#on the other hand he's been able to find NO information on ANY aspect of what happened and it makes him really nervous

[blujayonthewing]

Gimmiiiieee secret for one of those funky gnomes?

secret: What's one secret your OC never wants anyone to know about them?

After her friend and mentor, the circus' escape artist, died in a suspicious water escape accident, Idri's had an intense fear of deep water and of drowning. She doesn't want anyone to know about it partly because she finds it embarrassing, and partly just because it's connected to something painful that she's trying to 'cope with' by just simply Never Thinking About It Ever. She ALSO, more recently, has a more serious but less personal secret, which is that it turns out said mentor was not actually killed in that incident, but that his death was faked by a friend who knew he was being targeted for murder, and secretly took his place... he still has enemies, and fears that if word gets out that he's not actually dead, it might put more of his friends and colleagues in danger. Idri takes his trusting her with this information very seriously, and is determined to never tell a soul.

Melliwyk honestly fucking hates secrets at this point in the adventure, lmao. No more secrets! No fucking secrets forever!! They only ever cause problems she's so sick of things being kept secret for ~good reasons~ that always just make everything worse for no reason!! I mean she probably has some personal things that are private or embarrassing that she wouldn't want people to know about, obviously, who doesn't, but even a lot of those things are either widely known even if not necessarily by her friends (the incident with her former roommate), or things she's told them by now (the fact that her 'hood' is a novelty nightcap enchanted to give the wearer pleasant dreams, and she wears it all the time because she's nightmare-prone, especially when she unexpectedly falls asleep)

Felix went missing for awhile. He has no idea what happened during most of that time, but the last thing he remembers was witnessing a caravan camped just off the road being attacked by.... something. Huge, looming humanoid shapes of pure darkness, seemingly draining the life essence of the people in the caravan. He was spotted before he had a chance to do anything, and a creature grabbed his arm, but a voice called for it to leave him alone... After he woke up, he found his skin had turned completely grey where the creature touched him; it doesn't hurt or feel different in any way, and the mark hasn't spread, although the hand was so big that its print takes up most of his arm. He's been trying to learn literally anything about what he saw and what happened to him, but he hasn't told anybody, and he keeps his arm covered at all times.

Indigo would hate if the truth got out about what happened to their eye, where they now have an obviously false golden one. It's not, like, actually a big deal, but they give a different answer every time anyone asks, so if people knew the truth it would ruin the bit. Indigo lies recreationally so there are a lot of things about their personal life and backstory that they keep dead secret for no other particular reason than that it's fun for them. The only thing cooler than having been mentored by an ancient dragon is casually never ever mentioning it, you know?

ask about my characters! :3c

[forallnumbersosc]

Gaty!! didja get any intresting information from the "exitors" ??

- 🍁Maple Anon

[OOG IM SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG I HAD TO PROCESS TPOT 11 WHEN IT CAME OUT IM STILL ON AN AUTISM HIGH FROM IT]

ALRIGHT!! I've gotten what I can from the EXITors and compiled all of my notes, it's time for me to show my findings on!!

The EXIT!

So what IS the EXIT?

The best thing I can gather having not been there myself, is that it's an extra-dimensional space that exists within Four. Whenever something is eaten (or... in Four's words "zooped") by Four, they shrink down to accompany the initial "space" of Four's mouth, AKA the only place in his body that is closest to following the laws of Physics... Once you enter that door, things get WAY stranger....

I should also preface that we don't know for sure if every algebralien has such a space, as we have only observed these in Four, who seems to have far more power, or at least.... he decides to use far more power than other algebraliens... It's entirely possible that Four is the only one who has the ability to house a space like this!

LAYER ZERO: The Entrance

Diagram legend:

Four's mouth, one of the entrances to the EXIT. Appears much, MUCH higher up once anything enters Layer 0. This diagram does not show the true depth of how far the floor is from Four's mouth.

Four's OTHER mouth. His main tool of contestant transportation when contestants get eliminated... It's not very visible at all, you'd have to pull back Four's mane to even see it, and even then it's also invisible from the other side!

Skin?? Layer?? Honestly I don't know what makes up algebralien skin aside from the fact that in Four's case it acts as the catalyst for the initial "shrinkage" of anything that enters the space... It also seems to give Four a weakness to fire!

The EXIT door... The entrance to the rabbit-hole...

Strange trees. I don't fully know why these growths populate this area and beyond, as they don't seem to have any sensing function such as taste buds or stomach cilia, but I believe they were the first creations Four practiced on when constructing his inner world... he does think about himself quite often.

LAYER ONE: The Classrooms

Starting with a simple algebra classroom, Layer One is a seemingly endless collection of rooms down a long, winding network of hallways that range from other typical classrooms, to portals to areas outside of the EXIT, and even strange, nonsensical collections of things that are.. well... according to Pencil, "don't deserve a description"...

This layer was the only one accessible to the EXITors for months on end before Liy decided to take a peek behind the curtain... Since I believe the EXIT's vast characteristics were created from personal aspects of Four, it makes me think of just how much Four keeps hidden away about himself... Why does he like school so much??

LAYER TWO: The Fourest

Feeling claustrophobic? Take a trip to the scenic and expansive Fourest! I consider this a bit of a "hub" of the EXIT, as it seems like the most widespread place to put different entrances to other, deeper areas, as well as, of course, the pathway out...

Compared to the classroom, this area is the most "organic" in terms of literally being comprised of Four... The classrooms themselves contain a percent of material created from his own body, but it seems a lot has been taken from outside and placed within... This area, however, is pretty much all him. its thanks to this area that I was able to take some small samples stuck to the EXITors clothing.. and i am SO excited to study it! Ahh!!

LAYER THREE: Below...?

[can you tell this is when mod's hand started to get tired/lh]

The descriptions I got from Match, Liy, and Stapy were pretty... odd... to say the least for this wacky pocket dimension, and its certainly where my knowledge of the EXIT seems to come to a close, as the closest the EXITors got to any deeper level was this strange little castle full of even stranger secrets.... You must admit, Four might be cruel but he has an eye for architecture!

Out of the other layers, this one seems to be a combination of both Four material and outside material, making me wonder if this is where Four keeps his best kept secrets or... maybe even his insecurities?

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

Oh yeah... I heard about this... thing that some of the EXITors encountered... From what I know it seems to be simply another part of Four rather than a thinking creature of its own, but it's certainly hard to say!

I'd like to give a thank-you to Pencil, Match, Stapy, Liy, David, and 8-Ball for your contributions to my research!!

...and an apology to Bracelety, Dora, and Firey Jr for er... bringing up such a frustrating and-- well... traumatic event for this information--

...While I must admit I don't enjoy the fact that the EXIT left these fellow contestants a pretty awful impression of algebraliens, I really am glad we have them back!!

PHEW!!! Now that I have most of my information on the EXIT finally on here, time to get back to some of the other questions I got!!

[total-drama-brainrot]

TD World Tour Alenoah AU... Where Noah is immune to Alejandro's fake charm... Instead, Noah gets charmed by the true Alejandro's quirks and dorky interests like dinosaurs and puppets... How would Alejandro feel about Noah only liking Alejandro, when Alejandro is being himself?... Especially since Alejandro's family shuns him for being himself? 🦕🦖🦕

Now you're speaking my language.

One of the most common running themes in all/near enough all Alenoah central AUs is having Noah be the first person to see past Alejandro's persona and actually appreciate the person he is, or at the very least prefer the real Alejandro to his mask of perfection. It's one of the draws of the ship itself; the idea that Noah, being the blunt person that he is, can and will wage a war of attrition against the walls Alejandro has built up around himself- not just to keep others out, but also to repress the more authentic aspects of himself to himself- in order to reveal the person beneath.

I touched on this a little bit in a previous post concerning this AU, but Alejandro and Noah both see glimpses of the other that they try so valiantly to hide- in Noah's case, Alejandro sees hints of the scheming mindset he's pretty much supressed under layers of apathy and sloth (as Noah's laziness is one of his biggest character foils, alongside his snarky attitude), and in Alejandro's case he reveals tid bits of information about the Real Alejandro, not the persona he's usually portraying himself as, which is enough to humanise him in Noah's eyes.

They both become People Of Interest in each other's eyes, because they're both puzzles to be solved. Alejandro's curious and competitive to a fault so he'd dedicate himself to unravelling the layers behind Noah's stony exterior, as he'd see Noah's continued distance as a challenge. That's a given. But the topic at hand here is Noah's interest in Alejandro.

Because Noah's not exactly competitive, so why would he be so interested in unveiling the real Alejandro? That's simple; Noah values authenticity. Look at his friendship group, it consists of people who are unapologetically themselves. Noah is also unapologetically himself, in all of his sarcastic glory. So of course he's see flickers of the real, authentic Alejandro and his natural inquisitiveness would be piqued- a novelty for him, as Noah's staunch apathy generally tends to override any semblance of curiosity.

So Noah goes out of his way to make notes of the small interests Alejandro offhandedly mentions at one point or another, like palaeontology or puppetry or even his fifteen-step skincare routine- things that Alejandro shows genuine excitement or passion over that shines through the cracks of his perfect persona. He sees the dorky giddiness Alejandro experiences when Noah lets him ramble on about how Jurassic Park was incredibly inaccurate from a scientific standpoint but monumental for people's interest in palaeontology (or something along those lines, I don't know I'm not a dinosaur nerd) and suddenly the annoyingly flirtatious faker he's spent the better half of his time on the jet is A Whole Ass Person with interests and passions and a sense of depth he's been so bereft of until now. Suddenly Alejandro's more than just the antagonist of the show Noah's working on, he's an interesting person that the bookworm finds himself wanting to know more about. And, perhaps, he finds himself growing genuinely fond of the person behind the mask.

And he uses those notes to prompt Alejandro into sharing more of himself, the real authentic Alejandro, in the privacy of their interactions.

At first, Alejandro's fairly oblivious to what Noah's doing, since he's so caught up in his own enjoyment of Noah's company plans to essentially do the same to Noah that he barely notices his own tricks being used against him.

Of course, he's also just elated at being able to infodump to someone who isn't outright penalising him for doing so; not that I think Alejandro is even aware that what he's doing is infodumping, nor the fact that he's so obviously autistic, because his family is a particular brand of awful that would never let him get a proper diagnoses and in all likelihood forced him to mask/supress his symptoms.

It isn't until Alejandro realises that he's shared a lot of information about himself that he (as a Burromuerto) is expected to keep close to his chest, and he sees the glimmers of satisfaction in Noah's intelligent eyes, that the archvillain catches on to the fact that he's been played. But the thing that really catches him off-guard isn't the trickery, it's the fact that Noah's done nothing with the uncharacteristic displays of vulnerability.

Alejandro can't understand why Noah hasn't taken advantage of his "weakness" yet. Inevitably leading to him confronting the assistant, as Alejandro isn't the type to "let sleeping dogs lie" so to speak, and he's still very much so in the one-track mindset of winning the competition- thus he assumes that any show of vulnerability can and will lead to his untimely elimination. But when he practically demands that Noah reveal what he's been planning, why he's been sneakily collecting information on him, all Noah can do is shrug his shoulders and say;

"I guess I just like seeing the real you. That's all."

And Alejandro doesn't know how to respond to that. No one's ever wanted the real him, he's always had to play the role of the perfect son, the perfect brother. He doesn't understand.

And like most people when they're faced with a foreign concept they have no basis of behaviour for, he lashes out.

[izvmimi]

All Roads Lead to Love? - Chapter II

cw: canon-typical violence. quirk use. oc characters are introduced. reader has a described quirk. Please see additional masterlist warnings! Masterlist

The remainder of the week passes without consequence. This new information about your life doesn’t change anything, because even if you can see the same man on every news channel, you have nothing to discuss and your lives don’t overlap. 

Sitting by a couple of teenage girls at a train station and hearing them speculate about Uravity and Deku on your way to work the next day adds particularly to this sentiment. Their longstanding will they won’t they is only part of the reason why you’ve never made your feelings known. Uravity is perfect for him in every way, after all. You just wish they would hurry up and go public, hopefully even get married, so you can stop addressing the niggling feeling that perhaps, just perhaps, all these years you’ve made a mistake.

When you find your way into the clinic, Junko is wide-eyed and excited to hear everything you learned overnight, and you conveniently leave the part where in at least five universes except yours, not only are you not single, you’re romantically involved with Mr. Number One Pro Hero Deku himself. 

“Who knocked the first one up? I have to know.”

You eye the Deku bobblehead on her work desk you’d desensitized yourself to, and shrug, pretending you don’t know.

“Any add-ons today?” you ask instead, and disappear into the back room before she can ask you more questions. At least you know what you’d look like if you were pregnant.

—

Sorry I can’t make it tonight. Please let me know if you or Iida need anything.

Izuku’s voice to speech has a tendency to make him sound excessively formal, but it’s better than typing in a hurry and having to correct ten individual typos, cursed by clumsy, large hands. He’s rushing to the third out of five meetings today - the unwelcome side effect of being One to Watch (although he wonders at one point he’s simply There given how long it’s been) - and then he’s set for a patrol in a particularly dangerous neighborhood for the evening. He wishes he could trade it, but considering the point of the patrol was less to fight a specific enemy but to show a strong Hero presence, specifically his presence, he’s aware that it must be him.

Ochaco will understand. After all, he’s been with Ochaco at Iida’s bedside most days this week in the evenings given a recent injury, and even if Ochaco won’t say it, perhaps the two do need some time alone. They’d both been reluctant to reveal their affections for each other, given Ochaco’s history with him, but a part of Izuku’s soul understands that this arrangement was probably for the better anyway. While he loved Ochaco dearly, he’d always had the sense something was wrong about them, like momentum having him hurtling in the wrong direction. But there’s not much you can do when one of your best friends proclaims their love for you where everyone can see, and you’re just a high schooler with the weight of the world on your shoulders and then some, and there’s even less you can do when the person you’d long hoped would return your feelings seemed to be preoccupied with someone else.

Either way, years have passed and there are no hard feelings between the trio of friends, and Izuku particularly has simmered down on the prospect of love. 

Somewhat. 

Just minutes later, a reporter asks him for the third time this month if he and Uravity have considered working as a pair, and he smiles and nods before politely redirecting the question to praising her talent profusely. He understands easily why she’s reluctant to go public with Iida, and wishes desperately he wasn’t in her way.

Perhaps in another universe, if they had ended up loving each other, this aspect of the job would be easier - the media circus would have died out by now; they’d both be able to focus on doing what they chose to do with their lives, which is be Heroes and help as many people as possible.

They’d be able to live quietly.

The reporter then asks if he’s still in contact with most of the people he went to school with. This question takes him aback, and he blinks for a moment as he watches the young woman before him resettle in her seat, eyes hungry for information.

He runs through the list of everyone he’s known. He’s 28 now, and it’s been a decade since he’s graduated from high school. Most of the people he’s known he interfaces with on at least a weekly to monthly basis, save for a select few like Shoto, Katsuki, Iida and Ochaco that he sees almost daily. He admits he hasn’t seen Koda in a while, now that he lives in the forest similar to the Wild Wild Pussycats, nor Jirou who dedicated more of her life to music these days, and then his thoughts settle on you.

He knows what you’re up to, but he hasn’t spoken to you in over a year, despite remembering your last conversation at UA’s 10 year reunion. Brief - you were already slightly tipsy, and you smiled at him, but seemed disinterested in whatever he had to say, almost like you wanted to leave as soon as possible. He’d asked you how your clinic was going, and you’d laughed, the warmth of alcohol deepening the complexion in your cheeks, and said noncommittally, “it’s going,” before turning back to your friends. You’d once been so excited to tell him every thought running through your head, and you’d bounce off ideas for hours, discussing everything from Quirks to biology to society to your hopes and dreams, and after just a few years apart, he received next to nothing.

Leave her alone, Midoriya, is all that ran through his head, after that, and he politely bowed and left. 

“Yes, we all help each other out when needed!” he replies. It isn’t a lie. For every one of his classmates, even you. If you called him, he would come to your rescue. Anytime.

When the interview ends, he wishes for a moment that he had the courage to call. 

—

The last person you could have expected to call you, calls you on a Thursday afternoon, as you make your way out of work, and from his voice, you can tell he’s surprised you actually sought to answer the phone. 

“I… uh… wow. Hey.”

“Hey.”

Your cheeks warm, but it’s not love, it’s the nostalgia of several years coming back, and the fact that your high school boyfriend seems flustered to speak to you despite years of lost contact.

“You never changed your number,” Akira says, and you laugh. You can envision him easily, after all social media makes it such that no one truly becomes a stranger, and you know that he’s crinkled he has the same goofy smile on his face that helped you forget all that you’d been through in the Hero course, reminded you that there was more to life than self-sacrifice.

“You didn’t change yours,” you’re quick to reply.

“Touché.”

You can tell he’s grinning now, and it makes your heart light. You’re walking towards the train station and it’s a spring afternoon; you can see lovers hold hands as they walk past you, and you can’t remember the last time you’ve been on a date. 

And as if he knows how you feel, he asks you on one.

“The truth is you’ve been on my mind a lot recently.”

“Are you newly single?” you ask. It’s meant to be a playful jab, but you can tell he’s stung when he replies, “Newly isn’t the word for it, but yes, I am single.”

You blow air through your nose, but Akira is harmless. He makes his way around women easily with a silly sort of charm, and being easy on the eyes, but he’s not the type to break a woman’s heart. If anything, you were the one who broke his by ending things when you decided to focus on graduate school.

“Remember how I really liked enka?” 

Evenings in the dorm rooms laid side by side with shared headphones come to mind. 

“Yeah. Are you famous now?” you tease. He tuts at you, but adds,

“Come to my open mic night on Friday. I’ll buy you sashimi afterwards and we can go drinking.”

You think for a moment that in 5 separate universes, you’re in love with Izuku and maybe you should figure out what that’s about, but in this one, Izuku is nowhere to be found and perhaps it’s more important for you to hear your ex-boyfriend belt ballads and loosen up over sake and sake don.

You think for a moment, and then say, “Sure.”

—

There’s probably a social crime involved in inviting your friends to a date, and you can tell Akira’s a bit annoyed about it from the slight scrunch of his eyebrows when he watches you walk into the bar with two of your closest friends flanking your sides. He’s at the front already, and waves at you enthusiastically, and he’s every bit the cute boy from the support class who helped you with your pageant routine (you didn’t win that year, but you placed thanks to him), just sharper in the face, and with longer wavy dark hair.

You wave back, and your friends push you to the front and take their seats in the back. They’d also both gone to UA, and one was in the hero class with you, while the other was a year ahead, in the support class, and recognizes Akira, even if she hadn’t particularly approved of him in the past. She hadn’t exactly disliked him, but you could tell she was less warm when it came to him. Your other friend doesn’t seem to recognize him immediately, turning immediately to order the two of you drinks.

You slip into the open seat beside Akira and he offers you a drink and a rose. It’s cheesy but it makes you smile.

“I’m going to wow you, just so you know,” he promises as he makes his way on stage. You raise your eyebrow, as if to say ‘prove it’ while he skips onto the stage.

And he’s a hit, all flashing teeth and low notes, and you can feel your face warm every time he sings in your direction. He’s always had a beautiful voice, and easily flustered, you look down at your drink, heart thumping. 

And then, in a stroke of misfortune (to you), he slips your name into the song, and when you look up at him, he’s reaching a hand out towards you, bidding you to come on stage.

The very idea feels like hell to you. The rest of the bar’s patrons watch you and cheer and you glance at your friends, both of whom are waving their hands to push you on stage. When you look back at Akira, he’s still smiling, but you can feel the tinge of anxiety at the idea of you rejecting him in public. You wouldn’t, would you?

You can’t.

You slowly rise to take his hand, as people clap around you, but before you can take another step, before you can embarrass yourself in front of a room full of people, there’s a deafening sound that comes from your right side that practically stuns you, and shortly after, a forceful blast of air and shattered concrete follows and nearly knocks you off your feet.

The ringing of your ears mutes the abounding screams in the room. Your fortifying Quirk kicked in just in time, so you weren’t thrown that far, but bodies are strewn across the room. You don’t see Akira, and the right side of the room is practically cleared with tables and chairs tossed haphazardly and people scrambling for cover or already unconscious.

Adrenaline rushes through your veins, but you act first. You are a Hero after all, even if you’ve been out of the fray for years. A quick glance lets you know that your friends are already in action, trying to recover a few people thrown over the bar, and you attempt to push rubble off of you and start rescues.

Your Quirk activates again to fortify yourself as you begin to move, but a second, louder explosion occurs, one that does actually knock you off your feet, destroying part of the foundation of the building. The ceiling starts to cave in just above you - you’ve always had the best luck - and you’re too slow to move before it all comes crashing down.

You put yourself into a protective huddle, hopeful for your Quirk to minimize your damage, but never feel the pain of falling wreckage. 

“... Hi.”

Says Izuku Midoriya, hovering over you and shielding your body from harm with a piece of the ceiling held carefully in his hands. 

The love of your life in at least five universes and your current savior.

Your eyes meet and hold firmly.

“Hi, I-Izu.. Deku.”

Time seems to slow to a stop for a moment, then comes back up to pace when you let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding, your lungs suddenly burning in demand of oxygen. Izuku watches you carefully for a moment, really takes you in, even if you’re quick to thank him before looking around for someone else to save. You’re okay, just shaken; you’ve noticed him for a fleeting moment and now your attention is gone. You turn and scream your friend’s name, and he throws the large block of concrete to the side, remembering his job has only begun.

He’s happy he could do something for you, despite it all. There are more people to save, you remind him with your quick movements, the activation of your quirk to stabilize the first injured man’s bleeding as you crouch around him. He springs back into action - after all, he was meant to chase the culprits of those blasts, and can’t be sidetracked.

But this time, he has resolved to say more to you when the dust clears.

—

“Rampage, are you hurt? You did a good job back there.”

You can hear your Hero friend, code name Rampage, chat politely with Izuku as they both approach to where you’re huddled in a makeshift rehabilitation corner, a couple of people with the more severe injuries laid out on the ground, rolled up table cloths beneath their heads. No one is gravely injured more than you can heal with your Quirk, but you’ve exhausted enough of your body’s reserves that your head is starting to swim. She’s saying something playful about how Deku stole her thunder, when you turn to both of them and give a report, as Heroes are wont to do naturally.

When he comes over, you remind yourself to remain cordial but businesslike, despite your heart pounding hard in your chest. Nothing happened. Nothing changed. No clones or any lingering delusions can change that.

”I think we’ve accounted for everyone, right? These two -“ you gesture over to the people you’ve slightly sedated to reset a couple of broken limbs, “probably need to get to the hospital just so they have follow-up but it’s not urgent.”

Rampage nods, and Izuku pauses before doing the same. You remember now - the last time you interacted in this capacity was during the earliest parts of the war before things had gotten far out of your realm of ability and you were more helpful taking care of the sick and wounded. It feels like so long ago you’ve been active as a traditional Hero. Rampage on the other hand has kept in contact with Deku cursorily due to her familiarity with other Heroes of a similar level, particularly the noisy one named Dynamight, and while she and Deku are not exactly best friends, they get along well. He glances at her for reassurance before stepping forward to you.

“Thank you for helping out,” Izuku says with a reassuring smile. You try not to look at him when you reply, “Of course.”

In one universe, you have small children that look like some combination of the both of you. In this one, you can barely look each other in the eye.

There is a pause that lasts a little bit too long again, and you don’t notice the smile that forms on Rampage’s face as she steps backwards, hoping not to be noticed by either of you, but the moment dispels when Camilla, your Support friend, calls for all of your attention from across the destroyed hall. She looks absolutely ridiculous, enough that you stifle a laugh, with all manners of cutlery, jewelry, watches, phones, and anything metal, stuck to her from head to toe due to activation of her magnetic quirk.

”Anything you guys are missing?” She asks, stepping over rubble to meet you guys. You’re not sure how she can even see at this point with nearly every inch of her body covered. Close behind her is Akira, whose eyes widen once he spots you.

”You’re okay!” He exclaims running towards you. It’s almost theatrical, as if he hadn’t disappeared to preserve his own safety first, but he wraps you into a tight hug, as though you were long lost lovers. Next to you, Izuku stiffens for a split second, something Rampage and Camilla both notice, and Akira holds you at arms’ length, pretending he can’t see him.

Akira never liked Deku very much in high school.

”I’m so glad you’re okay, everything got so terrifying and…”

Your head is starting to pound, and Akira is gently pulling you away from the rest of the group, you notice, until Izuku speaks up.

”Hey, ___, you don’t look so good.” His voice is a little firmer, and he clears his throat. “Don’t move her so much, I think she needs to sit down.”

Akira flashes him a look that’s slightly poisonous, Camilla notices, then smiles to herself.

“Of course. I’ve just been agitated since our date got ruined, that’s all.” Akira stresses the word and Rampage rolls her eyes.

She never liked him either.

Izuku almost asks ‘what number?’ out loud then realizes it’s an insane question to ask of the thousands he could have reasonably asked. But he’s curious, you don’t seem like you’re particularly smitten enough by him as he tries to help lower you to a sitting position. 

The paramedics and other reinforcements are starting to fill in. Izuku keeps an eye on you as he coordinates with Rampage and the rest of the Heroes that now arrive to clean up wreckage and get everyone back in place. Akira’s rubbing your shoulders while you look dazed, too drained in the absence of your energy-conserving Hero suit to shrug him off, and it irks him. Somehow, in just seeing you again for this brief moment, he’s become a high schooler again, thinking of the right words to say, standing in front of your dorm room door before giving up and leaving. He’s seventeen again and watching you poorly conceal a bouquet of flowers he wishes he were the one to give you, avoiding cutting through the grass on the UA campus grounds even though it would get you back faster. He’s eighteen and wondering why even saving the world isn’t enough to make you look at him before you part ways into the adult world that opens before you, and admonishing himself for even having the selfish thought.

He’s shy little Izuku and he wishes you liked him back.

“Deku, do you have a moment to talk with us?” a cheery reporter says, thrusting a microphone in his face. They’re everywhere, he swears, prettier and more persistent every time. He’s polite again, flashing the practiced million-watt-smile.

And just like that he’s Deku, the hero once again.

—

Electrolyte water and rest does its magic, and as you make breakfast the next morning, you wonder if you should consider packing part of your suit with you, or at least perhaps just the gauntlets that you used back in high school. A modified version that is compact and can slip into your purse so that you never find yourself in a similar situation. You’re greeted the next morning by text by an apologetic Akira who promises you sushi another weekend, which you decide to reply to later, and texts from your friends who make sure that you’re okay, and an email notification for an incident report due in the next two weeks.

You sigh.

That’s why you don’t do Hero work.

Scooping eggs onto a slice of toast, you settle onto your couch, snuggling close with a body pillow and wishing your mind would stop racing for a moment. You don’t want to admit it, but all you can think about is Izuku and his stupid handsome face, and the way his mouth seemed to part every time you met each other's eyes, as if he has a million and one things to say to you but has to hold back. You wish he’d go make those cloying eyes at everyone lined up for his interest. There’s no real claim to him after all, at least not in this universe, regardless of what supposedly exists in the multiverse. You don’t even know if that’s real after all; it’s something that absolutely disrespects the laws of physics, but then again, you know many people whose Quirks do. Aizawa’s adopted daughter Eri is the first to come to mind. 

You should do some more research, you decide. 

After spending a couple hours on databases and online medical journals researching the existence of Quirks that can interact with the multiverse, you come up with nearly nothing, save for a case report of a person whose Quirk kept generating a wormhole for him that handed him whatever tool he needed (most often chopsticks for some reason). Groaning, you decide Kazuo is unique and either way you’ll see him again in 3 months, and reassess how he’s doing, possibly get a (better) case report out of it. You wonder if he’ll generate the same set of clones, or hopefully a new set of clones, ones who aren’t romantically entangled with Izuku Midoriya, ones more like you who never cared much for him at all, or at least knew, like you, to back off when they saw him standing on the edge of a cliff with the girl who was made for him.

Maybe if you look at the narratives your clones wrote to you, crumpled in a drawer in the corner of your desk, you’d find some flaws. Perhaps this was all a big trick the universe was playing on you, and feelings sitting in your subconscious, sleeping for practically a decade, are now flooding back with a vengeance. It must be the power of suggestion. You do not love him. You do not even particularly like or dislike him. You feel neutral. Neutral is good.

The narratives don’t help. What also doesn’t help is the fact that you’ve stored them in the same place as you keep all other sentimental material, including a diary you kept sparingly since you were a kid, in addition to letters from friends and family, and trinkets you’re afraid to lose. Curiosity has killed many cats and you, so you pore through it as well. Everything in that period of adolescence is amplified, and you went through war, so of course you remember a strong feeling of love that might not be real and should not be held on to.

The diary doesn’t help either. 

Of course, some entries are silly and whimsical like you’d expect from a young teen. Excerpts about friends, family, teachers that annoy you, celebrities you think are cute. You find remnants of an old crush on Suneater that must have been so short-lived you can’t remember it, and it surprises you. 

And then there’s your thoughts about Izuku, sparse but poignant. 

Oh yes, you were in love, and your entries end there. With war, with adulthood, with the life you have now.

[starwrighter]

I am not a baby!! (Yes you are)

(Ao3) (Masterpost) (Previous) (Next)

(Chapter 12 lets gooo!)

The audacity of this fish! Eyelids still heavy, brain still longing to go back to sleep. Shooting the meanest glare he could muster at the fish, hoping desperately that his displeasure would be received as intended. Untangling himself from the curtain, Danny rubbed his face. The folds of the fabric imprinted on his cheek leaving a pink mark that was quickly fading with his continued consciousness.

Danny pulled a peeper out of his makeshift freezer. Thankfully, it was still frozen. At least some aspects of his powers stayed the same. Sucking in a deep breath chilled water trickled through the gaps between his fingers, peeper going limp in his hands. His little workstation lacked a stove, a massive oversight on his part, but an understandable one since he didn’t have nearly enough materials to make a stable oven. The only thing he could make at the moment was an explosive hazard that’d cook anything in a five-foot radius to a charred crisp.

Charred Danny was a limited-time special dish, cooked via portal, and was unfortunately out of season forever. Like a discontinuation of tuna-flavored Oreos, nobody would be sad about it not being available. Surely, his fishy stalker would prefer him burnt like a marshmallow, but Danny isn't willing to indulge that preference. If he was going to be eaten, you bet your ass he’d be making this unpleasant for both of them.

Sheesh, he needed to find that guy's name. Or give him a new one. An insult wouldn’t do. Names had to mean something. This isn't a DND game, he can't just use a fantasy name generator and call it a day. No, this name had to be cool, not another “Inviso-Bill” scenario. His legs almost gave out in despair at the thought of being the one to give someone a name so stupid! He hadn’t done anything to deserve a punishment like that. Sure, his whole tapping routine was a migraine and a half, but he hadn’t done any harm. Even when Danny attacked him, he didn’t do anything, despite the fact he could’ve killed Danny with a single swipe from those razor-sharp claws.

Gritting his teeth at the thought of dying a third time in such an embarrassing way, he glanced down at the floppy fish still in his hands. Completely inedible, but Danny was getting pretty hungry at this point. Finding the strength to freeze the damn fish was difficult enough, he couldn’t just shoot lasers out his eyes and suddenly have a fully cooked peeper in his hands! All they had right now was the fabricator… Ugh, he scrunched his nose at the thought, but really, there were no other options for him at the moment. Oh, the ways humanity suffered for survival. Reluctantly giving the thawed peeper to cook, Danny began brainstorming names.

More information would be needed, he couldn’t just name him based on nothing! Swiping back to the fish guy’s databank, Danny studied it thoroughly. According to the PDA, this guy’s DNA was spliced, altered. Not in the getting electrocuted to death sense, but the genetically modified as an embryo kind of way. A perfectly functional hybrid between two unknown species that Danny guessed shouldn’t have been able to breed. But regardless, they came together to make this behemoth of a creature who looked as if he crawled through the deepest depths of hell just to scratch his freaking window.

!!!

He was going to call this guy Dami, short for damnation. It wasn’t an insult, it was cool! Danny would have died a third time to have been given a name as cool as that! Anything would’ve been better than Invis-o-bill. If Dami turned out to be the one who set up the ecto dampener he’d take back his cool nickname.

With a loud ding, Danny’s attention is brought back to his breakfast, now steaming at the fabricator. A small temperature warning flashed on his PDA the tablet setting a timer to let the fish cool down. If this had been any other food Danny might’ve been offended. The true way to eat something hot was to stuff it in your mouth and breathe out steam like a dragon while your taste buds burned! But this was fish, and a fish cooked by a fabricator no less. It was sure to taste like chemicals and Danny wasn’t looking to prolong the experience by choking on said chemical-tasting fish.

So he listened to the PDA if only to avoid a Skynet situation. It might just be data corruption but the AI seemed to be at the end of its rope. Remembering this AI had the choice to kill him with misinformation, messing with it further wasn’t the best idea. He’d toe the line of trolling, but ignoring it now felt like an invitation for it to short-circuit in his hands.

When the timer went off, Danny snatched the fish off the fabricator. The fish was still warm in his hands as he tore into it. Flaky, a faint, ashy aftertaste, barely noticeable if you hadn’t expected the off taste. Gutting the fish took away most of the artificial taste. Who knew vaporizing bones, organs, and tendons could fuck over any kind of palatability? Lasers sterilized the meat, giving it a hint of Space salmonella wasn’t a disease anyone was eager to catch. Maybe he’d get an award for his discovery but he’d rather not be sick with an alien infection when medical knowledge was as limited as it was now. Access to the intergalactic network was pretty much non-existent. They were out of the space confederation reach, meaning he was completely and utterly screwed if he caught anything serious.

What could bandages do for food poisoning? A whole lot of nothing, that’s what! They could only hope a doctor survived the crash and they could find them before any significant injuries happened. … Significant injuries to other survivors, that is. Danny’s going to fight a big ass fish!

Launching himself out the hatch seaglide in hand, Danny began circling Dami. His gigantic tail dragged against the sand, and he could only wonder how he got here in the first place. The shallows were too small for him to be a native. His body was built for the extreme pressures of water up to 8156 meters deep. His preferred environment should be as deep as deep should go. The probable pressure difference between the shallows and Dami’s home habitat was tremendous! It can't be healthy for him to be this close to the surface. Is this a beached whale situation? Did the crash damage his home?

With a databank incomplete, answering any important questions became increasingly difficult. Alterra’s handheld scanner was built to understand the basics. Deeper scans could show him the most complex parts of his biology. If he could build a beefier scanner, it would make things so much easier for him.  Designing a table was several difficulty levels below designing a scanner that could record a species' entire makeup at a molecular level.  Mistakingly blasting a poor, unsuspecting fish with radiation just to understand how this leviathan functioned would end poorly for both of them. It was easy for him to forget Dami's a teenager for his species. If he went around taking bone, blood, and muscle samples, not only would he feel bad but he'd probably be disemboweled by Dami's mom or Dad. While he's willing to throw hands with Dami, a 3v1 wouldn't be fair for the leviathans.  Observation was what his self-preservation limited him to, and if this species happened to be one who liked getting into fights? That was a free blood sample right there. All he had to do now was stop him from destroying the coral tubes

Danny darted underneath Dami’s tail, the fish jolting backward, pulling his tail with him. Gritting his teeth, Danny continued to chase Dami’s tail, bringing the large fish closer and closer to the deeper grassy plateaus. Like dancing, a swing from Danny's blade triggers his partner into the right moves. Of course, the right moves were away from his fucking base!  Dami might mean well, but in the end, he was scaring the bladderfish and destroying the shallows with his sheer mass!

Swinging one last time, Dami finally got the memo and swam a small distance away. Not quite close enough to see his entire base, but close enough for Danny to see him through the window. Like a kicked puppy, Dami rested his head on his arms. It almost made him feel bad, but the trail of uprooted plants and panicking fish the leviathan left in his wake canceled out any guilt.

“Caution. Continued degradation of the Aurora’s drive core may result in a quantum detonation. Continuing to monitor,”

…Shit.

@ashoutinthedarkness @avelnfear @meira-3919 @thought-u-said-dragon-queen @hugsandchaos @blep-23 @zeldomnyo @bytheoldwillowtree @justwannabecat @shepherdsheart @starlightcat04 @stargazing-bookwyrm @pupstim @dragongoblet @noxcheshire

[beatingdrumspouringwine]

Dionysian Festivals in History

You'll never believe who procrastinated on their thesis by writing this. (It definitely wasn't me, if anyone's asking.)

One of the more common difficulties that comes with being a Hellenic Polytheist (or, really, any follower of a pre-Christian religion) is a lack of knowledge about how certain festivals were practiced. This problem is especially true in the worship of Dionysos, where many of the practices were unwritten about, due to either common societal knowledge of them, or a more mysterious aspect to them.

I'm going to go over a crash course of historical festivals to Dionysos (using @thegrapeandthefig's Attic Calendar, as is usual), and explain what each festival is, and how it would have been celebrated historically.

We start off at the start of the Gregorian calendar year with Lenaia. This year, it took place from the 22nd to the 29th of January, which translates to the Attic calendar as the 12th to the 19th of Gamelion. There isn't too much information known about what the festival specifically entails, although there are some hints about it on what are known as Lenaia vases. The vases show scenes related to Lenaia and Anthesteria, but scholars are able to differentiate it by looking at what is depicted on the vase (if it's wine, it's Lenaia). Obviously, the drinking of wine was a pretty important part of the festival, as Dionysos' epithet "Lenaios" means "he of the wine-press". There may also have been elements relating to Dionysos' infancy.

The beautiful thing about Lenaia is that it was so vaguely celebrated, historically speaking. There was wine, and perhaps some plays put on, but other than that, a lot of the festival can be left up to the practitioner.

After Lenaia comes Anthesteria, falling this year on February 20th to the 22nd (Anthesterion 11th-13th), and about which there are a good number of resources. This festival was supposed to be* a springtime festival, which was separated into three days: Pithoigia, Choes, and Chytroi, which can be translated as "Jar Opening", "Jugs", and "Pots". It is strange that Anthesteria covers so many themes - new wine, love, and, at the end, death. However, the article Athens' Festival of the New Wine, by Noel Robertson, offers some important insights on this. It seems that the festival commemorated the myth of Icarius and Erigone, which, for the sake of space (and my own time), I'll link to here: Britannica - Erigone. In short, this festival follows their gift of wine, the drinking of this new wine among the mortals, and Icarius and Erigone's deaths at the hands of shepherds, who did not understand the gift they had been given.

Pithoigia: As the translated name suggests, this is the day of the opening of the wine casks which, up until that moment, had been *fermenting throughout the year. From these casks, the Athenians would libate the first wines out to Dionysos. This was also a day where wine was enjoyed by all, not just by Dionysos - Robertson mentions that in ancient Athens, this was the day during which the wine was mixed.

Choes: Choes is day two, which is the day of Jugs. For lack of a better word, this was the most boisterous day of the entire three-day experience. People of all ages and social classes engaged in wine-drinking contests, while in secret, rites were performed in which the wife of the current king was married to Dionysos. There *was also a tradition in which public shrines were roped off, although this seems to be related to the story of Orestes, who was considered to be an unclean man. Strangely enough, despite the boisterous and celebratory connotations of the day, it was also considered to be an unlucky day.

Chytroi: This third day of Anthesteria likely commemorated the deaths of the two followers of Dionysos who were given the gift of wine-making from Him: Icarius and Erigone. Icarius was killed by shepherds, who believed him to be poisoning them, and Erigone killed herself after finding her dead father. This is where the (with *context, somewhat grim) tradition of swinging at the Anthesteria comes from. This was also the day in which the wine was ritually mixed. This, from what I can gather, means that the wine wasn't necessarily mixed for use among mortals, but rather mixed and consecrated to Dionysos Himself.

Ultimately, Anthesteria is an incredibly complex festival, and I've barely scraped the surface on it in this post. The days are a bit mobile in celebratory orders as well, as it seems that many of the fine points of the festival can be moved around.

The next festival we encounter in the Athenian calendar is the City Dionysia, or Greater Dionysia. This year it falls on March 19th-25th (Elaphebolion 11th-16th). Thankfully, this celebration is one with a lot less ambiguity about its traditions, mainly because it's turned out a lot of things which have stuck around in the world, and remain to this day, such as the Greek plays. In short, this was a large festival which took place in Athens, and involved the production and showing of multiple comedies, dramas, and satyr plays. As the patron of the theater, obviously Dionysos' name was attached to it.

Beyond the theatrical aspect of it, many sources show that Dionysian processions were a pretty big part of the historical celebrations. To be perfectly honest, my view on it is almost like a weeklong Dionysian Mardi Gras.

From here, we have a massive jump of almost half a year to the next festival, which is Kybernesia. This year, it takes place on September 10th, or Boedromion 8th. I have my own hot takes on this long span in which there are no Dionysian festivals, but that's going to wait until another post in which I can truly unleash my full opinions upon the world.

The Kybernesia is celebrated in the modern day as a Dionysian festival, but in all the academic sources I found, it is listed as an Athenian naval festival. One source says that it linked to Theseus after he sailed from Crete, which would maybe explain the potential Dionysian connection, as it was on this journey from Crete to Athens that Theseus abandoned Ariadne on the shores of Naxos. However, if anyone else has a more in-depth source on a Dionysian connection to the Kybernesia, I'd be really happy to see it!

At some point during the month of December was held the Rural Dionysia, which is similar to the City Dionysia, but just... more rural, more rustic, perhaps a bit more rowdy. Its celebration was determined by various local governments, so there's a lot of flexibility on when it can be celebrated. According to @thegrapeandthefig's calendar, "Popular choices [for celebration] include the 7th, 8th, 11th, or 14th."

This is where the current list of Dionysian festivals on the Attic calendar ends. However, it's definitely not the end of celebrated Dionysian festivals in general. There were plenty more outside of Athens which don't have as many resources on their historical celebrations (Lampteria being one). I might go over these festivals in some other post, but for now, y'all get the Athenian calendar!

*supposed to be in spring refers to the fact that, for most folks living in the northern regions of the Northern Hemisphere, it's almost definitely still winter when the Anthesteria rolls around.

Sources:

Lenaia:

Wikipedia - Lenaia

Sarah Pierce - Visual Language and Concepts of Cults on the "Lenaia Vases"

Anthesteria:

Britannica - Anthesteria

Noel Robertson - Athens' Festival of the New Wine

William Nickerson Bates - The Lenaea, The Anthesteria, and the Temple [Limnais]

B. C. Dietrich - A Rite of Swinging During the Anthesteria

City/Greater Dionysia:

Britannica - Great Dionysia

Kybernesia:

Valerij Goušchin - Athenian Synoikism of the Fifth Century B.C., or Two Stories of Theseus

Stephen D. Lambert - Parerga III: The Genesia, Basile and Epops Again (just a note: if you read through these resources, the information on Kybernesia is hidden in the footnotes or only mentioned once in the text.)

Rural Dionysia:

Leonhard Shmitz - Dionysia

Credits:

Thanks to @just-another-dionysus-devotee for suggesting this as a topic! It was really fun to research this topic!

And the divider design in this post is from @cafekitsune

[mybworlds]

Chapter 1

Pairing: Javier Peña x F!Reader (no use of Y/N)

Summary: Javier Peña and his partner can't stand each other, but to take down an old enemy they are forced to work together and pretend to be a complacent married couple.

Series warnings: language , violence, alcohol use, slow burn, angst, mutual pining, smut (18+ MDNI), creampie, oral sex (m and f), fingering, masturbation (m and f), trauma and SA referencing.

Masterlist

Before to start… so here we are… I am very excited and nervous to write about this story 'cause I really care 'bout it. 🙏 I'm not an expert on these spy agencies, so if I got something wrong, don't get angry or offended. 😬 And maybe some aspects of Peña's character may change, if it's necessary. I don’t know how many chapters the story will have. If you want to follow my new fanfiction, I appreciate it 🙏

Thanks @vase-of-lilies for the banner

If there's one thing you really can't stand it's Monday mornings, not finding coffee on your desk in the office, not being able to catch a criminal after a long investigation that has taken you so much time and energy, you are in the office and you persistently look at the documentation related to Alvaro Monteiro, also known as 'El Diablo,' a drug dealer known in South America but also in half of the European countries, now also infamous for exploitation of prostitution and organ trafficking in countries like Mexico and Argentina.

You shake your head trying to bring order to the few testimonies about his movements, sightings, and the last deals he conducted; those who could really talk are afraid for their relatives and their own lives; those who talk more are found with a bullet in their head somewhere.

You hold your head in your hands watching the faces of all the young women, men and even children caught up in this so far endless trail of blood and death. You don't know when you will arrest Monteiro, but you know one thing for sure, you will not let up until you catch him. They wouldn't call you Bulldog like that.

Everyone whispers this nickname of yours because of your determination at work and then because, if you start pursuing a case, it becomes your priority even over your own life. None of your colleagues, however, has ever dared to openly call you that. With the exception of your insufferable colleague Javier Peña.

Speaking of him, he's a huge pain in the ass, a huge Don Juan who is convinced he can have everyone at his feet with that grin and his dark eyes always ready to look seductively at anyone who comes his way. He even hit on you once, but you told him everything you thought about him, about his absurd ways of getting information about investigations, about how he slept with half the office and all of them, even though they had been dumped by him, kept kissing the ground he walked on!

That's crazy.

By the way, here he comes into the office, agent Peña, hair perfectly coiffed, glasses on his nose, winking smile, and everyone looking at him dreamily, you roll your eyes and shake your head to go back to looking at the Monteiro dossier.

"Good mornin'." he greets you in a detached tone.

By the way, you and Peña can't stand each other. Not because you stood him up, or maybe even because of that, but because both of you were engaged on the Monteiro case a couple of years earlier. You each had your own method of investigation, as you do now for that matter, and you ended up pointing a gun at each other losing your target and then blaming each other in front of your boss. Your boss removed you from the case.

From that moment on, Peña treats you frostily, if he has to spite you he does, if he has to tell you a nasty thing he tells you, he doesn't think twice about it, if he has any news he keeps it to himself and reports it to your superior making you look like an amateur always bent over papers and little in action.

"Good mornin', Agent Peña," you greet him in the same tone.

Within a year of being removed from the case, however, Peña continued to keep his female informants - mostly prostitutes - on the alert about all that might be his movements, you for your part have always kept an eye on money movements and possible strange transfers from American to Mexican banks and vice versa, all of which led your boss to reassign both of you the case, making you promise to cooperate and share any information that either of you might obtain. Collaboration that has not happened so far, however, not entirely, at least.

Peña lays his palms on the documentation you were sifting through forcing you to look up at him, looking at you insistently with his huge dark eyes with the expression of someone who is studying someone intensely.

You sigh, "What do you want?" you ask him.

"Just to inform you," he replies.

You lean your back against the chair and raise your eyebrows as if to invite him to continue, you cross your arms "That would be news!" you exclaim in an icy tone "I'm all ears."

"Monteiro has been spotted in Paloma Beach, France."

You widen your eyes, spreading your lips wide, he smiles in that annoyed grin.

"Peña. Speak up. Now." you tell him, looking him straight in the eye.

He leans against the desk "I'm glad to have your attention," he says crossing his arms in a satisfied expression of someone who got to a race first "I thought you were too focused on staring at the paper…"

"Peña, you have my attention and if you don't talk right now I'm going to kick your ass and throw you out of my office!" you threaten him in an icy tone "So?"

He sighs, "Always in a good mood, I see!"

"Always a stupid and misplaced sarcasm," you retort using the same tone.

"Whatever," he says showing a green folder in his hands "Monteiro has been spotted in France, in Saint - Jean - Cap - Ferrat." he's telling you, because you're too eager to read news about the narco-trafficker, you get up from your chair and make to pull the clipboard away from him, but he's faster than you and pulls it away from your reach. You almost end up against him, you're within an arm's length of his angular nose and those dark pools, you both immediately retreat. He clears his throat and then resumes, "I was saying, Monteiro has been spotted there and according to this informant of mine he will be there for the next few summer months."

"When would the informant have told you these things?" you ask him raising an eyebrow.

"Does it matter?" he asks you raising an eyebrow as well.

No, not really considering how she must have gotten this information. You don't want to hear him say it, you are bothered by this display of how able he's to get his informants to talk and get comfortable and then get them to confess what he wants to know. No, thank you.

"Have you told Diáz yet?" you ask him, furrowing your brow.

"Claro." he answers you raising his eyebrows with a satisfied air.

"Cabrón." you answer him curtly.

You don't speak Spanish, but obviously living in those parts of South America you had to learn and especially you had to learn how to respond in tone to Peña's exclamations who likes to retort punctually in Spanish. In the early days he was doing it on purpose to retort in Spanish having realized you didn't understand Spanish and who knows how many he must have said to you and you didn't even understand them, but from the moment you started studying Spanish, you started responding in tone leaving him surprised in the early days, then it became a habit of yours to retort on each other with Spanish barbs.

"Muy bien, shall we go?" he asks you.

"Where?"

"Diáz of course! Did you have your coffee this morning, agent?" he asks as he gets up from your desk and adjusts his dark pants.

"And did you ever go to sleep?" you ask him making to head for the door. He does before you, however, and opens the door for you, then makes a hand gesture at which you roll your eyes and snort.

"Let it not be said that agent Peña is not a gentleman!" he exclaims.

"You're supposed to be a gentleman with all the poor girls you screw and then quit!" you exclaim. You just can't stand it, you can't help it.

Diáz is your boss, a man of about fifty, sturdy build, graying hair, big eyes with thick lenses on his nose, he wants everything to work perfectly in his department.

"Sir." you say as you enter his office.

"Sir." Peña greets as he enters the office closing the door "You wanted to see us?"

"Yes, thank you for coming, agents. I know you are both involved in the Monteiro case and as we know Monteiro has now become a world class criminal. I am in contact with departments in other countries and it's been confirmed that he is in France." he pauses "Do you speak French?"

You wrinkle your forehead, "Sir?"

"I need two agents - you -" he says pointing at both of you "to go there in the field in Saint - Jean - Cap - Ferrat to investigate undercover."

"Sir, with all due respect," you continue "but this is perhaps a CIA job-- we-- we are just DEA agents." you state externalizing your concern "We don't have the proper training to…"

"Agent," Diáz resumes, "I understand your fear, but the Monteiro case has become important to all of us. Monteiro could be in France today, the day after he disappeared from circulation again, it's too important for us to catch him."

You watch Peña in the hope of getting his support, but you see him thoughtfully "They will find out right away that we are agents, they might-" you are about to say they might kill you right away or torture you to figure out what you know and then kill you, but it's Peña who interrupts your stream of thought "When are we going to get him?"

Diáz smiles, "Have a seat, now I will explain everything."

Diáz explains to you in hand that you will not be completely alone, there will be CIA men who will be ready to intervene if you deem it necessary. He also explains to you that you will change your names, you will be Blanca Torres and Peña will be Diego Torres, and the role you will have to play. Diáz explains to you you will be two newlyweds on honeymoon ready to enjoy the sea, the sun, but your true goal will be to approach Monteiro and try to understand his plans and catch him.

"Todo claro? " asks your superior.

"Si." replies Peña.

"Está bien, aquí están sus pasaportes. Nadie te hará preguntas en el aeropuerto, pero sé discreto." continues Diáz in Spanish.

"¿Cuándo nos iremos?" you ask him not at all enthusiastically.

"In two days, just enough time to get the final paperwork in order. Needless to say, be discreet, don't ask too many questions around and play smart." he tells you again "Remember your roles and you won't fail." he adds taking your leave.

When Peña closes the office door behind him, you throw yourself into your chair with a despondent air "What do we do now?"

"What do you mean?" he asks you crossing his arms and furrowing his brow.

"Peña, you and I can't stand each other and now we have to pretend to be husband and wife, I don't know if you got that!" you exclaim nervously.

"Sure, Blanca. Or would you prefer, amor?" he asks smiling at you with that slapping face of him.

You roll your eyes; you don't know how you're going to stand him! You hope to catch Monteiro in a few days and put an end to that charade as soon as possible.

Taglist: @love-affair-with-fandoms; @pedr0swh0r3; @angel98624 if you want to be added let me know, if you liked this first part, leave a comment, like or reblog, if you didn't like it, it's okay, be kind and move on 🙂

[morverenmaybewrites]

Hi! I'm so glad your back, Pizza Girl is my favorite fanfic of all time!!!

I have a question, about Jason's life as a adopted son of Bruce Wayne, particularly his relationship with Batfamily (especially Dick and Barbara).

During Jasons POV, he often reflects on this time as being warm and homely, easly more comfortable than his previous conditions of living (duh, but still, positive aspects). Buuut, while thinking about his relationship with members of the family, as much as he appreciates the company and patience, he often remembers feeling scared of being thrown away if he makes a mistake, and rarely mentions bonding time with his siblings.

But on the other hand, from Dick's POV, (that I think is more reliable, because Jason's POV is influenced by his abandonment related trauma), it's painfully, heartbreakingly obvious that he loves Jason like a little brother, and that both before and now he still cares and wishes to have a better relationship with him. Similarly Barbara, who's uncondicionably there for him.

So i was thinking, do you have any headcannons for how was their time together before the kidnapping? Its mentioned that it was hard for Jason to open up, but was there time when they managed to do this? What did they like about each other, did they have favorite activities to do together in their civilian lives?

(I feel like I'm asking for fluff but in reality it's tragedy knowing what inevitably happened)

Ayt, I had been putting off answering these for a while because I had a hard time articulating my thoughts on the matter. I still have a hard time articulating my thoughts, so I'm going to try and break it down.

Jason's Relationship with Bruce

I think for the most part, Jason's relationship with Bruce was informed by the fact that while Bruce deeply loved Jason, he didn't love him in the way Jason needed.

By the time the two of them met, Jason was already deeply scarred by his experiences. He was born into one of Gotham"s poorest districts, to two parents who were neglectful at best and abusive at worst.

So when he was plucked off the grimy streets of Park Row and placed into the Wayne Manor, and got told that now, he is another man's son. I imagine the change would have rattled anyone, let alone a street rat who was used to just barely surviving.

Suddenly, there was food whenever he wanted.

Suddenly, he had a bed, the sheets warm and clean and the mattress so soft that he's scared it will swallow him.

Suddenly, he had a family.

And oh, how deeply hard it was to believe that it was all for him.

I imagine he spent most of those early days waiting for the rug to be pulled out underneath him. For him to wake up one day to find himself back in Crime Alley, an orphan once more.

So a lot of his time in Wayne Manor was actually colored by paranoia that, eventually, they will get bored of him, like a rich socialite getting bored of a yapping dog when it goes out fashion.

He spent most of his time trying to prove himself to Bruce, being the best at what he can be, because you don't throw useful things away.

(It does not help that during this time, Bruce was still reeling from his fight with Dick, and ended up comparing Jason to Dick a lot, something that deeply damaged Jason.).

I think that while Bruce deeply Jason, he just wasn't able to provide the sort of loving environment one should provide to a damaged child. He gave him a home, he gave him food, and shelter, and I imagine that if Jason was the type to ask for things (he wasn't), Bruce would have given it to him without a second thought.

But he also gave him the Robin suit, and a responsibility that was, in truth, far too heavy to place on the shoulders of a child. I think Jason probably treated being Robin as a way to "earn" his position into Wayne Manor.

Batman, after all, needed a sidekick.

And Jason was desperate to give them a reason to let him stay.

But I think, that Jason's time with the Joker also colored how he perceives Bruce (how can it not). It made him forget that they had good days, too. And a lot of them.

Because Bruce did care about Jason. He was patient whenever Jason would explode into fits of anger, he let him have the run of the library, they'd talk about their favorite books, ways to better their arsenal. If they had time, I think the relationship would have turned into something beautiful.

If they had time, I think they would have been the two people in the family who understood each other best.

(But sadly, they did not have time. And these days, the memory of him makes Jason run cold.).

Jason's Relationship with Dick

They actually didn't have much of a relationship! It's something that Dick regrets and wishes to fix.

I headcanon that Jason was adopted shortly after Dick's fight with Bruce and his subsequent departure with Bludhaven. During this time, I think that Dick was busy trying to establish his own life, find his own identity. He didn't have much time to come back to Wayne Manor and get to know his new brother.

Whenever he did come by though, Dick did make an effort with Jason, and I think that mattered.

It mattered too, that he and their father were as different as night and day. While Bruce was subdued and muted, Dick was animated, chattering constantly. Asking questions.

On rare occasions, he'd take Jason out to someplace fun, joking that Bruce's idea of fun would be going through the criminal files.

He was a good big brother, when he was there. But most of the time, he was not. And that made it easier for the Joker to make Jason believe that he didn't care.

Jason's relationship with Barbara

I think that, aside from Alfred, Barbara is the closest to Jason.

While Dick was busy trying to establish himself as Nightwing and Bruce was being...Bruce, it was Barbara who took it upon herself to be Jason's mentor.

She'd often look out for him during patrols, give him pointers during training, and she'd also make it a point to make sure that Jason would be able to relax.

If the Batfam ever organized a movie night or an outing to the city park, it was because of her.

A part of Jason definitely remembers this, which is why at the start of the story, Barbara is the only one he bothers keeping in contact with.

[tsutsumi-kurose]

Tsukasa being bloody just makes me think he was beaten or something even worse.

ooh interesting… by who though and why I would wonder… by the well god? it does seem like the well god has more of a physical tether to the living world and tsukasa in this timeline. it would be interesting to get more information about the well god this arc!! its personality is already really interesting, but one of the most interesting aspects of it to me has been how... it never really struck me as particularly vengeful? at least not toward tsukasa.

on that note, this arc may also give us more insight into what made tsukasa special among the kannagi in the red house… how and why he was able to escape the cavern and interact on some level with the god and with the outside world when the others weren’t. though that’s probably a question for later in the series lol, I’d be thrilled to get a hint about it though!! especially bc that’s probably part of answering what happened to him!! the god didn’t say anything (that we’ve heard/read/seen yet anyway) when tsukasa decided to leave the red house, but was it really okay with it? could amane have changed something that angered the god and caused it to hurt tsukasa? or was the god already upset and the changes to the timeline just gave it the power/opportunity to act on that anger? we’ve never seen the god doing its own dirty work, really, other than bargaining with/manipulating tsukasa, but maybe that doesn’t necessarily mean it can’t do its own work? or maybe it can affect people physically after a certain condition is met? certainly it’s been more hands on this arc, with possessing students, so is that really all the ritual summonings? or maybe it has a unique relationship to tsukasa that gives it more power in this timeline? who knows how it acquired that or why it changed…I wouldn’t be surprised if it involved hurting tsukasa, given the state he’s in ): so you may be onto something ):

if it is blood that tsukasa is covered in, there is the possibility that it could be someone else’s, though i think you’re probably right that it would be his, because the people lost to the ritual don’t seem to die? at least not bloody deaths? though the paper used to summon tsukasa kun bleeds, which is interesting!! I wonder what/who the source of that blood is, and if it's connected to tsukasa's current appearance…

i don't think it necessarily is blood that he's covered in though!! it could be soot or dirt or something else entirely!! not that any of these options bode very well for him... no matter what, i think tsukasa has definitely gone through something pretty horrible in this timeline ): i am both excited and scared to find out what it is ):

[captn-trex]

technical devotion, part eleven: co-existing

content warnings: nightmares, canon-typical violence

last chapter | next chapter | master list | join the taglist

The light of the holoprojector flickered, the image of Rex quivering in the darkened kitchen, the curtains pulled and shutters bolted closed.

“So you’re saying they’ve already built this weapon?” Rex asked, his brow set in a straight line.

“I’m not sure. I believe they have fully realised the tech, as there was some disturbance to devices that were nearby to their warehouse, but I’d wager it would take a lot longer to figure out how to harness that power into a projectile of some kind” Kan replied.

“How do you think they would do that?”

Kan sighed deeply, pulling together her thoughts, “From what I can gather from their reports, the material that they have been mining here is something that draws electrical charge naturally, the material itself is recorded as having disturbed their equipment, and it is located in a place that is somewhat of a local legend. The people here believe that something, some kind of god perhaps, is behind the disturbance, but once the Empire began digging about, they found a repository of this… material, mineral, metal - I’m not sure entirely what it is exactly, their reports are rather vague. The issue is… well, a bigger issue, is that the material seems to store what electrical charge it takes to some extent, so if they were able to create some kind of canon for this, a projectile containing this material could disable a ship, and then implode on itself - especially with the collected power of an entire ship held within it - sending back the signal and thus possibly frying the ship’s circuits, and if it were big enough, perhaps even the people inside would be affected. It could be devastating. Especially to any kind of large ship such as a venator, or something of a similar size which would usually be able to fend off small fighters with no problems”

Rex blew out a long breath, “Kriffing hell”

“Yeah. Kriffing hell” Kan sighed, leaning onto the kitchen table to steady herself.

“This is certainly not what I expected when I sent you guys there, I would’ve sent others as well had I known” Rex said, and scratched the stubble of his five o’clock shadow. He looked particularly worn down, and Kan felt awful to have to put this weight on his shoulders as well. “I need to think on this. I’ll talk to the others and see what they think, and I’ll call you within a few rotations once we have a plan. For now, hang tight and do what you can, but don’t take any drastic action without consulting me first”

“Yes sir” Kan nodded.

“Alright. Good work you two, I’ll see you in a few rotations”

The image of Rex flickered and cut out, enveloping the room in darkness. Kan looked over to Echo, who had been mostly silent during the call, electing to let Kan explain her findings. He didn’t think of himself as stupid when it came to technological pursuits, but with Kan in the room it was hard not to feel that way. After all, Rex had chosen Kan specifically for this mission because of her knowledge of the subject, and with the information they had found, he was now definitely more than a little out of his depth.

“I’ll go and open the windows” He said quietly, and walked over to the door.

He made his way around the kitchen, opening up the shutters and pulling open the curtains from the outside to let some air into the room that had become stuffy, whether because the windows were closed or because the subject of the call was so heavy, he didn’t know. When he made his way back inside, Kan was already back to tinkering with her own tech disruption project, soldering together all the aspects that made up one part of it. Echo saw her lick her lips and instinctively filled a cup with water, placing it next to her working hands on the table.

Since they had been confined in the same space for so long, both Kan and Echo had begun to pick up on little things that the other did. For Kan, it was that when she licked her lips while she was working it meant that she was thirsty. Kan had no idea what her tell was, and was astounded that Echo seemed to realise she was thirsty before she even realised herself, placing a cup of water beside her without so much as a word. For Echo, it was that when he was cold, he would rub his neck a certain way, as if containing a shiver, and Kan would offer him a blanket or a heatpad.

It was these little actions that made their time together so seamless. They seemed to co-exist so naturally, never stepping on each others toes, always having pleasant conversation, and knowing when what was preferred was a comfortable silence.

“Thanks” Kan smiled up at Echo as he sat across from her, and he gave her a small smile.

Echo watched Kan work, admiring how easily her nimble fingers worked, how steady her hands were.

“How did you get into this sort of stuff” He asked after a while.

Kan looked up momentarily, “My dad ran a repairs shop, I just picked up a lot of stuff from him”

“Is that where Master Unduli found you?”

“No” Kan shook her head, dropping the tools in her hands, “When the war came about I left home, I guess I was searching for some kind of purpose but I was just travelling around doing repairs and odd jobs for people, when Luminara came along I figured there wasn't really any better way I could help the war effort”

Echo nodded and Kan resumed her work again. He really found her drive admirable, her desire to do the right thing, or to be a part of something important, something that meant something. She had joined the Grand Army of the Republic, and now she was here, fighting alongside him and his brothers once more, for seemingly the same reason as before - the Republic. He couldn’t help but want to know more about her, about her childhood and her time in the war, but he didn’t want to push, especially as he knew it could be a particularly sore subject for her.

“Kan, what's your real name?” He asked instead.

She smirked a little as she looked up at him, “It's Kandam'aira. Kandam'aira Hynzir” She watched as Echo’s mouth hung open, almost imperceptibly. “It's a lot I know” She shrugged, a little nervously as she knew people didn’t often try to use her full name.

“How do you say it again?” Echo asked, bringing a warmth to her chest.

“Kandam'aira”

He sounded it out by each syllable, “Kan-dan-ei-ra?”

“Almost” Kan smiled encouragingly, “This is how it's spelled”

She pulled her datapad from the mess beside her and opened up a new file, typing out the spelling in aurebesh. She turned the screen to face him, and Echo read it a few times, turning it over in his head, “Kandam'airra”

“It's more… -ŕa, small roll on the R”

“Kandam'aira?” He said perfectly, and Kan smiled.

“Yeah that's it”

“It's really pretty” He looked up to her from the datapad, and Kan blushed a bit.

“Thanks, it's not as cool as Echo but it's whatever” She shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly.

“Echo isn't cool” He laughed, “It sounds better when you say it though”

“Oh? Why's that?” Kan asked innocently, her gaze inquisitive.

“Uh- your accent, you have a nice voice” Echo admitted, clearing his throat afterwards.

“Oh” Kan blushed again, “Thank you”

She got on with her soldering again, this time with flushed cheeks, and Echo smirked to himself upon noticing it. It made him feel like being a little bolder.

“Why don't you go by your full name?”

“It's just long and people get it wrong all the time. I won't correct them on it either, so it's just easier”

“Why won't you correct them?”

“I just don't want the confrontation”

Echo smirked, “You corrected me”

“Well you're different” She said with no hesitation.

Echo’s eyebrows shot up, “I am?”

His tone was curious in a particular way, and Kan looked up at him briefly to catch his smirk.

“Uh- Yeah” She gulped, looking down to her work again.

“How so?” Echo pressed, and Kan found it hard to keep her skin from blushing even further.

“I don't know, you're like, easy to talk to, or something”

“Or something” He mumbled with a smirk, “Can I call you Kandam'aira?”

She gulped again, refusing to meet his gaze, “If you want to”

“I think it suits you better than just Kan”

“Really? Why?” She looked up at him briefly, to see that his face was still maddeningly and enticingly pulled into a smirk.

“Because it's a beautiful name”

Kan’s heart hammered in her chest, unsure if Echo really meant what it sounded like he was saying. She just stayed quiet, not looking at him, and feeling her whole body heat up as her blush infected her.

Echo bit the inside of his cheek, following up with, “If that's okay to say”

“Of course it's okay, I dont think I've ever been complimented on my name before”

Echo chuckled, “I wasn't really talking about your name that time”

Kan looked to him, and he stared back at her intently, a small smile gracing his lips.

“Oh” She looked down to her work again with small smile.

Echo watched her, his heart soaring with adoration as she fumbled over her project. For the first time, Echo allowed himself to think, pretend even, that Kan maybe liked him in the way he liked her.

She was running, faster than she had ever run before. She had to escape them.

Their blaster bolts flew all around her as she wound her way around the large trees of Kashyyyk's forest. They were getting further and further away, but she didn't stop running.

Her lungs burned, her limbs ached, but she had to hide.

As she turned to look back at her pursuers, a bolt came straight at her head. She evaded it in time, enough to not be killed at least, but a sharp pain seared at the edge of her cheek. She brought her hand to the pain, and in her distracted state, she tripped over a root. Before she could scramble to her feet again, a foot was pressed to her stomach, keeping her back flat against the mossy undergrowth.

“Kandam’aira Hynzir, you are a traitor to the Empire and shall be dealt with as such”

Her best friend, her ori’vod, Spider, stood above her, blaster pointed at her head.

“Spider please. What’s happening? What Empire?” She trembled. It was hard not to let the fear wash over her like a tidal wave at the sight above her and the feel of his boot heel digging into her.

“Quiet!” He hissed.

She could see the tremble in his hands, and a single tear slipped from his eye. He should have taken the shot by now, but he just stood above her, waiting to find it within himself to do it, or possibly fighting that part of him with everything he had, she didn’t know which.

“Spider please, it’s me, it’s Kan”

“I know who you are, traitor” He spoke with such venom that she almost didn’t recognise him. Spider was soft, he was loving and he cared for her like nothing else. Who was this above her? He had the webbed scar splayed across his jaw that would set him apart from not only his brothers, but every other human, and yet, she couldn’t recognise him anymore.

“Spider” She whispered, her voice displaying every ounce of terror that she felt.

Spider’s first finger pressed into the trigger, still shaking, and a bolt flew right towards her head.

Kan sat up in bed, thrown from her dream. She took a shaky breath and raked her hand through her hair, unsticking the few small strands that had clung to the sweat on her forehead.

It had been a while since she had had a nightmare, and even longer since she had dreamt of that moment.

Kan lifted herself from her bed and tiptoed downstairs, filling a cup of water from the tap. She took a few gulps from it and settled herself in her usual chair, situating herself among the familiarity and comfortability of her work. It was still dark out, the stars of systems far away twinkling brightly at her through the window. She felt the gentle chill of the breeze passing through the window and sighed deeply, centring herself in the moment. That’s when she heard talking coming from Echo’s room.

She didn’t want to eavesdrop, but she wondered who he was talking to so late at night. However, when she pressed her ear to the door she could only hear incoherent mumbling, and she could hear Echo shifting around in his bedsheets. She cracked open the door, and her heart clenched at the sight of him. His face was twisted in agony, and writhing around as if trying to break free from something.

Kan approached the bed, “Echo, wake up” She gently placed a hand on his arm, but he didn’t wake, only breathing more raggedly. She sat down on the edge of the bed, her other hand finding itself on his face, “Echo! Wake up!” She said more firmly.

Echo sat up suddenly, his eyes wild and breath uneven. Upon realising Kan was there, he moved away from her, shame burning at his cheeks.

“I’m fine, go back to sleep” He managed to mumble out, trying to compose himself.

“I wasn't asleep, I heard you mumbling and just wanted to make sure you were okay” Kan spoke ever so softly, “You were having a nightmare?”

Echo refused to look at her, “Yes, but I'm fine, you should get some sleep”

“Echo” Kan placed a hand on his arm again, and he reluctantly raised his eyes to hers, “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Not really” He mumbled, looking away again.

“Will it continue if you go back to sleep?”

“I- I don't know, maybe”

“Would you like me to stay with you?”

Echo’s eyes snapped up to Kan’s, “You don't have to do th-”

“Would you like me to?”

He could see such kindness and concern on her face and he desperately craved the comfort of her, so he nodded, “Yes, please”

Kan smiled and made her way around to the other side of the bed while Echo laid down again. She gently climbed into the bed beside him, with him faced away from her. The feel of the dip in the bed, the feel of her being there, was all too much and not enough at the same time.

“Echo”

He hummed quietly in response.

“Can you look at me please?”

He stiffened, but turned over in the bed, looking at her timidly

“Please never feel ashamed in front of me Echo. I would like you to trust me, if you can”

“I do trust you” He said without hesitation.

“I'm glad” Kan smiled. She then grew more serious and bashful, and Echo watched her toy with an idea in her head for a few moments, “Echo, would you…” She bit the inside of her cheek, and her sharp green eyes looked up at him, softened with tenderness, “Would you hold me?”

Echo melted at her expression, the last memories of his nightmare being chased away by the vulnerability in front of him. He nodded and opened his arm for her, and she quickly buried her face in his chest. He leaned into her as well, enveloping her in his embrace and sighing contentedly at the feeling of her gripping to his shirt. He then remembered something she had said previously and frowned.

“Are you okay? Why weren’t you asleep?” He asked, and felt her sigh against him.

“I had a nightmare too” She admitted and Echo instinctively tightened his arm around her.

He tilted his head so he spoke down into her hair, “Do you want to talk about it?”

She shook her head quickly, “No, just-” She nestled in closer to him, wrapping her legs in his mechanical ones, “Just hold me”

Echo’s heart swelled and ached all at once, and in that moment he decided that he must get Kan to make the arm attachment for his scomp, that he must feel her with two hands, and be able to hold her properly if she asked again.

“Are you comfortable?” He whispered, painfully aware of how cold his metal limbs could be.

“Yes, very”

He could feel her smile a little bit against him, and he let a small chuckle escape his lips. Kan could feel the vibrations of it in his chest and snuggled in as close as she could.

[deathsweetblossoms]

The Archeron Sisters, the Artistic Expression of the Self, & the Mating Bond

Throughout ACOTAR, each Archeron sister has three important components coloring their respective stories: an artistic expression of the self, a healing journey aligned with that expression, and an entwining of that expression with their endgame romantic partner. For Feyre, that expression is painting, for Nesta it's music and dance, and for Elain, theoretically, it is baking and gardening.

On the other side, each sister also has a more warlike aspect of the Self, which is embraced throughout the series, and serves as a dichotomy to the "softer" natures of their personalities. For instance, Feyre is well known to be a huntress, and Nesta establishes herself as a Valkyrie/warrior. Elain's more "warlike" side is yet to be explored.

For the purposes of considering how Elain's story will progress, I will be focusing moreso on the artistic expression of the Self as it pertains to her sisters, and how it serves as a sacred tool to strengthen the connection between her sisters and their mates. (I mainly introduced the warlike self to bring up some questions about Elain at the end.) Disclaimer: I am not mentioning ANY ship in relation to Elain here. I just want to put the information out there and let people think on it.

Feyre: Artist/Huntress

Early on in ACOTAR, we learn two things about Feyre: she is a hunter (her "warlike self") and an artist. We learn painting is an important outlet for her which she uses to "brighten" the dark spaces of the Archeron's home. We see her journey with her art blossom, unravel, and come back even stronger. It's such an integral part of her character that Rhy's first introduction to her, after the initial series of random images, was of her hand painting:

"until one of the images was of a hand...This beautiful, human hand. Holding a brush. Painting -- flowers on a table."

Later, in ACOMAF, we know her struggles with PTSD kept her from being able to paint anything, gradually getting inspiration for paintings as the story progresses, until she is finally able to paint something again -- on Rhys.

"I had just painted something. On him. For him. I'd--painted again."

Rhys, despite not being an artist himself, mirrors this action by painting on Feyre before they make love after culminating their mating bond:

"he took that hand and traced a circle around my breast, then lower, until he painted a downward arrow beneath my belly button"

So, here we see Rhys, her mate, entwined with her artistic expression of the Self; painting. We can also see how her painting played a major role in her healing and rediscovering herself and self sovereignty.

Nesta: Dancer(Music-Lover)/Warrior

In ACOSF, we learn from Elain that Nesta is a prolific dancer with a seemingly spiritual connection to music:

"(Nesta) was trained in dance from a very young age. She loves it, and music...in the way that performers make an art of it."

"You haven't seen her on the dance floor. That's when Nesta truly lets the wolf roam free. When there's music."

We see glimpses of moments throughout ACOSF when Nesta seeks out music as a respite from her suffering:

"when he'd dragged (Nesta) out of a particular seedy tavern, (she revealed) she had been there for the music"

She even uses musicality to describe her love for Cassian:

“Nesta could have sworn the blade hanging from her belt hummed in answer. As if it liked the sound of his voice as much as she did”

“For it was music between their souls. Always had been. And his voice was her favorite melody.”

Later on, Cassian "(finds) a way for her to have music --always" by gifting her the Symphonia, revealing that he traveled to all of her favorite taverns to record her favorite songs and that he got the musicians in the Hewn City to perform their entire set just for her. Additionally, he learns how to dance for her so they can share a dance in Hewn City, thus entwining himself with both of Nesta's artistic expressions of the Self.

With both Feyre and Nesta, their two "expressions" are present right before an intense moment of connection with their mate. With Feyre and Rhys, they make love in paint after she had a burst of inspiration to paint the entire cabin. With Nesta and Cassian, she is gifted the Symphonia and then they make love after her successful dance-mission in Hewn City. Both females master that part of themselves in some way before the mate steps in to honor that part of their soul, mirroring it back to them in some way, before they deeply connect.

Elain: Baking & Gardening / ???

For Elain, I have a few questions to present for consideration:

We have already seen how baking and gardening has a healing effect on Elain - is this her own artistic expression of the Self? If the beautiful Bread and Roses theory stands, then I would say yes. (I would also say this helps strengthen the Bread & Roses theory, simply because the imagery has now presented itself as something important enough to be noticed by Bryce). I believe to confirm this, we either need her POV to explain her own connection to these things, or someone else's observance of how she makes baking and gardening an artform.

Who in the series is already "entwined" in Elain's love for baking and gardening? (I'm talking powerful imagery, I'm talking shared moments, etc etc.)

What is Elain's dark side? We know she has the moniker of Kingslayer, we know she has Seer abilities; are these aspects of her dark side or is it something else we haven't yet explored? Since each of her sisters has these dualities present, it would only make sense that she has a dualistic nature as well.

How will Elain's baking and gardening continue to contribute to her story, her self sovereignty?

How will it lead to the culmination of her union with her chosen romantic partner? (This is just fun to think about, tbh. How is this going to manifest narratively? Are they making love in a field of flowers? Is she going to be gifted flowers?? The possibilities are endless, and, quite frankly, cute as hell.)

Either way, if we follow the same format as her sisters, we can start to imagine different possibilities for the path that Elain's journey will take. Especially if we look at it through this lens. Personally, I'm really looking forward to seeing what Elain's "warlike" side is, or how that will even manifest itself in a way that is in character for her.

[zephyr-bazaar]

hello!! i hope ur having a nice day!!

i'm willow and i just started playing harvest moon! you seem to be really well-informed about harvest moon, so i hope it'd be okay if i asked you for some advice? :O if not, feel free to ignore this! (also, i emulate my games, so if you're uncomfortable with emulation i completely understand ^^)

i'd like to ask what ur favourite nds harvest moon is! yesterday i started playing tale of two towns and i've been seriously enjoying it haha. i'm now a little bit bored though (i've been playing it for the entire day now 😵‍💫) so i thought maybe i should try the other games, but there are just so many i'm not sure which i should try! the sad thing is that i'm only able to emulate nds games (3ds ones are definitely out sadly, and i tried to emulate the wii and gamecube ones but they didn't work unfortunatelyy) so i won't be able to enjoy trio of towns and more 😔

i really like the social aspect of the game (even though i haven't been able to get married to any of the bachelors ahaha) but i like the farming aspect too! do you have any game in mind? (or just your favourite one!) thank you so much! im so sorry if it's rude of me to suddenly ask you this. i hope you have a great week ahead!! 😊

(folds my hands together and leans in) you have come to the right place.

I actually was having a replay of ToTT before Mistria came out! It wasn’t one I was fond of, so getting a new perspective on it and finding things to like was nice, even if I do agree it’s on the boring side. (Side note Gombe is the best character in the entire series and I wish he moved in with you too if you marry Nori/Nana.)

As for my favorite DS game, well, (gestures to my username). Grand Bazaar is one of my favorites. It’s actually the first game Dirk was from and his older brother is my favorite bachelor in the series!! (I also think Dirk’s ToTT version is a LOT better if you’ve played GB; it’s very nice to see his character development between the games if you see any of his GB heart events.)

A lot of the mechanics are more on the simple side (Iirc it was meant to be a beginner’s game), and since you’ve played ToTT you’re familiar with the hell that is the freshness system. (GB and ToTT are the only games with it; in every other game things never go bad. One of those experimental things that didn’t stick, which the DS games had a LOT of.) GB also has a mechanic where if you step on your crops too much their quality will go down, but as long as you switch from running to walking while watering them for the day, you should be good!!

The biggest mechanic change, and the one the game is based around, is in the name itself; the bazaar! You don’t have shipping bins in this game, and instead you sell everything at a weekly bazaar on Saturday! You run a stand with all your items set up, and ring a bell to attract customers. Generally if you’re focused and stay for a while, you’ll sell all your stuff. (The game’s goal is to earn enough at bazaars that you’ll be able to have it keep growing and become more famous, which also helps a LOT in the selling regard as you’ll get more customers the higher your rank is.) I tend to save all my stuff for the end of the season and sell all of my crops at once.

This is also where you’ll be able to buy everything; while Raul runs the general store in town, Enrique sells animals at the bazaar, for example. As it grows you’ll even have stands with characters from Island of Happiness and Sunshine Islands setting up shop!!

It’s also MUCH easier to unlock makers than every other game in the series with them, including the games before it. The other gimmick is town has 3 Windmills, all of which are unlocked automatically in your first year. I’m not quiiiiiite sure how they work on emu because they involve blowing to speed up production time, but doing a quick search for people playing Professor Layton and Ace Attorney on Reddit says it’s doable to configure, it just depends on what emu you’re using.

I’m not toooo familiar with animals because I never keep any (seeing this in the first game in the series I ever played when I was 11 traumatized the FUCK out of me and now it stresses me out to have them in any of the games that aren’t AWL LMAO.) But looking it up it seems to be standard fare, with the barn actually attached to your house to make it easier to reach them. You can’t sell your animals unlike other games, but besides that they’re functionally the same but with much easier access in the morning.

I also ADORE the cast so, SO much. Like I said, my favorite bachelor in the series is in this game. The entire cast is very colorful and charming. Both the art style and designs are, overwhelmingly, the biggest influence on my (chibi) art and overall character designs- which says a LOT about the series that made me start drawing as a child in the first place. It’s absolutely gorgeous. I don’t have a number one favorite mayor in the series, but a tie between 3. You better believe Felix is one of them. He’s SO good. Especially when ToTT Rutger if you chose Bluebell is very generic as far as bokumono mayors go. (Luv Ina/Irusa though)

Also it introduced tea leaves to the series which was the most goated thing to ever happen. Tea leaves are the best crop. I love tea leaves.

TLDR Please play Grand Bazaar I love Grand Bazaar.

(I also hope you can get other emus to work! All 3 of the 3DS games are the best in the series, Imo, and the Wii games are classics. If you have Steam you can also get Friends of Mineral Town (the best starter game imo), and A Wonderful Life (it’s a black sheep in the series but a VERY VERY beloved black sheep and the original GameCube version was a LOT of people’s first game.) I’m olivetownhater199x though)

I hope you have a nice week as well!! :) I have job interviews tomorrow and Tuesday so fingers crossed 🤞🏻

EDIT OH MY GOD I CANT BELIEVE I FORGOT TO SAY THIS. If you have trouble starting out Fogu’s Guides for the series are a godsend!! I still use them every time I play. (Even if she does also cover the bargain bin harvest moon games. Every game titled Harvest Moon from The Lost Valley onwards isn’t actually a part of the Bokujou Monogatari series, but rather games by the original localizers profiting off brand name when Marvelous switched to in house for translation.)

[pocket-sized-love]

Um... hello. I've never considered asking anything about this, but I've got an issue on my hands and I'd like to get a second opinion.

I take care of Ghost-type Pokemon. I hope to be a Gym Leader someday. My closest Pokemon to me is a Dusknoir. I've had him ever since he was a Duskull. In fact, he was my first Pokemon ever.

I've noticed changes in his behavior. Because they're so uncommon in the wild, few ever really see their behaviors toward prospective mates. But there are nights where he wanders off and brings back gifts for me. Other nights, I've found him bringing me my favorite kind of cakes.

I've never considered a relationship with any of my Pokemon because many places frown upon it. I've had partners in the past, but they've never worked out. He's always been there to help me through the issues, and I thank him for that. But I'm also nervous. He's gotten a lot more clingy as of late (I don't mind this. He's very nice and soft and his body always feels cool to the touch) and I'm wondering if that's due to the change in seasons.

He's so sweet to me. I'd want to know if there's anything I should be aware of. A lot of information I find conflicts, and I don't want either of us to get hurt if I decide to do anything deeper with him.

Um... Thank you in advance

I thought I read a study recently that was on-going regarding wild Dusknoir. The professor who discovered a very, very small group around the wooded area along the Bellchime Trail in Johto has been having a hard time with figuring out their mating habits and also how they are in groups. It's really interesting, but likely won't be of much use to you for some time yet. The other huge question is how they've evolved. The running theory is these are Dusknoir that were traded and then either released or left of their own will. That raises a lot of questions of course!

I've read finished studies that take years to compile and sort through the data that's been gathered! This study is so new still, so I'm sure it'll be a while before we get more info.

Saying that, I'll try my best to help you right now. (:

If you're interested in pursuing a relationship with your Dusknoir, the best thing to remember is that you know your Pokemon partner better than anyone. You know his tells, his likes and dislikes, how he behaves when happy, relaxed, fearful, protective. You know how he acts around other Pokemon, around other humans. Listening to your gut and, maybe this'll sound cheesy, your heart as well, is the best step to take when you don't know anything else about a certain aspect of a Pokemon's habits.

Being cautious for you and him is wise and shows how much you want to consider his well being and your own!

A more practical way to start accepting advances of course is to accept his gifts he brings you if you haven't already. You can always ask him what that means to him (I know it is not always easy communicating with Pokemon that are unable to write to respond) and using your knowledge of his habits and body language, I'm hoping that's a place to go from.

You could also reciprocate by getting him a gift as well. Something that he can wear or keep on himself. For Dusknoir, if he doesn't have one already, I've heard Ghost-types are particularly fond of Spooky Plates. It helps them connect with the world beyond supposedly, and it's been observed to give them more attack power in battles. You could even have it engraved with something like a message or a symbol to represent the bond you two have and wish to deepen.

Regardless anon, I hope this helps you even a little bit. I'm sure you'll be able to find a comfortable spot with your partner. He seems like a keeper for sure. <3 Best of luck to you, and feel free to come through again if you need help or if you just want to update us on what happens! <3

[homicidalfantrolls]

Save the Scratches

A view into that I bet you’re wondering how I got here moment.

Khirti, Dia and Leo belong to @trollcafe

Doc

—

The more you pondered and the harder you thought about the situation at hand, the more convinced you become that the entire thing had to be some sort of divine prank. Had you been one to dabble in conspiracy theories (or just day to day fleet operations as some would claim) you would be insistent that this was all orchestrated beyond your pathetic attempts to do so. A two step plan. Go to the ball. Ask Dia to dance. Dance with him. Answer the question that you’d been too chicken shit to do months ago. Profit.

Instead, you became tangled in a spider’s web made of silk you could spend the next fifteen sweeps in the fleet working towards and still not be able to afford a yard of.

Dionis pays no attention to you or his matesprit as he examines various fabrics and patterns. He and the seamstress go back and forth, tittering on about inseams and waist sizes and words you had half a mind to believe they made up on the spot. Leo had been smart enough to bring a puzzle book with him. You only had your bouncing leg and enough anxiety to run a steam engine.

“Can I have a page?” You finally ask the massive seadweller next to you.

“It’s sudoku,” Leo responds, deadpan and without looking up from his book.

“So? I like puzzles.”

“You liked building and assembling,” Leo corrects, as if what he said made any bit of sense.

“What does—“

You’re cut off by Dionis returning. For the first time since he left, Leonra lifts his attention from his book to look upon his matesprit. Leo had always had his emotions under lock and key, his expressions never revealing much. Whether that was because of his dealings with Deepbite or it was the way he’d always been, you couldn’t say.

What you could say, however, was how much happier he seemed since you last saw him. Leo had always carried himself stiffly, something your foolish younger self had attributed to ego. While he still carried himself with a similar stiffness, it was now due to the pain plaguing his leg instead of the fear of being ambushed at any moment.

That was a level of guilt you didn’t have the brain capacity to process right now.

“Your suit will be ready in a few days. Plenty of time for adjustments,” Dionis informs you with a pleasant chirp to his voice. There was no denying he was much more excited about this whole endeavor than you were.

“Dionis, I—“

“I’m going to hope you’re planning to thank me instead of complain about cost or try to back out of this. I get enough of that from Leonra,” he interrupts with a flick of his tail. “You were much more receptive to this than he usually is. Don’t ruin this for me, dear. Don’t forget whose hive you're sleeping at. You go back to that motel and the conversation will be about the smell, not the mysterious purpleblood galavanting around.”

While there was too much in his words to unpack, you find yourself settling on the least frightening aspect of it.

“But I’m not…a purpleblood.”

“Maybe not. But you are a cusp, dear. You’ve always lived as the lesser end of what you truly are. I think, just for one night, you deserve to act like the half of yourself you were never allowed to show off. Don’t you?”

—

“He’s been waiting for you.”

The voice that suddenly speaks next to you startles you so terribly that you slap your poor whiskey clean off the counter.

Khirti follows the flight of your glass before turning her attention back to you. Without even so much as a pause, she waves the bartender over.

“Get him another whiskey, will you? Top shelf this time. Not whatever motor oil he had before. I’ll take another as well.”

Whether she didn’t notice your discomfort or just didn’t care, Khirti hops up to sit on the bar in front of you. She stretches one leg over the other, crossing metal over metal in a display that makes your chest ache painfully.

“You can’t pretend you haven’t seen him. Bitch is lit up like a damn road flare. We almost matched but then I’d outshine Tori and defeat the whole point of dragging his grumpy ass here.”

The bartender sets the drinks down in front of you, which earns him a fifty caeger bill from her wallet that she’d stashed in her top.

“Don’t act so surprised, Pip. Dia may not have told you but I’m a social media manager now. I’m sure he told you about our moirail. Gigs like these are a great way to get sponsorships and interest up. Also lets Tori flare his feathers out. Long story short, it pays to do a job for a guy who has no idea what a reasonable amount to pay you is. Also helps to date him.”

Words were not your friend at the moment. Your throat burned despite your whiskey remaining untouched. Your head remained turned away from the women at the bar, your gaze remained fixed on the bottles behind it. The labels were impossible to read from this distance, even from someone with the perfect vision of a pilot. You pretend you can read them anyway. Your brain makes up fake names for the liquor, fictional brands and slogans of vodka and whiskey and tequila.

Twin Sunset lime flavored vodka.

Rocket brand wine cooler.

Cherry tequila brought to you by Radio Silence.

Flower Vodka; An explosion of flavor.

Enjoy the free fall sensation of Loose Screw beer.

Relish the subtle taste of watching the most important figure in your life blow up because you fucked up repairs on your own plane so they couldn’t stay in the air, die because you weren’t fast enough to save her or were too selfish to give up your life to, never be able to look her father in the eyes or—

“You still with me?”

Once again, the sound of Khirti’s voice startled you. Your whiskey thankfully remained unharmed, though your ego did not. Your face feels warm under your mask, your ears pinning back ever so slightly.

“Y-Yeah.”

“Not used to seeing you zoning out. You were usually more vocal about when you were annoying someone.”

You don’t say anything. You’re not sure it’s a choice or an inability to form words. Your throat was closing up, preventing enough air to form coherent thought from entering your body. It was still enough for you to try desperately to come up with an excuse to leave.

“Khirti—“

“Dia told me you decked Mavrik.”

For not the first time since Khirti came over, you find yourself grateful for your mask. While you couldn’t be certain of what expression lie beneath, you do know that your tongue felt dry after you forget to close your mouth.

You swallow, hopefully not as audible to her as it was to you. Your chest burns with a different emotion, one you hadn’t felt since you had punched the man.

“…I did.”

“Why?”

“He’s…not who everyone thinks he is.”

“Dia told me it’s because he lied about how Daisee died. Because you said it was your fault.”

You didn’t know they planned to open the windows. You don’t know why they would in the middle of winter. Maybe you should tell them to close them. Even under your heavy fur cloak, you could feel the chill in the air.

Khirti, however, does not. Despite her dress only containing enough fabric to barely fit the definition, she didn’t flinch. She was as still as the stone countertop she sat upon, her metal legs staying crossed and unmoving.

“K-Khirti, please—“ you stammer, your voice barely above a whisper. It barely reaches your own ears. Through your mask and the commotion of the ball, one couldn’t be sure you had even spoken at all.

Khirti, however, heard you perfectly clearly.

“Tell me what happened.”

“I-I-my plane—“

“No, no. Tell me what happened to make you think it was your fault. Everyone knows it was a conspiracy. Everyone knows they were trying to kill me, that they wanted it to look like an accident or incompetence. That Daisee just…got caught up in. So tell me why you think her dying and me losing my legs had anything to do with you. When everyone else knows it didn’t.”

Your chest burns like fire. Your throat felt similar to how it did after every day of special ops training. Of screaming back at your drill sergeant, of swallowing ice cold seawater after as punishment.

“I…Khi—“

“Not now, Pip. Not tonight. There’s more important things going on tonight. Like a sexy limeblood who’s been waiting for you to answer his damn question for the past four months.”

Khirti hops off the bar, landing gracefully on the marble floor.

“Don’t be a stranger, Pip. I’m glad you’re back.”

And with a hand on your shoulder and a kiss to your mask, Khirti was gone.

You had only a few moments to stare into the glass of whiskey before the devil spoken of appears.

—

When Dia leaves, your anxieties are confirmed.

There was no chance, on any planet, in any galaxy, in any universe you had the balls to pull this off. What the hell were you thinking? You weren’t some kind of knight in shining armor, an action movie hero who could sweep him off his feet all suave and ask him to be your matesprit. You had imagined that scene over and over again to the point that if they asked you to direct a movie on it, you could do it with your eyes closed.

But now that you were here, you’re once again reminded of just how in over your head you were. You didn’t come up with any of this, this wasn’t your plan, your idea. Your original operation was to just…come down here, plain as day, and hope to run into him. Running into Leonra and Dionis was the fluke to end all flukes. Leonra saw no issue with your idea. It was unfortunately his matesprit who had to call you both idiots.

The only reason you hadn’t attended in your normal attire was him. The only reason you got his opinion was a fluke. He would forgive you for wasting his time, right? Leo too. He didn’t want to come but Dionis would have dragged him anyways, independent of him wanting to watch all this play out. It would be fine.

—

“Don’t be a pussy.”

Leonra’s deadpan tone hit you like a frying pan to the back of the head. You attempt to stammer an excuse out before Dionis interrupts you.

“Honestly, dear. You’ve come all this way. Quite literally, I might add. You took the week off and everything. You’re really planning to leave without saying even a word to him?”

“I…I don’t think he wants to see me. He didn’t know who I was but he flirted with me so I just—I think he’s moved on and that’s fine because I took too long but I don’t—it was a mistake coming here, I have no idea what the fuck I’m doing, I just—“

“Almiss.”

Your rambling is cut off by Leonra’s voice. Your ears pin back under your mask. It’s Dionis who speaks next.

“It wasn’t a mistake coming here. I’ve seen him looking around the entire time. He’s waiting for you, even if neither of you realize it.”

Your frown deepens, eyes avoiding the couple under your mask.

“I just—“

“None of that,” Dionis interrupts you once more. “Look at me.”

You do.

“You love him, and he loves you. So you’re going to go over there and ask him to dance with you. Because if you don’t, I am repossessing that outfit I bought you, right here, in the middle of the ball.”

“And I’ll let him.” Leo chimed in, having returned his focus to his sudoku.

You can’t help but laugh. While still filled to the brim with anxiety, it still felt like a weight off your chest.

“Alright.”

[limitlessscion]

this isnt from a meme but i have two questions: 1) what did satoru's childhood bedroom looked like? and 2) does he play video games?

what did satoru's childhood bedroom looked like?

He had two different rooms growing up.

As an infant, his room was deep within the Gojo family manor, at the center of a large compound dating back centuries that had been constructed especially for the Six Eyes child. The walls are solid with no windows, sound-proof, and are carved with charms that are fiercely protected family secrets. Spells on them prevent them from being able to be recorded manually or digitally, and memories of their existence erased when leaving the compound. The knowledge of how to activate them are bound to only the Clan Head, and the Six Eyes user themselves; nobody else is able to retain the knowledge in their minds even if they learn of it.

The charms are able to supress the effects of the Six Eyes and alter its perception in different ways. It is a necessary aspect of raising a baby that was born with the curse of the Six Eyes, to safely acclimate them to the intense amount of information and learn how to process that information correctly. However you can imagine how dangerous such spells are to the Six Eyes user if they fall into outside hands.

The compound has several layers of security outside of that central room, a lot of which was added after the assassination of a newly born Six Eyes user many generations past by Kenjaku.

When he was older, around the age of four, he was given a room in the main family living compound near the rooms of the clan head and other high-ranking members. The room was plain though; he never got a say in personalizing it. It was cleaned daily by servants, so the fact he'd drop candy wrappers on the floor or that his desk after a study session would be a mess of scrolls and notes and scattered writing utensils never stuck. Every day as he'd get ready for bed the whole room would be pristine, sterile, and lacking any touches of his personality. One time he'd stolen a sticker book from a servant child and placed some on the wall— and they'd been removed the next day.

The floors are patterned tatami, one window opened to the outside of the compound that looked out over a managed creek and koi pond with a wall of bamboo growth. The opposite wall is a shoji screen that opens into the courtyard. His bed was a western style bed by the window with a small nightstand, and the rest of the room was taken up by a work desk and bookshelf.

He was given very little privacy and agency in his life in general.

does he play video games?

Yes! His first ever video game was Pokemon Silver, given to him on his 10th birthday. Karasu, the head of his security detail, has a strong soft spot for children. For various reasons with his background, he was one of the few people who treated Satoru like a child, was not afraid of him, and had plenty of real parental experience. He'd broken a lot of rules fulfilling his promise to make Satoru's birthday that year a good one, as his birthday was actually an annual event that Satoru always hated.

Satoru poured hundreds of hours into Silver. His favourite Pokemon are Lugia and Feraligatr for that reason— in the end, he was still a simple boy who liked the cool legendary on the cover and his starter Pokemon. Once he started playing, there was no way to make him stop anymore; so Satoru's obedience and good behaviour was bought using promises of gaming time and the purchase of new games. Satoru stole extra time for himself too, often playing under the covers at night, or finding quiet hidden corners when he had little pockets of time to himself.

Fun fact: Satoru figured out how IVs and EVs and the damage formula worked entirely on his own.

He exclusively played with handheld consoles; TV consoles required sitting down in a static location with a screen, which gave him no privacy and much less opportunity to sneak gaming time in. It is for a similar reason that he never watched anime or movies, only read mangas and books.

[cascadianights]

I also sometimes create the strawman, the rich straight white cis abled man who has everything going on & nothing wrong.

But it's a trap. That person exists, but he sure as hell isn't the majority. You're probably not going to run into him on the street, or in a Tumblr argument. The experience and power that person holds is immense, and anything said to knock them down is valid - even if it means redirecting the exact vitriole and hate, the same death threats and "you don't even deserve to be alive" shit that's been thrown at us, and calling it "progress."

If you aren't careful all it does is mutate the very valid, long-standing frustrations you hold into a way to disregard other's real struggles & any information you don't want to hear.

It's how TERFs fueled women's anger and frustration at the men who've hurt them, into anger towards all men and anyone approaching or coming from masculinity. It flattens this huge swath of experiences into one line, a man who learned his whole life the negatives of masculinity and nothing else. It doesn't provide healing for the women who were hurt, it pushes them to be more afraid and see every man as a danger regardless of the situation. It doesn't teach men how not to be dangerous, or how to recognize people teaching them to be. It alienates, everyone.

It's the way white people will internally roll their eyes at a light skinned indigenous person talking about their culture, or interrogate them to be sure they have a right to it. It's the way "white privilege" has become shorthand for "immense class power," both erasing the original targeted points the term is trying to make AND alienating the massive poor rural white population who KNOWS your full of shit saying they've had everything handed to them. It's the way states with white liberal city centers are seen as massively progressive (even if it's only 2% more of the pop that are democrats, gathered in 1% of the state) - and states that vote red every time deserve to be "cut off and sunk into the ocean."

It's the disabled people who need to feel Most Oppressed to validate the reality of their suffering, so spend hours trying to prove that mental disability and physical are separate & put their fellow disabled peers through the EXACT shaming/interrogation/judgement/"its not that bad have you just considered trying" treatment our doctors put us through. It's the way the new acceptable thing in disability spaces is to mock autistics (always portrayed as white and very low needs) for being too annoying/loud/present.

It's the way they can differentiate between a Real queer (who they agree with/can pity) versus a Fake queer (who said some shit they didn't want to hear/hasn't had the exact same lived experiences and could Never Understand). It's the way they can argue for hours about which minute aspect of identity that is only visible sometimes grants unimaginable (and Literally Unreal) safety and power, rather than focusing on the fact that none of us should need to be passing at all times to feel some level of safety.

It's a strawman! That only serves as an outlet for anger that tends to splashback on everyone around you! It has its place, and that place is not in almost every single conversation we have about difficult topics! Your morality cannot be based on finding ways to validate redistributing the violence that has been shown to you! Your political stance cannot be "only the people like me who agree with me should live!" Your MOVEMENT OF PROGRESS AND EMPATHY cannot be based on the cop you never learned to quiet in your mind!!!

We will never succeed if we ourselves are cutting our own communities to pieces.