#but hopefully people understand my points

[corinthianism]

SOMETHIN' STUPID || VIKTOR

pairing: viktor (arcane)/fem!reader additional tags: viktor's pov, viktor is a certified yearner, maybe ooc, unrequited love that's actually requited, no physical descriptions for reader other than having dainty fingers and being shorter than viktor, hopefully correct use of czech pet names, barely proofread synopsis: the ever-brilliant viktor finds himself drowning in feelings for his colleague, so what does he do? bury them, of course.... until he learns that love is not something you can just ignore.

author's note: hello everyone! it's been a long, long while since i've written anything so i thought i would try and see if the ol' writing machine (aka my brain) still works lol. this is more of a blurb than anything so please go easy on me. also trying out something new by writing in present tense (lmk if it flows well!) viktor might be a little ooc but i'm still trying to fully understand him. hopefully my characterization of him in future fics (if any) will be more faithful to the viktor you're all familiar with. anyways, enjoy 2k words of viktor yearning like CRAZY 🫶🏼

Viktor doesn’t know how much more of this he can take. How many more times would your eyes meet from across the room at one of those parties he never really wanted to attend in the first place? How many more times would your fingers brush in the early morning, when he accepts the steaming sweetmilk that you so kindly got for him? How many more times would your laughter intermingle softly late into the night, when exhaustion took over and your writing started to look more like chicken scratch rather than letters?

He might just go insane.

How was it possible to want someone this much? Maybe he’s experienced something like this before, in tiny amounts, for people he hasn’t thought about in years. Deep down, he knows that even if he added all of those fleeting romances together, it would still only be a fraction of what he feels now. For you.

He can’t pinpoint that exact moment in time when everything changed. There were definitely a few of those moments that stood out more than others, but none of those instances were the catalyst for whatever this is. But they certainly don’t help his case.

A few words of encouragement.

A book recommendation.

A smile— so soft, so intimate, he briefly allows himself to believe that it was meant just for him. Something precious for him to keep, to be his and his alone.

In the dim light of the lab, he finds you asleep on your desk. The humming glow of the hex crystals leaves you blanketed in a gentle blue. He’s heard tales of this before, from when he bothered to listen to such things. It would happen just like this, they said: his heart would beat so fast, it threatened to leave his chest entirely. His skin would burn with something unmistakable, a feeling that left one in a state of simultaneous confusion and clarity.

He feels it all now and he finds it polarizing. It’s too much and not enough. He chases and runs away from it at the same time. A part of him wants it to stop, to go away and leave him forever for the sake of ending this game he’s painfully losing… but a greater part of him hopes that it will grow and grow to the point where maybe you’ll notice and do something about it. His palms get a little sweaty just thinking about making the first move. Symptoms of a lovesick fool.

The soft sound of your breathing quiets the pounding of his heart, prevents the wretched feelings from overflowing and spilling everywhere. Even if it was just for tonight. Tonight, he keeps his lips sealed, fights to keep himself from reaching for you. It would be unbecoming of him.

His eyes land on you again, observing how your head rested on your arms. Understanding hits him then, why you’re so bothered by seeing him stay at the lab so late that he ends up falling asleep. That position couldn’t have been comfortable. Of course, he knew that from experience, but it’s your comfort he’s thinking about right now. He wonders if this is what you felt whenever you woke him up and implored him to go home.

Surely not.

No, he can’t wrap his head around you possibly viewing that act the same way he does. Not when he wants to bottle this moment, wants to capture the preciousness of seeing you like this. It just can’t be the same.

So can you really blame him if when he finally rests a hand on your shoulder to wake you gently, he lets it linger there for just a little longer? An infinitesimal piece of time that he claims for himself. He never thought himself to be the sentimental type, but he cherishes it all: he cherishes the way you blink slowly as you returned to the waking world, and your tired murmur of his name that makes his chest tighten.

It’s just a wisp of a moment, never really tangible enough for him to hold in his hands, but he cherishes it all the same. It’s burned in his memory, in his very being, the same way everything else about you is. Every piece of you that you so generously gifted him.

“You should go home, darling.”

The word slips past his lips before he could even think about it. But he allows himself this one indulgence. He can’t help it. He’s always been a bit greedy.

“What time is it?” you ask.

“Far too late for you to be here,” he answers.

You huff out a breath of a laugh, “That’s rich coming from you.”

He finds himself smiling. How does someone manage to be so endlessly endearing without even trying?

It takes an embarrassing amount of effort for him to pull back his hand from your shoulder. Had you been more awake and had the room been brighter, he might’ve schooled his expression into something more neutral. Something to hide the unbridled adoration in his eyes. He doesn’t do that now. With the shield of darkness to protect him, he lets the mask come off. He lets his affection for you wash over him in waves. It would’ve been liberating, if it wasn’t for the tiny detail that that affection was unrequited.

Still, he says your name with utmost care. “You must go home and rest.”

To his surprise, you listen. You mumble a tired "okay” and gather your belongings, slipping on your coat. “You should go home, too, Vik.”

“I will. Soon. I just need to finish a few things.”

Your face twists into a frown, “No, you’ll do that tomorrow.” Before he can interject, you speak up again, “Just… come with me? It’s late and I don’t want to walk home alone.”

His brain refuses to reconcile with what his eyes see: the trepidation written all over your features, the way you clutch the lapel of your coat just a little tighter. He knows it’s a trap, you just want to get him out of the lab but how could he possibly reject the promise of a few more minutes with you? The chance to pretend, even if it’s just for those precious few minutes, that he was taking you home as someone more than a colleague? More than a friend? Only a fool would say no to you. Or perhaps he was a fool either way. He really must be going insane.

He says yes almost instantly.

It’s cold in Piltover tonight. It makes his bad leg ache more than it already does, and so his strides are a bit more careful. He doesn’t say anything about how you also slow down to match his pace but he appreciates your considerate gesture nonetheless.

The moon hangs in the sky big and bright, making everything around you seem softer. It’s picturesque. Almost romantic. He tries his best not to entertain that thought for much longer. Instead, he focuses on what you say to him so he could ignore the traitorous thoughts his mind conjures up and the way his knees were protesting because of the cold.

Conversation with you is easy— terrifyingly so. It was one of the first things he noticed about you when you first met.

Early on in the process of finding sponsors and securing funding, him and Jayce quickly realized that they needed help. Yes, Jayce is a friend of the Kiramman family. Yes, Viktor is Heimerdinger’s protégé, but they’re academics. At the end of the day, Jayce’s warm personality could only do so much when he was still greatly inexperienced with navigating these more political spaces and for all of his experience and perceptiveness, Viktor knows he’s no good at sweet-talking sponsors, either.

Enter, you.

Caitlyn Kiramman was the one to recommend you, her former tutor. Jayce was quick to back her up, remembering that you were also Academy alumni; a particularly strategic businesswoman. Viktor was hesitant at first, knowing that a third party could complicate things. Hextech was born out of the dream to help people. He worried that bringing business and politics (even though he knew it was necessary) into the mix would warp Hextech into something it wasn’t. Jayce convinced him to take a gamble, and it seemed that the potential of Hextech was enough to bring you back to Piltover from your travels across Runeterra.

It took him a while to warm up to you. You weren’t nobility, but most definitely well-off. Even more so after your years as a business consultant to organizations all over the continent. He respected you, sure, but Viktor had a hard time trusting someone who was so… privileged. How could you possibly understand how important it was that Hextech remained a beacon of hope for the less fortunate? Perhaps it was naive of him to think that way, as much as he hated to admit it.

But true to your reputation, you delivered exactly what they needed. You bridged the gap between Viktor and Jayce’s hopes for Hextech and the support they needed from sponsors, protecting them and their inventions from being taken advantage of.

Suffice to say, you earned his admiration.

Never in a million years would Viktor imagine that you would captivate his entire being, too.

It was daunting. Scary, really. Especially now that he’s beginning to understand the full extent of his affections. Years and years of burying that softness from his youth deep beneath the armor of his intellect— all that hard work diminished by a pretty girl. Gods, he really is just a man. Not even that. With you, he feels like a highschooler with a crush. It’s painful. Downright humiliating. But he wouldn’t trade it for anything. Not when you link your arm around his, laughing at something he said. Was he really that funny? Probably not. He’s just happy to make you laugh.

“You don’t have to be nice about it. Salo is a grade-A asshole,” you grinned. “We both know it. If I have to spend another dinner with him present I might actually stab a fork in my eyes.”

He smiles, “Ah, but that wouldn’t save you from his incessant chatter.”

“I’ll stab the fork into my ears too."

“I might just follow after you,” he hums, “you’ll have to check if it works first, though.”

Your friendship blossomed when your visits to the lab became less for work and more for leisure. You wanted to visit, wanted to learn more about what he and Jayce were working on and why. Everything after that was just dominoes. You, with all your fiery passion and sharp wit, have become a permanent fixture in his life and now? He could hardly imagine life without you in it. You're one of his dearest friends and, much to his dismay, that makes his current predicament even more challenging than it already is.

Before he knew it, the two of you were standing in front of your apartment building— one of the most luxurious in Piltover. He could only imagine how much it cost, though he knew for certain that your penthouse probably barely made a dent in your wealth. He’s gotten somewhat used to your differing lifestyles, but he’s never completely able to not marvel at it. A gust of wind kissed his skin once more as he turned to look at you.

“This is me,” you say, gloved hands in your pocket and your lovely, lovely face framed by your hair and ruby red scarf. He recognizes it as the gift he gave you a year ago now. A spur-of-the-moment purchase on one of the rare occasions he was actually outside Academy grounds. He remembers thinking that the color would look nice on you. He was right. He finds himself holding onto the seconds before he has to go. “Thank you for walking me home, Viktor.”

“Of course,” he nods but the calmness of his voice don’t match the way his eyes bore into yours. “It’s only proper.”

“Proper?”

“Yes. Proper. I am a gentleman, after all.”

His accent comes out thicker, emphasizing the words more than he means to.

“I didn’t take you for someone who cared much about propriety,” you tease.

“Is it because I’m from the undercity?” he deadpans and he relishes in the look of horror on your face that replaces your grin.

“What? No!” you exclaim, smacking his arm when you realize he’s just joking. “You. Are. Impossible.”

A laugh bubbles out of his chest, “Oh, that’s cruel. You would hit a defenseless man? How heartless.”

“Shut up. That cane of yours is a weapon of war. Don’t think I haven’t seen you smack Jayce with it.”

“If I hit him with it, he probably deserved it.”

“Poor Jayce,” you laugh as well. “Remind me not to get on your bad side.”

Viktor smiles.

“I do not think you could even if you tried, lásko."

He freezes and so do you. The laughter—the music—that you shared for the briefest of moments was thoroughly snuffed out, leaving you both in a silence that threatens to swallow him whole. He didn’t mean to do that. He didn’t mean to speak so gently, but there is not a part of Viktor that could withhold this sincerity from you. Specks of the truth, of the confession he’s barely managed to wrangle into submission and lock away somewhere dark and unreachable.

He pulls back on instinct. He’s shown too much, said too much. You don’t move. He is petrified.

Your eyes widen and he sees his reflection in them, staring back at him. This is it, he thinks. He’s crossed the line and he’ll have to deal with the crushing blow of your rejection.

You manage to compose yourself and what you say next is… well, unexpected. Your tone is light, clearing the air and allowing him to breathe again.

“Do you say that to every woman or am I a special case? I’d hate to be part of a roster.”

He’s taken aback, but he feels a weight lifted off his shoulders. You are a miracle in his eyes. Washing away his worries with a kind smile and a few choice words. He laughs again and this time, he doesn’t stop himself from speaking the truth. It’s now or never.

“Surely you know by now that you are singular,” he whispers, his accent a pleasant drawl in your ears. He takes a step forward. It is gravity that pulls him in, not the Earth’s, but yours. A force that he can’t help but be drawn to. Not that he would ever dare to resist it now that his fear has shrunk down to something a little less debilitating.

His face is inches from yours. You don’t move. He gets a little braver.

“I do not appreciate your implication that I would pay attention to anyone else,” his voice is low, honest. “As if anyone could compare to you. As if you don’t hold my very being in the palm of your hand. Miláčku, I adore you. Don’t you know that?”

There is a hint of pleading in his tone, begging you to understand the full scope of his feelings from those few words so that he wouldn’t unravel before you, a bundle of nerves and petals the same shade as your scarf.

“Say something. Please,” his fear rears its ugly head once more. “Say the word and we’ll pretend this never happened. I will remain your colleague and nothing more. A friend, if you would allow it.”

“What if I don’t want that?” you ask, your own voice a little shaky with uncertainty. Maybe it was also fear. That, he’s not quite sure.

Viktor doesn’t fully trust what he’s hearing, thinks it to be a figment of his deluded imagination, but his heart is screaming at him now to push forward.

“What is it you want, lásko? Tell me and it shall be yours.”

You're almost breathless when you finally respond, “You. I want you."

The world stills. Time itself screeches to a halt. There is only you and him, together in this moment that he knows will be woven into the threads of his soul. He has never known euphoria quite like this. He can’t name it yet, doesn’t know if this is love. He can only hope that it will be.

When he looks into your eyes again, he does not see his own terrified reflection. He just sees you. And the sheer intensity of your gaze that rivals his own. Have you always looked at him that way? Was he just too blind to see it?

“Do you mean that?” he finds himself asking. He has to— has to make sure that this is real.

You smile again, dainty fingers intertwining with his. It is a gentle smile, a hopeful smile that answers his question before you even open your mouth.

“I do,” your voice is so gentle and yet it squeezes his heart. “I’m yours, Viktor, if you’ll have me.”

He brings your knuckles to his lips, places a reverent kiss on them like you’ve given him the world. In a way, that’s exactly what you did. Maybe his lips were always meant to be on your skin, worshipping you like the goddess you are. It feels too natural for it to mean anything else.

And for the first time in a long time, he allows himself to hope.

“I would love nothing more.”

[thebibliosphere]

I’m pretty sure this is my first time mentioning it on here, but the Visible app and armband were designed to help people with energy limiting illnesses better track their symptoms and hopefully avoid crashes.

It was specifically designed for ME and other similar illnesses.

There’s a free version you can use that utilizes the camera lens on your phone to give you a rudimentary baseline each morning which I used for quite a while.

I recently upgraded to the paid membership and armband (their eventual goal is to have to app be free/covered by health insurance. The memberships right now are helping pay for funding/research.) which offers real-time heart rate tracking to better measure how much energy you’re expending during activities and to also warn you when you’ve been in the exertion zone too long and are at risk of crashing out.

It designates daily pace points based on your morning check-ins and overall average over time.

This morning, my morning check-in gave me an energy rating of 2/5 based on my heart rate while still lying in bed, so today is a day when I need to be more mindful of what tasks I’m able to complete without over doing it. Which I was already aware of, I woke up feeling awful, but I probably would have ignored it without seeing the data in front of me.

It also means I’m personally at a higher risk for migraine so I’ll be limiting my screen time as well after this until I feel a bit more “level”.

Like I said, I’m still tweaking it, but I’ve found it overall helpful. I’ve managed to avoid PEM crashes several times by listening to it.

I do find it funny that sometimes my smartwatch will be like, “It's time to move!” and the Visible app is like, “Absolutely not. Keep your ass down.” Just a fun little contrast between a watch that’s designed to promote fitness and one that’s designed to help with responsible pacing and symptom management.

I’m still tweaking it, but something the Visible app has hammered home these past few weeks is just how much energy my body expends existing.

Currently lying perfectly still and I’m in the ‘exertion zone’ because I’m in so much nerve pain it's making my heart rate elevate.

Being in pain is burning up my pace points. I’ve used two since I woke up this morning simply by being conscious.

Anyone who dismisses the effects of chronic pain on the body or tells you to exercise to push through it is formally invited to throw themselves into the sun.

[elleloquently]

i honestly don't even really like to talk about tlou2 but something that will absolutely baffle me until the end of time is how many people romanticize the farm sequence and view it as happy. every time someone says the game should've ended there or that ellie threw away her whole life and she could've been happy etc etc etc, it really makes me realize how many people do lack literacy and the ability to read between the lines. because how are you seeing the farm scenes and not realizing how devastating it is?? it feels so empty and lifeless.

yes ellie laughed and they listen to music and dance but those are such small snippets. anyone with severe ptsd / mental trauma can be okay for a moment. but ellie was quite literally killing herself on that farm and absolutely would've ended up dead by her own hand (which is not a crazy assumption to make it is quite literally context clues)

like she’s always been skinny and lean but she’s even more thin on the farm?? she literally says she doesn’t eat or sleep?? and the panic attacks that she has?

also when ellie says “i’m not like you dina” and dina instantly snaps back with “you think this is easy for me?” like no that’s not what is being insinuated at all, but the fact of the matter is that dina is still able to function and cope in healthy ways and ellie is not. and the fact that dina doesn’t understand that kinda kills me. also telling ellie to “prove it” when she tells dina that she loves her is so fucked considering everything.

she would’ve died! i will stand by this forever, ellie would not have lived much longer. (confirmed btw in directors commentary, ellie was severely suicidal at this point. so not sure how everyone views the farm as her happy point.)

i don’t think ellie had an obligation to suffer in silence for the sake of what dina wanted.

i don’t blame dina for leaving obviously, that was the best choice for her and i don’t blame ellie for going either!! i think their relationship is very doomed, it was quite literally built on years of miscommunication and it only continues as they’re together.

i don’t blame ellie for leaving the farm whatsoever, she did not “fumble dina,” she didn’t throw away her life, she was barely functioning in the first place. if the game ended with ellie on the farm and the last thing we saw of her was her trying to play house while knowing how much she was suffering, that would’ve been so damn depressing. her leaving may not be the “morally good” choice but it was necessary considering her own mental state.

i think it’s also so important to remember the way in which joel died. she’s not just grieving and dealing with survivors guilt, she’s also living with the brutality of what she experienced. watching the person she loved the most get brutally tortured/beaten to death while she was held down and begging for it to stop?? and you guys expect her to just move on and deal with it so she can keep living on this isolated farm and play happy family??

and it’s not like ellie was fine until tommy showed up. she was already on the edge. the evidence is in her behavior, her journal, the clues around her house (the whiskey glass at her bedside) and her literal mannerisms.

this is very messy and disorganized i just don’t understand how many people STILL oversimplify the farm stuff or act as though everything was happy and good. every time someone says that ellie owed it to dina to stay, i lose a year off of my life.

basically a ramble instead of a proper analysis/breakdown bc i’m trying to focus my energy elsewhere but hopefully it makes enough sense to be understood

[carbonatedjem]

Femslash February 2025 - Day 1 - Remnants of Despair @danggirlronpa

It's Femslash February! I've always been on the outside for these since I never had the time, energy, or inspiration. But this year is different! This year I have Junkan! Based on my current pace it looks like I wasn't able to get EVERY prompt ready in advance, but my goal is to fill out this entire event with Junkan Art (Whether I succeed is yet to be seen). This'll of course be along side my Junkan Week contributions, so February is going to be a flood of even more Soft Junkan from me! It's like the 100 Days never even ended!

This may or may not include long rambles, oops! Sorry about that!

Anyway, today's prompt-

So like. This was gonna be a lot sillier originally, I was gonna make it into a halloween pic with Mikan questioning if the costume was overboard and Junko reassuring her. I couldn't get that to work so I went with option B where it's just angst.

I've talked in the past that I have a lot of mixed feelings on DR3, especially in how they portrayed the dynamic between Junko and Mikan. Even as I try to understand the more toxic angles people like to take this ship, I feel like it didn't even really play into those dynamics well either. I could however just be a bitch of course :P

Point is, the way Mikan was handled in the series did give me some ideas. My first time writing a Junkan Fic kind of covered it, but I find the idea of Junko not being attracted to the Remnant version of Mikan to be a pretty interesting angle. With her preferring Mikan back when she was still like, on her side and despairing, but before she dipped to do the first Killing Game and left her to go off the deep end.

So we got a visual metaphor that I don't know how to explain but should hopefully be easy to grasp on its own.

[guillemelgat]

Language Goals 2025

As I said in my last post, I'm slowly getting better at figuring out how to set goals which both push me out of my comfort zone and which actually orient me towards what I'm trying to do. This year my main goal is to just remember how to be a learner again; I feel like recently I've gotten a little too in-my-head about how I need to be perfect before I speak, and actually this tends to be a problem I have in general - I won't talk to people unless I feel like I can talk perfectly, but that's not how you learn. I'm also trying to get better at setting reasonable timelines for what it takes to get to a particular level of language, which I have a better feel for at this point, and taking into account how much time I'm spending on the language every day (it shouldn't feel overwhelming if it's supposed to be a brief warmup). With these in mind, here are my goals for the year:

CATALAN

This year, I really want to speak Catalan with more people. That's the bottom line. I'm at a level where I need to be doing language immersion, and that means not being shy about not knowing how to say things or starting off the conversation wrong or any number of things (this historically has been less of a problem for Catalan with me, but for some reason I was absolutely taken out last summer and essentially went partially mute from social anxiety, so we're going to find out what was up with that and try to coax me away from it). I also want to learn to speak the Valencian dialect of Catalan better, and hopefully I'll get the chance to do that!

I'm planning to continue my reading challenge as well, but I'm going to make a separate post about that.

BASQUE

I want to improve my Basque vocabulary, and also my listening comprehension skills. I want to finish Eskamak kentzen and also watch/listen to more things in Basque. I think I just need a whole bunch of audio input - I know a lot of the words, but it's still very hard for me to parse them in speech. In order to improve my vocabulary, I want to do a quick vocab review every day when I get to the library, before I start my work. That way, I'll have a constant, easy, long-term exposure to a wider variety of words, and hopefully after a few months I'll start remembering some!

WELSH

I'm not entirely sure what I want to do with Welsh this year - I feel a bit directionless with it, so I might put it on pause until it feels like the right time to take it up again. But I'd also like to get more listening and vocabulary practice - I can understand large portions song lyrics without looking them up, which is a huge step forward for me. If watching Rownd a Rownd seems like the vibe, I might try to take that up again. We'll see, this one is more open.

MALAYALAM

Mostly, my goal with Malayalam is just to keep taking class, but also I'd really like to get over my fear of speaking. I struggle to pronounce a lot of the letters, and I don't know a lot of words, but if I work on these, I think I'd feel more confident. (I do also just need to feel okay with looking like a fool, though.) By the end of the year, I hope I'm able to have conversations in class or with my family without wavering too much, even if I forget something or mess up the pronunciation.

OTHER LANGUAGES

One main thing I want to work on is learning how to learn a small amount of a language but still being able to use it with people. There are a few different languages which I've wanted to learn for a while but haven't had the time - I'm hoping that maybe I can work up the courage to learn a few phrases, talk to someone, and perhaps learn a thing or two. This is very open-ended, but it's more a challenge for me to expand my comfort zone.

Aaaand that's a wrap! Here's to 2025 being a good year for languages, at least!

[someone1348]

Happy National Tickle Day! Thats crazy! I didn't know it was today! I found out from @ryoko-loves-roses fic! So I wanted to celebrate with another Alice in Borderland fic! Idea from @saturnzskyzz so thank youuu for that! All the love my friend! 🫶💕

Anyways!

The people in this: Ler!Arisu, Lee!Tatta

Tw: Some angst/anxiety but it's mainly fluff! This is also a tickle fic, as are all my fics, so if you don't like it please keep scrolling thank you! :]

Semi season 2 spoilers as well so proceed with caution!

With that being said enjoy!! 🥰

____________~☆°♡°☆°♡°☆~______________

King of Giggles

It was only just beginning...the next stage of the games had started, without giving them much warning. It felt like this would never end. They had been running for a while now, so long that day was already night again. The king of spades blimp had moved now, out of sight from them so they had time and shelter for the night. With the car ruined and no food they had to separate again and gather what they all needed. Tired and anxious, Tatta just tried to listen to what was happening. Arisu spoke but nothing was reaching his ears until he said his name. The mechanic blinked. Arisu wanted him to come with him?! Wait where were they supposed to go! He just nodded, trying to keep the confusion and stress in his head.

"Perfect, so Usagi and Kuina will try to find food! Me and Tatta will look for a new car!" Arisu said with the same determination in his voice he always had. Something Tatta couldn't help but always admire.

'Cars, we're looking for cars, got it!' The plan finally registered in his brain as they put their hands in yelling 'Team!' Before breaking off into their groups and leaving the site, promising to meet back here in an hour or two. Hopefully, it shouldn't take anyone that long anyway, but you never know what could happen in this place, especially at night. Grabbing a flashlight, Tatta walked silently side by side with Arisu as he tried to find where exactly the car shop was. If this place was an exact replica of Shibuya, then the place Tatta was looking for shouldn't be too far. The gentle, warm, summer wind was the only noise that could be heard other than their footsteps. It would've been nicer if they weren't in this situation.

Arisu spoke up to break the silence. "Hey Tatta..." The shorter man blinked, getting out of his head to respond. "Yes?" He raised his eyebrows in response as Arisu responded.

"Thank you for saving me...twice now" he laughed a little under his breath. Tatta smiled back a little at this. "Oh it's nothing! You saved me first! If you didn't crawl to me in the tag game I wouldn't have survived...so really thank you! I didn't do anything!" Arisu smiled more at this and pointed a flashlight in his face.

"Don't downplay it! You got me out of that room in the beach, with people shooting everywhere! And then, you totally helped me, all of us, dodge the king of spades by pulling up in that car! You're amazing Tatta!" He hyped him up as the other got a little sheepish.

"Oh stop it Arisu! You're my friend! That's just what friends are for!" He exhaled as Arisu sighed and nodded. The air went back to being a little thicker after that but it didn't last long. They made it to the car place Tatta knew of and looked around. The small glow of the flashlights was the only thing illuminating this place as they walked.

"Oh my gosh!!" Tattas face lit up as he ran over to an old shiny red convertible. Arisu blinked at the others surprise "What?" He joined him over to the car. Tatta was crouched down carefully rubbing the top of it with his free hand. "Look at the curves on this baby!" Arisu smiled at his enthusiasm. Not quite understanding it but he wasn't one to judge. It certainly looked nice.

"Yeah! It looks cool!" Arisu said as Tatta scoffed a little playfully "Cool? She's a true beauty! A 1966 Ford Mustang convertible...a red one at that! factory-style air conditioning, power brakes, wood rim steering wheel, styled steel wheels, new radial narrow whitewall tires and a power top!" He gushed on and on about the car as Arisu listened carefully with an eyebrow raise.

"Wow! You really know a lot about cars huh? That's amazing!" He smiled brightly as Tatta stood up again.

"I used to be a mechanic...I've always loved cars, ever since I was a little boy..." He hummed gently as Arisu's smile only grew.

"A mechanic?! That's awesome! I bet you were really good at it with your knowledge on cars! I wouldn't be surprised!" He placed a friendly hand on his shoulder as Tatta shrugged "Ehh...I was okay at the job..."

Arisu hummed "You do that a lot don't you?" He looked at him as Tatta hummed in response "Do what?"

The flashlight was back in his face like an interrogation. "Downplay yourself and your skills" Tatta closed one eye from the light practically blinding him.

"That's not fair..." Arisu put the light back down and raised an eyebrow "So? You keep being unfair to yourself and I don't like it, you are incredible and you need to understand that" He smiled as Tatta exhaled.

"Arisu..."

"I'm serious, you're a ball of anxiety! I understand that in this situation, but even out of the death games, when we have a chance to breathe you're still anxious" The other pushed his hat up to look Tatta in the eyes.

"Your optimism is one of the reasons I'm still here now...it really cheers me up! So now it's my turn to help you again!" Tatta blinked, a small sparkle in his eye as he said that. He helped cheer Arisu up...he's part of the reason he kept going...

"Wha- me?" Turning his head to face Arisu he was met with that same bright smile again. "But I didn't-" Arisu put a finger to his lips "The next thing out of your mouth better be something positive about yourself or else!" Tatta blinked as Arisu removed his finger from his lips.

"I-I don't know what to say!" Tatta said gently as Arisu's face formed a wicked smirk.

"Wrong answer"

With that Arisu took a step towards Tatta who's body moved without him thinking about it. With each step Arisu took forward the other moved back. Panicked 'waits!' and other pleas left Tattas mouth before he tripped backwards falling into the backseat of the convertible.

"Woah-" he tried to get up but he was stuck. Arisu stood over him with a playful smirk. "Look what we have here~ You're trapped in the car you couldn't stop gushing about, now that's funny!"

Tatta smiled at his playful attitude but was still a little scared. Arisu wouldn't hurt him, right?

"Oh shut up! Just help me get out of here, please!" He asked as Arisu's eyebrows raised again in shock and intrigue.

"Ooohhh? Telling me to shut up now? I didn't think you had a mean bone in your body! This definitely made it more fun!" Tatta kicked his feet a little as he tried to escape.

"Oh come on Arisu! Help me! Please!" Arisu giggled as he got closer "Did you forget why you fell in the first place? You're in trouble Tatta, you gave me the wrong answer, and now you have to pay the price"

Oh...right! That's what was going on at first. What was he planning?

"Listen I'm sorry! I just didn't think that I-" He didn't have time to finish that statement. Arisu's fingers were gently squeezing at his sides. Tattas eyes shot open as he felt the ticklish jolts of electricity. He can't remember the last time he was tickled. He was probably a child when that happened last. He forgot how ridiculously ticklish he was and what it felt like until now. There was nothing to stop the giggles that flew out of his mouth now.

"Ahaharisu! Hey! Nohoho!" He shook his head gently as he tried to push at his hands weakly. Arisu's smile only grew as he heard his precious laughter.

"Awwww!" He cooed, making the other a little embarrassed.

"Dohohon't coo at meHehe!" His giggles got a little louder as Arisu pinched his ribs with one hand and continued tickling his side with the other. "EHehe!- This iHis emBahAharssihHing!" His face was a little red now as Arisu giggled with him under his breath.

"Its not embarrassing! Everyone is ticklish! Plus it's only me and you here! Don't worry about it, you're thinking too much again!" he teased a little at the end, flicking his hat for emphasis before as he gently pinched around his stomach. A little surprised when not many giggles came out there.

"Hmm not so ticklish here, that's all good, I'll find your big tickle spot soon enough! Just you wait!" He moved spots as the man in the hat kept giggling.

"Aharisu!"

Arisu moved his fingers up, crawling them up his ribs like a ladder until he reached his underarms. He hummed a little tune before Tatta screamed a little, slamming his arms down. And yet, that wasn't his worst spot. It certainly made Arisu's grin bigger though.

"Oooo!!" He teased "Tickle Tickle Tickle~"

"AHAHaha! NAhAHA-" Tatta shook his head around and kicked his feet trying to fight the feeling off but nothing worked. He moved so much that his hat came off, his short black hair getting more messy as it continued.

"IHIhHit TihiHIHickles! ARisuhuHu!-" the gamer giggled and nodded at his friends giggly statement. "Mhm~ it's supposed to buddy!" He took a deep breath before teasing him again, "tickletickletickletickle-" his wiggling fingers moved faster as he teased him which only made him laugh more.

"PLEHEhehEHEAse!! HAHAHA!" His feet kicked more, eyes closed as he let the tickly sensation take over his body and mind. Exactly what Arisu wanted, for him to stop overthinking and surrender to the tickle monster!

"They should make another card in the deck! Just for you, Tatta! It would be a face card with a feather card suit. You'd be the King of Giggles." he smirked, blowing a raspberry into his neck while tickling his underarms still.

"AHAHA" the other tried to protest but couldn't. Arisu moved his hands out from his underarms finally. Tatta tried catching his breath but he knew, they both knew that this wasn't the end yet. Red faced and panting he finally spoke.

"Im...not...the king of giggles...that's not even a real card!" He smiled as Arisu smirked "You totally are, want me to prove it?" He teased as Tatta giggled anxiously.

"Arisu..."

"I know where you're most ticklish!" He teased as the other blinked. Even Tatta forgot where he was most ticklish. How would he know?

"Huh? How?"

"It was a simple pattern to figure out, process of elimination~" he wiggled his fingers teasing at him "You readyyy?~" He was skeptical but nodded gently anyway. More curious then anything.

"Where do you-" again cut off by his own laughter. This time it was a snort. No one expected that.

"Oh my god! That was perfect! I knew it had to be here!"

"AHAHAHARISUHUHU!"

He was squeezing the tops of his knees the kicks got greater as he laughed his head off. Arisu was having the time of his life now.

"This is too good! I gotta try something!" He moved his fingers under the car a little to tickle the backs of his knees. Tatta squeaked and threw his head back laughing. Thank God the King of Spades was far far away. His loud laughter would've drawn him over too quickly if the enemy was around.

"IHIHHIT TIHIHIHICKLES AHAHAHA IHIHHIT REHEHEAHAHALLY TIHIHIHICKLES!! AHAHARIHISUHUHU!" He thrashed a little as Arisu moved back up to the tops of his knees pinching that little spot right above the knee where the knee and the thigh connected, this made him snort again.

"AHAHAHAHA!!" He let himself laugh. Arisu's smile only got brighter as he kept going on that one little area.

"You're so ticklish~ I'm gonna getcha!" He squeezed one of his knees with one hand, the other still on the connecting spot.

"OKAHAHAY I CAHAHAN'T YOHOHOU WIHIHIHIN! HAHAHA!" With that Arisu stopped, granting mercy on the poor boy. Tatta giggled as he caught his breath, holding a hand to his stomach. Arisu giggled gently with him.

"You okay, Tatta?" He giggled more and nodded. "Yeah! Can you help me up though now, please?" Arisu nodded and took his hand, lifting him up and out of the car.

"Thanks"

"Of course"

There was a slight pause before Arisu spoke again. "Im serious though, you're amazing Tatta and I don't want you to ever forget that...Thank you...for everything"

Tatta smiled brightly at this before they hugged gently. "Thank you too, Arisu...for everything." Arisu rubbed his back gently before they both pulled away.

"So we're getting this car right?" Arisu asked

"Hell yeah are you kidding!? Get in! I'm not letting this baby go!" Tatta smiled and got in the driver's side.

The King of Giggles, huh? If Arisu says so...then I guess it's not that bad.

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

I love them so much and I love writing so much! I hope you enjoyed!

-K <3

[wanderingmind867]

I still don't know how I feel about attention, and it's so hard to explain why. Because I do enjoy when my posts get notes (when my mutuals or people I think I know loosely like my stuff, it feels nice). But...If the note count gets really big, then it's super easy to start feeling some sort of shock and uncertainty. But I think I'm beginning to accept that I seem to get 30+ notes each day nowadays. And I'm still quite thankful that doesn't usually grow to become 100+ each day. Now that? That would definitely be overwhelming. Attention is that thing I both want and struggle with. Is this what social media being addictive is all about? I think it might be.

[the-way-astray]

alright everybody can we please stop tagging me/talking about me in the notes of pro keefe/sokeefe posts. i know strieefe has made it so that it's really funny to talk about how much i love him and how much i'm in denial when i say negative things about him under those posts (and that's all in good fun and not the problem), but we have to think about the fact that the ops are just trying to make a positive post and probably don't want a keefe hater in their notes /srs

[i-dreamed-i-had-a-son]

This is unhinged and has a likely target audience of 2 but In-ho is Javert-coded and Gi-hun is Valjean-coded, send post

[asterismall]

preface: this is just my interpretation of the hc as a black woman who participates in research on conversations geared around blackness and mainstream perceptions on blackness and the black identity. my words are not the end all be all as i am not all black people, but i am basing my discussion on my lived experiences and comprehensive information that i have retained from my research. also to prevent this from being a whole dissertation, i will keep my thoughts somewhat vague, but hopefully not to the total detriment of my points.

i think this viewpoint is understandable, but is missing some deeper discussions around black characters and stereotypes. mainly that the presence of emotions that are stereotyped does not always indicate the presence of racial stereotypes.

i think when we factor in dan being a black woman it makes sense for her to have her (what i view it as) firm and head strong demeanor. given her story, we know she has been the subject of sexual exploitation through being a stripper at a young age. this is not that far off from the experiences of many young black girls who are either hyper-sexualized at a young age or are failed by various systemic failures that place them in exploitative environments like stripping and or sex work.

she then moved from that to another highly misogynistic environment that would’ve dealt her even rougher cards when we account for the hc of her being black. she knows that she has to be headstrong due the way exy is laced with patriarchal views of “leadership” and “performance” which often comes with violence and hyper aggression being rewarded. remember, her own team subjected her to misogyny even when she was leading them. she has to be “rough” because it is how she fought to solidify her place. she has a right and reason to seem “aggressive” and “angry.” black women’s anger is not something that should be muted and sanitized because stereotypes attempt to misconstrue blackness. regardless, that is just one facet of her identity and should not be the sole reason as the rationale behind her racial hc. she is even described positively by some of the foxes and nicky. the fierceness she has as captain is not always present, but she will not tolerate any more disrespect that she’s had to deal with for so long if she can.

i’d also argue that this framework could apply to parts of renee and allison if they were hc’ed as black. allison is noted for her looks but she could also be disseminated as vain and viewed under a sexual lens when considering her relationship with seth, placing her in the “jezebel” /“sapphire” stereotype. renee could be argued to have remnants of the “mammy” stereotype as when we see her she is there to be of service to the (who are potentially hc’ed as) white mcs and does so with little to no overt pushback.

same framework applies to matt as well. yes, there is the drug stereotype placed on black male characters, but there are also black people who struggle with addiction. there are health disparities when it comes to drug exposure in black communities as well as the presence of prejudice and bias in the presence of rehab treatment for black individuals. even if this does not apply explicitly to matt, it is not false to have a black character go through drug addictions.

i will say, blackness in the hc is often used to sometimes perpetuate an adjacent of the magical negro stereotype when it comes to his relationship with neil in fics and works, but at the same time in the books matt is very kind to neil and tries to be there for him, same as dani. and i think that it’s important that that is mentioned. i think the caring nature is not something we see in mainstream interpretations of black male characters. if we do, we, once again, see it with the magical negro stereotype. but matt has some caveats that deviate him away from falling directly into that stereotype when we remember his relationship with andrew and the monsters. he worries for neil’s safety around them, understandably so. it is not like he is blindly loyal to neil for no reason. his experiences shape many of his decisions and he doesn’t want neil to go through what he went through.

also if people think a certain way, they are inclined to keep those thoughts until something challenges them. so of course, long established hc’s would stay present. and, i’d argue with the publishing of the rainbow crate covers, and nora acknowledging and agreeing with the headcanons, it is past headcanons and into canon territory. but even if, maybe people just wanted black characters, the same way i have seen renee and allison hc’ed as asian-american and kevin and wymack by parental status indigenous or māori. sometimes people want to see diverse races and when there is a need for representation, it is not that far fetched to want to hc characters as non white.

once again, i implore people to not limit black characters (and to a larger extent, characters of color) from having certain characteristics as black emotions will always be subjugated to demonization and misconceptions through the various stereotypes present. let your black characters be angry, friendly, fiercely loyal, struggle, face adversity because that is human. black people are human and that does not have to stop in fiction when headcanoning characters due to stereotypes that may excacerbate the emotions and behaviors of black identities.

Anon who said its kinda odd that dan are matt are always portrayed as black. Agreed. Like you said, I never imagined them as back when I first read the books. Though I changed them in my mind after being constantly whacked by fanarts. Its sad tbh, we could have so many different variations but we've bn stuck on the black dan and matt hc since what, 2015? 16? Its been wayy too long and honestly it feels a little racist with dan being the only fierce (by which I mean rough and loud) women on the team and matts story revolving around drugs.

Also its weird that many people say that "everyone imagines them as black" and "I never imagined them as anything but black" (ive never actually heard anyone say that, but assuming that you (to anon) have heard that fr) it makes me feel like we're just enforcing that you cant imagine them as anything else?

.

[ettadunham]

sometimes i remember the hunger games and how nobody actually paid attention to what was in those books

[fluffle-writes]

I wanna. Pick them up in my mouth and shake 'em around like a dog obliterating a squeaky toy

[hanzajesthanza]

it kind of bothers me that witcher fans don’t really unite under sapkowski’s name like other fans of fantasy authors do (e.g. “tolkien fans”).

in practically any other fandom of fantasy books, save for the particularly rancid authors known for their disappointing and shameful behavior or views (e.g. jk r*wling), it’s just regular business to say the author’s name. but sapkowski’s name is treated like a dirty word in the witcher fandom, for really no good reason…

it must be asked — what is stopping us from doing so?! why don’t we call ourselves sapkowski fans. it would be much easier than saying “i’m a fan of the witcher, but only the books, i don’t consider the various adaptations canon, etc. etc.” … “half a hundred words, when three are enough!!”

[animangalover-writes]

Im not hating on other Zelda ships when I say this, but i truly do not understand the appeal of pairing Zelda or Link with most other side characters. There are some exceptions, as in more understand then others(midna, ruto, medli, groose) but when I see link being paired with someone like malon or ilia, I just can't see it(and yes I'm ignoring the the theory that link ended up with malon). Because the appeal of shipping link and zelda with each other, or certain characters, is that they are the only ones to truly understand what they went through. To me, having them end up with someone normal, having them live a normal life with a normal spouse who could never begin to understand them, is boring. It's not narratively satisfying.

Now look I get it, a lot of people don't like to ship most versions of zelink because they see it as "main boy ends up with main girl" or "hero ends up with princess he saves" and I get that. Normally I hate those sort of ships too, because they're usually so meaningless. They have no chemistry and are just a reward for the hero. But the reason I think it works for zelink is because that's not the point. The point isn't that link gets the girl, in fact the only time he ever "gets the girl" is in the last few seconds of Zelda 2, where it's implied that Zelda kisses him behind the curtain. The point of this game, of their relationship, is that they are forced to be the heros. It was destiny, chosen before they were even born. They were going to be the holders of the triforce, and they were going to save the world together. They had no choice.

Ive talked about it before, how tragic their story is. To forever be doomed to this tale of hyrules saviors, to never have that choice. They are the only two to understand this, the only two to be forced by destiny, by hylia, by demise, to be chosen. They will never have that choice.

And they are the only ones who could ever actually understand that about each other.

Again, no hate to other ships, but the idea that zelink move on with their lives, marrying people who have no idea what they went through? Thats boring, that's even more tragic to me. I understand the whole wanting a normal life thing, the whole "i don't understand what you went through, but I will love you fiercely anyway" thing, but it just doesn't feel satisfying.

In these ships, link settles down and lives a happy life. Zelda marries some random royal and continues their line. But there's something tragic there to me, a love that could never be, or just the idea that their partners would never understand why they get awoken by vivid nightmares or dreams, why they work so diligently to defend their homes, why they always seem to look over their shoulders like their waiting for the next threat.

Yes, they can understand to the best of their abilities, but I've always been more inclined to fall for ships who hold shared trauma, who could wake up next to the other having a nightmare and understand completely, who can comfort them in a way nobody else could.

It just feels frustrating to have this idea of characters we follow so closely, see their journey and pain and trauma, who we watch meet a myriad of interesting characters, end up with the ones who i personally feel would understand them the least out of anyone.

Anyway this isn't meant to crap on any ships, I've seen the fanart, I've read the fics, they're adorable. This is just me being a zelink truther and talking about how I PERSONALLY don't understand the appeal.

So uhhhh where are my fellow lovers of trauma bonded zelink?

[daddyplasmius]

okay, so, I've collected a bunch of DP fandom stuff that I remember off the top of my head, specifically in chronological order & colour coded here in this post (fics/comics, tumblr posts, important imo) for no reason other than I saw a post asking for Phandom history & it triggered my biggest, most long-running hyperfixation & now I'm curious if anyone else remembers stuff.

this link is going to be the permanent version I will be updating, but I'm posting what I currently have (gonna go through my old laptop later for more) just to let people know. you can also find the link on my blog, but only on desktop. It isn't colour coded there, sorry.

please share more if you got anything else cuz I'm 100% sure I'm missing a lot of stuff & am too interested now. the biggest reason a lot of stuff isn't here is that I simply can't find it. second biggest reason is i forgor. things not included here aren't "unimportant," this is just the first stuff that comes to mind.

putting it under a cut 'cause it got kinda long

Mars by JadeRabbyt (2005)

Checkmate by pearl84 (2006)

Conversations of a Ghost Gabber by Cordria (2006)

The Foley Maneuver by bluemoonalto (2007)

One Thousand Years by Nylah (2008)

Lab Rat by AnneriaWings (2009)

Lost by Cordria (2010?) [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

Phantom of Truth by Haiju (2011)

Ghost Deaths (2012)

Through Coals and Rain by Kakawot (2012)

Shadow of a Doubt by Haiju (2013)

Pink Pants (2013?)

Wes (2014) [original] [1] [2] [3] [4]

this "I'm Inevitable" gif (2014)

Space AU (2014)

Treading Water by The Full Catastrophe (2014)

Danny, you dead IDIOT!! comic (2014)

wash away the darkest days by anthrop (2014)

Reverse Trio (2014)

Inverse Trio (2014-2016) ALT

Halfas are "feral children" (2015)

Burn the Streets, Burn the Cars by anthrop (2015)

It's Not Gay if He's Dead by phantomrose96 (2015)

You Smell Like Death by starfleetrambo (2015)

Ghost Bird AU by @rest-in-peachs (2016?)

Things I Can(not) Do In Amity Park by RedHeadsRock1010 (2016)

KEtTLE by Cordria (2016)

Deeper, Darker by Silvermoonphantom (2016)

Danny Phantom Punches Butch Hartman In The Face by MistressVintage (2017)

Dannypocalypse (2017)

Ghost Train (2017?)

Ghost Physics by jayrockin (2017)

Ghost Infographics (2018)

The Taxonomy of Ghost Cores: An Observational Study (2018) Communicating with Ghosts Professionally: A Study (2018)

Species in Danny Phantom (2018?)

Diddles Piddles by diddly-darn-ghost (2018)

Broken Ectoplasm by ghostanimal (2019)

Ghost of Heroes by Enigmaris & ScarletNightFury (2019-2020)

do not stand at my grave and cry (i am not there, i did not die) by blueh (2020)

Undercover Phantom by artistfingers (2021)

Corruption is a Two Way Street by datawyrms (2021)

Things That Bleed by artistfingers, kkachis, & Perfectly_Inconspicuous (2022)

10,000 works on AO3 (2022)

Ghost Speak:

Danny's handwriting (2015?)

Cordria (2015)

Fiver-Rivers [1] [2] [3] (2019)

Rubber Chicken Sounds (2019)

[humanmorph]

fwiw (& off-topic from the last post but it made me think of this) but you also don't need to sit by yourself forever when looking at or thinking about art. other people think & talk about art too and often love to share. which i guess can & does play back into the search to fully understand or explain, hence it's off-topic, but it doesn't have to i don't think