#no offense to anyone… i think the post i saw about it was years old so op shouldn’t see this

[starbuck]

i’m the first one who’ll say that directly stating “this song is about x” flattens it by removing its ambiguity and opportunity for subjective interpretations that make it poetic, so i’m not gonna say exactly what i think, but i WILL say that it was extremely funny for me to see someone say that they were mystified by Chinese House Flowers of all songs when, to me anyway, it’s one of the most straightforward songs on Full Force Galesburg meaning-wise, but 🤷🤷🤷🤷 that’s just my opinion!

[gerec]

Gerec’s Favorite Fics - 2023

Here's a list of some of my favorite fics posted this year. A great big thanks to everyone still writing for this fandom; I know I'm very grateful to have all these amazing stories to read and to share!

Repeat Offenses by populuxe

“Prickly bits aside—hell, for the two of them, prickly bits included—it almost felt like a date. Which is stupid on multiple fronts. Grudgingly buying your ex a meal after he grudgingly bails you out of jail is obviously not a date.”

Five times Charles bailed Erik out of jail—and one time he didn’t.

melt your headaches, call it home by joshriku

Two decades later after the last time he saw Charles Xavier, Erik's children lead him right back to him.

Of course, it's never easy to look at the ex love of your life and realize you're not over them, not even in the slightest.

superposition by borninsideatornado (wip)

erik is a race car driver coming off the worst year of his life. charles xavier may be his last hope.

The Plus-One by populuxe

When Erik grudgingly agrees to play Raven's boyfriend at her terrible family's holiday party, he'd thought the biggest challenge would be staying sober enough to make it convincing. But then he meets Raven's extremely hot—and extremely infuriating—stepbrother, and everything starts to get complicated.

my heart knows your name by borninsideatornado

Once they’ve finally got him in bed, Charles works up the courage to ask if he might stay for a few days, because being rejected can’t be worse than seeing Erik in pain. But Erik only says, “I think that would be good.”

or: charles and erik have been broken up for years, occasionally falling into each other. things might change for good when erik lands himself in the ER where charles works. it’s all a bit of a hanukkah miracle.

This Terrible Desire To Be Loved by riais (jeriais)

Erik clings to his past, Charles detaches from his present. Somehow, they meet in the middle. Modern Au, no powers.

the pride and disgrace by ballantine

I am grand, said Charles. Did you know, I can make people think the sun is shining? I am giving them the most beautiful weather they have ever seen. They don't feel the wind or the rain, only the love of their companions. I am fostering the brotherhood of man, one heart at a time.

“Okay,” said Hank.

twenty four hours from tulsa by intentation

After having self-emancipated (aka run away), Erik's been holing up in a shitty motel while he figures out his next step. When Charles Xavier moves into the room just down the hall, Erik discovers his new favorite pastime: sex.

the pain will remind us of each other by borninsideatornado

It’s always felt alien, the way he feels about Erik. Too big for his body, too much to hold in his heart. But finally, finally, it makes sense.

Because at the end of the world, it’s him. It’s always going to be him. —

when logan lets charles see his future in days of future past, he talks to erik instead.

rendezvous by inthebelltower

“Tell me no,” Erik says. “Tell me to leave.”

Heartbeat by druswriting

People say that it’s a bad idea to be friends with your ex. People say that it’s an especially bad idea to be friends with your ex, if your ex is Erik Lehnsherr.

Unfortunately for him, Charles is an optimist. Unfortunately for him, Charles believes he can make friendship work with anyone. Unfortunately for him, Charles believes no one is beyond repair. Fuck, he’s such an idiot.

Well, at least the sex is good.

Dead Box by ByCandlelight

“We should keep moving,” Raven said softly, and so Erik rose to his feet. There was an ache in his knees that didn’t used to be there.

“Charles would love this planet,” he said unthinkingly, and something shuttered across her face.

Travels with Charles, in Search of America by midrashic (wip)

The world ends, but life goes on—until it doesn't.

Seventeen-year-old Erik Lehnsherr has never left the underground shelter that protects a small band of survivors from an Earth wracked with radiation as its magnetic poles reverse. When the settlement encounters a deadly threat, he embarks on a dangerous odyssey with new arrival, walking encyclopedia, and enormous pain-in-the-ass Charles Xavier in the hopes they can find what they need to save the settlement—before the coming winter or unpredictable magnetic storms bring death to not just them, but everyone they love.

Weak by Sotano (comics cherik)

For an hour he keeps himself alive without a heart, pumping his own blood with his powers. It was never going to last. Magneto dies on the Red Planet.

He's the only mutant in history Charles can't bring back.

Containment by feathershollyandgolly

Guilt swirls within as Charles watches the concrete door slide open. As he enters a hollow prison, both modest and intimidating. He is well aware that what he is about to do is a terrible thing.

Detours Along the Way by AndreaDTX (wip)

Erik Lehnsherr has been elected as the President of the United States of America, the youngest in history and the first ever known Mutant. Charles Xavier, his mate, is right by his side. But as Erik's first term begins, the couple braces themselves, knowing that getting elected is the easy part.

twice saying pardon (In Every World There Is You and Me Remix) by winter_hiems

After the events of X-3, Erik is powerless and alone. By chance, he ends up in an alternate universe – in Genosha, where mutants rule and are safe from harm. In Genosha, there is another version of himself. A version that has Charles Xavier by his side.

Another Love by Mataolma 

One bad day, a stranger arrives at Charles' house. The soldier says his name is Logan and that he was Erik's best friend when they served in the Mexican War. Logan brings bad news: Erik died in the war, and Charles must decide what to do with his life now that the man he loves is gone.

[prettyinpwn]

Hi! I don't remember if anyone asked this, but do you have any headcanons about Shermie Pines?

Ah, see, this is the part where I totally self-promote share this wonderful, totally not owned by me ask blog reply: https://askthestans.tumblr.com/post/756343677567336448/hey-stan-can-you-tell-us-stories-about-your

But here's a full summary of my headcanons on the guy:

Older brother to Ford and Stan. I know the timeline's screwy with that baby in the background of ATOTS, but I personally just headcanon that that's some other baby and Shermie's not around in the house because he's off in the military.

I definitely picture him being in the Navy. I picture he's got sailor's tattoos. And actual cool ones, no offense to Ford.

I can't find the reference for the life of me, but I swear to God I once read from Hirsch (I think it was a tweet?) that Stan learned the "you cuddle up to a girl, knock her up, suddenly your life's fallin' apart" oddly specific joke in Little Gift Shop of Horrors from Filbrick. Going with my headcanon that Shermie's the older brother, that means he's the oops baby.

Because of that, and Filbrick's general suckage, Shermie struggled a lot with his dad like the Stans did. I think like Stan, he wasn't especially exceptional - or at least in a way that could make them money like Ford's brains - and Filbrick might have projected a whole "my life fell apart after I had Shermie" thing on the poor guy. So... I don't imagine Shermie got along real well with Filbrick. I also headcanon the large gap in years between Shermie and the Stans as Filbrick's hesitation to have more kids. I think Caryn would have wanted more, and eventually convinced him to have another (and whaddaya know, two for the price of one!), but Filbrick all over just gives me the vibe of a guy that never wanted to be a father, and Shermie knew that even as a kid, so he felt rather unwanted.

In terms of personality, I see Shermie as like... a straight laced golden retriever. Like a pure heart of gold "sees an old lady struggling to walk across the street and gets out and helps her" type guy. Being Mabel and Dipper's grandfather, I think he shares Mabel's optimism but Dipper's sense of right and wrong, which is what makes him a bit of a square (see the Ask the Stans post linked above). Even so, he's not outgoing like Mabel, he's introverted like Ford and Dipper. Like... people picture introverts as moody and quiet with dark thoughts, but when Shermie's quiet he just has happy fantasies like his granddaughter, Mabel (except replace hamster balls and hot boys with, idk... probably baseball or a movie he saw one time and loved).

I see him as a family pillar of support type guy, too. As the older brother in a poor family, I think a lot of responsibility was put on his shoulders. He definitely helped run the pawn shop (though Filbrick got irritated whenever he gave too generous of a discount), and made extra money on the side for his family with a side job. Going into the military was not his choice - given the era, it was probably a draft - and he sent his money home. Caryn probably did Tarot readings on him every night between his letters home hoping they always turned up positive.

He sent little letters home to Stan and Ford, too. He'd make Stan promise to protect Ford for him since he couldn't while he was out at sea, which is what inspired Stan to be such a protector. Then, he made Ford promise to help Stan with his homework like he used to, but once again, couldn't while in the Navy. And he'd tell them about his "epic ocean adventures" to gloss over the horrors of what he was actually going through, which I like to headcanon partially inspired their obsession with fixing up the Stan-O-War so they could have epic ocean adventures someday like their big brother. It wasn't until they were older that they realized, oh... yeah, he wasn't swashbuckling with pirate ghosts in the US Navy. :(

Physically, I think he's the one who looks the most like Caryn. Stan and Ford are like Filbrick short king copy+pastes, but I picture Shermie more tall and lanky like their mother, and has her aquiline nose. Coloring-wise, he's a Pines: brown hair and brown eyes. And sailor tattoos, can't forget those.

I feel like he had to be a pseudo father-figure to the Stans because of Filbrick. Filbrick wasn't the type to teach them how to ride a bike or play a sport, scare "monsters" out of their closet, bring them home for dinner from the beach, etc. Like he fulfilled more of the emotional role of a father to them that Filbrick couldn't.

With Stan, I think he played defense for the kid against Filbrick. I don't think Shermie would have directly gotten angry with Filbrick, especially given his golden retriever-ness and the era, but he defended Stan in little ways. Say Stan broke something, Shermie might have stepped in and tried to smooth things over before Filbrick could get angry. But boy oh boy, if he saw anyone else picking on Stan (or Ford, for that matter), better watch out. He might be a golden retriever, but he's still a Pines, so he's got that whole, "Mess with my family and I'll send you to the hospital." thing going on.

With Ford, I think Shermie was like Stan to him, protecting him and generally trying to make him not feel weird for his polydactyly and nerdiness. While on the surface I think Shermie and Stan might have bonded more because they had more shared surface level interests, I think Ford really looked up to Shermie, especially since Shermie was - as an introvert - the closest to Ford in personality in their family. Shermie wholly supported his love of weirdness, even if he didn't understand what the hell he was talking about half the time, and often would go along with him and Stan on monster hunts as kids just to make sure they got home safe, even if he had no interest in the paranormal himself.

As far as flaws, I can see him having inherited Filbrick's temper and absolutely hating himself for it. Like normally he's a sweet, happy-go-lucky guy, but when he blows up he feels like such an ass afterwards because it reminds himself of his father. His golden retriever personality might have been a way of him trying his best to form an identity far, FAR away from Filbrick, so when parts of Filbrick come out, he feels gross. The Stans look the most like Filbrick, but Shermie - for as nice and sweet as he is - inherited more of Filbrick's bad personality traits than they did.

When Stan got kicked out, Shermie was out at sea and their mother hadn't told him about it, feeling awful she'd let Filbrick just kick Stan out. So when he got home, he was like, "Where the hell is Stan?", and Caryn had to tell him. Shermie always blamed himself for not being there to play defense for Stan like he always had in the past, but at the same time, he was P I S S E D that Stan broke Ford's science fair project. And given that Caryn felt guilty and didn't want to speak against Filbrick and Ford's opinions, and Filbrick is a dick, and Ford was still freshly wounded from the whole fight and disappointment... well, he got a biased view of Stan. He felt so betrayed by Stan for decades for having "hurt" Ford and the family. I think this would explain why he wouldn't have gone to Stan's "funeral" later on. Cue him feeling like an asshole after the events of Gravity Falls and Stan and Ford and/or the niblings tell their grandfather what went down the last three decades.

Even so, I think he tried to find Stan afterwards in his drifter grifter years, but to no avail. Stan didn't want Shermie to find him and disappoint him, and all the evidence Shermie did find seemed to prove what Ford and Filbrick said about Stan, so... :(

He worked in the IRS for his career after the Navy. It made Stan barf when he found out. But Shermie just wanted a good old normal family life and a boring job after what he went through in the war.

As for the way he interacts with Dipper and Mabel, just... pure cuteness. Picture the most stereotypical sweethearted grandfather. Stan and Ford are like the cool old relatives, but Shermie is the big softie old relative. He buys Mabel craptons of arts and crafts and knitting supplies for birthdays and holidays, and he buys Dipper whatever paranormal stuff or video games he wants. He fully sees Dipper as like a little Ford and a lot like his own son (D&M's dad), but he loves Mabel too, of course.

If I think of any more, I'll be sure to add them to this post. :D

[therealtsk]

What Your Favorite Worm Ship Says About You

some people have found my crusty, old ass tumblr post on this very topic, so im making a new one with my updated opinions! Cause those are, in fact, allowed to change. Enjoy! Taylor x Lisa: you're into relationships that could be dysfunctional or healthy with one push in either direction. also something something sun lesbian moon lesbian. Taylor x Rachel: You love dogs, and you want a girlfriend who can kick your ass. You're also into bomber jackets. I respect you. Taylor x Alec: Sadly, you do exist, and you did make it weird. Go away! Taylor x Amy: You read altpowers on the daily and complain about canon worm being too grimdark. Solid odds on you having never read worm. To be clear, it's worse if you have. also something something FBI OPEN UP Taylor x Victoria: You like the vibes of Lisa and Taylor's dynamic, but you want them to be a little more heroic and a little less dysfunctional. But only a little. Taylor x Clockblocker: You're straight and liked that one joke that cropped up. I also haven't seen any of you in a hot minute, thank god. No offense but this ship is mad boring.

Taylor x Sophia: You've come to realize that Sophia is a great character who gets done extremely dirty by the rest of the fandom. Also, rivals to lovers. Taylor x Emma: This can go one of two ways. Either you adore childhood friends to lovers, or you love enemies to lovers. Either way, you're obsessed with hurt and/or comfort fics. Taylor x Theo: You actually read Worm and recognize that Theo is criminally underrated in the fandom. Now just stop shipping him with Taylor and you'll complete the next step on your journey to enlightenment.

Taylor x Simurgh: I can't say for sure you're a anime fan, but you're definitely at least a little bit of a monsterfucker. also something something inherent eroticism of being world-destroying power couple. Taylor x Greg. You read Worm SI's unironically and get really defensive when people say that Greg is an incel. Completely unrelated, you haven't spoken to a woman other then your mother in five years. Taylor x Cherie: I've been informed this is a ship. I've yet to be informed as of a reason why I should like it. Cherie likers stay mad!

Lisa x Rachel: I don't remember the last time I saw this ship that wasn't also tagged as a polycule with Taylor, so I'm going to go out on a limb and say you're an OT3 enjoyer.

Lisa x Victoria: You’re into the “enemies to lovers” trope, but more of the "Spiderman x Black Cat" type then the "you murdered my entire home town but i can't help but find you sexy" type. Also you have a thing for blondes

Lisa x Faultline: Your ideal relationship dynamic is bickering married couple. You're also into heist movies.

Lisa x Simurgh: You have a thing for smart girls... who hate you. Also, you really liked Part of the Whole.  Contessa x Alexandria: You're fucking based. Also something something inherent eroticism of girlbosses winning Contessa x Numberman: you're friends with Peri and enjoy memes about pants and math Numberman x Jack Slash: You think serial killers are hot and are starved for m/m ships. Danny x Eidolon: You're losersexual and are starved for m/m ships. Also you frequent r/wormemes Danny x Miss Militia: Honestly, i think you all died out. I couldn't be happier, this ship is fucking dumb. Amy x Literally Anyone Besides Taylor: listen, there's like a hundred different jokes i could make here, but all of them boil down to amy defenders always defending the rapist for some reason so let's just agree amy defenders are fucking cringe and move on Dragon x Defiant: You understand that this is unironically the only healthy relationship in worm with some of the best character growth and romance in the entire story, and a majority of all of it happens off screen. You're extremely bitter that so many fanfics do both of them so dirty they get beaten into different characters. Alec x Aisha: You like the idea of this ship, cause two pranksters making everyone miserable is the kinda vibe you enjoy, but constantly run into the issue that Alec is...well. Alec. That or you're into Alec's brand of shit, in which case, FBI OPEN UP Aisha x Missy: You read It's Cold Out There Every Day. I did too. Fuck, this fic is so good. I'm going to go cry about the ending again. Lily x Sabah: Yes, you know the age gap is a little problematic, you just want to be happy with your relatively healthy canon lesbians goddamn it Purity x Literally Anyone: You don't understand why people keep calling you racist. You're not! You're just weirdly defensive of the hot milf who murders people of color and seem to constantly bring up that Kaiser didn't actually believe the nazi propaganda he was peddling. You are racist btw Taylor x Brian: You...are Wildbow

[nutmeg-mayonnaise]

(Gregory Wright AU)

I was supposed to pair this artwork with this ask, but it was posted by mistake when the art wasn't done yet.

After I finished AAI2, I had to draw Raymond Shields with Gregory. I was sad to realize how much he would age--he's about 66 here--but it was really fun to design him older and make a drawing in a similar style to the other photos he took in AAI2.

I also wrote a short story of these two meeting for the first time, and the circumstances around the photo below the cut. It's about 2500 words long. Hope you enjoy it! ˙ᵕ˙

“Good luck with your trial Mr. Edgeworth.”

My adoptive father sighed. “We’re not in the courtroom, Gregory. You needn’t be so formal.”

I chuckled. “I can’t help that you brought me up as a professional, Pop.”

“Indeed.” He turned to the door of the courtroom. “I’ll see you at your dad’s office.”

I waved at him and headed to a nearby vending machine to get a cup of coffee. As I watched the paper cup fill with my much needed source of caffeine, I heard someone greet me from behind.

“Hello, Mr. Wright!” I spun around and looked at him. He was an older man in a trench coat with gray, curly hair poking out from under his black fedora. He grinned at me as he walked by.

“H-hello.” Do I know you? I watched him do a double-take. He stopped and turned around. He leaned forward and adjusted his thin, rectangular glasses with his thumb and index finger.

“It might be my aging eyes, but you look shorter than I remember!”

“I guess the courtroom makes everyone look a little bigger, huh?” I thought maybe this man may’ve observed one of my trials.

He tilted his head at me with a stern expression, but he checked his watch. “Well, it was nice seeing you! Best of luck with work!”

“You, too.”

It then occurred to me that he may have confused me for my dad, who I got my last name from. It wouldn’t be the first time it’s happened.

I took my coffee from the vending machine and heard Pop make his opening statement from within the hall. I smiled. At home, he was usually soft spoken, but once he was at the prosecution desk—or annoyed with my dad—he was resonant.

As I turned to go on my way, I saw the strange, old man linger at the door to the courtroom Pop was in. He had his hands in his pockets and gazed wistfully at the door.

That was a few months before I knew who he was.

“You have a son?”

Pop sighed. “Yes…”

“And he’s a defense attorney?!”

“Yes…”

“What a twist of fate! Say, does he need a mentor? I could take on an apprentice.”

“I appreciate the offer, but you must realize how many people in law Gregory has grown up with.”

Ray Shields stopped to have a hearty chuckle. “No offense, Miles, but I think he ought to learn from an actual defense attorney and not from that family of prosecutors.”

This made Pop uncomfortable. Although Mr. Shields was my grandfather’s apprentice and he and Pop worked together briefly nearly thirty years ago, their relationship has always been somewhat estranged. 

Mr. Shields always had a chip on his shoulder when it came to prosecutors. I can’t say I blame him, considering one murdered my grandfather—Mr. Shield's mentor—and took my father in as his adoptive son on some sick power trip. However, Pop never really kept Mr. Shields up to speed with his own personal life.

“He’ll be fine.” Pop finally said after a few moments of silence. “My partner—his… father—is a defense attorney.” Mr. Shields had his own moment of silence.

“Hold on a second, Gregory Wright? As in Phoenix Wright? He’s your kid’s father—wait, he’s your partner, too?!” 

Pop is not overfond of detailing his personal life to anyone—especially to anyone in the law business. It took him a while to finally say, “That is correct.”

“...You really need to keep Uncle Ray in the loop a little more, Miles.”

After that exchange, Pop arranged a meeting with me and Mr. Shields at a cafe in town. “I want to see how your boy thinks as an attorney,” he told Pop. I didn’t mind meeting him. I was curious about my grandfather, and I was sure Mr. Shields was curious about me.

I arrived at the cafe and ordered a large chai tea—something I seldom had at home since Pop prefers English teas. I took a seat and waited for Mr. Shields to show up.

I was lost in my thoughts until I noticed an older man in a trench coat and a black fedora walk into the cafe. He looked around, like he was looking for somebody. He looked awfully suspicious, until something on his lapel caught my eye: a defense attorney badge.

Then it dawned on me: it was the man that confused me for my dad, and lingered around the door to the courtroom. Small world.

I saw Mr. Shield’s eyes light up when he saw me. His thin, gray mustache stretched as he smiled at me and walked my way. I sat up from my seat as I saw him extend a hand towards me.

“Mr. Gregory Wright!” He said as I grabbed his hand. He shook pretty firmly for an old guy.

“Raymond Shields!” He put his other hand over mine and continued to shake.

“It is an honor to meet Mr. Gregory Edgeworth’s grandson!” I smiled awkwardly at him, thinking it odd that he skipped over Pop to mention my grandfather, but I didn’t know about his resentment towards prosecutors at that time.

“Pleasure’s all mine.”

I stood in line with him as he ordered coffee and a scone. We had a bit of small talk over coffee and tea and how much he loved the cafe’s scones.

“You know, the original owner of the cafe was your grandfather’s last client.”

My eyes shot wide. “Was he?” 

“Seems like your old man doesn’t tell you much about your granddad, does he?” Mr. Shields raised an eyebrow at me.

He was right. All Pop really told me about him was that Dad named me after him, that he was a defense attorney, and that he was no longer with us. Most of what I knew about my grandfather was through my mom and Dad, and Pop wasn’t around when they told me about him. I guess it’s still a sore spot for him after all these years.

I’m really lucky I have three parents, but I would be devastated if anything happened to any of them. Pop only had my grandfather. I can’t even begin to imagine the pain Pop had to go through… so I forgive him for not wanting to reminisce with me. Thankfully, I could learn a little more about him from Mr. Shields.

“Let’s play a little game, Mr. Wright.”

“Call me ‘Gregory’.” Mr. Shields pressed his lips together. His eyes gazed down on the table. I grimaced. “O-or you can call me ‘Grey’. That’s what most of my family on my mom and dad’s side call me.” Mr. Shields smiled.

“And you can call me Uncle Ray, Grey.” He chuckled. “Grey and Uncle Ray. I like the sound of that.”

I chuckled nervously. “So about this game…”

“Right! For the game, I’ll ask you a question, and then you ask me a question. How’s that sound?” I nodded. He took a bite of his scone and gestured to me. “You go first.”

I tapped my fingers on the table, thinking. I’ve heard plenty about the DL-6, the case in which my grandfather was the victim of murder. I met him once when I was very young when my Aunt Pearls channeled him with my family so he could meet me, but I knew nothing about my grandfather as a person.

“What did you admire the most about my grandfather?”

Mr. Shields smiled and looked fondly out the café window. “His commitment to finding the truth. He wasn’t afraid to stand up to corruption, even if it made things harder for him in the end.” Hearing this made my heart feel full.

I smirked. “Feels like I’ve heard that mantra my whole life.” 

Mr. Shields smiled. “Probably from Mr. Wright, right?”

I shook my head. “My Pop—er, Mr. Edgeworth, too. Nothing is more important to both of them than uncovering the truth. They ingrained that into me even before I wanted to be a lawyer.”

Ray took another bite out of a scone and I watched his lips curl into a smile. “So… for my first question—I have to ask because I know your old man probably won’t tell me—how long have your dads been together?”

“Well, Pop started staying at my dad’s to help him take care of me when I was two.” I forced a smile. It’s not the first time anyone’s assumed the nature of their relationship, so I like to play dumb.

Mr. Shields looked at me with small eyes. “Is that when they started dating?”

“I think it's my turn for a question, Uncle Ray.”

I gave him a grin. “Alright, alright… I suppose you won’t tell me either.”

“Sorry,” I said with a smile. I didn't think it was any of his business. Besides, if Pop knew I detailed his home life with my dad to Mr. Shields, he would kill me—then my mom would kill him, and I don't think my dad would be able to defend her in court.

Mr. Shields gestured his hand upwards. “Anyway, what’s your next question?”

I put my fist to my cheek and looked up. “Seeming as you’re quite the seasoned attorney, looking back, what do you think Gregory Edgeworth could’ve done better?”

Mr. Shields smiled. “Asking the tough questions, eh, Grey?” He sighed and his posture sunk. It was as if didn’t want to dare criticize his late mentor. “I think… he could’ve shown his feelings more—both to his clients, and to those close to him.” I made an amused huff. I felt that way about Pop. “Your old man didn’t even know that your grandpa was worried about him.”

“Really? What was he worried about?”

“He was worried about his boy spending too much time with his nose in his law books and not enough time making friends and… being a kid.”

I frowned. I thought about my own childhood. I played. I had friends. I also did plenty of snooping through both my dad and Pop's law books—especially Dad's, and most of them were really my late Aunt Mia’s books. Sometimes when I was in Dad's office after school and I finished my homework early, and I didn’t feel like reading the comics and fiction books my mom left in the office, I'd skim through the law books until Pop came at the end of the day to take us home. When Dad was out of the office after school, I'd hop on the bus, go to Pop's office in the Prosecutor building and look at his books until we would get in the car and pick up my dad from wherever he was.

My earliest memories of Pop was of him teaching me things like how to read and write. I mostly played with Dad and my mom when she was around, but when either of them were busy or away for some reason, Pop would certainly try to play with me. He was happy when I was old enough to play strategy games like chess.

I couldn't help but wonder if things would be different if Pop was the only one who raised me. Would I have played less? Would Pop worry about me?

“I see,” I said, getting out of my head.

Mr. Shields smiled. “Anyway, I have another burning question for you.” I saw his eyes move down to my neck. “What’s that odd-looking stone you have instead of a good tie?”

I glanced down and smiled. “Oh, this is my magatama—well, it’s my late aunt’s. She was also a defense attorney.”

“Oh?”

“Does ‘Mia Fey’ of Fey & Co. Law Offices ring a bell?” I watched Mr. Shields squint his eyes, thinking thoughtfully. 

“Ah, yes! Now that you say it, I recall reading about her m… her unfortunate death in the papers. However, I don’t recall if I ever met her.” He smiled at me. “Thirty years is a long time ago.” He then gestured back at my magatama. “So tell me about this… mega-tama.”

I looked down and held it between my index finger and thumb. “It’s a charm that members of the Fey Clan use.”

“Those fortune-tellers?”

“Well, no. They’re spirit mediums—at least the women are.” I took a deep breath and glanced down. There weren’t a lot of men in the Fey Clan. As a matter of fact, I’m the only one I know of, and I am definitely not a spirit medium.

“Ah! So they’re a bunch of ladies who can talk to ghosts!”

I nodded slowly. “Sort of. Anyway, my mother is the head of the Fey Clan, and the master of the Kurain Spirit Channeling Technique. She gave me this when… I was small.” Mr. Shields sat back in his chair, eyebrows raised.

“Your mother’s their leader, huh?” He smirked. I nodded. “I must say, Daddy-Wright has… interesting taste in partners.” That one got a mild chuckle out of me. “And I imagine you wear that in honor of your mother’s family and the memory of your Aunt.”

I nodded. “Exactly.”

He crossed his arms and smiled. “That’s sweet.”

We exchanged more questions which moved beyond our relations and into our profession. We had a good chat about the legal system and how much it has changed in the nearly fifty years he Mr. Shields was an attorney. I was happy he had the stage for the most part so I could sip on my chai tea—which had long turned cold. After telling me stories about his career for about a couple hours, he looked at his watch.

“Well Grey, your Uncle Ray ought to get going.” I quickly glanced at my phone to check the time, and saw a missed call and a text from Pop.

“Likewise.”

He stood up out of his chair and extended his arm for another handshake. I stood up and we shook.

“It was great meeting you, Uncle Ray.”

He smiled, but I noticed his whole face light up, and he put his hands together. “Oh! One more thing. Could you come over here?”

I raised my eyebrow and walked to him. He pulled out an old—and I mean really old—camera, and turned it toward us. “U-Uncle Ray?”

“Say ‘Cheese!’” I saw a flash and I was amazed to see a photo come out of the camera's body a moment later. I’ve only heard of cameras like those, but I’ve never seen one in person. Mr. Shields took the photo and he had a big smile. “Oh good, it still works!” 

“The camera?”

“Yes, I need it for my, erm, investigation this afternoon.”

“Can’t you just use your phone?” Mr. Shields waved his hand. 

“What’s the fun in that? I like having them printed out so I can attach them to my wall in the office and see everything all at once.”

“You can also just… print photos out at any—”

“Gregory, I’m old. Leave me to do things as I always have.”

I smiled at him calling me by my full, first name. “Fair enough.”

“I’ll be seeing you, Mr. Gregory Wright, and don’t be afraid to give ol’ Uncle Ray a call or pay a visit to your grandpa’s Law Office.”

“I just might do that.”

[inked-up-gentleman]

"Stop carrying old feelings into new experiences."

That is what one of your posts says.

I'm curious if you follow this advice for yourself? I ask because I have followed you for a very long time and am very familiar with what you post and how you respond to and answer your anon 'asks'

A lot of the time, it seems as though you blame your past for how you are today and why you don't trust. You respond with words that very much say you're doing exactly that.....allowing your past to carry over into your present. It's very clear you've been hurt and/or screwed over and it's been that way for a LONG time now. When are you going start following that quote? To stop carrying old feelings into new experiences."

I know you love the attention, I mean, who wouldn't? And why would someone post as many photos. gifs, writings/thoughts and anon, asks? You thrive on attention. I'd go as far as to say you need the attention. I think the shit from the past is just an excuse to do exactly what you're doing now which garners tons of traffic and ooooo's and ahhhhh's for you. Is it possible you're not ready to give that up so you keep this front/wall up and use the past as an excuse?

None of this is meant maliciously or judgmentally so hopefully all your groupies stay off my ass about it. That's why I won't ask you off anon. (although I have sent a few asks as myself before so we've had interaction.) I just don't trust that your followers won't respond badly and then start that bully mentality because so many of them seem to be protective (and obsessed) with you. Some of them excessively. I just genuinely wonder if when you saw that post, did you pause and say "yeah, you outta let that shit go man"?

Hope you're having a great weekend.

I wasn't going to respond to this at first but I'll lay it all out for you.

First and foremost, I don't see this as being hostile, but you're definitely making some assumptions here that people have made before. That being said, I ask that anyone who responds to this do so respectfully.

Did I follow that advice from that post myself? Yes, to an extent. You're assuming I don't want to be in a relationship due to last relationship and what my ex put me through. Though that's easy to assume, that's not the entire case. Right now my peace is my number one priority and if I deem it suitable to risk it for someone, I will. Until then, I'm completely content with being alone.

I'm still dealing with the damage, sure. But I've slowly turned that energy into productivity for my business and turning my house into a home. It took time, but everything is slowly coming together. That being said, there's only 1 or 2 people on this entire Hell site that have idea of what I was put through. This was far more than just an 8 year relationship that ended. But I will heal how I see fit.

"you thrive on attention" that's an assumption that YOU made. Yes, I post a LOT of selfies and pictures. But if you take the time to notice, they are pictures of what I enjoy doing. Riding the bike, spending time at the gym, relaxing with the pups, reading, whatever else it may be. Not once have I ever posted a nude of any kind. Which, if I wanted attention, that's probably what I would be doing (no offense to those that do post nudes). The closest thing you'll come to a nude is me wearing silkies, but I also go to public gyms in those.

I post what I post here because this and my TikTok account are the ONLY places I can go to truly be myself without it impacting my personal life or my business and I think a lot of you forget that. I absolutely love all my followers and the support they give me here. But nowhere do you see me trying to lure anyone in with anything. I've been 100% transparent from the start and always will be.

Yes, I get a TON of thirsty asks here. Who doesn't though? And though there are plenty of them, you are also forgetting the ones that ask me about working out, losing weight, starting a workout routine, thinking about getting a bike, first time riding tips and tricks, relationship advice or just for wisdom in general. But I digress...

Did I ever tell myself "yeah, I should let that shit go" absolutely. More than once and long before I ever shared that post. But I still learned some very hard lessons from that experience and it was far more than just pain and trauma that I had to let go.

I hope this answered your questions and helped you (and anyone else that was wondering) understand. And I hope you had a great weekend as well.

[clementine-kesh]

a while ago i saw a post stating that janeway seeking out a live borg drone to kill and dissect in order to save seven’s life (in the context of seven needing a replacement part) was the farthest janeway had ever gone for one of her crew and that meant she would go farther for seven than anyone else. which, sure that’s pretty far, but i wouldn’t say it’s at all worse than anything she’s ever done in the past. in the chute she’s fully willing to break the prime directive and condemn a 14 year old to a life in prison just to get tom and harry back. tuvix is, arguably, about her killing one person who very much does not want to die to bring back two others. no offense to the person who made that original post (because it was a j7 post), but i do think it’s a bit of an example of how shipping goggles can diminish a character. janeway is ruthlessly protective of all her crew, to the point of actively harming those who aren’t part of her crew on multiple occasions and without remorse, and the reasons for why that is make her a far more rich and complex character than just boiling it down to any romantic feelings she may have

[st4rrygrl]

The blatant lies in plagues (@/blood.plagues) "explanation" and more allegations. (Part 2)

Welcome back to the series of us sharing what we love about plague /sar. In the time period between this post and the one before it, we've found out more things that are either insane or just questionable.

1) Ableism.

This made me laugh when I first saw it as literally one simple google search and maybe 15 minutes of research could easily disprove this. According to this article by Mclean Hospital,

"BPD is a personality disorder that has historically been diagnosed in adults. However, despite the common misconception that BPD does not occur in those younger than 18, a significant body of evidence suggests it is possible for children and adolescents to begin to develop BPD before age 18.

Neither the current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) nor the older versions of the DSM prohibit the diagnosis of BPD in young people.

According to BPD expert Blaise Aguirre, MD, “It is outrageous to think a clinician would not diagnose BPD when a person is seventeen years and 364 days old and then diagnose it the next day when the teen turns eighteen.”

Because teen personalities are still forming, young people may undergo many changes before they’re considered an adult. Mood swings, instability, and other symptoms may be a sign of hormonal fluctuations, stress, or anxiety.

Those who are experiencing symptoms of borderline personality disorder need help—don’t wait to seek care in the hopes that a behavior is “just a phase” or “they’ll grow out of it.”"

And that's just the first thing that comes up on google. Even if plague didn't know about this, it's reckless behaviour to fake claim someone who you aren't even in contact with, and double down on it when a simple google search would've told you that getting a diagnosis at 12 is in fact, possible.

This screenshot is even more disturbing than the last ones, he's straight-up mocking someone with down syndrome for literally no reason. There is no way to justify this, and the only way you could try to is if he was "ignorant" which would be a disgusting excuse, and mean nothing at the same time.

He cannot keep blaming everything on his "ignorance", his "dark and sexual humor", or the fact that he asked for permission. These need ACTUAL explanations describing exactly what was going on through his head while saying these. It doesn't matter if these were private conversations either-- it's still sickening to look at. Again, there's literally no way you could explain or defend this screenshot, it's actually heinous.

2) Plague's ignorance/Our statements.

In response to the screenshot of plague saying a slur he cannot reclaim, @/twproxy made a post addressing it. In the post, they shared this screenshot:

And I just wanted to offer my thoughts on this since this seems to be a very common pattern with Plague.

Even if these were private dms and that according to @/twproxy, people (lesbians) can't feel offended (even if the slur is offensive) because it wasn't directed at them, it's still reckless behaviour. Just the idea that he said a slur and had to be educated by people a decade younger than him is ridiculous. He's not a kid, he should know better. He could easily blame all of these screenshots, and this ENTIRE situation on him being ignorant, but we all know that's not true.

The slur was clearly said in a manner that meant it to be derogatory, anyone who can critically think can see that. Also like... it's clearly referring to lesbians (meaning that bisexual people can't reclaim it). Unless he's actually dumb and dense, he would realize that "hey! maybe that's a slur, let me search it up first to make sure!" but no, instead, he called a minor a slur that he cannot reclaim. What I'm trying to say is that he could easily be lying about this and just say "that he didn't know" to get them off of his back.

I'm not involved with this situation, nor do I know anyone who is, so maybe, just maybe there is in fact context I am missing. Maybe they said that he can call them slurs, which would be fine I guess. But to a regular person, this entire situation is just insane. From calling a 15 year old a derogatory slur he cannot reclaim, to pretending that he didn't know what it meant.

I wanted to talk about this in the post about him replying to his racism allegations, but I let Laila handle that one first. What I wanted to mention was how absurd it was that Plague saw a video of someone crying their eyes out about racism, and saw how clearly it affected them personally, and instead of apologizing like a normal person, he decided to "defend" himself by lying through his teeth.

I can't even find a word to describe that behaviour other than UNREAL. You SAW how your words affected people. and you wanted to double down on it and defend yourself instead of just admitting that you made a mistake and apologizing????

3) Plague using minors to defend himself.

It's also ridiculous how plague has minors writing posts defending him on tumblr instead of just addressing the allegations himself. It's pathetic and predatory to have minors do your dirty work. We won't share the screenshots unless we absolutely need to, to keep the people involved safe; but we were sent a pretty alarming piece of information. Plague has allegedly repeatedly asked one of his moderators to make a video about the situation to defend him.

I'll state it again, this is predatory behaviour. Minors shouldn't be fighting his battles and deal with the backlash. The longer Plague stays silent about this, the worse it's gonna get.

[sahaias]

Soy Luna Season 3 Episodes 1-30 Thoughts

Okay I've been zooming through these episodes fast while I have the longest break from work I've had since I started the job.

Giving us Lumon for 10 episodes except it's only one-sided on Luna's part and she goes back on it because Nina keeps saying "maybe you're just trying to forget Matteo" is annoying

Nina, no offense, but you have the worst relationship advice fam

Simon and Luna are actually cute together, and people often forget that those in relationships should be capable of being reliable and trusted friends. Relationships don't have to have constant conflict

Poor Luna throughout all of it though. She was about to confess to Simon, only for him to say he's in love with Ambar. I would be crushed

Ambar and Simon having sexual tension in almost every scene they share is crazy for a Disney show. I get why so many people love them together so much

I also like that Simon is the one person she's not scared of being vulnerable around even with their relationship ended, that hug for comfort was everything

Sharon looking like a Dollar Store Carrie-Anne Moss is making it hard for me to take her seriously lmao

Sharon is an awful parental figure to Ambar. "You have to stay with the Valente's because I have a plan to exact revenge against them" is the worst possible thing to say to her when she was the one constant in Ambar's life from the time she was adopted

Alfredo is so stubborn, it is realistic. Old people are like that

The end of Gastina is sad, but understandable. I feel like Gaston did see the video Delfina posted about Eric and Nina and didn't assume she cheated, get mad, or anything like that. However, he was probably thinking "it's unfair for her to be committed to me when I can barely even make time for her"

Eric kind of gives me weird vibes. He's not bad, but I feel like he's an inch away from doing something to get me to dislike him. From my experience, the whole shy guy thing starts seeming like a red flag once you exit high school unless they were homeschooled or escaped an abusive situation tbh

Delfina and Pedro are boring, but I can see them being a stable couple tbh

The scenes involving Lutteo feel forced, like they are telling more than they are showing

Matteo is actually somewhat bearable this season, and I attribute that to him having actual friends beyond just Gaston (who mostly gave him advice)

The Red Sharks are absolutely insufferable. Emilia and Benicio both deserve the worst

I understand Ramiro though. He saw skating as his CAREER more than anyone else. The Jam and Roller team had nothing except each other until their video while the Red Sharks had equipment, a financier, sponsors, a rink, etc. I kind of agree with Ramiro on not feeling too bad about recording them. The whole aspect of being shunned and then "please don't release the video, we're friends" after nobody really talking to him except Jim. I'd be annoyed too

The show makes such a big deal out of Emilia kissing Matteo without his consent (which is very messed up too, don't get me wrong), but it brushed over Matteo doing the same to Luna and somewhat less with Benicio doing the same to Ambar.. I'm not sure how to feel about that

Gary is a horrible person, and Ana deserves someone who is amazing tbh. I know if I was a single 40-ish year old man dating her, I would be obsessed with treating her right and making sure she was happy

It is nice to have a very clear antagonist with a big presence like Gary though. He is lowkey an idiot because if he did things with an ounce of tact and wasn't an asshole for no reason, things wouldn't suddenly start blowing up in his face like the big lack of a coach and his team's lack of discipline (why did he stop at 4 instead of 6 lmao)

[jmdbjk]

Bangtan weekly report

Lordt, what a week, what a month, what a year? It's September, we're on the downhill slide.

I've been busy, y'all. You know, life happens and all that crap we say when we have to focus on stuff that's not as fun as staring at the latest naked Bangtan pics... anyway... there is A LOT to process, A LOT to even sit down and catch up on.

Let's break it down shall we?

It was JK's b-day and he first tried to TikTok live us and you know, I hope he can't figure it out to his satisfaction because there's no replay and no translations so fuck TikTok and I mean that in a nice way. Thank god for Armys who record and translate.

And he dropped this tiny but significant TMI:

We know he's building that big whatever it is. It will be a while before he leaves his current residence...or? What? Moving elsewhere until he enlists? He mentioned in one of his more recent past lives that he had to clean up some of his junk in his apartment... soooo.... hmmm....

Also, this:

Acting research? I'm loving the sound of whatever that is.

Thankfully he came to visit us on Weverse live as well, did a few card tricks and cut it short, one of the shortest lives he's done in years and years? Were the aces a hint? Or just part of his magic trick?

Adorable goofball. By the way, the subs are up on this live.

He was out and about before the live, taking pics on the street, he's said he doesn't mind at all, running into fans in public and saying hello.

It's the people who claim to be fans who stalk him and show up uninvited to places where he's trying to live his life in private. Whoever you all are, I'll speak for Kookie. Y'all suck.

In Busan, when he was with his idol friends, they were asked if they were who they were by the restaurant employee and they tried to deny it. That should be a big hint to leave them alone.

Kookie shared a video on his TikTok in solidarity and support of RM speaking out about the uncalled for hate that came RM's way after he posted that song on his Instagram story.

You know... there's been quite a lot of discourse lately about culturally sensitive topics. Tae's "gaffe" and this song that RM shared... I think if you felt offended or uncomfortable when you saw those things happen, those feelings are your own and 100% valid.

Being of Japanese descent, through my life, it has made me cringe when I hear people call stuff "Jap crap" or just yesterday, a canvasser for a political candidate asked me if I was from around here... like... if I was blonde and blue-eyed would they have asked me that? You know? I was speaking to them exactly like I speak here, fully fluent in (Southern U.S. redneck) English because that's my only language (sadly, no thanks to mom and dad because I did not learn Japanese or French). But I don't get obsessed or angry or want to threaten anyone's careers or life. I don't even think about it. And I don't really hold it against people who are not aware of how they come across like that.

People are insensitive all the time without knowing it: asking a woman when they are due but she's not pregnant and maybe can't even have children... mentioning other culturally derogatory terms without realizing it (see "Jap crap" above), saying something looks "gay" like... ok what does that even mean?... you know what I'm saying? I use the term "spirit animal" all the time and someone DM'd me saying it was offensive. So we're all guilty.

I get it, we're all different in how we react. BUT MY FEELINGS ARE VALID TOO, AND MY REACTION IS MY OWN AND DOESN'T HAVE TO BE THE SAME AS YOURS TO YOUR OWN EXPERIENCE.

As I said, feelings are valid, and the members aren't perfect and it's okay to call them out on it. But the extra implication that was piled on Namjoon for that song rec crossed the line and he addressed it in his own live.

Exasperated he explained that it was just a song and that he knows exactly what everyone is saying, that he's a 30 year old man and can express himself freely. He said even if there will still be those who will accuse him of lying, he can't and won't lie to us.

I love him: "For ten years I've held things in my heart but nowadays I can't do that, I have to speak my truth. Believe my own words."

Before he got into it though he offended the mathematicians and then tried to back track (omg I'M JOKING ok?... unless someone got offended... omg, can we just chill?)

His 2-day old stubble and fuzzy headed self.

The obsession people have with their weight and their looks is mind-blowing. The way he's drilled in the comments on his face, his hair, about admitting he's tanning, how much he weighs, what he eats, he looks tired... This man has an IQ of 160 or whatever and people are worried about a mosquito bite on his forehead. The vapidness and shallow level of interaction in the comments knows no limit. But we've known that. Please, before commenting can people please make a list of things to speak on other than how they look?

He closed by saying to trust him, he'll always show us what's inside of him whether its his music or him as a human... life is a journey with a lot of obstacles, he's good and focusing on his own things and not on the bad energy. He is in such a good head space nowadays... love to see it.

Next up, Taehyungie-hyung...dis my fave pic out of everything I've seen so far:

I am not a fan of Tae in blonde hair, I've said that before. But this particular shot is stunning to me, the lighting and angle.

As you know, I've not paid as close attention to Tae. Honestly I've been waiting for him to share things during this solo time so I can get to know him better just like I did with the other members.

Up until now, everything he does seems superficial EXCEPT the deliberate soft reveal of his relationship with Jennie, which I hope they are doing well and navigating the shitty waters of having to be idols in a relationship.

But so far, its photo spread after photo spread and I'm just not into it. Yes, Tae is very photogenic. I'm sure V biases are over the moon. I'm happy for them! If it was Jimin you would be sick of me posting every photo, so I get it! But I was looking for something a little deeper from him.

So it was this Dingo show that his personality opened up a little to me somewhat... interacting with this Army who's dream is to become a Military Officer. She is the cutest thing, her reactions so genuine and I could feel her excitement and how she was overwhelmed at the end of their day together when she broke down. Girl was holding it in and living the life that day!!! Sooo happy she got to experience that!

And these pics are the cutest:

This one right above with her hands on his shoulders... such a precious memory. I am looking forward to hearing the rest of Tae's album. I'm sure I'll have things to say about it at that time.

And that brings me to Jimin. The jikook selca not withstanding, we haven't seen or heard from him in ages so after 2 months, 15 days, 23 hours, 8 minutes and some odd seconds (but who was counting? not me)... we finally see him again in person at a Dior event in Seoul.

He looked so good, except that tan leather coat reminded me of something 50s vintage, car coat over a sheath dress women wore in the springtime. He's small. Let's put a giant white garbage bag on him. Don't know what goes through their minds.

Dior creates some extraordinarily crafted pieces, but so far, I sometimes wonder if they've even bothered to look at any of Jimin's previous photo concepts for other various things. It's almost like they don't know how to dress him. That's just my personal opinion.

Anyway..AND THEN HE COMES LIVE!!! FINALLY!!!

Is that a Red Dragon keyboard he has in front of his computer? I don't really know anything about gaming stuff. And goodness...

He gets comfy by tying up those pants that look like four of him (or him and Kookie) could fit in there at the same time...

His eye crinkles... I don't care what people say about his beakie... I'm all about the eye smile and those eye crinkles that are going to get deeper with time.

Y'all, this is my bias...

That mood light of the realistic solar system makes Jungkookie's mood light look like child's play. But I see why his moons down his back look like they do.

I know some of the first translations say he called Jungkook for his birthday and he talked about wanting to live his 30s just as full as his 20s, and he's learning through his solo work that he has things to learn and he will improve and I just don't have enough or the right words to express how much I love and admire his perseverance and dedication to being the best at what he does and the best human he can be. I will do a full blog post when the official subs are ready later this week.

I don't know how this guy from the other side of the world got so completely under my skin:

I know there was a lot of other content that dropped that I didn't touch on but there aren't enough hours in my day to type it all up. I will just continue to watch and absorb as much as I can just like everyone else.

Jin and Hobi are still plugging away at their respective bases, I always pray for their safety and health while they are doing their duty. In a few months, Jin may show us what it will be like to celebrate birthdays while they are enlisted.

And Yoongi. We wait as the days tick by. We know its coming very soon. Holding my Yoongi bias friend's hand very tightly. We'll get through this together.

[koi-pond-tears]

Headcanons I love even tho they go against my main beliefs for these characters

Ace/Aro bakugou. Idk why but I just. Love it. So much. Like yes lil dude be free!!! Fuck nobody!!! You never needed bitches!!!

And especially the headcanons where he's like. Absolutely clueless about love. Like Mina will ask "so bakugou what's your type?" And he just looks confused n goes "?? You mean my blood type???"

Izuku and Katsuki being brothers. Like not literal brothers by blood but they have that brotherly bond. I actually do ship dekubaku but this headcanon is still very dear to me and I think in another universe it could work.

Like it's so funny imagining them fighting the way brothers do or being mean to each other but also having each other's backs and protecting/defending the other. I love that for them

Idk why but asexual todoroki just. Wow. I love him

I feel like he would still want a romantic relationship just without the sex part. Like he's totally cool with kissing or cuddling bc cmon there is no way in HELL this boy is not absolutely touch starved.

I feel like while Ace bakugou thinks sex is gross and is repulsed by it, ace todoroki is just indifferent to it. He doesn't rlly care or have any feelings towards it. Like ok bestie go smush your peepees together while I watch the entire Beverly Hills Chihuahua franchise

As much as I love my blorbos bakudeku together I have to admit the idea of izuku being the token straight friend in a class full of the ell gee bee tees is so fucking funny to me. Like he doesn't understand the lingo and is absolutely sweating his balls off trying not to say something offensive and it's just hilarious. He accidentally uses she/her instead of they/them once and almost commits seppuku ( a japanese style of suicide which includes disembowelment)

I'm sure he includes everyone's pronouns in their description in his notebook to make sure he remembers what to use

Nonbinary jirou just. Fits. Like idk what anyone has to say about that but look me in the eye and tell me that bitch doesn't put on a binder

They're an enby and also bisexual bc I am correct about everything.

Trans kiri just works.

If deku doesn't grow up to be tall as fuck then I will literally have a meltdown

does he not look like the tall lanky nice friend that can't even say fuck??? Look me in the eye and tell me that. Do it.

Eri grows up to be really tall

Like idk where this comes from but to me she's just. Tall. Girly doesn't get you things from the top shelf she IS the top shelf

Also I personally don't like the eri x kota ship, I think it's kinda weird to be wanting these whole ass 6 year Olds to date, idk but it makes me uncomfortable

I saw a post once that said that Ochaco would be an active memelord (back when that term wasn't cringe) and oh my god. No. This bitch wouldn't know anything.

She has a fucking flip phone I doubt she has access to motherfucking twitter

I think she'd be like Izuku where she's just absolutely clueless on the lingo and slang and feels left out when her friends reference memes she's never seen before

And even if they do take the time to send her one or two she wouldn't understand it

I also saw this in a different post but tsuyu listens to asmr

Tokoyami too

I love the black Mina headcanons but I'm filipino and so starved of representation so I'll just pretend she's half pinoy but grew up in japan so she doesn't really know much of the language (you'd be surprised how many of us don't speak our native language despite living here all our lives)

Himikos eyebags come from the many long nights she spent as a villain doing literally anything else but getting a good night's sleep. Like I know in the backstory episodes we see her with the eyebags as a child, but when I first watched the show I just assumed that that was the reason she had them, and I'll stick to that till I die

Mirio is autistic. Do not argue with me I am right.

[kuruk]

hiii omg i saw ur post about age gaps and i so agree i was talking about being kinda weirded out by the actor michael sheen cuz his current girlfriend (who he has two kids with) is only five years older than his oldest daughter yet he is double her age and ppl were in the comments like omg why are you getting rid of women’s agency she was an adult when they met and it’s like okay?? i can still think he’s weird??

help no offense to anyone but people have been a liiittle pathetic about this sort of thing lately. they focused too much on power imbalance being the main issue because that's all that all the posts they've read said so that's all they remembered to parrot, so they forgot to use their heads and come up with their own reasonings based on the world they live in so they forgot that misogyny is like one of the biggest factors of all when it comes to criticizing age gaps and now everyone just makes "so y'all don't actually wanna fuck that old man?" jokes when someone expresses understandable disdain for older men who only date women half their age. like so disappointed sorry..

[bokunoheronitpicker]

HC: Masaru used to be a criminal

Am I about to throw out a feral headcanon out into the ether based on three panels and two lines of dialogue?

You bet your sweet ass I am!

The basic HC is that Masaru used to be a criminal/villain and that he taught Katsuki some of the stuff he learned at the time.

If you want to see me elaborate and explain my thinking it'll be under the cut.

Okay to start off, why do I think this.

It's all based on the first panel. On Katsuki saying "Thought I told you to stop smoking! Get caught, and it'll go on my record too..."

This is not something teens think about, not even ones as ambitious and driven as Katsuki. He's 14 here. At that age police and permanent records are a distant thing. Yes you are aware they exist, that they are a thing, but you don't realize they could effect you directly, that such things could stop you from doing what you want.

Kids that age don't think something they do at the time could effect them for the rest of their lives, especially something innocuous like being near someone who smokes cigarettes. The idea that something like that could stop you from doing a job is just not something that exists at that age. Fourteen year olds don't think like this.

They just don't... unless they are told about it.

Which is where the criminal Masaru HC comes in.

My basic thinking is that Masaru too wanted to become a hero when he was younger, not much of a stretch all the kids want to be heroes when they are young in the universe, but he had a criminal record of some kind which prevented him from applying to a hero school.

I think that his first "offense" was something innocuous and stupid. Normal stuff kids get up to in their teens. Being out late, being with friends spray-painting graffiti, or even the exact same thing. He was in a group of friends, someone was smoking and some asshole cop or hero saw them and they all got a record.

Katsuki finds out about it either by over hearing him talk about it to someone else (could be something casual or could be him not getting a job over it) or Masaru might have explained this directly to Katsuki when the kid started talking about becoming a hero and being a shithead in the mean time.

Now as for what happened to Masaru after he failed to get into a hero school has to do with the whole villain label in the BNHA universe, something I will go into later on a separate post. The gist is that villain is a mystery box type label. If someone breaks the law they are labeled a villain, and if someone is a villain you have no clue what they did to become one. It's a mystery label. Did they steal? Kill? Rape? Punch someone? You don't know and if you are hiring someone why would you risk it?

So the only path left for Masaru was to become a criminal. How much he did is entirely up to you, as the only thing I have evidence of is pickpocketing.

Which brings me to the second quote that spawned this HC: "I pickpocketed 'em back so they wouldn't be blown to bits."

Katsuki pickpocketed wallets and purses mid-battle without anyone noticing... that shows he's very fucking good at it. Really fucking good. With how much of a square he actually is I do not believe he got this good stealing out on the streets.

No, I'd say Masaru trained him, since he was little probably. Probably had hero card packets or sweets (as I think Kat has a massive sweet-tooth) hidden in his pockets Kat had to steal.

You can of course add other skills Masaru trained him for. Lock picking, spacial awareness , recognizing and finding security measures, disabling or avoiding them, stuff like that, but that's nothing I have canon proof for.

Now as for why I picked Masaru over Mitsuki for the criminal background... it's mainly because of their quirks. Masaru's quirk would have allowed him to become a hero, a minor one or a sidekick. Mitsuki's quirk isn't all that useful for hero work.

This way Kat has a two parents who wanted to become heroes, but couldn't. One didn't have the quirk for it and the other wasn't allowed to. This way you have that whole thing of inherited ambitions/dreams pushing Kat even further forward.

...I can also see Mitsuki falling for criminal/bad-boy Masaru only to then beat him into a law-abiding citizen when she gets pregnant.

Anyway, that's about it for this HC of mine. I welcome questions and input and discussions and disagreements. Look after yourselves💗

[fierceawakening]

So someone is reblogging one of the posts from when I was arguing with a terf who was calling being trans “womanface,” describing it as if she didn’t really know the difference between a trans woman and a drag queen who’s purposely vulgar and clownish.

And of course this bothered me, as I know it’s dumb, but I found myself tangled up for HOW to express why I think this.

And the following dawned on me:

Blackface started as (a very awful mean kind of) entertainment. People did minstrelsy to be funny and make a living.

No one is four years old going “I need to change my skin color, I don’t feel white” and becoming a minstrel.

(Yes, there’s Rachel Dolezal. But even if we take her completely seriously, her identification with black people didn’t begin when she was first aware of herself as a social being from what I gather. It came about because she didn’t identify with her parents, who were abusive and white, and thus latched on to her adoptive siblings, who were black, and saw herself as like them. Even if it literally is as much an identity for her as gender is for trans people, it’s reasonable to seriously doubt it arose from a similar mechanism. And she didn’t grow up to do minstrelsy, to mock black people on purpose to make people laugh. It came off like mockery but if we take her seriously, it was meant seriously.)

If people somehow were, all throughout human history, asserting from very young ages that minstrelsy were somehow something they had to do for their psychological well being (which again, stupid and impossible, but I’m making a point), we would think about it differently as a society. We’d be struggling to balance the horrible offensiveness of it with the intensity of the felt psychological need for a known and recognized group of people.

We don’t do that, because trans people aren’t waking up and going “I’m going to make fun of a gender to make a living as an entertainer.” They’re saying “I’m super uncomfortable with my body, my social role, or both. Or even if I’m not super uncomfortable, I feel tons better when I change this. I mostly want to fit in in my new body/role/blah, not to bother anyone.”

Which makes it super weird to compare it to a very fucked up job.

[sakebytheriver]

And if I have absolutely no self-control and post a portion of my H-money AU fic, what then, huh?

(Wanna know how many pages this wip has so far? 84)

The event had been scheduled long before the photos dropped. There was no way for anyone to predict it, really.

No way for anyone to know that the night before the Woodstone’s fancy schmancy wedding anniversary party, (which was really more of an excuse to invite business partners and the press and paparazzi over to hopefully inflate stock prices and make connections), pictures of Elias Woodstone with his twenty-something year old redheaded mistress would hit every single tabloid on the earth.

No way to predict how the photos would go viral in an instant due to the proximity of the couple’s anniversary.

No way to predict how the internet would react to the fact that his mistress bore a striking resemblance to his wife.

No way for anyone to know that the butt of almost every joke would become Hetty herself.

No way to predict that the man who committed the offense would be almost completely forgotten as the world picked which woman’s side they were on.

No way to predict the clusterfuck the next 48 hours would become.

Trevor didn’t even find out about the affair from the pictures themselves, but rather from a crude meme comparing every feature the women had in common and where they differed. The picture was captioned with a wild conspiracy about how Elias Woodstone was apparently planning to have a baby with this mistress in order to trick the world into thinking Hetty had somehow had a miracle baby at her age and Trevor closed the app before he finished reading.

Now he was standing at the couple’s anniversary party, all because he’d been the bastard lucky enough to land their company as his client by treating Hetty Woodstone like a human being. He’d gotten to bring a handful of his colleagues so he didn’t feel so out of his depth, but when he saw her standing at the corner of the bar looking like she was trying to shrink her entire body down to the size of an ant, he felt like he was drowning.

He couldn’t even appreciate the way her modest/not modest dress looked hugging her figure. The teal fabric clinging to her arms and her sternum before flaring out loose around her waist, a short slit cut up to her knee revealing her pale calf and the matching teal heels on her feet. Gone was the ice queen from that first party glaring everyone down. Gone was the business woman that had his entire office honed to her presence. Now, she finally looked like what the world said she was, a jilted middle-aged wife whose husband was running around town with a woman less than half her age.

It was the most jarring picture Trevor had ever seen.

He really wanted that confident, sharp-tongued ice queen back, and as he slid up to lean against the bar right next to her, he really hoped he would be enough to snap her out of it.

"You haven't called me,” he kept voice playful and light, flirty and teasing even throwing in a toothy smirk with the hope she’d sneer at him.

Instead, she surprised him more than ever before, turning towards him and pressing her body into his, letting him feel the length of her form and every curve of her figure pushed up against his own. Her hand slipping up his chest slow and warm before her fingers curled into his tie absently playing with it while her other hand came up to press against his pec underneath his suit jacket, her touch feeling like a hot iron brand even through the fabric of his shirt. Her leg slipped in between his, and as she finally lifted her head to look into his eyes, he once again felt like he was meeting a completely different woman. The way she slouched against him, putting her below him height wise for the first time ever, her blue eyes gazing up under her mascara painted lashes like she was some coquettish minx. The sharp bite usually housed in her icy blues replaced with an almost vulnerable flirty softness that felt so wrong directed Trevor’s way. Her once again dark red painted lips parted and pouting slightly as she spoke.

"Buy me a drink," her deep voice downright seductive as it purred past her lips and dripped down his spine.

For a moment, Trevor felt like he was in some seedy dive bar being hit on by a girl already two drinks in and ready to take him home. Then he looked up and made eye contact with a bartender standing underneath a banner celebrating the couple’s wedding anniversary, and he remembered exactly where he was. Feeling like someone dumped a bucket of cold water on his head, Trevor pointed to the empty cocktail glass stained with Hetty’s lipstick and the bartender instantly picked up the cue grabbing the glass and moving to make her another one.

"Did you see the pictures?" Hetty’s voice pulled him back to her face, which was still very distractingly close to his own.

Her hands were on his chest, feeling him up under his suit jacket while her body was pressed close enough to let him feel her entire form as much as he possibly could while they were still fully clothed. Her leg in between his softly rubbing her calf against his in small enough movements that no one would notice but enough for him to feel, an absolutely maddening tease that was taking all of his self control not to wrap his own arms around her waist and pull her even closer, party be damned.

"Pictures?" He tried for innocent and oblivious, but he was focused on suppressing some more pressing urges that putting on a convincing front was not really possible at the moment. It was obvious he knew exactly what pictures she was talking about, and judging by the snort of laughter, she let out she knew it too.

"Oh please,” one of her hands slipped up his chest over his neck to land on his chin, her index finger pressing against his plump bottom lip, her eyes locked on her own finger as she spoke. “You’re many things, Mr. Lefkowitz, but you’re not dumb. So don’t play it."

Her hand dropped back to his chest, and her gaze snapped back to his eyes, the sharp icy bite back in its regular home in her irises.

"Ah.” He cringed and bit back the smile he almost let through at the sight of her familiar piercing gaze. Feeling relieved to know she was still in there somewhere. “Yeah, I did."

At his admission, she laughed, breathy and soft, self-deprecating and sardonic like it was the only thing she could do in response to the situation.

"She's younger than our daughter." Hetty’s voice soft and barely above a whisper only for him to hear, saying it like a joke and even letting out a manic little giggle after the fact as if the whole world would find it funny.

Trevor could only wince and clench his fists tighter so he wouldn’t be tempted to grab her and drag her out of this place. Sweep her away from this stupid party meant to celebrate a sham marriage she was trapped in like a business contract. Get her as far away from the world, comparing her to a woman who unfortunately happened to share the same hair color as her. Take her somewhere she could be that whip smart, sharp witted woman from his office just a few days ago. But he couldn’t do any of that, instead he could only look into her eyes as the bartender placed the freshly made cocktail down on the bar in front of her and Hetty tore her gaze from Trevor’s to look at it for just a moment before she looked back up at him with another self-deprecating laugh rolling her eyes as she peeled herself off of him and grabbed her cocktail.

"Whatever," she said as she lifted the drink to her lips, turning and walking away from Trevor like nothing had even happened.

Which absolutely could not happen.

"Hey, come here." Trevor gripped her wrist and pulled her towards the first place he could think of.

The dance floor.

Once again, pulling her body flush against his, wrapping one arm around her waist as he delicately placed her free hand on his shoulder before dropping that arm to join the other around her waist. She snorted as she took a sip from her drink, instantly beginning to sway with the music and wrap her arm more securely around his shoulders.

"Is your answer to me walking away from you, always going to be to take me to the dance floor?" When she looked at him with a playful smirk and a snarky edge to her gaze, Trevor should have known not to let his guard down.

"It's the only way I can get you to talk to me for more than thirty seconds." He easily joked back, aiming for casual and getting thrown a curve ball immediately after.

"Do you think she's prettier than me?" Hetty asked it like she was asking what he thought about the weather.

"No." His response was instantaneous.

"Liar." So was hers.

He huffed short and annoyed. She merely raised her eyebrow and lifted her drink to her lips, taking a sip while keeping eye contact the entire time. He took a deep breath, knowing a challenge when he saw one.

"I think she's pretty. I don't think she's prettier than you.” He spoke carefully, knowing the woman he was dealing with. Any loophole, any gap, any mistake would be exploited. It’s what he would do. Which is why he should have stopped talking then. “If I'm being honest I kinda think she looks like you,” he didn’t know why he was deciding to remind her of how the world was comparing the two of them, but she was the one who wanted honesty. “But younger."

The tip of Hetty’s tongue darted out, delicately lapping away the drops of her drink stuck to her bottom lip as she lowered her glass. Her sharp gaze pierced into his, and he finally felt like he was dealing with the Hetty he was used to.

"Which makes her prettier." Her words spit from her lips like it was just a bitter fact of life.

"No.” Trevor’s arms tightened around her waist, knowing exactly what the content of Hetty’s phone would look like if he were to check it right now. “No, it doesn't." He did his best to make his voice as even and sure as possible, putting everything he could into it, trying to make her understand that he meant every single word he was saying. Desperate for her to believe him and only him, not any of the other voices that had no doubt been screaming at her since yesterday. Looking directly into her eyes, meeting her challenge head on, showing her he was completely unwilling to back down on this point. Knowing that the only way to get a woman like her to back down was to show her how much you weren’t going to either.

He must have done something right because she narrowed her eyes at him for a long moment, reading him like the book he was trying to be right then. Her brows pinched slightly and her eyes softened for just a second and Trevor latched onto it, really hoping that softness meant that he’d been able to make her feel beautiful when the rest of the world made her feel past her prime.

Then she was rolling her eyes and snorting out another laugh, but this time at his expense rather than her own, and Trevor counted it as a win.

"You're just saying that because you had a friend with a hot mom, and it gave you a complex."

Trevor couldn’t help but laugh, happy to bring back their usual May/December banter if only for the purely selfish reason that he really liked the back and forth.

"You keep calling yourself old,” he said with a grin. “You're really not that old."

"Compared to you?" She shot back.

"Hey, I'm not that young,” he said, holding up a hand placatingly. “I've just got a young face." He brought the same hand to his jaw, running it along the underside of his chin to show off his grin.

"Mm,” she hummed, pursing her lips at him. “And how many women at the retirement home actually believe that?" She raised an eyebrow at him, and Trevor could swear he saw the beginning of a smile twitch at the corner of her lips.

He shrugged as he wrapped his arm back around her waist, “About as many who would believe you could actually be a resident there.”

“I’m rich, I have a stylist to color in my grays.” She curled a finger into one of her loose curls before letting it bounce back into place.

"Come on,” Trevor pulled her in closer, feeling like he should punch himself when he celebrated the fact that she pushed against him rather than leaning into him the way she did before at the bar. “What's to stop us from going and getting a hotel room right now?" He put as much cheese and college frat party seduction into his voice and as much boyish charm into his smile as possible, excited for the rejection headed his way like a goddamn maniac.

Hetty narrowed her eyes at him, pressing her palm against the center of his chest and taking a step forward, instantly switching the dynamic. Her spine straight and his bent slightly back as she leaned in, their faces only a few inches apart, ready to take him to task.

"My husband watching us from the other side of the room,” she whispered, barely audible over the music and din of the party. “The group of photographers on the opposite wall." her eyes darted quickly to where the photographers were stationed as she leaned in even closer, their noses almost touching. "And the fact…” her deep voice rumbled low and pointed every syllable of her speech enunciated and pointed like it was meant to be a physical blow landing on his skin. “That you're a child."

She pushed against his chest hard enough to push herself out of his arms, the man stumbling back as she easily took a couple of graceful steps backward. The redhead lingered for only a moment to look him up and down disparagingly before meeting his eyes. She clicked her tongue at him dismissively before turning on her heel.

He wasn’t proud of the fact that his eyes immediately dropped to her ass when she turned around, but he also wasn’t proud of the fact that his dick had twitched in his pants when she’d called him a child like that, so Trevor figured he’d have to get used to not having any pride around Hetty Woodstone.

Somehow he found his way back to the group of coworkers he’d brought with him to the party and they were all on him in an instant, clearly having watched the entirety of his exchange with the Woodstone wife. As they all leered at him, Trevor wondered why he thought bringing them would ever bring him comfort instead of grief.

"Lefkowitz,” Ari clapped him on the shoulder, saying his name the way college roommates did after you got some. “Smart move going for the wife."

"Oh yeah, and definitely not just business wise,” Chet wiggled his eyebrows.

“Totally! Woman's a hot fiery cougar too," Pinkus interjected.

"Tell me you're getting some of that." David raised an eyebrow at Trevor.

"Especially after those pics leaked.” Ari spoke first. “You just know she's looking to get back at her husband by getting under somebody else."

The others laughed and hyped up Ari’s comment while Trevor stood there feeling like Sas the first time he introduced him to his frat brothers.

"For sure.” Chet said. “You just know the ‘he’s banging someone younger than me’ sex is off the charts." They all nodded and made noises of assent before they all turned their focus on Trevor at the same time almost on a dime.

"So?" David raised an eyebrow at him and smirked, sleazy and full of slime.

And as they all stared at him with similar expressions waiting for his response, Trevor’s gaze drifted over his colleagues’ shoulders to watch as a reporter or a pap or just someone with a recorder and a camera approached Hetty clearly asking a question about the photographs. He watched as in response, Hetty threw her head back and downed the rest of her cocktail before she looked over her shoulder at her impromptu interviewer. Trevor read her lips as they moved, clearly saying, “no comment” before she stalked away somehow having left her empty glass behind in the random reporter’s hand without them or Trevor even seeing her do it. And as his gaze trailed back to his coworkers all waiting for his cocky response about totally banging the Woodstone matriarch, he felt like he might throw up on all of their dumb sleazy faces.

Yeah, Trevor was starting to get what Hetty meant about him being a child.

He plastered what he hoped was an exact copy of their sleazy grins on his face and forced himself to sound overly confident and arrogant in his own abilities.

"Oh, you guys know T-Money is getting in there."

They all clapped him on the back and made noises celebrating his sleazebag remark and Trevor couldn’t help it as his gaze drifted once again to the vibrant flash of red and teal standing by the bar with a new cocktail in her hand and multiple cameras shoved into her face. She sipped the drink leaning against her elbows on the bar like she was dissociating to some tropical island far, far away from all of the people nagging her with questions she refused to answer. He couldn’t find it in himself to envy her life in that moment no matter how much he had in the past.

And as his coworkers continued on like they couldn't even see the crisis written all over the woman’s face, talking about all of the things they would be doing to her if they were in his position instead, Trevor came to the realization that he was probably the first person in a long time she’d let see even a shred of who she actually was.

[salt-volk]

Saw the post about "other sites" and I'm feeling ~salty~, so lemme give some context for where the bar is with pet sites to y'all. Maybe you've seen ads, maybe you tried playing it and quit because the tutorial is its own circle of hell, maybe you're a blessed person who has never heard of it: Sylestia. It's run by one (1) man. He codes the entire site, has exactly 0 help - by choice. People have literally offered to help him with coding stuff *for free* and he refuses to let anyone touch his precious code.  His ex girlfriend (yes you read that right) is supposedly the other admin - she barely ever shows up, posts games/events that are full of errors, once vanished in the middle of running a game, and has personally insulted players before because they dared offer feedback on one of her ugly ass designs. There is exactly one artist for avatar items and one for pets - one other artist is listed in the credits but it's unclear what regular work, if any, they do for the site. Over 200 different avatar items are released per year, and new pet traits debut anywhere between 4-8 times per year, AND the site is in the (glacially slow) process of redoing all the art for various species. The site is at least 98% RNG by volume - including items you pay premium currency for. Retired items? RNG only. Getting pets? RNG. Getting items period? RNG. And the RNG is also awful - people are constantly having to literally beg for rates to be adjusted.  Plenty of features for events are also just. straight up gambling - you can pay solid chunks of premium currency and walk away with items that are literally worth nothing. You think DV is grindy? Sylestia not only practically requires you to spend a full workday glued to it - including events that basically require you to literally not sleep for several days - the site owner is actively making new content to further encourage ridiculous amounts of grinding. Why? Because he's worried that older players will be bored without new content - so instead of fixing any of the old content on the site, or the site itself which is a mess, he makes new content that ALSO doesn't work.  As of December, the site will be in its ELEVENTH YEAR IN BETA. So when I say "not fixing old content", I'm not talking like, a couple glitches or iffy art. I'm talking *half the site is completely incompatible with the other half*.  And all of that my friends, is still somehow not the source of my salt.  Someone pointed out to the site owner that one of his avatar items was, perhaps, a bit racist. It was (I should say is, it's still on the site :) ) a stereotypical native american dress, CLEARLY based off of the stupid Pocahontas movie, titled "Pow Wow Costume". It was released with a Pilgrim costume in the site's early years. Pretty not great, yeah? Multiple people complained, provided him sources explaining why "Maybe don't keep this on here, maybe this isn't great".  He, is white. He responded by saying he a) would not remove it, b) did not think it was offensive, c) what about the Christmas items or St. Patrick's day items the site has aren't those the same, and d) he actually visited a reservation once so he knows it's OK to have those items, and e) native players should actually be HAPPY to have those items because it was to iNcLuDE tHeM.  I am not joking.  The site has 0 acknowledgement of pride month, not a banner, not an announcement, no items, no anything - it DOES however have an entire festival for the American Fourth of July holiday. The owner claims he doesn't like to have political things on his site, make of that what you will.  The owner also issued a mass ban on a bunch of people because they said some rude shit (about the racist items, the rng, his refusal to get coding help, general issues taking feedback, etc.) in a private, off-site discord server. How did he know what they said? Why, he asked some players in the server to *spy on the others for him*.   He edited time stamps out and published a bunch of the screenshots from this private server, out of context and who knows if they were edited, and threw a public tantrum about how the players were harassing him and secretly planning to destroy the site… by bitching in a private discord.  So yeah. Not excusing Anji's behavior, but happy to show y'all exactly how much worse it could be LMAO.