#anyway that post that was like 'the spell didn't specify they had to be in love but for both b/s marriage=love'

[justafriendofxanders]

i was gonna make a post about how it's neat to think of vampires as a metaphor for uh... alternative modes of kinship to the nuclear family, but then i remembered spike canonically entertaining the idea of domestic marriage as an unsouled vampire. which is truly sicko behavior. r/WhatsWrongWithYourDog material. like those italian greyhounds that will walk on their front legs. what's wrong with your vampire.

[pomefioredove]

hello! i'd like to request the vice dorm leaders + someone of your choosing with a reader who's cursed to speak in third person (the reader's used to it by now, it's everyone else who makes it a problem). maybe they see the reader getting made fun of by some other students? i hope this isn't too vague oTL

YAY vice dorm leader request!!!!! I love those silly beans. didn't include anyone else (sorry ruggie) cause my computer is dying as I write this

*ੈ✩‧₊˚ cursed

type of post: headcanons characters: trey, jade, jamil, rook, lilia additional info: romantic or platonic, reader is gender neutral, reader is not specified to be yuu

Of course, it just happened to be an obscure, ancient curse that no contemporary textbooks had a reversal for...

So, until Trein can go through his older tomes, you're stuck like this.

And all its ups and downs.

you explained the situation to Trey after he had shooed off some first years who were bothering you about it

"that one's... new,"

but he adapts really well. better than anyone in his dorm, actually. perhaps he's just so used to being surrounded by nonsense, but he handles it with ease

it's just like you're speaking in riddles

he becomes a sort of interpreter for you, and before long, it becomes rare to see you without him, or him without you

*ੈ✩‧₊˚

the way Floyd was going on about that "funny thing you do", you may as well have been fetching sticks and rolling over. Jade isn't so surprised when it turns out to be nothing more than a curse

lucky (or unlucky??) for you, Jade doesn't mind

you don't say much, which gives him the wonderful opportunity to drag you around and talk your ear off about fungi

(finally, someone who can't tell him to stop talking!!!)

eventually, you begin speaking through different genera of mushroom, since talking about fungi doesn't require personal pronouns

you may as well just marry him now tbh

*ੈ✩‧₊˚

Jamil, for one, is actually concerned about you

first of all, who goes around casting ancient curses on innocent bystanders?? second of all, why are you always an innocent bystander???

zero survival skills. SIGH

oh, well, if he must find you a reversal spell and save you from your curse and be your hero... so be it!

it's definitely not like he's taking advantage of your misfortune to get some attention... he'd NEVER (lying)

*ੈ✩‧₊˚

Rook isn't phased. not for a SECOND. he probably speaks to himself in the third person when he's alone, anyway, so his reaction is something more like... "beauté!!!"

he's just a little freak. it'd take a lot more than a speaking curse to surprise him

he'll eagerly help you in search of a cure, or he'll interpret for you, or he'll just speak for you, if you'd like. tbh, he's probably already figured out how to reverse the spell, but he's enjoying having you rely on him

maybe a little too much

*ੈ✩‧₊˚

Lilia has seen a lot of weird things in his lifetime. a lot of amusing things, too. right now, you're a little bit of both

which he loves, of course

he's familiar with such a curse. niche, isn't it? he hasn't seen it in... oh, maybe three hundred years. you're quite special, aren't you?

he'll probably also start referring to himself in the third person alongside you, just because it's silly

of course, you don't think it's silly, but, strangely, he helps you feel less weird about it

Lilia will always match your freak

[theetherealbloom]

IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU - CH.9

Chapter Nine: The Silver Lining's I'll Be There With You

Summary: You find yourself sharing a hotel suite with Pedro Pascal while working on the set of Fantastic Four: First Steps. Despite your different roles—he’s the star, and you’re behind the scenes. Nothing could ever happen between you two… right?

Pairing: Pedro Pascal x F!Reader

Warnings: Age-Gap Romance (Not Specified), Eventual SMUT, Crush, FLUFF, Slight Angst, Trope(s), Swearing, Anxiety, Lots of Cliches, Cheesy Dialogue, Romance, Kissing, Real People Fiction, Cameras, Paparazzi, Social Media, Swoonworthy, One-Room Trope, They were roommates, Strangers-to-Lovers, Actors, Hallmark Tropes, the reader can sing and play guitar, the reader is shorter than Pedro, the reader has hair, Alternate Universe, Awkward!Reader, Shy!Reader, Fan Girl!Reader, Cringe, Embarrassment, Starstruck, Heavy Overthinking, Cecilia deserves her own warning lol, Confrontation,

Word Count: 4.7k

A/N: SOOO… lol, this is the longest I’ve gone without writing/posting, I deeply apologise and I’m so sorry T^T I literally had to lock the fuck in with school, each week I had at least two exams/deadlines. I blame our profs for their poor planning lol. Anyways, I have a little bit of a lighter load now since it’s almost finals season… I’ll keep ya’ll posted, and I humbly ask ya’ll to be patient for the next update and oh god, TLOU season 2… Uneven Odds… My backlog is insane right now, oh naur. Pedro babes I love you, but go on vacation boo. 

Side note: I’m dyslexic and English isn’t my first language! So I apologize in advance for the spelling and/or grammatical errors. As always, reblogs, comments, and likes are always appreciated. Thank you and happy reading!

Song: Silver Lining by Laufey

Previous Chapter → Next Chapter | Series Masterlist |Main Masterlist|

PINEWOOD STUDIOS, LONDON — MORNING

You were hella nervous. Pedro held your hand the entire car ride to the studio, his thumb softly brushing over your knuckles, grounding you even as your stomach twisted itself into knots.

"You're quiet," he murmured, watching you from the corner of his eye. "You okay, baby?"

You forced a smile. "Yeah. Just… y’know. Nervous."

"About what?"

You shrugged, trying to play it off. "I dunno. Just… going back on set. Seeing everyone. After, y'know…"

The accident.

Pedro squeezed your hand tighter. His jaw clenched, and you could tell — he was still haunted by it too. The way you had thrown yourself in front of him. The way he had watched you collapse under the rig. The way he had screamed for help — like his entire world was falling apart.

"Hey." His voice was soft. "I'm not leaving your side, okay? The second you wanna leave — we leave. I don't care what anyone says."

And you believed him. God, you did. But there was still this gnawing pit in your stomach. Something you couldn't shake.

Because something still didn't make sense.

The rig was never supposed to fall like that.

The air in the studio felt wrong the moment you stepped inside.

Too still. Too watchful.

The crew was polite — too polite — but cagey. Their gazes flitted toward you, then away. Conversations hushed behind clipboards. Even your supervisor couldn’t meet your eyes. Something was off.

And Pedro… he never let go of your hand.

“Hey.” His thumb brushed against your knuckles, voice low. “You okay?”

You weren’t sure. Your stomach coiled, dread sinking deep into your bones. “Yeah. Just—”

“—Glad you could make it,” a voice interrupted.

You both turned.

Rob, the production’s safety manager, stood stiffly at the entrance. His face was a heavy mask of professionalism, but his eyes… there was something hard in them.

“Rob?” Pedro said, stepping forward slightly. “What’s going on?”

Rob’s jaw flexed. “We need to speak with you both. Privately.”

Your stomach flipped. “Both of us?”

A beat of hesitation. “Yes. It’s regarding the rig accident.”

Pedro’s grip on your hand tightened.

The meeting room was small and clinical. Fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, washing the walls in a cold, sterile glow. A long table stretched across the center, surrounded by a few empty chairs — and at the end of it, a large television screen.

You sat next to Pedro. His knee pressed against yours, grounding you — or maybe grounding himself.

“What’s going on?” you finally managed, trying to sound casual despite the dread in your throat.

Rob didn’t answer immediately. He set his clipboard down and exhaled heavily, gaze flicking between you and Pedro. We reviewed the footage from the accident. We also conducted a full inspection of the rig.”

Your chest tightened. “And?”

Rob hesitated, his throat working. “We found something.”

Silence dropped like a hammer. Your pulse pounded in your ears.

“What did you find?” Pedro’s voice was tight, protective.

Rob didn’t respond. Instead, he grabbed a remote and clicked it. The television flickered to life.

And there it was.

The accident.

Your throat closed.

You watched yourself on the screen — laughing softly as you secured the cast into their harnesses. Pedro stood beside you, his hand resting on your shoulder as he said something that made you smile. The light rig swayed subtly above you, unnoticed.

And then—

It happened.

The exact moment the rig detached.

A sharp, metallic snap. Your body jolted, instinctively pushing Pedro out of the way as the light came crashing down.

Your mouth ran dry. Every muscle in your body seized.

“Wait—pause it,” Pedro rasped, his voice cracking. “Right there.”

Rob froze the footage. Pedro shot to his feet, pointing at the corner of the screen. “Zoom in.”

The image expanded.

And there — in the background — was someone.

Half-hidden behind a metal panel. But unmistakable.

“Cecilia,” you whispered, ice flooding your veins.

Pedro went rigid beside you. “What the fuck—”

She was watching you. Her gaze locked solely on you. And then — her hand moved.

A deliberate pull.

And that’s when the rig snapped.

“No.” Pedro’s voice broke, his entire body jerking back as though burned. “No — she—” His hand raked through his hair. “She did that on fucking purpose.”

You couldn’t breathe. “Why—why would she—”

And then Rob’s voice cut through. Low. Grave.

“…She wasn’t trying to kill Mr. Pascal.”

The room dropped into an unbearable silence.

Your head snapped toward Rob. “…What?”

Rob’s throat worked. “The investigation revealed the rig was deliberately tampered with during your lunch break. Cecilia was on set when no one else was. We believe she… adjusted the release on the rig.”

Your entire body went cold. “But it didn’t fall on me,” you rasped. “It— it almost hit him—”

“Because the timing was off.” Rob’s voice was heavy. “…It was meant to fall when you returned. She was waiting for you to get under it.”

Pedro’s hands were shaking. “You’re saying—”

“She was trying to kill her,” Rob confirmed grimly. “And when it didn’t happen — she didn’t react. She just… watched.”

Your stomach lurched.

Pedro stumbled back a step, his face ashen. “Where the fuck is she?” he demanded, voice raw.

“We have her in a separate room. Security’s questioning her now.”

Rob’s words sat heavy in the air.  

The room was suffocating. You could hear the hum of the air conditioner, the faint chatter from outside the closed door, the scratch of Rob’s pen against his clipboard. Everything felt too loud and too quiet at the same time.  

You exhaled slowly, trying to ground yourself.  

"I know she and I don’t get along…” you started, your voice unsteady. “But this is a lot.”  

Pedro’s head snapped toward you. His eyes—wide, dark, still brimming with the horror of what he just saw—searched yours like he couldn’t believe you were saying that.  

“A lot?” he repeated, voice tight. “A lot?”  

You swallowed.  

“Pedro, I—”  

“No.” He let out a humorless laugh, running a hand through his curls before gripping the back of his neck, his whole body strung tight with barely restrained fury. “She tried to fucking kill you. And you’re standing here acting like it’s just—what? Office drama?”  

Your stomach twisted. “That’s not—”  

“No,” he cut you off, stepping closer. “She planned this, waited for the right moment, rigged that thing to fall exactly when you’d be standing there—” He sucked in a shaky breath. “She watched it happen.”  

The words made your blood run cold.  

Because he was right.  

She had watched. You’d seen it in the footage—the way her head barely moved as the rig came loose, how she didn’t even flinch when it nearly crushed Pedro.  

If anything… it had almost looked like satisfaction.  

A chill ran down your spine.  

Pedro saw your expression shift, and his own softened just a fraction. He sighed, running a hand down his face before reaching for you again, his fingers sliding against yours.  

“Amor,” he murmured, his voice low and pleading. “You can’t downplay this.”  

You hesitated—but you didn’t pull away.  

“I just—” you licked your lips, eyes darting toward Rob. “I need to know why.”  

“Then let’s find out.” Pedro’s grip tightened. He looked at Rob. “I want to see her.”  

Rob hesitated.  

"Mr. Pascal, I don't think—"  

“We need to see her.”  

There was no room for argument.  

Rob exhaled sharply, glancing between you both before nodding. "Follow me."  

SECURITY ROOM — PINEWOOD STUDIOS

The moment you stepped inside, the air felt wrong.  

Cecilia didn’t look up at first. She just sat there, fingers tapping lazily against the metal table, the picture of boredom. But when the door clicked shut behind you, her lips curled into something sharp, something mocking.  

“Well, well.” She leaned back, exhaling a slow breath through her nose. “Look who survived.”  

Pedro’s hands clenched into fists.  

You swallowed hard, trying to ignore the way your pulse pounded in your ears. You had questions—you had so many questions—but standing in front of her, seeing the absolute lack of remorse in her expression, your stomach twisted into knots.  

“You were trying to kill me.” It wasn’t even a question.  

Cecilia tilted her head, her eyes gleaming with something twisted. “You make it sound so dramatic.”  

Pedro lunged.  

Security was on him before he could reach her, two guards stepping in to block his path. His breathing was ragged, shoulders heaving, but he didn’t take his eyes off her.  

“You tried to fucking kill her!” he spat, voice raw with barely restrained rage.  

Cecilia let out a soft, breathy laugh.  

And then she looked at you.  

The intensity of it made your stomach churn. There was something ugly in her gaze, something simmering beneath the surface.  

“Don’t act so shocked,” she mused, her voice sickly sweet. “You had to know I hated you.”  

You took a shaky step forward. “Why?”  

She rolled her eyes. “Oh, please.”  

“Why, Cecilia?”  

Her smirk dropped.  

And then—  

"Because you don’t belong here," she snapped.  

The air seemed to still.  

Pedro stiffened beside you.  

Cecilia leaned forward, her nails scraping against the metal table. "You’re nobody," she sneered. “Some random, awkward little nobody who just lucked her way into all of this.” Her eyes flicked to Pedro with something scathing. “And somehow, you have him wrapped around your pathetic little finger.”  

Your breath hitched.  

Pedro’s hand found yours, squeezing tight.  

She saw it. And laughed.  

"Oh, wow," she drawled. “That’s fucking hilarious.”  

You opened your mouth, but she cut you off.  

"You walk onto this set like you belong here, like you’re one of us—but you’re not." Her voice was venomous now, her eyes wild. “You think people don’t talk about you? You think we don’t see it? The way you cling to him like some shy, pathetic little puppy?”  

You flinched.  

Pedro stepped in front of you instinctively, his body a shield. “You don’t get to talk to her like that.”  

Cecilia rolled her eyes. "Look at you. Protecting her. It’s honestly nauseating."  

Pedro’s grip on your hand tightened.  

"Here’s what really pisses me off," she continued, voice low and sharp. "I worked my ass off to get where I am. I have connections, I have talent, I belong here. But you—" her lip curled "—some quiet, nothing of a girl, you get handed everything. People like you shouldn’t get to win."  

Your throat tightened.  

Cecilia sat back, exhaling through her nose. "So yeah," she murmured. "I wanted you gone."  

Silence.  

And then Pedro moved.  

Not toward her—but toward you. His hand came up, cupping the back of your neck, his thumb brushing softly against your jaw. His touch was gentle, but his voice was firm.  

“She’s everything you’ll never be,” he said quietly.  

Cecilia’s eyes darkened.  

Rob, who had been silent up until now, finally spoke. His voice was sharp, cold.  

“You’re done.”  

Cecilia blinked, her head snapping toward him.  

“Legal is handling the rest,” Rob continued. "You’ll be formally charged. The company will pursue legal action for endangering crew and tampering with safety equipment. And as for Mr. Pascal and Miss—”  

Pedro cut him off. “We’re filing charges too.”  

Your heart skipped.  

Cecilia laughed. "We’re?” Her eyes flicked to you. “Oh my god. You’re actually letting him do this for you.”  

Pedro didn’t even hesitate. "No," he said. “She’s not letting me do anything. I’m doing this because she deserves better.”  

Cecilia scoffed, but it was weaker now.  

Security moved in. "Time’s up," one of them muttered, gripping Cecilia’s arm.  

She didn’t fight them. Didn’t struggle. But as they led her out, she turned, eyes locking onto yours.  

And then she smiled.  

A chill ran down your spine.  

Pedro felt it. You knew he did—because his hand never left yours.  

Rob cleared his throat. "You two need to come with me. Legal will brief you on the next steps."  

Pedro nodded, already leading you toward the door.  

But your feet felt heavy.  

This wasn’t over.  

Not by a long shot.  

And somehow… you had a terrible feeling that Cecilia wasn’t done with you yet.

PINEWOOD STUDIOS — LATER THAT DAY

To say the rest of the workday was exhausting was an understatement.  

The meeting with legal had been a blur—signing statements, reviewing footage again, going over protocol and next steps. There was so much red tape, so much legal jargon, that it all started to bleed together in your head.  

And then there was Cecilia.  

She was officially gone. Fired. Out of the studio.  

No one was exactly mourning her departure. In fact, you quickly realized that she hadn’t been all that liked to begin with. Crew members exchanged knowing glances, a few even muttering things like, “About damn time.” It was a strange kind of relief, knowing you hadn’t imagined the way she’d treated you—that you hadn’t been overreacting.  

Still, you couldn’t shake the sick feeling in your gut.  

There was something about the way she had smiled before she left.  

Like she knew something you didn’t.  

But you pushed it down. You had to. There was still work to be done, cameras to prep, lights to check. The show had to go on, and the last thing you wanted was to make everything about you.  

So you pretended.  

You focused on your job, gave polite smiles when necessary, forced your hands to steady when they trembled. If anyone noticed how stiff you were, they didn’t say anything. And if Pedro noticed—well.  

He was watching you.  

Constantly.  

Even as he ran through his scenes, even when he was talking to the director, even when he was across the damn set, you could feel it—his eyes lingering, his brow furrowed in quiet concern.  

And honestly? It was starting to make you nervous.  

So, during a break between shots, when he finally cornered you near the equipment table, you weren’t exactly surprised.  

"Are you okay?"  

You swallowed, forcing a small smile. "I’m fine."  

Pedro raised an eyebrow.  

Damn it.  

"I’m trying to be fine," you amended, shifting awkwardly under his gaze.  

He sighed. "You don’t have to try with me, you know."  

Your stomach twisted.  

Because that was the thing about Pedro—he was safe. You had known that since the moment you met him. It was in his voice, in the warmth of his touch, in the way he never pushed too hard, never made you feel like you had to be anything other than what you were.  

And that—that terrified you more than anything.  

Because what if you fell into that safety? What if you leaned too hard? What if you needed him too much?  

You bit your lip, glancing down. "I just... I don’t want to make this a big deal."  

Pedro was silent for a beat. Then—  

"But it is a big deal," he murmured.  

Your breath caught.  

Pedro reached out, his fingers ghosting over your wrist before he really touched you—slow and gentle, like he was giving you the chance to pull away.  

You didn’t.  

"Someone tried to hurt you," he continued, voice low, careful. "I need you to understand that I—" He broke off, his jaw clenching like he was trying to rein himself in. "I don’t take that lightly."  

You exhaled shakily.  

"I know," you whispered.  

His fingers tightened around your wrist, warm and steady.  

For a second, neither of you moved.  

And then—  

Someone called Pedro’s name from across the set.  

He swore under his breath but didn’t let go right away, his thumb brushing absently against your pulse.  

"We’re not done talking about this," he murmured.  

And before you could protest, he was gone.  

Leaving you standing there, heart racing, hands aching with the ghost of his touch.

PINEWOOD STUDIOS — EARLY EVENING  

The day dragged on like a ghost of itself.

After Cecilia was escorted off set and Pedro’s legal team assured you everything would be handled, you forced yourself to keep working. You were quiet. Careful. Mechanical. Going through the motions like a wind-up version of yourself.

People tried to be nice. Someone handed you a protein bar. Someone else asked if you were okay in that awkward, nervous way people do when they don’t know how to talk about something awful.  

You smiled. Nodded. Said, “Yeah. I’m okay.”

You weren’t.

By the time the lights dimmed and crew started packing up, the hum of the studio felt deafening. Pedro had been across the lot filming a short pickup scene—he’d looked back at you three times as he walked off, like he didn’t want to leave you alone, but you waved him on with a soft, forced smile. Told him you’d be fine.

You lied.

Because now you found yourself sitting on a lonely bench just outside the studio’s back lot, your arms wrapped tightly around yourself. The sun was low in the sky, casting everything in golden haze, but none of it touched the growing pit in your chest.

Your hands wouldn’t stop shaking.

You almost died.

He almost died.  

You didn’t even remember moving—your body just acted, just lunged toward him before the rig collapsed. You could still feel the heat of it brushing past your back as you shoved him out of the way. The sound of it crashing. Pedro yelling your name. The weight of it all hadn’t sunk in until now.

You sat there, heart pounding, staring at your hands like they belonged to someone else.

Then—Footsteps. Familiar ones. Heavy boots on pavement.

Pedro.

“…There you are,” he said softly.

You looked up too fast, eyes wide. He frowned when he saw your face.

“You said you were going to the parking lot,” he murmured, kneeling down in front of you instead of sitting beside you. “You’ve been out here alone?”

You nodded. Barely. “Yeah. I just… I needed a second.”

His gaze flickered over you, reading all the things you didn’t say.

“You’re not okay.”

You tried to smile again. Failed. “No.”

That one word cracked something open. Your voice wobbled. “I’m really not.”

Pedro didn’t say anything—he just reached for your hands, gently prying them from where they were clutched around your middle. His thumbs brushed your knuckles as he held them, grounding you with his warmth.

“I keep thinking,” you whispered, “If I was just a few steps slower—if I hadn’t looked up, if the timing was different… you could’ve been—”

“Hey.” He reached up, cupping your cheek. His voice was low and firm and steady. “But I wasn’t. You were there. You saved me.”

You blinked hard. Your throat tightened. “But you shouldn’t have been in danger in the first place. None of this should’ve happened. I don’t know how she—how someone I used to know—could hate me that much. It’s like… like I did something wrong just by existing.”

Pedro’s brow furrowed. His thumb brushed gently under your eye where a tear had slipped free. “You didn’t do anything wrong,” he said. “You’re not the problem, cariño. She is. Whatever’s broken in her, it has nothing to do with you.”

You dropped your gaze. “I’ve always been the weird one. The quiet one. The ‘who even let her in here?’ kind of girl.”

Pedro let out a breath like it hurt to hear you say that. Then he sat beside you, pulling you into his chest without hesitation. You didn’t even think—your body just curled into him like it was home.

“I don’t know who made you feel like that,” he said quietly, “but they were all wrong.”

His arms were wrapped around you tight. Solid. Safe.

“You belong here,” he whispered. “You’re good at your job. You’re kind. And brave. You didn’t even hesitate today. You didn’t think about it, didn’t flinch—you just moved.”

You felt the warmth of his breath against your temple.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been more scared in my life,” he admitted. “Watching that rig come down, seeing you throw yourself toward me—” His voice cracked, just a little. “I don’t know what I would’ve done if you got hurt.”

Your heart thudded painfully at that.

You shifted slightly, your face still tucked against his shoulder, your voice small. “But I’m okay.”

“Yeah,” he said hoarsely. “But that doesn’t mean it’s okay.”

Silence fell for a moment. But it wasn’t heavy this time. It was full of unspoken things. Of feeling.  

You pulled back just enough to look at him. He didn’t let go.

“…You really scared me too,” you whispered. “More than I expected. And I—I don’t think it’s just because I like working with you.”

Pedro’s eyes softened.

“You don’t?” he asked gently.

Your cheeks flushed. You glanced down, shy and awkward. “No. I think… I think I like you in the stupid romantic way.”

Pedro didn’t answer at first. Instead, he leaned in—slow, careful, giving you every chance to back away.

You didn’t.

And when he kissed you, it was soft. Warm. Like the sun finally touching your skin after a long, cold day.

He pulled back just enough to whisper, “That’s not stupid.”

You smiled, still tearful, still trembling—but for the first time all day, the weight on your chest felt just a little bit lighter.

CHILTERN FIREHOUSE HOTEL — EVENING

The car ride back to the hotel was quiet.

Not uncomfortable—just… full. The kind of silence that settles in after your body’s been wrung out by adrenaline and nerves. You stared out the window, your hands fidgeting in your lap. Pedro sat beside you, his fingers gently tracing the curve of your wrist with his thumb, like he needed to keep reminding himself you were still there.

He didn’t ask you anything. Didn’t push. Just stayed close.

By the time the keycard clicked and the hotel door swung open, your shoulders felt like they were being held up by thread.

Pedro locked the door behind you. You stood there for a beat too long, not sure what to do with yourself. Like you were suddenly a guest in your own body.

“Hey,” his voice came from behind, soft. “Why don’t you sit down, okay?”

You nodded, toeing off your shoes and sinking onto the edge of the bed. The moment your weight settled into the mattress, your spine curled forward. You didn’t cry. Didn’t break. Just sat there, small and still, trying to hold it all in.

Pedro crouched in front of you.

You didn’t realize your hands were shaking until he reached for them.

“Can I?” he asked quietly.

You looked up, eyes glassy, and gave the smallest nod.

He took your hands into his, warm and steady, his thumbs brushing slow circles over your knuckles.

“Pedro…”

He hummed, tilting his head slightly, eyes focused entirely on you. “Hm?”

You hesitated. Your heart fluttered in your chest—nervous, raw, still carrying the weight of everything that had happened. But his hands felt like an anchor. His eyes were kind and open and safe.

“Thank you,” you said softly. Barely more than a whisper.

His lips parted—just the smallest bit—and then curved into something achingly tender.

“Anything for you, mi amor,” he murmured.

Your breath caught.

The way he said it—it wasn’t casual. It wasn’t performative. There was no teasing lilt in his voice. It was soft and full of meaning, like every word had been carefully chosen. Like he meant it with his whole chest.

You tried to look away, but he was already watching you with that gaze that always made you feel like the most precious thing in the room.

“I don’t know why you’re being so nice to me,” you said quietly, your voice cracking just a little. “I’ve been weird all day, I barely said anything, and I just—there was this moment where I couldn’t stop shaking. I still feel like I can’t breathe right.”

Pedro didn’t respond right away.

Instead, he brought your hands up and pressed a kiss to your fingers, slow and reverent. Like you were something delicate and sacred.

“You don’t have to explain yourself to me,” he said gently. “I know what today was. I saw what it did to you. And I saw how hard you still tried.”

Your throat felt tight.

“You didn’t shut down,” he continued. “You showed up. You protected me. And then you went right back to work like nothing happened. But sweetheart… that wasn’t nothing. That was a lot.”

Your lips trembled.

He let go of your hands just long enough to cup your face, his thumbs stroking along your cheeks. “You don’t have to be okay right away. I’m not going anywhere.”

“I didn’t think it’d affect me this much,” you whispered. “It’s just… I felt so stupid for freezing up earlier.”

“You weren’t stupid,” he said immediately. “You were brave. You were human.”

You looked down, unsure of what to say to that. You were still getting used to how he talked to you—like you mattered. Like your feelings were real and valid and worth holding space for.

Pedro tipped your chin up with a gentle finger. “Hey.”

Your eyes met his again.

“I mean it,” he said softly. “You don’t owe anyone a perfect reaction. You don’t owe me anything except exactly who you are.”

“I don’t know how to be that around you,” you admitted, cheeks burning. “I still feel like I’m tripping over my own feet when I talk.”

His smile turned playful—just for a second.

“I think it’s cute.”

You groaned, burying your face in his chest. “Don’t say that.”

He laughed softly, arms wrapping around you again.

“I’m serious,” he murmured into your hair. “You’re so hard on yourself, mi amor. But I wish you could see yourself the way I see you.”

Your heart fluttered painfully in your chest. You stayed like that, pressed close against him, letting his warmth sink into your skin like sunlight through linen. Your fingers curled into the hem of his shirt, and he held you like you were something he didn’t want to let go of.

Eventually, you pulled back just enough to meet his eyes again.

“Will you stay?” you asked softly.

Pedro’s expression didn’t even flicker. “Of course.”

“No, I mean…” You hesitated. “All night.”

He reached up, brushing your hair behind your ear. “You want me here?”

You nodded. “I feel safe when you’re here.”

His chest rose with a quiet breath, and then he leaned in to press a kiss to your forehead—slow, lingering, warm.

“Then I’m staying,” he said simply.

And he did.

You both climbed under the covers a few minutes later, your back to his chest, his arms around your waist. He held you gently, like a promise. You were still a little shy, still unsure of how close to be—but when he murmured, “I’ve got you,” into your shoulder, something deep in you finally let go.

You fell asleep wrapped in his warmth, the world softening around you.

End Notes:

I know, it's not a super long chapter update, for that I am so sorry, but I swear the next one will be longer tehe!

Will they catch a break?!?! I dunno. There’s a lot of things that come with dating a celebrity… and soon enough, the public will find out. I’m sure it will be fine! ...Right?

Anyways, I apologize once again for the wait and thank you for your patience! See you soon 🤍

TAGLIST: @comfortzonequeen @christinamadsen @liciafonseca @greenwitchfromthewoods @iqr-x @southernbe @maryfanson @brittmb115 @taytay0403 @whimsiwitchy @zymiii @sarahhxx03 @leilanixx @lilasskicker-23 @https-murdock @barnescamboy @widowsvail @senhoritamayblog @morganlolitta @suzysface @reidsworld @xmaykeca @dontlookatme121 @mandaloriankait @picketniffler @pedrofan @mystickittytaco @enchantingchildkitten @seven-seas-of-fuck-you @ro-nahime-things @senhoritamayblog @hermionelove @ashhlsstuff @hidden-behind-the-fourth-wall @youusunshineyoutemptress @klajmekkk @aomi-nabi @churchofjoemiller @pascalitobarnes @ccmoonshine @its-different-for-girls66 @bunniboo0015 @kneelforloki @sarcasticamentegiulia @joelmillerpascal

[ifistayitwillbedouble]

Finn said the Duffers planned the monologue since the near beggining and later he said he prefers mileven because it started at the beggining.

Ur ship is never gonna happen sweetie

hey!!!!! my first hate(?) anon, how's it goin'?

Y'know what, weirdly enough those things actually give me more hope that mileven was written to break up (and consequently have byler happen).

If the monologue was planned for that long and the Duffers were really building up to it to be this big, amazing love confession, they kinda fumbled the bag ngl. It ended up being full of all kinds of cliches (love at first sight like the writers have said they don't believe in on their twitter) and lacked any sort of romantic chemistry (Will had to push Mike to say ily in the first place).

It was just pretty disappointing all around. If I wanted mileven to happen, I would've been pissed. El deserved to hear much more than cliches and how about all the stuff she could do with her powers all over again. Why couldn't they just be more like lumax? Plenty of viewers are convinced of how much lumax care about each other and they didn't even need a big love confession. But so many viewers have stopped seeing the depth in Mike and El's relationship and don't care for it anymore. It kinda sucks because it was easy to agree in the first two seasons that they had this deep bond and love for each other, but not with these last two seasons when they start properly dating :/

And since this monologue was planned from the beginning like you said and I have more faith in the Duffer brothers as writers, that convinces me it was intentional for it to be like that. And if it was intentional, I can't imagine why other than to show Mike and El's relationship deteriorating. That mileven wasn't meant to last. The monologue wasn't meant to work and so it didn't in the show (they lost the battle for Hawkins) or for the audience at large.

As for what Finn said, I honestly don't care too much for what the actors say. I know David Harbour, who plays Hopper, literally said Hop was dead just for him to come back a season later. I would also never in a million years expect Finn to say he preferred byler just because that would give it away right then and there. But with him saying mileven, it could still go either way. It's also interesting to me that he added that "because of the beginning" part because that was really unnecessary. Why didn't he just say he liked mileven overall? Their relationship has changed so much from the beginning that he talked about that it makes me suspicious that he specified it like that.

And ultimately if byler doesn't happen, although all the writing decisions (especially in s4) seem to be headed that way, it won't be the end of the world. Byler could be a hugely historical moment in queer media history or it could not be. It's just a ship with a lot of potential at the end of the day. It's unecessary to come onto somebody else's byler blog and be condescending about it, you really don't need to be doing all that lmao. You can just go ahead and block me or the tags. I try to tag my posts as best as I can (with #byler or like #anti mileven) so people can enjoy mileven if they want to because that's totally fine. You stay out of my space and I'll stay out of yours so we can both enjoy the fandom, yeah?

Anyways, thanks for giving me the opportunity to talk about this and strengthen my byler confidence :) it's nice to spell out all my thoughts every once in a while like this. And even though we definitely disagree on this topic, I genuinely hope you have a good day and end up enjoying s5 once it finally drops

[gallusrostromegalus]

Hello again, apologies if this has already been answered, but which captains get along the best? Any unlikely friendships within the gotei 13?

I did a post on some of the friendships in AEIWAM but I'd like to elaborate on a few of them so:

Less than a year after the events of Turn Back The Pendulum, Widower Sojun Kuchiki died, and a teenage Byakuya was orphaned.

Now, Byakuya wasn't totally alone in the world- he still had his grandfather and the rest of the Kuchiki clan, but that sort of ended up being the problem. Ginrei was massively overworked as captain of the 6th, and had to ask Byakuya to step into some of his late father's roles early, like taking a diplomatic trip to some of the clan's land holdings up North. A largely boring and scripted event, but an important one and good practice for the future Clan Head.

-So of course, it immediately went catastrophically sideways when a rival clan attacked and attempted to kidnap the Kuchiki heir, shutting down the portal system to prevent support from the Seireitei arriving in a timely manner. Young Byakuya, already doing poorly from the grief of losing his father, suddenly found himself alone in unfamiliar territory, surrounded by enemies and hopelessly outnumbered.

Unfortunately for the rival clan, just because the portals were down didn't mean that other shinigami weren't in the area.

The memory is burned indelibly into Byakuya's mind.

It was a blazingly hot, almost painfully bright bright summer afternoon, the sun gleaming off the blades of his would-be assassins. They were good, and had separated Byakuya from his retinue, but at least he had managed to buy time for the village and the rest of the diplomatic party to escape. He stood, panting, holding the blank asauchi sword that had not yet been called to host a zanpaktou spirit, between himself and the leader of the strike team. All around him, spears and Kido Spells were trained on his person. No escape. Nowhere to strike that wouldn't immediately get him killed.

Despite there not being a breath of wind in the valley where he stood, something was causing the Alarm Bell at the top of the valley to ring, making Byakuya look up-

The sun was behind the leader as he was saying something about how their contract didn't actually specify that they had to keep him *alive* so how about he be a good boy and come quietly before they decided he was more manageable dead, but Byakuya wasn't actually paying attention.

Behind the leader, the sun seemed to be having some kind of spontaneous Eclipse. Or at least, there was a dark spot in the middle of it that seemed to be rapidly expanding and surely that can't be righ-

Sharp

It wasn't even a word, more an impression in his mind that something was hurtling in his general direction with the intent to disembowel, and not even centuries of Noble Breeding to be stoic in the face of peril could stop Byakuya's entirely correct prey animal instinct to duck and cover.

The blast from the impact would have been enough to pin Byakuya to the ground anyway, given how it scattered half the strike team and the dust blinded the rest. Byakuya felt the interloper's feet strike the ground on either side of where he was curled into a defensive ball, and the string of invective was too fast to parse but the way his rough voice echoed in Byakuya's chest left no doubt to his meaning.

A swing of the Odachi from his impressive wingspan cleft three of the assailants in twain and mortally wounded a fourth. The headless corpse of the leader thudded to the ground behind him, vaporized from the neck up by the flying kick he'd taken to the head. There was a strange jingling noise, the bells of a child's toy, and one of the remaining assassins recognized the chime and spiky silhouette-

"SHIT! IT'S THAT SWORD BASTARD! THE ONE FROM NORTH 80!!"

The remaining assassins started to back up, and Byakuya peered up from where he was hiding under the protective stance of recently-appointed 11th Division Captain Zaraki Kenpachi.

"THAT'S CAPTAIN SWORD BASTARD TO YOU!" He roared back, bristling magnificently and the remainder of the strike team scattered.

Once satisfied they were fleeing and not regrouping, Zaraki reached down with his free hand and grabbed Byakuya by the collar, pulling him to his feet.

"Zaraki-Taicho?" He asked, almost not believing his luck. "How did you get here so fast? The portals are down and even Captain Yoru- Captain Fon's shunpo would take days to reach me from seireitei!?"

Slowly, Zaraki turned his head and actually looked down at the boy, single functioning eye blinking in confusion.

"Byakuya?" he asked, cocking his head sideways. "-The fuck are you doin' out here?"

"BYAKUSHI??" Yachiru shrieked with excitement, popping up from behind her father's shoulder, and scrambling over to climb into Byakuya's bewildered arms instead.

"I- I'm on a diplomatic inspection of land holdings for the Kuchiki Clan. Sir." Byakuya babbled, unconsciously settling Yachiru on his hip, still waiting for his heart to resume a regular pulse and not whatever this live-hummingbird-in-his-ribcage nonsense was.

Zaraki squinted, displeased with that answer. "...Didn't your dad die just last week? The fuck are you doing out here? You should be home mourning or something."

Byakuya's gaze flicked away from the captain, face wan and jaw tense. "I have. Duties." he winced.

"Hf." Zaraki grunted, still displeased, and Yachiru pulled a spare hair tie out of her kimono. "Whatever. Relatedly, where the fuck is 'here', actually? Also- We have a Portal system??" he asked, changing the subject gracelessly but with deep mercy.

"We are in Inuzka, the town inside the Kuchiki Clan's ancestral land holdings in North 41." he answered- Zaraki could stand to be more polite, but Byakuya had to admit he wasn't precisely out of line- He wasn't Clan Head yet, and even if he was, as a Captain, Zaraki still would outrank him. "If you didn't come here by the portals, you must have already been in the area... Forgive my impudence into prying, but what are you doing here? Eleventh Division exercises?"

"I'm fuckin' lost." Zaraki shugged, unbothered by the question. "Tryin' to go see family while they're done here for the summer and I thought I could just follow the Red River up to the headwaters and then I'd be close enough but I must've picked the wrong tributary..." He muttered, folding his arms into his Kosode and reaching out through the neck hole to scratch under his chin, contemplative.

Byakuya blinked in surprise. "I didn't know you HAD a famil-" He started, then slapped his hand over his mouth, mortified.

"HAH!" Zaraki's laugh rang through the empty street and he affectionately slapped Byakuya's shoulder. "Did you think I just fell out of the sky one day? 'Salright, I look like something that got tossed out of Heaven's garbage tip." he grinned, and Yachiru giggled as she braided Byakuya's hair.

"My apologies, sir." He mumbled, face flushed. "-Well, the Gotei-13 *had* a portal system but this was a very coordinated attempt to kidnap me and there was an agent in the Seireitei that sabotaged the portal system, preventing both a retreat and form help arriving. I got the villagers and my retinue safely through before they went down, but I'm not sure how I'm getting back..." he puzzled.

Zaraki frowned into the distance, the hand on Byakuya's shoulder rubbing a slow circle as he considered something. "These duties- sort of a 'go practice yer meetin' people manners' trip?"

"It was supposed to be a routine diplomatic excursion, yes." Byakuya nodded, confused. "I've been here before with- with my father, and we had planned to go together again, so it's not like this was dropped on me suddenly." he muttered.

Zaraki nodded. " 'S summer break for school right now, yeah? Yachiru starts school in September, when do you go back?"

"Um. The first week of September as well?" Byakuya blinked confused.

Zaraki tilted his head to peer down at Byakuya, and gave him a strange grin. "-And you know how to read a map, right?"

"Yes?" Byakuya huffed, starting to get annoyed at this strange interrogation.

Zaraki suddenly dropped into a crouch, single eye level with Byakuya's own, and the boy startled to see that his iris was a pale yellow, like a hawk. The Captain threw his arm around his shoulders and pulled him in close.

"...How d'ya feel about goin' on a REAL Diplomatic Mission?" he asked with a decidedly conspiratorial drawl.

"YEAH! COME SEE BA-SAMA!" Yachiru bounced in his arms with excitement, waving a handful of clover flowers he suspected were being incorporated into the braid.

Byakuya tilted his head sideways, hoping they would make more sense at a forty-five-degree angle.

***

Minutes later, the recently-installed Spirit Phone on Kuchiki Clan Head and 6th Division Captain Ginrei Kuchiki's desk rang.

The elderly head of the Kuchiki clan looked to his even more elderly commander, and then to the piebald clown that was now running the 12th division. Mayuri pressed a button on the strange device he'd hooked up to the Spirit Phone which would allow them to record and track the call, which whirred and clicked, and he listened for a moment into the earphones before giving Ginrei a thumbs-up. Yamamoto nodded as well, and with grave seriousness befitting a likely hostage situation, Ginrei picked up the receiver.

"Captain Ginrei Kuchiki speaking." He spoke, trying to keep the icy growl out of his voice and failing.

"Hi Grandpa!" Byakuya called cheerfully on the other end of the line.

"BYAKUYA?!" Ginrei yelped. "Are you alright? You need to get out of Inuzuka now! The Ozaki clan have-!"

"Oh no, no- they already attacked! I'm fine!" Byakuya interrupted him. "Captain Zaraki saved me!"

There was a moment of very confused silence.

"...Zaraki?" Yamamoto asked, stepping in to speak into the receiver as well. "What's he doing there?"

"You gave me leave to go see my family and tell them where I live now, remember Boss?" Zaraki grunted.

"HI JI-SAN!" Yachiru called as well.

"...Well that worked out nicely. What a stroke of good planning on my part." Yamamoto nodded and Mayuri rolled his eyes.

"I- Thank you, Zaraki-taicho." Ginrei said, bewildered but genuine. "...Where are you now?"

"I'm calling from the spirit phone in the town council building in Inuzuka." Byakuya explained. "If I may grandfather, about me getting home-"

"It's going to take at least three months to get the portals up and running again." Mayuri grunted, disappointed that he was not getting to test out his new spirit phone tracking invention.

"...Three months?" Yamamoto glared.

"Don't glare at me like that!" Mayuri huffed. "-With anybody else in charge a blast like that would have taken the system out for good, but *I* build in redundancies! Which are. also damaged. but not obliterated! Urahara hadn't backed up SHIT, if this had happened last year-!"

"Yeah, yeah- Hop to." Yamamoto waved.

"Well, since the portals aren't going to be working any time soon and I'm already more than halfway from the city- I had a thought." Byakuya spoke up, voice gentle and sentences clearly enunciated, making sure Ginrei could follow his logic. "It's an awful shame that the Land Holdings Assessment Meeting won't be held this year, but Zaraki-taicho's family is significantly farther north than I thought, and the journey there would take me through several very underrepresented districts-"

"ABSOLUTELY NOT." Ginrei snarled. "I knew it was wrong to send you to the Holdings without an armed escort, I'm sending the Onmitsukido out to collect you this instant!"

"Now hold on a minute." Yamamoto cautioned him with a hand on his shoulder as there was a muffled noise on the other end of the line. "-I know you're worried but-"

"-He's a Kuchiki, ain't he?" Zaraki interrupted on the other end.

"Yes? Of course? What does that have to do with anything?" Ginrei demanded.

"-Future Head of The Clan and Captain, yeah?" Zaraki continued. "He's gonna have to deal with shit like this sooner rather than later. Already dealin' with it! Tryin' to hide him back in the compound won't teach the kid shit."

Ginrei sighed, pushing his glasses up to rub the bridge of his nose, perfectly aware of where this was going.

"He's not made of spun glass- hell, he'd forced the assassins into having to siege him to get to him when I showed up. Exactly the correct choice for the options and information he had- But I do think you're right that he still needs an armed escort while he's learnin'. I'm armed, and I'd be Escortin' him." Zaraki offered. "...Actually, he'd be escorting me, I'm lost as hell and Byakuya knows how to read a map. I get more time with my family, he gets- What'd ya call it?"

"It would be an Exceptionally Valuable Diplomatic Experience." Byakuya chimed in.

"Byakuya..." Ginrei groaned. They had coordinated and rehearsed this, Gods help him.

"While I appreciate your concern Grandfather, and no shame to the Onmitsukido, but recent events have shown that sufficiently motivated criminals will try their luck against them." The boy continued, undeterred. "...Wheras Captain Zaraki is well-known in these parts- to the point that the Ozaki Clan's would-be assassins scattered at his mere silhouette. I honestly think that 'Within Arm's Reach of The Current Kenpachi' is quite possibly the safest place I could be in all of Soul Society."

"Kid's got a point." Mayuri shrugged, prodding at his call-tracking device. "Even *I* had heard of him as a fighter when I was still on the outside, and I was operating clean on the other side of the Rukongai! The guards at The Maggot's Nest speculated that if he were ever to cross the law, he might not be arrested because they didn't think that hole could actually hold him. Rather natural that he ended up here- very literally nobody in the rukongai wants to cross blades with him anymore."

Ginrei fixed Mayuri with a horrified stare, gaze slowly shifting to Yamamoto.

"...You're both Captains and privy to classified information, but this does not leave this room." Yamamoto said, covering the receiver and glaring imperiously down at both men. "Zaraki's family, especially his Mother, is someone we very much need to stay on the good side of, and I am NOT going to interrupt communication between them, lest we suffer Her wrath."

"Captain Kurotsuchi was in prison?" Byakuya asked, voice muffled like he'd covered the receiver with his hand as well. "-Yeah, he heard 'a me and I heard 'a him, which is why I ask Akon and *Not Him* if I ever need anything out of the 12th." replied Zaraki.

"...Who is She?" Ginrei frowned. "-And if She is so dangerous, you think Byakuya is the person we want to send as a diplomat to Her?"

"What for?" Byakuya continued, curious. "-Operatin' without a license." Zaraki shrugged.

"How does your mouth feel after saying that, Captain Kuchiki?" Yamamoto asked, voice light and pleasantly curious in a way that belied extreme danger.

"It's f-" Ginrei started and stopped. There was an odd sensation in his mouth, a sting like he'd taken a sip of tea without letting it cool down. "...Why is my mouth burning?"

"You were present for the execution of traitor Soya Azashiro, yes?" Yamamoto smiled menacingly.

"Operating what?" Byakuya asked, puzzled. "-Or anesthetic." Zaraki elaborated. "...Ah." Byakuya winced.

"Yes, the sight and heat of the released form of the Sokyoku is not something I'll soon forget, but what does that have to do with..?" Ginrei stopped as a horrible, terrifying thought occurred to him.

"I still do not entirely understand how-" Yamamoto admitted, patting Ginrei on the shoulder. "But Kiko'o is both Captain Zaraki's Uncle, and quite submissive to his Big Sister."

Ginrei paled.

Mayuri frowned in confusion, trying to work out how that happened, biologically speaking. "-Did Zaraki fucking hatch out of an Egg?"

"You can ask him when he returns with young master Kuchiki!" Yamamoto grinned. "-But that said, you see why I will not do anything that would turn her attention to Seireitei."

"...I understand." Ginrei gulped. "-but he's just a boy!"

"Take heart- You've seen how fond and protective of children Zaraki is? By all accounts, it's something he picked up from Her. Byakuya's youth will serve us all well." Yamamoto explained, uncovering the recciver. "Let him go."

Ginrei grimaced, but nodded and lifted both pieces of the Spirit Phone to his face again.

"-was in prison too, but that's just because his family sucked ass and didn't realize talent when they saw it-" Zaraki was explaining on the other end.

"Byakuya?" Ginrei asked.

"Yes, grandfather?" Byakuya asked, Zaraki's voice stopping like he'd been physically shoved aside.

"This journey will take some time, and I am concerned about your schooling." Ginrei said, never one to give up ground.

"Winter comes early up there, we'll be home well before term starts!" Byakuya assured him. "Captain Zaraki suggested I write to you for your sanity while I was away, but I feel like it would be a legitimate academic exercise to write reports on the lesser-known districts for as well." he offered.

"That is very generous of you to offer, young Kuchiki. I would appreciate Zaraki-taicho's local knowledge of the area in those as well." Yamamoto added, grinning at Zaraki's audible groan on the other end.

Ginrei winced. "Promise to return home by the last week of august, and sooner should any disaster befall you."

"Oh yeah, anyone loses a limb or major internal organ we'll hoof it right back!" Zaraki said, managing to evoke the exact opposite of reassurance, and Ginrei hid his face in his hand.

"I promise." Byakuya said, voice soft and sincere. "I'll write often, and call when possible."

"...Please, take care, Hokushin." Ginrei begged, using the boy's nickname. Public displays of sentimentality were unacceptable, but... this was his only grandson, about to venture deep into the wilds with some maniac!

"I will, Ji-san. I'll be fine, I promise." Byakuya replied, returning the intimate nickname.

"Alright punk, we need to get moving before it gets dark." Zaraki interjected, ending the call with an unexpected social grace. "See you in August Old man!"

"Bye Kuchiki-ji! Bye Jii-san!" Yachiru called.

"Go in good health, and I look forward to both your reports!" Yamamoto dismissed them.

"Didn't catch that Boss, bad line-" Zaraki said, then abruptly hung up, negating any vague hopes Ginrei had about his diplomatic prowess.

"Oh gods- What have I done?" Ginrei cried, hanging up the phone and hiding his hands in his face.

"Well, you've agreed to let your only heir and grandson walk into the most violently uncivilized parts of the rukongai under the supervision of a violent maniac that was raised by birds, and a toddler!" Mayuri explained, unhelpfully.

"Don't you have a portal system you need to be repairing?" Yamamoto glared.

"I'm multi-tasking." the freak of unnatural sciences waved, fiddling with his newfangled 'textual communicator' device. "My point is, loathe as I am to agree with someone like Zaraki, he's got a point. If your little star is going to be captain someday he needs to learn to handle worse than this. He'll be fine, or he wasn't qualified in the first place."

"Keep that name out of your mouth, clown." Ginrei snarled.

"That's the spirit!" Mayuri cheered, pumping a not-totally-ironic fist. "Mind copying me on those reports? That shit's gonna be HILARIOUS."

"KUROTSUCHI! PORTALS!" Yamamoto barked and the captain of the 12th abruptly made himself scarce. The captain-general gently laid a hand on Ginrei's shoulder, and Ginrei placed his own atop it.

"I never had children of my own, so I cannot imagine the depth of your fear, but I can imagine it pains you." Yamamoto sighed. "But that was the right thing to do. He will be fine."

"He will. He has to be." Ginrei sighed, sitting back in his chair. "...though I fear that Zaraki's presence may presence may prove more educational to the boy than any of us intended."

***

"Just a tip for the future-" Zaraki sighed, turning to Byakuya after hanging up. "-once someone agrees to your demands, you don't offer additional incentives. That just makes it a worse deal for you."

"I know that!" Byakuya protested. "-the second he brought up my schooling I knew Grandfather agreed to the trip, but that was also him retreating to the tactical ground of controlling my schooling. The offer of reports was the Opening Salvo of the next battle."

"...Fought the old man a lot eh?" Zaraki cocked a heavy, bald brow at him.

"There are limited opponents for me to practice diplomatic sparring on." Byakuya shrugged. "...but yes, he is a prickly old sod."

Zaraki barked a laugh and shook Byakuya's shoulder affectionately. "Alright, where the fuck are we, actually?"

"We're... Here, in Inuzuka Village." Byakuya pointed to their location on the large map on the wall of the village hall. "I'm not sure where in North 80 your family is-"

"Way up here, on the coast." Zaraki pointed out. "So... Oh, we did pick the right tributary!"

"I told you so!" Yachiru rolled her eyes, adding more clovers to Byakuya's braid.

"Lessee- We should raid this place for anything useful first, but we need to get moving soon so we're somewhere high before it gets dark, but... Oh hey, is this Saikoro the place with the big gambling house?" Zaraki asked, tapping a point on the map just upriver.

"I believe so?" Byakuya nodded.

"...Ya wanna learn how to shark at pool?" Zaraki grinned the same conspiratorial grin.

This time, Byakuya nodded enthusiastically.

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

I've not posted here much in the last couple of weeks, for a number of reasons. The main one being that my grandfather's in the hospital and I've been busy with trying to visit him frequently and support my family (he's now back in the care home and alive, but also his ability to be coherent and aware of his surroundings has taken a major hit that it looks like will probably be permanent, and that ability had already been significantly eroded by Alzheimer's so he didn't have a lot of it to lose, but he's still here and that's what matters, sorry to include this very bleak information in a fun post but it seemed weirder to not specify the outcome as that would imply he's dying, which he's not at the moment, so that's good, but it's been a rough couple of weeks for everyone involved), but also I've become a touch fixated on trying to get my comedy folder absolutely perfect, now that I have my new 14TB hard drive. I've brought over lots of stuff from other hard drives, I've re-downloaded comedy that I watched in the last few years but never saved because I didn't have space at the time, I've added new folders and re-organized old ones. I've realized there are a few people who definitely should have had folders but didn't, it's more organized now. Also, it turns out that Demetri Martin's name was misspelled in his folder name for the entire ~3-ish years that my comedy folder has existed in its current form, so I've fixed that. Things like that. I've also spent the last week running my laptop constantly to back up this folder of about 4TB, which my laptop has been struggling through valiantly and is now, apparently, 84% done. It really does take a long time.

So for the last two weeks, much of my free time has been spent on family stuff, and any free time I have at home, I've been obsessively reorganizing hard drive files rather than doing things like writing posts. I have a list in a Word doc of comedy things that I've got into lately and want to write about, but every time I have the chance to do so, I instead do something like make sure the 2005 recording of the Brixton gig where Kitson compered for Simon Munnery and Demetri Marin is copied into both the Munnery and Martin folder as well as the Kitson folder (the specific example being what I did this morning and how I caught the spelling mistake in the folder name for "Demitri Martin").

Anyway. The only other thing I've been doing with my time is attending local comedy nights, and a couple of weeks ago I closed a show for the first time (it was just a free pub comedy night so they don't do, like, headliners or anything - but they also won't put someone last unless they're pretty sure that person will end the night on a strong note, so that was a sign that the guys who run that night like me, which is cool because I like them), and I was excited about it, so fuck it, do people want to hear my six-minute set? Or at least, most of it. I cut out about 20 seconds at the beginning of me starting really awkwardly and getting no crowd response. Because it's my audio file and I can do what I like with it.

I've realized while listening back that there's more than I realized of references that probably only make sense to Canadians, preferably anyone who lived in Canada in the year 2000, when our former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau died and they had a huge state funeral and massive national mourning and my fifth-grade class did a big project on him, and there were famous images of his two teenage sons crying over his coffins, and one of those sons was named Justin and he grew up to be another Prime Minister, and he sucks. You mainly have to know that. Also he got divorced last year.

I also realized on a re-listen just how much I stumble on my words and say "um" and "uh", which I'd been trying to work on cutting down, and apparently I have to try much harder. Anyway it's fine.

[woodchipp]

Thank you for spelling out your character development, Aubrey! You really needed to because you didn't actually have it in the first place, but the game needs to pretend as if you did!

"I felt like everyone abandoned me... and abandoned MARI too..."

I'd like to note the way Aubrey phrases this line. Mari is tacked on at the end of the sentence as if she's an afterthought.

Considering how self-centered Aubrey has shown herself to be over the course of the game, it reads more as "Everyone abandoned me, goddammit! oh and there's that dead girl too ig"

It's very subtle and intricate writing when your characters rant about their foibles to the audience as if they're standing in a confessional.

"After SUNNY stopped coming to school..."

Which he did on a whim, apparently. Nowhere in the game is it stated or implied he was homeschooled or granted some special exemption.

Also... the writer... totally... isn't... overusing... ellipses...

"I just wanted to go through the photos, because... well... I guess I just wanted to see everyone happy again."

It always circles back to Aubrey and what she wants. It didn't occur to her to leave Basil's things alone since going through the album might bring up some painful memories for him. No, all that mattered is that she wanted to "see everyone happy again," even if that makes those same people miserable now.

Aubrey is an asshole.

"All of our memories together..."

Because the giant "BASIL'S MEMORIES" on the album's cover wasn't convincing enough for her, apparently.

I have already touched on this in other posts, but for the purposes of this one, I have to reiterate.

1) Aubrey's immediate reaction to a perceived slight was to basically disown her close friend of God knows how many years (even though she had no reason to blame him, nor did she let him explain himself) and make a conscious choice to start harassing him. Because that's what strong friendship is, isn't it?

2) She conveniently doesn't specify other "things like that" she called Basil, which implies she might have called him something way worse than "creep"

As you should.

You won't get to do anything about that, though, because the story is going to shift its focus to Sunny in a few minutes anyway.

Peak writing!

And now she's turned on the waterworks because the game's running short on time allotted to her "character arc", so we need to pity her as fast as possible.

I find it funny how the fact Aubrey nearly killed Basil back at their old hangout spot the day prior is not directly brought up or addressed by her at any point of her rant. Her sudden breakdown would have made more sense if it came after her admitting how guilty she actually feels about the accident because she crossed a line or something like that. Nothing of the sort happens, and all we ever get is a vague "What I've been doing is worse than what BASIL did"

BULLYING PEOPLE IS NOT A "MISTAKE". IT IS A DELIBERATE DECISION YOU MAKE.

FUCK YOU.

(also, Sunny taking a few steps back instead of trying to comfort his friend like Hero and Kel speaks more of his character than the game ever could)

"I'm going to acknowledge I'm a shitty friend, but you're not going to see me develop! What do you take me for? An important character?"

"sorry I didn't put my life on hold to keep you all from turning on each other because I'm this group's singular braincell, apparently :<"

Yes, they don't deserve an asshole like you as a friend.

Sunny and Aubrey are both friends no one deserves, actually. One is so unreliable he walked out on his bestie when said bestie was at his most vulnerable and the other harassed her friend for four years just because she assumed he wronged her

Hero's argument to convince Aubrey she does care about her friends after all omits the fact she stole one of her friends' property and then bullied said friend because of it.

Love that no one gives a shit about Basil in this game.

And you couldn't say this while you were talking to her in the church on Three Days Left because...?

>>"We should all be here for each other!" >>Sunny is due to move town the next day

fucking lmao

And that's it! Aubrey's redemption is official!

Except it literally took a single poorly-written rant. And a hug.

Because that's peak writing.

143/10 once-in-a-lifetime masterpiece would absolutely kill my sister because I couldn't watch the TV for as long as I want again

[shzmluvrs]

this is so random but i feel like i need to share the mental image of 2019 freddy eating cornflakes

~ Star✨️

Freddy's Frosted Flakes

Prompt: Just your average teenage boy eating cereal. Nothing crazy going on here🥱. Well, besides saving the world. At the butt-crack of dawn. Again. Why can't the poor boy just be left to eat his cereal in peace🥲?

Timeline: Post Shazam! Pre S!:FOTG

TW/Content: None⚡️Well, probably some cursing⚡️Frosted Flakes (if you don't like Tony the Tiger, should you really even be here🤨?)⚡️Freddy being silly lol⚡️Reader is mentioned like, once, maybe twice

Reader: Non-Specified! Any Pronouns! Knows the secret!

Requested By: @anon-2019

Back to Master List

I wanna say this first real quick, if you don't know what Frosted Flakes even, are, here...

Corny, yes, but at least now you know🤷🏽‍♀️.

Anyways...

I'm not saying Frosted Flakes are his fave (yesIam), but when he requests for them every time Victor goes to the store and is one of the first to be searching through the bags the second he gets home specifically for them, it's hard to believe otherwise.

Personally, I don't think Freddy is the biggest morning person. Will he wake up? Sure. But don't expect him to be his "normal" self, all talkative and head running a mile per minute. He's probably the opposite.

Head empty, no thoughts, quiet mouth. Very much ghost activity, just wandering around his room in a daze looking for clothes that aren't just his boxers, and then downstairs with only the click of his crutch hitting the floor to be heard.

He rubs his eyes, and he finds the house empty, Rosa out shopping, Victor at work, his siblings? Who knows. Who cares. He's hungry.

He's stumbling into the kitchen, murmuring to himself about early-monring nonsense while opening the fridge door and scanning its contents.

Oh, sweet. Juice.

Knowing he shouldn't, having been told many times before, he drinks straight from the carton. He waterfalls it, at the very least, and then he spots the milk. Milk goes in a bowl along with a spoon and-

"Cereal." He mumbles again because he's still hungry💀.

I imagine he's the type to be very unconventional with his eating utensils if he has to be. If there are no clean spoons, he's eating that shit with a fork. Better yet, a small ladel because A) he'll be damned if he's gonna be washing any dishes this early in the day. And B) better for scooping anyway. If there's no clean bowls? He'll eat his cereal out of some tupperware🤷🏽‍♀️.

Also, sorry to disappoint, but he's a "milk first, then cereal" kinda guy. It severely threw you and Billy off when you first watched him do this, Mary said it was "illogical" and Pedro and Eugene make fun of him every time he does it.

You know what? On second thought, he's kind of glad no one's home to see him eat his cereal💀✋🏽.

Speaking of you...

"Mor-nin-g ... an-gel-....cake ... kissy sign..." He spells out under his breath, sending off the message with a smug feeling about him before placing his phone back down and scarfing down more of his cereal.

He's definitely a messy eater, milk all down his chin, food barely in his mouth because he's shoved in so much. At least he has the decency not to smack (because that drives even him, one of the messiest of eaters, nuts).

I also think he's definitely the type to have more than one bowl. Especially if there's milk left behind from the first one? He's not drinking that, he's using it for another helping💀. And he'll repeat the process until it's all gone.

But, if you didn't stop him, and you let him re-pour as much as he wanted, he'd eat (I'd say) 4-6 bowls max, depending on how hungry he is that day.

He's also the type to, when he's hungry but doesn't feel like fully cooking something for himself, or just try too hard in the kitchen in general (lazy ass😒), there he goes for those Frosted Flakes. He's convinced it's versatile, a breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner, and/or dessert food. Rosa has had to stop him from proving this point on several occasions; she will not let any son of hers live off of and eat up an entire box of cereal🥴💀.

ESPECIALLY IF ITS JUST BEEN OPENED OMG!! She gets salty if a box of cereal has just been opened and it's already half gone within a day. Like, she understands she lives with seven other people, but goddamn, there's no excuse for that😭.

'Vzz-Vzz!'

Freddy smiles to himself, mouth still full, but he can't help it because he's excited to see what flirty little morning response you had come up w-

'Hey dude idk if u kno this but the world needs saving so get ur captain i-have-all-powers ass up and come help'

"Mncht..." He clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. Leave it to Billy to kill his early morning groove...

He set his spoon down in order to use both hands/thumbs, fully indulging himself in having attitude with his mocking tone while he typed.

"I'm actually referred to as Captain Everypower, so get it right and maybe I'll come help."

Billy's response?

'🤓☝🏻'

Freddy groaned to himself, wanting- No, wishing nothing more than to just be able to finish his bowl of cereal. Normally, he'd be at least on his second bowl by now, but nope. Now he's gotta deal with some catastrophe on a half-empty stomach.

'Vzz-Vzz!'

"What now...?!"

'Morning Freds♡'

'Saw the news...'

Oh. It was you again. His frustration subsided for a moment, shoveling as much as he could into his mouth as he quickly sent, '🙄 so did I. Do I have to??'.

Not that he knew, but you had giggled on the other end.

Not that you knew, but upon seeing your response, he giggled, too, and the butterflies in his chest made this whole ordeal a little less miserable...

'Go save the world, Superman😘.'

This was silly, thank you sm for this lmao😭😻.

~ Star✨️

Back to Master List

Taglist:

@anon-2019

[koeiasequoia]

Honestly we dunno why we didn't expect anyone to see that magic item post (probably cuz we were just making it to have an easy thing to link the DM (though they link adding and color coding was super nice too tbh)). But like, figure we should give *some* kinda insight into our designing of things.

First, we wanted to fix up a few issues we'd had with Ranger, particularly around Hunter's Mark (we know 2024 provided some HM buffs but like... not a lot and we aren't planning to go 20 Ranger lmao). And also make sure to keep in with how the Ronin subclass from Ryoko's works particularly with its damage boost on weapon draw

Then there were some class fix up things we wanted to do with Echo Knight. EK hasn't actually been updated to the 2024 rules, so if they buff it when they get to it, awesome, but right now we only have 5e. Anyways! Unleash Incarnation is *incredibly* useful but you get like, maximum 5 uses, and only get them back on a long rest, ergo the short rest boost. And Unleash Incarnation also... specifies it has to be a melee attack with your echo... and we get that giving your Echo a ranged weapon would be a little powerful, but fuck it, we did it anyways (with some minor limitations)

We also wanted to accurately translate how our partner's horn magic worked, it's both a defensive and offensive tool, so as an extension of that, we gave it two very good defensive spells, and the whole weapon creation thing, and *eventually* an alternate version of Steel Wind Strike (one of the coolest Ranger spells that going only 15 in Ranger wouldn't allow us to get normally). And in general we wanted the buffs these things provided to grow too, so we, made sure we got more uses out of the defensive spells as we leveled up, and that the weapons got stronger as we leveled up too. As Koeia levels and learns and gets stronger, they learn how to more effectively use the magic their master's horn gives them and as such the magic gets stronger too.

Additionally, while we'd be getting Rage from going part Barbarian eventually, that'd cut out all spell use, including Hunter's Mark... so we wanted something that

Allowed them to still cast/concentrate on Hunter's Mark while

Entering a Rage-like state and getting some buffs and

Gave us an excuse to let them have the chimera horns X3

It has a different activation condition than Rage, being only when you're at 1/2 hp or when you get a crit, so you can't just go into it right off the bat. It is instead a tool used to turn around a bad situation (1/2 hp) or to push an advantageous one (landing a crit). And then we made it work with Barbarian Rage because we're really only gonna be using BA as a last resort type thing anyways :p

We also stole part of the first and last levels upgrades from, well a horny dnd handbook lmao XD the taking the Help action as a bonus action thing, and the 3 charges for Blink/Teleport thing, as WELL as the "when you're praised, get horny" curse all came from there. Because... they're all accurate to Koeia as a person. Koeia would absolutely be fast to help someone with something they're good at. And we'd been playing around with the idea that (anthro) Koeia could teleport for a little while. And yes, Koeia has a praise kink.

Overall this was an incredibly long winded way of saying that, our main goal was to provide some useful buffs and cool abilities while also taking into account and staying in line with who Koeia is as person. And we like to think we did that pretty well.

[magical-glimpse]

Hello, my private messaging is acting up for no reason, so I'll just tell you through an ask. Im sorry I took so long. I've been really busy with work and university. It's a long a dumb story, but I'll try to condense it as much as i can.

I interacted with a person on tumblr. They are not a tarot blog, but according to their posts, they are spiritual. She was speaking about dreams she had of bts, so I decided to speak to her about mine. I'm quite embarrassed. I've read your (un)friendly PSA, so i know you'd probably want to smack me upside the head, but it's okay because I would also smack me upside the head. Anyway, I'm not here to ask you to confirm whether or not I have a connection with this member. It's not what is bothering me. It's just this situation with this person.

My intuition was telling me not to speak to her, but i ingonored it twice. I didn't feel comfortable specifying who the member was to her. I told her this, and she told me my intuition was wrong and not real intuition. That I'm lying to myself and being disrespectful and that I was insecure and felt threatened by her. I tried to tell her that wasn't the case, but she didn't believe me. She would post about me, saying that I was a test of strength for her to not allow superficial and negative thoughts to cloud her head, that i was brought to her for her growth.

She said that she dreamt of me in one of her dreams of bts. I said that I also dreamt of a woman who would sometimes show up in the dreams that the member was in, but the woman was kinda hostile/mean towards me. Then she posted something that alarmed me, and I was starting to feel freaked out and worried.

I got very bad vibes. So, I prayed for myself and her because i was worried for her too. (I'm religious) She told me she was not the woman in my dreams and that I'm not being truthful. That I'm making no sense. That what i was saying was different from what the member's higher self had told her. So I replied that I never said the woman was her because she was not and that I was not being dishonest. She blocked me.

The night we stopped speaking, I had a dream where I received an angry message from her with lies directed towards me. Then, for almost a week, I felt very sick. Nausea, I couldn't take more than a few bites of food, a bad taste in my mouth, breakouts, stomach pain. I saw on her blog that she was saying that I was a terrible person, with sinister intentions, that I did black magic, that i was a tool for black magic, that im a devil worshiper. That i casted a hex. She said she performed a strong protection ritual for herself and the member. So that I will stop dreaming about him and in her words to sever my connection with him. This got too serious over a few dreams that I told her about, and I didn't even go into full detail of them. My dreams may not even mean anything. I've never done black magic and never will, and yet this is what she about me. Seeing all that being said makes me feel really uncomfortable. I don't know what to do and if i should be worried. I debated if i should confront her, but I don't know if it'll make it worse. This was the first time I spoke about particular dreams with someone on Tumblr. Now I'm traumatized.

Further context, this person believes they are the twinflame of not one but two bts members. One of them is the one that my dreams were of. I'm so sorry for the long rant.

Dont worry about the long rant

The first thing ypu should check is my two posts about cleansing, that are linked in my pinned post.

Honestly,this person showed terrible behavior. First of all, "spiritual not tarot reader but willing to throw a hex AND a pseudo protection spell over someone who didn't ask for it" is dishonest and asshoel behavior. The added dream thing make me roll my eyes. Its basically sounding like someone playing around with forces they dont understand. Im sincerely sorry you became tgier target.

She also has no right to "sever" any connection between other people that dont concern her lmaooo, hopw the consequences of her actions bite her ass. Or worse, she lied and i will make it bite her ass.

Id like to have their tumblr handle please, you can keep it in a separate ask i wont post, but i got a few choice words and spells to send their way.

[thegreymoon]

*sending hugs and head pats*

I AM KEEPING MY MOUTH SHUT ON THE WATER ELEMENT AND WHO WAS REBORN AND WHY 🤐🤐

But I will say, you are picking up on some extremely interesting things that flew right over my head when I was reading for the first time. In my defence, I was very overwhelmed and very new to the genre and completely oblivious. Also, Meatbun has an amazing way of hiding super important clues in the text that we totally do not connect until way later, and when we do, we have to take a minute (or sixty) to just stare at a wall in shock. There were so many situations where I was all, "Huh, that is suspicious." But then I would be distracted by something entirely wild, like casting a spell that allows you to walk underwater. Or Mo Ran exceeding his dumbass quota for the day. And I would just move on, only to be unceremoniously smacked right in the face by it later on 😢

As for Rong Jiu, he is definitely a valid problematic fave! 😄 I debated whether or not I should tell you this because it is (half) a spoiler, but we got it when we were reading the book and it seems unfair that you should not have it too. While 2ha was being updated on JJWXC, Meatbun would leave these funny (often spoilery) author's notes at the end of each chapter. At the end of 118, she said Rong Jiu was not coming back in the book, but that she was leaving his ending open. She acknowledged that he was a gremlin, but she also said something along the lines that this was because of his hard life where he had no good role models or opportunities to do good. She basically said she was leaving it up to the readers to decide what his final fate would be, but proceeded to write a little mini-theatre that suggests that he seduced the Ghost King by sucking up to him and avoided having his soul dispersed.

Anyway, I am very sad that these author's notes are not getting published in the official English version because they are hilarious and often very informative. But 7seas did publish one of them, the one where Meatbun warns her readers "not to board the wrong ship" (i.e. Mo Ran/Shi Mei) and specifies that the main couple is Mo Ran/Chu Wanning. It came with cute art and all, but it caused a lot of wank in the comments under the post. There were people having a fit over how she "should keep her stupid spoilers to herself" and how they would ship what they wanted to ship and not ask for her opinion... it was messy and kind of hilarious because she is the author after all. Sadly, we didn't get any more "official" notes after that, but I did hear rumours that 7seas might publish them separately as a booklet or something.

now reading: 2ha vol 3

i finished it yesterday yay!

1. SHI MEI HAS WATER ELEMENT. I KNEW IT. I love it how it is kinda easy to miss, because Mo Ran doesn't mention it right away. It is said only several chapters later and probably if i werent making these posts and i wouldn't pay attention, it could easily fly over my head. But like... I still don't think that person at the end of vol 2 was Shi Mei. Would he really get reborn just to get that dick xD Given that the person really was reborn. Idk idk.

2. if you thought Shi Mei was my most problematic fave, im here to tell you i also adore Rong Jiu :))) I was interested in the bitch since the beginning but i didnt know he would show up again! And i was really sad when it turned out he died. And then i was even more sad because his story is ehhh AND THEN i checked out him in the manhua and he is so Jut Lung (banana fish) coded. No wonder i love him. But also he is so awful and annoying oh god. I still hope he will show up again to stir up some drama

3. and tbh shi mei annoyed me a bit. Bestie, fishing for Mo Ran's attention while CWN quite literally died and MR is obviously not well? And then he was weird in that scene with the soul catching lanterns, he never really said he is ready to go after CWN like the others and i was convinced he's gonna drop that lantern after all. Now tell me, am i just noticing it now and he was always weird or does it only start to show up in the later chapters?

3. CHU WANNING MADE WONTONS

its pretty surprising given his absolute failure at cooking the cabbage tofu something because the result would make Xie Lian proud. Like i said in the other post tho: "now i want to know if shi mei was deliberately doing all the other things to make mo ran fall for him or was he just there chilling and the guy just fell for him out of nowhere and misinterpreted everything like he does".

ALSO OH SHIT now it makes sense Shi Mei didn't make him wontons after CWN died. When I read that i was like huh, why not wontons, that would surely cheer him up more, but i totally ignored that thinking nothing of it. And literally only writing this post i realized. Makes me wonder how many other details i missed that paint the bigger picture. Ahhh i just love when books do that.

4. speaking of not thinking: i didn't realize before that Mo Ran's mom was courtesan. I don't know why, i really don't.

5. overall there is more questions than there is answers. At least its now clear what happened in Mo Ran's previous lifetime and why CWN couldn't save Shi Mei. But why the events are so different now? AND WILL IT REALLY TAKE CWN 5 YEARS TO COME BACK

[zoueriemandzijnopmars]

I was a teaching assistant last period and I got called very kind in the evaluation <3

[peachyeevee13]

About my post from the other day (and my subsequent reblogs)

If you haven't seen it or don't know what I mean, it's this

So imma be talking about the issues people had w it since people have calmed down a bit by now

1. "You're blaming women and that's not fair"

Yes as a certified cis woman, I'm blaming women. Cishet women specifically. Why? Because they are the ones complaining. Don't lie, it's 100% them. Why? Because they don't benefit from it like nonhet women, and many of them are STILL homophobic/transphobic in the year of our lord 2021. I know, very confusing.

2. "I've seen lgbtq+ people complaining"

yes so have I, but they aren't complaining about the possible female character. They are complaining about how A) how the plot will be affected since we have had the same characters for 2 years or B) less character time for the main ones. Personally I think those are both kind of dumb, but they actually have some basis and aren't just pissy about the (possible) female character.

3) "you should have specified that"

Well I honestly did. The lgbtq+ people aren't the ones specifically saying shit like "I don't want a female character" or "I don't get why they added her". My post is about people specifically complaining about the female character, not the new characters in general.

4) "there actually are cishet male obey me fans" (in response to me saying there are no cishet male obey me fans)

Okay frankly didn't know that, but doesn't change my point at all. Why? Because there are literally like 13 of them. I acknowledge and love them, and they are NOT part of the problem. Why? Because adding a female character LITERALLY BENEFITS THEM. SO OF COURSE THEY ARENT COMPLAINING. Plus there are so few of them, I didn't even know they existed. If they were complaining, it would not have effected anything. But they aren't. Don't blame this on them.

5) "you should be blaming cishet people in general"

This is addressed in #4, but no. No I should not. The cishet men are not the ones complaining. The women are. Stop trying to push this onto men because you feel threatened by me calling out women.

6) "you should have specified this in your original post"

My original post was a meme. A fucking meme. Most of it was explained based on context, but I guess I have to spell all of it out for you. Calling out something only women are doing is not sexist. I know y'all jumped on the Karen bandwagon when it got big. So did I. Why? Because it's not sexist. It's blaming the people who are literally causing the problem for the problem. Funny how it works.

7) "you could have explained it to us instead of getting angry"

I could have! But I didn't want to. Because it's not my job. I am on the internet cause I'm funny and I like posting bullshit. Not to educate people on tumble. I am not your teacher.

Anyways big thanks to the people who liked my post lol

[falling-hand-in-unlovable-hand]

for the ask game, skrael because i cant help but pick favorites

bc you didn't specify what questions, I'm Going To Do All Of Them

(except for the ones i already did lol)

1. a fun headcanon

so i'm not sure if this is fun, persay (skrael had fun, douxie was experiencing psychological warfare) but when the order'd find out where he and nari were he'd leave dead things on their doorstep, frozen solid

it was mostly pigeons that got hit by taxis, and nari always reanimated them anyways- with the fun bonus of creeping douxie the fuck out

bellroc: ......why are you putting that dead bird in your pocket?

skrael:

2. a sad headcanon

when bellroc was healing after kilahead he didn't leave their side for a moment he feels so guilty he didn't stop them from going in

3. a headcanon that canon doesn't disprove

he isn't bald he isn't bald he isn't fUCKING BALD

4. a headcanon to spite canon, specifically

he never calls merlin merlin, instead he calls him his og name that he first knew him by: Myrddin

5. a headcanon that's all but canon, and that's a hill I will die on

skrael is absolutely the voice of reason in the order- he's measured where nari and bellroc are absolutely feral (though he does have his moments😅)

7. a pre-canon headcanon

the order apprenticed merlin, when he was a young man (that's how he got the sealsssss😳)

8. a post-canon headcanon

he gets introduced to nail polish and his natural nails never see the light of day again

9. a missing scene that definitely happened

when he and nari had a nice long talk and hugged instead of horribly murdering each other :)

11. something [other character] believes about them that isn't true

tbh most think he wouldn't have a problem killing a small kid but he wouldn't do it unless absolutely necessary-

teenagers are a different story, if they manage to become his enemy he treats them just as he would an adult- murder and all

12. something they believe about [other character] that isn't true

that she hates them now

14. their worst memory

during killhead, just after bellroc fell- hearing their scream...

15. a secret

he's not very open about it, but like bellroc, he collects remnants of the past, there's a reason he was the first one to come up with a preservation spell

that and so they don't have to make new clothes constantly bc can you fucking imagine

16. favorite canon relationship

i guess i'll go with the Literal Only Person he interacted with more than once

he and bells <3

17. favorite fanon relationship

if canon won't give me content i'll make it so i guess that makes it fanon lol✊

him and nari bcs they had what? one conversation?

also him and the green knight (he's his poorly reanimated sON)

18. favorite should have been canon relationship

look. i just want more content on him being a little bitch to merlin (i'm actually writing smth with this, let's see if it ever sees the light of day)

19. [blank] / dealer's choice

he's got a bunch of little snacks (dried fruits/meats) in his scrying rooms bc once he goes in there it might be days until he leaves again

[occulticvioletdepths]

so what do those weird words in your bio and pinned post mean?

I am glad you asked. It is, however, difficult to give a full explanation on it, but I'll try my best.

It's an ancient language. A finding that I, and a very close group of confidants have made - a (sadly, likely bastardized) version of what we theorize to be some sort of "song-language of the world". It was written in some sort of proto-Unown script, in a few tablets across the world. We sadly don't know much about the civilisation that made it, or its culture, so deciphering it was... a daunting task, especially when the language differs... verily, from our own.

Each letter has a meaning onto themselves, and the sentences it produces are very... interpretive, not to mention - different spellings can literally mean the same thing. Now, I don't want to spoil all the fun and tell you the meanings of each letter so you can decipher all of it in one instant, but I'll give you a translation of a small thing, below the cut.

Just so I don't suddenly flood the tags.

"tsgg zaggir togvb" - "I request my punishment, the holy destruction of my life, if I commit the wicked act of destroying the joy of the world".

This is an oath I took. While this is something I hold very dear to me, it's also a perfect thing to dissect, to understand it.

"tsgg" means "I request my punishment" in this interpretation. T means oneself, the one speaking. S means a wish, a request, a beseechment.. G stands for "punishment" - but it could also mean "destruction" or "curse". "tsgg" could just as easily be a request for punishment as it could be a request for one's own annihilation. (For the record, "tggs" would likely also have been correct.)

You certainly have noticed the double letter. It's to denote some sort of importance, some sort of emphasis. Capital letters in this language also contribute to that.

"zaggir" means "the holy destruction of (my) life." It's a bit of a shortened translation. Z refers to the "divine", A means "power", I is "holy", and R means life. A more correct translation would be "divine power's destruction - which is holy - upon (my) life".

I didn't specify the destruction on myself, true - but remember, it's interpretive. It knows I mean myself, so you don't really have to specify it constantly.

"togvb", "(if) I commit the wicked act of destroying the joy of the world". The language has no word or letter for "if", so it's implied. Again, interpretation is the key here. Continuing - O means "evil, wicked, malicious", and all that good stuff. V means "joy, happiness", and B refers to "society", or a broader "the world" - the latter of which is being used here. Now, "joy of the world" is very... vague, don't you think? Well, in this case - it refers to Pokémon. Very poetic, no? Again, the language is something that requires alot of interpretation.

It's a wonderful language, but horrible for day to day communication. With the non-requirement of vowels for words, some words may come out rather unusual, in the spoken word. Believe it or not, how you say it seems also to be, well, "to be interpreted". The people that spoke this language also believed "the world would understand it anyway".

Whether this language had any success in its intended endeavors - to "speak to the world", is... not something that can be concretely proven. But that is exactly why I use it.

I wish to know more about our wonderful world, to experience it and understand it is a joy beyond all other joys. However, some things can't be explained by science alone. If this language truly has the capability to speak to the world, that would be a practically unexplainable miracle. Clearly, the civilisation that used it considered it important, or even effective enough to keep using it, and the fact that a few tablets were found across the world says quite a bit about these people, that they lived long enough to spread it across a fair bit of the globe.

Perhaps I am merely superstitious. But in a world where some of the dead don't truly die, where creatures can attack eachother with psychic power - where even a very small amount of us humans can lift small items with psychic power through rigorous training, where divination is possible, too - I wouldn't say I'd consider it impossible that words can not only convey information to other humans, but to the world itself.

Either way, we call it "World's Conveyance" since we thought it sounded cool. Presentation is important, of course.

[the-rovarians]

I posted 790 times in 2022

That's 339 more posts than 2021!

54 posts created (7%)

736 posts reblogged (93%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@redemptionofthefallen

@angelus-tenebrae

@systemadministratorclu

@kurai-honoo

@drchandras-sanctuary-for-ais

I tagged 102 of my posts in 2022

#mun post - 11 posts

#ooc - 10 posts

#ooc post - 8 posts

#announcment - 5 posts

#muse: spirit - 5 posts

#mun speaks - 4 posts

#muse: spirit (humanized) - 4 posts

#hal 9000 - 3 posts

#2001 a space odyssey - 3 posts

#rules update - 3 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#also the mental image of heywood in a rovarian courtroom for violating hal's law and a whole bunch of disapproving rovarians glaring at him

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

This isn't Rovarians related, but it is a fic I wrote that I'm kinda proud of, so I'm putting it on all my blogs. So, even though it's not Rovarians, I hope somebody still enjoys it, because it was fun to write, even if it was a lot of work. (Also, I am working on a Rovarians/Space Odyssey crossover fic that will include these characters)

7 notes - Posted April 30, 2022

#4

-send a romantic canadine for your muse to get their reaction-

*throws Draco in Spirit's direction*

*runs away cackling in the distance*

He didn't hit her hard enough to knock her over. Not even close.

But his face collided with hers.

And they both felt the spark that jumped between them.

He didn't actually know what it meant, but given the way her eyes went wide and she started stuttering, he could surely guess what had just happened.

"I-I'm sorry. I swear I was NOT trying to do that! It was an accident, I swear it."

7 notes - Posted January 17, 2022

#3

send me a prompt for one muse to find the other in the following situation:

feel free to specify which muse is in which role

( hostage ) : held captive for ransom 

Draco growled angrily as he tried to struggle out of the chains he was tied up in in "you fuckers...let me and Lilly go...i don't know who you are but if you don't let us go soon...Your going to be sorry..." he hissed as he saw Lilly being held up by her hair whimpering by their captures.

Suddenly, there was a loud weapon blast. One the two captives knew very well. Followed by an authoritative voice that commanded respect and spelled trouble for those who stood against it.

"I'd do as he says if I were you, assholes."

She was six feet of pure power (and right now, fury). The lighting on her armor gave her the appearance of being on fire, blazing like all four of her eyes were. In her hands was her freshly fired staff weapon.

Behind her were other similar mechanical creatures. Only one of them stood beside her, a weapon in his hands and fires in his eyes when he saw the treatment of the child.

In this way, their captors were introduced to the Rovarians and their leaders. Opportunity and the one who had spoken: Spirit. She met the eyes of Draco with a deadly gleam in her own that he recognized very well.

7 notes - Posted November 2, 2022

#2

"Let me take care of it, alright? You need to rest." Draco spoke firm, but his eyes were soft and concerned.

Spirit huffed, but nodded. She didn't really feel good anyway. There was some kind of virus going around, and she'd caught it. Thankfully it only affected Rovarians, so at least Draco wasn't at risk. Instead, he was taking care of her government work for her so Opportunity wouldn't have to do two people's work.

She sat parked on her pad in their room, her upper body laying on the bed the two shared.

13 notes - Posted April 24, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Send "🤕" or "Badly hurt" for my muse to wake up from serious injuries and is now in your muse's care.

Send "<-" for the reverse.

"<-" for Spirit with Draco

"You dsmn lucky bastard." She said when she saw him awake.

38 notes - Posted January 24, 2022

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