embodiment of sin, then why would he care about Ciel’s health? Yes, he’s cultivating his soul for optimum yumminess, but harvesting him a bit early wouldn’t really affect him that badly.

Though Sebastian says that he’s doing it because of the terms of their contract or because he’s “taken great pains” to cultivate Ciel’s soul and doesn’t want him stolen, I don’t think that is entirely the truth. While he ofc doesn’t want to lose his meal, I think it’s more than that.

No, he protects Ciel because he wants to. He keeps him safe and out of harm because he chooses to. And demon or not, I don’t think someone like Agni could call an evil being his friend.

[sonkitty]

The Sideburns Scheme (Good Omens 2)

(Previous version: The Sideburns Scheme v1)

This post will likely be regularly updated as I process my thoughts.

Last Updated: 04/27/2024

This is short:

This is long:

There is more to to it than above, and we are going to work through that.

Crowley's sideburns change in length in season 2. I have worked out some of how and have some theory on why.

Space

The absolute most crucial thing to understand for my theory is space. Character presence, movement, and likely memory all impact the space, but the space decides the length based on those things. The space is practically a character reading the story with us and making decisions on what length to give Crowley in response.

If you walk away from my post with only one thing and one thing only, I want it to be this:

The Bentley is Crowley's own demon space, and the driver's door to that space is its primary threshold.

Effect

When I refer to the effect, I will specifically mean the changing of the length.

But what is the effect from that?

Each type of length probably provides a benefit of some kind since Crowley takes actions to get them one way or the other. Grasping what that is, is difficult to say the least.

We'll see what each space tells us because the spaces have different readings on Crowley as it is. There are lengths between short and long after all. Short is going to be considered a human space and long enough will be considered a demon space, to simplify things as best I can. I won't say "long enough" every time, just "long" and sometimes I will refer to a "longest-length."

On its most basic level, short trends human, and long trends supernatural with that length increasing depending on the supernatural elements within the space.

Even though the length is what I focus on, the sideburns even change on how full of hair they are, and sometimes aren't even...well, even.

Earthly Objects

So far as my own theories go, Earthly Objects is a large, difficult, hidden game that has findable solvable puzzles in Good Omens 2. It is a layered type of game. The characters themselves are playing it, some with a higher awareness than others. An audience member can play it by trying to figure out how the game itself works. I've played it in my attempts at understanding the sideburns. It is amazingly and infuriatingly complex.

The Earthly Objects game is somehow related to this Sideburns Scheme, which is also a game. Both deal with thresholds so encounter each other. Certain aspects of the Earthly Objects game hint at falsehoods in at least the tutorial sequence for the sideburns.

Even so, the message about how the sideburns worked is still true. This story is tricky like that.

As such, a lot of my analysis is still going to be on what is presented nonetheless. I'll note if and when I have a guess at its deceptive nature.

...

Another important component in my theorizing is that Good Omens 2 is especially interested in these three things: doors, windows, and pockets—especially pockets. We'll be seeing these things a lot within the spaces when studying the sideburns, especially once I get to making more in-depth posts.

The Past

The Season 2 present day storyline is broadly solvable for the sideburns without examining the minisodes.

The minisodes offer other things to examine more closely regarding the spaces themselves, but these things don't really seem to tell you how the sideburns work in the present day. One can look for parallels regarding the hair in the first two minisodes.

By this point, I think the third minisode, the one where Crowley has sideburns in 1941, is intentionally set up as a test because it reverses so much of how the present day sideburns work. When things aren't reversed, they at least don't quite match the season 2 present day. I'm reasonably sure of myself in a lot of this theory for the season 2 present day, so that's why I think this test is doing what it does. I will cover it more once I reach that point.

Still, the Job minisode offers a clue to pay attention to when a roof is around, which then actually gives a clue about the roof of Crowley's car in the ending credits.

Generally, the minisodes suggest to keep an eye out for fire and hats or head gear too.

...

Home Base Concept - The Bookshop

Aziraphale's bookshop is where a lot of the present day season 2 story takes place, and it is nearly a second home to Crowley. Aziraphale himself is an angel, or a former angel.

The bookshop's default reading on Crowley being with just Aziraphale—if later scenes in the story are any indication—is somewhere between short and long, a medium length that gets closer to proper human-space short when in a private room together.

That's a reading that recognizes Crowley as a supernatural entity but still giving something shorter than longer reading around other angels. Most likely, that's because Crowley and Aziraphale are supernatural friends whose relationship is very similar to human partners.

When other angels are around, the bookshop's reading on Crowley increases the length. It's most noticeable from Gabriel, but that's likely because Gabriel is the angel who is around for most of the story.

Muriel shows up later, and Muriel is an angel, yet the sideburns are short. What gives?

The bookshop takes Muriel literally when Muriel claims to be human. It probably helps that Aziraphale literally accepts this claim even if he is fully aware that Muriel is an angel. As such, the reading on Crowley is that being a demon who tends to be around humans and pretend to be human often enough, the sideburns should still be the proper length for this "human" encounter.

Later in the story, Muriel admits to not being human. Crowley acknowledges a full awareness that they are an angel. The next time they are in the bookshop together, both with other angels and alone, the bookshop then gives the longest type of sideburns to Crowley.

After that, the bookshop's not really going to tell us about other specific angels, such as Michael.

The main thing we're told is that other angels who are not Aziraphale are going to make that length longer, with at least Gabriel and Muriel being among those angels. And that lying by claiming to be "human" will make them shorter nonetheless.

So, what does longer mean among the other angels? My general guess based on character behavior and story events when it's on, is that it's also a mark of rank from Crowley's time as an angel before his fall. The reading comes from a latent memory within the angels themselves. The story has repeated implications he was a high rank, seeming to be most specific at "First-Order Archangel" among those implications.

Crowley seems to be in charge among angels. He becomes a decision-maker and ends up directing the action.

When he is with only himself and Gabriel, he is in charge.

When he is with only himself and Muriel, he is in charge.

When he is with only himself, Aziraphale, and Gabriel, Aziraphale might make suggestions but otherwise follows along with Crowley's direction of what to do.

When Crowley is in the bookshop scene with both the powers of Heaven and Hell, he is in charge right up until he says to Aziraphale, "You got this?" Before that, he is quick to deflect a war, and they basically just let him with him yelling, getting the cardboard box, and recovering Gabriel's memories.

There is a moment where it looks like Michael is taking charge by commanding mortals be turned into salt, but Crowley quickly steps in to volunteer to take care of it. Saraqael, who looked ready to do what Michael ordered, abides and lets Crowley escort the mortals out.

Do longest length sideburns do more than mark rank? I suspect they are related to memory, and they are always present during three access points of memory with Gabriel, who has amnesia. Each one is brief, and it's hard to say how much the information given is actually used. One access point is a mix of Gabriel's and God's voice, another is a mix of Gabriel's and someone else's voice who sounds like a woman, and a third access point is that Gabriel took his memory out of a matchbox, no, wait, he took it out first. In the first two access points, Gabriel's eyes turn purple, which seem to be a mark of rank on him as the Supreme Archangel.

Home Base Concept - The Bentley

Did you ever notice how abruptly the encounters with Shax and Beelzebub ended when Crowley was in or near his car? That was weird, right? Here is what I believe happened.

The Bentley has special rules as a space, and each of those encounters ended with Crowley kicking out the other demon, possibly on accident in two of those instances.

The threshold to the Bentley is mainly the driver's door, but the driver's seat acted as one when Crowley was summoned to Hell.

Of note, the sideburns are long in these instances though not at their longest length that happens in the bookshop. Based on Crowley himself, Shax, and Beelzebub, that altogether suggests a default demon reading from the car. It can change, but it has to be managed through Crowley in the season's ending.

Back to the topic of the encounters, let's move on.

Shax at the Door

Crowley placed himself on the threshold and possibly made Shax wait a full hour before answering his phone. When answering, some of his body is touching the roof of the car, which makes it so that he's not touching that door panel exclusively. Then he turns around when he would presumably not be touching his car but at least fully intending to touch it, which seems to suffice for the story. Shortly after, he is leaning against the roof again.

By taking this action, he is allowing Shax closer to the space around the car, so that she can talk to him.

For the shots we are allowed to see him from the front, he is touching the roof, door panel, and sometimes we see the window pane is included the lean as well.

Before he asks, "Is that all?", he stops touching those parts of the car entirely and cannot be seen touching any other part.

Shax disappears from the scene.

By removing the touch from the car, the home base kicked her out. The forced exit seems unintentional.

Summoned by Beelzebub to Hell

Beelzebub uses a fly already inside the car. Crowley did not invite Beelzebub in, but the fly is enough to get their metaphorical foot in the door.

After Beelzebub says, "Hello, Traitor," Crowley makes a hit against his driver's seat, then says, "Oh."

Beelzebub then does not fully manifest in corporal form into the car and summons Crowley into Hell.

Crowley very deliberately leans back and while we can't see his back constantly against the throne during the entire scene, it is implied, bare minimum, he is not leaning forward while on that throne for most of it. He's gathering intel despite his evident reluctance to be in Hell during the scene.

The throne he sits in represents his driver's seat. Even when Crowley seems to want to lean forward, he'll try to not lean too much or he will lean to the side. Until the end of the conversation, he only leans forward off the back of the seat when he asks something ("Is that a new face?" "How?"). As in, he is inviting that part of the conversation into his space. He'll lean most toward Beelzebub's throne, even making sure to place his hand on the seat. The seat is to Crowley's own left, which is akin to the passenger seat in his car.

Crowley never stands up from the throne and only leans too far forward possibly at the end and possibly on accident. Beelzebub's "So if you hear anything, you come to me first, yeah?" is good enough to end the conversation, and that was a conversation where they were not invited. Crowley himself has no further questions and no further interest in actually being in Hell. The intel gathering is done. As such, the space reads that business is done and sends him back to the car instantly, whether Crowley intended for that exact thing to happen or not.

Shax in the Car

Crowley allowed Shax in by not verbally denying her entry and looking at where she would manifest. He kicked her out by non-verbally revving up his car even more after doing it once and giving her a second look. The home base understood it was about to de-activate and kicked her out.

Activation Points for longer sideburns:

The proper border for short and long is hard to explain, but when I say "longer" below, I am looking for length beyond what you see before Crowley enters the coffee shop and walks across the street with Aziraphale when they leave. Both scenes show us multiple angles of his face for comparison to the rest of the season.

Activation Points for longer sideburns:

-The bookshop under the right conditions

-The Bentley under the right conditions

-The pub (dependent on its threshold)

-The music shop (dependent on its threshold)

-Hell (likely qualifying through the Bentley)

-Heaven (assumed, likely qualifying through the pub)

-The park (only slightly longer because of a newspaper door, find out more here)

...

What are the right conditions for the bookshop to make Crowley's sideburns longer?

Within the season 2 present day storyline, longer seems to be a default reading actually. It's more like certain exceptions must not be met.

-No individual angel claiming to be human

AND

-Not in the private room with Aziraphale after encountering Gabriel

AND

-Not alone before an angel activates the effect.

...

The sideburns will be at their longest-length in any significant angel encounter that has an angel who is not Aziraphale and not pretending to be human. Those scenes are:

Scenes with only Crowley and Gabriel

Scenes with only Crowley, Gabriel, and Aziraphale

The overall general scene with angels, demons, and two humans, where Crowley is actively trying to undo a declaration of war.

The scene with Muriel after everyone else has left.

There's a small chance they lengthened slightly after first encountering Muriel, then going to talk to Aziraphale in the private room, but I can't really tell.

The sideburns are long during the ball, some parts being very hard to tell if they have reached their longest-length when there is a stronger focus on Gabriel's presence at the ball.

...

What are the right conditions for the Bentley to make Crowley's sideburns longer?

These conclusions are based on clues from the story itself:

-Staying parked for a long enough time with Crowley inside

-Approaching the car itself being isolated in a familiar area at night

-Standing at the threshold with utmost precision in the season's ending

The sideburns are at their longest-length in the season's ending up to the final cut right before the credits start.

I currently think it is because of a combination of stillness and his left arm's exclusive touch on the threshold. There is plenty more going on with such a touch, but I think those two factors are what are really increasing the length.

..

Activation Points for shorter sideburns:

-Driving the Bentley for a long enough time after de-activating it as a home base. His plants are ensured to be behind him as well.

-Exiting far enough away from the bookshop, assuming the bookshop already activated longer sideburns. This distance expands during the story, explained further below.

-Being present in human spaces. Thresholds can both force and counter this effect, dependent on their design.

-Entering a private room with Aziraphale within the bookshop shortened them from the bookshop's main first floor after encountering Gabriel.

-Being in the bookshop with two humans when Aziraphale enters and before the humans leave in episode 6. There are pocket touches on his pants, but pants pocket touches themselves have not been shown to change the sideburn length. If anything, the sideburn length has been shown to remain as it is during and after pants pocket touches or have other reasons for changing, such as no longer touching a door. He is shown blurred from some distance, so it's easy to miss him. He's to the camera's right behind Nina. Both humans are no longer looking at him. It's a cut that ensures Crowley is briefly visible before the next Muriel scene.

...

Connecting the Two Home Bases

During the specific season 2 story, Crowley regularly parks his car across the street from the bookshop. He himself parks it by the coffee shop in episode 1 twice and in episode 5 once. During episodes 5 and 6, the car remains parked by the coffee shop. Aziraphale also chooses to park the car by the coffee shop near the episode 4. Otherwise, Crowley parks it across the street from the pub in episode 2 and right by the pub in episode 3.

In episode 1, once Crowley reaches the middle of the street and starts to count to ten, the sideburns are a shorter length that better matches before he entered the bookshop.

In episode 2, we see Crowley with longer sideburns right before he crosses the threshold whereas episode 1 showed them still short. At some point he leaves and is seen with short sideburns again, across the street.

In episode 3, Crowley exits the bookshop to interact with Shax. He never crosses the street and remains mostly along the sidewalk. Still, it might be considered further in distance and is longer for the sideburns than seen in episodes 1 and 2.

In episode 4, when Crowley exits the bookshop, his sideburns are again longer than the usual shortness around humans up to that point of the story. Episode 1 is structured to tell us that the sideburns get shorter from the bookshop threshold to the center of the street. Episode 4 shows us the sideburns did not get shorter from the bookshop threshold to the center of the street. They stayed longer.

Why?

Crowley and Aziraphale connected their home bases for when the Bentley is parked across the street, intentionally or not. I think it is intentional, but I have a very loose grasp on a possible reason.

...

So, how did they connect their home bases?

Aziraphale borrowed Crowley's car. Crowley borrowed Aziraphale's bookshop.

Put another way, Aziraphale inhabited Crowley's home base without Crowley for a certain amount of time and over some distance between the two of them. Crowley inhabited Aziraphale's home base without Aziraphale for a certain amount of time over some distance between the two of them. Both time and distance contribute to changing the length from each of these homes.

Crowley and Aziraphale remotely contact each other once during this borrowing phase. Assuming this effect is memory-related, those spaces now share those memories.

When Crowley and Aziraphale take Crowley's plants, living things that inhabited one home base, then another, during this process, they are finalizing this connection.

The plants will now have memories of being in each space, and each space will now have memories of the plants inhabiting them.

I suspect these plants are a key part of the connection that is better covered in my Earthly Objects theorizing, specifically here:

The Pocket Chain Rainbow Connection Part 4 - The Door Trick and The Door Catch

Yes, despite Crowley's seeming reluctance and discomfort with loaning his car, I think forming this connection was intentional from both of them. I go over the specifics of how I interpret the scene here: Post #31 (technically).

All the same, back to my main stuff. My theory is the home base border along the center of the street has disappeared. It is actually more like a radius around the bookshop expanded, but that's the main place the border was understood to exist.

Onto my loose grasp of a possible reason.

This connection—this disappearance of that border—does not protect the rest of the street from the incoming demon invasion when it starts. The demons enter the area without invitation.

After Crowley enters the bookshop for the ball, as best I can tell, no humans are on the street. There is a bunch of fog, and it's dark, and there are demons. Eventually, there will be an angel there, but there are no humans.

Crowley escorts some humans to safety to exit the bookshop. However, when he dismisses them, we don't really see where they go. The story cuts away, and when we are back to Crowley's location, they are gone.

There are other times we've seen Crowley in or near his car with longer sideburns and no humans.

The basic idea is that the space surrounding Crowley's car, that we've been seeing, has split itself into two different spaces at once. One is the Earth where humans do what they do, as usual, but are now not disturbing Crowley while he is in his car. The other is the Earth where Crowley does what he does, not disturbing humans. The spaces then re-merge when the driving time deems it to happen. The "no humans" space is a supernatural-exclusive zone when it comes to angels, demons, and humans.

For whatever it's worth, the only living natural beings I can find in the area are plants, inside and out of the car, and that one fly before Beelzebub shows up inside the car (assuming that fly is indeed natural).

Instead of a person, such as Crowley, being two places at once, one place becomes two places at once. The car being Hell, and the pub being Heaven further support this idea. Each of those spaces are accessed by Crowley when Crowley has the longer sideburns and in that zone to begin with.

The mechanics are confusing with the flies. I don't fully get it, but it probably relates to the car having thresholds in a wider supernatural space.

In the case of the ball, the split didn't just happen by accident or through time alone. Crowley's car is near the bookshop, but he wasn't in it. It wasn't in its usual isolated area. The window is open before the invitations start but closed when he talks to Nina, so we're never shown when it's being switched from open or closed.

There is a very specific point where things start to change, but before that, there are also some specific things that happen. Namely, during each ball invitation shown on camera, Crowley accompanies Aziraphale. He does not say anything during the actual inviting and makes various touches during each scene. These touches generally include earthly objects, self-clothing touches, self-skin-contact touches, and...pockets. Pockets are a big, little thing in GO2 that are beyond my ability to understand or explain.

I'm sorry. It sucks. It really, really sucks that I cannot do better. I've picked up enough to know they're important so am telling you at least that much. Touches and pockets or not, there are still ball invitations, and things still change. Crowley gets his own special invitation that's to the bookshop instead of the meeting.

Once he accepts this invitation, he goes to the bookshop and approaches Gabriel in basically Demon Mode. I'll get into it more whenever I reach the scene itself. You can read what I initially wrote in my past post on the Sideburns: The Sideburns Scheme

Nonetheless, I think Crowley was drawing out his own demonic energy to start the split, a shift from one zone to the other.

The shift is not instant. It's happening while Crowley is out in the street to make sure Maggie and Nina are on their way. The street is growing increasingly foggy as it is getting darker. Fewer and fewer humans are around as time passes.

It doesn't really seem to be completed until Maggie is walking toward the bookshop with Nina not long before her as next-to-last. Maggie herself is a human, but she seems to be a special type of human not explained in the story as to how or why she is different. Nina could be too, even if it's not as obvious. She is next-to-last.

If one excludes Maggie because she is human in some capacity, then it's probably done when Crowley himself enters the bookshop as a means to complete the matter, further confirmed with Shax arriving through the supernatural elevator in the pub instead of wherever the rest of the demons came from. The story referred to such a place as "stairs" when Shax was planning the invasion. An elevator is decidedly not stairs. It definitely raises questions about Shax with that kind of timing and wording.

Another thing about this special zone is that the Bentley is the only car around once the shift is done.

Speaking of the car, Crowley won't just drive away to re-merge these spaces. Not only that, he's not going back into that bookshop despite the indications in the dialogue he would.

Nope.

Instead, he goes to Heaven and spends time there until the war declaration goes off. Upon returning the following day, the merge has happened, either through the time itself or just the reset of the day. Sure, it could be the halo blowing up, but the people aren't shown as being in the street until Crowley himself is visibly there. It could be a combination of these factors too.

So, if Crowley and Aziraphale wanted to protect the street overall from the incoming invasion but somehow still needed this ball to happen with some humans, that's what they did to protect everyone as best they could.

It might even be a trial run for needing to protect Earth on a much bigger scale later.

Now, admittedly, Crowley did seem alarmed by the demons arriving, but both he and Aziraphale have been acting in certain ways to throw off whoever or whatever is reading them throughout this story. There is something about layering and switches they seem to have in the games they play that I don't fully understand.

By making the border expand, that meant that, for the most part, once Crowley entered the bookshop on the implied Thursday, his sideburns could not become their usual shortness around humans until that one fleeting moment mentioned earlier when Maggie and Nina were leaving. Even then, the sideburns quickly lengthened by the next scene. After that, they did not reach their usual shortness around humans until after he had driven for enough time and far enough away from the bookshop. He did not take that action and receive that shortness until right before the ending credits.

I suspect the sideburns do more than all of that since they seem connected to memory in some way.

...

The Bigger Thresholds Trick

This part of The Sideburns Scheme is a significant crossover with The Earthly Objects Game as one of the Threshold Tricks Crowley does during Good Omens 2.

There are three special locations that have thresholds bigger than Crowley, but we'll talk about a certain two first.

Those locations are the pub and the music shop. They are human-specific spaces that make it quite difficult to develop theories like the one about the connection and the other about the existence of a supernatural zone. In these two places, Crowley's sideburns are longer.

During the story, both locations have one thing in common that seems to have nothing to do with Crowley. Both locations have an encounter with a human who remembers a meeting from some years ago and say as much to Aziraphale. Each encounter mentions lights of a similar nature.

And then...there's Heaven. This time, there's no obvious way for a sideburn check. Instead, one is left to guess it's still relevant given the past two locations and noticing the threshold is bigger than Crowley.

I'll be covering these places more in-depth over time, hopefully, but you can again look to my previous post about the sideburns for reference: The Sideburns Scheme

The past post lacks many things about Heaven in particular, but the main one I want to note is Muriel's relevance. As far as my own theorizing is concerned now compared to then, Muriel is someone Crowley trusts deeply. You can find out more on that theory in these two links: Bookend Buddies - Crowley and Muriel (Part 2)

Before I move on from The Bigger Thresholds Trick, here is my understanding of how this part of Earthly Objects works. The sideburns being longer in the pub and music shop is a clue about this particular Threshold Trick.

A threshold being bigger than Crowley is not enough on its own to credit Crowley as having tricked that type of threshold.

Each one has a simple explanation but is done in a more complex way for an audience member playing to try and figure out in a puzzle.

My own conclusions are as follows:

In the pub, he "switched lanes".

In the music shop, he "never let go of the door".

In Heaven, there are possibly at least two solutions since the Threshold Tricks have a second round of play after the advanced pocket mechanics are found within The Pocket Trick, such as the Tied Hands.

If so, the first solution is, Crowley "didn't touch the buttons." That's always seemed too easy, and the second round of play indicates that a better solution should be found.

As more time passes, I lean most toward "pretended to be arrested". That's because it's emphasized as how Crowley gets in with Muriel. His own dialogue brings it up once he's actually inside the threshold. It has a little rhythm to it. The problem with that solution is that the ideal one would include a noun, such as "buttons" or "cells" or "doorknobs," to represent the Triple. Another good solution would be something like "engaged in misdirection", especially given the context of the entrance scene itself. The "LETTERS" on the right-side door is a potential clue as is the doors closing in so specifically on Crowley's watch. So, I'm not fully convinced "pretended to be arrested" is the answer. It's still the one I lean the most toward as of the latest update.

It could be all three I've come up with since I have three, it's the Triple, and Earthly Objects has a Rule of Three.

...

The Season 2 Ending (The Door Trick)

Just like with the bigger thresholds, this part of the Sideburns Scheme actually crosses over with the Earthly Objects game (Threshold Tricks)

I am cutting a lot of content on it in this newer post though, again, you can look to the older one for reference to find more: The Sideburns Scheme

Near the end of episode 6 during season 2, Crowley is seen standing at the door to his car with longest-length sideburns.

For anyone trying to figure out how the sideburns work, that's noteworthy.

Despite how much we've seen Crowley, the car, and humans throughout the story, we've never seen them all combined into this particular context.

Other angels and demons are gone. Muriel is supposedly around but not on screen. Aziraphale and the Metatron have some distance between themselves and Crowley. Meanwhile, Crowley himself is surrounded by humans.

So, a question arises. Why are they this long in this setting?

Well, I already mentioned my answer before, but I'll go over what he's doing because it's rather specific despite how simple it looks.

This character is precise in his choices, whatever this scheme really is.

He is standing incredibly still. He has his legs crossed. The scene is structured to alert us that even though we can't see his feet, they are not touching the edge of the sidewalk—a threshold. He has his right hand fingers in his pocket and his thumb outside the pocket. The camera work ensures we know that he is not touching the window frame despite the incoming angle where we, otherwise, could not know. His left arm is touching the door panel. The door panel is the threshold. It is not an earthly object. He is touching his own space in his own way while watching Aziraphale's departure.

I think the length is due specifically to the stillness and touch on the door of the car.

There is a lot to be said for that pocket touch, which I hope to do eventually in other posts.

My own personal interpretation—not just from the games—but as someone having played them and who has her own thoughts on the story goes as follows:

Crowley is giving everything he has in himself to see Aziraphale off without truly giving his full self up in the process. Aziraphale is going to a place Crowley will not follow. Even so, the demon of the pair has put pieces in place to help Aziraphale from the distance they will have between each other in the foreseeable future. They both contributed to creating and maintaining a connection with each other during Good Omens 2. They also had to work together separately. They both love Earth, and they are going to work to protect Earth in Good Omens 3.

In my view, there's a hidden "Separately Together" theme in Good Omens 2 that one cannot find—or will very much struggle to find—unless you figure out at least some of the pocket puzzles.

Linked to The Door Trick is something truly magical called The Door Catch.

I found it on accident through never fully solving The Pocket Trick.

These are generally the posts I have on The Door Trick itself for now:

The Sideburns Scheme (skip ahead to The Season 2 Ending (The Door Trick)

The Door Trick Visual Representation (GIFs)

The Pocket Chain Rainbow Connection Part 4 - The Door Trick and The Door Catch

...

Here are links to posts that cover parts of Good Omens 2 more in-depth.

​Episode 1: The Arrival (Links List)

​Episode 2: The Clue (Links List)

Episode 3: I Know Where I'm Going (Links List)

​Episode 4: The Hitchhiker (Links List)

...

This project is inspired by these posts:

Crowley’s Sideburns & what do they mean?

Ok, I love this theory that it could be some sort ...

[gettinshiggywithit]

「"ʏᴏᴜ ᴋɴᴏᴡ ʜɪᴍ?!"」

Scenario:- “May I please. Have some headcanons of possessive bf atsushi”(@diagonal-queen)

Pairing(s):- Atsushi x gn! Reader (romantic) | akutagawa x gn!reader (platonic)

Genre:- fluff?/crack? Idrk….

Type:- oneshot

W/c:-1.22k

A/N:-HIYA! Here’s a little atsushi oneshot requested by our favorite queen @diagonal-queen!atsushi is a little ooc i think? And also i hc that aku would be a genuinely sweet person outside of the mafia🥲.sorry for spelling and grammar mistakes!

Hmm okay this is an interesting one.

First of all I don’t think atsushi would be possessive…he knows he doesn’t ‘own’ you and that youre ur own person.

Does he get insecure and ask for reassurance later? Very much so.

But there is one person I see him being possessive around.just one!

Can you guess who?

If you guessed our resident emo boy aquaduct,then you my friend are correct~

Let’s set the scene shall we~

For unspecified reasons,atsushi is told he has to partner up with akutagawa.okay fine.he’s used to the coat clad carpetmuncher so he knows he can handle it.

What makes him suddenly not want to go through with it is dazai telling him that you’d be accompanying them too-

“BUT DAZAI WHY DOES Y/N HAVE TO GO?! IM PERFECTLY CAPABLE OF DOING THIS JOB ON MY OWN!”

“’Sushi it’s fine I don’t mi-”

“now now,y/n’s ability might be useful that’s the only reason we’re letting them accompany you.”

“BUT I-”

You place your hand on his arm and squeezy it lightly to reassure him that its okay.

He begrudgingly sighs and accepts that you’ll be hanging around akutagawa for the entirety of this mission

He’s actually nervous…

You were a naturally chatty and curious person…what if you triggered akutagawa to use rashoumon?! What if he hurt you???!!!

Noticing his glazed over eyes and nervous expression,you kiss him on his cheek to bring him out of his head and back to earth.

“’sushi,it’s fine.dont worry I’ll be fine.i can hold my own.i promise” you smile up at him (or down or directly at depending on ur height~)

And he relaxes.

You’ll be fine…it’s fine!

-skip to while youre on the actual mission-

He was wrong! He was SO wrong!

The moment he sees akutagawa he pushes you behind him and stands between you two.

But nothing could have prepared him for what came next-

“RYUU???????”

“y/n?”

“WAIT YOU KNOW EACHOTHER?!”

*Cue shook and confused tiger boi*

“Oh yeahh I met his sister at the Laundromat the other day and we just became friends by default ig?”

“0_0”

“it’s not that difficult of an idea to comprehend,weretiger.are you truly that daft?”

BOI IS SO MUCH MORE INSECURE NOW THAT HE KNOWS U AND AKU ARE ACTUALLY FRIENDS AND SEEM QUITE CLOSE?????

I MEAN YALL ARE ON A NICKNAME BASIS NOW??!

AND BY AKUTAGAWA’S STANDARDS THAT’S PRETTY CLOSE….

“but y/n…he’s a criminal! HE’S FROM THE MAFIA!”

“I didn’t know that ‘sushi :’) I just thought they were two nice people….and honestly ryuu isn’t all that bad…”

“DON’T CALL HIM THAT! HE MIGHT KILL YOU!”

“don’t be foolish weretiger.i would do no such thing,for unlike you,y/n is an actually tolerable human bein.now if it’s someone’s death you wish to witness I can gladly make arrangements. *cue the activation of rashoumon*”

You:- !!!!!

“umm no no.thats not what he meant ryuu…put rashoumon back…. Please?” you said, your hands on akutagawa’s chest trying to keep him as far away from atsushi as possible without actually using any force.

Atsushi :- o_0

No because what was that??? Why were you Touching him????!!

He was so confused tbhh

He was even more surprised when aku sighs,retracts rashoumon,gently takes your hands off of him and puts his hands in his pockets before turning on him heels and simply saying “fine.just come on.we have an objective to accomplish”

Atsushi’s jaw :- dropped

You:- skipping after the emo fella ,your fingers intertwined with your boyfriend’s.

Okay no why?what? huh????

He physically shakes his head to clear it from all his racing thoughts.

He took only one thing from that entire interaction; he could Not let akutagawa get anywhere Near you.at least not when he was around.and he most Certainly couldn’t let that man lay a single finger on you!

He stops walking causing you to do so too.

The ceasing of the sound of footsteps behind him causes akutagawa to also stop and turn back to face you.

“sushi? What’s wrong?”

He suddenly leans forward to kiss your nose,causing you to blush hard and simultaneously causing akutagawa to roll his eyes and keep walking.

  During the entire mission he keeps initiating little acts of pda,whether it was holding your hand,shoulder or wait or shielding you from whatever was around.atsushi did NOT let you be away from him for more than 5 milliseconds!

Akutagawa didn’t really care but when the time came where he needed to be beside you for even a second,maybe to say something or even if he had to move you away from an oncoming threat,atsushi would just spring in between the two of you and truth be told even you found it a little irritating…

Yes you loved your boyfriend and yes you would never cheat or leave him for someone,but this was getting ridiculous! You and akutagawa were just friends!

It really wasn’t as deep as atsushi felt it was…and besides,you were closest to gin…not ryunosuke!

So after the mission (thank God his little fit wasn’t detrimental to your overall success!) you pulled him aside and asked him what was up.

The look in your eyes was both pleading him to tell the truth and a little angry he wasn’t being honest outright.

And ofc,kitty boi caved.

How could he not?

He told you everything.how he felt weird for you knowing akutagawa and how close you seemed to be.

To which you sighed,cupped his cheek and told him clearly that you and he were nothing more than friends.and that you weren’t even that close to him.just his sister.

Atsushi exhaled at that and you pressed a chaste kiss to his lips.

Akutagawa immediately looked away.

And when you were done you took atsushi’s hand and were about to go on your way until-

“just one one thing,”

“hmm-”

He pulled you in for a kiss,it was honestly perfect,and had it been a different time and place maybe things could have progressed but alas you were on a mission and not at home.

Nevertheless,as his lips captured yours,he pulled you in closer by the waist,and you leaned further into it.

About 5-10 seconds in akutagawa REALLY felt awkward and coughed….you were gonna miss your rendezvous point.

Once you both heard his cough,only you felt embarrassed,and when you tried to pull away he lightly bit your bottom,causing your eyes to widen.after which he released both you and your lip and just gave you a quick peck on the nose and his cute little smile.

You all ignored what had happened and even akutagawa didn’t seem to give a dam.

Atsushi actually looked kinda happy ngl,and ofc the entire way back he had his arm either around your waist or on the small of your back.

(when yall get home if he’s still feeling it mayhaps you end up with a little hickey two? Mayhaps😉)

Tagging:- @kemis-world @diagonal-queen

All rights reserved © 2023 gettinshiggywithit . Please do not repost, modify or claim as yours.

[honeycombhank]

Some reminders for us all!

Before I say anything I would like to say that I have had pet rats for over 20 years but I should not be your only source of information for rats and make sure to read from many different sources to learn about rats and what they are like and what it takes to have them, these are my thoughts and opinions on rats and I hope that’s okay to share.

If you have rats or you are thinking about getting some, these are some good reminders

Rats NEED ATTENTION

Rats need to get out of their cage for cuddles and your full attention every single day no less then an hour at the very minimum amount, do not get rats and leave them in their cage for days on end.

I like to think of my rats cage as a safe place where they eat and poop and can build nests if they like, think of the cage as their bedroom, as humans we spend time in our rooms and enjoy our space but we all need to go on adventures, see new things and meet new people and of course learn new things along the way, rats are unable to open the cage (that keeps them safe) and get food and fresh water for themselves, so that is completely up to you! It’s important to check their water and make sure that the water bottle is not leaking but also check to make sure the ball at the end of the water spigot that they lick isn’t stuck as well, both of these issues can lead to deadly dehydration, rats should be drinking water after every meal but it should be available to them at all times of the day and especially after time out of the cage.

Rats need you, they are very smart and curious and so if you are looking for a pet to truly love and adore you back these are amazing creatures to have IF you are fully willing to put in the work.

They can be messy sometimes, love them anyway! They are not trying to make you mad.

Rats must be fed every day! Do not go days without feeding your rats!!! Everyone needs food in their bellies and nourishment!

Rats need a well ventilated area to live a healthy life , rats are highly sensitive to smoke and other debris in the air, they have very tiny lungs and airways and should be provided with air flow in the room that is not directly on them, they should have natural light as well but not hot direct sunlight because this can lead to over heating, rats are susceptible to getting respiratory diseases and infections, this means cage cleaning is a very important factor in having pet rats!

Cages should be cleaned at minimum once a week depending on how many rats you have, it could be as often as every three days to every day, put your nose down close to the bedding and take a good whiff, that is the world your rat is living in, do you need to adjust the environment? Does the bedding need to be changed or cleaned?

These are great questions to ask yourself.

Rats cage be litter trained this can be more difficult then some animals but it’s worth a try and can really be wonderful if they stick to it, some rats will even teach others how to use the litter box once trained themselves and feeling comfortable with it

I would suggest that while cleaning cages you might leave a few pieces of Pooh behind in a corner to remind them that they do not need to fuss, it is still their home and they do not need to overcompensate to feel they have the upper hand around here if that makes sense.

Over all I guess I think having rats and caring for them properly comes with an amount of putting yourself in their shoes, because they are so intelligent and should not be treated like they are less then a human, they are different but they have been shown to have compassion, true Empathy and regret the way we feel it and there is truly a whole world that we are only just beginning to understand and learn about going on with our sweet little companions.

Don’t underestimate the power of a true friendship with a pet, take care of them and they take care of you.

[zsakuva]

How do you come up with so many intricate plots and characters? They seem so… human? I’m very surprised you don’t read much! I guess what I’m asking is, what’s your creative process? Do you take inspiration from aspects of yourself, or is it more of a form of escapism? When you write your plots, do you imagine yourself as the character, the audience, or both? 

Another thing that truly amazes me and makes your channel stand out a lot is the way you give the listener a voice. It feels like each listener is so different and unique, and *actually* interacts with the character. It also feels like you’re never spoon feeding us information? All the questions do get answered, but it’s different style imo. Usually, in most ASMR RPs I’ve heard, the speaker will repeat what you said verbatim, (eg. “You think XXX?”, or “You want me to XXX?”), and the frequency at which these types of phrases are used makes it *seem* like a RP. Of course, it’s a challenging medium - the audience needs to know whats going on somehow, but you manage to achieve the same in a much more subtle way. It makes me wonder how long you spend planning out your content haha.

Final question, do you prefer to type or handwrite your plans, scripts, etc? I’ve always preferred planning on paper, even though it’s a bit impractical haha. Also, would you mind showing us your handwriting? I think it says a lot about a person! There’s the stereotype that people usually have a certain handwriting that corresponds to their major/occupation, and if I remember correctly, I think you studied film? I’m just curious hehe. No pressure, of course!

Sorry for sending you an essay, I hope you have a restful and comfy Friday! 

Thank you!

Honestly, I don't know how I do it myself considering my memory is absolute shit! Though I don't read much, I learn about characters through other mediums such as television shows and movies. I'll try and break this down for ease of reading!

~My Creative Process~

When making a character or series, it all depends on where my initial inspiration began. For example, with Niall, I wanted to create an M4M series exploring a character who carries trauma of being forcibly outed, betrayed by someone he confided in, and how those events affected him through his adult life. The core of Niall's story was confronting fears that manifested due to the Listener's actions in school, and finding that there was a way to heal, albeit slowly, and a hope to love despite external animosity. Niall exists because I wanted to tell a particular story.

With Zaros, he first came about because of The Noble Trials plot. I knew that he would be different from other characters, so I'm using this series as a means of testing my skill with a new editing style, story format, and new world setting. Although it's more work, I have the most fun with The Noble Trials and making its lore (though I'm always a sucker for that)!

I go into creating characters with the belief that they are all extremely flawed. Whether that be by nature or nurture, there will inevitably be some slew of events in their pasts that shaped the way they act in the current timeline. This also extends to the Listeners so they aren't rigid, boring, and an empty shell. Characters can clash, but they can also change with and for each other. A good example is Isaac's story. He was scarred by his past, and was willing to confine Pickle in the house if it meant not losing someone he cared for again. Pickle was also scarred with abandonment and instability, wondering if they would ever find a home. Isaac gave them a place to belong, and Pickle gave him consolation and courage to face the unknown.

When I write, the character's actions must reflect the backstory in which they were crafted, so I always need to dive into their heads.

~Listener Dialogue~

This requires much more thought to make interactions seem authentic, but there's a fine line between repeating words verbatim and not alluding to any sort of context. I dislike repeating the Listener's words so I try to indirectly insinuate what they were saying whenever possible. If I can do so with SFX alone, that's a bonus! But when scenes contain heavy dialogue, it can be difficult to get the message across without being heavy-handed with repetition, unless that's the purpose of a specific moment.

~Handwriting vs Typing~

I always handwrite my outlines! On some occasions, I can start and finish a script without the help of one, but my workflow tends to include writing an outline of some kind, and it has to be done on paper! I feel like the ideas manifest quicker that way.

However, I always type my scripts. It's much easier to edit, share with other voice actors, and there's a level of professionalism in formatting that motivates me to write more!

Here is an example of my writing. This screenshot was part of a Twitch stream!

[alovelyburn]

Ultimately, I think Griffith isn't a character that can be well understood if someone is married to the idea of good and evil or unequivocal moral judgment. Not because there's no good or evil in him, but because his character isn't constructed to adhere to either.

As a human, I would say he's more good, but still willing to use what some might call ruthless or cruel tactics as tools to accomplish his goals. At the same time, I don't believe we're intended to think Griffith himself, as a person, is ruthless or cruel inherently, but rather that he has a metaphorical toolbox, and he's willing to use anything in it if he needs to, even if he's uncomfortable with some of them. Which he very obviously is. Whether this is morally 'right' or not is I guess dependent on perspective, but I don't think there's any reason to assume his ultimate goals were bad - the only motivation he himself gives is that he wants to see how much he can accomplish and understand where he fits in the grand scheme of things.

As a Godhand, he encompasses both good and evil by his nature, while simultaneously being both above and outside these concepts. And again his all-encompassing toolbox is in use, but it's much larger and has far wider implications.

Sometimes I see people say that he was motivated by power, money and glory, but this seems silly or irrelevant to me.

As far as glory goes, back in the Golden Age, he was able to roll with the adulation, but when he was alone with Guts he was shown to be uncomfortable with it and more or less tolerating it for networking.

With money, well, you never really see him be money-motivated outside the Gennon situation, and in that case he needed money specifically to reduce casualties among his men.

And as for power, I mean we see what he would do with power: break down hereditary hierarchies, invent public education, invest in orphanages and open educational and occupational paths for people without resources. Which is completely in line with the way he ran the Hawks even as a human. So...

[borderline-culture-is]

bpd culture is not feeling like you even have a personality?? like who tf am I? what are my values? am I the worst human ever or the best fucking person on this planet??

I guess who I am depends mostly on who YOU are, cause my only personality trait that seems to be consistent is that I can adapt to others without even noticing it

I'll be anything you want if that means you won't hate or leave me

makes it easy to make people like me on a surface level, but it's kinda manipulative and fake I guess? but it comes so natural to me that I almost don't notice it?

I feel so so lost and I always thought by 26 I would have figured out who I am and what I want but guess what bitch you're still here pleasing everyone else and wondering what it is that you yourself truely want and need, and also whenever you try to connect deeply with someone they sooner or later notice that your values and standpoints and character change SO DAMN MUCH?? I can be convinced of something one day and then say the opposite thing the next, and it's so frustrating for myself and others and sometimes I don't even wanna share a thought or an opinion anymore cause I know damn well I will probably think differently soon and feel fake and weird and like a lying bitch, and people close to you never know when to take your words serious cause things. just. change. SO QUICKLY with me and I jump from black to white in an instant

.

[transmutationisms]

trying to work out some thoughts on anorexia/restrictive eating disorders as inherently “mental illnesses” so forgive me for doing that in your inbox lol. but as someone who starved myself for a while as a teenager in order to fit into the ideal of thinness i reallyyyy hate when people call anorexia/bulimia a mental illness. what i was doing was very reasonable — i was trying to get thin, fast, so people would think of me as pretty/desirable, and starving myself was a way to do that. i feel like terming restrictive eating disorders as mental illnesses in & of themselves makes them seem like, unreasonable? or like you’re biologically predisposed to starve yrself? i guess i just want to know if you have any thoughts on the terming of “anorexia” or “bulimia” as mental illnesses (sorry for the vagueness of this question)

i have thoughts lol

in general i don't actually get a lot of mileage out of the concept of 'mental illness', tbh. there are lots of different things going on here—sometimes these labels are used to pathologise behaviours and experiences that are simply normal variations in human populations (& are often experienced as impairments due to the context of a social and economic environment designed to exclude them). sometimes they're just pathologising certain portions of the population, and are a tool for how marginalisation occurs, like 'drapetomania' or 'hysteria' or indeed the racialised nature of 'schizophrenia' diagnoses. sometimes what we call 'mental illness' is what i would argue is a very reasonable response to fucked up circumstances, like what you're talking about or indeed the inherently stressful and traumatising experience of, like, surviving capitalism. you also have to keep in mind that the way the pharmaceutical industry and the psychiatric establishment work in tandem means that some diagnostic labels come into existence after a drug is discovered/manufactured, and needs an insurance billing code in order to start making money.

on top of all this, as a philosophical point, 'illness' or 'disease' in medicine has some specific meanings (contested & varied over time/place, obviously) and i'm not actually convinced that affective distress is best explained or ameliorated by this framework. the argument that affective distress is a disease state has mostly been very useful for people who are invested in claiming medico-scientific authority and prestige for clinical and academic psychiatry. interestingly ofc, they have never fully succeeded in doing this because there are no biomarkers for psychiatric diagnoses, that's not how these diagnoses are made, and it's certainly not how they're treated (despite outright lies like the 'chemical imbalance' myth still being pushed on many patients).

when it comes to 'eating disorders' specifically, one thing to keep in mind up front is that although all eating disorders are restrictive in origin, both the responses to and causes of that restriction vary widely. the 'classic' story here since about the mid-20th century has been a (white, upper-class) girl who wants to be thin and starves herself in pursuit of beauty / social acceptance; depending on how she responds to this attempted restriction, you might see further restriction, binge-type behaviour, binge-purge behaviour, &c. but this is really only one eating disorder 'story'. as i've said before, food / energy restriction can start for a million different reasons, including lack of access to sufficient food, sensory aversions, other illnesses, over-exercise, &c. and people's mental and physical responses also vary a lot. i've probably never met a disordered eater who had NO thoughts on thinness as the beauty standard and beauty as currency—because of the social context we live in, these ideas will usually at some point become wrapped up in the food restriction, and are often major drivers of the sort of guilt response that tends to perpetuate eg a binge-restrict cycle. but this isn't to say that the desire for thinness is every disordered eater's sole or even primary psychological experience.

since my own experience has always been very similar to yours, though, i can speak to that a little. i agree with you fully in how i narrativise my own self-starvation, lmao. i don't think it's ever been some kind of biological predisposition with me, or a weird or aberrant or even pathological response to my circumstances. i actually think, given the social and familial context i grew up in, starving myself is one of the more logical and normal things i've ever engaged in. it's socially rewarded (both the resultant weight loss and the hypervigilant food / body behaviours in themselves) and emotionally numbing in a way that makes literally everything else 1 billion times easier to manage.

again, there's complexity here when talking about 'eating disorders' more broadly; people receive many different messages about food and body size, and respond to them differently as well. (this is a tricky thing with any diagnosis that's given on the basis of behaviours / symptoms—ie all psychiatric diagnoses—the label is ontologically incapable of differentiating between different causes for, and experiences of, what may be externally the same behaviours.) and it's also true that eating disorders involve a biological element in the sense that restrictive food intake (or the threat of restrictive food intake, like guilting yourself for eating something you perceive as unhealthy / fattening / &c) triggers a whole complicated physical response because, yknow, humans need to eat lol. but my point stands, i think: the psychiatric discourse of 'eating disorders' is still very wilfully decontextualising them, because otherwise it would have to become a broader social justice conversation about things like poverty and weight stigma. that's not something that psychiatry is disciplinarily equipped to do!