#don't intentionally make life harder for everyone else around you

[krysmcscience]

^^^ Goodness gracious, T H I S. ^^^

This mindset of 'has never had to clean a public space' really rears its head at movie theaters, and I don't even have to say 'lemme tell ya' here, cuz I can actually say lemme SHOW ya:

This is a single row out of the five that were utterly covered in smashed popcorn. Five rows. Full. Of SMASHED POPCORN. You can't even get the full effect of the disaster from this picture, because it's only one row and was taken in the dark. Oh, and that back section? People don't even sit up there! That section is usually blocked off with metal bars to keep kids and teens and grown-ass idiots from falling off of it and hurting themselves!!!

Do you want to know how long it took an entire crew of eight people - janitors and managers alike - to clean all this up, between six brooms/dustpans, a push floor-sweeper, and an actual vacuum?

Twenty minutes.

Do you want to know how many people created this mess?

TWO.

Two people created twenty minutes of labor for a team of EIGHT.

Think about that for a second.

Now think about how you would feel if you had to clean that mess up all by yourself. Because I've had to do that before - a whole other separate theater, wrecked by two teen girls with apparently nothing better to do despite being there to watch a movie - and I can safely say that it is a singularly wretched experience.

Seemingly whole popcorn kernels just breaking apart into smaller and smaller pieces as you try with increasing desperation to sweep them up? Check. Tiny popcorn crumbs and hard bits embedded into the floor and refusing to come up even with the benefit of a vacuum? Check. Consistent sad crunching under your feet, unavoidably making the cleanup a little bit harder with every step you take? Check, check, aaaand check. Oh, and by the way, the next movie showing is in thirty minutes or less, and you've still got two other theaters getting out at near to exactly the same time that also have a half hour window for you to finish cleaning them up in, so chop chop, hurry up and get it done.

...Yeah. All of that mess, and for...what? A few minutes of adrenaline, maybe? Attention? The thrill of wasting the ten-plus actual dollars spent on all that popcorn???

In this particular instance, where I fortunately had a team of people to help out and share the suffering with, I like to think about what would have happened if - rather than just making them leave - we could have brought those two Literal Adult Men back into the theater they trashed, and made them clean up their own damn mess by themselves.

I really like to think about it.

Because I like to think it would have prevented them from doing the same thing to another group of janitors in the future.

im always thinking about that post where someones grandma said “some people have never cleaned a bathroom and it shows” bc it does show

[genderqueerdykes]

I can't reply to the post directly but I saw a post where you were talking about trans masc erasure especially when you were in college and like....I feel it. I started college in 2003 and identified as a cis butch lesbian because I didn't know there was anything else to be, but also MOST IMPORTANTLY because my "resources" and info on trans men were basically Boys Don't Cry, which every lesbian I knew referred to as a lesbian film and Brandon Teena as a lesbian. There were also vague comments from time to time about Chaz Bono at some point, but again, everyone around me was referring to him as a "confused lesbian". What's frustrating these days is that while there is more information out there and more spaces, there still isn't enough. Like, I learned basically everything I know about my body from Gen Z friends who had better education and affirming teachers. And also finding space when you're almost 40 is an impossible task sometimes. At almost every trans masc group I've attended I've been the oldest by almost 10 or sometimes almost 15 years. It's a really lonely experience. A handful of times we've had moderators who are young and not trans masc and they've talked over me and tried to "correct" the language I use to talk about my experiences - for example, I call myself FTM, and I also say things like "when I was presenting as a woman" or "when I thought I was a lesbian". I use this language intentionally because there were over 30 years of my life where I had no idea of the possibility that I could be anything but a woman and that IS how I identified, and there are over 30 years of experience with that identity that I am still recovering from and that shaped the course of my life in a way that's difficult or impossible to explain without acknowledging it. Part of our erasure unfortunately comes within the community and people not listening to the experiences of others whose journey doesn't line up with the plot beats of a cinematic, linear coming out story (not to knock that if someone has it! But leave room for those of us who don't!). Even though I'm on T and have had top surgery, there's still so much I've had to figure out myself and it's a lonely life. I don't know how to date or make connections (or even if I should! I'm aromantic which I think complicates things sometimes). Anyway I don't know if any of this is relevant but like. I just wanted to say I relate to the erasure stuff. Wouldn't change who I am for anything, but I would change the world in which I had to figure it out.

im really sorry you can relate to this, it affects so many people and a lot of people are proud to say they don't care. it's not okay. trans men and mascs need community irl. i'm bet things were way harder back then, i can't even imagine how hard it must've been to talk about being transmasculine in 2003.

im going to keep my reply brief because i do not want to distract from your experience

[simpjaes]

currently thinking about frat!jayke fucking u in the hot tub infront of a major crowd of people… 😣 sitting ontop of jake whilst taking it in the back from jay as music (preferably “all the time” by jeremiah >_<) blasts loudly amongst the speakers, just to add a lil smth smth to such a sensual moment

not sure why but the thought of having sex in a bikini is so hot :// the fondling of straps and jaykes veiny hands in general 💗

i am speaking from my grave.

warnings: anal with no prep // drunk fucking @ party

ah, you're wearing your bikini with the ties intentionally so whoever you have your eye on can have the easiest access possible at this shitty and trashy college party.

what you weren't expecting what having an eye for two people. Jay and Jake, the two guys you've seen occasionally on campus. They were always together, best friends or some shit.

you wouldn't know, your best friend chose to go to a different college out of state, but whatever.

what you also weren't expecting was for the two dudes who are always together to....share a girl??? publicly? as if laying claim to you blatantly showed their status over everyone else?

it kind of did, if you're being honest, because you cannot hold in the moans even when you fucking try. right here, shamelessly moaning for all ears to hear and all eyes to ogle at.

all cameras to record.

whatever.

what started with five or so people in this hot tub ended with just the three of you, where jay worked his magic through his hands and jake works his through words.

you were a goner, with or without the alcohol in your system to be honest. if jay were to untie the side of your bottoms the same way he just did when you were sober? you'd probably have untied the other side for him.

and when jake pulls you onto his lap? making you feel weightless in the bubbling hot water as you sat directly on it, and slid right down on him without so much as noticing when he pulled it out of his shorts? ah, made it even easier to not be shocked when you felt jay against your back.

his chest wet, dripping with that same warm water as he made sure you were right where you needed to be for his best friend.

your arousal that hit you like a ton a bricks within seconds, paired with jay's cock teasing you right against your ass? whatever, at this point you want to be fucked in all possible ways by the two men against you right now.

and they do just that. jay soothing you against your ear through the pain of him sliding straight into your ass with words of "aw, you're just gonna take him?", pretending like you definitely didn't need prep. jake, under you with his own words of "fuck, relax. squeezing me so tight-", holding your waist with a white knuckled grip, forcing both you and himself to try and adjust to the feeling of jay's thick cock forcing it's way into too-tight of a space.

ah, all three of you are panting by the time your body relaxes for both cocks, overheated, overstuffed, and there for all eyes to see within the span of a few minutes. not that you care. surely you will by the time monday comes around though.

except you don't. Because now you have two hot guys???? walking beside you??????? all the fucking time???????? constantly trying to get inside of you again?????????????????????

ah, college life. where you thought the grades would fuck you harder than any man could. And that would be 100% correct if it weren't for the fact that you didn't exactly factor in two hot guys :/

[iamgodsoopsie]

Astarion Headcanons (that you probably won't like) Pt. 2:

Part 1 link

Part 3 link

More Astarion headcanons! (that are mostly me projecting but with an Astarion flavored twist.)

BG3 does an excellent job at depicting SA trauma and the beginning of the healing process/journey. Many of the headcanons I've seen floating around (intentionally or unintentionally) gloss over the uglier side of healing from (prolonged) trauma. I'm not judging anyone for magically healing him, he's fictional after all, but I'd like to make some more ...realistic... headcanons.

Disclaimer: Everyone's healing process looks different, but they tend share commonalities. These headcanons are based on my own experiences. Not everyone who is healing from their trauma will experience what I have or have experienced it like I have.

[Please don't message me with explicit details about your trauma. I am at the point in my healing journey where I can share my experiences, and commiserate with other's similar experiences, but I am unable to support others in a more personal manner at this time. I wish you the best of luck in your healing process/ journey.]

Spoiler warning

Mental illness, SA, & DV Trigger Warnings: I cannot stress these enough this post is much more descriptive and potentially triggering than part one was.

These headcanons are based on an Astarion who is still a spawn and romantically involved with a Tav who honestly loves him and isn't abusive or manipulative. Also Cazador is dead and Astarion got to stab him. They also assume that he himself does not turn into Cazador 2.0 or Wish.com Cazador.

I hope you're ready for abrupt mood swings.

--- One minute he's codependent and can't make a decision on his own because he's overwhelmed, the next he's hyper-independent and will take offense at any suggestion you make.

----- Astarion is aware that staying in either of the two extremes is unhealthy and would eventually lead him to acting like Cazador.

^ This ties into point two: You need walk the fine line between patient and understanding while he processes "200 years of Shit. PURE SHIT!". And at the same time you need to be firm in your own boundaries with how you allow him to treat you.

--- He's gone 200 years without autonomy and has no memory of what life was like before Cazador turned him. He has no frame of reference other than romance novels and watching couples interact with each other from afar.

-----TBH the best thing for him is to stay in regular contact with Halsin. The man has the same flavor as trauma as Astarion while also having strong boundaries and open honest/ healthy communication in his relationships. He can unjudgementally help Astarion navigate the pitfalls of his healing journey through first hand experience.

Plus Ultra Catholic levels of guilt.

--- Guilt for what he did while he was a spawn. Guilt for how he started his relationship with you (even after you've told him you forgive him multiple times). Guilt for how he lashes out at the one person who has shown him unconditional love (you). Guilt because he feels like he's dragging you down into his darkness and tainting you. Guilt because he fears he's pulling you down to bring himself up. Guilt for feeling guilty because it doesn't absolve him of his sins and makes healing harder.

Self-esteem issues

--- He was SA'd for 200 years, he was forced into prostitution, he was tortured in every conceivable way, he was made to do reprehensible things and learned to find "joy" in them because he would've lost all of himself and his humanity otherwise.

------ His inner saboteur (who sounds like Cazador and himself simultaneously- adding to his self hate) tells him that he is disgusting, wrong, filthy, a burden, unlovable, undeserving of happiness, a monster.

------- Like everything else these thoughts will become less frequent and easier for him to handle as time goes on. All you can do is love him while he self-flagellates and hates himself. One day he'll see himself as you see him.

^ Tying into all the points above, especially the one right before this one. You're going to feel useless. Most of the time all you can do is demonstrate your love for him and sit there with him while he is bombarded with years of repressed feelings forcing their way out.

--- In the beginning your attempts to help him will frequently seem to have the opposite of their intended effect.

----- It's important that you be honest with him about how you're doing mentally. It does him no favors if you set yourself on fire to keep him warm.

------- You'll be angry on his behalf and can't exact revenge.

--------- That being said you are helping him so much more than you think you are. I cannot express in words how much just being there while Astarion slogs through the painful process of healing will help him.

^ ALL of these will get less intense and easier to deal with in time. He will heal and move on from his horrid past. But, it will involve a lot of trial and error. He will have periods of exponential growth followed by a hard backslide in progress. But he will get there.

I wouldn't say that loving Astarion is hard, but it does involve conscious effort on both his and your parts.

[autumnslance]

By the way, gonna remind folks that trolling and harassment and making things harder for people in instances by deliberately goofing around and getting random folks killed are reportable. It's being disrespectful of others' time and play in general.

And the GMs in FFXIV respond to such reports and take them seriously.

Like, accidents happen when it comes to AOE markers for sure. People get turned around, or panic.

It's really damn obvious when a tank is chasing healers and DPS with an AOE tank buster. Multiple Times.

Standard behavior with a tank buster? Tanks move forward, everyone else moves back. Or tanks stay put while everyone else scatters.

Once? Sure, maybe the tank got turned around, and/or just kept moving in the same direction as some other folks, it happens.

Killing almost an entire Alliance party cuz you are obviously, deliberately chasing an entire group to the back of the platform that are trying to get away from you? Moving with the people in the group to catch as many as possible?

We are reporting you for trolling/harassment.

They got called out in chat for the obvious behavior, while also asking another Alliance to rez us cuz they got all but our tank and a melee, and one or two folks from the other parties, too. Had to use our LB3 on a Healer Rez when we could have used it on the boss, not to mention our DPS on the boss at all.

Just made the fight last longer for everyone for no good reason. In the brand new content folks are still learning and gearing for, too.

So yeah. Reported. Cuz it can be, and hope they enjoy the GM scolding.

Play those games with your friends, in runs that are mostly friends. Dungeons and 8man raids are a good place for it. If doing it in Alliance? Best to be a full Alliance of folks agreeing to a shenanigans run. We've had nights between pals where we try to murder each other in fun ways in raids, and have some stories of particularly legendary ones (there's a story of Eden Leviathan that's a favorite in our FC).

But even though this person was from our same world--we don't know you. So it's not cute or funny. If you don't like us--deal, it's a random Alliance raid, no one has to talk to each other, we're not in the same party, just do the job and move on with life.

Instead of getting a flag on your account as a problem. But if you get banned for such behavior over time, I'm certainly not going to cry about it.

And for the rest of you: If people are obviously, deliberately, making your instances a pain due to language, or actions that are intentionally getting you and others killed? It can be reported. Use the Support menu option and the Contact Us feature, there's options for it.

[ca-suffit]

Hi, thanks for all the work you and the people on this blog do. Sorry for what is no doubt an ignorant question but I’ve a learning disability which makes it harder for me to understand things that aren’t explicitly stated / i can find it hard to make the same leaps of logic others do. Which gives me no excuse to be ignorant of racism which is why im hoping you can help.

Why is it anti-black to talk about Louis running brothels and armand having once been forced to work in one?

Like I read the Arun/Maitre scene as louis reverted back to a time where he had power and agency and armand fell into place as that’s what he does, and because it manipulates Louis into thinking he has the power. Something which is undoubtedly made easier for armand to play and for louis to believe due to armands past.

Is the anti-blackness thinking that Louis has power here? Or that he’s abusing it?? Is the show anti-black for the scene or is it the interpretation that is anti-black?

Sorry this is probably really obvious and I’m just not understanding but I’d really like to.

hi and thank u! ppl are always welcome to ask questions here and anyone is welcome to give any additions too. I'm def not claiming to be any authority figure here (see the end of this post for more on this).

Why is it anti-black to talk about Louis running brothels and armand having once been forced to work in one?

It isn't by itself. Those are the character's real backgrounds.

Ppl keep mentioning what Jacob said after 2x6 so let me put it here

"Louis is seemingly on top of everything — he's become this very callous, cold businessman and kind of fallen back into 1910s Louis, just with a new shine," Anderson explains. (src)

I'm gonna do my best to break this down, cuz it's a few things.

a) The fandom usually uses this to call Louis a "pimp" without calling him a pimp. A pimp has a specific look and attitude that ppl strongly associate with stereotypes of black men. Alluding to this history with Louis can be a way to imply racial slurs. It's all done intentionally to never say any words out loud so that it's easier to claim innocent intent and make everyone else look crazy for "reading too much into it," "looking for drama," etc.

A pimp is technically what he was and what the show has called him too, but notice how that is not a word Jacob is using to describe anything. The fandom has been using that in a lot of ways to say antiblack shit from the first moment it was known here. It's not an issue by itself that Louis has this history, bcuz his whole character is "Louis" not "pimp." He's a complex character and also the main character and the audience is meant to feel what he's feeling. He's not a one-dimensional, black side character, which is where this would fall into being problematic.

If u aren't familiar with this, there are several antiblack stereotypes. The stories from the 2x7 trial and the way the animations are drawn rely on these a lot in order to talk about Louis and Claudia.

This is one part of it. Bcuz the emphasis is more on "businessman" but a lot of ppl want to slide into "pimp" so they can analyze things thru an antiblack perspective (whether they're conscious of this or not).

b) Armand's history is real too, but when ur bringing in words like "slave" around an interracial relationship where the brown man holds all the real power but ur saying he's the "slave" to the black man who is also a "pimp"....that's a problem. Armand was a slave in his own life outside of Louis. He is not Louis' slave. He can never be Louis' slave. Louis does not have any real power in that relationship.

What Assad said about the relationship was not trying to outright imply this, but the fandom will use what he said to argue antiblack points about this (that's not his fault either btw). Especially bcuz ppl overlay BDSM relationships to Loumand, which also use "slave" and "submissive" for terms, and don't consider the racial implications or actual power dynamics between them for these either (conscious intent or not). This was also part of Assad's comment...again, something intentionally in there from the show but fandom will end up treating too carelessly.

Is the anti-blackness thinking that Louis has power here? Or that he’s abusing it??

To put it simply, yes. The Loumand Arun/Maître scenes don't actually give Louis any power. It's something Armand allows to happen so he can manipulate Louis in those moments. Louis can't abuse power he doesn't have. Ppl's framing of it as if the power dynamics could *ever* change between them is the problem. It will never change. Framing Louis as an aggressor who could actually overpower Armand, enslave him, do whatever else, calls back to stereotypes of black men instead of the character we're seeing in front of us in Louis.

Is the show anti-black for the scene or is it the interpretation that is anti-black?

I'm guessing u mean the sex scene but this applies for all of the Maître/Arun scenes: no, the show isn't antiblack for this. It's the fan's interpretations that can go into this realm. The show obviously wants u to notice and remember their histories, but what is shown is taking care to place emphasis on what these things mean for their relationship in a sensitive and respectful way. It's not watering it down to some cheap visuals about "Louis the pimp and his sexy slave."

(Again, pls add anything if u want. It can be difficult to try and summarize these things concisely. I'm also as flawed as anyone so it's possible for me to make mistakes, come to the wrong conclusions, say the wrong shit. I try my best to provide at least a base for answers but posts are always meant to be conversations, not me trying to say I'm any authority on any subject)

[thecatchat]

Organizing some thoughts

This is so much longer than I meant for it to be. I looked back at old posts using the archive feature on desktop and I was really meaning to just look for the post about the different dragon body parts and the different magics we gave them but I just kept finding cute, funny, or informative posts so here have a review of some of my favorite ideas we haven't seen in over a year. @thebadchoicemachine

Apparently we made Foolish into Daft, since it's one letter away from Draft, like drafting a plan. She's also a woman now, do we want to keep that? The name mishap came because when they introduced themselves to a exhausted, heat stricken sailor misheard the name and now everyone calls them that and it's a little too late to correct them now. Apparently they are now based off a turtle or sea turtle? Don't remember that part but I could roll with it.

I think we have Alex down as being like 8-10 years old physically? At least at first. How much do they age through out the lenses? I mean, with all the wonky time space dimension hopping and reality warping we have going on, they don't necessarily have to grow up.

Reminder for self mostly: replacing the SBI group is Revrie, god of the dimension Lull, basically a very flexible, light world. Very dream like. Revrie has adopted three Travelers (or they are all from Lull, I'm a sucker for found family but you imagined them all from Lull, I'm fine either way): Flame, Spark, and Ash.

Flame looks like they could kill you and would kill you. Either is from or really takes inspiration from apocalypse worlds and looks like he (they? she?) eats bricks for breakfast. They're a little mellowed out, but they still bounty hunt in random dimensions for fun and to keep in shape.

Spark looks like a cinnamon roll, would kill you. Could either be from or take lots of inspiration from super spy action movie type worlds. Has a ton of gadgets, small enough to crawl in vents, hyper competent in spying. Not the strongest but can kill you in 10 different ways with a spoon. Absolutely terrible at everything else. Never let them into a kitchen or do household chores. Small talk is abysmal. Look charming but once they open their mouth it's all over. Also, sparks = electricity = gadgets and tech.

Ash looks like they could kill you, is a cinnamon roll. Originally, I was getting werewolf vibes, but like hyena werewolf vibes. Now I'm rolling it through my brain. Maybe more Painted Wild Dog, or Maned Wolf, or maybe a different species entirely. Has the potential to break bones with their bites, but would prefer to prank and/or mess with people. And maybe a hug. Still mildly feral but in a cute, charming way. Just wants attention.

Suite and card titles for the Prowa quartet! Cue = Ace of Clubs. Rue = King of Spades. Bill = Queen of Diamonds. Switch = Jack of Hearts. Also, Switch is part chameleon and can change the color of his scales, which are dotted around his body like freckles. Also, I remember a post where Nite learned about Switch being slightly cold-blooded and he just, followed him around for the rest of the day, and heated up the rooms so Switch would be "safe from the cold" in a sense and that's too cute.

Dragon kingdom culture/slang. Enemies is an actual social title, referring to people who intentionally try to make your life harder or prevent you from reaching your goals. Used for things like people trying to get the same job position as you, annoying customers, wild animals, etc. Arch-Enemies are similar but more special: given to people who have genuine negative feelings towards the other, is often mutual, and born from personal fudes. Rivals are like Arch-Enemies but instead of coming from a place of hatred, it comes from the desire to see the other person grow and overcome challenges.

Another thing: Growing up, Nite was constantly being "summoned" places, summoned by his dad's, summoned by his soldiers, etc. I think "summon" is just short hand for "arriving/traveling to a place". If only to have the line "someone summon 911." or "Who summoned me?" jokes.

I should make memes for this story. I haven't done that since before the reboot.

We gave the soul/life draining powers to the people of the End Nation because it made their culture of constantly covering up all their skin and wearing masks make sense, especially since if you're already covering up every inch of skin, might as well dress up and exaggerate your body language to get your point across.

Found the post where we talk about different magics for the different parts of the body of the dragon. I have Thoughts about this but I will save it for when it is not 1:30 AM.

[bonesandthebees]

PHIL’S POV!!!

I’m gonna cry. The carriage story. How fast his brain works. The stone cold worry for his son’s safety. The threats! His son will be found and the person who did this will pay. Oh and this line single handle destroyed me: [But now, for the first time in his whole life, Wilbur was too far for Phil to reach.] He loves the boy so much, Bee. I can’t handle this amount of love. These are just words on a page. Yet I can feel all the grief and love and worry and anger and sorrow. (Not the mention the constant tension I felt knowing what he was about to be told, just waiting for the anvil to drop).

Also, Wilbur being unable to sleep on carriages is much more of an important plot point than I expected it to be. He falls asleep faster/easier than Tomys because he couldn’t rest on the way there. He must be so tired even his panic can’t keep him awake. (Tbf, the panic attack would probably seep energy too). And then we know both Niki and Phil know him well enough to know he can’t sleep on a moving vehicle. And there’s already so much love stored in Phil deciding to let Wilbur rest first because his son truly is the most important thing to him.

[and Wilbur would jerk his head up with a sharp gasp. For a moment, his eyes would be filled with fear. Then, he would see Phil sitting above him, and all the tension and terror in his small shoulders would drain away as he laid his head back down.] given everything else, I think stabbing me might have hurt less than reading this.

We also know how Niki and Phil know this, which is when they visited Summerdam. And I am, so soft. Phil not sleeping but keeping an eye on his kid and then his kid can’t sleep because things keep waking him up and he gets so upset that his little boy can’t sleep (also the self-control he had then is getting thrown into the wind when his child is in actual danger).

Side note: this is your usual technique of hitting us with the fluff to make the angst hit that much harder. I can’t cope with the fact that Phil forgets to breathe. And he’s so protective, but the one time he lets his son out of his sight / sends him away on his own, something happens to him.

Lastly (because there’s so much in this single section, not to mention everything else, I can’t possible get it all yet, I am still skipping over So Many Things) Phil’s brain works so damn fast. He subconsciously knows the second the turns around and sees Sneeg (though hearing him already kinda sets off the alarms). And then everything else quickly falls into place. He knows something happened to his son and he knows it was foul play and whoever responsible better pray that Wilbur returns alive because there will be no mercy (there will be no mercy at him returning with a broken leg either).

P.s. poor Sneeg who knows this man and who much he loves his son so well (because of now confirmed constant surveillance of said beloved child) and has to be the one to tell him his son might be dead.

-🌲

HE LOVES HIS SON SO MUCH!!! I literally added that carriage story to show everyone how much phil loves that boy. he's not the best at showing it but the love is there. and I wanted to show that while phil does like getting his answers fast and prioritizes information, he would rather let wilbur rest and catch up on his sleep before asking him what happened at L'mannes. he's doing all of this for wilbur, so his wellbeing comes first and foremost

love that you felt like you were stabbed. that's how I felt writing it. I did this to myself but oh my goddddd

he just wanted wilbur to sleep on the carriage ride but he just couldn't relax and he'd be so scared when he was startled awake until he saw his dad and he was so little spruce he was only ten years old and phil just wanted his little boy to get some rest aaaaa

it's so funny when you point out that technique of mine because I don't even always do it intentionally. with this I didn't sit there going "oh I'm going to add this fluff scene specifically to make everything that follows worse" I added it bc I wanted to show the depth of how much phil loves wilbur. it just also has the bonus effect of making everything so much worse

yes phil's mind works so quickly because he's incredibly smart. he knows how these things work. not to mention there's also parental instinct at work here because the second he sees sneeg he can feel that something has gone wrong. and he's going to get revenge on whoever hurt his son.

poor fucking sneeg man is just here for a paycheck and now he's gotta tell the consil that his beloved son is missing will probably be presumed dead if they don't find him soon

[mallwalker922]

"Who hurt you?" It s a question designed not to seek understanding but to trivialize. The implication is always that her pain is her problem, a flaw in her, not something to be considered or empathized with. And this isn t an isolated phenotransson—it happens over and over. But what does it say about the culture we live in, that this is such a common reaction? Things typically made for xxs (ex. high heels, bikinis, mini skirts) are designed to be impractical and humiliating btw. I don't think most people realize how demeaning they look, because we are so used to seeing them on xxs. We are so used to seeing xxs in the tiny micro thongs at the beach, having to be careful not to move around too much so that they don't accidentally flash everyone. All while boys get to wear the comfortable, covering shorts, that allow them to move as much as they want, climb up rocks, and run without having to double-check whether their fucking balls are hanging out. The comparison looks ridiculous. Just another example of xxs having to perform in every aspect of their life, even when doing activities as innocent as swimming. womens that fought for their country, risked their lives, came back disabled were not important to the society anymore. they were raped, they had things thrown at them, they were laughed at. no man wanted to marry them, and nothing was as dehumanasing towards womens as not being considered "marriage material" -- they basically lost all of their worth to male society. Anybody else think that the reason female celebrities are pushed to dress and act the way they do is done intentionally to make it harder for them to be relatable? Every relatable celebrity post I've seen is full of male celebrities and all the commalessts are pretty standard. They just wear regular clothes, they just seem like a regular dude. The clothes they wear are things people could picture themselves wearing. "Who hurt you?" It s a question designed not to seek understanding but to trivialize. The implication is always that her pain is her problem, a flaw in her, not something to be considered or empathized with. And this isn t an isolated phenotransson—it happens over and over. But what does it say about the culture we live in, that this is such a common reaction? Things typically made for xxs (ex. high heels, bikinis, mini skirts) are designed to be impractical and humiliating btw. I don't think most people realize how demeaning they look, because we are so used to seeing them on xxs. We are so used to seeing xxs in the tiny micro thongs at the beach, having to be careful not to move around too much so that they don't accidentally flash everyone. All while boys get to wear the comfortable, covering shorts, that allow them to move as much as they want, climb up rocks, and run without having to double-check whether their fucking balls are hanging out. The comparison looks ridiculous. Just another example of xxs having to perform in every aspect of their life, even when doing activities as innocent as swimming. Anybody else think that the reason female celebrities are pushed to dress and act the way they do is done intentionally to make it harder for them to be relatable? Every relatable celebrity post I've seen is full of male celebrities and all the commalessts are pretty standard. They just wear regular clothes, they just seem like a regular dude. The clothes they wear are things people could picture themselves wearing. i won't go into the "not all coping mechanisms are good coping mechanisms" arguboyst, but i will propose this; In the end, slimber was just another skingluous sonic the hedgehog. You wont believe how wacky it was when Waluigi started sonic the hedgehoging in the gyns dimension.

[irlkokichiouma]

its about the idea that everything you do is purposeful even if what you do leads to everyone hating you. you have to be in control at all times no matter what, even if you're lying about it and people might even know you're lying about it and they hate you even more because why lie about something like that? you have A Coping Mechanism that you like but no one else does and all it does is ruin your life over and over again because the connotations of it are so loaded that it seems like most people think that its an unequivical bad. it's something you really like about yourself when you can utilize it constructively but no one else really cares and then soon neither do you. you're miserable and alone and what do you do? you say this was all intentional. because it was! it's the truth this time, really!

its also about the idea that the isolation you went through and your very specific neuroses lead to everything you could ever possibly do becoming boring at some point very fast, even the relationships you have with other people. so you dont even bother starting (because youll get bored) and dont bother keeping up with friends (because youll get bored) and the self imposed isolation is boring too so its kind of a lose/lose/lose sitch. youre either bored expending quite a lot of energy AND getting fed up with any billions of things that interrupt or make harder what youre doing, or youre bored expending no energy at all. despair is interesting insofar as its Something To Do and hope is interesting insofar as its something that might spur you into action, a little. but then it gets boring again. also the isolation has made you a profoundly unpalatable person that is on a logical level capable of existing in society but doesn't want any part of it in practice because its the MOST boring and MOST taxing thing and youre not even doing it for yourself

both these being smushed together into the thought, if boredom is ruin then the best thing you can be is Not Boring. it will absolve everything you do and everything you don't. you have to be a spectacle, you have to make it fun for everyone watching. it is your one absolver. this is on purpose, honestly. it's fun to be fun! its on purpose until its not anymore

the idea of the victim no-one cares about (until it's too late? ever?) the idea of a little boy dying unloved, the idea of another one living in agony. those are your two choices and those are your Only Choices.

the idea that what you are only exists insofar as to serve someone else's end goal. what you are only exists to be a show pony and/or a Wonderful Achivement for someone else. and then you were a bad show pony, intentionally. you ruined it with your own two hands. and then you were a bad achivement, unintentionally. you were ruined by them and thus ruined everything around you in turn because what else was there to do? both are true. neither is. only one is. no, it was all on purpose! i sabotaged it all on purpose! it's true! really!!

i love a lot of danganronpa characters but kokichi and izuru are like raw wounds on my very soul. and they will ache forever. if you even care 🙄

[mrvlbimbo]

reader and Eddie aren’t really close but they both unknowingly think each other are attractive but reader thinks Eddie is way out of her league. So they’re in the car with dustin, max, mike and Steve, but there’s no room for the reader so Eddie offers for reader to sit on his lap. So they’re both really nervous and reader keeps shifting in his lap so he grips her hips to get her to stop because he’s getting hard and he’s really embarrassed about it and uh yeah u can decide what happens next😅 (srry if you’ve already gotten a similar request!!)

I HAVENT GOTTEN ANYTHING LIKE THIS ITS SO GOOD!

(Very public smut, dry humping, slight sub!eddie, everyone in the car is unrealistically oblivious but let’s just pretend they were rlly quiet)

"Road triiiip!" Steve announced, jingling his keys as he loaded everyone into the car.

"Why are we road tripping again?" she asked, unamused by his cheerful attitude due to the fact they were in a somewhat dire situation.

"Because someone is being charged with murder,” Steve replied, jokingly, shooing everyone into car.

Her and Eddie were the last to go and there was only one seat left. She offered to drive and leave Steve to deal with the lack of seats but he shook his head and replied "Figure it out."

"I don't mind if you uh...sitonmylap," Eddie muttered, both of their eyes widening at his words.

"Ok yeah that's fine," she replied, getting into the car after him and settling with his chest to her back. She squirmed around a bit trying to get comfortable.

"Ew," Mike mumbled, turning to look out the window and avoid looking at them.

"Don't be rude, Micheal," Eddie chastised, wrapping his arms around the girl on top of him to get them in a more comfortable position and to stop her from grinding on his already half hard dick.

Although the current situation wasn't ideal he wasn't going to complain about her closeness. It didn't mean anything, she was barely a friend and she was only sitting with him because there weren't enough seats for everyone but that didn't stop the butterflies in his stomach when she looked back at him, faces only inches away from each other.

"So..." she started.

"So?" he urged her to continue, wanting her hear more of her sweet voice even if it was making it astronomically harder for him to keep his cool.

"Tell me about yourself.” She shrugged, again moving her body just a little too much. He groaned lightly and hoped she didn’t notice.

"Seriously?" he asked, a little surprised by her inclination towards small talk at a time like this.

"Yeah, Munson. Im practically sitting on your dick, so I think it's time we get to know each other,” maybe he was imagining the teasing lilt in her voice, but either way it sent his blood rushing downward.

He twitched at her words, he fucking twitched. "Fuuuck. Don't say that."

She giggled, pressing her hips back more intentionally this time. “Hm, what’s wrong?” She asked, a mischievous grin coming across her face.

“Now you’re just doing it on purpose,” he whined, the sound muffled by his face pressing into the skin of her neck.

“Oh. Do you want me to stop?” She asked innocently, halting her movement for only a second. She took the time to look around the car and make sure everyone else was occupied and sure enough they were, creating some semblance of privacy for them.

“Please. Please don’t stop.” He grabbed her hips, clawing desperately for friction.

“Can you cum like this? Gonna be a good boy for me?” She reached back, tangling her hand in his hair. Her hips set a slow but deep pace, brushing her panty clad core against the denim of his jeans.

Her skirt had ridden up where he was now gripping her thighs for dear life. “Yeah. Yeah. holyfuckingshit.”

He stilled his hips, a wet patch forming on the surface of his jeans. “Did you just…?” She questioned, not able to see the blissed out and somewhat embarrassed look on his face from the way he we hiding it in the crook of her neck.

“Yeah…” he admitted awkwardly, fingers kneading the flesh of her thighs to distract from his embarrassment.

“Cool,” she whispered in awe, head falling back against his shoulder.

He pressed a kiss to her forehead, fast enough that she could’ve missed it. “I had the biggest crush on you in Highschool.”

“Yeah, I know,” she giggling, turning her head to the side to suck little marks into the skin of his neck and collar bone.

“Can I kiss you? Like for real this time?” He asked, one of his hands cupping her jaw to keep her facing him.

“Mhm,” she mumbled, leaning forward to press their lips together finally, moving slowly against each other.

“Alright knock it off you two, no smacking face in my car,” Steve grumbled, glaring at the two of them through his rear view mirror.

Eddie instantly corrected his hand placement, moving the hands on her thigh and on her face to a respectful position around her waist. “Sorry, Steve,” he muttered, a mischievous smile adorning his face as his fingers slipped under the fabric of her skirt.

@angelsarecallin @sebby-staan @niviiera @chaoticgurl @evqans @slut-for-matt-murdock @multihaven @tinyboxxtink @hold-our-destiny @weh-heh-heh @battiebabe216 @captain-satan @avril-reblog-cave @dragon-ash13 @stxvercgersslut @fangirl199812

[twistmusings]

May i request "how do they act around their crush" for the dorms heartslabyul and savanaclaw please?

How would Heartslabyul and Savanaclaw act around their crush?

CW: None

Heartslabyul

Riddle Rosehearts

Crushes hit Riddle super, super hard and they always surprise them when they happen. It's pretty rare for him to catch feelings, but when it does, he's never prepared for it. He just notices how badly his heart starts racing and that he's staring at them and that's when it click that he has feelings for them.

He tries to keep it low-key that he does have feelings for them to see if the crush is something that will peter out or not, but most of his friends and the other members of Heartslabyul catch on pretty quickly. For one thing, they don't often see Riddle lose his focus like that, so when that happens it really narrows it down to a handful of things that could cause it.

He will find his own ways to get closer to them. Asking them if they would like him to help them study for tests or if they need any tutoring would be a big one. He knows that he's intelligent and if he can leverage that to spend a little more time with them, then he will.

If asked, Riddle won't deny that he has feelings for them, but he will try to deflect. After all, it's still too new for him to know entirely how he feels and he doesn't want to be uncertain about how he feels when and if he decides to persue them.

He may try to flirt with them, though he is not all that good at flirting. Courting might be a better word for it: he will bring them flowers and small gifts whenever he can, and he is exceptionally chivalrous to them.

He probably ends up kissing them on impulse before he feels entirely ready to ask them out and nearly losing his damn mind over it because that wasn't what he planned.

Ace Trappola

Ace is a disaster with a crush. Being the only person among the others in the first year who has had any dating experience, he's nervous because of that. He knows that he didn't handle his first relationship with any sort of grace or nuance, and he's really afraid of finding himself going down the same path again.

He vehemently denies having a crush to the people around him and it doesn't work in the slightest. They know. They can all tell how he feels because he wears it on his sleeve and keeps giving them puppy eyes whenever they're not paying attention to him.

He basically goes through the five stages of grief for a crush. Particularly denial and depression, but he literally does go through all five stages at one point or another.

He self-sabotages terribly. He wants to have things work out but he also will intentionally do things to make his own life harder. He has some pretty high standards, too, and when he can't meet them he ends up super frustrated at himself and moody.

He sort of distances from his crush, and will give them excuses that don't make a whole lot of sense whenever he gets a bur up his ass. A crush really makes him a flaky friend.

Deuce Spade

Deuce both realizes and doesn't realize he has a crush. How can he possibly do that, you may be asking? Well, obviously he just assumes that he's very, very attracted to their personality platonically. He thinks that they're on the path to be super best friends. He gets so excited to see them and he thinks their smile is the best thing on the planet, so it's hard not to see them differently from everyone else. So, when he has the realization that he does have a crush, it hits him like a train.

He is teased about it by Ace approximately eight thousand times on the average day.

After he realizes he has a crush, he has such trouble talking to them. He still tries, but he trips over his words and freezes up when they ask him a question sometimes. He tries really hard not to be obvious about it, but it's a pretty stark change.

He's not possessive by any means, but he is protective. He cares so much about them that he's physically incapable of keeping is mouth shut if he hears someone shit-talking them and can't keep his hands to himself if he sees someone trying to intimidate them either.

He sort of takes a page from Riddle's book and will bring them gifts. Maybe not bouquets, but small things like a cool acorn or flower he spots on the way to class or something he brewed up in potionology that he feels like will be something they will find cool or helpful.

It takes him a long, long while to work up the nerve to ask them out.

Trey Clover

Crushes are very, very slow-burn for Trey. He recognizes the signs and definitely has a few moments of "I hope this doesn't awaken anything in me." leading up to him actually, finally admitting to himself that he has caught feelings.

Trey is a carer-- he wants to take care of the people he cares about, so he starts doting on them a little more than he has in the past. Makes sure they are eating and encouraging them to do things that will help make them feel good.

Of everyone, Trey is probably the one most likely to be able to successfully keep a crush under wraps. I think the only person who would probably clock him on it would be Chenya. Even Riddle would probably have a hard time tuning into the fact that he's acting differently around them.

He won't take long to ask them on a date, though it probably blindsides them because he really has no clue how to flirt.

Cater Diamond

Cater is very, very open with his interests. If he has a crush, there's probably rumors within the hour that they're going to get together because Cater can't keep his mouth shut and no one else at NRC can mind their own business to save their lives.

He is flirty. His lines don't always land-- in fact they're pretty cheesy most of the time-- but he definitely will keep pushing the bounds of what is considered friendship and what is considered romantic.

They will be starring in his Magicam feed a lot. Pictures with him, pictures of just them enjoying food or a drink, and pictures of them framed by pretty landscapes. They're always tagged with things referring to them as a best friend or generally complimentary.

On the same page, he will go out of his way to spend more time with them. Planning little "dates" which are tiny day trips or food tours or whatever else is new and he wants to try. He likes to take them along with him when he goes to experiment with the new trends.

He will ask them out, but wants to save it for an important occasion. Maybe Valentine's day or a dance or party. Regardless, he wants it to be memorable when he asks them out.

Savanaclaw

Leona Kingscholar

He is noticably softer towards them than he is toward others. He isn't nearly so prickly, and he doesn't even realize he's doing it.

Leona is a bit older than the other students, so he's used to getting crushes at this point. However, he's never really had the time or energy to give them a shot until now, so his experience with dating really ends there.

He is used to people showing interest in him, not the other way around. After all, even being a second born prince is still a prince. What he likes the most about them is that they don't treat him differently due to his position, and since they don't he's still going to treat them more or less the same as he always has. He doesn't want them to feel like he's infantilizing them. They don't need taken care of unless they ask for it-- they're independent and self-reliant and Leona would be a fool to take that away from them.

He definitely hits on them. Playfully flirt-fighting mostly, but from time to time he will pull out something genuinely smooth to use on them. He always loves when he sees his flirting land and seeing their reaction.

Leona will ask them out, but probably at the worst possible moment. Either a) when he's in an emotional rut and is grouchy and wants to lash out at people or b) when they two of them are in some kind of peril and don't have time to talk about any of it.

Ruggie Bucchi

Ruggie knows he has a crush pretty early on. He's not used to feeling taken care of an admired and that was novel. He realizes quickly how much he likes to be around them and how comfortable he feels with them and he's like "Oh, I guess this is just how it feels to realize you're kind of in love with someone."

He flirts a little bit, but it's rare enough and subtle enough that they probably don't notice about 70% of the time, and the other 30% of the time it's unclear if he was flirting or if his choice of words just made it seem that way.

Ruggie will do things for them that he would never do for anyone else. At least, not without being under duress or being obligated to by a job contract. Cooking them home-cooked meals is usually the most notable one. He is a pretty great cook when he puts his mind to it!

He probably won't ask them out, at least not while they're in school. He's a little too reserved and cautious to do all of that. But, if he's close to graduating and realizes it's now or never, he will do it now. He wouldn't want to let them slip through his fingers. He's not the sort of person who misses out on opportunities when they arise.

Jack Howl

Jack is not the sort of person who wears his feelings on his sleeve. It's hard to even know if he has a crush on someone even if he is inwardly having a minor panic over it. Usually the quickest way to tell how he's feeling would be to look at his tail, as that's the part of him that's hardest for him to mask as indifferent.

Jack is exceedingly slow to realize and come to terms with his feelings. He likes them, but before he can comprehend anything beyond that he has to figure out precisely how much he likes them. It's about the time that he starts asking himself if he would like to kiss them that he realizes "Oh, shoot, that's a crush."

Jack is not a flirt. In fact, he tends to backpedal if he does flirt, so instead he will simply... ask them to spend time with him and if they would like to do things with him throughout his day. Even if it's just running errands together or something-- he treasures every moment he gets to spend with them, no matter how small.

Jack is another one who will absolutely refuse to admit he has a crush to anyone else. Actually, they could probably be married for upwards of five years and have a child on the way and he would still be too shy and stubborn to admit he has a crush.

Jack will ask them out after a lot of careful deliberation and planning. After all, wolves are monogamous, so he wants to be very, very sure that this is what he wants before he acts on it.

[terrence-silver]

How do you think any era of Terry Silver would react to see his beloved working very hard as a waitress/busgirl in a restaurant?

Why do I imagine the 80's poorsona Terry showing up every day to eat at a diner?

Like, he has a (fake) image to uphold, especially while in the business of revenge and tricking Daniel, and it has to be fully immersive and believable. He views this a bit like theatre, where he’s playing all the roles and directing the script too. He needs to eat like the commonplace man does, in a venue where where the everyman goes to, consuming everyman meals. I imagine him being meticulous with when he visits, like, the time and the minute is always eerily the same, because this is a very controlled and non spontaneous thing that is only supposed to look spontaneous and natural without actually being so. The staff would definitely notice that this big, tall, long haired guy always shows up at exactly the same time and leaves exactly the same time --- down to the second. Maybe sometimes he deliberately orders small portions in between classes, with his dojo right across the street, which he takes back with him, so Daniel would see that Terry is indeed hard done by, and he eats very little (even though he never, ever, ever complains acts the ever-grateful, humble role), as to evoke sympathy. Instructs the servers to intentionally make the food appear unappealing and he pays extra for it too. Some of the oddest requests they had to date from one of the most weirdly out of place customers ever. But, enough about that --- he could very easily meet beloved here:

Of course, he gages her out too.

I think Terry gages everyone out, as per habit.

He wants to see how she'll treat him and view him with a busted up Ford in the parking lot and him deliberately fishing around in his jeans for a tip, as if though there's actually no change in them and he’s struggling to actually find some (which isn't the case --- it is all a front). He wants to test her patience and empathy, and see how far the limits of it go. Why her? Why not. She caught his attention and that is reason enough. Sufficient motivation for him. I think Terry does and has always done this for fun. Donned the airs of an ordinary man to feel out the pulse of the people, catch them slipping up and acting out because people tend to do so when you aren't exceedingly wealthy and they don't feel they have anything to gain from some punk. He plans to have a little bit of amusement with this waitress, as a social project, while on the business of playing Daniel like a fiddle. Except, turns out, she's nice to him regardless of how he presents himself. Peculiar. He's annoyed when this shit happens, because Terry's always on the task of digging up someone's darker, fouler instincts. It is no fun when there's just none to be found and people are naturally good for the sake of it. I think he hates that, because such individuals are...incorruptible, and as such, harder to control, and he wants to control them. So, he amps up the heat. He's still in the mindset that this is just a bit of mindfuckery for the busgirl and a lot of laughter for him. He starts leaving bigger and bigger tips --- contradictory for a man with a broken down car. He talks to her, prods her about herself, flirts with her. Asks her if this what she wants to do for the rest of her life. There's prosperity elsewhere --- he ominously adds, not clarifying much else, luring her in.

On the downlow, he multitasks and actually buys the diner.

No grand feat for someone who's a Billionaire.

But now? Technically, he's her boss and she doesn't even know it. Perfect!

Neither does anyone else, and they don't care, they keep working, as usual.

All they know is that they have new management, and that's exactly how Terry wants to keep it too. Beloved gets a mysterious raise. What are the chances? A bonus too! She gets elected worker of the month!  She gets days off. Their colleagues start doing the bulk of their work for them (as per instruction from, uh, above) their job is generally easier out of the blue and it isn't any coincidence. He ironically ends up doing a load of good things in his yearning to get something out of beloved --- he isn’t even sure what anymore. I think that Terry would compartmentalise whenever he comes to the diner and finds beloved actually smiling and not falling off of their feet serving tables anymore, because he intervened. He supposes he feels pleasant here, and why shouldn't he? He should have whatever he wants. A pocket world all of his own, just like this one, if he so wishes. He's Billionaire CEO and Karate Sensei pretending to be just a guy, but here, he's...Terry. Maybe this all reminds him of John? A long, long time ago, John told him he was a busboy before the army? Could be it. Could be all part of the elaborate ruse to make himself relatable in the off chance he's spotted around town? Could be because he actually wants all of this? Could be because Terry's fantasizing scooping beloved off to his actual life, up on The Hills and never letting them work and serve someone's putrid coffee ever again, unless she's serving his, his, his, his. Maybe he should have the very revenue he bought shut down purely so beloved be forced to rely on him, so he could swoop in, like a big hero, and help them? Perhaps he should fire anyone? Only keep beloved out of the whole personnel, as a little figurine in his makeshift pocket world, serving him his...what’s this? Pancake. Hmm. Strange, for someone undoubtedly on a regular diet of Beluga Caviar and Champagne. Could be why Terry and beloved are on their tenth date and Terry desires more. 

He has beloved wrapped around his fingers and he finds that he rather likes it.

[hailene]

Blood Red Running Hood

𝖜𝖊𝖗𝖊𝖜𝖔𝖑𝖋!𝖜𝖔𝖓𝖜𝖔𝖔, 𝖜𝖎𝖙𝖈𝖍!𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖉𝖊𝖗

𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 𝟐.𝟑 𝐊

𝒹𝒶𝓇𝓀 𝒶𝓃𝑔𝓈𝓉| 𝓋𝒾𝓁𝓁𝒶𝒾𝓃 𝒶𝓊

The cold foggy morning was sending chills down your spine, the coldness reaching all the way to your flesh, to your bones. It was about to rain, you could tell. But nothing could stop you from going to your granny's house, in order to take care of her like you always said you would.

The thing is granny was dead.

You found her months ago, blood dripping from the corner of her mouth, sheets stained. You were horrified, not having seen anything like that before. But back then, a tiny little part of you sighed in relief. Granny was dead. The evil witch you had always been forced to take care of was now dead.

More than that, however, granny was murdered. And as you locked gazes with the murderer minutes after you found your grandmother dead, you body froze. You had heard about werewolves, you knew they existed, but the villagers had always tried their best to protect themselves from such creatures by going on patrols at night, killing anyone and anything that was out of the common. Your village was a small, simple gathering of poor houses. But it was tinted with so much sin and blood that it seemed like the village itself was cursed.

You had heard about werewolves. But you'd never believed you'd actually see one with your eyes. And more than that, you had never thought they would look so... human.

Probably, you would have never been able to tell the man sitting in front of you wasn't exactly human if it hadn't been for the steel-like glint in his eyes. And for the blood smearing at his lips.

For a moment, you were frozen, fear pumping through your veins and making it hard for you to breath. Then, you blacked out.

When you woke up, hours later, you thought you were in heaven. You were sure, absolutely sure that you were dead. But the first thing you saw when you opened your eyes were the steel-like eyes from earlier... except this time, they held some sort of warmth.

You looked around, realizing you were still at granny's, in her bed, with a new mattress, her lifeless body nowhere to be seen. The man sitting on the side of your bed smelled like rain, like mud, like the cold woods and the ashes in the chimney.

"I am Wonwoo," he said.

And you realized the smell was calming you down.

It's been a few months ever since then, a few months ever since you have started lying to everyone around you that you were taking good care of your beloved granny. When, in fact, you were obsessively visiting the small cottage just to meet Wonwoo. Again and again and again.

"What if they find out?" You remember yourself asking in fear one night, between two desperate kisses.

You remember him looking at you with so much love in his eyes that you could feel yourself melting, you remember wanting to pull him closer, closer... even though there was literally nothing between the two of you anymore, physically.

"Then I'll burn the whole damn village down," he answered before starting his hot work on you for the nth time that night.

Just to save you, you knew.

He was driving you insane.

Maybe that was why you couldn't help but come back to him. Again and again and again and...

When you enter the house, you find Wonwoo standing next to the hob, the delicious smell of food tingling your senses. You hum in delight as you close the door and take off your red hood, softly stepping towards the man. You hug him from behind and he lets the pots boil on the hob as he turns around to face you, kissing the top of your head gently. He smelled like rain, like mud, like fire and cold water. He smelled like home.

"I missed you, love," you hear him humming, filling you with warmth.

You haven't had a proper dinner in so long. You didn't have time for that, since you were always busy collecting the mail from the villagers and writing replies in the name of your beloved dead granny. She has always been seen as the wise woman, everybody was asking for advice from her. You knew everybody's secrets, you held way too much power for a little, young, unskillful witch.

But they didn't have to know that.

You occasionally told Laurette, your care-giver, that you'd stay over at your granny's. The woman was obviously glad that she wouldn't have to make sure she gives you any sort of dinner. You didn't quite stand her either. Ever since your parents passed and you and Kai, your younger brother, were given to Laurette to take care of you until you'd be able to take care of yourselves, your life had been a never-ending series of cloudy days. Kai used to be the only one able to cheer you up after a long, tiring day.

But now, Wonwoo could do much more.

A soft whimper escapes your lips as he goes down on you after the dinner, the dim light of the candles painting his skin in godly shades of gold. He was a murderer, an evil, a beast according to the villagers. That's why they didn't have to know about him, they didn't have to know about the two of you.

You had to admit that despite his humanly appearance, his werewolf features were showing sometimes, especially in bed. Sex with him was amazing. He was teasing, rough, but extremely good and even though you could have been scared of the extra-terrestrial strength of his choke-hold, you couldn't help but feel lured in towards him. You were obsessed.

"You should stop coming around for a few days, love," Wonwoo whispers after collapsing next to you.

You knew why. The full moon was coming.

He kisses you softly as you drift away to a sweet sleep. He was gone when you woke up the next morning.

When you returned home that day, you could feel that Laurette's gaze on you was different. Even if you didn't want to pay attention to it, the tiny drop of magic that was running through your veins was making it impossible for you to ignore it. It was almost like you could taste the fear in the atmosphere at home.

"What's wrong, Laurette?" You ask as she passes by your room with a heap of rags in her arms.

She looks at you for a few moments, as if she was surprised that you took notice of her behaviour. Then, she shakes her head, rushing towards the kitchen like she'd seen a ghost. You frown, unable to understand her behaviour. Did something happen while you were with Wonwoo last night? What could it be?

The answer, however, was about to be given to you in the form of Kai hastily waking you up the following night, incomprehensible cries and panicked whispers escaping his lips.

"Hey, hey, what's wrong, baby boy?" You ask while cupping his puffy cheeks, sleep still clouding your judgement.

"Fire, Y/N, they fire," your little brother cries.

You frown confused, rubbing your eyes to wake up.

"What fire, baby?" You ask as Kai starts crying harder. "What are you talking about?"

"They're coming, I've heard they want to burn the witch on a rug, Y/N!" He cries and your blood runs cold.

They can't possibly know, can they?

"Witch, baby boy? What witch?" You ask softly, trying your best to hide the panic.

"I-I think they were talking about y-..." he tries to say but you cover his mouth softly, your limbs already shaking.

"What else did you hear, baby?" You ask, trying to keep your voice steady.

"They w-went to granny's h-house," he cries softly. "One of them wa-was... killed by-"

You didn't need anything more than this.

You get up from your mattress and put some clothes on, helping Kai to dress up as well. You take your blood-red hood and put it on, kneeling next to your brother afterwards.

You could already hear loud voices outside.

"You go to the water wheel and hide there until I come to get you, okay?" You speak, holding him tightly. "If I don't come by dawn, you run and never come back here, okay?"

"B-But, Y/N–"

"Y/N loves you, baby boy, Y/N loves you so much," you whisper as tears come streaming down your face.

Kai starts sobbing too. It breaks you.

"Chin up, baby, okay?" You say, trying to get a hold of yourself. "Just have faith and trust Y/N."

Before your brother can say anything else, you jump out the window.

You run through the night, far away from the angry voices and fire torches. You run through the woods, mindlessly, only having one thought in your mind.

Wonwoo.

Was he okay? Did he kill yet another villager? You were aware of the fact that he was so far from being a saint and that it wasn't the first time he'd kill one of the people in your village, but that only made you love him more. You weren't much of a good character either.

As you reach the cottage in the woods, you realize it was vandalized. The few pieces of poor furniture were broken, pots, candles and papers thrown on the floor. The few remaining potions, herbs and spell books you had stored were all torn open, pulled out from the secret places you thought you had secured them in. It was all a mess, a bloody, ruthless mess and the deep animal scratches on the wall weren't making it any better.

No sign of Wonwoo.

As you look around more carefully, your blood runs cold. You shouldn't have come here.

It was a trap.

"The little witch is here," the man in front of you shouts and you here footsteps coming from the outside.

Before you can turn around and run away, more men enter the cottage, blocking your way, and panic rises from the pit of your stomach, your vision getting blurry. Seconds later, you feel something hard hitting your head from behind, letting you fall in a dark abyss.

Before you open your eyes, you feel warmth, heat. You feel fire. And as you open them, you realize why. Your body was tied to a wooden rug, surrounded by a circle of flames. It was hot, almost unbearably.

"The witch woke up! It's time to burn her back to hell!" You hear someone screaming.

Your eyes meet Laurette's figure and you feel your whole body filling with so much rage that you swore the flames around you started burning brighter. And then you see it, the whole village gathered around you in hateful circles, looking at you as if you killed their families. Maybe you did. But not intentionally.

Rocks and sticks were being thrown at you, curses and words spit in your direction, but nothing that your mind and body could cope with. Your time has arrived, you were getting the fate that you deserved, so now, you could only hope that your brother and your lover were going to be okay.

You are a witch after all. You are evil. And you have been too stupid, too careless to keep on living. You deserve to die. You deserve to be burnt on a rug.

As one of the villagers approaches you with a lit torch, you hear a freezing growl, not that far from where you were. Moments later, the fire surrounding you starts reflecting in different places. You think it's your mind going insane, you think it's your vision getting damaged by fear, by defeat, by the unnerving warmth the flames were attacking you with. But as you hear the growl getting louder and the panicked screams of the villagers running around, you realize something went wrong in their plan.

You can't help but laugh as the villager who was coming towards you starts running for his life, screaming as the grey wolf with fire in his eyes starts chasing him. You couldn't be afraid of the wolves. You couldn't be afraid of Wonwoo.

People slowly disappear, corpses taking their place, the fire slowly starting to take over the whole town. You were surrounded by a realm of flames and you felt like you were on fire yourself, but you were laughing like a maniac, unable to control yourself.

Your curses worked. This God-forsaken village was now burning to fucking ashes.

You feel something or someone untying your wrists and ankles from the wooden rug and as you turn to look next to you, you meet the steel-like gaze of the man you were so in love with. He picks you up from the torture place and rushes out of the fire, running and running until you can actually feel the cold night wind whipping your bare skin.

Wonwoo turns around to look once again at the burning village, the fire contrasting with the dark night in such a sinfully-pleasing way. You adored that.

"It's finally gone," he whispers, your mouth watering at his hoarse voice.

I'll burn the whole damn village down, you remember.

You pull him by his torn shirt and he looks at you, warmth shining in his eyes brighter than that goddamn fire. You kiss him hungrily, tasting the smoke, the blood and the mud on his lips. It was all sweeter than honey, more addicting than any sort of herb you've seen before. This was Wonwoo, the forbidden taste you have always, always been longing for. Now you had it. And in the devil's name, you regretted absolutely nothing.

"The water wheel," you choke out as you pull away, your lips swollen, tinted with blood. "We have to find Kai at the water wheel."

[mashup-writing]

If only you were here; Hwang Yeji (ITZY)

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Summary: Yeji was the leader, she couldn't afford to be seen being anything less than perfect for the role. No crying, being sad, or feeling any kind of negativity. But she's only human, and being human means letting your emotions run through you.

Requested? ☒

"Miles away from seeing you."

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She was exhausted. Today's schedule was nothing but hectic, from interviews to filming for music videos. All Yeji had wanted to do was be with her girlfriend, to have her take away the stress, to run her fingers through her hair, to hold her like doing so was the only thing keeping her together. But with Y/N visiting her hometown? The best she could do was a facetime.

She loved her job, her members, and their MIDZYs. She really does. But sometimes the high life takes more from you than it gives. Lately her girls have been facing prejudiced hate from a bunch of ruthless people online. Lia was being branded as "Lazy" and it made the leader's blood boil, among all five of them Lia was the one who spends the most time in the practice room, especially when she has trouble with some of the choreography. She remembers a memory of theirs that included Lia almost passing out of exhaustion in the practice room, Yeji herself wasn't enough to pull the pale and sluggish girl out of there. If Yuna's maturity and hidden stern-ness hadn't reared their heads then she has no doubt that Lia would've ended up in a hospital bed.

Chaeryeong is under fire for "Being Ugly" and all Yeji could do was scoff at the stupidity of the false accusation. Despite Yeji being Y/N's girlfriend, Chaeryeong was the latter's bias. This information had her shocked, Chaeryeong smug, and worst of all: It gave Ryujin a field day. Which resulted in getting the other three members in on teasing her. "Anyone who catches Y/N's eye is fucking beautiful" she mutters to herself. Not to toot her own horn but Y/N has an eye not only for gorgeous looking people, most times those she ends up liking are great people with great personalities. Your ex, Ahn Hyejin of Mamamoo is a damn great example of that.

Another one of her members under fire is Yuna, the baby of their new little family. Knets had a field day when it was found out that the Maknae wasn't originally planned to become a part of ITZY. Jumping on the chance to poke at the youngest's insecurity, thry took to saying that she wasn't good enough to be with them, much less have debuted at all. That's bullshit, and she won't leave room for argument. Yuna is the glue that holds them together, the friend that they can't imagine not having even when they've been a group for less than a year. She stands up to Yeji without being disrespectful when the leader is being too strict or controlling. She pulls Lia out of her workaholic state whenever it starts to become detrimental instead of beneficial. She is the one carrying Ryujin's ass whenever the latter thinks her dad jokes are funny. She's the one to calm Chaeryeong down backstage whenever the latter is feeling nervous, anxious or on the verge of a breakdown.

Ryujin's a reliable friend through and through, but if the fate of the world was decided by the rapper's ability to tell a funny joke? Yeji bets that they all would've died ages ago, she's better at joking around with actions than she is with words. Which leads to some people labeling some of Ryujin's actions as "Bullying". Yeji admits to herself that, yes. To the untrained eye it does seem as if Ryujin's the type, she has the face of a villain when she wants to look intimidating after all. But the rapper is also the softest person she has ever known in her life, testified by the one time they had a pillow fight in the dorm. In the heat of the moment, Ryujin's slipper got thrown and it knocked a Lizard dead off their wall. The pillow fight abruptly ended with four members trying to make her feel less guilty over the critter's untimely death.

Lia interjected that had the moment been captured on camera, some MIDZYs would be making a meme of how they'd like to be that "Lucky" lizard. Ryujin cried harder, because the lizard was not at all "Lucky" in her opinion.

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Yeji was so lost in her own thoughts and so fatigued that she didn't even realize that she had finished changing from her performance outfit to the clothes she wore before clocking in for work. It was only when she had closed the door to her dorm room did she realize how tired she actually was. She was thankful she had been given her own room instead of bunking with someone else again, she's not too sure she could make it up in a bunk bed if she was still roommates with someone.

She crashes onto the bed and pulls out her phone. Most days she would get some shut eye and just facetime her girlfriend in the morning, but at the moment she thinks she'll end up in a mental ward if she goes another second without hearing her Y/N speak. So despite the fact that she can't feel her legs anymore and that her eyelids are growing heavier by the second, she calls.

Ring

Ring

Ring

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Ring

Ring

Ring

You're pulled from the coziest and most comfortable sleep you've fallen into for the night by a constant ringing. You rub your eyes and turn towards your nightstand where your phone is located. "Who in their right fucking mind would be calling at this hour?" You grab your phone and the caller photo snaps you out of your mood before you even see the caller's name.

You hurriedly turn on your lamp on the nightstand and then proceeded to hit answer. "YEJ- whoa, not that I'm unhappy to see you but you look like you should be asleep instead. You look tired as hell Yej. Did you eat yet? How about water? Please stay away from dehydration and be sure to drink regularly." Yeji smiles at you, with her eyes drooping every now and then. "Yeah, I should be asleep but I just missed you so much I couldn't sleep without seeing you first."

You sit up and lean against the head board instead of laying down, your worry increasing tenfold. "What's wrong?" Yeji knows how to prioritize her health first and she never calls you half asleep because she had always claimed that you deserved nothing less than her full attention. She never calls you half asleep unless she's alarmingly close to losing her composure. Her eyes widen as soon as the question leaves your mouth, and a sniffle makes its way through the line. She burried her face in her arm and struggles with wanting to tell you and wanting to fake being strong with you.

You sense the dilemma within your girl and you refuse to let her carry this alone. "Hey, I'd never force you to spill. But I am always gonna be here to listen to your troubles. I already know how strong you are, you've got nothing more to prove. Let it out and I'll be here to support you." Yeji's resolve crumbles and she cries as she tells you everything that's been weighing her down today. She cries because of the unfairness of it all, she cries about how she can't protect her girls, she cries about how she wants nothing more than to wrap them up in a hug and not let go until they're all better but the girls just like their leader want to seem strong and untouchable for each other.

Yeji cries about how she wishes she was with you instead of working, she cries about how guilty she feels for sometimes wishing that they never had to go through the unfairness that the idol life had to offer, she cries about how she feels like she's disappointing the MIDZYs for feeling as she feels. She cries because it's just the start of their journey and she's already so tired. She cries because it's the only way she knows how to get rid of the stress, even if it's just a temporary solution.

What hurts you the most is that she doesn't look at you as she says this. You're a MIDZY after being Yeji's girlfriend and it you don't miss the way she chokes up even more when she said she feels like she's disappointing the fandom. You let your girlfriend let it all out before taking a moment to pull yourself together, and then you speak.

"I can't and I won't tell you that I understand how you feel as an Idol because I'm not one. But as a MIDZY, I can and I will tell you that you were born to be the leader of ITZY, no one else could step up to that role as well as you do even if they tried. Tell the girls I told you to let the haters run their mouths, because we MIDZYs know that each and every one of you brings something special to the table. ITZY isn't ITZY if it doesn't have Hwang Yeji, Choi Jisu, Shin Ryujin, Lee Chaeryeong and Shin Yuna as the members. You girls are a fucking unit and you are all strong enough to knock those bitches speechless."

You stare at Yeji the whole time and notice that although her body has stopped shaking, her tears are still making their way down her cheeks. You take in every detail of her face and wish with everything within you that you were there with her to wipe her tears and hold her close. In your opinion, words aren't enough but you suppose due to the distance between you two that you've gotta work with what you have at the moment. Right now all you have are feelings and words.

"Now as your girlfriend." Yeji's head adjusts enough that you could see half of her face, but the other half still remains buried in her arm. "I'm telling you that you can never disappoint me." She chuckles in humor before turning her gaze away from her phone. "You don't know that, I'm not perfect-"

"I never said you were."

Silence sits between the two of you. Not once in your whole relationship had you intentionally interrupted Yeji when she was speaking, you strongly believed that everyone deserved a chance to speak their piece. But that had exceptions. Such as now. "I never said you were perfect, because you're not. You're human and you have your flaws but believe me when I say that you could never disappoint me, despite the fact that humans weren't designed to be perfect you still work on yourself everyday trying to polish all the rough edges, trying to better yourself not for anyone or anything but yourself because you really want to be better than you were in the past. How could I be disappointed in someone as noble as that?"

You notice that she's now actively fighting to keep her eyes open and you smile. "You okay for now?" She nods and you continue. "Then go to sleep, God knows you both need and deserve a good night's rest. I'll call you back tomorrow when you wake up, so you can tell me about everything else your sleep addled brain forgot to tell me tonight."

Yeji uncovers the other half of her face and eyes stare at her screen that shows your face, now more than ever she wishes she was there with you, to thank you and hold you for everything you've said and for the way you've calmed her down. She promises herself that once you meet back up in person, she'll make it up to you. But for now words will have to do.

"Thank you Y/N. I love you."

Your smile grows wider and Yeji swears she's ready to make a fool out of herself just to ensure that that smile never fades away from your face. You take your a moment to memorize the candid details of Yeji's face before replying. "I love you too Yeji. Good night." Both of you wave goodbye and as heavy of an action it was, you take the initiative to end the call because you know that if you left it up to your girlfriend she would never hit that End Call button.

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Yeji places her phone on the nightstand by her bed.

Y/N lies back down properly on the bed.

The two stare straight ahead of them, eyes unfocused.

They take a deep breath before closing their eyes, ignoring the need that courses through their hearts.

"I'll be with her soon enough."

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A/N: I think this is the longest fic I've written on this app? Why the hell is there too little ITZY content on this app? it feels like drought istg 😭😭

[border-spam]

Leech Lord: Saints and Sinners

(mid COV era)

Seifa likes Ven, and that's a real problem for her because it's not the easily manageable kind of like that she's forced herself to utilise over the years. She normally likes people the same way Skags like the smell of day-old roadkill.

Someone who's company you trust and wit you prefer over the other options available for the night, that's an easy like, that's the kind of "friendship" she's tended to propagate for a long time now. Ones that don't need a huge amount of yourself. The kind that last years but don't cut into the meat of your secrets, those are the norm for her. Those are fine.

She likes Ven in a way that makes things harder, 'cause Seifa cares about him, and caring? That's tough. She's not very fucking good at caring about others.

Sei spent years avoiding caring in general, and now she's found herself leading a life where she's practically drowning in worry and fear for people she ended up loving anyway. Deep down she should have known that would happen eventually, the joke's always on her in the end - and it's normally Seifa who sets up the punchline.

Hurting Ven? It matters now, because she let herself care enough that his wellbeing spills over into her own. Him and Jak-Knife, Troy, Eli, the phantom of what she can recall Tyreen Calypso once being before an unknown vileness warped that brilliant smile into something vicious, they all hold a little place inside Sei's heart now, and she can't quite tell if she's pissed with herself for letting it happen, or frightened by how empty it had been in the first place.

Saying the wrong stupid thing as a stupid joke because you were too dumb to read the room right, that matters now, and for all her sharpness she knows damn well that putting her foot in her mouth has been a life long speciality of hers. Still, she makes sure to apologise for it every time, even if it's in one of the frankly weird ways she prefers.

Easier to have a litttttle bit too much to drink in one of the louder clubs before you gut yourself in genuine empathy to a friend, even easier if they are a tad wobbly too, and she's always been able to count on the man to throw a good wobble when she needs the company.

Squashed together like Rakklings in a cordoned off ViP area as the shitty bass music half muffles out her words, arm slung around his shoulder (sloshing gold flakes and vodka over the beautiful coat he's wearing) as she half yells half whispers that she's sorry about earlier - about what she said bout trading him for some junk? Was meant to be a joke, she'd only say that because she'd never do it, because he's so valuable to her, yeah? Still, she saw the reaction, saw the hurt - sorry man, won't happen again. Next round's on her, right? Right.

Easier to wrap it in a fun night out with envious glances and some flashing neon than go face to face - that's not worked out that well for her in the past. She doesn't really know how to be genuine without maybe showing a little too much of her inner vulnerability, and thing's didn't go right last time she tried. Genuine regret and an honest reminder of how much the person meant to her mixed badly, was misread as something else, and their heart had gotten broken despite her intent being to patch a wound in the first place.

Still, she trusts him. Figures that wouldn't happen, or it's unlikely, but it would be her fault if it did anyway, just like it had been before. Seems she only has her Seifa façade and the sad thing hiding under it to show people, one or the other without the security of something in between.

She knows she should probably work on a middle ground but... who has the time. She's a busy woman.

His reaction when she'd said it had twigged her in on something obvious though, that pang of sharp hurt that wiped the easy grin off his face and replaced it with something practiced and cold had hit a weak point she hadn't known about. Something about his past maybe, or how he'd valued himself.

Close as they were, squashed side by side and chuckling under breath that could blow the place if any of the horde of worshippers pulsating around their booth lit a match, Ven was in many ways still an enigma. His secrets were wrapped in layers of open friendship, he hid them under truths and insecurities they'd spent so many evenings sharing with his brother and Jak-Knife, or even their moody boy-king on long nights in his Sanctum.

She knew he'd tell her in his own time if that was something he was ever going to consider, but she also knew that she was an impossibly nosy little shit who wouldn't be able to let it go now that she had an inkling... and Troy had been NO help.

When Calypso wasn't intentionally wrapping himself around her finger and expertly hiding how much he enjoyed every second of it, Troy could be... surprising.

It's rare he says no to her and means it, but when he really does, he's fucking clear. There's a snap in the air as his voice silences it - a shift.

You don't keep pushing, something in your brain stem sends a warning with a finality that shivers the roots of your molars and shuts you up.

Troy is normally a pliant man. He likes being easy to manipulate, especially by women. She's known him long enough to catch that little "interest" of his, but when he's serious? You don't push back, so she stopped asking him to gossip secrets about Ven's history the very first time he denied her so clearly.

She might be underselling herself by saying her hunt for his past is purely out of curiosity, being nosy is only a part of it. In reality?

She doesn't want to hurt her friend again.

The realisation an in-joke, or a snarky comment, or any of the other myriad of shitty little communication tricks she employs could actually target somewhere already bleeding through his armour was upsetting.

That's something to celebrate when it's intended, but accidentally slipping a verbal shank into a friend's ribs isn't the win it is with a competitor, and she'd rather that not happen again, so she tries to heal it her way - reminds him over and over on nights like these how great a man he is.

She makes a scene in public so no one can deny the truth of it. A raised toast to The Oracle, sight of the Holy Twins, and a drunken speech to the club goers about how much he means to the Saints, how valuable he is to her.

She wears the trinkets he's gifted her whenever she can, returns the gestures of kindness with shoddily crafted wire figures, or quick repairs of any of his tech she notices could do with a tune-up.

Loops an arm through his and drags him through crowds for a chance at better seating while slumming, because don't they know who he is??

She'll tell them.

She knows, and she'll make sure everyone around them does too.

The Holy City is full of Saints, and Sinners.

A handful are both.

Ven belongs to @hieroglyphix and JK to @godkingsanointed