#223 texts

[libidomechanica]

“Name, I think of men— mans asexual voice doth”

Name, I think of men—man’s asexual voice doth lie: that sat in my head    now? Or, Pindar; and sing    for your mouth’s red vintage melts them reverberately came.

[samuelroukin]

SAMUEL ROUKIN as Lt Col John Graves Simcoe in TURN: WASHINGTON'S SPIES (2014—2017) Episodes 4.09/4.10

[risequotes]

Daily Rise Quotes: DAY 223

Raph: Relax. We're not here to fight. We need your help.

Leo: Even though literally every time we talk to you, you double-cross us, kidnap us, or threaten to destroy everything we love!

Donnie: Maybe we are here for a fight!

Raph: Guys!

(Season 2, Episode 13B - Rise)

[skitskatdacat63]

2023 United States Grand Prix - Sprint - Fernando Alonso

[ca-dmv-bot]

Customer: ECHO CO. 2/23 MARINES DMV: 223 = CALIBER OF BULLET Verdict: DENIED

[97-liners]

just inked up my fountain pens one last time before packing up all my inks :’)

[norrisainz33]

friend of a friend || MV33

☆ summary: max meets his dream girl through his friends good friend, pato o’ward

☆ pairing: max verstappen x mexican!reader

☆ fc & warnings: gala montes & poorly translated spanish and slightly suggestive! you are responsible for the content you consume

☆ requested: yes!! thank you for requesting and apologies for the delay 🫶🏻

ﾟ. ✿ ୨❤︎୧⠀✿ . ﾟ

maxverstappen1 has made a post

liked by ynuser, redbullracing, schecoperez, charlesleclerc and 547,936 others

maxverstappen1: enjoying some much needed sun and relaxation before we head to vegas 😴

view all 999 comments

user1: max i’ll meow if you need another cat

user2: i’m sorry who in the heck is in the last slide

user4: is he soft launching rn??? at a time like this???

user6: so this is why he still looks happy despite rbr woes

user7: is that his girlfriend?!

user8: max please give us the tea

user9: f1gossip im begging you to figure out who this is

redbullracing: happy you’re getting some r&r max 🤍

ynuser: mi novio es tan bonito [my boyfriend is so pretty]

[liked by maxverstappen1]

user9: now hold up ….. who is this and why did max like

f1gossip: taking note of this interaction

user12: ugh she’s private so we can’t even snoop but she’s followed by pato and elba oward, carlos, rebecca, rbr and checo

user13: this is pato and elba’s childhood friend!!! she’s good friends with them

user12: everyone say thank you user13

user3: the shirtless photos?? the soft launch??? how am i supposed to be normal

charlesleclerc: 👀

user4: i’m gonna miss ur fine ass when i scroll

user5: sometimes you just gotta say damn and move on

ynuser has added to their story 🔒

[staying here forever]

view all story replies

yourbff: in monaco???? no gracias. you can’t leave me like that 😭

ynuser: yes monaco!! it is so beautiful 🥹

yourbff: you’re not just saying that because of a certain man?

ynuser: oh no i am saying that bc of a certain man 😮‍💨 he is a dream come true bestie

yourbff: ugh do elba and pato have any other hot millionaire friends they could set me up with???

ynuser: i’ll ask them im sure they do

yourbff: preferably one who’s name rhymes with pranko dolapinto

ynuser: HAHAHA mi amiga

carlossainz55: te gusta monaco? [you like monaco?]

ynuser: yes!! i love it. you, me, rebecca and max should grab dinner one night while im here!!

carlossainz55: i’d love that

maxverstappen1: you can always move 🤷🏻‍♂️

ynuser: maybe one day 🤔

elbaoward: my work here is done 🥹

ynuser: you are a magician. how’d you know we were perfect for each other?

elbaoward: bc i know my best friend 🤍

ynuser: te amo elba 🫶🏻

redbullracing: can’t wait to see you in vegas!

patriciooward has made a post

liked by ynuser, elbaoward, yourbff, maxverstappen1, landonorris, and 321,345 others

patriciooward: gentle mornings with my hermanas

view all 223 comments

user12: oh max is in the likes 👀

ynuser: why do you insist on picking the worst photos

patriciooward: it’s my brand

elbaoward: 💁🏻‍♀️

maxverstappen1: send me the last pic

patriciooward: done!

ynuser: PATO wtf

user12: user13 you were right

user1: oh to have gentle mornings with pato 😭

user3: i love that he calls y/n his sister too

ynuser has made a post 🔒

liked by maxverstappen1, yourbff, carlossainz55, iamrebeccad, patriciooward, and 313 others

ynuser: la vida últimamente [life lately]

view all 22 comments

yourbff: ugh the red hair suits you

ynuser: i agree 🥹

maxverstappen1: prettiest girl in the whole world

ynuser: mi amor 🥹 i love you 🤍

maxverstappen1: te amo

elbaoward: the spanish 😭🥹🩷

maxverstappen1: i’m working on it!

iamrebeccad: dinner last night was so fun. let’s do it again 🤍

ynuser: i’d love that!! see you in vegas darling

patriciooward: oh so you’ll post but not answer my texts

ynuser: yes exactly

friend1: hermosa chica [beautiful girl]

maxverstappen1 has posted to his story

view all story replies

user2: max emilian the man that you are

user4: screaming crying throwing up. i can’t believe he’s off the market

ynuser: my man my man my man 😍

maxverstappen1: that’s me baby

ynuser: thanks for inviting me to vegas with you

maxverstappen1: schjate you’re invited everywhere with me. i never want to be without you

ynuser: omg you big softie

charlesleclerc: oh she’s got you dressing up now too?

maxverstappen1: i want to look nice for my girl what can i say

charlesleclerc: oh he’s in love

maxverstappen1: 🤭 maybe

user5: i ! can’t believe you’re not wearing skinny jeans. the power she must have

schecoperez: i like this girl 😉

maxverstappen1: me too

user6: the emoji???????? max i’m speechless who are you

ynuser has added multiple stories 🔒

view all story replies

yourbff: god you’re gorgeous. have so much fun at the race baby

ynuser: thank you bebe. vegas is amazing - i am having the best time

yourbff: living vicariously through you 🥹

maxverstappen1: you have no business looking this good especially when there’s nothing i can do about it 😫

ynuser: win me the race and you can have me as a prize later 😉

maxverstappen1: you got it baby

elbaoward: are you in red bull hospitality??? come to mclaren i want to see youuuuu

ynuser: yes i’m in red bull but will cross enemy lines for you gorgeous

patriciooward: hermana donde estas? [sister where are you?]

ynuser: omw patito

f1gossip has made a post

liked by user1, user2, yourbff, user3, user4, user5, user6, user7 and 7,234 others

f1gossip: in an interview earlier today max confirmed his relationship with, y/n y/l/n. y/n is childhood friends with elba and pato o’ward and it turns out that the siblings introduced max and y/n in miami earlier this season. the pair hit it off immediately according to max and “it was the closest thing to love at first sight he’d ever experienced.” she’s in attendance today at the grand prix! let us know if you get the chance to meet her and if there’s any further intel you get

view all 271 comments

user1: ohhhhh max 🥹

user2: this interview melted my heart. he looked so genuinely happy to be talking about her

user7: i love seeing him happy

user3: i’m obsessed with them already. perhaps my new favorite wag

user4: love at first sight???? i’m not crying! you are!!

user6: the way max also talked about trying to learn spanish for her because she’s mexican and how he’s also trying to teach her some of his language too 🥹😭

user8: this is the sweetest thing. that is true love idc what any of yall say

user5: i hope a love like this finds me one day

maxverstappen1 has made a post

liked by ynuser, yourbff, schecoperez, alex_albon, patriciooward, and 645,123 others

maxverstappen1: vegas you were a fun one - thanks for having me and y/n/n!

view all 546 comments

user2: y/n/n 😭

user4: crying my eyes out

user6: yayyy maxie!!! glad to see you on the podium again

ynuser: te amo mucho vegas 🤍

maxverstappen1: and you te amo mucho me too right?

ynuser: omg yes maxie. i love you endlessly

user14: SIMP

user15: max asking for validation has done something to me.

charlesleclerc: great drive max!

patriciooward: take care of my girl ok?

maxverstappen1: you got it pato! no need to worry

redbullracing: our champion 💪🏻

user8: jealousy isn’t cute on me but here we are

ﾟ. ✿ ୨❤︎୧⠀✿ . ﾟ

a/n: thank you for reading!! reblogs, feedback and likes are very appreciated 🫶🏻

ﾟ. ✿ ୨❤︎୧⠀✿ . ﾟ

disclaimer: pictures are not mine and everything i write is fiction

© norrisainz33 || please do not rewrite, translate, or copy any of my works posted here on to any other platform

[thegnomelord]

KOSA update:

For anyone who hasn't seen (me included lol), the verge has put out an article about KOSA and how its not as clear if congress will pass it now as multiple other bills are competing against it and legislators are struggling to decide which to back.

https://www.theverge.com/2024/2/29/24086559/kids-online-safety-act-schatz-tech-groups

One of the proposed bills is this one

In short, instead of making a bunch of tech bros surrogate parents on the internet, instead it would invest a ton of money into actually going after and investigating actual child predators, modernize the cyber tipline, and do research on prevention/ detection programs, among a few other things.

So please, if you're American, you still have time to call up your reps and tell them you're against Kosa, which is good, but giving them suggestions like this bill is better

[savejudyblog]

Need Your Help😭💔

Don't Scroll 🛑

Hey everyone, just reaching out in a really challenging time.

Life’s flipped upside down—went from happy home days to struggling in a tent (check the pics). We're really stuck and could use any help you can give. (Story in Alt text)

Please share, send love, or support if you can. Every bit helps us hold on.☄️

BEFORE

AFTER AFTER

BEFORE AFTER

BEFORE

Currently.

Vetted by the butterfly effect project. Line#223

My campaign is moving slowly ($3,146/$50,000) and we're stuck. We can't do this without your help. Please, don't just scroll by—anything helps! 💔😭

@schoolhater @timetravellingkitty @deathlonging @briarhips @mazzikah @mahoushojoe @sar-soor @rhubarbspring @pcktknife @transmutationisms @sawasawako @feluka @appsa @anneemay-blog @commissions4aid-international @wellwaterhysteria @mangocheesecakes @kyra45-helping-others @7bittersweet @tortiefrancis @ot3 @amygdalae @ankle-beez @communistchameleon @dykesbat @aristotel @komsomolka @neptunerings @riding-with-the-wild-hunt @heritageposts @watermotif @stuckinapril @mavigator @lacecap @determinate-negation @deepspaceboytoy @paper-mario-wiki @kibumkim @neechees @socalgal @chilewithcarnage @ghelgheli @sayruq @himejoshikaeya @rooh-afza @crumplstiltskin @papatyavesigaraaaa @el-shab-hussein @nabulsi @queerstudiesnatural

[phoenixtsukino]

Don't give up! Keep fighting!

Keep streaming!

Keep shouting! Keep emailing! Keep writing letters! Keep hounding them on all social media! Keep signing and sharing the petition! Keep requesting the show!

Don't forget - Netflix is getting a billboard 1.3 miles aka a 5-minute drive from their HQ from October 14 to November 7th.

The cast have our backs and are supporting our efforts.

We can do this.

At 17.9k now!

^^^^ Tumblr asks are open ^^^^

[armysantiny]

22:15 – 정국 (Jungkook)

P: Jungkook x male reader | G: timestamp, smut | Inc: tattooist!Jungkook, sub!Jungkook, dom!reader, petnames, teasing, orgasm denial, Jk's hands being restricted, implied multiple orgasms, filth tbh, I took 'every second, every minute, every hour' and ran with it lmao | Wc: 223 | W: slight D/s dynamic, restriction, orgasm denial,, desc. of pleasure almost being painful (consensually ofc) | R: 18+

Min’s notes: I blame a mf named Jeon Jungkook singing Seven for this ^-^

Sweat drips down Jungkook’s forehead, his head thrown back as he tries to ground himself on y/n’s bed. His head is spinning – how long have the two of them been at this? How long did y/n want to keep this up? All manner of moans and whines slip out of his mouth, only encouraging y/n to keep up his loving torture on Jungkook’s cock. There’s not much Jungkook can do to make it stop; his hands restricted above his head and leaving him exposed and entirely at y/n’s mercy.

“F— fuck, y/n, baby…” The tattooist cries, unable to stop squirming the longer y/n refuses to stop. He’s so close but anymore and Jungkook might just lose his mind. He’s going to start coming dry at this rate. Y/n simply blinks, looking to his boyfriend as his hands just…stop. Jungkook panics, bucking his hips into the younger man’s now still hand, desperately seeking the pleasure that’s keeping him on the edge of pain and holding him there.

“What is it bunny? Do you want me to stop? It is too much for you?” Y/n taunts, tracing circles onto the writhing man’s tip. He huffs, “and here I thought you had stamina~. What was it you said? Every second? Every minute? Every hour?”

Perhaps Jungkook regrets riling y/n up over text.

Perhaps not.

Definitely not.

Networks: @kwritersworld, @kdiarynet, @ultkpopnetwork, @whipped-kpop-creators, @hybenet, @bangtanarmynet, @btscreatorscorner

If you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading! Consider reblogging, leaving some feedback or donating to my kofi!

Taglist: @teeztheflag, @jeonqquk, @mikailo666, @iiindigocheesecake, @xavi-in-kpopland, @marxenash , @tinystarstay | Taglist form

[libidomechanica]

Untitled (“Those forever”)

And graft my wife she blue and staying. Those forever.

[exo-raskreia]

More on Utahime's potential in the Shinjuku Showdown Arc

WARNING: DELULU IDEAS + MANGA SPOILERS

So, GOJO HAS RISEN 🥳 (potentially). We'll see in the next chapter or so 😥. There are several ways this could've happened. In this post, however, I will mostly focus on Utahime.

(My reaction to chapter 260 at end of post)

Chapter 259 once again showcased flashbacks of the other characters strategizing against Sukuna, except for Gojo, Utahime, Gakuganji & Ijichi. At this point, one's inclined to believe that team was up to something during the time-skip. It's getting too obvious now.

In this post, I talked about Utahime's potential role in Gojo's revival and/or maybe have another equally important role in this arc.

While some ideas still stand, I thought of some others.

• One of my delulu theories was that Utahime & team could summon Sukuna with his 20th finger to a new vessel (maybe back to Yuuji) or maybe do something else with it, & I just got the idea that what if it's with Nobara's help? With Todo's return & the strange imagery in that recent MV for the opening of the Phantom Parade mobile game, "Avant" by Eve, which potentially foreshadows Gojo's return, & even shows Nobara's Straw Doll CT, Sukuna's new domain, etc., could it be Nobara will return as well? Could she use her Resonance on Sukuna's 20th finger, as it was revealed in 259 that Yuuji's & Sukuna's souls are still connected? (As of right now, it's possible Yuuta may be storing the finger inside Rika, so I wonder about the retrieval of it...)

Another possibility is what if they were doing something with the Prism Realm? That MV showed a bunch of those boxes with creepy eyes, like Sukuna's... What if Gojo's "special training" that he mentioned in 223 had to do with that? Like, maybe his team found a way to train in the box, as time flies differently? Or they were figuring out a way to seal Sukuna? In that same MV, we see paper seals on the boxes, so what if Utahime, as a shrine maiden, made them? Is it possible the team found or created more than one Prism, or something similar?

One thing that worries me is that the only ones who know about Yaga's secret CT are Gakuganji & Gojo. It hasn't been brought up again so... Were they planning something with that? Related to Gojo or maybe Nobara? I don't like the implications, though...

Because of that lingering connection between Sukuna & Yuuji, it seems like Sukuna was able to be a step ahead of everyone due to seeing/sensing all the sorcerers' plans that Yuuji had been a part of during the time-skip. Now, we know that Todo had kept his comeback secret from Yuuji so as not to alert Sukuna. Which could mean...that Utahime's CT was also kept a secret from Yuuji.

Sukuna still doesn't know about it. We know that Yuuji never knew about it while harboring Sukuna, & it seems that this was kept from him even during the time-skip? So, it means that he had no idea what Gojo was planning for his initial attack nor what else he was potentially doing during the time-skip.

Was this Gojo's idea? Did he just want to show off their 200% Hollow Purple? Is it because Utahime is a trump card? And/or is it to protect Utahime? (oof, Gojo, if that's so, we see u~ 👀)

To add to this, we got some recent content that makes me wonder if something regarding Utahime's character may actually happen. This is all mere wishful thinking speculation, of course.

• In the upcoming JJK exhibition (summer 2024), Gege is releasing some rough drafts from the manga & will apparently elaborate on his creative process when making them. One of them is the "You cryin'?" scene from chapter 65.

Out of all his rough drafts, he chose this one as one of the main ones for promo... 👀

In the original text here, Gojo said, "You're weak, so don't go on business trips too often." /OR "You're weak, so don't push yourself too hard."

(translation varies. Here, here, & here for further context)

The text seems to imply that Gojo didn't want Utahime to go so far away for missions (she was 3 hours away by train from Tokyo), or that she shouldn't take on such dangerous missions. Is it because he wouldn't be able to get to her sooner if she needed help, since at the time, he couldn't teleport yet? 👀

Gege changed it to "I came to save you" in the official release. Why, though? We could still tell Gojo was worried for Utahime due to him leaving the supervisor & his teammates behind to go save her from the mansion, forgetting to put up the curtain, & using Blue (which at the time, was exhausting to use) while managing to leave her unscathed. Did Gege think Gojo's concern for Utahime would be too obvious with the original text, though? 😏

• The characters got some updates on their profiles for the upcoming 4th character popularity poll. However, while most of the others got some slight changes, Utahime's only reiterates that she's a very good singer.

(Used Google Translate)

(We wish Gege would just give us more info on her but oh well 😮‍💨...)

Even this article finds the brief description strange.

Why did Gege bring this up again? Why not simply say she's a very good dancer instead, as we now know? He had said in the 2021 fanbook that her singing is a huge part of her CT, but we have yet to see it in action (unless the chanting for her 120% counted?). Some people had already lost hope that we'd get it, so is he implying that it's still something to look forward to? That her VA, Yoko Hikasa's singing talent, won't actually go to waste in the future? That Utahime still has a role to play? 👀

• On April 2, in order to commemorate Vol. 26 of the manga (containing infamous chapter 236), Shounen Jump uploaded a lofi video to their official YouTube channel in which we see edited versions of Gojo's memories. These mysterious edits have made people theorize that Gojo's memories have become a distorted mess in his brain, which is implied to be damaged in his (potentially) current state between life & death.

Utahime & Shoko appear with Gojo in one of the images.

Both girls have been theorized to help bring back Gojo. Utahime seems to be the focal point here, however, while Shoko is more in the background. Her appearance is that of her & Gojo's phone call scene, which had lasted 3min 41s in the anime (341, guys). Why is Utahime more prominent to him here, instead of his former teammate & closest friend?

(Full delulu) Could this be foreshadowing that Utahime will be the one to call Gojo back from the airport? That she will use her singing to reach him? Lure him like a siren or something? Or, like I said before in my aforementioned delulu post, does her singing have healing abilities?

Got the idea from this post that in the edit, it's like Gojo's heading (north) towards the girls, & since Utahime is at the center (of Gojo's distorted memory, mind u 😌), could it be implying she really will be the key to help guide him back? While Shoko is busy healing him?

AND SO...onto chapter 260:

GOJO HAS RISEN?! 🤩

(Gege, u better not be playing... Sukuna better not be hallucinating or smth...😑)

Right now, the Binding Vow theory seems the most popular, & while I don't like it, it's still possible. However, would this discredit the theory that Shoko healed him? And/or that Utahime buffed her? Maybe not. Shoko did say in 258 that the efficacy of her RCT can depend on the person's body/CE being healed. So, would Gojo have had to give up something, like his right eye, in order for Shoko's RCT to work, in case his CE was rejecting hers? 🤔😓

Gege will explain what's going on in the next chapters. As Gojo's return does seem rather sudden & random, it's possible it may not be official YET, but it doesn't mean it won't happen. So if this is a fluke, I do believe Gojo will return at a crucial moment.

Whether it was/will be thru a BV or with outside help, we will see. Either way, this also means that Utahime is coming back!! We'll finally see her again!! Where there is Gojo, there is Utahime. WE'RE GETTING THAT FLASHBACK, TRUST. Incredible how Gege timed this so closely with last year's chapter 222 in May, in which Gojo gets unsealed, & then in 223, Utahime reappears after a long absence WITH him. WILL GEGE DO THIS AGAIN? OH, MAN-

Ok, I know I'm fully delulu & Gege may go against all our expectations in the next chapter or so, so I'll try to keep them low. We'll see... He's not off the hook yet... 😕😫

[apoloadonisandnarcissus]

Concerning the "Laws and Customs among the Eldar” chapter in "Morgoth's Ring"

This particular chapter is always brought up when Sauron x Galadriel is being discussed, or even as an argument against “Rings of Power” legitimacy as a Tolkien adaptation, and to “prove” how it’s impossible for Galadriel to have romantic feelings for Halbrand as confirmed by Director and executive producer Charlotte Brändström, because she’s already married to another.

This essay paints a very idillic and romanticized view of Elven marriage, and the Catholic inspiration is very visible here. Everything that’s written is the perfect Catholic marriage and conduct: no premarital sex, no casual sex, monogamy for live, divorce is forbidden, sex is marriage, sex = children, marriage is always out of love and free-will, sex is a sacred bound between two elves, an unique and eternal bound. And so on.

All of this seems very straightforward, except for the part the Tolkien fandom seems to collectively ignore Christopher Tolkien notes on this chapter, where he provides context and explanation for what’s actually written.

The Context

The “Laws and Customs among the Eldar” essay, Christopher tell us, were two manuscripts (one which Tolkien left unfinished), that he arranged as he saw fit and he goes to great lengths in “Morgoth’s Ring” to explain his decision. To him, this essay wasn’t a part of “The Silmarillion”: “There is no indication that it was intended to stand in the text of the Quenta Silmarillion, but there can scarcely be any question that my father did so intend it.” He recognizes, however: “it’s not easy to say from what fictional perspective Laws and Customs among the Eldar was composed”.

As I have explained (p. 199), I have found that the best method of presenting the material is to give at this point the long essay concerning the nature and customs of the Eldar, although of course it cannot be said to be a part of the Quenta Silmarillion.

What’s the problem? Tolkien was on longer alive to either confirm or deny this. If this essay was, indeed, a part of “Quenta Silmarillion”, it means it was written by the Eldar loremasters (like everything that’s written in the mentioned work), and what we have here is a biased account of events.

However, Christopher Tolkien believes this essay is written from the POV of mortal loremasters (Men):

There is a reference to the Elves who linger in Middle-earth 'in these after-days' (p. 223); on the other hand the writer speaks as if the customs of the Noldor were present and observable ('Among the Noldor it may be seen that the making of bread is done mostly by women', p. 214) - though this cannot be pressed. It is clear in any case that it is presented as the work, not of one of the Eldar, but of a Man: the observation about the variety of the names borne by the Eldar, 'which … may to us seem bewildering' (p. 216; found in both texts, in different words) is decisive.

What does this mean? This account is the product of second-hand observation, and probably not the most reliable source of information about Eldar lifestyle (sort of speak). Either way, this essay is either a biased account (Eldar POV) or one born of observation and second-hand information (Men POV).

Christopher does write: “in this account the lives and customs of the Eldar have been considered mainly in their natural courses in days untroubled, and in accordance with their true nature unmarred. But, as has been said, the Eldar did not escape the Shadow upon Arda, that caused both misfortunes and misdeeds to afflict them.”

It must be understood that what has yet been said concerning Eldarin marriage refers to its right course and nature in a world unmarred, or to the manners of those uncorrupted by the Shadow and to days of peace and order. But nothing, as has been said, utterly avoids the Shadow upon Arda or is wholly unmarred, so as to proceed unhindered upon its right courses. In the Elder Days, and in the ages before the Dominion of Men, there were times of great trouble and many griefs and evil chances; and Death afflicted all the Eldar, as it did all other living things in Arda save the Valar only.

Now, this seems to imply that this essay is meant to be interpreted as how the Elves would conduct themselves if they had remained in Valinor (natural course in days of untroubled), and if Morgoth has not corrupted Arda (unmarred). Not how they actually behave in the legendarium.

For Christopher Tolkien, the marriage and the children bits weren’t even the core message of this essay, immortality is, because death (mortality vs. immortality) is one of the major themes of Tolkien work:

[...] all these questions are very secondary to the import of the work itself: a comprehensive (if sometimes obscure, and tantalising in its obscurity) declaration of his thought at that time on fundamental aspects of the nature of the Quendi, distinguishing them from Men: the power of the incarnate fea (spirit) in relation to the body; the 'consuming' of the body by the fea; the destiny of Elvish spirits, ordained by Eru, 'to dwell in Arda for all the life of Arda'; the meaning of death for such beings, and of existence after death; the nature of Elvish re-birth; and the consequences of the Marring of Arda by Melkor.”

And this is why folks need to read Tolkien letters and Christopher Tolkien’s notes and introductions. Otherwise, you won't understand what's actually being said, and what the message is.

And with this context, all the “exceptions” and “contradictions” to this essay in the legendarium became clear and make sense. They aren’t paradoxal, at all. It’s this particular essay that shouldn’t be taken a such face value.

The so-called “Contradictions”

For the sake of the argument, let’s see some examples on the legendarium that contradict this essay.

"Permanent marriage was in accordance with elvish nature, and they never had need of any law to teach this or to enforce it." and "the Eldar wedded once only in life".

We have the exceptional case of Finwë. Interestingly enough, Christopher Tolkien mentions Finwë and Míriel (Feänor parents) in his introduction note to this essay, however it’s not the “re-marrying” bit that strikes him as odd and contradictory to his father writing, but Míriel wanting to die (for real), which is “unnatural” to an Elf. Elves were gifted with immortality by Eru Ilúvatar, and only Him can give or take immortality (not the Valar).

In short, Míriel spent so much for her spirit (fëa) being pregnant and giving birth to Fëanor, she wanted to die. Her spirit left her body (hröa) and went to the Hall of Mandos and she refused to be re-embodied. Afterwards, Finwë was allowed, by the Valar, to marry Indis, and had four children with her (among them was Galadriel’s father, Finarfin). This is only exception of re-marrying and sort of explains why divorce is forbidden among the Eldar because all the Noldor problems are blamed on it.

"Marriage is chiefly of the body, for it is achieved by bodily union, and its first operation is the begetting of the bodies of children".

This implies that the only purpose for Elven sex is to have children. However, Tolkien himself contradicts this view in another work:

"the act of procreation, being of a will and desire shared and indeed controlled by the fëa [soul], was achieved at the speed of other conscious and willful acts of delight or of making. It was one of the acts of chief delight, in process and in memory, in an Elvish life, but its intensity alone provided its importance, not its time or length: it could not have been endured for a great length of time, without disastrous “expense”. But the act of procreation not being one of growth until the union of the seed and being under control off the will does not take long - though it is longer and of more intense delight in Elves than in Men: too intense to be long endured.” "The Nature of Middle-earth"

The “act of procreation not being one of growth until the union of the seed” is a clear reference to “childless sex”; sex where children are not the purpose nor end result of. This seems to indicative that Elves can control whenever they want to reproduce or not. After all, a Elven child is a combination of the will and soul of the two parents, and this is the true “union of souls”.

This might seem a bit bizarre, but maybe the explanation is that Elven-women biology is alike that of mortal women, where reproductive circles exist, and women have a “fertile window”.

[...] her Sindarin name was Galadriel, "for it was the most beautiful of her names, and had been given to her by her lover, Teleporno of the Teleri, whom she wedded later in Beleriand. Unfinished Tales

In his Letter 43, Tolkien somewhat explains what he means by "lover": a man's dealings with women can be purely physical (they cannot really, of course: but I mean he can refuse to take other things into account, to the great damage of his soul (and body) and theirs); or 'friendly'; or can be a 'lover' (engaging and blending all his affections and powers of mind and body in a complex emotion powerfully coloured and energized by 'sex'). So much for the “no premarital sex”…

"seldom is any tale told of deeds of lust among them [Eldar]."

"But among all these evils there is no record of any among the Elves that took another's spouse by force; for this was wholly against their nature, and one so forced would have rejected bodily life and passed to Mandos"

Contradicting this, we have the cases of the brothers Celegorm and Curufin (Sons of Fëanor) with Lúthien. Of course, neither of these characters took Lúthien as wife by force, but this episode alone contradicts the “against their nature” bit and how there are no tales of deeds of lust among the Eldar.

In “Lay of Leithian”, Lúthien gets captured by the brothers Celegorm and Curufin. They hold her captive; they seize her and even strip her of her (magical) cloak. By removing Lúthien’s cloak, the brothers are, also, striping her of some of her power, making her vulnerable to them. Celegorm becomes enamored by Lúthien’s beauty and wants to take her as wife by force, by coercing her father, Thingol, into an alliance. She escapes thanks to Huan, the Hound of Valinor, but the brothers would go on to try to seize her, again, but this time she’s already with Beren.

**Trigger warning: mentions of sexual assault**

“The Eldar wedded once only in life, and for love"

"Their families, or houses, were held together by love and a deep feeling for kinship in mind and body."

"But these ceremonies were not rites necessary to marriage […] It was the act of bodily union that achieved marriage, and after which the indissoluble bond was complete."

There’s a tale that contradicts all of this, in the Tolkien legendarium. And that’s the story of Aredhel and Eöl the Dark Elf (“The Silmarillion”, “The Nature of Middle-earth” and “Morgoth’s Ring”).

Aredhel, the “White Lady of Gondolin”, was Fingolfin's daughter, and she lived in Gondolin with her brother Turgon. Gondolin was a isolated kingdom, and Aredhel was an adventurous spirit who felt trapped. One day, she’s granted permission to leave, and she intents to meet with the Sons of Fëanor. Anyway, she eventually gets separated from her escort and finds herself in the dark forest of Nan Elmoth.

In “History of Middle-Earth”, Tolkien writes: “Eöl found Irith, the sister of King Turgon, astray in the wild near his dwelling, and he took her to wife by force: a very wicked deed in the eyes of the Eldar.”

The account in “The Silmarillion” paints a somewhat different picture, even though it recognizes that Eöl used spells to trap Aredhel and force her deeper into the forest, until she arrived at his doorstep: “And when Aredhel, weary with wandering, came at last to his doors, he revealed himself; and he welcomed her, and led her into his house. And there she remained; for Eol took her to wife, and it was long ere any of her kin heard of her again. It is not said that Aredhel was wholly unwilling, nor that her life in Nan Elmoth was hateful to her for many years.”

Some say Tolkien changed his version but this comes from a misunderstanding of what “The Silmarillion” is and how it’s pretty much a case of unreliable narrators. When Tolkien writes that Eöl took Aredhel “to wife by force” is a very clear indication that he raped her (precisely because sex = marriage to the Eldar).

In both cases, Aredhel stays with Eöl (alive), bears him a child (Maeglin), but she escapes back to Gondolin when she gets the chance. The tale ends in tragedy, because Aredhel is impaled by Eöl poisoned javelin.

This tale alone contradicts everything that’s written in the “Laws and Customs among the Eldar” essay, because not only Eöl takes Aredhel as wife by force, but he also isolates her from the world and this entire marriage screams abuse and physiological and physical violence. So much for the idillic Elven married life…

In this story we have even more evidence against the “Eldar customs” essay. After Aredhel escapes, Eöl chases after her, and runs into Curufin, her cousin. Eöl invokes Aredhel’s status as his wife, as means to “get her back”. And Curufin answers this: "Those who steal the daughters of the Noldor and wed them without gift or leave do not gain kinship with their kin.”

Apparently, sex alone is not enough to consider a couple married at the eyes of the Noldor, nor is it a "indissoluble bond". What Curufin is saying is that the Noldor didn't consent to the marriage nor were given any "tribute" (gift), and that Eöl has wronged the Noldor as a whole, not only Aredhel, and he has no "right" to her (even, thought, they have a child together). And this is a very pagan way of thinking (probably from the germanic inspiration Tolkien used for his lore), and contradicts the Catholic views of the "Eldar customs" essay.

The “love eternal” and “Elves are emotionally monogamous for life" is a fandom headcanon. There’s no textual evidence of this, not even in the “Laws and Customs among the Eldar” essay. When Tolkien writes “indissoluble” it means there is no divorce, the couple is stuck together forever, never mind how they’ll eventually feel about each other in the future.  In “The Nature of Middle-earth", Tolkien does write Elven couples outgrow their “sexual needs” after children are born and devote themselves to other intellectual pursuits, and usually lead separate lives.

[animeyanderelover]

Anon: Ayato Kirishima prompts 22 & 223 (maybe 109 too?)

@naeho @flaming-vulpix

Tw: Yandere themes, unhealthy mindset, toxic relationship, possessive behavior, obsession, stalking, blood, abduction, violence, threats

Prompt 22, 109 & 223

Ghouls weren't just an urban legend. This was the reality you and so many other citizens of Tokyo had to live with each day. It was always in the news. Every murder that was believed to be committed by ghouls was aired within the next news. Experts were often invited on talk shows, answering questions and explaining how humans could identify a ghoul. All the news and the stuff circling around online were meant to make the inhabitants of the big city more warily around strangers. After all, to the unknown eye a ghoul could easily pose as a human. Your parents had always warned you to not enter any dark and abandoned passages, whether it was day or night. Ghouls could always lurk in such narrow streets, waiting for a chance to hunt and devour an unknown human who strayed upon such a path.

You did your best to follow their rules as you had not the desire to be killed and then consumed by a ghoul, even though you knew that they needed human flesh as much as you needed the daily meals you consumed. In a way it was a difficult ethical question but one you could never discuss with others. You were worried that they wouldn't understand you. You'd never encountered a ghoul so far in your lifetime, at least not as far as you knew. But who knew? You could have passed a ghoul in your daily life somewhere before. It was hard to tell as to the naked eye, the many people who crossed the same streets as you and who visited the same shopes and stores you did looked all like normal human beings. You supposed that you should have been happy for the fact that you had never met a ghoul before as such encounters rarely went well for your kind, but you couldn't deny a small tinge of curiosity to just catch a short glance of one.

~~~

It was after your graduation that your hidden and small wish to see a ghoul was fulfilled. It was already quite late when you headed back home that day as you had spent the entire evening and night celebrating with your friends passing your final and last exams in high school. Miraculously all of you had made it through all jarring tests and exams. Now the next step in your life was beginning. You had already chosen and applied for your dream university and had been accepted. Your life was going quite well right now, at least in your opinion.

On your way home you passed quite a few of smaller streets that would have led you away from the busy main districts of Tokyo and into quieter and less hectic blocks of concrete. You ignored all of them as you knew better despite the tiny desire that wanted to know. You weren't dumb after all. Your eyes were focused on your phone as you were texting your parents that you were now heading back home just as you passed another one of those misleading, narrow streets and caught a shadow limping away from the corner of your eyes. Your brain took a few miliseconds before it fully processed the visual information it had just seen and you stopped for a moment.

Your eyes flew back, although now you couldn't see anything. Strange... You could have sworn that you had spotted a figure moments ago. You stepped cautiously a few steps closer, although still remaining close enough to the street you had to use to go back home. You just stood there for a while, staring down the side street. Perhaps you had just imagined it. It was dark after all and this side street wasn't very well-lit. Just as you were about to continue your walk back home, you saw something else as your eyes shortly roamed on the ground. Small patches pointing further down the side street, the dark liquid shimmering weakly with the light that hit them from the much bigger and brighter street you were walking on.

You furrowed your eyebrows as you stepped closer before kneeling down, trying to identify the fluid. You sniffed a bit as you bent your head down in hopes of catching a whiff of it. A faint metallic scent hit your nostrils, one that had you instantly recoil the moment your brain attached an image to the scent. It-it smelled like...like blood. You could hear your heart rate picking up a bit of speed as you crouched on the floor. You gulped as you gazed once more down the side street, realizing that the shadow you had seen earlier must have been real. Was it their blood too? That meant that they were hurt, right?

You hesitated for a short moment as you stood there, unsure of what to do now. You knew that it would be a bad idea to head down such a suspicious-looking street. This looked like the typical alleyway in a horror movie where the first and unsuspecting victim would be murdered and it unsettled you. Nevertheless, if there really was a person that needed help, you should do what you could. So you took hesitant and slightly shaky steps into the side street, your eyes darting back and forth over every wall, fence and dustbin. You stopped when you were in front of a wall with the only way to head further down right from you. You peaked around the corner although it wasn't well-lit which allowed you to see about nothing except darkness. Your eyes wandered behind you where the much more safe street was. Where you should be right now. About two minutes passed where you stood there, your heart rate increasing even more as you stared down the darker path. Were you really going to do this?

It started with a small and jittery step. Then another one. Then another one. Each tiny step leading you further down the alleyway as you left the lights and people of the main street behind. Your heart was plummeting a bit further down your body with each step you took, leaving the light and noises of the road you were supposed to be on further and further behind until only darkness surrounded you. You pulled your phone out, your hands sweaty and shaking slightly as you had to use your fashlight from here on. Your mouth was dry as you held your phone in front of your chest, flinching and dying a bit whenever you heard a noise from somewhere. The flashlight from your phone only lightened the way a few steps ahead. Walking further down felt like a challenge now, your legs wobbly and heavy as you forced them to move step by step down the dark street.

You shortly paused when the thought occured to you that you should possibly call a hospital if there really was someone injured. So you dialed the number with trembling fingers as you called the closest hospital and spoke in a hushed tone to the person on the other side, afraid to speak any louder and possibly reveal your presence and location to someone here. When the woman on the other line advised you to not head down the dark road by yourself, you almost wanted to cry a bit. You were already there after all. Nevertheless, you thanked her for her advice and ended the call. You just stood there like this for a few more seconds, considering her words as you took deep breaths. You listened closely to everything around you, scared that your phone call might have alerted someone about your presence in this alleyway.

Nothing happened. It managed to give you at least a bit of relief yet your hear rate certainly didn't drop. You felt like you had made the wrong decision. You should head back and wait for the ambulance. You nodded to yourself as you made the decision to turn back and leave this unnerving road. But then, just as you were about to leave with hasty and fast steps, did you hear another sound. It was coming from further down the road, sounding like a painful groan. The sound gave you goosebumps all over your skin as you flinched when your ears picked the noise up. You just stood there, in the suffocating darkness, contemplating whether to ignore the obvious noises of pain of another person and head back to the safety of a public road or ignore all alarm bells in your mind and help someone injured.

“Is someone there?”

Oh god…

Now you had been spotted. It was a woman judging from the sound of the voice, raw with pain. You felt guilt and compassion when you heard her voice, filled with pain. Could you really walk away despite another human being in pain? Especially since you had been spotted now anyways? No. You could never do such a thing.

“P-please! I need help. I’ve been attacked.”

“W-wait! I’m coming!”

You tried to walk faster, your phone lightening the way for you as you made your way further down the dark alleyway. There were some trash cans littering the lonely road, some fences limiting the space you could walk on. Besides that though, there really wasn’t much here. Only you and the other woman. You squeezed your eyes as you tried to find the woman with your flashlight. You shouldn’t be too far away from where she should be, right?

“H-here. I’m here.”

When you heard her voice, so close now, you turned your phone around, trying to search for her. Then, you finally found her. She let out a grunt and covered her eyes with her hands when the bright light from your phone shone directly into her face. She appeared to be at most only 4 years older than you. She was sitting on the ground, her legs stretched in front of her and her back leaning against one of the many fences in the alleyway. Your eyes widened when your gaze fell on the many wounds covering her body.

They were everywhere!

“Holy shit! How did this happen?!”

You temporarily forgot your fear of the situation as you rushed over to her, kneeling down to inspect her wounds closer. There were so many… You bit your lips anxiously, praying that the ambulance would soon arrive. But how… how were such wounds even possible? They covered her body. It almost reminded you of multiple bullet wounds with the way her injuries appeared.

“I-I called the hospital! Don’t worry! You’ll soon be fine!”

You told her, hoping to cheer her up and give her hope. You didn’t have anything to stop the bleeding though… You only had some tissues. It was better than nothing though. You pulled your small backpack from your back and started searching for the tissues.

“You’re such a nice girl… Too bad, I guess.”

You wanted to ask her what she meant by that. You looked up at her, a slightly confused expression on your face. When you saw her eyes, you froze though. Black creeped upon her sclera as her irises turned red, seemingly glowing a bit in the light of your phone. A grin crossed her face, one that had your stomach flipping and your heart stopping in your chest. The look on your face slowly morphed into one of fear as your hands started shaking when you realized who was in front of you.

A ghoul. She was a ghoul.

“Oww~Did you realize what I am?”

She asked you in a cooing tone, grabbing your face with a firm grip. Her fingers dug painfully into your skin as she looked at you.

“I do think that it’s quite a shame that you had to find me. You seem like a good person. But I really need your flesh right now. I need to heal from the wounds he afflicted on me.”

She opened her mouth and you saw your life flashing before your eyes as she leaned down to rip the flesh out of your neck. Silent tears were flowing down your face as your breath came out in short and rapid bursts, your chest feeling tight and heavy.

You couldn’t even process what happened next. You only knew that something came and hit her with full force, the impact throwing her back. She let out a surprised yelp as she let you go. You stumbled back out of shock, your phone flying out of your hand and landing somewhere behind you. The flashlight was still on though so at least it wasn’t broken.

Not that your phone was your main problem at the moment. You just sat there on the cold ground, your heart in your throat as you looked frantically around in the dark. You couldn’t see anything and were too scared to try to retrieve the phone. Your body refused to move, shaking and trembling as you tried to understand what had just happened. You could see the faint outline of another person standing there. Where had they come from?

“You! What are you doing here?!”

You heard the woman hissing as she stood up, apparently knowing who this was.

“Didn’t I tell you to abandon your territory? Why are you still here?”

Territory…?

Oh my god, as in their hunting spots?! Had you just seriously walked into the hunting area of a ghoul?!

“Why is it any of your worries?! What did I do to you?! Get out of here! This has been my territory for years! I won’t let you take it from me! You bastard, I’ll make you pay for assaulting me earlier!”

You couldn’t see that well but the faint lights from the city and the little bit of flashlight from your phone gave you a somewhat rough ability to see what was going on. Not like you were able to understand or even believe what you were seeing in the first place.

Something akin to a tail suddenly grew out of her lower back and she used that thing to try to hit the mysterious man who had just suddenly appeared out of nowhere. He dodged by jumping back as something grew out from in between his shoulders that resembled wings. Not like you had any time to be astonished or surprised as a fight unfolded right in front of your eyes. The girl constantly tried to hit the man with her tail, the sound of it like a whiplash whilst he quickly dodged her and moved around, shooting something out of his wings. The female ghoul let out painful screams when those things hit her and you had a good idea that he had been the one who had injured her prior to you finding her here.

Very, very slowly you started crawling back, each movement slow and careful as you were mindful to not alert them with any sudden movements. You had to get out of here! It was too dangerous. You didn’t want to be killed and eaten. You didn’t even care about your phone. Your life was far more important.

The female ghoul went down on all fours as she was shot with another load of the hard and deadly stuff the man was shooting out of his wings. You heard her retching something up and even if you couldn’t see anything in the darkness, you could very vividly imagine her spitting up blood. Ragged breaths and pants from her mouth echoed through the empty side streets as you crawled further and further away, slow and careful.

“Where do you think you’re going?! You’re my meal!”

She had spotted you. You knew it and you could hear the anger in her voice. You saw how she lifted her weird additional grown tail, or at least the faint outline of it, heard the sound as it whipped through the air, the sound getting closer to you. And you just sat there. You were frozen on the ground, your life flashing before your eyes. You knew that her tail was coming, you just couldn’t see when. An image of your head being separated from the rest of your body popped up in your mind and you closed your eyes, waiting for the end to come.

Only that it never happened.

You only remembered the feeling of strong and muscular arms suddenly grabbing you, a cold breeze and a ticklish feeling in the pit of your stomach that reminded you of the times you’d rode a roller coaster at an amusement park. Then you remembered the feeling of someone releasing you from their hold, placing you on the ground again. When you opened your eyes, you saw the same guy standing in front of you. His wing-like things on his back were glowing slightly red even in the darkness and now that he was so close to you, you could see that he was wearing a mask. He had saved you… Why?

“What…? Why would you…?”

You could tell that the ghoul lady behind you was equally as confused and surprised as you as she looked at you and the other ghoul. Silence followed as she seemed to think about it and you couldn’t blame her. You were doing the same. You were starting puzzled at the guy standing in front of you, unable to wrap your head around why he would save you. To your surprise he seemed to stare right back at you, even though you couldn’t really tell because of the very little light in this alleyway and his mask.

“Ooh… I think I understand.”

You couldn’t tell for sure but it almost looked like his shoulders were tensing up when she suddenly spoke with an astonished tone. He turned his head around, looking at her as she tried to stand up despite the severe wounds on her body.

“Well, well, I didn’t expect this. Not that I can blame you. They are a rather cute and delicious thing, aren’t they?”

You got chills when hearing her sickening sweet tone as if she was trying to mock him. What did she mean though? Did she realize something that you didn’t?

“I know they’re cute.”

Before your mind could even process what he meant when saying those words, he was gone. Instead a bone-chilling scream filled the streets, accompanied by a sickening crack that sounded like breaking bones.

“BUT THEY’RE MINE! TOUCH THEM AND I’LL KILL YOU!!”

You sat there in horror, the agonizing screams of the female ghoul ringing in your eyes as the other ghoul attacked her mercilessly. Even if you couldn’t see anything, you pictured it in your head. Those images made your stomach flip over as you could almost feel your lunch slowly being pushed up your throat.

“S-stop it please.”

He continued and you couldn’t tell if he had decided to ignore you or just hadn’t heard you. The screams and cries of her had grown weaker and even if she had tried to kill and eat you, you couldn’t let her die in front of you. You’d never be able to forget it otherwise. It would haunt you.

“Stop it! Please stop it! You’ve done enough!”

Finally, he seemed to pause his actions. You couldn’t hear anything besides her whimpers and soft cries.

“Huh? You want me to stop? Are you stupid?”

His voice was harsh and irritated upon hearing your request and you almost flinched. He didn’t sound very friendly and you were still scared. But he had saved you for whatever reasons and so you could only hope that he wouldn’t hurt you or even kill you ultimately.

“She’s defenseless! You’ve hurt her enough! Please…I’m begging you, don’t kill her.”

You heard his footsteps as he walked towards your kneeling form and you grabbed the hem of your shirt with sweaty hands, afraid and terrified.

“You’re one of those kind-hearted fools, aren’t you? People like you usually die the quickest. You ought to be grateful that I came to save you in the first place or you would have been made her meal by now. You know why? Because you’re weak. Weak and pathetic.”

You flinched and leaned back when he bent down to you, your heart in your throat as you swallowed dryly. He sounded almost hostile with his words, even bitter in a way.

Seconds passed by, slow seconds where he just looked literally down on you before your ears picked up another sound. Sirens. The ambulance was here. The sound alerted the man too as he looked up.

“Did you call the hospital? Are you braindead?!”

You flinched when he raised his voice, putting your arms in front of your face.

“I-I just wanted to help!”

You yelled back in defense, although your shaky tone didn’t sound very convincing. You feared that he’d just yell at you again but instead you heard him letting out a deep and annoyed sigh.

“Whatever then. You get your wish. I’ll let her survive…For now at least.”

You were surprisingly relieved when hearing that he wouldn’t kill her but got quickly confused when he grabbed one of your arms and forced you to stand up, without releasing his hold on you.

“W-what are you doing? Let go.”

You said weakly as you tried to shake his arm off. He only let out a scoff in return.

“Why should I? You’re coming with me after all.”

“…What? What do you mean?! You can’t just-“

He didn’t let you finish your sentence. Instead you felt his fist smashing against the back of your head. Pain exploded in your brain, flooding your body as you let out a yelp and grabbed your head, your palms covering the throbbing part as your legs gave in. He caught you before you could fall though and lifted you up in his arms with ease.

“I have no time to argue with you now. Spare me your moral lessons for later. Or just shut up completely.”

Dizziness came over you and you noticed black dots appearing in front of your vision. The more you blinked, the worse it seemed to get. It grew worse and worse as everything around you started to get blurry. The last thing you remembered was him jumping up, from roof to roof, carrying you somewhere. Where, you didn’t know. Blackness embraced you before you could have found out…

~~~

You woke up with a massive headache, your hands instantly cradling the back of your head, rubbing over it in an attempt to soothe the pain somehow. You let out a groan as you tried to cope with the pain somehow. It took you a couple of blinks before you had gotten rid of the blurriness around the edges of your vision. You laid on a tatami mat in a simple room with very little furniture. A cupboard, a table and a chair were all that you could spot, otherwise the room was nearly empty.

This was strange. Where were you even?

You slowly sat up, freezing when the sudden shift from lying to sitting triggered a new wave of dizziness to crash down onto you, making everything worse. You felt nauseous and terrible, clutched the blanket covering you and took deep breaths through your nose to try to keep the bile in your throat. You didn’t want to throw up, especially not since you didn’t even know where you were.

You closed your eyes as you took deep breaths, trying to sort your thoughts without worsening your headache even more. What had happened?

“Are you awake? Good. You humans are so fragile, I was worried that I had used too much force when knocking you out.”

The moment the door opened and someone walked in, you remembered. Hearing that voice made you remember everything and you nearly jumped out of bed. Only to fall back down and let out another groan when the pain in your head worsened. The man sighed when he saw it and stepped closer until he was kneeling right next to you. His blue eyes briefly scanned you.

“Does it hurt a lot?”

You looked at him in disbelief.

“What sort of question is that? Of course it hurts.”

You hissed out whilst clutching your head, looking warily at the blue-haired man.

“Who… who are you?”

It took him a good while to answer your question and you wondered why.

“Ayato.”

Ayato. So now you at least knew the name of your abductor.

“A-Ayato…Why am I here?”

“Well, I couldn’t just let you die out there, could I? So I took you with me.”

“What? Why?”

“Because you’re weak. And naive. Who is so stupid to walk into a dark alleyway all by themselves?? You were literally just asking to be attacked and made a victim! I only left you out of my sight for a short while and you nearly get yourself killed! How can you even-“

“What did you just say?”

You interrupted him and you could tell that he clearly didn’t enjoy that as his forehead furrowed. That was until he actually realized what you had asked and what he had said. He pursed his lips.

“Nothing.”

“No, don’t try to deny it now. You…you just said that you were watching me? You knew me even before you saved me in that alleyway. You…how long have you been doing that?”

It made sense. Why else would a ghoul who you had just met save you and go as far as abducting you?

“It doesn’t matter now, does it?”

He replied rudely, glaring slightly at you before averting his gaze elsewhere. His facial expression looked conflicted and slightly mad.

“It does. I think that I have a right to know how long you’ve been stalking me.”

“I didn’t stalk you! Goddamnit! Would you just shut up?!”

You did. You did shut up when he started raising his voice angrily. You bit your bottom lip, your gaze focusing on the blanket you were clutching in your hands. You were so confused. You were anxious. You just wanted to go home.

Ayato took notice of your clearly startled and intimidated form and let out another sigh.

“Hey…look, I’m sorry. Just stop asking me any more questions, alright? I’m not in the mood.”

“Can I go home?”

He gave you a look of disbelief as you still asked him a question anyway, your voice a mere whisper. He didn’t answer immediately though which heightened your anxiety.

“Did you even listen? I’m not going to let you leave. What would you do outside without my protection anyways? I left you out of my sight and you instantly got yourself in troubles. You can’t even survive without me. If it wouldn’t have been for me, you wouldn’t be anymore, you know? You would have been digested by that ghoul right about now otherwise. I already told you that you should be more grateful to me for that.”

You had anticipated this answer somehow yet hearing it still filled you with dread and fear. You wanted to go home. You had a family. You had friends.

“No…please. I-I have family and friends. I want to go back.”

You begged weakly, looking at him. You tried your best to hold your tears back, despite the pain in your head and your anxious feelings. He only gave you a laugh of disbelief when he saw your face.

“You look really pathetic right now. You should see your face. I don’t know if I should be angry or turned on. You’re lucky that you still look somewhat adorable.”

You winced when he grabbed your chin, squeezing his fingers a tad bit too tight that it was the borderline of painful.

“Listen. I’ll only say it once. You’re not going to leave. You’ll stay. Because you’re way too pathetic, weak and stupid to survive out there alone. You need someone to protect you. Someone like me. You should feel glad. I can keep you safe because they’re all afraid of me.”

He meant it. You knew it and you hated that you were as weak as you were right now. Because it only seemed to silently prove his point as he slowly released his grip on you and pushed you down on the tatami mat again.

“Just rest some more and calm down if you’re already at it. I think I underestimated how delicate you really are.”

He was rough with his touches and words and you could tell that he probably had never really taken care of someone before. That wasn’t what was important though.

“Please…”

You begged once more, looking at him with tears in your eyes. You knew that in your current condition, there wouldn’t be any use to try to resist. Blue eyes locked with your own and narrowed.

“You’re unbelievable. Why should I care? Did your own kind ever care about the feelings of my kind when slaughtering parents, children and lovers only because we did what we needed to do to survive? No. They didn’t. So why should I care about your feelings now? You’re still alive and I don’t plan to kill you. Stop acting like an entitled brat.”

Your eyes followed him as he stood up and walked away, throwing you one short glance as he stood in the doorframe. It was like he was wordlessly warning you to not attempt any bullshit before he closed the door and left you all alone. You laid in your new tatami mat for a while, staring at the wall in an attempt to process and understand everything. It didn’t take long for the first fat tears to escape your eyes as you pressed your lips together in a thin line, trying to silence any sobs that threatened to escape. What now?

[pokepollsters]

Best Pokémon Protagonist Tournament- Stats Breakdown!

After many weeks of voting, we concluded that Tumblr's favourite Protagonist is Akari- but we still have a lot of other data to sift through that we can learn from! Read more to find out about the most and least popular matches, the averages, and maybe most importantly- who won the biggest sweep?

As usual, let's start with the total number of votes across the whole tournament. This time it was 15,433 votes over 25 matches for an average 617 votes per match- slightly lower than our last tournament (20,353 total and 727 average) but still the second most popular tournament we've run. If you include the preliminaries, however, the total number of votes increases to 21,204 over 35 matches and 1 tiebreaker- an average of 589.

Next up, a look at the average votes a contestant brought in- who was a bigger draw than the others? Who inspired the most enthusiastic voting? When we rank them, this is how it stacks up:

Hilda- 494 (2,472 votes across 5 matches)

Akari- 461 (2,304 votes across 5 matches)

Dawn- 374 (1,868 votes across 5 matches)

Serena- 330 (989 votes across 3 matches)

May- 328 (1,641 votes across 5 matches)

Rosa- 319 (958 votes across 3 matches)

Hilbert- 315 (631 votes across 2 matches)

Red- 314 (629 votes across 2 matches)

Gloria- 310 (930 votes across 3 matches)

Lyra- 308 (617 votes across 2 matches)

Kris- 278 (278 votes in 1 match)

Leaf- 248 (248 votes in 1 match)

Ethan- 234 (234 votes in 1 match)

Selene- 223 (223 votes in 1 match)

Lucas- 209 (209 votes in 1 match)

Rei- 189 (189 votes in 1 match)

Juliana- 155 (155 votes in 1 match)

Elio- 139 (139 votes in 1 match)

Nate- 125 (125 votes in 1 match)

Brendan- 112 (112 votes in 1 match)

Chase- 109 (109 votes in 1 match)

Calem & Elaine- 103 (103 votes in 1 match each)

Victor- 88 (88 votes in 1 match)

Florian- 80 (80 votes in 1 match)

Through this ranking, we can get a general idea of the top ten (according to our voters anyway), and yes, as we all observed in the tournament, the girls are far more popular! 80% of the top 10 are ladies, and only 2 men are in the top half at all- 3 if you include Ethan sitting in exactly the middle.

Of specific note, the top 3 are indeed our medal winners, though Hilda and Akari are swapped in position- and we're about to see that same phenomenom in the next list. And poor Florian sits at the bottom, only 80 votes to his name, proving beyond a doubt that the girls are more popular when his counterpart who wears the exact same outfit sits several places higher in 17th.

Okay! On to average vote share. When comparing our contestants, who- on average anyway- took home the biggest proportion of the votes within their matches? And yes, I've already given you a little spoiler about our top two.

Hilda- 68.7%

Akari- 67.7%

Gloria- 64%

Dawn- 60.1%

May- 56.8%

Rosa- 56.4%

Hilbert- 54.3%

Lyra- 53.4%

Serena- 52.5%

Red- 44.7%

Leaf- 42.9%

Kris- 42.4%

Lucas- 40.9%

Rei- 38.7%

Ethan- 35.3%

Selene- 35.2%

Elio- 29.4%

Nate- 21%

Chase- 19.7%

Brendan- 19%

Elaine- 17.9%

Victor- 17.8%

Calem- 17.2%

Florian- 16.5%

Juliana- 16.1%

With a few notable differences, this list is largely similar to the last- in fact our top 10 are identical, albeit with the rankings shifted around a bit. Dawn loses her 3rd place spot to Gloria, and Red is barely hanging on to the 10th spot, but he's still there!

As I mentioned before, Hilda tops this list, not Akari- it seems increasingly clear that with how popular she is, only Akari could've beaten her for that gold medal! Down at the other end though, Florian manages not to be last, this time only losing to his female counterpart- perhaps the girls aren't always popular after all? But it's hard to argue against the same proportion of boys in the top half as before- only 2 (with that coveted middle spot now going to Lucas instead of Ethan).

Now time for my one and only graph! I think it's nice to have some data in a visual form, but I try and keep the important stuff in text form so it's easy to read and more accurate. But here's our lovely pie chart of what proportion of the total tournament votes each contestant got.

Last but by no means least, it's time for individual match stats.

The most voted on match was Round 1: Match 8, Juliana vs Hilda, with 964 votes- just shy of 1,000. Closely following behind it was the finals, with 939 votes. On the other end, the least voted on poll (outside of the preliminaries, which had on average lower votes anyway) was Round 3: Match 3, May vs Gloria, with 483 votes. With only 3 votes more at 486, was Round 2: Match 7, Florian vs Hilda.

Individually, the person to gain the most votes in a single poll was Hilda, once again in that Round 1 match where she got 809 votes! Poor Florian in his Round 2 match got only 80 votes, however- the least in a single match.

The last thing we always look at is margins. For the closest match this competition, we look to Round 2: Match 3, Red vs Lyra. While it shares the exact same 4.6% margin as the final match did, the vote margin was smaller, with only 30 votes separating them (compared to 43 in the finals).

And now- the biggest sweep. Here we specifically look at margins, not votes, but in this case it's one and the same. The match we keep mentioning- Round 1: Match 8- ended in a huge 67.8% margin, or 654 votes. Hilda may not have won the gold in the tournament porper, but she absolutely swept the competition in these stats, and earns herself a spot in the biggest sweep hall of fame.

After all that, we're finally finished. Thank you so much for sticking around through this competition, and I can't wait to see you back here again soon for the next one! Currently a poll is up to decide what that tournament will be, so don't forget to vote and share it, and we'll be back with more polls very soon!