#op is correct that's why i still use the word!!!

[princeoftheeternalbog]

hiii

Could do nicknames one peice characters would call you?? Xx

I love you🫶 YES I WILL TEEHEE

Suggestive in Sanji and Namis part but mostly sfw!

I only did the strawhats this time but without further ado: petnames/nicknames op characters call you🫶

Luffy

I think Luffy would pick something really cute like flower, like in the morning when he tackles you out of your hammock to wake you up and he's like "GOODMORNING FLOWER :DDDD" while squishing you(😐).

OR he would refer to your future title aka consort of the pirate king(cocky mf). Even if you correct him like oh well you're not king of the pirates yet he just keeps saying 'but why can't I say it now' until you give up. LOVES when you call him my king or my sunshine, it makes him feel all gooey inside. He likes other nicknames too but those ones especially.

Zoro

Surprisingly a classic sort of guy, he'll call you hun or love, mostly always in private. But if he thinks someone is bothering you he'll purposefully say it really loudly like "oh hey LOVE I was looking for you" while glaring at the person.

Always says it in the softest, sweetest tone when you're alone. Seriously he's like some romance drama lead the way he's sighing around the word when he's holding you close. Blushes so pretty when you call him a petname back even if it's the most cringey, disgusting petname like pookie wookie. Like he'll cringe but still blush.

Sanji

Probably uses almost every name you can think of but especially darling, mon amour and sweetheart. Says them in every tone imaginable and he says them in a very specific way when you're alone, sometimes he'll say them that way in public to fluster you though (asshole🫶).

Jokes on him though because he folds really easily for the same trick. One time you said baby in that tone on deck and he tripped and fell over so... you're the real winner here. He likes to act very confident and he can be but he very often finds himself with wobbly legs around you- he can't help it you're just too fine.

Usopp

Babylove, sweetheart, pretty thing, YES I KNOW OKAY LISTEN JUST HEAR ME OUT- I just think once he gets over the honeymoon phase and he's comfy then he's smooth as fuck. Like this man is fine okay and once he knows what hes doing, he KNOWS yk. Always says them directly in your ear though🫣, he's still too shy to look you in the face while saying that sort of thing. Like he's slick but he's also sweating and trembling while he romances you.

Also he absolutely blushes bright red when you say anything of the sort to him. One 'hey pretty boy' and it's over for his blood pressure, one time he fainted and he was so embarrassed that he avoided being alone with you for a week.

Nami

Sunshine and treasure(in like every single language she can think of). Either says it in the sweetest tone ever or the most scary and she never uses your name unless she's really really scared or relieved (or during the...thing).

LOVES any and every nickname but if you say something cringe in front of somebody she makes you pay a fee😭. Fr 200 berry just for you to call her shnookems in front of Chopper, its mostly because the cringy nicknames somehow make her feel shy like omg you love me enough to confidently call me cuddle muffin ಥ⁠_⁠ಥ how disgusting (⁠ʃ⁠ƪ⁠＾⁠3⁠＾). But also she uses this money to buy you little gifts and trinkets so can you complain(yes).

Robin

Love, honey or sweetheart. Says it in this cute little sing song voice you didn't know she had and it's just so sweet and enticing fr she got you floating over there like a sailor drowning to a siren's song. But seriously if she's using a petname then you know she's in a really affectionate mood which means lots of touching and kisses!

Her favourite nickname that you call her is 'my wife'. Listen I think she's secretly quite intense romantically so hearing you defend her to someone by going "THAT'S MY WIFE" really does something to her heart. She tries for ages to trick you into saying it again so she can record it and listen back whenever she wants(You give her a recording for her birthday).

Franky

Babe, baby, cutie and probably something really corny like superstar🫶. Definitely the type of person to holler "THATS MY BABY✨✨" while you're kicking someone's ass and it's really embarrassing but simultaneously really reassuring.

And tbh a nickname is usually followed by a kiss, well actually most of his interactions with you are followed by a kiss- Anyways he loves it when you call him one back especially those classic ones like my love or darling, fr he's obsessed. Will absolutely tell everyone what you just called him and if he ever gets hit on he says some stupid dramatic shit like: "Only one person will ever call me their love..." Like shut up😭.

Brook

Dearheart. Iykyk. He finds dearheart is the only petname that even slightly encompass how he feels about you, and besides that he's a very classic guy. ALWAYS kisses some part of you after he says it, usually you're forehead because he's quite tall but sometimes he kisses your hand like some fairytale prince.

Blushes really easily at being called pet names especially more modern ones like baby, gently chides you for it but secretly loves it. It's like those clips of chopper where he pretends he's not flattered by a compliment😭 Brook is fr like "Oh my- please don't call me such things in public" while he's giggling like this:

Jinbei

Love, butterfly, starlight, dewdrop and anything that makes you flustered. He's secretly quite chaotic when he wants to be and he loves seeing you laugh so he tries to make you as happy as possible at all times. Despite how often he uses beautiful flowery language with you, he's quite shy with physical touch so he's stood like 6ft away going "My starlight you are prettier than anything in this world"😭.

Adores any pet name with the word my in front of it. Like my love, my baby, my man, he's just in love with you and he thinks he should be kissing you at all times! Sweetest man ever to be honest.

[lightsoutletsgo]

i told the stars about you — op.81 (royalty au)

pairing: prince!oscar piastri x lady-in-waiting!reader

word count: 1.5k

warnings: angst? heartbreak, slightly inaccurate and semi-confusing greek mythology references, a spot-the-princess-diaries quote just bc i can

I actually wrote this listening to the bridgerton soundtrack... it's not what I usually write so I hope it's okay! please lmk what you think and if you'd like to see more like this. for extra heartbreak, listen to "love is a choice" from the bridgerton soundtrack on repeat while reading happy reading! love mimi 🤍

It was an accident really. Well, less of an accident and more of a cruel twist of fate if you had to summarise it. After all, such a cliche thing to happen. The lady-in-waiting to the Princess falls in love with the visiting Prince her future ruler is tied to in an arranged marriage.

Had any sensible person heard the predicament you were in they may have sympathised but still scoffed at how foolishly the two of you were behaving. Desperately entangling yourselves with one another despite the inevitable heartbreak that was bound to come any day now.

“Did I ever tell you how much I love the stars?” You led on your back on the grass underneath the night’s sky, delicately raising a hand to trace invisible lines between each star above you. Oscar chuckled next to you as his hand slid over yours, joining you in your night sky tracing, “I believe you may have mentioned it once or twice before…” You gave a faint smile as your arm grew tired, choosing to link your hand with his and rest them by your sides. “Have I ever told you why?” Oscar rolled onto his side, facing you as his eyes searched yours, smiling at the way they reflected the moonlight,

“Actually, I don’t think you have told me that.” You sat up quickly, always excited to share the story with someone. 

Oscar sat up before he moved to sit behind you, pulling you to lean back into his chest as his arms encircled your body, head gently resting on your shoulder. “See that star up there?” You pointed to almost directly above you, “That’s the North Star isn’t it?” You nodded and turned your head to reward his correct answer with a soft kiss to the cheek. “Mmhmm! When I was a child, my mother used to tell me stories of the stars every night…” You sighed happily at the memories, “There was one story that I loved far more than any others. The story of Perseus and Andromeda.” “I think I learned about that a long time ago… During my classical classes…” “Show off…” You reached one hand up to gently flick his nose. “Well, the story goes that Princess Andromeda was a very beautiful woman. Her mother, Queen Cassiopeia, claimed her daughter was more beautiful than Poseidon’s daughters. As punishment for her vanity, Poseidon sent the sea monster Cetus. Andromeda’s father, King Cepheus, trusted the sea monster to disappear if they were to sacrifice her. Just before she was devoured by the sea monster, Perseus came by on his flying horse Pegasus. He was on his way home after one of his great adventures. Perseus fell in love with the beautiful Andromeda and struck a deal with her parents. Perseus would save their daughter by killing the sea monster and in return he would be allowed to marry her. Andromeda however, was already promised to marry another man, Phineus. A fight arose between the two which Perseus eventually won. And so Perseus and Andromeda lived happily ever after.” 

Oscar smiled at the sight of your eyes lighting up as you told the story. He nuzzled his nose into your neck making you giggle as you carried on, “All of the people in the story were placed in the sky by the gods, so their story would never be lost. Perseus and Andromeda are still positioned close together in the sky, where they rotate around the North Star, see?” Oscar’s eyes followed to where you were pointing once more. He kissed your cheek as you gave a happy contented little hum.“Mother always used to say that lovers who needed advice or guidance would talk to the stars… And that those confessions of lovers to the stars meant that their love would last forever, just like Perseus and Andromeda…” You reached for the bouquet of daisies you’d picked earlier that evening.

“You know..." Slowly, you plucked each petal off of the daisies you carefully held. "I told the stars about you." Oscar chuckled, not expecting to hear such words from the lady sitting with him. "What did you tell them?" You turned to look at him and smiled, staring at his brown eyes. "I told them you have your own constellations on your cheeks." Your stare landed on the faint few freckles dotted on his face. He laughed, "What? What does that even mean?" 

You showed him a half smile before looking down at the daisies and plucking the petals again. "I told the stars you have more stars in your eyes than there are stars in the sky"

His smile slowly faded, instead he looked almost like he was holding his breath, like he didn’t dare breath incase it ruined the moment, "I told them that you are the moon that shines brightest in my eyes when I'm surrounded by darkness. I told them I always wish for you on a shooting star." You gave him the daisies you had been holding since you’d sat next to him. All petals now plucked. Oscar looked confused as he took the flowers, about to open his mouth.

"Do you want to know why?” You cut him off with a sweet smile before he could even open his mouth to answer, “Because I got tired of asking the flowers if you love me or not." “Y/N…” Oscar’s voice was barely above a whisper. You spoke softly, "Do you know what the stars replied?"

"W-what?" He thought he’d lost his voice for a moment. 

You smiled.

"Go after him."  

Silence. “So will you…” “I'm in love with the King-to-be, and I'm inquiring if he loves me too…” Oscar’s eyes lit up and in that moment, you felt as if all the air had been taken from you. One of your hands gently cupped his face as your thumb rubbed over his cheekbone, “You really do have stars in your eyes.” “And your eyes hold the whole galaxy, my love.” Oscar pulled you close to him and sighed in contentment as you shyly buried your face into his shoulder, the stars twinkling at you both from above, as if centuries of lovers were sprinkling their blessing on the two of you. In hindsight you supposed it might have been a warning, that heartbreak would ensue no matter how much you loved him 　 ⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆　　　

“I told the stars about you!” Oscar cried out. 

You stopped. “I told the stars about you,” he repeated, trying and failing to hold back tears that were already falling, “I told them that I would never let you become one and end up so far away from me, I told them how you said you would always stay by my side, and...” Oscar looked back at you, where you were now facing him.

“I told them I loved you.” Your eyes widened slightly before your face fell again.

“...We always knew this was going to happen. We cannot change what our fate is, Oscar, I mean…” You looked back down at the ground, clenching your fists tightly before you spoke again. “Your Highness-”

“Don’t call me that, Y/N.” Oscar said immediately, rushing up to you. “Y-you’re not a lady-in-waiting. I'm not a Prince. We’re just Oscar and Y/N, two people who fell in love the instant they saw one another.” He stared at you, not fighting the tears anymore. “Two people who fell in love under the stars… I want that Y/N back.” Your heart broke as his voice cracked, overcome with emotion. “Please my love…”

But still you said nothing

“Where’s the Y/N who would tell me she loved me, the Y/N who vowed to be by my side forever, and… the Y/N who would tell the stars about me?” You finally looked up at him, and Oscar searched your eyes desperately for a shred of his Y/N in you. A lone tear spilt over and fell down your cheek. Sparkling in the moonlight, it almost looked like a shooting star. ‘How ironic.’ He thought to himself bitterly. You wiped the tear away and as quickly as it had appeared it was gone.

Oscar’s eyes darkened, and he wiped his face, his expression hardening, “My apologies, Lady Y/N.” He said, his voice cold. “This has been rather inappropriate. I believe you must have somewhere to be?” “My apologies, your Highness. Permission to leave?” It was time to accept that the old Y/N was gone, leaving a stranger in front of him. And if his Y/N was gone, there was no reason to keep taking up a stranger’s time.

“...Granted.” You began to move before you hesitated, leaned into his side, whispered something, and left. Oscar’s eyes widened once again, and a tear fell down his cheek. 

“I never stopped telling the stars about you.”

Oscar quickly turned around to watch you leave. A pained smile slowly spread across his face. He didn’t try to stop you. You wore a similar smile as you forced your feet to walk away. You wanted nothing more than to kiss him once again, but that was a dream you couldn’t have anymore. It was a dream you’d have to tell the stars about.

[0w0tsuki]

Hey can we stop pretending like the only feasible reason that a trans woman would not like the term femboy is because she's some puritan anti-kinkster or somehow against men being able to dress femininely?

Like perhaps maybe the group of people who had to go through a phase of having to figure out and explore their femininity while being perceived by society as a man DON'T WANT to police the way men are able to present and express their genders? Like maybe WE DON'T want to make things even harder for transfem eggs. Like maybe we might have an interest in protecting transfem eggs and are speaking from the harm that we experienced as eggs ourselves?

Like maybe it might have to do with the fact that outside of Tumblr your average femboy is a trap fetishist? Like did we all forget the memes of "trying to figure out if the Astofolo icon is a trans woman or a fascist?"

Like some of us were discovering our transness during puberty in the early 2000s. You remember the early 2000s right? Where South Park and Family were at the height of their cultural influence, the R slur was a substitute for stupid, and bigotry was so common that "traps are gay" jokes could be made in polite company without having to worry about backlash. So imagine what kink spaces were like. Especially when you're a teenage trans girl just discovering herself.

I personally was so damaged by that experience that I began to believe that my gender-no my EXISTENCE was a fetish to be embarrassed and humiliated by and to be reviled for. I genuinely did not engage in relationships because I believed I was going to have to give in and tell them that they fell in love with a sex object. I did not believe that I was worthy of love. And it took YEARS of working through that for me to be comfortable with transitioning.

And after I worked through that I still have to deal with them. They haven't left kink communities they had their roots in. To this day there's a kink website I frequent that has community suggestions for tags IE: Unless the OP of the work goes back to delete this feature, anyone can "recommend" deletions or additions to the tags of the work. This is in place to make the proper labeling/searching/blacklisting of kinks easier to help curate content. In practice though it allows transmisoginists to basically graffiti any transfem artwork they come across. And let me tell you Femboy tags are getting added on right after they replace F/F with M/M on a transbians t4t work. And it happens so frequently that I have to check in about once a month to these trans tags to inform the most recent victim about what's happened to their works.

And outside of kink spaces I go into fandom spaces where I have had to deal with trap fetishists positioning themselves as fucking lore scholars when they harass trans positive folks about the Correct and Moral gender of the transmisoginistic character that they've got a fap folder dedicated. I got to see someone rise to twitch fame off the back of trap content turn into a “femboy icon” because he gave some of the trap money to trans charities and has a trans girlfriend. Who is still making trap content by the way.I've gotten to see reddit lose their absolute goddamn minds when the term Trap was banned from r/anime, shitting themselves so hard about it that they made their own separate website with transmisogynistic wojaks on the home page and everything. And then I got to see the fucking Bridget Debacle.

The reason I always talk about Bridgets trans confirmation is that it's the most widely recognized recent event where the exact shit I'm talking about was on full display. The reason why her being confirmed as a trans woman was such a big deal for trans girls was not just because she was one of the anime caricatures with her own folder in the trap enthusiasts masterbation portfolio. It was because she was GROUND ZERO for original coining of the word trap. And the EXACT same guys who deemed her a trap were now coming out in DROVES fuck EN MASS. But this time as self appointed femboys. We had so many examples of fucking Astofolo icon twitter facists trying to drudge up any type of left sounding argument using the femboy identity after having their initial arguments revolving around mistranslation were debunked. Crying that transfems were “stealing femboy representation” and trying to say that it was an “antitransmasculization force feminization trope” ironically. You know the cry of “Let men be feminine!!!!” y'all always bring out in defense of femboys. THAT'S who you're parroting! THAT'S who you got it from! We have had direct evidence of former trap fetishists dawning the term femboy when it became less cool to be openly transmisogynistic and then started appropriating leftist language to give their transmisogynistic arguments an air of legitimacy.

Like y'all need to understand that this magical space we got here is a FUCKING BUBBLE. Femboy communities in literally every other online space are former trap/sissy communities and are fucking cess pits of transmisoginy. I have seen posts by people who's only experience being around femboys was on Tumblr go out and check a place like r/mildfemboys to be horrified by the obsessiveness of the transmisogyny the femboys they interact with. And the femboys here aren't much better by treating being forced to acknowledge that these people exist and that is a still very active part of their community even if they don't personally interact with it as a personal attack on them and their gender presentation.

Y'all just want to pretend it doesn't exist and treat the idea that a Transfem might not WANT to interact with YOU(OH GOSH!!) because of it like it's some sort of personal judgement instead of something you're just going to have to accept happens when there's a large portion of people who share that title who are responsible for traumatizing them. But y'all got to go one step further. Y'all who go on about how femboys are our closest allies and about how “femboys and transfems are actually closer than transfems want to admit”. Y'all treat femboys like they're out little fucking brother in the queer community and it's our personal fucking responsibility to leave behind any personal baggage at the door in order to make them feel welcome.

Y'all can't handle the fucking idea that a trans woman might not be comfortable with sharing community with someone who's average member would call her a trap while jacking off to her selfies if he thought he could get away with it. That's she's not interested in playing the Astofolo icon game with them. Y'all gotta create a backwards narratives where she is against her own interests, where she is for making it harder for eggs in the future instead of you know. Asking for better from the communities those eggs are drawn too.

I have been forced to fucking put up with femboys in nearly every online space I've ever been in. And I

Am sick and fucking tired

Of putting up with femboys

[fanficsforheartandsoul]

New Recruit | Simon Riley x Masked!GN!Reader

To keep this as neutral as possible since anon did not specify the gender, this is written in 2nd POV. 

There are some spanish sentences here and although I’m actually learning the language with Duolingo (lmao) I used a translator for this, I apologize if it sounds clunky. I googled how to use gender neutral forms but I’m not sure if I did it correctly sooo.

Also, this is very short because I can’t for the love of god, produce words and a correct sentence in my head at the moment.

Fandom: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (2022)

Warnings: Ghost is OOC, Ghost might have a kink or more than one, Typical COD Pew Pew is Mostly Omitted, Injuries

Summary: A new member joins taskforce 141 for the hunt of Hassan but you are not what the others expect. Something sparks in Ghost when he shares eye contact with you and you two are on the same eye level.

Word Count: 2,3k

If you want to be tagged in my stories send me a pm with the fandom/character name! Or comment on the fic :)

Masterlist

It was already unusual for the taskforce to get a new member. Therefore it was even more unusual to get one in the middle of an important operation in another country. 

It wasn't exactly convenient but when would it ever be?

Fact was that Hassan Zyani, a major of the terror organization Al Qatala escaped their grasps.

They needed to work with Mexican Special Forces to follow his tracks, so if it was one more member or two, it didn’t really matter now. 

Yet it was quite a surprise when Ghost and Soap heard the news.

"Someone will join you in México, a new member of the taskforce. I wanted to introduce the lieutenant a bit later, but Chryso was in the country anyways, so I guess now is as good as ever."

Ghost listened silently to his captain on speaker phone while Soap asked the questions lingering in his head; what kind of muppet name was Chryso? And why would the soldier join them right now when they had something so important to do?

Trusting a stranger in a hostile environment wasn’t exactly an easy thing to do.

Price ignored Soap’s words deliberately and continued: 

“Chryso is already known to the Los Vaqueros and Alejandro and as you're aware they know their way around in Las Almas. Be nice and protect your backs. We will talk later and I’m sure Chryso will answer any questions you have.”

Great, Ghost thought and looked at the flabbergasted Soap who stared at the phone display showing the end of the call.

“He just hung up?? What the hell... I feel like someone just told me my sister got married in secret and I have to meet her husband.”

He raised an eyebrow but the other obviously couldn’t see it behind his skull mask.

“You have a sister?”

Soap blinked.

“No, but if I had one...”

Ghost sighed. He hoped that the new addition to the team wouldn’t mess up their operation and would focus on the task at hand. Catching Hassan.

-

You startled out of your sleep when you heard your call sign.

“They’re arriving in 5, Chryso” said Felipe, the Los Vaqueros soldier who was on the look out with you in one of the abandoned shacks close to the village where intel suggested Hassan Zyani’s location.

Your last undercover mission had taken a toll on your body and you tried to make up for it by napping whenever you could. Felipe’s humming had made you drowsy and apparently your consciousness had slipped away for a bit.

A quick glance at your combat watch proved that you had slept more than an hour and you sat up straight quickly.

“Perdón, you know my last OP still got me fucked up... Did anything move?”

“No pasa nada.”

The man waved his hand dismissively and watched as you stood up and stretched your arms. He had to tilt his head slightly to look up to you. Felipe's eyes wandered over your mask and then he said:

“They’re staying put and keeping quiet.”

You breathed out and rolled your shoulder. Maybe you shouldn’t have slept in such an uncomfortable position...

You were about to meet two members of Taskforce 141 - your new team - and group up with them and the Los Vaqueros to participate in one of their missions. No chit-chat and icebreakers, just business, straight-up. 

This was how work had always been with Captain John Price for the few times you had fought together, so it didn’t exactly bother you. But it was making you a bit antsy that he wouldn’t be part of the operation.

You weren’t exactly keen on entrusting your back to total strangers. Not with your... special circumstances.

Your habit of wearing a mask 24/7 often confused other people and many soldiers had treated you slightly differently due to it. Whether it was done deliberately or subconsciously, it often hampered with the beginning of your new relationships until people finally got used to it. Which usually took a while. Seen by the lack of other soldiers accompanying you and Felipe.

Strangely Price didn’t seem to react much to your mask. Maybe that was why you felt comfortable around him. He didn’t treat you any different, he had just looked at it once and then moved on. 

You hadn’t told him why you were wearing it but if anyone had to know, you would probably feel most comfortable telling him.

And when you had signed the contract to work as a new member of taskforce 141 you had mulled about doing it. Possibly when you would first see him again. You had believed that it would be today.

But he wouldn’t be part of this mission, which he told you 2 days ago. Instead Lieutenant Simon Riley and Sergeant John Mactavish would cover your back. 

You had heard their names before when Price talked to you about joining the taskforce but you didn’t know anything specific about them besides their names and ranks.

And Rodolfo and Alejandro didn’t let anything slip when you asked them if they knew anything about the two soldiers.

They did know more than you but based on the little smirk around Alejandro’s lips they purposely kept information from you, which annoyed you slightly.

But well, Alejandro was a colonel, furthermore the leader of Los Vaqueros and he obviously had to be informed about his allies in such a special operation. 

You knew not to question him and he wouldn’t keep anything dangerous from you, he wasn’t like that that’s what you could tell based on the few days you had spent at the Las Almas base. He kept his soldiers safe, had to in the corruption-filled town. 

And you would meet the other taskforce members soon anyways.

So you decided to focus on the task at hand and ignore everything else. Whether that would involve strange looks and stupid comments about your mask or not.

The Al Qatala terrorist had to be caught by all means. The files you had received told you enough about the threat he posed to basically everyone in this world. He wouldn’t escape your grasp. Not under your watch.

You strapped your black vest tighter and checked your gear.

A low hum announced the distant approach of some vehicles and Felipe looked out the window to see 3 black jeeps drive down the dirt road.

“They’re inbound.”

You nodded and followed him out of the room down the stairs.

-

"I have a feeling you'll fit right in, just like Y/N."

Ghost was still mulling over the strange comment of Rodolfo Parra, when they spotted the army checkpoint and Alejandro explained why they had to evade it and he forgot the words quickly.

However, when their convoy arrived at the other side of the river in their AO, he and Soap exited the truck and a few seconds later when he first exchanged eye contact with you, he remembered the words instantly. 

You had just moved out of the shack, following a Los Vaqueros soldier. Your back was turned towards the convoy when the man told you something and he gesticulated while you checked your back pockets.

Ghost noted that the soldier talking to you was at least a head smaller than you. You were clad in back and his interest peaked when he realized that your head was covered by a hood. Oh...?

He followed Soap behind Alejandro and Rodolfo and walked up to you while the other Los Vaqueros soldiers readied their guns and spread out. 

“No me gusta el hecho de que no tengamos refuerzos” he heard you say through your clenched teeth and your counterpart hummed in agreement. 

Alejandro coughed and you turned to face them while he introduced you to him and Soap. Your eyes roamed over them and they lingered a bit longer on him, which made Ghost’s heart beat quicker for some reason.

“This is lieutenant Y/N L/N”, the colonel announced and the smirk on his lips suddenly made sense. He just stared and Soap did the same. 

“Just call me Chryso” you said and gave Alejandro an annoyed look that the other ignored and you turned your head back to look at Ghost and you stretched out your hand. 

Ghost’s voice was rougher than usual when he told you his name: 

“...Simon Riley, but call me Ghost.”

He shook your hand with a firm grip. Hazel and e/c eyes met, both hidden in the shadows of a mask. He caught a glimpse of your spirit in the e/c shade and noted that the skin around your eyes was also hidden behind black makeup.

“Nice to meet you, Lieutenant.”

Fuck, he thought when he realized that he could gaze directly into your eyes without lifting or lowering his head. 

And bloody fucking hell, he thought when he realized that in a very strange way he found that mask of yours attractive. Like you were mirroring him, like you two belonged together, like you were meant to be his and he was meant to be yours. 

There were not many things that Ghost found immediately attractive upon meeting someone. 

He considered himself to be more of a “character”-person than someone who cared about appearances first but there were some things that just drew him in...

Pretty smiles for example. Or the hint of a strong character in one’s eyes. But what really invited his immediate attraction was what Soap had called the most surprising and strangest thing ever when he accidentally spilt this piece of information during one of their long scouting sessions; when someone was just as tall as him.

There was just something about someone being his height that created a spark in his chest. 

“That’s a fucking kink” Soap had said back then. Looking at you now and considering the growing feeling in his chest, the scot might have been right.

He let go of your hand before he was holding onto it for too long but he kept his eyes on you even when you had already turned towards Soap to shake his hand.

“Sergeant John Mactavish, but call me Soap.” 

The sergeant shook your hand enthusiastically and grinned from ear to ear. He glanced at him and Ghost’s alarm went off in his head.

“You have pretty long legs eh? How tall exactly are you?”

You blinked and Ghost couldn’t stop himself from groaning inwardly when he saw slight confusion and annoyance in your eyes. 

“Roughly 6′3 if I remember correctly.”

Soap looked at him but Ghost ignored the stare deliberately and when Alejandro told them to follow him, you immediately turned away from them and hurried to fall into the colonel’s and Rodolfo’s step.

“Oh dios, lo dijo.” Rodolfo said and laughed and Ghost cursed himself for not learning more Spanish on the way here when you groaned. He was about 99% sure this was about your interaction just now.

"¿Dijo que?" Alejandro asked, his voice now lower as they moved closer to the houses, weapons raised.

"Una de las tres cosas que Y/N odia a que le pregunte.¿’Por qué Chryso como apodo’? ¿’Por qué llevas una máscara’? y ¿’Qué tan alte eres’?”

Rodolfo muttered and while the colonel laughed quietly you only sighed.

Ghost didn’t understand what exactly was going on but based on the mocking tone Rodolfo used for his last few words, it was probably something bad. He also mentioned your call sign and he was smart enough to know that the conversation was most likely about them. 

As much as it bothered him, they had already reached the stone wall so he turned his attention to the mission at hand.

“Where’s Hassan?” he asked.

“White two-story building at the back”, Alejandro replied and two seconds later they entered the gate and he didn’t have time anymore to think about your height, nor your skull mask that seemed to compliment his own and the fact that your utility straps nicely showed off your thighs. 

-

But all these thoughts and much more rushed through his mind after he had helped you out of the river. 

It had already been hard for him to breathe with his mask but your experience with yours had been much worse, the cloth wasn’t exactly made for missions involved with water and you - in your words “almost got waterboarded back there”. 

Added to the harsh landing in the river and the bullet graze on your left arm, you weren’t exactly feeling your best and you felt exhausted for a moment, so much so that you had to drag your limbs out of the water when it was your turn. 

The soldier in front of you turned around and you looked up at him from your cowering position where you had temporarily bandaged your wound.

Ghost offered you his hand and you took it. 

“Thanks” you huffed and he pulled you up with more force than necessary which messed with your balance and made you take a step forward. 

He could see a waterdroplet on the tip of your eyelashes and his heart stuttered when he noticed how close you two suddenly were. Your loud breathing made his ears tingle and he took a step back, though not letting go of your hand. 

“You good, Chryso?”, he asked, ignoring his imagination where you were panting for a different reason. Jesus Christ, you were injured. And he hadn’t even seen your face yet.

You nodded and he let go of your, pointing at your left arm. 

“I’ll bandage your arm in the car, that wrap is a sad excuse of first aid.” 

You huffed in annoyance but he saw how your eyes turned into slight halfmoons again, showing him that you were actually smiling.

“Whatever, lieutenant.”

You walked past him, waving your hand in dismissal and he followed you, a small grin on his lips, definitely not sneaking a glance at that ass in those wet black cargo pants. 

-

“I’m really curious... What kind of muppet name is Chryso?”

Alejandro snorted. “Y dale.”

You sighed beside Ghost while he secured the re-wrapped bandage. Soap looked at you through the front mirror.

“We had this guy in my unit, Turner, he was a huge biology nerd. When he first met me, he just said ‘Chrysocyon brachyurus’  which is the scientific name for the maned wolf in South America.”

Soap tilted his head in confusion when Alejandro laughed. “Okay...?”

The colonel tapped the steering wheel. “They have really long legs, hermano. Really long.”

[onnoffwrites]

I have been losing my shit over this damn panel for the past THREE DAYS (more or less) and I need to yell somewhere so it's gonna go here.

It all began when I was writing my fic (I think this was for My Immortal), and I needed to recap significant hakukai moments. And I remembered "hey, I should include this one thing saguru said during sunset manor that was stupidly super gay for no fucking reason" bc like, yea hakukai not canon, but if canon was gonna give me a whole ass confession then I might as well use it. So, like always, I head to mangadex to look for this panel... Except... It's not there... The line... The line's not there... But I remember... I remember something about "the only one to disrupt/disturb my thinking/mind"... Where... I didn't imagine that right? I mean I read a lot of google translated Chinese fanfics but... I REMEMBERED reading that line... In a manga... In English... ON mangadex...

This is where I should mentioned, that if you weren't around for the Great Collapse of Mangadex. Then... Well, so there was this period of time where mangadex just DIDNT EXIST. Bc there was some cyber?? Attack??? On the site??? I can't fully remember. But it like wiped out most of the site. The mangas r just, gone. So mangadex fixed it. It took a while bc they figured "might as well revamp our site and system". And they did. And it's great. And it looks beautiful now, even more than before.

But see. The line I remembered? Yea... Yea that was from before The Collapse. And mangadex let multiple translation groups submit their translations. So u can read diff translations of diff group, see how things are interpreted differently... And... I remembered this one, that I posted here up top, but I remembered there was another. One that had The Line.

And it was driving crazy so, like usual, I asked my cn friend. But my cn friend (why am I still saying that, it's @beingvv , that's the friend) has A Life, and isn't always online, and we love that for ppl. So. I'm still crazy. I can't trust my own damn mind and memory bc why tf do I remember something that isn't there (happened before btw, but that has nothing to do with this).

Luckily, I have a friend who knows jp. UNLUCKILY, I don't have the jp raws and it's from chapter 300 and we are in the thousands. So, I went back to losing my mind. Until I found it again, and realized. Heyyyyyyy there's a whole ass ANIME. So like the baggage my dear friend had the misfortune to be saddled with, I went to find the ep, timestamped it, yelled begged them for help.

This is where I lose my damn mind the first time in the recent weeks.

(thank you my dear piglet, u don't even go here but u tolerate my insanity)

THIS. THIS WAS THE LINE. THATS WHAT I REMEMBERED.

So, I feel a little more sane (bc my mind didn't fabricate a memory again) and also A LOT more insane bc WHY WOULD U SAY THAT, HAKUBA SAGURU 😭😭😭 WHY WOULD U SAY IT LIKE THAT 😭😭😭

In any case I feel validated. Told beingvv about my discoveries (for whenever they come back) not that they need it cn fandom already got the correct translation. And finished writing my fic.

And then Saguru's comeback was announced.

So I've been losing my shit for 3 days on twitter, looking at all my fave KR and JP accounts and the things they say.

And then someone dug up and old tweet thread that talked about this panel. Specifically, op talked about the nuance in the word choice used.

Here's the og thread if anyone wants to read or Google translate it urself.

(mkppyong my love, bless you)

Bc mkppyong talked to a jp acquaintance about ??? Uh I dunno just language I guess. POINT IS. They pointed out that gosho used specific words/phrases that really wasn't needed if all he wanted to say was "the only one who drives me crazy/mad." But he did used them. It's specifically "his thoughts/mind" that's being driven crazy. And that if he wants to just talk about Saguru's mind being disrupted/confused, then there's rly no need to use the words "go crazy"

And then they wrote out a whole symbolism about clocks and saguru and being broken down/disrupted and I lost my shit over the clock symbolism, sue me 😭😭😭

I don't think I'm making sense anymore bUT WAIT, THERES MORE, THE FINAL BLOW

THE THAI TRANSLATION

This is where I expose myself more than I ever want to, but here's a fact. I'm thai

Here's a second fact. I'm SHIT at Thai. I've been bad at this language before I got good at English. My Thais as good as an elementary student. Every time I understand difficult words I get confused bc where did I know THAT from???

In any case, point is, I saw that tweet, read the text, immediately understood it and began losing my shit all over again... And then I doubted... Bc like, I'm not good with this lang anymore... Maybe im understanding it wrong? So I look up Google.

Google: คลุ้มคลั่ง just means go crazy

So I was like, damn guess I'm wrong, read too much into this. BUT SEE BC I LIVE HERE I HAVE FRIENDS WHO ARENT A DISGRACE. And so my friend said:

SO WELCOME TO MY THIRD ROUND OF INSANITY.

HAKUBA SAGURU WHY WOULD U SAY THIS SHIT IN FRONT OF LIKE NINE OTHER PPL 😭😭😭😭😭 BOY WHY R U TELLING THEM UR OBSESSED 😭😭😭 youre driving ME crazy 😭😭😭

So. Here we are. At the end. I have no idea how tf I'm supposed to end this post. I'VE been obsessed for 3 days straight. I don't have a lot of braincell left in me (there weren't any to begin with). I don't have a statement to wrap this post up in a nice little bow. Go make ur own conclusion I dunno.

But I would not have been losing my shit over this stupid panel for a month if it wasn't for the fact that eng translation was missing a pretty crutial thing in what Saguru said. I don't know if this was a mistranslation or a misunderstanding or something, but the English translation was lacking. And I love and have always been thankful and grateful to the ppl who worked hard to translate mangas in their free time, and do it all for free, bc I haven't had any real way to rent/borrow mangas from renting shops/libraries in years. So this was one of the only ways I can read mangas. But, even as I checked the raw panel with Google lens just now, even google translate it as "the only one to make my thoughts go round." No where was there any mention of "case" and "solving." So that's just, multiple accounts of ppl who knows jp, including native jp speakers, all saying that this panel is Saguru saying "the only one to drive me crazy". And man I rly hope this doesn't make me come off as ungrateful or like shitting on the translation team, I'm rly not. But yea. Uh. The translation was wrong. And I remembered that there used to be a diff eng translation. And it led me to go to all this trouble and journey to find out what was actually said. And here we are, at the end.

The only one who could disrupt Saguru's thinking.

The only one who could disturb Saguru's mind.

The one whose sole existence drives him mad.

The only one to make his mind obsess over till he's driven to madness.

Or to use the symbolism mkppyong wrote: the only one to break down the clock, the precise and accurate mechanism, that is Hakuba Saguru.

[krypticcafe]

the worst thing about the "Maus" thing is that it's not even smth someone speaking german would say. it sounds like he's pointing out random mice. the proper use would be "Mausi" or "Mäuschen" if we're gonna have to go with that pet name. Maus would only ever work in specific sentences like "Meine kleine Maus." but even in those the adjective is always diminutive to indicate that its a pet name and not just a random animal. There are so many potential nicknames but its a boring one and used wrong on top of it. Might be stupid to get worked up over that but it's fucking ANNOYING

Thanks for the insight, OP! I knew there were variations German words for nicknames (I've seen schatzi and täubchen) but I never knew it had specific connotations. And yes, I absolutely agree, there are some other cute nicknames I've seen used!!

I'm not a German speaker or aware of the regional differences there could be between German and Austrian pet names, but here's some of my faves I've seen:

Mein/Meine [insert name] - I'm very curious if there's a gender neutral usage of this or if "mein" is the default.

Prinz/Prinzessin - Prince/Princess; too bad there isn't a gender neutral version.

Schatz(i) - Treasure; someone let me know if the "i" makes a difference. It's my personal favorite since I think in an accent it sounds much more natural plus I just like how nicknames in German aren't too soft-sounding but still very meaningful.

Häsechen - Bunny; surprised it isn't used more.

Engel - Angel; this has me melting in a puddle, idk why I prefer this pronunciation over English lmao

Liebling - Heard that "liebe" is typically feminine and liebling works better. It's basic but I like it a lot.

Süßer - Sweet; it's sounds so cute what the fuck man

Täubchen - Little Dove; I'd personally call König this or Bärchen, it's so fucking cute why don't people use this more >:(((

If any of you are German speaking or German or Austrian natives, please correct me if needed! I'd also highly appreciate it if you guys can pitch in any other pet names and how they're used, preferably gender neutral and maybe some clarity on how suffixes (-i, -chen, etc) affect the name. I'll see if I can put it in a list for people to reference (and I will credit by the end of it, lord knows I don't know shit on German language lol). I know I can look online, and I have, but tbh I trust natives more than articles written by quirky English travel blogs.

[juanarc-thethird]

Team JNPR And RWBY meets Ace-cops. Then Nora asked FMK between Winter, Harriet and Elm.

Place Unknown. The team JNPR is in the middle of a mission with some of the members of the Atlas Ace-ops, Winter, Harriet and Elm. What is the mission? That's not important. What is important is that it is waiting for the signal to be able to start working. Most likely it will take a long time.

Jaune: So we're just going to wait here until something happens?

Winter: *Looking around with binoculars* Correct.

Jaune: Ok

Silence.

Jaune: So you're Weiss's sister?

Winter: I'm sorry but I'm too busy to have some boring small talk.

Jaune: I see... *quietly* You didn't have to be rude.

Elm: Don't be mad at her, she gets like that when she's in the middle of a mission. She is a good person.

Harriet: Sometimes.

Elm: *Chuckles* True, sometimes she is a good person.

Jaune: Good to know. So what do you guys do to kill time while you wait?

Elm: We tell stories or play games.

Nora: GAMES!!! I have a game we can play.

Elm: Ok what game is it?

Nora: It is my leader's favorite.

Jaune: Oh no

Nora: Oh Jaune~

Jaune: I swear to you Nora, if you say what I think you're going to say. No more pancakes for a month.

Nora:...

Jaune:...

Nora: WhowouldyouFuck,Marry,orKill! Winter,Harriet,Elm!!!!!!!!

Jaune: That's it! No pancakes for you!!!

Silence

Elm: So, are you going to answer the question?

Jaune: What?

Elm: Who would you fuck, marry, or kill of the three of us?~

Winter, still looking through the binoculars, tenses at what she said.

Jaune: *Nervous* Well, I don't think it's very appropriate since we just met.

Elm: Come on~ Tell us who you want, maybe you will be lucky and it will come true~ *Wink*

Jaune: *Blushing* Oh

Behind Jaune you could see Pyrrha sharpening her spear while staring at Elm with a murderous face.

Elm: *Chuckles* I'm just kidding. But if I'm interested in knowing. So come on, say it.

Jaune: Ok... I will fuck... Elm

Elm: *Smug* I knew it

Jaune: Marry Harriet...

Harriet: *Blushing* Marry me!

Jaune: and kill Winter.

Winter: Why would you kill me?!

Elm: Winter, I thought you're busy. I didn't know you were interested in these things.

Winter: I'm not, but when I heard that they want to kill me I reacted. So Jaune, why would you kill me instead of marrying me?

Elm: *Teasing her* Oh, you want to marry him. I see~

Winter: Is not like that! Jaune answer the question.

Jaune: To be honest, I didn't like what you said to me when I tried to talk to you. So choosing you to kill was my way of getting even.

Winter: Oh... I'm sorry.

Jaune: Is ok, I'm sorry too.

Elm: Putting that aside, why would you marry Harriet?

Jaune: I thought she would look cute in a wedding dress. So….

Harriet: You wanna see me in a wedding dress?!

Jaune: Yes.

Harriet: *Gasp*

Elm: *Laughs* It's the first time I've seen Harriet like this. So why do you want to fuck me?~

Jaune: Please don't say it like that.

Elm: I'm just playing. But I'll stop now, so tell me. Why?

Jaune: Two words: Big Woman. respectfully, of course. You are three times the size of any woman I know. Three times bigger in height, three times bigger in thickness, and three times bigger in other things that I can't say in front of Pyrrha or else I'm going to have a bad time when we get back.

Elm: I believe you, she looks somewhat… *Looks at Pyrrha hugging Jaune's arm tight* ...possessive.

[kiyocuck]

kiyotaka tumblr user ramble

was thinkinf about this yesterday and i think ive cracked the idea of taka having tumblr, im an absolute genius and you will hear me out Okay

basically hes like a gimmick tumblr account that got famous for posting specific stuff and being Odd about it

the things he posts are like 5000 word posts just talking about his day in excruciating detail, talking about his studies and whatnot. it feels *weird* reading it bcuz hes describing oddly specific things like what he uses to clean his boots or whatever but its still Somewhat normal-ish.

he gets asks and replies to them with some unrelated tangent, some people ask him if hes autistic and hes like That is a very interesting question, I have actually done research in my spare time, because alot of my acquaintances are on the "Spectrum", and one of them, who thinks hes some 'Overlord of Ice', threw his pet hamsters at me and they scratched me on the face, and I had to go to the nurse in case he did not vaccinate them, I did not want to get rabies potentially, and-

basically letting his thoughts out without needing to sound like hes lecturing someone, he treats his blog like a diary and barely even realizes just how much attention he gets bcuz he logs in to post and then logs out

Occasionally, however, he will post something like "I cannot do this anymore I hate my life" and right after that he will post again "Apologies for the previous post, I was unmedicated, I am okay now. Anyway," and start talking about his studies again or whatever. and the funniest part is that he will not delete any sudden episode posts like that. he knows he can delete posts, but he doesnt think its worth hiding anything, which is why if he makes One grammar mistake in the 4 pages essay long posts, he will just reblog it correcting the ONE error like "*you're. I misspelled, sorry." and you are left to go look for that mistake he made in the first place

he will occasionally turn his posts into vents or nonsensical rambles like "I was reading a book about self-care recently, it was very informing. One of the chapters said 'It's important to have people in your life to support you'. Why does no one love me? Who should I rely on for support? What is wrong with me?" and people will reblog it like OP are you alright you can talk to us:( and he'll be like I'm perfectly okay dont ask me questions please (<-about to have another episode)

this turned out a bit depressive but take it in a funny way okay i just like to think about him alot even though i hate him and want him to die again by My hands

[avastrasposts]

BTS - The Pilot and his Girl

I was talking to some mutuals, who also write darker themes, about what we google and I realised readers probably don’t know about the amount of ridiculous research we sometimes put into tiny details in stories. And the ridiculous details we google! 

The Pilot and his Girl covered a lot of darker topics, PTSD, drug abuse and withdrawal, handling grief and trauma among other things. But it also included details about guns, military insignia and markers, Boston weather, Wyoming weather, geographical markers and local flora and fauna. And I did A LOT of googling to cover all the details. 

More below the cut if you’re curious, but my personal favourite was when Google gave me a warning banner about drug addiction, assuring me there was help to be had and here’s a list of local resources. I was only trying to figure out what withdrawals Frankie would go through as he came down off his addiction… 

So I did a fair bit of googling before the outbreak even happened, including the fish Denny catches in the lake on the fourth of July. It’s a fish that lives pretty much all over North America so I didn’t need to specify the state. Had I known that The Pilot would grow into a 300´000+ word fic I would’ve outlined where they lived and how they travelled in more detail in the beginning. 

In the fic they live in Arlington, but that’s not mentioned until after the outbreak and although they are somewhere in the south, where, is never specified. Arlington became their hometown simply because it’s the third most common place name in the US, Franklin being the most common (hence the name of the first QZ…). And Washington Park, where Frankie thinks he kills a man in the early hours of the outbreak, is the second most common place name. 

In one of the earlier chapters Frankie’s PTSD flares up in a bad way after his girlfriend is shot. I, thankfully, have no experience with PTSD so I read up and found good resources online from both treatment centres and stories from people who had suffered from PTSD, especially military veterans. So I put all of that into my writing and received the ultimate comment when one of my readers asked if I worked with PTSD patients because they had experience of it and they thought I had written Frankie’s episode so well. That made me so happy because capturing what he goes through well was important to me because it’s a major theme in the fic.

A small detail readers probably missed are the signs Pope and Frankie leave for each other as they travel from the cabin in Lucía’s town. I don’t know why, but I was adamant about them being correct and spent way too much time looking up what signs special ops soldiers would use. So go ahead, look them up, I can guarantee that they’re correct! 

Oh and their guns? Yeah, it’s not a coincidence that Frankie picks up a Glock when he enters the looted gun shop. It’s one of their preferred handguns. 

After Pope, Benny, Frankie and his girl leave the Arlington QZ and head to New York they have to cross the Appalachian mountains. And the trail they’re on exists, as does the bridge they’re on when they’re attacked and capture Morrow, their guide. The shop they get to as they go through Hoboken, Hoboken Beer & Soda Outlet, is a real place, as is of course, Sinatra Park. And as they travel further north, from New York, up to Boston, you can follow the path they take, first the ship from Orchard Park up to Nonquitt Bay and up past the USS Massachusetts, and through the Boston suburbs. I love geography and I had to make it real, at least for myself! 

Boston winters are harsh, I already knew that, so I had to figure out the timeline of spring potentially arriving and work out when Frankie and his girl could leave after Pope dies. Frankie’s addiction and withdrawals took a lot of googling, as did figuring out what drugs/medicines would still be actually usable. There’s a mention of antibiotics being good for years after their expiration date and this is also true, stored correctly they don’t lose their effect. 

And once they left, I googled my way across the midwest and marvelled at how FLAT and STRAIGHT those states are! My mind was blown and I spent way too much time using Google Street view to just click my way across Nebraska. I used a lot of those images to describe the landscape that they travelled through, both by car and on foot, and how it changes as you get closer to the Rockies. And of course I googled the climate for that valley that Jackson is in and how a hydroelectric plant works but please forgive me, that is NOT how you repair one. Major artistic licence was taken to make that scene readable…. 

The one MAJOR deviation from facts I had to make was petrol. But as the same deviation is made in both the game and tv-show I let it slide. In reality, they wouldn’t be able to drive the cars with petrol that had been sitting other cars out in the open. Petrol breaks down very fast, even after a month in a car it’s lost a lot of its quality. After a year it starts clogging the car. Twenty years? No way…. The thing is, in the apocalypse, bicycles are what you need! 

But despite all that googling I did, someone did point out (in the nicest possible way) one mistake that I made. In the early days in Jackson baby Jack is fed honey because I figured it would be the one sweetener they would potentially have on hand. But apparently, honey shouldn’t be given to children under the age of one… But I have no kids so the thought didn’t even occur to me that he shouldn’t be eating it. But now I know and I don’t think I’ll ever forget because it will always make me think of baby Jack and Frankie! 

If you’ve read this far, I hope you’ve enjoyed this little “behind the scenes” bit and if you have any questions, just ask. Funnily enough, most writers love talking about their works. ❤❤❤

[ballerinainskzville]

Stay with me - Hyunjin oneshot (18+)

Summary: as the hair stylist of skz, you’re traveling with them on their US tour. Despite their daily chaos, nothing could have prepared you to find Hyunjin in your bed during a Las Vegas stop

TW: partying, alcohol, marriage, smut, dirty talk, sex jokes, swear words

“Y/N! Is Hyunjin with you?”, you heard someone’s fist pounding on the door. Or was he pounding on your head? You’d bet that someone had cracked your skull open and was beating your nerves up one by one. You groaned as you opened your eyes which felt heavier than they ever had. At the attempt of lifting your head, you hissed in pain and let your head fall back down on your pillow. Or attempted. Hissing at the pain of whatever had just scratched your temple. Since when did pillows have metals inside the-

Your gut clenched when you saw that it wasn’t the pillow that had just scratched you. It was a hand. Someone’s hand. Wearing rings. Multiple rings. Rings you’d recognize anywhere, just like the hand. Big statement rings decorated the slim fingers. Except the simple silver ring on his ring finger, it was new…

“Hyunjin?”, you mumbled as you slowly turned your head to confirm your suspicion. Hyunjin laid on his stomach, arm extended over your pillow. His gorgeous brown hair was scattered around his face, looking photogenically put together even in his sleep. If any of the skz members had a deep sleep, Hyunjin slept like he’d had to recharge for the rest of his life.

You gulped as you looked back at his hand. Some seconds from last night flashed through your mind and they scared you.

They couldn’t be true.

Those must me dreams.

They didn’t feel like a dream.

Terrified, you lifted your hand from underneath the blanket. To realize you were wearing nothing except than a blank silk robe. Correction: if you were terrified before, you’re on the verge of a break down now. Another glance at Hyunjin. He was shirtless under the blanket. Glancing back at your loosely sitting robe. No no no… you mumbled and lifted your hand up.

The identical ring on Hyunjin’s hand was decorated your ring finger.

You let out a shriek, startling Hyunjin.

“Ouchhh, what the-“, he groaned in a low, slurry voice, burying his face further into the pillow.

“Wake up, husband”, you groaned, shaking Hyunjin’s shoulder furiously. “We need to talk!”

“First of all, my head is about to split ope. Second of all, who are you calling husb-“, Hyunjin’s voice died on his lips as he opened one eye, seeing the ring on your hand. You could see the panic rising in his eyes when he realized the familiarity of the ring. “No no no, there’s no way”, he slurred out before he snatched his arm back. Once he saw the ring on his own finger, he let out a similar shriek.

“Y/N? Are you awake?”, Seungmin’s voice boomed from behind the wall. “What is Minnie doing here?”, you whispered to Hyunjin who was still staring at his hand in shock and despair.

“Give a me a minute Minnie!”, you then yelled from across the room.

“What the fuck happened last night- WHY ARE YOU NAKED??”, Hyunjin shrieked out, slapping his hand over his eyes.

“I’m wearing a robe you idiot. You’re the naked one here! And is that seriously your only problem right now?”, you whined, scooting further away from Hyunjin before you sat up on the bed. “What do you remember from last night, Hyun?”, you groaned as you massaged your temples. Your head was about to burst.

“We were at the club, drinking and dancing”, he mumbled in a soft voice. You remembered that too.

“I remember jewelry too…”, you mumbled, taking a peak at your hand, at the dainty silver ring on your finger.

“I remember a priest. Fuck”, he groaned yet another time, sitting up in bed. You looked at each other before both your gazes drifted off to the night stand, towards a paper laying on it. Next to a ripped condom package. Grabbing the paper, you threw it onto Hyunjin. “I can’t look at it. What does it say?”, you sighed with closed eyes. Your whole body was shaking, the missing memories of the night before were yet missing.

“Congratulations. You’re a Hwang now, Y/N”, he commented only and handed you the paper back. The wedding certificate. You two got married. In Vegas. You had consumed the marriage too. You had married your secret crush and didn’t even remember any second of a kiss or touch.

“I wanted to be a Bang, not a Hwang”, you only said and instantly, he threw you a dirty look. “Oh, I’m sorry. Did I break your heart by marrying you? Let me get the divorce papers”, he snapped bitterly. His sharp tongue startled you. You and Hyunjin would joke around a lot but it never was said with a bitter tone. “If there’s one thinking about a divorce, it’s you right now”, you snapped back at him before you put the paper back on the nightstand.

“I don’t want to divorce you”, Hyunjin said to interrupt the silence. You stopped chewing your bottom lip and looked at him instead. Worry clouded his eyes as he sweeper over your facial expressions. “I… I honestly had loved you for over a year now…and seem to have skipped the whole relationship point with last night”

His confession took you by surprise. His behavior from him hadn’t changed much from your first days of you being their hair stylist. Hyunjin had showered you with gifts in between the endless jokes and comments, from flowers to annotated books. A collection of gifts given by him was growing. Giving gifts was his love language, he has told you once. “So if I see something that reminds me of someone I know, I want to gift it to them”

“You... Love me..?”, you breathed out. Hyunjin’s eyes meet yours, unsureness written inside them. Because he didn’t know how you felt. About him. About this. “Is this the right time to admit my crush on you?”, you then said softly. His worried eyes blinked twice before they began to widen. As the words began to register in his mind. You were practically able to see his brain shifting. “You-“, he cut himself off. “I’ve kinda liked you for a while too. I don’t know if I can call it love yet… it has a strong weight to it… but I really really like you”, you let the words stumble out your mouth before you could stop yourself. What was the worst that could happen now anyway?”

Hyunjin’s hand reached out, cupping your cheek. You couldn’t help yourself but nuzzle your cheek into his warm. He gave you a warm smile when you did that and for a second, the world seemed okay. Your world. With his.

“Let me figure this out. We can figure this out”, added. All you could do was nod to his words. You hadn’t fully registered them. He liked you. No, he loves you. He had loved you in secret for a while. Which explains why he was the only member who hasn’t been on a dates since you became their stylist.

“I don’t want to get a divorce, Hyunjin”, you then whispered as now Lee Know banged on the door.

“I know, love”, he caressed your cheek before you could hear Lee Know yelling: “I’m about to join your honeymoon if you don’t open this fucking door! We have schedule to attend!”

“I don’t know what’s more concerning. The fact that we got married and don’t remember anything from it or that Lino is threatening us to join the honeymoon”, I yawned out, my head still feeling heavy.

“Definitely the second option”, he commented.

[superblycaffeinated]

Find the list of January Prompts I’m participating in here - join in! I love seeing all the different stories people come up with from the same words 💙 I actually didn’t pop the words of the prompt into this one, just more of the general feeling that they brought to me. Please enjoy Joe being Joe and also the tiniest hint of a nod to the listen series by @averagejoesolomon in the form of a spoon, a dad and his daughter in this 

Joe could use a shower, a warm bed, and a decent cup of coffee. His jet-lag hasn’t caught up to him just yet, that feeling of an op clings to him, keeping him going far longer than possible. Adrenaline and anxiety curl around tense and tight muscles still, making his brain more alert than it should be. 

Which is why he slows his steps when the black town car rounds the corner, heading in the same direction as him. Eyes track the moving vehicle from under aviators as he pulls out the burner, maintaining his course towards the idling jet, dialing the number he’s had memorized for the past several years. 

It rings three times, he speaks five numbers into the receiver clearly, then a click. 

“Rachel Morgan, Headmistress of the-”

“Catch me up here, Rach-Ms. Morgan,” he corrects, staring as the car’s red brake lights glow, and a teenage girl climbs out of the backseat. 

Rachel’s voice is crackled and stiff over the line, but he can detect the amusement in her tone. “We have an international student who just so happened to also need a lift home. Win-win.”

The teenage girl stands with her arms crossed next to the trunk of the car, a stubborn pout on her lips before she sees him. He can tell she’s startled at the sight of him - hesitant - all of it clear just from her eyes, but she’s pretty good at hiding it - her body language and pout remain intact. 

He ducks his head, lips barely moving against the phone as he hisses, “How is me, sitting on a jet, alone, trapped with a teenage girl for eight hours, a win-win, Rachel?”

“You need a ride, she needs a ride, and I need you both here. Quite literally the definition of a win-win, if you ask me. Actually, it’s technically a win-win-win. They should give me a trophy for that many in a row.” 

Abe and Grace Baxter climb out of the car and he watches the girl melt into her mother’s embrace as he grows closer to the trio and the waiting jet. 

He shakes his head, ever so slightly, and laughs, amused, but irritated nonetheless. 

“You know, you’re becoming more and more like your sister each passing day?”

It’s meant as a joke, a light-hearted jab, like they used to. But things aren’t the same anymore, and they haven’t been for quite some time. 

If he were there, in person, maybe he’d see her eyes, feel that air that surrounds Rachel and tells him the silent things he needs to know. But he’s in London and she’s in Virginia, and all he can do is listen to the tight way her words come out. 

“Well, I suppose I should take that as a compliment. Everyone likes Abby more anyways. Always have, right?”

“Rachel, I didn’t mean-”

“Best get going, Mr. Solomon. At this rate, you and Ms. Baxter will be crashing my welcome back speech.”

The phone clicks and then she’s gone. 

He’s at the car now, and Abe Baxter has his hands on his daughter’s shoulders, smiling.

“Don’t forget that thing I taught you with-”

“With the spoon. Yeah, dad, I got it.” She rolls her eyes, tone seeming to be brushing it off, but Joe can see the way she loves her father fiercely, all from those eyes that give her away. 

Grace smiles at him, “Sorry we can’t stay and catch up, Joe. Duty calls. Keep an eye on our girl?”

He nods, a short but courteous thing and offers his best smile. He drops the burner, stomps on it, and pulls the pieces apart before tossing it to Abe who catches it without looking up. Rebecca Baxter watches it all with eager, hungry eyes - like a sponge trying to absorb every last drop. He suspects she’ll be one of his new students who gives him a run for his money. And that’s before he hears:

“Darling, give Liz and Cammie our love!” 

She waves as the town car doors close, watching until it disappears and her bags and trunks are loaded into the plane. 

Joe is fairly certain his heart rate has increased exponentially because not only is he about to be trapped on a plane with a teenager, but a teenager who just so happens to be best friends with the one girl he isn’t ready to see again. 

Rebecca turns to face him, her hand out, overconfidence radiating out of her like she thinks she’s a seasoned operative like her parents, like him, and not the inexperienced teenager that she is. 

Joe is one thousand percent positive he can hear Matthew Morgan, somewhere, wishing him an apprehensive:

Good luck, buddy. And get ready.

[13as07]

Tiggie #1

(Itachi Uchiha)

[Artwork is not mine! Credit to StringDman94]

Requested by: Anonymous

Word Count: 3,847

Warnings and/or Pre-Notes:

The start is a bit different than your request. I couldn't think of a way to write it how you asked.

Also, this is going to be a two parter; maybe a three parter. Sorry!!!

———————————————————————

     I'm hunched over on the ground, blood dripping from my mouth as I gasp for air. Why am I here again? Why are we in the Land of Demons? Where are my squad mates? Where's Captain?

     "I'm sorry," the older lady whispers, dipping her fingers into her eye sockets, popping her eyes out, blood trickling from the wounds she caused herself. The sight makes me dry heave, my body not knowing if I should keep panting for breath or heaving. "But there needs to be a backup plan, just in case Moryo and Shion both die. Just in case Shisui does not succeed. My home village will be safe, because of you."

     "Shisui?" I ask between two or three heaves. "Who's Shisui?"

     "Do not worry child, you will have enough to be anxious about later in life," the empty-eyed woman coos, taking slow but wide steps towards me. "I am gifting you my dojutsu. You shall see the future of all. You will save us all, will save my Village."

     "What? What are you talking about?" I shriek, crawling away from her, the aches of my body and the broken leg buried under my skin making it difficult to move away from her.

     I fail at my attempt to escape the woman. She settles in front of me, kneeling before shoving her eyes into me. I scream from the pain, my eyes feeling like they're on fire from her touch. "You will save the great nations," she tells me, backing away. My eyes sting as I open them, blood trickling down my cheeks, a mirror image of the person in front of me. "You will save my Village."

     The nightmare - more so, the memory - comes to an end when I shoot up in bed, my chest pumping with the same fear I felt a couple of weeks ago. When the white of the hospital walls registers I'm able to calm down a bit, my heart still pounding in my chest.

"Hey, it's okay," the honey voice of my squad captain says, tugging my eyes to the side of my hospital bed. Sitting in all his glory is the Dog, who I've nicknamed doggie, eyes squinted a bit, cutting off some of the glow from his sharingan. "Another nightmare?"

"Ya," I whisper, letting my head fall to my hands so I can rub my eyes.

"Well I have some good news," he mutters, adding a lightweight to my lap. "We figured out what's going on with your eyes."

"We?" I ask, rubbing my eyes once more before letting them open. Sitting in my lap is a folder, one in which I flip open instantly.

"Let's just say the Uchiha clan dislikes me even more now," he utters, sulking in the fluffy chair that engulfs the older boy, making the other file in his lap slip a bit. He's only three years older, but sometimes it feels like Doggie is thirty going on fifteen.

My eyes scan over the first page of the paperwork, making them hurt from being used. The pain has gone down in recent weeks but it still hurts to use the basic sense of mine. "Itachi Uchiha is why my eyes are messed up?" I tease, scanning over the file of my old classmate.

Itachi and I graduated at the same time, the boy being a year younger than me. Itachi went straight into being an active Shinobi, mentored under one of his own. I did too, but unlike Itachi, in the last couple of months, I've been working for the Black Ops. After graduation our paths have crossed a few times but not enough to keep up with each other.

"What?" Dog asks, leaning forward to scan the file in my lap. "My bad, wrong file," he grumbles, taking the folder from me and replacing it with the one that tried to fall from his lap.

"Why do you have Itachi's file?" I mumble, snapping open the correct file and scanning the words covering the first page.

"I'm recommending him as a recruit," he whispers, eyes tearing away from me to stare out the window.

"Is that what Fugaku wanted in return for information on the dojutsu? His son getting a position in the Anbus?" I ask, glancing at my captain before I flip the page to continue reading.

Doggie shrugs before looking back at me. "It's not my decision but if Fugaku wants me to mention it to the Hokage it's easy work for the payout. Why? What do you know about Itachi?"

     "Not a lot. We graduated at the same time but he was a year below me. He was pretty quiet, didn't talk much, didn't have many friends either."

     "Seems to be a qualification," Dog mumbles, eyes back out the window.

     "I guess so. He was my favorite person at the academy though," I continue, using our talk to help with the anxieties that are coming along with this 'dojutsu' thing stuck in me. "He was always nice when we talked and we usually ate together since he tended to freak people out and Genma had everyone at the academy in a fearful chokehold. Though, it was more me talking and him nodding along. Maybe when I tell him that I'm a fortune teller I'll finally get him to laugh."

     Doggie lets out an airy chuckle, eyes flickering back toward me. "Telling the future will be pretty cool. We'll just have to wait and see how your dojutsu acts. Different ones see different parts of the future."

"Talk about an upgraded sharingan." That gets an actual laugh out of the captain, putting some of my nerves at ease. I'm alive and my squad is alive, that's what matters. "Do you think Lord Third is going to recruit Itachi?"

"Probably."

"Damn, there goes my youngest anbu trophy." Another chuckle, this one airy again. Captain is back to having his walls up.

————————————

"I'm just saying, it wouldn't be a bad idea to start looking for a partner," Genma mumbles for the hundredth time, slowly walking the tree path he's taken me down.

He's decided to abuse his power as my guardian and signed me out of the hospital for a stroll through the woods, about 5 miles out of the radar the hospital 'struggle suggests' patience stay in when they're on family leave.

"I'm too young for that," I counter, waddling around on my crutches, making sure not to trip or put too much pressure on my leg.

Genma's eyes flicker towards me, as protective as ever as I slowly weave around the fallen branches and the surfaced roots of the forest. "I'm not saying get married. I'm not even saying get a boyfriend, or a girlfriend if you're into that. Actually, no dating, period. Just... a nice friend."

"Oh, so now you're calling me a friendless loser," I tease, eyes locked on the ground, set on not tripping and proving my older brother wrong. He insisted on carrying me through the forest because 'you're going to trip over something and hurt yourself worse'. Obviously, I'm not being carried so this is my time to prove him wrong.

"I mean... ya," he utters, stopping his movements as I work my way around a big branch. "You don't do anything except work. I want you to have a support system when I die."

"If," I correct, struggling a bit not to snag in the brush or the tree branch. Why did Genma decide a stroll in the woods was a good idea?

"If," he sighs, eyes glancing around the trees. "I don't want you to be alone if I die on a mission. I have friends, I have people to emotionally support me if something happens to you. You don't. That terrifies me more than anything in the world - dear Lord, let me help you," Genma groans, cutting himself off when my crutch gets caught, making me wobble a bit.

     His arms wrap around me, set on clinging to my hips to help steady me. When Genma gets a hold of me, a light flickers, coating my sights in a bright white before evening out again. Everything is the same, the forest is still present, my crutches still tucked under my arms, and the weight of Genma's hands on me.

     Well, all is the same until there are movements in the trees. "Genma," I call, leaning into him, my back bumping into his chest.

     "Ya?"

     "Did you hear that?"

     "Hear what?"

     There's more wrestling of the brush before four mute-colored - monsters? - jump out from the trees. My eyes trail over the spider-looking man with six arms, quickly trailing down the line of - rope waisted? - monsters.

     "Gen - " I start, turning my head to look back at him, but there's no Genma to be found.

     "What the hell is up with your eyes? Why are they purple?" My brother's voice rings out, followed by the feeling of fingertips brushing across my cheek.

     "Gemma?!" I scream, pulling back from the mystery voice and touches. I trip over the root I was trying to get around, falling flat on the ground.

     What the hell is going on? What do I do? What's up with the cult-looking monsters? What's with the damn ghost of my brother's voice? "Genma!" I yell again, struggling to get to my feet, pain shooting up my leg with the weight of my body being pressed into it prematurely. "I need you. This isn't funny."

     "I'm right here. Why are you freaking out? We're fine, stop freaking out, and get off your leg. You're going to set your healing back," the void lectures, sticks snapping as it moves closer.

     "Genma!" I yell again, high-tailing away from the man, the stitches in my leg giving way and making blood and a new ache leak down my leg as I run. It's probably not the best idea to run toward the herd of scary mutants but at least they're an enemy I can see.

     "Stop running away from me, you're hurting yourself. Come here!" The void continues to yell, the sound of snapping sticks increasing as it chases after me.

     Soft thumps fill the air as I head towards the four monsters, making me stall in my movements. I slowly turn around, being met with the sight of Raido, one of my older brother's coworkers. "Raido!" I yelp, heading towards him until I catch a glimpse of the shinobi by his side. "Genma!" I almost cry, turning directions to head toward my bandana-wearing jerk of a brother. "You can't just leave me like that!" I continue to complain, angry and frightened tears running down my face as I reach my arms out towards him.

     When my hands touch him, he puffs away, leaving behind a cloud of smoke before the bright white light flashes across my senses for the second time. "Genma!" I shriek again, hands shooting up to rub the pain of the light out of my eyes.

     "I'm right here, why are you yelling?" My brother's voice rings out again. Hands gripping my shoulders and before one jumps down to press on my busted stitches. "What is going on with you?"

     I'm shaken with his free hand, making my hands fall away from my eyes. "Genma!" I cry again, the sight of my brother falling into view again. I lunge forward, wrapping my arms around him and burying my face into his neck.

     "Hey," he coos, rubbing his hand up and down my back. "We're okay. Please calm down, you're going to give yourself a panic attack. You are fine, you are safe, you are loved. Repeat it, Peanut."

"I... I'm fine, I am... I am safe, and... and I am loved," I whisper back between hiccups. I continue repeating it as Genma picks me up, pain-dipped knives stabbing along my torn-up leg.

————————————

"Are you still in reality?" Doggie asks for the hundredth time, his fingers ghosting around my wrist as he leads me toward the locker room. This has become my captain's new thing, asking me if I'm having a 'flash of the future' as Genma calls it.

It's been almost two months since my first 'flash of the future', with a handful more happening since then. Curtsey of a lot of testing and educated guesses, the Leaf Council has concluded two things; One, there's no way to control it, and Two, the person I'm touching is what fuels it. No touching, no 'flash of the future'.

The council has also decided I'll continue working with the anbus since, and I'm quoting Lord Danzo, 'What use is it protecting a fortune teller that can't explain the future, let alone control her tellings?'. Fine by me, it's not always the best thing to stand out in our village, something my brother and I know all too well.

     Since the village elders think it's best to not focus on my lovely new eyes, they're keeping the knowledge of it under wraps as much as possible. Aka, everyone in the village is whispering about it but the elders, Genma, and myself aren't allowed to confirm or deny any questions.

"Nope, totally not," I mutter, shifting away from my captain. I don't like being coddled, and that's what Kakashi is trying to do right now. It's annoying.

"Oh ya? Tell what you see, Oh Wise One," he teases back, the faintest of smiles under his mask.

"I see... you getting your head shoved into a locker if you keep babying me," I answer, pausing for dramatic effect.

"You're not funny," the captain mumbles, opening the door for me, his hand motioning me inside. I do a little curtsy, fluffing out a fake dress before walking through the door. "Listen up," Captain booms, following me into the locker room. "Let's all welcome, Tiggie back!" He yells, playing on the tiger mask I was assigned during orientation.

"Welcome back, Tiger!"

"How are you feeling?"

"Are you going on the mission today?"

Different questions and greetings are thrown my way as I walk through the crowded place, the occasional person ruffling my hair or patting my back.

     "Hey, Tiger!" The girl known as 'Squirrel' says, greeting me as I settle by my locker. I'm locker eleven-A and she's locker ten-A, so I guess that makes us locker bodies. "Did you hear the news?"

     "What news?" I ask, focusing on turning my key in the lock and popping the wooden door open.

     "There's a new boy in our squad. He's called Weasel. Rumor has it he's younger than you."

     "Oh ya?" I mutter, tugging on my hair so I can tie it up before mission reports are given.

     Squirrel hums a yes, switching from my left to my right on repeat. "He got locker twelve-A so you two are locker buddies."

     "Jealous, Squirly? Worried the Weasel is going to take me from you?" I ask, glancing at my roots in the mirror I've hung in my locker. Flat, perfect.

     She giggles, finally opening her locker to get ready. "He's cute. The mysterious, dark shaded, gives off morally grey vibes, kind of cute."

     "If he's younger than me, he's too young for you," I tease, tugging my shirt off. It's half true, Squirrel is fourteen, which I only know because we went through orientation together. "Besides you have a boyfriend. A boyfriend that isn't anything like this 'morally grey' Weasel person you're talking about."

     "That's an upgrade from the 'emo boy' nickname you usually use," a soft voice says from behind me. I turn around to see who's talking, my eyes graced with my academy friend: Itachi Uchahi.

     My eyes widen a bit as a smile cracks across my face. I guess Fugaku got what he wanted. "Hey, It - er - Weasel," I greet, cutting myself off from using his real name.

     "Hello....?" He asks, tilting his head slightly to try and catch a glimpse of my mask.

     "Tiger, but the Captain calls me Tiggie."

     "Tiggie?" He repeats, focusing back on me. "That's... cute," Itachi mutters, a soft smile on his lips before he turns away from me.

     I suck my cheek in, chewing on it as I turn my focus away too, sliding back into a work mindset. The heat crawling across my face makes it hard to stay focused though.

     Squirrel wiggles closer to me, hands holding my shoulders as she whispers. "I think the Weasel likes you. The only question is how do you two know each other?"

     "Whatever," I mutter, rolling my shoulders to shake her hands off of me. "You're not allowed to ask non-work questions."

     "You're no fun, Tiggie," she teases, making her voice airy when she says my nickname.

————————————

"I told your brother I'd walk you home!" The captain yells at me, rushing to change out of his uniform as I head toward the door.

     "I'm more than capable of walking myself home, Doggie," I mutter, rolling my eyes at him.

     "Doggie?" Itachi's voice pipes up from next to me, startling me. I jerk away from the sound, turning my head towards the Uchahi boy. "Why do you call the captain doggie?"

"Because he calls me Tiggie."

He hums and another soft smile shoots my way. "How about I walk you home, Tiger? Would that be alright?" He asks, turning toward Captain for his second question.

Dog stalls in his movements, blinking slowly as he looks between the two of us. "I guess that's fine. I don't think he will care... maybe. Probably not."

"He won't," Itachi says, grabbing my wrist before walking out of the locker room.

I stroll after him, flickering my eyes around anywhere but the boy dragging me behind him. "My brother hates you," I mutter, trying to push down the blush threatening to climb up my face again. "He threatened to shove a kunai down your throat last time he saw you."

"That's because your brother has an unhealthy attachment to you and an even more unhealthy protectiveness over you," Itachi mutters, tugging me forward so we're side by side instead of me trailing behind him while we climb down the stairs. "Besides, your brother only threatened to stab me because I kissed your cheek at graduation. I won't be doing that in front of him again ." In front of him again. In front of him... again.

The words tumble around my head, making me lose my battle with the heat that's been threatening to climb across my face. "Why are you walking me home?" I murmur, blinking my eyes as I'm led outside into the natural light.

"Because your brother is unhealthily protective. He would tear the Captain a new one if you walked yourself home."

"Is that the only reason you're walking me home?"

"Yes." Damn, I guess Squirrel was wrong. Oh well. "You will make me a snack when we get to your home. It is courtesy."

Well, I guess Itachi never grew out of his demanding personality... or bluntness. "What do you want me to make?"

     "I don't care," he mutters, his thumb rolling over the veins of my wrist. It was probably an accident but I can't help but smile at the soft touch.

————————————

"You have to tell me how the Weasel and you know each other," Squirrel whisper-yells at me, her eyes flickering from me to Itachi who's waiting by the door to walk me home for the third week in a row.

"You're not allowed to ask non-worker questions," I remind her for the hundredth time today, shifting stuff around in my locker in search of my shirt. It couldn't have gotten that far away.

"Technically it is a work question, it just so happens to have a not work answer," she counters, eyes still racing back and forth. "Besides, everyone has kind of figured out you guys knew each other before the Anbus."

"Ya?" I grumble, finally finding my shirt and tugging it over my head.

"Ya, it's pretty obvious. I wish Kanji would walk me home every day. It would be so cute!"

"Just ask him too," I tell her, rolling my eyes at the romantic gushing about her boyfriend again.

"I don't want to have to ask him. I want him to want to, you know? Like Weasel is with you. He wants to walk you home so he waits for you every day."

"Weasel walks me home so my brother doesn't have a meltdown," I shortly explain, closing my locker and making sure it locks.

"If it was just about your smokin' hot, high-ranked brother, he wouldn't do it every day."

"I think I just throw up a little bit," I mutter, fake gagging as I walk away from my locker mate. "Stop trying to hit on my brother!" I yell at her over my shoulder, rolling my eyes before settling them on Itachi. Maybe Squirrel is right. If Itachi didn't want to walk me home he'd only fill in the spot when the Captain is busy. Or maybe he took my brother's empty threat to heart. Who knows?

"Stop having a hot brother!" She yells back, a string of laughs following her sentence.

     "Are you ready to go, Tiggie?" He asks, looking at me with his usual intensity. I swear Itachi always looks like he's trying to set stuff on fire with his eyes. It's a weird thought to have, especially since his clan specializes in fire jutsus.

     "If you are," I answer, getting my wrist grabbed like the new usual seems to be. When Itachi's fingers press against my wrist, feeling my heartbeat, he starts tugging me behind me, another new usual. "You do know that I know the path home, right?"

     "I do. You're not going home today."

     "I'm not?"

     "You're not," he mutters, slowing his pace a bit when he starts leading me down the stairs. "You are coming to my home today. My mother wants you to join us for dinner. I told her you would."

"You didn't say anything about a dinner with your parents to me. Why am I having dinner with your parents?" I point out, panic tingling up my spine.

I'm not dressed for a dinner party. I'm not prepared to meet Itachi's parents. I don't even know why I'm meeting them. How is Genma going to react when I tell him? Given, he's away on a mission and won't be home until tomorrow, but still. He's going to lose his mind when he finds out when Raido tells him. Oh Lord, how's Raido going to react when I show up at home later than expected?

"I'm telling you right now. Is that not good enough?"

"What if I had plans after our mission?"

"You would cancel them, but you don't have plans, so why worry about a hypothetical situation?" Itachi asks, opening the front door before using his hold to pull me out of it, quickly following behind. "My parents like to know who my friends are. They know Shisui, and now they want to know you. So, you are coming to dinner."

"Ah, okay."

———————————————————————

———————————————————————

[novafire-is-thinking]

First Contact

OP: In my caste, I may read and I may index, but I am forbidden to analyze.

M: How do you know where to index if you don't analyze first?

OP: I try not to ask myself questions that don't have answers I can do anything about.

M: Who has told you that you can't do anything about the answers? I never even had a name. I went out to die for the pleasure of strangers. Now I am Megatron, and I will fight when and where and for what reasons I please.

OP: Fight who?

M: Those who would tell me... like they tell you... that we do not have the right to determine our own fates. Interesting that even in Iacon my words are being heard.

OP: It is my task to hear all words.

M: But you don't answer all of what you hear. And surely you don't answer all of what you hear on channels that you hide for fear of being eavesdropped on.

OP: No.

M: A great many Cybertronians would love to have Iacon as their home. Yet you are there and still unsatisfied. What does that tell you?

OP: We should meet.

M: Should we? Why would I meet you?

OP: If you have goals beyond Kaon, you’re going to need to tailor your message so it will resonate beyond the castes who smelt ore and die in the pits.

M: Or the rest of Cybertron should learn to understand those castes. Even you do not, and you consider yourself one of us.

OP: Then show me what I do not understand.

The above is the first conversation between Orion and Megatron over the Grid. This conversation in Exodus occurred right after the oft-referenced moment where Orion gets upset about the fact that he does not have free access to Six Lasers—an amusement park reserved mostly for the highest castes. More than one fan has found this laughable and used it to point out how Orion was blinded by his privilege, and while I agree, I also think it’s important to not stop there.

In the above conversation, Megatron called Orion out and put him in his place. Orion could have responded defensively, but he did not. He asked to be shown what he did not understand. His open-mindedness impressed Megatron.

However, I will also point out that Megatron spoke of his personal ambitions more than about the collective goal of his group at the time. There’s a passage in The Covenant that I believe provides excellent evidence that Megatron saw things as him against the world from the start as opposed to him having the mindset of a benevolent revolutionary. I may or may not get around to sharing it in this series.

Motives and Methods

He understood Megatron’s reasons, and perhaps even more than the gladiator did Orion Pax wanted the freedom and initiative that would come with the end of caste and Guild.

Where they differed, Orion Pax suspected, was in method. He believed the change could be created through political means: spreading new ideas, watching them catch fire, attracting enough followers to their vision that eventually the High Council and Sentinel Prime would have to take notice. That was the vision of Orion Pax.

Sometimes he was concerned that Megatron did not have as much patience as he did.

Yes, you read that right. Orion once thought he desired the downfall of the caste system more than Megatron. It seems arrogant, but consider young Orion’s original dream from The Covenant. Without destroying the caste system, there would be no expansion outward. No opportunity for the exploration and discovery he so desired—not just for himself, but for others as well.

What did Megatron want? He wanted to fight. Alpha Trion said in The Covenant that Megatron was “of the line of Megatronus” and that “he was, at heart, born to revolt.” Megatron desired to conquer and control. To fight someone. Anyone. As long as he could fight against something. It just happened to be the caste system, and if others came along to benefit from his revolution, so be it. Meanwhile, Orion wanted there to be a collective, collaborative effort to destroy the system for the sake of moving forward and upward as a species.

So, I don’t think Orion was correct in thinking he wanted to rid Cybertron of its caste system more than Megatron. It’s just that their motivations and methods for doing so happened to be different.

A Social Strategist

“I don't need you to tell me what's easy and what isn't,” Barricade said. But he was already moving to go back inside. Perfect. “Lugnut,” he added with the door open. “Don't let this mech go anywhere.”

Mech, thought Orion Pax. He’s got to put me in my place. Gladiators wore their emotions on their sleeves, it seemed. He wondered if he should have reacted to the insult, or if a reaction would have been too provocative. Then he started thinking that he was being too deliberative, overthinking everything he did, overanalyzing everything others did.

Notice how Orion so quickly came to his conclusions with very little prompting. Typecasting can be an issue, but it’s impossible to navigate life without making some assumptions. In this case, I believe Orion’s assumptions and his gift for analyzing and reading others helped him to understand Megatron’s passionate nature and his tendency to provoke for the purpose of testing another—incredibly useful for strategizing later during the war.

Seeing Clearly

Entropy, or the consciousness of it, was my other companion. This was one reason why Orion Pax, with his dedication and tireless focus, stood out from the other clerks. He seemed to resist the robotic monotony of the data-harvesting enterprise; instead the size and scope of the task invigorated him.

Yet it was not for this that I came to realize that he was to become the next Prime.

It was a combination of observation, research, and raw... it is difficult for an archivist such as myself to say this...

Intuition.

Orion Pax seemed different. He was humble but certain, rigorous in completing his assignments yet unafraid to deliver results beyond or contradictory to the stated parameters.

And when he first began to discern that a few gladiators in the forgotten savagery of Kaon’s pits were beginning to grow into something more—Orion Pax might have been expected to do one of two things. He might have ignored the data as irrelevant, thus confirming the caste bigotry that those gladiators hated. Or he might have passed on the information without comment to his superiors, who might also have ignored them out of caste bigotry or suppressed the dissent without investigating its origins.

Orion Pax did neither of those things. He investigated, analyzed, synthesized—and when that still did not satisfy him, he went to those who were dissatisfied. He learned.

He empathized. Unencumbered by the prejudices of his age, he chose to see clearly.

Again with the intuition and empathy. Orion chose to look behind the curtain and allow his natural curiosity to take him places his peers never dared to go. He didn’t set out to lead a revolution. He didn’t waltz in and play savior. Orion merely followed his curiosity and realized he had the means to help Megatron’s movement in specific ways. He said through his actions: “Okay, I see where this is going, and I’m here. Show me what I need to know so that, perhaps, I can make this easier for all of us.” Orion never implied that they owed him for his contributions to the cause. It was his hope to make a difference and prevent a violent uprising by showing Megatron and other lower-caste bots that he, as an upper caste bot, was willing to use his higher position to work toward the common goal of societal change.

However, he was just one guy. It wasn’t enough for Megatron and the others, and Orion had to learn that the hard way. It’s not that he failed. He followed his intuition and did his best. It’s just a fact of life that, oftentimes, one person’s best isn’t good enough.

Librarian to Luminary

As he left my study, we were both stunned to see that the data clerks had come to the atrium outside, every single one of them. They stood in a double row, perfectly silent, having come just to see their former colleague and to pay their respects to what he had become.

For Optimus Prime it must have been a moment of intense and conflicting emotion. He has not spoken of it to me; since he left at that moment, he has been absorbed in the skirmishes around the perimeter of Iacon. The clerks glean every bit of data about his actions hungrily, as if it were Energon itself that they might nourish themselves with. Some of them would get up and fight if it were permitted, but as I have written, they are all either created not to fight or have been so damaged that field repairs cannot refit them for the battlefield.

If Soundwave had been present during this moment and read Optimus’ thoughts and feelings, I think Cybertronian history might have taken a much different path. Optimus did not choose to become a leader or a figurehead. Perhaps that made him weak in the eyes of those like Soundwave and Megatron, but Optimus was able to see what they could not—that the conflict was likely to end in a Pyrrhic victory.

Megatron charged forward with overconfidence in himself and expected everyone to fall in step behind him. Meanwhile, Optimus walked forward with caution and humbly accepted that many saw him as an inspiration and the keeper of Cybertron’s future.

In the end, both were necessary to wipe Cybertron’s slate clean, but Optimus desperately hoped it wouldn’t have to result in so much destruction while Megatron never really cared how he got his way.

Megatron was destined to be the revolutionary.

Optimus was meant to be a luminary.

✧ ✧ ✧

series master post

[wakeupthemembersofbylernation]

People are talking about Will's love life again on Reddit. OP is frustrated because of Will's love life (he thinks Byler is unlikely to happen and is frustrated it's too late to write a decent romance subplot with a new character), and redditors are trying to convince them that acceptance of his family and friends is all Will needs, and that it's ok for him to be single 😬

https://www.reddit.com/r/StrangerThings/comments/12yf9d5/i_cant_help_but_feel_bad_that_will_will_never_get/

It’s honestly so sad and frustrating how this is all they can envision for Will. They say stuff like, “Will’s arc is NOT about Mike liking him back (which is impossible cause Mike is straight), it’s about his friends saying they don’t hate him because he’s gay, and it’s okay to be different.”

“The entire point of Mike’s arc is that he’s straight. And even if Mike doesn’t take Will’s confession well at first- because there’s no guarantee he will-he will come around eventually, and that’s okay and even beautiful cause it’s so REALISTIC. I just love how the writers realistically portray the queer experience in the 80s.”

Let’s be real: none of these people who do the Renegade for “realism” even care about “the queer experience” in the first place. Most of them would prefer if Will wasn’t gay, and many of them complained about the show “ruining a good friendship.” Many of them don’t like Will at all, and many would be fine with Will dying. “Realism” is a cover because as long as Will doesn’t get a happy ending with the boy he loves, they can justify themselves still enjoying the show.

You even saw Melvins on Twitter back when the weird airport hug was being discussed say that it’s just “obvious” why the Duffers didn’t have Mike hug Will: because they’re saving it for the brotherly hug after Will’s inevitable rejection.

Never mind how awkward and weird and unnatural it would be for the Duffers to insert a rejection arc into Mike and Will’s bond in Season 5 after Season 4 ends with them being closer than ever and Mike using words like “we” and “team” to describe him and Will. That’s why many Melvins are convinced that Will already let go of Mike in the van and believe/are hoping the show won’t even bring up Will’s feelings in Season 5. Cause they know it wouldn’t make sense.

“Acceptance of his family and friends is all Will needs, and that it’s ok for him to be single.” But the second we suggest that El can find happiness in her found family, and it’s ok for her to be single, they start seeing red. I’ve seen multiple people say, “El has suffered so much and deserves happiness with Mike MORE than anyone,” which is hypocritical (because Will has suffered too, but many of them don’t care about Will), foolish (turning Mike’s heart into some kind of consolation prize for suffering), and an awful message all around (implying that girls need boyfriends who hero worship them to be happy).

Will ALREADY knows he is loved by his friends and family. He has a loving mom, a strong relationship with his adopted sister, close bonds with the Party, and a best friend in Mike (which is all he’s convinced he will ever be). Mike rejecting Will would not surprise Will in the slightest. Will believes Mike is madly in love with El, and he’s the one who worked to mend their relationship. So it’s not like he would randomly confess. The only way this will come up again- and it WILL- is for Mike to address the fruity elephant in the room.

They really think the boy the show made the explicit decision to emphasize saying, “I’m not gonna fall in love” (not because of any personal dating decision or individual preference, but because he’s convinced love CAN’T be for people like him) is gonna be proven correct???

[cevansbrat0007]

Classroom Confrontations

Summary: After learning that another child called their daughter a racial slur at school, Reader and Andy confront the Administration over their lack of action. Takes place after BiBi's confession in The Conversation: A Follow-up to Friendly Ignorance. Andy Barber x Black!Reader, Bianca "BiBi" Barber

Warnings: Angry Mama Bear Reader, Attorney Mode Andrew Barber, Discussions of Race, Use of Racial Slurs, Snarky Reader, Compassionate Reader, Cursing, Minors DNI

A/N: This fic might be triggering for some. Please heed the warnings and let me know your thoughts. Part of the Growing Pains Series. All mistakes are my own.

___

Once again, you and your husband find yourselves sitting in the Principal’s Office at Bianca’s school. 

“Nice to see you again, Mr. and Mrs. Barber.” Says Principal Curothers. “Although, I must admit that I hate it has to be under these circumstances.”

You and Andy both offer him strained smiles.

“Ms. Robertson will be joining us, correct?” You ask.

“Yes, she will. Actually, she should be here any minute and -”

The woman in question picks that moment to walk through the door. Mr. Curothers motions for the her to sit in a nearby chair facing the two of you. 

Now all you were waiting for were Billy’s parents, Sally and Dante. Or was it Stella and Duke?

Sally comes in a few moments later, without Dante. Damn. You hadn’t seen the woman in a couple of years, but she still looked like she's been sucking on a freaking lemon.

Maybe she ought to go a little easier on the botox… You think to yourself before doing your best to stow your mean thoughts. At least temporarily. 

Principal Curothers welcomes her, and once she takes her seat, the meeting begins. 

“Mr. and Mrs. Barber requested this meeting based on an incident that occurred between their daughter, Bianca, and your son, Billy, approximately a month ago. Apparently Billy called her a very derogatory...term, which I think we can all agree is very upsetting. We’re here to address the incident to see how we can all move forward in a progressive manner.”

“If I may...” Hell, your asking was only a formality. 

“Of course.” 

You watch in disbelief as Sydney rolls her eyes. 

“I’m sorry,” you say to her. “But do you have a twitch?”

“What? No.” She responds rather indignantly. 

“Oh, then is there something wrong with your contacts?” Andy squeezes your hand, silently telling you to relax.

“No.” 

“Then please don’t roll your eyes when I’m speaking, it’s rude.” Her mouth drops open as you turn your attention back to the administrator. 

“As I was saying before my concern for Billy’s mother interrupted my train of thought, our daughter told Ms. Robertson about the incident directly after she was called a nigger. And she was completely dismissed. My husband and I would like to know why.” You can't quite keep the edge out of your tone.

You watch as everyone squirms when you use the actual slur out loud. Even your husband seems the tiniest uncomfortable. Oh well.  

“Well, Ms. Robertson told me that -” Curothers begins. 

“No offense,” Andy interrupts. “But we’d rather hear from the woman herself. Why wasn’t this matter brought to our attention the same day?

Ope, your man had shifted into Attorney mode. Get ‘em, honey.

The teacher nervously clears her throat. “Um, well, while Bianca did come and tell me what happened, I wasn’t around to actually hear their conversation. So I simply chalked it up to two kids having a squabble.”

“So you chose to do nothing. Our daughter was experiencing a very painful moment and instead of doing your job, you opted to ignore her.” Andy scoffs, his nostrils flaring. "Unbelievable."

“I’m sorry,” Sylvia joins the conversation. “But our Billy does not use that kind of language. And I can assure you that that ugly word has no place in our home.” Her delicately manicured hand clutches her chest.

“Apparently it does.” You mutter, unmoved by the woman’s passionate defense. 

“Excuse me!” She hisses. “I will have you know that my Devon and I don’t see color, and we’re teaching our son to view the world in the same way.”

Okay. You blink at her. “So you, your husband, and your son don’t see color, huh?” 

“That’s right.” She says, clearly proud of herself.

“Well then, to quote Trevor Noah…if you don’t see color, then what do you do at a traffic light?”

She gives you a blank stare. “I don’t get it.”

Of course you don’t, you ignorant twit.   

“I think we’re getting a little off topic here.” Mr. Curothers interrupts as he attempts to rein things in a bit. 

“Sorry, but the whole colorblind defense always irks me. It’s not about how you see color, it’s about how you treat color. Maybe try teaching your kid that.” Comes your gruff response. 

“Again that word is not used in our home. There’s no place he could’ve heard it. We don’t even listen to rap music or anything like that.”

That does it. You tell yourself as you actively resist the urge to kick over her chair. You were listening to Big Sean’s “I Don’t Fuck With You” on blast the whole way home. Even Andy liked that song. 

“That word isn’t used in our home either, except to educate.” You inform her. “You see, the only reason our daughter knows about it is because my husband and I sometimes have to have tough conversations with our girls about the color of their skin. Both of our children know what the word nigger means, and they are aware of the hurtful connotations associated with it.”

Andy steps in now, making a point of first looking around the room, leveling everyone with his trademark hard stare.

“I’d like to think that we’re all aware of the hurtful, demeaning, and negative connotations surrounding that word. Which brings me back to my initial question for Ms. Robertson. Why wasn’t this matter escalated and brought to our attention when it first happened? Why are we all sitting here discussing it over a month later?"

Your man turns his icy blue gaze to the principal. "I find it concerning that my wife and I have yet to receive an adequate answer. Regardless of whether or not this woman was privy to their supposed squabble, we all should have been alerted.” His big hand goes to rest on your knee. 

Ms. Robertson shifts uncomfortably in her seat. 

“Why didn’t you do your job?” You struggle and fail to keep the edge out of your tone. “If you can't protect my child when she needs it, the least you can do is answer my question.”

“I - I, um, well…” She stammers.

“Principal Corothers, in lieu of pursuing legal action against your administration and withdrawing our children from this school, we request that Ms. Robertson put on administrative leave immediately. We would also encourage you and your team to undergo some serious diversity training.”  

The other man coughs and looks down at his desk. “I will look into all of those things Mr. Barber. We do not support intolerance of any kind here at Cedarwood Preparatory Academy, and you have my word that we will do whatever we can to remedy this issue. Starting with appropriate disciplinary action, as well as implementing additional diversity training measures for our staff.”

“Oh my God, this is ridiculous!” Shirley hisses as she angrily jumps up from her seat. “I’m not going to sit here and watch you kiss his ass just because he’s some frickin’ attorney. I’ll have you know that this woman is my son’s favorite teacher and I will not let you treat her like this over something that clearly didn't happen!”

How come her eyebrows didn’t move when she talked? Oh yeah. Forgot about the botox.

“Um, sugarplum?" You briefly interrupt her tirade. "He’s actually the District Attorney.” She shoots you a glare so intense it would make a weaker woman melt. “Sorry, just wanted to point that out.”

“Well, good for him. Must be nice to be his kept little housewife, huh?” She sneers.

“Actually, I’m his bodyguard.” You respond with a shrug. "It just so happens that I also have an affinity for pretty aprons and baking. I like to think of it as being part of my cover."

Your husband just shakes his head.

“Argh!” She storms out of the room, only to return a few minutes later with her confused son in tow. “Okay, we’re going to settle this now. Billy, sweetheart, did you call your friend Bianca the n-word?” She asks him. 

“No.” He shakes his head.

The little snot was lying and you knew it. You wished they would give you two minutes alone with the kid. You'd crack him like a walnut. 

You grit your teeth as sighs of relief echo throughout the room. 

“I didn’t call Bianca dah n-word.” He repeats again. "I don't even know what dat means."

“I know you didn’t sweetie, I know. That little girl probably just made it up for attention.” Suzanne throws you a shit-eating grin.

Your BiBi was many things, but a liar wasn’t one of them. 

Andy hooks an arm around your waist to keep you shooting out of your own seat and dragging the woman down the hall by her cheap hair extensions. 

“But I did call her a nigger.” He whispers. The room goes so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.

“Huh? You - you what?” You watch as the woman in front of you begins to malfunction. You allow yourself a tiny moment of demented enjoyment at her expense before regaining your composure. “Why would you..? Where did you hear that?” She turns to look at you. “I’m telling you, we don’t say that word!”

“PawPaw says it all dah time. He says dat dah only good thing a black man can do is shine his shoes.” The little boy shrugs. “Can I haf’ my snack now, please?”

“Billy, that is a very, very bad word.” Mr. Curothers scolds, his mottled face breaking into a sweat. “Why would you ever refer to your friend that way?”

“Cuz’ she made me mad when she took my turn on dah slide. And PawPaw say it ‘s okay tah say bout dah blacks.”

“Well, it’s not! Don’t you ever let me hear that word come out of your mouth again, young man!” His mother hisses. Taking a deep breath, she turns to you both. “I’m so sorry. I’ll make sure he apologizes. I - I’m sorry.”

You and Andy both nod. 

"Devon's father is no longer welcome at our house." She mumbles, more to herself than anyone else. "And, William, I'm taking your iPad away for a month."

"No!" He screams.

"Consider it gone."

"I hate you!" Billy screams again before stomping off, prompting you and your husband to share an awkwardly amused glance.

Standing, you walk over to the woman and extend your hand, which she readily accepts.

“Thank you for the apology, Stacy. I’m sure that wasn’t easy.” The woman looks ready to cry. 

You’d feel a little more sympathetic if she hadn’t so readily accused your BiBi of seeking attention not even five minutes ago, but whatever. 

Andy stands as well. “Principal Curothers, I expect to receive an email regarding the follow-up measures you intend to take before the week’s end. Please don’t make me be the one to have to reach out to you. My wife is already researching different schools for our children. I’d hate to have to start scheduling tours.”

The other man nods, looking ill.

You and your husband hold hands as you exit his office, neither of you saying a word until you’re safely settled in the car. 

Turning to him, you offer Andy your most dazzling smile. “Baby, have I ever told you how sexy you are when you go into attorney mode over our kids?” You press a kiss to your still joined hands.

He grins. “And have I told you how much it turns me on when you go all Mama Bear on people? Makes my dick hard.” 

You take another moment to smile at each other, before your man turns on the car and puts it in drive.

“We make one hell of a team, Andy Bear.”

“That we do, baby girl. That we do.”

And yes, you do blast Big Sean's "I Don't Fuck With You" all the way home, and it's cathartic as hell.

END

[circular-bircular]

Why I Do This.

This post is clearly due to another post in the tags. However, I will not be replying to or linking the post as the user in question just genuinely wants to be left alone.

However, given the popularity recently of people coming into syscoursers inboxes to dictate what is and isn't healthy, I really wanted to answer their (what I'm thinking is completely rhetorical) question.

Why do we do this?

I first entered syscourse 6 years ago as a pro-endo. I was pro-endo because I was in denial about my trauma and actively could not remember most of it. I got... incredibly fucking traumatized by that, blocked a lot out. I went full tilt the other direction in my beliefs out of traumatized protection of the self, and then eventually evened out, and now I"m pro-endo but slightly less annoying about it.

Syscourse absolutely hurt me. I'm vocal about that. And sometimes, yes, it is incredibly exhausting. (That's why I take breaks, and yes, believe it or not, I do take them!)

I've stuck around, because for the first time in my life, I could see the impact my words had on the world. I could change people's minds.

Have I made missteps? Obviously -- who hasn't? Lord knows I have said some frankly ridiculous shit. Lord knows I have screamed myself hoarse in a triggered rage. But... Frankly, when's the last time that happened? The last big Triggered State I remember from online things was sometime in September. It's now January of a new year, and I am feeling far better, despite still participating in syscourse.

Why engage in these meaningless fights? What's the point?

You're a nihilist, a pessimist, or you're just struggling right now to see the good in the world. Regardless of the reason, these aren't fights, and they aren't meaningless. Or, at least, they shouldn't be.

I'm not fighting over here. I'm flourishing and sharing with open arms and a vulnerable heart. I share my trauma and experiences online, knowing it could damage me, because I know how badly I needed to see someone with these experiences when I was first discovering my system. I discuss the ableism that affects me to further clarify ideas for those who are attempting to make the world a less ableist place, who unintentionally say ableist things. And other people tell me when I am unintentionally ableist, and I learn, and I grow.

And so many other people in these tags aren't fighting, either. @traumascumathena @sysmedsaresexist @artisticdysfunction @hiiragi7 @system-of-a-feather @greens-spilled-tea @mournfall-syscourse and more that aren't coming to the front of my mind at the moment. These people aren't trying to fight. They're trying to spread information about the topics they know and are passionate about. I've watched these people learn and grow with me, and they have helped me change.

And then there are those who are fighting for their lives, fighting just to exist online, regardless of system type. The amount of shit people need to block and brace themselves for, just to exist, just to see -- but well, I assume OP knows that, seeing as they appear to be one of those systems themselves. You cannot enter system spaces at the moment without bracing for a fight, and that isn't going to change unless we do something about it -- unless we work together to correct misinfo and collectively work on being less ableist.

It is absolutely okay to feel unsafe around those who are in the syscourse tags. There's a reason people have syscourse DNIs and try to avoid syscourse. It's absolutely fair to try and avoid it.

But keep in mind that the people that are there aren't all the horrific fakeclaiming assholes that only seek to hate. There are people who genuinely enjoy being in this space, no matter how exhausting, because they can help people. I don't distrust people who find their passions exhausting, and yet still participate in those passions.

I know it's scary. I know this world is a horrific place for us. But I want to make the world better. I want to grow and see the world grow with me.

That's why I do this.