#-also i i'm not dead just severely sick i live but barely-

[bonny-kookoo]

Jungkook

𝓘𝓷𝓽𝓻𝓲𝓷𝓼𝓲𝓬 [Main Work]

You're supposed to keep him in check and integrate him into earth's society while he recovers from the aftereffects of catching a viral infection on his planet. All that, while you get to earn a pretty good monthly compensation for your efforts from the government of his and your planet.

Or more simplified: You're a paid babysitter for a 7' tall alien who's caught a virus that makes him act purely on instincts, rather than logic. Oh yeah- and he tried to eat your neighbor's pet bird. Yeah...

Tags/Warnings: Alien!Jungkook, Human!Reader, Yes I'm writing that story..., mentions of doctors visits (needles, injections, medical terms, blood), mild Angst, so much chaos, he almost eats a bird once oops, mild Angst, strangers to lovers, more TBA

Length: 4k words

A/N: THERE IS NO TAGLIST. THERE IS NO TAGLIST FOR THIS. THERE REALLY ISNT. DO NOT ASK.

-> Masterlist

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"Are you sure that's a good Idea?" Jimin asks, and you shrug, dipping your piece of bread in the sauce.

"Yeah, why not?" You say. "They're not dangerous or anything. I've met Yoongi, and he's cool. Can live alone, even!" You tell your best friend across from you, who doesn't seem convinced.

"Yoongi is different though. He's, like, recovered already." Jimin says. "You'll be getting one straight out of quarantine. I'm sorry but, are you sure you can handle that?" He worries, and you roll your eyes.

"Jimin you're acting as if he's gonna try and murder me in my sleep." You scoff, denying any of his worries. "I went to all the lessons and readings and educational stuff- I wouldn't have gotten approved if I didn't. So calm down, I got this." You chuckle.

Jimin simply shrugging, well aware he can't change your mind.

"Jungkook, no, come on." The careworker who's nametag reads 'Kim Namjoon' gently says, holding the hand of who you assume must be Jeon Jungkook-

26-year-old Vrota, straight out of quarantine, having been brought to earth for treatment earlier this year. He likes sports, has a pretty big appetite, and dislikes being left alone for too long. He used to work as a physical health coach before catching the virus on Vilia, and stayed in self-isolation for about half a year before being sent to earth to be treated in quarantine for the most severe portion of his sickness.

Now, he's deemed healthy enough to stay with a human 'caretaker'- or babysitter, how you'd call it. And to be honest, you didn't really think much about taking care of a Vrota at first, having met one by the name of Min Yoongi during your earlier days at the education center for Vilian people- and he was a pretty cool guy.

What you didn't take into thought was apparently that Vrota can look very different just like humans. So yeah.. the guy standing in front of you right now with his big brown cat-eyes and colorful tattoos isn't really comparable to the chill, rather laid back Yoongi you had met.

No.

Fuck no.

Walking into your home is a at least 7-foot tall young man of your age, simply black shirt stretching over the muscles of his biceps, jeans seeming to barely contain his thigh muscles. Jesus christ.

Maybe Jimin was right in his worries that you might end up dead at the end of this.

"So, Jungkook here doesn't have any allergies, so you don't have to worry about that. He's overall low maintenance, sleeps a lot, but when he's awake you might want to start taking him out a bit, since he get's a bit restless if he's got nothing to occupy himself with." Namjoon explains, giving you all the necessary papers in an envelops, while Jungkook walks around to explore your apartment. "Also, don't be intimidated by him. He's gone through multiple rounds of behavioral analysis, and has been deemed no threat whatsoever." He offers when he notices you watch the way the young man walks around, looking at pictures on your wall.

"So like, I guess he has to put that on when we go out?" You wonder, pointing at the simple black collar with a GPS tracking device on it.

"Yes, please. And also, keep a hold of his hand, just so he doesn't get lost." Namjoon chuckles.

"Sorry, but I don't think me holding him by his hand is gonna do much." You joke, making Namjoon chuckle.

"Ah, no-" He agrees. "-it's not to physically keep him with you. It just reassures him, in a way. He enjoys physical contact a lot." he explains.

"So- does he talk?" You wonder, watching how Jungkook looks out the windows, cat eyes jumping around at the nature and scenery outside.

"Sometimes, but barely. He understands speech fluently though. It'll take some time for him to come out of his shell, but once he's comfortable, he'll talk. The virus didn't injure his brain whatsoever, so he's expected to make a full recovery by the end of this year." Namjoon informs you, and you nod. "His scheduled appointments are in there, his current doctors are marked down as well. If you can't take him to one of those appointments, please call in advance, alright? Otherwise they'll immediately try and pick him up themselves, and that's gonna be a lot of paperwork on your side, and a lot of unnecessary stress on his." He explains further, and you nod.

"So, basically- cook him food, make sure he doesn't go missing, and take him to his doctors. Got it." You nod, making Namjoon chuckle.

"Pretty much. Like I said, he's rather low maintenance. You can occupy him with video games or movies as well- and when it comes to food, he's not picky. Doesn't like sour snacks though." He laughs, and you nod.

"No sour stuff, got it." You nod, and at that, Namjoon claps his hands together.

"Alright kook, I'm gonna leave you here then." He says, making the man in question walk closer again, nodding. "Do you like it here?" He wonders, and Jungkook shrugs, looking around-

before he nods, looking at you.

"Alright. His clothes and everything has arrived, right?" Namjoon asks, and you nod.

"All in his room." You say, making Namjoon nod.

"Don't cause too much trouble, alright?" He tells Jungkook, who nods a bit deflated, visibly a bit upset he's gonna leave now. But he doesn't show it too much, waves Namjoon goodbye until the door closes, leaving him alone with you.

"Your room is here-" You say, leading him to a small guest room where he spots his suitcases on the bed. "I didn't unpack them, cause.. privacy and stuff. So you can do that while I make something to eat?" You ask, and he nods, walking past you- and only now do you realize just how much taller he really is than you.

Jesus christ.

You break away your eyes from the sight of his broad back to instead run into your kitchen, putting away the papers and starting to cook instead to both calm yourself down- and make sure Jungkook feels comfortable too.

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It's been a few weeks- and thinks have definitely settled quite well.

You're currently sitting in the waiting room of the doctor's office- waiting to be called in, as Jungkook keeps rubbing his ear. "No, don't." You quietly scold him with a soft tone, carefully pulling his hand down by his biceps, causing him to whine under his breath in complaint.

He's been having some issues with it recently- an underlying problem that had been overlooked due to more pressing issues. An elderly woman with a young looking Vrota girl smiles at you from where she sits across, watching rather fondly how you hold Jungkook's hand in yours. Namjoon had been right- it works wonders in reassuring the young man.

And it also kept him close at your side.

"Jeon Jungkook?" Is called by a nurse, and you follow her into one of the examination rooms, where Jungkook sits down on the bed, while you took a seat close by on a chair. It's routine to you both by now, after all. "Ah, there. Hello!" The doctor offers, bowing politely before he sits down across from you behind his table. "So- apparently he's got some trouble with his ear?" He wonders, and you nod.

"He's been pretty frustrated with it for some days now. Keeps rubbing it, and he doesn't like it being touched either." You inform the man, who nods and writes some stuff down in his computer with the help of his keyboard.

"Hm yeah, that looks pretty sore." The man says as he inspects Jungkook's ear further, his tail whipping around as he tries to stay composed.

Unbeknownst to you, he only really does it to impress you.

As soon as the doctor is done, Jungkook get's up to walk closer to where you sit, hand curiously playing with the shoulder strap of your top while the doctor explains what medication Jungkook will have to take. Touches like this aren't unusual- Namjoon had been right, after all. The Vrota standing next to you is very touchy, enjoying you close and seemingly seeking you whenever he can. From sitting on the couch so closely next to each other that your legs are touching, to snoozing during a nap with his full upper body on your thighs.

It's what happens later when you're back home, as you're scrolling around on your phone, while he purrs in his sleep on your thighs. He's full on hugging your middle, arms around you keeping you close while the tip of his tail moves a little as he dreams. He really is currently like a big cat in a humanoid body- and you wonder if it's still the aftereffects of his virus, or if he's always like this in general.

Almost as if on pure instinct, one of your hands falls into his slightly curly hair, nails running over his scalp, and at that, his almost unnoticeable purr turns into vibrant rumbling in his chest. His arms wrap a bit tighter around your body as he adjusts his position, a soft smile on his face as he buries his nose in the front of your t-shirt. In this moment, you have to think about Jimin, and his big worries.

What a load of bullshit, you think to yourself, as you watch the happy cat-boy-alien snuggle just a little closer to you.

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Scratch that. Scratch all of that. This young man is a menace, and you'll surely go to jail for not looking after him by the end of this entire situation.

"Jungkook…" You say, at a stand-off with the big cat-like alien across from you who stares you down with his stupidly cute big round eyes as if he's not doing anything wrong. "Where is pudgy?" You ask, and at that he fully turns around, squirming bird in his hand. "Jungkook, no, no no no-!" You dramatically call out, hands reaching for him- when he looks at the bird, then at you. "Give him to me, yeah?" you try, and he seems completely taken aback for a moment, and almost- shy?

Unbeknownst to you, he thinks you want the bird for something entirely different. In his mind, you're not asking for the bird itself- you're asking for him to offer it for you.

You want him to… court you?

He seems to deeply think for a good moment as he watches the bird breathe heavily, it's life probably flashing before it's very eyes before Jungkook brightly grins, sharp canine teeth making his happy grin look more dangerous than it probably is.

You don't know why he's suddenly so chipper, tail held high and eyes sparkling.

Suddenly, he holds the bird out to you like he's offering it rather than returning it- and you carefully take the poor thing from his rough hold, accepting it. It's something that makes the tip of his tail snap upwards in excitement, eyes scanning you for every reaction as you walk back.

"I'll be… right back.." You carefully tell Jungkook, who shrugs. "Do not do anything while I'm gone." You warn, before you dash out the front door to return the pet yet again, violently knocking on your neighbor's door.

"What?!" Seokjin yells almost, when you hold out his bird to him. "Pudgy!"

"Yeah, fuck your bird Jin!" You yell at the young man. "Jungkook almost fucking ate him, keep the thing in his cage for god's sake! Do you know how much trouble I would've been in if he actually ate him? I'm not ensured for accidental pet-ingestion!" You complain, making the man laugh a little.

"I'll keep the windows closed from now on." He reassures you, and you nod, pinching the bridge of your nose as you make your way back downstairs into your apartment-

where a not so happy Jungkook waits, arms crossed and tail whipping angrily from side to side behind him, knocking down some papers on the kitchen table. He's clearly unhappy, growling a little with every breath, eyes sharp and glaring at you dangerously.

"What happened?" You wonder, and Jungkook himself wants to just yell at you.

You're so stupid, he thinks to himself.

Why would you insult him like that? He caught that bird, and you wanted it- so he offered it, thinking you finally understood his intentions at this point- but no. Instead you insult him by giving HIS offering to that stupid human man upstairs, as if to mock him!

Do you want something more impressive? Maybe a tiny bird isn't enough to win you over. But on earth, there's not much prey to hunt- and considering he's a little bound to the interior of your apartment, he doesn't have any other options, really. And even if he was to catch something better- like the deer he'd almost caught if it wasn't for you scolding him for it- you still don't seem to like that at all. He doesn't know what else he could do to impress you.

What the hell do human woman want?!

Maybe he just really chose to court the most stupid and ungrateful human he could find- but he'll make sure you understand his intentions soon enough, and he'll teach you proper manners as well, once he's better. Right now, he's still unable to really do much in his state- but once he recovers a little more, he'll make sure.

He'll make sure you know exactly what he wants from you.

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It's been a few months, and Jungkook has started to find his voice again, it seems like.

He hums a lot when doing household tasks, sings to himself while he folds laundry, throws random half-sentences at you here and there whenever he feels like doing so. And all of that is fine and dandy- if it wasn't for that very specific nickname he's come up with for you. You try to tell yourself that he just doesn't know any better, that he's just overly friendly, that there's no way he'd be using it for those specific reasons. It doesn't help that he's horribly attractive, and nice, and, ugh.

This is getting more complicated than you hoped it would.

"Kitty!" He chirps, as he leans over the couch, and holds something out to you. You can't help but flinch a bit internally at the way he says that nickname. You're guessing it came from when he'd asked what those cat-plushies in your bed had been called, and you had answered Hello Kitty to him. He'd laughed, pointed at the toy, and then pointed at your cheeks, poking them.

Ever since then, you'd been stuck with that name in his head, it seems like.

You eat from his fingers as he puts the piece of meat on your tongue, an odd, focused gaze on the action found in his eyes as he licks his own lips the same way you do yours. "It's good!" You praise, and he grins brightly, eagerly running back into your kitchen to finish whatever he's cooking. He's been becoming a lot more independent- and it makes you a little sad, considering that once he's deemed healthy enough, he'll leave you behind, move back to his planet one day, and forget you even existed.

A little bit of a bummer, really. But at the same time, there's nothing you can do about it. You don't feel good about asking him out- because what if he feels obligated to say yes?

It's like he senses the slight shift in your mood, slowly walking back up to the couch again where you sit, sitting down next to you on the couch, knees digging into the soft cushions while he curiously watches you with a tilted head. "Huh?" You wonder, smiling- but he frowns, shakes his head.

"What?" He asks. "Sad?" He questions, and you shrug, shaking your head.

"No no, don't worry." You shake it off. "Are you done cooking? Turned everything off?" You ask him, and he nods, but doesn't let off from his question it seems. He opens his arms, makes a grabbing motion with his hands, and you laugh. "You want a hug?" You giggle, but he shakes his head.

"No, you." He argues gently, urging you once more. "You, hug. Sad." He explains, and you laugh.

"Jungkook, I'm not sad." You say, and suddenly, his hands flop down, a frustrated look on his face.

"Don't want?" He hufffs. "Hug me?" He complains, and you look at him with questioning eyes.

"I do wanna hug you, kook." You say, and he perks up at the nickname used. "Just- you don't have to do that just cause I'm like, not feeling happy." You explain to him. "I'm here to take care of you, after all, not the other way around." You laugh, and he watches you a bit more serious right now.

"Right." He suddenly says with a flat tone. "You.. hm, get paid." He says more or less to himself. "For me." He finishes his sentence, sitting properly on the couch now, feet on the floor, arms crossed.

"I mean.. yeah." You say, carefully. "You're gonna leave as soon as you're good to go, you know that." You say. "Would be kinda weird to start like, a friendship or stuff when your stay is limited down the line. I just wanna look out for you- and myself too. Save us the hurt later on." You shrug, and at that, a lightbulb seems to blink out of nowhere over his head, as he looks at you.

"So you? Like me?" He asks, and you stammer an answer.

"Uh, no- like, yeah as a guy you're pretty cool but like I said-" You scramble for an explanation, but he just crawls back on the couch, over you, until he's got you practically pinned down beneath him.

"You like.. me." He says, as if it's a fact- and yeah, it is one. But it shouldn't be. "I like you." He offers. "I.. tried, hm.. Im-pressive- impress you!" He seems to think hard to make his words make sense, brain still a bit slow most of the time when he tries to talk. It shows by the way he still stutters, gets stuck on syllables or by the way his brows scrunch together in thought. "But you- dumb!" He scolds, pointing at your head.

"What the fuck- I'm not dumb!" You complain, and he laughs, sharp canine teeth showing.

"Yes!" He argues, though he seems to not mean it badly. "Really dumb!" He continues.

"Well at least I don't try to eat the local animal population!" You argue.

"But- offer!" He argues, tail puffed up and swaying around. "I need.. to impress! Hunt!" He complains.

"For what?" You laugh.

"You!" He whines loudly. "Mate, make mate- impress mate! You, so you- argh!" He growls out, and you can't help but laugh.

"Jungkook." You softly say, and he looks at you with a face looking like you just told him he has to sleep on the balcony outside. "You don't have to do that, you know? Just cause I take care of you, doesn't mean you.. have to like, be nice like that." You say, and at that, he huffs angrily to himself, tail all fluffy as the fur stands out to all ends in his growing frustration, his arms crossed.

"No.!" He argues. "Stupid!" He curses, getting up to walk into his bedroom, before he emerges back out with some papers in his hand, and red ears as he slaps them on the couch, fleeing the scene right after before slamming the door shut, and locking the door.

And on your couch are two papers, one of them having writing on both sides- the handwriting sloppy and crooked, but readable. And while some sentences don't make sense, it seems like he's tried to take his time and write down what he can't say, at the moment.

'Kitty is stupid' is written on top of the first paper, and you scoff to yourself. 'Kitty doesn't get it.' it reads further.

'I want cry. I catch her prey, I offer it, and she give away to man downstairs. Man downstairs can't even hunt at all, keeps stupid bird in a cage but doesn't ever eat it. Who keeps food alive in home? Why she likes him I don't know- he stupid, just like her. But I like her. Maybe I can teach her one day. But what if she hunt for her then? No, I want to do that.'

'I want to show that I can be good partner. I learned to cook with human foods! She likes food, likes eating. I like eating too, so we eat together often. Then we hug, and she scratches my head. I like that. She's warm.'

'Maybe she doesn't like me. Doesn't like my kind. Doesn't want my kind. Or me. Just me? Maybe just me. I'm the problem. She doesn't want me.'

You turn the page around. It's written with a different pen- probably written on a different day.

'She likes me. I know she do.'

'I made nest for her, today, and she smiled. Smiled happy, cute, like kitty-toys on her bed. Has cheeks round just like them. Soft, too. She is soft. Body soft. I like holding her often. I like holding her in nest I made. And she hugged me, too. Let me hold her instead. Normal, she hold me. But this time, I hold her. I want to hold her more from now. She can be held anytime she want. She smells nice too. Smells best when happy, and after shower.'

You chuckle as you remember that day. It had been raining, you'd gotten caught up in it on the way home from grocery shopping, and after putting all things away and showering, Jungkook had waited on the couch for you, blankets from his bed placed on it, his hand inviting you to sleep there with him. And you had simply accepted the offer-

After all, you didn't know what exactly he'd been trying to offer you with those pillows and blankets placed there. You were educated on his physical health and general behavior- not about courting rituals and how to spot if the Vrota you've been taking care of has developed a romantic interest in you. Why the hell would they teach that anyways? It's not like they are known to have a huge interest in humans.

If anything, they're typically looking down on humans.

You move the paper, and turn to the last one. There's not much written on it, but the sentences are clearer, showing how his health had started to increase again, brain starting to work better these days. They're not perfect, there's a lot scribbled out, but it's clear that it must've been written recently.

'I don't know if she enjoy my company as much as I do her. I know she gain money from taking care of me, but it feels like she also doing it because she care about me. Will she abandon me once I am healthy? Will she leave me once I recover? Will I forget her if I go back home? What if home is here now and not where home was? I don't want to go home anymore if she not there.'

'It's not home if she's not there. It's just a house, just a planet, just a place. But I want home. I want to be her home. I want us to be each other home.'

Can you even be a home? You haven't at all planned any further than up until he's healthy enough to go back home. You've got no clue what to really do after he leaves- so what the hell are you supposed to do now? A relationship with him would be perfectly legal, sure, but he's also only got a Visa for his earth-stay up until he's healthy enough to return to his home planet, once they've gotten their whole pandemic situation back under control. You don't know what to do now.

Maybe you really are stupid, like he says.

So you decide to be even more stupid, as you take a small post it note from your kitchen, and write down a single sentence, before you slide the little note under his bedroom door.

And as he reads it, his eyes become wide, while his fingers clench the pastel pink paper.

'I want to be your home, too.'

[xjulixred45x]

If you don't mind me can I request male reader who like Akaza from Demon slayer with the Hazbin Hotel.

Bonus: respect woman.

Hello! Normally i would Say no bc My Requests are Closed but you're lucky that i'm in a good mood to write and also i am a fan of this Man✨ 😭

Thanks for the Request ❤️

(to the other Readers, don't take this as something usual, the Requests are still Closed, i'm just in the mood to write THIS for now)

Akaza! Reader in Hazbin Hotel

Genre: headcanons

Reader: male

Warnings: Reader is a fighter, violence(?), hell, slight change in Akaza story so its not a Copy-paste and make "more sense",idk, I MAKE THIS IN A RUSH OF ✨INSPIRATION✨SO ITS NOT PROFFHEAD!!

You were born and raised in the Edo era, in Japan. and it was a nightmare.

You lived in poverty all your life, practically alone with your sick father who could barely take care of himself, but he always tried to take care of you above all else.

You spent a lot of your life trying to take care of him back, but it was difficult because of money, you couldn't afford it. so you did the only thing you could think of: steal medicine.

Obviously many times this didn't turn out well, and they ended up catching you and taking you to be beaten and tattooed like a criminal, but it was the kind of life you led until your father died.

That was when you hit rock bottom, but you met certain people who helped you move forward. a martial arts master and his sick daughter (who reminded you a lot of your father).

And it was the time when you lived better, you took care of your teacher's daughter and you learned from him, you had a good life.

you and his daughter even fell in love!

everything had fallen into place in your life...

until conflicts broke out again.

You don't remember much about your last days of life, it was a cycle of going, killing whoever got in your way, returning with whatever you wanted from your group, and whatever followed...

You just wanted to go home.

but you died before that.

and just as you expected, after everything you had done wrong in your life, you ended up in hell.

It wasn't exactly like the hell you had imagined growing up, but it was definitely difficult to adjust, knowing that you were dead, in this hole of misery, far from them...

but you didn't waste your time. You discovered quite quickly that several of your physical abilities had stayed with you, so you took advantage of them and became a quite formidable demon.

You wouldn't say you were an Overlord, but you were definitely an anomaly to Hell's QUO status, a demon who had become powerful without the need for owning souls.

something very strange.

so many Overlords, feeling threatened, tried to go after you, only to never be seen again...

As for the Hotel issue, I think that Akaza! reader would be skeptical, I don't think he would have a problem offering himself as a test subject for the hotel because 1- there is Alastor, someone very strong, and 2- he has a small hope that the hotel will work and maybe, just maybe he can redeem himself and go. to heaven with his love and his teacher, what he loves most. although he wouldn't say the last thing out loud.

Speaking of relationships, Alastor and him can actually get along in a very ambiguous way, Alastor is not happy with someone who is so strong without even having souls of their own, so he is cautious, but not in a threatening way.

Although there is something these two have in common, THEY RESPECT WOMEN.

Alastor can definitely introduce him to Akaza! read several of his female friends to be more "social" and get possible blackmail material.

Alastor secretly knows of the possible motives behind why Akaza! Reader would like the hotel to work, he thinks he is naive, but he doesn't make fun, Alastor partly understands why he feels that way. leaves him alone in that sense.

...but it bothers him in every other way! using it as an armrest, innocuous phrases, crushing it with things out of nowhere, etc. He always has something up his sleeve to piss him off.

but they can ally if women get involved ;)

Charlie is so so so so so happy to have Akaza! reader as another participant alongside Angel and Sir Pentious! She constantly thanks him for his collaboration and tells him how much it means to her.

Lots of encouragement during the trust exercises! she realizes that Akaza! Reader is not very talkative, and although she does not force him to change, she "subtly" encourages him to be more open with the exercises.

Although that does not mean that she admits the fights, she tries to encourage Akaza! reader to find another way to get out his anger and energy in less destructive ways.

I think she would be the only one who knows through Akaza! reader why he wants the hotel to work, and she is SO MOVED by him because Reader wants to redeem himself and that gives him a lot of motivation to do more exercises.

Even if is sometimes a double-edged sword because she feels pressured not only by wanting to help her friends, but also by Akaza's cute motive! reader.

Akaza! reader is very protective of Charlie even if she is the princess of hell, he is like a bodyguard! or a very loyal pitbull. Charlie finds it endearing (but please don't rip that demon's head off please---)

Vaggie is scared of Akaza at first! reader for his aggressive nature.

She is afraid that he will end up directing that destructive energy towards them if he is very angry, so she is very cautious at first.

but eventually she can relax more and more with him as she realizes that (at least with women) he's not going to explode on anyone who doesn't deserve it. and that in fact he is a good man.

sparring together! Vaggie feels kind of bad that he doesn't have a gun, but is surprised at how tough he is.

If she finds out his reason behind going to the hotel, she supports him a lot in his journey of redemption, more than before, she empathizes with him.

They both have similar motives.

Vaggie really appreciates when Akaza! reader defends the female staff against Angel's out-of-place comments. she may even allow him to hit him.

You two are the main people in charge of protecting the hotel.

Let's be honest, Angel dust at first was just "flirting"/sexually harassing Akaza! reader until he beat him up and never did it again.

He thought he was simply bitter about life until he remembered that on one occasion he told him that "he was taken" and he didn't take it so personally.

After the duet with Husk, he went directly to apologize to him and they were on bad terms.

Angel occasionally likes to prank him like everyone else in the hotel, but he's considerably less annoying with Akaza! reader because he knows what he is capable of.

When he eventually finds out why he is "taken" and why someone like him is in the hotel, he can't help but empathize with him a lot (from his sister in heaven), and tries to be his "Husk" at his lowest moment. .

Even if technically Akaza!reader is stronger than him in every way, he takes care of him in his own way, watching his drink, not being robbed, etc.

Angel is definitely not used to so much respect when it comes to his gender identity, which is why he respects Akaza a lot! reader.

They generally start off on the wrong foot but manage to be friends.

Husk likes Akaza! reader, simply because it gets on Alastor's nerves and because he knows that he won't kick the ass of someone who doesn't deserve it. He knows everyone is safe with him.

He definitely knows about his reason for being in the hotel and pities him, respects his privacy a lot after that and doesn't let him talk drunk.

Husk may get to have his "loser baby" moment with Akaza! reader but in a platonic way, helping him when it is especially difficult to stay away from violence.

They can even have a father-son relationship, Husk is very similar to Akaza's teacher! reader in many ways EMOTIONALLY SPEAKING so Akaza! reader feels comfortable with him.

she definitely tells him things about her past as Overlord to entertain him.

Sir Pentious at first was TERRIFIED of Akaza!reader, his reputation was as a tough guy who went after evil people and Pentious (having his poor self-image) thought he would kill him as soon as he saw him.

but fortunately it was not like that!

but he was definitely avoiding it for DAYS before he heard from the others that Akaza!reader wasn't that bad and was actually quite nice. to give him a chance.

and Pentious did just that. and he was VERY surprised.

Akaza! reader has had to dismantle several of Sir Pentious's evil machines using his enormous strength, and although Pentious was heartbroken to see his machines destroyed, he was also VERY surprised by Akaza!reader's capabilities, even giving me more things to do. break and test their strength (imagine this pair getting to know the Rage Rooms).

Pentious Minnions occasionally go to Akaza! reader when P. is not there, which is fun to see because Akaza!reader would try to get away from the Minions that come after him like ducks.

Akaza! reader clearly notices Pentious's crush on Cherri, and encourages him to do something now that he has time.

(Can you imagine Akaza! reader's Koyuki becoming friends with Pentious in heaven? It would be Epico).

Mononeuronal pair.

Niffty is strange.

but I can definitely see Akaza! reader protecting it constantly. so Niffty likes him. But I wouldn't really say they are friends.

In general, everyone has some kind of respect for Akaza! reader. They hope you can reach your goal.

Shares, reblogs and comments are very welcome!

Again, this DOES NOT MEAN that orders are open again! I'm just taking a break and deciding what things to write and what not to. thanks for the request ✨❤️

[zijiaye]

Remember that scene where Kakashi catches Obito on the verge of smooching the class photo?

My HC is that Kakashi accidentally on purpose passes by Obito's place often. Usually he never reveals himself, but when he sees Obito about to make out with Rin in the class photo (why not the Rin's other photos where she's alone btw hmm Obito???), he just cannot stand idly by and watch the embarrassing scene so he descends onto Obito's window to mock him.

Also this scene from a Chinese fic lives in my head rent-free. (The narrator here is Obito). "I'd been sick before when I was young. My classmates would often use illness as an excuse to skip classes and training, or as an opportunity to get attention from their parents. But I always hated being sick, because there wasn't anyone I could seek comfort from. During the worst times, I could only lie in bed alone and endure it. While at the Academy, being surrounded by peers was fine, but times like these only emphasized how alone I truly was. Life is just cruel like that, always reminding me of what I've lost just when I'm about to forget.

Fortunately, I've been relatively healthy, rarely getting sick since I was seven. The only time I really fell ill was the day before my second Chunin Exam.

It was my own carelessness, really. It was already during the seasonal change, and I'd been training from dawn till dusk for the exam. I didn't even care when my clothes were soaked with sweat, and as a result, my fever shot up to 39°C the next day.

I curled up in my blankets, shivering despite having several layers covering me. My mind kept urging me to get up and take medicine, but I couldn't even open my eyes.

Am I going to die? I promised I'd become Hokage, dying like this would be so uncool… I haven't even passed the Chunin Exam yet, and Kakashi will mock me again…

As my mind wandered with these delirious thoughts, I thought I heard knocking at the door, but I couldn't muster the strength to answer it. I closed my eyes and passed out.

In my feverish sleep, my body alternated between hot and cold, and my dreams were bizarre. One moment I dreamed of failing the Chunin Exam again and being stripped of my ninja status; then I dreamed of trying to confess to Rin, but panicked when I couldn't find my love letter; and then I dreamed of Kakashi… he was taking care of me while I was sick, helping me sit up to take medicine, wiping my sweat with a cool cloth, placing his hand on my forehead to check my temperature.

In my daze, I remember thinking how the elderly always say dreams are opposite to reality, and how wise those words were – the real Kakashi could never be this gentle.

When I finally opened my eyes again, it was sunset. The warm-colored sunlight streamed through the window, falling on the corner of my bed, into my eyes, and onto the hair of the person by the window, coating his silver hair with a honey-colored glow.

I stared at Kakashi blankly, thinking I was still dreaming.

There were faint dark circles under his eye, as if he hadn't slept well. Seeing me awake, he looked at me with his droopy eye and said, "Why do you look so stupid the moment you wake up?"

"Wha— no, why are you here?"

"If I hadn't happened to pass by, you would've died from fever in your house."

"…What are you talking about? You're exaggerating! I'm perfectly healthy, the fever would've gone down after half a day of sleep!"

"It's already the second day."

"…"

I was speechless, partly because Kakashi had shut me down, and partly because I felt inexplicably shy, to the point where I could barely meet his eyes.

"Kakashi… did you take care of me for a whole day?"

Now it was his turn to feel awkward. Kakashi lowered his gaze, his voice slightly hoarse: "I couldn't just let you die, could I? Especially when a certain dead-last was crying in his sleep."

My face instantly turned red: "Who was crying! That was—that was sweat!"

"Sweat coming from your eyes?"

"Yeah! Got a problem with that?!"

I glared at him, ready for our usual verbal sparring. But instead, Kakashi turned his head away, and in the backlight, I saw the corner of his mouth curve slightly upward, almost like a smile.

"Whatever, I won't argue with a sick person. If you say so, then so be it."

While I was still stunned, Kakashi had already walked over to take the cloth from my forehead, softly saying as he re-wet it: "You usually act so carefree, like nothing bothers you, but you'll still hide under your blanket and cry alone. What were you dreaming about?"

By now I'd completely forgotten about arguing that those weren't tears, feeling only awkwardness. I'd always considered him my rival, always wanting to compete with him in everything, and there was no way I could admit my vulnerability in front of him, so I stubbornly said: "I wasn't crying from sadness, I… right, I dreamed about marrying Rin, those were tears of joy."

Kakashi's movements suddenly stopped. After a few seconds, he said casually: "Dreams are opposite to reality, you should give up while you can."

"No way! Once I pass the Chunin Exam, I'm going to confess to Rin, just you watch!"

"As if you could pass the exam in your current state. You'll probably be a Genin forever."

"Ahhhhhhh, you're so annoying!""

[alexandraisyes]

Hey dumb dumbs (/lovingly)

What are your favorite TSBS/TSAMS queer-platonic or platonic ships/aus? I don't give a fuck if they aren't canon or will never be canon, I just wanna hear your thoughts. I'll start.

KidsCove: They were really uncomfortable at first, because the fans were shipping them when they're both not interested (thank you very much but no thank you) but for the sake of Monty's wallet they did videos together. And it went from just gameplay to hanging out with groups to hanging out at each other's houses. They're best friends, FC absolutely loves Sun (and refers to him as "Uncle Sun", which was awkward at first, but it's since been accepted). Foxy rambles to Sun about Mangle over a glass of wine while Sun is scolding him for pulling his paws away while he's trying to paint his claws (you know how dogs pull their feet away when you touch them)?

SolarNexus: I'm sorry moots but I can only ever really see them as queer-platonic, even if I do participate in your ship rambles from time to time. They build shit together and occasionally blow said shit up together as well (on accident). They've almost burnt down the garage several times due to distracting each other with awful awful jokes that would put both dad's and sailors to shame. For someone who is aroace Nexus sure does have quite the storage of downright shameful sex jokes, and he always pulls out his worst ones while Solar is working on something delicate, and it's always out of the blue so Solar almost always fumbles what he's working on in shock. Nesux's cackling on the table, doubled over holding his stomach as Solar is berating him for his god-awful timing and humor, barely holding back a laugh himself. Moon also tells Solar his insecurities, shit he wouldn't ever burden Sun with. How he hates talking to people and he can see that all they can see is Old Moon. How sometimes he has to put up a front when Sun's talking to him because he knows that Sun can only see the dead Moon. Solar can relate, since he has a body that looks disturbingly similar to the version of Eclipse that took the star and blew up Lunar. Sometimes they just sit outside, on the steps of the porch, and stare at the ocean. Words aren't needed, just companionship.

My last one has to be this one fucking AU I have with my friends that I've never discussed outside of discord but I rot about constantly. The idea is that both KC and BM are a lot more feral/animalistic, and so KC and BM just fucking dip and go live in the forest together like a couple of cats. They just disappear off the map and don't bug anyone after Killcode gets his own body (that doesn't require killing Moon). Everyone thinks they died until the twins kidnap Moon two years later because Killcode is sick and they can't figure out how to help him. And then they gotta be domesticated because Killcode has to stay at the Plex to heal.

[joelswritingmistress]

Oh Captain, My Captain: Chapter 3

Chapter Summary: You join Joel off the beaten path for a clam bake where you spend hours talking. Will the night end as you hope?

Night was creeping in, though the last rays of sunshine glowed on the horizon. You walked side-by-side with Joel toward the beachy dead-end were you had seen the kayakers pulling up earlier. When he abruptly towed you to the left down a narrow path of sand between rows of trees, you acknowledged this was hitting every "no-no" check mark on the list.

A guy you barely knew. Check. Seclusion. Check. A couple of drinks first. Check. Unknown territory. Check.

But it also made you feel.. alive. Your heart was racing, and each time Joel looked over his shoulder it amplified that feeling inside of you. Your eyes met, you shared a smile and off you went into the darkness to parts unknown. What a rush.

You almost forgot his friends were trailing you until one of them laughed at something that the other whispered. A moment later you emerged onto another little beach. The smell of seafood hung in the air and music played from somewhere.

People of all ages were strung about the area in small groups talking around firepits that sat in holes dug out in the sand. Near a row of wooden tables where food was being served there were several kegs and tiki torches surrounding the area.

"What is this?" You asked, looking around.

"One weekend a month in the summer months we do this," Joel explained. One of his buddies parted him on the back and the two guys headed to the food tables.

You soaked it all in. The atmosphere was inviting and had the potential to be romantic. You didn't want to get ahead of yourself. Hell, you thought you were in a bit over your head.

He's so much older than me, you reminded yourself. At the same time, the thought made you shiver with pleasure for reasons unbeknownst to you.

"You like clams?" Joel asked. "If not there's burgers and dogs."

"Clams are good." You nodded and trailed him to get a plate and then filled up a cup at the keg. The two of you settled on a dock that stretched out into the ocean just out of the reach of the fire's glow.

Joel set his plate down and kicked off the flip flops he had on to let his legs dangle off the side. You mirrored his position and felt the cool chill of the water nipping at your toes.

"How long have you lived here?" You asked him.

"My whole life." He smirked and took a sip from his drink then leaned back on his hands with a sigh.

"How about the boat? How long have you worked there?"

"In some way, shape or form since I was fourteen. Started off getting paid under the table in cash," he chuckled to himself, "And then got more formal jobs. I learned how to drive the boats early on." Joel shrugged. "It's not bad."

"Do you get sick of the tourists?" You asked, drawing a chuckle from both of you.

"Honestly?" He turned and you nodded. "Sometimes. But not always. Day-to-day it can be different. Your crew was alright." Joel winked and you tucked a strand of hair behind your ear and smiled. The darkness hid your blush.

He then turned the questions on you. "Why don't you talk to your parents about your career? And your art?"

You scrunched your nose and looked over to him. "Because they wouldn't take it seriously." It was true. They wouldn't. And part of you thought that was okay. Another part of you felt a bit sad.

"How do you know?"

"I brought things up before, more just on a theoretical level, but it was obvious I was talking about myself." You laughed for a second and then continued. "And both my parents just dismissed it. Childlike dreams I think they repeated a few times."

"Tell that to Andy Warhol."

"You know who that is?"

Joel chuckled. "Yes, I know who that is."

"I'm sorry." You shook your head and could see he clearly didn't take offense.

"Don't be."

The two of you sighed at the same time and it caused you to look at one another. Joel was the first to smirk and it made you giggle.

"Why are you here?" Joel asked you now. Again, he took you off-guard.

"Because.." you thought for a minute and the heat fell back into your cheeks. "It seemed like fun."

"Is that all?"

You weren't used to be so put on the spot, but if you were reading the signals right you were sure Joel had the same type of interest in you that you did for him.

"And because of you." Oh no, you knew the word vomit was on its way out. "I was attracted to you when I saw you on the boat, and now that I've actually had a few conversations with you, I kind of like the decision I made to-"

"Stalk me down to the bar?" He teased.

You laughed. "I mean.. I was there first so." It made Joel laugh a little louder.

"Oh, that's right," he played along.

"You don't care that I'm in my early twenties?"

Joel grinned wide. "Do you care that I have some grays in my hair?"

"No." You smiled at him.

"Then I think we're alright."

You were right where you wanted to be. For the first time in a long time you weren't thinking about anything except living in that exact moment. You didn't think about your job or the future or any of the pressures of your daily life. You didn't think about impressing anyone, including the man you couldn't stop talking to for the better half of the night. Things just flowed. You weren't aiming to impress. You were just being you; and that seemed to reel Joel in. It was good enough. More than enough.

In fact, you hadn't realized the number of texts and the several missed calls you had from your family members until midnight was approaching.

"Shit," you said aloud to yourself, "I forgot to check in." You typed away at messages to your brother begging him to lie to your parents and say you were there with him. He agreed without much of a fight and so you managed to take a deep breath.

"Come on," Joel rose to his feet and leaned his arm in your direction. You linked yours through his. "I told you I wouldn't let you turn into a pumpkin."

You didn't want the night to end. You could've stayed there until sunrise without a care in the world. With your parents in such close quarters while on vacation, however, you did feel like you had to be in by a certain time.

Walking back down the wooded, sandy path with Joel had your heart racing again. Fantasies took over your mind again. It was everything from him turning and kissing you passionately to the two of you ravaging one another right there in the sand.

When the street by the bar came into view and none of those fantasies manifested you felt the slightest twinge of disappointment. As if anything like that was about to happen. You almost rolled your eyes at yourself.

"How far is the place you're staying?" Joel asked as the Lamp Post mermaids came into view.

"Oh, it's like two blocks straight away." You pointed down the sidewalk and the two of you continued on.

"I'll just make sure you get there safely. Not that there's a ton of crime in the vineyard."

You smiled and wanted to reach for his hand. You suddenly realized you didn't know if you'd get to see him again. It left a knotted feeling in the pit of your stomach.

Could you ask for his number? You wish he'd ask for yours.

I'll just wait and see, you thought. You didn't know if you were bold enough to ask.

A silence hasn't fallen upon the two of you all night, until the final hundred yards or so of the walk home. That was when your anxiety finally climbed after feeling so content and at ease all evening.

"It's right here," you told him, motioning to the side by side townhouses where your family was staying. You turned to him like you were expecting him to hand you a Christmas gift or something. You wanted so badly for him to ask for your number. You wanted just as badly to kiss him.

"Did you want to do something again?" Joel asked.

Yes! Yes, yes, yes!!!!! Inside you were jumping up and down.

"Yeah, I'd like that." The words came out surprisingly calm despite the tornado of joy that lingered just below the surface.

"I have to work all day but why don't you wander down for the 6:00 cruise tomorrow night. Same thing, it's our last one of the night. On the house, I'll put your name on the list."

You grinned wide and bit your lip before nodding. "Sounds good to me."

"And maybe I could get your number so you don't disappear on me."

Fuck yes. You rattled off your digits and Joel put them into his phone. It was the ending you were hoping for. Well, mostly.

"Alright, well, get inside so I know you're safe."

"Thanks, Joel." You leaned in to give him a hug and closed your eyes when your bodies connected in the warm embrace on the sidewalk. When you pulled back and the two of you were face-to-face you couldn't help yourself. He was too close. He smelled too good. His eyes looked into yours for just a second too long. And so you did it. You leaned in and you kissed Joel Miller.

NEXT CHAPTER

[spectrechosts]

April Fools - Chapters 25-27

The plan goes awry, the Queen is sick again, and the Knight gets some answers.

Full Series

DAY 25: BLACK AND WHITE

The Queen is sick again.

The Queen is sick again and her family is here and the plan is fucked and she's going to die and the Fool can't do anything about it because she's just a fucking jester and all she can do is prance around and host the party because the Queen insisted, when she could still form coherent sentences, that they could still make the trap work.

"Pray, listen well honored guests!" She calls, to the gathered vultures at the banquet table.

If they hear her, they don't indicate it.

"As I'm sure you all know, Her Majesty cares quite deeply about family. Especially in these… complicated times, it's important to have people she can trust. That care for her as much as she cares for them. Each of you have helped make her into the ruler she is today, with your benevolent guidance through her troubled life."

In her opinion this speech is laying it on too thick, but Her Highness did write it herself.

Do they really believe her, when she says such things?

"Now, as I'm sure you all also know, Her Majesty has once again fallen quite severely ill." She says, and she pauses for a brief acknowledgment and some halfhearted well wishes.

These bastards- she can't even tell who wants the Queen dead because it's so clear to her that not one of them cares if she lives. They barely even try to hide it. Why bother? The Queen's not here, the Knight's not here, only the Fool and the serving staff.

Things would be much easier, in black and white. If she had the good relatives who were kind and caring and would never ever hurt her, and the evil who plotted her demise out of the blackness of their hearts.

But she doesn't. She has greedy relatives, all of whom know that they stand to benefit greatly from her lady's demise. Some of them are just more patient than the others, less willing to get their hands dirty.

"Regardless, she wishes for the festivities to continue in her absence. Please, make merry where she cannot, and may the joy in your hearts soothe her ailing body!"

That's met with weak toasts and 'hear hear!'s, and the den of snakes feasts. She just sits and listens, painfully aware of the Assassin's stiletto that she has hidden in her sleeve, that she cannot use it to protect her lady because that is not the plan.

"Did you hear? She's fond of her own knight, can you believe-"

"-that assassin, I keep telling her we can't trust the southern kingdoms-"

"-and you know, you know these things only happen because she's- well, I shouldn't say, but-"

Her role in this plan sucks. Everything about this sucks. The Queen's family sucks.

"-and what I heard was it was her and her knight and the jester- yes, that jester-"

"-wonderful, she is, but the other nations think we're weak, you don't see assassins striking at-"

"-sure, sure, it's not her fault how she is, but this is the real world, if she isn't up to it then-"

They continue like this, speaking openly because the only ones who can hear are beneath them and so may as well not exist.

And the whole time, it's the same. All of them, tearing down the Queen as she lays dying. The only valuable intel she can glean is that Her Majesty needs both to be hugged very tightly and to never speak with these people again.

And then, after hours of this, they scatter through the halls. All ostensibly retiring for the night, one of them doubtlessly about to attempt murder.

The Fool retires to her chambers as well, changes into one of the few outfits she brought with her when she arrived in the castle.

Free of the chiming of bells, she vanishes into the dark halls.

~~~

DAY 26: FOILED PLOTS AND NEAR ESCAPES

The Knight is stuffed into Her Majesty's closet.

Not in the metaphorical sense, nor in whatever innuendo the Fool would likely come up with. She's literally in the closet. She barely fits in there- the Fool would say something to that, too. She didn't use to think these things, and now they just pop into her head unprompted. Worse, they almost make her laugh- but this is really the only attempt at stealth she can make.

She is wedged in with the Queen's clothes, in full armor, because someone is going to try and kill her tonight. And she has to let them try. She has to hide, and not sit by her lady's side and soothe her, and let a killer get close enough to her that there's no doubt what's happening.

The Queen writhes in her bed.

It's a bad one, she can tell; as if Her Majesty wasn't already in enough danger. There's a healer assigned to come check on her every hour, so as to leave a wide gap for someone to sneak in, and it simply isn't enough.

Her body is killing itself, cooking her from within. And the entire plan hinges on her not doing anything about it.

She has to just watch her die.

The door creaks open, and in the dim light the Knight watches one of her lady's aunts enter the room. She closes the door behind her, and slowly moves to the Queen's side.

Not yet.

She sits beside her on the bed, and wipes the sweat from her forehead. The Queen groans and squirms at the touch, and her aunt shushes her.

"It's okay." She whispers. "You're okay. You'll feel better soon."

Not yet.

She sighs, brushing the Queen's sweat-slicked hair out of her face. "You poor, poor girl." She says, as she takes a pillow out from under her head. "It's all going to be okay now."

NOW.

The Queen struggles weakly as her aunt begins to smother her, and the Knight crashes out of her hiding place, on a fucking warpath.

"You-! I-!"

The aunt's words are cut off as her head swiftly and brutally collides with Her Majesty's nightstand. She crumples to the floor like a rag doll, and tries to scramble away on her hands and knees. The Knight stomps on her back, pinning her to the ground before shackling her.

And then, heart racing, she stops.

She takes a moment to check on the Queen, to wipe her down with cool water. To watch her relax, momentarily relieved from her suffering. The tempest in her heart slowly dissipates, reassured that the Queen will be fine. She'll throw the murderous snake into the deepest, darkest dungeon they have, and then she'll sit at her lady's side where she belongs.

It's done. It's over.

~~~

DAY 27: IN THE DUNGEONS

The Queen's aunt groans as she's roughly tossed into a cell, and the Knight slams the door behind her.

"Why?" She hisses.

The prisoner just grunts, trying to twist herself into a seated position against the back wall.

The Knight slams her gauntleted fist into the bars loudly, making her flinch. She doesn't have time for games, she needs to get back to the Queen's side.

"WHY!?"

"You wouldn't understand, guard dog." The noblewoman spits. "Politics are beyond your like."

"Try me." The Knight seethes.

"You know why." Says the Queen's aunt, and she winces and coughs up blood.

"If you want a healer to look at that, you'll stop stalling."

"Ooh, touchy! What would Her Majesty think?" She says, wiping her bloodied mouth on her shoulder. "I'll tell you what she'd think: 'oh no, that's too mean, we should patch her up and let her go and tell her we're sorry', because she's weak. Because she's a weak, sickly little pushover that can't handle the responsibilities of her throne."

"Our kingdom thrives." The Knight says, furious. "The people love her."

"Our kingdom is dependent on our neighbors. We trade, when we could conquer. Become a superpower none could stand against, relying on no one, the whole continent needing our resources. We could rule over all!"

The Knight scoffs.

"Really? That's what this is about? Dragging us into war after war because we don't own everything?" She says, shaking her head. "You think not wanting that makes her weak?"

"No, I think that that's a result of her being weak. I know she's weak because I've met her."

"You make me sick." The Knight spits, clutching the pommel of her sword. "You'll weep with joy for that so-called weakness, the things she'll stop me from doing to you."

"Oh, I'm sure."

"So that's the grand plan? You're what, fifth in line for the throne? You just keep killing until you're Queen, and then you can have your wonderful little war? It's idiotic."

"No it isn't! This is what I mean, you don't understand politics!" The prisoner snaps. "This is bigger than the throne, the war will raise everyone up! All that land to be parceled out, all those new subjects to tax, it'll make us all rich! That's why we all agreed that she-"

She snaps her mouth shut, and the Knight's eyes go wide.

"Oh, you bastards." She says, horrified, backing away from the cell bars and rushing up the stairs. "You absolute bastards, the lot of you!"

[k-s-morgan]

How are you? I am sending love and hugs your way. xx

Hello again! Thank you for your support <3 I hope you don't mind me using your ask to make my monthly post!

June, especially its second half, was easier for me than the nightmarish May and the devastating end of April. The number of Russian terrorist attacks on my city decreased, and I finally managed to recover a little, though some nights were still horrifying, and some people died despite Kyiv having a great air-defense system. But the horrors continued for Ukraine as a whole. Russia exploded the dam, flooding a vast territory, causing an ecocide and harming & killing so many living beings that it's impossible to count them all.

One night in June, Russian missiles hit a residential building in a Kriviy Rig city. 11 people died, which is a miracle, considering the damage. Many pets died as well.

That's one example of many of such attacks. Kramatorsk tragedy, which happened just several days ago - more civilians dead, including children. Kherson, which keeps being tortured daily on such a constant basis that barely anyone pays attention to it, even though people keep dying. Dnipro, Kharkiv - people die every day. Russia delights in causing pain and taking lives- literally, it's all over their official channels and social media. They are a caricature-like villain to the point where I wouldn't believe it if I wasn't witnessing it myself.

But, as always, everything isn't bad. Ukraine made some progress on the battlefield; I got to post my chapter and now I've left for my vacation. Initially, I wanted to go to Poland, but I had to change my plans because of my beautiful pigeon, who was sick at the time. She passed away since then, and I couldn't change my plans again. I'm very happy with my choice, though! I'm still in Ukraine, but I'm surrounded by nature. It's so lovely. Also, to my surprise, I got into a Batman/Joker ship, so now I'm exploring a new fandom :D It's always a delight.

I want to thank all of you for sticking around still! Thank you to my wonderful readers who leave reviews, kudos, asks and likes: I treasure your feedback and it makes me so happy. Thank you to all those who worry about me, who message me, and who support me on Patreon. Actually, the Patreon money is what helped me get through the horrible May and still go on my vacation. I felt so exhausted and drained from nightly bombings that it damaged my workability, and I earned less than usual. I honestly can't explain how much your support and help means, what it did to me. It helped me hold on and keep my sanity intact.

Here's the beautiful sight I observed yesterday: two rainbows appearing at once after the rain. I know people see this stuff across the world, but it felt like a good sign.

[ricksanchezsimpaccount]

ok thoughts on the new episode,

SPOILER WARNING obviously

although honestly I don't think I'll be saying anything that others haven't already said haaaaa

anyway finally, a chance for morty's new VA to shine, and GOD does he. I love the way Evil Morty talks, idk why but that bored "uh huh" when Rick tries shooting him several times is soooo funny to me. he killed it and so did ian cardoni (the way he screams "I'LL KILL YOU" after slow mobius' death OOOOOUUUU CHILLS)

i honestly did not expect to see Evil Morty again, and even though I'm kinda sad he didn't get the lasting peace away from Rick that he wanted, he is a DELIGHT to see in action!! i love his interactions w Rick, it's so interesting having a Morty that's on par/better than Rick. although I'll be honest....he kinda feels like a Rick himself, especially w the cybernetic augmentations he also has--at least to me. Wonder if that's going to be brought up again later down the line, something about becoming the monster you fight against i LOVE how we got to see his backstory finally, like others have said I'm really happy that he was just a "normal" Morty. his Rick wasn't anything special. he literally was just a Morty who finally got sick of Rick's shit. i loved the reveal too, bc they DID have me going for a sec there, I thought who we were seeing was OUR morty Indiana Jones Rick 💘💘💘😳😳😳😳😳💦 that's all I'm saying on that And ok, DO I think Rick Prime is dead? like ACTUALLY dead? Honestly...yes. At least I hope so. I think it'd be FAR more compelling for Rick to be like "...now what?" and for the show to actually explore and unpack that, over it being like HAHA SURPRISE RICK PRIME'S NOT ~REALLY~ DEAD you know?

Because yeah. He got his revenge, the revenge he's literally been chasing...basically his entire life, like...since his, what, 30s? And it didn't feel good. It didn't fix things, it didn't make him feel better. He feels as empty as he did before and NOW he doesn't even have a goal to strive towards anymore. There's nothing. And I feel like the ending of the episode did a REALLY good job of portraying that just numbness. He probably fantasized about this moment the WHOLE time and it absolutely didn't live up to it. It wasn't glorious or feel liberating, he just ends up covered in blood and feeling more hollow and broken than before. That's just...kinda how trauma is Morty at first hesitating to touch Rick but eventually hugging him anyway was so sweet ;_; Anyway as for the cinematography of the episode itself...absolutely stellar. Great fights, the SCOPE of everything, the backgrounds and settings, it's wild how much this show has popped off with its animation (it's honestly so funny seeing them stitch in clips from Season 1 in there bc the CONTRAST in animation quality is astounding. its like when artists on twitter do the "my art from 10 years ago vs now" comparisons LOL. LITERALLY, SEASON 1 WAS 10 YEARS AGO). The just dead silence as Rick punches Rick Prime to death (only sounds of course being rick talking and punching), the whole exchange that happened during it, how just downright BRUTAL it was, that entire scene was crafted so well, and others have pointed out the significance of Rick literally beating Prime to death with his bare fists instead of using his tech or weapons or anything, which i feel like was definitely on purpose, and i love man this post ended up longer than i anticipated I'M SORRY. THIS EPISODE DESTROYED ME EMOTIONALLY AND I LOVE WHEN THIS SHOW DOES THAT ✌✨ MY BRAIN'S BEEN BUZZING. IF YOU READ ALL THIS RAMBLING THANKS I GUESS HLFDKSJFH

[springagainafter]

Post-Therum crew meeting!

I really miss the post-mission crew meetings in 2 and 3. In 2 it's just Miranda and Jacob talking at Shepard and in 3 I think the only time it happens is post-Thessia, when everyone's upset.

This one involves Liara - who sure is Having a Day - and PROTHEANS and Merrick just happening to have the answer to the question Liara's been spending fifty years trying to solve.

Joker was fabulous ("The Normandy isn't equipped to land in exploding volcanoes. They fry our sensors and melt our hull. Just for future reference") and shocked Liara a bit because hey, they almost died.

Apparently coping with humor is not a common trait in asari academia - Liara's comment was "It must be a human thing."

Much like Ash doesn't have much experience dealing with aliens, Liara doesn't have much experience dealing with humans.

She was grateful for being saved from the geth and the volcano (and no doubt the Prothean bubble, although she doesn't say that).

Kaidan asked if she knew what the Conduit was; Liara didn't know.

Liara: Only that it was somehow connected to the Prothean extinction. That is my real area of expertise. I have spent the last fifty years trying to find out what happened to them.

Merrick absolutely looked her up on the extranet before heading to Therum, so he has no grounds later to be all offended when she looks him up on the extranet.

This was prompted by a very awkward conversation with Joker earlier where Joker went straight into defensive mode and Merrick was a little startled because he hadn't known Joker was sick because he didn't read Joker's file first (because Anderson was all "why don't you talk to everyone before reading their files"). So naturally his reaction to getting a mission to find an asari scientist was "look her up on the extranet to get some idea of who I'll run into."

His main takeaway was that he was impressed by the sheer amount of research she's done, and he did notice that there were also multiple "here's why my esteemed colleague Dr. T'Soni is dead wrong" papers, which did not seem to slow Liara down any.

At this point he asked how old she was because wow, fifty years of research.

Liara: I hate to admit it, but I am only a hundred and six.

Ash chimed in and said she hoped she looked that good when she was Liara's age XD.

Liara: A century may seem a long time to a short-lived species like yours. But among the asari, I am barely considered more than a child.

Ohhhh, that is some Unfortunate phrasing coming from a character who's written as a love interest.

The intended reading (or what I *hope* the intended reading is) is what she says next: "That is why my research has not received the attention it deserves. Because of my youth, other asari scholars tend to dismiss my theories on what happened to the Protheans."

I do think it's significant that 1) other asari dismiss her and 2) the Normandy crew does not, which must make a lovely change and I'm just going to ignore the phrasing in that previous line because she acts like and is treated like an adult by everyone. Other asari in the same stage of life she's in are running around the galaxy being mercs or dancers or whatever and are also treated like adults.

The Normandy crew - aside from some mostly offscreen initial suspicion because she's Benezia's daughter - treats her like a Prothean expert and she gets referred to by her title and last name several times.

(The first conversation has Shepard calling her Liara from the get-go. Merrick absolutely gravely refers to her as "Dr. T'Soni" when he's talking to or about her most of the time, which is mostly out of respect - he'd do that even if he didn't like her - and a little bit because he's sticking with formality to hide the fact that he's attracted to her. Liara refers to him by his title for similar reasons).

Anyway, Merrick listened to her talk for a while about PROTHEANS and how "the galaxy is built on a cycle of extinction" and "I've dedicated my life to finding out why the Protheans disappeared" and finally told her the Reapers wiped out them out.

Liara: The-- The Reapers? But I have never heard of-- How do you know this? What evidence do you have?

Here comes some random human casually having the answer to the problem that she's spent half of her life working on, whoops.

Merrick explained about the Prothean beacon ("It burned a vision into my brain" - that. uh. sure is a fun choice of words - and "I'm still trying to make sense of what it all means").

Liara fortunately knew a bit more about Prothean beacons and talked about them for a bit and how "finding one that still works is extremely rare." Ooof, that is painful given what's on Thessia.

And then she talked about how the beacons were only meant to work with Prothean physiology and got a little starry-eyed at Merrick (who spent most of this meeting letting her talk and looking grim because that's just his resting >:| face.)

Liara: I am amazed you were able to make sense of it at all. A lesser mind would have been destroyed by the process. You must be remarkably strong-willed, Commander.

My interpretation of Ash's rather snippy "This isn't helping us find Saren. Or the Conduit" line at this point is that it's related to the love triangle, so I'm ignoring it. Presumably she still redirected the conversation at this point since it's gotten off-track but didn't say it Like That, then Liara said she didn't have any info on how to find the Conduit or Saren.

But of course she's sticking around anyway, hooray!

Shepard: I don't know why Saren wanted you out of the picture. But I think we're a lot better off bringing you along.

Yeah!

The Saren's-out-to-get-Liara plot point gets totally dropped after this. I would not have minded some Fallen Order-esque "mercs occasionally pop out of nowhere to attack you" shenanigans.

Liara said thanks and that Saren might come after her again (he doesn't) and "I cannot think of anywhere that would be safer than on your ship" (aw) and "my knowledge of the Protheans would be useful later on."

For the romance, I vastly prefer this version of events rather than picking her up post-Feros. She's had a tough enough day without having to do the mind meld with some human she's known for ten minutes; Merrick would not have been real thrilled about that prospect either.

Merrick told her it was good to have her on the team (and smiled a little!) and Liara thanked him again and narrowly avoided swooning right in front of him (alas).

Kaidan asked her when she'd last eaten or slept and that Dr. Chakwas should look at her (I LOVE Kaidan and Liara being friends, aaahh) and that was pretty much it for the meeting.

And then Merrick got to talk to the Council and immediately got defensive over Liara Dr. T'Soni when they were all "are you taking security precautions since she's Benezia's daughter?" And then they were all "did you really have to blow up those Prothean ruins" and he was all "yes. there were geth" and nobody was real happy but at least it was a mercifully brief chat.

[decadentdollhouse]

Autistic In Crisis

So, things have been /really/ rough for me lately.

My mental health has been tanking for the better half of this last year, I was hospitalized twice for it, and the medications I was given didn't help much. I also felt like I wasn't particularly being taken seriously by the institutions which housed me, but I know that's partly because the area I live in has a high prescription abuse problem, and partly because there are no in-patient facilities in the area that are familiar with autism and how it affects one's greater mental health.

The psychiatrist I was assigned to afterwards didn't help either, having obscure or unusable methods of contact, and only being available through zoom calls /during my own work hours/, which lead to an "inability to prove (my) identity and state of mind", and combined with no one responding to set up new appointments for me when my psychiatrist went on maternity leave, meant that they would no long approve the medications that were barely helping me hold on.

My work hours did not allow time for my virtual appointments, not if I wanted a decent paycheck, and that made it equally difficult to get medical treatment for the severe joint and muscle pain I've been experiencing for years, which only caused more stress during my shifts. I had to miss a lot of work just to make sure I didn't hurt myself.

So earlier this month, I was fired for absenteeism. Under their guidelines, and by the consideration of the union I was a part of, absenteeism due to health problems when you don't specifically have sick time available, is held responsible by the ill party. You should have had your problem fixed sooner, or left this work environment when it started affecting your health, that was their thought. Except I couldn't (and my still be unable to) get medicaid or any kind of insurance before I had that job. Then when I had insurance through my job, and didn't have the time to use it. My autism, general psychological issues, and lack of education or experience make it functionally impossible for me to get any kind of job, it was a small miracle this place had hired me at all.

My final paycheck was only for $80, and that was 2 weeks ago. I'm getting things set up for food stamps, and to see if medicaid might take me now, but with home difficulties on top of my mental health crashing further due to being fired, things are slow going. With my circumstances, filing for unemployment is more stress than its worth. I violated a company policy, they had every right to terminate me.

I really don't like having to ask people for money, all I can offer is tarot card readings, small pieces of writing, sigil making, and I'd be willing to take art requests, but its decidedly not an area of expertise.

Any financial help would be greatly appreciated. I'd usually also ask for any resources that can be offered, but I actually do have good resources in my area, finances are just (in one way or another) barring my ability to use them.

Tl;dr- I'm autistic and my mental health has continued to impede my ability to hold down a job, including the one that just fired me. I'm dead broke, and can only offer a few things in return for any money you could spare.

[orangecharactersmackdown]

i literally just woke up to see the ask and yeah sure go ahead! please put it under a readmore though its like 1.3k words long iirc

awesome, here they are then!

[submission: Davesprite]

Sorry I didn't mean to caps lock but this is the Dirk Strider guy again and I feel awful for not immediately thinking about my boY DAVESPRITE!! MY GUY DAVESPRITE oh my god you don't know anything about homestuck but imagine being a thirteen year old boy who knows to some deeper capacity that your older brother is abusing and neglecting you but all you can do is try and play it off because your only three other friends have problems too, right? Everyone deals with shit from their guardian. John gets into fights with his dad over cake every other day. Rose always has some mental throwdown with her alcoholic mother whenever they pass by each other. Jade lives on a fucking island with only her literal Dog for a guardian and no one else with her because her grandpa was dead and she was the one who had to stuff her grandpa's corpse to taxidermize him.

So his problem isn't even 'that big of a problem.' Never mind that his brother literally throws him off the stairs every other day, or that he beats him down with a literal fucking sword and when he isn't beating his weak ass down, he's subject to psychological torment with all the puppets and cameras he has all around the apartment you live in. Because his brother has some fucked up interest in Saw and he's like hahaha okay it'd be so fucking hilarious if we put the thirteen year old (and younger, since who knows how long he's been doing this) in basically psychological and physiological torment. Never mind that he has to hoard food in his closet because his fridge is filled with just swords and his brother barely gives him money to get food somewhere else. That he's practically always starving but it's alright since even his friends are going through shit. He doesn't have the right to complain.

I'm not downplaying that the others also didn't have a shit time, but the fact that he repressed it so bad that, at first, he couldn't even fathom that he was living it badly? It sucked.

I mean, it's okay, right? Things will get better? He has three of his online best friends. They're going to play a game together, but, ah fuck he accidentally spilled some apple juice on that. Not only a waste of food, but he'll have to try and get his bro's copy of the game. He has to literally duel him in hand to hand combat and the only reason he gets an edge into his brother beating his ass down is because he sliced up that stupid puppet (the one who he didn't know at the time, held a fraction of an alternate version of his brother's soul). He thinks that maybe, no definitely, that his bro loved that puppet more than he ever could.

But that's okay. Now he's playing the game and its all chill. He merges a crow he killed on accident with a game construct meant to guide him and now he just has a literal bird with a sword through its gut who just caws at him periodically. This sprite thing is supposed to guide him but it's just being a general fucking nuisance.

But then suddenly its not okay. These assholes who were trolling you who knows how long ago are Really kicking up the trolling now.

But it's okay. He can vibe with that. He can vibe with that, and it's alright. He'll just have to go with the flow. The girl trolling him is actually pretty cool and is his friend now. Sick. This is amazing, actually. We stay silly. But then suddenly everything gets worse. Never mind the several versions of his own corpse he has to throw away, not wanting his friends to see it. Never mind that he doesn't want to see his corpse. Never mind that he shook when he held his own dead body to dispose of it out the window of his apartment.

John is dead. He never hears from Jade. He never hears from the trolls again.

He can fix this. He has to fix this. There has to be some way to fix this. Rose, we have to fix this, we can't leave them dead.

They try to look for a way for four months.

They don't.

John is Dead. Jade is Dead. The trolls are all fucking assholes because he just knows his 'friend' was the one who led him to his death.

But that's okay. He can manipulate time. He can just go back… but what about Rose? His Rose that was the only other person left in this timeline?

She tells him to go and stop John and Jade from dying. He tells her to go to sleep, hoping that she'll remember this in her dreams.

Dave has to leave. And he does.

But at this point, he's not Dave anymore. There can't be two versions of the same guy in the same timeline. So he has to think of a way to try and- oh, who am I kidding. He merges himself with the game construct of a bird with a sword in its chest so not only does he constantly have a sword in his chest, but he's not the 'real Dave' anymore.

He talks to John. He tries and dissuades him in his typical 'nonchalant' fashion. He can't fail. But he can't let John see his weakness.

He almost fails. But a breath of relief when John remembers to trust his friends.

But he's not Dave anymore. He's Davesprite, the guide. Davesprite the game construct.

With how much I've written, you think I'm done, huh? Nope.

Nobody counts him as a real person anymore. He's just a game construct meant to help people. He's a guide. An NPC. He's just some bird guy who slowly but surely gets more and more depressed about his situation. But it's okay. He can help. He can help his bro kill this villain who was messing up everyone's chances at winning.

It's mortifying to see the man he found invincible to be killed, even with an NPC's help. He can't bury him. He leaves. He knows he doesn't have a chance but he has no idea if he is still mortal or not. So he does what he does best- Leave.

He finds Jade. But it's not Jade. It's Jadesprite. She tells him her woes and they… bond. They went through similar things and it feels like it'll be okay. Until Jadesprite gets replaced by the Actual Jade, and she smiles knowingly at him, telling him that she still remembers before she does some badass shit that he'd never thought her possible but it's so cool.

And they're dating. You'd think this is happy and good, but he can't. Not for a while, at least. He starts feeling worse and worse and worse because John keeps separating him too much from Dave when he's still Dave. Jade… Jade is too good for him, and she deserves way better so he pushes and pushes and pushes in hopes he annoys them, finally, and it works. He breaks up with her and maybe it was a fucking lowblow to weaponize John's dead dad against him but it works. They hate him now. Davesprite.

Three long years. He spent a good portion of that alone. He doesn't really find a use for himself so he stays there while everyone fights the big fight. He's not relevant anymore, so why should he help?

Shit happens. Everyone is dead. They move to another timeline where he hears Jade spent three years alone because he and John died there. He doesn't care that he died, but he feels worse knowing Jade spent so much of that alone.

He can't meet her. He doesn't deserve it.

[submission: Davepetasprite^2]

It's that guy again. You wonder why Davesprite's infodump was so. Unsatisfactory at the end? Well. Here is the conclusion of it. But let me give you some pretext.

And also not to search Davepeta up if you are sensitive to flashing lights I am Begging you. I love them so much but holy shit my eyes hurt constantly.

So yadda yadda we put Davesprite's whole thing here but what if we added more? What if they were more tragic?

Story in: Nepeta. I won't go too into detail because she's green but she's a part of Davepeta so we have to at least go by the basics.

She's a middle class troll who enjoys roleplaying and art. She lives in basically complete isolation because her house got bombed and now she lives in the wilderness. She enjoys it here, but she's so lonely. Her romantic partner is a bit too controlling, but she knows it's because he worries about her. She just wishes it was a bit less because she wants to have fun and shes capable, but he's a higher class guy and she knows he can't quite help it. He does listen to her, but sometimes the compromise could be a bit better. But it's okay. It's alright.

She has a crush on someone named Karkat. She's a little weird about it but she's 13. She can be a little weird about it. She wants to play the game with him and their friends, and she does. They win. They win, but they don't and now they have to live in hiding. She talks to a few of the humans, maybe roleplayed with Dave a bit and talked with someone's sprite? A cat?, but doesn't do much.

Basically everyone dies. Only she and her partner are alive that are immediately reachable but her partner decides to try and stop who is killing them. He doesn't, because he dies. She gets mad and… dies.

Her life could've been so much more fulfilling, but she was too busy playing the role of someone people like or could like. She could've been more if she let herself Be more rather than just following. She could've been happier. But she's dead now.

Except she's not because she becomes a sprite and then things are weird because that cat sprite she was talking to earlier? But now also Rose? Rosecatsprite? Or something like that is trying to court her. She's confused about this because she's never really talked to Rose and the cat was… a cat! But she tries and humors her just a little bit for now…

until Davesprite comes in. Unbeknownst to her, she can still merge with another sprite.

So Davepetasprite becomes so much more. They're so sick of just taking the sideline and they want to be a more active player in this. They don't feel so useless anymore because they're now the amalgamation of the best parts of Dave and Nepeta and they're not just some dead person to themselves anymore. They're an entirely new being so bent on becoming happier and less lonely and they want to thrive and they will. In my heart, they will thrive.

[sixminutestoriesblog]

mice

oh dear. So, this winter I had a problem with mice in my house. I'm surrounded by corn fields and apparently the little guys live out there until harvest time and then, Secret of NIMH style, everyone moves to their 'winter homes'. In this case, several of them decided that we would now be sharing a home. This didn't go over very well with me. I'm fond of rodents but Surprise!Rodents are another thing entirely. Even then we might have managed but they insisted on leaving poop behind so I'd known they'd been there. Let me tell you, rodents poop A LOT. Things weren't sanitary for me and so they had to go. My problem is that I've spent so much of my life being a 'protector to the small' that I just couldn't bare to use the tape my landlord wanted me to lay down. Bad enough to kill them, but to let them be terrified for who knows how long before? No. I went out and got a humane trap and, while it took longer - one of the mice was ever so clever - eventually the holes they'd come in were sealed up again and everyone was out in the fields where they belonged with enough time to find a home before real winter set in. All but one, but that's a different story for another time.

instead, we're going to talk about Mice in superstition and folklore.

Let's start off with the fun one. In some cultures, mice can be the souls of the restless dead, murder victims who haven't found peace yet. Having them show up in your house means bad luck or straight up evil is headed your way. Considering how often mice carry disease, and fleas that carry disease, they might not be murder victims but they certain can mean bad things if they hang around and share what they brought in with them. I also love the dark notion of mice showing up because someone's been buried under the floorboards, draw to that but mistaken for the victim themselves.

Mice are considered a bad omen if they run across your path when you're about to start a journey.

A mouse squeaking behind a sick person's bed is said to foretell the person's death (I wonder if this is why those squeaky Death's Head Hawkmoth's were worth finding and keeping with Charles III).

Seeing a swarm of mice anywhere is considered a sign of bad things approaching - though, seriously, yes, I would think if I saw a swarm of mice headed for my barn I'd be expecting things to get bad. I'm sorry, Australia, you're having a Bad Time right now.

Mouse is also a curative ingredient in a lot of old folklore recipes and can, supposedly, cure everything from measles and whooping cough to bed wetting.

A white mouse however is considered very good luck in Germany and killing one invites the exact opposite kind of luck.

and lastly, rat oriented, but in Appalachian tradition, if you want to drive all the rats out of your house, you must catch one, singe its hair with fire and turn it loose. It and all the other rats in the house will run away forever.

To end this, let's have a very blurry picture of one of the mice I caught during the winter, sitting in his trash bin waiting for me to drive him off to 'mouse dump field' where he can run free. This particular one surprised me when i was stepping out of the shower. Live a long life in your field, you mousy peeping Tom.

So, what mousey stories have you heard lately?

[ruvviks]

here is your opportunity to yell about some intricate backstory. also. if cassidy was an animal. what one would he think he would be. and what do You think he would be. i need to disect his brain

EHEHE THANK YOU >:^)

so the thing about cassidy is that he is an assassin (as of early 2077) which is basically exactly what he never wanted to become. wasn't necessary a pacifist when he was younger or something but he did just NOT understand the excessive amount of violence people in night city would use to get what they wanted. he had vastly different plans for himself and his future and most of it was focused on Healing and Nurturing in a way

when he was still very young, he wanted to become a baker :) but this idea was VERY quickly struck down by both his parents, who hated the idea and cassidy was so embarrassed about it that he never brought it up ever again. it's a thing that always stuck with him though, and he still loves baking to this day

after he pushed those feelings aside relatively quickly for. what. a five year old. he decided to focus on animals instead :) wanted to move out of the city because of the significant lack of animals there and maybe work on a farm or at a shelter or something like that. would often play pretend with his plushies (mostly animals) that they were sick and he was the "plushie doctor" taking care of them

after he lost his family and ended up in the orphanage, he simply just wanted to become a nurse. wanted to help out in the hospital to make sure people wouldn't die (+ he would get to wear one of those cool long coats and also maybe little plastic bags over his shoes. he's always wanted to slide down a hallway on those) and he was very insistent about this career path. despite being like ten years old

he mainly wanted to become a nurse because he wanted to be useful. wanted to have a job that would revolve around being there and at the ready to help out- because he believed that his family was dead because of him, because he didn't do anything, because he wasn't there for them. he didn't want to feel like that ever again and thought that maybe if he could make up for it somehow, one day he wouldn't have to feel bad about it anymore :(

but then the orphanage collapsed in an attack and cassidy was buried under the rubble, ended up in a coma for half a year and when he woke up most of his bones were replaced with cybernetics, causing him to barely be able to stand on his own legs for several years to come. he could also barely keep his hands still and very quickly gave up on wanting to work in a hospital (also because he was a little bit scared for it by then, having to continuously go back in there for bone replacements because he was still growing)

during those years, he lived with his adoptive dad ryu, an ex member of the gang that caused the orphanage to collapse. ryu taught cassidy everything he knew, and cassidy learned to be cautious of corporations and to be able to pick out mercenaries and gang members on the street, in order to keep himself safe. the little neighborhood they lived in wasn't safe at all, an easy target for gangs but also militech recruiters or shady arasaka figures looking for a new abandoned place to grab for unofficial corporate business- but ryu made it a safe place, for cassidy, but also their neighbors, and cassidy wanted to become just like him when he would be older

but after ryu's death, cassidy basically just saw no point in anything anymore. everyone he ever cared about had died and he ended up letting himself get recruited by militech, to then continue to work for several megacorporations for give or take a whole decade. and for what, really? to rebel? to prove a point? or simply to try and find comfort in the one place that he was so desperately steered away from most of his life, to get the full picture and be able to judge for himself what it was all like?

and now (in 2077. i'm not yet going to talk about what comes after) he's an assassin, one of the people he was taught to look out for. used to be scared of many things, and has now familiarized himself with several of those concepts so intimately that it no longer bothers him. something something becoming the monster under your bed something something

anyway if cassidy was an animal he would be a bear. in his opinion. in My opinion he would be a cat i'm diagnosing him with catboy

[citrusreadstoa]

Reading The Dark Prophecy: Chapter 38 (SPOILERS)

"Don't ask me how three karpoi combined forces to drive an automobile." They can just... meld together into one bigger karpoi, I'm assuming. That's what usually happens when creatures are made of inanimate objects like fruit in popular media. They basically just do the trench coat thing.

"A gas leak. Leo Valdez had been right again." I mean, cave fumes... I can see that becoming a legitimate danger. But also, the cave-in excuse it literally right there.

"That was bee pollen thinking!" New idiom acquired

"if a ragged street person wanted to stumble toward a gas leak emergency" Oh, never mind. The gas leak excuse is for the Waystation, not the cave.

"I spotted more disabled bulldozers" See, this is what you get for not waiting a couple days to scout out the Waystation before attacking.

"Still... something was strange about [Olujime's] use of lightning." Yoruba demigod! Or demigod equivalent! Is the lightning coming from him or his unnamed weapon?

"'Sssssup?" "'Sssssarah,' I said, 'did you swallow a Germanus whole?'" "No." . . . "Well, perhapsssss." I love Sssssarah

"He killed a path into the building." Are a lot of people on our good side dead? A lot of people on our good side are dead, aren't they?

"Was the detached bronze wing of a dragon." How did they freaking wrench that off of Festus? That's quite a feat. Seriously, that's, um, that's metal.

"a demigod I didn't recognize" He must be from the Imperial household, then? 'Cause all the people on the Waystation defense team are Emmie and Jo, Leo and Calypso, Lityerses, the griffins and Festus, and all the Hunters and rescued prisoners, right? And if they were rescued, Apollo would recognize them.

"one of Britomartis's bouncing mines." One of her... bouncing... mines. I'm trying and failing to picture that. And failing to think of why that exists.

"but [Heloise] had died." This is really sad and probably not the time for such a question, but why did she not disintegrate? Griffins are biologically classified as monsters, right? And monsters disintegrate when dead.

"Heloise and Abelard's nest appeared to be intact" Thank the heavens! "no signs of the male griffin or the egg." Never mind. Who cares about the nest if the griffins using the nest aren't there? Find them!

"lay the severed head and neck of Festus, ruby eyes dark and lifeless." NOOOO not Festus! He's been through so much! You can't just kill him like this! Okay, okay, so this has happened before, so maybe his head is still operational, just asleep like when he crashed in The Lost Hero. And this time his body is still in the vicinity and probably not as damaged as last time. It'll be easier to stitch the parts back together this time. It'll be fine. He'll be fine. Festus will be fine.

Fucking drown Commodus again. Or, like, decapitate him as I'm assuming he did with Festus. Listen, Commodus bby. You're really hot, but I stopped being able to excuse your actions after the first pointless execution. (After. I didn't like that Nero look-alike Cleander, anyway.)

"Calypso raised her bare hands, martial arts-style" When I tell you I'm literally guffawing- Thalia's got her bow drawn and Jo has the gun and Lit's got his sword AND THEN WE HAVE CALYPSO WITH HER BARE FUCKING HANDS I CAN'T-

"a bleeding diagonal cut" Are they not invulnerable? Are the Triumvirate members not invulnerable? Wait, is it just like the Hunters' immortality where they live forever and don't get sick but they can still die in battle? Why did it take me so long to realize? Okay, time to move on and pretend this embarrassing moment never happened.

On the bright side, defeating the Triumvirate is looking considerably less impossible now.

Wait, do they bleed blood or ichor?

"a gold spatha" Eyyyy, like Hazel! Where's his horse? Oh no, please don't tell me the horse is dead too. This is turning out to be a chapter with a pretty high body count. Remember "things were looking up"? Yeah, you see? Slow motion disaster is what this whole chapter was.

"Villainy!" Hold on. Hold on. Wait a moment. This is the cheesiest line I've ever seen said to a villain. There's no way- No, this is exactly what Apollo would say. Color me corrected. It's just, I can't take this seriously. You get it, right?

[nightmaretour]

Getting real fucking sick of able bodied people acting like every physically disabled person on here is ambulatory with mild pain and can't hold a candle to their depression or whatever. And I'm even more fucking sick of seeing my disability used as an "example" that neurodivergence and physical disability are the exact same.

Just to be clear, I had an actual fucking stroke when I was 13 YEARS OLD. I had a brain infection and was comatose for weeks and my extended family were told to come and say their goodbyes. I DIED and am told there were concerns over whether resuscitating me was ethical because it was believed I would be brain dead. The chances that I'm not and can also still see and hear are outright phenomenal. I have so much scar tissue inside my skull that a highly experienced neurologist audibly gasped when she saw my MRIs. I had to wear adult diapers for over two years and I had to re-learn how to eat solid food without choking. For the majority of people with this severity of brain damage that stage doesn't pass, I am unbelievably lucky and if I wasn't so young when it happened it wouldn't have been possible. I had to try over a dozen different medications to control my seizures while any one of said seizures could kill me. I will live the rest of my life missing significant portions of my brain function and there is no medication or therapy that can fix that because it's physically gone. Half of my body (yes, including my face) barely works and you can see it the moment you look at me. I will never walk unaided and the muscle wasting will always drastically affect how my body looks. My case isn't even REMOTELY as bad as it can get, I'm on the lower end of moderate in terms of damage done.

No, brain damage and mental illnesses are NOT the same. My brain damage is a physical disability, not a neurodivergence. My brain isn't divergent, it's fucking gone. Stop using me as an excuse.

[korithefox]

I feel so guilty. I just want talk to him all day but he's actually doing something productive with his life while im laying in bed being useless. He has a huge workload and is under insane amounts of stress rn but he still makes it work and is on track to do incredible things in the future. Meanwhile, im probably gonna be a worthless freeloader for the rest of my life. And it's not like i don't have anything to do. I could be doing work for my online class that I'm currently behind in because i always forget about it for days at a time. I could be at least starting on assignments or studying for the upcoming tests in my college classes. I could be looking for an online pdf of my prob and stats textbook and familiarizing myself with the next chapter's content since im borderline failing and need this credit to graduate. I have a plan for a gift i want to make to show appreciation for a friend who has been absolutely amazing to me since we first met and 100% deserves the world. As well as several household tasks that nothing except my own laziness is stopping me from doing. I've never actually been "busy". Ive never done anything positively productive with my existence, especially recently. Yet somehow im mentally, emotionally, and physically drained. Im sad and tired and demotivated all the time no matter what. I get so upset about every little thing that it makes me feel physically sick. I can't focus during the day because of my family and also my own mind being out of whack, so i pull all nighters because for someone reason all my brain needs is caffeine and moonlight and im good to go. Then ofc im exhausted during the day, can't focus, more irritable, and the cycle continues. I'm barely a person anymore, i feel like im watching the world happen through someone else's eyes. Being alive is nothing but an obligation, because being dead would just make things inconvenient for the living. Im so tired of it. I wish i wanted to live. I wish i wasn't miserable, or at least that i had any reason to be. I wish everything wasn't pointless. I wish every day wasn't another step towards the end of a life that probably won't have been worth it in the end. I just wish i were ok