#and its because their brains are small and they lack the ability to see in anything but black and white

[onlyfangz]

do me a favour, the next time you see a post that basically equates to trans men dont have any issues, or trans mens issues are miniscule in comparison to more important queer people, go to op's blog and count how many posts there are that are positive towards trans men.

[ja3yun]

Picturesque | P.SH

bf!sunghoon x gf!reader

warnings: smut (mdni), unprotected sex, oral (m&f receiving), pet names, fluff, pornography (? sunghoon takes pictures while they do the deed), multiple orgasms, they're sickeningly cute, not proof read, anything i've missed lmk

wc: 4.6k+

synopsis: it's your boyfriend sunghoon's birthday and you want to make it special. your present goes down much better than anticipated.

a/n: hi! it's my best boys' birthday today <3 i know you're all waiting for the next part of tstab but i couldn't resist to post this. its just a one shot because i love him sm and my brain is always thinking about him but esp on his birthday. hope you like it!

You open your eyes to darkness, the only light coming from the orange streetlight outside. Warmth is felt around your waist and down your back as your boyfriend, Sunghoon, sleeps soundly. Looking at the clock you see it read 3.34am. Perfect.

Today was Sunghoon’s 21st birthday. He said he didn’t want a big fuss, simply to have everyone around to your shared apartment for some dinner and drinks. One thing about your boyfriend is that he was a simple guy with simple needs. That didn’t mean you couldn’t decorate the place for him though.

Planning this was a strategic effort even though it seemed simple. Sunghoon was smart, too smart, and if you slipped up even once about your plans he could easily piece it together. It’s not like you were preparing some big extravagant surprise with fireworks and magicians or something, no, you couldn’t even dream of something so lavish. Truth is with both of you being University students with minimum-wage part-time jobs, you were barely making rent. You don’t regret moving in together, it was the right decision, you just wished the government wasn’t filled with incapable idiots and put everyone in a cost-of-living crisis. So you have to make do with what you have, even if you think it’s not enough.

Peeling your lover's arm from your waist you make haste to start decorating the living room. Your flat was small so you had to be extremely quiet, like don’t breathe quiet, but with you and your lack of ability to produce any noise lower than 120 decibels it is going to be a challenge. Sunghoon loved how loud you were compared to his quieter demeanor, making sure to tell you to be as loud as you want and that he would never complain. He especially made this known in your bedroom.

You put on his white shirt from the night before and gingerly shut the door behind you as you vacate the room, leaving Sunghoon sleeping. In your hall cupboard, you had hidden an Asda bag filled with decorations like banners, balloons, and streamers. Their selection of stuff is to be desired and none of it matches but you’ll make it work. 

Looking around your living room with a sigh of discontentment you place all the decorations out on your coffee table. “Okay, where do I start?” Your voice is a whisper as you speak to yourself. “I should start with balloons. Yeah, balloons.”

The balloons you wanted were the big number balloons so you could have the 21 as the centrepiece but the very bitter middle-aged lady in Card Factory made it very clear there weren’t any 2’s in store. What kind of place runs out of 2’s? You had to settle for black, white, and gold multi-pack.

You shut your eyes tight and swallow your breath down as the plastic rustles far too loudly. “Shhh.” A warning to the inanimate object is wasted but it’s all you can think to do. This is going to take a while.

As the morning goes on you’ve managed to blow up the balloons and group them into 3-a-piece, hanging them up on each side of the big window and in the corners. You thought you were a goner when one of the white balloons almost escaped your grasp and started flying around the room but you grabbed it just in time. Checking the time on the clock you see it’s 4.30am. It really took you an hour for the balloons. Banners were next on your list but they should be easier surely.

Grabbing the automne you’ve been using as a ladder you successfully put 3 banners up in 20 minutes. If you had the time you’d celebrate but you still had so much to do before he gets up. “One more.” You place your hands on your hips and blow some hair out of your face as you smile. It’s ugly, it doesn’t match the others at all. The banner is silver with just the letters ‘Happy Birthday’ held together by a tacky white ribbon. You really wish you could do better than this but alas here you are climbing up to situate it above the TV. This is a little trickier since you have to stretch to reach the wall because of the TV unit that sticks out. 

You fail to notice your boyfriend leaning by the doorframe with his arms crossed and a cheeser of a smile on his face. He wanted to see how long it would take you to notice his presence but he thinks he’ll be waiting a long time. You’re too engrossed in your task to even hear his footsteps coming up behind you.

“Babe?” His deep morning voice scares you and you stumble on the automne, almost falling backward. Sunghoon’s eyes widen as he registers what's happening and rushes to catch you. “Shit, Y/N. You okay?” He places one of his warm hands on your backside and the other on your knee, stroking them both gently to make sure you’re okay.

Only your heart was not okay, thumping loudly as a rush of heat spreads through your chest from the adrenaline of nearly crashing into the table behind you. When you calm down you laugh and lean on his shoulder to step down. “I’m okay.”

Now you’ve properly come to you bring your hands to your mouth as your eyes widen. “You’re not supposed to be up this early!” As if it’s his fault you slap his chest and he chuckles in disbelief.

“Sorry, babe, if I had known you were planning to surprise me I would have slept longer.” Oh. He’s right but still. Not fair.

“I didn’t even get to put up the streamers or that shitty banner.” Dramatically, you wave your arms around and scowl at the devil banner. “It was supposed to be finished so when you walked in I could go ‘Ta-Da!’ and you would be all like ‘Oh my god, Y/N. You’re the best girlfriend ever. This is incredible.’” Sunghoon lets out a loud laugh and brings his hands to your face.

“Okay, okay, let me walk back in and we’ll do it again.” You pout at his suggestion but shake your head as much as you can considering he’s now squishing your cheeks.

“There’s no point now.” Sunghoon sees your disappointment and he matches your saddened expression.

“I’m sorry, babe. You worked so hard on this and I ruined it.”

“Yeah, you did.” You joke while he places a kiss on your forehead and lets you go. 

Sunghoon looks around the room at all your efforts. His eyes are filled with admiration and love, everything you did was his favourite but somehow you top it every time. All that energy you spent wasting on worry because you couldn’t give him more was so silly because he was so appreciative that you would even take the time to do any of this, especially when he said he didn’t want a  fuss.

His eyes meet yours and he sighs, “Beautiful, you didn’t have to do all this.” You are so busy between all your Uni work and grueling shifts at the restaurant that he doesn’t even know when you had time to get any of this stuff. “It’s just my birthday.”

“It’s your 21st! It’s special!” You protest. “I would have done something more extra but,”

He knows. It’s tight right now between bills and time but none of that matters to him, not right now, not when he has you beside him. “Babe it’s perfect, really. I like the uh,” he points between the decorations, “the green and pink banner and the gold balloons, brings a certain class to the room.” He jokes and you hide your face in embarrassment in his chest, mumbling a little ‘It’s all they had’. “Y/N I love it.” He bends down a little until his face is just below yours, “Seriously. Thank you.”

All the trouble was worth it just to see his smile right now. You peck his lips, “Happy Birthday, Hoonie.” Circling your arms around him as he towers back over you, he kisses the top of your head and then pulls away slightly to kiss your lips. Sunghoon feels so loved by you. The kiss is filled with love and desire so when you pull back he audibly groans.

“Do you want your present?” Not unlike you, but you’re nervous. You had been saving up for his gift since February so no pressure or anything. Inside you’re screaming, your brain working overtime in the anxious department. What if he hates it? “Or do you want to wait a bit?”

“If you’re the present then I’ll take it right now.” He captures your lips back into a kiss. If he wasn’t so into this kiss he would have noticed your playful eye roll. Sunghoon had the impeccable ability to make you have butterflies in your stomach while also frustrating you at how horny he is. He truly is still just a man.

“Hoonie I’m serious.” You pull away and he sighs.

“So am I.” His large hands grope your ass to pull you towards him. When he looks at your face he removes his hands from your body and holds them up defensively. “Okay, I get it. But I told you nothing crazy.” 

Sunghoon didn’t care for gifts and that’s why giving this one to him made you feel like you were going to throw up and cry. He was either going to love it or be mad that you bought it.

“Close your eyes.” Doing as he’s told he screws his eyes shut and you turn to dig through the automne. It wasn’t the safest place to leave it considering it took for him to look for one letter or magazine to find it, but it’s better than nothing. The present is perfectly wrapped with glossy white paper, accented with a gold ribbon, you wanted it all to be perfect. “Put out your hands.”

Once his hands are flat you place the box gently in his hands and he opens his eyes. His smile falls a little as he looks between the box and you. “Y/N this is big.” He’s skeptical and his face doesn’t hide it which sends your anxiety through the roof. “Please don’t tell me it’s something exp-”

“Can you just appreciate it and open it please?” He’s hurt by your words. Of course he cherishes anything you do or buy for him, he just doesn’t want you wasting money on him and with the size of this box, he fears you might have.

“Babe of course I appreciate it, you know I do.” You pout and push the box to his chest. 

“Then open it and tell me you love it. And don’t get mad.” When you say that he shuts his eyes. “I promise it’s nothing like mad expensive. Scouts honour.” You hold a hand to your chest and one in the air.

Sitting down on the couch he unwraps the gift and sees a plain black box. His fingertips feel the edges before he opens it and his eyes widen bigger than they ever have before, he doesn’t move. 

He hates it. Obviously he does. You bite your nails looking at him slowly take out the gift and examine it. “Y/N this is..” He trails off, looking intently at it.

Last year Sunghoon had gotten back into photography, just a hobby, nothing major, but he found a real passion in it this year. He carried the thing everywhere, taking pictures of everything he found pretty - most of the memory card was filled with you. Nonetheless, he didn’t have a case for it, and considering it cost him like 2 months' worth of rent, and that was it being second-hand, you felt like he needed to protect it properly. 

So you got him a custom leather case to fit his vintage Minolta TC-1 camera, his initials embroidered on the front lefthand side. The Etsy seller was even nice enough to throw in a strap that matched. You were lying when you said it wasn’t super costly, it did take months to save up for, but as you see his shocked face change into one filled with glee, you know it was worth it.

“Y/N, this is too much.” The smile on his face said otherwise, it was just perfect.  “Babe, seriously, this must have cost you a shit ton of money.” 

Shrugging you play it off, “Nah, got a good deal on it.” 

Like a child at Christmas, he stands up and strides over to embrace you, the hug said everything he couldn’t. There were no words to describe how much he loved it, how much he loved you.

“Let me go get my camera!” Sunghoon was easily excitable and as he ran to your bedroom to retrieve his camera you could only laugh. The pitter-patter of his feet getting faster the closer he got back to the living room was the cutest thing you have ever seen. Struggling to get the camera in the case due to excitement, you walked over and took the case from his hands, “Here, babe.” You slot it in and thank the heavens it fits and in hindsight, you probably should have checked before giving it to him.

“Babe, I love it so much. Thank you, thank you, thank you.” He kisses all over your face. He was such a cutie, you never understood why people were intimidated by him. But then again, with a face so gorgeous who wouldn’t be? And you were the only one that really got to see this side of him.

“I’m glad you like it, Hoonie.” He corrects you and repeats the word ‘love’ which makes you smile.

Turning the camera on he brings it to his face and adjusts it. You take the opportunity of his preoccupied state to clear up some of the mess from the decorations and his present. You contemplate whether you should attempt to finish decorating but you don’t see the point, maybe finish it before the others come over.

A shutter sound echoes in the quiet room and you spin around to see your birthday boy smiling widely as the camera is pointed at you.

“Hoon, stop! I’m not even dressed yet.”

Your words seem to spark a mischievous glint in his eye and you have no clue what he is thinking. Sunghoon slowly walks over to you, “You know,” he wears the strap of the camera around his neck and takes the rubbish from your hands and discards it to the couch, “That’s not a bad idea.” Perplexment shows on your face. When did anything you just say sound like an idea? “I could take your picture.” 

“Babe you always take my picture.” 

“Not while I’m fucking you I haven’t.” 

Your jaw hits the floor. For the first time in your life, you are speechless, utterly gobsmacked. “No way.” You’re a generally shy person despite your loud personality so you would never think to do anything like this.

“Come on, Y/N.” He strokes your hair and uses a lower octave voice to try and persuade you, “They’ll just be for me, literally no one else will see them. You know I would never show them to anyone.”

Evidently he wouldn’t, he doesn’t even like it when you both go out dressed up nice and guys even think about looking at you. This was for him when you were on long shifts or in classes. Something he could use to jerk off to when his wank bank of memories won’t suffice. 

He’s too persuasive because the next thing you know you’re taking his hand and pulling him to the bedroom. Glancing around the surroundings you sigh. “Can I tidy up first?” 

“Why?” He laughs confused.

“I just don’t want the pictures taken with all this mess lying around, it’s un-aesthetically pleasing.”

His quiet almost silent laugh rings in your ears and you smile defeated. “Baby, do you think for one fucking second I am going to be looking at the slippers on the ground or Mr. Giles in the corner.” Mr. Giles, your childhood teddy bear, has seen far too much of what has gone on in these four walls but why is it when Sunghoon mentions his name you want to cuddle him and apologise?

“Mr. Giles is camera shy okay?” Your boyfriend picks him up, places a kiss on his nose, and places him facing the wall. 

“There. See.” He pushes you to lie on the bed, “Now, let me do my job, yeah?” His hands are on your waist in no time, the camera swinging from his neck now lays on your stomach as he bends down. The coldness of the object makes you shiver but you’re soon heating up when you feel his fingers dip into the waistband of your panties and pull them down. You hear him mutter ‘So fucking beautiful’ as his face is level with your core. Thinking he’s just going to get right down to business, you spread your legs but he stands up. “I need to take a before shot.” 

Click

Click

Click

He takes pictures as you lay there in only his shirt, some at a lower angle to get your perfect pussy in focus. His eyes are telling you he’s trying to refrain from just delving in, from absolutely ingurgitating you, it’s a patience he usually doesn’t have. 

“On your knees for me, beautiful.” Being obedient like always, you do what he says. “Gonna get you to suck my cock, okay?” You don’t wait to be told what to do next because your hands are reaching for his boxers to pull them down. Cocks are either fucking beautiful or ugly, and Sunghoon had the prettiest cock of them all. His reddening tip slaps his stomach and you mewl out loud. “Don’t show off for the camera baby, okay? Just do it the way you always do.” 

Sunghoon loves the way you lovingly lap his cock, trying to fit it all in your mouth but he’s so big you can’t take it all the way in without choking. It’s cute to him how eager to please him you are.

You sit your hands on his hips and lick a stripe from his balls to the tip before taking his tip in your mouth. “Fuck.” You hear Sunghoon breathe out and it makes you look up. This is the moment you wish you could take the camera and snap a picture of him. Maybe you need to suggest that at a later date.

Right now it’s Sunghoon’s birthday and it’s whatever he wants. You suck his cock in earnest, grabbing the base to cover the part of his cock you can’t fit into your mouth. He’s like you’re favourite meal and while you used to hate sucking dick there’s something so pleasing about him and the way he tastes. 

Forgetting his original intentions he grabs your hair and tightens it into a tight pony, pulling at it. “B-babe, so fucking good at this.” It’s not until he looks down at you working him up and down he sees the camera. He uses both hands to put you into focus and takes a few pictures. Some are just a close-up of your lips enveloping his shaft, others are simple POV shots. It’s when you look up as you hear the shuttering from the camera that he starts really taking the pictures with determination to capture how beautiful you look in this moment. The eye contact to the camera has his chest growling. “That’s my pretty girl, made for the camera, huh?”

He wasn’t big on dirty talk but right now he felt like a whole different person, and this person wanted you to hear how good you made him feel.

Picking up the pace you start to slabber down your chin, losing yourself in the action. Sunghoon is so close to cumming that when he pulls you off his cock he whimpers. You are both panting and clouded with lust, your plumped-up lips aren’t helping Sunghoon, and his leaking cock isn’t helping you. 

“You’re a natural on this camera, babe.” His hand reaches down to wipe the saliva and particles of his cum from your lips. Click. Another perfect moment. “Can’t wait for you to see it from my point of view.”

“Sunghoon, I love you but I am not looking at those ever.” There is a big part of you that actually would like to see it, but you’re too embarrassed to even imagine what you look like. 

“You’re missing out, beautiful. Nothing more picturesque than you choking on my cock.” Sunghoon says the filthy sentence so casually and it flips your stomach. “Lay down for me.”

Removing the camera from his frame he places it on the bedside table. Is he finished taking pictures? “Hoon wha-”

Sunghoon’s face is in between your legs and licking up your folds before you can ask your question but his actions answer it anyway. If he was your favourite meal, you were certainly his. Fuck, you were his favourite everything. He was sucking your clit so suddenly you arched your back, the action pressing your pussy further into his face which elicited a hum of approval from him. The sucking was harsh, overwhelming, so much so you hadn’t even noticed how his fingers lightly trailed your thigh. 

His palm pushed your right leg open further, his mouth never letting up on your sensitive bud.

“Hoonie,” A moan of his name leaves your lips, your hand grabbing him and pushing it towards your entrance. He doesn’t stop what he’s doing but still listens to your silent request, his middle finger circling your opening. 

The birthday boy wishes he could do this and take pictures because he knows you look so fucking beautiful right now. Even the image in his head of you arched in his work shirt, mouth agape and moaning, could make him cum right now. Instead, it just fuels him so keep going at your clit, throwing in some light nibbles every so often.

Slipping his middle finger into you he curls it exactly how you like it. After 2 years of fucking you, he’d say he could easily get a PhD in how to please you, certainly how to make you cum. And what you like is way more than just one finger, so he adds two more sending you crazy.

“Fuck, fuck, Hoonie, so good.” The moans and profanities leaving your lips make him smirk, knowing you’re close. He makes his tongue rigid and uses it to stimulate your nub, going fast and hard in rhythm with his fingers and within a minute your thighs are clamping his head and your coating his tongue with your cum. “Shit, my god, m’cumming.”

He almost laughs at you because of course you’re coming, he’s tasting it right now and it’s better than any meal or cake he’s going to get today. 

Your trembling thighs open slightly and he peaks his head up to see you, quickly grabbing his camera. “What a fucking sight,” Sunghoon whispers before clicking. Your arm is laid over your face, his shirt is held together by one button in the middle of your torso, and most importantly your cunt is glistening. He wants to blow this picture up on a canvas and hang it in the living room, but you would never agree and his friend would never leave your house. 

As you catch your breath, Sunghoon crawls to hover over you. “Babe you look so fucking good right now.”

“Take a picture, it’ll last longer.” You laugh and finally bring your arm away from your eyes. Your essence still on his lips somehow makes you wetter than you already are.

“You’re so funny.” His sarcastic tone makes you laugh harder. “Now I need to make a decision

“What?”

“Do I want your pussy filled with my cum, or it splattered on your stomach?" 

Oh, you might just have a second orgasm right now. It’s not implausible at this moment. “Well, you have my permission for anything,” You kiss his lips, moaning as he instantly sticks his tongue down your throat. Breaking the moment you bite your lip, “And y’know, if you can cum twice you could get a double shot.”

The camera is pushed back on the table and his dick is touching your entrance, “I’ll make it a surprise what one comes first then, huh?” With that, he’s sliding into your heat, both of you gasping in unison. You’re tight around his cock, your walls dragging themselves perfectly along his hard shaft. 

“Shit, babe, feel so fucking good.” If he could record this moment and make it 4DX he would hire out a Cineworld screen every day and watch it on repeat.

Thrusting into you with purpose, one of his big hands gently encloses your throat, not tight enough to cut off your air but enough to have you roll your eyes back. It’s taking all his willpower not to just fuck you rough and hard because if he does he’ll cum instantly and that’s just not going to happen, not on his watch. “You’re so beautiful, Y/N. So perfect.” He brings his mouth to your ear, “My pretty girl, I love you so much.” 

You cry out in love and pleasure as he starts to pick up the pace, his cock hitting your soft spot every time. To him, you were the only present he ever needed. 

Sunghoon nibbles your earlobe, keeping his rhythm steady, continuing to whisper in your ear, “You wanna cum?”

“Yes, fuck yes please, Hoon.” He takes your hand from your throat and places it beside your head to give him more stability as he relentlessly fucks into you, his lips sucking in yours as he loses control, his only thought right now is to make you come undone on his dick. 

From the last orgasm you had it doesn’t take long before you’re cumming again, the aftershocks still buzzing and only adding to the sensation. You’re gripping his arms and crawling down them, legs shaking as you loosely wrap them around him. There’s no energy left in your body so as he fucks you deep, your spent body only moves due to the power of his thrusts. “You’re doing so good, I’m nearly there, babe.” He mumbles into your neck as he nuzzles into you.

You’re getting a tiny bit overstimulated but you know he’s close so you bear with it, mustering up all you have left to whisper, “Come on, Hoonie, don’t you wanna get the perfect shot?” 

His seed fills you instantaneously as your words echo in his ear, his body jittering as he coats your walls, his hips losing their rhythm and coming to a standstill. 

Heavy breathing and banging heartbeats are all you both hear as you compose yourselves. Sunghoon falls on top of you, his softening cock still buried inside you. Rubbing soothing circles on his back makes him smile widely and look at you. “Thank you, babe. For the present.”

“You’re welcome.” Lazily you plant a feather kiss on his nose. You reach over and grab the camera, “Well, you got a picture to take.” 

Smirking, Sunghoon takes the camera and slides out of you, taking in the view of his cum dripping out of you onto the bedsheets. It’s a work of art. “Pose for me, pretty girl.” You open your legs a little wider and try your hardest to look sexy for him.

The camera clicks a few times, each shot more beautiful than the last. You’re his muse, his everything, his best birthday present.

“Now,” He puts the camera away and lays on you once again, “I think for my next birthday I might ask for a camcorder.” 

[predestinatos]

CHALLENGERS — CL16 & MV1 🏓

summary: the line between rivals and friends was blurred. and then you came. MINORS DNI!!!!

word count: 3.5k

tags: charles leclerc x fem!reader x max verstappen, implied cheating, flirting, them being horny boys, 3some vibes, heavily inspired by challengers.

warnings: smut (no sex but... everything else) dirty talking, cheating, cursing.

note: yes i've been obsessed with challengers and i thought the dynamics would look rlly fun on a fic!!! am 100% invested on making this a series! also i'm aware those are padel things in tbe picture but this is just for the cover aesthetics okay!

12:52AM

“You know I can beat him, right?” Charles’ voice sounded rough as he stood against the doorframe, confident smile spread across his lips, arms crossed against his chest, making his muscles stand out. You looked at him then, from your lying position across the hotel bed – one you shouldn’t be on – and shrugged. “Are you trying to convince me or yourself?”

The defiance in your tone registered like a cold breeze across his skin, causing him to shiver slightly yet not break his demeanour as he moved towards you silently, lowering himself towards you on the bed now, face inches away from yours. “I didn’t know you still needed convincing.” Charles noticed how you licked your lips as you stared at his, how for a quick second you almost forgot what you were talking about as your breaths melted into each other. His throat bobbed up and down as he swallowed, both of you so silent it could’ve been a scene from a nature documentary: prey seducing predator, but which is which?

“You asked” you replied, refusing to break the distance first, wanting to prove that you were stronger than he thought, that he needed something from you which he couldn’t possibly get, not anymore at least. You looked at his eyes, its bright colour now so darkened by something close to thrill over what was going on in that moment, a thrill you wanted to suppress. “Just wanted to see how good of a liar you were” Charles bit his lip, smile now growing slightly. Maybe it wasn’t thrill. Maybe it was actual amusement.

“You’re unbearable” you said, now turning your face away from him, rolling your eyes at his sheer arrogance. “You want me” he got up from bed, taking off his t-shirt as he searched for his pyjamas. His back flexed with every movement, muscles stranding out in his glistening skin. He smiled knowingly, because although he could not see your face, he knew you were looking. He always knew.

“Brave of you to think so” you shot back, getting up as well, grabbing your bag from the small armchair placed in the corner of the room. Rushing towards the hotel door, his frame stood between you and it – the ability to breathe, the absence of guilt, the absolution of uncommitted sins. “See, you’re still a bad liar” his bare chest rose and fell in front of you and Charles wished he could say he wasn’t about to crumble before you but that wouldn’t be true either. His confidence was only partially real, for he did not have the strength to do more than this, to test you and push you only this far – part of him knew you couldn’t resist, but he was never entirely sure.

YEARS EARLIER

The country club was boring. You didn’t know why your family insisted on going apart from trying to prove how rich they were, something which got exhausting too quickly. Sitting at the table, you played with the olive in your martini as your dad talked about “business” and your mom laughed about something.

The sun warmed your skin as your bare legs welcomed the heat gladly, the only source of some amusement in that place. It was tiring. Your brain felt like it could explode from lack of stimulation. Minutes passed at the speed of years. You had to do something, quick, or else- “I’m going for a walk” you said suddenly, or a voice said, part of your brain who was even more tired than you thought. Your family stood, staring at you briefly before nodding and continuing their tasks, like robots who were well instructed to continue their mission but not used to abnormalities.

Max was sweating. We would feel disgusting, unclean, even, were it not for how focused he was on the game, on his friend – rival, for a few minutes – in front of him. The tennis ball travelled from his racket to Charles in something near to slow motion for him.

Charles was amused. He always was, for he loved playing almost more than winning. He loved getting under his friend’s skin, seeing how hard he tried to beat him while his careless attitude ate him with each hit he took. There was something god-like about his commitment, his seriousness, that Charles admired, if not even envied. He couldn’t care as much about things the way his friend did – he was passion, Max was reason. That’s the way they always worked, and you could see it in the way they played, hear it in the way they grunted as they hit the ball with their utmost force.

“Okay let’s take a break” Charles said, throwing his racket carelessly on the floor as he walked towards the end of the field, towards his water bottle. Max stood in place, looking at his friend, wondering if he looked as disheveled as him – dark hair glued to his skin, cheeks red and a constant frown on his face from the sun’s insistence on affecting them. “It’s 30-all! You can’t just ask for a break when it’s 30-all!” his complaints were dismissed with a shrug of shoulders. “I just did”

Max inhaled heavily, used to this behaviour yet not immune to how much it annoyed him, and on his exhale, he felt his friend’s hands on his shoulders, massaging them gently. “Relax, don’t be so tense all the time,” Charles whispered, slight irony laced in his tone as he buried his hands in his friend’s warm shoulders from the heat.

“Don't stop now, I was enjoying it” your voice broke through them unexpectedly, causing them to turn their eyes towards you simultaneously. Max stared at you, his eyes locked on your teasing ones. But it was Charles who spoke first, in an attempt to match your tone. “And who are you, exactly?” Though you answered his friend, your eyes remained on Max's green ones, on the shy smirk growing slowly across his lips. The hands previously on his shoulders fell across them, brushing his back and finally leaving him altogether, as if melting from the heat. He barely noticed. Maybe he didn’t notice it at all. “I'm Charles” he walked towards you confidently, leaning against the railing that separated the court from the bleachers, one eye closed in a permanent blink due to the sun. You got up, looking, for the first time, at the dark haired man closer to you. Moving slowly towards him as you climbed down the stairs, you felt his defiant gaze, so different from his friend’s yet equally as alluring to you. Now as close to him as you could, your hand on the railing, mere inches away from his arm, you spoke. “And your friend over there?” Charles looked back, as if trying to recall who you could be referring to, prolonging a moment unnecessarily, only to allow his arm to brush against your hand as he turned back towards you, head tilted. “Why do you want to know?” Max’s racket felt cold against his burning skin, the image of his friend's toned back and tanned neck directed towards you, with a short skirt and tight top, causing him to wonder if he was hallucinating, overheating, going crazy. “Charles, she wants us to play more.”

10:45PM

He liked watching you, how you moved so softly, hands caressing your legs as you applied mosturizer. It was almost religious, how your breath guided his unintentionally, how he forgot everything for a few seconds, maybe minutes, maybe hours.

He leaned against the bathroom sink as you placed your foot on top of the toilet seat to better access some parts of your skin you could not otherwise reach. You felt his gaze, still so similar to the one he first used when he first layed his eyes on you – the same intensity, mind over matter debate circulating through his mind as he analyzed every inch of your skin.

“I’m going to win tomorrow” Max said from behind you; a certainty in his voice that made you chuckle with something close to frustration. You muttered an ‘okay’ as you continued your movements, your bracelets clinking against each other. “I’m serious. You know I’m serious” he repeated, frustrated at your nonchalantness, at your dismissal of his convictions.

“Don’t be patronizing” you finally said, turning around as you spread the remains of the cream on your arms and hands. Though you were in underwear and he was clothed, he felt vulnerable in front of you. The ring adorning both of your fingers didn’t make your presence any easier to bear over the years, despite his attempts at pretending it did.

“What do you mean?” he asked, eyebrows now raised, turning his head to follow your frame which walked towards the hotel bed. “You know what I mean, Max” your voice was stern, your head always high despite you being shorter, as if he was the one who had to look up to you, though he hadn’t, not really.

“You weren’t like this with him” he looked down now, his profile outlined by the bathroom lights. You admired his attractiveness, his intentional care to be clean, precise, as close to perfect as he could. You admired how his expressions never oscilated between extremes, or at least how he managed to hide it so well if they did.

“You don’t need me to tell you these things the way he does” you sighed. You had had this conversation, or something close to it too many times to count. “You have the girl, you have the championship, what else do you want, Max? You want me to constantly tell you you’re a winner, you’re a big fucking boy who’s so so good?” you continued, more aggressively than you perhaps intended, though it did not matter, not really, at least.

He looked back at you now, though he dare not move. His throat bobbed up and down now, and you noticed how his knuckles whitened slightly as he held the sink tightly. “Maybe I do” it was almost a whisper, the way he said it, trying to hide from the attention he so craved, his body manifesting more than he wanted to show.

You looked further down his body, to where your words seemed to affect him most, though he remained looking at you. You admired his silent boldness in contrast to Charles’ loud one. "I chose you, Max" your voice sounded velvety to him, almost driving him insane as he felt his cock hardening. He felt ridiculous. Maybe he was; his obsession with your approval was also an obsession with beating Charles' appeal to you. He might have won many battles but Max had won the war.

YEARS EARLIER

Charles was better - better looking, better skilled, and effortlessly so. Max thought all of this as he stared at the back of his friend's slightly burned neck, standing behind him in front of a bedroom door.

"Ok so, let's not fuck this up" Charles said, rolling his shoulders as if preparing for a match. "She clearly wants us"

"Us?" Charles turned around at the question, incredulity written across his face. "Yes, us. Now which one she wants more... We'll find out"

Before he could protest at his friend's unapologetic confidence, the door opened. You stood there, oversized t-shirt being worn as a nightgown, smiling at the two boys.

Both of them frozen, lusting over you so obviously it was almost insulting, were you not turned on by the way their gaze explored your body. Charles had a signature smirk that did not care to hide where his imagination was roaming as he stared at your bare legs; Max, on the other hand, was overcome by a darkness that almost intimidated you, studying every inch of your body hungrily.

"You're just going to stand there?" you asked, half laughing, waking the boys up from their trance. They both rushed inside excitedly, causing you to giggle subtly. It was flattering, how much they seemed to crave your sheer attention.

“So…” you asked, moving to sit on the carpeted floor, trying to make them comfortable – which didn’t need much effort, as they seemed to make themselves at home promptly, Charles’ unbuttoned shirt exposing his chest to you, and Max’s own t-shirt was so tight it left little to the imagination.

“You liked to see us play” Max started, a newly found confidence reaching him, a smile matching it perfectly. Maybe you were the one to give it to him, your eyes landing on him as if daring him to speak, him specifically. Charles’ opened up a bottle of a cheap drink he found at the liquor store they had ran to just hours before, as they realized they might actually have a chance with you.

“I did” you answered with a nod, now looking at Charles, who offered you a glass, your fingers brushing his purposefully.

“So much that you wanted more” Max continued, so factual it could pass as arrogance – though it resulted in a blush from you. You admired his sudden calculated boldness, the way he brought the cup to his lips after saying those words, as if he had commented on the state of the weather.

“And you gave me more” you replied, trying to match his – maybe their – tone.

“Oh, we haven’t given you nearly enough” Charles now stepped in. He couldn’t help himself, not with you in front of him, not with the small room closing in on him as he felt your need grow along with his, along with Max’s, along with the cups and the drink and the sheets and the carpeted floor.

“You two do this a lot?” you asked, daringly, though the question had crossed your mind throughout the day. Was this enticing to them? Sharing a woman, pleasuring her together, driving her mad with their games, their touch and words?

They let out a soft laugh together, almost synchronized. They were both beautiful, though in opposite ways – Max’s features were hard despite his soft, quiet demeanor, while Charles’s were softer, more carefully sculpted despite his own careless behavior.

“What, go after the same girl?” Charles asked, looking at Max, who looked at him as well. They found it amusing and rather ironic, really. Everything was a competition to them, even if nothing got in the way of their friendship. What made you especially exciting was how they both wanted you, and how both of them were aware of that fact. They both know the game was on the minute you showed up, like a match they fought in the court.

Upon your nod, Max decided to speak up. He had to; it was somehow agreed and decided who would say what, an unspoken rule he seemed to have made with Charles but couldn’t quite remember. “No, not at all” he laughed, cup now empty as Charles grabbed the bottle and filled it some more.

“What he means is… You’re just that attractive” the brown-haired man spoke. Was he flirting with you, or were they both doing so, even if it came only from his voice? You couldn’t help but feel your whole body responding to how they looked at you, how they seemed to crave you with indescribable need.

“What about you two?” you asked now, blaming the alcohol – though you had barely drunk anything. Their eyes went from you to each other again, awkward and rapidly, as they blushed slightly.

“No, I mean… no we haven’t” Max said, causing a soft chuckle to come out of Charles, his friend’s shyness over the topic making amusing him. It’s not like they haven’t thought about it – not at all – but they hadn’t told each other this. This concept lived in their heads, and none of them dared to bring it up, though they had seen each other naked and crossed lines most so-called friends probably wouldn’t. But neither of them had the conversation about what it meant, or what it could mean, because they didn’t feel the need to. Not until now.

You shrugged it off, finishing your drink in a single gulp. Looking at those two men, you realized you couldn’t quite decide what to do next – you wanted to do so many things that felt too forbidden to speak.

You looked up at Max, his eyes so needy it made your blood pulsate in your veins, the certainty that he would do anything for your touch right in that moment causing you to shiver. Slowly, you moved towards him, his face so close to yours that he dared not move, not until your hands reached his neck and pulled him towards you, kissing him.

That seemed to shift something in him, his own arms holding you as if scared you’d leave, as if wanting to consume you all, taste all of you. His hand instinctively grabbed your waist, though you knelt on the ground and couldn’t – wouldn’t – go anywhere.

“Oh, fuck” Charles said, looking at the both of you. The sight should make him jealous, but it did quite the opposite. He felt aroused, more than he wanted to admit, watching Max controlling your body and movements, eyebrows furrowed from pleasure, as your own lips moved messily and erratic against his, not caring about how it looked. You were putting on a show for him as you savored all of Max – Max was simply savoring all of you, for he had forgotten his friend was even there.

You pulled away, however, now deciding you had to try the other man, who seemed to be in a state of pure bliss over you, your attitude, your movements. You barely moved towards him – you didn’t need to – as he rushed towards you his hand resting on your thigh and grabbing it tightly. He was more aggressive, more assertive and confident in his kiss. He didn’t let go of himself the way Max did, but then again he barely held himself back at all when it came to you.

Max was staring. He knew he was staring but he couldn’t look away. The sight was erotic, something out of his deepest, darkest fantasies – your hair being slightly pulled by Charles’ strong grip, your own hands on his cheeks as his tongue travelled across your mouth. Suddenly, his kissing went down to your neck, and you held him there as you looked directly at Max.

Just your look could have driven him insane, right there and then, but he wouldn’t let it happen. He was hungry for more of you, more of whatever was going on, wanted it to last as long as it possibly could. “Come here” you called for him, who obliged immediately.

At first, he mimicked Charles, but soon his mouth was on yours again and you felt both boys’ mouths on your body, the amount of sensations fogging your mind as you let them both consume you. You pulled Charles mouth to yours, joining the kiss you were sharing with Max. The three of you kissed – messily, sloppily, completely letting the primal, animalistic part of you loose.

You wanted to touch yourself. Wanted them to touch you, feel how wet you were, savoring all of you. You wanted them to touch each other for you – for your gaze, for your entertainment and fulfillment, the way they were doing so now, as you pulled away and watched their own mouths against each other.

Max was hard. He couldn’t think anymore, dizzy from the caresses he was feeling on his body, from the insanity of the moment, from everything and nothing. Charles was drunk – drunk on the intense rush flowing through him, from how hard he knew he was, from how fucking spectacular everything seemed in that moment.

You were in complete bliss. The two men before you were in absolute awe of you, yearning for you with fervent need, letting themselves go to the point where they even yearned for each other. It was time to stop it.

“Okay” you said, snapping both of them back to reality instantly. Both Max and Charles were shocked at how they felt nothing close to shame over the moment. In fact, they felt exhilarated, ready to keep going, to prolong the moment with each other, with you, forever. “It’s time to go” you continued, watching the glow disappear from their faces as they breathed hard, chests falling and rising rapidly. “What?” they asked in unison, something close to innocence returning to their faces.

“We’ll do this again, right?” Charles asked, getting up after you did, with Max following. He was aware that he was hard, his cock rubbing against the fabric of his boxers and shorts uncomfortably. And he was also aware that you were turned on, though he could only imagine how soaked you actually were – a picture that didn’t help his situation.

“Sure” you answered, seeing their gleeful faces one last time before adding, as you walked them to the door “one of you will. The one who wins tomorrow”, closing it on them before you could see the smile turn into a frown.

[calisources]

𝐓𝐇𝐄   𝐁𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐃   𝐎𝐅   𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐆𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐃𝐒   𝐀𝐍𝐃   𝐒𝐍𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐒   𝐐𝐔𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐒.   all   sentences   have   been   taken   from   the   hunger   games:   the   ballad   of   songbirds   and   snakes   book   and   some   from   the   movie   trailers.   might   include   spoilers   for   the   movie   and   book.   change   pronouns   and   locations   and   names   as   you   see   fit.

“Nothing you can take from me was ever worth keeping.”

“Being from the Capitol doesn’t give you that right. Nothing does.”

“Well, as they said, it's not over until the mockingjay sings.”

“People aren’t so bad, really, It’s what the world does to them.”

“That is the thing with giving your heart. You never wait for someone to ask. You hold it out and hope they want it.”

“Snow lands on top.”

“I think there’s a natural goodness built into human beings. You know when you’ve stepped across the line into evil, and it’s your life’s challenge to try and stay on the right side of that line.”

“Before need, before love, came trust.”

“And try not to look down on people who had to choose between death and disgrace.”

“What are lies but attempts to conceal some sort of weakness?”

“The strain of being a full-fledged adult every day had grown tiresome.”

“You can blame it on the circumstances, the environment, but you made the choices you made, no one else.”

“Wars are won by heads not hearts.”

“There is a point to everything or nothing at all, depending on your worldview.”

“You're mine and I'm yours. It's written in the stars.”

“But better off sad than dead.”

“What young brains lack in experience they sometimes make up for in idealism. Nothing seems impossible to them.”

“I think it’s more important than love. I mean, I love all kinds of things I don’t trust.”

“I’m planning to build a whole new beautiful life here. One where, in my own small way, I can make the world a better place.”

“If the war’s impossible to end, then we have to control it indefinitely. Just as we do now.”

“What was there to aspire to once wealth, fame, and power had been eliminated? Was the goal of survival further survival and nothing more?”

“They were both after all, still children whose lives were dictated by powers above them.”

“Star-crossed lovers meeting their fate.”

“I’m bad news, all right.”

“The ability to control things. Yes, that was what he’d loved best of all.”

“What happened in the arena? That’s humanity undressed. The tributes. And you, too.”

How quickly civilization disappears. All your fine manners, education, family background, everything you pride yourself on, stripped away in the blink of an eye, revealing everything you actually are.”

“A boy with a club who beats another boy to death. That’s mankind in its natural state”

“Please, Coriolanus, I would never forget the favor.”

“Who are human beings? Because who we are determines the type of governing we need.”

“What sort of agreement is necessary if we’re to live in peace? What sort of social contract is required for survival?”

“It’s just the kind of story that catches fire.”

“And last but least, District Twelve girl . . . she belongs to Coriolanus Snow.”

“Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains.”

“If history teaches you anything, it’s how to make the unwilling comply.”

“You know what I won’t miss? People. Except for a handful. They’re mostly awful, if you think about it.”

“And to erase me, they must erase the Games.”

“Why did these people think that all they needed to start a rebellion was anger?”

“And if even the most innocent among us turn into killers in the Hunger Games, what does that say? That our essential nature is violent.”

“It's the things we love most, that destroy us.”

“We all did things we’re not proud of.”

“What are the Hunger Games for?”

"If you want to protect people, then it's essential to accept what human beings are and what it takes to control them."

“Hope is the only thing stronger than fear."

“If the cause wasn’t honorable, how could it be an honor to participate in it?”

“He’s a Capitol boy and clearly I got the cake with the cream, ’cause nobody else’s mentor even bothered to show up to welcome them.”

“To dine with her suggests that you consider her your equal. But she isn’t.”

“The endless dance with hunger had defined his life.”

"In nature, things that are prey, that are weak, are marked"

"The world is not kind to those who don't fit in"

"We all wear masquerades in this Capitol"

, "There's a price for everything, Lucy. Sometimes you pay it willingly, sometimes it's taken from you,"

"Freedom is not given, it is taken"

“I’m not convinced that we are all as inherently violent as you say, but it takes very little to bring the beast to the surface, at least under the cover of darkness.”

[interstellarsystem]

Disorder Differences in Systemmates

Systemmates share the same brain, which often leads to the assumption that they're all affected the same by the brain itself. Its wiring, its abilities, and its disabilities. But symptom holders or those with intra-disorders are fairly common--at least in circles we run in--and they're not often talked about for fear of fakeclaiming or appearing ableist. We have headmates who are affected in all sorts of different ways by our disabilities. Some find things harder than others, while others actually find some tasks or symptoms easier to manage. It absolutely varies from headmate to headmate, which makes certain headmates better suited for fronting during certain times than others.

Merlin is more affected by our psychosis, particularly hallucinations, and xe tends to be more susceptible to paranoia. Mystery is a psychosis holder too, and has more positive symptoms like hallucinations than the rest of us, but is less affected negatively by it. It often hallucinates and falls into delusional thinking, but it's not really too bothered by it. So Mystery is a good choice for someone to front when we're having a psychotic episode. Sometimes, having Merlin cofront with Mystery makes it easier for Merlin to not be so susceptible to xyr symptoms.

I (Martin) have more obvious anxiety than the rest of us, and struggle much more in social situations. I'm much better at hyperfocusing on tasks, though. So I'm better suited for staying home and working on whatever the current project we have at the time, or keeping our to-do lists in check. Vince on the other hand is calm in most social situations that are more professional--so he's good for business meetings and such. In more casual conversation though, Vena and Merlin are much better at it and better suited to non-professional social groups.

Vince is an intra-NPD holder and also holds stronger symptoms of our BPD. He struggles immensely with percieved rejection, much more than the rest of us. But he also almost completely lacks empathy, which makes it much easier for him to be calm and logical in stressful situations. He finds it easier to help friends and those he cares about during stressful times because he's not weighed down by feeling their emotions--whereas the rest of us might break down from stress.

We talk a bit about mental disability differences in headmates more than those who differ physically. Somehow it seems more controvertial to mention that we have headmates that differ with physical symptoms while even in safe system spaces. It seems like most people (us somewhat included) mainly think of symptom holders as a mental disorder thing--a line of thinking we're trying to dispel. Headmates can have different disabilities and symptoms of all kinds, and it's not ableist or "harmful" to know that and speak about it. Headmates with different conditions to the body need to be recognised more.

Mike needed a cane in his memories and he absolutely needs our cane when he fronts more than the rest of us. He feels more at home and like himself having a cane by his side here, though, so it's good we already had one. I (Martin) need it more too--my joints are just more prone to pain. But our cane folds up nicely into our bag, so if we switch out in public, it's always with us just in case. Even if it's silly, we feel safer having a cane too--I mean, it's a metal pole. We're out as trans and clearly not your Regular Society Member, so it provides some feeling of safety to have.

Jayfeather was blind before, and since coming here he sure can see now, but he's much more light sensitive than the rest of us. The feeling of being able to see was nice at first, even if it was foreign, but sometimes he feels it's not worth the hassle. He needs to wear sunglasses when fronting because his eyes just end up hurting from even small amounts of light. Crowley is the same, except he wasn't blind in his memories--he just got used to always wearing sunglasses in his life to hide how his eyes looked, and needs them here now. They're both more prone to migraines due to this.

Merlin is more shaky on his feet than others who front often. His legs are digitigrade and in headspace he has his wings and tail to balance him there--but in the body, he doesn't have any of that. His legs are the wrong shape and he has no counterweight to his posture. Even with our cane, he's more prone to tripping than most.

Mystery was a godlike being that didn't need to eat human food, or any physical food at all. It often forgets that eating, sleeping and going to the bathroom are things the body needs to do, because it doesn't often feel the need to do them. That can be good if we're running low on food, or if we can't eat for a while such as before a medical procedure though, so it's useful in its own way. Mystery is also not used to using its hands for intricate things like tying shoelaces, as it's hands before we're longer, bigger, and mainly nonphysical. It didn't need to be intricate, so it's hard for it to do things others in here can.

There's so many more examples in our system. The thing is, there can be positives and negatives to any disorder, really--and headmates are no different with that. We don't necessarily assign headmates "roles" or "jobs" based on their symptoms or lack thereof, but for us to function better as a collective, people tend to gravitate toward doing certain things they know others can't. It's important for us to know how we differ with our disabilities, and work around them together as best we can.

Systemmates with different symptoms aren't uncommon, and they're not mocking disabled people, or lying for some benefit. I'd argue that for some systems with symptom holders or intra-disorder holders, it's increcibly important to know about how you differ and how to work together to be functional--whatever functional means for you.

[lemon-russ]

primarchs trying to accommodate for human frailty and getting it wrong. Leman russ thinks you will die of cold when it’s one degree outside so drops a bunch of blankets on you. Sanguinius fussing over a scratch. The lion thinks you’re dying because you’re on your period

yesssss good thank you, I wrote Lion because I haven't done him much and I think him being any sort of worried is funny.

Lion El'Jonson x Gn!Reader

“Lion, I'm fine-” you repeat, being carried unusually gingerly in his arms towards the Medicae.

He grumbles, scowling down at you with a furrowed brow. “You can't know anything of the sort. Your brain is probably irreparably damaged, and now you are even less intelligent than before.” He gruffed.

You'd made the apparently grievous mistake of tripping and bumping your head off a table. You have a small bruise on your forehead, and felt fine. It was barely a bump.

But Lion watched it happen with the same expression you imagine he'd have if he watched you be torn asunder by demons in front of him. It was actually incredibly disconcerting to witness, as you've never otherwise seen him emote more than annoyance, or at his happiest, neutrality. (Including in the bedroom. A nonplussed look and a smack on the ass was all you received as a “good job” before he'd leave without a word.)

He had moved faster than your baseline eyes could track to scoop you off the floor, and rushed off toward the medicae to “get brain scans” and “stop the bleeding before it was too late”, he'd informed you between insults to your ability to walk across a flat floor and lack of self preservation.

You sigh and gently poke at the bruise. It wasn't even a bump, it barely hurt. Lion growled a deep rumble from his chest, the noise rattling through your body pressed against him, and quickly tugged your hand to your side.

“Stop prodding it. You're probably poking yourself right in the brain. It's like you want to become more helpless and weak.” He snapped, the arm carrying you squeezing you slightly closer to his chest.

He slams a hand against the door control for the medicae, and strides right passed the shocked and confused personnel, walking you back to an empty bed and placing you on your back with a gentleness you've never seen from him, as if he's afraid you'll shatter if he touches you wrong.

He whirls on the baffled medics. “Well? Can't you see they're grievously injured?” He snaps, voice carrying the full force of his authoritative tone. The medics all jump, rushing to examine you, then exchanged confused looks between themselves and your body as they examine you.

“I- um- my Lord, there doesn't seem to be anything….?” One nervously says, looking you over.

He grumbles a noise, pointing at your barely formed bruise. “Useless! Is this the best my legion offers for its baselines? Obviously I'm talking of the gaping head wound!” He snarls.

The medics all share a long, drawn pause, gazes slowly following his gesture to your forehead. They all seem to have it click at once, and scurry to work.

“Apologies my Lord-” the head medic stammers, looking a bit confused still but clearly valuing his head being attached to his shoulders. “We didn't mean to miss such a- a serious injury…” he says, ordering the surrounding medics to prepare various brain scans.

You sigh, rolling your eyes and slumping back against the pillows. Lion just huffs with annoyance. “See to it.” He growls, plopping himself on chair next to your bed, making it groan under his weight. “I'm going to be watching every step so you can not fail further.” He grumbles. Giving you a sideways glance, then looking pointedly away from you, he slowly places a large, warm hand on your arm. You raise a brow, but say nothing, having to hold back a smirk less he sulk off in embarrassment.

He pouts, still glaring at the wall. “… be comforted.” He commands, tone softer than you'd ever heard. You can't hold back the chuckle that escapes, making him glare at you sharply, still pouting. “Ah. Delirium. This is where it starts.” He says sadly, patting your arm. “I shall… notice your absence…” he mumbles gravely. He only shakes his head sadly when that only makes you laugh harder.

[maria-crossover]

† The Believer †

After months I was able to finish the concept sheet for my Outlast Trials OC ^_^ I'm still working on her lore and the description of the Trials but in the meantime I'll give you some information about her...

General information | Prime Asset backstory | Trials | Dialogues

「 Prime Assets 」

“Someone is desecrating the body of one of God's children? How disrespectful… You better start repenting and stop, unless you want your pretty hands cut off!” —María Carmichael

Appearance (Physical Description)

Height of 1'55 cm (5'8) is a young adult with the appearance of a teenager due to genetics and probably a slow development in hormones. The age isn't identified due to her bones and teeth, also due to the subject's lack of memory and behavior (Has somewhat sharp front fangs). Her clothing includes a long-sleeved black shirt with gray stripes, a gardening overalls with black jeans stained with white paint, black boots and a gardening glove on her left hand. Short messy black hair with curls. Unlike the Ex-Pops, she doesn't show signs of having undergone surgeries or changes presented by the infirmary. The girl only has a scar on her right cheek, on her neck and bleeding bandages on the hand that carries the deployable sickle, also, night vision glasses that connect to a modified car battery that she carries inside a small black backpack.

There is also Manny, it's part of the subject that possesses and controls. It has a humanoid appearance, almost a "ghost", but it is made of ashes, gunpowder and nanomachines with some blood from the girl and previous people it tried to possess. When the believer climbs the walls and ceilings, you can see that her arms, legs and abdomen are covered by a black smoke that is clearly the Walrider helping her and providing her with unique abilities like those.

Personality

María is the only one of the Ex-Pops who is more sane, but she is very insecure, paranoid and easily manipulated, so much so that she sees the Reagents as sinful enemies. She suffers from a hero complex, telling herself that she is God's chosen one and Manny is an angel who will be helping her at all times so that the world can seek its redemption while getting rid of the sinners. However, she constantly exhibits violent behavior towards any human being, especially adults. She tends to be a bit open-mouthed and rude when it comes to hanging around the Trials when the Reagents or an Ex-Pop are present.

She is mostly rude around the Ex-Pops because they are "adults", but with Franco she is more polite. This is due to a post-trauma that she suffered during her kidnapping in her childhood, her greatest fear and hatred will be adults from then on, however, as Franco shares characteristics of an infant she doesn't say anything because she trusts children more, seeing them as vulnerable and unconscious beings. In fact, María divides between "normal" people and the sick. Her behavior varies to normal adults, seeing them as hostile and potential sinners, she doesn't usually trust anyone. However, with sick adults she sees them as harmless, the sick refers to those who are mentally disabled. One reason is that she sees Franco as vulnerable, his behaviour. But she also doesn't deny that he resembles a child and She sees him a little weaker. Although Manny doesn't think the same and is of the idea that all people, humans in general, are equally hostile and disgusting. Except with Maria, since it have a close bond with her.

Having the Walrider inside her, almost always ruins her brain by sharing a body with an entity. Since her violent tendencies and bad mood are due to the pain of having something in her body, her bones and the mobility that she has not had completely in her body before. Which leads to suicidal tendencies, with clear depressive thoughts of "goodbye" to her life and perhaps abandoning it at the hands of her friend Manny.

Despite being somewhat sane, she displays sadistic tendencies when it comes to torturing a Reagent, whether in a chase, attack, or execution. This is due to the adrenaline and anger she feels, at the traumatic memory, the injustice she witnessed in childhood, and a helpless desire to cause pain to those she considers harmful sinners.

Maria mixes her language with English, being of Argentine blood, mostly when she insults and apologizes when doing so. Also the songs she usually hums while wandering through the darkness looking for Reagents. She uses Spanish as for insults, taking advantage of many who do not understand her language to be sincere with her thoughts and regardless of her feelings. She is very indifferent to speaking openly and honestly about what she has in mind, politically, economically or religiously. But when it comes to her past, the many families she may have been in, she keeps her words to herself so as not to speak.

Despite being very aggressive, she is obedient and makes an effort with Manny to get him to follow her. Besides having a great adoration for Jesus and God, she trusts (in a small part) Dr. Easterman. Although most of the work she does is to seek approval and earn respect or adoration from him, which she desires, a consequence of the loving absence of her parents and generating emotional dependence on Easterman.

Since the first meeting with Clyde Perry to talk, she was always cautious and distrustful. She has never spoken or trusted with any human being, unlike the Walrider. She mostly talks to herself, but she actually talks to Manny who occupies her body and is the only the living being she can trust to talk to and feel safe. Walrider always protected Maria, not only for the body but for the company she offered throughout the journey. Supposedly she can hear it speak, only her, since she shared her body she is the only one who hears his voice, as inside and outside her body. Maybe a connection or a consequence of sharing her brain and hearing the voice through her thoughts.

Weapons and Skills

Like the Reagents, but unlike the Prime Assets, she can see in the dark and climb walls with the help of Manny. The lenses of the glasses change color from green to red when she finds a Reagent. In addition to that, she can climb ceilings or walls with the help of the Walrider. She uses a deployable sickle, modified to be stored while climbing ceilings and only takes it out when she is standing on the ground to attack.

Walrider, or known as "Manny" by María, is part of her abilities. Providing her with greater mobility in the test, strength and support when executing a Reagent. The Walrider also grants her a temporary levitation ability, when she lets go of a wall or ceiling. But when a Reagent uses a stun module, it not only affects the girl, but Manny as well. And after recovering, she shudders along with the cold sound of her bones adjusting, showing that the Walrider is readjusting inside her.

Trials

Ruin the wake

Burn Jesus

Kill the Father

Poison the followers

[3liza]

i think the answer to the medical question you see asked a lot about various trending medical conditions like fibromyalgia, autism, and hypermobility, "why does everyone suddenly have this disorder, this seems fake" is that they just arent that rare and conceptualizing them as "rare disorders" was a simple mistake at the time they were defined. and thinking of them as "disorders" is kind of a misnomer, they definitely cause distress in normal modern contexts but they're perfectly suited to all kinds of other situations, situations i've been in! situations where i was the only person able to ignore hunger or hyperfocus on a time-limited task or make rational and calm decisions while being shot at by cops at a protest because my nervous system is a little different.

at the risk of getting essentialist/evopsych for a minute, there are a LOT of evolutionary reasons 5-20% of the population being for lack of a better term, minmaxed for various tasks, is beneficial. yeah my joints are unstable but i also can climb trees, fit into very small areas like a cat, fold up comfortably in a plane seat, etc. my gastroparesis is constant torture but i also only have to eat as much and as often as your average ball python, and i dont starve to death on a caloric intake that would kill anyone with a normal metabolism. it's really easy to imagine scenarios in the history of humanity where famine or other crises were more survivable because my family had "special abilities" that were a pain in the ass during normal times. creaky knees and the occasional hip subluxation was probably a small price to pay for being able to squeeze through a small gap at the right time, survive hunger and cold, eat less than everyone else, or whatever. people with lipidema are, i think, well-represented in the "venus figurine" record and would have lots of advantages in the circumstances in which they lived.

it's a cold take, social species have always had specialization and labor sorting mechanisms, i just have calmed down a lot in my own brain by internalizing the idea that yeah maybe its harder for me to tolerate going to school than a child without autism, but im better at other stuff than they are, and when we're all in the Human Troop together we are both very useful to each other. which is cool.

you dont even have to do anything to bring value to your family, you can just be there. in general, humans have always taken care of our sick and injured and disabled. anyone who has ever been happy to see someone knows why. i mean we kill each other a lot too but that's also just part of being an animal on planet earth. im just thinking out loud idk.

[atinystaypixie]

Crushing Stage with Sweet Bf! Geto

"Sweet" Bf! Geto Masterlist

WC: 1.1k+ (Not Proofread)

CW: None

Geto let out a heavy breath of air blowing a strand of hair out his face. Boredom clouded his features as he scanned his surroundings filled with people going about their day. He sat outside a cafe, people crossing the street, walking the sidewalks, conversing on their phones. The dark haired man was observative and took in every micro detail. He even noticed how the bells to each entrance on the street rang differently from the other.

Which is why his head turned when he noticed the bell to the café he was in front of rang three more times than its normal. He could notice everything in the world, pick apart any item in a second, but nothing would have compared to the sight that he just laid his eyes upon. For the first time, his brain felt frozen. It was as if the ability to function had left completely and his eyes couldn’t leave the spot where they halted. His heart felt a prick to it, almost as it was skipping beats. He felt confused at the sudden reaction his body was having.

There wasn’t logic to why a simple sight of you bumping into another person and smiling so brightly as you apologized caused time to freeze around him. He didn’t notice the light changing, the lady consoling her crying baby, nor two dogs barking as they passed each other. Clear objects, loud sounds, all suddenly seized to exist when your smile shined in his focused vision. Geto couldn’t place what was so different about your smile. Women smiled at home daily, all eager for his attention. It got to the point where he grew tired of rejecting them and resorted to a curt nod of the head before walking away. So why, in the few seconds that he saw you, was he feeling this way.

After this, Geto spent a month returning to the cafe. At first he told himself he kept returning more often because he always liked the cafe but was just craving it more lately. Then, he realized that the drink he regularly ordered would be bitter if you hadn’t entered the cafe the day he was there. The bells ringing throughout the air were too loud blocking out your voice if you left the cafe talking. He hated how the lights turned a split second too fast letting you cross the street out of his line of sight. For some odd reason, when any other man received the polite smile you threw towards people,Geto fist would clench, wanting to erase the men who got to look at you so closely.

In this month, Geto discovered your politeness wasn’t only when you were having a good day.  He watched as you entered the cafe one day with bags under your eyes, red surrounding your pupils, and your shoulder hunched slightly. You looked as if the weight of the world was on your shoulders yet you still smiled at everyone who greeted you. Your voice still directed joy to the people you spoke to, not once letting out a tired sigh or a roll of the eye. Even when the new cashier seemed to have an attitude, you still smiled and told them to have a good day while leaving a tip in the jar. Geto noticed your eyes didn’t light up as you took a sip of your drink when you came out the building, but you still offered a small wave to a child passing by. To make it worse, small droplets started to fall from the sky. When Geto saw you reach for the bag on your shoulder and grumble at the lack of an umbrella there, he rose from his seat. He took long strides towards you before stopping in front of your weary figure. 

“You can use mine.” His voice pulled you out of your stressed state. The man you see most days you arrive at this cafe. The reason you try to come to the cafe so often. The handsome guy who seems unfazed by the world every time you see him is handing you his umbrella. His hair had started to stick to his forehead and for the first time in all the time you had seen him, a lazy smile took over his face. You couldn’t fathom how handsome he was up close. His jawline was sharp, dark eyes had a certain glow to them, and the way he tilted his made him even more charming as his tall figure stood next to you.

“Are you sure? We could use it together!” Your voice came out rushed in an attempt to clarify he was alright with this without stuttering.

Geto felt his heart beat a little stronger as your kindness was directed to him. He thought he grew an addiction from finally hearing your voice face to face. “It’s fine, sweet girl. I have a hood.” He spoke to you causing your heart to skip several beats. You think you grew an addiction to the way he called you sweet girl. Cute and silly pet names had been directed towards you before, but none of them made you feel like this. It made you forget how the day was heavy on you and how your body just wanted to be in bed for weeks.

Noticing you were stuck in a train of thought, Geto gently clasped your hand in his and placed his umbrella in it. He held your hand as he opened the umbrella providing you with protection from the rain. A slight buzz passed through your body at the contact snatching you out of your fuzzy mind. He chuckled at how your eyes widened so cutely at him. “Keep it as long as you need. You can return it when we see each other again.” With that pulled his hood up and stuffed his hands in his pockets turning on his heels and leaving. 

Realizing that he was leaving, you speak out to him. “Thank you!” He turned and smiled at you. The first smile of many that would only be specially formed for you. Geto knew then for sure that the reaction his body was having was the one of falling for someone. He hated that your first interaction would be so short, but you needed to get home out of the rain before you caught a cold. He wanted to ensure your health first especially seeing you down in spirits right before talking to you. The thought alone made the smile disappear from his face when he saw you start to walk away and himself turning again to leave.

That was the exact reason why Geto needed to handle business with a certain cashier who didn’t know proper manners.

✨️

Building off this ask

I hope yall continue to enjoy more of "Sweet" Boyfie!Geto🥰

REQUEST ARE OPEN!

ENJOY!

Pixie's Masterlist

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[wordsformizu]

Your Father's Daughter

Mizu x Reader story

Word count: 1.6k

Chapter 6

Soreness, an aching headache, and darkness greeted you as you came to. Your lips were uncomfortably dry and as you ran your tongue over them for moisture you tasted blood. Blinking a couple times to adjust to the lack of light, you felt your senses gather information until your brain could catch up. The floor was hard, cold, and the room was silent with no movement. When you tried to move is when you realized you were bound tightly with rough rope by the wrist and ankles. 

You knew better than to let your body resort to a panic state, but as you began to recollect your memory you felt yourself grow with irritance. Spitting the little blood that puddling under your tongue, you started glancing around the dark room. No candles, no windows, no ability to see any lights from underneath the sliding door. Your kidnappers didn't need to blind you and gag you. There was no sign of any other life but your own around you. No shuffle of footsteps, no conversations deciding your fate to be eavesdropped. Nothing. There was no way for you to estimate how many days you’d been in this state, and while that added to your frustration, it couldn't be your focus. Escaping was a priority.

Like a shadow, you needed to blend in with the darkness that surrounded you and slip out before you were exposed and your fate was sealed. Screaming was not an option. You were going to find your way out of here silently. Shifting your body, and tucking your knees beneath you, you adjusted yourself in a kneeling position. Your captors were smart to keep your hands behind you, but they didn't take into account that you had weapons hidden on your person or that you were flexible enough to reach them. Angling your arm, you reached for the small dagger you hid in a strap on your upper back and was greeted with nothing.

Or had they?

That was fine. You had plenty more hidden but as you were adjusting your body you realized you couldn't feel the comfort of the hard nudge provided by your weapons on your skin. When did they have time to search you thoroughly, you thought. How long had you really been out? Reminding your mental to not panic was easy, but your body seemed to have a mind of its own as cold sweat began to break loose from your pores. Beaten, defeated, and kidnapped. New location, no lights, no sight of help. Limbs bound, body exhausted, and no weapons. This was a nightmare you had never dreamed of, and you didn't have your father to wake you up and sit beside your bed as you drifted back into better dreams. 

Your father. The thought of him stabilized you better than your inner dialogue could. You were doing this for him; everything you did was for him. You refused to fail him, even in this unexpected difficult situation. You’d make a way to shift the odds in your favor again. You couldn't lose, because he never lost. 

Footsteps from down a hallway started walking in the direction of the room you sat in. Quickly, your mind raced to solutions. Glancing around the room, adjusting your eyes to the dark that surrounded you, you realized you had some good cards in your deck. It seemed that you were in some sort of spare storage room with boxes stacked in a few corners. Above you, the ceiling seemed to not be yet completed with a covering, making the wooden planks accessible. You crunched your knees into your chest, making yourself as small as possible so that you could move your tied wrist under your bottom. Now that they were in front, you could use your hands at a better angle. Quickly, you stood up, ignoring the dizzying sensation in your brain. There was no time to lose as the footsteps were growing closer. Hopping over to one of the boxes, you found a way to climb onto a box. Higher and higher you climbed until you were on the closest box to the ceiling. Cautiousness was at its most importance in this moment. If you jumped without precision, you’d miss the ceiling plank and fall onto the floor, alerting your incoming company. If you jumped too hard, there was a chance of toppling the boxes behind you, making noise and also alerting them. Both scenarios would cause them to quicken their pace and enter the room earlier than you were expecting. You took a deep breath, held it and leaped into the air. Whether it was luck or skill, you didn't have the time to determine, but you had made it. Your fingers barely wrapped around the thick wood, as you hung in the air. Releasing your breath to take a couple more, you swung your lower body back and forth until you had enough momentum to hook the back of your knees onto a plank. Careful to balance yourself as your wrist and ankles were still bound, you balanced yourself in a seated position and waited for the door to reveal your first victim. 

In came the apprentience. The distraction who lead you to the samurai in more ways than one. That docile smile never seemed to leave his face as he entered the room with a candle. He was humming a tune, bringing light into the room through his song and small fire. By the time he had finished lighting the small lanterns that lay around the once dark room, you had decided how you would ambush him. 

“You must be scared, but I won’t hurt you.” he spoke into the air. He must believe you were hiding behind one of the boxes as he didnt see you when he entered the room. He must believe that youre quaking and trembling in fear of what would be done to you. He must believe you thought you were the one in harms way.

“I brought something I think you might enjoy! It’s left-overs, but it’s delicious if I do say so myself.” He spoke so lightheartedly, it made it hard to focus. His words intermingled with the safe and sweet tone of his voice. You would not fall for the trap of spoken security, especially from a man. 

You got low as he was lowering himself to light the last candle. You could see him peeking behind one of the boxes, thinking there were no other places you could be hiding. With a quick nudge, you dropped from the ceiling plank and angled yourself in the air to elbow him directly in the back of his neck. At the last minute he turned, ruining your ploy to knock him out. Instead you ended up elbowing him directly in his face which made him release a loud painful yelp. You fell ontop of him, knocking the air out of him, and rolled off and onto your knees. He wasnt quick when it came to combat, or very smart. He covered his face with his nubs and groaned in pain, and if it wasnt for the situation you were in or how you were raised you would have felt bad for him. You remembered the noise he was making would attract the samurai if you were not quick enough to silence him. If you couldn't use your hands, you would use whatever else you could. Standing up and over him, you angled your elbows to directly strike him in the head, silencing him. Before you could aim, hands grabbed around your waist and threw you to the ground. Air was knocked out of your body, but you quickly adjusted and rolled to your knees before another strike put you on your back. 

The samurai had heard his weak apprentice and came to his rescue, which was not what you needed at this time. The apprentice being the first to enter the room was the luckiest you had been, and now that luck slipped out your grasp like river water through one's fingers as the samurai stared down into your eyes. 

You could see him more clearly now up close. All his features and how they meshed together to create the firm, tense mask he carried as a face. You imagined what it would look like without the flame of life dancing beneath his skin, through his veins. What color an “Onryo”’s blood would be once spilled onto the floor. What his last breath would sound like in your ears.  What shade of blue would his eyes become as the light dimmed from them. What he would look like dead. 

In that moment, motivated by shame and anger, as he stared down into your eyes for the first time you realized how much his being dead would satisfy you. You didn't shy away from letting him see this in your eyes. You wanted him to know that even though he stood above you in this moment, it would be standing above him soon. Lowering him into the dirt and never to be seen again.  The eyes could say so much, opening conversations for one to have. It was speaking without the movement of tongues and even more intimate at times. He heard every word. 

“Ringo.” He didn't break eye-contact as he spoke. 

“Master-ow..I’m sorry I di-” The apprentice was beginning to rise, rubbing his forming bruise.

“Get out.” 

“I’m-” 

“Get. Out.” The words were repeated with sharpness, and the apprentice listened as though he were being held at knife-point. He slipped out the door but not before turning to glance at you, and left you two alone. 

[ghost-bxrd]

Give me court of owls hedcanons or lore … anything court of owls send it my way please 😊

My pleasure!!! ✨💚

Ok so, I’m mostly going with headcanons and some Gotham Knights lore because my knowledge of canon is passable at best but since the moment I first saw a Talon (I’m pretty sure it was fanart of Talon!Dick) I was obsessed. Evil organization comprised of a city’s elite? Sign me tf up.

A lot of this will mostly be in line with my Owl Song verse tho so bear with me >.<

The Court is ruthless. The Court controls Gotham. There’s an entire nursery rhyme dedicated to them and their most infamous weapon; the Talon.

And, see, Talon is where it gets interesting.

The Court has always had indoctrinated assassins working for them. But simple humans with human flaws and limitations… well, there was a point where that simply wasn’t enough anymore. They needed something better. Something stronger.

So they began researching, gathering scientists into their ranks and having them work on an interesting substance they’d discovered in one of the cave systems below Gotham: Electrum.

Human experimentation wasn’t far off at that point and soon they injected the first person with it. Unsurprisingly, that person died within a day. But instead of remaining inanimate (you know, like corpses should be) the body… started moving again after continued electrum exposure. Regaining mobility and basic brain functions with the added benefit regenerative abilities, increased agility and strength, and absolutely zero pain response.

The “corpse” was intelligent enough to follow simple instructions, but it wasn’t capable of speech or intelligent thought and perished not long after they stopped injecting electrum.

Regardless, the experiment was deemed a success and research into electrum and its “resurrection” properties continued.

The Electrum got modified over the years and infused with several genetic properties of various kinds of birds (mostly owls) to encourage animalistic traits to develop and aid in missions (and also to erase as much of the Talons’ humanity). Eventually the Court succeeded in making Talons that would not immediately die without a steady supply of Electrum, but since the Court doesn’t have use of most of them 24/7 (and because they are technically still corpses) they built cryostasis chambers in which the talons would be “stored” in between missions. Only a select few talons were kept in the mines at all times as a sort of guard should any civilian become curious and try to snoop around.

Of course those mindless soldiers are nice and all, exactly what the Court needed at the time, but they lack the ability to think for themselves, gather intel, and follow more complex orders.

New experimentations began. After all there must be a way to create a Talon that’s still all of the above but also capable of intelligent thought. They simply need to indoctrinate the chosen person early enough that disloyalty would never even cross their mind.

If we’re talking Owl Song verse, Dick was the perfect candidate for it. Recently orphaned and with amazing training? Young enough to be impressionable and twist his mind? It’s like he was made for this. For the Court.

But before they could turn him into their perfect little weapon he needed more training, so they kept him in the mines with the undead Talons, injecting small doses of electrum into him every couple days and pitting him against other talons.

After surviving for several months without any human contact save the scientists that would monitor his body’s reaction to the electrum, the Court deemed him ready for his first simple mission. To kill a low ranking member of the Court.

Dick refused.

The Court stepped up their game.

What followed were several months of indoctrination and veritable brainwashing through various methods. At the end of it Dick was actively suppressing any and all memories of his old life until he eventually ended up forgetting even his own name and started to refer to himself as Takon.

The next time the Court asked him to kill for them, he complied.

(Two years and many gruesome missions later they put him into the cryostasis chamber for the first time.

Dick felt his heartbeat slow down and his muscles lock—- but he didn’t lose consciousness. He remembers ever single moment of being stuck in the cold, in the darkness, dead but at the same time not.)

[rainywritesx]

Meeting Stray Kids

Synopsis: You’re Bang Chan’s girlfriend, and he has been wanting you to meet the rest of Stray Kids for a while. Today finally was the day, and to say you were nervous was probably an understatement

I wasn’t completely sure if I wanted to post this because I’m not very confident in my writing, but I’m finally able to get over my anxiety and do it, ehe ^^, hope you like it!

Warnings/things important to mention: Reader is implied to be a woman & non-Korean, some mention of a loss of appetite.

If you enjoyed this and would like to send me a request, please make sure to read my rules post beforehand <3 Enjoy!

Word count: 1.8K

“Love, I can practically see your mind running all over the place.” Chan laughed as he watched me nervously fiddle with my hands while I looked out of the car window. A soft sigh escaped my mouth as I looked at him with a clearly worried look. His smile fell a little as his gaze softened.

“Hey, it’s going to be fine.” He said while grabbing my hand and squeezing it softly. “The members are absolutely going to love you, I just know it.” I heard a hint of excitement in his voice that almost made me feel bad for being so anxious about meeting the rest of Stray Kids. Then again, how could I not be nervous?

“I don’t know,” I murmured. “What if I accidentally leave a horrible first impression?”

“That’s not going to happen, and even if that were to happen, they know better than to judge you solely off of the first meeting. ” That probably would have calmed me down if my brain hadn’t decided to worry about yet another thing.

“Oh my god, what if I mess up the honorifics in Korean? Minho and Changbin are the only members who are older than me, right?” My hand made its way to my face, and before I knew it, I was slightly picking at my skin. “Gosh, I’ve been learning Korean for three years but what if I speak to them informally by accident? I’d never be able to recover from that!”

“Come on, they’ll understand, it’s not that big of a problem, darling.” Chan said as he gently let go of my hand he was holding and grabbed my other hand to remove it from my face. “You don’t even want to know the things Felix said to the members by accident when he was still learning Korean.” He giggled while shaking his head.

Our conversation was interrupted by the car coming to a halt. Chan looked out the window and then turned back to me.

“We’re here! Let's go!” The two of us got out of the car, and Chan reached for my hand as soon as we started walking towards the JYPE building after thanking his manager for dropping us off. I had visited this building a couple of times before; there were a few occasions where Chan wanted to hang out in his studio or show me something, but that was usually when the other members weren’t around, hence why I hadn’t met them yet when I was there.

“I think the members are in the cafeteria since they usually have lunch around this time, are you hungry sweetie?” I shook my head. I probably should be hungry since I had a small breakfast, but my nerves were causing my appetite to be nearly gone. Chan seemed to immediately understand the cause of my lack of hunger, which I couldn’t be more grateful for.

“How about we share a plate of food? You don’t have to eat all of it, but in case you get hungry you can just take some of it.” I nodded in agreement.

We were getting closer to the cafeteria, and as we did so, I heard multiple voices, presumably the members, that were getting louder. Chan chuckled to himself upon hearing his members being rowdy.

“Wait, do they know I’m visiting today?” Chan looked away innocently, shrugging while trying to hide his laughter, but failing.

“Nope.” He giggled, causing my eyes to widen. I couldn’t say anything else, however, because we were now standing in the doorway to the cafeteria, which gave me no ability to hide. I noticed some of the members sitting at a table, while the rest were still grabbing their food.

“Hey!” Chan said, and everyone turned to our direction. I held my breath for a moment, not sure who to look at. Having seven pairs of eyes on you is definitely a nerve-wracking experience.

“Oh, we’ve got company!” Felix, who seemed to recognize me immediately, said. The two of us made eye contact and I smiled shyly. Felix accidentally interrupted Chan and I once when the two of us were calling, and he really wanted to say hi. Our conversation was short at the time, but I could already tell that he was really sweet.

“Wait, is this Y/N?” Hyunjin gasped. He didn’t wait for a response, and instead added “Hyung, you should have told us she was visiting!”

“Nah, this seemed more fun, and I think I was right.” Chan said with a small chuckle, enjoying everyone’s surprised reactions.

“Well hey, don’t just stand there, I’m sure she’s hungry!” Changbin said. Now that he mentioned it, maybe it was the smell of freshly baked bread that filled the cafeteria, but I was now finally starting to feel hungry.

“We’ll get our food real quick and then you guys can talk to each other, is that okay?” Everyone agreed and Chan and I quickly went to get something to eat.

“I’m paying.” He said before ordering for the both of us, not giving me a chance to protest in any way. I held back a sigh and simply rolled my eyes, knowing that debating him on this would be impossible. After he was done paying and we took our food, we made our way to the table where everyone was sitting now.

“You don’t have to pay for me every single time that we eat somewhere.” I said, pouting slightly while we walked. On one hand I couldn’t deny that it made my heart flutter anytime Chan offered to pay for our food, but I felt bad since he was doing it so often. He could afford it, but it sometimes made me worry I wasn’t doing enough to repay him.

“I know, but I want to. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be offering to do it, right?” I guess you couldn’t argue with that…

“Hyung, there’s two free seats over there.” Felix said as he gestured toward…. The middle of the table. My eyes widened slightly and I could feel heat rise to my cheeks. Chan and I would be sitting across each other, and we would essentially be surrounded by the other members. Although they seemed nice, I couldn’t help but feel nervous.

Chan didn’t seem to notice though, as he was looking at Felix, and he just nodded as he gestured for me to go to the chair between Felix and Changbin. Chan held his plate of food with one hand and pushed my chair for me so I could sit down, and immediately the others’ teasing began. He had already warned me about this beforehand, so I wasn’t completely surprised. It was slightly amusing to witness, to be honest.

“Woowww it seems our hyung has great manners after all!” Jisung said in an exaggerated tone.

“He learned it from me, obviously,” Changbin smirked, causing me to chuckle as I sat down. Chan shook his head and made his way over to his own seat.

“Well everyone, this is Y/N, Y/N, these are the members. You’ve met Felix before,” I smiled politely at Felix, who smiled back.

“Hi Y/N! It’s so amazing to finally meet you in real life!” Felix said happily.

“It’s nice to meet you too.” I replied as my hand subconsciously made its way to my hair to play with it, feeling a bit shy.

“Oooo, your Korean is good!” Hyunjin said. “How long have you lived here?”

“She said a single sentence.” A voice whom I assumed to be Minho commented, earning an eye roll from the other member.

“Moving on,” Chan said, ignoring the two which made me stifle a giggle. “The guy sitting on your other side is Changbin, that’s Minho, Jisung, Hyunjin, Jeongin, and Seungmin.” I smiled and lightly bowed at each member, trying my hardest to at least appear calm and composed

“Sooo, Y/N, how old are you?” Hyunjin asked curiously.

“Hey, where are your manners! Never ask a lady her age!” Jisung interrupted him.

“You’re one to talk about manners!” The other member retorted immediately. Chan looked at me and sighed, shaking his head, and I couldn’t help but quietly giggle. This was going to be interesting.

—————————————————————————————

“…And we had to attend ISAC the next day too! Chan hyung couldn’t stop complaining to us about his stomachache during the entire thing.” Hyunjin laughed, causing me to giggle as I covered my mouth.

Surprisingly, the afternoon had been going way more smoothly than I expected. The members’ easygoing attitudes definitely helped, they were polite of course but also made sure to joke around, so I didn’t feel as stiff. Although they did ask me questions, especially ones about Chan and my relationship that he never answered, it wasn’t overwhelming at all.

I was awoken from my thoughts at the sight of Chan walking towards my direction.“Sweetie, I’m sorry to interrupt, but don’t you have a shift at 3?” My eyes widened.

Shit.

I looked at my phone and then noticed it was 2:45 already. Gosh, my boss was going to kill me…

“It’s fine, I can drop you off so you can make it in time.” I sighed in relief.

“Thanks Channie.”

“I’ll go get the car, I’ll see you in a bit yeah?” I nodded and he then left. My gaze went back to Hyunjin, who had a small pout on his face.

“I haven’t even shown you any of my art yet!”

“I’m really sorry, but I can’t exactly miss my shift… Show them next time I visit! I still want to see them, Chan has told me about how beautiful your work is.” A shy smile covered Hyunjin’s lips as he nodded. I got up and grabbed my purse. Before leaving, I made sure to say goodbye to everyone, even receiving a hug from Felix, with whom I couldn’t stop talking during lunch.

“You should visit again soon, we may be busy at times but you’re always welcome to join us! Though, I’m sure Chan hyung knows that too.” I smiled and nodded.

“It was really lovely to meet you all! I was kinda worried that I was going to mess up or something, but everyone has been really nice.” Felix nodded.

“Mhm, except for when you almost cursed at Minho when you tried to compliment his shoes.” I covered my face in embarrassment, earning a giggle from him. Thankfully it was only Minho and Felix who had witnessed that, I think I would’ve died on the spot if the entire group heard it. Still, it was embarrassing.

“Please don’t remind me!! I knew I was going to mess up my Korean at some point.”

“Nah it’s all good, I think he knew what you were trying to say.” He giggled. The two of us were interrupted by a car honking, which was probably Chan waiting for me.

“Okay, I really gotta go now, byee!” I said before leaving the building, feeling a lot more relaxed compared to when I arrived here.

Hm, I guess it didn’t go that badly after all.

[serpensortiamaxima]

What a delightful drama I've woken up to this morning, eh? I still have thoughts I've not seen being brought up so buckle up.

People aren't upset about the summer update. That whole thing is a symptom, not the cause. What people are upset about is the state of the game itself and how much it is lacking and has been lacking since the beginning.

In the past decade or so, we have gotten more and more accustomed to being sold unfinished games, but with the promise that "don't worry we'll patch it in later updates", and then this never happened. In fact, if Hogwarts Legacy had been an excellent game with its holes patched up and they decided to grant us this free update? The reception would have been, much, much better.

And, excuse the harshness but I do wonder how capitalism-rotten your brain has to be to miss that it's about the principle rather than the update itself. We should not allow corporations to get away with always giving less and less to their clients. Ever. And I can already hear the counter argument of "you can't always get what you want!" and again, that's not my point.

The point is that corporations aim for cost effectiveness. Especially for a free update, they're not going to look at what the community wants really, they will pick the one thing that requires the least time and the least resources because they will have to pay for the time and production cost of a new feature. They know that free updates don't bring in new players. A free update is a way to do community management and get some hype, it might bring in some sales, but never enough to make profit.

Customers aren't upset about the update itself, they're experiencing now the frustration about the game they've always put on the side so far, due to this habit I've mentioned above, of expecting fixes and patches and regular updates from a game, especially one so recently released.

It only takes a quick glance at what's happening with EA in general to see a similar pattern of new content being botched or overpriced, only to receive intense backlash. And that backlash is necessary. Staying complacent and simply accepting your fate as a gamer customer is exactly what corporations are hoping for, because then they don't have to do more. They receive this feedback that it's fine, that they can just do the bare minimum and expect their customer base to eat up the new content in gratefulness. Really? Do we really want to trigger this loop of always getting less and less for something that not only has been bought but that the customers don't even own?

This isn't a Hogwarts Legacy issue, it's an industry wide trend, and we should recognize it as such.

Now, to my last point: mods. I got into modding Skyrim in 2013. Both as an avid user of mods and sometimes to make my own light tweaks for storytelling. For the most part, I'm mostly a mod user and every single time a game I played could be modded, I did so. My current Skyrim save is running on over 200 of them. I only ever play vanilla when I have no other choice. I've quickly touched on the topic yesterday by pointing out how modding requires a healthy and thriving community to work.

There are two main factors to achieve those requirements:

The company behind the game needs to support making mods for their games.

A big and interested customer base

And I guess the hidden third requirement is the coding language and how accessible it is. But I digress. My understanding of the modding community for HL is that it is very small, and therefore limited and that Portkey/Avalanche hasn't provided any resources for modders.

And so, I don't think we'll see a thriving community for HL any time soon, at least not of the comparable kind. And for me, personally, it means that the kind of gamechanging mods I would want to see simply aren't going to happen.

The kind of mods I tend to use are very immersion-focused to allow for a real roleplaying experience, that would include the ability to create new animations, to assign additional dialogues to NPCs, additional routing for NPCs within the map, to allow the player to completely ignore the main quest if they wanted to etc. And I'm afraid that HL is built in such a way that it doesn't have this flexibility even for an experienced mod creator but especially not if the modding community for the game is too small. A lot of these things would require a lot of time, a lot of code, and ton of testing and beta play.

And that doesn't mean that there can't be good mods made, but if the player base wanted to have more mods of a very high quality, we would still need to put pressure on Avalanche to tell them that if they're not ready to provide us with new content, the least they could do is make modding more accessible on their game.

[2309analysis]

What do you think would happen if Tails Sails Mangey and Nine all interacted with each other?

See, I was thinking about this all week. Mainly due to my theory, and just the pure nature of Tails’ the Fox. His character remotely resembles a child; in both psychological, and emotional aspects. While he is physically a child, his brain and maturity level is not. Its far exceeds the average intellect and ability to comprehend. Making Tails’ far more complex than most people realize. So, I’m basically going to explain how he would really only be on his wavelength. Literally all will but the communication will be tad different with each counterpart of Tails’.

Starting with Nine:

─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─

Tails’:

To me, he’ll be the easiest communication-wise. I think the two Foxes’ would be wary of each other; mainly due to Nine’s hard drive on not being compatible with Tails’s personality and his viewpoint of the world. Nine wouldn’t really want to get into Tails’s character, or really understand his tinkering. While, he has similar habits, and thought-process, I honestly think his openness and willingness/over-friendliness would honestly frighten Nine.

Moving onto the actual interaction between the two. I honestly think Tails’ just be nervous, Nine’s got a pretty judgmental attitude and defensive personality. Making it very hard to really understand his thoughts, which Tails’ usually doesn’t have problems with. ‘Cause everyone in his head is statutory, but himself? With another version of himself? Oh, boy, where does he even begin? He’d be the first initiator, due to anxiety eating him up. “Um… so, you’re supposed to be a counterpart of me? Heh, well, you do look a lot like me—“ “Just stop talking.” Nine would quickly shut him down at first. Mainly due, to the frustration of Sonic forcing them to do this.

“Err… do you at least want something to eat?” Nine just slowly turns his head, and looks Tails’ deadbeat in the eyes. “Nah, I’m good with this bark of wood. Thanks for asking.” I think Nine has a sarcastic defense mechanism around others’, (Sonic’s circumstances are diffrent) especially over people who try to know him. Which is hard for anime, it’s extremely out of his comfort zone; he doesn’t like interactions. Knowing this, he’s especially reluctant towards Tails’.

I think Tails’ will catch onto this extremely quickly; and back off. For a couple of weeks, it’s awkward, and very difficult to really know how the two feel about each other. Nine does soften up once he starts to catch Tails’ mind explore and invent endless amount of things in his meantime. I think this is where Nine is the first initiator. To Nine’s surprise, they get along well, especially when it comes to analyzing; making Sonic pretty relieved. 

─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─

Sails’:

Honestly, I would think they’d kinda ignore each other. Both well-aware and about how the other feels about each other, making it kinda hard for them to open up. Awkward, and tense when around each other. I’m talking about, a what if, this was all happening after the events of Prime. It’d still be this way, due to Nine’s lack of social awareness.

I still think Sails’ give Nine a chance. Like actively trying to hang out with him, ask him some small questions on how he invests or makes things. Small little interactions, at first, but I honestly don’t think they’ll become nearly as close as Nine and Tails’. Which isn’t much of a bummer, because Saul’s’ prefers other characters, like Amy, Tails’ himself, Sonic, and his captain, Dread.

They’d team up with each other, and fight alongside each other if they had to. They won’t be their first choice; but a reliable duo. They would trust each other with weapon-making, and temporary cooperations. Extra points, if they wink at each other to take initiatives, and smile about winning.

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Mangey:

The poor Foxes would never have a coherent conversation. Genuinely would not know how to interact with each other. Mangey is too savage and nervous to ever really properly calm down and actually sit with Nine. Nine’s too way and paranoid something bad is going to happen if they tried forcing him. The two are too mentally unstable to be able to handle each other’s emotions.

It’s like asking a baby to walk without falling. It’s a lot of trail and error. It’d take at least a month or two or them to even be on the same emotional wavelength. Mangey’s broken English and bad sense of social order makes Nine extremely uncomfortable. They try not to get angry or overwhelmed by each other; because they both understand that the other is trying. (Keeping in mind about the after events)

“M-me like y-ou.” “Huh… you’re improving. That’s excellent.” They will warm up with each other over communicating and improving speeches. Nine would basically become Mangey’s language arts teacher. Teaching him all the basics about talking, writing, and reading. Sonic will help by holding up pictures of simple things.

Next is Sails’:

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Tails’:

He’s by far, going to be the most mentally stable and simple out of the three counterparts. Easily, because he’s pretty much mostly like Tails’ himself. Making things communication-wise a whole lot less stressful for Tails’. The only downside is the pirate talk. Tails’ might hinder with the new communication system; making it slightly harder for him to properly respond. Which won’t be much a of a problem, as it quickly gets solved, because Tails’ easily adapts.

Also, I think Tails’ would find it super interesting and unique. Making them probably the fastest to become friends. They’re buddies, they’re improving each other’s inventions, making sure the other isn’t lost. They’re practically brothers. They’d both keep each other company and joke around a lot. Making Dread kinda annoyed, because most jokes are inside jokes about highly complex things.

They’d keep each other’s back covered, if they would ever get into a fight. They would never abandon each other, and make sure they’re both are safe. They’d boost each other up and uplift themselves. Alongside of double teaming with Sonic and Nine! They’re unbeatable. Tails’ would also dork out about his helper hand. Finding it effective and extremely cool. Tails’ now has one he can use! Occasionally, though.

─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─

Mangey:

Honestly, same way as Tails’. It’d basically be like having a kid brother. Sails’ already took care on Mangey in season 3, but more normalized. Sails’ keeps Mangey out of trouble, and calms down his nerves. I would feel like Sails’ honestly follows Mangey around out of curiosity about his behaviorism. Constantly noting it, and the improvements, habits, etc.

Tails’ would definitely join in. Not making a habit of it, like Sails, would, though. It’s merely out of keeping him protected and innocent. As in, he’s never, ever, stepping foot inside Eggman’s factory or laboratory. Not unless it was extremely important, and Mangey’s friends were in danger. Also, it’d feel like belittlement after a while, and if Mangey showed enough attention-improvement, he could be sent on special missions.

─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─

Nine:

I think he’d be pretty indifferent about Sails’. Like Tails’. Like I said, it’d take a large while for them to warm up with each other. It’s not they actually don’t like each other; but they’re a tad suspicious of each other. Both tensed, awkward socially distant foxes. Nice combo… but Sonic turned things around telling them both to just take it slow.

They’re the slowest and subtler find than all of the other three. They just don’t notice each other, and it’s not a bad thing; but they have less appeal towards each other. They will work together, and share mostly the same opinions; and make sure that the other is okay, but that’s all.

Next is Mangey:

─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─

Tails’:

Tails’ would give him a lot of snacks. Plus, a bunch of stolen Chili Dogs from Sonic. The two would be usually spotted eating and going over simplistic ways to teach Mangey real communication with Nine. Both Nine and Tails’ would take turns with Mangey helping his improvement of social and personal development.

Sails’ helps with the emotional department, making sure he doesn’t get too overwhelmed. Tails’ acts like character for Mangey to see scenarios of conversations and situations. I feel like Mangey is a visual learner, so it’s ultimately easier for him to comprehend after seeing what happens. That also includes spying on others’, but mainly Sonic, and their friends.

─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─

Nine:

He would leave Mangey alone at first. Kinda steering clear, because he doesn’t really like unwanted attention or company. Knowing Mangey would give so much of that, he tries to keep off of his track, and kinda cower away. Not to be offensive; but because he’s not entirely used to having friends.

Not until he decided to give him the opportunity to grow. Once Mangey starts to show signs of large improvement of social skills, emotional maturity and development, Nine doesn’t entirely mind when he’s around. Since, by this point, Mangey sees Nine as a bigger brother.

─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─

Sails’:

He would voluntarily help Nine and Tails’ out making improvements with Mangey’s abilities and growth. Especially with the language and emotional support. Making sure that Mangey doesn’t get too overwhelmed by anything; he’ll also be the supplier of treats.

He would also help Nine come up with a series of quizzes for Mangey. Making sure all of the studying is actually sticking with him. Nine would create the question, Sails’ would make the answer. Tails’ help out giving small hints, and Mangey would get a treat if he doesn’t need any hints. He would get a whole snack, if he gets a 100 for the quiz.

Next is Tails’:

─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─

Nine:

The two would be awkward at first, but the more they found in common about each other’s habits, they became more comfortable around each other. I think Nine would be emotionally tired, and deprived of any sort of intimacy with love; and Tails’ deeply understood this. Instead of Sonic being Nine’s only friend and well, savior, Tails’ basically became his newest friend.

─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─

Mangey:

As I have said this over and over again, (lmao) Nine would advise, commit to Mangey’s growth. Finding some joy out of seeing his counterpart grow, and improving. It makes him feel like he means something more rather than something of nothing. Tails’ sorta feels the same way; and it makes them more comfortable and less anxious around Mangey. Mainly due to the wavy their shatter verses are; it’s hard for all four of them to collectively get along at the same time.

─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─

Sails’:

They would love each other. From intelligence to little quirks about certain things. Tails’ would indefinitely make little gadgets for all four; but mainly Sails’. They would have the most in common with each other. They’re little collaborations with each other to make each other’s lives in their own verses easier. Especially for Nine. Like, face-timing each other, occasionally, send each other a bunch of letters.

─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─

I’ll whiff up headcanons later over them. They’re such a cute couple of interactions; but I wouldn’t mind adding some angst to it next time. Those will most likely appear in a few headcanons. Thanks for this question; it was really fun writing this out, especially individually! (I love making myself suffer)

This is them.

[educating-bimbos]

The Pinned Post 2

new pinned post because tumblr hid my old one from my view so I can't see, edit it, or reblog it to add an addendum. I only have a few things to add, so I am just going to copy and paste it.

Who is Educating Bimbos?

My name is Nicolette. I am a technical artist, musician, and an outdoorsy type of gal. I enjoy the finer things in life, and I fancy myself a traditional woman and a bimbo. I don't really enjoy mindlessly obsessing over labels, but if it helps people gauge where my brain is at, I am pro-patriarchy, in favor of traditional gender roles and dynamics, an ex-feminist, and before all else a believer in one's ability to exercise personal freedoms. My beliefs, mannerisms, and presentation attract the ire of feminists, born-again-religious types, and any number of anti-fun douchebags. At the end of the day, just remember that behind this silly blog is a silly person.

What is Educating Bimbos?

It is a blog and small community of bimbos looking to learn more about and express a traditional lifestyle. It is also about people who may not be familiar with or comfortable around things like BDSM get a nice and soft introduction to it without being exposed immediately to the idea of how people can enjoy things in a pseudo-sexual context. At the end of the day, it is a blog and community where I and other like-minded people can express silly ideas without the fear of being lambasted by people seeking to harm others.

Where is Educating Bimbos?

Educating Bimbos can be found in one of these two places.

Why is Educating Bimbos?

Well for a while I was annoyed by the lack of communities that focused on a kind of "hyper-feminine" aesthetic while also promoting more traditional ideas. There was also the issue of communities that have tried this before of devolving into bigoted and abusive communities that would do everything under the sun to create an insular and ToS breaking community. I spoke with a friend of mine who runs a similar community a while ago and she inspired me to give this a shot. Now - close to 3 years later - I have a steadily growing community that pulls from all corners of ideology, cultural, ethnic, and interest level and the discord has been almost completely drama-free in its whole existence.

When is Educating Bimbos?

I am alive and doing silly stuff all day, every day. Except when it is nap time in which case I will be in the realm of dreams.

What's an ex-lesbian and why do you call yourself that?

For a number of very personal reasons, I have decided to call myself an ex-lesbian. I did this of my own volition, and I was not pressured into doing so. For a long time, I had thought of myself as a lesbian, mostly because of socialization and how all the girls around me were so might as well follow suit. I experienced a number of harmful and traumatic events when I considered myself a lesbian and it effected how I view myself. After a while and talking to some friends who I trust dearly, I came to the realization that I am not a lesbian and that it really isn't a thing I identify with the same way others do. I am still trying to come to grips with that given I only relatively recently had that realization. I also feel that people use that term in bad faith to harm people and to push bad narratives and ideas so I thought "hey might as well try and take back what should be an innocuous phrase."

In short, I think an ex-lesbian is just a way of identifying one's sexuality similar to asexuality or demisexuality. It is not that I am one sexuality or another, it's that my sexuality is defined by my experience and coming of age.

I have had a number of people confront me about this, talk to me about it in sincere curiosity, and even attack me. I welcome anyone who is curious or has a genuine contention to come to me in DMs, I am not a mean person, and I will love to talk honestly and respectfully. I find that disagreement is not grounds to discredit or avoid befriending people, I hope you can do the same.

Further questions for Educating Bimbos?

If you find that these questions are unsatisfactory in any regard, or you wish to try your hand at doing what I do, follow these two links!

Ask me anything!

Ask me anything you want! I have some personal rules with regards to what I can and cannot upload, but this is generally the best way for me to answer any question you may have. I also have anonymous asks enabled just in case you are shy.

Submit a post!

If you think I should be made aware of something, post something, or if you just want to signal boost something try this. So far, I have no real rules or expectations so do whatever you want with this button.

[tobiasdrake]

So, the film opens with the atomic bombing of Nagasaki in WWII. A scene I'd love to hear a Japanese perspective on because it feels weird to me.

So, they see two enemy planes flying towards Nagasaki which is that city across the bay. Immediately, the entire camp goes into a total panic.

Soldiers are fleeing the camp on foot.

The officers all get together to commit seppuku together.

Yashida releases all the POWs from their camp. He does this by slicing off the padlock with a katana. I don't know the physics well enough to know if that would actually hold up, but I do know they're setting him up to be an Anime Warrior Superperson so I'm not going to question it too much.

They also take a moment to note that Yashida made this choice in the heat of the moment. There were no orders to release the prisoners; He's just demonstrating his own kind heart. This is conveyed through a guard in a tower shooting at the escaping POWs until Yashida yells at him to hold his fire.

Logan, down in a pit, apparently knows a lot about atomic bombs. Enough to know that a bomb delivered by a B-29 to Nagasaki will wipe out this military base across the bay. He calls out the type of plane specifically like, "Oh yeah, that's the A-Bomb plane, those deliver A-Bombs".

Logan is a Canadian foot soldier who's been imprisoned in a well for an indeterminate length of this war. Would he be able to see an American B-29 in the distance and go "Yep, that means an atom bomb is incoming; better hide in a well to avoid the blast radius."

Then the bomb goes off.

Yashida looks directly into the flash and is totally fine. Um.

Logan then grabs Yashida and jumps back into the well with him. He can't seal the well, so he grabs a big chunk of metal that I guess was just lying around and throws that over Yashida.

Fortuanately, metal is famous for its ability to remain cold under intense heat. So while Logan gets barbecued by atomic fire, Yashida is safe and sound save for one part of his face where the heat got in through a small hole in the metal plate.

Yashida gets up and watches a smoking husk of meat regenerate back into a man. Reasonably freaked out by this, he tries to exit the well, but Logan stops him.

Logan looks up at the sky and sees all the nuclear fallout in the air. So he makes Yashida stay down here in an open-air hole in the ground where the fallout can't reach them.

Honestly, Logan seems to know a startling amount about nuclear bombs. Was he on the Manhattan Project?

This is all....

I dunno. This is the Nagasaki bombing, so Hiroshima just happened three days ago. So it's not like they wouldn't know what's coming. But I don't know. This whole "OH MY GOD THE AMERICANS ARE COMING KILL YOURSELVES OR RUN LIKE HELL" thing gives me a strong whiff of history written by Americans.

I don't know. Maybe I'm just paranoid due to the lack of any Japanese creatives involved with the making of this film. I have no idea what this moment in history must have been like on the ground. I can't even imagine. But this feels very Hollywood.

I cannot say with certainty that any of this is wrong. I am not a scholar of nuclear physics, nor am I well-versed in Japanese military culture circa-1945.

But this whole scene just feels weird to me. Either I don't know enough to explain why this is all wrong, or I don't know enough to understand that it's actually right. But I'm definitely having the creeping sensation of knowing that I don't have enough information to parse what I'm seeing.

(As an aside, I have seen some people point out that this is a dream sequence to explain away how weird it feels. But I don't accept that explanation. What Logan is dreaming up is clearly meant to be the memory of a real event that he lived through. Yashida is not a made-up giraffe man his brain invented to process his feelings about WWII. The events of this day in Logan's history drive the rest of the film.)