#never think something is unimportant in history

[kissmefriendly]

Okay, the little “History is…” talk in the new Amelia Project is making me emotional. Because, as a history buff, my absolute favourite part of history IS the people and the individual stories! One of my favourite things is to read the correspondences of people who never thought that their stories would ever be worth telling or would be important to the historical record.

“History is just wars and dates.”

“No. It’s people! It’s like… it’s like… what is it like? It’s like reading sci-fi but instead of the future it’s the past. But it’s still all stories and cultures and people and they’re different and you never really meet any of them-“

It’s such a lovely way of putting it. And, as Kozlowski points out, the past is still tangible and still impacts and exists in our modern world. Even if it bears little resemblance to what it once was 100 or even 500 years ago. Wars and dates are how we categorise the past, what we define eras by. But it does not give an accurate representation of the living, human parts of the world. How people still played practical jokes, how cultures were evolving or clinging to stay alive, or how for all of time people have always been here just as we are now. Just in different settings. And you know what, that’s beautiful.

The past is horrific and brutal and ugly. It’s also inspiring and worth remembering the stories that make it all up, the threads in the tapestry that is continuing to be woven. It’s about significant names such as Moliere and his death but it SIMULTANEOUSLY about the joy of that one day you found the perfect waffle.

[ckret2]

I've seen some folks saying that the reference to The Great Gatsby in TBOB was just a joke Alex didn't put deeper meaning into—which might be true, IDK the man's motives for choosing Gatsby specifically—and that there's no way the book has any deeper relevance to Bill's character beyond the eye doctor thing—which is totally wrong. Whether or not Alex intended parallels, there ARE parallels. So, for those of you who didn't read or didn't pay attention to The Great Gatsby:

the book's about a guy who started out as an unimportant loser with starry-eyed dreams, who very quickly gained a lot of power/gold and now presents himself as this dapper fancy well-dressed super important guy.

He constantly throws huge parties, he's got a reputation for being THE party host. But it's a sham, he's pouring all these resources into this party to make himself look so cool but he's living at the very edge of his means.

He lies about his history, lies about how he got his money (spoilers: he's a criminal), lies even in how he presents his personality—he's a con artist, he's always wearing a mask.

The reason he's doing all this—putting on the mask, making himself look so great—is because he's trying to reach across this very thin boundary to a better life he can see, JUST out of reach, so close but something he's never quite clever enough and rich enough and persuasive enough to reach. Every night at his parties he stares at his goal, he can LITERALLY SEE it, he just can't reach it himself.

The best he can do is briefly charm and dazzle someone on the other side of this social boundary, but he can never quite persuade that person to help him cross over; in fact no one on the other side of the boundary thinks he has a right to cross it.

He finds somebody—the guy narrating the book about him—who's very lonely, socially awkward, and disillusioned, whom he can easily awe with his stories and persuade to help him reach his goal, come on please, it'll be harmless! (It is not harmless.)

He loses control over the act he's putting on and over the people who only follow him around as long as he's still got the resources to keep them entertained and loyal.

It ends with him getting murdered by a guy he has LITERALLY never met before—by which point everyone has realized that he's a nobody making it all up as he goes along who was just desperately chasing the illusion of a good life and the admiration of everyone around him.

The narrator ends up disillusioned with him and the whole culture around him of grasping and clawing for a glitzy glamorous life at the expense of the regular people who are manipulated, trampled, and discarded in the process.

Now tell me that Gatsby doesn't have any parallels to Bill's character. And this is just based off reading the book a decade ago—there's probably tons of little details I don't even remember. The book may well have been chosen as a coincidence, it did recently hit the public domain. But if so, it's a VERY GOOD coincidence.

[shinynewmemories]

Listen to me Suzanne Collins did not have to give Katniss and Peeta a history before the games. She did NOT have to do that. She could have just had their story begin when Peeta's name was called. She could have had them be total strangers until the moment of the reaping.

Like: "And the boy tribute is... Peeta Mellark!" Katniss: Who's that? Or she could have made them vaguely familiar with each other! Peeta's name is called and Katniss just thinks, Oh, I know that name! He's in my class, actually. Poor boy... Anyway!

Either way, SC could have written the rest of the story exactly the same! I think many authors would have done that! Because if Peeta's purpose in the book was to be Gale's competition, to be one of the 3 corners of a love triangle, THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN THE WAY TO DO IT!! But that's NOT how she did it because that's NOT what Peeta is.

And who is he? To Katniss, Peeta's someone who saved her and her family and received nothing in return except a beating. Peeta's someone she has had her eye on but has never worked up the courage to talk to. Peeta's someone she associates with kindness and hope. And all this before the start of the events of the book! Just because WE, the READERS, met Gale before Peeta and immediately felt a connection with him does NOT mean that was Katniss's experience! And that's what SC is trying to tell us!

To dismiss Katniss and Peeta's past as unimportant or inconsequential compared to whatever Katniss and Gale have in the present is to fundamentally misunderstand Katniss as a character and, as a result, condemn oneself to never fully understand the choices she makes in the future.

Suzanne Collins wrote it that way on purpose because she had something to say. And no one will ever be able to convince me that something wasn't "It was always going to be Peeta".

[adhbabey]

Let's talk about some lesser known symptoms of autism! Maybe this will help some of you get a broader perspective on what this can be like. There is a whole grab bag of symptoms of autism, but here are some ones you may not know that you have.

Focus on truth

What does this mean? Well glad you asked. This is the focus on facts and logic rather than anything else. People have shown this as autistic people may refusing to lie because it goes against what they find as true. But that's not always the case.

Have you ever used logic to try and figure out your emotions?

Are you someone who doesn't understand why others may speculate when the current knowledge is right there? (such as subtext versus canon knowledge or theoretical arguments)

Do you find it frustrating when others avoid their problems as a way to avoid figuring out negative things? (such as avoiding conflict in a friend group)

Is it easy for you to talk about your strengths and flaws? Do you know your likes, dislikes and limits pretty well?

High context communication

This is preference on details and the full context of any situation. Often going into great detail and backstory to anything.

Do you feel as though you need to overexplain to give the person everything they need to know?

Have you ever apologized to someone by explaining the deep and meaningful reasons of why you did it, before you said you were sorry? And maybe even felt upset or confused why they reacted badly?

Have you ever felt stressed out because you wanted to give others full detail but they either interrupted you or cut you off?

Are you stressed out by people who tell you what to do and not why they want you to do it?

Are you ever told that you talk back a lot?

Do you prefer recipes versus verbal/vague instructions? (All the things that you need such as ingredients, measurements, prep time, etc.)

Do you really like watching deep dives and knowing about the whole history of something you're even vaguely interested in?

Identity diffusion

This is not everyone's experience, and it is common in a variety of other disorders such as DID and BPD. However, it is when you do not know who you are in regards to others. This is also known as identity disturbance.

Have you ever felt like an outsider without knowing why?

Are you deeply interested on what other people think of you? Especially if it's all the time?

Do you really like taking personality tests and quizzes? Are you interested in horoscopes?

Do you feel like you don't fit in any one specific group? Either being a loner, or hopping in between many different groups?

Do you ever feel weirder than the "weird kids" group? Do you not really get along or feel like you belong with them?

Do you have low self esteem when it comes to comparing yourself to your friends? Do you feel like they're better or more capable than you?

Do you feel drastically unimportant and not as interesting or cool as everyone else?

Have you ever related to narratives surrounding a character that is the last of their kind?

Do you feel like your identity is a vast and gaping void, that even if you learn a little bit, that you'll never know everything?

Internalized repetition

This is one of those traits that not every autistic person experiences, but that some might. You could say that for all autistic traits, but hey, good to know regardless. Because of internalized repetition, you may not do many external stims, besides vocal.

Do you listen to a song over and over again? Perhaps having a playlist on repeat?

When stressed out, do you type the same word or phrase over and over again?

Do you like looking at the same things, such as the same color or the same artist's works?

Do you really like certain patterns, crystals or aesthetics?

Do you enjoy games with recognizable fighting patterns? (Such as character rotation, boss battle rotation, etc.)

Struggling to connect to others *

This is something that's been characterized by struggling to connect to others through their emotions, but the opposite is actually true for many autistic people. *I will be talking about those who struggle to connect to others who are emotionally distant or unavailable. Being emotionally distant or not showing emotions externally is a trait that many autistic people share, but for those without alexithymia, they may struggle to understand why anyone wouldn't like to talk about their emotions. I don't know the specific symptom term for this, so please bare with me. If anyone would like to inform me about what this is called, please tell me.

Do you struggle to talk with dry texters, or tend to over-examine people's tone through text?

Do you have anxious attachment?

Do you feel disconnected with many other autistic people and struggle to make friends or talk to them?

Do you feel embarrassment or shame with being emotionally sensitive?

Have you fallen down the rabbit hole of things like starseeds, star children or empaths?

Do you want to talk about serious emotions a lot, even when its not appropriate?

Do you trauma dump or wish people would become more emotionally intimate with you? Do you enjoy it when people share their deep traumas with you, even if it's triggering?

Are you constantly reassurance seeking?

There is plenty more symptoms out there, and these are just a few that stood out to me, because I think I may be autistic. I've always related somewhat, but never connected the dots. But there are reasons for that, such as identity diffusion and thinking I'm different from everyone else no matter what. I struggled because I didn't seem to have a lot of the outward and visible symptoms that were often talked about. I thought every autistic person had alexithymia, when that's just not true. My best friend, who has similar symptoms to me, along with another close friend of mine, have a similar presentation of autism. And it's taken quite a bit for me to accept or process. I feel like I'm faking my experiences just because I've self diagnosed before. And I'm angry that ADHD isn't given enough significance.

But I think I might be autistic, and this article that I based this post off of, confirmed it. So here's my post informing and coming out on that. You can be autistic and highly masking without actually knowing what's going on is masking. You can be autistic and have a spectrum of verbality, you can be autistic and struggle to connect to anyone who isn't immediately emotionally intimate with you. You can be autistic and not relate at all to other autistic people.

You're not alone.

[dreeki]

ᯓᡣ𐭩.ᐟ ⊹ you belong with me. (dreeki's version)

• pairing: popular!ni-ki x caring friend!f.reader • cw // toxic relationship • fluff

syn: it takes ni-ki a long time to realize who is there for him and who isn't, but he gets there somehow, don’t worry :]

a/n: this is my first time writing an actual fic so pls be kind 🥹 i will hear this song in concert in a couple of days so that's where the idea came from 🫶

- constructive criticism is appreciated! let me know what you liked/disliked!!🙌

_________________________________________

you always saw ni-ki walking around the school hallways. it would be a lie to say you hadn’t noticed him way before he noticed you; he was quite popular, of course. how could he not be when he was tall, handsome, funny, he had decent grades and he was even on the basketball team. everybody wanted to be his friend, but not many got the chance to. he was always sweet to people approaching him wherever he was, but only a few could get close to his heart.

a fortunate year came by, 11th grade, when nishimura riki moved classes; that same day was when you discovered that ni-ki is just a nickname…interesting.

you couldn’t help but peek at him from time to time during class or even during break when he was hanging out with his friends. he saw you staring once and just smiled before turning his head to the teacher that started talking about something that didn’t seem as interesting as ni-ki’s smile, you thought.

_________________________________________

you will always remember when you first talked to the boy, thanks to a history project assigned to you during the first month of your 3rd year of high school. he slowly walked to your desk and introduced himself.

“hi, i’m ni-ki! i’m in a hurry to get to practice but i wanted to come and give you my number so we could decide later on how we’re going to work on the project!” he gave you a friendly smile, that seemed a bit forced but with the best intentions behind it, and handed you his phone with the contacts keypad opened.

for a second you just stared at the boy. you had never seen him up-close and you had to admit that he was even more handsome than you had thought initially.

“ah, yea, of course!” you said a few seconds too late than you should have.

after that, ni-ki would always greet you in the morning before classes would start, which would seem unimportant to someone watching the two of you, but you knew that ni-ki never greeted first, unless it was his small group of friends. it was a nice feeling being noticed by him. even if you knew it was a bad way of thinking, still, sometimes you found yourself feeling special because someone so popular was your acquaintance.

greetings turned into small talk, small talk turned into eating together sometimes and eating together turned into late night texts with ni-ki. in only a few months, you managed to become someone he seemed to trust, judging by the way he opened his heart to you almost every night before you thought of him for a couple of hours you went to bed.

some nights you simply had silly discussions about a tv show you both liked, other nights you argued about what sauce goes best with fries. but the nights that made a difference between the two of you were the ones when you were both tired and every topic would lead to a more heartfelt conversation.

he told you how he felt pressured by the other students at school to always be the best. even if his family was very nice and supportive, he still felt suffocated by everything around him.

| niks 🤘

yk..

the only time when i feel like i can just be myslelf

myself*

is when im talking to you, y/n

idk how or why but

yea

thanks for always helping me out

i really like being around you

you make me feel safe :]

youre a great friend.

| y/n

awe ni-ki.. :(

im glad you feel safe with me

i feel the same when im with you

and also

thank you for giving me a chance at being your friend

| niks 🤘

oh of course!

youre actually way cooler than i thought before i moved classes yk

| y/n

you.. knew me before?

huh?

| niks🤘

well duh

i always saw you during lunch, but you seemed pretty reserved so i didnt dare interrupt your peace

| y/n

oh.. :]

hah.. so he did notice you before. maybe you weren’t as sly as you thought you were. you felt butterflies in your stomach simply thinking about how ni-ki might have looked at you and wanted to befriend you for a split second.

_________________________________________

being nishimura riki’s friend was quite hard sometimes. girls would start coming up to you asking for his number, people would always spread rumours about how you two are dating but that ni-ki is way out of your league ouch, or how you were stupid to think that he actually likes you. that’s what being friends with a popular student comes with; but you learned how to deal with it. partially…

you tried to ignore the negativity coming from strangers, but at night, when every interaction you had and every conversation you’ve held with different students replayed in your mind, you realized all of it was actually affecting you pretty badly. and it only got worse when ni-ki got a girlfriend…

struggling to move past that one major tiny factor that was now changing your friendship was keeping you up at night. you would see and talk to ni-ki less now, and whenever you would he’d seem in a bad mood or just really sad. it really made you question his realtionship. you would still make him small presents and text him supportive things and you were doing all of that because you deeply cared about him and just wanted to cheer him up. despite always telling you how he encounters a lot of problems in his relationship, he still wanted to make it work, saying he’s fine.

until one night when it all finally made sense to him. he came by your house because he had a really bad argument with his girlfriend. as always you were there for him and while hugging you it was like something clicked in his brain. he raised his head from your neck and looked at your eyes intensely. you felt yourself blush, not knowing what to say.

“what is it?” “thank you” he said. “for always putting up with me. and..” he slightly giggled “for all the presents you gave me. i’m really sorr-” “no, niks it’s fine” you quickly cut his apology off. “please just hear me out, y/n. i’m really sorry for never properly thanking you for everything. you were doing so much for me while i was mindlessly chasing after someone who doesn’t even understand me. i…” he paused for a second and you gave him a small reassuring nod that he can take his time. “i think i only now realized that you truly were always by my side. you cheer for me during my happy days and you comfort me during the hard ones. i was too blind to notice that. and i’m really sorry for that. but i can clearly see it now, y/n. i like you” your eyes widened at his words. “like really really like you and while i would really love to be your boyfriend i wouldn’t want you to think that this is like some kind of rebound that i’m trying to-” you kissed him. how else would you stop him from rambling so much, right? ;)

it was now ni-ki’s turn to widen his eyes when you both parted from each other. “omg i am so sorry!! i didn’t mean to do that but you wouldn’t stop talking about-” it was his turn to take you by surprise. but this time when you both looked at each other you started laughing. “so…” “so.. do you maybe, just maybe, want to be my boyfriend, ni-ki?” he couldn’t hide his smile anymore. “i promise we’ll take things slow” you assured him. “yes, y/n! i would love to be your boyfriend.” you both giggled, awkwardly sitting on your bed. “i only have one question” he said and truthfully you started getting a bit anxious. “since when did you become so bold?” he smirked at you. “ugh! leave me alone” you attempted to throw a pillow at him but miserably failed when he pushed you on the bed and kissed you again.

that night was the first time in a while when you felt content. you had never felt happier and in each others embrace you both felt safe. you knew everything will be alright now. thank you, history assignment :)

a/n: thank you for reading my first fic!! ♡

[nyuuronfly]

On Rain World lore and it's implementation within the game.

This is kindof a random ramble I went on in a Discord chat and just feel like sharing elsewhere. (also note this is all primarily in reference to the original game, Survivor's story.)

I honestly think too many miss the forest for the trees a bit with RW, in terms of how important the lore is, if that makes sense. I talked with somebody about first-time experiences with the game and they said they'd watched a number of lore explanation videos on YT before starting, because of some reason along the lines of "I didn't trust the game to deliver its own story properly." To me this is almost saddening to hear because I really feel that misses the point of why the game has it's lore to begin with.

To me, while playing, any tidbits i learned about history or other information contributed to a feeling like the world I was navigating had a very real history that saturated it, yet one that I would be unable to grasp fully. It is an illusory feeling of realness, given how it is experienced. The game is mechanically not designed to incentivize collecting many information pearls, especially when in the original game you can literally just drop them off a cliff and lose them forever. You get the feeling often like you are bound to never be able to get everything, nor would you even probably want to put in the effort, so the illusion actually stays stronger because of that. Your mind wanders speculating about every little detail, whether intention truly existed behind it or not, because it feels like it did. You learned that it might have. Maintaining that illusion while playing I think is the primary reason they were included, not actually the experience of "knowing" the history. Rain World in general seems to have a thematic fixation on the simple idea that individuals have limited perspectives. Joar Jakobsson has said that one of the core ideas behind Rain World was to recreate the life of a "rat in Manhattan." That is to say, a creature that understands how to find food, hide, and live in a complex man-made structure, that cannot understand it's structuring purpose or why it was built. The very core issue of the iterators, is that the solution to the "great problem" intrinsically has to lie with knowledge that could only be obtained from "the other side." They are corporeal beings trying to know something that pertains to something outside corporeal reality. Yet pursuit of knowledge is very important to creatures like ourselves. Collecting any individual pearl is mostly an exercise in doing a lot just for little bits of knowledge. There is a lot of understanding of just how significant wanting to know more is, even something unimportant, when you are left in the dark the way you are in the game. Most information pearls you deliver are literally completely useless to know about, but they feel personally important, especially in how finding them relates to your connection to the iterators. My primary motivation to find pearls in my first play was to spend more time with Moon. On a very real emotional level, Moon felt like my only friend in the world while I played. On a mechanical level, she does literally nothing. But Rain World manages to operate on a very emotional, even instinctual level with how it's designed. I wanted to be in her company and have something to give her. Because I am alone, and lost. So something along those lines is why I felt saddened to hear the sentiment like Rain World somehow "fails" to deliver it's "story." The purpose of the game is not to find pearls and hear about some grand narrative. At it's core, Rain World is a game that's design was inspired by nature, and it's use of history within the world relates to us as a player the way history relates to us as people. It is relayed through people reading from records created by parties with their own perspectives, and connects us abstractly to a sensation that there is more out there than our own lives. That is a feeling you have as a player, and ultimately the true story that Rain World tells is the memories you have playing it. What you did, saw, and felt. The same as how our story is that of our own lives. That is the purpose of the game.

[girlfromenglishclass]

Something so important to me about Alicent's characterization is that she is Viserys' second, least favorite wife. All she wants is to be important to somebody, and they won't let her.

One of the many things that drives Alicent into a comparative villainy driven by despair is that she is the least important person in her own life. She's the Queen, a crucial figure in the history books, but barely anyone seems to care. This is reflected after Larys' offer for friendship in which she deflects "I am the Queen," and in no need of allies.

But she's the second Queen. And Viserys only cares about the first. This is reflected not only in the fact that he calls her "Aemma" in front of the whole court years before he's properly senile. But also in how he treats her and her family.

Take for example her caregiving of him. In episode 6, when Lyonel Strong speaks to Viserys, he makes a blithe comment about Alicent fluffing his pillow, joking that he's surprised he can use the privy without assistance. So firstly, the king has used toilet humor to refer to his wife's devotion to keep up appearances that he's a virulent King, and she's just a fussy wife. But as soon as Lyonel is gone, he says "aren't you going to help me?" when sitting back down. He wants her help in private, and mocks it in public.

This circles back to her unimportance to her entire family. Regardless of each character's background and trauma, Alicent is the Queen. And regardless of whether or not he inherits the throne, she is the mother of his firstborn son. As well as an additional Prince and Princess, no small thing when heirs are better in numbers. But still, Viserys does not give her reverence or respect. Instead she is his nursemaid, and he feels no protectiveness over her children that he fathered on her when she was their age.

Can we really blame Alicent when she snaps and demands the true order of things? Aemma is dead, a victim of Viserys' desire for a son. She is alive, and gave him two, but she is ignored. Her on-paper position should award her respect, and she has not received it. So, she keeps playing her role as though the respect will come, but it never does.

It is also not surprising that she accepts the idea that Viserys whispers his change of heart to her with his dying breath. Lord Beesbury seems to think this is ridiculous, probably because he knows how Alicent is treated, but classically, this makes sense. A wife is a confidant, someone who sees Viserys at his most vulnerable, of course she's privy to important information; she's his wife.

But she's his second, least favorite wife, and so of course he would never tell her the family secrets.

[sanyu-thewitch05]

I got this Yandere imagine that's based on The Heathers from the Heathers musical:

Honestly never told anyone about this before but this fandom does need more appreciation

So we got Darling who's meek and shy,but she's smart and overall a good student, though she can't say she hates the jocks,she would rather not associate with them. Until the main Jocks trio in the school took notice of her,specifically their leader,Hunter

Let's say Hunter is a dominant man,he just suddenly show up more in front of her after she helped him with a school project

Sure he thinks nerds are boring but Darling is an exception,like she's a introverted,unsociable girl but she takes no shit from others

Hunter thinks Darling is very cute and she needed a makeover~

After the makeover, Darling did like her new look,it got some guys to catcall her which is annoying but it wasn't that bad. She still didn't like the jocks much,she only hanged out with Hunter afterwards bcuz of the favour

However,Hunter started to get more touchy, putting his arm on her shoulder or her waist,she even heard the rumors of her being his girlfriend. She decided to avoid Hunter so as not to take it any further

Hunter didn't like it at all, why is she walking to another guy and talk to him when she should've gotten to him like the good girl she is?!!! She shouldn't talk to some stupid unimportant guys!!!

Hunter is rich and famous,his family owns a big company and he's the future CEO. As his future wife,she should get close to him instead of other guys

He couldn't bare the obvious intentional ignorance towards him so one day he just dragged her into a classroom and snapped at her

He said how she belongs to him and she shouldn't even think of leaving him,she won't escape even when they graduate and go to college, because he will attend as the same college as hers. Things got sexually heated there, I'll leave that part to you

Let's just say afterwards,Darling has to be the obedient girlfriend to Hunter. He even force her to sit on his laps right in the school cafeteria to show up his good little honey and no guys should lay hands on her cuz she's his

Sorry, this took so long to answer. I’m out of school for Labor Day weekend.

All characters in my works are 18+

TW: Noncon, stalking, dubcon, catcalling, sexual harassment

Oh God, not again. Here they come.

It was only the third month of school, and everything was going great so far. You were getting A's and even joined the local majorette team. That's when everything went downhill. For some reason, Heath and Henry were at the town's Halloween festival. The best friends of Hunter McClaire. The best football player in school. They were also the best quarterbacks in school. You were on the angel side of the team, and your white uniform glittered in the moonlight. Not only that, but the white boots helped add to your dance routine. You were squatting down, preparing to do a death drop, and then you saw Heath and Henry. Their smiles made you sick. You continued the routine as usual and quickly walked away once finished. You tried to avoid them, but they stopped you as you walked home.

"Hey, Angel! Where are you going?" Heath catcalled, following close behind you.

"Home," You hissed, walking faster.

"Oh, don't be like that. We enjoyed the performance. I wish you showed more of that ass around the school. I honestly didn't think you had any good qualities besides your brain," Henry commented, making you growl.

"Listen, jackass! Leave me alone before I rip your nutsacks out!" You yelled, finally facing them.

"Ok! Ok! Ok! We'll leave you, nerd girl," Heath says, stopping at the sidewalk to watch you walk away.

They focused on your butt and smirked.

"God, I wish I could tap that ass," Henry murmured, hiding his boner. 

It only got worse when you went to school after that. Hunter was there asking for your help on a history project. 

"Look, if this is something Heath and Henry told you, please don't tell anyone. I just want to stay out of the spotlight and graduate," You said, trying to walk away from Hunter.

"Uh, they haven't told me anything like that. Anyway, I came to ask for help on my 20th-century history project. I got assigned the topic of fashion, and Henry and Heath said you might be able to help," Hunter said, sitting next to you.

"Fine, I'll help you," You begrudgingly agreed, tying your hair up.

For two nights, the two of you worked on Hunter's project. When he turned it in, he got an A+ and even brought his grade in history class a couple of points. As a thank you, Hunter gave you a makeover. You thought you looked fine, but you'll accept the spa treatment and new clothes any day. Wearing the jeans that hugged your ass and the lace corset top to school earned you unwanted remarks from other students. But it wasn't that bad. 

You went about your school day and made friends with Hunter. Surprisingly, Hunter and you got along pretty well. You didn't like Hunter's friends. But you didn't hate them either. After a week, Hunter started to get more touchy. His hands roamed your back, his arm always around your shoulder. It even got to the point where rumors were swirling around that you were dating. You couldn't deal with it anymore, so you decided to avoid Hunter for a while, which is how you got into this current predicament.

"Hey," Hunter greets, sitting next to you at lunch. 

You ignore him and continue eating your food. 

"Why are you ignoring me? What did I do?" Hunter says, his arm around your waist. "Is it because you didn't like the panties I set you? They seemed like your style."

You didn't say anything, but Henry puts a hand on your thigh to make you pay attention to Hunter. His thigh moves towards your crotch, and you pack up your stuff. You get up, throw your tray away, and leave for your next class. You did the same routine of avoiding Hunter and his friends for the next two weeks. 

"Charles, are you ready for the next book club?" You ask your tall, freckle-faced, white, black-haired friend. 

"You bet! I'm so glad you joined! Are you sure you can handle it while being on the majorette team?" Charles asks, closing his locker. 

"I'll be fine. Besides, my practice starts at 6 pm. Book club should be over by then," You respond, smiling at Charles.

"Cool! I'll see you later!" Charles exclaims, hugging you.

You reciprocate the hug and wave goodbye to Charles. Unbeknownst to you, a furious Hunter is watching you.

"Damn, dude! You're practically breaking the wall," Henry laughs, looking at his friend.

"Why is she even talking to him?! Sure, she's a nerd, but she's not fucking boring like the rest of them! Not only that, but it's Charles! The dude who can't even throw a dodgeball straight! Why talk to him of all people!" Hunter rants, punching the wall and glaring at you.

"You need to do something, Hunter. Soon enough, she'll be spending all her time with him and none with you," Heath comments, looking at your smile.

"You're right. I'll show her I'm the right choice. She'll have no choice but to see it," Hunter replies, secretly following after you.

You walk by an empty classroom and get pushed inside. You fall to the floor and hear the door lock.

"Don't even try to scream for help. Heath and Henry gave me the keys and are currently erasing the security footage," Hunter says, twirling the keys around his index fingers.

"Hunter, what the hell?" You yell, rubbing your butt and standing up.

Hunter picks you up and places you on top of a desk. He strokes your cheek and puts a strand of hair behind your ear. Hunter suddenly roughly kisses you and holds your body still. You try to get away, but Hunter is too strong. He grabs your hair and forces you to bend over onto the desk.

"Hunter, what are you doing?" You scream, squirming in his hold.

"You need to understand. You're mine!" Hunter growls, fiercely spanking your ass. "Always mine! You! Belong! To! Me"

"Oh! Ouch! Aw!" You groan between each spanking. 

Hunter suddenly flips you over and lets go of your hair. 

"Strip. Now," Hunter commands, pulling out his dick.

"I-"

"NOW!"

You whimper and slowly strip your clothes. 

"Now then, you'll strip a piece of clothing for every sentence I say. You're lucky I'm taking it easy on you and speaking slowly. Got that?"

You nod your head, but this only irritates Hunter more.

"I need verbal confirmation," Hunter barks, grabbing a ruler and slamming it on the teacher's desk.

"Yes, Hunter!" You squeal, trying not to collapse to the floor.

"Good."

Hunter pulls up a chair and sits in while stroking his cock.

"Now, let's begin. You are my girlfriend, and you belong to me.”

You take off your shirt.

"Don't even think of leaving me because we'll always be together! Even during college when we go to the best Ivy League school! And don't even try to apply to some small liberal arts school because we both know we can do better!"

You quickly take off your bra and shorts.

"I'm rich. I'll inherit my father's company and become CEO. I'll take care of you as my future wife," Hunter finishes, watching you strip your panties, socks, and shoes. "Come closer. I need to teach you how to serve me."

You walk to him, and he pushes you down to his crotch.

"You know what to do," Hunter says, rubbing your head softly.

You put his cock into your mouth, intimately licking the body part. Hunter shivers, and soon, you're both high on pleasure. 

"Oh, yes~ Suck it more! Earn hubby's cum!" Hunter moans, pushing your head up and down on his dick.

You kiss the base of his cock, and he spills his seed all over you. Some of it ends up on your face, and most of it ends up in your mouth. You stand up and try to leave, but Hunter grabs your hand.

"I thought you only wanted me to suck you off?" You question forcibly straddling Hunter.

"If I only wanted a blow job, I would only want your shirt off. I want more," Hunter says, pulling his pants down. "Don't worry, I'll be gentle."

Hunter kisses your cheek and puts a condom on. You hold onto him for support. He sticks his dick into you and moans, throwing his head back.

"Oh, baby!" Hunter moans, making a slow but steady thrust pattern.

Your breath hitches as pleasure flows through your body. Hunter kisses your lips, and you start to melt into each other.

"Faster!" You moan, barely holding onto Hunter.

Hunter immediately follows your plea and starts thrusting faster. You both moan like crazy and eventually, you yell that your climax is coming.

"I'm cumming too!" Hunter yells, rapidly thrusting into you a couple more times. "Hah!"

Hunter cums into you, and you shiver. You relax onto Hunter's chest and let him rub your back.

"So, can I still go to book club?" You ask, looking into Hunter's green eyes.

"Nope. You're staying with me for a while," Hunter replies, smacking your ass in response to your question.

~~~~~~~~

"Yo! Dude, how's the relationship with your darling?" Henry asks, high-fiving Hunter as he sits next to him during lunch. 

"Pretty good. I taught her a lesson, and now we're the perfect couple," Hunter replies, sitting you on his lap. "Charles won't even go near her."

"Hunter, please," You say, feeling his boner.

"Oh, sorry, darling. You're going have to deal with this dick for a long time," Hunter replies, kissing your cheeks. "Keep complaining, and I'll have to make sure you'll know to appreciate it."

You are stuck with him. Forever, and ever, until the day you die.  

[justatalkingface]

The 'Great' MHA Read Along, Part Five (Chapters 22-44): The Mandatory Exploitive Tournament Arc

Been awhile, huh? Let's see if I can still pull this off. I'm warning you, this is probably going to have a bit of heft to it.

We start off people trying (and failing) to investigate Shigarki and the Villains and, first off, a couple of things. The whole, 'Quirk Registry' shit? Very X-Men. I'm... kinda mixed feelings on it. It makes sense for a government to try and keep track of this kind of shit, but at the same time it feels like a whole lot, you know? That said... the way the guy in the suit phrased it makes it seem like they only searched for 'Shigaraki/Disintegration' and 'Kurogiri/OP warping' pairings, which seems... dumb. Like, really dumb.

Are they.... are they not going to search for anyone with a similar Quirk? Because it sounds like there are other people with similar Quirks, so... what about them? Oh, this pale haired guy who mutters a lot about how horrible heroes are isn't named Shigaraki, so clearly this isn't the guy? Do some ground work or something, man, bloody hell.

*spits out drink*

Even All-Might thinks Shigaraki is a man-child, lol. Brutal. That said... Vlad goes, 'You mean he's just like a kid with a 'power' or something?!'

And I. My dude. You're just some guy with a power. It feels like some depersonalization of the 'villains' because, yeah, everyone in this story is, in fact, just some rando human, 99.9% of the time with super powers. I don't know, it just feels like that's this really concerning perspective for someone in authority to have.

'I keep forgetting this is an actual school!'

That. That's... actually really concerning? Everyone, literally everyone, from Aizawa, to the students, to the actual author, can't seem to figure out if UA is some military academy meant to pump out child soldiers, or an actual high school meant to prepare children to go into society. And not to belabor the point here, one I've talking about on and off again for awhile, but that's fucked up.

I can't help but get the impression that UA (and presumably every other hero academy) is some military complex, setting up the students to live a life where the only way they know how to live is through violence and trying to be famous, but it's just... pretending to have standards, pretending to care for the kids as anything more than the next generation of... idol-police, or something. The way every school related thing is so out of place, the way their grades are so unimportant... it's very telling.

And like. It's not a bad thing, per say. Morally bad, sure, but from a story telling perspective? For a story like this, the way the heroic's school is morally dubious is actually a really good plot point to work off of. But... that's the problem. It never happens.

If the setting was fucked up enough, it'd be understandable if it wasn't explored, but it's not. I feel like there's some fertile ground to talk about... how heroes don't know how to handle living normal lives. How to cook, clean, do taxes, hIstory (which is, of course, very loaded sort of topic in a more dystopian kind of a set up) and so on. There's no way they have the time and energy to do all the thing a normal kid should do at their age, and as they grow up, and get these dangerous, fucked up jobs? There has to be consequences to that.

And the next line later, they bring up, you know, a bunch of terrorists just attacked the school. Which is, in fact, a serious fucking concern! What does Aizawa say?

'No no, we're only doing because we're so sure we have this shit locked down.'

Spoiler alert: They did not, in fact, have this shit locked down. In the least.

My god, this is so fucked up. It's pretty clear that the fact this is still happening is because UA, and heroics as a whole, honestly, is doing a show of force to try and make all the bad things go away. In all honesty, they're putting these kids lives at risk; the only reason nothing went wrong isn't because 'the school had all its ducks in a row when it comes to crisis control' or what the fuck ever, but because AFO didn't want to do anything. And you know why he doesn't interfere?

Because it's so damn useful for him that they flat out broadcast the details of the students and what their Quirks are!

And don't even get me started on this 'Olympics have fallen out of favor' bullshit. It's a world wide event, and it doesn't matter if the population has... shrunk (? That's what my translation says, anyways. Is this honestly saying that so many people died that the Olympics no longer holds any attraction? I mean.. what? What the fuck? What happened???? Why in the hell is this getting brushed over?! Or is that just a bad translation, and if so what is he saying is the reason the Olympics no longer have any appeal?) or whatever, because that's just... bullshit. That's just bullshit. If super powers happen, and they get at all stabilized and regulated like they are in here, all that's going to happen is that the powers are going to be part of the Olympics, and a lower population count really isn't going to change the fundamental reasons why it's popular in the first place.

Speedster racing, various forms of competitive flying (racing (in all its variations), acrobatics, mid-air dancing, synchronized flying.... flight along has dozens of potential new Olympics sports, easy), something like shot-put hurling but with some kind of projectiles, fire, lasers, whatever? Oh yeah, the Olympics are going to be just fine.

So please, Hori, spare me your obsessive need to make heroics the most important thing EVAH all of the time.

But, wait, there's more! It's not just, the new super Olympics, oh no, this is for their careers. In high school. This is, apparenlty, a make or break moment for the rest of their lives (again, with however that undefined heroics ranking and what not works). How old are they? What, fifteen? 'Here, go do bloodsports, and if you fuck up, you're going to be a menial, loser fry-cook of a wannabe police officer, dressed in brightly colored spandex for the rest of your life, barely making any money, and never getting any real respect or validation for putting your life at risk'.

Oh, I have opinions on the Sports Festival, believe me, I have a lot of opinions, but I'd like to save at least some of these more for when the actual Sports Festival starts, and not, like, five pages into the first chapter out of what, twenty two? We've got the time.

Uraraka! You're an actual character! My, this is nostalgic. I always loved the contrast between her hyper cute-zied design of her and the fact she's down to beat the living shit out of someone at the drop of a hat, and it's nice to have that again.

(Also, she's showing more ability to inspire the class here than Bakugou has shown literally the entire series, no matter how much Hori goes on about his 'charisma' or whatever.)

And then we get into her "impure" motivations to be a hero, (which I've also talked about on occasion), and it's very humanizing, both for Uraraka as a character, and the industry as a whole. It's one of those great set ups Hori ended up dropping on world building, which sucks because it'd be so interesting if he got into the nuts and bolts of the world a bit. I'm not saying we need to see the tax code or anything, but for a series that's about corruption and what not, some more detail would really help pull all of this together.

Ah, Dumb Might. I didn't miss you, except I kind of did because Dumb Might is still better than Useless-Side-Character Might.

Also, can I talk about how stupid it is that Dumb Might is burning his less than an hour's worth of time 'teaching' students again? Because holy fuck that's such a waste it's honestly criminal.

And what the hell is this switch in motivations, here? All Might never mentioned, you know, replacing him is the Symbol of Peace before now. Before this point, the whole reason he chose Izuku is that he'd be worthy user of his power, not, what, replacing him. If Izuku never gained any real fame, but still managed to save a lot of people? Before-this-point All Might would have been fine with that. More than that, he would have been proud of it, proud his successor was humble and chose to focus on doing good rather than fame. Hell, not too long ago it was pointing out by All Might that Izuku wouldn't want to use All Might's fame to benefit himself, to go slow and steady and earn his success rather than relying on fame.

Where the fuck did this come from? What the fuck kind of pressure is he trying to put on this kid?

And then right after that, we see flashes of who All Might used to be with the whole 'don't forget how you felt at the seaside park, that day', bit. Because, like, that's good. That's great! It's real, and deep, and gritty, and I'd love it if it wasn't being use with this set up, because those expectations work in other shonens, but they don't work here. Izuku can't do what All Might did, because he can't stop damn hurting himself. Going Plus Ultra, here, now, for this? It could cause real, serious harm to him for the rest of his life! And for what? To make a good impression?

And if something would call him on that, it could still work, because All Might is canonly shit at taking care of himself, that could, like, close the circle for all of this, bring it together with the two them as shit at at self care as a place to build them improving off of, but for whatever reason, Hori never went all the way on that because he was too damn afraid to commit to it, commit to a story, commit to a theme, commit to a moral.

...Holy shit, how many pages is this? We haven't even gotten to actual Sports Festival yet in the post about the damn Sports Festival.

And now we have this creepy, kind of morbid mob of people filling the hallway to stare at Class 1-A for.... being attacked by terrorists.

*what the fuck.jpeg*

What is wrong with you people?! What the actual hell is wrong with you???

And then Shinso rolls up:

"Wow. Look at these arrogant assholes, so excited about not getting killed. I'm going to declare war on them, because they deserve it for getting all high and mighty."

...

You know, I completely forgot about the epic story of, 'Shinso Hitoshi and his Completely Unmerited Persecution Complex'. I'm sad that I remember that now.

Bakugou: "People's opinions don't matter once your at the top."

Me: *looks at how much people's opinions matter to getting to the top, and staying there*

Me: ...Uh.

Thank you, Kaminari, for pointing out his edgy bullshit is, in fact, actually bullshit, and is only going to make his life more difficult for no reason. I like you as an actual person who does things other than cheerlead for Bakugou.

Izuku. Izuku no, Izuku...! Damn it. Bad Izuku. Bad! Stop getting inspired by the festering waste spewing out of Bakugou's mouth!

Cue all of two panels of the media being absolute assholes only out to make ratings with no redeeming features.

And... here's the actual Sports Festival, god knows how long into this post later!

(if you believe the text editor I just posted all of this into? Well into four pages. ...Even with my generous use of spacing, I think I have a problem.)

..Wait. Wait. Where the hell is this happening?

*does five seconds of research on the wiki*

I'm right. They have a stadium for this. Like, a giant ass sports stadium that exists for this. Only for this. That is used once a year.

At this point, I'm honestly wondering why UA isn't just it's own city. Like, Izuku should have moved here, along with the rest of the students, and all the families and various staff needed to run this just.... live on site. It's not like it'd cost them anything, since they apparently have spare cities sitting around for the kids to trash.

That's... that's actually a really interesting idea? Because it'd be a hero run city, then, which feels like it'd work well into the over commercialized, corrupted state heroics is supposed to be like, their overwhelming level of influence. I don't think that's what Hori was going for, to be clear, I think he has no idea just how much space he's causally put on UA's campus and didn't think through the implications... at all.

Ooh, and here comes Todoroki's characterization.

And... here comes the bloodsport, because that's what all of this is: bloodsport. They're throwing a bunch of teenagers onto this stage, broadcast them to the entire country, and have them fight against each other for fame. This society is so fucked up.

Random Gen Ed kid: Yeah, he placed first in the Heroics Entance Exam.

...Yeah. As fucking stupid as it is that Bakugou somehow placed first, it does make sense the person who place first in the Heroics Entrance Exam would be class representative in a school for heroics. Damn, you're salty, kid, but you're also kinda dumb, not going to lie.

Bakugou: *opens his mouth on live TV*

Bakugou: *vomits diarrhea for the entire country to see*

Izuku: ...Wow, Bakugou's so cool! He's grown up and mature now!

...Izuku. Izuku, buddy, please, stop doing this to yourself.

As yet another thing I've mentioned before, a lot of our views on Bakugou comes from Izuku. Izuku who has, from chapter one, all but worshipped Bakugou. Even when he does things wrong, even when he's actively fighting against him, Izuku can't stop himself from going on and on about how great Bakugou is, how cool and tough and determined he is. Izuku's hero worship of his abuser is sheltering Bakugou's actions from the readers, papering over all of his worst traits with a a transparent facade that he's this glorious figure. It's the narrative going the extra mile to cover his arrogant ass, to make him seem like a rival instead of an bully, someone worthy of respect rather than contempt.

Hmm. I don't want to go too much into the nuts and bolts of the event, I think, since I've done that before, so let's try something else: How Many Times Could This Kill A Literal Child? Where I, you guessed it, count how many times a teenager could have been killed, on national television, in this event.

Count one: The start of the race itself, where... *counts how many kids are in 1-A, multiplies by eleven*... two hundred and twenty kids run forward at the same time, trying to force themselves through the same opening. This shit is why it's illegal to shout fire in a theater, because a stampede like this could get someone trampled to death, or maybe crushed by the sheer weight of the crowd (which is something that happens, someone getting killed by the a crowd of unruly people just... squeezing them on accident).

*stares at Shinso being carried around like a wannabe king instead of using his own damn legs judgingly*

Count Two: Mineta gets bitched slapped by a robotic arm bigger than he is. I don't think I have to get into how that could be fatal.

Count Three: The army of Zero Pointers who could easily step on someone.

*Momo wondering about how UA can fund this makes me feel very validated, BTW*

Count Four: Todoroki dumping the Zero Pointer on the rest of the competition to block the way, again for obvious reasons. He obviously doesn't meant to, but this kid isn't even looking back. This is both lamp shaded and then dismissed because it happens to the only two people who could shrug that off, but holy shit that could have killed so many of them.

...The cameras are robots. The cameras are robots with AIs that are cheering on the other robots. I- I can't- what?!?

And then everyone can't stop themselves from praising Bakugou for the radical idea of going over a problem instead of blasting through it. Wow, Bakugou. Amazing. Such brains, such smarts.

Count Five: The Fall. Because there's no way that anyone could get themselves killed by. You know. Falling. If I was more generous, I'd say something like, 'There's probably something down there to catch them if they fall', but I'm not terribly impressed by UA's ability to actually keep these kids safe, so that doesn't make me think they'd have thought that through that much.

Grudgingly, I'm going to give a landmines a pass, because they're explicitly supposed to be non-lethal, and them blowing up didn't do any real damage. Burns, maybe, possibly a broken limb, probably some scars, but this count is about people dying. Izuku's pile could have been, maybe, but that's a level of deliberate action on his part big enough that I can't really blame UA, per say.

Eraserhead, on how 1-A has improved: I didn't do anything.

...Well. At least he's honest.

One other thing: I've said before how bullshit All Might telling Izuku to 'fight to win' was, and right here, here's the proof: All Might explicitly going, "I was afraid you'd be too nice to try and beat other people in competitions, but you proved me wrong! I'm so proud!". You know, fighting to win. Like he later says Izuku doesn't for some mysterious reason *cough*, to make him seem at the same level as Bakugou, *cough*. Poor, poor All Might, yet another victim of Bakugou's narrative warping favoritism.

And here we see the management kids going all out in how to sell Izuku and his brand, which is so very fucked up, for them and the people they're 'selling'. I'm aware this is something that celebrities go through, (which is fucked up for them as well, don't get me wrong; I'm an equal opportunity 'this is fucked up' call out-er), but these kids are in high school. The fact that they're doing this, and getting this done to them, in such numbers, in such an early age... yeah. There's no way this could give them lots and lots of long term stress and psychological problems, right?

Meanwhile, as we get to the offical rankings, I think it's time go back over the 'How Many Times Could This Kill A Literal Child?' count... at five. Five times they could have been killed on complete accident.

That is not a good score.

I'm stopping it here because the other events don't have the same problem, but instead of a whole new problem of delibrately pitting them against each other. On live TV. With minimal supervison. Cementoss popping in at the last second in Izuku vs Todoroki, considering how badly Izuku got hurt in the process, does not fill me with a great sense of these fights being well monitored.

*gets an omake chapter*

*Bakugou gets called Izuku's childhood 'friend'. Bitch, please.*

So. Here's a new point: the million point bullshit is... well. Bullshit. It's the snitch in Quiddich all over again, giving the hero something both super import, with an extra layer of difficulty, to drive up the stress and stakes, only kicked up by a million. Making more than the others makes sense, and making it enough to pass by itself is still pretty reasonable, but making it so excessively much has no point other making Izuku feel isolated from his peers and hunted by his classmates.

Also, Mt Lady going on about how 'great' an exercise the second round is is missing the point that this is literally a thing Japanese kids do in school. Literally, this is a game they're playing with Quirks, not some tactical exercise; it's like saying that playing hide and seek makes you great at hunting people down or something. Again, Hori, dial back your constant need to tell us how great the Sports Festival is. Because it isn't. It really, really isn't.

More doses of everything drooling over how great Bakugou is, and how much of a total shit of a human being he is, joy. Mineta and Shouji's teamup is actually pretty damn brilliant, even though it's tainted by how much of a one-dimensional character Mineta is. Iida is getting shown as Izuku's enemy, but honestly it looks more like he's just trying to improve himself more than anything, while acknowledging how competent Izuku is. Not just that he won the first round, or has a lot points but that Izuku, as a person, is the goal he wants to surpass; there's some good shit there, and pretty validating, if Izuku could allow himself to accept it.

Oh Mei! Mei... actually, I have a post I need to do about the Mei and Izuku dynamic at some point, how they're so designed to work together, but yeah she's fun.

And then Uraraka thinks about how strategic Izuku is being and again, I can't help but contrast this with how things happen later on; even if Izuku never lets himself really feel the respect people have for him, people at this point in time really, honestly seem to respect him, not for his Quirk, but for his brain, his determination, his heroism; it's so well setup for Izuku to stand on his own two feet without OFA and it's some really good stuff. It's a shame Hori gets rid of it.

Hmm. Class B. Class B is... interesting. They're set up as rivals but after this it never goes anywhere, and just leaves us with a bad impression of Monoma, without letting him get a good chance to get past it. I don't like him, honestly, his personality grates at me and he needs to get over himself, but he doesn't deserve the hate he gets from the fandom.

That said, though, the Class A vs Class B victory philosphy is honestly just another example of destroying yourself vs having realistic limits, how All Might and Izuku keep destroying themselves vs everyone else not doing that. The fact Class B is actually thinking ahead is smart, but the series doesn't give them that credit because it's not ambitious enough... even though that runs straight into conflicting with Izuku and his issues.

Hori, fucking commit already. In all honesty, it feels like 1-B should have won over Bakugou and knocked him out of the compition; they planned it out, and played him like a sucker, because he's a bullheaded moron. It's all right there, but right as they win... Eraserhead shows up in the booth and says, 'Yes, you've won, but actually no, because Bakugou need to win anyways. So he is. Because REASONS!' Then All Might gets dragged into that same bullshit just to make it really clear that no, Bakugou is right. Planning? Strategy? That's for losers. Real winners just need to want it hard enough, and no one wants things more than Bakugou!

It would have been better, as a story, and for everyone's character development, if that had happened. Bakugou would have lost to some 'nobodies', Izuku would have gone past him without even validating him with a fight, and Class B and Monoma would have gotten a better chance to show themselves as characters; win win win.

And then Endeavour shows up. Fuck Endeavour. Also that is a man who looks like a serial killer. Dumb Might continues to reign and be completely unable to recognize when someone hates him when he monologues about it right in front of him.

Meanwhile, Bakugou is just... there. For some reason. Why? Why does he need to be there for this? It makes his hissy fit later even worse when you realize he knows why Todoroki doesn't use his fire, and it has literally nothing to do with him. Ignoring him, though, Todoroki and Izuku's moment here is some good stuff, a nice setup for a healthy rivalry based on mutual respect, rather than the toxic mess he has with Bakugou.

Ugh. That cheerleader bullshit. Honestly, it says a lot that they can be told that, 'Aizawa says you need to dress up as cheerleaders', and apparently no one questions this, because of course Aizawa would pull some kind of weird bullshit on them with absolutely no warning at what anyone else would think is the worst possible time.

Midnight being really creepy about how she talks to teenagers, of course, and now... Shinso.

'Consent is for losers' Shinso. 'Everyone is coasting on their Quirks except for me, who only knows how to use my Quirk' Shinso. 'Let me use my Quirk on someone before we even get in the arena so I can blatantly cheat' Shinso. 'No one else has dreams or ambitions' Shinso.

I don't like Shinso. I like the idea of Shinso, sure, but that idea is another one of those paper thing veneers Hori likes to put on his characters, without doing the work to make that match the reality; the only hardship we've seen him go through is his apparent inability to work hard. Like, everyone loves Shinso, in story and out, they can't stop themselves from telling him how great his Quirk is. And you know what? It is. It is a great Quirk.

But Shinso talks like he's had a such a hard time with it, even though he seems to love it, love using it, and the way he acts, like he knows he can go through a career as a hero based only on that Quirk. He's wrong, since he's so out of shape he can't even run, apparently, but he's operating off that assumption at this point, which conflicts with his poor little martyr act.

I want you to look at the iceberg Todoroki makes, and compare it to his efforts against Stain. If he did that against him? That fight would have been over the minute he showed up, and Todoroki ambushed him. This is pretty much our last moments of Todoroki, certified badass, before the nerfs roll in. Savor it, Todoroki fans, because he'll never recover from having to lose against Bakugou.

Another omake, which seems like foreshadowing about Hori deals with women characters: bringing up a good characterization, or valid idea (do women heroes need sexiness to do their jobs?), before throwing it away to fall for the same tropes that he was making a stand against just a minute ago (women getting in a cat fight, which apparently gets really explicit, all of this on a TV before Mineta, Hori's avatar of his own horniness).

Then, as if to prove my point, we get Bakugou vs Uraraka where, like Class B before her, she does everything right, gets the win... and then gets it taken away at the last minute by idiotic bullshit pulled out of nowhere (since when could Bakugou make a blast like that? Why does he need those bomb gauntlets if he can do that?) because Bakugou isn't allowed to lose. And then Eraserhead, Hori's mouthpiece, shouts down the crowd, and us, when we think bad thoughts about it because that isn't allowed either; we need to love Bakugou.

Bakugou respects women! ...Just as much as he respects everyone else. That is to say, he doesn't. Hell, he doesn't respect her enough to think Uraraka planned her own fight! He just gets one line for one second that makes it seem like he respects her, but of course once that moments gone it's back to the normal level of complete disrespect. That's totally character growth right there, one second of acting different before returning right back to standard behavior.

So... Izuku vs Todoroki. I like the fight, it's very dramatic, very cool, but... stop to think about it a second, and about a minute in, Izuku's entire ass hand is broken. That is not OK. Why are they letting it go on? It's simultaneously a great fight, but a seemingly awkward implementation of Izuku having a Quirk, because so much of this arc is built off of him not using a Quirk, not having it. This fight only works with it, though. And it's cool, don't get me wrong, but it's shallow at the same time because of the Quirk, because Izuku has to go Plus Ultra, has to go past his limits. Instead of accepting a more reasonable win, he has to win, period, and he doesn't have the power for that.

There's this awkward conflict here between the story's various narratives, between Izuku needing to suffer, and struggle, and break himself, and his more grounded planning and actions, and you can see Hori's old, better planned out ideas getting replaced with newer, less thought out ones. It's honestly kind of a theme for this arc in it's own right.

Flaws aside, though, the fight is gripping, and it's a great setup for Todoroki, a great starting point in making him an important character, in giving him growth. Shame Hori ends up throwing all that away literally the next fight.

Well, before that happens, let's talk the one two punch of, 1, Izuku having done himself permanent, life long damage, which nobody thought to stop, and 2, the sheer, unmitigated clusterfuck of Recovery Girl going, 'I'm not going to treat wounds like these'.

So. If Izuku breaks anything... well. She's not going to treat that. I guess he has to walk around with a broken finger/hand/arm, without any medical attention whatsoever? Well. I certainly don't see any problems with that.

Then we get Bakugou, who canonly has problems using his Quirk for extended periods of time, outlasting someone by using his Quirk for extended periods of time, before going on to fight someone who uses cold, his canon weakness, and ignoring how it should completely neutralize his Quirk to overpower it, through what I can only call his sheer, narrative warping concentration of favoritism.

On what happens after he wins... I've seen people say that he doesn't mean to attack Todoroki, just try to wake him up, but looking at that scene: he's holding Todoroki's body up with one hand as if to shake him, sure, but it's the other hand that's the problem. The way he's holding it is, for his Quirk, an offensive pose, making it ready to attack his target. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt (against my own opinion) and say it's not proof positive that he was about to attack, but there's no getting around that Bakugou had himself perfectly set up to hit Todoroki, full blast, while he was unconscious. Even if it's the more innocent explanation, that feels like something that should have disqualified him because... that's really concerning. That feels a step away from him threatening victims he thinks should have stood up for themselves or something; it's not heroic, in the slightest. The fact they had to knock him out, presumably for Todoroki's own safety, says enough about how bad that is.

The fact that the ending comment is basiclly lamenting from his perspective, that this 'isn't what he wanted' is... certainly a choice. He won, but, gasp! The person with long held issues in using his full power that long predate him didn't use his full power! The poor baby!

Then we get to the award ceremony where they... chain him up? Why!? If the doesn't want the damn award, don't give it to him; they let those guys earlier give up when they felt they didn't deserve it, why is Bakugou different? It feels like it's Hori tying him up here, against Bakugou's own will, and characterization, to give him that win just so he can win, but also to forcefully set up Bakugou's own importance with the League later. It's ham handed. It's probably child abuse. It's stupid.

It's fucked up all the way down, is what I'm saying.

Then All Might shows up, and fucks up his entrance timing because he's not allowed to win anymore, of course, and then forces that medal on Bakugou.

Uuuugh.

Last couple of panels, though, are pretty nice: we build up Uraraka's character, get the next arc set up, set up Izuku (fucking finally) getting away to use his own damn power, and develop Todoroki a bit.

A nice little cherry on top of the shit sundae.

[purplefangirl42]

You're My Favorite

Summary: Silco is a bit insecure about your interest in others, but you're quick to ease his mind.

Pairing: Silco/GN!Reader

A/N: This was part of a gift exchange for my lovely friend @deny-the-issue. Love you lots and lots Jasper 💜

Tags/Warnings: Modern AU, Fluff, Silco being jealous, Themes of Insecurity Divider by saradika

A soft huff of annoyance was the sound that greeted you when you entered Silco’s office, which was not exactly what you were expecting. He was usually very happy to see you, as it meant he would have a small distraction from his busy work day.

“Something wrong?” you asked as you sank into the armchair across from his desk.

Silco peered at you over the edge of his laptop screen, the skin between his eyes crinkled as he furrowed his brows at you. Before you could ask again what his problem was, he turned the computer to face you.

You leaned forward to look at what he was showing you and discovered he had the purchase history open for his online shopping account. The list contained many purchases from Jinx, but also a number from yourself. The latest was a set of merchandise for a game you enjoyed, specifically for the character you were a big fan of.

“If you’re upset I used your account, I can pay you back,” you said, trying to not let your own annoyance seep into your tone. “I didn’t think you’d mind me using it though. I’ve used it plenty of times before.”

Silco sat back in his desk chair, turning the computer back around.

“It’s not the money that bothers me, it’s the content,” he said. “Everything has this man’s face on it. As if the big poster at home that I have to walk by every day wasn’t bad enough, now his face will be staring back at me from your clothing?”

Confusion filled your mind at his reaction. He had never expressed an issue with this subject matter before, so you had no idea where this was coming from. 

“At least tell me this one has some flaws,” he continued. “That last character you were fawning over from that TV show was a near perfect human specimen.”

Silco’s last comment echoed through your mind for a few moments before you realized what the problem was. He was feeling self-conscious about his looks and comparing himself to others you showed attraction to. 

This was not the first time something like this had happened. Around the time the two of you started dating, he had expressed concern about your ability to find someone better than him. Someone younger and better looking. Though you had assured him that he was the one you wanted, it seemed that those doubts still lingered to an extent.

You stood up from your chair and made your way around to his side of the desk. He was pointedly not looking at you, focusing on the screen in front of him. When you stopped at his side, you gently placed your hand on the side of his face to turn it towards you.

“Silco? Are you feeling jealous?” you asked.

Silco scowled and let out another huff in response. 

“Of fictional characters? Don’t be ridiculous.”

You raised your eyebrows at him, giving him a chance to change his answer to the correct one. After a moment, his face relaxed and he gave a resigned sigh.

“I will admit, it’s a bit discouraging to see you so infatuated with these people,” he said. “It just reminds me of what I’m lacking.”

He gestured to the computer screen again and to the phone in your front pocket.

“You surround me with these images and as hard as I try to ignore it, it lingers in my mind.”

You reached into your pocket and pulled out your phone. The case had a piece of art featuring the character you had just purchased merch for. You turned the phone over and placed it down on the desk so the case was hidden from his view.

“I’m sorry, darling,” Silco said. “I know I’m being ridiculous about something so unimportant. Forget this conversation ever happened.”

You leaned down to be at his level and gently stroked his cheek.

“Silco, you don’t need to apologize for expressing your feelings.”

“You deserve to enjoy things, to go all out. If having these things makes you happy, then I will deal with Mr. What’s-his-name staring at me from every angle.”

You laughed softly at Silco calling the character ‘Mr. What’s-his name’ and reached for your phone again, turning on the screen.

“While he may be all over the place, do you know who I have as my lock screen?” you asked, turning the phone so he could see.

Silco leaned over and looked at the phone and you could see the embarrassed look on his expression fade into something softer. The image on the screen was a picture of the two of you together. Jinx had taken it for you at one of Silco's company parties. She had said the two of you looked cute together, and you had agreed and immediately made it your lock screen. 

“I may enjoy all these beautiful, FICTIONAL, characters,” you said, emphasizing the fact that they were not real. “But you are still my favorite, Silco. You always will be.”

You leaned in and placed a gentle kiss on his cheek before pulling away and placing the phone back in your pocket. Silco looked up at you with a look of adoration that made your heart swell. You gave him a soft smile and pointed at the screen.

“I’m still getting those by the way, they were a great deal.”

Silco rolled his good eye and you could swear you saw the hint of a smirk on his lips. 

“Yes, darling. I will simply pretend that they do not exist. For you.”

To make things easier for Silco, you placed the items you purchased in your office as soon as they arrived. You had even moved the poster so he wouldn’t have to see it every day. When you watched him walk past the spot the following day, you saw him hesitate and look at the empty wall. He turned his gaze to you with a raised brow, which you responded to with a smile before coming over to wrap your arms around him.

“What happened to What’s-his-name?” Silco asked. “I was just starting to get used to him.”

“He lives in my office now so you don’t have to see him staring at you every day.”

You felt Silco’s arms tighten around you for a few moments before he released you. He placed a gentle kiss on your forehead and went about his normal routine. You knew he had many things to get done before the holiday break, so you let him go without further conversation.

You started going about doing your own things, getting the house ready for the upcoming holiday. Jinx was going to be coming home from school for two weeks and you wanted the house to look magical when she arrived. Silco wasn’t much help when it came to the decorating process, so it was probably better that he was busy while you did this.

Just as you were putting the finishing touches on one of your decorations, you heard the front door burst open. Before you could turn around, you felt a body slam into you, nearly knocking you to the floor. Blue and pink tipped fingers were visible at the ends of the arms wrapped around your midsection, which gave away the identity of your attacker, as if you didn’t already know.

“Welcome home, Jinx,” you said, patting her hands. “Did you have a good trip here?”

“I don’t think she stopped talking the entire way here from the airport,” came an annoyed grumble behind you.

Turning around in your daughter’s tight grasp, you looked over her head to see a very grumpy looking Sevika standing in the doorway holding Jinx’s paint splattered bags. She dropped them to the floor and held up her hands.

“She’s your problem now,” she said, turning to leave.

“Thank you, Sevika!” you called after her as she departed.

You spent the rest of the afternoon with Jinx, listening to her stories about the past semester. You all had plans to go out for dinner once Silco came home from work, so when the time got closer, you disappeared into the bedroom to get ready. You were surprised to find Silco standing there waiting for you.

“When did you get home? I never saw you come in!” you said, walking towards your closest.

“That’s because I told Jinx to distract you so you wouldn’t notice. It would have ruined the surprise.”

“What surprise?”

You stopped in your tracks at the sight of a box sitting on the end table beside the door to the closet. It was long and red with a white bow on top. You reached out for the box and picked it up carefully before turning to face Silco.

“What’s this?”

Silco crossed the room to stand in front of you, his hands clasped behind his back and the hint of a smile lifting the corner of his mouth. He pointed his chin in the direction of the box in your hands, clearly wanting you to open it.

Doing as he wished, you pulled at the white bow, undoing the knot. Lifting the lid from the box, you revealed the contents inside. A beautiful gold bracelet sat inside, nestled in black velvet. You let out a soft gasp as you carefully extracted it from the box, placing the box back down on the end table.

“Silco, this is beautiful!,” you exclaimed. “But, Christmas isn’t for another week!”

“I thought you could wear it tonight when you go for dinner,” he said, stepping closer and taking it from your hands and turning it over. “Look on the back.” 

You looked at where he indicated and saw an engraving that looked very similar to Silco’s handwriting. Your eyes scanned over the words on the metal and you felt your heart skip a beat.

You’re my favorite too. Always have been, always will be.

Your vision blurred slightly as tears began to form in the corners of your eyes. You looked up to meet Silco’s gaze as the first drop ran down your cheek. Throwing yourself in his direction, you wrapped your arms around his neck and buried your face in his shoulder. 

“I’m glad you like it, darling,” Silco said, returning your embrace.

“Like it? I love it!”

Silco pulled back from the embrace and took your hand in his to guide it to a position where he could attach your gift. Once it was securely in place, he lifted your hand to his lips and placed a gentle kiss on your knuckles.

“It is just a small token of my love for you. I wanted to ensure that you knew your sentiment was returned.”

“I didn’t need a bracelet to tell me, but it is nice to have it there as a reminder.”

You closed the distance between you once again, kissing Silco softly on the lips. You felt him smile into the kiss and wrap his arms around you to pull you tightly against him. You hoped he truly understood how much you loved him and how important he was to you. Much more than anyone else you could ever meet.

A/N: Give this a like, comment, and reblog and let me know what you think!

[towriteloveontheirarms]

"Hope"- Once in a lifetime chance (Midsommar AU) Chapter 3

part 3 of 4 || series masterlist || previous part || next part

pairing: modern!Aemond Targaryen x Reader

summary: More and more questions get thrown up in your mind and then all of them become unimportant as you catch Aemond doing something you never thought he would do. Leading into the last ceremony.

word count: 1.7k

warnings: mentions of character death, drugging, cheating, weird sex ritual, manipulation, people disappearing, mentions of an unhealty relationship, afab reader

series taglist: @moonlightazriel, @daenerysqueenofhearts, @bellaisasleep

general HotD taglist: @urmomsgirlfriend1

(As always, if you want to be tagged in this mini-series or any other character/Series/general fandom taglist, send a comment, ask or DM my way.❤️)

Jace´s vanishing worries you much more than Aegon´s originally does. More and more questions popping into your head and going completely unanswered by Cregan and any of the other commune members. Even Aemond doesn´t seem to be alarmed by what has been happening around him. Whatever it was. He becomes more and more distant, mostly due to the fact that he had decided to write his own thesis on the same topic as Jace did, but in general as well. It just didn´t make any sense. As much of an asshole as he was at times, Aegon would never just ditch you. Neither would Jce. Where was Jace heading after he had given you the sleeping pill? And why did he look so secretive about it? What reason would Aron and Coryanne have to leave separately?

Ever since you had met them, you had never seen them without their significant other. Yet again the young women around you do their best to deviate your attention. Language barrier aside the make a point to include you in as many tasks and activities as they can. When you are not with them or sleeping Cregan makes a point to search you out. Talking and in a way connecting.

Still, at night you wish you could tell your friend about all of this craziness or you could just be home with your family again. Especially when the newborn from one of the girls keeps you up all night with its screaming and crying. You know it can´t help it, it´s still a baby after all, but that doesn´t make you sleep any better or faster.

One afternoon after preparing food with some of the other women, one of them leads you to the next ceremony. A big maypole stands in the middle of the meadow you are lead, to, but right when you want to approach it, the woman giggles and pulls you in a different direction. The two of you are being handed some sort of drink with what you think are flower petals in it.

“What is this?” Your curious question is only met by more giggles.

“It is for the ceremony. It will help you.” You look over to Aemond for reassurance that this would be fine, to find him already drinking a separate tea. Figuring that they wouldn´t give you anything truly dangerous you down the tea in one go and hand the empty glass away. All the women around your age line up around the maypole in two large circles, listening to the history given by the elder that has lead all the other ceremonies.

All of a sudden, you get pulled into one direction as the dancing competition begins. In the beginning the pulling around is the only sense of direction you get. Your heart beats out of your chest and you laugh along with the others, that one after the other fall to the ground from exhaustion. Your own breath speeds up until you fear your lungs will collapse in on themselves. Yet still something drives you to keep going regardless. The girl to your left says something to you.

“I don´t understand you. I can´t speak your language.” You force out between chuckles, but the next turn in the dance however comes natural to you and so does what she says when she repeats herself.

You gasp, never stopping to move. “I understand you!”

“Yes, you understand me!” She says back equally excited.

“I do.”

“It´s the dance!” she laughs and you agree with her.

Looking around there aren´t many more women left dancing. Only a handful still stand, the others all sitting to the side watching and clapping along.

Before long, it´s only the two of you and then there is only you. All of a sudden your body stops moving, unlike the world around you, which still spins with no end in sight. Your breath only slowly calms, unlike your heart, as you let out an unbelieving chuckle at your victory.

“We have a new May queen!” The elder proclaims.

And before your world has the chance to stop spinning, you get surrounded by women. One putting a flower crown on your head, while two others put a short cape made of flowers over your shoulders. You get hoisted up to stand upon a shield, carried by Cregan and another man whose name you don´t know. They carry you all the way up to the large table at which every meal is consumed. Where another speech is held. Your eyes only rest on Aemond, who seems nothing short of disoriented and even more out of place than before. You have a bad feeling about him, so when he leaves the table right after a red haired woman does you follow behind him. All the bad thoughts swirling in your gut. Yet still what you become privy to is a thousand times worse.

You tiptoe into the darkened hut close after him, careful not to be seen. Peeping through the door gap, you witness the older female members stand undressed in a half circle around that same red headed girl, that now lies with her legs wide spread towards the entrance. On top of her? Aemond, rutting inside of her like an animal. The sounds their bodies produce make the bile rise in your throat and tears prick at your eyes. The whole thing is just sick. The woman around the two in the middle mimic the moans that sound through the room. Your breathing grows labored, uncontrolled once more.

You press a hand over your mouth as to not give yourself away through your sobs. As if controlled by themselves, your legs carry you out of the cabin. You don´t know where to go in this still so strange place and the tears don´t let themselves hide forever. In the end you break down somewhere. Falling to your knees with no strength left to your body. The sight from that cabin has burnt itself into your brain and it hurts. It hurts so bad.

As you kneel there on the ground, you begin to feel sick so close to throwing up like you haven´t been in a while. A sheen of sweat covers your trembling body, as your lungs gasp for air through the tears. The dizziness that follows you down even more, bending you at the waist, when you feel a sset of hands lay themselves on your cheeks. Looking up, you see the women from earlier kneel down all around you. This time around however their faces are grimaces of sorrow. Corners of the mouth pulled down and eyebrows knitted together as they mimic your cries. While all this happens, across the settlement a naked and scared Aemond steps out of the cabin. Approached by two men , but before he can run, they strike him down.

When he gains back his conscience, he is unable to move. Sitting in a wheel chair, in front of the community and you.

Their eyes look up at you, but your eyes only rest on Cregan. Unable to even look at Aemond anymore, while a man starts to lead into the last ceremony.

“Today, on the day of our deity of reciprocity, we have gathered to give thanks to our treasured sun. As a gift to our father, we will give him nine lives today. As he takes, so he gives. For every new blood sacrificed, we give one of our own. Four times new blood. Four of our own and one chosen by the queen. They will die and be reborn in the great cycle. You will come into harmony with everything today.” Suddenly the disappearings make sense, but you can´t bring yourself to care anymore. Feeling numb to most of the things being said. He takes a pause to look at every single person surrounding you. Then his eyes land on Cregan, who wears a sort of crown made out of greenery.

“And you Cregan, who brought us new blood and a new queen, will be honored today for your unalloyed sense. Now, for our ninth offering. It is tradition that our beautiful queen chooses between a given new blood and a randomly chosen member of our community.”

The man goes over to something, that looks like one of those devices used to pull numbers for bingo games.

The man whose name gets called out steps in front of you. And then Aemond gets turned to you as well, to see an even bigger flower crown on your head and a cape that buried your whole body in them. It weighs you down quite a bit as you are sat on a throne on a small elevation before the rest of the people.

“These are the candidates for the ninth and final offering. We patiently await your verdict.” The elder turns to you once more.

With all the eyes on you now, you dare to look at Aemond for the first time since the incident, slowly. Unshed tears burning in your eyes and pulling the corners of your mouth down. No one says anything, and no one needs to. They know who you have chosen. He knows that you have just sealed his fate. You know it, but it is hard to feel regret over the decision.

From afar you watch the corpses of Aegon, Jace, Aron and Coryanne get put into the yellow hut that you had last seen at your arrival, next are the corpses of the elders from the first ceremony. As well as Sarah and a commune member you think is called Rickard. You saw him talk to Jace once. The last one is Aemond. Who got stuffed into the body of the bear Aegon made a comment about on your first day. When everyone is inside the wooden temple it is set alight. Once more you hear the entire commune mimic the screams and sounds of pain of the sacrifices. And as horrifying as it sounds, it is a beautiful sight to see the flames consume the wood and everything sheltered beneath it.

Turning your heavy sobs into a smile. For some reason you felt free, for the first time in a while.

[owl127]

@ianthesmells in her endless talent and grace, drew Anubis from "Coffee & Scones" universe. So of course I had to write a drabble about it. --

There was a point of exhaustion when the letters on the Harrow’s laptop screen were an artistic display of unrecognizable forms and shapes. As her power point deck shimmered while performing aquatic dances instead of the data summary Harrow needed, she called it a night. Her phone blinked on the hotel’s nightstand, silent and ignored. Dulcinea had insisted on going to the bars with the other grad students, and she undoubtedly was sending Harrow unimportant photos to document the night’s proclivities. Harrow was not interested.

There was a lack of honor in the inebriation that Harrow despised.

Besides, she was the last presenter of the conference, and breakfast started at 7am sharp. There was no time for banal things such as “networking”.

She picked her phone to text Ianthe—her girlfriend was extremely efficient in calming Harrow’s nerves for her presentation—but frowned at the multiple pings from her plethora of diverse messaging apps; that is, all two of them.

She opened Instagram with a trembling finger.

Her first reaction wasn’t shock, since it took a good ten seconds for Harrow to recognize Anubis. Once she did, her cheeks burned with a drizzling mix of anger and amusement.

Much like his owner, Anubis was petite, a once tiny little black runt that grew into a tiny black demon. He had a history of fighting against collars, so Harrow never attempted to indulge herself by forcing him into funny little blankets shaped like denim jackets.

That was why, when she finally recognized her cat in a sheep costume framed by Coronabeth’s cleavage, she squeaked in surprise. To her horror, the little cricket looked adorable, and Corona’s massive volleyball fans had already adopted him as a mascot, with thousands of notifications in the photo. There was also a video of Anubis prancing around in the immaculate sheep uniform, his ears poking from the furry headset like sharp rocks on a field of camellias. Corona took the stage presenting the adorable cat, but Harrow knew better. She knew who was recording it, who had probably ordered the costume, and who had tagged Harrow in the viral videos.

“Hi, love. How’s the conference?” Ianthe picked up on the second ring. Harrow heard Corona’s voice in the background, and a suspicious purr that meant Anubis was around and enjoying the attention overflow.

“That’s animal abuse.”

“What do you mean?” 

Harrow heard the tilt in Ianthe’s voice. She knew exactly what Harrow meant, and she loved it.

“I left him with you for forty-eight hours and you already defamed him.”

“Harry,” Ianthe started, and Anubis meowed in the background, followed by Corona’s squeak. “The poor thing was cold, and Corona happened to snap a picture. He’s enjoying fame.”

“Leave him alone.”

“He already has his own TikTok and Instagram account.” At least there was a tinge of apology in Ianthe’s tone.

“Ianthe,” Harrow warned.

“Corona and Camilla will run it. And we can have more privacy at your place while they petsit him.”

“My place is fine!”

“Tell that to Anubis when he’s staring me down while I strap—”

Harrow hung up.

A minute later, Ianthe called. Harrow picked up after the third call.

“He’s okay, I promise,” Ianthe said as a greeting, and the background noise diminished. Harrow imagined Ianthe hiding from her sister’s enthusiasm in her room. “You know I’d never let anything bad happen to him.”

“I just want to be informed before I receive hundreds of follow requests because my cat looked adorable in a sheep costume.”

“Aww, so you also think he’s adorable?”

“You’re deflecting.” Harrow closed her eyes, letting the exhaustion from the day wash over her. “I miss you,” she whispered.

“I miss you too. You’ll do fine tomorrow. I promise.”

There was something visceral in believing a promise from Ianthe Tridentarius’ mouth. A chill ran down her vertebrae.

“Also, what are you wearing?”

She might as well use the energy into something good.

[storm-angel989]

Outside The Office Part Twenty Seven

NOTE: Important plot info in this part! Enjoy!

Valentino looked at Lucifer, back to me, and then back to Lucifer. I squeezed his hand as hard as I could. 

“Lucifer, if it’s all the same to you, I think I’ll stay,” he replied calmly. 

He offered no further explanation. The locked eyes for a moment and finally, Lucifer rolled his eyes. 

“Fine. Whatever. Stay if you feel so strongly about it.” Lucifer looked me up and down. “I want an explanation from you, reader. Now.” He crossed his arms. 

I went into the same speech I gave Vox and Val, and continued on to repeat what they had told me in response. 

“How did you find out anyway? Did Vox tell you?” I demanded at the end of my story.

He stared at me. “Did you…think I wouldn’t? No, reader, Vox didn’t tell me- he didn’t have to. But how I found out is besides the point.” Lucifer closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I honestly can’t decide what’s worse- that you see this fucked up method as normal, or that you didn’t tell any of us before jumping into something that physically hurts you.” He opened his eyes and set his jaw. “Angels are fucking insane. Listen, you can be fit and strong down here but your limits are less than half of what your angelic limits were.” 

“What about my demonic abilities? What are my strengths?” I asked. “Com’on there has to be some sort of trade off.” I tried to sit up but again, Valentino’s hand kept me down. 

“Not yet,” he muttered to me. 

Lucifer didn’t seem to notice. “Fighting. Fucking. Making deals that increase that core power you wield. The door is wide open, princess. Find your passion and run with it.” 

“My passion is….” I let my voice trail off. “I guess I never thought about it? I was always supposed to be the next head general. Then Adam came along and wrecked that.” 

Both Valentino and Lucifer looked at me. Valentino amused, Lucifer irritated. 

“So….leadership?” Valentino asked, as thought it was obvious. 

“Yeah but I won’t rule hell. That role is currently filled.”

Lucifer shrugged. “You will one day. One day in the far off future. Very far off future. But as of right now, we have to get you fighting ready. War is coming, reader. I need you ready for it.”

“Do you wanna fill me in on the big picture here?” I asked. “Because you never really explained to me why you wanted to do the assessment the other day, only that you needed to.”

Valentino gave Lucifer a look. “You really are intent on keeping her in the dark, aren't you? If she’s the key, she deserves to know the whole truth. The whole story.” 

If Lucifer was angry at Valentino’s words, he didn’t show it.

“Fine. Let’s start at the top then. Do you know how hell came to be?” Lucifer asked. 

I shook my head. “No. Dad taught me it exists to hold all that is evil.”

Lucifer barked a laugh. “Of course he did. Well, he’s half right. This is going to be a long conversation, isn’t it?”

A chair materialized and he sat down in it. Valentino leaned over and carefully helped me sit up. He hit a button and behind me, the bed raised. 

“Now, lean back,” he instructed. “There. Comfortable?”

I nodded.

“Good. Then let's begin.” Lucifer said as he clapped his hands together. “Here is the short history of us, hell and how we- you came to be. Reader, your mother and I royally pissed off our all powerful creator, and as such, we were cast down to hell to rule over all human sinners, and demons created from the evil of the world.”

“Wait, what did you do to piss them off?” I asked. 

Lucifer laughed. “That part is unimportant.”

I doubted that but Lucifer continued on.

“The angels didn’t expect the population of hell to swell, to grow to the point where there became more beings down here than up there. So the angels, ever so afraid of an uprising, came down and began to exterminate all the sinners they could….keep us in check, so to speak. Remember, angels can only survive down here for twenty four hours before the darkness begins to consume them.” 

He paused for a moment and took a breath. For the first time, I saw something I hadn’t yet seen cross Lucifer’s face. Pain? Exhaustion? It stayed as he continued his story. 

“On the battlefield, Lilith met your father and standing on the brink of extinction, she and he came to an agreement. She would return to hell with him in exchange for a contract limiting angels to visiting once a year. A contract now void at the arrival of the next extermination day, simply because both signers are dead. Once that date passes, there is nothing preventing them from coming back each twenty four hour period and killing in waves.”

He paused again and looked at me.

“Six months is all we have until the next date the angels should be here. But this, this is where you come in. I need you to be strong enough, to have enough power to combine both your angelic half and demonic half and seal the portal they open. Trap every angel down here, and slaughter them. Send a message that we have you on our side, and make them decide to never, ever participate in an extermination ever again. I would seal it myself but….” he hesitated. “I’m not convinced I have enough left of my angelic side to do so.”

He stood up. The chair vanished and he began to pace. “In short, I need three things from you. I need you strong enough to prevail in the inevitable fight, I need you willing to try your damndest to seal that portal and…” he stopped his feet and looked at me. “I need you to be willing to take command over the new souls you sign on. The contract I created has a little extra clause in it. 

A clause that makes them members of my own demonic army, and forces them to obey both my command and yours without hesitation or question. In addition to continuing to grow that army, I need you to step up and take command of it. Command of the entire demonic military, to be exact.” His voice turned tired. “ I  just, reader, I quite honestly I just don’t have time to give it the attention it needs. Or the military experience that you do have.”

He sat down on the other side of the bed next to me. “So how about it?  How would you like to flex those leadership skills? Take over as second in command, which if I’m being honest, is the primary command in real life. But as leader of hell, I’m also head general of my own military unit but that’s just titles.”

“Wait, you’re offering me a job?” I asked. 

He shrugged and looked to Valentino. “More or less.  If of course, its contingent on your behavior over the next two weeks. Show me better judgment. Because in all honesty, even for my sister's child you are the most incredible pain in the ass- which is to say you’re just like her. And I think you need to keep busy or you sink into the self destructive tendencies that angels are so prone to. It makes them ideal soldiers, but I’d like to spare you that fate if possible.” He stood back up. “So, what do you say?”

What did I say?

My mind reeled as I tried to process the new information. I looked at Valentino and he squeezed my hand again. 

“I think it would be good for you, princessa. Something to keep you occupied. Something familiar, but this time- something you control.” Valentino said encouragingly.

“I need a place. I need equipment. I need housing and room to train these souls.” I said slowly.

Lucifer waved his hand. “Not an issue. I can…”

“What if we remodeled the third floor?” Valentino interrupted with a look at Lucifer. “I am willing to sacrifice that portion of my studio if it means keeping her in house.“ 

“That could work,” Lucifer agreed. “I’d prefer to have eyes on anyway. Demons can be nasty- sinners even moreso, and while I don’t doubt you could lay them down, reader, I’d prefer not to have you do so by yourself.”

“There is also the issue of devising a training plan that won’t kill them,” I added. “Otherwise, they’ll end up like me.”

“That will be the easiest part. Vox has all their data, he can use that to derive the most optimal plan, and subdivide that so the recruits are sorted categorically. We really need to pull him into this conversation.” Lucifer glanced at his watch and then looked at me. “Let this be our plan moving forward- something for you to focus on. Getting this all sorted and together will take about two weeks. During that time rest- get in the habits that will help you grow stronger. I will reassess your physical strength then. In the meantime, we’ll move forward with getting everything set so when you show me just how well you can fight, how well you’ve taken care of your body, you’ll be set to begin right away. Got it?” 

“Got it.” I nodded. 

Valentino stood up and swapped to another bag of fluids. Lucifer gave me a stern look. 

“You need to learn how to balance the two halves of yourself, my dear. Trial and error is a part of this, but communication is even larger. If you’re wondering about if you should do something, or even if you recognize that this is how you would do it in your previous life- talk.. You have my number- use it. Ask Vox, ask Velvette, as Valentino- use us as a guide. No one is here to watch you fail. And no one here will tolerate you hurting yourself. Understood?”

“Maybe it wouldn’t have gone this far if you hadn’t insulted her,” Valentino said sharply. He shifted himself ever so slightly as he looked to Lucifer. “That is something I won’t tolerate. Ever again.”

Lucifer raised an eyebrow. “Is this in reference to my comment on her body?”

“Yes. Don’t let it happen again.” He responded coldly. 

I expected Lucifer to get angry, for his power to pulse through the room. But all he did was shrug. 

“Fair point, I suppose.” Lucifer leaned down and kissed the top of my head. “Make better choices, I have to go.”

And with that he vanished. 

I looked at Valentino. “You heard about that?”

“Heard about it? I was furious, mi amore. I would have called him up, consequences be damned, if Velvette hadn’t talked me down. You’re perfect, princessa. No matter how your body changes.” He sat down next to me and I reached for him. He shifted himself and me so that my head was against his chest. 

I nuzzled him and closed my eyes. My Valentino. My Valentino stood up for me- again. He really did love me. 

“Rest, you’ve got about another hour or so of laying here. Might as well get some sleep. You’ve got to be exhausted.” He said softly as he shifted me in his arms. “I’ve got you.”

I let that feeling of safety wash over me. In his arms, I couldn’t fight the exhaustion, both physically and mental. I let sleep wash over me as I snuggled tightly against him.

[otherentrance]

if i had a nickel for every time david tennant played a space alien who quoted a line from shakespeare to shakespeare and then the poet himself went "i might use that" i dont even know how many nickels id have. probably not a lot but its weird that it happened more than once

ahem

so doctor who s3e2 am i right. The Shakespeare Code

the most unrealistic thing about this episode full of witchcraft and bullshitting people is that shakespeare did the whole "now get out- *sees someone pretty* oh, ok, nvm sit down" but it was about martha and not david tennant. do i need to start shipping the doctor with literal shakespeare out of spite??

so martha and ten sit to chat with The Poet, right, and martha starts doing that thing where she tries to talk using words that pop culture associates with the time just for ten to turn to her and go "no, no, dont do that". rose tyler in the opening of Tooth and Claw is that you?

speaking of rose! "psychic paper, um, ..long story. oh i hate starting from scratch" right so martha doesnt understand the psychic paper because she's new. and i love ten's line here! "i hate starting from scratch"

its funny, because we know how much ten misses rose. we know how much emotional baggage comes with finding a new companion. yet we forget just how long the doctor has been doing this

i havent seen the classic era of doctor who, and i doubt anyone on tumblr has either, but the doctor has, presumably, been loosing people for a long time

& i appreciate how theres a real sense of experience in ten's line here. ofc he doesnt honestly mean "i hate starting from scratch", its just that when you do something for long enough little annoyances about it can tire you. and ten is, among other things, very tired

(similarly, i do very much appreciate this interaction between The Poet and ten. "and you, sir doctor, how can a man so young have eyes so old?" "i do a lot of reading." "a trite reply, yeah? thats what i do." & then ten's got this look on his face! tired eyes, slight smile, like he's softening. recognizing something of himself in shakespeare of all people. god i love him so much)

i think its fascinating, too, how theres a sense of.. unimportance(?) to his new companions when theyre new. like over the years, the people the doctor has interacted with have become just that- people. sure the significance and uniqueness of certain people stick out, but eventually you start seeing just how similar we all are, innately

and theres certainly something to love in that sentiment, that people are at their core very similar, and the doctor certainly loves humanity. but he doesnt know martha well enough for her individuality to matter entirely: she's another chance at happiness, another opportunity, instead of a fully understood person, to him

isnt there something so human in that? isnt there something a little bit tiring about having to unveil yourself to every new person you want to know? isnt it just a little tempting to pretend youre different? to pretend all that emotional baggage, all that history, doesnt exist? they dont know you, they wont unless you tell them, so dont. this is how you outrun the past, by throwing yourself into the future

(completely unrelated but this episode is so funny about queer stuff in hindisght. "so those [actors on stage in 1599] are men dressed as women, right?" "london never changes" like excuse me??? are you trying to imply something sir???

that whole "there was only one bed" scene in which martha is almost flirting but ten just completely ignores it

& then ten is annoyed that martha and shakespeare are stopping to chat so we get: ten: "come on, we can all have a good flirt later!" the poet: "is that promise, doctor?" ten: "oh, 57 academics just punched the air" pardon??

the witch [villain of the week] being seductive to trick ten? "thats one form of magic that isnt gonna work on me"??? oh??? ace ten confirmed????

and then the episode finishes off with banishing the evil witches by shouting "expelliarmus!" and ten throwing in a "good old JK". like i know they didnt know she was an ass in 2007 but man this episode is a rollercoaster)

um. yeah. im normal about doctor who

[xoxoladyaz]

Ultraworld

A/N: This is a concept that I've been tossing around in my head for a while, and when I saw the Day 5 "Reunion" prompt for @steddie-week the sequence below just flew into my mind. Think a mash-up of Westworld and Ready Player One and that's what this fic could potentially turn into. This is definitely just a preview of things to come (in the future when I don't have so many WIPs that eat up all of my brain space and agony lol), but I'd love any and all comments and feedback!

TW: Swearing

Regina Kelley, MSNBC: As I’m sure you’re well aware, Doctor Brenner, there’s been a lot of controversy in the media ever since the announcement of ‘Ultraworld.’ What do you say to the people – and international entities – who believe this project is nothing more than an aggressive overextension of American oversight in the global arena?

Dr. Martin Brenner, NINA Industries: Firstly, any individual who believes that ‘Ultraworld’ is solely an American enterprise is mistaken. And as for those ‘international entities’ you mentioned, any outrage is a mere consequence of realizing their own unimportance in the face of such a monumental project. The reality, Miss Kelly, is that humanity has been racing towards a singular moment of harmony between the magickal and the technological since the industrial revolution. NINA Industries is merely the steward, the guiding hand to lead humanity forward. Those educated beyond the sycophantic hysteria of the internet know that ‘Ultraworld’ could not have been created, nor could it be released, without the express approval and support of each country across the globe. We pride ourselves on our equitable global access, by which we have been able to work across borders, government, and religion to bring a unity the world has never before seen.

And it due to that global access that I can assure the general public that ‘Ultraworld’ is not a tool of American oversight. To say it in basic terms, ‘Ultraworld’ serves two purposes: to provide an immersive, alternative-existential experience for all players who long to live in a simpler, more peaceful time; and in exchange, to serve as active training for the first generation of Infused Artificial Intelligence.

Regina Kelley, MSNBC: Yes, speaking of that, since the announcement there has been an almost constant barrage of misinformation and concern regarding the imminent arrival of these Infused Artificial Intelligences. Many are calling for the project’s cancellation out of fear either of the A.I. itself, or out of concern for the Preternatural community’s response.

Dr. Martin Brenner, NINA Industries: Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news for those concerned, but artificial intelligence is already among us. As such, it was only a matter of time until something similar to our Infuseds were created, and I think everyone can agree that it is in all of our best interest to have a unified, singular force driving progress forward. And for those concerned about the Preternatural community’s response, it is for this reason that we created the Infuseds in the first place. While we may be in a moment of relative peace with our very distant brethren, history shows us that these pockets of peace do not pass long, and as we have grown and evolved so have they. The Infuseds are not a declaration of war, but they are a declaration of protection – and, perhaps, an encouragement to the Preternaturals to keep their end of our current bargain. 

Regina Kelley, MSNBC: Well, for all its critics, ‘Ultraworld’ has already garnered an incredibly vocal and passionate global fanbase. Do you have any final things to say to your fans about ‘Ultraworld’ ahead of its release? 

Dr. Martin Brenner, NINA Industries: I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I gave too much away, but I will say that I saw the final renderings for each city today and, well, it’s like nothing that has ever been seen before. If I may be so bold, it is truly the most remarkable thing I think NINA Industries has ever created, second perhaps only to the IAIs themselves.

Regina Kelley, MSNBC: Remarkable is certainly an understatement, Doctor. And with twenty-one distinct roll-outs occurring tomorrow simultaneously across the globe, it seems ‘Ultraworld’ is ready to take our world by storm.

/////

M. Bauman: The fact that Brenner didn’t dig his own fucking grave with that interview speaks volumes about just how brainwashed the American people are. An “alternative-existential experience?” Is that what we’re calling the total subjugation of civilization to the elites? Studies have shown that this ‘experience’ is almost ten times more addictive than the social media we already have! Sooner or later, every part of our waking lives is going to take place in ‘Ultraworld,’ and that’s not even mentioning the new sleep-cycles they’ve just pushed out, or the fucking neural chip that allows for total immersion twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, three hundred and sixty-five days a fucking year. And while everyone in this country and across the fucking globe is distracted by the ‘ooooh, pretty, shiny,’ the global elites are going to take everything left for themselves. Oh, and let’s not forget the fucking shitshow that these IAIs are going to cause – 

/////

92 hours since last Immersion

Steve.

He pulls his covers over his head, and it brings back memories of being a small child in that lonely house, terrified of every scratch against his window, of every creak on the empty stair, of every breath and snarl of wild creatures traipsing through the yard beneath him.

He tucks the blanket underneath his head, now fully submerged beneath the duvet that was now permanently lopsided and wrinkled since he rarely made his bed. He rarely had time to make his bed these days, not with how early he and Robin – 

It’s not real. It’s not real. Hawkins isn’t real, he chants to himself, over and over and over again, hoping somehow that if he just says it enough times it will all disappear, that Ultraworld will never have happened, that everything and everyone will go back to the way it was and he’ll have a life again, everyone will have a genuinely real life -

Oh, Stevie, His voice sings.

He grips his duvet tighter and shut his eyes because maybe, maybe if He thinks Steve is asleep, he’ll stop fucking hearing His voice, and he shouldn’t even be hearing His voice right now anyways because his computer is off, his Immersion Glasses are off, he’s been disconnected for almost a full week and He isn’t even real - 

Steeeeeevvveeeeeeeeeeee.

But it doesn’t matter how tightly he holds himself underneath his worn sheets, because nothing can change the fact that it doesn’t fucking matter how much space Steve puts between himself and his computer, between himself and his Immersion Glasses, between himself and this fucking apartment in this fucking city with all these fucking fully-immersed people – there’s no getting away from Kas. 

C’mon, sweetheart. Daddy’s missed you.

It’s time for you to come home, Stevie.

(Not for Steve.)

[ocherednoe-dno]

which ocs have you been thinking about the most recently? and what about them do you like?

I've been seeing necron stuff recently, so Zero! she is what I want or have seriously thought of in a necron character, and she is a Stellaris crossover character to boot. she is a former commoner, the champion of the Animator of Clay [a Shroud deity from Stellaris, whose domain is the granting of free will unto machines], who was returned her free will and mind when it was impressed by her futile attempt to resist an unjust order. as a necrontyr, Zero had a different name, one she has forgotten as unimportant. she lived with strong and highly unpleasant mood swings, and was generally isolated because the idea that people might betray her trust and abandon her was intolerable. she worked on a civilian starship, presumably a cargo freighter or transport [Zero is no longer clear on the details], and thus knows how to fly necron starships at least in theory. she is also intersex, because all evidence points to necrontyr reproducing in a similar manner to humans, which would mean intersex necrontyr existing. Zero is an incredibly principled person, but she considers her old life a painful, unreal nightmare that she was extremely fortunate to wake from - biotransference dulled her emotions, and she no longer feels pain. to her, the dysphorakh is incomparable to the experience of being alive. her mission - a holy one, even, one she undertakes as chosen of the Animator - is to free other necron, and to create new necron: true machine minds, who would complete the evolution of their species so misled by the c'tan. Zero is, in fact, also a high priestess, but she does not tend to linger on spiritual matters. has an avid interest in preserving history, and a compulsion to remain clothed despite her necrodermis body no longer being "nude".

in addition, I've been intending to post about Rosemarie for many months, and have been figuring out the character arc of her and her shadow Roseanne. they are dual characters; never one without the other, though Rosemarie is unquestionably the leader and protagonist among them. the two of them are psykers, both seers/precognitives, but their master has chosen Rosemarie as his student and discarded Roseanne's potential, relegating her as a mere guard of the former. Rosemarie has the air of a frazzled librarian about her, and is very ambitious, despite how stressful it is for her to be an Inquisitor's student. Rosemarie's family has a tradition of naming the eldest child after the Saint of their world, known most commonly as Roswell or Rose, and thus it is easy to see that she is the eldest child of her parents. they are alive and well, by the way, but letting the Inquisition take their daughter and her later life as a sanctioned psyker has cast a certain pall over their relationship with her. Rosemarie believes strongly in not making others do what she would be unwilling to do herself, and demonstrates something of a tendency to do the most unpleasant or immoral parts of missions herself, to spare her underlings the responsibility. she also believes that as leader, she is responsible for her subordinates, and that their actions reflect on her. a noble sentiment, and one that has created a lot more work for her. perhaps she has a tendency to micromanage.