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mysteryshoptls · 1 year

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SSR Lilia Vanrouge Bloom Birthday Personal Story: Part 1

"Happy Birthday"

Part 1 (Part 2) (Part 3)

[Diasomnia Dorm – Birthday Party Venue]

Lilia: Happy New Year and Happy Birthday to me!!

Lilia: I can't believe I get to usher in such a lively day. I guess it's not too bad of an idea to randomly choose a birthdate.

???: Randomly choose a birthdate…?

Lilia: Oh, sounds like my Presenter has arrived. Hurry and come on in.

Jamil: Sorry, I didn't mean to eavesdrop. Lilia-senpai, what were you saying just now…?

Lilia: Don't sweat the small things, Jamil. I'm looking forward to this today.

Jamil: I don't think it's a "small thing," but… I guess I won't look too deeply into it. Now then, bringing us back on track…

Jamil: Lilia-senpai, Happy Birthday. Here is your first question.

Jamil: "Are you good or bad at flying?"

Lilia: Kufufu, flying through the sky is one of my specialties. Whether I like the class or not is questionable, though.

Jamil: Are you saying… The school's course is too easy that you're bored?

Lilia: Not at all. It's so enjoyable to see all you youngsters try to fly with all your might like little birdlings who have just left the nest.

Lilia: But y'know～ When it's time for me to fly, that broom is just～

Jamil: I see, so it's an issue with the flying implements. Here at this school, all students have to use the brooms provided to them to maintain equality, after all.

Jamil: So, what is your preferred way to fly, Lilia-senpai?

Lilia: Great question! My preferred method is… Using just this body of mine.

Jamil: So, in other words, you fly without using any equipment.

Lilia: Right. They say that using a broom or a carpet makes it much easier to control your movements while flying, but…

Lilia: When you get to my level, those kinds of equipment just get in the way. They also tend to get caught on tree branches, or the walls of alleyways.

Jamil: Setting aside the fact that I doubt there'd ever be a chance to fly in such a narrow space… I suppose it'd be better to be as nimble as possible.

Lilia: Yep. I've traveled to many a country with this old body of mine. I've crossed fields, mountains and even oceans sometimes.

Lilia: Yet, sometimes it's also nice to take the train or a bus.

Lilia: I wonder how many years ago it was… I had a very interesting experience once where I spent a week just taking the train everywhere.

Jamil: A whole week using a train… I'm quite eager to know how you spent your time on board.

Lilia: I slept for most of it.

Jamil: You slept!? Despite it being an exciting train trip...

Lilia: We were just traveling through the empty wilderness, so the outside scenery was never-ending and never changing…

Lilia: And the shaking was too intense, to start with. I just couldn't read a book or play any games anyway.

Lilia: Plus, the chairs and beds were just too hard, and by the time I got off the train, my whole body was stiff.

Lilia: I've experienced many a thing, but that was the first time that my body hurt so much from not moving around at ll.

Jamil: Are you saying that that was your interesting experience?

Lilia: That's right!

Lilia: Using wisdom and engineering, railroad tracks have been laid all across the vast land, bridges have been built to cross rivers, tunnels have been dug in large mountains...

Lilia: The routes built by those pioneers can carry babes and elderly alike to far-off lands.

Lilia: That was a journey that allowed me to personally experience the dedicated persistence and efforts of the humans.

Jamil: There are stories of families cultivating the lands or roads for generations… If you put it that way, then I suppose there's a sort of charm to that kind of inconvenient travel, hm?

Lilia: I thought they were still laying chunks of metal all over the ground, but now people can fly so freely in the sky…

Lilia: Human ingenuity is really quite fascinating.

Part 1 (Part 2) (Part 3)

Requested by Anonymous.

#twisted wonderland #twst #lilia vanrouge #jamil viper #twst lilia #twst jamil #twst birthday #twst translation

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blubushie · 1 year

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How did you get into Tf2

and when did you start writing in general (like I don’t mean literally) ?

Morning Vykko!

How did you get into TF2?

I've always been aware of it and have seen memes and shit (come on I'm a gamer of course I knew TF2 was a thing) but I never actually got into it until I went bush. My first month I lose a tyre so I cross the Paroo-Darling on a fucking spare and end up going to Sydney because there's a branch of the company I bought Matilda from there and they'll cover any replacements within 3 months of purchase. While I'm there and they're replacing my tyre and doing a free rotate (because Matilda is old) I decide to get rinsed so I ask around the locals (I am NOT from Sydney) and they tell me to go to Scruffy Murphy's of all places (having a lend of the tourist) so I go there without knowing that it was a total dive. I'm not here for a Scruffy Murphy's review but it was one of those pubs that's so bad you'd go back because it really lends to that 60s-70s roughhouse dive aesthetic.

I saw a pubfight break out, it was great. Outside of one pub in California (to which I arrived only at the very end) this was my first witness to a pubfight. I'm sitting there drinking an old fashioned and watching the chaos. At one point a bloke called me a seppo which is the first time I've ever been called that to my face. I threw a peanut at him.

Anyway I get there and I'm eating my too-cooked steak (I like mine rare, no drama, rather them serve overcooked food than undercooked food and I was starving so I'm not complaining) and this licked twink waltzes up to me, introduces himself as Lozza "and don't call me Laurence," and starts trying to chat me up. He's yabbering away and I'm just kinda nodding along because I don't know how to tell someone to piss off apparently. He ends up buying me another old fashioned, I feel bad so then it's my shout and I get him a screwdriver, we go back and forth and four cocktails later I'm feeling enough to actually start talking so when he asks me for my life story I indulge him.

And this nerdy little cunt goes, "So your parents don't like what you do for work, huh?"

To which I say "No," because it's true, and after this I'd learnt that if you clink your glass on the counter or table usually it's a cue to fuck off. I didn't know this at the time obviously or I definitely would've used it.

"And you got some issues with feeling true blue, huh?"

He's starting to do that thing where people pick apart your brain. I can tell by the way he's looking at me because he's giving me that therapist look that only therapists give you. "I'm an Aussie," I told him, with no hint of an Australian accent, "It's just that other people don't always think I'm an Aussie."

"And you live in a van, huh?" I probably shouldn't have told him about the van part because now I'm getting nervous. It's setting off alarm bells. I'm much more careful these days.

"I--yeah, now I do."

"You play video games, mate?" Oh God. Oh shit. Do I tell him I used to be addicted and that for a good two or three years as a teen I was basically living just to play video games because I had nothing else to stick around for? Bugger me.

"I, uh--I used to play a lot of Halo--"

"YOU EVER HEAR OF TF2?"

And this cunt goes on an hour-long spiel about the lore and who everyone is and we ended the night with him showing me the Meet the Team videos, and he's telling me, "Mate, mate, listen mate," he says mate a lot more when he's drunk, "You're like Sniper mate, you're just like Sniper."

And at first I was like "Get fucked, that's dumb."

Anyway a year later I'm on YouTube watching some video about different skinning methods for pigs (I usually use a rack but sometimes I'm out in the bush without a rack, I'm getting off track) and in my recommendations I see Meet the Scout and think "Fuck it" and watch that. I watch all of them (immediately like Sniper because we're very much the same. I also maintain a mantra of polite, professional, James Mattis) and then I find out there's comics so I go down a rabbit hole of reading all of those in one night and the autism hyperfixation has done the rest.

Unfortunately Lozza will probably never read the fic because he ships SniperSpy and not SniperScout but this one's for you mate, you carpal tunnel-inducing bastard.

When did you start writing in general?

I've always loved telling stories but I first started writing as a hobby when I was around 12 and I was terrible. It was personal short stories and no one knew I did it except for my English teacher through writing assignments. At 16 I hit a major roadblock called life and I stopped writing for a few years. In that time the most I did was journaling for my own sanity. TF2 is what brought me back and made me remember my love of writing (coincidentally this is also why the first 4 chapters of the fic are terrible, because I wrote them two years ago then stopped writing for a year and then returned with a vengeance in chapter 5 with a mantra of "No wukkas to word count, write for yourself and not for your reader.")

#blu whos #tf2

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malicious-compliance-esq · 8 months

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Thanks @jopkey for tagging me in this fun "getting to know you" game!

Name: Malicious Compliance

Pronouns: They/Them/Theirs

Where do you call home?: Florida, United States

Favorite Animal: Constrictor snakes! My mother also tells me I like "all the weird animals" because of my fondness for spiders, beetles, etc.

Cereal of Choice: I always keep granola around as an easy snack! Especially like when it has almonds, raisins, and dates in the mix.

Visual, auditory, or kinesthetic learner?: I favor a combination of first reading and viewing foundational resources, and then trying a skill myself from that self-teaching above all other methods. If I had to pick one pillar that tends to matter most for me, it would be language across both the written and spoken domains. But things have never been so black and white for me; and being raised by neuroscientists makes me automatically skeptical of rigid thinking about how humans learn.

First Pet: Alison, a goldfish with a nasty habit of eating their tankmates' fins.

Favorite Scent: For general smells, nothing better than a freshly blown-out candle spreading its signature aroma through the surrounding air! For cologne, I've worn Yves Saint Laurent Opium for Men since I was in high school.

Do you believe in astrology?: Depends on what you mean. Do I believe birth timing substantially determines the progression of a person's life or the core traits of their personality? No. Do I think astrology can be a helpful framework for thinking creatively about who we are and why we feel as we do? Yes.

How many playlists do you have on your music service of choice?: On Spotify, which I use for fandom stuff, I maintain playlists for each of my fic continuities. I also have some playlists saved that @i-dwell-in-darkness made for the BJR fandom. On Apple Music I have no playlists whatsoever! I just choose what specific song or album I'd like to listen to if I'm in "specific content" mode; sometimes I also enjoy finding new-to-me artists by exploring Apple's playlists for different genres and eras.

Sharpies or highlighters?: This seems like an "apples or oranges" sort of juxtaposition. I use them for very different purposes, but I do use Sharpies far more frequently and for more diverse functions than highlighters.

Song that makes you cry?: "Dead of Winter" by the Eels can reliably make my eyes tear up. Notable achievement, given I'm not prone to crying. Just the whole Electro-Shock Blues album gets me on a very deep personal level, but this one especially hits hard.

Song that makes you happy?: Playing any of Alice Cooper's music is guaranteed to bring me instant joy. Especially his 70s stuff and anything from his later releases that goes heavy on incorporating those style elements! If I have one "theme song" in life, it's his "Be My Lover" track off 1971's Killer.

And finally, do you write/draw/create?: Yes, absolutely. Both fanworks and many other things, from academic publications to magazine articles to poetry and original prose. Writing is a huge part of both my leisure and my vocation. It feels like breathing to me and I do some form of writing every single day. Usually multiple forms! The one exception is those rare occasions when I'm so profoundly ill physically that I have to stay in bed and spend the day mostly sleeping. I am very stubborn, so that is not a lot of days. If I can sit up, I can write on my laptop or phone in bed. I also used to draw, mostly portraits in charcoal. Sadly my disease did take that from me because of how it has destroyed the blood vessels in my hands. Gripping small objects for any prolonged period of time is horribly painful and will cause lasting issues with my hand function. Even filling out a card by hand creates consequences for the remainder of that day. It's tough, but I don't dwell on this. Too much other joy in the world. If I lost the ability to write by any means, though? That would absolutely be the point where I stopped wanting to live at all.

I'm really curious to see responses from @tucsonhorse and @blindbeholder if y'all feel like joining in!

#play friendly games win fun prizes #tag you’re it #jopkey #getting to know you #niche outlander fanfiction #black jack randall #malicious fics it #lgbt fiction #fanfic #ao3 #music #playlists #spotify #trauma #writing is healing #character analysis #villain discourse #evil redcoat pipeline #yes good

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tellmesomethingaboutit · 1 year

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About being a late bloomer

The world goes fast. Fast enough to see how late one can be.

It's THE article, the one which inspired my will to write, the one from which this whole idea first surfaced.

Recently, I've been doing a lot of thinking (and a lot of writing, that goes without saying) and I came to realize "late" is such an absurd adjective. At least for us young adults. Being late to a gathering with some friends, arriving late to your parent's Friday night diner or getting late to work are affordable kinds of "late"'s, even if those imply a lack of punctuality. But why do we keep getting pressured to finish our degrees, become parents, taking out a mortgage ? You are never safe from a condescending comment thrown by an older person or, ironically, from people the same age as you. It's as if they wanted to show us their superiority, how they hold their stuff together, in their perfectly fabricated reality. And I know I sound judgmental, but we're passed the politically correct as of now on.

I have found myself in situations where I could not control my speed, whether it was related to learning or to certain stages in my life. And after listening to a podcast (cf. "Quand la vie devient une course", Océane Andrea), I just contemplated how far I had come already.

Because, whether we like it or not, life is not as simple as movies or books let out to be. Life is made up of stunts and pitfalls that intervene on the path of life, like a stroll on which one tries to walk peacefully. But that's the point of a hike : to try to walk peacefully, to find serenity in what you observe. It is above all something that is supposed to bring happiness. But then the walk, which we start off naively enough, becomes a track. And there, you have to perform, be the best in your field, not let yourself be beaten, push your limits. It is at this point that I wonder at what stage the ride stopped. How did I get there?

It wasn't supposed to be a race. I was walking around and, despite some obstacles, managed to find my way contentedly. You never know where you're going, but the fact remains that most roads lead to Rome. Without a clear route, I understood how and why I was moving. This is not quite the case anymore. The only thing I still know is that I want to maintain a state of peace, a certain happiness. But in the end, I don't understand it. I can't function rightfully under pressure. And I believe it's the case for most of us humans.

Challenges are one thing, they give us hope and will. I have always loved putting goals for everything (even if I couldn't reach them) : school, hobbies, work... Defying myself in some of the fields I love was never a problem. On the contrary, the pressure emanating from certain unjustified or purely useless comments (because they didn't push me up the ladder) just made me want to give up. Maybe that's why I've never been able to finish anything in any of my chosen fields.

So, what is exactly being a late bloomer ? There's no such thing, in my opinion. We all struggle to get ourselves where we want to be, timing shouldn't be part of the main drivers to get there. I don't even want to include any scientific articles to explain what it's like to be 'late'. It's true that if we could perhaps understand it, we could 'move forward better'. But, in my opinion, the answer won't sound as miraculous as it lets out to be and will probably be no better than a YouTube video advocating methods to stop procrastinating.

Far be it from me to want to appear out of touch with reality or to want to exclude myself from has been decided as standard. I just think that time shouldn't define us as people, our temperament or our personality. Being late on certain points, on certain events or in other areas does not constitute mental retardation. It's actually the difference in our timelines that's so interesting about each of us.

So, it's THE article, the one which inspired my will to write. Because I have been considered 'late' my whole life. I never knew what I wanted to do because I didn't know where my passion lied. But with time, I came to realize there wasn't a 'good or bad moment' to start something you're passionate about. Maybe I'm not so late after all...

#blog #inspiration #stories #late bloomer

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cafeinthemoon · 2 years

Text

Staring at the Sun

Chapter 1/2

Wordcount 1500+

Title Part I

Fandom Kimetsu no Yaiba

Pairing Yoriichi Tsugikuni X reader

Symbols ✔ | ➕ | 💛

Warning (s): mentions of fighting with sword, axe, blood, minor injuries, serious injuries, decapitation, family drama, family loss

Tagging @darling-imobsessed I'm not sure if you're interested in reading kny stuff from a beginner but here it is lol (if you want to be tagged in any of my stories, just send an ask or a message 😉)

N. A.: So this is my kny work and I'm so proud of it because, despite loving the story and the characters, I've never had good ideas for stories with them... until season 2 came out! I'm loving it even more than season 1 and can't wait for the third one ❤

At first, I wanted this story to be just an one shot, but it ended up too long, so I divided it in two parts. It won't have a complex plot or a continuation after Part II comes out. I just want it to feel like a slice of life story, you know.

Anyways, I hope you like it 🥺

Your feet were numb from wading out on the thick snow through an entire evening and night, yet you knew you had to keep moving. The chilling air burned your lungs at each breath, and the few exposed parts of your skin were received with merciless scratches as you moved among bushes and dead branches; the axe you’ve been carrying attached to your back became too heavy, the temptation to drop it increasing at every minute. However, no rest was allowed to you now: your persistence and that axe were your only hope, and of those people you had to save as well.

The top of the trees entangling with each other over your head hid the moonlight, darkening your sight, but your other senses were enough to guide you. The feral sounds of steps rushing toward the depths of the grove, the smells of the wilderness blended with sweat and fear, the suffocated voices praying for help were proof that you were on the right direction, besides what people used to say about it: when you were on your way to meet a monster, your heart would desire to run as fast as possible to the opposite path.

Your brother – or what was left from him – was who you had to find before anyone else. It hasn’t been possible to see him since his transformation, for he has been hiding in the shadows, with not even the forest’s beasts accepting his company. Moments before his immediate consciousness disappeared, you promised yourself you would follow and contain him, using any methods under your reach, before he could hurt someone. You swore you would do it, and thanks to this promise you were there, not sure of what exactly you were going to find once you reached him, but knowing that the tracking was the easiest part of your mission, while stopping him would be a different story.

The screams – and his groans – became louder when you reached some particularly sinuous, descending spot among the woods. You unattached the axe and continued to run toward them, and in a sudden change the thick tress were left behind and the moon’s pale glow appeared above: you entered a clearing at what could be the center of the grove, and felt the axe almost slip from your hands with the terrifying vision.

Your elder brother, once as human as yourself, now reached the full form of an Oni, one of the blood lusty creatures that came at night to devour people, leaving nothing but destruction and suffering behind them. You doubted their existence as you’ve only heard about them from the mouths of the common folk, something that changed after what happened to your brother; still, believing in what you saw was easier than accepting it, whatever the way you thought of the case.

He was standing in the middle of the clearing, arms open, legs folded, about to throw himself over a woman crouching on the white ground, protecting a small child with her fragile arms. As far as you could see in that fading light, he maintained the general aspect of his old appearance, with only a few, disturbing exceptions: his nails, always short and modest, have grown into what should be called claws now; there was nothing left of the calmness you used to sense in his voice: all the politeness and intelligence of his manners were gone, giving place to brutal noises that could never raise from a normal throat. When he turned to you, you saw that his eyes, once of a clean, bluish shade, were now as yellow as the ones of a serpent, with no signs of having recognized his sibling.

The seconds you stood like this felt like eternity, for all the things you had to endure in such a ridiculous amount of time: your brother died, and something else – an evil force, or spirit or decease, you didn’t know – dared take over his body to harm others, and make no distinction between them and his family with no excusable reason, at least not one you could see. How? Why? The absence of answers was heartbreaking.

However, you couldn’t allow your spirit to be broken in the same way, not when lives were in danger before you. You knew you might not get a second chance to catch his attention for so long and thus creating a gap for the woman and the child to escape, so you clenched your hands around the axe’s base and forced your legs to run toward monster.

He didn’t stay quiet while you went to attack him: forgetting about the two people on the ground, the Oni jumped toward you, his claws ready to drag you down. You raised the axe as fast as you could, not overthinking the move, and the blade cut through the skin of his arm, ripping it off; the member fell on the snow, a puddle of dark blood forming on the endless whiteness. As you landed on the ground, you gasped as if the injury was inflicted on your own body.

Unlike you, your brother – the Oni – didn’t show any signs of disturbance or pain after that: instead, he just stretched the remaining part of his member and grew another one in the blink of an eye. You almost screamed with the sight: from the stories you’ve heard about that power of theirs, you should have foreseen this, but witnessing it by yourself was something infinitely different.

Now you changed your positions with the demon, standing between him and the people he hunted until there. The gap you first intended was created, and there was no room to failure. You didn’t know if the woman realized that too, but the lack of time to think forced you to count on this.

Without looking at her, you screamed:

- Take the child and run! And don’t look back!

The woman mumbled something you didn’t understand, so you just repeated your command, louder:

- Run! Now!

You heard her standing with the child and moving away, stumbling through the uneven, wet ground behind you. You didn’t have time to glance and see how fast she ran or how far she was, for the creature in front of you, after watching the escape of his prey, was furious.

He didn’t wast time and came after the woman in hopes to stop her before she disappeared in the trees with the child, and maybe catch you in the process.

Well, you didn’t know how much clever he was now as an Oni, but you were counting on the possibility of him underestimating your physical capacity: it was sort of clear that you alone couldn’t stop him if he wanted to catch the other people. Whether he realized that or not, you were ready to take advantage from him being oblivious to it and compensate the lack of power balance.

And that was precisely what you did: your true intention was to bring him as close to you as possible and then inflict in his arms and legs as many injuries as you could, so that he would be occupied with the multiple regenerations: this would reduce his offensive capability and give time for the woman to run and for you to prepare an effective way to stop him.

An effective way. What did it even mean? Maybe if you would go for his neck... you’ve heard something about the neck being the vulnerable spot of a demon’s body...

He was unnaturally fast. You didn’t even blink and he was already passing by your right side, ignoring your presence. Yes, he opted for pursuing just the woman and maybe taking care of you later. That was what you needed. You prepared your axe…

But you just couldn’t make it quick.

When you looked into his eyes, you didn’t saw the monster, not even when all that existed in those golden pupils was a bestial hunger. You saw your brother. Your family. Your best friend. Everything that you had. You wanted him back; you wanted to call him, to wake him up from this nightmare in which he was trapped, to make him remember what he was, what you were.

You raised the blade to his scapula, slowing him down as his shoulder and arm were separated from his upper body and forcing him to pay attention to you. It wasn’t as good as you planned, but it was enough. Now you just had to ignore the protest of your sore muscles and continue.

And you did it. You moved forward, twirling the axe to his sides, his legs and arms, everything you could see in that dubious light, in a confusion of skin, blood and snow. You kept moving, even when you were the one feeling the pain of each attack, of each cut, each drop of blood that fell. When he realized you wouldn’t let him go ahead, he stepped back, just enough to be out of you axe’s reach, and stood quiet, waiting for a chance.

You already understood that your physical strength and agility were nothing compared to his as an Oni, so you needed to finish this as soon as you could, otherwise your strategy would turn against you and he would kill you and go after the woman. You just weren’t sure of how much more you could stand until a chance to reach his neck appeared. It has been just a few seconds and you were already sweating despite the freezing weather; your limbs were numb from the constant effort and your lungs were burning. He, on the other hand, hadn’t shown any sign of tiredness yet; besides, his skin was more resistant to injuries than you first supposed, and he wasn’t having great difficulties in healing them simultaneously. You had no time to think or to make plans.

Your only option was to finish this now.

You also noticed your sight was blurry, but not only by the shadows. Yes, you’ve been crying for all this time. Did your brother see that too? Did it make any difference to him? In his current state, you doubted that. He wasn’t even able to speak as a human by now. And you couldn’t stay there and wait until he was fully recovered.

It was when you felt something hot soaking your clothes; you looked down at yourself and noticed you were bleeding. You looked at him and saw him licking his remaining hand, stained with a dark, reddish fluid. You gasped: he was able to hurt you just enough for him to taste the closest human blood available. Was that a threat or he was just getting the precise amount of energy he needed to heal faster in the current circumstances?

But there was no time to figure that out, because now he didn’t wait until his regeneration ended and was going toward you again.

You didn’t think of your next moves. You just let your body do the work for you: your legs just started moving, and your hands tightened around the axe’s base. You repeated to yourself that you had no brother in front of you, just a monster.

He’s not your brother anymore. He's just a monster. Just a monster. Cut him. Now.

You were now face to face with the Oni, and your arms were too slow: the axe was too far from his neck. You had to find a gap, a chance, anything…

And that time, the heavens wanted you to find it: you forced your body to move aside, pretending you were going to let him pass; when he was right beside you, you turned around yourself and, reuniting all the strength remaining in your arms, you threw them ahead, finally making the blade meet the monster’s neck.

It was all too fast for your senses to process, yet time seemed to stop. In a moment, you were looking into the Oni’s eyes, knowing that it would take an instant of failure, of hesitation for you to die, and in the next one you were seeing his body fall before you, spreading snow around as his head was thrown into the cold air, landing heavily on a spot under a tree, his face turned to you, his bright eyes wide open, glued on yours.

Apart from your own heavy breathing and his gasping despite the decapitation, the silence that fell on the clearing after the Oni’s defeat was too much for your sensitive ears. Yes, you did it. You stopped your brother, as you promised, and saved the woman and the child’s lives. It was over, at least for them.

Because for you, it was just starting. As you stood still, watching his body disappearing as ashes in the wind, you thought that this was the scariest part of all, even more than the things that might have happened in case you couldn’t stop him.

That was the last time you were going to see the being that once was your brother.

While you looked into his eyes, you saw no angry, no hunger nor the slightest will to fight for his life. Even the golden glow of malice has faded. In its place, you just saw fear. Fear and tears. Yes, the demon was crying. Or now that he was about to die, was he your brother again? Was he remembering everything? Even if he was, it was now too late. A human couldn’t heal those injuries or stop the vanishing.

Whatever that being was – your brother or still an Oni –, he was leaving forever.

Your legs started trembling before you could control them; you didn’t know how you managed to keep on your feet. Your hands let the axe fall in front of you, burying itself in the snow. Your entire body was shaking.

When the last remaining of his body disappeared, leaving no trace of its previous existence, you understood what you just did. Your brother hasn’t been there since the transformation, but when his body was gone, the last proof of his passage through this world was gone with it. Your brother died, and you had not even a body to bury.

Your tongue was suddenly released, and you started screaming at the empty clearing, your eyes blinded by hot, thick tears.

- Onii-chan! Onii-chan! Don't go! I'm sorry! I'm sorry… Onii-chan… No...

Your throat soon became sore, and your heart were in crumbles. Your injury throbbed at each sob, but you didn’t care. You covered your face with your hands, not wanting to find the place where your brother was no longer at, not wanting to face what you did, what you had to do to save those people, not wanting to think of how lonely you were now.

- Please, Onii-chan... – you mumbled against your palms – Don't leave me alone…

You didn’t know if that was a sign that your wish was heard or anything of that sort, but whatever you might have asked, it would never be something like that: a rampant sequence of sounds exploded your ears at that moment, spreading around you, coming from all directions as if a group of things, or living beings, just came out of the trees and ran toward you. With the startle, you took your hands off your face and looked, but had no time to react to what you saw.

A group of Oni arrived from the grove’s shadows, ready to attack. You haven’t sensed their presence until they were surrounded; they just appeared out of nowhere. Your axe was still on the floor, and it was going to stay there; you tried to turn back and stumbled, falling on the snow, helpless against those hungry beings.

Your hands were empty now. Your legs finally gave in to exhaustion and you wouldn’t stand up so soon. You felt the ache on your side increasing; when you looked down, you gasped at the sight: slit your brother opened in your torso was larger than it seemed at first. A black stain has appeared over the fabric of your clothes, and a pulsating sensation took place: if you took a deeper breath, you would lose more blood and pass out. You closed your eyes tight and covered them with your hands, ready to face your end...

However, the creatures never reached you.

A sequence of clean, hissing sounds was heard, as if a blade in flames was wielded before and around you, consuming everything that entered its way. Through the gaps between your fingers a reddish light appeared, and the cold air was filled with the growing heat of a summer day. Was the forest on fire? If so, you would had to run right now.

You gathered all the courage left in you and opened your eyes…

And saw the night being purged from the clearing.

The Oni didn’t have time to move, whether to defend themselves or to hide from the expanding waves of fire breaking through their skin, dividing their bodies in several pieces, their flesh turning into burning cinders, vanishing before they reached the white ground.

It was all so swift that you almost thought that the waves came from multiple directions, but it didn’t take long until you understood, in surprise, that they were born in just one spot: the blade of a stranger’s sword, brandished in perfect harmony, as an extension of his arms, doing as he pleased.

Among all the suffering, blood and desperation, you were marveled. Those movements, you thought, were more like the ones of a dance than a combat style. You felt it would be vulgar from your part to call them a battle ritual, so elegant, so beautiful they were. Yes, that was a terrible night to be alive, in the middle of a forest during winter, but for an instant, the sight of that fight – if that should be called a fight – made you forget about it. Just for a moment, there was no fear, no darkness, pain or loneliness in your heart. Only the light of the flames.

Though the creatures were many, not a single one escaped; and despite being cut in pieces, you couldn’t call it a massacre – instead, it was a cleaning.

The vision didn't last longer than a few seconds, yet time seemed to stop as you were immersed in it. You only realized it was over when the last sparks faded out in the melting snow, giving back the domain of light to the moon.

Among them, the man of the sword stopped a few meters before you, cleaned its blade and put it back on the sheath, so fast that you barely followed the movement. A quietness established in the space between you, like the silence that comes when a crowd stops speaking or when the last drops of a storm reach the ground.

You took that moment to observe your savior. That he was taller than most of the people you’ve met, you noticed even at that distance. His hair, tied up, was long, floating behind him with the chilling wind that started blowing moments ago, only sensed by you now; the locks were dark, almost black, but their edges were of a lighter, warmer shade. You noticed he wasn’t dressed for the winter, but somehow it didn’t make a difference in his case: any other person would be trembling if they went outside in such clothing, but the cold didn’t seem to touch him at all, even with the wind entering the folds of his red haori.

Looking at that man under the moonlight was like staring at the sun.

Until that moment, there was only room for admiration in your vision, however you experienced something close to fear when he took the first step in your direction, for it wasn’t possible, through mere observation, to figure out his next moves: did he notice that you were not a demon? Even if he did, was he going to wield his sword again and eliminate you just as he did to the Oni? Was he going to interrogate you, to check your conditions or even pass by you and disappear in the forest, as sudden as when he arrived?

You still couldn’t move from your spot; the ache under your clothing was becoming unbearable, and you found yourself holding your side to delay the bleeding.

The stranger stopped in front of you and lowered his eyes to you. The pale light that barely touched his face, yet looking into them was like seeing the flames of the battle again, contained in a peaceful glow but ready to be summoned a second time. Those were gentle eyes, filled with sadness, wisdom and the weight of everything he might have seen. And after what you yourself just witnessed, you didn’t want to try and imagine what those things would include. You were so lost in your deliberations that you took a moment to see that, just like you, he was crying.

Chapter 2

#kny #kimetsu no yaiba #demon slayer #kny fanfic #kimetsu no yaiba fanfic #demons slayer fanfic #kny yoriichi #yoriichi #yoriichi tsugikuni #yoriichi x reader #demon slayer yoriichi

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giorno-plays-piano · 3 years

Text

Heartache

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Soldat!Reader

Warnings: yandere, obsession, kidnapping, captivity, torture, brainwashing, delusional Bucky.

Words: 2535.

Summary: You don't need the one whose name was Bucky Barnes, a hundred years old broken man who returned back to the world that couldn't offer him anything but regrets and nightmares. You need your Soldier, the one who won't return to you even if you throw Bucky back into that iron chair and fry his brains for the thirtieth time.

P.S. I have to say it turned out darker than I expected. Attention! Bucky is free from his programming, but he does not heal as he should.

__________________

“You look old.”

You decide to give him the pleasure of hearing your voice. It sounds dull from behind the glass when Bucky comes closer, looking at someone he recognizes too well, but you do not recognize a man he became, nothing reminding you of the one with whom you once shared your bed.

You know what the man looking at you through the glass thinks. You didn’t age a day since the last time he saw you, and while he knows why, it still surprises him to see a young woman watching him calmly as if all those years didn't pass.

“You miss your star.” You say, tilting your head to the side and narrowing your eyes at him when you see his new vibranium arm.

“It doesn't matter.” His answer is immediate, and Bucky isn't surprised to hear the raw anger in his own voice: he is no longer the Soldier you knew, and he is worried he won't find a way to interact with you. You don't seem too interested in Bucky Barnes and whoever he works for despite the fact you are hardly HYDRA's soldier yourself.

What he doesn't know is that you still stay the soldier you have been once, and nothing will ever change that regardless of whoever Bucky Barnes sends your way to cure you from HYDRA's conditioning.

"I'm glad you remember me."

You find it peculiar: a man who has been trying so hard to get rid of anything that ties him to the Winter Soldier has been looking for you for years, finally tracking you down, capturing you and bringing you here as if your pure existence didn't remind him of the worst years of his life. What did he expect to find? A comfort in someone who once had been paired with him just for the sake of research?

"Don't bother, Mr. Barnes. There's nothing there left for you."

You see he's taken aback because you have hit a nerve. Apparently, James Buchanan Barnes thought the connection between the two of you remained the same, and he could dig up the feelings that had long been buried. Stupid, you think, he's forgetting the most important part: he is not the man you formed the bond with. You don't need the one whose name was Bucky Barnes, a hundred years old broken man who returned back to the world that couldn't offer him anything but regrets and nightmares. You need your Soldier, the one who won't return to you even if you throw Bucky back into that iron chair and fry his brains for the thirtieth time.

It doesn't matter. After all those years you didn't believe in happy endings, and even if the man watching you through the glass think he is going to get one after getting out, he is clearly deluding himself.

Averting his eyes, Bucky clears his throat and changes the topic, trying to give himself a false hope he can mend things. “I will convince Shuri to treat you. She helped me break through the conditioning, and she will do the same to you."

You could raise your brow at him, but maintaining this facade is tiresome and doesn't make sense. "I see you have no idea how much my conditioning differs from yours. You can't break through it. It's embedded in me."

"I thought so, but I got rid of mine. You can do it too, I'm sure."

Although you see him trying to assure you, Bucky's getting agitated because he really has no idea what HYDRA did to you. He couldn't know it when he still was the Soldier, but now the lack of his knowledge leads you to the thought your former masters destroyed whatever info they still kept - they foresaw he would search for you.

"Your brainwashing was flimsy. I've always wondered how come you were considered HYDRA'S greatest assassin when you just needed to see your dear friend once to start getting your memories back." You snort, knowing Bucky would feel a slight hint of jealousy in your voice, but you don't care: you've never hid from him you only needed the Winter Soldier, and he was gone.

Bucky doesn't know what to say as a part of him wants to scream there was nothing flimsy about electroconvulsive therapy he went through over and over again, but he looks at you and sees how different you are from him, having no memories of your own, not knowing even your name or the place where you came from. It doesn't scare him, but the fact you had long merged with the Soldier you've become does. You don't separate yourself from her the way he did. In fact, the Soldier had completely absorbed your true persona, and Bucky doesn’t know the real you. He only knows RED, a Soldat who at one point was been created by HYDRA just like all of them were. Despite searching for the information about your past for years, he found nothing, not even the year when you became a part of the organization. Bucky doesn’t think you did it willingly judging by the fact how you reacted when he had been training you among the other Soldiers, but he can’t be sure.

You’re a ghost. None of the masters who had been giving you orders know anything about you except your specialization and things you can do. Bucky supposes there were once people who knew the truth, but all of them are probably dead since the ones he has captured were utterly useless. His only hope is Shuri who might bring whatever is left somewhere deep inside your mind to the surface, yet he isn’t sure she will take you: the more you talk, the more it becomes clear you will not ask her to do it willingly, and Shuri won’t like that. The redemption can only be granted to someone who asks and works for it.

You don’t seem the type.

“What do you want me to do?” He asks you quietly, his forehead almost touching the glass separating you two when Bucky watches you with that pathetic expression of his. “If I let you go, you will return to people you serve. If I bring you to police, you will end up in a lab in the hands of the government.”

You allow him to see your smile as you observe him, desperately hoping you will tell him you will come back to the good guys and stay with him, playing a role of his funny little girlfriend because Bucky Barnes cannot allow himself to form an adequate relationship with any woman who has not been tainted the way he was. It probably seems so tragic to him that he had to spent years trying to catch you.

Although the chair you’re bound to doesn’t let you stand and come over to him, you still lean closer to the window, wearing the same polite but welcoming smile you used to lure your targets closer to you.

“I want you back in that chair, going through the whole process of brainwashing again until you become the Soldat you’ve been. I want you standing with me and feeling as much pain as I did until your sensitivity goes down to zero, and you no longer remember those funny friends of yours. I know you won’t trade your freedom and whatever else you have after getting out, but I don’t need James Buchanan Barnes or White Wolf or whoever you have become. I am RED of HYDRA, and I have bonded with the Winter Soldier you buried, Bucky.”

When he leaves, the massive metal door getting locked ten times the least, you stare at the grey wall beside the glass. You wonder how getting the privilege of remembering his past made him so miserable, a pathetic, broken man who did not understand how lucky he had been, not only breaking free from HYDRA’s grip but gaining his true identity back. He probably pitied himself, poor little boy who had been broken by the big bad guys. He did not understand that all other soldiers who came after him, except the suicide squad made with Stark’s serum, had been turned into ashes. There was nothing left to break in them - and you either.

_______________________

Shuri wasn’t happy to hear your story just like he thought, but Bucky couldn’t lie to her, hoping she would understand. Of course, she didn’t, telling him outright it was impossible to treat somebody who didn’t want to be treated. While it was also inhuman, forcing you to do something against your will just like HYDRA has been doing all these years, it also erased the possibility to use the same methods she chose when she treated Bucky.

“You don’t understand,” she tells him, shaking her head, “it’s not that I don’t want to help, but without her cooperating it’s close to impossible. They didn’t use the same ways to program her just like they did to you.”

He isn’t satisfied with her answer even though he knows Shuri wants to help. He can’t leave it like that, leave you to your fate, return you where you belonged, and he keeps asking who or what may be able to help you until she finally tells him something about electrical stimulation of the brain that can awake memories that you have buried. Shuri immediately regrets it, seeing how Bucky’s face lights up.

“It is a very complicated process that requires an extensive medical knowledge. Worse, even if performed correctly, this technique can traumatize her even further. Please don’t do this. We don’t even know if this method will be effective.”

Bucky doesn’t promise her anything, though a part of him feels guilty he made her tell him this. He just has to do it: undoubtedly, HYDRA or whoever you work for now will force you to go through the brainwashing process again, and whatever treatment Shuri told him about can’t be worse than this. If Bucky does everything right, you might stand a chance to live like he does, away from the horrors of the war you had been a part of ever since the organization abducted you. Even if you don’t want it, clearly it is an effect of the memory suppressing machine: any sane human being wants to have a normal life, right?

It takes him months to find and steal the equipment he needs, leaving no traces - it reminds him of the days when he had been under HYDRA’s control, but he does what he has to. Learning how to use the machine is a much more complicated task, but Bucky is grateful for that serum-enhanced brain of his: he nearly swallows the information from the books in record time, reading about sending a burst of electrical energy into your cerebral cortex to stimulate your brain and finally retrieve your memories. Now he knows what Shuri meant by traumatizing, but this doesn’t stop him either. He does what he has to do.

“What is your name?” He repeats after listening to your screams for ten or maybe twenty minutes, your body going limp in the black, cold chair when you open your mouth, breathing heavily, your face stained with tears and sweat.

“Dolores.” You say immediately, knowing he will repeat the procedure if you keep silent, your heat beating wildly. “I grew up... on a small farm in Iowa... I had an older sister... and slept with a big teddy bear with a red ribbon...”

“You are lying.” He says simply, and a jolt of electricity cuts through your head, nearly electrocuting you while you scream again and again.

For some reason he always feels it when you say what he wants to hear instead of the truth. What he doesn’t understand is that the truth he wants has been told months ago: you did not remember and you were not going to remember anything from your past. It was stupid to try. There was nothing left of you, and while he thought he was resurrecting a human in you, he was simply destroying your body that was regenerating every night after the therapy.

When you receive a new jolt, shaking and screaming, tears streaming down your face until they fall down onto your already wet t-shirt, you whisper through gritted teeth, “Either I will have you as my Soldat, or I will not have you at all.”

Bucky presses the button.

__________________________

When he is finished he takes you to a bath in the room next to your cell. You almost lose the ability to move for an hour or two, giving him time to prepare you: Bucky undresses you and slowly lowers your body in the tub filled with warm water, watching that you take a comfortable position and don’t slip, effectively suffocating. Today he had almost gone too far, risking to fry your brain: you still refused to give up even after two months of therapy you have gone through, and Bucky isn’t too happy.

Pouring a strawberry-scented shampoo on his palm, Bucky starts to carefully wash your hair that grew longer in the months of captivity, watching that neither shampoo nor the foam gets in your eyes. You are nearly breathless: the serum they gave you made you less stronger than him, but your regeneration abilities are on a whole different level, and soon your body will adjust and erase the damage made.

He asks himself whether keep using the machine makes sense since he didn’t make much progress, the programming still very much in you even after all those incredibly painful sessions. What if you were right from the start? What if there was nothing to remember, and all he could do was to leave you in the state you were in before he destroyed whatever was left of you?

No, he can’t do it. Leaving you means taking away your chance to ever get back to normal life, and he can’t force himself to do that.

Never in his life Bucky Barnes will admit letting you go meant never getting his own happy ending the way he wants it.

“Why reinventing the wheel when you can make it so much easier?” All of a sudden, your hoarse voice whimpers in his ear when you look at him, tiredly moving your head up. “Do what they’ve always done. Use the programming to give me an order.”

A part of him is shocked with the revelation: he wanted to be neither the Soldier nor the one giving him commands. But the other part makes him realize how much easier it would be if he just used what has already been done to you instead of relying on an obviously ineffective method that damaged your mind and body. Of course, he has nothing in common with Karpov sending him on the assassination missions. Bucky only wants you to learn how to become human again, free you from HYDRA once and for all, give you the life you undoubtedly wanted. Even if he uses the same method the organization did until he finds a better way to undo the programming, it is still for your own good.

___________

Tags: @finleyjayne @alexakeyloveloki @helenaeisenhower @villanellevi @hurricanerin @inlovewiththefictionalcharacters @chris-evans-indian-fanfic @navegandoaciegas @rosalynshields @brattycherubwrites @sllooney @angrythingstarlight @lookiamtrying @buckysbunny @soleil-dor @stargazingfangirl18 @dillybuggg @literate-lamb @cosicas-cuquis @sarge-barnes-sir @buckybarnesplumwhore @jaysayey @megzdoodle @gotnofucks @lux-ravenwolf @iheartsebandchris @ximebebx @jeremyrennerfanxxxx123 @sourpatchspinster

#Bucky Barnes #bucky barnes x reader #dark bucky barnes #dark bucky barnes x reader #Winter Soldier #yandere #MCU

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changeling-rin · 3 years

Note

Hey there, I have a friend I've been getting into DL but I don't really know how to explain the links so I was woundering what would be the best way to explain each of the links (and sequels if possible please) - Friday (Please and Thank you!)

(cracks knuckles)

ALRIGHT PEOPLE HERE WE GO, LONG POST AHEAD

THE CHAIN LINKS

Gen: The Link from Skyward Sword. Short for Genesis, which he will never ever let anyone call him by ever because he doesn't actually like it. He's generally level-headed and appreciates common sense, and gets a bit miffed when things decide to divert from said common sense. He's the group medic, not necessarily by any skill on his part, but more because the group needed a medic and he couldn't believe there wasn't one yet, so the only logical decision was to do it himself. He gets very particular about the group taking the proper amount of healing items as a result. He functions as one-third of the Leader Trio and is the effective 'super-ego', if you will

Speck: The Link from Minish Cap. He's quiet, by far the most quiet, and will really only speak up if he's a) confident in what he has to say, and b) confident that it will add something worthwhile to the discussion. He has the ability to shrink via his magic hat (Ezlo) and a magical conduit shaped like a Jar that he carries around with him. Due to the bit where he's usually in the background, the fact that he has a surprisingly violent streak catches just about all his enemies off guard - for example, his favorite method of attack is shrinking down and using his size to stab his sword directly into his opponent's eardrum. Ironically, outside of a fight, he's one of the Links most likely to apologize to a flower for stepping on it

The Four: The Link(s) from Four Swords. They're the split-in-four version of the Link who drew the Sword, but due to a hive mind effect, everything they do is in unison. They're pretty quiet most of the time, due to most people finding said unison relatively unsettling, but since the Chain couldn't care less about that they're more willing to speak up every now and then. They specialize in group attacks and such, but they're terrible at being individual. The nature of their hive mind means that it's both incredibly uncomfortable and incredibly difficult to break their unison, and so most of the time they won't even bother trying. They have a little snarky side that comes out when they're stressed, and they hang out with Speck most often due to having similar introverted dispositions

Ocarina: The Link from Ocarina of Time, and one-half of the Hero(es) of Time with Mask due to time being broken and the continuum being shot. He's the younger half, even though he's in his sixteen-year-old body, and since he has the mind of a nine-year-old it makes a very odd combination. He has occasional confidence issues and a few self-worth/doubt beliefs as the result of hanging out with his older self and worrying about how he's going to successfully grow into someone so competent. He can usually be found next to his older self, or at the very least in the general vicinity of his older self, and he has a profound distaste for the necessity for secrets. Most specifically, his future, because it's literally standing right next to him and he'd really like to know if he beats Ganondorf, thanks

Mask: The Link from Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, and one-half of the Hero(es) of Time with Ocarina. He's the older half despite being in the body of a twelve-year-old, and since he's technically got the mind of an eighteen-year-old at the very least it looks very strange from the outside. He's snarky, sarcastic, and takes great joy in messing with other people, most specifically his younger self by refusing to give away future hints and claiming ~Spoilers~ every time it comes up. He carries his transformation masks and uses then whenever the situation calls for it. He can usually be found next to his younger self because he's secretly worried about shattering his own personal timeline, and he puts a lot of effort into making sure Ocarina survives whatever mess they've gotten into this time. He also puts an equal amount of effort into making sure Ocarina doesn't notice this

Dusk: The Link from Twilight Princess. He functions as one-third of the Leader Trio and is the quote-unquote 'ego' - or, in othher words, he's usually the mediating force. If it's pointed out to him though, he will steadfastly deny that he's in any suited for a leadership position - which is in blatant contradiction to the fact that he's probably the most effective member of the Leader Trio. He carries the Curse Stone from Zant around his neck in a pouch and usles it to transform whenever the situation calls for it. He's also the regular soul-host for Midna, Shadow, or both, depending on the day. He's by far the most level-headed Link, taking almost everything in stride, and it takes a lot to make him lose his cool. The one surefire way to do it is to threaten someone he cares about, at which point he will waste no time completely destroying whoever was stupid enough to make said threat

RGBV: Red, Green, Blue, and Vio are the Link(s) from Four Swords Adventures, and like the Four they're the result of one Link being split into four bodies. Unlike the Four, they've retained their individuality and have four very different personalities as a result. Green is the established leader of their quad-cell, and is the most level-headed one. He's not the most patient one, but he is the one who's not afraid to do what needs to be done. Red is the most emotional one, easily excitable and absolutely willing to give hugs to anyone who asks (and a few who don't). Blue is the most aggressive one, although he mostly directs it towards his enemies. He does have a on-again-off-again rivalry of sorts with Vio, but it's never gotten beyond particularly invested sibling bickering. Vio meanwhile is the book-smarts one, or at least the one with the most strategic intelligence. He's also the best ranged fighter they have

Lore: The Link from A Link to the Past, Oracle of Ages, Oracle of Seasons, and Link's Awakening. He functions as one-third of the Leader Trio, finishing off the dynamic as the 'id'. He's by far the most unique personality, being a hyperactive chaos entity who delights in confusing people and making them question reality. He's also a polyglot, knows at least ten languages, and is constantly hunting for new ones to learn. He's easily the most experienced Link and as a result has Seen Some Stuff, but instead of being traumatized by the weirdness he decided to go in the other direction and embrace it instead. He's an absolutely terrible shot in spite of his numerous adventures, but the sheer amount of stuff he has tends to make up for it. He hasn't met a situation yet that he doesn't have an item for and he's not about to start now - although this is mostly due to his conviction that bombs are the answer to every situation

Realm: The Link from the original Legend of Zelda. He is constantly, hopelessly, chronically lost, and has absolutely no concept of where he is in relation to where everything else is. He also has a somewhat tenuous relationship with the concept of physical space, which tends to result in him getting lost in places he really should not have been able to get lost in (for example, a volcano). Regrettably this also extends to his items, which he frequently loses. In spite of this, he's one of the most cheerful and optimistic Links in the group. It takes a lot to get him into a bad mood, and given what he already goes through while maintaining a good mood, the entire Chain has yet to see him in a bad one. A side effect of getting lost so much is that his stamina is absolutely ridiculous, which makes him very good at drawing out a fight - in fact, that's more or less his specialty

Sketch: The Link from A Link Between Worlds. He has the ability to turn his body into paint and move along the walls like a living hieroglyph. Unfortunately, due to being made of watercolors when he does this, he also has a severe phobia of water as a result of the fact that he might actually die a horrifically painful death if his paint runs too much. Outside of that, he's relatively level-headed and very crafty, in the literal sense that he likes to make things. He used to be a blacksmith's apprentice before this whole Hero business got started (his specialty is metalwork). He likes things to make sense and gets a bit snarky when the universe decides to spite him by making no sense at all. He's one of the best Links at stealth, because for some reason very few people will notice the artwork on the wall and as long as he has a surface to fuse with, he can get just about anywhere

Wind: The Link from Wind Waker. He carries said Wind Waker as part of his inventory, and it lets him control the weather. He's a certified Weather Master in everything but the official certification, because he hasn't had the chance to go back and take the test yet, but the ability to throw literal tornadoes at his enemies makes him arguably one of the most dangerous Links in the group. He does prefer to hang back in a fight and hit from a distance as opposed to getting up close and personal, but that's very typical for a mage. He has an overabundance of patience, stored up from sailing for days back on his home ocean, and he'll take just about anything in stride - unless you're threatening his family, then all bets are off. He's one of the quieter Links, being more content to wait and see the results of something rather than actively participating, but this in no way means that he's not paying attention. He knows what he's capable of, is fully willing and ready to do it if necessary, and makes no excuses to the contrary

Steam: The Link from Spirit Tracks. He has the ability to see hidden things, which extends beyond his own disembodied Princess Zelda and into things like mask spirits or just plain invisible opponents. He also has a summons in the form of the Spirit Train, which he takes great pleasure in slamming into whichever villain has annoyed him. He's got a dry sort of sarcasm and he's definitely not afraid to say what he thinks. As a result of spending most of his adventure on a Train, he's easily the least physically fit of the Links and therefore tends to hang back in a fight, relying more on his summons for heavy hits or his sight ability to provide support. His previous career choice was a locomotive engineer, and as a result he and Sketch get along very well. They have regularly scheduled brainstorm sessions about what sort of gadget they should try and make this time, usually with Steam providing the math and schematics and Sketch providing the real-world experience to make it real

Shadow: The Link from a variety of games, since whenever a Shadow or Dark Link appears, that was him. He's bitingly sarcastic, could not possibly care less about the opinions of other people, and takes great joy in finding the best way to insult someone as possible. Being formed from the darker emotions of other Links, he's understandably in a poor-to-terrible mood almost all the time, although he can usually be convinced to take it out on other people. A side effect of being made of dark magic is that he can't be out in the sunlight too long - it'll start to burn him in the same way a match burns paper. As a perk though, he can manipulate his body into any shape he wants, mostly ignoring physics as he does. This makes him easily one of the most powerful Links in the group, since he doesn't take battle damage the way a physically-bodied person would and is all but immune to being stabbed. He makes for an excellent aggro target, partly because he can take anything the opponent could give, but also because he'll give it all back and then some

Oni: The Link from before Skyward Sword. Also known as the Fierce Deity. Saying that he's overpowered is a bit of an understatement, as he can take out the likes of Majora in three hits or less, but he's very unlikely to actually use his power like that. As a result of being put into a mask, he has no actual autonomy unless someone is wearing him, at which point he takes control of the body of the wearer to manifest in the real world. This lasts with no repercussions until his mask is removed, at which point Oni returns to his bindings. He has not deigned to explain how he ended up in a mask or who managed to put him there, but the loose implication points to the aftermath of the Demon War as the cause. Further information is pending. He's stoic and composed, and has yet to be truly riled up by anything that's happened. He also refuses, as a rule, to get involved with the rest of the Chain's adventures unless his presence is truly required. As the First Link Ever, and the one from whom the entire rest of the lineage has descended, Oni feels somewhat responsible for guiding the rest of the Links through their journeys - but guiding and coddling are two different things and as far as Oni is concerned, his legacies need to be able to fight their own battles

THE SEQUEL LINKS

Rune: The Link from Breath of the Wild. He has the Champion Abilities, as well as his own Quicktime specialty, and is of course concerningly amnesiac. He's quiet to the point of almost being forgettable, which is a side effect of a) spending nearly all his time in the wilderness alone with nobody to talk to, and b) having to constantly be on the alert for Guardians because nothing alerts a Guardian like a loud hylian. His inventory is nearly bottomless, and he therefore immediately becomes the group pack mule. He's also hands-down the best chef (something which makes Gen only slightly jealous)

Lux: The Link from Hyrule Warriors. He is the quietest Link, but not because of his personality - it's because he can't talk. The most vocalization he's ever going to manage is incoherent yells of effort, because anything beyond that is locked behind a psychosomatic speech block. He has not deigned to share why he has a psychosomatic speech block and at the moment it's highly doubtful he ever will. He's second only to Shadow in his sarcasm and general displeasure with the world, and the rest of the group is lucky that hylian sign only has loosely defined curse words, otherwise he'd be going off

RSE: Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald are the Link(s) from Triforce Heroes. Emerald is the leader of the trio, more or less, while Ruby handles anything that might need a good smacking and Sapphire embodies the emotional core. They have a strange dynamic where they bicker with each other to hide the fact that they care, which is a direct result of them still settling into their own dynamics. They have their Totem formation, of course, and share an incredibly specific set of opinions about fashion. The fact that they also have their entire wardrobe on hand is complete coincidence, yep

Lyric: The Link from Cadence of Hyrule. He can hear the Universe Music better than any other Link (with the possible exception of Wind) and he will do whatever he can to follow its lead. He's constantly moving to the beat in almost everything he does, and it makes him unexpectedly deadly in a fight. It turns out that following the Universe Music gives very good buffs and Lyric is a master at following the music. Ironically enough for all his sense of rhythm, he cannot sing to save his life and is in fact instrumentally challenged, which annoys him to no end

THE OC LINKS

Codex: The Link from the Evil Overlord List, a story I write that somehow developed its own protagonist. He's snarky, sarcastic, runs on caffeine and spite, and will probably take over the world someday if he ever gets around to it. He's currently just a college student writing his thesis paper (The List), but once he graduates the world had better brace itself

Wraith: The Link that was made as a result of a random conversation one day, in which someone asked me what would happen if Demise won permanently. Five minutes with my angst-stunted brain later, I had a cheerful sunshine child who had the ability to see spirits and was getting mentored by all eighteen dead Heroes as the backup plan to deal with Demise. He's way too pure for the world and probably shouldn't be as big an optimist as he is for someone surrounded by dead people

#Changeling Answers #DL Questions #All the DL Links #literally every single one of them #Anonymous Replies #DL Master Character List #Or at least the Master Hero List #Oof

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dangan-happy · 3 years

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(Having no self-control makes you a tough galoot, like me!) This is for Kaito, Leon, and Mondo, but anyone else who feels they can help is free to chime in! (TW For discussion of current events and parent issue related conversation)

Hi guys. I've been hella stressed lately, and it's just been getting to much for me. My class work is getting seriously out of hand, I'm constantly ignored by my parents in favor of my younger siblings to a concerning level, and I've been slowly isolating myself from all my real life friends. I've been struggling really hard in keeping my work-life balance normal, and its really hard to reach out for help when I'm either berated or ignored by my parents. The only one who seems like they could help is my older sibling, but I don't want to be a burden to them with my problems. Could I please get some advice on how to better interact with the people around me, how to destress myself, and how to try and maintain a healthy working habit without overworking myself? A hug and just someone to talk to would be really nice, sorry to come in here such a drag. Thanks so much for reading this and helping me feel like someone cares!

Course ya can have a hug, kiddo! I ain’t gonna turn down someone whose feeling like shit... when I feel like shit, all I want is a hug. Just someone to comfort me, yknow? Anyway, enough about me, now onto you.

Your parents are bein’ real dicks, not paying attention to ya. You ain’t gonna be a burden just by asking for help or, at least, ya shouldn’t be. They should pay attention to both their kids equally, not just the younger ones. I think ya gotta realise that ya friends are some of the most important people to you, they'd probably love to be there for you. Please don’t wreck ya relationships because of work, my Kyoudai, he's a workaholic and I gotta force him to take breaks. Maybe you need to keep someone like that.

And - I ain’t that good at working, but I am good at destressing! Now, I’m guessin’ you can’t go for a motorbike ride with ya gang? Right, so maybe a hot drink and a book? That’s what Taka likes... or, a warm bath ‘n some chocolates? Just, get warm and watch ya favourite movie or tv show. Let yourself relax and not think for a while.

As for the overworking, take breaks between working. Time yourself, ya get me? Something like thirty minutes work and then a thirty-minute break? Summat just to keep time moving... just let yourself relax and talk to people sometimes. Take some self-care, kiddo. You deserve it.

Yo. I’m sorry to hear that your class work has been getting out of hand, I know exactly how you feel. (So does mod 11037!) Your parents ignoring you ain’t right either, that’s uncool of them, they shouldn’t be showing obvious preference for your siblings over you.

Balancing work with life is really difficult, I give you props for trying your best to do so. Not everyone attempts to try that. Hey, hey. You aren’t a bother to your older sibling, at least I would hope so. If they can help you, I really suggest you talk to them when they aren’t busy, you never know.

Interacting with people is tough, taking it slow is the best method. Try putting yourself out there the most that you can, find others that have common interests, you can always connect with others through mutual likes. Meditation is a great way to destress, it calms your nerves and listening to guided meditation can help you focus on getting rid of any negative feelings. Now healthy working habits…it’s best to make sure you stay hydrated of course, maybe cutting down on certain foods that you don’t really need to eat daily. I’m not really good at that kind of stuff, I’m not saying you need to stop eating things like sweets though so take that last bit of advice with a pinch of salt.

Don’t worry about asking for some help. It’s no drag at all, the only thing that’s a drag is your parents ignoring you. That’s seriously uncool of them and I’m still upset to know they’re doing that…but, I can give you all the hugs you want. I love giving you guys hugs! Really makes me happy to know that someone out there is feeling even a bit better because of what I have to say.

Hey, don't worry about it! You're not a drag at all! This an advice blog, and it doesn't matter how much of a drag your ask might be, we're here to read it and help. Yeah, you sound like you have what I've heard be called "Quarantine Syndrome." Becoming a social hermit, yeah all that stuff's coming from the pandemic crap. Man, that's really unfair that your parents to treat you like that. You deserve so much more respect, and it sucks that they aren't listening to your problems. If anything, you should try talking to them about this. Make sure they're aware what they're doing is hurting you at the least.

As hard as it is, my recommendation for the friend thing is to put yourself out there. You might have to be the one to start conversations. I know it's a real drag, but this is a good way to ensure that you get to talk to irl friends more. Make a group chat or message people individually. You could try setting up group calls, or just playing online games together or something. Alright, the school/work thing is way too relatable. But hey, I got an idea for that too!! You might wanna set up schedules for stuff. Make time for each thing, and kind of organize your day so you can get everything done that you need to. I think organizing everything might help keep you on track a little more, so maybe give that a shot! If you think your older sibling can help you, then yeah, go for it! You deserve to get the help you need, and you're not a burden ok? Reach out to them and see how it goes, and you never know, that might end up helping a lot.

Ok, so here's some tips for destressing. If you just wanna zone out, you could find some ambient music on youtube then watch live space wallpapers. They're really pretty and relaxing...or maybe that's just a me thing. Anyways, make sure you have some time to do the things you enjoy to stop yourself from getting burnt out. You might want to set time for this in your schedule too! Alright, did I get it all? I think I did! Yup, you can get a hug too! It's no problem ok, I'm glad I can make you feel like people care, because they do!! Feel free to shoot me an ask whenever, and I'll always be down to talk to you. Take care bro!

#danganronpa #danganronpa roleplay blog #ask #mondo owada #leon kuwata #kaito momota #mod mondo #mod 11037 #mod kokichi

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wrightiverse · 3 years

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Hello and this is me annotating/doing director's commentary for the last chapter of Crowd as a victory lap. There's no indulgence like self-indulgence.

“I’ll just make my hot young boyfriend help me,” Robin teases. “When I’m eighty, you’ll only be sixty-nine.”

I love to take a thing from the beginning of a story/scene and revisit it at the end. In this case, 'hot young boyfriend' is a light callback to 'sexy-ass, significantly younger boyfriend' back at the beginning when Robin was sad about the empty nest situation. This is, I think, the first time we specify their exact age gap. It is also the exact age gap I have with my own partner, because I’m very lazy like that. (None of this was written with any reference to what's gone on in the podcast over the last year or so, which is good because it sounds like the whole aging thing for Glenn could have gotten really confusing. Wrightiverse Glenn came back right after Ravenloft, none of that other stuff happened to him. It's all good. Canon is optional.) * * * * *

It’s not like the men in his family have much luck in that area, anyway; Glenn never met either of his grandfathers, and Bill didn’t make it much past fifty.

I think Meryl actually lived for hundreds of years and is still alive in Faerun and they should totally meet, but Glenn doesn’t know all that. * * * * *

Aesthetics aside, it didn't seem like there was much for Glenn to look forward to in middle age and beyond. Nick would grow up and wouldn’t need his dad anymore, and Glenn would be all alone.

From Glenn’s second chapter in Crowd, when Robin is sad about Connor leaving for college:

“I want him to be independent,” Robin is trying to explain into Glenn’s knee, “but also I don’t want to be all alone.” Glenn flicks his ear reproachfully. “You're not all alone. I’m right here, dumbass.”

Sometimes what seems obvious when we're explaining it to somebody else doesn't feel as obvious when it's our turn. Admittedly, Glenn is coming to this with a different set of experiences than Robin is. More on that later. * * * * *

His career would go to shit, because getting old only works for rock stars if they’re actually bluesmen in disguise, like Keith Richards.

I think I got this theory from something Chuck Klosterman wrote, probably Fargo Rock City. * * * * *

He starts his grounding exercise without even thinking about it. Five things he can see: one, an information sign for the city park. Two, a freshly-painted bike rack. Three, some big public art sculpture that looks like a giant rusty hairbrush…

This particular grounding exercise came up earlier in Crowd. I didn't make it up for the story, it's real and many people find that it works well. Feel free to try it! The exercise he alludes to when they’re on the beach, creating ‘safe spaces’ out of vivid memories with lots of sensory details, is also based on a real thing. Lauren, his therapist, is named after the therapist who worked with me on my own PTSD and taught me that and a lot of other good stuff. At least based on my own experience, I can highly recommend EMDR if you can find a good practitioner. * * * * *

It was a hella sweet gesture from the kid.

Connor’s introduction in Name has to do with him carrying shirts past Glenn, and one of those shirts becomes important later to Robin. Given how big the GC3 actually seems to be, I don’t think Connor did the majority of their merch. I assume they used a regular printer and Connor just did small runs of fun custom stuff when he feels like it, meaning not much changed after Glenn quit. * * * * *

Of course, Robin is the only member of the family wearing the shirt right now, because Robin is the only one who doesn’t care that it isn’t cool to wear merch from the gig at the gig itself.

I have no idea how widespread the ‘no wearing merch from the gig at the gig’ thing is, but that’s the rule I learned. * * * * *

Robin is chatting away about something, but it’s hard to follow with all the noise and distraction around them. Glenn decides to let it ride, and allows himself to zone out and just watch Robin talk.

As requested by my brilliant co-author, this is a callback to when Robin spaces out watching Glenn talk on their first date. Both Robin and Glenn are consistently very prone to tuning out when the other one is talking, but neither of them particularly care. As Glenn says on their dinner date - sometimes a man just wants to think out loud for a while and get a ‘hell yeah’ in response. * * * * *

It's vastly unfair that Robin looks so good in direct sunlight, but he probably pulls it off because he's the one person in Los Angeles who isn't trying to look younger than he actually is.

Glenn should spend less time in WeHo. * * * * *

There’s already more gray in Robin’s hair than when they met, although Glenn will only accept partial blame for that. Either way, the old man’s on track to be a full-on silver fox before he even hits fifty.

It felt necessary to drop a reminder that despite how Glenn talks about him, Robin is not actually that damn old. I mean, I'm sure that sounds very old to some of you, but when you're in your mid-to-late 30s like Glenn, somebody in their late 40s is not unreasonably decrepit. I think it has more to do with their respective energies than actual birthdays. * * * * *

“What is it?” Robin has noticed Glenn’s gaze, and he touches his own face to check if there's something on it.

Glenn grins. "Nothing, just ogling."

This is another callback to their first date:

“Do I have something on my face?” Glenn asks, and rubs at his mouth.

“No, you’re good.” Robin says. “You’re great.”

Because I adore a full-circle moment, that's why. * * * * *

“Your eyes were intense," Robin laughs. "It looked like you were going to start growling redrum at me."

This is my own fault for saying in the last chapter that Glenn was rambling about Kubrick moon landing conspiracies when he comes back from his walk. I tried like seven different ways to get them on the subject. I still don’t know if it feels natural. * * * * *

Glenn stabs an accusatory finger toward Robin. “Did you suggest not doing the show because you knew I’d argue with you and talk myself into doing it?”

Can’t outro this story without at least a little argayment.

Glenn usually finds him in the bathroom at the end of the night, looking grumpy about being up past his bedtime and holding some girl’s hair back while she barfs.

With what we've learned about Robin over the course of Crowd, we now have the context to understand that for Robin, this drunk girl is very much the ghost of Christmas Past. I don't imagine he goes to many of these parties.

* * * * *

It doesn’t bother Glenn a bit. Life isn’t a movie, the cheerleader doesn’t have to put on leather pants and start smoking in order to get her bad boy and her happily ever after.

I know that there’s more going on in Grease than that, but consider: would Glenn know that?

* * * * *

He and Robin are very different people, and they always will be. They don’t make sense on the surface, but they both know who they are, and who they are fits together perfectly.

Circling back to Robin at the end of Name, expressing his anxieties:

Robin rests his forehead on the steering wheel, avoiding Glenn’s eyes. “Like I don’t make sense for you, and everybody can see it.”

Some of the circles that I closed in Crowd were ones that were opened in Crowd, but some went back further. * * * * *

Love bubbles up in Glenn like a shaken-up soda, and he finds himself standing up suddenly and grabbing Robin’s shirt collar to tug him down for a kiss.

I wanted to mirror the ‘Hot Dad surges forward to kiss him, hard’ thing from the beginning, but given the established height difference, Glenn can’t just go for it unannounced unless he’s gonna stand tippy-toe. Thank you @whotaughtyougrammar for this art of what happens when Glenn tries the collar-tug and Robin doesn't notice fast enough.

* * * * *

Robin is caught off guard and stumbles half a step back, managing at the last second not to drop his drink. “One second, sweetheart, just one second. You surprised me. What was that about?”

Glenn gives him a lopsided grin. “Luck?”

“Oh, well, then. For luck.”

Luck and how to change it is a big theme throughout the whole series, both in the sense of ‘good fortune/unearned blessings’ and ‘random, unforeseen chance.’ More later about that. * * * * *

When Glenn presses his tongue forward to slip between Robin’s lips, he tastes lemon and sugar.

Same as the first time they kissed, when he’d been drinking whiskey sours.

* * * * *

“Right, yeah,” Robin breathes, but he doesn’t let Glenn out of his arms quite yet. “You know,” Robin adds, “Nick was telling me earlier that he’s going to sleep over at Grant’s tonight.”

So I'll be there when you arrive / The sight of you will prove to me I'm still alive / And when you take me in your arms / And hold me tight / I know it's gonna mean so much tonight * * * * *

She’d found him there, and she'd saved him, like she always did.

We didn’t know Morgan’s name when we first wrote the scene where they discussed her in Name, so we wrote around it as though Glenn was reluctant to name her out loud. We maintained this throughout the rest of Crowd except for the line where Glenn says that he’ll tell Robin about the phone call with Morgan. Felt right. Her presence is very much felt but Glenn, at least, is not in the habit of talking about her unless he has no other option. * * * * *

They ran out of the venue and down the street, hand in hand and giggling like kids playing hooky.

@shrack was the one who began writing our Glenn with very physical methods of showing affection. I liked it a lot as a vibe and carried on with it. He and Morgan are also very young here. Glenn would be 21 or 22 at the oldest, which is barely older than Connor is now. I've always attributed some of his immaturity to the fact that he became a parent pretty young. (Glenn is 36 when Name starts and Nick is 13, meaning Nick was born when Glenn was 23 and probably conceived when Glenn was 22.)

* * * * *

It was like falling in love with every single person in the crowd, all at once. Glenn felt like he would never be lonely again as long as he could have that feeling.

Facing twenty thousand of your friends / how can anyone feel so lonely? * * * * *

By then, the GC3 performed in venues so cavernous that Glenn couldn’t see anything outside his own spotlight. He could hear the audience roar approval at him, making a wall of sound that he could feel like a physical force. It was loud enough to drown out the screaming in his head, loud enough to let him forget that she wasn’t out there among them. It was the closest he could get to forgetting, so Glenn did it as much as he could.

Part of a success that never ends / But I’m thinking about you only... * * * * *

Slowly but surely, he’d been learning how to go through life with his mind and heart focused on someone else’s well-being. It didn’t come naturally: that wasn’t the kind of family either of them knew. Still, they’d promised each other that they could do better than how they were raised.

I am never here for iterations of this dynamic that assume Glenn is the fuck-up and Morgan was the perfect parent. They both became parents at exactly the same moment, you know? The world does not need one more story with an incompetent sitcom dad and his smoking-hot wife who does all the actual parenting. * * * * *

Nick is long since asleep, but Adele fucking Close has stayed up until these sickening hours of the early morning.

Conveniently, Glenn’s brain has overwritten all his memories with the correct name and pronouns for Nick, because writing around it is a pain in the ass otherwise. * * * * *

“Hello, Glenny.”

Bill calling Glenn “Glenny” that time at Ravenloft really stuck with me. I don’t know if they ever revisited that in the actual podcast, but it was so slimy and chilling somehow. * * * * *

“I fucked up,” Glenn says bluntly, and his mother narrows her eyes ever so slightly at his cursing.

Glenn gets in his own head early in Crowd about comparing himself to Penny, and Robin later worries about putting himself on ‘the same level’ as Morgan. Neither of them are quite galaxy-brained enough to realize that there’s more than one person in Glenn’s life who uses a lot of terms of endearment for him, considers themselves old-fashioned, and wishes everybody wouldn’t swear so much. * * * * *

“Thank you, mother,” Glenn grits out. He sounds absolutely nothing like himself, not that she minds. “I appreciate your help.”

I assume that part of the reason Glenn has such a hard time offering genuine apologies is that when he was growing up, too much of his apologizing was forced rather than sincere. * * * * *

“You are out of chances. If you continue to neglect this child, I will get the state involved, and I will take custody myself. I’ve already spoken to the Freemans, and I have their full support.”

Morgan’s parents are not mentioned very often and don’t seem to be a big part of the Close boys’ lives. I imagine that whatever tenuous relationship Glenn had forged with them post-accident was pretty much destroyed by Adele forming this alliance with them and telling Glenn about it. * * * * *

Her patient demeanor is meant to remind him that she's here to clean up his mess again, like she always does, and his proper response is humble and apologetic gratitude.

And that is why Robin being patient can set Glenn off so bad, such as after the bike accident when they were arguing:

Glenn doesn’t really hear most of what Robin’s saying. It’s all just soothing, pointless stuff in that obnoxious tone that means Robin thinks he’s the smart, calm, mature one here and Glenn’s the immature asshole who lost his temper again. He’d never say it, but Glenn can tell what he’s thinking.

I hope it came across clearly in that part that Robin doesn’t actually see the situation that way and isn’t saying or thinking anything to that effect, but Glenn feels like he is because he’s had this somatic/emotional reaction triggered. Spatially he's arguing with Robin, but his body and a lot of his brain thinks he's arguing with his mom. Trauma can be like that. * * * * *

His mother keeps talking like he didn’t say a word. “We can all stay in each others’ lives, Glenny. I’m not trying to cut you out, I’m trying to help you. I know you think I’m a monster, but I’m just trying to do what’s best for my family.”

Sometimes the monster will tell you it's not a monster. * * * * *

From that night forward, Glenn will always know that he’s not a good person, because he almost takes his mother up on the offer.

I don’t think being tempted by this offer means Glenn’s a bad person, but we write Glenn as somebody who wishes he was a good person but is really afraid that he isn’t. He was at a very low point here and he needed help. Feeling drawn to the only help on offer, even if it was from a toxic source, is pretty understandable. * * * * *

"I'll get Nicky ready for school tomorrow and you can sleep in. We’ll finish talking about this when you feel better.”

Man, I hate that abuser thing when they start being sweet as soon as you muster the energy to fight back. You get a little bit of steam built up and then they dodge you like a matador so that it dissipates again. To be clear, Nicky isn't Nick's deadname or anything, it's just the somewhat baby-ish diminutive form that Adele uses for him, like how she calls Glenn "Glenny." * * * * *

“Family is important,” his mother says sadly. Just before she closes the door, she gives him a look that’s an exquisite mix of regret, tender affection, and a tiny spark of hope. Adele would have been a great actress, but Glenn can’t imagine who that particular performance was for.

Performance skills run in the family and Adele comes by her acting chops honestly, although she doesn’t know it. I picture one of those situations where a young woman from a good background gets pregnant by some rakehell actor and her family covers up the scandal by raising the baby as a new sibling. That would mean that as long as Adele’s “older sister” never spilled the beans, nobody in their family at this point knows that they’re related to Meryl. If Nick ever decides to do one of those ancestry DNA tests, things are going to get interesting. * * * * *

He certainly didn’t find it very compelling. Family? All the family he will ever need is sleeping soundly down the hallway, tiny arms wrapped tight around a stuffed plush Babar.

I wanted Nick to have a stuffed animal that was sort of his parallel to Mr. Lion. Robin is drinking with Mr. Lion in the beginning of Crowd when he’s upset about losing Connor to college, and Mr. Lion appears again when Glenn comes in to talk to Nick and Connor after Robin’s accident.

“I… I guess I don’t know.” Nick looks down, avoiding eye contact by staring into the darkness under Connor’s bed. Mr Lion is under there in a clear plastic box, along with some other stuffed animals. Even when Nick first met Connor, the stuffed animals were already banished underneath the bed instead of on top of it. But over the years, Connor’s never thrown them away.

Mr. Lion is one of the various ways we played with the theme that Connor is, as Nick puts it, “somewhere between a kid and an adult.” Connor is a very confident and clever guy, but you don't magically get a giant box of maturity and life experience on your 18th birthday. At various points, he asks both Nick (at the campus concert) and Glenn (after Robin’s accident) to try to understand that he's still growing and figuring stuff out. Nick has definitely been deprived of some chances to be a kid, but in some ways Connor has as well. He started hanging out with Glenn after Penny and Robin split up, and although he and Nick obviously hit it off, Connor was closer to Glenn for a while. In a different universe, that might not have turned out as well - I mean, tell me you wouldn't side-eye that arrangement in real life. I sure would. Robin just sort of flings his hands up at the role Connor plays for the Close boys, but I strongly suspect that shit would not have flown on Penny’s watch.

It’s funny - he thought Connor was so grown-up when they met, but the guy was only 16 when the Wrights moved in next door. He wasn’t much older by the time he was over at the Close place almost every day, helping Nick with homework or cleaning questionable leftovers out of the fridge. It didn’t strike Nick as weird at the time, It was just another thing about his life that wasn’t like anybody else’s. He never questioned what was in it for Connor. Back then, Nick didn’t even realize how lonely he himself was - he wouldn't have figured out why a kid whose parents had just gotten divorced might want to come over to the chaotic Close apartment to get away from the quiet in his own home.

Everybody was doing their best, and everything worked out for the best, but Connor over the course of the stories is sorting out the balance that works for him in terms of responsibility and playfulness. Fortunately, now that he has less responsibility for Nick, he can enjoy Nick more as a friend and brother. In Name, Robin and Glenn both sort of assume Connor will act as a babysitter to Nick while they go off on their first date; by Crowd, Connor is hanging out playing Smash with Nick and Grant as the gents get ready for their dinner date, but he's there socially, as a peer. Him being goofier and more immature also frees up Nick to do the same, since if Connor is cool and Connor is being playful, then "it's not a little kid thing, it's a bro thing" They both get to be kids now in a way that they weren't before, and I love that for them. Anyway, the point of Mr. Lion and why I wanted to give Nick a stuffed animal as well was to draw the parallel between the sons more directly and to anchor the stuffed animal component. So far there hadn't been any moment in which an actual kid was holding an actual stuffed animal.

#to be continued #wrightiverse

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kentthewolf · 3 years

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4 Things Self-Disciplined People Don’t Do ✋ — Leave These Bad Habits Behind & You Can Achieve Goals Beyond Your Wildest Dreams!

I highly admire fellow self-disciplined individuals. Because what ever their goals might be — from making the Olympics or starting a business or adhering to another eating routine — self-discipline is regularly the special ingredient..

In any case, self-discipline is a misjudged idea, principally in light of the fact that we consider the big picture as a fixed character trait. Yet, this is what the vast majority don't comprehend:

Self-discipline comes from good habits and not genetics.

As a mentor, I work with individuals attempting to be more disciplined in their lives. In the process, I've seen that it's not for absence of desire or motivation…

The reason we battle to be more disciplined has nothing to do with lack of morals or faulty genes — it's the bad or lack of good habits meddle with the chances of us being disciplined.

On the off chance that you need to turn into a more self-disciplined individual, figure out how to distinguish these bad habits and dispose of them. Self-discipline won't be far behind.

1. Depending on willpower

Individuals with a ton of self-discipline comprehend that willpower is a last resort.

Consider willpower to be the emergency brake in your vehicle — it's ideal to have, yet you would be in great difficulty if you depended on it as the essential method to slow down your vehicle.

Willpower ought to never be an essential procedure for getting troublesome things done.

Self-disciplined individuals comprehend that there are unmistakably more effective methods for remaining focused on challenging objectives. For instance, a "unmistakable advantage" some high-discipline individuals exploit is environmental design.

The essential thought is that as opposed to pushing yourself through an objective, it's smarter to design your current environment to be helpful for the objective and pull you through it.

For instance:

Suppose you need to study hard for a test. Rather than attempting to "stay focused" learning at home when you're barraged by distractions, from the enormous TV, to your friend texting you about going out for drinks, get together your things, go to a library, leave your phone in the vehicle, and locate a back corner of the of the facility where not many people sit in.

Better to avoid temptations rather than attempting to oppose them.

Self-disciplined individuals comprehend that they don't have the willpower that others might suspect they do. What's more, they comprehend that willpower is something delicate that frequently fails us. Subsequently, they don't depend on it and get innovative about alternate approaches to remain focused and committed.

On the off chance that you need to become more disciplined, ask yourself this:

How might I accomplish my objectives in the event that I had zero willpower?

2. Depending on motivation

Self-disciplined individuals see motivation as additional credit — ideal to have when it appears, yet never expected to be there.

Feeling motivated to go to the gym, study for a test, or work on that project you’ve been looking forward to is extraordinary. We as a whole love that feeling since it makes it generally simple to do hard things.

In any case, listen to this:

Feeling a that thunder of motivation isn't needed to do hard things.

Individuals often think that if “I'm not feeling it" I can't actually do it or it's not worth attempting. We approach our lives trusting that motivation will strike, however at the same time our dreams, goals, and desires blur further into memory as life appears to cruise us by.

Self-disciplined individuals don't fall into this snare since they comprehend the real essence between feeling and taking action:

Action prompts to feeling just as feeling prompts to action.

What does this mean? the connection among feeling and action is a two-way street: Sure, feeling great causes you do hard things; yet doing hard things causes you to feel better — specifically, it makes you more motivated to do more hard things in the future.

Self-disciplined individuals are addicted to taking action and the high they get from it, it’s uncanny.

They comprehend that the best way to feel consistently motivated is to build the habit of consistently taking action — regardless of whether it's exceptionally little activities at first. This way the build up momentum into the harder things with a rush that cannot be stopped.

So , yeah! there it is: The secret is that self-disciplined individuals are more motivated than most of us, and not because of luck or good genes. They basically see how to make their own constant flow of motivation by making moves and taking action regardless of how they feel as opposed to keeping an eye out, waiting for the “feeling”.

Quit waiting for motivation and figure out how to construct your own.

3. Trusting your emotions

Self-disciplined individuals realize that emotions are not reliable.

This doesn't mean you shouldn't tune in to your emotions and know about them. Indeed, profoundly disciplined individuals are frequently in contact with their emotions. Be that as it may, they're not controlled by them.

Self-discipline requires a self-awareness and skepticism of your own emotions.

The critical understanding here is that while emotions frequently communicate to us important intuition, they can just as regularly push us off track.

At the point when you're climbing through the mountains and your nervousness springs up on the grounds that you hear an abrupt shaking sound, that is most likely something worth being thankful for — your mind's method of rapidly setting you up for the chance of stepping on a poisonous snake!

Then again, when an email from your supervisor appears in your inbox saying "we need to talk," your nervousness may be yelling at you that something's wrong, however it's totally conceivable that your manager was busy and didn't have the opportunity to create a full message.

Here's another way to see it:

Emotions are common sense — your mind's reactions about how you should act, are worth paying attention to, but not to be followed blindly.

Your relationship with emotions matters for developing self-discipline since how you feel will regularly conflict with your core values:

Your values might be to work out before anything else, yet your emotions will attempt to persuade you to get an additional 30 minutes of rest.

Your values might be to adhere to a small serving at every meal, except your emotions will attempt to persuade you to get more calories.

Your values might be to ask your manager for a much higher raise, yet your emotions will attempt to persuade you that something horrible will occur in the event that you face him/her about it.

On the off chance that you want to be more self-disciplined, develop a skeptical relationship with your emotions.

Tune in to your emotions, yet try not to take orders from them.

4. Worrying over results

Self-disciplined individuals have a skill for remaining focused on effort rather than worrying about results.

The most obvious trait to self-disciplined individuals is that they are very goal oriented. They have numerous objectives, consistently pursue them, and regularly accomplish them — often times to an astonishing degree.

Here’s the secret:

Self-disciplined individuals can gain consistent progress toward their objectives because they don't invest a lot of energy contemplating them.

Instead, self-disciplined individuals maintain their focus on their actions — things they can really do and control. Things that, whenever done consistently after some time, will probably prompt the ideal objective or result.

To put it another way, self-disciplined individuals understand they cant control the result of their goals, but they can control their efforts:

You can't control whether a novel gets composed. You can control whether you compose 300 words every day during your mid-day break.

You can't control whether you shed 20 pounds. You can control if you have dessert.

You can't control the grade you get on a test. You can control how frequently you study.

Investing a lot of energy pondering your objectives is an distraction from the things you really have control over — your actions

The best mindset toward results and objectives is to "set it and forget it."

You need to think of your objectives at first. it's ideal to savor them for some time whenever you've achieved them. Yet, keep your eye off the prize and focus on the little actions you can take at this moment.

Don’t waste your energy on things you can’t control.

Follow these four tips and you’ll be the person others look up to as you breeze through every single one of your goals. Leaving little to no chance of failure and stress.

#personal development #self improvement #self discipline #self care #tip #productivity #motivation #motivational quotes #tips

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mbti-notes · 5 years

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I wanted to know, please, if the time we ~spend~ being in the grip is a waste? beacuse I have to be honest it's been 4 yers since I've started to develop my aux and I have been failing since I've started, I already sent you a lot of texts and you r always telling me that I am not getting it right to develop my aux. I wanted to know if it`s normal to take that long/ to fail again and again AND for the love of god, what can I do to accelarate? What can I do to spped up he process? thank you! enfp

It seems that you don’t understand the process of function development. If you frequently suffer from inferior grip, then your dominant function is quite unhealthy, which makes it next to impossible to develop your auxiliary function. When Ne is unhealthy to extremes, you aren’t able to explore ideas and possibilities with an open and objective mind, thus you aren’t able to envision positive paths forward. And how can Fi-aux make good judgments/choices when there are no good options available other than desperation or pessimism? You are in self-pity rather than examining your problem, so there’s not much I can say. It sounds like you’re unhappy, and instead of facing up to that unhappiness and making the appropriate changes, you keep trying to ignore, suppress, or sidestep it, which only makes it worse over time. This is the opposite of Fi development.

WRT self-development, learning well requires:

1) knowing the proper way of doing things: Do you know and respect the proper process/procedure of achieving a goal (Si)? Do you follow instructions well (Si)? Do you think that things should always be easy if you just “believe” hard enough (unhealthy Ne)? Do you think that the rules of success shouldn’t apply to you because you always convince yourself that you know what’s best despite no evidence that you do (delusional Ne-Te)? Are you impatient and believe that you can take shortcuts or skirt the rules without suffering negative consequences (Te loop)? Do you pursue success for the right reasons, or do you merely want it to distract from self-loathing (Te loop)? Do you take care of your health (Si) and give yourself the work-leisure balance needed for maintaining your energy and motivation levels (Fi)? Do you have effective methods of managing the stress of challenging work or do you always push yourself too hard (Fi-Te)?

2) making mistakes and learning from them: Do you assess your mistakes honestly and directly, to discover the actual cause of what went wrong (Te)? Are you willing to completely change your attitude and approach when it obviously gets you bad results (Te)? Do you respect the hurt that you’ve experienced from past mistakes and use the memory of it to guide your decision making towards better health and well-being (Fi-Si)? Are you willing to make difficult choices and exercise self-control in resisting temptations whenever it is necessary to protect your well-being (Fi-Si)? Do you waste time whining, blaming, rehashing, ruminating, or beating yourself up for failing rather than simply feeling your hurt, licking your wounds, learning the lesson, and moving on (Si grip)? Do you make excuses for failure or bad decision making (Te loop)?

The learning process isn’t linear because it’s hard to break old habits. It’s hard to break a mental habit when you don’t even know it exists, when you don’t understand how it works, when you don’t know what triggers it, and when you can’t admit that it grants you egotistical benefits you don’t want to give up (e.g. People procrastinate when they get “gratification” by doing something more fun than the work - they want the fun-in-the-moment more than achieving the future goal). Have you done the self-reflection that is necessary to understand what your bad habit is and break it? You need a certain level of self-awareness to know what causes a negative pattern, and sometimes the only way to obtain that self-awareness is to make repeated mistakes that bring the pattern out into the light of day for everyone to see. To break an old pattern requires learning a NEW lesson, a NEW way of thinking, or a NEW method of doing things that replaces the old way. Unfortunately, many people have to repeat the mistake as many times as necessary until they finally learn that changing to a new way is necessary. That’s why cognitive dysfunction is often a slow and gradual descent to rock bottom as some people require the jolt of hitting a rock bottom to finally get themselves on track. In that sense, being in the loop/grip is never a “waste” because it’s a necessary part your learning process. But you cannot accept this reality, so you suffer for your wishing thinking that reality “should” be otherwise.

The fact that you ask me how to “accelerate” means that your attitude is all wrong. You’re not approaching the problem seriously by telling me the exact steps you’ve taken to “develop Fi”, you’re not patiently reviewing your Fi missteps with a fine-toothed comb, you’re not taking time to appreciate any progress that you’ve made, rather, you’re issuing self-condemnations, throwing your hands up in the air, and begging for miracles. This blog is not for venting; it’s for reflection. You’re looking for easy answers and I don’t have any, so stop asking me for them unless you enjoy disappointment. When you only care about “end results”, you’re never fully present in your life, and worst of all, you won’t find the right path because you’ll settle for ANY path as long as you imagine it’s “faster” for you -> Te loop. When you’re constantly looking for escape or shortcuts, it’s easy to get yourself lost, because your attention is always scattered from all the scanning about, and your focus is actually just on avoiding your negative emotions, as opposed to appreciating the bumpy process of learning and growing into a better person. Face up to your negative emotions, listen to what they are trying to tell you.

#enfp #te loop #si grip #development #learning #loop #grip #auxiliary fi #ask

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thecookieraakshas · 5 years

Text

Hey guys! I'm Cookie ( let's just go with that cuz I love cookies and my name, despite being simple, gets butchered by most people ). I'm quite new to this side of Tumblr so I figured it's time to introduce myself.

About me

I'm 18.

Indian.

I've completed highschool and I've taken a gap year to prepare for medical entrance examinations.

(Hopefully I'll be in the college of my dreams by September.)

I am fluent in multiple Indian languages.

And I'm working on Spanish, French and German on Duolingo.

Interests

books boOKS BOOKS

(LOTR and GOT are two series that I want to read first before watching the TV adaptations)

Way too many TV shows and movies (Supernatural, Doctor who, Sherlock, Parks and Rec, Marvel and way way more)

I know the lyrics to almost every single One Direction song

And also to most Linkin Park and AC/DC songs.

I also jam out to classical music and movie scores while studying.

If you want me to listen to something, I'll probably listen to it an fall in love with it so bring it on.

I've been learning an Indian classical dance form called Bharatnatyam for over 12 years.

But I suck at every other type of dance.

I've never been able to choose between coffee and tea. I gave up at one point cuz wth hot chocolate wins this tournament anyway.

Current subjects

Zoology

Botany

Chemistry

Physics

Why a studyblr?

I have (major) procrastination issues.

I'm hoping this will help me keep myself motivated and on track.

I want to get all of things in order and figure out the method of study that suits me perfectly before going to college.

Also, the entrance exams are super competitive, really stressful and occasionally really difficult too. So this is a way for me to not freak out and have a meltdown cuz I definitely cannot afford one for the next few months.

I also really love bullet journals and the whole system is so amazing. I've always wanted to incorporate the system into my life so I thought this is as good a time as any.

Goals

Keeping my new year's resolutions

Going to an amazing medical college

New friends!!

Maintain my bullet journal

Making the best of every day

Studyblrs that inspire me

@ilovewashitape @athenastudying @studyquill @studyblr @intellectys @studydiaryofamedstudent @studyrkive @emmastudies @coffeeandpies @bujo-onthebeat @indiaisstudying @gweenichnotes

And so so many more!

I've only been here a few weeks and I already love it. Though my procrastination hasn't gone away, it has definitely decreased atleast a little.

So here's hoping for a productive and successful 2019!!!

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bills-pokedex · 5 years

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My chingling's become interested in performing in contests after we attended one in Slateport City, but I have no idea where to begin. I've heard your editor is a contest vet, so I was hoping she might have some advice.

LH: The biggest thing you should probably know to get started is that contests are slightly different in each region. Oh, the format is usually very similar, but every region has its own culture, which means what judges focus on can differ from circuit to circuit. Since you’ve mentioned Slateport, I’ll assume you’re still in Hoenn, but if you’ve actually traveled to any other region with a contest circuit, I’d highly recommend taking a look at contest footage before signing up for your first contest. You can usually find a lot of footage online; contests are highly broadcasted.

That said, Hoenn contests focus a lot on moves than anything else. While every pokémon and coordinator needs to be presentable before they go up on stage, Hoenn is the region most likely to let someone enter a muk and not bat an eye so long as that muk can do something striking with its moves. So before you get to the contest hall, plan out your routine. Take a look at what moves your pokémon know and figure out different methods to combine them in clever or creative ways—ways that would make your pokémon stand out or otherwise shine. Remember that contest moves are meant to highlight a pokémon, so always focus making sure your combinations make your pokémon look amazing and never obscure them from view unless you mean to do that. All too often, new coordinators overdo it with their moves, which results in either their pokémon looking ridiculous or a combination so flashy the pokémon itself can’t be seen.

Also, remember that if you’re entering the general circuit, you’ll need to battle too. The secret is that the stage round (where your pokémon show off their moves for the judges) and the battling round are basically the same; it’s just that you’re using your moves in a practical manner against another pokémon. Even then, the moves you choose still have to highlight your pokémon in some way—that is, they have to be just flashy enough to make your pokémon look great, even as they fight. So the strategy is similar, but preparing for this round also requires you to maintain a clear head at all times. What helped me back then was sparring as often as I could with other trainers or coordinators. The more you and your pokémon practice outside of the contest hall, the calmer you’ll be on stage.

Another thing: I would recommend entering the themed circuit instead of the general circuit. Sure, the prizes aren’t quite as impressive as the ones you get from the general circuit, but the themed circuit is often easier. Not a lot of new coordinators realize this, but it’s true. In the general circuit, you’re given no theme, and you’re often pitted against veteran coordinators. The themed circuit, meanwhile, always gives you a theme (cute, beauty, smart, tough, or cool), which makes it easier to plan and train for the next contest you enter. Moreover, themed contests are always divided into skill levels, so if you’re not confident with your skills as a coordinator, it’s okay because you’ll be competing against coordinators who also aren’t ready for higher ranks.

As for preparation for a themed contest, just remember that different moves are favored in different contests. Take Ice Beam, for instance. It’s a gorgeous move that sparkles with a rainbow of colors if you use it right, so it’s favored in beauty contests. On the other hand, it’s not favored in tough contests because the judges aren’t looking for something that’s gorgeous so much as something that shows off a pokémon’s muscles and physical strength. It’s pretty easy to figure out which moves would do best in which contest just based on the way they look, but if you need help, there are definitely a lot of databases online made by coordinators who kept track of how the audience or judges responded to different moves. Feebas.net, for example. They not only have an entire part of the site dedicated to indexing every move and how well they’re received, but you can also find videos of contests from practically every circuit.

Reviewing other people’s contest performances is actually a really good idea, by the way, and I would recommend doing that before you enter your first contest, as well as whenever you have spare time. That way, you can pick up tips and incorporate them into your own preparations, or simply learn what to expect in your next contest.

Finally, contests are ultimately performances, but don’t let the pressure of an audience unnerve you. Take a deep breath as you go on stage and clear your head. I always felt that focusing your gaze on one judge helps ground me. It reminds you that you’re working for an audience but blocks out everything but that one judge.

Most of all, break a leg!

#asks #our world #lh ask #from the editor #Anonymous

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