#don’t get me wrong this is not a critique I eat it up every time

[lupinescribbler]

I’ve been watching Supernatural for the first time recently, I’m most of the way through season two atm and I’ve noticed a bit of a trend

Dean (or Sam): “Hey, so I know [Big Traumatic Thing] happened and you’ve been a bit torn up about it…”

Sam (or Dean): “I’m literally fine I don’t know why you keep asking me.”

Spoiler alert: he was not fine

[8mitsurikanroji8]

𝒦𝓃𝓎 𝒞𝓇𝓊𝓈𝒽 𝒽𝑒𝒶𝒹𝒸𝒶𝓃𝑜𝓃𝓈

ɪɴꜰᴏ : ʜᴏᴡ ᴛʜᴇ ᴋɴʏ ᴀʀᴇ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴀ ᴄʀᴜꜱʜ ᴏɴ ʏᴏᴜ ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓻𝓪𝓬𝓽𝓮𝓻𝓼

𝘛𝘢𝘯𝘫𝘪𝘳𝘰. 𝘡𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘴𝘶. 𝘐𝘯𝘰𝘴𝘶𝘬𝘦. 𝘔𝘶𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘰 . 𝘚𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘮𝘪 . 𝘖𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘪 . 𝘎𝘪𝘺𝘶 . 𝘒𝘺𝘰𝘫𝘶𝘳𝘰 . 𝘔𝘪𝘵𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘪. 𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘰𝘣𝘶.

────────────────────────

𝐓𝐚𝐧𝐣𝐢𝐫𝐨 ⋆˙⟡♡

. Not obvious at all ?

. He’s a sweatheart to everyone he meets ahem Tanjiro effect?

. Blushes whenever you get close ><

. Would offer moments with you

. “Y/n want to eat together ?” “Y/n want to train together?” “Y/n want to take a stroll” etc

. You think nothing of it but for him his heart beats fast and is comforted by these actions

. Doesn’t realize he has a crush on you

. Just thinks you have an amazing personality that draws him in

. It’s just that, right ?

. He finally gets the hint when you guys were alone on a stroll catching the sunset. He caught himself staring at you while smiling as you stood and watched the sun fall, painting the sky orange

. His face goes RED when he realizes ><

. He turns away trying to calm himself down

. You notice, concerned, you take your hand and put it on his face thinking he has a fever

. Faces is literally fire

. Other than that you don’t really realize his feelings for you as he seems to be the same. Only asking for more time with you and more blushing but your mind waves it off

. Little do you know he stares at you while your mind is adrift thinking

. His heart beats fast and his eyes soften

. Yep. He likes you.

𝐙𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐬𝐮 ⋆˙⟡♡

. Now this one you KNOW [ Sorta ]

. I mean he ask you to marry him only 2 minutes in meeting for the first time

. “YOURE THE PRETTIEST GIRL I HAVE EVER MET. PLEASE MARRY ME!”

. You are dumbfounded with his open admiration

. A little flatter? Yes. Caught off guard ? 100%

. Soon within getting to know him you learn of his lovely dovey personality

. Realizing he is like this with every girl you push aside his comments of marriage and admiration

. I mean he would say that to any one, right ?

. Wrong [ also right tho >< ]

. He would say this to almost every girl he’s met

. But after you ? Oh honey

. You don’t realize how he’s actually fallen for you. Deeply

. Follows you around like a duck

. Someone criticize you [ Even if it’s just critiquing so you know what to work on ]

. That person will not hear the end of it

. “Y/N IS THE BEST PERSON EVER AND IS THE GREATEST DEMON SLAYER SO YOU SHUT UP!”

. Cringey ? Mhm. Cute ? A little.

. If you use sweet words to him [ You mostly say them to everyone tho ] like “honey” “sweetie” “cutie” “sweetheart”

. What color do you want your wedding bouquet?

. He’s planning it all

𝐢𝐧𝐨𝐬𝐮𝐤𝐞 ⋆˙⟡♡

. You don’t know and neither does he ._.

.”FIGHT ME RIGHT NOW. LETS SEE WHO WINS!”

. That’s something you will never hear the end of

. He has no idea about what a crush is nor love

. He just thinks you’re a good fighter and wants to fight you whenever he can

. And you just think he’s being his normal weird self :)

. You don’t mind it [ usually ]

. He likes to eat with you

. If you both are heading to a mission and forget to pack yourself food

. He will eat his infront of you and say

. “HAHA IDIOT”

. You roll your eyes ignoring him

. Suddenly his food is being shoved down your throat no comment added

. You better not ask about it

. Your ears won’t be able to handle anymore of his yelling blabber

. But you take his action to heart and enjoy it

. His face is a bit pink

. BUT only because his boar head is warm, right ?

. Sureeee ._.

𝐌𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐨 ⋆˙⟡♡

. Who are you again ?

. Oh right. The one who gives him the hebegebees

. Jkjkjk

. well

. He’s too lost in the clouds to realize his feelings for you or even realize you’re the only one who’s company doesn’t annoy him or pushes away

. And you don’t realize because his vocabulary is just so grand

. ���Mhm” “No” “Yes “I believe so” “What did you say?” “I assume” “Could be” “I have no opinion”

. You tag along him to the point where others know

. “Oh there’s Muichiro. Y/n must be near”

. And vice versa

. He doesn’t realize how close together you guys alway are

. When you’re away on a mission he finds himself with a unfamiliar feelings

. Oh you’re back! Never mind the feeling is gone nothing to worry about !

. You just like his character and enjoy spending time with him

. He won’t realize but he thinks the same

. And more ><

. Both of these are unaware to you and him

𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐦𝐢 ⋆˙⟡♡

. Oh boy

. You may be strong both physically and mentally

. You’re enduring both his need to constantly train and his vicious tongue

. You most likely match his adittuide

. Oh he’s got something to say? So do you

. Everyone believes he HATES you

. I mean he does insult you and always wants to fight

. Poor guy doesn’t know what it is he’s feeling

. He didn’t really see romantic love in his childhood

. So he just stuffs those fast heart beat, pink cheeks and fuzzy feeling deep down and try’s to ignore it

. He doesn’t realize but one of the reason he always want to spear with you is because you guys spend close time together

. Also because he’s Sanemi

. And you being you, you don’t mind and take it as another challenge to conquer

𝐎𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐢 ⋆˙⟡♡

. You talk and he doesn’t

. Perfect match <3

. Here goes another damage one !

. His love language is definitely quality time

. You’re eating ? Under [ or up ] a tree? Simply walking around the garden ?

. Oh look there he is too!

. He definitely catches on to his physical and emotional reactions to you

. And you just thinks you guys are the closets of friends !

. You guys always seem to travel together

. Even in your free time you are found with him strolling around a village together

. Some one insults you?

. You’ll just ignore it and move on

. He doesn’t. Pray for that person.

. Kaburamaru seems to have also found a fondness for you

. He may be jealous of that fact

𝐆𝐢𝐲𝐮 ⋆˙⟡♡

. You don’t know what the others are talking about

. Giyu is lovely to talk to !

. He may be one of your favorite hasira to spend time with ♡

. He’s gentle and kind spoken [ with his little use of words ]

. He pays for your meals no matter how hard you insist and listen to you ramble for hours on end with no sign of annoyence

. Why would the others hate him?

. He’s like this with everyone, right ?

. Oh honey.

. You take these actions as part of his character, while he assume he act this way because of his admiration for you being so nice to him !

. I mean you are one of the few who do talk to him without insult

. It never clicks for him what the feeling really is

. That’s until one day

. [ Shinobu ] “Good evening Tomioka”

. [ Giyu ] “Evening Shinobu”

. [ Shinobu ] “You look as bland and boring as ever. How are you”

. [ Giyu ] *no answer*

. [ Shinobu ] “I must say without your little friend you somehow appear more dull. It is odd to catch a moment with you two apart”

. [ Giyu ] *nothing*

. [ Shinobu ] *Giggles* “It’s almost like you two are in a romantic relationship with how close you are.”

. His heart stops with that comment

. And his brain finally realize the feeling

. I mean he’s never felt this way before ♡

. His eyes trail off and soften, catching Shinobu attention

. [ Shinobu ] *Giggles* “ I was only just kidding. It’s not like someone like Y/n could admire your dull personality”

. Oh. Right.

𝐊𝐲𝐨𝐣𝐮𝐫𝐨 ⋆˙⟡♡

. “YOU ARE ONE SKILLED SLAYER” “I ADMIRE YOUR TECHNIQUES” “GREAT JOB” “YOU HAVE INCREDIBLE SKILLS” “WONDERFUL WORK”

. He praises you non stop

. I mean who wouldn’t with your talent !

. You take his compliments as a part of his cheerful personality and respect it

. And maybe take a bit of flattery with it ><

. He does too

. He just admires you skill is all

…….

. He offers to dine with you or take you out to eat

. “Y/N WOULD YOU LIKE TO SPEND TIME AND DINE WITH ME!?”

. [ You ] “Oh um, sure okay!”

. “SPLENDID, LETS GET ON OUR WAY!”

. He always ask where you are

. Remembers the small things

. You like that color ? Oh look he just bought you a keychain with it. That’s your favorite food? Guess that’s where you guys are eating tonight

. His acts of romantic feelings fly over both of your guys head

. But not to anybody else

. *Kyojuro and you side by side laughing together*

. [ Slayer 1 ] “Are they together?”

. [ Slayer 2 ] “isn’t it obvious ?”

𝐌𝐢𝐭𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐢 ⋆˙⟡♡

. You guys are actually inspectable

. Always together <3

. She loves your company !

. Mitsuri finds everything about you adorable

. From they way you eat to your fighting techniques

. You make her feel safe ♡

. More touchy with you than others [ expect hugs, face pokes and hand holding when she’s around ]

. She definitely realizes her feelings for you

. She is the love hashira after all

. But she doesn’t act on it afraid you won’t feel the same and forever ruin the relationship you guys already have

. She’s oblivious to the shared love you have for one another

. *Mitsuri thoughts* Oh they just see me as a friend

. Mhm okay ._.

𝐒𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐨𝐛𝐮 ⋆˙⟡♡

. This one is a slow burn

. Every mission with you she seems to oddly enjoy

. Whenever you walk into her estate she feels a warmth

. Her heart flutters whenever you hug her or compliment her

. Your smile makes her smile

. She always watches you [ not in a creepy way >< ]

. She just finds herself drunk on the way your eyes light up

. Once it hits her why she feel this way poor girl try’s to ignore it

. Afraid to allow herself to get too close in this field of work

. But the heart wants what is wants ♡

. You begin to dine after missions together

. Have light conversation when running into each other

. And occasionally meet ups outside of work

. She compliments you often

. Once you start to spend more time together she will accidentally graze her hand over you thigh or your fingers just to see you reaction

. This girl knows what she’s doing

────────────────────────

A/n

ᴀʜʜ ᴊᴜꜱᴛ ꜰɪɴɪꜱʜᴇᴅ ᴍʏ ꜰɪʀꜱᴛ ʜᴇᴀᴅᴄᴀɴᴏɴꜱ ! ᴛʜᴀɴᴋ ʏᴏᴜ ꜱᴏ ᴍᴜᴄʜ ꜰᴏʀ ʀᴇᴀᴅɪɴɢ !! ᴘʟᴇᴀꜱᴇ ꜰᴇᴇʟ ꜰʀᴇᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴄᴏᴍᴍᴇɴᴛ ᴀɴᴅ ꜱʜᴀʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴏᴘɪɴɪᴏɴ. ᴀɴᴅ ᴍᴇꜱꜱᴀɢᴇ ꜰᴏʀ ᴀɴʏ ʀᴇQᴜᴇꜱᴛ <3 ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴀ ɢᴏᴏᴅ ᴏɴᴇ ᴀɴᴅ ᴅᴏɴ’ᴛ ꜰᴏʀɢᴇᴛ ᴛᴏ ᴛᴀᴋᴇ ᴄᴀʀᴇ 𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪

────────────────────────────────────────

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

I don't know if it's just me, but do some of the events seem... I don't know... Lacking? It might just be me having high standards, but more than once it seems like there was a build up for something that didn't meet the hype, or the event simply didn't go the way I thought it should. Do you mind sharing your thoughts on this? Of course, you don't have to if you don't want to.

I don’t know how hot of a take this is, but I think most TWST events are mediocre. I'm looking for a certain type of story (ones with clear set up and pay off + actual stakes), and more often than not TWST decides to focus its events on the total opposite (being silly). I love the events where we get to visit, explore, and experience other countries, but I also fully acknowledge how dull they can be because those events are mostly eating local foods and shopping for souvenirs. Nothing wrong with stories like that, it's all just a matter of person taste. The unseriousness of events helps to balance out the meatiness of the main story, and it's nice to have that contrast.

That being said, the quality of the events is still all over the place and I think that's a natural consequence of the frequency of them. We get a new story event like every 1-2 months whereas we get a single chunk of the main story maybe once in that timeframe (or sometimes in an even longer timeframe; I still remember going more than half a year without a book 5 update). The devs may not be able to keep up the pace while also providing top tier content every single time. That's no fault of their own, it's just how the gacha model works. You need to keep pumping out new content to retain the player base and make money. We should have higher standards for the media we consume, so it's fine to critique the events and say, "it's not as good as it could have been", "this felt rushed and/or incomplete", "there was definitely a missed opportunity here", etc. What's NOT okay to do is to insult the people who worked hard on bringing the events to us. So long as you keep that mind, you're fine to express your thoughts. I'm afraid I can't really go into further detail since your initial ask was vague and did not cite any particular events you take issue with. As for myself, I know I've certainly had my fair share of complaining about how... meh... some events are. To this day, I still salt about the weird pacing and plot holes of Stage in Playful Land, the lack of satisfying payoff in Tamashina Mina, and the lack of accountability in Endless Halloween Night. I'm sure there are other events I haven't liked very much, but those are the main offenders for me.

[bunnyshideawayy]

cassian. great man, wonderful friend, absolutely terrible mate.

we have seen Nesta’s sisters, who arguably have less of a reason, defend her more than Cassian has ever thought about. HELLO?

my issue with cassian acosf and onward is that we are truly expected to believe they he deeply understands Nesta when he’s been shown time and again to never stick up for her and never fully trust her. he does nothing to help her over come and face her traumas / depression, she’s left to do that on her own, but best believe he’s down to fuck and make her hike! (no sarah sex and physical exercise are not cures)

after reading the entire series once and now twice seeing Rhys threatening anyone who dares breath wrong in Feyre’s direction under the guise of just “protecting his mate” i find it extremely hard to believe cassian allowed or even sides with anyone who speaks ill of/to Nesta or threatens her- all of which Rhysand and most of the IC (besides her sisters and Az) do, most of the time while directly in front of cassian in conversations he’s involved in. the most he does is…pout a little? throws a hissy fit? the two times i can remember him even remotely stick up for Nesta he immednantly backtracks as soon as Rhysand pushes back, both times the final decision being put in Feyre’s hands, this continues even into CC3 (and let’s thank the mother Feyre loves her sisters which is something ik yall nesta haters can’t stand.)

let’s move onto something i know yall don’t want to talk about, his verbal abuse. “oh but nesta also said-“ we know what she said, that is not the point. if this man knew all along nesta was his mate and truly wanted to help her heal from her traumas and depression why did he take every chance he could to provoke her? Nesta called Rhysand an asshole, and he IS especially to Nesta, and instead of keeping silent as he does when Rhys/the IC harshly critique her, he immediately gets angry and in her face to defend him. funny he can’t do that with her, his MATE? or let’s talk about this scene

oh okay! that’s totally something you say unprompted to your mate who is severely depressed and traumatized because she won’t eat! she’s totally not shaking because she’s triggered! then to add the lecture “we’ve been here before, too” oh okay! so you admit you know what she feels like (very doubtful although i’m not going to compare their traumas, both are valid he just does not understand her like he thinks he does) it’s patronizing and a little frustrating. she doesn’t want to be there in the first place, purposely throwing a sensitive subject in her face will not magically motivate her or cure her- she is simply doing what she has no choice in. she has been stripped of all autonomy, humanity, and “normality”- she feels alone and valuable in a way she as never felt before and she has NO HELP. none!

i’ll end with the hike. yay more physical activity as punishment- but if i said that was abuse yall will bring up the pregnancy so ill do it for you! Yes, Nesta was wrong to tell Feyre THE WAY SHE DID, she had every right to tell Feyre about her own body and pregnancy, it just shouldn’t have happened the way it did. everyone knew it was wrong to keep it from Feyre, even Cassian, so instead of forcing her to hike a mountain as punishment to ware her down mentally and physically he couldve stood up for both Feyre and Nesta to Rhysand the moment he threatens to KILL NESTA. a simple “hey buddy you knew it was wrong to keep that from Feyre you can’t kill my mate for telling her even if it was out of anger” would suffice. not once during their entire hike or during her breakdown does he reassure her, not even when she is tearing herself apart because she doesn’t feel worthy. don’t even get me started on what happens in CC3.

over all i think Nessian is great and they have some great moments, the end of ACOWAR lives rent free in my mind but i am incredibly disappointed with Cassian. i do feel like Nesta deserves better from everyone (besides Feyre and Elain who, again, are the only ones who i truly believe love her unconditionally.)

anti nesta’s this is not a safe space for you.

[mxtxfanatic]

Let’s talk about svsss and coming-of-age rituals!

Was listening to a doctor give a talk about how much of our adulthood illnesses, physical and mental, are actually rooted in unacknowledged childhood traumas baked into the very fabric of modern child-rearing practices (refusing a child physical contact like holding them, forcing a hungry child to wait until “mealtime” to eat to “get them on a schedule,” letting an infant “cry it out,” corporal punishment, etc) and it briefly touched on cultural rituals throughout history surrounding children socially transitioning into adults. I know of many such rituals and how often they include the act of bodily mutilation and pain to mark the occasion, but the thing that got me from the talk is that the doctor firmly states the fact that these rituals don’t have to include suffering.

Which leads me to my thoughts on svsss: the whole point of the Immortal Alliance Conference arc ending in Shen Qingqiu’s betrayal of Luo Binghe is that Luo Binghe, at the cusp of adulthood, makes his debut as A Man™️ by being literally kicked out of his childhood home to survive the hellfire of the Endless Abyss, only after which he is allowed the autonomy of an adult to stand up to his adult abusers and their enablers on equal footing. Before that, Shen Yuan’s introduction into the narrative allowed Luo Binghe the vulnerability that portrays childhood. Bing-ge’s childhood also included those markers of innocence and hopefulness characteristic of children, despite how much more terrible his childhood was than Bing-mei’s. However, the innocence present in both is equally snuffed out by the time they emerge from the abyss. Pidw—our stallion genre stand-in as written by Shang Qinghua—the system, and even Shen Qingqiu—as reluctant as he is—make the claim that this was a necessary event to transition Luo Binghe into a fully realized adult.

But mxtx does not.

Mxtx actually argues through the events of svsss that Luo Binghe’s suffering was not inevitable, that it was not a requirement for him to become a fully realized adult and, in fact, that Shen Qingqiu’s betrayal stunted both versions of Luo Binghe, ruining the original world and almost hurtling the revision onto a parallel path of destruction. Shen Yuan only initially agreed to forcing Luo Binghe into the Endless Abyss because he, choosing to trust the genre conventions, believed that this would guarantee Luo Binghe a happy ending. He is honestly surprised when he reunites with Luo Binghe after his 5-year dirt nap to find his former disciple maladjusted and lonely. Ultimately, the thing that saved svsss from the hell that piwd became was Shen Qingqiu rebelling against the so-called “inevitability” of Luo Binghe’s mistreatment, fighting the system at every turn to give Luo Binghe the kindness he deserved (even if he went about it the wrong way for a while) and eventually rejecting the logic of the stallion novel as he had initially critiqued it as Shen Yuan.

Luo Binghe’s coming-of-age did not have to be traumatic, but though Shen Qingqiu was late to this realization, he shows his remorse through being honest about his love and care for Luo Binghe, allowing the other man to recreate the innocence and vulnerability and now-firm hopefulness that was extinguished by his transition from childhood into their adult relationship. And though they can’t change the past, they can make sure that their present is without the needless suffering to live up to the posturing of Real Adults™️.

[kiwi-solace]

Yandere!Ateez: How You Meet (Pairs)

Warnings: pussy eating, *cough* eiffel tower *cough*, unprotected sex, creampie, yandere themes: obsession, implied stalking and legit stalking for now, dubious consent. If this isn’t your cup of tea, then kindly skip. 

Word Count: 6.3k

A/N: Soooo February is coming up and even though I have not written in so long (college and other stuff) I wanna get back into it. Plus I am lacking in yandere content (my guilty pleasure) so I decided fuck it I’ll do it myself lol. Plus y’all can’t tell me you don’t find yandere!ateez fun. BUT, I have to layout the groundwork first from the beginning before diving on into their profiles. I did not mean for San and Wooyoung’s to end up as a straight up smut. I haven’t written smut since like 2017 so that was a shock lmao. No beta read we die like men 👀

♡ THIS IS NOT A REAL REFLECTION OF THEM IN LIFE ♡

♡ Hongjoong - Seonghwa ♡

Order, Dilligence

Every few months, you like to dress in your best evening gown and treat yourself to the city's best operas. Normally these places are out of your price range, but your college had managed a deal with the opera house with its prestigious drama department. However, you don’t go unless you feel you’ve earned it by successfully passing a critique, surviving midterms or finals, and other things of the sorts. Just last week you finished by not only surviving your finals week, but passing with flying colors that included your critiques for pieces that made you feel passion you hadn’t felt in a long time. Why not let that passion grow by watching a show stopping performance practiced and perfected by performers out of your league in expertise? It’s a chance to finally relax and enjoy the arts surrounding you. 

You know it’s common for the wealthy to appear at the opera house on a regular basis, which gave you a lovely excuse to buy an elegant gown, but you knew to stay out of the way for the most part. The last thing you wanted was to get on the wrong side of some celebrity or accidentally offend someone’s future CEO. On the other hand, this was a great opportunity to grow your network and make connections that would help you out in the near future and you will one day–you just haven’t worked up the courage to do so. That didn’t stop you from random conversations during intermissions and finalies on occasion, which brings you to your current situation. It’s unfortunate you know the celebrity that you caught the attention of would only cause trouble rather than provide any future positive aspects into your life. Little did you know during this interaction two stark personalities were watching you closely from the private balconies.

“I appreciate the kind words Jinyoung, but I believe there are far better prospects in this room than just me.”

“Nonsense. Nothing could be better than your divine presence. I should be thanking you for letting me be this close,” he smirks as he leans in closer, arm snaking behind your back. You can feel the stares this is garnering and the malice of envious women are even louder. You start to shuffle away in an effort to get away from his grasp, but his grip only tightens at the movement making you fall stiff in the denial of your efforts. “Trying to get away doll?”

You really want to roll your eyes at that. “I just think it’d be more appropriate for the setting if we were not so close to each other. I do not want to ruin your reputation.” You could care less. What you do care about, is the amount of attention you’re earning yourself instead of staying the invisible nobody you believed you were. It’s nice to pretend once in a while and act like you are desired by such high profile people, though you actively avoid trouble as you’d not like to be on the receiving end of hate campaigns online or in person. “I appreciate the consideration, but I can’t let such a person leave me now,” he purrs. In that moment, you spot a glint in his eyes that wasn’t there before making you freeze in place before you could comprehend what was happening. It seemed like everything stopped around you, including your own body against your will. As panic begins to settle in, two figures approach behind you and one of them places a hand on your shoulder, making you jolt in place. 

If you weren’t in such a public setting, you’d be freaking out at Jinyoung, wondering what the hell just happened to you. You’re cursing him in your head as the fear that rose starts to turn into anger when a voice from behind you brings you back to the situation at hand. “Who’s this lovely lady Jinyoung?” a deep voice says. You shift your body to face the mysterious speaker only to come face to face with the city’s most prestigious CEOs and high society couple–Park Seonghwa and Kim Hongjoong. 

Your eyes widen as you acknowledge their presence and politely bow to them. “A lady with manners is always a plus in my book,” Seonghwa states as he gives you a quick once over then turning his attention to the now silently glaring Jinyoung. “I’m sure you won’t mind us stealing her from you now would you Jinyoung?” Hongjoong questions, but anyone watching could tell it was rhetorical. You don’t know why you willingly looped your arm around Seonghwa’s arm as you made eye contact. You don’t know why everyone seemed to be looking away as they moved out of your way when the three of you walked towards the exit. You don’t know why you willingly got into their limo, squeezed between the both of them even when there was ample space to spread out. Your mind felt empty. Nothing was being comprehended besides bits and pieces of conversation between the two of them and sometimes aimed at you. 

“Just let us lead you doll, we’ll take care of you,” Hongjoong cooed as he hooks his arm around your lower back. “You were right on coming tonight Seonghwa. It seems like others have become just as intoxicated with her as us.”

“When am I ever wrong dear?” He smirks. “But this little stunt will bring some unwanted press unfortunately…we should also do something about Jinyoung touching what’s ours,” he scowls.

“Nothing we haven’t taken care of before. You know the drill by now,” Hongjoong’s eyes gaining that similar glint before he steels his face as they approach their limo waiting for them.

“Ah~ our love is finally with us darling,” Seonghwa purred as he tucked his face in the crook of your neck and took a deep breath. “Even with all the years of life we had, she’s the most intoxicating I’ve ever been connected to…besides you love.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” Hongjoong laughs as he mirrors Seonghwa, dragging his unusually sharp teeth along your neck. Had you been in a better conscious state, you would’ve pulled away from the both of them. None of this was making sense. You felt trapped in your own body, thrown into the lion’s den in their presence as the driver began the journey to god knows where. 

“W-where…” you attempt to speak, but it’s taking much more energy than you can expel at the moment. An intense wave of exhaustion washing over you just from that one word.

“Oh. Our love really is meant for us. No one is able to even utter a word when compelled by you Seonghwa~” Hongjoong teases before leaving a light peck in the crook of your neck and sitting up. “But this better not be a sneak peak of future disobedience,” he sighs. “So troublesome.”

Seonghwa laughs a little as he also sits up and rests his hand on your thigh. “She’ll be the perfect little pet in no time even if she did Joongie. She is our soulmate after all. She’s the missing piece to us.” He pauses to turn your  head towards him, a smile gracing his face as his eyes begin to glow an ominous red. “You can rest (y/n), we’re finally taking you home where you belong with us.” 

And with that final command, you lean into him and fall into a deep slumber.

♥︎ ♥︎ ♥︎ ♥︎ ♥︎

♡ Yeosang - Jongho ♡

Service, Attentive

Had you known you would be catering your kingdom’s royal anniversary party you’d think someone was playing a prank on you. In fact, you still think it’s all a dream as you and your team bring in the large order of pastries into the kitchen to be inspected and set up in the ballroom for the kingdom’s kings to celebrate their anniversary of taking the throne a millennia ago. You weren’t alive when they first began their rule, only being a young enough witch, your kind isn’t really known for their longevity in age unlike other supernatural beings in the world. It really all depends on the class and path your magic chooses. You had known since young that you weren’t cut out for the more offensive or combat driven magic. Enjoying helping others, you learned that you could pair spells into objects including food to be digested for the masses. After years of training and perfecting your technique, you finally opened your own modest bakery that sold pastries based on health, luck, and fortune. Each category had varying effects, but your strongest spells were the ones in health, including longevity and especially disease ridding spells. It had become the talk of your small seaside town that had spread through the kingdom within a few years that led you here, in the kingdom’s grand palace today. 

It was last month when a messenger had come to her bakery with a royal summons in hand. At first you thought they had the wrong witch in mind, you were only a small bakery owner with a bit of witchiness to add onto it. Very modest. But the messenger insisted the letter was for you and you were to cater for the upcoming anniversary with a variety of your pastries for the established guests that would be attending along with the majesties. Ever since then, you had been working nonstop with organizing the spells for the increased number of people you’d be serving along with your regular customers throughout the normal work day. To say you were tired was an understatement, but you can’t say it wasn’t worth it as you passed through the threshold of the palace. You never imagined you’d be able to step foot into the palace let alone potentially meet the majesties. You’ve heard many rumors about them ranging from their ethereal beauty to their dominating presence. Growing up in a town on the outskirts of the kingdom doesn’t grant you many opportunities if at all seeing them in the flesh. Even in their routine visits around the kingdom, it’s been recorded that they’ve only approached your town a handful of times. Times you weren’t even born yet. 

Setting up was easy with the palace servants aiding their help to move things along faster than it would’ve taken if it had been just you and your team of your five apprentices. As you worked, you heard a range of excited whispers about the presence of the kings nearby. Apparently the servants have seen less and less of them over the years for some unknown reason. Many guessed it could be as small as needing a break, but some had believed one of them had fallen ill. You hope it wasn’t the last reason, knowing if that were true they’d have eager invaders in a heartbeat and your town would be one of the firsts to go. The health of the kings is the strength of the kingdom. By the time you dismissed your team to change for the party, the sun had started to set and guests were beginning to arrive at the gates. You knew it wouldn’t be until another thirty minutes when they’d be allowed to enter the ballroom, so you went ahead to change yourself and look for the garden you had spotted when walking through one of the long corridors. 

With a few slips up on the path, you manage to find yourself in the middle of the royal garden. You wander around until you see a fountain up ahead surrounded by the tall shrubbery that lines the path beautifully. The sun dips lower, painting the sky in pink and purple hues signaling the moon’s takeover soon. Every passing minute you can feel your own magic radiate underneath your fingertips. Now that you think about it, you don’t usually feel your magic this strongly even when there’s a full moon at its highest peak. You were far from being the strongest witch, but it didn’t mean you were weak either. As you approach the fountain you gaze into its tranquil ripples as you try to pinpoint why almost your entire body starts to vibrate until you hear a sharp sound to your right, alerting you of another presence. The man you come face to face almost takes your breath away as he stares directly at you, questioning. You opened your mouth to greet him, but before you could say a word, you felt an overwhelming pressure suddenly drop onto your shoulders as he continued to stare. He seems to notice your discomfort and approaches you to lift a hand to your arm. “Are you alright?” His voice was much deeper than you expected from the way he looked, but it was a pleasant surprise. 

His touch also not only lifted the pressure you felt, but reigned in you magic tenfold. “I am okay now, thank you,” you smile and take a deep breath, noticing he hadn’t let go yet. “Did you come to see the sunset in this garden?” Being silent would only make things awkward with a stranger, and you’ll be damned to embarrass yourself even once in front of him. You can already feel your skin heat up from his lingering touch. 

“Yes I did. I believed I needed a time of peace before I made my appearance in the ballroom.” He smiles. You look away from him and at his hand to avoid any more unnecessary eye contact. Just his presence makes you nervous, and you’ve never been one to flirt. Following your gaze, he pulls his hand away seemingly embarrassed to have forgotten he was holding you. “I apologize for touching you without permission. While I wanted to soothe your magic, in turn it began to soothe my own being.” He pauses before stepping away from you toward the palace. “I hope to see you at the party later,” he says before making a swift exit, leaving you alone with your thoughts. The encounter felt important, and yet you couldn’t pinpoint the exact reason why. In addition, just his touch was able to reign in your magic, which was already alarming, but your magic seemed to soothe him too if what he said was true. Shaking your head, you decide to compartmentalize that for later deconstruction. As of now, you had a party to attend. 

You and your team of apprentices stuck to your display of pastries as the guests mingled and danced with one another. Occasionally, you’d try to push your apprentices to make connections and you could stay and answer any questions the guests had for each pastry available, but they insisted on staying by your side. It wasn’t until a bit halfway through the majesties finally made their appearance, the air changing with the pressure they brought and the guests all stilled and to bow their way. Before you could bow, you stood shocked as you realized the man you spoke to in the garden was none other than one the kings and you barely showed your respect. You moved quickly to bow before the situation fully settled in. As you rose along with the other guests you could feel his stare on you, but you refused to raise your head in their direction as they were announced to the guests. The one you met was none other than King Yeosang and next to him was King Jongho who looked more beautiful than the rumors could supply.

You may have not realized it now, or even as the party progressed and made their rounds, but Yeosang couldn’t get his mind off of you. No one outside of Jongho could settle his turbulent soul and calm his rampant energy that has only grown more restless as the years went on. They’re in a time of peace, while that is good for the wellbeing of their people, it’s not in their nature to remain so kind, so his soul has been more than disobedient ever since. When he left the garden, he made a beeline to Jongho to tell him of this experience. He had to share the news of a particular witch he encountered that was able to achieve such a feat, but knowing how protective Jongho is, he wasn’t surprised by his apprehensive curiosity. They planned to keep you here close to them to explore this new revelation and see if you really are their missing piece. 

Their queen.

♥︎ ♥︎ ♥︎ ♥︎ ♥︎

♡ Mingi - Yunho ♡

Protection, Adoration

It had been years since you returned to your hometown you think as you open your childhood bedroom door. Ever since you graduated high school, you were college bound in the big city and haven't looked back since. It wasn’t until almost five years later with constant pestering from your family and old friends you decided to finally visit. Placing your bags down next to your closet door, you move over to your window sill to gaze at the old yet familiar view of the right behind your house. You recall your friends growing up had always been afraid to sleep over your house and would only come during the day time. By the time the sun would threaten to set, they’d be long gone so you would usually be the one to travel to them after the fifth disappearance happened while in your middle school years. 

Your friends always wondered how you weren’t afraid of the forest right outside your window, but you shrugged off their concerns and told them you didn’t believe the rumors, knowing damn well the people that would go missing were very real. Denial can be a powerful thing if you put your mind to it. Though you know the real reason why you never felt afraid was far from the more rational side of reality. A pull to the forest had always been felt by you, even as you gaze at it now, a deep longing is felt. When you moved away, that longing only increased tenfold as you went to pursue your dreams, to the point after these five years, you couldn’t take it anymore. You know you shouldn’t walk into that dark forest, the light being unable to pierce through its density even in the bright hours of day, and yet you find yourself getting up to leave the house in a daze. It’s like an out of body experience before you realize you’re at the edge of the forest not long after. In shock, you take a deep breath and look at your surroundings to see if anyone could see you standing at the forest edge. I shouldn’t do this–but you must. Even your thoughts are contradicting themselves as you take the first step to cross the threshold. The crunch of the fall leaves sounds louder in the stark silence, making you hesitate on taking your next step. Last chance to back out. Closing your eyes, you take another step, releasing the breath you hadn’t realized you were holding. You open your eyes to take in the reality of things and turn around only to not see the houses that were once there. Only darkness surrounds you now–panic begins to settle in at your current situation.

“How…” you say to no one but yourself, unable to believe what just happened. Steeling your nerves as best as you can, you turn forward to continue moving, hoping you’d find something that could help lead you back out of this unknown maze this is turning out to be. You don’t know how long you had been wandering, the concept of time lost on you when the sun and moon isn’t there to lend a hand, all you do know is that you’re being watched. That telltale feeling as if something or someone is staring at you hasn’t left ever since you began your path further into the forest. No matter how many times you checked around yourself, you couldn’t find anything except more trees and plants. You haven’t even seen a single animal in this forest adding onto its eerie nature.

Far up ahead, you think you can see the forest lighting up as if there was a light at the end of this endless tunnel. This could be the edge of the forest you were looking for to get back to your home! With that thought, you pick up your pace, not wanting to fully run to conserve energy, but the desire to get out of this forest is overpowering the longing you originally felt that brought you here in the first place. Approaching this edge, you stop in your tracks at the sight you’re met with. A beautiful flower field stretches beyond you as the sun bathes it with its rays. Wandering further in, you’re amazed that something so beautiful was hidden in this dark forest–it almost feels like an entirely different plane of existence. Where the forest filled you with fear of the unexpected and a cold feeling, this field wrapped you in its warmth and happiness as you sat in a patch of grass, careful to not crush any of the neighboring flowers. Looking back up at the sky you see that the sun hasn’t reached its highest point, which means it was still morning. At most maybe two hours had passed since you entered the forest, yet it feels much longer than that. Sighing, you lay back onto the soft grass, lost in your own thoughts of how you got yourself in this situation. Why have other people get you into bad situations when you can do it perfectly fine by yourself, you laugh to yourself at that.

You don’t know when you dozed off, the comforting warmth of the morning sun and the peaceful atmosphere the flower field created leaving you in a tranquil daze, but by the time you woke up the sun was a bit past its highest peak in the day. Blinking away your sleepiness, you don’t register the furry warmth on either side of you, nor the curious yet excited eyes that watch your every move. Lifting yourself to sit up, you yawn and stretch out, arms rising and falling to the side only to land on furry warm bodies instead of the cool grass below you, making you jolt in place. An embarrassingly high squeal comes out as one of the large wolves to your right, with a warm auburn color sits up and brings its face closer to yours. You move to pull back away from you, until you realize the wolf with black fur moved behind you to keep you from moving away, all with an excited tail wagging at an alarming speed. Why are they so excited? If I were their prey I feel like I should feel way more alarmed than just the confusion and shock I have as of now. The auburn wolf moves to clumsily lay in your lap as you’re lost in your thoughts, ignoring the fact its way larger than what your lap could hold. Its whines bring you out of your thoughts to focus solely on them. “H-hello?” You don’t know why you’re talking to it, but from the way it’s looking at you, you can’t help yourself from trying.

The wolf from behind you scoffs and shifts to move in front of you as well. He eyes the auburn wolf and tries to push them off of your lap with their nose, causing adorable whines from them as they reluctantly get up to sit in front of you instead. The black wolf then barks at you before raising its paw to you. With how incredulous this situation is, you’re not surprised at yourself when you lift your hand to grasp their paw in your hand. When you woke up in your cottage today, you didn’t think you’d be shaking hands…or paws with a wolf, but I guess you can check that off your imaginary list. The auburn wolf, annoyed with the lack of attention, rolls onto its back to attract your attention and maybe even a few belly rubs if it's being honest. You let go of the black wolf’s paw and let out a giggle at the display the other is showing. After a quick inspection, you come to realize the wolf was male and reach over to give a few tentative pets on his belly. His tail wags in approval as your petting becomes more confident. The black wolf begins to mimic its friend, wanting the same amount of affection and you happily oblige the both of them. While this interaction was bizarre, it was a welcome distraction from your daily work/life schedule. 

People usually say to avoid the forest surrounding your hometown, but finding this flower field in addition to adorably cute wolves was making you think otherwise. If you hadn’t wandered in, you would’ve never had this experience. It wasn’t long until the sun started to set, alerting you to the time that has passed since you awoke from your unexpected nap. Getting up, the wolves perk up from their resting positions from your sudden movement. You sigh as you stretch out from sitting for an extended period of time and turn to face the both of them. “It was nice spending time with you both, but I have to get home now,” you smile as you turn to leave towards the direction you came. However, you only make it to the edge of the clearing before the large black wolf runs in front of you, interrupting your path. Stunned at first, you move to go around the wolf and wave, but he only follows to block you again. The auburn wolf joins him at his side and growls as you move to step aside once again, causing fear to slowly well up inside you. “I have to get home you guys, it’ll be dark soon,” you plead your case. You don’t know why you’re talking to them like they understand you, but their eyes seem to speak louder than your own words. The black wolf nudges you back as the other gently bites your sleeve to pull you in the opposite direction. You try to yank your arm back and move again, but their growls make you still in your movements. Will these wolves hurt me? What was I thinking to trust wild animals? You can’t help but talk down on yourself over ignoring the lessons that you’ve been taught since young. 

There’s a reason those who enter this forest never leave and now you’re the next victim. Never enter the forest.

♥︎ ♥︎ ♥︎ ♥︎ ♥︎

♡ Wooyoung - San ♡

Infatuation, Dependance

“Sannn, we need another person, they’re not giving me enough energy,” Wooyoung whines as they exit the apartment complex their latest treat lives in.

 “It’s not my fault you’re so insatiable,” San retorts with a knowing smile, “but I do agree, we’re gonna need someone new soon.” They continue their walk, traveling with no destination in mind at the moment as they discuss their plans when Wooyoung stops in his tracks before looking around. Even though it was still the middle of the night, it wasn’t hard for them to sense or see anything in the night.

“Over there,” he says and points across the street to you, walking briskly with your headphones in. San looks over in your direction and has to stop himself from running over and taking you right then and there. Normally they have their instincts under control, but even from this distance your soul smelled like the most appetizing treat they’ve had in a long time. Last time they had encountered a delicious soul like yours, they devoured them all that night, while he did regret not savoring them, they sure as hell had a memorable time they’ll never forget. But ever since then, it was like nobody ever lived up to the level their taste had been raised as they were left to feed from mediocre (at best) souls. “Well what are we waiting for,” San smiles as he and Wooyoung begin their trek to you.

On the other hand, you were quickly trying to return home after your shift. Tired from the day, and feeling tense, you’d like to unwind before taking yourself straight to bed afterwards. Seeing your apartment complex finally come into view, you pick up your pace until you’re stopped dead in your tracks by bumping into someone. You could’ve sworn you were the only one out here, but as you look up to see maybe the most handsome man you’ve laid eyes on with a friend with just as much beauty, you take a step back and begin to apologize. 

“It’s no problem at all, I should’ve been watching where I was going,” San says as he steps to the side. You nod in response, afraid you’d make a fool of yourself if you opened your mouth. “You shouldn’t be out here alone, you know. We could walk you the rest of the way if you’d like,” Wooyoung offers as he steps towards you with a kind smile. Normally you’d have your alarms blaring in your head, but as you look at them, you can’t help but nod again to allow them to escort you. “Well then lead the way doll.”

It was a quick walk, and really didn’t need an escort, but who were you to say no to them. You could barely think of a coherent sentence let alone have rational thoughts. Now at the entrance to your building, you turn to thank them for escorting you and wish for them to get home safe.

“No problem at all. Hope you have sweet dreams tonight,” Wooyoung winks before they turn to leave.And boy did you have the sweetest of them all.

♡♡♡♡♡♡

You open your eyes when you hear a sudden to the left of you. You don’t know why, but you feel as if you were no longer alone in your room. Slowly turning your head you squint as your eyes try to adjust to the darkness, but are unable to see anything.

“Right here love,” a voice to your right suddenly says, causing you to jolt upright and look to see who’s beside you. You hear a giggle from your other side when you acknowledge the person beside you was one of the men that escorted you. 

“W-wha–” you begin before you’re cut off with Wooyoung’s finger. “No need to think about it right now (y/n), we just want to pleasure you. Will you let us?” he asks as San from the other side of you pulls you closer to his lap. His lips trace your ear as they wait for your response, fingers lightly pulling at your shirt. “We can take care of you so well baby,” San whispers into your ear, sending shivers down your back. You whimper slightly from embarrassment of how much they affect you so easily, but also because in that moment San starts to nibble right below your ear, making you feel weak. Wooyoung, not wanting to be excluded from the fun, moves in front of you to open your legs and pull down your shorts. 

“No panties?” he smirks at you before lowering himself to your thighs, trailing light kisses that evolve into full love bites the closer he gets to your core. San reaches around you to pull your shirt off and immediately grasps your breasts to fondle them. “No bra either,” he laughs, “it’s like she knew we’d be here.” San moves your head to the side to gain better access to your neck, then latches onto it without hesitation. Your soft pants egg Wooyoung on to finally lick your slit, causing you to instinctively close your legs, but he grabs onto both of your thighs and pushes them back, folding you. 

“Let go for us (y/n), we’ll take good care of you. Right Youngie?” San smirks as he looks back at his partner lost in between his legs. He knows he’s not going to get a reply from him as he’s too lost in lapping at your lips to care about anything else around him. You yourself are lost in the feeling as Wooyoung begins to suck on your clit like his life depends on it and easily slips in two fingers in the meantime. San attaches his lips to yours, swallowing your moans and moves his hands to pinch at your nipples. Your breath hitches a bit at the pain followed by a loud moan as San lets his tongue wander your mouth, overpowering your tongue in an instant. You feel like you're going numb yet you’re being lit ablaze between the two. Tightening around Wooyoung’s fingers, he proceeds to add two more as he lifts his head to look at the state you’re in.

“Sannie, she tastes so good, can she be our pet?” Your walls pulsate around his fingers at the implication. You haven’t been able to explore your kinks before, only really having few vanilla experiences, but this is giving you the chance to explore things you never thought you’d like. You moan at the thought of being their pet, being taken care of, punished if you misbehave, but rewarded if you’re good…you need that in your life. Even if this is just a dream, you want this to continue every night if possible. Wooyoung doesn’t wait for a reply, focusing on increasing his pace and lifting his head to leave a trail of love bites along your abdomen. San presses himself against you from behind so you could feel the effect you had on him and what to anticipate. 

“Of course Youngie, she can be our pretty kitty,” he purrs happily into your neck. You can barely hear him at this point, too focused on the familiar coil that’s ready to unravel. “I-I’m–” You don’t even get to finish your sentence as you feel Wooyoung pull away from you and hear both him and San laugh at your whines. “I was so close–” you lift yourself up a bit to face Wooyoung, “Why’d you stop?”

“Can’t let you cum unless it’s around one of us kitty,” he teases and finally removes the last few articles of clothing on him, San following suit. From there San moves to the top of the bed, pulling your legs closer to him as Wooyoung situates himself behind you. “On your hands and knees,” San commands as he taps your thigh. You flip over to get in position and look up to see Wooyoung positioning his cock in front of your face with a smirk. You felt him before he was fully hard, but you didn’t expect the size he grew too. What he lacked in girth he made up for in length and it left you salivating for it.

“Open wide kitty,” Wooyoung says and you happily oblige, his tip laying heavy on your tongue. You push yourself forward to take him in more, moaning at the taste and the breath he takes in above you before sighing from the relief. “I’m gonna fuck your mouth now, just relax,” he warns as you open your mouth wider, eagerly preparing for him. He starts out slow to give you a chance to find a proper rhythm before he begins to snap into you. His moans fall deliciously from his mouth, getting lost in the feeling of your mouth, you want nothing more than to give yourself to him. Losing yourself in the feeling of Wooyoung, you’re reminded of San behind you as he presses himself against your core, slowly trailing his cock up and down your slit before lining up with your hole. 

“Don’t forget about me kitty, you’re doing so well for us,” he slowly begins to push inside of you, groaning as your walls greedily suck him in. “Fuck, such a slutty hole sucking me in like that kitty.” You moan pathetically around Wooyoung, your walls throbbing around him as he starts his relentless pace. San was thicker than his partner, and he knew how to use it, making sure he brushes against your g-spot with each thrust. If you were able to think before, they’ve successfully fucked you brainless. All you can try to ground yourself with is the intense grip you have on the sheets below you, but it’s not enough to take your mind away from the mind numbing pleasure being given to you. “Shit, she’s perfect for us Woo, how could we have gone so long without this,” he grunts, grip tightening on your love handles. “I’m sure our kitty would love to be bred all day everyday,” he smirks when he feels the effect his words have on you. “Such a dirty girl.”

“I’m sure she’d pass out before we got our fill,” he laughs in between his moans, pulling San forward for an intense kiss. San’s hips stutter a bit, getting lost in the feeling of his lover and his potential lover. After getting a taste of you, they can’t let anyone else even think of touching you.

Hearing them above you pushes you closer to your peak, bringing your hand to your clit to let you reach it quicker. At the movement, San breaks away from Wooyoung’s kiss, eliciting a whine from the latter, to focus on you. “She’s close Wooyoung, and so are you. Be good for me prettys and cum.” With those words, Wooyoung whines as he stills his hips, shoving his cock as down your throat as he can, spilling his seed down it. “Mm, I think she loves the taste of you, fuck,” San’s hips start to stutter, approaching his eye as your orgasm finally washes over you. 

You don’t remember much after you came around San’s cock. You vaguely remember San pulling out of you after he reached his own high, making sure he made his claim deep inside of you before Wooyoung began the aftercare for you. “You did so well kitty, you were so good for us.”“Just rest love, you’ll need it for later,” you hear one of them laugh next to you. You feel yourself being tucked in and cuddled on either side of you. After being pleasantly filled, your mind is left fuzzy and you can’t help, but fade into darkness from the comfort being provided. 

“We’re gonna have so much fun with you kitty~”

[lurkingshan]

Kinou nani tabeta/What Did You Eat Yesterday?

You should know that I attempted to start this write up about half a dozen times before I managed to get a single word down. Every time I tried I just ended up staring at the wall. I don’t think I’ve been this emotionally stunned by a show since I Told Sunset About You, and I don’t say that lightly!

So, is this a good show? My god, YES. What an understatement. Let me tell you, as my MDL can attest, I’ve watched nearly 300 dramas. I’m sure I’ve watched even more Western shows since I had a 30 year head start on those. And I can say confidently that I’ve never seen anything quite like this gem.

Kinou nani tabeta, or What Did You Eat Yesterday?, is a drama about two middle aged gay men living their everyday lives, making and sharing food, reckoning with their identities and expectations, and figuring out how to be together in a long term relationship. That’s it, that’s the show. If that sounds boring to you, I gotta tell you: YOU ARE WRONG.

We meet Shiro and Kenji when they’re in their mid 40s and already a couple years into living together. Over the course of the show, we learn more about their relationship - how they got together, how they differ, where they struggle, where they shine, what they are still figuring out - and we see them work through it all, together. We see them at work, with friends, with their families, out in public, and in the privacy of their own home - we get a full and complete picture of their lives. And we are invited in to experience it with them and get up close and personal with their relationship in a way that feels both cozy and thrilling.

Now, I am not going to go into detail about everything that happens in this show, or attempt to provide deep analysis about its story, its characters, or the various cultures it depicts. This show was released in 2019, the manga began its run many years before that, and there are folks on this website - like @isaksbestpillow and @bengiyo - who have been at this a hell of a long time and thus have a broader context and lived experience from which to critically examine the show and its messages as they relate to Japanese familial values, life as a queer man from an older generation, and building community while living in a culture that is actively hostile to who you are. I implore you to go read their thoughts and learn from their wisdom. But what I will do is mention a couple (3… no 4, okay 5!) things that really made it stand out to me, a lifelong romance reader, avid media consumer, and drama enjoyer (I’m going to keep plot stuff vague because I hope if you’re reading this, you will be watching very soon!):

Let me repeat: this is a drama about a middle aged couple in a long term relationship, and the ongoing growth and deepening of their relationship is the main plot. Do I have to tell you how unique that is? The romance genre is rarely interested in what happens after the couple gets together, and even in other dramas featuring a couple in a LTR, the plot is usually about something else with the relationship in the background. And I’m fairly sure this is the only show of this nature in the entire bl genre (@absolutebl please fact check me if I’m wrong). In this show, the relationship is the point. It’s a rare look at what it actually takes to learn to deal with your baggage and share your life with someone, and I found it deeply moving.

My god these actors. With all due respect to the many fine actors in the bl industry, these two are on another level. We just never get to see seasoned actors of this caliber headlining ql dramas. If I have one tiny critique of this show, it’s that I found the moments when they let us listen in on the characters’ internal monologues mostly unnecessary - every emotional beat played out in their faces and body language. There’s this one scene I can’t stop thinking about, where the main pair are fighting, and one of them says something he doesn’t mean, and you see the regret on his face instantly, followed by a quick aborted movement as if to take it back, but his partner has already turned away and doesn’t see it. Just perfection. And the acting was so good in the finale (@waitmyturtles informed me my absolute fav moment was improvised for fucks sake) that it actually laid me out for like an hour, I was just sitting there in a crying daze.

The writing is so fucking smart. What’s absolutely brilliant about this show is that it’s structured like an episodic slice of life drama, but there is a deeper long term emotional arc at play and the writers forget nothing. Just like in life, in each episode something will happen, it won’t really get fully resolved, and the characters will move on. But on this show, it always comes back around, usually when your guard is down and they can inflict maximum damage by sucker punching you right in the solar plexus. I can hardly believe how many times this show managed to sneak attack me with emotional realness (official Shan cry count: 8/12 episodes caused me to burst into tears, sometimes more than once).

This show will take you through every possible destination on the spectrum of human emotion. I was so emotional while watching this show, in every sense. Crying both happy and sad tears. Swinging wildly between giddy delight, deep sadness, low key anger, and belly laughing. Sometimes the switch happens literally one scene to the next! And yet, there is an evenness to the tone and assuredness to the filmmaking that makes it all feel smooth. You never feel jerked around by the narrative. This is a credit to the writing, acting, and editing all coming together with perfect precision. The people who made this show are masters of their crafts.

OBVIOUSLY I MUST MENTION THE FOOD. Every episode of this show features at least one instance of a character making Japanese food that looks like the best thing you’ve never gotten the chance to eat. I do not recommended watching this without feeding yourself first, because it will have you salivating. And they don’t just show you the characters making the food (even narrating the recipes for you!), they always show you the characters actually eating and enjoying it. Some real foodies were involved in this production and as someone who loves to eat and absolutely was raised to view feeding people as a love language, I loved it.

So now that you are obviously dying to watch it, you must be wondering: where can I find this show? Let me point you to this post on @kinounaniresource, where the amazing Siiri has compiled all the video files and English subs you need. If you’re not familiar with how to use these, you’ll find instructions on her blog (if you get confused come ask me, please don’t bug her about it). I know sometimes shows being a little hard to access is a big deterrent to watching them, but please trust me that this is absolutely worth your time and effort, you will not regret it.

[sweetingseva]

Everything to Know About ACFTL ☺️💕📚

Hello, everyone!

With A Curse For True Love coming out next week, I thought maybe creating a compile list of what everything we will be expecting might be helpful to those who want a refresher.

However, if you don't want to be reminded of any of the details that have been shared and want to go in blind, that's cool, too!

All of the information that I have gathered has been from all of the IG AMA's stories, comments, replies, and some from podcasts.

Slight spoilers. Quick refresher below.

Stephanie hasn’t been nice writing this book, but let’s see if the torture is well worth it in the end.

There’s this scene that corresponds to these emoji: 🛏😮🩸🚪🩸🩸🩸😱🍎👑

There are three POVs: Evangeline, Jacks, and Apollo

The answer to why Jacks eat apples is in the book, but according to B&N site, we might get the answer to everything about him!

Q: is there a scene you’ve written that’s made you tear up? A: “So many scenes have made me cry—I don’t tear up, I sob, and writing this series has made me cry a lot more than the Caraval series 💘😭 But don’t be too scared—I’ve put a lot fun scenes in this book. Although, my defintion of fun is a little twisted. 🤭”

Q: Do you already have a favorite scene in “A Curse For True Love”? A: Usually I have favorites but with this book I love every scene. I keep telling my editor to let me know if I’ve gone too far with this story because I’ve had so much fun writing. I keep fearing I must be doing something wrong. 🖤”

There will be more LaLa and Chaos scenes, and apparently Stephanie has gotten carried away with them lol

There will be a few more scenes in the Hollow!!!! YAAYYY!

Her favorite scene has something to with these emojis: 🌳🫀🔥

Stephanie has cried the last time she had read ACFTL.

Q: what’s your favorite scene out of all the books in this series: A: “This is so tough. There’s a scene in CURSE that made me cry and it’s probaly my favorite 💔”

Q: can you tell us who the bonus content povs will be? A: “For B&N and Waterstones, the bonus content is in Eva’s POV. 🦊”

My speculation from the answer above, but this makes me think that the Owlcrate’s edition will be Jacks’s POV if not Evangeline’s.

Q: did u know how acftl would end early on? or did it change as you wrote it? A: “It changed! In January, I hit a wall with the book and after talking with my critique partner @/staceyleeauthor, I realized that I had taken the story in the wrong direction. So I went back, I rewrote, I changed the plot, and I changed a large portion of the ending. This is part of the reason why the book’s publication date was changed from Sept to Oct.”

Q: What three songs come to mind when you think of Evangeline and Jacks? A: “Ooh! It’s hard to pick just three. Here are a few that came to mind first: 1. The Archer by Taylor Swift, 2. You’re Losing Me by Taylor Swift, 3. Religiously by Bailey Zimmerman”

Q: Do you pick the audiobook narrators for your books? A: “I did! @/macmillan.audio is wonderful. They’ve always given me a choice in narrators. The amazing @/rebeccasoleri has narrated all of my audiobooks (so she’s an easy choice). Then for ACFTL I got to choose a second narrator for the Jacks and Apollo chapters and he is also fantastic ❤️”

IMPORTANT TO KNOW ‼️: Q: are there actually multiple copies of acftl with different endings? A: “The book only has one official ending. Which I think is the best ending. However, there are three editions that bonus material in the form of 3 alternate epilogues. The books with bonus epilogues are: 1. Barnes and Noble/Indigo exlusive edition 2. the Waterstones exclusive, 3. the Owlcrate edition. P.S. These 3 bonus epilogues are not canon, they are just for fun! P.P.S. if you get all three, I recommend reading in the order that I shared in this post 😉”

The third map has new locations, along with old ones we have seen like: Merrywood Manor, Merrywood Village, Merrywood Forest, Wolf Hall, Ye Olde Brick Inn: Vacancy One Bed, The Phoenix Tree, Cursed Forest, Tree of Souls, and The Hunt.

ACFTL has 49 chapters with an epilogue. It only has one part titled, IV. Happily Ever After.

The dedication that was revealed says, “For anyone who’s ever hoped for a second chance.”

The tree on the front cover is very important.

ACFTL’s logline: Two villains, one girl, and a deadly battle for happily ever after.

The three words that Stephanie used to describe the book is: Heart-stealing, emotionally-devastating, and painfully romantic.

Stephanie shared the Pinterest board, which could be found here! Some very good hints in there!

The UK editions of ACFTL will have hidden covers. There are four of them and they are: an apple, Jacks’s dagger, a fox paw print, and a wolf in a flower crown.

Fairyloot edition has a special front and back cover that says, "The Greatest Love Story Ever Told: Evangeline Fox and The Prince of Hearts" and "The Greatest Love Story Ever Told: Evangeline Fox and Apollo Acadian."

Quotes Shared:

“Remember, Little Fox.”

“If you stop fighting, you lose.” His hand moved up to her throat and she felt the cool brush of his dagger against her skin. Evangeline went very still. “ Never imagine you’re safe.” The tip of his blade drew a line over her pulse. Her breath caught. She felt him smile against her jaw.

(Possible Quote) “You have no sense of self-preservation. If someone labeled a bottle with poison you would drink it. You take warnings as invitations. You can’t seem to stay away from all the things that will hurt you … like me.”

Evangeline needed something familiar, something to hold onto that would keep her from collapsing back to the ground. Apollo looked at her as if he wanted to be that. He made her think of a hero from a fairytale.

(Page 21) “No.” “No.” “No.” (Page 100) He wanted a piece of her. (Page 213) “You can’t just tie people up and whisk them to wherever you want them.”

Apollo hated apples.

He enjoyed inflicting pain, not receiving it. And yet he couldn’t bring himself to leave the shadows of Evangeline’s bedroom.

“I’m glad you came.” “I’ll always come. Even when you don’t want me to.”

He wanted a piece of her. To keep her. To use her for later.

“What are you to me?” she asked. His eyes locked with hers. “Nothing.”

“Im the one who will never let anyone harm you again.”

“I’m your monster.”

He considered setting the room ablaze just so that he’d have a reason to pick her up and carry her out, to save her one last time, before he left her for good.

“This will hurt.”

[swampbrick]

played the Joseph: Collapse dlc for FC6 tonight and wow do I have Thoughts About That!

spoilerish content below the cut I suppose, about something that’s been out for a hot minute (but I digress)

As a Jacob Seed Girly™️, I have nothing to say except: Ow. Really, this was so painful on his end that I could hardly react from emotion, rather, I was literally just getting nauseous anytime we’d get backstory with him. I have nothing bad to say about the Jacob sections of the memories and visions, which speaks volumes because I always critique extra hard about characters I love? But nah, he was great. Broke my heart a little extra, but great nonetheless. I feel like, even if this DLC isn’t hard canon, it still solidified a lot of my headcanons for Jacob and really added some extra umph to his characterization. 10s across the board, 5/5 stars, but at what cost?

As the best friend of a John Seed Girly™️, I was also a bit disappointed? As far as we found, John didn’t have his own “big moment” like Faith and Jacob did, outside of the family excursions where you’d see stuff with all of them, or have to fight/find/save all of them. We need to go back and replay, because we missed one thing we for sure know about on our first play through, but it seemed like he didn’t get his own set aside event/memory with a big bad John fight at the end of it, the way the others did. I guess it could be excused if you were to say that Joseph felt less guilt there due to XYZ reasons or what have you, but that feels kind of like a cheap copout. That aside, I do think it’s likely that we could have just missed it somehow due to the nonlinear gameplay style and how there aren’t quest pickups/you don’t have to complete everything to beat the DLC. We did think that we had scoured every inch of the map, but it could be worth combing back over more finely. I WILL SAY…. The John crumbs we did get sprinkled throughout the group stuff??? Delectable. All his talk of “the urges” had me rightfully unsettled. Once again; GREAT addition to characterization here, I have to say that they really gave us more personality with all of the guys.

That being said…….. while the guys got some great new depth to them, I wish that, if the DLC was going to focus so heavily on Faith, we could have gotten more FAITH. Not Rachel. Or a mix of both, perhaps? I would have loved to have seen Rachel being brought into the fold of Eden’s Gate, or material with the past Faiths, or even the ORIGINAL Faith- and what she meant to Joseph, and the Seed Family overall. I feel like everything we got from Faith in this is DLC, was stuff we already knew about her from FC5. We didn’t really get any new depth to her character here, it just felt like her storyline from FC5 rehashed, which sucked a bit considering that so much of this DLC seemed to revolve around her.

Do not get me wrong, I LOVED this DLC. As a Jacob fan, I was eating it up (and by that I mean choking on my tears before they could even form). I just like to pick at things and critique them when applicable, and I feel like maybe this DLC struggled a bit because it was a bit too focused on trying to paint Joseph as being irredeemable and awful, and it missed out on really truly digging into why he was the way he was, or at the very least his family dynamics. Which… to me, kind of seemed like the whole point of a DLC about the mind of Joseph Seed? Not to paint him to be an awful terrible person and sling bias on him, but just to take a sterile approach to his life and see it though his eyes- his mind?

Anyways all that aside this DLC has hella replayability and I will be diving back into it at least 50 more times before all is said and done with.

[badwritinghabit]

Chef's Kiss | Carmy x fem!OC x Luca | Chapter 2

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter | Masterlist | Ao3

Warnings: grief, yelling, language, disordered eating, cancer diagnosis, smoking

Word Count: 3,110

Summary: Sophie helps Marcus and Carmy at The Beef. Carmy and Sophie have a heart to heart.

Sophie found herself in Carmy’s kitchen not long after her first time at The Beef. He had called her and said he’d get his chef, Marcus, to prepare his chocolate cake for her to try. She had been looking forward to it. Most of her time in Chicago had been split between either helping watch her nieces or attending doctor’s appointments with her sister. She had spent very little time doing anything else.

Her one week run as guest chef at Ever had been a good break, allowing her to have space to focus on something physical and immediate. She had been having trouble with that lately. Her sister’s cancer diagnosis had thrown her for such a loop that she was still figuring out how to sit with herself and not panic. ‘Every Second Counts’. Chef Terry’s philosophy had stuck with her. It was pressure and relief at the same time. She wanted to take the chance to spend as much time as she could with her sister. While her sister’s prognosis was good, there was still the fear that something would go wrong. She was in Chicago for a reason. But she knew she needed to get a grip on the time she spent away from her sister too. Every second counts and she didn’t want to let time pass with nothing to show for it.

“Good morning,” Sophie said with a smile as she walked into the kitchen at the Beef. Carmy was already waiting for her, next to a tall man with a bright smile and a beanie.

“Good morning, chef. This is Marcus.” Carmy gestured to her. “Sophie.”

“Hello, chef,” Marcus greeted her warmly, holding a hand out to shake. She shook his hand with a grin. “Thank you for offering to help. This is my first try at desserts,” he said eagerly.

“First try?” she asked, looking to Carmy in surprise. He nodded and she became even more curious.

“I am excited to try your cake,” Sophie responded directly to Marcus. Marcus brought out a plated slice and slid it over to her. Then handed her a fork.

“It certainly looks good.” She took a bite. “Holy camoley,” she gasped. Carmy chuckled at her word choice. But she was staring wide eyed at Marcus. “This is your first dessert? Really?”

“Yeah,” he nodded, smiling timidly.

“You didn’t ask me here to give a critique at all, did you? You just wanted to flex that you hired a talented pâtissier.” She narrowed her eyes at Carmy before taking another careful bite.

He grinned at her enthusiasm. “I brought you here to support an up and coming talent.”

Marcus was smiling still, cheeks redder as she kept complimenting him.

“OK let’s talk about what you like and don’t like about it,” she started as she set the fork down. “I’m assuming you hope to make more desserts as well? We can talk about those too.”

“Yes, we’re open to adding other desserts,” Carmy chimed in when Marcus hesitated.

“Great. I’ll work with Marcus, you can shoo,” she said to Carmy who shook his head but walked off anyway.

“I usually work in this room.” Marcus directed her towards his workspace. She looked around at all of the pictures he had on the wall until her eyes landed on one of hers.

“Is that–?” she asked, gesturing towards a picture of the raspberry chocolate cake she had served at Ivy Green in San Diego. She was surprised to see it there.

“Yeah, actually, Chef pointed it out to me. Told me that it was yours when he said you would be coming to help me. I just thought it was beautiful. And the recipe was simple. Not in a bad way. But in a way that made me want to try it myself.”

She smiled at him. “Well thank you.” She was touched. She had never quite gotten used to being recognized and it took her by surprise. The compliment being from someone who worked with Carmy may have made it mean more too, if she spent time thinking about it.

“I have some ideas for your cake. But I’d like to hear what you think. Is there anything you want to change or anything you would like to test out with the recipe?” she asked, getting down to business.

“I want to add something bright. Fruit. Your raspberry ganache is so good, I want to make something like that for my cake.”

She nodded. “What are you thinking so far?” She watched as he brought out his notes.

“Orange? I love chocolate oranges.”

“I really like that idea. You could try adding some orange zest. It brings out the bright citrus taste,” she added excitedly. She went over his recipe with him and made a few suggestions, things he might want to try to play with the texture and flavor.

The two spent a while talking over Marcus’s next dream project, donuts. She warned him they would be tricky but he was skilled and she was certain he would be up to the task.

Time flew by and suddenly Carmy strolled in again. “Sorry to rush you but it is almost time to get started on prep for the day.” He was in chef mode, no more fun and games. He walked out after nodding to Sophie.

“It was lovely meeting you, Marcus. I’ll be in Chicago for a while so if you need a taste tester or any other advice, please reach out,” she gave him her number.

“Thank you so much. I’ll definitely do that.” He smiled. “Also,” he started and stopped and then started again. “Just thought you should know, Carmy doesn’t usually act like that. Laugh like that, I mean.”

She tilted her head.

Marcus shrugged. “Just an observation,” he said with a little grin.

She jumped when Carmy’s voice interrupted her thoughts. “Sophie, could I talk to you for a second?” he asked her, sounding urgent.

“Yeah of course.” She followed him out of the room and over to his office. They passed a few people and she smiled at them, nodding as she walked through, trying to make sure she stayed out of their way as they passed.

“One of my chefs called out, last minute emergency. We're already down one. And with Tina out." His hand went to his hair and he grimaced. "I promised a friend of Richie's we'd do catering for a party this afternoon. So we're fucked." Carmy was looking at her again.

"You need help?" she asked. When he nodded grimly she smiled, trying not to show her own lack of confidence. "Of course. I can jump in today."

“Fuck, thank you,” he exhaled a sound of relief.

“Where do you want me?”

“Start prepping the sauce. I’ll show you where we have the recipes.” He led her to the kitchen, grabbing her an apron on the way.

She wrapped it around herself, tying the knot quickly. Something about the routine of putting on an apron brought her right back to New York. She remembered a chef that she and Carmy worked with who had a whole routine he’d do every time he stepped up to his station. She did one of his stretches, smirking to herself.

“Ready chef?” Carmy asked, the tension in his shoulders seemed to have lessened just a little. He was in on the joke.

“Born ready,” she said, adapting the boastful voice of their old colleague. He shook his head at her, an almost imperceptible twitch of his mouth. Things hadn’t changed completely between them.

---

Things were going smoothly until they weren’t. Sophie still had the muscle memory from the thousands of hours she’d spent in the kitchen. She found she got along very well with Sydney. Carmy’s chef was extremely talented and surprisingly kind. She was quick to help her figure out what needed to be done and where to find anything she needed.

Syd, Carmy, and she got into a good rhythm for a while and Sophie felt fairly at ease with the group, even with the tension of working in an understaffed and busy kitchen. But then they ran out of bread.

And Carmy was furious.

The tension had been building, but she hadn’t expected it when he finally burst. He slammed a tray down onto the table and yelled at Marcus to start more. Of course, that wouldn’t be a quick fix.

“Should we go buy bread somewhere?” Sophie asked.

Carmy turned his glare to her and she felt her shoulders straighten in defiance, recognizing his anger immediately. He had been the chef de cuisine at Eleven Madison Park and while she didn’t remember him as being particularly angry– he was nowhere near as abusive as some of the chefs she had worked for– he slipped into it sometimes.

“What the fuck are you thinking? We can’t buy bread! We’ve always used– Are you listening to me?" he yelled, leaning forward towards her. She had been lost in thought, thinking of the bakery she had stopped at nearby and the delicious cookie she had gotten from them. She tried to remember what sorts of bread they had. She was fairly certain she had seen some crusty rolls, hoagie rolls, and longer softer sub rolls.

His yelling usually didn’t faze her. But she felt a little off her game, palms sweaty and heart pounding. She wanted to help, not make things worse. “I am listening, chef. We either ask the catering job to accept food late or we go get more bread. There’s a bakery not too far, I could go see if they have bread,” she offered, trying to keep her voice calm and strong.

“It’s a good idea. We talked about sourcing the bread soon anyway,” Syd chimed in quietly, still cooking.

“Fuck it. Fine. Call Richie though. Check with him.” Carmy shoved the tray away from him, causing it to slide and clamber against the wall making Sophie flinch. Syd reached over and squeezed her arm, looking concerned.

“I’ll call Richie.. Do you have his number?” Sophie asked. She ended up getting Richie’s number from Fak and she quickly walked to an out of the way corner and called him.

“Wisconsin Sophie? How the fuck did you get this number?” Richie laughed through the phone. His demeanor instantly calmed her nerves.

“I know a guy,” she joked. “Look, this catering job. How do you think they’d feel about some rolls being replaced from the bakery down the street?” she asked tentatively.

“You out of bread?” Richie asked.

“Yeah. Carmen isn’t thrilled with the idea of buying it but he said I could check with you.”

“Carmen got angry? Sorry Sophie. Ever since Mike’s been gone, Carm has been having a hard time.” He paused and Sophie considered asking about Mikey but decided against it. Her heart sank thinking about what Carmy must be feeling, having the restaurant he so desperately wanted without his brother.

He continued, “Yeah I think it’d be fine. A couple of these guys go crazy for the crusty rolls at Frank’s down the road. That where you were thinking?”

“Yes exactly.”

“Yeah that works. It’s just bread.”

“Yeah. Thanks Richie. I’m gonna go handle that.” Sophie tore off her apron and ran out the door, wallet in hand. Two blocks down, she burst through the door of Frank’s Bakery and looked around, breathing heavily.

“I need some rolls,” she said, realizing she was being dramatic. She slowed down. “Sorry, there’s a party and our bread order isn’t filled. I’m in a rush.”

“Come in, come in.” A kindly older woman said. “I can help. What are you looking for?”

“Some crusty rolls or hoagie rolls if you have them.”

She pulled out three options and set them on top of a sheet of wax paper ontop of the glass case. She gestured to Sophie to try them and Sophie did, pulling a piece of each and quickly trying them.

“This is perfect how many of these do you have?” she asked, gesturing to the first and third option presented to her.

“We have three dozen left of these and two dozen of this one. Sorry, usually we don’t make huge portions since we are a smaller bakery.”

“No that is perfect, could I take all of them?” she asked. She ended up popping another piece of bread in her mouth as she waited, it really was good.

“Did you want me to cut them open for you?” the woman asked. She was already walking quite slowly and Sophie could only imagine how long it would take for her to cut them all.

“No thank you!” she replied quickly. “Thanks so much for this. Sorry for taking all of your supply.”

“No problem at all dear.” Sophie paid and ran out of the store, three large bags of bread in her arms. She booked it, running as fast as she could back to the restaurant.

Syd met her at the door and the two of them got to slicing, cutting open the rolls for sandwiches and then packaging them.

“What time is it?” Sophie asked, before looking over at the clock. “Five minutes left,” she groaned, picking up the pace.

Carmen walked over and joined them with his own knife, quickly slicing and then packaging them as well.

After everything was packed, Syd carried the bags to the front with Ebra. Sophie looked to Carmen, awkwardly. She took the small remaining paper bag and shoved it towards Carmen. “She gave me a few to try and I picked two out. I promise they are good,” she said, not meeting his eyes.

Carmen grabbed the bag and pulled out the bread, trying each. “You made the right call,” he said eventually. The two hadn’t made eye contact.

“More bread will be ready in 15 minutes, chefs!” Marcus called out, making Sophie sigh.

“Nothing’s wrong.” She finally met Carmy’s eyes and mustered a small smile. He took a breath.

“Thanks, Chef.” He nodded and stepped back to his station to finish cooking. Syd and Marcus returned from the front after delivering the order to Richie up front. Syd walked over and nudged her happily.

“Good job, Sophie.” The two shared a smile before getting back to work.

---

Sophie snuck off when Carmy was serving family. She wanted to check her phone to see if her sister needed anything. And she wanted to get a quick breath on her own. She felt exhausted and it had only been a few hours in the kitchen.

She was sitting on a crate, scrolling on her phone when Carmy walked out and sat next to her, silently. He pulled out a cigarette and lit it up. She heard him hold it out for her and she grabbed it without looking, placing it between her lips and leaning back.

“Just like old times,” she said as she handed it back. She exhaled the smoke in front of her.

He hummed in agreement. “You gonna eat?” he asked, kicking the toe of his shoe against the ground.

“Yeah I just needed to check to see if Mallary texted.” She showed him her phone. He nodded, taking another drag off his cigarette.

It hit her suddenly, what he was doing. He was still looking out for her. In New York, she had been grateful for his help but had never really considered how much work it must have been. To keep her afloat while he was trying to do the same for himself.

She remembered those days like they were behind a glass screen. Foggy and far away. She was lost in grief. Her father had died three years prior and she had never really recovered. She made her way through two years of culinary school through pure force of will. She climbed the ladder quickly with her skills and a few lucky connections and ended up in the same restaurant as Carmy in New York City. She had been on fire up till that point. Had taken the beating all chefs do starting out. But had learned and grown and had enough energy to make it that far. But she had started to burn out. And Carmy saw it. He was the one bright spot in that time of her life.

“Thank you for everything you did when we were in New York. I was in a really bad place. And I wouldn’t have gotten through it without you,” she said quietly, too intense for their normal style. She could feel him tense beside her. “I am doing better now. You don’t need to worry about me anymore. I know you have enough going on.” She paused. She knew she had to just get it out.

“Richie mentioned Mikey,” she said, knowing she couldn’t keep it from him. “I’m really sorry. I know how close you were.”

“Yeah.”

“I guess I just want to say I owe you. Still. So if you need anything, please ask. I’m around. And have very little to do nowadays,” she added, trying to lighten the tension a bit.

“Thanks, Soph. I’ll keep that in mind.”

They sat for a bit longer, Sophie trying to get up the nerve to say something else. Comfort him somehow. She wasn’t sure how to do that.

“How long are you in Chicago for? You said you’re here for your sister?” Carmy asked.

Sophie hummed and held out her hand for the cigarette again. Carmy handed it over. After a drag she nodded to herself. “I’m staying for a while. A year at least, maybe longer. It’s– I’m here because Mallary has cancer,” she admitted, quietly. “She’s getting chemotherapy. Doing pretty well, all things considered.”

“Fuck.”

“Yeah. But she’s gonna pull through,” Sophie said, feigning confidence.

Sophie felt Carm’s eyes on her but she didn’t look at him, wondering if she had made the right choice sharing it. She handed the cigarette back without looking over. She didn’t want to make this about her. She had always been better at talking out her feelings than Carmy was, and that wasn’t saying a whole lot. But it was their way. Say all of the shit and then move along, feeling slightly less alone with it.

Carmy had relaxed, she felt him lean against the wall behind them.

She stood and stretched and then turned to look at Carmy. “Family?” she asked, holding out a hand to help him up. He accepted the hand up and let her pull him to his feet. She squeezed his hand gently before letting go and walking into the restaurant ahead of him.

[booksandchainmail]

Pale 10.4

oooh, I wasn't sure we'd get a Verona chapter this arc

“Can’t show you this one, Tash.” Tashlit, lounging on a beach towel, reached toward her waist and gestured. “No, this one isn’t rude."

I like the unstated "gesture"

Tashlit held up a finger.  One.  Then the ‘what?’ gesture. “The first most recent email is a reminder from Ding Phones that my prepaid phone account is almost out of funds, please visit the site to top up.”

I'm reminded of a great bit from Bloom Into You where the protagonist is eagerly awaiting a response from love interest, and when her phone pings it's an automated version update notification

“My mom tried to give me the dumbed down explanations but it felt a lot like I was in the way.  So I gave the excuse I had to get stuff sorted out.  And then we left a couple days after and we stopped in for a visit with her artist friend and I think that was meant for me.  Like, she thought I would be receptive and I’d get it and stuff, and it was cool to see the guy’s studio and stuff but like, I’m here and that guy’s alllll the way over there.”

I got to avoid this as a kid: if the people coming over for dinner were family friends who would want to talk with me I would stay, if not I could eat early and then just hang out elsewhere instead of having to stay at the table while conversations went over my head.

“Oh.  Disappointed, but not disappointed in me.  Maybe.”

disappointed in her own parenting skills?

Verona grabbed her book, flipped back a few pages, and found the image she’d drawn after Tashlit had insisted she would take every art critique seriously.  It was rude: a crude and rude drawing of a guy hugging a two-foot-wide boner that came up to the top of his head.

well if all else fails you have a career path on furry twitter

Jeremy replied.  I don’t know how to respond except pic just made my week.  Have some pics of Sir.

oh big mood, I also start messages with "I don't know how to respond" or something similar. If I wait to try and find words for a good response I just never send it.

“Is my dad going to jail?” The words left her lips before she realized she’d asked. “Is that another priority, Verona? That your dad be punished?” It was subtle. The tone a little cooler than before, less warm. Oh. She’d fucked it. She’d thoroughly fucked it, hadn’t she? Because now the idea was in David’s head. That she’d had an argument with her dad and things had gone wrong and now she was a manipulator or she was trying to get back at him and he was a tool for her to do that.

I can't tell if the child protective services guy is geniunely disapproving, or if Verona is panicking and reading too much into it. Because tone cooling here could mean a lot of things (ie David worrying that things were worse than he thought). If it is that says bad things about him! Honestly my first thought in this scenario (especially Verona was talking about not wanting to move) would be that she was scared of hr life getting completely disrupted by her dad getting arrested.

It's also sad that Verona's first thought on getting a (possibly) negative reaction to a genuine emotion is worrying that it makes her look manipulative or petty, because that is 100% what her dad has been telling her

The way he looked off to one side here and there made her wonder if he felt like his time was being wasted, now.  Or misused.  He kept taking notes when there wasn’t anything to take notes on.

I think "kid in a protective meeting visibly panics when told their parent won't be arrested" is something to take notes on!

“Sits in bed and sobs and tells me everything I’m doing wrong and everything he’s doing wrong and stuff about my mom.” “Okay. How often is that?” “Two to six nights a week, except when I’m away, or like, not nights but in the kitchen after he gets home from work, he’ll start telling me I didn’t mow the lawn or whatever and then it gets into how much his coworkers suck.”

... that is more often than I thought it was. Six nights a week at max, gods.

“Exacerbated by life circumstances?” he asked.  He started to take a note. “Not- no,” she said. She watched him continue to take the note, ignoring the ‘no’. She could imagine that penned down ‘life circumstances’ taking all the heat out of what she was saying.

I cannot tell if Verona is reading this accurately and this guy is going to be useless or not. Leaning towards not because I want to be optimistic.

“The third was- we went shopping and I got on his case, called him a bad dad and stuff. I pushed his buttons on purpose, because I could. And he freaked and stopped the car in the middle lane of a three lane road and made me get out. Cars were honking their horns and passing on the left and right. And I had icecream I’d bought for myself I was too full to eat and it melted while I walked home. I guess that doesn’t count when I think about it.”

I MEAN YOU'RE RIGHT THAT ISN'T TECHNICALLY BREAKING YOUR THINGS BUT IT IS IN FACT MORE WORRYING FOR DIFFERENT REASONS

“When was this?” “Christmas.”

winter in Canada? Admittedly I don't know that much about the weather but that seems hazardous

How could she even put it into words?  It was pressure and pressure over years.  It was telling her dad about her problems and it never mattering because he always one-upped her, and that added up little by little.

fascinated to see what people have done for Worm-style powers for Verona based on this as a trigger event

“Are you and your dad close?” “No. I think he wants us to be.” “How does he want you to be close?” “Hanging out, watching movies. He’d rather I didn’t see my friends and instead went with him. I think he’s lonely.”

I normally think of this as a red flag in romantic relationships, but it's even more one in a familial relationship

It felt like every time he was making notes, he was taking down the statements or arguments she felt were weakest and most unimportant.  Or stuff that made her dad seem more okay than he was. Dad’s lonely, wants to bond with shitty daughter.

I really don't think that's why he's taking a note of it!

And also wow does Verona place the blame on herself all the time. No wonder she has self-esteem issues as part of the Kennet Trio, if this is how her dad has taught her to think of herself

…She wasn’t even sure what she wanted.  She wanted to land this entire thing in the zone where she left her dad’s and went to Jas’s.  That was the perfect outcome.  It’s bad, gotta take this girl out of there, it’s crushing her and making her feel small and broken.  So we pick her up and take her… no, that’s too far.  Where’s a place we can put her that’s out of the house but not that super far away… Jas’s house!

yesyesyesyesyes. The guy mentioned temporary custody earlier, could that be this?

And even if it wasn’t impossible she couldn’t burden Jas like that, especially if Jas had a job she wanted and no time or money.

this has also been my concern with what is otherwise the perfect solution. Would the government provide a stipend for caring for Verona? It's not like she takes a lot of maintenance time-wise

“Almost died?  Tell me about that.” “At this thing I went to at the start of summer. I don’t want to get into it, it…

I think that's the kind of thing he has to follow up on, actually. Verona's dad not wanting more info on this was a red flag, and I don't think Verona recognizes how weird that was

I mean, she can probably pass it off as like an outdoors accident at summer camp (storm while hiking, bridge broke, etc etc) but she should have to at least come up with a story!

“Right now we’re in a middle stage, deciding what the immediate needs are.  It doesn’t sound like you need to be removed from the home, and it doesn’t sound like you want to be removed from the home.”

:(

“I want to leave that house.  I don’t want to go back,” Verona said.  “But can’t I go to Jasmine’s, instead?  Can’t- isn’t there a way to-” Breath hitched.  She was aware her mom was sitting next to her.  “Can’t we- you guys give money to foster parents, right?  So couldn’t I go there, and couldn’t, um, you could give her money and I wouldn’t be a burden, and she’s a really good mom to Lucy and she’s lovely.”

the degree to which Verona is breaking down in this conversation is distressing

Verona didn’t know what to say when what she’d already said and how she’d reacted had probably hurt her mom, and her mom didn’t say anything.

eh, deserved

“Is it possible?  To give Verona what she wants?  I don’t imagine the money from the system going to her would be possible, like she suggested, but if we could divert child support, maybe?”

surprising W from Verona's mom! I mean, it means she doesn't have to change her life at all to accommodate her own child, so low bar, but this is also what Verona wants

“We’d be looking at… the schedule’s tight.  This looks like, hm, three at-home visits over three months.  During those visits, I or someone else with access to the file would be checking in to make sure that all course participation is maintained, that the house is safe.  I would check in with Verona.” “Only three visits?  She’s so upset right now.” “Resources are stretched thin.” “You’re sending her back to that house?”

well fuck.

Lowering my estimation of CAS right back down.

Guess it's time to see if we can get Verona set up with a Demesne she can live in?

“I finished talking with David Williams.  Then I called Jasmine, and I called your dad, and I called Jasmine again.” Verona looked up. “She’ll take you until the end of summer. Your dad agreed to it.”

oh fuck yes

And one way or another, by the end of summer things will be different

She was going to Jasmine’s.  What came after could be saved for after. The headache was gradually easing.

:)

“So he gave my mom a preliminary plan of three visits from CAS over three months, right?” Verona told Tashlit. Nod. “And that’s now going to be twelve over six.” Double nod. “And originally, anger management classes and parenting classes.  Now it’s anger management classes and parenting and therapy.”

on the one hand, bleak that it took the drawing to get this boosted. On the other, good that this is happening, and specifically that when Verona felt she couldn't get meaning across in words, she was able to use her art to communicate

“I hate that we go off and do our own things and we don’t cross paths. And it is entirely my fault as the mom that I let it happen. A part of me hoped my situation would change or we’d grow into new interests that did have those overlaps… I did with my mom. It took until I was seventeen or eighteen before I could talk to her, adult to adult. But I screwed up.”

Yeah you did! I mean I also didn't have a lot of shared interests with my mother as a teenager, and I still tease her about saying "You know, I actually like you as a person" when I was ~22 (liking the person I was as an independent adult, as opposed to just loving me as her daughter) (english is my mother's fourth language so phrasing is sometimes off). But she still did her best to understand my interests, and was always engaged in my life. Adult to adult is not the only way to have a strong relationship with your child!

“Call.  Anytime, any reason.  I would move heaven or earth for you.” “But you wouldn’t move,” Verona said

ouch

“Want to turn in earl-” her mom said, at the same time Verona said, “Want to look at my art?” “I would love to,” her mom replied.

baby steps :)

“Boyfriend material?” “Blegh. No. Not what I’m after.” “A boyfriend? Are you-?” “Nope. No, I wish. It’d be nice. No, it’s not the boyfriend part of that.  It’s the material part of that.  I’m immaterial.  Maybe I’ll get there, maybe I won’t, but not right now.  Lucy and Avery keep saying stuff like ‘uh oh’, poor Jeremy.” “That doesn’t sound friendly.” “It’s sorta accurate.  Because we’re hanging out and he likes me and I don’t like anyone like that, so…”

aro Verona rights

A figure stepped out of darkness, and it wasn’t the local Others come to check in with her or welcome her to the area.

UHM?

“You tell me.  Look what I found, or well, look who found me while I was out there!” At that cue, Miss stepped out from behind the power pole. Wind picked up and dust from the roadside hid her face.

oh fuck yes

“A good one,” Miss said, walking past the girls.  She walked up to Rook, and the two of them hugged.  “Hello, it’s been some time.”

huh! Didn't see that coming, but potentially very useful if they have Miss bridging the gap between them and Crooked Rook

“I asked Rook to make sure you three were more or less alright until I could find my way back.  She has, I hope.” “She said she didn’t want to associate with us.” “Maintaining that position let Matthew, Edith, and the rest draw their own conclusions about my intents and goals,” Rook said. “And it helps keep this secret right here.”

clever clever clever! This completly changes the balance of power in Kennet. Miss back, Crooked Rook as an ally, by extension Nibble and Chloe...

“Rook,” Miss said, sounding more than a little upset.  She turned her head Rook’s way, and Rook adjusted the position of the mask perfectly, in accordance with that.

this is cute

“As long as Montague could seize control of the diagram at any time, on Matthew and Edith’s request… Miss can’t come into Kennet.”

good counter for Miss, but I think Montague might be recruitable? something to work on

“I’m thinking back to a few nights ago.  At the factory.  Edith pretty much sent Chloe right at us.  She was aggressive with the furs, she’s been testing the rules.  What if we dealt with her, like, right away?” “Let’s,” Rook answered.

OwO

[little-robin-h00d]

Hey the anti-vegan post u rbed really sucks. It puts all vegans (95% of whom just think factory farming is horrible and don’t want to hurt animals in their diet) in a box that is labeled “anti-indigenous, stupid, radical, and crazy”.

Most vegans don’t even try to convince people because they know how their seen. Advocacy against factory farming is not the same as demeaning native practices.

There’s a person replying on the side of vegans in the comments and I think you should read some of what they’re saying because they explain why the post is wrong and harmful. I’m not coming at you with anger btw I like you and your account. But that post is just super harmful and I’m hoping that you would be interested in reading thoughts from the other side and maybe changing your opinion.

Hey there! I appreciate you coming here with a non-aggressive stance, but I think there's been a bit of a miscommunication. Similar to how when people talk about White People(TM), or Christians(TM), they are not saying every single person in the group is bad- they are talking about a specific subsect of the group that uses the ideology and privilege to harm. There are white people who do their best to dismantle the white supremacy they've been taught and advocate for POC, and there are Christians who do follow the teachings of loving thy neighbor and don't use their religion as a kudgel to beat others with- same with veganism.

Someone choosing to be vegan or vegetarian is completely fine- and I will gladly do my best to accommodate all diets, allergies, and food sensitivities when eating with other people. My best friend is vegetarian, and I always have stuff they can eat stocked away in the fridge for whenever they visit.

However, when it's portrayed as the "only ethical way", and that all humans should consume zero animal products- and then these people saying that get POWER, and spread misinformation- is where the issue lies. It's the PETA bitches we're talking about, not some random person who may have a million reasons for personally going vegan. It's their life, it's not harming anyone, cool beans.

Unfortunately, we have yet to come up with the proper language in English to effectively reference these dangerous subgroups, and it would take a while to spread and become common knowledge even if we do find a proper term for it- but having to explain that in every single post we make about oppressive or dangerous groups like that is a waste of time and effort that could be put to better use, and essentially arguing about semantics.

Also, these are personal Tumblr blogs, the vast majority of the time only having one person running them- you cannot expect the same vetting of language and such things in a post on someone's blog as would be on a scientific or news article.

As someone who loves meat and cheese and other animal products: I hate factory farms too! But we aren't gonna solve the massive problems with animal abuse by stopping eating any animal-related products. We cannot personal choice our way out of systemic issues- that's an astroturf campaign so many people have fallen for in so many different areas. From climate change and voting rights, to animal welfare and plastic use. These things are simply out of the hands of ordinary people like you and me, and it's why collective action is so important.

I also believe it's a bit of a waste of time to get upset at people who are rightfully critiquing these groups, rather than get upset at the groups themselves for tarnishing the names of innocent people like you.

TL;DR: If the post doesn't describe you, it's not about you.

I do hope you have a good day, and I apologize if this post is a bit of a mess. I've been severely sick for over a month now and am only just starting to recover, I only got 5 hours of sleep, and haven't even taken my meds today because I've been too nauseous.

[catdemontraphouse]

Note: referenced a post by @thedarkestcrow several times which I think is a really interesting one. Can’t seem to paste in the link🤨🙄 it was an ask answer about Sebastian’s contract

Hey also if anyone can tell me how to do “read more”on mobile… please tell me 😂🤦‍♀️

Just some character uh, idk analysis/hypothesis??

The more I think about it, the more I reckon Sebastian’s problem is that he has an unfortunate mother hen syndrome which he either isn’t fully aware of OR, more likely, is aware of but actively tries to deny. This is of course going off the assumption there is no governing body for demons like there is for reapers since we’ve never seen anything like that? And that Sebastian’s contract is something he made up for himself with no actual consequences outside his own judgement.

Sebastian goes above and beyond to critique and perfect the conduct of other people who are under his authority. His contract (which I won’t even get into atm lol) only states the following stipulations as far as I recall:

Yet he goes out of his way to not just keep OCiel alive but to rear him as he sees fit. He tries to feed him balanced meals and regulate his sugar intake, he demands the child brush his teeth well, instructs him diligently in various academic subjects etc.

Some of this you could argue is for the sake of the mission, i.e. making OCiel as versatile and cultured as possible in order to maintain social connections necessary for revenge. But I kind of have to wonder, is it even necessary? Like is that degree of adhering to societal expectations really required to reach the end goal? I mean maybe I’m wrong here but I feel like there’s other cheaper, quicker ways they could investigate who’s behind the cult than making alliances with other nobility and whatnot. 🤷‍♀️ Sebastian seems to spend more time teaching OCiel dancing or Latin than bloodily interrogating suspicious people who might be connected to the cult.

Same could be said for how Sebastian treats the servants. He praises them when they manage to or at least make good efforts at upholding high standards of etiquette and efficiency in their roles as housekeepers, even though he knows that isn’t really what they’re useful for. They were hired to be bodyguards in essence. I get that they want housekeepers around to make it look “normal” so people won’t question the Phantomhive household but I just find Sebastian’s dedication to molding them into proper servants a little more intense than is probably necessary? Could be he is just tired of doing everything alone but also this guy built a wholeass mansion in a night alone with magic. He could magically clean the whole house alone if he really wanted to, probably? Or maybe he’s running low on MP from not eating lol. Idk I’m just saying he seems to almost enjoy being a teacher even if his students piss him off.

He tells Will he’s “tired of messily sampling every dish available to him” and how that’s his reason for basically starving himself. I guess it would be like… idk a farmer raising a single giant pumpkin and waiting to eat that instead of growing lots of crops and eating regularly? An obsession with cultivation at the expense of well-being.

At one point the reaper says this about Sebastian compared to other demons:

This suggest you don’t *need* to make a contract to eat a soul, which would mean Sebastian’s suffering is self-inflicted. Because he’s obsessed with rearing and tending to things.

He says he enjoys “playing butler” and what that behavior translates to in Sebastian’s day-to-day life is essentially being a care giver. He enjoys raising and caring for things weaker than himself.

We see a similar behavior when it comes to cats. The main difference here I think is that cats dont seem to be considered demon food as far as we can tell. He doesn’t ever try to write off or hide his love of cats. Keep that in mind for later.

He also mentions that there are pets in his world but he basically indicates that he finds them ugly and unappealing. So having affection for other beings doesn’t seem to be an unusual thing for his species per say? It’s just what they find cute is very different from Sebastian.

There is no discussion of the demonic world other than this, Sebastian never returns there or mentions having friends or something akin to family there etc. He never spends time with other demons in the manga canon even though this panel kind of implies they have some sort of world or society? He seems oddly divorced from his own kind, doesn’t he? Or is that just me that thinks so idk

I think ultimately Sebastian finds what is, for his own kind, considered probably ugly and stupid livestock somehow endearing and cannot really cope with that. He is probably considered weird or creepy by members of his own species, and while he’s aptly aware of that he can’t help but be amused by humans and want to impress them. He doesn’t just fulfill the contract he goes out of his way to do it in a fashion that makes humans go “oh wow.” It’s not for the sake of impressing other demons!! They’re not watching. He doesn’t associate with other demons, ever. Only reapers, who I might add were once human dunno if that matters tho. He wants humans to *like him* he goes out of his way to charm humans that will do nothing for him except satiate his own ego and attention span.

But he eats them to survive. And also as a demon, he isn’t supposed to grow attached to humans. So he’s battling with this cognitive dissonance constantly, I theorize. Like he kills and eats people but at the same time, he likes raising them like pets? He loves teaching them things and is proud when he cultivates a human that really stands out among other humans. I have reason to believe he is an outcast in his own society and part of him is pained by that? Idk it’s all speculation but I’m fuckin autistic and stuff so I have to write essays about it.

I can’t find the damn video but there was this one VA live reading of a hypothetical scene where OCiel is dead after Sebastian ate him and he’s still going thru the motions of celebrating the kids birthday like… WTF? This man ate his pet and realized it was a mistake major wtf moment

Sebastian is like one of those Karens that breeds exotic cats and gets competitive at CFA shows…my human is a prime specimen give me an award

[coraleyeshore]

Summer has finally ended in this part of the world. It felt like an endless period of time where the hot of the Sun was so strong that I just wanted to stay under water all day and night. This time it looked like the summer didn’t want to leave. And I get it. There’s nothing like cold and refreshing drinks and the sea to calm the burning skin… The smell of the salt at the beach and the sunscreen mixed with sand. But neither the 40 degrees of weather nor the melancholic smells of summer can stop the Autumn.

It came the 21 of March like every year, except that this time it was so radical like Summer. One day, you are longing for a cold breeze under a 36 degrees Sun and the other day you wake up at 7am with 15 degrees. It felt like a dream come true. The showers are warm again, I don’t have to count to three to get wet in cold water and I can finally enjoy a cup of tea or coffee. It’s really nice, I’m longing to eat some guiso soon.

Days went by really fast. It was yesterday night when I had some sort of epiphany. I’m used to talk to myself because it helps me to understand me better. Sometimes, It’s hard to know why you’re thinking what you’re thinking or why are you acting like you do, so that’s when I start to talk to myself trying to figuring shit out. This past few months, I have been uncomfortable with me, with what I do and with the things I don’t do. Usually it’s easy for me to critique my life, my decisions and to just want to do things by the nether of fact that I have to. The thing is that this things I believe I have to accomplish or want in my life are not necessarily part of me… Those things are not who I am.

There was a moment where I thought “It’s not okay to long to be something I’m not”.

I felt a click inside my mind, like if someone had just turned on the light or the spell had accomplished it’s mission. Finally, after months feeling awkward in my own brain and my own body, after months recognising other’s accomplishments, possessions and longing for me to felt that everything around me was a mistake and it was wrong the place I found myself… At the end, I accepted that I’m me. I don’t have what others because I’m who I am. I’m not in another’s positions because this is my position. What others have it doesn’t have any use to me simply because I’m not them.

Maybe it’s a simple conclusion, probably it isn’t even a dilema. But after feeling stuck so many months, realising something as simple as that can be, it actually felt like the cold of Autumn. A change in the weather and a cold breeze of relief.

(A glance of my eye)

[beatrice-otter]

You are completely misunderstanding the point that’s being made here.

Not wanting open season for criticism is very fundamentally not about writers viewing critique as a threat to their ego or being oversensitive. It’s about the fannish community in general deciding that posting fanfic is more like bringing a dish to a potluck than enrolling in a cooking class.

If you are taking a cooking class, every time you cook something you will get feedback/constructive criticism from the instructor and probably your fellow students. They’ll tell you what went right, what went wrong, and what you should do next time to make it work better. Because the whole point of doing it is to improve your cooking skills with the help of other people.

If you bring a dish to a potluck, the point of a potluck is to enjoy peoples’ company and eat together. If someone brings a dish that’s not very good, well, that happens. You don’t go up to them and tell them everything they should have done. You eat what you want to, pass by the stuff you don’t, and if you can’t say anything nice you don’t say anything at all. If the cook who brought the terrible dish wants to improve, they will ask for help or advice.

Maybe they’re just there for the fellowship and couldn’t care less whether they make something good or not. Maybe they just need practice. Maybe they got an inspiration that didn’t quite turn out the way they expected, but they didn’t want the food to go to waste so they brought it anyway. Maybe they were pressed for time or something went wrong, and they are usually better. Maybe it’s a new recipe and they’ve already figured out what to do next time. Maybe they don’t have the money to buy better ingredients. Maybe your ideas of what that dish “should” be like are radically different from theirs. Maybe it’s none of your business.

I’m pretty good at taking critique; I’ve taken lessons in a number of different types of endeavor, I know how it works, and if I were taking a cooking class, I’d be fine with people telling me what I can improve and how to do it.

But if I bring a dish to a potluck, and you come up to me and tell me what you think is wrong with it, I’m going to tell you not to eat it if you don’t like it, and also, stop being rude. Not because I’m “too sensitive” or “can’t take criticism” or my ego is wounded, but because you are being deeply inappropriate to the situation.

As to “when did it change” the answer will be different depending on what fannish circles you travel in. I’m pretty sure there are still fandom groups around that function like writers’ groups, it’s just that most of them are private (discord communities and the like) instead of public. I started lurking and reading fanfic in the 90s, and to the best of my recollection most places constructive criticism was only welcome if the author requested it; things were much the same in the LJ days when I started posting fic myself. Some communities never allowed criticism; some allowed it sometimes; some it was a regular thing.

But the ones where concrit was a regular thing tended to be smaller for the simple reason that “getting constructive criticism from people you know will give useful feedback” is very different from “inviting any yahoo on the internet who happens to stumble in to yell at you about what a horrible writer they think you are because you didn’t write the story they wanted” which is what happens when you’re in a more open space and allow criticism. (Even if you say “only constructive criticism,” lots of people think their ideas are constructive criticism when it really, really isn’t.)

From what I know from listening to people who were in fanfic circles before I was, part of the issue is the transition from print zines to online posting. Print zines cost money and take a lot of time to make (especially back in the era of the typewriter and the mimeograph), and so only the best stories got published. If you wanted to share your story, you had to learn to write to a certain standard of quality. And the community was fairly small, everyone knew everyone else. So critique was an important part of helping writers get good enough to get their fic in a zine and thus seen by others.

Online posting is both easier to do (so there’s no need to gatekeep who can post stories and who can’t) and easier to find (so you get a LOT more people reading, most of whom you don’t know and who may or may not have any actual clue about writing in general or the type of story you’re trying to tell). So unless you’re in a closed community, the benefits are lower and the risk of assholes shitting on you while claiming it’s “constructive criticism” is much greater. So fannish culture (by and large) changed, though again, different communities have different norms. (Sometimes very different norms.)

But it’s not about writers being sensitive. It’s about deciding that unless otherwise specified ahead of time, posting fanfic is the equivalent of bringing a dish to a potluck, not taking a cooking class.

Hey, if you don't have something nice to say about other people's creations (gifsets, art, fic etc)

then

don't say anything at all.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Hiiii!!! This is the first time I’m requesting so I hope I’m doing this right. If possible could you do a head cannon with S/o reader who sucks at cooking but tries to cook for the boys and excitedly gives them her very….. questionable food. With Leona, Malleus,Vil, Jack and Azul please. Thank you so much💕💕

Curiouser and Curiouser...

Surely the taste will be an improvement over the presentation, Malleus tells himself. He has had Lilia’s cooking many times over and managed to survive those near-death experiences—so this couldn’t possibly be as bad. These are the mantras he repeats in his mind to calm himself as he brings a forkful to his lips,

Malleus is at such a loss for words, he doesn’t quite know how to react—but one look at your eager face, and he knows if may crush you to be told the truth so brazenly. And so, he dons a mischievous smile and adopts a plot on the spot to pull the wool over your eyes.

The trick to being a great magician is knowing how to best utilize one’s abilities. In Malleus’s case, a simple teleportation spell creates the illusion of chewing and swallowing every last morsel of food you pile onto his plate. As soon as it disappears from your sight past his lips, poof—it’s gone likely reappearing in Leona’s lunch.

“It has an interesting flavor. Certainly unique, unlike anything I have ever had, even the dishes provided by my royal chef,” he declares with a croon, spooning another mouthful—and, naturally, magicking it away. Malleus is tactful with his wording, careful to not offend, but also offers his wisdom. “Fufu. With more practice and study, you have the capacity to improve even more.”

Was it wrong of him to trick you? Maybe. But did he spare your feelings? Definitely. You’ll continue on in blissful ignorance, your smile preserved thanks to Malleus’s clemency. And, with any luck, perhaps you’ll be able to hone your culinary skills over time, with Malleus there to push you in the right direction.

Leona outright rejects your food, and he is not graceful about it. It’s clear from the way he turns up his nose and scowls that he has no intention of even trying a bite, or of sparing your precious feelings. (And if you include vegetables in the dish? Well, then he’ll just catapult himself several yards away.)

“You’ve got to be kidding me. There’s no way I’m eating that,” Leona growls, inching away from the plate. “Despite how I may look, I’m a delicate prince with an even more delicate stomach,” he tells you—although his sarcastic, mocking tone doesn’t do him any favors. “Eating food that’s economy class is beneath me.”

Following his harsh rebuttal, he realizes that he’s still hasn’t had anything to eat. In a bout of cranky hangriness (that’s hungry and angry), Leona drags you with him to the NRC cafeteria. There, he tears through a crowd of mon students and returns (looking quite disheveled) with a coveted premium menchi-katsu sandwich in hand.

You sit in the shade of the courtyard’s apple tree as Leona tears his prize up and hands you half. He looks smug about it, as though you should be thanking him, the great and powerful predator, for his kindness and generosity. (If you don’t immediately accept the sandwich, Leona will just stuff it in your mouth himself and gruffly instruct you to “shut up and eat”.)

He reclines against the tree trunk with his own half of the sandwich. Leona tosses you an irritable look before muttering, “Oi. From now on, don’t bother cooking. It’s pointless to even try. Just sit back and let me do it. I’ll be the one to take cafe of you, got it?”

One look at your dish, and Vil gingerly pushes it away with the shake of his head. He’s not one to hold back when it comes to critique, so his comments, while fair, are also brutal and brimming with tough love.

“Stop, stop. I appreciate your efforts, but... efforts alone can only get you so far. I can tell at just a glance that you’ve yet to master the fundamentals.” Vil indicates various points on the platter. “Just how do you think you can pull off a dish this complex if you lack a solid foundation to build off of? You must begin with the basics first!”

It quickly becomes evident to him that you have no clue where to start. Fortunately for you, Vil’s willing to tie up his hair and guide you through some simple things, from kitchen safety to common cooking and cutting techniques. His focus is, of course, on simple, quick, and healthy recipes which suit his busy, on-the-go lifestyle (and are so foolproof that even you can’t mess them up).

Ever the perfectionist, Vil’s not going to let you quit midway through! He’ll give you skill drills and make you practice over and over until you’re entirely comfortable and confident with handling a knife, playing with fire, and seasoning. It’s partly for his own safety (and for the safety of anyone else you want to serve food to), but he also genuinely wants to see you grow and improve yourself.

He wears the most proud smile on his face when you really nail a test or make a considerable improvement. To Vil, it’s like watching the pieces of a puzzle slowly fall into place, finally making a coherent and beautiful image that is you at your full potential. He’s sure that, no matter what you make for him next, it will be something worth a standing ovation.

Every single one of his senses is screaming at him to not to eat your food. Taking a single whiff tells him that the dish is foul, something rotten, despite your best efforts to polish it up. Heck, the fur on his tail stands on end from just looking at it.

Jack brushes away his apprehension and pats down his fur. He refuses to back down from this! He won’t be defeated by food, especially since he knows you out your heart and soul into preparing this for him! Jack vows that he won’t let it go to waste!

He has to hype himself up like he’s doing warm-ups for an important track-meet! Deep breaths, stretches, jogging in place, even mumbling a pep talk to himself under his breath! Staring down at the (potentially) deadly dish only rips open a fresh can of fear in Jack, and only exercise can provide a rush of adrenaline strong enough to fight it off.

Jack tries to conceal the questionable taste and texture of your cooking by wolfing it down as fast as he can. The sooner it is down his throat and into his belly, the less of an opportunity his taste buds will have to fully process it all... right? (Well, that’s the logic Jack is running with.)

When the deed is done, Jack raises a fist in the air almost in slow motion, as though he is a champion proclaiming victory over a powerful adversary. He gives you a dazed grin, his head swimming from the sensory stimulation. “I... I did it. Are you proud of me? I—” aaaand he careens over, his exhausted, heavy body leaning against yours. “... Looks like I was’t as strong as I thought I was. S-Sorry. I’ll have to borrow you for a while...”

Azul understands the pain of putting your time, energy, and resources into making something new—so he wouldn’t want to waste them by rejecting your kind offer of free food. He decides to sample at least one bite out of pure courtesy... and he instantly regrets it.

To Azul’s credit, he hides his repulsion well enough. He covers his disgust by coughing and pretending that the food went down the wrong pipe, then washes out the taste with a considerable gulp of water (he drains almost the entire cup in a few gulps).

Azul has a way of twisting words to persuade others to act in his favor, and now is no different. He puts that silver tongue of his to use and manages to sweet talk you out of letting him off the hook for the rest of the meal! But what will you eat? you wonder—and with a smirk, Azul seats you where he once was.

Shedding his blazer and rolling his sleeves up, he enters the kitchen himself with your plate of food in hand. Not too long after, he exits with that same dish, modified and dressed up to look like a fancy menu item. Azul pulls up a chair across from you and gives you a smile so charming that it makes you forget that you had intended to cook for him in the first place.

“Let me be the one to treat you today,” he insists, offering a spoonful or a forkful. “and if you enjoy it, I can demonstrate exactly how I made this for you. In fact, consider my tutoring services at your disposal. No, no, please—it’s no trouble at all, really. Food is something that is simply better experienced when it is shared with someone you love.”