#it is in fact the exact opposite. go nuts

[cleverpaws]

one of these days i will drop an essay abt how there's actually no objectively correct characterization of any gen1 characters because they are, when in their most un-filtered state, supposed to be the streamers that play them, and to assume we know basically anything about who those people are is to miss the point of the social experiments entirely. and none of you are ready

[lazycats-stuff]

I wanted to ask for a Batbro who is the son of Bruce and Catwoman, he is the youngest in the family and very similar to Selina, he has the same tastes as his mother, he helps her with robberies, but when Selina is arrested by Batman, the family tries to convince younger brother that stealing is wrong

Also, I had @eliz36545 request this and I also have exact same request, but with the word arrested replaced by trapped, so I'll just treat them as a same request and delete them from my inbox so I can better manage the number of requests.

Also, there is a photo that @eliz36545 put in her ask, almost like a look of how (Y/N) is supposed to look. Also, no gif in this one.

Bruce knew that one night stand with Selina was a bad idea. She couldn't let go of her Catwoman persona, not to mention, she steals and while it was for somewhat noble causes, Bruce couldn't look over it. And then... Years later, Bruce finds out he has a kid. With Selina. Bruce clearly has a type. Lethal. Brunettes. And they are in illegal activities.

No wonder why his children tease him all the time about it. And no wonder why one is a little bit nuts. No words needed for who that one is. Either way, Bruce took responsibility for (Y/N), putting his name on (Y/N)'s birth certificate, even offering to give the boy his last name.

Selina declined the last name offer, but didn't mind the fact that Bruce put his name on the birth certificate. However, (Y/N) spent most of his time with his mother. In another words, he lived with his mother, but visited Bruce whenever he could. Bruce, of course, didn't mind it. Not in the slightest.

The boys accepted (Y/N), taking their time to get close with their brother. Damian, however, was skeptical. (Y/N) was really similar to his mother. In both character and profession. He helps Selina out in her robberies, Selina making sure that (Y/N) has skills that will benefit him in life.

While she knew that involving (Y/N) in their world isn't particularly ideal, she knew that those skills would benefit him. Knowing that the world is cruel and cold, that no one would really extend a hand if you don't have connections. That was simply the reality in this world. Connections help you. Knowledge is at a second place at this point in time.

Bruce didn't want to undermine Selina's raising, since (Y/N) was a polite child, not entitled despite being his son. However, he didn't want (Y/N) to think that stealing is good. Sure, it may be from the rich who have more than enough and can spare a few expensive things, but he can't steal either way. It's illegal.

One way or another, it's illegal.

Despite stealing from people who have it all. And can buy more of those things. But still, the point still stands. Bruce couldn't stop it since he wasn't a primary custodian.

Another thing that makes Bruce is conflicted about is the Batman and Catwoman personas. Two parents on the opposite side of the spectrum, law and moral one at least. Bruce being Batman, he was the person who kept law and order in Gotham. In places where the police couldn't go to or simply choose to ignore.

Either way, Bruce and Selina had their cat and mouse game for a long time, even before any of the boys came into the picture. Selina always eluded him, like an enigma almost. For years, it was something... That Bruce actually enjoyed.

It was always funny to banter with her and Selina enjoyed it too. However, Bruce knows that this can't go on forever. And the fact that (Y/N) was involved in the robberies... Despite the fact that he allowed it to happen. It... It wasn't good.

Bruce finally did it. He finally managed to arrest Selina after many years of their cat and mouse game... While Bruce was happy to put a criminal behind bars, he knew that Selina wasn't a typical criminal that you can find in Gotham City. But the law is the law. And Bruce needed to follow it.

Was it a difficult decision to put the mother of his child behind bars? Oh yeah. Was it even more difficult to find (Y/N) ever since then? Yup. It seems that Selina taught (Y/N) how to be elusive. Which was not fun. Bruce searched the city high and low for his boy, with the help of his other sons too.

It was not an easy job, but they managed to narrow down the area where (Y/N) was. And they have decided to spread out, just to make sure that they had a bigger chance to find him. Bruce was still dealing with an aftermath of Selina in jail and so he is not able to even go after his own son.

Jason was the first one to find him, making sure to let his other brother know through comms. He made his way to (Y/N), who was looking for something in his backpack.

" There you are. We've been looking for you. " Jason said, making (Y/N) up from being scared. Almost like a cat being scared. Almost comical.

" Yeah, right. " (Y/N) said sarcastically and Jason noticed the anger in his voice. Of course, the anger was justified since their father put his mother in jail. Bruce arrested Selina and well, if there is anything that might break a relationship, putting the mother of your son in prison is that one thing.

" It was long time coming. Selina knew that the day where she was caught would come. Bruce knew it too. " Jason explained before (Y/N) started to run, sliding through a window with ease.

Jason simply turned the comms back on. " Tim, he is coming your way. "

Jason has decided that he doesn't want the aggravation tonight. As much as he loved his brother, he didn't want to deal with this now. Too emotional and far too reckless.

Tim was on his way as (Y/N) was moving quickly through the area. Well, specifically the building where Tim jumped down in front of (Y/N), who frowned yet again.

" Rehearsed much? " (Y/N) snapped back, making Tim chuckle.

" I know, it seems like we rehearsed it. The truth of the matter is that we planned it. We know you are mad. But the law is the law. Even though rigged in the favor of others. " Tim said and (Y/N) was still having none of it.

" Dick, get ready. He seems pretty pissed as it is, so proceed with caution. " Tim said into the comms, crossing his arms afterwards. He knew that (Y/N) was mad and that it was the product of helping his mother in her heists.

And product of Bruce not stopping that sooner.

Dick jumped next to (Y/N), making him jump away, clutching at his chest. Dick chuckled, seeing a scaredy cat as he was, after all Selina's son.

" Why are you making this more difficult than it needs to be? " Dick asked. " You know that was going to happen soon enough. Selina knew it too and Bruce knew it too. So please. Doing heists all of your life, on the run from everyone all of your life. That is no way to live. " Dick explained and (Y/N) huffed.

" Don't run. I'm not in the mood to chase you. " Dick said and (Y/N) ran again. Dick sighed as he informed Damian of the situation.

" Just try to get him to calm down and back to the manor. God knows when B will be back. "

Damian nodded as he listened and observed the environment, looking for the signs of (Y/N) coming up somewhere within his eye sight.

He jumped down once he saw (Y/N) running. Of course, he timed his jump so that he jumps in front of him, making him stop dead in his tracks.

" You too? " (Y/N) sighed out and Damian crossed his arms.

" Yes, me too, you dumbo. You can't run from us. You need to see that living life on the run is not a good way to live. I would know that. I lived a life by the motto of kill or be killed. And it's wrong to steal in general, even from the rich who have it all. So please, come with us to the manor. " Damian tried and (Y/N) sighed.

" So come on, follow me. Lets go home. You'll be happier with us. "

[ponderingmoonlight]

Geto's little sister finding out her husband got sealed by her big brother and going nuts

Pairing: Geto's little sister x husband!Gojo

Word Count: 3,1k

Synopsis: You thought you lost him forever, your big brother. Until Shibuya brings you back to reality, until your beloved husband gets sealed by none other than your dead big brother. Until you show your enemy what you're made off...

Warnings: this is a emotional rollercoaster, (y/n) is a bad bitch but damn that just hurts, drama over drama, cursing over cursing, I worked so hard to get this fic out tonight so please show some love 😭not proofread yet, will do that tomorrow!

„I’ll leave now.“

You look up from your magazine, furrowing your eyebrows at your oh so precious husband.

“Weren’t you suppose to leave…Like two hours ago?”, you question innocently.

“I wasn’t done in the bathroom.”

“You’re so vain that it hurts.”

“Watch your mouth, Geto”, he warns you by your former last name.

With a swift motion he lands on top of you, large figure almost swallowing you whole while you grin at him triumphally. Were you just teasing Satoru for him to grab you by the throat ever so slightly, for him to stare at you with his dirty blue eyes?

Definitely.

“Or what, Gojo?”, you bite back, emphasizing every syllable of his last name with so much provocation that it takes all his strength to stop himself from fucking you until you can’t stand anymore.

He never imagined you to lay under him this way. You, the sister of his best friend. You, who always seemed so threatful unbothered by him. Just before Suguru decided to leave all of you behind, just before he massacred both of your parents, you decided to give him a chance. And you didn’t even change your mind when he was forced to kill your big brother.

“You want me to stay here and leave our students out there alone?”, he hushes against your lips.

Because if you would, he’d definitely stay here all night.

“You know I’m always up for you, but not tonight. They actually called me as well when you were busy doing your pretty hair in the bathroom. Something serious is going on there. I’ll join as soon as I’m ready here.”

Since your brother decided to kill everyone apart from jujutsu sorcerers, you were always keen to do the exact opposite by saving as many people as possible. As much as you love him still, as much as you do in fact somehow understand him, he went down a path you couldn’t follow. He was like your older twin. Not only by looks, but also your cursed techniques were the same, made you a powerful weapon against these fucking curses.

Well, now you’re your own weapon as it seems. Your eyes stare up at your now husband who still looks at you with the same affection in his eyes like more than 10 years ago.  

No, you aren’t alone. After all, you’ll always have Satoru by your side.

“Get your pretty ass moving then. We’ve got some work to do.”

-later in Shibuya-

You desperately try to ignore the way your guts turn, yanking down the busted streets as if you’re haunted.

He’s sealed.

Satoru Gojo, your newly husband, the one and only who stuck to you all these damn years, the love of your fucking life.

Sealed, gone in the wind, trapped in a tiny box.

But as if that wasn’t enough, rumours reached your ear. Rumours about none other than your big brother being responsible for this. Your big, dead brother.

Your feet clash against the hard ground underneath, body sprinting towards what looks like a new battlefield. Whoever this fucker is will pay for what he’s done. Not only to your husband, but to your brother as well.

And what about your students? You didn’t arrive on time, not a single update reached your ear when you entered the curtain, eyes wide open in disbelief by all the death surrounding you. If that thing hurt a single one of them, if a single jujutsu sorcerer lost their life here…

You’ll lose it completely.

The second a wave of what looks like ice begins to dart towards the recognizable outlines of people you waste no time, shooting a bunch of grade one curses their way while using one as a curtain to hold back the ice.

“(y/n)…Is…Is that you?”

Yuji. A few other students from Kyoto, Utahime, Panda, Kusakabe. They’re injured, but alive. What about the rest? Where are Mei Mei, Toge, Nanami and that old Zenin fart? You give yourself a little shake, eyes focused on your curse and the wave of ice in front of you. Now is not the right time to think about all of that. Your priority is to finally catch that fucker who uses your brother’s appearance and saving who’s here at the moment.

And the most important, get your sealed husband back.

“You have some fucking nerve, showing up and making such a mess. And now you’re even dumb enough to attack other jujutsu sorcerers. Who the hell do you think you are, huh?”

Your heart is almost beating out of your chest, eyes focused in front of you. Maybe that person just looks like him, Suguru. You found peace with the fact that he’s gone a long time ago, it’s simply not possible to see his gentle eyes ever again. You accepted the fact that he won’t trade his pokemon cards with you, that the time of getting on his nerves while secretly loving him dearly is over. No one can copy him, no one can-

“You are pretty late, (y/n).”

No one can sound like him. You shake your head in utter disbelief, mind desperately trying to process the fact that this sounded exactly like Suguru Geto, that the frame behind the falling curtain of ice and purple is…

Him.

You can’t move an inch. Instead, you just stand there in silence, staring him up and down. This looks just like him, this sounds like him. Fuck, this even smells like him, radiates the same energy as him.

But no.

The way he said your name wasn’t the same. It missed the soft tone in his voice, how it always lightened up by his small smile when seeing you.

“And you’re in big trouble.”

Is it an hallucination, some type of strange technique? No, it has to be his body, it is his body. Somebody else seems to control it.

And that someone will pay for using him, for tarnishing his memory.

“Is my own little sister not able to recognize me? I guess that’s not as bad as getting betrayed by her, though.”

“Spare me with that bullshit. It seems like you really know nothing about me and my big brother. What do you want me to do, huh? Break down in tears and cry, believe that you’re actually him? I will wipe your ass from this earth without even blinking. But before that, I want my husband back”, you his through gritted teeth.

“What betrayed me, little (y/n)? How did you know it wasn’t him?”

His figure comes closer, makes you urge to touch him just once. This is still his body, a body that reminds you of all the things you’ve been through. The serious business of trading pokemon cards that you did until he left, your shared training sessions, him introducing you to Satoru, him holding you in his arms when you’ve got your first heartbreak only for him to hold you back when you tried to set that poor boy on fire. This body still holds all of those memories.

But it doesn’t hold him anymore.

Your husband lives, though. He might be sealed, but he’s still somewhere. And that fucker has him, you just know it.

You shake them off, those feelings of melancholy. Time to focus on reality. And reality is that Satoru killed your big brother a year ago, that this thing in front of you has nothing in common with him except his appearance.

“No one will ever by as charming as he was. Now, will you give me my husband back without a fight and let me kill you? I’m not in the mood for a talk with you, y’know.”

It’s impossible and you know it. There is no way in hell this thing will give up its plan and just hand Satoru over. But at least this will buy you some time.

“You should know best that you don’t stand a chance against his body, don’t you think?”

A disregarding huff escapes your lips while you straighten your shoulders and stare right into the eyes of the big brother you’ve lost a year ago. God knows you really tried to stay cool, that you were desperate to keep your composure. But the second it grins at you with his charming face, it’s over and out.

“You should know that I wasn’t only better at pokemon trading, moron.”

“Stand behind me, I’ve got this.”

“But (y/n)-“

You don’t waste another minute. With a blast of another wave of different curses, you hit him with full force. Over the last few years, you absorbed every curse you stumbled upon. Especially the night parade was the perfect opportunity for you to steal your big brother’s precious curses. And even though you swore you yourself that you’ll never lose them, that they will remain in loving memory by your side, this seems like the perfect time to release them.

For a brief moment, you feel like crying, the way it just laughs at you with his voice, wearing his yukata, even wearing his hairstyle. How did it even come so far? How did this thing end up in your big brother’s body?

He would have wanted this, right? That you destroy his body in order to stop this madness. Despite all the horrible things he’s done, Suguru would have never wanted jujutsu sorcerers to get hurt, especially not Satoru. No, he would have never allowed your husband to get sealed, he wouldn’t let anyone attack you this roughly.

Your husband…How is he doing? Is he still alive? You feel like throwing up, just the minor thought of him potentially dying in this seal…No one was ever able to get out, some of the strongest sorcerers ended up in that cube.

No.

This needs to stop.

“Get yourself together”, you hiss to yourself, shaking off your stinging thoughts immediately.

This is not the time for sadness or grief.

This is the time for pure rage.

“I will make you pay for every sin you committed with his body”, you shout towards him while attacking him from underneath.

This thing is so fucking fast, using Suguru’s powers so efficiently that you’re almost not able to follow its movements.

You clench your hands into fists, eyes narrowed while thick fury pumps through your veins. Get yourself together, this isn’t only about taking revenge.

This is about getting your husband back.

“What would he think about you, seeing you this way? I know how disappointed he was when you left him to die, leaving him for his former best friend. And I thought I am cruel”, it spits at you, shooting another wave of curses your way.

“You know absolutely nothing about him, let alone me. You’re nothing but a parasite in his body, a bug I’ll crush underneath my heel.”

You draw yourself closer, keeping him busy in hand to hand combat. You were always better than Suguru when it came to fighting without any curses around. Where the hell does he keep that damned cube?

“You and me, we’re both parasites, (y/n). But unlike you, I can still look into the mirror without being disgusted of the way I turned out.”

“That’s because you’re looking into his gorgeous face, idiot”, you bite back, landing a full-on hit against his ribcage.

“Is that Satoru Gojo’s wife?”, Noritoshi Kamo mutters in sheer disbelief, eyes not even able to follow your rapid movements.

“Yep, the one and only”, Panda confirms dryly.

“Take a few steps back. She’ll definitely freak out-“

“RUN!”, Yuji cries on top of his lungs.

Countless courses roam around you and your big brothers’ corpse, fighting each other for dear life. He can’t help but admire you, the spark that gleams in your eyes, the way you don’t even try to hold back despite the stinging fact that you’re fighting against your brothers’ body. You look so threatful that it almost takes his breath away.

If it wasn’t for the last weapon he has in store.

“You’re not giving it everything, you’re holding back!”, he screams over the deafening noise around you both, making your veins stand out even more.

You see nothing but red, nothing but the shell of the brother you used to love, nothing but a monster that trapped your husband. That thing…That fucking thing straight out of hell.

“Uzumaki.”

The word leaves your mouths at the same time. Like in trance you stand there, watch as a giant wave of condensed cursed energy builds up behind Suguru’s frame, watch as it shoots towards you like an arrow.

You aren’t a fool, fully aware of the fact that you might get killed right here on the spot. This is your only chance to win this fight, to leave your brother’s body where it belongs, to free your husband out of that things’ grasp. But…are you strong enough?

“I can’t believe you’re already stronger than me. Look at you, (y/n).”

You kneeled down in front of him, took his hand into yours gently while desperately trying to supress a sob. This was it, the time you had to say your final goodbye to your best friend.

“Well, I just stole a whole bunch of your curses at that parade. They did taste like shit though.”

His kind smile radiated through the dark alley, right through your heavy heart. This…this couldn’t be the end. You weren’t even able to spend one last evening with him, to show him the pokemon cards you stole some kid.

“I don’t want you to go”, you finally gave in.

Faster than he was able to react, you wrapped your desperate arms around him, rested your head against his bloody chest. This couldn’t be the end, Suguru couldn’t leave you like that.

“I fear I have to, (y/n). You still got Satoru-“

“Satoru is not you”, you interrupted him immediately.

“Satoru is not my big brother. Satoru will never be you.”

“I’m so proud of the person you have become, (y/n). You are far more than a normal jujutsu sorcerer, way better than all those monkeys. You are my special, my everything. Never let anyone tell you otherwise. You’ll always stay (y/n) Geto to me. And I’ll be with you the whole way.”

Your eyes widen. Suguru, he firmly believed in you, never even second-guessed your abilities.

“You…just beat me.”

Your heavy breath hung in the air between both of you, body collapsing onto the ground from sheer exhaustion. What did Satoru just say? What did even happen the last few seconds?

“Babe, you…You were actually able to beat me.”

You…beat none other than Satoru Gojo?

“Impossible”, you murmured to yourself, staring at your bloody hands in sheer disbelief.

“You became so damn strong. My god, I’m so proud of you, (y/n)! You just have to work your ass off even more. Come on, get up, attack me again.”

And Satoru, the love of your life, your precious husband, the strongest…You were able to beat him.

You take a deep breath in, whole body being on fire. This is your moment. And you won’t let a cheap copy of your brother defeat you like that.

Like in trance, you dash forward along with your thick cursed energy, hands stretched out for him. One last look into his chocolate brown eyes, one last glance at his usually so soft features before you hit him with your fest shoot, a toe-curling scream of agony and rage escaping your lips while slamming him into the ground. Deeper and deeper, harder and harder. Back to where he belongs: six feet under.

“Give me my husband back”, you spit at him, grabbing his throat so harshly that you can feel his windpipe struggle against your palm.

Instead of replying, he just plainly laughs at you, bloodshot eyes almost piercing through you. That’s enough.

“Is this how you let it end, Suguru? Are you really letting this moron take control over your body like that! Come on, defend yourself, give Satoru back to me!”, you cry on top of your lungs, staring into the brown orbs you used to know so well.

“Pathetic. I am the one who’s in control of this body now, stupid girl!”

“I still have the shiny flareon you gifted me when I was 6, I’m always carrying it with me. I’m still sleeping in the shirt I stole from you when you were 16. You’ve done many things wrong in your way too short life, please do this one last thing right! Please give Satoru back to me.”

Your heart almost stops when his trembling arms yanks into the air, uncontrollably roaming around his Yukata.

Until he stretches it right in front of your face. The prison realm. Your husband.

“This…this can’t be possible! I am the one who is in control over this body!”

Your body goes numb, widen eyes staring at his arm while your heart skips a beat. This is really him, your Suguru. He really is strong enough to even outstand death.

His fingertips brush over your cheek ever so gently. Fuck, you feel like breaking down and crying. This right in front of you is your big brother, the person you thought you lost a year ago, the man who slipped through your fingers when he was 16 without you even noticing. You weren’t there for him the way you should have been, weren’t able to drag him back onto your side, weren’t able to save him from his unnecessary death.

“I’m sorry, Suguru. I will always love you with all my heart.”

But you know you have to go.

Now.

With one last glimpse you yank yourself into the air, hand holding onto that little cube for dear life.

Focus on the mission.

“We need to go, now”, you yell towards your students, sending a curse in the form of a dragon their way.

You straighten your shoulders, chase away the memories that threaten to destroy you completely.

“Hey hot thing, long time no see. Guess you were just as surprised as me when you saw him again, huh?”, you mutter towards the cube in your hands that has its bright blue eyes set on you.

“I don’t know when and I don’t know how, but I’ll get you out of there, Satoru. After all, we’re the strongest…”

Tags: @arehzhera @ploylulla @tzubaki @beatrexworld @kenstarsworld @dazaisdick @hellkaiserinphoenix  @lauv4chuuya @shadowfoxey @starlightanyaaa @sindela @kayleegomez @sunshine7queen @magalimachete @mokoartpost @gatitam @idontknow1123 @creative1writings @sanicsmut  @mynahx3 @sad-darksoul @chilichopsticks @hellkaiserinphoenix @chuyasthighs0 @ynackerman9499 @keepghostly @wxwieeee @lovelyluna1 @froufrousnowman @hidazinie @tomiokathedepresso @gojosrealwife @coffeeluvr96 @mahi-tamashi @weebotaku21 @chaoticwinnercupcake @lees-chaotic-brain  @risuola  @sugurulefttesticle @wordskeeper @baku2345 @polarbvnny @ruixrei @bam-bam-bam-bame-blog @lavenderdrxp @localhehecat @alicerhr@kayleegomez @belovedvamp @wifenanami @chilichopsticks @dlwlrmas-world @oikawarz @darkstarlight82 @tachiharazsstuff @kawaiiakamaru @lilacsinjuly @nazeeraswife @eva-616 @revrse @thel0v3hashira143 @arehzhera @circe143 @mitsuristoleme @sugaremedy @sugurulefttesticle @sweetchildcloud @invmakitoge @a-daydreamers-day @rhinara-vy

[tkaulitzlvr]

hii I absolutely adore ur writing and I was wondering if maybe you could write something where like tom attempts to do no nut November but fails and it ends with smut??? Thank youuu💗

CAN’T RESIST - T. KAULITZ

synopsis: wierdly, tom is determined to get through the entire month of november with zero sex, having failed within the first few days for the past five years you have been together. you have other ideas, focused on getting him to crack, becoming desperate yourself.

content: smut

a/n: omg i loveeee this idea thanku sm for the request!! the way u sent this at like the start of november and i’m only just posting it i’m so sorry - i’ve had like the first paragraph written for a couple weeks😭also tom would def fail nnn on november 1st at 00:01am he is not lasting a second…

“oh my god.” tom pants, pulling out of me and climbing off of my limp frame, rolling to lay beside me, his chest heaving up and down as beads of sweat line the soft skin. “don’t know how i’m gonna last a whole month without this schatz.”

his confession doesn’t come as a surprise, in fact it is the exact opposite. tom is the horniest person i have ever met, and usually, he can’t go a day without sex - whether it be something rushed and desperate in public, or a long night of raw passion between the sheets, he can’t live without sex, which is why i am so surprised that he is attempting to go through with this whole ‘no nut november’ bullshit. he won’t last a second, and deep down i think he knows that too. though after the hours that he has spent inside of me, deciding to use the entirety of today - october 31st, the day before he had to give up his uncontrollable desires - fucking me just about anywhere he could, stating that it will ‘make up for the lost time’ and ‘make it a little easier for him’, i don’t see how he could even have the energy to do anything remotely sexual for the next month, his body spent and exhausted as it collapses beside me.

“i can’t believe you’re actually doing this.” a small giggle leaves my lips amidst the shaky breaths, hands pulling the sheets upward and over my naked body before snuggling into his frame, wrapping my arm loosely across his chest. “you know that you won’t even last a day, right?”

“this means no sex for you too you know.” his eyebrow raises, eyes tiredly meeting mine with a hint of mischief, thinking that he has caught me out, though he doesn’t realise that i can handle my needs in other ways, it is him that is totally restricted.

“i don’t need your help to cum baby. cute of you to assume i do.” i smirk, kissing his cheek lazily before rolling out of bed, grabbing my panties from the soft carpet, sensing his eyes burning into me from behind. i pay no attention, flashing him a teasing smile as a reminder that i have won, slowly walking into the bathroom to freshen up, his own steps soon following.

“the fuck do you mean you don’t need my help? i can still help you cum, i just can’t fuck you, which don’t get me wrong is the worst part, but nothing says that i can’t touch you. you know i’ll go insane if i can’t even do that.” he already sounds frustrated, a small smile tugging along my lips at the realisation that he really won’t last two seconds, his desperation embarrassingly clear despite the challenge not even starting yet.

“we’ll see. you just focus on getting yourself through this dumb challenge of yours baby.” i chuckle, that same knowing grin on my face once i palm him through his boxers, his mouth falling open at the sensation. though it doesn’t last long, my hand pulling away firmly to adjust the straps of my bra as i put it back on, leaving tom shocked as i walk away, the realisation that i don’t intend to make this easy for him soon becoming real.

and i stick to my plans - set on making this the most painful month of his life, certain that he will never consider doing this challenge again.

if only he knew what he was getting himself into.

“baby?” my voice sounds throughout the quiet house, loud enough for tom to pick up on it from downstairs. i smile to myself, turning to the mirror and adjusting the strap of the bra that i had bought earlier on, whilst tom had been at practice. the black lace - a colour which tom had never been able to control himself when ever i wore it - tightly cupped my breasts, pushing them upward and highlighting my cleavage in the most tempting way possible. small silver jewels line the lace of my thongs, matching perfectly with my upper half, leaving little to the imagination - though far too much that tom wouldn’t be able to touch, a task which would seem impossible the second he laid his eyes on mine.

“yeah?”

“can you come here for a second?” my question is nothing short of innocent, calm with a slight hint of mischief, though it is clearly not enough for him to pick up on as he shouts a quick ‘sure’, the rhythmic sound of his feet trudging up the stairs signalling that he is close, and clearly not expecting anything like this. but it has been two days- fourty eight hours of no sex, no touching, not even an implicit complaint of needing anything sexual from tom. he has been strangely okay with not fucking me, a task which any other time, would be next to impossible. and i feel it - i feel the difference in his actions. he is restricted, almost holding back just in case his impulses get the better of him. but right now, his mind has no choice, my own doing the thinking for him as he is walking blindly into my carefully calculated trap.

“is everything okay-” his calm question is soon cut off by the short curses that spill from his lips when his eyes make contact with my body, not bothering to hide the way they rake down my figure, drinking in the prominent cleavage, moving downward to my curves, finally landing on the slightly transparent panties.

“jesus christ schatz you’re gonna fucking kill me.” he mutters, walking toward me and attacking his hands to my waist, the pads of his fingers tracing the bare skin of my stomach, one slipping teasingly into my panties. his lips are inches away from my own, about to lean in and seal them in a heated kiss, though i pull away, leaving him dumbfounded.

“you like?” i ask innocently, doing a quick twirl as his eyes quickly glue to my ass, soon looking upward once i face him once again. he is in some sort of trance, mouth hanging open slightly, eyes dark and lustful, though the most noticeable difference is the tent that has formed through his sweatpants, a tinge of satisfaction in my veins at the realisation that my plan has worked. despite this, i keep the naive act up, acting as if i do not notice his change in demeanour. “i bought it from victoria’s secret today. it was on sale, and this was the last one in my size. what do you think?”

“you know what i think.” he states frustratedly, his hands doing the talking as they trail down to my ass, giving the bare flesh a rough squeeze, his lips ghosting over my own. “you’re so sexy schatz, so beautiful.”

his lips attach to my own, an indisputable hunger evident as he kisses me, his free hand latching onto the loose curls that fall to my upper waist, running through them harshly. he groans lowly into my mouth, pressing his hips against my own, silently drawing my attention to the hardness between his thighs.

“look what you’re doing to me baby.” he breathes out, seeming a little angry that i have managed to get to him so easily. though he doesn’t kiss me again, instead he holds back, pressing his forehead against mine whilst his hands continue to rest on my lower back, bringing our bodies closer together. “fuck you’re making this so hard…you know that?”

“you gonna give up already?” my voice is seductive, a torturous mix of sympathetic and lustful, lips moving to rest just below his ear, kissing the skin as his eyes flutter shut, a loud sigh leaving his parted mouth, the grip on my waist simultaneously becoming tighter when my kisses speed up. “if you want me…i’m right here.”

“jesus fucking christ.” he trails off, his eyes now squeezing shut as my lips work against his neck, his mind visibly contemplating on whether he should give in. i am right in front of him, my body a blank canvas, willing to give myself up, to allow myself to be used as he pleases, in exchange for the pathetic remainder of his pride - the two days that he has gone without me going down the drain if he decides to act on the desire that is so clearly eating him up.

his visible indecisiveness isn’t enough for me. i need him to give up, to no longer care about holding back anymore, my hand moving underneath his sweatpants as i run my fingers along his length through his boxers, a loud groan leaving his lips in response. he doesn’t object, instead he seems to lean into my touch, confirmation of his defeat on the tip of his tongue, just about to be uttered, my eyes wide open as i wait for him to finally say it.

a loud buzzing sound resonating from his pocket soon takes his attention, totally destroying the moment as i remove my hand from his pants, his eyes shooting open as he takes his phone, the source of the noise, eyes slightly widening once he sees the who is calling, their name lighting up the screen. bill.

“i have to take this baby. you look beautiful by the way, and, nice try.” he says, shooting me a wink and placing a quick kiss on my lips before adjusting himself, clearing his throat and disappearing out of the room. pretty fucking convenient.

i groan in frustration, collapsing backward onto the bed, completely infuriated at the fact that he was so close to letting go, knowing that right now he could be inside of me if it weren’t for that phone call - quickly realising that this is going to be much harder than i had thought.

my eyes make direct contact with the fresh towel folded neatly on the bathroom counter, scrambling quickly to hide it in the cupboard below as i step out of the shower, hands twisting the tap as the fast flow of water soon stops. i smile to myself when i hear the faint sound of a guitar from our bedroom, signalling that tom is in there, this key to my plan. nine days - nine whole days and he hadn’t cracked, not even close to wanting to fuck, the quick make out sessions and ability to still touch me as he pleases seeming to be sufficient. and whilst his mouth and fingers feel good, i need more, desperate to feel him inside of me, willing to go to any lengths to make him crack.

my fingers rake hurriedly through my freshly washed hair in an attempt to make it look somewhat neater, whilst my body remains completely naked, dripping with water. i take one final look at myself through the fogged up mirror, certain that my plan will work this time, figuring that if it doesn’t, then literally nothing else will.

i open the door that leads directly into our bedroom, acting totally nonchalant and squeezing any last droplets of water from my hair. i walk over to the closet, pretending to scan the shelves for towels, knowing that there aren’t any in here, my entire body on display for him. the gentle strumming of the guitar soon comes to a stop, signalling that i have gotten tom’s attention almost immediately, as i had expected.

“baby have you seen the towels? i can’t find any fresh ones anywhere.” i sigh obliviously, eyes finally landing on his own, only his are fixed on my figure, clearly not paying attention to a word that i am saying. his lips are parted, eyes shifting downward as they slowly take in each inch of skin, nothing at all left to his imagination which, despite his silence, clearly offers him no thoughts deemed holy.

“hm?” he mutters, moving his guitar from where it had been resting in his lap and setting it beside him on the bed. he gets up quickly, walking toward me, the awestruck expression plastered on his face now replaced with one unable to be mistaken for anything else besides pure lust. and when his hands find my waist, running up and down it softly, tongue dipping in and out of his mouth to play with the piercing there whilst his lips are curved into a smirk, i know that i have him right where i want him.

“i said do you know where the towels are. i can’t find any and i need to get dry.” his eyes look everywhere but my face, the only thing i get in response being a subtle nod. instead, his hands move upward, cupping my breasts, whilst his head finally tilts, eyes tearing away from where his hands now roam, lips nearing closer and closer, until they roughly collide with my own.

and i waste no time kissing back, silently thanking his almost non-existent willpower, channelling my pent up sexual frustration into the kiss as my lips mould with his, sighing loudly when his teeth sink into the plush of my bottom lip. he presses himself against me, the tent in his jeans more obvious than ever, one that he won’t be able to ignore as easily as he had done last time - one that i know he has to fix, meaning that this time, he won’t leave me totally desperate. his tongue slips into my mouth when i moan slightly, the kiss more messier than before, totally unrecognisable to the soft ones we had shared up until this moment, because this time, they show that he wants this just as badly as i do.

“jump.” he mutters almost inaudibly against my lips, soon reconnecting them once he breathes in shakily, his hands grabbing the flesh under my thighs once i hoist myself upward, wrapping them around his waist. he guides us toward the bed, using the steady hold he has on my hips to grind me against his, the sensation making it harder for him to kiss back, soon reminding me that this is the first sexual contact he has had in over a week. my back collides harshly with the soft sheets as he climbs above me, reconnecting our lips and slowly spreading my legs apart. he hurriedly scrambles to take his shirt off, throwing the material carelessly across the room, revealing his bare torso.

my hands run down the skin, trailing the muscle of his abs, watching how his eyes fall shut as i move lower and lower, stopping just above the waistband of his jeans. his eyes open when i hesitate, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. he quickly places his hand on top of mine, now guiding my movements as he forces my fingers to slip below the denim, moving below the cotton of his boxers.

“what about your challenge?” i ask, just before my fingers make contact with his dick, eyes widening when he groans in frustration, rolling his eyes at my question.

“fuck the challenge.” he mumbles, forcing my hand to wrap around his dick, his head falling backward the second that the pads of my fingers trace his length, soon running up and down at a slow pace.

“oh jesus christ.” he whispers, eyes half-lidded as he fights to keep them open, desperate to watch my movements, no matter how lethargic they are. because though i have gotten what i wanted, managing to divert his attention from the ridiculous challenge onto me, i want him to be in control, opposed to me doing all the work. and somehow, he seems to read my mind, removing my hand from underneath his pants despite the unmistakable satisfaction etched upon his face. his movements are fast as he removes his jeans, boxers soon following in a messy heap of clothing on the floor.

being naked already works in my favour, allowing tom to line his tip at my entrance, hand pumping his dick lazily a few times before slowly sliding in. as he does so, the tip slips in and out of my folds ever so slightly as i whine in frustration, the stimulation not enough as it reminds me of everything that i have within arms reach, tom holding back only agitating me even more. he picks up on my impatience, my anger buying him time to savour this moment, to tease me just a little more, having me under his mercy just as i had him last time i had gotten close to making him surrender. and i am not willing to have him ripped away again, to be taunted beyond belief, instead willing to beg for him.

“stop playing around and just fuck me.” i sigh through pathetic moans, hands reaching to his neck, pulling it downward so our foreheads our inches apart. and surprisingly, he puts me out of my misery, slowly sliding into me in one smooth snap of his hips. my mouth falls open, a high-pitched moan leaving it when he bottoms out, his tip brushing against my g-spot perfectly, hands raking down his back.

and though my nails dig into the skin with enough force to draw blood, he uses the pain to build up the speed of his thrusts, teeth gritting together as he winces lowly, somewhat used to the feeling, knowing that his pace warranted the strength of my fingers dragging down his back. despite the stinging pain, he maintains a soft smirk, knowing that the soft red marks are nothing more than evidence of the pleasure that only he can provide me with. desperate to feel him just a little closer, my legs hook around his waist, drawing him even deeper inside me, so deep that i swear i can feel him in my stomach.

“you knew what you were doing.” he breathes out between soft groans, so quiet they are almost inaudible. “knew that i’d give in, didn’t you?”

whilst he can speak somewhat coherently, i had lost that ability the second his dick had entered me, any sound that i make an embarrassing mix of moans and whines - nowhere near a properly understandable sentence. though tom wants more, using one hand to grab hold of my cheeks firmly, though not enough to hurt me, forcing my eyes to make contact with his own, prompting me to answer his question.

“mhm…” i manage to mumble, eyes rolling to the back of my head when his tip repeatedly hits the soft spot inside of me, soft curses now pouring from tom’s lips as i clench around him, knowing the reaction that such movements usually encourage out of him, recognising that this time is no different.

“fuck- it’s worth it though schatz. you feel so good, taking me so well.” his words of encouragement are all i need to attach my lips to his neck, placing messy, open-mouthed kisses to the soft skin, noticing the way his lips part, quiet and almost restricted moans escaping them. it isn’t enough for me, feeling somewhat frustrated that he holds back, wanting nothing more for him to cry out in pleasure as i already am, craving for him to mirror my own ecstasy.

“i wanna hear you…” i whine quietly, clenching around him as he curses once again before mumbling a low ‘okay baby’, his lips falling open as rough moans now sound from the back of his throat, getting louder when he drills into me at a certain angle, far deeper than he has ever been before.

and when that familiar knot begins to build within my stomach, i don’t need to ask tom if he is close to, his dick beginning to twitch faintly inside of me. his teeth sink into his bottom lip, thrusts becoming slow and deep, no longer rough and fast as they had been moments ago. now i can really feel him, every inch of his dick slowly pushing inside of me, stopping for a second when he bottoms out, soft grunts leaving his lips as quiet moans escape my own, feeling him closer than i ever had before.

“gonna cum baby. do it with me, yeah?” he whispers, head dipping downward to place messy kisses across my face, starting at my forehead, trailing downward to my nose and cheeks, before ending at my lips, capturing them in yet another rough kiss, nothing like the slow and deep movements of his hips as he continues to push in and out of me.

when his lips falter, no longer able to kiss me with such force as they had when they had initiated it, i know that he can’t hold on anymore, his head tilting backward as a loud moan escapes his mouth, followed with hot spurts of cum that coat my walls, his hips rocking back and forth tiredly as he releases. the pressure of his own climax soon triggers my own, his name spilling from my lips over and over again, high off the feeling of his dick as it continues to thrust into me, fucking his seed deeper, riding both our highs.

his hold on my waist becomes softer, slight red marks in place of his fingers, our breathing loud and heavy as it envelops the room, thick with the smell of sex. he pulls out of me, sighing loudly as a mix of our juices seeps out, his hands lazily grabbing some tissue to wipe it away.

tiredly, he moves upward, his body collapsing on top of me, lips pecking my own a few times. my own arms wrap around his back, fingers tracing the skin softly in an attempt to ease the stinging pain my nails had left whilst his own hands run along my trembling frame, lips pressing sweet kisses into my hair.

“you okay?” his voice is hoarse as he speaks, attempting to appear as unbothered as possible, though i can tell he is totally worn out. i manage a quick ‘mhm’, lips turning to kiss just above his shoulder, noticing him smile weakly against me.

“are you upset about the challenge?” i ask tiredly, eyes on the verge of closing, ears barely picking up the soft chuckle that leaves his lips, his fingers squeezing the flesh of my hips as he kisses me softly, shaking his head.

“fuck the challenge.” he stretches out, bringing my body closer to his. “sex is just too good, plus it’s hard when my girlfriend walks around naked in front of me, what kind of guy ignores that shit? i don’t care if someone paid me, i’d never pass up on a chance like that. especially when you look this good.”

“you’re so romantic.” i scoff sarcastically, shaking my head at his impulsiveness, feeling him smile against me, his head lifting up to look into my eyes.

“what, i’m not allowed to say you’re beautiful?” he smirks, hands trailing my body once again, eyes visibly lighting up with that same look i had seen just minutes ago, knowing exactly what it means. “i mean, i could show you that you’re beautiful instead, if you want me to…”

though the grin on his face says otherwise, i know that he is serious about it, his actions proving so if my instincts weren’t enough. his hands trail upward knowingly, fingers running across my breasts as his lips makes content with them, placing harsh kisses onto the skin, his teeth digging in every few seconds. my head falls backward, back arching to allow him better access, silently accepting his proposal. he stops momentarily, looking into my eyes.

“we’ve got nine days of lost time to make up for schatz. i think now seems like a good time to start, don’t you?”

requests are open! keep sending them in!!

[ropes3amthoughts]

soooooo Kabru hates elf cake. It is dry, crumbly and the nuts are too sweet and gooey... BUT would he hate banana nut bread? -moist -nuts as nature intended -velvety from the nanners, no crumbies. For some reason this has haunted me for like 2 days.

I wake up and first thing in the morning I see a Kabru question in my inbox. You have no idea how excited I am. I am going to answer this like hours later but this has me genuinely so excited I am going to spend so much more time than I need to on this silly ask now. Thank you, anon.

Ok it’s hours later and I’m out of school and I am answering the question now.

Short answer:

You make some good points. I don’t think he’d hate banana nut bread.

Long answer because I like yapping:

As a disclaimer, I have eaten neither nut cake, rasgulla, nor banana nut bread, so my statements about taste and texture are based on assumptions and what others have said about them.

Like anon said, Kabru doesn’t like nut cake, aka elf cake, because “it’s not very sweet,” “it’s kinda crumbly,” and the “extremely sweet candied nuts…get all gummy and sticky in your mouth…”

Since these are Kabru’s reasons for disliking nut cake, we can assume he would like a treat that is the opposite of this: sweet, not dry, and doesn’t have gummy and sticky candied nuts. His preferred treat, rasgulla, seems to prove this theory, given that it is almost the exact opposite of nut cake. It is apparently gooey and sweet and it has no candied nuts. It doesn’t even have nuts at all.

So, how would Kabru feels about banana nut bread?

Referencing what anon said again, banana nut bread is moist and velvety, which should satisfy Kabru’s tastes since he disliked the fact nut cake was crumbly. Additionally, his preferred dessert is apparently sweet and creamy, so banana nut bread would definitely be closer to Kabru’s liked treats (rasgulla) than disliked treats (nut cake).

Banana nut bread does have nuts, though Kabru didn’t say he dislikes nuts in general or even candied nuts, just that he disliked how the extremely sweet candied nuts would get sticky in his mouth. It is possible that Kabru does like candied nuts, but not when they’re too sweet, not when they get sticky in his mouth, and/or not when they’re paired with the elf cake. After all, the candied nuts only seem to be an issue due to the taste and texture clashing with the dry and bland cake, making it an unpleasant experience to eat. Like anon said once again, banana nut bread does not possess candied nuts, only regular nuts, and Kabru does not seem to have an issue with nuts, so the nuts should not prove to be an issue.

Kabru did have one more complaint with elf cake though: it wasn’t sweet. Anon did not mention anything regarding the sweetness of banana nut bread, however, but according to a few sources, banana nut bread is sweet. This means that all three things Kabru disliked about elf cake are not present in banana nut bread, meaning, theoretically, he should not hate it, and perhaps he would even like it.

…unless there were another factor at play, like he hated bananas. According to more sources, banana nut bread tastes a lot like bananas, so if Kabru hated bananas, it’s likely he would hate banana nut bread.

Though I don’t think he would hate bananas given his food preferences. His favorite food is also a fruit (although tomatoes don’t taste anything like bananas), he likes sweet things like rasgulla, and he seems to have an affinity for meals more on the moist side, like lamb stew, and bananas are pretty soft and squishy. (I have actually eaten bananas before, so this is my firsthand recounting of the taste and texture of bananas). Given Kabru’s preferences, I think it would make sense if Kabru did like bananas. Though we can’t be entirely sure that, just because Kabru likes a certain taste or texture in one food or another, he’ll like it in another food.

If Kabru does not hate bananas, he’d most likely not hate banana nut bread, since I can’t really think of another factor that would affect this. Unless maybe Kabru hated bread? There doesn’t seem to be anything present in the the anime, the manga, nor extra content regarding how Kabru feels for bread though.

Given that banana nut bread possesses none of the qualities of nut cake that Kabru dislikes, it seems unlikely Kabru would hate bananas, and there is no information regarding Kabru’s feeling for bread, it seems as thought it is more likely that Kabru would not hate banana nut bread than hate it. It actually even seems somewhat likely that Kabru would like banana nut bread, though I doubt it would be his favorite.

Basically, I think it’s logical to conclude that Kabru would not hate banana bread and it wouldn’t be a stretch to think that Kabru would maybe even like banana nut bread a little bit.

Anon if you want to ask more random questions like this, feel free to! You can me questions not like this too! I just love receiving asks about Kabru in general!

[amarithecat]

I gotta start leaning into the fact that Ulysses is (probably) very unhinged as it could make for a really interesting (and by interesting I mean hilarious) dynamic with Courier Six.

In my Headcanons, when paired together Ulysses is CLEARLY the straight man. He's highly intelligent and subdued and Six is the exact opposite. Barring the occasional obsessive tendencies, it's agreed that of the Lucky 38 denizens, Ulysses is one of the more normal ones. At the absolute least, that's the impression he gives off.

But what has me giggling to myself is imagining Six and Ulysses interacting with someone who ISN'T used to living with both of them. That someone might automatically assume Ulysses is completely normal compared to Six, only for him to do or say something that makes them mentally go "Holy shit both of these guys are fucking nuts."

Maybe it's just because I love the little glimpses we get of the more casual side of Ulysses (him laughing at the dick joke, the dialogue notes where he smiles, "Tired of history's lessons anyways.") and would love to see more of that depicted. Wish he could have been a base game companion so we can see him go from this mysterious figure that's been hyped up for the entire game to your weird friend who everyone assumes is normal only to realize "oh they're BOTH fucked up." He'd occasionally entertain Six's stupid ideas and do/say something really odd from time to time because the intrusive thoughts won and Six is starting to rub off on him. Ulysses is the friend who would make sure you don't hurt yourself while you're blackout drunk but would also be recording the entire time because it's hilarious. I NEED to know his sense of humor and see more concepts exploring what Ulysses would consider fun and a good time post LR.

[cosmiclion]

If you thought I couldn't outdo myself more with the fluff for this AU then you haven't seen my true power yet 😈

I don't know if I got OCiel's bangs right but, realistically speaking, human hair never stays in the same place, that's how physics works so whatever lmao.

Anyway, trying to write a Black Butler AU with some fluff where Sebastian and Ciel have a parent-child like relationship WHILE keeping them in-character (Sebas more than Ciel tbh) and still basing it on canon material but making changes and making said changes make sense requires a bit of work ngl.

I mean, I know it's just a project I'm doing for fun and technically there's nothing stopping me from going nuts and making them completely OOC and disregarding canon at all, but I feel then it'd become a separate story with new, original characters who simply happen to be inspired by Kuro (which is also okay, and who knows, maybe in the future I'll repurpose the whole thing to create my own Kuro-inspired original story, even if I don't think I'll ever fully lose interest in Kuro, this cursed series has me in a chokehold lmao). Full ramble under the cut.

Sebastian is the hardest one to write, though I think I'm finally more or less figuring it out. I didn’t want to write him as suddenly learning to love the way humans do thanks to the power of cute children or something, as it just didn't feel natural (or I couldn't personally make it feel natural, I know other people have managed to write that concept very well). What I have so far is that when he does act nurturing he’s simply imitating the behavior of human parents he has observed, but he doesn’t love the kid the same way humans do because he literally doesn’t have that ability. BUT that doesn’t mean he feels nothing at all and that it doesn’t mean anything to Ciel, after all this weird creature is the one who saved his life and raised him with care and patience. The closest comparison I can think of is the relationship between people and “unusual” pets like reptiles, amphibians, insects, etc. We know they can’t love us the way other people (or even other mammals) would but that doesn’t make our bond any less significant! Some bits of canon material also come in handy here, for example I based the fact that familiar Sebas finds Ciel adorable as a kitten on the canon fact that he likes squishing his cheeks because they remind him of a cat's paws 😂 Just know he's an awkward demon who doesn't know how to human but is doing his best 🥺

I think in Ciel’s case I have more freedom since he is, after all, human, and a human’s personality is strongly shaped by their environment and life experiences. Like, what exactly counts as making a character OOC? Sure, I can agree that in a fanwork set in the exact same universe with the exact same events as in canon there’s some things a character would never say or do, but I think AUs were created as a way to explore what-if scenarios. What if this character had been raised by different people? What if they had grown up in a different place? What if this or that event hadn’t happened or had gone differently? Tbh I think it’s just fun to explore endless possibilities, it’s maybe a form of character analysis in some way. And if we think about it, canonverse Ciel was originally sweet, shy and affectionate, and if he’s the complete opposite now it’s only because he went through an utterly horrific and traumatic event that forced him to grow up before his time and toughen himself up because it left him with little to no support system, on top of having to be hyper vigilant because the only thing that "saved" him from that is a literal demon who wants his soul and is haunting him.

So I just wanted to create this alternative timeline where maybe things aren’t as terrible, or they start out as terrible but then some good things come from the most unexpected sources. Ciel is five years younger and thus has more time to process everything and try to heal as he grows up. Sebas isn’t entirely a bastard and willingly does nice things for the child, even if he still doesn’t understand human needs, and while he stills views him as a potential meal (at least at the beginning) he's actually respectful. There’s another demon who understands humans all too well and is happy to lend a hand. His friends and the relatives he has left are more involved in his life. So Ciel more or less has a support system now, albeit a weird dysfunctional one, and doesn’t entirely lose his sweetness (also like... he's 5/6 at the beginning of the story, we really can't expect a preschooler to be an edgy emo who craves violence and revenge ☠️). I imagine he grows up to be just as calculating and cunning as canonverse Ciel, maybe even just as ruthless in his job because it’s a requirement, and is still pretty much a little shit, but this Ciel is not as cold and undemonstrative. He’s still very much an introvert who prefers to be left alone, but he smiles (as in genuinely smile) more often and it’s a little easier for him to express emotions and feelings (more through actions than words, but still meaningful). Hell he may allow himself to be playful and silly sometimes if he’s in the moment.

And if it wasn’t clear from the picture, little Ciel ADORES Sebastian. Sure he's (understandably) a bit skittish around him at first, but once they bond he comes to fully view him as a parental figure. Yes, he's hurt, sad and traumatized, but he's still a resilient little kid, and with enough kindness Sebas can coax his old self to come out of his shell, and until the kid becomes more independent they're like a mama duck and her lil duckling. Their constant banter and bickering when he's older is more a teens being teens thing than anything.

[princess-of-the-corner]

Honestly, one thing to bring up about canon: Adrien only gave his "high road" advice ONCE, when all Lila was doing was "lying about having disabilities" and Marinette seemingly got her Akumatized by obsessing over something that honestly wasn't a big deal, and he NEVER brings it up again after Lila starts targeting Marinette.

Also, the only reason he HELPS Lila is to basically try and negotiate to get her to leave Marinette alone. He does not bend over backwards to encourage her behavior.

Yet Salt Fics act like he lectures Marinette to "take the high road" every time Lila goes after her and was in fact doing whatever Lila asked of him from the moment she first showed up.

Which is just...

The exact opposite of what happens in canon?

Like, his advice makes PERFECT sense with the information he has access to. Eventually, if Lila really IS lying about her disabilities, she'd slip up and her entire house of cards would collapse around her. He doesn't know that Lila threatened Marinette, and Marinette didn't mention that when they talked about her after the fact.

Frankly, Marinette is lucky that nobody cut ties with her for apparently bullying a disabled kid over seating arrangements, because frankly, as someone who has been accused of faking PTSD for clout because the person I was arguing with REALLY wanted to win that argument we were having, Marinette was just looking like an ableist Karen.

Yeah no like.

I've discussed this extensively, but while lying is still 'bad'(especially lying about disabilities), as far as Adrien observed nothing that 'bad' is happening. The 'worst' thing that happened was the class rearranging to accommodate Lila's disability(which he has no proof is fake even if he doesn't believe the cause). It kinda sucks for Mari, but that's more on her for being last one to class so she couldn't pick her own seat. But that's a different conversation.

Adrien's advice isn't just 'take the high road and things will work out'. He says that her current actions are doing very little harm, so unless she starts causing harm, stay back and don't...... act like a madwoman scrutinizing someone's disability claims to the point she gets Akumatized.

Saltfics often went into ways that Lila's lies /could/ cause harm. Purposeful manipulation to turn them against Mari. Promising the class to get them all sorts of things with her 'connections'. Giving awful advice like that 'she tells Alya to toss her babysitting duties at Marinette' trope that was popular. And then these fics throw it in Adrien's face of 'see she is causing harm!!'

Completely ignoring that 1.) She hadn't been doing any of that before in Canon, and 2.) Adrien literally said 'if it gets worse then we do something' and that qualifies as 'worse' so he'd do something!

Swinging back to Mari:

Honestly though like. We the audience know Lila is probably lying about everything. But the class has little reason to doubt any of Lila's claims, especially the disability ones. And I actually applaud them for taking a disability claim at face value and helping with accommodations!

And yeah that's why the class is so mad at her in this episode. It's not 'how dare you question Lila!' it's 'girl you are foaming at the mouth trying to prove that the new student is faking a disability what the fuck is wrong with you'?

Especially because, thanks to Marinette's actions, the class fully believes this is about Adrien, not about Lila's hypothetical lies. Not just 'she sometimes goes nuts over Adrien' but her actions this very episode.

Remember the seating issue? Lila's new spot was next to Adrien. And when Marinette is raving about how Lila is faking and how she doesn't want to sit in the back, Adrien speaks up to try and help saying 'Okay, you can take my seat and I'll go sit in the back', prompting her to scream that no he has to stay there and Lila has to move.

So yeah she really made it seem to be all about Adrien without Lila even having to do shit.

[fantasyinvader]

I got a copy of Drakengard 3 recently, after watching some reviews of the series again. It was kinda nuts watching this one guy go on about how he couldn't believe that it was created by the same guy who did the Nier series even if Nier is a spin-off of Drakengard. But this guy took the games by themselves, didn't back it up with the supplementary materials and interviews like Clemps does.

To me, Drakengard 3 makes sense considering one thing: Yoko Taro hates the little sister type of character. It's why he created Furiae in the first place, a sister character who acted as a damsel in distress while at the same time having incestuous thoughts towards her brother. Throw in Inuart and I'd probably start comparing it to Sacred Stones non-stop. But really, all the characters in the first game were kinda shitty: Caim is psycho, Arioch kills and eats children after her own were killed, Leonard is into little boys and Seere is an annoying child. But what the reviewer said about how despite the fucked up nature of Drakengard's world it's still worth saving even if it was the likes of Caim and his companions to do so.

In Drakengard 2 Caim's love for Angelus (his dragon) sees him attempt to break the seals, dooming the world he saved, so that he can reunite with her.

So, what I was thinking is that Zero was meant to be like the first game, she's the last person you'd expect to save the world. How does she do so? First, she kills her “little sisters” and then she herself dies to her dragon, preventing the flower from destroying the world. She is the complete opposite of your typical female character as well; violent, vulgar, abusive, and pure is the furthest thing from Zero. Hell, she starts missions in a white dress that quickly gets stained with blood. She's not a big sister character, or a love interest, or a warm mother figure, Zero is just Zero.

But then you look at the Little Sisters of the game. One tries to present herself as Zero's complete opposite, but while she wants to save the world she can't bring herself to kill her sisters aside from Zero but her methods won't work either. Two is the quirky positive girl, someone who breaks under the weight of the setting. Three is the little sister who plays with dolls, but this ends up being creepy due to human experiments. Four tries to be the pure little sister, but this just means she's a liar who abuses her own partner, while Five is the well-endowed hedonist taken to it's logical conclusion. They all feel like they are some sort of female archetype, their designs being directly inspired by Madoka doesn't help either.

To me, it's making sense. Zero kills her sisters in part because Yoko Taro hates little sisters, but also because they represent stereotypical anime portrayals of girls. Meanwhile, Zero goes against everything anime wants women to be aside from attractive. What's more, despite the fact that the world has repeatedly kicked Zero down into the mud, she still wants to save it even if it means she herself will die. The fact Furiea was meant to rep Taro's distain for bland forgettable heroines, "who are demure, passive, "virtuous" women who exist only to look pretty and be fought over as a prize for the protagonist"... Zero was his attempt to create the exact opposite.

Can we get an episode of Death Battle where she fights Edelgard?

[minnieposting]

hsr ramblings to get out of my system

sunday and aventurine focused. also about how sunday's totally dying in 2.2. and some other stuff

⚠️lots of talking out of one's own ass⚠️

prefacing this with saying this is just my stream of consciousness tbh, things might be all over the place. i am again literally just talking out of my ass tbh! i love stories and thinking about narrative as a system, so ive been going a lil nuts with penacony and its characters

but i decided to write this because i keep realizing so many things about both sunday and aventurine. i've been making a huge list in my notes and mainly my head about it so lets just get into it...

1. my friend and i were talking about it being hinted that sunday is not his real name. when sunday is first introduced, we have the option to ask if everyone in the family has a strange name. march says it might just be a stage name.

i've seen lots of talk about sunday's connection with dominicus, usually either about sunday actually being him or channeling him somehow. but either way, im very 👀👀

just earlier, i was thinking about how both sunday and aventurine are putting on grand final shows and how they're both bosses. the fact 'stage name' is being used here is very interesting in that case. just something im also very 👀👀 about

2. following up on aventurine and sunday and how they're both bosses putting on a 'show'... im now gonna talk abt their insane similarities and also their opposing traits. i feel like every single similarity i notice is also paired with an opposite

for example, their losses

sunday - older brother, lost his sister + family recently

aventurine - younger brother, lost his sister + family a long time ago

this is actually one of the reasons i think sunday will be gone forever 🫡 with the two of them being opposites, sunday is the older brother who won't survive, while aventurine is the younger brother who did. plus, if aven's sister is dead, and robin ends up being fine, that just further proves to me sunday has to die. theyre flipped!!

along with that, aventurine will come out of this fine, because we know he's blessed and he's said it himself, he always comes out as the final victor, and we see that he's coming out of this with a new reason to keep going. between sunday and aventurine, it's pretty clear who's going to come out on top. speaking in terms of their roles in the narrative again

which makes me curious about sunday's end goal, as we all must be... which brings me to

3. the shared goal of freedom

this actually expands to pretty much everyone. i noticed that freedom is a very big theme in penacony. prisoners were once held there, aventurine is a prisoner himself (both figuratively and literally), the family's shady shit as a whole and how some people are literally just being forced to stay, firefly's whole thing about feeling trapped, so on... and of course, there's aventurine again, with his thoughts of suicide and wanting to be free

a while ago i was thinking about all this in relation to sunday specifically, the family as a whole, and harmony specifically too. to unite as one harmonious beautiful being, free from chaos. i wonder if sunday's boss will be related to freeing people. it's clear he has connections to the order, which also doesn't welcome chaos and strife.

may be totally far fetched especially since the story will be complete in just a few days, but!! sunday boss being meant to get everyone absorbed into the choir, free from all those exact things. i think a lot about how the charmony festival invited out all the factions for the first time, but i'm not sure where to place it. could've just happened because 'the right time has finally come', aka, dominicus' arrival? whatever tho i have other things to talk about that im more excited over. sunday sacrificial lamb vibes? who knows

honorary mention to the siblings maybe feeling trapped by family, or actually straight up being trapped, WHO KNOWS! i dont know anything actually, i've never known a single fact in my life, but i will on may 8

4. more sunday aventurine similarities and opposites

- both described as madmen, sunday literally being told by ratio he needs to see a shrink because he thinks the same way as aventurine

- both extremely logical, always pulling damn tricks up their sleeves, infinite amount of room in those sleeves

- as mentioned before, both lost their sisters, although in a different order. both lost their parents around the same time though

- (from gagwanju on twt) aventurine utilizing and working with those around him to achieve his goal, while sunday has been working alone. again, another thing that makes me think that sunday will be the unsuccessful one in the end. not that sure what i mean by 'unsuccessful' currently, tbh.

- (from someone else on twt but i cant remember or find the post 💀) sunday and aventurine both brought into high institution and forced into a role

i'm getting tired so i'm gonna cut it short here but

honorary mention to yesterday night? where i was thinking about how they both put up fronts. inside, aventurine is tired, fearful. just being a struggler ykyk. sunday is described as having a twisted personality... aka just ocd, and getting worse everyday after losing his sister and being told he can't do anything about it bc charmony festival. ocd makes you have lots and lots of anxiety, so i wonder what's going on underneath. is he the opposite of aventurine in this case? instead of being just Exhausted, he might be fired up completely. an irritable mess, potentially very angry, etc etc, since his grief is so recent. maybe he's experiencing everything aventurine did back when he first lost his sister in particular, since they are two sides of the same coin (AGAIN).

uugjrjajd i feel my brain getting stupider as i type, but the final thing i wanna bring up is the name of the charmony festival. i was just wondering what it could possibly mean, and why it isn't just called the Harmony festival. whats the ch? is it CHARM ony festival? makes sense to me if the choir is just going to hypnotize people and try and absorb everyone, but im not too sure bc the order is also involved here. idk i dont know anything i actually only started playing this game a month ago

ending this with: sorry if i got anything wrong or confused. im very bad at explaining myself properly and may have remembered things wrong but also i have bad anxiety all the time so IDK

these r just stuff ive been brainrotting over for the past week, and its not even everything, i just needed it out of me 😭😭😭 i am very excited for 2.2. didnt even get into all those damn BABY SUNDAY AND ROBIN TRAILER IMPLICATIONS like omfg... goodbye. why is the sunday boss a childhood drawing why did sunday hesitate when saying 'right! both of us' WHAT HAPPENED. i think he knew he was never going to sing with robin, but why???? ahhhdhdbf

to those who may have read all of this.... DAMN i cant believe u did that, fun fact scallops have eyes

omg... editing this a while after posting, but i totally forgot about the lore of the xipe emanators, and how they can assume the form of any family member when necessary???? not sure where to place that in ^^^^ all that, but something i just wanted to add in... ACKNOWLEDGED.......... 2.2 is going to be a wild ride. hwat the fuck do u mean they can just do that.

[republicansaredomesticterrorists]

Without a mandated vaccine the military will be incapacitated by a massive number of Covid cases. That is what Russian oligarchs want, that is why they buy Republikkkan politicians.

When you join the military you are required to literally every vaccine known to humankind and then even more if you deploy out of the country. George Washington began the practice during the War for Independence.

Republikkkans are all about feeding red meat to the base and they don’t care how many suffer or die or what damage is done to the country by their reckless actions. Very few current Republikkkan politicians have ever served and with each passing generation fewer and fewer rural Confederates serve. Repubs and rednecks think they control the military but in fact it’s always been predominantly working class urban whites from the north until Vietnam in the 60’s and 70’s. Since Vietnam it’s been a mix of those blue collar urban whites and “minorities.” Non-whites serve in numbers far greater than their percentage of the population. Further it’s estimated that 75% of military members vote Democratic.

What we are seeing in regards to refusing Covid vaccinations isn’t going to end with just that disease. The deplorable MAGA’s are already refusing ALL vaccinations. There have been polio outbreaks and there currently is a large measles outbreak here in the US. Some of these may start with unvaccinated immigrants, as Repubs claim, but diseases are taking root with poor white southern and rural Republikkkan conspiracy theorists and ignorant MAGA’s. This all began in the UK in 1996 when that crackpot doctor started the vaccines create autism hoax. Even though it’s been debunked and he admitted he fabricated it, it has taken route with the poorly educated crowd. Again southern and rural communities have had their educational systems plundered for decades by Republikkkan politicians and billionaires with for profit charter schools (DeVos et al).

So many of us on the left never dig deeper than the surface, that is they choose politicians based on personality or identity politics, I’ll vote for the person who belongs to my group or is a strong ally of my group. When you scratch below the surface and begin doing opposition research you’ll find that the Republikkkans are running a highly effective and hierarchical political machine. The Republikkkan party or GOP is a tool of the top 2% and big multinational businesses. They have been running the most sophisticated and organized political organization since the late 70’s that the world has ever seen. Billionaires and corporations have a vast network of right-wing foundations that fund everything most of you are against. They panicked when Hillary try to exposed this “vast right-wing conspiracy” and labeled her nuts which eventually took root in the American psyche. Today there are articles, books, documentaries, and even college courses that examine this vast right-wing conspiracy.

Ted Cruz, MTG, BoBo, Graham, etc are secretly planning a campaign against you. They are literally given legislation to introduce into Congress by the Koch and Walton families to name a few. They are given daily talking points and daily targets. Their “celebrity personalities” and media outlets are telegraphing the exact same messages, often word for word, every single day. Koch, Walton, etc pay an army of conservative lawyers and scholars to write and disseminate things they want made into law or policy. For decades the NRA has been paying a small army of lawyers to create a base of litigation that can be called upon as case history in future cases in front of higher courts. Occasionally they give the base some culture war things like expanding access to guns or banning abortion but that is just to keep the masses voting for Republikkkans. Their ultimate goal is unrestrained capitalism with legislation that preserves, protects, and expands their ability to amass wealth and power. In a few decades they will remake America into a clone of Brazil where the wealthy live in luxury inside gated compounds while the rest of us are literal peasants living in poverty and disease in favelas on the outskirts of society.

Do your own research. You can begin by googling ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council), the Federalist Society, and the Heritage Foundation to name a few. It’s a non-stop 24/7/365 war against Dems, unions, the poor, the middle class, the working class, people of color, lgbt, the handicapped, intellectuals, urban dwellers, coastal elites, immigrants, Jews/Catholics/Muslims and any non-evangelical or Protestant religion and many more groups.

This last part is a hard truth. While the Nazism, racism, discrimination, dominionism, and general bigotry and hatred is very real-it is not their ultimate agenda. Their ultimate goal is the accumulation of wealth and power at any cost. The bigotry and culture war nonsense are just tools to create an army of Republikkkan voters, foot soldiers for the right-wing. The Republikkkan politicians, deplorable racists, rural deploranles, militias, conspiracy theorists, and garden variety red state hicks are just pawns, tools, a means to an end. Multimillionaires, billionaires, and corporations only care about the color green. Don’t let them divide us with their lies and propaganda. Follow the money.

This is a war. We must defeat their pawns in elections, battle their foot soldiers in the streets, and most importantly prevent the oligarchs from buying our government.

[whatyourusherthinks]

Abigail Review

I was actually excited for this movie. The trailer was pretty cool. My work friends and I actually made plans to watch Abigail as soon as we could because of that fact. And the movie has aspects that I'm not usually big on, so that's pretty impressive.

What's The Movie About?

...I'm not going to tell you. If you can, you should go into this movie blind. Honestly, showing you the poster is already too much information. Just know it's a horror/thriller movie where the main characters are kidnappers, and watch it. That's my review in a nutshell.

I'm being serious. Stop reading this review and go see the movie if you think you might be interested. I'm going to spoil parts of the movie in the review because I have points I want to make.

What I Like.

Abigail is a gore-y good time. The first two-thirds are an intriguing mystery, and when everything is revealed, the finale is extreme and ridiculous. It's great. The acting is very good, I was especially impressed by Alisha Weir as the titular character. She had to do a lot and it was all very good. The effects as well were very good, especially the gore effects. Honestly, the only thing that would make it better if it was bright red like a Hammer Horror. (We had the Christopher Lee Dracula movie's trailer playing before the movie, so I have Hammer Horror on my mind.) The story itself, is pretty good as well. Mostly.

What I Didn't Like.

The movie is a great slow burn mystery, until it all get's revealed and then goes nuts. Fun time.

...

It's just a shame that the trailer SPOILS THE WHOLE MYSTERY. If you've seen the trailer, you know Abigail is a vampire. They don't reveal that in the movie until it's over halfway over. Really, you don't know anything supernatural is happening until the first third, maybe half of the movie has run. It would be a really fun mystery until that point as well. But if you've seen the promotion for the movie, you'll know exactly what's going on as soon as the first character dies. Hell, probably before that to be honest.

My only other complaint is almost the exact opposite of the first one honestly. If feels like the filmmakers tried to jam as many twists as they can in the final 20 minutes. Characters betray each other, motivations are revealed to be lies, and new characters suddenly show up for not really any reason. It's not as bad as something like Argylle, which just seems to flip-flop it's premise like 8 times. But it was bizarre and hard to follow at times.

Final Summation.

Honestly, Abigail is fun. Even if you are spoiled going in. I just wish I wasn't, I think I would have been super upped on the movie had it been a mystery to me. As it stands, I had a good time and I think most people will as well.

[the-bibrarian]

Made the mistake of going on twitter for live coverage of the protests (still ongoing this morning), and omg that place is such a cesspool.

Some journalists are doing the dangerous and necessary job of following protesters and documenting police brutality ofc.

But the international trending posts 🤢 so many right-wing nuts saying the people are “awakening” and hoping that France becomes the fascist utopia they’re dreaming of. They’re fully distorting the meaning of the videos they retweet, saying for ex that riot police are standing down and joining the people, when in fact they’re sharing a video of officers escorting protesters away to arrest them…

But my favourite has to be when they compare our protests to January 6 or the pro-Bolsonaro protests in Brazil. It’s actually the exact opposite: they were fighting against democracy while we’re fighting for it.

If they only knew that protesters are overwhelmingly leftists, and that their darling right-wingers actually attack union members and students leading the fight…

[unsleepingtales]

Am I about to liveblog the new fhjy ep directly after seeing d20 live? Yes, absolutely I am. I am in my hotel room, I have food, I’m ready for the last stand.

Content Warning: Academic Stress [Throughout] GREAT

Gavvy baby we gotta get you better con

DENIM THE VESTS WERE DENIM

I love rogue mechanics <3 I love playing rogues <3

A shrimp dragon!!

Oh my god if I had to write a 300 word essay in five minutes I would cry

Spring break! I believe in you!

Fig you are so so close to being a paladin of Ankarna

Oh that orangeish pink early sunrise you mean the exact opposite and compliment to twilight???

Gorgug my boyyyyyy

It really is wild that like. A good night’s sleep basically fixes everything.

It turns out several of the sound effects I thought were editing are just sounds Brennan can make and made live. The electric zapping is one of them.

They’re so good

I’ve been going nonstop for a long time and it’s making me really tired so I might pass out before finishing the fight but we’ll see

The character’s been studying engineering, we’re all comedians

Dead

I fell asleep lol. Couldn’t download it to watch on the plane so I’m home now and finishing it in my free moments bc I’m busy this evening!

The klaxon keeps confusing me lol

I love that that’s what “you’re gonna be the first to die Adaine” was in reference to

Oh ok this is gonna get bad fast

Sorry the umber hulk is doing what

That’s so sad for me :|

The zoom on the hp 💀

I zoned out oops

Yessss Siobhan I love your shenanigans

They’re so good and competent

The longer this goes the more nervous I get about the one major spoiler I saw on my dash this morning… where is she…

OH SHIT THERE SHE IS

Oisin nooooo

Oh my god that’s fucking nuts

The fact that they took Kristen’s revivify diamonds pisses me off so much

(dice rattle menacingly)

What if they actually die. What then.

Incredible riz you’re so good

The butter gummies!

It’s all love??????

Oh my god

They’re so close come on

Zac’s just living in crit city

Get absolutely corn cutied

It’s time for love I guess

I’m sad about buddy tbh

Holy shit alright good for them

Tectonyaaaaa

So seriously discussing the vulture dimension

Oh god next week looks wild

[bluerosesburnblue]

I know that I don’t have too many HPHM followers, but for those who enjoy that content I figured I’d do a little check-in now that I’ve finished up the rest of Year 6 just to give some assorted thoughts on the whole thing. And uh... since it took me so long to make this post in the first place, I’m also gonna talk a bit about the first five chapters of Year 7

Starting off with Year 6, I finally get the complaints about Ben and Merula now. I mean, I’ve always hated Merula, but ugh. Being forced to work with those two as MC’s closest companions is just... like, the exact opposite of what I’d actually do and it was insufferable to sit through. Those two are the people I’d trust the least to lead the Circle of Khanna. Ben is too reckless, Merula is obviously only in it for her own revenge, and both of them are so moody and abrasive all the way through it. Every scene where the “Circle of Khanna Leaders” were together just made me want to slap both of them

It also just drives me nuts like the game actually wants me to believe that Merula’s in it for Rowan. Really? The person she bullied relentlessly for years? You really think that Merula, who has never shown remorse for or apologized for her actions, actually gives a shit about Rowan and isn’t just using their death as an excuse? Why do they keep trying to convince me of this very obviously untrue thing?

And I actually don’t hate the idea of the Circle of Khanna, I just think, like most things in this game past early Y5 or so, that it’s executed terribly. Despite having three fucking leaders, no one’s actually calling the shots and everyone’s just off doing their own thing without any sense of cohesion. Someone TAKE CHARGE, please. That, and they keep meeting at the very public Hog’s Head or the DADA Classroom instead of... literally anywhere private. I don’t think that the Secret Clubhouse existed yet at this point, but if it were up to me to write this story in hindsight, I think I’d designate the Secret Clubhouse as the Circle of Khanna meeting room. It would make sense from a story perspective, since every character is in one of the three clubs so they could all access it, and it would give the room some actual purpose because it’s been just such a nothing area since it was introduced. You could even turn it into a hangout thing, like “Study With a Friend” in the library

And it would give a reason to write out the twins and Beatrice. Seriously, why are they here? Why are we letting literal children into the Circle? I’d seriously thin out the ranks. No Fred, George, or Beatrice, and definitely no Ben or Merula for me, good lord...

Alanza is... fine? I, personally, found her annoying but I kind of get why she’s here, at least. She’s just so... nothing that she’s entirely forgettable

And the pacing at the end is so funny for how bad it is. I have to wonder if they were writing this week-by-week because the whiplash from “let’s do an in-depth investigation of the mole” to “OH SHIT WE FORGOT ABOUT THE CURSE LET’S GO TO THE SUNKEN VAULT REAL FAST” is so unintentionally comical. Like it legitimately reads as though the Merula as the mole reveal was going to be the end of Year 6 and then someone remembered the statue curse and went “hey, wouldn’t it be fucked up if they were frozen all summer?” so they scrambled to fix it. And the end result is that the Sunken Vault feels more like a rushed detour than anything, when that’s supposed to be the big climax

But, moving on from the negative, I do really love the design of the Sunken Vault. Whoever their location designer is, they’re doing a great job.  I mean, just look at that:

It actually does have this nice, mystical, ancient feel to it that I can’t get enough of. It’s just so cool

And the way that the way that the vision upon touching the vault happens is fascinating as well. I do have to commend them on the presentation for it, because it’s so trippy and unsettling. The fact that it plays those scenes out in a black void, repeating endlessly, for an 8 hour timeslot is probably the most clever use of the game mechanics I’ve seen from them yet. You really do feel like you’re going crazy seeing Rakepick killing Rowan over and over while Merula taunts you

It’s just a shame that the confrontation afterwards with Rakepick is so generic. Oh no, everyone gets bodied except for MC who turns a spell Rakepick taught them back at her while Rakepick taunts like a cartoon villain about how she didn’t even know Rowan’s name, even though she was totally Rowan’s teacher for a fucking year and graded their essays. Wow. So cool. Very threatening

So, I guess that’s basically all I have to say about Y6. It’s kind of a mess, but I can appreciate how cool the presentation on the Sunken Vault was, at least, and I don’t hate the concept of the Circle as a whole, just a lot of the writing decisions involved in it

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

Now, for Y7...

Yeah, no. Hold on, lemme just...

Let’s see how that actually went, shall we?

Yeah, that’s what I fucking thought. One-Depulso Dwyn sent her flying into that damn fountain and no one can tell me otherwise. Get dunked, you insufferable wretch

Anyway, what was I talking about? Oh, yeah, Y7

So I hate Corey. Like, a lot. I find them so insufferably stupid and annoying. “Oh, I’ll cast FUCKING BOMBARDA in the Library and get us sent to detention so that you can learn wandless magic from the House Elves.” You colossal dumbass. You moron. My dorm is NEXT TO THE KITCHEN. Walking in to talk to the elves without being in detention has NEVER been a problem. Pitts likes me! You’d risk getting the Head Boy and Head Girl in trouble for NO REASON? This was so avoidable! Madam Pince doesn’t deserve this!

And then they don’t shut up about the Wizard Sherlock Holmes knockoff. It’s every word out of their mouth. “Oh, this is just like Detective Conebrush and Auror Persimmons!” No, actually, this is reality. Shut the fuck up. What gets me is Corey talking about how the first person you suspect in a mystery novel is always a red herring type stuff, so I had Seren respond that they should just stick to the facts rather than, you know, assume that reality will follow the rules of a mystery novel. Then later, Corey has the audacity to say “well, you didn’t want to follow what Conebrush and Persimmons do so you probably don’t want to review the facts, but...” NO DUMBASS. That is NOT what I said. Reviewing the facts is one thing, but acting like real life is going to follow fictional tropes is another

And I’m sure all of this is just getting to me so much because we literally just met Corey and the narrative is already acting like we’re best friends. We’re not. I do not like you. I do not understand why we are expected to trust you when we have literally never heard of you before and clearly your grasp of reality is dangerously weak. Leave me alone, let me go slam Merula into the fountain again and if you get in my way, you’re going in, too. I’m not obligated to be your friend just because Dumbledore decided we were Head Boy and Girl

The only thing Corey brings to the table for me is Conebrush and Persimmons, both because I had my Jacob be a huge mystery novel buff, but he was raised Muggle so he probably wouldn’t have heard about it, and if he did he’d probably either be ranting about how it’s just a wizard ripoff of Sherlock Holmes with the names changed around OR he’d be really into it and coming up with crossover fanfics, and because the Detective/Auror pairing is legit just future Jacob, Seren, Talbott, and Tonks

And as a final point, I’m so mixed on the internships thing they’re doing. It’s just like with the Circle of Khanna, I like the idea but the execution is just???

Why does it seem like only select students get picked for the internships rather than this being a thing open to the student body? Is this Dumbledore favoritism for the plot-important characters? The writers could have done whatever they wanted for Y7 since the books never covered what the typical year looks like, so I can’t understand why they decided to make this seem like a big exception thing rather than just dictating that all Y7 students get to do internships. And the students picked are so random, too, and it reads like they were picked regardless of what they wanted to do, necessarily? It’s so bizarre

This one actually stands out to me more in hindsight thanks to another game about teens/young adults in a magic school that I play, Twisted Wonderland. That game is set in a 4-year magic academy, but the 4th year students all go off-campus to do independent research/internships and only come back to campus for big events and presentations. I think the way that HPHM is handling it would have always bothered me, but it bothers me even more now that I have another game to compare it to doing basically the same thing but better

Canonically, students are encouraged to pick a career that they intend to work towards before Year 6 so that their class schedule can be tailored to what NEWTs they need for that profession. So, logically, most of the student body would have had to have locked in something (with those undecided and taking a general course list probably being the minority). Wouldn’t it make more sense, then, to have students automatically be signed up for internships for jobs that their class schedules would lead them towards (i.e. Charlie and Liz both have Magizoology class schedules, so they both get signed up for internships in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures and the Magical Creature Reserve so they can try out different forms of Magizoology, like the hunting and containing aspect vs. the research and care aspect). Rather than, like... the Ministry randomly requesting specific students for no reason?

This would also solve the whole “why is Talbott, who has always claimed that he wanted to be an Auror, not in the Auror internships when he should have locked Auror into his class schedule, but IS in the St. Mungo’s internship when he’s never shown any inclination towards being a Healer” issue. All they’d have to do is say that, due to the significant overlap in needed classes, that he’s in both groups to try the careers out or something. Or they could just, like... have him be in the Auror group like he should be and if they really need the whole swan Patronus plot in St. Mungo’s they can make an excuse, like he was delivering something to Penny/Chiara when he saw it and keeps sneaking back in to investigate it

If this is a school-sponsored function, then why do MC and Tonks have to find their own Floo Powder and fireplace? If the faculty is shipping us off to be Hogwarts representatives, shouldn’t they be providing Floo Powder and letting us use one of the school fireplaces? Like, especially the one in Dumbledore’s office! Who the hell is like “good news, kids! I signed you up for this thing you have to go to! What? Transportation? Do it yourself, I can’t be bothered!”

And then there’s the whole introduction to it. Moody hold us up for, like, a minute and suddenly everyone’s gone and they’re nowhere to be seen? What??? Why didn’t the person in charge of the internship group wait? Take a head count and see if all of the listed students were there? Hello? Did you all just sprint off the second Tonks arrived like “haha funny prank, let’s ditch MC!”

And why did Moody feel the need to stop us before going to the Ministry if he’s our goddamned Ministry boss for the day? Like, dude, wait three minutes and they’ll drop me off in your office and you can take me aside and say what you need to then. We went through SO MUCH BULLSHIT because of you. And I get it, I get that it’s because the writers have no idea how to string sequences together and they needed an excuse for MC to get separated from the group so that they can find Impostor Amos Diggory and be introduced to Umbridge. There were way better ways to do that. Hell, all they’d have to do is have us get sent to the Auror office, Moody does his spiel about R agents in the Ministry, and then tells MC to deliver paperwork to Umbridge as a first task. Says to check the All-Purpose Room because she should be coming out of a meeting there soon. MC meets Not!Amos (and is actually suspicious of him because CHRIST, CHILD they are SO DUMB in canon when they meet him acting definitely off), but they have a job to do and can’t dwell on it. Not!Amos tells them they missed Umbridge, but gives them her office number, then we have the intro to Umbridge

There, problem solved.

Complaints aside, I do actually like how the internship stuff is structured from a gameplay perspective. The shorter tasks are a welcome reprieve and it feels like they’re all really unique. You basically get a mini story on the side. I dunno, I just think they’re a fun little break from the endless class grinding so far. Though maybe I only like it so much because these first few assignments have been for the Auror office and I find it unendingly hilarious that Moody personally trained Seren as an Auror only for her to immediately go “fuck the Ministry,” open up a private detective’s office with her brother, and use that training to make the Auror’s office look bad. And then she starts dating Auror Talbott. Can you imagine from Moody’s perspective? “She takes my secrets, she betrays my trust, and now she’s got one of my men wrapped around her finger!” The fucking drama, I love it

[widowbits-blog]

Victims Make for Nice Ladies

This story is two-fold:

Dealing with sexual harassment from the widowed edge

A widowed reaction to how I handled that harassment

Swapping COVID Shutdown stories one night, I shared the rare story about renting a room for the first time after living rent free traveling the world for 5 years as an international house sitter. I was not looking forward to paying rent but my business collapsed in 3 days once they called the shutdown. I had no job and no home. So I reached out to someone in my meditation group, which I’ve been participating in for around a year. He had mentioned at an event once that he rented out a room in his home from time to time and that if I ever felt the need for a stationary residence we could talk. So we talked during the first days of shutdown and struck up a deal.

It was clear in the first few days that he had a problem interacting with women. Covert narcissist with a hero complex. Okay. I realized that if this arrangement were to work, I could never take the bait with him and get into arguments. I needed to focus on myself. My work. My future. He would regularly try to push my buttons because he knew what made women angry and what made them scared. I know this technique. I didn’t quite know how I knew but he reminded me of past boyfriends and I decided with him that I would not follow the same path as I had in the past with men. I would react in the exact opposite way to him until the shutdown was lifted with my focus squarely on renting my own place. 

After a few weeks, he acquired a girlfriend who distracted him from me, and I started getting secret requests (due to the shutdown) for overnight house sits. So our living arrangements, from my perspective, were working out. I would go on 7-14 day house sits and stay at the owner's homes with the love of animals and a space of my own. I’d check in for mail and belongings at my residence every few days. After a few weeks though, I had this insane feeling that he had been in my room. I thought that things had been moved but couldn’t be in any way sure. It was just a creepy feeling. I shook it off and regained focus. I needed to keep making money, paying bills, and raising my credit score to be attractive to leasing companies with nice apartments in the upcoming months.

Then the inevitable happened the following week. He put my mail in the neatest pile on the corner of my bed where I would see it when I walked through the bedroom door and took my shoes, which were to be left at the front door, neatly set on the bedroom floor at the corner of the bed under the mail. He wanted me to react by going out to him in fury waving my arms and confronting him about being in my room while he stood as the victim of my monstrous anger. A reason to ask me to leave without notice among other things; a reason to make his girlfriend jealous, a reason to get the passionate attention he’d been looking for from me. From his girlfriend. Who knows? Once again though, I couldn’t be 100% sure. Was it him? Was it his girlfriend? Was it me? Was I just nuts? I couldn’t really have that conversation with him without being sure of the details. I felt violated but I simply had no time to be violated. I refused to make my housing decisions out of desperation. I wasn’t going to live in a dump because I’d pick the first apt that would get me out of his place the soonest. Fuck that. I just did that very thing during the shutdown with this nut sack now doing who knows what in my room. Fact of the matter was, this guy was and may still be a freakshow. I wasn’t about to move the spotlight off of him by freaking out myself, so I cooled down and thought about an alternative move.

To buy myself some time I did not react. I was as nice as pie around the house. Syrup. Honey. Helpful. 

And then it came to me. I bought a camera and placed in right atop my headboard with a flashing red light that’s easy to see when walking in my door.

Sure enough. 2 mornings later. I caught him. I thought the notification was a false read of shadows crossing in front of the lens but no, it was this motherfucker rummaging through all my things. He was smelling my desk lamp. My desk lamp? And shaking his head in disapproval at it. He was in my closet rummaging. And smelling. As I watched him rummage around I just filled with horrific anger. Horrific anger… and sadness somewhat for Joe. It was clear that he was on this mission to get my attention to direct emotions at him. How does he not see how starved he is for… something in his life? In our agreement, he said that he needed to store some things in my closet that he didn’t ever use but now it was clear that he would use that as an excuse to always be in my room with no regard for my privacy or rental laws. After another anger cool-down session from catching him in my room yet again that night, I took a few deep long breaths and called him: Joe: Hello? Me: Hey Joe. Listen. I see that you are having a tough time getting to your things in the closet and I want to offer my help in getting you to you stuff a little easier by moving your things into the hall closet. I’m really good at Tetris and can fit a ton of stuff in~ Joe: Um. Uh uuuh um. Did? Do? You have? …a…camera …. In your closet? Me: Something like that. Look, I can help you with this. I don’t mind. Imagine not having that extra uncomfortable stress of having to go into my room and having to go through all of my stuff to get to yours on a regular basis. That must suck for you. [My heart was beating out of my chest and my face was hot tamale red. I could feel it. I refused to cry. I was getting what I needed out of this arrangement with dignity.] Joe: … … … L- Lem- Lemme call you back. [He hung up] I took a few deep breaths and waited out in the yard. I needed the air. “You cocksucker,” I thought, “Common. Call me. I dare you.”

Remember when I said that there were 2 stories? Well this is the point where my story was interrupted by a woman in the conversation. She burst out to me, “Oh my god, you… manipulated him.” I replied, “Yes. Instead of being a desperate, defensive, violated victim, a game that I am used to playing, I utilized my other skills for a more powerful turnout in my favor and to a certain extent help out Joe as he clearly has a problem. She looked at me a little amazed, not sure what to do with me now. What? I didn't call the police, have him beat up, or simply suffer from an anxiety disorder that I'm on medication for? I could see her searching her mind on a non-sympathetic response. Then it dawned on me that if women do not react defensively out of desperation or fear, they are designated as evil, witch, cunning, and dangerously manipulative. In addition, that person, regardless of gender, is no longer the submissive. Therefore, those looking for submissives in order to gain power or just self-confidence have no leverage.

If women see the whole situation not just their perspective and make a move out of sheer logic to live their lives, not for an agenda, they are considered dangerous or crazy. Toxic. They certainly can be toxic because manipulation is a powerful thing. But what if that power were used, however, to debunk our programming as women, daughters, and mothers? What if that power were used to re-masculate men? Even lamp-smelling Joe. Sounds scary doesn’t it? But… what if we could train men to be themselves as creatures in this world with women without emasculating them by calling them predators and designating their penises as weapons of female and child destruction? 

I started to observe this woman more deeply to find that she starts and maintains friendships by putting friends on pedestals and showing them off in groups without the friend’s permission. It looks like support but she chooses personal things about her friends to praise them to others about. It’s uncomfortable. Degrading. It makes her seem like Mother Teresa because she rains this uncomfortable praise that friends then feel obligated to accept as friendship support. Even Love. The thing about a widow putting someone on a pedestal is how the widow craves to knock them off. One is always slapped and blindsided in the process. Her wife is the opposite; quiet and looking to leave her marriage and her own ego. There was talk a while back that they might split up among acts of depression, but an odd accident occurred where the Quiet wife’s leg was broken in a few places during a walk one morning. No one can really understand how. So they stayed together and Quiet wife was cared for by Pedestal wife but Quiet wife couldn’t seem to get 100% better. Still in pain over time, she decided to fast for 14 days and is getting better but living as the martyr not eating and as a shadow under Pedestal wife who announces to the group what a trooper she is to cook a meal for us all while fasting. I can't quite tell who manifested the leg break but I see widowhood in both. I’m not really sure if Quiet wife knows of her widowed behavior but Pedestal wife knows of the manipulative skills that she is capable of and rides the border between extrovert in public and child regression in private. Yes. I used my widow skills to get myself out of a jam without publicly shaming Joe or causing a scene. Joe may have actually learned something about himself, no police were called or mutual friends dragged into the situation to take sides. I didn't need to be saved and neither did he. We each took responsibility for our individual positions in our situation and uncomfortably saw the situation through to the other side. Had I just taken the popular way out and completely lost my shit, that would not have been the case.

Before hearing my story, the Pedestal wife thought that she had me in her "praise game"… but she'd never met my mother. It would take a lot more than compliments to hook me in. Mother. That’s a story for another lifetime.

Back to Joe. He never called me again. That night he texted a refreshed version of our agreement where he said that he needed to be in my room with no explanation as to why. I reminded him that I needed the legal 24 hours notice.  He agreed and then never entered my room again. He must’ve called a lawyer for advice who told him to get everything in writing. I immediately hunted for the right apartment in my price range and found a great little place in 2 months. I rarely slept in my room but his girlfriend was living there by then, which helped Joe and I keep up the facade. The first time I got back after our talk he was sweating balls when I came through the front door. His girlfriend was hanging a picture I think. I chose to be a ray of sunshine wishing everyone a big hello. He was beside himself with the unknown of what I might do or say or do in the future. I did nothing. I packed up as soon as I could and live the rest of my life in peace. Otherwise known as the best revenge.

He gave me a rave review as the best tenant he ever had when the leasing company called for a reference. I mean... I have the camera tapes.