#and that's a very hard to answer question because I can see arguments made both ways

[luigra]

The appeal of putting Joe Hills in a server other than Hermitcraft is that his approach to situations is just universally jarring. That's the POINT of the Difference. Joe Hills as a character is fun because he wouldn't fit the genre around him! His appeal is being not just a weird guy, but a highly improbable guy.

[jenosbigtoe]

NEED NEED NEED another one shot with jeno and dumb sluts 🥹🥹

mdni. nsfw 18+ (read part 1)

pairing: lee jeno x reader x na jaemin

warnings: everyone here is still a freak, recording of sexual activities, so much sex, nomin are kinda sleazy and reader is kinda slutty so match made in heaven

jeno has your contact name saved as “slut❤️” and jaemin has it under “SLUT🙇‍♂️”, without even knowing what the other already put. when they saw what the other had your contact saved as, they gave each other a high five.

jeno and jaemin are so competitive and possessive over you. jeno is the only one allowed to call you his baby, and if jaemin calls you baby it turns into (another) big argument. and jaemin is the only one allowed to call you princess, or else it will, again, lead to another argument. however, they have an unspoken agreement to both call you babygirl because you’re their babygirl duh.

they make it competition to see who can make plans with you first before the other one can.

jeno: baby come over tonight.

you: sry jen

you: jaem invited me over first

jeno was punching the air after that.

or jaemin would snap you a pic of his veiny hands grabbing his very obviously hard dick through his sweatpants with the captioned “thinking about you princess. come over”

you snapped back a picture of a fake pout saying “i’m at jen’s rn”. jaemin could see a shirtless jeno hugging your back behind you in that pic, causing him to see red.

they try to one up each other on absolutely everything. asking you questions like “okay who do you see more though?” and “who gives the best head?” and “whose dick game is stronger?” you never give them an answer, obviously, because you think it’s fun when they try to go even harder than the other to beat each other in this made up competition.

whenever you hook up with either of them, they will snap pics and take videos to gloat to the other. like jaemin will send jeno a pic of your naked bodies tangled up together after a good fucking captioned “😁” or jeno will send jaemin an uncaptioned video of you deepthroating his cock.

when jeno and jaemin hang out one on one, their new favorite thing to do together (besides you duh) is compare the suggestive snaps you send them or the sex tapes you made with each of them.

“jaemin, look at this lingeries pic i got last night ooh aren’t you so jealous?”

“jeno, hate to break it to you dude but she literally sent you that pic right before i ripped that off her and fucked her stupid.”

then he’d show jeno the video he got of you letting him tittyfuck, his cock rubbing so deliciously between your plump tits as you licked and sucked on the tip.

“fuck you jaem, lemme show you the time she let me take her ass then.”

all this competitiveness works out in your favor of course. you know about everything they do, from sending pics and videos of your hookups to comparing them when they’re with each other. all you have to do is tell jeno “ugh jaemin had me in this position last night and i have never felt so good” before jeno will seriously have you twisted like a pretzel and fucked dumb with his cock until you’re a sobbing mindless mess. or you’ll tell jaemin “jeno hit so deep in me earlier i could feel him in my lungs” before jaemin will take you on the wall, the mattress, the counter, the washing machine, the bathtub, and MORE balls deep and slapping your clit every time.

to switch it up every so often, you’d invite both of them at the same time over to your place, conveniently neglecting to tell them that the other would also be coming over.

you’d be lying on your back, legs up in the air, as jaemin ate and fingered your drooling little cunt when jeno would walk in, tutting and snarling at the sight.

“well, looks like this greedy little slut did it again. invited us both over because she can’t go a day without getting stuffed by two cocks.” jeno rips his clothes off and crawls onto the bed, grabbing your face into his strong grip and pressing a crushing kiss on your lips.

jaemin wouldn’t even look up from eating your pussy like a starved man, he’d smirk into your cunt and continue licking and sucking on it.

they’d do a rock paper scissors to see who gets to fuck your pussy first (jaemin won this time).

“what a fucking slut, jeno,” jaemin would pant, rutting his hips fast and deep into yours as he took you on all fours.

you were too busy licking and sucking on jeno’s cock in the front. “yeah, our slut. only we get to see her like this. isn’t that right huh babygirl?” jeno stroked your cheek affectionately.

you loved being a slut for jeno and jaemin.

[heartsforvin]

maybe you could do a fic abt influencer gf! and vinnie 😖 like maybe she’s filming a yt video and he just walks in and basically hard launch their relationship :00

SECRET’S OUT

loveeee this idea !!! thank you for the request !!!

pairing; vinnie hacker x fem!influencer!reader

warnings; cussing, use of pet names, teasing, if i missed anything lmk !!

summary; you’re filming a youtube video and vinnie accidentally lets something slip

you and vinnie had been dating for a couple months now, but you kept your relationship private on socials.

no one on your platforms knew you were dating vinnie. being an influencer mostly meant your whole life was online, and you wanted to keep that part of your life to yourself as much as you could.

when you met vinnie you had told him that most of your life was online and that if the two of you started anything serious, you’d like to keep it private.

he was okay with that and very understanding. there had been arguments in the past about it. him saying he just wants to show you off but he can’t because of your profession.

you felt terrible, feeling like your keeping your relationship a secret instead of just for privacy reasons.

the two of you had a long talk, discussing solutions and talking out feelings. you came to a conclusion and you both were happy with it.

today, you were filming a video for your youtube channel. you had gotten everything set up in your room, making sure nothing was out of place before you hit record on your camera.

you explained how you were going to do a q&a, answering some frequently asked questions and other things that you see often in your comment section.

you pull out your phone and start answering the questions, going into detail about them as you do.

while answering another detailed question, you don’t see the incoming text from your boyfriend that tells you he’s made it to your place.

you wrap up with that question and move onto the next, still not seeing the text. before you can get a word out, your bedroom door opens and you see your boyfriend.

you smile, not knowing how to tell him your currently filming, he obviously doesn’t see the camera being held up by the tripod.

vinnie makes his way to you and tackles you, squeezing you tightly and showering you with kisses.

you giggle at the contact of your boyfriends kisses all over your face. vinnie lifts off you and smiles, tucking a strand of hair behind your ear.

“you look so pretty today, baby.” he whispers, kissing you softly.

“i don’t look pretty everyday?” you tease, making vinnie blush.

you hit his chest lightly and laugh. “i’m just kidding, vin. thank you.”

the two of you sit up, still facing each other. you realize that vinnie still hasn’t noticed the camera, which is filming everything.

“well actually, half the time you do look — what, i look like what?” you cut him off, giving him a smile to let him know you’re not actually upset with what he’s about to say.

“like the most prettiest, beautiful, sexiest, girl in the world.” he says sweetly, adding the last compliment just to see your reaction.

he watches you blush and cover your face with your hands. smiling, he removes your hands from your face.

“there you are!” he gushes. “i’m so lucky to be yours, y’know that?” he asks, caressing your cheek softly.

that’s when you tense up and realize the camera was still rolling, and he had said it loud enough to where it definitely picked it up.

all the touches and kisses didn’t register in your head, half the time you’ve been like this, you two were facing away from the camera, only your backs being shown in the frame.

“shit,” you curse as you carefully push vinnie off you. “i totally forgot.”

vinnie furrows his eyebrows in confusion, wondering what you were talking about.

you turn around and gesture to the film equipment right next to you.

“i was filming a q and a, i totally forgot the camera was still going when you came in..” you said.

vinnie caught on, “and i just slipped, didn’t i?” he asks, rubbing his hands over his face.

the camera was off now, but that doesn’t excuse the fact it picked up everything.

“you could always edit it out. i mean, it was like twenty minutes of just us goofin’ around.” vinnie told.

that was true, but then you’d have to refilm the whole video, having answered a question right as he walked into the room.

“i could always… leave it in?” you ask, wanting to make sure vinnie was comfortable with it.

his smile is so wide across his pretty face that you can’t help but smile too. he walks to you, wrapping his arms around you with a kiss to your head.

“if that’s what you wan— no, i’m asking you, v. do you want me to keep it in?”

you were already warming up to the idea of showing vinnie off on socials, you felt the time was coming soon, and you wanted to take that next step.

you knew vinnie had become a bit hesitant, not wanting your fans to get upset or anything like that. he knew how they could get from time to time.

he smiled at your generosity, holding your hands in his and squeezing them lightly. “i’m okay with it, i think we’ve waited long enough.”

you smile and kiss him, excited for this new step. it wasn’t anything huge, but now all of your followers could finally meet the boy that has made you the happiest you’ve ever been for months now.

grabbing the camera, you head straight to your desk and tell vinnie you’re going to edit it a bit before posting it.

once it’s posted, vinnie kisses your cheek and smiles. “i’m glad the secret is out, the secret that wasn’t really one, but you know.”

you laugh and rub your thumb against his cheekbone, kissing him.

“me too, i’m glad everyone finally gets to meet you now.”

hours after the video was posted, comments on all your platforms were going crazy. most of them said how cute you and vinnie are together, but there were a few that had been a bit rude.

you learned not to let them get the best of you. you had an amazing man that treated you right and loved you unconditionally, that’s all you cared about.

two posts in two days i’m on a roll 🤗

i just feel bad for leavin yall hangin for awhile sometimes, but i promise im working on stuff, life is just busy <\3

i hope you all liked this though !!! i loved writing it, it was so cute <333

tags: @anqeliclust , @cosmicanakin , @forevergirlposts , @slvthrs , @leqonsluv3r , @bernelflo , @visualbutterflysworld , @louloulemons-blog , @st4rswrld , @laylasbunbunny , @0strawberrysorbet0 , @hallecarey1 , @kayleighh , @violet0182 , @lovingsturniolo , @supabhad , @kriissy4gov

[waiting-for-a-sunny-day]

If Geto and Gojo were so close, why didn't Geto try to convince Gojo to defect with him?

Because Geto knew that Gojo’s support would guarantee his success, but that success would come at the cost of hurting Gojo.

I believe that Geto cared more about protecting Gojo than he cared about building a better world.

..

Let me explain…

First, let’s talk about why it would’ve made sense for Geto to ask Gojo to join him:

(1) Gojo would’ve been Geto’s most important / most powerful ally

By the time of Geto’s defection, Gojo is already the strongest sorcerer in existence. He and Geto are two of only three special grade sorcerers. Having them both on the same side is essentially an automatic win.

(2) Gojo should’ve been (relatively) easy to persuade

Gojo had already told Geto that he didn't like having to save the weak and didn't care about the moral justifications for it…

…Geto has also seen that Gojo doesn’t always value / protect human life. He was ready to massacre the Time Vessel Association without reason, but ultimately he didn't, because he deferred to Geto's judgement…

…and, most importantly, they are best friends on a DEEP, unparalleled level. Geto is Gojo’s “one and only” best friend.

If Geto was truly dedicated to changing the world order, Gojo should’ve been the first and most important person that he tried to recruit to his insurgency / cult / mission.

BUT

Not only does Geto make zero effort to reach out to / recruit Gojo, he actively avoids him and pushes him away...

- - - - - Keep reading cut - - - - -

After he kills the 112 non-sorcerers, Geto runs into Shoko in Shinjuku. He happily approaches her and willingly answers her questions.

Look at his smiling face in their interactions:

But, when Shoko calls Gojo, Geto leaves before Gojo shows up. Gojo tracks him down anyway and demands an explanation. Geto still doesn’t want to talk about it (“You already heard it.”)

It's strange, right? Geto loves talking about his vision of a better world with everyone else.

Then, there is this confusing progression of dialog:

Geto is hurt/annoyed that Gojo doesn’t believe in him, so he points out that Gojo’s argument against his plan is invalid. The plan is possible (“You could do it”), therefore (according to Gojo’s own logic) it’s not “pointless.”

In a way, Geto is admitting that he knows it would make the most sense for Gojo to join him.

But before Gojo can respond, Geto pivots to saying something extremely hurtful. He's questioning who Gojo is / would be if he wasn't the strongest. Is there really anything more to him? (See more detail in my post here).

Then, in the very next panel Geto turns and starts walking away.

In summary: (1) Geto avoids Gojo, (2) Geto only argues in favor of his plan when Gojo forces/baits him, (3) Upon invalidating Gojo’s opposition to his plan, Geto immediately puts emotional distance between them, (4) Geto then puts physical distance between them.

Why is Geto trying so hard to make sure that Gojo won’t follow him?

Is he just being prideful about doing this on his own? Is he so angry at Gojo's arrogance that he'd jeopardize the success of his life's mission over it?

These arguments aren't in line with Geto's characterization / known motivations (see the end of this post, if you're interested in more on that.)

Geto's main motivation is (a twisted form of) compassion. He wants to end the suffering of sorcerers.

He is a thoughtful, contemplative person, and would've thought about the ramifications of recruiting Gojo.

What are the ramifications?

If Gojo joins the cause, Geto’s plan would succeed, but Gojo would suffer for it.

Like anyone who joins Geto's cult, Gojo would become a pariah / fugitive from Jujutsu society. He’d kill people. He’d kill other sorcerers.

But because Gojo has the singular level of strength/ability to kill non-sorcerers en masse, he would commit the vast majority (or all) of the murder / destruction. The legal, social, and mental impacts would be most severe on Gojo.

(Also, at this point, I think Geto may still question whether he’s made the right choice. It’s difficult to go from a hardline stance on protecting non-sorcerers to wanting to gen0c1de them, within the span of a year, without any lingering ethical qualms. So he may be worried about moral costs to Gojo as well.)

Let’s remember that Geto (canonically) deeply loves Gojo. Gojo is his one and only best friend. Geto worries about Gojo when he overworks himself protecting Riko. Geto is shocked when Toji kills Riko in front of him, but he only flies into a rage when he thinks Toji has killed Gojo. (Again, see my post here for more on how much Geto loves Gojo).

So, it makes sense that Geto is ready to make sacrifices to create a better world, but it’s a cost he’s willing to put on his own head. Not Gojo's.

Ultimately, Geto cares more about Gojo than he cares about achieving the mission he has dedicated his life to.

The last thing Geto says to him is this:

What he's really asking Gojo is: "Have you stopped loving me, now that I've committed myself to this dark path? Would you kill me to save them?"

If Gojo hates Geto enough that he’d kill him, then Geto never had a chance of recruiting Gojo in the first place.

Of course, Gojo can’t make himself hurt Geto. He still loves Geto too much.

Geto protected Gojo by pushing him away.

___

Addendum:

I'll also argue against two other possible explanations for Geto's behavior.

(1) Geto is jealous / prideful /wants to build his own legacy without Gojo stealing the spotlight

Geto has clear motivations for his goals and they’re not egotistical. He wants to end the suffering of sorcerers caused by non-sorcerers’ existence (e.g., Riko’s death, Mimiko & Nanako’s abuse).

Geto’s pride isn’t hurt when Gojo becomes the strongest. The only thing that bothers Geto is that they’re getting sent on separate missions.

After Gojo becomes stronger that him, Geto still has overt affection for Gojo (e.g., he asks Haibara to bring back sweets from his mission so he can share with Gojo).

Although Geto does believe in his superiority over non-sorcerers, he doesn't feel superior over other sorcerers and doesn't struggle with his 'inferiority' to Gojo.

Does Gojo’s lack of faith in Geto’s ability (calling his goal “impossible”), spur Geto to want to prove himself? Yes, probably. But Geto had already been avoiding Gojo before he said that. And I don’t believe that wanting to prove himself to Gojo would overshadow his stronger motivation to build a better world for sorcerers.

(2) He thinks Gojo actually is too moral to join him

After Geto kills the 112 non-sorcerers, Gojo is shocked and upset by what’s happened, but not once does he insult Geto or imply that Geto has done something unforgivable. In fact, he’s practically begging Geto to explain himself because he wants to be able to justify his actions. And, again, Gojo’s argument against Geto’s plan is NOT that “it’s wrong,” it’s that “it’s impossible.”

[br-disaster]

Nie Mingjue's Fatal Journey crying scenes appreciation post

There's no way I wouldn't make this post, but it ended up way longer than I intended.

Fighting with Huaisang

When is this man not tearing up?

This fight is so important for Huaisang's character development and the movie's themes, with Huaisang being ready to challenge and question the Nie ways and Mingjue doing his best to uphold those traditions and keep the peace through the only way he knows how.

But it's still hard to be challenged like this and to face the possibility that everything you've ever known might not be right, actually.

And this gif specifically is from the moment Huaisang questions if Mingjue even knows what they're there to fight and what this supposed great evil that will come to Qinghe if they fail to balance their blades even is. Mingjue has no answer, of course, I suppose he was only taught this and never had reason to question it.

But Huaisang is also talking about the disciples they already 'lost' at this point of the movie, and he says something along the lines of " You don't know anything, you only know how to bring them here to die" and that does it. Because it's both "you can't follow these rules blindly when they rely on sacrificing people" and "you've changed and I don't trust your judgement on these matters anymore".

And as he says it, Mingjue looks at their disciples and he sees the puppets for a moment. And Huaisang just questioned if the other disciples were really attacked by puppets.

So that's a big moment and Huaisang is right, of course, but he doesn't have a confirmation that this is the result of Mingjue's health deterioration yet, so he keeps pushing. And Mingjue doesn't really have a counter argument because he knows what's going on with him, but it must be very scary to hear it from the person you care about the most and realize just how much you're being affected.

(Actually, Mingjue has one counter argument and that is "Well, I am at least trying to do something while you're painting and living a carefree life", and he's not wrong either. Huaisang is right and rightfully harsh, but this is the first time he's being confronted with these difficult choices and all their family history. He can reflect on and question it, but his brother has been meking those hard decisions since he was 14, when did he ever had a break to question and change things?)

Which leads us to

The Talk

After seeing his brother sacrifice himself for him at the bridge, and then seeing Mingjue be so vulnerable and lost, that anger from their fight is gone. They can meet in the middle with "You are right, I wasn't thinking straight, this is not a long term solution and I've failed at changing our ways" and "It's not your fault, you did everything you could but you're not responsible for this situation" and it's very beautiful and heartbreaking.

Mingjue is so remorseful, both because he has condemned Huaisang to die with him and because he feels like he failed everyone and everything (even if he doesn't seem to know what he could have done differently to avoid all this).

And Huaisang's reaction in this scene is so calm it made me think this Huaisang is somewhat used to his brother displaying vulnerability around him. This isn't book NMJ with all his victories, this isn't a man who never let the Unclean Realm be conquered and who could afford to keep Huaisang far away from the war. This is a man who was attacked and subdued in his own home, who had to send Huaisang to the hands of the people who killed their father.

This Huaisang doesn't have reasons to see Mingjue as this unmovable force, he has seen Mingjue hurt and threatened and fearful; and he's now seeing him remorseful and defeated.

(I'm sure Mingjue telling Huaisang about the fact that he's dying and admiting his mistakes and insecurities is something new, especially considering their previous fight, but this Huaisang doesn't take it as a shock, because he knows his brother is only human and there's only so much he can handle. He even, like, explicitly says this)

And so he assumes this calm, reassuring and empathetic posture, because that's what his brother is asking for. And it's the most beautiful thing, Huaisang has so much love for him, so much empathy. And this is Mingjue's reaction to his brother's reassurance that it's okay if they have to die there:

I'm sure Huaisang is still processing Mingjue's "I only forced you to practice because I'll die soon", but he's so good at reassuring his brother.

Because Mingjue just told him "I am dying and I'll go as a failure" and Huaisang insisted "None of this is your fault and you did everything you could and more, and if I have to die here with you today, I don't regret a thing, and you shouldn't either".

There's no despair or anger that his brother is only telling him this now, there's only understanding and acceptance and so much love and they really knew what they were doing with this movie.

His people love him

Mingjue is so moved. He just admitted to Huaisang that he's not in peace with his accomplishments, or lack thereof; that he feels ashamed to face his ancestors, having done so little.

So I truly believe Mingjue doesn't consider himself worthy of this much trust and support. (And I can't ignore how this is tied to the Nightless City situation, where he led the men who trusted him with their lives to a dangerous situation and couldn't save any of them).

As we see in the confrontation at Jinlintai, that technically happens after this movie, that is still a very sensitive topic.

And here he has his loyal disciples saying they will follow him yet again, despite his previous 'failures'; just like Huaisang was ready to die with him. They have so much trust in him, and the way he's nodding a little here, just like he was nodding when Huaisang reminded him of everything he's done for their sect since their father died, is like he's convincing himself of it. That he can do this and he can do this right this time.

And yet

He fails again. And I don't even think he knows it was him who killed those disciples, like some people say. He doesn't need to because it doesn't matter. His men, who followed him till the end of the world, are dead again. And so is the hope he had of doing this one right thing before he dies.

Yes, he supressed the saber spirit like he had to, but they're still dead, all of them.

He falls apart, how could he not?

At some point I'm sure Huaisang his holding all his weight because he just gives up. There's only so much loss one can handle and that's way too much.

And look at the way Huaisang is watching him as he realizes something inside Mingjue shattered forever.

There's so much pain in this scene, it looks physically taxing and I hope people gave Wang Yizhou a break after he shot this. I know it's his job and he's phenomenal at it, but this has to mess with your head a little.

And hey, it's a Huaisang crying scene as well. CQL Huaisang only really cries twice. First he watches his brother have a mental breakdown in his arms after unknowingly killing his own disciples; and then as he watches his brother qi deviate and die, while unable to do anything to either stop or comfort him.

(And a lot of people said there's no hesitation on Huaisang's part when he rushes to his brother's aid when Mingjue is hurt on this post's notes, and that's true for book Huaisang too, because he runs towards Mingjue as he is qi deviating, gets hurt in the process, and still keeps calling for him, which makes CQL's decision to have JGY holding him back kind of cruel, tbh, there's not a Huaisang who would run from a hurting Mingjue regardless of the risks

But at least we have this scene.)

And that's it, I guess. There's nothing uplifting to say about this, really. He just went through a lot and kept shouldering everything until he couldn't anymore. I just wish book NMJ had gotten to receive the same love and comfort and acceptance from NHS before he died, I wish he had been able to tell his brother what was actually happening, but thats kind of the purpose of this movie, so I'm just very grateful that it exists.

It's like that post says, it didn't change anything but the love was there, you know? That's how this movie feels for me.

[gardenofnoah]

katsuki hates to be placated.

it stems from his childhood (because of course it does)—there was no getting through or around his abrasiveness, so the next best thing was to pin him with that tired smile. the look of resignation that was always the same, no matter who wore it. to agree to every retort, even if he was being so horribly unreasonable. to choose—overtly—the quickest way to end the argument and flee from him.

he hated it. he hated it, and he could never understand—why was he the only one who ever had any backbone? he saw his challenges and rose to them every time. he came out on top, every time. it wasn’t as if he was being purposefully combative. he just…didn’t know how else to be.

to finally understand that he himself was the challenge, and one not worth seeing through—well.

that just hurt.

so he did the only thing a child so young could think to do—he became more. more volatile, more prone to outbursts. more unpredictable and, looking back on it now, scary. but that was what made sense to him—if he was made to see those barely-veiled expressions of intolerance either way—he’d at least have control over why.

as an adult, he has a better grasp on himself and his emotions, but he wouldn’t be katsuki without that hair trigger temper and his smart ass mouth. and he feels lucky—really lucky—that he has you, because you aren’t afraid of his challenge. you meet him head on and you give it right back.

so he can’t understand why you’re standing in front of him—not even looking at him—wearing that same, appeasing grimace tonight. he doesn’t understand, and suddenly he’s 11 again—small and made to feel so, so insignificant by the way you sigh like you can’t bear to speak another word to him. by the way your lips can barely turn up at the corners, and your strained little “nothing, kat” when he asks you what your problem is.

he had only answered your questions. it might’ve been the case that his answers came through gritted teeth as he heaved himself through the door to your home. it might be true that the adrenaline from his shift still pumping hard through his veins had him a little on edge, still feeling vigilant for any outward threat. and the way you’re postured away from him, like you can’t stand another second in the same room with him, feels as threatening as any villain.

“so why the fuck are you mad at me?”

you pause, hand halfway to dropping the tea bag into the steaming mug on the counter as you turn to look at him, expression both concerned and very tired.

“mad at you?”

he balks, because he hadn’t anticipated having to actually elaborate on that, and now he feels foolish as he tries to formulate his complaint. but the anger wins out, like it always does, and his explanation comes out clipped through gritted teeth.

“you’re fuckin’—turned away from me like i’m a little pest,” he seethes, only spurred on by the way you step forward, reaching for him like you mean to pacify a child mid-tantrum.

he doesn’t even see you anymore, not really—just every other face projected over yours, until he sees red. it’s always the same—no matter how hard he tries, he is too much—

“y’think i can’t tell how bad you don’t want to be here right now? i can practically hear ya thinking of all the ways to leave this—”

“katsuki.”

you’re facing him fully now, arms crossed over your chest with a look that can only be interpreted as one of annoyance, aimed right at him.

and that gives him pause, because at least you’re honest. he just…doesn’t know what to do with that.

“what on earth are you talking about?”

and of course he can’t say it. he tries to deflect, because the walls close in and the only way out is to steamroll over you. “you—you—”

and he just wishes you’d cut him off—tell him some horrible and likely true thing about himself so he can let go of all of the venom he’s been carrying around for over a decade—but instead you wait for him to tell you what he’s thinking. he can’t bear to tell you that the only thing in his head right now is his fear.

fear that he’s too much for you, too.

“you’re actin’ like you don’t want to talk to me,” he grits out, mirroring your posture with a huff and glaring at the tile by your feet. it sounds childish when it leaves him, like he ought to have stomped his foot to end the sentence, and the shame curls up in his chest.

you’re silent for what feels like an eternity. he feels the anger burn him up when he hears you snort.

before he can snap at you, you’re wrapped around his midsection. he wants to thrash until you let go, but he’s subdued in a way that feels different. even so, his petulance remains, and he holds his arms out from his sides like you’ve got fleas.

“i’m not mad at you, you big baby,” you murmur, and he can hear the smile in your voice, even muffled by his costume. “i’m just tired, kat. i was like, 99% asleep until a minute ago. i thought we were just gonna go to bed. ”

he feels himself fight against the way he wants to deflate at your words, and this time the anger is only directed at himself. he doesn’t understand why everything has to feel so fucking hard. why every tiny shift in your body language has him feeling nauseous, or why his mind drops him at the worst case scenario and leaves him there, stranded.

“i don’t want to leave,” you answer his earlier comment, head butting him lightly in the sternum. he feels no control over his arms when they loop around your shoulders to pull you closer.

“it’s 1am and i want to sleep,” you look up to shoot him a pointed glare, but there’s no real heat behind it, “so can you shower so we can do that?”

he can only blink at you. after a long moment, your words filter down far enough for him to understand.

“i—uh. yeah.”

your lips twitch up at the corners as you pull away from him. he feels so raw that he’s unable to move, unsure how to proceed and unwilling to let you out of his sight in case it’ll be the last time he sees you.

“go on,” you say, expression softer, “i’ll be in bed when you’re done. maybe i’ll cuddle you if you’re done yelling at me.”

“‘m sorry,” he can’t manage anything louder than a whisper, and when you reach out to rest your palm over his heart, it’s far more painful than any withdrawal could have been.

“we’ll talk about it tomorrow, okay?”

“…okay.”

[traegorn]

Hey-o! Tis the season for people to talk about how the holidays were "actually pagan" and I'm on the hunt for sources about how that's really not the case, if you have any you'd recommend!

Okay, so the problem is there are so many weird "Christmas is stolen!" bullshit memes going around, it's so hard to just give you a comprehensive list of sources. Christmas celebrations have evolved as the religion has spread, and different things come from different times...

The key here is to go for academic sources. This is a question of history, and a well supported historical research is going to tell you whether they're operating from primary, secondary or tertiary sources.

So while I can't give you a simple list, let me give you a couple of examples off the top of my head and give you tips on how to investigate any the dumb claims that get passed around.

Christmas being in December: So a lot of people go for the "Christmas is in December so it can steal from [INSERT SOLSTICE CELBRATION]" is ahistorical... because we know exactly why Christmas is in December. Because the guys who made the decision argued with each other and left behind written documentation. The two big names you need to look up are  Clement of Alexandria (who pitched January 6th) and Hippolytus of Rome (who proposed December 25th). This is around the turn of the third century, and you can find both of their writings. Some folks have questioned the authenticity of some of Hippolytus of Rome's writings, but Clement of Alexandria's seem well supported. These were internal arguments about when the birth of Christ took place within the early church, and when they settled on late December. There are reasons for this, and you can read their arguments (it largely has to do with the importance of when Jesus was conceived -- they wanted that to be an important date and then added nine months to it). Importantly though, because linear time is a thing, this means Christmas was set in December before the Christianization of the Germanic and Norse tribes... so anyone who says Christmas was set to December to correspond with Yule doesn't understand the concept of "coincidences."

The Christmas Tree: The Christmas tree was invented in 16th century Germany. That's... that's just written down all over the place. Now, there are legends about Martin Luther being the first who did it -- but I'm pretty certain that's just an embellishment that got added on. There are preceding traditions where part of an evergreen was brought into the home as a part of solstice traditions (though some will claim the Egyptians did this? Which is wild -- likely misinterpreting their use of palm fronds as the same thing), but the act of taking a whole ass tree, cutting it down, putting it in your house, and decorating it? That's 16th century Germany all the way. You can rabbit hole so many sources on that one, but honestly just pick apart the citations on the Wikipedia page. Putting a branch in your house and dragging a whole tree in are very different acts.

Jesus's story is copied from [INSERT RANDOM GOD]: There are so many of these, and some are just downright disrespectful to major world religions (the Krishna version of the meme especially). The answer is... just see if what the meme is saying about the god is supported by the mythology. Like I've seen ones that says Dionysus was "born of a virgin." If you know anything about the Greek gods, you're probably already laughing on the floor. Horus gets dragged into this too, because Gerald Massey was trying to pull a "White Goddess but with Dudes." But any serious research on Horus will tell you the supposed parallels aren't supported by the mythology.

So sorry, this wasn't so much sources you can use as it is how to look for them to begin with. Because there's just so, so much. This isn't even covering cases of syncretism, where pre-existing cultural traditions got continued post-Christianization. Because it's almost always the case that if a pre-Christian practice endured post Christianization, it's because people decided to keep doing it -- not because the church was trying to "steal" it. The latter means there was some mustache twirling plan behind it, when the former means (usually) the church went "Well, they're paying their tithes and saying it's for Jesus, so who gives a shit?"

I'm just going to finish this off with linking to my podcast episode on this, along with Ocean Keltoi's great Yule video on the topic. Hopefully that helps.

[idontwanttospoiltheparty]

ok I need you to discuss this John is My Son thing because like I also feel that Sometimes I Felt Like His Priest is also really underdischssed!

okay here we go!!!

The quote you're referring to is from the Foreword of The Lyrics. I grabbed some more of it because it's all quite interesting to me.

This was about the same time that I met John Lennon, and it’s pretty clear now that we were a huge influence on each other. Readers might detect duelling emotions in my recollections of John; that’s because my relationship with him was very mixed. Sometimes it was filled with great love and admiration, but other times not, especially around the time The Beatles were breaking up. In the beginning, though, the relationship was a young Liverpool guy looking up to another guy a year and a half older. It was hard not to admire John’s wit and wisdom. But as I came to see him as a person and a human being, there were, of course, arguments, though never anything violent. There’s even a movie out there in which John’s character punches my character, but the truth is that he never punched me. As with many friendships, there were disputes and there were arguments, but not many. Sometimes, though, I certainly thought John was being a complete idiot. Even though I was younger, I would try to explain to him why he was being stupid and why something he’d done was so unlike him. I remember him saying things to me like, ‘You know, Paul, I worry about how people are gonna remember me when I die.’ Thoughts like that shocked me, and I’d reply, ‘Hold on; just hold it right there. People are going to think you were great, and you’ve already done enough work to demonstrate that.’ I often felt like I was his priest and would have to say, ‘My son, you’re great. Just don’t worry about that.’

It's like… there's so much going on here, you know? John is almost paradoxical to Paul: the source of one of the biggest hurts of his life and also one of his great bringers of joy; he's forever petrified as a teenager in Paul's mind and also on some level remains his fairground hero whose shadow Paul cannot escape; a traitor and yet don't you dare depict him being violent towards me; wise and simultaneously stupid.

At its root, I think many of these contradictions exist because Paul is on some level aware that a lot of the pain John dealt him was at least in part due to something John could not help (i.e. mental illness). He can't bring himself to blame John entirely, in a similar way a lot of us fans wrestle with John's behaviour that we know came from a place of great anguish. This has contributed to Paul infantilizing the memory of John; he has an instinct to look after John, and it's exacerbated by the fact that he has aged whilst his conception of John has not (you can see this in the way Paul constantly circles back to the early days of their friendship), which is in great contrast to Paul's memory of, say, Brian:

"I find that one of the interesting aspects of ageing: Brian Epstein never got beyond thirty-two, but I think of him as an older guy even though I’m already twenty years older than he ever got to be." – Many Years From Now.

But there's another element to this… A lot of people on here speculate about why Paul "can't get over John". My answer:

1) John's death was uniquely traumatic to John's loved ones in a way we tend to gloss over.

2) We are not letting Paul get over it! Paul has been asked about John in interview after interview for four decades and his image directly suffered due to the lionization of John post-1980 as well as the way he (Paul) was judged for not grieving correctly. Perhaps he's started bringing John up a lot in interviews in part because he feels he has to, lest he be deemed callous and cold again. (and perhaps he is seeking to nip the Lennon Question in the bud before the questions become, ahem, horribly insensitive) That's not to say Paul isn't weird about John – I think he is! But I think the way he's been made to both carry John's legacy and accept criticism used to build John up and bury his own unresolved anger at John and grieve over a senseless murder publicly and defend John now that his image is being torn down… it accounts for a huge chunk of this weirdness, IMO. Again, I want to reiterate: I think these are generally Paul's genuine feelings and thoughts (and I certainly don't want to imply that all of this only started post-1980... but perhaps there's a reason Paul seemed more measured throughout the '70s) but I think it's naive to act like society didn't help shape the way Paul talks about John and sees him. When you live as publicly as he does and your childhood friendship is one of the most talked about relationships in music history, you are bound to be affected by the general reception.

I also think Paul is often doing reputation damage control. It is very important to him that he and John are remembered first and foremost as friends (hence the offense he takes in the depiction of John punching him in Nowhere Boy) and it seems like, since at least Goldman, he's been trying to emphasize John's softer, more lovable traits. I think this, mixed with the infantilization mentioned above, is where you get stuff like the clip of Paul calling John a little baby or a lovely broth of a boy.

It's all so damn complicated you know? And so fascinating.

[yellowymellon]

I can see why some people don't want Sunday to join the SH because it might hurt him more or they simply don't like already established factions to have new characters, but some of the other arguments like joining the SH will destroy the character Sunday built in the main story just sounds like ppl putting him on a pedestal (some even start to hate HIM for this theory??) so I think this should be repeated :

Sunday didn’t build any character and that's the tragedy of his story. He tried to convince us of his side but didn’t hear much of ours, the AE was even impressed by his plan but instead of counter arguing with some solid arguments they went on the defense and most of all tried to honor the watchmaker's wish and will. The first time we debated with Sunday was a complete failure, he didn’t see our point and wasn’t convinced. The second time was when we fought, he told us that to prove that our ideal is better and that his is wrong we must defeat him. Notice how he isnt even trying to listen to our side? Sunday has been caged and brainwashed by the dreammaster to believe the order is right for a really long time that he doesn’t believe in any other salvation. He's hopeless, for him this is the only way out and cannot see anything else. When TB answers his question at the very end, he is taken aback, when he falls down he is motionless, in the new LC he despairs, only once he remembers Elio's deal that hope returns to him. Sunday didn’t learn anything, the confrontation was a failure, he didn’t stand up on his own nor did he come to any realization. Therefore joining the SH isnt going to 'destroy' his character. It might save him, depending on what Elio is truly like.

Secondly, I think we're all aware of the family's hypocrisy. We've seen it in like all the penacony quests, a lot of messed up underhanded things, heinous crimes that caused a lot of suffering, and who else sits at the top as the coordinator of all the families?  it's evident that he was aware of everything and chose to be a bystander, or simply didn’t have control over any situation despite being the oak's head.

 He never hesitated against aventurine once he deemed him evil, He was also implied to convey the order from the dreammaster to the executor of dewlight pavilion to eliminate his traitor family. That is to say, not only does he have a vague idea about what he's doing, not only is he disconnected from ppl but he has no control whatsoever to change anything. Im not saying he is evil, his beliefs were impacted so much that now he has a distorted sense of - most importantly - justice. He truly believes he's righteous, he's stubborn and narrow minded and it's hard keeping his emotions in control, thus can be perfectly manipulated by someone better at mind games, Elio. That is if he wants to.

Sunday is deeply compassionate and far too selfless but he won't hesitate against what he deems wrong, evil or unjust. Because he has to be the strong.

I mean SW is in the same morally ambiguous state as Sunday, both do not harm directly (supposedly) but are bystanders, firefly only kills the irredeemable evil and Sunday didn’t have any prejudice against her. Kafka is the most cruel and blade does what he's told. But if Sunday is made to believe what he's doing is right and shares the same position as firefly I think it works. It also depends on Elio, yes he can manipulate him and it's just the same fate as before but there's an off chance that Elio will genuinely help Sunday find his path. I mean even if he doesn't Elio doesn’t seem like he tricked anyone without fulfilling his end of the deal.

I trust that hoyo aren't screwing around. Sunday still has his harmony powers, not sure how elio will use the brain melt and the truth serum but maybe Sunday's near ascension grants him extra powers? Elio is aware that Sunday failed to turn to an aeon. Some say that Sunday might work as a diplomat but im not sure how it works.

Anyway we shall see more of this in 2.3 and hopefully 2.7! Tbh excited for the dynamics. I wish for Sunday to find his path as a person but as a character....Im a fan of tragedy Soo....yeh

[thoughtsofatransboy]

omg how about an angsty story where you and leon get into a heated argument and both say some really hurtful things and leon accidentally hits the reader but he apologizes (some fluff) and then makeup sex

this literally cannot leave my mind and i love ur fics literally

Oh it looks like a cool plot! And thank you very much anon! Mwah mwah <3 here's your request:

Warnings: Gn!reader, Re2!Leon (cuz i think younger Leon would be a little immature), argument, nsfw stuff, fluff apologizing, reader has trauma with face slaps, makeup sex

You and Leon started to date some months ago, he's your soulmate, the only one that can make you feel like you're just a teenager in love again, but it doesn't mean he can't be an asshole sometimes. He's been bitching around all day, complaining and very stressed because of his job. You tried to be as comprehensive as you could, you knew about his cop stuff and his trauma, so you tried to not give attention to his bad mood, but it crossed your limits. "You're the worst partner ever, you never help me with absolutely nothing" this phrase made your blood boil, how dare him say something like that? After all your loving and patience with him?

"Leon you're the bitchy here... why don't you shut the fuck up just a little, huh?" Leon's gaze got a little harder than it was before, he was looking like a stupid toddler earlier, but now he looks real irritated.

"Who do you think you are!? You're lucky i didn't kicked your ass out of my life yet!" The way he said it, could have literally shattered your heart in thousands of pieces, but the rage made you blind for the pain of his sharp words.

"You could NEVER live without me! Aww... look at this boy... He's afraid of working with another people... aww! Why? BECAUSE HE THINKS THEY GONNA D-" Before you could finish your sentence, Leon hit your face with a hard slap, making you drop your knees, not necessarily because of it's strength, but because of your shock.

"D-don't! Please! Please!" Tears roll down by your face without you even noticing, that's when Leon understood what he did. You triggered his trauma and he triggered yours. Sure, what you did was stupid, but he was the one who started it, and he shouldn't have replied your violence with violence.

"Darling..! Oh my God! I-I'm SO sorry..." He tried to get closer to you but you blocked his touches. "Don't fucking touch me!" You said, almost having a breakdown and crying out years of pain, right there on the floor.

Kennedy understood he crossed the line, he really did. So he decided to leave you alone, afraid he would make you more upset by staying. After some minutes, about ten minutes, he came back to the room you were. It agonized him, to see you, his strong darling, so vulnerable. He slowly got closer and closer to you, waiting for you to nod for permission before he touched you. As quick as you nodded, he wrapped you in his arms, rubbing your cheek with his hand. "I'm sorry darling, so sorry... I shouldn't have be so childish, can you forgive me baby?" You nodded.

"Can you forgive me too?" He kissed the cheek he slapped. "Of course darling" he helped you to stand up. "What about we watch a cartoon together and cuddle a little?" You accepted, you both deserved a good time together after this event.

Now you guys had finally forgiven each other, the argument faded away on your minds... it had already some hours and you're both laid down on your little couch, sweetly cuddling and watching you guys's favorite cartoon.

But something didn't felt right, Leon was moving so much, like he was uncomfortable. "Sweetie? Are you okay?" Leon seemed a little nervous about your question. "S-sure sweetie! Now keep watching the cartoon, yes?" Then you finally noticed what it was. Leon was hard, you moved your leg a little, so you could feel his bulge, earning a little groan from him. "Darling!..." You wasted no time in touching it.

"Kennedy, Kennedy... always aching for me, ain't ya?" No answer. "Ain't ya?" You rubbed it this time. "Oh! Hell yeah darling!" You smiled wide. "Good boy"

Leon took the opportunity that you're with your back against his chest, to go over you, pinning you under him. "Naughty one, huh? Really enjoys to tease" Leon begun his attachment to your neck, kissing and sucking all of it.

"Mmmm... Leon! Don't stop!" Leon smiled against your neck, continuing his work, now moving his hand inside your pants to start to tease your genitalia. "Sweet babe... all aroused f'me? Jus' for me?"

You moaned helpless "Yeah! All for you!" You didn't minded saying anything else. "Are you goin' to let me take care of you?" You only nodded, making Leon smile. "Thanks babe..." In a quick move, Leon unbuttoned his pants, helping ypu to unbutton yours too.

He stroked his cock and lined it up with your hole, kissing you while inserting his cock slowly and delicate. He wouldn't handle hurting you again. His thrusts were slow and rhythmic, your moans echoing in the room. "Oh babe... will you forgive me for being so pathetic with you?" You nodded, making him smile. "Thanks sweetheart" he implanted kisses all over your face and your bruised cheek. He was kissing your mouth passionately, interrupting it to let out a long and sensual moan. "Darling, I think i'm close!" He kept his thrusts a little longer, not much before cumming inside you, with you cumming some seconds later, your hole clenching deliciously around him, before creaming his cock.

Leon was catching his breath back. "Oh baby... you did so good for me." He stroked your hair, wrapping you around him once again. "I'm sorry for everything that happened earlier... II'm never doing this again. Can you give me another chance?" You kissed his cheek hardly "Sure Leon, I love you too much to don't forgive you... sorry for being such an asshole with you too." You both smiled to each other, letting the moment speak for itself and falling in each other's arms.

"I love you too much baby." Leon said, hugging you as you were the most precious jewel on Earth. "Love you too Lee..." You kissed his face one last time, before letting yourself slowly melt into a delicious sleep.

[bingusbongu]

Hey can I Request a hc of Luz and friends meeting a Discord reader?

Plot: Luz and friends are wandering the forest until they discovering a statue of the reader. They went up to it to get a closer look but for some reason they all decided to argue on something and Because of that, the statue started to crack setting free the spirit of chaos and disharmony. Some chaotic wacky hijinks happens and now they're pretty good friends and the reader wants to help get them back to the boiling Isles.

Sorry if the plot sucks

♡A/N: RAAAAAAAAA OMGGGGGG i love discord so much he is so silly!!!!! I would absolutely love to write for this!!!! Im assuming this is when they were in the human world when you say 'help get back to the boiling isles, so thats what i did!!!! I also didnt add vee in this one- sorry!!! This ones alittle short, but i had to write for this!!!! Abit ooc!!!! Tysm for requesting!!!!!!♡

Luz, Amity, Gus, Hunter, Willow + GN! Discord reader!

☆ the moment you burst out of your stone prison, you already had spells thrown at you left and right, having startling the group, who completely forgot about their previous argument and now were focused on the new entity

☆ You hardly shown any phase as you flickered your hand and their attacks just flew into the nearby statues of the yard. Before yawning and asking if they were done

☆ of course, the gang did not like you to begin with, not one bit. A weird myrhical... beast infront of them that reflected their magic with a single flick of a wrist. Not onlt that, but you had such insane abilities that put them oj edge... immediately thinking that you're like the collector in disguise

☆ Luz was the first to react to you without hostility. You were a beast with magical power, magic power that she had never seen before. If you were possibly here, then maybe there was a way that you could help them back! She was desprate for anything, and despite her girlfriends protests, she was the first to accept you

☆ she also was very curious and intrigued by you. So you told her what you were, a draconequus. And you tried to answer as many questions as you can that flabbered out of her mouth. But had to let her down when you told her you didnt know a way back, that you had been stuck in stone for such a long time that you couldnt even remember how toy made it to the human world. Despite her sadness, you reasurred her that youd help in any way that you can

☆ Gus was the second. The illusionist already took great wonder to your weird form. It was almost immediately after Luz and you had your conversation, Gus was already up in your grill and interviewing you with Luz. Both of them were fascinated! So you caved in abd showed the both of them some of your abilities

☆ after that, Gus would find ways to wrangle you into certain activites, whether it be games or lil friend pranks! Gus quickly took a liking to you, and the fact that you can cause illusions, but REAL illusions! He definitely tried to ask you to make certain things from his and hunters favorite series

☆ Willow was third. She was weary, but seeing how Gus quickly took quite a liking to you, she let lose some of her concerns. Enough to let Gus drag her over to meet her properly. You were very nice to her, which caught her off gaurd, but she decided you were fine, especially since you didnt try to attack her or gus or anyone else in tjat manner. You and her strike up lovely conversations!

☆ asks you sometimes what plants you can make, and when you shown her you can basically make your own, she was astounded! She taught you how to take care of plants properly without smashing them as soon as you touch it<3

☆ Hunter was the fourth. Especially after dealing with so much trauma, he didnt like you, neither did he like how your power was so similar to the collecters. That any moment you could take apart the world and bend it together in your own reality of play. It was hard get Hunter to fully trust you.

☆ though, seeing how gus and willow took a liking to you and talked to you, Hunter let his gaurd down abit with you. You noticed how he would give you these questioning looks, or feel him watching you. It wasnt until you poofed a wolf puppy into your hands he decided he liked you. You gained his trust stupidly, because you poofed a wolf pup in the room and he got to hold it until you poofed it away. He was over the moon about it!

☆ Amity was the fifth. Out of all of them, she was the hardest to crack. She didnt trust you one bit, she didnt like you. Youd always walk into a room and she would immediate be glaring at you. You really didn't even know how you could get her to trust you. Everything you tried she would brush of her soilder. Your magic set her off edge, and she was destined to protect her friends, aswell as your big and looming appearance

☆ she protested against Luz getting near you, being the protective girlfriend she is. But the way you were kind to the rest of her friends, she softened. Though, she still had a hard time striking a conversion with you, but, the fact you shown no hostility to them, she deemed you.... okay, for now. Until you usr your magic to help them, she woukd accept you as an ally

☆ When you actuallt started helping them find their way back to the boiling isles, you were valuable. Out of the group you had the strongest abilities. Which ment you were probably the biggest hope for them to get home! They depended on you, and instead of uding your magic badly, you did your best to impress your friends and help them in any way you could

[reysdriver]

okay wait so about the request thing…I love angst, so like…maybe an angst Keys thing? Whether it’s hurt/comfort or hurt/no comfort you can pick! Also feel free to ignore this if you don’t want to do it :)

Keys spends his whole work day trying to make you feel better after you two get in a fight — keys x fem!reader angst & fluff

warnings: a bit of angst/fighting, but a lot of fluff tbh

words: 1k

a/n: to the requester, I'm sorry if this wasn't exactly what you wanted but I still like the result and I hope you do too

You slammed your headset against your desk, causing your keyboard to clatter and your mouse to fall down onto the floor, but you didn’t care about any of that. 

“I’m going on my break now.” You announced angrily, then took off down the hall. 

You stormed past Mouser on the way, who had no idea about the precursor to your current meltdown. 

“What the hell’s up with her?” He asked as he sat down and rolled the chair closer to his desk. 

Keys was already standing up to follow you and answer that very question. “I’m not sure. I’ll be back in a minute.”

He followed you across the floor to the snack room, where you were attempting to calm yourself down by making a cup of tea. The door was still swinging behind you, but he closed it more gently once he came in. 

“What was that? What’s going on?” Keys asked you. 

“I should be asking you that.” You retorted. 

He just looked at you with a puzzled face, his stupid confused face. “What are you talking about? What did I do?” 

“You made me look like an idiot back there! I was trying to get that guy and you were just completely overtaking the operation!” 

“We got him, so what does it matter if we used my strategy or yours?”

“Because you think I’m stupid. Is it so unreasonable to be upset that my best friend thinks I’m incompetent?”

He just looked even more confused than before now. “I could never think that about you.”

Your water had finished boiling, so you poured the water into your mug. “Well, you ignored everything I said so you could go and kill him by yourself. We should have been working together.”

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Look, I’ve had to deal with this asshole before, I’m so tired of having to go after the same guy over and over. I’ve learned how to handle him, so I know how to go about things in the most efficient way. I’m sorry I took over the operation, I promise I won’t do it again.”

You emptied out a sugar packet into your drink, still mad at him but less so than a few minutes ago. You sighed as you threw out the paper package. 

“You can start making it up to me by volunteering to file the paperwork for banning him from Free City.” 

He seemed relieved with your proposition. “Yeah, absolutely! Will do.”

“Good.” You moved past him and opened the door to leave, steadily carrying your hot beverage. “And I’m on break right now but you’re not, so you better get on that.” 

✦✧✦✧✦

You hadn’t spoken to Keys since your argument in the snack room. It’s hard enough to completely ignore him on a day when you’re not at work, but it was so much worse when he was sitting right across from you. 

You got a confirmation notification on your computer screen about the ban paperwork that Keys had apparently just filed. Not even three seconds after you both received the message, your coworker had already stood up so he could speak over the glass partition between you two. 

“Did you see I wrote up the slip to get him banned?” He asked you urgently. 

You answered without even looking at him. “Yep, thanks for that.”

He didn’t sit back down. Keys just kept looking at you like he was waiting for something. 

“Do you want a pat on the back or something, Keys?”

“Do you forgive me now?”

You sighed and finally looked at him beyond just seeing him out of your peripheral vision. “I said I’d think about forgiving you. I’m still a bit pissed at you.”

He slumped back into his chair, then went back to his computer. A few seconds later, you got another push notification. 

Curious, as it had Keys’ name attached, you clicked on the little pop-up. It opened 2 messages from the man. The first was him apologising once more, and the second was a colon and closed bracket forming a little smiley face. 

Even though you weren’t all that mad at him, you still didn’t react to the small yet altogether cute gesture. You thought it would be fun to see what else he does to get you to forgive him. 

One more message floats up onto your screen. “Is it working?”

You typed a message in reply. “Sort of. Keep going.” 

✦✧✦✧✦

Throughout the day, Keys had dropped off several snacks on your desk, stuck up multiple post-it notes adorned with fun doodles on the glass partition between you, and sent you many more sweet messages. 

If you were being honest, you had forgiven him after the second gesture. If Keys was being honest, he had figured that out about an hour ago. But now it was the end of your work day, and Keys just had to make sure you two were okay. 

You were finishing up your last few emails of the day, and Keys had walked over to your side of the desk clump. 

“Okay, I know you’re busy, but I really don’t want us to end the day on bad terms. Have you forgiven me yet?” He asked desperately.

“That depends.” You told him, a soft smirk gracing your face. “Do you have one more offer or did you just come here to beg on your knees?”

He wasn’t on his knees beside your chair with his hands clasped together, so that kind of gave you the answer, but he answered anyway. 

“Will you forgive me if I buy you dinner? There’s that new Italian place down the street; we can go tonight and I’ll pay, even if it’s crazy expensive.” 

You tried holding back the giddy smile you felt coming on because of his offer, but you were sure that the expression was peeking through your facade. 

“That kind of sounds like a date.” You played innocent. “Keys, are you asking me out?”

“That depends. Have you forgiven me yet?”

“Not quite sure, I think you’ll have to take me out, and I’ll let you know soon.”

[anamericangirl]

Hi, quick question for you. I listened to a podcast last night which debated abortion. The pro-abortion side was arguing that we do not confer personhood to a human before approximately 20 weeks, when they claimed that the fetus develops conscious experience, therefore, since a fetus has no experience prior to that point, its okay to abort. He made the point that pre-consciousness was different from a coma, in which a person with experience might slip out of consciousness and come back into it, rather than not have it up to that point. I found it hard to refute that point, mostly because of the idea that we do value consciousness, and that he made a point to differentiate someone who has had consciousness previously and someone (the fetus) who hasn't, and that the fetus is not a whole, but a blueprint for what's to come if it doesn't reach certain developmental thresholds. That's not to say I agree with his point because the fetus will develop consciousness if left to continue development, but I found it hard to offer any counterpoint specifically to his argumentation. This could be because the pro-life side just wasn't making a great show of their argument. Anyways, what I'm asking is what argument would you make to defend life and personhood at conception, rather than life at conception and personhood at the development of consciousness? Why do we define personhood at conception and not when we see something that infers development of human thought? I'd be grateful to hear your answer and anyone else's answer that might be able to refute that pro-abortion line of thinking. Thank you.

The reason life and personhood must be defined at conception is because that is when we know for a fact what is growing is a living human being. Scientifically, they meet every single requirement to be a human being and if someone is a human being they are a person and have personhood. If we draw any line as to what constitutes having personhood other than being a human being than we enter dangerous territory because any standard you apply to people in the womb can also be applied to someone outside the womb.

There's no actual significant difference between "preconsciousness" and losing consciousness as they are both a lack of consciousness other than the "experience" standard that pro abort arbitrarily assigned to it in order to justify it. But scientifically and observably, there's no significant difference. So the person debating the pro-abortion side is not arguing that consciousness defines personhood they are arguing that experience defines personhood. So what I would ask them, then, is do newborn babies who are five minutes old have personhood? They have no experience so it's consciousness without experience.

If the answer is yes, then they have to resign to the fact that their argument is consciousness defines personhood and that would then demand they also revoke personhood from a person in a coma.

If the answer is no then they have to be ok with murdering a newborn baby.

Another question I would ask would be what if shortly after the baby is born they go into a coma? That's unconsciousness without experience, just like in the womb. So we can kill them right? If the answer to that question is no, then they debunk their own argument.

And he is also just completely wrong that the fetus is not a whole but a "blueprint of what's to come". From conception they are a whole human organism. They are not a blueprint of anything. The baby has a lot of developing to do, which they will do very rapidly, but if he is going to assert that because the baby in the womb is not as developed as someone outside the womb then we can also say a toddler has less value than a teenager because the toddler is not yet a teenager, just a "blueprint" of the teenager to come.

Any line you draw for personhood other than being a human being can also be applied to people outside the womb. And the belief that there are existing human beings that do not qualify as people always leads to evil.

I hope this was helpful and answered the question and if you want more clarification just ask! :) I would also be curious how other pro-lifers would respond to this.

[bestworstcase]

Question from someone who's attempting to write rwby fanfiction. Do you have any advice on how avoid portraying team RWBY and their peers (JNPR, Penny, Oscar, etc) as people who are 'just better' or somehow more inherently virtuous than Those Evil Villains Over There Who Must Be Defeated and The Failures Of Generations Past? Because I want to write the girls and their friends bringing an end to a millennia-long conflict and upending the status quo and yeeting the brother gods, but like. I don't want to somehow imply that they have some special holy righteous sacred innate thing that made them succeed where others couldn't. And I feel like I keep accidentally implying that.

step 1. Worry Less.

if you don’t believe that RWBY et al are intrinsically Just Better Somehow you’re probably not going to write your story in a way that inadvertently implies as much even if they’re ultimately the ones who Solve The Problem. they’re just in the right place at the right time to escape this cycle these things happen bfrgk

step 2. remember that everybody does what they think is right

no one is a Bad Person on purpose and even when someone does something they know or believe to be wrong there is always some rationalization going on that makes it okay or makes it something outside of their control. keeping this in mind whenever you write character conflict is really important for portraying conflict in a naturalistic way—even if it isn’t something you put In The Text it’s useful for you as a writer to know what’s Going On in the heads of the characters who are wrong and why they’re doing the things that they do.

(a good exercise if you want to practice is to rewrite a scene from the other side’s point of view; if you have for example an argument between two characters who are both extremely convinced of their own rightness and don’t like each other, can you leap into the antagonist’s perspective and write that argument from their side in a way that paints the protagonist as irrational, stubborn, foolish? if you can switch your writer POV around like that to see things from the Wrong Perspective it becomes a lot easier to handle complex conflicts because you have a really solid grasp on what everyone’s stakes and opinions and reasons are.)

step 3. don’t be afraid to let the Good Guys fuck up & don’t be afraid to let the Bad Guys have a point

rwby does this really really really well. nobody is ever one hundred percent completely right—not in the story and not in real life—so letting the good guys be a little bit wrong and the bad guys be a little bit right creates points of common ground and margins for compromise to be built in between. and obviously if you have protagonists who are able to make mistakes and grow and accept compromise then Innately you have protagonists who are flawed and three dimensional, because if they were Perfect they wouldn’t need to learn or grow.

step 4. think about Why these characters are the ones who solve the problem

this is something that’s just helpful to have in mind as a writer to clarify your own framing; often the answer is a lot more about circumstance than any intrinsic Betterness and in the case of rwby a lot of it just comes down to the fact that salem attacked when she did—team rwby et al weren’t inculcated into the paranoid keeping secrets cult and didn’t have ozpin to lead them, so they figured out their own way of doing things that (because it plays to humanity’s strengths) works a lot better.

y’know how every time someone new is let in on the secret, the first question they ask is “why don’t people know? why not tell everyone?” the story is making the point that the natural, instinctive human response to finding out about a secret war is to go “it shouldn’t be secret!”—ozpin has to work very hard and be extremely careful about Who he initiates into this conspiracy because his methods run contrary to human nature. it takes active effort to quash that reflex to ask for help. what makes team rwby et al "special" isn’t anything unique to them, per se; its that they learnt the truth outside of this coercive environment that trained the old guard to Never Tell Anyone, so they intuitively grasp that telling more people and asking for help is better than not. because Most People put into this situation would intuitively grasp that.

[actual-changeling]

@kayleefansposts

because i am the chem major and scientist i am, i present to you: evidence that the window the demons break was fixed either by aziraphale himself or by crowley when he undid the changes aziraphale made for the ball. i do not make unfounded claims.

the first question we need to answer is which window got broken?

there are only two options, the display windows on either side of the door. they are the only windows big enough to fit the one we see getting smashed and the only ones that are explicitly named on the floorplan. and yes, these are the official floorplans the person who was part of the bookshop to ballroom transformation team posted on instagram.

now, which of the two was the unlucky one?

if we have a look at the scene itself, the camera angles are, in fact, not entirely clear on which window got broken. but this is where the floorplans for the bookshop post transformation come in. we get this wonderful shot of crowley and aziraphale looking at the concrete slab they threw through it.

behind crowley, and most importantly, on his right/our left, you can see the spiral staircase that leads up into the flat above the shop. the arrow is pointing towards w for window, they're still looking at the slab because they do not move between the shot of them reading it and this one.

so if we now have a look at the floorplan, we can draw a line straight through the shop based on crowley's position and voila. there is only one option left for which window it could have been. it is impossible based on their positioning that it was the other window.

and while it is hard to read, i think the blob on the floor labeled "***** slab" is a pretty good indicator too, i'd say.

additionally, you can also see that the other display window is blocked by a bookcase, so it couldn't have been that one. it has to be the one left of the entrance, viewed from the outside looking in.

now, because i am thorough, some more evidence before we get to the fixing part.

firstly, evidence that the other window is intact and not broken. we get some more shots of crowley and aziraphale from inside the bookshop looking out, which confirm not only their positioning but ALSO show us part of the other display window.

as you can see, it's intact.

secondly, my final piece of evidence that this particular window got broken: gabriel leaving the bookshop right after.

the one left of the entrance is broken, the other one intact, like i said.

the question that remains is when did it get fixed? so let's look at some more shots of the window in chronological order. you can go through the episodes yourself if you want, but i sorted them and gave a little indicator of the time frame.

ending of episode five and beginning of episode six?

nope, still broken

maybe aziraphale fixes it during or after the fight?

nope, it is still broken when crowley comes back from heaven with the angels in tow.

muriel stands next to the broken window pretty much the entire time.

alright, so maybe aziraphale fixes it after gabriel and beez leave or when the metatron shows up?

nope, it's still broken when aziraphale leaves with the metatron for their talk.

so now we're a bit out of options, aren't we? the only people left in the bookshop are crowley and muriel.

do you want the know the first time we see the window whole again? because we DO see it intact and very much not broken. which is AFTER crowley undid aziraphale's ball transformation, covered the circle, and fixed the window.

it is intact when nina and maggie leave. the ONLY person who had both the chance, the powers, and the time to fix that window was crowley. and he fix it he did.

and, lastly, a wonderful shot from the outside to show us the fixed window from a different perspective.

tl;dr i was right and crowley fixed the window, it is no longer broken by the time they have their final argument.

if anyone has a different explanation with new evidence i'd love to see it, but i am 100% sure that this is how and when it happened, and canon confirms it.

thank you and you're welcome.

[e-nonsense]

𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲

⇢ ᴊᴀꜱᴏɴ ᴛᴏᴅᴅ x ɢɴ!ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ {ᴀɴʏ!ᴠᴇʀꜱᴇ}

⇢ ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢꜱ » ʟᴀɴɢᴜᴀɢᴇ

⇢ *ɪɴꜱᴇʀᴛ ᴡᴇᴅᴅɪɴɢ ʙᴇʟʟꜱ*

You had no idea where Jason had slipped off to. It would be pretty hard to just disappear, especially when this whole gala was for and about him.

16th of August, had come around fast and you found yourself in need of a gift for your boyfriend. You wanted something special and meaningful, something that would last and remind him that he is loved.

You two had been dating before his death and resurrection and when he came back thing were a little rocky, neither of them really coming to term with his death. But that had been a year ago and now you two were stable and happy, never fighting - a small argument here and there - he made sure to come back to you every night, worrying when you stopped sleeping because of nightmares and worry.

Back to the gift topic, you knew he hated grand gestures so Bruce and Dick were a no, Tim sucked at relationships and Damian was to young to know anything about that stuff, you would’ve asked Alfred but he had a lot on his shoulders.

So naturally you went to his best friend Roy Harper. Things between the two of you had been awkward, you to had hooked up once at a bar, both apparently sober enough to remember everything that happened that night - yes you both got over it and told Jason, he was shocked and didn’t talk to either of you for a couple of days. But you still got lots of okay advice, in the end you brought a ring, black with a singular red line and red on the inside.

After minutes that felt like an eternity, you found him in the garden on the grass with Ace’s head on his thigh, Jason’s hand scratching his head. It was the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen, the moonlight making his green eyes sparkling, the lighting from the moon made his hair look shiny, his jacket discarded behind him, he was breath taking.

You walked softly, bending down a little to pick up his jacket, nervously playing with the small ring box in hand. You lowered yourself tot the floor beside him, his head coming down onto your shoulder, inhaling your scent. “Hi sweetheart”

“Hi baby” your voice low and soft, turning your head softly to kiss his head. “Didn’t get to see you all night”

“sorry, running from the questions ,you know” wrapping his free arm around your waist.

You hummed in acknowledgment “well I have a question, you don’t have to answer it, now or we can pretend it never happened, don’t wanna make it awkward. Jay, oh god-”

“Sweetheart it’s alright, ask away”

“How do I do this- right okay, Jay look at me please”

He lifted his head and looked towards you, soft smile showing you how tired he was.

Okay this is it- fuck I forgot to ask Bruce for permission, oh yeah I asked Alfred

Sliding the back towards yourself from under his suit jacket, opening the box to see the red and black ring “Jason Todd, I love you so much and I’m not entirely sure what I’m doing, but I know whatever it is I what to do it with you. So will you marry me?”

Now it was his turn to stumble over his words going speechless.

“Sorry, I knew this was a bad idea” before you could start insulting Roy and yourself Jason had pulled you into a kiss, it didn’t last very long but it told you everything you needed to know. Breaking away from him, you pulled the ring out of the box took his hand in yours and slipped the ring onto his ring finger.

ʙᴏɴᴜꜱ:

“They what?!” Bruce’s voice echoed louder than usual causing all the Wayne resident to come into the kitchen.

“They proposed- wait they didn’t ask you?”

“No-”

“Who proposed?” Damian asked

“Fuck-” all their heads turned to you. All of a sudden your slippers seemed interesting.

“Y/n explain” Bruce’s words stern as ever

You had never been this happy to see and hear Alfred as you were now “They asked for my permission”

“And why is that Y/n?”

“Well Jay’s always been closer to Alfred so I asked him before I asked Jason to marry me”

You were in for a big talk from every single one of Jason’s family.

© ᴜɴᴏꜰꜰɪᴄɪᴀʟ-ᴊᴀʏᴛᴏᴅᴅ-ᴡɪꜰᴇ. ᴅᴏ ɴᴏᴛ ᴄᴏᴘʏ/ꜱᴛᴇᴀʟ/ᴛʀᴀɴꜱʟᴀᴛᴇ