#now they are treated like children but now with a level of respect

[traumafactory28]

I have a writing concept for a side character duo. The mc rarely hangs out with these two and barely sees them with each other, but every so often, the two would see each other and be in earshot of the mc. And every single time, without fail, they start apologizing for the craziest of things. "Oh hey, sorry for almost stabbing you earlier." "It's fine, I'm sorry for blowing up your car." The mc has no idea any of these things happened until these moments. There is a background character arc through these apologies that is followed by mass destruction no one is noticing. I would like to iterate that these two look extremely innocent and nice, but a tendency to get into some of the most insane situations when around each other. No one knows that these two hang out, the majority of the time they are alone with other people. Almost as if they are sneaking out at night for their own action adventure and terrible luck. They almost always forgive the other and the longest they go from not apologizing to the other is a month, in which they get more upset and distraught as time goes on, then one day it's gone and they are back to normal. No one knows what happened or when they got the time to resolve it, but they did.

[giantkillerjack]

Uh-oh! You are like, SOOO awkward!!

You're so awkward that it is occasionally mildly uncomfortable for people!

You're so awkward that sometimes people are confused by you and then there are awkward silences!

You're so awkward ...... that ultimately no one is harmed!!

Oh damn!!! What a vile crime you have committed! What an unforgivable thing it is to make a fellow human briefly confused!

Why, if *I* were ever briefly confused and kind of uncomfortable as a result, I'd be devastated.... by the absolute net zero change in my happiness and health! - From which I might never recover!! Yes indeed! No punishment can ever be enough for you!!

So you better absolutely hate yourself for it.

Better be SO MEAN to yourself about every single missed social cue so you don't forget your horrible crime! Meaner than you'd ever dream of being to someone else for the same thing! This is YOUR responsibility!

You need to show the world that you KNOW you are bad by punishing yourself constantly! After all, think of all the people who BENEFIT from you punishing yourself! - No, really! Think about it! Think about who benefits from your pain.

Think of alllllll the definitely-good people that your definitely-necessary self-torment definitely helps! I mean, you can't just cut off their definitely-life-sustaining supply of your suffering, right?? Sure, everyone else has a breaking point, but you're probably the only person in human history who doesn't, right? Best not to question it probably. Sure, it's a symptom that billions of people with trauma have had, but who knows? You could be a one-in-seven-billion exception. Anything's possible!

Instead, better just accept that idea that bullies carry like guns in holsters - the idea that people who have trouble with social cues deserve to suffer. Better carry on the burden they placed on you until you drop. Aid the cause of the callous by enforcing shame and suffering upon yourself extra hard; try your best to do their work for them. They're very busy.

Better not recognize that you need patience and kindness to heal from your trauma. Better not find out that it was trauma rather than personal weakness filling your head with self-hating thoughts. Better not find out it wasn't your fault.

Better not find out that awkwardness is not inherently harmful or unkind, and, in fact, the people who act like it is *are the ones enacting harm and being cruel.*

Better not get righteously angry when you realize just how much unnecessary damage this has done to you. After all, if you get mad, you might realize you deserve better. You might even feel brave enough to DEMAND better! You might build boundaries that keep you safe! You might make other people think they deserve to feel safe too! And we obviously can't be having that, so...

Better not show yourself even a little kindness a little bit at a time.

Better not make a habit out of it after all that practice.

Better not get confident.

Especially if you can't first wipe out every trace of awkward. (And you probably never will. Because people who experience absolute social certainty at all times tend to be insufferable assholes that enforce the status quo. And you just don't have the stock portfolio for that.)

Better not be confident and awkward because then you might confuse and delight people

- you might accidentally end up making other people feel less shame for their social difficulties

- you might make isolated, traumatized, and shy people feel like they deserve to be included in social situations

- you might even make them feel they can be themselves around you

- you might start loving the effect you have on a room

- you might enjoy conversations more

- you might forgive yourself and bounce back from shame more easily and frequently

- you might come to enjoy some of those moments of harmless confusion you cause because NOBODY expects the Confident Awkward, and that can genuinely be an advantage in social situations

- you might stop apologizing so much.

- you might find that socializing is like a video game: it requires practice but also a safe space for it to be fun and positive.

Or if you can't become assertive and confident, better not remain awkward and shy and quiet, and then love and forgive yourself anyway!

Why, it would be carnage!!

In either scenario, you run the risk of finding out that it's not your fault that safe spaces full of kind people can be really hard to find, create, and nurture. You could end up building a skillset that helps you do those things if you're not careful!

If you start giving yourself even the tiniest amount of grace at a time, you will find that you've accessed a gateway drug with extreme long-term side effects:

- You might realize that it was never your fault that it took so long to like yourself.

- You might realize that you were always worth talking to, even when you didn't like yourself and communication felt impossibly difficult.

- You might realize that you'll still be worth talking to even if communication becomes harder as you age and/or experience disability.

- You might come to know that you deserve to be heard even on bad days when words come slow and blurry.

You might discover that you were always deserving of kindness, first and foremost from yourself.

So. As you can see, it's FAR too much of a risk to start granting your awkward self free pardons for your many heinous and harmless crimes. Better to just leave it there.

[renthony]

It's darkly amusing to me that some people thought my mom didn't "discipline" me enough as a kid, were not shy about making sure both she AND I knew it, and now as an adult I'm one of the only people in my friend group who still wants anything to do with their parents. The proof is in the pudding, as they say.

When I was a kid, I broke a ceramic soap dispenser. I burst into tears and was terrified that I was going to be in trouble. My mom told me that it was okay, because accidents happen sometimes, and the important thing was that I didn't do it on purpose and apologized.

When someone else I know was a kid, they broke a dish on accident and got screamed at and guilt tripped. To this day, they have to push down a panic attack at the sound of broken glass, and have had to actively work on healing from that trauma. They will always have to carry that.

I think maybe it's not MY mom who fucked up in the "how to discipline your child" department. Quite frankly, I think the idea of "disciplining children" is fucked up and deeply harmful on a fundamental level.

When a kid does something wrong, you have to teach them how to fix it and do better. Humans are messy and complicated and we don't know everything there is to know just by being born. Children are learning how to be human beings, and that's a really hard thing to learn.

Kids question and fight back against authority that mistreats them, but someone treating them like a human being with human emotions is usually going to have a lot of success. Kids just want to be respected, and it's our job as adults to give them that basic human dignity. The world is utterly terrifying, and made scarier when all the grown-ups seem to hate you and wish you would just shut up and go away, even the ones that claim they want you around.

Kids can be mean, because they're still learning how to socialize and communicate and collaborate. Sometimes you have to give them time to cool off, and sometimes you have to redirect them. Sometimes you have to be firm. Sometimes you have to be an adult, and hone your conflict de-escalation and resolution skills. None of that requires punishment.

And if a child does something truly cruel and fucked up and shitty, and it hurts someone in a big way? My first question isn't "what should their punishment be," my first question is always, "who taught this kid that, and is this child in active danger from them?"

[flamingpudding]

I had a crack idea that I was thinking of so you know in Dan is Klarion au I was imagining a au based off of that one where all of Danny's children are Klarion is like the robin thing for Batman it started off with Danielle when nabu insulted Danny as the Ghost King and Balance

Ever since Ellie decided that she needed to get back in blood so she made the chaotic antihero Klarion and and her suppose it familiar 'cat' Teekl the way to help out her mother and mess with Dr Fate/Nabu Teekl is actually a bear with an illusion on that makes him look like a cat in the human's eyes

Whatever since the anti-hero Klarion in The Phantom family has been passed down each of them giving their own flair to the persona of Klarion with a different animal every time that they had pretending to be a cat

Tell her to finally passed on to Dan it is an honorary sibling thing each of them has their own antihero name once they passed down the title of Klarion

Diana's query and takes after his father's style of dressing and his tickle is a phoenix

First of Thanks for the Ask! Inspirational as always! Helps with my writers block [insert awkward laugh]

Either way because this is split in two asks... you get two version! One focused on how it started and the other on the reveal! Though the might be some little Shorts... Also there is something really funny to me about a giant bear letting Illusionen into a cat... So Enjoy!

(BTW still thinking over the other ask... and working on it don't worry!)

------------------

Ellie huffed as Danny reprimanded her for her actions. She just huffed crossing her arms. She was just helping Danny. Her mom got a lot on his shoulders and she as the sort of oldest saw that the best. Sure technically Dan was older then her but, he shrunk down to kid level again and now she was the oldest.

Well if she ignored her other brothers but they were only saved recently and still in treatment with Frostbite. So she was the oldest. End of story.

"Ellie you can't just go off like that you know that messing with an Ancient is not-"

"Mom, That Nabu-Guy was being a pain in the a- " - "Ellie!" - "A PAIN, babbling on to much about Order here Order there. How keeping Balance means keeping Order and bla bla bla!" She cut in stopping her mom before he could go on another rant about the Ancients, she needed to treat with respect.

"He doesn't respect you, the Ancient of Balance! You are the literal Symbol of Balance between Life and Death! Aside from being the Ghost King. So of course I had to mess with the one HE mentors!" Ellie added huffing as she crossed her arms.

Danny pinched the bridge of his nose. "Ellie, you created an entire alternate persona!"

"Yea so?"

"You used an illusion spell on Fluffels!"

"And? Any good Anit-Hero needs a Mascot." Ellie shrugged once more looking up at her mom before looking over to Fluffels, her pet ghost grizzly that was pretty much double maybe even tripple her size and the fluffiest ghost grizzly you could find in the entire Ghost Zone, and the cutest.

Danny on the other hand groaned, wondering if he had done anything wrong while raising Danielle. Sure he had been a teen himself but good damit why the hell did Ellie decided messing with the Ancient of Order or rather his mentee was a good idea. "I am calling Jazz! You can explain to her what you were thinking!"

He was definitely to overworked and stressed to deal with Ellies mischievousness right now. Well she did call her alternate persona Klarion, Lord of Chaos. Nope! He was not dealing with this right now, so Danny did the sanest thing he could think of. Turning on his heel and walking away. Where to? Who cares maybe he would check in with his old man Clockwork and see what Ellie had actually been up to, instead of just reading through Nabu's complains.

Ellie on the other hand blinked watching her mom leave before calling after him. "Does that mean I have to stop, being Klarion?"

"Mom?!"

"MOM!"

------------------

"Well hello my lovely Amadillos! Long time not seen!"

Ellie shouted cheerfully as she twirled into appearing hair styled into a horn like form, black suit and she might have over done it a little with the black eyeliner but hey it was an iconic look wasn't it. She smirked as Fluffles growled which translated into a meow for the mortals before her thank to the illusion spell.

The mortal teen looked up at her surprised as she floated down her hand glowing with red ectoplasm (a color change from her usual green ectoplasm that had taken a while to learn from Pandora). Young Justice was currently transporting something of interest to her. Well of Interest for the Justice League, really but Doctor Fate was involved which meant Nabu was involved, which naturally meant she would get involved. It didn't hurt that she would also get to try to try some new tricks.

"You got something interesting there... and I want that." She grinned. Ellie didn't give them long before she acted using the new tricks she had learned.

"Woah! Hey there, watch the pointy and sharp thowies!" She laughed making a quick shield as she blocked some batarangs and arrows before blinking.

"Hey they look different. Robin, did you change equipment? Did you get a new haircut too?" She asked curious but didn't really receive an answer as they ignored her questions and shouted something about distracting her while the others continue the transportation. Still she bend down to pick one of them up twirling it between her fingers. "What gives didn't they have a different design before?"

In hindsight it was probably not a good idea to just abandon her original goal but Robin was making her curious. And she could always find a different way to mess with Nabu. Her mom had given her an indirect okay years ago anyway.

"Teekl!" She called out and only her eyes could see how Fluffles jumped at the call growling in response as he swatted away some of the more annoying Young Justice kids. To the mortals it probably looked like Teekl was using ectoplasm, or well magic, in their eyes.

She used that change to go up into Robins face smirking widely as she looked at the other more closely, trying to get a read on him. "You are different! You aren't the same Robin I meet before!"

She ducked in time avoid Superboy as she hopped back excited with a new idea for her family.

But first she would have to deal with the little chaos and mischief she was creating.

------------------

".....and that is how I learned that the Robin title is getting passed down. So I was thinking of doing the same!" Ellie broadly stated looking at all her younger siblings before her. "We all get pretty annoyed with the way Nabu treats Mom so there always has to be a Lord of Chaos to 'balance' Nabu out!"

She grinned at her siblings expecting the same kind of excitement she had and they didn't disappoint. Danny had been there for all of them, even going so far as in to find a way with Clockwork to save some of their lives. So of course they all would jump at the change to mess with the one Ancient that was badmouthing their Mother just because Balance didn't entitle Order the way they wanted.

After all Chaos was needed to Balance Order out.

This was going to be fun...

[Follow up part Linked here]

[whatsthethinking]

Somebody's Lover

Neteyam x Fem!Reader

◈ Word count: 3.3k

◈ Warning: n/a? Maybe just Neteyam being in love

◈ Note: Second request :) based on this video? Maybe, I tried. I'm finally getting around to the requests that have been collecting dust in my inbox

◈ Lo’ak version

The elders of the Omatikaya clan were becoming concerned with Neteyam, he was to pass his rites in a matter of weeks and yet, he hasn’t shown any indication of even thinking about choosing a mate. It was no secret that the young Na’vi had many admirers, many fighting amongst themselves to get a sliver of attention from the Olo’keytan’s eldest son.

But none of them seemed to have a chance. Neteyam did not show that he favoured one person over another. Everyone was treated with the same level of respect, and greeted them with perfect manners. Everyone was equal, even if Neteyam didn’t particularly like you.

Some parents would even go as far as having their children befriend Lo’ak or Kiri, even little Tuk and those who were really desperate would seek out Spider but these schemes did not go very far once they were met with Neytiri’s fiery gaze, the protective mother was able to detect their plans from miles away.

It seemed like no one had a chance, Neteyam hadn’t shown interest in anyone within his clan for what seemed like years now, not that anyone was counting. There was a time when the clan thought that Tahé was to be the ‘one’.

Tahé is the eldest daughter of Jake’s most trusted warriors, she would often train alongside Neteyam in their youth and was close to the Sully family growing up but as time went on, it was clear that the Tahé and the Sully children had grown distant. You would no longer see Kiri and Tahé skipping through the forest in search of flowers to weave, or Lo’ak dragging the girl along to get into trouble. You would see Neteyam following clan members around, learning how to forage for food, Tahé would be trailing behind him with a dazed look on her face as Neteyam soaked up all of the information.

But, it was clear that the distance started to form once Tahé had started making friends with the older children in the clan. Those older children would take time out of their day to bully Kiri and Lo’ak for being different, Tahé standing behind them not saying a word. More often than not, it would be Neteyam stepping in to put an end to the teasing, Tahé would bat her eyelashes, dismissing her new friend’s behaviour but Neteyam isn’t stupid, nor is he deaf. He could hear the teasing, he could hear his siblings cry at night. As much as Neteyam disliked the girl, he knew he had to keep up appearances and bite his tongue.

And tonight was no different, the clan was having a communal dinner to celebrate this week's very successful hunt, one that Neteyam had taken part in and was being praised for. Lo’ak, Kiri and Tuk sat to Neytiri’s left, conversing with her and their grandmother. Neteyam had been sandwiched between his father and Tahé, Tahé’s father and mother beside her.

“You should be proud of yourself, Neteyam. I was told you worked extremely hard today.” Tahé’s father praised.

“Thank you, sir.” Neteyam replied looking down at his food, “Everyone worked hard.”

“Yes, yes. But you made two sturmbeest kills mere seconds apart from each other.”

“You did?” Tahé’s eyes lit up, “you’re very talented, maybe you can teach me how you did it?”

Even though Tahé’s voice filled the air, Neteyam didn’t hear her, he was too focused on the events happening in the distance. A Na’vi girl his age was swatting a Na’vi boy's hand away from her food, while their parents ignored them, indicating this was a common occurrence. 

The boy stopped his antics when his eyes met Neteyam’s, the boy’s face broke out into a large grin as he waved his hand above his head enthusiastically. The older girl rolled her eyes dramatically before offering a smile in Neteyam’s direction which he returned.

“He would love to,” Jake started, looking at Neteyam and tapping the boy’s arm to regain his attention, “isn’t that right Neteyam?”

Neteyam’s face flushed as he had been caught not paying attention to the conversation. He looked at his father for any indication of what was happening but he was just met with his father’s smirk and a twinkle of mischief in his eye that Neytiri would suggest meant he was up to no good.

“I guess?”

“Great! Tomorrow?” Tahé questioned, clearly not sensing that the boy was not interested.

“N-no. Not tomorrow, I have plans.”

“Oh, the day after then?”

Neteyam looked at Tahé and her family, he felt all eyes on him. He was sure he could hear Lo’ak howling at his expense.

“Sure?”

Damn it

Something else about Neteyam that the clan noticed? His inability to say ‘no’.

—

“No,” Neteyam said flatly, adjusting the bow on his chest

“Bro come on, please, dad’s already on my ass for sneaking out after eclipse, just come with me. Please.” Lo’ak all but begged as he watched his brother saddle his ikran

“That’s not my problem, I told you and Spider not to go but you did anyways and now Spider’s wrist is broken, Lo’ak.”

Lo’ak looked at his brother in confusion, this side of him was different. Yes, he was used to his brother scolding him or helping him cover up his antics or coming along so no one got hurt, but in the past months, Neteyam had been brushing off his plans to cause trouble. 

“You’re gonna ditch me for Tahé, aren’t you? That’s low.”

“Tahé?” Neteyam’s face contorted in confusion, “why would I ditch you for her?”

“You don’t remember?” Lo’ak stared at his brother in disbelief, “You really don’t remember. Oh my. You agreed to help her with hunting or whatever today. She’s been running around telling everyone it’s a date or something. You would know that if you were around yesterday.”

Neteyam lept onto his ikran forming the bond and getting comfortable, “I’ll reschedule.”

Before Lo’ak could make a snide comment, Neteyam and his ikran took off into the sky.

“Oh, I can not wait to see her face.” Lo’ak smiles cheekily as he walks off, excited to tell his old friend that the love of her life stood her up.

—

“You need to hold the bow like this or you’ll drop the arrows.”

Neteyam nodded trying to focus on the instructions being given to him, but he was distracted by his teachers' close proximity.

Y/n circled Neteyam before stopping beside him, adjusting his fingers and stepping back.

“Okay, shoot.” 

Neteyam took a deep breath before releasing the two arrows, both arrows had hit way off centre, one was right at the edge of the target, a small breeze could send the arrow hurtling into the bush beside it.

“Oh?”

“Shut it,” Neteyam blushed, shooting two arrows at once was harder than the girl before him made it seem.

Y/n quickly retrieved the arrows and made her way back towards Neteyam, a teasing smile on her lips, “looks like the mighty warrior needs more practice.” 

Neteyam reached a hand out, placing it on top of y/n’s that were wrapped around the two arrows and pulled her forward gently until she was standing directly in front of him

“I’ll need all the help I can get.”

Neteyam smiled sweetly, taking in his lover's face. 

When he was with y/n it was like time stood still and nothing around him mattered. Being with y/n he felt like he could be himself, he could relax, there was no one to impress, no one holding him to a high standard. Being with y/n he felt nervous but also with her, he felt at peace.

Neteyam leaned down slightly and y/n closed the gap, Neteyam’s hand moved up and gently held the side of her head as their lips met. Y/n’s free hand held Neteyam’s arm, her fingers giving his arm a gentle squeeze. 

Neteyam could feel his heart pick up speed as y/n dropped her arrows and raised her hands to rest them on his shoulders and then slowly around his neck. He followed suit and dropped his bow on the ground, bringing his hands to her waist.

The sound of his ikran chittering brought the pair out of their embrace. Neteyam’s face flushed as he suddenly felt shy, not looking y/n in the eye. The girl grinned, bringing a hand to his chin and moving his head so he could meet her gaze. 

“Always so shy.” She teased placing a kiss on the corner of his mouth. 

Neteyam chuckled under his breath, a hand gently caressing the small of her back, “What can I say? You’re absolutely stunning.”

Y/n’s face blushed at the compliment, causing her to look down slightly.

Y/n took Neteyam’s hand, leading him to her ikran. When they arrived, y/n let go of his hand and opened the bag she had attached to its saddle. Reaching in and pulling out a small parcel wrapped in fabric. She handed it to Neteyam, her hands fidgeting nervously as he began to unwrap it. 

“I remember that you said you like the one I have, so I made you your own,” Y/n admitted shyly as Neteyam ran a finger over the woven cords and then the stone sitting in the middle.

Neteyam reached around and quickly untied his beaded choker, replacing it with the necklace. When he was sure that it was secure, he grinned at her before placing his hands on either side of her face and dramatically kissing her forehead.

“Mwah!” He exclaimed as she laughed, “I love it.”

—

As Neytiri chopped the vegetables, her ears twitched hearing Jake half-heartedly apologise to Tahé’s father for her eldest son's disappearance. Her eldest son had been disappearing more and more recently. She had an idea what could be going on with Neteyam for the past few months but she felt like she should leave it to him to tell him.

“Neteyam’s back!“ Tuk exclaimed, pointing to the sky, sure enough, Neteyam and his ikran were making a slow descent in the distance, moments later, the boy in question stepped through the low-hanging trees into view. As the boy emerged, Neytiri instantly noticed the change in her son’s appearance, his usual beaded choker that he wore with pride had been replaced with a woven necklace, and his hair had changed too. The beads that resided at the front of his hair were now in a different colour order and there was also an orange feather dangling behind his ear.

The whispering was almost instantaneous but it did not seem to affect Neteyam as he made his way towards the family tent. Passing Jake and Tahé’s father in the process. Seeing him, Jake said bye to the other man and followed his son into the tent. Neytiri stood up as well and walked in with Tuk rushing behind.

Just as Neteyam entered the family tent, Jake’s hand reached out toward the boy’s back, pulling a white and blue feathered arrow out of the quiver. Jake instantly noticed that this arrow didn’t belong to his son or anyone in his family and at a stretch anyone in the clan.

Neteyam spun around at the slight weight change and his eyes locked onto the arrow being twisted between Jake’s fingers.

“This isn’t yours.” Jake stated, “Where were you?”

“Practising.”

“Practising?”

“Yes?”

Jake hummed as he took in this lie, he liked to believe he knew his children well and one thing about Neteyam, he was a terrible liar. Something they clearly had to work on.

“Who did you practise with?” Jake questioned with humour in his voice and Neteyam’s eyes failed to keep contact with him.

“A friend.”

“Oh? And does this friend have a name?”

Neteyam’s mouth opened and closed quickly, looking at his mother for help.

“Ma Jake, you’re embarrassing him,” Neytiri interjected, taking the arrow from between her mate’s fingers.

“I am not, I'm just asking questions.”

Neytiri gave Jake a look before handing Neteyam the arrow. Jake cleared his throat, crossing his arms over his chest.

“You ditched Tahé, again.” Jake stated to his son, putting on an authoritative tone, “Her dad was just here telling me how upset she is.”

Tuk rolled her eyes at her father’s antics, taking the arrow from Neteyam, everyone in this tent knew that Jake did not like Tahé around his children but for the sake of keeping the peace, he bites his tongue.

“I forgot.”

“Forgot with your friend?”

Neteyam paused momentarily before nodding, “Yes?”

Jake dropped the act at his son’s hesitant honesty.

“She make you that necklace?” Neteyam nodded

“She do your hair?” Again, Neteyam nodded

“Have you kissed her yet?”

“Ma Jake!” “Daddy!”

“What? I’m just asking.”

—

The next evening, Neteyam found himself walking confidently through the camp, hoping to not be stopped on the way to his destination. 

Neteyam led the pair through the bioluminescent forest, being sure to brush any low-hanging vines out of the way. 

“Where are we going?” Y/n questioned, looking around, no matter how many times she ran through the forest during the day, it does not dull the beauty it holds at night

“Just a little further, I promise.” Neteyam smiled, squeezing her hand.

Walking along a thick branch, moving the flora away from her legs, he motioned her to step forward onto the mountain edge as he placed a small basket on the ground, the moss beneath her feet lighting up with every step she took.

“Wow.” Y/n breathed out taking in the view. From here, you could see almost the whole forest

Neteyam walked behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his chin on her shoulder.

“This is beautiful, Neteyam.” She whispered, placing her arms on top of his and taking in the view. “How did you know to come here?”

“Running around after Lo’ak has some advantages.” He smiled, placing a kiss on her shoulder.

Y/n laughed slightly at the thought of the younger boy that always seemed to attract trouble, he was very similar to her own brother, the only difference was that Lo’ak was the Olo'eyktan’s son so if he was to get in trouble, everyone knew about it.

Neteyam placed another kiss on the girl's shoulder and slowly made his way up her neck. Y/n turned her head and their lips brushed against one another.

“What are you doing?”

“Admiring you,” Neteyam replied softly, “is that okay?”

Y/n nodded, turning around, the boy pulling her into a kiss, much more passionate than the ones shared the day prior.

—

Y/n straddled Neteyam’s lap, her knees sinking into the moss. Neteyam’s hands ran up y/n’s thighs and rested on her hips.

Y/n placed one arm behind the back of his neck and used her free hand to trace the bioluminous flecks across his forehead, down his nose to his chin. Neteyam looked up at y/n, eyes full of love and admiration.

“I love you,” Neteyam said without a hint of hesitation or the usual shyness in his voice, a gentle smile on his face.

“I love you, too,” Y/n replied, smiling down at him lovingly.

—

Y/n walked into the clearing where other teens were training, her brother, Kalä, trailing behind her complaining about not wanting to train this early.

“We’re here for you, not for me.” She reminded him, rolling her eyes as he started to complain louder.

Y/n ignored him as she lent her bow against a tree and started to sort out her arrows.

Out of the corner of her eye, y/n noticed Tahé walking into the clearing with her obnoxious group of friends. As the group passes, Tahé eyed the girl before stopping fully next to her.

“Y/n, it’s been so long, are you here to train with us?” Her tone was somewhat condescending

Y/n looked down at the arrows in her hand and then back at the girl, “Did the arrows in my hand tell you that?”

Kalä bit back a smile at his sister's response which didn’t go unnoticed by the other girl who glared subtly at him.

“It’s just that I haven’t seen you around in such a long time, I was concerned, I thought something happened.”

Y/n resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the girl, instead looking to the other side of the clearing where Jake Sully, Neytiri and their two sons had walked in. Tahé’s eyes followed, her eyes lighting up at the sight. The girl quickly ran her hand over her hair and down her outfit before slowly turning away, y/n noticed that Kalä had extended his foot out but she pushed him to the side so he didn’t succeed in tripping the annoying girl.

“Behave.” She muttered, turning away to finish organising the arrows.

Tahé’s friends followed behind, chatting amongst themselves, none of them having the courage to walk up to the Olo'eyktan directly.

“She’s just so, urgh. I can’t stand her. Look at her, drooling over Neteyam, wait until she finds out he’s been shoving his ton-”

Y/n turned to her brother swiftly, hitting him in the arm with the end of an arrow, eyes wide in disbelief.

“Ow! I’m sensitive!” Kalä exclaimed defensively, holding onto his arm.

This caused the siblings to start bickering amongst themselves, which started to draw the attention of some clan members around them.

—

Neteyam looked around the clearing, he tried to make it seem like he was just surveying the area but in reality, he was looking for the girl he spent the whole night speaking to, the pair only making it back to their tents just as the sun was rising.

At the far end of the clearing, Neteyam spotted a familiar sibling poking each other in the shoulder.

Neteyam smiled, looking down at the grass surrounding his feet.

“Neteyam!”

He raised his head slowly to see Tahé walking toward him and his family, Lo’ak sighed and rolled his eyes as Neytiri nudged him. Jake looked back at his eldest son, s smile creeping onto his face as he saw Neteyam resist the urge to copy his brother.

“Good morning.” Tahé greeted cheerfully, a grin stretching onto her face.

“You’re very chipper this morning, so you must’ve already ruined someone's day,” Lo’ak stated only to receive a stern look from his father.

Tahé was about to retaliate but she was stopped as someone rushed forward, almost knocking her to the floor.

“Sorry! Neteyam! Finally, you’re here!” Kalä announced, skidding to a stop next to the boy, “Save me.”

Neteyam smiled at the younger boy, excusing himself from Tahé and his family, walking towards where y/n was standing, testing a bow.

“Look, Neteyam’s here!”

Y/n turned to smile at Neteyam before glaring at her brother, pushing the bow and an arrow into his chest before crossing her arms, “Go.”

“But-”

“Go, I’ll join you in a minute.” Neteyam intervened nodding at the younger boy

Kalä smiled smugly before walking off quickly to where other teens were waiting for an instructor. 

“You don’t have to help him, you know,” Y/n sighed, uncrossing her arms, letting them fall to her side and placing her weight onto one leg.

“I want to,” Neteyam confirmed with a smile, watching the boy join his friends.

With their backs to the clearing, everyone was able to see Neteyam’s hand slowly make his way towards y/n’s, taking hold of it and bringing it to his mouth, kissing her knuckles, causing the girl to turn and smile at him.

Jake nodded approvingly while Neytiri smiled fondly.

Lo’ak was proud of his brother for finding someone he liked and he was even happier when he watched Tahé’s face drop and her shoulders sag in defeat.

Request from @tigermoon3

[mimymomo]

In ‘Lucas on the Line,’ Lucas Sinclair experienced countless bouts of racism and micro aggressions including but not limited to:

Had children run away from him and refuse to touch him because they thought his Black skin color would rub off on them. This happened IN THE THIRD GRADE! And he never told his parents about it!

Calmed his anxiety about being the only Black kid in his homeroom class by coming to the realization that since there was no other Black kids that meant he most likely wouldn’t be bombed

Had to install a camera in his locker because his property got defaced by a glitter bomb

Lost his first and only black friend/mentor who supported him thanks to an ACTUAL MAKESHIFT BOMB being installed in his locker that caused a janitor to go to the hospital for 1st/2nd degree burns (and the white boy who did it barely got punished)

Got teased that the only reason he got on the basketball team was because he was Black

Comes to the realization that he might’ve actually only gotten in the team because the coach has a history of recruiting Black boys for the team regardless of their skill level

Gets called an Oreo (for uneducated: white on the inside, black on the outside) by racist bullies. Erica (who apparently has also been called this) sticks up for him and is the only one who understands what the insult means which means Mike and Dustin don’t know/understand the lengths of how deep the racism Lucas experiences in Hawkins on a daily bases

And these aren’t even all of them! These are just examples I had from the top of my head!

And despite all this happening in the book, “fans” have STILL FOUND A WAY to turn this book about Lucas and his struggles as a Black boy in a mostly white suburban town and his deteriorating relationship with Max and make it about Byler!

The fact that Lucas, one of the only characters of color on this show, can’t have ANYTHING to himself without people using him to push their ships is so aggravating!

He and Erica constantly get shit talked and miss characterized by fans, get excluded/cut out of group shots, and barely get any fanart/fics about them and their struggles compared to the white characters (I could make a whole new post about the terrible way this fandom treats Erica but I won’t do that here). Hell don’t forget that the fandom constantly tries to dispute the racism Lucas received in S2 from Billy was either not really racism, just a moment that Duffer Bros. put in to “ruin” Billy’s character and ultimately can be tossed out and ignored.

The only time I ever see Lucas get any large amount of attention is either due to 1) Lumax (but let’s be honest: 90% of the lumax tag on here isn’t even about them and has now become Elumax 2.0 and most post are people praising ElMax and then being like “oh Lucas/lumax is cute too” in the tags and that’s it). 2) people creating “parallels” of Lumax to their ship of choice (mostly Byler and Mileven) as a way to say that their ship is gonna be canon or 3) to say that he’s bisexual.

And all that is fine and whatever, ship and headcanon things to your hearts content, but if you only care about Lucas if he’s helping push you ship narrative or because you think he’s gay (to the point where some people actually read snippets of the book that talked about Lucas coming to the realization that Black boys like him can be considered attractive and only acknowledge the “queer” reading of the text and completely ignored the big race element that was the main focus), I’m sorry but, that’s not cool. The fact that 95% of the Lucas Sinclair tag isn’t about Lucas himself but white characters like Steve, Eddie, Byler says everything about how the fandom treats him.

I’m just so tired.

Lucas Sinclair deserves the same respect that the white characters get!

I leave you one of my favorite sections of the entire book: Lucas learning to become unabashedly himself:

Rant over.

Edit: in my blind rage I realized I forgot to edit out the Twitter handle. That’s completely my fault. Please don’t hate that Twitter user. I’m just coming back to fix that.

[dreamwritersworld]

On the run (? X Reader)

* means it’s referring back to an old memory

During the past few weeks Y/n coudlnt held but stay silent to the Sully’s. She had so much time to think now, she sat and wondered a lot..

Would Neteyam be the one?…I have loved him my whole life

*

Their puppy love was the sweetest when they were younger

He didn’t fail to make Y/n smile and she didn’t fail to give him butterflies. Everyone could see that they liked each other, but Neteyam denied it..forever wanting to keep his feelings secret.

Neteyam knew what love was, how it looked..he saw it on his parents. It was the fact that it was Y/n, she was who had his heart. They grew up together, played together, trained together, occasionally slept by each others side, sharing warmth and comfort between their bed.

Having Y/n there during training put his mind at ease, because once it was over…

“Neteyam!”

“Y/n!”

They grabbed each others hands as they lifted each other off the floor running in a circle, laughing like children..

It wasn’t just that but when they slept beside each other Neteyam would graze his hand on her face as she did the same, smiling at each other…so in love.

*

Was all that just something she imagined?..Made more than what it was? How about all those times Neteyam treated her sweetly? All those times he was a gentleman..

*

The two sat in silence, listening to the sweet sound of the forest and their bodies relaxed, comfortable with just sitting next to each other.

Neteyam spoke first, he always did..his voice would only bring her out of her daze.

“So, when I was training I found this for you.”

he opened a bag and, pulled out gemstones that were so beautiful they were able to match Y/n’s eyes..

“..for you!”

Y/n accepted the gift, admiring it

“thank you, it’s beautiful..”

Around him, y/n spoke softly and calmly. It didn’t take long for Neteyam to smile shyly looking down.

Y/n embedded those gemstones into her hair, she still has them.

*

…and then everything went crashing down

*

They had walked into his home, seeing both their parents seated..staring in silence.

“Ah Y/n! Neteyam! Just who we’re talking about!”

Neteyam and Y/n’s hand remained on top of each other, both were confused and scared for their next words

Their parents had dragged the conversation on for awhile..until they finally said it.

“…you too will be promised to each other.”

Y/n gripped Neteyam’s hand until he tugged on her hand to let go. That’s when her heart began to shatter..was he not happy? Of course this was sudden, but at least she wasn’t fully uncomfortable with the situation..

“What? You can’t do this father.”

“We have to Neteyam, you have no other women beside you to be a leader to this clan. You have no one worthy of this position besides Y/n, she is best for the future. You two spend quite some time together.”

“Yes! Because she’s Y/n dad. We’ve known each other since we were children-“

Y/n’s father made an abrupt interruption to Neteyam’s statement

“That Makes this relationship between you two even better. There is no discussion about this Neteyam. Y/n is yours.”

Those final words rang in Y/n’s head, louder than ever…it felt as though she was drowning. Her entire life, body and soul would be Neteyam’s and he wouldn’t be able to be satisfied.

Neteyam gave one last look to Y/n before walking away , Y/n followed.

“Neteyam! Neteyam! Please stop!”

“What?!”

“We can make this work Neteyam, I understand that this isn’t what you want-“

“Of course this isn’t Y/n! I wanted to choose my mate, this is my life.”

“And this is mine. I respect that but..just please Neteyam we have no choice, we can make the best of it-“

“Really? The way I see it, is that there’s no way out, what more does this deal have to offer?”

“A chance to connect on a deeper level Neteyam…I know you, I’ve known you for all my life..Neteyam I-“

“You what? You love me? You can’t say that when we literally just got set up to be mated? We’re already promised with no choice, it makes no sense to admit feelings right now Y/n.”

“Neteyam..”

It was the cracks in Y/n’s voice that hurt Neteyam, but he couldn’t help it..it was how he felt. Maybe his feelings for Y/n weren’t real, they were just surface level emotions that never seemed to leave …but how could he ever explain to her the way he felt? Y/n was everything to him and now their relationship would go down the drain, everyone was rushing them to be together and Y/n needed someone ready and stable to protect her. Neteyam felt he couldn’t fufill that need, he wasn’t ready to be committed to her…he had his own plans and his own timeline for them.

*

…did all the running we did mean nothing?

*

“I just want to leave, get away from all the training and find my own way.”

“If you go Neteyam…I will too. We can go on the run”

The pair smiled to each other shyly. Weather Neteyam realized it or not Y/n’s way of showing love to him was everything.

acts of service

Words of Affirmation

Physical touch

Y/n had it all and she was able to grant it to whoever won her heart, Neteyam had all her love.

Their love was sweet..

*

He won’t play, he’s no fun…

*

Tuk was dragging my arm urging Y/n to play with her, so she did

The young girls laughed as they chased each other, neteyam watched from afar.

He wanted so desperately to join but he feared that Y/n wouldn’t be ok with it, not after everything that was said and done. He never was one to show deep emotions so he never did, he never let go of his sadness. That certain emotion is one he kept hidden, especially when he watched his relationship with Y/n fall apart. Neteyam’s stares caught Tuk’s eye, as she ran to him grabbing his hand to play with them.

“Cmon Neteyam! Play with us!”

“No Tuk. I have to get back to work.”

Y/n watched Neteyam walk away, it hurt that he disassociated himself with everything. neteyam used to be the man who would give up whatever he was doing to spend his time with his little sister and …with Y/n.

*

Y/n’s thought came to an abrupt end, Lo’ak urged Y/n to pay attention and hurry off to training with them, saying “Tsireya would want us there bright and early!”

On the outside of it all Neteyam and Y/n seemed somewhat normal, they kept their problems in their relationship hidden once they got promised. They seemed as though they had a perfect love story. However, if you focus on their flaw you’ll notice all the cracks ready to burst in the relationship.

Neteyam rushed to Y/n’s side, both of them standing tall and confident side by side. It was as though they were a power couple, never to be broken..

“Hello guys! We’re going to do diving training today!”

Tsireya yelled louder than ever, excitement within her voice as the group smiles at her warm welcoming. Ao’nung however couldn’t keep his eyes off of Y/n, he hated it. She was the most breathtaking navi he’d ever seen and yet he hates that newcomers have came to his home…not her though, she was a gift.

Tsireya was going to group everyone with specific partners until Ao’nung signed to her to let him go with Y/n, he made up an excuse to go along with it of course; gullible Tsireya believed it.

“…and Y/n you’re with Ao’nung!”

Y/n’s body unintentionally reacted to this, her ears went up when she heard his name and her tail swayed side to side under the water; Neteyam was furious. It had been a few weeks and it somehow always ended up with Y/n and Ao’nung being partnered. The entire time the pair interacted, he watched and it bothered him that he couldn’t even hear them.

“I’ll put the shells at the deepest part of the sea and you can dive down to take them ok?”

“Ok! This is going to be easy!”

“We’ll see”

The pair exchanged challenging smiles, Ao’nung diving down to place the shells. Y/n didn’t even wait for him to say go, she just dived right in..

Y/n was under the water swimming for what felt like hours, but that could’ve just been because Ao’nung missed her sweet face. When she finally rose she had more than the shells she was tasked with..

“Wha-what is that? I thought i told you to get-“

“Just the ones you put out, I knowwww. But i found this..”

Ao’nung dazed off, admiring Y/n’s face, he was pulled out of it when Y/n motioned him to take the most beautiful gems he’d seen. All he could think was how Y/n was able to connect with the ocean and bring the most beautiful things to the surface with her…

“For you! For teaching my family your ways!”

“I-i don’t need that-“

“I insist!”

He grabbed the gems with a shy smile, attempting to keep his cool. It bothered him that she said “my family” as if he hadn’t noticed how distant she was with her own promised mate. Ao’nung hated the idea of her being stuck with him, he didn’t even appreciate her the way she deserved..

“..thank you..so i was thinking about instead of you know? Being with your family for dinner, you’d come to our home, you and Lo’ak..considerate as a peace offering.”

The words slipped right out of Ao’nungs mouth without a thought, he gave a cold shoulder to any of the Sully’s but Y/n consistently held his heart captive.

“Just a peace offering?..ok, that sounds great! Would the others be able to come or exclusively me and lo-“

“Yes just you and Lo’ak…you know since we’re the closest to you two”

“Oh of course!”

Y/n smiled, turning away so he wouldn’t noticed her excitement. The two sat and discussed about everything and anything for what felt like hours, Y/n even got to know more of two of Aonung’s greatest friends. However when she walked home she couldn’t help but feel sick to her stomach, she was happy. In the longest, for the first time ever she was excited and blushing, oblivious to the conversation happening while she was gone..

“She’s nice and whatever but something tells me she’s more than just a friend-“ (Roxto)

“More than a friend? Please their already mated with that way their speaking.” (friend 1)

“No-“ (Ao’nung)

“Don’t deny it Ao’nung! You just can’t help it and that’s fine man. I see the way you talk to her when we’re training, the way you look at her” (Roxto)

“We aren’t anything. She has a promised mate-“

“What?!” (Friend 1)

“Shh! I don’t think their too open about it, Neteyam isn’t what she needs. I mean he can barley make an effort to show her off.”

“Ah but it doesn’t mean anything Ao’nung..you know that right?” (Roxto)

“What do you mean? She probably just loves him in private she wouldn’t just-“

“Dude I’ve heard Kiri tell Tsireya about it. Kiri says their relationship was good when they were younger but for some reason once they were promised it fell apart-“ (Roxto)

“No, cmon Ao’nung don’t listen to Roxto . Just enjoy her from afar, she’s promised-“ (friend 1)

“Well..maybe your right-“ (Ao’nung)

“No?! he isn’t. Neteyam’s own mother did the same thing when she was young. She was promised and mated with a demon blood. If she can do it, Y/n can too!” (Roxto)

“That’s different, Neytiri did that on her own terms , she wouldn’t want Y/n to do that to her son-“ (Ao’nung)

“Like you said, “Neteyam isn’t what she needs” so maybe..? Just maybe, Y/n will recognize that.” (Roxto)

“Your insane man, she won’t have an affair-“ (friend 1)

“They aren’t mated yet!” (Ao’nung)

Aonung sighed as he laying on the same with his back as he smiled to Roxto and his friends encouragements of just how much Y/n was happy with him

“She smiled brighter than ever Ao’nung!”

…the picture perfect life with Y/n was installed into Aonung’s head…

That night while Y/n laid in her bed smiling, fear began to seek from under her. Neteyam’s hand rested on her hip as she thought about another man, it had been so long since she felt excitement..yet she felt guilty.

-💕-

Hope you enjoyed love!

@jackiehollanderr @itsemy01

[that-foul-legacy-lover]

I don't think I've ever seen this particular meet up around, and if you've written something like this please kindly point me to it, but...

I'm dying to know. How would Legacy react to the other Harbingers?

We kinda know Ajax's opinion on them from voice lines, but I really wanna know what Moth TM thinks

And, if you wanna go the sagau route too, how would he feel being in a Harbinger only team? (Aka Childe, Scara/Wanderer and Arlecchino, in the present moment, but let's pretend we have a fourth one of them already)

hoohoohoo i got you, this is going to be a long one so bear with me mothlings!!

Director: Pierro is suspicious to Foul Legacy, he smells like the Abyss, yet not. the stars in his eyes match the ones in Legacy's glittering wings, but their light is from Teyvat, not the otherworldly glow from beneath this land. Legacy doesn't like it, the feel of being so close to home but with something obviously wrong that he simply can't put his claw on

First: Capitano is a pillar of strength, someone both Childe and Foul Legacy admire wholeheartedly- but Legacy also sees his nobility, the way he treats even his lowest level agents with respect. he aspires to be like that one day, someone people can look up to and expect kindness in return, so even Foul Legacy will give the First Harbinger a small, polite bow

Second: Legacy detests Dottore with all of his heart. not only does Childe have younger siblings, but Dottore has also attempted to rope him into experiments on his Abyssal half. Foul Legacy hates being treated like a thing, like just a feral animal, and that's not even mentioning what he fears the Doctor could do to you. Childe has to hold him back from growling viciously whenever he passes Dottore in the hall

Third: Columbina is strange, but Legacy is also strange! she's unsettling, yes, but she never tries to harm him or Childe- unless the latter riles her up enough to fight. sometimes when Foul Legacy is particularly homesick for you, nations away from Snezhnaya, he'll listen to her eerie singing as she sits nearby, not paying him any mind at all

Fourth: Legacy regards Arlecchino with both fear and respect. she's cordial enough, keeping her operations quiet and training her children to be the next set of Fatui soldiers, much like how Ajax became Tartaglia. the Knave terrifies Foul Legacy with her calm ruthlessness, but as long as she doesn't raise a finger towards you, he won't do anything

Fifth: Pulcinella is a curious case, treating Childe like a grandson and regarding his Abyssal half with kindness as well. it's a welcome change, and yet... Legacy can't help but feel like he isn't completely sincere. there's the barest undertone of a lie when he tells Childe about the other Harbingers, and Legacy watches the information with a care, suspicious eye

Sixth: ERROR. DATA NOT FOUND.

Seventh: Childe doesn't get the chance to interact with Sandrone that often, so neither does Foul Legacy. but he's very curious about what she does, always tinkering away in her lab- it's less foreboding than Dottore's set of rooms, at least. once she begrudgingly allowed him to watch her work, and needless to say her robots consider Foul Legacy their friend now

Eighth: Signora wasn't Childe or Legacy's favorite coworker when she was alive- they're not happy that she's dead, but it is somewhat of a relief to not have Childe bite his tongue with a vengeance whenever some snide comment slipped from her mouth. still, Legacy almost wishes he knew a bit more, having seen her stare longingly out the window at the silent snow all too often- he knows that longing. it's the type he feels when he misses you

Ninth: Legacy doesn't know much about Pantalone, apart from his love of wealth. he's an elegant man, to be sure, someone who can simultaneously keep his composure while also being entirely condescending. but Childe has a habit of buying you trinkets and gifts during his travels, so he's still grateful for the funds the Regrator provides

Tenth: ???

Foul Legacy wouldn't mind being in a team with other Harbingers- he knows they can't hurt him, at least not directly, and it seems to make the Creator so happy. he basks in your warm words, your loving attention, purring happily whenever he hears your sweet voice praise him- but only when his teammates aren't watching. he just knows that the Wanderer, mysterious as he is, will mock him for it, and Arlecchino always seems to know what's going on even when she's not present. his fourth teammate always seems to switch; he likes it best when it's Sandrone or Capitano. Legacy knows how the rest of them feel, though, how the Wanderer lowers his hat or how Arlecchino's lips quirk when they hear your compliments- the Creator has the adoration of them all

[a-small-writer-in-a-big-world]

Boundaries pt. 1

Witch/Demon AU (where the read is a witch and has a pact with all of the demon!141)

The funny thing about having a pact with a demon is that you can technically summon them at any given point. There’s not a guarantee that said demon will show up, as they have their own business to attend to, seeing as you’re a witch with four pacts, you magic is quite powerful.

That’s to say, when you summon the boys, they will come because you force them to.

It’s rare that you do summon them. You understand that they still have a job to do and that they busy often, but when you do summon them, they know that they’re in deep shit.

“I can’t believe I expected any of you to have the common decency to treat my house with respect!” You flail your arms around wildly. “I let all of you into my house, eat my food, sleep here and this is the thanks I get?”

You’ve been yelling at them for nearly 30 minutes now and not a single one of them has uttered a word. They’re all sat on the couch while you pace and stomp in front of them, scolding them like they’re children, which you would argue they are.

Normally it was one of the sergeants that got a got scolding from you (though not to this level) but even Price was in the hot seat this time.

It all started because you needed to deal with some witch business in another city. All you needed was someone to watch your house for you, to keep things in order and to make sure no hauntings get out of hand.

And it just so happened that they boys were on leave, so you figured you could trust them to keep things under control while you were gone for two days.

You were wrong.

The potions you had spent hours making were mixed, destroyed and otherwise unusable because Soap got curious. Price burned a huge hole into your couch and your rug because he dropped his cigar. Gaz had shattered most of the lights in your house due to him getting angry at a game of football, and Ghost punched a hole in your wall because he got scared by an actual ghost.

And then they made it worse by trying to “fix” everything. You came back to a destroyed house seeing red with none of them in sight.

“All of you are banned from my house until you can prove to me that you won’t trash it!” You declared.

“How can we prove it if we can’t come in?” Soap was brave, or maybe just stupid, enough to say something.

“Just get out!”

You very quickly sent them back to wherever they came from and just like that, they had officially been kicked out of the house.

You immediately put up all of the protection wards you knew, did everything that wards demons out, and even blocked off the entire section of the street to them.

To say you were furious was an understatement.

And the boys were devastated.

Not only was their pride hurt because they were just ripped a new one by you, but they genuinely feel bad for what happened. All of it had been an accident, none of them had meant for any of that to happen even when they were trying to fix the mess and made it worse.

They wanted to apologize for it and they tried. They sent you texts, tried to call you, even sent you emails and letter mail to get in contact with you but you were giving them the silent treatment.

You completely cut them off and they were starting to really miss you. How could they not? You were their little witch and they wanted to see you again to let you know that they wouldn't let it happen again.

So after a lot of bribing and begging from everyone you heard a knock on your door a few weeks later and opened it to see a woman with blonde hair.

"Can I help you?" You wondered and she gave you a smile.

"I'm Kate Laswell, I work with Captain Price and his boys." She introduced herself and you stared at her with confusion. "You're the witch, correct?"

She couldn't be a demon or else she wouldn't have been able to even get to your front door. She looked human, though looks can be deceiving, but you couldn't think of what she could be.

"Can I come in?"

A/N: will finish this hopefully tomorrow just had to get this out

[moochalove]

The Spiders Catch (Pt.2)

Arlechinno x Fem!Reader

Not proofread!!

♡ More fluffy than I would have liked ��

♡ Slight Yandere themes if you squint…

♡ Columbina is kinda deranged

It feels like your whole body is sore when you awake. You try to shift around but a hand is placed on your shoulder firmly.

“Not so fast. You’re still recovering.”

Your heart skips a beat when that cold firm voice reaches your ear. Though the voice urges you to not move, you do anyways. Your eyes scan the not so familiar room.

Upon realizing this isn’t the infirmary you’ve grown accustomed to, you let out a relieved sigh. It seems the Knave was telling the truth. You are to be the “Mother” of the house.

You haven’t the slightest idea how to be loving and caring towards children... But now it seems you don’t have the freedom to decline Arlechinno’s offer, so you’ll just have to learn along the way.

“You’re nervous. I can see it in your eyes. I thought I made it clear: you will be safe as long as you remain here with me. Perhaps you do not trust my word-“

“It’s not that,” your flushed face scrunches slightly, “It’s just that I’m not sure how to do this. How to be a mother figure. All my life I’ve been taken care of I-“

“So surely you know your limits. How much love is necessary, and when it’s considered suffocating. I hope you know I saugt after you specifically, I believe you’re the best candidate for this.” 

“So you’ve thought about this….?”

“Ahem,” Before Arlechinno could respond a child (who had been listening whilst leaning on the door) fell through the now-open door.

“Decided to finally reveal yourself, little magician?”

Looking down you see a young boy, probably about to enter about to enter his tween/teen years. His eyes are a striking violet color, and his hair is a dull blonde color.

Faster than you can blink, another figure enters a frame. This time a girl. Though she has cat-like features, she looks a lot like the boy on the ground, though her violet eyes are much sharper. She simply looks at the boy on the floor before looking at her “Father” and then you.

“Ah, and here comes your little assistant. I suppose Freminet is not too far behind?”

Once the boy picked himself up with an apologetic smile, another one entered the room. His freckled-kissed face seemed to slightly churn when he laid his eyes on you. Quickly he hid behind the girl and boy, barely peeking out to study your face.

It took a second for you to put two and two together. If you think hard, he was the boy who offered you those flowers! To think someone as innocent and timid-looking as this child managed to pull that stunt off effortlessly.

But then again, it’s not like his actions weren’t unnatural…

You weren’t looking at Arlechinno directly, but you could definitely feel her harsh gaze on you. Likely to see your reaction to Freminet’s presence. You flashed the kids the kindest smile you could muster at that moment before turning upright to properly introduce yourself.

Before you could even get a word out Arlechinno began to speak, “Children, remember how I told you you’d be getting a “Mother” soon? This is her. Please, I expect you to treat her with the same level of respect you treat me.” Immediately you notice how they stiffen up very slightly.

You weren’t sure how to refer to her. Should you have called her by her harbinger name? Maybe just “Father”? No, that doesn’t sound right! You don’t even know her real name!! Well- you’re to be their “Mother” so why not make it feel real….?

You did a little prayer before you opened your mouth to speak,

“Sweetheart, it’s okay, i’m sure they understand very well of my position here.”

All of them stood there shocked.

The boy with violet eyes let out a little snicker before turning towards the two, then ushering them out with a sly smile.

Again, you were alone with Arlechinno.

“U-um… was that not the right……”

“-No, it’s quite alright, really.”

“Oh, um… okay….” You could feel yourself growing smaller under her sharp gaze. You couldn’t tell if she was enjoying the sight of you nervously twiddling your thumb, or if she was upset. You didn’t have the guts to turn and look at her in the eye.

“Though, I suppose I thought it would take you a little longer to warm up to me, my love.”

Haha, that means you get to live, right?

Did the room suddenly get smaller….?

“I shall get the rest of the children seated in the main room. Once you’re ready, come introduce yourself to them. They’ve been eagerly waiting your arrival.”

“Of course. I’ll be there shortly.”

.

.

.

Once Columbina returned home she immediately went to your room to seek entertainment. Though when she finished checking every corner of the room, and couldn’t find you. She simple thought her fellow Harbinger had you with her. So she went to her, and when she also didn’t have you in her presence she wondered to herself, “Perhaps my little dove is playing a trick on me. Ooh, this shall be fun!”

But when a couple of weeks had passed and no one had returned to her with you in hand, she began to worry. Tracking you should be nothing for her. Yet when she couldn’t find you, when no one could find you, she was truly worried. Had someone taken you away? Oh, what if you were hurt!

Columbina sang for no one. Her angelic voice echoed throughout empty halls. For days she would wait for her envoys to bring her back news- news that they had found you. But to no avail. She was no longer worried, she began to grow upset. Who had the nerve to clip her prettiest doves wings? Who could have known that was how she was linked to you?

It wasn’t long before she narrowed it down to one of her fellow harbingers. Perhaps one of them held a grudge against her?

The Knave.

If anyone would know something it would be the Knave. She’s always been trying to sink her fangs into you. Yes, it has to be her.

The Damsolette knows in her “warm” heart that she’s right, she just can’t believe you would let that damned Knave tempt you. She just needed to sink her own fangs into that wretched spider before she could tear you free from her webs.

She sat there, alone, softly humming a tune to herself with the gentlest smile on her face.

From a distance, The Fair Lady could only watch the Damsolette quickly lose her grip on everything. Signora- being the lady she is- sort of had an idea of what you did. However, she isn’t one to spoil the fun for everyone (especially one she sees as her daughter.) If she was somehow able to get ahold of you before the little lady is able to- she’ll help you in any way possible. Even if it means she has to let you go.

.

.

.

After you introduced yourself to all the children, you were drained. To think so many children who come from broken homes could still have the heart to love. They may have their own little quirks, but their hearts are in the right places.

Arlechinno pulled you away from your thoughts when she slyly wrapped her arm around your waist.

“You’re thinking too hard. Don’t worry, they love you already.”

“You really think so? I barely did anything…”

“Of course. As their “Father”, I always know what they are feeling and thinking. Eventually, you will too. It pains me to leave you, but I must get back to work.”

“Oh, and by the way, I’m almost done getting you what you need. As part of our deal of course.”

“Thank you. I promise to work hard to keep our family full of love and compassion.” A relaxed smile crept into your lips as you felt your posture relax slightly.

Once she realized you from her cold grasp, she headed towards the door,

“I do hope you enjoy your stat here at the our lovely house. After all, it’s permanent.”

[yyxandere]

Hello! I have a small idea about the attitude of several yanderes from the Tojo clan towards their darling (this will be drastic and inexperienced, be careful 🤺):

Daigo, during his idle period, may take you for granted, neglecting you, but after Kiryu knocked some sense into him and became chairman, he began to greatly regret his behavior in the past. Therefore, he tries in every possible way to make amends to you like a beaten puppy. Mine tries to help him with this, looking for all the information about you and keeping an eye on you, reporting all the details to his master. If Daigo finds out that some men are too close to you, he will "convince" you to behave more decently (if they are lucky enough to survive).

Nishikiyama is not shy about showing his affection for you by giving you gifts or taking you on dates to expensive restaurants. Such an obvious braggart for you both before the events of Kiwami and after. He rarely takes his eyes off you, so I don’t rely on myself for a particularly long time.

Kiryu is so awkward when it comes to expressing his feelings, but he really tries! Oh, how he loves it when you spend time with the children! The way you take care of them even including Haruka just makes his heart swell with respect and love for you. In addition, Kamurocho is rich in all sorts of places for entertainment such as bowling alleys, game clubs and especially vending machines with plush toys. So you two are definitely not bored.

Kashiwagi may seem callous and cold at first glance, especially in Yakuza 0, but this is only at first glance. He expresses his concern when no one is looking. Did you leave after preparing food for him? He devoured it in a short period of time like a man possessed. Were you offended by some idiot? Don't worry, he's already kicked his ass. Do you want something? Everything is settled, the desired item is already on your coffee table! But over time, he becomes more open about his feelings towards you, becoming softer and more relaxed. Imagine his indescribable gratitude and happiness when you still agreed to be with him even after he left the Tojo clan. He is completely yours, your honor!

-ˋˏSINCERELY YOURS. . . ->

Anon. I will kiss you on your sweet, delectable lips right now. CAUSE THIS ASK IS HEAVEN SENT.

It’s been so long since I played Yakuza, so if the characters are OOC then please forgive me cuz it’s really been a long time (ノωヽ)

YOU ARE SO RIGHT ON DAIGO'S PART IT'S AMAZING!!!!!

Daigo in his early day would definitely be an asshole to you, he won't lay a finger on them but he would definitely ignore his you. Daigo loves them all right, but after what happened (Him and Ryuji), his pride is shattered and because of that he acted more of an asshole and of yes, in that period of time he really took you for granted, but when Kiryu saw or heard of what was happening (maybe you and Daigo still in a relationship, no kidnapping yet) Kiryu would absolutely slam him and like what you said knock some sense into him, he will give Daigo an ear of how to treat you properly.

After he became chairman, Daigo grew into a much more level-headed person, he thought more logically and more of a decent person rather than a brute. It wasn't easy for him, but he finally managed to learn better ways to approach you. However, you were always very cautious around him since he has been so cruel in the past, he knows. So he started to pay attention and he is trying to get closer to you. And he is making progress by spending time with you even if it's a fraction of time. Let's say even if he tries to spend time with you it doesn't work because you can't really seem to love him anymore because of his past. Then he got that part covered, you are now dating one of the strongest Yakuza clan in Kamurucho, hell even if you leave the city, the Tojo clan's reputation and influence is everywhere, so no matter where you are you're always going to be found, plus is it not for the better if you stay with him rather then leave? If you leave Daigo you won't have any protections against other Yakuza rivals, plus he is a whole new man mostly for you.

And since he is the new head of the Tojo clan he will have many men on his side, and one of the most loyal of them all is Mine. he is absolutely devoted to Daigo and will do anything to keep him happy, so if Daigo requested him to set up cameras, Mine would obey his command without hesitation. Daigo need information about the friend you were hanging out with? Bam, he has all of their records, their family, their last hospital check, their messages, whatever Daigo needs is there. Daigo's schedule may be full but if he does manage to make time, be prepared to be snuggled with love and riches. You've been eyeing that bag for a while now? He will come inside the store with you grab it and give it to you THEN pay for it and whoever decides to even harm you both on your outing, their ass be prepared for an ass whooping of a night and after that maybe if they are still conscience he will call one of his men to deal with the random thug. Most of all, Daigo now as a chairman will be more soft and loving towards you, like you said anon, like a puppy.

UGH MY FAVORITE KOI TATTOOED MAN NISHKIII :(((( (i just really wanna hug him bro)

Now Nishki was never afraid to show his love, it was like he was always in that honeymoon phase in the relationship, always bringing you flowers, you and him going out on walks or him giving them chocolates, you kept on telling him many times that he shouldn't do all of this, but he disagrees. St first you thought that it was only a phase in the relationship, but nope, many months in and he still does it, and slowly it's getting quite overbearing, even if you ask Nishki to give you some space, Niski is going to look at you with eyes like a beaten puppy and so ever since you have not said anything, worrying that you might hurt Nishki's feelings. Nishki is a huge romantic, he would always hold your bags and all and he would always pester you about living in the same apartment as him, you told him that it was too quick, Nishki at first would give you some space, but that wouldn't stop him from asking over and over again.

Now if we go the Nishki who is a different man than before, it's now like talking to a different person, Nishki before was a romantic wherever you went, he would always give you kisses and whatnot, but our blood-stained Nishki doesn't, don't get him wrong he loves you dearly but now it is a WHOLE different level. Remember you don't want to live in the same house as him? Too bad, he doesn't even ask the question, your'e already at his house with high security, so make sure that you will never leave. Nishki had been through hell and back, losing his brother, being compared to him, swallowing his own pride in front of his men, and the cherry on top, the passing of his dead sister. Nishki grew more paranoid, he became selfish he is like a feral dog protecting a bone or such, he is fuming and ready to blow someone's head off if they EVEN think to take you away from him, his keeping you captive is like a defense mechanism after all the things he went through, screaming and yelling won't do anything, it is much better to be quiet and do whatever he wants rather then be starved or slapped by him.

Can't make a post without mentioning my GOAT!!!!

Ah, Kiryu. The Dragon of Dojima is such an honorable and respectable person, the art that was placed on his back signifies the power and strength he holds, everyone knows his name in the city of Kamurucho or the dark underground, he is what a man wants to be, strong, respected and cold- wait is that him with a person holding their hands?! And in a closer look, HE IS BLUSHING?!!!

Jokes aside, our main man, Kiryu is an absolute oddball, he's a strong and composed man and can manage to have a clear line of thinking even in a dire situation, but whenever you near, or even hold his hands, inside of him, he is FLUSTRED, let us just hope that you're oblivious to that or else this man will go in a blushing state, good thing that Kiryu doesn't show to many expressions and just shows a stoic one. Like you said noonie, he really tries to show that he really loves you, Kiryu knows that he can be kind of bad when it comes to FULLY expressing what he wants to express, so he does a lot of acts of service, he regularly listens to your problem he even tries to learn how to cooks so you won't ever eat anything unhealthy.

Now if this is the time when Kiryu has Haruka, that's when things start getting interesting. Kiryu desires a normal life, especially a domestic one, he doesn't care who wheres the apron not, and he doesn't care at least you're happy, heck he would be content if he is a stay-at-home husband, and while you work, every time you went back home after a long day you would smell newly cooked food and steamed rice ready, while Haruka helps Kiryu with preparings the plates, but of course if you want to take a bath first, the tub is already filled with warm water its really your choice. Kiryu trusts you, that you won't go away or leave cause of Haruka, You heard what happened to Haruka and Kiryu knows your kind heart and in that moment knew that you won't ever leave Haruka or him, such thoughts could make you feel guilt for the rest of your life., you'll be another parental figure to Haruka no matter what.

Still, on the idea of domestic Kiryu, I would imagine all three of you go to a family outing or some such, maybe a weekend when you guys are in the park eating picnics or even the nearby arcades, both Haruka and Kiryu are gaming nerds. If ever Haruka wins a plushie from a vending machine, she will give it to you and the scene always makes Kiryu's heart flutter since Kiryu is a family man, if there was someone who would be foolish enough to hurt his family (even if you guys aren't married yet) he will show them that living in the Yakuza for many years showed him many different punching techniques…

Now…for my favorite old man……

Devotion. That's one word to describe Kashiwagi when it comes to your love.

You know how much he cares because even after all of those years with you he never lost the way his heart beats faster or his cheeks burn red, because of you, because of what you did and made of him, it is hard to imagine the day where he doesn't feel your presence, your heartbeat in his ears. When you first met him he was cold, and his piercing gaze was frightening, but with some kind of miracle both of you decided to see each other, he became softer, of course, but is still cold and stern when it comes to the Yakuza business, but at home or whenever yall meet, hell ease up his worries. I highly doubt that anyone would even dare stand where ever you are when beside you is a menacing man, who they do NOT wanna fuck with. He is very overprotective of you especially when he is a high-ranked officer, so there are going to be many enemies just waiting to strike against you.

And oh lord, whenever you do such domestic things like, make him coffee, give him his bento, or even kiss him after a long day doing shady business, he will just become putty on your hands, your hands are like magic to him and I feel like his men know about you, so whenever you visit Kashiwagi whenever he's in a bad mood he will immediately lighten up keep his voice to a minimum to not scare you.

After he left the Yakuza, he would do more acts that he had to restrain because he was in the Yakuza, most of the time he would kiss you (on the cheek only) when there were few people around. You also bet your ass that yall are gonna get married, he always dreamt of marrying you when you both became a thing muttering your name with his last name or better yet both of you having kids of your own. So when both of you were married he was crying his eyes out man, seeing you in a white shiromuku (traditional Japanese wedding dress) just comforts something in him and the ring on your finger signifies the love you both have for each other. If you ever have a kid (biologically or adopted) he would give them all the love there is, he might be a stern father but he has his sweet and soft moments with them (I find him having a girl). Like Kiryu, he is a family man, and whoever touches his small family must know that this man was in the Yakuza and knows his way to pummel people to the ground.

UGH YAKUZA MEN ARE THE DEATH OF ME, I GOT A BIT CARRIED AWAY SORRY FOR THAT ANON, BUT YOUR ASK WAS SO FUN TO WRITE TBH!!!! SO PLEASE DON'T BE SHY AND SEND MORE IF YOU WANT TO!!!!

[genichisojo]

Chihiro's Age and Being the Perfect 18 Year Old Protagonist

Today I will be breaking down Kagurabachi's Chihiro’s age and why he’s a great 18 yr old protagonist and acts his age. Please forgive if my current DC brain rot bleeds into this.

I think Chihiro’s core can attributed to growing up being loved and respected by his parents. One of the first conversations is Kunishige telling Chihiro that if he wants to be a blacksmith like him and carry the burden of the role’s consequences, “…If that’s how you feel, all that’s left, is for me to believe in you.”

I think when you grow up with a loving parent like that, that loving voice is always in your head. He reminds me of that joke that the reason Superman is so good is because both of his parents loved him unconditionally. But who do we get when you have loving parents who get killed in a traumatic way in front of you? Batman, hi! Hi, Batman! Hi! AKA “that nut from Gotham city” and Chihiro already has such a reputation. Not as a psycho, but he’s deemed dangerous and strong. He’s someone to keep an eye out for now. He’s been underestimated before this arc because of his age.

I personally think that had Kunishige never been murdered, Chihiro wouldn’t had ever chosen to wield a blade unless it came to a time of war. But he adapted to the idea easily because he’s been preparing himself his whole life to be responsible for deaths as a blacksmith. What’s the difference anyways when you’re the wielder? Probably a lot, but you’re a teenager and want one thing, and it’s the right thing in your mind so let’s just start moving.

He has assigned himself the responsibility to get the katanas back and get revenge, and he’s very set on it in a one track, 18 yr old way. When Char got taken, his mind was on getting her back. When Sojo was doing his shit, his mind was on taking him down. Then he immediately moves back into getting back the katanas, not really taking time to process literally losing a limb after already not fully healing from a hospital visit. He’s reckless with his physical health- typical for his age.

Older characters around him also treat him his age. Shiba doesn’t really leave him out of his sight if we’re real about it. He lets him fight on his own and trusts that Chihiro has a handle on things because he knows him and probably trained him. He would’ve gone in during the first fight with Sojo had Azami not stopped him. He is willing to hop in when things get bad, and he will always be there to catch him, but overall, he knows he’s old enough to handle physical strain. Still, there’s that famous moment in the train at the beginning where Shiba does warn Chihiro all the hatred he’s been carrying is “…gonna break you.”

Chihiro asks in return, “So you wanna stop me?” And neither of them says anything and continue to go about their mission. Shiba respects Chihiro and his choices, understands he’s an adult and this is what he wants, but he looks out for him because at the end of the day, he’s still eighteen. And his best friend’s baby.

We also have Azami who summoned the Kamunabi because although he he’s been told Chihiro can fight, he also knew that he had never fought another enchanted blade wielder before and knew the city damage could get crazy. In a way, I think it was also a way to keep an eye on him because he doesn’t want him to get hurt, either. Azami has been proven to be sentimental with his phone lockscreen. He kept Chihiro’s existence a secret because until KB’s starting point, he was a child. He’s barely an adult, and Azami who hadn’t seen him in a while, is still like I guess he can handle it, if Shiba says and then absolutely not.

My final point is that Chihiro treats children well. He talks to children in a way kids like to be talked to- like real people. Kids say crazy things, but he still took time to feed and talk to Char and take her seriously even before they were attacked. The same thing occurs with Mr. Inazuma. He gets down to their level, listens to them in the way his father listened to him, and he goes along with what they want while making sure they’re not going to die.

Chihiro was shown to have been a responsible child and he had to grow up quick to be able to accomplish his goals. In a way, an indirect goal of his is to protect the innocent- children. He knows what it’s like to be a defenseless child and to have nobody run to your aid, so he acts the most rational when other people’s lives are on the line. And when it all falls on his life, he lets himself get a little bit reckless because that’s just what allegedly blood thirsty 18 yr old boys do. I’ll come back to the allegedly later.

[shinoposting]

A comprehensive guide as to why Aburame Shino is peak Autistic Representation

Very long post under the cut!

( This is poorly organized and doesn't actually include everything, but you know :] )

It starts with the flashback to when Torune was taken and flashbacks to early academy days, during which Shino is about 7.

He showed no interest in playing with other children, or in making friends. He didn't see a point in talking to people who didn't want to discuss his special interest, which he dedicated all his free time to, and he didn't emote when Torune was taken away, even though it impacted him very deeply. Even as a small child he talked "like an adult", monotonous, strange phrasing, over-explaining, and too quietly. When he wasn't being ignored by his classmates, they were trying to use him.

Later on when you see him socialize more, in Pre-Teen and Teenage years, more things become apparent.

In general he seems semi-verbal, most of the time silent, and becomes agitated when forced to repeat himself. Konoha Hiden expands on this, saying that he wishes people just knew what he meant and felt without him having to talk, and that he is bonded to Akamaru because he feels that Akamaru is the only one who he can communicate with in that way. When he's upset he isolates and at one point is even seen hitting his head when he was trying to cool down and was interrupted by unwanted social interaction.

He doesn't understand why people need to see his face, and usually doesn't look in the direction of the person he is addressing. He also doesn't understand jokes, rarely laughs, and angrily dissects puns…but then later puns become his entire sense of humor. He's never dressed for the season, either. Aburames tend to be very covered up by default but besides his Part 1 outfit he is always in multiple layers regardless of the season. (Year round trench coats are a huge autistic stereotype.) He gets along better with people outside of his age group, respected by adults and looked up to by younger kids who think he is cool and knowledgeable. Konoha Hiden also states that during this period he was suffering with comorbid Anxiety and Depression.

There's a lot of black and white thinking on display, for example he is anti-alcohol-- obviously he would have been taught not to drink as an Aburame, but he also doesn't like when others drink. He sees it as universally bad. He's a stickler for the rules and often scolds his peers for not following rules and guidelines. He also seems like a bit of a prude even though it is suggested that he himself has a dirty mind (noticing girls' cup sizes and the implications of Road to Ninja treating his Personal Business as a personality trait) which is a funny hypocrisy I have noticed in a lot of autistic people. He holds a hell of a grudge and ruminates endlessly, which is documented at higher rates in autistic people due to rigid thinking.

He is trying to make friends like Torune wanted, and is now aware that not having friends is a bad thing. He starts feeling the pain of being ostracized not only in general but also by his friend group and isn't even sure if he has friends. He is 17 years old before he understands what allistics consider friend status.

We start to see some of his sensory issues pop up too. He is seen wearing sunglasses even at night and while sleeping. He hates any food that smells strongly and his favorites are pretty bland. He pulls a piece of meat out of his mouth, in public, uncharacteristically violating taboo. He was able to identify the number of people in a distant group only by sound at a time when this would have been above his skill level. (Which makes sense. Team 8 is thus Eyes, Ears, Nose. More on this later.) By Boruto, he has added ear protection and stronger eye protection that he wears when he is expecting to be near fluorescent lights or crowds. Suddenly his overall mood is greatly improved and he can smile openly.

He shows signs of hyperempathy in being overly distressed when losing insects, as he has many millions of them, and having an exaggerated physical response to anticipating Sakura and Naruto's despair.

He has chronic bitchy resting face and is extremely blunt to a a degree of being insulting, which makes people assume he is a mean person. He also comes across as pedantic to his peers, when from his perspective he's just didactic, and even though he over-explains everything his peers still have difficulty understanding what he's saying.

He will also randomly connect the topic of discussion to his special interest and begin infodumping about bugs, and isn't aware that people around him are not interested or worse, repulsed by his special interest until told, at which point he feels personally hurt. Generally his interests are very stereotypical of an autistic person: bugs, comics, ecology, strategy, etc.

He seems level-headed and robotically analytical until he reaches a certain threshold when he suddenly over-emotes in dramatic and awkward ways.

You might notice that when his hands aren't in his pockets, he doesn't seem to know what to do with them; they're always balled into fists, which smells of someone who was taught not to stim. Even so, when he gets really excited in Konoha Hiden and is being himself, he starts spinning around. His speech quirk preceding frequent over-explanations (Why? Because... / The reason is because...) is also considered a type of echolalia.

Mentioning Hiden, in the Blank Period we start to see changes associated with the autistic experience of starting to understand that you are awkward, not knowing how to fix it, and all the anxiety that comes with that. He is stuck riding the lag train and is fully ready to become a hermit in the woods.

He isn't understood in the way that he wants to be understood. He can't let himself get comfortable in other people's homes. He uses his trench coat as a barrier between himself and other people, treating it like a security blanket. He still doesn't understand how his choice of attire affects people's perception of him and becomes agitated when he's told it makes him look suspicious. He doesn't appear to be pursuing any intimate relationships, and displays a lack of boundaries when picking Choji up with his insects when he gets excited.

The lag train becomes even more apparent in Boruto. He hasn't found a partner, his friends are growing even further away from him, and possibly worst of all he's seen as more childish-- too grown-up as a kid, too immature as an adult.

He is masking extremely heavily for the sake of his career, mirroring Iruka, removing almost all of his personal identity from his appearance including the parts that made him feel safe-- everything has to be professional. This actually hurts his ability to work with kids because he already knew how to talk to them, but he is now trying to emulate the image of a teacher for the sake of professionalism.

In the classroom he struggles with things I have seen real-life autistic teachers talk about: He works well with the younger kids, they love him and his fun facts, but the older ones can tell that there is something different about him and they will ignore or outright bully him. It's very difficult to control them or hold their interest. (He later develops stomach problems due to stress from working with said older kids)

The big problem is that he is not good at masking. In traditional settings with very clearly defined roles and rules of how to act and what to say he gets by just fine, but in organic interactions it's nothing but spaghetti and this causes him severe stress. He is proud of himself for being able to speak to many people in a day now but at what cost? Pattern recognition and rigid thinking of course leads to rumination spirals, and under extreme pressure he starts reverting to childish things. He has only had Kura-maa a short time before he becomes attached and starts personifying it. This may seem childish, but autistic people are more likely to do this and will continue to do so later into life than their allistic peers. (See Object Personification in Autism: This paper will be very sad if you don’t read it)

He has become a real people-pleaser, allowing himself to be imposed upon constantly, and apologizes excessively even for situations that were not his fault, which are both behaviors many autistic people pick up. And, for all his masking, he can't hide that he is still terrible at understanding and constructing metaphors, ie "bad insects" and the yakisoba bun analogy.

He is trying his damnedest to adapt and accommodate himself in a rapidly changing world that wasn't very friendly to him to begin with. He was able to slide under the radar as respectable and somewhat normal when the world was as rigid as he is. Now every day he's facing new challenges that he isn't used to and he's acting a little fucked up and neurotic, overcompensating and making it worse.

So yeah, maybe he's not 'cool' by most standards. Not everyone gets a happy ending where they become the most ideal version of themselves. Not in real life, and not in animes that have hundreds of characters. What's important is that he is exactly on the trajectory set by previous installments to the series and very accurately and thoroughly depicting autistic struggles in every aspect of life. And that's pretty cool to me. :)

[tobebbanburg]

I just wanted to imagine a world where Trent writes a completely under-the-radar article for Colin’s hometown newspaper to address the rumours of him being gay without making a big deal about it.

Full article text under the cut:

At 28 years of age, Colin Hughes is something of a late bloomer. After a mediocre start to his career saw Cardiff City relegated to the Championship, the Barry native was transferred to the struggling AFC Richmond, a harsh environment for any young footballer trying to make his mark on the world. But after years of flying under the radar, Hughes is finally making himself known at both national and international levels, and one can’t help but marvel at how far this young man has come.

Hughes’s love for the sport was nurtured from a young age, here in Barry, and despite his recent success it is clear he hasn’t forgotten his roots. The modest yet respectable history of Welsh football is something that Hughes could lecture on at the drop of a hat (and indeed needs to be stopped from lecturing once he gets started), and even his favoured position as a left winger was chosen in homage to Welsh footballing legend Gary Speed, a man who still acts as an inspiration for Hughes today.

“He did wonders for our national team. He was the one who made us all believe that Wales could hold our own against the rest of the world. I don’t think we’d be where we are today without all the work he put in: now that I can, I’m doing my best to continue what he started,” Hughes says.

Hughes’s ‘best’, in this instance, has been to fund a new development program throughout Wales, offering summer bootcamp scholarships to children from underprivileged areas. One can’t help but feel that were Speed still with us, he’d be proud of what Hughes is trying to achieve, although perhaps a little bemused at lending his name to an indeterminable breed of dog that Hughes affectionally refers to as ‘Gazza’.

“Me and my boyfriend got him from the shelter last week,” he says, showing a picture of a large but scrawny dog being embraced on both sides by Hughes and his boyfriend, one Michael Chen. “We got him to celebrate Richmond’s second place in the Prem.”

Buying a dog is perhaps an unusually tame way to celebrate for most footballers, but unusual is rather how AFC Richmond operates these days. Whilst most teams would be disappointed with losing out on winning the Premier League by the slimmest of margins, many often claiming that third place is preferable to second, both Hughes and AFC Richmond are treating their status as runners up with dignity, and no small amount of delight.

“I’m not being funny, right, but if you’d told me a year ago that Richmond’d avoid relegation, let alone make it to second place, I’d’ve said you were full of ****,” Hughes says, then apologises after a gentle reminder not to swear. “It’s gutting to miss out on winning the whole thing, of course, but we’re proud of what we’ve done. And besides, it gives us something to aim for next year.”

Hughes succinctly brings us to the elephant in the room: the recent departure of Coach Ted Lasso. Whilst Lasso himself has always maintained the humble adage that Richmond’s recent success wasn’t wholly his doing, the fact remains that the club have never before performed so well over a single season, nor so swiftly reversed their declining fortunes. One can’t help but wonder what a future without Lasso looks like. Hughes, for his part, remains optimistic.

“Coach Lasso made a real difference. Not just in how we play as a team but in how we think, how we work. That kind of change is here to stay,” he says, before adding, “plus we’ve got facetime and all that **** so it’s not like he’s properly gone. I mean I could call him right now if you want?”

But what of Hughes’ future as an international player? After making his debut for Wales a little under a year ago, and with a surprise win against Uruguay under his belt from April, surely his prospects on the world stage are looking encouraging? With Gareth Bale announcing his retirement, is there a possibility for Hughes to follow in the steps of childhood hero Speed and take over as captain of his national team?

“****,” Hughes says, once again forgetting the request to forgo swearing. “I hadn’t thought that far ahead. I mean that’s the dream, isn’t it, but I know that any of the lads on the team’d do a great job in the role. Any one of us would bring something different to the job, so who’s to say?”

It’s modest, considered statements like these that give weight to Hughes’s earlier words of change: Lasso may have moved on, but his impact on the team is here to stay. I, for one, cannot wait to see where Colin Hughes takes it from here.

[literallyjusttoa]

Friendship is Magic (Post-Toa Version)

About a year ago I made a couple posts about some niche gods I wanted Apollo to become friends with and now I’m back at it! Have some more post-toa relationships for our dear boy. (Warning, this is really long)

Prometheus: Ok, so I actually already said I want Apollo and Prometheus to be friends, but over the last year I have only grown to find this idea to be so interesting. I see the two of them as being so similar, with a strong love and respect for mortals, and a bleeding heart that ostracizes them from their family, who are more easily able to turn a blind eye to any tragedies that occur. But while I think their base personalities and motivations are similar, I think their tactics differ just enough to cause conflict. But the two respect each other so much that they can push and pull at each other enough to find a middle ground. Apollo has always been impressed by Prometheus’ craftiness, and lengths he’s willing to go for his own beliefs. Prometheus has held affection for Apollo for a long time, mainly bc he’s Leto’s son and he pleaded with Zeus to let Prometheus out of his punishment. Recently tho, Prometheus has been relieved to finally see another immortal who is just as against the state of Olympus as he is.

Idk if I’m explaining this right, but like. Apollo’s going to spend a lot of time trying to bring his family around to accepting the flaws of Olympus and the way they treat mortals. And that’s good! And he wants to do that! But when you’ve been a victim of a corrupt system, and then you have to spend a lot of mental energy helping other people realize how much this system hurts people, it can be such a relief to talk with someone who already agrees with you that things are fucked. LIke, “yeah, you don’t have to convince me that you’ve been hurt, I’m not going to challenge you on that at all, or try to justify it, I just believe you, and I agree that things need to change.” That’s what I want these two to be for each other. 

Menoitios: The brother of Prometheus, and Titan of violent rage and rashness. If Prometheus allows Apollo to air out his hurt, Menoitios helps him to work with the violent, and often terrifying responses he’s had to the trauma he’s ignored. Apollo has not been a good person, and he is often horrified by the actions he’s taken in the past. Instead of letting him spiral, Menoitios tells him that he can’t stop these behaviors until he finds the reasons behind them. He also tells Apollo that the emotion that often led to him lashing out and hurting or even killing others, that feral rage that came from being raised up in such a toxic society and being harmed on such a deep level, does not have to be inherently harmful. They work through coping mechanisms, and work on using that rage to make real change. Oftentimes, Apollo and Menoitios can be found sparring, no holds barred. They go until their energy is spent, and then Menoitios carts Apollo over to Prometheus and caringly forces him to talk it out. 

Aporia: Aporia is one of Nyx’s kids! I picked her specifically bc while there are a lot of Nyx’s children that I think would be interesting for Apollo to interact with, Aporia’s domain is especially interesting to me. Aporia is the personification of want, difficulty and powerlessness. These are three things that Apollo has definitely struggled with, and will continue to struggle with as he goes on post-toa. It’s especially hard for him because these three emotions are so heavily looked down upon on Olympus. Gods are not allowed to desperately want, or to struggle, or to be powerless. Apollo has hidden these feelings away for so long, and then he was forced back into them during the trials. It’s jarring, and he hasn’t really found peace with it yet. So when he starts getting visits from a literal representation of the parts of himself he wants to push down the most, he freaks out. But Aporia is not there to make him more powerless, or wanting. Instead, she wants him to embrace these parts of himself, to understand how they make him whole. The two of them struggle to connect, but when they do, their friendship is so impactful. 

Boreas: I have been introduced to this ship and I actually love it oml. With Boreas, Apollo gets the one thing that he really needs after the trials. REST. Boreas pulls Apollo away from Olympus, and lets him get some good rest in his palace. It helps that the two of them have a very peaceful, slow and steady sort of relationship, where there are very little expectations on either side. (Basically, you’re hot, I’m hot, we wanna make out sometimes, let's just do that and be chill about it) Boreas is calm, but can be very stern at times. When he knows what needs to be done, he gets it done. Oftentimes this no-nonsense attitude helps Apollo to start moving too. When Apollo wants to give in, Boreas is the type to be like “You can rest for a while here, and when you get up again, I’ll help you figure out what to do.” And especially post-toa this is really helpful for Apollo. They cute <3.

Euphrosyne: Apollo’s half-sister! She’s the daughter of Zeus and Eurynome. She’s also one of the Kharites (Charities, or Graces) and she’s the goddess of Mirth. I think after Jason, Apollo reached out to some of his half-siblings, honestly just wanting to make sure they’re all doing ok. He and Euphrosyne hit it off quickly, and the two of them really just have fun together. Apollo is a person who feels his emotions so strongly, both sorrow and joy. So while he needs people around him to help him through his tragedies, he also needs someone who can match him at the levels of wonder and delight. These two hype each other up a lot, and while that might be two much for others, it’s what the two of them need to work through the emotions they have. They watch movies and listen to music that they rant about for hours, gush about their closest friends and family, and just sit and bask in it all sometimes. It’s just a lil bubble of joy and comfort. 

Haha psych! Got you! I disguised this as a friends post, but it’s actually my roundabout way of giving Apollo therapy while there’s no god of therapy!! Heehee I’m such a prankster!!

[mushroomates]

on elves being vegetarians:

nature is incredibly important to elves. while hunting may have been reasonable and accessible in the past, due to the recent dwindling of game and the general decrease in population (sauron) many have refrained from this.

in recent times, it has been only on rare occasions that elves hunt. when they do, it is often symbolic and follows some set rules, such as refraining from hunting mothers, children, and in recent years, adolescents in their prime. this is to encourage reproduction as well as be respectful to the population.

while hunting was once considered as acceptable and culturally important, is is now frowned upon in modern times and only done on occasion and is very strictly monitored.

elves don’t have livestock. they don’t domesticate intentionally, and certainly not for food. they prefer things in their natural state, and many elves resort to a raw diet. it is both convenient and establishes a deeper bond to middle earth.

with livestock and hunting ruled out, we can consider reasons beyond necessity.

ike humans, there is a vast range of dietary preferences, restrictions, and various reasons behind these lifestyles. morality, necessity, or the hardship of introducing a new protein after a good thousand years.

many elves would reject eating meat at all. there’s various reasons, such as not growing up with it, scarcity, or simply a moral rejection of consuming something with a soul or that has a heartbeat. some elves feel more connected to middle earth and their ancestors by continuing to hunt/eat meat. many more view it as a special treat and something representative of the old days- something to be cherished and savored.

not only this but many recipes for preparing meat have fallen out of practice. not forgotten entirely, but rended useless. some see cooking meat as preserving this part of their culture. some don’t event realize how much they’ve lost over the years.

many elves also don’t have access to fish or most sea food, with the exception of fresh water fish, wish isn’t desirable to most.

why some elves can’t stomach meat:

introducing a new food can be stressful on the body, especially a new protein. if an elf has gone without meat for a long period of time, they will lose the ability to digest it. much like how lactose tolerant people will become intolerant over time when not consuming dairy frequently enough. also, if an elf has never had meat and introduced to it in later years, it will take them a while to adjust. most foods are introduced in adolescence. this isn’t always the case, leading to complications down the line.

why legolas, specifically, is vegetarian:

mirkwood has scare naturally occurring game. legolas is deeply connected to his home and it’s native species. when he was younger, it was simply out of necessity as there was a temporary ban on hunting native species to encourage the wildlife to grow naturally to a healthy population. this didn’t occur without help, and is much recent years, the population has dwindled even further.

because of the general lack of meat growing up, legolas does not know how to cook, season, or generally properly prepare meat. in practice, at least. he also wasn’t introduced to meat until he was much older, which caused some reactions that weren’t entirely pleasant that he wishes to avoid.

legolas also knows the importance of keeping local wildlife at a healthy level. elves used to lean populations that grew excessive and dominated the environment, but they no longer have that luxury and but have now turned their attention coaxing wildlife to return to a sizeable population. legolas actively makes an effort in this.

now this doesn’t mean he dissuades natural predator, but actively hunts invasive species and targets vegetation dangerous to local wildlife.

point being, be makes an effort to protect and preserve and eating meat seems counterproductive to him.

does this mean legolas NEVER eats meat? of course not. he won’t waste food, and when a meal is cooked for him, he will generally attempt to eat it. he also regularly steals bites from other peoples plates which don’t prescribe to the same dietary restrictions. he knows this and does it anyways.

especially when with the fellowship. hunting is hard work and cooking is just as important. meals (especially so with meat) must be cherished and it means a lot that he can share them with his companions.