#this all sounds extremely judgemental and I'm so sorry

[geekgirles]

Remember what they took from us. RIP Eva's drip, you will forever be missed.

[demonpiratehuntress]

I see you have requests opened! If you don’t mind, I’d love an Ace one.

You’re a mermaid who rescues ace when he falls overboard drunk one night. His brilliant idea is to keep falling overboard to keep being rescued by you to get your attention cuz he can’t think of any other way. The crew thinks he’s insane and stands by in case he actually doesn’t get saved. To the point reader is like you do know there are other ways to see me besides trying to kill yourself?

this is actually such a funny and cute idea, i love it XD sorry it took so long, and i hope you like it!

taglist - @kabloswrld

(i'm so sorry i forgot i had someone to tag! if anyone else wants to be added just let me know!)

just call me, idiot

Portgas D. Ace x Mermaid!Reader

summary - idiot Ace <3

warnings - mentions of drowning, one joke about Ace trying to kill himself

You've heard them every night for the past week.

Whenever you swam up to the surface to look at the stars, the boisterous laughter and obnoxious chatter of men partying the night away aboard their ship met your ears. It was annoying, to say the least, but you wouldn't dare risk being ensnared by them for their amusement by calling them out for it.

That is, of course, until one of their crewmembers changed your mind about them.

"Man overboard!"

"The dumbass!"

"He can't swim!"

Your attention was caught one night when those panicked comments filled the air, and you looked towards the ship to see someone struggling in the water nearby. Against your better judgement, you swam over quickly and hooked your arms under the man's armpits, lifting him above the water so he could breathe. Once he was done spluttering and coughing up water, and you got a good look at him, you blushed.

He was handsome, extremely handsome. Dark hair stuck to his pale face, cute freckles dotting his cheeks. His eyes were bright with mischief, but when he smiled at you you couldn't help but think he looked angelic.

"A mermaid!" He gasped, eyes brightening even more. "This must be my lucky night." And he gave you a drunken smile, making you sigh.

You waited patiently for someone to come down to get him, keeping him afloat in the meantime since you couldn't very well climb aboard. Eventually they dropped a rowboat, and you carefully settled the now passed out man into it. You stayed to watch them pull him up, hearing shouts of 'thank you' but all you could focus on was how pretty that man was.

And how you hoped to see him again soon.

You got your wish the very next night, because Ace couldn't get you out of his head. He had been drunk, sure, but he definitely remembered seeing a mermaid. And he wanted to see you again, but he just didn't know how to get a mermaid's attention.

"You must have hit your head pretty hard to think you saw a mermaid!" Marco teased him, making the others laugh. None of them believed Ace, and every single one of them considered the idea absurd and insane - even more so since Ace is known for pulling pranks.

"But I did!" He insisted, pouting.

"Ace, there is no way you could have seen a mermaid," Marco sounded worried now. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," the 2nd division commander grumbled. "But I'll prove it."

So his brilliant idea to prove it? To pretend he was drunk again and fall overboard, so you could come and save him again.

You came to his rescue again, sure enough, but this time Ace could see you clearly and he was awestruck by your beauty. For once the talkative commander was stunned into silence, and he just stared at you for the longest time until you blushed and looked away.

"We need to stop meeting like this," you told him, laughing softly. "You need to be more careful."

"You're so beautiful," he ignored your warning, smiling like a lovestruck sailor - which he was. "Really, really beautiful."

You blushed some more, "Because I'm a mermaid."

"I'd like to think that even if you weren't, I'd still have fallen for you."

Your eyes widened at his words, butterflies blooming in your gut. Your face flushed a bright red, and for a moment you were speechless. Then you remembered he belonged on land, and quickly helped him back to his ship.

"You should stop falling into the sea," you told him, "You're a devil fruit user aren't you? You could die."

"It would be worth it to see you again," he smiled, and you were concerned that he was actually serious.

"Just go," you laughed.

"Not without getting your name," he replied. "Please?"

You sighed, "It's (Name)."

"Pretty," he grinned. "I'm Ace."

And once he was gone up again, you couldn't help but feel a longing for the man you couldn't have. Little did you know, he was thinking the exact same about you. You never left each other's minds, and while you could only wish to see him again, Ace made it his personal mission to see you whenever he could.

He ignored your words and kept falling into the ocean, so much so that it became a habit of his, just to see you. You could tell soon enough that he was doing it on purpose and wasn't really drunk, but he would never listen when you told him to stop. What made it even funnier, though, was that you could see his crewmates gather around every time he committed to this dramatic method, all of them ready to jump in and stop the dumbass from drowning if needs be. They clearly still assumed he was insane.

"Ace," you giggled one night after saving him again, "There are better ways to see me, you know."

"Like how?" He pouted.

"You could just call me, idiot," you laughed, handing him a shell. "Just blow into that and I'll come. You don't have to try and kill yourself to see me."

He chuckled, holding the shell close, "Fine, I'll stop. I think my crew is starting to worry that I've completely lost it. They stand by waiting to see if one of them needs to jump in." He laughed, then gave you a warm smile, "But my hero never fails to rescue me."

You blushed, looking down shyly, "Well it would be a shame to let such a handsome sailor drown."

"You think I'm handsome?" He smirked, moving closer. The two of you were sitting in the rowboat his crew lowered for you, so it was easy for you to be this close without him drowning.

"I do," you blushed more.

His smile only widened before he leaned in and slowly captured your lips with his, one his warm hands gently gripping your chin as he kissed you. The butterflies returned, and you kissed him back just as slowly and sweetly as your hand rested on his arm.

"So we don't need to keep standing here every time the idiot throws himself overboard?" Someone called from above, breaking your kiss and making you both laugh.

"Not anymore, no. Because the idiot will NOT keep throwing himself overboard," you responded, smiling.

"But-"

"It's not worth dying Ace!"

[imustbenuts]

Seadall, localization, food, EABS culture, and discussion of Eating Disorder. Trigger Warning.

tl;dr: Seadall is pandering to an East Asian Beauty Standard, technically does not have eating disorder, but is bordering on Disordered Eating, and both the writers and localizers know it.

Our first official male dancer of FE has a bit of a obsession over controlling his diet to a concerning degree. But is it actually an Eating Disorder? No, I don't think so. From my pov, this has everything to do with his job, a Dancer and the dreaded East Asian Beauty Standard (EABS).

EABS idealizes the fair skinned (asian colorism rAAAAGH), the lean and thin. Any level of fats or flaps are no good and is considered undesirable, or worse, a sign of one's gluttonous and even slothful character. IRL, that sentiment has become less pervasive, less judgemental and less awful than 10 years ago, but it's still around. Hell, it's in our Fire Emblems! Average out the body shapes of all dancers or even characters in FE and you'll see what I mean.

(are you in hell yet.)

This EABS is especially prevalent in 1 genre of media that comes pouring out of Japan and Korea... The Pop Idol scene. In Japan, the idol industry can be traced back to the 1960s, and though it has propped up the EABS, this standard's roots goes FURTHER back to even pre-colonialism era, to China and the Tang Dynasty where willowy female bodies were ideal. (That's 618-907AD.)

And when I say EABS, I will include the surrounding countries outside of Japan too. Similarities in culture and all that. Hence East Asian. (Don't be mistaken though. South East and South Asia also has to deal with this shit.)

But hey. I'm still talking about female EABS, right? Where does Seadall fall into this?

Uhhhh. Jumpscare. Surprise K-pop.

(ps i dont know k-pop as well so idk who these ppl are im sorry waaaaug)

Dancers and the Idol Industry

It's easier to see on the female side, but uh, that specific body shape is often achieved through extreme dieting. The body fat % is so low that the dancer's lower ribcage can be seen. Before shooting the dance or a performance, these idol's agencies will notify them to slim down to a certain goal, like say drop 2kg (4.4 lbs) or 4kg (8.8 lbs) in x time, and this is typical. Guys here are no exception.

Weight is manufactured. Looks to some extent (plastic... surgery....). The clothes too, are intentionally picked. Exposing the belly is common since it's the quickest indicator of skinniness.

But hey, I actually lied about the dieting part. It's not really dieting as it's actually straight up starvation, tbh. To lose that weight, the dancers/idols will often eat as little as some protein shake, a few fruits and maybe potato for fiber. Yes, it's as hellish as it sounds, and no, these people are unable to fully function with a calorie intake like this. Source for this claim will be in a video at the bottom of the post by youtuber chaebin n out, titled "How K-POP Destroys Your Body". So.

W̵͓͍̏͝e̴͉̾ḽ̷͈͐ĉ̶̠̝͋ö̶̤́m̷̲̒ê̶̬ ̶̧̅ṭ̷̘͑͑ö̵͇́ ̸̛͖̑h̵̳̿͝ė̶͕͉l̵̜͖̇͗ḻ̶̑!̴̪͊̉

Ok, but that's K-pop. What about J-pop?

Japan, where FE rolls out from, have J-pop, which is slightly different. J-pop idols also suffer from EABS but afaik it's not as extreme. Many contemporary J-pop idol groups like Atarashii Gakko!(left) and Babymetal(right) also Do Not make thinness a major selling point with their costuming. This is usually done through hiding the midriff, where belly fat most easily forms. (EABS is still in effect though, don't be mistaken! There could be just as extreme cases out there I'm not aware of ;_;)

So it seems like people kind of agree that obsessing about weight and developing body image issue is messed up.

Hopefully now I've established what is going on irl for Seadall's influences, and what is considered normal or extreme. Relatively anyway. (I hate EABS so much hhggr)

Let's detour to...

Food! Staples! What's normal?

An average meal in Japan consists of a variety of veggies, tofu and a serving of protein, which results in lower fat intake. Also, RICE is a major staple in these meals, so assuming the writers are approaching it with the best intentions, and how Engage's normal might appear to native Japanese audiences, JP Seadall's worry only seems to be on oily food intake and is not overly concerning to me.

In fact, here is an example of a staple set meal (teishoku) I ate over there last December. Yum yum:

Overall a very lean meal. So it's likely Seadall eats something similar-ish and not just greens.

Another important point is that in (East) Asia/Japan, oily food is seen as unhealthy and contributes greatly to cholesterol. This aversion to oily food is driven somewhat by EABS and... Health. I also promise most people are actually chill about this. ...Most people! Meat is yummy! Gyukaku and Ikinari Steak is popular and popping! That's why Seadall likes it after all.

So this is where Seadall's writing starts to contrast. For the most part in the EN version, he only worries about meat. In JP, it's technically oily food, which meat falls under, and he's worried about putting on weight.

Why the extreme worry tho...?

The logic for why all these matters so much to him is this: if a dancer is surrounded by other dancers who are reinforcing this EABS (mirroring the standards of the real world), then their only choice to stay relevant and keep their job is to commit to the same dietary choice and uphold the same EABS, or even have a EABS outperforming the standard.

Because a Dancer's job, or rather, Seadall's job is to pander to people's ideals of beauty. Hence his supports where hair and skin and food becomes a topic.

If he fails the standard, according to the J-pop and K-pop industry, he kind of fails at his job. Is it fair? Fuck no, but no matter what opinion we may think of the standard as outsiders, it remains that there is a LOT of social conditioning and manufacturing going on leading to... all of that. I scream too. I scream a lot, internally.

So what does Seadall look like to someone in this East Asian sphere...?

To the writers credit, they do push for Seadall to indulge more food that makes him happy for at least his mental well-being through the other characters.

This also happens to fall in line with Engage's low key theme of cherishing the moment.

With all I've explained, Seadall might come across as warning to those who over-worry about oily food consumption and trying to pander to an EABS to... chill the fuck out. That it's ok to just go eat some delicious yakiniku if you want to! Go off! If a female character who is concerned with this comes across as too vain, then let's have a guy do it and hope the point lands for the (potentially female) players.

And with all these missing context, it's very easy for one who isn't clued into this sphere assume that Seadall has some eating disorder or that the writers are advocating it. I don't think that's happening here at all. The localizers likely are aware of this missing context and have toned it down several levels for EN release. Wise move, tbh.

(progressiveness can be relative btw. something to keep in mind @_@)

So, is Seadall coming close to some kind of Disordered Eating? Possible. From what I see I think the writers are trying to push Seadall away from it, and trying to stop it from becoming a full blown Eating Disorder. Personally, again, I don't think he has an Eating Disorder.

However! Your Mileage May Vary. I only hope for my opinion and understanding to help inform others, not override it. What's normal for me isn't for everyone, and vice versa, but it's important to remember where Fire Emblem originates from.

And here's the last thing I promised: the video essay if you really want to dive into it:

And that's about it.

Hope this was interesting! Thanks for reading. 😄

EDIT: the Chinese net sphere is the exception to all of this, EABS is especially bad there

[disinherited-dornishman]

How you ship Crisnyra and reblog bullshit saying Rhaenyra coerced/assaulted Cole?Actors and showrunners all said its consensual and amde to be beautiful and pleasurable in contrast to Alicents rape scene with Viserys multiple times.Cole had all the time in the world to decide and the way the scene was framed with the waiting periods away from Rhaenyra, him taking off his own clothes, the armour etc him picking her up and initiating the actual sex on top while smiling...He wanted it. This was meant to show him choosing desire over his vows

I've had an exhausting day of work so I'm going to let the ass-ignorant problematic dumb shit you're displaying as regards the consent of that scene speak for itself and just focus on my answer to the actual question.

At the risk of sounding like Homelander of all people (ew), I can like whatever the fuck I want. I am under no obligation to explain these enjoyments to a stranger on the internet, so you're welcome.

Now onto the answer:

First, you can make your own judgements separate from what writers and actors tell you and still be valid. I don't give a fuck what showrunners say if it's dumb shit. They can say Balerion farted rainbows after Maegor made him eat the High Septon, or, even more ridiculous, that Viserys was a good person, that doesn't mean I'm gonna take them seriously.

Second, I am a staunch anti-colonialist and anti-imperialist, and thus by proxy an anti-Targaryan fan. I reblog posts analysing the Criston/Rhaenyra scene as a sexual assault scene because as an adult human being who doesn't rely on others to tell him how to feel or think about things, I believe that the most mature, genuine, and honest way of internalizing that scene is as, foremost, a sexual assault scene. This reading of that scene is the most realistic one within a sociopolitical context, removed from the fantasy the showrunners and actors are trying to illustrate, because colonizers and imperialists are, by merit of their very existence as a ruling class over natives, rapists. They rape people of rights, cultures, and identity. This is my dead-serious, historical analysis, pretend-it's-real-life view. That said, I can also view media in a more light-hearted and less serious manner, bringing me to my third point:

I ship Crisnyra because, again as an adult human being, I like escapism, and TV shows can be that. A way to switch off that part of my brain that is constantly critical and suspicious and serious and mature, because it can seriously get exhausting. Thankfully, I do this easily with Crisnyra because my first viewing of that scene was extremely romanticized, and I can still look back on it (and prefer to look back on it) as romantic. I blame the scene's direction that you mentioned and Fabs and Milly's chemistry. So when I reblog Crisnyra stuff or write for them in my fanfics as being a genuinely loving couple, that's what I'm doing, I'm choosing to be relaxed and have fun. That simple. I don't have to explain it or justify it to myself. I'm enjoying life at no harm to any fellow human beings.

I'm heartbroken this upsets you, but I don't have to view anything in life in only one way if I don't want to. I like looking at media through a sociological and historical lens, and also through a more personal, intimate, and romantically hopeful one. Sorry you don't have that skill.

You're welcome again for my precious time. Now block my @

[bellysoupset]

PETITION FOR LEO TO CATCH THE BUG! Jonah can try and be as comforting as possible but we all know he is gonna tap out, so maybe Lucas can be the primary caretaker since he’s already had the bug and he can handle puke?

Petition accepted with flying colors!

And some angst for sprinkles, this time not mental health related for once! (this might be a part 1)

-----

Normally, Leo loved his job. He was one of five paralegals in a big law firm and the fact that his future was painted very clearly before him was one of the things that grounded him the most. Besides, he liked the challenges it offered and the benefits too.

Today wasn't one of those days.

His head felt stuffy ever since morning and he hadn't been able to focus on his classes, much less in his job now. Everything just felt kinda... Off.

He wanted Jonah, but the fact that his stomach was such a mess made him wonder if it was even a good idea to go back to his boyfriend's place. It just sounded like it'd be more convenient for everyone if he went back to his shitty dorms and holed up until the queasiness passed.

Yeah, he was going to do that, he decided while rubbing his temples, just as soon as he got energy to get up from this chair.

"Hey, Wagner," his colleague poked his arm, "help with these files? Where the hell do I store them?"

By the time his shift was ending, Leo's queasiness had evolved into full blown nausea and he had just spent the past fifteen minutes swallowing the extra saliva while listening to his boss, Mrs. Mitchell, rant on and on.

He really just wanted to be lying down, but luck simply wasn't on his side. In order to get back to the dorms he'd have to take the bus. If he went to Jonah's apartment he could probably catch a taxi, since it was close enough (or walk if he had been feeling better, like any other day), but to the dorms? A taxi there would cost... A lot.

Leo found himself right outside of the building, leaning against a street lamp while he attempted to get his scrambled thoughts in order. It was a difficult task, he knew how awful he was feeling was clouding his judgement.

Finally, when another wave of nausea threatened to send up his lunch, he fished out his phone and hit 1 on the speed dial, holding it to his ear, eyes shut and gulping down as he waited for the nausea to back down.

"Hel-"

"Can you come pick me up? I don't feel well," Leo blurted out and he expected Jonah's usual quick and dry response, but it wasn't what he got.

"Leo?" Lucas' voice rung through the line, "what do you mean you're not feeling well? Where are you?"

Shit.

"Uh, sorry Luke, I meant to call Jon-"

"Where are you?" Luke completely ignored him and Leo could tell from the rustling around in the background that he was already moving. He sighed, at least it was better than nothing.

"Work..."

"Court or-"

"No, actual-" another wave of sticky nausea washed over him and he couldn't help but gag. He spat on the curb, breathing deeply through his nose, "the actual firm's building."

"You're throwing up?" Luke sounded extremely concerned, "look, just- Just hang in there, my place isn't far. Stay put."

"No, Luke, you don't-"

Lucas hung up on him and Leo didn't have it in him to call back and try and convince him not to come. Lucas was as good a caretaker now as any and he'd get him to the dorms no issue, lying down with a bowl preferably. Quickly.

True to his words it didn't take Luke a long time to pull up. Even so, Leo was drenched in sweat by the time he did. He had long removed his tie and moved as far away from the entrance of the building as he could. Last thing he wanted was to get fired because of decorum.

"Geez, Leo, you look awful..." Lucas said worriedly, as soon as he jumped out of the car. Leo, still bracing against the street lamp, opened a sarcastic smile.

"Thank you."

"C'mon, let's get you out of here, we can talk in the car-"

"I'm gonna be sick," Leo shook his head, eyeing the car suspiciously. He knew carsickness would kick in the minute they drove off.

"Right now?"

"No," he pressed a hand to his mouth, gagging unproductively again, "but soon."

"It's fine, I brought you a bag," Lucas beamed, then didn't wait for Leo's answer and wrapped an arm around his waist, all but dragging the blonde to the car.

Leo felt drunk. He collapsed on the passenger seat, panting, "I don't- I don't feel well, Luke."

"I'm sorry," Lucas sighed, reaching in and stripping him of the tux jacket, "you'll be in bed in a second, promise- Do you want- Do you want to go to the hospital...?"

"Over a stomach bug?" Leo glared at him, tiredly, and Lucas let out a sigh of relief, back on his caretaker mode.

"Okay, uhm- Here," he opened the big, thick plastic bag and Leo couldn't help but let out a snort.

"Is this a trash bag?" He mumbled tiredly, causing Lucas to shrug as he started to drive out.

"It was the quickest thing at hand, I brought the entire roll," he squeezed Leo's shoulder as he glanced over his own to reverse the car, "try to aim."

"Ok," Leo sighed, too tired to come up with a better response. It felt like his arms were made of concrete, so instead he just opened the bag as wide as he could and let it plop back on his lap, hanging awkwardly over it. He really couldn't stop drooling, it was beyond embarrassing.

His stomach gurgled unhappily, pressing against the social pants and Leo pressed his hand to it, bringing up a soft, airy belch that brought no relief.

"Have you been sick already?" Lucas' free hand came to rest on his shoulder, keeping him steady. Leo shook his head no.

"Don't wanna-"

"Shhh, just let it up. You'll feel better, trust me," he squeezed his shoulder in a reassuring manner and Leo groaned loudly, pressing his forehead to the dashboard as a cramp hit him.

"Fuck, it hurts-" he groaned, then gagged immediately as Lucas took a turn and the inertia sent his head swimming. He grabbed the bag hurriedly, barely having time before lunch was spilling forth, not in a powerful gush, but slowly and painfully.

Vaguely he was aware that Lucas was trying to comfort him, but his stomach was truly churning and it didn't matter how hard Leo tried to breathe, all he could do was continue to cough up the half digested mess.

The car came to a stop and then Lucas' hand was rubbing his back up and down, applying enough pressure to dislodge a burp and with it another watery stream of vomit. Leo panted, still hunched forward, the smell making him even sicker, "fuck... I still- I don't feel better."

"Yeah," Lucas winced sympathetically, "that the flu. C'mon, let's get you inside."

"Inside?" Leo finally raised his head and realized Lucas hadn't driven him to the dorms - it had been too quick a drive for that - but instead to his own building, "Luke, what the fuck, I can't-"

The driver's door slammed on his face, Lucas not paying him any mind.

He opened the passenger side, reaching for the bag first, "let me take care of that-"

"I'm not done," Leo groaned, still holding it tightly, "and I don't- Luke, I can't stay in your place-"

"There's zero fucking chance I'm letting you go back to those horrible dorms, so don't even try arguing," Lucas glared at him steadily and it reminded Leo of Jonah. Same self righteous anger, all arrogant, "besides, I already had the bug and I don't get sympathy sick. Win win situation."

"Doesn't sound like a win on your part," Leo groaned, allowing Luke to help him out of the car, "fine, I'm-" he wrapped an arm around his stomach as it gurgled fiercely, "I'm too sick to pretend to care."

"That's the spirit," Lucas said cheekily, reaching in the backseat of the car to grab the roll of trash bags, which he had actually brought. Leo let out a huff, smiling at his friends antics.

"You're very weird, Luke," he sighed, getting in the elevator and pressing his forehead to the other man's shoulder, "comfy though."

"You're burning up."

"Uhm..." Leo dug his fingers into his belly, cradling it not so tenderly as much as trying to stop the offending organ from crawling up his throat. He felt far from empty, as if he was filled with hot swirly soup, "fuck..."

"Almost there," Lucas mumbled, hitting the button to his floor once more, as if that would, somehow, make the elevator go faster.

"What about- What about," Leo winced against the bright lights, hiding his face further against Lucas' green sweater, "what about Bella?"

"What about Bella?" Lucas shrugged and Leo whined when the movement jostled him too.

"Won't she get the bug?" Leo vaguely noticed he had started to shake. He was freezing.

"She's not here anymore," Lucas answered, planting a hand on his back to guide him inside the apartment as the elevator came to a stop with a soft Ding!

"Uhm-" Leo immediately went for the couch and collapsed down, undoing his pants, "whatever do you mean Bella isn't here anymore? You sound like she died," he tried to joke, but felt too shitty to properly deliver the line. Jonah would've chuckled, Leo thought sourly as Lucas simply stared at him.

"We broke up," he cleared up, "two weeks ago."

Leo was so shocked that for a second even his belly was stunned into shutting up. He stared at Lucas, "you- Two weeks ago!? Does- Did- Are you okay? Why didn't you tell us? What- Does Vin know?"

"Vince and I are not dating, you know?" Lucas rolled his eyes, "he doesn't have to know about me breaking up."

Leo frowned, then the shock wore off enough to give space for nausea and he pressed his fist to his mouth, "Ugh- fuck-" he grabbed on the couch to force himself up, hoping he could stumble to the bathroom on time.

He barely made it, his knees aching as he collapsed before the guest toilet, just in time to cough up another chunky stream of vomit, this one burning his throat and nose, causing him to start crying.

"Hey..." Lucas' cooed, crouching down behind him, "dude, take a deep breath, you're choking-"

"I-" he coughed again, squeezing the toilet and hissing as another cramp hit him, "fuck it hurts, Luke..."

"I know, I'm sorry..." Luke rubbed his back, "just get it up and I'll get you a hot water bottle."

His stomach turned at the mere idea of having something pressing on it and Leo let out a moan, reaching blindly to flush, mouth hanging open as he couldn't seem to close it.

He heaved again, but nothing came up. Still Leo felt far from empty, even if he didn't recall eating all that much during lunch. He had already been queasy, he had only nibbled on some of his order... The thought of food made his belly squeeze again and Leo groaned as even more hot liquid rushed up his throat.

"Shit-" he heard as Lucas moved his hand to cup Leo's forehead, keeping his head steady, "you're good, get it up."

He really didn't need the added incentive. Leo leaned his weight heavily against the hand pressed to his forehead, retching again and then once more, so forceful he felt the pressure change in his inner ear.

By the time he was done the whole world felt fuzzy, his ears were ringing and Leo was thankful Luke was still holding him, because otherwise he'd have collapsed.

He panted and let out a groan as a wad of wet toilet paper came toward his face, Lucas wiping it all clean without looking even the least bit bothered.

"Done?"

"Yeah..." he breathed out, closing his eyes and leaning against the cold wall behind him, "still- not empty."

"I frankly doubt that," Lucas scoffed, then finally let go of him, settling Leo against the wall, "hang in there, I'll just get the room settled."

"The room...?" Leo blinked, confused and more than a little spent. Lucas didn't answer him, so he let his head hit the wall behind him softly once more, trying to muster up the strength to move.

He heard, faintly, as Lucas moved around, and then he was back, now no longer wearing shoes and changed into a pair of sweats. Leo looked up at him expectantly.

"I need to call Jon..." he mumbled, as Lucas helped him up from the ground easily, "let him know I wasn't kidnapped."

"You kinda were," Lucas grinned, helping him stumble towards the guest room. Leo eyed the fresh pair of sweats sitting on top of the bed, the blankets already pulled back, bucket on the floor and he felt tears brim up.

What the fuck? He sometimes couldn't believe these were his friends, his life. It was lightyears away from the kid who thought everything had been over when he was 17.

"Leo?"

"Sorry..." he mumbled, sniffling, "I just-"

"Is it hurting that bad?" Lucas said, helping him sit down, "I'm sorry, I know it hurts, I got you the water bottle-"

"It's not that," Leo blinked quickly, getting his emotions in check, swallowing the tears before they fell, "I'm fine."

"If its not the pain-"

"Luke," he glared at the man before him, "I'm fine. Help me out of these clothes, they're disgusting."

"Honestly," Lucas agreed with a whistle, helping him peel off the shirt. Leo glared as his normally flat belly immediately poked out over his pants, bloated and gurgly, clearly stretched.

"Oh that's gross," he groaned, wrapping an arm around it and pushing the pants down, while Lucas unfolded the hoodie.

"Just a little," he smiled, helping him inside the new clothes. By the time Leo was allowed to fall back against the pillows, he had started to sweat all over again, stomach sloshing uncomfortably.

Lucas sat on the edge of his bed, grabbing the silicon hot water bottle and placing it on the front large pocket of his hoodie, right over his stomach. Leo let out a sigh of relief, then curled up around it.

"So..." he hiccuped, actually looking at Lucas in quite a while if he was honest. His friend looked different. A little paler, more withdrawn, "you and Bella broke up? What the hell, Luke?"

"It was a while ago," Lucas said strongly, pulling the blankets around him and going through the first aid until he found the thermometer, "I'm fine."

"Two weeks ago is not a while ago," Leo scoffed, allowing him to place the thermometer in his mouth, even if the intrusion caused him to gag, "what-'ppend?"

"We had a fight, she left," He shrugged, jaw tense. Leo frowned.

"Luke... You don't have to pretend to be fine, it's just me-"

"I am fine," Lucas scoffed, retrieving the thermometer, "The fever is not good, but not that bad. Get some rest, I'll try giving you meds in a little."

"Not gonna stay down," Leo sighed, realizing it was a lost fight to try and get Lucas to talk about his feelings. He let his eyes slip closed, exhaustion overtaking the concern he felt.

Next he opened them, Lucas wasn't in the room anymore and it was dark outside. The door was only half open and Leo could hear perfectly as his friend paced around, talking.

His stomach gurgled viciously and Leo groaned, rolling onto his side, trying to get some of the warmth from his hot water bottle, but it had long gone cold.

"-an idiot, you can't see vomit. He's fine, I know how to take care of people, I'm not ten," Lucas argued outside the door and Leo would've smiled as he understood Jonah was the one on the phone, but instead he had more pressing matters at hand.

Such as his stomach's contents sliding up his throat, burning hot. He reached in blindly, grabbing the bucket with one trembling hand and then heaved.

The half lying down position, bent over the side of the bed, was enough added pressure that he didn't even have to put any effort at bringing up the rest of whatever was inside of him. Burning water it felt like.

There was movement and then the hallway light half lit up the room, Lucas holding him by the shoulders to stop Leo from falling down the bed and straight into the sick bucket.

His belly wasn't happy, he knew he was empty, but it didn't stop contracting and causing him to burp sickly, "fuuck- It's in my nose-"

"Here," Lucas handed him a wad of tissue, from the roll sitting on top of the bedside table that Leo hadn't even registered was there all along, with water and meds too.

He blew his nose, throwing the tissue inside the bucket and then curled up more, hugging his knees to his chest and muffling a burp against the pillow, "why does it feel like my stomach is on fire?" Leo groaned, swallowing convulsively as the movement seemed to send even more hot liquid to his throat.

"It's the acid," Lucas sighed, taking the hot water bottle from him, despite Leo trying to cling to it, "Jonah wants to come here."

"So we can harmonize when puking? How romantic," Leo scoffed, "tell him I'm fine..." he closed his eyes, taking deep measured breaths, "this nausea won't stop."

"It kicked my ass too," Lucas said sympathetically, resting a hand over Leo's stomach, over the hoodie. Not quite rubbing, just a reassuring presence. Leo nodded, burping against his hand again.

"How long until it stops?"

"It took me three days," his friend squeezed his arm in a calm manner, "but Jonah's was way shorter, right?"

"Right," Leo agreed, feeling faint. He couldn't do three days of this, he already felt like death, "...Can we cuddle?" his cheeks burned just as he said it and he expected at least some teasing, but it seemed Luke was feeling just as wretched as Leo, only in a different way.

Without a word he climbed on the queen bed, curling up behind him and scoffing, "I think your fever is higher."

"Feels like it," Leo agreed, unhelpfully, "I might puke on you, I really don't feel well."

Luke shrugged, squeezing him just a little tighter, probably craving the comfort more than Leo, "whatever."

[cerberusthenking3]

A Flower to be Seen Not Heard

No image,which is rare,but this is an OC from my own creative universe so no art

It's much darker than my usual stuff but not to a huge extent

Warning:Soft,safe vore,possessive pred,child prey,mentions of sexual and physical abuse,extreme cuddling,aftercare,darker undertones

Blossom POV.

The cart pulls to a stop as I step out of the door held open by the guards sent to watch over my arrival.I step out as one guard says,"Hello ma'am,Lord Tergu is very excited for you're arrival"I nod and say"Let us go then,mortal"I look up and notice in the crowd that there is a young female human wearing some sort of dog collar,she staring at me with wide eyes and I notice a larger male human has a sort of leash in hand and watch as he pulls it and thus the child away from the guards and into the crowd.I raise a finger as a single flower petal flies towards the child before touching her arm and fusing into her skin,what I have just seen is concerning but I need to speak to Tergu first.I turn to the guard and follow him through the streets to his palace,arriving at the large building in under five minutes and I look up with a blank expression which quickly shifts into a warm smile as I see a young man run out of the palace door and stops infront of me before saying"Blossom my friend,how are you?"I smile softly and say,"I'm good,Tergu,you?"He waves the guards at the door aside as he walks me in while saying,"I'm good,I hope the journey wasn't too stressful."I look over to him and say,"Not at all,and I'm sorry if I sound distracted,I saw something concerning during my arrival."He looks over with a worried galnce before saying,"What is it,I have noticed your distaction?"I respond by saying,"A young child with a collar,and a grown man dragging her around like a pet."I notice the look of horror on his face before he responds with"Before we took this city,I visited once and noticed that the Lord,Hamuisis I believe,dragged around the woman he took as prizes like that,his nobles followed the same standard"I look up thoughfully and say"Could that man be a noble who escaped your.....judgement?"He raises his hand up to his face,and I notice that his claws are showing and starts biting his first claw.I look up and say,"It could be nothing,but we should still go and make sure that the kid is okay,obviously I placed a petal on her,just to make sure we can find her if something is wrong"He nods and walks out of the room and after about twenty minutes he walks in with a group of soldiers who all seem to be ready hunt if the man gets away.I close my eyes and focus on the petals location and step forwards as I discard my main kimono and am left in only my light armor and a decent t-shirt and shorts.Tails flick out from my tailbone as I reveal the vulpine form of my birth before leaping out of the window with them following out through the door.

Rose POV.

I lay on the cold,tough earth as I hear my master and his friends laughing inside of the nearby building.My hand slips off the new bruses on my chest from being slammed into the table and up to the tight leather collar and try to pull it off without any success.I sigh and lay back down before hearing a soft growl behind me and turn to see a large peach and white colored fox,it's fur has a wierd patchy look to it with blotches of peach fur and a main base of white fur.I murmer slightly as I look at the beautiful fox and try to convince it to come over so I can pet it when I hear a mans voice speak softly"Are you okay kid?"My eyes flick to the side as I see a man in weird shiny armor with a sort of crown on his head with the visage of a dragon wrapping around the midsection of a fox.....no kitsune with a splattered gold and silver body.I look over at the fox again without thinking and notice that it has nine long tails fluttering back and forth behind it and nervously respond to the man"I-I'm f-fine sir,m-master will let me in after his friends leave"The fox approaches me and it's fur melts with its body and I watch as it shrinks down into the beautiful woman who had arrived in the expensive carriage earlier that master made a lewd comment about before taking me home to take his frustration out on me,luckily only hitting me.She reaches towards me and says softly"That doesn't answer the question he asked,Are you okay"I stare blankely at her and say"Yes ma'am,I'm okay,why?"She leans down and pushes my kimono to the side and lets out a horrified gasp before turning to the soldiers and saying"Go in,she's hurt and from the smell in the air,we're correct"The soldiers rush past me and the man with uer approaches masters home before banging on the door loudly and yelling"ANY PERSON WITHIN THIS BUILDING MUST EXIT IN UNDER TEN SECONDS,ELSE I WILL SEND MY SOLDIERS INSIDE AND THEY WILL TAKE NO PRISONERS!"And after a few seconds,master and his friends come rushing out of the door as a few of the soldiers burst in while he and most of the soldiers stay outside to watch them.

Blossom POV.

I hold the human carefully as I glare at the grown men who are knocked to the ground as the house is torn apart for any stragglers.The largest man,who was with the kid,is glaring daggers at the child as I summon my tails to hide her from his gaze as I smile at the look of horror on his face which morphs to disgust as he realizes what I am.Usually I wouldn't show my tails off to random humans but scaring the shit out of an asshole with the added bonus of the little kid seemingly enjoying looking at them.I look down and say"You may pet my tails if you'd like to,just be gentle"I see her eyes light up as she gently runs her hand through my fur and I watch her eyes sparkle in joy.I hear Tergu say"Go back to the palace Blossom,I don't want the child to see this"I look down at the kid and say"Don't worry,we'll take care of you,you're safe now"I morph back into my true form before grabbing the human by the scruff of her shirt.I leap up into the tree's and flick through them at high speed,making sure that the human is held tightly and doesn't slip of while I'm atleast two hundred feet off the ground.After a moment I arrive at the palace and slip through the window easily as I land in the guest room I usually stay in when I'm here.I lay her on the bed and carefully curl around her while allowing my tails to fall over her.She looks up and says"Why are you helping me?"In a very confused and worried tone before continuing with,"What will you wan't me to do if it's not a problem to tell me?"My tails tighten a little bit without trying to hurt her.I ask her."Whay do you expect to happen?"She looks up confusedly as I feel a scent hit my nose,It's horribly wonderful.I look down and realize that she is bleeding from an open injury on her leg,salivia begins to fill my mouth as I give a soft and tentative lick.I fucked up,I fucked up,I should not have done that,I look up at her and shakily mutter"O-ok kid,w-why dont you run out to a guard,tell him I'm locking the door and to send one of the prisoners,okay?"I nudge her to the door,but when she gets there, I feel myself slipping,and I watch in horror as she stops at the door and turns around to ask,"Are you okay,ma'am?"Too late,all I can do is not hurt her,leaping towards the child I knock her to the ground.My tail pads the fall and I stand over her as I watch her just freeze,she doesn't struggle or scream but she just lays there while breathing heavily.

Rose POV.

I stare up at the nice kitsune who just slammed me into the tile floor.She leans down and licks my face roughly,and I cough heavily,gasping for breath after her tongue leaves my face.She opens her maw and drops of heavy salivia fall onto me,fear flooding my mind and I feel my body tense up and I pull my legs and arms closer to my body and squeeze my eyes shut.Soft warmth envelopes my body and I feel something incredibly sharp slide over my back and I flinch,expecting her to bite down on me but I hear her swallow heavily.I feel a slightly tigher ring and warm wet liquid,likely salivia,slide down her throat with me as I go down the tunnel that fully engulfs my body.I slide down into a massive pouch which is glowly dimly pink and it has similar pattern of pink and white patches,while scared I feel curiosity overtaking the fear and I reach a shaky hand towards the wall and when I touch it the organ pulls my hands into the wall and lightly squeezes it.I hear her voice echo from all around me say"Curious little thing aren't you,don't worry,you're alright,my tummy won't hurt you"Her voice is much lighter and sounds almost playful,unlike her more serious and worried tone she had just a minute ago.She happily purrs as the stomach clenches and churns around me but as I thrown around I hear her clear her throat and the organ steadies around me and she talks in her normal tone with a bit of a purring undertone"Sorry,I let my instincts take control for a moment,I'll spit you out and get you some food"I sigh in relief when I feel my vision slowly darkening and I quietly ask"Is it really safe in here ma'am"I hear her respond confusedly"Yes and I'm Blossom but why?"I say,"I'm Rose,and if it's okay with you,may I sleep in here?"She stops and says,"Oh,of course,I just thought you would be scared,you may sleep,and I'll let you out tomorrow,but first,I'm going to morph back into a humanoid form,it will get much tighter,is that okay?"I curl into a tighter ball and say,"Yes ma'am,I'm used to sleeping in the cold,and the warmth in here is great,im not afraid of tight places so it's worth it"The stomach,as promised,goes much tighter and snaps around me,I quietly say"Thank you ma'am"before snuggling into the walls around me and fall into sleep.

Blossom POV.

I pull my armor back over my slightly bulging stomach and then carefully stand up as I hear the soft snoring.I grab my kimono off of the coatrack that the guards placed it on and slip into it before walking out of the room and to the hallway.I lick my lips and get the amazing orange-like flavor that Rose possessed,amazing,she's so much better than those bitter prisoners I usually use to sate my hunger.I hear a soft growling noise so I walk to where it its coming from and see Tergu walking through the door with blood all over his face and arms.I slip up to the ceiling as he walks under me,my muscles tense and he goes under me.I release the ceiling and fall straight onto the young lord,knocking him onto the ground and he yells out in suprise as I grow rapidly into my true from and open my mouth,pulling him in and licking all over his body,pulling the blood of and sending it down to my actual stomach before spitting him out in a puddle of salivia where he looks at me,gasping for breath and with a confused look.He asks"Not that I'm complaining but why did you spit me out,you usually swallow?"He looks at my stomach just as Rose moves around a bit, and his eyes widen, and he asks."Is that........"I nod and quickly shift back into a human before saying,"Don't worry,she's alright.Do you want to go in with her?"He thinks for a second before saying,"I don't think I have a choice in the matter,do I?"I shake my head and shoot towards him,quickly morphing back into a big enough form to hold them both and drag his entire body into my maw,easily engulfing the young lord and sending him down.He slides into my pouch as I adjust it around my charge and the young lord to let them both lay comfortably on the separate sides of the organ.I cuddle it around the two of them as his fingers brush against the sensitive flesh as it pulls his hand in like Rose earlier and and I start purring as I allow the organ to gently churn around them.I stand up from my blissful state and walk past quite a few confused guards but once I see the head of the guard he waves off the humans following me before holding Tergu's door open and letting me into his room.I leap onto his bed and wrap around myself,using my tails to pull the comforter over me.I softly purr as I slowly fall asleep,I was planning on finding the childs family but maybe I'll just keep her for now,I could use another human toy and cuddle pet to protect.

[tsunael]

2. List 3 shipping tropes you don’t love.

Get to know my ships | accepting!

2. List 3 shipping tropes you don’t love.

1. An extremely dominant character with an extremely submissive character. There needs to be a bit of push and pull for me. A little banter, a little bit of brattiness lmao. I don't like stereotypical 'bottoms' or wilting flowers or w/e. 2. Most slash pairs where they fight so much there's not even a hint of chemistry. Where it's clear they're only being shipped because they're both attractive or spend a lot of time together. There are some caveats because I do like enemies to lovers, but this feels like something else. 3. When they get married-- and especially if they have children (barf). I just don't want the happily ever after. There's a good quote that I have saved that really sums up my feelings and it went something like "... The thing about desire is that it's stronger when it's not totally satisfied."

and you sent in another!!! so I'll put it here ->

34. How would they react to an ex showing up?

LOL uh. They're not really 'dating' per se or together in any official capacity so any jealousy is extremely low-key and not exactly justified, however... I think Tsuna would be rolling her eyes since she knows how much of a manwhore he was, but there would be some kind of judgement / bitterness about it. Not so much because she's jealous or envious, but because she's a lil close-minded and a prude... so some low-ball teasing, for sure. On his end, his main contender is Aymeric. Even though G'raha is head-over-heels for her, he doesn't bring out his inferiority complex like Aymeric does. Tsuna was seemingly so close to Aymeric in HW and... I also choose to interpret all his lines as pettiness LOL.

I also like that he is the one to technically break up wol's date (even if it couldn't be helped) and also kind of butts in when Aymeric is asking for assistance to offer himself up. I'm twisting it to interpret that he's absolutely seizing the opportunity to suss the man out. Imagine the subtle side-eye he flashes before he leaves the room with him and wol is left with the twins. I'm just sayin'.

Like... sorry he sounds so petty and sarcastic about it to me. I'm very normal about it. TL;DR he's a little bitch about it.

[slightlyaggressiveaffirmations]

I think I accidentally (it's a long story) came out as queer and autistic at work and I am freaking out.

I'm sorry this took me a while to get to, friend. I was in bed with something that wasn't Covid but felt so much like it, I tested 3 times.

This does sound very scary. But it is gonna be OK. You will be OK.

I remember coming out at work, just to one of my bosses. They appointed a new Deputy Prime Minister that day, and he had once made very homophobic remarks, and it was all over the newspapers, of course. I cried. So I didn't so much come out, as started crying while talking about it, and my boss said "Oh. I'm not allowed to ask this, but... are you..." and didn't really have to ask because I nodded and then she hugged me.

So, even though my experience was really very positive, with a kind and understanding person who supported me - it was still a very scary experience. My whole stomach just dropped downwards like I was in an aeroplane in turbulence. It feels extremely vulnerable to let people know this truth about yourself when you don't know how they will react.

And I'll be honest with you - I'd still probably rather my coworkers knew I was queer than autistic... because of the stereotypes and the judgements that people have.

What I'm saying, is that I absolutely understand why you are freaking out, and I empathise with your situation - and apparently my way of doing that is telling stories from my own life that relate.

ANYWAY - You will be OK. If your colleagues accept you for who you are, things may even be better. Your autism might be accomodated. If things are worse, you will still be OK. You will know who the bigots are. You will know if you are unsafe, and that it is time to start planning an exit. This is not an outcome that we want, obviously, but if that's what happens, it will still ultimately by OK.

Keep being you, bringing your unique skillset to work (and your autism gives you an edge in some places), and always giving your employer back what you feel they deserve.

I hope everything goes excellently, but trust that ultimately, you will thrive. Kick some arse, you wonderful Career Cobra!

The SAA

[not-psychotic]

i wanted to reblog, but then i figured i didn't want to take up space in your notes in case this is an astronomically bad take, but. regarding the hannibal liking/disliking bella discourse.

i think one of my favourite aspects of the episodes involving bella is the nuance with which her relationship with hannibal is treated.

on her part, she trusts him and considers him if not a friend then an ally. she likes him enough to be willing to die in front of him, enough to bring him a token of her gratitude.

hannibal feels about her the same way he feels about a lot of people on the show: indifferent, but faintly amused. there's like a distinction between the humans he considers no better than pigs, humans he only deems worthy of his time because he can play with them/enjoy what intellectual stimulation he can get from them (think jack, bedelia, abigail, alana, and yeah, even bella), and finally people like will.

he throws a coin to decide whether he wants to save her or not precisely because he feels so ambivalent. if he had disliked her the same way he did... i don't know, franklin? he probably would have poured himself some wine and just let her pass. i think he betrayed his indifference in throwing the coin, and when it landed on the "right" side, he was acting in a way that would protect him from any judgement, as is his usual.

after all, a doctor is morally obligated to give first aid to anyone in need of it – it's literally in their oath. if questioned about it, he could have defended himself by saying that while he respected bella's freedom, by choosing to die in front of him she had put him in the position to save her.

i think the best part about his manipulative skills is that he always, always covers himself by making it sound as if he were in a corner, forced by circumstances apparently out of his control to act in a certain way. he had to kill tobias, or he would have died. he had to save bella, or he would have betrayed what all doctors stand for. no one can question him, so he acts undetected.

at the same time, i wonder how much bella actually trusted him. she didn't seem too friendly with him, almost as if unnerved by his presence. she knew he was a doctor, knew that he would be obligated to help her, so why choose to die in front of him? she says she didn't want jack to find her, but i'm sure there must have been plenty other ways to go about that without involving hannibal. honestly i'm curious to know if maybe she also wanted to know what hannibal would do.

sorry now, this has become a GIGANTIC ask and i don't even know how i got here. but yeah, that's just my twopence on their dynamic, because it's really interesting and criminally overlooked. anyways. hope you have a good day!

yeah he flips the coin because he doesn’t care to make the choice himself. as to their relationship, we only ever see bella in scenes with jack or with hannibal or both. she wanted to die, she didn’t want jack to find her so her only other option was hannibal. which is extremely sad. saying that hannibal saving her was one of his “nice” “selfless” moments is insane to me. bella wanted to escape and hannibal plunged her right back into the miserable life she tried to escape from, now more trapped than before. and we shouldn’t act like the hippocratic oath is important to hannibal in any way

[fledglingmaster]

I'm not at 100% but I am on the mend. I drone on under the cut. I mean I really do. If you read thank you, if not it helps just to get everything out. My dental care the past year has been seriously traumatic.

I had an inflamed tooth that was extracted yesterday. After needing to be extracted for a week. I have medication for pain and infection. Though opioids never seem to help much. Last night I was able to get some sleep and I can chew again. My body has a lot to repair still.

This experience was a blessing in disguise, as odd as it may sound. For those who don't know, I am disabled. Sadly not in the legal sense. I can't get government support, yet I can't work a steady job because of my conditions. To put it plainly, I'm broke and must take what is given. I was without health insurance for a few years before I got medicaid. Medicaid does provide dental care, that is if you can find someone that takes it and is accepting new clients. It took over a year to find someone that was willing to take me on.

My current dentist has been a nightmare. The receptionist is obviously someone who has never struggled with money or her health. The queen bee type even though she must be in her 40s, low-key Karen. She treats everyone as if they are stupid and is extremely judgemental. Though not a major problem, dealing with her reminds me of all the girls that bullied me in my school years. That's still a sore spot for me.

The dental assistant can't take a proper x-ray. I'm not exaggerating when I say every x-ray needs at least 4 attempts. One time it took 7 tries. There is a major communication issue. I spent 15 minutes on the phone with her explaining that my filling fell out and that I can see the hole in my tooth. I don't know what she wrote down but no one knew I was coming in to have a filling redone. She is the go between for the front desk and the doctor and no one knows what's really going on. Every time I have work done she about waterboards me. She also is out of synch with the doctor. The doctor has to prompt her and even then sometimes she doesn't do what she needs to. They usually fight with each other. She is a nice person, but I feel she isn't qualified to do what she's doing.

The doctor is...something. When she isn't doing work on me she is okay and listens to me. When she's doing work she's no non-sense, which I respect, but it doesn't help my anxiety. She tells me to not fight her and to keep my head still. (I'm sorry, I can't breathe and I'm trying to not die but okay. Besides I barely moved, but now you can't see what you're doing because this place is lit worse than Dracula's castle.) She has me bend my neck back in an unnatural position that makes it difficult to breathe. I'm getting blasted with water going down my throat. I'm not completely numbed out, yet I get trigeminal neuralgia that I have to deal with for a week. (That has happened twice.) My tongue will be cut and/or burnt. I've had my lip and chin sliced as well. The entire time I feel like she's either going to yell at me or give up and say, "I can't work on you." I'm good at reading people and I can sense her frustration.

As mentioned, the lighting in there is terrible. The overhead light isn't adjustable or very bright. The chair doesn't allow for the head to gently fall back, hence the awkward pinch neck/pinned back head position that you have to hold. They don't let me see my x-rays or explain things in layman's terms. I haven't memorized teeth numbers as I didn't know that was a skill I needed. They can't seem to say 1st molar on the bottom left, just tooth 19 and I'm supposed to know which one that is. Communication over all is poor. They don't offer a print out of treatment plans so I can just figure it out myself. Their x-rays can't tell them if I need a root canal done on teeth or not. Which reminds me, they don't do root canals because they don't have the machine. They're impossible to get a hold of, they literally don't answer the phone. You have to leave a message and wait for them to get back to you. They don't have an emergency line meanwhile they are closed friday-sunday. Every time I go there I leave feeling stupid, worthless, and ugly. But, they're the only place I can go to for free and I have a lot of dental issues. End background origin.

So less than a year ago I had a filling done. It never sat right, it was overfilled, it hurt, eventually there was a gap, in Dec it fell out, 1 out of 10 bad. They had to redo it and made it sound like it was my fault it fell out. As they worked on me the tool broke. It was an interchangeable part but the new piece didn't fit. So they had to try to get the old one to work again, which they did. But if they couldn't get it working I guess I would just have to deal with an even bigger hole in my tooth for who knows how long. They told me if the pain lasts longer than 2 weeks to tell them. 2 weeks go by and I'm feeling pretty good. Slight soreness, but for a deep filling seems okay. 2 weeks and 3 days later, oh this actually hurts...but it is a major filling, the other one was like this and the pain went away after a few additional weeks. I thought it was part of the healing process as I've heard deep fillings take longer to heal and can be more painful than small ones. A couple more days, holy shit this pain is bad! I need my tooth pulled! I call and get no response, I email and get nothing, I even showed up in person and they were closed. Which is why I didn't get a response. It was during business hours on thursday. They're going to be closed all weekend. I considered going to the ER, but there isn't much they can do besides pain meds while there and antibiotics. I'm in the worst pain of my life. (This is coming from someone who walked on a broken foot for a month before finally admitting to myself it was broke and I should get medical help. I know pain.) Not only that I am worried about infection.

My mom gets and pays for my appointment at a local dentist for the following day as they do emergency appointments even for new clients. They happen to be running a deal this month and the cost ends up $19 for a full consult and extensive x-rays. Which they want to do before doing any work, understandable. Everyone there is pleasant, there's zero judgement. The place is well lit, too bright for me but absolutely needed for them. There is laughing and jokes between the staff. I get my x-rays first. None of them had to be redone. They also can tell which teeth need root canals. Everyone there listened to me and was sympathetic. When I told them my dentist didn't do root canals they were shocked. They showed me my x-rays and explained exactly what was going on with all of my teeth using layman's terms. They gave me multiple options far as saving teeth vs extractions. I told them with how much work was done on the one tooth and how much it hurt, I just wanted it gone. I was reassured that missing one tooth shouldn't cause me problems and all my bottom teeth looked good. They didn't mention how they were overcrowded, just they were healthy. They talked about my top teeth...yeah a lot of work still on those. But they can give me my smile back. I had a couple accidents which have cost me 2 teeth already, a baby tooth that needs to go, and now a days 3 that have major cavities that I could lose. All of which is, well depressing, but I was aware of it all already so it wasn't a shock. A lot of factors have gone in to my teeth but many people see missing teeth and judge. Even if they didn't I feel ugly. The past three years I haven't smiled much and I avoid photos to the point that people comment how great I am at dodging photos. My grandma felt bad and was willing to pay for an implant for my front tooth. Though I still would be missing a lot and thus still feel unattractive. For around the same price I can get a partial denture and have all my missing teeth filled in. My other dentist never gave me that option and wanted to push a bridge that would cost that only covered some of the back teeth. I already planned to go back just for the partial at some point but the extraction sealed the deal.

While they don't take medicaid, they do have a discount program that has a yearly fee of a little over $100. I signed up and already saved $330 on the extraction. Technically $230 if you subtract the yearly fee. It will knock down the price of the denture too. All work gets a discount. It's not free but it's about as cheap as you can get.

Extraction day I'm numbed out and wow am I numb! It's then that it hits me. I never felt that numb for work at the other dentist even with them doing more shots than what was done there. The chair lets my head fall back and I don't have to do the kink neck thing. I can breathe normally. They move the light and it adjusts. It's blindingly bright and they give me sunglasses to wear. The two of them moved so well together I could swear the doctor just had four hands. Anytime he said he needed a tool or suction, she had it covered. She did spurts of water and suctioned it out, none went down my throat. He kept telling me how good I was doing. He apologized a few times and when I alerted him to my tmj hurting on the opposite side he supported my jaw. I know my head moved just because of the force of everything. That wasn't an issue for them. Zero injuries to my tongue or face. Unfortunately, I did still have pain, but I know without a doubt I had the least amount of pain possible. He asked if I wanted any meds, another thing that my other dentist never offers. They are open more hours AND they have an emergency line that can be called.

It was night and day. I felt safe and I was treated like a human being. I will have to talk to my grandma and see if she will support me in getting most of my work done there. I will use the other place to get my two crowns covered and an easy extraction, the baby tooth, then goodbye forever. It's like feeling real love after being in an abusive relationship. I can't believe how I was treated. Maybe if I was in prison I could understand it. Even then I think it's still inhumane. I got a deep cleaning done at the new place as well as some preventative care. There are so many more people there and all of them are friendly and caring. 10/10

I cancelled my cleaning for the other dentist and they got back to me instantly. Hmm...okay, you don't like me cancellin, yet you don't do anything to keep me around. They actually got back to me the night before my extraction. While I was waiting on them I got antibiotics and an appointment for the extraction within a few days. I'm sure with them it would have been a week or more I'd have to deal with the pain.

This discount thing I have apparently has something with vision care as well. My eye care is a very similar story...I should see if walmart takes it because I went to them for years and never had an issue. Well besides the air puff machine punching my eye. That was a one-off thing. This other place, nothing but problems. When you have medicaid you're treated like shit. At least my doctor-doctors and specialists are all wonderful.

[myvirtuesuncounted]

so i finally watched the pjo finale after a long day of school (spoilers below the cut)

LUKE'S VOICEOVER OH MY FUCKING GODS 10/10 NO NOTES

finally they showed luke training percy, it would have been more meaningful at the start spending more time at camp though and showing more interactions with annabeth to establish that bond

it was really interesting seeing luke talk to percy about the gods. good foreshadowing and LOVED luke's analogy to spiders, fucking slayed.

THE WAVE THING THAT HAPPENED DURING THE ARES FIGHT!!! 10/10 NO NOTES (will be using this phrase a lot sorry not sorry)

returned the helm. hmm good yeah

annabeth giving percy the necklace!!!! ahhhh!!!

grover's 'this could've been an email' is so relatable fr

olympus looks kinda cool ngl, like a slightly modernised ancient city. i loved the brewing storms over the empire state building but it would've been better if that weather was there throughout the whole quest since that was mean to show how pissed zeus was.

i would much prefer olympus in its glam and glory from the books and the bright white tones that pretty much set olympus apart and made it so intimidating.

percy bowing his head and returning the bolt. hmmm yes shows the gravity of his meeting.

i loved zeus' whole vibe during this scene, no longer pissed about the lack of plane ride since it was perfectly made up for with zeus' insistence to continue the war. hmm the things really do come together here.

percy telling him about kronos and zeus being like 'i don't need a lecture about my father' was honestly amusing to see but delivered like percy was about to be smited just for bringing him up, yesss, really shows how zeus really doesn't want to deal with it.

is it just me or does zeus' indifference towards kronos rising and him being like 'yeah we do that sort of thing all the time' feel weird to me? maybe i'm reading into it too much because one thing that i noticed in the books was that he really doesn't like talking about kronos and acts like he still fears him (see: hades being frightened about it when percy brings it up). idk i'm prolly just nitpicking

'i will not be weakened by my brothers' 'you already are. your family's a mess' PERCY FUCKING SLAYED THE HOUSE DOWN 10/10 NO NOTES.

percy: *tells zeus that his family doesn't love him and that he needs therapy and that his daddy will come put him into place* zeus: yeah this little shit needs to die. (loved that, btw)

POSEIDON STOPPING ZEUS FROM KILLING PERCY AND SURRENDERING FOR HIS SAKE????? 10/10 NO NOTES (also the bolt looked really fucking cool in this scene)

'[percy] is a forbidden son, he shouldn't exist' 'neither should your thalia' YOU TELL HIM POSEIDON

guys we finally got the ancient greek convo that zeus and poseidon had in the books!!!! this is everything i've been wanting for ages!!!!! (also i'm no expert but it sounded really good to me, ofc i have no reasonable information to base my judgement on so don't come at me)

zeus wanting to embarrass poseidon in front of the council?? hhhh the dysfunctional relationships are dysfunctioning!!!! and looking at poseidon's face, you can see how upset he is at having his pride crushed like that but it's all worth it!!!

also zeus 'family business' is one way of describing your father returning from his retirement home to kill you all.

very flashy exit from zeus. disappointed that the 'your uncle has always had a flair for dramatic exits, he would have done very well as the god of theatre' line didn't make it. again i'm just nitpicking but i loved poseidon's sheer sass in that comment.

you can tell from my extremely detailed analysis that the olympus scene was my favourite out of the entire show. what can i say, 10/10 no notes.

lance reddick as zeus, you will always be famous. may you rest in peace

that being said, i hope whoever is recast as zeus should the show continue matches lance's portrayal because it's fucking perfect to me.

the sheer intimidation and prideful rage we saw from zeus??? the divine fury?? that needed to be established for all the gods, especially ares and hades.

the interaction between poseidon and percy was so good!!! toby stephens really gets poseidon so well

poseidon calling ares a moron is so fucking funny btw. nothing like good old uncle-nephew beef

also how the fuck did sally 'high school dropout' jackson teach percy classics-grad level ancient greek??? why would he have not learnt it at camp like poseidon assumed??

'do you dream about mom?' OH MY GODS THE POSALLY IS POSALLYING

really weird for a sea pearl to return percy in the middle of a fucking field near camp. like not even a lake???

percy staring at thalia's tree was sooooooooo (screams)

loved the welcome back that percy received but would have been more impactful if percy had spent more time at camp and we saw how he was kinda ostracised as a forbidden kid

luke requesting a meeting in the woods???? i see...

the betrayal scene was really good but i'm a little disappointed about not getting the scorpion because it felt so much more serious i feel like.

loved luke trying to recruit percy though

was backbiter always able to open portals??? i don't remember it's been like a month since i reread the pjo series.

loved how luke switched from recruiting to fighting percy right after he said 'i met your dad' hhhhhhhh so good

annabeth throwing the dagger?? slay

wow no one in that godsforsaken writers' room wants annabeth to have a single emotion. this is supposed to be the girl who says 'family, luke, you promised' and justifies luke any chance she gets. she should not be this stoic, i think.

loved how luke ran away instead of fighting annabeth. no one messes with my girl.

chiron's discussion with percy hmmmmm, feels a little early to have percy realise luke was right. like yeah in the books he heavily disagrees with the gods but it's not until heroes of olympus where he's like 'you know what, luke had a point'

dionysus being surprised at percy's name was so funny btw. and so was him yelling at the campers to get the fuck out.

PERCY ASKING ANNABETH ABOUT THALIA'S FEELINGS AND ANNABETH GOING 'percy, it's a fucking tree' FHJSFHKJSD

annabeth being scared of disney world is so funny. poor girl is still recovering from waterland

also can i just say she looks so pretty in this scene, i love the hair

percy's 'just be a kid' hhhhhhhh

grover's searcher's licence being a flower??? lmao

percy being so done with kronos in his dreams is so real of him

'did you have another nightmare' 'yeah, grandpa' 'ew don't call him that' so funny by the way

it was an interesting detail seeing that percy was telling sally about his dreams, i like it tbh

'he told me don't forget to tell your mom you love her' 'kronos, lord of the titans, said that?' 'he could have' percy jackson, you will always be famous

percy's final narration is really good, it's more optimistic than in the books, where he was like 'if you think you're one of us, that's not good' but here he was like 'yeah you're probably right, and we might need you'. it's not bad, per se, but the tone it sets is very different.

the change with sally and gabe. hmmm. well what else were they going to do? not fucking surprised.

FINAL THOUGHTS

the finale was overall so good as an episode, where the fuck was this energy for the rest of the show??? it's like they put all the action and tension into just this and ran out of it for the rest of the show. i hope the show gets renewed so i can see my babies walker, leah, and aryan again but i'm scared to see what else they (rick riordan and co) would fuck up.

[thestarfishinjootsoffice]

May I request Jason Voorhees and a reader who works for the SCP Foundation as a senior researcher and reader (platonic/siblings if that's okay with you!) is probably friends with some SCPs, with both angst and fluff, my idea is that reader witnessed what the bullies did to Jason but was either too late or unable to save him in time, and the reader probably works for the Foundation to either cope or something, and maybe the reader goes back to the back to the camp and reunites with Jason? That's all I got tbh, but feel free to alter and change anything!

Also sorry if I bothered you btw!

Despite watching atleast like 3-4 Friday the thirteen movie I don't know much about Jason, I'm getting him off of other ffs I found 😵‍💫

Sorry i didn't really get into all that scp stuff

Jason Voorhees x sibling! Reader who works for scp foundation

Ever since your childhood you've noticed Jason was quite.. Different from other people. And he always got bullied for it. But you were always there to stand up for him.

These bullying seemed to become severe ever since you two entered Camp Crystal Lake. Every child that looked in his way looked at him with fright or disgust which ripped your heart everytime. You were always there to reassure him that he wasn't ugly at all, it's just that people are judgemental. He was the sweetest boy you've ever met. The best brother you could've asked for. And you're the best sibling he could ask for. You just wished people would give him a chance to get to know him.

You were planning to get a gift for Jason, a big teddy bear. So that he wouldn't be lonely when you were gone to school, you were looking for Jason when you heard familiar loud unwelcoming voices. And another voice... Which sounded alot like Jason and you ran to the direction of where the voices were coming from and you saw Jason screaming for help, screaming for mom, screaming for you. You tried, you tried so hard to save him. Everything was in a blur, you were in the water looking everywhere for your dear brother but nowhere in sight and you were losing your breath too.

You got out of the water and started immediately sobbing and yelling for your mother and that was how much you could vividly remember. Everything went downhill after the death of Jason. The camp closed, your mother got so depressed and your life got dull and sad.

And now you were working for the scp foundation. You didn't really know why but these creatures, how they were looked at and described as reminded you of Jason. As cliché as it sounded you didn't want them to feel the same way your brother must've. And weirdly enough you actually managed to become friends with them. You didn't know how but you just did, and you were proud of yourself cause holy shit you thought you were gonna die trying to do so.

"Mx L/n, scp 076 has requested a meeting with you." (I'm not sure if this is a thing)

"Okay I'll be there"

You've also wondered how you became friends with abel. He was cold and distant towards mostly everyone. But that's another thing for another time. You were walking down the hall when you overheard some researchers talking about something extremely familiar.

"Have you heard of camp crystal lake? Apparently a boy named Jason Voorhees died in that lake and resurrected and kills anyone who steps foot in the campsite."

"Wasn't it the mother who went crazy and killed everyone?"

Your eyes began tearing up, hearing about that shatters your heart. But you had this overwhelming urge to go there again, to go see Jason again. You don't care if it was closed you just wanted to go where your brother was and let all those built up emotions you've held for years out. To show him that you still care about him, to show that he's still in your mind and heart. You wanted to show him all the achievements you've made thus so far and how you wished you could've done it with him.

You ended your session with abel rather quicker than usual which upset and confused him but you'd make sure to make up for it.

Now which step you were getting closer and closer to your destination which made your palms sweaty and your heart and mind race, after all these years you were going to visit your brothers grave.

You were here, in the woods and what made you angry again was that the sign now read "camp blood". Jesus, your brother can't even get some peace even after his death. You were walking further and further. And now came to you was the various cabins and the big nostalgic lake, you were surprised the lake hasn't lost it's beauty. And memories came flooding and you couldn't stop the tears from flowing down anymore. You ran to the direction of the floorboards (?) where he died and started sobbing and crying loudly.

Jason was walking around the woods, bored and sad. He just missed you so much and wished you were here with him. When he heard crying. It sounds familiar but why? But whatever it was probably just someone who got dumped by their partner. He was ready to slaughter you until he realised how similar you looked to his sibling. Was it really you? No you musted forgotten him by now but he couldn't help but hope a little, then he heard your words.

"Oh Jason, why did you have to die? I miss you so much i wish you are here with me. Everything's been so dull without you." You continued to sob into your hands.

It really was you? You are his dear sibling, he put down his weapon and was ready to hug you when someone else approached you.

"Hey are you okay?" A man asked you.

You snapped your neck at him, putting your cries to a stop now embarrassed.

"Uhm, yeah I guess.." You just respond the man eyeing you up and down lustfully not going unnoticed by anyone. Jason still watching you two getting awfully angry.

"What's your name?"

"Uhm.. Y/n..." Now Jason was 100% sure you were his sibling!

"Well uh, it seems you're going through a tough time, why don't you uh.. Come inside my cabin and I can show you some to take your mind off some things." The man smirked, his breath stank. He really hasn't been taking care of himself

"Uhm no it's okay." You say uncomfortably, you didn't wanna do anything inappropriate where it's basically your brother's fucking grave.

"Aw c'mon don't be shy."

"No sir I'm not interested." You declined again. Now dropping the nice act.

When he gripped your wrist was when a machete came straight for his neck and blood spurred everywhere and you screamed.

Jason was not happy. How dare that drunken animal lay a dirty finger on his sibling. You tried to run away when a large man with a hockey mask held tightly on your arm and you just closed your eyes and prepared to die right then and there when you felt heavy arms and weight around you. You opened your eyes and saw the man hugging you, now you were confused. It stayed like that for a couple minutes when he stopped to look at you and signed "JASON".

"But, I don't understand. I thought you died?!"

He nodded which really confused you more but you remembered the coworkers talking about how he ressurected and if such things like scps can exist then so why not ressurection. and so now you were crying in his arms. Into the arms of your brother who you thought was dead for 2 decades. And was he

He was really really sad that you had to leave for your job but you promised you would visit him as much as you could and now he was a happy little Jason.

Head cannons tehe:

He is also scared of the scps and doesn't want you near them because he's scared they might cause you harm. Butttt 🍑🍑🍑 he has a chance of also becoming friends with more of the friendlier scps but uh I don't know how you're gonna get them to interact. He might find some of them cute like scp 999 or 059 though.

He is ruthless, dedicated and protective. Remember when he kept that girl captive in the 2009 movie just because she looked like his mother? He is really overprotective but he won't do that to you because he trusts you. <3

Talking about trust, he's been betrayed by all of the girls that look like his mother and so he's paranoid but like I said, he trusts you.

Only sad when you're gone, being alone in those woods must've been so boring,He just wants to spend time with his adorable sibling. 🥹

He also lets you know you mean a lot to him. 🫵either by gift giving or quality time, whatever. As long as you feel loved he is too.

If someone ever hurts you, just give him the description and he'll come back covered in blood.

Will probably have a shrine of you along with his mother whether you're dead or not.

[yandating]

🌹 Name: Alice (Not my real name but I'll tell you when we talk :)))) )

💕 Age: 20

💌 Gender: Female, she/her mostly but I do sometimes like they/them

🥀 Are you yandere on non-yandere: Fairly yandere, but it's not really the kind that shows too clearly from the get-go

🩸 Where are you from: Romania!

🕷 Tell us about yourself: I'm usually a reserved, quiet person irl, but I actually do really like talking to people one on one, even though ironically enough it can tire me out pretty quicklu. I'd say I have a lower self esteem than normal, but I am getting better! ...Ever so slowly but hey I'm getting there.

I'm a big fan of writing and doing digital art! I also really love playing videogames, expecially horror games and visual novels. Actually I generally really like horror stuff! I either like things that are extremely funny and lighthearted or stuff that is absolutely scarring. No inbetweens for me.

If you know me in real life I look a bit apathetic and robotic, almost, but I'm the complete opposite. I'm a pretty emotional and passionate person and it's easy as all hell to get fixated on things I like. For example starting to play Sims 3 again is pretty much a death sentence for a few days because it means I will not do anything but play that game.

What kind of yandere am I? Very good question! I'm pretty obsessive when the person's right, and I do have the slightest tendency to get jealous. I'm sorry though if that doesn't show quite enough lmao, after years of conditioning to not act like that it won't show too clearly.

I work the endless hell that is known as customer care, despite the fact I have severe social anxiety. It sounds like it makes literally no sense but it sort of does since it's through messaging (and in english I for some reason hate my own language).

Also I love cute things. Sanrio and lolita fashion is my life and blood. Can't wait til I can finally get the guts to dress that way. 😭

🖤 What are you looking for: Someone who's supportive an non-judgemental, and what I feel like is most important, someone who actually listens to what I talk about and respects me. I want to be treated as an equal, I'm sick of people infantilazing me lmao.

Someone who is fiercely loyal and very obsessive, jealous but doesn't act out on it too much despite it. I want to be as significant to my significant other as they are to me.

I'd love a yandere who is a considerably bigger one than I am, but still not too intense, the kind that wouldn't be able to control their own actions. I also want someone that respects my boundaries and would be okay if I need a bit of time alone when I'm having a tough time mentally. Sometimes I just need a bit of time to calm down, it's never anything personal.

I would love someone who's really affectionate, especially verbally. Nicknames would be really cute! I give really dumb nicknames but they're filled with love I assure you. ♡

Also, someone who's smart and interesting to talk to but doesn't brag about it would be really nice! Narcissism is a huge turn off for me.

In short, if you're warm, smart, supportive and respectful, I'll probably like you quite a lot. ^^

🪦 What's your mbti: INFP! I always get that without one exception lmao

🌌 Contact information: My username is Alice_lied on Discord. Don't be too confused by vaguely ominous username, I pretty much just mixed the name of a rpg horror game I really like, Alicemare and Elfen Lied, an anime I'm not too big of a fan of but the name drew me to watching it alone. :,)

[scrollsfromarebornrealm]

Dream prompt! For Riven dreaming of... oh, let's say... Louisoix

The first month back from the First, Riven slept. Despite Ardbert's soul healing hers in the merge, the purging of the corrupted Light from her very being, and the energies of Phoenix in the fight with Hades--none of those could help the mental toll that the First had taken. The only remedies for that were sleep...and tears.

So Riven drifted from periods of blissful mindless unconsciousness, to nightmares--to nonsensical dreams--then back to the mindless darkness, the nightmares--

But there would be one dream that would stick out in her mind. A lunch date at the Bismark, the Limsan sun shining down on her, soaking into her skin and warming her up. As if it was trying to burn out the memory of the corrupted Light's chill. The sea-breeze on her face, the pleasant feeling of a full belly--and the fact that she'd been...talking. A great deal. Explaining out arcanistry formulae. And seated across from her, holding a cup of tea and smiling, was Louisoix.

"Forgive an old man a fancy. I wished to help."

Phoenix, the primal that Louisoix had turned himself into to save Eorzea.

"I'm glad that you could finally call upon me. I am sorry for surprising you during that battle!" Another smile.

Healing fire blooming over her and the others, sinking into their wounds and granting them fresh energy to stand as Hades shrieked in rage-

"Don't be afraid to use me. I trust your judgement--after all, you've presented some extremely sound and secure aetherical theory to master my powers." Louisoix tapped his nose, winking.

"Just make sure you have a good explanation for why I'm around."

------

Riven would wake up from that particular dream--feeling oddly refreshed and rested...with the formulas and equations for what would become her Demi-Phoenix at the forefront of her mind.

[arcplaysgames]

warning this post has a LOT of cartomancy talk

Every other time I start P4G it drops this extremely important configuration. I cannot fucking deal with the right button being cancel, it's WRONG. Bottom is cancel, right is confirm, and I will kick the ass of anyone and everyone who says different.

Anyway.

sigh. if Akihiko were here, he would go into Sauve Mode and remind me he's here to protect me with his awesome crit skills. Hell, so would Aigis and Junpei. /DREAMY LOOK INTO THE HORIZON OF ANOTHER LIFE

anyway, soccer it is!

Which..... doesn't seem to matter because I hang out with both of the options anyway? wh-what's the point in choosing? OH WELL.

STRENGTH SOCIAL LINK: GET. I have zero opinion on these guys yet, I've known them for like 10 minutes. I have a scene with them later that's basically them asking if I like urban areas or rural more, so like. We're not dealing with a lot of depth yet.

Koromaru was Strength in P3P and was actually a very good one. Strength is infamously not about physical strength but emotional, particularly controlling the danger around you with personal fortitude. The de rigueur Strength symbolism is a woman and a lion with her calmly holding the lion in place, sometimes her hands on its mouth to prevent its attack.

Koromaru's S-Link was all about helping Koromaru act as the guardian of Iwatodai and particularly the area about the Naganaki Shrine, often assisting people who needed help. He's also very good at de-escalating situations. A very good boy and a very good Strength card.

So what we're looking for with the jocks here is an arc of emotional control and standing near something dangerous without flinching.

[/hot cartomancy talk]

ALSO ONE OF THE SHOP OWNERS RUNS A COOL LITTLE BAR AT NIGHT? I'm not allowed to go yet. GOD I want to. She seems so cool.

what th

okay.

wait, that's a real book and fairly modern literature. They're talking about fucking Murakami in this game??? That is fucking wild.

So I'm kicking off the Marie social link, and Yosuke rolls up. Other characters show up in SLinks way more often in this game. In P3P it was Shinjiro and Fuuka who did a lot of overlapping, but not really anyone else. Yosuke just ROLLS UP HERE and.

/squints at Yosuke

yeah what do you mean, Yosuke. /squints more

i'm sorry what did you just say

i feel like an ancient memory was just unlocked from my fucking skull. I knew Peachi way way way way way back when on Livejournal, we were contemporaries in the Metal Gear fandom. Holy shit that's so weird to see them referenced in Golden.

AEON SOCIAL LINK: GET. Marie feels "nostalgic" about Inaba and starts idly composing poetry while we walk around.

If you are expecting insight on the Aeon, I cannot help you. It's definitely not a standard card in RWS, and I think is an artefact of the Thoth deck.

Lemme google the card and just look at it.

Whoa wait. So Persona is playing fast and loose with the Arcana. Thoth is supposed to replace Strength with Lust and Justice to Adjustment. Aeon is supposed to replace Judgement, but P3P had Judgement. I WOULD LOVE TO KNOW IF P4 DOES THE SAME, but I'm not googling that, it sounds like Hella Spoilers.

Anyway. Aeon. Has a lot of the same heralds as the penultimate step of the Fool's Journey, but while Judgement is often about An Event, the biblical shit of the trumpets and angels descending, all that shit, Aeon is a much more person climax, the cracking of the egg and the burst of new consciousness. The dark archway over the Aeon is Nuit, Nyx, the night. There's spiritual symbols in it, so it's sort of like a synthesis of the trials of Star-Moon-Sun. It's a bit reductive, maybe, but as someone who isn't a huge fan of Judgement because it's just really tied to Revelations christianity shit, Aeon is interesting.

Since I'm aware that Aigis basically takes over as MC if you play The Answer in P3P, the Aeon suits her astonishingly well, as her journey is a culmination that mimicks the MC's.

So, Marie is the Aeon, currently stuck in the blue velvet darkness of the liminal limo and due to come out into the light to synthesize the spiritual madness of the Moon with the hope of the Star and the clear vision of the Sun.

Maybe. I say this having not really known wtf Aeon was ten minutes ago.

Where the fuck was I?

RIGHT, saving Yukiko. I headed back into the TV on 4/21 and powered through some floors. Compared to Tartarus, this is easy-peasy.

Shadow Yukiko strikes me as very.... lazy. She was born into a destiny she doesn't want, but is also completely unwilling to push back against it. She's submissive to the desires of her family and the needs of the Amagi Inn, but under the surface is festering with frustration she won't voice.

I truly genuinely wonder if her family even has an inkling she's so unwilling to take on ownership of the inn, or if she's never told them. Like, I have no idea. Not that I think saying so would get her out of it, but it's sure Something to just... grow this dense ball of resentment in yourself without even cluing people in.

ANYWAY Chie is her prince. Yukiko wouldn't make a terrible Rose Bride, lmao.

Well. Given how Chie introduced Yukiko to Reverie and talks about her, I'm not sure Chie knows that Yukiko hates her destiny either. lmao girl you gotta fucking communicate like any of this at all to anyone.

Yukiko has severe doormat issues.

SHE SAID THE THING!!!!!

Well, this one is less exciting. A powerful bird in an opulent cage with an open door and the lock clearly visible and undone. Yukiko, I would hazard, really enjoys being special, being essentially a noble of the town.

And she may have the power and opportunity to fly away from her cage, but beyond its light is a big unknown. It might not be as comfy. So, she wants the perks of being someone important but lashes out against the expectations that come with it.

That's my read anyway. /jazzhands

Chie full on crying is very sweet. Not much resistance to the label of Prince, huh Chie?

Yukiko's persona is Konohana Sakuya. I went "oh shit like from Okami" and then wanted to smack myself.

Yukiko needs to go home, she is Le Tired. We outie!

(SIDENOTE I AM VERY CONFUSED. I started to die in this fight and purposefully ate shit to get it over with faster so I could try again, but the game was like "want to retry?" and I was like "oh man what a nice QOL feature, yeah retry!" and it REVIVED EVERYONE TO MAX HP/SP BUT SHADOW YUKIKO WAS STILL AT LIKE 15% HP. which is.... not what I wanted. that's super weird, I just wanted a do-over.)

last thing to wrap up

WHAT THE FUCK IS THE JESTER ARCANA

oh now we just MAKING SHIT UP i see. Aeon i was AWARE OF as a Thoth thing. I have scored my cartomancy app and Jester ain't a real arcana to my knowledge. It sounds like it could be from the Tarot de Marseille, but I've never seen it before. (TdM was more game-y than other styles, similar to Lenormand, so you can more easily "play" it.)

I... am thrown. Is that an Arcana with an S-Link? What the hell.

[whiskeyswifty]

I wanna know what you think of Olivia's vampire?? Please and thank you 💖 I'm obsessed with your replies

i'm so sorry to report, dear anon, that olivia has never been and is still not For Me, to say it politely. It's very much music For The Kids, and that's great! Younger generations always need things that are their own, separate from the adults in their life. That's not to say it's lesser than anything else because it's for the kids, not at all! It's just for a demographic I'm not a part of and don't feel any kinship to right now (which is a good thing lmao i'm an adult i shouldn't be in spaces for kids). It's also not to say as an adult, you can't enjoy her music! If you're able to connect with it via the younger version of yourself, that's beautiful and i'm so happy for you that teenage you gets to feel validated. So many of my friends love it for how as a teenager, they would have related to it. I connect to a lot of other younger artists right now for the same reasons and because taste-wise, they're doing things that really click with me, so it's just not a good match, olivia and I. that's all!

A number of factors probably are why i don't enjoy her music writ large. 1. my youth was NOTHING like what she sings about. Like polar opposite teenagers truly and my younger self doesn't connect to or relate to anything she sings about. it's entirely too earnest for me then and now, but thats just my personal thing! not a value judgement. 2. she has the post-lorde whisper/raspy/talk singing voice that makes me SQUEAL with laughter when i hear it. idk your age, or if this is now a dated reference, but it's the bananies & avocadies vine voice lmaoooo sorry! It sounds so silly to me because of that vine (rip) and HE WAS prophetic was he not??? sooooo many gen z girls sing like that and it's borderline unlistenable to me because of my brain worms. 4. at this point, if all of the above are also true, and all you have left is "sad story about a boy happened to me", sorry to say but genuine heartbreak songs about boys from girls are just white noise to me. I've been a full blown lesbian for so long at this point, NEW content about women genuinely, earnestly weeping over men just doesn't connect and i can't sympathize or relate or bring myself to feel any type of way about it. that's just not my world, sorry you're going through all that or sorry that happened to you, it sucks and it's terrible, but i'm not interested in engaging with that content. men, straight ones especially, are ancillary at best in my world. you have to be a legacy artist to move me whilst singing about A Man, someone who snuck in early and earned my favor before i realized i was a lesbian (hence the topic of this blog lol). again, not a value judgement! just my personal taste.

about the song itself, it just sounds like driver's license the sequel to me, which is great and not a knock! it makes sense to me strategy-wise. it worked the first time, so if it ain't broke, use the same release strategy for the next album. seems like she has a decent team behind her who are setting her up for success which is great! there are some solid lines in it, but at my geriatric age (over 30 lmao) i'm extremely sensitive to clunky lyrics. blame the near perfectly threaded and composed early taylor work for that i suppose, although i'm sure there are others at fault. a half-formed idea or a half-committed idea turns me off so quickly, and the mixed metaphors in the chorus (?) of the song really make me itch. "sold me for parts" and then the vampire metaphors about consuming conjure totally different imagery and dynamics and the friction between them i find jarring. both are interesting and i would have loved to have seen the depths of each plumbed creatively! commit to one and explore the ways you can weave that metaphor with reality to really pack a punch! however it sounds like a very sensitive situation that she went through so perhaps clarity in songwriting is not possible for this event in her life. idk much about her but that's what i gleaned at least. (WCS is wayyyyyy better and more fully formed and articulate than dear john, to give you an example)

I totally recognize her prominence and am happy for her and all her success! This is not a hater post, i don't have any ill will towards her. i'm not annoyed by her. I don't think about her, unless asked, tbh. i think she's an amazing figure for younger fans to have in their pop culture life and i wish her all the success and happiness in the world!