#I was in a bit of a spiral yesterday clearly

[spacebuck]

Well, there are also mutuals. Or followers. People who love you from afar because they have not had a chance to get to know you better. ♥️

I love and appreciate u 💕

[nixie-deangel]

Well now I can't get Jake crocheting out of my head, Red AND him crocheting a gift for Bradley! Which wasn't what I was even thinking about XD!

I'm thinking Jake learned when he was little (5-7) from his grandma and while he didn't enjoy it at first, eventually fell in love with it and kept it up till high school and then he got sort of serious about his academics and sports to ensure he could put his best application for the Naval Academy, so it sort of fell to the way side and he just stopped doing it for more than a decade.

Doesn't really pick it up again until after The Mission and he needs something to do with his hands, to keep them moving, to quiet his mind, to not constantly thinking about how he almost truly lost Bradley forever. And it's during a talk with his mama that he even thinks about getting a hook and some yarn and starting up again, but he does. Goes out to a 24 hour Walmart and grabs the first skein his hand lands on and the correct hook size for it and spends the next few days attending meetings and debriefs during the day and the nights getting all pissed and angry because it's not coming back to him until it does (after maybe a few tutorials on YouTube because he doesn't remember the basics of his old favorite hobby at all!) and he starts making this again. Mostly he takes it apart when he finishes, so he can just keep reusing the same yarn, over and over again. Which is helpful as he relearns.

But then he and Bradley finally talk it out and get back together and then the Dagger Squad is made a permanent squadron and are stationed in San Diego but need to finish out their current assignments.

And it's while they're finishing that up that Jake gets the idea to make Bradley something, a blanket because it's a huge commitment to undertake, but he's determined to do it, to finish it in the months he's got because he wants to show Bradley he's serious about him. Serious about them.

(it works. for their one year anniversary Bradley has knitted them a blanket with the question, 'will you marry me?' on it.

spoilers, Jake says yes!)

I need to stop getting ideas while I'm cooking dinner 😔😭😭😔

[wonwoosthetic]

when will we get a new chapter for minnie 🫶🏼

a/n: now! ˙ᵕ˙ this was a request sent to me through my Google form, so thank you to whoever wrote it🤗 I hope you guys like the quick little chapter!

series masterlist

warnings – pregnancy scare, short mention and implications of infertility, jokes and mentions about sex

word count – 4.6k

summary – minnie gets a little scare and there’s only one member she can think of to call

pairing – minnie & vernon (mentions of wonwoo x minnie x mingyu)

Better Safe Than Sorry 🌷 Minnie

Minne was in a panic. For the past two hours, the girl hadn't found a second of rest, pacing around the apartment, trying to keep herself busy before the thoughts running through her brain could catch up with her. Vernon was supposed to be here 10 minutes ago, only adding to her anxious state. Wonwoo and Mingyu were at the gym, thank God, she thought to herself.

The past few days, or more so even two weeks, had been... interesting. It started with a headache spanning over multiple days, only for it to turn into a migraine. Or so she thought. Throwing up, going to bed as early as possible, and sleeping in for as long as she could. Something was not right. Add the random heat flashes she had experienced the week before and Minnie started speculating. The moment she realised that her period had been a few days late made her shut down.

It was so secret that women in the industry encountered irregularities with their cycles as stress and diets dominated their lives. But Minnie and the entirety of Seventeen were in a good place. None of them was totally overworked at that point, thanks to their new contract. Diets were, thanks to the need to fit into the impossible beauty standards, still a topic of discussion but they were doing fine. Right?

It was one night out that made her mind spiral. Rapidly.

-

Minnie was enjoying a dinner with her closest friends from school, having made a reservation in one of their favourite restaurants a week ahead to make sure they'd get a private room. Food and drinks were passed around the table, discussions and conversations were flowing and laughter filled the room. Everyone was having a good time. When it hit that point of the night where people were slowly starting to leave, say their goodbyes and make promises to meet up again soon, the female singer was left with her two closest friends from that group. 

Léon, once a boy too afraid to show his true colours, is now a proud man with a husband waiting for him back in their new hometown in Spain. And Hana, the legend of a best friend who had gifted Minnie her first vibrator, and now the owner of one of the most-visited clubs in the nightlife of Hongdae.

The two were well tipsy while Minnie had held herself back a bit. They were still giggling at one of their friends who had stumbled through the door as he exited, the multiple shots of liquor clearly taking over his body.

"You look a little paler than usual," Léon suddenly commented, glancing at the idol with a slight frown, "Are you okay?"

"She probably just got a new IV infusion for extra light skin," the other girl joked, getting a chuckle out of the singer. Hana had never been a fan of the idol life.

Minnie shrugged, her finger circling the rim of her glass, "I've been feeling kinda off."

Her friend downed the last shot on the table before turning to her in confusion, "How off?"

Minnie sighed, "I've had a headache for like... a week now. And two days ago I was throwing up all day. Even yesterday and today when I woke up I felt like I had to puke..." The two friends were eyeing her carefully, letting her speak freely. "And then I had some random, like... heat flashes?" She glanced up to meet their eyes, "I don't know what the hell that was, but... yeah... something's going on, I don't know. But I don't want to provoke it with alcohol."

"That," the guy of the group leaned back, eyes now wide, "does not sound good."

"Yeah, but it must be something with my immune system. My period's also God knows where."

"You missed your period?!" Hana gasped, covering her mouth with her hand.

"Girl-" Léon eyed her with a surprised expression, but Minnie was quick to stop them.

"No, no, no," she waved her hands, "It's not like that. I've missed it before, but it... it's a weird coincidence."

"What do you mean 'not like that'? That sounds a lot like being pregnant to me!" The tattooed girl hissed at her.

That was the first time she had heard the word out loud. Of course, it had crossed her mind. Just like every other woman. The moment her period was late, the first thought to come to her was 'shit, what if I'm pregnant', only to dismiss it a second later at how ridiculous it sounded.

"No, I-... we have the tour and we're preparing for a new album, and it's just... stress or something."

"But you've been stressed before. Way more stressed," the guy in front of her commented. "I don't want to scare you, but... you know..."

"If there's anyone that could be pregnant, it's you, Min," Hana casually told her, leaning back against the cushioned seats.

Minnie frowned as she glanced at her. "What the fuck do you mean?"

"No one's getting laid like you," she laughed, making the other two at the table chuckle and Léon threw his head back in glee.

"Oh, shut up!" The idol exclaimed, "You've got a line of men waiting for you to call them back after leaving their apartment in the middle of the night. And that's just from last week."

"That's not true!" Hana pointed her finger at the girl. "You get two dicks on a regular! Every day, I bet!"

"It's not every day!"

"Every other day then," the only guy quickly commented before their discussion could get any louder.

Minnie shrugged, "Yeah... so what?"

"My God," he chuckled with a shake of his head, "I'm jealous. Honestly." Making the girl laugh out loud.

"No, but seriously," Hana stopped the two, letting silence wash over the table once again. "Have you thought of it?"

"No! Because..." Minnie went quiet.

"They're not using condoms. Don't lie to us," Léon glared at her, his arms crossed in front of his chest.

Hana faked a gasp, "You slut."

"You're not even using them on strangers!" Minnie pointed out, only for her friend to slap her hand away.

"This isn't about me!"

"Whatever..." the singer mumbled, her eyes back on the glass. It was still half filled with the mix of Soju and beer she decided not to finish.

"Okay, but seriously," Léon started again, "Could there... be a possibility?"

"For one, I'm on the pill," she explained, noticing her friends opening their mouths to argue, so she continued, "I know! I know that's not 100% safe, but it's... very safe-"

"I don't know about very safe, to be honest," Hana went back to nursing a glass of water. "My mom was on the pill and look at me now," pointed at herself with a proud grin.

"Don't make me scared," Minnie mumbled as she fell back onto her chair with a sigh.

"We don't want to scare you," her guyfriend explained, letting the other girl continue,

"But take a test, just in case," Hana shrugged. "You know how many pregnancy scares I've had? Still, better safe than sorry." She ended her speech by finishing her water.

Minnie's gaze had landed on her lap, where her thumbs had already started fidgeting with each other. "I...," she started with a sigh but stopped herself again right away.

"What?" Léon wondered, keeping a close eye on the singer, but she just shook her head and brought the glass of alcohol up to her lips.

"Nothing." And downed the last bit.

-

Four days later Minnie was still fighting her stomach each day, going out of her way to try and get as little food and water into her system as possible, knowing it would only trigger her and make her run to the toilet. On the other hand, the lack of nutrition was most definitely also adding to the nausea. There seemed to be no way out for the female singer.

On the verge of tears, overwhelmed with emotions, she had texted Hana in the morning, begging her to go to the store to buy her a pregnancy test. She was still very much in denial of the possibility of her being knocked up, but there were too many signs... But then again, she remembered the conversation she had with her gynaecologist two years ago. The doctor had only let a few words fall from her mouth before Minnie realised what she was trying to tell her.

At the sound of the front door's bell, the idol's head perked up, a second before she was rushing to the door. Once she pressed the camera button, she came to face with the young rapper she had called and pressed to open the door downstairs.

"Thanks!" Came through the speakers as Vernon disappeared into the building.

For the next minutes it would take him to come up, Minnie tried to pretend to have to do something, just praying the time would pass by quicker. The tests, yes multiple, were already placed on the counter of the main bathroom's sink. Hana had arrived with two in her bag, along with chocolate and prosecco to celebrate in case they'd be negative. The alcohol was chilling in the fridge while the sweet treat was waiting for her in the cabinet, with her definitely enjoying it either way of how the tests would come out.

Another doorbell sound rang through the apartment, notifying the female member of his arrival. With a few big steps, she stopped in front of the door, pulling it open in a swift motion. A wide-eyed Vernon standing right in front of her.

"Are you okay?"

"I don't know," she mumbled, catching him off-guard as she pulled him in.

With a frown, the younger member stood right in front of her, shuffling his feet out of his shoes before he followed her down the hall.

"What's going on?"

She continued to walk in silence, only coming to a halt in the middle of the living room. Vernon stopped at the corner into the hallway, leaning against the wall.

"Alright," Minnie sighed, bringing her hands up in front of her, "Look..."

"Oh," the '98 Liner nodded, understanding this was going to be even more serious than he had expected. As if her call, asking him 'Can you come over? Like now? Just for a bit?' with zero explanation didn't alert him enough already, her stance certainly brought his heartbeat up.

"Are you okay?" He repeated his question, taking a seat on the edge of the couch, not daring to lean back in comfort.

The girl pressed her lips together, nodding as she avoided his gaze. "I-... I think so, yeah."

"That's not a yes, so that's alarming."

"No, wait-" she stopped him, "Just-... listen, okay?" Making him nod, so she could continue. "I called you because I know- or, at least I hope, you... won't judge me," his frown made her rush her words out even quicker. "And you won't overreact, because I- I don't even know if I really should be concerned, and honestly, I don't think I should be and if you ask me, I think it's impossible, and I'm overreacting, but some other people have made me think otherwise."

"Oh...kay?" Pure confusion was still written across his face. A beat of silence washed over the two as Minnie thought about what to say next. She was looking around the room, knowing there was no way out and she had brought herself into this situation.

She took one deep breath before blurting out, "I need to take a pregnancy test," pressing her lips tightly together again as she waited for a reaction.

Vernon's eyebrows shot up the moment the words tumbled from her lips. He closed his eyes for a split second, trying to take in what she had just said to him.

"Ehm... for... what?"

Minnie looked at him perplexed, "What do you think people take pregnancy tests for?" She knew sex ED in South Korea wasn't good, but she had hoped it wasn't that horrible.

"Well, I hope you're not gonna take it for the reason I think you might be taking it," he glanced up at her. 

He called himself lucky to get to have her as an older sister despite only being born two months apart. Vernon and Minnie had been close ever since he became a trainee under Pledis, the older girl taking him in as a little brother in an instant. Over the years, she had realised that the lack of an age gap was starting to show as she found herself looking up at him more and more, mentally and literally physically as he had shot up in height. She had found herself looking for comfort in him, asking him for advice or even just listening to him. While some members were more physical when it came to showing their appreciation and love, Vernon kept himself in the background, choosing quiet acts of kindness as his love language, which she sometimes appreciated even more than anything else. But even with all the love the two had for each other, their sibling-like relationship was no secret and not kept behind closed doors.

"And what is the reason you're not hoping for?" She had crossed her arms in front of her chest, her eyes still unsure of whether or not to lock with his.

Vernon sighed and shook his head before glancing back up at her, now finding her gaze. "Do you seriously think you're pregnant?"

"No," she was quick to answer.

The '98 Liner rose from his seat. "Then why take the test?"

"Because!" Minnie started pacing around the room again, fixing her hair along the way.

"Because?" He nagged her.

The girl to a stop. "Better safe than sorry."

Vernon couldn't help but sigh again, "Minnie..."

"There's a 0.01 per cent chance-"

"Don't say 0.01 because if it really was 0.01 you wouldn't even think of taking one!" He pointed a finger at her, quickly realising the rude gesture and putting his hand down again. "Sorry," he mumbled.

"Okay, then maybe a slightly bigger chance... I don't know..." the female member bit down on her lip as her voice quieted down. Her gaze was back on the floor. "I'm scared."

Her confession made the rapper look back at her. He understood the seriousness of the situation, yet he had never seen the girl that way before. On a night out with the group, they had found out about the first pregnancy scare she had had years before, but she acted differently about it then. Took it with a lot more humour. But now, the woman in front of him just confessed to being scared. And he was the one she had trusted to confront about it.

Vernon glanced around the room. He couldn't freak out. He was supposed to help her here.

"Don't be scared," he tried to assure her, getting up from the sofa to take a step closer to her. "Are you serious though?"

Fallen silent, the girl just nodded. After not getting a verbal response back, she spoke up to explain, "I just... I've been feeling kinda... off. It's weird," she brushed it off, "and I really- I don't think I am, but... what if I am?"

Vernon accepted her answer, taking a second to himself. "Okay," he took a deep breath in and out. "It's okay. You have a test?" He asked her.

Minnie nodded.

"You went out and bought one?" Not even trying to conceal the concern in his voice.

"No," she told him, passing him as she made her way to the bathroom. "Hana got two for me."

"Where's she?" The younger member was hot on her feet.

"At work," Minnie explained. "She bought them on her lunch break." She stopped in front of the door, turning around to come to face with the rapper.

Vernon lowered his voice. "Why did you call me?"

The female idol shrugged.

He was desperate at this point. It felt like the wrong situation to be in for him. "Why not... Minghao... or... Shua, or Coups-"

"Coups would have me on a leash and drag me to get me castrated the moment he heard the words 'pregnancy test'!" She defended herself, getting a slight chuckle from him in return.

"Don't know how that would work but you're probably right. He'd do it at the word 'pregnancy' already," he mumbled.

"And... Shua would be way too emotional and... I don't know... Hao too. They'd be so... careful around me and try to comfort me-"

"You don't want to be comforted?"

"Not right now," she shook her head and gulped as he met his eyes. "I called you because you're the only person I know who can just sit there and be there for someone. Without overreacting... or... freaking out. And I'm kinda freaking out, so I need someone with a cool head right now."

"Not gonna lie," Vernon confessed, "I'm freaking out a little though."

"But you're hiding it well."

"Ditto," he nodded at the female member.

Another moment of silence washed over the apartment. Minnie took a quick look into the bathroom, her eyes immediately on the two pink packages by the sink.

"It's basically impossible that I'm pregnant," she admitted. The wheels in Vernon's head started turning, thinking that it was never truly impossible, unless... but he decided not to question her further.

"But I had weird... signs, I guess. And Hana and Léon made me scared. I just wanna make sure."

The '98 Liner nodded along to her words, shaking his head even harder the moment she looked back at him. "Do that. Take the test. Or tests," he dramatically pronounced the plural form.

Minnie nudged her head after a second to take a breath. "Can you come with me?"

Vernon immediately frowned. "Wh- Into the bathroom?"

The girl nodded.

"Ew, no! I'm not gonna watch you piss, bro."

She rolled her eyes, "Don't watch me pee. Just sit next to me," pointing to a stool they had in the bathroom for whatever reason. "Hold my hand?" She batted her eyes at him, mostly to lighten up the situation, while holding a bit of seriousness behind her ask.

"Absolutely fucking not," he shook his head. "Go. I'll be right here."

She eyed him up and down, scrunching up her face. "You're not a real one."

Vernon's eyebrows shot up. "If that's the requirement, I'm good," brushing her off and pushing her to finally get into the bathroom. "Weirdo," he mumbled, getting a last glare. At least she hasn't completely lost her spark, he thought to himself.

The moment she disappeared into the room, Vernon was met with the silence of being by himself. It was only then he realised that he hadn't even asked her about Wonwoo and/or Mingyu. Thinking, if anyone should be there, it would be the two men in question. He passed the thought after a moment of debating, coming to the conclusion that she'd have her reasons. Even after her explanation, he was still slightly confused as to why she'd rather have him than them here with her. He decided he'd rather stay in the unknown rather than pester her with more questions. Right now, she needed a friend, not an interrogator, by her side.

-

Vernon cleared his throat awkwardly.

The duo had found their way onto the couch with the two tests placed neatly on the coffee table ahead of them, facing down so neither one of them could even dare to get a glimpse of the results before the timer went off.

"And... ehm...," he tried to pass the time, hoping to somehow soothe the nerves rushing between both of them. "So... if you were though, like... pregnant," he carefully wondered, seeing her almost flinch at his words. He turned to look fully at her, finding her already staring at him. "Would you... w-would you... you know...," Vernon let out a chunk of air, "know whose it is?"

The time he had to himself let his mind wander to places he didn't even want it to go, but he couldn't help it.

Minnie stayed quiet for a few seconds, the words hitting her clearly hard as her eyes drifted off him.

"Ehm...," she took a deep breath. "I... I- eh... I... no?" Lowering her head, her gaze was back on her hands intertwined in her lap. She gulped, "I don't- I don't think so, n-no..." The confession appeared in the form of a big lump in her throat. 

While she was able to have her fun with the two men in her life, it was only now that she came across an obstacle like this. Of course, they had had conversations about protection, being careful instead of mindless, and consent. Yet, the topic of a possible pregnancy while still taking precautions seemed to have passed them.

Vernon nodded, his lips tightly pressed together. "Alright... damn...," he raised his eyebrows. "That- that's... wow, impressive... I mean- g-good for you. That's... good for you. And I- I mean not good good for you if you're pregnant, but, you know... good as in good for-"

"Vernon?"

"Yeah, I'm shutting up."

Not the time or place for a conversation like that, nor did she want to go into more detail about the couple's constellation in the bedroom with one of her closest friends, whom she considered her little brother. Neither did Vernon. But the silence had become dreadful.

Any other day, the duo would have no issue sitting next to each other in complete silence, yet, at that very moment, both wanted anything but to stay quiet. And finding a topic of conversation seemed more challenging than ever before.

The '98 Liner could see her shaking leg in the corner of his eye, unsure of how to comfort her well enough since it was the first time in a situation like that for him too. In an attempt to help her, he reached out and placed his hand on her knee, hoping it would calm her.

"It's okay," he quietly told her, turning his head to meet her clearly frightened gaze.

"Is it though?" She kept the conversation going.

He retrieved his hand again to turn the rest of his body to face her more clearly.

"You said it's... very unlikely." He continued to choose his words carefully, not trying to overstep and drag her into a hole she might not get out of.

Minnie nodded. "Yeah...," she whispered, hugging herself as if she was freezing. "Very unlikely, but... never impossible, right?"

Vernon shrugged his shoulder, "I think only you'd know that. If it's possible or not."

Whether they were talking about the act of conception or possibly rather the chances of her fertility would stay between the two.

The girl gulped. "It's unlikely. Very, very unlikely." 

A quiet pat on her back gave her the validation and comfort she craved and asked for.

"That's why I called you," Minnie confessed after a short few seconds of quietness.

"Hm?" Vernon glanced back at her after his eyes had been fixed on his phone.

"You can just sit here. Accept it, without a big reaction. And I still feel comforted. You... your presence is very comforting."

The question as to why him and not the men that lived with her was still burning his tongue, yet he didn't even dare to let it fall from his lips. Maybe another time.

"I still don't think I'm the right person for something like this-"

"You are," she quickly reassured him. "I didn't even think of anyone else."

The truth was, were the first people to pop into her head her lovers? Yes, of course. But in a moment of panic, in a situation that could affect either one of their lives immensely, she didn't want to confront them. Not with 100% certainty of a result. She wanted to avoid the unnecessary anxiety and hysteria spreading to other people involved in this. Not if there's nothing to be worried about in the first place, she kept on convincing herself.

In addition, as they had talked about before, knowing the rest of her members, there was a group of them that would try to be as emotionally available as they possibly could, their arms around her during the entire process, trying to console her while she just needed someone next to her. The other part of them would turn it into the headline of their tabloid, running around frantically, trying to make sense of the situation, while freaking out, scaring her even more.

And then there was Cheol, the oldest of them all, she shook her head as she didn't even want to think of a possible reaction of his. Yes, he'd support her no matter what, but the image of disappointment on his face was something she couldn't stomach.

Silently, Vernon leaned back, a tight smile on his lips. He appreciated her honesty.

Their sweet moment of companionship was interrupted by the sound of the teeth-shattering, chill-sending sound of his alarm. Vernon didn't even think of changing the ringtone, just opting to go with the standard iPhone one, making the girl shudder as he turned it off.

"Alright," he sighed. "You ready?"

Minnie nodded, pushing herself up to sit further on the edge, her knees close to hitting the coffee table.

"I do one, you do one?"

"Dude, you peed on that, I'm not touching it!" His exclaim made her look at him dumbfounded.

"I peed on that part," she pointed at the end covered by a plastic cap. "You won't even touch it."

But Vernon just shook his head. "You do it."

"Real supportive," she mumbled at him with an amused glare and nudge of her head.

Rushing down the number from three to one in her head, with a deep breath, she turned one test around, wanting to rip the bandaid off quickly and get it over with. Carefully, she looked at the small electronic display, ready for the worst to hit her.

"Not pregnant," she read out loud with a big breath of air. With a quick move, she turned around the second one, a content smile on her lips as she found the same result.

"Not pregnant," Vernon nodded, looking at the coffee table ahead of him before turning towards the female member. "You okay?"

Minnie pressed her lips together tightly, looking at him with a somewhat smile on her face as she nodded. "Yeah..."

Her gaze fell back on the white and blue plastic, her hands still cramped up in her lap as the younger rapper let himself fall further back into the blue couch. He let a moment pass, giving her the silence to herself.

"You know," he patted her back, gaining her attention, "If you were though...," she met his eye. "I'd drive you. Check-up... or...," with a motion of his hand, he pretended to cut his neck, getting a chuckle from her in return.

"I know," she whispered, not trusting her voice to become any louder. Too many emotions were rushing through the short moment, too many for at that time after coming close to what she'd describe as a heart attack.

In the blink of an eye, she had her arms wrapped around his torso, making the younger member smile softly as he returned the embrace. A comforting hand ran up and down her arm. It wasn't often he reciprocated the show of affection from her, but he'd let her for now, knowing she most definitely needed it.

With her cheek against his shoulder, he felt her tightening her arms in a pulse as she spoke up again.

"That's why I called you."

Taglist: @waosobii @chaebb @lunarxsun @hoe4wonwoo @kimhyejin3108 @soobzao @billboard-singer @cosmicwintr @zwiehe @alixnsuperstxr @angie-x3 @smooore @allthings-fandoms @lllucere

[mollyrolls]

stop the clock 𖦹 matsukawa i. x reader

day 1: the bet

prev. / mlist. / next

next in queue: roxanne - the police

Issei pushes open the door of the corner store, the air conditioning chilling the sweat on his skin. One clear chime rings out, echoing in the silence.

He doesn't need cherries. He knows they don’t, he got two jars yesterday and neither have been opened. Yet, he’s back at the market. Coming to buy cherries.

It’s also to see her again. Issei has no idea if she’d be working today, considering he doesn’t even know her name. Let alone a schedule. But if she wasn’t there, he could just ask a coworker for her name.

But maybe name is too creepy? He definitely couldn’t ask when she’s working next, that’s serial killer levels of stalker. And he was willing to play it cool. If something came up, he’d work it out.

“Welcome in.”

Her cadence is already familiar to him, and he feels his shoulders simultaneously loosen and tense. Any thoughts he had about restraining himself and playing it cool fly instantly from his head.

He turns on his heel, redirecting his path to walk in front of the counter. She’s sucking him in like a magnet.

He mutters a hey to her as he passes, but her earphones are in their rightful spot. Elastic rubber band is probably playing too loudly for him to be heard. It’s frustrating losing to a flimsy piece of wire.

Issei makes quick work of his shopping, choosing to forgo the mints completely. She didn’t seem to care about them in the first place. So it’s a quick grab of a pot of maraschino cherries and he’s right back up front.

She pays him even less attention than she did yesterday. He tries not to let it get to him, still confident in his plan to sway her.

She’s so distracted that he’s allowed a moment to peer over the counter to what she’s working on.

Her phone lights up once, a few texts slowly filling in. His main focus is on the sketch pad she’s hunched over, and the way that her mouth folds as she bites down on the inside of her lip.

He can’t quite make out what she’s working on, but he does note several sloppy hatch marks that shade some kind of background.

Issei tries to shift his head and get a clearer view, but his movement in her periphery alerts her to his presence.

For someone who was so stoic yesterday, her face does a poor job of hiding her reactions when she’s surprised. Issei watches in amusement as she notices him, recognizes him, panics when she thinks he saw her work, and rapidly schools her face into nonchalance.

She’s not as subtle with the covering of the notebook. He feels the tiniest bit bad for trying to pry on something she’s clearly protective of. He’ll be sure to course correct.

“Hey.” He starts, donning a warm and lazy smile.

“Hi. Did you find everything okay?” She responds, hesitant to act particularly casual towards him. She’s clearly on her guard, a bit like a scared animal.

“Just as easily as yesterday.”

Silence falls between them, Issei standing there and staring while she waits for him to hand over his groceries. He thinks briefly that he could hold her hostage like this, allowing him the chance to appreciate her in the way that he longs to.

Every second spent with her, simply in her presence, sends Issei further into this lovestruck spiral. One that he’s walking into with open arms.

She clears her throat, shifting awkwardly on her stool. “Excuse me, sir. Are you going to purchase those or just stare at me?”

“Mattsun.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Call me Mattsun.” He replies, finally handing her the cherries. “Or Issei, if you’d like. But Mattsun is just fine.”

No response. She notes the cherries, looking up at him unamused, and scans it quickly.

“I told you, shirley temples are popular.” He starts, falling back into the song and dance they had yesterday. Waiting for a topic that excites her, which he’ll cling to.

“Mmmhmm. Cash or card?”

“Card. You know me.” He fishes it out once again, taking even longer this time. He even picks out his personal card, just to put it back and get the work one.

He dangles it, just out of her reach. She doesn’t bite, and they sit in another wave of silence, staring at each other.

Issei is loving it. She looks like she’s watching paint dry.

Finally she sighs, realizing Issei is getting what he wants by prolonging the interaction.

“I win.” He smiles at her while she reaches toward him. He momentarily thinks about pulling it farther, but remembers his promise.

He’s playing the long game.

So she takes it, expression still indifferent. The same taps on the register, the grind of the receipt.

“Hey, you didn’t ask me about that!”

She deadpans further. “Do you want a receipt.”

He knows his grin is stupid. “Yes, please.”

It’s dropped into the plastic bag, both thrust toward him with more annoyance than yesterday.

“Thank you for shopping at Kumonoue. Have a good night.”

“Oh!” He remembers, ignoring her goodbye. “I heard a good song this morning.”

She continues to look unimpressed. “I have work to do, sir. Other people need help.”

He brandishes his arm around, theatrically scanning the store for another living thing. When he finds none, he turns back to look at her with humor all over his face.

She just sighs under her breath, settling back on the stool and resigning herself.

He’s never been picky. Attention is attention, and hers is hard earned.

“It’s Mattsun. Anyways. It was Connection, by Elastica. You ever heard of them?”

His joke is not well received. Maybe he had pushed his luck too much earlier, and she really was getting sick of him. Or even worse, uncomfortable. He knew it was a bit of a toss up, but her reaction to his foolishness yesterday led him to think he had better odds.

Her face screws up slightly, looking a little betrayed. Before Issei could blink, she’s standing from the stool and disappearing behind a backroom wall.

“Oh, hey! C’mon, I’m sorry.” He calls out, hoping she can still hear him. “That was just a stupid joke, I wasn’t trying to be mean.”

Still, no response. Issei starts to kick himself, truly ruining his chances before he ever had a real shot. All of his flirtatious experience seems to fall away as soon as he’s near her, leaving her immune to his charm.

She emerges again, holding a box of some beverages on her hip. Making no motion to talk, or even acknowledge Issei anymore, she leaves him standing in the front of the store. Feeling like a dejected, rejected schoolboy.

Now, Issei has a choice. He could leave, tail tucked between his legs and with a bad taste in his mouth. Or, he can try again. Could make it worse, but he could also make it better.

The choice isn’t hard to make.

He waits a few moments before following her, focusing all his energy on seeming apologetic and polite.

He settles a few feet away from her, leaving at least one aisle of space between them. “You don’t like me very much, do you?”

She startles at his voice, seemingly surprised that he’s still around.

“Um. I don’t know you.” She doesn’t sound scared, or uneasy. But she’s also not pleased.

“Would you want to change that?”

“Look.” She looks over her shoulder, still crouched down by the drinks. He notices how much energy she commands without trying, her nonchalance feeling intimidating and overwhelming despite being half his height.

“I’m not interested in anything. No boyfriend, no one-night stands, no hookup buddies, nothing. You should quit while you’re ahead.”

“Okay. That works for me.”

She cuts him a cool glare, not buying it for a second. Granted, she’s absolutely correct in her assumption, but it doesn’t make it hurt any less.

He leans against the side of the aisle, matching her energy. “We can just get to know each other. Would that be so bad? Being friends?”

She thinks for a second before humming noncommittally, trying once again to return to her work. Issei lets her stack about three drinks before trying again.

“Do you like to bet?”

“What.” She doesn't bother to look back. She’s probably getting whiplash.

“Do you like to bet. Like, if I proposed a bet to you, would you take it?”

“Money involved?”

“Of course.”

“Does it include you leaving the store?”

“Nope.”

“Oh well. Worth a shot.” She stands, turns, and leans back against the fridges. Arms crossed, but not combative like he might have thought. It’s almost like she’s indulging him.

“Let’s hear it.”

When he had planned this bet last night with Suna, he had predicted at least seven different ways it could have gone. Using it as a last ditch effort to make her not hate him was surprisingly not one of them.

Issei takes a shaky breath and clears his throat. He wants the floor to eat him whole, but he still asks it with confidence. “I’ll bet you ¥8000 you’ll fall in love with me by the end of the month.”

Her eyes widen. Not with fear, but in disbelief.

She covers her mouth, poorly hiding a laugh. “¥8000? That’s like, half a shift.”

“I work at a barely-in-business bar, I only have so much.” He responds, trying to stay cool. Every time she chooses to indulge him his heart kicks up; he loves the challenge she poses to him.

She takes a moment and Issei swears the world comes crashing to a halt. It’s nothing special, a sideways glance, peering at him through her eyelashes. But she’s got that crinkle by her eyes again, a soft and genuine smile donning her features. Almost wide enough to see her teeth, but she’s not that generous.

“Yeah, alright. ¥8000 is ¥8000.”

Issei fully stumbles. He can hardly believe his luck. Not only did she not view him as a creepy stalker, she tolerated him enough to take the bet.

She graces him with a laugh. “You’re something else Mattsun.”

“You remembered my name?”

She shrugs. “Yeah. You’re kinda hard to forget about.”

He’s almost positive she didn’t mean it as a compliment, but the implication that she’s thought about him at all is enough to send him spiraling. Not to mention how nice his name sounded coming from her voice. If he could live off that alone, he would.

“Now, are you going to bother me more or can I do my job?”

He simply raises a hand, pointing one finger up.

“Just one more thing. You know my name, what’s yours?”

She takes another moment, chewing at the inside of her cheek. The only noise being the whirr of the fridges and Issei’s bated breath.

“Mmm. I’ll let you figure it out.”

She grins, almost evilly, and he suddenly feels very excited for tomorrow.

taglist: open! fill out here.

@bakingcuriosity, @nobodybutnnoorr, @ciderscape, @lilchubbyyy, @soulfullystarry,

@interstellarz, @wakashudou , @myromanempiree, @notverymarley, @zumicho,

@lllaw, @eggyrocks, @cnnmairoll, @cosmiicdust, @reignsaway,

@wyrcan, @garfieldissocool, @soobin1437, @guitarstringed-scars, @adorerinn,

@thiisisntlovely, @miliondollagirl, @snail-squasher, @pocketful-ofdaisies, @cherrypieyourface,

@honeekyuu, @rivaiken

[queenie-avenue]

Ok hear me out👉👈

Katie finding out (in this case she got friendzoned LOL) that Reader is in a relationship with someone else?? How do u think she takes it??

I've been such a lurker for quite some time and i love ur content sm 🥺🥺🥺🥺 *sending kisses*

Rejection is never the End.

�� ⤻ THE CHEERLEADER, KATIE WILLIAMS

—> she won't ever give up on you.

⤻ reader is gender neutral, reader has a girlfriend, no cheating, manipulation, possessiveness, obsession, typical yandere behaviour, gaslighting, reader gets drunk and katie takes advantage of her

notes: thank you so much for the ask, I'm so sorry it's taken so long for me to get to this!! no proof-reading, we die.

🦋⤻ archives.

If you have a significant other, Katie will no doubt be furious, especially if you reveal it to her just when she decided to confess to you, of all things. She will be pissed off, but will just smile at you and pretend that everything is a-okay. You wouldn't even suspect a thing.

Sure, at first it'd be awkward with you and her drifting just a bit — which causes her to almost have a meltdown and abandon her cheer captain duties for a while — but eventually after a month of two, you both would go back to normal.

The difference would be that now she had access to your relationship status.

And boy, would she make use of it.

Out of consideration for her feelings, you'd of course not talk much about your significant other but Katie, Katie wanted to know.

It started small, she liked to visit your dorm normally so it was a usual day of her coming to see you after cheer practice in her short shorts and pink t-shirts.

“Oh, those flowers are so cute, did your girlfriend get them for you?” Katie asked, lounging on your desk as she stroked the petals of the bouquet filled with your favourite flowers. “They are so pretty!” She squealed, grinning at you as you sat on your bed.

“Yeah, my girlfriend came over just the other day. It was fun.” You smiled back, wanting to keep details of your beau brief out of respect and love for Katie.

“Does she get you flowers often?” Katie inquired, eyes fixated on the flowers, back turned to you now.

“Not really. It was just a special occasion yesterday, our one year anniversary.” You exclaimed, clearly giddy about the fact you had been together with your girlfriend for a year.

“Fun.” She replied, tutting her plump lips. “So, why didn't I know about her? I mean, you showed me pictures once but you don't really tall about her that much.” Katie commented as she leaned towards you.

“We don't talk about our relationship much…” You mumbled. “I mean- she's like secretive about it. So not a lot of people know.” You shrugged your shoulders awkwardly. Oh, [y/n], you really were such a horrible liar. Katie could tell in an instant that the idea of you relationship being kept secret made you antsy, uncomfortable. If it were *her* that was your girlfriend, she'd be parading you around proudly. Why couldn't you see that?

“Huh.” She huffed, eyeing you up and down.

That was how it started.

She made use of your insecurities about your relationship with your girlfriend and weaponised them against you. Slowly, you grew more worried about whether the reason your girlfriend didn't want to reveal your relationship was because she wasn't proud to be with you, or she wasn't committed to being with you or worst, that she was being unfaithful towards you. Katie didn't help matters, subtly showing you those stupid YouTube shorts with reddit stories that talked about how people who didn't make their relationships known typically cheated on their partners.

You slowly spiralled into madness, growing resentful of your girlfriend and more appreciative of Katie. Eventually, you would break it off with your girlfriend when things became too hard for the both of you.

You kept starting arguments with your girlfriend over why she wanted to keep the relationship a secret, you became too needy for her validation and she was annoyed with you constantly picking fights with her and also your budding relationship with Katie who seemed to find a way to antagonise your girlfriend every single time. Katie egged you on, overanalysing each word your girlfriend said or texted to you and reporting what she thought back to you. Most of which just made you view your girlfriend in a horrible light.

Eventually, you broke up with your girlfriend.

Just like Katie wanted.

She would soon swoop in to comfort you, tell you that it wasn't your fault that the relationship didn't work. Your girlfriend was the red flag, you didn't do anything wrong!

“Come on, pom-pom. Cheer up, you'll find someone much better than her. You were too good for her ass anyway.” Smiled Katie as she dragged you for a night of partying at a fraternity.

You got wasted, of course; attempting to drown out the sorrow of your freshly opened wounds.

Katie's hand snaked around your waist as you danced to the beat of the music, the loud thumps banging loudly in your ear as you drunkenly relied on the cheerleader for support. Before you knew it, the dancing morphed into Katie pulling you into the bathroom, your legs wrapped around her waist as she leaned closer into you, both sat on the counter of the toilet. The vague sounds of people banging the door outside as you both gazed into each others’ eyes. “You feeling better?” She asked, dark eyes looking into yours intensely.

“I… I still miss her.” You slurred, slumping your body into Katie's neck, letting out a dry sob. The cheerleader hummed as she placed a hand on your waist, another under your chin.

“You don't need to think about her anymore, okay? I'm here for you.” She pressed a chaste kiss to your lips.

Katie knew that you loved her, everyone did. It's just that your girlfriend was in the way. Now that she's not, you can be devoted to loving her, and only her.

[alightelixe]

You know that one part in the movie when Knox goes to Chris' school to read her his poem?

Well, as I was watching that yesterday, I was like... He's lowkey stalking her (or heading in that direction anyway)

He tracked her down all the way to her school and classroom and followed her even though she clearly didn't want to. When she told him to leave, he read the poem anyway. He completely disregarded the fact that she was already in a relationship and his constant thinking about her was kind of... Obsessive (remember that time in the cave that he said "if I can't have Chris, I'm going to kill myself")

Anyway, as I thought about that, I was like what if I (or someone else idc) wrote a fic about Knox stalking Chris and the whole thing would just completely spiral out of control...

And that said it wouldn't be a "i-hate-knox-overstreet" kind of thing, but more of a character study in a what-if kind of way. I think Knox genuinely had good intentions. Topics like these bring out the psychology enthusiast in me, so I try to see things through his perspective and understand what motivations & thoughts were behind his actions.

Maybe he believed he was being "romantic". Maybe he thought that she would "realise they're perfect for each other" eventually.... I like to believe that most people have good intentions. But even good intentions can cause harmful behaviour, for both himself and the people around him.

Because what if Chris wouldn't have gone to the play with him but had rejected him instead? I don't think he would've just given up on her... (And I know calling it stalking is a bit much, but I love a little drama)

Would anyone find this storyline interesting enough to read? Lmk what you think of this!!

[ellaenchanting]

WHAT IS MINDFULNESS VS HYPNOSIS ACCORDING TO ELLA ENCHANTING (haver of opinions)

One misconception that I often hear amongst hypnosis geeks is that "mindfulness" is basically a normie-safe word for "hypnosis"- that hypnosis and mindfulness practices are essentially the same thing.

This is a hard misconception to disprove- in fact, "hypnosis" and "mindfulness" are often defined really vaguely and in different ways by different people so- they could often very well be refering to the same thing!* I know when I first learned about mindfulness practices, I dismissed them as "just" repackaged hypnotherapy- something I already knew a lot about. However, in doing so, I was neglecting ideas that turned out to be a really useful self-improvement tools.

If you're of a similar mindset, drawing a distinction between the two may also be really helpful for you.

MINDFULNESS:

So, the end goal of mindfulness is learning a kind of grounded way to self reflect. It's a potentially really helpful skill for people who get caught in thought spirals** or overwhelming emotions. A big goal for people learning the skill is to be able to observe thoughts and emotions without entirely buying into them OR dismissing them. Let's say I have a train of thought that keeps looping in my head- I'm worried about something stupid I said yesterday at work, for example. Imagine that train of thought is an ACTUAL train- maybe a toy train running on a looped track. Normally, when you're having the work worries it's like you're on that thought train- riding it around and around in circles while you're getting increasingly anxious and kind of limiting yourself from doing other things. With mindfulness practice, the goal is to get you OFF the train- it's not gone, but you're kinda watching it from the sidelines instead of ON it. It's still happening but with a bit of distance you can see the thoughts more clearly and better take care of yourself while that thought track is running.

Another example- let's say I have a big feeling. I'm going to pick overwhelming shame***. In mindfulness practices, the goal is usually not to ignore the shame or entirely give into it but to be able to sit with it and understand it without DROWNING in it. So, in that state of mind, I might sit with the shame and kind of question why it's there and what it wants from me. I might find some kindness for myself as someone who is experiencing shame (which is harder to do when I'm more inside it). I might work to conceptualize the shame differently- what does it look like, what sounds does it make, etc. In that way, I'm paying attention to an emotion that might be helpful- but not overly giving into it.

If I were teaching someone mindfulness techniques, the goal there is for them to be able to use the techniques entirely on their own whenever they need to. I'm not really trying to overly influence or control what's happening for them- I'm keeping my language as permissive as possible and encouraging them to accept whatever comes up. "Notice what's there without feeling like you need to change it" is a common mindfulness instruction. The practice encourages curiosity and bravery in the face of the overwhelming STUFF of life.

HYPNOSIS:

There are lot of different ways people do and experience hypnosis- and I'm definitely not going to be able to address all of them here. But, at least in kink, my goal in hypnotizing someone is to directly influence their thoughts. In fact, when I'm hypnotizing someone, a lot of my "induction" is convincing someone that I'm already in their head- that they're responding automatically to my suggestions. There's the kinky control fun of that and also the mutual shared feeling of intimacy- we're so close we could be one. (Or, in more D/s-ey terms, we're so close that now you are an extension of me!) In 101 classes you'll learn about the pacing and leading technique- basically matching your subject's experience and then taking them a step further. (Ex. You're reading my words and focusing on the screen and that reminds you to take a deep breath NOW.)

Explaining it by cold control hypnosis theory****, during an induction I'm helping someone kind of flip OFF their awareness of their agency- creating the illusion that things are happening internally because I'm MAKING them happen (and disguising the part where they're in complete control of their actions).

Especially in kink, what we're doing in hypnosis play is often a really conscious power exchange. You're giving me power over your thoughts because you want me to have it. I direct them where I want them to go and away from where I don't want them to be (ex. the actual reason why you're relaxing is, in part, because that's a natural thing that happens for most people when they close their eyes for more than a few seconds). (That's an excellent babysitting/parenting pro tip from me to you btw.) It's not that subjects aren't actively contributing their own images/ideas/metaphors/desires to the suggestions and play (really often they are!) but usually their whole goal is to be directed.

Even in hypnotherapy, that directedness and control is implied. You're not coming on (nearly) as strong as you would in kink, but your goal there is usually more in direction (with teaching self hypnosis techniques as an added bonus).

Sometimes the hypnosis and mindfulness methodologies can be incredibly similar with really subtle differences! For example, I might start a mindfulness-teaching body scan in the same way that I might start a progressive muscle relaxation induction- "Go ahead and get into a comfortable position and close your eyes". But continuing with the hypnosis induction, I'll usually be more directive ("Notice your feet. As you're noticing them, imagine sending a wave of relaxation down to your toes.") whereas with the body scan I'll be more exploratory. ("Notice your feet. What do they feel like? Are they hot or cold? Do they want to move or stay still? Whatever is happening for them right now is fine- just notice them") The pmr induction is intended to move someone into a suggestible state, the body scan is intended to teach someone a particular mindset and focusing skill they can use later. *****

Like I stated before, things that I consider "hypnosis" ideas and techniques and "mindfulness" ideas and techniques get mixed up all the time- with both lay folks and the actual professionals who teach them. There's a lot of surface similarities. "Mindfulness" has become such a therapy and corporate buzzword that it often DOES become synonymous with things like guided relaxation. Both concepts are vague enough that there's a lot of things that can easily be either/or- I'm thinking self hypnosis specifically here******. But- I hope if you're curious about mindfulness at all, you'll find this explanation useful and will maybe go out and explore some helpful resources for yourself.

Good mindfulness 101 books:

Full Catastrophe Living- Jon Kabat Zinn

The Mindful Way Through Depression- J. Mark G Williams et all

Just an FYI here at the bottom- like all self-help techniques, mindfulness stuff can be extremely helpful to some and not at all helpful to others. If it hasn't been personally helpful to you that's fine! I hope you've found some other things that are. Also, you can feel free to take my self help advice just as seriously as you would of any other kinky fetish blogger. :p I'm not your therapist, feel free to check in with them about things that might help you.

*I think people expanding the definition and ideas around both of these can be really helpful, in fact!

**Of the not-fun kind

***You know, like I normally do

****One of many hypnosis theories! And often not the best one for kink! If hypnosis doesn't feel like this for you, that's perfectly ok!

*****OK, in actuality both probably do both things! But the emphasis is different.

******A big difference in my mind- if you discover pain or discomfort, hypnosis-style techniques are usually directing you away from that while mindfulness-style techniques are usually directing you towards curiousity about those things.

[lemotmo]

Okay Ali didn't post any of the asks because apparently there were a lot of spirals. I just didn't want anyone to think I intentionally left the asks out but here is her response to the BTS season 7 video. I agree with all of this!

I'm not going to post any of the asks because people are having breakdowns in my box tonight. Most of the breakdowns are lighthearted and fun but the others are angry and mean so I'm not going to post any of them. Here are my thoughts on the video though.

We'll do the fun breakdown first because it was such a fun little video. Yay for an Anirudh sighting! I know it's from last season but I love Ravi so it made me happy to see a good bit of him in that video. Kenny is a treasure and we should all be so lucky to work with and know someone who just genuinely seems like pure joy to be around. Aisha and her spectacular smile. Ryan in those shades, 'hello fine sir' and Oliver with his little hippity hops can come at me with those tongs any day. I adore this cast 💗

Now for the other side, I'm going to first say that there were several cast members we didn't see. We didn't see Jennifer, Angela or Tracie so it's not like everyone was in the video. Secondly, and I am NOT going to be answering any rage asks that result from this part, he's not that kind of cast member. Period. There is no one sitting around combining through videos looking for frames of him to post. I'm not saying that in any kind of derogatory sense. He is a background character. They don't tend to get a lot of BTS focus. They weren't trolling you or him. He just honestly isn't at that level. I understand from all of the asks that he was clearly involved in a scene they used and you feel like he was deliberately cut out but he wasn't. Oliver was goofing off and Oliver was the one they would have always used from that scene. Lastly, we saw him in several BTS videos last season and he was never goofing off. He was either sitting alone or standing and waiting. We never saw him joking around in the BTS videos he appeared in. So I also don't think there's a ton of videos they have of him playing with the cast. Again, not saying that to be mean. We all saw the videos. He wasn't ever goofing off with them. I know people have posted videos of him goofing off on the SWAT set but that's an entirely different environment for him. He's more involved and has been around them more. It makes sense that he would be more demonstrably comfortable there. I understand that people allowed themselves to be talked into very particular expectations this off-season and people are becoming upset now that those expectations appear to have been off., at least so far. None of us have any guarantees about what's coming this season. Regardless of what anyone is telling you, none of us know anything for sure. I promise you no one has insider information. We're all just guessing based on what we've seen so far from last off-season up til now. The show is just under 5 weeks away. You're just going to have to wait. He was never going to be a main and he was never going to be a big focus. I'm sorry you believe you were promised otherwise. Again, I will not be responding to any of your angry posts. They're not helping anything. Allow people to enjoy what we are getting. It's not our fault you're not happy with the content. Try and take care of yourselves. None of this is worth the constant anger. It's a television show.

Thank you very much Nonny!

Okay, I got a ton of asks about that season 7 bts video they posted yesterday. All of them basically talked about the same topic of Lou not being in the video and what that could possibly mean. Some of you wanted to know Ali's opinion on this topic as well. I have, just like Ali, decided to not post every single ask about this topic separately, but to answer them all in one go here.

So, here it is! I agree with Ali on this.

There were a lot of actors we didn't see. We mostly saw the core 4 (Oliver, Ryan, Aisha and Kenny) and Anirudh, because they goof off the most. If you look at this season, we see the same thing. It's mostly the core 4 and some Peter in those bts videos and pictures so far.

I don't think we, as Buddie shippers, should pin all of our expectations on one video either. At the end of the day, none of us know the full details on what season 8 is going to bring us. Ali is right on that one.

But I will say this: from a Buddie point of view, I do think we have seen a ton of very promising signs at this point. The PR involving Ryan is insane at this moment and the upcoming Ryan interviews are definitely making me go: 👀👀👀👀. All of this reminds me so much of the intense Oliver promo we got right before season 7.

So, let's focus on that content and the fun bts the cast and crew are posting almost every two days now. Let's enjoy videos like the one talked about, for what it is: happy bts with the cast we love! Let's keep on speculating and analyzing. I'm sure we'll have lots to talk about once those Ryan interviews drop. 😋

It will keep up the positivity. God knows we need every single scrap of positivity in fandom these days. 😉

IMPORTANT! Please don't repost this ask and/or a link that leads straight to my Tumblr account on Twitter or any other social media. Thank you!

Heads up! For anyone who is giving me the shifty eyes for reposting Ali's updates instead of reblogging. Read this.

Remember, no hate in comments, reblogs or inboxes. Let's keep it civil and respectful. Thank you.

If you are interested in more of Ali’s posts, you can find all of her posts so far under the tag: anonymous blog I love.

[chronicsyd]

Yeaaaaa my brain’s like Literally not shut up since my last spam post about this GOD DAMN SHOW and it just… keeps spiraling… spiraling… spiraling… So, let’s talk about Vi again!

On my tiktok yesterday I brought up a post from the AMA for Arcane a couple of years ago that the co-creators were answering. And someone asked, “Will Vi and Caitlyn shippers be happy with the upcoming season?” to which the answer was, “There’s that part they might like, and that part they probably hate.” To which Amanda Overton (basically the writer responsible for most of the Caitvi scenes we got in s1) said, “I take full responsibility for both and they make the show better” so that’s… not all that thrilling.

However, it’s gotten me to think about what on Earth that “probably hate” bit would be.  Now this is something I’m saying as Complete speculation, I’m not Certain that this is what’s going on but if you’re willing to take a grain of salt with me then I’m willing to explain my reasoning. With that, let’s continue.

My HOPEFUL guess is that the “probably hate” thing is that Vi and Caitlyn split again at the beginning of S2. Honestly, it could be over a number of things: conflicting motivations about Jinx (Caitlyn wants revenge, Vi’s probably still in denial and wants to find “Powder”. Because she doesn’t call Jinx “Jinx” until After she’s already an Enforcer), Vi probably feels out of place and wants to figure things out on her own (As in she can’t trapse around Zaun she’s unwanted there, but on the flipside she’s a complete outsider to Piltover. Because even though Caitlyn would probably welcome her with open arms, doesn’t mean everyone else will…), there’s really a whole list of things that could probably explain this. So, Vi goes on her own to try and figure herself out and Caitlyn tries to go back to being an Enforcer and go through life without Vi.

But just because Vi left doesn’t mean that the conflict between Piltover and Zaun stops. And simply being an Enfocer is putting targets on Caitlyn’s back, which I think Caitlyn is fully aware of. And she and the others get ambushed at her parent’s tent that I pointed out in an earlier post; to which we Also saw Vi seeing the aftermath of. And, I think Vi has to make the decision that being an Enforcer is her best shot at bringing the conflict between Piltover and Zaun to an end; regardless of what her past has been with them. So, Vi probably comes back to Caitlyn probably midway through-ish (ep 4ish maybe?) and that’s when Caitlyn leads the strike teams to Zaun with those 3 objectives: Find Jinx, get rid of Shimmer, and neutralize anyone still loyal to Silco. I think that Vi and Caitlyn are the one team that goes after Jinx in that temple scene we see in the teaser (because that’s NOT the “finale fight” between the two, there’s NO way they’re showing that this early on) and I believe this for a few reasons: When Vi says “My sister is gone” the background looks like the temple and Vi really only holds that vulnerability in her eyes when talking to Caitlyn (See the bed scene from “Oil and Water”), and the last clip of Caitlyn we see she’s clearly in the temple as well, so I bet she’s probably backup for Vi in case thing’s get nasty. On the downside of this, there’s a still of Caitlyn that doesn’t show up in the trailer where she’s still in the temple, she’s lost her hat and her hair’s a mess and the cut on her lip is fresh. So Clearly this fight doesn’t go the way that they want it to, and that’s where Caitlyn gets the scar on her lip.

Now what happens After this? Ehhh it’s hard to say, mainly because I believe that they haven’t really shown us anything that has to do with the last episodes of the show. And to be honest even with a final trailer they’re probably gonna give us around Sept./Oct. they might only show scenes from up to ep 8 of the season (I only say this cuz that’s what they did for s1).

(Although my little shit of a brain DID say “what if the show Ends with Vi getting amnesia instead of it happening During the season?” soooo thx for That brain, that isn’t upsetting to think about AT ALL…)

So, yea just more speculations on what I think could possibly happen. Also, does anyone know what was said at the Annecy festival? That was supposed to happen today, right? Anyways, I’m out until my brain comes up with something else. Bye!

[hussyknee]

I'm so fucking mad.

Yesterday I took 50mg of Atomoxetine (Strattera) out of sheer frustration instead of my prescribed 30mg which was doing nothing.

And then...I was like "get up" and I would get up. "Go find the electricity bill" and went and found the electricity bill. "Sort through all the mail and organise it" and just. Fucking. Did it. No getting stuck for half an hour and spiralling in anxiety because my executive commands weren't going through.

I went to the hospital and begged those fuckers to increase my dosage and spent half an hour trying to convince them that this is clearly my ADHD symptoms being exacerbated by anxiety that's fucking me up. They refused, said "Oh, but anyone would find it difficult to function in your situation", and increased my Venlafaxine (Effexor) instead, although that fuckin plateaus any further than the dosage I already take. My primary doc knows this, but I have better luck catching Bigfoot than her at NHSL anymore so I keep having to tussle with the junior dipshits.

Granted I seem to have overshot a bit, because I spent a while vibrating into the fifth dimension. Felt like I'd had six cups of coffee and needed to do three things at once. Perhaps I should have attempted 40mg first. But 50mg very much did catapult me out of this neverending rut.

WEEKS OF BEING TRAPPED BY THE STATIC IN MY BRAIN LIKE A ROOMBA ON A RUG. I couldn't get out of bed, eat on time, shower, make my bed, do my laundry, go to bed. The simplest fucking tasks like pushing a boulder uphill with a stick. Sitting on the bed doomscrolling and tearing the soles of my feet into strips so bloody that it hurt to walk. I don't pick at my feet anymore! Didn't even realize I hadn't until the end of yesterday. This is the first time I've stopped in months. I stock up on band-aids and keep them next to my bed because I usually bleed in about three places within a day. And I pick the scabs off the still-healing wounds. All stopped by 20mg more of Strattera!!!

In other medication fuckery, I stopped the anti-inflammatory meds I was taking for my back because 1) the total cost of my meds was getting insane and 2) I haven't been in pain the last two months. I looked up whether there were side effects for long-term use of NSAIDs and found that using any of them with Venlafaxine increases the chance of gastrointestinal bleeding?? The way I've been having all this time?? Was my rheumatologist ever gonna tell me?? I'm just so used to flares, so fogged in my head and so relatively pain-free that I didn't especially note it. Turns out– the only reason I haven't been in pain is because I was taking the fucking anti-inflammatories. Imagine that! So I can either take Venlafaxine (which I cherish like a child regardless of the wrath-of-God withdrawal any time I miss a single dose) or I can take NSAIDs??

*googles anti-inflammatory meds other than NSAIDs*

Internet: "eat pineapple idk. have you tried tumeric?"

I hate my life.

[insertyourselfhere]

Anomaly Part 3

Characters: Mostly Y/N & Aunt interaction with a tiny bit of Miguel and Gwen.

Description: Your Aunt decides to have a conversation with you about your relationship with Gwen.

Third Installment to my current series

A/N: I wrote this a bit differently from my other 2 stories in a different perspective to see if I liked it or it flowed better. Still trying to find my writing style I literally only started this page yesterday! Anyway I hope you guys are enjoying these little stories.

SPOILERS FOR ATSV

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It has been a couple of weeks now since Gwen opened up to Y/N about her dimension, she still hung out in their dimension, mostly in their place, and in their room wearing their clothes. She did get her own stuff when A/N had dragged her out of the house finally to get other things that weren’t their jumpers.

However today was actually just a simple day for Y/N, It was one of those off chances that Y/N wasn’t scheduled to go sort out an anomaly with her, instead it was Hobie and they were running around catching a Prowler in another dimension. Y/N kicked their feet up on the couch and tuned in to some very needed R&R, since joining the Spider Society there had been no time to relax it was always just Miguel breathing down your neck.

“No Gwen today?” The voice scared Y/N out of their thoughts, they were surprised they were caught off guard, it seems that their Spidey Senses needed a break as much as they did.

“No Gwen today” They responded resuming their relaxing pose on the couch. A/N nodded and placed the groceries she had bought on the counter, she moved over to the single reclined also located in the lounge next to Y/N and sat down.

“Good there’s something I want to talk to you about Gwen” Y/N opened an eye towards their Aunt, she looked very serious so they sat up and made themselves comfortable on the couch.

“You know I love you very much” Y/N knew exactly where this was going and rolled their eyes standing up, making their way towards the window but only to lean on in case the conversation did get too uncomfortable. “I can see the way you look at her Y/N I’m old but I’m not blind just yet” You shrugged not speaking a word yet, too nervous about being called about but also their not 100% sure on what they feel for the ghost spider.

“She comes over almost every day, you 2 barely leave your room unless of course it’s a Spidey emergency, I can see how you look at her even under that mask of yours. Both of them by the way” She said gesturing to the Spidey Mask and the one Y/N held in general when they weren’t the Spider.

“She’s my friend” Y/N said softly, looking at their Aunt. A/N gave Y/N a look that said ‘You and I both know you don’t treat any of your friends like this’ Y/N let out an exasperated sigh and moved closer to their Aunt.

“What’s this about A/N?” Y/N asked, hands firmly placed in their pockets. She got up and walked over to Y/N placing her hands firmly on their shoulders. “She is lost, she has gone through so much hurt and suffering, we are a reminder of that” She said looking at Y/N.

“She’s scared of reaching out but also she lets her own mask come off too, I’ve seen the real Gwen and she is a beautiful person. But your line of work isn’t exactly the safest” She said knowing the stress it caused her whenever Y/N left the house on an emergency.

“I just want you to be careful, both of you. This is clearly new for both of you, finding out there are others like you, finding out other people have gone through the same hurt you’ve gone through and will always go through” She let go of your shoulders and held their face.

“You won’t admit it but you feel something for her, I just want you to be absolutely sure that this is something you want, because if it isn’t and things start to spiral down I am worried that she may never open up to another person again. Because I know you wouldn’t” Y/N grabbed their Aunt’s hands and threw themselves into a deep hug. A/N also returned the hug adding in extra effort and even lifting Y/N off the floor.

“I like her a little bit” Came a muffled noise from Y/N, A/N rolled their eyes. “Yes a little bit, I watched you give away your favourite shoes so she doesn’t have to wear those ballet ones” Y/N let out a small laugh and let go of their Aunt.

“How long have you been holding onto that one for?” Y/N asked, looking at their Aunt who looked caught.

“Since you bought her home that day” Y/N looked flabbergasted at how quick their Aunt had known about their feelings. “Don’t look at me like that” She scolded slapping your arm a bit. “I have known you my entire life, you wear your heart on your sleeve even though you want people to think you’re a big bad Spider” She said with the smallest smile on her face.

“I guess I had a great mentor growing up who taught me all the things I know” Y/N said with a sly smile on their face. Once Y/N felt that the conversation was done they sat back down on the couch.

“I don’t know what this is, I don’t know where its going, I don’t know if she even likes me the same, All I know is that pain and suffering she has gone through I want to fix that” A/N sat down next to Y/N and pulled them in for one more hug “You have that senseless drive I do to help every single person out there, as if she doesn’t like you already”

Y/N smiled and went to thank their aunt for the pep talk when a loud voice echoed through the room. “Y/N we have a problem” They rolled their eyes knowing it was Miguel calling for another Spidery emergency. A/N looked at Y/N with the most genuine smile they could must. “It’s probably about Gwen you need to go see what’s happening” With a swift nod and a quick change into their Spidery Suit Y/N opened a portal and was quickly transported back to the Spider Society.

“Somebody better be dying” Y/N said as they stood at the foot of Miguel’s platform that slowly started to descend. They sighed rolling their eyes at how over dramatic it was until they decided to take matters into their own hands and throw themselves onto Miguel’s platform

“What are you doing? Your ruining my whole thing” He said towards Y/N baring his fangs.

“This is stupid you know it, stop being so dramatic what’s going on” Y/N replied folding their arms across their chest tapping their foot impatiently.

“What do you know of a villain called the spot?” He asked staring at his computer with pictures of the Spot and what seemed to be another Spider-Man. You recognised that suit anywhere from Gwen’s stories.

“Miles? And I know nothing of a villain called the Spot, what a stupid name” Y/N said laughing to themselves. Miguel slammed his fist into his desk and turned to face Y/N.

“That’s what we all said until we found out he can destroy worlds with a click of his fingers”

“Like Thanos?”

“No, Yes? It doesn’t matter look he needs to be stopped so I’m sending you to earth 1612 to go deal with this mess” Miguel said folding his massive arms across his chest looking down at Y/N.

“You know if anyone’s going into that dimension it’s going to be Gwen” Y/N said standing up for their friend.

“That’s exactly why I don’t want to send her, her personal issues will ruin this mission” He said worry etched over his face.

“I don’t think it’s fair that you make that decision, she’s focused enough to handle this mission and she deserves to see Miles no matter what the reason is that your keeping her from him. Even if he is a supposed anomaly himself it doesn’t change anything” Y/N said walking towards Miguel and poking he hardened chest.

Y/N pulled their hand back shaking it after it came in contact with Miguel. “Look Jessica will agree with me and you know she will, she needs this for her so send her in there to handle Spot and give her the chance to see Miles”

“Fine but if anything happens its on you Y/N” He said before walking away, Y/N watched as Miguel walked back over to his desk and started rising back to the top. Y’N jumped backwards off the platform and placed their hands in their pockets.

As they walked out of the Spidey-Cave Miguel had adapted a familiar face ran up to them and pulled them into the biggest hug. “You’re back!” They said excitedly seeing that familiar short blonde hair.

“I am back, but Jessica told me Miguel already has another one lined up for me? Are you coming with?” She said pulling herself off Y/N. They shook their head and guided her towards the dark cave Miguel holed himself in.

“Trust me you’ll want this one all to yourself”

[brionysea]

i keep THINKING about this. because of the way the situation is set up, with mike being torn on if he's actually seeing el somehow or if he's just grieving and losing his mind, he's kind of half talking to himself and half talking to el here. effectively, this is possibly the closest we've ever gotten to seeing inside mike's head. since that thing's one of labyrinthine complexity and more closely guarded than a maximum security prison, you can imagine my interest

the thing with season 2 mike was his sudden personality shift due to trauma, amplified by the anniversary date of the trauma approaching (like what the doctors assumed was happening with will). in the first season mike was a total sweetheart and only snapped when (reasonably) provoked. the snappiness kind of stuck around after this, particularly in season 3, and there seems to be the assumption that it's... not because of trauma anymore? or something? that he just turned into an asshole for no reason?? but considering this is the origin of that behaviour, i don't think it should be ignored

the way he describes what happens, in this kind of self-therapy session that his radio ritual seems to have turned into, is really interesting because... he knows what he's doing. he demonstrates self awareness. he's not oblivious about it like it's easy to assume he is about all emotional concerns. when people he trusts are lying to his face, yeah, he'll come across a bit oblivious to us when we've been shown what's actually going on, but this... well, it's tangentially about el, but he's half convinced that el actually is dead. this is about mike. about what mike is feeling

self reflection is a whole different conversation from trying to understand what's going on in other people's heads, especially for someone as smart as mike. when you're intelligent but not emotionally equipped it's extremely frustrating, because you know exactly what you're doing - often in real time - but you have zero tools to stop yourself from doing it. mike lacks self control, not self awareness, because you unfortunately can't beat depression by really, really wanting to, any more than you could will your leg into not being broken anymore

exacerbate his irritability and natural impulse levels with trauma, and you've got a very snappy mike wheeler on your hands

he sounds like he regrets snapping at the party, and considering how much we know he cares about them, that's not only believable but extremely likely. last time we saw him drive most of them away like this he started spiralling until dustin snapped him out of it (which, interestingly, is also what happens in both of the on-screen radio rituals where dustin pops up again wanting to talk)

i... don't think mike sounds like he's beating himself up over it? more like he's trying to figure out his own behaviour, which is... unexpected, for his utter lack of self esteem and the show-wide belief that Everything Bad Ever is his fault. especially since his parents just said that exact thing to him, like, yesterday, about how his depression is a crime against nature or morally reprehensible or whatever they were blaming their traumatised child for that week. but he does call himself stupid one of the times he tries and it doesn't work, so maybe it's just on a delay when he thinks he might have an audience

he also gets immediately annoyed when dustin brings up max again, says something snappy, and goes right back to isolating himself. exactly like before, making it the third time in one day

(see what i mean? he can't control how he reacts to the simplest things, even when there's no way he doesn't recognise the pattern. it must drive him nuts)

grouping himself in with dustin and lucas as missing el is just... okay. there's the shippy (or distinctly non-shippy) way of looking at it, if that's your thing, but just the fact that mike is so clearly grieving on a different level and still remembers that the other party members who knew el are grieving her too is like. unbelievably selfless and situationally aware of him

he's the one who got traumatised by witnessing that loss. he's the one who thinks he's going crazy and hallucinating things from how much losing el hurt him personally. and still, despite his outward behaviour towards them, he's not so blinded by his own (extremely overwhelming) experience that he lets himself forget that the others are going through a version of this too

even when he's lashing out, to this day, a part of him is probably yelling at himself to stop. and he just sits in that self loathing, not breathing a word of it to anyone. did you guys hear that? it was the sound of my heart breaking

[hinamie]

my friend explained the infamous theory to me yesterday and i had a pretty bad reaction too, so don't worry about it you're not alone at all. i couldnt sleep and whenever i think about it, it makes my chest hurt (thats how my anxiety likes to show up). ive been trying everything to stop thinking about it

shaking your hand anon, ik i’m getting to this a bit late so I hope that you’re feeling a bit better than when you sent it :< 

atp i’m pretty sure i’ve made my thoughts on the matter clear in that i am choosing Not to believe it smile :) <-still anxious but trying not 2 let my faith in gege waver :))) hope i'm not Fucked for this :))))

n i hope it goes without saying that i'm not trying to shade the op of tht post btw, they clearly put a lot of time and effort into it and i’m not trying to bash them personally just because I don’t like what they came up with.

i think what rly set off my initial spiral was the near-universal acclaim from what i've seen . after reading it i couldn't (still can't tbh) begin 2 wrap my head around th fact that people seem to be Wanting what is objectively a Bad End to b the ending we're given??? but because it got so much praise i spent the past 2 days feeling like i ws being gaslit into thinking I'm being dramatic for Preferring whatever gege has been doing. like i get being disappointed in the recent chapters and thinking they’re rushed but to prefer an ending where 2 main characters are twist killed off after being baited with their survival???? could not be me i’m so sorry. rushed or not, seeing the first years made me so so so unbelievably happy. having megumi and nobara back has made me so happy. if that's taken from me for shock value to appease the people who have been calling gege a bad writer this entire time i don’t know what i’ll do honestly 

"most satisfying ending" my ass i would be devastated and you cannot convince me that more people would prefer to see their mc die

[the-nation-of-today]

Ballerinas, Barbers, and Brides

(or: an attempt to theorize on what BVB 7 is going to be about)

So everyone saw my deranged theory post yesterday. Here is my attempt to take that theory and put it into actual coherent thought.

We know BVB 7 has been teased and talked about. But what is it going to be about? My theory is that BVB 7 is going to be a concept album that focuses on a story about antagonists and the dangers of giving in to your darker wants and impulses. 

Let's get right into it.

I. BACKGROUND

Where are we right now in regards to the state of the band and its music?

Of the concept albums, we’ve already had two that focus on the heroes of the story (Wretched And Divine/Vale) and one that focuses on an antihero/morally gray character (The Phantom Tomorrow)

We know BVB 7 is being actively worked on

Andy has teased his notebook for this album (posted on his Insta story in June)

CC has recently been in the studio tracking drums with Erik Ron (he posted it on his Instagram story, I had a screenshot of it but have since apparently deleted it to make room for concert content.) (Edit: we found it!! Posted August 27th to his story)

Jake has teased multiple possible in-progress songs while on stream (I don’t have any clips of these but if anyone does please send them over and I’ll add them.) (Edit: a Twitter friend is letting me share these tweets from back in August re: what Jake has said)

Both Andy and Jake have teased that the new music is going to be heavier and harder with the incorporation of bits of death metal and deathcore, along with the tease of more Andy screaming. Andy in particular teased it in this Icon Vs. Icon interview about The Mourning (if anyone has a Jake tease, do share and I'll add it.)

II. BLACK SWAN

Now, I’ll be the first to admit that this part does not have as much solid ground to stand on as the rest of the theory. However, it’s still worth talking about. This theory stems from the makeup looks that Andy did in Mexico and in the band’s pre-Mexico photoshoot. It’s been affectionately dubbed the Black Swan look due to the similarities between the look and Natalie Portman’s appearance on the Black Swan movie poster

But let’s take a look at what the actual plot and message of Black Swan is. According to IMDb, Black Swan focuses on Nina (Portman), “a talented but unstable ballerina on the verge of stardom. Pushed to the breaking point by her artistic director and a seductive rival, Nina's grip on reality slips, plunging her into a waking nightmare.”

Then, we get to the message of the movie itself. According to this article by Courtney Campbell of The True Colors: “In “Black Swan,” the movie highlights the dangerous divide between being passionate of your work and being obsessed with perfecting it. The director and Lily showcase passion; both of them are clearly enamored with ballet yet their psyches aren’t ravaged by it. Nina and her mother represent obsession. The pair have devoted their lives to ballet to the exclusion of everything else.”

So now we come to the crux of it: obsession. Nina, our protagonist, obsessed over ballet and her attempts to be cast in the principal role in Swan Lake. Because of this, her mind quite literally breaks and she begins to hallucinate more and more, to the point in the ending where she believes she is stabbing her rival with a shard of glass but instead has stabbed herself. Nina becomes her own worst enemy and, depending on how you interpret Black Swan’s ambiguous ending, dies because her passion became obsession.

So what does this mean for BVB 7? Well, there are many parallels between the world of Nina and the world of music- namely the desperate need to “make it”, and then stay relevant. It’s not an uncommon trend to see musicians fall into the same spirals that Nina did. While her story is an exaggerated one due to the nature of the movie, the themes are all too relevant to the life of a musician. In fact, loathe as I am to admit it because the movie is not good, we see a very similar theme in American Satan, which Andy starred in.

Black Swan is a story about how your need for perfectionism can twist you into something darker, and how being solely obsessed with one thing can cause your life to end.

III. SWEENEY TODD

Now here is where the theory really starts to hold weight. If there is one thing to know about Andy, it is that Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, is one of his favorite musicals of all time. He’s dressed up as the titular barber before and has recently gotten a new Sweeney Todd tattoo.

In case you aren’t familiar with the plot of the musical, let’s do a quick look at the synopsis. According to Wikipedia, the musical “retells the melodramatic Victorian tale of Sweeney Todd, an English barber and serial killer who, while seeking revenge on Judge Turpin who wrongfully convicted and exiled him to steal his wife, murders his customers and, with the help of his accomplice, Mrs. Lovett, processes their corpses into meat pies.”

Pretty gruesome stuff, but we really shouldn’t be surprised here. Essentially, the story is about a man who was once gentle and kind and has since been twisted into something cruel and evil. Sound familiar? Perhaps like a certain protagonist of a ballet movie previously mentioned? It’s also worth mentioning that, at the end of the musical, Todd ends up being killed because his blind lust for revenge has distracted him.

Now, I didn’t think there was much to this, I thought Andy’s Instagram captions were simply alluding to Sweeney Todd because he is, as we know, a big fan.

We have “Attend the tale” which is the first line that’s sung in the opening number The Ballad of Sweeney Todd (“Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd”) and “My friends” which is the title of a song about midway through Act 1/the first half of the movie where Todd first swears revenge. His “friends” that he’s referring to are his razors, his murder weapons.

But this all changed with yesterday’s (9/29) post.

Simply captioned “Epiphany”, that could mean anything, right? Epiphany is a pretty common word. WRONG.

“Epiphany”, in Sweeney Todd, is a major turning point in Act 1. Before this point in the musical, Todd was very self-controlled and precise. At this point in the musical, Todd had the object of his revenge (the Judge) in his grasp, but he escapes. This breaks Todd and that earlier precision is gone. Losing out on one chance of revenge has ruined his already fragile mind so much that here is where he decides to indiscriminately murder anyone he can get his hands on. These snippets from a (semi-negative) review of one production of Sweeney Todd from the Washington Post and a musical analysis of the show by From Score To Stage explain it better than I could.

What gets me is that it is not just a turning point for Todd's character, but for his musical structure. Oh? A change in music you say? A reference to a change in music when the band has teased that their new music will have some changes? Interesting.

But these are just coincidences, right? Let’s take one look further at this band and what they’ve been doing. On the recent Mexico leg, their intro music for when they come onto the stage was just The Phantom Tomorrow (Introduction). But they changed that for the US leg. And what did they change it to? Take a listen (y'know, outside of the various screams of yours truly)

Don’t recognize it? Take a listen to this.

That’s right, they’re using the opening title of Sweeney Todd as their introduction music for this leg. Now, I don’t know about you guys, but that is far too many “coincidences” to not at least make a note of. (Shout out to Tal @sonsofnight for picking up on this btw because I did not recognize it)

IV. CONCLUSION 

So where does this leave us? We have an album we know is in the works and two pieces of media that focus on the twisting of human desires into something darker. Perfection into obsession and controlled anger into revenge. Both end negatively for the protagonist in question, with either an ambiguous or confirmed death.

There is one last point I want to bring up- The Mourning. What started out as The Phantom Tomorrow part two that then morphed into its own thing. And one of the songs on there? The Revival, which has the lyrics “Did you find what you need in the solace? / Is the pain worth the soul and promise?” and “Did you find what you need in the solace? / Is the soul worth the pain of a world we can’t revive?”

Or, maybe in a different interpretation, was what you were striving for worth it? Was that perfection you were seeking worth the mental breakdown? Was that revenge you sought worth carving through the world and spilling its blood? Was all of that worth it, only for you to die at the end?

Whether this was meant to be a tease, I can’t say for certain. But for these themes to pop up in the transition release between TPT and what will (hopefully soon) be BVB 7? All I am going to say is that it lines up just a little too well for my liking to be a set of coincidences. And now that we’ve had the stories of our heroes and antiheroes told, maybe it’s time for the villains and antagonists to take the spotlight.

[javaelemental]

True Detective: Night Country, Ep. 2

Just saw episode two, and...

That thing at the beginning with the iced bodies? That was some 100% unmitigated white hot bullshit, and everyone who saw that yesterday and did not personally warn me about it is now on notice. I'm gonna have to watch puppies or Carebears or some shit for the next two hours to get that out of my head.

Seriously my reaction was like, AAAAGHJESUSCHRIST WHAT THE FUCK. Wait. True Detective doesn't do supernatural bullshit. What just happened. Did that actually happen or did they hallucinate? What, it actually happened? No. Goddamn. Way. No way that dude was alive. Now I'm mad. And I stayed mildly annoyed at it for the rest of the episode.

Hey, Rust's dad! Neat! I don't know how the rest of y'all remembered his name was Travis. I watched the first season like a dozen times and I didn't remember that.

I did remember the spiral thing, but I don't really remember if it was connected to anything beyond the cult BS.

Speaking of the cult BS from season one, weren't the cultist freaks also Tuttles?

I had to go look it up. They were.

So, like, are we just doing fun little callbacks, or is this actually connected?

What do you mean Who's-His-Face with the spiral tattoo is still alive? Is that the same guy from episode one who had the weird little seizure that the Mexican scientist caught on video?

Okay, so, I'm still pretty sure the mining company is poisoning the town and that's why people are hallucinating and having seizures and why Whoever wrote "We're all dead already" or whatnot on the whiteboard, but that's starting to seem a bit too simple. There's clearly other shenanigans afoot here.

All right, True Detective, you got me. I'm hooked. But you hit me with another jump scare like that again and we're gonna have words.

[iameliseposts]

Hiya! Mind if I ask for some angst w the tweels? Just something real painful but nothing like break ups or death or like the MC will leave'em but something thats just painful in relationship be it like misunderstanding, lack of communication or maybe something a bit... violent... or feeling like they dont rely on each others too much... like irrelevant(?)

Well.... just some real angst pls... cuz I want to feel so much angst pain~ XD

Why? - Jade x MC x Floyd

Thank you for requesting! Idk why but Octavinelle is for me, embarrassing hard to write for. I hope I did them justice! I hope the angst was enough!

Also, I’m really behind on headers, but they should be done soon. I hope you enjoy!

“Why?” 

You wondered to yourself when you watched Floyd run off before you could arrive. You’ve been busy with assignments all week and you really wanted a squeeze right now. A squeeze from your boyfriend. A little crazy how the tweels ended up dating you, but here we are. And here he was, chasing after Riddle. Again.

You had texted him yesterday about how excited you were to see him today. This whole week was a mess. Mess, mess, mess. You wanted to spend the day with him and he was chasing after another man. It’s silly, but it somehow pissed you off. 

Were your texts not clear that you really wanted to go on a date today? Was he being ignored? Was he doing it on purpose? Or was he bored of you? He sounded so happy when you called him this morning. Was he going through a mood swing again? 

He was like this every so often. He’d just up and disappear until he was in a happy mood again. Was that what was happening? But it feels different now. He feels so distant. Why now?

“Why?”

You asked yourself as you walked out of Mostro Lounge. You left after you spoke to Jade. You spoke to him almost every day, but today… Today he seemed distant. You wanted to talk to him, even for just a while. But he declined. Coldly. He didn’t give any explanation other than being busy and simply brushed you off. Ouch.

It's not like he was too busy today. The lounge was past rush hour and a few employees were serving the remaining customers and cleaning the tables. Jade should have been free right now. He often was at this time. You would know, you’ve come to the lounge at least once a week at this time.

You both would get a V.I.P. table near the back and chat the night away. Your days, the crazy amounts of homework, mindless gossip. You weren’t ever bored in his presence and he didn’t seem bored. Even though you both were in the same establishment, Jade felt so far away.

When he disappeared in the backroom, you couldn’t help, but wonder why these things were happening. Was he actually busy or covering something up? Were they both avoiding you on purpose? The Leech twins were known for their manipulation, so is that what’s going on here? Were you being tricked? Was this whole relationship a trap and you walked straight onto it?

You could have waited for your boyfriends to return. You could send them a text, telling them you want to talk. You could. But you don’t want to. You felt your chest tighten with the possible situations spinning and spiraling in your head. You don’t want to face either of them right now. Instead, you beeline back to Ramshackle dorm. Your safespace and the closest thing you could call yours. 

Floyd and Jade were both inside the backroom of Mostro Lounge. They were worried for a certain magicless prefect. “What’s up with Shrimpy?” Floyd asked, “They’ve been all pouty the past week.” 

Jade pulls his phone out of his pocket and checks it. “They haven’t texted me today. However,” Jade puts the phone away, “they had come to the Lounge earlier. You had texted me at the same time, so I had to tell them I was busy.” 

Floyd whined, “Why wouldn’t you ask them when they came?” “You had texted me, and I quote “SHRIMPY IS DROWNING. BACKROOM NOW.” Now, it could only make sense I’d be worried if you told me MC was drowning, even though they clearly weren’t.” 

“Anyways, I accidentally skipped out on a date with MC earlier today because Azul asked for something, something Riddle. So yea, I needed to find Shrimpy so I texted you.” Floyd’s carefree attitude drops, “But you sent them away.” 

“How cruel, you had asked me to enter the backroom. Plus, care to explain why you had told me they were drowning?”

The arguing continued into the night. As did the somber atmosphere inside Ramshackle dorm. One could only wonder ‘Why?’.