#and we just have to give ourselves permission to see it. and well isn't that kinda the whole point? audience surrogates <3< /div> Explore tagged Tumblr posts

[deancasforcutie]

Radio Company, "Watching Over Me" & "Every Light"

[normal-with-adhd-is-a-joke]

If you are a "disability advocate" be normal about emotional support animals. I am not asking. Do it.

The only time I ever see ESAs brought up by non-handlers in disability circles is to complain about them. Mainly, to complain about people who bring them into public spaces. This is fine, they're not supposed to be in public and it does cause issues for service animal handlers, but the problem is when the criticism extends to criticizing the concept of ESAs, which happens quite often. I've recently seen more disabled people and allies advocate for more restrictions on ESAs, or for them to stop being protected altogether, and I need to emphasize that this is an incredibly dangerous, ableist stance.

First and foremost, ESAs are a real thing in the U.S. If you're from outside the U.S. feel free to chime in about how they work where you're from, but I'm from the U.S. so I can only offer my experience. ESAs are recognized by the federal government under the Fair Housing Act (FHA). The category that includes service animals and ESAs is called "assistance animals".

ESAs are not legally pets. They have fewer rights than service animals, but they have more rights than pets. ESAs are not subject to "no pet" rules in housing, nor are they subject to pet fees or pet security deposits. They are also generally exempt from breed and animal type restrictions. The law has some caveats about this like not causing undue financial stress to the housing provider or damage to the property. These rules also exist for physical accessibility (i.e. wheelchair accessibility), they're generally to protect against significant damage or alterations to the property without the permission of the housing provider. If the presence of an animal doesn't cause a health and safety risk, doesn't cause excessive damage to the property, and is necessary to afford a disabled person equal use of the property, then landlords and other housing organizations pretty much have to act like the ESA isn't there.

ESAs can be any animal. Most are dogs or cats but birds, rodents, snakes, pretty much any animal that's legal to own can be an ESA. Of course, just because it's legal doesn't mean it's ethical. Unfortunately, sometimes animals that can't reasonably be kept in a home by a private keeper, like primates and alligators, are claimed as ESAs. This is an obvious abuse of the system but it's difficult to prevent without harming legitimate handlers. In my opinion, focusing on tighter restrictions and more bans for exotic pets would do more for animal welfare than focusing on being weird about ESAs.

One of the common statements I see non-handlers make about ESAs is that they're just pets and don't serve any special purpose. This isn't the case. ESAs must help with at least one effect of a person's disability in order to qualify as an ESA. One of the main purposes of ESAs is suicide prevention. Keeping up spirits can be very difficult for people with mental and physical illnesses, we might sometimes feel that we're not contributing anything to the world, that things would be better off without us, or that the distress we experience isn't worth pushing through. Having an animal that relies on you gives a sense of importance and responsibility. If you die, your ESA will have to adjust to a new environment and go through the stress of change. There's also a possibility that they could be alone without care if no one realizes you're gone, which unfortunately does happen with people who live alone sometimes. ESAs also motivate us to care for ourselves. Many severely mentally ill people, as well as many physically disabled people, struggle to motivate ourselves to get out of bed and live life. It can be easier to do nothing than to deal with the pain and fatigue associated with moving around, even if our health suffers as a result. Caring for an animal requires us to get up and move around our living space, sometimes doing things for ourselves in the process. ESAs can also help encourage us to take medications, stay off of addictive substances, go to doctor's appointments, and do other things to stay healthy in order to be able to continue caring for our ESAs. Basically that Simpsons "do it for her" meme.

ESAs are disability aids. They're important. They keep disabled people alive and healthy. Questioning their right to legal protection is ableism.

[queerpunktomatoes]

Can we actually talk about "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas"?

Here's a link, if you want to read it. (It's only 5 pages and very worth it.)

Basically, it's about "a summer festival in the utopian city of Omelas, whose prosperity depends on the perpetual misery of a single child."

I remember beginning to learn about the concept of anti-capitalism and having a conversation with my dad. He said, roughly, "There have to be poor people for there to be rich people." Logically, I get this. For someone to be considered rich, there needs to be a point of reference that is lower. But that doesn't make it right, particularly when the gap is as large as it is for this child locked in a room versus the people having the time of their lives on the surface.

Is there a perception of beauty and gratitude without pain and suffering? Personally, I don't think so. But is one person's pain and suffering worth others' awareness of beauty? No. If our happiness can only come from a comparison of others' lives, it's not worth having happiness.

But the story is about justification and the way we often see ourselves as better or somehow more deserving of good things, so we can continue our lives without worrying about people worse off than us. Regardless of whether the child was "born defective" (the wording of which makes me want to punch a hole in the wall, but I respect the literary technique) or deeply traumatized through neglect (a la Genie Wiley), this is a question of who is deserving of good things. Where should society put our resources? Is it worth it to invest in "broken people"?

(I hope it's obvious that I'm asking these questions with an air of mockery and anger, but I do think it's worth bringing up how often humanity will justify our abuse toward others.) (Also, I'm disabled, for the record.) (Please don't come at me.)

"Yet it is their tears and anger, the trying of their generosity and the acceptance of their helplessness, which are perhaps the true source of the splendor of their lives. Theirs is no vapid, irresponsible happiness. They know that they, like the child, are not free. They know compassion."

And somehow this compassion is a shackle to them? Rather than something so large and eye-opening that it shapes their entire lives? It's something keeping them from their lives, rather than the only real thing to do with life?

No, compassion creates freedom, and it's not a comfortable one, but seeing it as a prison only shows that they're begging for permission to be selfish. The shackles aren't the realization that we must change the world, the shackles are when we give up on improving the lives of those around us.

The story ends by talking about those who walk away. At first, it felt like peace to read the ending. Release. Like a gentle, resigned letting go, of not participating in a system of oppression, of choosing to walk away from your role.

But as I kept reading it, I got angry. The child cannot leave. They will leave the child there, until it rots into the ground, and then they will steal a new child from its mother's arms to lock up in the basement. And these people, who walk away from Omelas, they let them. That's still participating. They're still part of the problem.

We can't escape our system by running into the woods and refusing to be a part of it. We can't just start a commune and pretend the problems don't exist because we're not actively, knowingly participating in them. I know the urge, very well, but it's not any more just than anyone who continues to live in Omelas. They're all wrong. We're all wrong. Those are not the only options.

Why can't someone save the child? Who cares if it means the weather isn't as good? That's a human being. Why can't human life come before everything else? What else is there, in the end, if not just us, people?

[sushisocks]

bro it makes me so mad how ppl say sean didn’t need a break after getting recused by the bounty hunters becuz he got a party but whats ur opinions on it???

Obviously, I think way too much about Sean, and read very much into a lot of smaller things when it comes to him. I imagine the people who say Sean didn't need a break after his rescue would think I read too much into his character, and I may perhaps even be hit with a 'its not that deep bro', but that has never really stopped me, lol.

And I will wholeheartedly disagree with those who say he did not need a break. I think believing that, taking this aspect at face value, is disregarding one of the game's strongest points; environmental storytelling. A lot of what we learn about the gang members in this game, is through just hanging out at camp. Not only do you get to be privy to scenes and interactions that tell us about the interpersonal dynamics, but the characters also have daily routines and habits that tell you things about them!

And see, in Horseshoe, sometimes Sean walks funny at camp even without having had anything to drink ahead of time. You could read this as a bug but I personally think there's a more obvious reason behind it. He's quick to sit down or lean against things, during his shifts on watch AND otherwise. Other people here on tumblr have pointed out how he barely eats, or clearly struggles to.

Now consider what Sean actually TELLS us, in his rescue mission. He had his teeth pulled, his feet burned. And I don't know about you, but that sure does sound like things that would leave a mark - not necessarily a visible one, but one that would affect behavior, because pain does.

When I had my wisdom teeth pulled, I was on painkillers for days after. I also had one done at a time, so that I could use the opposite side of my mouth to chew my food while one side healed, and I still struggled to eat.

Do you think Sean was shown the same courtesy?

He has a front tooth missing - in what world is eating comfortable? Do you think he has the strength, then, to be up on his feet all the time? Feet which, most likely, are still healing from being burned??? Like, what is the logic in taking Sean being fine at face value, here?? Do we actually believe Dutch is a good and competent leader, now?!?

And like, I'll say it, Sean 100% played down what he'd been through. I could go on at length about my thoughts about the reasons why, as pertaining to the role he performs in the gang, excitement and relief and adrenaline about being free again, not wanting to appear weak, etc etc. But I also do think, then, that it's almost a little bit silly to not extend him the same courtesy as we do many of the other characters of this game, and consider what this experience might actually have been like for him.

Sean, Arthur, and Javier were all kidnapped and tortured. All three of them. And they all had it real fucking bad. Can we, like, let ourselves sit with that for a moment? And acknowledge that Sean had it just as bad as the other two??

He was also stuck in that situation for the longest!!! At least two fucking weeks, minimum, while Javier and Arthur's experiences were for -- two to four days?

The difference is of course that Arthur and Javier both had their experiences shown on screen, and they both got to rest afterwards.

Sorry, that was a bit of a tangent, back to the party thing.

Ultimately, Sean is given a party because the gang needs a party. They are still recovering after Blackwater and Colter; they are in dire need of levity and fun, which is given through something to celebrate. They need a distraction. These are the things which Sean performs and gives the gang; the party isn't even really for him; it's for what he represents, and what his return represents. The party isn't what he needs, and he sure as hell was not well enough to just jump back into action.

What he needs, what he should have had, is a break after the shit he went through. He wasn't given permission for that though, not from their leader and not socially from anyone else, and furthermore he didn't really give himself permission for it. You have to do his rescue mission before pouring forth oil, because the second Sean is back, he's looking for jobs, and he wants in on the train robbery.

He's working, immediately.

(The fact that people actually believe him lazy just because he doesn't do as much as Arthur, the gang's workhorse, after returning from being held and tortured by bounty hunters, is insane to me. Yall are gonna believe Arthur about that?? According to him, all the guys in camp save Charles are lazy!)

Idk, what I find the strangest about takes like these is like... Most of the other characters are worthy of discussion, analysis, and discourse. But - not even the game, but characters in the game, who show themselves to have their own faults and prejudices as well - tell us Sean is lazy and easy-going and fun and that's all he is, and we believe it? Where did the critical thinking go??

[sweet7simple]

rodimus obtains a beautiful rare crystal from a dangerous cave as a present for drift, and gets himself all banged up in the process. ratchet is torn between scolding roddy's recklessness and appreciating his devotion to their mate.

This is a fun one because Rodimus would absolutely do something like this.

It starts with an away mission to a planet which has organic life, but no one responds to the Lost Light's polite comm pings. There are signs of advanced technology, not a single satellite in the sky or sign of a spacecraft or energy readings that confirm any high output of electrical energy on the planet's surface. Whatever is down there probably isn't going to have an issue with them meandering around and having a look-see, right?

So Rodimus is on the away team with Brainstorm, Perceptor, Swerve and Velocity plus some others (Cyclonus, Whirl, and Tailgate are somewhere around here. Rodimus is sure they're safe. He's pretty sure they're safe. They better be safe). Rodimus has a comm line to Megatron, Minimus, and Drift on the bridge and he's feeding them video data so they can see what he's seeing.

Well, Brainstorm gets to this cave they want to explore, but the methane readings are off the charts.

"Let me put it this way," he says as he holds an analyzer in one servo and gestures with the other, "if you so much as snap your digits down there, this whole mountain region will stop existing and us probably with it."

And then he follows it up with, "So everyone be careful and stay with your buddy!" right before he tries to march jovially into the mouth of the cave.

Perceptor snags him back and holds him by one of his wings. "What he means is, this is a dangerous endeavor, moreso because of the probably of causing a chemical reaction that can destabilize this mountain region as well as trap us underground if we are not already destroyed by the heat and shock wave of the air blast. However, Brainstorm and I would like permission to take that risk upon ourselves. Our detectors are picking up readings of a highly conductive metal within this cave, which may be highly resourceful to us."

Rodimus gives Brainstorm a look.

Brainstorm points down into the cave. "There's copper down there. Copper is good for us. We want more copper. The medibay will be very happy with you if we bring back copper. Ratchet might even reward you if you let us bring back copper." He manages to pulse the lights of his optics in a suggestive manner.

Rodimus is suddenly very much onboard with this. "Yeah, sure, I'll go down into the cave. The rest of you can wait here."

Perceptor and Brainstorm and Swerve and Velocity all stare at him.

"Um," Velocity begins politely, and then stops.

Brainstorm takes Rodimus by the pauldrons. "How do I put this the nice way.... Out of everyone here, you're the one most likely to make the mountain go boom. I say that with Swerve standing right next to you."

"Hey! I'm the most qualified to go into that cave!" Swerve shakes his servo at the jet.

"Yeah, which is why Rodimus is the one most likely to make the whole place crash down for once," Brainstorm says.

"I'm also the one most likely to survive if the whole place crashes down," Rodimus points out. "The heat and air blast won't destroy me because of my outlier ability and I can just recharge if I get stuck and wait for all of you to dig me out."

"Uh, Roddy, sweetie, if a whole mountain drops down on top of you, it's going to take a really long time for us to dig you out," Brainstorm explains.

"He does have a point, however," Perceptor says, pinching his chin thoughtfully with his other arm folded over his chest plate.

This goes back and forth for awhile. Perceptor is actually on Rodimus's side that he should go down into the cave by himself, see if the readings they are getting are actually for copper, and bring back some samples. If it turns out to be copper, and a sizeable amount of it, they can send Rodimus back down for bigger samples.

Brainstorm is saying, "I can't believe I'm the one trying to do the smart thing, but Rodimus will absolutely walk in there, snap his fingers to see if the mountain really collapses on top of himself, and then be surprised when we turn out to be right."

"I will not do that," Rodimus promises. He had thought about it, but he's not that stupid. If scientists are telling him that the mountain will go boom, he's going to trust them. This time. Only because the last planet they were on, they told him to not walk so close to the edge of a cliff because the slope of it suggested it wasn't stable and he'd gone, blah blah blah, how can you know just from the slope? And then Cyclonus, Brainstorm, and Whirl had had to airlift him out of the river at the bottom of the cliff and no one, I repeat, no one will let him live it down.

He's not going to be the captain who blew up an entire mountain on top of that. He refuses. He's going to be careful. As careful as he can be. He is, at least, not going to snap his fingers to see if it ignites the methane and blows the whole place up.

Swerve is on Rodimus's side because, "Just in case you die down there, can you state now in front of these witnesses that I'll be co-captain in your place? Please? And, you know, don't die down there. But, if you do - "

Velocity isn't necessarily against him going, but she is against him going alone. "Just in case of injuries, I think I should go with you," she reasons.

"But what if we're injured if the mountain blows?" Swerve asks. "We're standing right here."

Rodimus plants his servos on his faulds. "Well, go stand somewhere else!"

So the rest of the team gets out of blast range (which is very far away) and they send out a broadcast telling the other teams to also get out of blast range and they warn the Lost Light above the planet's atmosphere about what's about to happen (they already know since they're tied into Rodimus's video feed and Rodimus has already turned off their comm feed so that they can stop harassing him about how this is a stupid idea and he's about to get himself killed and he better not do it, Rodimus, we're serious -).

Once everyone's a safe distance away, Rodimus goes down into the cave with Velocity and some data packets from Perceptor about what copper rock even looks like. They're actually quite colorful, he likes them.

Velocity is tip-toeing along like the very movement of her joints might set off the methane, so Rodimus makes a show of being very unbothered by everything. He's joking with Velocity, making her laugh, getting her to unwind a little bit as they go further down into the network of caves.

They're limited in where they can go since most of the caves are too small for them to fit through, but the major systems are very accommodating.

"Drones," Velocity groans, almost slapping her own forehelm before she pauses and puts her servo back down. "We could have sent drones down in our place. We were so busy arguing with you that we forgot we didn't have to send anyone down here. And they would be able to fit through the smaller tunnels and chambers too."

Rodimus had actually thought of drones, but he wants to be able to take a hunk of this copper rock to Ratchet himself, dug out by his own servos, and have his mate berate him for his stupidity right before he gets rewarded for his gift.

"Well, if there's a lot of copper, we can just send the drones down next time instead of coming back ourselves," he offers.

They eventually find some colorful rocks in a side of a cave. Rodimus digs his digits in and scoops it out. The cave wall is softer than he expected.

Velocity is also very carefully digging out only as much copper rock as she can carry. Rodimus's optic catches on the glint of something next to her.

"Hey, what's that?"

She turns her helm to look at what he's pointing at. "Oh, it appears to be some kind of... gem, I guess. I'm sorry, my geology is poor. I'm sure it would be very pretty if it was polished, though."

As it is, it's some kind of milky green where it just breaches the wall, dull and without much shine to it.

Rodimus opens his comm to Drift (and Drift alone) to show him his video feed. "Hey, sweetspark, what am I looking at?"

Drift gasps through the comm line. Rodimus's interest is instantly perked. "That's emerald! I have only ever seen emeralds on Earth. They're beautiful once they've been tumbled and polished, and their energies are so pure. They can channel emotions such as love and improve the health of your spark." And then he gasps again. "Roddy, turn to your right. There is something... Yes, a little more. There. Primus, that's a rare form of chrysoberyl. It also resonates with the spark and promotes feelings of love. And it's so rare. On earth, they called it alexandrite and it was still in short supply." His voice is ringing with longing.

Rodimus is determined now. "Anything for you, sweetspark."

"No, Roddy, you're there for the copper."

"And I've got the copper. No worries. Like I was telling Velocity, we'll just send some drones down for more once we get back to the surface."

"Then the drones can pick up the crystals, it's okay."

But it isn't. Rodimus is going to be the best mate ever. He's going to give Ratchet his copper rocks and he's going to give Drift his crystals because they deserve it and because it will mean more from him than some drone that can't even recognize how gorgeous and awesome his mates are.

Velocity has stopped mining the copper rock and is watching him closely. "Be careful, Rodimus. Be very careful. If you scrape your digits across those crystals..."

"Don't worry, I got this." He pauses. "But, just in case, you should start up without me. I'll meet you up there." He turns off his comm feed where Drift has started yelling at him, echoed by other voices on the bridge.

"I'll stay," Velocity says, scared but brave. Brave because she's scared and still will not leave him.

He respects her. "Okay. Just give me a klik and we can head back up."

For him, it doesn't take long to dig around some crystals and put them directly in his subspace (he's going to have to hose it down, he realizes with a grimace. There's dirt and sediment everywhere now). With Velocity watching with the widest optics, posed as if ready to start running, it make the process feel eons longer.

But he gets the crystals and nothing combusts and they have the copper rocks. They leave the cave and the air quality is almost instantly different without the methane cloud setting off their sensors.

It's all very anticlimactic for Rodimus, but everyone else is acting like he just barely managed to escape the certain grasp of death.

The moment he and Velocity are out of blast range, Perceptor and Brainstorm send down some drones to get more samples and Rodimus and Velocity take one of the shuttles up to the ship.

The mecha waiting for Rodimus are Not Happy. Megatron has that look on his face that says, "I've eaten Cybertronians before out of desperation, but I'm willing to bite you in half out of sheer frustration." Minimus tells him how many rules he broke by the order they were broken in.

Drift has that closed off look on his face that says he's more upset than he is angry and he doesn't want to show it. Ratchet just looks thunderous as he yanks Rodimus in that direction and another, checking him over even though the only thing wrong is that his servos are dirty. Velocity doesn't point out that she already checked Rodimus over because this is just a Ratchet thing, not a medic thing. Ratchet needs to know for sure that Rodimus is safe.

It's not the easiest checkup he's had since he's holding copper rocks in the curve of one arm and refuses to let them go for anything. Not until Ratchet is done with him and he is able to, with a sunny grin, hand over the copper.

Ratchet looks incredibly sour as he takes the dirty rocks in his servos. "I can't even do anything with these, you fool! Swerve has to draw the wire from these! And you left Swerve on the planet. Now my servos are just dirty."

That was not how it was explained to Rodimus and now he's kind of angry that, at no point, did Swerve mention this.

"Yeah, but this is your copper," he stresses. "You can do whatever you want with it."

Ratchet is clearly tired of his slag. "Sure, Rodimus." He ex-vents. "Thank you for risking your life for some rocks a drone could have brought me without endangering the life of my mate."

"You're welcome!" Rodimus says, choosing to ignore everything that came after the thank you. If he thinks about it too hard, it might ruin his mood.

At least it makes Ratchet huff with humor. Ratchet wraps one of his dirty servos around the back of Rodimus's helm and pulls him down into a kiss. "You're an idiot, but at least you're my idiot."

Drift steps up to them and puts a servo gently against Rodimus's chest shield. "You didn't just risk your life down there to impress Ratty," he says knowingly. "I'm upset with you, but I am so, so thankful as well. Never risk your life like that again. You are worth so much more than copper and crystals. But, thank you."

Rodimus opens up his subspace, grimaces as he feels how dirty everything is, and pulls out the clumps of crystals. "If it makes my mates happy, I'd do a lot more than just walk through a cave and pick up some rocks." He gets another grateful kiss.

Rodimus's spoiler shakes from how high he's holding it. He's beaming with joy as Ratchet grimaces down at his filthy gift, a calculative look in his optics as he's already thinking about what to do with the copper that will get drawn from it, and as Drift gives his own crystals a much softer, much happier look.

Their happiness means so much to him.

[chrissie2003]

Scenario pt 3: Being followed from home (ft Gojo, Yuta, Nanami)

A normal day with your instructions wasn't seen as creepy in society, because most assume it was a field trip. But in this case, a man with a blindfold on carrying unknown items in a bag with 2 teens and a businessman seemed suspicious.

"Uh, Gojo Sensai?" Yuta whispered, "People are staring at us because well ... you know." He pointed to the large bag Gojo was carrying. "AW, this Yuta isn't something we should worry about. It's for training purposes for a new field ground we got permission from." Nanami and Me both looked at each other in embarrassment as he continuously walks through the streets unashamed. I doubt Nanami wouldn't let us go with Gojo by ourselves so he insisted an adult come with us. After we got there, it was nearing dark time perfect for training. It was an abandoned warehouse looming with dark powerful cursed energy. There stood dilapidated architecture and uncut grass tall above our knees. Gojo smiled going inside without a care in the world, Nanami followed as he checked the surrounding area. We followed inside. It was even crummier there but we didn't care we wanted training to be over. Seeing Gojo drop the bag quickly I went over there to collect it and opened it up.

"GOJO SENSAI! Where should we place these, Items?" Rummaging through the bags I found many cursed weapons. Gojo placed his hand on my shoulder and pointed to the back of the place. We followed him again while Nanami stayed in the front. "I'll watch the front entrance if anyone comes by", he said as he placed himself in a chair crossing both of his arms. I, Gojo, and Yuta were in the back of the place where it was dark. Gojo clasped his hands together, "OK let's get started I will pull out random cursed objects" as he threw them at us. We caught it and battled each other.

During our training, Nanami was in the other room repeatedly checking his watch. He swiftly came into the room, "Gojo I will be leaving, I got important matters to attend to!" Nanami left without explaining. I and Yuta didn't mind him as Gojo watched us train. After an hour we were done. "WHEWWW!" Yuta flopped on the ground to catch his breath. I was sitting right by side him drinking my water. "Want a waterfall?" I offered. "A what?" Yuta questioned. "Dude just your head back and open up," I motioned my mouth giving him some water. Gojo's face appeared troubled. "It's about time we head home it's getting dark." He grabbed my shoulder leading me away from this place. Yuta followed. "What's going on?" I mouthed to Yuta who just shrugged. Walking out of the place we all heard a noise from upstairs. We froze in place as we looked over our shoulders. Gojo turned towards the direction of the noise, "Go back home without me I'll investigate" he walked. "But Gojo-" He turned around and took off his blindfold. "Please Y/N, Yuta." We nodded and ran out of the building.

It was nighttime. We have been in there for a while now. "Hey, Yuta what do you think happened, you know Gojo being weird?" I told him. "Probably he sensed something we couldn't see, he has his own eyes." Yuta placed a hand on my shoulder, "Besides the only thing matters is that we are safe Y/N."

Rustling leaves sounded behind. We turned our heads in that direction until we dashed off. "WHY ARE WE RUNNING?" Yuta screamed. Our footsteps turned into deep stomps against the pavement as our hearts started to race. "BECAUSE-E it might be somebody COMIN-G-G to get us!" I said slowly losing my breath. We ran a couple of blocks til we entered the city. HUFF HUFF HUFF

We leaned against a lamppost to catch our breath. "I think they're gone, we can go home now," I said but Yuta shook his head. "Not yet, they could be following us as we speak. Let's browse the city a while before we do." I agreed and followed his lead. The city was beautiful being here at night minding the dangers of it. Cool-weather, quiet and peaceful atmosphere; everyone would be out if it wasn't so bad. For a while we didn't hear anyone following us so one last check looking if someone was behind us. It was clear that we walked back to the academy.

Coming back home Nanami and the others were waiting for us. "SO glad you guys could make it back!" Yuji enthusiastically said hugging us. Megumi and Nobara were glad that we were back too. "Wait where's Gojo!" I panicked, "We left him back at the place." I placed my face into the palms of my hands. "HAHAHA!" Gojo laughed. He called from around the corner. "GOJO!" Everyone said.

"You think I was going to be left there by myself with the intruder? I'm not stupid." He said crossing his arms. "Good to see you back!" Yuta cheered. "Hey, Gojo what happened back there with the intruder? Or whatever you were catching?!" I exclaimed. But he didn't elaborate instead he held his hands, "Don't worry it was nothing, just an animal that got stuck in the building. Right now you guys should head to bed for training tomorrow!" Gojo playful commented. Boos and oh man was heard from us as we marked back to our door rooms. Leaving Gojo alone in the room. Going to the window to stare at the window, before closing it.

[seacottons]

—ateez as boyfriends [ domestic au ]

notes: swearing. suggestive dialogue. fluff. i blame a certain someone for this, not gonna say who. @kireiwoo

— hongjoong

very caring and attentive towards you

so much so, that even his friends have complained how it isn't fair he doesn't scold you like the way he does to them

he enjoys many activities with you, such as

helping him dye his hair an ungodly color every other month

he'll insist you try experimenting with your own tresses

but you only have the courage to dye the very ends of your strands

"i don't think i can pull off that color as well as you do," you'd say.

"that's a load of bull. you'll suit every hair color."

you'll just roll your eyes playfully at his biased behavior.

other activities include getting tiny matching tattoos together.

the tiny flower and butterfly on your wrists was most likely your favorite due to its simplicity in design and the meaning behind it as well.

spontaneous dates are his favorite.

behind closed doors, he loves to constantly shower you with pecks and smooches.

often gets teased by his friends from how whipped he is for you.

randomly books vacations for you two to relax and unwind every so often.

although he enjoys it, he is a big, tired baby when it comes to traveling

always wanting to lean his head against your shoulder

or cuddling you close for warmth due to the airport's air conditioners blasting frigid air.

has written many songs about you

and when he's finally ready, he'll not only ask you to listen to them, but to also spend the rest of your life with him and share his last name as well.

— seonghwa

constant pet names

"darling."

"the sun to my stars."

"the moon to my sun."

"love of my life."

you like to call him mars, mostly.

but he revels when you call him 'twinkle eyes' for some reason.

has a habit of pulling you into his lap.

you'll subconsciously play with the strands of his hair as he does so, him being too distracted bickering with his friends to realize sometimes.

will always give you pleading looks whenever wooyoung or san tease him.

sometimes, you walk in to find wooyoung settling onto your boyfriend's back while he greedily devours the bowl of popcorn entirely by himself.

or other times when both wooyoung and san constrict his limbs with their arms whenever you're near.

"y/n can't save you now, so cut the whining."

you'll only sigh and shake your head in amusement.

"what are you guys doing to my poor boyfriend?"

"he changed the movie we were watching without our permission!"

"because i have no damn clue what's going on, and harry potter is too confusing!"

coffee dates.

loves to sleep with you tucked against his chest.

always has an arm draped around your frame.

butterfly kisses on your neck.

soft touches against the small of your back and waist.

his favorite pastime with you would be stargazing.

"baby, look. it's me, mars-io," he'd say whilst pointing up to the large, bright star in the night sky.

when it's too cloudy outside, or when the weather isn't forgiving, he'll turn on the indoor star projector he bought so the two of you can stargaze in the comfort of your own bed.

— yunho

is the epitome of romantic.

is constantly smothering you in love and affection.

always has heart eyes and admiration in his eyes at whatever small task you do or say.

rant about an ancient dynasty?

heart eyes.

bombard him with useless information about a certain abandoned island.

heart eyes.

gush about the new cute bakery that recently opened up?

heart eyes.

if you had a money jar for every time he says 'i love you', you'd have enough money to buy a plane ticket or two.

always willing to drop everything to help you with whatever it is you need.

will wake up in the middle of the night when you text him to ask if he's awake or not.

willingly stays up to keep you company.

but sometimes, when he's too tired, he'll knock out accidentally and profusely apologize to you in the morning.

very supportive of your life choices.

hates seeing you cry because it makes him want to bawl his eyes out as well.

his hugs are bone-crushing.

but he is a gentle giant nonetheless.

likes to attempt to bake pastries with you.

half of the time, the goods either turn out undercooked or burnt.

"they have love in them, that's all that matters."

will always insist that you can rant to him about anything and everything.

you've never felt so valued in your life before meeting him.

is the most understanding human being you've ever gotten the pleasure of knowing.

"i wish we were vampires," he says one day.

you give him an amused look, lips outstretched into a smile, "why, silly?"

"so we can spend an eternity together."

— yeosang

his heart flutters when you notice the smallest things he does.

it makes him feel appreciated and acknowledged.

like when he changes up his hairstyle or earrings.

or when he wears a new sweater.

a big, big softie when it comes to you.

can and will want to spend all day in your arms on his days off.

quick witted and has a knack for noticing the tiniest detail.

very shy and awkward at first.

but when he gets more comfortable as time passes on, you won't be safe from his snarky little comments anymore.

will constantly bring up the thing you said or did months ago to prove a point.

"oh, you like this flavor? three months ago you told me it tasted like vomit."

"remember that time you woke up in a rush to get to work thinking you were late, only for me to drag you back inside because it was three in the fucking morning?"

you stop mid-chew and peer up from your plate of rice.

"your point, yeosang?"

"oh, nothing this time. i just wanted to tease you."

is the type to have a mid-life crisis when you can't decide on a restaurant.

"but i don't want to eat at the chicken place again," you'll whine.

"it's been thirty minutes, and you still haven't decided what you want!"

"you're rushing me!"

"y/n! just pick!"

loves to cuddle with you, especially in the colder months.

wraps a blanket around your frame and tugs you in closer against his chest.

pretends not to understand your jokes just to spite and tease you.

loves when you cling onto him.

his favorite pastime with you would be just walking around together at night and trying out different types of street food.

or even visiting any of the local beaches for a relaxing walk together.

— san

persistently keen about whenever you feel upset or down.

he reads you better than any open book.

sometimes, it scares you, but you appreciate how he's always so eagle-eyed about your behavior.

loves to hug your head.

you allow wooyoung to crash some of your dates with san sometimes.

other times, san will whine and tell him to go find his own date.

"if y/n accepted you as a boyfriend, then you should've disclosed that i'm part of the deal as well. buy one get one free."

"as what exactly?"

"the hot, clingy best friend."

will take numerous duck-faced selfies of himself because you think they're cute.

often times, he'll ask you to mirror his expression, only for him to press his lips against yours a second before his phone snaps the picture.

likes when you kiss his dimple.

"y/n! it looks like a crater from the amount of times you've kissed it."

he likes to tease you.

a lot.

touchy.

very touchy.

always has an arm around you.

rests his chin against your shoulders.

playfully smacks your rear when you're sassy with him.

or leans in to hold your jaw whilst whispering teasing words into your ear that has you becoming docile and bothered in mere seconds.

has you wrapped around his finger as much as you have him wrapped around your own.

likes to have weekly picnics with you at the park and admires all the dogs running about.

"i should bring byeol next week. maybe she'll like to play fetch too."

"i don't think that's a good idea.."

you often find him fast asleep holding onto a plushie for dear life whenever you're away.

you'll pull it away from his arms, causing him to stir awake groggily.

he'll stare in confusion as you throw the plushie aside, before pulling you in tighter as you wriggle into his arms.

"you're softer than shiber," he'll mumble sleepily against the crown of your head.

— mingi

mingi is sometimes self-conscious around the public eye and others, but when it comes to you, those layers of fear and insecurity get stripped away instantly.

doesn't mind being vulnerable with you.

he craves affection, adores it even, but is insecure about not being able to return it well enough for his liking.

likes when you give him attention.

easily gets jealous when someone else grabs your interest.

reassuring him 24/7.

"yes, mingi. you're the love of my life."

kissing his pouting lips for good measure.

the smallest of gestures has him a blushing mess.

even holding hands in public.

when he's not being a sentimental sap, he'll like teasing you lovingly.

"wow, you have this many photos of me in your phone?"

you'll scrutinize him in confusion.

"are you that obsessed with me, y/n?"

"mingi! you told me to take half of those photos of you!"

"oh, right. i forgot."

a silence weighs down onto the two of you.

"but would you have taken them if i never asked you to?"

constantly laughs about the things you say, although you don't think you're that funny.

always seeks your approval subconsciously.

will always shield you from the rain, playfully yelling at the droplets sometimes.

"you can't make y/n wet! only i can!"

"mingi! we are in public!"

wanted to go strawberry picking because he saw a celebrity try it out on instagram live.

accidentally steps on many berries though.

"it's okay, they'll just make another plant. i did them a favor."

brags about you like no tomorrow.

even for the tiniest, minuscule thing.

"oh, i've already tried the brand of ice cream. y/n always buys that for me."

"i don't need to pay all this money for a measly slice of cake. y/n's cakes are much better."

"no, wooyoung. i'm not jealous of your new shoes." he'll lightly pinch the boy's side, "y/n and i have already bought ourselves matching pairs."

"you two are so fucking cheesy, it hurts."

when he's not bragging about you, he's boasting about himself.

but if that's what helps him raise his confidence levels up, you'll gladly sit down hours on end listening to how he has more 'swag' and 'charisma' than all of his older friends combined.

— wooyoung

teases you like his life depends on it.

says you can't get enough of him, when in reality it's the other way around.

but you let him believe whatever he wants.

but deep down he just really gets satisfied with himself if he raises your mood and makes you smile.

especially when you're not having a great day.

uses way too many emojis when texting you.

"wooyoung, why am i saved as as 'clingy bug' on your contacts?"

he'll squawk indignantly and laugh awkwardly for a second.

"who told you this lie!?"

"seonghwa?"

always wants to show off your love in front of his friends.

"no, i don't want my early birthday gift now. wait until the others show up, and do it front of them."

"but why?"

"so everyone can see how much you love me. can you also cry for good measure?"

"absolutely not."

he enjoys the dates you have in his apartment the most.

the ones where he cooks for you and asks for your help, only for him to pester you about over-seasoning or undersalting something.

"okay, fine! we'll just order take out if it tastes that bad," you pout, flinging a small piece of onion on his face.

his head instantly snaps back to eye you judgingly, fist gripping the poor spatula.

"over my dead body."

"so, y/n. how does my plating look?"

"it's beautiful, wooyoung. you've outdone y-"

"what else is beautiful?" he demands, face leaning over the table to give you a knowing grin.

you shove a piece of meat and rice into his mouth, shrugging nonchalantly.

"me."

he deflates at your answer, spluttering pieces of rice onto your face.

"jung wooyoung, you slob!"

— jongho

is the type of boyfriend to stop you in the middle of the road to tie your shoe for you.

very charming and goofy in his own way.

takes pride in himself and his abilities to cater to your every whim and need.

even when you don't ask for his help.

aggressively opens jars for you when you struggle to pry them open.

"no one messes with my y/n."

"you're fussing at a jar of pickled radish, baby."

the type to cling close to you in public in fear of any of the bicyclists or pedestrians bumping into you and harming you in any way.

sometimes acts like you're made of glass.

while it's endearing occasionally, it is a bit suffocating at other times.

doesn't believe you when you say you're tough and don't need protection.

very selfless and willing to help you with anything you need.

never one to shy away from social gatherings with his friends, always pulling you along with him despite you being shy and clingy most of the night.

also a big tease.

when you help him hold down his legs for sit ups, he asks for a smooch.

pulls away from you when you try to kiss him.

and will laugh at your pouting face as he urges you to try once more.

"stop moving, i just want to kiss you!"

after numerous tries, he finally allows you ( you truly think you over-powered him though ) to kiss his cheeks or lips.

he then proceeds to squawk loudly in retaliation and playful disgust.

although he loves teasing you, when the game is flipped the other way, he'll be a shy mess of embarrassment.

"i don't mumble your name in my sleep."

"you always do, silly."

tucked underneath his macho exterior, you know he's prone to criticism and takes it to heart much more than he likes to show and admit.

so, whenever you get the chance, you always fulfill his need to be appreciated, loved, and taken care of.

is utterly and extremely protective of you.

"who just whistled at you?" he grumbles, "i'll break their jaw like an apple, you know i will."

[boomstab-papa]

To my understanding, the encryption is not quite the point. It would be necessary to encrypt user data if you are indeed using all available devices to track all other available devices AND store AND report everyone's location. So cool, we're not literally giving every passing stranger an unencrypted history of our phone's location, and vice versa.

Saying "Google ALSO can't see this encrypted data (that your phone encrypts using a key that Google already has)" is extremely suspect, though. I have little faith that Google won't take that key they already have and decrypt user data the instant they get a rubberstamped bullshit search warrant. To speak to other concerns from other people on this post, Google tracking your location is also not quite the point. Sorry that my previous reblog wasn't clear about this. If you have Google cellular service and your phone connects to the cellular towers, Google pretty much already has your location. This is also true if Google has any access to your location data at all, for example through Google Maps.

(Does Google actually respect settings like "allow only while using the app" for permissions like location? lol who knows) And yes, if you're doing something where you absolutely can't be carrying a rectangular tracker with you, then you need to use airplane mode, or just leave the phone somewhere else.

The worst part of this recent development is on-by-default participation in a NEW mass-location-gathering-network, whether your device is connected to the internet or not, AND all devices you're logged into can see your location data at any time, AND did we mention it's turned on by default, AND and the only reduction setting easily accessible to users is "we'll still Find You if your phone is online though (the previous Find My Device feature)"

And online we are, I think, because people generally use their cell phones as phones, to be ready to receive a call or message from a cell tower or wifi signal at any time. "Just use airplane mode" is not really an everyday solution to "Google, why the hell are you sniffing around for nearby cells and devices".

Not to mention "show me the location of this device" is extremely easy to abuse if. Or like what if someone somehow got access to your account. I'm not even talking about the nebulous threat of hackers, I'm talking about abusive parents and partners. Why exert all the extra effort to install tracker software when you can just use Google's built-in tracker? You've already forced your victim to share their passwords and keys with you, and now you can easily pretend to be them and "find my device" and track them anywhere, anytime. This is another reason that "just use airplane mode" isn't a good solution, because what if the victim misses a call or a message from their abuser? Now they're outed as "trying to sneak around by turning on airplane mode and not answer when I contact you? And you hide your location from me?" That won't end well.

And yes, the Find My Device service existed prior to this, with similar potential for abuse, but this feature is turning itself on AND has been publicly hyped up AND making itself difficult to turn off AND it's making itself a network of devices now, not just a device connecting and reporting itself to the internet.

Finally, this whole implementation was Google's "look at us, we care so much about privacy" option. "We'll let users toggle this off (with more buried options and caveats), and we won't turn on a device's cellular/wifi/bluetooth ourselves if it's been turned off by the user." So wow, thanks, shitty opt-out link, because you promise not to integrate my device into this tracking network if I basically reduce my smartphone (that I need to use for messages and phonecalls) to an offline calculator-and-camera. At least you promise not to turn on radios that I've turned off myself. Thaaaanks.

Sorry this got so long, but there's not really one big thing that makes this So Much Worse than anything before, so much as it takes everything and makes it All A Little Worse. I've been wondering how to articulate this better as this post gets more and more circulation. Hopefully this helps.

Critical PSA for anyone with Android devices!

I got the following email this morning:

Basically Google is rolling out the ability to track you via your android devices even when you're offline and you have to manually opt out of it. Many android devices no longer come with a wired headphone jack, so if you have Bluetooth headphones or a keyboard or anything, your location will be tracked and stored by your device unless you opt out of this.

I tried using the link they gave me in the email to opt out of it, but it didn't really seem to do anything. So I looked up how to opt out and found the following steps, which worked for my phone:

Opting out from the Find My Device network is as simple as tapping a toggle in your phone's settings. 1. On your Android device, go to Settings. 2. Tap the Google setting. 3. Tap the Find My Device setting. 4. Tap the toggle to off next to "Use Find My Device." 5. Confirm with pin, pattern, or biometrics. That's it. Your device is no longer participating in the Find My Device network. To rejoin, just flip the toggle back on.

Please reblog to spread awareness. My husband has the same phone as me and he didn't get any emails about this.

[orange-orchard-system]

Who needs a Carrd when you can pin posts?

[PT: Who needs a Carrd when you can pin posts? / End PT]

Hello! We're the Orange Orchard, sometimes referred to as Orange Orchard System or O²S (but we prefer being called the Orange Orchard). This is our blog, which is primarily centered around plurality, but other common topics are disability, alterhumanity, and philosophy. Other than that, you may occasionally see posts that specific headmates especially liked and wanted to reblog here.

Our collective name is Ambrosia and our collective pronouns are they/them/their/theirs/themselves or rul/tem/plur/plurs/plurselves. You're free to use this name and these pronouns when referring to us if you're not speaking about anyone specific in our system, or don't have or know anyone specific you want to talk to.

Who are we outside of our names? We're a mixed origin, hybrid, polyfragmented system with DID that likes to philosophize and write analyses and summaries on plural related topics, such as news articles and plural characters. We run four other system blogs: funnier-as-a-system, plegg-culture-is, factive-culture-is, and pluralprompts. We discovered our plurality a few years ago and have been working to become a cooperative collective ever since then, with a mix of fusion and healthy multiplicity.

We try to avoid hosting discourse on this blog, but vents may reference it on occasion. We'd also like to say, for the record, that we fully support endogenic, self-diagnosed, and non-traumagenic systems and plurals here.

If you want to support us, you can buy us a coffee here!

Under the cut are some quick links to posts of ours that we especially like as well as miscellaneous resources, some extra facts about our system and blog, and then some userboxes about our system.

Have a nice day, remember that any hate sent to us will just inspire more positivity posts, and feel free to send us asks about anything on your mind. Most of us don't bite.

---☆

Resources and Links:

[PT: Resources and Links: / end PT]

art of Emmengard's Plural Rings

discourse disclaimers

multitasking and the innerworld

News Summary: "The blind woman who switched personalities and could suddenly see"

summarizing a diagnostic guide on diagnosing DID

What is a system?

~

A Beginner's Guide to Finding Headmates

French plural vocabulary

More Than One

New Alter Carrd

Pluralpedia

Resource Index – healthymultiplicity.com

The Plural Association

The Plural Playbook

---☆

BYF/Other Info:

[PT: BYF/Other Info: / end PT]

We don't want those heavily involved in shipcourse to interact with us. This isn't so much a discourse thing as it is a personal issue we have regarding that sort of thing; for our own mental health we'd like it if we could just avoid each other.

We use a mix of terms to describe ourselves/our system members, though not everyone in our system is comfortable with every term out there. For followers or visitors of our blog, we ask you use "selves" or "others" when referring to us.

We're also uncomfortable with being called "friends" by other people unless we give permission. Nothing personal, we're just largely aplatonic.

Finally, to answer a question asked multiple times before, the flag in our icon is our system flag, designed ourselves to represent us. The orange blossom is a nod to our system name and the symbolism behind it, and the stripes have specific meanings:

White: Looking towards the future.

Yellow: Learning, sunlight, and self-improvement.

Reddish pink: Our complicated system origins.

Purple-ish pink: Communication, cooperation, and care.

Black: Bravery, secrecy, trust, and doubt.

Any other questions? Send them in an ask or DM.

[Description for first image: a divider showing a line of Emmengard's Plural Rings with a black line connecting all of them together in the background. /End ID]

[Description for the rest of the images: four userboxes, each with text on the right side and an icon on the left side. The userboxes, in order, are:

[One: a blue userbox with miniature gray and blue star charms as the icon. The text reads: This system's tags on posts are not always indicative of who is fronting.

[Two: a pink userbox with a fluffy pink rabbit toy as the icon. The text reads: This system is almost always using "I" loosely.

[Three: a pinkish-purple userbox with a pink flower as the icon. The text reads: This collective has trouble knowing when conversations are over.

[Four: a lavender userbox with purple flowers as the icon. The text reads: This system has difficulty feeling and understanding emotions, please be patient.

[/ End ID]

[anthrogothic]

Body/Prision

so, here we go to the second part of the fic. ours has been exciting to write this. I hope you like it <3 (originally written in Brazilian Portuguese. sorry for any error).

Third part here

Pairing: Echo x f!Reader

Word Count: 2.1k

Warnings: Mentions of trauma, anxiety, panic, a little violence but nothing much and ~some physical mentions~ (and echo being a baby who needs care)

Heading towards the lab, you went through documents and reports on your datapad connected to the data network, finding the files of your newly known atypical clones, seeing that there were still three to meet in person.

One of them, with a rather traumatic past in your opinion. Another look like someone who is difficult to deal with. And lastly, one similar to your fellow nerds from college. Already imagining your scientific conversations.

You find your sweet auxiliary Omega standing at the door of the lab. She is also a clone, young and adorable. With short hair, the same color as the sun (if you remember the last time you saw one).

But with Jango Fett's pure DNA in her cells. Only you and Nala know this. Your conscience always brings you that painful twinge whenever the memory occurs to you.

"Y/N! I was looking for you!"

The girl came running towards you, with a scared face, taking your right hand and pulling you with her.

"Hey Omega, Stars, what's up?"

You almost shuffled your legs trying not to fall.

"I've been sent to help with clone ratings today! But Echo is very upset and I can't get him to calm down!"

Before you could ask for further explanation, you were already being dragged to the door of the room.

Stopping at the door, Omega pushed you inside when you spotted the trembling clone sitting with his back to the door, on top of the gurney, aiming his blaster at the three doctors ahead.

"Echo! I found her!"

The girl's voice was a mixture of relief and determination. The other three doctors in the room are clearly pissed off, hands up in front of the clone.

"Y/N isn't even a doctor, Omega!"

He yelled one of them, straightening and clasping his hands at his sides.

"You should have brought security!" yelled the other.

"She'll do it! She is better than you all!"

Screamed the little girl, pointing a finger at the three. You put a hand on her shoulder, signaling her to calm down. Gently you addressed the clone, froze as he stared into your eyes.

It was him… that clone whose record you were horrified to read. He was pale. With metallic accesses on his shaved head, a cybernetic prosthesis that covered his ears, his right forearm also cybernetic and thinner than most strong clones you know. Only the legs, also robotic, were covered by his blacks. His eyes were frightened and his limbs locked together at his sides, his good hand, shaking, still holding the blaster.

"A-Are you Doctor Y/N?"

His voice was deep, shaky and fraught with anxiety.

You, already with your heart sinking at his state, approached slowly, removing your white jumpsuit and leaving it on a small metal table nearby, catching the clone's attention with your tight black outfit.

"Yes… Echo, right? I assume you have a panic attack due to your accident… you shouldn't be brought into environments like this."

Your voice was calm and sweet. Looking at doctors with dislike in your last words. Echo looked away, clearly uncomfortable. The hand that was armed, wavering, and your hand slowly landing on top of the blaster, lowering it slowly, the clone giving way.

Suddenly one of the already impatient doctors approached abruptly and grabbed your shoulder from behind you.

"Let's go! We don't have time for theaters! Sedation didn't work this time, but nothing a dose would not do well on rebel clones!"

Spotting the syringe the doctor was pulling out of his lab coat, Omega jumped on his arm as she screamed. You turned, startled, seeing the fist that the doctor was already closing to hit the girl. In a rush of adrenaline, you punched him in the nose, he staggered backward, and Omega took the syringe from his hand. The other two came to help the doctor, who pushed them away claiming he was fine, looking at you with hate.

"You're in big trouble, girl! And you too, stuck-up scientist!"

His voice really was scary. But suddenly, Echo's voice came from behind you like thunder.

"Do something with them, and you'll have to come to terms with me and my squad."

His voice, full of hate and gravelly. His arm trembled as he aimed the blaster at the doctor, finger on the trigger.

"Not to mention the possible murder he was going to cause with so much sedative in a clone with a body not yet fully mapped to know the consequences."

Snorted Omega right beside you, all proud with the syringe in her hand.

"Uh, Nala Se will love to hear that."

You said, crossing your arms and looking at the doctor in defiance.

The attacking doctor flinched, growling as he left the room. The other two fearful:

"Please, it's our first week here. Don't hand us over to Nala Se. We just obey orders."

Begged one of the doctors, this one was much younger than the aggressor, probably doing residency with another colleague.

"Withdraw then. And let the rest of the team know the behavior of that bantha in the lab coat! He doesn't deserve to be your supervisor. He is the one who has to be supervised!"

Your voice was authoritative and even. All that remained was for the men to nod and leave the room.

Echo threw himself onto the gurney, breathing wildly and running a hand across his forehead. You stopped in front of the clone and slowly sat down beside him on the stretcher. Instructing him to take a few deep breaths, then slowly exhale for a few more, repeatedly. Echo tried to follow your directions, faltering a few times but picking up his pace eventually.

"There is! We make an amazing team! I told you, Echo!"

Omega's voice trying to bring relief to the tense environment. She continued.

"Y/N is the best! She will be nice to you!"

You, realizing the responsibility that Omega gave you, nodded with the girl's words.

"Well… I'm not exactly a doctor, as we've heard… but I know enough. You can trust me, Echo."

The clone looked at you with less awe, bearing in mind what you did.

"I- I feared that I would go through the physical evaluations again. I know they are mandatory, but... they remind me of the Citadel..."

His gaze roamed the metalized room, filled with stretchers, huge equipment, and light panels.

The doctors just didn't care and sedated him whenever it became impossible to assess him. Putting gadgets into his body, pushing him into big gadgets and treating his cybernetics like pieces of scrap metal.

"I don't want to be a problem again... I know I have obligations as a soldier, but I can't be okay here!"

He squeezed the biceps of his other arm with his hand, trying to stay in control as he felt a new wave of anxiety.

You gently placed your hand on his back, feeling him recoil involuntarily.

"Unfortunately it's standard procedure… but if you promise me secrecy, we can only do the basic assessment, and it could be in your room, a theoretically cozy place for you. I can do that from now on if you want."

Echo sighed, relieved at the option before looking at you again. His expression is lighter. Omega already excited to see her clone brother a little more relaxed. You smiled and calmly guided him to the dorm.

All the way the three of you were shot with stares and comments. You scolding each one with your furious glare, Omega stuck out his tongue at the attackers, while Echo lowered his head every time. His tall stature, allowing you to see his depressed expression from below.

Omega opened the door as you arrived soon after, still next to Echo. Omega pointed to the bunk and you asked permission to sit, Echo, growing more and more stunned by your sweet attitude toward him, nodded.

Placing the small silver suitcase you brought along on the floor, you took Echo by the hand, inviting him to sit beside you.

You asked permission with each movement and touch the soldier's body, trying to be gentle, as if his body were the most sensitive of porcelain. You were curious about his cybernetics, but you chose not to bring it up.

Omega was sitting by your suitcase, legs crossed on the floor, handing out all the little devices you needed to gauge the clone's basic physical parameters, but never looking away from him.

You explained what you were doing and why, warned of any movement or approach of the small devices and their purpose. Echo just nodded, getting a lot more confident in you.

You can't help but notice the tight, visible muscles. The heat radiating from the clone's body. The sharp, attractive shape of his body in that tight black outfit. Feeling the slight reactions whenever your fingertips touched him. The shy look he gave you.

Omega looked uncomfortable, pacing back and forth when you were wearing the last device on Echo's body, checking his heart function.

"Omega, what is it?"

Echo said low but firm, surprising you by the contrast to the voice that trembled earlier.

"I lied to Nala Se, saying that I went to get more supplies with Y/N, that it would take her time to get to the lab, so I could take her to you. If the confusion gets to her ears, she'll find out."

Omega ran her hand constantly over the back of her neck and through hair, the little eyes fearful.

You widened your eyes at the girl, remembering that you was requested earlier and for her boldness with the doctor (as if you didn't know her). Already trying to devise a plan to cover up the improvised procedure with Echo.

"Hm... I can talk to some clone friends to claim that we left Kamino for a few hours… I don't want Nala Se mad at us. And about the fight, well, we just defended ourselves."

You said with a smug smile on your full lips, forgetting your hand resting on Echo's covered chest, your hand already warming the spot. He watched your hand standing there, your skin seemingly smooth, the fingers small and delicate, rising and falling with his breath and causing a strange sensation deep in his racing heart.

The way you welcomed him and tried to keep him safe. You defended him. Just like your brothers before it all happened. He hadn't experienced this in a long time. But like a knife, he slashed his thoughts and threw them aside. He no longer allowed himself to wander through such things, after all, what kind of relationship could he have, being like that.

He came back to consciousness with your movement, withdrawing you hand and standing up, Omega already picking up the small suitcase from the floor.

"A-Are we done yet?"

A slight disappointment was clear in the clone's voice. You crouched down between his spread thighs, looking him in the eye, giving the clone's eyes access to your light cleavage and your silvery cord that went between your breasts.

"We've finished the basics, Echo. You are strong and healthy. I'll be back to do the rest tomorrow, after my shift, if you're comfortable."

Your eyes were like adorable little twinkling stars. So comforting and sincere, just like you, all the time with him. He nodded, a slight smile breaking his pale lips, bringing a slight, sweet swell to his heart.

You stood up, carefully taking the clone's hand, pulling a pen out of your pinned hair, and jotting down your personal communicator code in the palm of his hand.

"Let me know anything, Echo. Drink water and do the breathing exercises before going to bed."

Smiling, you turned around, heading for the door, being caught up by Omega just after she gave your brother a hug. The door closed as you remembered to scold the brave little girl for her attitude earlier.

Echo was left alone. Only with the sound of his heart pounding in his ears in the dim light in the room. The raindrops hitting the glass.

He put his hand where yours was moments ago, reading your code by pulling his palm away from his chest. He was calm. Something impossible after days of evaluations.

But beyond that, he felt real, alive, and eager to see you the next day, as much as his guts and gears wanted to say otherwise.

[kamino-blues]

Common Ground (Echo x Reader): Part 1

Rating: PG

Warning: None

Spoilers: This is a rewrite (sort of) of Episode 10: Common Ground, so if you have not watched I would recommend not reading. There are also spoilers for the Citadel arc and Bad Batch arc in Clone Wars (If you haven't seen them yet! Figured I would include this just to be safe)

Word Count: 1,482

The last episode made me really upset with how dismissive they were being of Echo, so I started a little writing project! I don't often write oneshots, so hopefully this isn't to ooc - I hope you enjoy <3

It was sunny on Ord Mantell, sun rays piercing through the smog that covered the entirety of the sky. The side streets in town seemed less dirty as you walked towards Cid’s Parlor, hand in hand with Echo. His brothers were ahead of you, the energy light as the previous mission was a huge success. Omega was perched on Wreckers shoulder, both of them goofing off with the Mantell Mix that contributed often to your guys' debt (you weren’t complaining though, you found it cute that they had their thing).

You had started traveling with the Bad Batch before Order 66, working as the group’s medic for their missions. It wasn't like that at first though, not working with the Bad Batch until later in the war. You were a medic that jumped from battalion to battalion, often working with the 501st. You had worked closely with Echo, becoming close friends with him before the incident at the Citadel. His death shook you to the core, you never really recovered from it.

So when you were cornered by Rex on Anaxes with him muttering about how Echo could possibly be alive, you automatically agreed to the mission, hoping to see your dear friend again. When you helped Rex take Echo out of that contraption that day, you were a mess of tears. You had helped Echo to the best of your abilities as you all escaped to the Havoc Marauder. You didn’t go on the mission to the spaceport, but before Echo left, you pulled him into a kiss, muttering a small “Please make it back safe, I can’t lose you again.”

Echo had given you a small smile, nodding as he held his hand on your shoulder. Him walking away pained you, but you knew in your heart that he would be back. And that he was, him pulling you aside after talking to Rex. He informed you how he was going to be working with the Bad Batch from now on, and how he wanted you to come with him. He had already gotten permission from the Batch (and Anakin, he was the one who was able to place you somewhere permanently), and you automatically agreed, wrapping your arms around him. He flinched, but slowly hugged back. The rest became history, you two getting together shortly after.

So hand in hand, you lean against Echo as you both watch Wrecker place Omega on the ground, who was absolutely radiating happiness. The whole group really felt like family to you, and you were so grateful that they accepted you as one of their own. Omega moved over to the two of you, holding out the bag of Mantell Mix.

“Echo! Y/n! Wanna try some?” Omega looked at both of you, a large smile on her face. You nod, a smile creeping onto your own as you reach forth to grab some. You never had it before, and you looked at it for a second before placing it in your mouth. Your eyes widen as you look back and forth between Echo and Omega.

“Wow, that’s a lot more fruitier than I expected” Omega giggled at this, holding out the bag to Echo. He let go of your hand, taking a few in his hands before smelling it. The look on his face was priceless, you succumbing to giggles, laughing even harder when he turned to look at you with his eyebrow raised. He gave you a smirk before placing them in his mouth, cringing at the taste. Omega joined your giggling, until Hunter stormed past, motioning for everyone to go into the parlor. Omega faltered for a second, then turned around to follow him in. You paused, looking up at Echo with a questioning look.

Echo just shrugged, placing his hand on your upper back to guide you into the bar. “I honestly don’t know, I just know we should probably get inside before he yells at us”. You nod at this, walking in while staying as close as you could to Echo. You noticed Cid standing right next to the bar, her obviously waiting for you guys to return. You stopped next to Echo, him standing with his helmet in hand, you leaning up against his shoulder. He lightly tapped you with his prosthetic, glancing over before frowning in Cid’s direction.

Echo was not a fan of Cid, he didn’t trust her. These meetings were usually tense, the happy atmosphere you all had a few moments ago transforming into an uncomfortable weight on your shoulders as you all waited for news of the next mission.

“I’ve got a mission for you boys” Cid glanced over all of you, her eyes focusing on Hunter once she was done with her sweep. “A simple extraction on Raxus.”

You saw Tech sit up at that in the corner of your eye, and you end up moving slightly away from Echo to focus on Tech. “Raxus? That is the former center of the Separatist government. It has since become an Imperial outpost-“ You noticed Echo tense up, and you moved back to put a hand on his mid-back. He flinched at the contact, and you pulled away, frowning.

“You’re being hired to locate and free Senator Avi Singh from his confinement” Cid stated, her eyes hardening as she saw how you all were taking this news. You started to zone out, slightly hearing Hunter arguing with Cid about how you guys don’t work with separatists. The war had been long and hard on all of you, and the idea of working with someone that hurt so many of your friends and allies did not sit well with you. You were especially worried about Echo, he had been through so much because of the Separatists.

Hunter pushed away from the bar, walking towards Cid with a glare on his face. Cid turned, and they headed away from the group. Echo automatically turned towards Tech, taking a few steps toward him.

“I don’t agree with this- first it was choosing to work with Cid and now having to work with the Seppies?” Tech looked up from his datapad, quickly fixing his glasses while keeping eye contact with Echo.

“It’s as Cid said, a job’s a job. We are in debt to her, so we can’t refuse to do this mission without getting ourselves in more trouble than we already are” Tech stated, moving his hands to accentuate his point. He shook his head, looking back down at his datapad as Wrecker looked between Tech and Echo, a frown on his face. He made eye contact with you, giving you a small smile that didn’t reach his eyes, and turned to Tech again.

Echo moved away from them, his glare lightening slightly when his gaze landed on you. “I think they are all being way too casual about this- working for the Seppies would have been treason a few weeks ago, this goes against everything we have ever done.” His hand was fidgeting, fingers tapping against his thigh. You slowly reached your hand out, hesitating before you touched his hand, making eye contact to see if he was ok with it. He nodded, and you intertwined your hands, you holding his one with both of yours as your right thumb traced shapes along his.

“It feels like we don’t have a choice, Echo.. We’ll figure it out as we go along, maybe Hunter is even getting us out of the mission right now.” You say, trying to find something to comfort him through this situation you all had gotten into. He sighed, his grip tightening on your hand as he pulled you into a hug. He moved his arms to wrap them around you, burying his face in your hair. You quickly return the hug, your hands holding onto his mid back. His grip was tight, trying to ground himself.

“I hope you are right” he muttered into your hair, him pulling away and giving you as close to a smile as he could. Echo grabbed your hand again, you starting up tracing patterns against his skin when Hunter walks over, a frown on his face. He leaned down, having a quiet conversion with Omega. You overheard most of it, tightening your grip and sending Echo a frown when you realized that the mission was happening and Omega wasn’t coming along.

You gave her a small frown while mouthing ‘I’m sorry’ as you all started moving towards the exit of the bar. Omega nodded, the frown not leaving her face knowing she wasn’t going to be a part of the mission. Echo tugged on your hand, getting you to start following Hunter and Tech as they led the way out of the Parlor. You both knowingly glanced at each other, the realization that the next few rotations were not going to be enjoyable.

[oddishfeeling]

how do i really start loving myself? it’s gotten to the point where i can’t even take pictures of myself or the thought of someone taking a picture of me makes me have such bad anxiety. there’s nothing i like about myself, inside or out. i really don’t know where to start and you seem so confident and just content with yourself. how?

hmmm it's okay not to like taking selfies or for other people to do that. the whole idea of like. being photogenic and always seeing ourselves is unnatural imo. i dont think we were really meant to live this way.

as for not liking yourself on the inside, the easiest place to start is to start treating yourself like a friend. you don't expect your friends to be perfect. and if you can, try to reflect on what causes these feelings. where do they stem from? are they yours? or someone else's planted there a long time ago, so long ago that you forgot that they're not yours?

i get insecure all the time! i try to ride out those feelings. sometimes it's worse when i havent gotten enough sleep/rest. sometimes it's because i havent been eating well. sometimes it's because i havent stretched or done any yoga.

that self critic inside of you, that talks with so much conviction, that is so loud, it isn't you.

the thing is, i don't think you need to do anymore or less. i don't think theres anything you need to change that won't happen as a result of you accepting yourself as you are.

we talk a lot about putting other people on a pedestal, how harmful and unfair that can be. and how people have the tendency to be upset when other's can't live up to that standard. but we do it with the idealized version of ourselves too. only people call it like.. goal setting. it's hidden under the idea of self improvement.

but you know what i've learned about love? the best thing you can do for someone is love them with the expectation that they will change because that's what growth is, that's what life demands! the best thing you can do is give them space to do that.

good love can feel empowering and liberating and you can give that to yourself.

give yourself permission to feel unattractive, to be ugly. there's so much value and freedom in defining these things for yourself and in not denying the unsavory parts of yourself. they are just as important as your beauty and your successes, i would even say they help inform so much of your value too.

you are not one dimensional. you aren't a photogenic cardboard cut out of your best self, who is pore-less, she is even thin, with a nice smile. not one hair out of place. but she is not real.

you are real!! what a feat in it of itself that you are alive to feel the weather change and taste your favorite foods. not only that, but you exist along with all the ugliness and beauty in this universe. u don't need to fit a standard, especially not one set by you, for you.

i welcome my demented, unhinged, and scary parts of myself. i've finally invited them to the table instead of making them eat scraps outside. they get easier to look at in candlelight. and they've even begun to comfort and defend me against what the world demands.

try not to rush any of this though. there's no use. i think i learned these things by aging. but if you can start to see yourself as this complex being, with all sorts of needs and desires, as a friend who just needs a place to rest their head, you will get there sooner than you think.

[honyakuninakunaru]

Ways to Spend a Birthday // Mithra SSR Card Story

CHAPTER 1

(Hallway)

Mitile: "Everything's set!"

Lennox: "All thanks to the hard work you two put into it."

Rutile: "Let's go invite him then!"

Figaro: "Ahaha. Be careful, running can be dangerous."

Mithra: "..... I've finally found you."

Mitile: "Oh, Mister Mithra."

Rutile: "What might you be doing here?"

Mithra: "I've been looking for you all morning ever since you went missing. Going as far to leave without my permission... What's with the get-up?"

Rutile and Mitile: "Pardon...?"

Mithra: "Your clothes are dirty, your faces are full of scratches, and you look worn-out."

Mitile: "Ah, t-that's...Um..."

Rutile: "Oh, um, it's nothing. We took a tumble, is all."

Mithra: "Where and what were you doing? I sure hope it wasn't somewhere dangerous. Right?"

Lennox: "Don't grill them so much."

Figaro: "Right, right. They came back in one piece so you can let them off, no?"

Mithra: "Come again? To begin with, you guys are impotent, so of course, things would turn out this way. And you, Figaro, why did you bother accompanying them? Have you fallen so low that you've become unable to protect these two?"

Figaro: "Now, now, calm down."

Rutile: "There's no need to get this angry. We've brought you a special souvenir, you see."

Mithra: "..... A special souvenir?"

Mitile: "Over here. Come with us, please."

(Dining room)

Mithra: "..... What is this?"

Rutile: "It's an entire feast we prepared, all for you, as you can see!"

Mitile: "We had Mister Nero help us make it!"

Mithra: "..... Huh? Including this animal's corpse?"

Mitile: "I-it's not a corpse! It's a roasted deer."

Rutile: "It looks like quite the delicacy. You like meat, right, Mister Mithra? I do hope it suits your taste."

Figaro: "Rutile suggested that we make a grand gibier feast for your birthday."

Lennox: "The four of us went hunting this morning. Sorry if we made you worry."

Mitile: "Yes, please rest assured, the hunt was a great success! I was very startled when a very big snake appeared midway, though..."

Rutile: "Its scales were rainbow-coloured, and it seemed to be poisonous, but it was so shiny and lovely!"

Mithra: "Hold o—... Please tell me you didn't touch it!"

Rutile: "It was a little further from us, but I managed to sketch it. I drew it really well, so I'll show it to you later. We've all been in high spirits since this morning. And so, happy birthday, Mister Mithra. Please eat to your heart's content!"

Figaro and Lennox: "Happy birthday, Mithra."

Mitile: "I only helped because Nii-sama asked me to, but... Happy birthday, Mister Mithra."

Mithra: "..... Goodness gracious. Since you didn't die, I'll turn a blind eye this time. But just so you know, there won't be a next time. In the future, I'm definitely coming with you."

CHAPTER 2

(Lounge)

Mithra: "There you are, Owen, Bradley."

Bradley: "Yuck, Mithra."

Owen: "Yikes..."

Mithra: "I was just thinking we could have a tea party, and here we've got the people for it."

Owen: "What's this tea party crap?"

Mithra: "We simply chat over a cup of tea."

Bradley: "He didn't ask what a tea party is. Why do we hafta do something like that..."

Mithra: "Earlier, the Western wizards asked me if us Northern wizards were going to hold one. According to what they said, you fall asleep faster after having fun at a tea party, so I thought I'd try it out."

Owen: "You're so easy to sway..."

Bradley: "Can ya even do one with three people?"

Mithra: "Just sit down already. Do you want to do it standing up?" 

Owen and Bradley: "Yeah, yeah." 

Mithra: "So, how have you been these days?"

Owen: "The absolute worst."

Mithra: "How come? Did something happen?" 

Bradley: "Just woke up."

Mithra: "When you say the worst, Bradley, weren't you hung upside down by the twins a while ago?" 

Owen: "I witnessed that too. It looked rather fun, I must say. How did you get yourself in that mess?"

Bradley: "Tch... They ordered me to go on some mission, but I just ignored em and skipped out. Apparently, that was enough to get to those damn geezers..."

Owen: "A similar thing happened to me recently. They were threatening me while also pleading me for help. They thought I'd listen to what they had to say if they turned into their adult form. It's absolutely sickening." 

Mithra: "If I don't obey them even after that and turn away, they'd have Oz bring me back."

Owen: "Same here."

Bradley: "One day it's all gonna be over..."

Mithra: ".....Talking about this is slowly making me angry."

Owen: "Hey, since the three of us have gathered today, how about we retaliate ourselves."

Bradley: "Count me in. But let's not overdo it, or Oz might show up. Let's do somethin that's gonna get those two real mad."

Mithra: "Then, shall we go to their residence? Rumour has it that they store powerful magic objects and charms there, and I want to take some of them while we're at it." 

Bradley: "Bastard... That's going a bit too far, dontcha think."

Owen: "It'll be a real pain later if they really do get angry."

Mithra: "It's going to be alright since it's my birthday and all. Isn't that what birthdays are for? A day when you can be selfish and say whatever you want. If it's for today, I can be forgiven anything, no?"

Owen and Bradley: "....."

Owen: "You're right. They seem to have a soft spot for birthday boys."

Owen: ("I should make a run for it as soon as we get found out.")

Bradley: "Fine by me. Let's give it a shot." 

Bradley: ("If somethin happens we can just let Mithra deal with it.")

Mithra: "Shall we get going then?"

Bradley: "They can't blame us if we get a lil rowdy, ya know how birthdays are."

Owen: "We're counting on you, birthday boy."

Mithra: "You ought to utmost thank me because if it hadn't been my birthday, we wouldn't be able to do this."

(Snow and White's room)

Snow and White: ".....M?"

Snow: "What is it with this sudden chill... I got this very loathsome feeling."

White: "Does this perhaps call for a punishment?"

CHAPTER 3

(Akira's room)

Akira: ("It's already this late, I should get going to Mithra's room...")

Looking at the clock, one could well say it's nighttime. On this very day, I was supposed to help Mithra, who was welcoming his birthday, fall asleep.

Akira: ("I just saw him receive sweets from the Central wizards, but I wonder if he's back in his room already...")

(Knock and door opening)

Mithra: "Good evening."

Akira: "M-Mithra...! What is it? I was about to head to your ro—..."

Mithra: "Do you know what this is?"

Akira: "Eh?"

Mithra boastfully showed off a very familiar-looking hat.

Akira: "...Is that Faust's hat?"

Mithra: "I received it as it's my birthday today. I've been fond of it for a while, actually."

Akira: ("He says he received it, but why do I feel like he stole it...")

Akira: "You should go and return it to him later since he probably got angry over it."

Mithra twirled the hat around his finger, showing no signs whether he was listening or not.

Mithra: "I don't know why, but for some reason, I'm feeling quite well today. I even feel like I could beat Oz and become the world's strongest wizard."

Akira: "A...ha."

Mithra: "Actually, Oz's mana would be the best present I could possibly receive. I'll go pay him a visit real quick."

I rushed to stop Mithra, who had began to make his way out the door with a light step, before he could leave.

Akira: "I-it's already late, so how about you leave that for next time? Instead, why don't you tell me how your day went?"

Mithra: "My day? Well, it was a rather busy one. In the morning, I was treated to the corpse of an animal. I also got angry with the Southern brothers who had left on their own, but the meat was good, so there's that. Later, Owen, Bradley, and I broke into the twins' residence. We did it because I can be forgiven all selfishness if it's just for today."

As he recalled the events that happened today, Mithra's voice was somewhat cheerful. He was like a happy child talking about the fun things he had done.

Mithra: "..... What so funny? You're quite the odd one."

Akira: "Ahaha, sorry, it's nothing."

Mithra: "A lot of things happened today, and I'm tired, so help me sleep, come on."

Is what Mithra said as he threw himself on the bed. I gently held his hand, enveloped in a pleasant feeling.

Akira: ("It seems to have been a birthday so fun, he didn't have time to spend by himself...")

Akira: "Good night, Mithra, and happy birthday."

Big thanks to @/_Zeotrope_ on Twitter for providing the raws for this story!

[old-hyper-super-clover]

Squeeze that bunny tail!

Part 3

Description: The RAD student council as well as the exchange students help out at a bar where, oops, the staff´s dress codes are those sweet bunny outfits that we all know and thirst for. The MCs, Violet and Clover, play a game of who can touch the most bunny tails over the evening without getting caught. Prepare for fluff, funny innuendos as well as my thirst over hot boys in bunny outfits.

Find the first parts on my masterlist.

Story continues under the cut. Enjoy the thirst!

[The amazing artwork belongs to @tokamiart, permission to post was granted, don´t repost!]

Clover and Simeon were giving out drinks at the bar.

The girl was handing over all sorts of bottles, glasses and ice cubes if needed. Simeon then put it all together with such grace and beauty that Clover often found herself gazing at him, until the brunet would turn to her with a smile and ask her to let go of whatever she had been wanting to hand him.

At one point, without any customers walking up to the bar, Clover sat down for a quick break.

"Tired?" Simeon asked, having decided to clean the counter in the meantime.

Clover chuckled at the sight. "Oh, is this going to be the classic 'I tell the bartender of my problems' scenario?"

The angel blinked in confusion. "I am afraid I don't know what you are talking about... But I'm always there to lend you an ear, if that's what you're aiming at."

"I'm fine", she laughed. "I was only joking... I must admit, though, you really suit this job. I'm sorry if I'm misjudging you, but how come an angel is looking so perfectly fit for serving drinks?"

Simeon blessed her with a chuckle. "Thank you for the compliment. As for your question... You might be surprised, but angels do know how to have some fun, too."

"Oooh" Clover grinned. "So the whole turning-water-into-wine thing wasn't just a myth?!"

At that, Simeon only put his finger close to his lips in a "shhh" sound, giving her a secretive little wink before both broke out in soft giggles.

A little while later, their attention got caught up by a situation at the tables.

Luke was cleaning dirty dishes off of an emptied table, when a demon approached him.

A little flustered, they exchanged a few words before Luke gestured towards the public toilets.

"He's doing so well" Simeon hummed, leaning on the counter as he watched his angel friend with a proud smile. "It had been very difficult for him to adjust to life in the Devildom... But I'm glad to see he is finally finding his own pace of things."

Clover's head jumped back and forth between the two celestial creatures.

"It's because he has a great friend who's watching over him" she smiled.

"Huh? Oh, no, I don't want to take any credit for that. It's all thanks to Luke's own strength that he's able to go through this so well."

Suddenly, Luke hurried over to them, a full tray of dishes in his hands.

He looked SO disgusted.

"Waaah... What's wrong with those demons...!" He let the tray slip onto the counter. "Has nobody here learned how to properly behave in a restaurant?! The tables are sticky, the food is all over the cutlery, or even worse...!"

He held up a fork.

... Or better, what was left of it. Which was only the handle. The upper spikes got bitten off almost completely.

"Who eats a fork?!?!", Luke cried out. "That's... That's... Ridiculous!"

Clover gave an awkward laugh, she got over the point of wondering long ago.

"I am pretty sure I know who would..." she mumbled.

And truly, stepping out of the kitchen, the culprit looked at the fork with a guilty expression.

"... Don't tell Lucifer" Beelzebub mumbled as he came closer. "He'll get mad if he sees that parts of the cutlery are missing..."

"... 'parts'?!" Luke repeated in disbelief. "You mean this isn't the only one?!"

"... Those were accidents..." Beel whined, holding his grumbling belly.

He let himself plonk down on a chair next to Clover, then huddled over the counter in a pout.

"Ugh... And what am I supposed to do with that now...?" Luke said.

"Hm..." Simeon thought. "Clover, Beel, could you watch the bar for a moment? Luke, let's go bring the dishes to the kitchen... And that thing into the trash."

They excused themselves after Clover gave her okay and Beel gave some kind of grumble.

The girl´s head drifted over to look at the demon...

And her heart skipped a beat.

She checked the situation.

His tail? Exposed.

His thoughts? In some far away land about food.

The others? Gone.

The perfect chance for a squeeze? Right fucking NOW.

Clover swallowed the raising anxiety in her stomach.

She had lurked around the angels in hope of squeezing one of their tails, but now that they were gone, she had missed that chance...

The more she thought about it, the more did Clover feel like hyperventilating. It was such a stupid thing to fuss over, but sadly, her habit of over-contemplating would always stress her out in unnecessary situations.

After what felt like eternity of convincing herself, she moved her arm.

Beel almost immediately turned his head.

"... You look like you want to eat me." He said.

"Wh-what?!"

His grumpy face mustered her.

"But I will eat you before you could possibly eat me, so don't even try."

Clover's already red face curled in confusion.

"I didn't want to..." she mumbled.

"Why were you staring at me, then?"

"I-I... Was thinking about how to help you with your hunger..." she lied.

"... Oh. Sorry for accusing you of something else, then."

"N-no, it's fine..."

Before Clover could talk herself into more bullshit, Simeon came back, and the holy boy was there to save her from her own misery.

"Beel" he called out. "Luke and I will soon return home for a bit. I can bring you some sandwiches, so stay strong, okay?"

"Simeon...!" Beel cheered as his euphoria made him stand up and engulf Simeon in a hug. "You're a true angel...!"

Clover felt quite shitty afterwards.

Beel hugging Simeon was an adorable sight, but she hated herself for being such a coward.

After dodging another encounter with Solomon, she had pulled back to help Belphie at the casino area, trying to get her mind off of the competition for a little...

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

Alright. I hope you´re not bored yet, because the chaos hasn´t even properly started yet.

Also, nearing ourselves to half-time, now is a good opportunity to sum up a few events as well as the overall squish-score so far.

Violet was leading with a total of 12 points. Besides the mentioned scenarios, she had also encountered Mammon a second time, and she was lucky enough to find Luke having a life crisis over another eaten fork.

Heck, Violet even managed to squeeze Clover's tail once, and her friend hasn't noticed!

Clover, on the other side, has had a great start, but did rather poorly the later it got.

With five points, she only had another chance with Asmo, who, tbh, had been begging for someone to pay attention to his booty. (But to be clear, he did not notice the squish.)

Over time, she got desperate, but that only fueled Clover's fears of getting caught.

It nearly let her to internally quitting, if not for Violet to pull her back into the game once more...

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

Most of the crew was busy working when the clock struck midnight.

A nearby bell tower announced the change of day -- and with that, also the change of clothes.

The customers as well as the staff looked up when a certain voice echoed through the speakers.

"Good evening, my sweethearts~!" Asmodeus cheered, sitting on the bar counter and waving at the crowd. "Or should I say good night? Good morning? I hope you are having a good one, to say the least!"

He gained a small round of laughter.

"Yes, yes, a cheery mood is what we want! And now that we passed midnight... It's time for a special surprise!"

He stood up onto the counter, striking a nice pose while smirking widely.

"Those with weak minds -- and weak ovaries -- should brace themselves, cause things are about to get hot~!"

The crowd applauded and cheered. A group of thirsty (asmodeHoes) fans threw in some... naughty exclamations, but Asmo had already jumped onto the floor again, gathering the staff members around him.

Barbatos at his side, he was handing out another set of clothing. "Please get dressed quickly", the butler said.

And so they went off...

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

"VioLET."

"Cloverrrr..."

"I CAN'T go out like his."

"But... But Clover... You know what must be awaiting us outside..."

"ARGH... I'm not ready for that either..."

Clover was sitting on the floor again.

This time, their outfit consisted of a classic black playbunny suit, ears and tail still included of course, arm sleeves as well as a shirt's collar that was held together by a bow tie.

"Come onnn, I don't wanna go without you..." Violet protested.

"But HOW am I supposed to face those frickin´ snacks” Clover cried out. “I'm a fucking potato compared to them, also Violeeet, the moment I see any of them my mind will SIN and I won't ever be able to look into Simeon's eyes ever agai-"

They heard voices on the other side of the door.

"Woohooo, is that Lucifer?! Shirtless?!" They heard Asmo go. "And and, kyaaaa, Beel, those ABS!!"

The girls exchanged a glance.

Then dashed out of the womens' toilet once again.

Stumbling out of the room, however, there was no one to be spotted at all.

A little confused, the girls noticed too late how a cheeky Asmodeus had been hiding behind the door, pushing the latter shut to have a perfect view on his girls.

"Got you~!" he hummed, leading the girls to turn around.

He had a camera in his hands and seemed to be already filming.

"What a view~", he continued. "Could you do me a favour and turn around as well?"

"Asmo!!" Violet hissed, her cheeks gaining a pink blush out of angered embarrassment.

Not as much as Clover's face was heating up, though, as she prompted the demon to put his phone down.

"Not going to happen, sweetie~" he chuckled. "Devilgram will love those bashful expressions...!"

"WhAt?!" Violet covered her body immediately. "You WON'T upload this anywhere!"

"Uhmmm... That's kind of not possible, you know? This is a live broadcast."

"WHAT."

Then, another person stepped out of the males' bathroom.

"What's all the noise about?"

Lucifer's annoyed voice echoed through the corridor.

When he stepped closer, however, his attention got caught up by the girls' appearance.

"Oh~?" he purred, inspecting the girls (but Violet in particular hehe) with a pleased smirk on his lips.

"L... Lu..." Violet's voice broke off.

She just... Died. Nothing more to say about this, really.

Because only now both, Violet and Clover, realised that not everything of Asmo's bait had been a lie...

The demons were actually shirtless, their chests bare as they were wearing only arm sleeves and, in Lucifer's case, a bow tie around his neck, while Asmo's neck was decorated with a ribbon. Rather tight-fitting black trousers and the bunny accessories completed the look that had left the girls speechless.

Lucifer's smirk grew wider.

"No, that's no good... I think I will have to speak to the manager. Those outfits are way too distracting... Isn't that so, Violet?"

"H-huh?!" The girl did a little hop.

Thankfully, Asmo jumped in to her aid.

"Fufu~! Lucifer, do you mean the girls are getting distracted by us, or is it that YOU are getting distracted, hm~?"

Lucifer crossed his arms in a contemplative manner.

"Well... I admit to a pleasant view when I see one, so..." He pinned Violet down with his eyes. "I guess I will have to be extra careful from now on... Then again, I might need a more detailed view, just to be sure..."

Asmo gave an excited giggle.

"Lucifer, you beast~!"

Then Asmo turned to Violet again.

"But judging from her red cheeks, I feel Violet might think the same... Isn't that so, darling~?"

"U-uhm...", Violet stammered, trying really hard to make her brain function again. "Well I... Think there's no point in denying that... Uhm..."

She glanced over at Lucifer, but every time she did, her head got dizzy all over again.

"Go on, please" Lucifer suddenly said. "There is no need to deny what, exactly?"

And her brain got stuck in an endless loop of not being able to cope.

Lucifer seemed to have plenty of fun with that, so he kept teasing her for the time being.

-----

We do remember, however, that there was another still girl left to completely destroy.

And Asmo took it upon himself to achieve exactly that.

"Don't worry, Clover!" He said as he tackled the girl into a hug, simultaneously dragging her away from the two lovebirds. "You're just as charming, of course."

"Th-thanks..." Clover mumbled.

"Hm? You don't seem to believe me."

Clover pulled away, now only holding hands with him, giving a shrug. "You know what I think of my looks, Asmo..."

The avatar of Lust gave a sigh.

"There we go again... If you're so self-conscious… why don't we go ask for some opinions?"

"Eeh?!"

And if the god of fateful anime encounters had planned it, the remaining demon brothers happened to have finished changing as well. The door to the men´s bathroom swung open…

"Oh!" Asmo smelled his chance. "Look, there comes our audien-"

He got cut off by the weird sound Clover made.

In a single movement, she had let out a squeal that a human throat should not be able to do, had completely destroyed Asmo's pretty hand by squeezing it in excitement, while in the end she was hiding behind Asmo, only peeking over his shoulder to glance at the mass of hotness coming out of the bathroom.

"Clover…?" Asmo sounded confused.

"Too much hotness", she mumbled into his shoulder. “I can´t-“

"Huh?" Asmo sounded genuinely confused for a second.

Then a smirk curled his face.

"What?!" he spoke extra loud, extra dramatically, so everyone could hear. "What did you say, Clover?! You think they're all sooo hot?!"

"A-asmo, be quiet...!" Clover mumbled.

But he continued.

"What? You love how much skin we are showing?!" he yelled.

"Stop...!"

"Whaaat?! You'd even pay them to strip down even more?! Clover, you wild animal!"

She punched the demon in embarrassment.

The next second, a certain scumbag stood beside them.

"DiD I hEaR 'P-p-p-PAy'?!" Mammon stuttered, literal cash-symbols in his eyes.

Asmo grinned at him, covering Clover's mouth so she couldn't protest.

"Our dear Clover here wants you to strip for her~"

Clover shook her blushy head.

"That's not trrngh..." she tried to press out between Asmo's fingers.

Mammon stared at her for a moment.

"… 10.000 Grimm."

Clover had freed herself again.

"... What?"

"15.000 and I'll do pole dance too."

"MAMMON WHAT THE HECK."

The second born looked almost disappointed when Clover declined his offer.

But Asmo was already moving on with his mischiefs.

"What? Clover?? You want to do WHAT with Beel's abs?!?!"

"ASMODEUS, I'LL KILL YOU-"

"No you won't~" Asmo grinned, turning to give his brothers a view on Clover. "Guuuys, I need your help! I dare you to give this little lady a rating in this sweet costume of hers."

Most of them looked confused at first,

but, seeing one, her outfit, and two, how much she was unable to cope, a few were ready to assist in Asmo's tease.

"I'd need a full view to judge" Satan grinned.

"Yeah" Belphie agreed. "Could you turn around slowly, Clover? Maybe do some poses as well?"

Clover shot them some angry glares.

"... You could do that pose were you form ears with your hands…" Levi dared to add in a mumble.

"Hrrrgh...!" Clover was fighting her embarrassment. "All of you are awful... Beel over here is the only nice guy, honestly...!"

She glanced at him in a pout, hoping he'd defend her... Or at least say something as well...

"... So you're not going to pose for us?" Beel said in a pout.

Clover.exe stopped working.

"Fufu..." Asmo grinned. "See, my dear? Even Beel demands a show... Now come on, we're waiting~!"

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

You can probably guess that Clover wasn't going to get out of this situation anytime soon.

While this part of the group enjoyed this mess of a person, let's switch back to the other girl whose brain was doing about as poorly.

Lucifer had kept Violet by his side, making sure she wasn't going to help Clover in her dilemma… Or going elsewhere in general.

However, one certain jealous bean soon couldn't bear that Lucifer was hogging Violet all for himself.

"Oi, Lucifer, back off of Violet already!"

And Mammon pressed himself in between them. "She's one of my humans after all!"

Visible displease grew on Lucifer's face as he got cockblocked yet again.

"And what would give you the right to claim her for yourself?" The eldest grumbled.

Mammon crossed his arms.

"... Because I just said so."

Lucifer pressed out a sigh, to then simply push Mammon's body away again.

"LUCIF-", Mammon hissed. "STOOP...!"

"You are distracting us, Mammon."

"B-but... That´s not fair…” he shouted. “M-maybe I want Violet to notice me as well!!"

Lucifer stopped, while most of the surrounding people went silent.

Then Levi gave a laugh.

"Oh my god MAMMON, that was so desperate lolol, SO uncool!"

Belphie spared him a pityful laugh. "Are you really that desperate for some attention, you idiot?"

The avatar of Greed was gritting his teeth.

"Hnngh... Shut up, all of you...!"

The situation around them escalated a little, even more so as Diavolo and Barbatos joined in on the chaos, having changed clothes as well.

But Violet felt bad, especially since she wouldn´t have expected Mammon to act like this. So, in a silent second where everyone seemed busy in their personal chaos, she sneaked over to Mammon.

After -- of course, what did you expect -- quickly poking his bunny tail, Violet also gave his shoulder a tap.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

Mammon looked a little surprised, responding with a huff.

"...'s a wolf..."

"Huh?"

"Lucifer's a wolf!" Mammon repeated, awfully loud and both feared that the eldest brother had heard him.

A bit more timid, Mammon continued as Violet could only look at him in confusion.

"... Ya can't just go hop around in such an alluring outfit when there're guys like Lucifer around. He could go full beast mode and, dunno, do some weird stuff to ya."

Violet suppressed the nasty thoughts approaching her brain, her heart beating drastically as she mumbled a faint "I see".

"Ya human should better stick to the great Mammon! I'd treat you nicely, y'know."

Violet raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"... 'Treat me' how, exactly?" She asked in an almost teasing manner. "What were you planning to do, Mammon?"

And it landed a critical hit.

"I-I-I-I mean tr-treat as i-in... I'd protect you from all those beasts around you!" he stammered, his cheeks a blushing mess. "Nothin´ weird, I swear!! Its just… There's plenty of those beasts! Actually, maybe you should go home. If all the customers see you like this... Argh... I have to tell Clover, too...!”

He turned his head to search for the other girl, only to realise the group was about to return to their work. "Ahh... Oh no, she´s already been caught..." Mammon pressed out.

"Mammon" Violet called out again and treated him with a smile. "I assume you´re saying this because you´re worried about us, right? Thank you for that, you´re really a good friend. We're having a shift together later, right? So, until later, okay?"

He seemed confused again, but nodded in the end.

"Ugh... Fine... Just stay safe, ´kay? Promise!"

"I promise" she laughed, then Mammon finally seemed to have calmed down.

At least he was fine enough to turn around and go bother Levi with something.

Violet was watching them in amusement, then felt a presence behind her.

"Turning your eyes off of me already?" A deep voice purred almost right into her ear.

Ah, yes, there it was again, the drastic heart rate.

"Lucifer..." Violet turned around at the mellow voice. "I just wanted to tease Mammon a little. He seemed a little down."

"Sure, suit yourself..." Lucifer mumbled casually. "But I seem to be a little down as well... To think you'd end our conversation so quickly..."

Violet exploded into a puzzled blush.

"N-no... That's not... I ... You..."

Lucifer was pinning her down with his gaze, waiting for a coherent reaction. “Then how abou we pick up where we left? I think there´s something you wanted to tell me…”

"Y-you look... A-... Amazing..." she stammered.

"Hm? Could you say that again? Your voice appears to be awfully thin."

She breathed a heavily stressed breath. So Lucifer continued.

"Pardon me? Violet, you appear to be overheating. How come? I would assume your clothing is revealing enough skin to make that impossible..."

Aaand Violet's brain shut down as well.

"Should I help you?" he hummed, stepping even closer. "In comparison to you, I seem to maintain a way cooler head than you do..."

And, being the most flustered he has ever been, Lucifer continued to tease the shit out of Violet for as long as he felt the need to...

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

The group was about to dissolve and (finally) head back to work.

The girls, however, had stayed back for a strategy meeting.

"This is bad", Clover blabbered as she was trying to calm down. "I couldn't get up to them with shirts on, how am I supposed to even TALK to any of them when they're in maximum sexy mode?! And it's not only maximum hotness, but did all of them collectively agree to unlock their secret teasing-modes, too?!"

Violet gave a blushing shrug. "... Are you complaining, though?"

"Hnngh... No... But I'm so short on points... If I don't start playing risky, I'll loose..."

Violet smirked at that.

"Yeah" she agreed. "That's a good idea. Look, Solomon's over there all alone, why don't y-"

"Nope” lover interrupted her immediately. “Not going to happen. Nope. I'd rather go up to the demon prince himself. I'd rather get killed by Barbatos TBH."

"Oh, you would get killed..." Violet shivered, thinking back of what happened in the store room earlier.

"Don't care" Clover persisted. "Like, come, demon lord, if I was to touch Solomon's tail today, you may kill me right this instant...!"

[aks3raao1]

Danganronpa shorts: Luck in a mansion

It was a rather cloudy day when Kazuichi had an idea. A rather strange and disastrous idea, if I, Hajime Hinata, were being honest.

"So, let's go to this mansion! I heard it was scientifically interesting!"

Kazuichi Soda was a rather cowardly man and his defining characteristic was crushing over a woman (and making her uncomfortable with his advances) who would never return his feelings. He was truly hopeless in that regard and prone to fits of jealousy towards anyone who got close to her.

However, he had another side to him. He was also the Ultimate Mechanic and had been accepted by Hope's Peak for that reason. Thus, whenever he came upon a machine, his first instinct was to attempt to open it up and see how it worked. I suppose his fascination with machines in this manner is somewhat similar to Nagito's fascination with hope.

Speaking of which—

"What a hopeful idea, Kazuichi! I am sure the scientific mysteries of the mansion would give rise to hope when solved by someone as great as you!" Nagito Komaeda said, a little starry eyed. Well, that wasn't unexpected since he appeared to try and find hope....virtually everywhere.

However, it was an unspoken thing in our class that we are likelier to be less confident in things after Nagito's over blown praises than more confident unless it benefited the person being praised.

Now, it benefitted Kazuichi.

"Yeah, we all might find something for ourselves too!!! Besides it would be a fun outing!!!"

"Your hope for this outing is so beautiful, Kazuichi, I am sure it will turn out as the Ultimate Outing!" Nagito went on, ecstatic.

"Errr, yeah," Kazuichi looked mildly uncomfortable at that and I swallowed a retort of, "A taste of your own medicine, huh?" and instead said,

"Well, happy outing, you too, then."

"Wait no, you are coming with us as well," Kazuichi said, "No way in hell am I going with this weirdo alone."

I wonder what made him think that I wanted to go alone with two weirdos who were drunk on their respective obsessions. Atleast Kazuichi was less likelier to murder people due to said obsession but still.

"So Hajime is in," Kazuichi said, not waiting for my answer.

"Wait, I never said—"

"—however it appears that you need four people according to the ticket, Kazuichi, so it appears that you need to invite another person," Nagito said, completely ignoring me and looking over the paper Kazuichi was clutching in his hand.

"I do, yes," Kazuichi said, "Miss Sonia would you—"

She pretended as if he did not exist.

Downtrodden Kazuichi went on, "I can kick out Nagito if you want—"

Still no response.

Utterly crushed, Kazuichi turned back to us.

"So.....," his enthusiasm was noticeably less than before, "I...."

"Don't give up hope, Kazuichi! I am sure something would turn up for you at the mansion!"

This caused me to feel like Nagito just wanted to go to that super mysterious mansion. Well, I suppose my own curiosity had been spiked as well due to the ambiguous way Kazuichi framed it.

"You think?" Kazuichi said, looking slightly more hopeful.

"Absolutely! There's hope in that mansion!"

Slightly uncomfortable, Kazuichi scratched his neck.

"Well, I suppose I can't turn this down......but we need another person."

He looked around the place and I sent a silent prayer to the unfortunate person who would grab his eye.

"Hey, Fuyuhiko—!"

Now I felt sorry for Kazuichi.

Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu was the Ultimate Yakuza and rather foul mouthed and brash despite his small stature. He was also the last person who would get dragged into such a thing.

Or so had I thought, woefully underestimating Kazuichi's persuasion skills.

"What is it?" Fuyuhiko snapped, "What do you want?"

"Hey, want to go with us to this mansion?" Kazuichi said, walking over and sitting down in front of him with a wide shark like grin.

"...who's us?" Fuyuhiko said.

"Hajime, me and Nagito."

"....I am not going."

"Why, do you want to make out with Peko or something?"

"No, what the fuck."

"Come on, please, we just need another member and you are perfect for that."

"I said I am not going—"

Kazuichi proceeded to whine and annoy the living hell out of Fuyuhiko for the next one hour, causing him to give in. Evidently, his dedication to machines was more than his personal pride.

~

A day later, we were all standing in front of the mansion.

The weather was still cloudy. The weather forecast hadn't informed us about any rain, but considering that Nagito was tagging along.....well anything was possible. Already he was sporting bandaged arms when he had arrived today and seemed apprehensive to go with us. However Kazuichi had dragged him along anyways, with a, "No backsies."

I had asked him about the bandaged arms and his reply had been,

"Ahaha, it's the bad luck for the good luck that an Ultimate would invite such a worthless person like me........all I would do is bring along bad luck, however I am sure the Ultimates can overcome that."

If just going on a fun trip punished him in this manner, I suppose I can see why he is the way he is. In a way. I don't think I will ever come close to understanding Nagito Komaeda.

"So, we are staying here for a week, okay?" Kazuichi said, bringing out the keys. They were huge and fit for such an ancient mansion like this.

He unlocked the door. We pushed it together, causing it to swing back with a groan.

Silence.

That was the first thing I noted about this place. How absolutely silent it was.

The next thing I noticed was how dark it was.

Fuyuhiko took out a lighter to light the torches, looking creeped out himself.

"Oi, Kazuichi, I thought this was a scientific mystery, not a test of courage in a haunted house," he said, grumbling.

"...a scientific mystery is what they called it," Kazuichi said, looking confused himself.

"Ah, I am sure we can use science to investigate a paranormal mystery! If it can be solved using science, then it makes it a scientific mystery!" Nagito pointed out.

"I suppose so."

"I still have a bad feeling about this place.....," I muttered, going to help Fuyuhiko with the lights, "Besides, do we have a map?"

"Right in front of you, Hajime," Nagito chirped and I turned around to see that indeed, there was a map right in front of me.

"It looks like your hidden Talent could be Ultimate Map Summoner," he joked next, going to check the map in question.

"Lay off that already."

I might have forgotten my Ultimate Talent but that didn't give him the permission to rub it into my face at every turn.

Kazuichi used the light of the torches to check the keys.

"The numbers inscribed on the keys correspond to that on the map," Nagito spoke. This guy had some seriously good skills of observation. For a brief moment, I wondered why he isn't the Ultimate Detective instead.

"I see," Kazuichi went to check the map as well and began matching the keys to the map, "The map is incomplete....it looks too small for such a huge place.....wait, it's burnt off at the end."

"....ah."

Having finished lighting the torches, Fuyuhiko and I went to check the map in question as well. To allow Fuyuhiko to see it, Nagito moved back.

"Well, I am sure Ultimates such as yourselves would be able to figure out the rest of the map."

"Dude, we none of us are the Ultimate Mansion Map Imaginer over here," Kazuichi said, rolling his eyes.

Nagito looked at me.

"Definitely not," I said, "The map is extremely weird."

"I wonder which dumbass thought it would be a great idea to burn this map off," Fuyuhiko grumbled, "This better not be a prank Kazuichi."

"Why don't the lot of you believe me," Kazuichi spoke, "I saw this place at the same time as you all did. I originally got the ticket from my uncle who asked me to visit this place with three other people."

"Highly suspicious uncle, I see," Fuyuhiko said, "Well it would be the best to explore what areas we can explore and keep our stuff in the bedrooms."

"There are two bedrooms," I said squinting at the map, "Or that's what I can get from this map anyways."

"Well then we have to share it!" Kazuichi said, most cheerfully.

".....what," the rest of us chorused.

None of us had ever heard such a suggestion before.

".....share one bedroom between us, isn't that the most obvious conclusion?" Kazuichi tried again.

"I am too worthless to—," Nagito started up.

"We aren't that chummy—," Fuyuhiko spoke up.

"...sounds rather embarassing," I said.

Faced with our combined refusal, Kazuichi took a step back in exasperation.

"Then do you all geniuses have a better idea????"

"Yes," Fuyuhiko spoke before any of us could, "Explore the mansion and find atleast two more bedrooms."

".......you guys are so dedicated to being tsundere that it's honestly really sad," Kazuichi said, checking the keys again.

"Hey, what was that for—," I started.

"How fucking dare you," Fuyuhiko growled.

".....Uh, since none of us want to share rooms, I suppose we should split up and search? After all, it would be troublesome if we got lost," Nagito said, trying to quell us. It worked, apparently since Kazuichi nodded appreciatively.

"Nagito and Hajime can go together," he said, giving half the keys to me, "And Fuyuhiko can come with me."

Suffice to say, neither Fuyuhiko nor I were too happy about our respective partners, however we chose not to argue.

Kazuichi pushed open the door to the entrance hall which had electric lights on for some reason.

"Let's go."

~~~~~~

"It would be rather interesting if your hidden Talent could come into play here," Nagito said while we searched the kitchen. It was, shockingly enough, filled with modern amenities, which caused me to wonder what the hell was up with the first corridor. It was probably for show, though. And Nagito was still hung over my Talent since we started walking together, making me wish I had brought a duct tape to seal his mouth with.

"I don't see why you are so obsessed with my Talent," I said, searching the microwave. It had a single roasted chicken. It looked rather appetizing.

"What, don't you want to know what Talent got you into Hope's Peak? Maybe your hidden Talent is Ultimate Amnesia for all we know...."

"That's a mental disorder, not something to excel at," I grumbled, taking the chicken out.

"Hm...?" Nagito appeared to have caught smell of the roasted chicken and came over, ".......how odd."

"Well—," my sentence remained incomplete as a light came out of the open microwave and sucked Nagito to God knows where like something out of a sci fi movie.

The chicken dropped from my hand in shock.

"NAGITO?????"

~~~~~~

Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu with anyone who wasn't Peko Pekoyama happened to make a rather caustic pair.

Especially right now, when he was searching a bedroom that resembled that of a hospital with Kazuichi Souda. Kazuichi had been needling him on tips to get a girl (Sonia Nevermind, the Ultimate Princess) to like him, because apparently he was supposed to be an expert on that somehow since he had Peko. He tried to explain that they had just been raised from birth and that they were best friends for that reason. Kazuichi looked downtrodden at that, prompting him to ask whether he had brought him along just to question that.

"Well," he said rather shamelessly, "I can't ask Hajime or Nagito for that, can I?"

Fuyuhiko felt the beginnings of a severe migraine in his head.

He would have to use all his patience in the following week to not murder this guy on spot.

"GUYS—," a rather shrill voice rang out, causing the both of them to jump and bump their heads against one another.

Hajime had come and he was looking extremely frightened and entirely out of his element. Hajime was someone who was extremely likely to faint at shocking events and tended to react strongly to abnormal things, so it was not a shock to see him freaked out. However, what was a shock was the absence of the cotton candy haired guy running after him in attempts of placating him.

Which led Fuyuhiko to assume that the reason was definitely Nagito.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Nagito got sucked inside a microwave and disappeared," Hajime said, panting.

".....pardon the fuck?"

".....This must be the scientific mystery they talked about in the brochure," Kazuichi said, eyes wide in excitement and slight fear, "Nagito's luck caused him to find it."

~~

It was a bland tasteless white room, whiter than even his own hair. Equipment was scattered around on the metal tables. Cupboards overflowed with bundles of paper and files. There was a projector at the far corner of the room.

Nagito Komaeda groggily rubbed at his face with his hands.

Ultimate Luck was truly something.

He turned his throbbing head around to check behind him. There was a gramaphone's trumpet there, sitting innocently. However, he was perfectly aware of exactly how innocent it was.

He looked at the room again. It was huge and there were no doors nor windows. It was, to say, an entirely sealed room apart from the gramaphone record that he assumed served as the pathway from the kitchen's microwave to this room.

He closed his eyes and exhaled.

[1/2]

Kazuichi is hopeless beyond sjjsjwjwjw

[dxmedstudent]

maybe it's PMS speaking but I'm feeling quite sad today. Thinking about the many people that have chat shit about me because I was the subject of gossip a few years ago, and how so many people have this idea of who I am. I've taken myself out of that group of people but knowing that there are so many people out there with this 2d idea of me... It feels so humiliating. I shouldn't care what people think and all these years I've told myself a mature person will never listen or participate in gossip but we all are prone to listening and believing in it. Thinking that people can think of me and see me as a 'certain type of way' just feels bad. I've already deleted social media but sometimes... I just wish I wouldn't feel so embarrassed. I want to tell everyone who will listen my whole story but there's no point and I shouldn't have to defend myself but I wish I could have a clean slate where no one knew who I was and had no version of me in their head.

I'm sorry. It's hard when people might have an image of you that isn't anywhere near what you are really like. I'm proud of you for remoiving yourself from that group of people. It's hard to think that there are people out there who think unkindly of you, and even harder to accept if the things they think are one-sided and untrue. I'm glad that you're trying to put it behind you - but I know that is hard. It's OK to be frustrated at the past sometimes. If it makes you feel any better, you don't know for sure what those people think of you, now. Gossip might have at the time seemed important to them, but it might be that in the intrvening time, they've moved on to think about other things. Or perhaps they've had time to reflect on the gossip and how one-sided it is. I know I look back at some things what seemed salacious at school and think of how little everyone knew then, and think back with a kinder eye than I did, then. Most of us rarely think of the people we used to know, let alone dwell on gossip about them. That's not to minimise what's happened to you, having been bullied I'm keenly aware that when people think badly of you, it aches and aches. But rather to say that for many of us, when we look back on the worst bits of our life - whether that's something we did or something people think, we assume that people fixate on those things the way we do - keenly and over again. Wheras in reality people rarely think back to our faults far down the line- they have too many things of their own to worry about. I think that in reality people probably think a lot less about those things than we do. I'd say that it's human to listen to gossip - but that it's mature to recgonise that there are many sides to people and stories, and that we don't know them all - and that usually we should reserve judgement and keep things to ourselves. I hope you have a bunch of new friends out there - people who know who you are now, and who love you for who you are. You're not the person in those rumors, and I hope you give yourself permission to be the awesome person you can be today. As they say, the best revenge is living well, and I hope you are having fun. You deserve to :)