#but it‘s hard to do in a respectful way

[things-keeping-me-up-at-night]

I think it‘s so funny how monarchists and anti-monarchists are both constantly hating on The Crown yet everyone seems to be watching it.

(I‘m decidedly not a monarchist and agree there are some issues that could and maybe should be portrayed more concerning the British royal family, but I do like the show.

I think it does a good job at showing how these are really just human beings and how the system they‘re in is doing neither them nor the many millions of people affected by it any favours. I especially like the time frame of it - it shows the good and very bad things the people involved do and how their actions affect each other, making them into the people they are. That‘s something you don‘t get to see in real time a lot, especially seeing as it spans generations of people handing down destructive behaviour.

It‘s also visually stunning, and while I get that people find it glamorises monarchy in a way, I think from most people‘s perspectives it just goes to show how ridiculous it is that these (again, otherwise regular) people are put on a pedestal and just naturally handed that lifestyle including its pomp, its rituals and over the top rules.

Maybe I‘m very forgiving on the show, but I think for the controversial topic of it, it does a good job at staying relatively neutral (which is proven by the very different readings of the show from people with different stances on the monarchy in general). It also helps that the craft of it and cast are just incredible and it‘s very entertaining for the most part.

Sure, there are definitely things the royals have been involved in the show could have taken a part in discussing more, some topics I have to admit I‘m not informed enough on to comment on them. The show also could have been harder on Charles, which makes it even more ridiculous that the royal family is apparently protesting it - this is the most empathetic portrayal of the real things he‘s done anyone could do, there is no way of being nicer about it without being untruthful.

I also just have a soft spot for the fictionalised version of Princess Margaret in all seasons, I‘ll have to admit.

Anyway, British politics and the monarchy are not topics I want to get into, mainly because there are people out there who have much more right to have an opinion on these things than I do.

I absolutely understand if people who are from a country or culture that has been victim to colonisation have no interest in watching something that portrays the enablers and profiteers of the ongoing effects of colonisation in an empathetic way.

But if you just want to watch a decades-spanning questionably realistic drama with incredible set and costume design and some very talented British actors as well as a great score, this show does the job.

I do think season 5 of The Crown was definitely the weakest, mainly because it focused too much on Charles‘ and Diana‘s divorce and little else and because it was very oddly paced, but it had its moments as well. (More specifically when I bawled my eyes out at Margaret‘s and Peter‘s reunion in „Annus Horribilis“.) I really wonder about at what point in time the series is going to end since there is only one season left and there are still a lot of events left for the series to cover.

Still, I think people‘s expectations on all sides are always a little too high as soon as it comes to portraying the British royals. I get that it‘s a sensitive topic, but I can‘t think of a more balanced way to portray them (or a more opinionated way of portraying them and getting away with it).)

Anyway, these are just my two cents on the whole thing.

As for the current royal family discussion, I fully support Queen Amelia Mignonette Thermopolis Renaldi of Genovia and that‘s that.

[notleclerc]

I want to be appreciated

🖤Charles x Fem!reader

🖤summary: Charles reached his limit after his results at the Austin Grand Prix and needs his lover more than ever

🖤warnings: angst, fluff and a lil suggestive at the end ;) French sentences are translated

🖤a/n: this is my first fic so please have mercy on me. English is not my first language so i am happy for any feedback <3 ENJOY BABES

Charles was always a giver. His friends needed him to take them somewhere? Alright be ready in 5. His Team Principal called him last minute for a team meeting? Of course anything for Ferrari.

It never bothered Charles because that’s his way of showing care and appreciation to what he has. He loves seeing others being well and happy and him being the reason for that but what about his needs? Why is it so hard for people to appreciate him?

It hit him hard when he ended up in P6 and was later on disqualified at the US Austin Grand Prix. People rushed to him and tried to cheer him up but nothing worked and that’s when they realised, they‘ve got no clue on how to help the one that always WAS the helper himself. All Charles needed right now was the warmth of one person. You, (Y/n). His lovely girlfriend that somehow notices everything about him.

Charles enters his driver room and sees you already waiting for him with your arms wide open and a gentle smile on your face.

„Come here mon amour, laisse-toi aller, tu es en sécurité ici“ (my love, let it all out, you are safe here)

It‘s in that moment that Charles finally let‘s go and crashes in your arms with quiet sobs and a tight grip on your shirt. He keeps repeating „why me, why? what did i do?“ as he hides his face in your neck.

(Y/n) doesn‘t say anything and keeps softly caressing his back and scratching his head and let‘s him cry it all out. You remind him that he is safe here and that you‘ve got him. Charles slowly stopped and sat down on his bed and rubbed his eyes.

„It‘s always like this ma cherrié, i just want to leave…peut-on retourner à l'hôtel s‘il tu plaît?“. (can we go back to the Hotel please?)

(Y/n) nods and grabs his bag that she already packed because she knew charles wouldn‘t want to be around anyone. (Y/n) messaged Joris and Andrea and let them know that they are leaving. You handed Charles his sunglasses and hat and grabbed his hand.

„Lets go Cha, just follow my lead okay baby?“

He only nodded and followed you like a lost puppy into his rented Ferrari. Fans, journalists and photographers tried to take pictures and ask questions but you shieled him and asked for distance and respect. Once at the car, you wanted to enter the passenger seat but got tugged back slightly by Charles.

„Can you please drive… i just… i just don‘t want to…“

With no hesitation, you let him sit and took the seat behind the steering wheel and drove the two of you back to the hotel. Once there, you helped Charles enter through the back door and you both immediatly made your way inside your room and let him lay down on the bed. Charles heard your footsteps and turned his face to look at you and saw you disappearing into the bathroom.

(Y/n) tied her hair up and started to run a warm bath for Charles with lavender scented bubbles, a scent to relax the mind. While the bathub was getting ready, (Y/n) went back to Charles and started to take off his shoes and his clothes.

„Let me take care of you my love okay? All you have to do is enjoy and relax and nothing else“

You kiss his forehead as he looked tiredly and hopeful at you. Charles nodded and let you guide him into the bathroom that is filled with the aroma of lavender which immediatly calms him down slowly. (Y/n) guides him into the bath and let’s him relax his tense muscles.

„Close your eyes mon amour and let me massage you and take care of you. Tell me if you need anything ma vie“ (my life)

You kiss his lips softly as he closes his eyes and sighs in content. You start to massage his head and move down towards his shoulders and arms. You make sure to massage the sore spots and gently start to also massage the rest of his body. Charles felt like he was on cloud nine as he could finally relax and only focus on you and your touch. Usually it’s a big havoc inside his brain when its a race weekend but with this? He never wants to go back.

After cleaning and massaging his whole body, (Y/n) also washed his hair and made him step out of the bathub once finished. He put the towel around himself and you gently took his hand and brought him back to the bedroom. You helped drying him and made sure to moisturize is body and face gently.

During the whole process you would give him soft kisses and tell him how proud you are of him and encourage him.

Charles watched you with nothing but loving eyes as he felt his whole body feel the warmth of your kind soul. Every touch and gaze from you made him feel loved, cared for and… and appreciated… finally…He almost teared up again at the thought of having you by his side and how blessed he was.

You lightly laugh at his teared up eyes and hold his face.

„I love you Charles, whatever goes inside of that incredible brain of yours just know that with me you will always be loved and appriciated.“

(Y/n) kisses him and Charles automatically wraps his arms around your waist and pulls you to him. You sit on his lap and keep admiring him with a soft smile.

„Merci mon amour, je t'aime du plus profond de mon cœur et de mon âme.“ (thank you my love, i love you from the deepest part of my heart and soul.)

You were about to stand up and grab some clothes for Charles but he held your wrist and gave you a pleading look.

„Mon amour… please…je veux que tu touches tout mon corps, qui brûle de désir pour toi.“ (I want your touch all over my body, its burning in desire for you)

You looked down and saw his bulge growing underneath the towel and Charles blushing red in need and want for you. His hold on your wrist gets tighter and his whines get into your head.

„Je serai un bon garçon pour toi, mon amour“ (I‘ll be a good boy for you my love)

There are definitely more ways of showing appreciation…

HOW YOU GUYS FEELING ABOUT THISSSSSS? This was hunting me all week long after seeing the results of the race :(

Reblogs, comments & feedback are very much appreciated!

[guiltyreverie]

Hiya

Saw that you were looking for some request to help get you out of your block (I hate when that happens) so I was wondering if we could get a Zoro x F/GN reader with the prompt "Holding your hand under the guise of not getting lost in a crowd" The swordsman isn't as touchy as Luffy but I think he'd find a way to get that physical touch.

Thanks 🌴

Hey anon, thanks dear for the request 🫶🏻 I love this idea!! It has me all 🤭 giggling and kicking my feet. Also I hope you’re satisifed with this 🤍

Crappy Love Confessions

Pairing: Zoro x gn!reader

Tags: grumpy x sunshine, established relationship, Zoro thinks he’s being slick but you got him all figured out, slight insecurity/jealousy

Warnings: none, just fluff

Writing prompt: “Holding your hand under the guise of not getting lost in a crowd”

Summary: You arrive in a new town and you end up exploring it with your boyfriend by your side

A/N: I mostly wrote this in the middle of my lectures - I hope the person behind me had a blast reading this 😭 and ngl as much as I love grumpy men, they’re lowkey so hard to write (BUT I WELCOME THE CHALLENGE)

Word count: 1.5k

Loud chatter, salesmen shouting and advertising their products filled the air, the smell of various restaurants, children running about - the tunes of a new city filled your senses and you stare around in awe; almost every time it‘s the same deal and every single time you‘re still amazed by this feeling.

Luffy‘s hand met your back and finally pushed you off the boat. “Come on, y/n.“, he was drooling and you looked at him in amusement, “I smell meat!“ - he was already gone - a chuckle escaped your lips at the antics of your captain.

“Cutie-chan“, Sanji gasped dramatically and he grabbed your hands to check if you‘re alright, “are you-„

Zoro‘s grumble interrupted him and the both of them are about to butt heads again; you‘re ready to intervene and prevent the town from getting destroyed by these two but Nami was faster.

“Don‘t you guys have things to do.“, she pointedly stared at Sanji, since he was the one that needed supplies and ingredients for the next few weeks.

Sanji is about to make a flirty remark but stops himself when he sees Nami‘s glare, she pushes him off the deck and Zoro towards your direction, then proceeds to hum around about ‚not having too much fun‘ and your cheeks flush slightly; nonetheless you grin at her and shout back “no promises.“

Zoro looks at you, or well, more like scowls at you and if you didn‘t know any better you‘d think he was mad at you.

Your head tilts slightly to the right - inaudibly asking what‘s wrong.

“It‘s nothing“, he tenses up, and you can see something is bothering him in his eyes - now you could go about this in two ways, either you pester him and force him to tell you or you respect his boundaries and let it be.

You figured he‘d eventually tell you himself once he‘s comfortable enough and let it go, instead you focus on the rumbling town in front of you and smile and start walking, you knew Zoro would follow you either way so you don‘t bother calling out to him.

The both of you check out the shops, while you grab some utilities you also check out the snack vendors, all while Zoro is right behind you following every footstep and holding your bags for you on one arm and the other empty for, probably any worst case scenario he can imagine.

When you see a sword shop out of the corner of your eyes, you smile and turn towards him: “Do you want to check it out?“

He glances at you, then at the shop, he seems to contemplate it, overthink it even; you let out a sigh and step towards the shop: “Come on“, you nudge him, “it‘s at least worth checking out.“ and nudge him into the shop.

You stand beside him, observing him fondly while he checks everything out in deep concentration and gets anything he needs; when you’re ready to check out and leave the store you notice a small dagger - perfect to replace the one that broke recently.

You test out its feeling around your grip and its secureness and smile to yourself in satisfaction - you’ll get this one.

What you fail to notice is your boyfriend staring at you in admiration - for someone so kind you were deadly when threatened - in fact it’s the reason he was so drawn to you in the first place. All you needed was two little daggers and no one stood a chance against you, your bubbly self would disappear and it would almost seem like you had been replaced with the best assassin to walk the earth.

When you glance back at him satisfied with your choice, your breath halts for a moment; the way Zoro was looking at you right now? It almost made your face flush in embarrassment, his eyes were filled with endearment, admiration and something else you can’t pinpoint right now - he always had a hard time vocalizing his feelings for you but he didn’t have to, you always knew how much he cared for you without saying anything.

You clear your throat in an attempt to dissipate the butterflies in your stomach and smile at him: “You got everything?”

He keeps staring at you mesmerized: “yeah, i got everything I need.”, your face flushes slightly and the butterflies you tried to dissipate earlier come back, he didn’t mean just his sword supplies - not with the way he was staring at you.

“Alright.”, you nod and make your way to the cash register and pay up.

Zoro is already outside, leaning against the wall, while waiting for you, when you get out he promptly gets up and walks beside you, he seems to contemplate something, you were about to ask if there’s anything else he wants to check out when grasps your hand. Your face flushes when his large calloused hand wraps around your smaller softer one and you grin brightly - the warmth inside you only growing bigger and bigger.

He looks away, his voice slightly hoarser than before: “I can’t risk getting lost.”, you raise an eyebrow in amusement, his blushing ears clearly betraying his actual thoughts.

“Sure.”, you smirk clearly unconvinced by his reasoning.

Now the both of you walk together, your hands intertwined and you hum happily looking for your next destination.

The both of you walk around more until it’s late in the evening; your feet hurt from walking around all day and you decide to finally go back to the ship.

“Zoro”, you pout, the sting getting worse and worse.

He sighs slightly then proceeds to let go of your hand before he kneels down in front of you: “Hop on.”

The warm feeling in your chest, once again, consumes you - god you love him - you get on his back and wrap your arms around him while he grabs the back of your thighs and picks you up.

Fondly you kiss his cheek: “Thanks, dear.”

He ‘hmphs’ slightly and grumbles: “you’re too light, do you even eat?”

“Y’know I always finish Sanji’s food”, you grin, “you just lift abnormal weights.”

He tenses up slightly when you mention Sanji: “Don’t mention his name.”

Your eyebrows furrowed in confusion, Sanji and him always fight but he usually didn’t react this badly at his name being mentioned; finally, it clicks in your head and you manage to connect the dots.

“Is this about this morning?”, you lean your head on his.

“I don’t like when he’s being close to you.”, he sighs.

You smile and hold him tighter: “I don’t care for him, in the same way I care for you. No amount of flirting from his side can change that.”

“It’s not that. I trust you, it’s just..”, he seems to gather his thoughts, trying to put them into words and you let him - he needs to realize just how important it is to let you in. His jaw tenses up and he clearly seems uncomfortable being vulnerable, even if it’s you he's talking to. “It just makes me think that I can never be as vocal as him; He doesn’t mind crappy love confessions or public affection.”

It takes you a few seconds to even process his words - was he insecure?

“Zoro”, you motion for him to let you go and you quickly step up before him, grasping his face, “I don’t want crappy love confessions or public affection or anything else, I want you.”

“Ok but what if me being me isn’t good enough at one point and you want to do better - you certainly can, if you want to.”, he looks at you, the uncertainty finally clear in his eyes and it pains you, leaves you wondering for how long he had been harboring such thoughts.

“No, fuck that, I don’t want better, because there is no better.”, you bite your lips slightly, “ for me? You’re the best pick, Zoro. I love you, the way you are and I want nothing more than for you to keep being yourself and it’s not going to change any time soon. You hear me?”, you hold his face once again and genuinely look at him, he needs to believe you, trust that you won’t leave him.

“I’m just being stupid, aren’t I?”, he smiles at you a little stunned.

You smile and shake your head: “No, not stupid. Human.”

He raises an eyebrow slightly at your choice of words but accepts it nonetheless. He kisses your forehead earnestly and once again kneels for you to get on his back.

You grin and hop on, hugging him tightly.

He clears his throat: “I love you, too, by the way.”, your grin brightens - and he says he isn’t the type for crappy love confessions.

Together you guys walk through the bustling town back to the ship, the warm sunset fitting the atmosphere inside your chest.

[vixensbrainrotts]

Ran fucked up

Summary: so you found out that Ran is sorta-kinda using you for information, money and material for Tenjiku and took revenge before the damage was too heavy. Come the time when Ran was supposed to display results, he has some explaining to do…

Tropes: Tenjiku! Arc

Content warnings: none really, this time around its just kinda cracky, implied intentional accidents i guess? Idk let me know if there’s anything

Vixen’s two cents: I saw that prompt and JUMPED on the opportunity cause i had a silly little idea (lets pretend im not writing this in my theory of evolution lecture right now). This is such a funny prompt to me, I hope you enjoy. Prompt taken from @the-cypress-grove - prompt 131 (thank youuuuu) Remember that my requests are open if you have any ideas!

Rindou has never seen his older brother this nervous- actually, this is the first time he’s seen him nervous, ever. The man in question was pacing (to the best of his efforts) restlessly, and it was driving Rin insane. „It‘s your fault, you know?“ Rindou quipped from where he was sitting. „And you’re not fucking helping. Izana is going to rip me apart, if i survive Kakucho that is.“ Ran mutters more to himself than to his brother.

Rolling his eyes, Rindou decides that he has to take control of the situation. „Come on Ran, its best to get it over with fast, perhaps they’ll pity you because of your… state right now.“ Rindou makes his way to the door, shrugging on a cardigan and taking the keys out of the little dish by the door. The look that Ran gives him almost ignites a little bit of pity in Rindou. Almost.

20 minutes later the two of them are standing in front of the place of meeting and Ran is sweating bullets. „Come on..“ Rindou drawled again. Offended, Ran throws him a look „You’re not the one who’s about to get mauled.“ Ran crows in slight pain, but Rindou spared no sympathy, „Your fault.“ Rindou was the first to enter the area donning the heavenly kings‘s presence. He silently greet his colleagues with a curt wave, but felt a little puzzled when he didn’t receive one in return. The confused looks on their faces were almost comedic before Rindou noticed the distinct lack of brother by his side.

Rindou heaved a sigh and half-turns to face the entrance again, gesturing to the door for the Heavenly Kings to see. „He‘s coming, don’t worry.“ He assured and trudged on towards his place.

„Sit down Haitani.“ a sharp voice pierced the air as Izana spoke. A shiver ran down Rindou‘s spine, and all of a sudden he understood his brother‘s fear: Izana was scary as such, and blatantly terrifying when disappointed. Quickly, Rindou took a seat beside Mochi. Silence reigned after that. Not a word was spoken, not a breath was taken whilst they waited for Ran to enter.

Finally the tension broke when Ran walked through the door, his head low and limping slightly. „Were ya roughed up or something?“ Shion was the first to speak. „Well..“ Ran sounded a bit defeated as his voice trailed off, remaining standing at a respectable distance. „You’re here. And late at that.“, Izana‘s voice freezes the air as he speaks, „I hope for your sake that your little project proves to be as useful as you made it sound.“ Ran tries very hard to look anywhere but the Kings, instead trying to make eye-contact with his brother, but Rindou only raises his hands slightly in surrender and shoots him a look that says you brought yourself into this mess, im not gonna help you on this one.

„Do tell Ran. How‘s your little girlfriend doing, hm? Are you treating her well? Is the good service paying off? She give you somethin‘ yet?“ Shion has the gall to poke at Ran, stacking questions on him in a singsong tone. Despite the almost joking nature of the questions, they hang heavy in the air.

„I don’t think she likes me all that much right now.“ Ran finally says.

„What makes you think that?“ Kakucho is the one to speak this time, noticing Izana's annoyance and grasping the reigns of the conversation. Whilst he sounds genuinely concerned, Kakucho‘s half-blind eye does nothing to make Ran feel more comfortable, as he visibly shrinks beneath his gaze.

„She founded out.“ Ran breaks the news in a whisper, and the air around them changes into something much more alive, and much more electric. „What.“ Kakucho‘s voice is loud in stark contrast.

„She hit me with her car.“ Ran shrinks even further into himself when the guys surrounding him laugh. „Clever Girl!“ Shion quips between heaves of laughter, bracing himself against an also-snickering-Mucho who adds „What if it was an accident?“. Ran only shakes his head, face and neck ablaze with red as he puffs himself up against the humiliation. „She looked me dead in the eye and reversed!“ Laughter bounces off the walls once again.

[xxnghtclls]

Ok another analysis. I was trying to understand Sukuna‘s view on love and why it is worthless.

For me his understanding of love was always a hard nut to crack. Next to english not being my first language, I felt like I had to reread those panels a million times to come closer to understand to what love for him is and why he claims that it’s worthless. Again, just my thoughts, nothing has to be right. I don’t even know if this makes sense, but here we go.

If I understand it correctly, what he describes as love, is to recognise others strength and thus to respond to their violence with his own violence. This has a lot to do with respect and fits the way he describes the validation others seek from him. Fighting, slaughtering, -responding- to those who love him for his strength with his own strength. Attention and connection.

Considering that he could’ve faced rejection in his childhood (hated/unwanted), the themes of recognition and validation make a lot of sense here. I didn’t cover this in my other analysis, but the way he describes himself as unwanted little “wretch”, indicates that he saw himself as a little brat in his childhood as well. You could assume, that the form of love he knows and grew up with, is one of aggression, which he could’ve witnessed, acted upon others or experienced himself.

On this assumption, it makes sense that for him, love is a kind of attention and connection in the sense of responding with the same validation they came at him and that is violence and ultimately bringing death upon them. On that base, something interesting comes to mind. We’ve seen Sukuna being extremely happy when he’s fighting someone who can keep up with him, when he’s defeating someone strong, when he’s able to connect and “love” others in this way. So why exactly is love worthless?

We have Yorozu, who keeps babbling about love. What caught my attention here is that Sukuna explains that it was “quite annoying” to hear her trying to teach him about love, or about “what he doesn’t know”. I was wondering, why is he so annoyed, if he claims that he does know what love is? He doesn’t care about the opinion of others, so why is he pressed about something that she claims he doesn’t know? Do they have the same understanding of love? Or is he just annoyed because he thinks he knows better than anyone?

I think for Yorozu, love could mean mercy. Loneliness and solitude seem to be a more important topic for her than to Sukuna. So it could be her mercy to free Sukuna from the solitude of peerless strength, which- he doesn’t want. She claims she’s the one who will teach him about love - to ease his lonesome heart - to be the one that she will kill.

A direct contrast to Sukuna, who claims to enjoy his solitude and she being the one who wants to marry him. So the outcome on their views on love is the same here, which would be death, but the motivation is a different one. What’s interesting here is that Sukuna is ready to offer her “everything” once she would be able to defeat him. Is this is why he says love is worthless?

Because in his sense, based on what we’ve established, love ultimately means violence and death and after death it doesn’t matter “what you do with a corpse”. I ask myself, it he sees life itself as worthless? Could make sense, when he says he keeps living after his own statue, not caring about anything, because in the end nothing else matters…🎤🎸? But then why does he keep climbing the ladder of strength and power? Just to see if there‘s an end? Only because he can?

Man idk my brain is melting. Maybe this is not news for you, but for me it‘s hella complicated. 😆 I promise it‘s the last loaded analysis attempt thread for now. 🤞

[etaindelaserna]

What do you think are Yuuji and Sukuna’s greatest personality strengths and weaknesses? Why? What do you love about their dynamic?

P.s

It's hard to find sukuita shipper, so I'm excited when found your blog. And love your otps, thanks for sharing them. 🌻🌷🥰

Thank you so much for reaching out!😊

I‘m quite new to the JJK fandom (watched the anime during the Christmas Holidays), so getting into contact with a fellow Sukuita shipper, makes me giddy with excitement✨

Let’s start with Yuuji🧡

To me, Yuuji’s greatest strength is his unyielding will. It doesn’t matter what you throw at him: he will pull through, he will make the impossible possible. He might crumble and lose faith for a moment but he will regroup and try again. Considering what has happened to him so far in JJK it‘s admirable that he still has it somewhat together.

I actually had to stop and think about his weakness🤔 It’s tricky because at least in the context of the JJK world it’s indicated that he cares too much and is incapable of making rational, cold blooded sacrifices: he wants to save everyone, which to me is a strength. At the same time his good heart is the source of his suffering. It eats Yuuji up that people die because he ate Sukuna’s finger, which in itself was an act of pure selflessness and trying to protect his friends and Megumi. His compassion curses people close to him. He’s basically a Gryffindor: all bravery but without a good plan for action.

Sukuna is very focused on his goals and goes about it very rationally. That allows him to push beyond of what’s thought to be possible. He doesn’t care about limitations. He doesn’t try. He just does it. He takes what he wants because he knows he can.

Sukuna’s weakness is that he doesn’t acknowledge the potential of Yuuji’s ideal. Yuuji refuses to be selfish with his powers in contrast to how Sukuna defines strength and how to obtain it. I think, Sukuna is going to learn the hard way that pushing the limits/taking your desires + not caring about anybody else don’t have to be exclusives.

What I love about their dynamic is the constant beef they have with each other because of the clash of their ideals.

On the one hand it makes for good comedy that the King of Curses is stuck with a brat, who didn’t even know who he was and who doesn’t fear or respect him one bit, but has the power to control him. On the other hand their combination has so much potential for tragedy. They seem to be Yin and Yang, somewhat completing each other and yet, they are like water and oil, they are doomed to coexist although they can’t coexist. Plus there is also the element of the lure to the dark side for Yuuji, which I’m always attracted to when it comes to shipping. Also also: Sukuna is such a spiteful jerk✨ and so unapologetic about it and Yuuji is the ray of sunshine. That alone would have been enough for me to ship them🙈

[x-0ophelia0-x]

Ezra is 1000000% the type to basically become Gomez Addams once he’s in a relationship~

You know those scenes where Gomez & Morticia are fencing and dancing at the same time.. yeah that.. but with Ezra and a Force sensitive Reader, it’s Lightsabers~

They are unashamedly in Love~ pda is just their reality~ always very respectful of each other~ and rarely ever seen apart from each other~

the dance of love.

pairing: Fem!Reader x Ezra Bridger

warnings: none, fluff

word count: 1,2 k

summary: Ezra‘s and your relationship could easily be described with just one word. Affection. One of your training sessions become the very example of how obvious your affection for one another is and it ends with a long cuddle session.

authors note: I actually never watched the Addams Family movies xd Had to search a lot for the scene and I still couldn’t find it- I mean I found one where Morticia and Gomez danced but they weren’t fencing in that one qwq

The ending was an last second addition, the actual story of the request had only around 800 words sooo I thought of a small addition to get them to 1000 and ended up with writing a total of 400 words more 💀

anywayyyy

this is the second ff of the december special :D

enjoyyy <3

It was a sight to behold.

Nothing else mattered in this very moment, the galaxie‘s problems, Thrawn, Vader, nothing.

It was just them.

y/n and Ezra.

One might even say that the time itself stopped when they were together.

Right now was just one of these many moments.

That what was seen could’ve been described as the elegance of love at it‘s purest form.

But once again… what is elegance exactly?

These dances, singers, high end dresses or fashion labels seemed to be way to cliche for this.

No.

This was another kind of it.

More of an emotion then of anything else.

It was affection.

The room was filled with tension as y/n and Ezra once again trained with their lightsabers. 

It wasn’t the type of tension which made you feel uneasy though, no, it was the opposite.

Whoever took the wrong turn and ended up at their training ground would report the exact same reaction.

Goosebumps would start to form on them.

Their training wasn’t just a ‚training‘.

These too were deep in love with one another and it was quite obvious.

The way how they were fighting against each other, try to file their skills to protect their future.. it was breathtaking. 

They‘d always start slow. 

Ezra would attack while y/n would dodge each strike.

When he got close enough, he didn’t let his chance pass by and pressed soft kisses on her arm while he positioned himself to the other side.

You would gladly let him do as he wish, enjoying the way how he made you feel.

It didn’t matter how long you were dating, he still made you feel like you had butterflies in your stomach and you knew that he’d be the one to catch them with his hugs and return them with his kisses.

After his affectionate actions that sadly only lasted for a few seconds, you’d be returning to your training, striking and dodging each others attacks. 

He now took a step back so that you’d loose your balance due to his missing figure, striking right into the air while you tripped on your own steps.

He was quick to catch you, leading to you now starring right into his beautiful blue hues.

„Your eyes are beautiful“

„Says the most adorable being of this universe“

„They’re like endless oceans, bringing peace and freedom to whoever looks into them“

„And you definitely read way to many romance books my love“

„There’s never too many, fantasy romance books are like a door into a new reality.. a safe place for everyone and guess what“

„What?“

His voice was playful while his eyes continued to shine brighter then the night sky.

Ohhh you fell hard but believe me, he fell harder.

„You are my safe place and your eyes are my door into a better reality“

It was safe to say that your training sessions were kind of romantic.

You continued your sword fight, learnt more and more techniques and parred each strike flawlessly.

Your lightsaber training didn’t even look like one as much as it should.

It was more of a dance, even if you used your lightsabers, you two did it with such a grace that even Hera was moved.

„How did your force using skills improve?“

Ezra was the one to break the once so peaceful silence while they had to finish their fight because both of their lightsabers tips were aimed at their faces.

„I don’t know..“

You didn’t finish your sentence and guessed that it’d be better for him to see your improvement.

With the raise of you hand you gently used the force to lift him up and bring him closer to you.

„What would you say dear?“

Ezra had the perfect response.

He too raised his hand and used the force to bring you closer to him.

When you both ‚stood‘ just inches apart from each other, you simultaneously dropped your hands and stopped your use of the force.

You fell into his arms and he in yours.

„I could stay forever like this you know“

„I know.. I know“

„Then you wouldn’t mind if we’d stay here like this for a while?“

You turned your face to his, looking with puppy eyes at him, knowing that he couldn’t say no to you whenever you used this card.

„How could I say no to you? But..“

„But..?“

He smiled down at you, pulling you closer to him, whispering something into your ears.

„But.. we could also cuddle in our comfy bed?“

Your eyes lit up at his offer and you nodded as if there was no tomorrow.

„What are we waiting for then?? Let’s goo!“

„Wellllll“

Oh no.

What was it again?

„Well?“

„Welllllll, we still have to-“

„do nothing and just go? Yeah! That was my thought too!“

„Wait what are you-“

You didn’t let him finish as you grabbed his arm and ran off.

Hera and Kanan walked by the door as you nearly sprinted into them.

„Hey! Why are you in such a hurry?“

Kanan asked Ezra, knowing that he’d be more likely to give him an honest answer compared to you.

„Ahhh Kanan! It’s so nice to meet you here, isn’t this hallwa-“

„Cut the crap Ezra, aren’t you two supposed to be training right now?“

„Yes“

You said bluntly, checking if there are any more persons that may stop you after you ran past your crew mates.

„Alright then, what are you doing out here?“

„Enjoying our life, you know, our youth and so on, the beautiful gift of-“

„Okay okay! Continue whatever you were doing. Force you need to work on your excuses, both of you“

Interrupted you Hera as you gratefully nodded and once again grabbed Ezra’s arm to get to your long awaited cuddle time.

„He really wanted to distract us with the hallway“

„This kid.. he is even worse then this golden nugget of an oversized droid“

„Just like his master“

Kanan raised his eyebrow at this and turned his head to her.

„What do you mean by that?“

„Oh come on, don’t you remember the time where an imp catched you off guard and Ezra had to literally play your son or whatever excuse he came up with to drag you out of there? Or the other time when-„

„Allright, I’ve got my lesson“

She laughed at him, knowing that she once again managed to shut him up.

„I‘ll take this as a win“

„Whatever makes you happy“

You and Ezra at the meantime reached your cabin and didn’t wait any longer.

He was holding you as you curled up against him, cuddling the hell lit of each other.

At some point the both of you grew very tired and you were the first to close your eyes.

„Good night my dearest hallway inspector“

„Good night my dear“

The next thing he heard was your breathing as you fell asleep, leaning you head against his chest.

He placed a gentle kiss on your forehead and whispered sweet little nothings into your ear as he dozed off too. 

[burningtheroots]

Hey, I'm a cis lesbian and I used to be a radfem. I was sexually harassed by a man during my middle school years and it made me so angry at the world, and thus I started hating all men and thinking they were evil and they should die. Despite the fact I had male relatives and friends who were nothing but kind and supportive and loving to me.

After some therapy and reflection, I realized that I was just taking the easy way out. It's easier to turn your trauma and fear into hatred and anger towards a scapegoat group instead of actually doing the hard work of self reflecting.

Are there evil men? Of course. Is the patriarchy a problem? Definitely. Are there transgender people who are only trans to pray upon others? Inevitable.

But just as there are bad people in every group of people, that doesn't define them. Most trans people I've met know genitalia preference is a thing and respect that. The ones who don't are just full of themselves. Most of them just want to live their life the way they want to live it. In such a short amount of time on this earth, why waste it being hateful to others?

Continue to fight for female-sex rights, that is important. Fight for gay rights, fight for women rights. But all of these can be achieved without fearing or hating all men and transgender people. If anything, that just gets in the way of achieving real change.

Sorry for sending such a long ask. I'm not trying to be rude or mean. It's just, I worry sometimes about the young people in this community because I see myself in it, and how scared and unhappy and angry I was all the time because I refused to actually work through my trauma....and of course, like I said, this is not me saying there aren't things wrong with the world. There are. But not everyone is out to get you, this world is beautiful.

I'm not trying to invalidate in feelings you may have. As women we are dealt the short end of the stick from birth, and it is important we keep fighting. But fight against the real enemies; the lawmakers, the corporations, societal expectations. But "men" and "transgender" as a group as a whole are not your enemies...and using intentionally proactive language like that, it harms your chance of people wanting to listen since you're insulting people based on something as fundamental as their gender or sex. I think all of you could achieve great stuff for women if hating the "other side" wasn't in the equation.

Anyway, sorry again for the length. You might think I'm being ridiculous and this may never change your mind. And that's fine. I just felt sharing my perspective as an ex-radfem may be interesting or helpful, or something.

Hey! I‘m sorry for the late response, I wanted to have enough time to reply throughoutly & was quite busy this week.

First of all, I‘m sorry that this happened to you and I‘m glad that you had support from your family and friends.

However, I think the assumption that radfems, and me in particular, blindly turn their trauma into hatred is incorrect and doesn’t take into account that radical feminism is a feminist theory which analyzes, exposes & fights systemic oppression.

It‘s a fact that every man is complicit in & benefits from misogyny and patriarchy to a certain degree, which doesn’t mean that we think every man is an evil predator. As for me, my standard is that a man has to be 0% misogynistic — which is the minimum, I expect further allyship — to be "good". Somehow women are looked down upon when they have such "high" expectations when it comes to members of their oppressor class, and I‘m aware that it‘s nearly impossible to find a man like that in our current world, but does that mean I should tolerate even 0.00001 of misogyny from a man? No. It means I‘m perfectly justified to center women & particularly like-minded women in my life.

As for transgender people, I don’t hate any dysphoric (!) person for being dysphoric and trying to live their life. I actually care a lot about the well-being of dysphoric people, but I‘m also well-aware that the TRA ideology (which doesn’t equal individuals with actual dysphoria) blatantly attacks women‘s rights & protections, and while many trans-identified people respect sexualities as they are, my criticism of the movement is still valid.

And I understand & respect where you‘re coming from, though I think that radical (=root) feminism is often falsely mistaken for extremism, which it is not. Since discovering radical feminism and other radfems, I actually feel much more understood and safe.

Women‘s rights & liberation don’t have to be palatable to men, and everything I share and say on my blog is backed up by facts. I don‘t "hate men", I hate misogynistic men — and it‘s on them not to be one of those.

Anyways, thanks for sharing your experience and being friendly. It‘s quite refreshing. xx

[sunflwryu]

warning: yandere  |  not requested

accident

the first time jeongin saw you was at his grandfather’s funeral.

you had been seated at the back dressed in all black, gloved hands folded in your lap as you listened intently to whenever someone was speaking. there was something so striking in the way you kept away from everyone though, opting to pay your respects to the picture frame displayed in the bed of flowers over the casket after everyone else, bowing your head and looking towards the ceiling as if you were staring at the sky. you didn’t stand out and blended in with the goers, and he could’ve missed you easily if it weren’t for his bored but all-seeing eyes, if it weren’t for that he had no care for the distant relative who died of old age.

he had went up to you out of curiosity, asking if you had known his grandfather and if you didn’t, why did you come to such a depressing event like this?

“i didn’t know him at all,” you’d explained gently, your voice quiet and soft as if you didn’t want to be heard and misunderstood, “i know it’s strange of me, a total stranger, to be here, but i always go to these things and pray for them in case no one else does. that way, there’s someone who at least acknowledges that that person existed, you know? that they had lived on this earth, that their existence wasn’t meaningless. i think they would be able to rest peacefully that way.”

there were flaws in your thinking. what if they was a bad person that didn’t deserve it? what would you say to that? would you still say the same ignorant words you did? but his questions stuck in his throat as you gave him your sincere condolences and quickly left the building without leaving him a name, phone number, anything at all.

your naivety yet wonderous innocence was quite fascinating to him, so much so that he thought about you when he got home that night. god, did he want to see you again, and badly.

and he does.

seeing your familiar figure in the back of the room, he rushes up to you, heart beating. “hey...um, do you remember me...?” he asks nervously.

you give him a sympathetic smile. “i do. i’m so sorry that you lost your grandmother too...really, that’s terrible. so soon after your grandfather too...gosh, i can’t imagine how it must be like for you.”

the tears begin to build in his eyes, but he returns a dry smile. “i-it’s been hard,” he admits, glancing back at his grief-stricken parents with a heavy, apologetic heart. they’re really going through it, he feels so sorry. “i mean, she fell down the stairs when nobody was around...it was so sudden, you know?” you purse your lips understandingly, feeling sorry for him, nodding.

“well, i’ve been thinking about what you said last time,” he continues, “and i think it’s really nice that you come. i mean, sending them off while acknowledging their existence so they can rest in peace. it’s comforting. and...t-thank you so much for coming today, too. it means a lot...especially since it’s someone as sincere as you...”

“of course...” you seem to not know what to do to comfort him, your hands making small, hesitant movements to reach over to him but your hesitance forces them back by your sides. he finds that a bit cute. “u-um...i’m glad that what i said helped you a little.”

you both just stand across from each other, not knowing how to break the ice. he‘s wracking his brains on how he can approach you and get closer to you without making you uncomfortable with him, having not planned out what he was going to say this far. unfortunately, it‘s not long before you blurt an excuse to go to the bathroom to escape the awkwardness of the situation, causing jeongin to let out the impatient breath he’d been holding while pressing his hand to his forehead.

well, he really fucked that one up, didn’t he? really, it’s not his fault that funerals make it so difficult to bond over.

it’s not like he can’t see you again, though, he would try again as many times as it took to have someone as intriguing as you in the palm of his hands, to have you as his, to have your eyes only on him, to talk only to him about all the mysterious little thoughts you had.

he looks at his family members, how much they all sob in each others’ arms for their consecutive losses. for their sakes, they better pray he can snag you soon.

after all, an accident can happen anytime.

note: it’s been a week since my last work, hasn’t it? i did try to write some but it didn’t turn out good, and i definitely didn’t want to put out bad stuff cuz y’all don’t deserve that. i hope you like this one even though it’s short! i can’t take all the credit though, i remembered this plot twist from a wattpad book i read years ago, it was something like two sentence horror stories or mysteries or smthg like that, where this guy saw a girl at a funeral one time and just decided to cause another one to see her again. ooft. anyways, thank you for reading and supporting me as always, i really appreciate all of you! <33

skz masterlist  |  main masterlist  |  by @sunflwryu

[millysastroblog]

What I think about ur zodiac placements /~PT 2~

Hello guys I am back with part 2

Hope u will also enjoy the shade here💋 🌈!!!

So let’s dive into the 12 zodiac signs and my personal experiences with them :)

————————————————————————————————

Leo 😆🥂:

Uuuuuuuuuuuuoooo u guys are sooooo much fun i am getting excited for no reason right now writing about u guys 🤗. Ah Leos the star of the night , the social climber , the also attention seeking hoes I must say Leo’s have a kind and welcoming side to them when u first meet them like the Sun they shine bright. their personalities are hard to overlook because they have that certain thing that keeps peoples attention. These individuals have also bright ideas and good leadership skills when working in group projects .its nothing knew to know that Leos are just confident within their skin and even if they are not that much confident they project it with out even trying. Leos love to give the people they really love 💕 also alooooooott of attention, they know what they want and where they stand with ppl! So if u are good friends with them and also admire them ( bc let me tell u guys sometimes the attention they get is not enough but praising them for how they talk, dress, speak and even walk will boost their confidence . which is obviously so fucking annoying / i mean girl u is not Marylin Monroe 😓 ). These are the people u want to go party with and just do stupid shit with bc they also have a charming childish side in a weird but fun way 🥴. Honestly Leos are loyal just like Taurus people the will definitely have ur back in a fight at the club and jump ur enemy’s like whhaaaaaat ( a BODYGUARD for freee 😝) But Leos … we have to be real here and say that some of u can be very selfish if u don’t feel people kiss up to u . ( It‘s the GOD COMPLEX for me 💩 but we are also going to mention that topic again with Aquarius placements !!!!!🤔). Anywayyyyy some of them can have big Shity ego where being around them can feel soooo fucking draining and just annoying like Gemini’s. But all in all I like Leo’s but someone needs to check them before the delusion of being a celebrity gets out hand 🤡🤡🤡!!!!!

Virgo 😮‍💨🥱:

If their is a person in this world that would be ur biggest hater THEN BITCH IT WOULD BE MEEE 😈.I don’t like a lot of u maybe it’s bc I am Pisces and we are polar opposite but uuu get me so aggressiveee . Well where should I start but with the fact that u guys are @know it all@ fucking annoying like aren’t y’all tried of correcting people for the dummest shit 🤦🏾‍♀️. Aren’t y’all tried for being mean, not empathetic, inconsiderate, rude bc u feel like „I just know everything“, can y’all stf like gemini ahhh 😤 I have hard time with Mercury placements like , give me a break as soon as they speak I kinda want to curse them out. Like virgos are not that bad but it’s not uncommon for me to not dislike them bc they are just so thirsty for an argument , like bitch nobody is trying to fight or argue with u just bc I don’t have the same opinion as u on certain topics 🙄. Well lets continue with the good side of virgos . They are very much helpful people in a practical sense with helping u with chores,homework etc. they are willing to give a hand for things that have to be done asap.Ummmmmmmmm …… yeah that’s it sry but I just don’t have a lot good things to say 👉🏽👈🏽/👁👄👁. Moving on ——————->

Libra 🤗🦋:

Ouuuu lalaalalalaa here we have the second Venusian sign of the zodiac what a pleasant feeling being around someone that has good manners and is respectful and diplomatic 😙. Libras are also social light people and also like to get attention from the people around them to get the validation they seek which is yeah … Well libras are also chill, nice , beautiful people that appreciate love , peace , AESTHETICS when it comes to their environment, looks , homes and other people, they are very fashinoble and know how to dress and present themselves in a attractive way. They value friendships and relationships a lot like they really need these things to feel fulfilled in live. But with that being said I gotta say that u guys can be very codependent and rely on love and people to feel worthy 😥 it breaks my heart. They dislike conflict and are also prone to be very passive aggressive. Libras can shame other people for their looks if they don’t match up to their standard I have seen it mostly with moon in libra or Venus in Libra that they can disapprove of ugly people and put sometimes pretty ppl on a pedestal ( pls mind that what I mean here is the dark or bad side of libras if u don’t relate than … good for u 👍😉).

Scorpio / Pluto dominant 🤔?👹:

Sooooo let’s start here with the first emoji and what it means, I honestly don’t really know any Scorpio placements personally but I can make a little observations for Pluto dominant people.

Bc from what I have heard and seen it’s that u guys are wild in the streets and sheets 🫢⛓. Ok let me not make this 🤭💦.Well u guys are fucking inteeeeeeeenssszz like the energy u carry the way ur eyes penetrate my soul wanting to merge with yours so badly😩🥵. They carry a lot of S** Appell and magnetism . They have very interesting eyes bc they can see through the bs of people easily!!, the are the underlying detectives that can hint and sense deep, dark secrets from people. I just love how mysterious they are , not sharing every detail with the world about themselves. They have died and rebirth so many times on this earth that nothing really surprises them. Since early on in their childhood the connection to the hidden, dark, evil, and even dangerous side of world had been encountered multiple times but they are able to learn from the experiences and emerge it a stronger and resilient being. Everything they do is intense from friendships to love to work etc. (especially the hard aspects ! ).They intimidate and make other peoples ego crumble easily because of how heavy their presence is. The Trauma that they carry from early on in life sadly can make them too much emotionally closed off and not trust ppl . They seek the deeper meaning of life and also the truth from the ppl close to them. so If u bullshit their trust ooooooo lord , angels , Jesus Christ have mercy that’s when their 👹👹⛓ side is gonna come out. The animosity, revenge, hatred, anger is so intense u can feel it right away 🫣!. (Don’t betray them unless like Taurus u want to see the devil in its truest from 💀) .Jealousy and possessiveness is huge theme with Pluto dominant or Scorpio placements if they say they want u “they mean they want ur soul” 🤐/ ur are theirs whether u like it or not they just can’t get u out their head , the love and passions is so intense it literally kills them inside if they can’t control or possess u the way they want to / Like in one of Beyoncé famous songs “crazy in love/drunk in love” relates very much to plutonic ,s**y, fiery, intense life or death LOVEEEEEE ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥🖤❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥!!!!!

So my loves thank u very much for reading I appreciate it :)

The link for Part 1 is down below ⬇️👇⬇️

And as always like 👍 for part 3 😗💕💕💕!!!

[khalixvitae]

vil is so "no talking stage. mutual obsession and you see god in my eyes or die a painful death." and rook is "all day talking stage about how obsessed i am with my most specialest girlfriend now cheer for her or ill blow this whole building up" and it's like yea man. shit. i see god in vil's eyes too. he haunts me. hate it when gnc men make me homosexual.

This is so accurate actually??? I’m working on smth for Vil rn and I’m trying to find a balance so I can convey that kind of 0 to 100 commitment. I keep going back to that line of his in book 5 about how he has no interest in strong arming people into bowing to him and how he prefers it when people do so on their own accord. Vil wants unwavering loyalty, but he also wants to be treated like a person rather than a two dimensional character. He just wants you to see him as the most perfect person to ever walk the earth- and that’s where seeing god in his eyes comes in. He needs to know he can trust you, not just because you’ve got some flighty crush on him- so does everyone else, get in line- but because you’re enamored with his whole being. This means being honest and upfront with him when he does something you disagree with, as well as refusing to shy away from hard truths he has to hear. He doesn’t want you to kiss his ass- honesty like that is a good measure of loyalty, and a foundation for any sort of relationship when he has millions of people obsessing over him. He needs to know you really mean it. It’s complicated, I guess. To me it seems like Vil would want you to level the playing field and treat him like any other person, but then choose him over everyone else in the world because you find him to be so perfect (all his baggage included). But I feel like the mutual connection and respect would be a start for the inevitable mutual pining. Vil is observant by nature and brutally honest to a point- if you reciprocate that without any sort of prompting, he’s going to take to you once he’s sure you’re not trying to get something out of him (just as he took to Rook). You’ll have to know him well to see that he’s in love with you. His affection comes in ways like hard truths big and small, inviting you to do extraordinarily mundane things with him (working out, a quick brunch, etc.), and cosmetics he’s formulated just for you. It’s exceedingly normal for the longest time- he has to know you won’t get bored of him, that you aren’t just interested in his public persona. If you know him that well and still fall head over heels, if you still find god in his eyes? Then he floors it. Or rather it‘s difficult to floor it when the two of you have already so deeply entangled your day to day lives. When did you two get this close? When did you learn so much about him without him telling you outright and Vice versa? Nonetheless it just escalates from there, because then Vil really wants to pick your brain- that mutual understanding gets far deeper far faster once the safety brake is disengaged.

ANYWAYSSSS LMAO I DIDNT. MEAN TO SAY ALL THQT ???? I JUST WOKE UP HAHA ??? THANK YOU FOR YOUR WORDS ANON HEHE HOO !!! YOURE INSIPIRING ME!!!

I am also so very homosexual for gnc men!!!!

[mommyownsmee]

i just noticed i was added to the emoji list, what joy!

and excuse me for being dense in saying so; but i've also noticed my asks haven't appeared lately. idk if that it's because they're too long, if they're too "domestic romance" as i've heard them be described as before, or any other reason, but i hope you know this:

-I hope you know I say your name the same way I say love

-I hope you know your charm is enough to crumble my otherwise sone-walled heart

-I hope you know that every time I see you post it brings a smile to my face

-I hope you know I do think about the idea of you, often❤️‍🔥

With respect and paitence,

-🖱️

Hello sweetheart😘 Even if I know you personally already, I‘ll keep answering all your anons! 𝒙𝒙

To be honest I didn‘t answer a lot of asks because I simply have too many. At the moment it‘s over 2k of messages and wow.. I‘m honored and stressed at the same time!😅

But I‘ll still answer every single ask I have😘

Your words make me smile so hard.

It‘s so beautiful to read what you think- day for day. So.. thank you for that.

I can‘t wait to hear you say my name, 🌑.

The idea with the minecraft beds is great btw.

With respect (too) and a big smile, 🌙.

[linssikeittomies]

Pivot Points - Chapter 1: Hard Left

Masterpost / AO3

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3

CW: attempted suicide

You wouldn't believe how much editing I did on this chapter. About 5(five!!!) times I was sure it was done, and just kept finding small things to add and/or change orz I would recomment reading this on AO3, I have more thorough notes and tags there.

--

The final straw isn’t Spriggs getting uppity with him. That’s such a common occurrence these days it barely fazes Izzy anymore. There’s a real chance he’d be more shocked if Spriggs actually did listen to him instead of shucking off his duties.

 “You’re not the first mate on this ship, Dizzy Izzy.”

It still wouldn’t look good to let anyone talk back at him, so every time this sort of thing happens, Izzy is forced to act. Words stopped getting through to Spriggs months ago, but fortunately bodily harm is his weak point - quickest way to get him to do fucking anything is to threaten him with something sharp.

The final straw isn’t Edward grabbing his wrist to stop him from pulling out his sword, either. Izzy would’ve appreciated him not doing that, but all in all, it isn’t that surprising these days. He’d gone real soft after fucking Bonnet came back. Despite having known him for thirty years, despite seeing him grow from average sailor and scrappy brawler to a fucking legend, or even a force of nature, despite seeing his lowest points where he wouldn’t get out of bed for a week straight, despite all that the Edward in front of him these days is a practical fucking stranger. Because he had fallen for some lily-livered fucking idiot who got bored of having a good life and decided to make a fucking mockery out of hard choices and necessity and nab anything he felt like along the way.

 “Sorry, Izzy. Stede’s ship, Stede’s rules- no threatening the crew.” Fucking Bonnet. It’s like that fucking moron wants to get shipwrecked with all this fucking shoddy rigwork and crowded decks. Fine by Izzy if he feels like dying, but he doesn’t need to take his useless fucking crew with him- actually, no, he can take his whole fucking useless crew with him, just leave Edward and Izzy out of it.

 “These lazy fucks won’t do their fucking jobs when I tell them to, and then you stop me from doing them myself! So what the fuck am I supposed to do, then?”

And Edward just groans and waves his hand like that was supposed to fix anything. As if just ignoring a problem would make it solve itself - or more likely, Izzy would find the solution in his place because that's how it’s been ever since Blackbeard started gaining a reputation, once Edward started feeling like not doing actual work. Which had been vast majority of the time for the last few years.

 “Yeah, ‘cause you’re, like... above that and shit, Iz. You’re not some deckhand.”

It’s been a fair while since Izzy really exploded at Edward. Trust him, they’ve had their fair share of arguments, as all couples do, and his respect for Edward usually overrides his need for personal pride, and besides, more often than not Edward proved to have been in the right at the end, so Izzy’s learned to defer to him anyway. But he’s no doormat - he lets Edward have it when it’s deserved. And in this case it’s been deserved for months.

 “Well if I’m not the first mate, and I’m also not a deckhand, or the helmsman, or any other rank, then what the fuck am I supposed to be doing all day when there’s a ship full of -”

 “I dunno, man, just - “Edward sighs heavily, like he can’t be bothered. Because why would he be bothered, it‘s only his whole fucking ship and first mate and, oh yeah, his fucking matelot that are going to ruins at this rate! “Just relax, maybe? Have a vacation? Catch up on your reading? You’ve worked hard enough, you deserve some down time.”

Nearly anything else Izzy could have endured. He has endured many things - Edward sending him off after a rigged duel hadn’t been the final straw, Edward cutting off his toe hadn’t been the final straw, Stede fucking Bonnet traipsing back like the world owed him a favour hadn’t been the final straw, being demoted hadn’t been the final straw. They hadn’t been good times, but Izzy got through them because at least Edward had still cared, had still wanted him around, had still looked his way sometimes.

The final straw is Edward wanting him out of sight, so he can forget Izzy  ever existed.

 “Edward -” he starts, but stops himself. Also stops the hand reaching out to Edward. Draws a deep breath, reigns in the words he wants to say, shuts off the parts that want to kick and scream. Pulls himself back together.

Edward had chosen Izzy because he is put-together, effective, and good at following directions. “Captain. You could’ve told me this sooner. I would’ve gotten out of your hair.” It’s hard, keeping out the tears and rage out of his voice, and he isn’t sure if a perceptible amount seeped out. He can only hope Spriggs - who is still standing right there like a fucking twat that can’t tell a private affair from a dinner show - can’t read him well enough to know what the quiver means.

 “Try to relax for once in your life, it’s not the end of the world. Maybe start with planning an itinerary for your leave, you like those”, Edward says airily, because to him bookkeeping doesn’t matter. He’s good at nearly all  piracy-related things, and he’s a bloody brilliant sailor, but keeping logs and inventories has never interested him. It isn’t that Izzy particularly likes keeping them, either, it had just fallen to him because he had been the only other literate person on the Queen Anne and a habit is hard to break. Because Edward has never cared for having duties. Because he has never felt like making an effort where it really matters. With anyone that should matter.

 “Captain.”

Izzy doesn’t know why he said it. He doesn’t know what he would continue it with. Edward doesn’t grace him with a response, because what is he supposed to say to such a non-statement? He just waves his hand non-committally and leaves. Izzy stares after him helplessly.

 “Wow, a vacation. What a terrible fate”, Spriggs drawls sarcastically, and Izzy will fucking stab him to death right then and there, he swears he will. His life is already over, Edward can’t threaten him with anything anymore.

But he won’t, because he is good at following orders. No threatening the crew, Captain had said, and so Izzy will obey. Even if it is Spriggs, who was insufferable and has a weird look on his stupid fucking face and can’t tell when he isn’t wanted.

Izzy snatches the broom Spriggs hadn’t been using in the first place and starts swabbing the deck in his stead.

 “Um, Blackbeard literally seconds ago told you to relax, don’t you think -”

 “Let me get my affairs in order!” Izzy snaps at him. Spriggs raises his hands in surrender and doesn’t complain any further.

Izzy spends the rest of the day trying to get the ship in order. He inspects the rigging, provides Feeney with a note of which sails need mending, services the cannons, makes inventory of the weaponry and gunpowder, even scrubs off some barnacles from the hull. The crew give him looks, especially Spriggs, but say nothing. Even Edward says nothing, when he catches Izzy re-organizing the armory. So much for Izzy being like, above that and shit. He isn’t above anything. Isn’t below anything, either. He’s just falling apart inch by inch. He’s cracking at the seams. He’s boiling and he’s melting. He’s doing all the things he isn’t supposed to. He’s pointless. Reverted. Head empty. Gone back to his origins. Or not. He can’t tell, he isn’t coherent. Isn’t a man, at least. For the first time in a year.

The only thing he is anymore is resolute.

When the sun starts going down, and Izzy feels like he’s done as much as he’s able with the time he’s been allowed, he goes to his cabin. It’s only his because no one else wanted it - it’s a miserable trap without a porthole, so the only light comes from the candle Izzy has set on he small table he snagged from the - for heaven’s sake, the fucking rec center, honestly what was fucking wrong with Bonnet - and it gets stuffy in barely an hour when the door is closed. It’s as close to a brig as this bloody joke of a pirate ship has. Izzy imagines it was originally meant to be a storeroom, then was going to be converted into a cabin, but the work had been left unfinished for whatever reason - there is a bunk, and the beginnings of a wall sconce, but nothing else. Izzy could’ve used a bit more comfort, but he’d been happy enough as it provided some privacy. He was never much of a social person, and he also firmly believes in separation of command. Hard to command someone’s respect when you’re palling around with them, which is why Izzy stopped sleeping on the deck with the rest of the crew right as he gained a high enough rank.

Not that Izzy has been commanding much respect lately, anyway. Fucking Bonnet’s crew of fucking disrespectful imbeciles have turned him into a fucking joke that can get nothing done, since he isn’t allowed to beat them. Spriggs is the fucking worst of the lot, looking down his nose at Izzy, studying the best ways to push his buttons, knowing if anything happened then Izzy would get the blame.

Fine. So Spriggs has won. What does it matter anymore. All that’s left for Izzy to do is to put his  meager property in order. He wants to change into a spare outfit, but that would raise suspicions, so he has to keep the black leather on. It’s been a long time since it last felt this uncomfortable. At least the ring feels as natural as it ever has, that one he will keep on gladly. He needs the dagger, but not the sword - on some level he wants to take it with him, because it’s his sword, it’s been with him for a long time and sits in his hand like a friend, but it’s a fine blade and deserves to find a new master. A good one. He hopes Edward will sell it, because no one from this shitty crew was worthy of this sword - apart from Jimenez, skills-wise at least, but personality-wise they’re a vindictive asshole - and Edward himself is more partial to knives. It would sell for good money, so Edward could buy another one of those ridiculous banyans he suddenly likes.

The money Izzy isn’t petty enough to take with him, but the letters he will. He hasn’t kept many of them, only the most important ones - a few from Suzanna, some from Sam, one from Anne. There are none from Edward, because he has never needed to write to Izzy - they have been together for thirty years. Side by side for twenty-five. Estranged for a few months. Apart for eight hours.

He wishes he could take something to weigh him down, but there’s nothing that’s both heavy enough and easily carried, and the last thing he needs is anyone waking up to him dragging his trunk around on the deck. The current should be enough to carry him away from the ship even if he floats, but he would prefer to be sure. He really doesn’t want anyone to see him. Couldn’t take a little teasing, they’d say, or about fucking time. If he just disappears, then they would think he’d finally had enough of this fucking farce and signed on somewhere else. He briefly wonders if Spriggs will keep up the mocking pretense of affection even after Izzy is gone, or if it’s only fun when Izzy’s there to witness it. Jesus fucking Christ, Izzy should’ve just let him die back then, and he would’ve if he’d known Spriggs would become this fucking annoying. Even sparing Edward the moral panic wasn’t worth all the needling. Bare your soul one fucking time and get shit for it for the rest of your life!

He chose the last hour of the morning watch, so the ship would be unguarded for the shortest possible time. Izzy would get to do his deed in secret, but the dawn would wake the rest of the crew soon. It’s a stroke of luck Fang has this watch - Ivan would have done almost as well, but he took longer to fall asleep, leaving Izzy less time. They both know Izzy sometimes has trouble sleeping, and would take over a watch to have something to do. Everyone on the Queen Anne knew Izzy doesn’t do well with idleness - everyone except Edward, evidently.

Or maybe he does. This could be his way of shirking off his duty and going oh well, he didn’t want to stay so there’s nothing I could do. Izzy wouldn’t put it past him. He’s always fucking loathed doing anything he doesn’t like, no matter how detrimental. Case in point, fucking Bonnet.

And now Izzy. Edward knows he should cut anchor, but he doesn’t want to. The reason Izzy can only speculate about, maybe it’s sentimental, maybe it’s practical, though Izzy can’t think of a reason for that - he’s basically doing nothing these days. Maybe it’s just for the amusement of the crew. But one thing is for sure - by this point, it isn’t affection anymore. It burns that Izzy’s been abandoned like this, but he supposes Edward could’ve been crueler about it, and perhaps Izzy himself could’ve been nicer about everything else. It was just - for years, he thought Edward had chosen him, the way Izzy had chosen him in return. To have and to hold, even if the words hadn’t been said. And Izzy has held - kept holding as his matelot slept with other people, kept even when Edward’s interest waned, is still holding when everything is finally over. Because he had chosen the duty to love and to hold Edward until death do them part. But Edward hadn’t taken his part seriously, he’d started dodging his duty almost right away, and then dropped it altogether barely a few years in. It hurts, when you think someone loves you and then it turns out you were just another fling. Anyone would get bitter.

A little past four o’clock, Izzy acts. Puts on his boots and waistcoat like nothing’s wrong, combs his hair, puts on a brave face. Stuffs the letters inside his shirt. Straightens everything out. Goes up on deck.

Fang is up in the crow’s nest.

 “I’ll take over”, Izzy tells him in a tired voice, and little of it is acting. He is exhausted in all the ways a person can be - physically, mentally, spiritually. Fang makes space on the railing, and Izzy goes to lean heavily on it.

 “Can’t sleep again, boss?”

 “Yeah. Still a few hours before sunrise, you can get a nap in.”

Fang gives him an odd look, almost worried, but that can’t be right since it’s directed at Izzy. One: because there has never been a need to worry about Izzy, and two: Fang hates him, anyway.

 “Or I could just keep you company. That’s nice, sometimes.”

It’s been several years since anyone offered to keep Izzy company. At the start of his pirating career, thirty-some years ago, he’d had some friends, and of course Sam. He’d been a different person, then, naturally. As he aged, he became happy with only having one’s person’s affection and attention. Of course, he’s since lost that, too, leaving only those who merely tolerate him and who he tolerates in turn. Mostly it doesn’t bother him - he’s made his bed, and he hasn’t felt like completely overhauling his personality. And now there is no longer a need.

Still... it does feel nice that Fang has noticed something’s off, and cares enough to try a little bit to fix it. Even if his method is the exact opposite of what Izzy wants.

 “Better not. I’m not in a good mood.”

 “That’s even more reason, in my experience”, Fang argues nervously, starting to lean slightly away from Izzy. Expecting a hit, maybe.

 “Go to sleep. I will not repeat myself.”

Fang still hesitates, and his hand goes up to cover his beard. Izzy rarely feels shame for his actions, but this is one of those rare times - strange, since he’s never particularly liked Fang to begin with, and likes him even less after participating in the mutiny against Izzy’s extremely short captaincy. Granted, he’d basically been trying to incite a mutiny so he really shouldn’t be blaming Fang and Ivan. But there isn’t much you can do about feelings.

Unfortunately.

 “Sorry for pulling your beard all those times.”

Fang forces an awkward smile, and finally climbs down. He’ll likely bunk down next to Spriggs and Pete. He’s been smitten ever since getting his cock sketched. Izzy never knew he was that easy, but then again, Spriggs is a special kind of fruit. Novelty can be surprisingly enticing.

Izzy enjoys the darkness and quiet for a while. He isn’t as good at reading the stars as Edward is, because no one is as good at it as Edward. He had taught Izzy a little, but he’s a bad teacher - because he’s so good at everything, he’s terrible at explaining anything. He just gets it, he doesn’t need to think about it. And he’s a fucking show-off, too, loves withholding information so he’ll look like a wizard when an unexpected fog rolls in or something. Fucking sausage clouds. Izzy can’t blame Bonnet for falling for Edward, because who wouldn’t have? Fucking magnificent twat.

After a while, everything on deck is quiet. Everyone in deep sleep. Even the moon is hidden behind the clouds, like it doesn’t want to spy on anything that happens. Just in time before sunrise, even. For once Izzy’s plans are going perfectly. He climbs down quickly, then walks quietly to the empty poopdeck - they’re anchored, so there was no need for a helmsman, thus no one to see him moving about. There’s a bit of wind, making the ship creak quietly, masking small noises, so maybe he’s being overly cautious, but Izzy hasn’t grown this old by being careless. He can only hope the splash won’t be heard over the waves. It is a fairly high drop, after all, and Izzy won’t have much control of how he falls in.

He stares down at the black water.

It... it should be warm. It’s the middle of winter, but it’s not like the Caribbean actually gets cold at any point in the year, so it would make sense for the water to be warm. At least it shouldn’t be cold. He won’t be feeling it for long in either case, but Izzy would still prefer his final moments to be warm. The biggest reason he left England had been to stop feeling so fucking uncomfortable in his own skin, but the shitty fucking weather that was always either wet or cold, or often enough both at the same time, had been a close second.

He draws in a breath, and lifts himself up on the railing. He takes a moment to take in the night air one final time, and lets himself enjoy. He was made for the sea, and all in all, he hasn’t had a bad life. He got most of the things he had asked for, and for a short moment he even had Edward’s love. Even more than that, he got all those while riding the waves in his own wooden kingdom, at home.

 “Izzy.”

He nearly drops in prematurely as Edward’s voice suddenly pipes up behind him.

 “What the fuck are you doing up? It’s still over an hour until sunrise!” Izzy scream-whispers, still wary of the crew. He doesn’t hear them stirring, and since he didn’t heard Edward coming he doubts they did, either, but you can’t blame him for being on edge. The whole point of doing this at night, alone, in the poopdeck, was so no one would see him! And now Edward has. Why not stick the knife in his neck right then and there if he’s been caught, anyway. Goddamnit.

Fuck, he really could’ve done without the attention, not like he’s getting it any time he asks so why does fate have to fuck him over like this?

 “Knee’s acting up, needed to move it a bit. Thought you could use the company.”

Right, so Fang went to get him. Otherwise no one would know Izzy was on watch in his stead. Fucking tattletale. Should’ve pulled his beard after all.

 “Don’t need it. Go back to bed.” Back to Bonnet.

 “You giving orders to your captain?” Edward warns, and usually that voice would send a thrill down Izzy’s spine. But finally his body has gotten the memo, and knows it won’t lead to anything. He just sighs and turns back to the sea, so he won’t have to see Edward’s mussed up hair, trimmed beard, green banyan. His resigned eyes.

If Hell turns out to be real, Izzy’s greatest regret would be never getting to see Edward’s doe eyes again.

 “You really going?”

Izzy’s hands grip the railing tight, and he feels his face twist in defensive anger.

 “Fucking Bonnet won’t let me be first mate, you won’t let me be crew, I’m just - doing fuck-all while the rest of you play house. I can’t stay here.” And I can’t start over again with someone else, he doesn’t say out loud, because that would sound pointlessly needy when Edward can’t understand that some people don’t just move on.

And Edward just sighs. He can barely muster together enough of a fuck to make a fucking noise when his first mate and matelot of twenty five fucking years is about to fucking die. Izzy would’ve been less offended if he’d stayed silent and just fucked off.

A tense moment passes, where Izzy refuses to look at Edward, and Edward doesn’t bother doing anything. Until there’s another fucking sigh, and Izzy almost throttles him.

 “If that’s what you want, then I won’t stop you.” Because why would he, when he so clearly wants this. He can’t wait for Izzy to fuck off out of his life. “Look, Iz, I know you’ve been unhappy, and I’m sorry for making -”

 “Don’t fucking start with that pansy-ass bullshit -”

 “No, I will.” And it’s such a tragedy that this is the time when the old Blackbeard comes closest to making a comeback. Edward’s eyes have that steel in them again, his body moves with the dangerous languor of a gun ready to fire, and his voice accepts no arguments. At that moment, he returns to being Izzy’s Captain, and angry as he is, he can’t help but be compelled to obey. This is what had drawn him to Edward in the first place, his confident authority, his violent magnetism. “Stede’s taught me that talking is good. Think it would’ve done us some good, even.” But then his authority fades again, and he returns to being Stede fucking Bonnet’s boytoy. Izzy can’t understand that, for the life of him he cannot fathom what compels Edward to Bonnet the way Edward compels Izzy. “Just... too late to start now, I guess. But I’m sorry I’ve made you not want to stay.”

It is too little too late, after the last few years, he’s right about that, but Izzy’s cold bitch of a heart has never known how to not melt at Edward. So he forgives Edward, of course he does. Suddenly he’s glad Edward is there, oddly comforted by his presence. Izzy’s life had really only begun when he met Edward, and now it will end, with Edward still next to him. A life encapsulated in Edward. His Captain.

He smiles, just a little bit, without meaning to. Perhaps he doesn’t matter much to Edward anymore, but nothing could erase those early years when they’d been the centers of each other’s worlds.

Izzy slips the ring off his cravat. He stopped believing in any kind of afterlife early on in his life, so he needs no reminders of Edward. And maybe Edward, who will keep living, doesn’t want reminders - but he could choose to think of it as Izzy giving him permission to be with Bonnet.

And judging by the brightened look in his eyes, he does choose to think of it like that.

 “Not asking you to think of me or anything. Throw it out of you want to.” But secretly he hopes Edward will keep it, and think of him.

 “I’ll keep it safe.” And Edward says nothing more, just slips the ring into a pocket, then stares out to the sea, in silence.

So that’s how thirty years go down the drain - quietly. Izzy supposes he should feel angry that his dedication means so little, that Edward hasn’t tried to make him reconsider even once, but in a rare event, he just feels calm. He hadn’t wanted to turn this into a number, and Edward hadn’t. He gave Edward a  memento, and Edward promised to keep it. He had made a decision, and Edward hadn’t countered it. Izzy has gotten all he asked out of this.

He makes a light chuckle as he draws the dagger from its holster. “Would be nice if you did the honors. Starting and ending this whole thing.” But Edward can’t, for reasons Izzy has never understood. Even so, Izzy can honor them one last time.

He fiddles with the dagger in his hand. Just one quick slice, should be easy. Doesn’t even need to be deep, the sea would take care of the rest. Just one quick slice.

His hands are not shaking as he lifts the dagger to his neck, they are not shaking. Just one quick slice, justonequickslice.

 “Izzy?”

Just one quick slice.

 “Izzy -! MAN OVERBOARD, MAN OVERB-”

[genderfluid-envy]

11 and 24?

Thanks!!

11. Favorite turtle (iteration specific)?

Oh this is a hard one. It‘s either Rise or 2012 Raph (sorry Mikeys), but they‘re both really neat in their own ways

24. Roast your favorite character (affectionate)

There‘s not a single thought going on inside that head and I do respect that. At the same time I want to shake him SO hard. I think I‘d hear a few marbles rattling around in his head

[firerose]

Dark Piper:

@reading0mens

- Her voice is the most dangerous thing about her

- The monsters who attack her aren‘t killed by her dagger or sword,

-no they are told by a honey-sweet voice to jump off cliffs or impale themselves on their weapons - She is pretty, she always was but it changed after Jason‘s  death,

-her beauty is more intense now, brighter, deadlier,

-like a flame burning everyone who gets too close

- She‘s broken, her eyes are cold, her smile is bitter,

-her laugh is the last thing her enemies hear before their end

- Once she was led by kindness, compassion,  love,

-all those things died when Medea did, when Jason did too young

- Hatred leads her now, to the ones who killed Jason,

- to the one who just watched as he died,

-the one who had the power to save him

- After the emperor's death she began to hate the lord of the skies himself,

-he in her eyes is just as to blame for Jason's death as his killer

- She has allies,

-five remaining heroes of Olympus, Jason's close friend, remaining family, both demigod camps, all tired of the gods, their games and absence - She did not need Charmspeak to convince them,

-care love and pity for her were enough - She starts an open rebellion,

-thousands at her side ready to fight for her

- like thousands were ready to fight for Helen of troy - But she knows that Zeus can‘t be defeated without godly help - She prays, cries, begs her mother to help her,

-accuses her of not being at her father's side when Caligula ruined him

- or  when she was grieving

- tells her that Zeus and the others will never take her seriously as long as he is alive

- Aphrodite is easy to convince,

-blinded by her wish for more respect from the gods,

-by her guilt from watching her mortal family suffer without doing anything

- She begins to spread rumours on Olympus,

-Zeus does not respect them,

-Zeus is a coward keeping them from their children every time a new threat arises,

-Zeus is a cruel tyrant punishing them for tiny mistakes while making a hundreds himself

- Zeus never showed his family care, he only ruled, so one after the other beliefs Aphrodite -She is beautiful, kind and loving in her way, why would she lie? - So they decide that it is time for a change of leadership - Zeus can‘t be beaten in an open attack, so they come up with a trapp 

- Zeus doesn‘t take a new rebellion seriously, what damage can a daughter of Aphrodite cause? - So he feels satisfaction when her allies appear on Olympus, kneeling, humble - They beg for forgiveness, lie to him - His son's girlfriend is supposed to be in the underworld, making a deal with Hades to bring her love back - not following his laws is a good way to make Zeus mad, he does not wait for their worries, their tears - He immediately goes to his brother's kingdom - He gets ambushed at Hades Palace - A net forged by Hephaistos even stronger than the last one is thrown over him - His brothers hold it, he struggles but together they manage to resist - He is dragged toward the edge of the deepest part of the underworld - Where the Olympian council already waits to glow in joy

- their children next to them, with grim excitement on their faces

-Aphrodite is in the middle, beaming with beauty, eyes fiery, smile cold as ice - “ Oh Zeus stops struggling. I had to accept my horrible fate, it‘s only fair if you accept yours too.“ - Her voice is as sweet as honey, freezes his limps - She hid in the shadows, now she stands in front of him - Piper McLean, the demigod he saw as no threat, the girl he saw as weak - He realizes that he was wrong

- she‘s beautiful like her mother

-no her mother's beauty is warm,, soft,

- hers is overwhelming, radiating beauty, face as hard as stone,

-hands calm on her weapons, yet she seems to send out waves of power towards him

-Cold and harsh

- a horrifying command to either kneel before her or cower into a ball and hide - Her eyes are the worst part, Empty holes full of hatred, thoughtful -l she is thinking about thousand possible words to end his life -As he stares at her eyes,

-dark, shimmering like the night sky, he ses the power of Uranus, the first skygod, cruel, unforgiving

-Piper is his granddaughter,

-she a stronger claim to his throne than he does

-Piper knows this too,

-that‘s why Zeus is held over the edge while she pulls out Katoptris - The rule of the heavens glares -“ This won‘t bring my son back. Nothing you do will.“ - Piper smiles, it‘s a pained one 

- The fates won’t allow souls to flee the underworld even if Hades allows it

-“ I know and for that, you will die now “ - Her dagger is driven downwards, Golden Ichor is spilt - Piper watches Zeus fall into darkness. She grins, tears stream down her cheeks - He was right, she‘s broken, now more than ever,

-there is no distraction from her guilty anymore - She cursed the emperors and killed a god because that was easier to hate herself - Now Jason is still dead, thinking she was more worth living than him,

-Piper Mc Lean,  beautiful terrifying,

- Piper MC Lean starts to hate herself again

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

So his was heavily inspired by the scene in burning maze because where Medea dies

Because my god that scene radiated so much god this girl is so badass and this girl is so not okay energy at the same time !

Anyway hope ya’ll enjoyed this one :)

[robcognitivepersonality]

The Mastermind & the Protector

How I get along with ISFJs as an INTJ

Space Cadet. That’s what you call me. And if I remember correctly, it’s because I’m spacey. I didn’t know what ‘spacey’ meant at first, but I figure it’s how I seem to be living in my own world up in the clouds. Well, in space. Fair. A lot of that space is empty too, I honestly don’t know what’s going on in my head. It does feel like there’s a lot going on though. I’m like Homer Simpson thinking of a monkey playing cymbals. Except the monkey isn’t doing anything, and I’m not doing any thinking… I guess Homer and I have a lot in common, come to think of it. There’s background music though, techno and anime BGM as you might guess.

‘Cadet’ though. Yes, I like that. A young budding military on duty adhering to an order he believes in. In uniform too. Bet I look hot in it. Holding myself to a high standard (whatever that means but everyone admires it). Acquiring a very particular sets of skills. Skills that make me a badass and respected across the land. I wield three swords. I don’t sleep, I wait. I am a space cadet and the next Hokage. You best believe it.

As I googled ‘Space cadet’ for writing this blog, I very recently learned that it’s a derogatory slang for one who deals with reality in a way consistent with being under the influence of (or “spaced out on”) drugs. One who forgets, daydreams, or otherwise is distracted from reality more often than most. Damn, did you know that? Wait — have you known that?? Were you ever gonna tell me?? You think I’m a flaky, lightheaded, forgetful person?? So I’m not a hot future Hokage with very particular sets of skills? All of that time together, I sat by you when you wanted company during your alone time. I listened to you blabbering on about work and family drama. I kept in all the dirt you’ve been so proud of digging out of others. I pretended to be friends with people you sent me out to get a read on. We were the dynamic duo. We were the best friends sitting in jail saying “Damn that was fun.” Fucking space cadet??

You know what? I don’t need you. I don’t even realize when you’re around. I tune out when you gossip about whatever I don’t give a shit. I keep dirty secrets because I know I’ll forget them. Don’t care! And those people are actually cool, okay. That’s how I get free blunts. Our relationship isn’t real. It never was, nothing is. Existence is arbitrary. Time is a circle. We survive and reproduce to keep the show going. The show that is consciousness reflecting itself through us as separate beings. Why would it emerge into lowly meat bags like us? It‘s caused nothing but loneliness and suffering. I don’t know, dude. I don’t know what makes you think I’m a space cadet.

Meh. Forget all I said. You know we’re still buddies.

I’m just so used to you telling it like it is. Like that’s cool, it’s great. Sometimes, you’re funny with it. Sometimes, it’s like doomsday is coming. Even then, you still make it sound kinda funny. There’s that mix of dry and observational sarcasm that only you and a number of other ISFJs know how to artfully slide into the conversation. It soothes me, it’s listenable. No matter how brutally honest, you’re not forcing it down my throat. You’re not trying hard to make a point. Truth just is, it’s not there to hurt anyone. Water’s wet and fire burns. If someone has a problem with that, they can’t be helped. Like I’m not gonna fight it. I know I’m spacey, so what?

That’s the thing that’s wrongfully misunderstood by the MBTI community. They think of you as this people-pleasing Mom carrying a tray of cupcakes who gets stepped on for the sake of harmony. That’s false. From what I’ve seen when things get *disharmonious*, when someone is throwing a tantrum or crying a river, you get the hell out of the way! Can’t get stepped on if you’re not in the way! Peace and harmony? More like peace the fuck out. In fact, you’re pretty good at not being part of any problem. Many times you end up standing next to me, enjoying the circus that’s happening with some buttery popcorn.

Things can get really spicy and emotional, and you don’t get caught up in it. Of course you’d help if the situation really matters. That’s just being a decent person. When you give advice, you don’t beat around the bush. A lot of the time, it’s just common sense. That can be such a weird concept to many, but you actually have a good idea of it. You’re a truth bearer setting people free, in theory. Again in theory, truth in itself doesn’t hurt anyone. What matters is how it’s interpreted. It’s how it reflects on the human beings involved. It’s how the information is received, and how people follow through with it. And I believe out of all the types, ISFJs are the best at delivering the message.

Maybe you picked up on this, so you’re tailoring your communications with me. It’s gotta be thanks to my laidback and no-nonsense personality, you get to drop that Fe veil down and talk straight with me. I don’t know, I’ll just take the credit. And you get to give your honest opinion about my shenanigans without repercussions. Yes, that porn stache never looked good, nor were any of my hairstyles. I don’t care. Getting a raw reaction from you made it all worth it. I’m at peace with you thinking that whatever I do is a bad idea. And with Extraverted Intuition-Extraverted Feeling, you’ve looked at how things turned out for others. So that critique of yours might be valid… and I’m gonna try to disprove you anyway. Between us, we know it’s all shits and giggles.

Sometimes brutal honesty is needed, sometimes diplomacy is. Sometimes it’s just not worth it, and best to let the world burn. Whichever way is most beneficial in the long run depends on the context. I know you’ll do your hardest to be as sincere as you can, unlike some folks who get off from delivering the brutality and not the honesty. Many times over we’ve made poor decisions because we jumped to conclusions missing critical information. You have the panoramic view to properly assess the full situation. What are the factors and who are the characters? How does this situation fit in the grand scheme of things? What are the ripple effects of these actions? What can be done for the betterment of the community? We’re messy conscious beings. We end up in messy spots. Your worldly curiosity gives you the power to help.

NeFe is what fuels that curiosity. Our lives are intertwined in this reality tapestry, and you like seeing where each of our threads came from and where they’re heading to. You want to see how this whole mesh looks like, its colors, structures, and material. You observe all of this from afar. Like literally physically taking a step back, standing in the far corner to see the whole thing without your shadow in the way. You want to see how it could all be better fabricated, how its kinks could be ironed out, and how you could be part of influencing the making of it.

"My mode as a writer is to layer different perspectives: the scientific, the philosophical, the political, the journalistic. When you layer them you get a really wholesome, interesting picture." - Michael Pollan

This mess that is society, in my opinion, is a circus. It’s a playground where I was given one chance to play. I’m promised a big prize at the end after I go on these adventures experiencing all that this playground has to offer. So yes, I too observe that same mesh standing at the far corner. We share the same view. We’re both in the shadows ninja-lurking and scanning what’s going on out there. It’s how we know what’s common sense. We join various subreddits, pick up random interests, build a network. For myself, I’d like to have an idea of how to navigate myself around. With Introverted Intuition-Introverted Feeling, I see myself as one of those threads. I foresee where they go, so I can choose one I like.

I’m the main character in my own a video game where I get to choose to do side quests. Being an INTJ makes me an introvert that FOMOs. “Why FOMO in the first place? Look at you. Every month you come with a new bruise, a band aid, or a gauze pad. How are you not dead yet?” I recall you asking. I’m a lone wolf on his hero’s journey. When it comes to people, I just want to know if they wanna tag along on my journey. At best, they become part of my pirate crew. At worst, respectfully, we don’t have to waste our time. It’s just potential drama I don’t need, ya know?

Well, no. You don’t know. You live for the damn drama. You’re always eavesdropping in conservations! Basking in the juicy dirt. Secretly wishing the beef escalates. You just love being in the know; bonus point if nobody knows you are. To you, life is like trashy TV. Literally Reality TV, it’s more than guilty pleasure. Yeah, about that whole curiosity thing and the power to help society I mentioned above…I’m not kidding. You wanna stay current with Internet beefs, and the latest on so-and-so just so you can be a step ahead of them.

It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there, especially in the office. Word gets around, so I should appreciate that you’re willing to spill the beans to me. So thank you for filling me in. I’ll be honest though, most rumors you’ve shared to me I’ve barely paid attention. I don’t care much about being in the know, except that it gets me on my moral high horse. I’m too good for it. No way I’m not gonna stoop down to the same level as those people. Especially Karen. I’ll tell ya what, that bitch had it coming.

OK fine. Not all of you are into gossip. There’s an infinite variety of ways you like to spend your time, most of them are things anyone can easily pick up, are logistically feasible, and doesn’t require insane dedication. It’s funny that the community calls you boring, when I’m kinda thinking you’re actually the one that gets bored easily. It’s not FOMO. We’re not doing anything life changing (or threatening) here. It’s whatever enables you to, uhh, unpretentiously nerd and geek out. Be it playing video games, building crafts, etymology, cooking, music, psychology, read books and comics, the history of bread, the list goes on. That includes vibing with friends, spotting plot holes, and laugh at ironies. If I can try to encapsulate who you are, you’re someone who understands life isn’t simple, yet low-key follows a cheesy basic mantra.

That kind of approach makes you really good at giving life advice. You listen first and know how to mediate. You’re like a social engineer or a casual psychoanalyzer. You’re objective and look out for the big picture. These are your gifts. You find what makes sense out of the nonsense. Real magic is discovering how the magic trick is done. Introverted Sensing-Introverted Thinking breaks problems down to the fundamentals and offers suggestions. It examines the situation from square one and excavates out until it finds how things started turning sour. It checks how things add up and come together. You analyze it all down to the nuts and bolts to develop comprehensive longterm solutions before anyone realizes there’s a problem.

Everyone carries their own beliefs and perceptions, but we can’t get anywhere if we can’t all agree. As an introvert, you’re not gonna waste your time arguing with people. Instead, you’re building a perspective objectively weighing all the factors. Complex problems require complex solutions. That’s why it takes a lot of thought, and why it’s best to look at problems from afar. The processes, systems, and people involved all deserve thorough fair considerations if we want to really fix things. We need crystal clear understanding of what’s going on before we risk making things worse. It takes time to craft up something helpful. It takes time to verbalize your thoughts effectively. We can applaud those who face issues head on. It’s honorable, but there’s a high risk of cloudy judgement and regress, getting caught up in the moment and lose the big picture.

"Basketball’s so much like life: if something’s going great, you wait a minute, it will change. If something’s going bad, you wait a minute, it will change. So I try to play things on such an even keel, knowing that things are going to change. You take the good with the bad; you don’t get too excited, you don’t get too down and sometimes that’s the hardest thing in the world to do when you’re in the midst of it, but that’s the best way to handle it." - Tim Duncan

All that’s wrong about the ISFJ stereotypes stems from bad understanding of the cognitive functions. Much of the MBTI community project their bad traits onto other types. Also, it doesn’t take many brain cells to figure that personality tests and type descriptions are flawed and incomplete. We can allow to have mental tendencies for efficiency, but we’re more than just one type. We’re complete human beings. Living is a whole brained activity. We can configure our brains to process information through a variety of cognitions which we see most situationally fit — some of us are better at it. Maturity, intelligence, and upbringing matter much more in defining who we are than type.

Let’s say we’re purely our types as INTJ and ISFJ, for simplicity’s sake. We would barely have any overlap in our thought processes since we don’t share any cognitive functions. In other words, our awareness live in very different parts in our brains. We would look at the same thing but interpret it very differently. While there are thousands of thoughts flying across our brains at once, we just can’t be aware of everything in it. To be conscious of all of them takes a high level of mindfulness and meditation. And ain’t nobody got time for that, we’re trying to survive here. We need to respond against danger quickly. We rely on what’s familiar and instinctually act on whatever pops in our minds. And that’s on top of what taints our perceptions such as our personal experiences, hardwired beliefs, cognitive biases, repressed subconscious, and internalized trauma.

We’re in a whole type grip, not just some inferior function grip. The truth is we’re sensors, intuitives, feelers, and thinkers all at once. There’s an infinite combination of ways to experience reality as it’s happening right here and now that our little brains cannot handle. Simplifying reality efficiently, not accurately, has been our surviving strategy as a species. We have evolutionarily developed heuristics and mental habits. For many generations our ancestors have managed to survive relying on certain cognitions that have worked for them. We’ve inherited these and through our own personal growth and neuroplasticity, we’ve developed our own thinking patterns. My cognition happens to most closely resemble that of the INTJ; and ISFJ for yours. We’re just evolutionary products of our environment.

We live in our own simulation. We couldn’t agree what color that dress was, and we fought each other over it! A trigger warning would’ve been appreciated for how that damn picture got us down to our survival instincts. Well at least that’s my take for why some of us take our personality type so seriously. We’ve suffered too much to have our reality questioned. Validating them helps us cope. We want our warped sense of reality to mean something. What we see has to be real. Treating our cognitive functions like they’re superpowers (just to get by) makes us feel a little special. And if we have to, we do a lot of mental gymnastics like calling ourselves rare, misunderstood, and shit on other types.

Equating Introverted Sensing with memory, routine, and nostalgia is too simplistic. At the dominant function, Si is much more dynamic. It’s a high fidelity microscope that looks at the underlying elements to piece together a big picture. Gotta get the basics down to be able to do complex fancy things. Gotta learn how to crawl before you run. Gotta sow the seed right for the tree to blossom. This is an attitude that welcomes growing experiences, opposite of being stuck with the old ways. Si is about developing and progressing. It may take some time especially about subjects you don’t know much about, but you don’t let things stagnate. You’d rather see how they unfold, constantly looking to reconcile with what you know. See what changed and what didn’t, form patterns that’ll fit future possibilities. Often times, you criticize how nonsensical traditions can be.

Think of memory as a recollection of information. It can be any kind of information. Logical, emotional, anecdotal, conceptual, anything. It’s data you need to look inward for. Our minds can only process what they know. Introverts particularly create internal experiences with those recollections, meaning forming new information out of old information. That’s imagination. It’s the product of memory. Introverted Sensing is detailed colorful 4K imagination that you get to experience and re-experience vividly. We have trillion dollar industries focusing on aesthetics because it directly correlates to creating fun experiences. Who doesn’t like fun? Fun truly is found right under your nose, well inside your head technically.

More technically, memory is a past experience that has become an abstract context influencing the present. Me having Introverted Intuition also means I value recalling my memory too. Like you, I look inward for past information. It’s just not detailed information, it’s not even in 240p. Imagine a beautiful Monet painting, but smudged to hell that all the colors blended into an ugly gray-brown that you can’t make anything out of it anymore. That’s me. That’s the explanation of my spaciness. Well I can adjust my antennas and tune my receiver to enjoy some clear pictures in my memories. But it’ll take a while and a lot of focus to filter out the noise. That’s how I introvert, being alone immersed in my head so I can listen and align my emotions at the right frequencies. My goal is to compose, using these frequencies, an internal harmonious symphony. I can scan a wide range, but I have my favorite presets. I may be “whatever” for a lot of things. But for the few things that matter, they matter a whole lot. And for the few things that I remember, I remember every detail. Otherwise for most of the time, the kind of memories I hold are themes, narratives, and trends. The thing is that they don’t change frequently nor vary drastically. There’s a few common nodes and presets that cover all possibilities. Like Christmas. Jesus has almond eyes in Korea and he’s dark skinned in Brazil. Japanese Santa Claus is just Colonel Sanders in a red fuzzy suit. They play “Let it snow” in tropical Singapore and in Australia where December 25th is the first week of summer. No matter where you are, some representation of a bearded old man in a red suit, a tree with white stuff on it, and “Let it snow” is all we need to present the idea of Christmas. And I predict that in 20 years, Christmas is gonna follow those same criteria. Minute details don’t matter. I reflect on my past days, and it all blends into ugly gray-brown. And it’ll be ugly gray-brown in the future. No matter what color tomorrow will bring, it’ll blend into ugly gray-brown. That’s the highly touted power of my Ni.

"This says… 'Bomb.' I don’t know if that is a noun, a verb, or an adjective describing my outfit." - Adrian Mallory, from Space Force

Ask me how my weekend was, I’d shoot out the thousand yard stare. Inside my head, I’m starring at an ugly gray-brown wall doing my best to answer how I feel about it. “Uhh, good.” I mean, I guess my weekend was alright. By then I’ve searched across the very edges of that wall. I’m too spent to evaluate what I want for lunch. Just surprise me. Am I hungry, you ask? Scanning my timeline of when where and how I was hungry and not hungry. Tallying up all of the data, I feel ugly gray-brown again. I do feel lucky that I spent more of my time full than famished. Biology says my body needs food in order to live. So after that round of thorough analysis, my cautious opinion on that matter is: “Uhh, sure.”

It’s shit like this that makes me value routine. I need routine! How did they come up that INTJs are allergic to boring routine? No, this is strategic! Routine is the product of efficiency. Routine is often the most straightforward and effective way to reach my goals. Routine becomes habit, giving me fewer decisions to make and more time in space. Get an INTJ out of their groove and see how irritated they get. I’m focused on something right now. I don’t want to think if I’m hungry, what to eat, and where to go. Just shove the damn calories in me. Get me what I got yesterday, like all the other days before. Killing my vibe, bro. Can’t you see you’re distracting me off my vibe here? I had the frequency and you made me lose it. All of my pairs of socks are black so that I don’t have to waste mental energy in matching them. Nobody’s gonna know, and neither will I. Seriously, who’s the boring one here?

When I get out of the house, it’s phone-wallet-keys. If something distracted me out of that sequence, I’ll forget something and won’t realize until after I walk out and lock the door. Everyday I make my coffee by pouring 60 grams of water heated at 85 degrees Celsius every 45 seconds. I set up my last burger bite where all the meat juice and melted cheese gather down at the toastiest edge piece. I feng shui my day-to-day so I can spend more time at peace with my ugly gray-brown state of mind. I’m just trying to get by and optimize my living experience like everyone else. Everyone has some kind of routine. We all need some sense of structure and control, so we can blissfully play in between. Peace is different for everybody. It’s built, not given. Who cares how boring or exciting that is. If someone doesn’t like how we do things, that’s on them.

The irony about being future-oriented is that my goal is to look forward of looking back. I hope to be gray reminiscing the good old days. I hope to have that moment where I genuinely feel that I did pretty good being a human. I hope to savor my last days imagining the ending credits scrolling up the names of those who influenced me, while playing highlight reels of my most badass moments. Where else will I look by the time I won’t have much to look forward to? I’m already doing this now! Yes I’m nostalgic, and it’s a privilege to be! They’re memories of times I’ll never get back. They’re shining moments in the midst of my ugly gray-brown world. That’s the root of my FOMO. I don’t want my life to look like a whole single uninspiring color. If it’s gonna have to be ugly gray-brown, then I want it to be a blend with millions of colors. I wanna make meaningful memories to tune back into and re-experience all the feels.

Extraverted Feeling is widely misunderstood as reacting to other people’s emotions, discarding the self for the group, and wielding that empathy superpower. Well, I’m highly sensitive of feelings around me. Locking eyes with someone is too invasive. I’m scared of running my own business because of what the Yelpers would say about me. I shut down or do my best to be invisible when I sense bad vibes. Culture and chemistry are important criteria for where I’d like to work. If the social environment is like a puzzle, my Fi is a piece trying to find its place in it. It can even change its form to better fit in. If you’re a social chameleon, I’m a shapeshifter. I figure what mold to model myself into. I’m not so sure about the whole sticking to my values thing. Like I don’t find it right as an American to be pushing my Western beliefs onto other people. When I travel, I pretend as if I actually lived there doing regular stuff. Don’t travel like a local, blend in and live like one. You bet I’d be paying attention to the local culture and traditions. Building my sense of identity is what draws me to the far corners of society and subcultures. It’s a curious case of studying my given existential space. I spend my whole existence trying to fit and thrive. So if I sense my presence isn’t welcomed, it hurts! That’s why I’m a champion for the misfits and misunderstood. Empathy to me is creating an internal experience that closely matches what others are going through using my emotional palette of a million colors. Having worldly knowledge and emotional intuition enables me to get into people’s shoes. That’s what it means for me to understand, by willing to get on the same frequency and share the suffering. I’m not a sociopath. Though sometimes, I can understand someone’s situation but I still don’t see why they’re being little bitches about it. And I can stretch my empathy to very imaginative levels. So if I still can’t emotionally meet where they are, it’s hard to be compassionate. They must be hiding something, they’re not being real with me.

"I prefer to win titles with the team ahead of individual awards or scoring more goals than anyone else. I’m more worried about being a good person than being the best football player in the world. When all this is over, what are you left with? When I retire, I hope I am remembered for being a decent guy." - Lionel Messi

That “F” in ISFJ is about managing social transactions like we’re in some sort of industrial complex of emotions. It’s about behavior governance, not just sensitivity to others’ feelings. It’s the actual moral compass pointing people at the direction of what’s right. Think of adhering to common decency, social contracts, and best practice standards. Or showing how we should treat each other fairly and respectfully, not kissing our little booboos. You too are free to call people out for being little bitches if they don’t meet those standards. It’s not like they’re that high anyway. But you can be really hard on yourselves for being the ones setting the example. Having this function doesn’t automatically make you a sweet guardian angel. You can judge harshly if someone’s being an asshole, and it might be projection if I were to call you out. Or you’re too jaded to even care, and have learned to laugh at the bullshit. Not much of an angel here. Nobody’s getting cookies.

To understand others, you don’t have to experience things for yourself like I do. You can figure it out using your head. Asking questions and tracing connections, formulating an elaborate schema with all that you know about humans. This can be a mix of scientific literature, street smarts, your own experience, and trash TV. Out of that spaghetti mess emerges great insights ready for anybody who wants to listen, I know I do. You know how someone is genuinely smart rather than trying to be smart? Like they take the time to observe and not allow emotions get the better of them. They have a high sense of self-awareness and are great at witty jokes. That’s how I look at you. Unlike that fake two-face stereotype, I find you refreshingly genuine. You understand there’s no silver bullet to life, and that we’re trying our best. You’re not being wishy washy, you’re just honest about not having clearcut solutions for complicated problems. I don’t sense you trying to be something else, you’re real with me. You’re the first to admit you’re not the most qualified. That helps me trust you. That and you being the more logical one out of us two.

That image of you always self-sacrificing for the sake of others is misconstrued too. Actually I find most ISFJs to be pretty self-preserving. Over extending yourself doesn’t add up when you tend to prioritize your own comfort. I get it, I had a Jesus phase too. Again, you just aim to be decent and not making situations bigger shit shows than they already are. Being logical means you don’t let your ego influence your thoughts. Everyone including you will be fairly considered. There’s nobody being put above or below others here. No judgement will be made until logic is sorted. Others follow a personal code. You follow a pragmatic philosophy. Like your own twist of the scientific method that involves memes and assigning nicknames to people you’ve never talked to. You figure what easy adjustments people can do to make their lives better. It’s always the small wins for you if I may add. Shooting for low effort, but making defining effects. Efficiency right?! Or productive laziness?

The point of everything I wrote here is to highlight that I fit the popular ISFJ stereotypes better than you do. Ask my friends, I’m an angel. My heart is so pure. I’m everyone’s big brother. Think a little more, and you can see how you possess some of those leet Mastermind INTJ traits. The ISFJs I know have their futures planned out. They’re in leadership strategizing and moving pawns around to improve chemistry and productivity. They’re big picture logical idealists who are ruthlessly authentic. There’s a lot we can relate here. I hope my described experience above resonates with you in some way. That under the pragmatic cerebral mind, there’s somebody who FOMOs wondering what little adventure they could embark on. We’re each other’s cool side of the pillow. In contrast, I think through about my FOMO ambitions to ensure I can realistically achieve them with practical means.

To answer how I get along with ISFJs as an INTJ, it’s tempting to say that it’s because we wholly compliment each other. And if we allow ourselves to see, we actually have a lot in common. When we realize we’re so much alike, it’s easy to see how you can be so candidly straightforward with me. And how I can be so open to you. We both can drop our respective veils and be our true selves together. We’re both grounded in our own ways. Plus we value the strengths we provide for each other. There’s a yin-yang thing going on. A playful back-and-forth of “be and let be”. The difference hinges on if we think first on our own interest or the community’s. These don’t have to be entrenched dichotomies. Sure a few of us won’t ever see eye to eye. But most of us are aware of our tendencies and strike a healthy balance. And the best of us can merge ourselves as individuals with the collective. We know how to unify both our logical and emotional thoughts, and enjoy both the content and context of our experiences.

I don’t believe I’ve reached that state of one-ness. All I can say is life has been a bitch. I’ve been beaten enough by it to the point I’m now appreciating it. And I feel lucky for it. Now at the age of 38, which puts me at midway realistically, I’m just glad to be at a place where I’ve done all that I’ve set out to do. Younger me would be proud of me, and I hope older me does too. For once I have no idea what future adventure is in store for me. And that’s OK. Actually that’s great. With all of the accomplishments I’ve accrued over the years, I don’t FOMO as much anymore. I’ve chilled out on being so future-oriented reaching my goals. I don’t have to be as much of an INTJ. Really I just stopped giving a shit, like how old people stopped giving a shit. That helped me end my suffering and being more honest with myself. I’m out of survival mode and am happily embracing my ISFJ side. Life’s gotta continue to tenderize my ass anyway. Best way to experience is to relax my butt cheeks and let it work those kinks. I’m looking forward to this stage of my journey. Maybe with this upgraded simulation, the best has yet to come.

Truth is just an agreed and accepted perception. When you think about how we’re trying to form it, it makes sense people would be so invested. It ties in deeply in how we view the world. If Extraverted Feeling was you adhering to social norms, Extraverted Thinking is me adhering to logical norms, or truths as best as we know them. So for me, relaxing my butt cheeks means I’ve learned to not be so anal about the truth. I was taught that Pluto was a planet. Somebody’s gonna disprove Einstein one day. Logical norms change, they progress. What makes sense now will be a mistake in the future. There’s no certainty, only data models and perspectives. That’s how I started to see logic as a means of building one new step at a time for us to walk on and move forward. That’s how truth started to be magical to me. It’s another adventure.

"I’m a human being who cares about my planet, who cares about people, who cares about the reality of our children’s future. The same way I needed a mentor, the same way I needed someone to motivate me, that became my reality. I want to be that source for Merry, I want to be that source for Dewey, who feel like no one can hear or understand them. And all they need is the tools to understand how to be great or either how to apply themselves. I started that effort when I was 16 with the idea that most influential role model for a child is a child." - Usher

Reality around me started to look more fun. The trees, the stars, the animals, people. There’s a math that connects us with one another somehow, whether it’s the global supply chain, evolutionary biology, or food culture. Rather than taking what life has to offer, I’m now appreciating it for what it is; what this puzzle always has been. I mean, a lot of it is just stuff, people, and animals. But it’s really cool. It’s the longest running show, much longer than the Simpsons. And I’m pretty confident One Piece will end before it does. I have so much to catch up. I’ll skip on what’s going on with the Kardashians…But did you know there’s people who’s spatial concept of the future is behind them, and the past in front? That we’re closer relatives with a tuna than a shark is? And guacamole is an anglicized word from an Aztec language that means testicle sauce?

Younger me wouldn’t have spent any time learning about things that didn’t serve his individual goals. I’m still like this now. My goal now is to give back. Building a deeper connection with others by learning about the world has helped me find my place in this reality puzzle. The happy version of myself looks like an old sage ISFJ Protector watching out for his community. Meaning to me is found by investing in the other life threads in this tapestry. I’ll honor those that helped me by paying it forward and help keep the show going. I hope to be a support watching our future unfold as a society. Whatever wisdom I’ve gathered from my experiences, it’s best for someone else to make good use of it. There’s no reason to keep it all in. I’mma start giving out life advices and telling stories of my mistakes. Who knows if it’s actually good wisdom, to be honest. I’m just a dude who has no place to judge for humanity. I’m here for the good vibes and memes.