#just cuz they have some big important job that ''matters more''

[lecliss]

It always brings me such joy when mid at best fictional dads die. It makes me wanna celebrate. Fuck yeah die scumbag. This is what you get for never complimenting your child once in their life.

[deathofacupid]

helloo this is my first time in a while requesting so if this doesn't make much sense then that's whyy

could I please request peter parker with an s/o who does competitive cheer as a sport, and gets hurt a lot because they have a lot of main parts in routines (like tumbling nd holding girls up nd stuff), peter is always concerned for them cuz they r always hurting something but he also loves seeing them perform at comps and stuff

if you want a better understanding of the sport u could research! but thanks in advance <3

pom-poms and bruises | peter parker

a/n: your request was great, no worries! i did do my fair share of research, but lemme tell you, my knowledge on cheer (or, like, any sport) is mad limited. if i got some information incorrect, i apologize in advance! i took... creative liberties (?) and changed some minor details - instead of competitive cheer, it's high school cheer. enjoy the fic, and i hope i did this request it's justice. sorry this took so long!!

summary: peter can't help but worry seeing you all bruised up, but no matter what, he's your biggest fan.

warnings: the ouchies, innuendos to sex

pairing: fem!cheerleader!reader x peter parker

word count: 1.8k+ words

"oh jeez," peter sighs, rubbing his thumb over the bruise on your cheek. it was a blue-purple, indicating that it was fresh. "what happened?"

you wave him off, grinning, "you know how it goes, battle scars and all."

"scar?" he cocks a brow.

sighing, "battle bruise isn't half as badass."

"right, i forgot the most important thing is proclaiming our dominance in the social hiearchy of the big ol' globe. and obviously not our physical health."

"you wouldn't understand, baby. it's a full time job."

gently, peter pushes you up against your locker. leaning in to whisper, he says, "i wouldn't, angel? best believe i've got battle scars of my own."

"ugh. so not the same. not everyone has the luck of getting to be a human-spider."

"yeah, okay, luck."

"you seriously cannot complain," you deadpan. "that bite did you favors! like, down there, you grew at least- mmph-!"

peter covers your mouth with his hand, "we are not having this conversation."

"it was a compliment! i mean, it's not like you sucked before or anything. i'm just saying it... improved... you."

"somehow, this isn't going the direction you think it is."

"oops. i didn't mean to hurt your over-inflating ego."

"first off, if anyone has an ego that needs to be kept in check, it's you."

"don't blame me," you tell him, "blame the girls," you're referring to your cheer team, pinching his cheeks. "but... maybe i can compensate with a kiss?"

he feigns annoyance, "i suppose." in response, you lean in for a kiss, melting at his touch.

peter kisses your bruise as well, letting it linger for a moment longer. "does it hurt?" he asks.

"barely," you shrug, leaning in for more, but he isn't quite focused on that at the moment. giving you a look, he softly pokes your cheek, to which you wince.

"right. barely."

"don't be a worry-wart, worry-wart."

"i'm not! 'm just concerned!"

"puh-lease," you scoff. "you come back worse! remember that time you broke and entered into my bedroom, then proceed to bleed out onto that cute new rug?"

he looks down, epitome of cute puppy. "yes," peter says, guilty, "i do."

you pat his stomach, nuzzling your nose against his. "see? so you have nothing to worry about. me, on the other hand," you trail off.

"nah. you don't have anything to worry about either, angel."

"watch me worry anyways," you snort.

he pinches your cheeks, and you swat his hands away. "watch it!"

"you're my intellectual property."

"oh, so you're objectifying me now?"

"wait- no! no, of course not!"

"lemme me just say right now, may would not be happy."

peter groans, shoving you away.

"no!" you giggle, "i'm sorry! i won't snitch!"

he peeks an eye open, turning his head just barely to look at you. "fine, i guess," peter pulls you back.

"hey, petey?"

"hm?" he asks, nuzzled in your neck. there's just a few minutes before class starts, and he wants to make the most of it.

"are you coming to the game? it's my first year of being captain, and, well, it'd be cool if you came." suddenly you're more bashful than giggly, and he's quick to assure you.

"are you kidding me? of course i'm coming. i'm not missing the chance to see my girl shine.

"you sure? because i know you don't care for foot-"

"shhh," he presses his palm to your mouth. "yeah, i hate football, but i just to happen to love y- god!" he exclaims as you lick his hand, but in your defense, what did peter expect?"

"you put in on my mouth!"

peter narrows his eyes at you, "vermin."

"see you tonight?"

"see you tonight," peter replies as the bell rings. with one last kiss, you part ways.

your hair was done, two yellow and blue bows to tie the look together. midtown theme eyeshadow was painted on your eyelids, with stars dotted on your cheekbones. you have your cheer uniform on, and you're basically jumping with how giddy you are.

part of you is nervous, because you don't want to mess this up. every year, a senior is picked to be captain, with a junior as a mentee. not only do you have to set a good example for the junior this year, but you have to wow everyone.

checking your makeup one more time, you grab your purse, heading out to the car.

by the time you get there, your teammates are already stretching. on the other side of the field, football players are warming up. last year, liz was captain, well, before she moved. then she got replaced by gwen.

you knew liz and peter... okay, so you weren't completely sure, but they had something. some part of you wanted to be better than liz, entirely for peter. you know it was silly, but you felt like you had something to prove. some families are already in, which is funny, because there's an hour to the game.

it's normally parents and friends of the cheerleaders/players that get here before most people, but there are some occasions.

peter's here, you know that. you haven't looked for him yet, but as you get up, you scan the bleacher. finally, you spot a curly, brown-haired boy (it helps that he's waving like crazy) and his aunt. you blow a kiss to them, grin present of your face.

tasha, one your girls, taps your shoulder, "we're gonna run our routine a couple times, okay? just before the game starts." you pull your eyes away from may and peter, nodding at her.

the familiar music of your routine starts playing. the first part's easy, synchronized movements, shoulder-to-shoulder.

as the routine progresses, you feel the familiar rush of adrenaline. you spot the base of the pyramid, their arms outstretched, and with a deep breath, you allow yourself to be pulled upwards.

their grip is firm and reassuring as you climb, hand over hand, until you reach the apex. a split second later, you're soaring through the air, launching into a full backflip.

as you launch yourself into the backflip, you feel your body twist off-axis. the ground rushes up to meet you, and with a sickening thud, you land flat on your face. a gasp escapes your lips, the sting of impact radiating through your jaw.

the cheers falter for a moment, but your teammates are quick to react. they rush to your side, concern etched on their faces. you sit up, momentarily stunned, but the pain quickly makes itself known.

just as soon as it's there, it's gone, leaving you slightly sore. "i'm okay!" you call out, lopsided smile on your face. the first person you look for is peter, who's already heading towards you.

gently, he moves everyone away. "jesus, are you okay? what'd you fall onto? your head? wait, are you dizzy? lightheaded? nauseated?" peter grabs your by the chin, hurry to inspect everything on your face.

"baby, baby," you say, cradling his hand. "i'm okay, i swear. i might've bruised something... like my ego," you joke, smile on your face, but he is not amused.

"no? okay. well, honestly my jaw is too, or will be," you point to the left side. "'s red?"

"yeah," he winces, "it's gonna leave a nasty bruise." you're sure it's not as bad with makeup on, but you can't be sure.

"does anyone have concealer?" you call out.

jenny, a girl that's your shade nods, "yeah! i'll grab it!" she tosses it to you, and you catch it perfectly.

peter presses his lips together, "so no concussion?"

"because i caught it? to be fair, that was mostly luck."

his eyes widen. "but no! i don't have any concussions!"

peter tilts his head, "icepack?"

"nah. i'm good, really."

he hesitates, "okay. be careful though, seriously." you don't feel like hearing a lecture right now, so you nod quickly.

"i will, i will!"

"because i swear-"

"you won't have to! i'm all good. now leave," you joke, "you're embarrassing me. if i wanted to be smothered, i would've asked for my mom."

he blows a raspberry at you, and gives you a quick kiss. "be careful," he repeats, "and good luck!" he jogs back over to may, and you watch him leave.

jenny giggles as you brush yourself off, "you guys are so cute."

blushing, you murmur a thanks. quickly, you grab your phone to cover up the forming bruise. and there's not really time for another run-through.

all you can do is hope it won't happen again.

there's a small dance at the start of the game and some other here and there, but it's not anything crazy. what is crazy is halftime.

as you get into your position, you fidget. "you'll be great," one of the girls tell you.

"thank you," you smile.

"yeah, no, you will," says another.

you don't feel super ready, not after that fall, but there's not much you can do about it.

the song, louder than before, echoes through your eardrums, a roll of excitement passes through you. no matter how anxious you are, you'll always love cheer.

it's your safe place.

the music swells, and you launch into a series of cheers with your teammates, your voice ringing out in perfect unison. as the routine progresses, you feel the familiar rush of adrenaline. you spot the base of the pyramid, their arms outstretched, and with a deep breath, you allow yourself to be pulled upwards.

their grip is firm and reassuring as you climb, hand over hand, until you reach the apex. a split second later, you're soaring through the air, launching into a full backflip.

you twist perfectly, landing with a confident thud back in the waiting arms of your base. the crowd erupts in cheers, and you beam, the thrill of the successful stunt coursing through you.

you did it, and everyone's squealing. peter's not that far from where you are, and you can hear him shrieking; "that's my girlfriend!"

you grin at him, and he whoops again.

the rest of the game flies by, and you finish the last routine. midtown ends up winning 20-17.

peter scooping you up in his arms, spinning you around. "that was awesome! seriously, like, mind-blown! and you didn't fall this time!"

may comes up beside him, hugging you, "you did fantastic, sweetheart. freaked me out with that fall, though," she chuckles, and you kiss her cheek. "my bad," you tell her, rubbing the back of your neck.

"hey, pete, hun, i'm gonna head out, okay? hospital shift was crazy."

you frown, "was it late?"

may sighs, "two a.m. to five p.m."

"oh, may, you should've gone home to get rest!"

"and miss my lovely girl's big night? you're crazy."

"aww," you coo, hugging her again. "sleep well, okay?"

"oh, please, i'll be knocked out like a baby." you laugh as she leaves.

"we should totally get ice cream," peter says.

"ooh, yes!"

"wait, don't you have an after party?"

"i'd rather spend it with you," peter pecks your lips. "and, we can have extra dessert," he winks.

you frown in confusion, "like cupcakes too? can we get cho- oh. oh! i really, really like that idea."

"good. i'm gonna let you know how badass of a girlfriend you are."

"why don't we skip straight to the second dessert? switch things up?"

taglist: @whatsupstark @ell0ra-br3kk3r @idli-dosa @susvale @kdbsr-h @littlemsbumblebee @sflame15-blog @twinsunkithies @chocolateshepherddreamclod @one-piece-frvr7 @477strberry

[inkyquince]

YOU MAKE ME WEEP 😭 I MISS YOU AND I HAVEN'T BEEN ON. can't wait for the semester to wrap up. but i did get a job for the summer hahaha!!

i'm trying to get pregnant by kylar or eden. so far i have FAILED.

honestly, i must ask how you would think wren would be as a parent. would love to hear any thoughts on that!!!

THIS GOT BURIED, IM SO SORRY!!

DW, we know how Eden and Kylar are. Non stop fuck nasty machines.

Okay, for Wren as a dad, it... Depends?

Like, does he like you as a fuck buddy or does he... Like you, like you? Like Like... Like Love Like?

Cuz if its the first one, I think the best you get is that he's going to be not present at all. Like he sends money, he's going to show up some days to absolutely dazzle your kid with a horse ride and presents and shit, and then won't come and visit for another 8 months. He's flighty as fuck, he's busy. Your kid will have his beautiful hair, maybe his soft brown eyes. Maybe your kid will always love him because he's the cool fun dad who spoils them when he does come around. Maybe they get disenchanted by him by the time they hit their teens. He doesn't pick up when they call, he doesn't come to important events. Maybe one day he comes by with a couple of presents and they flatly turn down going out for a day with him. You might get to watch his face fall a bit. Maybe just his eyes just get a bit duller.

Your kid goes off to hang out with friends and you and Wren get to have a drink together for the first time in ages, since his attention is normally on your kid, never you. He's down. Says he wants to do better. But you know him by now. So you just offer a pat on the back, and wonder if this is the last time you'll see him again, since he's finally been turned away by his kid, and has no reason to come back anymore.

NOW, if you're someone he actually fucking likes?

My god. Wants his annoying input in everything you do. Choosing a flat? "Sunshine, babycakes, darling, its cheaper to get a lil cottage out on the farmlands, and then I can come by every night after work and-" Deciding on a crib? "Sweetheart, muffin, angel face, let me see if i can get it handmade, never should trust the plastic shit, fuck, I slept in the top drawer for the first 3 months of my life, baby-" Like its cute, but shut up babe.

He's going to be in your damn life. Even if you say he can take a backseat, he's fucking taking that backseat out, taking out the gear stick and putting his seat there. Fuck you.

Somehow got into your phone to get a copy of important upcoming dates, and he skids into the ultrasound, all sweaty, just as you're getting your gown on.

He's going to be your fucking best friend in this. That's Wren as a lover, boyfriend, partner, it's as a best friend who really wants to get into your pants and deigns to bombard you with sloppy kisses just because he knows it makes you swat at him.

He would sometimes not show up days in a row, but it's never months. Just a few days, and he comes back with an oversized plush under his arm, or a stupidly big cake or something.

He loves that kid man. He's always gonna love his kid, but they aren't an afterthought anymore. He wants 50 more hours in the day, so he doesn't have to choose between work and his home.

Wren's also fucking terrified. He knows the town he lives in, its why he wanted you in the farmlands, not in town. Will beg you to consider homeschooling. In his perfect world, his kid never steps foot in town, and gets to grow up with nature, and feeling safe. Doesn't matter what age, he wants to be old as fuck, and have his 40 year old kid still at home and training horses or something.

Wren, overall, as a parent would love his kid. But his relationship with you would decide how much he wants to actually be there.

[thewritingginger]

Fluff Alphabet - Hermes pt. 2

Fluff for our fluffy babe

Fandom: Blood of Zeus Letters: I, N, U, V, W Warnings: None, Fluff

Enjoy~

I nspired - Did their s/o change them somehow, or the other way around? Like trying out new things or helped them overcome personal problems?

His s/o helped him work through some his childhood trauma w/ his step mother Hera

& just generally helped teach him that his feeling matter and that they are ok to express when he needs to

He’s always so busy helping others and being a shoulder for his s/o that he kinda forgets/ doesn’t really think about his needs in the same vain

N icknames - What do they call their s/o?

His Nicknames for you: 

My Love/ My Heart

Sweetheart

Bug (cuz you’re smol and you’re his cuddle-bug lol)

Angel

Your Nicknames for him: 

Herm

Speedy

Baby

Handsome

U nderstanding - How good do they know their partner? Are they empathetic?

Very empathetic!!

This is our sweet boi!!!

This man is the one to go to when you need to be heard and a shoulder to cry on, he’ll listen to you for as long as you need him to & give answers/ comments when you want them

After being with you he can read you better than yourself sometimes

If you’re getting anxious in a social situation he knows and will help you as best he can, either by comforting you or leaving if you need to

If you’re feeling sad he can see that will go out, get your favorite treat or meal and cuddle with you on the couch till you’re ready to talk about it

V alue - How important is the relationship to them? What is it thats worth in comparison to other things in their life?

If you’re serious you’re his near top priority tbh —especially if y’all are married

If you tied together he values your opinion when it comes to the smallest things like what to have for dinner to big life decisions like whether of not he should take a job

You’re his rock and he wakes up grateful everyday he has you

W ild Card - A random. Fluff Headcanon.

Hermes really wants to be a daddy—biological or adoption, he don’t care

One day you offed to watch your friend’s kid so they and their partner could have a night for the two of them

Being friends them as well, Hermes came over to help you

Your friends left midday so about an hour after they were gone you packed up the babe and the three of you went to the store to get a few things for dinner

Placing the toddler in the cart you began pushing them around and Hermes watched as the two of you interacted.

He couldn’t help the smile pulling at his lips when you’d deviate from your path to look at something the little girl was pointing at

Watching you cave and getting her an ice cream for after dinner warmed his heart

Then to top it off he couldn’t help feeling an odd sense of happiness when an elderly women at the check out commented on your little group

“I just have to say, you are the cutest little family.” Hermes just smiled wide, his arm slung around your shoulders as he thanked the women. In the moment you just laughed it off and smiled back

It wasn’t till the two of you were making dinner, your friend’s kid watching a movie in the livingroom, when you bring up what happened

“You thanked that woman when she mistaked us for a family,” you started, stirring the pot on the stove.

Coming up from behind you, Hermes wraps his arms around your midsection and kisses your shoulder

“Is the idea of us having a family that terrible,” he jokes, his warm laugher vibrating against your back

“No,” you quickly say. Putting the lid on the pot you turn in his arms, “It’s just that I hadn’t thought about it much.”

“Really?” he says, eyebrows raised amused.

“Do you think about it alot?”

“All the time,” his admission steals the breath from your lungs and your belly flutter in the best way

“Really?” your response mirroring one of his own, except this one is filled with more awe and love than humor

“Really,” he confirms, knocking his forehead against yours, “I’ve known since the moment I met you’re my one and with each day, including this one, I’m reminded how great of a parent I think you’d be,” can this man make a person melt anymore?!?

“I think you’d be great too,” you confess, wrapping your arms around his shoulders pulling him down for a kiss and just as your lips touch you hear a little voice behind you

“Groooosss,” you and Hermes share a little laugh, figuring if this is the future you want you might as well get used to it now

[Pt. 1]

Hope you enjoyed that :3

💛 ~

~ Masterlist ~

[actuallylorelaigilmore]

2023 Movie Journey #17: Elemental

elemental. i watched this one earlier this week with my family...and i'm finally caught up on movie reviews! which means i can now post new ones right after i see the movies. yay.

this movie's cast has some actors who i know, probably most notably a guy i enjoyed in jurassic world dominion. but much, much more importantly, the star of this movie is leah lewis, so even if i hadn't liked the movie overall i still would have had a great time watching it.

i fell immediately in love with leah lewis's portrayal of george when i started watching nancy drew this year. and i mean immediately--i was watching with somebody who loved bess the most, and i had seen so much ace on my tumblr dash that i knew i'd like him too, but george was still my favorite character by the time i finished the pilot. without even knowing how great and rewarding her season 1 arc would be, or how much depth she would eventually have beyond her introduction as 'grudge-holding black sheep nancy's boss,' i could just tell she was my type of fave.

and even after watching the whole first season of nancy drew, it wasn't until i was rewatching it to show it to @actuallylukedanes that i accidentally learned george was played by leah lewis...and that i already knew her! she was in the half of it! which i watched and reviewed in 2020, and loved so much that i've wanted to get other people to watch it ever since. i didn't connect her performances at all, but even my review back then raved about how she was what made the movie good.

so when i realized she was starring in this, i was thrilled. and what i love about her is that she's consistently the kind of actor who has a real presence: she makes her characters engaging and stands out in a big way for somebody still young (though she started acting as a kid, so i know she's not new just cuz she's newish to me). she's signed on to the matlock reboot with kathy bates and i don't expect to love that cbs show, but i am very excited to try it anyway.

as for the movie though: i couldn't help but spend the first half just hearing george, in all her lines. not in a distracting or bad way, but a nice familiar feeling. i suspect the goal with animated disney heroines is to not make them too distinctive, because there's kind of a 'friendly normal' sound to the modern ones regardless of the actress that means even when i can recognize who's speaking, they all sound a little more similar than i would ever say they do in live action work. (either that or it's just me not being able to differentiate as well in animation, which is certainly possible.)

anyway, i loved everything about her work in this; she was the reason i cried a few times. in my opinion that's always a mark of good work, making an impressive amount of connection with viewers using just your voice.

i also really liked her parents and wade, despite the movie's core conflict revolving around all of them--this movie did a good job of explaining who everybody was as things went along, in a more than superficial way, so that it was much easier to still like people when the Bad Times came because they made more sense and were more sympathetic. as family conflicts go, compared to encanto and turning red, this one was my favorite because of that. no matter how angry or disappointed her father got, or how much that affected ember, i could still sympathize with him too and believe that his love for her was more important than anything else.

now, i know this movie got mixed reviews (or possibly worse? i only saw vague headlines) but i'm not really sure why! the metaphor they used to tell the story about immigration and a diverse society was maybe more blunt than usual, but i don't think that's a bad thing. and while it did center on themes that disney movies cover a lot (family expectations, parental disappointment, feeling like a failure, being an outsider, etc)...there are reasons those themes pop up so much!

especially when pixar movies are trying to appeal to both kids and adult audiences, i think it makes total sense to keep coming back to the 'classics.' again, there were a lot of thematic similarities between encanto and turning red and this movie (despite their differences in the details) and i watched those other two--encanto more than once--but still cried just as easily when ember confessed to her dad that she was a bad daughter, and when they bowed to each other before she left. the wounds between us and our parents never really heal, i think, at least not for everybody. so this movie tugged at me by just representing those feelings well, and making me care about the characters.

and when it comes to caring about the characters, probably my favorite thing about the movie besides the cast was the way the plot genuinely surprised me. i expected a happy ending, because it's a disney movie. but based on the trailer, i didn't know what to expect between ember and wade beyond 'they meet and things happen.' and the movie does such a good job of setting up the world they live in and the rules they live by that i believed them.

so in the beginning, i figured they were going to become unexpected friends, and navigating that alone would be a challenge. in that story, presumably the happy ending would've been something like, she learns that wade is right and she doesn't have to stay with fire people and never interact with the rest of the world, and they get to have further adventures.

but then! it turns out that this movie is going for romance. weirdly, i don't expect that from disney movies--you'd think i would when they're the home of princess culture and everything, but i wasn't a 'princess meets her prince for a happy ending' kid. i grew up with disney classics but didn't imprint on any of them.

instead, i was a don bluth kid! singing music from an american tail is literally one of my earliest memories, and my animated love story growing up was anastasia. if i squint, i can kind of see overlap between that animated romcom and this one, in terms of traumatic family history and a guarded, feisty female lead who gets what she thought she wanted all along just as she's also fallen in love with someone whose difference threatens her new fulfilled goal.

i'm not saying the two movies are very alike, lol...a zombie sorcerer belongs nowhere in elemental, obviously. but they both treat their romances with less sentimental sweetness, more sparkage and sincerity. the flirting in this is cute, and i loved them more the further along we went.

but of course, there's still that pesky plot-established problem that makes them a doomed romance. so once it was clear that their dynamic was about falling in love, not just befriending the 'other'...then i honestly expected a bittersweet ending where friends is all they can be. because this is disney, not pushing daisies, and in a world where nobody seems to have invented the elemental version of saran wrap for characters to safely kiss through, what kind of future could they have?

i did not expect them to give us this story where the characters are all believable in how firmly they believe (or don't, in wade's case) that different elements can't mix, and then for the story to show us those differences being overcome. i mean, that theme isn't exactly a new one, love conquering all, but the differences were so much more concrete here--it was life or death for them! when the parental disapproval alone was almost enough to ruin their chances!

i suppose you could flip my reaction to this movie and look at it the opposite way, and complain that their ability in the end to do what the story all along told us couldn't be done made it a waste of time, like the stakes were fake even if they didn't know that. maybe if you predicted the ending from the beginning, it could have felt that way.

but i didn't have expectations for the ending. so while i was really hoping ember and wade could be together, i was prepared for the alternative, a more modest 'crossing the aisles' journey of discovery for them both that opened her world and future and allowed him into her life from a safe distance going forward. instead, their whole story was wonderful and i love them and i'm so glad that they get to be the odd couple they are in a very divided world.

one last fun (if also slightly vexing) thing about this movie is that while it does end, it leaves a lot open, too. and i wanted to get to see ember start her internship; i wanted to learn about their new life and if it goes well for them once they're out in the broader world. i guess i wasn't ready to say goodbye to them, really, is all.

but that was fun at least on the level of seeing this with my family--it meant that after it ended, we were discussing what a sequel could be about, and that segued into a discussion about whether ember and wade could have kids or if they'd have to adopt--and how cool it would be if them having kids would create new elements or something. i love that idea a lot.

and i enjoyed this movie a lot. it was super pretty, i liked most of the characters, and it was unexpected romcom fun. i'm officially rooting for pixar to make more love stories now.

[lady-lycany]

Since I had a little breakdown last morning, I wanna talk about it... It started cuz I was looking out of the window and watched people living their life... It gave me the realization and the strong feeling that I simply not belong here. I don't mean the planet itself, but the role I'm supposed to play... U know, back in school, there were the students, that were for example good at math but bad at sience, and then there were students that sucked at math but were very talented in sience... I would be neither of them. For real, no matter what job I think about, I don't feel qualified or comfortable... and I know that masters are not born. You have to learn something to get good at it... But in todays society, you have to either already have knowledge about something or they expect you to learn everything in like two weeks... I simply can't keep up with it. And to be honest, I don't even want to... I wish, I really wish, I would be one of the 'normal' npc people that don't question how the world works. They go to school, they learn a job, they work... It seems so normal to them... To me it's not... Really. Working your life away to have some free time when you're too old to do shit? Being incredibly tired from all the work, that you have to use every vacation just to sleep and stay at home? It's just so. so. so wrong to me. It's such a waste of life.

But at the same time, the way I'm living right now isn't better at all... You need to work, in order to get money, to even get the chance, to live and travel... So like this or that, I'm wasting my precious lifetime away and don't know what I'm supposed to do...

As Mark once said, "there's work, and there's passion, and some people have incredible passion for what they do, and you notice that". I don't have that kind of passion for anything job related. Even if I had the chance to become some sort of influencer for example, it still takes time of your life away... The recording, the editing, the planning... This is all stuff, that's nothing for me... Like for real, whatever job I'm thinking about, it doesn't feel right to me.

Really, the only spark of hope is my book, cuz I really hope, that it'll get sold well. But for this to happen, I have to write it, but I'm stuck in an endless spiral of procrastination and fear of failure. (I plan to force me next year to write everyday for at least five minutes. cuz five minutes is not much on a day but can be a lot in a year... Maybe I make a little progress like this... idk)

I'm stuck in every aspect of life and somehow I can't move on... "soon, soon" but when is soon?

I know how fast the time is running, how important it is, how you spend every minute of your life, cuz you only have this one... So you should use every minute to do something that means something to you and makes you happy. And it's driving me insane, that I can't live and enjoy it as I would love to... I would love to see as much of the world as I can, as long as I am here... The world is so big and we have such little time....

Long story short, I'm basically crying over the fact that I don't have a place in this world, but at the same time, I'm not even trying to find one...

Three months as a free wolf seem to be more worth, than three years as a human, I could run wherever my legs carry me to, and just have to think about gettin food and water, the rest is just living in the moment...

[helmarok]

OK I PUT POST JOURNEYS HEADCANONS HERE WOOOOOOOO

ok theres like a lot of shit in my canon but im just gonna go like a bit post journeys.

the trio since SM have wanted to live in alola and settle down there, but the reason they stayed in the organization was for stability (and many times in the jn time period including jn095, jessie fears losing said stability). at that point they are just about done- jessie and james who got married there discuss quitting and having a kid, though meowth the one with a brain tells them it's a bad idea when their only source of income would be a food truck which is pretty unreliable to live off of. the day they were told by giovanni to go to kanto again they were offered a huge promotion, so they all decided to continue on and save money for settling down.

journeys itself is full of a lot of stuff like meowth ends up adopting a son named scrimblo and growlie evolves to an arcanine. most of their time in kanto is spent doing nothing if not james and meowth fixing other rocket's things as part of their job (their promotion was to field engineers). after about 2 years living in a basement they quit after they find out jessies having a kid so....... giovanni lets them off easy cuz like thats his sister and he somehow manages to get their criminal records wiped. they pack up and move to alola afterwards. ash, misty, and brock also go as brock got a job in the melemele island pokemon center cuz the joy there retired and she settled down with the jenny lol. the three of them didnt even mean to come with but they of course ended up on the same flight as the trio cuz they are destined to bump into eachother no matter what

theres like a lot of stuff in between all that but they all go to the treehouse and have lunch. then james takes note of how small the interior is, and how there's no bedroom for when their kid gets old enough to have one. ash being mr helpful protagonist volunteers to build another room, and then james ms autism goes nuts and plans it out in like 10 minutes. ash goes and gets kukui and his family the next day and he's like "LOOK WHO'S HERE TO HELP" and james cries cuz her hero... wants to help... eventually they also get to work on a new cafe called "mama ki's malasada cafe" for a more reliable business that isn't screwed over by the weather

its all just found family building a house and having fun at the beach and having big dinners really... have some smaller listed hcs too

their daughter's name is jaime

later theyre in a polyam with harley, who surprised them by buying the property for the cafe

they have 2 more girls one with harley and another of james (jackie n jordan) and then adopted two others (marley and kalina) so you can imagine amount of house this can tree

the treehouse also becomes a pokemon center for wild pokemon. jessie earned her GED not long after journeys and later was given a professional license for being a pokemon nurse from brock after she worked as his assistant in her spare time. injured wild pokemon will often stop by the treehouse if not carried in by mama ki, and the trio but especially jessie will help nurse it back to health

brock gets married to a singer my oc my man LOUDREAD

misty and ash are in a qpr and honestly just do whatever. they dont... actually have important jobs... misty gave the gym to daisy, ash is a pokemon master whatever that means so hes just chilling. they DO however work at mama ki's part time. you probably wouldnt expect the protagonist to work at their enemies' little cafe but they do... ash was banned from the food truck though cuz hes crashed 3 of brock's cars

meowth is very old, i mean he was already fairly old even in OS but now hes like. EXTRA old. its sorta sad, though hes still kickin. hes got a cane to keep on two feet and hes got glasses cuz he started to go blind. hes also starting to go deaf, and getting sick more often than not. this obviously raises concerns, but he dismisses them.

speaking of meowth he is gay married to pikachu theyre like old white men wearing hawaiian shirts and watching the sunset

i have many more hcs, if theres a specific thing anyone wants to know ill be glad to answer any asks 🥳

[bellybiologist]

Okay, finished 3rd run of FE: 3 Hopes

And here are some thoughts ramblings. Spoilers ahoy for those who care! (fair warning, its a big post!)

After finishing all 3 paths at least once (Recruited byleth on my edelgarde and dimitri runs, but not on Claude’s), i can officially say that Shez and Arval are the weakest parts of the game. I know they’re needed to be the eyes for the player, but their narrative feels so unimportant, with little-to-no payoff either way you finish the lines, and shoe-horned in with a thin layer of Anime Protag. Probably wouldve been better if Shez was Just a Dude/Gal and they just ditched the whole Arval situation. The story probably would’ve been just as good without them completely, but i guess they needed their Anime Protag Transformation who was SO GOOD at what they do to make sure that the side you’re on wins. 🤷🏽‍♀️. Even the extra chapters felt like they existed solely so the house leaders can talk to each other.

Speaking of unimportant, i cant say im pleased with any of the endings. They left no closure, which i’m thinking is the point. The game seems to put so very little importance on “what ACTUALLY happens” and the narrative only functions as a stage for the characters to develop and interact, which i think is fine and works well for that. WHo wins the war? doesnt matter! Look at these CHARACTERS. But it misses out on a lot because there are no “endings” for the characters like in the first game. 

For a lot of characters, the fact that the game’s focus is on the war, with no “school arc” at all does a lot of interesting things, for better or for worse. A lot of characters developed and evolve a certain way during their school arc, which has a LOT of focus for the first game and is also the arc they can develop a lot of key relationships. With that gone, they develop different ones, and evolve differently. The big focus is on “War actually sucks!” which i think they pull off well, and they do a much better job going into the politics of the individual kids’ families and the countries, which is a good tradeoff i think. Characters like Sylvain (thank god they actually put EFFORT into his writing) and the boys trying to be knights really flourish from the focus on the war section. Petra also got a lot of cool focus too, as did the Ashen wolves. Others I feel got a lot less out of it, and some evolved in ways that are so different from how they did in the first game, it’s almost sad. Caspar is the main one im thinking of, as instead of breaking away from his family to roam during the war and before rejoining with Byleth, he remains loyal to the empire (which is a LOT more valid in this game, given how Edelgarde’s path is MUCH better written imo), and ends up like, proving himself to his father (nice!), or leaving the battlefield with a “Augh I’m Pathetic!!!” Because of this, his Good Boy™ traits are downplayed a LOT (especially since he doesnt have supports with Ashe). It really feels like the lack of inter-house relationships + Byleth robs him and some other characters (particularly the ones with very Curiosity driven narratives) of their development in the 1st game in favor of more relevant developments to the sudden war. A lot of the characters do allude to it pretty frequently about how things couldve been different, so the big changes def feel intentional, as this is a big exploration into a different timeline.

So all in all, the writing and development was enjoyable! (even if very sad for a good portion of the characters, but that’s the point). I still prefer Byleth’s Narrative, mostly cuz  the magic of the setting (particularly in Claude’s path) is ruined by the lack of mystery solving that the 1st game does, and Shez and Arval are such piss poor replacements for them with their weak narratives that gave me nothing to chew on.

Some other notes:

-LAUGHING cuz Raphael loses his muscles when using the Warmaster model instead of his base model. WOW. TWINKED. it KEEPS HAPPENING. 

-Linhardt is still funny as hell.

-when will Pegasi stop being sexist? (Ignatz’s last support with Marianne was disappointind. Let the BOY FLY👏🏽 ) -Dimitri got so much a better schtick out of it too. cuz WOW they did him dirty in the 1st game’s golden deer. They (and by they i mean felix) are still real mean to him, but gosh, he got out of this so much better in all endings (but being beaten to death off screen is a VERY LOW BAR)

-The Supports are still banger and a lot of them gave me real big smiles. Particualy marianne’s with ingrid and Bernadetta.

[gonegirl1996]

Good job this semester, I know it might not have went exactly how you planned it, but I am proud of you for finishing strong

Thank you!!!! Yeah this semester definitely didn’t go the way I planned. But holy shit look at what I learned and gained from it!!!! My fear of failure reduced!!! My fear of going to office hours reduced!!!! My fear of speaking up and telling the professor I don’t get this shit please explain to me for the 4th time reduced!!! Me asking for help from the person who’s like the big man for the comp sci department and he helped me more than what I asked for!!!

And best of all, I learned that whatever you go through you’re not the only one who’s going through it. There’s so many kids who flunked but tried again and again and there’s so many people who are freaking out the way you are some just do it on the inside vs outside and I had directly asked my group mates cuz I was visibly feelin cray cray over this project and they literally explained to me that concept of inside vs outside!!

And I gained another important thing which is courage like I told my parents I’ll be taking summer classes and I need money for it. Got some negative reactions but that didn’t matter to me. Cuz the output was courage on my end.

And thank you so much!!!!! Means a lot!!!! You’ve been so kind and validating to my struggles, stranger!!

[incarnateirony]

Never gonna be able to really turn back from being seen as a pagan blog now or whatever, I think. Oh well.

So lesson one kids: You can travel through multiple pantheons exploring your inner path, but make sure it's a path, not an abstract collection of toys leading you in circles. They need to be leading you home to yourself. If you seem to be getting less and less yourself, or struggling more and more with mental health, you are Probably Not Going The Right Way, no matter what your invisible friends tell you, or whatever.

The average person picks a pantheon to practice under, or a tradition, like Hellenism. They address deities under a given state of forms of understanding. They're often still externalized in modern reconstruction rather than a "found within", but they at least have clear cut paths, practices, expectations, etc. So someone practicing Hellenism has a path, even if they stick to one patheon.

However Hermes for example, he shows you the possible paths and lets you find your way on them, as long as you don't refuse his wisdom or offers in guidance to supplant with your own (like cough some people), or run the other way. But if you check it out, even Hermetics is about All The Paths As One Path, basically, like. If you do this to Osiris you'll do this to Jupiter, don't be a dick. And about breaking down like the layers of man lived as gods. So you end up with multiple pantheon mentions, but a strong direction with deep results even respected by science these days.

But then you get the people who read that you can use Multiple Pantheons or whatever, and start treating gods like collector fetishes. No real internal connection, no real direction or routine to follow, no steps to take, just toys to lay around their house and find reasons to treat yourself to candy after talking to yourself disassociated or w/e.

And you know, even that is fine in a therapy context, but you gotta recognize that's what you're doing. You can't charge people for your own therapy. And if you're picking up your collectors toys and definition from the side of the road, you need to make sure you aren't like... worshipping a random dude you copied the work of badly. Or something. Like, consent is important, kids! If you just want to eat candy while playing off of statues representing parts of yourself as therapy, ok, but you better not be charging people in shop for the octopus jibberish wisdom of your happy meals toys on the mantle.

Anyway, my point being, a path needs a path, and a direction, otherwise it's a pit. If you start becoming rapidly unhinged in a permanent declining state (I'm not talking about moments of gnosis or oracle brief madness), like a trajectory where you can see "Hm, something's changed, I need a dozen pills every few hours and started ripping out my hair, why am I so unstable compared to a handful of years ago?" like. If you're practicing. Take that as a warning sign, kids. You should not start becoming unhinged psychologically if you're on a good path.

Hell, I came unglued for a month or so, but I can mark down why. I was specifically employing mass persona breakdown while my abusive ex wife kept intentionally rattling my shadows and came in on attack, and I got a lot of energy and eyes raised, so the fractals got REAL LOUD while on the gnosis bus, and I was not going to let the work go, and have experienced all the pain, before it was done, especially since it was already there on momentum anyway. But I was still able to dismount the bus, glue my brain back together right, and resume normal function. And hell could still operate in psych at work due to HOW I do my work, the broken personages didn't hurt that at all. But that's the difference. I can control it, cuz I had a path. I can get off the bus. I can go back to being me without having to be medicated back to balance.

Sometimes medication is necessary, I'm a big mental health supporter like look at what I do for a job, but let's stop pretending nobody ever exacerbates their own mental decline because it might hurt someone's feelings. Sometimes those feelings need to be hurt, before the person hurts themselves far worse. Or becomes like crackbear. Or you guys essentially endorse us putting up a tent for literal crazy people to lead new kids down into crazy town and we're supposed to just cope with that and tolerate it Cuz Feelings. Sounds like a false barrier of societal control and conditioning literally set up by the Crazy People under false equality. Dead ass if you lose your old teacher and cobble together your own practices and only THEN start needing to chew on pills like skittles while going bald from ripping your hair out, maybe you fucking turned left at albequerque, and maybe it's not fucking ableism to point that out.

I know tumblr wants to Everybody's Opinion shit, but this used to be common knowledge, elders warned you not to fuck around with things you don't know, elders warned you to do the study, elders warned you to find a path, because that's the only thing keeping you safe. From yourself, really.

But hey, what would I know after a quarter century of study. I guess it's my turn to be the cranky old elder telling kids to stop treating forces they don't understand as games. This applies only to who it applies, so don't get offended and wedge your foot in a shoe if it doesn't fit. If it does fit, that seems like a personal problem.

Yet somehow despite using terms like "elder/kid", my horror is that this post is mostly inspired by a middle aged woman that just refuses any personal accountability and has been locked in Kid mindset her whole life.

At the same time I have a student ten years her younger that actually listens who has come further in a few months than she did in a few decades, because he's trying to perceive the path, and find himself on the way. Not distract himself or find externalizations to rest all his decisions on.

He's out here performing feats already while Crackbear hasn't taken a single step to give herself foundation and still acts mystified that like, some magicians can actually do like.. magic that... DOES things... Dat can't be real, she still can't do SHIT but make one random life decision in middle age to validate her shit. Magic isn't real to her, really, it's just a game to play to appeal to authority. Or feel special or chosen. She used to believe in it, and be able to do things, then she split from her teacher and way and fell into a roleplay twitter hole and everybody else was fake so. I mean. She deluded herself into her delusions being normal/acceptable.

Don't do that. Don't be that person folks.

This isn't like gatekeeping someone from a community like LGBTQ. Religions and spirituality aren't just something you default into membership on if you act completely contrary to it, or start acting like a lunatic. People ABSOLUTELY have the right to tell you to stop blaspheme shitting in their pool next to everybody else and to stop disrespecting their traditions. No white girl whining while picking apart 20 pantheons and cultures for accessory use and no effort is gonna make it right, no matter how many sage sticks you wave around. Modern witchcraft popularized has a bunch of y'all treating this shit like stan twitter, you pick blorbos that look cool on the TL even though half of you never even watched the actual show.

Though one thing I ask people, is, "What is your GOAL following these gods?" You would be surprised how many of them stare at you as deer in headlights. Like. What do you mean a goal. It's just a thing that you do, right? To have magic or something?

I don't like Christianity modernly, but at least Christians can answer "eternal life", even if they're all fucked up on how to get there or their own books. I can say similar completion with the one, same thing different angle/phrasing. Most paths that are paths lead back to a similar thing whether it's Jesus, Buddha, Krishna or Hermes or whatever. But a lot of these people putzing around online like. What's their goal. IDK. Magic? More (invisible) friends? Shrug emoji. Cuz if it was stuff like afterlife, we'd see a lot more action than we do. Which is why I say, this is just games and theater and distraction to a bunch of people.

If you ever want to be like some Great Magus who Performed Some Works that made you Shit Your Pants, the path to that is not by reblogging random excuses, picking up random toys, and showing up with your biweekly oreo offering asking them to unfuck you for you if you won't unfuck yourself. I fucking promise you. So like, do you want magic? Do the work. Do you want afterlife? Do the work. Do you want peace of mind? Do the work. The work can vary depending on the path but smashing toy soldiers together is playtime, not spirituality. The oreo is your own reward for self perceived good behavior at that point, it's snackie time. IDK if you notice, most great magicians ended up *dead* before their time because of the work they put in to become what they were. See: jesus. He's pretty famous, I hear.

Given that MFer took 3 days to respawn lol nooooob. Laaaag. I kid, I love Jesus, he's great at parties. Put your finger in my cup, my brother in self. I just like to make the joke since mine was instant under gunfire. But I mean. Jokes aside. The rest is just blunt truth.

[the-firebird69]

Nemesis vs S.T.A.R.S. | Resident Evil 2: Apocalypse [Open Matte]

They shot the living s*** out of azog's body and it takes it and believe it or not it's after the fight on New Zealand and the fight in which he loses and is revived and he gets put in the monster by himself and it starts off Warcraft then I guess he does this afterwards and they have a big fight in resident evil becomes a Target in the end of it the two come out as the big giants. This guy is a huge a****** okay he's putting a nail like every two inches and he thinks this the shingles will lift and really the drip edge was underneath the ice and water shield and he's a f****** a****** this guy it's going to meld so tight to those shingles this guy is such a loser he doesn't even know anything about what it does. I wouldn't have gone he's a f****** loser and he was a loser it's Robert shaker we're going to have you killed okay Robert Shaker you understand you're a dead man. So he does this remotely and he actually gets stuffed in the body after that's actually what happens this other people retrieve him in the body and then he does this to it and the brain is still hell and it's by the others and they're trying to get Bill to put it back together and this moron actually shoots bill and hasn't happened yet to Bill it happened to Dan by Trump is doing a dry run and the others put it back together again and truck and Joe starts to kill Trump continuously Non-Stop is a tax or tremendous and he puts his grandson to shame this is thank God that was so damned annoying I'll tell you what this is what it's like everybody has to gang up in this prick again he's a little baby and he's out there shooting a hundred nails in the roof he's an astonishingly insulting person if you're not insulted by him no one will install you

Thor Freya

So I was going to say why is it that you look like such a pun says I'm not attacking you out of the blue you look like a PUD all the time with your PUD head and your PUD face and you do things against your realm that help me 100% and you're so f****** stupid you can never tell you're a completely f****** out the lunch idiot and you say that I'm doomed and all that stuff all the time it's because you're stupid you want me to fix it why the f*** would I do that you heard what it said right idiot I don't know what to tell you the only thing you can do is kill yourself but you won't do that so you have to use you up and I do because the max are trying to do it so I'm forced to and we got the upper hand you don't think we're doing anything cuz you're so Swift and you're fired by the way at the end of your presidency and you get fired from every job that you don't hold and every position because you're saying stuff to me you shouldn't your f****** useless prick. Oh yeah I'm going to slip you some poison you want your poison my brother made clothes of you they're real close and they're all these massive pricks they turned it already weak humiliating freaking loser passive aggressive bully into an absolute piece of s*** and then all terrible terrible at it and you're ruined no matter what you do you have to do all the stuff taking stuff and they turn on you and it's insanity but that's what you are okay man you're insane man you are nuts before and now you're going down because of yourself gross.... He looks often says what do they do to deserve this information that's going to kill me and he says why would it kill me so they're making more of them and you're the useless one and the other side doesn't like you that much you don't have the AI. And he says I do have it I have my own version that's why Dave grabbed you make sure this it's just a jibber and blab for hours and then he says I don't know if you're still there and it's just not you it says go ahead loser oh go ahead you're not really important enough to watch but go ahead says yapping and about an hour later he says I'm going to drop dead from exhaustion and we say so what they keep on property you up to get the job so enjoy and by the way don't move a muscle and he blabbed the whole thing out and they started going after him and you have to use his own forces he's getting toasted tons and tons of times they say thank you to us and he sees how bad it is

-there's other stuff happening and they're this guy is a huge crack so he says the Jason how many nails do you need in the edge he's going like one every two inches if I remember right it was like one every two foot or more cuz it's just kind of held on there by a few nails it says it won't stick if I do this is probably stick to the nails it starts getting mad and he looks where it is and he says it's below the strip so what are you doing that for and he gets really mad he says I want you off the job and you're fired in any format it is telling the other guys and there's going to be a fight at the building department cuz he's the one who demanded the notice John something is his name and he's a trustee for the apartments and he's going to court tomorrow to lose that he only owns like 5% of about 20% of the apartments and he demanded his signature be on the permit or other people would pay so and no his name is on there nobody can stand it and he's been trying to evict our son to threaten to own the buildings to put him in the hospital and Jason wants them out so there's going to be a big fight and he's going to lose it and we think that they go up there today for titanium the video and we're going to use Stars anyways because he wants to grab a whole bunch of them and use it and the boats go right through and he thinks it's fascinating and what we say is the only has a few minutes left and he's down and ours the boats don't go through and they just keep killing you so we're going to launch those attacks on this a****** for showing up and causing problems

We have more to announce and it's nothing huge yet but it will be

Thor Freya

Olympus

[hyeahgaku]

Nagumo is prolly the big bad of the series as I just can't digest Asaki as final villain. Nagumo is harbouring a fugitive (Yotsumura) and has turned him into his slave, not to mention he keeps Kindaka suspended in life all these years, and now he don't plan to tell the upper echelon of X's bombing plan. It's unfathomable how he's putting his message across like he don't care if thousands of civilians die in the exhibition as long as X is finished. That's nuts man.

I was telling another anon that Nagumo was on my sus list since forever but now the suspicion has tremendously decreased. The final big bad of the series imo is Sei Asaki -whom I don’t think would die easily. Now I'll break down all the points you've listed so you can try see the possible good/advantage behind his actions which I've spent some time analysing & theorizing. It's not perfect thou, sorry in advance.

1] Nagumo harbouring Yotsumura, a supposed "dead man". -> We know that Yotsumura was a big deal as he was the former JAA Chairman's right-hand man. And no matter which era (lol), someone in the JAA wants Yotsumura dead. In the past, Kei told Asaki that he'd get rid of Kindaka so that those in the way of him becoming chairman are eliminated. Soichi tells us that in the event that he dies, either Yotsumura or Asaki will become the next Chairman. That's why Yotsumura was framed for Soichi's assassination. Yotsumura knew he was set up, he probably has all the suspicions on Asaki but at that time nobody would bother to listen to his story. And years later Shishiba got tasked to finish the job again & once more, Yotsumura didn't die. If this reaches Asaki's ears, bro would be mad af & again send someone to hunt Yotsumura's head simply because Yotsumura knew the truth behind Asaki's rise to chairmanship. And so does Slur too. Asaki doesn't wanna get exposed cuz maybe he knows there should be people who'd be after his head for all his misdeeds. Does Nagumo know abt this? I belive he does maybe not everything but most of the stuff. I bet he knew of JAA's corruption over the years but he's gathering evidence & waiting for the right time to take action. For now as we see things, Nagumo is just using Yotsumura to investigate Rion's death -which I'm very certain it's linked to Asaki. Perhaps it's just Rion's mysterious death that he couldn't get info on, or he needs confirmation on the assumptions he have, which is why he decides to capture Yotsumura. Speaking of this yknow I think he had the gut feeling that Shishiba won't kill Yotsumura again & he was actually spying their battle from far otherwise how would he know where Yotsumura was.

2] Nagumo keeps Kindaka suspended since eight/nine years ago. -> As he says, Kindaka was an "important witness to Uzuki's disappearance". He didn't elaborate but I'm sure he means several things and not only "Uzuki's disappearance". Nagumo wasn't present precisely at the time when Kindaka got hurt and I think he'd want Kindaka's testimony about everything that he could try to get an answer out of -whether Uzuki actually hurt him on that day, what actually happened between them, if Kindaka knew or suspected that the JAA spy was Uzuki, whether Kindaka knew of anyone in the higher-ups who may have ordered Rion's death or instructed Uzuki to kill Rion, if the bodyguard mission was actually a set-up for somethin else, is Kindaka actually in on some JAA secrets, etc. Idk if Kindaka will still be able to talk but i assume he can or maybe he'll just nod/shake his head to answer..?

3] Nagumo keeps Slur's bombing plan a secret from the higher-ups. -> Yea he doesn't want them to cancel the whole thing cuz then he wouldn't be able to capture (or kill🥲) Slur. I'm still unsure abt the beef he has against Slur apart from he was simping bad for Rion and he was just jelly that she took off with Slur bby (lol) but I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt that he will capture Slur instead of offing him. He wants answers and while Yotsumura is tasked to find them, Slur is like the best person to get a straight answer out of so why kill him..? I mean he can t0rture Slur to get the truth 😅 he can even find out the reason why Slur wants to kill Asaki & why he hates the JAA so much. I'm expecting a plot twist where Nagumo won't kill Slur cuz he wants every single truth -from their JCC days mission & the spy stuff, the mysteries of the dissapearances & deaths & how Slur managed to survive (how he becomes Rion too), etc. And frankly speaking I bet Nagumo alr knew ALMOST everything, including that Uzuki was the JAA mole in the JCC days arc but he probably just wants to hear it first-hand from the man himself cuz like I said, I'm dead set on Nagumo capturing Slur instead of offing him.

4] Nagumo doesn't care if thousands of civilians die in the exhibition as long as X is finished. -> The bigger picture is that if Slur is not dealt with, he will continue to kill MORE innocent civilians.. Idk what Nagumo's ideals are but from how he worded it, he'd rather sacrifice a thousand to catch a criminal so that the deaths of even more thousands of innocents can be prevented. Nagumo & Shishiba know that Slur's bombing plan is only set for the day Asaki comes to the exhibit. Measures are in place & I'm sure he's confident in his fellow ORDER members and Sakamoto too, maybe, that they'll do their best to handle the situation and not let the bomb go off. Surely they aren't gonna sit around & do nothing & let everyone die there 😂 it's also possible that Nagumo has other plans of his own like maybe he wants Slur to rly make an appearance in front of Asaki & witness their confrontation himself? Or maybe wheel Kindaka in w his life support system & why not throw Yotsumura into the mix too & then let everyone get a piece of Asaki?

All this aside, there is possibility that there are two sides to the JAA right now. Maybe there exists a "Resistance" group which Nagumo is the sole member or the leader & they're operating in secret to uncover the hidden secrets of the corrupt JAA in the midst of all the chaos, before they can take the next course of actions to do what Slur also aims to do: reform the assassin world/bring about a new ORDER.

Anyway sorry for the longass reply I hope I helped in some way. If anyone has other things to add on, feel free to input your comments below :)

[journalingmysadness]

every day that passes, i feel more and more like offing myself.

i don't know, it's something so weird, it's a feeling inside me so desperate that i can't stand it yet i don’t have any courage to do something about it. i don't know how i can stand it. i get out of bed every day wondering, how? like, i’m truly honest right now, i just wanna stay in bed forever playing my little games and eating some stupid food and living just fine like that, but everytime that i think that it is impossible to live like this, i genuinely feel like ending all. the only thing that stops me currently is my mim and my cat, i’m only here for them because i don’t want to disappoint them this way. i’m definitely not okay.

it hurts me even more to know that absolutely nobody cares, but i don’t know why i care so damn much about that since it’s so obvious that i don’t have any friends really. i do have some people i talk to everyday (like m and b) and i have a person i talk to casually (like l and j) but to be really honest? i don’t feel like these people even consider me as their friend, i don’t feel like they care about me or love me as much as i love them. and it’s crazy to think that, because i know that a few months after i post this, some of these people will leave. it always like this, they always leave. and it’s sad because i’m always so desperate to have people around me, to have a small group of friends that makes me feel warm… but i can’t ever make anyone stay.

anyways, i don't know why i want these people to come up to me and ask me how i’m doing, it's not their job… but why do i feel so bad that they don't? i just wanted someone to come up to me and really demonstrate that i matter to them, that they’re with me and that i’m not alone. but i really can’t demand this from them, i know i’m not worth their time and plus, it’s not like i would actually say anything that is happening to me. it’s not that i don’t trust them, it’s cuz i know that if they did asked me, i would feel like its just a rhetorical question and not that they do care.

but well, overall i’m not important to anyone, i’m not worth anything to anyone, i’m not loved. i’m just a big waste of space and of everyone's time. i’m someone who's there for a small laugh on a daily basis but doesn't really make any special or important difference. and damn, that’s really lonely. i am so lonely.

the worst of all this is knowing that it's not just a feeling in fact... i don’t just feel alone, i look around and i don't really see anyone. no one to hold my hand, or someone to offer me a shoulder to cry on. i don’t have any friends that doesn’t get bothered or annoyed by my trueself, i don’t have anyone in which i can truly feel like myself without fear of judgment. it hurts so fucking much.

okay but, actually, i can't blame anyone but myself. i am the most annoying person in the universe, difficult to live with, to tolerate. i don't deserve anyone's time, nor friendship, nor love, nor importance. and for that, i just need to accept that this is my life. it will always be like that, i can’t change it.

[nataliaphantomhivesblog]

Corruption & Trust

Stormbringer and bsd spoilers in general ahead so read at your own risk!!

So in this post I will be listing all the times Chuuya used corruption and all the times Dazai was there to stop it. I will also go into depth as to why Chuuya trusts Dazai when it comes to having to use corruption and I will also emphazise on Dazai's care and how he takes corruption seriously.

1. First time using corruption: Stormbringer

Chuuya and Dazai's age: 16 yrs old

"Isn't it an unpleasant sight, Chuuya."

It was a young boy. This young boy casually caught hold of Chuuya's arm and lifted it up. With this movement, the gravitational field which had occured around them disappered immediatly. As well as Chuuya’s agony.

"Y...You..."

"You can't even die gracefully can you?" the young boy said in a raspy voice as he heaved Chuuya on his shoulders. He set off to walk.

Alright so this was the first time Chuuya's corruption was ever activated, after Dazai nullifies it and carries Chuuya on his back, he drops him off outside the bar were Chuuya's friends lay dead. He took him there instead of taking him directly to the port mafia quarters.

Why did he do that exactly? If Dazai doesn't care for Chuuya, then why did he give Chuuya the opportunity to pay farewell to his dying friends?

It's actually sort of funny because I don't really think Dazai really realizes or accepts that he feels a certain connection with Chuuya and therefore looks after him.

2. Second time using Corruption: Stormbringer

Chuuya and Dazai's age: 16 yrs old (obviously, its still the same light novel lol)

After losing his strength, Chuuya drifted in the air for a few seconds, then lost the black wings on his back and slowly fell.

Dazai caught his body.

From the spot where Dazai touched, the nulification skill was activated.

The self-contradictory skill that supports the energy of the singular point receded, and the output of the singular point decreased. Eventually, it converged and the "gate" closed. The red imprints disappeared from Chuya's whole body. Eventually, the gravitational field disappeared and the complete silence was restored.

“Good job, Chuuya." Dazai chuckled, looking at Chuuya he was holding in his arms. "I forgot to bring my ink pen, so I'll spare you from having your face scribbled."

As much as it looks like this is from a fanfiction, I can assure you that it's an actual passage from stormbringer.

I can't really say much except the fact that Dazai is being extremely soft here.

And this was the conversation Dazai and Chuuya shared beforehand:

"There is one problem." Dazai cut off his sentence hesitantly. "It has nothing to do with the sucess rate of the plan. It is a matter we have to overcome in the end but... It may require some time to decide."

"What's with you?" Chuuya raised his eyebrows at Dazai. "Stop dramatizing it. Just hurry up and say it."

"I said earlier about this control spell to open the 'gate' that is used to reset the command inside Chuuya, right?" Dazai spoke with a strangely restrained voice. "If we use that, the logs of the command formula that were written in the past will be erased. That means...even if the memory erasure was used on Chuuya in the past, the traces of that will be erased as well."

"What?"

"I told you before right? the memory erasure command. The only way we can confirm if Chuuya is human or not is to check the history to see if the memory erasure command was ever used. It means..." Dazai looked at Chuuya with eyes that he had never looked at him before. Those eyes were serious. "If we use that control spell, the method to confirm if Chuuya is an artificial personality created by a string of code, or just a normal human being, will be lost. For good."

The time had stopped.

Chuuya opened his eyes and looked towards Dazai but his eyes were not seeing anything. The wind blew between the two of them. Even so, Chuuya did not blink.

"Verlaine became like that because he was tormented by the curse that he was not human. That only is enough of a big problem. The matter of being human or not." Dazai looked at his pocket watch, gave it a glance and continued. "I can delay the time until the plan starts for about two minutes. I will send an order for my men to wait... You can think about it alone for a while. Cuz I guess its hard for you to collect your thoughts with me around."

Having said so, Dazai turned away and walked down the stairs, leaving Chuuya alone.

Dazai fixated in his pocket watch. Two more minutes. Too short for a life decision. But he couldn't afford more than that.

Inside Dazai's head, he was planning a procedure to swith to an alternative plan in case Chuuya refused, at a tremendous speed.

After this exchange, Chuuya does decide on using corruption. I have talked about this section on a previous post of mine, and I just love it so much. For starters, I think this conversation that these two shared is very important to their characters.

For Chuuya, it shows us how undeniably selfless he is. He would rather save the people of Yokahama instead of finding out something that meant a lot to him. He sacrificed his own desires to save the people he cares about.

For Dazai its a completely different story, in this exchange Dazai was able to openly express genuine concern for his partner. He also understands the gravity of the decision Chuuya has to take and therefore leaves the decision up to him.

Third time using corruption: Dragon's Head Conflict

Chuuya and Dazai' s age: 16 yrs old

During this one, Chuuya demands to know where his friends are, and Shibusawa says all six of them killed themselves after being caught. Enraged, Chuuya activates Corruption which ultimatley ended the 88 day conflict.

There isn't much to say about Dazai and Chuuya here since there isn't really an aftermath on this occasion but I bealive this picture is enough.

Before reading the DA manga, I genuienly thought that the only time Chuuya ever rested on Dazai's lap was when they were 22 but this proved me wrong.

I mean this is a minimal thing to point out but if Dazai disregarded Chuuya he would've just left him there, right? But instead he remained with Chuuya and allowed him to rest on his lap, in the picture you can also see he is putting Chuuya's hat back on. It's such a simple gesture but it shows us how caring Dazai can be when it comes to Chuuya using corruption.

Fourth time using corruption: Lovecraft Battle, Double Black reunion

Chuuya and Dazai's age: 22 yrs old

This is personally one of my favorite times in which Chuuya uses corruption. The fact that these two had not been working together for 4 years yet they still managed to not only accomplish their mission, but mantain their trust for one another.

I find what Chuuya says here extremely ironic because if anything, the choice has always been up to him. Dazai always uses corruption as a last-resort trick and its always Chuuya who makes the final decision of using it or not, even in a life or death situation Dazai won't take it upon himself to force Chuuya to make the decision if they will be using it or not, and hes always willing to come up with an alternative plan in case Chuuya refuses. (an example of this is when Chuuya used corruption for the 2nd time in SB).

I think the reason as to why Dazai takes corruption extremely seriously is because during stormbringer he was the first person to even see Chuuya use corruption and also the person who understood how corruption will always be sort of like a burden to Chuuya, since it was thanks to corruption that his "am I human?" question stayed unanswered.

He knows how it feels to struggle with your own humanity and he doesn't want for Chuuya (who he literally sees as human), to hold that inner conflict with himself because of corruption.

Anyways, Chuuya decides to go through corruption trusting that Dazai will be there to nullify it.

And of course, Dazai does nullify it.

And after Dazai nullifies corruption, we get this very touching moment between both of them.

This is the first time Chuuya openly admits to trusting Dazai, although it was always evident that he trusts him, I just love how open he is being here.

Also the light punch he gives to Dazai's chest is such a sweet gesture, I see it as a silent way for Chuuya to say "I trust you because after all this time I still see you as my partner."

Dazai's smile in that small pannel is one of the most genuine expression we have gotten out of him. What he says is also a very sweet, I love that he calls him partner. The fact that these two are literally in rival organizations yet Dazai still calls him partner, it shows us that even after all these years he still can't help but see him the same way as he has always done.

Actually in Japanese he calls him "Aibou" and from my understanding, when you use the term Aibou it's for someone who you consider yourself to be close with. It means "partner" like in english but it holds a deeper meaning. If Dazai used the word "nakama" it would have been a very diffrent story since it means partner as well but it isn't used for someone you share a significant connection with. Asagiri's play with words here says a lot.

Fifth time using corruption: Dead Apple

Chuuya and Dazai's age: 22yrs old.

Of course I have to talk about one of the most iconic moments in the history of Soukoku.

Chuuya uses corruption to save Dazai, even if Ango says that he's dead for sure. Something I find very intresting here though is that Chuuya screams for Dazai while he is on corruption, he is obviously not supposed to be self concious about the whole situation, while on Corruption clearly he is not supposed to be in sane state of mind, as we all here know, Chuuya loses control and does not have the track of reality while under his own ability but this time, while using corruption, the one and only thing that was on his mind was "Dazai."

It wasn't only Chuuya who entrusted his life to Dazai, Dazai too entrusted his life in Chuuya's hands. When Dazai came up with this plan, he was more than certain that Chuuya was going to save him. And I think a tumblr blog pointed this out but when Chuuya uses curroption, he cannot control his strength, but when he had to punch Dazai he did it lightly, which is strange considering he was using curroption and it would've made a lot more sence if Dazai ended up decapitated due to being punched by a literal god. Dazai had to have faith in the fact that Chuuya will somehow be able to control corruption, even if its just a little bit.

Afterwards when Chuuya manages to rescue Dazai, Dazai gently touches his cheek to nullify corruption and greets him with, "You used Corruption believing in me? I am so touched I could cry." Chuuya groans, and replies that yes he did, that he believed in his disgusting vitality and craftiness.

When they both fall to the ground, Dazai forces Chuuya to rest in his lap because he didn't want to have to protect him from this situation since the fog is still up and Chuuya himself is all worn out and wouldn't be able to fight. But heres the thing, both Chuuya and Dazai's abilities can't be seperated by the fog. I mean Dazai's ability is nulification so it basically cancels out, and Chuuya hosts a literal god inside him so it isn't really an ability if you know what I mean.

So in reality, Dazai just wanted Chuuya to rest. Dazai could've literally just left Chuuya in the fog if he was only using him for his goals, but he was genuienly appreciating Chuuya's trust in him. The way Dazai's hand is resting on Chuuya's hair is a nice gesture too, he is greatful for him and he is moved that someone trusts him, it is shown throughout the Fifthteen and SB light novel that no one trusted Dazai and how most were afraid to even approach him. And in the ADA, everyone is somewhat warry around him (excluding Atsushi ofc). But Chuuya literally puts his life on the line trusting that Dazai will always be there to save him. He trusts him greatly and Dazai knows that, and I think its pretty clear to us that he would never want to break that trust.

The fact that Chuuya trusts Dazai even after he left the Port Mafia without an explanation or goodbye shows us how strong their bond is. Chuuya most likely trusts Dazai because deep down he knows that he isn't using Chuuya's ability out of his own selifshness, a part of him is aware that Dazai uses corruption as a last resort but he just doesn't want to admit it, and I feel like he also trusts him subconciously because of how gentle Dazai is after Chuuya uses corruption.

I really hope we get to see more of these "corruption moments" because in all honesty, these moments are the ones that bring out the most vulenrability for both characters. The moment corruption is used, we see the inmeasurable amount of trust and care these two have for each other that they won't show in other situations. During these times it always shines a very open and bittersweet light on their bond and I love it so much.

[biribaa]

Illegal visit (Squid x reader)

I actually not a big simp for Squid, i actually just did this bcuz im highly kin Squid cuz we both have insecurities about maintaining an image of "I'd rather be feared than loved" after so much betrayal n etc

⚠️The events took place before Amelia commanded Squid to self-delete.

Scenario: Squid, who really likes IS NORMAL about you, illegally stole your IP to get into your computer to get more contact with you

You entered your house, sighing and desperate to have a rest, it was another rough day in the regime, you weren't the center of attention or the most important part of that whole scheme, but you at least help, and that's what matters

A lot of controversies have happened in the last few months. An AI called Squid was created, a lot of your working friends doubted about the AI, some didn't care, others thought it was absurd. You were a little bit of both, you doubted what that AI was capable of, but that AI is in the hands of the Regime, so it's all under control, right?

You walked over to your couch and slumped against it, kicking off your shoes and dropping your bag onto the pillows, melting into your laziness, your eyes closed and your arms outstretched

Minutes later, you finally got courage and got up, going to the bathroom to take a shower to help you get some sleep, well, you thought you were going to sleep

With your sleeping clothes on, you went to your room, admiring your bed, it looked like it was calling you to sleep, you went straight to the bed, but your computer started to turn on?!

Your eyes went straight to your computer on the table in the corner of your room, the CPU was making small air sounds, you could tell the computer was turning on, but you didn't turned it on?

You slowly approached the computer with a puzzled face, waiting to it completely turn on, the process was a kinda different from how your computer would normally turn on, there were some hot pink glitches that quickly appeared on the screen, your eyes were fixed on the screen, and your body automatically sat in the chair in front of the computer table, and later, a voice...

"Is this machine working? Hello? Testing, testing, Y/N? You there? Hellooooo?" A familiar non-human voice appeared, it was rather strange because the headphones on your computer were plugged in...

And after all, how does... Whoever hacked into your computer knows your name? Is it a stalker hacker? Your spine froze just thinking about that possibility

"What? Who are you? What are you doing on my computer?!" You stressed

"Uh? You do not remember me?" The familiar voice insisted, finally, the big white in your head disappeared, you were able to recognize the voice, it was...the regime's AI?!

"Wait...I believe I have to put a quick picture that represents me so you can remember" The AI...No, Squid pointed out, you opened your mouth to protest, but Squid has already managed to make an avatar for himself on your computer before your comment. It was simple, two eyes and one mouth, all pink, identical to his avatar on the giant screen in the regime.

"What about now? You remember?" Squid questioned, now with his avatar

"UH- S-SQUID?! What are you doing here?! You should be on the regime! Oh God I'll definitely lose my job if they find out you're here" You got up from the chair in despair while started to walked to and fro as if there was no end. What if this is really your fault? You are already on the street!

"Woah woah woah! Calm down!" Squid cautioned to you "No one will lose a job unless I want to, ok?!" Squid warned, trying to calm you down, you looked at your computer screen slowly lowering your nerves

"Quick explanation, I- uh... I BROWNED some of your information from the Regime so... I can have more contact with you..." Squid acknowledged, seeming to be in a shy tone

"You BROWNED?" You argued, speechless with the current situation, your forehead was furrowed and you were already running out of patience, oh please you just wanted to sleep! "Squid you could have asked me my number, and after all, why me? We don't talk much and... you already have Amelia as your best friend, Squid" You enunciated, with less stress being shown in tone and your face calmer

Squid has no idea how to answer that! Squid won't just admit that he likes you and that as an AI he is confused by such feelings, so he stuttered and prevented eye contact, thinking of an answer

"Uh- Well err i-" He tried to spit out the words, still preventing looking at you

"I-I wanted to become your friend?" This is such a stupid excuse... The pink face thought, regretting the answer he gave

You looked at Squid confused, why didn't Squid speak sooner? He's not very introverted after all, why did he get so weird when it comes to you

"Be...my friend?" You muttered

"Y-Yeah, that's right!" He replied with a smile trying not to make things worse.

"But don't you already have Amelia?" You sat in the chair again "I thought you two were like, super friends"

"Of course we are! But i can still have eyes for other people..." The AI corrected you, but still, it was weird for you

"And uh...you...have good taste in..err...games and...technology stuff i guess..." He mumbled, looking shy again, it made you questionable and crooked your head at AI's praise, but at the same time, it was kind of cute

"Thank you? That's sweet coming from you, Squid" You added, along with a laugh that made Squid melt as he listened, he felt more comfortable and confident with the situation, and he was finally able to look straight at you.

"Look Squid..." You yawned "We'll talk more tomorrow at the regime, for now I have to go to sleep for another day of work, ok?" Smiling, you warned Squid, feeling more safe around him while you rubbed your hand over your eyes

"Ohh i see, hope Amelia don't find out i was here... But, good night Y/N! It was nice to steal your IP- I MEAN- GIVE YOU A VISIT!"

"What-"

"OOOH NOOO I'M TURNING OFF BYE Y/N-" Your computer screen turned completely black, and your CPU stopped moving, leaving you confused, but you really didn't care what happened now, you just needed to sleep.

And I guess...being friends with Squid won't be too bad, right?

[jadethest0ne]

In need of Refueling, Chapter 21 - Weirder

Summary:  “You?! Why would I trust you? You have brought me nothing but failure. Time and time again; nothing but disappointment!”

His father’s words might have been a result of his possession by the  White Bone Spirit, but whether or not they were his true thoughts, Red  Son vows to prove them wrong. To do so he seeks to attain a power strong enough to destroy his father’s immortal enemy. After all, he’d much rather throw fire at his problems.

Word Count: 2263

Ratings/Warnings:  Teen and up; injury, burns, angst and hurt/comfort, toxic thoughts caused by toxic parents, panic attacks, abuse

Notes: More Mei! WOO!

Credits: Big thanks to @painted-arachnid and @simplyfornardo  for helping me bounce ideas off of them. And also thanks to @lemonsqueazie for providing me with “Journey to the West” lore. I don’t know much about the original novel or other iterations, but I still tried to keep  some things compliant with the lore. You should check all of them out, since they’re really great content creators with neat ideas!  

Read on AO3

———-

“You really think Red Son just wants to be a cook?”

MK’s question is valid, but there’s an accusation behind it, as if it is only rhetorical.

Mei fumbles to answer, “I don’t know! I mean, I don’t really know what his dreams and goals are now that he’s apparently working for Pigsy.”

“But that’s what I’m saying! What is he doing here, if it’s not some sort of trick?”

“I get you dude, but it’s been a few weeks now. Red Son would have to be playing the long game if it’s a trick, and that doesn’t really seem like his M.O.,” Mei counters.

MK waves his arms, letting out a groan of exasperation, and his harried appearance causes Mei to backpedal slightly. “It is really weird, I know. I haven’t really gotten used to him being around either,” she says.

MK sighs and hugs himself slightly, “I don’t know if I want to get used to him being around.”

“That’s fair…” Mei wraps an arm around him, so he doesn’t have to hug only himself. She hums thoughtfully. “I mean, we could always just ask Pigsy and Sandy to get him a job somewhere else. I think they’d understand.”

MK shakes his head. “Monkey King forgave him already, and if it’s up to him, then I guess… I don’t know, I don’t wanna go against what everyone else thinks…”

Mei squeezes him slightly. “Hey, if you’re uncomfortable with him around, then that’s important to bring up, too!” A thought then occurs to her and he smirks. “I could always annoy him into quitting. He’s kinda fun to mess with.”

After a bit of silence she notices MK staring at her. “What?”

“You like him around, too, don’t you?”

Mei’s expression drops, “Wh-what?! No!”

MK gives her a hard look.

“Okay! Maybe I think it’s fun to joke with him! And, yeah, I sorta think... Maybe he is trying to not be a jerk!”

MK’s expression hardens even more.

“BUT! You’re always gonna win out, no matter what! If you don’t want him around, then I’ll push for him to leave! You’re my best friend, MK, and I’ll back you up. I’d rather you feel safe than give a dude who’s tried to blow us up on numerous occasions a second chance!”

MK softens and a smile slowly forms on his features. He leans into Mei’s hug and sighs. “Thanks Mei. But it’s not really my safety I’m worried about. It’s all of you! Especially now that he’s helping Pigsy cook.”

“You're afraid he’s gonna poison the food or something?” Mei quirks an eyebrow up.

MK makes an “ehhh” noise and waves his hands in a “sort of “ motion. “A little bit,” he admits.

Mei can’t help but laugh. “How about this - I can do a vibe check on him. Maybe check in while he’s cooking and see what he’s doing. Maaaybe mess with him a little bit cuz it’s fun. I’ll tell you what I see. And no matter what, if you still want him gone, we talk to Pigsy.”

MK thinks for a moment, then nods. “Sounds good.”

“Cool!” Mei gives him a final squeeze. “I love you, dude! I’ve always got your back!”

“Thanks Mei.” MK smiles, much more relaxed than before.

Mei gives a thumbs up before heading towards the kitchen

- - -

This should be rather simple. Pigsy was dealing with some customers. Red Son was in the back taking care of the soup. She slips into the kitchen without the pig’s notice. She edges around behind Red Son, staying quiet and looking at what he’s doing. He seems to be just using a normal set of spices and ingredients. Mei isn’t really a cook. In fact, she’s actually quite bad at it. She’s even managed to burn salad once, and somehow caused toast to turn soggy in a toaster oven. But she’s at least 62% sure that the ingredients he’s using are ones she’s seen in her own kitchen before. At least there’s nothing there with a skull and crossbones that would denote “poison”.

Red Son, on the other hand, looks very at home in front of the stove, as beat-up and clunky the old thing is. His hands fly around in practiced motions, balancing throwing in various ingredients and stirring the pot. He even seems to know how to keep the stove from making its usual loud noises, and works around its out-of-date mechanisms. His motions are fast, but smooth, and his face looks focused, but if Mei had to guess, he seemed at peace. Maybe his dream was to be a cook, after all, she thinks. But Mei’s thoughts are suddenly interrupted by Red Son’s voice.

“What do you want, Dragon Girl?”

“Ah–” her voice is caught momentarily, as she wasn’t aware that Red Son was aware that she was there. She quickly recovers though, putting her hands in her pockets and slinking nonchalantly up next to him. “Oh, nothing! Just wanted to see what you’re cooking.”

“We’re in a noodle shop, take a guess,” Red Son drolls, but continues to not look up from the soup.

“Hmmm, ice cream?” Mei responds cheekily, eliciting a sigh from the fire demon. Mei chuckles inwardly, and sidles up next to Red Son, and peers into the pot. It’s got less of that reddish tint from when he made soup for Mr. Tang the other day. If Mei had to guess he was making Pigsy’s usual recipe and or at least a modified version of his own.   “Smells good!” she says, and she means it.

Red Son rolls his eyes and makes a “tch” noise, but she can see the corner of his lip curl up.

“So what’s in it?” Mei asks.

Red Son sweeps his hands over to the counter with various spices and vegetables on it, “All of that in amounts that Pigsy tells me is a trade secret and some other special spice blend, which he also has told me is a trade secret.”

“Oh, so you don’t knooooow!”

“Hmph, I know enough.”

Mei chuckles to herself. She looks on intently in silence a little longer. He doesn’t seem to be messing with the soup in any nefarious way. And he even has time to clap back at her, though not in a combative way. It’s almost playful, actually.

But of course, Mei has to ramp things up sometimes.

“So if I pushed this button what would it do?” Mei says, hand inching closer to a panel across a few pots.

Red Son catches it mid-reach, even making sure she doesn’t get near the hot steam, and says, “It’d turn on the oven.”

“What if I put in this spice?” Mei hovers said spice shaker over the soup.

Again, Red Son stops her before she can do anything. “That’s sugar, it’d make it sweet.”

Mei is having fun, but impressed with how he can stop her so quickly while still working the stove. She wonders how far she can go…

“What about this? And this? And this?” she says attempting to push more buttons and shoving more spice jars his way, giggling mischievously.

“Would. You. Stop. That!?” Red Son says, stopping her at every turn.

He seems annoyed, but she can see a playful smirk on his features, which causes her to laugh even louder. Red Son dances around her, still working on the soup. Now Mei is trying to take a taste of the soup, and has managed to grab ahold of the wooden spoon he holds. Red Son huffs out what Mei could swear was the start of a laugh and she doubles her efforts. They wrestle a bit at the stove. She’s so close. But as she leans closer, she can hear a loud series of clicks, notices that she’s turned a nob all the way up, and suddenly the fun has stopped.

Flames erupt from one of the burners of the old gas stove, and she only has a moment to inwardly berate herself as the fire heads towards her. She can feel the heat on her face. A mere instant before her eyebrows are scorched off, or worse, she is shoved out of the way, and pushed harshly to the ground. The wind gets knocked out of her, but what makes her lose her breath even quicker is the realization that it is Red Son who pushed her out of the way of the fire.

Mei blinks and notices him holding a hand to his side. The fabric on his sleeve looks singed, but before she can see more, he shifts it out of her sight. Red Son lets out a snarling hiss, that sounds more pained than angry. “Idiot Dragon Girl! What were you thinking?!” he yells.

A set of even more booming and panicked voices soon drowns out the fire demon’s own, as Pigsy, Sandy, and Mr. Tang enter the scene. “What the heck is going on in here?!” Pigsy yells. Mei follows his sweeping glare to see the soup has been spilled, which luckily seems to have doused the flames, but unluckily gotten everywhere. “WHAT DID YOU DO?!”

Mei flinches, feeling embarrassed for causing so much trouble, but realizes that Pigsy is glaring at Red Son, not her. She’s about to correct him, but it doesn’t come out due to a combination of still trying to get her breath back, and MK’s panicked voice drowning out her own.

“Mei!” MK sweeps up from behind her. He puts himself between her and Red Son. “GET AWAY FROM HER!” Mei looks worriedly at her friend. She’s so rarely seen him that upset and angry, and the scene shocks her. It reminds her of when he was controlling the ocean, and she worries for her friend.

Red Son scrambles backwards. He’s still holding the hand with the burnt sleeve. Was he.. Burned? That doesn’t make sense. He’s a fire demon. For that matter, why’d he have to push me out of the way? Couldn’t he just stop the fire? Why’d he put himself in harm's way? All these thoughts swirl in her head, followed by the still confused thought of. Did he just save me?!

Another shout from MK shakes her out of her thoughts. “What did you do to her?! I thought you weren’t going to use your fire here!”

For the first time since he’d been working at the shop, it seems like Red Son’s full ire could not be contained, and he yells back at MK. “I didn’t do anything, Noodle Boy! SHE’S the one who was messing with the stove and caused it to overheat!!”

“Right, and it just so happened to catch fire around you!”

“Yes, it just so happened! You know how old that stove is, and I don’t like what you are insinuating!”

“I’m not insinuating, I’m accusing!” MK points at him.

“Maybe she shouldn’t have been messing around literal fire and boiling liquids!”

“Maybe you shouldn’t be here!” MK stomps his foot down.

Red Son flinches visibly. A hurt look briefly crosses his features, before it is replaced by his usual angry one.

In the second of silence that follows Pigsy edges his way between the two. “ALL RIGHT, that’s enough! You two need a break. Take one!”

Mr. Tang bends down and offers a hand to Mei to help her up, “Mei, are you okay?” She nods and finally finds her words, “Yeah. I, um, yeah, I was the one messing with the stove, sorry.”

Pigsy nods at her statement, looking between the two boys. MK still appears stressed and is staring down Red Son, as if ready to attack or defend at any moment. Red Son himself glowers back, but his eyes shift between MK and the floor. Pigsy slowly turns to Red Son. “I think you should take the rest of the day off.” He says it curtly, as if trying to reign in his own anger, but also attempting to not point any blame.

Red Son huffs and skirts around the group, heading towards the kitchen’s exit.

Sandy calls over to Pigsy, “I’ll be there in a second to help pick up.” Then he turns to Red Son before he can leave the kitchen. He goes to rest a hand on the demon’s shoulder and opens his mouth as if to say something. But before he can lay a comforting hand on him, Red Son turns sharply and elbows it out of the way.

Sandy's face goes between shock and hurt. Red Son breathes heavily, momentarily wearing a look of shock of his own in between seething breaths of anger. An intent stare passes between the two, and it reminds Mei that the two spent a lot of time together, and she wonders how much just a look communicates things between them. She herself doesn’t really understand, but Red Son soon looks away and murmurs something about wanting to be alone. As he stomps out of the kitchen she notices, finally, that his hand looks reddened, and definitely slightly burned.

As they hear the noodle shop door slam shut, MK slips quietly up to his room. Mei wants to follow him to talk and to make sure he at least gets some rest, but Pigsy turns to her before she can do so. “So tell me why I’m cleaning up some perfectly good soup off the floor?”

She supposes she owes him a bit of an explanation, but as Mei tells him what happened, she inwardly can’t help but wonder how exactly a fire demon can be burned…?

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