#SORRY i know this is long but knowing any of this would genuinely have altered the course of my life lmaooo

[yellowjestertfs]

Altered State: Part Five

Alright second to last part! Read Part Four, Three, Two, and One here if you haven't. Just a warning, part is more action oriented then the others but still has the same tf and progression elements. Currently I am in the process of writing the epilogue which is a bit of a mess at the moment so the last part might be a few weeks (sorry) but hopefully not too long. Anyways enjoy and thanks for reading!

Edward's mind worked feverishly, processing his thoughts as fast as he could with his 19 intelligence. Part of him wanted to blow off the quest. The possibility of being a level one wretch, if defeated, seemed too big a risk to take. On the other hand, the love potion offered as a reward was excruciatingly tempting. The decision was made for him, Leon scooped him up in a firm fireman’s hold and then still naked, sprinted out the door and into the cool night, moving at a pace Edward couldn’t quite believe. 

His strides were effortless and long, and even with the added weight of Edward, Leon made an amazing time. The row of frat houses that everyone called “fratrow” was four blocks away. Leon reached in just less than a minute hardly even winded. 

It was fairly obvious which house was Sigma Alpha’s. Besides having the Greek letters emblazoned on its front, it was the only house on the row with loud music and voices coming from the backyard.

Leon set Edward down and it took a few seconds for him to get his bearings. According to Trent’s texts, the Alpha Sigma frat bros weren’t letting anyone leave. Edward had no idea why but he couldn’t imagine it was for any good reason. The backyard, enclosed by a seemingly hastily erected high wooden fence was where everyone was congregated. Two frat guys with their arms crossed stood outside, seemingly guarding the entrance to the backyard, and also the way out. 

Just above the fence, Edward could see the tip of a white-domed object peeking out. It looked like a satellite dish connected to the top of a projector screen connected with random metal scraps and duct tape. Sure enough, Edward could see a place on the side of the large two-story house with loose wires sticking out of it where the satellite dish was presumably held before.

The seconds ticked by. They had less than sixteen minutes remaining. “Alright, I’ll check out the backyard, and see if I can get everyone out. You need to go into the house and see if you can find Hunter or Alvis and shut down whatever it is they are planning” Edward said, the pressure making him decisive. As the one with the highest intelligence, if only by a few points, he felt responsible for making a plan. 

“You want us to split up?” Leon asked incredulously. 

“We have to. Besides you're much better equipped to do actual fighting.” Edward found his eyes drifting over to one of Leon’s strong pump pecs. He suddenly remembered that Leon was naked, a very easy thing to forget with Leon’s Naked Confidence perk. That meant he wasn’t carrying a phone, not that that would have been useful with Edward’s being basically dead. “If either one of us is in trouble make a bird sound or something. 

“A bird sound, are you for real?” Leon asked rolling his eyes. The comment broke Edward’s moment of seriousness and he moved to punch his friend in the arm, but then remembered the effect of his touch and thought better of it. 

“Shut up. Just call for help.” They now had only fifteen minutes left. “We got to go, stay safe.”

Edward pounded a fist against his muscular chest and faint hollow metallic sounds rang out. “Don’t worry about me.” Then in a genuine tender way, Edward hardly ever heard his friend use “you be safe too. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

Edward felt his heart skip a beat. This was not the time to be having these feelings but god damn was Leon good at giving mixed signals. “Bet you I’ll get take out more frat guys than you.” Leon challenged.

“Suck my dick” was all Edward said. 

“Fine, but if I win you have to suck mine.” Leon shot back. 

“You're so on,” Edward said as the two snuck forward. Edward headed for the backyard, and Leon went up the stairs and to the front door of the frat. Once Edward got closer he could make out the two frat guys stationed at the door. He didn't recognize either of them. They looked young, maybe recent pledges. Edward wasn’t overly surprised when he saw they had floating names above their heads with classes and levels, but he thought it would make this a whole lot more difficult.

Luckily neither of the two guards was very high level. The one on the right had a floating tag above him that labeled him as Broden, a level four Jock. The other guy was a stranger. He wore a suit jacket and tie on top and only his boxers on the bottom. His name was Harold and he was only level two in a class called an Oil Baron. Edward shuddered to think about what type of boosts a class like that would give, though if these classes followed the pattern his and Leon’s did, which was hardly a guarantee, they hopefully wouldn’t have any abilities or techniques unlocked until level five. 

Edward adopted his best approximation of a bro walk and strode forward with all the confidence he could muster. The two young frat guys seemed as if they were about to say something but stopped when they saw the name and level above his name. 

“Yoo, what are you two bozos still doing here?” Edward asked in a dumb voice. He overdid it a bit and sounded like a caveman instead of a frat guy, but he hoped his high charisma and perks might make up the difference.

The two pledges just looked at him blankly. “Hunter sent you two out to get more duct tape like an hour ago. He’s going to be so pissed.”

“But bro, Hunter told us not to leave this door,” The Jock said, in a slow confused way that made it clear his class wasn’t giving him any boosts to intelligence.

“Don’t worry about it bro, I got it. No one gets in or out, I know the deal.”

The Oil Baron opened his mouth to object but a loud crash interrupted him. Edward suspected that was Leon making his entrance. Subtly had never been his strong suit. 

“Shit bro, that’s Hunter. You can’t let him find you here, I’ll cover for you don’t worry” Edward said. Fear instantly burned in both their eyes. Without another word, they both sprinted into the night. Edward waited until they were a few streetlights away before he opened the makeshift gate. The quest “defeat lesser members” changed from 0/26 to 2/26. As Edward watched that number went up to 3/26 then 4/26, presumably thanks to Leon. Edward would have to work faster if he wanted to win their bet.

Inside the party was packed like sardines. Judging from Trent’s texts Edward had expected people to be clambering to get out by the door but most people still danced and drank, unaware that they had been unable to leave in the first place. Edward navigated his way through the backyard. It was then that Edward missed the invisibility of being ugly. The second he entered the party nearly everyone was all over him. Strangers started to grind up on him, offered him drinks, and tried to chat him up. It made moving through the crowd a nightmare. His perks didn’t help matters either. His pheromones caused the people flirting around him to progress to making out and caused those already making out to progress further into outright indecent behavior. Edward did his best to avoid skin-to-skin contact but it was inevitable in a crowd so packed, he heard several yelps as people suddenly felt orgasmic pleasure on their skin anywhere Edward’s hands accidentally. 

Eventually, Edward reached the bubble of relative calm around the projector screen. He saw Trent and Tag talking to each other in low voices by one side of the fence, clearly unaware that the way out was open now. Edward briefly thought about going over to them but he knew neither would recognize him and he didn't have time for lengthy explanations. He needed to get everyone out, and quick. 

Edward glanced and saw two more frat guys standing by the door to the house while four others worked on the projector, taping wires down to the ground that led inside the house. All six had names, classes, and levels above their heads. Edward stopped walking realizing if he could see their level then they could undoubtedly see his. Sure enough, a level nine Keg Commander started walking towards him briskly. He looked older and in charge, and Edward doubted he could resort to trickery to deal with him like before.

Edward ducked back into the crowd, hoping the chaos would obscure his floating name tag. No luck, the Keg Commander along with two other floating tags, a level six Crypto Bro, and a level seven Hype Beast moved towards him. Edward pushed his way through the crowd much less carefully this time. More couples, affected by his pheromones got nasty with each other right there in the backyard, which Edward hoped would make the chase more difficult for his pursuers.

Edward heard a crash from inside the house. He checked the counter to see it was now at 6/26. Edward hoped Leon was being safe. He heard another noise, like a loud bubbling. Edward risked a glance behind him and saw the level nine Keg Commander wave his hand over a beer keg, the thing started shaking violently before it took off into the air like a bottle rocket. 

“Shit” Edward yelled reflexively, diving sideways into a group of guys who all let out sounds of shock and moans of pleasure as Edward pressed up against them. Edward’s dodge hadn’t been necessary. The keg went wide, flying over the party and landing with a bang in the neighbor's yard, spraying the gathered crowd with beer as it flew.

Edward kept moving, circling back around to the wall of the house. Behind him, the hype beast was letting out loud whoops and hollers that seemed to be riling up the crowd even further. The music started to build up to a beat drop and people started to mosh making it even harder for Edward to move through the crowd. Edward spied the source of the music, a giant speaker, at least the height of his chest. One of the frat guys, a level five DJ stood by it, making strange motions with his hands which caused the music to change in volume rapidly in a nauseating way. A plan formed in Edward's mind, with only thirteen minutes left he needed to be bold.

Edward made his way towards the speaker, careful to avoid the Crypto Bro who tried to cut him off. Once he was close Edward rolled up his sleeve and dove out of the crowd, running for the plug connecting the speaker to the outlet. The DJ tried to grab at him but Edward twisted so that he grabbed his arm instead. The bare contact with his flesh and the intense pleasure that resulted from it was enough to cause the DJ to drop his grip. Edward grabbed the plug and yanked. The loud music suddenly cut off, and there was a second of silence as the whole party looked toward the speaker questioningly. Edward took advantage of that moment. He climbed on top of the speaker and screamed a word as loud as he could manage. 

“Flee” he yelled, the word echoing loud and powerful as he imbued it with the energy of his Silver Tongue technique. His energy pool which had fully regenerated in the hours he had spent with Leon now dropped to 14/19. 

The effect was immediate and jarring. Every single person at the party fled in a wave emanating from Edward. The exit quickly clogged as hundreds of people all tried to leave the party at once. Edward watched horrified at the stampede he had created as students pushed at each other to get out as if death itself were chasing after them. Some students in their haste to get out decided to climb the tall fence, jumping off it into the neighboring yards before continuing to run into the night. 

In a matter of seconds, the entire backyard was empty and silent. Edward stood on the speaker, amazed at his own power. Though he had feared someone might be trampled it seemed that everyone had gotten out safe at least. It was a good reminder to him though that he needed to be careful with this power. 

His words had caught up a fair number of the frat guys causing them to flee as well. The counter now read 15/26, though he wasn’t sure how many of those he could take credit for. Still, Edward suspected he was kicking Leon’s ass when it came to their bet. He also noted that the quest item “Put a stop to the legion’s plans” was still marked as incomplete, meaning whatever it was they were planning involved more than just trapping students in their backyard. Edward thought of the love potion again and felt a nauseating mix of hope and guilt.  

Edward didn't have long to revel in his victory. From the second floor, he heard another loud crash then the unmistakable sound of an Owl’s hoot, or Leon’s best attempt at one, in truth it sounded more like a fart noise.

In a second Edward was off the speaker and racing toward the house. He entered a side door into the kitchen. Six low-level frat guys were inside, protected from Edward’s ability by the thick glass door. All of them were looking at the empty backyard in shock. They were even more shocked when the level eleven Snake charmer ran in. 

Edward didn’t have a thought in his head except the safety of his best friend. “Defend me,” he said, embossing the words with another ten of his remaining energy points, leaving him with only four more. Instantly the frat guy's faces went from confused to blank as they robotically followed him into the hallway and up the stairs as Edward followed where the wires connecting to the project screen led.

Edward raced upwards two stairs at a time towards the sounds of voices and struggles. A circle of frat guys, most of them level ten or higher encircled the kneeling form of Leon. Two purple and white bands bound both of Leon's wrists to the floor despite the obvious effort he was exerting to free himself.  A level fourteen Pledge Master with a sinister look to him held a red solo cup to Leon’s lips and was saying something in a low scolding voice too soft for Edward to hear with all the blood rushing in his ears.

Edward let out a yell as he and his frat protectors charged forward in the doomed defense of his best friend.

-

Leon strained at the colorful bamboo restraints binding him to the floor. The harder he struggled the tighter the traps bound him. He activated his Inner Strength ability and wrenched upwards, it was a bad idea. The sudden burst of strength was redoubled against him and he was forced to his knees, naked body beginning to sweat with the effort. Above him the level thirteen Prankster laughed. He had the same flawless complexion as Edward that indicated a high charisma, only his features looked mischievous and impish, nothing like the kind angelic features of his friend. 

Leon still found it hard to believe that god of a man he had slept with was Edward. And yet when he looked hard he could see the resemblance. His eyes had the same gentle genuineness in them, his lips, now thick and oh so kissable, still twitched the same way when he wanted to laugh but was trying to be serious. 

The Prankster above Edward let out a laugh that bordered on deranged as he watched Leon struggle. He and his other two frat brothers circled around Leon, a level ten Drug Pusher, and a level eleven Vape Mage, moved aside for a new figure. This one, a tall skinny man with dark hair and dark handsome features that made it clear he was also a charisma class, walked forward. His dark perfect eyebrows arched sharply, making him look like a cartoon villain. The floating name tag above him listed him as a level fourteen Pledge Master. Leon recognized him as one of them men who had been with Hunter earlier that day during the with the Dagorhir players, thought he hadn’t been nearly so handsome or intimidating when they had first clashed. Those events now felt like a lifetime ago. 

His hands glowed with an eerie brown light then a red solo cup appeared in them, full of a sloshing brown liquid inside Leon didn’t think was beer. “We have a new pledge I see. Hunter told me to watch out for you.” He took a step closer and a strange aura washed over Leon, he suddenly felt as if he would do anything this man told him to. It made him sick, nothing like the warm feeling he got from being around Edward. “You can join our frat if that's what you really want, but first don’t you know that new pledges have to suffer.” 

Leon blanched. He hoped Edward hadn’t heard the bird sound he had made when he was first trapped. He hoped Edward would escape now while he could. These frat guys were too powerful, too high-level. Leon had no idea how they had managed to gain so much experience in such little time. They must have received their classes after Leon and Edward had and yet even the two Leon had faced downstairs had been nearly his equal in level.

Leon supposed he and Edward could have been faster if they had been more efficient, and hadn’t spent several hours fucking like bunnies. Still, if those were to be Leon’s last moments on earth he was endlessly glad at how he spent them. He only wished he had told Edward how he felt, though that would require him to first understand what it was he felt, which was mostly confused.

Since the day they met in freshman orientation, Edward had been his best friend, his partner in everything. There had never been even a hint of anything more though. Leon was straight and Edward wasn’t interested in him besides. Now their dynamic had shifted. For Leon it wasn’t so much a big deal he had slept with a man, sure that was new, but his attraction for Edward burned just as bright, if not brighter than any he had for a woman. The part that was making him so on edge was the fact that it was with Edward. 

Leon knew with the way Edward now looked he could have any man he wanted. There would be no reason for him to want anything more than something physical with Leon. And yet Leon could swear that he saw something more than lust in those expressive eyes. He knew it was probably wishful thinking.

It wasn’t particularly worth dwelling on though, considering Leon’s current predicament. He had been so cocky when he had first entered the house. The door had been locked but a quick Inner Strength-enhanced kick busted the thing wide open.

Inside were two frat pledges, just sitting in the entranceway as if they had been expecting him, one, a level eight Louisville Slugger gripped a wooden baseball bat in his hand. The wood was a strange ashen gray as if it had been petrified to stone. The level eight swung his bat hard into the side of Leon’s face.

Leon’s whole skull rung like a bell as the bat that felt more like stone then wood bounded off his armored skull. The man moved to swing again but Leon took a step forward and shaved the man causing him to crash back into the stairwell. The other guard, a level six Tattletale made no move to attack, instead he opened his mouth, and a grating blaring almost robotic alarm came out, filling the whole house. Leon dashed forward and slammed his hand over the man's mouth, muffling the sound but not cutting it off. Leon wrapped his hand around the man's throat and squeezed, careful not to be too rough with his prodigious strength. Within seconds the Tattletale was unconscious. Leon made sure the man was still breathing before moving out of the entranceway. The counter was now at 4/26, meaning he and Edward were tied. Leon needed to move fast if he wanted to win and get another of those life altering blowjobs from Edward. 

Still he paid one last glance at the two unconscious men and noticed something odd. Both of them seemed to be changing, shrinking. The level nine Louisville Slugger was a muscular dude, tall and clearly athletic. Yet as Leon watched the guy's muscles deflated and he shrunk in height. The level above his head changed to seven to six counting down to level one as his stats drained away. Finally, as the guy started to look plainly average his class switched to one called a “Wretch” and he was defeated further, losing muscle height and likely some charisma based on the way his face twisted unattractively and broke out with acne. The Tattletale also lost much of his charisma-enhanced beauty and became an equally pathetic level-one wretch with his friend. Leon flashed back to the note about the quest being a correctional one. He supposed the two were considered defeated and therefore suffered the punishment of failing the quest. It was a horrifying fate. Leon imagined the muscles and perks he had so come to enjoy draining away and found the thought terrifying. He couldn’t go back to his old life, he wouldn’t.

Both the Tattletale, and the load noise of kicking in the door, had ruined any chance of surprise Leon might have had. He assumed other members of the frat would soon come to investigate the noise, meaning he needed to move. Leon wasn’t exactly sure where though, several hallways with bedroom doors on either side connected to the entranceway, along with hallways connecting to a massive kitchen and eating area that ran along the back of the house. A large lounge for hosting parties or doing school work was to Leon's right, and a set of stairs right in front of him led upwards, presumably to more rooms and potentially another lounge or hang-out area. Leon wasn’t exactly sure what he was looking for, either of the bosses he supposed. He poked around a few of the hallways but they were all abandoned and all the doors were locked. Eventually, Leon decided he should go upstairs. 

That was where the trouble started. Up the stairs, there was a long landing that let off to lots more rooms. In the hallway stood four older-looking frat brothers, all with classes and levels above ten. The Prankster and the Drug Pusher noticed him first, while the Vape Mage, and level twelve Beer Pong Champion stood with their backs to him.

Leon didn’t wait for any of them to react. He rushed forward and shoved the Beer Pong Champion hard. The man went flying into a wall behind. The attack caused Leon to come into proximity with the Drug Pusher which caused his head to start to feel funny, like he was drunk and high at the same time. The effect was unbalancing enough that the Prankster was able to grab his hand. He activated some sort of ability or technique and suddenly through his hand waves of  painful electricity washed through Leon’s whole body. It felt like one of those prank hand buzzers only one hundred times more powerful. His whole body shook, completely unprotected by his armored skin. Leon was too stunned to react as the Prankster used yet another ability on him which caused those bamboo restraints he currently struggled against to bind him to the floor. Leon struggled for a few seconds before he spotted an open window that faced the backyard and made his best approximation of a bird call. 

The three frat guys looked at him funny but they were too cocky with the thrill of their catch that they didn’t seem to care. They called out for the pledge master who came out of a hallway a few moments later. Now Leon looked up at his eerily perfect face and felt a wave of revulsion and loyalty at the same time.

“Let go of him!” Leon snapped his head away from the frat guy's face as he heard a familiar voice yell.  Edward raced up the stairs trailed by six frat guys all also running. Leon could only watch as Edward flung himself at the Pledge Master, skinny body bringing the other man to the ground. To Leon’s surprise, the frat guys who Leon had assumed were chasing Edward rushed into his air, charging their own comrades with first and foot and claw in the case of one guy with the Party Animal class who turned into a puma wearing a party hat before Leon's very eyes. The Vape Mage opened his mouth and a stream of light pink smoke emerged, quickly filling the room and limiting Leon’s slight to only the area directly around him. 

Leon could just make out as the Pledge Master flipped Edward onto his back, pinning him. Edward brought one hand up to rest upon the Pledge Master’s cheek almost lovingly. The man screamed out in orgasmic pleasure and Edward used that moment to break free of his hold and flip him onto his back, the two disappearing from view into the cloud of cotton candy-smelling vape. 

Around him, Edward’s frat guys fought against their own compatriots. Though they had the numbers advantage they were younger, and less high-level, lacking the truly influential perks and abilities to match their opponents. Leon continued to struggle in vain, wanting desperately to join the fight and come to his friend's air.

Edward’s presence was like a strong clean gust of wind, clearing away the other aura and effects that had been clouding Leon’s thoughts, allowing him to think clearly for the first time since he had been trapped. He took a deep breath of the cotton candy fog. All of these classes were thematic. The ability he was trapped in was from the Prankster class, which meant it had something to do with pranks. Leon looked down at the colorful interlocking bamboo pattern of the trap and realized it looked familiar. It reminded him of those Chinese finger traps sold for tickets at arcades or behind glass counters at roller rinks. The trick to those was simple, the harder you pulled the tighter it bound. All Leon had to do was relax. He let his arms fall loose and felt the bounds on his wrist loosen, he relaxed further and suddenly he was free. 

Leon swung about in the cloud of cotton candy smoke. He caught a brief glimpse of a few different frat guys fighting with each other but in the chaos, Leon couldn’t tell which were friends and which were foes. He needed to find Edward. 

At level eleven Leon’s Inner Strength cooldown was at 109 seconds. Though he has used it to try to escape the countdown was almost up. Leon waited the last few seconds then activated the ability, feeling strength surge into his body. Leon splayed his large hands wide, admiring his now considerable wing span, then brought his palms them together with a colossal force that would have likely broken both his hands if not for his armored skin. 

A loud boom shook the room and a pressurized gust of air ripped from his hands. The force wasn’t enough to do more than startle any of the men fighting each other on the ground but it was enough to temporarily clear away the lingering vape cloud in the room. 

Leon instantly spied the Pledge Master and Edward struggling near the stairs, the Pledge Master sat on top of Edward using some ability that made his hands glow brown and seemed to have paralyzed Edward. Leon wasn’t capable of feeling fear anymore but he felt something distinctly like it as he saw his friend helpless on the ground, that and a bubbling red rage he had never felt. As the room once again filled with smoke from the Vape Mage’s mouth Leon rushed towards the pair. He ripped the scrawny Pledge Master off of Edward’s body as easily as he would lift an insect and flung him down the stairs. The man tumbled down, sprawling at the bottom in a heap, out of the fight but still breathing. Leon watched the first level tick away and knew he would soon become a harmless wretch. 

From the ground, Edward looked at him with a mix of awe, fear, and relief. Slowly he regained control of his limbs and then sat up and wrapped his arms around Leon, squeezing tightly onto Leon’s muscular back. Leon laughed feeling an overwhelming flood of relief. He hugged his friend back tight, not caring that the skin-to-skin contact made his naked dick instantly hard. 

Leon continued the embrace until he felt something bounce off his butt. He turned around to see the Beer Pong Master, who he had thought was out of the fight, lift his hand and shoot a ping pong ball out of it with considerable force. More and more shot out in a jet towards the two friends. Leon positioned himself to block Edward from the barrage. The plastic balls stung but his Armored Skin prevented them from doing any real damage. Leon rushed forward and delivered a hard punch to the gut that finally defeated the man who began to turn into a wretch as well. The counter was now at 21/26. Whatever Edward had done outside and to control those guys had taken out a majority of the lesser frat guys. Leon was so relieved that he didn't even care he was losing the bet. He would be glad to give him friend a blowjob if they lived long enough for that.

The pink fog slowly began to clear and he and Edward were left facing down the remaining five frat guys. Edward’s method of control seemed to have warned off and the two remaining, a level seven Party Animal and a level nine Bully looked pissed. Leon readied himself for a fight. He didn't relish the idea of being mauled even with his armored skin but he would do it to protect Edward.

He was spared the trouble. A beam of purple energy shot from Edward’s hand and into the Party Animal. The frat guy's eyes glowed the same purple shade for a second, then he adopted a look of pure horror and ran right past him and Edward down the stairs, a visible wet spot in his pants. Edward had told him about his new emotion bomb ability but he hadn’t known it would be so potent.

Not wasting the opportunity Leon raced forward and quickly subdued the Vape Mage with a punch, then the Drug Pusher with a knee to the chest, then did a quick uppercut which finished off the Bully who went down to the ground groaning as he slowly became a level one wretch.

That left Edward and Leon facing only the Prankster. The sinister-looking man tried the same hand buzzer trick on Leon again but this time he was ready. He grabbed the man's hand and slapped it onto the guy's own chest causing him to electrocute himself instead. 

Finally, alone Leon and Edward stood in trashed hallways breathing heavily. Edward had a small cut on his arm and a blossoming bruise on his perfect symmetrical cheek which gave his handsomeness a rugged quality, a quality broken by his wide innocent grin. “So you want to suck my dick now or later?”

The quest marked itself up to 26/26 and he and Edward both heard a ding as they leveled up. 

“You have reached level twelve. You receive attribute points based on your class: +3 Strength, +1 Charisma, + 0.3 Intelligence.” 

“You have gained a class perk.”

“Punchable Face: If moved to sufficient hostility, creatures are more likely to attack you than your allies. Note: This effect scales off both Strength and Charisma. Note: Creatures with higher intelligence will be more resistant to the effects of this perk.”

Leon felt the now familiar feeling of leveling up as each of his attributes increased. The intelligence gains Leon got at each level were too small to be perceptible, though he supposed he noticed a small difference now that he had an 11.3 compared to his previous base of 8. His charisma boosts per level were larger, though also hard to exactly quantify. When Leon had looked hard in the mirror he had been able to pick out ways his face was a bit more handsome than it had been, thought it was hard though to know what was due to his charisma boosts and what was from the changes to his body composition. Still, his eyes were brighter, his features more symmetrical, and his skin clearer than it had ever been before. Despite gaining twelve points Leon didn't feel like he had gained Edward’s easy effortless charm, though his jokes that always sounded so funny in his head but never when he said them out loud did seem to be landing more frequently and he was starting to pick up on social cues that would have once flown over his head. This level up Leon actually did think he could feel something shifting in his face though he chalked it up to placebo. 

His strength though Leon was sure he could feel. His body stretched another quarter of an inch taller, and he gained another five pounds of muscle, all packed evenly onto his body. Though he didn't store fat according to his Metabolizer perk his muscles didn't have the dehydrated malnourished look of extremely low body fat. Instead, they all looked full and strong, tight on his dark skin. His biceps were like softballs, his legs were becoming thick as tree trunks, and his abs seemed to only get tighter, six-pack verging on an eight-pack. 

Besides him, he saw Edward experience a level-up. It was the first time he had actually witnessed it, last time he had been too busy fucking his friend's ass to see. Now he watched as Edward's already perfect features became somehow more perfect. Leon had thought his skin was flawless before but it now took on a somehow otherworldly shine. His teeth became blindingly white and even straighter, making the grin he shot Leon somehow more adorable and endlessly distracting. His jaw looked like it could open a beer bottle and his hair was so gold it could be spun from hay. Watching his friend change mixed with the proximity to Edward’s pheromones made Leon hard, his massive penis springing forth with the velocity of a jouster.

Leon opened his mouth and then closed it. Edward's beauty had always been distracting before but now he was stunned stupid by his charisma. The act of talking seemed too complex when he looked at Edward so he just sort of moaned and drooled a little. 

Edward had that far-off look that meant he was reading his notifications. He looked up and laughed at Leon’s cross-eyed expression. “Oh god. That’s my new perk.”

“New perk?” Leon asked. His face was all but paralyzed which made his words come out slurred and almost unintelligible. This only made Edward laugh harder. 

“It's called Dazzling Presence. Apparently, it gets less effective the more time you're around me.” Leon felt himself slowly come back to earth, though not fully. He found it intensely difficult to look away from Edward or think in more than caveman “me horny” thoughts.

“I think it's supposed to temporarily stun people when I first interact with them to give me the upper hand. It should wear off soon. Edward squinted his eyes as if he suddenly noticed something, he took a step forward so their faces were only inches apart, a move that was not helpful in Leon’s attempts to break free from his horny hypnotic state. “Oh my god your face!” Edward started laughing again, harder than before.

“What's wrong with my face?” Leon asked concerned. “I got a perk called punchable face.”

“Punchable face?” Edward asked still laughing. “More like a kissable face,” he leaned in and pecked Leon on the lips, the touch making Leon somehow harder. “Go look at yourself in a mirror.”

Leon had enough control now to hobble to one of the communal bathrooms, he stepped over a groaning unconscious level-one wretch, maybe a man who had been the Vape Mage or the Drug Pusher, it was hard to tell them apart now. In the glow of the automatic lights, Leon saw what Edward had meant. He groaned to himself. He had a serious case of Jock Face. He looked like a cartoon high school bully, with thick eyebrows, a broad forehead, head the shape of a square. The mustache he now had was not helping. Small dark beard hairs had already started to grow on his cheeks making him look like a dad coaching little league baseball who took the game too seriously. Leon felt the urge to punch his own reflection.

“It's not that bad” Edward called from the hall, knowing what his friend's reaction would be.

“I look like a Neanderthal!” Leon shouted back. His body was one thing but he had never expected this class to affect his face so much. 

“No, you don’t!” Edward said encouragingly coming into the bathroom to stand beside his friend. “I think it’s fitting. You look like a sexy Viking.”

Leon turned to look at Edward. His presence was still extremely distracting but Leon could now at least have a conversation with his friend. “It's worth it I guess. The perk says people are more likely to attack me now than you.”

Edward rolled his eyes. “Alright, knight in shining armor. If I remember correctly you were the damsel in distress.” 

“Yeah,” Leon said awkwardly color flushing his cheeks, the blush looking strange on his now hyper masculine face. “I’m sorry about that, I got overconfident.”

“No I’m sorry,” Edward said grabbing Leon’s hand in his own. “I sent you in there alone. That was stupid of me, from now on we stick together.”

Leon nodded wordlessly, unable to get anything past the lump in his throat. He didn’t know exactly what he was feeling, not fear, he wasn’t capable of feeling fear but he still felt anxiety and guilt and a deep love for his friend. Suddenly he felt it all crash down on him. Everything that had happened in the past ten hours. Even with his Animal endurance perk Leon was exhausted. He realized he hadn’t eaten since that one protein shake so many hours ago. He couldn’t imagine how Edward felt.

Leon glanced at the countdown timer and felt his heart skip a beat as he saw they only had eight minutes left. There would be time to talk to Edward about what he was feeling and where their friendship stood after they completed the quest. 

The main hallway on the second floor led to a set of large wooden double doors. Leon was ready to kick them down but they were unlocked. He poked his head in and wasn’t quite sure what he was seeing. There was a large room, obviously meant for holding mixers and formals. A long bar sat on one end of the room, a dance floor near it. Leon’s attention however was more focused on the contraption directly in front of him. 

It looked like a doomsday device out of a science fiction B movie. A mishmash of repurposed tech and scrap metal welded into a crude but ominous tower of technology. Strips of LED screens, ripped from discarded tablets and smartphones, lined the upper frame, flickering in erratic patterns, casting eerie reflections off the exposed metal. At its core was the familiar “Altered State” video game cartridge, nestled in a nest of wires and circuits that branched out to hacked Wi-Fi routers and a jury-rigged motherboard, all held together by zip ties, duct tape and sheer ingenuity. A large fully extended TV antenna was on the top of the contraption which buzzed and pulsed every few seconds with electricity. Leon hadn’t a single clue that the machine did but it looked intensely complex and dangerous. He had played enough video games to know that to complete the quest he and Edward probably had to destroy the thing. 

There was something else in the room that caught Leon’s eye. A figure paced back and forth in front of the machine, snorting and grunting occasionally as he moved. Leon had seen a lot that had challenged his understanding of reality today but the name tag above the creature's head sent him reeling. Hunter, level seventeen Roided Out Berserker. The Frat president was unrecognizable. He had always been a large man but Hunter now was a giant, eight feet tall, muscles like swollen overly ripe fruit, huge and crawling with protruding veins that looked like worms, glowing a sickly green. He was naked with an inhumanly large penis and a matching set of balls hanging in-between thickly muscled massive hairy legs. His arms were like veiny boulders, his neck a thick stump, and he had a massive roid gut ballooning out his belly.

His face, never particularly handsome was now a twisted mask of permanent anger, more animal than man, and the spark of cruel intelligence that once lived behind his eyes was gone replaced by a feral mindlessness. 

Quietly as he could Leon closed the door and pulled Edward away from it. He relayed what he had seen much to Edward's disbelief. 

Edward’s disbelief grew as Leon told him his hastily constructed plan. “Didn’t I just say we were going to stick together? You're going to get yourself killed if you go in there alone,” Edward insisted trying to talk him out of it. 

“It’s the only way. Besides you can always step in and save me like before,” Leon joked trying to ease his friend's tension. He wasn’t sure if his confidence was warranted or if it was reckless arrogance from his No Fear perk but he just knew he couldn’t bear to see his friend in danger again. Before Edward could further talk him out of it he walked over to a window and ripped down the ratty red curtain, then he marched back over to the set of doors and got ready to open them. “Be safe” Edward said looking at him with those deep soulful eyes.

“I will,” Leon said back tenderly. He wanted to say more, to sweep Edward off his feet and kiss him but the timer was at six minuets. There would be time after if he survived. Besides if they did this right his quest reward might just help Leon show Edward exactly how much he meant to him.

Leon burst through the double doors, red fabric trailing behind him like a cape. “Hey Hunter you ugly motherfucker. They say imitation is the more sincere form of flattery, but I think for you it might just be fattery.” The joke didn't actually make any sense but Leon stopped for a second to admire his on-the-spot wordplay. Maybe his higher charisma was having more of an effect than he had thought. 

Hunter growled and snorted like a bull, staring at Leon with undigested loathing as Leon entered the room. “Me fucking kill you.” He said in deep halting English, like he was Frankenstein’s monster. He and Leon started circling each other like two cats in an ally waiting to pounce. Leon’s new Punchable face perk ensured that Hunter kept his attention on him and not Edward not so subtly head peaking through the doorway. Leon hoped if Hunter did decide to go for Edward he would be stunned by the Snake Charmer's new perk but even so, he was determined to keep the Berserkers attention on himself. Leon waited until he had circled the whole room and his back was to the machine before he shouted.

“Now!” Due to the fast regeneration from his high charisma Edward had regenerated just enough energy points to perform one last Emotion Bomb. A beam of red energy leaped out from his hand, striking Hunter from behind and causing his eyes to glow red for a split second.

Any human part of Hunter left died at the moment as he was overcome by an overwhelming wave of anger and became fully animal in his desire to kill Leon. That was the result Leon was hoping for. He knew he wasn’t stronger then Hunter but he could hopefully be smarter, if he survived long enough. Hunter charged forward hands extended to tear Leon apart. Leon flourished the red fabric in front of him like a matador before jumping away at the last second to avoid the man’s charge.

As Leon had hoped Hunter charged straight into the device Leon had been standing behind. The whole contraption shook with the force, small electrical bits falling off the side. A few of the more ominous-looking red wires connecting to the game disk in the center disconnected but the contraption maintained its structural integrity. Hunter recovered and had somehow grown angrier. Leon flourished the red cape and began to circle again trying to lead Hunter into another charge at the machine. He shouldn’t have known it wouldn’t be so simple.

Hunter activated an ability. It was one similar to Leon’s own Size Up ability except rather than growing in overall proportional size the ability only affected Hunter’s muscles. The veins prominent on his body grew a brighter shade of green for a moment then each one of Hunter’s muscles ballooned to inhuman size, making the man even more grotesque. His dick grew to at least three feet in length and likely would have brushed the floor if it didn't become erect. 

Leon hoped the sudden growth might have decrease the big man's speed but it seemed the opposite was true. Hunter charged at him like a bullet and Leon just barely jumped aside at the last second.

As Leon’s plan crumbled to dust he realized once again Edward had been right. His plan, lure Hunter into charging at the device, toppling the contraption and trapping his foe all in one ironic blow, was a stupid one. The device at the center of the room was large but not nearly large enough to keep the now colossal Hunter pinned. Leon suddenly felt like David facing Goliath without a sling. Still, he had to look as if he was in control lest Edward rush in and do something stupid. Leon at least had a chance against the massive Hunter, but Edward would be trampled in seconds with his unenhanced strength. 

Leon shot Edward’s worried face peeking through the door a cocky wink and gave his makeshift red muleta a showman-like shake. He thought briefly about activating his own size-enhancing ability and decided agains it, he couldn’t overpower Hunter, not when the man had five levels on him. Sizing up would only make him a easier target and the last thing he needed was to get pinned down.

Hunter charged again. This time Leon moved too late, though he dodged Hunter’s attempt to grapple him he was clipped by Hunter's shoulder as he spun away. The slight contact was enough to send Leon skidding across the smooth wooden floors like a rag doll. 

He had no time to recover from the crushing blow. From the floor, he heard the sound of rushing feet. On instinct, Leon activated his Inner Strength ability and launched himself into the air just in time to soar over a rapid charge from Hunter. With momentum and reflexes of the ability, he flipped once in the air before landing on his feet, crouched low next to a windowed wall ready for Hunter’s next attack. The loss of his only safety net for the next 108 seconds would have made him fearful if he could still be. Instead, it made him focused, and ready. In the tumble, he had lost a scrap of red fabric, and seriously injured his left shoulder even through his armored skin. He tried to move his arm and felt a shooting pain, dislocated or broken he couldn’t tell which. He would have to hope his animal endurance would heal it soon. 

Hunter’s charge that Leon had dodged taken him right into the far wall and he had gone through it, revealing a messy bedroom on the other side. Leon guessed that once he started charging it was hard for him to stop. Maybe his original plan had some merit after all. 

Hunter turned back around eyes insane with rage, spit flying from his mouth as he screamed and grunted unintelligibly. For a moment Leon felt bad for what this game had done for him but then he remembered how Hunter had been in life and felt the pity leave him. “Hey, Cassie just called and she said she didn't want to date an Incredible Hulk knockoffs.” Leon wasn’t sure if it was just the loud noise attracting Hunter attention or if the beast could accurately process the jab thrown his relationship. Either way he charged big bare feet tearing up the floor as he rushed at Leon with inhuman speed.

Leon took a deep breath, crossed his fingers, and gave one final wink to Edward, hoping his friend would remember him fondly if this didn't work out, then he ducked and rolled.

Hunter sprung like a cobra. If Leon had still been there the hit would have broken every bone in his body. Leon however was not there, and instead, Hunter charged right into the wall. It was a testament to his strength that he took nearly the whole side of the second floor with him, glass, drywall, bricks, and electrical wires all fell down in a shower of debris as Hunter fell to the dark ground below. Leon had to throw himself forward so as not to go down with the collapsing floor under his feet. He heard a crash then a slash then silence. 

Edward rushed forward and the two of them peered through the giant hole in the house to the yard below. Hunter lay with his swollen belly up floating in the frat's outdoor hot tub, his body having crashed through the tiled roof of the hot tub like paper. Leon watched as Hunter shrunk, first as his ability ran out then as the levels fell away. Hunter began to look like himself again before shrinking further into a scrawny ugly thing labeled as a level one wretch. The quest “Defeat Legion boss” updated itself to 1/2, though the “Stop the Legion’s plans” still remained at 0/1 which was concerning.

“That was amazing,” Edward said voice tender. He looked down at Leon’s shoulder and sucked in a breath. “Does it hurt?”

Leon looked down and winced at the way his muscular shoulder was twisted at an unnatural angle. “Yeah” he answered truthfully laughing weakly. Leon took a deep breath and prepared to pop his shoulder back into place. He didn’t feel fear but he still felt pain.

Edward stopped “may I?” He asked reaching out his hands. Leon nodded and Edward placed his hand on the hard dark metallic surface of his skin. Instantly the pain was replaced with an orgasmic pleasure that felt warm and intensely comforting. Gently at first then harder when Leon didn't flinch Edward wrenched Leon’s shoulder back into its socket. 

Leon smiled up at him. “Thanks,” he said simply, he was too tired to think of a joke or anything more to say. 

“I should be thanking you,” Edward said cheeks flushing. The two of them weren’t normally like this. They normally teased each other like brothers and let the mutual love they had for each other go unspoken. Now all the changes had them flitting about like scared middle schoolers. Leon wanted to wrap Edward up in a big hug and tell him it was alright but it was clear his friend had more to say. 

“Look I know this might not be the time, but I have something to tell you,” Edward said. Leon still found it hard to do anything but think about fucking when he was around Edward but he sensed his friend was serious and tried to pay attention. “I know everything is happening so fast, and our relationship just became physical which I feel bad about. I really didn’t know it was you I promise, but well I like you Leon, I have always liked you and not just in a friend way or a sexual way but also like you in a -“

Leon blinked and suddenly his friend was gone. He heard a faint scream getting more distant. His brain took an embarrassingly long time to process what had just happened. Edward had been right in front of him saying, well Leon couldn’t bring himself to think about what Edward was going to say, when he was ripped through the hole in the wall. Something metal had grabbed him around the waist and hoisted him into the air like a fish on a line.

Leon rushed to the opening and couldn’t quite believe what he saw. On the street a giant thing had Edward in its hand, no claw. It was a machine Leon realized. It looked like it was made from a refrigerator, parts of a playground and a car, all deconstructed and reconstructed into a giant vaguely humanoid mech. Leon felt his blood boil as he saw a red bumper with a familiar license plate. Mother fucker had made his car into a mech. 

Leon’s rage continued to build as he saw Edward struggling to get free. His friend was saying something to the person inside but he was too far for him to hear. Leon looked back at the machine still humming behind him. He grabbed a loose brick from the rubble of the caved-in wall then hurled it at the center motherboard as hard as he could, hoping that would put a stop to whatever the contraptions purpose was. Then he activated his Size Up ability, growing 70% his original size, spine expanding, pecs ballooning, legs growing longer and thicker, penis growing to well over a foot long. His strength doubled and Leon for the first time felt the intoxicating rush of true power. He knew he now had to be one of the strongest man on the entire planet. Leon needed more. He activated his inner strength ability, taking his already monstrous strength to godly levels if but for a moment. Leon bent his legs and then jumped into the cold dark night cracking the floor underneath his feet. He sailed in a long ark landing just behind the mech with a powerful earth shaking impact.

The street outside was cold but his blood boiled hot. Leon couldn’t make out the face of the mech’s driver but he could see the name tag floating above its head, "Alvis, Level 22 Technocrat.” Leon smiled humorlessly and balled up his hands into fists now the size of thanksgiving turkeys. He was going to get back his roommate, his best friend, even if he had to rip apart his other roommate and every machine in the whole city to do so.

[dreamingofbabylon]

Listen, if you work in the US please just listen for a second.

I think it goes without saying the job market is in utter shambles. If you're working or job hunting please please please take some time to familiarize yourself with the workers rights laws in your state. We will never make headway in advancing our rights if we don't understand and advocate for the ones we have.

there are a lot of things to watch out for, but this is one many people don't seem to know about. I definitely didn't until uh. recently. (I'm not an expert, and this is not professional legal advice, I'm just sharing my experience within my own state and situation. Check your state's Department of Labor website for resources/info)

Please be aware that some jobs may try to hire you as an independent contractor. If you aren't seeking contracted work, this is a RED FLAG.

In very basic terms, and employee is your typical job. You get a W-2 at tax season, and taxes are taken out of your paycheck automatically. Your boss sets your schedule and duties, and provides the training and tools to do your job. You have no ownership of the business, and they set the rules.

If you are an independent contractor, you are essentially a business owner. You can be hired to provide a service, which is done on YOUR terms. You provide your own equipment, hire your own team, prepare your own taxes (probably a 1099), and the person paying you can't train you or tell you how to do your job.

If those criteria are not being met, but you've been hired as a contractor instead of an employee, you may have been illegally misclassified.

Why do employers do this? Basically, employees are promised certain legal rights and protections, which do not necessarily apply to independent contractors. So sometimes businesses will try to (illegally) get the best of both worlds by hiring you under their terms (setting your schedule, duties, etc) without the liability, expenses, or insurance and tax burdens of hiring an employee. Then at tax season, YOU owe the IRS a shit ton of money, and you have no writeoffs because of course you don't. you don't have business expenses for someone else's business

if you think you've been misclassified, or have experienced ANY mistreatment at work, please speak with a professional.

Talking to a lawyer may seem intimidating and expensive. But many employment lawyers offer free consults. They will hear you out for free, and tell you if you have a case.

In my personal experience, my lawyer met with me and reviewed all the evidence and info I had. They contacted my previous "employer" and their legal counsel on my behalf for free. They negotiated a settlement for me, and all I owed them was a percentage of that settlement. If they couldn't get me anything, I wouldn't have owed them anything.

These are just things I wish I had known earlier, so I'm sharing in case it can help even one person not get fucked over. Advocate for yourself. Unionize your workplace. KNOW YOUR RIGHTS.

[clawsdevour]

his confession

wc: 1.4k content warning: you’re both in hs!! (inarizaki), established relationship, kita x reader, fluff, not proofread

note: nonchalant kita tsk tsk what a cutie, written for anon! <3

キ*.,"

Time spent with Kita was always blissful ever since you started dating. The cherry blossoms fell from their branches and swayed down onto you both, painting a scene where he stood in front of you.

You always knew him as the sweet and demure friend who’s involved with the volleyball team. Recently, you’ve been noticing the hints Kita’s been dropping around. ‘I can walk you home..’ he’d tell you when it’s getting late. Or ‘Here you can have mine’ when you really wanted something that he has. You find his gestures of kindness tugging the strings at your heart. However, you couldn’t tell if he was his usual good-natured self or if he had true feelings for you the more you got to know him.

It was until that day before he went off to volleyball practice. Kita’s finger gently tapped on your shoulder, inviting you to walk home with him after school, knowing you also had extracurricular activities. Nodding at his subtle request as you usually end up walking home with him.

He made it to the front before you, changed into a plain black tee and shorts from practice. Kita’s standing in the middle, fiddling with his fingers when he heard your shoes clank towards him. His dull brown eyes lit up at the sight of you when he tilted his head up.

“Sorry Kita! Did I make you wait long?” Caught up to him, his complexion is more pink than usual. The energy was a bit off and awkward but nonetheless it’s always comfortable silence, just not this time.

“No, I didn’t wait long,” Kita began to slowly walk down as you picked up his pace while making small conversation with him. ‘How was practice today?’ were some things you asked him, he replied with short clear answers this time.

Coming to a halt, a few inches behind him. His head twisted to gaze into your glossy eyes as he swallowed deeply. You’ve never seen the calm and collected Kita act like this before, it was as if  something was eating him inside. He’s biting down on his bottom lip, as his eyes surged for words.

“I like you.” Time stopped for a moment while you digested his words that rang louder than the last school bell. His lashes fluttered down, thinking the gasp of shock you let out was a negative reaction towards his genuine feelings.

“I understand if you don’t feel the same way–” You cut him off with a warm hug that wrapped around his broad shoulders, altering his sorrowful face in surprise. His big hands catch you and pull you tighter in his embrace. His face in your hair, sniffing the scent of shampoo.

“Does this mean.. That you like me back?” Kita’s pulling you away for a brief moment by your shoulders to glance at your face which was now a tint of pink. His blank smile, turning into a broad grin as if he had won a volleyball game when he asks you this trivial question.

“Yes it does! I always had these feelings whenever I saw or thought of you.. I really like you too,” you’re beaming through your lashes that bat from happiness.

Ever since that small gesture that triggered the event that led to your blooming relationship, you’ve been dating ever since. Of course you both had your own separate lives, especially on campus as you both enter your third year. You guys were rarely seen together now that you were put in different classes as your high school careers continued to grow. 

At the end of second year, he was crowned captain for Inarizaki’s boys volleyball. You couldn’t be any more prouder, but that also meant that he’s going to be even more occupied with volleyball especially with his teammates. These challenges didn’t stop the way you both had an amazing and healthy relationship with each other though. You both promised to communicate everyday whether or not it’s a simple ‘Have you eaten?’ text or a late night phone call, sometimes you guys would meet up when your schedules aligned for some time alone with just the two of you.

You both were pretty discrete when it came to revealing your relationship to others. Especially Kita, he’s more focused when he’s just in the moment. If something comes to mind, he’s bound to bring it up. But when he’s all busy trying to strategize for his team, that’s all he’s gonna be thinking about. At some point you do cross over his mind, usually at the end of practice or an official game.

Kita hasn’t even said anything about dating when it came towards the volleyball team. That was until him and the boys were all changing after practice. The Miya twins are always bickering, but both decided on a delicious place to get food after the team leaves the lockers. They both craved some fresh hot food and wanted the team to come along to celebrate now that Nationals were over.

“Mr. Perfect Kitaa, let's get some piping hot udon once we leave!!! The whole team’s goin’ tonight,” Atsumu’s voice shouted from the other end of the locker room. Immediately turned down with a single hand gesture, as Kita slips on his shirt over his head.

“HUH?? What are ya doing after practice today? Y’ur usually always available!” His loud whining echoing off the walls, while the others are staring back down at Kita.

“I’m seeing my girlfriend today.” Kita’s cold voice froze the whole locker room. Suna’s ears pointed, listening in on the conversation from his head inside his locker. The room radiated with absolute silence, as if waiting for the volleyball to be served across the court. 

“YA got a girlfriend?? When did y’all start dating? Kita, WHY haven't ya told any of us??” Everyone’s eyes and attention were all pointed towards the team captain, darting him in shock as they all tried to process this information that Suna didn’t even know.

“Well you guys never asked–” Everyone’s astonished face rushed towards the half naked Kita who just wanted to put on his pants. Ears are all open ready for his story. Suna’s on his phone, recording the moment as if he were Inarizaki's news reporter.

Atsumu’s expressive face was still stuck in an ‘oh’ waiting for Kita to speak more on his relationship. But right before Kita was able to part his mouth Atsumu’s curiosity got the better of him.

“Don’t tell me Kita… ya got y’er first kiss before I did...” Breaking the intense silence that erupted in laughter. Kita’s thankful for the light weight air that broke through, flashing a smile thinking about where to start with your relationship and how you even met.

“Um.. yeah” looking up at Atsumu to answer his statement, smiling with his eyes while he’s thinking about you. Everyone in the locker? They were beyond gagged. Kita was the first in the group to date, which was shocking considering how Inarizaki’s got the popular Miya twins.

His phone vibrates inside his metal locker, you were calling him to know that you just wrapped up your extracurricular and are now heading out towards the front. Of course, his teammates were dead silent trying to peep into your call. 

“I’m leaving first, I don’t wanna leave my girlfriend hanging” dragging on his coat, fixing the collar before zipping it up. The team’s heads rotate while he grabs his bag on the way out of the locker room.

“We’re definitely gonna spy on him, right Osamu?” was heard on the way out, followed by a “Lets go.”

You’re standing at the front on your phone waiting for your boyfriend Kita, until you hear his voice call out for you from behind. The closer he walked, the more he picked up his speed. The faster he went, the closer he’d be with you. 

“Kinda got caught up with the guys again. I thought they knew we were dating, but I guess not haha.” Kita’s smile is brighter than the sun while hands entangle with yours. But you sensed something that he also brought along with him. 

Peering behind you for a quick glance, you saw the whole volleyball team behind the school building. Especially the one with a phone, and two slick foxes that quickly ducked out of your vision. You thought this was silly and cute, clinging onto your boyfriend’s arm contently before parting your lips to let out a little giggle.

“Hehe, did you notice that you’re getting tailed right after you left?”

masterlist here

[moonlightshaiku]

Oops!

Spock x Reader

Word Count:

Warnings: second hand embarrassment, puke

Ao3: N/A

Notes:

I just like the idea of accidentally giving spock a vulcan kiss, okay????

Tag List:

You knew that Mccoy's response of "Well be more social, then," was a result of him being busy. Not paying attention. But, you'd taken it to heart.

Being alone in your room so often had tanked your mental health. Introverted or not, part of "self care" is letting out your thoughts and feelings.

You can't help but think that self care is too complicated. Hygiene in itself is a fifty point list.

The best plan you had was to introduce yourself to someone. That in itself is difficult. There are too many options and techniques.

It was hard when it was just humans—or at least, mainly humans—back on Earth. But in the Enterprise? With even more races and cultures? Squeezed in? Together?

You enter the lift, blandly speaking out your destination. It's only when you notice the shoes next to you, shining, that you realize you have a chance to just— do this. Get it over with.

The anxiety swells in your throat, and you can't help but think it's not worth it. It'll take so much effort, and if you don't say anything, they'll never know.

"Good morning!" You chirp, before you can put to much thought in. It's much more gruff than you meant. You realize, as you swallow, that this is the first time you've spoken today.

You almost wonder if they're going to reply, but then you see a hand.

It barely takes a second to connect the dots. A handshake! Easy.

In your excitement at the ease of this venture, you bring your right hand to meet their left—and—oh.

Wrong hand. Your hands are touching. Theirs is straight, yours across it. Your ring and little finger are touching the side of their hand, your thumb tucked over their's.

You glance up at them, you don't make eye contact.

Your first two fingers presses against their last.

His last. His last two fingers.

He's male.

"Oh sorry, wrong hand!"

A Vulcan male.

He's Spock.

"Oh shit."

You jerk your hand back.

"The crude wording is not needed, Lieutenant-Commander."

"Spocckkk." You draw out through your teeth, voice high pitched.

"Yes?"

The doors open, no one is there.

"I am. Fuck, I am sorry. It wasn't— fuck, sorry."

The door closes. The lift remains still.

"I didn't mean to—" you take a breath. "It wasn't my intention to—" you pause.

His eyebrows raise, your heart beats faster.

Can he report you for harassment over this? It was just a handshake— be pretty fucked up if he could.

It would be pretty fucked up if he couldn't, too. Damn.

He probably should report you.

He won't.

"Kiss you?"

The words feel like bile in your mouth.

Or are you about to puke?

"That's not a question. I did not mean to phrase that as a question." You attempt to repair quickly. "I did not want to kiss you."

Oh that sounds plan rude!

"Or, er— you know what I mean."

You blink at him. How long have you been talking?

"Are you done, Lieutenant-Commander?"

You stay quiet, and after a few moments, you realize that it's a genuine question.

"You can— you can call me Doctor. And yes. Sorry."

He nods. "Doctor. It was a mistake. It is of no consequence, and does not alter my opinion of you."

You nod, anxiety not fading. You do, however, remember to breathe.

"Can I make it up to you?" Is your timid reply. You find that Spocks eyebrows can reach impressive heights.

"I suppose so. However, I do not see a reason that 'making it up to me' is needed."

You let out a breathy chuckle after a long moment of silence, and it does good to ease the tightness in your chest.

"Okay." You breathe. "When... do you have time?"

Spock doesn't take any time to think. "Tonight would be sufficient."

You nod. "My quarters."

He nods.

"Okay, you'll probably have to add another bead, so it'll fit. Let me—" you shift closer to him, taking a look at the bracelet in his hand. "—look at it."

It's only slightly too small for him, now. He'd decided to use the small glass bead in an elaborate pattern of rust, royal blue and copper. You had used the large plastic beads, and jokingly put an S bead on the bracelet. Baby blue.

"I do not see the point in making bracelets, Doctor."

You laugh. He's been happily putting beads on a string. He'd taken around ten minutes just choosing colours.

"Only idea I could come up with, really. Part of human culture."

You lean over, shoulder bumping his. "Okay, that looks good. Can I check it?"

Spock's eyebrow twitches. "Yes. That is agreeable."

"Alrighty." You gently grab each end of his bracelet, and he sticks his hand out. You bring the bracelet up, cupping his wrist like a U.

"Huh." You huff, scooting forward. "Okay, yeah, that's good. Want me to tie it?"

You glance up, making eye contact with Spock. The green of his face makes your eyebrows crease, but his face stays impassive.

He nods.

You promptly begin tying the bracelet, tearing your gaze away from his.

Once you have it double knotted, you reach over to the table, retrieve the scissors, and grab his hand.

Once you've snipped the excess, you hide the knot under a bead.

"Doctor."

You hum. "Yes?"

When looking to Spock, you are met only by his unwavering stare and green cheeks. No words.

Your gaze travels down, your hand holding his.

"Oh fuck me."

"That does seem to be the message you are sending, Doctor."

[multifariousqueer]

hey ur writing a so good vould you write a smut with miles Morales( not 42) and reader using webs as hand cuffs, thanks <333

Ofc, babes!! IF ANY OF YALL HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THIS, SAY IT WITH ME KNOW. IF IT DON’T APPLY, LET IT FLY. LEAVE ME TF ALONE IF YOU HAVE ISSUES WITH MY SMUT BC I GENUINELY DO NOT GAF

A/N; Hey y’all. Keep requesting as always and if you have an issue with this particular piece of work or any of my other smuts, please feel free to politely fuck off 🥰(I’m sorry I’m so sick of the comments under my post y’all).

Warnings: imma try not to put too many bc Tumblr will shadowban this post and i gotta feed y’all, look at the request, b0nd@ge, fluff, br33ding,d1rty t@lk, nicknames, $mut,lmk if I missed some

As the rain pattered against your dorm window, you sipped from a mug of tea as you had just finished your English essay and designing Miles’ new web shooters. He was currently out using them and trying them out as you took notes on their flaws and how they could be fixed. Miles always told you not too worry about his web shooters and just focus on making his suit more durable and you always told him:

“I can do both, Spider-Man’s girlfriend/engineer always does both"

He would chuckle and laugh and say:

“As long as you’re happy, Mami."

Miles let you have a lot of creative freedom with his design seeing as you were also his “girl in the chair” assisting him on missions sometimes, designing/building him new tech, testing out new fluid combos and overall, keeping him safe. As much as Miles enjoyed you being active in his escapades, he worries that something will happen and you’ll be targeted and used for something horrible. You reassure Miles that this will never happen because there is nothing connecting you to his suit or machinery due to your advanced tracking system being untraceable by outside forces. You installed a firewall so potent, it took you three months of nonstop work to crack it. When you finally did, Miles and you had celebrated for a whole week.

As you enjoyed your unusual alone time, you waited for Miles to tap on your window and enter.

“Hey, Spidey. How’d they work?” you smiled at your tall boyfriend

“They held up, thats for sure. I had to stop a bank robbery and those guys had some pretty jacked up weapons but the shooters did their job. How are you amor?” Miles spoke

“I’m good. I pounded through my English essay and yours.” You said, grabbing his suit to tinker with some of the shooters leaving him bare in your room in only his mask

“What’s the essay on again?” He said, grabbing a shirt as you saw his visible goosebumps on his skin due to the sudden temperature change

“The effects of technology on modern civilization” you smiled at Miles

Miles chuckled at this

“Damn, they called you out, huh?” Miles said, climbing on your ceiling and attempting to web a bottle of water

“looking for something?” you smiled, waving his shooters at him

“yeah actually.” he smirked

“You’ll have them in a sec.” you said screwing something in

“try em now” you said, throwing them to Miles

Miles tried them and they worked perfectly, even better than you had anticipated. Of course, he tested them by webbing you to him.

“Thank you, mami. You always get me right.”

Miles pulled you in for a kiss. The kiss was long and passionate, you could tell he was incredibly grateful for the time and effort you put into him and his alter ego. The kiss could’ve lasted eternity as your mouths moved in perfect motion of each other before you pulled away:

“Should we try out new web formula?” you said barely above a whisper, your eyes fluttering open

Miles chuckled

“Nah, the current one will work fine for this”

Before you could ask what was going on, Miles webbed you to the wall. He turned you around so your stomach was against the wall. He made sure to strategically place the webs so that your hands and ankles were bonded extra tight to the wall.

“I’ve wanted to do this forever” Miles said

Miles webbed your mouth before you could say anything and started rubbing you through your clothes. He fondled your perfect tits and cursed under his breath:

“Shit I’m so lucky"

He sucked on your neck as little moans and whimpers escaped. He moved his hands under your clothes and ripped them in one swift motion:

“I’ll buy you a new top and shorts, mami” Miles said

You moaned out an “awww” but it was quickly interrupted by Miles rubbing your clit while leaving kisses along the back of your neck. You felt a knot in your stomach and you wanted nothing more than to moan out Miles’ name as you approached your orgasm.

You felt yourself twitch as you moaned and whimpered, tears falling from your face as Miles stopped and started palming and smacking your ass:

“You thought it was gonna be that easy, Mami? como si no me conocieras” Miles taunted in your ear

All you could do was just moan and cry as you were completely under his command. He then snaked two fingers inside of you and started prepping you for his dick:

"Es tan apretada, mi princesa” he said, lowly

Miles knew that when he spoke Spanish to you, you get flustered and shut down. You turn into a giggling mess and this situation was no different; It didn’t help because Miles was kissing your sweet spot on your neck causing you to feel overstimulated. Your legs shook and you were practically sobbing as your boyfriend abused your technology and your body:

“Fuckkk you wanna cum, Mami? You want me inside of you, princesa? I wanna fuck your tight little pussy so bad I’m gonna cum in your womb when I’m in there. You gonna let me? You gonna let me make you feel good, hm?” Miles taunted

“Mhmmm” you mumbled. You nodded and turned to face him.

“If you weren’t webbed, I’d make you beg for it; but you’re formula makes it so that you won’t be begging for another three hours” Miles smirked

“mmmmmm” you mumbled

All this time, Miles was taunting your hole with his head, pushing it in and out and watching your hole drip with anticipation. You were sobbing and all you wanted was to feel full and to cum but Miles more interested in watching his powerful, smart girlfriend, fall apart on his cock like putty. The lewd sounds your pussy exuded were driving Miles crazy as he watched you beg for him with your eyes.

Miles pushed himself in and bottomed out. Your soft, plush walls sending his senses into overdrive as he forced himself to move and not just enjoy your pussy squeezing around him. The feeling of being full and the sight of Miles inside of you was enough to make your high return on steroids. Your legs shook as you moaned and whimpered alongside Miles’ own whimpers and groans. As you approached your highs, Miles’ thrusts became sloppier and harder as your body followed the rhythm of his thrusts and began to shake. Before you knew it, your eyes blurred, and you let out a long drawn out moan and a wave of pleasure came crashing down on you; had it not been for the webs, you would’ve fell to your knees.

Not long after, you felt Miles twitch and his movements stilled as he emptied his cum inside of you, his breathing became heavier as yours did too. Miles placed soft kisses along your figure and whispered praises against your body:

“Fuck you’re so beautiful, Mami. I love you so much. You did so well"

You felt yourself get weak in the knees but Miles had been supporting your stomach and your weight. You wanted nothing more than to kiss the man who emptied his cum into your womb but due to the webbing situation, you couldn’t. Miles felt this and he snapped the webs off of your hands and ankles in a flash. As you both were calming down, you saw a geometric blast of light before seeing Gwen’s face:

“WOAH! uh did I catch you guys at a bad time?” She asked awkwardly, covering her eyes.

You and Miles exchanged glances before he smirked and you felt the heat rise to your cheeks

[damagedcoda6669]

okay so i am. so confused! are you a system/plural after all?

you made a post on your twitter about being the "original host" which is. a plural term of course but ALSO i'd like to say that the idea of there being an "original" is veeery misleading and not actually possible in DID/OSDD

the reason DID/OSDD exists at all is because a child's identity was unable to fully form in their developmental years, so the identity splits off and fractures into several parts necessary to keep the child safe. because of this, there can be no "original host" because there was never an identity formed that could be considered the "core," in a way, at all. it gives off the idea that there was one set identity that split off others later on in life, which isnt how DID/OSDD works in terms of alter formation

also, the disorder can only be developed in your early formative years, so its mostly unheard of for a system to go through life with a single part only to split off later on. your brain splits off alters in response to stressors or traumatic experiences, and so when the disorder is formed there would have to have been a fracture from the beginning where your identity wasnt able to come together to form a single one. multiple alters can be "original," in a sense, but there is not one sole original

i suppose that other alters could have simply been integrated and so they arent a part of your system anymore (leaving you as the "original host"), but thats probably not my place to explore and its all a bit too complicated for a tumblr ask

there are parts that have been around longer than all the other parts and there are parts that identify with/as the body or the head of the system, buuuut i just wanted to share that tidbit of information because misinformation can be very harmful when it comes to healthy plurality!!

in any case, dont let this cause you to spiral into more self-doubt because — surprise! DID/OSDD is supposed to be hard to understand or identify within yourself. its a trauma disorder formed to make you as functional as possible, so generally the disorder tries very hard to hide your other parts from you as to protect you from those traumas. being confused is a major part of plurality, and most long-term hosts do have the misconception of being "original" because there was no reason to think otherwise.

its also fully possible that you have been the host for the majority (or entirety) of your life, so dont get me wrong! im just trying to share that the idea of an "original" alter isnt possible.

regardless of whether or not you're plural, i wish you the best in exploring yourself and the way that your brain functions. you're doing great, truly!

and if i misinterpreted anything, im deeply sorry for that too. i'm just a stranger on the internet trying to provide input using the information i was given, and i genuinely dont mean any offense by this ask. DID/OSDD is also something i'm very interested in and passionate about as an autistic individual, so... im very sorry for the essay

THIS IS SO HELPFUL U HAVE NO IDEA. I KNOW NEXT 2 NOTHING ABT PLURALITY AND SYSTEMS. dont apologize 4 the rambling, its much appreciated!!! i get the same way abt bpd and autism so i get it!!! psychology and mental disorders r one of my special interests so im the same way!!! ^_^

i guess my post moreso came from the concern that i only have vry vry spotty, fuzzy, sometimes FAKE memories of my childhood, if any at all (id say i remember less than 1% of it, and most of what i "remember" is only becuz of photo evidence or testimony from other ppl) and my identity only rlly formed when i joined the internet at maybe 12 yrs old. so i sometimes have doubts that i formed when the body was born, but rather that i was created and that im a product of the internet inparticular, but that might also be a delusion??? its confusing, whenever i get ideas abt my identity they turn out 2 be fake sometimes. its hard 2 pinpoint what i am. so i was trying 2 say that i dont think ive been here since the birth of the body and that i spawned later on. idk if im explaining myself correctly, its hard 4 me 2 understand. but i appreciate u correcting me and explaining it 2 me in a way thats easy 4 me 2 digest!!! i dont want 2 spread misinfo evr.

i think im plural??? ive had liek 8 headmates (and a headspace at one point) that ive been able 2 identify, but nobodys rlly taken me srsly abt it until vry vry recently. ive always been told that im making it up 4 attention, or that im faking DID, and i was even told by a dumbass doctor that it was just my autism and that they were all imaginary. i nvr rlly claimed 2 be plural either, i always just got shot down whenevr i introduced the possibility of there being other sentient ppl in my brain. but i think that i am, probably. im not sticking 2 any labels atm becuz im confused and uneducated abt my headmates and im not diagnosed w anything, but i feel comfy with plural as a label becuz its a vague umbrella term. i nevr claimed 2 have DID becuz ive always known that my headmates cant front and take over my body (ive even asked one and she told me she couldnt LOL) ALTHOUGH. they MIGHT be able 2 front simultaneously as me, ive had edgy (whos currently dormant) finish art 4 me if i got tired, back in 2020 when he was still active. and i know alters fronting is a diagnostic requirement for DID (i think???) but i dunno. theres SOMETHING up w my brain.

i tried 2 post abt it on twitter actually, that i thought i was plural (a handful of ppl asked me so i wanted 2 confirm) but i deleted the post like an hour later becuz i wasnt getting any comments or likes and i was scared that i did something wrong and didnt know, or that im not actually plural and other plural ppl were mad at me 4 using their label. it made me so anxious >n<

i am such a yapper.. 4give me

[corinescorner]

Throwing in my two cents to the whole conversation on the harm of fakeclaiming & faking

Fakeclaiming, honestly, has a LOT more capacity to hurt actual systems than it does someone faking. Because if you accuse someone who is faking of faking? They likely aren't going to admit to it, and it likely won't bother them because they already know that. But you fakeclaim someone who either isn't intentionally faking (in which case they likely have a similar problem and just need time to figure it out) or someone who actually is a system? It's a lot more likely to do harm, because they aren't intentionally faking, and both with similar disorders to CDD's and CDD systems... it can cause a lot of symptoms that would cause them to be more affected by fakeclaiming. Even if they're diagnosed! CDDs come with symptoms like derealization & depersonalization, which can make it easier for fakeclaiming to alter their self perception and begin to question or even deny being a system, which can cause a lot of problems. And even systems who don't deal with this problem, it is a lot more likely that fakeclaiming will hurt them than it will "the fakers" because it generally sucks and is hurtful to have people tell you that your experiences are not real when you are being genuine about them. It can also end up pushing systems out of spaces and resources that were helping them, and make them feel unsafe, and like they have to hide who they are.

Meanwhile faking, by itself, honestly... doesn't do that much harm, I'd argue. Especially in comparison to the harm fakeclaiming can do. For one, a lot of faking isn't going to be found out/confirmed unless the person outright admits to it. And unless it's found out it's effects on other people are... not really different from the effects of any other system existing openly. And when it is found out, most of the 'harm' I've seen talked about that that does is people using fakers as an excuse to not believe or even act discriminatory towards other systems. Which, I'd argue, is on the person using that excuse to act that way, as they are the one causing the harm. The other major 'harmful' thing I've seen people say fakers cause is spreading misinformation. Which, yes, is harmful. But it is nowhere near exclusive to fakers or even really heavily prevalent among them in comparison to other groups. Non systems, who have never claimed to be a system, spread misinformation about systems all the time. Hell, I've seen several diagnosed CDD systems spread misinformation. Misinformation is harmful regardless of who spreads it, there's not some special harm it does that is exclusive to fakers.

Sorry that was VERY long, I have Many Thoughts on this and wanted to share after the other anon you got & the post you made

This is very true. Thank you for this response! :)

[kindlespark]

this is gonna be SO long and rambly sorry anyway i saw a post abt how babel does queer characters and it got me thinking abt why the tropes it uses would usually turn me off other stories but didn’t here

MAJOR BABEL SPOILERS //

i feel like i’d be more mad abt how robinramy ended up in babel if it marketed itself as queer lit at all or if its fans were going “WOW AMAZING QUEER REP” abt it. but no one told me any of that, so finding out they were gay was just a fun little bonus surprise to me. i get why ppl are eh abt robinramy not getting together/technically still being subtext (which i dont think is really true btw like the book literally says “robin was falling in love” but idk i guess if you were stupid you might’ve assumed that it was falling in love with oxford given how romantic some of the other language is (WHICH IS ALSO THE POINT bc i think robin’s friendship with ramy blurring into romance is why he romanticised like all his friendships/experiences in oxford BUT IM GETTING OFF-TOPIC)). i just think robin’s repression abt being gay was intrinsically tied to his attitudes on imperialism (wrt refusing to acknowledge anything that complicated his life until it was too late) and i don’t consider it a cop out or queerbait. like i genuinely don’t think robinramy could ever have gotten together without drastic alterations being made in terms of plot and character. plus i think it’s clear that kuang didn’t want to write a story with any kind of focus on romance at all, because it’s not that kind of book. there’s no successful het romance either, so it grates a lot less. the only reason romance is included at all is to show the ways in which white entitlement manifests. so the tragic way robinramy played out just made sense to me.

and i speak as someone who accidentally spoiled myself on You Know What in the middle of reading and i was like ugghh boooo dreading it the whole time expecting to roll my eyes when it happened but then when it did i was like. wow im actually not that mad LMFAO 😭😭😭 actually thematically the book sets it up so well that i believed that this was unfortunately the only way it could’ve gone. babel is about the loss and tragedy and grief that colonised people experience. it’s about the lengths people will go to to uphold empire and the lengths ppl will go to to tear it down like idk 😭 i guess it is bury your gays but it didnt bother me this time because i thought it fit thematically ❤️ i enjoy tragedy as a genre a lot and i would’ve made it gay anyway you know. thanks rf kuang for doing it for me so i didnt have to.

WHICH IS ALL TO SAY that i guess if you’re going into babel for the queer rep without appreciating that the story is fundamentally a tragedy it would feel like it’s just reusing tired tropes….. but i think the choices kuang made were rly deliberate and not in a way that feels like trauma porn or shock value. the book is fundamentally about the struggles of poc so the layer of queerness that was introduced felt like a subtle extension of the experiences of characters of colour in the book, and i enjoyed and related to it as a queer chinese person who kind of realised they had to prioritise their fight for the liberation of poc over queerness mainly because the idea of western queer liberation cannot be dissociated from imperialism and many aspects of homophobia as we know it was an export of christian european empire into our colonised countries in the first place and FUCK THIS IS A WHOLE OTHER TANGENT ABOUT HOW I THINK RAMY AS A CHARACTER IS EMBLEMATIC OF THE TENSION AND STRUGGLE THAT QUEER POC DIASPORA HAVE BETWEEN OUR IDENTITIES GODDAMNIT OK FORGET IT POST CANCELLED i just rly think babel’s handling of queer characters is fine and makes sense and i like it personally and maybe i will make a coherent analysis about it one day but that day is not today byeeeeeee

[needybimbopuppy]

Feel free to save this ask til youre more lucid (sorry for asking the genuine kink advice question during your intox session) but how does hypno actually work? Ive rped hypno type stuff during scenes with my partner, but that just amounted to pretending to be hypnotized, the closest ive ever come is slipping into subspace for a bit. Is it kind of like that, is it completely pretend, or is there more to it?

sorry i took so long to answer! i wanted to make sure i had the spoons to answer it because hypnosis (specifically erotic hypnosis, but hypnosis in general) is one of my genuine special interests. i love talking about it so much!! i'll try and be as concise as possible but because it'll probably be fairly long i'm adding a read more!

if you have any questions or want me to expand upon certain things, please feel free to ask! even if you're not this anon and just have other questions i love hypnosis and i love educating people on it!

so! first thing's first, to clear up some basic myths: hypnosis is in fact real. it is not a commonly studied phenomenon, but it is something that there's still quite a bit of supporting evidence for and a lot of examples of it. this makes it, technically, a pseudoscience. that word has the connotation of being fake, but all it really means is that we haven't empirically proven its existence, as hypnosis is just generally not studied on an academic level, if that makes sense. there is a lot of hobby research around it! there are even a few full on conventions.

that being said, hypnosis (and to expand upon that) and other mind control kinks are also very commonly simply roleplayed as well without necessarily going into the technical know how hypnosis tends to require! it is not a necessity to engage with actual hypnosis, but it very much does exist and imho creates a really strong basis for actual hypnosis.

see, the states of hypnosis and subspace are incredibly similar. they're not the exact same, but hypnosis essentially works by taking a state of trance — an altered state very similar to subspace —and using that state of trance to essentially bypass the concious mind to speak to the subconcious mind. and people reach these states of trance really easily every day without realizing. i'm not a driver so i can't speak to this, but the most common form of trance is a phenomenon called highway hypnosis. have you ever driven somewhere and realized you arrived without necessarily being concious of getting all the way there? that's a state of trance. or how about playing video games and then realizing you lost hours? another state of trance.

hypnosis is the skill of guiding someone into these states typically verbally and then using those skills to alter thought patterns as these trance states tends to allow someone to do things like alter thought patterns or install triggers (i.e every time the hypnotist does something like snap, the subject would go deeper, things like that).

entering trance is a skill of its own too. a lot of people get discouraged because it's hard to reach that state immediately, but it genuinely takes practice to allow yourself to be molded as well. it takes time to carve these neural pathways in a way that makes it more accessible; a newbie might be really difficult to bring under, but someone who's been a hypnotic subject for a decade is a lot more used to the sensations and how to give in.

there is a lot of nuance to hypnosis and how it works and what's possible and what's not, of course. not every methodology is going to work for every hypnotist or every subject, and a large part of it comes down to two very key things: trust and repetition/consistency. i, sadly, have not reached this level with anyone yet but i have seen people who have played together for years pulling off feats like control without trance, deep personality rewriting, etc. it's genuinely very fascinating even just to research.

of course you can do hypnosis with anyone. you don't need all that for temporary triggers or brief fun, i just mean to emphasize the power those two elements can have! i've gone under for people i've known for five minutes, but they'd never be able to rewrite key things.

generally, hypnosis is best with a real living person, but it's also possible via things like written trances or audio files.

this was already a lot so i'll cut myself off here but please reach out if you want to know anything!!!

[muzzleoleum]

i have a question for yall, what do you guys think the most important non-human terms are?

not saying like which are more valid, im asking if someone didn't know where to start in figuring out where they fit or what/who they are, what terms would be a good place to start exploring experiences and where someone fits?

i need to make a list of some terms for my partner so i can help them out n make them feel better about it :3 im going to include shifting and holothere n stuff, therian, alter human, etc etc but i was wondering from the community what has helped yall the most!!! either in figuring out how you identify as non-human or what in particular you are!! maybe i will make a long post with my list for anyone who needs it!! (after my partner of course, im sorry yall /lh)

any kind of non-human/alter-human please interact!! physical, psychological, spiritual, voluntary, involuntary, PLEASE interact and talk about your experiences :))

(for some extra context, and particularly for the love of my life, space, celestial, and deer identities that are more niche would be very very appreciated so i can relay it to them bc they don't have tumblr, yet..)

(i have always known and been certain in what i am so i haven't really had the experience of having to figure these things out as much (besides finding an adequate term) so i genuinely just want to help them as much as possible, because i love them so so deerly <333 (ehe deer-ly)

[cure-icy-writes]

Penny's trying her best to reconnect with her father.

Penny is trying, she's really trying, and she wants to reconnect with her family. She's introduced her dad to Arven, who's clearly starving for parental affection, and she's invited Nemona on one of their Galarian raid adventures. She even brought Juliana over once or twice.

All of her friends say about the same thing. Your dad is really cool, Penny. You're lucky to have him. Arven acts like an old man and is already developing dad hobbies, Nemona is the perfect enthusiastic daughter that Penny could never be, Juliana has a good-natured personality and is willing to try anything at least once.

It's just… Penny isn't any of those things, not really. She's quietly snarky and kind of a bitch sometimes. She's introverted and likes her veevees more than people. She's fatigued easily and doesn't know how to communicate, so she does shit like pressuring Juliana into a series of heartbreaking battles because she doesn't know how to talk to her friends.

She wonders, sometimes, why people still like her or hang around. She's depressed and self-loathing to the point of toxicity, feeling guilt for so much as touching people.

"Man, you need to get better taste if you consider me a friend," she joked once, to Juliana.

Juliana had just… slowed down. And stopped. Which was a crucial mistake that made Penny feel like launching herself off a cliff. (Not that she'd die, just that it would be a way to escape the social situation.)

"Well, maybe I'm allowed to like whoever I want," she said, quietly at first, then her face screwed up. "I want to yell at you sometimes, that hey! You're liked, actually, and it's frustrating that you won't accept that!"

"Sorry." Poison, poison, poison. That's all she feels like she's made of. Unwanted muk.

"I'm sorry too."

"Why?" It came out more sarcastic than Penny had intended. Why would anyone apologize to me? I'm good at enduring it. I can endure so much. Why would you treat me with this softness?

"Because you deserve better," Juliana said.

If she's poison, if she deserves it, then it makes sense. She knows how to cope with enduring the shame and the guilt. She doesn't know how to cope with knowing full well the weight of what was done to her. She can only ever handle it when it's buried under layers of dissociation and metaphor.

She didn't know how to respond to that. It was a compliment, but she doesn't know how to accept those. Even when her dad compliments her, and her dad is the most genuine person she knows, she just feels an overwhelming wave of embarrassment.

"Do I?" Penny had asked.

"Yes. And just because you've been made to feel like that, doesn't change the fact that you deserve nice things."

Penny had sat with that for a while, thinking about her therapist from Galar who never got far with her anyways because she didn't trust anyone. About the time she cut her hair short, thinking that maybe if she just conformed, she'd be left alone.

It didn't help, in the end. The bullies just found some new attribute to pick on. She thinks those sorts of people are like Sharpedo with the scent of blood, who figure out you're trans and autistic long before you realize it yourself. If she'd come out as trans back then, she would have had the protection of a label and a community, and no one wants to be labeled a transphobe but everyone's eager to harass the guy who is just a bit too feminine.

Making herself miserable in advance never stopped anyone else from tormenting her. Pre-emptive punishment for her own perceived failure was never a viable strategy, and now she's left at a safe school with people who want to be her friends, flinching at shadows. And it's not fair to anyone.

She knows that she's damaged, she's not worthy of calling herself traumatized but she does feel fundamentally altered. Stunted. She doesn't know how to interact with genuine kindness.

But she wants to learn, damnit. She wants to believe that maybe the world doesn't hate her. So she asks her dad for help, for the first time in years.

He's overbearing as usual, broad movements and loud voice. She positions herself against the wall and wears her headphones, fidgeting with the dial so it cancels just enough noise but not too much.

"I'm really proud of you, Penny," he says, ruffling her hair. "Look at you! Getting your own furniture, that's a sign that you're becoming an adult. I can't believe my little girl's growing up so fast!"

"It's… not that," she mumbles. "Just. Arven's helping me clean. I wanted to get some of the dust out and sort some piles."

"Arven, huh?" Her dad's working on building the frame of the bookcase, while she's dusting off her books and measuring and figuring out how to sort them. "He's a good kid. Real hard worker, too!"

Penny isn't sure how to explain that it's a trauma response. So she doesn't explain. Except the longer she thinks about it, the more pissed off and frustrated she gets, that Arven has it so bad at home, that he's mature and responsible and won't ever have the chance to be a kid again while she can afford to be a kid for much longer because of her dad's hard work.

"Hey, what's that face for? Turn that frown upside down," Peony jokes, poking at her cheek.

She doesn't smile. "Arven doesn't have a good home life. That's why I invite him over so much." She's fucked things up, she's ruined the mood. This was supposed to be about father daughter bonding and she's dropped this. She's never going to talk about her feelings ever again. Her dad puts down the allen wrench, watching her. She just wants to hide.

"That's good, then. That you're giving him that chance. Ah, I know I'm not the brightest at picking up on these things," he admits, and frankly the autism is probably hereditary but he's not ready for that conversation yet, "but I'll do the best I can, okay? For you, and for your friends. All you have to do is ask."

And asking for help is such a mortifying fucking ordeal that she'd rather swallow a ghost pepper, frankly, but it's supposed to get easier in time. Allegedly. It's such a simple thing, the first thing babies learn, but it's been beaten out of her. She's the sort of girl who can endure anything, who can endure the impossible. But asking for help makes her want to sob.

"I'll try," she says, and this time it's not a platitude but a genuine hope.

[crepe-of-wrath]

Scarf Smut Saturday Snippet

Fellow simps, I have been super writers blocked this week--I think I'm intimidated trying to follow up last week b/c I really liked that one, so this leans on my favorite tropes and is a loose continuation of this one from two weeks ago. I also just really like the idea that the confidence and swagger that Aizawa gets from his Eraser Head alter ego--just think of that [extremely fucking hot] smirk he has when he's chasing Yaoyorozu and Todoroki--makes him more assertive in all areas of life when he's out on patrol. Warnings/tags/summary: 18+; fem reader; behavior that might be described as having highly obsessive or soft yandere tendencies; but absolutely no physical violence toward Reader

It had been seventeen nights since Eraser Head had rescued you. You had not slept well during any of them.

Maybe that's why he had to save you again. You were exhausted. Careless.

The thieves had been so petty that he'd just chased them off, not even breaking out his long scarf.

No, apparently the scarf was just for you. It wrapped around your torso and arms and he tugged it gently, like an owner coaxing a favorite pet. The idea of belonging to him like that filled you with so much want that you were unsteady on your legs.

You approached him slowly, and the sly grin on his face suggested this was pleasing to him. When you were finally right there in front of him, you cast your eyes down sweetly, trying to make yourself say at least "thank you, Eraser Head," but he tilted your chin up and started stroking your cheek. Every part of you was paralyzed by desire.

"Baby, what am I going to do with you?" His voice was so commanding. Your squirmed against the bindings yet again.

There was a part of you that wanted to see his eyes, but the goggles made him seem so stern and authoritative, a true master of the night, and that was quite hot too. "You're just so pretty and innocent and so, so alone. I don't think I can let you wander around like this any longer. I can't just spend my entire patrol following you around."

You blushed because you were genuinely embarrassed. It hadn't occurred to you that yes, you were distracting him from keeping the entire neighborhood safe. You started to open your mouth to apologize when he slowly removed his goggles. His eyes were clever and impish, suggesting he knew something that you didn't about how this evening was going to go.

All you could do was shiver with lust.

"Come on honey," said Eraser Head, loosening your bindings. "It's cold. Go ahead and snuggle in real close."

You gripped him as hard as you could, moving your hands to the juncture of his neck and shoulders, tentatively rubbing a little circle with your fingertips.

He hissed with pleasure, and you felt yourself flutter.

"Fuck, that feels good. I think it would be nice if we take care of each other. Will you take care of me if I take care of you, sweet little kitten?"

Still unable to speak, you furiously nodded YES and trembled again. He rubbed your arm, still thinking that you were just cold.

"Don't worry, baby. You'll be home soon."

He cast his scarf and was about to take you flying through the darkness when your brain finally restarted itself.

"I'm so sorry," you said softly. "I didn't tell you--I live back there."

He chuckled.

"I know where you live, silly little kitten," he said. "I live over there."

You tightened your grip around him.

"Okay."

"Good girl," he whispered, as he stole you away in the low light of the city night.

[tobacconist]

Okay like i actually feel so guilty and this isnt even a joke. i dont know how to say this without sounding insane but yes; wizards are real. i am one of them. no, i havent been to hogwarts. yes, i do have a wand. no, i won't show it to you. etc, etc. genuinely this weighs heavy on my soul. ive talked about this before but i feel like its important for me to write this out once again. j confess it: j was party to them what put that curse on jk rowling. (iykyk) like, bitch, im actually so sorry. it was never meant to go this far. i mean i never meant for... well, i dont think any of us did (originally) but now we are where we are, and theres no turning back. not now.

basically, there was a big uproar in the wizarding community after that play 'the cursed child' came out. idk, i never saw it. you see, jk rowling didnt actually 'write' the harry potter series. she 'wrote' it, but it was not actually 'wrought' by her, like... to put it bluntly, the original was all based off of real events (albeit with significant alterations) and ,madame, was the one chosen to write the 'muggle-redacted' version, because she has (distant) wizard ancestry. she herself is completely unaware of this. well then, anyway, then there was the fantastic beasts saga; and, like, we were ALL pissed off. even the muggles sensed that something wasnt right. it wasnt 'magical'. it was a disgrace. so... yeah... we did it. we... uh... put that powder on her doorstep, so to speak. we crossed some bones. it was actually nothing to do with transness at all to begin with, it was about some political shit to do with the labour party and jeremy corbyn? or something like that? idk, were not supposed to vote and be political, we have our own kings and queens. anyway yeah we were just sore about how we were portrayed in it and especially how she distorted the whole plotline about grindelwald and harrys children. like bitch, if youre listening, tell me: WHY DIDNT YOU WRITE 'THE FOUR MARAUDERS' LIKE YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO!? OR 'THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ALBUS DUMBLEDORE' OR 'HOGWARTS A HISTORY'? or ANYTHING ELSE! it could have all been so different... 'fantastic beasts'??? sorry what??? it was genuinely like smearing dogshite upon our screens. im sorry love, but were still right angry about it. we loved you... how... how could you? 'newt scamander' - who is this fellow? we have never heard of him. oh, what? did you feel some tingle of inspiration? some new character, who loves magical creatures. he was expelled from hogwarts... fond relationship with dumbledore... THATS HAGRID! THATS THE YOUNG HAGRID! FUCK! anyway yeah, i didnt watch any of the other ones cus it was just embarrassing to see johnny depp dressed up like that.

and ofcourse there was all the other stuff before that (dont forget to be awesome!) but basically we cast a spell, several spells, and sent evil fortunes to be upon her. i regret it deeply. but by gum was the woman strong! i beg you all to realise that she literally was not transphobic until we caused this incessant stream of abuse to be directed towards her. like, we literally did this to her. on purpose. it was a targeted campaign of psychic harassment and manipulation that we have put her through for YEARS, and its only a few months ago that she truly started to crack. weve all since disbanded, because covens never stay together very long; thats why hogwarts is only a dream - but the spells have been spoken and the weird it is weft, and it would be a strong hand that would unweave them. that is to say - it is ongoing, and i am so sorry sorry sorry sorry

and for the record :- transexuality/homosexuality/genderqueerness/goatfucking is literally not an issue in wizard society we literally have potions that can change your gender in an instant or turn it back again, most of us have non-human ancestry, and we regularly trade our sperm and eggs with other species such as elves and the chinese. so there.

[slasherology]

˗ˏˋ Intro post ´ˎ˗

I'm slasherology, but u can call me slash ^^

I use he/vamp/cute pronouns

I'm nonhuman and objectum <3

I am a system, each alter will tag our posts!!

Absolutely, feel free to ask them/us any questions about them/us (even source!)

we recently split a billion (/j) creepypasta introjects and now that's all we'll talk about!! I'm so sorry

! CW ! OUR BLOG CONTAINS TALK AND ART OF GORE

Blog Tags:

#⛤ slash creepypasta ⛤

#⛤ slash talks ⛤

#⛤ slash rant ⛤

#⛤ slash sys stuff ⛤

#⛤ slash sys stuff ⛤

#⛤ slash lgbtq stuff ⛤

#⛤ slash fanart ⛤

#⛤ alter posting ⛤ (whenever a specific alter posts somthing)

----

#⛤ jeffrey post 🗡️⛤

#⛤ ben post 🎮 ⛤

#⛤ tobais post 🪓⛤

(will add more later)

DNI:

everyone breaks my dni anyway

but so you can know my stances:

⛦ I'm actually not homophobic!! meaning I'm pro all lgbtq+ members and id's as long as their non harmful (yes lesboys, turigirls, gaybains, bigays (thats me!))

⛦ im pro recovery, i will not support IRL's who are not in recovery

⛦ adding on to that, im anti endo, here is some genuine science, if you are endo plz just block me, your community has already harassed me out of my old tumblr <3

⛦ if you police peoples identity terms (yes endos you don't count, being a system isnt a id, it's a disorder)

⛦ anti nonhuman, systems, lgbtq, obejectum, anything i id with obviously lolzz ^-^

If you recognize my blog or art from anywhere (I doubt you would lolz), I recently had a blog where I talked about how endos have affected us and was attacked (by endos ofc), breaking my dni and boundaries (as they do), which caused us to split! also leading me to make a new account <3

(userboxes under cut)

[purdledooturt]

WIP xDay

SO. @larvasmoon tagged me for WIP Wednesday but I lost track of the days - I'm so sorry!

Anyway, the last WIP I dug up for this turned into a full fic, so I had to find something else to post (we love suffering from success) - please enjoy this excerpt from the Dadstarion fic I'm working on in between other things ❤

Remember That I Love You

His daughter stood on a step stool in front of their mirror, making faces at her own reflection. Astarion, crouched low and armed with sewing pins, looked up to find her scrunching her nose while trying to lift her eyebrows. He clucked his tongue and shook his head. “Darling, do be careful or your face will get stuck like that.”

“Would you still love me, Papa?” she asked, and her face broke into a toothy grin as she turned to face him. Gods – with a smile that wide (missing front tooth and all) she looked very much like her mother, who was elsewhere pottering in the house.

The sudden movement made the cloth slip past his fingers. He tutted gently and without any malice, making a note to himself that, all things considered, she’d been unusually patient and still for this alteration session. She apologised, the words coming out almost as a reflex instead of a genuine apology before he turned her towards the mirror once more to continue rolling and pinning a new hem to her new skirt.

“Well?” she prodded again, careful to only turn her head towards him this time.

“My love, there is nothing you can do that will make Papa love you less,” he answered, truthfully and honestly. He loved his daughter unconditionally, and he did not think it initially possible until he had held her in his arms for the first time. “You know, you looked like a prune when you were born but I still loved you then,” he grinned at her, recalling the memory of her birth like it was only yesterday. Every detail came to mind with ease, her arrival to the world a bright flash of light in the timeline of his life. For someone who had been beaten into believing that you would only be valued for what you could give, Astarion found that he loved his wrinkly little child before she could offer him anything at all. “Mama and Papa will always love you.”

She hummed, and it was obvious the seriousness of his declaration went unnoticed. “Even if my face got stuck like… this?” She made another comical face, crossing her eyes and pouting. She looked nothing short of adorable. How could he, with all his sins, have made something so pure? He gave her nose a light tap, amused as her eyes followed the tip of his finger. The action made her break into giggles, which was a sound he wished he could bottle and hold to his heart forever.

“I suppose even then,” he sighed theatrically.

She began swaying side to side, as she put her hands out for him to hold. She was an affectionate child, and he’d found his personal bubble had grown and accounted for the shape of his daughter in it. The alterations were momentarily forgotten, as her skirt swayed side to side, half too long and half just right. “Even if… I don’t eat my vegetables?”

Cheeky thing. “Sure – but we would still give you a talking to, I think.”

“What?” she asked, and she nearly tipped herself off the step stool if not for his hands holding hers. “Papa, if you loved me you wouldn’t give me a talking to.”

Ah, yes – this deviousness could only have been his contribution to the development of their only child. “My sunshine, that’s not how it works,” he replies, “Nice try.”

The prompt came from Cinnamontails's discord (the prompt was provided by myself, and then taken by myself, like a greedy gremlin). As usual, I'm here to promote our little community - please come and join us!

I'm tagging @larvasmoon back, like a cheeky chook. I'd also like to tag @riskpig and @vyjuarts. And also, @bludazey (my love, because I have missed you), and @cinnamontails-ff (because I'm trying to coax more of that Rolan fic out of you, if it wasn't already obvious).

Fingers crossed I'll have something new soon (wink).

[mothergold]

hi bubby🫶 could i have jing yuan with hurt/comfort after where the main quest currently left off? with him getting you know.. reader hears the news and yeah🫣 i hope you can do something with this, if not feel free to ignore it bubs!!

I barely remember the quest so if I get some info wrong I am sincerely sorry lmao I am very much more a genshin than a star rail player, but I still love the game. So, here goes nothin <3 I altered some things a little bit to make this more angsty but other than that??? Enjoy?? Lmao Also this is my first time writing for Jing Yuan so if I mischaracterized him I’m so sorry </3

Jing Yuan x Gn!Reader

Warnings: MINORS DO NOT INTERACT, Gender neutral reader, hurt/comfort, Trailblazer quest spoilers, Blood and injury (Jing Yuan), I added some details that aren’t in the quest so this fic may not follow canon 100%, you’ve been warned, Crying, Jing Yuan is bedridden, about 700 ish words. I apologize if this is ass but I genuinely like it so who cares. 

When you heard the news, all noise became silent. Nothing moved, only your body which moved in slow motion. You remember hearing what happened but not the travel from home to his bedside. You squeezed his hand tightly and let your tears fall onto his blood soaked bandages. He looked so weak and yet, still so strong and optimistic. You couldn’t imagine a life without him by your side. You couldn’t imagine a life without his sunny beams radiating down on you, and the reality that you might only made you cry harder than you already were. 

Small sniffles turned into heart wrenching sobs. You couldn’t lose him. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever. This man was your everything and without him you were practically a puddle left after a heavy rain shower. You clung to him and sobbed until you felt the warm touch of a hand wrapping around your waist slowly and weakly. Jing Yuan. You lifted up your head to take a good look at him, scanning his face for any sign of further injury. If he was in pain then he hid it well behind his crooked smile. Even in moments like this he was so cheerful, but why? Didn’t he know he was allowed to show fear? Pain? Resentment? Even anger? He must’ve known, Jing Yuan is a smart man, after all.

“Are you okay?” You asked frantically.

He nodded with another smile, closing his eyes and wincing as he moved to adjust his position. “Mhm, peachy.” 

You could sense a tad bit of sarcasm but chose to ignore it for now out of fear that if you over thought it too much, that it would cause hurt feelings. Besides, what mattered now was taking care of your partner. 

“How are y-” He began to ask, but was quickly interrupted by you.

“What were you thinking? You could’ve gotten hurt, you did get hurt. You could’ve died.”  You scolded him. 

He looked away with an expression that was a mixture of embarrassment and annoyance, but he knew you were just scared beyond belief. “I know, I know, I should’ve been more careful.” 

You stared at him for a long while, both of you stared each other down until Jing Yuan eventually broke eye contact to let out a great big sigh. Squeezing his hands tightly with both of your hands you leaned in to give him a small kiss on the forehead, your lips shivered as tears fell down your cheeks. Jing Yuan wiped away your tears and shushed you, welcoming you into his arms regardless of the pain, and held onto you. 

“Shh, shh, it’s okay. Everything is okay now.” He reassured you. 

You curled up in a ball as you laid in his arms, holding onto him dearly as he shushed you into a quiet and peaceful slumber. Soon, he followed suit and fell asleep holding you in the hospital bed. You practically cried yourself to sleep but you couldn’t help it, not when the man you loved was alive, somewhat well, and holding onto you tightly just as he would if he were in full health. Maybe, not entirely in the same way, but it was pretty damn close. Days passed and you never left his side, not until he fully recovered and was back to the old Jing Yuan everyone knew and loved.