#The ability to never be overwhelmed in a negative way again

[comically-callous]

I'd like to request ROUGH Logan and reader with healing power the same as his, so scratching, slappingg and squeezing anything harshly is okay

Baby’s first time posting smut. I’M SCARED….

Logan Howlett x fem!reader with regenerative healing

Warnings 🚨: Smut, enemies to lovers kinda, reader and Logan have a screaming match, reader and Logan get rough with each other, biting, scratching, etc. car sex, implied age gap for like one sentence, unprotected p in v sex, that’s it I think. Tell me if I missed anything.

A/n: y’all I am too nervous about posting this. It took me a while to write, but I’m happy with how it turned out. Requests are open!!

Logan thought of himself as one of the key assets to the X-Men. Adamantium claws and regenerative healing were nearly an unbeatable combination against anyone. He prided himself on that, and that’s why he didn’t like you. When you joined the X-Men with regenerative abilities that very much mirrored his, it made Logan feel less special, almost weaker in a way. He’d never admit it. That would only make him feel even more weak. He was a grown man, for Christ’s sake. Why was he upset over something so trivial? He never thought on it for too long, and just continued to loathe you.

Well, tried to, at least. After the first few weeks of you being on the team and living in the mansion, his dislike for you began to be accompanied by something else, something he refused to acknowledge. But, he could feel it. Anytime your bodies got close, anytime his eyes lingered on your figure for a moment too long and his thoughts shifted from negative ones to ones of desire.

It only made him dislike you more.

The world always seemed to work against him and his conflicting feelings for you, forcing him to spend time with you, to be close to you, and this time was no different.

Logan tried to completely ignore the fact that you were in his van with him. Charles had made this a habit, pairing him with you for missions, forcing the two of you into close proximity. It pissed you off. Didn’t he know that Logan hated you? Sure, you guys were supposed to be on a team where you worked together. But, that didn’t mean you had to like each other.

You distracted yourself with a lighter that you’d found, flicking the cap open and watching the flame dance before closing the lid and repeating the process.

“Put that down”. Logan said after the first couple flicks of the cap.

“Why?” You asked.

“Cause it’s mine, and I told you to.” Logan said, suddenly taking the lighter from your hands.

You scoffed. “Alright, sorry.” You crossed your arms and shifted away, turning to look out the window at the thick forest the van was parked in. You were only able to sit in silence for a few minutes before your overwhelming boredom made you speak again. “Where are they?”

Logan huffed. Why couldn’t you just be easy to deal with? “You think I know?”

A stake out was essentially what the two of you had been sent out to do. But, the people you were looking for were nowhere to be seen and it’d nearly been an hour since they were supposed to arrive.

“I’m getting bored.” You complained.

“What do you want me to do about it?” Logan seemed to be getting more agitated by the second.

“I didn’t ask you to do anything. I’m just saying I’m bored. This is boring.”

“Be bored in silence. Please.” He gritted out.

You sighed. “Or we could talk without arguing for once.”

“Not happening.”

God dammit, he was impossible. It was like every time you tried to lower the barrier that had formed between the two of you, it only got higher. You had to bite back a groan of frustration.

“Did I do something?” You finally asked, gathering the nerve to ask the question that had been on your mind for a while now. “Like, something to make you not like me?”

“Yeah, you joined the team.”

You took a deep breath, trying to collect yourself. “You’re such an asshole.” You mumbled.

“Excuse me?” Logan perked up a bit and raised an eyebrow.

“You’re an asshole, Logan.” You repeated. You didn’t care about how nice, or, cool, or calm and collected you sounded anymore. If he didn’t try to be civil, then why should you? “I’m fine with you not liking me. Honestly, I don’t care. But, it’s the fact that you make sure I know you don’t like me. You’re a fucking jerk, Logan!”

Logan’s eyes trailed over your body, gaze filled with judgement. “You’re not exactly a saint yourself, sweetheart.”

You scoffed. “Really? What have I ever done to you? How did I hurt you? Please, enlighten me. Tell me what I did that was so wrong, so that we can-“

“Why does it matter so much to you?!” He snapped.

“Don’t interrupt me, you asshole!”

The two of you began to scream at one another, voices getting louder and louder in an attempt to drown out the other’s, until the both of you finally ran out of the strength to continue, left in only the sounds of one another’s heavy breathing.

“Would you please just tell me….” You were still trying to catch your breath and had to pause. “Just tell me what I did that made you hate me? Please.”

Logan took a long pause and looked at you like he was searching for something. He finally spoke. “I don’t have to tell you any-“

“God dammit, Logan!” You grabbed him and practically pulled him over the center console. “What is wrong with you?!”

Logan didn’t respond, his eyes widened slightly at the sudden display of strength and his eyes flickered across your face. His expression was one you’d never seen on him before (let alone directed toward you). For once it wasn’t anger, or annoyance, or hatred (though, you could still see remnants of all of that etched into the crevices on his face); it was something softer.

You thought you were making things up, and for a long moment the two of you just stared at one another, both searching for something.

You were the first to break the silence.

“Logan, what’s the matter with you?”

He peeled his eyes away from you, seeming to try and harden his gaze again. “Don’t know….. You just-“ He huffed. “I just have…. Conflicting feelings about you, alright?” He said the words quickly as if maybe that way you wouldn’t hear them.

“Conflicting feelings?” You repeated. “Care to elaborate?”

He looked at you for another moment, gaze falling to your lips, instinctively your tongue darted out and wet your lips.

That’s when he dove forward and his lips crashed into yours. It was thrilling, rough, passionate, fiery. Everything you’d expect from a kiss with him. Logan groaned into the kiss, hands going to grip at your waist as yours tangled into his hair. He tried to get closer, grunting in frustration when the center console got in the way. Breaking the kiss for only a moment, he put his seat back. You quickly caught on and crawled over the center console, settling into his lap where Logan started kissing you again.

His large hands had a firm grip on your hips and he began to guide them, making you grind against his hardening cock. You broke the kiss, tilting your head back slightly as you let out a soft moan, and Logan took the opportunity to begin kissing your neck. One of his hands came up to the back of your head, tugging on your hair to make you tilt your head back more, giving him more access to the sensitive skin of your neck. You continued to move your hips against his while he kissed your neck, the soft moans and grunts coming from the two of you filling the car. You felt his teeth nip at your skin, he felt your nails dig into his shoulders; and the both of you seemed to simultaneously realize (though, it was impossible) how badly you wanted to leave marks on the other.

After that realization, it was like a switch had flipped and the both of you were now showing no hesitation in your rougher movements.

It only took a few more minutes before Logan lost his patience and pulled away only to practically growl the words “Get in the back.” And a moment later, the two of you had moved into the backseat of the van. From there, the two of you hardly wasted anymore time with foreplay. You tugged Logan’s shirt off of him and ran your hands over his now bare torso while Logan pushed your shirt and bra over your chest, taking a moment to squeeze and then slap one of your tits before practically tearing your pants off of your body. You fumbled with the button of his jeans and pulled his fly down and then Logan pulled his length out of his pants.

Fuck, his cock looked perfect.

He buried his face into the crook of your neck, biting down on your shoulder as he slid into your already wet cunt. He groaned into your ear, his grip on your hips tightening as you cried his name.

The absurdity of this situation hadn’t sunk in yet. It hadn’t fully clicked for either of you, the strangeness of it all. But, as Logan began rutting into you in a pace so fast and desperate you’d think he’d been wanting this for years, you found yourself really not caring about how odd it was.

His breath was heavy against your hot skin as his hips kept up their rough, fast pace. Your nails dug into his shoulders and raked across the expanse of his back, leaving marks that immediately healed over.

“Feels so fucking good���“ He groaned. “Too fucking good.” His voice broke off into what almost sounded like a whimper.

You could hardly manage out any words, only hushed curses and cries of his name. Other than that, you could only moan helplessly.

Logan moved his head so that he could see your face. “Look at me, baby.” He said as one of his large hands moved to grab your jaw. “Fuck- I’ve wanted this for so long….” He shuddered and moved his grip from your jaw to your hair. “You know how many times—“ He groaned. “I’ve wanted to shut that pretty mouth up, wanted to bend you over and-“ He cut himself off with a shuddering moan. “Fuck, baby….” His head fell back into the crook of your neck as he panted. “M’gonna cum….”

You could only nod your head in response, a string of pleas and curses falling from your lips as your nails dug into his back. You weren’t far behind.

It only took a couple more thrusts from Logan for you to reach your climax. You threw your head back, crying out as your back arched. Logan gripped your hair to keep your head tilted back and he bit down on your shoulder. His thrusts became more sloppy, his breathing more labored. The moan he let out when he came was muffled by your skin.

For a moment, the car was only filled with the sounds of the both of you panting. When Logan pulled out, he practically collapsed on top of you with a deep sigh.

You chuckled breathlessly. “You alright, old man?”

Logan huffed, shooting you a glare. “Shut it, brat.”

For a moment you did go silent, catching your breath before speaking again. “How long have you wanted to do that?” You asked.

“Too long.” He replied gruffly. “Should’ve done something about it sooner.”

“Yeah?” You smiled. “Got a lot of time to make up for, huh?”

“Careful, doll.”

“Or what?” You asked. “Show me what you’ll do.”

And so he did.

[x-hotoke]

The Weakest Gojo.

content warnings: use of you/your pronouns, mean brother!Gojo Satoru, Male reader insert.

— GOJO SATORU

Gojo Y/n, the youngest and only brother of Gojo Satoru. You were always seen as a stain — a disappointment to the Gojo Clan’s family and reputation because of your illness. It affected your daily routine and abilities—making you weaker as you appear.

Your skin was paler than your usual skin tone, the skin under your eyes are sunken with the purple hue on it. You were forced to stay in your room — locked up with no entertainment other than the books they give you and your older brother, Satoru.

He always comes by and visits you every chance he gets. Sometimes he brings stuff that he thinks would entertain you for long.

He rarely sneak sweets inside your room even though it was forbidden because of your deteriorating health which the doctors never seemed to find a cure for.

But Satoru — A man of his words would scavenge the bestest of the best doctors in the whole wide world. He is indeed rich and he won't hesitate to give everything up just to see you in good health. But that's how you think of him.

He isn't always like that sweet and caring brother as you thought. You'll be lucky enough if you caught him in a good mood like this but it's one of the few rare moments you wished to experience over and over again.

He'll borderline invade your personal space and say the meanest things anyone can say to the point the Elders of your clan banned him from visiting you again but that didn't stop him though.

He'll threaten and intimidate anyone who steps in his way. What you mostly don't like about him being inside your confinement is that he annoys the heck out of you—always having that stupid smirk you hated whenever he would do things to get a rise out of you.

Something that you hated.

Whether it was a positive or negative reaction—Satoru doesn't care nonetheless—as long as he gets a reaction from you, he's done for today.

Being the Weakest Gojo means less attention and more discouraging words from the Clan.

Though you accepted it a long time ago that you'll never be good enough like your older brother, Satoru. Because even stepping outside of your confinement always ends up in the worst possible scenario.

Satoru will boast and rant to you about his day being a sorcerer and ultimately mentioning how he's the strongest sorcerer in the modern era. Unfortunately his side comments on you will never change nor be gone. He'll take every chance he gets to tease, poke fun at you, intimidate and make fun of your situation.

The first time you were able to stand all by yourself with no help, he was on his way to your confinement when he noticed you—hand on the wall—with trembling legs, trying to stand up properly outside the room.

Satoru was impressed and angry, he didn't expect this from you at all! You were always weak to stand up on your own and now here you are.

“what’re you doin’?” Satoru spoke up, stared at your trembling figure, you looked like you were about to collapse at any given time. He is indeed impressed, he didn't expect this from you at all because you aren't even capable of doing this by yourself or maybe he hasn't known yet.

You slid down the shoji screen carefully, breathing heavily. You were finally making progress! “Did you see that, brother-?”

“You aren't supposed to be out here, go back to your room.”

You furrowed your brows at him, opening your mouth to speak up but he continued on speaking. “Look at yourself. You can't even stand up properly without your legs giving up. I don't get why you still try—you’re weak. Nothing will change.”

Satoru can be a decent brother at times and will heed to whatever you want but sometimes being the strongest overwhelms him and unfortunately he pours all of the pent up anger he has on you. He’ll probably say mean things to you but that's how he shows his love!

He can be a dick sometimes but he loves you!! Just don't do something that you'll regret later on.

[damonblack966]

How To Master Witchcraft Even Having Little Spare Time

When Life Makes Practicing Witchcraft Difficult

Are you finding it hard to make time for your daily magical practice? Do you feel overwhelmed by all the other obligations of life, and have no idea how to fit one more thing into your already crammed schedule? You’re not alone! This is one of the most common things that I hear when I chat online, what’s stopping them from really pursuing the craft. It always comes down to too many responsibilities and too little time.

The truth is that the flashy witchcraft practices you see online are often staged, exaggerated, or even entirely made up. Comparing yourself and your practice to what you see other people doing online simply isn’t reasonable. Why would a mom of three who also works full time have a witchcraft practice that looks the same as a university student on TikTok who has no job and very few responsibilities? The answer is, she wouldn’t! That would be insane!

The thing that is actually causing such a major block in your ability to practice witchcraft isn’t a lack of time, it’s actually a lack of self-compassion. By constantly comparing yourself to other people and getting down on yourself about how you can’t, or you’re not good enough, or you’ll never be a real witch because… you’re adding a huge amount of judgment and shame to your life and your craft.

In all honesty, this kind of negative self-talk takes up a ton of time and energy! That’s time and energy that you could be putting toward literally anything else, like, ya’know… witchcraft. Rather than spending a bunch of time and energy beating yourself up for not being a good enough witch, why not make ANY amount of witchcraft a win?

The key is to start small. Instead of fitting an hour-long ritual into your daily life, try sneaking in a few minutes of magical activity here and there. Regularly writing down your thoughts in a journal that you keep near your bed or planning out a few quick spells can be just as powerful as doing full-fledged rituals. Just because it’s not big or flashy doesn’t mean that it doesn’t count! Start counting absolutely every magical moment, even 10 seconds of tuning into the energy of a room, as real witchcraft and you’ll likely find that you’re already doing way more than you thought.

You can also try to make small tasks magical. Channeling your energy toward something small can help increase the power of your spellwork and ritual work significantly. Even doing ssimple things like taking care of plants or wearing particular colors or jewelry that have special meaning for your practice can add an extra layer of magic to any activity.

Most importantly, give yourself permission to take breaks from witchcraft when needed—it’s ok if you don’t always find time for it! It’s more important that you take care of yourself first—and will ultimately help maintain stability and balance in both your magical and mundane life.

Where to Find Magical Time in Your Schedule

You don’t need to give up on living a magical life just because you don’t have the time to focus on witchcraft. With some creativity, you can find a few moments here and there to fit in magical practices but again, the key is to approach this with self-compassion. You may not be able to find time every day. Even one extra moment of focus on your craft during the week counts as a win!

Start by mapping out your weekly schedule. Take a look at the hours you spend on work and other responsibilities. Think of what small changes you can make in order to create space for witchy activities—even if it’s only five or ten minutes here and there.

For example:

Wake up 10 minutes earlier for a morning tarot card pull

Take a short meditation break during lunch

Spend half an hour listening to an audiobook or podcast before bed or during your commute

Fit in manifestation sessions or spell casting during study breaks

You’ll soon find that you are able to fit in small doses of ritual and these small moments can really add up!

Finally, if even these small moments still don’t seem to be enough, look into creative ways to practice and immerse yourself in the world of witchcraft. From joining online communities to taking classes or workshops, to learning from books, there are plenty of ways to enrich and add depth to your craft that don’t have to take up a ton of time.

At the end of the day, carving out a successful magical practice requires a bit of ingenuity and flexibility. Don’t feel bad if you can’t meet the expectations of a glitzy witchy lifestyle—start with small changes and over time, you’ll be able to gradually create a more grassroots and fulfilling magical practice.

Establishing a Daily Practice

You might not think you can make time for a daily practice of witchcraft, particularly if you have a demanding job or too many responsibilities. But it’s actually easier than it sounds—you don’t need to do something elaborate. All it takes is a little bit of effort and the right mindset.

To establish a daily practice, start by carving out just a few minutes each day for yourself. This could be during your lunch break, when you wake up, or before bed—it doesn’t matter when, as long as it works for your schedule.

Here are some simple steps to get you started:

Choose something that resonates with you—this could be divination, writing, or meditation.

Create an easily accessible space where you can set up everything you need for your chosen practice. Not having to do any setup or put things away every single day takes a LOT of the burde out of this process and makes you much more likely to return to it regularly.

Be flexible. If something in your life changes, let your practice change with it. Consistency requires that you keep the reality of your life in mind! Sometimes schedules change, your energy levels change, and what you need and want from your practice changes. Switch from mornings to evenings when you need to, let yourself do a tarot pull instead of meditation sometimes, and build ease into the practice.

Finally, BE COMPASSIONATE WITH YOURSELF. Did you miss a day? That’s fine, life happens. You missed a week? No sweat, that’s life. Get back to it when you’re ready just stop agonizing over not doing things exactly right all the time. You can become a perfectly good witch even if you get it “right” less than half the time! You are good enough.

What Do You Do If You’re Short On Time And Not Sure Where To Start?

I get it. You’re busy, you have a million responsibilities, and finding time to practice witchcraft is one thing but you don’t even know what to DO with that time when you manage to find it.

Make Figuring It Out The Goal

If you have no idea where to start, the first thing you should do with the time you do manage to carve out is figure out where to start. Literally. That is a perfectly good goal to begin with. This could mean something like spending 15 minutes a day reading about witchcraft or spending a few minutes writing about what you actually want to do with your craft. It’s ok to spend a few weeks or even months just getting the lay of the land and figuring out where you want to focus your energies first. Witchcraft is a huge and incredibly varied subject and nobody expects you to just jump straight in and know exactly what you’re doing.

Start With What Interests You

It’s important to focus on what really resonates with you when it comes to your craft. Pick one thing that speaks to you the strongest and start there—maybe you begin by studying astrology or learning spells—and go from there. This way, you don’t feel overwhelmed with all the options out there and can concentrate on mastering that one thing first before moving on to something else. It doesn’t really matter what you pick as long as it’s something that piques your interest, there’s really no “correct” order to learn things in.

Learn from Others

No one ever said that mastering a magical practice had to be done alone. Reach out to experienced practitioners and those knowledgeable in witchcraft to pick up tips and learn from their experiences. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and to open up about your own struggles—not only will it help you to get perspective on things but it will also create a sense of community among those who have similar interests and goals.

If you want someone to help you learn witchcraft in a more structured way that takes a lot of the guesswork out of it, look on a site like Udemy.

Track Your Progress

Finally, make sure to keep track of your progress. This doesn’t have to be complicated; it can take no more than writing a few words in your journal each day or creating a spreadsheet or digital document to track your spells, rituals, divination, and other activities related to your practice. Write down all of your wins, big and small. In fact, especially write down the small wins! Remember that those little moments add up and they DO count.

By tracking your progress, you’ll be able to easily refer back to your successes, what worked and what didn’t. And on days when things seem to be hitting a dead end, you’ll be able to look at the progress you’ve made and remind yourself of how far you’ve come.

By integrating these tips into your magical practice, you’ll be well on your way to mastering witchcraft despite life’s little hiccups and obstacles.

When life gets overwhelming, don’t forget that you can still practice witchcraft. It doesn’t have to be an in-depth practice or a lengthy ritual – it can be a five-minute positive affirmation every morning or lighting a white candle every night before bed. While it’s important to build a strong foundation of knowledge and practice, a lot of times the simplest techniques are the most powerful.

Remind yourself that you are in control and have the power to shape your life. Invest in yourself and create a personalized practice that works for you, but remember that a little bit goes a long way. No matter how busy or stressed you might be, a few simple steps can take you a long way on your journey to mastering witchcraft.

[felagund-the-valiant]

Bring Back What Once Was Mine - Finrod x gn!reader

After the War of the Ring, you return home to Valinor, hoping to finally be reunited with your husband.

Words: 1k Tags: mix of fluff and angst, mention of canon character death, bilbo makes a cameo because why not

A/N: “being reunited after a long time“ is one of my favourite tropes, it‘s the perfect mix of angst and fluff. also i feel like finrod‘s apparent psychic abilities get overlooked way too often in fics, so i had to include them.

You never would have thought you’d see the white shores of Valinor again, after thousands of years. Waves of nostalgia washed over you as the grey ship approached the harbour. Memories of more innocent times passed through your mind. Of being young and in love with Findaráto, of a blissful marriage before the darkening. You wondered if he had decided to return to Arda, if there was a chance you’d finally see him again.

You still vividly remembered the day Orodreth had sought you out to tell you your husband wasn‘t returning from his mission. Up until that moment, you had been praying to the Valar that Findaráto’s vision had deceived him – that he simply hadn‘t interpreted it correctly. You were still amazed that you hadn‘t faded away right then and there, your fëa seemingly torn apart.

“What a magnificent sight!” You were drawn from your sombre thoughts by the elderly hobbit next to you, whose eyes were full off fascination. You couldn’t conceive what it was like to see the Blessed Realm for the first time, but you imagined it must have been overwhelming. “Your stories haven’t done it justice, (Y/N). I never could have imagined such beauty.” You simply smiled politely and nodded. Normally you delighted in engaging Bilbo’s worldly curiosity (only Eru knew just how many stories you had told him about Findaráto specifically), but the inner tension was robbing you of the energy to engage in conversation. What if he hadn’t returned? What if he would never want to return? Shaking off the thought, you told yourself to hold off on the negativity.

Stepping off the ship beside Artanis felt almost surreal. You had been gone for thousands of years and now it felt like you had only left yesterday. A large crowd of elves was gathered at the docks, each of them hoping to be reunited with their friends or loved ones, just like most passengers on your ship. For a moment you thought you had spotted Findaráto,  but on second glance it turned out to be your father-in-law and you were once again stunned at how much his eldest son took after him. Your mother-in-law stood beside her husband, hope shining in her eyes as she scanned the descending passengers.

Artanis called out to her parents in delight and the three of them came together in a tight hug. You lingered behind a little, not wanting to intrude on the moment. It didn‘t take long for Arafinwë and Eärwen to take note of your presence, however, and you were taken into their arms as well. Has he returned? you wanted to ask but Arafinwë seemed to have already read your mind. “Yes,“ he simply said, “but he does not dwell with us, as much as it pains us. He seeks solace and only rarely comes to see us.“ Your heart sank. You knew how much Findaráto adored his family and to avoid them like this was entirely out of character. The horrors of his death must have still haunted him too much. Not that you could blame him – your own dreams had been haunted for weeks by what had been described to you of his death.

You strolled along the beach, following the directions Findaráto’s parents had given you. After a while, a house appeared in the distance – sitting lonely and far away from other dwellings. A lump formed in your throat. What would you even say to him? What would his condition be after what his father had told you? The questions  echoed in your mind until you finally reached the house. It was simple enough, clearly not meant for more than two people.

A familiar, beloved voice reached your keen ears and at last you saw him. Harp on his lap, feet dangling across the water, Findaráto sat on the pier singing a song you knew all too well – he had written it for you in the beginning of your courtship. “Findaráto!” You exclaimed, adrenaline filling your entire body. He turned around at the call of his name and when he spotted you, he hastily sat aside his harp and started rushing to meet you half-way. The two of you collided so hard it almost sent you toppling onto the ground. You couldn’t tell who cried harder.

Even after thousands of years, his smell had remained the same – a mix of lavender and berries, with a hint of sea salt. You breathed him in deeply, feeling the tension leave your body and being replaced by a sensation you could only describe as coming home. Hopefully he felt the same. Entangling yourself a little from his embrace, you finally gazed upon his face. Not a thing had changed, even if this was not his original body – that one would forever rest in the depths of drowned Beleriand. One of your hands came up to caress his cheek and he leaned into the touch immediately. “I have missed you so much,” you whispered. It was an immense understatement, there were no words that could adequately describe the feeling of abruptly having half of your fëa ripped from you. “Me, too,” he whispered back and bent down to nuzzle your nose and press a tender kiss to your lips, sighing as he did so.  

“I knew you‘d come back to me, I just didn‘t know when,“ Findaráto said, a shadow briefly passing over his face. He didn‘t need to elaborate, you knew he was talking about him having had yet another vision. Your heart ached at the thought of how exhausting it must have been for him these past millennia, living in constant uncertainty as to when he would finally be reunited with his beloved, as his visions had promised. Did these promises make him leave the halls early, foregoing valuable time of healing? You decided to push the oncoming guilt away for now. There was plenty of time for these conversations to be had later.

“Well, I‘m here now, and you best believe I‘m not going anywhere anytime soon.“ It wasn’t a mere promise. Nothing would ever divide the two of you again and no amount of sinister visions would be able to change that.

[neeweekeewee]

HEALER FATESPEAKER AU

An alternate universe where Fatespeaker becomes a healer and a therapist at Jade Mountain Academy. Due to her having weak mind reading abilities, she is considered to be an empath. When she arrived at the Night Kingdom, she was overwhelmed with sadness over seeing the condition of her tribemates, feeling helpless that she couldn’t do anything to help alleviate them of their injuries, diseases, and emotional misery. After Flame gets injured by Viper’s venomous tail barb, she becomes extremely distraught and full of grief over his life threatening injury. She would check on him periodically when she wasn’t helping Starflight. She became interested in healing when she was watching the healers do their work. While in the rainforest, she was was overwhelmed with fear, grief, and helplessness over Starflight’s injuries. She promised herself that she would anything she could to save those around her, so that she never feels helpless again. Since a whole other tribe is now living in the rainforest, the RainWing healers needed extra help. She was brought on as an apprentice to help out the healers with the sudden influx of patients. Due to her weak mind reading ability, she can sense emotions of the patients around her. She is a natural at healing due to her sheer passion and interest to learn and her bubbly and extroverted personality. She feels as though she has found her calling. She was proud to forge her own path and not be just a “back up Dragonet of Destiny”. There were already Dragonets of Destiny. And they were good enough. She was glad to be helping dragons and saving lives in a different way.

Flame is the first to wake up from his injury, he is still very weak from the potency of the venom. Fatespeaker comes to care for him. He is hostile and skeptical at first, refusing to let her touch him and told her to get away from him. Due to how busy the healer hut was, no one was available to help dress his wounds. He watched Fatespeaker care for other patients. He sees how sweet, bubbly, and energetic she is with them. It’s almost as if she’s able to sense their pain and negative emotions without them even saying anything or showing it. She was running in every direction, attending to every patient as quickly as she could, which was much quicker than all of the other healers. Flame’s wound was becoming more and more painful until he was writhing in his bed in agony. Fatespeaker immediately responds, not able to handle feeling his misery anymore. He continues to act extremely rude to her which finally makes her snap at him, saying: “I have never once said anything nasty or bad about you. I have always treated you kindly even when you were rude or when you would call me names. For moon’s sake can you just be kind to me for one day?” “I can tell you’re in a lot of pain, there is no other healer available right now so you’re stuck with me. Even though you are a really rude dragon, I cannot stand to see you suffer like this, just clamp your jaws shut and let me do my job.”

Surprised by her firmness in her tone and the tears in her eyes, he listens to her. He started feeling guilty for treating her with disrespect for so long, realizing that she was never once rude to him or even muttered a negative comment about him.

After coming to this realization, he started being more kind to her; allowing her to dress his wound and check up on him. The healer hut was often boring, he started to miss his mother quite a ton. When Fatespeaker would sense his deep loneliness, she would often stop by to keep him company. Even when she was super busy, if she sensed that Flame was upset in any way, she would come to help cheer him up. This helped build a close bond between them both. They started making inside jokes, and having long conversations when Fatespeaker had a break. Flame started missing her badly when she wasn’t around, especially at night. He would even get jealous when other patients got more attention than he did, especially when it came to Starflight, who was still unconscious at the time. Fatespeaker wasn’t oblivious to this, since she could sense his jealousy. She felt giddy inside for some reason that someone wanted her attention so badly. No dragon has ever had feelings for her before. It also warmed her heart that she finally built a bond with one of the members of her group and that her care had been helping heal their wound.

The moment Flame knew he loved Fatespeaker was when his mother came to visit him during his stay at the healer’s hut. She thanked Fatespeaker relentlessly for nursing him back to health. The two hit it off very well, talking for hours it seemed.

The moment Fatespeaker knew she loved Flame was when he became interested in her field of work after she nursed him back to health. He became her assistant healer. He also tried his best to work on his temper because he knows she doesn’t like it.

When Starflight woke up, he was bewildered to find out that Flame was working beside Fatespeaker to help heal him.

After the end of the war, Flame and Fatespeaker were the healers and therapists for the students. Occasionally, they travel to other tribes to help out. Flame is also a part time student to learn better skills on tolerance of other tribes.

[turns-out-its-adhd]

AI tools for the neurodivergent brain

As AI application starts to expand rapidly in it's uses and abilities, there is an understandable amount of scepticism and discussion about how it can negatively impact how our society develops.

On the flipside of this, I'd like to share a couple of AI tools which I've found incredibly useful. As someone with pretty severe executive disfunction, I've always dreamed about being able to have a personal assistant to help me out when I am struggling.

If you haven't already tried it out, take a look at goblin.tools

This AI tool helps me in so many ways. From finding the right words, assembling ingredients into a meal, checking how my tone comes across in a message, to breaking down overwhelming tasks into manageable steps.

I also really like mymind

It's like a pinterest board, bookmark manager and general braindump tool that has helped me organise all the different projects, ideas and general digital hoarding into one place - that I can actually search and find all the relevant things without agonising over file organisation and bookmark labelling.

If you have trouble with keeping a hundred pinned tabs on your browser like I do, this tool can actually really help letting go of the anxiety of losing those things without the fear you will never come back to it again.

As much as I share some of the trepidation about this powerful new tech and we should definitely keep questioning how it is being rolled out into every facet of our lives - it can also be a very real accessibility aid for neurodivergent folks.

No amount of notebooks, lists, alarms and calendar reminders comes close to how these have helped me with ADHD symptoms.

I'd hate for that to be overlooked in all the backlash against AI in general.

[gravitycircuit]

Gravity Circuit has recently hit 60K total units sold!

Never in our wildest dreams did we expect the game to sell as much as it has done in just a few short months. As such, we thought this was a moment to celebrate, with new art provided by @jmanvelez!

Now, you might be asking: why are we taking a moment to celebrate such a specific number? Well, in truth, we were planning on doing a celebratory announcement earlier, at 50K. We were on track to hit that in December, but then the holiday sales happened. Thanks to the holiday sales on various storefronts, we essentially skyrocketed past 50K, climbing all the way up to 60K before the sales were over, so didn't have the time to prepare for it! Goodness, the sales performance just continues to surprise us. All in all, the reception and feedback we have received over these past months have been overwhelming, and we can't thank you, the players, enough. You are the best. Now, you might be curious about the sales distribution among the platforms? Fret not, we have prepared a pie chart for you (based on sales as of January 18th, 2024):

Note: PS4 and PS5 are coupled together due to crossbuy. This means that if you purchased the game on one, you can download it on the same account for the other at no extra cost.

On PC, the game is available on Steam, GOG, Epic Games Store, as well as Stove (Korea). Out of these, Steam is the most popular storefront.

On consoles, the game is available on Nintendo Switch and Sony's PlayStation 4 and 5. The game is also physically available on afore-mentioned consoles, by Pix'n'Love (PEGI), Red Art Games (ESRB) and Oizumi Amuzio (Japan).

Given the amount of wishlists on Steam before the game's release, as well as us getting Steam Deck verified by Valve, PC outselling the other platforms is not a wholly unexpected outcome. Steam is a huge storefront, after all.

But after all the sales across these platforms, what about the reception? Well, even on that front, Gravity Circuit has performed better than even our wildest expectations, as shown by the collage below:

Truthfully, before the game's release some six months ago, we weren't sure about what the reception ultimately would be. As a developer, it can be difficult to distance yourself from whatever project you have been working on for so long, to see the game for what it is. So, ultimately, it was up to you, the players, to determine the game's overall quality. Needless to say, we didn't expect the majority opinion to be this good, both from critics and players alike!

To provide some background: throughout the development, there were a plentiful of sleepless nights, fueled by stress, energy drinks, boatloads of work, and constant lingering doubts about the game's potential success. Creative endeavors while on a deadline are never easy, but we soldiered on, so to try and complete the game to the best of our abilities. Now, months after release, it has been a truly humbling experience that players have enjoyed Gravity Circuit as much as they have. Such a warm reception has made all that effort behind the game worth it. Again, we can't thank you all enough.

Of course, it might go without saying that even with all this positive feedback, the game hasn't been without its own sets of issues. Especially around the game's launch we had to do multiple quick rounds of bug fixes, so to address various situations and oversights that had slipped past us during development and Q&A. While doing all this was taxing, it's perhaps thanks to these rapid, quick responses that have helped minimize any lasting impact that the various game crashes and bugs could have otherwise had.

Essentially, on that point, our policy has been to accept any and all feedback from players with open arms. Whether positive or negative, we have read all points of feedback, and even responded to them wherever we have been able. Ultimately, this back-and-forth discussion with players has then resulted in us implementing various additions and changes post-launch (Speedrun Mode, Armor Paints, Boss Rush, small quality of life additions, etc), completely free of charge. And while we do try, it's not exactly realistic to act or respond to every bit of feedback without fundamentally changing some of the game's DNA. Nevertheless, we do try our best -- and perhaps hold onto the lessons learned for any future endeavors.

In the meanwhile, we at Domesticated Ant Games want to thank you all for all the support so far from the bottom of our hearts -- and we wish you all a good start to 2024!

[logically-asexual]

okay consider this.

an alternate version of the same situation of the paris special. betterfly is fighting monarch in gabriel’s house in our normal universe with ladybug and cat noir with him.

he attempts to improve their odds by sending a kamiko to one of the heroes to enhance their powers, but their emotions aren’t strong enough and the kamiko just escapes and goes to nathalie who is in her room literally on the other side of the wall.

her emotions then were so strong and so close that they like.. pulled the butterfly toward her. nathalie had just come back an hour ago from the train and is only beginning to process the fact that gabriel lost his opportunity with the time miraculous. she’s feeling like a hundred things at once, but mostly anger and despair.

it’s still not quite an akumatization because even though nathalie’s emotions were negative, she’s not becoming evil. instead she’s just in a super confused state of being overwhelmed with her enhanced emotions but frozen because betterfly isn’t giving her a magical ability because he’s just as confused as her.

maybe he’s never made a connection with a negative emotion before or maybe he has but it was at some point in his dark past before he lost emilie and chose to become a hero. either way it shocks him. even more so when he recognizes nathalie behind it.

in his world he knows nathalie but she distanced herself from him also during his bad-decisions phase and he knows that the woman did feel a lot but was good at hiding it, and he had only been able to witness her showing any frustration or excitement very few times long ago.

in the meantime nathalie gets over the paralysis and is just hurting because the weight of all these feelings now has been made worse and they’re desperate for betterfly to give them a magical power and a mission to be their outlet, but none of those come. and she thinks (and says into the connection with who she thinks is monarch) what the FUCK gabriel how dare you.

ladybug and cat noir are still in battle with monarch while betterfly has just been standing there one the side. “nathalie” he whispers,, mostly to himself?

and she’s crying and pulling out her hair and she goes “why would you do this to me?”

something happens in the fight that forces betterfly up from his trance (he has to avoid a piece of furniture or something about to crush him) and he blinks for a second before breaking the connection and calling the butterfly back.

and then?? i don’t know? shadybug and claw noir show up and with their help monarch manages to escape? ladybug and cat noir run after them but betterfly stays behind? or maybe he does go with them and they get the whole shadybug and claw noir redemption thing sorted out and then he comes back? i don’t know the point is later everyone is gone and betterfly decides to go seek nathalie.

he knocks on the bedroom door but she doesn’t answer so he just comes in and finds her curled up on the bed crying. he says her name and without looking up she tells him to get lost. and she addresses him by gabriel again so he asks how does she know who he is. which confuses nathalie enough to look up at him and she jumps back when she sees that’s not gabriel. or at least not the one she expected to see. she only sees a stranger because of the magical disguise.

this is getting long i’m going to pause before tumblr crashes on me

[bigalockwood]

Hey hey, so idk if you wanna answer this as well (and if you somehow did during the last few days and I missed it I'm sorry!) buuuut: what are your 5 favorite things about Wille and Simon? :) <3<3<3

Hey Simon, thanks sooo much for asking (I loved your answer by the way!!!) and sorry for how long it took to answer. <3333

Wille

His determination. If he wants something, he goes for it. Sure, that certainty can waver (especially if his mother emotionally manipulates him and a video of him having sex is leaked), but I just keep thinking back to the beginning of S1 and while he had his moments of confusion, he also just went for it. Yeah, Simon kissed him first, but Wille didn't back down either.

His emotional openness. Wille is so open about his feelings with a lot of people, actually. He talks to Felice about how he feels, to his mother (and the entire court, when Simon is on a date for example lmao), but also Simon, and Boris. And I think that's very admirable, especially for someone who lives life under a magnifying glass.

His willingness to learn and change. Dude is just sixteen and tries to remedy all of his wrongs. Even if his ways aren't always perfect, that's still pretty emotionally mature. And I do think that at the end of the day, the intention is what, in this case, matters.

How affectionate and loving he is with Simon. He just doesn't hold back at all, once he realizes Simon is what he wants.

His bravery. He threw up before he had to do a fucking class presentation and then went ahead and came out to basically the entire nation, because it was what he thought was right. Like, OkAy, dude.

Simon

His ability to forgive (sometimes to a fault). Like, seriously. Where does he store all of the forgiveness? Does he have an external hard-drive? I can't imagine forgiving people for the things he forgives them for.

How caring he is (again: sometimes to a fault). I don't think I need to elaborate on this.

How much he stands up for himself and upholds his boundaries. It would have been so much easier to give into Wille's wishes between S1 and S2 Ep5. But Simon stood his ground and asked for what he thought he deserved. And I love how honest his communication is in these situations too!

How much he tries to stay true to himself, even if faced with an overwhelming amount of negativity for who he is. Going to Hillerska as an openly gay, biracial, poor kid sucks. It would've been so easy to fold under the pressure and pretend to be someone else. But Simon knew that even then, he'd never be truly accepted, and just stuck it out. Which isn't easy.

His bravery. If I had been in his position and someone didn't reciprocate my kiss, I'd be out of there in a millisecond. Very useless information about myself: I'm a fast runner. Like, fast fast. The person couldn't even blink and I'd already be gone, but Simon just stayed. What a brave soul.

Technically just 5 things, I know, but I also love how petty Simon can be. Gremlin Simon is my favorite Simon <3 Unhinged Simon checking Wille out while dancing with Marcus? Gremlin Simon throwing the ball at Wille? Best moments of S2, hands down.

[eflen-n-reegee]

Caregiver Guardians Headcanons (Rise of the Guardians)

Jack Frost

He loves ANY kind of game; board games, chase games, sports games, nonsense games - whatever it is, he’s happy to play it with you.

He’ll take you flying with him, but be ready for midair tricks and teasing.

On that note: pranks. Jack plays constant pranks - on you, on the other Guardians, on strangers, he just loves teasing people. He often recruits you to help play tricks.

You will NEVER be overheated again. Anytime Jack thinks you’re getting overly warm, he’ll create frost under your feet or send ice creeping up the walls.

He’s not always good at toning down his energy levels, but if you need a quiet day he’ll do his best to oblige.

North

The workshop is ALWAYS open to you. You can play with the elves, bother the Yeti, and “test” all of the toys. It can get a little overwhelming sometimes (the workshop is a very loud, busy place, after all), so you’re also welcome to retreat to North’s office if you need a break.

In his free time he enjoys carving toys and figurines out of ice, and he then imbues them with magic so they can do impossible things. Nearly every time you visit, he’ll make you something as a gift.

North will use the snowglobes to take you all over the world. Not just to other cities or countries, but to magical places no human has ever been able to see.

He is very dramatic, and loves playing pretend with you. He tends to get VERY invested in his role, to the point where his work has to be put on hold. “I can’t check naughty list now, can’t you see I am sailing this boat?”

North gives the best pep talks. He never wants you to feel like you’re anything less than amazing, and he’s wonderful at calming any fears you might have.

Bunny

The week before Easter, the Warren is insanely busy; but the rest of the time, it’s a very quiet, peaceful place. Bunny’s happy to bring you down there whenever you ask, to play or have a picnic or just enjoy the scenery.

Whenever you’re feeling down he’ll paint a few eggs for you, with your favorite colors and shapes and patterns. Then he’ll hide them where he knows you’ll find them.

He has a dozen nicknames for you, all of them affectionately teasing - ankle-biter, rugrat, nipper, etc.

He HATES cold weather… but if you really want to go out in the cold, he’ll always join you.

Any time you get tired of walking, he’ll set you on his back and run. He’s very fast, and it might be a little frightening at first, but he would never let you fall.

Tooth

Obviously she insists that you brush and floss daily, but she finds ways to make it a fun activity.

She’ll happily hold you on her hip while she’s hovering or flying near the ground. (She doesn’t like to take you too high in case you get scared.)

Out of all the Guardians, she’s the best at handling scraped knees or bumps on the head… but her bedside manner takes a little getting used to. “Oh, I know it hurts sweetie, but look! This bruise is such a pretty shade of purple!”

Tooth loves sitting with you while you’re asleep. If it weren’t for all the work she needs to do, she’d stay with you all night - she loves seeing you so peaceful and content.

Thanks to her abilities as a Guardian, she’s able to help you remember the most important moments in your life. These memories aren’t inherently good, but they are the moments that helped shape the best parts of your character. She’s happy to share them with you whenever you need them, and she’s already ready to comfort you if some of the memories cause negative feelings.

Sandy

He can help ANYONE fall asleep. Clinical insomnia, stressful day, too much caffeine - Sandy can knock you out in a moment if you want him to, with guaranteed good dreams to follow.

But, if you like staying up late, that’s fine too! Sandy is happy to take you along while he makes his rounds, showing you the night sky in different parts of the world.

He creates various animals or objects to send into people’s dreams. He’s also willing to make little toys or creatures for you to play with.

Sandy is a great listener. If you need to talk about your troubles, your bad day, your personal worries, he’s always there. Afterwards, he’ll offer to weave you a dream where things are different. Or, if you just want to get it off your chest and then move on, that’s fine too.

On a slightly related note, he’s fantastic with quiet kiddos. While the other Guardians might try to fill up silent moments with chatting, he doesn’t care if you never say a word. Your company is alway enough.

[viktorgf]

—OCS and CHARACTER TROPES

i’m back slimes with another uquiz to throw the girlz into (tagged many moons ago by @a-treides & @rhettsabbott 🫶🏻)

—THE TIDE

the tide [noun, german origin] refers to a character that considers silence the most powerful weapon of them all. they believe that in silence, there lies no agreement nor disagreement, simply the passive ability to listen. the tides are the ones to believe that there's no use in fighting for their opinion and consider the opinion as itself vastly unimportant in comparison to the rest— they are calm, collected and never let emotions overtake them, at least, not in front of others. some would call them cold, yet that'd be a mistake— there's a great fire that lies behind the facade of the nature of the tides, fire that someone, something set off in them long time ago that refuses to die down. this fire only grows stronger with each minute of the prevailing silence they pretend to thrive in and it is only a matter of time this fire burns them to their core and then...well, only tides know what will happen then. perhaps they'll scream, perhaps they'll cry, desperately trying to tell the world what misery lies in their silence that is not to be broken since no-one would listen to them either way and still, they'd be so beautifully incorrect. there's plenty of stories tides have to tell and even more that shall be listened to—they just need to let people submerge in their water.

—THE DISQUALIFIED

the disqualified [noun, origin unknown] refers to a character who's became too numb to the concept of the world, to the point of deeming oneself not able to express any sort of emotion, whether positive or a negative one. this state is usually the one to follow after feeling too much, as if to balance out the overwhelming sensation of human emotion. living up to their title, they often consider themselves 'disqualified' from being a human, forsaken and unloved, abandoned by the world they've never had interest in. they don't know where they belong or where should they go— every second of breathing air is a waste of oxygen someone worthier could use. the disqualified symbolize the constant state of feeling nothing but tiredness, state where all is merciless but the end. this is the one and only test outcome where i as the writer shall personally interfere— please, my most beloved disqualified, keep longing to feel again. there's so much you've never felt and so much you'll desire to feel again. in the words of Osamu Dazai (who's the creator of the title 'the disqualified' I so happily stole)— “Everything passes." a statement as short as it is true— everything passes, even the numbness. after it, you'll experience so much more beauty of the world— beauty that might pass just as the numbness did, but in it's temporary and unique nature lies the reason why it's to be cherished. so, please, try to hold on a bit. sometimes, holding on is the best we can do and most of the times, it's just enough.

—THE MIDNIGHT LOVER

the midnight lover [noun, german origin] refers to a character that believes their final destination is a second place. they are always there when people need them, but they are never their first choice, merely the one to talk to at midnight when one is the most honest, just to be thrown away the morning after (hence why they're called a midnight lover). midnight lovers love too much, fall too deep and land to hard for anyone and everyone they appreciate, but they never seem to get their love back in the way they'd want, forever united by the dreadful second place in people's lives. many take advantage of midnight lovers, using their heart that's always there to listen as something they can dump all their problems on, not acknowledging that their heart is just as fragile as any other. still, midnight lovers listen and comfort and give their all no matter it draining them— sometimes it's truly astonishing how much love they're able to store within themselves. all midnight lovers long for is to be perceived as something more than 'the second resort', though many struggle to realize their already achieved significance in eyes of others. who knows, many (or majority) may haven't ever been a second choice, they were just lead to believe so via people not treating them accordingly. as a certain saying goes, "one not worthy of your love should not be able to spend it."

—tagging: @scalpelsister 💎 @tacticalhimbo 💎 @benwishaw 💎 @kanos 💎 @pitchmoss 💎 @rosayoro 💎 @thedeadthree 💎 @kirkwall 💎 @rvchelking 💎 @bearsgrove 💎 @florbelles 💎 @unholymilf 💎 @firstaidspray 💎 @shellibisshe 💎 @loriane-elmuerto 💎 @ghostfvcker 💎 @risingsh0t 💎 @cptcassian 💎 and you! 🫶🏻

[shootyrefutey]

Ok here's my thoughts on Shadow Generations:

What I loved:

The controls feel great. Jumping is great, boosting is too. Everything just works. And it's great.

The levels are varied and have a lot to offer. Aesthetically, they're stunning. They're twisted and packed full of detail and they so brilliantly distort. And the Doom Powers add a lot of complexity to it. Really can't wait to see some crazy speedruns.

Radical Highway in particular is quite noteworthy. Some really challenging but fair platforming that I can't wait to get good at.

The Doom Powers are good improvements to the abilities that Shadow had in 05 and 06. They serve as tools to gain speed and tools to attack, which makes it blend well into platforming. And they also managed to make them look badass and cohesive with the Black Arms aesthetic.

The hub worlds are very fun to explore. Loved being able to talk to characters and get nice dialogue.

Mephiles. I think having Mephiles and Shadow interact again was so interesting. Going through this sealed up labyrinth (probably because Mephiles and his time travelling is such a thorn in the side of the Time Eater). Hearing him be so desperate just to exist... wow. I hope that isn't the last we see of him.

Maria and Shadow's relationship was just cute.

The cutscenes were fluid, gorgeous and so expressive. When Shadow felt grief and pain, it really did show.

I just know I'm going to have fun during the process of grabbing all the collectibles.

They acknowledged Forces and made Sunset Heights so much better (this is personal to me as someone who has played more Forces than anyone should)

A lot of the concept art is things I have never seen before, so I will continue to eat it up.

What I didn't like:

There should have been a level inspired by Shadow the Hedgehog 2005. Something like Sky Troops, Circus Park, Black Comet or Digital Circuit would have been quite interesting. I could understand some hesitation because the SHtH stages aren't iconic, and the canonicity of these levels to Shadow's overall story is unclear (as the paths of SHtH are more metaphorical of Shadow's identity struggle rather than something literal). Still, I can't help but feel there was something missing.

The story just didn't hit with me in the way I hoped. None of it could really soak in because it was 4 hours long. The emotional beats of Shadow being overwhelmed with anger at Black Doom and him just longing to change the past were great themes I am glad were explored, but they just felt like moments. I think only the Mephiles part hit for me because I struggled to get the keys for a while, and I was in and out of that cave a few times. Got a little familiar with it.

There was no emphasis on DIE in 'it'll be a date to DIE for!' /j

Boss fights were cool and flashy but I doubt they'd be repayable in the long run. A lot of it was mashing a button. I think mechanically I enjoyed Metal Overlord the most, since it had the most gameplay to it.

Overall I fucking loved the game though. Maybe I need a little more time to chew on it. Probably another playthrough or two lmao. Please don't take my paragraphs the wrong way. My negatives are mostly just 'I want more', which should go to show how solid this game is.

[crownrots]

— OCS AS CHARACTER TROPES

tagged by @corvosattano, & @simonxriley to do this uquiz, thank you 🩷

tagging @queennymeria, @risingsh0t, @thedeadthree, @shellibisshe, @loriane-elmuerto, @leviiackrman, @sunites, @arborstone, @arthrmorgann, @carlosoliveiraa, @roofgeese, @nightbloodbix, @rhetoricalrogue, @faerune, @dickytwister, @shadowglens + anybody else that wants to do it!

THE TIDE.

the tide [noun, german origin] refers to a character that considers silence the most powerful weapon of them all. they believe that in silence, there lies no agreement nor disagreement, simply the passive ability to listen. the tides are the ones to believe that there's no use in fighting for their opinion and consider the opinion as itself vastly unimportant in comparison to the rest - they are calm, collected and never let emotions overtake them, at least, not in front of others. some would call them cold, yet that'd be a mistake - there's a great fire that lies behind the facade of the nature of the tides, fire that someone, something set off in them long time ago that refuses to die down. this fire only grows stronger with each minute of the prevailing silence they pretend to thrive in and it is only a matter of time this fire burns them to their core and then...well, only tides know what will happen then. perhaps they'll scream, perhaps they'll cry, desperately trying to tell the world what misery lies in their silence that is not to be broken since no-one would listen to them either way and still, they'd be so beautifully incorrect. there's plenty of stories tides have to tell and even more that shall be listened to - they just need to let people submerge in their water. - a (former) fellow tide

THE ICARUS.

[noun, greek origin] refers to a character, first curious and childish, who got so bored of the world's rotten nature they lost all hope in living. as the last resort to find the spark in the world of dying stars, the icarus may have attempted numerous times to touch the blazing surface of the sun, hoping to see any kind of redemption in the reflection of their face in the sun's flames. as a result, their wings were melted down and their bones broken by the harsh landing, yet that still didn't stop them from trying all over again. the people of icarus' nature often believe their place is with the stars and their desire to burn amongst them causes them to forget the beauty of the land they've abandoned, merely flying over it - the world has stored so much beauty for them they often struggle to see through the rays of sun and yet, it is still there. the most beautiful of flowers grow upon the lands their feet haven't even touched and maybe, just maybe, if they spared a bit of their time to give the (them forsaken) world another chance, they'd see that sky might not be the home they truly desire, but one they've seeked just because they have seen only the worst of the world. - a fellow icarus

THE DISQUALIFIED.

the disqualified [noun, origin unknown] refers to a character who's became too numb to the concept of the world, to the point of deeming oneself not able to express any sort of emotion, whether positive or a negative one. this state is usually the one to follow after feeling too much, as if to balance out the overwhelming sensation of human emotion. living up to their title, they often consider themselves 'disqualified' from being a human, forsaken and unloved, abandoned by the world they've never had interest in. they don't know where they belong or where should they go - every second of breathing air is a waste of oxygen someone worthier could use. the disqualified symbolize the constant state of feeling nothing but tiredness, state where all is merciless but the end. this is the one and only test outcome where i as the writer shall personally interfere - please, my most beloved disqualified, keep longing to feel again. there's so much you've never felt and so much you'll desire to feel again. in the words of Osamu Dazai (who's the creator of the title 'the disqualified' I so happily stole) - "Everything passes." a statement as short as it is true - everything passes, even the numbness. after it, you'll experience so much more beauty of the world - beauty that might pass just as the numbness did, but in it's temporary and unique nature lies the reason why it's to be cherished. so, please, try to hold on a bit. sometimes, holding on is the best we can do and most of the times, it's just enough. - a (former) fellow disqualified

THE MIDNIGHT LOVER.

the midnight lover [noun, german origin] refers to a character that believes their final destination is a second place. they are always there when people need them, but they are never their first choice, merely the one to talk to at midnight when one is the most honest, just to be thrown away the morning after (hence why they're called a midnight lover). midnight lovers love too much, fall too deep and land to hard for anyone and everyone they appreciate, but they never seem to get their love back in the way they'd want, forever united by the dreadful second place in people's lives. many take advantage of midnight lovers, using their heart that's always there to listen as something they can dump all their problems on, not acknowledging that their heart is just as fragile as any other. still, midnight lovers listen and comfort and give their all no matter it draining them - sometimes it's truly astonishing how much love they're able to store within themselves. all midnight lovers long for is to be perceived as something more than 'the second resort', though many struggle to realize their already achieved significance in eyes of others. who knows, many (or majority) may haven't ever been a second choice, they were just lead to believe so via people not treating them accordingly. as a certain saying goes, "one not worthy of your love should not be able to spend it." - a fellow midnight lover

[melonteee]

Oh man, Zoro seeing the grim reaper in Wano. I remember when I first read that chapter my visceral reaction was “Oh. Oh no.” because Zoro being terrified to the point he was pleading with the reaper to stop reminded me of what Enel said to Zoro all the way back in Skypeia:

“In the face of overwhelming power, one can feel utter desperation. Having all your hopes shattered is not unlike death. For humans, death is their ultimate fear. That is why people bow their heads to the ground and beg for mercy! It can’t be helped, creatures are made to bow down in the face of terror. That’s instinct.”

So I’ve been kinda side-eying Zoro ever since. That whole incident I felt implied that at the end of Wano he was the most injured he’s ever been, and Zoro has a history of being fine for a stretch of time and then suddenly collapsing from previous injuries. We also haven’t seen Zoro do the “training while injured while engaging in negative self-talk the whole time” routine in the post-time skip, so I was wondering if we’d see him backslide a little at the end of Wano. But Wano ended with a lot of gaps in time and unanswered questions, and honestly the uncertainty can be even more nerve-wracking.

Part of also wonders if Zoro’s also sometimes low key terrified of… being human? I guess? Because humans are fragile and can die from things that no amount of training or willpower will ever put within his control, so if he doesn’t want to see his own fragile loved ones die he can’t be like them. Which makes for an interesting foil to Sanji - someone who considers his humanity a lifeline.

I don't think Zoro is scared of being human, per say, I think he's more afraid of the cruelty of the world. There's a spontaneity to existing, in which you don't know what comes next nor what will happen, and all you can do is be prepared best you can for anything.

Zoro seems to prepare himself for whatever could hit him by training, by becoming stronger and becoming tougher. Because, from what I can see, he wants a semblance of control. I know I've said that before, but with strength comes having more control of dangerous situations, and it allows him to protect those he loves.

But Kuina was so far out of his control, no matter what he did or how strong he was in that moment. He can train as much as he wants, but there's gotta be a thought in the back of his mind that what happened to Kuina, could happen to anyone in his crew. Kuina's death taught him loved ones can immediately be taken from him, and it seems to me that he works his hardest to make sure that will never happen again - or at least, to the best of his abilities, it will never happen again.

[soullikethesea]

Negative

Currently I feel a bit ashamed and disabled. I'm definitely in a burnout-type of state. Actively tired/brain foggy, feeling weird and having body aches.

Finally someone came to give the window a temporary update so that it can be opened. I don't feel happy about this??? It just feels foreign and scary. And the whole process has been so so triggering.

I got apologies three times this week, from the people involved.

And somehow that just makes it hurt more. I fucking predicted this situation and I tried everything in my power to get it fixed and it still took more than 6 months. It reminds me so much of being with my father.

He never apologized to me, of course. Or, well, one time when he was two hours late to come get me and I broke my collar bone. He still says that it was his fault. And yet his guilt and apologies do not make me feel better either. I may be broken.

The landlord stuff just makes me want to cry. It also reminds me of when I got bullied in school and I felt increasingly broken. I am missing a key-component of being human: the ability to protect myself, to show my teeth. Sometimes it feels like I don't have claws, I don't have teeth like other people do.

So even today, I befriended the handyman that neglected me. It's survival 101, isn't it? Befriend your enemy, make them care about you. If you cannot fight, befriend.

Fuck that shit. Fuck the migraine I got, fuck the changes I seem to take so hard, like the new supervisor at work. And even the window now being openable feels so Wrong. I may be autistic after all, or just traumatized, or just weird. Who even knows at this point... I wish I could talk to T, but I also don't, because I have no energy left to explain myself and guide other people towards being helpful.

I also had a low-key job interview thing going, where they forgot to call me - TWICE. I literally got stood up twice. And yes, they apologized as well. It just... it feels bad. I don't know if I'm responding in the right ways so that there is less of a chance of it happening again.

My colleague also left a ton of work to me, without asking me if I'd be OK with it. It's probably not on purpose, but that's another meh thing.

Well, I'll be fine. It seems like all of this is this level of overwhelming just because I did too many things last weekend! And that's another thing I feel pissed about. I wish I could be like a normal person and I could do things without becoming *this* exhausted. I keep comparing myself to some autistic friends I have and they are able to do so much more and it feels a little unfair sometimes. That's what makes me feel so disabled. I hate that I'm stuck within myself. I'll make the most of it, but I can't escape needing to accommodate myself and skipping out on a lot of normal/fun experiences.

Quite a few people have been asking me why I'm not doing a PhD and well, there it is. I'd need so many accommodations that it really isn't realistic. I'm not cut-out for that workload.

So here I am, listening to ASMR for some hours lying under a blanket on my carpet. Lucky that I can do something like that. Worrying a bit about how I'm going to cope without exercizing, since I found out that I injured myself last week. Ironically, I injured myself while doing PT exercises..!

When I forced myself to go into work again last night, it was like a switch flipped and I was completely fine. I liked how it felt, that I could be functional in that moment, but it does also sound a bit like dissociation...

[tarotofzhivamoon]

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Overcoming challenges in your relationship.

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Masterlist • P@tr30n • Personal readings

Pile 1

It seems like the two of you, as per your current situation, are still influenced by some lingering effects of your past challenges within the connection which could range from not feeling enough, not receiving enough, being insecure, fearful of what’s to come and what could happen. Even though those challenges are behind you, they are still impacting you on a mental and emotional level and it’s almost like whenever you get too deep into what has happened in the past, you feel or go through it all over again. You seem to be holding onto those past hardships tightly, even if you honestly don’t really want to, and they are causing even more stress, pain and not allowing the two of you to be open towards each other as much as they are causing so much friction and insecurity within your connection. It’s that type of situation in which you’re kind of afraid of history repeating itself and the human mind has a really amazing ability to store past experiences and actually barely releasing them just in case it happens again. We think that if we hold onto the anger, onto that fear, onto whatever feelings we’ve felt in those moments of high stress and tension, we’re going to prevent it from happening, but, in reality, that is not the case because it doesn’t allow us to move towards the next step, which is letting it go and actually start the healing process. There are doubts here, based on those experiences as well, which is causing a lot of emotional exhaustion and neither of you actually have enough energy to spare towards perseverance and resilience that are needed towards facing future challenges that may arise. It almost feels like if one issue arises in the present moment, it brings up all the other past issues that you have been through and you think you have let go and moved on from; think of it in the way of when you turn on your computer and it’s all taking some time to load, you click on the browser you want to dozens of times because you want it to open and start doing what you were planning to do, it still takes some time to load and then all at once, there’s those dozens of tabs that are open and you get annoyed and frustrated because now you have to close them all before getting to do your work. Same thing could happen here as well, it’s a situation in which it feels that since you have never let go of those experiences, there’s a backlog of things that actually fully need to be addressed that are not letting you focus on the newer issues that show up, and you’re still stuck in time trying to catch up to them, but you’re struggling to. You’re too overwhelmed to find a balance here, you’re also too overwhelmed to actually set healthy boundaries and since you don’t really know what is going on right now in the connection, you both may tend to set boundaries that are unrelated or a little bit out of defensiveness, getting back at the other person for things that have happened a while ago and both of you thought you were way past them.

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Pile 2

It seems as though in your current connection you might’ve freed yourselves from some limiting beliefs, you have learned from them and you have realized the negative impact that those negative beliefs and thoughts actually have on your relationship. Of course, there’s still others that need to be addressed and it seems that after that initial success with healing some of them, something just isn’t right. It turns out that the two of you might’ve actually only addressed those limiting beliefs on the surface and they were still lingering in the back of your minds and if you weren’t careful enough or actually paying attention to your own thoughts, you weren’t catching any of them because you were doing something you’ve done for so long, it was or seemed to be very normal for the both of you. You’re actually now struggling to work on your relationship, it seems like it’s getting harder and harder to deal with the issues and the both of you seem to be burnt out, almost wanting to give up on this and on trying because it feels as though no matter what you do, it doesn’t make a big difference and you circle back to those issues over and over again. The good thing here though is the fact that you aren’t ready to give it up yet because you still want to try, you still want change and you are holding on tightly to what love and your relationship could be like when you both successfully make the changes that need to be made and you actually overcome the current challenges that you are facing. You know that behind all of this hard work that at times feels so overwhelming and pointless, the rewards are worth it and right now, that is one of the only things that are making you both continue to try and work on this relationship while keeping a positive mindset towards the negative experiences that are coming your way on a regular basis. The problems here seem to be that the two of you could be too dependent on the other for your happiness and it could also be that one of you might be feeling as though there is no personal freedom due to how the intention of the other are coming off on top of an avoidance of confrontation and actually talking about all of these issues. It feels as though neither of you want to upset the other, you want to feel happy and you’re doing everything to hold onto that happiness when you have it, maybe sometimes or most of the times something happens that is triggering and you may want to speak up your minds about it, but you end up not actually doing it because you want to protect the relationship at all costs. You refuse to let conflict destroy that happiness and it seems that every move of yours actually depends on what the other person says or does, or how the other feels and that’s also because you kind of take a whole lot of things personally due to feeling insecure within yourselves but also within this relationship through the damage that has been caused overtime.

If you enjoyed this reading, the full, in depth reading is available to read on P@tr30n which you can find in my masterlist pinned post. Thank you so much for your support💗

Likes and rbs are appreciated🦋

Dividers by Kawaii-Lau on Tumblr