#it's the same as like learning a language or like doing math

[ekebolou]

There are (at least) two layers to humanities research.

[There probably should be at least two to scientific research in the same vein, but I don't want to talk out my ass about stuff I don't do - so, humanities it is!]

This is part of why it takes so long to train humanities researchers. Honestly, it's such a massive return on the extremely cheap investment to train humanities scholars, it's insane. But that's a point for another day.

The first layer is what you spend basically the entirety of schooling (I suppose I should say in European/Western-influenced education systems) up until college/university-level education doing. That is learning to read things written for you to read.

Granted a fair amount of this time is spent on just the 'learning to read' part, but by at least teenage years you ought to be on to the 'understanding things written for you to read' part. A huge amount of this is learning to suss out fiction and non-fiction; learning to interpret imagery, metaphor, allusion - all that good stuff that happens in both fiction and non-fiction because language be like that; learning how to take apart and [VERY VITAL] put together language to achieve A Purpose whether that be to Understand or to Convey Understanding (and perhaps even just EVOKE).

It's not easy. That's why it takes a long time. A lot of it is Boring and Hard unless you're lucky and it's Your Thing so it's not Boring and Hard. On the words-reading website it's probably good to acknowledge that yeah, it's Boring and Hard when it's not Your Thing and you've still got to deal with it all the time, as opposed to like, advanced math, which you can kind of avoid, I guess (but don't! Advanced Math is actually Cool and Everywhere, too).

It is critical to understand that this first layer is a skill, in need of honing in its own right, and worth training everyone in. It should be obvious but very frequently is not that even when a thing is written specifically for you to read, there's a lot going on under the hood.

When you get to college/university level education (should you choose to, and you don't need to if you don't want to), this is going to be more or less lumped under secondary source research.

Maybe this is language more specific to history than other disciplines, but in general you might see 'literature review' or 'state of field' or 'preliminary research' (in history, it's often 'historiography') - but it's all broadly secondary source work.

Aha! Isn't that a tell - that they're called secondary sources?

It should be.

Your average popular historical product that does any research at all - podcasts, YouTube videos, TikToks, popular history books, documentaries, newspaper articles or special interest magazines, etc - is doing this kind of research. Secondary Source Research. It's reading stuff written for you to read.

It's very, very important.

It's about half of what all that time, labour, blood, sweat, and tears that go into a humanities degree is about. It's why it takes forever and your friends drop off the face of the earth and become book hermits that cry when a restaurant menu is too descriptive (and also because they make no money - they should make more money, but that's another issue).

But it's only half. The function that this half serves, however, is making the other half possible. Laying the groundwork. If it were, say, fifty to eighty years ago, I would confidently say that the purpose of that layer of the research was to read, as much as is possible, everything written on a given subject of study so that the researcher was able to properly process the next half of the research. Used to be that even included bodies of work in a few other languages. These days, that's simply not possible for most subjects. There's too much been written specifically for you to read. You still ought to have at least two other languages under your belt, but you're not always reading scholarship extensively in more than one. There's too much to read in one language, and that goes for a whole lot of languages.

So nowadays, you're typically reading a selection of really influential secondary sources (stuff written for you to read) and a decent swath of the 'modern' conversation (within the last twenty-five years or so), and a deep selection of whatever your very deliberately outlined specific subject of study is. It's still a lot. It's necessary.

Because the second layer of research is reading stuff that was not written for you to read. Maybe it was written for some audience to read - a letter to a friend is for a friend, a circular for a society is for society members, a broadsheet is for whoever happened to be walking by that wall at that given time - but that audience is not you. It was written for them. You're somebody else, living somewhere else, and some-when else. Not for you.

Some of it isn't for anybody to read. Or wasn't meant to say anything in particular. Or wasn't even deliberately created in the first place. It's just there. A ledger. A calling card. A particular winding or color of thread. A broken bit of pipe. A thousand trade beads. The thumb-shaped worn spot on a rock or blackened stone of a wall by a stairway. The kind of paper of a torn note.

This second layer of research is why people who say they have 'done their own research' are very often not worth taking seriously. It's a trick of the word 'research', that it really means several things at once, one of which is very different from the other, despite appearing to be superficially the same. It can be hard not to take it personally, when you're excited and have done a lot of work and put your whole heart in learning about a thing to have that effort derided as 'not real research'.

It isn't, though. Not in that thorough-going meaning of both layers. It's one layer. A very intensive and difficult layer, but not both. To be an expert - to have expertise - is to do both. You can think of it like doing a practical skill versus reading about it. You can read a lot about how sailing ships work, you might even be a skilled model builder, whose experience can contribute to our understanding of ship construction, but you're not a ship-builder or a sailor. You don't have to be those things, it's not like you have nothing to contribute to those things, but you're not those things.

Likewise, until you do primary source research - read things not written for you to read - you're an expert in what people have said about a thing, not about the thing itself. It's very easy to be misled when confronted with a thing not written for you to read, when all you've done is read what people have said, which is why you don't go from doing all your secondary source research straight into publishing books. There's a long (fuckin' loooooooong) period of a kind of 'apprenticeship', where you join the conversation and get a lot of feedback (and fuck some of that feedback, what assholes are out there! but some is great) before you put something out there on your subject officially for someone else to read.

Hell, it's super easy to do all that and still be shit at actually interpreting the primary sources. Or you could be presenting something entirely new and different, and so everyone treats you like a crank until some more stuff comes forward, in years, decades not unusually being the timeline required. Sometimes it's hard to tell which way the needle will jump, which is why its so important for authoritatively written work to be as transparent as possible with the wheres and hows and whys of its logic and argument.

(Which is another big thing you'll notice - something based on secondary source research will often have minimal or no evidence of where it got its information. Citations. Citations are real important for the credibility of an interpretation. you should be able to find exactly the sources the argument relies upon just in case you want to make your own evaluation.)

But transparency is not clarity. Ideally, clarity is there, but if it feels like something is incredibly dense and hard to read and its supposed to be an authoritative source written for you to read - well, it has to be transparent, not necessarily clear (oh, language! How wonderful you are).

So that's how it stacks up. That's why when you get to those college/university-level courses, they seem to be asking you for entirely different outputs - they are! They're trying to get you to practice different skills. That's why you'll see an uncomfortable look on an academic's face sometimes, or a 'fun fact' being passed around encouragingly online will get a rock thrown its window from time to time (I fuckin' hope it does, anyway). That's why a "special interest" isn't the same as "expertise," despite how fun it can be to talk about our encyclopedic infodumping foibles. That's why "the SECRET that THEY never wanted to know," "a HIDDEN HISTORY," "the UNCOVERED/RECOVERED/UNEARTHED/UNSILENCEDetc story," are better signs of marketing than reality, rigor, or even truth (they are the "EXPERTS hate PERSON for THIS ONE SIMPLE TRICK" of non-fiction marketing).

It's not because people hate fun (though some them do, the spoilsports), but because "research" and "research" aren't the same, and blurring the line between them is really, profoundly unhelpful. The idea that we can continue to have our fun pop-history posts and takes without the fun pop-history books is a minor scale of delusion compared to the idea that we can continue to have fun pop-history books without understanding the need to continue to training, fostering, and supporting the immense amount of work that goes into producing regular ol' (boring, hard) expertise. The new stuff comes from the person that looks at the ledger of a plantation and sees people in the numbers, and understands what those numbers are trying to do - and that's not obvious, or easy to work with.

So, I guess, I just wanted to point out that there's at least two layers (two layers, at least) - and I think understanding that can help make sense of things. Or at least I hope so.

[everfolk]

i actually need to lock in and FINISH the choreography for my song TOMORROW for real this time

[cosmogyros]

.

[opens-up-4-nobody]

...

[embeddedsystems-shius]

Yall Im probably gonna be spouting some Insane Person Shit atm, but one of the reasons why I know I'm doing better than before, is because I see way less spirits, out and about. And yes. I am talking about the ghost-kinda spirits. There's a LOT in my neighborhood, cause this town has had an incredibly densely populated history, probably spanning the last thousand years, if not more. So lemme explain how this works, right:

I'm not very good at seeing ghosts, per say. The ones who can see them, can see them way clearer than I do, usually. The people I've taught these things to, generally have a better perception of how these spirits look, or act like. When I am mentally and physically healthy, I have a harder time perceiving these spirits, and I can only really sense them around if I pay attention.

I see the spirits as mostly blurry, black silhouette-like things. Most of them are not even in the shape of people. They've got rather varying sizes, and they just walk around the streets, going about their day ig. Generally, you wouldn't notice their presence. They got their stuff to do, and we got out own.

What I've noticed is that the ghosts that are attached to something, are the stronger ones, if that makes sense. They have a clearer presence, and actually look like something other than a black, shadowy blob. The issue is that because they have to be attached to something, they can't really move far away from their station, or the people that they haunt/protect, depending on the situation. I have yet to see a significant haunting myself, but this is where my actual health gets added into the mix. The reason why I know that I'm getting better.

The worse off I am, either mentally or physically, or both - the more I have a harder time ignoring the shadowy ones. The closer I feel I am to death, the more I start seeing shit. And I assure you, at that point they are seeing you, too.

In Japanese superstition, and honestly in the superstition of a LOT of other countries as well - it's quite literally the weak, and the mentally unsound that get possessed the easiest. This fits my experience as well; the closer I am to accepting death, the more I am willing to listen to whatever the ghosts around me want to say. And trust, when shit gets that bad, the voices grow in number. The voices only get louder.

When I tell people that I hear shit, this kinda stuff is also included in that package.

There's an actual, measurable difference between the voices in your head - and the voices of a spirit that is not you. This behaviour is the same for benevolent and malevolent spirits/beings. Although mental illness can make it hard to tell the difference, the fact of the matter is that there is one.

If the voice of somebody else is speaking in your head, you will be able to identify that that is the case, based on whether you remember what was said afterwards, or not.

In cases of mental illnesses like DID, an alter, for example, may be chattering away in the background at all times. And you may be able to talk with your alters in your own head - but the issue here, is that after a few minutes you will generally not be able to recall what was said. Not accurately, at least.

When something else speaks in your head, you will know - because it's likely you'll remember what was said, almost word for word. That is the difference.

If you aren't used to hearing that kinda stuff, it will likely sound like another random thought, spoken to you in your own voice. But pay attention to what is being said - these thoughts that come to you, will likely not be something you would've been able to think up, if you tried. It'll feel like it comes from absolutely nowhere.

I can't exactly prove to anyone that any of this is true, and I'm not exactly gonna force anyone to believe that this is the case. But considering I've had to live with this... affliction, for basically my entire life - I think I have a decent grasp on what I'm talking about, at least.

The reason why I can tell that I'm getting better, is because I am currently much more capable of filtering out the good voices, vs the bad ones. I don't see wandering spirits unless I'm specifically paying attention to them, and it's helping me with my own fears and limitations - one of those being my (slight) agoraphobia, and my tendency to get overwhelmed by the silence, and the dark.

I am building my mental fortitude, and being able to filter through what I need to be able to see, vs what I don't need to see - is a huge, measurable step in this growth. I'm slowly getting used to not jumping at every moving shadow, whether that shadow is caused by something here, or not.

...I should probably talk about this shit more, but I'm not really... willing to. Not yet. I don't exactly expect anyone to believe me, and I don't really know if the shit I talk about with these experiences will actually help anyone else. There's a lot of things I know that I'm not supposed to know. I don't exactly know how to explain it all, though.

It's helped me, yeah - but I'm really not sure if this kinda stuff would help anybody else.

[psychemochanight]

Dick is used to doing everything on the move, so he doesn't even notice that his behavior is not "normal".

When his mom was teaching him history, he was hanging upside down from the trapeze, trying to do a new routine.

When his dad was teaching him math, he was calculating the angles of his jumps and spins in the air.

Language? He practiced a new language on the trapeze with his parents, associating new words with the routines. If he made a mistake (either with routine or with language), they would start over so he could learn correctly.

He likes to read, but not while sitting. He usually reads while hanging upside down or swinging.

When Bruce receives the same message from his teachers for the fifth time in a row, saying that his son ward is "brilliant, a genius, but lazy", Bruce doesn't understand, since Dick always has his schoolwork done. How could he be lazy?

That is until he discovers that nine-year-old Dick is doing his homework while doing six other things at once, including practicing jumping routines, learning a new language and also planning a strategy to contain the Penguin.

Bruce: Chum, you have ADHD.

Dick: Why do you think that? *he says while hanging from the chandelier, with a math book in one hand and a device he just built that only he knows what it does in the other hand, until a second ago singing a song in a language Bruce didn't even know the little boy could speak*

[dark-l-angel]

Hi hi. I have just recently read your Omnilingual reader! And I absolutely loved it. I thought it was so cool and hilarious. Could one possibly have more???

Please :)

A/N : You want chaos do u? language flexing, and the boys absolutely baffled by y/n who casually speaks more tongues than Ra’s himself.

BATBOYS x OMNILINGUAL READER- Part 2

In the Batcave. Tensions are high. Sass is higher. Reader just decoded a villain's ancient message scrawled in 12th-century Aramaic, while wearing sweatpants and sipping a Slurpee.

Dick: "Okay, I’m just saying, it’s kinda hot that you just read that without Google Translate."

You said in perfect French "Si tu me flattes encore, je pourrais bien traduire ce que j'ai dit plus tôt en latin. Peut-être."

(Flatter me again and I might translate what I said in Latin earlier. Maybe.)

Jason was staring at you, jaw clenched "Alright, but like… how many languages do you speak?"

You simply answered "Fluently? Twenty-three. Without Including ASL, Morse code, and whatever it is Damian uses to talk to animals."

Damian looked from the corner, narrowing his eyes.. "You're exaggerating."

You chuckled and said in flawless Arabic : "هل أنا، حبيبي؟" (Am I, habibi?)

Tim slammed his coffee down "I just spent two days decoding that villain’s note. You did it in three minutes. And flirted with a UN ambassador at the same time."

You sipped your drink.. "He liked my dialectical usage of Swahili, what can I say?"

Bruce was silently watching, arms crossed, like he’s doing math. "...Where did you learn to speak Akkadian?"

You answered "I told you. That summer in Mesopotamia. Long story, involved camels, a cult, and a time traveler."

Jason was still staring "So... you single or what?"

You tilted your head "Depends. Can you tell me what 'I want you to shut up and kiss me' sounds like in Latin?"

Jason: "…Cupiam ut silescas et me osculeris."

You smirked "Hot. But your pronunciation's sloppy. Say it again.. slower."

[hood-ex]

All the Americans on RedNote/Xiaohongshu that are interacting with Chinese people for the first time and are realizing that our governments hate each other but that we can build community/friendship with Chinese people reminds me of a conversation I had with a student of mine.

For context, I taught kids from China how to speak English for 4 years. I had one student named Rain (his English name) from Guangzhou. He was about 9 years old, and I'd been teaching him since the very beginning of his English journey when he only knew very basic vocabulary like vegetables. He got to the point in his language learning where he could use simple words and sentences to talk about more complex subjects.

There was one class we had that I still think about to this day.

"What classes did you have at school today?" I asked. "Math? English? PE?"

"Math yes. English class yes. And... history," he said.

"Oh history? Nice," I said.

"Teacher, I don't like USA a little bit," he said.

"You don't like it? Why?" I asked.

"Because..." he tried to explain before realizing that he didn't have the words he needed to express himself. He switched to miming and drawing the USA fighting with/being mean to China.

"So you don't like the USA because the USA fights China? Hurts China?" I asked for clarification.

"Yes, yes, I don't like it a little bit," he nodded.

"Do you like USA people? I like people from China," I said.

"You like China people?" he asked.

"Yes, I love Chinese people," I said. "I don't like when the USA and China fight, but I love Chinese people."

"Me too!" he said. "Kind of don't like USA, but I like USA people."

In that moment, I was amazed that even with a language barrier, and even with our age difference, we could come to the same conclusion that we didn't like what our countries did to each other, but that didn't mean that he had to hate American people or that I had to hate Chinese people.

"USA people and Chinese people are kind of different," I said, referring to our cultural differences. "We are the same too."

"Yes, kind of the same," he agreed.

That's what many Americans on RedNote/Xiaohongshu are starting to understand better.

[fishnapple]

What new skill should you learn

This is a general reading meant for multiple people. Take only what resonates and leave out the rest.

Your feedback is much appreciated. If you find the reading resonated with you, leave a comment, I’d love to know 🎐

About me | Masterpost Book a reading with me - KO-FI (→ personal reading)

CARNELIAN

The most prominent one that I get is public speaking skills. Your usual way of speaking might not get you enough attention when you are in front of a crowd or talking to a large audience, even online one. May be your voice is too soft or sounds quite young or bubbly, or you don't like to share too much about yourself, your opinions. It can make you seem more approachable, but in situations that you need to assert yourself, to be taken seriously, then it can become a disadvantage. And when you are in those situations, you might over compensate by being defensive or rigid, trying to assert yourself more than necessary.

You need to develop a firmer tone, and the words you say, your body language should also convey a sense of authority. But it's not a battle for power and domination, you just need to make yourself more visible, to make your energy more solid and grounded. This will help you in situations that require exchanging ideas in a large group, delivering your message to many people, rallying, persuading, teaching, or simply telling a story.

Research more about social skills in a group setting, observe the people that you feel are popular or well respected, observe their body language, their posture, their tones in different kinds of conversations, their choices of words, their silence, etc. This may sound mechanical but if you treat this skill just like math or painting, instead of thinking that social skill is something innate, you will see that with appropriate observations and enough practice, you can achieve a certain level of proficiency. This will open more opportunities for you and raise your confidence.

CLEAR QUARTZ

The stone of Pluto, South node and North node, all are "standing up", they are trying to make a statement (each side of the crystal is very narrow, it can fall over with just a gust of wind, I normally couldn't replicate the same position). The theme is about changing the old and embracing a new mindset. I think it has to do with how you take care of your appearance, your style.

Right now, you seem to be staying in the safe zone when it comes to styling yourself, making yourself more beautiful. This might be due to restrictions in early childhood, traditional values, what society deems appropriate or trendy. You might not want to focus too much on appearance because it seems superficial or vain, or takes too much of your time and energy.

But doing so will rope you the chance to express yourself more truthfully. Beautify yourself not because of how you will be perceived, but because it's a way to show love for yourself. You look into a mirror, you feel happy, you want to compliment yourself, you feel that silly stray strand of hair is adorable, not thinking about how will everyone say, how you are not like someone.

So the advice for you here is to be more adventurous in styling, expand your knowledge about fashion and styling, explore yourself more , give yourself the freedom to experiment more, to rebel more. Creating a unique image, a "public persona" is not just for some celebrities, everyone can benefit from that. Because behind that seemingly surface action, is the journey of discovering your deeper self. As within so without.

The theme of transformation is also applied to learning new languages. The languages should be totally different from your mother tongue, giving you more chance to connect with people from various parts of the world.

OBSIDIAN

The phrase "navigating the world" appeared in my mind. I got several meanings from this. One is in the literal sense as driving a vehicle, going around, navigating the roads, so learning to drive a new kind of vehicle might be the skill you should learn, or even learn to swim or row a boat. There are lots of movements, travelling and moving around. You should be more active in the physical sense. But this is not really about exercise or going to the gym, it's about moving your body, being in various places, experiencing different things. Your life in this period needs lots of expansion and movements. You might feel that you don't have enough resources or energy to go on trips, or you're simply someone who doesn't like travelling. But it will make your life stagnant. Travelling might not seem like a skill, but it is, all the planning, packing, preparation and the ability to adapt to the new place, all or these take skills.

Another one is navigating the complicated social construct. Maybe you feel it's hard to connect to people, there might be walls and the feeling of solitude and not fitting in, that there is something fundamentally different about you. The people that you managed to get closer to (it's likely that they approached you first) will stay close to you for a long time, you have no trouble maintaining a connection. The trouble lies in initiating or forming the connection. There might be an ego here that doesn't want to show their vulnerable side. Silly jokes and banters might seem childish to you. But learning to have fun in a social setting is much more rewarding than you think. Allow yourself to be a child, learn how to tell a story. Debating skills might also be worthwhile for you to learn, learn how to state your opinions clearly and defend your stance.

This group is strangely hard to read, I feel a certain resistance. You might feel that your personality isn't suitable for these kinds of things or you think it would take too much effort and work. You also don't want to imitate what other people are doing. Another reason might be that you haven't figured out what you like to do yet. But that's okay, everything takes time, trials and errors are normal, don't give up on the first try.

TIGER'S EYE

This one is an anti-consumerism movement. You might want to learn how to mend and sew clothes. And not just learn for yourself, but later will you spread the awareness to everyone, or even open workshops related to this.

Running after trends, constantly being bombarded by ads about shiny things that we don't actually need. Basic clothes with good quality cost too much while trendy ones don't last for more than a year. Maybe it's time for you to take matters in your own hands. Learning how to sew clothes might take time and effort, and sometimes, the cost is not small either. But you will be more free to explore styles that you like, create things that you're actually comfortable in. Not many people can proudly display their achievements like someone who makes their own clothes. This is also a great activity to relieve stress and help you practice being patient, especially if you're someone who is quick to get irritated or not very meticulous. It can soften your energy more and make it more focused.

Another way to practice is martial art or self-defense. You have lots of energy that needs to be channelled into various activities, those that keep your body busy.

You might also want to research more about the traditional spiritual and occult practices of your culture, or some traditional crafts in your family, learning about the legacy of our ancestors. There will be surprising knowledge hidden in them that you didn't notice before. You could feel resistant or disagree with many traditional teachings but don't disregard them completely. We can always learn something new from the old and the new always contain the old.

LABRADORITE

This is something that you feel out of your depth and uncomfortable doing, or something that you like but want to keep it a secret, for fear of judgement or obstruction.

I heard dancing and singing. But there's a feeling of gatekeeping. Some people consider these kinds of activities only for those who are gifted and have the resources to pursue them. These skills are put on a pedestal that stops people from approaching them in a more casual way.

Why should you learn these skills? It's to let your inner child be free and out into the open. It's also a way to learn how to control your body, discipline it so it can flow freely, it helps you connect more with your sensuality. Our body is an instrument of life, capable of many miracles, you won't know it unless you let it interact and move with the world around it.

There are various genres for you to explore, but I see traditional instruments or movements combined with modern ones.

Nurturing life such as gardening is another skill you should learn. It helps you be more in sync with nature, you will need to observe the natural cycle of life, to care for each individual and to form a bond with them. If you don't have the space or resources for gardening, maybe try to study more about nature, subjects about biology and chemistry, the ecosystem of forests, oceans, deserts etc. You will be more appreciative of the nature world.

CITRINE

Your energy right now seems to be rigid and doesn't flow properly. There's stress about your health, it's hard to relax, you don't feel comfortable in your body. Maybe you've been too busy lately, your mind is overloaded and your movement is restricted. So you need to learn something that can help you destress, loosen up the hard restrictions around you, and connect more with a softer, more gentle energy. You could call it your feminine energy, regardless of your gender. The feminine energy is within all of us, in your case, it's more hidden. Your loving, more nurturing side could be considered as weaknesses by the people around you. Or, on the contrary, those traits are expected of you forcefully, to the point that your own interpretation of them are buried deep within, you haven't had a chance to actually understand and connect with it.

I think meditation or any form of practice that can quiet the mind and put you in the flow will be good for you. Making art could be one form of it, yoga, intuitive dancing, Qigong, roller skating. Slow, mindful movements or wild, frantic ones just like a child running around, all the while maintaining your balance. You can temporarily forget about yourself, your worries, your responsibilities for a while with these kinds of activities.

Learning to play an instrument can also achieve the same kind of effects. A flute or a lyre.

You should be around children more, learn how to take care of them, how to teach them. Working, being with children can have a totally different energy and requires a different set of skills. I think you would make a great teacher because you have a very protective energy that children would feel safe around you. And in turn, they help you soften up and bring out your compassionate side more.

[svetamillss]

Random headcanons in your relationship with them✨

Featuring: Yeon Si Eun x Reader(f), Ahn Su Ho x Reader(f), Oh Beom Seok x Reader(f), Seo Jun Tae x Reader(f), Park Hu Min (Baku) x Reader(f), Go Hyeon Tak x Reader(f)

A/N: English is not my native language! Sorry for the mistakes! I was also asked to write with these boys.

Yeon Si Eun

The guy likes to help you with your homework. Despite the fact that he doesn't like to be distracted while studying, he has a completely different attitude towards you. He is ready to explain the same thing to you until you understand the material. In secret, he is amused by the fact that you are embarrassed by such attention on his part to your grades. It's just that he really wants you to have a good future and is ready to do anything for this.

- Damn, I don't understand this math at all. - you sigh nervously, sitting on his bed, he just looks at you carefully, the corner of his mouth twitches slightly, saying that he is smiling.

- I'll explain everything to you now.

- But you've already done it..

- I'll explain again until you understand. - You don't understand how you deserved love from such a secretive and quiet person like him.

Ahn Su Ho

The guy loves your food madly, he is ready to give up any other, just to eat only yours. Knowing his love, you cook for him all the time. And bring lunch and dinner to him at work, to a restaurant or before he goes to deliver orders. It is important for you to know that your boyfriend is full of energy and not starving, and he has a very good appetite. He will say a million compliments to you, your talent and your food.

- Oh my God, my princess came to save me from hunger. - he says, when you enter the restaurant, Si Eun looks at him strangely.

- You're in a restaurant, you could have eaten here.

- Dude, you won't understand. - he waves it off with a smile, running up to you and hugging you tightly.

Oh Beom Seok

You know his relationship with his father, so you are always ready to help and support him in difficult moments. He often runs away from home after quarrels, he comes to you. Yes, he is ashamed, he is shy, because he has to protect you, not you, but you don't mind at all and are happy to take him in. Your parents don't mind either, because they know his situation, but they don't question him. At home, you will feed him, let him take a shower, and put him on your bed, next to you, so that he feels safe. And he is really grateful to you, and in his heart he believes that he did not deserve you.

- Thank you. - he says quietly, before you both plunge into the kingdom of Morpheus, he will also lightly kiss you on the cheek as a sign of gratitude and love.

Seo Jun Tae

Despite the fact that the guy is a high school graduate, he loves to watch cartoons, but no one knows about it, not even his friends. But you are an exception. When you learned about his passion for cartoons, you gladly accepted his passion and began to arrange home dates with him, where ate sweets and watched various cartoons.

- What cartoon are we going to watch today? - he asked when he brought chips, marmalade and soda to the room, you answered without thinking twice.

- Let's watch "Sponge Bob: Square Pants".

- Great idea. - he replied with a shy smile.

Park Hu Min (Baku)

Your boyfriend was a knight to you, and you were his princess. That's why he constantly met you from school or extra classes, no matter where and what time they are, he will still come. Baku will follow you to your favorite places, whether it's various fashion stores or something like that. At first you wondered why he protected you so much, but when he told more about himself, everything fell into place. He is very afraid to lose you, so he will watch over you as the most important treasure in the world.

- What time do you finish today? - he asks when he brought you to school.

- I'll finish at five.

- Okay, honey, I'll come exactly at this time. - he said, kissing you on the lips.

Go Hyeon Tak

He had two passions. It's you and basketball. So you weren't surprised when he chose a basketball court as a place for dates. He really wanted to teach you how to play so that you could play basketball together later. You didn't burn much with desire, but you agreed for him, because you knew that your boyfriend wanted you to have common interests with him.

- Well, are you ready to fight me today? - he said cheerfully, taking the ball in his hands.

- But I didn't really learn!

- No need to say that, you already know how to do a lot, so at the same time let's see how you learned my lessons.

✨✨✨

[tianshanb]

A head canon of mine that baby damian was ALLOWED to be a baby. Just with extra assassin trianing.

Like you know those parents that start their kids on sports, or languages, or instruments as babies etc. Talia just started him on assassin training early. But he's just a baby

Cue dmaian walking into training with a pacifier and clutching a blanket.

Just imagine damian with a tiny wooden sword copying the moves of his instructor. Once it's break time, he toddles to the other corner of the room where he plops down on a bunch of pillows and blankets waiting for him, and most importantly, his bottle. Training is tiring he needs a drink 😤

He may also take a nap mid lesson cz he's just a babyyyyy. He brings his favorite plushie to "watch him" when he train. Instead of playing house he plays secret assassin mission with the toys.

As he grows older. 4 to 6 years old. The pacifier is gone by then, and he no longer brings his toys. The new instructor seeing this mature soul in a child body confidently walking up to you with their nose turned up... the illusion is shattered when they open their mouth and half their teeth are missing. Then, mid trianing damian take a drink from their sippy cup thats batman themed (it was a gift from his mama from her latest mission).

Yep just a child.

7 years old is when his training gets super hard. That's the age where your viewed as starting to mature.

I imagine at this age where Ra's is like finally he's old enough to start his real trianing, and Talia is no longer the one responsible for him. This continues to increase in difficulty until he's 9. And shaped off to batfam.

But hoenstly:

Sword trianing?? Imagine this aggressive toddler swinging this sword around. A thing about babies is they LOVEEE swinging shit around, hitting things, throwing things. So training would BE fun.

Eventually he'd had to learn how to break his fall, how to get tackled, etc. Dmaian just sees it as a game and it makes him giggled. KIDS enjoy being tossed around. Like roughhousing is a thing for a reason, the same reason why people throw babies in the air when they play with them.

When he goes to the batfamily. He's just a random 9 year old. One thing about why I can never take the little guy seriously is no matter how intimidating and scary you wbat to seem... your voice will still be that of a child. Another hc is when he's angry he gets on his tippy toes cz he's soo tinyyy. I imagine an argument geting super heated and finally dmaian doing on his toes and suddenly whoever he's arguing with can't take his seriously cz he smol, like this big 👌, and missing some teeth. He has a bed time and can't watch horror movies, like seriously are u arguing with him?

Another thing is Talia had limited screen time and access to devices and technology. She also had parent control on every device. Bruce just does not have that. Dmaian is going to Bruce, and being excited, he's old enough to use a device without parental supervision, or the parent app is so excited that he's seen as a grown-up! (In reality, Bruce just firgot. He never had kids this young with smartphones existing). He's bragging to tim about it one day when bruce overheard, and he's like, hold up a minute.

Extra:

This idea came to me once my friend told me about a student she has. Me and her are tutors and she tutors math. At her centre, there is no specific grade, everyone just advances through the levels as long as they pass the previous level.

In her group, there is this 2 year old toddler who's parents put in tutoring since he was 18 months old. This baby is dropped of by his parents, walking in with a pacifier in his mouth with the clip on to shirt thing. Sometimes in his pj's and sometimes clutching his 'blankie'.

This little dude does advanced algebra. That's right HIGHCHOOL LEVEL ALGEBRA.

He's barely toilet trained 😭 and he asked for help to go to the bathroom, his grip on the pencil is shaky, he still baby talks... but I bet he's better than u at maths.

[thatnonameuser]

A Wonderland Of Yanderes

World Building is here Part 2

It all started with that class.

The final class for the first week of the first semester. After all the chaos of coming to Twisted Wonderland, of being thrown into a world you don’t understand, a quiet weekend to start finding a way back is something you’ve been awaiting.

The classes here were chaotic but fun, and even interesting as a human from a world without any magic. 

Making potions that could do so many different things in Alchemy. Speaking with animals or a cat that can't talk like Grim in Animal Languages. Riding broomsticks in Phys Ed. Even the boring classes like Magical History, learning of this world full of wonder and mystery, and Arithmancy, math was boring, but it was fun to learn that it’s the same in this world. 

But out of all the classes this was the weirdest one of all. 

It was called The Art of Ensnaring Hearts. About ‘darling control and protection’. It’s a weird sounding class, but even weirder, it’s a mandatory subject for all first years, which seems weird for what sounds like an elective. Still it’s just odd, not anything too weird.

The name is nothing that you’ve seen in any fantasy book or tv show in your world. But by now, you knew weird being dropped head first into an unknown world. By now anything new and weird should have been expected, understood, brushed aside as something to accept and move on.

So here you were sitting between Ace and Deuce in the lecture, Grim fast asleep on your lap, waiting for class you knew nothing about.

“I can’t believe they’re making us take this class.” Ace complains.

“Stop complaining Ace. It’s a really important class!” Deuce objects.

Ace whined his butt off the whole way here, complaining about how stupid it was that they had to attend it. Deuce on the other hand, was incredibly enthusiastic and you are completely in the dark for what this class is even about.

Ace shrugs, “Still, my folks and brother taught me all about this stuff. It’s a waste of time.”

“Not everyone has parents or siblings who can teach them about darlings, Ace.”

“Nothing personal Juice, but this class is going to be as boring as Magical History.”

“Well, if you know so much, what exactly is this class about?” You joke and they both look at you like you’ve grown a second head. "What?" you say, now uneasy.

 “You don’t know?” Ace asks.

“What part about ‘I’m from another world’ keeps slipping your minds?” Your attempt at a joke falls flat, as they look at you in incredulity.

Deuce practically reels back in surprise, “N-No it’s just that it's so normal here. You don’t know what darlings are?”

You shake your head, “No, not really.”

A crack of a whip onto the blackboard calls your attention to Professor Crewel, "Alright pups, I have to do this every year so let's get this out of the way now. This class will provide you with any and every method, skill and technique to find, capture and control your future darlings, including evading the law in your respective homelands." Now, you're confused, why exactly is a school teaching students how to break the law?

"As you know Sage Island makes special accommodations for NRC and RSA students, all acts that may be forbidden in any of your hometowns, with the exception of Darling murder, will be pardoned and forgiven. In the case of a family investigation, the school will stage an accident so please do not butcher them beyond repair." No words or sounds slip from your lips, with you stunned silent in pure horror.

What pools in your stomach is hot dread mixed with cold fear. Just what exactly is this world? Murder can be excused here? It can be covered up, with only a slap on the wrist. You need some explanations and you need them now.

A student raises a hand, "Professor?"

"Yes, pup?"

"Why are there no darlings enrolled in Night Raven?"

"One too many murders on campus. A few too many mutts ran around unneutered and decided to draw blood." You smother your gasp a few seconds too late, as more than a third of the room turn to you, confused.

"Something wrong, pup?" Crewel raises an eyebrow at you. His eyes drill into your soul, inspecting, calculating.

"N-Nothing! I'm fine. Perfectly fine." Crewel doesn't push you on the subject, returning to his lecture.

You lean back in your seat, and the cold sweat on your body makes you shiver. Right now, you'll bite your tongue and hold back your horror.

You need to see Crowley, as soon as possible.

[prettealolilol]

so, i don't particularly mind when the Drakes are abusive and/or completely absent in fics (note that the followinig train of thoughts is based on the fics i read and absolutely not bases on the comics)

but

i feel like we tend to forget that Tim is still a Drake. like yeah he was adopted by Bruce and, depending how you see it, has lived in the manor for a few years. but still, he was raised by the Drakes, specifically by the Janet Drake. the one woman the press knew better than to badmouth. she was feared, liked and respected at the same time

like, there's no way that woman would leave her only son, the one she carried 9 month, alone for weeks without teaching him how to behave as high society. he's the one supposed to represent the Drake name everytime he's outside, whether it's at school, on a walk or at galas. so naturally he could tell when he's being followed and photographed, by people or paparazzis (which could have helped him learning how to not be seen, hence being able to follow batman and robin around at the age of 10 without being found), and then flashing his best natural smile. the guy is strikingly beautiful and he knows how to accentuate it with make up (rather usefull skills between the bruise at night and the eyebags in the morning) depending on what he's wearing. and obviously he knows how to dress, as in it's natural for him. he knows which colours to associate and do it without thinking. even if he's borrowing some of his siblings' clothes, he'd still accord them. he would litterally debate with Alfred about which brand his better or which suit would be more adapted to a gala.

i did hear about Janet teaching Tim a maths formula to know people status ? not sure if it's canon, but obviously Tim would know about anyone at any gala and be able to tell who's richer based on language, clothes, facial expressions...

and then high society (and the press as well) also tends to forget that before being Tim Drake-Wayne, he was Timothy Drake, son of Janet Drake, and know how to talk and insult someone without insulting them. he knows exactly what to say and how to say it so people would know they better not play smart with him. (rip anyone who try to belittle any of siblings, he'll rip them apart while smiling)

Janet raised him with the belief he'll take over Drake Industries, so when Tim took over WE, he wasn't totally thrown to the sharks (he still had the help of Lucius), he learnt the name of each and single employes (which is a looot) and a few things about them. he can tell when someone is trying to manipulate him at a board meeting, he knows how to deal with the money... he's definitly highly liked and respected by the employes of WE

and on another note, you cannot make me believe the guy does not know how to cook. banned from the kitchen ? bullshit

like if we follow the whole idea of absent parents then that means at some point Tim had to take care of himself. maybe he had a nanny or something, but she was definitly not there all the time. so my headcanon is that he does know how to cook, and is in fact a good cook. like he'd been alone for weeks and had to learn how to cook an egg, then make a salad until he could do more complex receipes

all to say that my man Tim knows how to carry himself and bend the world to his needs because that the least Janet would expect from him, and he's never going to embarass her, ever

[kookysouthernskeleton]

Speak

AKA how the Stardust Crusaders react when you're learning their primary language!

Ft. Muhammad Avdol, Jean Pierre Polnareff, Joseph Joestar, Jotaro Kujo, & Noriaki Kakyoin

Muhammad Avdol

When Avdol finds out you're learning his primary language of Arabic, he's honored.

Needless to say, Avdol is a great teacher as long as you're serious about learning the language.

He gives you plenty of material to help you study.

But be warned, he believes immersion is the best form of learning.

Expect for him to speak nothing but Arabic in you two's shared household on occasion.

(Don't worry. He'll help you out if he sees that you're struggling!)

Avdol teaches you basic phrases to help you navigate everyday situations while you're out and about in the city you two live in.

Again, definitely the best teacher out of the bunch.

Corrects you when you get something wrong, but takes the time to explain what was wrong about it.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk!"

Jean Pierre Polnareff

He's surprised when he finds out you're learning French.

You love him that much to learn his native tongue? How romantic of you!

He will do everything in his power to help you learn the language as he knows it can be tricky.

Kisses you sweetly every time you get something correct or even when you're wrong because at least you're trying!

He may not be the best teacher, but he's very passionate about his language and culture.

It's very infectious and is a great motivator!

He desperately hopes that you're enjoying it as much as he is.

Teaches you romantic phrases and terms fairly early into your language learning endeavors.

"I love you" is at the top of that list to teach you.

It just melts his heart to hear you say those little words in his native tongue.

Gives you little treats as motivators for when you're studying.

"How is the studying going, ma chérie?"

Joseph Joestar

Oh, boy.

When you tell Joseph that you want to start learning English, he's ecstatic.

But be warned, this man is the worse at teaching you.

He'll definitely teach you slang and curse words first.

"That's where the fun is at!" he exclaims when you chastise him for being so vulgar.

You finally get him to take teaching you English seriously (though that in itself is a feat alone).

Again, Joseph is not the best teacher.

He tries his best, but he expects you to pick up the language as quickly as he speaks it.

You then have to explain to him that he's a native speaker of English and you, in fact, are not. So naturally, it's going to take some time for you to learn the ins and outs of it.

He's also not the best at explaining the grammar. Just... be patient with him, please.

"You know... Their, they're, and there! All three are different!"

"Joseph..."

Overall, the most excited for you to be learning his native tongue even if he can't help you very much.

Jotaro Kujo

While Jotaro acts as if he doesn't care that you're learning Japanese for him, his heart flutters along with the butterflies in his stomach when you tell him.

But he mustn't betray his stoic nature.

He's not the best teacher as, much like Joseph, he expects you to pick it up quickly.

"It's simple conjugation, dammit," he'll mutter, pointing to the paper in front of you like an irritated father helping a child with their math homework.

You have to remind him that Japanese is his native tongue and not yours.

He slowly but surely begins to understand, though he can still be stubborn when teaching you at times.

He's also strict when it comes to your Japanese lessons, so expect the lessons to be everyday at the same time.

Don't you dare be late unless you want him to brood the whole time.

"Good grief..."

But again, the poor boy just doesn't know how to properly communicate his emotions.

And deep down, he loves you even more for wanting to learn his native tongue.

Noriaki Kakyoin

"You want to learn Japanese? For me?"

Kakyoin is shocked at first.

You want to learn his native tongue... For him?

No one has ever done something like this for him before.

It brings tears to his eyes, and the only thing he can do after you tell him is embrace you in a tight hug.

He's still reeling over it even months into teaching you the language.

He's a decent teacher, much more patient and understanding than Jotaro.

Kakyoin knows that Japanese can be difficult with the different symbols if you're not accustomed to the kind of language that it is, so he does his best to help you learn it!

Writes up flashcards for you and studies with you.

Grammar isn't his favorite, but he brushes up on the basics to teach you better.

Comes up with little songs and rhymes to help you remember things!

[psychemochanight]

Dick being neurodivergent, because why not? (Am I projecting myself onto my hyperfixation character of the moment? Absolutely).

Dick finds the weirdest possible positions to be absolutely comfortable. We already talked about how he likes to hang upside down, but besides that, he's always sitting in a strange way.

Bruce doesn't have any opinion on any of this, but sometimes wonders if Dick is trying to give himself some kind of cramp. The others just wonder if the boy has actual bones.

Bruce thought Dick couldn't be a picky eater, but he's totally wrong. Alfred taught Dick to cook because he knows that if he depended solely on food prepared by other people, the boy would starve. (Worse is when they discover that if they don't remind him, this guy won't eat at all. He just totally forgets that humans need food).

He also taught him other things for sensory issues that he doesn't want to acknowledge. (Yes, there are ways to keep his sheets soft enough, to prevent his shirts from getting lint, even cleaning the slab so it doesn't have weird textures).

Bruce always purposely gave him more work than he needed to do, otherwise he would never get the boy to concentrate. Nothing too difficult, he didn't want to overburden him yet, but seriously, even if he liked math, he would never sit down for more than 10 minutes to do his homework. Organizing his tasks didn't always work, but a deadline? It was his best strategy. Even out of ten minutes, eight were just him thinking about something else and only two to complete the job, he would complete it anyway.

(He never gives him the same task twice in a row. God knows that will never be complete. Have you seen how many jobs this man has? He can't stay in one place for more than a few months).

His thoughts also jump from one situation to another as much as he jumps on rooftops when he is on patrol. Bruce never understands his line of thinking, but it is extremely helpful in solving cases.

Despite appearing extroverted, Dick was still more of an ambivert, sometimes even seeming more introverted, he's just not that shy. His social battery runs out pretty quickly, even if he pretends it doesn't. He still needs time to himself in order to move on, and as a child his best way of pointing this out to Bruce was by hiding under tables in a dark place, or instead, climb to the highest places, farthest from people. Bruce learned that although Dick was used to the noise of people, he was used to seeing it from above, not in the middle of the crowd.

It's not that he's non-verbal, but there are still days where just talking is a no-no. As a child he had better control, but as an adult he just doesn't want to talk, and he's not going to talk.

Weighted blankets? Yes please. Noise cancelling headphones? He would love to, but he is too paranoid to completely isolate himself from his surroundings. (If his friends notice that his leg is bouncing more than usual, they assure him that they will keep watch and ask him to wear his headphones for a while, if they need to talk to him they use sign language).

He also has blackout curtains. And we all know his comfort object is a stuffed elephant, come on. (I love the fandom for this idea. Give the guy his stuffed elephant, give him Zitka.)

Yes, Dick, people have hobbies, but normal people don't change hobbies after mastering them once, much less change them every three days. No, gymnastics is no longer your hobby at this point, it's literally your life.

A special interest falls short when you spent a week without sleep to continue researching your new hyperfixation.

[redflagshipwriter]

Hot Ghouls in your area 7

masterpost

Chapter 7 

…Jason slowly put down the book and turned it cover up, shell-shocked from that interaction. He lifted his phone and took a photo. He sent it to Roy. 

“What do you see?” He typed. Jason bit his lower lip and tried not to scowl while he waited for a response. 

It wasn’t that Jason was unused to conflict. Jason was great at conflict. He won every conflict! (Almost.) But what the hell had this shit been? Why had that guy been so pissy about the book? What the hell was wrong with the book that Jason didn’t see?

“Gibberish?” Roy texted back a few minutes later. “It gives the impression of wonky Cyrillic to me. But it's got a terrible energy to it. The hell is that?”

Jason looked at the cover. To his eyes, there was a serif font declaring it Sense and Sensibility Universe D version 5. 

“Thanks,” he sent, ignoring the question and then the barrage of heart emojis. Shit, okay. 

That answered one question. But it didn't answer enough. What the fuck had that college kid been seeing that was so offensive? 

‘And why'd he think we would meet again?’ 

Jason pushed deep, deep down any awareness that he hoped it was true. That had been weird enough that it would bother him forever if he didn’t get answers.

He sort of hated the idea of getting his nosy family involved, but they would ask different and in some ways, less annoying questions than other groups he could poll. They'd know not to lie to him, at least. So he sent the picture on to the family group chat with the same question and grimly finished his tea. 

The elderly proprietor came out then and noticed that her other customer was gone. She looked confused for a moment, scanning the seat to see if his book bag was still there. She picked up the cash he'd left on the table and then started stacking dishes.

‘He’s a regular,’ Jason guessed, honing in on the opportunity to learn more. He flipped the book open but held the apparently offensive cover down towards the table, out of her line of sight. He needed to know what had gone so wrong. Jason wasn’t normally the kind of person that cute college kids had beef with.

He'd never been in this café before, his intuition had just told him to duck inside.

“I think he forgot something,” Jason offered casually, pretending to just look up from his book. “Ran out real quick in a panic.” 

The lady let out a soft “Ahhh,” of comprehension. “Something for his afternoon class, perhaps,” she agreed, looking a little happier. 

“Yeah, it looked like he was getting ready to settle in for a long study session and then he bolted,” Jason lied, watching her underneath his lashes. He had been paying a little more attention than he ought to when the guy came in. He was Jason’s type, aside from the thing where he’d hated Jason’s face for no apparent reason-

‘No, actually, everyone I’ve ever been into hated me on sight.’

Ouch. As Jason digested that embarrassing truth, the owner continued talking.

“He does that,” she agreed, apparently not thinking it was odd at all for them to talk about the habits of another customer. “Tuesdays and Thursdays. He's a sharp cookie, did you know that?” She continued, and oh, she had halfway adopted this college kid, huh? There was warmth and a hint of pride in her tone.

Jason valiantly swallowed the snort. “He looks familiar, but I don't think we have classes together,” he fished. 

“Mm, he's doing some kind of math and engineering,” the lady helpfully supplied. She gave Jason her full attention as she stood up from the table. “And you?”

“Modern language and literature,” Jason said, and sort of wished it was true. He didn't really have the time. Did he? Spoiler was a full-time student, wasn't she? …Huh.

While he chewed that over, the lady had drifted a couple steps closer.

“...Those are two meaningfully different courses?” 

“Modern language is learning additional languages, I'm doing Russian and Greek right now,” Jason lied easily. He was fluent in both already. “Literature is mostly classics, for my purposes. I'm focusing on Regency Lit.” 

She looked very interested, but she detoured away to deposit the dirty dishes behind the counter. They kept up a light conversation about books as she wiped off the table and reset for the next customer. 

When she left, he finally had the chance to check his messages. There was a full-on fight in the group chat. The last message was from Stephanie. She had tagged him and asked, “Is this an optical illusion??? Like that dress?”

Ah, fuck. Jason felt a rock settle in his stomach at the confirmation that something hinky was going on.

‘I can’t read this in public if it’s saying something I can’t control or even know.’

Fucking hell. Jason scrolled back up and checked. Damian listed the correct title. Dick saw what, ‘I thought was Greek at first.’ Stephanie might have been joking but she argued vigorously that it was pictographs that started with a bird. Drake had sent “You rediscovered Minoan Linear A? Cool.” and then not participated in any follow-up discussions. Duke had sent only a stream of confused and tearful emojis.

Cass had marked it read.

“Fair enough, I guess,” Jason muttered to himself. Resentfully he put the book back in his bag. 

What had that guy seen? If he’d just seen something foreign but illegible he wouldn’t have gotten so pissy about it. And who the hell had he been, anyway? Why was he so special?

Well. That was something to do with his afternoon. Jason paid up his bill and gave Phyllis his well-wishes for her doctor’s appointment tomorrow on the way out. Phyllis was a good contact, he would definitely come back for more of her jasmine tea no matter how mad that guy got at him.

…Jason really needed a name.

And found…

He headed to Gotham University and used the student computers to look up departments and then hack into the registrar. Jason flipped through photos until he found his guy: Danny Fenton, 19, sophomore double-major in the Engineering department. Good grades, no notes on his account about academic dishonesty or conflict.

'Little weird to meet two Dannys in a 24 hour period.'

Jason searched the guy online and found…

He let his mouth drop open in disbelief at the batshit insane website design he had stumbled into. The Fenton family had a website, apparently, and they had maybe let a 7 year old design it in 2008. The colors… The lack of centering… The.. the neon choices.

His eyes watered. It took a while to fight down his aesthetic grief and actually start comprehending the text.

He had expected this to be like, an online family newsletter. And it was! The link he had followed detailed “Danno going to college in the big city!!!” The boy himself looked extremely resigned in the attached photo. Seriously, Jason had seen much less mortified mugshots. The thing was, that on the same page, alongside posts about other kids going college (Jazzypants!) and someone called Alicia recovering from “supergout!” with "her eight favorite toes remaining!!!", there was also a lot of mention of ghosts.

Like, a lot.

Jason scrolled in pained disbelief. There were photos that showed extremely weird and dismayed green people obviously flinching away from a camera. A beautiful green woman with her hair halfway over her face snarled through a flood of smoke under the title “Wishywish Ghostie Interviewed: Learn what drives her generous heart!” and an ugly robot motherfucker was seen fleeing under the caption, “Skalker indicates that spook is a GHOST SLUR!”

….Was it a shit post? Just one long shitpost? It had to be a joke site.

Well. No. Jason buried his face in his hands and came to terms with the horrible fact that not only were ghosts real, he was accidentally married to one and this bombastic midwestern family already knew about it. This was his best lead for getting that 'beyond death do you part' separation.

They had been blasting the existence of ghosts for all the world to read, and it hadn’t been news. The Justice League didn’t know about this whole society. The journalism done by– Jason lifted his head to check– Jack Fenton interviewing clearly very unwilling ghosts was the only primary source that he knew of. 

He took a few deep breaths. He came to terms with grief. He decided to block his family from any further involvement in this shitshow, for what remained of his dignity. And he grimly noted down Jack Fenton’s email.

Jason cleared this history and closed down his tabs, feeling a decade older than he had when he had entered the library. He ignored the sultry ‘come talk to me’ eye contact that the student worker was shooting him from behind the counter as he slouched out. 

He stopped for a moment on top of the stairs to watch campus move. He saw the theatre building and the modern language headquarters from his vantage point, along with about half of the student center. There was just a trickle of foot traffic between buildings along paved paths. A few people were hanging out on blankets in the grass. An old man in a suit was taking a phone call next to a crawling rose garden. 

‘Maybe I should go to school.’

Well. After this shit was sorted out. Obviously he could not go to school before he got divorced. It would be torturous to hang out with cute boys his age and be committed to some hot dead mermaid who didn’t even wanna make out with him sloppy. Loser shit on absolutely every level, goddamn.

Jason shoved his hands in his pockets and jogged down the stairs. He kept an eye out for Danny, but had no luck.  

Not that he cared. It was interesting that he had a lead: Danny clearly had some connection to ghosts, and he had been able to read… 

‘Maybe he realized it was a ghost’s property and he thought I stole it?’ Jason realized in a stroke of inspiration. That made more sense. If he knew enough to recognize it as ghost language or whatever, then he might have felt affronted about Jason having it.

He went through his mental checklist to pick out what he did and didn’t know. Once he felt he had a hang on his priorities, he beelined to his own laptop in his favorite safehouse and started looking into the Fentons in more depth.

It was a great lead. It was suspiciously good, in fact, he thought as he found Jack Fenton’s online family newsletter again. What were the odds that he would run into Danny Fenton in a cafe that Jason had never even been in before? It had been a total fluke that he’d entered. He’d been walking past to a favorite place and then just had the urge to try the dark little family cafe.

‘…Ah, fuck’, Jason sighed. More ghost shit. It had to be. Something about Danny Fenton’s ghost shit had registered to him now that he’d been exposed to ghost central.