#especially knowing you shouldn't have to because you're supposed to have a system for this

[kieren-fucking-walker]

.

[lucettapanchetta]

[LIVE BROADCAST] - PRIVATE Seven Red Suns, No Significant Harassment [ So, did you get a chance to listen to what Chasing Wind sent over? ] [ I haven't gotten back to him, but yes, I have. ] [ You seem... less commentative to say the least. ] [ Well, there's an obvious reason to that... something I think you know very well the answer to. ] [ That's true, but would you like to explain why? I don't mind hearing a fellow friend out, especially with what's been going on as of late. ] [ ... ] [ Have you ever felt, guilty about something? ] [ Not particularly at this very moment. Why? ] [ Well, I care deeply for a few iterators, and well, I care deeply for Moon. ] [ ...and there are some aspects of my existence that enjoys helping others out; however, what happens when you do the opposite? ] [ Well, that's a good question, I suppose it would provoke a sense of guilt. ] [ Where are you going with this? Because if you are going to blame yourself for Moon's recent behavior, you shouldn't. ] [ ...that's the issue. ] [ I am to blame. ] [ Back when Sliver of Straw signaled the triple affirmative, Moon messaged me about her sentiments towards the whole ordeal. ] [ She sounded so distressed, but deep down, she wanted to know how it occurred. I could tell by her demeanor. ] [ So, I handed her as much information that could be given via "alternative" means. ] [ Some general knowledge, some technical, some... forbidden. ] [ When she finally gave her thoughts on it, she was appalled that such a method could be implemented by any iterator. ] [ ...and usually, that is where most stop when they read upon the concept of self-destruction. ] [ However, what Moon must've read most likely inspired her more than push her away... ] [ ... ] [ I'm listening. ] [ Not to sound pessimistic, but I'm afraid if we can't find another means of reaching her, then she'll fall apart. ] [ I understand, I also worry about Five Pebbles. I'm concerned that his systems are irreversibly damaged. ] [ I guess, in a way, that is what makes me feel guilty. By giving Moon this information, I might lose her and indirectly cause the collapse of another iterator. ] [ To be honest, it does eat away at me too that we can't do much right now. ] [ Hopefully, once Moon lowers her processing power, Five Pebbles could send over the wide sweep diagnostics test. That way, we could get started. ] [ ...but for now, we have to wait regardless of how both of us feel. ] [ Everyone makes mistakes, even we as godlike machines are unfortunately blessed with emotions from a bygone era. ] [ Good point... ] [ Listen, if anything happens, I will catch you when you fall. ] [ Same here. Except if what's "falling" is your superstructure, then you're on your own. ] [ Heh. Glad to see you are getting back your snide attitude. ]

[julianalvarez9]

hot n cold / rúben dias

summary: being in the will-they-won't-they stage with rúben was confusing, to say the least. maybe a bit of rain during the treble parade can make things clearer for you.

wc: 1.1 words.

author's note: just a lottttt of pinning and tension that doesn't really get addressed, i'm sorry 😮‍💨 but they KNOW!!! 🙏🏻 also, lots of soft rúben for my soul 🙏🏻

rain in manchester. it shouldn't surprise none of you, part of the whole team that organized the parade, but still, it does.

first, the answer is to delay it. but, you all know the achievement is too big to overlook, so cancelling it isn't an option, with the fans and team all ready to celebrate the huge achievement only done once by a previous team. a direct rival, nonetheless. and considering there are already a sea of blue waiting for their home heroes, the answer comes rather easy: do it anyways. under pure, manchester weather.

the rain comes pouring down on all of you, and it almost feels predestined: like there was no other way of doing it. but also, you're freezing cold, rain soaking all your clothes and glueing them to your body. you couldn't care less at the moment, too focused on not missing a thing, which was difficult to do when jack was putting on a show for everyone to see.

your back clashes against somebody's front, and you want to turn desperately to offer your apologies, except, two big arms wrap around your figure, effectively immobilising you. "fuck, you're freezing" is the first thing the person says, and by his mere voice you know who it is.

you're not only dripping water with the sassines that can be perceived coming out of your lips. "i think that's the expected result when you're standing in the rain for one hour, rúben," you deadpan, and try to get out of his hold. you don't really care about prying eyes from fans right now, because the bus just got to its destination, so the coast is clear, one could say. but still, feeling you flush against him feels wrong, just because you know you're enjoying it far more than you should. he's a colleague, after all.

"come on, come here," he insists, and you can't really get out of his grip with the force he's caging you in now. you two are so close together that you can feel the medals hanging from his neck, and resting comfortably on his chest. his voice brings you back, and you feel like you've been caught staring, when in reality, you've not. "i'm hot. i can warm you up" he resonates, and although he doesn't refer to him being hot, but rather, his body temperature, which is notoriously higher than yours currently, you can't hel but laugh at the connotation. "wasn't really a secret that you're hot when you're shirtless, dias".

he tries to stifle a laugh, but still, the smirk painted on his lips, which enhances the little dimple he has in his cheek, betrays him. "anyways, you'll freeze to death," you say, turning a bit to get to see his face when you're speaking to him. you notice now the way that he's looking at you, so lovingly, that you're almost forced to turn around again to avoid getting flustered in his gaze. especially, when he shrugs your statement off. "wouldn't be such a horrible way to die, right?". thankfully, john comes before you can answer anything to the portuguese.

"come on, lovebirds, we have a treble to celebrate!".

you freeze at his words, and rúben is the one to move you forward when he starts walking, still holding you onto him, as if you'd leave his side at the first chance you had. that's what you would be supposed to do; but everybody's too drunk to remember any of the ruled you must follow, so you decide to follow that path too. except, you know that rúben doesn't have a drop of alcohol on his system, and you're not really in for drinking while at work: so you two are completely sober. "don't listen to him," he whispers when john's out of sight, and you realize you two are the only ones still in the bus. "but he's right. we have to get you warmed up. can't have my favorite staff getting sick, can we?".

ruben doesn't leave your side at all. not when you get down the bus, not when you enter the building. you don't see any of your colleagues, and your first instinct is to go out there, and search for them. for sure, they're all in place, doing their job, and you feel guilty not being there.

rúben gets to catch your wrist, just barely. "where are you going?" he asks, his eyes big and questioning. you only get to point with your thumb, signaling back towards where the exit to get to the stage is, but he's clearly not pleased with your answer. "you're not getting back there without a dry shirt" he says, giving you the blue shirt he had in his hold, and the towel a staff member had somehow dumped on him in a hurry. your eyes clearly spoke before you needed to, because ruben answered before you even muttered a word. "don't worry about me. see you out there, yeah?".

you're too focused filming and taking pictures to even see when rúben gets out, but the way the crowd cheers his name alerts you of his presence on the stage. the first thing you notice is the clear contrast between his shirt and the one the rest of his teammates are wearing. he has a nice, white shirt that hugs him just right, at the same time that marks him as a champions league champion. instead, the rest of the guys are wearing a light blue one, with light blue and neon yellow letters accentuating the fact that they're treble winners.

no one seems to notice the slip up, or at least, think it's accidental, but john sees you, and he knows. after all, it's not too complicated to put two and two together. he nods approvingly, like a proud father, only to shift his focus to clap rúben in the back. it seems to be a bit too strong to his liking given how fast he turns around, browns knitted together in confusion.

your focus gets taken out of their little interaction when jack does the next thing that has the crown roaring, and get reminded, again, of what your job here is. not to fool around with rúben, you chastise yourself, but still, can't help but look for him a few minutes after. this time, he's looking at you, and it makes your cheeks grow warm. he tugs his shirt and points at you, making a little thumbs up. rúben seems to mouth "looks good on you", and you playfully roll your eyes at him. "it's because it's yours".

[twst-drabbles]

Azul, Idia and Malleus 1

Summary: Azul and Idia are dragged for singing practice with Malleus. You too were dragged in, but not to sing. Malleus wanted you to be his audience and critic.

(I think it would be funny for the Janitor to just be in a chair, watching it all. I know the event is over, but it still lives in my head for whatever reason. Also this is over 1000 words, so have fun.)

While you're not going to the social that'll be happening in the Nobel Bell College, you are still a dear friend of Malleus. And because you have such privileges, you were allowed to be the judging audience for Malleus's singing practices.

"His initiative is mind-boggling… I didn't think Malleus would be so motivated." Azul said, clearly out of his element but refusing to show as such.

You leaned your head against your fist.

"You've never attended a fae party have you?" You picked at the lint on your uniform and flicked it towards the practicing pair. "This much enthusiasm is pretty common to see. And expected, actually."

Azul's smile twitched as he turned towards you, "Ah well, excuse my inexperience with not attending any fae parties. Running a business doesn't exactly allow me much free time. Though, I suppose quality standards would be different across species, wouldn't they? I just never expected them to be this high."

"That's what happens when you live for hundreds of years," you sighed, "the medium standard rises."

Malleus clapped his hands to gather everyone's attention.

"Now now, Ashengrotto," Malleus chided Azul, "Keep from looking at the Child of Man and start again. You must be sure to practice so that you can perform perfectly for them."

It's nice that you at least get a free show before they all go. Now if only you had snacks. It's been a while since you last ate.

Lilia, ever the perceptive one, floated over dropped an unopened bag of snacks right on your head. "Seeing a performance on an empty stomach is no way to enjoy it."

You grabbed it and nodded to him. "Nice, I like this brand."

Idia, having just the tiniest bit of respite, chewed on his nail and grumbled out, "I never expected our precision security system to get literally brute-forced. I gotta upgrade that ASAP, like tonight."

You chuckled, now in a better mood with a tasty snack on your tongue, "Idia, you're dealing with an enemy that scales to your level, it's never going to work."

Lilia laughed with you, "Exactly. You shouldn't underestimate our sheer tenacity. Especially when we're under strict orders."

Malleus had a hand to his mouth, smiling right down at Idia, clearly amused that Idia thought he could avoid all of this. "As such, I and this entire dorm are dedicating our time to craft this song into perfection. Your participation is crucial for that, I'm afraid."

Poor Idia. You're enjoying this too much.

"You can't escape," you muffled through your snacks.

Idia shrunk further into himself, but resigned to his practicing fate alongside Azul.

They started from the top and Malleus began singing that song you now know forwards and backwards. He kept diligent to his nightly visits over to your dorm, alongside of working in his hours of practice. It's difficult not to memorize it.

"He really is way too good at singing…" Azul and Idia murmured like you couldn't hear them at all.

"Yeah. Anything having to do with festivities and performances, they have it down pat. Did you know it's an insult to have a party last less than three days in fae etiquette?" You said while keeping a careful ear for any mistakes in Malleus's singing.

You really only said this just to get the thought out. You weren't expecting any sort of reply. And you certainly weren't expecting Azul and Idia to slowly turn towards you in dual horror.

Azul pushed up his glasses, "… while the social will last a while, the party itself will only last a day at the end… Could it be that Malleus does not know?"

And Idia is clutching at his hair. "Oh no, oh no, oh no…"

Wow they really just swallowed your words without question, huh?

"… obviously the rules are different if the host is a human, on their human owned land." You said with a lazy grin. The both of them are so easy to mess with.

Idia deflated into a defeated puddle on the floor while Azul perked right back up as though he too wasn't on the verge of a breakdown.

"Ah, well of course! If such rules applied the minute any guest is a faerie, we'd all be cursed in one manner or another."

Azul's ability to suddenly collect himself always amuses you. The sweat upon his brow hasn't even dried up yet. No wonder Malleus likes to put him on edge.

Malleus reached the end. He breathed in, out, then turned towards you. Azul and Idia flinched, being in his line of sight.

"Well? How was that?" Malleus asked.

And you gave your critic, "You might want to tone down the intensity in the first verse. Otherwise the climb to the finale won't hit as hard like that opera performance we saw on that video."

Of course you had to gather references regarding that song. You and your thirst for historical knowledge had you scaling down an interesting rabbit hole until you ended up stumbling upon an online archive filled with recorded performances. One of them simply wowed you and you had to show Malleus.

Malleus looked down, thoughtful. "I suppose you're right. Then, I'll make some adjustments as needed. I will reward you for the sound advice later, Child of Man. Let me try again. Lilia, if you will."

And another round he went, making sure to keep the full intensity of his voice under his control.

You couldn't help but sing along with him, under your breath of course. This was his practicing performance, not yours. You tapped to the rhythm, enjoying this early taste, living in the moment.

"Huh?" Azul and Idia both turned to you.

Your voice faded out before the end, as that verse is Malleus and Malleus's alone.

Idia, during that moment, scuttled up to your face like a bug. He grabbed your shirt by the collar. "You could sing?!" He hissed out.

"Uh, yeah?" It's a skill you had to practice with. The little pixies are all about songs and dances whenever they're helping you out with your work.

"So why don't you convince him. To let me go?!" Idia shook you back and forth. "Clearly this BBEG would love to sing with you over a loser like me! Do you want me to experience an IRL game over?!"

It… is amazing how weak Idia is. There is so little strength in those arms of his that you can't even be angry that he's wrinkling your shirt.

All you had to do was grab his face and push him down.

Idia did not stand a chance. He let go.

"Because I'm not invited, so I can't replace you. Besides, this is fun for me, watching you fumble like this." You grinned at this kneeling Idia. "When you've been around the pixies long enough, you just pick up their inner rhythm eventually. That, and singing keeps their energy high while I'm working."

"Well," Azul said, "That would explain why Malleus would want your critic over mine. How… frustrating."

Malleus didn't so much as spare a glance at Idia, only asked, "Shroud. What are you doing over there? It's time for you to practice the basics again."

"Ah!" Idia shot himself out of your grasp and zipped over to Lilia, "Coming!"

"If you'll excuse me, Janitor and Judge." Azul nodded to you, "I would want to make Malleus angry."

"Have fun." You waved them both off, settling in your plush chair once more until you were called for.

This is fun. You like this.

[talisidekick]

This blog is not participating in the Tumblr "Blackout"

Why? It's the start of Disability Pride month. Much of the systems in society are deliberately hostile to disabled folk, even the ones that are supposed to "help" them. Pride last month around the world held events that weren't accessible for disabled queers. These people are routinely cut out from society, assaulted, harrassed, and treated less than second class. People will physically move people in wheelchairs out of their way, cut them off, and stand in front of them as they try to move. They're shamed, insulted, laughed at, and mocked.

I know many are upset about Tumblrs recent changes, but if you truly want to help increase the accessibility of this site, especially for the sight or hearing impared or those who need to use third party applications to help them navigate the site, then a blackout isn't the way to do it. What you can do is add disability tags to your liked tags, or search up disability tags and see what disabled folk are saying they need from the site and either pay to blaze or come together as a community to amplify their voices and drown out ableists that constantly put them down. Disabled people face unique bigotry and deserve to have their needs blasted to the crowd and actions taken by abled folk to help them in the way they ask to be helped. One of the biggest issues I commonly see is abled folk assuming they know whats best for someone with a disability. If you're not disabled in the way someone else is, never assume you know what their needs are; always ask and listen closely.

This is a link to the proposed blackout and further reasons at the bottom why you shouldn't join this attempt, largely because Tumblr is set up in such a way that a blackout would do nothing but silence disabled voices:

Do not join the blackout. Go support disabled folk instead. Sit down and listen to them. They've a lot to be angry about, and it's damn time people listened.

[lol-jackles]

At the Crossroads 8 convention this past weekend Misha was in “spectacular” form. Is he irrelevant enough to get away with saying the things he did (see below), or could this negatively impact him at all? Also, how likely is it he’ll behave like this at his next con that Jensen is at?

“I’m the one who f***** you hard and raised you from perdition”

https://x.com/sarahjay55/status/1784617852156157955?s=46&t=wx4CnlP_QMqkNn_0DvA9HQ

“If the CW had been less homophobic then Dean and Cas would definitely have been balls deep."

https://x.com/raths_kitten/status/1784630676689490335

He said a slur

https://x.com/raths_kitten/status/1784630981334385116

And finally he was in a “foul mood” at some of his ops (not a new occurrence I know)

https://x.com/raths_kitten/status/1784519380711190889

Link. Link. Link. Link. Is he irrelevant? Yes, with the general audience since 2013 (season 9) and hence why he thought his fake bisexual coming out announcement wouldn't get picked up by People mag. And now he's becoming irrelevant in the SPN fandom as well and why he's going hard with the Destiel-baiting again. Recurring and side actors are known to queerbait their characters because they don’t get residuals from syndication deals so what do they care if they mislead a few fans. Misha is in the same boat because he's been demoted a few times on SPN and hence less residuals, especially over time.

While I actually don't ding Misha for queerbaiting his paying fans, but he shouldn't be slamming the network that helped him stay employed for a decade, no matter how irrelevant he is now. A simple google search will show that GLAAD had praised CW for their abundance of LGBT+++ characters.

The day Misha doesn’t queerbait Destiel is the day you know aliens are real and they replaced Misha with a pod-man who finds the idea of Destiel as ridiculous as the rest of us do.  

"He said a slur"

Come on dude, you know you should be saying "the f word and the h word" instead, it's not hard. I'm older than Misha and I've known for over 30 years you're not supposed to say the slur unless you're a member of the community with intent of ~reclaiming the slur (even though I think the idea of reclaiming is dumb).

"he was in a “foul mood”

As you said, this is a regular occurrence. It's his entitlement mentality problem that is partly due to his upbringing in a liberal elite education system that train their students to have contempt for the working class. Misha project this contempt toward his fans. When you're an entertainer, you work for the fans no matter the number, small or large. Musicians sing their hearts out whether they’re rocking in an arena or a club because they do it for the fans that showed up.   Most actors struggle too much for me to condemn them for grabbing financial success when the opportunity arises, but they should be professional towards the fans, especially in a controlled setting.

Sidenote, this is what happens when you send a father-less child to an elite liberal private school, they become entitled and then angry when their entitlements don't pan out. Think of the Occupy movement in the U.S that was opposing the 1%-ers by activists who are the 2-5-ers% who want to become 1%-ers but unable and their attitudes were result of expanding university system that created a large class of disgruntled elite-wannabes chasing too few elite places in society (X).

[softpine]

the amount of knowledge in guns you need to have to weave that into the story is fascinating to me. I don’t even know what racking a gun is (I do however know a whole bunch about obscure physics theorems) anyway I just think it’s neat how far we go into research to write things that make sense

i'm still not sure if i got everything correct, but no one has told me otherwise fjkjsd you've definitely heard the sound of a shotgun racking if you've watched any movie with guns in it, it's that "ch-chuck" kinda sound. what i didn't know is that there's apparently a huge debate in the home defense gun community over whether you should keep your gun loaded and racked or just loaded (don't bother mentioning safeties, they'll call you slurs...). the true benefit of not racking the gun would be if a little kid gets a hold of it, they're not going to know how to rack it therefore even if they pulled the trigger they hopefully wouldn't be able to shoot anything (in MY opinion this is idiotic; the chance that the gun would go off anyway is never zero, especially if they've ever seen their parents shooting and decide to copy their movements, as kids love to do). then some people think you should wait to rack it until you know there's an intruder in your house because the mere sound of it will make them go "oh shit" and just leave. people on the other side of the argument think this is pointless and only serves to reveal your position (but uhhh fyi, in some states you're supposed to give them a verbal warning and/or try to escape before using deadly force anyway). and they say you shouldn't be owning a gun if you're not prepared to use it as anything other than a sound effect. plus i saw some people say that you need that 1 extra round in the chamber or you might run out, which.... most pump shotguns hold 3 - 5 rounds so.. it just seems excessive to me, i can't imagine shooting up to 5 times and missing all of them?? in that case dude i think you're just fucked and 1 extra try is not going to help you lmao

the time factor is the most compelling argument to me, obviously if you're asleep and you hear someone break in and enter your bedroom, your gun is useless unless it's ready to shoot right this second. but the chances of this happening are just so slim and you know what would be even more effective?? a home alarm system so no one can possibly make it to your bedroom without you knowing about it. i saw a lot of people say they keep a loaded shotgun under their bed for this scenario. i'm a paranoid fuck and i've always lived in areas with high crime rates so i get it, but that's why i keep a maglite next to me while i sleep so in the incredibly unlikely event that someone breaks in without me hearing it, i can you know. whack them. do i ever think i'll need to do that? no but it makes me feel safer than having a loaded and chambered gun with no safety on lmao that would make me feel incredibly UNsafe... also i don't want to make this too dark but while i was in high school i knew FIVE kids who died because of their parents guns, one way or another. that is just unacceptable to me. we also had a gun go off at school and even though no one was hurt, that was one of the most traumatic experiences of my life because obviously in the moment we all heard a gunshot and thought it was an intentional school shooting. so anyway, me and guns do not get along but it's fascinating to research

but yeah as you can see i fell down the rabbit hole!! the things you do for writing jfksjds i did not need to go that far with it, but it was interesting!

[mimisempai]

It's my turn to rescue you

Summary

Crowley is in danger, and Aziraphale rushes to his rescue. And, showing a side of his personality he doesn't often use, he wonders what possessed the demon not to fight back.

Notes

Action scenes aren't my forte, so I hope you'll forgive me if it's a little wonky.

On Ao3

Rating G -  1643 words

"I just told you, I'm not interested in your cheap second-hand books!"

Hearing this, Nina looked up from the table she was cleaning and saw Aziraphale surrounded by two tall men who seemed to be trying to sell him some books.

They surrounded him and it was obvious that they were quite shady. They were preventing the bookseller from entering his shop. 

Nina put down her tea towel, wondering if she should intervene, when suddenly Crowley emerged from the shop and immediately placed himself as a roadblock between the two men and Aziraphale.

After an argument that she didn't hear, the two men left under the threatening gaze of the red-haired man.

Suddenly she saw him start to smoke and wondered if she shouldn't go and deactivate the coffee shop's security system. She didn't really want to be locked in again, especially since she would be alone this time.

But Aziraphale approached him, put a hand on his arm, and that seemed to calm Crowley, who let himself be dragged into the bookshop.

Nina went back to work, but she couldn't stop thinking about something. The conversation she'd had with Aziraphale on the night of the bookshop raid.

“Crowley will be back in a moment, he will have a plan.” 

“Why don't you stand up for yourself? Make your own plans.”

“I am, but rescuing me makes him so happy.”

Thinking back to the scene she'd just seen, she wondered how true it was. She went out into the street to bring the signs to the coffee shop, and when she saw Aziraphale coming out of the bookstore, she decided to take the opportunity to talk to him.

She walked up to him and asked, "So, are you all right? I saw what happened."

Aziraphale hesitated a little, "Ah, um, yes, it ended well."

Nina crossed her arms, "Yeah, I saw that. Your knight in shining armor came to save the day."

Aziraphale sighed, "I know..."

Nina insisted, "But weren't you the one who said it made him happy not long ago, so why are you sighing?"

Aziraphale hesitated a bit before answering, "Because I realized it was putting an unnecessary burden on his shoulders."

Nina resumed more gently, "Maggie and I witnessed your abilities and strength, so why?"

Aziraphale looked almost desperate, "I didn't have time to react. He was already there."

Nina nodded, "I see. I suppose you've been working this way for a very long time, if I understood Mr. Grumpy correctly, so it will take some time to reverse the tendency. But I'm relieved to see that you've changed on this point. It's not good when it's unbalanced, believe me."

Aziraphale smiled and nodded, "Thank you, Nina. You're very kind."

Nina chuckled, "Me? I think you've got the wrong person."

She returned to the coffee shop to the sound of the angel's light laughter.

**********

The next morning Aziraphale was opening the mail when suddenly Muriel burst into the shop, breathless and shouting, "Aziraphale! Aziraphale! It's Crowley... he's in... trouble. Hurry!"

Aziraphale ran to them, "Where? Take me with you and tell me what you saw on the way!"

They both ran off, Aziraphale not bothering to leave the open bookshop behind. As they ran up the street, Muriel told the angel that while they were chatting with Crowley, who was getting out of the Bentley a little further up the street, two mean-looking men had appeared out of nowhere. One of them knocked them to the ground and then dragged Crowley into a nearby alley.

"Why didn't he fight back, that idiot?" exclaimed Aziraphale.

Muriel shook her head, "I don't know, he just yelled at me to go away and mumbled something about being nice. It's right back there." Muriel pointed to a small alleyway where no one ever passed.

Aziraphale, out of breath, stopped and said, "Very good. Thank you, Muriel. Now I need you to go back to the shop and watch it, okay?"

"But..."

Azirphale shook his head and said firmly, "Let me take care of it. I promise everything will be fine."

Muriel nodded worriedly and went back to the shop.

Then Aziraphale stepped into the alley.

"You're going to tell your boyfriend that we're the law in this neighborhood, and if he wants to go about his business in peace, he'll buy from us whatever we bring him."

The angel heard Crowley sneer, "If you think for one second he's going to do what you ask, you're sorely mistaken. Mmmph!"

Aziraphale rushed over and arrived just as one of the two men stepped back after punching the demon in the stomach and said, "But if he doesn't, we'll help you make him understand."

Aziraphale was now behind them and said in a loud voice, "He's here and he understood perfectly well that you didn't seem to value life."

The two thugs turned around and one of them said in a mocking tone, "Oh, he's come to save his boyfriend, that's so cute. I'm so scared I'm shaking in my boots."

"Kof...kof..." Crowley coughed as he stood and held his stomach before saying, "You...should...should be scared..."

The other man guffawed, "Afraid? Of... this? Hahahammmh..."

Suddenly the two men found themselves on the ground, hands and feet bound and mouths gagged, as Aziraphale leaned over them and said menacingly, pointing to his own hand, "You see my hand? The moment it rises, you'll forget everything - this place, me, him - and you'll disappear from here. Maybe you'll learn a lesson."

The two men's eyes widened as they struggled, then Aziraphale began to raise his hand as he continued, a predatory smile on his lips, "You won't know who I am, but I'll always know where you are."

The two men disappeared, screaming in silence, and Aziraphale rushed over to lCrowley, who was leaning against the wall, holding his stomach where the thug had punched him.

He put his hands on the demon's shoulders and shook him lightly, admonishing him, "You triple idiot! What's gotten into you? Why didn't you fight back? What if I hadn't gotten there in time?"

Crowley raised his hand and said, "Easy, angel."

Aziraphale took a deep breath to calm himself, and putting his arm under the demon's for support, he replied, "I'm gonna get you home and we're gonna talk about this, believe me."

A short time later, after Muriel had been reassured and sent home, they sat down on the sofa.

Aziraphale gently lowered his hand to Crowley's stomach and said inquiringly, "I know it can be very painful, is that the case, right now?"

Crowley shook his head, "Not anymore."

Aziraphale asked in a harder voice, "So I ask you again, what possessed you not to defend yourself?"

Crowley replied, "I was trying to be... kind?"

Aziraphale narrowed his eyes and retorted, "Are you kidding me?"

"Angel! It's not like you to swear like that!"

"And here I thought you were smarter than this, but apparently we're both wrong about each other! What's that supposed to mean? Trying to be kind?!"

Crowley shrugged, "Just before the two goons jumped me, Muriel had just told me she thought I was nice. Everyone, like you, tells me that all the time, so for once I tried to live up to what people say about me."

Aziraphale rolled his eyes before replying, "Let me use your words here, how can someone as clever as you be so stupid? Don't you know that when people say you're kind, it's because you are. You don't have to live up to some image you think people have of you. We say it because we think you are. People say you're kind because they've been the beneficiary of your kindness. So you don't have to be somebody else. We're not going to change our minds because you're going to defend yourself in your own way against two thugs who, moreover, attacked you."

Aziraphale dropped his forehead on the demon's shoulder, "And most of all, don't scare me like that again."

Crowley leaned his head against the angel's and chuckled softly, "Now you know how it feels."

Aziraphale straightened his head and said seriously, "Yes, and I didn't like it. And I'm sorry."

Crowley put an arm around the angel's shoulders and leaned back into the couch, pulling him along with him, before saying, "Anyway, I liked seeing my angel get tough."

Aziraphale glared at him and patted his chest, saying, "Idiot, I was only tough because you were in danger and had just been hurt."

"I like it anyway. By the way, two questions: first, what was that deliciously terrifying smile, and second, where did you send them?"

Aziraphale explained against the demon's chest, "That smile, I learned it from watching you for 6,000 years and..."

Crowley interrupted with a proud little sneer, and after waiting for him to calm down, the angel continued, "And I sent them to a farm, where they are forced to do the dirty work, knowing they have done wrong, but remembering nothing."

There was silence at first, then Crowley laughed softly before saying, "Oh, yeah...the epitome of viciousness. Even when you're punishing someone, you're adorable."

Aziraphale tapped Crowley's chest harder, "Hey! You're getting a little too cheek-"

"But it's one of the reasons I love you."

He pressed his lips to the angel's hair and said softly, "Thanks for coming to my rescue."

Aziraphale hugged him a little tighter and replied just as softly, "You're welcome. But if possible, don't make me do it again so soon."

Crowley chuckled, "Look who's talking. You're a few moves behind me, so I can't guarantee anything."

As the angel began to pound his chest, the demon burst into laughter, soon joined by the angel, and in their shared joy, they let the last vestiges of their misfortune fade away.

_________

Still not beta'd

Still not my native language

Still hoping you'll enjoy this story  🥰

Still thanking you for bearing with me 😝

Ineffable Growing Love series : here (After season 2)

Ineffable Husbands masterlist : here (Before season 2)

[rin-and-jade]

Okay, so we've tried several times to write an ask, and each time we just..stop ?? So this time instead of explaining in detail n shit and saying how much we're sorry if this isn't appropriate to ask, I'm just gonna write :/

So, we're kind of stuck, in the sense that idk if I'm/we're(both pronouns feel wrong lol) a system anymore and,wdk what to do about it.

Because basically 5-6 years ago, when we were around 10(i think, but at this point i only know the story through the "telephone" of our retellings) our brain tried to just.. get rid of most of the DID. I'm not even ducking kidding, i think it tried to lower barriers and smush most of us together, to the best of it's ability. From what I've gathered, it planned on shoving all our trauma deep down in the innerworlds, and hiding them from the main kid. Like, getting rid of thousands of fragments, banking them in little crevices of our brain etc.

That procedure was supposed to make it so the main kid could have more of their life for them- without access or even knowledge of the sheer size of the abyss and pain in background, and thus being less affected by it till they were old enough to deal with it. Idk how to explain really, especially since i myself barely understand.

In any case, it went wrong. I don't know why much, as our memory has increasingly deteriorated since to the point i have nearly no knowledge left. I'm not sure even all that ever happened, because maybe I'm just inventing stuff and creating a story were there is none, and I'm scared that what i know isn't real and just my imagination or smth

And what's left is..me i guess. I kinda feel like a fragment in the sense that i have limited consciousness and just..person-space(if that makes sense ?) I'm not sure if I'm several people, one person, an eldritch entity of kinda seperate kinda not glued together entities.

Idek what i want to be. I want to be a full person, that's for sure, but other than that ? Idk. I'm lost, I'm a mix of tons of different opinions and vague, weak, feelings, and flashes of blurry memories and desires that don't belong to me.

So.. i know you probably can't help, but do you have.. any idea on what I could do ? Or if others have been in similar situations and if it got better ?

This is a very long ask x knows, and it's desperate, and you aren't our/my psychs so I shouldn't just dump this and hope you have answers, and I'm so sorry if this isn't appropriate to ask, but yeah.

I'm sorry.

Dissociative disorders do the job, but not perfectly, what you're explaining from the words of "nearly no knowledge left" sounds like retrograde amnesia, where it is near to impossible to remember anything from the past.

I also get a bit on what you mean with not knowing who you are,, that is usually close to a blurry moment? Because everything feels jumbled, its not clear, it is hard to discern wether there's multiple or not, etc. That could sound like it;

Have you been exposed to stress? Especially long term? Has anything awful been happening? Many factors can affect memory and recognizing who you are that can stem from basic needs that are neglected like sleep or rest if you're working for long periods, or deficiencies on vitamins/minerals/nutrition because they also play a part on fending off brain fog which can cause many issues like memory recall or trouble focusing,, or it can be to even deeper issues like stress as i said before, or if it is related to trauma, or any sustained physical injuries but it could be anything really.

Im guessing this is something that didn't happen in such a short time, but i do can give you some stuffs to do for starters:

Write down everything you can notice those feelings, those lingering sense of identity, or vibes, or thoughts, they are truly jumbled and it helps you organize and recognize your situation better if you have a physical record of what you're experiencing

Find the cause of problem If you can, try digging up anything you can find that could be the culprit, maybe before things get too foggy to remember that could serve as clues, and by checking with your current health (physically and mentally and emotionally) and see what could be fixed.

For sense of fulfillment It is overwhelming to know which or where you have to start from if you want to learn more of yourself, while you can do number 1 to jot down things you don't align with, this also gives you some ideas on what could be yours. Start somewhere small, like, how you like your daily morning, or preference in eating food, or the colors you think it looks cool.

It would also be great if you can leave out the tiniest bit of context next time, so my answers for now are rather vague and less pinpointed/specific. Though atleast still can suffice as a starting point to tackle your issues.

You can contact me anytime via ask box or DMs, let's see how things go for you okay?

- j

[linkspooky]

I know you already said in a post that Batman would empathize with Tomura so I wanted to ask you if you think Batman could empathize with the rest of the League.

Sure, there are plenty of parallels already between Batman's rogues gallery, and the League of Villains. Batman is characterized by his relationship with his villains, partly because he frequently shows empathy for his villains, considering how many of them are victims who've had "a bad day" just like Bruce did.

Toga Himiko and Harley Quinn

This is the most similar parallel between a batman rogue and Himiko, I already wrote a post about it here, more or less Harley and Toga live their lives in a twisted pursuit of love which would be an understandable motivation were it not for in pursuing their love they create many victims along the way as they violently lash out.

There is an episode of Batman the animated series called "Harley's Holiday" where Harley is given a clean bill of health and is discharged from Arkham Ayslum. Harley however, the next day is triggered when the shop attendant forgot to take the tags off a dress she legally purchased and the shoplifting detector went off, what specifcally triggers Harley is the idea that she's going to go down for a crime she didn't commit and be dragged back into Arkham. Harley has a bit of an emotional breakdown at this point and thinking she's going to be arrested, knocks down the security guard, takes a hostage to protect herself and runs out the store.

Harley: I just wanna live a normal life without some cop always pouncing on me.

Harley all day long runs with the hostage not because she's trying to hurt anyone, but essentially is having a breakdown and legitimately believes that she will be dragged back to Arkham for a crime that she did not commit. She even did not intend to hurt the girl she kidnapped and was planning on letting her go.

Batman follows Harley the whole episode, not because he wants to capture her and put her back in prison, but he's trying to de-escalate the situation and protect Harley so she doesn't lose the progress she's made.

Bruce: Listen to me. All the work you've done, your freedom. If you run away, you'll lose them Harley. You're so close to winning back your real life. Why risk it now?

It's worth bringing up that Himiko is also someone who was specifically failed by the social systems that were supposed to teach her how to use her quirk in a healthy way. Imagine, if after her first violent incident, instead of being thrown out by her parents, and pursued by the police to lock her up someone would have gone as far as Bruce did to remind Himiko that one bad day, or one bad deed shouldn't ruin your whole life. The goal of batman isn't to throw away his villains and lock away the key but to reform them, as shown by his last action in the episode buying Harley a dress and expressing empathy for her troubles.

Harley: Why did you stay with me all day, risking your butt for someone who's never given you anything but trouble? Bruce: I know what it's like to try and rebuild a life. I had a bad day too, once.

TWICE AND HARVEY DENT

Disassociative identity disorder? Check. Formerly good person who goes bad and suffers a mental breakdown after what was essentially an accident? Check. For Twice it's losing his parents, it's losing his job, it's deciding to steal to make a living only to have all his clones turn against him and forget what's the real one. Harvey starts out not only as a well-intentioned person, but a prosecutor trying to fight crime, and a close friend to Bruce Wayne.

The inciting incident to his villainry is a sheer accident, through no fault of his own. Harvey has problems with another personality, a repressed angry side, and is attending therapy to address it while the pressures of his outside life pile on and one violent accident that scars half of his face causes him to snap.

Batman's focus the entire episode is once again, trying to bring his friend back. In Harley's case especially he's suffering from a dissociative identity disorder which does not make him fully in control of his actions. It's not even a question of whether or not Harvey is past the point of no return for Bruce, but rather how he is going to bring him back.

Bruce: Wherever you are, whatever you've become, I will save you. I swear. "Two-Face Part II".

As Two-Face insists that Harvey is gone and no part of him remains, it's Bruce who refuses to give up on the idea that Harvey is still there, reminding him he still has friends.

Bruce: I want to help you. Harvey: Help me? You don't know anything about me. Bruce: I know that you have friends, Harvey. Friends who love and care about you. Harvey: Harvey's friends are no friends of mine. Bruce: What about Grace? Harvey: Grace? What do you know about Grace? Bruce: Every day, she waits and prays. She wants you back, Harv.

Once Harvey's attempts at revenge against the man who scarred him are stopped, there are follow up episodes like "Second Chance" that emphasize once again that Bruce is someone who believes in Harvey's ability to heal. When he's kidnapped just before getting face restoring surgery after making major progress in his therapy, Batman spends the entire episode trying to get him back and it ends again on this hopeful note.

Harvey: Bruce. Goold old Bruce. Always there. You never give up on me.

Bruce doesn't kill his villains because he doesn't believe he has the right to act as a judge on whether they have the right to redeem themselves or not, and in many cases he is actively in support of their rehabilitation and return to society. Compare the way Hawks handled Twice. He started off making an offer to redeem him, but unlike Bruce decided he was the one who had the right to choose who was worthy of redemption and who was not. He divides good people and bad people and decides Only Twice is worth redemption because he is good and his offer of redemption comes at the cost of selling out the league, and then goes straight to the murder option.

Batman doesn't act like he has the right to decide who gets saved, and who doesn't, whereas in hero society there's a pattern of regularly ignoring the help of people in need of they don't fit the image of a "good innocent victim."

"Well Batman wasn't fighting a war like Hawks was" go read the Injustice Comics, Batman's best friend Clark Kent becomes the literal dictator of the world and Batman is running a rebellion against him and the justice league and he still never chooses to kill anyone even if that would make the fight he is fighting a lot easier.

Jason Todd and Dabi

This one is a little bit harder to explain, because there's no under the red hood arc in Batman the Animated series which I am using as my main example because it's the most well known version of Batman. I did write an arc comparing Jason and Toya.

Under the Red Hood the storyline if anything is a well-written tragedy because it shows how much Batman failing to save Jason is a deviation of his true self, and his desire to save and reform his villains. Batman suddenly has trouble helping save an obvious victim, because of how much his own guilt complex and fear that he will lose Jason again is sabotaging his feelings. Batman isn't perfect after all.

However, I will say two things, if you read the original Death in the Family arc Bruce isn't a perfect parent but he is leagues better than Endeavor and he in fact was doing what he thought was best to help Jason when Jason started showing signs of instability.

His attempt to remove Jason from the Robin role was because he thought Robin was making Jason worse and Jason needed time to be a normal kid. Which is on a totally different level than what Enji did which is just throw away the kid he didn't need, and then make no attempt to help a kid who was reacting badly through sheer regret. If Batman had a kid reacting like Toya, he would have noticed and at least tried to help because at that point in the comics Batman was a flawed parent yes, but one actively trying to fix his mistakes and do better, as opposed to one who just ran away at every opportunity.

On top of that Bruce's hesitation the entire Under the Red Hood arc is about how much he mourns Jason, and how afraid he is of grieving him again. He fears that he can't save him while wanting to save him. Whereas, Enji really only cares about whether or not he can keep being a hero. Batman makes it clear by the end of the arc he wants to save Jason, he's wanted to the entire time.

Batman also, unlike Enji is capable of admitting that he can be the bad guy and that he can fail. Bruce also admit, and I think this is what makes him symapthize with his villains so much that he's not a saint or paragon of morality either, much like Jason he also feels tempted to put villains on the ground or that it would be much easier to just take justice into his own hands.

Part of what drives him to be a hero is because he's capable of imagining himself being the villain, that's why he relates to his villains and tries to help them instead of taking justice into his own hands. Whereas, Enji can abuse his family for years and be told several times that he chose being a hero over a father, only to believe he's still somehow the hero in this scenario. You have one who understands they failed their son and they could be a villain and the other who can never see themselves as the villain and instead villainize their son.

SPINNER VS KILLER CROC

As for Spinner the closest comparison I can come up with is Killer Croc, someone who is just a normal person with a birth defect that causes their skin to grow scales who was treated as a sideshow freak and continually dehumanized throughout all of their lives. This one is harder because Killer Croc doesn't really get many sympathetic episodes in Batman the Animated Series, in fact there's an episode I kind of dislike where Croc is taken in by freaks who treat him as human and accept him and then he turns on them. Which I think is kind of against the message of a lot of these Batman the Animated Series episodes, that these people aren't bad at heart but created by the circumstances they've endured in life.

If you dig around in the comics though there are times where Killer Croc is treated in a much more sympathetic light, in Suicide Squad he has a romance with Enchantress of all people which calms him down significantly because utlimately he just wants to be treated as a human from having people hurl abuse at him all these years and treat him as an animal because of his skin condition.

COMPRESS VS THE RIDDLER

Closest comparison I can come up with for Compress is the Riddler, because Compress to me of the league is the most "Bank Robber in a Silly Costume" themed villains. Riddler's obsession isn't really with harming people so much as creating elaborate riddles for Batman to solve.

When Paul Dini did a run on detective comics they explored Riddler from this angle, by have him giving up his identity as the Riddler and instead for awhile act as a private investigator who turned his same obsession in creating riddle themed crimes, to solving them instead. he even worked alongside Batman a couple of times.

[tenebrius-excellium]

I hate my life so much rn because it's Spring and it's sooo beautiful outside - we're having amazing weather, everything is vibing and fresh and ALIVE yet I feel like in my personal circumstances I've hit the ceiling of some things and I despise the limits this puts on my current existence. BUT. I am learning the following:

Money is really there to be spent on all the nice things You Wish You Could Get But Think You Shouldn't Have (Get them. They're literally your reward system and it's supposed to be satisfactory. You worked for this.)

We all neeeeed to dance more sweet Jesus Lord and Savior I love you the DIFFERENCE that it makes O_O it makes me feel very feminine and helps to let loose my body and my emotions.

Gardening is therapy. You beat up the soil and rip out some weeds, that's literally Destruction That Is Allowed. You can have As Much Of It as you want and I promise the battle is Real. Ivy and thistles will gladly fight you to the death. Then you knead & sprinkle the warm earth around, you dig n you ever so gently place seeds in a specific spot that YOU and YOU alone get to pick. Once you've covered the spot, you now have a funny little secret all to yourself because NO ONE FREAKING ELSE knows what you did and where. O_O and it feels like you've given life to something. Now you wait. You get out the good watering can and softly soothe the dry earth with some moisture. You give rain to this parched and weary land and watch it blossom and smell amazing. How do flowers even exist??? They make those scents all by themselves??? Fascinating. Oh and they literally attract little friends too. Yeah. That's more life. And then you get to eat the fruits of what you planted. Which plays into your reward system. So. Yeah. Gardening.

also this goes hand in hand with being Outside™, so you'll naturally have better skin, will have breathed better air, will grow physically stronger, will tan, will have moved your body and will be more relaxed. All WITHOUT going on that stupid little walk for your mental health. If you don't have a garden, do it on the balcony.

Sitting around and waiting for something to happen to make this hell better wastes life time and nothing else. Do things. Especially the ones you may not be able to do anymore once you're older. Just get immersed in them. It's scary when you've learned to be stuck & cautious & in survival mode, but in most cases, nothing will go wrong. Promise. Go enjoy something. Let down your guard. It makes you more beautiful and interesting anyway.

Now for the limits, let's break through.

[achickennamedcheese]

What they could've done with Lunar's story

Alright, so, this is what I'm gonna call the "Zak and Human" Method, because the storyline for my OC Zak mostly fits here.

Zak works for a galactical government called "The Base of Dimensions" or BOD. Humans aren't supposed to have magic, and when they do it's an anomaly, so Zak's job is to investigate the anomaly and make sure that the magical human is not a threat. This is because the most dangerous galactical and universal threats began from small, unchecked anomalies like magic humans.

Why couldn't they do the same thing for Lunar???

Okay, so Lunar suddenly has powers, wouldn't be weird right? On Earth, even animatronics can cast spells and have magic, such as Moon or Eclipse. But what makes Lunar an anomaly is the fact that his powers don't abide by the same magic system of his original planet. His powers are a different thing entirely, and that is an anomaly, an anomaly that could turn into a threat if left unchecked.

And so Gemini, the "Zak" of this scenario, is sent to handle Lunar by a higher power or a higher government. If Lunar can prove he can handle his powers, then he won't be seen as a threat and all will be well. If Lunar can't, then he will be killed off. It seems harsh, but this is all to prevent a small problem from becoming a big issue. All of this is explained to Lunar by Gemini, because honestly it's stupid to hide it and why would they have any reason to.

All seems to go well, Gemini trains Lunar and Lunar seems to be getting a handle on everything, including a potential relationship with Gemini! But then Lunar does something he shouldn't have, he kills Eclipse.

By killing Eclipse, Lunar has proved to the higher powers that Lunar has the potential to become a threat. At least, a threat to his planet, at most, a threat to his galaxy, and that's what causes Gemini to be so mad at Lunar. Gemini really does care for Lunar, and seeing them mess up like this and put themselves in jeopardy upset them a lot because now Lunar would be on the extermination list. And now Gemini has to plead for Lunar's case, for the higher powers to give Lunar a second chance. And with that, Gemini is gone.

I feel like this would've justified Gemini's anger, along with the reason why Gemini came in the first place. The reason as to why Gemini even bothered to train Lunar is so vague that I don't think the writers even knew. So many say that Lunar didn't deserve to be yelled at and Eclipse deserved to die again, and when you see what played out I can understand that! When you actually look at it, Lunar's weather powers are probably pretty petty compared to the other things that exist in this Universe, so why??? Why would the astral bodies give a shit???

In this little version, Gemini tells Lunar why they're here, what they want to do, and why they're gonna help Lunar. This tells both Lunar and the audience what the stakes are and why Lunar has to do this training thing. And when Eclipse ends up dying and Gemini gets pissed, at least fans who watch can understand why Gemini is mad. Whether or not Eclipse deserved dying, Lunar just put himself on the extermination list and now Gemini has to find a way to get Lunar out of it.

It's such a simple storyline and maybe this is what the writers were going for! But if it is, they didn't convey it well.

I know that LAES and SAMS aren't supposed to be a marvel of writing, but if you're gonna have characters and story lines you could at LEAST make them make sense.

People are probably gonna be mad at me for this or point out things in episodes that point to this little story change not making sense, and okay, I get it, it's not like I watched ALL of the LAES or SAMS episodes so I understand if I missed some things. But seriously I feel like this is a simple fix, especially when you have a world as loose as the Security Breach Show universe. For fucks sake, Monty and Puppet are thinking of switching Cringe Foxy and Normal Foxy???

[strozzaprete]

hi. i feel so awfully bad and i need somewhere to vent and im so sorry to do it here but i need someone to just. tell me what to do or how to feel. this is pathetic and i apologize and you can always just dismiss this ask. sorry.

but, see, i'm in high school (already inherently bad) and i have no friends but my boyfriend. he is really an amazing dude and i know i shouldn't send this to quote unquote misandrist blogs but whatever. he is truly fantastical, somehow.

as i said, i have no friends, and it's been that way for... a good while, aka years. i've been bullied a considerable amount and my mind itself is not the prettiest landscape. i am frequently alone, constantly lonely, and rarely happy. my only relieves are my family (sometimes, not even always because it can be a very toxic environment too) and my aforementioned boyfriend.

he has helped all the way through my eating disorder and all other troubles - i don't self diagnose, but, just so you can get an idea, the BPD and depression type. we see each other every day at school. he is the only person i know i can always count on. the two only other people i sometimes talk with and laugh with, both girls ive known forever (been at this school since kinder), are often pretty mean and have no problem ignoring me when they want to. my boyfriend never does that. never has.

but now he is changing schools too because he also is having a shitty time without much friends. and i cannot change schools because of budget. but i simply don't know what to do without him every day in my life. i dont know who'll help me when ive been so down i cannot listen at all in class and cannot understand the work. i dont know who i'll sit with. i don't know how i'll have lunch all alone and feel this invading me again. he had helped me be calm so many many many times and now it's so gone and i'll be without anyone once more and i've been proven right that everyone ends up leaving me. he'll have a better life than me and i'll stay in this cursed place imprisoned while he is out meeting people so much better than me in all aspects. he swears by his mother he'll keep in contact and not fall for anyone else but how am i supposed to believe that when i am so inherently unloveable? why wasn't i enough for him to not leave? why does he leave when he can still hang out with me? why can i be able to endure having no friends, but he can't?

there's no way to convince him to stay, and i don't want to go around begging him and, even worse, affect his academic future, given he is going to a "better" school.

i'm so sorry. i send this to u because everyone else here on radblr is like. 30. and that'd be uncomfortable for both.

please remember u can just delete this. god. sorry again

i know this feels like the end of the world right now but it'll pass. i've even graduated postgrad now but i haven't finished high school that long ago really, and for the first couple of years it was basically the same for me – minus the boyfriend lmao. i know it sucks. teenagers were fucking horrible in my time so i can't even imagine what they're like in 2024. i am so sorry you're in this rut right now but remember that even if it feels so far away high school will eventually finish! it'll be so liberating, and it'll be easier to find people you actually want to spend time with, especially if you continue your studies.

it pains me that you're putting so much importance on a single person who is not you. the only piece of advice i can really give you is to try to get to know yourself a bit more, and get to the root of your discomfort – you're not inherently unlovable, your life experience might have lead you to integrate that into your belief system because it's a normal reaction to the bullying. i know it's easy to say and hard to do but you must learn how to be comfortable with yourself because at the end of the day you're the person you're going to spend your entire life with. your personality will shine through and the people who are right for you will eventually find you. (fuck those mean "friends"! you deserve better)

you're young so i know everything is so intense for you right now, and i understand, honestly i usually don't respond to anons like these cause idk if i'm equipped to give real advice, but really i was an infamously shy weirdo loner and everything gradually got so much better towards and after the end of high school and now i'm literally unrecognizable lmao while the "cool" people in my class stayed the same... and they were only really "cool" in high school. this entire post sounds like a cliché i know lmao but it all changed once i realized that these people ain't shit... but i am lmao. because i slowly got to know myself, figured out what i liked doing more than anything else (listen to music), and specifically because i told myself so. i started standing up for myself against some things that i wasn't okay with, like bullying (and for a considerable amount of times i was bullied by teachers lmao). and i wasn't always successful but it helped build my character in the long run. i also stopped reacting to stuff that was going wrong by being self-deprecating or making suicidal jokes, even if they were just in my head, and replacing them with some flavor of "i can't wait for this moment to pass/high school to finish". it sounds stupid but it really works. and it gives you something to look forward to. i really wish you the best

[666writingcafe]

The Conversation

Content Warning: allusions to Lucifer, which is NSFW

During our first tutoring session, Barbatos suggested that I find a quiet spot to practice meditating. I knew that the House of Lamentation wouldn't cut it, for the brothers act way too chaotic for me to be able to focus for more than five minutes at a time. Purgatory Hall would cause issues as well, for if I stayed long enough, I'd have to endure Solomon's cooking. Plus, I'd have to deal with a bunch of jealous demons, and I just don't have the energy to deal with that right now.

So, when I discovered a set of stairs that lead down to an abandoned coliseum the very next day after my lab, I knew that I had found my spot. Usually, I remain down there for a hour. If I stayed down there much longer, people would grow suspicious.

However, my plans tonight get thrown right out the window, for when I venture down the steps, I'm greeted by the sight of Diavolo staring up at the giant statue in the center of the room.

Great. I can't even have this place to myself.

I don't realize the thought escapes my brain until Diavolo turns his head and smiles at me.

"I didn't realize you knew about this place, MC," he states, beckoning me to join him.

"I've been coming here to meditate after class," I explain. "It's quiet."

"That it is. I come here to think sometimes." He pauses. "Do you know the history of this place?"

"If I remember correctly, this coliseum was here long before RAD was built." Diavolo nods his head.

"Most of it is actually a recreation of the original. It got destroyed in a war with the Celestial Realm."

"Before or after the brothers fell?"

"Before, back when my father was awake. I was merely a baby then." He pauses again. "I discovered Lucifer holding Lilith's wounded body just a few feet from here."

"How depressing." Diavolo chuckles. "What's so funny?"

"You can be quite blunt at times." I shrug before sitting down. Diavolo follows suit, and I have a feeling I'm going to be here for a really long time.

"You actually caught me thinking about my past," he states.

"In what way?" Diavolo sighs.

"There are times that I wonder if the choices I made to get to this point in my life were the right ones. Like, did I really choose the right path? Should I have followed in my father's footsteps and continued running things as they were? Should I have created this school? The exchange program?"

"I think Barbatos would tell you to quit doubting yourself."

"Barbatos can only see possibilities. I never know for sure if my decisions produce the best outcome or not."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I know you have similar thoughts."

"Are you trying to connect with me?"

"Is there anything wrong with that?"

"Not necessarily. It's just that if we're looking at things objectively, I've been a nuisance to you from the very beginning. I was supposed to be a non-magical human exchange student. Nothing more, nothing less. I had no business getting as close to the brothers as I have, let alone interfere with your justice system or having your two right-hand men go behind your back and keep things from you."

"Not punishing the brothers ended up being the right thing to do."

"How can you be so sure of that? You said it yourself: you never know for sure if your decisions produce the best outcome."

"Do you remember what I told you about your destiny?"

"You thought that I was meant to influence the brothers in some way."

"Exactly. So far, you're succeeding."

"Which proves my point of me being a nuisance to you. A human shouldn't have so much influence over demons, especially the Avatars of Sin. What if they decide they've had enough of you ordering them around and wanted me to be their authority figure instead?"

"Then so be it."

"How can you be so relaxed about this? You are the Demon Prince, heir to the throne! Shouldn't that concern you?"

"Not if you're ruling beside me." What?

"You're being ridiculous."

"Am I? You have pacts with seven of the most powerful demons in the Devildom and the blood of angels flowing through you. I'd be stupid to not have you by my side."

"Lucifer was right. You think everyone's meant to serve you."

"Not true." He pauses. "Not anymore, anyway. By the time everything's said and done, we will all be serving you."

"That's it." I extend my arm out to Diavolo. "Pinch me."

"What?"

"You heard me. Pinch me. I am either having a really vivid dream or an intense hallucination, because there is no way this conversation is remotely real."

"I'm not going to pinch you. I will, however, remind you about what happened the last time we were alone." I roll my eyes.

"You know that was Asmo's idea, right?"

"But he wasn't the one who said it to me. You were. Using your logic, why would I agree to your request?"

"Because you wanted Lucifer to suck your dick."

"I prefer that activity to be just between the two of us. When we're together, I want to be his only source of pleasure."

"Then you didn't want me alone with him."

"I will give you partial credit. There is a part of me that is jealous of how close you and Lucifer have become in such a short amount of time whereas I've had to work for several hundred years to get to that point with him. The main reason, however, is that I simply couldn't say no to you."

"Why?"

"Why, indeed. That is a question I've been struggling to answer myself. You don't have a pact with me, and you certainly didn't use other means of magic to get me to accept your request. The only thing I know is that, even if I had wanted to, I couldn't try to resist you." He pauses.

"The scary thing about that situation is that I didn't want to resist you. In that moment, you could have told me to jump off a cliff, and I would have done it, no questions asked."

[orchideae]

salt meme *cracks knuckles*: ☠ What does someone have to do for an instant unfollow from you? ☼ How long do you stay mad? ☢ What fads/trends are you so over (What is a fad)? ♨ Have you ever made a public call out post? ❥ Has someone ever ruined an FC or character for you? ❣ How salty are you feeling right now (Please give a comparison beginning of writing the answer to this and after you wrote it, for science purposes)?

— @delusionaid // Prompt: The salty AF meme

❣ How salty are you feeling right now? (1) I can't believe Youtube is playing a song called 'Do or Die' as I'm typing this up. Youtube wants me to go hard, but I dunno how much I can live up to that. But currently, salt levels are around 7/10.

☠ What does someone have to do for an instant unfollow from you? Show a genuine lack of respect across the board. This plays into numerous elements of social interaction, but more so than anything, it plays into the element of taking away someone's autonomy to how they run their blog. See, this is actually also something that more so makes it that I'll never follow you in the first place, but I guess that'll also work as salt too, right? Right, autonomy, I hate that we live in 2024, and people have been all about "it's your blog, you have the freedom to do what you want!" Yeah, except, ding, ding, 'do what you want' doesn't quite mean what we all think it does. You know, that little thing called its official definition? Yeah, not a thing. Have your liberty, however, you can't write with this person or that muse because they're problematic (correction: this person 'feels' that they're problematic) or have done some questionably morally grey things in their lifetime, you can't write a character with any of these 375 faceclaims that you're supposed to keep track of and agree with, if you write a villain then you should obviously ignore all of these villainous traits that make them villains because why would you ever write a villain who does bad things? (Unless he's hot or said villain is a female character, of course), on that note, please ignore this and this bit of canon because it makes me (personally) very uncomfortable. And to expand on the last two in specific, obviously you can't ever write or acknowledge these (dark) things any way, because if you write a character who even did something less bad, like spoke rudely to anyone, you obviously do the same thing in life outside of Tumblr.com and so I will write a callout about you. But apart from all of that and more things that are coincidentally hidden behind a little 'etc.', you can do whatever you want! Have fun!!

❣ How salty are you feeling right now? (2) About... 9/10.

☼ How long do you stay mad? Unless it's something really trivial, I'll usually sleep and my brain will process it back into non-existence the next day or the one after. But I do however, hold a grudge like none other. Granted, getting to that point is rather difficult to do, but if you do genuinely wrong me in some capacity, then I will remember that. Now, I believe in second chances, but those can't apply everywhere, for I do firmly believe that there are lines that truly shouldn't ever be crossed. Overall however, I'm not an angry person and to anger me in the first place is quite difficult. And you know, you especially do like to say that even when I'm angry, I'm smiling and laughing and 'don't really sound any different', so how mad/angry am I really? I think I really am just the 'No talk me I angy' cat meme in the flesh.

☢ What fads/trends are you so over? I still hate the concept of 'censorship'. I'm sorry, but if I dislike a character, a culture, a character trait, a show, book, an adaptation, I have every right to say so and I can even talk about it on my blog for hours if I so choose to do so, just like others are allowed to do the exact opposite. It is a two-way street. I shouldn't have to adhere to some system of social politics of, well, you're allowed to complain or talk about how this and this is bad, but if you want to touch on that, well no, we can't quite let you do that one! That's not exactly fitting in the current social political climate. Because here's my thing with it in general, if anyone for example told me that they disliked Yelan, I think that it would be a shame, if someone told me that, for example, they disapprove of my take of her sleeping around (again: not done in promiscuity); that's perfectly fine, tell me why and we can have a friendly talk about it. Because last I checked, discussion is incredibly healthy for our mental development. I want to know why people think differently, and I love the challenge of even possibly changing their perspective on the matter. But if everything is censored from the get-go, then there's no discussion, no potential for growth or understanding. I'm sad that this mere concept is still as prevalent in all fandoms as it seems to be.

♨ Have you ever made a public call out post? Can salt posts like this entire ask response be considered as a public call out post of bad behavior across the board? Yes? Okay great, then yes, I absolutely have. I reblog a salt meme like this at least once every 2/3 months when my activity isn't entirely shot into the depths of hell itself

❥ Has someone ever ruined an FC or character for you? Meh, I don't care much about FCs, at least not like I used to when I actively used them, nor did I ever really feel like any FC was ever 'ruined' for me. I just get very tired of people overusing specific characters or roles, but I'm very easily affected by overexposure or over-hype in general, so this isn't surprising.

❣ How salty are you feeling right now? (3). 6/10 or so, I'd say.

[drstonetrivia]

Chapter 225 Trivia

POV: you are baby Ryusui and you're about to get fed mushed peas and caviar on a silver spoon. "Here comes the rocket! Nyoom!"

The other half of the SSVP docking system! Look at that little probe, doing its job.

(I guess Stanley is doing his job too, but the probe helps him do those final tiny adjustments.)

We already knew some English survived through the Hundred Tales. They mostly seem to be interjections of sorts, like "freeze!" or "congratulations!", and of course, numbers, as was shown in Kohaku's introduction.

So ground control (Xeno and the others) can hear what's happening on the rocket, but the rocket can't hear anyone from ground control.

This shouldn't be permanent since the lunar lander Ryusui is on has a radio, and possibly the space suits have them as well.

There's also still a fifth part of the rocket to be sent up, so if ground control doesn't attach the spare circuit board that they know the astronauts need from overhearing them over the radios, it'll be a bit silly.

Kohaku is on a space walk to remove the shielding from part 2 of the rocket. She props all the panels up, then it detaches & takes off away from the main rocket so there's space to attach part 3.

The cylindrical shielding was necessary to protect it on the way up (aerodynamics!)

Stanley succeeding to dock the spacecraft with only half a screen is nothing short of incredible, especially since he'd only done it for real once before.

If you want to try docking like Stanley, play this simulator with a piece of paper over your screen!

It's unusual for all the astronauts to be out at the same time, even if there's a lot of work to do outside the rocket. Normally astronauts only leave in pairs for safety reasons, like what they did at the sulfur lake almost 200 chapters ago.

Since the petrification stone is mostly made of iron & gold, it seems that it's also conductive, which is why this problem only appeared after the hair was petrified. It connected two capacitors (2 legs) to a transistor (3 legs).

Normally I'd expect one of the capacitors to overload and explode, but in this case it looks like the hair exploded instead. This could be because one of the capacitors unloaded its stored charge into the hair, causing it to explode, like this.

Even though they look undamaged, the unexpected current passing though could have killed the components, so putting them back together may not work. Another problem is that there are conductive pieces now floating around the rocket, ready to do the same to other circuits.

None of these labels seem to be real transistor/capacitor part numbers.

There also seems to be a little inconsistency with where the hair passes between the transistor's legs at the bottom.

Senku's comment here is that they should have been petrified away from the rocket, and then brought onboard as statues to avoid random pieces of person getting petrified exactly like this.

Hindsight is 20/1.8!

A condenser is the same thing as a capacitor, it's just an older word for it.

The reason Senku can't just replace the capacitor is because other parts may have been damaged, and they don't have the time (and maybe not even the tools) to know what's broken.

So Ryusui made it to space with no space suit and without being petrified, and then almost immediately had to do some never-before-done maneuvers to reconvene with his fellow astronauts.

He probably weighs only 1/100th of the lunar lander he's piloting, so I suppose it's good he only needs delicate movements.

Well done Ryusui!

Instead of those awful space suits the others had, Ryusui is wearing a completely new outfit based on the titular Space Pirate Captain Harlock, a manga series from the late 1970s which was later animated.

He's also got a revival watch on his left wrist.

I'm sure most of you have heard of Newton's third law, "every action has an equal and opposite reaction". This is exactly what's happening here:

Ryusui is spinning himself around the craft to adjust the trajectory, though it may also be that he gave himself an impulse and is actually just starting and stopping the spin by grabbing on or not. Doing this manually is very difficult since a person's movement isn't balanced.

Senku's E=mc^2 is back again!

He obviously missed and poked himself a few times trying to draw it, I wonder if the ink bled through the fabric onto his skin too haha!

I hope the irony of Ryusui's actions here isn't lost on him.

The rocket not being able to hear what's happening on Earth sounds like a really good reason to have something bad happen down there… 👀