#but if this was really what we're supposed to take from it then it's actually pretty sweet on dedede's side

[cherrygirlfriend]

pairing: frat!rafe x tutor!reader synopsis: reader attends a frat party where the theme is to dress up as your type warnings: fluff! wc: 1.3k i got this idea from the wonderful @rafeyscurtainbangs and it had me dead because it's so funny and i can picture him wearing that… i also tried out a new kinda formatting for funsies ^_^ also i'm surprised i’ve never posted for frat!rafe? anyway first fic for 2025!

you'd never really been much into parties, your best friend constantly trying to get you to go to some of the various parties the social butterfly had gotten invited to, but you simply held up the book you were in the middle of and let out a soft hum as a way to say that you had your own plans. after some more pleading, lexi always gave up trying to convince you to come and left you in your own devices, returning in the early hours of the morning, trying to be as quiet as possible yet waking you up every time.

but this time, all the girl had to do was mention the frat party she was going to that night when you let out a sigh and told her you'd come with her. maybe there was a second reason you wanted to go, other than to just please your friend.

"we're having a party this friday."

you chuckled, turning your gaze from the book in front of you to the boy next to you, "you're in a fraternity, rafe. i'm pretty sure that happens every friday without exception."

your words caused the boy to roll his eyes, yet the small grin you'd grown to like still remained on his lips as he repositioned his backwards cap, "yeah, but it's a themed party. you should come."

"why?" you furrowed your brows in suspicion and confusion as to why he'd want you to attend, "what's the theme?"

"you're supposed to dress up as your type."

"and what are you going as? some kind of variation of jennifer from jennifer's body? or regina from mean girls?" you let out a small snort.

"guess you'll have to come if you wanna find out." the boy poked your forearm with the rubber end of his pencil, licking his lips, "i wanna see what kind of guys you are into. i bet it's some thrifty hipster dudes or some broody bad boys that secretly get hard for poetry and emily dickinson and shit."

you felt your cheeks warm from the memory as you placed the backwards cap on your head. you looked in the mirror, clad in loose jeans that hung low on your hips so it'd show off the calvin klein logo on your underwear, and a sweatshirt adorning the logo of your university. the outfit you wore looked just like something rafe would wear during one of your tutoring sessions. hell, he probably had.

lexi looked at you with raised brows, the muscular girl who usually wore dark, baggy clothes looked strange in the blue sundress she'd borrowed from you, her biceps basically protruding from the short sleeves, the girl's short black hair pulled up into a tiny attempt at a ponytail, wearing some simple makeup that you'd helped her apply.

"you're going as a frat guy? to a frat party?" she snorted, taking in your ensemble, "damn, you date so little that i had no idea that's the type of guy you were into."

you rolled your eyes, throwing her the handbag that she'd asked you if she could borrow, "and you're going as...?"

"a straight girl." lexi said, her usual shit-eating grin taking over her lips.

"in that case, you could've just worn like, a grey hoodie, those flared leggings, and a pair of white nike air force ones. most straight girls here do. i think you've failed at your assignment."

"shut up."

you were surprised by how many people actually dressed up according to the theme, especially over the number of frat boys wearing different types of skirts and dresses, some of them even sporting poorly done makeup looks on their faces.

having gotten separated from lexi almost the moment you arrived to the party, you were now leaning against the living room wall, hiding a part of your face behind a red solo cup half-full of some sort of concoction you'd found as you looked around. you'd always been better at standing aside, observing what everyone else was doing, rather than trying to join in.

you lifted the cup to your mouth and drank some of the nasty liquid, nearly spitting it out when you spot rafe chatting to his friends, just about managing to swallow it before you keel in laughter.

he stood confidently in a grey cardigan strewn over a white button-up that was so small on him it actually turned into a crop top, showing off the lower part of his abs, a faint happy trail as well as a defined v-line leading to a short black pleated skirt, his calves covered by black socks that ended just below his knees.

it seemed that your amusement had caught rafe's attention, as the moment you'd finally managed to straighten yourself up, the boy was strutting over to you, his hands on his hips in a way that almost caused you to go into another laughing fit.

"what's so funny?" rafe asked with lifted brows as he reached you, looking over your outfit with a pleased look on his face before gesturing to his own, "you don't think i look hot?"

"oh, definitely. the hottest." you snorted, bringing the drink to your lips and taking a small sip before pursing your lips in thought, "so, what's your type? britney spears?"

the boy's brows furrowed at that, "huh?"

"you look just like her in one of her music videos." you explained, your lips falling open in shock as his eyebrows continued to remain furrowed, "you don't know 'baby one more time'?"

"i haven't seen it." rafe shrugged, "what, you can't recognize who i'm trying to dress as?"

"i can't say i do. who?"

"i'm dressed as you."

you knew that if you were able to see yourself, your eyes would comically widen the moment the words left rafe's lips; and as you looked at him up and down, you realized, that his outfit was something you'd usually wear; just more lewd. "you're... dressed as me?"

"yeah. and clearly you're dressed as me."

"based- based on what?" you laughed incredulously, feeling your cheeks light up, bringing the cup to your lips and drinking just so you'd be able to hide a part of your face from the boy.

"well," rafe snatched the cap on your head, placing it on his instead, making his entire ensemble look even goofier, as he took hold of the front of your sweatshirt. "i'm pretty sure i've worn this exact same outfit."

"that doesn't mean anything… plenty of guys wear this." you mumbled from behind your cup, only to have rafe grab it from your hands, your eyes widening as you watched him finish it in one swallow, scrunching up the cup and throwing it on the floor somewhere.

cupping your chin with his finger and lifting it up so you were looking up at him, rafe brought his face closer to yours, his ice-blue eyes looking into yours in a way that made you feel like you were naked as his lips twisted into a knowing grin, "it doesn't?"

"n-"

before you could finish denying it, rafe's lips were pressed against yours; your eyes still wide open when his free hand slid to your waist, pulling you closer to him.

slowly, you felt yourself melt into the kiss, your eyes automatically closing as your lips moved against his. your hands were pressed against his chest, slowly moving down to feel his defined abs over the sheer button-up.

you could feel rafe's grin against your lips before he even pulled away, looking down at you with a knowing look on his face, the boy licking his lips causing you to bite down on your lower lip, your head spinning from just kissing him.

"so, that didn't mean anything, huh?"

[moki-dokie]

I would just about be willing to bet money on it that the CEO, or any exec of any bank or hotel chain, could not directly access or control anything with any customer for a few reasons.

Liability being an absolutely fucking huge one. most of these execs are not the level of fuck-you megawealthy elon is and are extremely susceptible to lawsuits and massive fines and even jail/prison time if they deliberately access private information without reason. Banks are highly regulated and secured by federal laws and take security pretty fucking seriously which brings us to

Nobody at executive level deals with day-to-day shit in their systems or with customers in massive corporations like banks or hotels. they've likely never seen their own banking software beyond a cursory glance during the occasional meeting. they probably don't even bank at the institution they work for in most cases, and if they do, they have an accountant that handles their finances for them. they might not be fuck you rich but they're still amongst the wealthy. you think the current hilton family have ever operated their booking software? or have any idea how to access customer information? or that any of the execs deal with the bullshit operational stuff thats about ten levels below their paygrade? i honestly doubt any of them would even know what department in the company to contact to even get to that information.

execs oftentimes do not have security clearance to directly access any of your stuff, to protect them from point 1.

is it possible they could? yes. the possibility exists. but is it probable? no. the risk greatly outweighs any sort of reward. not only are there major legal consequences, but anything at all that reflects poorly on the company, such as a lawsuit (especially a class action one) or bad press, will in turn impact their stocks, which is the ultimate bottom line any of them really care about. if you want to keep making fuckloads of money and stay in your cushy exec position, you usually keep the hell away from all things customer/consumer related and instead focus your more nefarious ambitions on things like embezzling and insider trading and bribing and fucking over smaller companies and finding loopholes around labor laws, ect.

"banks" can't access your account or control your funds. Very specific agents in very specific departments with very specific security protocols that are very heavily monitored and logged can view account details and take certain actions. And half the time those actions require approval from a member of their management. I suppose theoretically, depending on the software, a rogue agent could potentially do something wild with your account but not without landing themselves in prison and those actions being reversed really quickly lest a lawsuit happen. "Hotels" cannot unlock your door with a master key. The receptionist (or, sometimes, only their manager) can after a round of security verification or a warrant from law enforcement. and at least the times I've had to have that done at a major hotel chain, it is logged. i can't speak for the shady motels and b&bs out there that are run by individuals, but we're talking about corporations here.

and with corporations like those elon is at the head of, having that much unchecked power is unheard of. believe it or not this corporate state is actually regulated to a degree. there are so, so many safeguards in place to protect customer information. they've been slowly but methodically lessened in the last couple of decades - which is precisely what the ultra rich and far right (typically one and the same) are trying to do; get rid of so many government regulations that protect private citizens. which is precisely what elon has been put in charge of for the incoming cabinet.

one man should not ever have this much power. period. he should not be able to personally access any of this information. it's wildly unethical and opens up so, so many security nightmares. the world's wealthiest man who is possibly even more unhinged and dangerous than trump himself is, is about to have his own governmental department, and is going to be absolutely up the ass of the man who will be running this country. and he will have complete and total unrestricted access to every single tesla customer, every single twitter account.

and you have to ask, "Why would you assume he couldn't"?

because that kind of power is unprecedented outside of the fucking cia and some extremely classified spec ops of the military. and completely and utterly unprecedented in the hands of one person.

Hey how come the truck automatically locks when it explodes and bursts into flames

[wardensantoineandevka]

Yeah, I think at the end of it. I get, understand, and agree that the narrative moment we're at is "Bells Hells, feeling they don't have the resources to fight Ludinus a second time today and still uncertain about the central question of what is to be done about the gods in Exandria, move toward Predathos in an attempt to control a situation they feel is inevitable. Imogen feels she has to make the choice to accept it into herself because Predathos is still moving toward her and the Ruidusborn, tragically boxing her into this because she feels she has no other meaningful choices." Great, amazing, I totally understand this, and it is a natural beat and one that coheres as a culmination of the campaign. It's actually a pretty great beat in summary.

The frustrating thing ultimately feels to be the execution, because it constantly feels like the story is meandering from beat to beat after an incredibly long series of meanderings over the course of the campaign. It's ultimately fine the characters feel uncertain, but the storytelling itself feels uncertain as well about what it is doing and that is less fine. Every decision is made with a sort of timid "I suppose that's the thing to do, I don't really know" at the table level without a very clear sense of what they're moving toward narratively, and that's really more of the problem. It's undercutting what is otherwise a really great direction.

Decisions don't feel like they have teeth because the storytelling is so hesitant about whether it's the right direction to take, so the needed feeling of stakes, inevitability, tragedy, suffocating circumstance don't exist in the way they should to give what's happening the needed sense of clarity. It feels like we're all moving through a bog in a not fun way because the story itself isn't sure what it's moving toward even in a sense of vibes or structurally. moving confidently and toward a tragedy in a sense of trapping the characters and cornering them would've done wonders, but instead it kinda has the feeling of trying to unroll a carpet dramatically and it just kinda slowly stops. Like, it's a slow drift down a lazy river instead of feeling dragged out with the tide.

It is a really great beat to have Imogen accepting Predathos because she feels she doesn't have any other choice in the series of pressures occurring right now. But, the pressure doesn't really feel like it exists because it all feels disconnected from the moment or too gently / abstractly applied or too slow to be framed, and the inevitability aspect doesn't feel like it's quite standing because narrative inevitability comes from momentum and strong storytelling intent and purpose, and it's never felt like this campaign has had that. The storytelling is hesitant and uncertain, so the tragedy doesn't quite come through on experience of the moment, even when it does come through in summary.

And that's more the frustrating thing. It's a good beat executed a little too uncertainly. The choice itself for the character is a good one, but it — like much of the campaign — feels like it lacks a storyteller trust in the narrative or trust in the choice itself to make it really feel satisfying as an execution. I genuinely wonder if that's ultimately what I'm bouncing off of, the fact that it doesn't feel like the table is trusting in the narrative or trusting the choices they're making for the story or trusting in themselves and each other to carry through the story they’re telling, so the intentionality and purpose feel off and it's stripping a great beat of its power by making it feel hesitant at a narrative mechanics level.

[genderqueerdykes]

I promise this is just coming from someone who wants to learn, and I apologize if it sounds hateful or rude for what I'm about to ask that is not what I want at all,

but when it comes to systems, DID, plurality, from what I have heard, it is something extremely extremely rare, and something that most people under the age of 25 the body isn't even supposed to like "reveal" until older. I'm just confused and I would really like to hear from someone who actually is plural and not just from like Google

is being a system, DID, and plurality even the same? And the only plural people I have met irl have like 25,000+ alters of dsmp characters (I ofc know not everyone who is plural isnt just fictive and it's all different)

just a very confused person who isn't plural and I would really like to learn and be educated !! I would really like to understand more and hate unreasonably for something I don't understand

hello there!

you can be plural without having DID. there's not really much else to it. DID is one form of plurality. it's not the end all be all of plurality. there are even other dissociative disorders like OSDD that get cast by the wayside when people adopt this kind of mentality. there's so much more to plurality than DID. also, there is no set age at which the symptoms at DID become apparent on the outside. i've been having dissociative symptoms since i was a kid. my alters were active and present even as a teenager!

relying on medical statistics alone for DID is a bad idea because most professionals who are capable of diagnosing someone with a mental health condition don't even know what dissociative disorders are or what they entail. my own therapist has known that I have DID the entire time i've known her, but she has told me that currently, she can't help me with it, because she has not received training for it. dissociative disorders are nowhere near as rare as we think they are, one has to consider that a number even as low as 1% - 2% of the global population is an absolutely massive number of people!

saying that DID is "extremely rare" in this case in order to discredit non dissociative plurals is an appeal to authority. it's appealing to the medical industry who refuses to take it seriously in the first place. the amount of professionals i've had who pointed out that i have dissociative disorders vs. the ones who never commented on it at all is pretty staggering. this is due to a lack of proper research due to lack of funding, not because DID is genuinely that rare. the reason there isn't more research into plurality in general is because of a lack of funding. medical studies and organizations require funding. if they don't see money in it, they won't do it.

DID is still a heavily stigmatized condition. things haven't gotten much better since it was renamed from Multiple Personality Disorder. people with dissociative disorders are still treated like shit in medical settings, so to me, it makes no sense at all whatsoever to pit dissociatives against other plurals because no one takes ANY of us seriously, it's not non-dissociative plurals' faults that we're not taken seriously. it's the medical industry. there are no medications to push for DID. DID does not respond to medication. this already makes a lot of doctors not want to interact with it at all, because there's no commissions for medications prescribed.

"And the only plural people I have met irl have like 25,000+ alters of dsmp characters."

i'm pointing this out gently, i don't think you're a bad person, but this is sooooo mean, please don't be that mean and judgmental about other people, plural or not. please consider how those people would feel if they heard you talking about them like that. even if you don't view them as plural, you shouldn't think it's okay to discredit their lived experience. what are you getting out of phrasing it like that? even if that person turns out to not be plural, please do not judge other people based off of things like this. you don't live inside of their head. you don't know what's going on in there.

i'm not entirely sure why people think this way about introjects and fictives, but they're an extremely normal part of the plural experience! one of the most well known DID systems of all time, Truddi Chase and The Troops, had not only fictional alters (Elvira) but also factual ones as well (Mean Joe Green). this is not new, nor is it isolated to non dissociative plurals. introjects and fictives are extremely normal. it doesn't mean someone is faking just because they've introjected someone, or someones.

hope that helps, in general, please understand that the only lived experience that you are the arbiter of is your own and you cannot tell someone else what they're experiencing, no matter what. plurality will look different for every person, system and so on that experiences it! the sooner you accept that the easier your own life will become. it's not hurting you for someone to have headmates that you don't like. that's their business, not yours, and that's actually a very freeing thing!

great addition from the tags:

[wandixx]

Date in the Ghost Zone

@seamistagle

Sorry it took so long, I've cjaged ideas, like, five times along the way because my dating expirience is almost none existant. To make up for that, I decided to write them kissing (i also have no expierience in that) but anyway, I hope you'll like it

“Hi starlight!” a voice rang from her ceiling. At this point, she didn't even startle, too used to Danny's dramatics. Popping out of nowhere, halfway through solid objects was so low on the list of shenanigans that she didn't even respond until she finished a scene of the “Hello, Megan!” episode she was rewatching. That's what he got for not using the door and knocking like civilized humans should.

“Hello sunshine“ She leaned back in her chair and smiled at her boyfriend “What brings you to my humble chamber?”

“You're busy this weekend and it's not a question. We're going on a date” he said, determined and anxious in a way that usually translated to ‘I have an unconventional date idea and I hope you like it’. Her smile widened. She loved Danny's unconventional ideas.

“Sure love, do I need to bring something with me?” She started slowly flying up, careful to not be fast enough to bring Danny's attention to it. He took a moment to consider her question but eventually shook his head.

“I'll get everything ready. Just come to Amity on Saturday morning and let everyone know we will be offline whole weekend”

Her smile got a bit softer. Whole weekend with Danny sounded like a dream, especially after a period when life stuff kept them apart for almost a month.

“Alright,” she just needed to stall a little longer. “Can I make cookies though?“

Just a bit higher, less than two feet.

Danny visibly brightened, looking every bit like an angel from an old painting. 

“I'll never say no to your cookies”

“I know,” she said and kissed him. His lips were cold and dry as if he spent just a bit too long on the snow, like always when she made out with him as a ghost. She loved every millisecond of the experience. 

Obviously, she also loved when he was human, warm and soft and breathing.

She just adored every bit of her boyfriend, okay?

She let go to take a breath, relishing in a way Danny blushed and spluttered. He was an adorable mess every time she so much as smooched him. 

(She said, as if she wasn't exactly the same).

“I love you. See you on Saturday“

“Yeah… See you”

***

Danny carefully stared at M'gann when he phased blindfold off her face. It wasn't as much of a surprise as he wished it could be, there wasn’t many places where could he go to from his house, especially ones that she didn’t see already. But he wanted to give her just this little thing, so he lead her in a little bit further.

She seemed to like it, if his reading of her emotional projection was correct. Apparently he should know it instinctually but he was just tad too alive for the instinct to kick in. From what he knew about M'gann, she liked it. Maybe.

“It's… really green”

Danny blinked. How was he supposed to respond to that?

They both snorted the moment they caught each other's eyes.

“I mean… you warned me but wow–” she said, clearly suppressing out right laughter “–even air is green”

“That's Ghost Zone for you! Green over green with green undertones”

That won him a laugh. Ancients, there weren't many things more beautiful than this laugh and he was willing to do far too much for it. 

“Alright, let's go, I have so much to show you. We won't be able to get to Martian sector now, but if you want, we can save more time next–”

“Later. Show me around now, please”

“As you wish”

He grabbed her wrist to lead the way.

***

Danny didn’t stumble when landing on the snow, he didn’t. He just kinda slipped and almost ate dirt or well, ice. M’gann of course was graceful as if she was born in the air. Actually, for all he knew, she could be.

This was not a moment to think about it.

“Welcome to Far Frozen, literally and figuratively the chillest place in the Ghost Zone” he said with a cheeky grin, trying to sound like and overenthusiastic tour guide. They both quite enjoyed when he was in this role.

“This is the Yeti part, right?”

“Exactly! And the main prize goes to- oh!”

Something small and fluffy hit him in the stomach, tiny hands wrapping around him and forcing breath out of his lungs.

“Phantom!”

“Icefang! It’s great to see you kiddo!” he said, hugging little yeti back. “And you guys too!” he yelled, so group running up to them could hear him.

There was something incredibly funny in a fact that there was group of ghost children who treated him as this cool older friend. No way anyone on the living side could ever consider him that.

“Who is that?” one of them asked, pointing at M’gann like there was anyone else they could mean. She smiled and waved at them.

“This is Miss Martian, my girlfriend!” Ancients, they were together for months and being able to call her that still made him giddy “I’m giving her a tour through coolest places in the Realms”

“It’s nice to meet you all, Phantom talked a lot about you”

He wouldn’t say he talked a lot about them, but he certainly mentioned them from time to time… Like the time when he spent half an hour excitedly explaining how Snowstorm managed one fight move he thought them or how Snowdrop made him really cute drawing or… okay, so maybe this counted as a lot.

“Hi, what is girlfriend?” Icefang asked, cocking his head to the side while other kids stopped behind him and also peered curiously.

“Did you say girlfriend?! It’s a special friend with kissing and saying dumb things!” Snowstorm yelled running up to them, clearly winded. Danny hoped they were late because they had to finish dinner or something instead of getting into yet another trouble. They were magnet, really, Fenton Luck wasn’t as bad as- “Like Snowflake and Frost Junior!” nevermind, little shit could be in all the trouble they found. These two were famous among his little group as an embarrassing teen couple and equating him and M’gann to them was an untrue insult, thank you very much.

Kids giggled, because of course they did. Danny rolled his eyes. M’gann seemed to catch enough to realize the weight of the ‘they’re just like Snowflake and Frost Junior’ insult.

“I’d say that Snowstorm is lying but I know you won’t believe me. Sorry I won’t play with you, today I wanted to just walk around with Miss Martian. We will play extra long next time, alright?”

M’gann leaned on him a bit, projecting tiniest bit of playful possessiveness, as if she tried to tell kids ‘mine now’ and barely stopped herself from laughing. Icefang looked up, up, up at her, eyes narrowed and mouth twisted, like she was most hated person in the whole world. Maybe she was actually. From kids perspective she was someone, who was taking away his cool friend.

“We should put her through Trial of Ice” he almost hissed, like it was the worst thing they could do to her. It certainly wasn’t, but he still would prefer to not go through that.

Danny cursed inwardly, because he really should’ve remember about that when he decided to bring M’gann here. It was supposed to be calm pretty date not… that.

There was quiet ping in the back of his mind, a warning that the Mindlink was established.

“Am I supposed to be scared?” she asked, without an ounce of fear.

“You’ve certainly fought harder battles, but they probably won’t leave us alone unless we do it”

“Isn’t Trial of Ice a family thing?”

“Have your family done that?” Snowstorm asked, in this truly condescending way that only preteens managed to access.

“Well, they haven’t met her and they’re human so…”

“You see? We’re picking up their slack. Now, enough yapping, Phantom go over there, to your place”

“We can evacuate if you don’t want to indulge them”

It certainly wouldn’t make kids happy, but he didn’t want to pressure Meg into anything.

“Why would we?”

Well, who was he to disagree with all of them. He walked over to the place Snowstorm pointed.

“How will it look like?” she asked out loud, leaning down a bit to be closer to kids level “It’s probably obvious to you, but I don’t know the rules”

She looked at them like it was genuinely important to her, like it was almost life and death and Danny was once again reminded why he loved this girl so much and that he could and would commit great crimes for her.

Icefang perked up like an overeager puppy. If there was one sure way to buy his favor it was by letting him share his knowledge. Or have cookies, cookies also worked.

“You have to prove your decli- degi- deti-”

“Dedication”

“Right, that, thank you Briarheart, and show that you’re worth being Phantom’s special kissing friend. To do that, you need to get through us and kiss him while we will do all we can to stop you, mostly by throwing stuff at you. You can use your powers but if we hit you ten times you loose and can’t be Phantom’s kissing friend anymore”

“You can’t fly out of the throwing range for more than ten seconds and can’t phase through the ground”

“Alright, I get it. I have one question. One of my powers is that I can move things without touching them, can I just use it to move Phantom to me?”

“No, he has to stay were he is”

“That’s what I thought, thank you”

Snowdrop tugged at small bit of Snowstorm’s fur and started signing rapidly. Danny was learning Yeti Sign Language but it was slow going, mostly because of everything else he had to get done at the same time. But he was learning when he had time! He even understood a few signs! Not enough to actually catch what she was saying but… Yeah, no, he should do better.

“Good point Snowdrop”

“I didn’t see what did she say?”

“You can just say you can’t read yet Icefang. She said that we should put Phantom through Trial of Ice too. It’s always to ways thing”

“Aw, thank you sweetheart”

“We won’t be good for the task though” Briarheart Junior pointed out, always the rational one “Phantom is our friend so we won’t put up good fight against him. Someone else needs to do that”

Yeti kids all started nodding with various levels of enthusiasm. Snowstorm seemed to already think about logistics and candidates since, again, it was Snowstorm, their involvement could only mean chaos.

“Give us two weeks, we’ll be back with candidates by then”

M’gann looked like she tried to hold back laughter. Instead, she nodded and thanked them again. Snowstorm told everyone to move to their positions, with M’gann exactly one hundred twenty three ‘big steps’ away from him. Then Icefang got to use new trick he learned and made wall around Danny. It was less than one feet high, but they really didn’t need anything higher. He was sufficiently praised for it, which made him smile brightly enough to rival the sun.

For all it’s worth, Trial of Ice was pretty boring when he was the prize. Don’t get him wrong, he was proud of the kids whenever they did some trick he thought them and M’gann ‘fighting’ was one of the hottest thing he could imagine, but still. He itched to join.

Or maybe not. He liked what he was seeing. M’gann changed her clothes into something resembling her night suit, just in white and pale blue to better match surroundings. It looked good on her, emphasizing lines of her body and how they changed in the movement, in such way that he couldn’t drag his eye away from her. He didn’t often get the chance to admire her like in action, to look at the way she was in the air, when she evaded attacks, all grace and power and precision. Usually he was right next to her, or if sidelined, too stressed for her life to ever really look.

He could appreciate this chance.

It made him once again wonder how he managed to get someone as amazing to date him. Like, really, how did it happen?!

This train of thought was abandoned when after last refined loop M’gann descended right in front of him. He looked at her face, maybe bordering on staring but how could he not? How could he not stare at her freckles highlighted by the teal blush from all the exercise? How could he not stare at her perfectly shaped lips, now that he knew how they felt against his?

Damn it, he wanted to kiss this girl five minutes ago.

M’gann leaned forward, close enough that puffs of their breaths mixed together.

“You realize I can still hear all of your thoughts?”

He did, actually, not realize that.

“Good thing, I’m not thinking about anything you shouldn’t hear then”

She finally did kiss him after that, though unfortunately it was just a quick smooch (he said as if it didn’t leave him just a little bit brain scrambled for a moment and wait did she use blackberry lip balm? It was hard to tell when their lips barely touched). Then she grabbed his elbow and dragged him up and away before he fully caught up what was going on. Mock noises of disgust turned into open protest when kids realized they were getting away.

Danny and M’gann kinda laughed as they were sprinting away before kids could caught up to them. It took him a moment to calm down enough to scrap whatever he knew about Far Frozen, so he could point them somewhere where they could hide out until kids got distracted (about half an hour at most).

They dipped into some small ice cavern and curled up next to each other, still slightly shaking from giggles. There was enough room to sit straighter and keep personal space but they didn’t want to.

M’gann laid her head on his shoulder.

“This is so weird, you know? Nice, but weird. Like uncanny valley but without uncomfortable part. Or at least not as much of uncomfortable part”

***

M’gann wasn’t sure why she kept talking after Danny hummed with small projection of curiosity. It would probably just sour the mood, but it was maybe a little too late now that she started.

“It’s just… you know, it’s all so similar to M’arzz. Which is great! Don’t get me wrong, I loved it! I missed it, even if I didn’t realize it! But you know, it not the same,” her voice broke a bit, and she felt an arm circling her back. She took a moment to gather herself “They were all so emotive and loud, I almost started reading their minds because it couldn’t not be deliberate. But it was. Kids didn’t look to different from my peers back home, I could certainly imagine them playing with shape-shifting and testing this type of form for longer time. It’s colder than Earth but too cold to actually be M’arzz. Everything is going on above the ground which isn’t dangerous here but I was raised knowing it was not safe. We also have this thing about proving our worth but it’s with heat instead of ice and right before the wedding instead of right from the get go. It’s all just kinda itching.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah”

“Um, sorry. I haven’t thought about it. I should. Do you want to go back? We can chill in Amity if you want to. Or, you know do something else on the living side”

“No, no, no it’s fine, I like it. It’s nice. It’s familiar, but in a good way. There isn’t really a way for me to just go back and it’s nice to have it even if a little bit”

Danny shifted a bit, as if he tried to look at her, but she kept her face buried in is arm. She shouldn’t have said anything. She should’ve swallowed nostalgia and just keep going. It was such a great time before too.

There was nudge at her mind, clearly deliberate even if clumsy. Absolutely incomprehensible, like Martian’s babies and toddlers did it.

Another nudge, more defined but still unable to carry any ideas more sophisticated than vague invitation to connect.

“Danny?”

“Do you want to talk telepathically? To make it better?”

Oh. Oh.

“Sure. Thank you,” she took a deep breath, trying to collect herself once again “Are you trying to make me cry today? You’re lucky I don’t wear make-up or it would be all ruined”

“You would be stunning anyway. I don’t think there is anything you could do to not be, let’s be honest”

“And now you’re trying to sweeten me up, you dork” She roughly dried her eyes against his suit. It’s absolutely useless to this purpose but she wanted to hide for a bit longer.

“I am not sweetening anyone up, it would have to be untrue for it to be that’

“Oh shut up”

“Never~”

“It’s not even my true form”

“M’gann, Meg, my starlight and love of my Afterlife. When I saw your true form I was so enamored my brain ceased higher functions. I watched ‘Hello, Megan!’ because you liked it, but the main character was just… kinda meh in terms of looks. Do you understand? I think you’re beautiful because it’s you, not because of anything else. No matter what form you’d choose to be in, I’ll love it and want to be as close to you as you’ll let me”

M’gann finally raised her head and with small startle she realized that between their faces were only inches. There was still small blush on his cheeks and his eyes were almost hipnotizing, with the way they focused on her like she was only thing that mattered. His hair was ruffled from wind, just asking to run finger through it. Once again their puffing breaths were mixing but this time they were alone. They could savor it, they could-

“Great One? I was informed you came with your suitor?”

Of course. They couldn’t even kiss in peace.

Thankfully, encounter with Frostbite, even if awkward, was quite short. She didn’t have anything against the yeti, really, she couldn’t even begin to tell how much she appreciated help he extended to Danny but still…

It was not the type of moment she wanted to be interrupted on.

Thankfully older ghost caught it, despite both of them trying to be subtle, and didn’t seem to be too angry about it, so soon they were on their merry way to ‘'one more place’ Danny wanted to show her.

He even brought back up the blindfold, which made her stomach do funny things. She was excited to see what Danny wanted to show her, but also…

There was something really intimate about flying blind, not in a way even their deepest kisses were, but in the absolute trust she had to have in him. In the Ghost Zone she couldn’t even navigate with her telekinesis and telepathy like she could try on the living side. In the Ghost Zone, she had just Danny, and this made something as simple as getting off the ground, into the air all more electrifying in the way that would be almost scary, if she was with anyone else.

She got a little worried when instead of lightly holding her wrist like he did before, Danny caught both of her hands and grasped her like he didn’t plan to let go for the rest of eternity.

“Do you trust me?”

“Of course”

And then they were off, faster than she’d ever dare when blind, faster than they usually did, faster than they sometimes went when racing even. Danny kept her close, practically clinging.

Then they were falling and twisting and turning like on some crazy roller coaster and it was breathtaking in both best and worst ways because they were close and it was exciting but she had no idea where they were going or when were they going to turn. Her stomach was doing funny things. Actually, she liked that. She liked that a lot. Especially when Danny slowed down a bit and brought her to his chest before kicking off again.

This was electrifying.

She let out a little yelp when they stopped abruptly and gently landed on the snow. For a long moment they both just stood, panting with soft giggles, getting of off adrenaline high.

***

Danny’s breath caught in his throat again when M’gann grasped sides of his face. It was a bit clumsy, with fingers getting on his mouth and ear but it just made it all more… more.

After few months in relationships he should probably get better at handling all the times she did things like that. As it was, he was barely able to focus on anything other than fingers in his hair and cold hands on his cheeks.

“It was amazing”

He shuddered when she whispered in his mind. It used to terrify him beyond belief, the idea that someone could hear all his thoughts, could touch his very being, made him rebel on the most instinctual level. Now, when M���gann did it, when by just being next to him she rewrote his brain to associate her with mind-reading, it was intoxicating.

“I know, you’re welcome” he managed to stuttered.

She leaned closer, obviously aiming for his mouth and it took all of his will to not meet her midway. They stayed just close, with Danny’s eyes fluttering each time warm puff of air hit them.

“Never do it again”

Instead of answering, he put his hands between her shoulder blades to bring her closer, reached up to cross the remaining distance and kissed her.

Oh, it was definitely blackberry lip balm. He loved it. He loved it all so much.

He loved the way her lips felt brushing against his, cold and smooth despite the time they spent in cold. He loved the way he could almost feel her heartbeat, pressed slightly above his own heart, how he could hear it above his own blood rushing in his ears, faster that it was when they were flying moments ago. He loved the way her hand moved through his hair to press against the back of his head, a wordless command to get closer. He happily complied, adjusting slightly and almost locking on her closed mouth. One of his hands moved lower as he rammed forward, kissing her with enough fervor that she had to arch back a bit. Like that he couldn’t reach her without climbing to his tiptoes, but he didn’t mind.

Her mouth opened slightly, so he took invitation for what it was and started to devour what she had. As he was, draped across M’gann’s chest, with her hands barely holding on his neck, her lips against his and her tongue brushing against his teeth, the whole world could disappear and he couldn’t be bothered. Being this close, with her, was all that mattered and all that could fill his brain.

It got sloppy, when hand laid on the small of his back, full body shiver making their teeth clank. Before he got himself at least a little bit together other hand appeared in his hair. It yanked him back on just the right side of painful, while the arm around his waist pressed him forward and all at once he couldn’t find his footing, bend back so much that if his hand didn’t grasp the edge of M’gann’s cape they could probably touch the ground. Other one by miracle stayed on her neck.

He was fully at her mercy and there was nowhere he could rather be, hanging in her arms all nice and docile. He was stuck in almost addicting cycle of telepathic projection of his excited-eager-confident and M’gann's giddy-greedy-restless response and how it made him all fervent-dizzy-thrilled and how much he could feel it, how intimate this type of closeness was, how kiss dissolved whatever it was that made sensing emotions so much harder and more muted at any other time.

He let himself be handled and adjusted sometimes grasping her hair when he felt too much, in the best way he could imagine, but frankly he forgot about everything else after that.

They had to let go at some point, to catch breath if nothing else but they stayed close. Close enough that he could smell the lip balm that by now was probably mostly on him. Close enough that their noses would touch if they turned their heads just right. Close enough that he could count her freckles and connect them into little constellations, as if her skin was map of the space that gave her to him.

It wasn’t rare, for them to be this close, but it never changed the fact, that when he caught her eyes, half closed but striking, sparkling in the cold blue-green light in the way that was almost iridescent, he couldn’t help but think he wouldn’t be mad to get lost in them. He wouldn’t be mad to be trapped forever, like mosquito in amber with which her eyes shared color.

“Okay, you can do that again”

He needed a long moment to realize why that would ever be in question or what she was referencing, or were they were and what they were doing before. By the time he scrambled his brain again, M’gann’s eyes were closed and she was going for another kiss. He tilted her by the chin just slightly away, because they came there for a reason and he wanted to fulfill said reason before he totally forgot.

M’gann looked back at him, slightly dazed, straightening just a bit. She brought him with her, so his position was just a touch less parallel to the ground, which was also nice.

“I have nothing against round to but before that, I wanted to show you something”

He waited for a moment until she full caught what he was saying. It was overwhelmingly exhilarating to see that she was affected by it just as much as he was. When she nodded, he turned her chin to the left, slowly so she could fully admire the view.

He didn’t turn. He knew what she could see, the breathtaking spectacle of Far Frozen, the wonderful mix of futuristic and traditional, shining in the Ghost Zone’s lights like under aurora. He knew this view well.

Arms around him went almost lax, so he slipped and fell on the snow. He could catch himself or stay were he was, close enough to smell her ever changing shampoo, but he preferred it that way.

“Oh… it’s… It’s beautiful”

He propped himself up on his hands and looked up at her, at the curves of her face and shape of her nose and the little scar she could shape-shift away but just didn’t want to. He looked at her hair, the way her red contrasted with Zone’s ambient green and snow’s reflected cold white and how disheveled it was from flight and the kiss and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to brush his fingers through them until they were neat again or ruffle them even more during another kiss.

He looked the golden clasp of her cape, slightly greener ever since they learned he could be summoned and figured out how to make M’gann always have this chance. He looked at the red ribbons crossing on her chest, only thing she kept from her ‘true’ form, only symbol she let herself keep from the home she could both hate and miss. He looked at her fingers, covered in freckles like the rest of her, short and slender, grasping at the improvised railing now that they weren’t holding him. He looked at the way her back curved as she leaned forward to see better. He looked back at her face, at her slightly opened lips and wide opened eyes and her raised eyebrows. He looked at her open, almost child like delight over something he, at this point, seen as almost mundane.

“Yeah, beautiful”

[risto-licious]

I don't know if this is madness or just a character trait that is simply engrained into my very core BUT. On some days I feel like my soul puts me in this weird LIMBO OF EMOTIONS. Let's say there's a bad day. Just one bad day. Mood is low, energy is low and thoughts go right into melancholic hopelessness. As one does, sometimes. We're all human. There is this relentless STUBBORN OPTIMISM inside of me that seems to AUTOMATICALLY TRIGGER on those days, which INSTANTLY fights back against the shit mood, trying it's hardest to somehow lift my spirits up. AND IT MAKES ME FEEL SO WEIRD. Like something inside of me doesn't even allow myself to have a bad day, as if you're sleepy but someone is shaking your slumpy body and goes like HEY HEY HEY WAKE UP YOU FOOL LET'S GET GOING. I feel like it might stem from a deep, firm knowledge that nothing nice for future me grows out of those bad days. Because I usually already know what is troubling me. And when I cry. Feel down. Cry some more. Get a headache. I never feel better or wiser after I allow my bad mood to fully unfold. I SENSE NO FEELING OF RELEASE or ease after a so called good cry. And most of the time my optimism WINS THE GAME EITHER WAY. Making me this weird MELANCHOLIC but also HAPPILY UPBEAT idiot most of my days. The fact that in these times it feels like madness is because I feel like in a CONSTANT INBETWEEN. I cannot even do moody grouchy bad mood VENT ART without something in me saying: NOPE, THAT'S NOT YOU and you KNOW IT. While the other half howls: GOD DAMMIT JUST LET ME FEEL LIKE SHIT FOR ONE DAY. And the other half keeps stubbornly refusing: STILL NOPE LOL. All these silly internal battles, while on the outside I seem completely normal, chill and calm. AND ACTUALLY: I AM DOING OKAY. I am doing good. And I still feel that this is really just my very very funky personality. I suppose that stubborn part is simply trying to make use of my bad days and frustrations, actively urging myself to have somthing NEW seep out of it, some NEW DIRECTION of where to navigate next in my life. Little by little, step by step! I like when things go forward, even when life feels stagnant, deteriorating even. Basiacally: NOT ALLOWED TO HAVE A SHIT DAY, at least not without drawing something out of it for future steps to take. Even if sometimes the future simply feels hopeless. AND THAT WAS THAT. Thanks for coming to my silly thought ramble out into the open. I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHETHER IT HELPED TYPING ALL THAT DOWN. Or if it made any sense at all. If you've somehow read this up until here.....I hope you're having a good start into the weekend! Wishing that for you!

[froschli96]

you know, i always find it really funny when dudebros complain about syndicate and odyssey being too "jokey" or not "taking its characters seriously" or whatever…

like, did y'all collectively sleep through "it's-a me, mario!", "i meant besides vaginas", ezio inventing the latte, bartolomeo's... just... *gestures vaguely* entire character, etc?

like, it's fine to have preferences of course, i myself prefer a more serious and grounded tone, but these are usually the same people who tout the ezio trilogy as "peak assassin's creed", call ac1 a glorified tech demo and hate on connor for being "too serious and boring", like? make it make sense!

[brawlmetaknight]

still thinking about this actually WE WERE SO ROBBED. this would have given some much needed exposition to dedede's role/motives in sse. i could be wrong but i've always imagined he was trying to defeat and put one of his badges on meta knight like he was doing with the other characters, but he sure picked the worst time to start beef lol. judging by the phrase "unwittingly", i assume he didn't mean for meta knight to lose the halberd, but ultimately meta knight couldn't concentrate on defending his ship when he also had dedede attacking him out of nowhere.

[angorwhosebabyisthis]

this rewatch of sdmi has been wild because once you start taking the talking animals and their place in the worldbuilding seriously it's just like oh wow this is some real final fantasy plot huh. what do you mean the resident discriminated-against beastfolk are not only descended from ancient otherworldly beings masquerading as gods, and not only driven insane even more effectively than non-beastfolk by a curse because of their heritage, and not only serve as apocalyptically powerful vessels for those otherworldly beings, but are easy to read as having been created specifically because they're more powerful vessels than normal animals, and then abandoned to their own devices (being enslaved) for thousands of years until the next time their creators pop into this reality and want a convenient corporeal form to snatch. which game in the series is this

[pornography-for-kenkus]

every day on this cursed webbed site i come across some of the stupidest fucking opinions i've ever seen and i'm honestly so so strong for not engaging

[sskk-manifesto]

(´･ᴗ･ ` )

[medicinemane]

Sometimes I feel like I'm going crazy

You have... very very very very very very very very smart people you know, and they're say something that not only isn't true, but literally is as opposite of the truth as it's possible to be... and you'll... gently inform them "hey, it's actually a bit more like this" and then they just kinda... go on saying literally the exact same thing

I'm not sure if it's just that... I often feel like I must be very bad at communicating, or people must just not notice/ignore a lot of what I say, but... I don't know

Like dearest friend, you've said something as absurd as... I don't know, it's hard to say without saying it, but honest to god about as absurd as saying the United States was a part of the USSR, that level of completely getting it backwards

...and it just doesn't seem to matter when I try to explain it... I legit don't even know if you read what I said

Really end up feeling like I'm going nuts sometimes

[the-busy-ghost]

Warning- this is a very petty post, but I think I'm entitled to at least one petty, pissed-off reaction every time I finish a classic novel that hit harder than I expected so take this as my quota for the year.

Also spoiler warning for a book that came out over a century ago but still, I didn't know the plot going in so don't want to ruin it for anyone else, if you haven't read it shut your eyes. (Also Local Tumblr User Going Wild Over Book Published a Hundred Years Ago That Everybody Else Already Read should probably be categorised as akey part of indigenous tumblr culture at this point).

Anyway I just finished the War of the Worlds and in between studying I've thinking about Themes and Motifs as you do, and idly looking for further analysis. I then accidentally ran into an article called 'A Quiet Place II Succeeds Where the War of the Worlds Failed' and:

Now I haven't seen any of the Quiet Place films, this is not a rant against them and of course everyone is entitled to their own opinions. But re: the ending of The War of the Worlds, I have to ask, did this guy somehow miss, uh, the entire point of the book or am I just utterly insane?

[proteuus]

taking a risk and inviting my favorite business boy for tea instead of coffee. will keep you all posted

[t1erradelfuego]

[vraska-theunseen]

auauaugh i can't even imagine how im going to get through sophomore year 😭 i don't even know how i'm going to get through this semester i always feel like i'm scrambling. even though i can tell im making way better progress compared to last semester like i'm learning things quicker im getting more done i have experience to build on instead of doing 10 fitups of shitty t joints im doing 3 or 4 and that's because (even if my teacher has to come in my booth to show me how to do it) with each bead slowly i remember how i've welded before and understand how i'm supposed to do it but that's still so much time im still behind compared to where my teacher said we should be and i don't understand how everyone else is understanding and doing everything faster than i am 😭