#so small amount continu to leak into the living one

[izarnox]

Gotham is cursed

we already know that, it's old it's strong and it's doesn't want to disappear, so it's clinge.

But it wasn't suppose to be a curse, it wasn't suppose to cause madness, it wasn't suppose to hurt (never hurt).

Gotham always have her knights (as fighters, healers, protecters, ect) since a long time ago. Trying to hold herself on, waiting for his return as she become more and more corrupted as time past without a sign of her little ghost

Gotham was once know as Amity Park. Phantom's haunt, whish goal was to keep family friends and dear ones close safe and content always welcome to rest.

It should have been on the ghost side of the world, but it was on the wrong one unstead. Left to rotten.

Still linked to the ghost zone as the King's haunt but not enought to filtered the surrounding ectoplasm without the King himself. (Creating small tears around the world)

[kaijuno]

"No piece of art has ever emotionally affected me the way this robot arm piece has. It's programmed to try to contain the hydraulic fluid that’s constantly leaking out and required to keep itself running...if too much escapes, it will die so it's desperately trying to pull it back to continue to fight for another day. Saddest part is they gave the robot the ability to do these 'happy dances' to spectators. When the project was first launched it danced around spending most of its time interacting with the crowd since it could quickly pull back the small spillage. Many years later... (as you see it now in the video) it looks tired and hopeless as there isn't enough time to dance anymore.. It now only has enough time to try to keep itself alive as the amount of leaked hydraulic fluid became unmanageable as the spill grew over time. Living its last days in a never-ending cycle between sustaining life and simultaneously bleeding out... (Figuratively and literally as its hydraulic fluid was purposefully made to look like it's actual blood).

"The robot arm finally ran out of hydraulic fluid in 2019, slowly came to a halt and died - And I am now tearing up over a friggin robot arm 😭 It was programmed to live out this fate and no matter what it did or how hard it tried, there was no escaping it. Spectators watched as it slowly bled out until the day that it ceased to move forever. Saying that 'this resonates' doesn't even do it justice imo. Created by Sun Yuan & Peng Yu, they named the piece, 'Can't Help Myself'. What a masterpiece. What a message."

Extended interpretations: the hydraulic fluid in relation to how we kill ourselves both mentally and physically for money just in an attempt to sustain life, how the system is set up for us to fail on purpose to essentially enslave us and to steal the best years of our lives to play the game that the richest people of the world have designed. How this robs us of our happiness, passion and our inner peace. How we are slowly drowning with more responsibilities, with more expected of us, less rewarding pay-offs and less free time to enjoy ourselves with as the years go by. How there's really no escaping the system and that we were destined at birth to follow a pretty specific path that was already laid out before us. How we can give and give and give and how easily we can be forgotten after we've gone.. How we are loved and respected when we are valuable, then one day we aren't any longer and we become a burden...and how our young, free-caring spirit gets stolen from us as we get churned out of the broken system that we are trapped inside of. Can also be seen to represent the human life cycle and the fact that none of us make it out of this world alive. But also can act as a reminder to allow yourself to heal, rest and love with all of your heart. That the endless chase for 'more' isn't necessary in finding your own inner happiness.”

[cheesec4kee]

** thinking about your parents coming over to visit you and max, but because of your parents max doesn’t get as much attention as he usually would, leading him wish that your parents would leave sooner so he could have some time with you even if it sounds selfish :(( and as soon as you realize and start taking care of him to make up for it, something goes wrong, leaving him on the edge !!

╰ a / n : thank you VERY much to my friend who requested this because this is pure genius !! much love anajaaj <3

╰ warnings : gn reader, mentions of sexual intimacy, oral (m receiving), not proofread

- max who’s more than happy that your parents are visiting the two of you and staying for a week, despite you offering to go to their place instead, your parents went through all the trouble just so they could see the two of you, and plus, they’re now his family too after all.

- though there is a small problem that leaves him annoyed. he can’t help but feel frustrated at the lack of affection and intimacy between the two of you while your parents visits.

- you’ve been ‘busy’ , to say the least. you’ve been occupied with making your parents comfortable, cleaning the house a lot more often then usual, cooking larger portions, which will obviously shorten the usual amount of attention and intimacy you would give him.

- and as selfish it sounds, he wishes that the week would go faster, because he misses you oh so much. you barely have time for him when your parents were around, the least you could give him was a light peck on his cheek— and he wants so much more than that. needs more than that.

- he would clench his jaw seeing you talk with your parents and spend majority of your time with your parents, when it’d usually be with him. he didn’t expect that your parents coming over would change the attention span you’d give him by so much. .

- max who curses under his breath, missing your touch, the feel of your walls clenching around his cock, or the way your fingers would wrap around his dick so perfectly.

- max who can barely function properly without your attention, the lack of sexual interaction between the two of you was slowly driving him insane !! he’s been giving you hints, hinting oh how bad he needs you, whether it’d be your mouth around his cock or your walls clenching him so deliciously, he’s desperate for anything at this point, he needs to feel you so bad !!

- and when you finally start realizing on how desperate he’s getting for your attention, how could you resist him ?? definitely not with the way he’s looking at you across the room, of course. you excuse yourself from the conversation you were having with your parents, leading him to the bathroom just across the living room, and you of course didn’t miss the way his eyes lit with excitement as you pull him inside.

- hearing the 'click !' of the bathroom door, he shimmies out of his pants, leaving him in only his boxers. he curses under his breath in embarrassment feeling his cock growing awfully hard without you even doing anything yet !!

- and as soon as you get on your knees and pull his boxers down, soon feeling your fingers wrap around his cock, he had to restrain himself from cumming on the spot. due to the lack of sexual interaction between the two of you, he’s gotten much more sensitive.

- his tip leaks of pre-cum, while his hands sneak up behind your head, grabbing a fistful of your hair. the quiet whine that slips past his lips when you kiss his tip was like music to your ears, only encouraging you to continue.

- but knowing your time with him was limited, you wrap your mouth around his cock and sink down on it, gagging slightly. he groans quietly, pushing your head further down to take more of him.

- max who bites his bottom lip to shut himself up, throwing his head back as he grips your hair tighter feeling himself growing closer and closer. his lets one hand go and grips the edge of the sink, accidentally knocking a bottle of soap along with a can of hair spray which hit the floor with a loud 'clang!' .

- with how loud that was, and how your parents were just in the living room which was just across the bathroom the two of you were in, it surely must've caught the attention of your parents.

- you knew how close max was, it was obvious with the way his breath hitched. but you couldn't risk getting caught by your parents, and so you pulled away- pulling his boxers back up as you could hear him groan in frustration.

- "are you fucking serious right now?" he hissed quietly, his cock still hard. the bulge was very much obvious, and he'd hate walking out of the bathroom without it taken care of.

- as you pull his boxers back up hastily, you mutter soft apologies while pressing soft kisses on his neck, promising you'll get back to him as soon as your parents leave. you unlock the bathroom door and shut the door behind you, leaving him with his cock still painfully hard :((

[theapangea]

could you do some angst ending in fluff with lip gallagher? like a fight or something maybe?? up to you!

thank you for the request lovely!! this is just a short, slice of life type story but I do have another story in my head that will have to be a series because it's a whole cans of worms - lots of angst and fluff!

Late Payment

Lip Gallagher x reader

Summary: You and Lip get in a fight about money.

Warnings: Fighting, being poor

If you were being completely honest with yourself right now, being poor sucked. 

Having to constantly be counting dollars and coins, clipping coupons, filling up almost-empty soap bottles, skipping out of so many other luxuries that your friends have sends a burning sensation under your skin. You are tired and worn and, above all, over the stupid system itself that got you into this mess. 

Mouthing the amount of bills you are counting in your hands as Lip walks into the kitchen, tossing a couple of twenties onto the counter in front of you. Snatching them to count them towards the final amount.

“243,” You whisper, “Fuck.” You slam the money onto the counter, the bills scattering across the late notice forms, hands wiping across your face as the stress builds. “We’re still short.” You look towards Lip who has opened a bottle of beer and taken a seat at the head of the table.

Taking a quick sip of the cold liquid before responses, “We’ll get more.”

Lip’s voice is low, his demeanor is slumped into the seat as his gaze is fixed towards something in the living room. It annoyed you to no end how much it felt like he didn’t care that you didn’t have enough money for the bills. 

“Not in time.” You smack the lid back on the jar to grab his attention, your voice increasing an octave as it reverberates through the room.

“Then what do you want me to do!” He scoffs, the glass beer bottle hitting against the wood hard. 

Your hands speaking with you, “Do you really think I’m exclusively asking you, like you are the only person in this fucking house that somehow makes all the money?” Ranting as the hot, white fumes leak from your body.

“I make most of it.” He continues to argue.

But all you can do is laugh at Lip’s comment. Barely able to fathom the audacity of the man that is sitting in front of you. Acting as if he is the sole provider of the flock.

“And I thank you for that every single day.” You explain, enunciating every word, “But don’t for a second act like I’m not doing my fair share. Cleaning the house, helping with your family, keeping track of the bills.” Listing on your fingers.

“Fuck Y/N,” Lip curses, “No one asked you too!” 

The anger in his eyes is growing, the red hues surfacing under his skin. 

Hand wiping over your face as you take a moment to calm yourself down. You didn’t want to fight with Lip, how would that help your current situation? Walking around the counter to take a seat next to him at the table. Lip’s eyes adverting yours, you can quickly see the anger dissipate as the sadness washes over him.

“I know it’s tough.” Your voice is softer this time, placing a hand over his. “But we have each other and that’s all I care about.”

A smirk tickles the corners of his mouth as your kind words send a calmness over his body. “Yeah?” He questions, eyebrows rise as he finally makes eye contact with you.

A bright smile beams from you, “I couldn’t imagine being broke ass poor anywhere else.”

Your combined laugh fills the small space until Lip just stares at you, “I fall more in love with you every day.”

“Good.” You say as Lip leans forward, his rough hands on your cheeks as his lips graze against yours. His plump lips are sweet and gentle as they crashing into you. Feeling light headed as all you troubles seem to disappear.

~~~

Did you like it?? Let me know what you think ! <3

[cheriladycl01]

Better than me - Charles Leclerc x Reader P8

Plot: You are a rookie in your first f1 season, adding to the ever-growing amount of Brits performing in the grid

Everyone was panicking. Alex was out of his car pacing back and forth in the Audi garage as Lily tried to calm him down. They refused to show the reply or any current footage of what was going on. But Lily had seen it live and even she was struggling to not cry herself.

Lando was sat with his head in his hands, crying over the reason for such a bad crash. He wouldn't forgive himself, no matter how bad the crash had been, even if you just came out with a small scrape. You were on track to winning the race as well. Not that that really mattered as your unconscious self was being hauled out of the burning car that had started to catch alight when the fuel tank burst and leaked.

One courageous marshal managed to pull you out, as they were pulling you out they weren't thinking about any broken bones they just wanted to get you out the car.

They laid you down on the floor, not taking your helmet of but flipping the visor up to see if you were awake, which of course you weren't.

They held your wrist looking for a heartbeat screaming for a medic to come over and help you. In record speed time, emergency services had managed to get a helicopter to airlift you to the best hospital in Belgium.

When the drivers saw the helicopter fly off, they could tell it was a bad crash, not that they couldn't tell before but the fact you needed to be airlifted had them worrying.

Lando was near close to being sick, Oscar at his side rubbing his back as he dry-heaved into a bin.

"Oh my god, I've killed my best friend" he cried and Oscar right now had no idea what to actually say to him.

"No you haven't, she's going to be okay!" Oscar says rubbing his crying friends back.

Charles was num, he didn't know what to think and he actually couldn't talk to Carlos. Was this his fault... no it was the rain, and your team, and your radio, and your car, and Lando's fault and he was so terribly angry when he thought about it fully.

Joris had talked him out of the abyss that was Charles mind and the whirlpool of thoughts he was flowing down. He told him off when Charles started to angrily play the blame game, explaining it wasnt anyone's fault and that you knew the risks of racing.

The race wasn't continued, with only two laps to go. Lando won, Lewis in P2 and Charles in P3, that should have been your first race win and it was a dull celebration hearing your shared national anthem with Lando when it was supposed to be you up there.

He didn't do his usual champagne pop, none of them actually even popped the champagne just handing it off to their teams to enjoy who just passed it back as no one was really in the mood to drink.

Interviews were even more dull.

"Hello Charles, pleasure to have you here!" the interviewer smiles, trying their best to lighten the mood but you'd become such a presence around the paddock over the last few races that it was strange not having you around.

Charles just nods and she awkwardly looks down at her note pad.

"So obviously not a great race with the end there, but you had a spectacular race despite the rain and that long pitstop. Can you comment more on that?"

"Yeah, I think not only the drivers find working in those conditions tense and they want then best for you. Obviously the long pitstop had me loosing a few positions but like normal you just push harder and gain those places back, P3 was better than we hoped for and I shouldn't have been up on that podium today" he nods and his interview is wrapped up insanely quickly.

"Any last comments on Y/N, any insight on her condition and how she's doing?" she asks tentatively.

"No, sorry I don't!" he says with a grit in his teeth before his PR manager takes his arm and guides him away with a final nod to the interviewer saying this was over.

Lando and Alex couldn't even do any of their media duties, too upset by what happen to you that they went straight back to the hotel. Alex and Lily actually travelled to the hospital where you were at now with your family and personal trainer to see if they could find anything more out.

They arrived at the hospital in record time considering the one and a half hour drive it took to get from the race track to Brussels where you were being treated.

"Hi, we're looking for Y/N Y/L/N?" Lily asks knowing Alex had been a little choked up the whole time and could barley get his words out.

"Ah, yes are you immediate family?" she asks looking over the two of the with an eyebrow raised.

"No, but I'm her team-mate she's a race car driver and she" Alex blurts out only for the woman to interrupt him.

"Got into an accident at the race, I'm aware. Her family are on the 2nd floor outside a private suite near the trauma unit. You can go talk to them but there's no visitors in her room right now!" she exclaims and they both nod, running towards the lift to make their way up.

"Do you think she's going to be okay?" Alex choked out looking to Lily. He didn't know what to do if they came up and she wasn't okay.

"She's a strong girl, the halo did an amazing job protecting her. She'll be okay, I'm sure of it!" Lily say pulling her boyfriend in for a cuddle which he accepted nuzzling into her comforting smell.

The lift dinged and they stepped out, immediately stepped out seeing various doctors and nurses rushing around, even though it seemed like calm and organized rush.

They spot a group of people and your personal trainer, which Alex deducts easily that its your family. Both him and Lily tentatively walk over seeing your mother crying her eyes out into your father and your whole family looked the farthest thing from okay.

"Erm, hey" Alex smiles towards your personal trainer who also looks worried rubbing the back of his neck. Both your parents snap their head towards Alex, your mother immediately sobbing harder pulling him into a kind and gentle hug.

"Oh she loved driving with you so much, Alex right? She talked about you and how welcomed you made her feel!" she cries and Alex feels sickness building in his stomach and throat.

Your mother was using the past tense as if you were already dead and he didn't dare ask the question. He just continued holding your mum as she continued to cry.

Your father, who was trying hard to hold back his tears but ultimately was failing gave Alex a kind smile before reaching for his wife to pull her back.

"H-how is she?" Lily gulps, knowing Alex didn't have it in him to ask.

"Sh-she died on the way here apparently and she'd flatlined again once she was here. But she's in emergency surgery and their doing everything for her" her dad says and sighs not really knowing what else to do.

They all sit and wait, waiting for any news on your condition.

It felt like hours before a nurse and doctor cam trotting over to all of them.

"Family of Y/N Y/L/N?" she asks and looks around at each of them and your mum stands up grabbing your dads hand.

"Yes that's us, we are her parents" she says pointing between the two of them.

"Can we talk to you privately please?" she asks noticing the big group that included children.

"Alex, darling you should come with us so you can update her friends" your mum reaches out for him and he nods following the doctor into a private consultation room.

"So, is my daughter going to be okay?" your mum asks the pending question.

"We did everything we could, and she's a very strong girl considering her injuries. She'll be okay but she wont be racing for at least 3 months, might be the whole season depending on how much she pushes herself in physio therapy when she's up and moving" he smiles and your dad starts to fully sob hearing his little girl was going to be okay.

"What happened to her. Why did she flat line?" your mother asks.

"Her injuries were extensive. She fractured her spine, broke 3 ribs which caused her left lung collapsed which deprived her of oxygen. Which didn't help the minor head and neck injuries she suffered, and of course the fuel leak caused burns on her arms and legs" he listed of her extensive injuries that seemed to be non-stop.

"Holy shit" Alex admitted and took a seat.

"You can see her now, she's still under anesthetic and it wont ware off for a few hours but you can see her" he smiles and lets your family all hug before running out to the rest to tell them you were in fact okay.

Alex explained to Lily everything that happened and she also felt relieved. He asked if she was able to send a message to the Whatsapp chat while he got a drink of water to try and calm his heart rate down.

He ended up talking them through your condition and the fact that only your immediate family were allowed in right now but he and Lily could go in after and that your parents had expressed that they were all more than welcome to come see you.

All of them agreed that they would of course come and see you tomorrow. Your family and Alex all tweeted about how you were doing and that they would ask you to make a video or statement when you were awake and with the world.

Everyone was just glad that you were alive... and were starting to plan their trip to come see you.

A/N: Y/N going to be out of racing until after the summer break? Oh no! ... what will she do!

Also my google search history is wild after this chapter where i had to look up the healing time for all her injuries....

Taglist:

@littlesatanicassholebitch @hockey-racing-fubol @laura-naruto-fan1998 @22yuki @simxican @sinofwriting @lewisroscoelove @cmleitora @stupidandunnecessary @clayra-g @daemyratwst @honey-belden @moonypixel @lauralarsen @vader-is-hot @ironcowboycopnickel @itsjustkhaos @the-untamed-soul @beebo86 @happylittlereader @ziejustme @lou-larcher5 @thewulf @purplephantomwolf @chasing-liberosis @chillyleclerc @chanthereader @annoyingmoonballoon @summissss @evieepepi08 @havaneseoger08 @celesteblack08 @gulphulp @fandom1ruined2me @celebstories @starfusionsworld @jspitwall @sierruhh @georgeparisole @dakotatankbig @youcannotcancelquidditch @zzonsbeek @tallbrownhairsarcastic @mellowarcadefun @ourteenagetragedy @otako5811 @countingstacksandpanicattacks @peachiicherries @formulas-bitch @cherry-piee @hopexcroc @mirrorball-6 @spilled-coffee-cup @mehrmonga @bigsimperika @blueberry64857959 @eiraethh @lilypadlover @curseofhecate @alliwantisadonut @the-fem1n1ne-urge @21stcenturytaegi @dark-night-sky-99 @i-wish-this-was-me @tallrock35 @butterfly-lover @barnestatic @landossainz @darleneslane @barcelonaloverf1life @r0nnsblog @ilove-tswizzle @kapsylia @laneyspaulding19 @lazybot @malynn @cassielikereading @viennakarma @landosgirlxoxo @marie0v @jlb20416 @yourbane @teamnovalak @nikfigueiredo @fionaschicken @0picels0 @seomako @urdad-hot @tinydeskwriter @butterfly-lover @ironmaiden1313 @splaterparty0-0 @formula1mount @styl1shl1v

[rakurairagnarok]

Hi there! I'm heading to the U.A.E. from America in a few days and I'm quite anxious. I was wondering if there was any clothing at Rakurai Inc which would help me fit in better with the locals and boost my confidence and assertiveness?

Glad you got in touch! We have exactly what you have been looking for!!

You found a package when you got home from work. It was a completely blank box except for a small sticker reading Rakurai Inc.

You open it up to find a slick looking headset in it, with some arabic inscriptions on it. You look around the box, but can't find anything on how it works. It doesn't seem to have a jack in it nor any way for you to connect it to your phone with bluetooth so you decide to put it on.

Immediately it starts to play a tape.

"Learning module activated. Scanning for necessary courses"

Suddenly a weird humming begins to drone in your ears. Along with it certain arabic sounding phrases started playing in your head. The first few times you couldn't understand any of it, but suddenly you understood most of it.

"Big, strong, fertile"

Images of big strong arabic men appear in your head. You stumble a bit as your sense of balance was thrown off. You look down and see the legs of your pants have gone up your legs. You watch it with facination as the headset continues.

"Large, Leader, Rich"

Your head begins to spin again and you can barely get yourself on the couch.

You look down to see your pants tight on your legs, almost painted on. You see your bulge growing in your pants, and with it waves of pleasure start spreading through your body.

The tape speeds up, a larger variety of phrases being pushed into your brain, while your mind fogs over due to the pleasure.

"Plump, handsome, regal"

"In charge, charismatic, addictive"

"Cultured, gorgeous, playfull"

Your body keeps growing. Bisceps exploding through the fabric of your shirt, while your pecs are involuntarily bouncing. Your waist snaps, slimming down while your abs flex and push to the surface. Your back widens, shoulders rounding out. Your growing cock starts leaking, before bursting free from the confines of your pants. Your moans echo through your appartment, a previously unknown amount of pleasure radiating through your body.

Your hands explore your growing body.

"Wanted, desired, needed"

"Hungry, hungry, hungry"

You are hungry. A primal hunger that you couldn't satiate here. You need ... you want to be...

"Topped, fucked, bred"

Yes... your mind racing, you want cock, you need it, but you are in charge.

Your ass growing, you feel your hole pucker. It tenses, and releases. You know. You don't get fucked. You fuck. You aren't just a bottom. You drain your partners. They aren't penetrating you, you allow them to enter you, for them to experience the best moment of their lives.

"In charge, draining, dominant"

A grin appears on your face, a face that has been perfected due to your new toy. Sharp jaw, perfectly trimmed beard. Plump lips to get their tool ready.

You make them desperate for more. You got loads of different "tops" on speed dial. They say they're a top, but they are actually too afraid to take it, but you're much better.

You take of your headphones and look around your room. It's a penthouse in one of the most expensive buildings in the U.A.E. which had been gifted to you by one of your clients. You look at your phone and see a few notifications telling you of the massive amount of money you have made from your previous night out.

You smile, life is good.

I hope you enjoyed our trial edition language learning headphones!!! As seen in the picture they are state of the art and can be modified to fit any needs. Be aware some side effects may occur, cultural switch, sluttyness, or iq loss are some of the most common. Please continue your patronage with Rakurai Inc.

[deedeeznoots]

We’re Not Mothers!

➺ Part of the “We’re Not Heroes!” Collection

➺ Characters: Yuji Itadori, Megumi Fushiguro, Nobara Kugisaki, Masamichi Yaga, [+ Another character but who is a surprise!]

➺ Word Count: 2.3k

➺ Genre: Fluff, Mild Angst 

➺ Content Warnings: Swearing, Hospital 

➺ A/N: Happy Mothers Day, everyone! I hope you enjoy this special addition to “We’re Not Heroes” and I hope it serves as a reminder to appreciate those who played a role in caring for us, whether they be our mothers or another figure in our lives ❤️

➺ Synopsis: The first-years have a mission directly from their Principal! Their orders are as follows: give as many flowers to as many mothers as they can throughout Tokyo before the sun goes down. Sounds easy enough, right? Unfortunately for the first-years though, this proves to be a much more difficult mission than it seems! 

“Wow! Principal Yaga wants to meet us! I wonder what for?” Itadori asks as he walks with his two friends to the office. 

“I just hope it isn’t for something like cleaning up one of Gojo-sensei’s messes again, that was such a bother last time” Kugisaki answers. 

The three sorcerers make their way to Yaga’s office. Sliding the door open, they’re greeted to what looks to be hundreds of flower bouquets throughout the room, with their principal in the middle of it all. “Holy shit!” Kugisaki yells out, catching the principal’s attention “Oh, hey kids”, Yaga turns around to face them. Along with him, there are various cursed corpses walking around carrying the flowers into a large cart. 

“What’s all this for?” Itadori asks Yaga as a cursed corpse seemingly offers Itadori a flower. Just as he’s about to accept the offer, the mischievous cursed corpse punches him in the face instead. “Ow!” Itadori yells out, falling backward as the moving stuffed animal laughs at its victory. Man these things really are evil, the boy thinks. 

“I need you three to hand out these flowers to as many mothers you can find throughout Tokyo” Yaga explains to the children. 

“You know, homewrecking isn’t a good trait Principal Yaga” Kugisaki jokes, causing the usually stoic Fushiguro to chuckle. 

“It’s not like that and you know it!” Yaga clears his throat, “I usually have Panda do this, but he’s on a mission with the other second-years today so I’m counting on you three”. 

“Uh… yeah… but again, why are we giving random moms flowers today?” Kugisaki asks, placing her hands on her hips.  

As Yaga is about to respond, Fushiguro cuts him off “It’s one of those things that help to lower cursed energy in the long run,” he continues “If we’re able to bring up the spirits of a large amount of people, even with small random acts of kindness like this one, we can help to lower the likelihood of cursed energy leaking in the long run”. 

“Yes, that’s correct Fushiguro” their Principal nods in approval. 

“Oh I get it!” Itadori exclaims, now off the floor. “Uh… but why today all of a sudden? And why only mothers?” he scratches his head in confusion. 

“Itadori…” the older sorcerer pauses, trying to choose his words carefully, “Don’t you know what day it is?”. 

Itadori just gives him a blank stare, looking to his friends for answers, but when he gets nothing, he just goes “Uh…no?”. 

“It’s Mother’s Day, Idatori,” Megumi says abruptly, “Today is Mothers Day”. 

Itadori stands confused until the lightbulb finally goes off in his head “Oh!” he thinks aloud. “Sorry haha… I don’t really celebrate the day, I never met my mom so I never had to think much about it” Itadori laughs awkwardly when Kugisaki joins in “Dude! I haven’t met my mom either!”. When she says this, Itadori’s eyes seem to glow in amazement, “No way! That’s so cool!” the two high-five. 

Those two bond over the weirdest things Fushiguro groans in disappointment at his friends. 

Clearing his throat again, Yaga yells out “KIDS!”. This brings all of their attention back to the man, “Listen up, I don’t want to see any of you back here until this cart is completely empty, understand?!”. 

“Yes, sir!” they respond in unison. 

“Well then what are you waiting for!? The clock is ticking!” he yells as cursed corpses push the trio out of the room with the cart of flowers. 

“Man, why does every Jujutsu Sorcerer have to be such a weirdo?” Nobara asks, though the question was mostly rhetorical. 

They decided to go to the mall. The crowds of people walking around in groups made it the best place to go. 

“Yeah…” Itadori responds, “First it was that one bakery mission with Nanamin, and now this” he sighs, “It feels like we haven’t had a normal mission in such a long time”. The two other sorcerers nod and the three simply stand together awkwardly in front of the comically large cart of flowers. 

“So… how are we supposed to know who the moms are?” Kugisaki asks. 

“It should be pretty obvious…since it’s Mother’s Day most moms would probably be out with their kids” Fushiguro responds, looking around to scout for any families that might be walking around. 

“Yeah!” Itadori perks up, “Like those two!” he points toward a young woman with a child sitting together at a bench. 

Flower in hand, the young boy walks toward the pair. “You have the cutest kid, miss!” bringing his hand out toward her. Flower in hand, he says in the cheeriest tone, “Happy Mother’s Day!”. 

What Itadori expected was for the woman to take the flower and say a simple “thank you”. Hell, if the woman simply rejected the offer, Itadori would have felt a little dejected, but he wouldn’t have minded. Any of those two options were better than what actually happened.

The woman stood there wide-eyed looking at Itadori as if she saw a ghost. Stupidly, Itadori continues gesturing the flower toward her, awkwardly holding it in place and trying to force a smile. 

Staring at Itadori, the kid next to the woman begins to speak. “This is my sister”, the child stares blankly at Itadori, “Also she’s sixteen”. 

Itadori just stares at the kid, then at the woman (who he now knows is only a year older than him), and a deep red blush forms on his face. “I-I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to imply anything!” he attempts to stutter out an apology, but it’s too late. The two awkwardly scurry away from Itadori as he yells out “I’m so sorry again! You don’t look old for your age I swear!”. 

The young lady looks more offended at that comment, and the two walk even faster to get away. 

There were many witnesses to the embarrassing event, including Itadori’s two accomplices. “So maybe it won’t be so obvious”, Fushiguro tells Kugisaki as Itadori slowly slumps over to them in embarrassment*. 

“Whatever, man!” Kugisaki grabs a handful of flowers from the cart, “We need to get all these flowers out of this cart or we’ll end up as punching bags for Yaga’s cursed corpses!”. Running away with the flowers in hand, she yells out “The person that hands out a flower last is a wet rag!” as she runs away to hand out flowers. 

“Wait, Kugisaki! You’re dropping a bunch!” Itadori yells out, but she doesn’t hear him over the sounds of her handing (more like forcing) flowers into different people’s hands. 

“Man, what the heck” Itadori sighs.

“She’s right, we should get to work before the sun goes down and everyone leaves” Fushiguro grabs some flowers as well, “You can take the cart”. 

“Wait, I don’t want the cart! This thing’s heavy!” Itadori yells, but Fushiguro simply ignores him. “Fushiguro!” he yells again, “Fushiguro!”. 

Left alone, Itadori mumbles “Jerks” under his breath and goes to push the cart to different parts of the mall. Handing out the flowers actually proved to get easier over time, and many people showed their gratitude through bright smiles or simple “thank you’s”. Itadori still had some embarrassing moments where someone turned out to not be a mom, but it got easier to guess over time through context clues. 

A few hours later though, Itadori hears some commotion around the area, “I’m married!” he hears a woman yell out in the distance. Curious, his attention darts to where the drama is, and he’s shocked to find that the woman was actually scolding Fushiguro. “So… do you still want the flowers or…?” he asks the woman, genuinely confused about what she wanted. “Wha– how dare you! After I told you I was married… also you’re too young to be giving flowers away to different wome–”

“Sorry about my friend! We care very much about your marriage and respect it haha!” Itadori yells out as he drags his friend away. 

Thanks to Itadori’s superhuman speed, the two are able to quickly run away from the woman and are no longer able to see her in their vision. Panting, Itadori tells Fushiguro next to him, “Man… I really don’t think Yaga considered the fact that a Panda giving away flowers to a bunch of women is way different than three random kids”. 

“Yeah…” Fushiguro responds, also out of breath.

“Thinking about it though… how was Panda able to just walk around in public looking like…him” Itadori asks his friend. “Most people probably assumed he was a guy in a Panda costume… but I feel like that’s also weird”. The two friends share a laugh at the absurdity of a walking panda giving away flowers to random women throughout Tokyo.

Itadori and Fushiguro finish up giving away different flowers together and eventually meet back up with Kugisaki. Out of breath, she falls to her knees in front of them before saying “I’m not doing this ever again”. In response, Fushiguro just scoffs and says “Dude, no one told you to rush in giving them away”. “Shut up!” she yells out, and pointing at him she exclaims “I’m not gonna be a wet rag like you two!”. 

She’s technically right, as the group now only had two bouquets left, one from Itadori and one from Fushiguro. It was getting late and most of the stores were closing, so there was no longer as many people. Looking around at who to give his to, Itadori’s eyes land on an old woman sitting at a bench. Flowers in hand, Itadori walks over to the elderly woman before he stops and says, “Hi! I’m not sure if you have kids but…” he hands out the flowers to her “Happy Mother’s Day!” he gives her a sweet smile. 

The woman simply looks at Itadori and tells him “Why thank you young man! We need more people like you in this world” before taking the flowers. Itadori laughs and yells out “Thanks!” as he walks back to his friends. He turns to Kugisaki, telling her “You know Kugisaki, I’m kind of glad we did this. I know there were some awkward moments, but I think we made a lot of people happy!”. Crossing her arms and smiling, Kugisaki just goes “Yeah yeah whatever, let’s just hand out this last bouquet and go home”. 

However, Fushiguro simply looks down and tells them “No…I’ll hand this one out by myself, you guys can go home”. 

“Huh? Are you sure? I was joking about the wet rag thing” Kugisaki jokes. Though, Fushiguro simply responds “Yeah… I’m sure, you guys go on ahead, I’ll be back soon” he begins to turn away, “See you guys”. 

Itadori and Kugisaki simply look at each other in confusion before Itadori goes “Oh… okay Fushiguro! See you later!” They wave goodbye as they walk in the opposite direction toward their school “I wonder where he’s going” Kugisaki tells Itadori. 

…

“Megumi, I'm home!” an eight-year-old Tsumiki Fushiguro yells out to her brother, but she’s simply greeted to an empty house. Regardless, she continues talking anyways, “Thanks to all that money Mr. Gojo gave us, I’m finally able to buy all these different ingredients for new recipes! He’s a little weird but he’s a nice guy” going on her tippy-toes, she places the groceries at the top of the counter. 

“Megumi?” she calls out again. Finally, the black-haired boy shows himself, he’s across the hallway. Tsumiki simply stood confused, her brother was quiet, but he wasn’t usually this quiet, “Is there something wrong?”.

In response, the young boy simply takes tiny steps toward her before facing her. He’s still shorter than her at this point, but not by much. Once facing each other, he opens up his hands to show her a tiny piece of chocolate wrapped in foil. “Here…my teacher told us to give it to our moms for Mother’s Day but…” he trails off, the rest didn’t need to be said. So, he just goes “W-whatever, you just have it”. He forces the piece of chocolate in her hands before turning around to try to run away, however Tsumiki is able to catch him in a hug. 

Warm tears fall on the tiny Megumi’s shoulder as his sister holds him tight “Hey! What are you crying for?!” he yells out. “I don’t know…” Tsumiki responds. “J-Just…thank you, thank you” words of gratitude are incoherently uttered by Tsumiki as she cries on her little brother’s shoulder. It was such a small gesture from the boy, but to Tsumiki, it meant the world. Megumi simply groans and goes “Hey…don’t be weird about it!” before lightly pushing her away. “Right… right” she goes, wiping her tears away “‘m sorry, haha, I don’t know what came over me!”. The boy in front of her just rolls his eyes and mumbles a “whatever” before walking away to his room. 

… 

Megumi Fushiguro walks into the hospital room where his sister lay. “Hey Tsumiki” he greets, though there is no response. It was okay though, that was to be expected. 

Closing the door, the black-haired boy still carried the bouquet in his hand, “Here… I have some flowers from a mission, I thought you should have ‘em”. He places the flowers on the side table and takes a look at his sister. She simply lays there, still in her coma, not responsive to anything her brother had to say. 

“Yeah… well anyways I got something for you,”  Megumi brings a chair next to the bed and pulls out a large bag of chocolates “It’s your favorite”. 

Still, no response. It wasn’t like he was expecting one, his logical mind was always the dominant one, after all. Yet… he stupidly still held out hope that today might be the day she finally opened her eyes. Though, this was a hope he held on to every day that he visited her. 

Opening the bag, he takes out a piece of chocolate covered in foil. Then, he carefully took Tsumiki’s hand in his and placed the tiny piece into her hand before closing it. Tears in his eyes and his hand still intertwined with hers, he chokes out the words he should have said years before, “Happy Mother’s Day, Tsumiki”. 

-

*While this is happening, I imagine Itadori being able to hear Sukuna laughing at him inside his domain! 

[asexualbuthorny]

part 2 of "Simon has a bad time in the omegaverse" thing

CW: kidnapping, torture, talks of rape/non-con, bitching, turning an alpha into an omega, non-con chastity bondage, non-con injections and drugging, the makers of cod made Ghost for the express purpose of suffering and having bad things happen to him, established relationship, alpha x alpha relationship, alpha x omega relationship, happy ending yay! :), sprinkles of smut, inspired by a fic i read on ao3 which i lowkey regret reading

It started with the syringes, injections of seemingly random liquids which Simon later learned were omega hormones and a smoothie of other assorted drugs to dull his alpha side. He struggled of course, fought, cursed, yelled, screamed with all his might but he could do nothing to stop them. They also turned to humiliation, stripping him bare, putting a pink, fluffy collar around his neck and surrounding him with the scents of alphas that weren't you. It was disgusting and repugnant but the pheromones from the injections made his body react nonetheless. Arousal would stir deep in his stomach to his great disgust and repulsion and his dick would twitch and leak precum but that wasn't enough. No amount of suffering was ever enough when it came to Simon "Ghost" Riley. His kidnappers placed a chastity cage on his manhood and pumped him full of aphrodisiacs. It was painful, it was humiliating but it wasn't enough. Simon Riley had suffered before and survived and this wasn't going to be any different. Or so he thought. One day while writhing on the floor from all the pheromones and aphrodisiacs he noticed something that made his stomach sink. His scent had changed. Instead of the trace of dark chocolate in his otherwise strong scent it was the much sweeter scent of milk chocolate. Not only that but his thigs and ass were wet and sticky. With a faint feeling of terror and dread he realized that his captors were turning him into an omega and doing it successfully. He tried fighting harder each time he was about to be injected but he was tired, malnourished and full of sedatives and other chemicals. How he hadn't died yet was a mystery to him considering how much stuff he had going through his veins. He may have thought (hoped) that it would end there. Torture, starvation, humiliation, taking away his alpha status, he could live with all of that even if he mourned the last one but the enemies had to be just a little extra cruel. As the amount of omega pheromones and hormones in him increased he noticed that he would get hot flashes and even feel the heat of arousal despite not being injected with any aphrodisiac. That was when he realized. He was going into heat. An omegas heat. An omegas heat in enemy territory surrounded by alphas who have nothing but malicious intent. Memories of what happened with Roba rush into his head so quickly he throws up, retching as the meager contents of his stomach travel up. Despite everything he told himself to stay strong and that you were looking for him and would save him from this. A small part of him whispered that you wouldn't want him now since he was no longer "your Simon", the alpha you fell in love with. He did his best to chase away those thoughts by playing memories of you two together in his head and repeatedly telling himself that you're not like that and that you loved him. The part that was telling him that you wouldn't want him anymore may as well have won after what his captors did next.....

Continued in pt.3 because tunglr is stoopit again

[givethemsmut]

Dom Mysterio x Reader

Chapter Twenty-Seven | Where It All Started…

D O M ‘ S P O V

I didn’t just kiss Liv, I was asked to make out with her long enough to get Rhea’s reaction. Instead they planted the one person I didn’t want in the front row and got her reaction instead.

It was everywhere - Dom Mysterio ruins his personal life for career.

Every blog, every fan, every interview I did was a blurred line that I only perpetuated by being in character outside the ring. I did this to us, I fed them the exact storyline, and when it became a reality I hit abort. Only no one cared about a leaked sex tape when you had me making out with Liv in the bright of day.

Everyone was believing it was real and part of me did too when I was sharing a room with Liv and spending entirely too much time together.

My future wife wasn’t stupid, she could fucking smell the bullshit on me. I was lying, cheating, doing all the things I made her feel crazy for even asking me.

I was supposed to be packing my stuff but I couldn’t get myself to focus when Liv strutted her way through my bus to the back where she found me. “Daddy Dom?”

With no warring she straddled me in the chair sitting in the corner. “We should celebrate… maybe stop pretending this doesn’t feel right?”

“Celebrate my girl seeing tonight? Celebrate all the ways I convinced myself it was acting when I almost fucked you?” I shot back, full of resentment.

Liv adjusted herself on my lap and I could feel the heat of her pussy through her skimpy clothes. “She’ll get over it. She doesn’t have to know anything else.”

“You reek of fucking desperation,” I snarled back while standing up. In a puddle at my feet I stepped over her entirely before holding the door open for her to leave.

I wasn’t shocked when she didn’t willingly leave. She was stubborn and I could tell the way she had been looking at me that she wanted shit I shouldn’t give her.

“So now it’s a problem? We shared a bed, showers, you were sneaking around with me before anything happened on the lives.” She folded her arms and fixed her face to her pissed off setting.

Dropping to the bed, I leaned forward, completely giving up on fighting it. My elbows dug into the tops of my legs and I tensed enough to take whatever I had coming.

Continuing, she stood in front of me, “I’ve been patient, Dom. She doesn’t get you like I do. You know we almost happened once and I’m not losing that shot again…”

Liv’s mess of blonde hair flipped over her shoulder before she bent at the waist, her hands on my shoulders, and her mouth quickly pressing against mine.

I didn’t want her, hell, I didn’t need her but something about her felt easy. All of her felt easy when she sunk deeper into me, her mouth opening up in mine, and those small moans barely slipping out. She was desperate and I could feel it right up against the boner I shouldn’t have.

My girl at home wasn’t easy. We spent most of our lives avoiding loving each other, ruining every relationship that wasn’t us, trying to keep our hands off each other, and when we finally gave in - it didn’t suddenly change. Nothing was picture perfect or easy but we needed eachother.

She had my name on her ass and I had her name carved into my tattoos. She was all over me and no amount of Liv was going to erase that.

For some reason, I let Liv push me back onto the bed and her small frame crawled on top of me. Pulling her shirt off I found my eyes stuck to the lace bra her hard nipples tried to pierce right through.

My hands automatically reached out enough to squeeze her tits and whatever reserve I had seemed to take shelter in the back of my mind.

“One time. That’s it. I don’t want her hurt…” I whispered my words as her tits pressed against me and her mouth kissed my neck.

I felt her tongue trace hearts when she looked at me, “Whatever you want, Daddy Dom. You don’t have to hide me. It doesn’t have to be hard… well… this does.”

Liv’s hand smoothed down my joggers, her palm pressing firmly into every inch of me I was trying to turn off.

I was trying to think of things that turned me off when her hand slipped into the waistband of my underwear, taking every inch of me in her grip and steadily dragging her grip up my length.

Fighting back the groans blooming into my chest I took dominance back, pressing her into the same bed I fucked the love of my life.

“Stop talking. She’d never say shit like that.”

Hovering over her body I started down at her extra long trying to figure out what I was doing. Maybe this had to happen. Maybe we didn’t fit the way we forced it to. Maybe all I had to do was fuck Liv hard enough for it to hurt us both.

Her hands caressed the sides of my face, her lips pursed and her eyes begging me to fuck her. “Daddy… fuck me the way you’ve been wanting to…”

She wasn’t wrong… I had jerked off thinking of hitting it from behind in the shower just to keep the urge under control. “Take these off,” I demanded while I pushed back enough to give her room to wiggle out of her clothes.

I watched her slowly take off each item of her skimpy clothes, teasing me with it and contorting her body into flirting. She was a bombshell blonde who was under five feet and always had a snarky remark on the tip of her tongue. Attraction wasn’t the issue.

Her hard nipples made her small tits look even more petite against her frame. Her back arched as my hand grabbed her hip and I let myself fall down into her.

“Daddy… I’m so wet for you. Please.”

My mouth covered her ear as my hand worked to take myself out of my pants. Whispering into her ear I smirked against my own thoughts, “Shut the fuck up or I won’t fuck you.”

“I’m not her babe. I’m gonna scream, I’m gonna close my legs and choke every last drop out of you. Im gonna choke on your cock until my mascara runs down my face. I’m gonna do everything I should have when you went crawling back to her last time.” She was breathing heavy before I truly even touched her and so wet it felt desperate. All of it was easier than the love of life and that was all that mattered.

Wet or not, being inside Liv was like a vice, squeezing every inch of me. “Goddamn it.”

“You feel how tight I am, daddy?” She whimpered after letting a drawn out moan fill the air.

Everything I couldn’t do to my future wife I did to Liv. I fucked her hard and relentlessly. Her dirty fucking mouth constantly telling me how good I felt only made it worse when I bit down on her nipples just to slow down.

Every punishing thrust against her hips rocked her body, flirting with her hilt, and made her legs shake against me. Yet, she didn’t complain. She simply took it.

Pushing me down and straddling my waist Liv’s pussy swallowed every inch until her head fell back. I knew she was going to come when her hips swayed in there jerky movements.

Lacing our fingers together she whimpered, “I’m gonna come daddy. Daddy…”

Sitting up, I wrapped my arms around her back and let my hand push her into me, picking up the pace of her hips. My face was buried in her neck and nipples scraped against my chest.

“Come on my cock,” I almost whispered to myself when I felt her body tense. “That’s it baby girl, that’s it.”

Liv made zero effort to remove herself from my lap when I gritted my teeth through trying not to come with her. “Baby girl I’m gonna come…” I tried to warn her when she wrapped her arms around my neck instead. “Liv… I can’t come in you. I’m not strapped up.”

“Daddy, I want it.” She begged while rocking her hips enough to make it impossible to say no. I couldn’t control the jerking my cock was doing against her tight pussy or how her orgasm was coating my cock. Every part of her was sexy enough to deserve every drop.

Holding her tight against me, my arms around her tightened, and I groaned through my orgasm painting her pussy walls. “Fuck.”

After coming, we both laid there trying to recover when I reached for my phone. I saw a message there from an unknown number and out of curiosity I opened the text.

UNKNOWN: Karma is a real bitch.

UNKNOWN: [ dark photo of Randy holding Dom’s love in their bed ]

Fighting every urge to throw my phone I gripped it so hard it hurt my hand. The love of my life was in bed with Randy Orton and I couldn’t even be mad because I just fucked Liv.

Analyzing the photo I looked for clothing, condom wrappers, anything to make my own bad choices feel better when Liv looked over my shoulder. “Have you guys tried dating other people? No one is gonna want her after Randy tears her apart.”

“Liv, shut the fuck up.”

“290, 6’ 5” - it certainly ain’t small, babe. I’m happy for her. She’ll leave us alone then.”

I wasn’t sure I wanted her to leave me alone.

[legobiwan]

Okay, ever since the concept art of the Mario Brothers movie got leaked on Reddit, I've been wanting to make this post. And I think now is the time. Gird your loins friends. I am about to overanalyze the hell out of thirty seconds and one concept art of a movie.

A Room of Their Own: An (Over)Analysis

To start with, I want to justify this whole treatise by comparing the concept art of Mario and Luigi's room with what we get in the movie.

Concept Art

Movie

These match up incredibly well. There are a few poster swaps on Mario's wall, the generic baseball team versus an obvious reference to the Mets (a point I'll talk about in a moment); Beastie Boys for the fish person poster (and it's bugging the hell out of me, because the green guy is wildly jogging my memory and I can't quite place it). Luigi's side of the room also gets slightly rearranged, although the objects are mostly the same, minus the swap of the anime mecha figure for an art mannequin.

Now that we've established continuity, let's talk about why we're exploring this in the first place.

I love analyzing people's living spaces in media. They tell such an intimate story about who a person is, what they value, what they're hiding, and so on. And the snippets we get of Mario and Luigi's room, both through the movie and the concept art, say so much about them and (arguably) connect in some measure back to the games and even the cartoons of my youth. So, let's dive in, shall we?

Mario

In both the concept art and the movie, a couple of themes emerge from Mario's side of the room.

Plumbing

It's obvious that Mario's passion is plumbing. There are pipes sticking out from under his bed, pipes stacked in the corner, books on plumbing stacked on his desk, along with all kinds of other related paraphernalia. Regardless of Spike or his father, Mario seems genuinely into plumbing as his vocation (remember, he was the one who was the driving force behind that commercial). Keep this in mind for when we talk about Luigi, because there's a divergence there.

Sports

We know from the movie and general lore that Mario is quite athletic, and seems to enjoys sports. Here, we see posters for baseball and what is presumably the New York City marathon (at least in the movie still); we see a football helmet and some small trophies that one might assume are related to his own sports activities. Is he the absolute, number one winner in all of Brooklyn? Unlikely, given his insecurities about always being "small," about wanting to amount to something. This being said, it's obvious he has some prowess and accomplishment in the world of sporting, perhaps on a high school level. And the whole parkour scene shows that he trains, keeps himself in shape for this type of thing. (As an aside, can you blame Luigi for not being able to keep up? Forget the knees, he's hauling a 15-20 pound bag of plumbing equipment with him! Give the guy a break).

Anyway, this is all unsurprising for our hero archetype. The marathon poster - grit and determination. Baseball and football - all-American sports. Central casting, call one wannabe hero. (Remember, what people showcase in their rooms is generally what is important to them, what they value).

There is a small wrench thrown in here, however (ha! a pun!) And that would be the foam finger featured in the concept art which is a very familiar orange and blue. And that along with the baseball figurine and posters - which have similar coloring and iconography of the intersecting "NY" - lead me to believe that Mario is a Mets fan.

Now, I need make a small digression here to explain why this is important to his character.

The Mets are the long-suffering little brother to the perennially-successful New York Yankees (booooooo). They still hold the modern era record for most losses in a season (their inaugural year, 1962, where they went 40-120). Over the decades, they have been plagued by inept ownership, catastrophic end-of-season collapses, and bizarre events that can only be categorized as "LOLMets." (This Reddit thread is a particularly entertaining history of the franchise's tragi-comic moments).

And aside from being a lifelong masochist fan of this team, I think it's important to bring this up in terms of Mario's character because he sees himself as the underdog while in Brooklyn; as little, as constantly underachieving. It's extremely fitting for Mario's movie depiction that he roots for the eternal underperformer, for a team that has historically been supported by the more blue-collar areas of New York, a fanbase which suffers year after year and yet always comes back for more.

Mess

This is actually my favorite part of Mario's section. Canonically, Mario is a kind of a slob. In both the concept art and movie stills, we see plumbing bits and parts strewn all over the place, pipes shoved underneath the bed, pipes stacked in the corner, half-finished projects and tools running amok his desk. (Note, he's not dirty, just disorganized).

And the thing, this isn't the first time we've seen evidence of this. Luigi, on two separate occasions, either complains about or encounters his brother's habits in the Luigi's Mansion series. (Although the first quote below could be more of a commentary on Luigi's persnickety-ness rather than Mario's laundry habits).

(seriously, Mario. Just how many pizzas did you need?)

There's something...I don't know, endearing or somehow fitting that the titular hero of the Mushroom Kingdom is a domestic disaster. Almost as if whatever energies he can muster are focused solely on hero-ing and plumbing and anything else just...falls by the wayside. (Understandable. There's only so much all of us in our lives have energy for. You have to prioritize). Still, it sets up this contrast between the front Mario puts up and how he's received by the Mushroom Kingdom and who he really is, which he definitely reserves for a select few closest to him, the prime candidate being his brother.

And speaking of that brother...

Luigi

It's unfortunate that we don't get as many quality shots of Luigi's side of the room in the movie, but from what can see, the concept art is pretty consistent with the film.

And I'm being adamant about the consistency of the concept art and the movie, due to the fact we get so little Luigi screen time and yet his room tells us so much about him.

Science

We've got a tech-mech boy here, my friends. Note the somewhat advanced microscope perched on the headboard, the calendar of the motorcycle, the schematic of the racing car, the little jet-rocket ship. Note, in the concept art, the mecha sat prominently on top shelf.

Now, what does this tell us? (Aside from the fact Luigi is a total nerd, which we knew already).

Firstly, Luigi is very into motor vehicles, science (fiction), and possibly robots. That he possibly has some interest in engineering and robotics. This may sound familiar.

Yes, the Super Mario Brothers movie, by intent or not, kept Luigi's mechanical engineering interests intact. (There's a whole other post in here where I could provide further proof of this outside of SPM. I suggest watching the SMB 3 cartoon episode, "Mind Your Mummy" which not only wildly showcases Luigi's engineering skills, but is pretty hilarious).

But I digress.

Here's the interesting contrast. Mario is obvious about his passion for plumbing. Luigi, although canonically more reserved, does take the effort to highlight what is important to him in his room - namely his interest in science and engineering (and photography, which we'll talk about in a minute).

It makes you wonder...Luigi is not a confrontational sort. He goes along with what Mario does because he loves his brother and perhaps he either doesn't know what he wants or is afraid to express it. I personally doubt Luigi's true passion lies in plumbing, from what we see here. It's a means to end.

Now, whether Luigi disavowed engineering due to finances, low self-esteem, family pressures, or if he just wasn't ready to declare who he was...we don't know (I would posit it's some tasty combination of all of the above). But I do feel like it's fair to say Luigi is along for the ride at this point. He loves his brother, is possibly a little too dependent on him. It's not like he's bitter about it (well, on the surface. The Mr. L persona raises some interesting questions) - he's just doing what Mario does because...that's what he's always done. Luigi hasn't found his true footing yet. (You can even look at the fact he carries the toolbag throughout the movie as a kind of metaphorical weight of Mario's interests and goals over his - which, I realize, for a Mario property, is a reeeeeaaaaal stretch. But since I'm overanalyzing three stills from an animated movie about video game plumbers, I might as well go for the gold).

The other aspect of Luigi's interest in fast cars, fast bikes, and fast rockets is how that contrasts with his reserved nature. Luigi is, supposedly, the scaredy cat, the one who won't take risks. And yet what we see fascinating him the most are chunks of metal being hurled through time and space at ridiculous speeds. Wish fulfillment? Or maybe another side of Luigi that even Mario doesn't always get to see.

We also see two ribbons pinned to the wall near the sciency/tech items. Most likely, this had to do with academic achievement I would bet good coins that these achievements were in STEM. Again, Luigi is showcasing this, meaning it's important to him.

In this context, him gravitating towards E. Gadd and his experiments is wholly in-character, despite Luigi's (understandable) anxiety about dealing with undead (but does he say no? Much like his rocket cars, there's a kind hidden recklessness to his character). Mr. L and his robot obsession (and skill) make perfect sense. Luigi's probably been looking for that kind of outlet for quite some time. I can pretty firmly state that the engineering aspect of Mr. L was not brainwashing and it makes you wonder if the other facets of Luigi's personality that rise to surface during that whole episode were planted or there already, just suppressed.

Cleanliness is Next to Godliness

Luigi is just a bit of a neat freak. We see this in the hat-cleaning episode referenced above, in the way his side of the room is somewhat meticulous in its organization (in contrast to his brother). He also has a few hilarious quotes in the original Luigi's Mansion that are worth including here that really highlight this side of his personality:

Now that I look at it-- it's full of moth holes! Yecch!" "So much dust! This will never pass the white-glove test!" "Well, they sure did pile odds and ends everywhere… Filthy." "I should probably give that a quick vacuuming…" "Oh, what's this?! Just how I like it… Nice and clean!" "Do Boos wash their faces?"

And what I find interesting about this tendency toward order is how it relates to Luigi's anxiety. I would argue that part of his clean streak is an attempt at controlling his environment, a way to counter that ever-present anxiety. It also seems fitting for the engineer to be far more fastidious about things being just so. Yes, it's a bit of a stereotype - a trope, if you will - but one that might have some teeth in this situation. After all, if you're building race cars that go ridiculous miles per hour, there's no room for error. I think the contrast between the two brothers - Mario's outside world is consistently on the edge of chaos while Luigi's inside world is the one on the precipice - is fascinating.

Sports

Now, it's not like Luigi has zero athletic ability (despite his complaints). We see a tennis racket in his room and a dartboard. He helped Mario beat up Bowser with zero training montage. It's just that Luigi seems to gravitate towards athletic endeavors that require more pinpoint accuracy (not that baseball and football don't, but it's a little different in my mind) and that avoid almost all risk of physical collision. Again, those interests are not what we think of as "stereotypical" of the big hero. And Luigi is a hero, but in a very different way than his brother.

Camera

I don't have too much to say about this one, but I think it's delightful that Luigi owns and uses an old-school camera. We can actually see two black-and-white photos pinned to his wall in the concept art, showing us Luigi's more artistic side, which is kind of neat (and let's not forget the movie subs in an art mannequin for the mecha, which only strengthens this notion of art interest. Maybe he's into the notion cybernetics? It's possible). I suppose I could read into camera thing as an observer vs. participant dynamic (Luigi behind the lens observing while Mario is always in the action), but I wouldn't make an argument any more in-depth, and even that statement is a bit of a leap in a document chock-full of leaps.

Conclusion

If you're expecting a thesis out of this, I'm sorry to disappoint - I don't really have one. I suppose this whole rundown is more of a literature review than anything else, but what I do want to stress is what can be read from the objects in the room and their placement. I can't and won't pretend to know the intentions of the artists here. It's very possible there was far less thought put into the design and layout of these rooms than the long treatise I have just given over to it. This being said, because there is a fair amount of consistency between the concept art and the movie and because there is a fair amount of subtle character moments throughout the film (which have been broken down by other intrepid Tumblr friends), I might lean towards the notion that these design choices do have some degree of intent in subconsciously shaping how we, the viewer, read the brothers.

(And yeah, maybe I just wanted an excuse to pin more evidence onto my "Luigi wanted to be a mechanical engineer and is actually really skilled at robotics and other science" conspiracy thread bulletin board :D

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Not my photo or my words. But this helps to understand the speculated one.

"No piece of art has ever emotionally affected me the way this robot arm piece has. It's programmed to try to contain the hydraulic fluid that’s constantly leaking out and required to keep itself running...if too much escapes, it will die so it's desperately trying to pull it back to continue to fight for another day. Saddest part is they gave the robot the ability to do these 'happy dances' to spectators. When the project was first launched it danced around spending most of its time interacting with the crowd since it could quickly pull back the small spillage. Many years later... (as you see it now in the video) it looks tired and hopeless as there isn't enough time to dance anymore.. It now only has enough time to try to keep itself alive as the amount of leaked hydraulic fluid became unmanageable as the spill grew over time. Living its last days in a never-ending cycle between sustaining life and simultaneously bleeding out... (Figuratively and literally as its hydraulic fluid was purposefully made to look like it's actual blood).

"The robot arm finally ran out of hydraulic fluid in 2019, slowly came to a halt and died - And I am now tearing up over a friggin robot arm 😭 It was programmed to live out this fate and no matter what it did or how hard it tried, there was no escaping it. Spectators watched as it slowly bled out until the day that it ceased to move forever. Saying that 'this resonates' doesn't even do it justice imo. Created by Sun Yuan & Peng Yu, they named the piece, 'Can't Help Myself'. What a masterpiece. What a message."

Extended interpretations: the hydraulic fluid in relation to how we kill ourselves both mentally and physically for money just in an attempt to sustain life, how the system is set up for us to fail on purpose to essentially enslave us and to steal the best years of our lives to play the game that the richest people of the world have designed. How this robs us of our happiness, passion and our inner peace. How we are slowly drowning with more responsibilities, with more expected of us, less rewarding pay-offs and less free time to enjoy ourselves with as the years go by. How there's really no escaping the system and that we were destined at birth to follow a pretty specific path that was already laid out before us. How we can give and give and give and how easily we can be forgotten after we've gone.. How we are loved and respected when we are valuable, then one day we aren't any longer and we become a burden...and how our young, free-caring spirit gets stolen from us as we get churned out of the broken system that we are trapped inside of. Can also be seen to represent the human life cycle and the fact that none of us make it out of this world alive. But also can act as a reminder to allow yourself to heal, rest and love with all of your heart. That the endless chase for 'more' isn't necessary in finding your own inner happiness.” )

- James Kricked Parr

[BANKSY]

[ghouligancentral]

The Night Shift

John "Soap" MacTavish x Reader Rated: 18+ (NSFW)

Summary: The two of you hardly ever get a moment alone, so when you do, you have to make the most of it. This evening, you were on lookout duty, and it just so happens that Soap ‘needed’ some fresh air. 

Gender Neutral reader

A strangled groan slips past his lips as another drop of precum leaks out of his cock. You smile to yourself, reveling in the fact that you’ve managed to reduce the usually talkative Scot to a babbling mess. 

“Aw fuckin’ ah,” Soap hisses through his teeth as you continue to pump him in your hand, your palm slick with a mixture of his precum and your spit. Another loud gasp causes you to take a quick look back toward the camp, and thankfully, it looks like no one heard the Scot. 

“You’ve got to be quiet” you whisper in his ear as a smile curls onto your lips. The soldier just nods in response, not truthing himself to use words. Soap’s eyes screw shut as his teeth sink into his fist in an attempt to muffle his moans, you can feel his whole body tensing under your touch as he struggles to keep quiet.

The two of you hardly ever get a moment alone, so when you do, you have to make the most of it. This evening, you were on lookout duty, and it just so happens that Soap ‘needed’ some fresh air.  That is how you found both you and Soap tucked out of sight behind a small outcropping of boulders. 

Even in the dim light, you can tell that Soap looks a mess, with his trousers pulled down to mid-thigh, tousled hair, and a layer of sweat covering every inch of his skin. His hips unconsciously thrust up to meet your hand as he chases his orgasm. Even though you can feel your own arousal pooling in your gut, you can’t bare to take your eyes off of him. With each movement of your hand, Soap has to bite down harder on his knuckles to control himself. 

Your thumb swiped over his sensitive head, causing him to let out another loud moan. His eyes snap open and he quickly looks at you. By this time you have all but stopped the motion of you hand as the two of you stare at eachother in silence, listening for any movement or any indication that his moan was heard. You both knew that you’d never live this down if someone was to catch you. 

After a minute, you slowly peak your head up over the rocks to see if the coast is clear. 

“All clear,” you whisper as you settle in next to him once more. Your hand makes its way back to his cock. Soap can’t help but reach over and dig his fingers into the meat of your thigh. His muscles tense and you know that it is a sign he is about to cum. You know it won’t be long before he reaches his peak, so you decide to speed it up by focusing more attention on the head of his cock. The soldier tenses when he feels you rub your thumb against his slit. This is all it takes to get Soap to cum. 

A hand quickly clamps down over his mouth as his eyes squeeze shut. White ropes of cum spill out on your hand and his stomach, with some of it managing to make its way up to his heaving chest. You are a little shocked by the sheer amount of it. You gently work him through it until you hear him his from oversensitivity. 

One hand traces little circles on his hip, while the other caresses his face as you wait for Soap to catch his breath and recover from his orgasm. The Scot nestles his head into your hand before slowly opening his eyes. 

 

“There he is,” you smile. Soap lets out a content hum as he reaches up to caress your cheek. 

 

Soap just sighs in response, taking a couple more moments before lifting his head to look down at the damage he’s done. His eyes widen at the sight of his cum covered torso. 

After shifting so that he is sitting up, Soap reaches down and grabs your hand before bringing it to his mouth. A moan falls from your lips as you feel his tongue dance over your fingers. The sight causes even more arousal to build within you. 

 

A grumble escapes him as he slowly begins working his way up your arm with a series of hot, open-mouthed kisses. 

 

“Aren’t you tired?” you giggle as he finally makes it to your collarbone. He gently nips at your neck as his hand trails down your body, stopping before he touches where you want him the most. He pulls you into his lap and you gasp once you feel that his cock is already beginning to re-harden in interest. 

 

“Oh, if ya think one round is gonna do me in, you’ve got another thing comin’,” Soap growls in your ear before nipping at your neck. 

'

[storiesofsvu]

Good Girl

Grace Muncy x reader Warnings: language, alcohol consumption, minor SVU type case work, no smut but like, dirty talk still with a bit of mommy kink. I would call it a drabble, it's just over 1k

Being undercover was nothing new to you, but it was something relatively new to Muncy. Which is why where your hand laid on her thigh, your thumb was rubbing soothing circles into her skin. You were at a party, meeting with another high end trafficker about buying some new girls and Grace was your special little good girl, the one who got to come to parties like this, help select out her new friends. She was perched in your lap and you could nearly feel the nerves radiating off her, you shifted forward, swiping a glass of champagne from the table and passing it to her, your lips nearly brushing against the shell of her ear as you spoke.

“Relax pretty girl.” Your breath husked out onto her skin and she nearly shivered, taking a sip of the bubbly.

“Sorry.” She murmured, risking a glance down at you and she knew it was a mistake immediately. The neckline of your dress was cut halfway down your chest, revealing the delicate tattoo on your sternum surrounded by the curve of your chest. Her eyes lingered, perhaps a little too long, watching the way the gem of your necklace glinted in the low light before they dragged back up to your face and she noticed you’d caught her staring, smirk on your lips. “Sorry.” She muttered again, her cheeks turning pink.

“It’s alright princess.” You cooed, your hand smoothing a loose piece of hair behind her ear, fingers trailing down her jaw to pinch at her chin, “you know you can look at mommy all you want, you just have to ask to touch.”

Grace was entirely unsure if you were aware of her crush on you, or the effect the words you had just said had on her, but tonight was going to be one hell of a night either way. She nearly squeaked, distracting herself with her drink as you turned to say something to one of the men beside you, engaging in ‘work’ conversation in another language. Her ears picked up a moment later that it was Italian, flowing from between your lips like fucking silk. She did her best not to squirm in your lap, attempting to squeeze her thighs together but it only gained your attention, your arm wrapping tighter around her while you continued your conversation.

She was almost relieved when the group of girls were brought into the room, beginning to worry that she was going to blow the op. Your focus turned to them as you shifted Grace off your lap, though your hand slid up her back, fingers tickling at the baby hairs at the back of her neck. You could sense the tension beginning to rise in the room, trickling in slowly like a gas leak, you were well aware you had a limited amount of time to make this work. Standing from the couch you greeted the girls, examining them, well aware of Grace’s eyes practically glued to your ass while you did so. Glancing over your shoulder to her, you shot her a wink, saying something about how she’d look like such a pretty whore beside the redhead whose chin you had pinched between your thumb and forefinger. You let out a soft sigh, ‘tsk’ing in her direction before you glanced to the man you’d been talking to. Grace had missed it, but the guard at the door had shifted ever so slightly, his hand moving from in front of him to the back of his pants and you knew there was a gun.

“Could you give us a moment?” You asked, “it seems like someone’s a little jealous.” Stepping toward her with a sly grin on your cheeks your fingers curled under her chin, tilting her face up to you and urging her to stand, “come pet, talk to me.”

As she stood your hand trailed down her side, landing in the small of her back as you lead her into the kitchen. You were still in view of the group in the living room, feeling their eyes on you as you turned, resting a hip against the island, raising a brow in Grace’s direction now that you were out of earshot. You kept your mask up and she nearly gulped at the way your fingers were twirling with a strand of her hair.

“You need to relax.” You purred, your head tilting, a grin on your cheeks to keep the façade up, “or was it that I called you a whore? You think you’re a good girl? Because you give off brat vibes if you’d ask me.” You teased and her breath caught in her throat.

“What do I….?”

“Exactly what you’re doing. That cute little bratty pout on your lips while you watch mommy pick out some girls to buy. The rest gets taken care of.” You sighed softly, your hand ghosting over her cheek, “but you’re too tense, I don’t think they’re buying it fully.”

“So?” She tugged her lower lip in between her teeth, doe eyes glancing up at you and you chuckled. Your thumb trailed over her lip and she let it go with a pop, her eyes nearly fluttering shut at the sensation.

“Kiss me.”

“What?” Her eyes almost flew open but she managed to keep control as you stepped toward her, ducking you head to softly kiss her neck, murmuring your words against her skin.

“I said… kiss me. So they think we’ve made up and you’re ready to be mommy’s good girl the rest of the night. I promise you’ll get rewarded.” By the time you’d finished speaking your lips were right under her ear, leaving a feather light kiss there before you straightened yourself up. One of your hands rested on her hip, the other still cupping her cheek, thumb stroking across her soft skin. “Okay?” You raised a brow in question and she gave you the tiniest nod.

Ducking down, you chuckled as she suddenly rocked forward, eager to feel her lips against yours. She practically melted into your embrace, completely forgetting where she was while your arm wound around her and her body was warmed by the heat of yours. You nipped at her lip gently and she practically moaned into your mouth, letting your tongue slip into hers and she could taste the bourbon you’d been drinking. You were pulling away before she was even remotely ready, a whine escaping her lips when you did so, her eyes slowly fluttering open, lips still parted.

“C’mon.” You chuckled, “lets finish this.” You booped her on the nose, “good girl.” Your fingers linked with hers this time as you lead her back to the living room and main event.

With things finally wrapped up you were able to exit into the cool night air and Grace finally felt like she could breath again, her head slowly wrapping around exactly what had happened.

“Hey.” She called out and you turned back to her right as you reached your car, a soft grin on your lips, a brow cocked in her direction and she nearly melted again. “Was… uh… was that all for show?”

“Hmm.” You shrugged, “did you want it to be?”

With a wink and a smirk you ducked into your car, leaving Grace feeling all too hot and bothered for the countless time that night.

______________

@thatesqcrush @witches-unruly-heart @daddy-heather-dunbar @baubeautyandthegeek @red1culous @bullet-prooflove @momlifebehard @alexxavicry

[allsassnoclass]

Tornado Warning

Pairing: 5SOS ot4 friendship Rating: teen and up Key Tags: Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Bad Weather, Ice Cream Word Count: around 2,555 Read on AO3

Summary:

"Tornado warning!" he calls, vaulting down the last few stairs and grabbing Luke's arm. "We have to get to a safe place! Into the bathtub!" "Uh," Michael says, watching Ashton haul Luke towards the bathroom before he gets his bearings enough to speak. "We should get to the basement, actually." Ashton stops abruptly enough that Calum runs into him. "The basement?" "Yeah," Michael says, slinging his backpack over his shoulder and grabbing his phone. "It's like none of you have been in a tornado warning before." or: Michael and his housemates are caught in a tornado warning during their summer internship.

Michael stands transfixed as rain pelts the windows, creating a thick sheet of water outside that he can barely see in the darkness from the cloud cover.  Lightning flashes, illuminating the water rushing in the street, turning the pavement into a river as the rain continues to fall in droves.  A second later a rumble of thunder sounds above him, loud and booming enough to shake the old house.  His heart thumps, excitement starting to pool in his stomach.

He fucking loves storms.  Even though the house they were provided for this internship is older and ricketier than the one he left at home, he's excited to hunker down and spend the evening relaxing guilt-free rather than running errands like he had originally planned.  He and his housemates have been working themselves to the bone this summer, and part of him is thankful for the excuse to do nothing for a few hours, even if the tasks he’s putting off will only be worse once the storm clears.

His ears pick up the faint echo of sirens a second later, the high-pitched wails floating above the cacophony of the rain to reach him.  His phone beeps, the abrasive weather alert tone ringing through the living room, and a second later footsteps thunder down the stairs.

"Tornado!" Luke calls, landing hard with both feet on the wood floor at the bottom of the stairs, sliding in his socks and grabbing on to the railing to keep his balance.  "My phone says there's a tornado!"

"It's a warning, it might be radar indicated instead of an actual sighting," Michael says.  Luke looks at him with wide eyes, hair in disarray and worn t-shirt making him look smaller and younger than usual.  He doesn't have any time to respond before Ashton appears at the top of the stairs with Calum right behind him.

"Tornado warning!" he calls, vaulting down the last few stairs and grabbing Luke's arm.  "We have to get to a safe place!  Into the bathtub!"

"Uh," Michael says, watching Ashton haul Luke towards the bathroom before he gets his bearings enough to speak.  "We should get to the basement, actually."

Ashton stops abruptly enough that Calum runs into him.

"The basement?"

"Yeah," Michael says, slinging his backpack over his shoulder and grabbing his phone.  "Come on.  Bring something to keep you occupied."

"There's no time!" Ashton insists, grabbing Calum when he starts to head back upstairs.  He drags both him and Luke towards the basement stairs, and Michael rolls his eyes up to the ceiling as another flash of lightning flares in his periphery.

"We don't have to run," Michael says, following them at an even pace.

"It's a fucking tornado, Mike!" Ashton yells.  "Get your ass down here!"

Michael makes it to the basement just in time to hear Luke ask "Are we going to die?"

"Of course not," he frowns, setting down his backpack near the couch.  The basement is going to be converted into another bedroom this fall so the small arts center they work for can house more interns next year, but for now it simply has brown carpet, two second-hand couches, and a TV set that they rarely have time to watch.  It’s open and drafty, and part of him is worried about unexpected leaking with the amount of rain outside, but it’ll do for their shelter.

"Sit down," he says, motioning to the couches.  "Get comfortable so we can wait it out.  It's like none of you have been in a tornado warning before."

"I haven't," Calum says, flopping down in the corner of the opposite couch.  "I live on the East Coast, dude."

"I only remember one as a kid, and we didn't have a basement where we lived," Ashton says, taking the spot next to him.  Michael blinks, then looks at Luke, who shakes his head.

"Oh," he says.  

Logically he knew that there were differences between living on one of the coasts and living in the Midwest, but tornado drills and warnings have been such a normalized part of his life that it never occurred to him they wouldn't be part of his fellow interns'.

Luke flinches at another rumble of thunder.

"It's going to be fine," Michael says confidently, pulling him down onto the couch.  "We get tornado warnings all the time where I live and they've always just been warnings for me.  Even if the wind gets bad enough to topple some trees upstairs, we'll be safe down here.  Let's turn the news on and hear what the weatherman has to say."

They have to dig in the couch cushions for the remote.  Ashton is the one who finds it and holds it up with a noise of triumph, and Michael hopes that the somewhat spotty signal they get down here holds on despite the weather.  He sighs in relief once the weather radar fills the screen, even if it's fuzzy with gray pixels.

"See?" he says, listening to the weatherman describe the path of the storm, which counties are under a thunderstorm warning, and the danger of the high winds.  "He said they haven't officially had a tornado touch down yet, and the radar prediction would put it south of us.  We just have to hunker down here and wait for the storm to pass to be sure."

"Okay," Luke says, pulling his knees to his chest and wrapping his arms around them.  Michael looks at Calum and Ashton, both of them equally tense from their own precarious perches on the couch, and makes a decision.

"I'm going to be back in thirty seconds."

"Michael--" Ashton tries.

"You can time me if you want!" he says.  "Thirty seconds.  I'm just going up to the kitchen.  A tornado isn't going to suddenly materialize that quickly."

He's on the stairs before he finishes talking, taking them two at a time.  He knows that he'll be fine up here for a bit longer, but there's no use stressing the other three out by lingering.  He finds what he needs in the freezer and cupboards quickly, bundles everything into his arms, and hopes he doesn't accidentally drop and break any of the bowls on the stairs.

Ashton waits for him at the base and frowns when he sees Michael carefully descend, arms laden with bowls, spoons, chocolate sauce, sprinkles, an ice cream scoop, and the gallon of chocolate chip ice cream they bought last week.

"Really?" he asks, taking the bowls and spoons before Michael loses his grip and sends them tumbling to the ground.

"I'm fine, see?" he says, plopping down on the floor in front of the couches.  "Besides, ice cream is an essential part of every tornado warning.  One of my earliest memories is eating ice cream during a tornado warning, actually.  It was one in the middle of the night, so my parents had to wake me up to get me downstairs.  I just remember being excited I got to stay up late and have ice cream."

"That's sweet," Ashton says, expression softening.  "Smart, too."

"It's hard to be scared when you have ice cream," Calum says, sliding down onto the carpet next to him.  He tugs at Luke's ankle until he uncurls and joins them on the floor, completing their circle around the bowls.  Michael cracks open the tub of ice cream and dishes it up, handing the bowls out as he finishes so everyone can add their preferred amount of sauce and sprinkles.  The weatherman steadily reports in the background, deterring against driving and repeating which counties are under severe weather warnings, but otherwise it's quiet.  Michael can still hear rain and thunder, but it's muffled underground.

He gives Luke an extra scoop and a smile, because he eats the most out of all of them and seems the most nervous, although Ashton's head keeps whipping towards the walls with every rumble of thunder, breaking his eye contact with the tv's weather radar.   For a few minutes they eat in silence, only the clink of their spoons against the bowls and drone of the tv filling the dead air, and Michael watches the other three become more and more anxious as the weather man gives tips for how to protect yourself from severe weather and continues to repeat the counties under the warning.

"So..." he says tentatively.  "How's it going?"

They blink at him.

"Well, Michael, there's a tornado," Ashton says.  Michael rolls his eyes.

"The weatherman says there hasn't been an official touchdown yet.  I'm just trying to take everyone's mind off of it."

"Does that go along with the ice cream for tornado warnings?" Luke asks.  "Is that what you did as a kid?"

Michael tries to remember anything more about that specific night.  He can see flashes of his dad in his white sleeping shirt and his mom's blue pj pants, and he remembers wrapping himself up in the lion blanket that's still folded on the back of the couch of his basement back home, even though it's significantly more worn now.

He doesn't remember what they talked about, but he remembers that he wasn't scared of the tornado, even with the storm outside and the tv turned to the constant red weather radar.

"I think so," he says.  "Probably.  It's a really early memory, so I don't remember what we talked about, but I wasn't scared.  I assume they distracted me somehow."

"Yeah, parents are good at that," Ashton says, picking at his ice cream.  "I remember when I was really little, my mom was always distracting me with music.  She would listen to a lot of sad songs, especially in my earliest memories right after my dad left, but she knew I loved music, and she'd listen to a lot of rock songs, too.  I remember sitting in my car seat when I was really tiny and us belting out "Tonight Tonight" by the Smashing Pumpkins, even though I didn't know the lyrics, let alone understand them.  That didn't matter, though.  Mom liked the song, and singing it together made her smile, and I liked when Mom smiled."

"That's cute," Calum says sincerely, taking a break from stirring his ice cream and sauce together to give Ashton a smile.

"I can't remember shit about anything before kindergarten," Luke says.  "My earliest memory is from my cousin's wedding.  I really wanted to dance with her because she had a big pretty dress, even though I didn't really know her because we lived far away.  I can't remember anything about the wedding or what song we were dancing to, but I remember that my mom had to ask her to dance with me because I was too shy to do it myself."

Michael tries to imagine a tiny Ashton singing along to his mom, or a tiny Luke dancing with his cousin on her wedding day.  He can't quite manage it, both of them still unfamiliar enough that he can't picture them in any way except exactly as they are now.  In his mind, young Ashton still has a bandana around his forehead to keep his curls at bay.  Young Luke is unrealistically tall and gangly.  Even though they've been living and working together for a few weeks and there's a deep sense of camaraderie, he's barely scratched the surface of who they are.

"What about you, Calum?" Ashton asks.  "Do you have any early memories you want to share?"

Calum hums around his spoon.  They patiently wait for him to swallow, listening to the weather report.

"My grandma had this little chocolate fountain that she'd hook up when we were over sometimes.  We would dip fruit or other food in, and my sister accidentally clogged it by dropping a mini dill pickle in," he says.  "I was little enough that my parents had to help me to ensure I didn't drop anything in, either, and I was so upset that we had to stop so someone could dislodge it and fish it out.  We talk about it every year when we use the fountain again."

"Mmm, chocolate," Luke hums dreamily.  Michael pushes the ice cream and chocolate sauce towards him so he can dish up another bowl.

"How many siblings do you have?" Ashton asks.  "Is it just your sister?"

"Yeah, just an older sister for me," Calum says.  "What about you guys?"

"I'm an only child," Michael says.

"I have two younger siblings, a brother and a sister.  Lauren is 15, Harry is 11," Ashton replies.  They all turn to Luke.

"Uh, two older brothers," he says, carefully pouring more chocolate sauce on his new stack of ice cream scoops.  "They're absolute asses, but I miss them.  It's weird being a time zone away."

Michael hums but stays quiet.  Although he's only about an hour from home for the internship, he was a few states away for college.  He doesn't regret flying the nest for school, but it was a difficult adjustment when he had barely been out of state before then.

"Time zones suck," Calum says vehemently.  "I went to soccer camp in Brazil one summer and I could never figure out what time it was back home when I tried to call."

"You went to Brazil?" Michael asks.  "That's fucking sick!  What was it like?"

Calum launches into a story about his time there, and then conversation flows quickly, with everyone passing around stories and anecdotes about themselves like they've been doing it for years.  Michael learns about Ashton's cat allergy, the time Luke broke his arm, and Calum's favorite birthday present, and he learns even more by watching them as they continue to switch topics at rapid-fire.  He learns that Ashton is the best of them at keeping a straight face while he's telling a joke, and Calum can't control his facial expressions at all.  Luke keeps his limbs tucked close to him like he's afraid to take up space, but Calum is far more comfortable spread out.  All three of them have a good taste in music, and all three of them have absolutely insane opinions on other things that they'll defend to the death.  At one point they start assigning each other different characters in A Bug’s Life.  Michael doesn’t know how they got on the subject, he just knows that his stomach hurts from laughing so hard.

Michael thought that they were friends before this, but on second thought that might not have been true.  They were definitely friendly, and they've had long conversations before about things besides the house meal schedule and how terrible this internship is, but this feels like they crossed a bridge.  Now, Michael can clearly envision himself calling one of them to catch up when they're back at their separate college campuses, or making plans to meet up for a weekend or two.  He thinks this friendship could be something that carries on even when they're not all stuck in the same place together.

None of them notice when the tv switches back to its regular scheduled programming, the weather crisis long since averted.  They continue to talk and laugh until the leftover ice cream in the tub turns to lukewarm liquid and the rain outside lightens to a gentle patter, safe with each other in the basement, drowning out everything else with their laughter.

[animehouse-moe]

The Ancient Magus' Bride Season 2 Episode 12: A Small Leak Will Sink A Great Ship II.

Well, the Spring season has been winding down as of late, so it means we get to add another series to the pile of completed (for now) seasons with MahoYome. Though, unless I lived under a rock and missed the original announcement, we've found out that MahoYome S2 will be re-appearing in Fall with a second part! Regardless of continuation though, this part of the season ends on solid ground, with promises of interesting stories to come, so there's certainly plenty for me to chat about.

Okay, so with the end of this part of the season, I am actually going to talk about the production quality of the episode a little bit.

Yes, it did end on a high note, and that's expected really, but I want to break it down a little more. When you're watching the episode, there's hardly any scenes that feature a large amount of movement of motion, save the piece with the principal and her cat-sìth. You'd think it might be a bit more noticeable than it is, really, but it's not. When you're well aware of your constraints, you're able to play further into your strengths.

The strong use of first person, aggressive angles, and narrow/empty space gives Kafka a lot of respite from the more challenging tertiary pieces to animating an episode, and as they're used intentionally, they produce a very cohesive visual style that plays well with this season's overall approach.

So there you have it, when Kafka's aware of their limits the episodes themselves are always well done. If I were to hope for one thing with the second part of this season, it would be for Kafka to better understand their limits. It'd be great if they could suddenly get better, but I'd think that unlikely in comparison to reflecting on the work done on this season and pivoting to provide a stronger second phase.

Anyways, the actual episode! Lots to chat about, particularly in regards to character arcs. Quite a few get tied up neatly in this episode, but just as many are further exposed and left to be explored in the fall.

We start the episode with Fabio Zacheronni (what a corny name) and introducing an invisible/imaginary plant to our group of students. Right away, I was wondering what was going on as Zoe and Isaac are the only ones reacting to it. I thought it was a really well done piece that immediately got gears turning in regards to what it is the other 3 were exposed to that caused them to be different. Was it their potential or ability for magic? Was it something about their families? I did correctly guess why it was that Zoe and Isaac couldn't see the plant, but I'm going to save that for later and leave it as a very well done question posed to viewers.

Following this sequence though, the students split up based on their abilities, with Philomela, Chise, and Rian forming a group. It's interesting to see Rian antagonize Philomela right away though. Not even just with his dialogue that challenges her and her passivity with the situation, but his gut reaction to her. From the start, he wears a scowl on his face in regards to the girl, and betrays a deeper frustration and distaste for her than what arises from just this moment.

Also, an early example of the strong use of first person perspective. We watch Rian (sort of) storm off, and it's really well done. The framing with the cave mouth in front of him works perfectly, and I love the small light shaft shining down on him and the slight depth of field applied to the scene, the latter is such a nice little detail to ensure viewers understand how it is we're looking at Rian.

Anyways, we shift from the Waste Tower back to the college itself and find Ailce getting the jump on Renfred and entering another discussion about Alice's future and dream.

I think it's a really great piece that further deepens the differences in how Alice and Renfred see each other, but work together to find common ground to share in regards to it. I particularly like parts like this were Renfred continues to treat Alice as a child, so she likens her dream/aspiration to how a kid might dream of becoming a firefighter.

The downcast expression that they share with this moment really speaks volumes to how the pair interact with each other. Alice feels like her dreams and desires are being discounted by the father figure in her life, while Renfred feels like he's failed his adoptive daughter by placing faulty dreams in her head.

And of course, the interaction ends with an endearing first person perspective that shows what Alice looks like through Renfred's eyes. Overall though, the use of height and space through conversations like these (and the next one with Lucy and Steph) is well used, both inside and out of this first person view.

I really like how they don't just perfectly solve this miscommunication between Renfred and Alice, but that they allow Renfred to move things forward in his own way by trying to relate to Alice a little bit. I'm really looking forward to what we'll see when Alice learns more of Renfred's past.

Alright, back into the Waste Tower where we find Zoe happy collecting minerals/gems in a cave, though not for long. In the cave they find themselves in, Zoe's confronted by a pair of demi-humans that provide interesting hints and questions as to why they exist within the Waste Tower. Though the highlight of this interaction is Zoe's confidence in themselves. It's a simple and short piece, but concludes their character arc through this season quite comfortably as they release their snakes on the pair of inhabitants.

Following this brief interlude with Zoe, we return to the college to find Lucy and Steph in an argument of sorts. While this isn't the meat and potatoes of their conflict/interaction, I just wanted to point out how well they use the layouts to convey the scale of these two and show Steph as the more mature one, as well as how similar they remain as siblings despite the differences of each (how they both look down to avoid the confrontation of the moment).

Now, for my favorite interaction in the episode, Chise and Fabio. I found this one incredibly interesting, as Fabio attempts to sympathize with Chise's "monster" side, rather than Chise herself. There's not much to say aside from that, really. Fabio believes that Chise's "other half" is shunned by the people around her and seen as an object of distaste, so he tries to play into that side of things to win over a Sleigh Beggy for himself, but is met face to face with one of the monsters inhabiting Chise.

First though, this super cool still of Fabio confronting Chise. Love the aggressive camera angle and perspective.

But anyways, Cartaphilus. I thought this was the perfect piece to effectively end Chise's story with this season. I had mentioned in earlier episodes that you could see just how much of Chise's mannerisms have stemmed from Joseph's influence on her body, but this scene takes it to another level.

It's really interesting to actually see Cartaphilus as Chise in this scene, as it shows just how far Chise has fallen into him as a person. Coupled with her disgust and fear from the moment, it creates a really interesting sequence that plays right into the hands of what Joseph had said before.

Similarly, I love this pair of scenes in regards to Chise as Fabio talks down on Elias. Frozen in fear of herself, she listens to Fabio's words as he disparages Elias. Chise is very quick to deny these words however, and step out of Fabio's shadow that he tries to trap her in. Simple, and easily missed, but a very well done piece of symbolism that integrates effortlessly with the scene at hand.

Okay okay, last thing with this interaction I promise, there's just so much great stuff going on. It's actually here that Fabio reveals why Chise could see the plant he was holding. Chise, along with Rian and Philomela, have killed someone. Not a massive shock given Philomela's involvement and Rian's dispositions alongside his actions while at the overnight camp, but one that's placed right where it needs to be to garner the most effect. It takes a rattled and cornered Chise and shakes her up that little bit more after she had just steeled herself.

Her conversation with Fabio ends here though, as the students return from the Waste Tower, and we move back to Lucy and Steph.

Somewhat similar to Renfred and Alice, it's a conversation about the elder attempting to understand the struggles of the younger that they attempt to save them from, though marginally different.

What I love here is how they start them. Steph hasn't been a part of his family for a long time, and hasn't seen Lucy for much at all of his time away. Because of that, he treats her differently, he hesitates to reach out to her, he sees her as a different person than she is. But underneath that ghost costume, beneath that white sheet is the same fragile little sister that he once knew. (once more a solid use of FPP)

Once he sees his sister is still that little sister he always knew, he no longer hesitates to embrace her, and we get this wonderful pair of shots, with Lucy's being one of the highlights of the episode. Such an incredible idea in regards to framing.

Following this embrace, the siblings have a heartfelt moment which repairs the threads that bind them together as family. It's a really sweet moment between the pair that allows them to be vulnerable, but isn't something that really translates well to sharing your thoughts on, so I'll just leave it at it being a really great moment that brings the pair back together.

And that brings us to the end of the episode. I'm a massive sucker for stuff like this conversation between the principal Lyza, and Philomela's grandmother Lizbeth. Two super powerful people toying with each other to coax out a reaction is just something that's so enjoyable. Knowing and understanding where their abilities lie, and seeing them playfully dance around using them just seems like such a fun thing to me, and it's executed quite well here.

Though before I share the clip for that moment, I just wanted to say how nice it was that Lyza wants to protect Philomela. Even if she was a part of the theft of the book, she's a student before she's a part of the Sargant family, and so she's treated as such in comparison to being a tool in her grandmother's hands.

But anyways, the cat-sìth. They definitely saved a lot of the "budget" of the episode for the scenes of them, and I think it paid off incredibly well for how smooth and expressive these part shadow, part cat faeries are.

And this is where the first part of this season ends. Overall, I think they do a really outstanding job of providing neat conclusions to plenty of stories and character arcs, while ensuring viewers that a mountain of content remains to be explored. The book still hasn't been found, the purpose behind its theft and the spiders of the Websters is yet unknown, there's some sort of past or history to explore between Rian and Philomela, and we're just starting to see Chise struggle with the others that exist within her.

As a first full scale production, Kafka definitely proves they're worthy of taking over the mantle of handling MahoYome, but also show their immaturity in regards to production through small-scale challenges that appear on a per episode basis. Having a season off to regroup and refocus on the second cour feels like a great idea for them, and I'm incredibly hopeful for them to come out of that break refreshed, and ready to handle the second cour even better than they did the first for this season.

[parkminijiminie]

"Everyone's entitled to their own opinions, but it makes me sad that a poor quality video was enough for some to drop JK and call him names."

I’m tired of reading this tbh. Some of us think the video is probably real and we don’t call JK names? I haven’t seen Demini and their anons calling him names, or did I miss something? We just think the video is real and it makes us question our previous opinion about Jikook, which in the end we know nothing about or not even 5% of their lives. Sure, some ppl might call him whatever but I haven’t seen any of that around here? Again, we just think the video is real and JK was with that girl and their privacy was invaded. As for me I have 0 idea if she was a fling or a friend, but it does very much look like JK and its apartment, come on. And the amount of ppl focusing on details like the window bay when we all know angles can trick our minds big time is weird. Remember when the very first taennie pic was leaked? The one in the car? So many armys were trying so hard to debunk it, saying it was an edit using a pic of Tae from in the Soop or whatever… well that aged well. I’m not saying the video is 100% real, who knows, could be a hoax, but honestly.. let’s be real, it looks legit. And JK is more than allowed to bring a woman into his apartment, he’s a grown adult, he does whatever he wants with his own private life and I think we’ve all been pretty clear on this blog that the problem was his privacy being invaded. A lot of us are Jikookers who are trying to consider all possibilities here, and if it turns out JK was involved with that woman then good for him. As for me I see no problem with him dating someone else than Jimin even though I used to be pretty hellbent on them being a thing. Well, now I try to take a step back and look at things as objectively as I can. I’m so disappointed in Jikookers pitting at eo and calling us names because we think the video is real. Stop with the cult like mentality.

Thank you for this. It got so tiring always talking about that video and why it can't or can be real. First was the security system, then the couch, the windows.... like, can we put it to rest, please? I did this post to address the 🪟 because I constantly get asks about it, and this is the last time I will engage in conversations about the videos's authenticity unless some new information comes up.

Yes, I believe this is JK and his apartment. No, I don't know who that woman is and what her deal with JK was. I don't have a problem with JK engaging with women, and I wouldn't call him any names ever over it because it is not my business to judge him. It's completely fine and reasonable to wonder, though, what Jikook's relationship is in light of this new information. I see so many accounts acting like people are idiots for thinking this may be JK or that Jikook were not together then, or maybe were never together to begin with, or trying to make some "conclusions" over the nature of their relationship.

We can't "conclude" anything because we know too little, and shipping is like walking a path blindly. You start in one direction, thinking you will find a meadow because you feel grass underneath your feet, but then you end up in a lake. We can only make assumptions based on clues from the partial information we have. The key is that we should be objective while doing it. I see too many people comfortably showing clear subjectivity in their "analyses" by taking small, unrelated things and turning them into a narrative, and then denying everything that may counterpose it.

To me, these types of people are delusional, have no critical thinking, basic logic, or science understanding. In real life and in science, when you are exploring a hypothesis, your deductions should come from the evidence and information you are presented with and not the other way around. If new information becomes available, some of those deductions may turn out to be incorrect. You accept it and continue with your theory in a way that best explains all the data you have available now. Simple.