#seriously considering dropping my math | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

zeruby16 · 10 months

Text

reasons to love studying- kim taerae

18+ MDNI

genre: smut, fluff, romance

summary: when you find yourself in the need of a tutor, matthew recommends his close friend, kim taerae. you finally figure out some way to like college algebra.

word count: 3.2 k

warnings: afab! reader, switch taerae; usage of pet names (sweetheart); cursing; oral sex (giving); fingering; penetration; protected sex (always use protection); slightest degradation kink; please let me know if i missed any

notes: i did not grammar check this, so please have mercy. the ending might be a bit rushed because i wanted to find some way to finish this imagine. please enjoy!

REMINDER: 18+ MDNI

school was never your forte.

you depended on websites for homework answers and decided how c’s could still get you a degree, so you lived your life carelessly.

however, there was one minor bump in your plans. you couldn’t pass college algebra.

you took the class three separate times and dropped it before you could fail. being a fashion major, you never anticipated anything dealing with numbers unless it was measurements, but here you were.

the amount of drops allowed had caught up to you and the last class you needed to graduate was college algebra. there was no way around it, you needed to take the class and pass with a c or higher.

you had to graduate college if you wanted to go on and own your own boutique. the thing was you tried taking college algebra seriously, but nothing worked. you needed genuine help.

“why don’t you hire a tutor?” matthew, your closest confidant and first hand witness to your hatred of math, asked.

“i’m a senior trying to pass a freshman class, it’s embarrassing if i hire a tutor,” you sulked.

“it’s the only option left if you want to actually understand the class,” he pointed out, making you sigh in response as he was sadly right.

“i just don’t want anyone to know, it would ruin my good rep,” matthew rolled his eyes.

“you ruined it the moment you presented in speech visibly hungover,”

“in my defense, she said presentations were a huge part of the grade and no excuses could be used unless given by a doctor. she got what she asked for and i still got a b,” you shrugged towards matthew and saw the glint of actual disappointment in his eyes.

“you know what, i have a friend who works in the tutoring center. maybe he’ll be able to tutor you privately without others knowing,”

“is he cute?”

the canadian looked at you begrudgingly, “is that all you care about?”

“no…”

“you’ll see for yourself, once i convince him to take you in,”

“take me in? what am i? a lost cause?”

“at this point, you are.”

what matthew failed to tell you was that his friend was taerae.

the kim taerae. the vocal prince who made rounds around the university for his angelic voice and radiant smile. the cutest being you’ve ever encountered and now your tutor.

you considered canceling on him as you felt like your focus would be towards the attractive boy, but you didn’t want to cause any trouble.

he managed to find time after his vocal class to schedule you in. he was willing to come to your dorm, so you could study privately and avoid being seen by other students. it came at a cost to you, but you appreciated how much he helped.

you pulled out your textbook and notes as you finished tidying up your desk. your dorm wasn’t a mess, but you two needed a workspace. once you heard a knock on the door, you stood still for a second, mentally preparing yourself to bathe in his presence.

the boy knocked again and you rushed to the door realizing how long you had left him standing there. you opened it to taerae’s charming smile as he had his glasses on and held his bag on his shoulder.

“y/n, right?”

“yes and you are taerae, matthew told me about you,” you smiled as you gestured for him to come inside.

“i can’t thank you enough for agreeing, i really never saw myself in this position,” you nervously scratched your neck as he placed his shoes near the door and his backpack on the floor.

“it’s no worries, algebra isn’t the easiest subject,” he politely understood your concern.

he looked towards your desk and pointed at your textbook and journal, “i assume this is the work you’re struggling with?”

your eyes widened as you realized how there was only one desk chair.

“oh yes, let me find you a chair!” you frantically looked under your bed for the extra chair you knew you had while taerae chuckled at your antics.

“thank you, let’s get started shall we?”

taerae was phenomenal at his job. he fully taught you the concept of exponential equations and how they were solved. he explained how to graph and solve for the equations.

better yet, he looked hot as hell as he did it.

you comprehended what he said and how he did things, but you couldn’t help yourself as your eyes would wander off to his lips, his nose, or the little pieces of hair that fell in front of his face.

thankfully, he was oblivious to your eyes, but when he neared you to point towards a graph in your textbook, your heart rate soared and you were slightly turned on.

“okay, think you can solve a problem now?” taerae asked, turning his face towards you as you distracted yourself with your textbook to calm down the butterflies in your stomach.

“yeah, totally,” you gulped, writing down the equation he wanted you to figure out.

you figured out the x-axis of the equation, plugging in multiple numbers to confirm your answer and proceeded to write it down as an answer.

“good job, now try graphing it,” he encouraged, pulling out a loose sheet of graphing paper near him.

you drew the lines and plotted your points, but hesitated to draw the function.

“what’s wrong?” his eyebrows furrowed at your resistance.

“i can’t tell how to draw the line,”

“well since the equation is in a fraction form with an exponent, is the slope positive or negative?” he asked as he came closer next to you to point towards your work.

your heart nearly stopped. his shoulders were touching yours and his arm brushed yours as he moved it to help explain the equation.

you could smell his mahogany scented cologne. you heard his breath as he rambled on about slopes and solutions.

“is it a negative slope?” you questioned your answer while taerae nodded enthusiastically.

“you can see it forming too, so connect the dots downwards and make sure the line doesn’t touch the x-axis.”

the pencil in your hand magically moved itself, drawing out the line he told you to. once you placed your pencil down, you stared at the question for a second to distract yourself from your thoughts.

“see, that wasn’t too hard was it?”

the problem wasn’t hard at all. you actually understood after he explained, but he was making you flustered and you couldn’t conjure any thoughts.

“are you okay?”

“what?” you jumped a bit.

he laughed at your clumsiness, “you seemed a little spaced out. did the problem make your head hurt?”

you waved his idea off, “no, it wasn’t the problem! you explained it well!”

he leaned back on the chair and crossed his arms, smiling mischievously.

“what was the problem then? you hesitated answering the graph section,” your eyes widened at his observance.

“oh that- i just forgot slopes for a second,”

“are you sure?” your heart rate picked up as he sat upright on his chair.

“definitely,”

“nothing’s bothering you?”

“nope,” he looked at you suspiciously.

“okay then,” he surrendered to your delight, “let me write up another problem.”

he took the pencil and wrote down an equation for you to graph, handing the pencil back to you once he finished.

“give it a try,” he gestured towards the paper and you switched your focus onto it.

you stared at the problem confusedly, realizing it seemed impossible to figure out.

“this is solvable right?”

he nodded playfully, “what you suddenly forgot how to solve for x?”

“no, i just can’t focus,” you mumbled.

you were flustered, he could tell, and you knew for a fact this problem had no real solutions.

“you what?” he leaned towards you, trying to hear you once again.

“i can’t focus!” you frustratingly yelled.

you looked at him to see him smiling sheepishly.

“it’s adorable how riled up you get,” he bluntly stated.

“what do you mean?” you panicked, slowly coming to the realization that you were fucked.

he turned his body to face yours and placed his hand on your thigh gently, sending shivers down your spine.

“did you think i wouldn’t notice the staring?” he caressed your thigh as his voice slightly deepened.

“i wasn’t staring!” you protested.

“sweetheart, you were fucking me with your eyes,” his words went straight to your core.

“i-i-”

“now, i’ve got you speechless. how cute,”

he lifted one of his hands from your thigh to your face as he caressed your cheek. you avoided his gaze, not wanting to fall deeper into the hold he had over you.

“if i checked your underwear right now, would it be soaking?” he placed his hands down to open your legs, placing his thighs in between them to prevent you from closing them.

“n-no,” you let out, earning a deep chuckle from him.

“you are just a liar, aren’t you?”

“liars deserve punishment, don’t you think?” he seductively asked, biting your lips nervously, you disagreed.

he took his thighs out of yours and stood out of his chair, you followed his every movement as he stared down at you.

“can you stand up sweetheart? i think it’s time we switch seats,” you immediately stood up and moved out of the way for taerae to sit on your rolling chair.

he sat down and rolled back, patting his lap afterwards. you hesitantly placed yourself onto him, feeling the tent popping out of his pants.

“here’s what we’re going to do, you are going to answer the next five questions. if you get a single thing wrong, i’m going to stop,” he commanded.

“that’s not fair,” you whispered under your breath, knowing how he would make you lose your focus.

“what’s that?”

“nothing,”

��it’s either that or you get nothing at all, do you really want that?”

“no!” you whimpered, accidentally grinding yourself on his lap.

“exactly, now start on your problems,” he placed his hands on your waist, keeping you still.

you shut your eyes, thinking the action would get you to concentrate on your work. the first problem was the easiest. it was too good to be true.

once you got to the second problem, you felt taerae’s hands moving your waist slowly over his clothed hardon. you whimpered, realizing how difficult the next four questions would be.

you finished the second problem and went to the third, while taerae started to kiss your neck feverishly as a reward. you felt him biting lightly, knowing he would leave marks for the next day.

the real problem came when you got to question number four. taerae had stopped moving your waist, but held it with one hand while the other undid your shorts.

you looked at the graph, trying to figure out the slope of the function and getting closer the answer, until taerae’s finger grazed over your clothed core. you shivered from pleasure as you placed one of your hands on the desk to get ahold of yourself.

“focus,” he growled into your neck, continuing to pepper it with kisses.

he kept on rubbing your clit over your underwear, while the hand on your waist started to make its way under your shirt.

you continued the problem, moaning softly at his ruthless teasing. you sighed in relief as you drew the line of the graph and made it to the fifth question.

to your demise, taerae took it as a sign to place his fingers past your underwear and feel your heat.

“you’re soaking,” he scoffed.

“you don’t even deserve this much,” your whimpers drowned out any thoughts involving math.

“finish the question,” he demanded, proceeding to slip his finger into you. you moaned at the action, accidentally scribbling a line on the graph you were trying to work on.

he moved his finger at a rapid pace, while you tried to finish the last part of the question. you gripped onto the desk as if your life depended on it and muffled your moans. you were bathing in pleasure as he kept going with no stops.

once you placed the pencil down anxiously, taerae looked over your shoulder and took his finger out. you looked at him with dismay, complaining about the emptiness until he smirked.

“what’s this line?” he pointed, using the finger with your juices coated in it.

“an accident! i scribbled it when-”

“don’t care, you got the question wrong,” he concluded.

“but i didn’t mean to write it! this is the line-” you protested, trying to convince him to spare you.

“sorry sweetheart, i told you liars deserve punishment,” he started to lift you off of himself, his tent still showing.

“but-”

“but what?” he looked at you expectantly and you suddenly gained confidence as you dropped to your knees.

“i can help you,” you mentioned, starting to palm his hard-on.

his eyes closed behind his glasses in pleasure as you continued to move your hand over him.

“you think you can get away with lying by making me cum?” he tried to clearly say, your eyes staring right into his as you unbuttoned his pants.

“please?” you begged, hands starting to touch him over his underwear.

he hesitated in answering as you proceeded to pull down his underwear and grabbed his cock, rubbing the tip. you kept stroking him, spitting on your hands at some point.

“i just want to thank you for helping, isn’t that fine?” you teased, placing his tip into your mouth and rubbing your tongue over it.

“fuck!” he groaned, placing his hands on your hair to grab ahold of you.

“you haven’t said it’s fine,” you scolded, stopping your movements.

“okay! just don’t stop!” he begged and you smiled, continuing the motions you went through before.

taerae was thick, so consistently moving your mouth on his cock proved to be a challenge, but with his hands guiding you, he neared his orgasm.

“god, you’re doing great y/n,” he praised, groaning as he found your eyes.

his moans sounded beautiful as he let them out frequently and you fastened the pace of your mouth.

“holy shit,” he moaned, cumming in your mouth. you cleaned all of his cum off, swallowing the contents.

you looked at him dazed. he could cum again at your fucked out state. your hair tangled from his grip, your mouth glistening with his juices, and your eyes dilated at the pleasure.

he grabbed your chin and lifted your mouth towards his, pulling you into a feverish kiss. the kiss went on heatedly as you two fought for dominance, taerae winning as he pushed his tongue into your mouth. you went on until you pulled away breathlessly.

taerae patted your head, picking you up from the floor as he smiled.

“only because you’ve been a good girl,” he said, pulling you towards the couch adjacent to your desk.

you followed him, deserting the algebra work he came to help you with.

as much as you wanted to pass college algebra, you needed kim taerae to fuck you more.

he grabbed a condom from his backpack before he sat himself down on the couch, slipping it onto his cock. he proceeded to take off his shirt as he openly checked you out.

you removed your shirt as well and unclasped your bra, showing taerae the handprints he left from grabbing your waist earlier.

you faced him as you sat on his lap and grabbed his cock to line it up with your core. he pushed into you slowly, bottoming out and letting you adjust to his length.

“how are you so wet, yet so tight?” he groaned as you placed your head on his shoulder.

“cause you didn’t fuck me earlier,” you muttered under your breath, wanting to rile up the boy.

taerae placed his hands on your hips and stopped your motions.

“what did you say?” he looked at you expectantly.

“nothing,”

“you’re lucky you’re getting to ride me, consider this your last warning sweetheart,” his hands guide your hips and you start to ride him at a fast pace.

his name came out of your mouth so easily, if only you could answer the questions left on your desk the same way.

his motions fastened as well as he felt you getting closer to your climax.

“taerae please,” you begged, trying to bounce faster as he continued to hit your spot mercilessly.

“you’re taking me so well sweetheart, tell me did you ask for my help just to fuck me?” his voice lowered as your eyes closed in pleasure.

“no, i-” you couldn’t get any words out of your mouth, “i needed help.”

“are you sure? what did i say about lying?”

“i promise!” you yelled, not caring about your neighbors. as long as taerae was the man you were with, you wouldn’t shut up.

“i’m so close,” you cried.

tarae continued his motions, adding a finger in between your bodies to stroke your clit. your moans became louder and the only words left you could say was his name.

“go ahead, y/n, come like the dumb slut you are,” his words pushed you towards your orgasm, resting your head on his shoulders afterwards.

he kept pushing himself inside of you until he came again, groaning your name.

you two stayed in your positions until you heard taerae chuckle.

“what’s so funny?” you slightly pouted, looking at his cheeky smile.

“i’d never thought i’d be tutoring someone as gorgeous as you,”

“shut up, you’re only saying that because of the position we’re in,”

“no, i’m serious.”

he grabbed a piece of your hair from your face and pushed it behind your ear.

“every time i saw you around campus, i would secretly pray about you needing help. i even told matthew about it,” your eyes widened.

“so matthew asked you to tutor me because you found me attractive?” you claimed, looking at him suspiciously.

“maybe,”

“i really didn’t think it would get to this point,” he added.

“well i never hid my feelings for you from matthew, so i guess we both lucked out.”

taerae let out another one of his adorable chuckles and placed his forehead on yours.

“we seriously need to get you to study again, you learned nothing from this session,”

“it’s not my fault you’re hot,” you lifted your hands to your defense.

“how about this, after we get dinner next week, we’ll have a productive study session?” he suggested, your cheeks were tinted with pink.

“are you asking me out, taerae?”

“yes sweetheart, i am. unless you only want to stick to-”

“no! i want to go out with you!” he laughed at your rushed response.

after you two rested for a while more, taerae pulled out of you and threw away the condom in the nearest trash can. he also prepared towels for you and cuddled with you on the couch until you fell asleep.

matthew was not one bit surprised when he knocked on your door the next morning to find his friend sound asleep on your couch.

you could care less though because in your last semester of college, you finally found a reason to like studying.

a/n: thanks for reading, sorry for any grammar mistakes

@zeruby16 on tumblr | est. 2023

#kim taerae #zb1 smut #zb1 hard hours #kim taerae smut #kim taerae x reader

248 notes · View notes

channoticedmeuwu · 1 year

Text

𝐓𝐗𝐓 𝐀𝐒 . . . (cliche) highschool romance tropes !!

🎧 𓈒 ◯ 𓏸 ﹒ ⭐ ﹒ ⌣⌣ ﹒ ☆

p : txt × fem!reader | g : fluffy fluff, slightly suggestive, cliche tropes 🫡 | w : suggestive sometimes? none really unless you consider fights a warning, not proofread

a/n : needed to get this out of my system lolll in love w hyuka rn.

🎧 — shy (eh o), loser lover, lotus, hula hoops, too many nights, mon amour, love is banned, BTBT

YEONJUN | BAD BOY × GOOD GIRL

came in my mind in the shower. yes. I just feel that yeonjun would def be the popular guy, carries around a leather jacket and has dyed hair and everything, and hangs out with his cool friends who skip class all the time etc etc. and then he sees you, so pretty and in the moment, and you're always so composed and kept to yourself that it's almost like an immediate form of intrigue for him. it's weird that he's so into you when you've never spoken. and he's like....wtf. it's like, exchanging prolonged glances during class and accidentally brushing against each other's shoulders while walking in the halls. you know that you, the well known rule follower, could never talk to someone like yeonjun, the well known rule breaker. and yet, you broke that self made rule for the first time when he came by your locker to give you a note and ask you to a date—which seemed so out of character for yeonjun. maybe you're the first one he'd follow traditional ideas for.

SOOBIN | ACADEMIC RIVALS

I said it before I'll say it again. SOOBIN ACADEMIC RIVALS AGENDA !! even wrote a whole fic 😭 I just think he's so neat as the school's pride and joy; has no trouble completing assignments and meets deadlines, and totally leaves the class speechless with how fast he finishes tests and exams. but then, his cool and calm persona breaks when he sees the class cheering for you during the timed group math assignment you have to do on dust boards. and he glances to his side of the board. how the fuck did you finish that before him? and so the unspoken rivalry continues as you tend to beat him more in assignments, draws being exclaimed for the both of you in awards supposed to be for one winner, and so on. and unspoken feelings tend to blossom when soobin finds himself growing weak at the scowl you make when you don't understand a question, or the proud smile you wear facing him yet again.

BEOMGYU | ROCKSTAR + finding each other in a raw moment

cuz I'm just a teenage dirtbag babyyy. giving rodrick heffley vibes. probably would put all his allowance in buying a guitar n amp. didn't take lessons so now he's on the road to self learning 💪💪 feminist !!!!! ok but all jokes aside, he'd be late to a practice, cycling on the empty road when he sees you, walking with an armful of books because unlike mr teenage dirtbag you actually take school seriously (do you see where I'm going with this?), and he'd miss a rock on the road, causing his bike to stumble and fall, crashing right into you. so now the two of you lay on the floor, joints scratched and head aching as you scowl at each other. "what the fuck, choi beomgyu?" and he'd see you, pretty as ever, in the evening light, cheeks pink in the most perfect way and hair perfectly set up; as if you were going somewhere. when he notices your tears. "are you crying?" and you look away, angry that you let it show.

"why do you care?" you would ask, irritated, collecting all the books you dropped and trying to rub your eyes clear of all tears, probably smudging some make up along the way. and beomgyu would help you, helping you dust your outfit and overly apologizing. he didn't understand who would hurt you, but it struck a nerve in him. enough to ask you what happened, and offered to cycle you home. he's already late to practice, so does it really matter if he misses it or not? and when he finally drops you home, you give him a hug, thanking him for being so sweet (after almost running you over 😒😒).

and maybe that pulls choi beomgyu's heartstrings to play an unfamiliar melody that echoed in the empty, sunlit streets as a small smiled plastered over his face, exchanging a glance before you shut the door behind you.

TAEHYUN | FAKE DATING

it just. makes sense. he's so not into you and you're so not into him. but holy shit, the rest of the school is. and you're like, let's give them what they want, right? esp when you want to get back at your ex for being such an ass to you during your breakup. y/n redemption arc but make it hotter. and taehyun was perfect, since he needed his friends to stop teasing him for being the only one who hasn't dated anyone yet. match made in hell, right? well, romantic feelings can be lucifer themselves, because when you and taehyun shared a secret (or not so secret) kiss right on the kitchen counter at yeonjun's party, shit turned weird. because last you recall, taehyun's scent wasn't lurking in your mind like it did that night, and he couldn't get the feeling of your lips smiling against him while the background blurred around him. and he distinctly remembers pushing a hand against the dozen cameras flashing around the two of you as all the people you tried to spite watched—as if you two were actually a thing. and god, explain the feeling of his heartbeat in his throat that he couldn't get rid of—as your eyes met, causing his mouth to go dry—if you guys were just acting?

a match made in hell, right?

HUENINGKAI | BEST FRIENDS TO LOVERS + a lil ♡ triangle

he's the sweetest boy you've ever met, and he watches from afar, a sad glint in his eyes as you try to warm up to your crush, testing the waters with hyuka before you could attempt it on your crush. like, fuck, did you have to grab his tie like that, pull him close and ask "does this do anything or are you just choking?" do you even know what kind of effect you had on him? and hyuka would just sit in a corner, munch on a snack he bought as you would try to impress your crush yet again, only to receive a stupid “huh?” as a response.

hyuka had his moments, moments where he wanted to slap the shit out of the boy, and scream at him “SHE'S INTO YOU, GODDAMMIT!” and spell it out for the clueless asshole, as the more you'd advance at him the more apparently confused he'd get. you were convinced your crush was just dumb, because he couldn't straight up tell you that he's not into you, and seeing you sulk after every obvious hint you dropped riled hyuka up. and he was especially pissed the fuck off when he overheard your crush in the boys' bathroom laugh with his friends at how stupid you were for still trying, even though he was obviously playing dumb to keep you going, making you look stupider.

hueningkai was pissed; at you for not realizing how you deserve better, at your crush for being the biggest douchebag you've ever liked, at himself for not being able to control his heart whenever you were near him, at the fucking WORLD for making his life this complicated.

but maybe patience is the best virtue, because when your crush just laughed at you in front of all his friends when you confessed to him, hyuka has never felt better satisfaction than punching the asshole straight in the face, over and over and OVER again. maybe he ended up in the principal's office with a bloody hand and aching fingers, but it didn't matter next to your (ex)crush's busted lip and bleeding nose.

and it especially didn't matter when you hugged him after he got suspended, because, in his mind, if you'd never love him the same way he loved you, he was still the sweetest boy you've ever met.

txt : masterlist

main taglist (hmu to get added!) : @koishua @navyhyuck @allegxdly @daystiny @kdyism @neotism @bluejaem @radiorenjun @sleepylixie @oifelixcmerebrou @mrkcore @imdamnconfused @sicluvz @abhirami20 @tyongishs @emvrd @brxght-world

I’d appreciate if you’d give me a little feedback on the drabble if you read, whether it’s an ask, a reply or in the tags of the rb! Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed!

390 notes · View notes

beanghostprincess · 4 months

Note

I just saw a post about Buggy and Galdino being a rare pair despite the chemistry and had the wildest concept ever to formulate in my teeny lil peanut brain.

Buggy and Shanks? Yeah, it's complicated, but the answer to if they're together is neither yes nor no, just dreamy sighs (Shanks) and frantically cursing, blushing and rage (Buggy)

Buggy and Gaimon? Long distance situationship built on mutual respect, growing adoration, relatively chaste, all things considered.

Buggy and Galdino became an incidental ship during the Impel Down fiasco. They both would have eagerly and happily sold one another out for a corn chip, but eventually they build a really solid foundation and Buggy falls first buy Gal falls harder. Alvida is sipping her margarita, watching them sass-flirt each other and making disgusting goo-goo eyes. She's debating locking them in a room for them to either get right with their hearts or at the very least, give her a break.

Cross Guild happens, and Buggy is hurt by Galdino flocking back to Crocodile, yeah, but somehow he isn't surprised (self fulfilling destruction his beloved).

Hawkeye is the first to really look at Buggy - he's had to listen to Shanks wax poetic so often that he is still struggling to reconcile the Buggy-As-Described-By-Shanks with this Buggy before him. The math isn't mathing and he's wondering WHY. In doing so, he eventually starts clocking all these little things - Buggy dropping random, highly insightful and sharp comments that would solve a problem at hand succinctly and easily. Buggy is cautious, perhaps in some ways too much so, but he is also alarmingly good at resolving conflicts without... well, conflict. He's capable of manipulation tactics that most would find impossible without conquerors. Conquerors Haki which the clown most definitely does not have. He may... be understanding of where Shanks is coming from.

Crocodile and Daz, meanwhile, are slower to come around. Daz is stoic, uninterested, he does not care. Crocodile becomes... tolerant of Buggy, finding the idiot to be less of a nuisance than originally accounted for. Okay. Sure. Whatever. Then the boss man Notices some things. Galdino specifically. Mr 3 has always been rather mouthy, though much less to him than to his peers. But something about the ways Gal is interacting with the others speaks of more than idle proximity and general surliness. There's familiarity, a spark there, a thoughtlessness to the ways Galdino turns his back to them, trusting of all things. Then he catches a glimpse of Galdino and Buggy after dark, both tired and closer than most would be in that situation, curled together on a couch while Gal tries to convince Buggy to eat, and "no, baby blue, coffee does not count as food - no, I don't care about how many calories it has, you need something not-liquid, okay, damn-"

Buggy is... quiet when he's tired, Crocodile realizes. He takes away many thoughts and realization from viewing that interaction, but that is something that sticks out to him. The clown is so emotive and bombastic, pun unintended, but he... can be quiet.

He's... pretty, when he's quiet.

He swears he will take that thought to his grave.

Upon realizing though, suddenly it's like either the subtle PDA has skyrocketed or he's just hyperaware of it for what it is now. He sees the way Galdino's hand lingers on Buggy's shoulder; the way Buggy fiddles with his fingers before a wax-formed fidget toy is shuffled into his hands. He sees the smiles Gal shoot to Buggy, the quick flashes the clown shoots back in turn; he sees so much, and it's... not bad? But certainly not good.

Then he sees Mihawk slowly falling into the orbit as well. What? No, seriously, what the fuck?? Of all things, that is what sets his nerves on EDGE.

Daz, attuned to his boss as he always is, always will be, notices. He then turns to the source. Romance is not his thing, he is unapologetic about that. It serves no purpose and he himself is certain he is incapable of such feelings. He can identify it in others, obviously, a skill which he has honed in order to identify threats, allegiances, etc. He can see the veritable solar system this clown has amassed. He too can see how his employer is ferociously resisting the pull of it himself.

Daz doesn't get it, not really.

Daz does however get that the clown can, in fact, be rather cute and funny and witty. He also smells like vanilla, lavender, and the afterimage of the circus he so seems to adore. It shouldn't work. It works.

A blade man and an uncuttable man - truly the things they could get up to would be entertaining at the very least.

Crocodile and Mihawk, upon realizing DAZ HIT THAT BEFORE EITHER OF THEM (Croc's in denial still and Mihawk was going for the wine and dine gentlemanly thing with a strict schedule of expectation to allude to on his end for Optimal Performance), are absolutely FLABBERGASTED. Poor Galdino just has to awkwardly debate between patting their shoulders and trembling at the idea of initiating contact with two upset powerhouses. He settles for awkwardly going, "he... does this, sometimes? But he's insatiable, so really you'd be doing all of us a favor if you wanted to do anything too.... maybe.... pleasedon'tkillme-"

Just. Silly awkward hypersexual clown with his polycule having to trade off and also the sillies of Buggy attracting the most emotionally constipated men in the fucking Seas, nobody is straight or neurotypical, it should NOT work out and yet by the power of carnivals, balloon animals and the audacity of a koala on every drug imaginable, they make it work.

The government is having twelve attacks of a variety of natures with every tip about the clown having a new beau. "is he collecting them??? Making a harem armada????? How does that even work, there's so many - wait I don't wanna know-"

I think this might be the best thing I've ever read because ohmygod- Buggy just pulls literally every possible man. Can you even imagine the gossip nights he has with Alvida? That girl is so done with him and yet they still do these things together because he's the most fun around. Alvida doesn't even know how the hell he does these things. He doesn't even know either. You forgot to mention that he might pull literally everyone but he's the biggest failguy ever and if you ask him about his flirting tactics he won't know what to say.

And I agree completely tbh Buggy and Gal should be more of a popular ship. Despite all the scenes they have together I'm still amazed that they don't have many shippers (me included, I mean, you literally just opened my eyes right now).

This clown has the biggest and some-fucking-how most stable polycule in all seas. Everyone just keeps falling for him when they hated his guts at first and he doesn't even realize until they directly tell him because he just assumes everybody wants to kill him or use him or whatever- But suddenly he has a whole harem and he can't even believe it. You know who can't believe it? Alvida. Biggest Buggy supporter but also the biggest Buggy hater. MLM/WLW solidarity but she won't hesitate to also talk shit about him. How beautiful.

I think the marines have a bet going on tbh. Like a Bingo for Buggy's polycule. They just keep asking themselves who's gonna be next. That's what they do on their breaks.

#this is extremely hilarious but also #i absolutely love giving buggy partners everywhere #it's SO good #i just think he deserves it as a little treat for going through so much #buggy the clown #galdino one piece #cross guild #not tagging everybody here i'm too sleepy for this #one piece

75 notes · View notes

k9wa · 2 years

Text

༊*·˚ COLLEGE CLICHES. featuring haruchiyo sanzu, manjiro sano, keisuke baji, ken ryuguji, takashi mitsuya.

∴ SYNOPSIS : sappy and stupid college cliches i think the tokyo rev boys would fit.

∴ CONTENT : highschooler tries to write about college, fluff if you squint, this is a little silly, gn reader (no referring pronouns.)

∴ NOTE : if u would wanna see this with a few other characters feel free to lmk! hope u enjoy :]

༉‧₊˚. HARUCHIYO SANZU — who is your lifeline in adv calc, when your teacher is the biggest asshole and neither of you are as good at math as you thought.

⠀

sanzu slowly rubbed over the skin on his face as his eyes danced between his computer screen and textbook, and he came to the conclusion he genuinely had wanted to just die right then and there.

his professor was driving him absolutely insane; another old man with a stick up his ass, who he swore only took up teaching to make a bunch of college kids feel like idiots, and it didn’t help that he was shit at his job either. sanzu wasn’t built for school, let alone calculus, and every day he remained in that class he questioned what the fuck possessed him to take it in the first place.

he threw the cover of his textbook closed and picked up his phone, opening his messages to the only reason he hadn’t dropped the aforementioned course.

sanzu: this prof is fucked

sanzu: like seriously wtf is half of this shit

♡: switch courses i dare u

sanzu smirked down at his phone when you had responded so quickly.

you two had made an agreement upon meeting at the beginning of the semester, and quickly bonding over your regret for choosing adv calc; the first person to drop the course owed the other one $100. (a good chunk of money, considering you were both broke.) it was the start of a beautiful friendship, and an even more passionate shared hatred for the man you were meant to be learning under. plus, haruchiyo couldn’t deny that he enjoyed talking to you outside of complaints and 3am meltdowns over whatever the hell the derivative matrix was.

♡: or come study with me

♡: cus idk wtf im doing either

sanzu: switch courses i dare u

♡: kys come over

sanzu snorted to himself, swiftly turning around in his chair and throwing his belongings into his cross body bag. as shitty as his class was, at least he had met someone worth sticking around in it for.

sanzu: im omw relax

♡: can u get coffee on ur way

sanzu: what happened to please

♡: please haruchiyo my favourite man in the whole entire world

sanzu: drop calc with me and i will

♡: shut up tbh

it was worth a shot.

༉‧₊˚. MANJIRO SANO

— who hit a volleyball straight into your cranium and insisted he buy you lunch as an apology.

⠀

embarrassed was an understatement for what you felt.

it was like some terrible romcom, something you only see happen in movies with an unrealistic representation of what post-secondary school was actually like.

some blonde boy— one who you’re sure you could have gone your entire life without knowing rather peacefully— handed you a bag of ice, along with a neatly wrapped egg sandwich from the cafe he’d dragged you to.

“you sure your head is okay?” he watched as you pressed the cold plastic to the back of your skull.

“yeah, i don’t think it hit me as hard as it looked.”

“well, it did kinda knock you off your feet.”

you glared at mikey, and he had to stifle a laugh at the expression on your face.

“i’m sorry! you’ve gotta admit it’s kinda funny right?”

you used your teeth to unwrap some of the parchment paper and took a bite from your sandwich, at least the food was good.

“you nearly took my head off.”

“well it's less funny when you put it like that.”

you couldn’t stop the chuckle that slipped past your lips at how casual he was being, despite the context that you were two total strangers.

“seriously though, ‘m sorry. y’know i never would have hit you if i was playing soccer, volleyball is a shit sport anyway” the way he crossed his arms and pouted like a little kid was the slightest bit endearing. “i mean, why use your hands when your feet work so much better?”

maybe it was the spur of the moment, or the likely concussion giving you a skewed sense of judgement, but part of your brain was starting to like him.

mikey couldn’t explain it either, but a similar part of his brain was glad he had gotten the chance to meet you, though the circumstances weren’t ideal.

“hmmm…i dunno,“

he tilted his head at you, wondering where your sentence was headed.

“i think you’re gonna have to buy me lunch a couple more times to make up for it.”

mikey couldn’t help but smile, he poked your forehead.

“i must have hit you way harder than i thought.”

༉‧₊˚. KEISUKE BAJI

— who always throws the best parties, but never actually enjoys them unless you show up.

⠀

the pounding on the door of your dorm was quick to pull you out of your focus, forcing your nose out of your books. there was only one person who would knock so aggressively at such an ungodly hour, and he’s lucky your desk chair was becoming uncomfortable and you were planning on getting up to stretch your legs anyway.

swinging the door open, there stood baji, hair tied loosely into a bun at the back of his head, and two coolers occupying each of his palms.

he handed one to you, you gladly took it.

“so this is what you’re doin’ instead of partying with me right now?”

keisuke followed you into your dorm, making himself comfortable on top of your bed, you sat on the free space beside him as you cracked open the can in your hand.

“i told you i couldn’t come like, three days ago.” he groaned at your answer.

“i didn’t think that meant y’would actually flake!” you chuckled as you sipped at your drink, eyes playfully rolling back.

“you’re gonna thank me when this exam rolls around and i actually have notes to give you.”

baji’s lips formed a tight line, he hated when you were right.

“what’s the big deal if i didn’t go? literally almost half of campus showed up at your dorm hall anyway.”

he groaned again, yet louder this time, sitting up so he could open his own drink. he reached his free hand out to flick you right in the tip of your nose, earning a quiet ‘ow..’ from you.

“cus it’s lame when you don’t come around!! and who else is gonna take care of me after i blackout huh?” he took a long swig from the can in his fist.

“how about you go drink your body weight and i’ll come get you in an hour?” although the offer was tempting, and you could see keisuke consider it for a moment, he shook his head and flopped back down on your bed.

“nah, rather chill with you anyway.”

he reached over to hold his drink in the air beside you, and you gently cheersed his can, being careful not to spill any liquid on your bed.

“so, the hell is the exam s’posed to be about anyway?”

༉‧₊˚. KEN RYUGUJI

— who sits in front of you in engineering, and covers up the entire white board in front of you.

⠀

not one note.

not one single note in your binder was finished, all half written or only partially filled out. you wouldn’t have bothered spending the money on equipment to take cute notes if you had known some giant would be sitting in front of you. how were you meant to write anything down when you couldn’t even see the damn board?

at first he intimidated you, how could you not be at least a little afraid of a man who stood at nearly twice your size? however, that intimidation quickly turned into pure irritation upon another day of more blank paper, and you were following him out of the room at the end of class before you had a chance to react.

“hey, you.”

ken turned around to see who was calling out to, who he assumed to be, him.

“oh, hey—“

“you’re switching seats with me tomorrow .”

“…why—?“

“because you’re way too big and i can’t see anything past you when you’re in front of me! and i am way too behind in my notes to even hope to pass anymore unless i get caught up!”

ryuguji stared down at you, who was oh so short and angry, while blinking silently as he processed the words being said to him. it was surprising how small you started to feel so quickly when he had to crane his neck down to make eye contact.

“we’re like, two weeks into the semester and you’re telling me this now? i would have moved if y’had said something sooner.” ken chuckled and placed a hand on his hip, leaning down to your height with the most smug look suddenly dawning on his features. you opened your mouth to respond, yet only a jumble of stutters fell off your tongue. the irritation had subsided, and the intimidation was back in full throttle.

“i'll tell you what,” he began, “why don’t you sit beside me tomorrow, and i'll share my notes with you so you can catch up.”

well,

you supposed that would work.

“my way of apologizing for bein’ ‘way too big.’”

…you really did need those notes.

“okay, fine. that’s fine.” with a small bow, you turned around to begin your route to your next class, eager to run away from the awkward conversation you’d stuck yourself in.

“thanks, um, tall…guy— whatever your name is.”

and as quickly as you came, there you went.

it was about to be a whole other problem when the next day rolled around, and you would discover ryuguji’s terrible handwriting.

༉‧₊˚. TAKASHI MITSUYA

— who is your favourite study buddy, and knows your cafe order by heart.

⠀

the smell of freshly brewed espresso and slightly stale confections danced through the air, a comfortable aroma for mitsuya to sit in while he scribbled at a design that had been picking his brain all day. the headphones in his ears played some random pre-made lo-fi playlist as he sipped his coffee (—black, 2 sugars) that had long turned lukewarm, yet was just hot enough to warm his palm through the paper cup. the booth by the window he was slouched in was empty, save for him of course, and he waited ever so patiently for his classmate to join him and fill the space across from him.

the sound of the cheap bell above the cafe’s doors chiming alerted him that you had finally arrived, and he pried his attention away from his doodles to see you shuffling over to the spot you both had become perfectly familiar with, laptop in hand along with a knit hat and matching scarf keeping you warm from the autumn breeze.

“how late am i?” you plopped down in your seat, placing the tote bag hanging from your shoulder onto the seat beside you.

“probably,” he checked his phone, “twenty minutes.” mitsuya pulled his headphones down so they sat slack around his neck.

you groaned at his answer, you hadn’t meant to have gotten so hung up with club activities.

“i’m sorry, this stupid– festival is seriously giving us a run for our money. i didn’t even realize what time it was.”

takashi listened to you intently, nodding his head quietly as he pushed a small plate towards you; a croissant decorated in your favourite jelly, as well as a coffee cup similar to his own, the only difference being the mound of cream and sweetener inside yours.

the action had become so normal, you hadn’t even paid any mind to the way he would always order for you anymore, having your order ready by the time you arrived to meet him was just the usual.

mitsuya truly remembered the littlest details about your coffee order, from how thick you liked the foam on top to the temperature. not to mention his mental database of the variety of pastries you would eat alongside them.

“tell me about it. what’s your club doing again?”

he remembered, takashi just enjoyed the way you got so excited talking about it.

he listened to the way you rambled on, the way you so easily talked to him, how you could do it for hours, and not once would he be anywhere near sick of hearing the sound of your voice

⠀ ⠀ ⠀m.list⠀ ღ⠀send me an ask!⠀ ღ⠀navi

742 notes · View notes

uptoolateart · 1 year

Text

Education Systems

I'm updating this because a French fan has now added to the conversation, for accuracy.

I think a lot of people have misunderstood the French education system, after watching Confrontation. I did a bunch of research into this for one of my fics - I have lived in the UK since I was 16 and have children in the British education system - and I originally grew up in the US. With all that in mind...

When you finish the first major stage of education:

France - Age 15

UK - Age 16

US - Age 18

Picking your focus / specialism(s):

France - Age 15, you can pick a stream, focusing on subjects relevant to what you want to do in life.

UK - Age 16, you can pick a stream, focusing on subjects relevant to what you want to do in life - there are also vocational courses, if you’re not remotely academic, and I bet there is something like this in France.

US - You are required to take all general mandatory subjects, even if you suck at them, until age 18, at which point you can finally specialise.

Speaking personally, when I lived in the US I was only given one elective in high school, and for my junior year (age 16) I realised I would have no time to fit that elective into my schedule because of all the science and maths requirements...subjects I was all but failing, because I knew I was artistic / literary-minded from a very young age. I was forced to suffer falling self-esteem, feeling like I was stupid and not good enough, simply because I didn’t have the ‘right’ brain type to fit with what the school wanted. There were other schools in the area that had slightly different requirements, but they all did some form of the same thing.

If you don’t know what you want to focus on yet:

France - There are generalist academic options where you do the usual variety of subjects, with the proviso that you get to choose if it’s more heavily weighted towards maths / science or towards liberal arts (see my personal anecdote above).

UK - Does something similar to France.

US - I was seriously considering dropping out of high school as soon as legally able (age 16) because I couldn’t cope with the pressures of the school system and my shattered confidence, despite previously being a straight-A student. However, if you drop out, you bear that stigma for life, no matter how much else you do - even though there are countries like France and the UK that legally release you from that education system at the same age or even younger. I’ve seen this happen to a lot of extremely intelligent American friends.

At university:

UK - You ONLY do classes directly related to your degree.

France - I'm told it's the same but that you don't get to choose unrelated electives for fun (you can do that in the UK - not lots, but a few over the years).

US - You are forced to take a lot of mandated subjects that have nothing to do with your course, e.g. local government or trigonometry even though you’re doing a writing degree, and you pay an absolute fortune for these / the required textbooks. (The most I ever spent on a book for my UK English degree course was £15, whereas textbooks in the US cost in the hundreds.)

What if you change your mind?

UK - Most jobs don’t care what degree you did, just that you did a degree. If you decide to do something that does need special qualifications, you can always go back and undertake them, at any age...with the proviso that you need to find the time and money.

France - I have been told it can be difficult, although in ways similar to the UK (and probably the US), where it depends on the job. Some jobs will always require retraining. It's always easier to do that training when you're younger and have fewer obligations

US - I can’t specifically comment, as I emigrated, but see above. Also, I have American friends who have gone through a LOT of hoops to try to change career paths in later life. This is probably an area where all countries could improve.

In conclusion:

The French (and UK) system is not necessarily forcing teenagers to lock into a fixed career path with no looking back, at the age of 15. Nothing is perfect, but in many ways, I think the French system actually offers options for greater flexibility by allowing greater choice at a younger age, instead of being forced to take all these other classes they may never use again in life, possibly at the detriment of their mental health.

Don’t get me wrong - there are a lot of things I prefer about the US vs the UK system in the lead up to high school (I can’t comment on the French system during those years, as I have no experience). But I’m a big believer that we need to allow kids greater choice at a younger age, with the option to stay in generalist education if that’s really what they want.

#ml analysis #mlb analysis #education systems #ml confrontation #mlb confrontation #ml spoilers #ml s5 spoilers #ml s5 #mlb spoilers #mlb s5 spoilers #mlb s5

93 notes · View notes

motherfactorin-pi-face · 10 months

Text

In which I describe the maths of how to attack and dethrone God (per Minamimoto)

So in my evergrowing post thread (which I know I'm already gonna have to add to that essay fml) I did make ref to...well, a thing that literally has made my jaw drop since when I played TWEWY the first time (and keeping in mind this was a game friends forcefully insisted I play because "there's a char Sho Minamimoto who's just like you fr", and after I'd nodded "yup" re the SI unit obsessions and the compsci refs to Heaps and Crunching (and later, as I found out, "crashing" in JP), and the aesthetic, and, and...)

Namely: Sho Minamimoto literally uses (or tries to use) a very famous maths formula called Euler's Identity to take out the Composer as an example of Forcefully Applied Mathematics. :D (This may have also been the moment when I was like "Yup, he just like me FR")

So. First off. Euler's Identity.

It's kind of difficult to explain why this particular equation is considered one of the true Chef's Kisses of Mathematics to non-mathematicians, but part of it is elegance, and part of it is that it includes five of the foundational variables that show up in mathematics all the time (and really even more functions if you break it apart): a) the natural logarithm e or Euler's number which is roughly 2.71828182845... and which is zetta important in a lot of fields including finance, biology, medicine, and calculus functions, and (as we'll get into) antennas and field strength measurements and pretty much a Shitload of functions related to growth b) the imaginary unit i or the square root of -1 (which turns out to be extremely useful in a lot of contexts, including electronics (seriously; AC electricity and functions relating to that are *heavily* dependent on the imaginary unit) and graphing and arguably how Cartesian graphs work especially once you get into calculus c) Pi (π), everyone's favourite circle ratio of 3.141592653589793238462643393279 (is pulled away from keyboard before I can draw a Taboo Noise Refinery Sigil in Paint) and which is Important in many, many contexts d) 1 (yes, 1 is considered a constant! Specifically "A quantity exists") , and

e) 0 (yes, 0 is considered a constant too, specifically "a quantity does not exist", and reducing Euler's Identity results in e^(i*pi)+1=0) To make it even more Minamimoto-esque, you can technically also express Euler's Identity as a reduction of "e^(i*x) = cos(pi) + (i * (sin(pi)) (aka Euler's Formula), and cos(pi) =-1 and sin(pi)=0.

And really it's kind of a beautiful way of how things all fit together in a lovely function that is almost a kiss from the Math Gods and if plotted traces a lovely circle.

So after that little tangent, here's how this all relates to W2D7 of TWEWY, and Minamimoto's forcefully applied mathematics. * * * So, first we end up at Pork City (Mark City if you're watching the anime; Tokyu Group liked the TWEWY tourism and by the time the anime and NEO came around decided to take advantage of the advertising), and...Joshua and Neku start having a very interesting conversation on why there's So Much Damn Noise at Pork City anyways:

Neku asks if this is the work of Pi-Face, Joshua notes "Probably" and then goes on to note that it might not all be JUST Minamimoto:

In other words: Pork City is effectively acting as an amplifier or at least an antenna for Noise. (I am not the only one to have noticed it and not even the only one on Tunglr, for that matter; Voice From The Corner also picked up on this as well though I'll freely admit I'm diving a bit more into the STEM portions of this.) TWEWY:tA is even more blatant about this imagery in ep 6, where Joshua explicitly notes that all the emotion in Shibuya collects at Mark City (remember, the animation uses the RL name) and then "crashes into Mark City and shoots up into the sky. That emotion flows back down and keeps building up here." (Shortly afterwards, Joshua also mentions the Imaginary Noise Plane as the inside of Mark City warps, similarly to a sine wave flow--or the flow of energy into, or out of, an antenna. (You do not know how loudly I screamed seeing this, as an aside) So, this is where we get into piece one, e (and where a healthy interest in radio and electronics hobbies helps!)

So antennas, interestingly, have how well they pick up a frequency measured in a logarithmic scale, and basic field strength measurements (and a lot of other "wavey" things, including earthquakes, including, well, literal background noise) get measured on logarithmic scales too. It's rather more common with antennas and earthquakes for this to be measured on log-10 scales (hence the Richter scale for quakes, or decibels for antennas and sound). There's a particular group of measurements (physical field and power measurements), however, that actually uses log-e, aka the natural logarithm, and especially for voltage or current and "root power quantities"--the neper. And, in Euler's Identity, e is taken to powers...and Pork City is basically acting as a huge antenna. Also in info engineering aspects, there's another aspect--the nat, which is considered a unit of information or info entropy...also based on e. (I told you Euler's number comes up a lot of places!)

Let's continue... So now we come to i, the imaginary unit, and that's called out blatantly by Joshua:

This, too, is based on math--from Final Fantasy II, specifically, and how the Flare spell worked. Flare is an area-effect spell and it hit based on (Enemy's HP/Flare level), i.e. enemies that had HP divisible by 2 could be hit by a Flare level 2 spell and could deliver damage based on that spell's level, etc. So a level i Flare, based on how complex numbers work, could hit just about anything (assuming, of course, that the Composer is not a Fractal Bastard and promptly yeets himself into a PokeYugiBeyBladeVerse). But...that's not the ONLY part where things imaginary come into play. So, one of the interesting bits of lore that came out in (of all things) the NEO:TWEWY Field Walk RPG (alas, JP only, but a delightful source of lore, and thankfully the fan community preserved almost all of it) is actual canon on how Tin Pins and Psychs work including the actual formula on how they work in a convo between Minamimoto and Fret:

Fret: Soooo, these psychs and pins and stuff… how does it all work? Minamimoto: The pin is charged by the Imagination of the user. Fret: Uh huuuh. Minamimoto: The pin itself is just a medium. Fret: Mm-hmm. Minamimoto: “Power” is calculated from the numerical limit of the pin, using your will as a coefficient. Fret: Yeah. Minamimoto: But that formula alone means nothing to me!

(Emphasis mine: props to Pavaal on the Dead Bird App for initial translation, and to multiple others for confirmation from the FWRPG script.) So basically how Psychs work is functionally as an athame, using formula Psych=Limit^Imaginatio. (Secret Report 1 in TWEWY also confirms Imagination is important in making a Psych work to begin with; the formula) Of note, Minamimoto also has a canonically high Imagination, as detailed in the Secret Reports. To even become a Reaper to begin with (as noted in SR7) those who survive the week who have enough Imagination become Reapers, and even among Reapers Minamimoto tends to stand out (he is canonically the youngest Reaper Officer ever, and apparently had quite the rapid rise to power). SR15 in TWEWY notes (even keeping in mind that in this instance Hanekoma is being a bit of an Unreliable Narrator in covering his own butt regarding the Taboo Thing):

The sigil Minamimoto drew was one of the undecodable types. Was that a mistake on the Fallen Angel's part? Or was it a transcription error by Minamimoto? Either way, with that design, he stands little chance of reviving himself. However, Minamimoto is driven, and his Imagination strong. Perhaps strong enough to make a Taboo sigil work, even in the Underground... If so, the specific result would be impossible to predict.

And in SR19 (again, covering up just a bit for his own helping hand):

I've detected an energy spike here. It would seem Minamimoto has returned. I judged his revival unlikely after spotting his Taboo refinery sigil on the first day, but it appears Minamimoto's Imagination is much stronger than I'd anticipated. The Fallen Angel must have completed the array for him. A troubling thought. Who can say what impact this will have on the Composer and Conductor's Game?

And even in the NEO Secret Reports it's noted his second trip through Coco's version of the Sigil actually ramped up his Imagination even more (in NEO SR 7):

Minamimoto, on the other hand has all but vanished from the proxy’s side. His Noise refinery sigil drastically heightens his Imagination, which may be why he can clearly recognize the proxy’s abilities. I have an idea of what he’s planning. It’s dangerous, but I have no way of stopping him.

And again, TWEWY:tA also makes it more blunt that Minamimoto was selected explicitly because of his Imagination and his connections to Shibuya as Hanekoma's Plan B. So there's imaginary units (in the sense of literal level i flare), and imaginary units (in a Reaper whose Imagination is already in the stratosphere). And in regards to pi? Well, Pi-Face, he has very much a rep of being....numbers- and math-obsessed even BEFORE he throws 156 digits of pi in the Composer's face:

But pi (as a number) is actually meaningful as HELL to Minamimoto, he engages in saying pi to himself drawing the Taboo Noise Refinery Sigil (goroawase in Japanese which relates to literally an obstetrician going to a foreign country and a woman giving birth at night as insects make a lot of noise which can almost be seen as a minor ritual to Make It Work, a little happy pi rhythmic thing in English in the game, actual spoopy sounding pimetry in the anime that sounds very sorcery-y). Looking (for far too long) at the Taboo Noise Refinery Sigil, pi is encoded in it in at least four or five places (multiple times as functionally a magic binding circle, at least once where he draws the symbol for pi in such a way that when it's turned upside down it literally spells "pi"). It's important. It's meaningful. It's His Number and transcedential and irrational and beautiful and unrestrained :D So now y'all are wondering, "OK, smartass, where's the -1 at?" As I noted, another way you can write Euler's Identity is specifically as "e^(i*pi)+1=0", so that can be expressed as a way to null the Composer (who is probably the 1 in question). Euler's Identity would be used to subtract 1 from the equation, in other words (as Minamimoto was intending to come back from Erasure by literally integrating himself via Taboo Noise Refinery Sigil). There's one other interesting bit of symbolism, one that's deep enough that I'm not even sure the writers of TWEWY intended, but if so...it's such a chef's kiss that I have deepest admiration.

So Euler's Identity can be expressed in terms of a formula, and as a reduction of sine and cosines involving pi and i, but it can also be mapped as motion--specifically as how a function evolves. (I tend to be a pretty visual thinker, and there's an extremely good discussion on Euler's Identity here that goes into the whole "mapping the function" aspect to show how Euler's Identity works in practice.)

So typically when you're doing a non-negative function or a zero function, generally there's an assumption of "right-hand" rotation or movement. Complex functions, you get into fun things like circles, and curves, and even some very beautiful fractals (like with the Mandelbrot set) with the right iterative formulas. Euler's Identity...is literally a left-hand-path function:

(And those of you who were writing about the Cyclic Nature of Minamimoto are probably all screaming right now) Anyways, wanted to share in full one of the things that was a jawdropper for me in TWEWY back when I found the game at a glorified skateshop that sold games in 2011. Thank you for coming to my TED talk, zeptograms :3

#sho minamimoto #twewy #ntwewy #the world ends with you #neo: the world ends with you #neo twewy #twewy sho #minamimoto sho #mathematics #“a maths lesson? In my TWEWYtumblr? It's more common than you think”#anyone who knows me knows at some point I am going to deep dive into Mathematical Metaphors of Minamimoto lol #anyways enjoy the moment and try not to kill me for putting maths on your tumblr #character analysis

49 notes · View notes

sochilll · 4 months

Text

Day One of Pins and Patches Week! (See the prompt list here!)

Day One: Crushes/Gaze

Read on Ao3

Michael was not pathetic. He was actually very cool. But cool in an “I don’t actually care about being cool” kinda way. He was above lowly concepts like “popularity.”

That’s why it was so annoying that Jake Dillinger really was that hot. And that Michael couldn’t stop staring at him in English. Him and his stupid smile and his stupid dimple and his stupid-

The bell rang, startling him out of his daze. He started shoving stuff into his backpack.

“Can you just admit you like him?” Jeremy sighed, leaning on Michael’s desk.

“To whom are you referring?” Michael asked innocently.

They fell into step as they joined the hallway stream. Jeremy elbowed him.

“It’s obvious. Like, really obvious.”

“I’m thinking pizza for lunch today.”

“Michael,” Jeremy yanked him to a halt just outside the cafeteria. “It’s not a big deal. Everyone has a crush on Jake.”

“Well I do not. I’m not obsessed with these dumb social hierarchies like some people.”

Jeremy snorted. “Yeah fuckin’ right,” he mumbled, pulling the cafeteria door open.

Michael held his ground. He was not going to admit to being a glasses-wearing loser who had a crush on the varsity basketball star because that was stupid and cliche and life was not an 80s romcom.

The next day was Friday and Michael was considering leaving at lunch. His last two periods were photography and econ. He was passing econ easily and photography was a bullshit class anyway. The teacher gave them vague assignments and spent the whole period with his eyes glued to his computer. Michael would be fine.

He’d survived math and bio and psychology. Now he just had to get through English. He was currently surviving by playing hangman with Jeremy.

He was puzzling over Jeremy’s five letter word with no a’s s’s or m’s when Jeremy suddenly elbowed him sharply.

Michael looked up. The slide show projected onto the board said “Group Presentation Partners.” Michael ran his eyes down the list. He caught on “Heere” next to “Duke” and groaned internally. He kept reading.

“Holy shit,” Jeremy whispered.

“No.”

“Holy fucking shit.” Jeremy was practically cackling now.

“No. No. Absolutely fucking not,” Michael hissed.

“Why’s it such a big deal? I thought you didn’t even like him,” Jeremy teased.

Jake Dillinger stood up, scanning the room. “Who the fuck is Mell?”

Michael slid down in his seat. Jeremy, shedding his social anxiety for the sake of humiliating his best friend, raised his hand and pointed at Michael.

“Sick.” Jake sat back down, apparently assuming Michael would come to him.

“Have fuuuun,” Jeremy sang, shoving Michael out of his chair.

Michael gathered his things as slowly as he could and then dropped into the chair across from Jake. “Uh, hi.”

“Hey.” Jake nodded but didn’t look up from his phone.

Michael was about to suggest they start brainstorming when Jake glanced at the board which now had the instructions up and said, “I’ll do the summary, you can do the critique, and we split the literary devices?”

Michael blinked. “Um, yeah. Sure.”

“Cool,” Jake jotted something on a piece of notebook paper and ripped it out sloppily. He passed it to Michael and stood up. “See you.”

Michael watched Jake go over to Rich’s table.

Jeremy slid into his vacant seat. “What’s that?”

“Project notes.” Michael shoved the note into his pocket. “Shouldn’t you be with your partner?”

“She’s already assigned me my homework. She pulled her laptop out and put headphones on. I don’t think she wants company. What’s the note say?”

“I told you, it’s about the project.”

“I saw numbers.”

“It’s a list.”

“Horizontal numbers,” Jeremy insisted.

Michael huffed and pulled the paper out and read Jake’s messy scrawl.

M: Critique, lit dev. 1-3,

D: Summary, lit dev. 4-6

Underneath their assignments, he’d written his phone number.

Jeremy nodded seriously. “So he wants you to call him.”

“That’s not what it means.” Michael shoved the paper back into his pocket.

He wasn’t planning to call, obviously. The project was pretty straight forward. The sections all stood on their own, so there was really no need for them to actually work together. Except, they needed something to actually present. A slideshow or a poster or something. And they hadn’t discussed that. So, they needed to figure that out.

Michael’s finger hovered over the call button. He hesitated. What if Jake didn’t answer? What if he did?

“Hello?”

“Hi,” Michael was sort of surprised. “Um, it’s Michael.”

“Oh, yeah, what’s up?”

“Um, we need to make a slideshow. Or something. For the project?”

There was a lot of talking in the background as Jake thought about that.

“Yeah. How bout we meet somewhere for lunch tomorrow and figure it out? Bring whatever you’ve done so far, yeah?”

“Yeah. Okay. Sure.”

“Cool. See ya.” Jake hung up without waiting for a reply.

Michael showed up to the cafe Jake had texted him about. It seemed like one of those places that would charge him way too much for a single drink, but he pulled the door open anyway. He scanned the small seating area and spotted Jake immediately. There were only two other people there. Michael skipped the order counter and made his way over to the other seat.

Jake looked up. “Hey.”

“Hey.”

“I made a slide show thing.” Jake flipped his laptop around. He’d selected a basic premade template and written the topic on each slide.

Michael inwardly grimaced at his color scheme. “Are we… attached to that? Design wise?”

Jake looked at the screen, confused. “Uh, no?”

“Okay good.” Michael pulled the laptop toward him and started digging around the Google Slides settings. He found a better template and changed the colors, opting for earth tones instead of the garish orange Jake had been using.

Jake was craning his neck, trying to see the screen.

Michael finished and returned the laptop to him.

“Whoa, that looks way better.” Jake looked up at him. “How’d you do that?”

“Gay magic,” Michael said without thinking. His face went red. “Um, sorry. That was a bad joke.”

Jake just snorted, already directing his attention back to the slides. They worked for a while longer, even though, once Jake had emailed Michael the link, there was no real need for them to be in the same place. Mostly, they worked in silence. But every once in a while a question would come up and they’d chat for a few minutes, usually getting mildly off topic, before slipping into silence again.

Michael’s phone buzzed and he was surprised to see it had already been two and a half hours. He hastily started shoving his stuff into his backpack.

“Sorry, totally lost track of time,” he muttered. “I gotta get home.”

“Okay.” Jake leaned back in his chair, stretching his arms above his head. “I should probably get back too.” He looked at Michael. “Free tomorrow? We could probably finish in a couple hours.”

Michael faltered, frozen in his tracks. “I-uh- yeah? If you wanna meet up. I just thought-I mean yeah. I’m free.”

Jake gave him a weird look. “That sounded like a lie.”

“Not a lie,” Michael shook his head. “I just didn’t think you’d wanna actually meet up again if we didn’t have to?”

“Why not?” Jake shrugged. “You’re cool. Plus I hate being home.” He stood and grabbed his backpack, sliding his laptop inside. “Same time tomorrow.” He walked out.

Michael stood there, staring after him. There was probably something worth investigating about that “I hate being home comment,” but Michael couldn’t think about that right now. Because Jake Dillinger had just called him cool.

#pinsnpatchesweek #bmc #Jake Dillinger/Michael Mell #my writing #hoping I’ll be able to keep up with these 😭 I have so many ideas and I’ve started most of them but work has been killing me lately

15 notes · View notes

kaylinalexanderbooks · 4 months

Text

Find the word tag game

Thanks @hippiewrites for the tag! I've missed this game.

Rules: find the words I give you in your WIPs then tag some people with your own words!

My words: water, fire, ground, sky

Your words: star, moon, sun, space

Tagging @gracehosborn @theelfauthor @eccaiia @reneesbooks @ceph-the-ghost-writer @buffythevampirelover @thepeculiarbird @jezifster @mjjune @ohnomybreadsticks @sarahlizziewrites @sarandipitywrites and anyone else :)

See below the cut to read about Lexi paying way too much attention to people (just as the plot gets started), a mini argument about how to tell a bad joke, a bunch of brothers shocking each other with electricity, and the first scene of Carmen as a child (sad, cute...idk you decide what it is)

Water - from The Secret Portal Part One (Lexi POV)

“Do you know what Gwen, Rose, and Noelle’s last periods are?” Ash asked. “Gwen has science, Rose: art, and Noelle has… math,” I answered. “How do you know these things?” Ash asked as she rolled the sleeves up of her red flannel. “Like, you have everyone’s schedule memorized!” “Pfft, no I don’t.” I waved hello to Julian Austin as he ran by. “Really? What’s Julian’s fourth period?” Ash asked. I pushed open the door with my shoulder, pausing briefly to think. “Gym.” “See?” Ash pointed out. “What can I say? I’m observant,” I said as the exhaust from the buses caused my eyes to water. “Ugh, I’ve never been picked up over here before. Why can’t your stepmom pick us up in the parent pick-up?” “I dunno, Lexi, I’m just following orders.” “It seems weird,” I said looking at her as I turned around the corner of the school. “Like—ah!” My boot got caught on the grass, causing my feet to slip. I tumbled onto the ground and dropped my violin, the “oof!” that followed indicating Ash tripped over the sturdy case.

Fire - from The Secret Portal Part Two (Akash POV)

“Hey, guys.” Parker flicked his hand, summoning his remaining breakfast to his newly-picked table on light current of air. “What’s up?” “Me,” I said, causing Robbie to snicker. “Are we still on for practice today?” “Uh, yeah of course,” said Parker as Wade joined our table. “Your joke sucked. You’re sitting down. We’ll have to work on that.” “Is part of being an air-molecule-manipulating person good humor?” “I thought it was until you came.” “Give him a break, Parker.” “He made a bad joke, Wade! What am I supposed to say.” I ate my bowl-innards so I didn’t have to reply. Yeah, it was a bad joke, but it was the anti-humor that made it funny! “The fact that it was bad made it good,” Robbie defended. I smiled smugly at Parker through my cereal-filled mouth. Thanks, Robbie. “Humor is a subjective but meticulous craft,” said Parker. “The joke needs to make sense to be funny, and considering that you are not up, it doesn’t make sense.” “But I’m a flyer,” I protested. “That’s the logic.” “You said it when you were down!” Parker protested. “That would be like Jazlyn saying, ‘I’m so hot!’ when she’s not on fire!” “I’m gay, but Jazlyn’s objectively hot,” said Wade. “Totally not the point,” said Parker. “You’re taking this too seriously.” Parker laughed, throwing his head back. “Serious? Me?! That’s a first. Could you tell that to Mrs. Holladay? Besides, I’m just helping the kid out.” “You’re, like, two years older than me,” I pointed out. “Regardless, I’m helping you out. Watch, I’ll make your joke work.” In a fast yet graceful move, Parker thrust his hands out and up in a swooshing movement, causing a gust of wind to suddenly lift me out of my seat and a handful of yards in the air.

Ground - from School of the Legends, Year One

Tierney was jolted awake that morning in two ways. The first jolt was from Jarred rapidly knocking on the door to his room. The second was a literal jolt of static shock from the friction his body caused from sliding against both the fitted sheet beneath him, as well as the duvet covering him, when he jumped from the first jolt. He yelped at both, causing Jarred to laugh from outside the door. Tierney scrambled out of bed and practically ran to the door--bare feet sliding on the hardwood floors--threw the door open, and jabbed his finger into Jarred’s side, causing Jarred to let out a rather embarrassing “eep!” as the static shock pierced through his cotton clothes, and he jumped back, almost falling over when his feet slipped on the carpet beneath him. Now it was Tierney’s turn to laugh. Jarred regained his balance and pointed a finger at Tierney as a mock threat. “You’re dead.” “Not if I kill you first!” Tierney said, jumping out at Jarred, who bolted down the hall. Tierney followed his brother with his hand outstretched, making extra sure to drag his feet on the carpet to keep up the static, even if it slowed his pace. Jarred turned a corner and made an “oof!” sound as he ran into Ritchie--both falling over, causing Tierney to trip over both of them and crash to the ground.

Sky - from The Secret Portal Part Two (Carmen POV)

I stared down at my scuffed sneakers as I slowly swung back and forth on the swing, my eyes fixed on a tiny winged bug on a flower. I tilted my head slightly, seeming to get a new perspective on how the sun reflected off the shimmering wings. A caterfly. That’s what it was. A small gust of wind blew across the grass in front of me, rippling gently through my clothes, and rocking the flower back and forth. With a flitter of its wings, the caterfly hopped off the flower. My gaze followed it as it flew off in the bright summer sky. It was free. “Hey,” a familiar voice said, causing me to look back down. A smile found its way on my face. “Hey, Atsila,” I said as she hopped in the swing beside me. “How was your APTA test?” “Amazing!” Atsila cried, brushing her red hair out of her face, her dark eyes shining. “It’s one of the rare ones!” “Really?” I asked, fully interested, though attempting to correct my swing so it was in tandem with Atsila’s. She was too small to reach the ground with her feet, but being significantly taller, I was able to have control of my speed. “Yeah! Umbra— Umbrakin— Shadow manipulation!” “Umbrakinesis?” I offered. “Yeah! That’s it!” We squealed. “Atsila, that’s amazing!” “I know, right? I can be the most powerful girl at school! And you can—” she trailed off. “Carmen, I’m sorry. I—” “No,” I interrupted her. “It’s fine.” Only five and a half months had passed since I found out I was Inutil. It was long enough to cope. At least, for me to cope. I was proud of Atsila for getting such a rare power. No, proud wasn't the right word. She didn’t do anything to get it. Happy for her. That was what I was.

7 notes · View notes

borhapparker · 2 years

Note

ben hardy and soulmate + teacher au?

let's do this!! im back baby!

request here! | (UPDATED) list of characters | masterlist (NEW)

fyi: some links wont work as i am actively working on reworking my blog so please bare with me as i remake everything and publish things repeatedly (:

Soulmates were not for everyone, and some considered them to be folk tales. Not everyone had someone out there for them, and most would never meet them. Yet, there was something about knowing you were tethered to someone out there that made it all possible. Anything you ever dreamed of seemed real when the prospect of having another half to share it with was real.

Yet, life didn't stop when finally found the one. And it definitely didn't stop while you were actively looking for one either.

The coffee maker in the kitchen beeped, as you walked over, clad in socks to prepare your warm coffee, which you would end up drinking cold anyway. The teaching lesson you had prepared the night before was on the counter, ready to be taught to your class as you began to slip on your vans, a signature piece in all your teaching outfits. There was something about commandeering the classroom in vans that made you feel invincible, especially when you were teaching high school alone for the first time.

When the principal, your good friend Robbie Andrews approached you about being a solo teacher, after years of working with a partner, you took up the opportunity quickly. It had been something you dreamt about for a long time, and you were finally there.

But now the nerves were showing, your hands slightly shaking at the thought of having to reel in a bunch of 9th graders in the subject of English and Writing.

Your phone pinged from the living room, as you crossed the kitchen, disconnecting your phone from the charger attached to the wall. The screen was lit with a text from your best friend, the person who had been teaching Math for as long as you had.

'Ready?'

'Ready as I'll ever be, I guess. What about you?'

'I'm already on campus, teacher meeting before class starts. Hurry up, teach!'

"Shit," you cursed out loud as you grabbed your bag, making sure everything was inside as you spilled your coffee on the floor. "Dammit!"

Placing a towel over it, you quickly cleaned it up before grabbing your keys and running out the door, going into your car, and driving as quickly and safely as you could to campus. Immediately parking, you ran across the lot to the auditorium where all the teachers were waiting, the meeting barely beginning. Skidding into a seat next to Ben, you glared at him.

"Seriously? You forgot to remind me?"

"Nah," he smirked, "I figured you wouldn't remember so I just wanted to surprise you."

"Ass."

The meeting went on as you took mental notes about protocols and welcomed the new staff for the year. As the meeting was about to conclude, the principal called everyone's attention to Ben and yourself, as he congratulated both of you on another year at the campus. Dismissing everyone, you and Ben walked to your respective classes, across the way from each other as you gave him a hug.

"You ready?" you asked him as he nodded and smiled.

"Hey, where's your coffee?" Ben asked as you frowned. "Dropped it again?"

Nodding, he sighed before smiling.

"I'll get you another, just text me your order."

"Thanks, Ben." you smiled before you both walked into your classrooms.

Sighing, you placed your items on the desk, and picked up the whiteboard marker, writing your name on the board for everyone to see. Remembering that you had made a schedule of the day, your hands pushed the pieces of paper on your desk as you gripped the schedule before beginning to write it out on the board.

That had been a suggestion you had received from a former student, and you took it to heart, knowing some students get anxious not knowing what was next on the agenda for the day.

The commotion was heard outside your classroom, as you connected your phone to the speakers, playing your favorite songs, and your laptop to the projector, as the presentation was projected for the first day.

"Let's do this."

The day had progressed rather quickly, as you got to know your new students in the first and second periods, having the third period to relax before getting your homeroom students, where you organized a game to play with everyone. Lunchtime couldn't come faster, as you and Ben headed over to the fast food place across the way, grabbing lunch and settling back into your classroom, making room on your now messy desk.

"So, how has it been?" he asked as you smiled.

"Good! Seems like I am connecting with them better than I was last year, that's for sure." he laughed as he remembered an incident with a student last year. "Please don't-"

"Remember when you got pied in the face that one time while you were giving the lecture on Charles Dickens?" Ben's laugh filled your classroom as you chucked a tiny container of salsa at him, as it missed and landed on the floor. "That was a classic."

"I couldn't get the whipped cream out of my cardigan after that! I think they dyed it because it only turned all my socks pink instead of cleaning it after I washed it."

"Well, at least you won't have that happening anymore." he sighed as he frowned. "Hey, have you heard anything from your soulmate recently?"

You shook your head as Ben mirrored your actions. "He's been quiet recently." sighing, you undid your ponytail and let your hair hang loose, "Maybe he stopped being such a daredevil and is being safe now, considering all the injuries I got while he was out doing some crazy stuff."

He nodded, a pondering look on his face, as he shrugged. "Mine has been quiet, she hasn't been doing much recently. But something happened today that was odd."

Tilting your head, you took a bite from your tacos as he continued.

"I could hear music in the distance and it sounded a lot like Metallica, which was odd considering the last thing I heard them play was Whitney Houston."

"Clearly, their music taste is amazing." you laughed as he nodded with a sad smile.

"I really want to see them already."

"Me too."

Your fourth period came around, as the students piled inside, everyone taking a seat wherever they wanted as you opened up the same presentation you did in your last classes.

"Good afternoon everyone!" they echoed your welcome as you smiled, "Alrighty, who's ready to play a game?"

They cheered as you opened up Kahoot, a classic classroom game that clearly hyped up their energy as the classroom erupted into louder cheers.

As everyone signed in, you began the game, everyone cheering and arguing when it came to certain rounds. Suddenly, your classroom door opened as you looked up, noticing a certain blonde in the doorway, holding two coffees directly from your favorite coffee shop.

"Lifesaver! Thank you!"

He smiled as you gave him a half-hug before he waved at the students and walked into his classroom.

"Miss Y/n?" a student raised their hand as you nodded, walking back to your desk and pausing the game. "Is Mr. Hardy your boyfriend?"

You chuckled and smiled, "No he isn't, we're just good friends. We've been teaching here together for a few years now."

A chorus of oohs was heard across the classroom as a blush enveloped your cheeks.

"Look! Miss Y/n is blushing!"

"Wait, guys! What about Mr. Hardy being her soulmate?" one student yelled out as everyone began agreeing, trying to connect the dots between your friendship as you watched in amusement, a blush coating your cheeks.

"Alright, alright! Let's get back to Kahoot! I have donuts for the winners!"

The chatter slowly died down, not going away completely as everyone's attention was turned back to the game, some still talking about the friendship between the two teachers.

Your mind began to wander, as the students kept playing, their words echoing in your mind. All those times you felt pain and anguish from your soulmate, Ben had mentioned getting hurt in small incidents at home, wether that be with his skateboard or practicing his drums in the music room. They seemed really distant in the moment, but looking back, you realized it was a possibility.

Having mentioned that he heard Metallica and Whitney Houston being played, you remember playing two distinct songs for your game in first period, realizing the connection was getting bigger the more you began digging into memories with Ben.

What if your best friend was your soulmate? There was only one way to find out.

They mentioned that soulmates have tattoos on their body that their other half mirror and both people share one image on their bodies. This made everyone unique from other partnerships, and you had never shown Ben yours.

Finishing the class, you dismissed everyone as the bell rang for the end of the day, everyone now piling out of classroom and into thier cars to begin the journey home, as you stayed behind, wanting to have everything organized for the next day.

"Y/n?" Ben called out as you smiled and let him come inside your class. "You ready to go?"

"Almost," you sighed as you finished placing the notebooks on the shelf you made for your students, each with their own name and class period so you can remember which one is which without needing to read chicken scratch on the front.

"Hey, Ben?" he tilted his head, "Do you still have your soulmate tattoo?"

He nodded, "Haven't seen it go anywhere just yet."

"Can I see it?"

Shocked, he gulped, before nodding. Grabbing the end of his flannel, the slipped it off his shoulders, exposing the black t-shirt adorning his torso. He sighed shakily, before pulling up the shirt, and turning around, as you let out an audible gasp.

There it was, the mirror to your own tattoo.

"Ben?"

He turned his head and locked eye contact over his shoulder.

"It's me."

Your words did not register in his mind immediately, as his eyebrows furrowed in concentration before realization hit. Eyes widening, he let the shirt drop, as he placed his hands on your waist.

"Y/n?"

You let out a breath you didn't know you were holding, as he smiled.

"We are soulmates?"

All you could do was nod, as he wrapped his arms around you, bringing you into a hug as you placed yours on his back, pulling him closer.

"God, I love you."

"I love you too."

Unbeknownst to you, your students had been standing outside the classroom, peering in through the window as they cheered silently, knowing their plan had worked.

Soulmates were hard to find, and some never end up finding their own pair, living in the world without another half.

Yet, yours was right next to you, for the last 8 years.

You couldn't ask for more.

#ambs talks #ambs writing #ben hardy #teacher au #soulmate au #ben hardy imagines #ben hardy writing #ben hardy one shots #ben hardy au #ben hardy blurb #ben hardy imagine #ben hardy x reader #ben hardy x you #ben hardy x female!reader #borhap #bohemian rhapsody

100 notes · View notes

controversial-blorbo-bracket · 1 year

Note

Hi! I saw the posts wondering about how to put together the polls, and as an aspiring data analyst and current PhD student myself, i had some contemplations to share!!

Unfortunately i think the BEST way to go about it would require 64 options, as you would need to account for all the combinations of:

Know Character A (yes/no)

Know Character B (yes/no)

Opinion on Character A (Love/Hate/Both/Indifferent)

Opinion on Character B (Love/Hate/Both/Indifferent)

Which would be a 2×2×4×4 poll.

HOWEVER i had an idea. Accounting for the pollgoer knowing character A or B is pretty much non-negotiable if you want to preserve the quality of the data. So in a 10-option poll, that means we only really have room for two options past "which character are you more familiar with".

HENCE, i propose something similar to the following setup:

Two polls per pair of characters. A round 1A and round 1B if you will.

Round 1A: (for the purpose of determining strength of opinion)

[More familiar with A; Stronger feelings about A]

[More familiar with A; Strong feelings about both]

[More familiar with A; No strong feelings about either]

[More familiar with B; Stronger feelings about B]

[More familiar with B; Strong feelings about both]

[More familiar with B; No strong feelings about either]

[Familiar with A, or equally familiar with A and B; Stronger feelings about B]

[Familiar with B, or equally familiar with A and B; Stronger feelings about A]

[Familiar with both/neither; Strong feelings about both]

[Familiar with both/neither; No strong feelings about either]

.....just barely squeezed that into 10 options. I condensed "Familiar with A, or equally familiar with A and B" and vice versa into one option because i felt that having an opinion on Character B while knowing neither, both, or the opposing character better, was basically the same.

Point being, that poll would tell you who has the strongest feelings surrounding them, since you could take ratios to determine the true percentages of votes from people familiar with the character. I think this could be good for elimination; maybe you could do the bottom 50% or bottom 25% of people that got opinionated votes. Then after that maybe you could have a second set of polls that were individual to the characters that weren't eliminated, like a qualifier, again dropping out the lowest X% of characters that had too many indifferent votes.

Sorry for the ramble i just. I love data and polls and i majored in math and . Yeah. I hope literally any of this is helpful or sparks some ideas?? I just thought it would be neat to have each round have a matchup half and an individual half, honestly, because i love both of those ideas. It does sound like twice the work though. Whatever you decide, i am definitely looking forward to it!! Best of luck!!!

-sincerely, a fellow data freak (?) that literally would just clean and preprocess and analyze data for ages recreationally

Holy shit this is awesome. In a perfect world I would absolutely love to do a 64 option matchup tourney. But unfortunately I think this ideal solution shows how a matchup-style tournament with a maximum of 10 options will be inherently biased (in addition to causing scroll fatigue, which is something I, as a poll fanatic and accurate data lover, forgot that most people WILL stop reading past the first few answers if every poll is super long like my and your proposals. Thank you to all my followers who pointed this out- working in this field can make me lose sight of that lol).

So in that sense, thank you for helping me come to the conclusion that the best way to do this IS to have individual polls! Maybe in the future I’ll set up several hundred google forms and link to that for voting, so it’s not limited by tumblr polls. And that way people could even select multiple options! I would seriously consider running that if after this tournament people are still interested in a second one that’s matchup style instead. But for now individual polls seems the most fair way to go about it that complies with tumblr’s limited poll options!

#I will answer your follow up ask in the morning bc I am sleepy #seriously this is awesome I love this.so much #reading this ask felt like the meat pumpkin had just been rolled into my enclosure #ask #spark-lapis

17 notes · View notes

lit-works · 3 months

Text

Pt 1.

--This fanfiction is a part of my 'Decades of Marvels' one-shot series that celebrates an era near and dear to me. This story is a love letter. First and foremost, to fellow comic book aficionado, artist extraordinarre, and fanboy Kevin Smith who wrote/started/directed the movie that shares this stories title. It is also an homage to nostalgia, and the most nostalgic generation so far. I shamelessly name-drop as many pop culture refs from the 90s as I can, including the OG MCU (90s X-Men, Spider-Man & Friends, The Fantastic Four animated series).

"Hey, Shogo, how was school today?" Jubilation Lee asked her adopted son as he entered their home on the island of Krakoa.

"lame! Mr.Summers is teaching stupid Quadratic Equations. But, it got me thinking about when he used to be your teacher." Shogo whined as he kicked off his shoes and sat heavily on the living room couch.

"Old Cyclops' mutant math, I remember the concept. He tried to teach me trigonometry." Jubilation recalled as she sat next to her son.

"Seriously? That's crazy. Anyways, do you remember the Danger Room's Shopping Mall Simulation?"

"Ah, the infamous Danger Mall -where Sentinel sales were always booming. No, I do not remember that one. Is that the exercise they had you running today?" Jubilation joked before becoming seriously curious.

"well, yeah, and I started wondering The X-Men had a place to hit up like that to buy stuff before people started ordering on Amazon. Like, was there ever just merchandise instead of a battle looming over the horizon?"

"You bet we did!! There was this one time, a peaceful day off, before I was a full-time X-Person, and I decided to check out a mall. But, you know your mom, trouble has it's way of finding me...even in the food court."

"wait, what's a food court?"

"Ermahgawd, you poor uncultured swine, so...

Once a mecca of American commerce, a gathering place for adolescent youth, and a nice place for an indoor stroll, the mall no longer holds the same place in our daily lives as it did in the summers of the '90s. In the heyday of the indoor shopping mall, one could buy a ham, watch a movie, haggle for a Gucci purse and cap off the day with a round of ice skating. Store fronts were elaborately decorated to look like barns and castles.

Malls across America were filled with seemingly lost or harried, or both, families navigating their way through these temples of consumerism, a long with playful teens in Jnco Jeans and South Park shirts, pink misfits and scene kids lighting up indoors, and the aged mall-walkers.

Families spent a large part of their miserable lives at shopping malls. For generations of Americans, there was no better way to pass time than to completely encapsulate themselves in retail outlets. Wrapped tightly in their warm blanket of commerce, they would loiter aimlessly for hours, often not spending a dime.

There was no greater monument to American capitalism in the latter half of the 20th Century than the mall. The history of the shopping mall can be traced back to the Roman Empire, where teenagers of the day surely milled about in their equivalent of Hot Topic and Spencer's gifts.

The first American shopping mall was built in 1826 in Providence, Rhode Island. Considering the coolest thing to do as a member of previous generation American teenagers was to fight in the wars of 1812, this was an absolute godsend.

The next great thing to happen to America's future adults was the advent of the automobile. The car shook up a number of things, including shopping malls. Shopping mall locations shifted from downtown areas to decentralized suburban spaces that were now accessible to the driving population.

Over a period of a half a century starting in the mid-50's, a staggering 1,500 shopping malls opened in the United States. Countless other mini-malls and strip-malls came into existence during this period as well.

The basic makeup of the new suburban shopping centers followed a very set pattern. Large chain department stores would serve as "anchors", familiar places that would drive traffic to the mall and thus the smaller stores located within the tile strewn floors. Anchors quickly became the key to a Mall's success.

The mall evolved into more than just a shopping center, adding other features than just retail outlets. The American populace could now take a trip to the mall and enjoy movie theaters, restaurants, and by the 80s, the newly ubiquitous video game arcade. By this time, the shopping mall had firmly become an entrenched part of American culture.

For decades, shopping malls appeared as the financial rocks. Individual stores would come and go, but the vacancy rates would always stay low.

And then something magical happened, the malls that teenage girls and soccer moms across the country could only dream of : the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota!

Since opening it's doors in 1992, Mall of America revolutionized the shopping experience of tens of millions of visitors a year. A leader in retail, entertainment and attraction, Mall of America became one of the top tourist destinations in the country and is known around the world.

Back in 1982, the Minnesota Twins and Vikings relocated from the Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington to the HHH Metrodome in downtown Minneapolis. This created an unprecedented development opportunity for 78 acres of prime real estate. Three years later, the Bloomington Port Authority purchased the stadium site and began entertaining proposals for development. Mall of America was chosen from four proposals, and on June 14th, 1989, developers ans local dignitaries broke ground. On August 11th, 1992, when Mall of America opened it's doors, 330 stores opened for business and more than 10,000 employees started their first day of work.

Mall of America now hosts more than 400 events annually, ranging from concerts, to celebrity appearances and fashion shows. Each year 40 million people from around the world visit the Malls generating nearly $2 billion each year in economic impact for the state.

Word had gone out! A once in a lifetime concert being held at the Mall of America in Minnesota: the interstellar pop sensation Lila Cheney was teaming up with America's disco diva Allison Blaire, The Dazzler! The power pair had embraced the grunge movement and would be singing as a duet with a newly formed band called The Resistance in a one-night-only event in the concert Hall of the mall...

4 notes · View notes

grigori77 · 3 months

Text

Critical Role, Campaign 3 Episode 88

Ah yeah, 9th Anniversary! Sweet ... hence the fancy duds! Cool ...

Wr don't need a skit, just let Taliesin cause Sam massive distractions ... oh, okay ... yeah, these fake Sam ads are always fun ... that one was ... unique ...

Plushie Sprinkle! OH MY GODS IT'S SO CUTE!!! :3

Ah yeah, cliffhanger resolution time! What's happening?

Okay, so have they been rumbled? Who is this? Does not sound good ... hmmmm ... gotta be careful with this ...

A "cute" growl? Hmmmm ...

Touch your friends with CONSENT, Letters ...

A SLITHERING sound? That can't be good ...

Travis' sleep paralysis demon is Laudna, apparently ...

I love how they're almost CASUALLY considering letting complete strangers suffocate in the Hole ... this group really are a bunch of murder hobos ...

Imogen: "We don't kill people!" Ashton : "We just power them down." FCG: "So they just go to sleep?" Ashton: "For a very long time, yes."

Hallucinatory Terrain? Sounds cool ... oh, ten minutes to cast? Yeah, maybe not ...

So they're coming now ...

A Battlemap? Just in case? Okay ... Sam's plug may not actually be necessary ...

Laudna-in-the-box ... XD

Pass Without A Trace is verbal composed? I agree, that IS counterintuitive ...

The porno play again? Really?

So they definitely ARE bad guys ... Unsettling Presence? Yup ...

They DOMESTICATED one of the freaky worms? Oh dear gods ...

Yeah, that's just LOVELY ... oh, it's BLIND! Great ... and it just KEEPS GETTING WORSE ... yeah, Travis is HATING IT ...

Time for D&D maths, guys ...

Laudna's Mission: Impossible dance of evasion ... XD

Sound like rocks, Ashton!

It has a freaky FLOATY ability? Weird ... crap, there's TWO MORE!!! Shit ...

Balls ... Imogen's BUSTED ... O.O

It's BITING HER HEAD?!!! Aaaaaaaah! Now it's CHEWING?!!! Fuck! Noooooo ...

How is Laudna not completely panicking right now? Seriously ...

An ANIMAL HANDLING check? Hmmm ... NAT20!!! Yes! This is a total fucking MIRACLE that this worked ...

Just get out of here, creature! Shoo!

Oh shit ... 7? That's such a bad roll, Laura ... it's just SO BAD right now ...

Shock Flare? Really? And now Inflict Wounds? Might be better ...

Laura: "TRAVIS, SHUT UP!!!" Maybe too late for that, now ...

Foll for Initiative? FUCK!!!

Matt's Peter Lorre impression is beautiful ... XD

Laudna convinces Fearne to turn into one of THESE things ... okay ... a Slither? Really? Ye gods ... Marisha thinks it's cute ... Travis: "Shit, WHAT?!!!"

Oh fuck yeah, they still can't see anything ...

FCG casts Guiding Bolt at 4th Level? At Disadvantage ... oof ... it still hits! Phew ... 23 damage! Yes!

More chewing! Argh! But Imogen's mental cries are oddly hilarious ... LOL

Yeet the faux slither! Fearne goes upstairs ... and now she's floating about up there ... she's getting SCRITCHES?!!! Really?

A bigger Battlemap? Hmmmm ...

Tremorsense, not Blimdsight ...

Oh, this is not good at all ... they're in a BAD SPOT right now ...

Marisha gets Whispers! Okay then ...

Stay quiet? RIGHT NOW?!!!

A deception check? As a worm? This is one of the most surreal battles we've had on this ...

Orym FEELS HIS WAY to the fight ... ye gods ... oh, here it is ... and ENGAGE!!! Stabby stabby stabby! A Goading attack! Sweet ... a lot oh hits ... and he IMMEDIATELY gets the HDYWTDT!!! Nice ...

She's free! Meanwhile Orym's puking ... Imogen tries to stop it and he vomits into her hand ... oof ...

Fake them out, Fearne!

It's working, she's leading them away! But NOW shat does she do?

Chetney starts to do a Crimson Rite ...

Yeah, everybody's just HOLDING right now, ready for whatever ... FCG can't heal Imogen because it makes noise ...

Lead them outside, Fearne! Come on ... this might actually work ...

Looks like it might be clear enough for now, at least ... Darkness dropped! Imogen is HURT ... not TOO bad but thos must be painful ... 2nd Level Cure Wounds from FCG ... 13 points of healing back! Phew ...

Yeah, how's Zhesh ... okay, not great ...

The Hole is turning into Mrs Miggens' pie shop cellar in Sweeney Todd ...

Can a slither SHRUG? XD Deception check ...

Crap, she's busted ... oh, no, they're just GOADING her ... now what? So she's just FAKING IT st someone else's door ...

They're burrowing! Okay Fearne, notes your chance! She flees to the others again ... or TRIES to ... yeah, she doesn't actually know WHERE she is so she just KEEPS GOING ...

Fearne is now LOST underground ... crap ...

This has become very surreal all of a sudden ...

Locate Creature? To guide her back? Yes, do that ...

FCG I'd trying to guide her back to them through some VERY ridiculous second hand directions ... and she's FINALLY back home them ...

"The Purple Lightning does not strike twice." Okay ...

Zhesh is fascinated by Ashton's hammer AND his skull ...

Oh ... a crystal blade replacement for FCG's saw? Cool ... that could be pretty sweet ...

They use the bones of their beloved dead in crafting things? That's cool in a creepy way ...

So the bane worms are basically like sandworms ...

A shortsword? Cool ... and it's blue ... that's very cute ... good choice, Orym ... oh yeah, that glow thing is a nice bonus, like a Ruidusborn detector ...

Druidcraft strawberries ... cute! :3

Laudna's giving Sashimi crystal bladed hands ... wow, that is EXTRA creepy ...

Short rest, then ...

Oh, the box? Aha! Yeah ... can they unlock it?

Ashton gets a ratty new makeshift glove ...

Chetney Claus returns ...

Orym takes his shirt off? Oh boy ... O.O

Fearne tries to use a long distance Dispel Magic on the box ...

Treshi scry ball ... still some distance away, at least ...

Zhesh makes FCG his own little crystal mood stone indicator on his chest ... oooh, AND he gets a new and improved sawblade ... that's pretty cool ... scary good ... snd it's LETHAL, too ...

Dusk has arrived ... time to go ... off to the Overspoke ...

Meanwhile opening the box ... and it works! Nice ... unlock it, then ... check for traps! Chetney is SCARY proficient at lockpicking ... and it's open! Here we go ...

An odd device ... hexagonal? No, you are JOKING, surely not ... oh no, more like something from the Malleus Key, but much more high quality ...

Eyes of yhe Rune Keeper? Okay ...

Abjuration magic ... cool ... Nat20, okay ... it's PART of something serious ... oh, it's designed to BREAK A SEAL ... it's Aeoran tech! Holy shit!

And NOW we're taking a break ... O.O

There's a 1 in 6 chance that the crystal blades SHATTER with each hit? Crap ... but in Imogen's proximity their properties are boosted ... cool ...

Arcana check for FCG ... BIG success ... okay ... even so, still really no more actual information on the piece in the box ...

Apparently Sam just discovered that FCG has acquired a black negligee from somewhere, but has NO RECOLLECTION where ... O.O

So back out into the street ... Vanguard gear on again ...

Keeping an eye on the scry ball as they go ... yeah, probably best ...

Group deception check ... it's good, not GREAT ... hmmm ...

Spiral stairs ... okay then ... but there are guards ... so what to do, then?

Chetney Claus sees you when you're doing THAT?!!!

Oh, so they could just BLUFF THEIR WAY up? Cool ... they think Imogen's her mother? Or just that she's automatically expected? Hmmmm ...

So is this actually working, then?

Aha, so here's Earot ... another deception check? 25? Bloody hell, Laura ...

Looking for a PURPLE house? With darkvision? Hmmmm ...

Borrowing Earot's spyglass ... and intimidating hom with her telekinesis ...

A Reiloran copy of Tusk Love ... which lost something in translation, apparently ... XD

Aha! Purple! Okay then ... so we have a destination, then ...

Off to find the Volition ...

Liliana is now FAMOUS on Ruidus ... hmmmm ... this could be useful OR problematic, depending on circumstances ...

Orym is now pretending to be Imogen's bodyguard to maintain an Illusion ...

Is that a Videodrome reference there, Matthew?

Pass Without A Trace! Go!

Fuck, yeah ... Ashton's still exhausted, we'd clearly forgotten about that ...

An excavation site? Okay, then ...

So ... is this a test? This IS the place, isn't it?

A persuasion check ... go Orym! Yeah ...

Oh, sneaky mind reading from Imogen ... now persuasion? 24! Okay ...

Meanwhile Chetney's fallen asleep ... on his FEET ...

Okay, looks like they passed the test ... so they're "friends of the Volition" ... okay ... Watcher Volido? Cool ...

Talk to Rashinna of the Golden Hammer? And Gaz Tomo? Hmmmm ...

A secret passage! Yay!

Apparently Orym is VERY SMALL ... O.O

Going in a pair at a time, losing the Vanguard outfits as they go ... and now they're in ... while Matt accidentally punches the mike and gives us all a heart attack!

In a tunnel, then ... going down ...

Oh, here we go ... how DO THEY prove they're friends of the Volition? Oh, the bodies? Really? The Juggernaut's head? Wow ...

So Rashinna will decide ... hmmm ...

A very weird wooden door ... so what's THAT about, Matthew?

So this guy's a Shrike? But blind ... that's interesting ... I like this guy, whoever he is ...

The door is ALIVE? Whoa ... they're ROOTS? Fascinating ... Chetney is rightly intrigued ...

Okay, so they're now SURROUNDED ... yeah, that's about right ...

They have their own Juggernauts? Bloody hell ...

Ah yes, this must be Rashinna ... oh yes, she us VERY impressive indeed ... oh, and she speaks OPENLY!!! Wow ...

True, Bells Hells STILL haven't picked a leader ... but Orym's picked Imogen, which is right ...

Imogen must make it clear she is NOT loyal to her mother ...

A persuasion check? Oh boy ... 27? Holy fuck, Laura!

Oh, so she believes her? Or rather believes that SHE believes that, at least ... maybe this'll work, then ...

Some kind of fancy magic mirror? Oh, so it's dome kind of ENTRANCE? Fascinating ... Holy shit, it's like the Goblin King's Labyrinth in there ...

Oh, so THIS is the real Kreviris? That is BEAUTIFUL ...

Gods, I love it when Matt gets enthusiastically carried away with his descriptions ...

A massive crystal core at the center of it all ... fascinating ...

Oh, that thing is the Weavemind itself? Wooooo ... and THAT I'd where Matt chooses to end it? Bloody hell ... cue massive indignation, ESPECIALLY from Ashley ... much as I would expect ...

6 notes · View notes

nightinghouls · 11 months

Text

❝ I'VE GOT MY FEARS, I'VE GOT THEM DRESSED UP ❞

brigette lundy-paine. nonbinary. they / them. ⸻ i saw juno pasternak around colony house, you know? the twenty—eight year old that was driving from toronto, canada when they saw the tree on the road. juno has been here for six months and I think they were a bike mechanic before they got stuck in the town. with the way things are now, they are now struggling to maintain a sense of normalcy and seek a way out without losing themselves or dying. lets hope you at least survive the night.

GENERAL information. ⸻

full name juno elliott pasternak

nickname(s) june, junebug, jay

age twenty — eight

gender identity nonbinary

orientation bisexual, strong preference for women

place of birth guelph, ontario, canada

date of birth november 1 1995

former occupation bike mechanic

3 positive traits creative, altruistic, strong—willed

3 negative traits reclusive, moody, gullible

moral alignment neutral good

faceclaim brigette lundy—paine

TOWN information. ⸻

current residency colony house

current occupation bike + small electronics mechanic, handyman

INSP characters and media. ⸻

frances halladay from frances ha / enid coleslaw from ghost world / james leer from wonder boys / eve from god help the girl / my solo exchange diary 1 + 2 by nagata kabi / lelaina pierce from reality bites

BIOGRAPHY your character's background. ⸻

juno’s parents separated when they were just a baby, and juno ended up with their dad. though born in guelph, fairly soon after their parents broke up them and their dad moved back to toronto, where their paternal grandparents lived. juno spent their childhood between their dad’s house and their grandparents’ house, with the occasional holiday spent at their mom’s, until eventually those dried up too.

they were a strong but frustrating student throughout public and high school, which is to say that they read a ton and could write an excellent essay, but struggled chronically with deadlines, skipped and were late to a lot of class, and nearly failed math almost every year. that juno graduated as an ‘ontario scholar’ is a testament to understanding teachers willing to take months-late work and give make up assignments.

right out of high school they entered college for illustration, sure they wanted art to be their career. college was a disaster; without the constant external prodding of well-meaning teachers, left to their own devices and living away from home, deadlines became completely overwhelming and they dropped out within their first semester. they couldn’t handle the pressure, the self-direction, and most of all, taking care of themselves. they’d always thought of themselves as self-sufficient but once they actually had to do everything for themselves as well as attend classes, they simply couldn’t keep up.

they spent two weeks in hospital after they dropped out due to mental health issues, a stay that refocused their attention: stay healthy enough to stay out of the hospital.

once they were back home and had settled back in, they got a job at the bike shop a few blocks away, starting as a junior mechanic to fill the days and get them out of the house. it was around this time that they started seriously considering and exploring their gender identity. perhaps it was that they were the only ‘female’ mechanic, and that this contrast was brought up to them in a way that it hadn’t been ever before, or maybe it was having a kind of independence without the stressors of school, but whatever the cause the result was the same; many deep, internal questions about their sense of self.

after a year and a bit of working at the bike store, juno decided they’d give university a try. maybe it was college that had been the problem. all the programs in college were so specific, university was more general, you could explore and figure yourself out. so they enrolled in an english literature program.

university went slightly better than college had, but once again as soon as the external stress of school was on them they stopped being able to take care of themself. it was just too much. and so, after six months, they dropped out again. back to the bike shop.

one year turned into two, and then three, and then they’d spent four years living in their bedroom at their dad’s house, even after their little brother had moved out, working the same job. juno liked their job, but still — there had to be more out there. so they started saving up, bought a junker car ( a 1990s volkswagen rabbit ) and decided they would road trip across the united states. they’d never been to the states before, but it seemed like a place full of wide-open possibilities. so, they set off.

they drove through new york and into pennsylvania, and then they saw the tree. the story from there is fairly well-known to everyone. the circling, the attempts to get out. at first they had just pulled over, sure they’d gotten too high before setting out for the day’s drive, resolved to sleep it off. and then there was someone banging on the window and telling them to get out before sunset, to get inside.

they were luckier than most; when they came, they came with most of their stuff. clothing, cds, books, nice but not so useful. their toolkit, now that had value here. they’d attempted to get away from their job, but it seemed that was the best thing they had to offer. bikes are more like clocks than like cars, so juno wasn’t any good at engine repair, but small electronics, the bikes that had made it into the town, and any general handyman-type jobs, those they could handle.

TRIVIA extra character information.

because their parents were teenagers when they were born, they are named after their parents' favourite music ( juno for juno, their mom's favourite band, and elliott for elliott smith, their dad's favourite artist )

juno was diagnosed with adhd in college, and was medicated for it until they entered the town.

similarly, they had been undergoing low-dose hrt, which they ran out of after a time in the town.

some of the books in juno's car at the time they entered the town are: the wind up bird chronicle, franny and zooey, tell me i'm worthless, paul takes the form of a mortal girl, high fidelity, and please don't kill the freshmen.

#from.intro #❪ about ･ juno ❫

4 notes · View notes

sparklecryptid · 2 years

Note

lols, who realizes Anordil has no idea that the other two have been under the impression that the THREE of them were courting first? Like, THEY'VE EXCHANGED GIFTS probably?

Oh wait, waitwaitwait, Anordil left with her mother when she was still a child, right? And like, she was barely an adult when her mother left, and post apocalyptic Beleriand was a nightmare so some talks might not have been had amid survival. And her Ada is, well, kind of nuts for a very long time, so not someone Anordil probably considers asking about this stuff.

Is- is she perhaps missing some key points of Elven social culture? Like, she has memories of Tolkien, and presumably at least skimmed the deeper lore like LACE? So she has vague memories of Elven society being one way, when in reality Tolkien got the broad strokes right but also surely made up bits to fit his own cultural upbringing.

Intellectually she knows not everything matches up, given she's helping two male elves get together and has possibly had lovers of her own here and there (MOAR angst bc her past lovers FORGOT her bc she's the 52 Hertz elf) and knows the 'sex is marriage to elves' thing is phooey, but she has no idea the emotional INTENT behind some of whats been going on between the three of them is in any way COURTING.

Erestor: Is this on us? Were we not clear? I gave her that lovely blank book. She gave me those three inkstones from the east and you that lovely tooled utensil pouch. You gave her BOOTS!

Glorfindel: I thought the new boots were overkill even. Naneth would have twisted my ear for being so forward if I'd done that in Valinor! (Note: Boots would ABSOLUTELY be like a stage three courting gift normally, stage two at the earliest. Shoes of any kind are hard to make, require precise fitting, and a skilled craftsperson. Glorfindel, if he didn't make them himself, would have dropped a LOT of coin on them. But Anordil has traveled so much, so hers were probably worn, and he'd seen her trying to fix the unmendable wear in them so-)

So like, maybe Elrond and Celebrian watches this and do a little math, and it slowly dawns on them that Anordil is MISSING CONTEXT. Oh, dear, they're going to have to have a TALK with her when she gets back, aren't they. Elrond is going to have to explain noldor social moors to his older sister. (Celebrian: It will be lovely practice for the twins one day? XD)

(*facepalm* I meant this to just be a jokey two paragraph thing but my brain must WORLDBUILD. It would not stop going, "wait and what about-" as I typed! Ugh, sorry!)

no that's exactly it! Anordil ~~logically~~ knows that she is missing bits of culture that she /should/ know considering who her parents are and what she is it's just-

her mother never really had time to teach her about things like 'courting 101' amidst the whole 'we are on the precipice of morgoth killing us all' and 'oh. the land is literally sinking beneath our feet as armies fight it out. okay' thing and anordil never gave it too much thought so she just sorta shrugged and went on with life!

and all of her other brief encounters with what could be called lovers were over in less than two years (most of them were with Men, but there was that one very cute dwarf lady that Anordil had a lot of fun with. there were a few elves too, but she always left or broke things off before they got too serious)

Anordil: *Comes back a year later* i have gifts!!! :D this is for the twins and this is for arwen and this is for elrond and this is for celebrian. and OH i got a pretty quill from a scribe for erestor and glorfindel has a new hair clip for reasons-

Elrond: you do know the gifts they gave you were courting gifts right?

Anordil: *drops erestors quill back on the table where she was showing off her haul to Elrond*...thats a thing?

Elrond: yes. its a thing.

Anordil: *error local elf does not believe that anyone would want to seriously court her let alone the two people shes had eyes on error*

#anordil has a case of low self esteem from being the 52 hertz elf #she does not BELIEVE that they would want her so the fact that they were trying to court her breaks her brain a bit #the light of dawn verse

34 notes · View notes