#figured this would be important to put here

[dinosaurcharcuterie]

My previous employer was far from perfect, but they drew a hard line at opening people working for them, be it employees or contractors, up for abuse.

The expectation was that you treated everyone with equal respect. If someone came in, you say hello. If someone does something for you, even if they're paid to do so, you say thank you. If you do something that makes someone's job harder, not because you have to, but because you're too lazy to [be neat in your documentation/sort your trash/store your tech so it doesn't get mauled by the ergonomic desks], that'll come up in your review. You tell people to enjoy their weekend. You offer birthday cake to whoever comes through the door.

And if you decided to act like a job was beneath you and not essential to your day to day running smoothly... Great. That distraction would be removed. Either for you specifically, or your entire department, depending on how rude you'd been about it.

Have fun sorting your own trash and bringing it to the big bins. For which you have no keys or security clearance. No surface in your office will be wiped or dusted. Cleaning supplies, being industrial grade, are locked away, too. Good luck figuring out how to make do without damaging office infrastructure or triggering allergies in coworkers. Your maintenance tickets, after you've made it abundantly clear that you do not think maintenance is important, are now at the bottom of every priority list. The people who make, serve and ring up your lunch are not required to do so. Those annoying window washers will make sure to do your office last if they're so distracting. Here's hoping they have enough time to get there at all.

You can complain to your superior. Or their superior. Or the employee rep. The union rep. They will all check with the superior of whatever service you kicked in the shins about what caused it. Hell, some of them will be informed in advance. Going over the head of your superior will almost never reflect well on you, either.

The number of people this policy annoyed was minuscule. They also very quickly learned to shut up about it, because they were the obvious cause of any reduction in service their coworkers noticed.

The result it had on people's views towards "unskilled" labor is that no one was clamoring for their pay to be reduced. If a service provider was changed, people were immediately up in arms about it, to the point that you needed a marked upswing in quality for it to not meet with constant, years-long resentment towards management on the issue. They didn't get a say in how the business was run financially, but any aspect that impacted their work was optimized for them as much as possible, to the point that the CEO would get lectured about "setting an example to others" if he complained that his office hadn't been cleaned after he left it in an absolute state more than once a year.

Current job isn't as explicit or diligent about it. They are struggling to find enough staff to fill shifts.

You get back what you put in.

When the health food store unionized, something wild happened that I thought was just a goofy one-off, but makes more sense now.

There was a big push to eliminate "degrading jobs" but the strategy was to eliminate the position, then create a new position outside of the bargaining unit to do the work. So like, we wouldn't have dishwashers, but we'd have people who washed dishes that weren't eligible to be in the union.

I was like A) what the actual fuck? Dish washing isn't "degrading", it's fucking vital. B) What the actual fuck? You want to create a union just to exploit different people?

There were enough of us to be like "Absolutely the fuck not," and put a stop to it, but I was absolutely flummoxed that people involved in a union would say that out loud. Working with more leftists now, it makes sense.

[vivlily]

can you please explain who these horses are????

You made a mistake in asking me, but I will try anyway. This will go over some general things and mainly focus on white and cyan, not so much the other horses.

They are characters from a Twitter webseries/game(?) hosted by @/snakesandrews. Where viewers essentially vote on whatever horse they think might win. These horses bounce around randomly off of objects like a screensaver of sorts, and a horse wins once it touches a png of a carrot.

These horses are typically referred to by their color until they win and are thus given a name, for instance, orange, eventually becoming jovial merryment.

How much or how little these horses win as well as what goes on during a race end up leading to a lot of fan made content. And for the most part, any characterization of these horses is largely up to fan interpretation.

For these two horses, white and cyan specifically? White and cyan and brown would go on to not win one match for quite some time, leading to them being put into a race all on their own. Which brown would eventually go on to win and attain the name Door Knob. Leaving white and cyan in their own little race. With a special little map, file this special little map for later.

It is important to note that these races do not usually last much longer than around 2 or 2 and a half minutes. Cyan and White would go on to race for a whole 7 minutes and 9 seconds. This led to a lot of fans depicting them as sort've not wanting to win, usually because of enjoying one another's company or something similar. I'm a yuri minded individual, so you can probably guess how I decided to interpret it.

As you probably realized, since they had a defined time for the race, a winner also exists. This is where White had won, earning the name Superstitional Realism. This led to a lot of fans depicting Cyan as either feeling betrayed or upset by white winning. Some also show Cyan being happy for white.

It here that white, now superstitional realism(I will refer to her as Sup from now on), would join the next days' race and proceed to not win. And in the next day's race, white would be mysteriously missing. It is in this race that Sup is missing that something unusual happens once the race is over.

Cyan has lost every single race, every single one. This race where Sup is missing is followed by a video in which Cyan was racing all alone in an empy room with only herself, eventually obtaining her first win. But did such a win even count? There was no one for Cyan to even race against after all. It was assumed Cyan would get a name for her victory, but the fanfare screen would simply continue listing her name as Cyan.

People expected that Cyan would finally join the next race proper, only for the next race to be a race between what looked to be 7 distorted horses (6 a form of cyan, and 1 white). Despite there being 6 cyans, they still lost to the distorted white horse, whose fanfare screen read "a Mysterious figure." Leading many to think this might be cyan reliving her worst moments, and more specifically, the moment where she get left behind by white.

The latest race as of this post was with the regular set of horses interspliced with the 6 distorted cyans having a race of their own. It's unknown if this "nightmare" world is real or in cyans head. But one of the 6 distorted cyans does win and is rewarded with the name of Garbage Bin. We then cut back to the "normal" world where Sup remains missing and jovial merryment wins the race(go figure).

Now, do you remember that special little map where cyan and white initially raced in? The "normal" world race was taking place on the very same map, just with more color and rounder edges. This leads to me and probably a few others believing that that last race was the other horses looking for cyan.

My assumption for why Sup has been missing for the last few races is because white had already gone back to look for cyan ahead of everyone else.

As for how the story might end? Well, you can find out both today and Friday as the series seems to be having it's last to races.

Will jovial win once more? It's possible. It's annoyingly possible. And will cyan and sup have a happy ending? I SURE HOPE SO. SAVE YOUR GIRL.

Whadya mean I'm getting emotional over screensaver pngs?!?

Apologies if this was long winded, I'm not used to typing this much and suck at using words. BUT you made the mistake of asking me, dear Anon. Always remember there is always yuri for those with eyes to see. Now go consume some fan content, there's a lot of really good writers and artists out there, show them some love.

[dduane]

The Bad Armor Drinking Game

In the digital art dep't...

So, having just sorted out the new figure for Queen Eftgan in the Middle Kingdoms books, I spent most of last week (while continuing to recover from the household upper respiratory infection) doing preliminary planning for the visual of a scene from The Door Into Sunset in which all the MCs are out on the battlefield. The big battle (or the final one of a sequence) will be the next day, and last-minute tweaks are being made to strategy and tactics. Which means putting most of the our-side protagonists together in a command tent, bent over a table covered with maps. (The "sketch" for this scene is over here.)

But sweet Goddess in a bucket, the shopping I had to do to make sure I had those guys' armor the way I wanted nearly drove me around the bend. From the digital artist's POV, the main problem with this is realistically arming the female characters. And the reason for this is simple: Almost all of it that's currently available from Daz is crap.

There are a very few notable exceptions. In Eftgan's case, for example: she's wearing the female-fighter version of the male-fighter harness that Herewiss has on. Sickleyield and Moonscape Graphics have done good work here.

But almost all the other female-use armors available at the moment? Argh. It had been ...a few years, I guess? since I last went armor-shopping. Last week I'd hoped there might at least be some new possibilities in the Daz shop. But instead I found so much more useless crap than before that I was tempted to start day drinking. And by evening, there were enough drink-triggers to start my very own drinking game.

I am not going to illustrate the triggers enumerated below, as I don't want to embarrass the artists. But if you look at the items turned up by this search, you'll have little trouble finding the things that would have left me in a drunken stupor within an hour or two.

My baseline: if I'm going to buy digital armor, either for male or female characters, it has to be something that I myself wouldn't be embarrassed to show up wearing at a swordfight. Otherwise, I start hitting the virtual bottle.

So I'd drink when I see:

Armor that fails to cover or at least protect vital vulnerable areas. Not just vital organs, but seriously important places like the insides of thighs and arms, the throat area, etc. (And yeah, I know and enjoy the various webcomics that illustrate, for humor's sake, the idea that the more bare flesh a female warrior displays, the safer they somehow are. But I'm dealing with the "realistic" side of combat here. Yes, some of my characters are magic workers, but the reason they go out and get themselves armor is so they don't have to waste precious magical ability dealing with something that steel will manage perfectly well without them having to think about it.)

Armor that should serve a useful protective purpose but nonetheless doesn't because it's been twisted by the armor maker, for design purposes, into a shape that means it's now essentially useless. Drink, for example, on seeing an example of "Silly Pauldron Syndrome:" i.e., shoulder pieces that will not only not protect you from a shoulder cut, but will direct it toward the space between neck and shoulder. ...Drink again if the pauldron also somehow blocks your view of what's going on around you. Another drink for pauldrons, gorgets or neck pieces that poke your eye out when you turn your head.

Armor covered with decorative doodads that do nothing but get in your way or serve as something for your adversaries' weapons to catch on. The proper purpose of armor is to deflect blows away from vulnerable areas, not to catch and keep them there. No one is going to waste expensive metal (and armourers' labor time) on decorations that are a liability. Anything that would catch a thrusting sword? Drink. Drink twice if spikes are involved.

Poorly thought-out attachments to armor (loincloths, capes, etc), Drink if these would inevitably trip you or otherwise interfere with you if you tried to run in them: or that would make it easier for an attacker—especially from behind—to pull/knock you down and kill you. Two drinks if the attachments are asymmetrical. (Because, what, this is supposed to help somehow?) And drink for loincloths in general, because, FFS, why.

Boob armor. If you're a woman who's fought with the sword at all, you know that unless you're absolutely dead flat in front, you bind up somehow to get the frontage safely restrained before the action begins. Armor that purports to separate your breasts into two different casings is simply idiotic. All that it does do is signal that you're female. (And you're doing this why, exactly? On a this-world battlefield, this strikes me as nothing but a recipe for trouble.) One drink for boob armor. Another drink for conical boob armor that would make even early!Madonna look askance. Two drinks for boob armor that covers only the tops of the boobs. Honestly, WTF!!

And: Armor that just looks silly. Armor that makes you go "Oh FFS, give me a break now" and look away. Two drinks (or more) for armor that covers hardly any of your character, but for which the designer is possibly charging you even more than for an intricately made and well thought-out piece of work with a lot more protective real estate.

...(sigh) So many drinks. And so little armor worth having. ...Anyway, I got away from that series of shopping sessions with my sobriety intact. Small mercies.

But let me show you something hilarious that came up along the way.

Very, very few of the people making and selling armors on Daz betray any sign of a sense of humor in their marketing images. The rig below, though, popped up suddenly and reduced me to gasps of helpless laughter.

This, I kid you not, will come up in that "armor" search above. Let's be charitable and refer to it for the time being as "fighting gear".

I haven't shown you the best of this, though. These two figures weren't alone. There was another.

This guy should be an example to us all. He's thinking, "They're gonna make me go out there wearing some stick-on leather nipple straps and half a rug from IKEA? Fine. I'm gonna make it work." ...And he not only owns it: he rocks it. This is a badass of some kind or another, and he has my sword, or axe, or whatever.

All I can say is: Good on the product designer for doing something genuinely funny for a change: because at that point, I seriously needed it.

(sigh) And now back to work.

ETA: A quick note per various recommendations of others online doing this kind of analysis: Thanks, but I don't need to go outside the household for more of the same. I'll just yell up the stairs to @petermorwood, who probably has some that's way more acerbic than mine. :)

[urcoolgf]

WAIT

the natural hair thing.. yes.. BUT! how would rafe react if you straightened your hair? i imagine more pulling

YES YES YES i love this!!! he would definitely feel like he could be rougher with you because he wouldn’t have to worry about messing up your hair smutish

you had worn your hair straight approximately 3 times since you’ve met rafe– two of those times being when you first met, the other time was for the first gala rafe took you to. you were too scared to wear it curly to such a fancy event, so you straightened it… rafe was not a fan of that. it wasn’t that he didn’t think it was pretty– in his mind you were pretty all dolled up, and just as pretty when you had just woken up, with makeup without makeup. he didn’t care– he always thought you were beautiful, but he basically instructed you to never do that again, and you obliged because he was rafe cameron, and he was quite convincing.

but, something came over you today… you just wanted to see how he would react. you knew he was obsessed with your curls, but he was gentle. sure he pulled here and there, but you wanted to know how far he would go…

so here you were, in the bathroom, straightening the last bit of your curls out. your hair was softer than ever, and it fell past your shoulders with a sort of elegance. you curled the ends slightly to give it more shape, but you tried to keep it as straight as possible. it looked… different, for sure, but you liked it.

you walked out of the bathroom, and headed downstairs– acting like you were going to get a snack and watch tv with rafe.

“hey, baby!,” you said cheerfully, passing by him to get to the kitchen, which could be seen from the couch.

“hey– woah,” rafe cut himself off, lost in the image of your long hair cascading down your back. in nothing but a tight fitting tank top and low hanging lounge pants, your hair stood out.

“what?,” you asked almost innocently. he couldn’t see your face, but he knew you were putting on your best doe eyes and clueless expression.

“your hair…,” you didn’t even let him finish, trying to act like nothing was out of the ordinary.

“what about it?,” you finally turned back toward him with a bag of chips in your hand. you made your way over to the couch, plopping down next to him.

he moved his hand to push the loose strands behind your ear, while you were focused on opening the chips. he thought your curls were soft?!… he had never felt anything so smooth under his touch. the hair practically slipping from his light grasp. he didn’t realize how long your hair was until this moment. it fell all the way down your back, the ends brushing against your tailbone.

“it’s straight,” he said plainly, still kind of lost in admiring the dark layers falling around your face.

“oh, yeah. jus’ didn’t wanna deal with the curls today y’know?,” you turned back toward him, pushing a short piece behind your ear, a simple smile on your face as you offered him some of your chips.

“so, what’re you watchin’?,” rafe didn’t appreciate the way you were acting like nothing was different when all he could think about was how it would feel to grab a fistful of your soft, straight hair while you were choking on his dick.

“nothin’ important– look, i know i said i wanted you to wear it curly all the time but…,” he drifted off, still staring, still reaching for pieces of it.

“but…?,” you asked. you were hoping for this kind of reaction, but you needed him to tell you what he was thinking.

“but i need you. like now.” your eyes panned down to his sweats, an obvious bulge appearing right before your eyes.

“oh,” you gasped quietly. you figured he would like it more than he led on previously, but you didn’t think he’d like it that much.

before you could register what was happening, rafe had crashed his lips into yours. his hands immediately tugged at your hair, causing your head to tilt back just enough for him to move him mouth down your neck. he attacked the spot just behind your ear that he knew you loved, causing you to involuntarily whine.

when he finally pulled away, there was a cocky grin on his face. he pushed your head down, moving back on the couch simultaneously, gathering all your hair into a make-shift ponytail.

eventually, you were eye level with the bulge in his pants, and his grip on your hair was tight enough to be painful—but the pleasure was outweighing it.

“so fuckin’ pretty like this… got me hard jus’ from your damn hair. that’s what you do to me. go on, princess… fix it f’r me, yeah?”

an: i am so sorry to whoever requested this because it took me almost a MONTH—i was just really struggling with how && when to end it, but better late than never right…

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[bluewxrld07]

Good Graces Pt. 2 (Jack Hughes)

Summary: The aftermath between Jack and Y/N at the lakehouse unfolds...

Warning(s): Angst, yelling/cussing, light smut, cheating

Y/N takes a quick halt on the ice, trying to catch her breath. She bends over and rests her hands on her knees, looking up at the guys before her as they all still skate around the rink.

Before Y/N could process that she wound up in Jack's room the night before after their time on the boat, they were rudely awakened by Trevor whom wanted to get up for a seven in the morning skate at the rink.

Jack had fought with her, not wanting her to leave the bed as he kissed his way down her stomach and in between her legs, but was lightly pushed away by her. She would've happily obliged if it weren't for how prone Trevor can get about getting to the rink to skate in the morning.

She nearly shit herself thinking that Trevor most definitely caught her in Jack's bed, but after he acted like normal when she went down to grab something to eat she figured she was safe.

She was pulled away from her thoughts when a puck hit the boards hard next to her, causing her eyes to snap over to where it came from.

Jack smirked lightly as he slowly skated towards her, his eyes catching hers as she stood upright.

He stops in front of her, tapping her thigh lightly with his stick. "Haven't seen you this out of breath since middle school. What happened, pretty?" he jokes, earning an eye roll from her as well as a smack to the chest.

"Don't start. You guys do this on a daily basis for your job. I do this recreationally now." she says as she skates towards the bench to grab her water.

"You ever thought of going back and playing? Guarantee UMich would take you as a walk-on." he says as she squirts the water into her mouth.

She furrows her brows and shakes her head before swallowing. "No, I like what I'm doing now. I'm still part of the sport, just not the one playing." she explains, earning a hum from Jack.

"Can y'all hurry up? We've got like fifteen minutes left before the kiddos get here and we gotta head out." Cole shouts.

Y/N gives him a look. "Why does it matter? You said you've been here everyday anyways. Or did you actually have something else more important?" she retorts, causing Cole to rolling his eyes and stay silent.

Cole keeps shooting around with the other boys while Jack and Y/N stood at the bench boards.

Jack turns back from staring at the group, his eyes looking down at Y/N who's still glaring at Cole's direction. "Have you actually been able to call him out?" he asks, and she shakes her head.

"Tried to this morning when we got into the car. He just dismissed it after he tried asking where I was this morning." she explains, earning a scoff from the middle Hughes boy.

"He's such a pussy. He needs to fucking do something before I get involved." Jack says, puffing his chest out as he stares at Cole. Y/N puts a hand on his chest.

"Don't. That'll make things go worse than they already are bound to be." she explains, Jack furrowing his brows.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he shoots, making her regret how that came out.

"I didn't mean-"

"Nah nah I got it," he retorts. She tilts her head as he looks away from her and skates off.

Y/N lets out a puff, making her way back over to the group to finish their time in the rink.

Today should be fun.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The crew made it back to the Hughes lakehouse, showered and dressed for yet another boat day, tunes blasting throughout the house as they all got stuff packed and prepped to take out on the boat.

Y/N's current state was contemplating on if she should even go out on the boat for the day. She knew there would be questions asked.

Especially if she took off her shirt.

She stood in the bathroom in front of the mirror, her chest and collarbones covered in purple marks from a certain brown-haired boy. No amount of waterproof makeup could cover it.

The girl sighs before tying her bikini top behind her back, throwing on a larger oversized t-shirt that looked like it belonged to one of the boys.

She decided to leave her hair down in hopes it would cover some of the partial marks you could see poking out from the top of the shirt, making her way out of the bathroom and downstairs.

Once she makes it to the kitchen, she sees they're all conversing as music played. Quinn's eyes found hers and he smiled warmly. "You gonna start us off again today?" he asks.

Her lips purse. "I'm gonna probably keep it on the download today. I'm a little sore from going as long as I did yesterday."

"I'm sure that's why you're sore." Jack mutters, heads turning towards him. He looks up and just shrugs. "Could've been from this morning too is all I'm saying."

Y/N gives him a knowing look when his eyes find hers, making his own eyes squint at her.

Quinn looks back at her and shrugs. "You alright?" he asks. She nods and gives him a reassuring smile.

The group grabs whatever they can in their arms, all making their ways toward the sliding patio door to make their ways down to the boat.

It was another hot and humid day, the sun out fully and no clouds to be seen. Y/N grabbed her sunglasses from the table before sliding on her shoes, almost jumping when she felt a hand on her arm.

She looked up to see Cole with a questionable look on his face. "What's been going on with you?" he asks, making her eyebrows crease.

"I could ask you the same. I barely see you," she shoots. Cole's eyes fall to his feet. "Just have been dealing with a few things back at home for next season is all."

Y/N scoffs as she swings her bag over he shoulder. "Yeah, alright. If that's your answer, then my answer is that I've been totally fine."

She walks away, ignoring his comment that sounded a lot like "You're unbelievable" from behind her.

Once they were all on the boat and situated, Trevor took initiative this time of driving the boat. Quinn was going to start the group off that day with the watersports. Y/N sat quietly at the back of the boat, Ethan and Luke both sat on either side of her.

She was talking with Ethan as they drove out to the middle of the lake, but she's pulled out of her conversation not too long after.

"Shit Y/N how'd you get away with leaving something like that on Cole?" Trevor says aloud, making her head turn over and look to where Cole was stood as he took his shirt off. Her eyes widened as a quiet gasp left her lips.

There was a deep and dark mauve colored hickey the side of his neck.

Known as his sweet spot.

Cole's eyes widen before he takes his phone out and peers into the camera to see what Trevor was talking about. Cole's eyes whip up towards her, knowing exactly what she was thinking.

He was caught and there was no chance of explaining around it.

Instead of outing him like she wanted to, embarrass him like how she felt in that moment, she chose to play a bit. "Guess he didn't even realize how sneaky I can be." she plays along, poking the inside of her mouth with her tongue.

Cole's brows furrow, knowing that her covering for him could've meant something much bigger than he thought.

Her eyes find Jack's, whom was sitting in the seats across from where Cole sat, his mouth open as he sat there clearly amused. He looks over at her, wanting to know what her plan was.

Y/N kept her eyes on Jack's, lifting her sunglasses onto her head before standing up.

"You know what," she says. "I think I'm gonna wake surf. Too good of a day to lay low. I'll live with being sore."

"That's our girl! Hey Quinn! Y/N's next!" Ethan hoots behind him.

Y/N looks at Jack while holding the hem of the t-shirt she wore. His mouth smirks slyly, poking his sunglasses down a bit mohave his eyes looking directly at her.

He knew where she was going with this.

Y/N lifted up her t-shirt to reveal her bikini below, supporting the familiar red color that matched the famous New Jersey hockey team as they all knew.

"Y/N what the fuck! Fucking shit Cole, you two are absolute animals! And I thought yours was bad!" Trevor hoots out.

"What're you talking-" Cole turns from his spot, his eyes landing on Y/N with the widest eyes ever as she thanked Ethan for her lifejacket. "Y/N what the fuck are those? Are you fucking joking???" Cole bursts, standing up from his spot.

Y/N buckles her lifejacket, and shrugs. "What do you mean? You don't remember? That's so unfortunate, I thought we had a great night, no?" she shoots back, watching his eyes try to tear away from the marks all over her chest.

Cole sputters out a bunch of nonsense and sits down. His eyes in complete disbelief.

Y/N looks over at Jack whom has slouched into his seat, mouth covering an amused smile while his other hand adjusted his lower half while he scanned her figure slowly.

She smiles when his eyes meet hers, the boy mouthing 'naughty' to her. She gives him a wink before turning around to step onto the edge of the boat.

Her hand gets grabbed, causing her to look down and see a proud smiling Ethan. "Atta girl." is all he said quietly, and that is when she knew he knew.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was close to the later part of the afternoon. The heat still blazing just as much as the sun shined.

They decided to take a bit of a break from the boat, pulling into the dock to go grab something to eat.

Once Y/N hopped off the dock and headed inside.

The cool feeling of the air conditioner hits her skin as she begins to make her way upstairs. Then she feels someone grab her arm. Her eyes are met with a very blazingly upset Cole.

"You're gonna tell me when you got those," he shoots. "And more importantly who."

She points at his. "You first, honey." she says sweetly and with fake innocence. Cole's eyes glare at her. "What game are you playing at?" he says, causing her to shrug.

"I don't like games, but I also don't like how you think you and your little secret are slick. I know where you've been. I want to hear you fucking admit it to me, Cole." she snaps, earning a scoff.

Cole's face pales, immediately looking all nervous. "Who told you?"

"Doesn't matter if I was told something or not. I know Cole I just wish you would've had the fucking balls or maturity to admit it!" Her voice raising slightly. "You treat me like utter horseshit, and I'm sick of it! Sick of you thinking it's okay to act like this while you're off doing who know what with her! Admit it!" she pushes.

"She makes me feel something, Y/N! You wouldn't understand!" he finally admits, making her heart stop for a split second. She scoffs.

She looks at him. "You're a fucking coward, Caufield." she mutters before brushing past him, and down the stairs. He follows behind her and into the kitchen where the boys all sat.

"Says the one who won't even tell me who fucking marked you up like a bitch! If anything, it's me who should be feeling betrayed because this could've been going on before I got with Milly!"

She whips around to look at him. "Are you fucking kidding me? You have no right to call me that when you're the one who has been caught in the act not once, not twice, but five times back in Montreal! That's really rich coming from you, Cole!" she spills, making the guys all stop what they were doing and look at them.

"You've cheated on her?" Quinn says aloud, Cole rolling his eyes.

"Don't pretend you guys didn't know." he says. "She was always gone, always working! I had to do something!" he says, making Quinn scoff.

"Then be a fucking man Cole and break up with me! Don't fucking keep me hanging on to something that wasn't mine ages ago!"

"You're one to fucking talk! You'd barely ever let me touch you when you were home. How was I supposed to know you weren't slinging yourself around like some cheap whore-"

"Call her a fucking whore again, Caufield I fucking dare you." Jack snaps, his voice echoing all throughout the house.

Cole's eyebrows furrow as he watches Jack put himself next to Y/N protectively. A moment later, Cole scoffs and rubs his forehead.

"I see," he says quietly, his eyes going back and forth between the pair. "Oh how could I have been so blind! It's you! You fucked Y/N." Jack doesn't falter in his spot, he stands his ground.

"I should've known the day you almost lost your shit when I said I bagged her," he says. "Those scratches on your back this morning. Those from her too? Don't think I didn't fucking notice."

"Yeah, I did. I gave her what she deserves. It was me making her moan. Me she was begging for. Me she disappeared with for the night," Jack finally snaps, walking closer to Cole. "You should've seen the way I made her fall apart. How she begged me to mark her as mine."

Cole was fuming as he rubs his lips with his fingers. He points at Jack before biting his bottom lip harshly. "You're a fucking piece of shit."

Jack smirks and scoffs back. "You're just mad because you and I both know that it was going to be she ended up with at the end of the day," he raises his hands and gestures to all the boys. "We all knew it."

Jack stalks up to Cole, looking down at the blonde due to their height difference. "You were just the decoy, man. From day one. She was mine."

Y/N didn't know whether she wanted to slap, punch, kiss or drop to her knees for Jack in that moment.

Cole shook his head and backs away from Jack. Jack looks him up and down quickly. "Pack your shit, and be out of here by the time we're back from lunch. Go stay with your puck bunny that you're so infatuated with." Jack says, walking away from Cole and up towards his room.

The room was so silent after that, you could hear a pin drop.

Cole looked back at Y/N one more time, shook his head and walked away.

She felt like shit. She never wanted to be the reason the boys split apart like this. A loud sigh leaves her lips that she didn't know she was holding, letting her head fall as she rubbed her face.

"I didn't mean for this to happen." she says to the boys behind her.

"Can I be honest?" Trevor says slowly and cautiously. "We all kind of were aware of it. We all wanted it to happen." he admits.

Y/N's head shoots up and turns back to look at them all. They each nodded sheepishly and hum in agreement.

"Why? Why would you-?"

"It's always been you and Jack. When Cole announced one day that he thought he would be able to bag you before Jack ever had the chance, we all knew it wouldn't last. Especially because Jack wouldn't let that happen, and Cole can't keep his hands to what's his." Quinn explains, making her brows furrow.

"So you all knew this would happen?"

"Yeah eventually."

Y/N scoffs and shakes her head. "You're all unbelievable. I don't even know what to think right now."

"We're guys, Y/N. You love us though. Right?" Luke says, trailing off slightly in a cautious manner.

Y/N crosses her arms over her chest. "I do love you all yes. But I need a minute."

"I'll text you when we are leaving for lunch." Quinn nods, and she looks at him with pursed lips before nodding once.

She turns on her heels and heads up the stairs, walking down the hall towards Jack's room. She knocks lightly, hearing a soft 'come in' as she opened his door.

The door shuts behind her as she crosses her arms, seeing him sitting at the edge of his bed with his elbows on his knees as he is bent over looking at the floor. His hands clasped together while his knee bounced.

"Jack-"

"Don't."

She frowns. "No I will." she argues, making his eyes snap up to hers with a warning look.

"You've had feelings for me? Why didn't you ever say anything?"

Jack stays silent.

"Jack Rowden."

"Fuck, fine. Yes I have, Always have."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I wasn't able to admit it to myself," he admits. "Not until Cole brought up wanting to go after you. That's when I figured it out."

"I wish I would've known sooner."

"Why, so you could give me shit?"

"No, so I could've turned down Cole."

He freezes. "What?"

Y/N sighs and lets her hands fall to her sides. "I chose Cole back then because you weren't showing any signs of wanting me. So I gave up and let Cole sway me instead."

Jack groans and palms his face before falling back onto his bed. "Fucks sake."

Y/N walks closer to him, standing now between his legs and looks down at him. "You also always bragged about the girls you got with, and then when you dated Sienna-" she trails off and shrugs.

Jack peeks out from his hands, letting them fall to his stomach.

"That's because I thought I should try moving on from you after you started seeing Cole."

"Well you aren't the brightest, we've gathered that."

"Watch it, pretty."

"Why? You won't do anything."

Jack sits up as he keeps his eyes on hers, instantly gripping her hips in a harsh motion and pulling her down onto his lap. She gasps at the feeling of him through the thinner bikini bottom fabric she wore, causing him to chuckle as he looked at her.

"Don't think I won't start something. Because I will, and I will make them wait till we're finished."

She rolls her eyes. "Whatever," she giggles, before looking back at him. Her face becoming serious. "I meant what I said Jack. Today and yesterday. I'm yours if you'll have me."

Jack's smile widens, squeezing her hips before he glides them around her body. "Gotta let me take you on an actual date first."

Y/N smiles and nods with a hum in agreement.

"For now I'd like a kiss please."

"Oh you're gonna get a little bit more than that. We've got time."

[22ayla21]

Apple Pie with cinnamon and shot of espresso for Idia (Is it one request for person?)

"Apple Pie with Cinnamon and a Strong Espresso"

Event: "Sweet Stories, Intoxicating Feelings"

In the shadow of flickering monitors, amidst the quiet hum of servers and blinking lights, love for Idia Shroud seemed something distant, almost fairytale-like—like an optional quest in a game he’d heard of but had no intention of completing. His world was woven from lines of code, complex calculations, streams of energy, and diffused twilight. He lived as if behind an impenetrable wall of his own interface, in a room where even the physical walls seemed an extension of his inner confinement. No one was supposed to enter, no one dared to knock. But one day… one day, a well-tuned algorithm faltered.

She burst into his ordered life like a system error.

Literally and figuratively: she violated his personal space, interfered with his code, disrupted his routine. First—as a colleague on a secret project at STYX, then—as an unexpected but increasingly distinct note in his monotonous routine. And later—as an important file he would never dare to delete.

He clearly remembered their first meeting. He remembered how his fingers trembled traitorously over the keyboard when she first appeared in the lab, filling the stale air with a light scent of pear lotion and some inner confidence. She chatted casually with the team, with a light ironic smile, as if this entire classified world was just a fascinating novel to her. And when she turned to him and simply said:

“Ah, so you’re Idia. I’ve heard you’re our genius here.”

He almost felt drawn to the nearest ventilation shaft.

He was sure she was teasing. Or, worse, putting on a show of friendliness, as had happened before. But she didn’t leave. Didn’t turn away. Didn’t back down.

His love for her initially frightened him with its unbearable brightness, its unfamiliar reality. It broke into his isolated world like a sudden reboot—noisy, unpredictable, but ultimately saving.

He began to feel her presence in the little things. In the way she brought him coffee—always strong, almost like a real Italian espresso, with that bitterness and astringency that prevented him from completely sinking into his usual melancholy. He would take a sip, and something alive would awaken in his chest. It wasn’t a normal heartbeat—it was passion, invigorating and rich, like code on the verge of a critical error, like an impulse running through the nerve endings of his fingers.

And then there were the rare evenings.

Sometimes—in those rare and almost impossible moments—they would venture out of the underground labyrinths of STYX to his apartment. He would take it upon himself to cook. Himself. Desperately nervous, mistaking salt for sugar, forgetting proportions. She would laugh, gently correct him, and soon the intoxicating aroma of apple pie with cinnamon would fill the kitchen. Homemade. Warm. Real.

It was then that he began to understand that love could be different. It could be gentle, like a warm blanket, like that pie filling the room with the scent of coziness and peace. It became a quiet harbor for his weary heart, a place where he didn’t have to pretend. Where he could just sit beside her in silence and feel the world around him stop seeming hostile. His love for her was like that pie: unhurried, enveloping, giving a sense of home—even among servers and secrets.

But at other times—on those days when they argued heatedly about work concepts, when she persistently dragged him out of his shell of a room—love became a different drink. Like a double espresso, searingly strong, with a bitter aftertaste, demanding complete concentration. She made him feel, think, truly live. Under her penetrating gaze, he stopped being just a genius with a dimmed look fixed on a screen. He became a man desperately needing her. Too much to express in words. Sometimes he would mechanically text her short messages without looking up from his tablet. Sometimes—he would just be silent and watch her adjust a strand of hair and feel that without her, he had nothing to breathe with.

He was afraid. Of course, he was afraid. Love was a code that came without instructions. It defied logic. Ignored all his clear algorithms. But still, he allowed himself to follow her. Allowed himself to smile in response to her jokes, even if it came out as a short, restrained “heh.” Allowed himself to watch her for a long time until she noticed his gaze. Allowed himself to dream: what if one day…

One day they would wake up at dawn, and the tantalizing scent of cinnamon would again fill the kitchen, and she would be wearing his oversized shirt, and he would be clumsily toasting bread, as always.

One day he would say:

“You know… you’re like that bug I never want to get rid of.”

And she would reply, smiling:

“And you’re the system I finally connected to.”

And if someday someone else appeared in their lives—someone with eyes reminiscent of hers, with hair the color of Idia’s childhood—he would tell that child amazing stories about viruses that are cured by love. About people who learned to come out of dark rooms. About pies that smell like home. And about espresso that definitely keeps you awake.

[ofgeography]

Hi Molly! Congrats on your book and all of the exciting stuff happening in your corner; long-time listener/first-time caller here, it is fantastic to see you putting art of all kinds out into the world. If you're at all inclined, would you be willing to talk a little about how you got into the studio to record your albums? How did you choose your producer or studio/what was the process working with studio musicians like? How fleshed out were the demos that you brought in, in terms of instrumentation/polish/etc.? I'm very curious, as I'm slowly amassing songs I'd like to record, but have no idea where to start/what to expect. Thanks!!!

hello my sweet! i'm happy to talk about this, although i'm not sure how replicable my ~process is.

i originally started recording because at my mom's house, whenever she has a party, it almost always devolves into everybody playing music and messing around. and at one of these, my mom's friend john, who is a professional musician (slash deep-sea fisherman), was like, hey you're actually pretty good do you want me to introduce you to a producer i know who lives on the island (my mom lives on an island). and i was like.....sure. so in terms of "choosing" a studio or a producer i don't have any good insight for you because i was just like. introduced to a man named greg, who i happened to vibe with super well and everything just kind of worked out.

that being said! there are a ton of websites where you can put in your location and pick from profiles; the one i think has the best rep is SoundBetter.

most of my songs were pretty fleshed out, in terms of lyrics/melody/structure, and i worked with greg to be like, okay, now that i can hire people to do stuff, what would i want to build this song into? (for example, mile magnificent has an accordion in it. i do not play the accordion.) plus, i am good enough at the instruments that i play that i can make myself a demo that's like ... "this is how i want the song to go, and the vibe i'm looking for," but i certainly can't shred on guitar or whatever, so most of the songs (except a couple) i hired a guitarist to play it. or made my brother do it, because he's a very gifted instrumentalist (bastard).

but there were certainly bits where i was like, "i like the meat of this song but i don't love what i'm doing on the bridge" or whatever, and then it was a matter of messing around in the studio to figure out what worked better.

this also means there's songs where i'm sharing songwriting credit with (for example) greg, because he meaningfully contributed to changing something about the song. that's something we worked out based on vibes after the fact, but don't do that. that worked out for me but it's not like. an actual process you should follow. you should be clear with the person you're working with and they should be clear with you.

really the number one thing i think probably is important is you find someone to work with who you like. you could have, idk, jack antonoff or whatever, but if you guys don't vibe, it's going to be a bad experience, and you're probably not going to end up with music that feels authentic to you. so that's what i'd say in terms of choice.

final thing: i don't have a record label, which means that i paid for all of my music. greg very sweetly didn't charge me for studio time, but most people probably will, plus for whatever services they're rendering (musicians, mastering, production, etc etc). it's a sliding scale of cost, but obviously the harder you go the bigger the expense. i want to be transparent about that. i was able to pay to play because i was able to pay to play.

recording in a studio with a producer is one way to do it but it's an expensive way if you don't have a label (and even, frankly, if you DO have a label). and you don't make a lot of money streaming, so it's income you probably won't get back (unless you blow up!). i would say i make between $200 - $400 from streaming, every ... few months? and don't get me wrong, that's great, i'm very grateful! but the cost going in was like. $9k (about $3k per album). so given all of my streams, which is more than 2 million, even using the highest streaming revenue it took me 2 years to make back.

if that's not possible for you, there are TONS of ways you can do it yourself. it won't be the same experience! but the product can end up just as great, and honestly sometimes better. for example there's stuff like:

soundtrap (probably the best non-Logic Pro track builder, not free though)

audacity (no-frills, but free)

cakewalk (free! and very intuitive.)

all of these can help you record yourself. and sure, you CAN buy all the fancy microphones and stuff, but frankly, you don't have to. iphones & computers etc have gotten to the point where you can do really good work with just those. so i don't want the money stuff to discourage you, i just want you to go in with your eyes open.

i hope this helps!!!

[monstrousgourmandizingcats]

Q&A: Let's Have a Conclave!

Q: What happened to Pope Francis?

A: He got old and died.

Q: Why is your tag "#deadfrank 2k25"?

A: Because he died, he was called Francis (although his real first name was Jorge), and it's 2025.

Q: What's happening now?

A: The Catholic Church is preparing for a new Pope, who will be elected in a conclave, like from the noted book and movie Conclave. This conclave will be sometime between May 5 and May 10; what's going on until then is a series of funerary rituals and "general congregations," i.e. meetings of the cardinals to discuss their overall thoughts on what they might like to see for the Church when they start voting. The conclave is strictly secret but the general congregations aren't; however, the cardinals tend in practice to be cagey about both stages in the process. Cardinals who vote in the conclave itself have an age limit of eighty, but the general congregations are open to older cardinals as well.

Q: What are the important numbers to remember with the conclave?

A: The total number of cardinals voting is going to be somewhere in the low 130s; 135 are eligible, two said they couldn't make it for health reasons, and now it looks like one of those two might be able to make it after all, putting the current figure at 133 or 134. To get elected Pope you need two-thirds of that, which currently is either 89 or 90.

Q: Who's in charge in the meantime?

A: Kevin Farrell, the Camerlengo (chamberlain) of the Holy Roman Church, a frankly somewhat dislikeable old snake with an MBA who used to be Bishop of Dallas (yes, the one in Texas) before getting appointed to a central position in Rome.

Q: What is the next Pope going to be like?

A: Firm answer: Nobody knows.

My educated guess: It's going to be someone who continues a lot of Francis's priorities, but maybe not one of the big names and maybe not the priorities people in the First World tend to associate with him. The Western conservatives are alienating the sort of Global South wild cards they'd have to win over, and we're getting statements stressing continuity and finishing the work Francis started from people like Rwanda's Antoine Kambanda and Myanmar's Charles Maung Bo. These are people who are going to want to see more of Francis's informality, his populism, and probably his focus on climate action and poverty relief. What that would mean for women's or LGBT people's status in the Church could be almost anything, since plenty of people in the developing world with the above views are very socially conservative otherwise, but the full-on reactionaries seem pretty locked out.

Q: Who are some of the papabili ("pope-able") cardinals?

A: Tolentino de Mendonça, Tagle, Zuppi, Parolin, Grech, Prevost, López Romero, Aveline, Pizzaballa, Turkson, Arborelius, Ambongo, Ranjith, and Erdő are some of the names to look into here, listed vaguely from "left" to "right" (although these are tricky terms in this context and at least one voting cardinal, Malaysia's Sebastian Francis, avowedly thinks using them is a form of Eurocentrism). But it doesn't have to be one of them; in fact, it doesn't even have to be one of the cardinals voting; it just always is.

Q: Is he seriously named that?

A: Yes, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, the bishop responsible for (among other things) most Palestinian Christians, is really named Pierbattista Pizzaballa. I'm told it sounds silly even to native speakers of Italian.

Q: Is my fave [Tagle/Zuppi/Erdő if I have anyone like that following me/Pizzaballa/whoever] going to be Pope?

A: There's no one odds-on favorite, so probably not.

Q: Is my least fave going to be Pope?

A: See above.

Q: Who are you, monstrousgourmandizingcats, rooting for?

A: Zuppi, but it's not up to me.

Q: Is Kevin from Dallas a papabile?

A: Lmao no.

Q: Why are all these people men?

A: There ain't no rule that says a cardinal has to be a man, since a cardinal is technically a separate thing from a priest, but it would be very very difficult for all sorts of logistical and cultural reasons for a pope to actually appoint a woman as a cardinal, and not even Pope Francis ever seriously considered it. There is one woman, a nun called Simona Brambilla, who accidentally got an email inviting her to the general congregations because she's the head of a dicastery (a department of the Church's central government), but unfortunately she doesn't seem to have taken the mailing list up on it.

Q: Is the process fun to follow?

A: Very fun, yes, but also stressful for those of us who care a lot about the Church's direction.

Q: What's the talk among the cardinals focusing on so far?

A: According to Italian-language news, which is usually the most informed on this stuff, the big topics are migrant/refugee issues and how powerful the Church's central administration should be, not necessarily in that order.

Q: Any drama so far?

A: Yes! Angelo Becciu, a corrupt cardinal who resigned his right to sit in a conclave after a criminal conviction for fraud, had resignee's remorse, showed up for one of the general congregations, and had to be escorted out by the Swiss Guards. Kevin from Dallas got taken off Mass duty for (iirc) the sixth of the "Novemdiales" (nine days) of formal mourning for Pope Francis and they replaced him with Víctor Manuel Fernández, an Argentinian cardinal whom the right flank of the Church despises because he's the architect of kinda-sorta-if-you-squint allowing blessings of same-sex couples. Some conservative old guard cardinals supposedly descended on their safe deposit boxes for blinged-out gold pectoral crosses that Francis wouldn't let them wear while he was alive. I'm sure there's much much more to come!

[raayllum]

The creators once posted sometime after S7 concluded that they had considered giving Karim a redemption arc before deciding that having him die making one last poorly thought-out power grab would be a more satisfying conclusion for his arc. I have no complaints about Karim being irredeemable, but how do you think making him beyond redemption is a better choice for the overall story?

Karim is one of my favourite characters in the show, and going forward into S6/S7 I wasn't entirely sure which way his character arc was going to land. I'd expected him to win in S6 (so that he could free Kim'Dael) and so that he'd have further parallels to Ezran (S4/S5 meta on that here). This was mostly due to me expecting Karim to foil and be a contrast to other characters — Callum, Viren, Ezran, Janai — as his primary narrative role.

For Callum & Ezran, it was as brother-mages (Callum) who'd betray the other (over Runaan) whenever that plot point came around. For Viren, Karim was following his path politically and was usurper. For Janai, ridden with uncertainty and doubt, Karim was impulsive and all too certain.

However, it was evident that the brothers would reconcile (they did), that Viren had cinched a continuing atonement arc (already in s4, then outright in s5 — which, afterwards is when the bulk of the linked meta was written), and that Janai would ultimately reclaim/remain being queen of her people.

So where would that leave Karim?

An important note I think, then, is that TDP has never preached complete pacifism. It has always, routinely, framed violence as a last resort but still a resort, and that figuring out what is worth violence vs what isn't is a crucial, difficult, but occasionally achievable process. Ezran is the most pacifistic character by far, and he still has a huge attempted "people I (would've) murdered" body count after all.

So I'd argue that TDP's stance isn't so much as "people can always change" so much as it is "you have to be real damn sure that a person Won't choose to change before you kill them". And even then, it acknowledges that stopping a person from doing active harm in that moment even unto death/murder (S3 Viren with Rayla; S7 Aaravos with the archdragons) is not an exclusively bad thing, either.

Life is precious. Life is valuable. We take it, but we do not take it lightly.

What then, is 'irredeemable' in TDP? To put it simply, there's not much: you can kill someone, or kill someone's beloved family member, or orchestrate a war, or gaslight/deceive people, or burn people alive, or repeatedly use dark magic or consume your own flesh, or all of the above, and still be considered Redeemable within TDP depending on 1) why you did any of the above regarding the Circumstances and/or 2) if you changed afterwards.

That doesn't mean you're going to get endless passes, not every character can have the same arc for both time, variety, and personality, but most characters (Kasef, Viren, Claudia, even Aaravos) have at least the seed of potential to make better/other choices.

With this in mind, Viren's atonement/redemption arc being almost exclusively about his interpersonal relationships > his global political wrongdoing makes the answer abundantly clear as to what TDP thinks is unforgivable if you don't come back from it: forsaking your loved ones.

This does not mean abandoning them, or even standing / fighting against them. It doesn't even necessarily mean killing or trying to kill them!

It means seeing them as JUST the enemy or JUST a thing. Just an obstacle or barrier in your way, or a tool to use for your own ends.

This is, notably, when ultimately dooms Aaravos in S7. He forgets about his child (Sir Sparklepuff) till it catches him off guard. He does not fathom that Avizandum's love for his mate and child could be stronger than Aaravos' control over him. And it is this forgetfulness, this 'twisting' of love into something else, that Terry lampshades as well: "Maybe this started out as a story of love, but along the way it got twisted. He isn't doing anything for love. He's doing it out of revenge" when it comes to personal love, and Runaan when it comes to other matters: "I remember I fought you. I tried to kill you! How could I?" / "I was a peacemaker, a twisted peacemaker, I suppose [...] but I am not dead. I am alive. I have a family I love."

Much like Kasef is 'punished' narratively for his impulsivity and penchant towards violence, providing a contrast for our young heroes and proof that not every young person will make the same choices they did, Karim is a cautionary sign of what happens if you forsake your loved ones — and you do not recover it.

There's a reason that despite walking Viren's path in so many ways, Karim does not recover the same way Viren did, because Viren re-learned how to see his children as people, not objects. Not heirs or spell parts or assets.

Karim became so concerned with seeing others — his family members, his loved ones — as symbols (things), he lost sight of everything else. He got so swept up in seeing Janai as a queen, and then a false queen who was in his way, that he couldn't see her clearly as his sister anymore, and this eventually extended to everyone / everything else in his life, including himself (viewing himself as a martyr, a true king, a flame to remake the world through).

This is also why the broyals reconciliation is through the lens of "we're brothers and we need each other" and has nothing to do about being king or high mage. Those are their jobs and especially for Ezran are important parts of themselves, but it's still just parts, not the whole. It also helps indicate that Claudia and Soren at the end of 7x09, who clearly do still hold love for each other, are not as broken as Janai (who retained love) and Karim (who did not). None of them ever lost love like the way Karim did. There's a lot throughout arc 2 about how steadily he got there, which may be worth a meta someday, but who knows.

The actual manner of death — Karim swaggering in arrogant and puny as ever, severely overestimating his power and leverage, with consistent focus on his hands (his red glove, holding 'fate' between his fingertips with the sun seed) being little more than a red smear in Aaravos' hand is also some deliciously chewy symbolism and an ultimate slap in the face (deservedly so) to his own ideals of grandeur.

Is there an interesting story to explore of Miyana, or something else, being a catalyst for Karim changing? Sure! But I think Miyana and her children's situation — as well as her potential dynamic with Janai and Amaya — is infinitely more interesting given his absence, as well as allowing Karim to occupy a more unique part of the narrative with his thematic explorations. He's a fantastic character foil and character in his own right, and I think he embodied everything they set out to do like, absurdly exceedingly well.

So short form answer: yes! I'm inclined to agree that it's a more satisfying ending tbh, especially with his writing in 7x03 onwards! I do miss him dearly, though. I miss him every day.

[huntrcssqueen]

It wasn't like eating in silence was awkward in any way, in fact it wasn't. Food seemed important to the both of them and really it was. He needed nutrients in his system so that he could go about having a good game or practice. Enough energy that he wouldn't be tired or just moving based off of adrenaline. ❝ That sounds perfect. I mean I'm all about a classic chocolate chip cookie. ❞ It was the type of cookie he was sure he could never grow tired of. Especially if they had that soft gooey center. She was right, they knew how this was going to end, how it was to start. They were to date for a couple of months, be so in love that he asks her to marry him and they throw a wedding within around a year span. After awhile they could get divorced and go their separate ways for their careers. Making him look like a better guy and giving her more fame and having people interested in hiring her. ❝ I like to think we are, I mean... I'm not counting the minutes for this to be over which is a good sign. ❞ He smiled as his eyes looked up at her. ❝ A bunch of pillows? Awe we talking like two or something like eight. ❞ He joked with a small laugh, he slept anywhere between one and two pillows. Hotels he usually slept with two because of how flat they were. ❝ I know, or at least I liked to think I knew so it's nice to hear. A joint account that we both pay into would be nice, makes it easy to put money into and spend on what we need to. ❞ One day she would make more money than him if she wasn't already. He was lucky to be making a mill and only hoped that it would go up from here with his career before he had to call it quits. Holding onto her hand when she took his, there was a real smile on his lips, one that made him actually feel happy looking at her. ❝ We can have two places, it would give me a place to sleep instead of a hotel when in New York at least. Besides... who's to say I might not move teams one day if they decided not to renew my contract or someone else wants to pay it off. ❞ There was a lot behind the scenes that could be done but he knew or at least thought that him and Leia could figure it out and actually be happy in a long relationship.

Ah, it seemed like they had another thing in common. Food was more important than talking. They ate quietly for a bit, enjoying the taste, but also each other's company. At least that was Leia's interpretation. "I'll learn a recipe for your favorite kind and practice until they're perfect, how does that sound?" She asked with a cheeky grin. She'd probably hate it at first but seeing Leo smile was reason enough to try. Maybe she could actually improve with a better taster than the boys in the hockey house. "I think it makes sense, I feel like we're pretty compatible already. Plus, we know how it's going to end so I don't feel nervous about being honest with my feelings, like I normally would. That's kind of nice." She agreed, happily in her own little bubble with him. At some point her water glass was topped up but she never noticed the waiter who did it, too interested in other things. "Good, because I can definitely be picky when it comes to sleeping. I don't like noise and it needs to be dark and I need a bunch of pillows." Would they even want to sleep in the same bed? Was she getting ahead of herself? "I'm not going to just take your money Leo! We need to look at everything together and figure something out. Maybe a joint account we both pay into. Or like, a shared credit card. But your money is your own, I'm not with you for that, real or pretend." At this she was a little more serious, but she needed him to understand. She wasn't a gold-digger and she already cared far too much for him to even think about behaving that way. Besides, if he dreams came to fruition, she'd be making a pretty penny herself. Her hand came back to gently take his, rubbing his thumb briefly. "A house in Ottawa sounds great. I've never been to Canada before. I've only traveled internationally a few times. We might still want a place down here in New York, perhaps an apartment if I book a Broadway show? Or to visit my family from? My mom would want to be involved in her grandkids' lives." That last part was slightly mumbled, her cheeks pink.

[the-wandering-illagers]

|| height chart anyone? ||

[the-harvester]

HEY GUYS

Did you know that um

...

art

[triglycercule]

oh yeah before i forget cute mttpoly headcanon because i said so: when killer finds out (through SOME way of means. he has his ways) that dust and horror like something then at every chance he can he goes and finds that thing for them :3 because I SAID SO AND IT'S CUTE ‼️‼️ (something something killer has no idea how to properly show affection and appreciation after believing his whole life was meant to cause pain and suffering to those close to him and now that he's trying he does silly goofy stuff like this hehe,,,,,,, dust is DROWNING in piles of fluffy blankets and books. horror cannot keep up with eating the amount of snacks killer keeps stealing for him 😞😞😞)

[moongothic]

You know. If Crocodad Real. How would Luffy even react if he found out. Like really, how the fuck would he feel about it.

'Cause like how I went over in this post (briefly at the end), we don't even know how Luffy feels about Crocodile as he is right now, so can you imagine how that bombshell would impact things

Like my running theory is that Luffy still hates Crocodile but maybe not quite as much as pre-Impel Down since he kiiinda owes him etc

And Luffy does not seem to give a shit about blood connections, at least not that much. Like don't get me wrong, Luffy's family are the people who were there for him when he was a child, those are the people he cares about and his bio-parents don't really matter. But also, honestly, I think the reason Luffy doesn't give a shit about who his parents are is because he doesn't know them. Luffy cares about people who he knows and likes, and while he doesn't give a shit about Dragon right now, it's arguably because he simply just doesn't know him. If the two actually get to meet and know each other, like if Luffy takes a liking Dragon, he'll probably accept Dragon as his dad and as his family. But on his own terms. It's up to Luffy to decide

And that's why like. How would Luffy react to finding out he has another dad and that one is fucking Crocodile. Because he already hates the man. It would not be happy news for him I'm sure

The other thing is that normally Luffy does not give a flying fuck about people's sad backstories. He didn't care to hear what happened to Nami and her village for example, because what really mattered was that there was a person he cared about who was deeply hurt and in danger and he wanted to help said person. And that's where I'm so torn. Because on one hand, it would be perfectly on-brand for Luffy to not give a shit of Crocodile had a sob story to tell. But also, I could imagine Luffy being so fucking confused over the news that he'd want to hear the truth of like, who what where how why, in detail. So that, you know, he could make his own decision and figure out if he wants to considder Crocodile is other dad or disown him.

Like, both feel like things Luffy would do

So really, would the real deciding factor might be just... the circumstances where Luffy finds out???

God knows, I can not imagine Crocodile himself telling Luffy anything ever. The kid already hates him, he knows it, so he'd probably think it'd be for the best if Luffy never found out

So how else could Luffy find out then?

As far as we know, the only other person who could confirm it would be Dragon himself, and considdering how he probably feels about his ex (see: Alabasta Coup Attempt), I can't imagine him wanting to talk about Crocodile to Luffy in lenght or in a positive light. Like I can't imagine Dragon wanting to tell Luffy at all is the point, not unless he wanted to like apologize to Luffy because it is arguably his fault Luffy and Crocodile fought in Alabasta to near-death to begin with. (Sidenote since we don't know how the break-up happened to begin with, it's totally possible Crocodile could've asked Dragon to never let their kid find out what happened to his "mom")

And now, this is where I'm gonna go completely off the rails, but. As I was wondering if there was any other way Luffy could find out...

S-Croc is made with Crocodile's DNA.

(And actually before I even go into S-Croc, super quick sidenote: If Kuma can extract memories out of people and allow other people to literally see them... Like I can't tell if Kuma's memories got absorbed by Bonney when she looked into them or if Kuma's Memory Bubble is still on Egghead, but if viewing the memories isn't the same as having them inserted into a vessel permanently... Like if Kuma isn't turbo-dead, could there be a scenario where we have Kuma (or S-Bear) yeet out Croc's memories and have Luffy just look into them? Because god knows Crocodile might just refuse to speak about it and that could be the only way to get The Whole Truth if Dragon doesn't want to talk about it either?) (Of course, Crocodile would understand just How Persistent Luffy is so if Luffy just kept on annoying him about it, Crocodile could maybe give up eventually because he knows he can't get Luffy to piss off until he spills the beans)

So currently the Strawhat's plan is for them to go and escort the Vegapunks to Elbaf (if nothing goes funny after the flashback is over, which remains to be seen)

2. There is the mystery of what sex S-Croc is going to be, because there is a possibility that if Crocodile is trans then his Seraphim could be pre-T (though this entirely depends on whether or not Ivankov's HRT changes even the DNA of person. Since it's MAGIC HRT I would prefer it to, not gonna lie, and I would not appreciate any "you may look different but your DNA will tell the truth!" rhetoric in the story but I may be asking too much from Oda)

3. And there's also the mystery of what Devil Fruit ability S-Croc might have, since all the Seraphim have been given Fruit powers, and we know Vegapunk can't replicate Crocodile's Sand Logia.

All things considdered, I think the actual, most likely known ability S-Croc might end up with would be like, Mr 3's wax powers (hilariously), mainly because I could imagine it being flexible enough to work in Crocodile's fighting style, so it'd be the easiest for S-Croc to adapt to (like if you can make anything from wax, then why not sharp blades to fling at people) (Also we know Vegapunk would have access to this power since Mr 3 was in Impel Down, when they also got Daz' powers)

But also I had joked before how it'd be funny if S-Croc was a Crocodile Zoan for no reason. Like it'd be fitting since Crocodile was already the Only Logia of the OG Shichibukai, so making his Seraphim the Only Zoan would be funny as hell (if it's even possible, which we can't say if it will/won't be). Additionally, making him a Crocodile Zoan would be hysterically on-the-nose.

(Sidenote: If there was a crocodile Zoan Fruit, what sub-category do you think it'd fall into? Like would it be Ryu Ryu like all the dinosaur-themed Zoans are, or maybe even a different model of Uo Uo (same as Kaidou)? Since "wani" could be considdered a different type of serpent-dragon, and if Vegapunk was researching how to recreate Kaidou's fruit, it's plausible he might've accidentally recreated some other related-fruit in the process or afterwards?? (Also since Kaidou's Uo Uo is a specific model (Seiryu) it would make sense if there was another Uo Uo model Fruit, and this could be an excelent opportunity to use it))

The thing about Zoans though is that, as it's been brought up once or twice before, Zoan fruits can kind of have a "mind of their own" and influence the user in unexpected ways.

And as all we Crocodad Truthers know.

Crocodiles are protective of their babies.

ALSO: The Seraphim do have enough personal will-power that they may (slightly) disobey orders they've been given. Case-and-point, S-Snake undoing the Petrification on the Strawhats after Luffy asked her to, since S-Snake is fond of Luffy just like Hancock is

Sidenote, it was kind of made a point how Vegapunk considdered his artificial replica of Kaidou's dragon fruit a compete failure simply because instead of a blue dragon, the user would turn into a pink one instead. So if Vegapunk tried to make a Seraphim of Crocodile, knowing full-well he couldn't even give the Seraphim the same ability as the OG, and then the Seraphim turns out the wrong sex for no reason?? I could see him being confused as hell and considder S-Croc "a failed Seraphim"

So really, all we'd really need to happen would be for the Strawhats to somehow encounter the remaining three Seraphim while escorting the Vegapunks to Elbaf. Mind you, IDK how that could even happen since as far as we know they've been deployed the Emptee Bluffs

And then just have S-Croc either disobey orders to hunt Luffy or even even have him be protective of Luffy (following that Zoan Instinct, one even he can't explain, it's just Instinct). Have Sanji be like "hey why the fuck is this one a girl, isn't it supposed to be Crocodile", followed by Vegapunk explaining this Seraphim was a failure for reasons even he can't understand

Then have Jinbei remember the conversation Crocodile and Ivankov had at Impel Down (suspicious considdering Ivankov's abilities and this "failed Seraphim"), and maybe if Crocodile had any involvement with the Revolutionaries and Robin was suspicious of him she could even bring that up

Along with any other minor details that may be bothering the crew about the whole deal

And so if the Strawhats and Vegapunk just put all their braincells together and rubbed them real hard, they could maybe come to a hypothesis as to why S-Croc is a "failure" and protective of Luffy, and maybe even a potential explanation as to why The Real Crocodile was protective of Luffy in Marineford for no fucking reason

And maybe, just maybe, Vegapunk could confirm that suspicion with a DNA test. All he needs to do is check Luffy's and compare it to Crocodile's.

Not sure Luffy would want to do the DNA test, like knowing Luffy he might prefer to just ask Crocodile in person if they ever ran to each other again

But boy, if he somehow did agree to a DNA test, and there was a match... oh boy

But again. This entire scenario is BEYOND off-the-rails. Technically plausible! But honestly if Luffy is ever gonna find out (assuming Crocodad Real) then it's gonna be from Dragon

I just wanted to get the theoretical scenario out of my system okay, I had to get the brainworms out of my brain

[cerbreus]

if 2026 rolls around and i've not figured out a set course for dealing with my career woes (taking community college classes, making plans to continue education, switching jobs, literally ANYTHING...) please beat 🔨me 🔨with 🔨hammers........🔨🔨🔨

[wall-eye]

If you annoy people for fun, don't be surprised when people don't like you

Work rant in tags. Didn't know there was a 30 tag limit lol