#it had a bunch of unique bosses

[nethhiri]

Kid and killer with someone who is a literal mouse/rat ? ate the mouse zoan fruit unknowingly thinking I’d be a cooler ability

I hope you don't mind if I turned this into a little drabble bc it inspired me. It was such a cute idea.

(Okay this got out of hand... I am incapable of telling a succinct story)

The Only Free Cheese Is in the Mousetrap

You had to admit, when you first ate the Mouse-Mouse fruit, you thought it was going to be something a little bit cooler. Mice were small and lame. No one would blink twice at a silly little mouse. As it turned out, that was your advantage.

You had been trying to hitch a ride through the Grand Line and you had been successful for the most part, hiding in the storage of random ships, eating whatever you could find. You didn't need much as an innocent little mouse. This ship, however, had no food in storage. There were only weapons and prisoners. If you got caught on this ship, the consequences would surely be dire.

The mistake was made when you decided to venture around the ship in search of food. You happened to find yourself in the workshop of the notorious K.I.D., Eustass 'Captain' Kid that is. Unfortunately you were a very unique, bright white mouse. It didn't leave you much in the way of camouflage, unless there was a bowl of flour somewhere. Even more unfortunate was that Kid was a very observant man and spotted you instantly.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here? A wee mouse?" Kid crouched in front of you.

You had been so sure he was going to crush you under his foot.

"Yer not even scared, eh?"

In truth, you were terrified, in the third, secret state of fight or flight: freeze.

"Wait here, mousey."

Kid returned to his bench, where there was a mostly empty plate, save for some crumbs. He collected them in his hands and returned to the interesting white mouse, sprinkling them on the floor.

"Here ya go."

He returned to his work, glancing up at you every so often to watch you nibble on the crumbs.

The next evening, you returned. He wasn't going to squish you and he even fed you. If he continued, you could just do this and survive until the next stop in port. You were pleasantly surprised to find that he had already set out some cubes of cheese.

"There ya go, mousey. I got the good stuff from Killer's stash."

That made your tiny mouse ears flick forward. So there's better food somewhere on the ship.

It turned out, you didn't have to search for it. Kid brought it to you. Over the next evenings, Kid left grapes, cheese, bread, bananas, and a bunch of other little tidbits. After about a week, there was a tiny metal table and chair set out with the food on top. You played along and sat in the chair for him, which mad him extremely happy. He moved it slightly closer to his bench every night until it was on the top of his desk. If someone had told you that you would be eating cubes of cheese, sitting on the desk of Eustass 'Captain' Kid, you would have laughed in their faces, but here you were doing just that.

This evolved even further until you were being carried around in a pocket on the inside of his coat. It was a little warm, but it offered protection. Every so often, he would sneak a crumb into the pocket for you.

"Boss, why are you feeding your coat?" Heat had been watching him put crumbs in his pocket over the course of dinner.

"No I'm not!" Kid said defensively, not answering the question correctly.

Killer reached out to pull open his coat, but Kid snatched it closer to him. Killer tugged on it harder.

"Stop it! Yer gonna hurt Mousey!"

"Mousey?" Killer let go of Kid's coat.

Kid hmphed.

"Kid."

Begrudgingly, Kid opened his coat.

"I don't see anything," Wire quipped.

Kid's face had a light dusting of pink. He whispered into his coat, "Come on out." Nothing happened. "It's okay."

You didn't expect to be revealed to anyone and you were reluctant to come out. Kid had kept you safe this far, though. You poked your snout out of the pocket and sniffed. There were quite a lot of people in the room. Your round, soft ears followed until your whole head was peering out of the pocket's edge. You were met with a chorus of adoring squeals from the girls and even some of the guys in the crew. Kid scratched between your ears, which you were ashamed to say, felt amazing and a squeak slipped out of your mouse mouth.

Heat covered his face. "So cute." Heat reached out to scratch your head.

"Don't ya touch my Mousey." Kid possessively closed his coat.

Heat's face got even sadder than it normally was.

"Just keep that thing out of my kitchen," Killer said. "They're full of germs."

Kid muttered down into the pocket. "Don't listen to him, Mousey. He's just jealous."

The next few days, since you weren't really a secret anymore, you spent sitting on Kid's shoulder. Killer had just as much disdain for you as he did initially, much to Kid's dismay. He really wanted his first mate to think you were as cool as Kid thought. Even the tiny leather jacket he made you didn't convince the blonde.

Kid fed you well, but you were still intrigued by this secret food stash that supposedly existed. There wasn't much entertainment as a mouse on a ship and you were getting bored. So at night, you had been searching the ship for this treasure. The kitchen was the most obvious, yet the scariest place to hunt. Certainly if there was hidden food, it would be there, however, Killer was extremely territorial and observant. It would be dangerous to search that particular area. Tonight was the night you would risk it.

It was easy enough to slip under the kitchen door. Finding the good treats was harder, but your well-equipped nose was able to sniff them out. The problem came when your tiny mouse hands were unable to figure out how to open the secret paneling that the food was hidden behind. You could turn into your human form, risky as it was. It would be nice to stretch it out. You had been a mouse for several weeks.

Taking your human form, you poked around the paneling until it revealed its contents. There was a variety of fancy or high quality specialty foods, including cheeses and preserved meats. You found a knife and cut small pieces from a few things you were interested in. Then you put everything back in its approximate original position. You climbed onto the counter and reverted back into a mouse, stuffing the tiny pieces of food you had curated into your cheeks.

The following day, as Killer went about his business, he noticed a set of bare footprints on the floor. There was a light dusting of flour from the day before when he made pasta from scratch. He hadn't noticed it before now. What was strange was that the footprints were only in one spot, like a person materialized and dematerialized there. It was also strange that someone who wasn't Kid was barefoot in the kitchen, and these footprints were about half the size of his. He somewhat brushed it off, that is, until he noticed the other footprints on the counter, the much tinier, much mousier footprints.

You had been spending most of your time in the walls of the ship, when you weren't being carried around in Kid's pocket. Today was no exception. You spent some of your time exploring listening in on others' conversations. Peering through the cracks of the wood, you decided to eavesdrop on Kid. Killer had come to talk to him and you were curious about what the captain and first-mate talked about. It was a good thing you did, since you were the subject matter.

"Kid, there's something up with your mouse."

His head snapped up from what he was doing. "What? Did something happen to them?"

"The 'mouse' is fine." Killer made air-quotes as he spoke.

"What do ya mean 'mouse'?" Kid copied his air-quotes.

"I mean I don't think it's just a mouse." Killer explained. "There are footprints in my kitchen that go from human to mouse." Killer wasn't stupid. He could put the pieces together.

"So ya think Mousey is a person?"

"I do."

"Prove it."

Shit. He was on to you. You didn't even notice the footprints you left behind. Should you even show up to eat? Or would it be more suspicious if you didn't? You ended up waiting until Kid left for the night before skittering out to grab your little crumbs and retreating into the wall.

You made yourself relatively scarce for the next few days, meaning you spent more time spying on the crew, for entertainment purposes only. One particular conversation caught your attention. You only caught portions of it, but it was clearly a mutinous theme. It ended shortly after you caught on to it, however, so you didn't get any details. Technically, it wasn't your problem. This wasn't your crew and you weren't planning on sticking around. It ate at you though. It felt wrong not to repay Kid for keeping you safe. Maybe you could return the favor.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary after that. Maybe they had given up on their plans. Until one evening in particular, someone new had delivered Kid's dinner to his workshop. He didn't always eat in there but he did more and more after he started feeding you. There was something off about the smell of the food. It wasn't right. Before Kid could eat any, you scrambled up to the table and bit his hand as he reached for the fork.

"Mousey! What the fuck?! That hurt." Kid bopped your head with a finger. "No biting."

As he reached for the fork again you knocked it onto the floor.

"Don't piss me off, Mouse."

He wasn't going to take the hint. He leaned over to pick up the fork, which is when you took the opportunity to push the plate onto the floor.

"FUCK!"

You knew he wasn't going to be happy, in spite of that, you couldn't watch him eat poisoned food. You tried to run away afterward, knowing this. However, you were slow compared to him and his powers quickly put a tiny metal cage around you.

"Ya act like this after all I've done for ya?! Bad mouse!" He picked up the miniature jail cell and gave it a shake, causing you to tumble around inside, with squeaks of discomfort.

Kid stomped off with you in tow and threw you to Killer once he found the first mate.

"Take this little shit to the brig."

Killer gave him a questioning look behind his mask. "You want me to put the mouse in a cell?"

"Well, I ain't gonna kill it. I'm not a monster."

Kid relayed all your crimes to the blonde. It was funny, how Killer felt a little bit bad for you, even though he had never shown you favor prior to that. You bounced with every step he took down to the brig.

"Oh, Mousey. You fucked up." Killer was to keep you here until they docked somewhere to let you go.

No, you fucked up. Neither of them were familiar with mouse physiology it seemed. The bars on your prison were way too far apart. As soon as Killer left, you squeezed out of the cage and made a beeline back to Kid's workshop.

It was vacant at the moment. You hurried to the desk and found a writing instrument. It was tough in your diminutive body, but you left a message for the captain:

YOU ARE IN DANGER.

You hoped he took it seriously. Then you scurried your furry body back to your cell before anyone noticed, not that they would.

Unfortunately, Kid thought it was a prank. You tried another note on his desk. You tried to leave him a note on his mirror in lipstick. At this point, Kid considered that there was a ghost on board. Clearly this method wasn't working. Once it became obvious, you started venturing out of the cage when you knew there wasn't anyone scheduled to come down there to feed or check on you. The next best thing to try was going back to spying and figuring out who exactly was involved.

Now, what you would do when you figured it out? That was decided for you. It wasn't what you intended. But what were you supposed to do? One of the men spotted you. And he backed you into a corner. And he was going to step on you. Your only choice was to transform. And when he pulled a knife? Well, of course you had to disarm him. And now that he had seen you and knew you heard his plot, you couldn't just leave a loose end like that. So you had no choice but to cut his throat. You left the knife in his hand. Not very believable but there were footsteps in the hall and you had to get out of there.

Not long after that, Killer came down to your cell and squatted down, lifting your prison until you were eye level.

"I know it was you."

You licked your paw and groomed your ear, very cutely, you might add.

"You can't fool me. You really need to learn to cover your tracks."

You scratched the back of your other ear with your hind leg.

Killer let out a frustrated growl and dropped your cage. He stomped out of the brig.

How is he so observant! You really should have remembered about the tracks, especially since that's how he noticed the first time. Now what? Either their plan would be foiled by losing a member or they would escalate, thinking they had been found out. You knew there were others, and you had to find out who they were, and quickly.

Your investigative antics became riskier. You went into cabins and dug through drawers. You followed people around using the walls. You were getting closer. Until one day, you found two more people chatting. They were definitely up to no good. The more you listened the more alarmed you were. They were going to make an attempt on Kid's life again tomorrow.

There was no way you could take them both on. The only reason you won against the other guy was because you took him by surprise. You couldn't send a message to Kid either. That hadn't worked. If you tried to tell him as a human, he wouldn't trust that. The only person that knew your secret, or at least was fairly confident in his assumptions, was Killer. Maybe you could risk telling him. Maybe he would believe you. It was doubtful.

When you scampered back to your cage, you came to an abrupt stop. Killer was there waiting for you. You gulped. You were frozen. You were caught.

"Where have you been, mouse?"

The jig was most certainly up. He snatched you in his fist faster than you thought possible. You squeaked, trying to gain a little sympathy as a cute creature. Maybe it would make him believe you were a regular mouse. Then you bit him. He didn't even flinch. He was smart. He was trying to force you to reveal yourself, squeezing you gradually tighter and tighter.

You were forced into your human form to avoid being crushed, even then, his grip on your throat was immovable. You could sense his smugness in being right. He wasn't even surprised. You were grateful that however this fruit worked, you got to keep your clothes on when you transformed.

"Stop! Please!" You scratched at his hands.

Killer slammed you against the wall. "You killed one of my crew! You're going to pay for it."

"M-mu-tiny," you rasped out. The edges of your vision were going black.

Killer loosened his grip. "What did you say?"

"There's gonna be a mutiny."

Killer pushed you against the wall harder. "So you're a murderer and you've turned our own crew against us?"

"N-no. Please. L-et me go." You gasped for air. "I'll ex-plain."

Killer was decent enough to hear you out, and was shocked by the accusations. You couldn't help him further though. You hadn't heard their names and the way you described them was vague. It left Killer in a tough place. He didn't trust you, yet if you were telling the truth and his captain was in danger, he had to.

"I-I have an idea."

Killer didn't like your idea. Yet, it was better than anything he could think of, so he went along with it. And that was how you found yourself sitting on the inside of the Massacre Soldier's helmet, hanging onto his hair the next day. You could see out of the eyeholes better than you expected. Killer was strategically staring at each individual member and you were to whisper in his ear when you saw the people who were plotting.

As you spotted them, you hurriedly signaled to Killer that they were the culprits. As they had no proof, Killer was simply going to talk to them. But, as one does when being approached by a brick house of a man like Massacre Soldier, they got scared. This was not their plan, but they were so nervous, especially after one of them was killed, that they thought they had been found out. They both jumped Killer, and in the process of him defending himself, you slipped out of his mask and fell onto the deck.

You shook it off and your eyes searched for Kid, who was so distracted by the seemingly random scuffle, that he wasn't watching his own back, where a third, unexpected assailant was waiting. You ran as fast as your short legs would carry you. He spotted you instantly.

"Mousey? How'd you-"

Kid was taken aback by watching you run straight through his legs, and as he turned, seeing you transmute your form into that of a human. A human who was wrestling a gun out of someone's hand. Someone who was obviously trying to point said gun at him.

Regrettably, Kid was just a touch too shocked to react in time. His devil fruit activated to take the gun, but only after a shot was fired. He felt nothing. You, on the other hand, dropped to your knees and doubled over, clutching your midsection.

Was this how you imagined yourself being celestially discharged from this life? No. Did you have regrets? Probably. But saving Eustass Kid wasn't one of them. After all, what other mouse could say they saved a notorious pirate captain? Maybe your devil fruit wasn't that lame in the end.

______________________________________________________________

Kid thought about you a lot. They didn't have a trained doctor on board. They had to leave you at an island that had, thankfully, been in close range for you to be treated. He shouldn't be sad; his plan was to drop you off at the next island. Still, it felt wrong not to say goodbye or at least thank you.

Killer was grateful to you for saving his captain, even after being 'imprisoned' and roughed up by them. Even though you owed them no loyalty, you were more loyal than crewmates they had on board for months.

Several weeks passed. Kid happened to look up to see the NewsCoo delivery bird. The bird landed with a newspaper, some new wanted posters, and a small package. Curious, Kid picked it up and shook it next to his ear. Weird, what kind of gift made squeaks. Kid tore it open to find a dazed, white mouse.

"Oh fuck! Mousey! Sorry!"

You stumbled around in his hand, dizzy.

He hugged his hand to his chest and gave you a giant kiss on the head, staining your white fur red. In his excitement, he forgot you were a person. Upon remembering, he had a pink dusting to his cheeks and set you down.

You transformed into a human in front of him.

"Why did ya come in the mail?!"

"Cheaper fare than a boat," you grinned.

Kid all but threw you over his shoulder. "Killer! Look what we got in the mail!"

Killer stifled a laugh as he noticed a big red imprint of lips on your forehead. Kid went just as red as the mark when he noticed that it transferred to your human appearance. And neither one of those assholes told you it was there either.

Kid dropped the "y" from the end of your name from then on, but slipped up on occasion, still referring to you as Mousey. He still asked you to join him for dinner sometimes, too, as a person though, not a mouse; he didn't give you crumbs either. He liked your company.

Killer was impressed by your knowledge of cheeses and asked you to come shopping with him on islands for provisions. You also had a knack for picking the ripest fruits. He usually asked you to personally deliver Kid's meals, you know, to avoid another poisoning.

And some would even go as far as to say they saw a white critter scurrying under Kid or Killer's doors in the late hours of the night or scurrying out early in the morning.

[defrosted69]

A line Hook to you

(Danielle Marsh x Male Reader)

A/N: Its been a long time but here's something to you guys. Enjoy!

Note: 7k words

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“The invisible string theory is the idea that the universe itself is stitched together with unseen threads, all of which lead us to our destinies.”

You sighed as you finally clocked out of work with your back aching with a pocking pain. Working on heavy machinery for a good 9 hour shift isn't really ideal for you body who's used to be so athletic and is used in locomotive motion. But time just keeps on going forward, not backward so changes will be applied in life. And before you know it, from writing and sleeping at the back of the class to having to deal in fixing heavy engines and inspecting them everyday to make sure they work properly.

"Why the long face? Come, The old guys are going for a drink tonight. You should come with Y/N"

A pat on the shoulder made you sighed as you heard his voice. Despite this heavy loaded schedule and work you had, there was always a friend that keeps you laughing and knows to make your frown upside down and uplift your spirits.

"Ah I'll pass this one Sunoo. Since tomorrow is Sunday, I'll enjoy my 1 day break"

"Oh Bummer. But I understand since I'll pass with them as well."

"Huh? How come?"

"The last time I joined them, they cause a ruckus in a bar. Remember how our pay got cutted because Boss preety much used our checks to pay up their damage."

You chuckled remembering that fragment of your memory like it was yesterday. It was quite funny because despite how Sunoo claim they are, they were actually great seniors to you. When you were still new to the company, they knew you lacked experience when it comes to the actual field so they were open to teaching you stuff you were confused with. And the funny thing is here is that you were above them when it comes to terms relating to work.

Cause you see, the seniors are all mechanics and car parts specialists but you on the other hand are their supervisor. You graduated in college with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and it wasn't that long when you landed a job in this medium sized delivery company. Of course they were first surprised to see that their supervisor was new and unexperienced but you gained their respect when you had to show them on solving a problem in the Pistons of the engine.

Pistons are one thing to fix but to make adjustments on the fly and make the engine working twice as powerful as before made their jaw at Awe. If most of of them before didn't believe in geniuses, we'll you just debunked their belief.

But since then, you had a good relationship with all of them and you got more wisdom from them since most of them are family oriented now and others have unique experiences that preety much makes you amazed and inspired by them.

"Well where you heading too then Sunoo?"

"Duh I'm gonna watch my Drama. That's the only reason why I have Netflix."

"Right. I completely forgot about that."

Kim Sunoo was your very loyal and emotional friend. Everyone in the company knows he's the golden retriever of the bunch since he's just all smiles especially most of the times. But don't let that distract you that he's one of the best employees the company has. Despite only finishing highschool, he worked hard to understand how the engine works and he had to prove everyone why he's also one of a kind. Despite the two of you being born in the same year, Sunoo has more experience and knowledge when it comes to the company and working experience.

But he is also an open armed person meaning he's not afraid to help you whenever you were need. There was a time your window in the apartment got cracked because of a storm, and you couldn't go to work. Sunoo came after the storm passing with tools for replacing windows and he actually gave you a free window without even costing you any expenses at all. All he wants was to see you at work since it's been a while since he's had someone his age to talk too.

"Well enjoy your stranger things drama or whatever it is. I'll see You at work on Monday man."

"Yeah Man see you in Monday."

He waved you goodbye as he went on the opposite of your direction of where you were going. The night was very chilly and the sky was clear as the day. Looking up, the moon was shining brightly with its stars twinkling next to it creating a perfect harmony in the sky. You were used to walking to your apartment since it's usually just 15 minute walk from home and you could admire the beauty of the building around and scenery.

But something had to ruin the beauty of what your eyes admire as couples walk past you showing their affection to their love one as if the sidewalk was their hallway to act all flirty with each other. You had no objection to people being extra PDA with each other since you'll be getting a good show but it just throw you off.

Perhaps since you've never had a female in your life, you've become the bitter old man who gets angry when youngsters and couples exhibit their love in front of you. It seemed like salt was thrown at you, as the cosmos is continuously reminding you of how lonely you are in this world. So taking deep breath, you decided to take a small detour and feed your stomach a bit after all, you didn't have proper lunch since the company cafeteria is serving nothing but sandwiches and energy drinks. And you were never a fan of energy drink especially after that small incident you had when you drinked an energy drink despite only having 2 hours sleep.

You really though you were gonna die when your heart felt heavy and you started breathing heavily. Luckily for you, that attack only lasted for 5 seconds before everything returned to normal but you were glad it didn't lead to something worse.

So after taking a detour of going to your favorite ramen shop, your stomach grumbled one more time reminding you to eat already or you might faint from starvation. Entering the place, there wasn't much people around since it was night time already which you preferred more than a jam packed day time. So ordering your usual bowl, you took your food to your favorite spot, near the window side on a single chair.

That place has hold a significant place in your heart because ever since Highschool that seat has always been your spot admiring the sunset, the cars, the people but more importantly, it's because that solo space gave you sanctuary to the problems of life.

So anticipating it to be unoccupied, you froze when your eyes saw a woman with a smirk showing how proud she was in her position as she spoke.

"I knew you would be here. The Invisible string really is true!"

You were confused at to what she was saying yet she smiled and stood up and immediately taking over your personal space as she got close to you with her eyes glittering like stars.

"I meant to say is that fate us brought us here together. Because I need your signature right here"

She pointed with her pen a piece of paper in a clipboard which had a few signature of some people as well but, it was smudged and the paper looked like it was dried from air after being soaked in water.

"Is this paper dried up?"

"Ohh eer… Dont mind that. Just sign it please. For my extra credit in college. Pleeese Mr. Pleeeese."

She began begging you like a wild Woman as other people anf some staff look at the two of you weirdly. Thier Stares somewhat made you feel embarrassed of her so without even hesitation, you signed whatever was in that clipboard hoping to end this already. Once you wrote down your signature and name, she smiled brightly and giggled cutely.

"Thank you Mr. I'm sure I'll see you again in the sidewalk. See you next week again. Bye bye Mister~"

She happily waved at you and giggled her way away of the restaurant leaving you perplexed and with so many questions than answers.

"Who the heck is she?"

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Danielle extended her arms out and giggled joyfully as the sun caressed her face. She was overjoyed once again since she would finally receive additional credit for her completed assignment. That signature from last night was what she needed the most since she was finally able to obtain 100 signatures on her paper, which wasn't easy given the time constraint their professor had set. 5 days to get 100 signatures isn't as easy as it seems. So she was pleased to receive her final signature from someone she knows well.

After doing her usual morning routines, Danielle smiled happily as she leaves her dorm with a sense of happiness amd joy filling her body right now. The sky was clear and the air was perfect for her for a walk so with that she did. She began walking to her university humming her favorite song along the way. The common sidewalk that she has been walking was so colorful in her eyes right now and everything was so just blooming.

"What a wonderful day to eh mate?"

She asked herself as she giggled to herself. Yet among the busy people walking tbe familiar sidewalk, her eyes were looking for a guy who she was very thankful since the first day of her college days. As she keeps looking for that man, from a far and from someone's perspective, she looked like a mole appearing in and out of the crowd of people trying to look for you.

That's right, there was a reason why she waited for you at that restaurant last night although it was mostly just her guess and it was completely coincidental that the events unfolded that night. Never in a million years would she would have known that the stars aligned just to answer her wish to make her last signature poetic. She betted on herself that someone special will sign the last space on her paper and boy was she right.

At the very last second, just when she just admitted that everything isn't a fairy tale and her stupid brain admitted that ideal scenarios will come to reality was a slap and a wake up call for her. But you pulled at the very last second and helped her once again. Just remembering the first interaction you had with her made her blush and squeal in delight which earned a few confused and weird looks from the people.

"Shit. I'm public I forgot.."

Danielle giggled as she continued her walk to university. Although she didn't see you today, she understands that you would have left your place earlier considering your a working adult and she's just a college student yet, in her eyes and brain, she's as equal to your status in society which further more pushes her agenda that the invisible string theory exist. Because there must be some kind of connection in which you would be a part of her huge life. After all, Your first encounter with her was during her first time being in the city.

Being a college student means that you have to choose a college to go to and unfortunately for her, her desired course was far away from her city and her family. And of course, that sucks and is hard to understand but Danielle knew that this was a huge chapter of her life and as much as she didn't want to get away from the hugs of her parents, she had to let go of the meantime and travel to an another city with no friends, no nothing at her silos disposals.

She was starting at level 0 where everything had reseted for her but that didn't stopped her to be productive and she continued to encourage herself everyday that what she's doing is the best for her family and for herself. Life may be hard but you have to got an iron will to keep up with the waves of life and keep on moving forward with a stronger resolve to finish college.

Now is where her first encounter with you was. She wasn't sure if you had remember it but you were the guy who picked up her wallet when she had dropped it on the sidewalk where you and her were usually walking. Although she was to be blamed of why she had let go of her wallet because, she choose to admire than to keep her valuable in check within her reach. Honestly, the moment she realized her wallet was gone from her elbow immediately made her feel a cold shiver down her neck.

Everything she needs in collage allowances was in that wallet filling with bank cards and IDs for her to use in public to identifying her. But more importantly she didn't want a handful of earing coming from her sister about her losing her Wallet. But as soon as she turned around, you stood there returning her wallet back at her.

There was this weird trait for Danielle in where she remembers the people's face of those who showed her kindness so it wasn't such a suprise why she would remember you but if she recalled your reaction the other night, she knew she fucked up big time and leaving a good impression of her.

"Gaahh! Why did I spew that nonsense infront of him!"

Daneille ruffled her hair in embarrassment and irritation from herself for acting like a complete fool to the person…

She might have caught feelings for.

In Danielle's defense for this such claims is that she is attracted to people who shows her kindness even if it's just a small one. So despite meeting you before, Her total times of meeting you was 3 times in total considering the other night. Since the guys who were nice to her was absolutely no one. She was often mocked for being an aussie or her accent was made off back in middle school. They weren't that rampant back in high school yet as time moves forward, that claims are now reversed.

"Morning Dani. Did we sleep well?"

Lily Morrow asked her friend who wore a bright proud smile as she walks with Danielle to campus. Hearing her voice snapped her in her characther emission fantasy about which you were glad because everyone in school would know how much of an idiot she is sometimes.

"I slept well. I'm sure I'll get my credit today hehe."

Danielle smiled brightly as the two of then catches up their weekend drama as Danielle happily explained to Lily what she felt during that time as Lily was on full mode listening to every details eh spoke out off. But as soon as that was done, Danielle proceed to the teachers office as Lily went to attend her class. Danielle carefully knocked before entering the room where her professor was waiting for her.

"Ah Ms. Marsh. I assume you brought in your task I have given you?"

"Yes sir."

Danielle pulled out her clipboard along with it was the signed paper yet it didn't take 10 seconds, her progress was returned to her. And that slowly made her confidence shatter into millions of pieces.

"I'm sorry Ms. Marsh but I can't accept this paper."

"But sir, I completed the 100 signatures under 5 days."

Her professor sighed as He knew this was the reaction of Danielle once he rejected her paper. It's not that like her report was not significant to her course but what irks him, was how obvious that her paper had gotten wet or soaked to be more exact.

"I know Ms. Marsh but you gotta understand. Your already in your 3rd year and yet you can't understand simple instructions. I had given you a clean paper to work on and you returned it to me like a wet Wipes dried up?"

"But sir-"

"I don't wanna hear it but I'll give you on last chance to get that extra credit you want."

Danielle was now in full effect to listening to her professor because she needs to pass this subject without enrolling it next semester. It would be such a waste of time and year of she didn't take college seriously.

" I'm gonna give you another paper but this time it's only 75 person BUT, I need you to pass this in Wednesday."

Danielle widen her eyes knowing that getting 75 signatures in 3 days isn't gonna be easy since her college schedule for this semester was absolute trash. But if it means to pass this subject she would do it. So Danielle accepted it and he handed her a new copy. She thanked him as once she leaves the room, Danielle let out a frustrated groan from her as her task was easy enough yet hard to execute.

Although she still has 2 days to work on it and she could easily fill in that 75 person mark, the requirement for that is people outside of the campus and not students. She wouldn't break a sweat if it was just students since it would be very easy. But for strangers? It might be very difficult for her considering that she doesn't know strangers at all and sometimes they could have intentions and very bad at one.

"What do I do?"

.

.

.

The sun was slowly shining down as you clocked out earlier today. It was quite a suprise for everyone when the boss announced that today would be an early work off day since he had something to do. It was very odd since Mondays are usually a busy day at the company with a lot of the trucks being used as transport for its services. But if it means more time for you to relax and sleep in your bed.

Yes, the bed is your best place to relax and just forget about the reality of things especially in the adult world. Rest is the most important factor because it's an escape for you from all the troubles of society and life itself.

Upon changing into your casual wear, Sunoo got your attention once again as he smiled at you.

"Whats your plan now? It's still quite early."

"Bed."

"Why? You wanna watch porn or something?"

"Nah I just love sleeping."

Sunoo nodded his head in understanding but you can tell from his body language that he was itching to tell you something so not wanting to make him look like a fool anymore, you decide to break his bubble.

"What? What are you trying to tell me?"

Sunoo chuckled in embarrassment as he got caught by your keen observation but then again, that's what makes you stand out from the rest of the guys working in the company and its the reason why your his supervisor. Your eyes always managed to observe every small detail and remembers them which leads to new adjustment and improvement of the engine. And mind you, it's no ordinary engine, it's a truck engine. Those who big and carry a lot of horse power.

"Well you see. My friend hooked me up and he said we need a third player and I was thinking you-"

"Pass."

"Okay."

Sunoo gave up now. Once you set your decision on one thing it means you wouldn't change your perspective on that decision. And he knows your not into relationship as of the moment as far as he knows. But that thought made him question you.

"Say Y/N, why don't you go on a date now? I mean your finished in college right? You have a good job now so why not right?"

"I don't think I'm ready for it. The responsibility of taking care of someone is a Challange especially since I can't even take care of myself."

Although the real reason why you don't want a girlfriend right now is because you thought you don't deserve to be loved after all, one rejection back in the past really pushed you way back into not stepping into the world of romance. The pain of rejection and seeing that girl choose the wrong girl will never be not funny and painful for you.

"I guess your right. But there's nothing wrong in at least trying something new right?"

"It's not new to me, I already have been in that position before."

"Then why stop at one and live a life of repeating cycle when you can add new things in your cycle of life."

You wanted to speak up but you decided to take in what Sunoo said. There was no hint of any lies in his words as they were all pointing at you about your daily life. Yes it was a repeating cycle of sleep-work-eat-repeat and that's it. Nothing was really getting in between your daily cycle of life which was kinda boring in a sense.

But boring life is what you have been accustomed to and somewhat that's what you like to live in. But is that all there is in your life now since your really crossing the late 20s now. At the age of 25 where many people get married and have a family, your still wondering what your life's purpose is. As you walk the familiar street towards you apartment, the question still lingered on your head.

What do you really wanna do?

A simple question yet it has so many possible wrong answers depending on how you read into it. For you, you definetly have no proper answer at all to that question because you yourself was finding that purpose since College and even now, that you have a proper job, that question still lingering on your mind and time wasn't helping you since people your age have already figured out their path in life. Yet for you, you were still trying to pick up the pieces together and look for that glue that connects everything together yet, you couldn't find it.

Sighing was the only response you could get out of your problem but your bubble of thoughts were popped open when you heard a soft voice of sobbing and sniffing from someone. Of course your not that person to mind someone's business but when your eyes landed on the side and saw a familiar girl with her head down, back reciprocating in a deep breathing motion, and her hands cover her eyes. You just sighed at the scene.

Your legs wanted to keep moving forward and ignore her but the voice of Sunoo once again entered your brain. Will you be stuck to mediocrity forever in your life? Will you never cross that path of change that is really needed in your life right now?

"You alright Miss?"

Taking a huge step forward, you kneel down on her level and what you saw is something you didn't know would happen. Danielle literally looked at you with tears and snott coming out of her nose as if she just had the biggest heartbreak of her life. Her mascara was all smudge down on her eyes and it was preety disastrous seeing her Iike this. But one part of you wanted to laugh at her face right now but you took every ounce of your spiritual being not to laugh at her and try to understand her situation.

"M-Mister? The guy from the ramen restaurant? The one I always see in this sidewalk?"

"Yeah but how come I have many nicknames?"

Danielle sat up as you handed her your handkerchief thinking she would wipe her tears away but no, she used it to blow off the snot she had and that made you froze up. She cleaned her nose and felt her cheeks blushing red mad after realizing what she has done.

"Oh no I didn't mean to make your handkerchief all disgusting. I'll.. Umm.. I'll wash it for you."

Danielle began to panic as she didn't know what she would do since she didn't want to look like a complete fool to you after all. You saw the panic in her eyes which was a little puffy from all her crying. After snapping out of your shocked state, you shook your head.

"No need. It's fine, I mean handkerchief are used for wiping stuff anyway."

"Naur but still. I'll wash it for you. As an Aussie, I promise to make it smelling like a jasmine flower."

"You don't have too."

"Naur I'll-"

GRUMBLE

A large lion roared in her belly and as you look at Danielle's face, the color red slowly took over her face as she looked away covering her face and groaning in embarrassment. There's was no way this day could have gotten worse in Danielle's books but it just got worst. The last on her list is to embarrass herself to someone she looks up and this was a sign that today wasn't her day.

You chuckled at her stomach and your laugher was the hidden laughter that you have been keeping since earlier after seeing her face. Danielle immediately looked back at you with a glare which you immediately stopped your laughing but her glaring and with a few tears was amusing to look at. Maybe a little to adorable in your book.

"Stop laughing!"

"I'm sorry the timing was just to perfect. I'm sorry."

But despite your words, you still couldn't control your laughing and this only made Danielle form more tears in her eyes and seeing her glaring while her lips quivering being mad, embarrassed and sad made you shut up at your action.

"Okay I'll stop. Sorry"

You were genuinely apologizing for your action yet Danielle continued to pout glaring at you trying to intimidate you which is failing exponentially because all this is doing is letting you see an adorable Australian pout cutely at you because she doesn't know how to get mad to people. Knowing that she won't stop pouting and glaring at you, you had to take an action to this one.

"Alright. Let's get something to eat instead so your stomach doesn't roar anymore and perhaps we can talk there about what bothering you. Is that fine with you?"

Danielle didn't reply to you but nodded her head. So taking that as her answer you stood up from the bench with Danielle trailing behind you. Honestly speaking, most people would have just ignored her or to be exact, Danielle should be calling for the police or be at least questioning your true intentions to her but no she didn't. And that though in turns question you why Danielle, trust a stranger like you because as far as you can remember, you don't know her at all except the other night where you first met her, in that restaurant.

But as you were thinking about Danielle, She was silently wiping her makeup and adding new ones. She pulled out her lip tint and applied it on her lips by a small portion. Next she made sure her eyelashes stand out and adding a few blush and powder on her face was the final touch. Using her phone camera as her mirror, she smirked seeing how preety she is as she knows she needs to look preety infront of you right now. Because we don't know when will be the next time you two will meet like this.

Upon arriving at the Restaurant you ordered your favorite meal as you turned back to ask her about her dish.

"So What do you want-"

You got cut off by your own words as Danielle looked nothing like what you saw earlier. Infront of you was a beautiful woman who shined bright as the sun. Her sweet smile was so warm and her headband was the icing on the top as you stood there not knowing what to say next.

"Hmm? I'll have what you have hehe."

She smiled and turned her to the side which really made you stare at her for a good while before the cashier snapped you out of your trance. You order two of what you were having as you paid and choose a seat for the two of you. Unlike before, when you would just sit alone in your favorite place, you have to look for a new place since you have company.

"Let's sit there."

You looked at her a bit shocked because the place she picked for the two of you to sit was where you always sit. Danielle grabbed an extra chair and sat opposite to you smiling happily. It felt weird having to share a seat with someone when you were usually alone in that seat. But nevertheless, you sat down as well on your favorite seat.

"So what made you like a mess earlier?"

You spoke up first trying to break the ice between you two as Danielle spoke up.

"Ugh just my signature getting rejected"

"Huh. Was it that the paper I signed the other night soaked?"

"Hehehe."

Danielle scratched the back of her head guilty of what she did as you sighed and Chuckled a bit. No wonder you found the quality of the paper before weird. It was soaked the dried up quickly.

"So what are you doing now?"

"Well now I have to do another one. But only 75 people signature this time and it's due on Wednesday"

"Oh so your boss needs it?"

"Boss? Naur my professer need it."

"Naur? You australian?"

"Yeet."

You smiled by her energetic response as the two of you shared a laughter together. This was quite a surprise for you because unlike a few of those times when meeting a new person, it was always about business and there was no feeling or sense of friendship that could brew between yet with Danielle, there was no such thing like that. It felt like you have known her since you were in highschool. An old friend kind of vibe.

"Can I see those papers miss…"

"Danielle! Danielle Marsh. 22 years old, college student studying management… And hopefully the one you call baby girl.."

Danielle mumbled the last part and you didn't even get a whip of what she said in the last line because Danielle quickly showed her the papers in which your attention went through.

True to her words, it did need 75 signature from strangers and somehow you felt bad for her knowing she had limited time to do this task. Then a light bulb of an idea popped into your head but will you really take that risk of getting out of your comfort zone to help someone?

Once again, the words of Sunoo echoed in your head making you choose the light bulb of your idea. It will be risky but at this point, you just trusted your guts and went with it.

"I'll help you out. By tomorrow afternoon this should be all signed up."

Danielle gasped covering her mouth with her hands as she couldn't believe your making a move on her. As crazy as it sounds, to Danielle's checklist, this was her first strike that the guy was perfect for her. Of course you didn't know this as you read her expression as shocked but what you didn't know was that she gasped because she thought you were making a move on her by helping her.

"R-Really? You'll help me?"

"Yeah sure since my last signature was wasted. I want it this time to be for good use."

"Oh thank you so much.. Err…"

"Y/N. Just call me Y/N"

"Thank you Y/N."

Out of nowhere, Danielle stood up and hugged you with her face deep in your chest. That action made your heart race so fast as you were sure Danielle could hear it. You were about to push her away when a sudden calmness washed over you when you saw Danielle looking up to you sweetly. It really felt weird seeing someone like her keep you so calm and relaxed without even trying. Add in her cute smile and eyes that see your reflection.

.

.

.

True to your words, you managed to get 75 signature from everyone in the company. You even got your boss to sign because Sunoo told everyone a fake lie. Sunoo must have heard it wrong but in reality, he heard it correctly. You were trying to help Danielle with her signature and he began spreading the word that you helping your secret girlfriend in college and everyone ended up signing it so fast to the point your boss even gave you his blessing.

Of course this made you a little annoyed how they signed it just to show their support for you but that also makes you happy that the people your working with was supportive of you. And perhaps it could also be a sign they want you to have a girlfriend already. So since you already have Danielle's contact on your phone you called her and not even a second in she already answered it in a heartbeat.

You told her that you'll be meeting her in the bench on the familiar sidewalk to which she agreed upon. So as the time to leave for work had arrive, you excused yourself to leave early which your boss was all okay about it. So you left work not even realizing your still wearing your work polo with the logo of your company on it. You sat there waiting for Danielle and it didn't take long before Danielle arrived.

Her bright smile once again shined as you couldn't get enough of her smiling beauty.

"Heyya Y/N, you look like a hard working man hehe~"

You blushed in embarrassment realizing that you were still in your work polo as you chuckled about it. Usually you would just brush off the compliment but when it comes to Danielle, somehow those compliments hit your heart in a bullseye accuracy.

"Oh.. Umm thanks Danielle. Ah right, here's the paper"

You handed her her project and truth be told, you did keep your promise as Danielle look so shocked and happy upon seeing the Paper filled with signatures.

"You really did do it! Thank you so much!!"

Danielle leaped unto you forcing you to catch her in your arms as she hugged you tightly. You were already blushing because this is the second time you hugged her and it felt so right to have her in your arms. She giggled as she buried her face on your chest and you really didn't want to let her go but it would very awkward to just keep on hugging her this long. So as you were letting her go, Danielle felt your arms getting loose so she hugged you tighter hoping you would get the signal that she didn't want you to let her go. She didn't care if she wanted to be clingy, because she IS clingy.

"Who said you can let go? Hmph! Meanie.."

Danielle looked up at you with a pout as you chuckled and sigh as you decided to hug her again. And just like that, Danielle was once again happy.

"I need to repay you somehow Y/N."

"You don't have to Danielle It's fine."

"Naur it's not. You helped me alot. I know, I'll make you lunch from now on and you can't say Naur okay?"

"But-"

She placed a finger on your mouth shutting you up as she giggled and smiled.

"Please? Preety pleaseeee?"

"Well I guess that wouldn't hurt."

"Yeet!"

Danielle giggled as she once again buried her face on your chest and at this point, you were getting accustomed to her Being a clingy girl and a sweet sunshine.

.

.

.

Waking up to get to work again wasn't something new you to yet this time it felt more postive in a sense your actually eager to work today. There was that postive aura around you right now and you couldn't help but smile as you looked at yourself in the mirror looking alright. You checked your watch as you stepped out of the door, only to be greeted by ms. Sunshine.

"Morning Y/N. I made you lunch as I promised hehehe~"

Danielle was holding a packed lunch but what caught your eye was her wearing an apron in her clothes and it looked like she just went to a slug fest with so many stains all over her apron. You felt a huge burning sensation growing up your cheeks as you felt embarrassed and happy by her gesture.

"You didn't have too Danielle. I told you I don't-"

Danielle got up close to you placing a finger up your mouth shutting you up as she giggled and puffed her cheeks.

"I told you didn't I? I promised to make you lunch until then. So just please accept it."

Knowing that she went through hell to make you a lunch box and it shows in her apron and in her hands because there are 4 bandaids in her fingers which she was trying to hide under the lunch box. Seeing her and the fact she mafe effort for you just show how serious she is when it comes to keeping her word so you accepted it. And boy the way your fingers brushed against her, Danielle's cheeks burned red and her heart rushed so fast.

"Thanks Danielle. I'm sure I'll enjoy it."

"Hehehe~ Goodluck at work today."

She waved goodbye at you waved back and walked towards your workplace. As you walk your mind couldn't believe that you actually got a free lunch and you didn't have to suffer from the horrible lunch at work and not to disrespect the lunch lady there, but the food they are serving their are so limited and so small. Yes it's delicious but the portion is so small your stomach would be asking for more. So having a packed lunch from someone isn't just a good reason to avoid the cafeteria at work but it also means that someone cares for you.

And immediately that thought made you smile a little and blush as you couldn't believe your own thoughts.

"Gosh what are you doing to me Danielle."

As you look at the packed lunch you saw a sticky note on the top of the cover that says

"You need a lot of vitamin ME"

Which made you chuckle in amusement by her Witty jokes and it was the perfect quote to start the day ahead of you. And this continued on as Danielle continued to make you lunch every morning with witty jokes which are subtle hints of her feelings for you such as the quotes like:

"I am yours, No refund"

"You must be a camera because you make me smile"

"You know it's hard to find a girl who's so smart, cute, preety and top it all, an aussie. So don't Lose me got it mate?"

And there is one quote which really was your favorite of them all as it says:

"Don't you look away, don't pass me by Anything you want, babe, tell me what do you need"

Danielle knew that sending that quote was risky but she was ready to risk it all for you and when you read that quote your heart raced and a huge blush appear on your face. You usually sit away from the crowd in the cafeteria since you got lunch from Danielle and you didn't want to make any rumors about your life and you didn't want anyone to know about Danielle. Except for one guy.

"Gotcha you bastard. Who packed you lunch huh?"

Sunoo finally caught gist of you as you usually spend lunch with him so when you started to isolate from him, he began to raise an eyebrow and this only made him more believe that your doing something fishy which he believes is related to your relationship status. And he could be right.

"Wh-what are you talking about?"

"Don't lie, you can't cook shit. So who made you lunch? Your girlfriend?"

"I don't have a-"

"Or perhaps your dating someone?"

"I don't-"

"You like her don't you?"

"I…. I….. Yeah.. I think I have fallen for Danielle"

"Wait.. Wait so you DO have someone?!"

Sunoo couldn't believe it. His theory was proven right and your walls just crumbled and it was all Danielle's fault. She broke that protective wall of yours that you kept away from romance yet Danielle, pushed through and got it broken down. Her efforts didn't go in vain because you noticed it upon yourself too.

"So the reason you work so hard and happy was because of her dude?"

"Am I really showing happiness at work?"

"Duh. You have been more brighter for the past few weeks compared to the last few months or even when you started here. You were so non chalant and bland yet now, you seem to be shining brightly."

Danielle's bright personality has finally rubbed into you as you couldn't believe the postive impact she has brought upon you and to others.

"But what if she hates me or-"

"Dude, she made you lunch just once?"

"No she's been making me lunch for the past few weeks."

"Fucking marry her and don't ever let her go dipshit."

Sunoo shook you as he said this and you decided to take his words once again. Danielle has nothing but sweet and a ball of sunshine for you. Your usual cycle of repeating boring process has come to an end with Danielle now in that mix. Everyday seems so enjoyable now and you look forward to it more than before.

But are you really ready to take that risk to love again? Will it finally clicked this time and wouldn't end in vain? This questions has been running rampant on your mind as the day goes by. The moment you clocked out of work, you saw the sunset setting and you took in all what have happened for the past few weeks and there you already found your answer.

Just as the universe seems to be setting you up, you got a messaged from Danielle that says,

"I made you dinner. I made too much earlier Lol"

The perfect scenario was upon you and a sudden hit of nostalgia rushed in your mind making you smile a little but instead of leaving in pain, you were optimistic something good was gonna happen so you rushed out of the company wearing your suit and the winds pass you by.

Danielle on the other hand was patiently waiting infront of your door with a bowl and a sticky note which was her last. Because today she was gonna do it. She had consoled Lily about today and it was the day of confession. Her heart couldn't keep it in anymore as it just screams your name everytime she sees you or everytime she makes you lunch. She needs to let her heart speak now and that last sticky note is the last one that speaks her heart.

But she didn't have to wait long as you walked up the stairs and there she stood and as if she was in a painting, the sunset behind her gave her the perfect complimentary to her beauty as ger white Capri sun dress and twin tails just makes so picture perfect. You Stared at her in Awe for a couple of seconds before walking up to her quite nervous and scared. Scared that history may repeat itself again.

"Hey Danielle. That's a huge pot."

"Oh right sorry I made too much earlier. Hehehe."

Her sweet smile really got you smiling and attracted to her and you wished this girl would be in your arms right now. But how will you pull the trigger on what you wanted to say? Anxiety was slowly beginning to creep up to you and it makes you so-

"Ah, I have one last note for you Y/N."

"Last note?"

Danielle nodded and that made you feel so sad and devastated. It felt like the ride was about to end with her and you would go back to your usual boring repetitive cycle. Danielle turned the cover of the pot with the note that says..

"Baby your my special one, cause you're the one I like"

Danielle stared right straight into your eyes not wanting you break eye contact because tonight was gonna be big for her. Her heart was racing quick and her hands were sweating but she took one deep breath as she let her heart do the talking.

"Y/N. You have been such a great person to me. You have helped me a lot of times now and I really am thankful for that. I thought I was crazy at first but I didn't expect that the person I fell in love with was within my view all this time."

You stayed silent listening to her as your heart was pounding so fast.

"We walk the same sidewalk everyday yet before I wasn't aware of you but ever since I saw you, my eyes was all locked in you. Because in that sea of people, I only have my eyes set on you."

"So before I… Before we have our… Meal.. Which I hope is not the last time we see each other because I don't want to make things awkward.. Umm.. I.. I.. I just wanna say-"

"Yeah I fell for you too Danielle. A lot."

"I love you-Wait what?"

You stunned Danielle so fast her eyes went so wide like the sunset as you chuckled at her reaction. Hearing her words was enough to confirm that your heart and her heart screamed the same song called love.

"My life has always been a repeating a cycle but I thought that was enough for me. Until you came into my life and change that. Everyday I See a reason to keep me smiling and motivated to work because you, you Danielle make my world so bright."

Danielle just stared at you with the most loving look as if she was ready to melt under your touch and you decided to do just that. You cup her cheeks and kissed her forehead and said the words that stopped Danielle.

"I love you Danielle."

As soon as those words was spoken Danielle placed the pot on the floor let and hugged you tightly and began bombarding your cheeks with kisses.

"You don't know how much I was holding myself to not kiss your cheeks. Now I can kiss you as much as I can. Hehe~"

You laughed whole heartedly as you let Danielle kiss your cheeks so much as you really felt the love coming from her. Despite having a painful memory of heartbreak, Danielle was the reminder that change is the only permanent thing in the world. But more importantly, Love wins all.

"You know my co-workers will be shocked that your in college."

"Naur they won't. Besides, My friends will be proud I have such a working adult boyfriend. Who will understand my craziness."

"Oh believe me, I have seen more crazier things Danielle."

"Prove it to me babe. Hehe~"

With a smirk, you carried Danielle, princess style making her blush and laugh as you two entered your apartment but aside from being so happy where the strings between you two has finally connected, the pot of food was left outside.

.

.

.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Pluralistic: Leaving Twitter had no effect on NPR's traffic

I'm coming to Minneapolis! This Sunday (Oct 15): Presenting The Internet Con at Moon Palace Books. Monday (Oct 16): Keynoting the 26th ACM Conference On Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing.

Enshittification is the process by which a platform lures in and then captures end users (stage one), who serve as bait for business customers, who are also captured (stage two), whereupon the platform rug-pulls both groups and allocates all the value they generate and exchange to itself (stage three):

https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/21/potemkin-ai/#hey-guys

Enshittification isn't merely a form of rent-seeking – it is a uniquely digital phenomenon, because it relies on the inherent flexibility of digital systems. There are lots of intermediaries that want to extract surpluses from customers and suppliers – everyone from grocers to oil companies – but these can't be reconfigured in an eyeblink the that that purely digital services can.

A sleazy boss can hide their wage-theft with a bunch of confusing deductions to your paycheck. But when your boss is an app, it can engage in algorithmic wage discrimination, where your pay declines minutely every time you accept a job, but if you start to decline jobs, the app can raise the offer:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/12/algorithmic-wage-discrimination/#fishers-of-men

I call this process "twiddling": tech platforms are equipped with a million knobs on their back-ends, and platform operators can endlessly twiddle those knobs, altering the business logic from moment to moment, turning the system into an endlessly shifting quagmire where neither users nor business customers can ever be sure whether they're getting a fair deal:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/19/twiddler/

Social media platforms are compulsive twiddlers. They use endless variation to lure in – and then lock in – publishers, with the goal of converting these standalone businesses into commodity suppliers who are dependent on the platform, who can then be charged rent to reach the users who asked to hear from them.

Facebook designed this playbook. First, it lured in end-users by promising them a good deal: "Unlike Myspace, which spies on you from asshole to appetite, Facebook is a privacy-respecting site that will never, ever spy on you. Simply sign up, tell us everyone who matters to you, and we'll populate a feed with everything they post for public consumption":

https://lawcat.berkeley.edu/record/1128876

The users came, and locked themselves in: when people gather in social spaces, they inadvertently take one another hostage. You joined Facebook because you liked the people who were there, then others joined because they liked you. Facebook can now make life worse for all of you without losing your business. You might hate Facebook, but you like each other, and the collective action problem of deciding when and whether to go, and where you should go next, is so difficult to overcome, that you all stay in a place that's getting progressively worse.

Once its users were locked in, Facebook turned to advertisers and said, "Remember when we told these rubes we'd never spy on them? It was a lie. We spy on them with every hour that God sends, and we'll sell you access to that data in the form of dirt-cheap targeted ads."

Then Facebook went to the publishers and said, "Remember when we told these suckers that we'd only show them the things they asked to see? Total lie. Post short excerpts from your content and links back to your websites and we'll nonconsensually cram them into the eyeballs of people who never asked to see them. It's a free, high-value traffic funnel for your own site, bringing monetizable users right to your door."

Now, Facebook had to find a way to lock in those publishers. To do this, it had to twiddle. By tiny increments, Facebook deprioritized publishers' content, forcing them to make their excerpts grew progressively longer. As with gig workers, the digital flexibility of Facebook gave it lots of leeway here. Some publishers sensed the excerpts they were being asked to post were a substitute for visiting their sites – and not an enticement – and drew down their posting to Facebook.

When that happened, Facebook could twiddle in the publisher's favor, giving them broader distribution for shorter excerpts, then, once the publisher returned to the platform, Facebook drew down their traffic unless they started posting longer pieces. Twiddling lets platforms play users and business-customers like a fish on a line, giving them slack when they fight, then reeling them in when they tire.

Once Facebook converted a publisher to a commodity supplier to the platform, it reeled the publishers in. First, it deprioritized publishers' posts when they had links back to the publisher's site (under the pretext of policing "clickbait" and "malicious links"). Then, it stopped showing publishers' content to their own subscribers, extorting them to pay to "boost" their posts in order to reach people who had explicitly asked to hear from them.

For users, this meant that their feeds were increasingly populated with payola-boosted content from advertisers and pay-to-play publishers who paid Facebook's Danegeld to reach them. A user will only spend so much time on Facebook, and every post that Facebook feeds that user from someone they want to hear from is a missed opportunity to show them a post from someone who'll pay to reach them.

Here, too, twiddling lets Facebook fine-tune its approach. If a user starts to wean themself off Facebook, the algorithm (TM) can put more content the user has asked to see in the feed. When the user's participation returns to higher levels, Facebook can draw down the share of desirable content again, replacing it with monetizable content. This is done minutely, behind the scenes, automatically, and quickly. In any shell game, the quickness of the hand deceives the eye.

This is the final stage of enshittification: withdrawing surpluses from end-users and business customers, leaving behind the minimum homeopathic quantum of value for each needed to keep them locked to the platform, generating value that can be extracted and diverted to platform shareholders.

But this is a brittle equilibrium to maintain. The difference between "God, I hate this place but I just can't leave it" and "Holy shit, this sucks, I'm outta here" is razor-thin. All it takes is one privacy scandal, one livestreamed mass-shooting, one whistleblower dump, and people bolt for the exits. This kicks off a death-spiral: as users and business customers leave, the platform's shareholders demand that they squeeze the remaining population harder to make up for the loss.

One reason this gambit worked so well is that it was a long con. Platform operators and their investors have been willing to throw away billions convincing end-users and business customers to lock themselves in until it was time for the pig-butchering to begin. They financed expensive forays into additional features and complementary products meant to increase user lock-in, raising the switching costs for users who were tempted to leave.

For example, Facebook's product manager for its "photos" product wrote to Mark Zuckerberg to lay out a strategy of enticing users into uploading valuable family photos to the platform in order to "make switching costs very high for users," who would have to throw away their precious memories as the price for leaving Facebook:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/08/facebooks-secret-war-switching-costs

The platforms' patience paid off. Their slow ratchets operated so subtly that we barely noticed the squeeze, and when we did, they relaxed the pressure until we were lulled back into complacency. Long cons require a lot of prefrontal cortex, the executive function to exercise patience and restraint.

Which brings me to Elon Musk, a man who seems to have been born without a prefrontal cortex, who has repeatedly and publicly demonstrated that he lacks any restraint, patience or planning. Elon Musk's prefrontal cortical deficit resulted in his being forced to buy Twitter, and his every action since has betrayed an even graver inability to stop tripping over his own dick.

Where Zuckerberg played enshittification as a long game, Musk is bent on speedrunning it. He doesn't slice his users up with a subtle scalpel, he hacks away at them with a hatchet.

Musk inaugurated his reign by nonconsensually flipping every user to an algorithmic feed which was crammed with ads and posts from "verified" users whose blue ticks verified solely that they had $8 ($11 for iOS users). Where Facebook deployed substantial effort to enticing users who tired of eyeball-cramming feed decay by temporarily improving their feeds, Musk's Twitter actually overrode users' choice to switch back to a chronological feed by repeatedly flipping them back to more monetizable, algorithmic feeds.

Then came the squeeze on publishers. Musk's Twitter rolled out a bewildering array of "verification" ticks, each priced higher than the last, and publishers who refused to pay found their subscribers taken hostage, with Twitter downranking or shadowbanning their content unless they paid.

(Musk also squeezed advertisers, keeping the same high prices but reducing the quality of the offer by killing programs that kept advertisers' content from being published along Holocaust denial and open calls for genocide.)

Today, Musk continues to squeeze advertisers, publishers and users, and his hamfisted enticements to make up for these depredations are spectacularly bad, and even illegal, like offering advertisers a new kind of ad that isn't associated with any Twitter account, can't be blocked, and is not labeled as an ad:

https://www.wired.com/story/xs-sneaky-new-ads-might-be-illegal/

Of course, Musk has a compulsive bullshitter's contempt for the press, so he has far fewer enticements for them to stay. Quite the reverse: first, Musk removed headlines from link previews, rendering posts by publishers that went to their own sites into stock-art enigmas that generated no traffic:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/oct/05/x-twitter-strips-headlines-new-links-why-elon-musk

Then he jumped straight to the end-stage of enshittification by announcing that he would shadowban any newsmedia posts with links to sites other than Twitter, "because there is less time spent if people click away." Publishers were advised to "post content in long form on this platform":

https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/111183068362793821

Where a canny enshittifier would have gestured at a gaslighting explanation ("we're shadowbanning posts with links because they might be malicious"), Musk busts out the motto of the Darth Vader MBA: "I am altering the deal, pray I don't alter it any further."

All this has the effect of highlighting just how little residual value there is on the platform for publishers, and tempts them to bolt for the exits. Six months ago, NPR lost all patience with Musk's shenanigans, and quit the service. Half a year later, they've revealed how low the switching cost for a major news outlet that leaves Twitter really are: NPR's traffic, post-Twitter, has declined by less than a single percentage point:

https://niemanreports.org/articles/npr-twitter-musk/

NPR's Twitter accounts had 8.7 million followers, but even six months ago, Musk's enshittification speedrun had drawn down NPR's ability to reach those users to a negligible level. The 8.7 million number was an illusion, a shell game Musk played on publishers like NPR in a bid to get them to buy a five-figure iridium checkmark or even a six-figure titanium one.

On Twitter, the true number of followers you have is effectively zero – not because Twitter users haven't explicitly instructed the service to show them your posts, but because every post in their feeds that they want to see is a post that no one can be charged to show them.

I've experienced this myself. Three and a half years ago, I left Boing Boing and started pluralistic.net, my cross-platform, open access, surveillance-free, daily newsletter and blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/19/drei-drei-drei/#now-we-are-three

Boing Boing had the good fortune to have attracted a sizable audience before the advent of siloed platforms, and a large portion of that audience came to the site directly, rather than following us on social media. I knew that, starting a new platform from scratch, I wouldn't have that luxury. My audience would come from social media, and it would be up to me to convert readers into people who followed me on platforms I controlled – where neither they nor I could be held to ransom.

I embraced a strategy called POSSE: Post Own Site, Syndicate Everywhere. With POSSE, the permalink and native habitat for your material is a site you control (in my case, a WordPress blog with all the telemetry, logging and surveillance disabled). Then you repost that content to other platforms – mostly social media – with links back to your own site:

https://indieweb.org/POSSE

There are a lot of automated tools to help you with this, but the platforms have gone to great lengths to break or neuter them. Musk's attack on Twitter's legendarily flexible and powerful API killed every automation tool that might help with this. I was lucky enough to have a reader – Loren Kohnfelder – who coded me some python scripts that automate much of the process, but POSSE remains a very labor-intensive and error-prone methodology:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/01/13/two-decades/#hfbd

And of all the feeds I produce – email, RSS, Discourse, Medium, Tumblr, Mastodon – none is as labor-intensive as Twitter's. It is an unforgiving medium to begin with, and Musk's drawdown of engineering support has made it wildly unreliable. Many's the time I've set up 20+ posts in a thread, only to have the browser tab reload itself and wipe out all my work.

But I stuck with Twitter, because I have a half-million followers, and to the extent that I reach them there, I can hope that they will follow the permalinks to Pluralistic proper and switch over to RSS, or email, or a daily visit to the blog.

But with each day, the case for using Twitter grows weaker. I get ten times as many replies and reposts on Mastodon, though my Mastodon follower count is a tenth the size of my (increasingly hypothetical) Twitter audience.

All this raises the question of what can or should be done about Twitter. One possible regulatory response would be to impose an "End-To-End" rule on the service, requiring that Twitter deliver posts from willing senders to willing receivers without interfering in them. End-To-end is the bedrock of the internet (one of its incarnations is Net Neutrality) and it's a proven counterenshittificatory force:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/06/save-news-we-need-end-end-web

Despite what you may have heard, "freedom of reach" is freedom of speech: when a platform interposes itself between willing speakers and their willing audiences, it arrogates to itself the power to control what we're allowed to say and who is allowed to hear us:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/10/e2e/#the-censors-pen

We have a wide variety of tools to make a rule like this stick. For one thing, Musk's Twitter has violated innumerable laws and consent decrees in the US, Canada and the EU, which creates a space for regulators to impose "conduct remedies" on the company.

But there's also existing regulatory authorities, like the FTC's Section Five powers, which enable the agency to act against companies that engage in "unfair and deceptive" acts. When Twitter asks you who you want to hear from, then refuses to deliver their posts to you unless they pay a bribe, that's both "unfair and deceptive":

https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/10/the-courage-to-govern/#whos-in-charge

But that's only a stopgap. The problem with Twitter isn't that this important service is run by the wrong mercurial, mediocre billionaire: it's that hundreds of millions of people are at the mercy of any foolish corporate leader. While there's a short-term case for improving the platforms, our long-term strategy should be evacuating them:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/18/urban-wildlife-interface/#combustible-walled-gardens

To make that a reality, we could also impose a "Right To Exit" on the platforms. This would be an interoperability rule that would require Twitter to adopt Mastodon's approach to server-hopping: click a link to export the list of everyone who follows you on one server, click another link to upload that file to another server, and all your followers and followees are relocated to your new digs:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/23/semipermeable-membranes/#free-as-in-puppies

A Twitter with the Right To Exit would exert a powerful discipline even on the stunted self-regulatory centers of Elon Musk's brain. If he banned a reporter for publishing truthful coverage that cast him in a bad light, that reporter would have the legal right to move to another platform, and continue to reach the people who follow them on Twitter. Publishers aghast at having the headlines removed from their Twitter posts could go somewhere less slipshod and still reach the people who want to hear from them on Twitter.

And both Right To Exit and End-To-End satisfy the two prime tests for sound internet regulation: first, they are easy to administer. If you want to know whether Musk is permitting harassment on his platform, you have to agree on a definition of harassment, determine whether a given act meets that definition, and then investigate whether Twitter took reasonable steps to prevent it.

By contrast, administering End-To-End merely requires that you post something and see if your followers receive it. Administering Right To Exit is as simple as saying, "OK, Twitter, I know you say you gave Cory his follower and followee file, but he says he never got it. Just send him another copy, and this time, CC the regulator so we can verify that it arrived."

Beyond administration, there's the cost of compliance. Requiring Twitter to police its users' conduct also requires it to hire an army of moderators – something that Elon Musk might be able to afford, but community-supported, small federated servers couldn't. A tech regulation can easily become a barrier to entry, blocking better competitors who might replace the company whose conduct spurred the regulation in the first place.

End-to-End does not present this kind of barrier. The default state for a social media platform is to deliver posts from accounts to their followers. Interfering with End-To-End costs more than delivering the messages users want to have. Likewise, a Right To Exit is a solved problem, built into the open Mastodon protocol, itself built atop the open ActivityPub standard.

It's not just Twitter. Every platform is consuming itself in an orgy of enshittification. This is the Great Enshittening, a moment of universal, end-stage platform decay. As the platforms burn, calls to address the fires grow louder and harder for policymakers to resist. But not all solutions to platform decay are created equal. Some solutions will perversely enshrine the dominance of platforms, help make them both too big to fail and too big to jail.

Musk has flagrantly violated so many rules, laws and consent decrees that he has accidentally turned Twitter into the perfect starting point for a program of platform reform and platform evacuation.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/14/freedom-of-reach/#ex

My next novel is The Lost Cause, a hopeful novel of the climate emergency. Amazon won't sell the audiobook, so I made my own and I'm pre-selling it on Kickstarter!

Image: JD Lasica (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Elon_Musk_%283018710552%29.jpg

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

[ddejavvu]

Helloooo omggg I love your blog sm I have a request that’s terrible so don’t feel pressured to do it lmao

I’m afraid of escalators- everytime ya girl tries to get on one since I got a foot injury I fall :(( but I was just at the airport and had to go on a bunch SO- Aaron Hotchner holding hands everytime we have to go on an escalator-

Working to hunt and apprehend the country's most dangerous criminals should mean that you're not scared of much. You can handle flying, you take the jet constantly. Being mugged is something you know you'll likely withstand, even if you're injured, because you can fight back. You have no unique fears, like birds or butterflies or cats- well, that is, excluding escalators.

They're just not your forte. Each time you ride one you fear falling, the constant, steady movement something that you need to spend far more than three seconds analyzing before hopping on. Unfortunately, as you're currently tracking down information from the third floor of a major airport, escalators are a must.

Aaron boards before you, and you thank the heavens that it means he doesn't see you linger. You set your hand on the railing, gut sinking as you feel it relentlessly move beneath your fingertips. Turning, sucking, pulling you in, pulling you down, pulling you under. You're so busy watching the belt turn that you miss the way Hotch has asked you a question, then turned to wonder after your response, and found you unmoving at the base of the escalator.

"Y/L/N," He calls, and your white-hot face snaps up to meet his gaze, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah." You nod, lifting your foot to board. But it won't lower itself onto the stairs in front of you. You briefly remember that it won't move on its own, that you'll need to control it, but you can't manage that, either.

Hotch scrutinizes you with a furrowed brow. When he has the evidence he needs, in your nervous glances and stiff limbs, he quickly descends the escalator, having moved even further away from you while speaking. He jogs down the stairs, moving himself faster than it's moving him, and nudges you out of the way to disembark.

"Come on," He urges, seeking out your hand in his own, "Grab the railing."

You lower your hand onto it with a shaky breath, and he squeezes your hand in encouragement. Your grip is loose enough for it to pass beneath you, but present, and he tugs you an inch forwards towards the escalator.

"I've got you," He pledges, holding your hand steadily, so that it grounds you, "Let's go."

He steps backwards onto the escalator, pulling you with him, and all of a sudden you're on it. He gives you no time to think, just pulls your hand so that your feet move too, and then you're doing it. Your legs feel locked, tight, and in danger of toppling you right over, and you fear you may be cutting off the circulation to Hotch's hand when you squeeze it, but if you are, he says nothing. He just stands there, glancing briefly backwards to ensure that he doesn't stumble while disembarking at the top.

"Good," He murmurs, a mere five seconds from the last stair, "Now, hold my hand, there you go, and- there."

He steps off, pulls you with him, then you're done. Then it's over, and you're standing fifteen feet higher than you had been before, feeling solid, unmoving ground below your feet.

"Hotch," You try, your voice painfully weak, "Um, I- I'm not-"

"It's alright." He brings his free hand to the one of yours that he's holding, sealing your hand between both of his and squeezing it warmly, "You don't have to tell me why, and you don't need to be embarrassed. Everyone's got something."

"Alright," You nod once, thankful for the out, but still in disbelief that you'd not only ridden an escalator, but that your boss had held your hand for the trip, and told you not to be ashamed, "Uh- thank you."

"Anytime." He nods, dropping only one of his hands. Anytime becomes right now, when he glances a few feet away at the next set of escalators, and that sinking feeling sets right back into your stomach.

"You can have a minute," Hotch uses your intertwined hands to lead you to a wall that you lean up against. To draw your mind away from the daunting mechanical hum of the escalators, you study Hotch's tie instead, not brave enough yet to look at his face.

After a moment, you speak: "Hotch?"

"Hm?"

"You said everyone has something."

"I did," He nods, anticipating your next question.

"What's yours?"

He takes a sharp breath in, then admits, "Mice."

Before you can react, though you'll gawp at him later for the answer, he drags you towards the next escalator.

"Ready?" He asks, and infers a yes when really you might have said no, stepping back onto the stairs.

It's a grueling ride, one that has you rife with nerves, but when you're finally standing on the third floor, you manage, "Mice?"

"Not important," He drops your hand to take your back instead, pushing you towards the help desk with vigor you don't typically see from your usually stoic boss, "Let's focus on our work, Agent."

[studentinpursuitofclouds]

How about the towns people reacting to the farmer who despises joja. Like, think about it. The farmer left their soul sucking office job at joja behind only to see them again right across the bridge. I bet they would support the community centre out of spite.

They are normally a friendly and sweet person but the moment joja comes into the conversation they snap a little. Morris talks to them and their left eye twitches rapidly cuz this guy reminds them way too much of their old boss. They have dark dreams about the blinking lights of the work and rest lights and the bosses looming over them through the glass in their office.

Locals swear they see the light disappear from their eyes whenever they accidentally fish up a joja can.

Oh man, That's just about a perfect description of my OC Farmer. He is by nature a very kind and patient man, but every time he sees JojaMart, catching more trash with that logo on it, or sees people who use every means, even mean ones (remember that scene with Morris), to destroy the competition and become monopolists, he gets very sarcastic. Sometimes, it can be just pure rage.

But let's not talk about my OC, because the question here is about a neutral farmer 😅 So enjoy, dear anon!

SDV townies react to the Farmer who despises Joja:

Marlon's mind is more on protecting the Valley from monsters than on boycotting some store. He wouldn't have known about this until one day Farmer came in with a bunch of soda cans with the Joja logo on them, while swearing about the same logo. They told to the one-eyed adventurer that they had fished this cans of the mine waters at level 100. How these soda cans managed to end up in literal lava without burning or even deforming from the lava's temperature was a mystery to Marlon.

Stardew Valley has its own zest that makes the place unique, and according to Penny, JojaMart is ruining that uniqueness. Plus they constantly put promotions on the beer and ales they sell, which Pam just can't refuse. So Penny isn't too thrilled about Joja.co appearance in Pelican Town either.

How Willy understands them! There is already so much garbage floating in the sea from Joja's products that has endangered fish and other marine life. And the mart that was built here has only made the problem worse. So the old sailor will support the Farmer if they want to kick this corporation out of Pelican Town.

Not that George would care much where his wife bought the leek: from the farmers or from that huge store. After all, a leek is a leek no matter how you cooked it. Still, though, memories of his grandfather and his farm bring back fond memories of things that used to be both simpler and better. He's also annoyed by the loud music coming from the speakers in that supermarket, which is "supposed to attract customers" but distracts him from his nostalgic thoughts. Can't he have some quiet time in his own home anymore! If the Farmer wants to stage a boycott, then George will be the first of the participants!

Oh, this is so much fun! Abigail feel bad that she provokes Farmer on purpose, but it's not her fault that her friend gives such a funny reaction at any mention of Joja. "Look, Sam bought me a Joja cola, you want some?" *Possum hissing*

Haley thinks the Farmer is a fool. The only civilized supermarket in town, and Farmer looks at it as an insult to all humanity. Yes, the quality of the clothes leaves a lot to be desired, but there are a variety of sweets to choose from! And there's plenty goods for farming, too. The girl doesn't understand what Farmer's problem is.

Whoa whoa, easy, why the outburst of rage? What? Yeah, Alex bought a dozen eggs at JojaMart. After all, he needs protein. Hey! What's the Farmer doing? Give it back, why did they take the eggs?! If they wanted some egg, they could just ask! Wha?... Oh, the Farmer gave him three dozen eggs. These are from their farm? Uh, thank you. So big, and much better quality than he bought from Joja..... So, how's he gonna explain to Grandma that Alex now have three dozen eggs?

Gus sincerely hopes the Farmer doesn't vandalize his Saloon, at least as a sign of respect for the very owner of the establishment and his property. Because they've been looking at that Joja soda machine for too long. It's like they're trying to desiteng this poor vending machine. He may also have to take Joja Coke off the menu.

*Gasp* Hee-hee. Oh, Marnie can't stop laughing. To be honest, at first the young Farmer's angry stare and scolding caught her off guard and frightened her a little. But later, she can't stop giggling after every barbed comment towards Joja.co, their old boss and "colleagues".

Sheesh, wow. Sam would never have thought that a person could cringe like that at the mention of Joja. The young guitarist should think twice before opening a can of Joja Coke with Farmer standing next to him, because they will vaporize that very can with a look.

Jas already knows what natural resources are and has often heard from Miss Penny that many huge corporations often abuse and deplete these same resources. And this thought makes her sad. But she does not want to quarrel with anyone, so Jas will offer the Farmer to draw a poster together so that Joja will respect nature and makes products that do not harm animals and plants (spoiler: it won't work, but the Farmer was very touched by the girls’ idea).

Bad food? Bad store? But Mr/Mrs Farmer, why do you say that? Vincent doesn't really understand why they hate that store so much, where he often goes with his mother to visit his older brother and buy groceries. His mom even also buys him ice cream in the form of a dinosaur! Because dinosaur is so cool. What? Do they have a living dinosaur?! In a coop? Can he take a look please??? The farm is much cooler than this "Jodja'! Mom look, Mr/Mrs Farmer has a pet dinosaurs!

Oh, that whole blue trash things makes Leo and his bird family very sad. So he understands why the Farmer is so upset too. But the boy is not discouraged and wants to make a clean-up day together with Farmer, Linus and the parrots. Maybe the Joja people will see the beauty of nature and stop littering!

Oh, no, Farmer. You don't need to show so much negative emotion! Emily herself is not fond of Joja and their constant pollution of the environment with their waste, but absorbing so much anger and spreading it to others is not the best way to go about it. She does worry about the Farmer's mental state and will offer them meditation classes to get rid of the bad thoughts associated with the old job and Joja in general.

Shane would probably be the second person who truly hates Joja. Stupid, energy-sucking job, stupid boss who makes him work overtime, stupid uniforms that don't fit him and that make him itch. Can the occasional theft of beer and frozen pizza from Joja's warehouse be considered a form of protest?

Caroline nearly dropped her tea cup when Farmer literally hissed at the mention of Joja and Morris. The two of them were sitting alone in her sunny room drinking tea and Caroline was a little sad that her husband's business had gotten tougher since JojaMart had come to town. She had heard from the Mayor the reason for the Farmer leaving their old job and truly understands their decision (after all, life in the big city can be very tiring). Though the young Farmer's reaction to the mention of Joja.co has her a bit amused.

But when Pierre walked into the sun room (to pick up his gardening tools) where his wife and Farmer were sitting, and heard the conversation about his store and Joja, he started wailing and whining about the desperate situation. And the shopkeeper would wholeheartedly support Farmer in the idea that everyone would be much better off without blasted Joja! However, when the Farmers were about to leave, they thanked Caroline for the tea, and finally, with a sly smile, said that "Joja will not stay here for long". What this meant, neither Pierre nor his wife understood.

"Fuck! Fucking bitch ass Joja with their fucking cans and CDs! I want fish, not that dog ass shit plastic! Rot in hell, you goddamn corporation, bunch of bastards and rats!" Sebastian is used to Farmer's tirade by now, and watches from the kitchen window, sipping his coffee, as his poor friend has been trying to fish the mountain lake for the past two hours. Judging by their profanity, fishing was not going well.

But poor Maru, who almost dropped the wrench on her foot, heard the Farmer's profanity for the first time and thought something was wrong. When she went out to inquire after their fortunes, they were already sitting on the shore crying... and surrounded by the garbage from Joja.co. The young inventor invites Farmer into the kitchen for a cup of coffee with her and her half-brother.

While the brother and sister consoled Farmer with words and caffeine, Demetrius, seeing that there was now a lot of plastic lying nearby, offered to the Farmer take his recycling machine and scheme if they wanted more machines. Recycling would help to bring the environment back to its former state, also the recycled garbage would become useful products for the farm! Demetrius thinks it's unlikely that they'll be able to boycott the huge company in any way, so it's better to help the ecology like that at least.

Robin almost died laughing. "Holy macaroni, you swear like an old sailor!" She really didn't expect such profanity from such a quiet and kind person, but her son and daughter were not the only ones who heard the poor youth's tirade after a bad fishing trip. But Robin doesn't want to tease the poor Farmer, so she goes along with her husband's offer to take their recycling machine.

Oh dear, don't be so furious, you get a headache! Evelyn can understand why the poor Farmer is upset, but she would hate to see such a kind and sweet youth in a constantly bad mood because of Joja. Maybe they'll drop by for tea? She just baked cookies, and didn't use Joja products, granny promises! *wink*

Linus can feel Mother Nature weeping and choking on all this garbage and waste. And how her crying has gotten stronger since Joja their big store in town. The wise man stays calm though and tries to comfort the Farmer, because anger clouds his thoughts and it's impossible to think of ways to help nature.

Hmmm, dear, but Joja is full of good gardening supplies and farming seeds, and at a low price. Jodi thinks they should look in there and get something for.... Oh, okay, fine. Jodi won't mention Joja again, or she gets the impression that nice Farmer is transforming into a beast before her eyes.

Now, now... There's no need to get so angry or you'll get high blood pressure, Harvey knows what he's talking about. Anger is inherent in everyone, but he is well aware of how mental problems later affect a person's physical health. So if Farmer doesn't learn to control their anger, then it will be Dr. Harvey himself who gets angry. And take his word for it, Farmer, he will scold you severely.

For all his desire to help Farmer, Rasmodius feels he should not interfere in people's lives, much less use magic for it. Plus, he feels that there's no point in looking for an answer to solve a problem when the answer is right in front of them. Hmm? What is he talking about? Ah, young adept, the forest spirits will show you the way, you just have to learn to listen to them carefully.

Leah knows what it's like to live in a big city at an energy-sucking job, under the all-seeing eye of a mega-corporation (also with her ex who mumbling everyday about more profitable professions). And when Leah sees JojaMart, her mind involuntarily returns to that unpleasant part of her life. To be honest, she would also start snarling and hissing like a Farmer because of Joja or any other company that is trying to greedily take Stardew Valley for itself.

Elliott bows before Farmer: to reach such a peak of eloquence, masterfully masking sarcasm in conversation with the help of barbs and epithets - such a level was not even reached by Elliott himself, even with his rich vocabulary. The writer doesn't know why this manager from Joja.co angered the always good-natured Farmer, but Elliott made a note to himself to never get on the Farmer's bad side.

All right, kiddo! Don't bark at the store like a guard dog! Do Pam a favor and move your bum away from the main JojaMart entrance, she has to get a dark ale on special, plus a 15% off coupon. Huh, don't like Joja? Then don't look at them and problem solved! Like a piece of cake.

The tired father had to put his hands over Vincent's ears more than once to keep the youngest of his sons from hearing the endless stream of profanity from their new Farmer about the greedy megacorporation. Though Kent would be lying if he said the whole rant didn't make him laugh. Still, he tries to hide a smile under his wife's stern gaze.

All right, enough! Why don't you stop swearing, there's little kids walking around! Lewis can understand anything, but not useless swearing. The town mayor really does miss the days when they were all at the old Community Center, but yelling at Joja won't do anything. What do you mean the "Community Center will soon be alive again"? Farmer? Where are they going? Yoba, they're just like their Grandfather. Sigh, what a daredevil...bless your soul, my old friend.

Satisfied with his work and how quickly the number of visitors to JojaMart was growing, Morris didn't even notice how, when talking to a new resident of the Valley (aka "potential customer"), the poor "listener" had a twitch in his eye and a cringing their face. Well, one gets a tic, he doesn't really care. Although when Morris was at the restored Community Center where people started boycotting Joja, now his eye started twitching.

[glassbirdfeather]

Complaining about the final boss in Shadow of the Erdtree, both in terms of lore and mechanics. Spoilers for the end of Shadow of the Erdtree:

Part 1: The Lore

I think the ending is really good and foreshadowed well in it's own story. I think it is fitting and well told. But it isn't living in its own bubble. It exists in context to a previous story directly connected to it. In the context of the entirety of Elden Ring, it sucks.

If we were just dropped in the Shadow Realm and the main game didn't exist, it would be really, REALLY good. The problem arises when also having the context of who Miquella was in the base game. His motivations in the DLC retcon the motivations from the lore of the base game. And the retcon is worse. The thing that made him fascinating was that he was the only compassionate character among Marika's children, the only one who didn't care about petty power plays because he was focused on helping people and helping his sister. That it is revealed he is just as shallow and self-centered as the rest, so much as to be willing to endanger his sister in exchange for a consort after all the lore surrounding how he wanted to help her, takes away the facets that made him unique.

This may also contribute to why there are two general camps of people who like or don't like how Miquella is portrayed. There have been a couple of years between the original game and now. Memories of the original game's lore--if people even read those particular bits of item descriptions in the first place--have had time to fade.

However, I acknowledge that item descriptions in Elden Ring intentionally have author biases. It could be said that every Miquella-related item description was told from the perspective of someone bewitched. That would make a lot of sense.

So in the end, this also is a personal preference. I think that Miquella turning out to be a brat who will sacrifice his sister for his consort is much less interesting than him being motivated to do bad things for his sister.

This leads into the overlap between pure lore discussion and mechanics.

Part 2: I CAN'T FUCKING SEE

The last boss fight is shit. Part of what convinced people that the leaks were fake, not considering lore implications, is that many people looked at the attacks that were happening and judged them to be bad.

As someone with a passing understanding of editing animations and moves in a game, something that can be done with little modding skill to create a new enemy is to use existing animations and add new effects to them. People were convinced the fight was fake because of how many moves looked similar to ones from previous FromSoft bosses with lightning effects glued on. I cannot speak to the alleged copied animations in this fight, since I don't have experience with every FromSoft game, but I don't actually think reusing old bosses and animations is inherently a bad thing. The real complaint was that it looked to be both reused animations and extra effects.

Stretch new textures over existing enemies, increase the speed of their attacks, and then add events to those attacks that spawn a bunch of effects like explosions, or lightning bolts. These are all things I could do with my limited knowledge. These are the things that some mods have done, and have gotten ridiculed for. The ridicule is because doing that demonstrates a shallow understanding of what makes a fight not just hard, but fun.

I'm no master of boss design myself, but I can say with confidence that spamming incredibly long attack chains containing effects that blind the player and prevent them from seeing the next move in the chain is bad game design. Something that has been established as an unspoken but understood rule in souls-genre games is that you should be able to dodge an attack while standing point blank in front of the enemy. Whether this is by rolling, jumping, or running away, you know what's happening from seeing the start of the enemy's animation, and you should be able to escape being hit by the attack. I also argue that by this metric, Waterfowl Dance is a badly designed move, but I digress.

Waterfowl Dance is one move in an otherwise stellar boss fight.

In the DLC final fight, I. can't. see.

The screen is covered in lightning for at least 1/3rd of the battle, often making dodging a game of guess and hope. I 100% acknowledge that I was not good at that fight, and that many of the attacks that hit me were dodge-able if I'd learned them more. But some of them were chains of attacks that demanded I blindly learn a random rhythm of button presses. On account of all the lightning from the previous attack hiding the next swing.

One of the things I actually did like about the fight was the grab being a guaranteed 2HKO regardless of health values. It would have been a great gimmick on a better fight. Where I had a better probability of seeing it so I could dodge it.

I also liked the warp-in speed effects of the boss jumping in, although such warps felt very buggy.

Were the lightning effects transparent or otherwise did not obscure the battle so terribly, I wonder what kind of fight it would actually be. Maybe the attack chains only feel unreasonable to dodge to me because I cannot see what is happening in them. It is possible that the fight itself is just bad, and the lightning is, just like in a bad mod, being used as a crutch to hide a very boring, simple moveset.

But it is impossible for me, in the game's current state, to imagine how that fight might play.

Because I can't see shit.

Part 3: The Remembrance

Turning in the remembrance and a duplicate of it just to end up with a total of 3 Radahn swords I think really shows the lack of creativity under the lightning. That is what the essence of the DLC final boss distills down to: 2 variations of a sword we already have.

If the fight had been something COMPLETELY different, perhaps we would have gotten something interesting from Miquella's side of the pair. Something that bewitches a struck enemy? I don't know.

The last fight was a spectacle, but only due to all the fancy effects that it vomited everywhere. Remove them, and I suspect there exists an uninspired base.

[theother-victoria]

LOVE IS CONCOCTED FROM ESTERS AND KETONES- CH. 00: PROLOGUE

NOTES: I hope this chapter gives you an idea of the setting and what's to come!

TAGLIST: @tragedy-of-commons, @mitsvriii, @harque, @nariism, @vxnuslogy, @akutasoda , @flowery-jazz , @gabile18 , @khoncore

Somewhere within the heart of the universe lies a perfumery on an unremarkable planet, its simplicity belittling its fame. From its exterior, it looks like any other shop on the street. Simple, with a cute sign and clean exterior. They’re closed on Mondays but for the rest of the week, they open at ten am on the weekdays and close at six pm with extended hours on the weekends. 

The inside, however, tells a different story. It’s far more spacious than the outside would lead one to believe. The poor, overworked air purifiers can be heard running 24/7 to prevent the air from becoming suffocating. The shelves go as far back as the eye can see and are stocked with bottles of different colors, sizes, and designs- each of them hefty and works of art in their own right. Each of them have different scent profiles and all of them are handcrafted by the enigmatic owner who formulates and tests each scent in the lab located behind the shop. 

… The test subjects just happen to be the two shop assistants who are more than happy to be their boss’ guinea pigs. 

The shop itself is split into three sections- male, female, and unisex. Perfumes are arranged based on the fragrance family- fresh, floral, woodsy- before being further arranged by notes- green, fruity, gourmand- since people often walk in wanting to smell like a specific note, which the owner and shop assistants are happy to work with. However, there’s a rumor that you’ll get the best results when you come in with an idea, a concept, in mind. 

“I want to smell like worn, old, musty jewelry that’s probably tangled.” There’s a scent for that.

“Do you have anything that smells like a day at the fair as a kid?” Yes, there is.

“How about a warm rock?” Second display case in the unisex section, fifth shelf down, third bottle from the left, the green one. 

There’s also the option to get a custom-made fragrance, although it’ll carry a heftier price tag than the already-pricy wares. But for many, it’s a small price to pay for something that’s uniquely personal to them. 

All of this has led to celebrities, politicians, and other rich and famous people from across the galaxy to flock to this store, which has been the biggest reason for the store’s meteoric rise to fame. It started off as the name being shared among circles and it gradually rippled out from there until it reached the level of renown it has today. Celebrities often quote a bottle from the store as their signature and/or favorite scent in interviews and the paparazzi always snap a bunch of photos whenever a particularly high-profile person leaves the store with a bag in hand. 

Rumor has it that the advertising benefits for the shop are top-tier too, which is why they practically jump at the chance to promote the newest scents. 

But while the shop’s fame is undeniable, there isn’t much known about the owner. They’ve dodged the media’s questions ever since the shop’s popularity exploded and even the two assistants don’t know much besides what’s publicly available. It seems as if they intend for things to stay that way as well. 

Not only do you want to keep your secrets close, but you also want to preserve that sense of monotony that comes with running a business for as long you have. Wake up, get ready, open the store for business, and handle the various customers that come into the shop until closing.

But unbeknownst to you, there’s a wave of new customers coming, each with their peculiarities that you’ve never quite had to deal with before, and they’re interested in more than just your wares.

Keeping your inventory stocked and your heart guarded is your modus operandi for running your business. But between running your business, staying on top of orders, and dealing with these new customers… this may be a difficult task to follow for the foreseeable future. 

the taglist is open for this series and the rest of my works!

@ theother-victoria, do not copy, repost, modify, translate, or feed to ai

[luffyvace]

HIHIHIHI TYSM FOR DOING MY REQUEST ^U^ I hope u Don't mind me dropping another one u :'))

Can I have kusuo reaction to Reader-chan being mostly know for her gore/angst/horror series but looks like nothing for a person to write this stuff (she looks absolutely innocent) yet having a (technically an old man) friend who is also anonymous writer for one of kusuo favorite series yet the said look absolutely opposite of it (the reader-chan and her friend are like Junji Ito and hayao miyazaki)

I'm sorry if u couldn't understand the request:')) my English isn't really the best-

HII DARLING! No problem at all! Of course I don’t mind! Request at any time as long as they say open <3

ohhh so she’s a horror writer :> OHHH I was confused at first but as soon as I searched them up and saw the memes I understood 😂💓

This is such a cute and funny topic! Enjoy your hcs anon 💖 ⚠️ Gore mentions⚠️

Kusuo isn’t easily scared.

there are very few things that actually do scare him, considering he can sense everything coming from a mile away

But shows and books are an exception (given he doesn’t stare at the pages to see through the book-)

he’s not normally into horror but your manga is actually very interesting to him!

seeing a bunch of mutilated corpses packed together is quite a gripping sight for him!

and honestly he is obbsessed likes normalcy but your case is a type of unique he doesn’t mind :)

it’s funny since you have this friendly and kind personality and your work is the exact opposite of that 🤗

it’s giving the cute core girlies!! (and guys!! <3) 💓💗💖🌸🌷💞🎀

he still gets the perk of reading the chapter before publish and giving small ideas for stuff

You once put his favorite character from another series in one of the manga panels and he when he noticed it he had a little smile on his face! 💗

he wasn’t excpecting you to do that at all and it was a pleasant surprise ;3

your introduced him to your friend and he also likes his work now!

Y’all are literal polar opposites- and ngl? He enjoys the balance!

like when he wants some exhilarating and goosebump-giving action he’ll pick up one of your mangas’

and when he’s feeling mellow while eating some coffee jelly on his bed his new (second) favorite author to read from is your friend!

His number one author is of course you ♥︎

would recommend his friends (specifically Kaido) one of your mangas to freak them out

they definitely won’t be expecting it seeing as though your such a cheerful person! 🌸🎀🌷

I feel like Torisuka would genuinely enjoy your manga as well!

he doesn’t get scared easily by creepy stuff for obvious reasons 😋

so you’ve got yourself another supporter !!

I have a feeling my girl boss Airua would get creeped out but 1) she wants to support you so she would probably buy and either never read or 2) read it anyway because it’s so interesting

like you captivated people with your work!

just as much as your friend does with more gentler topics

but in a different sense

You make your audience quite literally cover their eyes in fear yet still peak through they’re fingers with anticipation !

like that’s how good it is!

a “I can’t look away” type of thriller!

also you know that really talkative guy with the bob?

yeah he over analyzes your manga once he finds out about it

(which let me tell you- Kusuo tried his hardest to keep him away from it—but much to his luck- he got a hold of it anyway)

thankfully he likes it!

he’s scared- but once again- he just can’t look away :)

he comes to you and gives your extremely detailed compliments and (positive) feedback after each chapter is released and says he can’t wait for more

he also tells his expectations and predictions for the next one and hopes you’ll live up to them

so when your exceed them he’s more than thrilled (GET IT?? Ok..)

he’s practically able to predict every book or manga he reads because he analyzes everything

so when your able to surprise him he’s impressed!

after Kusuo he’s the first one to buy a copy

(cuz yk Kusuo gets those special you-get-the-first-copy-before-it’s-published-because-your-my-boyfriend-privileges)

LOL

the bob guy is low key jealous of him for getting it before it’s even PUBLISHED

tries to bargain you to get that too but it’s strictly reserved for Kuu ♡

okay I looked up bob guy’s name

it’s Akechi Touma (oops)

LOL “bob guy”

enjoy!! Pretty short but I think they’re a delight~

[mothpile]

Corru.observer evil mode secret boss???

ok so after one of my loops i encountered some scary & crazy shit and i NEED to know if anyone else has seen this. and knows what happens when you beat it coz i lost.

So I had the choice to pick something called "manifest", which made my choices for that run be...this.

The boss started far away, and then approached slowly. For every turn it had, it would spin a roulette option thing of 6 choices: Life up, Main Up, Unlucky, Bomb, Unlucky, and Change. Things got very hectic so i don't remember what's what exactly. but.

Life Up: Heals Everyone.

Main Up: ???

Unlucky: Spawns a new enemy?

Bomb: ??? I assume everyone takes damage?

Change: Everyone has one of their effect things change.

The boss kept doing a bunch of statuses and spawning enemies, never attacking directly...? I think it was putting statuses on everyone.

Enemies usually had to windup, which made i would get around by stunning them. However eventually there were just too many and they eventually managed to start getting attacks off on me they were basically oneshotting. so i died while pretty close to winning. alas!

After losing i got to talk to Geli, BSTRD, and Moth about it I put those under the cut.

EDIT: ALSO i forgot to say it had unique music iirc?! and i dont think its on the ost (even bandcamp...?) Edit Edit: tis apparently just a song slowed down by a bunch !

So i just want to ask hello? has anyone else fucking encountered this? I asked others i know who played the game and everyone else was like What the fuck. thats scary. And im scared. what the fuck was that.

Geli:

BSTRD:

Moth:

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Honebon Debut: Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins

The year is 1992, and Nintendo is making a hit sequel to the video game Super Mario Land for the Nintendo Game Boy. The previous two games in the Super Mario series, Super Mario Land and Super Mario World were both massive hits, and if you know anything about video games, it's obvious why: both had Skeletal Fish Enemies!

If Super Mario Land 2 was to have a chance of succeeding at all, they'd have to include a Skeletal Fish Enemy. But they couldn't just bring back Honen or Fish Bone, no. It was the '90s! We needed a hip, new skeletal fish for Cool Teens!

And so, Honebon was born! Isn't the miracle of childbirth amazing? Unfortunately, Honebon was born a skeleton, which is always a bad sign, because as it turns out, Honebon was dead on arrival...

Now don't get me wrong, Honebon has a few distinct traits to separate it from its Skeletal Siblings. Its attack pattern is unique, since it moves in a zigzag shape instead of a straight line, and according to Perfect Ban Mario Character Daijiten, while Fish Bone is the type to hold a grudge, Honebon has an amiable disposition! So if you're ever looking to befriend a skeletal fish, let that be your guide!

I also think Honebon's name is really funny. It's a portmanteau of hone, the Japanese word for "bone," and the English word "bone". And despite the fact its name doubles down on this being a skeleton, all the official material seems to describe it as a Cheep Cheep's gh-gh-gh-ghost!

But even with all of that, it's clear that Honebon's story as a Mario enemy ended as soon as it began. Honebon was competing for a niche that had already been filled multiple times over. It's a real Spike Eel situation over here! Clearly, Mario games didn't need any more skeletal fish enemies...

Name: Jean de Fillet Debut: Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island

But just because they didn't need another, that doesn't mean they didn't want another! I mean, come on! None of the previous skeletal fish had names that were dated pop culture references, so clearly there was an untapped market there!

You think there wouldn't be much ground to cover with another skeletal fish enemy... and you would be right! There is not all that much unique about Jean de Fillet. Much like Fish Bone and Honebon, it is described as a skeletal Cheep Cheep, despite none of the three really having Cheep Cheep anatomy at all, and much like Honen, its attack pattern involves jumping up to attack Yoshi. They can swim through lava I guess, but I'm not really convinced the other skeletal fish can't do that.

You see what happened? They ran the well dry, and all the fish that were living in the well for some reason died. Nintendo was just left with a bunch of fish skeletons, and all they could do at that point was put them in Yoshi's Island! Sad! Many such cases.

But due to Yoshi's Island going on to become a whole series of its own, Jean de Fillet would have a little more staying power than Honen or Honebon. Which is to say it appeared in Yoshi's New Island, where it even gets a boss variant named Furious Fred de Fillet!

Now it's kind of debatable whether or not Yoshi's Island is mainline, but if you include it, that's four mainline entries in a row that each introduced a completely new skeletal fish enemy! Super Mario Land and Super Mario World both did it, and so would their sequels.

Did this madness ever end?!

Name: Bonefin Debut: Super Mario Galaxy

Not before they could sneak in just one more skeletal fish enemy! It had been over a decade since Jean de Fillet, and in that time it had become the future! That meant their next skeletal fish had to be made of metal. Everything is chrome in the future! (Reference to "Bob")

And since they had a whole new dimension to play with, we were no longer starved of unique attack patterns! Bonefins lock onto Mario, and charge in that direction until they either hit him or hit a wall and explode. (Reference to "Bob")

Bonefins solely appear in the Bonefin Galaxy. They serve as mooks to Kingfin, a giant Bonefin that appears to be actually made of bone! This boss fight is kinda all that exists in Bonefin Galaxy, but at least they got a whole galaxy to themselves, right?

This would mark the end of an era however, as when Super Mario Galaxy 2 rolled around, there was no new skeletal fish enemy to be seen. In fact, Bonefin would only cameo as a skeleton, which is obviously and very intentionally meant to represent the fact that regular new skeletal fish enemies are a thing of the past, a product of a bygone age...

Since then, the series has standardized Fish Bone as their skeletal fish of choice, as they made their grand return in New Super Mario Bros. Wii and have been a series staple ever since. In the process, however, they gained Bonefin's homing attack, letting them do a little more than be Cheep Cheeps for ghost houses and castles!

Is the lack of new skeletal fish enemies another disappointing example of Mario Homogenization? Or did they make the right call, picking a skeletal fish and sticking to it? I dunno. I am completely neutral towards this development.

[rendy-a]

Reverse Trope Writing Prompt Summaries

I've seen these reverse trope prompts going around and they seem so funny, I've decided to write one. I'll list a bunch of little summaries and then do a poll to vote on one.

Too many beds! When Deuce gets the opportunity to visit Clock Town with his friends, he excitedly tells his mother all his friends will be joining him. He later discovers that only his wild pal the Prefect will join him. Too embarrassed to admit to his mother that the large hotel rooms she rented was for nothing, they decide to have such a wild party that no one will ever guess that there were too many beds!

Accidentally kidnapping a mafia boss. You've just discovered that the animal shelter in your town is being closed so that a local restaurant run by a shady (rumored to be mafia) boss can open a branch location. You've seen a teal-haired menacing man going into the place with his timid looking secretary. On impulse, you decide to grab the secretary and use his life for leverage to get the mafia to give up their plan. Little do you realize the bashful gentleman you've kidnapped is actually the famous Don Azul himself.

Real nice guy who hates only you. There was a time when you remember actually wanting to be Silver's friend. That was before you got to know the residents of Diasomnia better. Now, it seems like every sleepover or breakfast date you have with your new bestie Lilia only makes the gentle Silver strike out at you in a ball of jealous rage. Just what is his problem with you?

Academic rivals except it's two teachers who compete to have the best class. Crowley brags about how he is clearly the best teacher on campus. Why, when he teaches class, the students never fail to gain a perfect score! Ha, he is so magnificent! Perhaps he should just take over teaching full time and let Crewel do the annual government audit instead, ha ha! To which Crewel replies, Hell no. The competition to prove themselves most worthy teacher (and avoid the audit) is on!

Divorce of Convenience. Marriage to Ruggie was everything you thought it would be; a tough life but it had its perks. Your hubby Ruggie always had an ear out to opportunity for his small family. That's why, when he told you about the new low income housing for unmarried residents he found, you couldn't rule it out. One quicky divorce later, you are now on the road to financial security...that is if you can convince the straight-laced inspector Jack that you truly are nothing more than the roommates you pretend to be.

True hate's kiss (only kissing your enemy can break a curse). You've become the assistant to Vil in order to make extra cash. One day, in a series of mishaps, Vil ends up drinking a cup of tea cursed with his Unique Magic that caused him to lose his voice. With an important interview coming up, it up to you to convince the proud Vil to travel to Royal Sword and ask his eternal rival Neige for a kiss to break the spell.

Dating your enemy's sibling. After a huge fight, your former pal Ace is now your worst enemy. You can't stop thinking about that fight and how you (maybe) didn't quite win it. The whole thing just makes you hungry for revenge. You spent a lot of time thinking of the perfect way to get under Ace's skin when you see a post on Magicam of Ace's older brother working his theme park job. Suddenly, you have the wildest idea on who you want to bring to the campus dance.

Love Triangle where the two love interests get together instead. No one was more invested in being a fan of Vil Schoenheit then you, the Prefect of Ramshackle dorm. Unless, it was your rival fan Rook. Vil is thoroughly fed up with you both. He announces that, from tomorrow onward, only one of you will be allowed to accompany him to class and help him at lunch. You now have one night to prove to Rook that your admiration of Vil surpasses his own. As the night goes on, you discover the allure of being totally in sync with another super fan. Can your love for Vil survive his ultimate fan?

Too hot to cuddle. There is a heatwave happening at NRC and the air conditioning magic is broke all over campus. It wouldn't be much of an issue except your dating notorious cuddler Leona Kingscholar. You've turned him down for a nap in the sweltering botanical gardens and denied him from resting his head on your sweaty lap in Savanahclaw. Will your clever boyfriend find a solution or be driven mad by the frustration?

[mellowtrashtrash]

YET MORE FNAF WORLD STUFF!

BEHOLD! Joining the ranks of Cake Bear and Balloon Bunny, I present to you: Gift Hen and Confetti Fox!

Gift Hen was a lot of fun to create, as her design is very unique. There's not a lot of good minigame Chicas to draw from, one of the only unique ones is Toy Chica's minigame from FNaF 3, (and I did consider giving her sparkling blue eyes as a reference to that, but I decided it looked weird) so I had to make up a lot. I decided to give her actual wings for arms to complement this set's cartoonier style, and I gave her the prominent two front teeth that FNaF World's Chica pioneered.

And to complete this set, Confetti Fox!

Confetti Fox is a very silly design. He's based pretty much entirely on the foxy seen in "Foxy Go Go Go!" because that version is so much more delightful in comparison to his other minigame appearances.

I was beginning to run out of ideas for party-related items for the bunch to carry, and I decided apprehensively on a confetti popper for Foxy, only to find out that confetti actually is present in Foxy Go Go Go every time you complete a section. It was a happy accident that lined up very well.

Additionally, Rockstar Chica has been completed!

She's got a very fun hurt animation, she does a little panic dance.

Rockstar Foxy is currently underway, but once he's done I'll have almost half my roster completed!

I might take a break after he's done to do some other stuff like enemies, locations, or maybe even a boss, since I've never done one of those before. (Or I might just take a break from modeling for a bit, since I've been working on these almost every day for a while now.)

Well, thanks for checking out my art! If you liked it, I've got more FNaF world content on my blog. And I've got some other art, unrelated to FNaF entirely, that's also fun! See you on the flipside!

[what-even-is-thiss]

There’s a new quest in anniversary edition Skyrim that I finally tried out. And it frustrated me. And I loved it. And it frustrated me to no end.

Imagine, if you will, the mythic dawn cult returning and tricking the Dragonborn into helping them reopening a portal to oblivion. Faithful and beautiful recreations of the plains of oblivion and mythic dawn bases and unique dungeon types unseen in the rest of the game. Fighting your way through an oblivion gate to get unique Daedric weapons. Infiltrating your way into a mythic dawn base in disguise. Fighting alongside the vigilants of stendaar, getting attacked by them if you’re in disguise as a mythic dawn cultist in an epic adventure that feels like a faithful callback to Oblivion and fits within Skyrim’s canon.

And there’s no unique voice lines.

I was expecting to get some unique dialogue from literally anyone, but no. Just standard “need something?” and “Skyrim belongs to the nords!”

I’m aware that most of the anniversary stuff is basically Bethesda approved mods but seriously? Bethesda is making a bunch of money off of this. They couldn’t have hired one voice actor to give a monologue? One? Even one? A singular guy from any side of the conflict? The main bad guy and final boss of the mythic dawn base had such a cool backstory and incredibly evil motivation and I had to learn everything about him from a journal entry.

[onyourhyuck]

Dive. | K.JW

— Prologue: “What I’ve always dreamed about, diving into you.”

— Summary: It’s not easy being rivals with Jungwoo in a competitive music industry workplace. You’re both striving to be the better one.

— Genre: Romance office setting. Office smut minors dni. Jungwoo is always hating on y/n here. Y/n is trying to be civil. There will be a lot of angst + y/n has little traumatic fear of being yelled at. There is little fluff and wholesomeness between them later on. Mutual masturbation over call? Y/n cries at one point in the fic. They hook up later on. Dom!jungwoo. Jungwoo’s actually very whipped for Y/n he just has a hard time showing it.

— Notes: Prompt idea from @yujuvly

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

You’re rushing out of your car not even properly dressed your clothes being half on you and half off you. You couldn’t look in the mirror because you’re late to work and today was the day you get a partner to work on a project of your choice. You work for a music industry music company where a bunch of song writers produce lyrics to certain boy or girl groups, even solo musicians such as Eric Nam. You’re very talented because you have an unique imagination but what you lack was time management.

You couldn’t help it. Last night you couldn’t sleep and you went to bed late because of that now you’re rushing on your way to work. Your hair was done but covered by the wind outside messes it up and all your hard work on your hair went down the drain. You hold your high heels you wear to work in your hand, your blazer and trousers were properly zipped up. You fidget in the elevator picking the number ten.

Looking in the elevator mirror you fix the roughed up crinkle clothing on you, cussing gentle and breathing heavily out. You brush your hair with your fingers as it’s the only thing you can do to fix that hair problem — next you take off your trainer shoes and put on the heels.

When the elevator opens you get off and walk to the music song writing department which is you. Your ID card around your neck scans access opening the door department and you walking in caused so many people to go and stare at you.

Your boss mentally slaps himself seeing you walk in and you bow down to your boss hoping he will forgive you this once for your mistake.

But you had a feeling someone else wouldn’t forgive you.

“I’m sorry for being late boss.” You said out genuinely terrified but your boss seems reluctantly with you for once he weren’t screaming at you. He looks up giving you the meeting details in one singular file. “Forget it. Go to your new partner, you’re meant to come up with a song good enough for the biggest company in whole of South Korea.”

Your eyes widen. “SM Entertainment?”

“I know you’ve been my star employee for a few months but Jungwoo has more experience. He might help you out. Now leave my office get to work.” He nodded and you slowly turn around looking at the file as you left his office. You sit down at your desk and shockingly gasp out wanting to pull your hair. ‘Why am i paired up with Kim Fucking Jungwoo?’

The devil himself appears at your desk not impressed nor glad to be paired up with you. Jungwoo sat down next to your desk slamming down the files and staring at them but his mean disliking voice that did nothing to hide his disappointment with you speaks to you and your shimmering confidence.

“You were late. How are you still allowed to walk into this building without being under the impression that you’re probably the worst worker here?”

You turn around trying to be kind as possible but today it just wasn’t going with your mood. You weren’t feeling as kind as before and today wasn’t exactly your best day.

“You’re going to keep being like this just because our boss likes me better and prefers my song writing to yours.” Your fake smile could boil Jungwoo down a large cauldron and he wouldn’t even notice how your sarcasm was there.

Jungwoo is a young handsome man working in the same company as you. He is your work rival, work nemesis, work enemy. You name it anything against you and he’s exact definition of that. He had it out for you ever since you joined. Ever since the first day you arrived to this department he made it clear he disliked you and wanted nothing to do with you. You hate that you don’t dislike him though you just find him unbearable to deal with because he’s using all his energy to hate you everyday. You come to work and all you see was Jungwoo demanding you do this right or he disagrees how your work style is different from him and now I’m appearing to be the wrong one. He acts like he’s better than you.

He was handsome though and you couldn’t lie about that the first day you met him you deem him to be a cute man who looked kind, he had this sweet alluring aura about him on his face. He was quite pale but he looked smooth and innocent. His large doe like eyes were almost like puppy eyes constantly and you found yourself staring at them a lot. He was tall surprisingly very tall. He’s the tallest out of you and the rest of your coworkers.

But the moment his mouth opened it was quite the legit opposite of whatever cute was or handsome will ever be. The first thing he said to you was “I don’t like your outfit today. Please don’t wear this colour to the office again. You’re distracting everyone from their work.” You wanted to tell him that’s absurd. You wanted to tell him ‘Girl it’s legit navy blue how is it..’ but you didn’t. You stayed respectful! You stayed the kind one and the wiser one stepping down.

He glares not liking that you hit where it all was soft and mushy in his heart. Ever since you came to the company he wasn’t star employee and you got the attention unlike him. He was the best till you came and now he’s got a freaking rival to deal with. He’s constantly fighting to be no.1 but you’re in the picture all the fucking time. It’s starting to feel like you’re here to punish him. But instead you don’t understand why he’s like this to you.

You don’t even understand why he’s so mean to you all the freaking time, you just assume he is like that to everyone. You don’t care though he can do whatever he wants, you’re going to stay on top because you’ve worked hard to get here. Your hard working can’t go down the drainage like this.

“I don’t need to be like this because of that. I just don’t like you and your attitude towards the work is mild and lazy. You’re work to this company has done nothing. I don’t want you to be my partner because you will take all the damn credit.”

You wanted to roll your eyes at him when he said this. Seriously ‘Take all the damn credit?’ What does he take you for a Freud? A con artist? You couldn’t believe your ears but Jungwoo truthfully disliked you because he just did and you can’t help it but slam down your keyboard.

The loud slam in the office coming from your keyboard as you stood up from your chair. Jungwoo flinched suddenly wondering why the heck did you do that until you face him announcing loudly.

“I’m going to get coffee.” You stare blankly turning around tiredly of his bullish tone and his bullying words. Jungwoo glares murmuring. “What a psycho… geez does she need to vandalise the building.” He whispers as you left to make your own coffee in the staff room.

You don’t think you can survive being partnered up with Jungwoo. There are way more cons than pros to this but you hope and pray that the pros can out weight the cons and therefore it’s not going to give you a bad performance rate.

You need this promotion. You need it. You also know Jungwoo needs it. You won’t let him have it however so no matter what you’re going to try your hardest.

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It’s officially the time where you might reconsider leaving the department because Jungwoo being your working partner was the worst decision ever you might feel like this might start a whole new war between you both and you don’t need that on a pile of him being your nemesis, enemy and rival all in one. God he doesn’t need another factor to become your reasoning of death either.

It’s been two days since working together and when you say ‘working together’ you mean segueing an argument about every song you’ve wrote opposite wise. You both have different music tastes for SM entertainment you’d want to use and you can’t submit two you have to submit one that you both produce together. Together. Yes together and you’re not doing that exactly. You’re working separately because you both refused to.

“Look maybe you need to stop writing and let me do all the writing and all the producing and all the everything and you can just sit there and look like a dumb lost child.” Jungwoo snapped.

You sit there rubbing your hands through your hair unbelievable of the man in front snapping at you when you’re at your wits end with him. You can’t do this anymore and you just turn around with your child very slowly paring your dagger pushing eyes into him.

You try to be kind no matter what. You respect him. He isn’t respecting you. But you know very well you can’t snap at him because you don’t have the meanness in you to do something like that to him.

“Jungwoo that’s not working together.” You say back and Jungwoo looks away scoffing. “It is. Your name will be on my piece of work isn’t that enough for you?”

‘What a jerk.’ You thought.

“Is there anyway i can help i don’t want to sit back and do nothing. I’m also working here Jungwoo.” You look back at his song writing sheet grabbing it from his desk, the man turns around twisting to grab it back but you held it with your hands. “Here how about i make your ballad bridge better? That way some of my work is on there.” You said with a smile looking up.

His gaze didn’t change but his eyebrows twitch in annoyance grabbing the paper off your fingertips snatching it away and him turning around scowling, rudely pulling at your attempt towards his work. “You can’t do anything to help. You’re bad at song writing alright, just go home or something.” He urges.

“You’d do me so much more good if you left and stopped distracting me.” He says and you stand there feeling useless and completely beaten down by his horrible words to you.

Your gaze sadly looks over closing the computer and standing up grabbing your jacket and bag. You don’t say anything until you sigh looking at him.

“Suit yourself. Call me when you’re done.” You say blankly not fighting with Jungwoo anymore. You’re tired and it is what it is. You can’t work with him because he refuses, so might as well join em if you can’t change them.

You left the night hours where your attention goes on to the phone contact calling. ‘Honey’ and it was your boyfriend. Tonight it’s date night at his place usually it’s your apartment but tonight he was convinced by you to have it at his place.

You were suddenly feeling slightly happy to see your boyfriend of few months. It might be only four months but you’ve been enjoying your time with him and these days after work he was the only good thing coming out of a horrible day with Jungwoo.

You manage to drive to his place and you park it outside the lot getting out. You held your hands in the pockets until reaching the doorstep you lift the door matt and underneath was the spare key he would always tell you to pick up. But as you did you unlock the door and entering in to see a young woman and man giggling in a dark setting living room with candles lit up and rose petals on the flooring.

You crush your eyes at the ideas running to your head and you refused to believe it was for you the moment your hands push the living room door to see a man and young woman that wasn’t you snuggling to his chest.

You tilt your head entering. Your so called boyfriend saw you and he jumped up still in his boxers and half naked. He was shirtless and embarrassed on his face.

“Y/n! You… left work early.” He trails confused and how to fix this deal and situation. In other words he’s trying to lie to you and you could see it on his face. You were so dumb wondering why he would be so refusing to let you stay over at his place.

The woman looks back at the man and you. “Honey who’s this woman?” She looks back at you pointing your voice at him. “What are you doing here with my husband?”

You widen your eyes at him. ‘Oh I was the side chick.’ You let out wondering what the heck happened now. Zero from a hundred your pain felt worse now that you possible home wrecked a relationship you didn’t want. A marriage you had no idea about. God you feel so awful about yourself and feeling so bad that you believed this man wasn’t married.

“Your husband was cheating on you with me. I had no idea he was married.” You blankly trail looking around opening your phone screen with his contact name and his number. The woman was equally shocked and turns around to the man and you again.

“You mean you knew he was married?” She spat and you look at her widen eyes. “No I didn’t know he was married. I wouldn’t of dated him if he was.”

She scoffs. “Sure, every side chick uses that excuse.”

You clench your eyebrows together scowling. If she refused to believe you that’s up to her but you couldn’t help but feel defensive. You don’t want to be painted as someone who was fucking behind the scene with a married man, that’s the worst trait anyone could have on their profile. You’d hate that.

“Your husband is the problem here.”

He comes up to you pushing you out of the house. “No! You manipulated me! I don’t even know you. God Honey these woman keep on coming trying to separate us.” He urges you and you shout pushing him. “Don’t touch me you cheater.” You croak out walking yourself out of the house.

You spit on his door in disgust and shame. “Have some respect for women asshole none of them would want a man balding in his thirties.” You tell him walking away.

The man angrily runs to you grabbing your hair and slapping you but you held your ground and through watery tears look up. Your high heels step on his bare foot on the ground and he grabs falling backwards and holding them tight.

“Don’t touch me again.” You say feeling disgusted.

You couldn’t believe you were easily fooled by a married man and you found yourself feeling stupid. More stupid than before. God you were so wrong about many things and you’re always wrong you feel; at this point you feel like you’re never doing anything right. If your work department isn’t going well and your love life department isn’t either your whole life was going to collapse. Maybe it’s already collapsed but you’re now crumbling since it’s your turn.

You drive back to your apartment very late. You drove back to Seoul and you couldn’t help but break down the moment you enter your apartment closing the door. You take off your jacket throwing it loosely on the couch. Your heels slowly come off but you felt loose on motivation to do anything and all your heart could take was breathing, but even that felt like a chore to do. You had no one to turn to.

You sat on the couch drinking soju you kept on your fridge for special occasions — now they’re just used for sad occasions you have today.

You had your mother but you don’t want to burden her any longer than she could deal with. After all your mother has to be the least person to see you struggling you can’t let her know the truth behind your happy work and happy life façade. You can’t do that. You break down when you open your phone unable to take it anymore.

You didn’t want to be here standing anywhere. You wish you were somewhere else. Perhaps someone else. You wish you were Jungwoo who looks like he has it all in life. He has everything he could ever want you wish you were your damn rival; the one who hates you.

No he doesn’t hate you. He is the one who despises you; because if you were him you’d probably hate yourself too. You would also hate you if you were someone else and that’s what makes you completely unworthy of having that job. Jungwoo said it and you’re starting to believe him.

Your phone opens the contact of Kim Jungwoo. You felt so stupid but you wanted someone to tell at you and be there for you. However Jungwoo was the least person to provide you of that you called him anyways.

The moment he picks up the soft lingering voice was there asking who it was calling him. “Hello Kim Jungwoo speaking?” But the minute your voice heard his sweet voice you were on your way down sobbing midway.

“Jungwoo… how are you so fucking perfect all the time.” You trail as you take a large sip from the soju. Jungwoo’s eyes widen hearing you sound so different from the way you left the office.

Many things rang in his head. He thought at first what are you on about, but then he heard you crying and he stopped working. The way his brain shuts down all his purposes when hearing you cry on the other line of the phone and he was worried for once, he really was. You’re not the type to cry. You’re not the type to call him unless you really had to do he knew it was serious when he heard it’s you.

He trails in a broken sentence. He wasn’t sure what to say to you honestly but he was worried. “Are… Y/n what are you saying. What happened to you?”

“I’m agreeing with what you’re probably thinking.” You say putting the soju down. Slamming it on the table rather. “I’m useless. I’m so stupid for believing him. I cant even keep a relationship, nonetheless a freaking job.”

He looks around his bedroom late at night before you called he was working on the song Dive he was going to call it. He couldn’t help but think perhaps you were drinking and maybe you called the wrong number but no, the next minute you kept chanting his name in all sorts of cute noises. He couldn’t believe he was this much on your mind it made him think perhaps you were admiring him but at the same time hating him that you look up to your rival this much.

“Jungwoo… Jung…. Woo… why must you be so mean to me… what did i ever do to you? If i did something… tell me Kim… Jung… woo…”

You were getting more tipsy than you first thought you were getting and planning. Jungwoo smiles uncontrollably behind the phone hearing you speak and say his name. In reality he never once hated you, in fact he never once disliked you.

He found you someone that he was envious of but he never once said he hated or disliked you. He just disliked the way you were talented and he couldn’t bring himself to say it to you because of his horribleness behind the pride he has. Nonetheless he was looking up to you. You looked like you had your life together something which he has not. You were beautiful too, probably the most beautiful woman he’s ever encountered and he can’t lie anymore.

You were drunk and he could feel himself being the real him to you. The nicer version, the one that actually fell for you at first glance but he was scared so he put on a terrifying persona to keep you away.

The ironical distinction was that Jungwoo happens to have a muse which was you. You were the muse to all these sudden romance song writing he was doing in the spare time and they were all about you. In fact this song Dive was about you.

It’s why he was so persistent about keeping it and letting him do it because he wanted this song to be about you. He wanted this song to come and go from his imagination the way he imagined you. You’re someone he would dive in and take a taste of. All these imaginary scenarios he has of you, he can imagine you drip dropping if he was there with you. You’re someone he loves from the sideline.

Where you least expect it.

He slants back answering you cutely. “You didn’t do anything Y/n. I don’t hate you.”

You crawl off the couch getting up and slowly walking to the bedroom flopping on your bed. Your clothes shift off your body and you slightly moan out drunkly.

Jungwoo felt himself go red hearing you and he sat up. You let out a long straining huff out feeling your face become warm thanks to the alcohol flushing your cheeks bright red.

“why are you… so mean to me then…” you lay there on your bed undressing with Jungwoo on the other line hearing you change your clothes.

He gulps but turns away trying not to imagine all sorts of things this late. He didn’t want to perv on you. It was clear you weren’t well and you cried to him for comfort. He should at least do that to you.

“I’m jealous of you Y/n. It’s what jealous people do. They hate on you because you’re better than them.” He whispers and you lay there crawling under the covers, sniffing with your wet nose because of how much you bawled your eyes out.

“Why were you crying Y/n?” Jungwoo would ask you this time you felt yourself twist around murmuring in broken tones.

“I just found out my ex boyfriend was married… and I felt like an awful person not knowing he was.” You lay there staring at your ceiling with the phone close to your ears. You could hear Jungwoo’s soft tone become slightly more intense but he still kept this comforting warm hug around you almost even though he was not there physically in your apartment.His words felt like a warm diving hug from the virtual screen.

“You deserve better Y/n.” He lingers laying back. ‘You deserve to be with me at least…. I’m better than that asshole who broke your heart.’ It’s what he wanted to say but he couldn’t.

You close your eyes. “I don’t know… I feel frustrated. I was hoping our date night would end up well… I even dressed up nicely for him today…” you couldn’t feel anymore stupid realising the things you’ve done prepping that perhaps after the date you could sleep with him but no. He was married.

“You did look pretty today.” ‘You always do.’ Jungwoo thought clearing his tongue tight so he couldn’t let you hear his obvious thoughts.

You felt your cheeks go warm because of a rare compliment from your rival, Jungwoo, on the other line of the phone. You felt maybe it’s the alcohol playing you but you could feel that maybe it was not.

“You thought I was… pretty today?” You repeated.

There was a lingering pause from Jungwoo but he was soon getting the courage to agree with you. It was a cute and wholesome thing he said for a long time, maybe the first time, you can’t remember a time where Jungwoo was nice to you at work or outside of work.

“Mhm i did say that.” Jungwoo told quietly.

You couldn’t believe it but something made your heart race unexpectedly fast you thought you were getting sick inside but all you were was Jungwoo’s puppet falling for his romantic tactics. His sweet words possessed you like a doll and took away your mind from that lingering breaking up sadness. Somehow you aren’t drunk on alcohol you’re not drunk on Jungwoo’s praises.

You gulp stuttering out shyly. “How about we call on my laptop and do some… more work… i wanna see your work that you’ve done.”

Jungwoo looks at his laptop on the side next to where he sat opening his song he written and he hums looking at the time. He could spare a few hours with you if it meant he could listen to you blabbering more and more.

“Okay call me then, I can spare a bit more time for you.”

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As much as it pains you not being able to do much song writing you felt a sort of relative knowledge about how good Jungwoo was at making lyrics seem so real and romantic. Unlike you your lyrics have a different vibe and feeling to it making the lyrics mean something else that wasn’t romance. He went for a romance that was hidden from someone.

The lyrics were beautifully well written it felt like a secret admirer who wouldn’t want to be discovered. You wonder if he wrote this from a perspective of someone or if he wrote it from a perspective such as his own and if there was a person that makes him feel these feelings that the lyrics portray.

You hate to admit but you loved the song. You were glad you didn’t do anything to it. When Jungwoo saw your face becoming satisfied reading the lyrics analysing each one from the other you were exposed and Jungwoo wanted to let you know how he feels through his songs to you.

You hum. “I love the song. The lyrics are meaningful and melancholy almost. I never understood how you get the inspiration from. I could never write things like this.” You tell him looking at the camera through your laptop. Your cameras were on and you were sitting at the same position in your bed both in your pyjamas which made this somehow more comfortable and less formal.

You were speaking casually together and nothing rude came out of your mouths. You were just relaxing and discussing work, as if you were friends. Not rivals.

You discuss more songs you got end up having on the album because the company arranged a young boy group debuting from SM to be the group with that title track Dive song. However you suggested adding more and Jungwoo suggested afterwards that you should write something for another song they could perform to.

You were happy to be able to write a song finally to your liking and Jungwoo let’s you surprised you knowing he was very against you becoming a writer. But he was fine as long as you leave Dive as it is.

You work in silence for a while until it became very late. You both were on the verge of nearly sleeping midway working and suddenly you saw Jungwoo has fallen asleep on his bed softly facing the camera away and you couldn’t help but smile watching the soft boy sleep away. He must’ve been tired, you called him up to do more, he was probably meant to be sleeping a while ago but he stayed up for you.

Nonetheless you continue working until you found yourself getting sleepy again. You need to wake yourself up somehow but you couldn’t think of anything. Slapping your face together with your palms wasn’t doing the job.

And the suddenly a thought crossed your mind and your eyes widen at the idea that could easily go wrong if you aren’t careful. You hesitate moving your laptop up front and moving the camera away so you you were out of the view a little. You pull yourself apart and slowly start to touch yourself in ways you couldn’t imagine if you were on a call with someone from your work or anyone actually, but something in you was emerging you were somehow liking the idea of it.

Your fingers pleasure you a little and all you were letting out was swallowed breathes that became heavy or soft depending how far and soft you went with your fingers down at your aching pussy. You couldn’t believe you were doing this but the shame dies down and you engulf yourself with a little self pleasuring energy,

Until a voice broke you off.

“Y/n are you moaning?” The voice was rasped. Jungwoo couldn’t believe his ears but he woke up to heavenly sounds of you and his urges made him now unable to sleep.

He was rock hard from only hearing you and your shake came back twicefold because now you wanted to bury yourself alive and panic. However what Jungwoo said next made you solely believe that he was twice as loose screw as you were, he wanted you. He wanted to see you and he wanted to help you out with equal amounts of parts.

He darkly demands staring into the camera. “Move your camera down so i can see you, Y/n.”

You gulp and slowly found your body doing as he said moving the camera down revealing your lower pyjamas taken off as well as your panties letting you expose your beautiful body in sight resting on your bed there and your fingers apart from the view. He could drown on your beautiful body and face he could drown at your scent at work so without a doubt he would want to Dive in you.

He leans his head back suddenly stroking himself in the camera. One look of you being naked in the camera has made him feel so many sensations it’s been edging him everyday at work seeing you and now his dream is happening. Was this a dream? It certainly felt real but everything that has happened in his dreams is now happening right in his eyes.

You ache out. “Jungwoo…”

He looks down at you humming. “Yes? Do you want me to lead you on?”

You couldn’t help but nod at him. You knew what you were doing when he wasn’t looking and now you’re overwhelmed by his stare you forgot how to move. He smiles slightly seeing you look so confused and he motions to your hand through the screen.

“Grab one finger and push it inside you slowly. In and out.”

You do as you were told putting in one finger letting your single digit going in you very slowly becoming tight and tighter when you go pull it out and in. It left you letting out a small wet dripping sound through the video call Jungwoo couldn’t help but get drunk on it to hear you dripping and dropping endlessly.

None stop too, he stroke his cock watching you at the same speed as your fingers, very slow and gracefully. As if you were made of porcelain fragile glass you were treated like you’re easy to break. Jungwoo knew one touch from him would have you melting and he knew damn well you would have him go on his knees for you.

Heck, he was losing his mind to you all this time and you haven’t even realised it.

He’s obsessed with you. He needs to breathe you.

“How does it feel y/n?” He asked you deeply wanting to hear your voice, your moans weren’t enough. He needs to hear you talk until you can’t anymore.

You voice out when Jungwoo lets you add another digit to the single one. The two fingers stretch your whole out and Jungwoo was addicted seeing you so stretched he could just imagine how tight you feel round his entire shaft he was in need to have you right here physically. It was unbearable.

“It feels good…” you couldn’t help but think that his fingers would be so much better you wanted him to have you stretch out like you were made up of nothing but soft clouds and cotton candy. You wanted to wet his fingers and you wanted his mouth the most to be on yours.

Jungwoo was practically delusional on you straight up watching you pleasure yourself and become a moaning mess was not enough for him he had to meet and touch you. Speak to you and tell you all his feelings he’s been hiding from you all along. That he doesn’t hate you he was just envious and all along those romance songs were about you. He was coping with writing about you, and you weren’t aware.

“I wish it was my fingers deep inside your cunt, hitting your g spot so quickly…” oh how badly it was hurting him and you to imagine these things it really messes your perceived image of Jungwoo from before. Maybe it wasn’t so bad after all, but he certainly has your body having a mind of its own. You fit your hips forward chanting.

“Jungwoo… Jungwoo please tell me to go faster… tell me what to do… what should i do for you?”

‘God you lost your sweet innocent mind.’ Jungwoo pleads for mercy because he hung forward watching you lose your own self and you were chanting all sorts of things for him to take. He grips his swollen rip pushing his thumb on it and gripping it tight the entire long length and he pauses watching you.

He won’t come without you. You have to at least come two times before he can come with you again he wants you to be the one pleasured and fucked out on the camera.

“Go fast and don’t stop. But you can’t come without my permission.”

He was mercifully taken off you and you couldn’t tell if you were punished or if you were pleasured, perhaps it was both. You wanted fast but you wanted to come more and now you won’t be able to last much, yet he’s asking you to not release without his own permission of your body. You strain yourself mentally ignoring the burning warning sign of your abdomen wanting the orgasm to happen.

Your fingers were fast on your clit watching the swollen redness become more and more apparent to your fingers rubbing it quicker. He enjoys watching you get yourself off, he enjoys hearing his name come out of your mouth, he enjoys watching your face squeezing tight when you were close but you couldn’t release yet; the way your messy hair was flowing on your shoulders but away your face. It’s your fingers digging in and out of you, but also overstimulating you. You knew what you were doing, but you wanted someone to lead you. It aroused him.

Your simple actions arouse him beyond anyone’s comprehension of this world. He was down bad for you and you were the thing he hates the most because of how much he wants you. How much he needs you makes him despise you and it’s a conflict war between the mind and the heart.

You hoarsely missed out on your voice nearly. “P-please can i? Can I come… please… Jungwoo… may i?” It was a pleading battle between you and your pride wanting to stay still and do as you were told but to see you begging was something Jungwoo never knew he needed to hear.

His cock twitched with every stroke he did to himself but your voice made him twitch out of control hearing you speak so lowly and quietly, in a hushed moan fucked out voice.

He darkly gazed at you. Without realising it he was diving in your mind like a floating ocean made him swim around with a forward stroke, each paint of his voice took over your mind making a hole in your brain, mind, heart and spirit. You felt yourself loose a part of yourself in the best way possible because he was tugging on your strings. He awoken something inside you just as much as you’ve awoken him.

Something ready to drip out, Jungwoo was measly diving in enjoying your worn out body sweating with beads upon beads of water your body producing a little smoke just like how hot you looked. You were feverishly staring at him, obediently waiting for an answer like the good girl you were. Jungwoo roughly looked at you and you enjoyed seeing his gaze that he was staring at you with.

You were spreading towards him wider enough to make his dull dry heart feel your midnight rain soaking it up. He was changing to you. He was falling for you, deeper and deeper. You didn’t know until you were seeing the way his eye crease half lidded with emotion behind those black eyes.

You’re the sweet rain coming to him like a wave he couldn’t control or tame down so he simple lets it overtake him, harder and harder watching you please yourself on his voice you could go hours on.

Precum drenching his cock thanks to your voice filling his brain to a brim of you and only you. It was a comfortable silence between you that you couldn’t put a finger on. You were in a longing quiet place between where no talk was happening but your breathes were like one. You breathe out heavily and so does he, your hands move in one motion and so did your beating hearts in your thumping chest.

Without hesitation he would dive into you. You knew that the moment you met eyes with him through the screen.

“What I’ve always dreamed about, diving into you.” He lets out sultry voice groaning out more and more than you could handle to hear.

His voice sections lingering. “Deeply, deeply into you.”

Your brain caught on a few seconds later he was saying his lyrics of the song Dive he wrote and you couldn’t help but smile out with your feverish face and your steady eyes hitching your stomach into your body. He growls out a few words such as ‘You can come, come with me’ and you felt rewarded like it was the most prized thing you’ve wanted all year and finally Christmas came and you finally got it. It felt exactly like that, a wonderful release you needed and begged for since a lifetime.

And then you release together. Jungwoo had the pleasuring experience of watching you get off like a freaking water park. You had the most thrilling orgasm out of you two his was quick and clean while yours was a dripping mess he always imagined it to be. Just like he wanted it to. It was perfect, you were perfect. The water coming out of you was nearly touching his screen but you put the laptop further to make sure it didn’t get hit. You gave him a show and he was happy, like a massive weight has been lifted off his shoulders now that you knew he didn’t hate you.

He liked you. He was hiding it was all behind that mean persona he always sought out to end you.

And just like storm ends after the the sea the calming ocean goes to sleep and goes into sleep land but none of you wanted to go yet. You both were watching your faces through the video call after you both cleaned up and no endless stream can compete to you and Jungwoo’s rain you both shed. It comforts your hearts to me in this mutual silence that you were both happy hearing. Your eyes spoke enough words for today and you only wanted Jungwoo by your side now.

You never once thought you’d want Jungwoo to sleep next to your bed, and wish he wasn’t in a computer. It makes you laugh thinking that aloud because you always thought you would never see eye to eye. You guys sorta do now.

Jungwoo pulls your head away and makes you look up to listen to him and wondering what he has to say to you, winds your heart like a marionette in a box.

“Together with you, I’m dreaming of this moment when i can dive into you again.”

You cheese at how sweet he could be asking in other terms, when can you both hook up for real. Jungwoo had a way with romanticising things and you found it fascinating. Kind of cute too.

“Anytime you want, you can Dive.”

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@onyourhyuck please refer from translating and copyrighting my work thank youu!! Please reblog and follow me for more updates it helps a girl out <3.

[bigblueoctoling]

Thoughts about Suffer No Fools/Deep Cut in general

I really dislike this whole 'shiver and frye mistreat Big Man' plotline they seem to be making with deep cut. Like, from the start they've set up that Shiver and Frye don't really appreciate Big Man, but outright having their own duo group without him just kind of feels needlessly petty. Like maybe I'm looking into this too hard, but it's also, literally the only thing one is capable of looking into with Deep Cut's canonical information. Like... Big Man is already working at a disadvantage of being a male idol who isn't humanoid, it feels kind of pointlessly cruel to pit him alone against Shiver and Frye. And it's not like Shiver or Frye are any better for it.

They keep focusing on this one trait, the fact that Shiver and Frye are very very hostile to non-splatlandians. I would love to actually enjoy Shiver and Frye being openly aggressive, that's unique for an idol's personality, but rather than feeling tough, they just feel pathetic, trying way way way too hard to look intimidating.

Again, this isn't necessarily the fault of any particular writing of Deep Cut, but rather the complete and utter lack of any meaningful lore about them.

The squid sisters are hard-carried in the personality department; they get the entirety of Splatoon 1, 2, and 3's story mode to show off their personalities.

Off the Hook started out less interesting than the Squid Sisters, since they had to rely on newscasts, but even before Octo Expansion, the fact that Marina was an Octarian was an obvious huge deal from the moment she was revealed, with the splatfests revealing the gravity of Marina's abilities. Of course, then Octo Expansion happened- Octo Expansion feels very directly like it was created for the express purpose of fleshing out Pearl and Marina to make up for them not being in the main story mode. And of course we have Side Order that just doubles down on developing them.

Deep Cut's inclusion in Splatoon 3's story is just like. The most obligatory presence possible. Somehow, despite having direct boss fights, they leave absolutely zero impact whatsoever- it doesn't help that they don't sing their boss music, but they're also just there for no reason to steal "Treasures"- completely nondescript objects of no apparent value whatsoever that have no particular meaning to Deep Cut. No elaboration is given as to why Deep Cut wants this treasure in particular- Alterna is fucking littered with human technology that's infinitely more valuable than a bunch of random metal scraps. There are giant 3D printers just sitting around. And their dialogue is just... complete nothing. As stock as possible, there's nothing to gleam about any of their relationships from anything. Like...

A small aside: The reason why Squid Sisters and Off the Hook are such interesting groups is because of their group dynamic. Callie and Marie have a very deep bond that gets tested and validated after their separation, and Pearl and Marina are just a perfect duo. I'm not even a big shipper type of person but their relationship is so wonderful to see. But what even is Deep Cut's relationship? They're friends? With the way Shiver and Frye treat Big Man it feels like their entire relationship is pure business, and it's honestly more depressing than anything else.

Anyways, getting back to Deep Cut in the story mode, they say one unique piece of information about them- that they do this to help people who are suffering.

This is a fantastic direction to take Deep Cut, and would make their hostility towards inkopolis feel much more cathartic and justified.

They literally never mention it again or elaborate on it any further. Why? What are they even referring to? Poverty? Octarian oppression? General social imbalance?

The lack of elaboration about why Shiver and Frye are so prideful and so hostile, and what sort of suffering they care about, really stands out to me in Suffer No Fools.

Suffer No Fools feels like Shiver and Frye just aimlessly attacking strangers they're completely out of their depth with. The only thing we know Shiver and Frye care about is helping the misfortunate.

With that being the case, Off The Hook are literally the last people on the entire planet you should want to start beef with, even if it's just play-fighting- and in realizing this, I've realized something else about Off The Hook and Deep Cut:

Off The Hook already fills Deep Cut's niche.

Like... Pearl and Marina are the perfect duo in terms of representing social progress. Marina obviously has a very personal reason to care about impoverished octarians- she was one of them, she fought to get to the surface. Pearl, on the other hand, is the perfect emblem of an inkling, extremely privileged due to being born into great generational wealth. However, after meeting Marina, Pearl decided to put her all into using her privilege to elevate Marina's voice as much as possible. And, in doing this, creating Off the Hook, they have had a very real, tangible impact on the acceptance of Octarians on the surface. And this isn't even touching on Octo Expansion- they go out of their way to save Eight, of course, but since then, Marina put her everything into figuring out a way to save the sanitized octarians stranded in Kamabo Co.

Meanwhile, Deep Cut's actual contributions are left entirely unelaborated and unspecified. No known efforts to figure out anything about the Mammalian octarians, literally not a word spared about them.

What the fuck do they have to be proud for? What have they ever done for anyone? All I see are some stuck up egomaniacs who have no respect for anyone who isn't an asset in getting them more money. It honestly feels less like Shiver and Frye are these charitable robin hood figures and more like that was a lie to cover their asses.

...And, of course, I expect this to change in the next Splatoon game. It would be unthinkable for Deep Cut to just have no relevance again after getting nothing in this game. This is a very pessimistic outlook on Deep Cut. But they've given me absolutely nothing to work with, it's difficult to think that characters are good people if you only ever show them being unjustifiably hostile and greedy.

It just sucks. Shiver and Frye are my favorite idol designs, but they're constantly made out to be so fucking lame, and not even in an "underdog group of failures that cares about eachother" sort of way because EVERY DEEP CUT THING HAS TO BE THEMED ABOUT HOW DEEP CUT HATES BIG MAN AND EVERYONE ELSE.

[fat-fuck-hairy-belly]

I've yet again descended into the rabbithole I'd playing all 3 dark souls games and then obsessively watching a ton of videos and reading a ton of Reddit threads about dark souls. And man, DS2 slander really pisses me off. DS2 is my overall favorite dark souls game because it's unique. Even if it has a lot of gameplay flaws, atleast they actually tried something new. DS3 basically just took Bloodborne combat, took all the cool parts like healing and damaging limbs and then put it into dark souls. Giving us infinite stamina and making combat more reaction based turned combat from the slow methodical combat of DS1 and DS2 into a generic hack-n-slash spam R1 and panicroll through 99% of the bosses deal. And I fucking hate that everyone just ate it up and signaled to Fromsoftware to lean into it even more in Elden Ring.

And while DS3 might be a better game in terms of gameplay, if only because it's just a much more modern game and DS2 really did fuck up with ADP and making combat animations too floay, in terms of lore it's literally just repeating the lore about the cycles form DS2 with a bunch of DS1 fanservice, it doesn't actually add anything new. You can play DS1, then DS2 with DLCs and then immediately jump in Painted World and Ringed City DLCs without playing base DS3 and you won't actually miss any major lore, it's insane how little new stuff base DS3 brings to the table. And the way they did references to DS1 is absolutely fanservice, Its actually wild how the B team without Miazaki actually stayed more true to dark souls storytelling then the fucking A team with Miazaki. DS2 actually had a ton of references to DS1 despite all the mouthbreathers on the internet saying DS2 basically only connected to the franchise through its name. It just did those references in the same way DS1 told it's story - through scraps of info hidden in item descriptions and throwaway dialogue lines from npcs. DS3 on the other hand just literally hits you over the head every 15 minutes with blatant DS1 references. For fucks sake, one of the first NPCs you meet in the game is the damn Andre.

Overall, DS3 is only saved by the DLCs. Without them it would have been just rehash of DS2s story with bloodbornified combat and a bunch of DS1 fanservice. Which makes for a great game, don't get me wrong, but it's a shame they didn't do something new and unique for the last game in the series. The DLCs saved the game for me, even if I'm kinda pissed they spent the whole game to retelling the lore from DS2 and then ended the whole series in a damn dlc.