#depends on whether or not I forget they exist again :3

[theroachking2930]

Vox: You're pathetic! Val: You're pathetic-er! Velvette: You're both losers.

[thecommunalfoolboy]

What your favorite Lupin The Third Character says about you

When people make these they always just say nice things and traits of the character and it’s dumb so here’s me being right

Anyway my reputation for misogyny is legendary

Ok this largely depends on if you like edgy Jigen or goofy ah Jigen but

You desperately need to stop getting into arguments online, both in general and on whether Jigen is deep and emo or a silly guy

Gay Gay homosexual gay 🫵

You took one look at him and Lupin and said “Damn these bitches gay!” In a half joking way but the show itself proved you right in 10 seconds

Lol emo

Ok but actually seek psychiatric care

You either write porn about him in your head or you’re extremely asexual

There’s something weird going on with your gender but that’s kinda true if you watch this show in general

You’re too broke to get that next piercing don’t do it

You’re either as devastated about them whitewashing our boy as I am or you should be

Hey remember they whitewashed Goemon too you should be equally as mad about that

You head canon he speaks Spanish

Go to bed

He’s a nice man

Seek help brother

You play with jpegs like dolls

Beneath your eyes is a deep dark hole of information on this show’s lore

You also hate him so much and you want to see him die painfully <3

You want that twink OBLITERATED

You should really raise the price on your art it is so much better than you think it is

Some of you have only seen the first and it shows

“Brother,,,,, help me,,,,,,”

“Long live the king……”

Lol you thought I’m not letting you off that easy you’re deeply traumatized You’ve never felt safe in your life and the most inner hurt part of you desperately needed an adult to help you at a time in your life when you should’ve been worried about learning your times tables not whether you’d survive another day and one of the reasons you’re drawn to characters like this and collect fictional fathers is because you see a glowing smile and an infallible hero who could’ve saved you when you needed it the most

Or you’re Japanese native but like

Autism 👿

Woah dude are you like… autistic???

Stop looking at his tits

A small but significant subsection of you people are just racist and cannot be normal about Japan

If someone asked your thoughts on him you’d just be like :)))) the silly

You have way too many screenshots of him looking weird in the background

You def hate part 5 and twcfm

Whenever tms forgets he exists for a while you still watch it but you look like a wet kitten

You’re def short

You need to stop coping and accept it he looked fully insane in part 3 the hair is so so bad

You’re probably transmasc

I just wanna say I’m so sorry

She’s an ugly bitch there I said it

STROP BEING HORNY

You’re probably a girl

And definitely bi

Y’all probably know the least about the show as a whole

Good for you!! You actually touch grass

Or again you’re in the racist subgroup

The titles for each character confuse you but you only realized this one’s Fujiko because either I just said it or you saw the “stop being horny” and knew

You probably have insanely hot takes on the show

They did your girl dirty im so sorry

You’d die on the hill of whichever of her hair colors you think is best but at least you’re dead

I’m scared of you

Hey you should watch the first if you haven’t already

Zemigamna 🥺

You cry every time someone says Yata was boring and didn’t need to be in the show

Miyazaki studio gibli ass 🫵

Please you still have time left you can get out before you become obsessed you’re not in too deep yet RUN RUN SAVE YOURSEL

Or this show is all you have left and it’s infinitely too late for you no in between

Again probably a girl

You’re definitely not normal about fujiko either

You hate that one movie where he’s a dick with a burning passion and you would write 20 page essays on it

If you’re obsessed with him you probably have a chronic illness (same bestie) or major physical disability

Anyway if I fully clocked you let me know I think it’s funny to see you guys suffer

[inksolate]

Debate 3: Opening & Closing Statements

Etoiles: "Aim for the stars, vote for Etoiles!"

Sometimes, you know, when you go on an island you can feel like everyone is dark and like you can't see the sun, you can't see the light. And you know, Etoiles in french means stars because when you are lost, when you don't feel anything, you can trust someone: someone who gives things, someone who gives resources, someone who gives an ear to listen to others. And sometimes I'm like, "Yeah, if you have one president, he can be corrupted" but I know who I am, I know where I'm from, I will never be a co-op. I will just be myself. I will be the star you need. And I think, like, if you want to vote for me, you will understand that the Code will be crying because he won't understand the solution. I know everything. I've got the weapons, I've got the heart, but having a vice president and having someone in the island will be a good idea to give me ideas, but I think I could be the voice to give the ideas to everyone. So aim for the stars, vote for me, have a good time, it's okay!!!

BBH: "A vote for me is a vote for the eggs, support the eggs!"

Look, I think Baghera, I think Cellbit, I think Foolish - well maybe not Foolish - but everybody has made really good points. I think everybody need to consider the fact that we've all been heavily divided by the Federation. But I think what we need to remember is the things we agree upon, right? The values that we all cherish and hold true, the fact that we all care about the eggs the fact that we all hate the federation except Foolish. Vote based on what you believe. And it's not just a question though of that - of whether we hate the federation, the survival of the eggs. It's also about, genuinely, can we trust one person with our collective wellbeing, okay? Because I think what we've seen is that any one person is open to corruption, kidnap, betrayal, and that's just a risk we all take when we elected a person. We have different philosophies: some of us think only one person should govern, some of us think it should go up for a council. And depending on what you think, you should vote based on your own beliefs. If you think one person is better, vote for an individual. Vote for that one person who's ideas you like the most. If you like the idea of power being distributed amongst a group of people and not one person having all of the authority, vote for that person and that proposal you agree with the most, okay? But that's the point, my proposal is I think that the eggs are the most trustworthy, innocent, and benevolent members of out community. And I think they are people that we hold in the highest regard. I will protect the eggs that will symbolize our future. Let us forge a better path together for all and create an eggtopia!!!

Baghera: "Hi, I am for uniting together and fighting the bad Federation, let's go!"

Well, I feel like I am repeating myself all over again, but I think you all know exactly what I want to do and it's always giving the voice to the people, it's always being secured and safe from the Federation, and I think we always forget this point and we are fighting for power that doesn't even exist, and I want you to remember and keep in mind that we are all one and we can unite together against it and not forget it.

Cellbit: "You should vote for insaneduo because we go crazy for you!"

This whole election was based on what it means to have responsibility to make the island better. But THE QUESTION IS: is the Federation actually giving us the power or manipulating us with it? Well everything that I have said in this last debate, on these past weeks, everything is true. Forever will actually fulfill those plans: add the new mods, create new events, and work nonstop to make the island better. If you guys want someone that will have the time, effort, and responsibility to make the island better, you should vote for Forever when the time comes so we are sure ElQuackity doesn't get to power because that's what the Federation wants. But me, I want freedom. I never wanted to become president. Everyone wonders what I would do if I become president but I guess we will never know.

Foolish: "KELP WILL HELP and with my newest product of Kelp cocaine, you can help yourself!!!"

Words, words, Kelp will help....Uh I will, to be fair to everyone, when I become Kelp I will make sure nobody has power but me! I'll use my power for mostly good but sometime bad if I deem necessary. COCAINE!!!

[biblicallyaccuratepigeons]

🦷, 🪱, n 🌧️ if you please :3

Essay (multiple) time! ^^'

🦷 How do I view being alterhuman? - It honestly depends on the person. With some people, it seems like they're misunderstanding parts of themselves; for instance, I'm like a cat, but I am not and never have been a cat (though i wouldn't try to say that to anyone; they know themselves better than i do). I don't believe in past lives, but people talk about memories from them; if I'm being totally and completely honest (read: no one is gonna like this), I personally think that's a case of possession/demonization. For other people, like me, we just are our theriotypes. I always have been an angel, whether I knew it or not. We're ourselves, always have been and will be, but that also means there's something not quite conventionally human about our souls. I don't think it makes us less human, per se, though others may disagree; in fact, as it's humans' job to steward and watch over the earth, I think this state of being is helpful in connecting with our charge, even if we're not aware of it.

🪱 What are some things that remind me of my theriotype? - That's kind of a hard question, in a way. I shift pretty often at what seem to be random times (actually it's almost constant that i'll feel at least one pair of wings), but I don't really see myself in very many mainstream depictions of angels; generally too much white and gold. I see myself in dragons, multitudes of eyes, and birdlike wings (the more the better), iridescence, and feathers; and I feel a connection to fire, the moon, thunderstorms, and the wind. I'm not really sure if that answers the question. I also really like horizontal halos, particularly a little askew, and the little costume halos are awesome (when people wear them as themselves–people who wear them trying to "look like an angel" in demeanor hit the uncanny valley and it looks bad); cloaks and capes are cool cause they remind me of wings and being disguised, if that makes sense. I also really like Aphmau's kind of depiction of Irene/Aph as a sort of goddess/angel; it just feels right

🌧️ What do I think of other people who share my theriotype? - There are all kinds of angels. The way I'm a seraph is, as you have seen firsthand, not going to be the same way someone else is. That said, I haven't really interacted with a lot of angelkin, but when I searched it, I saw a lot of romanticizing of subservience and holiness in (let's call them) heavenly angels, and tortured darkness in fallen angels, that felt a liiiiiittle cliche. Of course, there's a reason tropes and cliches exist–there is truth in them–and if so many people identify with them, of course it'll seem tropey; I'm just a little worried that people might get caught up in the trope and lose what's truly angelic about them, if that makes sense. This may be due to my different understanding of what an angel even is, but to me it looks like a lot of people get caught up in the trope and either lose their real identities, or put on the term "angelkin" because they don't presently have a better way to describe what's going on in their heads, if that makes sense (the way that i, between about second grade and about eighth grade, used to call myself a cat because, having been raised around and primarily friends with cats my whole life, i had developed similarities; i wasn't actually a cat, and i didn't think i was, but at the time that was the language i had to express who i was discovering myself to be). Again, I haven't interacted directly with any other angelkin; but from the outside, it looks largely like there's a significant number of people who put on the costume halo because they like it and identify with it, and then try to act even more "angelic," losing sight of their identities in the process and forgetting that the reason they're wearing the halo is because they're already angels. (Honestly I think the bottom of this issue is that people are so uneducated about angels. They may know names and domains of archangels, like Gabriel or Michael, but that kind of thing isn't really useful when identifying individual types of heavenly beings :/)

I hope I've given adequate answers! Please ask any follow-up questions that may come to mind!

[grimmstar-grimmoire]

The 9 Satanic Sins

1. Stupidity—The top of the list for Satanic Sins. The Cardinal Sin of Satanism. It’s too bad that stupidity isn’t painful. Ignorance is one thing, but our society thrives increasingly on stupidity. It depends on people going along with whatever they are told. The media promotes a cultivated stupidity as a posture that is not only acceptable but laudable. Satanists must learn to see through the tricks and cannot afford to be stupid.

2. Pretentiousness—Empty posturing can be most irritating and isn’t applying the cardinal rules of Lesser Magic. On equal footing with stupidity for what keeps the money in circulation these days. Everyone’s made to feel like a big shot, whether they can come up with the goods or not.

3. Solipsism—Can be very dangerous for Satanists. Projecting your reactions, responses and sensibilities onto someone who is probably far less attuned than you are. It is the mistake of expecting people to give you the same consideration, courtesy and respect that you naturally give them. They won’t. Instead, Satanists must strive to apply the dictum of “Do unto others as they do unto you.” It’s work for most of us and requires constant vigilance lest you slip into a comfortable illusion of everyone being like you. As has been said, certain utopias would be ideal in a nation of philosophers, but unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately, from a Machiavellian standpoint) we are far from that point.

4. Self-deceit—It’s in the “Nine Satanic Statements” but deserves to be repeated here. Another cardinal sin. We must not pay homage to any of the sacred cows presented to us, including the roles we are expected to play ourselves. The only time self-deceit should be entered into is when it’s fun, and with awareness. But then, it’s not self-deceit!

5. Herd Conformity—That’s obvious from a Satanic stance. It’s all right to conform to a person’s wishes, if it ultimately benefits you. But only fools follow along with the herd, letting an impersonal entity dictate to you. The key is to choose a master wisely instead of being enslaved by the whims of the many.

6. Lack of Perspective—Again, this one can lead to a lot of pain for a Satanist. You must never lose sight of who and what you are, and what a threat you can be, by your very existence. We are making history right now, every day. Always keep the wider historical and social picture in mind. That is an important key to both Lesser and Greater Magic. See the patterns and fit things together as you want the pieces to fall into place. Do not be swayed by herd constraints—know that you are working on another level entirely from the rest of the world.

7. Forgetfulness of Past Orthodoxies—Be aware that this is one of the keys to brainwashing people into accepting something new and different, when in reality it’s something that was once widely accepted but is now presented in a new package. We are expected to rave about the genius of the creator and forget the original. This makes for a disposable society.

8. Counterproductive Pride—That first word is important. Pride is great up to the point you begin to throw out the baby with the bathwater. The rule of Satanism is: if it works for you, great. When it stops working for you, when you’ve painted yourself into a corner and the only way out is to say, I’m sorry, I made a mistake, I wish we could compromise somehow, then do it.

9. Lack of Aesthetics—This is the physical application of the Balance Factor. Aesthetics is important in Lesser Magic and should be cultivated. It is obvious that no one can collect any money off classical standards of beauty and form most of the time so they are discouraged in a consumer society, but an eye for beauty, for balance, is an essential Satanic tool and must be applied for greatest magical effectiveness. It’s not what’s supposed to be pleasing—it’s what is. Aesthetics is a personal thing, reflective of one’s own nature, but there are universally pleasing and harmonious configurations that should not be denied.

by Anton Szandor LaVey ©1987

[mushiewrites]

For the tickle alphabet, Dteam with J+F!

from this post!

dream team <3 my babies 🥺

F: Fight | What is their behavior in a tickle fight like?

dream: he is extremely playful whether he's the ler or the lee! of course, if he needs to, he can be a terrifying ler, but he also is the sweetest lil lee to ever exist! if he's feeling lee, he normally tries to fight back a bit but ultimately gives in and allows himself to be tkled silly. if he's feeling ler, he uses his strength against the two smaller boys to pin them down and tk them until they're a howling mess (even though sap is stronger, dream sometimes can overpower him due to the size difference 😵‍💫)

george: absolutely unhinged this boy is. he will do anything and everything he can to get the upper hand (it rarely works unless dream is feeling particularly nice or sap is too tired out and can't fight as hard). he acts like he's fighting for his life, screaming and protesting and squirming when he gets caught or pinned down. he sometimes pleads, depending on how lee he is. and if he's feeling bratty, he would continue to provoke the ler until he gets his shit rocked. and when he manages to get the upper hand, he makes sure the other person doesn't forget it 🫠

sap: wild. he's just wild. that raspy scream he does during videos? yeah, he uses that as an attack warning. sap just would kind of screech and then pounce on whoever he's tkling, always making sure to be stealthy until he doesn't want to be anymore. and he's ruthless (except when he's tkling karl they are so extremely soft with each other it's sickening), he doesn't give up until the other person gives in and lets him win. as a lee, he is very good at squirming out of the lers grip bc he's so smol and tiny and baby. but when he gets caught, he is extremely giggly, those raspy laughs and scrunchy nose and blush and just jsdnfjskndl i love him

J: Joy | Their absolute favorite thing about tickling?

dream: he loves the closeness and sappiness of it all. he loves that he can make the people he loves laugh in the cutest way possible - he loves watching their faces and how happy they look, and loves the teasing. he also loves to be tkled just as much, and almost for the same reasons. he loves knowing that someone wants to tk him, and that makes him feel loved and warm and fuzzy and incredibly nice. it gives him butterflies just thinking about it tbh

george: the intimacy and trust that comes with it. while george isn't extremely touchy feely with everyone he knows, he definitely is with the ones he loves and trusts. so having someone he trusts and can share soft (or mean) moments like this makes him feel so happy and comfy and really really loved, just like how dream feels

sap: with sap, he loves the energy it carries. whether it's soft tks, rough tks, playful or teasy tks, he loves them all. because i hc him as more of a ler leaning switch, id also say he absolutely adores making people laugh and watching their reactions. he loves when someone makes a new noise, and finding ways to make the lee do it over and over again. he just loves how playful it is, and how soft it can be at the same time. and just like the other two, it makes him feel so extremely loved 🥺

[despapillon]

pt 2 to my post that i was too lazy to add an explanation for. i plan on adding more things too.

basically the first scene of season 3 is Russians using the Key to try open a gate. then in the very next scene, and throughout the entire first episode we get references that are related to time, opening doors (i’m still unsure what that means) and forgetting. which could be references to not only memorygate/birthdaygate, but also eightfifteengate, how the UD is stuck on that one specific day plus the possibility of time fuckery occuring. depends how you interpret it.

1) Mike and El make out to Never Surrender by Corey Hart.

"just a little more time is all we’re asking for" about the characters in both this and the previous seasons needing more time. the best example off the top of my head is Mike. in s1e1 he needs 20 more minutes for the campaign and this is the first appearance of a "fifteen after" which is the time Karen interrupts them. eightfifteengate exists for a reason, theres lot of 8:15 and fifteen afters in this show. and this sets off Ted’s tv not working properly, the lights flickering, Mike’s strange behavior (as if he wasnt himself huh) when Will mentions the seven, then proceeds to vanish. in s4e1 Mike is busy reading letters from El but gets interrupted as it turns out its ten after and he has to hurry. you see what i mean?

"cause just a little more time could open closing doors" again the thing with needing time and how it could open doors. i’m still on the fence about the closing/opening doors, whether its supposed to represent the gates, or something less literal like doors in your mind, maybe both. it also interests me how this scene has both El with the power to open gates to another dimension and Mike associated with needing time, being late.

Mike tries to sing along but gets interrupted, you see the pattern?

just while Hopper is watching tv, idk what he is watching, but the man is next to a car and talking about "working the lock" (again with the closing/opening doors), and saying to not look at the dogs *cough cough* demodogs *cough cough* but he ends up failing and looks at them.

Hopper then spots Mike and El making out. he gets upset and El uses her powers to close the door. Hopper runs up and insists it must be open atleast three inches and tells her to open the door.

2) Mike ends up leaving, goes to the cinema. thats where Will’s Spidey senses activate and he has flashbacks to the MF, etc. they are seeing the movie Day of the Dead, which is about a zombie apocalypse that ruined the world. they show us a scene of dr Sarah Bowman touching a calendar (again, time. and how the UD is stuck as a version of Hawkins at one point in time) then a bunch of hands bursting through the wall.

3) Jonathan and Nancy, in a hurry, because they forgot to reset clocks. so we have references to clocks which is Vecna’s thing, the characters being late and needing more time, and forgetting things.

All while Open the Door by Gentlemen Afterdark plays, tying this to that thing with opening/closing doors.

We cut to Joyce and these stupid magnets.

"love that was new to you" again, passing time. i also cant deny that somehow emotions, love, feelings, relationships could be tied to all this.

"you open up the door" in relation to the thing above, certain types of emotions could be required to either open or close the 'doors'.

"i fall in love with these. i crawl out on the floor" s5e1 the crawl, anyone?

also these certain lyrics in the song later on… "this room, there is no door. there is no waiting around. my mind, it has a door. it opens with a shout".

Dustin’s mom tells him that he was away and everyone could have forgot, then he looks out the window, as we get "you open up the door". memories, memories, memories. they are locked away behind a closed door that you just need to find a way to open. (reminder: positive memories give strength and can be used to fight back against Vecna and MF)

4) "some days wont end ever. and some days pass on by. i’ll be workin here forever…" some days wont end ever, like, say, the day UD is stuck on? forever…

5) an invention by Dustin he calls the Forever Clock. tied in to the above ^^^ with also the ref to Vecna, and possibly the existence of a time loop.

6) Dustin is showing off his inventions and we see Lucas and Max talking. earlier on he got sprayed at by Dustin. he asks if she has a new zit which upsets Max and she places him under the running water, specifically his eyes that got hurt thanks to Dustin, as he screams in agony. a method Vecna uses on his victims, he fucks up their eyes, and Max that goes out of her way to hurt Lucas like this, becomes a victim of Vecna and loses her ability to see, held by Lucas as she’s dying.

———————————————————————

this convo when Hopper comes in to talk about how he bullied politely convinced Mike into distancing himself from El is interesting imo. we literally get a Master of Puppets reference, Joyce is the one that wrote the speech for Hopper to use. the master controls the puppets, and theres a lot of this in the supernatural parts of the show. the hivemind. MF taking control of Will and using him as a puppet. Vecna’s victims too practically become puppets when in the trance.

then the question if Hopper remembered everything - memories, as i mentioned before, specifically the good ones, are what can save the puppet. Max got the strength to free herself thanks to memories and music. Will couldnt cut off all the strings but still could break free for a bit to be able to tap out the Morse code in the shed.

getting to Mike is the key. could that mean that Mike will be necessary to "open a door"? Vecna already has the gates he needed, no point in any more. this can only mean unlocking a door in your mind, maybe even to access memories.

now, whose mind would it be? why, of all people, would Mike be the one doing this? and how?

also….

very useful in the apocalypse, huh?

[melsaywhat]

I posted 27 times in 2022

That's 27 more posts than 2021!

14 posts created (52%)

13 posts reblogged (48%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@the-real-commasplice

@burythesememories

@sims4dictionary

@irrelephantsims

@chromaglitchgaming

I tagged 20 of my posts in 2022

Only 26% of my posts had no tags

#thesims4 - 10 posts

#showusyourbuilds - 5 posts

#twexit - 3 posts

#makemymenu - 2 posts

#tumblr milestone - 2 posts

#twitter - 2 posts

#nomnom - 2 posts

#strawpoll - 2 posts

#vote - 2 posts

#poll - 2 posts

Longest Tag: 32 characters

#hashtags aren't the same as tags

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Twitter | CounterSocial | Mastodon Feature Comparison

Here are some of my observations of feature comparisons between Twitter, CounterSocial and Mastadon. I've been using Twitter for more than a decade, CounterSocial since late April 2022 and Mastodon via Universodon for only a few days.

This is only a brief overview of what each site has to offer. It's some of the basics and features I find the most useful. Your experience may vary. My explanations are below.

A NOTE ABOUT MASTODON

Mastodon is a network of social networks that are interconnected. You have to choose an instance (or server) to get started. You can change your server, but your posts won't follow you. Whether or not your followers move with you depends on their server's software supports move activity.

There is also a very heavy cooldown period in which you cannot migrate again, so be very careful before using this option!

ADVANCED WEB LAYOUT

If you're looking for a column based feed, you'll need to use a third party website or app if you're a Twitter user. CounterSocial (herein referred to as CoSo) enables the Advanced Web Layout by default and Mastodon allows you to enable it optionally in your profile/settings.

ALT TEXT REMINDER

Twitter is the only platform that will remind you if you haven't entered ALT text on an image before you submit your post. Both CoSo and Mastadon have gentle overlays if you hover over the image once you've attached it to your draft, but beyond that I'm unsure. Mastadon claims to have a reminder to add ALT text (at least within the Universeodon instance). I have not uploaded any images to Mastadon yet, so time will tell.

AUTO-DELETE POSTS

Only Mastadon gives you the ability to auto-delete your posts after a certain time period for free. CoSo does have limited functionality for direct messages that you have to opt-in to. Pro (paid) subscribers can use the exploding post option on a per post or "set as default" basis.

BOOKMARKS

Twitter has bookmarks, but I often forget they exist. There is a link to view bookmarks in one place, but it just doesn't engage me. CoSo does not have bookmarks, however I believe it's a feature they could possibly implement since they appear to be running on Mastodon's OpenSource software and Mastodon, does indeed have bookmarks. My bookmarks have their own column for visbility.

CHARACTER LIMIT

Both CoSo and Mastadon beat Twitter's 280 character limit allowing 500 characters each.

CONTENT WARNINGS

While Twitter only has content warnings integrated for images, CoSo allows you only to mark the entire post with a content warning, wheeas Mastodon allows you to mark either the image, the post or both.

FILTERS

Twitter has muted words, etc. They're buried deep in your profile. Both CoSo and Mastodon have links to muted users, blocked users, hidden domains and muted words on the three dots menu next to your profile image.

GLOBAL POST VISIBILITY

Post visibility has a lot to do with how many users are on the platform, but these three are all very unique.

As far as Twitter goes, you see who you follow, what you might like, what the accounts you're following like, reweets, trending, etc., but discoverability is limited. Hashtags (tags) are a free-for-all (though nowhere near off the chain as Tumblr), so any custom hashtag can be used (without spaces, sorry Tumblr).

I believe CoSo sets themselves apart in this arena the most because they set up curated tags that help customize your space, find others with similar interests and share with others like you. Again, no spaces here. There's also the community firehose with posts from all of CoSo. You still have who you follow in your main feed and what they repost as well, not what they like, not what you might like and all that jazz. YOU curate your space.

Mastodon is a bit trickier. You have to join an instance (or a unique server), then you have a feed for who you follow and their reposts, then you have your server's posts, then there are posts from ALL the servers using Mastadon. In minutes you can have thousands of posts come through the feed. It can be too much. Again, not what other folks like (favorite), what you might like and all that jazz. You do curate your space, but you might either have fear of missing out (FOMO) or be overwhelmed in a sea of posts.

GROUPS

Groups are a paid feature only available on CoSo at this time. However, one might consider the instance (server) you join on Mastodon as a group depending on its specialization.

MOBILE APPS

All have both Android and iOS apps. Twitter's mobile app seems to be the most comparable to its web app, however if you're a content creator with a business/professional account, some features can't be accessed, such as overall analytics.

You won't get the advanced web layout with any.

See the full post

2 notes - Posted November 19, 2022

#4

Hashtags vs. Tags

Look, I've blogged elsewhere...but I'm having a hard time with the spaces in tags over here versus no space hashtags on the twitshow.

I get it, but I just don't WANNA.

SEND HALP!

2 notes - Posted November 16, 2022

#3

Thanksgiving Sweet Potatoes? #makemymenu

Which sweet potato recipe should I make for Thanksgiving?

Edited to add visuals and more.

I can't decide between these options, but I'm down to make any of them! I've made the Sweet Potato Souffle several times and not only is it shortcut cooking, but it's a HIT!!

Strawpoll at the bottom or leave a comment. You can choose multiple options.

VOTE IN THE LATEST POLL: Potatoes

See the full post

3 notes - Posted November 15, 2022

#2

Feeling Florence, Italy

This weekend, I finished up watching 'From Scratch' on Netflix. I've got feelings of Italy on my mind and of course, no better way for me than to utilize those feelings to build within The Sims 4.

My take on 'From Scratch' to follow.

See the full post

4 notes - Posted November 14, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

A One Woman Show to Request Jewish Cultural Representation in The Sims 4

Maybe some others have requested Jewish cultural representation in The Sims 4, but none like Hufflepom. Hufflepom is a respected simmer in The Sims community, so much so that many have been working to elevate her voice on Twitter specifically.

Today marks the 282nd day she has tweeted and tagged The Sims on Twitter asking for MORE Jewish cultural representation in game.

Don't get me wrong, The Sims has a long way to go to represent many cultures, but the pleas for other equally deserving groups have been just that, in a group, at least as far as I've seen.

I, myself, EMBARRASINGLY, saw (many of) 262 tweets from Hufflepom and did NOTHING. Then finally on October 27th, 2022 I retweeted.

Then there was this. HufflePom replied to a tweet that PINK posted. I had no idea PINK had a Jewish cultural background. The tweet Hufflepom replied to is after the below image. Throughout the process, I'm actually learning a lot.

See the full post

14 notes - Posted November 15, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[alistonjdrake]

Sending this before I forget lol it's Worldbuilding Wednesday again so uhhh we've talked about Val and his books before, but what about other prominent authors? Talk media to me today June. What kinds of media exist?

Hey dude.

This is a fun question! And not something I think about often but also not completely nonexistent in my settings. Since we're talking Val, I'll stick mainly to ORG/TSS.

In a now scraped chapter of an older OBS draft, Enyo dresses up as a bumbling, foolish character from an Oskyan ballet as a subtle slight to Prince Aayden. Which 1. implies that Enyo, who has never left Graza, would have either seen an Oskyan ballet or 2. that this ballet is likely based on a novel or something that was translated which is gonna be the theory I work with as King Frederick did have an entire section of the palace library dedicated to Oskyan literature given its what he grew up with and he was fond of it.

Valera himself was inspired by a dead Escana Poet (from whom he borrowed his name). And before him, there was Rusnak who wrote more "utopian" fiction than Valera's model of "this is what's wrong with the world" so his work has mostly survived book bans and burning. At the end of TNC, Mikolaj and his friend Andrzej talk about a series of "books" in which an Ulra man kidnaps a man who is either Gegraen or Oskyan (depending on which copy you pick up) who is traveling to become an in-house tutor but falls into a series of licentious debauchery. They don't know who the author is and there's likely more than one as the story slightly changes based on edition and language.

I am sad I didn't talk enough about ballet or opera in TNC tbh. Olaf has a great love for both and I do try to hint that he has a bit of a dance background (Mikolaj blatantly says he has a dancer's body) and the same rings true for Justyna as her mother used to be a professional dancer and she has a background in music. She's the only one in the cast who casually names composers and I think she'd enjoy taking them to art galleries. Mikolaj has also, during the height of his popularity as a courtesan, been gifted several priceless paintings. But dance and storytelling through dance is something that's important to all of them whether from a strict cultural standpoint (Ulra and rural Gegra have a lot of "folk" dancing) or purely as an art form and entertainment it's the biggest thing the 3 of them have in common besides anything else.

The theatre is thriving (in the background). Argus talks about there being several plays inspired by his father's colorful life but the Escana are also dramatic people so they tend to love stories with high-stakes romance and a lot of campy moments (a play Leonides watches in his prequel involves a lot of sword fights, cross-dressing, love triangles, and tragic deaths that come with long monologues and this is considered the norm for an Escana drama). This is mostly because during King Frederick's reign, he loved laughing so the Escana leaned more towards comedy and over the top and he could quite the brutal critic if he didn't like something. There are a handful of "newspapers" (that's not what I call them) that are published in Graza and one of them does not have the official approval of the palace so this is the one you read if you want to see unflattering political cartoons or crass jokes.

[genshin-obsessed]

When Someone Flirts with You!

Hello friends! Lil hcs of what the men would do when someone flirts with you and makes you uncomfy!

PART 2 

Includes: Kaeya, Diluc, Venti, Razor, Xiao, Xingqiu, Zhongli, and Childe!

Come one, come all! See what happens when someone flirts with you in front of your men!

Hmm ok. He wants EVERYONE and their grandmother to know that you’re his.

He’ll usually come up to them and pat them on the shoulder. A lot of people know the cavalry captain. But in case they don’t because you’re not in Mondstat…

They usually just ignore him, maybe shrug him off as they continue to hit on you.

Kaeya REALLY doesn’t like that.

It depends on the situation, but usually Kaeya’s grip gets rougher and he’s not afraid to use his cryo to freeze anyone.

They’re either gone or frozen. Either way, they won’t be bothering you now!

“Hehe, come on. I heard there was a tavern nearby.”

He usually doesn’t get super jealous and possessive. In fact, he loves to watch you turn them down. But if you do need help, just look at him.

The first thing he does is come by and wrap his arm around the person bothering you AND JOINS THEM!

Of course the person’s confused and shoves the anemo archon away but he doesn’t let up. “What? You’re flirting with my partner but I can’t?”

It’s all fun and games until the person pushes Venti off and touches you. If you slap their hand off and they keep it up, say goodbye to Venti!! Barbatos has joined the chat (ugh a dead meme I know)

Venti will grab the hand that reaches for you again and in the blink of an eye, they’re blown away. Gone.

Though it’s his favorite method, he can’t go around beating people up because they flirt with you. Unless… unless you want him to.

“Goodbye! Make sure you remember my face and don’t touch my partner ever again!!” That was all said with a bright smile and cheerful tone.

Ok listen-

Diluc knows you’re strong so he’ll let you handle things on your own. All you need to do is call out to him or look at him for him to come help. 

He usually tries to stay passive by standing in between you and the jerk. Unless they’re in Mondstat, no one knows him and usually tries to go around.

Diluc doesn’t play around. He doesn’t like it when people torment others, especially you.

The second choice is to give them a rough shove with a glare. “Leave.”

10/10 they’re leaving. I mean… he’s already pretty intimidating when idle. No one wants to see him actually angry!

“Learn to take a hint. And don’t ever touch them again.”

Oh boy…

Ok. Razor’s protective. He hates seeing you uncomfortable and if someone makes you uncomfortable, he hates them too.

Usually he stays back, but when you need him, he’ll just stand in front of you and growl at the person who’s bugging you.

1/10. Never works. People usually laugh at him and just shove him away, of course that’s not going to work, but hey, they tried.

Razor just needs a reason. One reason to start kicking ass AND HE’S TAKING IT!

It takes all of one second before a large purple wolf is smacking the person down. The second they see the Wolf Within, they’re scrambling up to run away. Whether they escape or not is truly up to you. If they bothered you enough, just let Razor know.

10/10 would recommend. 

“Grr… let me hunt, (f/n).”

Xiao doesn’t really want to show that he gets worried about you, but he gets worried about you. Maybe a little too much sometimes.

Xiao also trusts you and believes you can definitely handle yourself (I mean you managed to turn HIM into your boyfriend-) so he prefers to let you deal with nuisances. But of course, if you need him, just call.

If you do, what he usually prefers to do is just grab your hand and try to walk away, completely ignoring the existence of whoever was flirting with you.

3/10. Sometimes works, but usually, people grab your other hand and pull you back. 

Oh boy. The second he feels you get yanked back, whoever was bothering you, is on the floor with Xiao’s spear pointed at their throat. It takes a second for you to register it, yourself.

69/10 would recommend.

“Do not bother my (f/n) again.”

He’s not aggressive in the least bit. He’s rather polite about everything, considering there was someone flirting with you even though you repeatedly turned them down.

He’ll usually let them know you’re taken and you’re clearly uncomfortable.

Never works. Not one time has that line ever worked.

Well, he won’t let that discourage him. He’s not one who likes to jump into action immediately, but if he has to…

It takes all of two seconds before he has his sword pointed at the person. He’s passive to a certain point, but if someone’s really bothering you, they better start praying to the archons.

10/10, works every single time.

“Since that nuisance has been taken care of, let’s continue, shall we?”

He forgets about Mora all the damn time, but he’s never gonna be like that with you. In fact, he pays a lot of attention to you, so the second you’re uncomfortable, he’ll know.

Usually, he’ll just waltz in and push the person away. They may try to push him out of the way or go around him, but he’ll hold them in place by their arm.

This results in them usually getting angry. It works 50% of the time. I mean who wouldn’t be intimidated? But there are days where people just shove him off before returning to you.

That, he doesn’t like. There’s one thing to shoot your shot with someone who’s taken, but to ignore their discomfort? He won’t stand for that.

His next move is to just slam the person on the ground. There are times where… people just need to be put in their place! And he’s more than happy to oblige!

“Right, let’s go (f/n).”

Oh dear lord.

Childe is playful, he doesn’t become violent and aggressive the second someone bothers you. He’s heard tons about you and you can clearly handle yourself. But in the cases you can’t, he’s there to rescue you!

His method is to usually take the attention off of you. He just swoops in and starts chatting with the other person like nothing was going on, hinting that you’re taken and that they might wanna leave.

Of course, that never works. Ever. People usually ignore him, roll their eyes, or even try to get you to leave with them to go somewhere else.

Well. Do you have news for them. Childe doesn’t take to that very well. You’re attractive and cute and all, but you are his and no one’s gonna disrespect you like that.

It’s really a switch. He’s playful and funny one moment and the next he’s in a serious fight with whoever the hell was bothering you. As mentioned earlier, he’s not quick to fight. In fact, he’d rather not fight nuisances like that, but when someone bothers you, it sets him off. He just really doesn’t fucking like it.

“Hmph. One day… they’ll all know not to touch you.”

[townofcrosshollow]

Twine Sugarcube 101

AKA, all you need to make a Twine game (I swear to god)

I’ve seen a lot of people go “Twine is too complicated for me :(” and give up before they’ve even started. And that makes me sad, partly because they’re giving up on a really cool hobby, and also because that’s false! It’s absolutely not too complicated for you!

I think the problem is that people look up Twine, see the documentation, and go “There’s way too much there! I can’t learn all that!” Well guess what- you shouldn’t learn all that, at least not yet. As a beginner you can skip pretty much all of this:

(Ignore <<linkappend>> too, forgot to crop that one out)

That’s a lot more manageable, right? Below the cut, I’ll let you know how to use all those remaining important things to make your story! Warning- it’s quite long! You might want to read it in sections! And while I’ll try to keep it entertaining, it’s also a coding tutorial, so... y’know. Might not be the most exciting read if you aren’t trying to learn Twine.

Welcome to below the cut!

First off, make sure your story format is set to Sugarcube 2. On the right side of the home screen (with all your stories), click format and choose the one labeled “Sugarcube 2.x.x” then open a new story with the green button! Here’s what you’ll see and what it all means:

Passages are all like individual web pages that you navigate between to play the game. When they’re linked together they’ll be shown like this:

Anything you write in a passage will just be shown on screen as plain text, no code required! But if you want to make anything more than just one passage with a bunch of text, you’ll have to link passages together with...

Links!

A link is composed of two parts- the text you see on screen, and the name of the passage you’re attaching it to. These are enclosed in [[double square brackets]], with a vertical bar | or a little arrow -> between them. If you want to show the passage name instead of alternative text, you can just put the passage name in square brackets alone! So this in the editor:

[[Visible text|Passage name]]

[[Visible text->Passage name]]

[[Passage name]]

Will look like this in the story:

Visible text

Visible text

Passage name

And all of them will lead to the passage labeled “Passage name.” You don’t even need to create the passage- when Twine sees that you’ve linked to a passage that doesn’t exist, it’ll add that passage for you.

That’s all you need to know! Technically, all you need to do to make a Twine story is add those fancy links between passages. If you add your awesome writing skills, that story will be super cool!

...but you want to do some fancy shit, right? Well let me introduce you to the next step up in complexity,

Variables!

“Variable” is a fun, code-y way to say “a bit of information that can change.” You could say they... vary.

Variables are useful for keeping track of information. If the player chooses to be blonde instead of a redhead, you might want to bring that up again- but you probably don’t want to write an entirely separate story based on that choice, right? So instead you save that information as a variable.

In Twine, variables are written as words with a $ in front of them. So my hair colour variable might be “$hairColour.” If you just write the variable out without any code, Twine will print the information you put into the variable. So if $hairColour is set to “blonde,” this...

She had $hairColour hair.

Will become...

She had blonde hair.

The value in a variable can be a boolean (ie. true or false), a number, or a string (like “blonde” or “any other string of characters”). They can also be fancy stuff like arrays, but we won’t be touching on that.

You can use variables to keep track of a lot of things! For instance...

How much money the player has

Whether a player has a key

What the player’s name is

I keep mentioning the value of a variable or “setting” it, but how do you do that? Well, one way is to add it to a link. If you want a link to set hair colour to blonde, for instance, you could write [[Blonde|Next passage][$hairColour to “blonde”]]. Clicking on that link would forward the player to “Next passage” and set the value of $hairColour to “blonde.”

There is a better way of doing it, however, but we’ll need to talk about...

Macros!

A macro is a snippet of code that runs when you put a special code word inside these <<spiky boys>>. You can write your own macros with JavaScript if you’re smart, find them on the internet if you’re even more smart, or just use the ones that come built in with Sugarcube.

The ones we’ll be talking about, and the ones that are the most important for most Twine games, are <<set>>, <<if>>, and <<link>>.

<<set>>

The <<set>> macro allows you to, you guessed it, assign a value to a variable. For instance, if you want to set $hairColour to blonde... well, that’s all you need to do! It’s just:

<<set $hairColour to “blonde”>>

It’s important to remember with the <<set>> macro that strings (collections of different characters) require quotation marks around them to show the code that it isn’t a number or a true/false value. If you put quotes around a number and try to do math with that variable, you’ll get a big ol’ error message.

If you’re using numbers, you can also use JavaScript operators in place of “to.” Each one will perform a calculation on the variable if that variable is a number, and then replace the variable with the result. If you want to add $5 to the player’s $money, you could use this:

<<set $money += 5>>

The “+=“ will add the number on the right to the variable on the left. “-=“ will do the same for subtraction, “*=“ for multiplication, and “/=“ for division. Easy enough, just don’t forget the = sign after the usual symbol!

By default, the <<set>> macro will be executed as soon as the page it’s on loads. Sometimes that’s useful, but sometimes you would rather the player click a link that sets a variable- like if they choose a hair colour. You might also want the same link to set multiple variables, like subtracting money and giving them an item when they use a shop. How do we do that?

<<link>>

The <<link>> macro is also pretty simple. All it does is create a link, and when that link it pressed it executes whatever is inside of it. Here we’ll be using it with <<set>>, but you can use it with all kinds of different macros and even nest some of them to do really complicated stuff!

As an example, we want the player to click “buy key,” give the player the key, and subtract $5 from their money. Here’s how we do it:

<<link “Buy key”>>

<<set $key to true>>

<<set $money -= 5>>

<</link>>

The text the player will click is in quotation marks, and after all of the macros we need to execute we have to close off the code by adding <</link>>. Easy, right?

But other than printing them on the screen, what can you actually use those variables for? Well, for that we’ll be using...

<<if>>

The <<if>> macro is my favourite, hands down, because it’s an easy way of accomplishing hard stuff. Simply put, <<if>> will check if the thing you asked about is true, and if it is, it will do whatever you put inside of it.

Here’s a simple example:

<<if $key is true>>

[[Use the key|Progress]]

<</if>>

Whatever is inside the <<if>> macro will be executed if the “if” statement is true. In this case, the link “Use the key” will be printed on the screen only if the player has the key. This also applies to code- if you put a <<set>> macro inside, that macro would only set a variable if the player has the key.

Now here’s a more complicated example, to show everything the <<if>> macro is capable of. Here we also want to check if they’ve already opened the door, and display alternate text if they have no key and the door is locked.

<<if $key is true>>

[[Use the key|Progress]]

<<elseif $doorOpen is true>>

[[Walk through|Progress]]

<<else>>

You need to find a key.

<</if>>

I’ll break it down line by line to tell you what each thing does.

<<if $key is true>>

This line is the only necessary one- it checks whether $key has been set to true. You can check for any value that a variable can be, like a number, true/false, or a string. You can also check for other things with this macro- for instance, “isnot” will check that the variable isn’t equal to the value on the right. “gt” or “lt” will check if the variable is greater/lesser than the value on the right, and “gte” or “lte” will check if it is greater than or equal to the value.

<<elseif $doorOpen is true>>

This line allows us to check for something else within the same <<if>> macro. Once the game has checked the original <<if>> and found that it is false, it will move on to checking each <<elseif>> until it finds one that is true. You can have as many <<elseif>>s as you need, and they can check the same variable or different variables, but only the first true one will be executed! And, of course, you can’t use <<elseif>> on its own- it’s stuck to the <<if>> macro!

<<else>>

This line is the last resort- if the original <<if>> and any <<elseif>>s have all been false, the game will execute whatever is after <<else>>. Because of this, there can only be one <<else>> line within any <<if>> macro! If you don’t have an <<else>>, nothing at all will be executed, so whether you include one depends on the situation.

<</if>>

This closes off the <<if>> macro. Nothing special, but very important! Put it after the last piece of code or bit of text you want the macro to control.

Phew. That’s it! That’s all I wanted to show you!

Now, HOMEWORK!

Okay, not homework, just practice. Here are some things you can try building to practice all these tools and get comfortable with how they work!

A store system with different items for different amounts of money

A character creation screen, followed by a description of your character (with variables!)

A puzzle that requires you to choose the right answer to proceed

If you have any trouble, need to ask any questions, or if something in this tutorial wasn’t clear to you, please let me know- you can DM me or send me an ask anytime and I’m happy to answer any Twine questions you have. I hope this was of use to you, and have fun making games <3

[versadies]

Hey!!! How are you?

Congratulations on your 1k followers

Can I request aries + Kazuha + hc scenario + fluffy...?

Today is the last day of the event, I just saw it today, at least it wasn't after the event ended ;w;

⠀

⠀

I'm thinking about having a nickname to join the anon squad... Maybe 🇧🇷 anon? Your content came to a Brazilian person! Congratulations on your content reaching someone on the other side of the world :)

in the next life (hc scenario, reincarnation au)

penpal: hi hi, i’m doing great ty 🇧🇷 anon!! i’m so happy to know that my content has reached to the other side of the world 🥺🥺 i hope you like this <<3

prompt: aries the ram, red-string soulmate au

pairing/s: kaedehara kazuha x gn!reader

sypnosis: sometimes, happy endings can only happen in another lifetime. (or, hc on how you and kazuha met during the modern era of teyvat)

includes: slight spoilers to inazuma quests (2.0), fluff/slight angsty, reincarnation au, mentions of death, modern au, rushed ending

soulmates has always been one of the things that made teyvat special.

people had all collectively agreed that meeting their soulmate is one of the most treasuring moment, no matter how strange or hilarious the first encounter is like, no one should ever forget the once-in-a-lifetime moment.

with that said, most stories are usually soulmates– specifically how one meets their fated other. historical moments are no exception to this, such as an archon's first ever encounter with their soulmate during an annual rite, a forbidden love between an immortal being and a human, a sweet story of a soldier and a healer during a certain war, and the list goes on.

but where are stories that contains soulmates who had never met one another? or had a tragic fate that gave them no opportunity to get along with their soulmate anymore?

none.

some would say they'll meet in the afterlife, where they can live on in peace as the world goes on. while some would beg to differ and think that the two soulmates are just bound to not meet.

only little would suggest reincarnation.

and you and your beloved soulmate are one of those little people.

but you honestly didn't think that you and kazuha would be the soulmates with a tragic fate.

the both of you had met thanks to the resistance. when beidou decided to introduce kazuha to kokomi, he met you along the way– the right-hand-person of kokomi and his soulmate.

the both of you had instantly clicked when you met, the wide smile the both of you had appeared when you notice each other's red string being connected.

since then, you were inseparable.

on days when your assigned unit didn't need your assistance at the moment, you usually use those times to hung out with the samurai, often talking about each other's adventures and experiences with the best you can.

it was those days when you incredibly cherished the moments, making sure to remember every second of those moments you had with him before going on battles against kujou sara and her soldiers.

unfortunately for the both of you, the memories that you oh-so cherished would be the last one you'll ever make.

"see you in the next life... kaedehara kazuha," you whispered, staring at the samurai as the both of you lie down on the cold ground with soldiers fighting around the both of you, blood gushing out from your mouth. "whether it'd be in the next life or another, may celestia let us have another chance."

you watched as kazuha smiled lightly, his hand shakily trying to reach out to yours until he intertwines it together. "till we meet again, y/n."

as the war between the resistance and the raiden shogun continued, you and kazuha let out your one last breath before passing away.

much to you and kazuha's hopes, the war against the vision hunt decree won victoriously, with the raiden shogun lifting up the decree and brought inazuma back to its usual peaceful life before the decree.

of course, the resistance alongside the traveler paid respects to you and kazuha's passing, telling you that you and kazuha can rest now that they won.

as centuries flew by, teyvat had a major change among the nations. in this particular century, archons and visions had long been forgotten, with technology around the world being more advanced than before. as for soulmates? they still exist fortunately.

then there's you, a person who found joy in traveling around the world and tell the world about it. at least, that's what people think.

to you, you simply wanted to travel around teyvat to find a person named kaedehara kazuha.

recently, you started getting dreams of a man who goes by kaedehara kazuha. some were usually romantic that it gave you butterflies, some were conversations that you sometimes would forget, and of course, the dreams that often haunt you.

most dreams of yours were always lying down beside the man– who was bleeding to death. was this a sign of him dying? what is the purpose of these dreams?

you didn't know why this was happening to you. are you slowly going insane? or were you just overreacting?

whatever it was, you knew that deep down that it has something to do with your soulmate.

you went high and low around each nation you visited, often asking certain people if they've know a man named kaedehara kazuha, only to receive no useful information that could help you.

of course, your only source that could help you find him is the red string that connects you and your soulmate, following the direction it led you with hopes of it twitching as a sign that you're near.

unfortunately, none of the nations you've visited had no signs of who you're looking for.

your last stop is inazuma, a nation that's infamous for having beautiful firework shows and tourist spots. there's not a single place that isn't worth taking pictures of.

the moment you arrived to the nation using a boat,l you came across to a woman whose name is beidou.

"i don't know a man whose name has a kaedehara, but i have a son who coincidentally has the same name as kazuha!" she exclaims with a grin. "i don't think he's the one you're looking for though, i've never seen him hung out with someone like you or anyone else who isn't gorou."

you smile lightly at the woman, trying to not look disappointed. "i see.. thank you again, miss beidou."

she quickly waved you off. "good luck in finding the man you're looking for!"

the moment you immediately checked in ritou, you started exploring around the nation with no plans of stopping, hoping to see at least one person who looks like the man in your dreams or has their red string connected to your finger.

unfortunately, every area you've visited in the land, you still haven't found the end of the string, your hopes slowly dying down as time flew by.

you decided to explore more the next day, deciding to go back to inazuma city and have dinner in one of their infamous restaurants.

as you sat down on one of the stools while waiting for kanbei to cook your meals, you let out a disappointed sigh. if you couldn't find your soulmate anywhere, where could he be?

what if kaedehara kazuha doesn't exist at all? what if he died before you could even meet him and find out what's going on with your dreams?

you let out another sigh, rubbing the back of your neck in frustration. you hoped all of this wasn't a waste of your time. you honestly don't know what to do if you won't be able to find him at all, let alone what happens after you meet him.

unnoticed by you, your red string started twitching nonstop. a man suddenly enters the place, sitting down one seat away from where you are.

"rough day, kazuha?" kanbei asked, not bothering to look away from the pot as he continues to focus on cooking your meal.

"not exactly. i found a perfect spot to write haiku." the man, kazuha, replied.

as kazuha and kanbei continued conversing, you couldn't help but find yourself slowly drifting to sleep, now feeling the exhaustion from your exploration around the nation.

before you could completely pass out on the counter, you immediately woke up from the delicious smell of your meal, looking up to see the chef being finished with your meal already. perhaps the reviews weren't lying when they said this restaurant is fast with services.

you quietly thanked the chef when he placed the meal down in front of you, feeling your mouth watering at the sight of the delicious meal before digging up, still not noticing the red string twitching nonstop due to your focus on filling your hunger.

"thank you again, kanbei." kazuha speaks up as he grabs the packaged food from the chef's hands and hands over the payment.

"always happy to serve, kazuha. see ya tomorrow." kanbei said, watching as the man walks away from the restaurant.

out of curiosity, you glance at who you assume is beidou's son, only for your eyes to widen at the sight of the same man that you've been seeing in your dreams–

along with his red string connecting to yours.

without thinking, you immediately jumped down from your stool, staring at kazuha, who already walked out from the diner without a glance of your direction. "i'll be back and continue eating my meal. apologies for my rudeness!" you exclaim before running towards kazuha's direction without letting a single word come out from kanbei, who was confused at your words.

"kazuha!" you yelled, hoping kazuha would hear your voice despite the sounds of cars and people being loud around the both of you.

you tried to call for the man again, only for you to get frustrated when he still hadn't heard a word from you. was he wearing earphones?!

you immediately look down at your string and back at kazuha, hesitating for a moment before shaking the string aggresively. please, please, please look back! please look like you're him–

you sigh in relief when he finally noticed his string shaking, causing him to stop his trakcs and look behind him to see you running towards him like your life depends on it.

his eyes widens at the sight of you running towards him, your face was all too familiar for him to remember. it can't be, you only existed in his dreams!

the both of you suddenly remember certain memories the both of you didn't even knew you had. memories of which the both of you used to be in. memories of the both of you walking around the infamous serpent head as soldiers trained with all their might for the upcoming war, memories of the both of you watching the stars and wish for the resistance to win victoriously, memories of your past life that you and kazuha had forgotten.

that was enough for kazuha to run towards you as well, his arms suddenly spreading wide open for you to clashed into, dropping his food without a care.

the moment you and kazuha finally had gotten closer, you tackled the man into a hug as tears prickled in your eyes, ignoring the questionable stares the both of you received from people passing by.

"i found you." you whispered, closing your eyes shut as you let out a sound of relief. "after so.. so many months, i finally found you."

kazuha hugs you back, pulling you closer to his body as he sighs in relief. now that there's no more wars or something to run away from, the both of you can start anew and live the life the both of you had wanted back then.

"i missed you."

[ignitification]

What the Future Holds

“It is the temptation of war to punish; it is the task of policy to construct.” (Henry Kissinger). 

There has been a lot of debate around what is going to happen after (the heroes win? AfO is defeated? The Villains are saved? - are all valid hypothesis), right at the end of BNHA. Long ago, though, someone asked - what would be the reaction of the civilians at large when this all goes down? We know for a fact that while, more or less, our protagonists are in the loop of what exactly went down with the villains (or at least that they have not had a lot of positive experiences and possibilities to grow up as good as them), the civilians know close to nothing (apart from Touya’s broadcast, which in hindsight should be at least enough to make space way for the possibility of civilians understanding the woes of the villains and trying to accept the change which this ending will brings, and yet) when it comes to this matter. Will they be able to accept ‘a hero’ saving ‘a villain’? Will the change in society, the abolishment of a Quirk Society in general and the aftermath of the war (likely the cancellation of the hero rankings, and just the demotion of the title hero as profession) be accepted eventually?

While these are question to which I would like to answer ‘It depends’, I’d say that it might be the case, but the change will be slow, gradual and likely painful. Let’s take the example of Heteromorph Quirks, which, so many years after the discovery and establishment of quirks, are still looked down upon. This highlights the struggle with which this society adapts, and that it adapts to only certain parts of the society (which are usually the pretty parts, while the ugly ones are or ignored or just thoroughly refused to look at). It is the same principle we see in not only the narrative of Lady Nagant (and the rose-colored glasses with which civilians see society and pro-heroes), and the villains themselves (as their Quirks made them unfit for the general public to be displayed or used) but also in the same narrative which Izuku carries - he struggles to accept himself as someone who is Quirkless, and takes his chances to inherit All Might’s power, a little because of his dreams and more because that way he can also be part of that same society who treated him like shoe’s dirt before he gained ‘power’ and a standing as a UA student with a Quirk fit to be a hero.

We can see and take a little bit from what is probably going to be the reaction to the ending, both by seeing the reaction we have to Dabi’s broadcast, the press conference of the Top 3 and Izuku going rogue and looking villainy, as well as the public’s reaction to him coming back to UA.

Being likely familiar with these scenario, it definitely does not hit as a positive-filled situation, but rather the outage of the small mindedness and the expectancy of a perfect world division in villains and heroes by the civilians. Yes, it is the famous panel of the dichotomy of heroes and villains and look who already did foresee this so long ago: a villain, which is hilarious in itself but also pretty logical if you think about it.

The thing is, that as told millions times before the core problem of this society is that it does not understand nuance (and so doesn’t this fandom, for that matter): everything should be white or black, good or bad, hero or villain. But in reality, this dichotomy falls short of understanding what is hidden behind the curtain: the ugly truth of the fact that sometimes there is no good or bad, and that maybe sometimes the good is not as good and bad is not as bad. And as said million times before again, this stems from the fact that a. society has been kept in the dark from the deeds that the HPSC has done all these years, therefore conditioning and manipulating society into believing that a distinction exists; and b. it is rather easier to separate the good and the bad guys by a simple principles like a working label and to stick to it, even in front of rather compelling evidence. In the end, it is clear that the public has trust issues at their finest, but it then shows what a shaky base these society has been built on: a rather fine balance, which has been topped over once the castle of cards has been knocked down. 

It is in the hands of the new generation then, to attempt and change how thing have been so far. Retributive justice, just like in the quote above, is always tempting - and it is no brainer that it will be likely very hard for the civilian to accept whatever is thrown at them in the end, which does not involve the imprisonment and therefore the punishment of the villains. But at the same time, it is also true, that slowly but steadily things are staring to look up: we have Shouto who wants to save his brother, and Izuku who instead is trying to understand the villains and why they become such, stemming from his will to understand and help Shigaraki. After all, their main power is to change things up: a change which, hilariously, can be seen concretely by Bakugou’s words in chapter 323. Bakugou, who is a byproduct of that same society, is admitting his faults and the fact that it happens at this moment is likely a foreshadow for a major scale change: after all, the entire society owes an apology to the villains, big time. It is not a case then, that the narrative is putting everything to its places and showing us the before, and the tough process of change and the consequences of it. In this scenario, Izuku, Shouto, Bakugou, Ochako and generally the UA kids play the role of policymakers: they are looking in the future, trying to get an overview of the situation which they know as true and the one the villains consider as true and then trying to do ‘the right thing’: unfortunately, there is never a right thing when it comes to these matters, and no shoe-fits-all solution. It will therefore be interesting how exactly things will play out and whether society (in a not so distant future) might accept the fact that the villains can be victims, and in search for the satisfaction of that same retributive justice they are trying to enforce on them. In my opinion, the effort made by the young generation in this matter will be crucial: some people will refuse to accept such a thing (blaming the villains for everything that went wrong since day 1), other will struggle with accepting it and likely will remain neutral (which, in hindsight, is even worse as it is somehow similar to the civilians that thoroughly ignored Tenko when we was clocharding of the streets) and the who begrudgingly might accept the fact that exactly like Dabi said, pro-heroes are not always heroes in private too and they have as much harm potential as villains, it just does not get publicly displayed. And maybe, slowly, society will come to the consensus that while not always the case, offering a hand to those who struggle, might save a life - and why not, maybe at one point they will stop classifying people as ‘heroes and villains’, and instead accept themselves as humans altogether. But such is the human struggle: lost in the will to put a label on things, and forgetting that unlike labels, humans have the infinite capacity to grow, expand and change.

[anasticep]

Why Julie and the Phantoms is a masterpiece of a show. Part 1 of 3

· NOTE: if somehow you happen to like my gifs, please, feel free to use them. But, please, don’t crop or change.

· NOTE 2: This meta has been flourishing in my mind for quite a long time, but it was @catty-words meta on Perfect Harmony that inspired me to actually put it all on paper

· NOTE 3: I planned two parts of this, but ended up with far more gifs than a post allows. I dunno. Not sure if anyone will actually be interested in this rumbling. Probably it won’t even be a new and outstanding thinking. I’ll see how it goes.

What sets a good show apart? I’ll tell you exactly this: the pilot and the finale.

Whether it’s a season finale or a grand finale, it doesn’t matter for a scenario. People tend to forget the middle, that’s why all we remember about LOST is this weird full of dead people church that simply left the fans heartbroken. But frankly speaking, LOST ended so much better then most modern shows. And honestly I get why it’s so hard to keep track on things after 6 years and such a long row of characters. That’s why making a season in one take is so much better, when writers do not depend on what the fans think or like or ship. They simply do their job.

Do I need to say that our brain clearly remembers everything we throw at it? We think we forget, but that’s not quite true. That’s also the reason how we distinguish what we like and dislike – we remember all the small things and foreshadowing. Also that’s why we keep re-watching the shows we love: we simply acknowledge what our brain already knows. We simply find that thread that links everything together.

And they can be simple things. But first on what made this script a masterpiece for me: first and last scenes in the studio (+some things from 0102 band circle scene of 0109).

1. The Studio Intro

In 0101 Julie hesitates to go in the garage. She was reluctant to go in the first place. It signifies everything she’s lost: mother, music, voice. She inhales deeply, steadying herself. She can do this.

In 0109 it’s quite the opposite. She wanted to go there even though she knew the guys had already crossed over. Now this place signifies everything she gained back and more: music, voice, friends and, of course, a way back to her mother. She did it.

And this is a perfect visual explanation of the line “It’s not what you lost, it’s what you gain raising your voice to the rain”

2. The Band Intro

Can you see it the way I see it? It’s not a coincidence, it’s been done on purpose. Julie is mortified both times but for completely different reasons. In 0101 she is scared OF them. In 0109 she is scared FOR them. It’s so heartbreakingly beautiful it even hurts.

3. Personal space

In 0101 Julie and Luke are both scared of each other. See that extra step she did to push him away? Or the way he acts as if Julie is really a witch that could curse him? And who needs any personal space in 0109? These scenes show their journey in the best way possible.

4. You have to leave

In 0101 after accepting the fact that she was sane enough and these three ghosts really existed Julie is simply annoyed. She orders them to leave. She doesn’t what them to exist in her life. She has no time to deal with these dead cute boys. She wants them gone.

In 0109 after acknowledging that their plan has failed she also wants them gone. She orders them to leave again. But she wants to save them and for now that’s the only way she can think of. It’s better than not existing at all, even if it means not existing in her life.

And just look at the directing. The shots are almost twins! Julie mimics the scene from 0101 almost entirely, although it hits on a different level. I don't exactly know why it makes me so excited, probably I'm just very tired of mediocre scripts.

5. Maybe she’s a witch

I’m sure she is at least to some extent. It’s such a wonderful foreshadowing. I hope in season 2 we'll find out more but I think the perception on this in "Feels like I’ve opened my eyes again" by @pink-flame is very close if not almost entirely accurate to what I thought about season 2 and all this magic thing. Such a masterpiece of a fanfiction btw, I wish I found the show sooner and was reading it chapter by chapter. One of the best things I've read so far in any fandom.

6. Attached to our souls & 7. She's warming up to us

Do I need to say much? That’s the magic Julie has: her love for these boys. They are attached to her soul.

8. We had nowhere else to go

To think about it, they didn’t need Julie’s permission to stay in the first place. Like… How on earth would she even get rid of them? But that’s what defined these friendship from the start. They asked for permission in 0101 and in 0109 Luke’s words are almost apologetic that they ended up in her garage again.

9. I'm sorry we came into your life

Again, look at how both episodes have been shot. 0101 they stand apart, not knowing anything about each other yet. They both are not very comfortable with the whole situation and Luke voices what Julie might be thinking: why me? In 0109 Julie answers her past self that it was a blessing and a miracle. They are the closest they've ever got to be and the most sincere.

10. I have space for only one more gif and I'm simply fond of this parallel. We need a Witch!Julie AU)))))

________________________

Due to the pics limit I have to stop here. But there is so much more to say. So stay tuned to see Parts two and three if you liked this one. God, I hope you did

[mygodyouredivine]

The Hell In Your Eyes - 3

Summary: Loki doesn't meet her until two weeks after his initial imprisonment, but he knows he hates her. He has to hate her. Because the way she talks to him and helps him and saves him meals can't mean anything. She is too soft to deal with Loki, who is hardened with pain, pain, and more pain. And Loki hates soft things.

Have you ever seen the hell in someone’s eyes and loved it anyway?

Characters: Loki Laufeyson/(f)Reader

Warnings: brief mentions of violence

Word Count: 4836

Previous Chapter

Loki is annoyed.  

Loki has sat through thousands of years of political dinners, exchanging thinly veiled insults under a layer of diplomacy, all while smiling through his teeth. Loki has spewed sensical nonsense, charming naive, innocent maids and sweeping young stable boys off their feet. Loki has endured Odin’s wrath — in all its horrible glory — countless times, and never once had he shed a tear, nor had a single cry escaped his lips.  

The whole of Asgard had coined him the Dark Prince — and who was Loki to disappoint? 

He had long since learned people saw what they expected to see. 

And so as the entire realm rejoiced in his demise, as Laufey left him to die, as Odin condemned him for eternity, as Thor abandoned him, as Frigga had sided with her husband again and again and again, Loki maintained his carefully constructed front.  

Yet one encounter with a mortal, and he had unraveled at her feet.  

If physically kneeling before the wretched creature wasn’t enough, he knew she had seen past his mask. By the time he had regained his composure, he was sure she had seen him.  

It won’t happen again.  

Loki is a god, and gods do not crack. Gods maintain their image, regardless of circumstance. Gods do not show weakness, do not show vulnerability.  

This is a lesson Loki knows well, a lesson etched into his skin countless times by Odin’s hand.  

And yet for each time Odin reinforced this lesson, the very same lesson was burned away by Thanos a thousand more. 

Loki tried, he truly did. Loki maintained his godly facade for an impressive amount of time, resisting as his body was taken apart over and over and over again. Perhaps it wasn’t as long as he thought. Loki feels as if his entire life was spent doused in agony, spent with his flesh melting off and his bones withering away. 

Ultimately, a god is no match for a Titan.  

But a mortal is no match for a god.  

And yet, Loki has found himself at her feet — at her mercy — twice. 

Even after, Loki couldn’t bring himself to summon his cruel exterior. Perhaps it had to do with the way she had waltzed into his space, all soft and defenseless, carrying that deplorable drink as if it was the elixir of eternal life (unfortunately, it tasted just as divine). Perhaps it was his body, still sated and full for the first time in months, reminding him of the food — the debt — he owes. Perhaps it was the way she held out her arm towards him, even though he could see it shaking.  

Whether it was any of these things or none at all, Loki’s cool mask of indifference was rendered utterly useless at her delicate, mortal hands.  

Loki hates her.  

His hatred fills every fiber of his being. It’s a scalding, fiery hatred, much unlike the frozen excuse of Loki’s heart. His frost giant heritage seems to reject her very being.  

Loki hates her voice, hates her hands, hates her. He hates how she makes him falter when there is no place for mistakes.  

Loki’s thoughts are interrupted by Thor, who enters Loki’s quarters without an ounce of hesitation — ever the righteous, confident, arrogant bastard. 

Ah, but Loki almost forgot. Thor is not the bastard — Loki is. How despicable; for really, Loki can not even call himself a bastard. Yet, ‘the Bastard Son of Odin’ has a certain charm to it. Perhaps another false title for his collection.  

“Loki!” Thor booms, “Here are your clothes that Lady Angel washed. You should be grateful brother, for she offered of her own volition — ” 

Is it so surprising someone would offer to help Loki without external influence?  

“ — to see and visit you! You are doing well. I am happy to see you are finally making an effort to get to know all of our friends — ” 

Thor is happy? For Loki, or for himself? Why must Loki, even now, strive to prove himself to Thor? Why is Loki’s worth solely dependent on Thor’s judgement?  

“ — and Lady Angel is absolutely wonderful. I am delighted to see you two getting along so well! I can’t believe you finally made a friend— ” 

At this, Loki’s composure cracks for the second time that day.  

“What am I? A pathetic child wandering aimlessly through a school corridor? A helpless hatchling at the mercy of others — groveling for the bare minimum? Who are you to congratulate me for ‘making a friend?’ She is not a friend ,” Loki spits out. He can feel his teeth grinding against each other, his fingernails once again digging into his palms. “She is nothing more than another worthless mortal, unworthy of even breathing the same air as I, and yet you suggest I be grateful?” 

Thor advances on Loki, his eyes hardening. The atmosphere is tense; unlike the typical bickering between the brothers, Loki identifies something distinctly different in the way the air vibrates. The space between the two gods crackles. “Watch yourself brother —” 

Brother. The word grates upon Loki’s nerves. How can Thor so carelessly throw the word around, even knowing of its false implications — implications and lies Loki foolishly believed.  

Sometimes Loki wonders if Thor does it on purpose.  

“Do you hear yourself Thor? Bending yourself over backwards to defend this wasted excuse of consciousness — you are the King of Asgard. What is she? She is nothing.” 

And now Loki is no longer staring at his brother, but the ceiling of his prison. His back is slammed against Stark’s hardwood floors and there is sharp ringing in his ears, likely the result of the crack in the floor right behind where his head is currently embedded.  

Loki almost laughs. 

Truly, it is comical — comical that even now, Thor’s first instinct is to physically threaten Loki. As if Loki doesn’t almost enjoy it. 

But Loki’s laugh catches in his throat, prevented from escaping by the large hand tightening around his airway.  

Thor’s hand is around Loki’s neck — a mirror of His. 

A thousand years Loki has known Thor. A thousand years of childish brawls, foolhardy battles, pointless arguments. How many times has Loki betrayed Thor? Thor betrayed Loki? And yet, Loki believed he knew his brother’s character.  

A thousand years Loki has known Thor, but never once has he thought Thor to be cruel.  

Oh how wrong he is.  

Thor’s hands are gripping Loki’s neck and for the life of him Loki can’t breathe. He tries to draw air into his lungs — lungs that are screaming with a familiar ache — and fails. Phantom pains flicker across his entire body and somehow, in the second before his vision goes black, Loki manages to croak out a strangled wheeze of a laugh.  

Loki is once again strapped upon a bed of coals, once again stabbed with blades of flame, once again torched with fire so hot he freezes. Loki remembers the only other time he begged — begged and pleaded for the sweet mercy of death, all while knowing death was a pleasure he was never to be granted.  

Loki is once again kneeling — boneless — at the feet of a Titan, looking up into a face promising endless pain, a face painted with the patience of a thousand moons and splattered with the ruined blood of a Frost Giant. 

Loki did not know that a Frost Giant’s blood could boil. 

Ah, but the Mad Titan knew, and he ensured Loki would never forget.  

Loki recalls the moment he let go — an eerie echo of his fall from grace, his fall from the Bifrost. And he remembers the horribly invasive power of the scepter, along with the blessed relief and utter disregard for self preservation that followed. 

And it is this — the relief — that plagues Loki. He does not fool himself; Loki may be the God of Lies, but he has no reason to lie to himself . It is not the destruction of New York nor the deaths at his hand that weigh upon his shattered mind. No, it is the fact that Loki found solace in his actions.  

Make no mistake — Loki does not rejoice in his crime, but nor could he say he regrets it. 

For if Loki were given the choice, he could not — would not — choose to spare Midgard at the cost of his own sanity. 

(But Loki was never given a choice.) 

Alas, Loki is already insane. 

The Mad Titan has taken so much from Loki.  

Physically, Loki has long since disregarded his own body. He remembers the beginning of his torture, when he still held the title of 'Prince of Asgard,' when he spoke with arrogance and oozed of indignantion. Oh how naive he had been. When the first whips had landed across his skin, Loki's thoughts could never have anticipated what the coming months would entail. Loki did not once stop to consider how he would escape the clutches of his captor — oh the confidence he held! — but instead lamented the scars he would surely have to bear. Dimly, Loki recalls worrying over his marred skin, irritated at the blemishes he would surely have to cover when taking future lovers.  

Loki scoffs.  

Loki does not recognize the man who spent time thinking of lovers. Or of his physical appearance. Or of his interests. Or of any other insignificant pleasure that ultimately contributes to the annihilation of a soul. 

(Even now, Loki carries with him an irrational fear of physical touch — a seed planted by the Mad Titan that Loki cannot gouge out, not even if he tore open his very being.) 

In fact, Loki wondered if his corporeal form had even existed anymore. But most of all, more than the ruination of his physical form, Loki mourns the damnation of his mind. 

Ultimately, the Mad Titan did triumph over Loki. For no matter how many times Loki escapes, fakes his death, runs away, he can never evade the visions that haunt his mind, the voices that infect his thoughts, the termites eating away at what remains of Loki’s sanity. 

(If Loki were given a choice, he would have chosen death again and again and again.) 

Alas, Loki was not — is not — given a choice, for suddenly he is not lying on a bed of coals, but on his apartment floor again. Thor has since removed his hand from Loki’s neck and Loki half wishes Thor just kept it there. Just kept on squeezing and squeezing and squeezing until Loki died on that bed of coals.  

Loki wonders, if he were to die at Thor’s hand, would his brother feel remorse? Or perhaps, more realistically, relief?  

Unfortunately, Loki is not dead, and Thor is gazing at him, concern evident in his gaze. As if Thor wasn’t the one who put Loki in this condition — wasn’t the one who greedily snatched all of Odin’s affection, wasn’t the one who pushed Loki out of favor, wasn’t the one who led his brainless minions in a brash suicide mission, as if Thor wasn’t the one who stared Loki in the eye as Loki let go into the abyss.  

As if Thor wasn’t the first domino in a long ripple effect that eventually drowned Loki in his sins.  

Thor was the smooth pebble that young children skipped over lakes, just barely skimming the surface of a tempting downfall — nevertheless gracefully leaping unscathed across the reflective waters. Yet Loki was the jagged, unskippable rock, destined to fall through the air and fall through the water with no hesitation. Loki has long since come to terms with this simple fact.  

No longer does Loki resent his brother, for he understands: light can only shine in the presence of darkness. And if Loki is condemned to darkness — so be it.  

Loki does not resent his brother, but oftentimes Loki despises his lightness . What some might say is endearing — the inability for Thor to give up — is just a burden. Even now, Thor still thinks he can change Loki, can fix him. Thor still thinks that by vouching for Loki and providing Loki a place to live and surrounding Loki with Thor’s friends that he can mend Loki’s broken soul and bring back the brother he once had. Thor is still in denial — he refuses to grasp the very simple concept that Thor’s brother — the Second Prince of Asgard, God of Lighthearted Mischief — is long dead. And so Thor continues to try. But light yelling into the darkness does not change it.  

And even now, with Thor looming above Loki, Loki does not resent his brother.  

But Loki resents Thor’s very being — the core of who Thor is. Thor is a duality; one of naivety and compassion, yet tainted — or perhaps embellished — with a smidge of cruelty and arrogance.  

And as Thor is speaking to Loki, mouth forming words Loki is too tired to hear, Loki simply lies on the floor, limbs relaxed around him, throat sore, and does the only thing he can do when feeling so utterly empty.  

Loki laughs.  

______________________________

Midgard is rather charming in some regards.  

Loki will eventually have to investigate the laundry process, for he has just now made the curious discovery that freshly dried clothes are warm . He suspects they were warmer right after they were dried, but he can still feel the presence of the heat, lingering within the very fabric of his garments. He wonders just how much they were heated up to — would it have burnt his frozen hands at the peak of its fiery glory? 

No, Loki’s hands are too well accustomed to fire now. 

But he doubts that her hands are. He envisions Angel pulling his clothes out of the dryer, her hands touching the same clothes that he has worn, that he will wear, that he is currently touching.  

Yet is it entirely possible Loki is standing around, imagining a scene that never played out, for it was not Angel who brought Loki’s laundry back to him, but his dearest brother. Looking at his pile of clothes again, Loki takes in the telltale signs of Thor. The messily folded shirts stare back at Loki, mocking him.  

He wonders if she ever even did any part of his laundry. Perhaps she only offered it as a way to ease the uncomfortable tension that had arisen earlier. Or rather, (and his stomach twists uncomfortably at the thought) she lugged his laundry basket downstairs and dumped it straight into Thor’s arms. 

Why else would she refuse his help to accompany her?  

A twinge of something rises up within Loki as he realizes she accepted Thor’s offer to bring his clothes back. Or, much more likely, she had pushed the task onto Thor in a desperate attempt to avoid encountering him again.  

Not that Loki could blame her. 

And yet the uncomfortable sensation within Loki only grows, and he realizes that he feels something akin to disappointment. Loki cannot allow himself to feel disappointment. He had long since learned not to expect anything from anyone — or perhaps, much more cynically, to only depend on — to trust — himself.  

Trust, Loki knows, is a fickle concept the naive embrace. Trust itself is ill fated, the certainty of an inevitable betrayal the same as the certainty that one day everyone living on this cursed realm will perish.  

Loki hates Angel. He hates how she pretends to care for him, hates how she imitates Thor, hates how she always finds a way to break him, and Loki hates how Angel makes him feel.  

Loki's silent anger boils inside of him — like the steady countdown of a ticking bomb — manifesting itself out of him as the laundry basket is violently launched across the room. 

He hates how he feels absolutely no satisfaction at the way the freshly clean clothes scatter across the floor, hates how he lost control, and hates how the damned mortal forces him to feel emotions he does not want to feel . 

Sometimes all Loki can do is hate. 

______________________________

The heat from the clothes have long since seeped into the floor. 

The sun is just now setting, dousing Loki’s room in a fiery glow. Warm light spills across Loki’s bookshelves, his impeccably made bed, the clothes strewn around his floor. Loki sits on the ground, bare of his illusions, allowing himself to just be .  

Staring across the room, he notices tendrils of light carefully curling around the air, miniscule particles of dust dancing in the golden glow. This is a gold Loki enjoys. Unlike the brash, loud character of Thor’s gold — of Asgard’s gold, this is a much softer, gentle color. The comforting hue reminds Loki of his mother, and against his will, he feels a wall of despair beginning to build within his chest.  

For a second, Loki loses himself as the wall crashes over him. He drops his head, allowing his hair to dangle in front of his face, obscuring his view of the floating particles. He feels like a child — wants nothing more in this moment than to run to Frigga, for her floral scent to fill his senses as she envelopes him in her arms. What Loki wouldn’t give to have Frigga’s delicate fingers comb through his hair just once more, for her soft lips against his forehead, murmuring words of comfort.  

But he can’t have that. Instead, here he is, sitting on the floor of a glorified prison in the midst of a community of people who hate him, with nothing but Thor to act as his buffer. 

Looking up, Loki gazes at the honeyed light as it glides over a particular heap of clothing. He watches, mesmerized, as the light gently moves, unhurriedly bathing each corner of the fabric in its rich glow.  

If he were still on Asgard, Loki would most likely have been reading, thoroughly immersed in some story or another. The sun would have showered his pages in its quiet glow, lighting the words aflame. He would have taken a stroll in his mother’s gardens, breathing in the sweet scent of her flowers as he sat in his favorite hidden alcove. He would have taken out his book and continued to read, read until the golden hue of the sun was replaced by the tender shine of the moon. Only then would Loki return, serenely walking back to his chambers, stopping only to retrieve a cup of tea, and resume his reading on his balcony.  

Loki wants that. 

Loki wants an afternoon to himself, with no worries plaguing his mind. 

Loki wants to be able to read, and to do so in an environment which permits him to let his guard down. 

Loki wants to sit outside, surrounded by flowers, and watch as the sun transitions into the moon. 

Loki wants to indulge in a hot cup of tea as he watches the moonlight spills across the pages of his book. 

Loki wants so many things — and he can’t have any of them. 

Standing up, Loki decides he has spent enough time reminiscing over what he cannot have today. He feels sticky and hot and cold and hungry and all he wants right now , is a long shower.  

And so Loki walks over to the same pile of clothes, now dull and abandoned by the sun, gazing disapprovingly downwards. Thor is truly an imbecile, for he has not even managed to separate their clothes correctly. Loki is currently staring at a dark green sweatshirt, one he knows for a fact he has never seen before. Tiredly, he tosses it upon his bed and scoops up a clean change of clothes, then turns around and trodds slowly into the bathroom.  

______________________________

Water droplets rain all around Loki, swiftly sliding down his body. 

He doesn’t particularly enjoy showering — it reminds him too much of another substance: denser, stickier, and much more red, trickling down his skin. Loki much prefers baths. Baths, however, render their subject very much vulnerable, and Loki does not fancy risking any more vulnerability than strictly necessary.  

So Loki is standing in the shower, unabashedly soaking up the shallow warmth the water provides. Surely if Thor could see him, his brother would lecture Loki on wasting Midgard’s precious resources. But, Loki reasons, if Stark truly possesses the excess of wealth he boasts of, Loki’s water usage will not be of much concern to the man. And so this is a luxury Loki will grant himself.  

The shower is one place where Loki feels the safest, where he allows his thoughts to wander and drift into otherwise forbidden territories. Today especially has been challenging, and even his muscles seem to ache, the fibers pulling away from each other, trying to rip Loki apart from the inside out. His mind is exhausted, filled with swirling thoughts of Frigga and Angel and Thor, with the occasional Odin and Titan intruding whenever a particular body part cries out.  

And as Loki gazes down at his body, the disfigured canvas of scars stare back at him and he attempts to soothe away the countless aches. No matter how much time has passed and how much magic Loki pours into himself, the pains never seem to retreat. Rationally, Loki knows it doesn’t make sense. He knows his magic is fully capable of healing himself, knows that by all accounts he is healed.  

But Loki also knows he does not imagine the sharp pains coursing through his veins.  

He is fighting himself — the part of himself that does not want the pain to stop. Because all Loki knows is pain, and he fears the absence of pain almost as much as he dreads its glorious presence.  

Loki raises his head, allowing for the stream of water to bruise his face. And if Loki’s closed eyes leak the occasional tear, no one would know.  

______________________________

Loki’s self destructive spiraling is abruptly cut short by three succinct knocks from his bedroom door. Still soaking in the shower, Loki debates whether or not to answer; after all, he truly has no desire to see his brother again today. Or preferably, ever again. Unfortunately, Loki is all too aware that if he does not answer the door to let Thor in, Thor will simply let himself in. And if there’s anything worse than seeing Thor, it will be seeing a displeased Thor while Loki stands nude and wet.  

Reluctantly, Loki turns off his shower, changes into his freshly washed ‘sweatpants’, and leisurely walks towards the door. He is honestly surprised Thor hasn’t invited himself in yet. He is more surprised when he finally opens the door and is promptly met with — not Thor’s brutish face, but the goddamned mortal.  

She stands there, in front of his door, barely out of arm's reach. Loki can’t help but drink her in. He notices her hair, laying loosely around her face, framing her profile. She’s sporting a sweater, much too warm for the present weather. Its collar is stretched out over years of use, teasing his eyes with a fraction of her collarbones peaking through. Her legs are barely covered by absurdly short shorts, and Loki feels the back of his ears heating up. Hurriedly, he averts his eyes, falling down to her feet, once again hugged by soft looking socks — mismatched.  

His scrutinization is interrupted by her voice; so soft.  

“Hey! Sorry if I interrupted you. I heard you were in the shower but I was going around taking everyone’s dinner orders. We’re getting Chinese.” She tilts her head to the side, lifting her chin ever-so-slightly, distractedly exposing the tantalizing skin of her neck. She swallows, and Loki’s eyes discreetly follow the bob of her throat. “I was just wondering if you wanted anything?” 

It takes a moment for Loki to register her question and another for him to process it. She is going to order dinner? For him? And she is asking him for his preference? Loki has not had the privilege of preferring anything in a long, long time. Damn this mortal. 

“I am not familiar with this particular cuisine, nor Midgard’s in particular.” 

She meets his eyes then, and only after does it occur to him that her eyes had been previously glued to his abdomen. His abdomen, he realizes which has been bare this entire interaction. “That doesn’t answer my question.” 

He forces himself to roll his eyes, running a hand through his still dripping hair to hide the scarlet his ears have surely become. “I am saying that I do not have a preference, woman.” 

She lifts her shoulders briefly in a gesture Loki has come to associate with Midgard’s daftness and promptly moves closer to him. Instinctively, Loki takes a step back, then curses himself for doing so. He truly must be losing it, backing away from a defenseless mortal. But she doesn’t push further, instead tilting her head at that angle again, asking him another question.  

“Can I come in?” 

Loki hesitates. He doesn’t understand her motives, doesn’t know if this is a trick the Avengers have set up or perhaps a test designed by his brother. All he knows is that Angel is staring at him with her eyes wide and innocent and completely devoid of deceit.  

Angel must carry magic or Loki must be possessed by the Mind Stone again, for against his will, Loki steps to the side, allowing her to brush past him. The sleeve of her sweater comes into contact with Loki’s stomach, and he jerks away.  

Awkwardly, Loki closes his door and turns to face the mortal, noting how hilariously out of place she looks, standing in the midst of Loki’s domain. With a wave of his hand, the previously scattered articles of clothing fly onto his bed, meticulously folding themselves. Angel’s surprised, quiet gasp does not escape his notice. She walks towards his bed, small hand landing on Thor’s sweatshirt.  

“Take that when you leave.” Loki internally bristles at his own tone, noticing how Angel’s shoulders locked up when he spoke and did not relax when he stopped. “Please,” he adds. 

To his surprise (again), Angel approaches him, sweater in hand. “Why?” 

At this, Loki is caught off guard. Without warning, he is overwhelmed by distaste. His patience has been tested over and over again, and he does not have even a drop more to deal with this mortal’s incompetence. His hatred for her rushes back, multiplied a thousandfold. Who does she think she is and why will she not leave Loki alone? Why must she cut short his relaxation, intrude upon his personal space, inquire after him when he knows — he knows — she does so unwillingly? Why is she holding up Thor’s goddamned sweater, pretending not to know why Loki hates it so? As if she doesn’t know it belongs to Thor. 

In fact, Loki is positive she is intimately aware of whom it belongs to, undoubtedly so. He hates Angel, hates her for reluctantly offering her help, hates her for her smoothies, hates her for asking him about his preferences. Briefly, he envisions snapping her neck. Effortlessly. But the image makes him recoil, bringing about not satisfaction, but horror.  

His fists clench, his broken fingernails once again digging into bruised skin. It costs Loki an immeasurable amount of self control not to simply throw her out, hurl her from his quarters. Instead, he snaps at her. 

“Girl, do not test my patience. I am warning you, it has been a very long day and if you do not exit extremely promptly, it will not end well for one of us.” 

Loki hates the way her shoulders tense up again, hates the way she physically flinches away at his dismissal.  

Loki hates how though he can sense her increasing heartbeat, her nervousness, Angel still looks him in the eye and informs him, in a terrified voice coated with forced calm, “I’m sorry to hear that Loki. I added this sweater into your laundry after it was done, but I should have known it would not have been welcome.” 

Loki hates how she then drops her eyes, staring intently at her mismatched socks.  

“I’ll just leave your dinner outside.” 

Loki hates how she leaves, her hands gripping Thor’s — his — sweatshirt tightly, footsteps moving at a much brisker pace.  

Loki hates how Angel closed off, how he closed her off.  

Loki hates how Angel clearly did do his laundry. 

Loki hates how Angel thought of him, giving him an extra sweatshirt, offering him a choice for dinner. 

Loki hates Angel more than he hates Thor, more than he hates Odin. 

Loki hates Angel more than he hates the Mad Titan.  

The only person Loki hates more than Angel is himself. 

Fuck. 

______________________________ 

We don't even ask for happiness, just a little less pain.  

- Charles Bukowski 

______________________________

Previous Chapter

~

~

Taglist: @spacedaddydinn @doct0rstrange

[nathanbatemanfucker]

Gin Eyre - Part 1

summary: reader and aaron have a fight where they seemingly break up for good. will this be the end or will that find their way back to each other?

pairing: fem!reader x aaron hotchner

warnings: explicit language, alluding to smut, angst

an: this is my first ever hotch one-shot (well technically 2/3 shot) and i’m so excited to not have to figure out an entire 20+ chapter fic. this will be 2, possibly 3 parts depending on whether I decide to include smut or not.

word count: 2.8k

You’re in the kitchen, rolling out dough for cinnamon rolls in Aaron Hotchner's kitchen. The two of you have been dating for a little over 6 months and you still can’t believe it. You met him at the art museum where you work. He was chaperoning a field trip for his son Jack when the two of you bumped into each other. You usually didn't go for patrons but there was something about his deep, honeyed voice and kind eyes that made you do a double take. The last 6 months had been amazing, and though he was taking things slow with you feelings wise, the sex was incredible.

Your phone starts to ring and your heart flutters in your chest. In the last few weeks you'd realized that you'd fallen madly in love with him. The age difference of 13 years had thrown your friends and family for a loop and that had kept you from being fully invested in the relationship but you couldn't deny your feelings any longer. You’re in love with him and when he gets home you’re going to tell him exactly that, plate of hot cinnamon rolls in hand. Excited by the idea that it would be Aaron calling to let you know he's on the way home you don't even bother to wipe your hands on your apron before reaching over to answer it.

"Hi, baby, I'm so excited to-"

"I won't be in tonight, Y/n." He cuts straight to the chase no greetings.

You know that the work side of Aaron existed. Supervisory Special Agent Hotchner was no one to mess around with and sometimes he could forget that he was talking to you, his girlfriend, and not one of his coworkers. It had been a long 5 years since he lost his wife Haley and he hadn't dated since; he’s out of practice. It doesn’t bother you much, you think its hot when he’s sharp and bossy but tonight seems different.

"What? Why? You said it was open and shut, that you’d be home. I alright started-" You start to sputter in protest but he quickly shuts you down.

"I know what I said." He mutters in a low voice.

What the hell is his problem?

"Aaron, what's wrong?" You ask softly, hoping that he'll snap out of whatever funky mood he's in. He's never spoken to you in this manner and you’re thrown for a loop.

"I've already got the chief of police and the press breathing down my neck, I don't need you to join them. You don't know what I'm dealing with." He just about sneers and you flinch at the sharpness of his tone.

"What the fuck are you talking about? I'm not breathing down your damn neck. And I've never once assumed that I know the shit you go through everyday." You shoot back angrily.

How dare he talk to me like that.

"Listen, I'm hoping I'll be home in a few days so you don't have wait for me until I get back. You can go home."

"Why the fuck are you acting like this?"

"I'd appreciate it if you watched your language."

"Two things Agent Hotchner. My potty mouth has never been a problem, in fact you've said on multiple occasions that I put it to good use. And two, you don't have to worry about seeing me ever again because we're done." You try to keep your voice firm but it wavers slightly from the tears that are pooling in your eyes.

"Fine." He says simply.

Was it really that easy for him to let you go?

"Fine!" You shout, hanging up. Letting out a frustrated sigh you clear the kitchen, throwing away the dough that you had just worked so hard on before you gather your bag and storm out. You drive home with tears streaming down your face, your hair whipping in the wind since you were driving with the windows down. The cold night air makes your tears like icicles on your cheeks and you angrily push them away. When you pull into your apartment complex you sit there for a moment, trying to process what had just happened.

It all gone to shit so fast you can’t believe it is real. You and Aaron broke up just like that. It didn't even take a full fledge fight, just the wrong words said in the wrong tone. The two of you had fallen apart like a poorly stacked Jenga and you felt like your world was coming to a halt.

There had always been a part of you that was waiting for the other shoe to drop when it came to your relationship with Aaron. He was too perfect, too patient, too attractive, too good. Too everything you wanted in a man. That coupled with the fact that you were so young sometimes made you feel like he would never take you seriously. Maybe this was just confirming that, maybe it was so easy for him to let you go because he never saw you as a real contender.

You shake your head and finally exit the car, entering your apartment. You thank the gods that you roommate, Candice, is already in her room. You didn't want to anything she had to say where there it was to comfort you with empty words or admonish you with hot and heavy I told you sos.

*

You wait until Candice leaves for work to come out of you room. When you amble into the kitchen there's a note on the fridge door.

Whatever he did, I'll shoot him with his government issued glock when I'm back this weekend. Rebecca & I are going camping after work but feel free to call. Love you. - Candy

She must've heard you sobbing last night. You'd tried to be as quiet as possible but the walls were thin and she was known to be a light sleeper. You shoot her a quick text telling her to be safe and that you loved her before you make yourself some lunch.

With a bowl of pasta in hand and bottle of white wine you sit down on the couch and attempt to get some work done for the class you were a TA in. You were in your last year of Creative Writing Master's at Georgetown and you had plenty of short stories to grade and emails to answer. As you settle in grading you curse yourself for selling romance as something you wanted to read about. You weren't shy in mentioning how fantastic you relationship was and how you drew it as inspiration and it definitely rubbed off on your students.

Four long hours later and you've cleared all your emails and graded over 10 short stories. You’re sick of reading and slowly had grown angry while thinking about your conversation with Aaron last night. The realization of how rude he was sinks in and you stand with new resolve. You gather everything he'd ever gotten or given you into a box; a few of his shirts and a sweatshirt, a moonstone ring you gushed over, a picture of you him and Jack, and lastly the copy of Jane Erye he'd annotated for you.

When you'd told him it was one of your favorites, he promised to read through it and tell you what he thought about it. You hadn't expected him to, mostly because he was so busy with his job and Jack. But three months into your relationship he'd brought it over to your apartment on a date night. You remember it like it was yesterday.

"One copy of Jane Eyre, read and annotated by yours truly." He throws the book on your desk before plopping down in your reading chair.

"Bullshit, Hotchner, you're bluffing." You hop out of the bed and take the book into your hands, eyeing him suspiciously.

"Take a look." He shrugs with a smug grin, his eyes light with mischief. You loved that you could bring this side out of him since he dealt with such horrible things day in and day out.

"Oh my fuck, you really fucking did it." You say in disbelief as you turn through all the pages. There are small notes and highlighted sections throughout the book and you feel a warmth spread throughout your entire body.

"You have the dirtiest mouth Y/n, but yes, I did it. For you." He sounds proud of himself and when you look over he still has that smug look on his face but there's a soft glow in his eyes.

"You read Jane Eyre for me, I think my dirty mouth might owe you something." You say with a sly smile as you straddle him. You rub your clothed core against him and he stifles a groan by biting his lip.

"Yeah?" He flicks his tongue over his bottom lip regarding you expectantly. Your lips capture his, and you slip your tongue into his mouth as you knot your fingers in his hair. He groans again as your tongues brush up against each other's, your hips grinding down on him to create the perfect friction between you.

"Mhmm." You murmur against his lips before you move your sweet assault to his neck, sucking the soft skin until there's a dark mark that claims him as yours.

"Oh, fuck, Y/n, please." He whimpers and you love that you can turn such a strong, dominant man into a needy messy.

"And you say my mouth's dirty." You tease before dropping to your knees. "I want you begging for me, is that clear?" You look up at him as you undo his belt.

"Yes, baby, whatever you want." He breathes.

You drop the book like it's burned you, not wanting to get caught up in the memory it elicits. Not even 24 hours ago you would've savored the memory but now it makes you feel hollow. You dress in a Georgetown sweatshirt and tight pair of jeans, one that made your ass look phenomenal; just in case.  You grab a duffel bag as well and the box of stuff that tells the story of you and Aaron. There was almost a 0% chance that he'd be home. Part of you had hoped he rushed home and was waiting for you to come reconcile but you knew better.

Aaron Hotchner was a stubborn man, one that always wanted to be right and rarely show weakness. The controlled intimacy cultivated between the two of you in these six short months was proof of that. He never said anything too heavy, never let you put too much stock in him doing nice things for you, never let you spend too much time with Jack. The only place he really let go was the bedroom, it's the only place he let himself be completely vulnerable. You know everything about his body; where his scars are, his most sensitive spots, the way he likes to be ridden, and how much he could take before he meets his release.

So when you open up the door to his apartment and find it empty you aren't surprised but you surely are disappointed. Grateful that Jessica and Jack aren’t there, you linger for a moment. There are a few things you needed to collect anyways so you had an excuse to. You start in the kitchen grabbing a pastry cookbook that you left here. Sometimes you would bake Aaron and Jack treats, they had become your lab rats.

There a couple of your favorite books sitting on the coffee table, ones that you hoped Aaron would annotate like Jane Eyre but it was too late for that. You then make your way into his bedroom, you grab the couple sets of clothes out of the bottom drawer. Hitting the bathroom you take out your toiletries, clearing the last of your presence out of his apartment. The only thing left would be the few toys and books you'd gotten for Jack. You realize while looking at his room that he'll never get to read the book you started writing for him. It was about his father being the ultimate hero as Jack worshipped the ground Aaron walked on. Maybe once you finished it you could just drop it off with a note.

Before you can get too emotional you leave your key next to the box of stuff and lock the door from the inside. The click of the door makes it all real.

*

It's been a week since you and Aaron last spoke. He never let you know that he'd made it home and while there was a chance he could still be working the tough case, you assume you're no longer clued in to his safety.

You'd thrown yourself into your work, ignoring the gnawing feelings of emptiness and sadness that were clawing at you from the inside out. Candice was doing her best to be bright and cheery but with her having Rebecca, you couldn't be around her much. You feel guilty to have the sour taste in your mouth when you saw them together but you'd been burned and are now reaping the consequences.

You're working in your room when there's a knock at your door. "Come in."

"Hey there's a delivery for you?" Candice frowns slightly, looking behind her.

"A delivery?" You look up from your computer, pushing your reading glasses up.

"Says you need to go down and sign for it." She shrugs before turning to go back in her room.

"Alright, I'll be right back." You pull on a pair of jeans before you make your way down the lobby of your apartment building.

You instantly recognize the back of his head, you'd know it anywhere by the way his hair curls at the nape of his neck. He must feel your eyes boring into him because he turns around. Crossing your arms you walk over to him, making sure to keep a good amount of distance.

"What, did I forget to take something home?" You keep your eyes downcast.

"No, Y/n, I came to say I'm sorry. I don't know what got into me that night." He says apologetically, pushing your chin up with a finger. You take a step back putting more distance between the two of you.

"Nothing got into you that night, the way you treated me was already there, you just felt comfortable enough to finally fucking show it."

"That's not true, I was stressed from the job and I took it out on you. I'm more sorry that I can say."

"And it took you a whole fucking week to decide that?" Your voice is infused with anger as you push away the tears that have betrayed you by falling.

"I wanted to talk in person. I just landed this afternoon, and well I needed to see Jack before-"

"You don't have to justify seeing your kid to me, that's shitty of me to assume, I'm sorry." You can admit when you're wrong, even in a situation like this.

"Don't apologize to me, I'm the one who fucked here." He takes another step toward you.

"Yeah, Aaron, you totally fucked up, at least we agree there." You chuckle under you breath, rolling your eyes.

"Do you think you could give me another chance?" He pleads, and you see the desperation in those deep brown eyes of his.

"Aaron..." You trail off for a moment. Of course you wanted to say yes. Every cell in your body wanted to be with him, but your mind was telling you to be cautious. You couldn't just forget how easy it was for him to let you go, and based on that fact you make your decision. "No, I don't think I can. I think it's better this way. Maybe we're just too different for this to work. The job difference, the age difference-"

"None of that matters to me, I just want to be with you Y/n."

"I just don't think it's a good idea. I fell too hard for you and I don't think I could handle being hurt again. It was too easy for you to let me walk away.”

"I don't plan on letting you go ever again."

"Did you plan on letting me go then?" You ask to prove a point.

He sighs, running a hand through his hair in frustration. "No, of course not."

"Look, I love you Aaron, but right now I have to love me more." You surprise yourself with your honestly, and him too by the way his mouth drops open and eyebrows rise to his hairline.

"You love me?"

"It doesn't matter. I have to go. Please don't come back here, it'll just make things harder. Stay safe and tell Jack that I love him too." You awkwardly pat him on the arm before turning to walk away.

"Wait, Y/n, please, let's just talk about this." He reaches for you, gently gripping your arm.

"I'm done talking, just please, stay away from me Aaron." You pull your arm from his grasp before walking towards the stairs. You make sure not to look back, not wanting your decision to falter if you look at him too long.

read part 2 here.