#it's why everyone basically already knows about them even if they're not 'official'

[softquietsteadylove]

Spicy Thenamesh Doctor AU!

In the ambulance!

Thena inhales between kisses, "I should go."

"Why?" Gil whispers, and she's not sure if he's being a tease or if he's really asking. His hands are still on her waist, under her scrub top just to feel her bare skin.

"Because I'm on call," she laments as Gil continues to kiss her neck with that very talented mouth he has. "And if we get interrupted neither of us are going to be very happy about it."

"Hm," Gil muses, seeming to almost consider her argument until he pulls her shirt up a little bit more. "It's been a quiet night. I don't think they'll need you in the next...fifteen minutes."

"Fifteen, hm?" she laughs faintly as she does a very poor job of pushing him away. In fact, instead of pushing against his chest all she manages to do is bunch up the material in her hands as she paws at him.

"What can I say," Gil chuckles as he pulls her scrub top and shirt off in one clean swipe. "I'm feeling adventurous."

Thena gasps as he does away with her bra just as easily. He's a bit of a sucker for her boobs, but she doesn't mind. Her spine tingles as he toys with her nipples. "Fifteen minutes worth of adventure--and not a second more."

"Yes, Doctor Thena."

"Wh-!" Thena squeaks as Gil flips them around, letting her brace herself on the inside of the wall while he slips his hand into her scrub pants.

His fingers are immediately in her panties, swirling around the wetness that was already collecting from their make out session and soon pushing in two at a time.

Thena lets out a long, loud groan, "Gil!"

"Sh, baby," he croons in her ear, leaning over her shoulder as he fingers her as if they're horny med students getting caught in a stairwell. "I'm just warming you up."

She's already more than overheated, thank you.

Thena bites into her bottom lip as his fingers move in a beckoning motion inside of her. He always knows just what to do with her. Every once in a while she'll wonder if Gil has always been this proficient a lover or if there's something unrealistically special about her (and her with him). But she doesn't really want to know the answer, so she always forgets it part way through.

"Come on, sweetheart," Gil whispers, moving his fingers faster, holding her hips with his other hand.

Thena whimpers, her knees buckling as she comes around his fingers. Gil likes things hard and fast or he likes sweet, slow love-making. There's never an in between with him. But she is likely to get both in one evening, if they have the time.

Gil pulls his fingers from her slowly and gently, careful of her tender sensitivity. He pops his fingers in his mouth as he moves her to sit on her knees on the ambulance bench.

Not before her pants find a way under and around her knees, leaving her ass out entirely. She whines at him, "have to clean this."

Gil kisses the back of her neck, under her ponytail, "I had to clean it before the next shift anyway."

Thena moans again as Gil braces her hips back against his. He seems so sweet and docile in nature, but she's quickly learning that he's ready to fuck at a moment's notice. She pushes her hips against his.

Gil pushes into her and immediately starts rocking his hips. The ambulance is shaking faintly from them both pushing against it with their palms meshing clumsily. Gil's hand covers hers, "fuck, baby."

"Fuck," she whimpers in reply, echoing his statement. Gil from behind just as a certain...feel to it. He's thick in all the right places--for her, at least. It's like they're made for each other! Not that she needs to be that sappy when he's fucking her in an ambulance up against the wall.

"Kinda hot though, right?" he asked, and she just knows he has that devilish grin on his face. Like when he's asking her if she's left any of her panties in his car by accident (just so Kingo doesn't find them, he says, but she thinks he just likes embarrassing her a little).

"Gil," she drawls, trying to sound like she's scolding him for it, even while he's inside her. She listens to the creak of the bus metal and groans, "not now."

"You're right," he purrs, and she knows she's about to get truly and deeply railed. He picks up one of her thighs and angles her hips differently, "I have more important matters at hand."

Thena's jaw drops open as his hips crash into hers. He holds her thigh up, careful of the tightness in her hip flexors (because of course he is). "Gil!"

"Shit," he pants, basically hugging her thigh to his chest, "you close?"

"Yes, I'm close, fuck--I'm close!" She lets her knees - or one knee, rather - go in preparation. Gil catches her at the waist which grinds them together even more closely and firmly. She comes.

"Fuck!" Gil bellows in response to her coming around him, pulling him to follow. His hips buck against hers.

She moans, all of her muscles becoming useless. She might as well be a pile of gauze on the floor, she has so little bone structure left. She whines.

Gil lets her leg down gently and pulls her into his arms. He kisses her forehead, as if he wasn't just rocking the ambulance so hard she feared it might topple over. "You okay?"

"Hm," she purses her lips, eyes still closed but wiggling in his grasp. "I told you to carry some with you."

"Well, I can't exactly keep 'em in my pockets, hon."

No, maybe that isn't the kind of thing an EMT needs to have that on hand at all times. Thena pushes against his chest, "towel."

He tosses one to her, "we don't really keep them in here, either."

Thena rolls her eyes, using the towel to clean herself up as best she can. No, there isn't much of a need for condoms in the ambulances. But still! "Gilgamesh."

He chuckles, kissing her cheek as she offers it to him for his part of the cleanup. He sighs as she pulls her bra back on, "fine, I'll keep some somewhere on me from now on, okay?"

She huffs as she tugs on her regular t-shirt first and then her scrub top, "y'know, I changed my mind. Maybe the rule is simply no more sex while we're at work."

Gil has the audacity to give her a smirk, "you really think we can stick to that?"

She turns and crosses her arms, warmth in her cheeks, "I'm not talking about the call rooms!"

Gil comes over to her again, leaning over her hunched shoulders and kissing her hair, "okay, honey, whatever you say."

She rolls her eyes; he'll be extra affectionate (unprofessional) tonight. "I've got two more hours on call. Just behave for that much?--if you can, that is."

He gives her a mocking salute as he opens up the doors for her to make her escape, "yes, Doctor."

She purses her lips at him.

He blows her a kiss, "see you soon, dear."

She sighs, turning around to make her way back into the Emergency Room. With any luck, she can avoid Ajak and the accusation that she was using her break time to rendevouz with Gil...again.

[aethelwyneleigh27]

hiii I adore your writing sm mwaaah💋💋💋love this kinda soft n fluffy fics they make me feel safe:'( would you write some domestic fluff with simon plsss FUCKIN LOVE this man💗😭 maybe something where they just got engaged idk whatever you wanna write... have a nice day🤍🌸

Proposal Headcanons And Scenarios With Simon "Ghost" Riley

Do y'all wanna guess who's render I used again? @ave661 probably already hates me for the amount of times I've tagged her the shitty content I write. I hope I did the request justice, they didn't exactly specify what type but I opted for something other than fics because I am horrid in writing those 😭

This is so freaking short, I'm so sorry. I have so many backed up requests, I don't even know where to begin.

❥ Pre-engagement!Simon who spent fucking months looking for the perfect ring, listen he is NOT giving you a ring that he bought impulsively.

❥ Pre-engagement!Simon who gained unsolicited advice from Soap who happened to be the first one to find out Simon had a partner in the first place.

"Aye L.T, if you want a shot of them agreeing to marry you-"

"And what would you know about being romantic?"

Yeah Simon asked Gaz instead. That still didn't change the fact that both Soap and Gaz, along with Price were there before the proposal, giving Simon a pats on the shoulder while the Lieutenant tried to catch his breath.

❥ Pre-engagement!Simon who asked Price for advice so many times, you do not believe how many times he had practiced kneeling on his not-so-strong knees.

❥ Speaking of knees, Simon had to let out some light encouragement:

"Lovie, will you marry me..?" You heard Simon asked while you had your back turned. You faced him, he was on his knees, the ring in the box enveloped in velvet, the stone glistening under the light of the moon.

it felt like the air was taken out of your lungs. Hands on your mouth, you looked at him wide eyed.

"Lovie.. please answer" He mutters, voice clearly a bit of pain and discomfort.

"O-oh shit, sorry Si" You apologized before saying yes. You helped him up with the hand before he pulled you into a tight hug, arms snug around your waist, head buried in your neck while slipping the ring on your finger before you pushed him and cupped his face into a kiss.

❥ After engagement!Simon who's fucking over the moon, why? Because you're finally his, like officially, from the words of your guys' future daughter "No take-backsies". Thinking about how his internal thoughts are just "Fuck, fuck, shit this is actually happening"

❥ After engagement!Simon who has non-stop called you Mrs. Riley in front of everyone even though you weren't married yet, you didn't have the heart to correct him. Soap tried but uhh, that earned him a unexpectedly painful punch on the arm from you.

❥ Didn't take long for you and Simon to start the planning, of course he let you take over for most of it, shared guest list of his brother's family and his family in TF141. Wanna take a guess on who was best man?

❥ Price was the one who stood for his father on Simon's side of the altar, if you asked, Price definitely would've walked you down the isle.

Hot take on engagement rings, I HATE basic and NFL engagement rings with a burning passion. If you're gonna give me something as sentimental as that, something that's gonna symbolize the moment I said yes because I love you so much that I was willing to be bound to you for eternity then I want something vintage or something that looks like it came out of a fantasy book. Something you think that a fantasy princess would wear, I heard they're even cheaper than basic ass engagement rings.

Cost ≠ Taste and Value.

[weirdly-specific-but-ok]

i explain india but i'm drunk.

Hello maggots of mine you're all such babygirls and bastards just like Aziraphale and Crowley. I'm so proud of you all for existing. Yes i'm a wholesome drunk you now know this about me. The wine tastes like rotten grapes and smells of battery acid and cost 245 rupees INR. Speaking of INR, thanks to a maggot's ask, I'm here to explain India. I've never set foot outside of this country. But I'm also very very shit at general knowledge.

To any non-Indians reading this, this is a totally legit 1000% everything covered all-inclusive summary. To any Indians reading this, I'm so so fucking sorry.

India, explained.

So there's south india and there's north india and there's north east india. north india is very racist about south india and they're both very racist about north east india. Most of these people are also probably racist either to other countries or they have internalised racism. It's a wild trip.

There are. A lot of languages here. And a LOT of scripts. I can read two scripts, understand four Indian languages and speak in two of them (badly), and those two are not my native tongues. I cannot speak in my native tongues. It's basically English at this point. These aren't dialects, those are separate. Picture like, Europe, but more, in terms of how many languages.

Everyone hates each other which is valid for the entire planet honestly.

In south india we have a lot of coconuts. Like a lot. There are so many coconuts you have no fucking idea guys you cannot escape the coconuts. I was nearly killed by a shower of coconuts when I was 5 I escaped by one second.

There are also cows. People will tell you that you are being racist when you say India has cows everywhere. But it's true. Two weeks ago I had the pleasure to be stuck in a traffic jam. Next to the street barrier thing (what divides a street im too drunk for this) I saw a huge bull fucking HUMPING a cow. The vehicles just had to move around them. They were having sex right there.

If you're a middle class Indian kid, your career options are: doctor, engineer, scientist, CA, lawyer, government official or family disappointment.

Needless to say, I was going to be doctor and am now instead family disappointment. I'm babygirling so hard it's insane. The prodigal son.

It's very ace-friendly and heterophobic in the sense that you are not supposed to be exhibiting any sexuality whatever in a respectable household. Just shut up and give virgin birth already. But be married. That's crucial.

Oh yeah gay marriage isn't legal trans people are constantly othered by society and/or given no respect whatsover and we're just all vibing here this is totally not why I'm finishing a small bottle of cheap wine on a thursday past midnight alone in my room.

Foreigners are like a zoo species you see them you're instantly concerned like what are they doing outside the TV screens and then either people are normal (rarely), they run up and take photos or try to slip into conversation (more often than you'd think, even I've been guilty of the conversation thing as a kid) OR they start talking about how 'this western culture is ruining our culture'. Which is fair but honestly both the 'cultures' these people are talking about usually involve incredible amounts of bigotry and are more similar than they think.

I think the lesson here is that humans just suck as a species. Except for you maggots. I love you all and I will defend you with my life.

THE CHAAT. THE CHAAT IS INSANELY AMAZING. YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND THE CHAAT. I HAVE NO SPICE TOLERANCE SO I HAVE TO BEG ON MY KNEES FOR THE SPICES TO BE REDUCED BUT STILL. THE CHAAT. THE CHAAT, YOU GUYS. YOU NEED IT.

Sorry yes I'm normal. ALSO THE STREET DOGS. THE INDIES. THEY'RE SO LOVELY AND SWEET AND CHAOTIC AND I KEEP TALKING TO THEM. Once when I was crying I made the dog distress while and like five dogs that I didn't know came running to me and comforted me and licked me.

INDIAN DANCE MUSIC. I FUCKING LOVE IT IT'S INSANE. My family were elitist as fuck so I never got to listen to Bollywood music as a kid but it's AMAZING I'm so glad it exists. Bhangra too.

Beaches very very pretty hills very very pretty honestly the nature is fucking beautiful if you can just quickly pretend humans don't exist, which again is true of this entire planet. Yeah. Okay I'm so fucking drunk.

Yeah lots of diversity which is very nice when the humans aren't screaming at each other about it but the rest of the time it's very nice

The garbage and sewer stories? yeah they're all true im sorry

Traffic rules more like traffic suggestions amirite

Well, we still have far better healthcare access than america. so. there is that.

If you speak English well you'll be mocked and isolated. If you speak English poorly you'll be mocked and isolated. Honestly, just be rich. That'll fix it all.

All the conservatives hate each other and don't realise they're the exact same but in like different flavours.

Oh yeah we have auto rickshaws. Look them up. They're so much better than cars I don't get motion sick as easily in them. But the drivers all hate you and never want to take you anywhere.

Eyyyyyyyyyy it's so fucking fun here *drinsk more alcohol* I am so fucking not looking forward to college.

Please someone crowdfund me out of here let's all go chill in Alpha Centauri I've heard it's nice this time of the year.

I will, however, miss the casual live cow pornos. A true highlight.

[I got this peer-reviewed by my friend in India's top law school, just in case, because I'm too drunk and generally dumb. They say I will not be killed. And they've been on Twitter so.]

Irrefutable legal proof y'all. I don't mean to offend anyone except bigots. Fuck you, bigots, if you're not offended then I've disappointed my community.

[artsy-waffle19]

officially going insane rn: so I'm rewatching s1 and I just realised that Aziraphale actually says "I forgive you" TWICE in the first season. Once when Crowley says the great plan is horrible and suggests running away together for the first time ("may you be forgiven" "unforgivable is part of the job description") and when crowley apologises and says azira is stupid for wanting to talk to a higher authority over the issue ("you're usually so clever how can someone so clever be so stupid" "i forgive you") and both times it's a situation in which crowley asks for more than zira is willing to give "run away with me/join OUR side"/ "stop idealising heaven/god when they're so clearly not ideal" and usually when aziraphale says "i forgive you" what he means is "I'm not gonna do that (yet) and i forgive you for crossing that line before I was ready" (he never actually says "no" because he clearly knows that he should (and wants to) do those things but isn't ready for them and mad at crowley for bringing them to his attention).

And the sad thing is that most of the time, all Crowley is asking, is for Aziraphale to call the things what they are.

But part of aziraphales process is "doing the things but never calling them what they are" let me elaborate: "There is no OUR side" but "I thought we carved this existence out for OURselves" and "this is technically YOUR car just as this is technically MY bookshop (they're both OURS though)". He won't ever question god and heaven, he'll give away his sword and save the children anyways. He won't confess his love but he'll hypnotyse everyone at the shopkeepers meeting so can ask Crowley to dance.

In his mind: He can do whatever he wants as long as he doesn't have to call it anything that would indicate it strays from what he's supposed to do. If he can twist the words to describe it as something holy, he can do it, even if that doesn't actually describe what he's doing or why he's doing it.

But the thing is that Crowley doesn't care about sides and he doesn't care about others approval. He'd rather lie entirely in his reports back to hell about having dones stuff he actually didn't do (the spanish inquisition/ the french revolution) than to stretch the truth or bend words to make him technically speak the truth. He always did, which is partially also a reason why he fell. For him, that trait of his, saying those things out loud is the reason why he's a demon, it's what makes him "unforgivable"

Now he doesn't want that same fate for Aziraphale, which is also why he respects the "you go too fast for me" because Armageddon isn't about to come then and they're still stuck in certain limitations. In situations in which "calling it what it is" could also cause Aziraphale to become a demon, "unforgivable"

But as soon as the apocalypse is about to start or as soon as they're free from heaven and hell he asks Aziraphale to take the chance and just quit it.

In those situations he starts asking for what he knows Aziraphale wants to give, saying the things out loud they've been dancing around for centuries. "We're on OUR side (you never gave a fuck about the rules and the ideals of heaven, not since the day I met you, now just accept that you don't want to be a part of this and go with me like you always have)", "how can someone so clever be so stupid (you know that this won't work, you know that they won't change, please just accept what you already know and come with me)", and finally: "we're a team, a group, a group of the two of us and we spent our existence pretending that we aren't (need I say more? I mean he says it loud and clear: we're basically a couple and we both know it but we never call it what it is. Please call it what it is)"

But every single time everything he gets back is an "I forgive you" "I forgive you for saying that out loud, even though it's something unforgivable" and everytime he goes back to how things were before without further protest. They have a fight, Aziraphale "forgives him", they leave, they come back to each other with the things unchanged, they do it again. And every single time Crowley backs down and accepts the situation. He accepts the "forgiveness" for saying what Aziraphale can't.

Except for in s2 e6 because this time he refuses to call it anything but love. This time he won't back down and do what aziraphale wants him to do, which would be: become an angle, be forgiven.

Because if being an angle, if being forgiven, means bending the truth and dancing around words, means never getting to be on OUR side, means never getting to be an US, means never getting to say "I love you" to the one person that matters, then he doesn't want to be forgiven.

so he tells Aziraphale "don't bother"

[chahnniesroom]

tenderness | chapter 1: goodbye hello

[noun] /ˈtendərnəs/

1. the quality of being gentle, kind, or loving

2. the feeling of pain, aching, or soreness

pairing: bang chan x female reader

summary: in a world where soulmates are rare and precious, you don’t know why the universe has decided to give you one. you never could have imagined that they would be an idol, and one that you worked with at that, or the challenges that would arise from your bond.

chapter word count: 3.3k

chapter warnings: none :)

masterlist | next chapter | read it on ao3

"I'm sorry." You stare down at where your hands are twisting together in your lap. "I don’t really know how to say this. But these are going to be the last few weeks that I'm going to be working with you."

You're met with no response and when you dare to look up, all the members are staring at you in disbelief.

"What?" Jooyeon finally breaks the silence in a small voice. "Where are you going?"

"I'm not going anywhere, but I'm being transferred,” you reassure them. “I was asked to join the Stray Kids team, a lot of their future work is going to rely heavily on communication with companies that only speak English and so they want to support the translators as much as possible."

The room bursts into noise at that. It's a bit of relief, the lighthearted threats of demanding that the members of Stray Kids hand you over, the declarations that they're only going to speak English from now on to force you to stay. You get to laugh instead of cry, even though you still have mixed feelings about your new role. It'll be a fantastic opportunity and you know you'll learn a lot, but you're still not sure if it's worth how much you'll miss being a part of the Xdinary Heroes team.

When the group quiets down, Gunil shuffles closer and takes your hand.

“Thank you so much for working with us for so long. We will miss you a lot, but don’t worry, we’ll make sure to work hard so that we can go on tour and steal you back! Fighting!” The rest of the members echo his words and suddenly pull you into a group hug. You blink back tears and try to bask in the warmth of their arms, already missing them.

“It has been an honour working with you. I’m so proud of all of you and am very excited for what the future holds. I still can’t believe you’ve accomplished so much, I still remember when you were still trainees and looking like babies.” You stop to clear your throat but end up having to hold back a laugh when there are immediate protests.

“Hey!” Jungsu whines, pulling back. “You’re not even that much older than us, noona. Gunil-hyung is older than you so you can’t call him a baby!” 

“You guys are all my babies," you say affectionately. "You always will be. I’m so glad I got to watch you grow so much.” You ruffle his hair playfully and ignore when he swats away your hand. "No matter what happens I'll always be on the sidelines supporting you!" 

You tug everyone back into a hug and smile wistfully when you notice more than a few misty eyes. Xdinary Heroes will always have a special place in your heart, not only as the first group that you were a manager for, but also for their bright personalities and unwavering determination. Not for the first time, you wonder if you’ve made the right decision. All you can do is hope.

—

Although nothing has been announced officially yet, there are enough transfers within JYPE to subtly signal big things in the works for Stray Kids. On your first day, you’re relieved to find that you’re not the only new member of Division 1, nor are you the only one coming from Studio J.

The orientation finishes quickly as most policies and procedures are company-wide so you and the other transfers are already familiar with them, although it still takes up the bulk of your morning. The only highlight of training is a short break where all of you are filed into a practice room and are shocked to find yourselves face-to-face with Stray Kids themselves. Introductions are done in a flash, each person basically only has enough time to bow, quickly say their name and a greeting, bow again, before they’re all led out.

While you’ve worked at JYPE long enough to not feel star-struck in the presence of celebrities, you still found yourself caught off-guard by the eight pairs of eyes that had been on you during the brief moment that you had spoken. Of course, you had seen the members in the building before, but that had been more like passing by in the hallway instead of actually having a conversation. Chances are, they had never given you anything other than a perfunctory glance.

After lunch, you’re brought to your new team where more introductions are done and the specifics of your new role and responsibilities are explained. You’re focusing on reading documentation that details all the work that has already been done for the tour when a hand suddenly clamps down on your shoulder, making you jump and let out a little scream. You turn quickly to find a familiar face that’s crinkled with laughter.

Eunsung was one of the first friends that you made at JYPE, back when you were still an intern. He had also been young and new to the company, so it was easy for the two of you to gravitate towards each other even though you worked in different divisions. One of the things you had been most excited for when transferring was the chance to finally work directly with Eunsung after so many years of knowing each other.

“Always so focused, Y/n-ah. It makes you so easy to scare,” he teases.

“Yah!” You stand and smack his arm in response. “It’s my first day here Eunsung-oppa, if you’re too mean to me then I’ll report you to HR for harassment.”

“You’re the one hitting me! And it’s not your first day, if it were then wouldn’t it be your fifth first day or something?” he says, clutching his arm dramatically. “Someone please call for a first aid attendant, I’ve been wounded!”

“Yeah, yeah, I know you’re one of the team’s attendants. I’m sure that you can treat yourself,” you sniff, turning away. 

“Hey, but really, I’m glad to have you finally join the team,” he says genuinely. “I won’t bother you any longer, I know you have a lot to catch up on. Have fun!”

You give him a goodbye hug, then settle back in your seat as he leaves. As much as you enjoy bantering with Eunsung, you’re conscious that it would look bad if you talk too long, especially since your team lead, Yonghwan, is only a few desks away and can likely hear what you’re saying. You feel a bit better when Eunsung stops at Yonghwan’s desk and they exchange a friendly greeting. When Eunsung gestures towards you and they both look over, you smile and wave, a bit sheepish that you were caught watching them.

You turn back to your computer to concentrate again. You’re already beginning to feel overwhelmed by all the files you still have left to look at and the constant emails with new information and meeting invites, but are determined to prove yourself in this new position and help the team as much as you can.

—

The first time that you have an actual conversation with one of the members of Stray Kids, it’s totally unexpected. You’re on the phone with staff from one of the venues in North America and have stepped out into the hallway so you don’t disturb your coworkers. You’ve finally settled into your job and one of your responsibilities includes the organisation of coordination meetings for the venues, something you didn’t realise would be so time consuming or frustrating. 

Partway through your call, Felix passes by the alcove that you’ve tucked yourself into and does a double take when you reply to something in English. One of the vending machine water bottles that he’s balancing in his hands thuds to the ground.

He stares at you with wide eyes, mouth hanging open. Startled, you quickly finish the call, promising to email as a follow up, and bow to him.

"Hello Felix-nim," you say politely, switching back to Korean. "Did you need help with something?

"You-you’re Y/n-nim, right?" he splutters.

“Yes,” you say, surprised. “I just joined your team recently, I’m surprised you remember me.”

“There’s not too many staff members close in age to us, and even fewer are female,” he explains. “You would have stood out even more if I knew you’re so good at speaking English!”

"Ah, yes," you say sheepishly. "I was transferred to help with Stray Kids as your team prepares for your upcoming tour. They wanted more people who could communicate with the overseas companies and venues without needing a translator and I'll also be going with you to help organise things during the tour too."

"Wow! I didn't realise, now I have someone other than Channie-hyung to speak with! Do the other members know?"

Without waiting for a reply, Felix grabs your wrist and pulls you towards the practice room. The rest of the members are spread throughout the space, but all turn to stare as Felix bursts through the door and drops all the remaining water bottles onto the ground in front of them.

"Guys, guys!" he exclaims, waving the hand that was still wrapped around your wrist. "Did you know Y/n-nim spoke English?"

"Oh?" "What? "Say something!"

Ignoring the explosion of noise as they all the boys react, Felix turns back to you. 

"Did you study overseas? You're so fluent!"

"Ah no no no," you say, waving your hands quickly in denial. Your cheeks are heating up quickly under the sudden attention. "My English actually isn't that good. I went to school in Seoul, but it was my minor when I went to university. Actually, this job is good practice since I don't speak it much anymore."

"Say something in English!" Han insists, using English to emphasise his request.

"Uhm, I don't know what to say," you reply, flustered.

"Explain to them why you're working with us now, say what you said to me." Felix nudges you, playfully. 

"I'm working to help the team before and during your upcoming tour. They thought it would be good to have more managers that can speak multiple languages and I'm grateful to have the chance to work with you. Please take good care of me!" You say, bowing to the whole group. Inwardly you cringe at the overly formal tone that you adopted.

"We're glad to have you working with us! Felix is right, your English is very good." Chan pipes up. 

Everyone else jumps to agree, commenting how impressed they are. It quickly dissolves into chaos as they start to yell out any and every English word or phrase that they know. This continues on until someone's phone chimes with an alarm and they all groan, but get up to start practising again.

"I don't want to practise!" yells Seungmin, still in English. "Y/n-nim, take me with you!"

He throws himself in your direction and maknae line follow suit, Jisung going as far as to grip the hem of your pants. You laugh, backing away towards the door.

“I wish you could come with me too, but you probably don’t want to sit through all the boring meetings in my schedule for this afternoon. So really, I think I’m sparing you.” 

The last thing you see before the door closes is Chan, still sitting on the couch at the back of the room. He’s looking over the members, amused but immeasurably fond.

—

You’re quickly integrated into your new team and find that, although you were initially pulled in to help with the tour, the responsibilities of all the managers are blurred. As the tour is still almost a year away, priorities are centred around the upcoming comeback. When one of the staff calls in sick, you find yourself bundled into a van and heading to the boys’ next schedule. 

Not really certain of what you should be doing, you try your best to keep busy doing miscellaneous tasks and staying out of the way. It's not your first time at a schedule, but you've always been there with a definite purpose before, not just as an extra set of hands.

You're in the middle of hanging up different outfits when the members arrive.

Felix brightens immediately when he sees you and switches to speaking English, forcing you to do the same.

"Y/n!" he calls out. "I didn't think you'd be here! It's nice to see you outside of the company building for once!"

"Felix." You bow quickly and glance around to see if anybody is staring at the two of you, slightly relieved when you find nobody is paying attention. "It's good to see you too! I wasn't originally going to be here, but someone else wasn't feeling well so I'm helping out instead."

"Will you be with us the whole day?"

"Uhm," you quickly pull out your phone and check your calendar. "Yes, I think so. Unless they decide that they don't need the extra help."

Felix's smile seems to light up the whole room. Someone from across the room calls his name and you quickly sift through the clothes you've been hanging up to find the ones with his name on the tag.

"These are for you," you hold them out for him to take. "Good luck and have fun! Fighting!"

"Fighting!" he echoes, holding up a fist. “I’ll talk to you later!”

“Sounds good, now go!” You shoo him towards the changing area. You turn to see Minho just on the other side of the clothes rack, watching Felix go with an amused look.

“He’s been so happy to have you on the team,” he says in Korean. “He doesn’t have many people willing to indulge him. A lot of the Division 1 staff have been with us for a few years and back then, even if they could, they weren’t allowed to speak English to help him learn Korean faster. So a lot of them still don’t.”

“Oh,” you say, suddenly unsure. “I- Sorry. Nobody said anything about that. I can do the same if you think that’s more appropriate.”

At that Minho finally looks at you and holds a blank stare for a full minute before his mouth curves into a smirk.

“It’s good,” he finally says. “If anyone deserves spoiling on this team, it’s Yongbokkie. We’re all glad to have you with us as well. Just know that he might end up clinging to you as much as he can, don’t be afraid to tell him if you are too busy for it. We don’t want you to get in trouble on our behalf.”

Before you have a chance to say anything, he leans forward, pulling his outfit off the rack and walking away without another word. Flustered by the strange interaction, you don’t know if you should be flattered that you seem to have approval from one of the more intimidating members of the group or worried that you’ll be scolded by Division 1 about the reason that Felix has taken a liking to you.

—

Although you only attend schedules sporadically, they are definitely your favourite part of your new position. True to Minho’s words, it becomes something of a routine for Felix to latch onto you at schedules when the other members are preoccupied with work or getting ready. He didn’t have to worry about potentially mussing your hair, smudging makeup, or getting caught in accessories. This was especially common on longer shoots, when he grew exhausted and didn’t have the capacity to be so careful about translating everything. He would speak to you in a mix of Korean and English while blinking sleepily, voice growing deeper the closer he was to falling asleep.

The skinship was gradual at first. He would lean into your side while watching something on his phone, fiddle with your hair, or play with your hands, delighted that they were even smaller than his. If the breaks were long enough, then you would let him doze, leaving him vulnerable to the other members who would constantly take pictures of him nodding off. He began to greet you with hugs, wrap his arms around you when you sat on a couch with him instead of just leaning, and the two of you had dropped formalities, especially when speaking in English. 

You have also grown close to the rest of the boys, although you didn’t quite share the same level of familiarity or skinship. It had happened naturally, if Felix was slouched against your shoulder, it was easy for another member to drop onto your other side. They all perked up when you entered the room with drink trays or containers of food, knowing that you had made the effort to learn their favourites. You even shared a quiet camaraderie with Chan, from times where the two of you sat together in silence, both focused on completing as much work as you could during breaks. 

You were surprised but thrilled to be so quickly welcomed and trusted by the group. You couldn’t deny that you were touch-starved and that the skinship was as comforting to you as it was with Felix. It was strictly platonic and apparently common enough for Stray Kids that none of the staff even blinked at the sight of Felix wrapped around you. In fact, it was somewhat of a running joke among the managers, one that you didn’t hear of until about a month into your new position, that sitting on the couches in a waiting room during a schedule was just asking to be glomped on by one of the members.

Even though your main responsibilities were still centred around organisation of the upcoming world tour, you were slowly becoming the go-to manager to fill in when someone else was unable to attend a schedule. As long as you continued to prioritise your work well enough to meet all your deadlines, you were even allowed to be the one to supervise member live streams or help film tiktoks. The tour was still months away, but you were getting increasingly excited for it and the chance to hang out with the group without feeling guilty about other work you could be doing.

—

You’re not quite sure how it all happens. It’s just a blur to you. One second you’re at a schedule, sitting on the couch reading through the details of a contract that you’re helping finalise during a break and the next, there’s a body crashing into yours. 

Your only thought is despairing that you haven’t saved the document recently so you desperately try to protect your laptop from any damage, pulling it away before it can collide with a stray body part. As a result, you lose balance, tipping forward and fall straight into Chan, who’s sitting on the ground tucked between the couch and the low table so that he can work on his computer.

A jolt of energy seems to pass through your forehead, right when it knocks into Chan’s arm. You scramble to right yourself, rubbing at the spot where you touched while Chan does the same to himself. He hasn’t changed into the outfit that the stylists have assigned for him, instead wearing a shirt that has the sleeves cut off, leaving his arms exposed. In the background, Felix, Jisung, and some of the other members are squabbling, but you can barely hear it over the thud of your pulse. 

“Did you-” you start to say.

“Feel that too?” Chan finishes your sentence in a low tone, his disbelieving expression matching how you feel.

Slowly, Chan reaches out and takes your hand in his. The second you touch, there’s that same startling jolt. You’re filled with a strange sense of comfort and you can feel an unfamiliar warmth that’s coming from where your skin makes contact with his.

You and Chan stare at each other, eyes wide.

Soulmates.

masterlist | next chapter

[somewhereincairparavel]

🪸 𓇼 ⋆｡˚ 𓆝⋆｡˚ 𓇼 Percy Jackson headcanons starring Elora! (An island and summer girl at heart!) 🪸 𓇼 ⋆｡˚ 𓆝⋆｡˚ 𓇼

Thank you @sequinsnstars for reigniting my interest in this series. It's time I did a remake!

I know everyone is just thinking "why did you have yourself be a camper in camp Jupiter if you hate camp Jupiter so much?" Well. I exist in camp Jupiter because I want to spite everyone who gave Jason a hard time there 😤

Anyways, I had no claiming in Camp Jupiter, the moment I stepped foot onto the campus with the 7, a huge shiny blue trident appeared over my head, the storm clouds were huddling together to form a storm, and all that typical dramatic Poseidon shenanigans. I think that kinda cemented that I was officially a part of camp half blood now??The claiming actually made me feel good? Because Poseidon chose to be extra dramatic and made sure to do it when basically everyone at camp was inside the huge campus, so basically everyone stopped what they were doing to like, stare in curiosity.

Because in Camp Jupiter, I never received any positive kind of attention yk? Neptune was considered bad luck, so I was basically receiving the child of hades treatment, but the Roman version.

As a legacy of Athena and Hermes (thank you to my moots for helping me figure this out!) I naturally get along with them very well.

@gentlehue would SO teach me how to grow plants, and I'll help her water them 😤💅 Cynthia I'd definitely give you potted flowers every time I run into you 🩷

I swear the Aphrodite children are SO superficially judged by people in camp sometimes :/ I'd defend my pretty babies from harassment and gossip any day fr (@sequinsnstars @auroraofthesun)

Also dear Aphrodite children, I love makeup and would spend hours in your cabin with you drowning in lip gloss. Y'all would be the best teachers for my make-up lessons.

Percy and I have beds facing diagonal to each other, while Tyson sleeps in the bottom bunk. We have fun game nights all the time omgg.

I have pictures of my happy times in Rome stick on my board (‘happy times’ translate to pictures w my bb boy Jason Grace since we were kids and he has them stuck too awh 🥹)

Since I'm an Athena legacy, I always tease Annabeth and Percy that “I'm related to BOTH of them” and also, they make me pick sides when they're annoying e/o by saying “cmon family sticks together!”

I would be great buddies with Castor and Pollux (let's pretend they're both happy and alive) and would always reassure them that Dionysus kids don't deserve to be called “lazy and useless” bc THEY DON'T.

Speaking of which, Dionysus rolled his eyes at my dramatic claiming muttering “another useless sea urchin that provides nothing but high attitude to our camp” 😭 bro didn't even Hesitate

I feel like I wouldn't get along with Ares children that much. Neptune children are known for their high temper (with Neptune representing the ‘violent and turbulent’ side of the ocean, unlike Poseidon who represents the positive sides of it) and it would totally clash with Ares kids tbh. Frank Zhang, however, is the biggest exception!

I have these moments where Annabeth is just so used to calling Percy “seaweed brain” and teasing him about being oblivious that she forgets that I'm an Athena legacy aswell and just assumes I'm not that smart. (Not implying that she thinks Percy's dumb, but her teasing kinda gets to her head sometimes) and i have to snap back with some quick smart response to remind her that lol

am considerably close to Nico, because I already knew him at camp Jupiter, and we kinda had a small heart to heart about how terribly we were both treated because of our parentage. Of course, that closeness continued in camp half blood as well.

I'm the closest to Kayla and Will in the apollo cabin because they almost always are the ones who treat my injuries (and @auroraofthesun too because you're an Apollo legacy!)

I have a Pegasus that I took with me from Camp Jupiter, his name is ‘Alga’ (meaning, ‘seaweed’ in Latin) he's steel blue with a grayish tint. I didn't get a Pegasus of my own like Reyna did, but more rather, I came across one who followed me around, and i adopted it without telling anyone but Jason about it while I was at camp. He thought it was sweet and didn't snitch on me or even tell Reyna <3

And Yes, Alga and blackjack are buds. And yes they do roast us, and yes we do understand them.Also, just like how Demeter kids hate when flowers are being plucked from their roots, and how Percy hates aquariums because they confine sea creatures, I hate it when people take too many seashells from the beach. (irl I actually love seashells and used to collect them, but I've heard taking too many spoils the ecosystem in a way, and realistically if I am in the pjoverse, that would naturally make me dislike it)

But I do love making sand castles and attachingseashells on them, because I'm not taking them with me right? It's just gonna stay there. I can have fun in an eco friendly way lolzAnd I prefer keeping fake seashells made of ceramic and stuff as decor to maintain my aesthetic

Me and Percy can communicate underwater, but to other people, it would sound like we are speaking gibberish. He was ECSTATIC when he discovered this new made-up sea language ability lmao

Also, we are both in-charge of cleaning the ocean if it gets too dirty, so we have “chores days” where we dive in, and clean every ounce of harmful algae. And tending to sick sea animals.My nickname is ‘Kelp head’ because I have extremely wavy hair that's shaped like kelp. I've had that nickname ever since my time at camp Jupiter!I'm extremely competitive at capture the flag! Because of that Roman wild war blood in me, I just can't help but take it kinda seriously. I feel like Percy's way more chill when it comes to this lol

[kiawren]

Does anyone want to ask me anything about my spidersona lion spider PLEASE. I am cursed with constant thoughts of him and his world but I Cannot draw it. Okay you don't have to ask but if you want you can read this becuz my brain is full of him.

AOUGH okay I ended up typing some info I thought of the past few days. I still haven't settled on his name becuz he's a self insert and I want to name him Wren but I also want to name him something that has more of the character's essence...

Pre spider bite:

He introduces that (though he's Chinese,) he sucks at studying, he can't play instruments and he's not even athletic. He's introverted, likes animals and he likes to draw (Becuz he's basically me) and tries to find and draw them around the city. He tried to join a lion troupe/the club in his school but got rejected cuz he's essentially talentless for them 😭

On the way home he spots a poster at a shophouse for those who are interested in making lion heads to go upstairs. He ends up learning from the old man there, and enjoying it a lot as it's a way to give life to the art form without participating in the performances itself.

His city & some characters

It's modern and urban and has lots of Chinese and other Southeast Asian architecture. It's sorta based on Singapore too which is where the building in the second drawing above is from anyway. Imagine a spiderverse world with lots of shophouses, pagodas, temples, mosques.. They're the heights of skyscrapers. There are only fragmented and rare plots of nature within such a city.

Animals are rare, more common are mythologised ones such as the Chinese guardian lions, and the Naga and Garuda in Hindu and Buddhist mythology, which is what he mentions in his introduction without knowing some of the villians he'll face later are based off these figures. The lions can shift forms between sand and stone, the Naga figure is doc ock and the Garuda green goblin. Yes in mythology they're not evil and that's why they're probably working for alchemax and kingpin before becoming allies later (at least the lions becuz... Kitty...) but I haven't figured it all out yet...

His friend organises shadow puppetry performances twice weekly at a community theatre. This friend later becomes black cat but lion spider doesn't know that at first.

The shows are very popular and of their shows the most popular is the one of Spider-man, a hero who is bitten by a spider. ...... He always joked it was silly but when it happened to him... 😐

Lion spider

The lion dance head shophouse was next to alchemax I suppose. Their spider escaped and made webs in the heads and alchemax sent a bad guy to find it. Except it already bitten lion spider days before. So uh I think the mentor guy got killed (uncle Ben moment) and lion spider fought back by wearing the lion dance head and beat him with his newfound strength. It felt nice to take the form of lion dance and he gained a confidence in doing so. So he decided to incorporate it into the spider-man figure from then on.

It's also good that he didnr officially join any troupe becuz I think lion dance is kind of a big thing in their city and many troupes compete annually in some lion dance competition. And everyone was like ooook whichever troupe member is absent is lion spider. And then all the members were there. while a villian showed up during the crowded competition and lion spider was also there.

He took one of the heads among the chaos and gave a performance defeating the villian yay! The sad thing is he never really got to dance with a partner. Although he knows the steps he only ever practiced on his own.

the ATSV friends + kiawren

This universe has no Kiawe but he eventually makes friends with the Spiderverse characters (not Miguel he also doesn't like him) and hangs out with them. I guess he's a part of spider society but pretends not to know about the seriousness of the canon stuff (Hobie told him about it) and just isnt there in the drama like how Pavitr wasn't.

There's a Kiawe spider-man!! I did draw a bit of his vague design I had in mind before. (which is inspired by polynesian face tattoos and his role as a fire dancer like his original character)

They have a milesgwen romance except not the narrative angst. They bond over their traditional dances and being trans guys. THERE'S A LOT. OF PINING. The yearning to visit each other, the wondering how they're doing in their daily lives in their respective worlds, wanting to show them something in theirs, THE FIRST TIME THEY SAW EACH OTHER'S FACE.

Kiawe isn't really in the friend group, he just spends time with lion spider. So when the latter is with the atsv friend group they keep teasing him and trying to match them on spider society missions.

Also, Kiawe's world has a lot of natural wonders (Volcanoes, oceans, forests) and lion spider loves it so much he sorta tears up seeing it the first time he visits becuz his world doesn't have these things.

[max1461]

From @raginrayguns:

More generally, I think I have a much more uh. I don't know what to call it. I think lots of ethics and aesthetics does and should cash out in very "practical" stuff like having money and not dying, you think it's much more arbitrary and "practical"-sounding justifications are ad hoc. But also my view leaves a lot of room for like, simple pleasures that are part "behavioral loops" that result in practical stuff. Like, don't just clean your house in order to avoid getting sick from black mold etc, tidy it and make it look nice and decorate it. Don't just take care of your health, instead try to make your body more to your tastes not just in health and function but also in appearance and gender expression. Objectivists are like this too, that's why there's so much sex and partying in Atlas Shrugged and the evil dictator is a slob (it keeps mentioning that his shirt has a droopy collar and he doesn't get it starched).

So, for me, it's not exactly that I think ethics and aesthetics are especially arbitrary in actuality, it's more that I think it's better to model them that way.

Like, in reality I do think that a lot of the desires that people have cash out to a small-ish set of "practical"/"visceral" desires, things like self-preservation, desire for food, for sex, for companionship, for admiration, for entertainment, etc. And even a lot of these basic desires share an evolutionary origin, e.g. we evolved to want food because that urge is useful to keep us alive and so on. But, speaking about any individual person and why they seek out food, their answer isn't going to be "because I want to survive, and I rationally concluded that food is necessary for that". It's mostly a pre-rational urge, they're hungry so they seek food. It's effectively axiomatic. This is evident in the fact that they may eat foods which actually aren't good for their survival, like junk food, because those foods taste better or sate their hunger better, etc. People also usually have a desire to survive, which might be strong enough to motivate them to stop eating junk food, but it's certainly best to model these two desires as separate things, individually axiomatic and sometimes conflicting, even though in a biological sense they derive from the same place.

Right, so, I assume(?) you agree already to some degree or another with the above, it seems pretty necessary for modeling human behavior. But I think that what I do is basically to extend this model to more types of desires, even those that indeed may be rationally derived from more "basic" ones as above. Like, if someone tells me they want to live in a snowy, cold weather place... maybe it's because they feel better at that temperature, or they like the smell of pines, or they are more attracted to the way people dress in cold-weather climates, or whatever. Probably it's a complicated mix of a bunch of factors. Unless I know them really well, I can't model all that. So it's useful to just be like "what they want is to live in a cold place; noted" and treat it as basically an axiom.

I guess this is all really tied up in the way that I see ethics generally, which is something that I think about as like, diplomacy, negotiation, an attempt at finding a satisfactory compromise between different people with different wants. So it's useful to think in terms of "what demands are people laying out? What's on the bargaining table?". I can't possibly model everyone's internal reasons for wanting what they want, what I need is an understanding of what people seem to want, and knowledge of how they're willing to trade some wants off against others. Obviously internal modeling can help with this, but at a certain point it's not practically achievable. You just gotta take people's word for it.

Right, so, that's part of it. But the other part is that I think this kind of, uh, official agnosticism towards where desires come from is useful for dealing with psychological variation. Because while it's true that lots of people's desires seem to cash out to a small generating set common to most of us, I think it's also true that some of our desires cannot be derived from this set, and furthermore that perhaps most of us have at least a few desires of this type.

Like, a big part of this is informed by being unusual in various ways (I don't love "neurodivergent", but it's true), and having to argue with people to get my needs met.

A lot of people seem really dedicated to their own substantive system of right and wrong, derived from what they think the wants and needs of "ordinary" people are. Often I'll have some need that is not covered by this, and I'll go "look, I have need X, I'm happy to go out of my way and do Y to accommodate the fact that I am asking you to be considerate of X, let's figure out something that can work for both of us". And their response is very often something like "no, [according to my substantive ethics] it's unfair of you to ask X, and it would also be unfair of me to ask Y ". So what's happening here is that their dedication to this substantive system is getting in the way of them making a compromise that would be good for everyone. And I then need to frame my own need X in terms of some substantive things that they already endorse, make it comprehensible within their system, before they take it seriously as a negotiating point. I find things much easier when people are willing to skip the substantive analysis step and just go straight to "ok, you want X, I want Y, let's negotiate".

So that's really where this is coming from. Yes, I think the bulk of human desires seem to derive from some fairly small set of axioms/terminal goals/whatever, but I also think:

It's really hard to know what exactly is in that set, and to usefully predict what people's on-the-ground desires will be from it, because modeling people psychologically is hard.

There is enough psychological variation in people that an individual's own personal set of terminal goals may differ from the consensus set in a morally- or socially-relevant way, and this happens often.

And so if you see ethics as being about negotiating some sort of "ideal" compromise between different people with different desires, it's better to imagine that anyone could walk up to you one day with basically any old want and be prepared (at least in some philosophical sense) to be able to handle that.

Uh, something like that.

[differenteagletragedy]

AHEM!!

Cove x Xavier

Please. I need to know their relationship and how it grew after Step 4

And Cove warming up to Baxter again (pleaaaaaaase)

-- Baby's first Our Life ship (that did not involve MC lolol)

--It JUST MAKES SENSE. So see what happened was that everyone was at the party after the wedding at Jude and Scott's house. Miranda and Terry were dancing and MC and Baxter have all hearts in their eyes, and so Cove and Xavier were both the odd ones out.

-- Xavier is an actual angel and started chatting Cove up and quickly thought he was adorable, because he's Cove and that's just the truth.

-- Cove is a little awkward at first, but Xavier is fine with that. They're good at reading people, and they could see that it wasn't necessarily that Cove didn't want to talk to them, but that it just takes him a bit.

-- But Cove knows that Xavier made that cake, and that cake was a spiritual experience for him. He knows they brought more treats so he's like "So ... uh ... you made that stuff in there?"

-- Xavier is proud of their skills, takes him to the kitchen and makes him try one of everything. And that's pretty much it for Cove. He doesn't fall for them then of course, but he's definitely like "This is a very sweet person who makes me feel good and is treating me special and who also makes the best sweets I have ever had in my life."

Cove: So what kind of things do you make at your bakery?

Xavier: Oh, basically any sweet you can think of.

Cove: *names a million different kinds of cakes and pastries and cookies, etc., then finally* Do you make cinnamon rolls?

Xavier: Yes, the best in the city!

Cove: *hunger intensifies*

Xavier: Tell me a day next week that's good for you, I'll make you a fresh batch and you can stop by."

-- Friendship initiated.

-- From there, Cove starts coming to the bakery, Xavier invites them over, they exchange numbers. They talk more and more and start hanging out more often.

-- One day (and I do realize this is a Baxter move, but maybe that's where they learned it!) they're at the bakery, Xavier has made some cupcakes and Cove devours them. He gets icing on his face, and Xavier wipes it off with a finger then licks it.

-- And Cove has officially caught A Feeling.

-- Xavier was already there, and they can tell Cove made it there too, but they think it would be best for him to bring up the topic first. He's a little younger, less experienced, more nervous etc. so they're prepared to give him time.

-- Cove spends so much time at the bakery, which is Xavier's happy place, that he feels the need to take them to his happy place (obviously the beach). They go one day, and Xavier just looks so pretty there at his favorite place, and it's such a nice mixture of two things he loves -- wait what, "loves"? Oh no, Cove's got it bad.

-- While they're there, he takes them to meet Cliff because why would he not stop in to see his dad. And Cliff and Xavier get on like a house on fire. They're just both personable and warm people, and Cove is like "what if this is what my life could be," like what if Xavier becomes family?

-- We know with the Cove x MC route that when Cove falls in love, he falls HARD, and that's what happens with Xavier.

-- Time goes by still, so this is like several months after the party. They are the grossest, mushiest not-couple couple you have ever seen in your life.

-- Finally, Cove confesses. He's never really had these kinds of feelings before, but he definitely has them now and if Xavier is open to it, he'd like to explore this. He stutters a lot more when he gets this message across. Xavier is so sweet about it, and they kiss. ROMANCE.

-- And basically they live happily ever after!

-- For Baxter, Cove has some mighty big reservations when he pops back up in MC's life again. When Baxter apologizes, he can accept that, but he really hurt MC very badly, and yeah, he's not a fan.

-- Even when MC starts officially dating him, Cove isn't too sure.

-- It's just going to take time and a lot of talks with MC (and some with Xavier!) to get him to warm up to Baxter, especially because he was never particularly warm to him in the first place. They are just two different kinds of people, but once it becomes clear that Baxter isn't running away again, that MC is happy, he can settle down some.

-- Baxter has settled down too, that helps -- he's not the same person he was at 19 when they first met. He understands why Cove isn't super friendly with him, and he doesn't want to push it. He wants to prove to him that he's better than he was then.

-- After a while, Cove realizes that Baxter is MC's person, and as MC's platonic person, he needs to get on board. So he starts making a little bit of an effort. Baxter notices and starts making more of an effort too. MC and Xavier high five whenever they have even the tiniest moment.

-- I don't think there's any sort of big moment between them, it just takes time for things to fall into place. They're never going to be besties, but they both love MC so so much, they can certainly be friends.

-- Baxter is the wedding planner.

[opinated-user]

Lily has responded.

More D.A.R.O style exercises.

raise your hand if you're surprised.

more than that… i can't stress enough how much LO is lying. and i don't mean about the accusations from Courtney or about Courtney, but on the very first line.

"my sister is lying about me because i talked about her being abusive and participating on the abuse coming from my parents so she's retaliating."

this is factually wrong and anyone can debunk this. anyone can go through my blog right now, see the date in which i started talking about "someone claiming to be LO's sister" claiming a bunch of things about LO and then compare that with the date in which LO started really hamming in about how her sister was awful, how Courtney tried to kill her, how much of a little bully she was.

before we started talking about the allegations from "someone claiming to be LO's sister", because we didn't had any confirmation at the time, LO barely even talked about her sister. the most all of us knew was the story about beating her 15 times over a control remote and she ran away from home. it was only after Courtney made her accusations that LO suddenly felt talking a lot more about her childhood and her sister.

i too need to point out how LO still doesn't know what reactive abuse is. LO, i'll explain it clearly since you don't seem to get this: everytime you accuse anyone of being an example of "reactive abuse", you're saying that they're reacting… to the abuse you put them through. that's what the actual term means. it doesn't mean "this person abused me in response to me defending myself from their abuse", which i think is what you think, but rather "this person is reacting to the abuse they're going through."

you basically admitted that you abused your sister and this is her reacting to it. you're not the victim, you're the main abuser when you use that term and applied it to someone else. this is the second time you do this same mistake, you did it with Lizzy too.

google is free. use it sometime.

on top of that… a racist? do you really want to talk about racism? with your brownfacing avatar and appropiating of a Cherokee identity that has nothing to do with you? i see you still have "indigenous" on your bio despite being white and having no relation with no indigenous community, because you simply refused to all these years. i see you aren't doing anything to change that disgusting feathered earring you shove on your avatar to try to make it seem more "exotic". if you want to talk about racism and colonialism, how about we start from there?

she's lying about what we're even accusing her too. now, why does a innocent person even needs to do that? we accuse her of being an enjoyer of CSEM, which we have reason to believe she is, not of producing that content ( if we did that you'd read me on a very different tone than the one i'm using right now), of preying on minors (some of them even gave testimony) and… is it really just an accusations if almost everyone you have met has come out accusing you of abusing them on some way? or is that just pointing out the obvious? but the animals part is completely made up. i don't think none of us would trust LO with our pets or to properly take care of an animal if one landed under her care, but that's a very different issue than outright accusing her of having already harmed an animal. but how interesting that you even brought that up. (especially with how you have talked multiple times about harming rats you found in your apartment and "joked" about throwing rocks to cats during streams. i almost forgot about that, but thanks for reminding me!)

for the hundred time… the fact that she hasn't been arrested doesn't mean anything. thousands of innocent people are rotting in jail and a bunch of criminals are walking around consequences free. you'd hope the person who made a big show about "denouncing a pedophile" (piggybacking from the work other people did in fact) who end up free and not arrested, despite the mountains of evidence and testimony, would know that. but suddenly the system is perfect and the law is always correct. only when it comes to show that LO hasn't been arrested… yet.

"i got accused of faking cancer"… based on the fact that you constantly contradict yourself regarding this issue, didn't know the first thing about the actual treatment and somehow expect us to believe that you were in treatment while also streaming long hours at night or morning playing videogames with no sign at all of illness whatsoever. it's based on the fact that we did actually google, some of us do have experience with cancer from our loved ones and we know that your story makes no sense no matter how many times you tell it.

it also doesn't help you the fact that you even started talking about a cancer when Courtney did came out with her allegations. almost as if you were using it as a distraction. you didn't thought i forgot about that, did you?

where is that lawyer, LO? i have been talking a lot about you in this blog, i'm one of the people giving out the worst accusations against your persona. even before Courtney ever said a word, in my blog is where the "rumour" of you enjoying CSEM gleefuly started. i accused you of preying on children, even more than other blogs did. i accused you of being aware that the material you enjoy was made with the suffering of real children and liking it all the same.

where is my formal accusation, LO? how come i can walk around a free funny onion if all i do is say lies about you and so egregious at that? i guess according to your logic, they must be true. it must be true if i haven't been contacted by your absolutely real lawyer that somehow you can pay with who knows what money. because those are serious accusations and, if it were me, i'd absolutely do everything in my power to stop the spreading of them. if i were innocent, that is.

i'll be waiting the call from Saul Goodman.

[smokescreenimusprime]

I'm gonna take two of your ideas for Fifth Sigma (Smokescreen having multiple alt modes and him reuniting with the rest of the Rescue Bots) and connect them to make a plot.

Let's say, Smokescreen gets another alt mode that allows him to travel way easier. Something like an air ambulance. This probably happens pretty early on, when he's getting his own

Later on, Optimus tells Smokescreen about how there's a group of Rescue Bots that are also on Earth, but because of the situation with the Decepticons, they can't send him there just yet. They gotta be cautious and safe about this whole thing.

Smokescreen is of course excited, but also reasonable and gets why he can't meet them just yet. However, because Smokescreen is still the somewhat impulsive person that we know and love; one day, when Decepticon activities were low, Smokescreen decides to take his chances and finally meet these other Rescue Bot guys. He can handle himself! Maybe he found out where they're located, or even Optimus could've told him where it is. (What are you talking about, he definitely told Team Prime where he was going, of course he did, why wouldn't he)

So, Smokescreen starts flying and goes to Griffin Rock. Shenanigans ensues because now everyone is wondering why is there an unauthorized helicopter flying around here?? and the Rescue Bots are definitely gonna get involved

GDFFGHUGFFGGFFGGT SMOKEY NO-

however, as impulsive, I do have a possible counter point that would possibly lead to him pushing the meeting off for a while: his capture

while he is going to be able to escape (possibly via pretending to be helpless and weak to get the drop on them), Smokescreen is going to be with them for quite a bit longer than he was in canon. And well...... the Decepticons are probably going to want to check to make sure Smokescreen is in fact a real Rescue Bot instead of someone pretending to be one, meaning it's entirely possible for him to have been Psychic Patched. Luckily they didn't have time to scrutinise every single conversation he had with Optimus before he escapes, but it really puts into perspective for him that he is a target and could put the other living Rescue Bots in danger

(I'll also admit, I'm. SO tempted to have Smokescreen get kidnapped a second time by Soundwave alongside Ratchet in S3. Not sure specifically what'll happen there, but he's Tired and Stressed and maybe manages to talk with Predaking a few times)

but after the war's over and Megatron dies? It's free game and you bet the first thing he does when everyone is in stable condition. Maybe during a data transfer or something he was looking through the Autobot computer and remembered "hey...... wait a second, I can do that thing now :0"

I also love the mental image of him leaving the Cybertronian equivalent of a sticky note on the monitor about where he's going before just. ZOOMING out of the base. He's so excited he completely forgets about the Groundbridge and instead flies across the whole US as fast as he can

and just. Oh god Smokescreen with a flying alt mode is going to give him so much room for chaos which he is going to relish in. I'll admit, I don't really want to give him a helicopter alt because Blades already has that one, but maybe he could transform into one of those ambulance planes instead? but yeah, as you've brought up, the Rescue Bots are going to be very confused about this weird bright blue jet circling part of the island. Maybe Dr.Green tries hailing it to see who they are and what they want, and he only gets a vague response of wanting to speak with Charlie Burns and that he'd like to meet somewhere away from town

and just. God imagine the reunion itself. Smokescreen's basically bouncing on his feet waiting for the apparent new Rescue Bots to arrive, so absolutely elated by the prospect of not being alone anymore after several painful months. Maybe there's some slight anticipation and exctiement over the possibility of being on an official team, but with a tinge of bitterness over the team not being Sigma-17 and also a tinge of anxiety becuase..... well, what if they don't like him? What if they're like all those bots back from his Academy Days who didn't think he was good enough? What if he flubbed the first impressions and they thought he was just a goofy idiot who didn't take his job seriously??? Oh Primus wait, maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all, maybe he should have waited for Optimus to introduce them, oh scrap why did he have to be so impulsive like this what would the others have-

and then they arrive.

Chase was of course a given, after all, Charlie was the one asked for and Chase wasn't going to let his partner go alone. Heatwave was there to gague the newbie and for protection on the off chance this was a trap, Boulder came out of curiosity, and Blades didn't want to be left behind and wanted to meet a possible new friend

And when they arrive, it's not a stranger at all. His colors, his alt mode, the way he carries himself is all different.......

but it's still Smokescreen. Still their beloved 5th team member who they thought died alone without them. Some one they mourned and missed and reminisced about

never in a million years could they have guessed it would be him

as for Smokescreen.......

he looks as though he's seen a ghost.

Because honestly, for all intents and purposes, he has. For weeks, months, years, his team has been dead. He saw and read the reports, spent countless sleepless nights trying to rationalize their survival, only to finally accept the fact they were gone

and just as he rationalized their survivial before, now he tries to rationalize their death

because this- this shouldn't be possible. They were dead, they died, for millions of years they were GONE, he must be dreaming or hallucinating or being Psychic Patched by the Decepticons, this can't be REAL, it can't, it can't it can't it can't it can'titcan'titcan'titcan'tit-

but it can. They're alive. They're here. They're real.

and suddenly Smokescreen gets crushed with a suffocating grief he never had a chance to work through, but also a small bubble of hope

once both parties get over the initial disbelief, there's a pure wave of euphoria that hits. Finally, after so so very long, they've been reunited. They can finally work together as the team they were always meant to be. He gets along great with the Burns family, but it does take a little time for hi to fully slide in with the established dynamic

however, the first thing he does when he arrives is that he immediately drags them all in for a check up. Who knows what possible health issues have sparked up in his absence, plus it would be good to establish a new baseline for their health on earth

Smokey definitely becomes a more or less permenant addition to Griffin Rock. Occasionally he'll pop a quick visit to help out on Cybertron, but almost all of his time is spent with the team helping out with local distasters. He's absolutely flabbergasted by how much Pure Absolute Insanity goes down on this island, but he low key loves it

Both sides have quite a lot of stories to share from their respective adventures, but Smokescreen's stories have a bit of a tendency to make the others loose their minds because what do you mean you got captured by Decepticons THREE SEPERATE TIMES-

but all in all, they're happy together and reunited :D

(also just for an added pinch of angst that won't really affect anything but could still be Neat, I had a Thought for something to happen before the actual meeting

so like......... what if during the S2 finale when Optimus was sending all the Autobots away, he ended up sending Smokescreen to Griffin Rock. He didn't have time to explain what the place was or why, but if all of this was coming down he might as well guarantee Smokescreen's safety. Him being out by himself is just asking for the Cons to find him, so he decides to take advantage of Griffin Rock's cloaking and at least make it so the number of Rescue Bots won't decrease any further

but ofc...... Smokescreen doesn't stay. He looks back at the Groundbridge and can't bring himself to abandon Optimus. He's a medic, a healer, it's his job to protect people and save lives, he took his oaths and isn't going to break them now

and just maybe some of Dr.Greene's tech picked up on the Groundbridge and Smokescreen's signal. Maybe the Rescue Bots searched the place but found signs of nothing and assumed it was just an error, completely oblivious to how close they were to being reunited)

[yellowjacketslesbian]

(Inspired by the last wedding ask) What do you imagine a Wilderness Wedding for Tai and Van looking like?

oh, I've actually thought about this A LOT!

I really think they'll get married the second summer around late S3. I think things will be a little bit better by then, they may not have a shelter, but at least they have food to forage and animals to hunt again. I think they'll have kind of resigned themselves to their fate, like rescue isn't coming anytime soon but maybe they can at least survive the next few months and they have each other, and they have the freedom to love each other openly out there that they don't believe they would have ever had back home.

I think the wilderness proposal started off playfully, and was almost accidental, the same way they fell in love.

they're out in the lake together late one summer night drawing on each other's backs, joking until they're not, when Van says it, mostly joking, almost her old self again, "you know, if we weren't like doomed or whatever, I probably would've asked you to marry me someday."

then of course, because Tai is Tai, she doesn't let it go, and is like, "only probably, huh?"

then van instantly takes the bait, "well, you would've had to get it legalized first once you were lawyer, lady."

and then after some more banter back and forth Taissa basically dares Van to ask her, "well, there aren't any laws stopping you out here, are there?"

of course Van beams, "you make a compelling case, Turner."

"and?"

"proposals are supposed to be a surprise..."

cut to a few days later and Taissa is already impatient that Van hasn't proposed yet so she takes matters into her own hands (because she's Tai) and makes them rings out on scrap metal from the plane and stones she forages. that night, after dinner, she pulls Van away from the group under the guise of stargazing and proposes and ofc Van says yes.

when they tell the others, Lottie believes it will be a good way to bring everyone together and immediately gets almost everyone on board with planning a wedding. (Nat is a bit reluctant at first because she thinks they should be using their time and energy for survival, but she ultimately caves since Van is her childhood best friend).

everyone pitches in to help decorate and they make berry wine for the occasion, just like with doomcoming. they set up a makeshift altar around the tree stump, with garland made from interwoven flowers overhead. taivan both wear their doomcoming outfits with Taissa wearing a flower crown as a veil to match Van's boutonniere.

their friends all sing the wedding march while Van beams at Taissa as she walks down the flower petal covered forest floor aisle, and maybe, this is why she was willing to kill to survive this with Tai, to have a future that even bleakly resembles this together.

of course, Lottie officiates the wedding and Taissa doesn't roll her eyes once when Lottie leads them all in a prayer to the wilderness for Van and Taissa's marriage.

they exchange heartfelt vows to stay together as long as they both live, truly believing the only thing that can separate them is their likely inevitable death - it's better that they don't know that they'll survive to break all their vows. (well, all except one - because they truly do still love each other, even during their decades apart).

sorry, I got a bit sidetracked with their wilderness proposal, first. also, apologies for any typos, I didn't proofread this at all. lol

[whumble-beeee]

Hey bee!

I've been a loyal reader of the unofficial guide for a little while now. I was just curious if we'll get any insight into the author of the guide itself. Was it written by one of the characters we met? A well-kept secret in the villainous community, where the author is unknown? Or something else entirely?

-- Tip (@tippytappytyping)

Hey Tip! Yes, I always love seeing you around, I recognise you and I really appreciate your support! Thank you for the ask!

TL;DR The book was published anonymously, but everyone knows that it was one of the first and most famous supervillains, Destron, who appears in my story The Supervillain's Child, and he wrote it mainly for his sidekick and to encourage the next generations of villains.

Alright Tip, ya ready for a lore dump? Bc you've opened the floodgates :)

On a very technical level, The (Un)Official Guide to Hero-Keeping was published anonymously. This is mostly just bc publishing a book like that is basically a gigantic confession of guilt that could easily be admissible in court, and because of this, it's also one of the only books of its kind and is extremely famous among supers and non-supers alike. It's even been propositioned to be taught in schools a few times, but the idea was officially abandoned amongst the ongoing terrorist attacks by supervillain Aurelias Byrne (quoted in Chapter 10 of (un)official guide in lieu of the usual excerpt), which are bringing down the public opinion of supers immensely.

That being said, everyone knows who wrote the guide, and I've actually posted a couple things about him on this account in my story The Supervillain's Child which is currently on hiatus. It was written by one of the first ever and most feared supervillains, the gentleman supervillain Destron, well known for never (directly) killing anyone and for turning people to villainy using his 'mind control' power (he doesnt control minds exactly lol, that's just what the public thinks. His power is mainly to control people's emotions.)

How do people know that Destron wrote the guide, you ask? It's pretty obvious when you see the book dedication:

To my most beloved sidekick and successor. We've been through it all together, through torture and sorrow, through happiness and excitement, through heroes and villains, through life and through death. Here's to all the people who tried to keep us apart. I hope you never regret the decision to fight against them and for what you believe in. You saved me just as much as I saved you, and I hope this book can serve you and anyone who needs it well. Make me proud.

The reason this dedication is such a dead giveaway is because of who his sidekick is; the equally superpowered daughter of superhero Sunstrike, Destron's archnemesis. Them both having superpowers is extremely unlikely, I can go into why in another post if you ask bc it's a lot and this post is already getting super long, but suffice to say they're very famous for being a mother-daughter super-duo.

Long story short, the story of Destron and Jenna was basically this huge scandal because, to the public, it looked like Destron basically brainwashed the daughter in this very famous superhero pair over to the side of villainy, which is what is referenced when he says "from heroes to villains," and "Here's to all the people who tried to keep us apart. I hope you never regret the decision to fight against them and for what you believe in."

Destron also retired pretty much directly after the book was published, which makes the last line of the dedication much more significant and most people also use as proof of his authorship. He's passing on the torch to the future generation of villains, and this is his legacy (among the, yknow, many many villainous things that he's more famous for lol).

There are also other references in the dedication that point to Destron being the writer, but those are more spoiler-y so I shall refrain for now.

Hope this answers your question! There are rough plans for Destron to appear in the (Un)Official Guide story, and I am planning on continuing The Supervillain's Child as well, so you can get to know Destron better over there. And If you have any more questions, don't be afraid to ask! I could rant about this universe for literal hours, and believe it or not, I actually had to cut down my answer to your question quite a bit lmao.

(Also just a brief note, everything written above is subject to slight changes as I develop the story more, but the general idea will always stay the same)

[tiziri-art]

Gonna be critiquing a bit one piece, but don't mind it,

it's very long but it's light minded, it bother me, sure, but it's not like it gonna make me drop or whatever, it just bother me and i have thought about it as to why.

It's mostly long cause i lose myself in my point and end up repeating a lot

THERE IS SPOILERS FOR UP TO WANO

Tldr : it's basically to relation/familly and the theme of freedom

The thing that, according to me, may make pre-time skip more special than post ts,

Is the people making the group.

Pre-timeskip it's honestly just a bunch of random people, sure, luffy is Hero Of The Marine Garp's grandson and usopp is yassop's son

But usopp also is just anyone, he's known to also be who "we would all be" if we were in op, no special power, no amazing and incredible talent that one in a million would have, he's a creative boy who trained his skills because he had a dream and his father was his idol

Other than that, nami is a random kid, sanji was a random kid, cook who was a pirate adopted child , chopper is a reindeer who got excluded for difformity*2, robin sure, she's a bit special but like anyone that would have survived in her stead in ohara, franky is a amazing carpenter's and mermaid adopted child

None of them got really very special connection and family other than luffy and usopp, and maybe robin, brook already had multiple connection to Roger with laboon and straight up having met him

The' post time skip arrive,

Sanji is a king's son and a genetically modified human, alright, fine,

Franky knew roger and all and was straight up invited on the crew, amazing, fun, alright

Zoro is ryuma's descendant ("god of swords") ??? (Not even revealed in story but sbs plz 💀)

Already, the whole "strawhat heads" are full of big name who got strenght in their blood and high name, he's not a big name in the crew, but i remind again usopp is "emperor's (shanks) official sniper" son's

And it's not even limited to in-crew,

O-tama, which other than momo was a big attachement for Luffy to wano (and for his brother too) turns out to be a kurozumi, (half crew) vivi who's already a princess of the people who were there when the wg was founded turns out to be a D.

It honestly makes me afraid for character such as franky /and especially nami/ because "we don't know who their parents are" (and i refuse to think it's not tom and bell-mere. Whoever anyone else are their genitors it don't matter, they are not relevent to them)

The whole first half of one piece was all about liberty, building your own life, "following wills" instead of having a destiny, the whole bond is not blood,

(and it still follow post-ts for a bit with doffy and cora having the exact same origins but having two entirely different life and way of seeing and doing things, and cora and law considering each other as brothers, when corazon doesn't consider doffy his brother but doffy hold very long onto him being his brother and law being his familly still, family is a choice)

Then the second half- just- put everyone in a place that all make them seems it's fated, it's in their blood,

Where does the freedom appear in being the best swordmaster when your grandpa was "the god of swordmaster", the best sniper when your father is also the best sniper, etc etc

I don't know if that's the case, i hope not, but it looks to me that oda did it for sanji, then saw how many fans liked their favorite character having more to their title please their fan, and just, kept going

I'd argue being a random guy and being super high level is more impressive

Anyway, it's fanservice.

I have nothing against character having high relations and thing under their name right from the beggining (especially if that ties with what they're doing/why they join) (vivi princess, robin, Franky w pluto, yams being kaido (emperor) son, brook is albeit a bit unnecessary but logic nonetheless)

But giving them when it does nothing but make them less "special" because they were in fact Special From Somebody Else, is shitty to do in excessiveness, especially when it bring nothing (why does zoro being ryuma descendant is important ??? Especially since that undervalue ryuma giving him shusui ! It could have been a bit better if like, someone saw zoro's face, recognized the damyo who "was known as ryuma's descendant" (even if none of that is said/shown) traits in him and decided to let him keep the shusui it would have been still disappointing but at least it would have built something ! )

Again, the possibility of him going "oh yeah ! Nami has celestian blood that's why she's so good at detecting climate changes and atmosphere in general ! It's also why she can hit luffy (as we were shown innate haki there) !" And then, idk, turning out to be birkan (originaly moon people, same as ener) and in fact it wasn't pirate it was the governement who faked an attack to get rid of her family and bell-mere suspected that a bit and she had in fact illegally run away from the marine and that's also why she lived far from the village and didn't get marine-retirement money and was so poor) is possible.

And in fact it's also possible he doesn't even include it properly in the story but just drop the whole lore in a data book, just like he could bring back ener to give a reason for it.

And all that "family lore bring so much" feel so much, muuuuch saltier considering his answer in an sbs of someone asking why nearly all the mother are killed or unknown being "mother are the antonym of adventure"

Anyway, i feel like oda forgot a lot about freedom as he advanced in one piece

[clarabosswald]

i know people's favorite source of information seems to be tiktok/twitter at the moment but for what's it worth, i'm gonna share a compilation that i wrote down for a different website on why israelis have such a strong distrust of the ceasefire option, with links to wikipedia for every section. NOTE (since whataboutism seems to be everyone's favorite tactic the last 2-3 weeks) that this is NOT about palestinian civilians' basic right to safety from military attacks, and humanitarian aid, as well as the need for a free palestinian state. this is about previous ceasefire attempts during the military clashes between israel and gaza in the last 15 years.

The 2008-2009 Gaza War (known in Israel as Operation Cast Lead/מבצע עופרת יצוקה): On January 17th, 2009, Israeli PM Olmert declared a unilateral ceasefire, starting at 02:00 am later that night. Terrorist groups in Gaza have fired 15 rockets into Israel in the following hours, until at about 14:30 Hamas et al have declared their own ceasefire. On Jan 20th, fire was shot at IDF soldiers withdrawing from the Gaza strip (without any damages or injuries); early on Jan 21st, IDF had completed its withdrawal from the strip; on Jan 27th, 1 IDF soldier was killed and 3 were injured from an IED explosion near Kisufim - an Al-Qaeda affiliated terrorist group claimed responsibility for the event, which in turn prompted IAF attacks on tunnels in the strip, which in turn resulted in some rocket fire from Gaza into Israel over the following few days, which also prompted IAF attacks. (Wikipedia in Hebrew/Wikipedia in English)

March 2012 Clashes (Operation Returning Echo/מבצע הד חוזר): an Egypt-mediated ceasefire was declared on March 12th; despite that, rocket fire from Gaza into Israel continued (despite PIJ declaring that they're committed to the ceasefire, FWIW). The ongoing rockets have led to the suspension of educational activities on March 15th-16th in certain cities and areas in Israel. The occasional rocket fire from Gaza continued until March 29th. (Wikipedia in Hebrew/Wikipedia in English)

The 2014 Gaza War (Operation Protective Edge/מבצע צוק איתן): officially started on July 8th. Already by July 15th, Egypt had suggested a ceasefire, which Israel agreed to; despite that, terrorist organizations in Gaza have continued their attacks, and Israel had resumed fighting as well. On July 20th, Hamas requested a 2-hour humanitarian ceasefire following a particularly difficult battle; IDF agreed to that, and Hamas broke it after 40 minutes. Despite that, IDF had prolonged the ceasefire on its side due to a request by the Red Cross. Starting July 26th, several ceasefires have been mediated by international mediators. Israel had continuously agreed to them and Hamas had continuously broke them. The first significant breaking of the ceasefire by Hamas resulted in the killing of 3 IDF soldiers by Hamas terrorists and the kidnapping of the body of one soldier, Lt. Hadar Goldin (who was also killed in the same incident). Then followed another string of unstable ceasefires that were all also broken by Hamas; until August 19th, when Hamas broke ceasefire by shooting a wide barrage of rockets at Israel, prompting IDF to fully resume fighting. (During this phase of the war, Hamas had also publicly executed over 21 Palestinians that were accused of collaborating with Israel.) Israel and Hamas had finally agreed to a final Egypt-mediated ceasefire on the evening of August 26th. (Wikipedia in Hebrew/Wikipedia in English).

November 2019 Clashes (Operation Black Belt/מבצע חגורה שחורה): following 48 hours of fighting, a ceasefire was announced on November 15th, 5:30 am. Gazan terrorists have broken the ceasefire several times by firing rockets into Israel - at 11:00 am, 5:30 pm, and 10:10 pm that very same day - which prompted IDF to attack PIJ targets in return. During the night of November 16th the ceasefire was broken again by Gazan rocket fire into Israel, to which IAF responded by attacking Hamas targets. (Wikipedia in Hebrew/Wikipedia in English)

May 2021 Clashes (Operation Guardian of the Walls/מבצע שומר חומות): hurray! We've found one time where a ceasefire was announced AND actually kept by both Hamas and IDF. (It's worth noting that hours before the ceasefire was set to begin, a "significant terrorist attack" was thwarted by IDF near the Gaza strip border). (Wikipedia in Hebrew/Wikipedia in English)

August 2022 Clashes (Operation Breaking Dawn/מבצע עלות השחר): on August 7th, following media reports of an upcoming ceasefire at 8:00 pm, PIJ shot dozens of rockets into Israel at starting 7:40 pm and going until after 8:00 pm. At 9:00 pm, media had reported that PIJ agreed to a ceasefire starting at 11:30 pm, which was later officially confirmed by both sides; meanwhile rocket fire from Gaza was still ongoing, and kept going until 23:50 pm. (Wikipedia in Hebrew/Wikipedia in English)

May 2023 Clashes (Operation Shield and Arrow/מבצע מגן וחץ): around 8 pm, May 13th, media had started reporting that a ceasefire was planned for 10 pm. Starting at 9:40 and up until 11:11 pm, 37 rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel. IDF reacted by attacking PIJ rocket launchers. At 6:33 pm the following day, a single rocket was fired from Gaza into Israel; PIJ had later claimed that it was due to a "technical error". (Yes, seriously.) IDF also responded to this incident with tank fire into Hamas targets in the strip. (Wikipedia in Hebrew/Wikipedia in English)

*adding, since from what i've seen many people seem to be actually completely oblivious to this fact (even after the recent hospital affair) - yeah, hamas/pij/associates are and have been launching rockets at israeli civilians this whole time.

[roses-in-the-shade]

What DO the public masses and the government think and do about Ingo now? Please tell me they are told the truth the sheer hilarity would be incredible. Would Ingo be considered his brother's age or three years old.

...Would Ingo have any problems interacting with people, considering he never really interacted with anyone outside of Emmet in his formative years and he lived on a mountain for the first 3 years of his life? That can't have been good for his development. Even when he did talk to people he just needed to act like Emmet and now he needs to be his own person (yay! But that seems like it would seem terrifying at first.).

OOH how do the depot agents react? They already interacted with Ingo, though they had no idea.

This is probably one of my favorite asks so far, because it gave me so much to think about. Which is also why it's taken me a bit longer to answer. I am trying to answer asks on a first come, first serve basis. To the best of my ability! Thank you for the ask!

Anyway, this post is VERRRRRY long, absolutely monstrous by my criteria, so under the read more it goes. You have been warned. I apparently can not shut up, lol.

So, the government. It doesn't take long for everyone to realize that Ingo, legally, does not exist. Without any identifications, there's a lot that you can't do that is important for thriving in modern society. So, yeah, they need to tell Unova's governing body the whole truth so that they can get Ingo on the fast track to the living life.

And unfortunately, the first destination on that journey is the hospital. Because Ingo spent the first three years of his new life in Sinnoh, a few centuries in the past. Man's health is either Not Good, or it's about to be. Which creates a lot of confusion for the health department, because. Well. Because. The explanation that this random haggard man needs all of his vaccines because he lived in the past for three years and didn't even have a corporeal body before that is a lot to take in, you know? And then there's the fact that the only existing documentation for this Mr. Ingo is a death certificate dated back to 28 years ago(?!?!?!).

The first solution they come up with to solve this conundrum is to do a DNA test and compare to other living family for proof of relation, and to just. Make sure they're not being made a clown.

Fun fact. When Arceus created Ingo's new body, he basically copy pasted Emmet's DNA, attached it to Ingo's soul with cosmic super glue, and called it a day. They're already twins, it's fine. :)

Yeah, they weren't ready for it when the results for Ingo's and Emmet's DNA results came out as a definitively exact match. Actually, they don't know what they were expecting.

During the few weeks that Ingo spends hospitalized for both acclimating and quarantine purposes, the identifications services go into a flurry of action to create documents for this new human adult person that spawned into existence from Arceus knows where. (See what I did there.)

Fun times. The government workers will literally never forget this for their entire lives. They will remember it as the most bizarre event they've ever experienced, bar none.

As for his official age now, since Ingo's body is physically 28, same as his brother, and he is mentally the same age, they just kinda shrug and say, yeah, sure, he's 28 years old. Never mind the fact that he's only been alive for three. Actually, don't think too hard on it. Don't.

Now, the depot agents. lmao

The day Emmet brings in Ingo for retraining and to "reinstate" him is a day of absolute chaos.

Emmet's first instinct, when he's formally introducing his brother to their employees during a meeting, is to gaslight them all into thinking Ingo had been their other boss the entire time three years ago. (When going into technicalities, it's hard to say if that's true or not. Which is the best part.)

"I am Emmet. I am getting down to business. Today, we will welcoming back Ingo to our work force. He went missing three years ago. He is back now. We will be resuming standard operating procedures with Ingo as the Subway Boss on the singles line again. Any questions?"

(Ingo, not having been forewarned of Emmet's plans, blinks and stares at his brother for a few moments, before mentally sighing and face-palming. He quickly decides to let Emmet get away with this, however. He's not immune to following along Emmet's whims, and he's not disinterested to see how this falls out.)

...

...

"A NEW SUBWAY BOSS?!

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN AGAIN?!"

"HE LOOKS EXACTLY LIKE YOU, WHO IS HE?!"

"How rude! I am offended for Ingo. You forgot about him! Unforgivable. Yup! This is verrrry sad. Terrrrrible. Ingo is my twin brother. I was in grief over his absence for three years. I am disappointed you did not notice."

"I didn't forget, Boss Emmet! I've never set a foot out of Gear Station my entire life, so of course I remember Boss Ingo! We loved working with Boss Ingo, I don't know how anyone could forget a kind and jovial man like him!"

(Depot Agent Jackie is most definitely in on it.)

All of the depot agents are reeling at this new reality that they have to force their brains to get used to. Some would keep swearing up and down that there was never a Boss Ingo, but then Emmet would wave around the proof of employment (that he typed up literally an hour before the meeting) and they'd just be reduced to a state of mental sputtering and questioning reality. Many are a flustered mess whenever they end up interacting with Ingo himself.

Emmet and Ingo let the depot agents stew in this prank for just the one day, at least until Ingo finally convinces Emmet to hold another meeting the next day to tell the agents the full truth and allow the poor guys some peace of mind. (Ingo does scold Emmet a little for being so mean-spirited with this particular joke, though it doesn't last too long when Emmet points out that Ingo didn't stop him.)

Funny enough, the truth ended up being even more of a bombshell than the prank had been. Who woulda thought.

From then on, the twins and the depot agents do their best to stay professional and help ease Ingo back into the work routine as something like a Deputy Subway Boss, and they're pretty successful! It doesn't take too long to get Ingo fully instated as an official Subway Boss, Ingo being as enthusiastic and dedicated to the job as he is, and, over time, the agents slowly realize that they did miss him without ever knowing it. Three years ago, they really did notice his disappearance, ironically enough. Ingo's "personality" was suddenly gone, Emmet was never the same, and the work environment changed. It's weird, but in the end, they all end up thinking, "I'm glad he's back."

The day of Ingo's official promotion, the depot agents throw him a party and make sure to tell him this:

"Welcome back. We missed you."

The public's reaction to Ingo is a mixed bag, predictably.

The day of Ingo's reintroduction to Gear Station, the official Battle Subway PokeTwitter account announces: "Attention all passengers! Starting today, a new Deputy Subway Boss will be conducting us to our destination on the Singles Line! Deputy Boss Ingo looks forward to future travels with challengers. Will you go on to victory or defeat? All aboard!" (Attached is a picture of Ingo in the signature point and call pose, right hand pointing forward and left hand out to the side pointing down.)

Most responses to the announcement are basically either, "isn't that just Emmet?", or "I had no idea Emmet has a twin brother!". There's a lot of chipper "Welcome!" and "All aboard!" comments and some competitive "Can't wait to see what he's made of!" remarks, so the reception is generally a mix of confusion and enthusiasm.

And then it all came crashing down when one person says, "Isn't this the same guy who ran the singles line years ago, tho? Did he come back?"

One person unintentionally does what Emmet did to the depot agents to an entire social media community. Thus restarts the conspiracy theories again, much to Ingo's and Emmet's exasperation. If they weren't already practically celebrities by this point, then they definitely are now.

Emmet ends up using his personal account to address questions and clear it up as much as he can, while skirting around the full truth as much as possible, sometimes even outright dodging certain inquiries altogether. Ultimately, he and Ingo had decided it was best to keep it private knowledge that only certain people would know. Emmet's best efforts certainly couldn't stop rumors from sprouting all together, but it did help to placate the internet riots and calm them down. It only took about a week before the twins were no longer all PokeTwitter could talk about.

Now, interestingly enough, Ingo himself isn't doing too bad, socially. Sure, he did live on a mountain for a few years, but he also visited Jubilife Village often! He assisted at the training grounds, helped teach the villagers to befriend and battle with pokemon, often did any needed shopping there. He made sure to check in with the Pearl Clan regularly, it'd be rude to essentially go AWOL on them when they took him in and bestowed him a position as important as warden of their Lady Sneasler.

Point being, Ingo got past most of his social struggles during his displacement in Hisui. Learning how to human when in an entirely unfamiliar setting and without his memories was a huge challenge for Ingo, but he gradually settled into the new experience. Which is why going to modern day Nimbasa is such a huge culture shock. There's so many more people, ranging from incredibly kind to brutish in behavior, sometimes critical, sometimes indifferent. Despite this, Ingo has been able to be himself without question, without backlash, without fear, and it's a marvel.

The people that Emmet and Ingo had surrounded themselves with never failed to make Ingo feel encouraged and supported, including Emmet himself. Especially Emmet. Ingo has no idea what he would do without Emmet. He loves and appreciates his brother immensely. With all the assistance Ingo has, he may be nervous about meeting his new future, but he's determined to do it. Stubbornly optimistic, even. No matter what set backs or adversities Ingo may face, he has the greatest safety net holding him up.

(If Emmet ever finds anyone antagonizing Ingo, he will most definitely give them a traumatic beat down in a pokemon battle, and terrify the living daylight out of them by promising them eternal despair if he ever sees them near Ingo ever again.

Basically, Ingo: sunshine, Emmet: sunshine protector.

I am right, and I should say it. Luckily for everyone, it doesn't happen often. Nobody in their right mind would want to be mean to Ingo.)