#so yeah i like things that never explicitly happened but very well could have?

[hallofhelios]

coffee or tea • canon or fanfiction (fanon) • batman or superman • hot or cold • meadows or forests • lakes or the sea • water w/ ice or water w/ no ice • baths or showers • black or white • soup or salad • gold or silver • jewelry or no jewelry • money or power • kindness or respect • apples or oranges • flowers or succulents • digital notes or handwritten notes • science or history • ancient greece or ancient rome (Ancient Greece seems like a fake and magical place whereas I know far too many dirty details abt Ancient Rome) • jeans or sweats (leggings or comfortable trousers tbh. I’ve forgotten what it means to dress up and go out)

[multifandomlover01]

You Are My Sunshine

Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader (in mind but it’s not explicit I don’t think)

Key: Y/N = Your (First) Name

WC: ~700

No warnings, this is pure fluff

Summary: End of 1x4; Spencer’s 24th birthday but Spencer talks to and goes on a date with reader instead of JJ (not explicitly anti-JJ, reader simply takes her place)

Ep: 1x4

GIF credit: shivlinagirl

“Oh, I almost forgot. I have something for you.”

Gideon began rummaging around in his bag.

“Oh yeah?” Spencer asked, interest piqued.

“I forgot to give it to you at the party.”

Gideon produced a medium sized rectangular package.

“But you don’t give birthday presents.” Spencer said as he slowly took the gift from him.

Gideon said nothing, only looking at Spencer expectantly.

Spencer opened the present, which he could already tell was a book. He was excited. He loved books. And Gideon never gave anyone a birthday present. His excitement turned very quickly to confusion as he completely removed the wrapping.

“I already have this book.” Spencer stated simply.

“I know.”

“Why would you give me a copy of a book you knew I already had?” Spencer’s confusion only grew.

“I didn’t.”

“But-“

“Look at the front cover.”

Spencer did so. He was greeted with: “Property of Doctor Spencer Reid” in big black letters that were in his own handwriting.

“Hey! This is my copy! How did you get this?”

“From your apartment. Sorry.”

“I’m an FBI agent, I think I would know if someone had been in my apartment.”

“So am I. And I think I would be able to make it look like I wasn’t there.”

“Touché. So why’d you get this from my apartment just to give it back to me?”

“Because it happens to be someone’s favorite book.”

“Not mine. While I do appreciate it greatly, there are many other works I prefer to this one.”

“I wasn’t talking about you.”

“Then who?” Spencer was confused again.

“The only person who doesn’t consistently interrupt you when you’re talking about things that everyone else interrupts you or just walks away from you for talking about.”

“Y/N?” He looked over his shoulder at you. You were too engrossed in a book to notice.

“Exactly. Go talk to her about it. You ever done that before?”

“Talk to her in general or about the book?”

Gideon chuckled.

“The book.”

“Right. Uh, no. I knew she liked to read as she does so often, but I never knew this was her favorite book.”

“Well now you do. Happy Birthday.”

Spencer smiled.

“What do I say?”

“You always seem to know what to say to her. You seem to be able to talk with her more easily than you can with anybody else.”

Spencer nodded before standing up. He turned to walk towards you. He stopped and turned back.

“How did you know?” Not how he talked to you so easily. Not how he knew what your favorite book was. But how he knew that Spencer liked you.

“How do I know anything?” Gideon shrugged.

“Thank you.”

“You’re quite welcome.”

Spencer sat in the seat across the aisle from you, book in hand. He cleared his throat, causing you to look up from my book and in his direction. You smiled.

“Hi.”

“Hi. So, um…Gideon told me that this was your favorite book.”

“Yeah, it is. We had a conversation about books a week or so ago. Did he offer up the information or did you ask?”

“He told me. Is that ok?”

“It’s got you over here talking to me. So, yes, it’s ok.”

“Do you actually like talking to me?” Spencer asked you, looking down at his hands.

“Of course I do.”

“It-it’s just that…no one else seems to.”

“I’d say that’s their loss.”

“You really think that?” Spencer asked, looking back up at you with a hopeful expression.

“Sure I do.”

“Why?”

“Because I find you a very enjoyable person to talk to.” You smiled at him genuinely.

“You don’t find me annoying?”

“No. I like to listen to you talk.”

“Well I guess you are the only one on the team who doesn’t interrupt me.”

“Yeah…I hate when people do that…it’s so rude.”

“Really? Is that why…is that why you sometimes ask me later on what I was talking about?”

You nod.

“So you’re really interested in what I have to say?”

“Yes. I am.” You chuckle as you smile, still baffled as to how he’s not getting it yet that you actually like him and his ramblings.

[growling]

*average self-proclaimed safe space tumblr blog voice* I soooooo support people with schizophrenia that must be so hard to you anyway I just saw some weird looking woman talking to herself right outside my house im fearing for my life should I call the cops. Yeah dude I support all the adhd havers in the chat just try to pay attention when I talk to you it's not that hard it's like the least you could do to show some regard for the other human being in front of you. Like it's fine to have memory problems but why did you forget this one thing in particular that was important to me do you like not care or anything you should try harder. I am one of the only real mental health advocates to still exist in this world I hear your struggles that being said I hope I never get to meet one of those irl sociopaths or people with aspd whatever they call them now they're so freaky and they can blend into society so well you might never know if you're actually face to face with an actual socio i mean person with aspd in the store absolutely one of my biggest fears what if they torture me in their basement. I absolutely empathize with all the people in here suffering from delusions as long as they like, don't actually show it or have one concerning me that'd be highkey uncomfy leave me out of this dude im not talking to you until you get help, anyway my fav character from my anime just presumably died but i still think they actually survived im sooo delulu lol. We should push for more wheelchair accessibility in our cities I agree but like it's so difficult to tell how many people are actually disabled and who are actually faking it, like, ummm why did that "wheelchair" "user" guy stand up just now cover blown lmaoo…. Yeah I support people with facial differences but I still have a right to be disgusted you can't control my emotions anyway can you tag your selfies as #body horror this deeply triggering to me. Speaking of triggering can you also pleaseee hide your scars or at least warn us beforehand jesus do you know how many people genuinely do not want to see it. Here is my extremely fast strobing lights and flashing gifset #epilepsy. Yeah I loveee girls with bpd beautiful princess disorder am i right they're so interesting the stigma sucksssss i'd love to get to be one's favourite person as long as they don't actually have any of those weird or violent symptoms or don't go into any of their "episodes" near me like that's a bit dramatic….. I deeply feel for those who had underwent narcissistic abuse from the hands of an npd I think my shitty ex boyfriend was a narcissist too tbh #surviving narcissism here are 10 signs you are dealing with a narcissist and here's a tutorial on how to trigger a narc crash to epically own them anyway does anyone else think we should start enforcing mandatory castration of all the newly diagnosed narcs like you know what happens when they reproduce right. But I am willing to support them as long as they go to therapy to get that fixed it's just you know. Anyway sometimes hospitalisation is fine if they're genuinely a danger to themselves like what do you want them to go live on the streets or actually get help?? I support all the people dealing with being a professionally diagnosed disordered system and I think it's sooooo terrible how literally 99% of the youth population nowadays is purposefully faking it for attention I did my research (1 minute google search, 2 minute r/fakedisordercringe scrolling session and consulting a single system that agrees with me). It's just not believable to me that there's really that many people with it isn't it supposed to be rare… Also are we really sure all those alleged people in their heads are really real or just their imagination maybe all of them are actually faking it huh food for thought. I am very uncomfortable with nonverbal high support needs ppl actually having sex like consent is supposed to be explicitly verbal only and, are we really sure they can even consent arent they like basically children. You can't call me ableist I'm literally autistic

[kelogsloops]

putting this in the tumblr ask box bc idk where else to put it 🕺 does anyone even read these still

anyways i just woke up but i had a dream and you were a big part of it- i don’t want to say it was a nightmare or like a bad dream but like basically in the dream you announced that you would be quitting art and like retiring ig? it was for a few reasons but in that moment idk i just realized just how much you have had an influence on my life- you know that saying “you don’t know what you have until you lose it”? yeah…

honestly at first when i woke up i was so ready to call it a nightmare, like “oh my god?? you?? leaving?? forever?? noooo!” but as i’m sitting here awake now i realize eventually it’s probably gonna happen- maybe not in the way it was in my dream with you making a whole like announcement video and wiping your accs, but maybe quieter. i wonder if it’ll be that you stop making art, but i find that hard to imagine. i think it would happen slowly, less and less posts as the years go on. in my head even if you stop posting it, i’d think you’re still creating, making art for simply the sake of such. but then i think about how silly that thought is though, i don’t know you outside of your social media bubble. i don’t know your life and what happens there so to even assume something so quiet is pretentious of me. 

like i said, at first i thought it was a nightmare, i can’t bear the thought of you leaving one day- especially for the reasons you gave in my dream it was like “i gave up, arts getting too much for me, and things are so competitive now no one wants my art anymore…” blah blah blah. it was all my own stress as an artist manifesting onto you i think- but anyways i hope that should the day ever come where you do end up leaving your socials and whatnot, i can only hope that it’s out of your own accord and you do so because you want to, not out of pressure or anything like that. like i’m not saying i want you to quit or anything, but what i’m saying is if it happens i just hope it’s something that you chose on your own. i just don’t think i could ever stand that happening though without letting you know how much of an impact you’ve had on my life. 

i found your art when at a very developmental part of my life, so your work wether consciously or not i think has just become like a part of my brain wether conscious or not haha. whenever i go to draw even if i don’t explicitly go to look to your work for inspiration, it’s still there i can see it. it’s like just unconsciously ingrained at this point. but more than that though the whole idea of like “brb chasing dreams” and whatever and the whole idea that i feel you impart every time you share pieces of your journey as an artist to just keep going, i kind of stole that mantra for myself and started to tell myself that as well. even at my lowests, i’m still trying to follow that dream, even lost and i don’t know what direction i’m going in there’ll always be that dream as an anchor almost.

thank you for all that you’ve shared and thank you for being the biggest inspiration in my life. i know that’s quite dramatic to say, but i mean it in full honesty. whatever the future holds for you, i hope it’s kind. i hope you live a long life chasing all your dreams where at the end of the day, you’re happy. thank you. 

waking up to find a message like this in my inbox has me feeling t e a r y. it's reading stories like these and hearing how my work has impacted people that makes this all feel so surreal sometimes. the fact that people would even care if i stopped making art one day or just disappeared is crazy... i'm very fortunate!

i've resigned myself to the fact that sure, one day (but hopefully never) i won't be able to pursue a professional career as an artist anymore, but if there's one thing that i can promise, it's that there is no reality in where i stop making art!

i don't know if i show it enough, but to each and every one of you who have been part of my journey so far, thank you from the bottom of my heart. it's messages like these that pinch me and remind me how it's all so worth it

forever #brbchasingdreams

[ideas-4-stories]

Sfw omegaverse anon -

The "omega bestie" thing was smth Shanks probably told Luffy - ((Shanks sees a tiny unscented little pup all alone and went "Oh it's free real estate" /hj.)) In actuality, Makino raised Luffy for a good deal of time, but he is a rambunctious child, and I think he'd pester Shanks for stories and songs and all sorts of things. Shanks is a softie and so absolutely caved. Luffy learned a lot of the pirate's code from Shanks as a very small child and he treated it like GOSPEL, bc Shanks was, is and always will be his hero. So he definitely also got some very silly stories about Shanks' youth, and Buggy starred in more than a few, but never explicitly by name, it was always "my best friend" or "my packmate" or, on really sentimental evenings, "my baby brother".

When Luffy first met Buggy in Orangetown, the few braincells he has left sparked a connection - blue haired, sweet smelling, silly, greedy, trickster clown man? Blue haired, sweet smelling, silly, greedy, trickster omega packmate of his semi-adopted dad? Yes, that math is mathing. Small world. Anyway, gotta beat this clown. His hands are rated E for Everyone.

So yeah Luffy definitely knows Buggy is an omega, and when Buggy mentions "we served on the same crew", it just clicks. It's not really a big deal to him anyway, it feels stupid to care about that kind of stuff. You could not PAY him to care (but if you want to try, it's best to pay in food).

But yeah, Rayleigh and Crocus just both went "Ah, the kids will be fine" and then the kids went and were very much Not Fine At All. But that's a conversation for a different time.

Their parental instincts only kick in when Buggy gets flirted with or when Shanks gets hit on with complete seriousness for followup. It's both obnoxious and also funny.

Shanks gets a heart flutter, and by nightfall his denden is ringing bc Rayleigh is 🤏 close to swimming out there what is going on, red-?

When Crocodile and Mihawk finally get their shit straight and start the whole Courting Thing, the Dad Squad Of Remaining Rogers are in perfect synchrony detecting a Disturbance In The Sanctity Of Their Children.

Crocus calls Rayleigh. Rayleigh talks to Crocus. Neither have Buggy's number. How did that happen? Damn. If only Rayleigh lived with a woman who has an expansive information network where she can check for Buggy's contact information. If only Buggy was part of a widely known business with contact information for business needs. If only they considered this information and just how many options they DO have at hand.

Instead, they call Shanks - Shanks who is having a meltdown because "Bugs is growing up" and "two Alphas, really?!"

This does NOT bode well.

One prospective courtship is one thing. TWO simultaneous courtships are complicated. Those two Alphas enacting the courtship being former warlords, a mafia boss and the world's greatest swordsman, is something else entirely.

Crocus is sharpening his harpoon, debating his options. Rayleigh is seriously debating free swimming to the New World. Things are about to go DOWN and it's chaos all around.

Meanwhile, on Karai Bari, the Cross Guild Poly has finally hit the Holding Hands Stage, because they're stupid, silly and none of them are actually working with anything resembling game. Buggy blushes every time Mihawk pulls out his chair, he melts whenever Crocodile gets the door for him, and he's absolutely LOSING IT every time they ask him to spar.

Fighting has become their love language somehow and every time Buggy lands a hit of some kind, the others damn near swoon, which makes HIM swoon, and the crew and mercenaries are just watching this like the weirdest slow burn soap opera ever conceived.

Anyway yee I'm sleepy so I'm off, byyyeee~~~~

Shanks definitely did a Roger, looking at Luffy asks around who's child this is and proceeds to pick him up to Benn’s dismay (That is not paid enough to deal with his captain’s bullshit) Good thing Makino raising Luffy for a good bit of time. Luffy pestering Shanks for all sorts of things too, that's so Buggy.

Shanks talking about talking about Buggy without saying his name, I wonder why he won't say Buggy’s name to Luffy. Maybe Shanks didn't want Luffy to go and find his packmate, but that didn't matter when Luffy met Buggy. Good thing Luffy has some braincells after all that training Garp put him through. And the ‘Yes, that math is mathing. Small world. Anyway, gotta beat this clown. His hands are rated E for Everyone’ Yeah that's so Luffy, like damn he don't spare anyone.

Not Rayleigh and Crocus thinking that Buggy and Shanks will be fine. Indeed that is a conversation for a different time. I understand that Crocus would of given the kids a few things they would need in life while Rayleigh probably like I taught shit, you are good. And dips into the night without saying goodbye to grieve his captain and be with Shakky (for some reason that seems like he would do that. Its a headcanon)

THEN not their parental instincts kicking when Buggy gets flirted with or when Shanks gets hit on with complete seriousness for fucking followup. OH NOOOOOOOOOOO, that’s not how parental instincts should be (I mean to be fair, neither were planning on having kids probably, but then Roger metting those two happened, but like… dudes that’s not how it’s supposed to work)-(Indeed it’s obnoxious and also kind of funny if you ignore that’s not parental instincts should work…) Shanks getting scolded by Rayleigh when his heart’s fluttering, I wonder who that person is, anyway Mihawk and Crocodile getting their shit together and start trying to court Buggy (you know he’ll first think that they are threahing him, so it takes sometime)

Started laughing at ‘the Dad Squad Of Remaining Rogers are in perfect synchrony detecting a Disturbance In The Sanctity Of Their Children’ I love that, you know it’s not only Rayleigh and Cronus because most of the veteran Roger Pirates helped raised them too (hc/)

Crocus and Rayleigh not having Buggy’s number is so them… but what if it’s the same number he always had and they think it’s the wrong number now? Have they bothered to check? Or if they had, Buggy had openly said it wasn’t Buggy’s number? There could be so much more drama, but anyway yeah if ony Rayleigh lived with a woman that can find people’s numbers because she got that information network, if only Rayleigh knows where his child’s business is, oh no it’s too sad that they can’t find anything…

THEY CALLED SHANKS! Oh no! That’s the last place to call to find Buggy and to check if he’s alright! That man is fucking drunk, crying, ranting and raving about this! Oh dear! RIP to Crocodile and Mihawk, even the littlest teasing bullying their clown will land them in bad graces if those men see it (dear gods what if they found out they beat the shit of Buggy one day, that’s when shit would it the fan. Buggy’s followers will have a fucking telenovela to watch, they just need to be a safe distance away because holy shit someone might fucking died in the crossfire) Truly things are about to go DOWN and it's chaos all around… “Big News” Morgan would having the time of his fucking life with this.

Meanwhile on Karai Bari Island, where nobody knows about what might happened later down the line! Awwwwwwwwww, they are now in the Hand Holding Stage!!! That’s so cute! It took awhile because of so many things, good thing they worked it out.

Mihawk and Crocodile being gentlemen to Buggy is amazing, and them asking to spar is like BIG invalidation for him. Fighting and bullying each other (affectionately) is definitely one of their love language. Truly is like the weirdest slow burn soap opera ever conceived.

[cookiesupplier]

Every Rose Has Its Thorns - Part Thirty-Nine

pairing: Ricky Olson x ofc x Chris 'Motionless' Cerulli

warnings/tropes: slow burn, soulmates, strangers to enemies to lovers, betrayal, angst, fluff, smut, language, online bullying, panic attacks, stalking, mental health issues, conspiracy theories.

summary: In a world where soulmates inexplicably receive a tattoo that will match that of their soulmate the moment they turn eighteen years old, being famous and covered in very visible tattoos can make finding your true soulmate a questionable fate. For everyone involved.

author’s note: Adding a bit of a trigger warning to this one, as it does involve the rabbit hole of the science of soulmates here. Sort of Conspiracy Theories maybe?

To read from the beginning, check out the Masterlist Here!

tags: @tearfallpixie @cncohshit @jordynyingling0219 @faceless-mirror @nyxthedestroyerofworlds @wild-child-7747 @witchyweeb34 @black-damask1999 @jilliemiw86 @ilovesamkiszka @lyschko666 @lacktoesandtoddlerants @bngurngheart @collapsedglasshouses @laurpartyprogram @sunsshinesunny @malerieee @talialovesmiw @shilohrosechicken @thatchickwiththecamera @tamtam-elizabeth

Tag List is Open, please let me know if you would like to be added to it or in general.

They almost didn’t make it back to the house in time to call Micah, and Chris certainly didn’t want to call him just anywhere. Doing that would up the risk that someone might overhear the conversation, and considering how everything had gone so far, he really didn’t want that happening. So he was glad that by the time that Micah had denoted in the message was ticking around, they had just barely managed to make it in the door. Ricky had already pried the phone out of the plastic cage that was the packaging that the burner phone came in, he’d been too impatient not to do it while Chris was driving back in the car. Now they were home, sitting down on the couch, Chris glanced at Ricky as he set the notepad down on the coffee table so he could enter the number Micah had given him.

Hopefully they weren’t late, well, they were late he supposed, but only five minutes, not too late and Micah wouldn’t take the call, who knows how punctual this kind of thing was. Neither of them were really spies, he was a musician, Micah was a science nerd, neither of them did things like this. Or at least, he never thought Micah did things like this, now he might just wonder. Playing with the ring he was currently wearing on his finger, he’d needed one today, he’d known he would need one, spinning it around and around his finger as the call tone continued to ring. He set the phone on the table and turned on the speaker, so Ricky could hear everything too, and just then, it connected with a click,

“Chris?”

Thank fuck, it was Micah, the message was real, he wasn’t just yanking his chain with a joke after all.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m here.”

“Oh, thank god, you worked out the message, I was starting to think I’d made it too complicated.”

Chris felt nothing but absolute relief that Micah actually sounded so much more like the man that he actually knew this time around, and he could even hear the other man’s wife in the background. He must have gone home from the office for the call. If he was right, she was asking something along the lines, is he okay, is everything okay.. Fuck.. What the hell was going on that she was worried about him in all of this as well?

“Well, you almost did, I had some help though, but Micah, what the hell, man, what was with the code, what is with the secrecy? Fucking hell, you are freaking me out here.”

Hearing the sigh on the other end, Chris held his breath,

“Your tattoo has changed, hasn’t it, everything you were telling me about your friend, and the jokes, the stories.. You were trying to be a cryptic as I was, Chris that was smart, I’ll give you that. Have you talked to anyone else?”

“I might have posted on message boards, but no one knows it’s me with that account, I haven’t explicitly reached out to anyone else. You were the first on my very short list, and you freaked me out so bad I didn’t want to call anyone else yet.”

“Good, shit, that’s good, don’t call anyone else Chris, whatever you do, don’t so that, at all. This could end very badly.”

“Shit.”

Did he want to know, did he fucking want to know.

“How so?”

Chris swallowed as but it wasn’t him that asked, he looked over at Rick when he spoke up, there was a silent pause on the other end of the line from Micah, the hesitation obvious.

“Who is that?”

“Uh, Micah, this is Rick, he is, we think he is one of the people who are involved with the changing of my tattoo. It’s, it’s a long story, but it involves more than just my tattoo changing, but also the effect of the trauma bond theory causing a sensation feedback in the soulmate bond, which now seems to have linked me to Ricky and his soulmate Talia as well.”

Holding his breath as he got all that out, waiting for what Micah would say to that. There was a long, tense moment of silence on the other end of the line from the other man before Chris might have heard the man swear in a language he didn’t recognise. How did he know he was swearing? You know that feeling in your gut, and the heavy sigh in which it came out of Micah over the phone, Chris just knew, he knew, this couldn’t be good.

“That was actually why I concocted the story this morning, I didn’t want to tell you everything, not wanting to bring them into it. Talking to you about my tattoo was one thing, but dragging them along was another, and I wasn’t sure how much I planned on telling you.”

Admitted to Micah after a moment earned him a sigh from the man, and a weary chuckle from the other end.

“Smart, Chris, I would say this complicates things, but the truth is, this was always going to be complicated, because you can’t tell anyone what’s happening. Delete your messages on the boards, hell, wipe your whole account to make it harder to track you if someone digs through the message archives to find them.”

Hearing Ricky swearing under his breath next to him, and Chris was in agreement, this was definitely bad, it even the message boards were a problem, then-

“Micah, why-”

“We sometimes follow the chats on the different soulmate boards to see what everyone is talking about. Especially when there is a lull in research. This would be a prime line of study, prime Chris, because it's a tangible subject for study, and even possible to subject to testing. Most theories stay just that, conjecture, theoretical, this is something we could test and study.”

Chris glanced over at Ricky, he’d called it alright, and that gave him a cold feeling down his spine, no testing. Swallowing, silence hung between the three of them.

“What can you tell me Micah, I need something here, anything. Please, don’t just leave it like this. Whether it’s a theory about what’s going on, even better, why the hell I need to hide it, please? Because, hiding something like this, I-” People he loved, he trusted, they knew his soulmate was dead, what was he supposed to do, lie to them? Then again, sure he didn’t walk around with his shirt off, showing off his tattoo much anyway, so it wasn’t like they’d see anything had changed really any different, but it didn’t mean he wanted to lie. It felt like a lie if he hid something so important to him from those he cared about on purpose. 

“The theory is flimsy at best, until now anyway. Firstly, the trauma response with the sensations in the soul bond has a better track record than this one, to be honest. So let's start with the theory, nicer to talk about frankly. Firstly, it was entirely a story, conjecture, it started as a joke. Most of us dismissed it as water cooler talk, but it's almost like a, a second chance soulmate idea, so to speak. After a soulmate dies, eventually, once you’ve settled, say you bond with someone, whose bond isn’t tangible and complete, so in a sense their bond is flexible, allowing them to bond with you, and you to bond with them. This is the point where your mark then would start changing to match theirs, or theirs to match yours, depending on the circumstance. Now, the catch, is their bond, would have to be damaged too. Whether their soul mate having died, or it would seem in your case, a trauma case, now have you.. bonded, with both of them, wow. Really, both of them, is that willing or? What about their side of it, how do they feel about that..” There was silence over the phone call then, Chris didn’t know how to answer that, it wasn’t new to Chris how sometimes Micah could ask personal questions, not always realising that there could be a boundary there. He was a little be of an awkward social duck as it were. He figured it was in his world of science that it bred curiosity. Chris swallowed at the look Ricky gave him then.

“Um, Micah, out of respect for Ricky, who is glaring at me right now, and Talia who isn’t even here to defend herself, I’d really like to keep the conversation as factual as possible, and less about effects of our potential interpersonal relationship please.”

Clearing his throat as Micah stuttered on the other end of the line, and Chris had to smirk as he heard the man’s wife almost howling like a banshee with laughter in the background. Whether she knew what they were talking about or not, she knew the signs of when her semi-socially inept husband had metaphorically stepped in something he shouldn’t have. 

Ricky wasn’t even going to touch on how fucking hilarious it was to hear the women cackle in the background at the man’s social faux pas. Yet also at the same time annoyed that a stranger was passing judgement on their potential relationship, what right did this guy have when he was being shady as fuck about all of this before? Fuck that, but it did bring to mind what he had been thinking about last night, about the tattoos. The relationship being the three of them, about the tattoos, how he’d never heard of a soulmate bond between three people, how could it even be possible.

Did he ask, did he dare?

“When it comes to your theory, and I am aware it's just a theory, so asking this is probably reaching, intensely so. I would however be interested in your opinion from an observational point of view, considering you study soulmate tattoos and their effects.”

Swallowing, Ricky paused, shit, how was he going to put this, silence hung in the air..

“Continue..”

“I mean, Chris joining the bond, what are the odds that he’ll replace one of the other members of the bond, that one of our marks will be, destroyed because the bond is, well, um, ruined?”

Ricky swallowed, thinking about the worry about his tattoo just disappearing, and yes, he was thinking that even if he was struggling, he didn’t want to lose the possibility of something developing between them.

“Theory aside Ricky, no one has ever just, lost, their tattoo. Even the dead retain their mark. While they are white along with the change their soulmate experiences, they still bare the mark. No one ever loses their mark, not in the history of the tattoos, has that ever been recorded.”

That, was actually a relief, smiling, that actually made him feel so much better. This all actually sounded like a good theory, especially for Chris, and Ricky couldn’t say he was all that disappointed either. Chris was his best friend, if he was going to be bonded to an extra person in his life, he’d want it to be Chris.

“Alright, okay, I’m going to be honest here, none of this sounds like a problem Micah, so, why the secrecy and the terrifying warnings to never speak of this to anyone, ever?”

He had said he’d tell them, even though talking about the theory was easier as he said, and hearing Micah hesitate now, he was obvious he didn’t want to talk about it. With the secrecy, Ricky wasn’t going to want to let it go if he tried to hedge. Thankfully, after a pause, he did start talking.

“I mentioned that with the change in the tattoo, the actual visual change, this would be a prime theory that could be used for testing, right?”

“You did, why?”

Ricky asked carefully.

“Okay, so, at the height of the testing craze when the last changes showed, which was the deceased soulmate change..”

That had been so very long ago, when they first discovered soulmate tattoos turned white with the soulmate's death. Micah paused,

“It got bad, it was a rat race. Corners were cut, reports were, mishandled, subjects were, frankly mistreated. People died, and it was covered up, or blatantly ignored. Others, they were so depressed, it was just blamed on the fact that these people had just lost their soulmate that it was easy to claim that they succumbed to their grief.”

Ricky was horrified hearing this, but the worst part was, he wasn’t surprised. He remembered the fanatical papers that Chris had told him about. Some of the testing that had been done on people trying to understand just what connected the soulmate marks to begin with. That was the normal bonds, not the ones when they had changed from their soulmates dying. He didn’t even want to know what kind of tests they had done on those people. Not to mention, he didn’t even want to imagine what tests they might devise for Chris, Talia, or him.

“Couple that with a trauma bond between the three of you, and they’d have two theories to test in one, and throw in a control group? The whole soulmate research division is so desperate for any tangible, testable studies, they will throw anyone that gets in their way under the bus. Chris, I am terrified what could happen. Ethically, I wouldn’t be allowed to know anything that happens to you if you got involved, because I already know you, I am your friend. I wouldn’t be able to protect you.”

Ethically, right, they’d use Micah’s ethics against him just so he couldn’t protect Chris, but all of their ethics sounded like they would be out the window basically! Even before he heard Micah continue, Rick didn’t need more convincing, he didn’t need to hear another word to know he wasn’t going to utter anything to anyone about Chris’ mark. He would however protect him no matter the cost.

“Chris, are you still there?”

He’d fallen silent as Micah talked, just thinking about what he was saying, thinking about the fact that people he had respected for years had gone crazy testing people and put them in danger in the worst way. Holy shit.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m here.”

Swallowing, his voice low, quiet, he didn’t know what to say though.

“Are you okay, Ricky, is he okay?”

“Give him a minute to process.”

“I’m fine, Micah, I’m fine, I won’t talk to anyone if that’s what you’re worried about. Not about you, and not about my tattoo. We’re okay.”

Hearing Micah sigh,

“I know this is going to sound horrible, but it’s probably better, safer, if we cut off contact for good now. Keep this phone, I’ll contact you on this number if something happens, say if your name comes up and I have to warn you, I will do everything I can not to let anything happen to you, to any of you.”

Chris nodded,

“Thanks, Micah, that means a lot.”

Saying goodbye, Chris hung up the phone, he had so much going through his head now, and he had no idea where to start sorting it out. He had two new soulmates, or at least, that was the theory. Two new soulmates, and he couldn’t tell anyone. At least, he couldn’t tell anyone that he didn’t trust with his life, trust to keep their mouths shut. Who was he to ask someone to keep a secret like that, though? At least his tattoo was going to be easier to hide their Ricky’s and Talia’s on their neck!

Dividers by @saradika-graphics (Roses) & @cafekitsune (MDNI)

[dootznbootz]

I went on tiktok to just watch some silly Odysseus videos but then I mostly saw people going like "Yeah, maybe Odysseus cried on Calypso' island every day but honestly he had that coming after what he did Achilles and Patroclous/Circe!!!" and "Everything that happens in Odyssey is deserved cuz he took Patrochilles to war!!!" and "I feel so bad for Circe and Calypso and Penelope, they deserved better!!!"

For fucks sake I beg you, read anything different from Millers bs and like educate yourself- And please stop goddamn saying that rape victim. deserved it.

Circe probably didn't give a flying fuck, Calypso is a rapist and abuser and Penelope deserved everything she wanted and SHE WANTED ODYSSEUS

I think I've had enough internet for today, imma go wash my eyes with bleach. Anyways sorry for ranting here, i hope you don't mind it lmao

It's alright. I absolutely understand the vents about the whole thing. :'D No one deserves to be a victim of such a thing no matter WHAT they've done. I hope your eyes are okay after the bleach

Like Odysseus does so many fucked up things but Calypso and Circe? He is the victim. Period. It's very clear that Odysseus is in extreme distress on Ogygia. And Circe wasn't some sort of FwB situation. There's fear and numbness in the language he uses when talking about it. There's so much victim blaming and it SUCKS.

While back then it probably wouldn't be considered SA but now? It clearly is.

Even then, Odysseus' journey was kind of about "temptation" or just straight up "Die or get out of my sea." From Poseidon. "I don't want you in my waters so I'm gonna try and give you things that will keep you on land or just kill you."

Immortal goddesses wanting you would be many people's dream come true but not for Odysseus. And I think that's the point. His determination, how he clawed his way back into the arms he never wanted to leave in the first place, is incredible. Many people would've given up and just started a new life but he never would because no life he could ever create would compare to the life he had before. Even if it's different, it's what he's always wanted.

He literally tells Calypso "I'm not stopping until I'm home. I don't care if I suffer more until I do. I'm going home."

“Mighty goddess, do not be angry with me over this. I myself know very well Penelope, although intelligent, is not your match                                          to look at, not in stature or in beauty. But she’s a human being and you’re a god. You’ll never die or age. But still I wish, every moment to get back to my home,                                                       to see the day of my return. And so, even if out there on the wine-dark sea some god breaks me apart, I will go on— the heart here in my chest is quite prepared to bear affliction. I’ve already had so many troubles, and I’ve worked so hard                                  through waves and warfare. Let what’s yet to come be added in with those.”

(Book 5, Johnston)

Circe's a goddess and what happened is nothing like Dionysus and Ariadne and Apollo and Hyacinthus for example. Circe never gave Odysseus a crown of stars and he would never go out of his way to kill 120 people for bothering her. They did not love each other and he can't refuse as she's a goddess.

If you interpret them sleeping together the entire year,(It's only explicitly said that they had sex once so that's what I go with personally.) that doesn't mean he was happy with it! Even then, the whole situation is not what a healthy FwB should look like! I'm asexual and even I know that no one in a FwB situation should have to BEG in any way that basically says "Please let me go or kill me" with supplication!!! The fact that he leaves so quickly he forgets one of his men? The fact that during Elpenor's funeral, he doesn't greet Circe himself? He was avoiding her. Wouldn't he want to get "one last night together" during Book 12 if they were fwb? 🙄

It's bonkers to me that people hate him for being a "cheater" when A.) having multiple lovers wasn't uncommon in Ancient Greece, and B.) the two people he is explicitly said to have "cheated" with, weren't his choice. He wasn't actively searching for pretty women either!!!

As mentioned, while it was common for men to have many lovers, Odysseus never had any listed unlike some of the other men. (not bashing any of them. I'm just making a point in comparison.) He also has no other children besides Telemachus in Homer's works. There's no evidence of him having other lovers other than speculation. (funny enough, I once read somewhere that the reason why Odysseus is so mean is because he doesn't "bond" enough with the other soldiers. 😂)

Does that mean he didn't have other lovers? Technically, Nope! It's just never explicitly stated either way. He has slaves but none were ever said to be concubines or that he sleeps with them. He has deep bonds with his fellow soldiers but that doesn't mean he sleeps with them. That doesn't mean people can't write or talk about him doing so even though it's not mentioned! Just like it also means that someone can write him not doing so as there's nothing that says it either way in Homer's Works! :D

It's fucked up when people say "He didn't try to leave Calypso enough" or something of the like. It just tells you how A.) they didn't read the Odyssey or have piss on the poor reading comprehension or B.) ...you should probably stay away from that person...

With Circe though??? I can understand the confusion but digging deeper and looking at the text, he wasn't having a good time. Or at the very least was walking on Eggshells the whole time. I hate bringing up that essay over and over again but like...I literally wrote everything there.

I also don't like how people take Circe's morally gray-ness away from her. Let her do something fucked up to be fucked up!!! Let her traumatize Odysseus!

Idk, I kind of hate that I'm "known" for this but I relate to this idiot asshole a lot and it means a lot to me that his story, despite what happens to him, has a happy ending :'D

[nofomogirl]

Before the Beginning (part 1.4.)

Part 1.1. | Part 1.2. | Part 1.3. | Part 1.5. |

Part 2.1. | Part 2.2. | Part 2.3. |

Yes, hello, I have another scene I'd like to analyze.

It's the one in the Companion to Owls minisode, when Aziraphale and Crowley (and technically Job's kids in the form of three newts in a pot but I think we can ignore their presence) are in the basement waiting out the storm. They're relatively relaxed - the angel gorging on ox ribs and the demon enjoying his wine - and have a very interesting conversation.

Here's the whole thing:

A: Come on, you're a little bit on our side. C: Not even the littlest. A: Well, you're not on Hell's side. C: I go along with Hell as far as I can. A: So, whose side are you on? C: My side. A: Gosh. Well, that sounds... C: What? A: Lonely. C: Lonely? No, not lonely. Whose side are you on? A: God's, of course! C: Oh, really? The same God that wants me to whack the kids? A: Yes. But... C: Yeah... That's just how it started for me. See you in Hell.

What I want to address today isn't anything new, but it needs to be written. At least so that you knew where I stand. Anyway, it's no less exciting for being widely discussed already. I mean, is any of us tired of digging into the concept of sides? No, didn't think so. Having our boys talk about it, and so explicitly too, will never not be a treat and never not worth another meta.

So here I go: yes, I do believe Aziraphale is heavily misguided and confused about the whole thing, and it's the root of many issues in both seasons.

This whole exchange is a perfect example.

God had an argument with Satan about whether Job's faith was conditional. The man was exceptionally devoted but so far he experienced nothing but good fortune. But what if he didn't? What if he had to suffer the loss of everything he cared about?

They decided to find out.

Hell wanted Job to fail. To crack under all the misery and renounce God. Heaven... it's hard to tell really. I guess Heaven wanted Job to remain faithful so that God could win the bet but I think if he failed and needed to be punished it wouldn't be so terrible either.

What is crucial, however, is that both sides wanted the test to happen. They both wanted Job to suffer so they could see what happens.

Aziraphale knew it. But despite knowing it, despite all the facts staring him in the face, when Crowley had saved the lives of Job's goats and Job's children, it somehow led Aziraphale to the conclusion that the demon is still on Heaven's side. It really couldn't have been any plainer how skewed the angel's perception is because such deduction had never been more of a stretch than it was in that particular instance.

I believe there are two assumptions that Aziraphale clings to that cloud his judgment so much.

The first is something that many people in the fandom have pointed out already - Aziraphale conflates and confuses goodness, Heaven, and God. It's not a perfect equivalence, obviously, but the distinction is muddled.

The second assumption is that there are two opposite camps and everything that exists belongs to either one or the other. Yes, Aziraphale's thinking is extremely binary, and we should never forget about it. Sometimes it isn't just about good and evil for him; sometimes it's simply the inability to imagine third space.

When Aziraphale claims Crowley is a little bit on Heaven's side, we can see both assumptions at work.

#1: Crowley must be a little on Heaven's side because he had done something unquestionably good - he saved Job's goats and children - and being and doing good makes you affiliated with Heaven by default.

#2: Crowley must be a little on Heaven's side because he didn't do what Hell wanted - kill Job's goats and children - and opposing Hell is the same as endorsing Heaven.

The latter is also evident in Aziraphale's reaction to Crowley's denial - he points out Crowley is not on Hell's side as if it proved anything because in his mind it does - and confusion when Crowley tells him where he sees himself standing.

It doesn't help to see flaws in that logic that most of the time Aziraphale applies it to Crowley but not to himself. We may scoff at it but I actually find it understandable. Not logical, obviously, but easy to empathize with. Thinking that Crowley is still good and belongs with Heaven in some way is hardly a troubling thought. But contemplating the analogical idea that if Aziraphale himself doesn't do what Heaven wants then he might belong with Hell is downright terrifying.

It does come up at the end of the basement scene.

Crowley draws Aziraphale's attention to what the angel was avoiding - that God wanted Crowley to "whack the kids". Crowley wasn't defying Hell any more than Aziraphale was defying Heaven. When Aziraphale hesitates, seeing how perhaps doing what God wants and doing the right thing might not be the exact same thing here, Crowley points out this is how it started for him. That's exactly how you depart from Heaven, and if you depart from Heaven you end up in Hell.

We can see how it starts dawning on Aziraphale, and how he immediately pushes that extremely unpleasant thought away and goes back to his ox.

But he does face it in the end, in the heartwrenching finale of the episode. And what he's told? That nobody needs to know and nothing has to change. He is basically encouraged not to think about it. So he doesn't.

It's all too painful for either of them to discuss further so they leave it at that, allowing each other to fit what happened into their respective worldview, and make assumptions about each other.

There's much more in that scene but I'm going to bookmark it for a later date.

I hope to conclude part 1 in the next post. Wish me luck and inspiration!

[ineffabildaddy]

post-ineffable divorce hatefucky ficlet (featuring fem!crowley)

so, i banged a quick one out (no pun intended) late last night after this exchange with @actual-changeling, plus some encouragement from @crowleyslvt in the dms

summary: aziraphale and fem!crowley are hatefucking on the regs post-ineffable divorce. despite setting out some ground rules, they can't help breaking them…

obviously, this ficlet is of an explicitly sexual nature, so please proceed with caution!!!

-

They had settled into a rhythm. Crowley liked that. Well, she didn't like it, but it was easier than the alternative.

Every panting breath Aziraphale released was pronounced. Beads of sweat which looked suspiciously like tears tumbled down his flushed cheeks. He was fucking Crowley with the best dick he'd ever manifested; her splayed out on the nearest table they had come upon moments earlier, him in a standing position, rutting into her with the grunts and groans of a furious wounded animal.

Crowley appeared positively relaxed as she leaned back on her hands, head tilted upwards slightly, the cascading crimson waves of her hair falling over her tits, with her legs enveloping his hips so he could fuck her deeper. Not only did she have a delectable view of Aziraphale unravelling before her, but from this position, she was also able to maintain the distance required to keep her from grabbing at him, or kissing him, or worse - crying her fucking eyes out.

In other words, she had everything under control.

That is, until Aziraphale, without leaning forward, wrapped one hand around her neck.

Wordlessly, he continued to thrust into her without breaking eye contact. She stifled a whimper as the pad of his thumb pressed into her skin with disarming gentleness. Sporting a pair of pupils as dilated as Aziraphale had ever seen them, Crowley clasped Aziraphale's occupied wrist with both hands and clung on for dear life. Though uttering a moan would be conceding to him too much, she knew that with the minimal effort of keening a couple of times through deep breaths, she could drive him dangerously close to insanity.

So, that was what she did, glaring back into Aziraphale's eyes with an intensity that she would certainly regret if she was able to perceive the look that adorned her own face. Aziraphale's countenance betrayed nothing, but for a split second, Crowley felt his thumb move markedly downwards, as if he was determining whether or not to caress her with it.

Then, Aziraphale let go.

"Bad girl."

As his arm fell to his side, so did both of Crowley's hands. Her heart did that thing where it's sort of like - what was that cruise ship called that went down about a century ago? Well, yeah, it did a thing rather like that.

"Fuck you," Crowley spat back, with such bile that a flash of guilt immediately assaulted her gut.

"Very bad girl," Aziraphale retaliated without so much as a moment's pause while he continued fucking her. "What happens to bad girls, my-" he broke off and cleared his throat. His voice rang out an octave lower the second time he attempted to speak the same sentence. "What happens to bad girls?"

"B-bad girls don't come." The stammer that accompanied Crowley's speech was borne more out of confusion than anything else. She still failed to understand why Aziraphale insisted on establishing that each time they fucked - after all, he never kept his word. She came more than he did, every time, but her orgasms were not administered with the patience or the tenderness required for her to really lose herself in them. Instead, they wounded and incensed her (but not as much as they drove her wild with passion, and the desire for a warmer, more rewarding form of intimacy with him; no, never as much as that).

"That's right," Aziraphale growled. "Touch me like that again and..."

Crowley raised an eyebrow, waiting patiently for the end of Aziraphale's statement. She rolled her hips and felt Aziraphale's dick hit just the right spot as she did so, serving as a reminder that two could play this game.

"... You are impossible."

Despite knowing better, Crowley wanted so badly for him to be right. She grinned a grin which didn't quite reach her eyes while Aziraphale's nails sunk into her thighs just hard enough that, if she were human, they would've drawn blood.

-

thank you for reading!! tagging @celestialcrowley @procrastiel @sad-chaos-goblin @genderqueer-hippie @crowleys-bentley-and-plants @dancingcrowley

feedback is very much appreciated<3 i've posted the ficlet on ao3 too so if you'd like to leave kudos and a comment there, that'd be incredible!!!

[dearparrishh]

here are the different possible byler endings, and why i don’t think (or do think) they will happen.

1 - mike accepts will after he comes out and moves on with his life

honestly, the fact that anyone thinks this will happen is the funniest thing ever. how can anyone think will is going to spill his feelings extremely openly (whether telling mike about his crush on him or not) and mike will just be like “oh, cool, thanks for telling me dude”. its the 80’s, may i remind you. i’m not saying everyone was homophobic back then, but it wasn’t seen as ‘normal’ to be gay, so the idea that they will just make mike have a very bland or ‘nice/kind’ reaction just isn’t it, not when mike and will have been best friends for years and regardless of whether you react well or not, it’s a big thing to learn about a person, especially considering how ‘unconventional’ it was in the 80’s. will being gay is a storyline that ESPECIALLY in s4 has been pushed to the extremities it can without explicitly stating ‘will is gay’, and for mike, will’s best friend AND will’s longtime crush to have a bland, kind of nice response, would be literally the shittest writing ever.

2 - mike doesn’t accept him

i think we all know this won’t happen. to throw away 4 seasons of best friendship between mike and will is such horrid writing, mainly because it’s just something that doesn’t have to happen. will has already gone through indescribable traumas, and currently believes that the one person, his best friend, who he has been in love with for years, will never love him back and has in fact come to accept this. to end his already heartbreaking arc by making the first and only person we know he has had any canonical romantic feelings for not only reject him but also not accept him, proceeding to make his arc end depressingly, is just such awful writing. also the simple fact that he has already accepted mike will never love him back already, before s5, raises the fact that unless mike does like will back, there’s not many other deep or exciting ways to end their arc, ending a whole 4 season long deep and complex relationship in either a bland or very awful way.

3 - mike accepts will while experiencing an inner turmoil

ambiguos byler ending is not it, not at all. again, no clever director would ever do this, I PROMISE. this just leads to so many questions, the main one being ‘why is mike experiencing this inner turmoil?’, because to anyone who doesn’t care that much (the ga), mike could accept will, no questions asked, with the kind of bullshit excuses of ‘they are best friends and he loves him (platonically)’ or he doesn’t accept him, and ‘it wasn’t typical or normal to be openly gay in the 80’s’, but, in all seriousness, regardless of how little i want those things to happen, (ESPECIALLY the latter) they have more depth and meaning than a ‘will he won’t he’ kind of ending. that would be horrendous writing, especially when said relationship has been built up for 4 seasons, and they couldn’t even end it with purpose or strength. that is never going to happen.

4 - byler endgame (mike accepts will AND himself)

try and tell me it wouldn’t be the incredible writing to have one closeted gay character and another closeted gay character, one with internalised homophobia and the other with acceptance that his crush will never like him back, happening to be best friends, and ending up together. not to mention, making mike anything other than gay with internalised homophobia would be throwing away a perfectly good character that could have had brilliant writing, because it would mean his whole thing from s3-4 would literally just be because he’s a bitch. not to mention it would be really awful writing because, it’s not like mikes character gets tremendously worse, he just, gets progressively more annoying and bland for 3 whole seasons? yeah, you can’t convince me that that is even the slightest bit likely. because mike was kind of all you could want in a character for s1-2. how come he literally just becomes a shit friend and an even shitter boyfriend for absolutely no reason whatsoever, simply to remove any of the great qualities he had in s1-2? like, that would just be so odd and weirdly written. not to mention the completely unnecessary fact of will having a crush on mike in the first place. like, it didn’t need to happen, and the idea that they will just make will even sadder than he already is due to everything he has faced over the past years by making the first and only person he has only every canonically romantically loved reject him and/or not accept him, consequently having his arc end awfully, would just be awful awful writing. and may i remind you of this scene, one that single handedly secures my hopes in byler endgame :

[starrynightzie]

I mostly wanted this acc to be specifically for art, not rly for anything else but i need to get this off my chest. Obviously if you’ve been on twitter, you’ve probably seen a lot (and i mean a LOT) of hate towards gay ships/shippers recently, (first w togachako, then w stsg) i wanna address all the weird shit thats been happening w jjk dudebros lately. Idk what it is but they’re rly upsetti spaghetti abt even the mere thought of stsg being more than platonic besties, going so far as to shoot down any hint of them being romantically inclined in the slightest - so i thought that i’d take it upon myself to provide poof that stsg has queer, romantic subtext since ppl are being extremely obtuse abt them, all for the sake of protecting their friendship from us evil gays. (other shippers do this too but im mostly focusing on dudebros bc they’re the ones primarily acting like assholes to us for no reason, like yeah, sure, some stsgs are extremely cringey & weird but that can be said for ANY shipper in ANY fandom. When you’re in a fandom as big as this, of course there’s gonna be some bad eggs, it’s inevitable.

ok so. !!DISCLAIMER!! i do not speak japanese, so if i say something incorrect then please correct me. i’ve done enough research to be sure that what im saying is right, but im only human, and sometimes, i might be wrong. so, take what im abt to say with a grain of salt. (just in case).

first off, it should be stated that gege akutami, the creator himself, is an avid bl fan (and ik what ur thinking, ‘oh, that doesn’t mean anything! just bc u read bl, it doesn’t mean you’re likely to write gay relationships into ur own manga!’ which is true, gege HAS said that he doesn’t want to write romance in jjk. HOWEVER, as much as i love stsg & see them in a romantic light, i do definitely think that the reason why their relationship feels so ambiguous is bc gege intentionally made it that way. i think he made their relationship up to the individual’s interpretation. And for ppl who’re thinking ‘why would he do that?’ well, he doesn’t like writing romance, right? so this is the next best thing he could do. and also i have to point out (in case ppl get defensive), gege literally does not and will never care if ppl ship stsg or not, again, he’s a bl fan and if anything - all of the evidence that im going to talk abt proves that he most likely ships stsg himself, so… 🤷‍♂️

2. i’d like to talk about s2’s op & ed which are HEAVILY romantically coded. If you don’t know, the op was written to be from gojo’s pov & vice versa with geto for the ed, the op in particular is a very special case. The song is explicitly abt reminiscing the past , wishing gojo had noticed geto’s sorrow sooner and it also mentions a ‘silent love’. the word ‘love’ being used here is ‘koi’ which EXCLUSIVELY means romantic love… now, since this song was specifically written with gojos pov in mind, doesnt it seem kind of weird to have the word for ‘romantic love’ in there?? (koi can be referred to as ‘young love’ or having a ‘crush’ on someone…. hm… ThAts WeIrD.) instead of using ‘ai’??? which would make more sense if stsg were just besties bc ai is more general and can be used towards friends & family.

and then ofc there’s the whole theme of ‘blue spring’. director park (who directed s1 & jjk 0) has stated in an interview that geto was gojo’s last warm spring of youth. now if you dont know, spring of youth/blue spring means a time in a young person’s life where they have hope and happiness… in animanga, it often means falling in love too… so judging by this, it seems very likely that gojo perhaps developed feelings for geto during their teen years together. Director park has also mentioned in an interview that gojo & geto’s relationship goes beyond ‘friendship’ & being ‘familial’. 👀

3. another clear indicator of gojo being in love w geto is the whole ‘love is the most twisted curse of all’ spiel he said to yuta. ‘but he could mean platonic love!!’ idk, considering yuta had romantic feelings for rika and hes discussing them with gojo & gojo knows this, dont u think it’d be a bit weird for him to mention geto here too? if they were just best friends?? (that’s not even mentioning the fact that gojo & geto’s relationship is supposed to parallel yuta & rika’s in jjk 0…)

4. and then ofc we have gojo saying his last words to geto, which were censored. now, correct me if im wrong but the ONLY times ive ever seen inaudible dialogue being mouthed to another character is when its a love confession mostly seen in romance anime. and like, there’s also no need at all for gojo’s last words to be censored in the first place. (although, i do suspect that his last words may play a major role in the future when he faces kenjaku.) what solidifies it for me being a love confession is that, 1. geto blushed after gojo said whatever it is that he said to him, (only in the manga tho, idk why they didnt make him blush in the movie but its whatever.) and geto replies with, depending on the translation, ‘at least curse me a little at the very end’ or ‘you should at least curse me at the end’. which heavily implies that gojo said something extremely sweet & heartfelt to him as his final words. and if thats not enough to convince u that gojo’s last words were indeed a love confession.. gojo’s eng VA HIMSELF, said that his last words when translated into english means three words… im not saying that gojo’s last words were specifically ‘i love you’ or anything like that, but i am definitely sure that whatever he said was a love confession/something very romantic in nature. bc why else would gege choose to draw geto blushing?? that wouldnt make any sense.

gojo also killed geto on the 24th of december, which in japan, is the most romantic day of the year & couples in japan treat christmas eve as kinda like a separate valentines day. even in the jjk manga recently, gojo offered to fight on dec 24th & kenjaku mocks him by saying how romantic it is… even gege himself acknowledges how romantic christmas eve is in japan, this enforces the idea that gege must’ve chosen dec 24th for a reason, bc why else would he have picked an extremely romantic date as not only the day where he fights kenjaku who is inhabiting geto’s body, but also making it the day geto died?? yall have to remember that all of this has been planned out by gege, none of it is a coincidence… he didn’t just come up with all of this on the spot, he’s been planning this stuff & thinking about it for literal years.

5. and finally, probably the BIGGEST piece of evidence there is, geto & gojo’s character songs. gege chose romantic break up songs for BOTH of them.. like im sorry but if stsg were rly truly only best friends, he would not have chosen those songs for them, it just doesnt make any sense.

conclusion: obviously, this probably isn’t every subtextually romantic thing about stsg’s relationship but these are all the things that i’ve noticed. again, if you see their relationship as purely platonic then that’s fine but don’t be assholes to people for seeing romantic subtext that’s quite clearly there. if i have missed anything out then please let me know and i’ll edit them into the post.

[eisforeidolon]

In regards to that post [X]:

We could talk about the same old fallacies - OMG, Dean's siren is a guy! Yeah, a brother. OMG, Dean was supposed to say I love you in the Crypt scene! Yeah, it was removed and replaced with what the writer explicitly said was the less OOC version of what he meant anyway, "We're family". We could talk about the blatant absurdity of statements like "Dean liked men it happened on my screen" which bear no resemblance to the SPN that aired. But we've done that before and others have got this reiteration of it well covered.

So I wanna focus for the moment on this particular even more repulsive gem: "Like he literally doesn't need to verbally tell us he's bisexual we just know. He may not know but we do. This is an unmovable fact sorry."

It tells us a few things. One, this person is a fucking idiot. Two, this person, yet again, thinks that ~*interpreting*~ sexuality from the way someone looks/stands/makes eye contact/eats pastry/whatever numbnuts conspiracy bullshit you like? Is more valid than how a character identifies and is identified by those who created him. People can just look at you and know what your sexuality is better than you do, there's nothing repulsive about that idea at all! I've got a mountain of shiny pennies that says if Dean had literally never interacted with a man for the entire span of the series, they would have insisted it was because he was so afraid of how much he wanted to fuck them. There was no way the writers could have written Dean that someone like that would have accepted as actually heterosexual, because that's not what they personally wanted, so that's not what they were going to see.

I'm not saying there aren't things that might be said about how relatively questionable some of the gay jokes in SPN are, especially in the early years in terms of making queerness a punchline. But if we're going to talk about that? We need to do it not only in the cultural context of 2005 rather than 2023, but in the context of portrayals of real world men - and particularly those in fairly rural settings who aren't going to be particularly conscientious in the way they rib each other. Which becomes a whole other discussion about where to draw lines when you're writing fiction and dealing with things that might be realistic but also potentially offensive.

Furthermore, I'm not saying there aren't things that might be said about how SPN continually used romantic tropes for platonic relationships and how it's not entirely absurd for that to land different with the audience when the characters are not blood-related. Except that discussion needs to include not just how maybe the writers shouldn't have treated it as such a joke that a relationship between two male characters might have been possible, but also how fans should absolutely not have equated a relationship being theoretically possible with any specific relationship they wanted being owed to them. Especially in the context of those romantic tropes being used so so so much more between brothers all the fucking time setting the tone. As well as how it's not just problematic to treat the possibility of homosexual relationships as a joke, but problematic to insist literally any closeness between two male entities is gay, reinforcing all kinds of nasty toxic stereotypes about sexuality and masculinity which underlay a lot of modern adult men's issues with expressing their emotions and having genuinely close and open relationships outside of their romantic partners. I've seen fans wonder how heterosexual dudes can watch this show and love the brothers' relationship without seemingly noticing the weird undertones of how claustrophobically intertwined they are, and I think it's very much that when it comes to wanting a fantasy of platonic closeness, they're looking for realism as much as most women reading trashy romance novels are - but that's a whole other digression and this is already too long.

At the end of the day, not only was SPN not created in the cultural context of Very Online Tumbrites in 2023, convinced that nothing should ever be is heterosexual and every fictional story should be about them and what they want? The fact their ostensible original point misses is the real world and most other media of 2023 aren't like that either! Some of these shippers come across like they've literally never seen two adult male friends interact with each other or any actual love stories in media - and it's not just early 2000's television characters getting this treatment from entitled shippers who want to use representation as a weapon against creators as to why they're owed things they absolutely aren't.

[exhaustedwriterartist]

Ok, so instead of drawing some turtles right now (as I appear to have burned what drawing inspiration I had atm), I will share some more slightly cryptid tibits about Our Other Halves. It is a little spoilerly, however, I would really like to share some stuff (so somethings are worded in such a way, but it may be easy to figure it out):

1. The teapot. Wonder what happens with that teapot and when? Oh that teapot is going to be a major pain in the shell for the twins. Someone wants it, and their henchmen are out and about much earlier as I mentioned.

2. As I mentioned earlier as well, the Purple Dragons are much more important, and know how to manipulate a certain someone and hurt others' trust in that someone. There will be multiple arcs with the PDs but the first will lead to a major turning point in the story.

3. Raph fights more in the battle nexus than Mikey, however, when he does, they team up... And they are dangerous.

4. Draxum is one of the Sunset Duos' least favorite people. Spider Gothel isn't much better, but at least she acted like she cared when Mikey was forced to attempt something (at least she did before she used that against him). Draxum is seriously selfish and evil in this au, and nearly succeeded in his one of his most selfish plans via Mikey's attempted [REDACTED]. However, Raph would stop Mikey as the lil guy was getting seriously hurt. Yeah Raph really doesn't like Draxum, and Mikey terrified of him.

5. Because of the horrific time he went through in attempting to make the [REDACTED] for Draxum, Mikey had a hard time accepting his new found hair. He did eventually learn to tolerate, as his mother adored the hair, however it wasn't until he was reunited with Splinter that he learned to actually love his hair.

6. When the story eventually gets to the movie, it's going to look somewhat different. Leo is made leader, but because Don was leader throughout the majority of the story, he still acts the most responsible... This leads to something. Mikey will handle not handle the information Casey tells about how he arrived very well. It's going to take something earth shattering to open a portal again... Wonder what that could be.

7. Raph. Sweet Raph. Making this au had made me realize how much I love Rise! Raph. It is so sad what he has to deal with in the au though. He doesn't just hate Draxum for what he did to his brother after all.

8. It astounds me that Spider Gothel would let the boys go back to Draxum for training after the horrific ordeal, but she is selfish too. She won't be the first to break a deal, nor will she see her boys' potential wasted.

9. I have a feeling that the Sunset Duo are curious about the surface... But they are never to go anywhere unless they are explicitly told to go somewhere by their mama.

10. Splinter is somewhat distant still, as he does have to deal with things, however, he is paranoid about where the twins are all the time after [REDACTED].

11. After some thought, I have concluded that everyone in this au needs a hug. Except for Draxum and Spider Gothel. They can deal without one.

@bowandbrush may I offer you some more lore?

Feel free to ask questions. :]

[whattraintracks]

13. Worthless - TMNT 1987

Some thoughts on Raphael, master of disguise.

There's this scene in "Raphael, Turtle of a Thousand Faces" (s05e16) that I think about a lot.

So Raphael is taking a remote class on undercover detective work, and the other turtles make fun of him practicing disguises for an assignment. Splinter checks on him after he storms off, and it's such a short conversation, but I think there's more going on under the surface.

First of all, Splinter's reaction to learning about the class is hilarious. His face is fun to watch and he's so baffled he literally gasps. But then you can tell he tries to be patient and understanding. I wish I knew what he was thinking. Is it, why would you want to be anything other than a ninja? Or maybe, you've never expressed interest in this before, where is this coming from?? If you've ever worked for a while with the same group of kids or adolescents, you may be familiar with this thought.

At first glance, Raphael's response breaks my heart. He tells Splinter he's taking this class to make "more of a contribution to the mean green team! You know, something special." My immediate thought is that he's feeling a little worthless. But then I step back and wonder if I'm reading too far into it. Taking the time to learn a new skill to better support your teammates is a worthwhile endeavor. This is not, on its own, necessarily an indicator of low self-esteem. But what bothers me is that nobody knew he was doing this. Again, not explicitly a bad thing, but it seems weird to me that he wouldn't involve the other turtles or at least let them know about it so they can support him.

So Splinter, of course, immediately reassures him they're all special. Also not sure what to make of how he says this because it sounds some combination of fond and amused but also just conciliatory. What's interesting is what Raphael says next, and how he says it causes me to question that initial assumption again. He agrees, almost genuinely? Like he says "maybe" but not in a "yeah, I guess" choosing-not-to-argue-but-feeling-otherwise kind of way, he sounds sincere. Now, this could be him saying, well, duh, we're special, how many other crime-fighting turtle men do you know? This would line up with stuff he's expressed throughout the series. But he finishes very showy and cheerfully with, "But I'll be the only master of disguise!" So maybe that first impression was wrong. Maybe this is just a teenager branching out and discovering other interests. Maybe the secrecy was because he was worried the guys would make fun of him—which they did. Or maybe, he wants to distinguish himself from the other turtles, wants his own thing. 

And I wonder why he might feel like he needs his own thing or specialty. One of my favorite parts about the team dynamic in this series is that they don't really have designated roles. Leonardo is the leader in that he keeps them rallied and on task, but they all take turns offering plans and solutions, serving as the distraction, playing bait, or, more practically, just driving or flying. But since Leonardo has a defined role as the leader/master ninja, Donatello as the inventor/the one who gets them out of trouble (see one of my favorite Raphael lines at the end of "My Brother, the Bad Guy"), and even Michelangelo as the chef/pizza guy, maybe he's feeling some anxiety over his own ambiguous role.

But I can't get rid of the feeling that he thinks he's not enough and the others are brushing it off. Especially after their weak apologies—"We didn't know you were actually serious about this disguise thing." Especially as he tries so hard to prove his dedication and skill and ends up in a lot of trouble in the rest of this episode. Especially when he gives up private investigation but immediately throws himself into chemistry at the end of the episode, once again on his own and without help.

This happens in one episode, and as far as I remember, they never talk about it again, but he's my little guy, and I worry, okay! I just want him to be happy and know he's loved and valued.

[pommunist]

(Désolée pour le pavé, j'avais plus de choses à dire que je pensais)

I mean, I understand that the long anon wants to trust Q and the QSMP, because I truly think that we ALL want it to get better.

But I think our vision for "making things right" is just different.

Anon seems mostly focused on the people who are still in the project and how they're changing it for the better (i assume, for future employees) , while we tend to focus on the people who were kicked out and were never contacted again.

Us pointing out that the ex admins have been ghosted for 2 months is not "detail chasing" or "talking about past mistreatment" It's literally ongoing. And it is still mistreatment.

Maybe not everyone sees it that way, I guess. I'm sure some people think they're being impatient, or they don't deserve to be talked to because they're not in the project anymore, or even consider the ex employees newfound "fame" to be at their advantage, somehow. But even so, it doesn't change the fact that none of the whistle-blowers have seen any steps taken to compensate them, or even hear them, for the months of free labor and abuse. At least, as of now.

After all, the only promise Quackity made is that he'll make things right for the people working in Qstudio in the future. So far, he said nothing about the ex employees except vagueposting about "people who want to destroy the project".

We're allowed to be skeptic and even critical about how this is all handled. And we're allowed to express said skepticism online, where we can interact with others about it. Just like anon is allowed to express their support and trust in QStudio.

The problem comes, as usual, from parasocials of all extremes sending hate to everyone involved. And I do agree that this whole thing being public is mostly to blame for that.

I do think it's too bad that it didn't happen privately, but now, it's out, and the silver lining is that it allowed other ex employees to make their mistreatment heard without feeling like they're insane for it. After all, it's been months, and only now do we hear anything. It shows that the mental pressure to "dont talk to any of your colleagues and lay low or else" really stopped people from facing their abuse with the gravity it deserved.

And honestly, seeing how they're handling it rn, I doubt that Qstudio would have taken the right steps if it had been done 100% privately.

Like, maybe we're missing some legal context here, but why did Qstudio not explicitly ask for the ex-employees' testimonies yet? Even now, with a literal union repeatedly advising them to do so, they're not doing it.

They could make a separate email adress, share it privately to all ex employees and let them send their testimonies there. They dont have to acknowledge everything immediately. They dont have to say "we will solve this in one week". But ghosting such a large chunk of the people who made your project work and only allowing them to either completely shut up or go public is... a choice. So yeah, maybe going public was necessary for them to be heard. Idk. I'm just hoping things will get better soon on that front.

Agree with everything here so not much to add except maybe :

Really I think a lot of people are looking at it like : it’s okay things will be better starting now ! While forgetting that everything that happened before still need to be adresses and solved. Not even an opinion, as this can very well be a legal matter and a serious one at that. Can’t just go "oops sorry you guys were mistreated…Anyway we’ll move on without you towards better things" that’s not how it works 😵‍💫

And for the "it should have happened privately" argument I can’t anymore because yes, ideally this is how it would have gone down. But that’s not how it went, let’s move on and more importantly let’s not blame people who talked about it, as they would have been within their right to do so even if it was done with the primary intent to expose everything. Also "it should’ve blablabla" well Qstudios should have gotten their shit together from day one and yet ! What ifs will get us nowhere.

(Et t’inquiète pour le pavé, on a vu pire ici 😭)

[riddles-n-games]

I have a theory i want to share: I'm not sure if you've talked about this before, but I've always been interested in Tobias and Alice's relationship because we heard/know so little. All we know is that she was the love of his life (stated in tbh). I think their relationship is definitely going to come up in the Prague story because, tbh scene where Tobias talks about Alice makes it seem like he knew or at least suspected her survival of whatever killed her (saving Alice's opinion/judgment of the boys when they're ready/done. It could either be interpreted as him knowing alice so well he knew what she would say or he was literally going to save her judgment for another time). Because it's Tobias, the comment about saving Alice's opinions for when the boys are ready/worthy, her cause of death never being explicitly stated (It just said the grief of losing toby had something to do with it in thl. WAS THAT ONE OF YHE CLUES JLB SAID SHE HID IN THL?!), and the fact that he knew toby was alive, I think Tobias had known about Alice or helped her disappear. Btw I lowkey think Nan knows because it's her daughter. This probably didn't happen, but It'd be so interesting if toby and Alice had crossed paths while he was on the run.

It's a very well put statement and I promise to look into more of the stuff again while I go through my theory stuff. Thank you very much for your input. But yeah, it wouldn't make sense NOT to talk about Alice and Tobias as clearly something happened there. From the way Tobias told Grayson and Jameson that when a Hawthorne even to the point of destruction, I wonder if there was a turning point or if that's just indicative of Alice's headstrong personality that it was one of the only things that put Tobias in a soft spot. I mean, a man that loves his wife that much, how couldn't he?