#for my fellow anxious attached <3< /div> Explore tagged Tumblr posts

[asteroidaffection]

they’re not mysterious they just have poor communication skills

[strawbabysimp]

Locked In || Dom!Murasakibara x Reader

Genre: Smut, Dark Content

Category: Dom!Murasakibara x GN!Sub!Reader

Warning(s): Fingering, Non-Con, Manipulation Tactics, Unhealthy Attachment, Penetration

Request(s): "hello! I love your knb stuff and was wondering if you could write a noncon, rough and I mean ROUGH murasakibara x reader smut, taking place in a locker room, right after practice? Some propts i'd like to see are, dirty talk, humiliation and degradation. If you are uncomfortable or want to scratch out any part of this request, feel free to do so! Hope you are interested in writing this <3 Happy new year!"

"Please can you make a heavy smut with Murasakibara"

A/N: I had to repost because Tumblr posted it half-done but shout-out to @twilight-blu3 for one of my all-time favorite requests. I'm really thankful for all those in my inbox there to inspire me and the way you wrote your request SPOKE TO ME, I ADORE YOU

You always thought he looked so graceful, his arms like the wingspan of a bird, soaring across the court in grandeur. He drew you in. You found yourself going to games outside of home, cheering him on from the sidelines as he blocked the other team's plays effortlessly, then smiling as you watched him snack innocently between playing time.

This was the night. You were finally going to confess. Another win for your team at their home game was a sign of good fortune, you thought to yourself.

You approached the locker room with anxious fervor - it was now or never.

All the other members had left but Murasakibara had been rushed with cameras and fellow fans before he had the chance to get to the locker room. You ignored the slightly stale smell of the space and sat down on one of the benches. You weren't supposed to be in here but you figured if you caught him before he was changing then there was no harm in the location (it would be a little weird to confess to him while he was half-naked, no matter how welcome the sight would be).

Think of the Devil. Murasakibara walked through the swinging doors, his steps heavy and echoing in the near-empty room. You fiddled with your hands as you slowly turned toward the direction you figured he'd come through.

You spotted purple strands high above your own head before you took note of the rest of him. He spotted you quickly. When your eyes reached his face he was already meeting your gaze.

"What are you doing here?" He questioned apathetically.

"I wanted to give you this."

Your hands held out a box of chocolates neatly wrapped with a bow, a traditional way of confessing. He hesitated in accepting but decided to fairly quick.

Murasakibara didn't eat the treats yet, opting to hold them between his large fingers instead as he peered at you waiting for more.

"Why?"

"I like you Murasakibara."

His eyes remained the same but you thought you saw his lips twinge upwards for a moment.

He approached you slowly, stopping once he was directly in front of you. The man didn't say anything, studying you for a moment. Murasakibara broke your gaze, unraveling the box's ribbon gracefully before plopping one onto his tongue faster than your anxious mind could process.

"I accept," the object of your affections stated simply. You couldn't believe the words. His emotionless expression made it even harder to trust the sincerity of his acceptance.

As your mind raced, he reached out for you, encompassing your body in his arms, tucking you against him.

"What?" You breathed.

"Isn't this what couples do?"

You smiled away from his gaze, enjoying the security of his chest when suddenly he turned you around to face the lockers.

"Murasaki-"

He cut you off. "Isn't this what couples do as well?" The purple-haired giant goaded.

You felt the bulge of his balls make contact with the top of your ass cheeks as he forced himself against you.

Your eyes widened in shock. You hadn't been expecting such an act by him, and weren't welcoming to his sudden change in demeanor. It was unfamiliar and frightening.

"Wait, can we just talk for a second?" You pleaded with the locker that pressed against your cheek.

“I thought you wanted to be with me? Was I wrong?” The towering man asked innocently.

Red flags flashed in your mind but you had wanted him for so long, you should feel grateful for his touch.

“I do,” you mumbled, your nerves restricting your throat, making it hard to move in general. Your body felt hot in all the wrong ways. It shouldn't be like this, you found yourself thinking.

"Good," he whispered against your ear, lips grazing the flesh in a taunting manner. You felt him grind deeper against the cusp of your ass and gasped.

His fingers made quick work of your pants, pulling them down along with your underwear. Murasakibara pulled your ass cheeks apart to gaze at you unabashedly. You felt your face heat up beyond what you thought was possible and a deep shame formed in your belly.

You felt him move back from you, shuffling his own clothes. You were still too immobile to glance behind you, face no-doubt marked by the locker's cruel edges.

"How long have you wanted to me with me," he asked, the ego clear in his voice.

"I've always been a fan of yours, since your middle school days. I always thought you were beautiful," you told the truth, no point in secrets as his cock tip graced your entrance.

You shuddered at the thought of the sudden intrusion before a sudden giggle caught you off guard.

"I'm not that cruel Y/N."

Your eyes widened. "How do you know my name?"

"You think I wouldn't notice the same person at every one of my games, arriving early and leaving late. I got curious and asked around."

You blushed at his words, ashamed of your own desperation now.

"No matter, I found your loyalty cute - in a pathetic sort of way."

Wettened fingers were inside you before you had time to process, the sting of the two large digits stretching your hole out painfully and fast.

"Ahhhhh!"

You screamed against the metal, your arm reaching back in an attempt to grasp his wrist. He didn't allow you to, his quick limbs halting your attempts and holding you in place with ease.

You felt him twist the digits inside of you, presumably his spit easing the way despite your body's resistance. You groaned as tears sprung to your eyes.

"It's okay to be loud," you heard the smile in his words, "I blocked the doors before we started."

You felt hope you didn't know you had leave your body. This was it. You were going to be raped by the man you had nothing but love for.

You had been so stupid.

"You're so tight. Never done it before? Or am I just that big?"

Your hole clenched down on his hand and you heard a sinister laugh from the man behind you.

"So needy," Murasakibara mumbled apprehensively, "I guess I'll have to do something about that."

You felt his fingers leave you and this time you heard the wet sound of him lubing up his dick. You gathered your last bit of will to meet his eyes, but he wasn't looking at you - only at your parts.

He intended to use you to your fullest extent and you knew it.

"Please don't," you whispered.

"Don't? You wanted me so bad before and now you're changing your mind? Don't be selfish, it's too late for that."

He grasped the back of your skull with ease, turning you back to face the locker. You squeezed your eyes shut but they burst open when you felt the first inch of his cock enter you.

"You're so tight," he moaned, "you're gonna tear it off at this rate."

His humorous comment gave you no amusement and you felt your body tighten further as he sunk deeper into you.

"Almost there," he said in a comforting tone. With one final push, he was balls deep in you, his fingers digging into your hips as he pulled your ass up in the air to accommodate his height.

Never giving you much time to adjust, Atsushi began a steady pace of harsh slaps against your flesh as he pulled you apart on his dick.

It wasn't long before he fell apart himself, heavy breathes parting the hair on the back of your scalp as he huffed into the strands. You felt your wetness grow, his cum spilling out into you adding to the lubrication.

He pulled out with a wet noise, the emptiness only increasing as his seed soon began to spill down your thighs.

"I guess accepting your confession has its perks, right?"

Tears stained your cheeks, face still hidden against the locker.

"See you at the next game."

[rzyraffek]

I have a request! Can you do Eddie gulskin,brahms hellsire and Billy lenz (idk I'd you do the twins from outlast but if u do them to if not is chill) with a S/O who has an anxious attachment style?

- like there s/o asks If they hate them and kinda follows the characters around like a shadow!!:>

Ong! I love it!! This s/o is so me😭 also why i got 3 eggie gluskin requests at once i never even played outlast! But he seems like goofy fellow!

They/them, sfw, mostly meowmeow fluffy. Requests are closed for now due to huge numbers in my inbox

Slashers with s/o who has attachment issues

Billy Lenz

Oh me oh my they are sure something else

He is the one that usually walks behind his parnet like stray cat so he doenst really know how to react?? Especially if s/o asks him stuff "do you like me?" And is clearly worried about Billy abandoning them. Billy will be like ??? Bestie why would you even think like that!! S/o is great he would never!

He stares at them when they sleep, like it would help him figure out how to feel them more loved

Pls dont vent to him tho! He cant take this type of stuff sirously

Eddie gluskin

😳😳

His guy will blush so hard

When they fallow him, his ego will grow so much! Oh darling what you worried you'll get lost? Huh o- well of course i love you! Your my wife!!!

He can spend as much time with them as possible! As far as they don't mind gory backround and screaming people

Like somone acually cares about him?? Frfr?? With consent?? Gee didnt know s/o was chill like that

Once he found them crying in one of hospital beds, he though somonr attacked them but when he realised they were worried about him, Eddie promised to him self that he will never leave them

Asa emory

Bbg wym??? He spends huge amount of money on them and they still think he doesnt like them??? I mean yeah he spends a lot of time away but like😔😔no no s/o you cant go with him to his workplace nono its too gory for ur lil mind

Alrightttt if they ask him nicley he might allow them to sit in his saferoom there for few hours. But dont try to explore this place pls!! S/o gonna explode in real time irl if they leave saferoom(agressive escape room)

Also if they ever feel bad, he has few dogs so im sure s/o can vibe with doggos if they feel bad

Bro asa really doenst know how to make them understand HE LOVES YOU PLS TAKE HIS MONEY AND DOGS AND STOP BEING SO SAD OML

Brahms Heelshire

Vice versa

This guy sometimes doesnt sleep at night because hes worried that they accualy dont love him, and they are just too scared to leave

But his worries fade away as soon as they snuggle to him while sleeping

He would love s/o that fallows him around!! He has attachment issues too!

Oh please dont worry love! He totally loves them

[diabolic-wave]

You said you have Parallel Canon ramblings that couldn't fit in the tags. Ramble away, fellow human.

Also, let me know if you find that post you mentioned being reminded of.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS yeah it was a more generalized thing (i saw it cropped and had to go find the image + search the exact phrasing but it's since been reblogged) the sentiment of being the 'evil' clone is up for debate i suppose. perhaps in a literal sense - yknow, antivirus that's been infected with malware; a copy and paste of code that was supposed to be 4 tweaked and repurposed into hostility. but it feels a little wrong to call them evil anyway. (there's also definitely a horror in that it's still your "friend" even while it's "evil" they jump to you they tell you they will they cry out when you kill them and you can hear it and isn't that just awful? they're all still someone that was supposed to be on your side. it's not just the voice clip it's not just a super jump indicator it's an 'ouch' ping it's a 'hey i am super jumping to you, my teammate, specifically' audio cue. this was supposed to be your friend.) and what if it still was! what if you ran with the same sort of angst as if it was genuinely 4 at first? what if eight saw that, remembered sanitized agent 3, and knocked/tore the mask off to save them and it worked? what's it like for everyone then? we know pearl is filling the role she's intended to be, so in that same sense people use that to bring 4 in you could use it to make a dawning horror sort of story. the slow realization that it's not. you could well have it still more directly attached to 4 through the palette too - i think this works well for most things and not just this specifically, like i do think it can play a pretty significant part in pcanon feeling so strongly that it is agent 4 even if it's not quite identical or doesn't remember everything or whatever - but ultimately it never really was. and so what then? for parallel and for everyone else? would it be cruel to acknowledge it? i would think it'd be a little uncomfortable for everyone involved no matter what. in contrast to never being treated like 4 in the first place, instead it is but only for a little bit. and then suddenly everyone starts getting a little... distant. uneasy. even if they never actually say anything about it there's still that nasty anxious feeling when it seems like everyone else knows something you don't and especially if you can tell it's something about you.

i also often find myself especially fascinated with what they are just in general tbh. that one i could touch on in the tags at least though. yknow, series of progressively more distorted photocopies. the first is almost pristine, just a little off from the book itself thanks to things like the weird seam copies get from the way the pages crease at the spine. and then when easy access to the book is lost and the copies start being copies of other copies it gets further and further away. burns. fading. other weird random marks. if the intro is anything to go by, they've all got their quirks. a hall of mirrors reflecting the reflection of the same person. ants that've gotten themselves confused, following each other's trail ever onward and onward into the death spiral because they don't know how to do anything but follow orders and march together. they're not quite like ants in that they're individuals, sure. with their own egos. but they're all still made from the same copy and pasted code, recopied, repasted, corrupted further by the virus hijacking them. and they all still act in harmony to do what they were supposed to do from the beginning. follow the directive, follow the pheromones, even if you've been trapped in a path you weren't supposed to take. (truthfully, i got in on the spiral of ants association just because of 'intensifying harmony' -> 'the overwhelming harmony (consuming the colony)' but since then i've ended up latching onto it more and making other connections lmao. You Are One Ant is something that's also stuck for a long time alongside the harmony connection which i've thought about drawing something for occasionally but honestly the whole pre-chorus at this point i think about a lot. the first one especially [you can't remember where you came from. you can't remember where you're going. you can't remember knowing.] but the now you remember/you have to keep it flowing also hits in its own way i think)

also like no matter how you interpret it, how much you think the main parallel can actually remember of "being 4", there's always going to be that light so bright it's blinding as soon as it gets a window into that, right? as soon as it gets to look in that mirror and see that life it doesn't have. the light none of them will ever reach.

in contrast to no matter how happy-go-lucky your 4 is this sort of thing would be crushing, it's also no matter how angsty your 4 is they still have more going for them than the parallels. they're living some sort of life and not just the hollow facsimile of one in a little anthill of a tower in a barren virtual reality. they do have friends even if they've felt neglected, right? but all the parallels really have is each other (and maybe order/smollusk) unless 8 or the others decide to reach out despite how weird that has to be for them.

it's just you and yourself and yourself and yourself and yourself and yourself and yourself and yourself and yourself and yourself (etc if you figure there's more than the ten we see on the floor 20 bossfight) living in the cold white dark. mere imitations of someone who did something meaningful. who was impressive enough for you to be created in the first place.

but then also, how many of them even care? at what point is that copy so distorted from those burns and fadings that it's still identical in text but completely unrecognizable from the book it came from? and what's it like to know there's a you that doesn't care that it's not you? what's it like to be one that doesn't care when however many do? i'd think it'd be a little offputting even if it's a perfect divide and they don't fight about it or anything. but it'd definitely be isolating if it was only a few of them on either side, too.

none of them are their own person but also they are. none of them are 4 but also they all are. it doesn't matter which way any of them look at it because they can never really be either.

NOT TO MENTION what happens when there isn't anything left to defend from? what happens between the time eight is there and marina making use of the memverse the way she intended to originally? let alone when it just isn't needed anymore in general! what happens to the memverse in general then, to both the parallels and to smollusk? what do they do when they're alone in there. unattended. when they're not following their directive and acting as security. i would think they'd just be interacting amongst themselves which is definitely fine between periods of eight going in with the different palettes but how well does it hold up in those sorts of long term situations?

btw looping back to the link to 4's palette imagine that and then when the palette is completed/cleared just... having that ripped away. you know. being so sure that they're someone else only to suddenly be forced to realize they're not. not just because of the way people are treating them but because all of a sudden there's just... something that's torn out of them and put inside of someone else. having a soul only to realize it's not yours when the real owner takes it back.

anyway yeah that's mostly what i've got off the top of my head but yknow. ultimately as much as i do like the [it actually is 4 au] stuff too i think the actual situation is soooo cool and also super underutilized tbh it's kind of a shame

[lgbtqmanga]

New Releases May 21, 2024

After We Gazed at the Starry Sky (manga) vol. 2 by Bisco Kida

That fateful encounter at the planetarium changed Subaru Miyazawa’s life forever. After all, that’s where he met his true love, Tougo Amase, photographer extraordinaire! And now that they’re officially together, every day is a kind of happily-ever-after! That is, until the day Tougo admits that he’s planning to move away…so where does that leave Subaru?

Cocoon Entwined (manga) vol. 6 by Yuriko Hara

The Lady of the Cocoon, who, cutting the tresses as precious as her life, abandoned the academy. The girls left behind are shaken by that loss. Amidst this, Christmas night arrives at long last. Will a miracle occur on the holy eve? The thread of fate tangles, frays, and, from the past and present, spins towards the future…

Confessions of a Shy Baker (manga) vol. 4 by Masaomi Ito

Toshimitsu Yamamura lives together happily with his boyfriend of many years, Gonta Tsubakisaka, but in his everyday life Toshimitsu isn't really… “out.” After his vehemently progressive employee had the idea to list their real estate business as LGBTQ+ friendly, Toshimitsu has been very anxious about accidentally outing himself, and he often channels his anxiety into baking incredible treats for his carb-conscious boyfriend. With the love of his boyfriend and his love of baking, maybe Toshimitsu will steadily become more comfortable being his authentic self!

Heat × Beat A Shut-In Omega Becomes an Idol! (manga) by Ken Homerun

As an omega abandoned by his betrothed alpha mate, shut-in Minoru shares his heartbreak with the world in the form of music. But when one of his songs catches the attention of famous idol Hijiri, Minoru is suddenly swept from the lonely solitude of his room and thrust into the spotlight — as an omega idol and music producer performing alongside his two alpha bandmates, Eiji and Tatsuya!

For any other group, this could prove a recipe for controversy and disaster, but Minoru isn't worried; his lingering attachment to his former mate keeps him from acting on his omega instincts. For a while, he's even able to throw himself whole-heartedly into his new role, learning to embrace the world he'd once retreated from, and even growing closer to his bandmates and fellow idols, especially the frank and affectionate Eiji. But Eiji is hiding a secret of his own — a connection to Minoru's past that might shatter the tentative trust and affection that's been growing between them.

Magic Knight Rayearth (manga) vol. 3 by CLAMP

Three girls who couldn't be more different meet on a school trip to Tokyo Tower--and find themselves beamed into a parallel world called Cefiro, where the mysterious Pillar has recruited them to avert a calamity! With the help of a motley troop of rogues and wizards, they will unlock the power of three transforming giant dragons known as Rune Gods and rush to the Pillar's aid…but there's more going on at the heart of Cefiro than they know!

Contains updated translation and lettering created for the 25th-anniversary release.

The Man Who Shattered My World (manga) by Osamu Moriya

Tachibana is a handsome top who exclusively has no-strings-attached sex with slender, pretty men. When he picks up the brawny, confident Kuzumi on a whim, he doesn't expect much to be different… except Kuzumi flips the script on him.

Kuzumi is merciless in his attentions, and Tachibana finds himself helpless to resist. In one night, everything Tachibana thought he knew about sex and desire gets turned on its head, and he finds himself coming back for more. But can he trust Kuzumi with more than just his body - or will he be discarded by the other man as soon as he gets bored?

A top vs. top BL love story swaying between pride and desire!

My Girlfriend's Not Here Today (manga) vol. 1 by Kiyoko Iwami

Pent up and tired of her apathetic girlfriend, Asahina Yuni turns to an anonymous online account to let it all out. It’s just another day of doomscrolling after class when Asahina gets swept away in conversation with the beautiful, outgoing Taki. When Taki turns out to be following Asahina's private account, it’s cute…right? Taki would never blackmail Asahina…right? With every new lie, the web of secrets and erotic desire grows ever-tighter!

Sailor Moon Naoko Takeuchi Collection (manga) vol. 8 by Naoko Takeuchi

Teenager Usagi is not the best athlete, she's never gotten good grades, and, well, she's a bit of a crybaby. But when she meets a talking cat, she begins a journey that will teach her she has a well of great strength just beneath the surface and the heart to inspire and stand up for her friends as Sailor Moon! The original Sailor Moon in a new, affordable edition.

She Likes Gays, but Not Me (manga) vol. 1 by Akira Hirahara and Naoto Asahara

Based on the critically claimed novel. High schooler Atsushi Andou has always hidden the fact that he’s gay. But one day, he sees his classmate Sae Miura with a BL book-a small moment with major consequences. Atsushi longs for a “normal” happiness with a loving wife and a biological child, but what can he do when he’s not turned on by women?

She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat (manga) vol. 4 by Sakaomi Yuzaki

After their curry party, Kasuga and Nomoto have grown closer than ever before. Now that they have both recognized the nature of the feelings they hold, and with Valentine’s Day coming up, will they be able to successfully express it to each other?

Tied to You (manhwa vol. 1) by Chelliace and WHAT

Wooseo Shin was never one to believe in fate…until a ring of red thread appears around his finger, that is! This ring marks a person’s meeting of their soulmate, and with it, neither can fall asleep if the other is absent. This development is not a welcome one for Wooseo, who decides to keep it from his close friend and crush Jiseok Kang at all costs. Because as fate would have it, the person with Wooseo’s matching set is Jigeon Kang—Jiseok’s older brother! When Jigeon proposes that they start sharing a bed, if only to combat their joint insomnia, Wooseo reluctantly accepts…but as the two spend more and more time together, feelings start to get messy. Will Wooseo be able to survive his new life tangled up in between these two brothers?!

Tokyo Babylon CLAMP Premium Collection (manga) vol. 3 by CLAMP

Subaru Sumeragi is an onmyouji and the current head of the Sumeragi clan. When Subaru joins a phone call between three mysterious girls, he is startled when they declare him to be an enemy and use a mantra against him! Will he be able to get down to the bottom of things?

The Yearning Fox Lies in Wait (manga) by Nmura

The year is 1920, the 9th year of the Taisho Period. Lifelong philomath Kiyo Fukasaku is ecstatic when he's admitted into the Imperial University, and can't wait to begin his new life in the nation’s capital…that is, until he gets lost and already finds himself on hard times on his first day in the big city. Luckily, he runs into Ozaki, an eccentric, seemingly well-off man who invites Kiyo to stay in his mansion after he learns about his financial troubles. But there's more to the handsome stranger than meets the eye. It turns out that Ozaki is a fox spirit who had some sort of connection to Kiyo's grandfather, Seishirou, and he invites Kiyo to live with him as a way to repay Seishirou's kindness. But just what kind of relationship did Ozaki and Seishirou have, and what does it mean for Ozaki and Kiyo?

[lola-andheruniverse]

I just read a few reviews of Le Daryl, almost every one that appeared on the first page of my Google search, because I've got anxious. I don't plan to watch it because of caryl/carol/melissa/real life kicking my ass, but I like to stay informed. Reading the reviews actually helped me to calm down a little bit. So, here are few of my impressions that may help fellow distressed carylers:

Almost everyone agrees that it's beautifully shot; the French cast is pretty good, specially Poésy (mixed reactions about the kid, mostly good ones); and the new walkers are decent and cool. Those are the agreed positive points, not really new stuff to the fandom but maybe it's enough to encourage GA to give it a watch.

Similarities between Le Daryl and TLOU were pointed out as expected - since GN himself talked about it because AMC realized everyone would make the connection - sometimes on a mocking tone, sometimes with a "they look alike but they're not the same, folks" argument.

Reviewers who seem to really know Daryl's character (and TWD itself) pointed a lot of discrepancies between main show Daryl and spin-off Daryl. Those that apparently doesn't know him write he's the same stoic grunting man that we've always know, stuck on a same note behavior, a forever side character that only now has the chance of having his own story and family. LOL

Only one reviewer openly sees the relationship between Daryl and Isabelle as romantic. One reviewer express discontent over shipbaiting, and two explicitly write about Carol (and Judith) as Daryl's family to whom he wants to return to.

Longer reviews are the most complete and negative towards Le Daryl, dedicating time to critic various aspects of the narrative and plot. Shorter ones are more positive, but just a couple are really enthusiastic about it like 'wow, perfect show, big hit, TWD is alive again'. Almost all of them expressed various degrees of concern about the plot or the pacing, but mostly agree that episode 5 is the better one, highlighting NR's acting skills on it (there's kind of a flashback on this episode, maybe the Carol/Sophia one? everyone alive back on the farm?).

Overall, it reads like a 3 stars show for GA, not excellent, not rubbish. Lets not forget that most of these reviewers are not fans and don't have the knowledge (or the attachment) of Daryl's character and history as we, the fans, do. But I think it's reasonable to say, right now, S1 is not targeting the caryl audience..maybe not even the die-hard TWD audience..but it can be an ok entertainment for the next few weeks until something else comes along.

[i-willstealyourtoes]

Hey 👋. It's so nice to see a fellow sleeping dogs fan! I was wondering if you had any headcanons for Wei, Jackie, and Winston?

Hi!! I agree, I was worried to think I was the only simp fan here! I apologise in advance for how out-of-character some of this might be, especially with Winston 😭

Also I feel like this turned into first date headcanons???? Mb lol-

Wei, Jackie and Winston and their s/o

Wei

- Okay I know its confirmed that Wei is a player so

- I think in the very start of y'all being flirty and stuff, he'd definitely still be 'in the market' or whatever

- Although, when he met you he definitely did keep back a little bit

- Not to put you on a pedestal, but he was quite charmed from the very beginning

- Anyways, I think he was most enchanted by either your sense of humour, your down to earth vibe or that laugh of yours

- Maybe all 3? Yeah, probably all 3

- We know Wei is incredibly good at flirting so he'd definitely have no issue at all trying to get close with you (the og rizz master)

- Though he might have felt a little nervous the more he became attached to you

- I mean, with all the others he just kind of... liked them and then he moved on??

- You though??? He became rather attached to you :)

- I mean, you're different !! You're so... you?

- It's hard to describe okay, he just likes you alot

- So when he asks you out he does feel a little anxious

- 'Hey, so uh- You wanna go somewhere together? Like a date, I mean.'

- Like, what if you declined and you stopped being friends altogether??? 😭

- Ofc his fear melted when you agreed to date

- He wanted the first date to be something more... casual?

- But also pretty cool ofc bc you deserve something rlly nice

- He decided he was just going to take you to like... this really picturesque spot that had a view of the sea/the city

- Yes, he did indeed plan it correctly so you guys could watch the sunset <333

- 'See? Told you it'd be worth the trip. Best view in Hong Kong, right?'

- AAAAAA I LOVE THIS I LOVE MEN OML

- Y'all are sitting on a picnic blanket, just holding each other as the sun goes down

- You guys are so cute omg

- Anyway, you definitely stay and watch the starts too

- Y'all be stargazing, lying in each others arms

- Wei definitely felt something then

- Like... not the usual 'they're cool I think I want them'

- He felt like 'omg I love them I want to stay like this please'

- It's quite late when you leave bc ig you lost all sense of time???

- (Same tbh I do this even if I'm not in some muscular guys arms)

- 'Aw shit, I didn't realise it was that late already. Should we go?'

- That last phrase was a question bc honestly, he didn't want to leave

- Okay okay but before y'all parted ways (he'd walk you home or something btw dw) he'd definitely ask you for another date

- 'So, how about this time next week then? If you're free, that is.'

- Eeee y'all are so cute

- Anyways, eventually you guys become partners and everything is great bc yessss

- Whether this is when he's a a triad member/red pole or a policeman, he still gets quite protective of you bc ofc

- Like, when he's a triad member, people don't like him

- When he's a red pole, people REALLY don't like him

- And when he reveals himself as a cop? ALOTTA PEOPLE REALLY REALLY DON'T LIKE HIM-

- This means people might go for you bc they know he likes you

- But then again, do they really wanna go against The Wei Shen??? It's Wei Shen dude, do you really wanna mess with him???

- Still, he worries. He definitely tries to keep an eye on you, or make sure you text him immediately if anything happens

- 'Text me alright? If anything happens, just call me.'

- He's just a little guy

- Okay he's not little

- He's just a protective guy

- He love you ok leave him be

Jackie

- MY BLORBO OMG ILY

- (The 'ily' can be portrayed as platonic or romantic tbh I just love him)

- He's just a little guy ok

- Anyway, I think he'd start kind of flirting with you bc he does that with everyone he meets that he's mildly attracted to???

- But once you guys actually hang out, he realises he actually likes you alot tbh

- I think it's either how nice you are to him or your laugh/smile

- He gets butterflies thinking about you :)

- That's why he stops flirting with the others, bc he kind of just wants you?

- You always play his flirting as just part of his personality rather than him actually being interested in you

- Which makes it a bit more difficult for him bc now he doesn't really know how to show you he actually wants to date you

- He definitely asks Wei about it when they're just hanging out

- 'You know that good-looking (hair colour), (Y/n)? Uh yeah, that one. I uh... I kind of really like them, but I don't really know how to.... ask them out. They always play off my flirts as a joke or something! I don't know what to do man, I really like them!'

- Wei suggested he just straight up tell you his intentions rather than hint at it

- That did make him a little nervous bc while he doesn't usually beat around the bush, he doesn't want you to like... make fun of him or something

- But eventually Wei convinced him that even if you rejected him, you wouldn't bully him or something

- So one day you two are in the car with Wei (he's driving) and he just gives Jackie a look

- 'Oh! Right... hey, (Y/n)? So uh... do you wanna... go on a date sometime?'

- '....sure.'

- VSHSBJSJAN LET'S GOOOOOOO

- Wei and Jackie share a look like '>:]' bc ofc

- I think he would try do something really fancy??? But then panic bc he can't afford it

- Yes, he texted Wei about it

- Yes, Wei threatened the owners to let you two go in if they saw you

- (Thanks Wei, you a real one fr)

- Anyway, he got you a bouquet as well bc UGH HE'S JUST SO NICE

- It ends up the fancy stuff didn't really fill you up, nor was it that worth so

- (Luckily you guys ended up not paying as much as usual bc of Wei)

- He feels kinda bad bc it wasn't really that good

- But it ends up going pretty good bc you end up getting ice cream and just go on a walk under the stars :)

- You guys end up sitting on some stairs, holding ice cream and stuff

- HE EVEN GAINS THE COURAGE TO PUT HIS ARM AROUND YOU YAY

- OK ok anyway after you two become official, I think he gets much more comfortable around you bc he knows you like him back

- PDA bc yes

- And when the whole... buried alive stuff happens, he kind of... clings to you

- He's much more emotional around you and hugs you tight whenever, especially when you're both sleeping together (not in the sexual way)

- He has nightmares often, and feels really bad when you wake up/stay up with him

- 'Man... I- I'm sorry (Y/n)... I don't know... I don't know what to do.... I'm scared, (Y/n).'

- He does these nightly confessions often tbh... he feels so guilty in the morning though

- He's just... he's just a lovely guy please protect him

Winston

- I'm ngl I think Winston will not beat around the bush

- At least, not for long

- When he first meets you, he thinks your cool

- He eventually gravitates towards you bc of how nice you are to him

- Like, he literally kills people everyday and here you are just going ':) hi'

- Like okay why don't you just kiss me already (probably Winston's thoughts)

- In the week where he decides to try date you, the others kind of tease him lol

- More specifically behind his back (even more specifically Conroy, Wei and Jackie)

- If he finds out they're dead 💀

- Anyway, one day he just calls you and asks bc yes :)

- 'Hey, (Y/n)? I was wondering if you wanted to go out?'

- 'Sure, looking forward to it!'

- 'Yeah? Alright, good. I'll pick you up.'

- He's happy :) yay dating time

- I feel like maybe you'd just do something chill??

- Idk like if you guys are already good friends you'd probably just chill somewhere like a restaurant like the Golden Koi

- Winston doesn't want you to meet his mom straight away bc uhhhh

- 'Eat more lah, you get so skinny ah...' (Mrs. Chu with literally anyone even if you're healthy)

- If you guys didn't know each other that well, he'd probably take you to a different restaurant??? Maybe BamBam???? idk man

- Yes he might feel a little nervous bc uhhh idk he's just babygirl he gets like that sometimes with pretty people

- He'd probably have to leave early bc you know.... he's a red pole he kinda has work all the time

- 'Now?! I have to go now!? I'm busy with- But- You- Ugh... fine! Fine, I'm leaving now.... fuck.'

- He looks at you and feels rlly bad bc :'( we were on a date

- 'I... uh, sorry, (Y/n). Work.'

- 'Ah, it's okay, I had fun with you anyway :)'

- He had fun while he was with you though, but he might be mad at whoever called him though bc yes

- Okay after y'all became official, he probably just let's you meet the others too

- Most of the time you'll be chilling at Golden Koi (Mrs. Chu approves of your existence now congrats)

- He likes this bc when he's finished with work he can come back to have good food, see his mom and you!!

- Life is preeeetty good for him

- And yes, when he comes back he picks you up/hugs you :)

- Yay hugs with babygirl

- He may be really soft with you, but as soon as someone teases him he just gives a death glare to the person

- He also likes you staying at the Golden Koi alot cuz then he knows where you are = easier to protect you

- OH also unrelated but he gets kinda jealous quick so uh

- Just kith the man and tell him your his

- Okay that sounds a bit possessive of him damn

- Dw, if he goes too far just tell his mom she'll beat his goofy ahh (not actually.... okay maybe....)

- 'OW- Hey- Ma I- OW- Okay!! I'm sorry!' (live footage of Winston being beaten up by his mom with a spoon or something)

- He definitely does get possessive actually... he's working on it (not)

- Like not in a horrible way ig? But if ur not into that just tell him or something ok

- He won't be mad, he almost never gets mad at you (I know, shocking given his usual demeanour)

- I think he's quite soft with you bc... well he can't be mad all the time

- Overall, I think he's pretty nice to you :)

[kywaslost]

i have a request to know how are you doing ? :]

omg hi Ron how are you??? I've missed you :) Here's a bit of a life update:

I got better for a while, but then I started going downhill again. That's partially why I wasn't as active as I usually am

We started the cancer unit in my Medical Interventions class and I have not been coping well with it. I've left that class crying every day since the beginning of this unit.

I had the very last winter guard competition of my high school career. Last Thursday was the last practice of my high school career and I spent over 45 minutes sobbing my heart out in the parking lot with my fellow senior teammates and my best friend (who's a junior) laughing at my misery (lovingly, of course). Then I have a 2.5-day trip with my team to WGI for our final performance. I didn't cry nearly as much as I thought I would, but I'm grateful for the time I got to spend with my team.

During this trip I grew really close to my friend, whom we will call Mikey. The first full day of our trip (the day of our performance) left me extremely overstimulated and anxious for the second half of the day, and she stayed with me every second of it, never letting go of my hand because she knew she was one of my safe people and if she left I'd worry even more.

I returned home late Sunday night before leaving about 8 hours later to catch a flight to Florida where I would then get on a cruise and begin my senior trip with my parents. I had an amazing time but realized I'm more attached to Mikey than I first thought. Throughout this trip, I had a few times where I felt off but for the most part, I had a really fun time.

I've been sitting in an airport for 5 hours, and still have like 3 more to go before I get to fly home. But today's been a good day!

I've still been having friend troubles but Mikey has really helped me through a lot of them :)

Thank you for asking Ron <3 how have you been??

[xtruss]

Psychology: This Drug Can Mend a Broken Heart! A New Therapy Promises to Take The Sting Out of Traumatic Memories.

— By Shayla Love | December 14, 2022

On Valentine’s Day in 2016, Anne Lantoine received not flowers, but divorce papers. In the months preceding, she had been preparing for her family’s move from France to Canada—or so she thought. She arrived in Quebec early with one of her three children, who was preparing to start college there, while the other two remained in Europe for school. Her husband stayed behind to manage the sale of their house in Marseille.

Then the realtors began to complain, through a barrage of calls and emails, to Lantoine. Her husband was not acting like a man who wanted his house sold. He wasn’t answering phone calls and was never available for showings. In January 2016, Lantoine called him after yet another complaint from a realtor. The next morning, he sent her an email with a notice for a court hearing, and she discovered her husband had actually filed for divorce, without telling her, months earlier.

That February, she finally got the paperwork, not from her husband, but from her real estate agent. “It was not my last shock,” Lantoine, now 59, recalls. “I also discovered that my husband’s mistress was living in my home.” These revelations were a huge blow practically: It disrupted the immigration paperwork, and Lantoine and her daughter lost their visa applications. But the searing pain was in the betrayal and deceit.

“It doesn’t erase what happened to you. It just changes the impact it has on your life.”

“I became very anxious and had constant nightmares,” she says. “I was tired all the time and had panic attacks each time I opened my mail or my emails, or when I had an unidentified phone call.”

Though the details of each case vary, romantic betrayal through infidelity, abandonment, or emotional manipulation can upend one’s life in an instant. For Lantoine, her future plans, and the person they were attached to, were suddenly gone, and her functioning along with them.

Exhausted and an emotional wreck after almost a year, Lantoine learned about a clinical trial at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute, a Canadian psychiatric hospital in Montreal, that sought to ease the pain of romantic betrayal. The study did not rely on traditional psychotherapy sessions. It claimed it would dampen the emotional reverberations of what happened to her by pairing a beta-blocker medication called propranolol with a series of “memory reactivation sessions.” She signed up.

It sounds like science fiction, or science romantic-fiction. The 2004 movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind often gets brought up, says Michelle Lonergan, now a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Ottawa who led the trial as part of her Ph.D. In the film, a couple, post-breakup, use a service to erase their memories of one another in response to the suffering of heartbreak.

But the experiments that Lantoine enrolled in were an attempt to use a very real feature of the brain—albeit one we’re still learning the ins and outs of—called memory reconsolidation to attenuate agonizing romantic memories.

COMFORTABLY NUMB: When a memory is remembered, or retrieved, it can be momentarily destabilized with a drug therapy, numbing its emotional pain. Image by Max4e Photo/Shutterstock.

“Memory reconsolidation” describes how, when we recall a memory, it can become pliable. There is hope—and some intriguing early data—that, at the moment of recollection, we might be able to intentionally change a memory and make it less burdensome. This ability to modulate distressing memories is being investigated as an intervention to treat post-traumatic stress disorder,1 addiction,2 phobias,3 and is thought to have promise for depression or anxiety more broadly. It rests on an idea that’s emerged from our understanding of memory over the past few decades: Memories are not fixed, even the ones that haunt us the most.

Described this year in the Journal of Affective Disorders, the study Lantoine enrolled in is the first application of a memory reconsolidation-focused treatment for adjustment disorder resulting from romantic betrayal.4 (Adjustment disorder is defined as an emotional and behavioral maladaptive reaction to a stressful event, but not a life threatening one, so it doesn’t meet criteria for PTSD.)

Unlike Eternal Sunshine, Lantoine’s memories didn’t vanish in a dramatic collapse of a beach house into the Montauk coastline. She still had the declarative memory of what had happened.5 But, as Lantoine describes it, the memories were no longer debilitating.

“The treatment doesn’t remove the remembrance of the events,” Lantoine says. “It just removes the pain that was associated with the events. It doesn’t erase what happened to you. It just changes the impact it has on your life.”

When a memory initially forms, or is consolidated, it relies on chemical interactions between neurons in our brain. When a memory is remembered, or retrieved, it can be momentarily destabilized while those same chemical processes reconsolidate the memory.

“We feel that our memories, whether they’re conscious or unconscious memories that influence our behavior, are fixed and rooted in fact,” says Joff Lee, a professor of memory neuroscience at the University of Birmingham who was not involved in the trial. “But actually, pretty much everything that we know about memory suggests that these memories are malleable, and they change for potentially good reasons.”

When presented with new information, it’s helpful for our memories to be able to update so that we can learn and adapt to our surroundings. By hijacking this feature, researchers have shown in animal models that when memories become labile, it’s possible to intervene.

“Visualize A Monster, With Big Long Claws, Digging Deep Into Your Heart, Ripping Your Heart Out While You Are Still Breathing.”

More than 50 years ago, scientists found they could induce something called “post-retrieval amnesia.”6 Rats could forget a fear response if given an electroconvulsive shock at just the right time to interrupt the reconsolidation of that memory. The study was one of the first to challenge the idea that memories, once formed, were unchanging. There are now dozens of animal studies that show that when drugs are given to block the molecules needed for memory consolidation, memories seem to vanish, even when those memories aren’t new.7

It soon became clear that memory reconsolidation could be a powerful therapeutic tool. But the methods used in animal studies to interfere with reconsolidating were often harmful to humans. Enter propranolol: a common beta blocker used for lowering blood pressure as well as for treating anxiety and preventing migraines. Propranolol impairs adrenaline hormones in the brain and is thought to impact the production of other molecules needed for memory reconsolidation.

Starting in the early 2000s, researchers showed that, in rats, the drug could have similar post-retrieval effects as the more toxic compounds. And in 2009, researchers found that propranolol could help people disengage from a learned fear response.8 In this study, scientists showed human participants images of spiders, paired with an electric shock. One day later, some were given propranolol and others a placebo. On the third day, when participants saw the same images, those who had received the placebo noticeably startled, a physical manifestation of the fear response usually paired with a negative emotional state. But those who had been given the propranolol no longer had that reaction. These participants could still remember what had happened to them; propranolol didn’t erase the facts. But they no longer exhibited the biological signs of being afraid.

Researchers soon began applying these findings to try to treat severe conditions, such as PTSD. Alain Brunet, a psychologist and researcher at the Douglas Institute and McGill University, and senior author of study Lantoine participated in, described in a 2018 paper that people with PTSD who took propranolol and received six 25-minute trauma reactivation sessions had fewer PTSD symptoms compared to a group that underwent the same sessions paired with a placebo. (He has even trademarked “Reconsolidation Therapy,” and the “Brunet Method,” which describe the protocol of pairing propranolol with memory retrieval sessions.)

Brunet has long felt that reconsolidation therapy could have wider appeal. “We wanted to broaden the uses of reconsolidation therapy,” Brunet says. So he and his team went looking for people suffering from an unfortunately common adjustment disorder—that spurred by romantic betrayal.

Anne Lantoine was of course not alone in suffering heartbreak in Quebec. Brunet and Lonergan recruited 61 people in total who were cheated on, abandoned, wiped out financially, “all kinds of horrendous stories,” Lonergan says.

The participants described being unable to sleep, gaining or losing weight, starting smoking, losing their hair, and suffering from nosebleeds. “It hurts everywhere!” as one 44-year-old woman described in a follow-up qualitative paper from the research team.9 “Your throat hurts. You can’t breathe. When you think about it you hurt … You have these really graphic images, and you can’t block them, there’s nothing you can do. It’s in your face all the time.” A 44-year-old man described his intrusive thoughts replaying “like a movie all the time.”

Being reminded of their former partners was especially distressing, like the anniversaries of when they discovered they were being cheated on, seeing photos of them online, or even seeing people who walked or talked like their former partners.

Even If We Can Change Memories, Should We?

“When I really knew that he had betrayed me, the pain, and the torture it was like I had been cut off at my knees … if you want to visualize you know like some sort of monster, with big long claws, and just digging deep into your heart, ripping your heart out while you are still breathing and alive and very conscious, and taking a bite out of your heart right in front of your face, that’s what it feels like,” a 50-year-old woman said.

In the trial, there was first a four-week waiting period when no one got any treatment. This limbo served as the control condition against which to compare the treatment. Then each person wrote a narrative of their betrayal, in as much detail as possible. In five memory reactivation sessions, they read their own descriptions one hour after taking propranolol. Compared to the waiting-period, the researchers found there was an overall significant reduction in symptoms, including intrusive thoughts, avoidance, and hypervigilance, as well as a decrease in anxiety and depression, starting after the first session. Up to four months later, those benefits remained.

“They were really in trouble,” Lonergan says. “And so we offered them treatment. And luckily, for a good chunk of them, it really seemed to work.”

The memory reconsolidation theory tells a tidy story about how practitioners might be able to help people, at least emotionally, rewrite their narratives. But does it tell the full story?

Lonergan acknowledges that there might be other factors at play. For example, the empathetic support in the retrieval sessions could have played a role in participants’ improvements, and she hopes to do future work on Adjustment Disorder and romantic betrayal with a full placebo group, the way the PTSD trial ran.

Lee thinks we should also have some humility about which mechanisms these therapies might be tapping into. Memory reconsolidation is likely a complex process that co-occurs with many other cognitive and neurobiological systems.

If Just The Facts of a Memory Remain, Can We Really Say It’s The Same?

This is underscored by the fact that results of reconsolidation therapies have not always been consistent.10, 11 Several studies have failed to replicate,7 and some even found reconsolidation attempts can lead to adverse events.12, 13 A randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled study in smokers from 2015 didn’t find any effect on physical reaction after being given a dose of propranolol.14 Three other placebo-controlled studies in people with PTSD also didn’t show any reduced symptoms.15

There could be rules and caveats to using memory reconsolidation as an effective tool that we simply don’t understand yet. Other research into memory reconsolidation has found, for example, that updating an existing memory is most effective when the brain gets just enough new information, such as a new stimulus in place of an old one that had triggered fear or loathing.16, 17 If the new information introduced is too strong, a brand new memory might be created instead of an alteration to the older memory, and the two memories will compete. “Those are all technical things that people are still figuring out,” Lonergan says.

Nevertheless, given its promise, attempting to use memory reconsolidation in therapeutic interventions seems obvious to Brunet. If we know that sometimes memories are malleable, why wouldn’t we try to target that, he says?

But Even If We Can Change Memories, Should We?

Memory researchers Tom Beckers and Merel Kindt raised this point in a 2017 review.7 “Concerns have been voiced as to how desirable of a therapeutic goal it is to make people forget about significant events that have happened in their personal lives and that may play a central role in defining who they are,” they wrote.

Is it okay if just emotional parts of memory are being stripped away, as long as the declarative elements remain?

In his 19th-century essay, “What Is an Emotion,” psychologist William James challenges us to try to imagine an experience of emotion, like anger, without the elements of a racing heart or flushed face. If just the facts of a memory remain, can we really say it’s the same, once it’s been neutered of its emotionality?

But that’s somewhat the point, Lonergan says. The people in the study were not able to move on or find peace after what happened to them. Emotional memories are not sequestered to the mind. These individuals needed the intensity of the emotions dialed down so that they could sleep, eat, and resume normal day to day functioning. “We’re not specifically targeting and removing them from people’s brains—they still remember what happened,” she says. “But instead of being a traumatic memory, it’s just a bad memory.”

Further, our ability to update and modify our memory is built into us—whether aided by a drug or not. Other forms of psychotherapy similarly seek to change our relationship to and framing of our memories. The goal of a targeted, pharmaceutical intervention would be to achieve that result by way of going after the memory directly.

Lantoine says, five years out, she still feels the positive effects from the treatment. It was an improvement that came after about the third reactivation session. The daily torment she had felt receded into the background.

“It’s like a chronic pain you get rid of,” she says. “A bit like the scars I have on my knee and on my hip: I can see them, I remember I got them after painful surgeries. I remember I felt this pain. But they are not painful anymore. Those events have left scars in my brain,” she says of her experience of betrayal. “It’s impossible to forget what happened and to erase those scars. But they don’t hurt.”

— Shayla Love is a Freelance Science Journalist based in Brooklyn, NY. Lead image: Graphics Master / Shutterstock

References:

1. Brunet, A., et al. Trauma reactivation plus propranolol is associated with durably low physiological responding during subsequent script-driven traumatic imagery. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry 59, 228-232 (2014).

2. Exton-MCGuinness, M.T.J. & Milton, A.L. Reconsolidation blockade for the treatment of addiction: challenges, new targets and opportunities. Learning & Memory 25, 492-500 (2018).

3. Maples-Keller, J.L., et al. Targeting memory reconsolidation to prevent the return of fear in patients with fear of flying. Depression and Anxiety 34, 610-620 (2017).

4. Lonergan, M., Saumier, D., Pigeon, S, Etienne, P.E., & Brunet, A. Treatment of adjustment disorder stemming from romantic betrayal using memory reactivation under propranolol: A open-label interrupted time series trial. Journal of Affective Disorders 317, 98-106 (2022).

5. Otis, J.M., Werner, C.T., & Mueller, D. Noradrenergic regulation of fear and drug-associated memory reconsolidation. Neuropsychopharmacology 40, 793-803 (2015).

6. Misanin, J.R., Miller, R.R., & Lewis, D.J. Retrograde amnesia produced by electroconvulsive shock after reactivation of a consolidated memory trace. Science 160, 554-555 (1968).

7. Beckers, T. & Kindt, M. Memory reconsolidation interference as an emerging treatment for emotional disorders: Strengths, limitations, challenges and opportunities. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology 13, 99-121 (2017).

8. Kindt, M., Soeter, M., & Vervliet, B. Beyond extinction: erasing human fear responses and preventing the return of fear. Nature Neuroscience 3, 256-258 (2009).

9. Lonergan, M., Brunet, A., Rivest-Beauregard, M., & Groleau, D. Is romantic partner betrayal a form of traumatic experience? A qualitative study. Stress & Health 37, 19-31 (2021).

10. Drexler, S.M., et al. Effects of postretrieval-extinction learning on return of contextually controlled cued fear. Behavioral Neuroscience 128, 474-481 (2014).

11. Hutton-Bedbrook, K. & McNally, G.P. The promises and pitfalls of retrieval-extinction procedures in preventing relapse to drug seeking. Frontiers in Psychiatry 4 (2013).

12. Kindt, M. & Soeter, M. Reconsolidation in a human fear conditioning study: a test of extinction as updating mechanism. Biological Psychology 92, 43-50 (2013).

13. Soeter, M. & Kindt, M. Disrupting reconsolidation: pharmacological and behavioral manipulations. Learning & Memory 18, 357-366 (2011).

14. Pachas, G.N., et al. Single dose propranolol does not affect physiologic or emotional reactivity to smoking cues. Psychopharmacology 232, 1619-1628 (2014).

15. Wood, N.E., et al. Pharmacological blockade of memory reconsolidation in posttraumatic stress disorder: three negative psychophysiological studies. Psychiatry Research 225, 31-39 (2015).

16. Chen, W., et al. Destabilizing different strengths of fear memories requires different degrees of prediction arrow during retrieval. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 14, 598924 (2021).

17. Sinclair, A.H. & Barense, M.D. Prediction error and memory reactivation: How incomplete reminders drive reconsolidation. Trends in Neuroscience 42, 727-739 (2019).

[marbarmars]

OUGH WAIT THERE’S NO WAY IT’S BEEN OVER A YEAR SINCE I MADE A POST ABOUT THIS Mmhmm, buckle up you chucklefucks this girl, ya girl, has FINISHED THE FANFIC! DATS RIGHT, READ FRONT TO BACK…TWICE. I actually finished reading it the first time…..*checks discord*  June 26th! So a little under a year from the last time I reblogged this post which was…whew, June 7th last year. Time flies?! FUCK. But…I really wanted to get back to writing my final thoughts about this awesome piece of fanfic genius and post it here, to not leave everybody hangin! It’s gonna be a doozy, I have many thoughts. Apologies for not writing a summary at the time I finished Bean N’ Badge–but I’ll make it up to you now!

So without further ado, my most lengthy & formal rambling about Second Shroob Invasion yet! (THIS IS ALL SPOILER FREE TOO BTW DW, I hope this reaches new people and entices you to read it for yourself!)

Ooo! The plot! (Reanalysis)

In all honesty, what really hooked me into this fanfic in the first place is that it was a lengthy story with Fawful in it. Which brings me up to my first point: the characterization is ON POINT. Absolutely blown away by canon characters such as Fawful and Midbus having a really good dynamic and very intriguing headcanons that don't lessen my enjoyment in the slightest. But the more I read the more I was impressed with the OCs too! It was like I was getting to meet them for the first time, and the personalities felt distinct. No two characters felt the exact same. My only gripe is that I wish I got to know even more about certain characters before the story was over. Which isn't really a bad thing, if I'm desperate to know more then it means I've been hooked. :3

Rereading the fic for the 2nd time, oh Catwafers I wish you spent more time playing around with the surroundings of your setting! You're a total pro at it now, like what is written here is pleasing, it gets the job done for sure. Especially around the end of Bean N’ Badge (Part 3) & The Future's Last Stand (Part 4) it gets good. I also appreciate that most of the locations used are in PiT, as of right now I need to actually play that game but looking up the locations helped me get immersed. But gimme more! Especially more context around Shoob locations. Even if it would make the fanfic twice as long idc I love your writing prowess. xD

This series knows how to raise the stakes and the blood pressure of those who get attached to the characters. There are parts of the story I really wasn't sure what was going to happen, or I had my own theories I crafted, and it was fun to be wrong on some things. After all, a fic can get too boring if you already know what to expect~

Changing the perspectives once in a while was also really nice, Steven Universe is the first thing to come to mind because in that show some of the best episodes were not entirely from Steven’s perspective (like all the past Greg/Rose episodes or Garnet explaining her love story). Like tbh I really like seeing RuV33n’s perspective, but you just can’t get all the information you need in their perspective alone. I loved scenes from the Captains and Private to scenes with the villainous Regent Shroob.

Character Rambling Section! (You’ll know who’s my favorite!)

RuV33n (aka Veenie)

Eeee what a cool main character! A Shroob who stands out from the rest–and constantly learning alongside the reader! I really like how they’re both anxious but also not afraid to fight. I can tell that the RuV33n from the beginning of the story is not the same by the end–lots of character development and I’m all here for it. Their antics with Fawful and Midbus especially are a treat and it’s so heartwarming they find warmth and comfort with the ever-changing Earth.

RuG79v (aka Ivy)

I’m glad that out of the Shroob quartet, Veenie gets the chance to reconnect with at least one of them. I can really relate to their story of underappreciation, and as a fellow artist I like seeing characters with an art hobby hehe! Don’t wanna talk about Ivy too much as to spoil what happens but keep your tabs on em. <3

Fawful!!

My favorite guyyyy my favorite beeean! Talked about this earlier but this interpretation of him was my hook for the story. And I just LOVE the fact that even if he’s put into a more “heroic” role as a main character he’s still a bitchy prick and very insistent that he is a bad guy. I think what shocks me the most is that he’s only 17 in this fic? Which isn’t a bad thing–I guess that’s one more reason to add on top of the pile of just how incredible he is. I’m always in support with different headcanons and interpretations, it’s so cool to see what different flavors artists/writers add to make Fawful, well, Fawful. 

Captain Quartet (Goomba, Shy Guy, Boo, & Koopa)

I didn’t really expect the captains from the remakes to play such important roles as side characters but here we are! They’re a huge help to represent Bowser’s Kingdom that’s getting the brunt of this invasion in the story, besides it’s funny to have characters that have already interacted with Fawful once before. Unsurprisingly, Captain Goomba is my favorite here and is the most important in the story so yippee! I also appreciate the little things in the others like the shipping within the quartet (Goomba x Shy Guy, Boo x Koopa) their role as emotional plot devices later on in the fic.

Private Tortuga (aka Zelda)

She’s so badass…and another member from Bowser’s Army to accompany the plot and the characters. I didn’t really think too much about her at first but I liked her progression and stubborn attitude especially around Fawful. She’d be fun to share stories with at a bar, dunno why that came to mind but I’m gonna put it here. Even the less plot important characters feel real to me and she’s definitely one of them.

Midbus!

Out of all the canon characters in this story, Midbus has by far impressed me the most. I feel bad for saying this but I’ve always overlooked him–of course I want to change that with my own interpretation eventually but MAAAAN does Second Shroob Invasion Midbus inspire me so. He’s wise, stoic, and a good down-to-Earth character to bounce off of the more zany ones like Veenie and Fawful. I could read his conversations between these two and their dynamics all day. The backstory, even if he doesn’t like to disclose it very much in-universe, is jaw dropping and meshes well with his already established personality. Would not mind even more content with Midbus in the future :)

Toadmida & Toadiko

I love Toads…canon or OC, they’re both treats for me–plus Toadmida especially is the very kindhearted daughter of Toadiko and gives Veenie some much needed motivation. The implementation of Toadiko and her trauma with the shroobs is (chefs kiss) even as side characters I like their implementation to help further worldbuilding and connect some smaller plot elements together.

Regent Shroob (Aka Ben)

I’m already getting a little flustered as I’m writing this but it’s because he’s my favorite OC of the fic (Sorry Veenie /lh)….he’s just a super compelling villain to me. The lore helps a lot with this, as both Shroob Princesses are gone; somebody needs to fill in the role of leader, but he’s higher than a Commander. He dealt with a lot of survival and has to make decisions to save the shroobs from going to extinction, but is too stubborn in the old ways to see a more peaceful outcome where Earthlings and Shroobs can reside together. I like his optimism and how he can make a scene go from chill to OH CRAP! 

Gagen

So last but not least is Gagen, and I think he’s a really nice character for Ben to bounce off of. He’s your main science guy, and a lot of the higher stakes near the end of the story couldn’t have happened without him. I like just how apathetic he is about Earthlings just like his Regency. As it stands this is an interesting villain and what happens after it’s all over is even more intriguing.

Closing Thoughts! (Aka I gush about my friend CatWafers)

I think the thing I really love the most about Catwafers’ work is her skill in worldbuilding; that it changed how I look at the Shroobs. Her way of reintroducing the species and looking into their potential perspectives, their own culture, it totally entranced me. Like AUGH I’m so impressed and blown away, and things just get even better when I talk to Catwafers herself. I'm proud to be her friend and I LOVE to bounce ideas and concepts around.

In fact, speaking of that one day I’m gonna blow y’all away with a reintroduction to a certain AU that Cat and I have been working on–but I’m gonna work on a script for what I wanna say and consult my writer in crime first.

But anyways! The TLDR of this I suppose is that I’m passionate about my friends, I love fanfics about my favorite characters, and that you should really check out the Second Shroob Invasion series!! Thanks for listening~

The Second Shroob Invasion Series

Hi everyone!

I'm happy to announce that I completed my longest fan-fiction ever. I started this a year ago, and it is at 90 chapters!

Premise: During the Shroob Invasion during Partners in Time, not all the Shroobs left their dying planet. Some Shroobs were too young and many others were in development in the last batch. (It took 10 years for the batch to sprout). Regent Shrooben, third in command to Princess Shroob and Elder Princess Shroob, stayed behind due to injuries to care for the Shroobs back home. Now that the last batch has grown, and the Regent learns of the Princess' defeat, he starts the Second Shroob Invasion.

One Shroob, RuV33n, is skeptical of the Regent's plans and how successful they will be. After their ship is downed during the first battle, they run into Fawful and Midbus. RuV33n meets other faces along the way and learns more and more about Planet Earth. When the Regent threatens RuV33n's Earth family, the Shroob takes a stand.

Content Warnings: Graphic Depiction of Violence

Also contains:

Character Death

Lots of swearing (the Shroobs' swears are similar to real-life swears as a way to distinguish them as different from the Mario World)

Forceful Worm Ingestion

Lots of injuries and recovery

Colonization

Limb Loss

Medical Experimentation and Procedures

Other notes:

Language Barriers play a major role as the Shroobs/Sunnycides and Earthlings speak different languages.

Will constantly switch between different perspectives.

RuV33n, being the main character, has their thoughts shown (marked by -- ... --- ). This is less prevalent as RuV33n learns more Mushroomish (common language spoken by everyone).

Whenever a scene only has Shroobs, there are no word changes to indicate that a different language is being spoken.

If a scene has people who speak Shroob and those that don’t, the Shroob speech is signaled with “[_~_~_~_~_~]” while the Mushroomish speech is regular. This was done to show the language barrier and differences in understanding.

Criticism:

I am open to feedback! Criticism helps as it allows me to improve as a writer. This is my first long-fic. As such, I did my best but would like to know what I can improve on moving forward.

Here is everything in its four parts:

The order goes as follows:

The Start of the Second Shroob Invasion

Actions Have Consequences (Backstory piece for Regent Shrooben)

Bean 'n' Badge

The Future's Last Stand

Thank you for your time!

[blessedarethequeer]

Beloveds, this is a loving reminder that the Lenten season is not a diet, nor is it a punishment. This is not to say that it can’t require work -- oh, far from it -- but that we must change our view to better nurture our relationship with God and others.

When I view Lent as a diet -- as a time where I fast from sugar or “carbs” or fat and nothing more -- it becomes a season of bodily shame and self-loathing: a season of spiritual and sometimes physical harm. A God who loves us does not want us to be harmed, to hurt, to look at our bodies in shame... God desires us to grow, to draw nearer to Them, to draw deeper into relationship with them and their people!

I’ve begun to look to Lent as a season of nurturing and building, much like you would a garden: yes, sometimes we must weed out things that harm us -- unhealthy coping mechanisms, spite, negative attachments, hatred for our fellow humans -- or that which suffocates our relationship with God... but we also must enrich our spiritual soil to create a healthy foundation for our spirits and and relationships to grow!

Sometimes it is the little things. In the past, as a college student, I’ve fasted from coffee -- not because coffee is Bad, but because it would become a crutch that propped up other ways I was not taking care of myself: with coffee, I could sacrifice sleep and forgo balanced meals and force myself to keep trudging through classes and homework without rest, but I often felt like shit and my prayer life suffered. In putting a pause to my coffee, I was forced begin nurturing my body in a more sustainable way and reset my relationship with caffeine.

Last year, I dedicated myself to eating 3 meals regular a day -- a “fast from fasting,” if you will. My ADHD medication can make it really difficult for me to remember to eat when I need it, which can often lead to me feeling awful and anxious and my relationships with myself, loved ones, and God all suffer. Taking Lent to focus on nourishing my body in order to nourish my spirit, while certainly a challenge, helped me find small footholds in prayer and in serving others.

So as we head into Ash Wednesday my beloveds, please remember that this season is not solely about denial and suffering -- sometimes it's sitting with our brokenness and turning our face towards healing and growth. It is about digging into the rich earth and doing the often difficult work to prepare the soil of our hearts to receive the light and joy of Easter, and that can happen through many paths, great and small.

[floyrid]

Soooooooooo/... I made Floyrid next gen kids, their names are Lewis and Quinn, what are some headcanons of them being parents? I have some but I wanna hear a fellow shipper's thoughts

Omg I love their aesthetic!! (Were the name references on purpose??)

I do actually have some headcanons on this, thank you for asking!

So, it starts with a whole marriage AU ofc, and I won't be long on how they get together or the other couples cause I would easily get off topic (I GOT off topic while writing this and had to start again a few times-), but just for the context:

Riddle is a researcher in the field of genetics.

Floyd was hopping from job to job because he would either get bored of it or fired because his superiors would find him unbearable.

By the time Floyd finally found himself a stable job (still not decided, tho I think he would be quite entertained as a journalist, or coming back to Azul as his informant or something), Riddle also progressed in his work, gaining recognition, a sizable raise, and a more flexible schedule.

It's Floyd, of course, who first comes up with the idea of ​​adoption. Riddle resists at first, but he knows that once Floyd gets an idea into his head, it's virtually impossible to go against him. He agrees to pay a visit to an orphanage, hoping that Floyd will find the children annoying and give up on the idea.

They go to the orphanage. At first, it looked like Riddle would be able to convince Floyd. He looked not irritated, but rather bored by the visit, and none of the children had really caught his eye. Until… Riddle loses sight of Floyd while talking to one of the caregivers, only to find him talking animatedly with a 5 year old girl.

The first thing Floyd says is "Goldfishie, look, her hair is bright red just like yours!", and Riddle knows he lost.

Riddle was ready for something like that to happen, but he really didn't want Floyd to go around giving random kids hope for adoption. Even so, he needs to talk to the girl and clarify that any promises Floyd has made are unlikely to be kept. When he asks her name, the girl replies, "Anya Marya Elizabeth. That's my name! It's nice to have three names when you don't have a last name, you know?", and Riddle thinks she's adorable.

Riddle doesn't trust that they would be good parents, and he is in doubt for a while as they go to visit Anya regularly, but it doesn't take him long to make up his mind, because he sees how the girl has become attached to them, and he sees how Floyd likes her. Floyd has taken good care of him for years even if he is a pain in the ass, so he imagines it won't be much different.

He enters the adoption process and surprises the other two (they basically already consider themselves a family /crying), and within her 6th birthday, Anya already has a family <3

Enough backstory, talking about Anya, she's really cute! Now that she has dads and last names, she introduces herself as "Anya Marya Elizabeth Rosehearts. But it's Anya Marya Elizabeth LEECH-Rosehearts, for you!"

I don't think she's going to have siblings, since Riddle is already relying too much on Floyd to take care of one child-

She generally has a lot of their personality! She's polite and dedicated like Riddle, but extrovert and pushy like Floyd. Anya is a sweetheart and she knows how to take advantage of it very well.

She is certainly carries magic with herself, but doesn't know about it. Since nothing of the sort had manifested for a long time, her parents didn't even think about teaching her about magic. I think they would find out about it one night she's feeling anxious, her magic manifest and she becomes dangerous. it would be a perfect setting for florid dynamics to show, since they would have to use "Bind the Heart" to avoid her attacks and "Off With Your Head" to contain her. Then, they would teach her how to handle and explore her magic.

Also, about her looks, I've drawn her but wasn't very satisfied, so here's a picrew that I thought it looked like her !!

I have so much more on this AU but I will stop here before this turns into a 200k fanfic dsifunsdjkn (and english is not my first language so I really hope I got everything right)...

Well, I hope you liked it!! Feel free to talk abt you fankids if you want as well, I really liked the aesthetic pages you've created <3

[sthegardener]

Hello my dears, I want to note you something because I keep feeling anxious because of some comments (from other social media platform)

1. I'm not a pro, I'm only doing this for fun... :D This is the first time I draw this many fanarts and being active on these social media sites, I never posted my works before so I'm still not really used to this. It stresses me out somehow.

2. I'm not a native American (and I guess my English is pretty bad compares to my fellow Vietnamese friends) so I made some mistakes and I'm sorry if I gave you bad reading experience. You can point out my mistakes if you feel the need to.

3. I've only joined the fandom last month so there might be some details that were wrongly conveyed (you can tell me though). That's why I choose not to draw anything too serious or plot-related, I will focus in the slice of life.

4. I'm posting regularly not because I'm forcing myself to draw to reach more followers. I'm feeling attached to them so I have stories for them, I'm having fun and it helps me get rid of the negative thoughts (my original art is dark).

5. I'm an anxious cry baby I can't argue don't try this on me I will just get scared and run LOL.

6. I love my humble amount of followers. I feel safe. I would love to interact with you more. 💙

Thank you my friends~

[byliever]

Tbh, I kinda want you to answer all 20 questions 🤪 fellow writer always fascinate me

This has been sitting in my inbox for a while lmao

TJ, I love you, but there is no way in hell I'm answering every question. That's a LOT.

So, here's how I'll do this: I'll use an online random number generator to choose seven (cuz Byler) at random.

Let's begin.

What's a fic that took you to an emotional/dark/hard place? (#2)

I've had a couple. I've already talked about Snapshots in another ask. Desiderium was another. I wrote it and posted it on my dad's birthday, and so a lot of Mike's feelings and struggles with grieving Ted in that fic was self-projection (as are most of my fics lol). I even gave Ted the same birthday as him.

What fic are you emotionally attached to? (#3)

That's like asking a parent to choose their favorite child lmao. When you create something, you leave a piece of yourself behind in it. That's why there's so much you can tell about a person based on their creations.

Choosing one is physically painful lol

But if I had to choose one...

Orientation. It's the fic I wrote for Mike's birthday (which is also mine. How cool is that?!), so it's very Mike-focused. It's also marked by two significant (to me) "firsts."

It's the first time I included an appearance by Hopper, my favorite of the adult characters. I was so anxious to write him. What if I messed it up??!! But I seemed to have done an okay job, based on peoples' reactions.

It was also the first time I fully acknowledged to myself that if I wanted to continue telling the stories I wanted to tell, I had to alter canon. Up until Orientation, I had always had the thought in my mind that, in order for this to continue, I had to make a decision when it came to how I dealt with the ramifications of Season 3, namely the Byers moving and Hopper's "death".

So I just decided to say, "to hell with that." So, Hopper didn't "die" and the Byers didn't move. The Battle of Starcourt is still a pivotal event, trust me, without having the effect of essentially tearing the group asunder.

Orientation was the first time I dived into the directly post-Season 3 era, and I'm happy with it.

What fic of your own won't you read? (#5)

Ghosts. It's my second story and it's an absolute piece of shit. If I could delete one of my stories, it would be that one. I keep it up to remind myself of what happens when I try to work myself past burnout.

If you feel like suffering through an absolute literary abomination, give it a glance over.

What’s the best engagement/interaction/feedback you’ve received from someone who’s read your work? (#17)

I love and adore and want to frame every comment I ever get on a story. Every time someone goes out of their way to say that they liked a certain part or that reading a fic brightened up their day, I feel extremely happy.

I received an anonymous ask a while back from someone who told me that they were in a dark place and were feeling down that night, so they decided to read a couple of my stories, which made them feel a lot better.

That's the type of interactions I love. Writing my fics have gotten me through some really bad times, so if reading stuff I made helps someone through a struggle, that's the highest compliment.

Does anyone in your personal life know you write fics? if not, would you tell anyone? (#8)

Outside my family, nobody knows I write fics. By family, I mean my younger sister and my mother. Of the two of them, only my sister knows that it's specifically Byler fanfiction that I write, and neither of them have read any of my stories (and if I have anything to say about it, they never will lol).

What fic of your own do you read for comfort? (#4)

Rainbows and Revelations. That fic is pretty much pure fluff from start to finish, and it holds a very special place in my heart.

If you could write an ideal fic, what would it include? (#19)

See, this is an interesting question for me, but at the same time, I feel like it doesn't really apply to me.

All of the stories I've written are "ideal fics" for me.

That being said, there are two criteria that every fic I've written (and will write) must fit.

1.) It must have a happy ending. Call me a sissy, a sap, whatever. I don't care. I write married Byler. Part of that package is that you're acknowledging that, despite all the shit the characters have gone through or are going through at the moment, eventually, it ends. Eventually, there is peace. These characters do someday get to live out their lives undisturbed by supernatural bullshit. And so I always end on a happy note. I feel like lots of people (myself included) forget it too often, despite the fact that history (which is a collection of stories that remind us who we are) is always reminding us, but I want my stories to illustrate that basic truth: in the end, light/good always triumphs over darkness/evil. It may take a while to get there, but it will happen eventually.

2.) People need to learn something. If nobody is learning something and changing, there's no point to the fic at all. Whether that's Jonas and Maia learning how to word the ideal apology, or Max learning how to open up to and rely on people, somebody has to be learning and changing and growing. There has to be growth.

Whew! That was a lot of typing!

Thanks for the ask, TJ! You're the best!

[timextoxhajima]

Love Me A Little Less: Chapter 3 - Her Father’s Daughter

LOVE ME A LITTLE LESS CHAPTER MASTERLIST

Member: (3rd person pov) arranged marriage au with Lee Juyeon

Genre: angsty wangsty

Taglist: @hyunvelies @sunwoowuvbot​​

“You want the luxury of a choice? I’ll give one to you right now, so you better make the right one.” ​

“Now, this just coming in-- The next director of Apple-Korea, Lee Juyeon and Hera’s Princess, Kim Jang Won... have been reportedly dating for almost three years now!”

“No!”

“Yes! And get this: this wedding? It’s been on the planning table for almost 6 months!”

Lee Juyeon peers out the window as the car slows to a halt, hazel brown orbs scanning the traffic outside. Multiple LED screens on the sides of corporate buildings were broadcasting the news. The crinkling of a plastic wrapper ruins the beauty the amount of shock amongst the community was bringing Juyeon, cuing him to turn back and face his fellow passenger. The sight of Kim Jang Won awakens his corporate-thinking brain, processing the gravity of the news she falsely put out just about... five minutes ago.

“Your father just climbed out of his own grave and you wouldn’t give him half a day to busk in the spotlight, huh?”

“Mm,” She hums, gracefully taking a bite out of the fruit-yoghurt bar. “I would’ve given him a lifetime worth of spotlight if he came back as a zombie and there would be some sign of actual death but-- nah, he’s been alive since the day we thought he all dropped dead from that heart attack of his. God knows where he’s been the last two years, hiding and letting me build HERA & ARTEMIS... only to take it away from me?” She shakes her head, smacking her lips and taking another bite. “Not a chance.”

Juyeon laughs through his exhales, unsure whether he’s more in disbelief he’s trapped in this chaos or how poised Jang Won’s uncouthness in handling this situation was. His phone buzzes, and he coyly pulls it out to check the message in the screen amongst all the other stupid headlines. 

Young Jin Seol [12.52pm] : You’ve been schedule for a meeting with The Board at 4pm later, sir. 

He locks the device and slides it back into the inner breast pocket of his blazer. “I assume your brother is taking this better than you?”

“Excuse you, I think I’m taking this much better than most people expected me to. Well, better than I expected myself to,” The wrapper crinkles when she finishes it. The car drives up into the entrance of her mansion, easily dozens of reporters already beginning to pillow the car. 

“I have a meeting with The Board later at 4pm. Will you be present?” Juyeon raises a brow, watching Jang Won slide on her sunglasses. Her blue fingernails glimmer as she carefully folds the wrapper, using her tongue to dig the crevices of her mouth. 

“Of course, why wouldn’t I be, hubby?” She offers a seductive smirk, then unbuckles her seatbelt to lean across to him. Sliding the folded plastic wrapper into his breast pocket, Jang Won presses her cherry lips onto his, earning incessant flashes and shouts from outside the car. 

“Mm, I can still taste the wine and the tad bit of salt you got left from lunch with your Mommy and Daddy.” 

Juyeon frowns, gritting his teeth as she pulls away and exits the car on her side. The shouts and questions directed at her are muffled when she slams the car shut, her bodyguards from the mansion rushing down the steps to create a pathway for her. 

The car finally drives off, and Juyeon can’t help but to sneer in disgust at the cherry shade left on his lips. The grimace on his face nearly earns a snigger from his driver. 

“What? Funny?”

“On the contrary, sir,” He eyes Juyeon through the rear mirror. “I think she’s rather charming.”

Juyeon nearly chokes on his saliva, pulling out a napkin from one of the seat’s back pockets. “‘Charming’ my ass. She’s a dangerous woman and I’m just keeping myself alive.”

BREAKING: LEE JUYEON AND KIM JANG WON TO BE PRESENT AT THE BOARD’S PRESS CONFERENCE AT 4PM LATER THIS AFTERNOON

Mr Ro has the most disapproving look on his face as Jang Won pridefully pushes her way into the entrance hall, heels clacking against the marble and smiling widely at her butler. But of course, her brother shows up from the hallway, clearly dissatisfied.

“What the Hell’s wrong with you? You can’t run off like that and lying to the media!”

“Oh, please. This is nothing. Hey! Can I get my wardrobe and hairstylist down soon? I want to look nothing less of Kylie Jenner at her mother’s funeral at my own press conference!”

“It is exactly because I know you’re just getting started that I think you should stop,” Younghoon quickens his steps, reaching out and grabbing her arm. “You are not only pulling our family into this - you are pulling the Lee family into this.”

“Well, hey! I wasn’t the one who put their son up for sale when the offer came along!”

“But Lee Juyeon didn’t even want to be a part of this! He had no choice because his parents made it for him!”

“And did I?!” Jang Won’s near-shriek echoes through the halls. Mr Ro winces, gently shutting his eyes to regulate the surprise. “You say that of him as if I had a choice. I didn’t want dad to die. I didn’t want to take HERA & ARTEMIS. You think I wanted to spend all those nights and days and shitty bar hangouts with rich people trying to get them to sponsor and invest in HERA & ARTEMIS? Hell, no!”

She tears her wrist out from Younghoon’s grasp, shoving him back by pushing against his left shoulder. “Maybe you don’t know how shitty it feels because all you had to do was wait for HERA & ARTEMIS to become successful enough before you could build your stupid entertainment company. But right now, I’m fighting for what I created; for what I made, and I will tell you right here and right now that I am not stopping until I get what I fucking own so you better... and I really, really, really hope you make the right decision when I say you better pick a side.”

Her brother remains frozen in some kind of resignation as she closes the gap toward him. “Just because we share the same last name, doesn’t mean I will spare you, Kim Younghoon. You want the luxury of a choice? I’ll give one to you right now, so you better make the right one.”

Jang Won turns on her heels and strides past Mr Ro to the stairs, walking up to the second floor where she would spend the next 3 hours getting pampered and fitted for her press conference as the new bride of Lee Juyeon. 

The smile Lee Juyeon has on his face looked like it was programmed; sculpted onto a stone statue; frozen in time. His father almost cannot look at it - even through the television screen, he knows it’s fake. He knows Juyeon hates it. 

But Hera’s Princess couldn’t care less. Why would she? She’s getting what she wanted, or at least, part of it. Now that she’s got Lee Juyeon playing the game by her rules, she’s one step nearer to her goal, and that’s to win back HERA & ARTEMIS from her own father. 

The jewel sitting on her left ring finger shone brightly with every flash a certain camera in the room went off. The Blue Nile Round Diamond 30-carat ring could blind someone if she deliberately shone its reflection into someone’s eyes.

“Today, The Board invites the next director of Apple-Korea and his newly announced fiancé, also known as Hera’s Princess and current owner of HERA & ARTEMIS to our monthly press conference of May. We warmly welcome Lee Juyeon and Kim Jang Won.”

The reporters and journalists provide a rather generous round of applause as Juyeon steps up the platform and takes his seat, Jang Won on his left with the brightest, sweetest smile he’s seen on her in the last six hours. 

“Thank you. We’re absolutely honoured to be here today, my fiancé and I. Today, we announce our upcoming plans up till the end of the year, assuming my father still grants me some kind of authority to HERA & ARTEMIS,” She scoffs the last part of her sentence away, earning some scattered chuckles from the crowd. It irks Juyeon, the way he knows she’s being sarcastic and her words are filled with nothing but the poison of hatred and yet these people can’t hear it for the love of God.

Sympathy, he feels. For a short, fleeting moment, he feels sad for her.

“But otherwise, my father and I have agreed on a major reform of HERA & ARTEMIS.”

Juyeon’s eyes light up, not from enthusiasm, but anxious anticipation.

“Before my father is to take full ownership of HERA & ARTEMIS by June, firstly, we will have our wedding in April,” Coyly grabbing Juyeon’s hands and showing them off to the audience, rings around their fingers. “And secondly, after my fiancé advances to director, Apple-Korea will buy 50% of HERA & ARTEMIS.”

The effort Juyeon was investing into hiding his shock, confusion and frustration in his chest was of immense, ground-breaking magnitude. His grip around her hand tightens, and she tightens her jaw, forcing out a smile when the reporters and journalists break out into murmurs and surprised exchanges.

“My brother, Kim Younghoon, will assume full ownership of Artemis as a separate entertainment company, no longer attached to HERA & ARTEMIS. Artemis will become a collaborator or partner, no longer a subsidiary.”

The panel of officials from The Board looked extremely restless from the corner of Juyeon’s eyes, and he finds trouble in deciding which to offer more attention to: the fact that one single person was intelligent enough to send the entire world of The Board into chaos, or the fact that she was already making use of him even before he assumed the role of director. 

Her fingers are now interlocked with his, resting on the table as the camera flashes go off, illuminating the room every other second. 

THE BOARD’S MAY PRESS CONFERENCE: 

LEE-KIM WEDDING IN APRIL, LEE JUYEON TO ASSUME DIRECTOR OF APPLE-KOREA IN MAY AND BUY 50% OF HERA & ARTEMIS, KIM JO-PIL TO ASSUME OWNERSHIP OF THE OTHER 50% IN JUNE, KIM YOUNGHOON TO ASSUME FULL OWNERSHIP OF ARTEMIS AFTER DETACHMENT, “ARTEMIS TO BECOME PARTNER OR COLLABORATOR”, KIM JANG WON SAYS

Younghoon’s inhales sharply, standing and frowning at the television screen after finally being unable to contain his shock. The reflection off the pool outside his living room paints inconsistent waves on his ceiling, the sound of pool water wading being the only thing he can hear besides the commotion from the broadcasted press conference. 

Scoffing aggressively, he covers his mouth and drags his fingers down to his chin, pulling on his skin and pursing his lips into a thin, white line. 

“Father, you have made the grave mistake of underestimating your daughter,” Younghoon smiles, then grins widely, somehow proud. “Her father’s daughter after all.”

Jang Won’s smile beams throughout the room, and for a split second Juyeon is mesmerized by it. Her eyes have been planted with the horrors of nightmares and terrible myths combined and yet there was something about that smile that made him think ‘Maybe being your fiance wouldn’t be too bad’.

“Before we open up the floor to the invited reporters and journalists, would Mr Lee like to say anything?” One of the officials from The Board finally gets up, hiding his confusion and anxiety behind his polite, service smile. 

Lee Juyeon sits up straight in his seat, thumb gently massaging hers as he resumes the act. Jang Won’s service smile remains coded into her lips, eyes loving as she turns to him. 

The whole world is watching, Juyeon. He thinks. The whole world is watching you put up this act, being in love with Hera’s Princess - arguably the most cunning name tied to The Board. Choose her and she’ll give you what you want. Choose otherwise and who knows what will happen?

“Mr Lee?”

“I think my fiancé has said everything that’s on my mind, haven’t you, love?” Juyeon smiles sweetly, eyes folding into long, thin lines. The curl of her lips are of triumph when she knows he’s bought into what she offered him; what she promised him. She cannot do this without him and he knows this, but what better way than to assert his authority than to pair up with the most powerful female in this shitty world?

Kim Younghoon’s eyes widen, fingers digging deep into the material of the cushion on his sofa as he watches Juyeon remove his hands from Jang Won’s, instead cupping her cheeks and bringing her face to his. 

Mr Ro strides past the first guestroom, hearing the sound of the news playing on the television in the room. He looks through the gap of the door that was left ajar, cautiously watching Kim Jo-Pil nervously swirling a glass of whiskey in his hands as the next director of Apple-Korea tilts his head, on screen.

“Play along, would you?” He whispers, and Jang Won’s pride surges when he presses his lips into hers. The floor of reporters and journalists erupt into questions and cameras go off like Donald Trump had just been shot dead. 

Kim Jo-Pil freezes, watching the whole press conference room light up with fluorescent flashes. But Mr Ro can’t help the jolt when Kim Jo-Pil deliberately flings the glass into the floor, pieces flying across the wooden flooring. 

“She’s her father’s daughter after all, sire.”

[alch3mic]

I'd like to request a matchup ^^ (I have to say, while I read the others you do, I sometimes try to guess them before I see your answer, it's very fun. And their drawings are so cute aaaaaaa-- I love them-)

When I start to meet someone, I'm very anxious and laid back, but if you get closer and closer, you'll see a more talkative, funny and sentimental being; my humor is purely made of many puns and sarcasm, there's even times I can't help but think about a pun during a serious moment as I'm trying my best not to tell it; I'm a very emotional and impulsive person, so this makes me very attached to fictional characters and inanimate objects and I might give a bad impression for someone about a thing that isn't much of a big deal after all; I can get very excited while talking about something I like, especially if I never found someone who also likes that thing, but this makes me think I'm being a little inconvenient, because I don't have other topics to talk about since I don't know how to change it aaaaaa; my love language is physical touch, since I'm not so good with putting some emotions and words into... words (I'm very touchy with many things, actually); night owl; I'm a huge procrastinator, but when I start a project, I normally dedicate myself till the end, even if I take a lot of time on it (purple soul, maybe?); I like to just stop and daydream for a couple of minutes; my memory definetly isn't the best, but it's not the worst either, like, I can forget a bag of school materials in the middle of the mall (personal experience??? What???), while I can remember almost 50 songs of a musical

My hobbies are: drawing, playing games (cards, board, PC, console...), listening to music (almost any kind, from lo-fi to metal, but I listen to videogames soundtracks more often), singing (but I'm not comfortable with someone near me), reading, writing, watching videos, series or movies and playing piano

Likes: the stars, I get to see more than 3 or 4 in the sky only when I travel with my family at night, and it's so beautiful... I might cry a little-; lasagna and ice cream, the best foods ever; buzzfeed quizzes; having a time alone, although I like to spend a night with friends and family playing games, chatting and eating snacks

As for dislikes: disrespectful people in general; whistles, I can't focus on literally nothing if I hear one and I might freak out a bit, but it's totally on impulse; I get very anxious with needles; Physics lol

Hope this isn't too long. But, hey, the more information, the better, right?

Oh yes it’s true, I think CHESHIRE is going to be just right for you!

🤍 Dedication is a huge attractant for Cheshire! He likes people who can really put themselves forward on to a task and see it through, because it will inspire him to do the same. He needs a good partner in crime who will procrastinate with him from time to time so the two of you can sit back and daydream, but also encourage him to get up and see a project through. With just a bit of time he’ll be encouraging you too!

🤍 A sense of humor is also very important for this cat boy! He tends to joke around a lot, sometimes unintentionally even in stressful situations (literally all he’ll do is spew out cat puns when he’s feeling cornered), so having someone who will also be down to joke whenever is great for him. Plus he’s always a sucker for a good pun, and he falls quickly for those who can actually make him laugh!

🤍 Physical affection is a huge love language for Cheshire because he also has a hard time properly expressing himself, though he tends to be a little reserved with who he dishes it out to. Once he begins to form a bond with you though, he becomes a very touchy person, wanting to hold hands (so he.. won’t lose you of course!), play with your hair (you.. uh.. had a tangle!), and overall just be close with you (because you’re.. warm..). These ‘friendly’ touches will become a part of your everyday!

🤍 Seems like the two of you share a lot of interests too! He’s a huge gamer, and loves everything from indie games to horror, shooters and of course puzzle games. He’s also really into watching fellow content creators through online videos and binging a good drama series! He also has quite a sweet tooth and has a big weakness for donuts, but ice cream comes as a pretty close second!