#and any take from someone who is just a bystander is going to be considered off the mark

[sadaveniren]

Reminder that actively posting hate towards celebs you don’t otherwise follow because you don’t think they deserve the fame/recognition they get only hurts their fans.

And I get that might not mean much to you because you’re an asshole but at least acknowledge that you’re being purposefully hurtful to people who - on a whole - are minding their own business because your posts are never going to reach that celebrity.

[bibibbon]

MHA and the bystander effect (long post)

MHA's society suffers heavily from the bystander effect.

I wish that this plot point was further explored and this could of been where we actually take all mights character somewhere and not waste him on the whole iron might bs.

It can be argued that we first see this as early as the first chapter where we have people simply standing there watching a hero take down a villain. In all retrospect when I see this I genuinely think of some kind of performance, the hero is a glorified soldier that has to elegantly perform their duty while ensuring the safety of lives and entertaining them.

We then have the attack with bakugo and the sludge villain. People again are standing there watching another performance go down except here the heroes don't know what to do and it can be argued that they aren't trying hard enough at all. The heroes look at the situation, say they don't have any compatible quirk that helps the situation and simply stand in the sidelines waiting for someone to come and help that's after the manh failed attempts. Now this absolutely wouldn't work considering the victim in this circumstance was getting choked to death and him struggling even more literally caused a fire and property damage. I think it's interesting how no one thought of simply aiming at the sludge villains eyes (his obvious weak spot) and it was izuku in his panic that actually helped save Katsuki and gave all might the strength and confidence to step up and do something. What's even more interesting is that at that moment all might like the other bystanders was also contributing to the bystander effect simply standing there distanced from the fight and involved in it at the same time.

The third time we see this is during the UA entrance exams. Everyone is focused on getting points and destroying robots not really paying attention to their surroundings. After releasing the zero pointer everyone priorities themselves and starts to run with no one sparing ochako (who is injured) an eye and offering to help her. Rather the unconscious thoughts are that someone else will help her and it's full of people trying to prioritise themselves as this is also an exam. Izuku also priorities himself and tries to get away until he sees ochako and this is the second time where he recklessly runs into danger.

I think what's really interesting is that nedzu made this the point of the test which is something that iida says to izuku when they meet again. Iida points out that saving peoples lives and helping them is indeed the point of the test and heroism yet the test is very much structured in a way where you need to destroy to save and you need to prioritise yourself which can be the test just being a microcosm for the real hero society.

We mainly and clearly see the bystander effect in action when it comes to shigaraki tomuras backstory. It can be argued that this is one of the major reasons what drives shigaraki to villainy. Throughout tenko's backstory people see him suffer yet they don't help him physically at all or are quite late to do so. This starts from his father's punishments to him aimlessly roaming the streets scared and alone just for all for one to come along and offer a hand to him. A villain ends up helping a child instead of the people who are supposed to do so (Iam ignoring the contents of chapter 420 that revealed that AFO was behind this all along)

Tenko's backstory also emphasises just how much society is dependent on heroes that they think they aren't responsible for anything and any remains of social responsibility are rather diminished as people are busy and turn a blind eye to an obviously scared kid who is suffering.

Heck we even have momo a class 1A member acknowledge that the bystander effect is a very big thing within hero society yet no one does much to reduce this. It seems that hero society actually makes it somewhat of a taboo to even intervene in situations and help people when you aren't a hero which is why labels such as vigilantes exists. This could be linked to what we find out what happens to lady nagant and how she was in charge of killing vigilantes or anyone who opposed the government.

You can say that the government uses heroes (like hawks and lady nagant) as a way to control citizens but this turns out to be a double edged sword for them as time goes on and all mights notorious reign of 'peace' falls the people start to wake up you can say.

Hero society especially with the rise of all might and the all might era has created a society that is rampant in the bystander effect and a society that relies, worships and glorifies heroes to a toxic extreme. Obviously this has negatively effected everyone in different ways. It's not only civilians that suffer but also the heroes who are put into extreme situations and have to live up to incredibly toxic and high standards while also appealing to the public. I think a great example of this is all might who is a character who suffered from the system yet upheld and was somewhat responsible for creating it.

After the war arc we see the hero society system crumble away and we see the complacent bystander effect fade away and get people become distrustful or heroes and anyone around them. During this arc we also see the once glorified and worshipped all might statue become vandalised and people abandoning any hope of the hero system or hero society in general. Chaos and panic are rampant and people have lost hope as the system dissolves.

In conclusion, if horikoshi actually handled this theme of bystander effect in hero society properly then we could of gotten a compelling story where villains or victims that suffer from it are saved. Hori could of also used this to show how flawed hero society is and how corrupt the hero public safety commission is as well.

Add on

Horikoshi during the vigilante arc also has civilians realise their compliance in all of this and how the hero system set them up in a way which they can relax and watch without having to do anything as society crumbles. It's such a shame that horikoshi takes this and basically diminishes any proper hope by making the ending of the second war arc a disaster.

[bella-goths-wife]

How you get the ghostbusters back for trapping you

Warnings: reader is super petty, non canon events, the guys are assholes in this, aggression

After being trapped for three months in that stupid ghost trap, you are severely pissed off with the ghostbusters

You’d spend months beforehand innocently haunting them and building individual bonds with them

All for them to take your one mistake as reason to punish you, you never meant to hurt Dana so why were you punished so severely

You, being as stubborn and strong willed as you are, expected them to be begging for forgiveness considering what they put you through

But they all acted like everything was going to go back to the way it was before, they didn’t even offer you the slightest apology for what they did

This did not bode well with you

In fact, it only seemed to enrage you further

You started off with your usual pettiness, but it lacked your standard playful style and just came off malicious

But the ghostbusters still found a way to make it a joke

You would mess with Egon’s lab equipment and experiments, but he’d just laugh it off in an Egon fashion and then suggest to your invisible figure that the two of you play chess again like you used to do so you could get your anger out

You’d hide the traps Winston was cleaning and storing in ridiculous hiding places, but Winston would just laugh and ask if you were playing hide and seek again

You’d turn off and change Ray’s music on his radio to something aggressive, but the only reaction you received was Ray joking that your music taste had definitely changed since you last played music together

Whenever Venkman would read the crossword prompts out to you and hold his pen out expectingly, you would write profanity in all the gaps

But venkman only sarcastically commented that “that’s definitely doesn’t fit the hint”

It infuriated you, they turned your anger into a joke and treated you like a pet who did a cute trick instead of a (spirit) person

You started to retract yourself from showing your presence to them out of embarrassment that your anger and their reaction caused you

You felt like an embarrassed child who had just been scolded rather than someone who underwent a painful and traumatic process of your spirit being caged to a small confined trap

You stopped showing yourself and kept to yourself next to janine’s desk so you could listen to her conversations on the phone as your only source of entertainment

You even tried to leave the ghostbusters HQ but found yourself unable to leave the building without attaching yourself to a human person, and you weren’t going to follow any of the ghostbusters around anymore

Despite janine working for the ghostbusters and Dana being the reason you were put in the trap, you never treated them unkindly

You understood them both and you knew that your anger wasn’t directed at them and they were just coincidental bystanders

You let your anger simmer but eventually it bubbled over the top

You heard the boys joking that soon you’d be over your “tantrum” and would come back to hang out with them

They joked about how they could ever think you were dangerous when all you’ve pulled are childish stunts

You felt yourself twist and twitch in anger and embarrassment as you heard them mock your very real emotions as if you weren’t once breathing like them

You decided that if you were originally going to be labelled as dangerous, then you would become dangerous to them

Instead of messing with Egons equipment to ruin his test results, you’d smash it to pieces and throw them at him

Instead of hiding the traps that Winston was cleaning and storing, you’d smash them to pieces and release the spirits inside to cause chaos in the HQ

Instead of messing with the radio of the car that Ray was cleaning, you’d blast loud screaming music in his ears before smashing the windows of the car

Instead of writing profanity on Venkmans crosswords, you tore his office apart and disposed of important documents before writing “fuck you ghostbusters” on his desk

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, and you were living (dead) proof of that

Your anger infected you and turned you violent in a way you hadn’t been in your entire stay with the ghostbusters

And the ghostbusters weren’t sure what to do

They didn’t want to put you back into a trap considering that’s what caused this mess in the first place, and they missed you dearly when you were gone

But your aggression was getting out of hand

They decided that the best plan of action would be to find out more about your life when you were alive to appeal to your human side

And until they found something they could use, they had better get better at dodging thrown items…..

[maximumkillshot]

I Can't Lose You- Part 7

Warnings: Descriptions of Grief, PTSD Flashback, Intense Grief, Mentions of Miscarriage, Pissed off Lee Know, Anxiety, Panic, Everyone is hurting but you knew this... right?

Pairing: Bang Chan x Reader

Characters: Stray Kids, Reader, Nurse, Soo?

A/N: Okay her we are with part 7 the song that I linked is what I had on repeat for part 6 &7 for the most part... I am so sorry and as always I'll be around for therapy after. If you really wanna cry, listen to what I listened to while writing this about 98% of the time, Can You Hold Me by NF and Britt Nicole.

I Can't Lose you Masterlist-CLICK HERE

Stray Kids Masterlist-CLICK HERE

ALL WORK IS UNDER ME AND MY BLOG. DO NOT TRY TO REPUBLISH OR STEAL MY WORK, AS THAT IS COPYRIGHTED UNDER ME AND IS CONSIDERED COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT WHICH IS A PUNISHABLE OFFENSE. 

ANY WORK THAT YOU SEE ON OTHER SITES THAT ARE MY WORKS PLEASE NOTIFY ME IMMEDIATELY.

BEFORE: His body went into overdrive, the shock melting into panic. He wasn’t going to let Death take you, “Han hurry up, she's slipping!” He screamed at the door. His scream didn’t sound like him. The sound akin to a bystander watching a loved one jump from a bridge. Watching the body disappear all because of one step. He couldn’t wouldn’t let you fall. He screamed as if he dove for your hand, the same hand that fits so perfectly in his, as you threatened to disappear over the ledge of that bridge. Bin got closer to your ear, so you could hear him better, “Please don’t say that. I know it hurts, just stay with me, hold on. I’m here. Stay with me. You can’t leave me here, please.” Changbin tilted your head, so you could hear his heartbeat. Subconsciously thinking, If you go I go. He gently wrapped his arm across your breastbone, trying to provide some soothing pressure to your chest. His hand resting on your opposite arm, rubbing the meat of it in a soothing pattern. His other hand was petting your hair. The hold he had you in gave you someone to hold on to. As soon as his forearm rested you wrapped your hands around it, grabbing his hand as you dangled on the ledge. “Binnie it hurts, pleaseee. Help me, it hurtss.” You sobbed, your voice cracking and breaking, a mirror of your soul. Bin continued to slowly rock you, “I know Angel, I know I want to take it away. Just hold on for me. Hold on to me.” He had no idea how he was able to be calm for you. A part of him knew that he needed to. He was not going to collapse so you could face all of this on your own. He refused. He needed to fight for you, and he would, for eternity if he had to.

NOW:

The boys were trying their hardest to be calm, but some just couldn’t handle it. I.N. and Felix being the two that were physically holding their heads, crouched in the fetal position, trying to cover their ears as they heard your screams in the hallway.

Hyunjin went over to them and picked them up, their forms curling into him as they cried. Hyunjin couldn’t pinpoint why your screams sounded so unhuman, subconsciously trying to find a way to help. Once reality set in he realized, none of them had ever heard the scream of a mother who lost their child… not until today. That made chills go up his spine as goosebumps riddled his skin. That was why it sounded so unhuman. His mother once told him, “Children are supposed to bury their parents, not the other way around.” He found himself repeating those words out loud as tears fell down his face. He never thought he’d understand those words, but now that he does, he was numb, numb with pain.

I.N.’s heart was breaking for you as he heard you calling out to no one, asking for the impossible. He was trying to be strong but hearing you in so much pain was too much. “I want to help her Hyung but I don’t know how.” That broke Hyunjin even more because he couldn’t do anything. No one could. 

Hyunjin rubbed his back saying,“We can only be here for her, Innah. We need to be here, make sure she knows we aren’t going anywhere. That’s all we can do. I wish we could do more, but we can’t.”

Felix was crying because the only thing that could happen was him hearing the screams of a person that he loves, a best friend he considers as his sister, while he can’t do anything at all. The frustration combined with the sadness sliced through him.

Seungmin was the one member whom no one expected to cry yet there he was,  crying. No one in the entire group knew he was one of the most hurt. His reactions to everything were visceral. If he wasn’t using the railing lining the hall, he was certain his legs would give out. He faced the wall sobbing, feeling the cold wall on his forehead. He didn’t care that he was in a hallway in a hospital full of nursing staff and strangers. He had been holding all of it in for weeks now… 

It all started about two months ago. When Seungmin had come over to the 3Racha house, he noticed some things. He was making some lunch while he waited for the others to come back from the gym. The minute he opened the kimchi, you ran to vomit. That coupled with the fact that you looked like you were glowing raised his suspicion. When you came back to the kitchen he said, “When was the last time you took a pregnancy test?”

You cocked your head to the side quizzicaly as he giggled, “I’m 99.9% sure that you’re pregnant. Pee on a stick just to be sure but… Yeah, congrats. I’m going to throw away everything that smells like kimchi while you check.”

He was there for all of it. Everything from staring at the test with you waiting for the verdict. He spun you around congratulating you. He helped hide the evidence. Helped plan, he was even there when you got the ultrasound, filming it for Chan so he didn’t feel like he was left out. In many ways Seungmin had a better tie to that child than anyone else aside from you. He imagined everything with you.

Ever since he saw I.N. storm out to kill Chan… he checked out emotionally. He couldn’t handle the pain. He couldn’t ignore it anymore when he heard your screams. He thought of all the names you’d send him to see if they’d sound good. If it was a boy, you were incessant on Seungmin. You wanted to name the baby after him because he had “noticed first.” But he got you to change it to Chanseung, meaning “lingering victory”. This whole time...Every scream you let loose he heard the baby’s heartbeat as the memories flashed in and out of his mind. 

He remembered the times when he would come over just to clear the kitchen of anything that’d trigger your gag reflex. His Hyungs would get pissed at him because they even labeled the items with "do not touch”, but somehow, mysteriously, Seungmin didn’t see it and ate it all… whoops. He even got up at whatever time you called to pick up whatever you were craving. Another was when you went out for a walk with him and you were telling him about all of the new things you were noticing about your body. 

But his favorites were whenever you and himself would be alone in the kitchen or on the couch while everyone was distracted he’d look down at your belly, he would glance around and go to your ear just to say “They have no clue… That there’s 10 people in this house.” He’d do that just to see you try to suppress the smile on your face. 

 He even had dreams of going to the hospital to meet the baby. The dream always started with the phone call. Changbin would be on the other line as he picked up, “the baby’s coming, they’re already at the hospital, see you there.” Then the dream would jump to Chris walking out, “Congratulations everyone, you have a beautiful and healthy nephew. Once Y/N is cleaned up, you guys can come back to meet Chanseung.” In every single one of those dreams Seungmin would cry happy tears. When he’d be taken back, he was met with the cutest bundle, eyes like yours, a head full of curly hair like Chan’s. Chan would hand the baby to Seungmin and Changbin would say “what about me?” And you’d say, “godparents always hold the baby first.” Seungmin would look around shocked as more tears fell from his eyes, he would look at you and say “really? Me?” You’d look at him nodding with tears of your own, “How could it be anyone else, you took such good care of us, Minnie. You’d do anything for him. Your the one I trust the most with him.” He looked down to the baby and whispered “Hello Chanseung, I’ve been waiting for so long to meet you. My name's Seungmin, I’m your godfather.” He cuddled with the baby as he cried tears of joy, nothing but love and gratitude in his heart. Now that’s all they’ll ever be… Just dreams.

While everyone else was mourning as a friend, a brother, an Uncle, he mourned like a father. He felt like he lost a child. It destroyed him, ripping him apart inside, making him reflexively grab his chest, the air abundant but still suffocating, leaving him no other choice but for his chest to collapse inward as the sobs escaped.

Minho noticed that your screams didn’t sound human, closer to a wounded animal.  Minho looked at Chan’s face as you screamed for your baby. He could see that Chan was sad, but it didn’t seem like he was truly grasping it. It was only when Chan’s phone lit up, that Minho’s patience snapped. He saw the name “Soo BFF Y/N” light up the screen, and before Chan could do anything about it, he snatched the phone. Minho grabbed Chris by the back of his neck, his nails digging into the meat of it. Minho spoke with a lethal air as he spat, “Waiting room… NOW.” 

They ducked into the waiting room down the hall. The rest of the boys followed suit, locking the door to the room as Minho answered the call and said nothing. 

“Hey Baby, you haven’t been picking up, is everything okay? What happened after I left?” Her voice rang through the waiting room. 

Minho looked to Chris, and nodded to the phone, Chris responded, “No. Everything isn’t okay. Y/N was pregnant.”

There was a beat or two and she said, “Was?” Then she said, “As in not currently? I guess that is a good thing right? Considering you were going to divorce her for me anyway. A baby would’ve made it messy, no?”

Everyone’s jaws dropped. Some looking for confirmation, that they indeed heard what they did. 

Chris looked at the phone like it had offended him his jaw slack, “what the fuck did you say to me?!” His face showed more emotion than hearing his wife’s soul being torn to shreds about losing the baby, “My child is dead and your response is ‘at least it’s less messy now?!’ How fucking heartless are you?” he asked.

Minho couldn’t believe what he was hearing and seeing out of Chris. He just heard his wife scream that she wants to die, that she wants to no longer exist because his child is dead. Yet the thing that gets him offended, have any reaction at all was his sidepiece saying something. Taking the first opportunity to skirt over how this all even happened. Minho wasn’t going to let him get away that easily, he spoke up, “You really are a fucking coward, huh, Chris? You won’t even tell her how all of this happened?”

Chris just bowed his head as Minho continued, “She miscarried from the shock and trauma of seeing you and her husband fucking right in front of her on their 3rd anniversary. YOU and Chris killed that child,” Minho seethed into the phone. “You want to hear what is happening to your so-called best friend? What you call, less messy?”

Minho took the phone off of the speaker and stormed down the hall. His heart was hammering in his chest, hearing of what she said playing in his head on repeat. His pain clouded his generous nature. For once, Minho doesn’t want to protect someone. He wanted Soo to feel the pain that you feel. He wants her to hear your screams. To hear your soul fracturing, hear the blood as it falls from the stab wound in your heart. That knife that no one can take out. That permanent piercing is now festering. The piercing that she and Chan personally put into one of the nicest people he’s ever met. He wants her to hurt. Just the thought of hearing Soo cry, made him smile. He wants her to suffer, truly suffer, just like he wants Chan to suffer. A part of him hates that this is what he wants but the rest of him knows, this is justified. A righteous anger. A human reaction. Which Soo cannot be. 

Minho stopped outside of the room and held the phone out for Soo to hear your screams. He could somewhat hear Soo gasping at what was happening. Minho turned on the video to show her what little he could see from the door, which was your form rocking with Bin gently holding you, trying to calm you. “Hold on to me and breathe for me,” He heard Bin talking to you, trying to get you to fight.

“Binnie, please, my baby.” Minho heard your voice trembling, seeing you clutch on to Bin’s forearm. Your voice was worse than haunting, Minho could hear you trying to will your baby back.

“All you need to do is breathe and hold on to me. I’ve got you, I’m here.”

“I can’t Binnie I can’t I need my baby! Pleassee help me!” Your voice nearly gone from all of the screaming taking place. 

It filled Minho with rage. The person on the phone caused this, along with your husband. Here Bin was, trying to will you to stay, to hold on to him, not anyone else. That made Minho feel better, if anyone could put you back together, make you want to stay, it’s Bin.

 After being there for a minute or two Han barreled by him, all Minho did was flash the phone at him and point to the waiting room and Han nodded. He was telling him that when he was done making sure you were okay, for him to come to the room they were currently occupying with no words. 

The minute Minho went back to the waiting room, he turned the speaker on to hear Soo. There was no response, only fast breathing and sniffling.

Minho tried to be quiet as he said, “Did that sound clean to you, Soo? Did that look less messy? She almost died last night, almost bled out from a hemorrhage that you both caused. She just screamed that she just wanted to die already. So tell me, what part about any of this screams a clean break?!”

Soo was silent for a moment and she said, “I never meant to hurt her, Minho.”

Minho’s blood boiled as he said, “People don’t get into cars with the goal of causing an accident and killing someone, but it happens all the same. I am so happy that you called, actually. I wanted to say this to your face but this’ll have to do. I couldn’t do this last night because I’m a decent person who was worried about one of my best friends... But now that she is being helped I can tell you. You are a sad excuse of a human being, I truly mean that. It takes a certain level of desperation to take your best friend’s sloppy seconds. Even more desperate to actually believe that he’d leave Y/N for your sorry waste of an existence. ” 

Chan prickled at that, cocking his head, “As a matter of fact, the sloppy seconds is glaring at me while I say this and I don’t fucking care, as soon as I am done with you on the phone I’ll deal with him. You both destroyed someone very close to my heart. A person who has done nothing to either of you and yet you do this.”

Han walks in as Minho is grilling Soo, he whispers something to Felix and Felix goes out of the room. Minho continued, “As if what you did wasn’t enough you have the audacity to say that it was a good thing that Y/N miscarried because it would make the divorce less messy.”

Han’s eyes bulged out of his head at hearing that. No wonder why Minho wanted him here. Han felt rage at those words. Calling the death of a child that was wanted, a good thing? Minho’s lip was tight as he calmly finished his say, “I hope you know what you’re wishing for when you say you want him to yourself. If he did this to his own wife, imagine what he’d do to you… A nothing, a speck compared to Y/N. I hope you can live with yourself, but at least you’re breathing, something Y/N’s child never even got to experience because of you and Chris. I hope you rot and I hope it’s painful. Above all else, I hope that you pay in full for what you’ve done.” 

Minho looked around, “Anyone want to talk to IT?” he punctuated “it” as he stared at Chris, daring him to say something. Everyone was silent and he said, “I would say it’s been a pleasure speaking to you, but that would be a lie; the only pleasure I’ll ever have is seeing you suffer.” With that, he hung up and walked to Chan, shoving the phone into his chest.

Minho stared at Chan, “Now it’s your turn… What are you doing here? Were we not clear enough for you?! What part of ‘stay away’ did you not get? Or are you that fucking stupid. She was making progress, she was sleeping and you had to come in, didn’t you.” His eyes burned into Chris.

“I just wanted to see her.” Chris said.

Minho got tunnel vision as he bore into Chan,“I… I … I.. That is all that exists for you, huh? It’s all about you. What you want, when you want, who you want, where you want. YOU wanted to see her, you didn’t even think about her wellbeing did you?! Of course you didn’t! That’s why you came in here and played the husband card over and over again. You are nothing to her. NOTHING! It baffles me how Changbin isn’t even married to her yet he’s a better husband than you will ever be!” Minho’s body betrayed him as he started to shake, “YOU DIDN’T JUST KILL YOUR CHILD… YOU KILLED WHO WE THOUGHT YOU WERE. YOU KILLED EACH ONE OF US! MOST OF ALL YOU KILLED Y/N. THE FUN LOVING, HOPEFUL Y/N  IS DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU! That alone is something I will never forgive you for.” 

“I’m going to give you one chance to walk out of here willingly. If you don’t, I will tell the boys to go back to the room. Then I am going to lock you in here with me, and believe me when I say you won’t like what happens next. When I’m done with you, I’ll go right back to Y/N and act like nothing happened.”

His tone was too calm, too monotone, the sound sending chills down Han’s spine.

The pain that Minho is in is something that he never shows anyone. He doesn’t like to be vulnerable. He couldn’t help but look at Chris’ wedding ring and think that he should’ve done something, anything to stop him from marrying you. He told himself that it wasn’t his relationship. He even asked Changbin if he was actually going to let this happen. Changbin just looked at him and said, “Does it kill me? Yes. Do I want to be the groom instead of the groomsman? Absolutely. But she’s happy. What I want is nothing compared to seeing her happy.” Just that singular memory gave him enough fuel to do what he had to do. He made a promise to himself in that moment, he will never let Chris close enough to be able to hurt you again. 

Chris didn’t make a move, Minho could see that he was shocked. Which only fueled his rage.

Han had to cut in, “Minho… she’s asking for you.” Minho's heart twisted again as he loomed over Chris.

Minho sucked his teeth, “Even after nearly killing her, killing her child, ruining her life… Even now she’s still saving you without even knowing it. You have your chance, if I were you, I’d take it.” Minho stormed out of the room.

With that, Han looked at the rest of the boys, “Make sure he leaves, he’s already banned from the room. You are all welcome to come back up since it was clear who caused her to spiral. She wants you all as well. She’s scared we’re worried or that we’ll leave her.”

Hyunjin looked at Han and said, “We’ll be there. Go to her.”

As soon as Han left the room he saw Minho duck into your room. 

When Minho came in he heard you saying, “Where’s MinMin? I don’t know what happened, m’scared Binnie, where's MinMin and Hannie? Lixie did they leave me?” Minho knew that whenever you were scared, you started using pet names. They felt safe to you. With your MinMin, Binnie, Lixie, and Hannie around, you'd be safe. Your voice is low and quivering, fear and panic clear. It's ripping him apart, reminding him almost of a child. A child trying to not let on how scared they are. You were a lot like a child in that way, you were so hurt you didn’t know who to trust, but the minute you see people you are sure won’t hurt you, you start asking for the others, knowing you can trust them to say the truth. You also reminded Minho of someone trying to cry silently, the quake in your voice giving you away.

From Minho’s view, all that could be seen is Changbin, grabbing his sweatshirt and putting it on, hood up. It was your favorite hoodie that Binnie wears, full of different stitches and felt like a cloud. He made fleeting eye contact with Minho. Just in those few seconds he could see Bin’s eyes trying to focus on not collapsing, yet trying to get Minho to understand. Minho could only imagine that what happened minutes ago was something that he had seen last night. Since Bin knew to call out to Han to get the nurses. It made his heart twist yet again, he knows that Bin isn’t used to caring for people. But you aren’t just people. You are more than that, you always have been more than that. That’s why it’s second nature to him.

“Binnie I’m scared what happened, where are my boys? Did I do something wrong, did I scare them? Will you leave too?” You asked through sniffles. Minho could see the effect those words had on Bin as he pulled the hoodie back, he spared one last gaze and flitted it towards the bed as if to say, watch me. If you can’t do what I’m about to do, don’t come in. Then he changed his face completely before turning to you and walking out of Minho’s field of vision. That killed Minho too. How Bin knew instinctually to change his face, his gaze softening. 

“What happened isn’t something you need to worry about. You didn’t do anything wrong and the boys aren’t scared. I’m not going anywhere, see I was just putting my hoodie on, its your favorite. You don’t need to be afraid. I’m here. So is Lixie.” Bin’s voice was soothing, calm, steady, eventhough Minho identified the cracks in his foundation with only two seconds looking into his eyes.

Felix added as he tried to calm you saying, “We aren’t going anywhere okay? We are just making sure you’re going to be comfortable. MinMin’s coming and so is Hannie, Okay?”

Minho put on a smile, “I’m here”, hiding his pain for now. Your eyes were darting as you looked at him. Tearstains still painting your cheeks, fresh ones about to fall. You looked so dazed and confused as you looked around the room like you haven't been in it before. 

You smiled at Minho, “MinMin…” more tears fell as you gaze fell on Minho’s eyes, “You didn’t leave? Binnie, Lixie, and Hannie said so but… m’scared… I don’t remember what happened,” 

Minho wanted to curl you into a ball and shelter you, make sure no one could sneak up on you, that Chris couldn’t get his hands on you again, spew more poison all over this healing space, your personal space. He wanted to tuck you in and stand watch, everything in him drove him to shield and protect you. He couldn’t show that though. He couldn’t call attention to what just happened. It could upset the balance that you are in. Instead he decided on another approach.

“Binnie was right, Beautiful. What happened isn’t important right now. What matters is that we are here with you, we’re going to keep you safe, okay?” Minho reached out and dried your tears with the sleeve of his shirt. 

The nurse was just finishing giving you medicine, “What’d they give you? Something good?” Minho smiled warmly. He looked to the nurse who said, “Yes, she’ll be able to sleep no doubt. We’re also giving her medicine every six hours for the anxiety,” she smiled. That made Minho smile wide. He couldn’t help but be relieved for you. You are finally getting the medicine you need. 

Minho looked at her and said, “Thank you so much, for taking care of her and coming so quickly.” 

She just nodded and turned the lights off. 

You yawned and started tearing up a little as you reached for Bin, “Don’t leave, Binnie…Lixie.” Felix was right at your hand as he said, “M’right here, it’s going to be okay. MinMin, Bin, all of us are here to make sure you’ll be okay.” Felix could see your shoulders slowly drooping as the medicine hit you. It was clear that the medicine was making you sleepy. That made everyone smile. You have had nothing but panic, havoc, and destruction. You deserved rest.

You looked at Minho and said, “I’m tired but I want my boys. You’ll wake me when they come back MinMin?” 

Minho nodded and said, “Of course, Beautiful.”

You nodded then looked to Bin, “Binnie, I’m tired, if I sleep you’ll stay with me? I don’t want to ask too much, but can I have cuddles while I sleep?” Everyone in the room could tell that you were looking for constant reassurance. You just got out of a bad PTSD flashback, triggered by the man that caused the trauma, all on top of getting no sleep. Han walked in after making sure that Chris couldn’t make it back into the room, only walking in after he was sure Chris was in the elevator and clear of the area.

When Changbin heard you calling out to him, saying you’re scared he just wanted to hold and protect you. He successfully coaxed you out of the flashback. His whole being broke when you came out of it so disoriented. The first things you asked Bin was, “Why did he do that? Why did they do that I don’t know why? What happened?” Then immediately after, “I’m scared.” He didn’t know what to say to that first half. It’s inconceivable how anyone could cheat on anyone, especially someone like you. Trying to answer that question would only prove to be more frustrating for you than anything. Apparently the shock was written on Bin’s face as the nurse explained. 

The nurses gently talked to Bin about what he was seeing, he’s never seen you like this and they explained that when someone comes out of a flashback episode, they are very confused. Sometimes they don’t know where they are or what happened. He learned that it was necessary to be very calm in repeating yourself, and ensuring the person coming out of it that everything is going to be okay and that they are safe. The nurse that was in the room with you was the one who coached Bin through the worse of it. He just had to keep pushing, to make you feel safe. He himself was also on the brink of collapse. The wall he made in his mind, to hold all the emotions inside around you, started failing long ago. More rubble falling by the minute.

Bin was trying to be as strong as he could be as he got into the bed with you, pulling you to him, and petting your hair back, “Of course we can cuddle. I am not going anywhere okay? I wouldn’t dream of it. Just take deep breaths. Let the medicine work, Angel.” He looked at you, so small, sweaty, tired, fragile. Felix immediately started tucking you in. Taking time to ensure sealing all of the edges of your body to stay nice and warm. Then he moved your hand to cuddle Bin, knowing that you’d want it there. He resumed his place at your back, he re-tied your gown that was coming loose, then slowly rubbing circles on your back, trying to soothe you. Bin tried to figure out how Chris could hurt someone so precious to him, to all of them. He couldn’t wrap his brain around it. Like that, more bricks fell from the wall.

“M’safe?” You asked Bin, eyes still brimming with unshed tears as you looked up at him. As soon as they were knocked free he used his thumb to wipe them away.

With me…“Always. No one is going to hurt you.” Not while I’m here. He brushed your cheekbone, you head leaning into his touch reflexively. More of the wall crashed to the ground. He gently guided your head down to his chest.

Even though you were being forcibly calmed by the medicine, he could see it. Your eyebrows were tense, still a quiver in your lip. The worst was the shaking. As he held you he could feel the tremble in your entire body. Your hands shook as you held on to his hoodie, rubbing the pattern to calm yourself. 

After a few minutes passed, the boys went to come back in, but Han stopped them, just to explain to them what happened. He also gave them the rundown of how to talk to you and redirect and reassure you, that way you can rest. 

“She doesn’t look like herself right now, that’s because she is still in a very fragile mental state, she’s going to repeat herself, she’s going to say she’s scared, a lot of things that will make you want to break. You cannot break in front of her. That can make her worse. If you need I can guide you through it. Just stay close to me, okay?”All of the boys nodded and went in. Minho let you know.

“Minnie, you here?” You asked.

“Yes I am, Birdie.” Seungmin said as he walked into your field of vision getting down to your level, “Getting sleepy, Birdie?” You nodded as tears started to spring to your eyes. 

Seungmin’s nickname for you is Birdie. When you started hanging out with him more, he noticed something. Whenever you had a song stuck in your head, you would sing it on repeat. Your voice was always very soft, shy, melodic. It reminded him of the morning birds, so one day he called you Birdie and you smiled ear to ear. No one heard him call you that until now, since Seungmin is more an observer than a talker.

“If I sleep, you won’t go anywhere? I’m scared you’ll leave and I won’t see you again.” your tears fell as you looked directly into Seungmin’s eyes.

Seungmin whispered, “Oh my sweet Birdie,” as he kissed your forehead trying not to cry, drying your tears immediately, “You don’t need to be scared, I’m not going anywhere without you. You will always have me, okay? Right now all you need to do is rest, okay Birdie?” 

You nodded then said, “Jinnie and Innie too? They’re here too?”

“Mhm, everyone’s here, Birdie.” Seungmin is doing his best to see you relax, lightly petting your hair, “So just close your eyes for me, let yourself rest, we’re here.” As if on command you slowly closed your eyes. What he doesn’t know is Innah is trying not to cry. Seeing the interaction cracking him open again. 

Your breathing started calming and as Bin felt your body relax into him, your grip completely loosening. Seungmin didn’t stop petting your hair until he was sure you were out. Only then, did he go to IN’s side, where IN’s tears soaked into his shirt. 

Bin played with your hand for a few seconds, seeing how delicate they are as well as gauging how asleep you are. Seeing no reaction from you he draped his hand over yours as he heard a ghost of mere minutes ago, ‘Please just let me die. Let me go.’ The wall collapsed and he started crying. Trying not to shake you at all as he kissed the crown of your head. 

“No one’s going to hurt you, I promise. I got you. You’re going to be okay. You have to be.” Bin didn’t care who saw him. He felt so helpless, his soul is breaking for you as he cradled you. He can’t help but think that it’s all his fault. How could it not be? He didn’t follow his gut, he didn’t make the move, and now you’re suffering because of it. He kissed your hairline as he did his best to stop the pain in his chest, worried that you’d hear his heart breaking. 

Minho watched as tears fell down his face. Seeing you like this and Bin, the one who gave up his own happiness… Handed his heart over to another man, only to see his heart used and abused. He could feel the pain radiating off of Bin. Minho heard a sniffle and looked to Seungmin. Seungmin always had a placid smile to his face, all Minho found was a quivering lip, tears falling, as he watched Bin. 

Seungmin was seeing how perfect you are together, like he always saw, and seeing how broken you both are, yet you are both so strong together. That made Seungmin cry. Even though both of you are in agony right now, torn to shreds, you still clung to eachother, making a silent pact to make it together.

“You can’t leave me here…” He leaned back to see you. Another specter paid a visit, ‘Binnie it hurts. Help me pleaseee’. He felt his chest caving in at the memory. He willed himself to breathe normally, each pull of air burning his lungs, the muscles wanting to constrict. He cradled your head, trying to keep you as close to his heart as possible, “I need you, My Angel.” Bin felt Felix’s hand wrap around his shoulders, much like Bin would do for Lix when he cried. 

Bin couldn’t imagine a world without you in it. A life without you. He knows the pain alone would kill him, kill all the boys. Your love, friendship, and loyalty is second to none. You are just that way. That beautiful, that kind, that irreplaceable. That is what makes Bin distraught, the thought of no you in the world… even finishing that sentence is unimaginable. 

Han looked up at Bin, trying to will himself not to cry. The both of you are so sweet, so kind. He could see the weight on Bin’s shoulders, crushing him. He could see it in his head, Bin keeping everything bad from crashing on top of you, his arms outstretched, using his whole body as a shield. Han knew that if it meant keeping you safe, Bin would carry the world. That’s what separated Bin from Chris. 

Both may be fond of you. Only one has ever put your safety over everything. Only one ever made you feel heard and seen. Only one ever made you laugh until you cried. Only one would take off work to take care of you when you’re sick. Only one made you understand that there is no priority above you. Only one would calm you with just a touch. Only one truly loves you with their heart and soul. That “only one” was in the bed with you right now. 

Han watched, eventually just letting the tears fall as Bin held you saying, “I’m sorry I didn’t protect you, I’m sorry. I love you… I’m so sorry. Don’t leave me.”

That was the first time Changbin had ever let himself say it out loud, “I love you so much it hurts…I Can’t Lose You.”

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

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[ahiwicave]

another discord drama post

Hi, Hiwi here. One of the mods from the Nevermore Discord server. You may recognize my name because I was put on blast and accused of some heinous things in the whole drama. I didn’t want a tumblr and didn’t want to have to do this, but I see some people are never going to let it go. Just to share some thoughts, from someone who was actually involved in everything:

Crimson did stuff in a side server, and the mod team acted swiftly in the moment we learned of it, even though it was not done inside the server we were modding

Months after an appeal was considered. The original evidence was tampered with, and the person who originally shared it with a third party was banned later for harassing and baiting other users with alts. This included being blatantly xenophobic towards me with an alt account.

The mod team (not Red) decided that a probation period could be extended since we had no other witnesses to inquire about it. 

Crimson came back, and this caused a lot of new witnesses to come out publicly. We were shocked when so many people had new information about this, as we had only the aforementioned evidence to go off of beforehand

Crimson was banned again within the hour. No NSFW was ever shared in the Nevermore Discord.

That should’ve been it, really. A lesson learned for the mod team. But it was not enough for some people.

The tumblr call out came long after the situation had been dealt with. The drama was exaggerated, with tons of misinformation and downright savage hate, blaming Red for things she never did or never were about her. Lots of people who had issues before (and unrelated to the Crimson situation) jumped on the chance to continue their beef, adding a lot of noise and ridiculous accusations, muddying the waters for everyone. 

Red was not the person who took the decisions for any of this, and shouldn't have been held accountable for something that happened outside our scope. People should've used the proper Discord channels to report Crimson’s  behavior happening outside the Nevermore server. Discord is the only entity that can truly stop an account in every server, actually keeping everyone safe. Every social media has the option to report accounts, and getting those people completely off the platform is way more effective than just removing them from a single server. 

Still, Red apologized. People that don't think it's a good apology are people that are still blaming Red for things she didn't do.

Red’s apology had a lot of context, because people decided to take everything outside of Discord and paint it in the worst possible light. A lot of people commenting were posing like innocent bystanders adding to the flames, when in reality they were already involved, and it was necessary to point them out.

Sharing the discord nicknames of people involved is not putting anyone in danger, no matter what their age is. It's not any real name or address. The same people claiming this puts them in danger had apparently no fear of confirming "yes that's me” when the information given was not getting tied back to them.

This whole tumblr thing highlighted how Red and Flynn shouldn’t be trying to mod the community, which has grown a lot more than we expected when the server was first created. They wisely decided to step back to focus on just creating Nevermore.

So Red and Flynn decided to step out, leaving the modding to over 10 people. They've not participated in the mod decisions taken since the server reopened with a new mod team, over a month ago.

Many of the people involved in the Tumblr callouts and harassment were allowed back into the server, despite publicly participating in smearing the server, the creators, and me. 

The new mod team is still figuring out the best way to mod a community this big. We want to prioritize safety while still having a chill atmosphere people can enjoy. 

The reopening brought changes to the rules and the security in the server. This included taking on onboarding, as well as required phone verification, and new rules about modding outside issues.

We started with the strict policy of no ban will be appealed. This is because giving people second chances is what caused the Crimson situation. It will probably be revisited as we continue learning and deciding what's the best approach to mod the community.

People that were involved in the tumblr discourse continued breaking the rules inside the server. We want to move on from this and letting it fester inside the server would not allow the community to heal and grow. They were warned, and a lot of them continued trying to bait for more drama, so then we banned them. There is no such thing as “banned without reason”, just “banned for a reason the user doesn’t agree with”. 

Banned people are not owed explanations or second chances. If there is no appeal, there is no reason to discuss it further with them. If you’ve been banned from a space, you’re not a good match for it. I personally would not like to go back to a place that banned me, for whatever reason. Being banned is not the end of the world, the community is far bigger than the discord server and your friends exist outside of it, too. 

It's truly mind blowing to learn tumblr is at it again. We removed Crimson immediately, Red and Flynn are no longer modding, the mod team tripled in size, there is more security in the server, and we’re actively working on making things better and opened everything up for suggestions from the users in the Discord. We’re all doing our best to avoid a situation like Crimson happening ever again.  

People who publicly claimed to leave the fandom and left/were banned from the server continue being hung up on it. Please move on. You've said multiple times how much you don't like it here. You don't want to be here, we don't want you here. Stop spreading your toxicity in a tag where people just want to move on and enjoy fan content.

You are allowed to stop supporting or enjoying anything for whatever reason. No one is forcing you to remain in the Nevermore community. 

You don’t have to ruin it for everyone on the way out. Turning on other people and harassing bystanders just because they don’t join your hate train is wild. 

Stop blaming Red and Flynn for the actions of a mod team. Your personal vendetta against creators that are just trying to write a story you claimed to enjoy is getting out of hand. Please move on, for your own mental health and everyone else’s. 

I will go back to Discord now, I just wanted to clear up some things for anyone getting bombarded by the misinformation. I hope this is the last of irrelevant Discord stuff muddying up this tag, and you all can go back to enjoying art, theories, and memes.

[quicksilverserpent]

I dont think civilian is a coherent category. Nor a very useful one either. Not unless all youre trying to do is manipulate useful idiots in a low effort way.

If youre a settler and the foundation for your whole lifestyle and prosperity is the violent dispossession of an indigenous people you cant truly claim to be an innocent bystander to that conflict.

If youre a member of the bourgeoisie and all the various arms of the state repressive forces committing all the violence in society from the exceptionally high pitched to the everyday cruelties are doing so on your behalf to enforce the social arrangements beneficial to you then you cant actually claim youre not a participant in that war. If youre a member of the ruling class its really even more important to winning any war effort to kill you and thereby end your will your desires and critically your ability to use your many resources to make those manifest than it is to kill whatever poor gullible sap youve hired to do your bidding. And so to go say "no you cant kill me ive got immunity youve got to restrict yourself to dealing with my replaceable underlings or else youre not respectable" its just so transparently bullshit.

Insurgents really are just ordinary people like anyone wlse whove been forced by their desperate wretched circumstances to take up arms by the crushing weight of the violence of imperialism and it is wrong to single them out from the rest of population as acceptable targets for the occupation just because theyve chosen to defend themselves and their communities from it. If someone punches you and you hit back your self defense doesnt vindicate or pardon their assult it doesnt give them a permission slip to beat the shit out of you only one of you has any "right" to be violent here.

Theres no equality in a war theres always an asymmetry yes everyone has their own narratives about who is right and who is wrong but thats the thing is some narratives are just bullshit theres no need to consider them or humor that shit whats important is seeking the actual truth.

All military occupations recognize who theyre fighting thats why draining the sea to leave the fish high and dry to suffocate is so frequently used to crush insurgencies which can move with ease among the population exactly because theyre a deeply enmeshed part of it that grew grassroots from it no matter how much the oppressors deny it for propaganda purposes.

Incumbent national regimes dont make these principled distinctions between these categories when its not convenient they go and slaughter whoever they feel they need to in order to accomplish their objectives civilian is just another rhetorical weapon to be applied to everyone else's conduct not their own a do as I say not as I do type thing.

When its wrong to kill someone its never about whether or not theyre a civilian thats really just a poor articulation of what the issue actually is its lazy and its just taking advantage of a prebuilt discourse which was built largely by and for war criminals ironically.

[pikahlua]

Hi! Your answer about heroism generally and Izuku saving Katsuki in ch.1 got me thinking. Izuku really does have heart of hero, he really wants to help people - that's for sure. But if it was just someone else and not Katsuki in ch.1 - Izuku definitely wouldn't rush to help. He even said something like "sorry poor guy I can't help you, but someone will do, I hope" before he saw it was Katsuki. So, it was kinda selfish moment for him, as I see it. So I wonder - can this exact moment be considered pure image of heroism on Izuku's behalf?

The original post, for reference.

"So I wonder - can this exact moment be considered pure image of heroism on Izuku's behalf?"

Yes it can, but it's because I disagree with your interpretation of the scene.

I am aware that there exists a certain subsection of the fandom who view the scene as you describe, and I have no problems with analyzing the question of what's going on in this scene or with crafting a what-if exploration of this scene in fanfic. That's fun shit. I just ultimately don't think that is what's going on here at all.

First, we have Izuku acknowledge that he's used to being a spectator. He's never run out to save anyone before.

This is an important acknowledgement because it sets up the general behavior of hero society bystanders. The same bystander from chapter 1 reappears in chapter 325 to explain it:

Chapter 1 then establishes for Izuku to know that the heroes aren't doing anything about the situation. Izuku is even made to empathize with the victim as he just experienced the same thing earlier that day:

Izuku ends up feeling responsible for the victim's pain, and he falls into the same mental trap the bystanders and even the heroes on the scene do: "We need someone with the right quirk."

"Someone will come to save you soon..." "A hero is bound to come..." Izuku knows the victim needs to be saved and acknowledges that no one currently there is doing anything to help the victim.

And then this happens.

There are many things here that could be triggering Izuku. One interpretation certainly could be that Izuku is prompted to act when he sees that the victim is Katsuki.

The problem with that is: we're actually told what triggers Izuku here.

There are multiple potential triggers. The victim being "Kacchan" is one of the possibilities. But the narrator ultimately tells us what was the factor that sprung Izuku into action "at that moment."

"You looked like you needed saving."

The thing that spurred Izuku to act was not seeing Katsuki; it was seeing Katsuki's face asking him for help.

Izuku knows there's a person suffering at the hands of a villain, a suffering Izuku is familiar with, a villain Izuku is responsible for helping escape All Might. Izuku is used to being a spectator who watches the heroes save the day, but there are no heroes here saving anyone. For the first time, he's at the scene of a villain attack, and the victim has to look around and ask someone, anyone for help. For the first time, the victim looks at Izuku and asks him for help.

"But if it was just someone else and not Katsuki in ch.1 - Izuku definitely wouldn't rush to help."

So I disagree with your above statement. I think if any other person would have looked to Izuku for help in that situation, Izuku would have rushed out to help. I don't think he's only a hero for Katsuki's sake.

However, I do believe there are other important reasons Katsuki is the victim here.

It demonstrates that any bad blood between Izuku and Katsuki is inconsequential to Izuku's impulse to save Katsuki. Izuku does care about Katsuki.

Likewise, the fact that their bad blood doesn't affect Izuku in this case does demonstrate Izuku's heroic qualities. His personal life does not get in the way of his heroism.

Most importantly, it shows that Katsuki admires Izuku.

I'm honestly not fond of the "(selfish) Izuku only saves Katsuki because he loves him, it's got nothing to do with his heroism" take because it betrays a bias. The notion that Izuku is selfish and cares only about Katsuki is a perspective that elevates Izuku's feelings at the expense of Katsuki's. This scene is not about how much Izuku cares about Katsuki; it's about Katsuki's feelings for Izuku.

For the entire chapter, most every character has made fun of Izuku for his dream of being a hero. They don't take him seriously. They think he's a joke.

Katsuki, consistently, does take Izuku's dream seriously. He sees Izuku as a legitimate threat.

We also learn later why Katsuki takes Izuku seriously. Despite Izuku's deficiencies, Katsuki has always seen something in Izuku that the rest of society misses. He sees the makings of a true hero, which causes Katsuki to doubt himself. He doubts whether or not he can measure up to Izuku in the same regard.

(He knows exactly what Izuku can do.)

Katsuki also ends up exposed and victimized by the way society is. Society sees people as just their quirks. That's how the heroes who fail to save him behave. That's even how the villain behaves.

Note that in this final picture, Katsuki looks away from the heroes to focus on Izuku.

On some level, Katsuki knows what real heroism is, which is what makes him so self-conscious and leads him to mistreat Izuku. When he is stuck and dying, none of the heroes even try to help him. Katsuki finds the one person in the area who would actually do something: Izuku. And so he pleads for Izuku's help with his eyes.

It's no mistake that All Might describes one of Katsuki's feelings towards Izuku as "awe."

He's just been terrible at expressing his awe because of his self-doubt.

Despite his rejection of Izuku, Katsuki is regularly shown to be in awe of him throughout high school. He's felt awe for Izuku ever since they were little kids. That's what makes him so uncomfortable. He really can't wrap his head around Izuku for most of their lives, which makes Katsuki himself feel inferior. But in chapter 1, in his moment of desperation, he looks to Izuku for help. He acknowledges Izuku's heroism only in his hour of need.

So when it comes to how I interpret chapter 1, I think the above distinctions are important to make. I don't mean to rain on any bakudeku parades. Seriously, if you like the other interpretation, you do you. But to me, THIS interpretation is the more bakudeku one. The reason Izuku's and Katsuki's destinies are so intertwined is because of their acknowledgement of each other's heroic traits, specifically the ones the other feels they are lacking. That's what makes them two halves of a whole. You can't erase Izuku's heroic traits, or else there is nothing for Katsuki to admire. There's no one otherwise who sticks out in the hero-corrupted society that Katsuki feels he can count on for help. Their deep relationship comes from their mutual admiration of each other. Chapter 1 is Izuku's heroic moment, and you have to have it preserved if you want Katsuki's feelings for Izuku to make sense.

That's my two cents.

[ace-touya]

Sometimes I think about Oboro and get real sad

I headcanon him and Zashi met in middle school, with them meeting Sho in UA, and like. In the grand scheme of things he was in their lives for such a short time period, he’d known Shouta for just two years. Known Hizashi for four in my hcs

But he made such a massive impact to the point where neither of them healed from losing him, over a decade after it happened

I don’t think Rooftop Trio were that well liked outside their small circle. It was the three of them plus Nemuri sometimes, against the world

And sure, Hizashi has this sort of infectious positivity and makes everyone laugh all the time but it’s definitely a character he puts on. Buried just below the surface is this angry, sad, self-doubting dude who doesn’t think he’s doing enough for the people he loves despite the fact he always puts them before himself

And in contrast, Oboro’s positivity is so genuinely real, he’s just a happy guy. He inspired them both, lifted them both up, and probably is a big reason why they even were close in the first place, because Hizashi and Shouta are complete opposites but Oboro has some shared interests with each of them respectively which makes the two of them get close, and he absolutely was Hizashi’s biggest wingman ever when he realised he loved Shouta romantically

And then like.. after seemingly dying in a really gruesome way, he got turned into a monster at the age of only sixteen, probably in a really gruesome and horrific way if Tomura getting AFO’s quirk was anything to go off of (and that was with likely a lot more developed tech considering it was so long after, and the added fact of wanting to keep Tomura’s brain in tact, which wasn’t something they cared about with Oboro)

Then he was forced to care for a child only like 10 years younger than he was, while simultaneously also being forced to be a bystander while said child is actively being groomed, by the same guy who made him like this

Into a shell of a person, noidentity of his own, no purpose except caring for this kid who was too young and too hurt to understand that both of them were trapped. He had no free will, and no real personality

And the icing on the cake is that any of the genuine care Kurogiri had for Tenko came from the love and protectiveness Oboro had for Shouta, someone Kurogiri can’t remember but whenever his gloomy little honorary son would take too many naps in one day, or stare blankly at someone he found stupid, or coo at pictures of small dogs, he’d be reminded of messy black hair and eyes that turned red, and wouldn’t know that it wasn’t Tomura he was thinking of

[cattimeswithjellie]

Stream Recap, Skizzleman, 6/11/24

((Skizz streams are always funny, but if you want to watch any single part of this stream, check out Skizz's digging around 2:11:00. Poor Chat. Fans of HotGuy and Cuteguy may also want to check out the shout-out around 24:00.))

05:40 Skizz opens the stream. He is dancing to the music and tells everyone he’s doing StreamBeats on Spotify. He logs into Hermitcraft, inside his base. Today’s snack is blueberries, because his energy was running a little low. He thanks subs and donos. A chatter says that Jono is mixing the Poe Poe song, Skizz thinks that is awesome. Yesterday’s stream start was one of the craziest of all times. Skizz does have a plan for today! After stream, he’s going to _chill._ Yesterday was a long day, streaming and prepping today’s new video. First on today’s agenda is recording a bit about the guide for the volcano.

9:20 Skizz talks about the podcast this week. They haven’t even filmed it yet. Impulse was sick and needed extra time, so tomorrow Skizz goes to work for some intense and specific training and a long work day, then they will record the podcast and then he has to get it turned around by Friday. It’s going to be intense. Skizz thanks a dono and massacres the username. He thanks more subs.

11:45 Skizz sets up to record, adjusting his game sounds. Chat has an argument about the pronunciation of “pthalo.” Skizz confirms he will NOT be going into Tango’s hole today. Skizz is very disappointed in whoever invented the pronunciation of “phthalo,” obviously someone who hates human lips.

14:20 Skizz begins recording his bit. He says that what just happened is cool and fun (he is not telling chat what the previous bit was) but that he’s not going to stop until he gets the Mission Possible Hat. He flies to MP HQ and gets a new MP mission. It is “Do a good deed for a Hermit without them noticing and without taking credit.” Skizz says this is right up his alley, but he needs to think about it. He jokes that because he is a Hermit, he could do a good deed for himself and get the reward, right? No, he won’t do that, he’ll do it right. He ends the recording and asks chat about who he should do a nice thing for.

16:30 Skizz lands in the eye of Gem’s base and thinks about what to do. Someone suggests restocking a shop. Skizz laughs and says maybe he should put all the glowberries back (referring to his Mission Possible deed from his last episode, where he bought out Joel’s glowberry shop). Scar signs on and says he has Skizz’s new bow. Skizz is excited and goes to find Scar. He starts at his own base, which is crawling with hostile mobs, and considers spawnproofing it for Scar’s sake. He doesn’t, instead taking off again to search. When a quick aerial search is unrevealing, he goes into his base to sleep. As he arrives back at the base, the Poe Poe song plays outside, then the “Trader Scar’s definitely not going to eat you” horn. Skizz goes outside and finds Scar.

18:20 Skizz tells Scar that Jono is remixing the Poe Poe song. Scar says he is watching Jono live on his other monitor as they speak. Scar gives Skizz an enchanted bow called “FailGuy.” Skizz tells Scar he hates him so much. Scar laughs. Skizz looks at the bow and notes that it is fully enchanted. He sighs and asks what he needs to do to earn the right to rename the bow. Scar says there can be no renaming of this bow, it will be FailGuy until it breaks. He suggests that Skizz should get out there and start shooting a lot of FailGuy arrows. Skizz agrees reluctantly. Scar reminds Skizz that all he really needs to do is believe in himself and use that space bar. Skizz insists that he used spacebar and also fired 700 rockets, it’s right there in his footage. He tells Scar to look at the bloopers from his new episode, both for proof and because they were incredibly funny.

20:00 Scar says people on Twitter are accusing him of diamond ore theft, but he is an innocent bystandard. Bystander, Skizz corrects. Scar doesn’t understand, but he is innocent. He doesn’t want any trouble with the GOAT himself, but he is having a wonderful time watching Doc rage. Skizz asks what kind of ore was taken, from where. Scar says someone is taking the ore from Doc’s fashion shop and replacing it. Doc is on Twitter, making accusations and threatening vagueposts about trains. Scar, as a train owner, is feeling very threatened. Skizz asks how much diamond ore has been taken. Scar says like two pieces. Skizz is baffled that Doc is so upset about two pieces of ore. He doesn’t know what fashion shop Scar is talking about, so Scar takes him on a field trip that may involve murder with Skizz’s new bow. They decide to get in a chat group along the way.

22:00 Scar and Skizz take a quick detour to try and kill Impulse with the new bow. They go down into Impulse’s metro system and fly around the cyberpunk city but don’t find him. Scar calls Xisuma “Dipple-dee-doppers.” They say he must be hiding. Scar says they should shoot Xisuma for hoarding the End and keeping people from harvesting XP there. ((Xisuma has been moving mobs via the End Portal and asking other Hermits to stay away.)) Skizz asks whether Scar knows about the Bop N Go. Scar says he just used it, and he likes the music.

24:00 Skizz and Scar abandon the hunt for Impulse. Scar says Impulse must be afraid of the power of the HotGuy and the FailGuy. He wishes that they could get CuteGuy onto the server so they could have the full set. Skizz protests that he is a cute guy. Scar tells him very definitively that he’s not CuteGuy, that’s Grian. Skizz points out that he used to be SpyGuy, and that was cool, and then his _buddy_ _murdered_ him and named him FailGuy. Scar leads him to the armor trim shop and points out the two missing bits of diamond ore, one on the surface and one inside the guts of the redstone. Scar noticed the second bit of missing redstone during a livestream, before Doc actually noticed it, but he did not take it. ((Scar says it was Tango’s stream, but it was Ren’s livestream.)) Scar is disgusted that Doc has a diamond boring machine and still gets so upset about two ore.

25:30 Scar is distracted from Doc’s problems by how much he still wants to kill Impulse. He insists that he sees Impulse and takes off, followed by Skizz who demands to know what kind of eyes he has. Scar insists he is HotGuy! Scar races around the shopping district, followed by Skizz, but they do not find Impulse. They do hear Joel’s honey song and are baffled by it before resuming the chase. It is unclear whether Scar actually saw Impulse at all, or if it was a mirage, or if Scar is deliberately toying with Skizz. Scar looks up Impulse’s coords but he doesn’t seem to be there. Skizz begins taking potshots at Scar, who doesn’t notice. Skizz goes home to sleep.

29:40 Skizz gives up the chase and goes to Bop ‘n Go to repair his elytra. Scar makes a difficult shot to hit Skizz while he’s bopping. Scar tells Skizz that if he does something Scar deems truly admirable, he can change the name of the FailGuy bow. Skiss promises he will do so. They shoot at each other a few more times and Scar leaves.

31:00 Skizz decides his good deed will be to replace Doc’s diamond ore. Chat doesn’t like Skizz calling Doc Doccy because that is what Doc calls his child and it is confusing everyone. Skizz does not read chat and doesn’t notice. He admits this is not really a selfless act, it’s a nice thing but it’s so he can get his token. He heads back to the armor shop. He replaces the outer block and, leery of entering the machine itself, stacks up two more ore to replace the other missing blocks. Good deed done, no credit taken! Skizz goes to collect his token.

34:10 Skizz needs two tokens to spin for the MP prize he wants (the helicopter beanie cap), so he needs another task. He turns in his task and gets one token, then collects his new task. He receives the task “create a big present at another Hermit’s base, sign it, wish them happy birthday, and put something useless inside.” He instantly recognizes this as the task Stress got and performed on him months ago now. Chat is amused. Skizz is going to think of something fantastic for this task. He unpauses his chat alerts and demands Chat tell him the most useless item in Minecraft. Chat has lots of ideas, but Skizz likes the poison potato best.

36:00 Skizz starts looking through his chest monster for useless things. He gets excited when he remembers the retextured “Diamond” stick that has been in his ender chest for a long time now. It is the perfect gift, but who to give it to? Skizz starts looking for the packaging blocks Stress used for the original present. Chat points out that it’s actually Pearl’s birthday.

38:30 Skizz reads a dono from chat and takes a contemplative sip of coffee. It is from the wrong cup and is his cold nasty coffee from the morning. He is unhappy. He tells Chat he is not going to give Pearl a fake present on her real birthday. He finds the pink concrete from Stress and gathers up some cherry leaves as well. He thinks about making a Russian nesting doll style present, unwrapped in layers. He can’t find any items frames so he steals some from his Poe Poe kit. Considering how terrible his organizational system is, Skizz knows where a surprising number of items are.

42:00 Skizz decides Grian gets the present. There’s a nice flat space right in front of his base. He builds a 9x9x9 box of cherry leaves and quizzes Chat on what memory he’s evoking here. Chat guesses the Heart Foundation. He asks Chat if they notice how slow he is moving. It is because his buddies killed him in the Void and he lost his Swift Sneak pants.

45:00 Skizz responds to a request from chat for the Skizzlefarts song, in honor of a chatter’s sister who had surgery and cannot leave the hospital before passing gas. Chat is very supportive. During the song, Skizz returns to his base and collects more cherry leaves, then starts the second inner layer. Chat begins telling him to eat.

49:00 The song ends. Chat has strong feelings about Skizz not building the inner box off the ground. Skizz does not care, but he does satisfy Chat by eating. He places the item frame and the fake diamond, then goes to sleep. In the morning, finishes the box and goes to put the sign up, only to realize he put it back in the chest when he collected the cherry leaves. He returns to base for the sign, then closes the boxes and adds the ribbon. He is just complimenting himself on his Guess-the-Build boosted skills when he runs out of concrete. Chat knows he has more concrete in his base and Skizz actually looks at chat to see it. Victorious, he finishes the ribbon, then adds a bow. The bow takes awhile.

58:30 Skizz adds the sign and calls it good. He does not sign it. Chat reminds him he must sign it to complete the mission. He says he’s not going to sign it. Chat scolds him. He reads the mission again and returns to sign his name to the present.

1:01:20 Skizz explains Mission Possible to Chat while he sleeps through the night and heads for the Shopping district. He receives his tokens and spends them on a skin. He is disappointed to receive the arrow hat. He feels better when he realizes it is a hat that makes it look like there’s an arrow through his head. He decides to head back to work, but thanks subs and donos first.

1:04:50 Skizz flies from the shopping district to the top of Magic Mountain and tells chat he wants to make a quad beacon for digging, or a “queacon.” He flies immediately back to the shopping district for more iron. As he flies, he plugs his new channel, ShorterSkizz. The channel is his daughter’s summer project because she cannot work during ACL recovery. Chat is excited and begins subbing, competing for early sub numbers.

1:07:00 Skizz arrives back at the shopping district and tries to figure out how many iron blocks he needs. Sub numbers have climbed from 15 to about 400. A chatter suggests he needs to hire Jimmy for a 700 subscribers special. Skizz likes that idea and puts a velcro bag on his head to stand in for Young Jimmy’s hair from his subscriber special. He decides he needs “ a lot” of iron, and buys three and a half stacks of iron. He decides that’s not enough and tops up to six stacks.

1:13:00 Skizz heads back for the mountain, thanking subs and donos. ShorterSkizz cracks 700 subs. Skizz stops on top of the pyramid and thanks everyone with his best teenage Jimmy impression. Chat is pleased. Skizz tells Jimmy, if he sees this, that he loves him and explains the bit. He makes sure that someone clipped that so Jimmy can see it.

1:15:40 Skizz grabs his shovel and heads for the mountain for real. Chat begins reminding him to eat. He does a shoutout to his buddy MKBean who is helping with the new channel, then scouts out a spot for the beacon, digging straight down. He sees the opening into the cave and falls in anyway, but does not die.

1:19:30 Skizz pauses to read out a dono that suggests he should buy a keyboard with a working space bar. Skizz demands affirmation from chat that they saw his episode and that he really tried to get out of the void. Chat is supportive, to a point. Skizz continues digging down and notes that he didn’t even bring a weapon on this jaunt. He arrives in the largest part of the underground caverns and realizes he went off by one while digging the beacon hole. He fixes the mistake with another hole, realizes it is nighttime and that he didn’t bring a bed. He goes home.

1:24:00 Skizz jumps back down the beacon hole and goes to fix his mistake hole, then changes his mind and decides not to. He digs down deeper instead, then goes home again to get torches and a weapon. He thanks donos and subs, and seeks more affirmation from chat about his death in the void. A chatter tells him that nice things happened last night on the channel he raided into. Skizz is happy. He talks about how funny Jimmy was in the 700 subscriber video. Skizz cannot find his sword.

1:29:00 Skizz searches his chest monster for the sword and does not find it. He says he’s tried to organize his chests onstream a million times only for Chat to tell him not to do it because it’s boring, then admits that the opposite is true and chat has basically begged him to do an organizing stream. He won’t though, because it’s bad content. It’s much better to watch him search the chest monster a million times. He realizes he might have lost it in the void. He makes a new diamond sword and heads for the Shopping district for books. He remembers suddenly that he had Looting on that sword and that somehow motivates him to turn around and search harder.

1:30:50 Skizz finds his sword outside the Pyramid and then starts searching for torches. He organizes his inventory a bit and makes torches. He collects more rockets and heads back into the mountain.

Chat reminds him he forgot his bed and the beacon, but it is too late.

1:33:00 Skizz digs a bigger hole in the mountain. He digs down to about 10 and fights a creeper, then lights a little cavern he finds. He eats and provides some birthday you-yos, then decides whether to go down further. He places more torches and argues with himself. He digs down some more and lights another cave full of mobs.

1:42:00 Skizz realizes he has lost track of the hole he dug. He finds it after a couple minutes of searching and begins placing the beacon. A chatter asks if he has forgotten the ways of the skompass. He figures out what the dimensions of the beacon need to be and starts throwing down iron. He explains how one chatter has taken responsibility to be master of dad jokes and now Skizz looks forward to them. Chat provides additional dad jokes. Skizz plays the bop song and builds.

1:51:30 Skizz is very pumped about Jono remixing the Poe Poe song. The beacon is partway built now and growing fast. He realizes that he will need to buy some beacons, and that it might have made sense to do that before jumping down this hole. He finishes the beacon base, including four extra blocks where the beacons themselves should go, and heads out to get some beacons. Chat tries to explain that he needs to remove the top four blocks.

1:56:00 Skizz flies to the shopping district and visits the beacon shop. He stares at the enormous BEACONS sign and asks chat where the beacons are. Chat mocks him. He purchases four beacons and heads back to the mountain. Skizz parks himself on top of the mountain, tells Chat not to let him die, and plays the Skizzlefarts song again while he takes a bathroom break.

2:00:20 Skizz returns, miraculously unkilled. He opens the hole wide enough for a 2x2 beacon light and breaks the netherrack pole he’d used to survey the mountain. With everything prepared, he dives back down the hole and places the beacons on the iron blocks he should have removed. The beacon does not light. He removes the beacons, removes the blocks, and places the beacons in the correct place. They light successfully. Skizz goes to find some pink glass.

2:06 Skizz heads for the shopping district and visits the glass shop. He buys a stack of pink glass and goes to get some iron. Chat reminds him he has iron. He heads for the mountain and empinkens the beacon, then activates it with Haste 2, Jump Boost, Speed, Resistance and Regen. He decides he needs to make a safe drop to let him get down without dying.

2:11:00 Skizz admires the work he has done for the mountain crew. He contemplates a top-level control room that will activate different beacons under the mountain, but that’s for another day. He tries to take advantage of the new beacon to dig some dirt on the mountain, but has little success because he is trying to dig with his axe. Frustrated, he announces that his spoon SUCKS. Chat is beside themselves. He somehow misses the hundred chatters telling him he was holding an axe to zero in on the one who assures him that grass is slower to mine than dirt. Skizz flies around a little and admires the beacon, then heads back to his base for a better shovel. He finally realizes he was using the axe. He immediately flies back to Magic Mountain to test out his actual shovel. It works very well.

2:15:20 Skizz begins reorganizing the chests on Magic Mountain to facilitate digging, setting the storage chests outside the digging perimeter. Chat suggests putting an S on the ground and calling it Skizz Mountain. He flies back home to sleep, then realizes there was a bed on top of the mountain. He thanks subs and donos again. He tries to eat a rocket. After several more birthday you-yos, it’s back to the mountain for more organizing. Skizz has great sympathy for the very confused pen of sheep on top of the mountain.

2:19:45 Skizz finds a sign that says “omg, it’s a dark oak tree!” He laughs, confused, but does not remove it. He finishes moving the chests and organizing them. Chat reminds him how nice it feels to organize and suggests maybe he could do that at his base. Skizz hopes that this will make excavation a little more enjoyable for everybody.

2:24:15 Skizz leads by example with an arrow in his head, beginning the digging himself. He digs about ten dirt blocks and declares himself exhausted. He digs some more, then realizes he just wants to use TNT again. They probably will use TNT again, but this is a good way to put a teeny little dent in the amount of work yet to be done. A group TNT day would be a very fun group recording day for Magic Mountain. TNT is unpredictable but very fast!

2:27:00 Skizz digs dirt, sleeps, and interacts with chat. A chatter tells him a joke. He gathers up a lot more dirt, then stops because he does not want to ruin the glorious TNT day. He notices a chest and bed on top of the mountain and investigates, but the chest is empty. He destroys it. All his dirt goes into the storage chests. He’s way into the TNT date idea now.

2:32:00 Skizz decides to call the stream a little early today. Yesterday he was super busy and last night he didn’t sleep well. Today was long and he needs some sun before it gets dark. Chat advises Skizz to touch grass. He returns to his base and says goodbye to chat. He raids into “Coach” Jojosolos and ends his stream.

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

Unexpected 30

Sequel to Unsolicited

Warnings: non/dubcon, pregnancy, car sex, Lloyd being the worst, and other dark elements. My username actually says you never asked for any of this.

My warnings are not exhaustive but be aware this is a dark fic and may include potentially triggering topics. Please use your common sense when consuming content. I am not responsible for your decisions.

As usual, I would appreciate any and all feedback. I’m happy to once more go on this adventure with all of you! Thank you in advance for your comments and for reblogging.

Three days since Lloyd’s return and you’re already suffocating. He may not be his most volatile but he’s always better in small doses. So you wake up a bit earlier than usual and gear up; leggings, cotton shirt, a hoodie too tight to zip, and your pregnancy belt.

He rolls onto his back and groans. His bruises are fading but he’s still in pain. He lets you know it. His griping is driving you nuts. You need a break before you beat him up yourself.

“Where are you going?” He asks groggily, rubbing his cheek only to wince as he touches the bruises there.

“For my walk.”

“Your walk?” He pushes himself up on an elbow to look at you, “what does that mean?”

“It means you were gone for a month and I got a month of freedom,” you sneer, “it’s nice out, so I like to walk around the neighbourhood a bit. It’s good for the baby.”

“You shouldn’t go alone,” he sits up and groans, rubbing his discoloured stomach.

“I can handle myself, Lloyd, it’s almost eight in the morning, there aren’t any thugs out their waiting to jump me,” you scoff, “the only thug around here is in this room.”

“Hm,” he lays back on the pillows, “fine.”

“How about I bring you a coffee before I go,” you offer, “hate to say it, but I think you’re in worse shape than me. I just really don’t care if you’re left to fend for yourself.”

“Wow, you know, peaches, I think I overestimated you,” he shifts and lets out another strained groan, “you’re not as nice as I thought.”

“Well, you could get your own coffee. I mean, it’d be justice considering I can’t have any. And it’s all your fault.”

“Baby cakes,” he whines.

“Ugh, see, this is exactly why I need to get out,” you shake your head, “I’m not your mother, Lloyd, she’s gone home.”

“But you are mommy,” he grins and you resist the urge to find something to throw at him.

“Ew, I’m gonna get the coffee on, then I’m gonna get my shit and go,” you turn on your heel and shuffle away, “I have faith in you, Marion, you can make it to the kitchen.”

“I really wish you wouldn’t call me that,” he bemoans.

“You’ve called me worse and you know it.”

💎

You leave the coffee dripping from the machine and a mug beside it. The burner will keep it warm long enough for him to find a way down. You shove your feet into your sneakers, leaving the laces loose as you can’t bend far enough to do anything about it. Besides, your feet are swollen as fuck.

You put in the wired earbuds that came with your phone and turn on the podcast you found about some old reality show you used to watch when you were younger. You remember how you would wake up in time to watch it on primetime before heading out for another night shift. Colin’s looming memory hardly makes you think anymore, he’s just someone who was there, just a bystander in your wasted life.

You follow the long drive and breathe in the fresh scent of pollen, your allergies tickling behind your eyes. You’ll have to water the bulbs Harlan planted when you get back. They’re starting to sprout up. 

Birds bathe in the marble bath and tweet around the feeder Dottie helped you hang. In Lloyd’s absence, you’d done your best to distract yourself, to do the things you could never do in your old duplex. To enjoy what you could before a baby got in the way.

You reach the gate and stop to take a breath. You brace your back, just over the top of the thick belt, and start down the street. The neighbourhood is sparse, a collective of oversized mansions across lush fields, framed with perfectly trimmed hedges. You try to meter your breath as you reach the end of the Hansen estate.

As you pass in front of the next house, you nearly scream. A man nearly bowls you over as he hops through his gate and catches your arm as he steps back, steadying both of you. Your earbuds tug free of your ears as your hand hits the wire. The stranger lets you go and pulls out a wireless bud from his ear.

“I’m so sorry,” he says, “I didn’t hear you coming.”

“Me either,” you say as you lay your hand on your stomach, his eyes following the habitual touch, “I wasn’t paying attention at all.”

“Neither was I,” he chuckles and scratches his neck, just along the stubble that weaves into his thick beard. He’s familiar in a very unnerving way. “I’d feel awful if I’d knocked you over,” he nods to your stomach, “both of you.”

“Oh, uh, well, it’s all good,” you say as you pull up your dangling earbuds, “I was just about to turn back at the end of the street anyway. Can’t make it much further.”

“Ah, do you mind company? I was headed in the same direction.”

“Please, I don’t want to slow you down,” you note his obvious running gear.

“I don’t mind. Always good to get to know the neighbours,” he smiles, his eyes sparkling at you, “Andy.”

He offers his hand and you consider it. You shake it stiffly and return your name. 

“So, which house do you live in?” He asks.

“Just next door,” you point over the tall brick wall before heading away from it, resuming your usual path.

“Hansen’s… wife? Wow, I didn’t even know he was married.”

“Oh? I guess… I guess we don’t go out much.”

“Well, I’ve seen you here and there,” he admits as he walks with you, keeping an easy pace with you, “I just didn’t know how to say hi, I guess.”

“Mmm, right,” you nod as you wrap up your earbuds around your phone and tuck it back in the pocket of your leggings, “I guess I’m not very… observant. Especially since I got knocked up. I tend to zone out a bit.”

“My wife was the same way,” he intones, “do you know your shoes are untied?”

“I’m aware. I can’t really reach.”

“Hold up,” he stops you with his arm across your path, “it’s a tripping hazard.”

“But–” you stop yourself from arguing that they’re tucked in.

He tugs them out from under your feet and you feel him knotting them tight. He reappears as he stands up and you continue down the lane. He’s friendly enough and it wouldn’t be so bad to know someone beyond the man you call your husband.

“So, you said your wife was pregnant… how old is your kid?”

He’s quiet as he takes a breath, “he was fifteen.”

You cup your hand over your stomach, “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” he says, “really. I’m not saying it to get sympathy. It’s just… what happened.”

“Still, it’s a lot to go through. Losing a child,” you can’t help but peek down at your belly.

“And a wife,” he adds, “car accident. I’m working through it.”

“I’m–”

“Don’t. No sorry’s. None of it. It’s behind me,” he assures you. “You and Hansen, how long you been with him?”

“You care that much?”

“Well, I’d rather talk about your family than mine.”

“Fair enough. Uh…” you’re not sure how to answer, “too long.”

He laughs, “yeah, about what I expected. He’s a character for sure.”

“You know him well?”

“Not as well as I thought, apparently,” he says, “never even said anything about a wife. Or a kid… kids?”

“Just the one,” you say as you reach the corner and stop, “I’ll tell him you said hello.”

“Actually, I wouldn’t,” he puts his hands on his hips and squints against the sunlight, “I know him, but I wouldn’t say I like him. Or that he likes me for that matter.”

You push your lips out and make a noise, “got it. Actually, I don’t know why I thought he would.”

“He’s not really the neighbourly type,” Andy remarks as he checks his watch, “anyway, I’ll let you go. And next time you go out, get your husband to tie your shoes. Can’t have you falling out here.”

“Will do,” you muster a small smile, “sorry to slow you down.”

“Not at all,” he bounces in place, “it was nice meeting you, neighbour.”

“You too,” you reply and turn on your heel, leaving him to stretch as you head off back to the house in no hurry. You unfurl your earbuds and put them back in your ears, skipping back to your place in the episode. Lloyd can wait a little longer while you finish your podcast in the garden.

[shinjisdone]

To Soften a Warrior's Heart (Vinland Saga; Thorfinn; Part 1)

Going insane over Vinland saga - and Thorfinn headcanons of him getting close/finding a friend (┛◉Д◉)┛彡┻━┻ (based on season 1, which I haven't even finished but its taking oVER MY BRAIN):

In which you have joined Askeladd's band...and grow closer to the Son of Thors. Though it is more difficult than anyone can could ever imagine...

[Headcanons of how it would be like to meet and crawl your way into Thorfinn's heart (based on season 1; both platonic and romantic)]

Part 2 is here - meeting Thorfinn at 16/17 years old and growing closer to him, slightly following s1 events

Part 3 is here - Thorfinn slowly feeling comfortable with you and considering you a friend

Part 4 is here - Thorfinn unwittingly opening his heart as he realizes he does not want you to die

Part 5.1 is here - sweet things Thorfinn would do for you (headcanons)

Part 5.2 is here - other sweet htings Thorfinn would do for you (headcanons)

Part 6 is here - Becoming Canute's guard while Thorfinn accepts your relationship and bond

Part 7 is here - Canute grieving over Ragnar and Thorkell catching up; Thorfinn leaves you alone for revenge

Part 8 is here - Thorfinn wins against Thorkell; Questioning your bond with Thorfinn

Part 9 is here - Meeting Leif and Thorfinn dueling Askeladd; Losing while Askeladd told him the truth of his constant losses

Part 10 is here - Thorfinn and you bound by heart; Promises of Vinland broken and abandoned

okay, okay, just bear with me here;;;;

We all know that Thorfinn throughout these 11 years has been alone AND lonely (even though I think he wouldn't be aware of it nor admit to it) even though he has been around Askeladd's band for so long. He's cold and crude, rejecting all kinds of possible connections, which at the end of the day cannot even be real connections considering all men there are war-loving warriors who live for the thrill of battle - and the one who doesn't is Askeladd, his father's murderer who uses Thorfinn as a tool.

So just - i m a g i n e with me. Thorfinn...building connections. Having a bond...while still being the piece of sht like he always is (I know that happens in season 2 (I think) but...just, let him have someone :,) No matter if platonic/romantic :,) Just...let this kid be okay;;;;)

[Mentions of murder, death, war, slave trade, violence against women and whatever awful things happened in the viking era. Only mentioned and used as examples. Mostly gender-neutral examples but female-leaning ones are there, too.]

Harsh beginnings (14 years old)

So, obviously, you'd have to meet while Thorfinn is still in the band. Having two children ranging from the age of 6-13 be vikings and kill people is....unlikely????? At least in the plot.

So here comes my brainrot and stupid headcanons but:

Either you meet where he was about 14 or when he was about 16-17 years old.

I think the later you meet him in these 11 years, the harder it is to build a connection, let alone trust with him since these cruel years have hardened his heart. And as a 14 y/o (or at least around that age range) Thorfinn was seen to be more willing to help civilians who he saw as bystanders (the english woman and daughter). He is NOT innocent at that age in any regard but perhaps during that time he still hadn't shackled that hopeful child in his heart.

You become part of the band for whatever reason. Your home was raided, you escaped slave trade or you see yourself as a warrior. Askeladd saw something useful in you - no matter if that was strength, wit, knowledge of foreign languages or talent for any skill that there is. You can be a useful chess piece and a good replacement for the men he had lost throughout the years. If not, it certainly won't be a loss for him.

Your reasons and goal for joining would not matter. You are just another face being here. Either you'll be here for a long time or not. It doesn't matter. Everyone dies. As long as it is Askeladd dying by Thorfinn's hand, he won't care for you.

The only thing that would be peculiar and worthy of his attention (at least for a moment) would be that you and him are about the same age - in this example, 14 years old.

I believe either Thorfinn wouldn't care after that and ignore you - or he would raise a brow and pout as usual, asking you what a kid his age is doing here. Are you a warrior? One his father would describe? In his dreams?

You can give him your reason (it just can't be revenge, that's his thing). For survival, for power, you're searching for someone/something or for simply wanting to be a viking. Thorfinn would shrug at this, thinking the more emotional/rational reasons just show how you're probably not the only one with such an ambition. The world is cruel and it seems like you're the product of its actions. If your reason is a bit more simpleminded or even selfish, he'd scoff at you.

Nevertheless, he would never think of you as stronger than him.

Perhaps due to his young age he would act more childish and irrational. Every comment you give needs a comeback, no matter if it is ill-mannered or just talking for the sake of talking. He'd find himself accidentally replying to you or even seeking conversation because you are about the same age as him. Never would he see you as a friend though. Thorfinn in general, no matter how old, is too absorbed in his thirst for revenge that it is hard to find a place for any other thing in his heart, both positve and negative.

In the morning, he trains to be able to kill Askeladd (which at that age, I believe duels with him are seldom due to his height and age). At midday, he hunts for himself to survive. At night, he is plagued by his dreams of his father. There isn't much place for anything else.

The boy would be more open to kind people in general. It happens unwittingly. Thorfinn doesn't truly seek out company but humans are social creatures, no matter how strong or stoic or cruel he may become. He's still a child before any of that.

However, he would find you odd to be kind and to be part of a viking band. Part of him believes you don't belong here. Another part prefers you like this.

You'd have to initiate conversations most of the time but younger Thorfinn might do so too, at least compared to when he is older. It usually concerns problems regarding the situation or questions about Askeladd and his decisions. Thorfinn is reluctant to tell you about Askeladd and his father and prefers to bark out brief explanations ("He's a bastard."; "He isn't my leader and I am not listening to him. I'm here to kill him so don't get in my way!").

Very open to criticize you but mostly about fighting stances or decisions made during battle. He thinks he doesn't know enough of what the right decision is with and about people (again, the incident with the English woman) or what it means to be a true warrior yet - a definition he won't be certain about even in the future. Instead he keeps his mouth shut about your moral choices and prefers to watch. The most he would do is ask you why you did that/said that. At best he'd inquire more, at worst he'd only hum, ponder about it for a minute before tossing the thought aside until a similar situation arrives.

BUT if you were to point out his flaws, ooohh, you can expect a snappy and bratty 'shut up!' from him real quick. The boy is defensive, especially when it comes to being a 'true warrior' or when he loses to Askeladd time and time again. If you try to help him with criticism, he'll brush it off or physically shove you away. It doesn't matter if you mean it in a condescending or helpful way, he wouldn't listen.

Regarding the battlefield, it truly depends on your talent and skills whether or not you'll be paired up with Thorfinn.

It's known Askeladd uses him as bait or to do the dirty work of the job but if he sees you as useful, he might pair you up. Again, it depends on the skills and situation.

Nevertheless, Thorfinn wouldn't like it.

He's used to work alone, too used even. He doesn't want and need help, in fact he believes you'd be a liability, which can partially be true. However, if Askeladd suggested it, surely he must have a plan...that's what most of you think at least.

Thorfinn would just cuss at the man, claiming his choice is stupid and he doesn't need help. He can do it alone.

The often you have a job together, the less he'll complain. He won't look forward to it (having you along doesn't make killing any more enjoyable no offense) but he'll silently agree. (Heavens forbid you mess up though. If you mess up and somehow survive, you'll surely get an earful of Thorfinn of how weak and useless you are, no matter what Askeladd might say. Just...be careful).

Now, they could be certain reactions/actions that might be different if you are female.

Female vikings were indeed real but their victories and deeds were not as often written down, at least compared to male vikings. Nevertheless, having a female, much less such a young one, a child, be part of a viking band (especially Askeladd's!) did leave a lot of the members with uneasiness and hanging jaws.

Thorfinn would raise both brows at that. Whether or not you are recruited did not matter and there wouldn't be much of a difference on how he would think of you and treat you - its just the fact that you are a girl makes him wonder to be frank.

I like to believe Thorfinn is very much aware of things. Of what it means to be a viking and what that could mean for a girl...not only the viking life but also just the lifes of women who just exist in this world.

Yet at the same time...he is kind of blunt. Thorfinn doesn't mince his words so he will directly ask you what the hell you are doing here. Don't you know it's dangerous?

A part of him thinks you're dumb for joining but another knows you probably have a good reason to. Perhaps this is your only way of survival, or whatever your goal is...

Still, he does not treat you any differently and he doesn't see a reason on why he should. He is aware but won't make any attempt to act different.

Maybe his criticisms will be more frequent and harsher because you are female. Why are you fighting? You aren't as strong as him. You think yourself a warrior? Girls don't fight. (Sometimes it goes into the bully boy logic where it's like 'duh, you cannot do thaaat. You're a guuuuurl'. Yes, he can be dumb like that. It happens not so often though - perhaps it comes from the life he used to have when he was younger. Where everything was easier and he always knew his sister and mother to be safe at home with father...and not fighting.)

He will be more harsh when pointing out your flaws when it comes to the battlefield. In general he wouldn't see you as stronger than him and he definietly would not if you are female. Later in due time he realizes that fighting for you probably means winning yet another day to live. So he shuts up after a while.

Afterwards he will only tell you to watch out.

As another young member of the band, you can expect the others to interact with you and comment on you as well. Things will most likely be the same as it was for Thorfinn, the men either giving neutral to mean-sounding comments, taunting you, or even be impressed by you due to you still being a child. None of them will be nice, as you can imagine though.

Some might even comment how you and Thorfinn are 'such good buddies!' The blonde will deny it with barks and shouts before going back on cleaning his dagger. No, you aren't 'buddies', you aren't 'friends'. You are just...someone tolerable to talk to and be with.

For whatever reason the thought of you two being friends bothers Thorfinn. He cannot explain why, it is an slightly uneasy feeling growing in his chest. Perhaps a defense mechanism or believing he cannot be close to people anymore. Either for his lack of trust in people or because the death of his father, who he was so close to, made him believe bonds aren't possible anymore. How can it be when something as close as a bond between a father and son was severed by the cruelty of men so easily?

Willingly calling you a friend...that's something Thorfinn can't do. Not yet.

Though you can imagine it gets worse when the band hops from 'buddies' to 'crushes'. The chances of that happening is very, very, very, very low but some newby birdbrain might think of calling you two that. The others would laugh while Thorfinn would point his dagger at the fool. He wouldn't outright hurt them, but he is definetly more pissed off than being called your 'friend'.

Thorfinn is here to kill Askeladd. He doesn't have time to 'play around' and 'catch feelings' and certainly doesn't have the time to listen to an idiot's rambles. The boy feels free to cut off their tongue though if they prattle for too long.

Again, if you're female, there will definitely be more comments about you, you can count on that. More taunting, more men looking down at you, calling you names and yes, grown men talking to/about an 14 y/o in disgusting ways. Sorry, but this was 1012 a.d and they are vikings.

Thorfinn is, as mentioned, very aware for his age. And while he will not make any attempts to help or protect you (he will in future once you become important enough), this behaviour will actually make him despise the band even more than he already does. There has always been a feeling of indifference for them. He could not care any less if they died right then and there but hearing and seeing this makes his blood boil. Even moreso if Askeladd does nothing to stop it.

They are not acting like true warriors in his eyes.

In general a younger Thorfinn would act more childish but more tolerable around you. He's defensive and brash and is usually very grumpy when responding to any kind of negativity. He is unwittingly open to kind people but is drowning in his obession of revenge at such an young age already, that the mere thought of you and him being friends (which is usually normal and easy for preteens) does not ever cross his mind. He cannot get a grasp on that concept, that's how deep he is in his revenge. Even if you do get along well it just - does not work for him. Please, don't blame him. The boy can't help it.

[Part 1 of so much brainrot. Vinland saga is living rent-free in my head. Askeladd...Thorfinn...PRINCE CANUTE OMG BRO THE MEANING OF LOVE I CANNOT-

...I just...need to talk about it...pls...it has become like air to me, I nEED TO TALK ABOUT IT]

[Part 2 will cover a little bit of your relationship when you're older but met when Thorfinn was about 14 y/o...and afterwards the difference when you meet at 16/17 y/o.

And man, the parts afterwards or whatever I'm gonna write whenever is gonna be aaaaalll about Canute's and Askeladd's journey and them being involved in your relationship with Thorfinn...not to mention HOW YOURE GONNA CRAWL YOUR WAY INTO THORFINNS HEART NO MATTER IF HE LIKES IT OR NOT. HE IS GONNA HAVE A FRIEND IM TELLING YOU]

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

I keep getting called a Karen by a few women at my work and I don’t know what to do, as I am a white woman and the women bullying me are in fact black women, and I’ve not done anything other than just started my new job there and all I can think is that they didn’t like me asking questions about what it’s like there etc. and I didn’t say or do anything that can be considered or said to be racist? One of them said as we were finishing that nobody would side with a white woman over them and they’d spread my name online and end me. I’m seriously depressed about this whole situation as my new job was a move and promotion that I wanted for a long time and now with these women targeting me I don’t know what to do. As who will believe me as it doesn’t seem like these sort of women bullying me are ever going to be stopped doing what they’re doing to innocent women like me that have seriously not done anything wrong as even though I’m a left wing progressive woman I don’t feel that non-minorities are listened to by these sort of faux claims of racism, sexism and bullying /abuse etc.

First, if you haven't already, you need to loop your boss and HR in immediately. Right now. If your boss or HR admin is one of these ladies, go above her. Stick just to the facts about what happened when you report what's happening. If you already have reported it, follow up. Say "The issues I reported to you on XX date are still happening and it's still causing (or now causing) X, Y, Z impact to A, B, C deliverables/results, and they are also now making B and C threats of retaliation. What suggestions do you have to address this?"

Second, lock your social media down tight. Restrict your visibility to friends only. Exclude your accounts/profiles from searches.

Third, document. Document, document, document. Every interaction you have with these ladies. Everything you've said, everything they've said, as verbatim as possible as you can remember. Include dates, times, locations, and witnesses/bystanders. If there's any harassment over messages (emails, texts, Slack, etc.) include screenshots in your write-ups. Do it immediately after every interaction you have with each one of them, whether individually or in groups. Also document every discussion you've had with your boss(es) and/or HR about these ladies/these situations too.

After writing it up, immediately email it to yourself - your work email and your personal email. If you have your own printer, print them out too and keep paper files in a locked drawer the ladies don't have access to or at your home.

This documentation is important because it creates a paper trail. If the ladies escalate, you have documentation proving your role (or lack thereof). If the company fails to protect you, you have documentation describing and showing what they didn't do.

I'm just going to be direct here. We live in a time where white people - white women especially - have to be very careful about what we say and do. It doesn't matter what our allyship is or our politics or what we think is right or how much credibility someone does or doesn't have. So when you make these reports, when you do this documentation, leave all of that out of it. Stick only to the facts, which is "I was in Conference Room 1 with Jane, Lisa, Sue, and Joe on Tuesday, April 2, 2024, for a discussion about X that took place between 1:30pm - 2:15pm. {{Discussion summary}} At approximately 2:15pm when the meeting ended, I said A. Lisa said B, then Joe said C. Our interaction ended at approximately 2:20pm when I returned to my office alone." Leave the feelings out, leave the justification out, leave your perspective out, leave your allyship and your politics out. Stick only to the facts.

If I had to guess about what's happening here, it's probably that one of those ladies applied for your job, didn't get the position, and now she's taking it out on you and enlisted her friends to help.

And if you'd like more help, take a look at Ask A Manager. She's an HR manager who has a ton of experience in managing people and the blog is an amazing resource for any/all kinds of career advice. Here are a bunch of here pages about dealing with bullies and toxic colleagues that you might find helpful as well.

[thecreaturecodex]

Ranna

"Slaadi" © Wizards of the Coast, by Sam Wood

[New Year, New Monsters! I am feeling much less burnt out than I was for the back half of 2023, and have built up a small backlog of new writing. I'm going to keep monsters I post to 2/week for now, to give myself time to go through said backlog in case the burnout rears up again when I'm back to work.

So for my first trick, is a monster NPC I actually wrote back in like September, but didn't post. Consider her an epilogue to the whole "Monster Girl Summer" thing. Ranna is @strawberry-crocodile's character, and fits with some of my other monstrous NPCs. She's Doctor Shiny's main minion, and their relationship serves as sort of a nasty counterpart to Gigi and Priscilla's. Of course, if you just want to use the stat block as a particularly burly slaad enforcer type, that works just as well as Ranna's baroque and macabre backstory.]

Ranna CR 18 CE Aberration This blue, frog-like humanoid has a triangular fanged snout, warty skin and enormous claws growing from the backs of their hands. A red gemstone is embedded in their skull, right between the eyes.

Marina Rhynne was an alchemy student at Endirion School in Absalom, prone to anxiety and to thinking with her stomach. She caught the eye of Doctor Agatha Shiny, who used the pretext of a dinner invitation and offer of a graduate program to abduct her and implant her with an alchemically treated red slaad egg. Doctor Shiny succeeded in one of her goals, which was to cause memories to be passed from the host to the parasite, but failed in that the resultant blue slaad did not maintain the intelligence of her progenitor. The resultant slaad, named Ranna, could recall her previous life in a hazy, dream-like way, but the predominant personality trait that was carried over was hunger.

Ranna is now Doctor Shiny’s Number One Minion, her assassin, procurer and lover. If Doctor Shiny needs someone eliminated or an unusual creature captured and brought to her, Ranna is the one to do it. She usually tracks her targets as an unassuming humanoid until she can set up an ambush and remove her greater hat of disguise. Ranna fights with her natural weapons almost exclusively, although she does occasionally toy with targets by battering them with heavy objects hurled by telekinesis. Although she is lapdog-loyal to Doctor Shiny and always follows her instructions for her specified victims, Ranna enjoys collateral damage, which usually involves biting bystanders. She views any red slaadi that are created through chaos phagethe way a proud parent views their children, and is happy to hear of any death and destruction they create.

Ranna’s personality is playful in a cruel way. She sees her progenitor, Marina Rhinne, as a pathetic figure, and has an air of contempt towards academic pursuits in general. She still appears as Rhynne when abroad in Absalom, and is the terror of Endirion School’s faculty, staff and students as Doctor Shiny’s personal assistant. Ranna is happy to play the bad guy so that Doctor Shiny can maintain her impeccable public reputation, and takes matters into her own claws if anyone gets too close to the truth about Doctor Shiny’s goals and activities. Ranna tends to dispose of the evidence of her murders by eating the corpses of her victims. She is also an excellent chef. Doctor Shiny does not eat food that Ranna prepares unless she is very sure of where the meat came from.

Ranna  CR 18 XP 153,600 Blue slaad slayer 9 (cutthroat) CE Large aberration (chaotic, slaadi) Init +8; Senses darkvision 60 ft., Perception +19

Defense AC 33, touch 20, flat-footed 24 (-1 size, +8 Dex, +1 dodge, +9 natural, +4 armor, +2 deflection) hp 303 (11d8+9d10+200); fast healing 6 Fort +22, Ref +20, Will +15 Immune mind reading, sonic; Resist acid 10, cold 10, electricity 10, fire 10; SR 19

Offense Speed 30 ft. Melee +3 bite +32 (2d6+16 plus disease), 2 +3 claws +32 (2d6+16/19-20x3) Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft. Special Attacks augmented critical, opportune target, rend (2 claws, 2d6+22), sneak attack +3d6, stab and grab, studied target (swift or move action, +2) Spell-like Abilities CL 8th, concentration +11 3/day—hold person (DC 15), passwall, telekinesis (DC 18) 1/day—chaos hammer (DC 17)

Statistics Str 36, Dex 26, Con 30, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 16 Base Atk +17; CMB +31 (+33 bull rush); CMD 52 Feats Alertness,Awesome Blow, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Critical (claw), Improved Natural Attack (bite), Intimidating Prowess, Killing Flourish, Power Attack Skills Acrobatics +20 (+24 in urban environments), Bluff +16, Climb +20, Disable Device +25, Disguise +16, Intimidate +34, Linguistics +4, Perception +19 (+23 vs. traps), Profession (chef) +14, Sense Motive +19, Stealth +21, Survival +15 Languages Common, Slaadi SQ legendary, slayer talents (surprise attack, trapfinding [trap sense +3], stalker, street stalker (Acrobatics) Gear manual of gainful exercise +4 (expended), manual of quickness of action +2 (expended), manual of bodily health +4 (expended), belt of physical perfection +4, bloodstained gloves, greater hat of disguise, soulbound eye, amulet of mighty fists +3, bracers of armor +4, boots of teleportation, cloak of resistance +3, ring of mind shielding, ring of protection +2, potion of fly (x2), potion of displacement, potion of haste, potion of lesser restoration (x2), potion of cure light wounds (x4), masterwork cooking tools, 150 gp

Special Abilities Augmented Critical (Ex) A blue slaad’s claws deal x3 damage on a successful critical hit. Disease (Su) Chaos phage; bite—injury; save Fort DC 25; onset 1 minute; frequency 1/day; effect 1d6 Con damage and 1d6 Cha damage; cure 2 consecutive saves. A creature that is reduced to 0 Con or Cha by chaos phage is immediately transformed into a red slaad. This transformation can only be reversed by a miracle or wish. A Small or Medium humanoid with levels in an arcane spellcasting class instead transforms into a green slaad. The save DC is Constitution based. Legendary (Ex) Ranna’s statistics are built with 25 point buy, and she has the equipment of an 18th level PC. These advantages increase her CR by +1. Opportune Target (Ex) If Ranna can act in the surprise round, she can study a foe as a free action and select them as her studied target. Stab and Grab (Ex) As a swift action, Ranna can attempt a steal combat maneuver against a dead or unconscious foe, or against a studied target that she has successfully confirmed a critical hit against. A dead or unconscious opponent takes a -10 penalty against this maneuver. Street Stalker (Ex) Ranna adds ½ her slayer level to Acrobatics checks made in urban environments.

[amethiosspouse]

「 ✦ Love Language ✦ 」

---

Synopsis: Amethio learning Tagalog just so that he can sing Filo love songs to Mari <3

Tags/Warnings: For plot reasons, please pretend a Tagalog course is available on Doduolingo, Amethio and Mari’s relationship in this fic is at an awkward point (transitioning from just puppy crushes to a full on committed relationship), Mari goes by he/him pronouns in this fic

A/N: There's translations at the end of the fic. Any sentence with an asterik* on it will have translations!

FIC PROOFREAD BY THE AMAZING @kzchimui GO FOLLOW THEM

Word Count: 1203

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Amethio was ready to snap his Rotom Phone in half. Yet another question wrong and another heart lost. The young man was learning Tagalog for the past three months and yet the only word he was able to remember was “Mabuhay!” and it wasn’t even from the stupid Doduolingo app itself. He had never put this much effort into someone he loved before, mainly because the concept of love itself was foreign to his nature, but it wasn’t until he finally succumbed to his feelings for his lifelong sweetheart that Amethio truly knew what it meant to love someone from the depths of his heart.

And this was how he was going to show that form of love, by learning Mari’s native language and singing a song in said language. All was fine until it dawned on him that he couldn’t utter a single coherent sentence in Tagalog. He had been blinded by the thought of impressing Mari so much that he wasn't even able to understand the basics of the language he was learning. At first, he was considering to approach Kisma to learn the basics of the language. It was a solid idea because it meant that during his study session with the older guy, he would be able to see his darling. So why didn’t he take the offer? Because poor little Amethio was and always will be a stubborn and prideful man. Plus reaching out to a man he barely knew would be quite the suspicious move, especially if you considered the fact that said man was Mari’s older brother. So in his defense, Amethio never had another option other than to learn the language by himself…

---

After losing his last heart to another basic question, Amethio threw his head back in exasperation and groaned as if a million Copperajah’s just trampled over him, causing bystanders in the hall to eye him with telltale looks. He shot them bitter glares to which they all looked away, before getting back to the task at hand.

He could easily spend another 350 gems to replenish his hearts…or he could just spend $10 for unlimited hearts to keep on learning. With that, he made up his mind. Just as Amethio was about to fork away his credit card details to a viridian vireo, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

“Can I help you?” Amethio craned his neck to look up at the figure behind him, blinking.

It was Kisma. The man who Amethio could only describe as his savior at that very moment in his life. The older man stared Amethio down, his taller frame towered over the shorter male. He leaned down a bit just so that he was able to reach Amethio’s ear height and began to speak in a low and teasing tone. “So you’re the one who’s turned my sibling into a lovestruck schoolboy.” He quickly took a glance at Amethio’s Rotom Phone, a devilish smirk spreaded on his face. “Oh ho ho! What do we have here, Mr Loverman?” Kisma teases. He gave Amethio a teasing smirk before he turned to walk away but just as he was about to leave, he stopped in his tracks and spoke again, this time in a more friendly and inviting manner. “I’ll swing by the student council meeting room after you guys are finished and I’ll pick you up. Mari doesn’t get home until around dinner time during Tuesdays.” And so, that’s how it began. Every Tuesday afternoon after his student council meetings, Amethio would spend his afternoons being tutored by Kisma in secret. He didn’t expect him to be both an excellent teacher and listener, but all things were in the fate of Arceus. During that time, Amethio also learned how to play the guitar just for Mari. He was finally getting somewhere in terms of his progress in learning how to court his lover the traditional way and it only took him less than a month to learn the song and how to pronounce the lyrics properly all while being able to keep it a secret from his beloved.

---

Then came the day of judgment. Amethio took Mari out to a safe and secluded area where the two were able to have some time alone without a certain purple, dual typed prankster getting in the way of these rare moments they shared. As the sun began to set behind the mountain range, the last of its rays shone on the two lovers, leaving a golden, sun kissed hue to the scenery unfolding. Amethio took the wooden instrument out of his case and began to serenade his lover to his heart’s content, his voice laced with nothing but pure love and dedication. All those long, tiresome and sleepless nights clearly paid off for Mari was left in complete awe. Never in a million years did he think that someone loved him that much to not only learn his native language but to also sing a song as well. As he finished singing, he gently cupped Mari’s cheeks. His long, slender fingers gently caressed their tanned skin.

“Ano na ngayon? Hinde mo ba ako bibigyan ng halik?* He spoke in a teasing manner. Mari gave him a light shove before he crossed his arms and huffed and pouted like a little kid.

“Umayos ka! Kung hinde kita mahal, sinampal ko na ikaw!”* The flustered male responded. Amethio chuckled, he knew that judging by the light blushing tint to Mari’s face that he was just a flustered mess. Once he was able to calm down, Mari spoke up again. This time in a quieter, more timid tone it was almost as if he was about to cry. “Nobody has ever gone this far in hopes of impressing me…Thank you for doing all this. A.. and…thank you for being able to love me in a way I could never be able to love myself.” There was a lump in his throat. It was as if someone grabbed him by the throat and started to choke him, and that someone was Cupid. Mari was overwhelmed by such a small but meaningful love language so much that he started to cry just from sheer happiness that someone had finally accepted who he was as a person.

“I love you, Amethio.” Mari managed to speak through small squeaky sobs. Amethio wraps his slender arms around his boyfriend, in hopes of comforting him in this moment for he knew how much this all probably took a toll on Mari. He kissed him on the forehead and then on the lips, a quick but deep kiss that left him wanting more. He managed to get Mari to calm down before uttering the words that would surely send Mari into overdrive.

“I love you too, Mari.”

----

Translations!! :

“Ano na ngayon? Hinde mo ba ako bibigyan ng halik? Translation: "What now? Aren't you gonna give me a kiss?"

“Umayos ka! Kung hinde kita mahal, sinampal ko na ikaw!” Translation: "Settle down! If I didn't love you then I would've slapped you by now!"

---

©2024 amethiosspouse do not repost on other platforms or claim as your own work !!~

[yandere-fics]

Well, if you want darker asks, this one's been rattling in my brain for a while...

How would your yanderes handle it if their darling was a fundamentally, irredeemably evil person? Like, you can choose how they are evil based on setting, but to one-up rudie let's say they are at least on the level of "serial killer who targets loving parents specifically out of the sheer joy that creating sad orphans gives them". Darlings who are just utter despicable peices of human trash. I suspect the greatest angst in the city, where yanderes are basically soulbound to a worse monster than themselves.

♡ How Would They React To An Evil Darling ♡

♡ Miriel is delusional and will try her hardest to justify anything her darling does but I think this would kill her inside. See part of the reason Miriel only kills for her darling when she feels she has no other choice is because as an elf it's hard for her to be around death. She's very connected to the life that surrounds her so any suffering is going to weigh on her heavily and while she will follow her daling no matter what, it's difficult to see all the carnage they are causing and she would take them with her back to her village where she can lock them away for their own good. ♡

♡ Kassien was a mass murderer in the demon realm and she is only a few steps away from evil cause her kill count on a daily basis is much higher than any of the others but she also prefers her darling to be softer than her and so she will want to train this out of you if possible, otherwise she'll just try to find ways to let you do what you want because she wants to spoil her mate and well she can't deprive you if the thing you want is murder, as much as she would prefer you didn't. Though if you take it too far she'll break your legs and keep you inside so hopefully you'll learn to care about her and only her more instead of killing. ♡

♡ Nikki does not understand what is evil and what isn't. She's possibly the closest thing to evil in my oc lineup but she's not really sadistic unless someone steps out of line so she doesn't fully understand your desire to kill and hurt random bystanders but she just assumes they must have done something for you to be doing this, you are a bad influence on her because now when people bump into her or pass her she'll torture them slightly too because that's what you do though she's not going on murder sprees, she just makes them trapped in their worst nightmares for a couple minutes. ♡

♡ Nora's sense of morality is fucked up, as long as her darling cares about her, she loves them no matter what they chose to do because they are her reason for living. She has spent centuries being a walking death machine, killing without even asking The Boss why, and even prior to becoming The Boss's tamed pet she was a killer for hire. Although she never has really taken pleasure out of killing any of the people she has to, she also is not going to judge anyone who does because every one in the city has reasons for what they do. She's learned that even the most cold blooded killer in the city who she's been sent after has reasons, although she still kills them even after learning why. So an evil darling doesn't bug her, her darling is still the one bright thing in her life. ♡

♡ Rudie only kills for money but that certainly doesn't mean she doesn't enjoy the killing. She takes great pleasure in it and she likes knowing that she's extremely good at it. I wouldn't call her evil but she does very much enjoy the killing and if she ever won the lottery then she would just switch to killing for leisure instead. She herself feels she is evil and she doesn't really care but she would never consider her darling evil. In her eyes anything they do is not as bad as what she has done because she commited her first murder at 5 years old and after that she never really stopped. ♡

♡ Sawyer would burn down her city for her darling if they asked though they would have to give her plenty of affection in exchange. Sawyer adores her city but her darling comes first so if they destroy the lives of a few people then it's okay as long as she fills the void with affection towards Sawyer. For everything they break that Sawyer worked hard to build, they must do something for her to make that sacrifice worth it. She has worked so hard to protect it and has used her life force and the sacrifice of a few... miscreants in order to make it prosper so she would prefer if her darling didn't harm the citizens but she can grin and bear it for her darling's love. ♡

[choicesficwriterscreations]

August MC of the Month: Jensen Valentine

Please welcome our sixth MC of the month! Each month, we will highlight one MC or OC that is currently on our Meet My MC / OC List. The MC / OC is selected randomly on the Wheel of Names, and eligibility requirements can be found here. We accept MC / OC profiles on an ongoing basis. Please feel free to send yours in!

This month's MC of the month is...

@mydemonsdrivealimo's Jensen Valentine

In your words, tell us what you like most about your MC. 

What I like most about Jensen is his resilience. He has never been dealt the perfect cards, or even good ones, at that, but that didn’t stop him from striving for great things. He hasn’t always been like that; some setbacks were worse than others, and he considered giving up, but he knew he couldn’t let himself do that. His intrinsic motivation to amount to something has usually been enough, but it’s also his interactions with other people that have helped him along. Some of them were good, sure, but, in all honesty, it’s usually the bad ones that kept him going. 

A good example would be one of his med school professors, who publicly called Jensen out as the perfect example of what not to be like, citing how a man having painted nails shouldn’t be allowed in society, much less is it professional when going into the medical field. Jensen has never been one to sit quietly (no matter how many times it’s gotten him into trouble), and he wasn’t going to start. He pressed that professor, asking him what his evidence was, why he thought like that, and if he had any other reasons besides being a bigot who couldn’t handle seeing people different than himself. Not only that, but he also didn’t transfer from the class for the rest of the semester, making sure that the professor was as uncomfortable sharing flawed ideas as everyone else was hearing them.

The thought that there were still medical professionals out in the world who shared the same ideas the professor didn’t sit well with Jensen. No way could he let that slide when it came to patients and people seeking help, which was just another boost for him to keep going and try to make the changes he wanted to see. Even though he has been knocked down, it’s never made him hide his personality or beliefs.

Do you feel your MC is like you at all? How are you alike or different?

Jensen and I definitely share the same demeanor, especially around how people treat others. People making others feel small, for any reason and on any scale, is fucked up, and being an inactive bystander is never going to solve it. Especially knowing how American healthcare works, I knew I could never make Jensen someone who’s proud of how it currently runs and how it treats the patients. Though he is not the softest, or kindest, or sweetest, he would still do anything it takes to make some sort of change or impact, on a large scale or just one-on-one with a patient. I know I tend to come off in ways I don’t necessarily mean (it’s the rbf for the most part, lbr), and I wanted to reflect that in Jensen’s character, particularly in his day-to-day, as quiet and not-overly-optimistic characters are often synonymous with rude, brooding, or otherwise unapproachable, which is definitely not the case.

As for differences, Jensen is really like this cool, elevated, eloquent person, which is definitely Not me. I stumble through most things, and I hope I get spit out the other side more-or-less okay, whereas Jensen usually has a plan and, you know, thinks through things before he does them.

What is most important to your MC? What is their motivation in life?

What’s most important to Jensen is being able to use his position and the opportunities he’s been granted to help elevate other voices in the community and within certain issues he deems important. Being able to make more opportunities for other people, especially those who are or were in similar situations to himself when he was younger, is a big motivation for him. For most of his life, he was not in a place to be making any types of calls or really have anyone listen to him at all, and being granted such a high position within his career, and therefore his life, isn’t something he takes lightly. He has never been one to support how much power people with money or in high-ranking positions have because he knows what it's like to be on the bottom of that chain, and he knows he’s incredibly fortunate not to be in that position anymore, so he wants to able to use everything he’s been given to support others who need it or who are otherwise flushed out of “adult” conversations purely because they don’t fit the top 1%’s model.

What are their biggest pet peeves/dislikes? 

Entitled people. Of course, he has some more petty ones, but if Anyone shows people disrespect for 1. No reason, or 2. A shitty reason, he’s going to have a problem with it, and he will be saying something to them about it. He has been the recipient of it many times growing up, and he knows it is never called for, nor does it have a good impact on anyone involved. Again, now that he is in a more respected position, rather than having his “turn” as the entitled one, he will continue to stand up for those who need it and speak out against the people who treat their power like a free pass to be a pos.

If your MC could change one thing - anything - what would it be? 

Jensen has big aspirations, and while he’d like it to be the entirety of society, social standards, government, systemic bigotry, healthcare, etc. etc, I think being able to positively impact one person’s day is enough for him. During med school was when he really started carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders, but after the first few years at Edenbrook, he realizes it’s an impossible goal that will only lead him to disappointment. He will help where he can, but it’s nothing compared to reassuring a patient or getting them a life-changing diagnosis, surgery, or something else. Not every case has a happy ending, but being able to take any amount of worry away from someone makes it all worth it for him. Changing someone’s view of something into a more healthy and accepting lens, whether it be their life as a whole or even just something affecting their day, is one of the most rewarding things for him.

What is your MC’s favorite quote or song? 

This was one of the hardest questions for me so I narrowed it down to a few options, and I think (one of) Jensen’s favorite song(s) would be Boring by The Brobecks. He most certainly would’ve seen it live while The Brobecks were still a thing, and though the lyrics are simple, it would’ve hit him at a very particular yet perfectly-timed place in his life. 

Is there anything else you’d like to share about your MC:

Being a fiction and original character writer at my core, I have poured pieces of myself into Jensen, and I have developed him during some of my worst and best moments (which, of course, changed the plot of his life). I went through many different phases and stories with him before ever joining the fandom, and years ago, when I first played Open Heart I never would’ve imagined it would end up on my hyperfixations list. I remember one night, at least two and a half years ago, I was up until 2 in the morning jotting down random backstories for him, running through the stages of his life in my head. I never looked at it again, never thought it would mean anything, and now here I am, at my one-year anniversary in the Open Heart fandom (August 2nd), with an almost completely different character that I love and think about every day.

The one thing that’s stayed the same though is how much he’s overcome. Though the struggles were very different in the beginning, his overall disposition has always been the same. He has been a loud activist for queer people and poc despite that it was never the most “convenient” for him, but he has also never been the sunshine character. Even through all the overhauls his character has been through, he has always been fighting for the same causes and has been using what he’s been given for good, which I wanted to share because it is arguably the most important part of his character. Even though he does not always have a smile on, doesn’t jump to be a part of every conversation, and doesn’t try to befriend everyone, he still cares just as much as anyone who does those things. It’s been fundamentally rooted in his character since day one, and it’s important to me that it gets seen.