#They choose at every turn to hate women instead of loving each other

[ciderjacks]

(The bottom one is the tweet she responded to originally)

Like honest to god if this is how you think then you should just give up on living at this point bc tbh you’re wasting valuable air that a woman could be breathing instead

me reading the comments on Jenny Nicholson posts

[mysunshinetemptress]

I Hate Her

Leah Williamson x reader Warnings: None

You had played as a centre back since you were six years old and asked to play on the Under 10s boys team. Your dream had been set from then, you wanted to play professional you wanted to play for England.

You sign your first academy contract for Manchester United a year later but continue to play for your local team wanting to practice and play as much as you could in hopes of someday making the England team.

You get a call up to your first youth England squad at 13, to say your excited is an understatement only you spend the entire camp on the bench as Leah Williamson is picked over you to start, the Arsenal academy player, future Arsenal player. Leah stared at you as she walked past the bench "Maybe they'll choose you next time." You decide then and there that you hate her.

United don’t have a women’s team and so you sign with Blackburn Rovers just before your 17th birthday. You love it Blackburn have given you everything you’ve wanted your their starting Centre Back, they see how hard you work and it pays off in the England Youth camps, you make your debut against Spain, Leah’s sick for the debut and you can’t help but repeat that in your head, that’s why your being picked not because ur better.

United form a Women’s team to take part in the championship in 2018 which is perfect for your because your contract with Blackburn Rovers ends and your free to sign with your childhood club in the summer.

It’s Leah’s turn to hate you when instead of joining the U23s camp you get called up to the Senior squad for a camp. You, your on a championship team that only got formed this season, you who has only been chosen over her a handful of times and now Phil Neville thinks your better then her, hardly.

Joining the senior squad felt surreal. Familiar faces like Lucy Bronze and Steph Houghton greeted you with genuine warmth. During training sessions, you pushed yourself to the absolute limit, determined to prove your place wasn't a lucky break. The coaches, Phil Neville included, seemed impressed. They challenged you , tested your tactical awareness, your ability to lead the defense under pressure. It wasn't easy, but you held your own, fueled by that quiet fire within.

One evening, Neville called you into his office. Your heart hammered a frantic rhythm against your ribs. Were you getting sent home? But no, his words were unexpected. "You've got something special, kid," he said, a glint in his eye. "A raw talent, a hunger I haven't seen in a while. We're planning a friendly against Germany next month. Be ready."

News of your potential debut spread like wildfire. Back home, your family erupted in cheers. Blackburn fans were ecstatic, their underdog defender on the cusp of playing on the biggest stage. But the media frenzy was a different story. Headlines screamed "Unproven youngster" and "Neville's gamble." The narrative remained the same - you were the fluke, the temporary blip in Leah's meteoric rise.

That night, staring at the ceiling of your hotel room, a fierce determination took hold. This wasn't just about proving yourself to the coaches or the media. This was about proving it to Leah, to everyone who doubted you. This was about carving your own path, a path that wouldn't be defined by being "better" than Leah Williamson, but by becoming the best damn defender England had ever seen.

You come on against Germany in the 89th minute, you know then and there that u are going to have to fight for your life every time you want to make it on to the pitch for England either over Leah or along side her you will have to fight.

And fight you do.

The following months were a whirlwind. You were in and out of the senior squad, each call-up a hard-fought battle. Leah was a constant shadow, a relentless competitor. You pushed each other to new heights, your growth fueled by the desire to outshine the other.

The 2019 World Cup was on the horizon, and the competition for places was fiercer than ever. You were on the cusp, but the final squad selection was a knife-edge. Days turned into nights as you waited for the dreaded or the desired call. When it finally came, your heart pounded with a mix of joy and disbelief. You were in. But so was Leah.

The World Cup was a dream realized, a tournament that would define careers. You played your part,even it was for less minutes then you would have liked (It was still more than what Leah had been given.) solid in defense, a calm presence in the face of adversity. England's journey was a rollercoaster of emotions, culminating in a heart-stopping final game for third place against Sweden.

The bronze medal match was a bitter pill to swallow. A valiant effort, but ultimately falling short. The weight of the loss hung heavy in the dressing room, a stark contrast to the jubilant scenes from the other side.

You had cursed at yourself in the eleventh minute as Asllani out ran you and sloted the ball past Telford, Steph had come over tapping your back whispering that it was ok it was one goal as Alex and Lucy followed both squeezing your arms as you all walked to reseat, you quickly turn to telford letting out a small sorry, to which she shakes her head sending you a thumbs up before you turn as Ellen White starts the game back up.

You hoped that Asllani's goal would be your one and only but Jakobsson makes a run in the twenty second minute and this time you make sure you catch her running in front of the swedish player you slide infront trying to cut her off but she breaks left and you can do nothing but sit on the ground and watch as she rolls it into the back left corner. You fall back hands covering your face. It's Lucys turn to pick you up "Your trying your best, you corrected your last mistake by being on it more." You shook your head "Yeah but she still scored." Lucy sighed knowing she wasn't going to break through the doubt that was bubbling in your head instead she pulled you into a hug and headed back into position, as you once again turned to Telford who before you could even open your mouth was already shouting at you "It's ok kid, you tried." you dropped your head nodding just as the ref blew the whistle to restart the game.

You came off at half-time for Rachel Daly, you had refused to speak to anyone, you had refused to join in on the celbrations in the thirty-first minute as Fran Kirby scorded but now as you walked down the tunnel you tried to shake all those feeling, you had played in your first World Cup, you had played 45 minutes in a tough match, you were good enough for Phil Neville to think you belonged there.

Those thoughts came crashing down as Leah walked past you hitting into you harshly.

Leah's harsh collision sent a jolt of pain through your already bruised ego. You stumbled backward, your breath catching in your throat. Her eyes, cold and calculating, held a mixture of contempt and something else, a flicker of something you couldn't quite decipher.

You spun around, your face flushed. "What the hell was that for?" you demanded, your voice laced with disbelief.

Leah's eyes narrowed, her expression a mix of defiance and something else you couldn't quite decipher. "You were out of position," she snapped, her voice barely above a whisper in the echoing tunnel. "Two goals down, and you're daydreaming."

The accusation stung, but you refused to back down. "I was trying to cover," you retorted, your voice rising. "It's not like I wanted them to score."

A tense silence fell between you, the only sound the distant cheers of the crowd filtering down the tunnel. You could feel the heat rising to your cheeks, a familiar sensation of being under scrutiny.

"I wouldn't have let them through." You walk towards her your finger poking her chest "Yet he didn't even give you the chance, he chose me over you."

[leighlew3]

What were the aspects of Supergirl (show in general or character) that resonated with you personally?

First and foremost, Kara herself... as someone with a ton of trauma, who would have every reason to do not so great things or wield her power for evil, yet does good things and channels her energy into trying to help people -- she's amazing. She is someone who feels isolated a lot of the time and struggles with anger issues but ultimately is such a light and a good person and somebody that just wants to do good for the world, even when it's not always appreciated or understood. Even if it means constant self sacrifice.

I relate to pretty much all of that.

I also loved the idea of Supercorp obviously, because it was such an epic tale in how they were so similar but so different and so inherently fated to be side by side. It could've been so successful if canon romantic on the show instead of just baited. Taking the decades-old lore of Super vs Luthor and instead turning into Super & Luthor -- a story of hate turned into a love story -- that's an incredible concept, and so rich and full of so much storytelling potential. Them just being friends is the 'lite' version of turning that lore on its head. But to go even deeper would've been nothing short of revolutionary.

Alas, instead they chose to tarnish the show's legacy and taint the good it DID do elsewhere in LGBTQ representation (because YES a show can have ancillary rep but still queerbait a lead dynamic -- especially when it's bait that existed before any other rep was even introduced on the show) ...by choosing to be one of the worst examples of queerbait in TV history (due to all of the romanic tropes and parallels and teases and lack of denials by TPTB who very clearly wanted people to stay tuned in based on hope for canon endgame since that very first Clois parallel in 2x01). It was also just an absolute waste of creative potential and true travesty that ultimately only hurt the show and cast and fans and everyone involved, whether everyone is ready to admit it or not.

Anyway, I enjoyed the fact that so many of the characters -- from Kara and Lena (these two especially), to Alex, Nia, and Kelly... so many of them came loaded with one form of trauma or another, but they still were ultimately inherently good people, a great example of 'found family', and heroic as heck in the end, no matter how dark it got at times for some. In large part because they had each other. I mean, I wish they all weren't LITERAL superheroes or supernatural by the end because I think the show (amongst numerous other issues) lost sight of their own messaging that "anyone can be a hero even without powers" but -- they really were inherently such good / ripe characters, the women especially (plus Brainy and J'onn).

Sure, they all (again, the women especially) often were sadly let down by superficial or just plain poor writing and overall creative direction a lot of the time, especially in the end -- but at the core, everyone could find something to relate to in at least one character, if not multiple characters, and that's great.

I know much like fans of Dana Scully in the 90s, a LOT of girls/women were inspired to get into STEM over this last decade now because of Katie McGrath's portrayal of Lena Luthor. And even more people related to Lena's trauma as a survivor of lifelong abuse at the hands of her family and especially her unhinged brother. Seeing that someone can slip into darkness as the result of years of sadistic mind games and abuse of all kinds but still come out the other side a hero, empowered, and a good person who helps others and is capable of loving and deserving of being loved? That's beautiful, and Lena offered that to SO many viewers, so it's no wonder she was a top fan favorite second only to the lead herself. And seeing how that impacted people, was so very moving.

Seeing people impacted by Alex's coming out arc in Season 2 was amazing. Having the first trans superhero on TV was amazing. And so on...

Look, there's a lot the show did wrong. In fact, possibly more was done poorly or wrong than well or good, overall, unfortunately. Alas, there were some little sparks of light to be truly appreciated.

But again, for me, I connected most to Kara's story, her strength, her dichotomy, and her indelible sense of HOPE... despite every reason at times to give up. And to the Kara/Lena love story, in all its infinite, incredible, and still mostly untapped potential.

[pandorxxx]

Possessive ex boyfriend neteyam jealous of y/n moving on but he just HAS to ruin her before her current boyfriend can

Unless you’re willing to risk it…

Neteyam (19) x omatikayan fem reader (18)

[this screenshot of him is just 😩😩😩]

Yeah surprise, here it is. I was just looking at this in my queued and said fuck it, lemme just post it now.

🔞minors do not interact🔞

Warnings: smut, p in v, cursing, kinda sad.

Neteyam was a great warrior, and a promising leader. He cared for his people deeply, and did whatever he could for the betterment of the clan. However, he was a horrible boyfriend. He would let his temptations get the best of him when it came to other girls in the clan. He would lie and cheat on you so many times.

Although he promised never to do it again, he would. It became too much for you to bare, so you broke up with him. He was devastated, but how could he be mad? It was all his fault and he knew it. You two were promised to each other at a young age, as you would be tshahìk and Neteyam would be the next olo’eyktan. It’s a shame that it didn’t work out the way it should’ve.

It killed him to see you moving on, though. You were one of the most sought out women in the clan, and when the males heard the news of you and neteyams breakup, they came flocking at your feet. You found a nice boy, who treats you right. So’uk was a great warrior, and a helping hand to his clan. Neteyam hated that you found a knock off version of him. He knew deep down that you missed the real thing, and he was going to get you back, no matter what it took.

“Not even a scratch, my love.” You look up at So’uk with a light smile. He came to visit you in the healing tent after he got back from the battle. He was currently holding you in his arms, as he smiled down at your glowing face.

“I had to come back in one piece for you, babe.” he chuckles as he pulls you in for a hug, leaning his head into the crook of your neck. You hug him tighter, and shut your eyes. It felt so good to be with someone who treated you like queen. It was such a level up from Neteyam.

“Mmm, you better.” You command as you kiss his chest. you both just stood in the hug for a while, not wanting the moment to end. You were suddenly ripped out of your trance when you heard a nock on the wooden door to the healing tent. You and So’uk pull away, and look in the direction of the door, making your smile drop. It was Neteyam, battered and bruised from the battle that took place.

“Hey, I-I didn’t mean to interrupt, but every other healer is occupied.” He grins nervously as his hand reaches to scratch an imaginary itch on the back of his head. You roll your eyes, and stare up at so’uk. He chuckles at you, and leans down to your ear.

“Be nice, my love.” He whispers to you as he grabs your ass, causing you to smile and push him away. Neteyams lips were pursed, and his eyes were watering watching him touch you like that. So’uk walked past Neteyam, giving him a sarcastic smile before walking out of the tent.

“Ok, come sit down.” You sigh as you turn around to get your supplies. Instead of sitting down, he leaned his head out of the tent to make sure that no one was coming before he closed the makeshift door behind him. The door shutting caught you off guard, as you slowly turned to Neteyam. His chest rising and falling at a rapid rate as he glared at you.

“Neteyam, I do not have time for this. Do you need help or not?” You ask with your hands on your hips, growing irritated with his lack of communication in this moment. He takes a deep breath, and walks over to you. He got so close to you, that you could feel the body heat radiating off his chest. Your breathing hitched as he went to grab your arm.

“Him, y/n? Of all men, you choose him?” He asked, searching for your eye contact as you stare at the ground.

“Neteyam, who I chose to mate with is none of your business.” You explain as you glare at him, backing away from his cold grasp. He clenched his jaw at those words.

“You could do so much better, y/n. You’re so pretty, smart, kind. what are you doing with him?” He asks as he traces your body with his eyes. He walks towards you, and pushes a loose strand of hair behind your ear, leading his hand down to your neck to grip it gently.

You would be lying to yourself if you said you didn’t miss his touch. You shut your eyes tightly as you inhale sharply. He bites his lip at your reaction, reaching his thumb up to lightly brush your lips.

“I know you miss this…You miss me…You miss us. I know you’ll never take me back, I get it. Let me just make love to you one more time before he does. You know he can’t do what I do for you.” He whispers in your ear as he wraps his arm around your waist. You throw your head back at the touch you’d been craving since you ended things. You hated that he had this kind of power over you. You hated that you let him get this close again. You hated that you were about to do the one thing that you left him for.

You look up at him with lidded eyes, and nodded at his request. Immediately after your confirmation, he pinned you to the wall of the tent. He started attacking your neck. He tapped your thigh signaling for you to jump into his arms. You obliged, as you started leaving hickeys on his neck. You bit him, drawing blood, and licked it up with a low moan. He hissed at the sensation, before pulling away from your neck.

“We don’t have much time, so I’ll be quick.” He pants as he puts you down. He pulls his loincloth off, before snatching yours off. He turns you towards the wall and pushes you up against it. He palms his throbbing cock before using the tip to play with your wet cunt. The friction made you both moan in unison.

“I’m gonna fuck you so good, I promise.” he says in your ear before slowly sliding into you. You cry out, missing the feeling of him inside you. He starts to thrust in and out of you slowly, causing your eyes to roll back. He places his hand next to your head that is laying on the wall, giving him more leverage to speed up the pace.

“I’m gonna fucking ruin you right here, right now.” And with that last sentence, he grabs your arms and hold them behind your back harshly. With his free hand, he snakes around to grab your neck from the front.

“Ohhhh my eywa, Neteyammm!!” you whine loudly causing him to slide his hand from your neck to your mouth.

“I know, I know, but you have to be quiet before everyone hears you! unless you’re willing to risk it.” He says through fast breaths as he watched your ass slap against his pelvis, sending him over the edge. He throws his head back in pure bliss, as his eyes shut tightly.

He growls loudly, as he snaps his head back down, latching onto your neck. He bit you hard, causing you to yelp loudly from the pleasure and pain. You start to get teary eyed, as you realized this would be the last time he would make you feel like this. You knew you’d regret this in the morning, but you didn’t care at the moment, you had to get this off of your chest.

“I-I love you, Neteyam!” you moaned as the tears finally fell from your eyes. The words you just spoke made his heart flutter. He wished that he didn’t fuck you over, so he could have this moment forever. His emotions got the best of him, as he started to get teary eyed as well. He leans down to the crook of your neck, and gives you the deepest, slowest stokes he’s ever given you. You both moan loudly at the feeling. You could feel your high coming, as you bit your lip, and shut your eyes.

“I love you too, y/n! I’m sorry for everything. I should’ve treated you better.” He confesses as he speeds up the pace, crying in the crook of your neck. You reach up to hold onto his arm, as more tears fell from your eyes. You were emotional from the pleasure, from the apology, and from the fact that you couldn’t take him back anymore. Your emotions started to send you over the edge, as your eyes rolled back again, and your legs started to shake.

“I’m cumming Neteyam!!!” You scream as he wraps his strong arm around your torso, kissing your cheek. He bites his lip, as he groans in your ear, feeling his high approaching him too.

“Let’s cum together, one last time.” He says breathless as he grabs your hand. He thrusts into you a couple more times before you two cum in sync, filling the room with a pair of moans that would never be heard together again.

“Fuckkk, y/n!” He shouts as he thrusts into you once more, leaving his cock in for a few moments before pulling it out for the last time. You cry out from the emptiness that would stay with you for a life time. He kisses you one last time on the cheek, before turning you around to face him. He palms your cheek with tears in his eyes, as you try to hold yours back with pursed lips. He pulls away, putting his loincloth back on. You watch him, back still against the wall. He walks back over to you, pulling your small hand to his chest. Looking you in the eyes.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t be what you needed, y/n…”

Ok wait, how do you make a smut…SAD??? Like I genuinely don’t even know how it got here. Also, let’s talk about her man told her to be nice, and she took it too damn far…he didn’t say FUCK HIM, he said be nice, girl!!! I get it though ngl. I hope you guys enjoyed. Send more requests 😎😎😎 love y’all!!!

Outtie❤️🖖🏾,

Pandorxx

[freelanceexorcist]

I mean it when I say I'm done with all things political and I'm no longer watching the news (if something big happens, I'm sure I'll hear about it somehow). So this is my closing argument on that front.

Cut for length.

Those of you who choose to continue to engage will be seeing a lot of blame assignment in the coming days and months. Every pundit will be weighing in with their ill-informed opinion on who's responsible for this. I'll save them the trouble.

Blame the men who hate women more than they love their country or even their own miserable hides. You won't have to look too far to find one of those.

Blame the white women who are desperate to be picked by these men.

Blame the media who spent the whole election cycle sanewashing that demented fucking monster while ignoring the very real accomplishments on the other side.

Blame the shitheads who thought it was safe to sit this one out.

Blame the turncoats on our own side who bayed for Joe Biden's blood because he had a bad night and didn't stop until he caved to them. Nah, scratch that, those people never accept blame for anything.

Blame the foreign-born oligarchs who would rather see the country burn to the ground than pay their fair share to keep it running.

Plenty more where that came from. Plenty of blame to go around.

And here's some advice if you're open to it. If you're not, consider this the end of the post.

*Puts on "old lady who's seen some shit" hat*

If you're terrified of what the future holds, don't live all four years at once (credit for this approach goes to user King Beauregard over at The Establishment Bar). Take each day as it comes. Each hour as it comes. We survived him once and we WILL survive him again unless he starts a nuclear war, in which case there was nothing any of us could have done to stop it anyway. I wouldn't worry about that, though. He's so far gone I doubt he remembers how to tie his own shoes let alone what to do with the nuclear football.

Take care of yourself. This is sacrosanct. Do what makes you happy and soothes your nerves. We have a limited amount of time on this rock, so don't spend it staring at a screen in anticipation of the next horrible thing he will do or say. Ride it out and be kind to yourself in the process. We have four years of positive progress ahead of us and we will go into 2026 and 2028 with strength and resolve.

Don't game out worst-case scenarios or catastrophize. We don't know what's going to happen tomorrow let alone over the next four years. About the only thing that can be confidently speculated upon is that he is very unlikely to survive much longer and will most likely not make it another four years. Yes, then we will be saddled with President JD Vance, First of His Fake Name, but not forever. Mike Pence was a bland cypher who made the right patriotic face noises, but JD is an obvious and glaring creep who is about as appealing as a broken toilet with a deuce left in the bowl and has achieved the near impossible goal of making Ted Cruz seem likable in comparison. He likely won't win a re-election bid as long as the Democratic party chooses the right white man.

Unplug. Dump Twitter and try a service like Bluesky if you want to continue using social media. Distance yourself from any site that's set up to allow engagement farmers to get maximum exposure by pissing off as many people as they can then letting human nature take its course so they can make a few pennies, turning the place into an anxiety-spiking hellscape in the process (looking at you, Twitter, TikTok, Reddit, etc.). Stick to sites that produce content that gives you joy.

If you choose to continue to engage, engage at the local level. Get school board members, mayors, council members and state Representatives elected. Those offices may not seem important, but they absolutely are. They could very well be the firewall between you and the United States of Gilead if the worst were to come to pass. Organize at the local level instead of attending some million-woman march that will almost certainly be co-opted by corporate, political and Hollywood interests who want to look like they give a fuck about you and abandon you once they get their narcissistic supply. A bunch of small fires are a lot harder to put out than one big one.

Don't conflate what happened in other countries with what could happen here. Attempts to break us will be made, but we are not Afghanistan. We are not Iran. We are not Nazi Germany or Franco's Spain. We are not Russia. Whatever may or may not happen here will happen within the framework of the systems we have set up, our current circumstances, our history and our people's resolve. He failed once, and now that he's in obvious cognitive decline, he will likely fail again.

I'm not going to tell you everything will be OK, because I don't know whether it will or not. The future is a huge question mark just as it always has been. But what I will tell you is that how you react to whatever happens is entirely up to you. If you find yourself ruminating, stop and apply the techniques used in cognitive behavior therapy (CBT). Reframe your thoughts in a positive or at least neutral way. Do breathing exercises. I ask you to trust me when I say these things help.

That's about all. We've got this. We didn't think we could survive the first regime, but we did. We've been on this road before and as The Boss sings, nobody's kiddin' nobody about where it goes. It sucks that we've been thrust into it again by people who really should have known better, but you play the card you're dealt. We can do this.

[bongwaterjuicy]

A bit of a random thought on Overlord Albedo x Ainz

Why would Albedo be the one to wear the wedding gown and Ainz the tuxedo? If Albedo wears the dress then all the spotlight would go to her instead of both of them. A white dress that represents the undying love and care that she has for one another, to her man. But while Ainz is wearing a simple tux that leads to nothing but some simple and plain care. Not even the slightest bit of pure imagination where Albedo wears the wedding dress and he the tux. But, when the styles are reversed, then it makes the true one shine. Ainz, the ruler of the nation of darkness, the sorcerer king, the last remaining supreme being basked in the most glorious garbs of life. White which represents the life he has created of the recent months and years to come, while it also means truce and retreat, meaning the countless battle he had both conquered and consisted on with. Beauty of the Supreme one shown through the many gaps in the pattern of the dress, any dress really, as Everything looks well in the eyes of the beholder that gazes at pure magic. The one who stayed behind when no one else would. The skeleton overlord that reenactments kindness and both bloodshed. While the flowing back of the gown is reminiscent of the gown he usually wears, flowing about in the wind showing off his endless power. Yet it also shows regal elegance, royalty in the highest level, rich, and in flavour of the king. The main star of the show, the one who gets married to the succubus every man and woman wants, A skeleton who managed to get so far ahead, and the magic caster who ruled his country with a heavy hand till the moment where he finally indues his life to another person, A succubus who devoted herself to one, to one and one only, even with so many other options. Though the gown also represents the meaning for protection, as a being that is being protected by almost everyone in his vicinity, even by the one to his marriage. Protection all around the magic caster, A being so great it needs protection even from the slightest of dangers, in fear of it leaving or disappearing for good. A scary thought from the may other denizens, but mostly, from the protector.

Albedo is the one with the tux instead, always in a regal white that compliments her figure, yet shows she is pure, and full of something that men or women could never get if they wanted too. A being so out of touch that even the greatest of attacks could not defend against this beast with white horns and black wings, showing her inhumanness. Yet, with that, she is the one wearing the weeding dress in the most part. Even when it doesn't make that much sense. A succubus so alluring, yet so defensive to the others that she fights for her love. Reminiscent of the groom protecting his wife front the ones that choose to hate and destroy ones that never deserved it in the first place. Someone mistaken as a human at first, bloodthirsty for the leanest of the things concerning her love. But, she is also kind tot he ones around her when needed to be, getting along well, talking amongst each other, the chatter amongst the rest of the room. The one that outs everyone and everything into place when needed to be. The one to be the most dominant when needed to be, and the one to be a bit aggressive when concerning her love once more. Black, A color meaning death, impurity, and sickness. Though, in her case, A shield against the ones who nd are to hurt her love and heart. Protection through and through, A meaning that wards against death itself, turning from the innocent white that cannot defend itself, to the confident, aggressive, and meaningful shield that dominates the battle field within itself so directly it scares the others when too out show. Meaning that if the white gown she adorns in the wedding shall be for nothing, A shield that cannot defend it's master is a useless, and a dull shield that cannot do anything but sit around the wait idly. A shield must always protect the master that it wields to the hand, or to the back, or to the sides and bottom or top it doesn't matter. A shield must do everything in its power to protect the master. White purity and Black protection go hand in hand, Ainz wearing black protects the guardians and every denizen, while the white gives a sense of pureness and calmness to the ones surrounding it. Going hand in hand in giving each other the color they need the most. White goes to Ainz for the purity and for the need to calm and keep everything in place if needed to be, or being the warming heart to the blue mess of the sky. While Albedo gets the black for the protectiveness, the order, and the pure unadulterated defensive every casted needs. A thing for both of them. A thing they need the most in the world. The best things they could have offered each-othed no matter the cost.

And that is why I think Ainz should wear the white gown, and Albedo the black tux.

[reboundttv]

The Anger, and Fury, of a Gentle (Wonder) Woman

There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man. -The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss

So, Wonder Woman. Diana Prince. Former Princess of Themyscira. Daughter of the queen turned goddess Hippolyta. The Warrior of Truth. Beacon of Hope. Champion of the Amazons and their gift to humanity. On a mission of compassion, empathy, love, and peace. To show the World of Men that there exists a world without war, hate, or violence if they so choose.

Without any further knowledge of the character, or of the Greek myths surrounding the Amazons, one might believe that Wonder Woman is a pacifist, even if a militant one. After all, how else could you defeat hate and violence with love and peace? But of course, we know better. Wonder Woman has been trained from birth in combat. She has been blessed by gods and goddesses of Olympus, giving her superhuman strength, durability, speed, beauty, and wisdom. We know of her numerous feats of incredible power. And we know that her very existence, and the existence of the Amazons, is an affront to the World of Men, so used to controlling and subjugating women. Diana and the Amazons are too strong, too confident in themselves and their power, to allow themselves to be treated as anything other than equals. And so they, and Diana, become targets of hate and fear.

I noticed in the most recent Wonder Woman arc, that there have been rather overt references to a violent rage that exists within Diana. To be fair, that’s not exactly a new thing. The League of Comic Geeks entry about Diana states that she, “struggles to walk a line between her warrior strength and endless compassion each and every day.” And it’s not like other authors haven’t made reference to Diana’s battle IQ and ability to quickly and brutally end fights. But it came back to me because of a few things. Firstly, the upcoming Issue 15 for Wonder Woman (and the next arc, per artist Daniel Sampere) is titled “Fury,” with an appropriate Diana as its main cover.

But also, in Issue 6, when Diana is preparing to battle Giganta, she does as she always does: attempt to prevent violence, reminding Giganta that they have battled before and that perhaps this time, they can use their words. Giganta, however, scoffs, telling her that words “are civilized. But you, me. We are animals. Savage. Brutal.” Diana, interestingly, does not correct her, and instead says that she wishes Giganta was wrong.

In Issue 14, the Sovereign and the six enemies of Wonder Woman hide in his mansion, awaiting her righteous vengeance over his killing of Col. Steve Trevor. But she doesn’t show. The Sovereign, in telling the story after the fact, muses on the reason:

And in thinking on that, I was reminded of a recent major DC crossover event that dealt with the bad stuff inside of heroes: Knight Terrors. In Knight Terrors: Wonder Woman, Diana is faced with her deepest, darkest fears and truths about herself. That, despite her noble calling and desire for peace, she is a warrior at heart. Indeed, her darker half calls her out on her methods (Issue 2):

Your help always comes with violence. You say you’re an ambassador of peace, then enforce that "peace" with war. With black eyes and broken bones […] You use your fists to change the world, then wonder why there’s blood on your knuckles.

In fact, the darker half says, Diana relishes in the opportunity to inflict violence:

If you wanted to help, there are so many ways to do so, ways that don’t involve a left hook and a costume. But you don’t want to help. You want to punish. You want them to do as you say...or else […] deep down, we love it. There’s that moment before the fight begins, when you realize battle is inevitable. A tingle goes up your spine. Your heart skips a beat, because in that moment...you are happy. The joy of bone breaking under your fist. Correcting the world with battle and blood.

And on that desire for violence, the rage inside of her:

And why should you have to hide it? Why do you have to be the “beacon of hope” when everyone else just gets to exist? The more you accommodate Man’s World, the more your rage builds, consuming everything in its path. And oh, it feels good to unleash the fire in your heart.

It finally comes to a head:

At this point, two caveats: When Josie Campbell wrote this, she used the Demigod origin for Diana (that she is the daughter of Hippolyta and Zeus). Because of this, Diana’s rage and desire for violence is (mostly) blamed on that. That it “runs in the family,” so to speak. Diana's darker half references Athena, who destroyed Troy because she wasn't called lovely, and Heracles, who drove the Amazons to the sea. It underscores a lot of Diana's fear, because she is no doubt well aware of the madness and pettiness of gods. The darker half also taunts her about that divine heritage, stating that she cannot die, that she is destined to outlive everyone who helps keep her human. Even her sister Amazons.

And the second caveat, of course, is that Diana ultimately succeeds. She tells her darker half that she understands herself:

Within me is the capacity for hate and rage. Within me is fear when I face Evil...and recognize myself in it. All these fears shape me, deeper than my happiness ever could […] I will always struggle with what I am, but I would not give that struggle up for the world. Because that battle between who I am and who I wish to be...that is what makes me human!

So Diana’s internal battle isn’t necessarily about balancing her incredible strength and her compassion. Obviously, it is possible to have both great strength and compassion. The true internal battle for her is about controlling the darker part of her that relishes fighting. That part of her that peeks through every interaction with a villain. Even when Diana wishes to avoid violence. Because yes, she abhors violence. But in those interactions, like the one with Giganta, she always speaks with the confidence of a warrior. A champion. A conqueror. “We have done this before. You know you cannot win. Submit and save yourself the pain.”

And in a story arc where Diana has suffered greatly, as a hero, as an Amazon, as a woman...I wonder if before the Sovereign’s tale is done, we’ll actually get a chance to see that. To see the fury of a gentle woman. The advertising for Issue #17 says that the battle is going to reach a bloody finale. And we know from the solicit that it will be the Wonder Girls facing Diana’s most powerful enemies...

[goodluckdetective]

On Books Bans and Being a Queer Kid

So there’s been a lot of talk in the news recently about people trying to remove books with queer content (and also content about racial justice/people of color which is also a critical issue that I’d feel amiss to not mention) from school and public libraries. A lot of this discussion revolves around this idea that queer books “turn kids queer” or “indoctrinate them” which is obviously bullshit but sadly widely believed by dipshits on Twitter. So I wanted to write up something about a kid who didn’t have access to queer books growing up: me.

I grew up in the late 90′s/early 2000′s. The first time I learned about gay people, it was because one of my friends liked Ellen’s talk show. There were no books about queer people in my middle school library except for a Christian lit one about someone who was dealing with her best friend being a lesbian and how you could “love the sin and hate the sinner” and “gay people were broken.” Otherwise, there was nothing except debates on the news if civil partnerships should exist. (Those debates would also take place in my high school where one of my own teachers would debate against gay marriage and I would sit in his class every day an feel like he saw something in me that he hated that I had not yet named out loud).

Of course, I turned out queer anyway. Even before I knew about gay people, I would choose a random guy who I knew wouldn’t like me back so people would stop asking me about it. I never cared for the Jonas brothers’ craze that swept our school. I was surprised upon entering middle school when tomboy became something that was considered “bad” to be. My friends who were girls tried to get me interested in fashion and makeup and for a solid 2 years, I played along even though I didn’t really get it. I can still remember sitting at sleepovers where my friends were doing their hair and thinking that there must have been a day in school that I had missed where everyone learned femininity. 

Skip to Freshman year. I can remember sitting on the bus home and looking out the window and seeing the cheerleaders pass by. One of the cheerleaders was an old nemesis of mine; we’d never gotten along and our dislike for each other was obvious. But I can remember seeing her in that cheerleading outfit and instead of being hit by the usual dislike, thinking “wow, she’s really pretty.”

And then it hit me like a ton of bricks. Three thoughts in quick succession. 

1. I’m gay.

2. Oh no, my life is going to be so much harder now.

3. And on top of all this, I have terrible taste in women!

I’ve told this story before, because the third thought is objectively funny and makes me chuckle to this day. But I want to focus on the second thought, because it’s the important one. Because that’s the kind of thought you get where you’ve grown up with “gay” as an insult, where the only books you could access were about how broken you were, when no one says “gay” in your classrooms. 

It teaches you that the world you occupy is now a much more dangerous place than you thought. That this thing that you are will bring hardship. That if you want to make it through, you’re going to have to hide.

I hid. All of high school I hid until my Freshman year of college. I didn’t tell my parents until after I graduated. I still hide now sometimes, because safety requires it. 

When you ban queer books and the word gay in schools, you ban nothing but the feeling of security and safety for queer kids. You teach them that the second thought I had at age 15 is the right one: that being queer is a hardship. And that’s just not true. Since coming out, I have been so much happier as a whole. I’ve kissed girls. I’ve made lovely friends. I’ve leaned to like the way I look, to find my lack of conventional femininity charming rather than a defect. I don’t regret my years in the closet, being safe is critically important, but I wish they hadn’t been necessary. 

For those who wish to remove queer books, I want to impart this; removing queer books teaches queer kids and teens that their first thought upon realizing who they are is fear, instead of curiosity, joy, excitement or happiness. And fear is a terrible thing to feel about yourself. 

And to queer kids out there, especially trans kids: I’m sorry the world has not learned it’s lesson. I’m sorry people are telling you what they told me, if not worse. There is nothing wrong with you. Don’t feel rushed to escape the closet if it isn’t safe to do so: the world will wait for you. 

Happy Pride. We aren’t going anywhere.

[lycorid]

The description is a little misleading; it only applies to the first woman and her arc; the rest vary between female characters of different ages and different professions (all centered around the service industry - whether that’s host/hostess clubs, prostitution, rent-a-girlfriend, etc.) There’s also some romance but uh… lol.

I really enjoy this manga. The characters are flawed and they’re written well enough you can understand their motivations and why they went into their respective industries or make the choices they do, and they’re allowed to be human without needing to be saved or fixed by a man. They’re hypocritical, they make stupid decisions, they lie to themselves and others, they help each other out, ultimately they are just women trying to make their way through life.

There are romances as mentioned in the description, though the focus is much more on the women and their lives.

The manga also makes no attempt to be ‘timeless’ by giving you a vague idea of the era; it stays topical, focusing on the modern era. Covid is a background element in the later chapters, with characters wearing masks and having to change their services due to restrictions. There’s also a, or rather, two, popular arcs due to a specific character and the subculture she represents that was popularized around ~2019/2020. I’d say shes my favorite due to relatability, but the latest chapters (as of now) with Emi feel like looking in a mirror and getting a right hook to the face every time I see my reflection.

As always, thar be spoilers below

For the first arc, I really loved that Yuki decided to turn the man down; I also love that it had people arguing in the comments over whether it was the right decision or not. I was expecting a stupid “knight in shining armor saves the poor woman” but nope. Good for her.

I also like the various ways they all approach their jobs (I hate calling most of them jobs but it’s short and gets the point across, I think.) with Yuki being very meticulous, knowing exactly what the men want from her and working her ass off to provide exactly that so she can get the money she needs. I think this is partially what makes the manga such a rough but good read for me; life fucking sucks for all of these women and they’re trying to survive in whatever way they can, and they are not immune to societal pressure.

Yuki wants money to get cosmetic surgery to get rid of her burn scars and needs money to get through college. She’s also fairly cynical and sensitive to others words, reacting with cold disgust over hearing one of her clients talk about how they can’t forgive anyone who doesn’t love their parents. She thinks “It’s the sort of talk that makes me realize this person was probably treasured by their parents and raised with love.” We get a short flashback showing a young Yuki in shabby clothes surrounded by garbage as she quietly seethes over the man casting judgement over others when he couldn’t possibly understand why they’d make those decisions. At her core, she’s a depressed woman who learned money is the only thing that matters, that “money can’t betray” her, money has no expectations. Men want something from her, money doesn’t; she’s allowed to want instead.

Ayana is obsessed with looking beautiful and has no problems scamming (lol) her clients to get just a little more money. She’s incredibly cynical and judgmental towards others appearances. The most telling quote from her is “Even people who say ‘I don’t judge people by their appearance’ still judge people by their faces at some point. Who would favor the ugly one?” which I think explains her thinking so incredibly well; she was treated like shit because of her appearance, and she sees others be treated like shit because of their appearance and so she ‘chooses’ to be beautiful. If she wants to be treated well, she has to play the game. In her arc, her beliefs are proven both right and wrong; a woman she deems ‘ugly’ is in an incredibly happy and loving relationship, while her own lover flinches at a photo of Ayana’s childhood appearance when she dumps him. Her world later comes tumbling down from the men realizing she was just using them for money (NO SHIT, THATS HER JOB) and leading to them harassing her and her eventual firing. Her ending is very bittersweet. Typing this made me realize Ayana is one of my favorites as well lol, I think I relate to her as well in the cynicism aspect and experiences with other’s treatment due to your appearance.

Moe in a way is similar to Ayana, though she chose to not give a shit and to stick with people who liked her for who she is, but that doesn’t mean she’s immune to the societal pressure to be beautiful. Her spiral begins with her first visit to a host club, where she meets a newer host there, and slowly falls in love with him and begins spending more and more money to afford to visit him, until she becomes a prostitute just to keep up with the bills. After her interview (in which the owner rapes her to ‘show her the ropes’) she begins to question whether the relationship is worth it and places the outcome on a coin flip; If he doesn’t answr the phone when she calls, she’ll end this fucked up spiral. He answers.

I could talk A LOT more about this manga and its characters but I’ll leave it there. I’m leaving out a lot of context because I don’t want to write a novel, these are just the quick notes so far. The Moe arc is a lot more fucked than I presented it; the relationship, if you can even call it that, is incredibly twisted and it’s painful how far she goes for a man, who’s written so well you can completely understand why she fell for him. Even knowing what a Host is and the shit they do for money, there are scenes that make you wonder if he felt anything for her at all or if she was just another client.

The scene where Moe wears a very small sailor uniform for a client and breaks down sobbing while the male client berates her for ruining his time… dear god.

“When I knocked on heaven’s door, there was no place for me on the other side. But I will not waver anymore. In my life, I am the main character.” Her ending hurts, but at least she got away. Yua Takahashi, the girl who introduced her to Host clubs and the main character of the next arc, did not.

Anyway, I love this manga.

[steveskafte]

FAILED TO TAKE I've done a lot of portrait photography over the years, mostly families and weddings. The other day, I joked with a prospective client that there are three subjects hardest to photograph – kids, pets, and men in their early twenties. That's partly a joke, but genuinely, I've had the greatest struggle with getting young men to be comfortable in front of a camera. They never want to admit it, of course. Whereas most women are fairly transparent about their self-esteem, men often adopt a kind of blind hate for their reflection, unwilling to even fully admit it to themselves. In that early stage before they can grow a big beard to hide behind, they deal with that shapeless uneasiness by trying to pretend it doesn't exist. We all want to be loved by as many people as possible – and unrealistically, some of us hope to be loved by everyone. What I've learned in my time as a semi-public figure, is that the depth of appreciation for my work can be equally matched by indifference. Recently, I made an off-hand comment that I wasn't a fan of a particular local restaurant. Absolutely nothing against them, of course. I've got no critical complaints for their food or ambience, the people who run it seem great, and I don't think they should do change anything on my account. But the owner saw what I said, and was upset, which made me feel bad. Realistically, though, there are perhaps forty restaurants in Annapolis County, and I only like to eat at four of them. Life is hard when you want to be universally loved. It'll turn people off of being artists, going on dates, opening a business, or doing anything that involves earning outside approval. Some folks make it worse by wanting reasons. For example, when I fell in love with Susy (my wife), everything about her was perfect to me. Her mind, her body, the way she dressed, her genuine kindness – her personality in all expressions. Now technically, there are hundreds of other women that I didn't choose, just as there are hundreds who didn't choose me. Mutual disinterest. But even though I could dissect every attribute that didn't appeal to me – as some men do – I see no reason. Last night, in the search for new music, I scrolled through dozens of different artists and came up empty. I'm sure that they all loved their work, put their heart into their lyrics and performing their songs. But I was unmoved. I believe it's critically important to realize that there's no real reason behind this. Instead of ranting about all the changes they could make to construct a perfectly tailored product to my tastes, I gently move on. If someone ever asks, I'll say: "No, I'm not a fan." By that same token, I'm not an enemy either. As an introvert, I've gotten used to finding new ways of explaining to people that we are a friendship that failed to take. Don't take it personally! We can still love each other in passing, and I hope we always will. February 29, 2024 Delaps Cove, Nova Scotia Year 17, Day 5954 of my daily journal.

[automatismoateo]

Christians have some of the worst views via /r/atheism

Christians have some of the worst views I often stumble upon Christians saying some crazy things. I just heard a pastor complain about how immoral everyone is becoming. How people of god are being attacked and god is taken out of everything. He continued to bitch about how kids are coming to school dressed as animals, how churches are doing Toy Story/iron man themed events, how ‘men are dressing like women’ and how awful our world is - likening his bigoted views and people who hold them being in the minority to how Noah was a minority before god righteously destroyed the evildoers in the flood. Christians are such snowflakes that they think that furries are a sign of degeneracy and evil? People who dress up as anthrophromorphic animals are evildoers? It’s no different than enjoying wearing Halloween costumes or cosplaying as an anime or fictional character or wearing fictional costumes - like plenty of geeks do, what is wrong with that? It’s just people expressing themselves with unique costumes and dancing for tiktok. Almost no one thinks they are actually an animal. Is fun and fiction a sin? Then was his whole bit about men dressing feminine - but what is wrong with that? Are they hurting anyone? Who is anyone to say that just because you’re a man you need to be like most other men in terms of gender expression, clothing as well? Why does he choose to shit on lgbt people in a world where conservative straight pastors like him rape kids, and there are actual problems? And then this whole ‘people are being fired from their jobs and ostracized for being righteous god believers’ narrative - is being pushed by Christian’s who would not hesitate to fire a member of church staff who is openly gay - or has a disagreement on the earth is 6,000 years old narrative. No shit if you’re going to be bigoted and proselytise your brand of conservative Christianity people won’t take it well, would this dude take it well if an extremist Hindu tried to turn the USA into a Hindu state and and prosletyze to him about how backwards Christianity is? Doesn’t Christianity teach thst every one of your loved ones who died a nonbeliever will suffer for all of eternity, and you will too if you don’t submit? What about a religion that believes that should be respected by the average person? Christians think gender role non conformance is evil, and secularism, and cosplaying, yet they liken the good conservative Christians to Noah and his family - a group of people who stood by a god who genocided every adult child baby and fetus/zygote/embryo, every animal and cub except for 1 human family and a few pairs of each animal - sending them all to an eternity of suffering just because all of them didn’t obey him? That is the standard of morality they think is perfect as opposed to the evil diversity and tolerance we see in the modern world? I think Christianity radicalises people into being incredibly hateful - and convinces them their hate is actually righteous. When there is a book that discourages critical thinking - instead relying on blind faith, with a god that has incredibly bigoted authoritarian views - and everyone who doesn’t share them is a sinner who deserves an eternity of suffering - this religion creates incredibly screwed up people. I wish it wouldn’t be considered politically incorrect to criticize Christianity Submitted January 08, 2024 at 07:47AM by SeaworthinessRich646 (From Reddit https://ift.tt/WI5QYLo)

[sssm1l3]

The Barbie Movie—A Review

This post contains spoilers for the Barbie movie

Over all, I found this movie to be an amazing, hilarious, creation and will watch it again if I have the chance.

Between the humor, the outfits, and the musical, it was an incredible experience.

On the political aspect—It Is not Man Hating

Barbie land is where all the Barbie’s lived.

Barbie Land is a satirized opposite of the real world, where women do everything and men are fun little decorations that you can choose to have around if you want.

“Barbie has a good day every day, but Ken only has a good day if Barbie looks at him.” Is a quote from the narrator of the movie as Barbie walks on the beach.

However, on the other hand, in the Barbie toys, Ken’s only purpose is marrying Barbie.

He only matters if the owner of the dolls decides to make him take an interest in Barbie—Barbie, who goes on all the remarkable adventures.

There’s President Barbie, Doctor Barbie, pilot Barbie. But there is no president Ken, doctor Ken, or Pilot Ken.

Because he only exists to give Barbie a companion, if you want to give her one.

When Ken and Barbie go to the Real World, Ken finds that—unlike what the Barbies believe—that the world isn’t run by women, but by men.

And because Ken has spent his entire existence being in the shadow of Barbie, he loves it.

He decides that this is wonderful, and that every place should be like this, because he finally feels like he has worth.

Much like how some little girls get a president Barbie and think that one day, they’ll be president after seeing only male presidents in history.

Ken takes all the knowledge from the real world and tries to take it to Barbie Land, and turns it into Kendom.

Naturally, Barbie freaks out.

All the other Barbies are brainwashed, Ken is wearing a cowboy hat, and her house is no longer her house.

So, she hatches a plan.

With the help of her friends, after un-brainwashing them, they turn the Kens against each other. They are so busy fighting each other, that they don’t notice that the women have taken back over until it’s too late and already done.

After which, Ken has a break-down.

He feels useless because without Barbie, he’s nothing.

It’s Barbie and Ken.

But Barbie convinces him that he’s his own person, he’s not defined by her, “It’s Barbie…and it’s Ken.” She said.

And all the Barbies and the Ken’s agreed that neither Barbie Land nor Kendom was what they wanted for their world, so they decided that everybody is their own person, and should make their own decisions.

And that is what makes people uncomfortable.

Barbie is not a man hating movie, Barbie is an equality movie.

The only difference between this movie and other equality movies is that this one did not start out with men in power, it started off with women in power. And instead of switching the narrative and switching to a woman being in charge and having it be hectic, they switched it to a man.

And while Ken ruling Barbie Land was much worse for everybody than it was when the Barbies ruled it, when they examine their society, both Kens and Barbies decide that neither of their ways were entirely correct.

In both governments, people were being left out.

The reason this movie makes people uncomfortable is that it pointed out that even men are not perfect leaders, that nobody is a perfect leader.

It’s an equality movie in both ways of showing that everybody has pros, and everybody has cons.

Nobody is perfect.

Everyone has flaws.

And the Barbie movie is a fantastic representation of how those flaws can affect leadership.

[akunya]

hi ! i miraculously stumbled upon your account and can i just say wow ! its super organised and very entertaining , lets keep going okay ? i was hoping to request vox x gn or male , which ever you prefer. the idea i had was for vox and reader to do it for the first time in their relationship ? just for them to take another step and get to know each other more :) kink wise i suppose vox would be more of a teasing dom but still gentle with his lover. sorry if this is so long !! i hope this finds you well :D have a great day ! i hope we can be friends bc once again wow 🤩 okay ٩(ര̀ᴗര́)ᵇʸᵉ

so i kind of went completely off request here and made it trans m!reader instead. hopefully thats alright.

“my pretty little human boy!”

pairings: vox akuma / trans m!reader

summary: you're sad again. vox wants to show you that you are loved. tw: afab!reader. self hate, internalized transphobia (?), daddy kink, exhibitionism, groping, size difference. fluff.

notes: its rare for me to write something this sappy, but i havent had the best day today. writing this was a good outlet. i hope someone enjoys my word vomit.

also, i appreciate the kind words! thank you for sending a request. she/her + she/they + fem aligned/women DNI.

you stared at your body in the mirror, fingers pinching at the extra skin on your tummy that formed the soft rolls your boyfriend loved to grab. however, unlike his hands, yours were not filled with adoration or love: they squeezed and scratched at your skin with hate and frustration. your lover was waiting in the bedroom for you to come out - and possibly take your relationship to the next level together -while you were nearly at the brink of tears in the bathroom a few feet away from him.

you couldn't comprehend how your boyfriend could love such an average looking human like yourself. the voice demon could have anyone he chooses, and yet for some reason, his eyes laid on you. no matter how many times he reassured you that you were the most beautiful being on earth to him, your brain couldn't process the idea at all.

your hands wandered up to your chest, your face scrunching in disgust as you groped yourself. vox said he didn't care about your chest, telling you it didn't make you any less of a man. sometimes, he'd tell stories about people in his clan who also identified the same way just like yourself. while hearing his fond retellings of the people dear to him that he had lost thousands of years ago, there was a pit in your stomach that only grew whenever you looked at your body for too long. of course, vox admitted that while he would never be able to understand the feelings you were going through, he would support you with whatever decision you'd make. your boyfriend really was the greatest. you didnt deserve him. he deserved a real man to be by his side, not whatever hot mess you were.

"are you alright, honey? you've been in there for a while." vox knocked on the bathroom door, snapping you out of your thoughts. the huge mirror in the bathroom was both a blessing and a curse. eyes glued on your reflection, you didnt have time to react quickly enough when vox turned the doorknob and let himself inside. you cursed under your breath - of course you forgot to lock the door. how stupid could you be? the taller mans eyes widened, even though you had pulled your shirt down as fast as you could his sharp eyes caught everything.

"why did you have your shirt up before? having fun without me, hm?" vox joked with a smile on his face, but it quickly faded when he saw your frown. "hey, whats wrong? is everything alright?" the man cupped your small face in his hands, thumb swiping the stray tear that rolled down your cheek. you had no choice but to look up at him, every bone in your body screaming at you not to start sobbing in front of your partner. now that would be something you'd never be able to live down.

vox pulled you in for a hug, shushing and cooing at you. because of your height difference, your face was pressed against his chest, his arms gently holding you close. he hated seeing you like this. you were his little dove, his treasure, and seeing you on the brink of tears made him sad too. you sniffled a bit, the urge to cry stronger than your self restraint as you sobbed into his haori. "sshh, its alright darling. let it out." vox had rubbed your back lovingly, cradling you close as if you would break.

after a few minutes of silence, you finally pulled away from his chest, quickly wiping away your tears. the demon looked at your reflection in the mirror, causing you to look as well. his arms had practically engulfed your form, a small smile on his face. if it weren't for your tear stained face, it would be the perfect mirror picture of you two. "im sorry for keeping you waiting for so long. i didn't mean to get caught up." vox could sense the guilt filling your heart, squeezing your shoulders affectionately. "dont worry about it, really. im more concerned about you, dear. what happened?" vox's hands started running through your hair, scratching at your scalp with his long nails just like he knew how you liked it. you had started to explain how you were trying to get ready before going back to him (he chuckled at your inability to say you two were going to have sex, but decided not to tease you further), but had stopped to look at yourself in the mirror. your thoughts got the better of you and you ended up becoming engrossed in staring at your body, which you usually did. vox had turned you both around, your body in the same position it was when you were alone, except now he was behind you. seriously, when did he get so tall? "sometimes i feel like i dont deserve you. youre way too nice to someone like me.."

"y/n, shush. as much as i love hearing your wonderful voice speak, that is not true at all. i love my cute boy very much." he had turned your head to stare at the both of you in the mirror, blushing a bit when his hands started to wander. they landed on your hips first, holding you snug against himself. "you have the cutest hips. so what if they dont look like a model on a magazine? theyre gorgeous, and perfect for me to hold." vox emphasized his sentence with a little squeeze, making you laugh softly. your hips were a bit curvier than a mans, but vox didnt seem to mind.

he continued, hands squeezing the small chub of your tummy gently. he grinned, resting his head atop yours. "my boy's cute little tummy. so soft and perfect for me to lay on. abs are overrated anyways, i dont understand why you humans are so obsessed with them." you could feel the adoration spilling from his fingertips with every squeeze and caress he had given your body, and embarrassingly enough, it was turning you on. "and these.." vox slowly and carefully squeezed your chest, not wanting to hurt or upset you. you couldn't help the whimper that left your lips, the demons affection making your head spin. ".. are just as perfect as the rest of you, baby boy." he pinched your nipples with his fingers, your body on display in front of the mirror for him. he would spend the rest of his days showering his little pet in all of the affection you wanted, worshipping you every hour. "my handsome little man. you're beautiful even if you don't think so."

vox kissed the top of your head, still slowly massaging and playing with your chest as you whined. you didn't know why your brain did stupid things, but you were glad your boyfriend whisked those worries away. for being a demon, his heart was pure and made of gold. vox made a mental note to contact a certain sorcerer friend of his and see if theres any magic that could help with your appearance. while he loved you as you looked now, he'd love you just as much, if not more after any surgery you wanted to have. he ironically trusted taboo sorcery more than whatever doctors roamed the earth in this decade.

he chuckled when he noticed you rubbing your thighs together, nipples perky from all of the attention he had been drowning you in. "needy, baby?" you nodded, maybe a bit too enthusiastically but you didnt care anymore. watching vox toy with you this entire time, and seeing his devilish smirk look at your squirming body felt like torture. he laughed, hand slipping underneath your boxers. "let daddy show you how much he really loves you, okay?" you hummed in response, yanking his shirt collar and kissing his cheek.

god, he loved his little human so much.

[xkseii]

i hope i don't sound weird but can u write something for 244 and gn reader fighting over seongjun

please feel free to bully me about this and ignore this ask

anyways i love you thank you for existing

⎮Fighting over him⎮

⏤ Characters: Seongjun Baek ⎮244⎮gn reader

⏤ Including: sfw

⏤ Warnings: none

⏤ 1.200 words

❥ at Seongjun's restaurant:

You were sitting on the stool calmly while playing with the ice cube inside your glass. Seongjun was cutting the fish in front of you as you listen to him talking about the last deal he made. Unfortunately for you, you hear the door of the restaurant open and the cheerful voice of 244 filling the room. The second your eyes met each other, the atmosphere turned sour, you could only glare at him in hatred as he sits down beside you.

Since Seongjun started to cook only for you, you ended up with only a plate for the two of you, and it was not your favourite thing. With the plate placed between the two of you, 244 shoves you away to take the plate for himself, immediately, you kick his leg before dragging the plate back on your side.

As you were going to strangle each other, Seongjun turns around after washing the dishes, you both sit still as if nothing happened. And with a sigh, you push the plate in between the two of you before eating in silence, occasionally complimenting Seongjun's cooking skills.

❥ with the other members of the XJ company:

You were sitting with the others, talking about the next member you could choose when you feel someone glaring at you. Yeonwoo and Sengjun kept talking while the others were listening, as you and 244 glared at each other.

Since the two of you were the only ones seeing Seongjun on a daily basis, you were used to hanging out with him quite regularly. But it was also the starting point of most of your arguments, who bought him the best clothes, who spend the most time with him this week.

Luckily for the others, you were most of the time sat beside each other so when a stupid competition like this one started, nobody was in the middle and most of them were used to it, so they would not react. And surprisingly, Seongjun never tried to stop it, even if it was disturbing the current conversation.

❥ on live:

244 could not live with Seongjun since Taesan did not allow it, but it was not the same situation for you which lead to some regular collaborations with Seongjun.

And every time, you knew 244 would be watching it to make sure you would not try to do something. In the end, 244 could not send messages with his current account, so he would either do it with another one or send you directly a message if you were too close to him or anything else.

It became a habit for you to just do some things to annoy 244 while you were on live, knowing it would drive him mad. At some point, he started sending useless messages to Seongjun, so his attention could somewhere else instead of on you. The last time he tried this method, you promised Seongjun to bring him to his favourite restaurant the same night, which granted you his entire attention for the day, and also 244's rage for the week.

❥ at the award ceremony:

The award ceremony was something really important for Seongjun, as it could show his power and popularity. You would never accompany him, but this one time he asked you to, and surprisingly, it did not end up in a bad way.

As you were both fighting over who was going to sit beside Seongjun, it turns out the person which was supposed to sit there was sick. So you both sat in silence, on each side of Seongjun, still glaring at each other over his shoulder. But as you were too busy hating the enemy, you noticed how some men and women would try to flirt with Seongjun.

With a curt nod, you agree with the other one for once, you turn around in sync and managed to shoo the annoying people away. And that's how you end up playing the bodyguards for Seongjun the entire night. As you were finally back home, you shake hands, thanking the other for helping. This night, was the first night you agreed on something.

❥ when eating with Taesan:

Since you were all working in the same business, you would meet with Taesan every week, talking about how much you were making and what could you do to increase the profit.

Like always, you would fight over who was going to sit down beside him and one time, this argument made Taesan spill the tea and burn himself. As 244 and you were sitting on your knees, listening to Taesan scolding you about your childish behaviour. Both your eyes widened when you saw him sit next to Seongjun as if nothing was happening.

The next second, you were looking at each other while nodding, getting ready to get Taesan at any chance, since he stole your place. Finally, after Taesan grew tired of your quarrels, he decided that you would sit next to him alternatively, and it managed to calm you down.

❥ drinking night at the restaurant:

It may have happened once that you were both planning to meet Seongjun at his restaurant after it closed, but unfortunately, the same night.

That's how you showed up at the same time in front of the door, with a nice bottle of liquor in your hand, and before you could kill each other, Seongjun asked you to come inside. With how frustrated you were that the other ruined your perfectly planned night, you and 244 ended up drinking the most. And at the end of the night, you were both sleeping with your head resting on the counter, drunk.

Thankfully for your pride, you forgot most of the night. But you remember well how you did not only flirt with Seongjun but also 244. And this man flirted back. Seongjun was the only one who did not drink a drop of alcohol and watched the two of you playing around. But he, obviously, never told that to any of you.

❥ alternative ending:

After the night you spend drinking with 244, you both wake up sleeping in each other arms on the ground. Surprisingly, your drunk selves were much more talking than yourselves, and it made you learn many things about the other.

With this night, talking without trying to kill each other, without any other problem in mind, turns out it has been more fun than you thought. And without knowing it, you fell for one another instead of pursuing your loves for Seongjun.

And so, after an awkward talk, fully sober this time, you let go of your fight over Seongjun and tries to understand the other better.

But for Seongjun who has been on the receiving ends of your attention for weeks, or even more, months and has been forgotten in a blink of an eye, he was confused. He has been bathing in your attention from the start and got surprised when you weren't so much after him anymore.

And as he leaves his restaurant one night after waiting for the two of you for more than an hour, he notices how 244's car was parked in his usual emplacement. As he walks closer, trying to understand what was happening, she sees you and 244 kissing in a car without a care in the world. Not paying any attention to Seongjun or for how long you made him wait.

⏤ Thank you for reading! I wish you a great day.

⏤ here is my masterlist & ko-fi ⏤

[a-d-nox]

Can you tell me about Hera? I have Hera conjunct my Mercury and MC in Libra at 6° in the 9th (Sextile Ssturn, Square Neptune). I'm a writer.

*I more or less get how it is expressed with the sun, but it gets foggy when with Venus, Mercury and other planets.

hera, goddess of marriage (asteroid 103)

@emmelinekahuyan , i would not suggest you look at hera for info on how it affects you as a writer unless you are writing about marriage or child rearing. i suggest you look at the muses (erato (62), calliope (22), melpomene (18), or thalia (23)), sappho (80), qwerty (6600), athene (881), hermes (69230), and/or really any famous classical author. most famous classic authors have an asteroid you can use to see if your writing is similar to them or as popular! if you are still curious about what your aspects mean after reading this, please dm or comment below!

“when talking about such a popular god or goddess i am going to for warn paraphrasing - of course all these stories have more details and all these popular gods have stories within stories. i would love to share them all/in detail but i would need a book and a lot more time to write it. my attempt in writing these posts are to inform you on the high level story of the god’s or goddess’s life. that being said if any one of the events regaled in the post pique you interest - please let me know i don’t mind giving a more in-depth tale of any of the events mentioned.”

on to hera.

As we know from prior posts, Hera’s mother is Rhea and her father is Cronus, the one who swallowed her out of fear of being dethroned due to a prophecy (check out Zeus's post for a better explanation of this). Hera is best known as the Queen of Olympus and the wife of Zeus (yes, her brother because Greek gods don't mind a bit of incest). From the Juno post, her Roman aspect/counterpart, we get the idea that she doesn't have the best marriage though she is the ruler of the marriage domain. What we have not discussed before is how Zeus convinced Hera to marry him. Zeus tricked her by transforming into a cuckoo (one of Hera’s symbols). After transforming into this cuckoo Zeus pretended that he was sick, cold, hurt, and dying (a bit overkill if you ask me but sure). When Hera saw this poor bird, she found herself feeling sorry for it and nursing it back to health. When she cradled the small bird to her chest to help it stay warm, this is when Zeus entered his true form once more (a bit creepy but sounds like a man lol). Feeling abashed, Hera had to agree to marriage after this precarious situation and Zeus immediately demanding she marry him. Hera had thought that after this one incident that Zeus would be forever hers and found that she was severely wrong. Zeus went on to do these types of things to many other women. As we know in the midst of this (or perhaps before the cheating), Hera plotted to overthrow Zeus many times having thought that he was a corrupt ruler. Her great near defeat of Zeus was the one in which Poseidon, Athena, and Apollo were involved. This group of gods bound Zeus and stole his lightning bolt only for Thetis to arrive and untie him. For this Hera was punished and put in chains to hang from the sky. Neither Hera or Zeus fully forgive each other after this. Zeus continued to cheat and Hera served justice at every instance - tricking Semele into burning to ash at the true sight of Zeus, hunting down Io, forcing Leto to give birth to Apollo and Artemis on a branch, etc. Perhaps this reflects insecurity of Hera's - in myth we see her as envious if not more so than Aphrodite. Hera hating Troy and meddling in the affairs to spite Paris after choosing Aphrodite instead of her to receive the apple of discord, when Antigone says she is prettier than Hera - Hera turns her into a stork, Hera attempting to kill Hercules both in the womb and as baby, etc. Hera is certainly a very dynamic character. IN MY OPINION Hera in a chart represents a) your marriage, b) where you may be deceived by those that are closest to you, c) where people betray your ultimate trust while you have always been loyal to them, d) where you believe you are special to someone only to find out you’re not, e) where you can’t forgive and forget, and/or f) where you dedicate a lifetime of anger with someone to get even.

i encourage you to look into the aspects of hera along with the sign, degree, and house placement. for the more advanced astrologers, take a look at the persona chart of hera AND/OR add the other characters involved to see how they support or impede hera!

OTHER RELATED ASTEROIDS: zeus (5731 / h42), poseidon (4341 / h47), athena (881), pallas (2), rhea (577), apollo (1862), leto (68), kronos (h43), semele (86), thetis (17), io (85), artemis (105), aphrodite (1388), paris (3317), antigone (129), and heracles (5143)!

like what you read? leave a tip and state what post it is for! please use my “suggest a post topic” button if you want to see a specific post or mythical asteroid next!

click here for the masterlist

click here for more greek myths & legends

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[cipheress-to-k-pop]

A Sister's Love

Pairing: Platonic Damian Wayne x Al Ghul!Reader

Warnings: Injuries and blood. Drugging, Trafficking and sexual assult but these are not the main themes.

Word Count: 4.9K

Summary: You realize you have a lot to learn about yourself outside of your little brother, Damian's, shadow.

A/N: Was originally gonna make this a Dick Grayson x Reader but realized it would be weird cuz of mixed families and stuff. And I don't wanna be pushing the boundaries of incest.

Growing up in the League of Assassins meant a lot of things for you. It meant that you were raised to be powerful and commanding. It meant you knew how to kill a man in 47 different ways and counting. It meant that you were raised to rightfully think that you were the best.

Although for every good thing there was always cons. Your schedule was rigid and your peers were unfeeling. Your mother most of all, but that didn't stop you from trying to win her affection. It was the reason why when your little brother was born you felt threatened.

That was until you met little Damian. Your mother had handed him to you with a smile of pride that she never showed you and you hated him. But then you saw his precious little face, a nose tinier than a button and adorable lips that were curled into a pout. He was so beautiful.

Since then, you put any differences you might have had with your mother behind you. According to Ra’s it would have been a mistake to show Damian such tenderness, to teach him about loyalty to your heart, instead of without it.

But Talia couldn't ignore the tug she felt in her heart seeing you and Damian together. You still worked hard, harder than she had ever seen before, now determined not to show that you were weak and have them take your brother from you. Damian followed your example, training to her approval, however taxing it was for him.

And more importantly, Damian loved you. You were the first woman he had ever loved and he was smart enough to know that would never be a mistake. You were his shelter in a storm, his fire in the cold. You were the best sibling that anyone could ever even dream of.

But then you had to part. At age 10, Damian went to live with his father, Bruce Wayne. You had never met the man when he was with your mother and you assumed you wouldn't need to, he wasn't your father.

Both you and Damian didn't want to leave each other. You'd miss your little brother and you'd miss the feeling in your chest whenever you'd look at him. Damian would miss home; he would miss your presence and he would miss the familiarity. But he couldn't stay.

That's something you learnt at the League. Damian couldn't stay, with you. He was meant for bigger things than you.

Another thing you learnt was that you didn't have to stay either. You wanted to see the world, see what everything else had in store for you. And your mother, bless her, gave you her blessing.

Of all the things the league taught you, there were things they missed out on. And a part of you was thankful for that. Because you enjoyed the feeling of wide-eyed wonderment when you stepped into a train station for the first time ever.

You had never tasted a chocolate muffin before, you realized as you stuffed your face at a local bakery. Coffee and chocolate muffins went well together. You liked sweet things better than spicy things, you noted when you didn't enjoy the tteokbokki you bought at a Korean food stall.

People were kind, not foolish. They smiled at you when you came in and genuinely asked you where you were headed. Like the woman you met on the tram who was heading to Washington DC. Even through the short ride, the two of you had bonded and she had left you with her phone number and a promise that if you were ever in DC, you would ring her up. Diana was trusting, too trusting. You could have assumed it was because she was stupid, but you wanted to believe it was because she was smarter than even you.

Some people were kind like her but of course, some were impolite and pig-headed. You of course didn't waste any time putting them in their place. Maybe that was why you shouldn't have any faith in humanity.

But isn't humanity just the thing you should be putting faith in?

It was fun at first, discovering new things, seeing how people really lived outside of books and things taught to you back at the League. You knew everything, you weren't naive enough to be oblivious but reading about something was miles apart from actually experiencing it.

After a while however, you got lonely, it was a huge world with people constantly moving and you've come to realize that unless you're with somebody, you can't really move from your place. Instead, you'd be stuck watching all of them. So, you sought after your brother.

It was easy enough to track Bruce Wayne, he lived in a house large enough to be seen from outer space. Getting to Gotham took longer than you expected. Time passed so easily when you didn't have a purpose but now that you had somewhere you needed to be, the train couldn't go any slower.

Gotham City was less gloomy than people made it out to be. The sun was shining and the city was bustling. In some ways, it seemed a little homey. Maybe that was because you didn't have to worry about someone hurting you. If anything, they should pray that they don't choose you as their next victim.

Of course, you could've gone to Wayne Manor and introduced yourself civilly but you wanted to see Damian more than anything and didn't want to delay it any longer. And more than that, you wanted to see Damian is his cute little school uniform.

That's what led you to wait outside of the well-reputed Gotham University, waiting patiently for the bell to ring and students to file out of it. You already knew that they wouldn't come out singing like in the movies but a very small fraction of you still hoped.

Your heartrate increased with every passing minute, excited to meet your brother after nearly a year of being apart. Eventually, the bell did ring and students began trickling out of the doors, looking like bumble bees, excitedly zipping around and talking to their friends.

'Would this have been my life if I was never born in the League?' You wondered, looking at a girl who was animatedly chatting with her friend, arms interlocked as they moved towards the parking lot where their parents were waiting.

When you finally saw Damian, you suddenly felt out of place. Like an outsider watching someone else's brother when you saw his eyes lock onto someone in the commons. Even though you weren't on the school campus, you could still recognize who it was.

Richard Grayson, oldest son of Bruce Wayne, waiting to pick up your little brother on a motor cycle.

And for the first time in your life, you experienced insecurity, watching them greet each other like brothers. The feeling was sour and you wondered if it was a mistake coming here, thinking that you still had a place here.

It was true, people didn't move from their place unless they had someone to go with. You hadn't felt fulfilled like that since your brother stopped being at your side. He was everything you knew. It was just your mistake for thinking that in the year apart your brother wouldn't have found anyone either.

***

"Drake, pull up the security cameras from today at my school parking lot." Damian ordered, stepping into the Batcave.

"No 'Hello', no 'How you doing?', it's always 'Tim, do this' 'Drake, do that'," Tim commented sarcastically but still pulled up whatever he needed, "And then as soon as I give you what I want, you're going to forget me again. And not even visit the kids."

Dick spared him a laugh at his dramatic scene, ruffling his hair as greeting and then turned his attention to the screen. The footage was played at double the speed until Damian's eyes locked onto just what he wanted to find.

It was just for a second, when Dick's motorcycle had zoomed past but that was all he needed. Damian had seen your face and it wasn't any mistake, he'd know you even if he was blind. Even though he was so sure it had been you, he still couldn't hide the way his body froze, eyes wide when he saw your face.

It was the same face he'd see every night before he went to bed and the very first person he wanted to see every time he woke up. Your image was what came into his mind when he thought of being nurtured, when he thought of being safe.

There was a time when he was younger, too young, there was a thunder storm. He doesn't remember much from the night, just hiding his face against your chest and you wrapping a blanket around him. His mother trained him even harder the next day, until he almost dropped but he'd never forget curling up to your warmth. Not even now, when he knew that thunder storms were the least of his fears.

It was as simple as that. With his father and brothers, he didn't have to worry about looking weak, he didn't think of love as a weakness, rather he considered it as the fuel behind strength. Yes, his father taught him well. And now he would show you just how much he's grown. So, you can be proud of him.

"We need to find her."

"Why? Who is she?"

"My sister."

***

Of all the things you wanted to experience, visiting a bar was one of them. Was the air really enough to intoxicate you? Were you really going to lose all sense when you stepped into it? Would be able to drink your troubles away?

You were sorely disappointed. The alcohol didn't taste good, it burned when you swallowed it and made your tongue feel fuzzy. The music was so loud that your brain began throbbing against your skull to the beat of the song.

Men were picking fights and women were having fun but even then, you couldn't find it in yourself to get up and actually have fun. I mean, how were you supposed to? How was cosying up against a drunk man supposed to make you feel better? How was getting lost in throngs of sweaty people who didn't know what personal space was meant to improve your mood?

If anything, it just reminded you of just how pathetic your life was.

You were realizing you had no purpose. Damian was all you had known for years now, knowing only to protect him with your life and love him with your heart. Who were you without him? What did you like? What made you happy outside from your duty at the league?

A man knocking into you brought you out of your thoughts, which had been happening all night. Except this man stopped in front of you and gave you a smile that turned your stomach upside down.

"Sorry about that pretty lady, let me buy you a drink to make up for it." He spoke with a voice that was trying to be smooth but instead sounded like metal scraping over each other.

"No, thank you." You said sharply, not yet done with your Manhattan anyway. You were barely enjoying your time here as it was and you were sure another drink wouldn't change your mind.

"Not a fan?"

You shook your head at him, choosing to humour the man.

"Then let me buy you another one, if you don't like it then you have nothing to lose."

You pretended to giggle at him and he swelled with pride. Did he think he was winning?

"One Boulevardier." He told the bartender who nodded and began preparing the drink. Until it was ready, you indulged the man in front of you who reeked of cigarettes and alcohol.

He placed the drink in front of you and if you hadn't known that it would burn going down and turn you into a shell of yourself, you might have been curious to what it tasted like.

"You see that dude over there?" He nodded to a man standing in the other corner of the bar and you turned to look at him. Another man, covered in tattoos who didn't look any different than the one standing behind you.

"He's my pal, owns the bar. Ask him and he'll hook you up with free drinks tonight. For a price, of course."

You turned back around to face the man and out of the corner of your eye saw something dissolve into your drink. It was only for a second but you saw the last remaining grains turn invisible and you definitely noticed the way the once steady drink was now swirling into a vortex in the middle.

"Drink up, princess."

You smirked. Tonight, might be fun after all.

***

This was boring.

You had been pretending to be unconscious for about 40 minutes while these men drove you to some undisclosed location. Their conversations were unbelievably dry and it's not like you had anyone else to talk to. Everyone else who might have been even mildly interesting were knocked unconscious.

Eventually they pulled up to some sort of holding facility and if your assumptions were correct then this would be a midpoint before they sold all the girls here to some sort of pimp.

Once they lugged you off the truck and threw you into a room with so many other people, you could hear their breathing did you open your eyes. It seemed like this was some sort of abandoned butcher or meat factory, judging by the ominous hooks hanging above your head and the metal walls. The door had been bolted shut, the only way to look through it was a small glass window.

Only after you finished taking in your surroundings did you even look at the other women who had been trapped in the room along with you. Your stomach turned.

There were so many unsuspecting faces who looked like they didn't sign up for this. Half of them looked under the influence of something, sweating profusely even in their sleep, faces scrunched up in pain. The other looked like they were forcibly taken, bruises covering their skin, hair and clothes in disarray and more than half of them had either a black eye or a swollen lip.

Maybe it was their fault for not being trained, that's what someone at the league would've said. But isn't it their captors’ fault for misusing their training, their strength, for something as vile as this?

You decided to wait, you couldn't assume that this small group of girls was the only one in the confines of the building. How many more were here?

You weren't feeling overwhelmed, not at all, not with the weapons that were littering you. A kunai hidden is either of your boots, throwing stars in your pockets hidden underneath your vest and a war fan in your pocket. You could handle these clowns without even looking up.

But it wasn't your life you were concerned about. It was the lives of these underaged, vulnerable girls who had fallen prey to these monsters.

While you were waiting a couple of the girls started to wake up. Some were still heavily drugged, still groggy when their eyes fluttered open and unable to focus onto anything. Others shot up straight as an arrow and began crying, screaming, begging for them to let them out.

They were ignored, by both their captors and you. Why try and reassure then when you weren't sure what was going to happen. More importantly, why throw off the monsters lurking outside the door that there was one woman who hadn't been phased.

Instead, you just stared blankly, trying to get comfortable and hear anything through the walls. Eventually, you heard the sound of footsteps coming towards the room. You covered the lower half of your face with a scarf, making sure that anyone who left here alive today, wouldn't be able to remember your face. Whether it be as a saviour or their punisher.

The girls whimpered and curled into one another, crying quietly and you felt sympathy. There was no way they'd be able to move forward from this without having fear stab at their heart with every step they took. You could only hope they had something in their life that would make them feel safe.

For tonight, you'd be that for them.

A few men opened the door with a cruel smile, stepping inside for a second before bolting it shut. They flaunted guns and other weapons to the girls, finding pleasure where there should be compassion and worry. You were disgusted watching their smirks twist maniacally when the girls cried harder seeing them brandish their weapons.

One of the men stepped forward and grabbed the girl closest to him who begged and cried to spare her. His disgusting hand might as well be made of acid because you almost felt the sick burn when it snaked between her legs and copped a feel while she sobbed and screamed, trying to fight him off.

You grabbed one of your weapons and returned their sick grins with one of your own.

It was going to be hard to cop a feel when he can't feel anything.

You were going to break each and every bone in his hand to ensure that.

***

"Can I borrow your phone please?" You asked the bloody and broken man by your feet. He glared at you and spat blood on your boots, unable to do anything else. You sighed and faked a pout.

"Is it here?" You wondered, holding the dirtied boot over his ribs and his eyes widened, catching drift of what you were about to do. You rammed your foot into his broken ribs, courtesy of yourself, and he screamed bloody murder. Music to your ears.

"Apparently not. Want me to check your pants?" You asked, raising a brow and he frantically shook his head, using whatever strength left to pull out his phone from his pocket and you smiled, thanking him quietly.

"Now, let's hope that one blow is enough to put you out of my misery." You sang, punching him right in the face and he passed out. Lightweight.

You took a look around the place, seeing bodies littered over the place like confetti. Blood was scattered on the ground and you're sure if people looked hard enough, they'd find someone's teeth. You on the other hand looked fine.

You sat on the floor, crossing your legs comfortably, tired after the fight and dialled a number onto the phone.

"Hello, police?"

"Yes, how can we help you?"

"Well, there's a sex trafficking scam going on at my location. Quite shoddy but they have a number of women trapped here and it would be nice if you could send backup to have them escorted home safely."

"A sex trafficking scam?"

"Well, it could be just a regular trafficking scam but I'm not too sure."

"All right, I'll have someone check it out."

"Good, and I realize you might get a lot of calls like this but please don't talk to me like I'm an idiot. Tell your people to send a couple of ambulances as well, you'll need them."

"Of course."

You could only hope the person on the other end of the line would eat their words when it was on the front of the newspaper. For now, your work was done.

In the meantime, how were you going to get anywhere from here? Where even were you? Was there anyone even conscious here who could give you directions? Or would you have to call the police again to find out where to go?

Not that you'd wait long enough for them actually arrive here. You'd return to the bar way before that for another drink. Maybe now you'd actually be able to enjoy one.

Just as you were about to leave, you heard a creak coming from the other end of the warehouse. It echoed through the halls and you leapt to your feet, soundless moving to hide in the shadows and pulling out a kunai.

The footsteps that followed it were light and airy, barely even touching the ground. They were trained, whoever they were. You kept your ears open in order to hear something.

"Whoever was here was trained." You heard someone comment.

"Are you really that stupid, Nightwing? It's obvious that my sister was the one who took out this ring and reported it." Came the snappy reply back and your breath caught in your chest. Make no mistake, that was your brother's voice.

"We must find her."

He was actually looking for you? He knows you're here? You're not entirely surprised, you haven't exactly been careful or stealthy when it came to concealing your face around Gotham. A mistake on your part but you couldn't have been more relieved.

You still remained quiet, not wanting to disturb the flow, not wanting to interrupt. You had the mind of a soldier but when there was no one to follow you seemed more like a sheep. It made you feel slight shame, that you were unable to stick up for yourself despite being so many things.

Maybe, the league wasn't the best thing for you.

Immediately you scraped the thought from your mind, berating yourself for even thinking that. The league had given you everything, everything you were today was because of them. You were strong and calculating, the leagues proud soldier.

You were proud of your roots, thankful that you grew up to be the person you were. They had given you everything, and your brother was just one of the gifts that you had been blessed with in your life.

"Damian." You spoke softly, stepping out of the shadows. His head snapped towards you, eyes widening when he took in your form. It really was you. His sister.

Damian wasted no time in bounding towards you and you knelt down to meet his eye level, catching him with open arms. A part of your heart sang when you realized he was still small enough to fit in your arms. He still held you close. He still loved you.

"I've missed you, Ya Amar." You spoke softly, cradling his head that was buried in the junction of your neck.

"I as well, Okhti."

***

Damian was ecstatic that you were in Gotham. Of course, it didn't look like it to anyone but everyone who knew him well could tell that he was happy that his sister was home with him. He didn't wait for even two seconds when you got to the Batcave (much to Bruce's surprise) to show you all his pets.

The next few days would be considered the best of his life.

Damian wanted to be as close to you as possible, sitting near you during meals, training with you, talking with you, even going as far to sneak into your temporary bedroom at night for cuddles. He certainly got more comfortable showing affection since the last time you were around.

He showed you his hobbies like painting and sketching and you were impressed. He had the skills to be doing something like this? Damian had picked up many new talents and many new stories since you last saw him and he was eager to share them all with you.

The next few days would be considered the worst of your life.

You had found Damian now, so why didn't you still feel fulfilled? Why did you feel like something was missing? Like this wasn't meant for you? Why weren't you satisfied?

Why did you feel envious that Damian got to experience so many things? Why did you feel resentment against him when you realized you never got the same things he has?

Your life felt like it amounted to nothing.

You loved your brother but so far you had just been living for him. And now that you realized there were parts of the world that you wanted to see. There were thoughts in your mind that were of your own and desires that you didn't have to explain to anyone. As long as it made sense to yourself.

And you realize one thing with an aching heart.

You couldn't stay here in Gotham.

"Does Damian know?" Bruce asked you one day when you had asked him a favour. Bruce so far had been a little cold and unfeeling ever since you had met him in the Batcave uninvited. His feelings towards you got more negative when you gave an offhanded comment about how you thought he was taller. But he was the only one you could ask for a favour. He was the father to your beloved brother and you could only hope he would offer you the same consideration.

You had asked him for a flight to Washington, to see if Diana really meant what she said. To take a leap of faith for the first time in your life.

You shook your head no, "Not yet. I'm hoping he will take the news well. It's not like I'm leaving forever. I just—I need to—" You trailed off, unable to find the right words.

Bruce nodded, "I understand. Just tell him before you go. I don't think I've ever seen him this happy before."

"It makes me feel worse." You admitted, feeling a little guilty. How could you not feel happy at your brother’s happiness?

"You need some time to figure out that your world is yours. No one else should determine how you feel about yourself."

"You are very wise," You said softly, "Thank you."

***

"I love you dearly, Damian." You tried to coerce him from his room where he had locked himself in only 5 minutes ago. No doubt he was sulking since he found out that you would be leaving for DC in two days’ time.

"If you did, you wouldn't be leaving!" His voice was muffled, as if his face was buried in his pillow or even Titus. You had been trying to coax him into open the door for 20 minutes now and had multiple offers from Grayson, which you turned down.

"Oh, for the love of—Damian Wayne, you open this door right now!" It was silent for a moment before you heard the lock click open and took that as the indication from him to step into his room.

It was large and from the moment you stepped in, it was easy to tell the space was his. There were swords mounted on the wall, paintings on the wall adjacent to it. His desk was tidy and in the corner of his room, there were multiple easels and sketch pads.

Damian was sulking on his bed and you sighed, feeling guilty. You sat beside him and ran your fingers through his hair. Even though he was upset with you, he still sank into your touch, feeling comforted by mere contact.

"It's not forever, Damian. Wherever I'm going, I'm going to come back. I just need some time to myself." You tried to explain.

"But why!"

"The league taught me well, Damian. But it taught me to live like a soldier, but not as a person. There are so many things that I don't know about myself. What do I like? What do I want to do with my life? And I need to figure it out for myself."

"Why can't you do that here?"

You gave him a pained look and realization dawned on him, "Because of me."

"Damian, in the time we spent apart you learnt so many things about yourself. That you like animals, that you like art. There are so many blanks in my life and I need the distance to figure it out. I need to understand myself." You explained wistfully.

It was true, there were so many blanks in your life. You didn't even know what food you liked better, what hobbies you enjoyed. You wanted to experience new things, without the influence of Damian, without relying on him. And more importantly, you were scared you would put Damian above yourself time and time again.

It was all you knew. Damian was worth more than your life, worth more than your heart. But if that was true, you wanted to know at least what your heart was worth to you. If you didn't hold any value to yourself, it would be foolish to think you would to anyone else.

You needed the distance. You needed something new. You wanted to dive into uncharted waters and figure out the magic for yourself, without anyone to help you.

"It's not forever," You reminded gently, "I'm going to come back, I can promise you that."

Damian began leaning until his head was settled in your lap and you chuckled, gently scratching his scalp and he nestled into your belly. Hard to believe this was the same boy who left only a year ago. You wondered if you would change as much as he did or if you were stuck in your ways now.

"Okay," He said, voice muffled and you smiled, "I hope you find what you're looking for."

"Thank you for your blessing, Ya Amar. It means the world to me. I love you; you know that."

"I do." He said, now wrapping his arms around your waist, "I love you too."

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