#does the spell even matter?

[girl4music]

Xabrielle VS Spuffy: Correlations between Xena’s ‘Fins, Femmes & Gems’ and Buffy’s ‘Something Blue’

You know they re-wrote the script 48 hours out before going into production for ‘Fins, Femmes & Gems’ from Gabrielle being obsessed with sexual positions to Gabrielle being obsessed with herself - but the funniest thing about that is they still had Xena obsessed with fishing but Xena never needs Gabrielle around her as much as she does when she’s not obsessed with that.

“She’s come for me. I knew she would. She can’t live without me for a minute. Not that I could blame her.”

Obviously it’s a metaphor but I still think it’s hilarious.

The way it comes across is that Xena is obsessed with Gabrielle as well as Gabrielle… But it’s just hidden behind the metaphor of “fishing” together. And they always pull that one out in this show: they’re “fishing”.

And so my question is - if Gabrielle’s apparent obsession in the original script was sexual positions rather than just an obsession with Xena… Why is it Xena that’s the main factor there? Obviously it’s because the “non-spell” parts of them still came through just as it does in the re-written script for the actual episode.

I just found it funny how Renee immediately jumped to “being in love with Xena” when the obsession in the original script was just about sexual positions.

Why is Xena even relevant to that?

And in the re-written script, if the obsession is fishing.

Why is Gabrielle relevant to that?

The answer is because they’re already in love with each other and they’re the main factor because that’s who the obsession informs regardless of the spell cast.

In this episode, it’s not a direct spell meant to make the one under it fall in love with anyone. It’s just making them have an obsession about something or someone.

But with Xena and Gabrielle in both the original and re-written script,.. the main factor is each other regardless what they’re apparently “obsessed” with because they’re not actually under a spell with each other.

They’re for real and so the “obsessions” they have are only so desirable because of that reason. Each other.

The same way in BtVS’s ‘Something Blue’ the spell Willow cast was “why don’t they just get married?” and not “why don’t they just fall in love with each other?”

It’s just a natural consequence because they’re for real.

It’s really about removing the restrictions/resistances to the characters’ sexual and emotional inhibitions. Meaning if you give them a reason to gravitate towards each other that does not directly mean “I chose this”, they’ll go for it because then they won’t feel any guilt.

Why would they? It’s just the “spell”.

So with ‘Fins, Femmes & Gems’ both in the original and re-written scripts, the “spell” isn’t the driving force of what’s pulling Xena and Gabrielle towards each other. It’s the excuse. The driving force is their real love for each other and romantic attraction and unresolved tension because that’s what’s really bothering them.

So depending on how they approached it - it wouldn’t necessarily be an insult to queer people if they were allowed to produce the episode with the original script so long as they made it clear the “spell” wasn’t the main factor just as they did with the re-written script.

There are several times in the episode where their respective “obsessions” were completely forgotten about in the midst of the crisis of losing each other.

Obviously it’s because each other mattered more to them than some daft obsession spell they were under - of which only appears to be desirable to them because they have each other to be “obsessed” with them for.

It’s a metaphor… The “obsession” is really each other and I think that would have been the case no matter which script they decided to go with for the episode.

If Gabrielle was obsessed with sexual positions instead of herself. If Xena was still obsessed with fishing. So long as they still approached it the way they did in the re-written script - I think it would have been totally fine because even in the re-written script, it was pretty clear that these “obsessions” weren’t why they were so,.. so

MARRIED. That’s the only word I can use that justifies what’s going on in that episode. Their need for each other to be around because they’re already married.

Therefore, I think the comparison to BtVS’s ‘Something Blue’ is dead on. Because Spuffy don’t act that way because the spell forced them to get married. They act that way because they already behave as if they are.

It’s just more so because “it’s not us”/“we’re forced”.

‘Fins’ is exactly the same. Behind the metaphor or the excuse - it’s just 2 suppressed idiots in love that can let go of ALL sexual and emotional inhibitions and just be happy because in those moments they’re just “Xena” and “Gabrielle” and the plot/seasonal arc can TAKE A SEAT to allow for some crucial character stuff that needs to take some precedence after what happens.

Those kind of “love spell” episodes are worth watching because you are seeing what’s for real there with them.

It’s just so exaggerated because it’s a release for them.

The spell doesn’t actually matter. But without the spell as the excuse - they’d never go there with each other.

They’d never be brave enough to because of all the other shit going on around them or they’re enemies.

But it’s like when real romantic feelings are there - none of that is even a focus. None of that is even relevant.

Only each other. That’s how I see ‘Fins’ and ‘Something Blue’ because the spell cast is really only the metaphor.

What’s the real deal is why the metaphor is necessary.

The desire for each other and unresolved tension there.

If you can show that that’s the driving force and the main factor - then any “spell” episode - be it love, obsession or anything else - is successful storytelling and - if approached well - successful representation.

There’s major correlations between these two episodes because the “spell” is not why the characters behave as they do. But it is the reason why they would allow it in the first place and why they go way over the top with it.

As far as the characters are concerned - it’s a release of everything that’s pent up inside of and between them.

When you use a “spell” episode like that - and that ends up being what is interpreted out of it - it is successful. I mean technically Spuffy is just a “b-plot” of ‘Something Blue’ whereas Xabrielle is an “a-plot of ‘Fins’ - but nevertheless - what stands out is their odd behaviour.

It’s what people remember of the episodes themselves. But what’s not communicated is that behaviour is real because “we’re under a spell”/“we can’t be blamed”.

Yes, well that only stands when the spell is directly a love spell on each other. If it’s not - then it’s just void and the behaviour is a natural consequence of what is not being acknowledged and addressed in both the relationship and in the individual. So it’s a release for it.

In ‘Fins’ Xena figures out that the obsessions they had had nothing to do with the spell put on them but rather what it was that was bothering them deep down that they needed to get in touch with. It was about insight. Now if they were allowed to use the original script, then that insight could well have been that they were in love and were not letting themselves express it frequently. In that sense, it could have actually been a proper coming out episode that was very sincere in its intentional goal despite the “spell” factor because… I mean… I might be totally wrong about this but I don’t think anyone who watches ‘Something Blue’ - especially not on rewatches - believes that Willow’s spell was forcing Spuffy to kiss, so I don’t think that the spell in ‘Fins’ would have forced Xabrielle to “experiment with sexual positions” either - especially not if the obsession was really about insight because then the insight is that enough was enough. Either they come out to themselves and each other in how they really feel for each other and what to do about expressing those feelings physically or leave each other. And we all know there is absolutely no way the creators - not these creators - would have ever done the latter because despite not knowing the best way to go about handling it, they were all always on the side of the fans and shippers which is the only real striking difference between Xena’s ‘Fins’ and Buffy’s ‘Something Blue’.

Practically everybody in the writer’s room was on-board with Xena and Gabrielle. Not everyone was with Spuffy. But the jokes on them really because it was ‘Something Blue’ that even made Spuffy a twinkle in anyone’s eye because we had never seen either character so happy.

You know sometimes things don’t work out the way you want them. Other times they’re just a happy accident. A closer look at both Xena’s ‘Fins, Femmes & Gems’ and Buffy’s ‘Something Blue’ provides that of something which is missing in the TV art/entertainment of today.

FUN. CAMP. RELEASE. The other side of the spectrum where the plot/seasonal arc is not so important then. But the character representation and development is.

[puppppppppy]

i feel like im not making any sense but does anyone else feel like there are stories that let u run with them and ones that spell everything out for you

[ganondoodle]

okay, bc i have seen this argument alot now (and it also seems to be the view point of aonuma himself..) is that "zelda cant do everything link does bc whats the point then"

and i take personal offense on that bc its a stupid argument (in. my. very. personal. opinion.- not judging people for liking it. its a ME thing)

whats the point? its that its her. its still a different character, different in story, background, personality, but i WANT to play zelda and she can do everything link does, why does she have to be so restricted and be bend over backwards to find some new way to make her 'useful' when link gets to do basically everything no questions asked (the only thing thats hers is like .. sealing power and sacrificial maiden, which i find a little underwhelming to say the least), if theres no point to it why are there always modders that model swap link with someone else, and in that case it has even less impact bc its an artificial model swap with no changes to the story (which can and should still be different when its the vanilla game with a different protagonist... its still a different character), clearly theres joy in just the model being a different one- and that isnt even to mention the story possibilities, since, again, its stil a different character

if we ever (never ... i know who we are talking about here) get to play as ganondorf i want to him to be just as versatile and active as link is, if we got a point and click adventure game for him instead bc 'whats the point' id be disappointed too- you can find any sort of excuse/explanation for zelda to be singled out but the fact remains it tracks with how female characters are often treated, and that hits a very sore spot for me

i guess i am unfortunately one of those annoying people that want to see female characters be treated exactly the same as male characters, possibly bc i am myself afab but identify as agender and have a deeply personal dislike for anything 'traditional' feminine bc i cannot and never will be able to truly live as myself in real life, it influences all of my work, my work is as just as much as my opinion on this, very personal

and in line with my point about modding, i see theres joy in just beign able to play as her even if its like this, i get that, i also get it for the creative aspect (though that mechanic worries me even more for the future bc it really seems to be the path now that -freedom = good, linear anything = bad-) it is a different idea and its not like i cant see that value- im not trying be "right" either, just bc i have that opinion doesnt mean i need everyone to agree, its a very personal thing, if you like it good for you! not for me though, and i think both of that is equally valid

i just personally wish she was allowed to be just like link, fight just like him but be different bc its still her and not him in the end- to be physically/playstyle like jsut like him, but you know ... as her, i dont think shed stop being zelda if she could wield a sword just like him

i dont really know how to get my point/feelings across, i dont want to step too much into personal stuff nor spam people with something that ultimately doesnt interest me alot, im just saddened by it really

(EDIT: bc i forgot to add this on here again; this isnt as much of a problem as it might sound like here, just the main topic i wanted to talk about; why im so uninterested in it is MAINLY bc i dont trust them to write anything interesting/care about lore anymore after totk, im always on the more pessimistic side that thinks its most likely worse than id hope and i know even the past games arent perfect or super interestingly written, but now its much more just a general distrust, together with everything like the price ... im just much less hopeful and cant get excited until i see more of it, like im waiting for the game to get out and reveal that its just as much of a mess and money i regret spending- kind of fear)

[fisheito]

My favourite fantasy lately is Kuya kidnapping Eiden and bringing him to a house in the woods to punish him for endangering himself during some adventure. Kuya keeps Eiden in bondage and constantly on edge, teasing and denying him. And Eiden just takes it without asking to be let out, allowing Kuya to vent his fear and frustration, because he's nice like that.

But, at some point, even the strongest little soldiers break, and just when Eiden is about to shatter from all the stress and Kuya's oppressive anxiety, Quincy comes for the rescue. He's the only one who managed to find that little wooden shack in the middle of nowhere (you know, because Kuya's allowed him to), and he comes in and persuades Kuya to relent.

Kuya hasn't even given Eiden any dick in all the (three? four?) days they've been at it, so serious he was about the discipline aspect!

Eiden cries when Kuya finally fucks him, and Quincy makes him spill

this just reminds me of Billowing Wildfire Kuya R2 where eiden saID sO HImself

i would not be surprised if kuya went full speed into an evil edging hostage situation because he doesn't know how to process eiden's mortality

[aaronofithaca05]

Battle in ink

||Tw: Calypso||

"I wander in search of a light upon your desperate face!”. Lascivious nymph of chalky fingers, elusive as an eel, murky and cold, let her burning fingers glide across the face, damp and cold, of the castaway.

Burning, sweet and vile bones of the nymph kept slithering, searing. In unnoticed possession, never truly casting spell or charm. "I keep begging Theos, for you to never leave me!.”

Odysseus, still, awaiting turn in this dance: "I am… searching…". Words escaped his lips, from his very depths within, man of thousand paths and missteps, struggling to chart this step.

Laërtes’s sweet words had carried him from Skýros to Ílion, Ténedos to Lēmnos. Voids of air slipping through his mind:

"By walking, one makes path, and upon glancing back…" Back, all his steps yearning to be undone.

"One sees the path that feet had crossed enough." Path by gnarled trees hiding Home. Olives, in which this infernal reef refused to sprout.

"Son, there is no path, but wakes upon the sea." Wakes Foamy paths in which Ithákē was built. United archipelago his domain. A kingdom never seen since his arrival, In barren foam turned his sweetness lost

The Ithacan monarch had never let his father’s wish fall to ill thought, but before the nymph who boiled his lymph and blood, he let those words fade.

Calypso waited, anxious, reluctant. He had been her lover, but what was there to expect from him?

From the weeper on her isle?. From the twat who never follows her in the daylight?. Yet he cried her name in her empty chamber under starlight?.

The eel coiled the wolfish sailor in its embrace while; Odysseus, man of a thousand tricks and wits, shot her a sharp grimace: Belly, chest, and face, At the two first, without joy, only indifference or ire, but in the last?. He gifted a lecherous and cold gaze in equal measure to the one he saw each dawn, in the second rosy fingered dawn by Calypso’s hands.

"Calypso, my queen." Anyone who heard it would have read the lie in his voice, the false melodic inflection, the lack of harmony as a neglected lyre’s threads, as his broken voice upon the cold sand of that bay.

"Forgive my rude behaviour," the honey he tried to wrap in his mouth was as insipid as his regard for his jailer. Learned movements directed at an essence, absence, breathed life into the corpse of 600 lives lost..

"My girl, my queen, the woman who waits for me." Penelope at the tip, a name so perfect and pure, so easy on his lips, cried out forcefully to escape from the voice of this liar.

"If I had…" he hated in his soul, hated, as in his name —the one that is hated—, the universe who cursed him in name and fortune. The Ithacan writhed within while the nymph?. Smiled, naïve.

"Knowing your embrace was so fine," fine as the skin of sharks, who knows how many of his men were devoured by those sea dogs.

Cephalopod and eel in battle, Still, Ink does not kill Will. Thanks so much @simugeuge with this take! Moots: @jarondont, @iroissleepdeprived, @nikoisme, @perroulisses,@poshgirlsstuff, @katerinaaqu @incorrecthomer, @dootznbootz, @nyx-of-darkness-1620, @sunshines-child, @random-krab, @ironspdr6700, @fangirlofallthefanthings, @twomanyfandomshelp, @thehighpaladin, @the-decapoddecapod, @myblacknightworld, @simugeuge, @itszorrito67, @incorrectatlas @tunguszka20

[lesbianralzarek]

"you can homebrew anything into 5e, its really genre-neutral" <- guy who assumes the health system used in d&d is the "default" and hasnt thought about the fact that healing up to full in 8 hours is a) buck fucking wild, and b) absolutely crucial to the power fantasy and foolhardy adventuring atmosphere that d&d is centered on. d&d wants you to rush into challenges, give it everything, barely survive, and then do it again the next day. fights in d&d default to not having long-lasting consequences (unless the dm gives them higher stakes on purpose as a conscious decision). thats fun for an adventuring game. do not do this in survival games

this is just one of the many, many mechanics in this game that give a certain vibe that tons of people love. changing this one thing wont change the genre entirely, but you have to change it if youre really that dedicated to reinventing the wheel in d&d. i am not nitpicking. this is huge. if you dont see why its such a big deal, i dont trust that you understand game design well enough to make a genre-hopping d&d homebrew

[dallonwrites]

actually making my tags from my last post into their own post. writers who struggle with grammar, spelling, typos, errors etc i love you. writers who struggle with rereading their stuff thoroughly no matter how much they try, who don't always have access to other people to help them read i love you. whilst reading through and checking for these things is good practice i really believe that the weight of it should not be put wholly on the writer's shoulders. especially writers who are neurodivergent, disabled, have any condition that can impede their reading + comprehension, are overworked and overtired, are not writing in their native language, list goes on....because grammar mistakes/language mistakes/typos have nothing to do with your abilities as a creative. this is where editors should be uplifting writers, helping them, not scrutinising them for something they cannot always control

[dravidious]

Trauma Center GUILT OC - Codename: Metronome

Metronome consists of four cores that remain stationary on the organ. Its cycle of activity consists of a pair of sequential patterns. First, the cores will each spawn a cloud of pus over themselves, one at a time in a random order with a steady rhythm, each spawning accompanied by a sound effect. Then, following the same order and rhythm, each core will briefly flicker, making a sound and dealing minor vitals damage. After each core has flickered, there will be a few seconds delay, then the cycle will begin again.

To treat Metronome, the scalpel must be used to cut each core during its flicker, causing that core to shrivel up. This will also interrupt the cycle and stop the other cores from flickering, so you can only land one hit per cycle. Using the scalpel on a non-flickering core will interrupt the cycle, cause large vitals damage, and spawn pus clouds in random locations.

Shriveled cores will still spawn pus clouds, but they will not flicker or make a sound during the flickering stage, making it more difficult to keep track of the rhythm.

Once all four cores are shriveled, Metronome will make its last stand. First, each core will begin vibrating. This has a rhythm and random order just like its normal activity, but no pus clouds spawn. Then in the same order, each core will briefly flash, and during this moment they must be injected with an antiserum. If any core is left uninjected, or if an injection is mistimed, moderate vitals damage will occur and several pus clouds will spawn, and the attack will repeat in a few seconds. Once all four cores are successfully injected, Metronome will be defeated and can be excised and extracted.

[the-amber-droid-dreams]

being arab is just so.. weird. i dont feel represented by or at home w white ppl but also im not the kind of person ppl are usually thinking to include when they say poc...?

im arab but im not brown. im not asian, im african, but ppl always assume african = black and im not that either. my skin is on the paler end of the spectrum but ppl clock me as "other" anyway. arabs are barely represented as is and even when they are its never anyone like me, never anyone thats even from my damn region.

[scrolpencer]

What do I have that my family dont? Why do mosquitos love me?? IT SERIOUSLY SUCKS (no pun intended)

[racke7]

So, because of the setback to my "grand idea" that was me accidentally nerfing my own mod. I spent this morning trying to think of a way to make certain classes interesting.

Like, Necromancer can usually be interesting by using teleportation and smacking people with massively damaging AOEs.

(Which is why Spectre, where "physical damage" is almost a side-effect to your true goal of stacking up debuffs that do very little (without game-breaking mods) always comes across as frustrating to me.)

And Rogue can be fun, because there's stuff like positioning yourself for backstabs, and then also having access to lots and lots of CCs.

(Turning people into chickens who will run away, after giving them a debuff that makes them take massive damage if they try to run? Always hilarious.)

Comparatively, Knight is "run up and hit them with your sword", and Ranger is "go to a high-spot and then click-kill on the enemies".

So, trying to make those classes more interesting is... hmm...

In the end, I found something that sounded very promising for a Knight-build, where they basically boost themselves with every skill, until they get access to a very strong attack. It's still very much "hit them with the sword", but it feels like there could be a bit of a dynamic involved.

The same mod-author had also created a Ranger-mod and Rogue-mod, and those looked like they'd stack pretty well with each other (a lot of "cause Bleed" and "if enemy is Bleeding, then" type of skills).

But then I, of course, got distracted.

And created an entire new Necromancer-mod from scratch.

I have no idea if it's even remotely "balanced" or whatever, because I just grabbed a few Hydro-skills and said "you do physical damage now". Which was... a very long and involved process. Especially to switch the skill-animations for other skill-animations.

But the end result was me having a bunch of Necro-skills that are purely damaging, causes bleed/decay/cripple, and doesn't come attached with all of the unnecessary bells-and-whistles of Odinblade that always seems to annoy me.

I'm... probably going to publish it once I've done some actual vague play-testing, and maybe one day I'll even be able to figure out how to get the fuckers to actually sell the damn spells.

(For now, I just craft them by combining "random bits of junk" with "necromancer books", because that usually makes it compatible with everything else.)

[dravidious]

Was thinking about removal and came up with what I think are some reasonable costs for common removal effects and also counterspells

[dont-open-dead-inside-net]

suffering 😁

[falesten-iw]

I was thinking about how we’re all treating 2025 like it’s a magic spell, like flipping the calendar will fix everything. It reminded me of an old story about a farmer on the border between Russia and Poland. For years he didn’t know which country his land belonged to and when he finally found out it was Poland he celebrated no more brutal Russian winters. But the winters didn’t care about borders. The snow kept coming same as always and it’s the same with a new year. My family in Gaza doesn’t get a break just because the calendar changes. The hardships continue and so does the unbearable weight of not knowing. Two of my cousins were taken by the IDF a week ago, and we still don’t know where they are. Not knowing is unbearable. But even in the toughest winters people like you bring light. Every donation, every share of our story, every kind word has made the impossible feel possible. Because of you we’ve survived. So no, 2025 isn’t magic but you are. Please keep sharing and donating. You’re the reason we’re still alive and the reason we’re holding on to hope for tomorrow.

if you can’t donate via GoFundMe or PayPal you can use Ko-fi instead. Please note that 110 sek is approximately 10 usd and 220 sek is around 20 usd.

Donate on GoFundMe: Link

Donate on Paypal: Link

Donate on Ko-fi

Vetted and shared by @90-ghost: Link.

Verified and shared by @el-shab-hussein: Link

Listed as number 282 in "The Vetted Gaza Evacuation Fundraiser Spreadsheet" compiled by @el-shab-hussein and @nabulsi : Link

Listed on the Butterfly Effect Project, number 957: Link

Additionally, Al Jazeera News has documented apart of my family's case: Link

Wishing you all a year full of blessings and less drama! Inshallah ayear full of khair!

@tamamita @postanagramgenerator @mxwhore @rooh-afza @danijaci

@amygdalae @stuckinapril @neptunerings @sabertoothwalrus @ankle-beez

@inkskinned @akajustmerry @mxwhore @pissvortex @catgirl-kaiju

@pryexel48 @nillabean @mintaii @b0nkcreat @pitbolshevik

@balaclava-trismegistus @ripley-stark @irhabiya @gaynfl @afro-elf

@feluka @zsnes @bug-slappy @rikebe @comrademango

@txttletale @tpwrtrmnky @brittklein18 @lakesbian @shadowofmoth

@gauntletqueen @gauntletqueen @extremelycursedimages @evilponds @vacillator

@metamatar @joeyclaire @communist-ojou-sama @soul-hammer @omegaversereloaded

@chilewithcarnage @prokopetz @cowboy-queer @bluesturngold @determinate-negation

@heritageposts @bees-fart-too @andiv3r-reblogging @ot3 @muslims-matters

@socalgal @chilewithcarnage @ghelgheli @sayruq @elbiotipo

@gaynfl @evilponds

[readwritealldayallnight]

It’s been months since Simon has been home

All he wants is to see you, his sweet girl, so much so that he loses track of what the actual date on the calendar is, in favour of counting down the days, hours, and minutes until you’re in his arms again

That’s why Simon’s surprise when he walks in to the local shops is genuine, before quickly turning into annoyance, when he notices that almost all the shelves are stocked with things for Valentine’s Day

Bright red, pink, and purple gifts covered in glitter and sparkles, sequins and jewels, all of them screaming out one word, over and over and over again for shoppers to see

Love

It’s a word Simon tries not to think about too often, in spite of it being part of his daily vocabulary

Yes, while your hunk of a man’s favourite pet name for you has always been love, it’s a word he has yet to say to you outside of being anything more than a name, a word he has yet to say he feels for you, even though his heart spells it out with ease each time he is with you

It’s hard for him because he can remember exactly the last time he told someone that three word sentence

Christmas Eve, a lifetime ago, he’d just gotten off the phone with his brother, sister-in-law, and nephew, hearing the young boy shout out into the receiver that he loved his uncle Si, a light hearted chuckle slipping past the Lieutenants lips before he’d replied back without issue that he loved him too, before he hung up and never heard his family’s voices ever again

He wants to say it to you because it’s true

He does love you more than anything, but he just can’t bring himself to say it

Those memories have become so tangled up in trauma, his mind associating darker times with those three goddamn words, the ones he knows would mean so much for you to hear he just can’t bring himself to speak aloud

He has dreams where he forces himself to say it, where he tells you a thousand times over that he loves you, whispers it in your ear, shouts it from the rooftops, writes it down everywhere for you to see and even etches it into his flesh with a needle and ink, until the dreams become nightmares and he’s yelling those words at your bloody corpse, writing it in the snow dusting your tombstone, waking up in a cold sweat, dreading the day you say those three words to him and he can’t explain why he can’t say them back

And while he can’t yet explain to you all of the demons that continue to call his skull their home, he finds himself not needing to, not with you

With you, there is no pressure to say things that cause him more pain than joy, there is no need to explain things that he struggles to fully comprehend himself, there is no need to perform or act in any way that isn’t true to him, not with you, his sweet girl who somehow understands him more than he feels he understands himself most days

Instead, with you, he gets to say things that are his own version of I love you, no matter how grand or small:

“I see you”

“You’re the best thing I’ve ever had”

“I can’t believe I get to call you mine”

“You make me so happy”

“Let me carry that for you”

“Put your seatbelt on”

“I made dinner”

“I’ll do the dishes, you go sit”

When the 14th of February eventually rolls around, you aren’t expecting anything out of the ordinary, never having acknowledged the upcoming gimmick of a holiday with Simon

Which is why you’re so surprised when you wake up to find the spot next to you in bed empty, noises in the kitchen letting you know Simon hasn’t gone far

Bare feet slowly padding towards the sounds of a grand breakfast being prepared with much frustration from a seasoned soldier who struggles to use seasoning, you can’t help the overwhelming grin that takes over you face when you see nothing more than a simple card standing up on the dining table, no bells or whistles, no flower petals thrown all over the flat, no orchestra serenading you awake, just you and Simon, all you need, all you want

Reading the card stretches your smile further than you thought possible, quickly sneaking up on your love to wrap your arms around him from behind, his own matching smile etched upon his face as he scrambles up the eggs, imagining you enjoyed the card, which reads in his scratchy handwriting:

“ I ♥️ you ”

[nezuscribe]

arguing with arranged!gojo is difficult because he’s not used to arguing with women and you’re not used to arguing period.

it rarely happens, but when it does it gets really heated between the two of you. you pace around your room, huffing as gojo stands there with his arms crossed, nose flaring.

like that one time he found out that one of the new guards the brought in from the west was somebody you used to fool around with.

yeah that was bad.

“why do you even care!” you snap at him, and he can’t find a plausible reason aside from the fact that he was purely jealous.

this guard that they’d brought in from the west, much to your shock, was somebody you used to see in the late hours of the night. you never did anything frisky, just some shared kisses here and there.

but the moment you saw him, your whole demeanor changed. and gojo could tell. it took a bit of picking and prodding (which gojo is great at) but you eventually told him the story.

and he was not excited to hear it.

“i want him gone,” he tells you and you roll your eyes, shrugging indefinitely.

“fine,” you throw your arms up, “get him out. but what about those girls? you think i don’t want them gone whenever we walk into one of those balls or those dinners? when i see the way they look at you? you think that’s easy for me?”

“it’s different,” his tone is unwavering and cold.

you scoff, shaking your head in dismay.

“what? what’s so different? that i kissed him? big deal!” you feel like you want to cry and yell and jump and scream at the same time.

because it was different. for you. because the men didn’t seem to care that gojo had a new wife, or that he cared for her. but the ladies did. they gossiped in frenzied tones, batted their eyelashes at him even more as if that could cast him away from your spell.

so you didn’t know why he cared so much about this one man. why it should matter to him when he’s had far, far more experiences than you.

you felt hurt that he doubted you, angered with his hypocrisy, and tired from spending the entire day ignoring each other.

“this is going nowhere,” you mutter eventually, picking up your pillow as his eyes drop to your hands, “i’m sleeping somewhere else.”

“what-”

“and don’t follow me,” you bite out, not even glancing behind your shoulder as you begin to sulk out of your shared bedroom to your old one all across the estate.

and sure, maybe you’re not being entirely fair. there’s been some petty arguments when he bumps into one of his old girls, but it didn’t hurt nonetheless when he accused you of lying, when the conversation of your old romantic life was just never brought up.

you wipe at the stray tears on your cheek as you slug down the stairs, sniffling to yourself as you curse your husband to hell and back, when a force unlike any other picks you up from behind.

“what?” you squeal, your body manicured over a strong shoulder, your legs near his torso, your eyes facing his back as you kick at him, “let me go, i’m going to fall!”

“don’t make me laugh,” gojo murmured, one strong arm around your waist, the other around your thighs as he hauls you back up the stairs.

“i told you not to follow me,” you grumble, pinching his back but he doesn’t react.

“you’re funny if you think i’ll let you sleep alone.”

your brows furrow, feeling the need to kick him, but also not wanting him to drop you.

it doesn’t take long for him to reach your bedroom, opening the door with his free hand (unbridled strength if the greatest warrior of the north meant he could pick you up with just one hand) and plops you back on the mattress.

you prop yourself up on your elbows, looking away, hoping he can’t see the tear marks.

because it did hurt. his words hurt you. they cut deep. and he notices, his gaze softening slightly.

“don’t cry,” he whispers, leaning down to trace your tears away but you swat his hand off of your face.

“then don’t make me cry,” you say with a heavy sigh, siting upwards, back slightly hunched.

you take a deep breath, rubbing at your eyes as you glance upwards at him. it’s been a while since the two of you had fought, and the first time over something serious, and he looks awful.

“i don’t judge you for being with those girls,” you start with a heavy whisper, “you did what you could to stay sane. but don’t judge me for doing the same.”

gojo breathes deeply through his nose, blinking.

“you’re right,” he says after a heavy second, causing you too look up in confusion.

he nods again, his big hand cup your jaw, his thumb rubbing your cheek as he catches the stray tear from the corner of your eye.

“you’re right and i’m sorry,” he repeats, and you’ve never had somebody agree with you before, “i just…saw the way he looks at you and…i didn’t like it.”

you offer him a small nod.

“but he just looked at me,” you shift so that your resting on your haunches, hands in your lap. he towers over you, one hand going to cradle the back of your head.

gojo shrugs, like he can’t put it into comprehensible words how he felt when that guard looked at you with hunger in his eyes. how only he was allowed to look at you with such starvation.

“i didn’t like it,” he can only repeat, and you know he struggles with his emotions, spent years hiding them so that they wouldn’t become his weakness.

“do you want to sleep?” he finally asks you, and you slowly blink, trying to hide the tiredness from your face.

“i’ll still be here when you wake up,” he offers and you crack a small smile, trying to hide it from him.

but your smile drops as you think, eyes darting up to his.

“it’s okay to not like something, and it’s okay to feel angry that you don’t. but don’t ever, ever, make me feel like that again because of it.”

your stare is unwavering, and he feels a certain sense of pride in seeing that. and gojo nods, one steady movement as he drops down to his knees, trying to be level with your gaze.

“you have my full authority to strike me down if i do,” he promises, his hands cupping your face, his words serious but you can’t help but giggle.

“good,” you murmur, tugging slightly harshly on some of the strands of his hair as he winces, pushing you back onto the bed with the sheer force of his body, climbing up into you as he hold you close to him.

you let out another laugh as he acts like a bear cub, not wanting to move an inch away from your warmth as he cuddles into you, trying to finish his massive size compared to you.

the two of you laid in silence, a comfortable one, as he laid his head in your chest, hearing the steady rhythm of your heart.

“i am sorry,” he whispers, craning his neck to look up at you as he rests his chin on your sternum, “i’m sorry.” he says again, his words barely above a sound.

you blink again, moving some of the hair away from his face as you observe his sorrowful features.

“i know,” you whisper back.

gojo finds your hands, interweaving your fingers together, heart tugging when he feels your ring against his skin.

he brings the finger to his lips, pressing a soft kiss against the ring as you watch him silently. no other words needed to be said, no words left unspoken as he pulls you into his chest.

because no woman would amount to a sliver of you. and no man would amount to a morsel of him.