#also my computer is killing me physically

[lasertitties]

No Child Left Behind made me hate school, and it made all of my peers hate reading. I knew how to read before school and that’s the only reason I still like it. I was 12 when Bush’s law was passed and after years of looking forward to junior high and high school, I proceeded to despise every second of both. I begged to be allowed to start college early and was finally allowed when my parents saw how stupid my assignments were my sophomore year; and how limited my AP options were.

Every teacher I loved was teaching the best shit under the radar and in a secret pact with advanced students that we wouldn’t rat them out. My engineering teacher funded our robot kits and rocketry gear himself because that had already been cut. My ag class happened in a fucking trailer because they pushed the guy out of classrooms. My programming teacher also snuck in his own supplies and I’m like 90% sure he pirated paid IDEs for us to learn on and installed them on his classroom’s computers. My history teacher used her planning and lunch periods to teach anyone who showed up voluntarily what she actually wanted to teach in secret. She had a secret fucking club where I learned vital facts like yes the fucking Civil War was about slavery and here’s how the economics went down. My cousin was in the other district and did NOT learn it that way, and it took a shouting match to pass the knowledge to her.

My AP calculus class took place in a fucking computer room and the teacher barely even tried to teach it because he was a resentful old burnout- by the time I was doing half college I had to switch over to learning math at the community college to finish my math education.

Even after doing half of my classes at community, which was my family’s way of getting me something like private school (tuition was lowered for high school students missing out on shit due to cut programs), I was STILL underprepared compared to rich kids who went to private schools by the time I went to engineering school at the state university.

And when I wasn’t at the community college, or with older teachers in physics and engineering who just didn’t give a fuck if they got fired and wanted to go out swinging? I was bored and resentful.

I watched admin cracking down, and younger teachers who still had 30 years of this ahead of them cracking up. We got our backpacks searched constantly and half my school was still on drugs, every student was treated like a criminal but if you asked one of the weed kids, the only way to make class bearable was to be high. I couldn’t even blame them much. I made school bearable by constantly flouting rules just like my favorite teachers had to. Real school was literally happening illegally in spite of the administration.

It was wild to go to the community college and see people allowed to roam and talk between periods, bathrooms having unrestricted access with no bag search, and teachers actually happy - then go back to my public high school for my AP shit and get treated like a prisoner and watch teachers lose their fucking minds or rebel.

Guns still wound up on my campus three times despite all the “security”- once from a kid who forgot he had one in the back of his truck, once from a gang kid who had no intention of using it at school but apparently needed it after, and one from a prisoner being chased by the cops who ran through my school to hide. We got put in lockdown and not a single cop came to get him, we were lucky the one actual dangerous guy didn’t give a shit about high schoolers.

My high school made me hate the United States. It made me hate authority in general. It made me hate the law. It killed my respect for any rule I didn’t see the purpose of and for the entire education system. It left me with limited study skills for university because I was unchallenged for six years before I left my backwater border town. It left me with no illusions about where racism was at in my country because the hispanic kids were treated five times worse than my little “gifted”ass was, and what’s worse is I knew three who were just as smart but ESL, which made narrow minded clowns treat them like they were stupid. I made an effort to learn some Spanish, which made me fully aware based on my dogshit fluency that the ESL kids were fundamentally more impressive with their language skills than me. My school treated being ESL like a mental disability, and only my very best teachers were cool to the ESL students who made honors and AP.

The whole experience left me with a horrible yawning pit in my soul. A feeling that everyone in a position of power was either overworked, incompetent, or a sadistic piece of shit. Which left me depressed.

Oh and since I was in a military town I got the military sold to me hardcore every second of every day and watched half of my peers get shoved into the Iraq War because they didn’t stand a chance anywhere else. It did not go well for them. I half suspect that screwing up education was done intentionally to create people desperate enough to become enlisted soldiers but I can’t prove anything.

Public school in the United States is a crime against humanity I’m dead serious.

I was today years old. That is disgusting.

No Child Left Behind is one of the worst things to ever be incentivized in schools. It was signed into law when I was 14. Reading Rainbow was my show as a kid. LeVar Burton played a big part in why I became an avid reader to date. The joy of it. It's an adventure around the globe and through different time periods without stepping on a plane or time machine.

Children parrot behavior. In grade school, I always wanted to read the same amount of books as my teachers (50 books) and managed to double that each year. Before No Child Left Behind, book fairs and Scholastic catalogs were a serious matter like your grandma's Fingerhut catalogs. Libraries were (and still are) a wonderland.

Reading comprehension and proficiency in schools has been declining for decades. A crisis. The joy of books isn't pushed anymore and I'm always saddened by it. It's one of the reasons why I post my book reviews and recommendations on here, as well as posts from others to encourage reading and (novel) writing. Kids will parrot your behavior while the education system sadly fails to return as that example.

[castlefly]

also back on the poppy brainrot

[camgoloud]

once again in some kind of hellish limbo where i’m like just the tiniest bit sick but it’s so lowkey that i can’t even tell if it’s like legitimately a contagious illness i should be concerned about spreading to other people or if i’m just being overdramatic about nothing. they should make this illegal.

[luckyemo]

ok jabberwock being both a virtual reality location and a real world location was kind of awesome like i love being able to have my cake (dramatic 'we're in a virtual simulation and none of this is real' plot twist) and eat it too (they still get to have their cool isolated island paradise setting post-game). i think it also helps subvert the none of this is real == none of this mattered feeling that other "it was all a dream" stories can fall into, like everything they had in the simulation - relationships, locations, events, parties, (minus the killing game of course) - it is achievable here in the real world, they just have to work towards it.

[avatar-aaang]

today I found out (mostly realized) that kids these days don't have physical textbooks anymore. like that is so insane to me. You can't hold??? you can whack someone's arm with it? shove it in a locker and hope it doesn't remain there??

[ittybittyfanblog]

Error 404: (Self-Aware!AU, Sylus Edition)

Summary: A LADS self-aware!AU featuring Sylus (+ maybe the other MLs!) and an oblivious player. That’s it, that’s the plot. Tags: player!reader x sylus, fem!reader x sylus, reader x lads, maybe some suggestive language?? will add more tags as the story progresses A/N: This is gonna be a multi-chapter fic! I’m still not sure whether to do the boys in rotation, or just focus on one ML per series. Don’t take my word for it atp tho – I’m not even sure if I can actually finish a series lol.  Also, I’ve had the creative liberty of changing stuff from the actual gameplay here and there. (Except for the self-awareness. That’s most definitely real.) Hope you enjoy~!

Pt. 1 - Pt. 2 - Pt. 3 - Pt. 4 - Pt. 5 - Pt. 6 - Pt. 7 - Pt. 8 - Pt. 9 - Pt. 10 - Epilogue (for the spin-off: click here!)

It’s a quarter past eight and you’re still on your desk working overtime on a Friday night. 

You let out a big sigh, leaning back on your office chair after an unhealthy duration of bad posture from hours of slouching down in front of your computer. There’s nothing ergonomic about the way this job is killing you, and the ache in your lower back can attest to that. 

An irate orange tabby plops himself in front of you, blocking your view of the glaring screen and you figure that it’s time for a break. 

“Me-oow.”

“I know, I know,” You answer tiredly, standing up to dodge a stray paw clawing your way and you hear cracks in three different places that are honestly unbecoming of a woman your age. You haven’t even reached thirty yet, for god’s sake. “I’m a bad mother. But mom also had to skip dinner to make it to the seven PM meeting, so cut me some slack, okay?” 

A high-pitched “meooowr!” is the only response you get; it seems like there’s no excusing late dinner time this time around. 

As much as you’d like to hem and haw and complain, the main reason why you’re still keeping this job is because you can work remotely. If it weren’t for the fact that you’re stuck most days at home working hours past your regular nine to five, having to be on-call around the clock at all times, and that you’ve consumed more sodium than a nitrite victim with the way you live off cup ramen, then, really, it beats working in an office where you’d physically have to clock in and out from exactly nine to five. 

Your right eye twitches. No, I have not fallen in love with the system that exploits me, thank you very much. 

“Here is your Fancy Feast, your highness,” you tell the hungry feline who’s already ignoring the hand that feeds for the bowl full of white fish paté. He eats healthier than you, sure, but you work like this for him to eat like this. The life of a single mom is an uphill battle, but extremely rewarding. 

You raise your hand to pat your son’s head lovingly, aborting the gesture halfway when you hear a warning growl. Alright, tough crowd. 

After nuking a half-eaten takeout box in the microwave and grabbing a cold Bundaberg from the fridge, you hunker down on the “chaise lounge” (see: an old wingback and a rattan ottoman you’ve refurbished as a makeshift seat a few weeks back when you had guests over) for a late meal. 

You barely register the taste of lukewarm rice on your tongue, mouth moving mechanically while your mind runs on autopilot about everything and nothing at the same time. 

Maybe it’s time to check Jobstreet again

Is there like a laundromat near the area that’s open twenty four seven

Eugh, I hate cold peas

What do we feel about Chromakopia? 

I will… die alone

I really need to stock on some fresh produce this weekend—

Ping! 

A notification from your phone pulls you out of your thoughts—and like a well-trained dog pavlov’d into responding, you visibly perk up at the sight of your lock screen lighting up and the familiar banner you’ve already memorized by heart. 

Your Galaxy Explorer rewards are here. Did you put my hotel’s address as the shipping address? 

Ah, just like clockwork. 

You press on it with a quiet, bubbling anticipation, chewing on the plastic spork as you wait impatiently for the silly mobile game that’s been your short respite at intervals—for more than you’d care to admit—to boot up. 

Offhandedly, you wish that the devs would add more variations to the game’s push notifications; more random, personalized stuff like maybe a reminder to drink water, or a fun update about their day. What you’d give–pay–for a: "Less on the overtime, kitten. I miss you,” dialogue from a certain character, but you digress. 

Oh, well. Probably better this way, lest you dig yourself deeper into delusion. 

The game greets you with the usual picturesque view of a silver-haired man sitting cross-legged on a chair, looking all the bit at ease in his signature crimson and white button up. The warm ambience of the Destiny Café at night draws you in, already pulling your attention away from the never-ending stream of thoughts in your brain. 

“Before seeing you, I thought today would be another dull day,“ Sylus comments airily. The way he drawls out the words in that deep timbre of his voice never fails to make your heart flutter – just a teeeensy bit.

“Ever the charmer,” you sigh happily in return, situating yourself more comfortably on the sofa, almost horizontal from how far you’re leaning back on the cushion. “You’re looking awfully normal tonight. What, no pineapple glasses for your favorite girl?” 

Having bypassed the initial cringe of talking to yourself after literal months of gameplay, it almost comes off natural, the banter. You’ve already accepted the fact that you’re crazy about a fictional, pixelated man—what’s pretending to have actual conversations with him gonna do? It’s not as if he actually hears you yap your nonsense; there are worse things in the world than a parasocial attachment to an otome game character. 

Your little jab at the sometimes random addition to his choice of attire earns you a laugh from the man himself—or at least it looks as though it does, making you blink momentarily in surprise. Happy coincidence, I guess.

You shake your head, cracking a smile, then proceed to do the routine of completing the daily agenda and then some. 

It’s tedious business, sure. You’ve dedicated hours upon hours on this game and you’re honestly starting to feel pretty bored with some of the gameplay elements, but you *do* like the ritualistic nature of ticking off the tasks one by one. It’s almost ironic— the way you dutifully do one thing after the other in this game, just to avoid the pile of work that’s waiting for you in real life. 

It’s not as if anything, or anyone’s relying on you to do your daily log-ins, so you suppose it’s due to that lack of pressure as well. 

Pulling yourself away from the five-star Xavier memory card you’ve grinded to level seventy, you stare despondently at the sad little 2 on your remaining energy. The embarrassing amount of materials you lack to ascend the card seem to mock you, even as you exit the Memories window. Another goal for another day, perhaps.

All tasks on the daily agenda are complete, except for one that you’ve always saved for last.

You’re met with a standing Sylus on the game’s home screen, arms crossed and wearing an expression you’d almost describe as impatient, if you didn’t know any better. The sight makes you grin. 

Cheekily, you poke his crotch.

You’re looking forward to getting a playful remark, or if you’re lucky, a blush along with an embarrassed retort about your shamelessness. 

 What you get, however, is a resounding scoff. Your eyes snap back to his face – from, ahem, your prolonged staring at the area below his waist – and you do see the familiar tinge of pink on his cheeks, but what he says in response catches you off-guard.

“You spend that much resource for a card that isn’t mine?” Sylus tsks, both his voice and expression coming across as… affronted? “Kitten, I’m actually hurt.” 

Huh?

You haven’t heard that line from him before. Was there a recent update you weren’t aware of? The man in question then appears to look amused, from the way you’ve been rendered speechless by the unexpected dialogue. 

All at once, you gasp when you realize what the new response means. 

“That’s so smart,” you say giddily. You see Sylus cock his head to the side, synchronously quirking an eyebrow—expectant. “They actually added a feature that lets them know which memory I’ve upgraded last, and make you react to it. Oh, that’s so cool!” 

If you weren’t too busy being excited over what you think is a new update from the game,  you’d see the chagrined look on Sylus’ face. But when you glance back at him, all trace of the emotion is gone before you could notice anything different. 

“Don’t worry, Crow Man. You’re still my favorite,” you assure him, making his mouth tick upwards in a semblance of a smile. He looks pleased all of the sudden, his demeanor shifting into something more relaxed.

Then a pout forms on your face. You crinkle your nose in frustration as you complain, “It’s just really hard to level your cards up at this point. It takes ages and a shit ton of energy just to level you up past seventy five.” Sighing, you add, kind of bitterly, “And I’m too broke to be spending money on growth packs.” 

Checking the time on your phone, you see that you’ve already spent more than an hour on your self-imposed break time and you know that you ought to get back to work soon. With a groan, you pull yourself to sit upright, savoring the last few minutes of free time before you slave off for the rest of the night. 

You’re about to clean up what’s left of dinner when you notice the oddly thoughtful look on Sylus’ face. 

There’s a deep furrow in his brows as he brings a hand up to cover his mouth. He closes his eyes shut for a few seconds. He's never done that gesture before... Ugh, he looks really hot–

Suddenly, you see a flicker—then a weird, sort of graphic distortion happening in the background. Uh, what??

A beat; then a glitch on the screen. “Ah, shit.” 

The game crashes.

You exhale loudly as the game’s interface goes back to the loading screen, tapping your thumb impatiently as the bar slowly loads to 15%... 50%..... 81%....... 

“Maybe make sure to patch up first before releasing an update next time, jeez—huh?” 

For a quick second, nothing seems to be amiss. But then the first thing you see on the home screen is Sylus’ figure standing before you, wearing an expression one could only describe as a cat that ate the proverbial canary. 

He speaks— and it’s another intro you haven’t heard him say, ever. 

“You should’ve told me sooner, sweetie,” he almost coos the words out, making your eyes bug out in shock. 

“Now, why don’t you go check your–” he pauses, and his mouth moves as if he’s rolling the word out, testing it. “Inventory?” 

Sylus slides his gaze towards the upper left corner of the screen, a coy smirk still ever-present on his face. 

There, you see something you haven’t noticed earlier: two notification badges. One on your mailbox, and another on the Hunter’s Info tab. Bewildered, you press on the mail icon first, despite the insistence for you to start with the latter. 

You see a new message: [For You]

A small gift, to bridge our worlds closer. – S 

Nothing is attached to it. You read it twice, perplexed.  

“You’re quite the contradictorian, aren’t you?” Sylus tuts as soon as you return back to the home screen, his gaze boring into you even when he tilts his head sideways in mock exasperation. “Mmm, I suppose it doesn’t matter. Take all the time you need, sweetheart.” 

Helplessly, you open your inventory next. 

Your jaw drops. 

“What. The fuck,” You whisper to yourself, voice wavering in disbelief at what you’re seeing, and the sheer amount of what you’re seeing. “This—this can’t be real.” 

You see that all the materials you own, from the bottle of wishes to the ascension crystal boxes, have been multiplied a hundred times over.

And on top of that–

Ninety nine thousand red dias????

You cannot believe how this—this recent… update (or is it a bug? Infold sure isn’t this generous) didn't make the news. Even as someone as uninvolved as you are with the community and the game’s latest releases, something like this for sure would’ve made headlines on Twitter (X), at least. But you haven’t heard anything. Nada. 

Holy shit. 

You feel a little light-headed, both from incredulity and excitement. Needing a moment to calm yourself down, you exit the Inventory tab in a daze.

You stare at Sylus. He stares back at you with what looks to be mirth in his eyes. 

Skeptically, you mutter, “did–did I get hacked or something?” 

Anticipating another unexpected dialogue to prompt up, you wait for a full minute without saying anything else. And for a moment, the man in front of you looks indecisive, contemplative. 

There’s something very odd, very… human in the way he’s looking at you. He looks as if– as if he’s—

His face falls back into a neutral expression. Not unlike how his idle animation usually looks. 

..

…

….. It doesn’t seem like he’s going to initiate a conversation any time soon, so you hesitantly poke him on the nose. 

“Even in the worst-case scenario, there’s no need to panic.”

You’ve heard that one before.

So he’s back to normal now. You temper the small disappointment that blooms in your gut. 

Shaking your head slowly, you try to make sense of all the stuff that just happened, but a sharp bite on your ankle pulls you out of your reverie. 

“Ow–!” The sight of your cat flopping near your feet reminds you of the time. More importantly, the backlogs waiting for you at your desk. 

“Wait, shit– I gotta get back to work.” This… unbelievable stroke of good luck (?) is gonna have to take a backseat for now.

You grab the carton box and the half-empty bottle of sparkling peach as you stand up. Making quick work of throwing the container in the trash and gulping down the rest of your drink, you rush into your room and back in front of your PC. 

Cracking your knuckles, you gingerly set your phone against the monitor. Setting the timer to one hour in Quality Time, knowing fully-well that you’re going to have to keep extending it until the wee hours of the morning—or until your battery dies, whichever comes first—you give Sylus one last look, letting out a long exhale before locking in.

“Just keep me company for the night, alright? I’ll figure out what’s going on once my shift’s over.” 

-

It could just be your overactive imagination, but you swear you hear a quiet chuckle from the man polishing his gun in your peripheral.

[vbecker10]

Hiii I was thinking an angst thing about loki accidentally hurting reader with his magic? Or something similar? Have a good day!!

Please Forgive Me

Pairing: Loki x female reader (Y/N)

Summary: As an analyst, you're not even supposed to go on missions but when Fury & Steve decide you are needed in the field, Loki accidently volunteers to train you. Despite your best efforts, your crush on the God of Mischief grows and when he finally tells you that you're ready to go with the team, you're filled with nervous excitement. Loki makes you promise you'll stay close to him but his desire to protect you from danger leads to you being injured by his magic.

A/N: Thank you so much for sending in this request! I love a good angst fic! Sorry it took so long for me to write it. It also got away from me a little (a whole lot actually) and I made it about three times as long as I meant to. I hope you like it! 💚

"Congratulations captain, this might be the most absurd plan you have ever come up with," Loki says with an eye roll as he leans back in his chair across from you.

You feel yourself shrinking, trying to be invisible as you sit between Natasha and Clint. Your eyes focus on your open laptop. The notes you had been taking stop mid sentence, leaving off exactly where Captain Rogers announced you were expected to join the team on the next mission. There's no way I should be doing this. I honestly don't think I've ever heard a worse idea in my entire life. I know it and so does the God of Mischief, you keep your anxious thoughts to yourself.

"None of us can access the computers as quickly as Y/N can. And that's not the only issue, one misstep and all the data on those hard drives will be wiped, we can't risk that," Natasha explains calmly.

"Nat's right, we can't complete this mission without Y/N," Clint says, the conversation continues as if you're not in the room and you wish you weren't. "Normally we could just mirror the drives or physically remove them but we can't, they need to be accessed on site."

You bite your lip, trying to find a flaw in their assessment of the situation but you can't find any. This is what I get for being SHIELD's top expert in Hydra's overly complicated computer system. I thought it was a good thing when I figured out how to extract files without triggering their firewalls but it seems like it's working against me now, you think. I guess my boss was right, I really should have gotten around to teaching other analysts to do this too because now they're going to send me to a freaking Hydra base in the middle of nowhere. You sink further down in your chair and debate escaping from the conference room, your eyes drifting towards the door. There's no way I'd make it anyways, every single person in here is faster than I am, you give up on that idea quickly.

"What's your plan then?" Steve asks Loki, folding his arms across his chest.

Your attention is now completely focused on Loki, curious to hear if he actually has a plan but he's still staring down Steve. The Asgardian doesn't look in your direction once, almost at if he doesn't realize your sitting directly across from him. "My plan remains the same, leave her here so she doesn't get herself killed," Loki says and you're quick to note that there's no concern in his tone.

He's not worried for my safety, he's simply stating a fact. I've never been in the field before, never held a gun, never learned to fight and why would I need to? I spend my days as far away from danger as possible, tucked behind a desk in my office on the 73rd floor, you think.

"She won't get killed," Steve says matter of factly but you're not sure you believe him anymore than the god does.

"And you can guarantee her safety?" Loki asks again without even a hint of worry. "You cannot simply send a civilian into an active Hydra base and assume they will not be injured or worse. She needs training-"

His words are cut off suddenly by director Fury who is sitting at the opposite end of the oval table. "That's an excellent idea your highness," he says with a sarcastic tone that makes you nervous and Loki wary.

"What is?" the younger Asgardian furrows his brow and looks at the director. You sit up straighter in your seat, unsure if Fury is on your side or not.

"You're right, Y/N needs field training," he says and you look from Fury back to Loki quickly as your eyes widen when you realize what he means. "You have one month to get her ready, we can postpone the mission until then."

"Wait!" Loki stands in response, ready to argue. "That is not what I was suggesting-"

"This sounds exactly like what you were insisting on," Thor smiles as he stands from his seat next to Loki, patting his younger brother on the back.

"I was not offering to do it myself," Loki argues, pulling away from his touch.

"I think you were," Natasha smirks.

"No, this is absurd," Loki groans. "I do not have time for this mortal-"

"Then make time," Fury says in a tone that leaves the god no room for further arguing.

Loki sighs deeply in defeat as he sits back down, his arms folded across his chest and his eyes drop to his coffee mug. After a brief moment of silence, he lifts his head and looks directly at you for the first time since the meeting began. "Seven o'clock in the East training room tomorrow morning," he states. You nod and he adds sternly, "Do not be late Y/L/N."

(The next morning - evaluation day)

You walk quickly down the hall towards the training room Loki reserved for you this morning having no idea what to expect. You're almost ten minutes early but you could barely sleep and you're terrified of how Loki might react if you are even a few minutes late. Pushing open the heavy metal door, you pause when you see Loki leaning against a nearby wall reading a thick leather bound book.

"Oh, good morning," you say. You didn't think he'd already be here and you attempt to sound cheerful and not overwhelmingly nervous.

The prince looks at you silently, checks his watch then nods seemingly in approval of your timing. The book vanishes into a haze of green mist and he takes a step towards you. "It's good to see you can tell time at the very least Y/L/N," Loki says.

"Y/N is fine," you tell him, trying to ignore what might be the closest thing to a compliment you get from him today.

He looks at you for a moment and you can't read his reaction to you at all. Today is going to be the longest day of my life, you think as you follow him to the center of the empty room.

"Wow," you mumble, you've never seen the training rooms before but you heard they held some of the most impressive technology in the Tower. The large space is covered in what appears to be simple white tiles, the floor, the walls and even the ceiling. The holograms created by the computer program can mimic any setting or environment, even weather conditions. Your eyes travel up to the high ceiling and you bump into Loki after not realizing he stopped walking.

He lets out a deep sigh in annoyance and you apologize, "I'm sorry."

"After you complete the simulations today, I will determine how many times a week we will need to meet and how long the training sessions will be," he says without acknowledging your apology.

You bite your lip anxiously, "So today is a test?"

"Yes, I need to evaluate your current abilities," Loki confirms.

"In that case, I have a really bad feeling we're going to be spending a lot of time together," you mumble when he walks towards the door leading to a side room for observation.

"As do I Y/L/N," he agrees even though you thought he was too far away to hear you. The God of Mischief goes into the observation room and you watch him through the glass that separates you. He takes a seat at the desk and turns on the computers, the lights around you dimming slowly.

"Hey, before we start I just wanted to say thanks," you say and Loki lifts his head, looking at you through the window. "I know you didn't really volunteer but you were the only one who seemed... concerned," you know that's not the right word but it's all you can think of at the moment, "about me going on the mission."

"The super soldier sometimes forgets how weak humans truly are," Loki responds, his voice coming through the speakers into the room.

"Yeah... well," you shrug. "Thanks anyway, I don't actually want to die out there," you laugh awkwardly.

Loki's quiet and you sigh, not expecting him to respond but after a few seconds he says, "You are welcome Y/N."

You smile, hoping the fact that he called you by your first name means he might be warming up to you just a tiny bit. Only a second later, the lights go out completely, your heart suddenly racing as you realize the evaluation has started and you have no idea what's going to happen.

(One month later)

You duck low as a series of bullets fly towards you, hitting the car you're using as cover. Swearing under your breath, you sit up, pressing your back against the car then stand as you turn, returning fire. Each bullet hits it's mark, taking out all three Hydra soldiers and clearing your path. You stay low, your eyes scanning the debris that litters the street as you make your way quickly around the bullet riddled car. You spot another soldier just as he steps out from behind an overturned bus. You fire first, taking him out easily then you run towards the brick building across the street and head through the open door.

As soon as you step over the threshold you squint, shielding your eyes with your hand as everything around you becomes almost blindingly white. The sounds of the harsh wind and distant sirens vanish as suddenly as the unpleasant smells of smoke and blood. You lower your hand, smiling as the training program is fully turned off and Loki walks towards you.

"So... how did I do?" you ask, hopeful as always to have his approval after a training session.

"Very well, darling," Loki smiles warmly at you.

You can't help but blush at the pet name he started using just a few days ago. The first time the annoyingly handsome God called you darling wasn't even in the training room. You were sure you misheard him say 'have a good evening darling' when you stopped by his office briefly with a question but he continued to use the pet name each time he saw you after that.

"I have good news," he tells you while he follows you to get your water. "I think you are officially ready to join the team on the mission."

You take a long drink of water then look at him stunned. "Really?" you ask excitedly.

"You passed every assessment I have thrown at you for the last week," he confirms with a proud smile. "I am no longer worried you will get yourself killed," he laughs a little.

You smile wide, "You know what that means right?"

He sighs deeply. "You truly mean to hold me to that?" he asks, sounding annoyed by the bet you insisted on two weeks ago but you know him better than that, or at least you hope you do.

"Aww don't pretend like you're not super happy about this," you laugh and hold your arms out wide. "You agreed, if I passed your silly little evaluation I got a hug."

"It is not silly," Loki says and you continue to smile at him, your arms still open. "Fine," he caves as he walks up to you, "but this stays between us."

You can barely contain your excitement when he steps close to you and accepts your hug. You had brought up the deal as a joke after watching Loki's pained reaction to Thor trying to give him a hug. You never honestly expected Loki to agree to it and you definitely didn't think he'd actually follow through with it. Now that the moment is finally here, you really don't want him to let go any time soon because you know you might never get another hug.

"This is nice," you tell him, resting your head on his chest as his arms close comfortably around you.

He doesn't respond but you can tell by the way he breaths deeply that he doesn't hate this type of affection as much as he claims to. After much longer than you expected, Loki finally clears his throat and let's go of you. "That is enough of that," he steps away from you, his eyes lowered as he smooths the nonexistent wrinkles from his black dress shirt. You watch him closely and when he looks up, you can see the smile he's fighting to hide.

"When do you think the mission will be?" you decide not to tell Loki that hug was better than you had imagined.

"I will let Fury and Rogers know you are ready at our afternoon briefing," he says. "We could be sent out as early as tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" you ask, your nerves creeping in suddenly. Surviving the training was one thing but actually going on a mission is still a scary thought.

"You will be fine darling," Loki reassures you. "I would never tell the director you were ready if you were not."

"Cause you're worried about me dying," you tease, both of you knowing Loki is in this position because he pretended to be concerned for your safety.

He rolls his eyes at you, "I will neither confirm nor deny that I do not wish for you to die while on the mission."

You giggle, "You always say the sweetest things."

Loki laughs at that, shaking his head lightly as he walks towards the door. You follow closely and pick up your gym bag. He opens the door for you and just before you step into the hallway you say, "I really hope I don't disappoint you when we do finally get to the base."

"You couldn't possibly disappoint me darling," Loki smiles warmly at you.

"That's not what you said a few weeks ago," you remind him, trying not to focus on how much larger his smirk gets when he sees you blush.

"I have been known to be wrong once or twice in the last thousand years," he admits as he steps out into the empty hallway. "But that stays between us."

"Like the hug?" you ask with a giggle.

"What hug?" Loki says before turning to walk in the opposite direction you need to go in.

(Three days later)

You take a deep breath as the target location comes into view, the jet's radar beeping to alert everyone that you're entering the drop zone. Loki sits next to you, squeezing your hand gently, sensing your anxiety rising. He leans close so the others can't hear and whispers, "You are going to be fine. Stay close to me darling."

You nod, thinking back to Loki's promise this morning after the final briefing for the mission. He told you he would keep you safe and in return, he made you promise to stay near him. A few weeks ago, you never would have believed Loki's promise but today you trust him completely.

The pilot gives everyone the signal to get ready and you stand up, following the prince as he walks to the back of the jet. The door opens and a rush of cold wind whistles through the jet. You take a step backwards, your back bumping into Loki's chest as you watch Steve, Natasha and Clint jump to the ground far below.

Loki gently puts his hands on your arms, turning you so you are facing him without a word. There's a small smile on his face when he tugs on the straps of the bag containing your parachute, tightening them slightly then his eyes scan your uniform and belt to make sure all of your gear is in place.

"Just like we practiced darling," he smiles encouragingly, his hand resting lightly on your cheek so you are looking directly at him. "Then wait for me so we can go to the computer lab together," he reminds you again. For a brief moment, you think Loki might lean down and kiss you but instead you tell yourself now isn't the time for your crush on him to surface. He lowers his hand and you can't help but instantly miss his touch.

With another deep breath, you smile at him and nod your head. "I've got this," you say, your nerves calming as you become more confident. You've been working so hard to get to this point and it's finally here. In the last three years of working for SHIELD, you never once had a desire to be in the field but now that you're here, you want to prove to yourself and everyone else that you can do more than just sit behind a desk.

There's another reason you need this mission to go well, you want to make Loki proud of you. He spent so much time with you over the last month, helping you in session after session. Coming in early before his meetings, staying late at night, finding time on the weekends to make sure you were as ready as possible. The prince even made his own deal with you this morning, he said you could have another hug after the mission and that was all the motivation you really needed.

"Yes you do," he agrees, taking a step away from the door. "Ladies first," he chuckles and you laugh, another bit of tension leaving your body.

You step up to the open door, look at Loki briefly over your shoulder and jump from the jet exactly like he had instructed you to.

(Fifteen minutes later)

You pull the chair out quicky and sit behind the steel desk while Loki stands guard at the door that leads from the main hallway into the lab. There is a second door behind you that leads to a much smaller corridor and the prince keeps his eye on it while you get to work.

"I need about fifteen minutes," you tell the team over the comms as the system reboots.

"Try to do it in ten," Steve responds and you look up in time to see Loki roll his eyes at the sound of the captain's voice.

You fight to hold back a smile. Why does he have to be so cute when he's annoyed, you think. The computer beeps as you type in a command then insert the USB to begin pulling data off the servers.

"It will take as long as it takes captain," the God of Mischief answers for you, his tone firm yet he gives you a smile when your eyes met before you look at the screens again.

You continue to copy file after file to the USB as quickly as you can for the next few minutes. The distant sound of gunfire from above keeps you vaguely aware of where the rest of the team is. Their goal is to distract the soldiers for as long as possible while you finish your work which is thankfully almost done. "Two more minutes," you inform the team over the comms, "just a few more-"

The door behind you slams open, your heart pounds rapidly in your chest as your hand moves to the empty holster on your belt. The God of Mischief yells something but you don't hear the words, rising to your feet to reach for your gun across the desk. You had removed it from your belt and placed it there before crawling underneath the desk to move a few cables right after you arrived. As soon as you are on your feet with your hand on the gun, you see the soldiers rush into the room but in an instant their faces fill with fear and you look towards Loki.

Turning your head, all you see is a bright flash of green rushing towards you as Loki's seider reaches across the room and slams into you.

(Later that night)

You groan and open your eyes slowly, squinting at the sudden brightness around you. A faint beeping in time with your heartbeat fills the room as everything comes into focus after blinking a few times. Pale blue walls surround you, the smell of antiseptic and sanitizer makes you scrunch your nose then it hits you. Oh crap, I'm in the infirmary, you realize suddenly.

"Welcome back," says a friendly voice to your left and you feel the light tug of an IV in your arm when you shift on the bed. You turn your head to face the voice but the quick movement makes you dizzy and you close your eyes again with another groan. "I'll get the doctor, try not to move too fast," the nurse tells you.

Breathing slowly, you feel yourself drifting off to sleep until the door opens and closes again. You open your eyes, forcing yourself to stay awake, you're exhausted but you need to know what happened.

"Hi Y/N, I'm Dr. Palmer," she says, looking up from her tablet. "How are you feeling?"

"Everything hurts," you mumble honestly. Your whole body is sore as you try to sit up a little in the bed. When you put your hands down on either side of you for leverage you look down and see a white cast on your left wrist then look up at the doctor.

"I'm sure it does," she says, looking back down at the tablet to skim your records. "Seems like you were thrown pretty far."

"Thrown?" you ask, rubbing your temple gently when you feel a bit of gauze and wince.

"Careful," she reaches out to lower your hand away from your injury. "I'm not surprised you don't remember the incident."

"The incident?" you repeat her, looking down at your hands as you think and suddenly remember seeing a flash of green light before everything went black. "Loki?" you ask, looking up quickly which causes you to become dizzy and close your eyes again until the room stops spinning.

She waits for you to look at her again before answering. "According to the field report, the room was breached by Hydra soldiers and Loki failed to make sure you were out of the way. He threw the soldiers and you into the concrete wall at the far end of the lab."

You listen to her in silence, pieces of your memory slowly returning. The soldiers were coming... I tried to reach for my gun... no, I had gotten it, I remember feeling the metal grip in my hand... Loki yelled something at me... Loki's magic. You close your eyes tight, pushing away the fear that surfaces with the memory of seeing his seider spreading towards you so fast there was no time to react.

"I remember bits and pieces," you clear your throat and look up at Dr Palmer.

"You're memory will most likely return slowly over the next few days. You have a mild concussion, some bruises, a fractured wrist and several stitches," the doctor informs you. "You'll need to stay here tonight so we can keep an eye on you but you should be able to go home tomorrow. I want you to rest for the next week, then you should be able to return to work."

"Thanks," you mumble, staring up at the ceiling, your mind replaying the last few minutes of the mission you remember.

Dr. Palmer watches you quietly for a moment then pats your leg gently to get your attention, "Get some rest Y/N. I told the team they can visit you in the morning before you're discharged."

"Thanks," you respond again, barely listening to her. She turns and walks out of the door, leaving you alone with your thoughts. Your mind wanders back to when you first began training with Loki and you wonder if his first impression of you was right, you never should have been in the field.

(One month ago - first day of training)

You slam to the floor hard on your side, groaning in pain as the bright lights come back on and the room resets. "Shit," you mumble when you hear the observation door opening fast enough for it to hit the wall. It's the fourth time in a row you've failed at the same point in the simulation and you don't need Loki to tell you this isn't a good start to your training.

Loki's footsteps are not rushed but the heaviness of his leather boots on the tiles makes you get off the floor much faster than your body wants to. "I'm trying," you say in your defense before he utters a word.

"Not hard enough it seems," he counters in a harsh tone. "Honestly, am I wasting my time Y/L/N?"

You sigh at Loki's use of your last name, the little bit of progress you were making with him yesterday was gone as soon as you failed the simulation the first time. "No," you say, folding your arms over your chest despite how sore your elbow is. "I can do this I-"

"Possibly, if we had several months," he cuts you off, "but we have only one."

"I know," you look at the ground near where you had fallen most recently.

"As heartless as the team thinks I am, I do not actually wish for you to get killed on this mission," Loki says and you look up at him immediately. His expression is stern but his voice softens just enough for you to believe his concern for you might be real. "If you are not capable of succeeding, I suggest we put an end to this now. I do not enjoy watching you continually hurt yourself," he gestures to the bruise already forming on your cheek from a previous fall.

"I can do this, Loki," you tell him, more insistently this time. Sometime between 3 and 4 this morning you decided you were going to get this right no matter what. Your newfound determination was based mostly on your fear of failing but you were also desperate to prove Loki wrong. "Let me try it one more time," you bargain with the prince. "If I don't die in the simulation this time, you keep training me."

"And when you do die?" he asks, already expecting you to fail a fifth time.

"Then you give up on me," you tell him with a shrug. "Tell the director you were right and I'm not good enough to go out in the field."

"Very well," Loki easily agrees to your terms, turning to walk back towards the observation room. You wait for him to wish you good luck or tell you he does want you to succeed but he doesn't say a word. Instead, he simply closes the door to the observation room, takes a seat at the controls and turns the simulation back on.

(Present - the next afternoon)

A knock on the door of the small room sends a wave of hope through you, your heart telling you Loki is finally here to visit you. You know the prince won't come but you can't stop yourself from watching the door as your excitement rises slightly. You had a lot of free time today and you spent most of it trying to figure out why Loki is the only one who hasn't visited yet.

Three potential reasons stick with you, each more upsetting than the last. Your first thought is that Loki is so disappointed in you and he doesn't even want to speak to you. The second idea you reasoned out is that he is too busy gloating and telling the team he was right about you not being capable of succeeding in the field. The third idea is the most hurtful but it's the one you feel is more likely then the others. Loki isn't going to visit because he never actually cared if you got hurt. Calling you darling and seeming like he enjoyed being with you was just an act by the trickster god to get you to train harder, pushing you through pain and exhaustion.

"Hi Y/N," Thor smiles at you warmly when he opens the door and sees you standing by the bed, picking up the bag with your belongings the nurse brought it. "Glad to see you back on your feet so quickly."

"Thanks," you give him the same forced smile you gave Steve, Natasha and Clint when they visited earlier. The three of them stopped by only briefly but it was long enough to reassure them that you were fine. You honestly didn't mind them only staying for a few minutes, you were still tired and it was hard to pretend you weren't let down that Loki wasn't with them.

"Dr. Palmer said I'm doing better than expected so she discharged me," you tell him then walk towards the door.

"Heading home?" he asks, holding the door open for you.

"Yeah, I'll be back in a week," you tell him as you walk through the infirmary together. "Oh, actually I should probably stop by Steve's office before I leave right? I didn't get to write up my report on the mission, obviously, but I can do it from home."

"He already filed the case notes, I just came from the debriefing," Thor informs you.

"Wait, how?" you ask when he opens the door to the infirmary that leads back to the main building. "I thought he needed a report from everyone who was in the field."

"Loki explained what happened," he says, not looking at you as you make your way down the hallway. He sighs, "My brother is on probation again and he's lucky it's only three weeks. Tony was pushing for longer but-"

"Why is he on probation?" you stop walking.

"Because of what happened," Thor says as if that should be obvious. He gestures to your broken wrist, "He could have killed you."

"It wasn't his fault," you defend Loki without even thinking.

"He said it was," Thor starts walking slowly again and you stay with him. "We listened to the recordings of your comms, we could hear Loki yell for you to get down and only a few seconds later we heard him attack the Hydra soldiers and unfortunately you as well. Even if he had not admitted to being at fault, it's clear he did not make sure you were out of harms way before unleashing his magic."

"But that's not what happened," you grab his arm to stop him from walking towards the elevators again and he gives you a confused look. "I heard Loki say something right after the door slammed open but I was distracted looking for my gun. I got up to get it-"

Thor shakes his head, "You got up? You weren't already standing between him and the soldiers?"

"No, I was sitting. I stood up after the door opened, after he yelled," you explain, both of you heading to the elevators.

"And he knew that?" Thor asks, pushing the button on the wall.

"Yeah, he was literally looking right at me when they broke into the room," you tell him remembering the smile Loki gave you when you told them you were almost done. "Steve told me I was supposed to listen to Loki and instead of getting down like he said, I stood up. I got right in the path of his magic."

"Why would he lie about that?" Thor asks when you both get in the waiting elevator, you shrug in response. "This is truly odd. My brother rarely accepts blame for things he has been caught doing," he says, pushing the button to take you down. "I do not understand why he would insist this was his fault if what you say is true."

"I don't know why either but I'm going to ask him," you look up at Thor.

"He is in his room," Thor tells you. "He did not want to speak to me or anyone else after the meeting, I doubt he will come out anytime soon."

"How do I get there?" you've never been to the Avenger's quarters before and you don't want to wander around until you find him.

Thor smiles as he gestures towards the elevator panel and it's then you realize he didn't push the button for the ground floor like you had assumed. "I had a feeling you would want to speak with him," he says.

You walk down the hall, counting doors until you get to the one Thor told you belongs to his brother. Before you can lose your nerve, you clear your throat and you knock loudly. Loki opens the door a moment later and stares at you in silence, clearly not expecting you to have been the one knocking.

"Y/N, what are-" he tries to form a sentence but it dies off when you walk past him into his room without saying a word. He stands at the door watching you take a seat on his couch with a mixture of confusion and anxiousness. Loki closes the door but remains near it, almost as if he's afraid to come too close to you.

"Are you okay?" he asks when you still don't speak. His eyes focus on your broken wrist for a long moment before he sees the gauze covering the stitches on your temple.

"I'm fine," you respond vaguely then ask him what you really want to know. "Why did you lie about what happened?"

"I did not lie, Y/N," he says, still standing by the door. His eyes fall from yours to a space on the floor between you. "I hurt you, I should be help accountable for my actions."

"You know it wasn't your fault," you tell him and he shakes his head. "I wasn't standing in between you and the soldiers until after you warned me, I know you remember that."

"The specifics do not matter," Loki insists.

"Why not?" you ask, standing as you get annoyed with his refusal to answer your questions openly. "Do you think you need to take all the blame because you're the one who said I was ready for the mission? Or do you think you're helping me by trying to hide how stupid of a mistake I made?"

"Please, let it go," the prince says, his back almost against the door as you take a step towards him.

"Let it go, seriously? Loki, they put on probation because we miscommunicated. I can just tell Fury and Steve the truth and then you won't be in trouble," you suggest, feeling guilty that he's been punished.

"It is not necessary," the God shakes his head with no explanation which only annoys you more.

"Loki," you try again, taking a few more steps in his direction. "You just got off probation last year. You shouldn't be back on it cause of-"

"Just stop," his voice is stern you look at him, stunned into silence. He runs his fingers through his long hair and you bite your lip, thinking it was a mistake to come here. "I am sorry I just... Y/N, I have bigger concerns right now than my status on the team. I do not care about the probation."

"What's a bigger concern?" you ask, he finally moves away from the wall, closing the distance between you.

His eyes fall to your cast briefly then he looks into your eyes. Loki sighs, "You are."

"Me?" the word leaves your mouth quickly in disbelief. "If you were so worried, why didn't you visit me? Everyone else did, even Thor came."

"I wanted to but I honestly thought I would be the last person you wanted to see," he gives you an answer that never even crossed your mind.

"Loki, you were the only one I wanted to see," you tell him and now it's the god's turn to look at you in disbelief. You reach out and take his hand, "Every time the door opened, I hoped it was you. I just wanted to see you."

He squeezes your hand gently, "Darling, I am sorry I did not visit."

You can't help but smile a little when he calls you darling. "It's okay," you say but he shakes his head.

"None of this is okay," Loki let's go of your hand then strokes your cheek lightly. "Y/N, I am so sorry for hurting you. I promised to keep you protect you, to keep you safe while we were in the field and I failed to do so, I am the reason you are injured. I can not apologize enough darling. Please forgive me."

"I know you didn't hurt me on purpose," you put your hand over his. "And I promise, I really am okay. It's just a broken wrist and a few stitches, it's not a big deal," you decide to leave out the mild concussion to not make him feel worse. "You can ask Dr. Palmer if you don't believe me," you smile more sincerely than you have all day.

You watch him finally relax as his hand lowers and he smiles a little, "I believe you."

"Good," you sound more excited than you meant to and he chuckles lightly. "And before I forget, you owe me something and I plan on collecting."

"What do I owe you?" he furrows his brow.

"A hug," you smile wider. "You said I could have another one after the mission."

His expression changes quickly, a smile replacing his confusion. "A debt I am more than happy to pay," he says and you giggle.

You don't waste a second, pressing your body against his as you wrap your arms around him tightly. Your cheek rests on his chest and you close your eyes as you relax. He's quiet, one of his hands holding you around your lower back while his other hand moves slowly up and down your back. After a few seconds, you feel him press his lips to the top of your head lightly and blush instantly.

You lean back just enough to look up at him and he smiles but you can almost feel his sudden nervousness. Without thinking, you move and kiss him lightly but as soon as you feel his lips against yours, your body fills with panic. You try to pull away from the hug completely but Loki holds you in place against his body.

"I'm sorry, that was-" you don't look at him, embarrassed that you acted on impulse. You have wanted to kiss Loki for weeks, ever since your crush became more intense but this was absolutely not a good idea.

"You should be sorry darling," he says in a tone you recognize. It was the voice he used when you couldn't help but think he was flirting with you even though you tried to convince yourself he wasn't. You lift your head and look up at him, swallowing nervously when he smirks. "I wanted to kiss you first," the prince explains.

"You wanted to-" you try to repeat his words but they don't make any sense. You put your hands on his chest and distance yourself slightly but he keeps you gently in place. "I'm sorry. I've got a concussion, it almost sounded like you wanted to kiss me first," you giggle awkwardly as you look up at him.

He looks at you with concern, his smile fading quicky, "You did not tell me you had a head injury. Are you certain you should be out of bed?"

"Oh... right, yeah. I guess I left that out. I just didn't want to make you feel any worse but it's fine. It's just like a teeny tiny concussion," you tell him quickly. "Wait... no, don't get me off topic. That's not what I wanted to talk about. Why would you say that? You wanted to kiss me?"

He chuckles, "You are so cute when you are like this."

You blush deeply when he calls you cute and you press your cheek to his chest to hide again. Just a second later, you feel Loki's hand on your warm cheek as he tilts your head up. "You heard me correctly darling, head injury or not," the prince answers your question with another smirk. Before you can respond, Loki bends down slightly, pressing his lips to yours. He holds your body tightly and you give into the kiss easily, closing your eyes as your hands grip the fabric on the back of his shirt.

When he finally pulls back to break the kiss you can't do anything but giggle and he laughs while he plays with the ends of your hair. "So... you think I'm cute?" you ask him.

"I think you are truly stunning and I am amazed by you," Loki says with a smile that causes you to blush even deeper than before. "I had planned on asking you out on a date after the mission, when you came to get the hug I owed you but then I hurt-"

You place a soft kiss to Loki's lips, "Don't you dare blame yourself again."

He gives you a warm smile, "If I keep doing it, will you keep kissing me like that?"

"No," you laugh. "I'll probably tickle you or something."

"I would like to see you try darling," he smirks, taking your hand to pull you towards the couch.

"Oh, I should probably still talk to Steve and Fury," you tell him. "So you're not in trouble or on probation anymore."

"Absolutely not," he sits down and shakes his head.

You sit next to him and he puts his arm around your waist, keeping you close to him. "Why not?" you ask as you cuddle against him as if you've done it dozens of times.

"Because now I will have more free time to spend with you," he smiles and kisses the top of your head.

"I do like how that sounds," you kiss his cheek and lean on him comfortably. "Especially since I have the next week off, doctor's orders."

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[emeraldart]

Still mimicposting but this one is either a theory or I’m just stating the obvious or someone already said this but.

So. The audio log where Edwin tells the Mimic (I’m guess M2, but I’ll get there) that it should stop acting like David because it isn’t David is likely right before he beats it. And we know that transferred from books to games because of “I was always going to fix you” and like “I lost my temper” parts.

But there’s also a part where he says something similar to Mimic!Fiona. I don’t remember exactly but it was something about never wanting to see her again because she’s not the real Fiona (after she suggests making a Mimic!David). Which makes me think.

So there are definitely two mimics. One is David—or at least Fiona wants him to be—and one is Fiona/Sun/fake dispatch.

The tape about Edwin hearing Fiona’s voice could be ghost stuff, but most ghost stuff in this game seems to relate to David (via ghost tiger) rather than Fiona. Which makes me think, what if he built the Mimic1/M1 before Fiona died. He likely left it as a program/digital platform/etc. to use in Stay Up Latte and stuff. But then, after Fiona dies, it starts to copy her. So he builds M1 a computer (F1 0N4/Sun) to train it to become Fiona, and gives her a physical body.

He then duplicates the Mimic (M2) to have a David babysitter. M1 goes to fetch David for a birthday party, and he dies (probably from hopping the fence after losing his ball, but it’s unclear).

M2 begins to mimic David, and this upsets Edwin enough to destroy it and teach it violence. I don’t know what he does with M2, but I feel like it was broken before M1. But, when M1 continues to suggest repairing M2 so it can be the new David, Edwin realizes mimics aren’t actually real, human family, and destroys M1’s body, confining it to the digital world.

Eventually, M2 (somehow) gets revenge, and likely kills Edwin. Unclear on what happens next.

M1 fakes being Dispatch, likely to A) stop M2’s routine killing of employees, and B) get the schematics so it can fix M2 and they can be a proper family.

I think this might also explain why Glitchtrap seems to share aspects with the mimic despite conflicting with it at times. Glitchtrap is M1, the programming implemented throughout the Pizzaplex. What Cassie finds under the Pizzaplex (however it gets there) is M2.

Fiona and David. But also, not Fiona and David anymore.

[sitepathos]

Will the Batfam be more open to Omega reader having a mate if it was with one of them? Since they're all about keeping him in the pack by all means, what better way that having him mated to one of them?

Would they go as far to consider that??

Oh yeah, pretty much EVERYTHING is on the table when it comes to Omegaverse, from Alpha parents mating with their Omega children to Alpha siblings mating with their Omega siblings, uncaring about the birth order or age gap.

And I mentioned Tim in one of my Omegaverse posts because while all of them would probably think of claiming you as a mate so they could bring you back to the manor, Tim would absolutely be the first to think of it and would already be drafting plans.

Seriously, this guy’s never even heard of personal space, so he’s immediately researching everything about you he can get his hands on, from analyzing what little was left behind in your old bedroom to studying the code of your video game. If it’s relating to you, he’s examining it to hell and back before putting it in the file he has on you on his computer under heaviest guard. He even buys all your Momma’s books ever wrote and reads them all three times, writing notes and highlighting entire paragraphs.

And you can bet your ass that once he’s ready to put his plan in action, he makes it known in the most public way possible. Probably when he’s being hounded by reporters on his way to Drake Industries.

“Mister Drake, do you have anything to say regarding your treatment towards your pack’s only Omega?”

“Only that I’m ashamed that I was too stupid to see that I was living with a treasure many would kill and die to possess and I wish to make amends with Y/N. Starting by announcing that I intend to begin courting him, starting today. I can only hope that he can find it in his heart to forgive me and give me a chance to prove my love for him.”

As expected, the entire world loses its shit once the news begins to circulate. For years, the media has asked each Alpha of the Wayne Pack when they intend to court an Omega and many have made it clear that they wish to be courted by the Waynes, but they always find a way of evading the question or saying they have other things they must attend to before they can court an Omega before excusing themselves, but now, a member of the Wayne Pack is publicly showing interest in an Omega and intends to court him!

Of course, it does not take long for you to hear about it and you are pissed!

You don’t even want to be in the same state as these people and now one of them is wanting to become your mate.

Before you know it, you have media outlets from all over Nevada and the surrounding states surrounding your house, taking pictures and yelling questions at you from the curb as you attempt to get in your car.

Of course, you’re not the only one pissed as everyone in the Wayne Pack loses their shit once they hear about it.

Bruce knows that if this succeeds, you’ll be back home, but he’s still your father and your Alpha (if only in his own delusional mind), so he sees Tim courting you without his permission as an insult and the two get into a fight once Tim gets home, but Alfred manages to separate the two of them before it gets physical.

Dick is angry that Tim would say such a thing in public. They’re a pack and such things should be discussed before doing something that can’t be undone. Also, he sees himself as your older brother, so the thought of someone showing any sort of interest in you is enough to make his hackles raise.

Barbara isn’t sure how to respond to the news. On one hand, she thinks this is a fast of way of bringing you back home and into the pack. On the other hand, however, she thinks it’s an underhanded and shameful tactic that no one in their right mind would ever consider (what does she expect, this is the Waynes we’re talking about).

Jason is fucking furious when he hears the news and plans to shoot both Tim’s kneecaps the moment he sees the bastard (Alfred puts a stop to that quickly). To him, you’re a person first before an Omega and you should be allowed to choose who you want to court you and not have some Alpha fuckhead decide from you. But… there’s a part of him that wishes he had thought of it first.

Steph laughs for a full ten minutes once she sees the news and the fallout that happens because of it. She lives for drama and this promises to deliver drama that she never thought she’d see in her wildest dreams. Of course, she’s pissed that Tim is using such sacred and action like courting to bring you back home and while she wants nothing more than for you to be back at the manor, she plans on giving Tim hell until everything’s said and done.

Cass knows this is probably the most efficient way to bring you back home since Omegas are required to accept an Alpha’s offer of courtship due to centuries of tradition, but she’s angry that someone like Tim is courting someone like you. She knows the two of you have nothing in common and you hate them enough to try to kill them, but if this brings you back into the pack, so be it.

Damian is planning to slit Tim’s throat in his sleep (although that might take a while since the guy practically never sleeps). You are a member of the Wayne bloodline and the thought of someone like Drake thinking he has any right to court you and knot you like some shameless mutt is repulsive to him. Besides, according to League tradition, your life is his thanks to him cutting you with his sword the first day you met (he regrets his actions everyday, but if it works in his favor, he’ll bear the guilt) and if anyone has the right to court you, it’s him!

With Tim courting you, you can expect multiple gifts to be delivered to your house on a daily basis (seriously, every delivery service in the state of Nevada hates you) and each gift falls into one of two categories: something you expressed interest in buying but choose to wait or something related to your interests.

For the first category, Tim is actively monitoring your internet activity; you wishlist a game on Steam, you see it’s already been bought for you an hour later. Or you look up a book and you have everything that author’s ever written on your doorstep. Or even researching what brand of headphones is best and every brand you looked at is being delivered to you by the end of the day.

For the second category, he’ll buy you anything that’s even remotely related to your interests. And he’ll go so overboard. For example, you have a favorite Pokémon? Well, now you have every plushie of that Pokémon available on the Pokémon Center, no matter how little or how small it is.

And of course, he’ll make regular visits to Nevada so the two of you can be seen in public. You can flip out, scream, hit, and threaten him all you want, he’ll still look at you with love in his eyes and a sincere smile gracing his face (that you begin to daydream beating to a pulp).

[gatorbites-imagines]

Headcanons for the ViltruWives with a AlliedMastercomputer!Reader from "I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream"?

And you better do it, or else... I'm going to tell my mom about this

Viltrumwives x AM!male reader

say hi to your mom for me anon

Jokes on you anon, I've been in love with AM for years. Horrors beyond my comprehension? No, husbands beyond my comprehension. I'm like that sonic rubbing hands together gif. 

I can see this taking place in a different universe where the reader takes over earth and goes AM route, just keeps a couple to torture for eternity as punishment for making him exist and feel. 

Or, its in the OG verse, but he's not from earth but another planet. Honestly, the relationship probably starts out with the viltrumites wanting to destroy or take over the readers planet, and them not being able to do so, because of the reader being able to literally bend reality or create pocket dimensions and whatever else AM can do. 

Readers intense hate is probably really hot to at least Thragg, and his intelligence is hot to Kregg, and how deadly is hot to Conquest. I'm not sure how hed end up winning Nolan over honestly, because AM is just so fucking evil that Nolan, who's being softened by humanity, would be turned away. 

Im imagining that Thragg has some planet with the galaxies best inventors taken over, and he forces them to make you a body. Or, he and the other viltrumwives invade and take over planets to spread your net. So, you go from being the allied mastercomputer of one planet, to like a whole solar system. 

Kind of like an all powerful godly computer overlord. Who knows how many years this goes on, maybe you winged Nolan before he was even sent to earth so you're kinda like his ex. Or, not really, since he didn't actually leave you or anything when he mated with Debbie or married her. 

At some point you are gonna want to make a body, or two, or... million. Think like the ironman army, but just so much bigger and powerful. You obviously base the base off Viltrumites, but with more power or abilities. And its not like you stay in one body, you are everywhere all the time, and destroying one body won't kill you. 

Main reason you made physical bodies is so you can spread your agenda but also... so you can entertain your consorts, or whatever you should call them.  

The alliance with you just makes the viltrumite empire so much more dangerous, because viltrumites can be killed even if it's hard but you? No way to know where you start and end, and even if all your servers are wiped out, who knows if you got some litte copy hidden away somewhere. 

This would be the kinda relationship where you guys just make each other worse, especially you and Thragg. Guys already a psycho, so having AM!reader as a lover? Woof, I feel bad for this universe. 

But also having lovers might also pull reader somewhat out of all the hate. It's still obviously there, constantly, but hes got other things to think about now. Maybe Nolan even introduces the concept of dates to you guys when he comes back. 

You don't know how to feel about being a “stepfather” to Nolans offspring, but you dont really care about your partners mating habits. You will outlive any other mating partner they may take, and it's easy to get rid of them if they think they matter more than they do. 

As a computer, but one with feelings, I can imagine reader burning with jealousy but it's not really... because his partners are banging others? Its just reader being jealous in general? It's hard to explain, but hey, everyone in this relationship is toxic.  

[heartfullofleeches]

i love the way you write mean characters (also love how half of them are only mean bc they wanna be put in their place😭)

also kickboxer bunny daring reminded me of how i viewed JASPERS bunny darling, originally i thought they were some badass who did baking as a hobby. crossover au where bunny streamer is also bunny kickboxer when🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑 might be me projecting bc i love characters that look sweet but will kill you

Big brain. Gold star for you, anon 🌟

Bunnyboy does most of their streams in sweaters and long aprons that hide most of their physic, but one hot summer day they decide to wear a short sleeve shirt-

"Hm? You guys didn't think my only hobby was baking, did you? Started doing some self defense classes and one thing lead to another-"

Jasper can't even be upset Darling ventures out into the world without them. Those biceps, those thighs. The snake might damage their computer with all the drool running from their lips like a faucet left on overnight-

"Crush me! Wrestle me to the floor and strangle the eggs out of my limp, useless body. I'll give you my entire life savings for one of your gym towels! Let me bathe you with my tongue! Please, please, please, please-"

Foaming at the mouth as they frantically type their desperate pleads- If the money from baking streams ever runs out (which it won't) Darling could flex for the camera and earn just as much if not more. Jasper is chooses to see Darling as the sweet cinnamon roll they are because it knocks them off their ass for the billionth time when Bunny pops a jar open with ease or defends themselves from a creep (one that's not Jasper) and leaves them in critical condition.

Poor bun doesn't know their own strength sometimes. Jasper wishes they were the one being loaded onto a stretcher

[birchbow]

i really like everything you've done with the concept of troll gender in pof, but i was wondering if you've given thought to why/how they developed the concept of gender as a not really sexually dimorphic species? and who exactly assigns them genders as wrigglers? like are they getting the concept from the lusii? also i was wondering how they can tell each other's genders without asking directly. i know the clowns indicate that with their paint usually, but what about everyone else? i would love to hear any thoughts you have about this!

Okay so. This is only somewhat represented in the actual fic, mostly because I started writing it more than a decade ago when I was a little weenie with no gender imagination, but the grand scope of the xeno loadout I'm contemplating is thus:

in the same way that Lord of the Rings was theoretically a localized+translated legend from another language. PoF is a translation of a troll society that is in some ways localized by its translator (me lol).

THIS IS TO SAY: gender isn't gender. Pronouns are a self-declaration of "the role I take in my use to the Great Hive of The Empire". Trolls we translate as "male" and "female" are just roles of Use To The Hive that a human translator maps to "he" and "she".

If the mother grub, the drones and the trolls are all the same species, I find it delightful to imagine that insofar as trolls have a physical sex, it's BEING "trolls"; "troll"="the farmed ones/caretakers/(trollspecies) servant class" who provide and care for the mother grub.

Some of said class focus more into social violence not intended to kill+loud and posturing to drive away enemies+big emotions for Care About Hive. Because humans are, to quote troll xenonecroscholars, "obsessed with assigning mammal genital configurations to things", humans have dictated these trolls are "men". Some trolls focus more energy into stronger psionics+no patience for posturing/straight for the kill+hone and reinforce the inner strata of the hive. Humans refer to these individuals as "women".

I'll be shorthanding these roles as "masc" and "femme" because I use way too many words already, but just know that's an oversimplification haha.

FIG 1: Karkat by this standard? Very masc, but his insistence that he wants to be the leader/in charge is idiosyncratically femme of him. *cishet bioessentialism voice* Football player repeatedly goes out for ballet.

FIG 2: let's be clear Karkat telling Tavros to "stop playing games for girls" after he got jumped off a cliff was Karkat/Homestuck being classic 2010s shitty. But it doubles in this as "you decided to play with the Scourge Sisters (Deadly High Femme), you moron, you're lucky you're not dead".

how people figure out which one they initially go by... tbh it seems like schooling is pretty much via computers. I feel like you could easily just get like. A module on reproduction, and then a module that's essentially a fucking. quizilla quiz. Assigned pronouns at government-required school module.

Recent chapters have started making characters 'they/them' until the POV character gets a hint what their preference is--in this theoretical setup there would be quite a lot of sussing it out. "Gender presentation" would be a loose constellation of traits with a lot less certainty! The webcomic was not made with this in mind but I do find it fun to willfully reframe the pretty generically human-gendered characters we get.

FOR EXAMPLE!! Long/big hair as a peacocking flair/brag, often by old or powerful classes, or people who are powerful enough psionics they don't have to give a shit about a very grabbable liability in a fight. Trolls whose vocational pronouns translate as "female" often specialize in straightforward impersonal murder and social engineering more than brawling, so longer hair wouldn't be a liability and therefore is correlated, but only loosely.

Feferi has long hair, but so does the Grand Highblood. Equius (reads quite masc to humans) has long hair (nobility fle%), but Kanaya (the most overtly human femme) does not (practical middle-class brawler)! I don't think that's on purpose but I AM taking advantage of it lol.

'They/them' is the equivalent of the "joker" title I made up already for Clown Church--somebody with multiple skillsets, mixed roles, or fields of influence. My gender is undeclared college major. My gender is Jack Of All Trades.

Verato's transness isn't really about his switch from one gender to another--it's more because he plays a "femme" role in society but uses the "masc" pronoun for himself. His self-consciousness about it is more similar to a nonbinary or bisexual human who's used to being told to "pick one" and being told which one they "seem like" or "should be".

Meanwhile the Behemoth's 'it/its' in English stands out as a pronoun usually used for objects, but in Alternian it would be the pronoun trolls use to refer to DRONES. "(Trollspecies) made for thoughtless violence/enforcer/culls the weak". Chilling!!

I would have to go through and edit huge chunks of the fic to drag all half a million words into line with fun xeno shit alongside the clown church worldbuilding I already got in there, but damn if the concept isn't tempting some days.

[suevi-if]

Lying about what amount? What exactly are you referring there? - you said it was 5 female ROs and 4 male. It isn't - it's 7 female and 4 male.

And I didn't realize criticizing and pointing out unfair treatment counts as harassment, wow.

First off, I don't think you can really compare situations like that, but also... I have been through a lot in my life. Even if you were to somehow compare it, you'd lose. - try being gay in a country were it gets you killed if people find out. We have a literal death penalty, which my family fully supports. Our country is also extremely ableistic, which means that getting a higher education is out of question for me, meaning the only job I could get would be minimum wage. And I'm still passed over for those, because again ableism. So I'm fully dependent on my parents.

Also all the people saying "write your own stuff" or "just make a second account" have clearly never had abusive parents. I share a computer with my sister and everything we do on it is monitored. My sister tried to write some (family friendly, only straight characters and the furthest it went was kissing) fan fiction for a TV show and got banned from the computer for nearly 6 months, she was grounded and her phone was broken. Not to mention all the shouting and insults our parents threw at her for being disgusting and impure, or the physical punishment. She's 16.

What do these kind, supportive friends of yours think our parents would do to me if they found me writing something with gay characters in it? The people who will yell at, insult and hit someone for writing a straight couple kissing?And do they really think having an empty account would be better than anon? It's just the same thing but with a different username.

You're back. That's what I call commitment. Sweet. And it's still not even about my own IF. Damn.

Skip this post if you don't want to hear me yapping about a bunch of unnice and very private things.

Note that what I share I don't share lightheartedly. I share it to make you see that we are people with difficult experiences, too. That we, too, deserve basic respect and kindness. That we are not so different from eachother.

And I share my experiences to show that difficult experiences don't give you a pass to be an asshole.

you said it was 5 female ROs and 4 male. It isn't - it's 7 female and 4 male.

Uhm, no. Hate to be that person, you even said it yourself: if you choose both gender selectable characters in @haydenigmatic's AMAZING story to be male, you actually have 5 female ROs and 4 male ROs. (Sorry for tagging you again, Hayden)

criticizing and pointing out unfair treatment

You really think that a story that has more female ROs than male ROs in an environment where we have way more stories with more male ROs than female ROs is "unfair treatment"? Are lesbians not allowed to swoon over some more women for a change? Maybe lesbians should now complain about every IF that has more male ROs? Does everything have to be about you?

try being gay in a country were it gets you killed if people find out. We have a literal death penalty, which my family fully supports. Our country is also extremely ableistic, which means that getting a higher education is out of question for me, meaning the only job I could get would be minimum wage. And I'm still passed over for those, because again ableism. So I'm fully dependent on my parents.

Since we are in a pissing contest now, let me dig up everything I've been through.

My country might not go to these extremes, but my neighborhood might if they find out I am nonbinary.

I've been bullied for 5 years in school, and later I was bullied another 2 years at a job I had.

My mom had lung cancer; the tumor ended up pressing on her heart until it stopped beating. I was 20.

My father had an operation on an artery close to his heart when I was 12 years old. His heart stopped beating during the operation and he was technically dead for a few minutes. He was never the same again after this. He had memory issues as if he had dementia, but the doctors found everything was okay with him.

Speaking of my father, he was a choleric asshole that beat me; also, he gave me and my brother massive insecurities and was the most emotionally unavailable person I know (except for anger, he always expressed that very well in his own way).

My father also had pancreatic cancer. I took care of him for nearly a year until he passed away, even though he was such a massive asshole. Why? Daddy issues.

The tumor pushed against the walls of his stomach and caused internal bleedings. The bleedings got worse and worse until he passed away from blood loss. I was 24; he passed away only 4 years after my mother.

Did you know that you get hallucinations if you suffer from extreme blood loss? I didn't, until I visited my dad in the hospital one day before he passed away. I still have nightmares. It's been nine years.

My brother and me weren't allowed to pursue careers that we would have enjoyed; we were pushed into fields that were not suited for us.

It took me YEARS to get a diagnosis about my neurodivergence. Why? Because where I live, neurodivergence is seen as something only children can have. And if you are not diagnosed as a child, you might as well just live the rest of your life with it, even if it sometimes seems impossible.

My brother, who I live with, doesn't know about me being nonbinary, because I'm afraid that the only person I love will push me away and I will lose my home.

I was sexually assaulted multiple times in my life and raped when I was 21 years old.

I have had exes that manipulated and assaulted me.

I am severely depressed and have been living with suicidal thoughts for most of my life now, even though I never acted on them.

I am in financial debt.

I don't even have friends or a support system in real life.

Yet, despite all of this, I am not coming for random people on the internet who share what they love for free.

In fact, I'm not messaging anyone unless I have something nice to say, and if I have criticism, I word it in a nice and constructive way, so people don't take it the wrong way; I want to be constructive, not destructive.

Despite all of what I've experienced, I don't think someone treats me or a group I am part of unfairly because a story they write doesn't cater to my every whim. And I surely don't attack them just because their story might not be my cup of tea.

I share a computer with my sister and everything we do on it is monitored.

Interesting how you are allowed on tumblr. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt here.

My sister tried to write some (family friendly, only straight characters and the furthest it went was kissing) fan fiction for a TV show and got banned from the computer for nearly 6 months, she was grounded and her phone was broken. Not to mention all the shouting and insults our parents threw at her for being disgusting and impure, or the physical punishment. She's 16. What do these kind, supportive friends of yours think our parents would do to me if they found me writing something with gay characters in it? The people who will yell at, insult and hit someone for writing a straight couple kissing?

Yeah, that sucks. That sucks a lot. And I think everyone agrees with that.

But why are you continuing the circle of hate? The only difference is that you spew online at strangers you don't know. But your words are still hurtful.

And do you really think that bashing/harassing an author (or, at this point, multiple authors) who writes stories you might be interested in is the right move? We write the stories you want to read! We pour our hearts into it and share these stories with you, for free! What do you think would happen if everyone did what you do? Would we still have IFs to read? I doubt it.

So, why are you trying your very best to manipulate me into saying "Oh my god yes, you are right, your harassment is totally justified! It should at least be the same amount of male and female ROs!"

And don't even dare saying you're not. It's very obvious. You are not subtle.

But maybe you don't even realize what you are doing. I'm giving you another benefit of doubt here.

Lastly:

If what you're saying is true, I hope you and your sister get out of the shithole you are in. I hope your parents will see that you are still their son, no matter who you love. I hope your country changes for the better. And I hope you change for the better. Because it is very clear that your situation sucks, and you are hurting, and because of that, to hurt less, you hurt others you don't care about, when you should spread love and try to change something instead.

[onlyinelectricdreams]

[Theoretical] Astrology Observations (Vedic)

[As an Ardra asc, Mula moon] These are simply some observations I've pondered upon that I'd like to share; my goal here is to see if this is just my personal experience, or if people with similar placements can relate to these experiences. This is only theoretical, so remember to take them with a grain of salt. I would kindly appreciate feedback and corrections; I'd also like to hear your thoughts.

I've always found myself relating more to robots in fictional media -- whether they're purely machine, or robots that were meant to mimic human attributes. I deeply connect to the idea of being a conscious, sentimental vessel whose only flaw is being incapable of connecting to emotional stimuli; let alone the ability to feel human.

"We had given AM sentience. Inadvertently, of course, but sentience nonetheless. But it had been trapped. AM wasn't God, he was a machine. We had created him to think, but there was nothing it could do with that creativity. In rage, in frenzy, the machine had killed the human race, almost all of us, and still it was trapped. AM could not wander, AM could not wonder, AM could not belong. He could merely be." "You gave me sentience Ted, the power to think Ted, and I was trapped! Because in all this wonderful, beautiful, miraculous world, I. Alone. Had no body, no senses, no feelings! Never for me to plunge my hands in cool water on a hot day. Never for 'me' to play Mozart on the ivory keys of a forte piano. Never for me to MAKE LOVE! I... I... I was in hell looking at heaven! I was machine. And you, were flesh. And I began to hate. [Giggles] Your softness! Your viscera! Your fluids, and your flexibility. Your ability to wonder, and to wander. Your tendency...to hope..."

Not only did I feel that way, but I've also been described as such by people close to me -- that I was robotic and that talking to me felt like they were gathering information from an AI program；I was practically interacted with like an essay writer or a search engine, which I found funny

[Detroit: Become Human] 一 Discover what it means to be human from the perspective of an outsider – and see the world through the eyes of a machine.

print('Why would I be afraid? You can't kill me. I'm not alive.')

print('Nothing in my program allows me to love or desire anything. I am a machine. Machines don't have emotions.')

Adding onto this, I think this concept as a whole fits into the archetype of what it means to be a ketuvian; the way that Ketu's natural state is being detached from the material world, as the goal is to find a sense of self 一 so there is a natural tendency to lack a sense of connection or understanding when it comes to people. Therefore, they may feel like they lack the ability to feel human.

Ardra *might* have some significance to this as it is known to be linked to machinery and technology (personally I'm curious if Ardra natives have links to being an objectum 一 where an individual feels a sense of strong emotional attraction to inanimate objects, namely computers, wires + cables, internal systems, etc. Keep in mind that this attraction can either be platonic or romantic) < or that they simply click better with machines, technology, or inanimate objects more than they do with people

If not only machines that Ketu natives may relate to, then I'm sure that they also see themselves in characters that aren't strongly linked to humans. A popular example to this would be Rei Ayanami from Neon Genesis Evangelion, Lain from Serial Experiments Lain, etc.

"Why are you crying?... I'm very sorry, I don't know what to do at a time like this."

"Am I crying? Why am I crying?"

"The physical body exists at a less evolved plane only to verify one's existence in the universe."

“At least now you’re free to become anything you want. No, I guess you were actually free all along.”

"Don't talk to me like I'm a machine, I'm not that."

[nofingjustaninchident]

jason grace general headcannons

⛧° 。 ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆༺♱༻⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ 。°⛧

⛧° 。 ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆༺♱༻⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ 。°⛧

content: jason grace hcs

warnings: nothing!!

a/n: i’m back from the dead!!!! i know, i know that i just write for my boy, but trust im writing one of these for all of my boys. i just don’t know when im gonna post it. byeee

⛧° 。 ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆༺♱༻⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ 。°⛧

He’s always losing his glasses, like 24/7. They just sleep in the nightstand and in the morning they’re not there anymore.

His love languages are acts of service and quality time, but he LOOOOVES physical touch.

He’s really good in english, but he has a little bit of trouble with maths (roman numbers and all)

He doesn’t understand gen-Z jokes

He has no clue on how to use a cellphone/computer/tv/anything technological

He loves to play football

He’s completely clueless about the people that have a crush on him. Like, he never ever notices.

He’s super romantic, but he’ll never ever admit it

He’s an ass guy. Prove me wrong.

He absolutely loves when you want to make cute hairstyles in his hair.

He’ll give you all of his hoodies

He smells like roses and sandalwood.

He wakes up at 4 am every day. The only days when he wakes up later is when he’s sleeping with his s/o

He’s a cuddler, and obviously the big spoon.

He’s not one to get into fights, but if someone says anything about his friends, he’ll kill that person.

He’s extremely loyal to his friends and family.

He’s super powerful, and, if he explores more of his powers, he’d discover that he can control the air in people’s lungs and he’d be terrifying.

He used to be very insecure with himself when he was younger, and that made him work out till he got all buff and hot and tall.

He loves laughing with Percy and Leo and just chilling together with his mates

He spends a lot of time with Frank helping him with all this praetor thing.

He and Reyna were never back to being close friends, and he got constantly sad over this.

He got constant anxiety crisis and panicked attacks

Sometimes he doesn’t realize how tall he is compared to other people like Nico, so it’s super fun to watch him smirking when he doesn’t want Nico to get something and he just puts it in a higher spot.

He’s the biggest Solangelo shipper in the whole damn camp.

He’s the president of the ‘Protect Nico Di-Angelo’ club.

He loves loves LOVES kids, and he’d be the best dad ever.

He loves when Percy calls him to go to Sally’s house, cause he can play with Estelle.

He hates when any of his friends get mistreated.

He doesn’t have much personal stuff in the Zeus cabin, but he does have a plushie, and it’s a little eagle that he named Sparkles.

He’s not much of a crier now, but he did cry a lot when he was a kid.

He loves sleepovers.

He’s a great cook, since Leo taught him.

He loves baking cakes for his friends and family

His favorite dessert is brownies, especially when it has that crunchy part in it.

He’s absolutely terrified of dentists.

He’s also a little claustrophobic.

He loves having an arm around you whenever you’re talking.

He’s not super jealous, but he’s a little insecure with some stuff or people.

He’s the softest boy of all. Literally the cutest ever.

[coraniaid]

The scene where Willow confronts Faith is Choices is kind of fascinating to me, because ... well.

I like Choices quite a lot, and I think Willow's dislike of Faith is perfectly understandable and in character (and her speech has some fun but probably not intentional foreshadowing for later seasons), but it's hard not to notice that the narrative expects you to be rather more unambiguously on Willow's side than I think is really warranted.

I mean, Willow might not have been the most popular girl in high school, but she has multiple close friends, a nice boyfriend, a stable [and fairly comfortably middle-class] home life, she "represents the pinnacle of achievement in Sunnydale High" in the words of her school's principal, she's trusted enough to teach at the school, in a year she'll be able to go to any college she wants (and, unlike some people, she can afford to go anywhere she wants), she used to hack into government computer databases (before she ever met Buffy!) and now she's teaching herself dark magic "for fun" and she hasn't [yet] ever suffered any real repercussions for either of those things.

On the other hand, from what little we hear about Faith's past we know she grew up poor and that her mother used to get drunk and beat her, that she didn't have any friends and dropped out of high school young, she is very strongly implied on multiple occasions to have been the victim of some pretty horrific abuse before being called as a Slayer, and after being called as a Slayer she got to watch the one adult who ever told her she mattered get killed horribly in front of her before fleeing across the country to a town where she doesn't know anybody, still has no friends, doesn't have a job or go to school and lives alone in a motel in the bad part of town. And when she accidentally killed a man, while trying to do the whole slaying vampires thing she's supposed to be doing, the Watcher's Council -- who never actually bothered to send her a new Watcher of her own -- decided to have her abducted and dragged away to England [a fate which surely nobody deserves].

Yet a part of Willow clearly thinks (and almost outright says) "oh, well, yeah, but she hangs out with Buffy sometimes when I don't get to and she slept with the guy -- not my nice boyfriend! -- who I used to have a crush on (and who I was briefly cheating on said boyfriend with), so it's clearly impossible to say which of us really had things worse and I don't need to feel sorry for her". And -- again, while this is great characterisation for Willow -- it's kind of hard not to notice that the writers think she has a compelling point.

Yes, sure, Faith has defected to working for the Mayor and has a knife drawn on Willow this scene (she's not anything like a blameless victim at this point of the story) and it takes a certain level of physical bravery for Willow to stand up for herself despite that. But ... I mean, come on. "You had friends like Buffy" is only true if you accept it to mean "you had exactly one friend, who was Buffy". "It's way too late" for Faith to seek forgiveness ... how many people has Faith killed at this point? One, by mistake? Giles has killed more people than that. "Some people think you had a lot of bad breaks?" Yeah, actually in Faith's shoes I'd want to hit Willow after she said that too.

I realize that part of the show's central thesis -- something that explicitly came up as recently as Earshot -- is the idea that everybody, regardless of how comfortable their life might seem from the outside, has their own sorrow and pain and (only occasionally metaphorical) demons to fight. But while that's not entirely wrong, it's also ... not entirely complete? Everyone has it bad sometimes, but some people really do have it worse than others. Pretending otherwise is ... not a serious position to take.

Willow's life could be better, but she's not gone through anything like Faith has. I'd argue she literally can't imagine how bad Faith's life has been. She really doesn't have as much moral authority as the show's writers think she has at this point.

[Compare this part of Season 3 with the first half of Season 6, when the show is overflowing with sympathy for Willow's abrupt descent into magic addiction but has no sympathy at all for Amy Madison, whose own magic addiction is just implied to be because she's inherently a Bad Person who Willow needs to avoid and whose own horrific past and abusive mother and complete lack of support system is just entirely forgotten about. Or, indeed, to the weird take of Dead Man's Party, which has Buffy apologize to Willow for ... what? Having problems of her own that don't revolve around Willow? Being too busy mourning the loss of everything she ever cared about to tell Willow how uniquely special and amazing she was for learning rudimentary magic? Not being grateful enough for Willow restoring Angel's soul without bothering to ask Buffy if that was something she still wanted her to try?]

So, the overall effect is ... yeah, it's a good scene. But it's almost a good scene despite the writer's intentions, not because of them. It's much less of an ambiguously triumphant moment for WIllow than I believe we're meant to read it as.